They were all still waiting for something. The players around him did not seem to care as they were already occupied with other things, so nobody seemed to notice how out of place he felt.
Suddenly the smartphone vibrated, somebody had called him. The phone number displayed on the screen had rune-like symbols and the name of the caller was listed as unknown.
That was quick. Who could be calling me?
Kai wondered. He had just moments earlier asked the assistant to find a suitable network and connect the smartphone, preferably to a 6G or Wi-Fi network. But that failed. Instead it was connected to the Inter Planar Network, also known as IPN.
He couldn't wait any longer so he answered it.
"Hello. Who is this?"
An eerie and unbecoming sequence of strange sounds came out.
"Hello anyone there?"
Unknown sounds, but still nothing recognizable. It felt like a robocall. Did this game include robocalls? He wanted to file a bug report immediately. He was about to hang up, then suddenly recalled his situation.
Maybe it's another foreign language. I wonder if it can be translated. Oh wait, didn't the assistant say something about a translator during Onboarding. I wonder if I can install it now?
He squeezed the smartphone.
"How can I be of service?"
"Can you translate this call?"
"Yes, but it would be more efficient to complete your installation of the translator module. Would you like to proceed with installation?"
"Yes"
The evil mist appeared and suddenly he had second thoughts. It was moot however since the pain was instantaneous, and soon after a foreign voice with recognizable words followed.
"...is this idiot thinking? Is his species incapable of using a primitive translator? Oh well, maybe I shouldn't double down…"
"Ahemmm"
Kai coughed lightly as he interrupted the caller's monologue.
"Who is this?"
"Player #1237, this is Gimbal. I am the supervisor for Onboarding. It has become evident that you are ill equipped for the current match since you opted to cancel a fair portion of the Onboarding process. I am here to help you."
Kai didn't know how to respond. He thought about it for a moment, maybe this conversation would benefit him. Given his situation, any help would be good. Plus, Gimbal had reached out to him.
"So what can you do to help me?"
"I can install your second band. Unfortunately this is not the right environment to install the third band. We can do that after the match."
"Wow that is great!" Kai felt relieved. He might gain the right equipment to play the game. He couldn't wait to get started.
"What do I need to do?"
"I recommend selecting a temporarily activatable spatial law distortion enhancement for Band 2, I believe your species calls it a buff. Also, I would recommend one that can be used to keep you from harm and can be visualized easily. Band 2 buffs need a tangible means to activate, like a trigger device or an audible phrase. Additionally, in order to create the band 2 buff you need to be able to visualize it in your mind so that the band 2 piconites can manufacture the familiar abilities, visual expressions and cues that you expect from activating the buff."
"Can it be anything that I can visualize?"
"If you have seen it before and understand how it interacts with the world then it is possible to create. But if you try to imagine something new and fail to visualize and express it properly then the creation of band 2 will fail. So I do not recommend doing that. Lastly, complex buff combinations are not recommended as your species lacks the necessary attributes to wield them. Think carefully and choose."
Kai entered in deep thought. He started to recall all the games he had played in the past and all of the videos and movies that he had watched. He thought about the magic described in novels but he couldn't really visualize it so those were out. His first thought was a fireball. It was easy to visualize and he understood what it did and how it worked. Fire was easy to understand, it just burned things. But he thought it over and he wanted something more powerful. Lightning, laser cannons, vorpal blades, railguns and tactical nukes came to his mind. Those were awesome offensive weapons, but not something to keep him alive. He thought about shields, armor, force fields and teleportation. Those were defensive, but failed to help him eliminate an opponent. Since the core genre of BETA was Battle Royale, purely defensive buffs did not seem like a good idea.
What should I pick? If only I could be invulnerable with destructive power, that would solve my problems. But how do I do that?
He started to think about a small man, one wearing a red shirt, a red cap and overalls. A tiny Italian plumber with an interesting power up. He thought of a golden star and the rainbow colored hero that defeated everything that stood before him. Recalling the power up music made him smile. He wondered if it would work.
I might as well try it.
"Gimbal I am ready."
"Installing Band 2 now."
