Nick wiped the sweat off his body, finishing his exercises for the day. Drinking his thick protein shake, he had to force it down. He wasn’t all that hungry, thanks to his low appetite.

He was unlikely to gain any muscle thanks to his condition, but being physically active was important for maintaining his body’s health through chemotherapy. This being his third round of it, he was on the last dregs of any kind of strength left in his body. 

Nick had just barely recovered his strength the previous time before he had to start up again when the cancer came back. But Nick was a fighter. He was going to beat it again.

Making sure his body’s needs were covered with a visit to the bathroom, Nick arrived at his couch. His VR helmet awaited him, where he was excited to play the newest MMO game.

He hadn’t learned overly much about it because knowledge was restricted for its launch, but also because Nick had already played dozens of them. It was his favorite pastime, since his body had been weak for years now. 

As he was about to put on the helmet, his heart quickened. A heaviness pressed down on his chest, and Nick’s breaths were short and filled with anxiety.

However, the moment eventually passed, the numbness leaving him after less than a minute. Nick sighed, and put on the helmet–that was far from the first time he had experienced such an episode. His body was failing him, as one might expect after filling it full of poison.

The VR helmet activated, making the special synaptic connection which replaced the senses. Nick could hardly tell he was playing a game at all, only the menus being present with a thought. 

He started the game, skipping through many of the prompts and the tutorial. Nick’s time on this world was numbered, so he really did not have time for that kind of stuff. 

He would push through the boring stuff, and get right to the fun. Within the game, Nick was sure to focus on having a good time, and not wasting any of his limited life remaining.

He selected his class of Fighter, which would likely upgrade to something else later, and picked an arming sword for his starter equipment.      

Nick selected hardcore mode. After playing a dozen MMO’s, the only thing exciting about fighting was when he felt like something was on the line. 

He was about to load into the game, when the heaviness in his chest returned. Nick would groan in pain, but he was just a bodyless entity as he worked through the character selection.

Nick wasn’t overly worried, since the system should eject him, and potentially even call an ambulance if his body’s parameters became dangerous.

The heaviness wouldn’t go away, and the screen seemed to dim as a numbness filled Nick’s senses. He felt himself drifting off to sleep, a cold filling him. 

***  

[Reintegration into the Orion System in progress. Soul detected: Archaen. Race selection to be skipped.]

[Welcome back, Nicholas Noblefrost! The World of Orion is an endless world, ever expanding and integrating worlds and souls.]

[Vessel found. Restoring Nicholas Noblefrost to original Vessel, appearance selection to be skipped.]

Nick awoke, floating in a black void, with no presence and just messages in the air. He closed the prompts with a yawn after skimming them. Did he fall asleep while playing the new game?  This would hardly be the first time he fell asleep while playing, and his thoughts were muddled, feeling like he was startled awake in the middle of the night.

His race and appearance had been selected, stating something about using his current appearance. Nick sighed that he would be stuck being bald within the game, but the rest of himself certainly didn't bother him. 

Why would it do that, I thought I already did the character creation? He wondered, but he wasn’t given long to think about this because his consciousness then shifted.

The game moved him to the next stage, causing him to awaken–in absolute darkness. Only his need to breathe clued him into the fact that he wasn’t in some sort of loading screen or anything any longer. 

He felt around himself, finding him enclosed in an upright–box like construction. 

Nick pushed on the walls, strange glyphs lighting up within, until he found a tiny bit of give in front of him. Shoving harshly, the stone box opened, the lid falling to the ground with a loud clatter.

The room was lit, strange sconces giving off a dim, ethereal light. His new Archaen eyes could see perfectly with this alone, it seemed.

The room he was in was small and made of stone, and only had a single large, heavy door as an exit. Beside the stone box–he now realized it was some sort of sarcophagus, was a small wooden chest. 

This was really strange, to Nick. Rather than an MMO he was playing, this was like an intro for a single player adventure, like Final Scrolls, or maybe Elder Fantasy. Did he pick the wrong game? Even the menus seemed different now, now that he thought about it.  

Opening it, he found a small belted scabbard that didn't appear to match the size of the pommel. The pommel looked as if it were meant for an arming sword at least a meter long, but the scabbard was only a third of that at most.

He drew the blade to inspect it, and found it had some kind of magnetic clamp that helped hold it in place. It had a sort of crystal coming out of the end, in the place where a blade would normally be. The crystal had a prismatic shimmer that looked like magic, and Nick was amazed by the effect.

The strange gem called out to him, something stirring within him. He frowned as he ran his fingers along it.

