Chapter 2: CH 2

"They are called 'serenity' and 'fury,’ the first and the second one among the seven sacred treasures I have. Gorgeous, right?" she said.

Yongno replied, "Uh, yeah, they look amazing, but how did you make something appear from nothing? Is it magic...?"

"Oh my! You're ridiculous. Well, then what about this?"

The silver-haired beauty then raised her right hand that had 'serenity' in it. When the blade emitted soft energy...

"Eh?"

Yongno saw an illusion of a rampart. The girl built a huge barrier between herself and Yongno just by lifting her sword. Her impressive ability astonished him; he thought the girl was impregnable as she could create such a firm and defensive structure unrestrictedly.

The girl uttered, "If this doesn’t seem enough, let me show you this one too."

With a mischievous smile, the girl raised the red blade 'fury.'

Pop––!

"Ha... haha..."

Yongno stepped back as he confronted red spiritual energy that looked like a roaring flame. Although he knew that she wasn’t targeting him with the lethal weapon, he instinctively felt horrified. Most people would become anxious over a gun pointing at them even if they were assured that the gunman wouldn’t pull the trigger. Likewise, Yongno was terrified by the spiritual energy swirling in the spatial space since the force could severely destroy his entire body at any time.

The girl said, "Eh? You're not saying anything. Would this be better than the swords then?"

At that moment, the two blades disappeared, and a red magic circle appeared in the air with a beam of light blazing from it. The light streak was targeting the empty space far away from Yongno, but the room got heated up all of a sudden. While Yongno had no idea what it was, the girl used ‘Hell Fire’, the most advanced level of a magic spell in the SS rank.

"If this isn't doing it for you, how do you like this one?” asked the girl.

[Owooooo––]

Split opening the spatial space, a large wolf showed up. The creature howled without opening its mouth, but the noise echoed heavily around the room. Yongno held his breath to avoid the wolf’s attention, but it was useless since the furry beast directed its huge eyes, bigger than wheels, to Yongno.

"Ah..."

"Geez, is this not enough too? Then..."

The silver-haired girl began to recite something while making some hand signs with both hands. Yongno shrieked in surprise.

"Hold on, hold on! That's enough. I believe you! Yes, this is indeed virtual reality!!"

"Oh, thank goodness you're now trusting it."

When the girl grinned, the giant wolf disappeared like nothing. The whole process that Yongno had witnessed included the most unrealistic things that he had ever seen in his life; he had no choice but to accept that this spatial space wasn’t real.

The girl continued, "First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Marionette Hold, a guide who'll lead the users to the world of D.I.O."

The girl slightly lifted her dress as a curtsy; it looked so perfect that Yongno thought she had been practicing those few gestures for years in order to do so in such a polite and respectful manner. He instinctively lowered his head after her.

"I'm Yoo... Yoon Yongno."

"Haha, don't be shy. Anyway, we've been wasting too much time, so let me begin my explanation."

"Explanation...? Of?"

"Obviously, the basic operation of D.I.O. Would you hold your left ear with your left hand?"

Following her suggestion, Yongno lifted his left hand to hold his left ear without a second thought. Nothing happened immediately, but after holding it for about two seconds, a blue window popped up.

Although he has accepted that he was in a virtual space, Yongno was surprised to encounter a pop-up window right before his eyes. It made it clear that he’s a player in a game.

Anyway, does this program react to specific movements?

Yongno had never seen this new way of interaction in other games. Being amazed, Yongno observed the window floating in the air. The stats were all zero since he was a newbie to this game.

"If you touch your ear again, the status window shuts down. Similarly, tap your left hand twice with your right hand to activate the stats & ability window. If you want to see the community list, tap your right hand twice with your left hand. There are also a few other things, but you can help yourself to find them out."

"Wow..."

The way of operating the game felt so cool to Yongno. He opened the stats & ability window as well as the community list. Right now there was nothing particular to see since he had no skills and no added friends either.

"Oh, but can I also change my appearance?"

"It's forbidden for a couple of reasons such as anonymity problems. Then again, they don't seem to care about it once you start playing the game. You can change it afterwards."

"What about occupation?"

"The option exists, but you don't choose it now. At Level 10, you’ll be able to have an option to change careers."

"A-ha!"

Yongno nodded. Once I’m used to playing the game, I would be able to decide my career. However, Mari laughed at him.

"Hahaha." 

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Do you think that Level 10 is some sort of a beginner's level? Does it seem like you'll be able to decide on your job soon?”

"Am I wrong?"

"Yes, you are. Unfortunately, Level 10 here is the same as reaching the master level. To be honest with you, most of the users of D.I.O will never have the chance to choose their occupations but will just grow old and die."

"Is reaching Level 10 that difficult? No matter how hard it is, hunting for a long time would level me up anyway, wouldn’t it?"

