I aroused with a solid jerk as a sharp ringing sound invaded my ears. Looking around, the sound was emanating from my alarm clock, which was set to go off at 3:00 AM in the morning. Usually, I would never attempt to wake up this early as I was definitely not a morning person, but today was a special case. Today marked the release of Arclight Online.

I first heard about Arclight Online from browsing rumors on gaming forums and community message boards, but it wasn't only three months after until the stories were substantiated by the developers, Omnium Inc that it made a big headline news. Omnium was a medical and technological company that was the first to engender a breakthrough in Virtual Reality or as they like to call it; NeuralDive technology.

At first, the technology was utilized in the medical field to treat patients with brain disabilities along with experiments on how to increase brain functionality. However, once the technology was released to the public, many outsourcing companies took the technology to a whole new level. From glasses that monitor your brain signals and vital signs to headgear that brought a unique movie experience; the world was becoming a more familiar place with the introduction of NeuralDive technology.

One such company called Egharam Games modified the original NeuralDive helmet to assimilate their products into video games, and along with their quantum coding language, they released the first-ever Virtual Reality game in 2062. To find out that Omnium Inc. and Egharam gaming studios were working together to release a brand new virtual reality game twenty-four years later was a massive shock to the public.

I was surprised that they were able to keep it up to wraps this whole time. Some rumors were bound to circulate. It also didn't help the fact that a ridiculous amount of money was being invested in this game; a few billion to be exact.

I stood up groggily and silenced my alarm. The NeuralDive helmet was laid across my room, perched nicely on a stand not too far away. The faint flashing lights around the helmet were visible in my otherwise dark room as if it was drawing me towards it. Turning on the lights and giving myself a quick stretch, I decided to get a cup of coffee before continuing any more. There should be another thirty minutes until the official server goes live.

While preparing my coffee, I took some time to wash my face and review some of the aspects that I already knew about the game along with refreshing my memory on some important key facts. Secrecy about the game was strict, virtually to the point where the general public only gleaned a small fraction of what the game was going to be about, but a couple of leaks have been uncovered.

Usually, massive games like these would release a Beta version where players can test the game and give feedback on the details they liked, but this game appeared out of nowhere with only a limited knowledge of game mechanics and content. 

The things we did know about the game, however, were very prominent. This game used the Aura Engine. It was said that this engine allowed time to move slower in the game by rapidly speeding up the brain signals in mind, allowing cognition of double the amount reasonable for a human.

This meant that for every hour in the game, only thirty minutes will pass by in real-time. It was also said that the neural transmitters were top of the line, sending double the amount of data making virtual actions and sensations mimic reality on a whole new level. The game was also speculated to be a hardcore players dream, with deadly consequences for death and vast amounts of progression systems including insanely hard PvE (Player versus Entity) content.

Although it was only 3:00 AM, I prepared an ample amount of time beforehand for a good night's sleep, so I was wide awake. I was probably going to pull an all-nighter so getting coffee early wasn't too bad of an idea. As I sat on my chair and set aside my warm cup of coffee, I turned on my desktop screen to reveal the Arclight Online official website page.

Refreshing the page, I see a myriad of game promotional bundles, a launch event guide, and some Winter season event rewards. Browsing through the page, there seemed to be an event calendar with daily rewards milestones with the release of the game along with what presumably seemed a competitive PvP mode slated for launch with a first, second and third place prize pool.

They really went all out for the release of this game, didn't they?

I also checked various game forums as well, wondering what the players were thinking. Some expressed anticipation for the game, others were questioning the companies motives for investing so much money on it. Regardless, everyone was waiting patiently for the game's arrival. After perusing around the website for a tad bit more, I finished my coffee.

Time was passing more quickly than I anticipated. The minutes turned into seconds, and the seconds ticked down quickly. It was only five minutes before the game was about to release, but I didn't realize how fast the time flew by until my second alarm went off.

Yup, that's right. I set another alarm to go off in case I missed the first one.