[Race requirements met. Class requirements not met to wield Soul Blade. Must be: Soul Warden, Soul Knight, Soul Mage]

“What classes can I be, then? Damn, maybe I shouldn’t have skipped that tutorial.”

[Proficiencies detected. Racial, Magic, and Soul affinities detected.]

[Classes available: Warrior, Mage, Rogue, Hunter, Enchanter, Blacksmith, Knight, Paladin, Ranger,  … Soul Warden, Soul Knight, Soul Mage]

He saw dozens of classes he could choose from, finding that he had the required classes available at the end.

Nick read the information on the Soul Warden, quickly determining it sounded a lot like a tank class. He was definitely for being in the thick of a fight, but taking a beating was not his thing. 

Soul Mage appeared to be a caster class, but would make the blade mostly irrelevant. Nick did like to play caster classes from time to time, but when he read the Soul Knight description, he knew right away that it would be his choice.

[Archaen Soul Knight, Epic Class. +1 Body, +1 Soul per level.]

[The Archaen Soul Knight focuses on weaving soul into their Soul Blade attacks, in addition to powerful magics of the soul. Later levels unlock powerful Auras based on specialization. Starts with Soul Mend, Judgment, and Soul Blade Swordsmanship Abilities. Archaens are true masters of the soul among sentient races, and magics later include the ability to summon Soul Servants and create powerful Soul Pacts.]

The Soul Mage class choice didn't appear to include swordsmanship, the ability to heal, or the auras. It instead appeared to focus on a ranged Judgment ability, along with magic bolts that could be aspected into different elements. It could also raise the soul servants. 

Nick thought the Soul Knight felt like an odd combination of a paladin and a necromancer, and it sounded like a lot of fun.

Thanks to the many VRMMO's he played, Nick was extremely proficient as a swordsman. In the real world, his body was riddled with fatigue and weakness from chemotherapy, so earning skills in the game had felt quite rewarding to him. 

Something about being a swordsman had called out to him in games, even though it was a useless ability for him to have in real life.

Nick had placed in the top five in what was the equivalent of a national tournament with his skill in the sword alone, within the most popular game at that time. He wasn't the best, but he was confident in his capabilities.

As he picked the Soul Knight class, an ethereal light filled his body. Something stirred in him, and it was like he knew how to cast magics of the soul. 

Nick now knew how to activate his Soul Blade, and cast the Soul Mend and Judgment. 

For Soul Mend, he only needed to will it. His blade was mostly the same. He looked over the description of his new item.

[Archaen Soul Blade. Rarity: Legendary.]
[No level requirement, scales with user. Lethality based on Soul Power.]
[Powered by the user’s soul and mana, the Archaen Soul Blade draws mana from the air and draws Essence from enemies when struck. It can hold a charge, and Intermediate users of Archaen Swordsmanship can release a burst of stored Essence once full. New features unlock as skill and soul power increases.]

Nick frowned. Getting a legendary, scaling weapon out of the gate was strange. It felt like a pre-order bonus of some kind, but he certainly didn’t remember doing anything like that.

Shrugging, he did his best to feel the mana in the room, the action somewhat familiar to him from various games. Something about it felt a bit different this time, though.

He drew it into his new weapon as he shoved the power of his soul into it. He hardly knew what he was doing, but like a spark starting a fire, the crystal ignited as he held the pommel upright in front of him. 

A blade of blue-green light grew out of the crystal, starting from the pommel. It wasn’t exactly like a certain space wizard franchise, but it was close. The blade was definitely shaped more like the blade of a long sword, sharper somehow on the edges, but still blurry and indistinct.

But Nick somehow knew that if he hit something with the flat of the blade like a baseball bat, it could still cut through things if his soul power was stronger than the material’s toughness. He was weaving both mana and his soul into the blade, and while he wasn’t sure if almost 5 soul power was a lot, his sword of light felt powerful to his senses.

It was well-balanced, the pommel having a proper cross guard. The crystal and guard was heavier than it looked, the blade feeling a lot like a decent long sword, but still lighter overall.

He took some practice swings, getting a feel for the weapon and his new body within the game. Nick was amazed at how lean and flexible his body was, as well as his agility. In other games, this kind of speed was reserved for higher level characters. 

Even his wrist was flexible and strong, and this was a bigger deal than most people knew. Blade alignment was paramount for powerful, effective cuts on moving targets, and he could flow through several swings in quick succession.

He strode forward, finding his legs sprung through his movements rapidly and surely. Nick found his balance and grace abnormal, reminding him of an elven swordsman. Something strange happened, though–he noticed his hair dancing in his peripheral.