"The system of D.I.O is based on the user's demonstration of abilities, and therefore, playing this game for a long time doesn't lead to an automatic level up. It does give you some advantages though."

Mari then took out a clear glass marble from her pocket. 

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"What is that?" asked Yongno.

"Nothing special. It's a process of accepting you as our official user. Give me your left hand."

Mari stretched out her hand to him, and Yongno stuck out his left hand to grab hers. Mari then placed the marble on the back of his palm.

"Ouch!" Yongno shouted.

"Such a crybaby. Anyway, this is it."

After her remark, Yongno looked at the back of his left palm. A blue mark came into his view. It had some strange letters in a circle with a few empty boxes.  

"Okay, so are you ready to take the test?" asked Mari.

"What? A test? At the start of the game?"

"It's like a mock exam to prepare for the tests that you'll be continuously taking afterward. Well then, Test Site!"

As she screamed jokingly, twenty doors appeared in the empty room. They consisted of red, blue, green, and yellow doors. Each of them had different words written on it. The five doors on the 'Manufacturing' row were labeled: 'Weapon Production,' 'Clothes Making,' 'Magic Items,' 'Art,' and 'Potions Concoction'. On the 'Daily Life' row, the doors were labeled: 'Cooking,' 'Information Gathering,' 'Search,' 'Farming,' and 'Medicine.' For the 'Adventure' section, the doors were titled: 'Collection,' 'General Knowledge,' 'Transportation,' 'Theft' and 'Training.' Lastly, the 'Battle' row had 'One to One Battle,' 'Escort Battle,' 'Rescue,' 'Group Battle,' and 'Assassination.' 

"Are these all tests?"

"Yup, right now, you are Level 1. If you pass all these tests, you become Level 2. After then, you'll be, eventually, entering the world of D.I.O."

"If I don't pass them, I'll be staying here forever?"

"These are super easy, so that won't happen. Let's see... Shall we start with 'produce weapons?' Are you ready?"

When Mari pulled Yongno's arm, he was dragged into the door. As soon as he went inside, the door was gone, and words appeared.

/Welcome to the 'Weapons Production' test./ 

/Stage 1 Collect Materials––Mining/

"Mining... Are you serious...?"

Yongno found himself holding a pickaxe in his hand. The tool was too obvious to question what he was supposed to do.

Mari replied, "Yes, start working."

"Gosh! How can you start working already? This is such a brutal game!"

Yongno grumbled but began to follow the rule. He felt bewildered, but just as she said, it wasn’t a difficult task. 

Clang! Clang!

Digging the minerals with the pickaxe wasn't so challenging. All he had to do was hold the ax up high and pound it on the ground. The minerals weren't too firm to dig; it even felt quite easy for Yongno.

/You gained a new skill - Mining!/

"Eh? Mining?"

"It's a trivial skill. Digging the ground to that level seems enough, so take the minerals. Here's your sack and shovel."

Geez, they are treating people so harshly. 

Moaning, he used the shovel to move the minerals into the sack. He dug the ground for a short time, but he found quite a lot of minerals, so the sack was soon filled with the solid materials that he just extracted. When Yongno did the last shoveling, a word appeared in the air.

/Clear!/

"Eh?"

"You passed."

"For what? Did I really do something?"

"I told you it's super easy."

Mari shrugged, and at the same time, a new window popped up in front of them.

"Oh, those are iron ores... No, that's not the point here. Anyway, are the shovel and pickaxe also a reward? 

"It's the beginning of the game, so we're being generous."

"But these are too heavy to carry."

"Stop being fussy. You're now a user with an inventory."

"Inventory?"

"So to speak, it's something like this."

Holding up the sack of iron ores from the ground, Mari pushed it into Yongno's arms. A square space then opened.

"This is...?"

Mari replied, "How's that? Now you get it?"

Although it wasn't visible like the stat window or the quest window as Mari described, Yongno was now able to illustrate a compact little space in his head. Inside of it, there were iron ores that Mari just gave him. 

She explained, "It's called inventory, a sort of an individual space provided to all users. The size is 2x2x2; the weight limit for it is up to 100 kilograms. Basically, you can open it inside a dark pocket or bag, but once you get used to it, you can open it anywhere. However, the inventory is quite fragile, so you better not open it up during a battle. Using the inventory to snag a flying attack is worse; also, make sure it doesn't get attacked by something with high heat or a bombardment loaded with energy."

She also murmured, "I don’t recommend exposing it to light energy either. That's why the inventory must be opened in the dark. I don't even want to talk about avoiding magic attacks.”

"Then what happens if the inventory gets directly attacked?" asked Yongno.

"It’ll be badly affected, so you won't be able to open it up for a while. However, it opens and closes in an instant according to the user's thoughts. As long as you don't foolishly allow it to be under attack, no problems will occur."

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