Closing out of the web browser, I was on the home screen of my computer. Moving my mouse to the game icon, a short few clicks was all it took to get the game up and ready. The only thing left I had to do was connect my NeuralDive helmet to my computer and let the magic happen. Grabbing my helmet and quickly putting it on, it only took a small flick of a button for my consciousness to drift forward, almost as if my mind was being dragged away. I closed my eyes and laid back in my chair.

Re-opening my eyes, I was in a white space, an endless expanse of nothingness except what lied before me. A clean holographic interface mirroring my monitor screen. The interface was touch-responsive, so with a quick movement of my hand, I had pressed the「Start Game」 button.

A surge of emotions entered me. I hadn't felt this exciting for a very long time! I thought I had left behind competitive games, only rarely playing video games as a past time. For some reason, however, the anticipation I felt for this game completely doubled as the game launched and I was put into the loading area.

The location around me changed drastically, transforming into a green flowing field of flowers with a large tree that was rooted behind me. The blazing sun also briskly surrounded me, with only the tree giving me ample amounts of shade. The cool breeze was also thinly blowing on my body, giving my clothes a slight whirl. This was the character selection screen.

Making my character, the game asked for my name and height. It seems like the character you can make was locked to your birth gender and age. I pondered how it could possibly know that, but I realized that when buying a NeuralDive helmet you would need to provide proof of identity so it could allocate your data to the helmet.

Moving on, it asked for my name. My real name was Aaron, but I was hesitant to actually put that. Usually, people have a specialized in-game name they would stick to over the years, but I just used my real name instead.

I quickly pressed the name selection, and a small virtual keyboard popped up. Readily typing out my name I realized that it was...taken.

Ah, damn. I knew this was going to happen. It seemed like this game only allowed one-instance names, meaning that there can't be two people with the same name. It looked like another player wasn't as indecisive and took the name I was going to make.

Quickly sifting through a list of potential names, I eventually end on the name "Winter." The thought came to my mind instantaneously as it was currently the wintertime, and I really couldn't be bothered with thinking up another original name. This time, when pressing 「Enter」 the client accepted the title.

A character resembling myself popped up on the character selection screen in front of me. The helmet scanned your face before playing any game, so that's why it knew what exactly I had looked like. The only things I could change about my face settings were minimal features such as eye color and the inclusion of any facial markings. I set everything as default as I wasn't too concerned about my physical appearance.

Body physique, on the other hand, was fully customizable with the game allowing you to change your height, weight, and your physical features such as muscle tone and body mass. I stayed with the same height as I was a reasonably tall person standing at 5ft' 10in. Physical characteristics such as muscle size didn't matter to me, but I tried to match it precisely to how I looked like in the real world; slender but fairly built.

Other than that, you get to decide your class. There are fifteen classes in total, with five main categories. You have the main group of a type of class, with three different classes in that category.

Warrior	Magician	Fighter	Archer	Assassin
Berserker	Arcana	Striker	Hawkeye	Nightlord
Knight	Summoner	Soul Master	Pathfinder	Rune Blader
Warlord	Bishop	Battle Master	Heavy Gunner	Shadower

 

There was a sixth category, but that category was locked. They were classes that were not yet implemented in the game yet. From what I can guess, they were probably going to be released in the future. Looking at the classes, there were small playable clips that showcased each class's abilities along with a difficulty gauge and a performance pentagon. The performance pentagon was just a figure that showed the letter-type of a class's abilities displayed neatly in a placed grid.

For example, a Knight had a Defense rating of S, while an Attack rating of B. This meant that the knight was primarily a tank class and not something like a Berserker which was an offensive class, with its Attack rating of S and a Defense rating of B. The categories were as such; Attack, Mobility, Defense, Support, and Range. Each class had a different playstyle, and along with a difficulty rating. The Knight had a difficulty rating of four out of five stars, meaning he was a challenging class to master.

Although the Knight has low range and low mobility, it made up with its high Support and Defense rating. Since this class was mainly built to support others, this was the class that I was going to choose because I felt like it suited my play style. Selecting the class, the game asked again if I wanted to confirm my choice. I accepted immediately.