Kai cursed at himself when he saw the mist again. He had enough pain today, but it was too late now. So he silently reminded himself to ask for a painkiller first the next time around. The painful headache returned as the mist cloud surrounded his head. He beared with the pain for a few minutes until it subsided and the mist disappeared.
"Congratulations, the installation was successful."
Kai felt awesome. He finally caught a break. He could be invulnerable and he could use this buff to attack and defend. He felt like he got away with a cheat and smiled.
"How do I activate it?"
"You imagine the trigger and activate it"
Kai was giddy, like a child unwrapping a gift on Christmas morning he could hardly wait to test it out.
"So I just imagine the star and it will appear. And when I touch it, will my buff activate?"
"If that is the way you visualized it during the installation process then that is how you do it."
He looked around for a helper to verify his buff and found a wolf-like player with what seemed to be a rifle.
He walked up to the rifleman and asked if it would shoot him after he started to glow. He told the rifleman that he wanted to tune his second band. The rifleman seemed to understand the request and nodded. He repeated the instructions to the rifleman one last time before activating the buff.
Kai began to imagine the star, it was gold and spun slowly while floating chest high in the air. Out of nowhere a golden star appeared in front of him and spun slowly in the air tempting him to touch it, so he did. Suddenly a rainbow colored energy field surrounded him. A feeling of warmth entered his body. He felt empowered, as if he drank a potion of invincibility that made him all-powerful. He looked at The rifleman and got ready to give him the signal to launch the attack.
No guts no glory! YOLO!
He signaled the rifleman to shoot him.
Zooosh!
An intense white beam of light came out of the rifle and hit him straight in the chest. But Kai did not move an inch, he stood immovable like a rock ignoring the gentle breeze. He smiled greatly and jumped with excitement.
“Yes!” shouted Kai.
"Ara'teri!" said the rifleman.
"Ara'teri!" said some of the spectators.
Kai yelled into his phone.
"Gimbal it works! It works!"
Kai was relieved. He finally felt ready for the match. He felt very grateful towards Gimbal, if Gimbal hadn't called, he might have died right away. Now he felt like he had a fighting chance.
"Thank you Gimbal. After this match I will make it up to you."
"No need. It was my job anyways. Good luck player."
Gimbal disconnected the call. Kai had a huge grin on his face. He looked around proudly as if he feared nothing. He forgot that he only had a simple wardrobe but with his buff in hand, he really did feel undefeatable. He silently enjoyed his euphoria for a few more minutes until the relaxing atmosphere was broken.
"Attention players, match 97925 will be commencing in a few moments. Please prepare for combat. The goal of this match is to destroy a nest of Kataract. Total kills, number of captured eggs and eliminating the queen will give you points towards your net ranking. Player point collecting will be allowed after 300 seconds have elapsed from the start of the match. Incidental contact will be ignored. Please be aware of the rules otherwise your ranking will be impacted and you will incur a fine. You and the viewers have 26.7 seconds to finalize your bets. Good luck and may you survive until the next match."
The powered up sounds of weapons and equipment could be heard all throughout the hall. Protective energy fields surrounding players and equipment alike became visible. Several players chanted and drew runed pictograms in the air, on the floor and on themselves. Some warriors in the back started singing and dancing. And several warriors standing nearby including the rifleman started chanting a familiar phrase.
"Ara'teri! Ara'teri! Ara'teri!"
Kai felt excited his adrenaline was pumping and his heart was beating loudly. He felt that they all had encouraged him to succeed.
The walls of the hall became transparent, stars and nebulas could be seen moving readily beyond the walls. He realized he was on a starship of some kind and it was moving towards a very large asteroid that floated in space. Green and yellow lights flashed towards them from the asteroid. A few explosions sounded but no additional shaking occurred from the impacts.
Boom!
The sound of a large impact reverberated throughout the hall. All of the players roared including Kai. A great hole opened in front of everyone and an expanse of endless tunnels appeared. They had crashed into the asteroid and were boarding it forcefully. Players began to rush towards the tunnels while firing weapons. Insect-like creatures could be seen in the distance. Some running away, others coming towards the players.
As the players in front of him became active a wave of eagerness flowed through the masses toward him. He would have to move soon as the army of behemoths behind him seemed very eager to move forward. Their energy shields were active, their weapons were drawn and they started to move forward quickly.
