Lucian whipped out his holopad with one hand while rubbing at his nape with the other, still disconcerted by the lingering, tingling sensations neuro gears left behind even after having used various iterations for all these years.
14:12
Wednesday, 17th of Verdant Blades.
Quickly skimming over the notifications that had piled up during his 2+ hours in NAoC, he ignored all the spam and clicked into G@m3rs 4 Lyfe, surprised by the sheer number of messages—104 in all—that had accumulated.
An entertained smirk tugged at his lips as he quickly skimmed, immediately noticing that all the messages had been sent right after he stopped checking the chat.
…
LLL 💖
- I’ll b entering naoc in darling’s apartment! [11:57].
I Am not-Rob
- Speaking of… anyone noe whr Iona & Lucian r at? Neither has messaged in the grpchat since ytd. [11:57].
♛ Seoyoon noona ♛
- @ Jonathan (Doe) Smith I’m going to be playing from home. [11:57].
- Cyan’s probably at the princess’s house. I wouldn’t put it past her to ask him on the sly. [11:58].
Jonathan (Doe) Smith
- So that’s most of us accounted for. I’m going to assume what @♛ Seoyoon noona ♛ says is true, since it looks like @TwIlIght, @Fr❄️sty 4 Lyfe aren’t replying…? [11:58].
…
LLL 💖
- T-Minus 1 minute to launch bitches 🎆🎆🎆!!! [11:59].
LLL 👑
- Language darling. [11:59].
I Am not-Rob
- Wait a min. Aren’t the 2 of u at Leon’s hse rn? [11:59].
LLL 💖
- Yep! Why? [11:59].
LLL 👑
- Yes? [11:59].
I Am not-Rob
- Thn y in the Abyss r the 2 of u talking to each other in the grpchat? [11:59].
LLL 💖
- Kekeke single dawg jelly? [11:59].
…
A question from Iona pulled Lucian away from reading the rest of the messages.
He looked over, head tilted in confusion. “Sorry, you were saying?”
She raised an unimpressed eyebrow, but promptly repeated herself while gently waving at the tightly shut door. “I will be right back. Do you want anything while I am gone?”
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks.” He refused, eyes going back to look over the last few messages yet to be read.
Iona nodded and hurried to the padded door, a soft grunt of exertion leaving her mouth as she strained visibly, eventually managing to pull it open before slipping out through the gap once enough of a one was created.
Quickly looking up at the sound, he smirked to himself, amused—even though he knew he really shouldn’t be—by her struggle – knowing physical strength was never one of Iona’s strong suits.
Looking back down at his holopad as the door fell shut, he finished skimming through all the messages in G@m3rs 4 Lyfe’s group chat. Just as he was about to power it off and slip the holopad back into his pocket, a never before seen notification flashed up onto the screen and got him to pause.
Installation of ‘New App of Champions’ complete.
Tapping on the push notification caused a beam of light to flash out, one that instantaneously coalesced into a hovering, hard light panel with several options on it and that looked no different from the ones’ he’d seen in-game.
Equinox | Item Exchange | Forum | C2G2C Exchange 🔒 | Settings
Before anything else, Lucian tapped on C2G2C Exchange, and was unsurprised when nothing happened. It should have been obvious with the little symbol tagged on, but there was no harm in trying it out, regardless.
Only then did he start musing over the new holo-app in and of itself. He was 100% sure he hadn’t downloaded anything of the sort prior to entering NAoC, meaning that it had been done completely autonomously… which, was part-concerning, part-enlightening, and a whole lot of annoying.
Under normal circumstances, he would be very concerned about an application downloading itself onto his holopad without his consent. Two things stopped the feeling from becoming anything more than fleeting, however.
One, it was absolutely impossible for holo-apps to get installed onto holopads without an owner’s say-so and, two, he had a more than likely suspect in mind as to the source for such a seemingly out of the blue installation.
Namely, the consent he had given just prior to character creation; even if it should, technically, only be for connecting the neuro gear to his holopad, and nothing more.
Lucian’s finger hovered over the four other options, thinking about which one to click on even as he blindly shuffled backwards and sunk back into the yielding, cold embrace of the starry night sky beanbag. After some thought, he clicked on his in-game moniker, wanting to see what would show up after doing so.
He flinched back involuntarily, sinking deeper into the beanbag’s embrace, as a beam of red light shot out from his holopad before scanning him from head to toe and then retracting, familiar words and numbers unfolding on the hovering hard light panel immediately thereafter
Equinox | Mid G-rank
Physique: 6
Strength: 1 | Dexterity: 2 | Perception: 1
―
5-point Foundation
Parietal Lobe (Primary): Gem of Illusion | Mana | G+ 🔒.
Glabella (Secondary): -
Prominens (Secondary): -
Chest (Tertiary): -
Dantian (Tertiary): -
―
Traits: None
Bloodline: None
Nothing happened after tapping on the panel. Seeing no point in lingering on information known to him, he closed it with a sharp swipe, causing it to instantly revert and display the initial five options.
He tapped into each one, one after the other, but mostly received disappointment for his efforts. Though the item exchange was clickable, bright red lettering proclaiming it as offline, for now, dispelled any hopes of perusing through potential items on offer.
In stark contrast, the forums were chock-full of posts from other players. Unfortunately, a large majority were a hair’s breadth from being useless drivel, full to the bursting with adulations about the New Age of Champions’ seamless transition from reality to game and nothing more substantive.