I didn't have time to check out any of the other classes, as I was set on making a Knight and didn't want to spend any more time in the character selection screen. I had first thought of going over each class's description to get a better understanding of what it did, but I decided to hold off on that thought. It also wasn't wise to stay too long creating my character, as everyone is pitted in a race to see who can get to the top, so I didn't have any time to spare.

The scenery changed around me once again, this time I was in a beautiful decorative room. Or rather, it was a half-spherical dome with intricate golden markings on the ground surrounded by the beautiful decor. You could acutely see the outside of the dome, as a glass panel cover surrounded the area. It was sort of like a greenhouse globe.

As I looked around, it seemed like I was in space; several different colored planets were in the background, and illuminating stars of various sizes could be seen giving a faint luster all around me. Peering around the room, there was a flowing glasslike bridge. Contained in the glass was an amalgamation of trapped light of various beautiful colors. It was a rainbow bridge.

As there was nowhere else to go, I slowly made my way across the bridge. My footsteps leaving an imprint on the ground, quickly fading as my feet made a slight pitter-patter continuing forward. The rainbow bridge led to another dome, identical to the first one. The attention to detail was marvelous, as my neural vision displayed complex colors that I would've never hope to see before.

Peering closer, there stood a beautiful woman descending slowly from space. Adorned in bright, exquisite jewels and wearing a silky primrose white dress with golden outlining, two pairs of long radiant light golden wings could be seen extending from the back of her body. She was, in a sense, a goddess.

"Greetings, welcome to Arclight Online." The goddess said, her voice melodic and charming. "You are an Arclight, a demi-human sent by the gods to assist the humans of Middle Earth in their quest to stop the revival of a primal evil that will shake the Nine Realms. Would you like a reminder of your goal?"

A small holographic popup tab surfaced in front of me.

Would you like to do the Tutorial?
Yes	No

I pressed yes, and the popup disappeared. Even though I had played similar VRMMORPGs in the past and understood the mechanics of those types of games, it was always nice to refresh my memory on specific concepts. Also, maybe this game had some new concepts, I was interested to know what new ideas this game had to offer.

"Very well," she said, "I will catch you up on your duties."

Another pop-up appeared in front of me, this time highlighting several questions.

Who are you?

Tell me about Middle Earth.

What is a demi-human?

Can I test my class out?

Never-mind, I don't have any questions.

I chose the first option.

"Who am I?" She inquired. "I am a gatekeeper of the Nine Realms, everything that travels through the realms must go through me. However, malicious evil has been slipping through my Ark through cracks in dimensions. That is why I require you to help the people of Middle Earth."

She had nothing else to say, so I went down the list of options one by one not wanting to miss any details. Long story short from what I can deduce, I was one of a vast amount of demi-humans that were sent down from the heavens to lead the people of Middle Earth, which was just a name for the generated world in this game. Middle Earth was said to be half the size of the Earth in the real world, which at first I thought was unbelievable. The amount of data that was required to run such a game was something I could not even begin to perceive, but I tried to keep my enthusiasm to a minimum.

I also learned some other important things. Since I was a demi-human, I was considered an immortal being. However, the death penalty for this game was pretty harsh. Every death in-game would cause my level to decrease by two and would cause an item currently equipped to my player to be destroyed.

This meant that the later I progressed through the game, the more cautious I would have to be without risking essential items to be destroyed. Also, dying too much would cause me to lose significant progress which was detrimental if I wanted to even come close to being the best player in the game.

After all the expositional dialogue the goddess gave me, I was given the option to test out my class. Each class had their own skill menu, along with a skill tree. You allocate「Skill Points」to your skill tree as you level up, gaining more abilities the higher level you are. Going through the tutorial only put me to level five, so that was how many「Skill Points」I could put into specific abilities. Some skills I could unlock immediately, while others were gated behind a certain level requirement, only unlocking once I hit a specified level.