Running his hand through his long, white hair, he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on, as the message he read said something about taking his appearance. The hair was long enough that it would actually annoy him–getting in his vision as he moved. 

He cut some cloth from his shirt in a strip, his soul blade being more than sharp enough, and tied it up behind him. Nick didn’t like it, but he’d go with a ponytail until he could figure out where to get a haircut. 

A long sword on a back or shoulder scabbard would be a poor choice, but he found the belt holding the scabbard was, in fact, designed to be worn over his shoulder. Deactivating the soul blade, he went through the steps to strap himself up. 

Testing a few draws, he found it was effective thanks to the idea that it was bladeless until he filled it with the power of his soul.

He pushed on the door to leave the chamber, but found it didn’t budge. Feeling around the door, some scripts eventually lit up. To his surprise, it looked like he left a magical handprint on the door before sliding open. Walking out, the door quickly slid closed behind him.

Looking around, he found himself in dimly lit corridors made of stone. It definitely felt like a strange crypt. He began to wander around the hallways, expecting an enemy to pop out at any moment. Aside from some strange, red-furred rats, there was nothing of interest.

The rats took no interest in Nick, so he took no interest in them. He did want to try out his blade, but fighting a simple, oversized rat was not overly exciting for him.

It was a winding labyrinth of corridors, filled with dead ends. He ended up doubling back more than once, finding the same door he exited. Wandering around for a time, he eventually got irritated.

“Ah, hell nah. Why’s there no map in this game? This is terrible.”

He drew his soul blade, its light illuminating the corridor further. He lashed out at the nearest rat, severing it in two. It screeched as its life ended, and dozens of eyes turned toward him all at once.

“Oh, shit.”

After wandering around for more than ten minutes, Nick almost welcomed the challenge. However, he knew that fighting swarms of enemies as a swordsman was difficult. Non-humanoid opponents required an entirely different fighting style in comparison to fighting armed humans with weapons, and swarms of enemies were different still.

He could tell by how fast they ran at him that running was not a great option. It might even attract new enemies as they chased him down the maze. Thus, he took his stance low to the ground and dashed at the nearest rat.

He gave a thrust straight through one before it could even leap at him, then easily swung his blade to the side, cutting another in half. The first one nearly disintegrated around his blade, something being absorbed like an odd smoke as it was pierced by his blade of light.

One leaped at him from his right, but thanks to his strong, flexible wrist, his blade made its return swing and sliced that one in half with a powerful arc as well. 

Somehow, he could feel the other rats approaching him, from all sides. Perhaps it was his ability to sense mana, but something appeared to allow him to detect them within around ten meters or so, it appeared. 

Thanks to that, he leaped to the right as one tried to jump on his back, spinning and slicing it and the next.

Many were almost upon him now, and Nick became a whirling dervish of blades–and elbows and knees. The best way Nick would describe how he fought beasts with a blade was simple: he became a beast.

His upper body swayed back and forth as his feet danced, and his blade lashed out with speed and ferocity. Blood splattered on his tattered, washed-out clothing as each swing of his blade ended one, sometimes two, rat’s lives. 

Elbows and knees knocked rats aside and into each other, as his blade flowed from one enemy to the next, until eventually, few rats were left.

“Ah, fuck!”

A rat managed to bite his ankle, its claws tearing into his flesh as well. Pain radiated from that spot, shocking him until he lashed out with his blade and killed it. Feeling one was still alive with his soul sense, he finished off the last one with a stab, its pained squeaks a result of a powerful elbow earlier.

“Damn, that really hurt. What the fuck? Where’s that pain slider.”

Of course, pain was common in VRMMO’s. But the pain was mostly reduced or numbed to where it hardly took away from the enjoyment of the game. The rat’s bite certainly was far above that. 

Nick was no wuss, but he still found it hard to believe that there was no way to reduce that pain. 

Just who would play a game like that? He was really glad he didn’t take that warden class now.

Before he could think more on it, he noticed something strange. From the enemies he killed, some odd light was released from their corpses. Some were floating around and into his blade, but other lights began gathering around him.

They gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, as they sort of floated around him. 

He tried to will the lights to go into him, but that didn’t appear to work at all. Some actually sloughed off him as he moved, almost dissipating into the air.

“What is this, experience? C’mon already. Go in.”

He tried gathering them up in both his hands and fanning them into himself as he stood in the lights, like some kind of sweaty tourist in the Florida heat. 