He started to feel claustrophobic. He wanted to avoid getting crushed by the rush of players so he decided to activate his buff. Kai imagined the golden star. But nothing happened. He tried again, still nothing. He began to panic, he was confused, he didn't understand why nothing was happening.
The players around him ran forward, eager to join the fray. Someone bumped into him and knocked him to the ground. Kai howled in pain, he knew that some of his bones were broken. Next a massive foot stepped on him from behind crushing his organs. He began to gasp for air, he could hardly breathe.
"Ara'teri!" yelled the behemoth.
Kai was stuck to the bottom of the behemoth's foot and it shook him off vigorously like dung stuck to a shoe. He flew off the foot and slammed into a wall in the distance. His body slunk onto the floor as his blood began to pool on the ground.
Everything had happened too quickly, he was still trying to comprehend what had failed. As he searched for answers, he felt the smartphone in his hand so he asked the assistant.
"I imagined the star so why did my buff fail to activate?"
In a seemingly oblivious tone to the disaster that befell Kai, the assistant responded.
"Cooldown. After activation the buff enters a cooldown period where it cannot be activated for some time."
He was stunned. He had just noobed himself to death. He began to worry if he would be kicked out of BETA for dying a noob's death at the start of a match. He began to freak out and mumbled.
"BETA. BETA. What will happen to me in BETA? Will I be kicked out of BETA?"
Nonchalantly the assistant responded.
"According to section 3800.32 in the BETA EULA. Participants upon forfeiture of life shall have their life insurance paid in full as one lump sum to the specified recipient(s) or if the recipient(s) are unspecified then payment shall be paid to the next of kin. Your body will be recycled in accordance with the Universal Recycling 423 law covered in section 7002.41."
Kai felt confused, he was no lawyer.
What did forfeiture of life mean?
The assistant responded to his mental query.
"Attempting to translate The Game to common phrases of your species. Errors in translation may occur due to the hasty nature of responses appropriate for the current situation.
Simply stated, what you refer to as BETA is actually an entry point for your species to partake in The Game. BETA may seem like a video game, but it is not the game you think it is. When you die in BETA you die in real life. I believe the most appropriate video game slogan to describe your mode of participation in The Game would be YOLO mode. You are playing a quest based Battle Royale game with your life as collateral. And you have failed, so you will die."
He understood one thing clearly, that this world was the real world. This was not Sword Art Online, he was not SAOed and locked into a virtual game world. Instead he had been Isekaied, he was transported into another world like the main protagonist of a Japanese anime or light novel. But with no goddess, no reincarnation, no demon King and no truck-kun. He felt ripped off, but he was too tired and had endured too much to complain about it right now.
Kai had lost too much blood and began to lose consciousness, but one last question bugged him. He refused to die until he heard the answer. He began to hum different Super Mario tunes in his mind to keep awake long enough to ask the final question.
"What does Ara'teri mean?"
"It's a common Ulurakian phrase used by many players. It can be used in a variety of situations. But in your case, the translation that best matches your species would be beginner, or as you say in gamer speak, noob."
He was dying like a noob. And that sucked!
Gimbal watched the broadcast of The Game with a very large grin. He jumped for joy when Kai died. He had bet everything he had owned on Kai thrice. First was on Kai being the first player to die, and second when he doubled down on his bet the moment after Kai invoked his [Invulnerable] buff. His buff made Kai look powerful momentarily since his species had never participated in The Game before. The gambling odds immediately changed to account for Kai’s seemingly powerful display and Gimbal took advantage of it. However once the players started chanting “Ara’teri” the odds flipped once again. Gimbal placed his final bet on the fact that Kai’s odds would change significantly before the match started and he made another killing.
In total, after Kai died Gimbal became debt free. He even made a sizable profit. Gimbal thought about quitting his job, but delayed to act on it. There would likely be more players provided by Zeeber Eyeree Gamers’ Guild #1192 and if they were like the last one he could make it big. He imagined owning his own star system or even a quadrant as spacious as the Overseer and got excited. He knew that all of those players provided by ZEGG #1192 would need Onboarding. And only in his current position could he find those golden eggs. He eagerly waited for another sure thing to come his way.