Last but fortunately not least, tapping into the settings gave him a pleasant surprise. Unlike the initial interface’s succinctness, the last tab was… extensive, to say the lease. From matters of privacy to togglable, on/off notifications and even customisation of one’s profile picture, it looked like all the holo-app’s wordiness had been reserved for the settings.
Lucian quickly went through all the listed options, changing things to suit his taste whenever and wherever necessary. It didn’t take him too long. Just as he paused, musing over what sort of picture to use for his future, and likely inevitable forum posts, the entertainment room’s door swung open slowly, Iona slipping in after a moment.
He quickly glanced at the time. 14:32. “That took you quite a while.”
“I bumped into Nix-nii on the way back. He came home from his… friend’s place earlier than I expected.” She explained, settling back down into her beanbag’s embrace as she did. “From what oniisan said, his experience in the New Age of Champions matched ours.”
Scooting around while letting the picture remain as a default one, he turned to face her, brow arched in curiosity. “He didn’t appear in Golden Trees Village as well, did he?”
She readjusted herself gracefully until she faced him directly. “No, certainly not. He and his bunch of reprobates started in an unnamed, snowy village located with an area known as the Frostbite Valleys.”
Putting away his holopad and reaching forward carefully, he avoided his neuro gear and snagged up his cold cup of matcha from the table, making a face when bitter, cool liquid slid over his tastebuds. “Phoenix must absolutely hate that.”
She giggled, malicious notes tinting the normally charming sound. “He absolutely does. Unfortunately for oniisan, he has no recourse except to live with it.”
Intimately familiar with that particular tone of voice and knowing it meant nothing good, he backed away imperceptibly. “Did… he mess with you or something just now?”
At his hesitantly worded question, she straightened up abruptly, as if a shot of pure, undiluted caffeine had been injected straight into her bloodstream; pale-blue eyes having darkened noticeably, akin to raging storms stirring up turbulent waves.
“Oniisan,” and this time, he heard the agitation practically dripping from the single word, “Thought it would be a fantastic idea to mess up my hair.”
Lucian winced, preparing himself as Iona exploded into a long rant about the travesty. This… was going to take a while.
Lucian knew for a fact that, whenever his childhood friend was in one of her rare fits of pique, it was best to just sit back quietly, offer up a listening ear, and patiently wait for Iona to tire herself out.
As always, he was proven right in his assessment.
Once she was done, the two had agreed to re-enter the New Age of Champions once the clock struck 4:30pm, and no sooner; certain that night would have given way to day by that point.
After that, the pair meandered between short bursts of chatter and long stretches of comfortable silences, content to while the time away.
And so, in what felt like no time at all, more than an hour slipped by like grains of sand through the gaps between one’s fingers.
……
“Shall we get back to the game?” Lucian asked, after briefly glancing at the time. 16:29.
Iona stirred, opening her eyes. “Okay.”
Without a further word, she redonned her neuro gear, picking it up from its place resting next to his on the end table he had dragged over hours ago. Copying her actions, he donned his own set in short order. Once it was securely in place, the same voice as hours before streamed into his ears.
Connect to the New Age of Champions?
“Yes.” Even as blackness flooded in from the edges of his vision, he spotted Iona slumping back bonelessly, an identical affirmative leaving her lips…
…Only for the bright sunlight of dawn to assail his eyes a moment later, both his legs suddenly going numb while an irritating crick bloomed in his neck, catching him completely off guard.
Sliding off the bed and up onto his feet, he was forced to catch himself on the tavern’s windowsill as he stumbled, pins and needles erupting all across his legs’ length. Just as he was doing so, a soft body slammed into him, nearly causing him to unbalance and topple over if not for his firm grip on scarred wood.
Looking down at Wyntir’s head of braided, silver-streaked, snowy hair, Equinox asked, “Any reason in particular that you’re using me as an object to lean on?”
She looked up, not even pretending to relinquish her hold, faux innocent, upturned curl to her lips. “My hero~.”
He rolled his eyes while straightening up, pins and needles having abated significantly. “That wasn’t an answer to my question.”
Straightening up as he did, the partial silverette slid her hands down from his shoulder, immediately coming to a stop once she had a comfortable grip around his left forearm, silence her only response all throughout.
Glancing down and guessing Wyntir had no intention of letting go of him anytime soon, he decided not to pursue the issue and pushed away from the windowsill, scooping up his discarded satchel after a single, long stride. Instead of strapping it across his torso like before, he stored it away in his spatial pouch, wondering, at the back of his mind, why he hadn’t done so earlier.
All throughout, Wyntir gripped his arm, a silent companion content to follow along.
“You gonna let go anytime soon?” Equinox asked, once he had looked over the room and saw her satchel, discarded on her own bed like his own.
She squeezed his arm in response then let go, couple of small, quick steps taking her to her own bed before her discarded satchel disappeared after her small hand slipped into a pocket.
Peering out of the glass windows and seeing that the Sun was only just peeking above the glittering treeline, he turned away and purposefully strode towards the door, waiting for Wyntir to unlock it even as he tossed a comment her way.
“Shall we go get some instruction at the militia’s training grounds?”
“Sure~!” With that said, the partial silverette squeezed past, sliding in between his frame and the bed, inserting the brass key into the lock before unlocking it with a soft but clearly audible click.