It almost appeared to help, but he just shrugged. He couldn’t even find an experience indicator. It felt like he was getting something out of them, but he knew he was only absorbing a tiny percentage of them with each passing moment.

Nick decided to move on. Like a walking light-show, he continued down the tunnel, in a new direction this time. 

However, it turned out that the rats now had a personal vendetta against him. He supposed he had tons of their brethren’s blood on him, but their aggro radius was ridiculous. 

Nick had tons of lights gathering around him, but they would start charging him from over a hundred meters away, their squeaks and screeches of hatred echoing off the crypt walls.

He fought through corridor after corridor of the rats, and while each one individually didn’t pose a challenge, there were swarms of them larger than the first. Several bite wounds eventually joined the first, and Nick was getting more than a little pissed off.

He tried using [Soul Mend], but found it was meant for healing wounds of the soul. Still, it appeared to have some sort of effect on his body, and he wasn’t sure why. He looked at the spell description.

[Spell: Soul Mend]
[Mana Cost: Moderate]
[Range: Touch]
[School: Soul]
[Heal damage to the soul, by infusing the spirit with a combination of soul power and mana. Because Body, Mind, and Soul are intrinsically linked, provides minor benefit to healing the body and mind.]

Then, he tried to use [Judgment], but found that the rats weren’t considered sentient or evil, and couldn’t be used. 

“What! How are these things not evil? What did I ever do to them? Well, besides killing one unprovoked.” 

Something within his Soul Blade was building up, and he realized it must be the [Essence Burst] ability. He wasn’t sure how long he could charge it, but his blade was even brighter now, having killed well over a hundred of the rats by this point.

He rounded the corner, and he nearly fell over himself at the sight. A swarm of possibly hundreds of the rats was heading his way, some even scrabbling along the walls to even fit in their murderous charge. 

Nick immediately turned the other way, running down another fork. He arrived in a larger chamber, with an ominous gate. As he got closer, he was filled with a strange feeling of dread. Somehow, he felt like going inside could actually be worse than his current predicament, so he went down another path.

The rats were gaining on him at this point, but he thought he saw water in the next tunnel. Several rats barreled into him from an adjacent wall, causing him to slice and cut furiously, and he felt with dread the tide had caught up with him.

Left with no other option, he willed the Soul Blade to activate its ability, as he pointed his blade at the center of the incoming swarm.

All the mana and Essence in the stored blade, and a lot of the… whatever was floating around his body, converged into it. Like a cannon of light, a large beam was fired down the center of the narrow hallway. 

The rats in the center were almost instantly disintegrated, while those near the walls were cut in a shower of blood. Those hugging the walls were left unscathed, and angrily charging toward Nick still. A wave of the lights began converging on him, along with the rats.

He wasn’t sure how many rats remained at this point, but he felt like this amount wasn’t that much larger than some other groups that he had taken on, so he began his dance once more.

He growled almost like the beast he became, as he sliced, stabbed, spun, and jumped as he fought the swarm. Running up a wall, he somersaulted over several rats, kicking and elbowing rats away as his blade never stopped moving. 

Nick’s blood sang as he purged the creatures with his blade of light, the thrill of the battle hitting him like never before. He had always enjoyed a difficult challenge, but something was different this time–like his life depended on it.

Wounds added onto him, as he couldn’t protect his body perfectly in the narrow corridor. Rats scrabbled onto his back and bit him, but he was able to crush them against the wall. That, or using his blade of light combined with his flexibility and a flick of his wrist, he was capable of slicing through rats even on his back. 

The swarm came to an end, him cutting through nearly two hundred rats, he guessed. He now had at least a dozen wounds on his back, the little bastards often jumping down from the walls or ceiling to target that specific location, despite him never stopping spinning, jumping, or leaping.

Once again, the light converging on him was nearly blinding. He cast [Soul Mend] more than once, but he just felt weak and exhausted now. The angry wounds on his back seemed to close, the blood no longer seeping down his back. He was covered in rat blood, his hair somehow only having a few splatters on it. 

Nick did his best to wipe some off with the inside of his shirt, finding his ponytail at some point had gotten torn off.

 “Fucking gross. This game better be fucking good!”

He supposed that something about the game was in fact special. He truly felt like he was alive, with his blood pumping and the mysterious lights empowering him–and the feeling was kind of addictive. They seemed to heal him somewhat, besides.

Finding what appeared to be an exit, he began climbing what appeared to be a well. It was dark with what appeared to be moonlight, but he was his own light show as he climbed up the grimy walls. He would play this game just a little longer.