Some of the abilities that caught my interest were【Shield Bash】,【Lunge】,【Tornado Slash】,【Iron Defense】and【Shield Charge】. These skills you could get outright, having no level requirements to obtain them. I allocate one point to each of the skills. I could gain a small understanding of the skill just from the name, but I also checked the description of each one to get a complete grasp on the applications of each skill.

【Shield Bash】

Quickly thrust your shield in a direction, dealing 32% damage and applying a one-second stun to three enemy targets while knocking them back two meters. If the enemy target is pinned against a wall, as a result, increase the stun duration to two seconds. While stunned, the enemy cannot perform any actions. Consumes 10 Spirit.

【Lunge】

Quickly plunge your sword in a direction, dealing 148% damage to an enemy target. The attack has a 20% chance to critically strike, dealing 296% damage instead. You cannot move for one second after activating this ability. Consumes 20 Spirit.

【Tornado Slash】

Perform a spin slash, dealing 41% damage three times to eight enemies within 3 meters and pulling them in 1 meter. Consumes 12 Spirit.

【Shield Charge】

Charge forward 4.5 meters, dealing 70% damage to three enemies and knocking them back one meter. While charging, you cannot be knocked back. This skill can disrupt other skills. Consumes 40 stamina.

【Iron Defense】

Adopt a knightly defensive stance, restoring 10 Spirit every one second and decreasing damage taken by 15%, but also reducing your physical and magic attack by 25%. Activate the skill again to toggle the stance on/off.

After carefully reading the skills, I got an idea of what skills would combo nicely into each other. To test out my theories, the game let me spawn a couple of mobs in the area. Mobs were any monster that could be fought in the game, ranging from small creatures to huge bosses. Whatever the monster, as long as you can deal damage to it, it was considered a mob. The mobs that spawned were merely small little green goblins equipped with rusty daggers.

A small message popped up in my peripheral vision. It informed me about the use of skills. Skills could be executed in two ways, calling the name of the skill out while performing an action, or thinking about the skill name while performing said action. If your character action fits the criteria for a skill to activate, the engine will register the motion you made and tie it to an ability.

It took me several minutes to get accustomed to the system, however after practicing a multitude of abilities I got it down pat. Moving around and dodging the attacks of the goblins, I fervently used my abilities interwoven with some quick sword swings to defeat them in swift succession. They were just test dummies, after all. The mobs most likely don't reflect the difficulty of the actual mob.

During my tests, realized that【Shield Bash】and【Lunge】paired nicely together, as I could knock an enemy back with a well-timed 【Shield Bash】 and immediately use【Lunge】without any repercussions. Some other abilities that tie nicely together were【Shield Charge】directly into a【Shield Bash】along with various others. The completionist inside me wanted to find every possible right combination of skills, but I didn't want to waste any more time. I had to continue testing at a later date.

Immediately walking back to the Goddess, I started a conversation with her once again. She repeated the same dialogue as last time, however this time instead of going through all the options again, I chose the last one.

"Are you sure you are all caught up?" She asked. "This will be the last time you talk to me for a while."

A message window popped up onto my view.

Do you want to finish the Tutorial?
Yes	No

Pressing yes, and the lady gave me a bright smile. "Alright then! I will send you on your way." She said. "Step through this gate to continue your mission." She guided her hands at a golden gate that materialized behind her. The gate slowly opened to reveal a pure white light, brilliantly illuminating the dome. I took a step forward, walking through the gate.

The scenery changed once again. This time, I was in a bright, festive town. The sun was blazing hot, and I could perceive a faint cool breeze once again, reminiscent of the feeling of when I was in the character selection screen moments earlier. Masses of people were running about, their jumbled voices and idle commotion bringing a warm but busy atmosphere to the place.

There stood vendor stalls, great inns, merchant shops, item couriers and blends of players and NPC's walking and interacting with each other around the town. Behind me stood a tall statue of a goddess, strikingly resembling the one I had encountered earlier. This was the first spawn location of the game.

This is where I was going to take the first steps of my journey.