[F01-SP]A Ghost In The Game

[Yuurei 0]

Sweat dribbled into the girl’s palms and down her forehead. She tuned everything around her out - the panicked screams of her fellow captives. Fear was not ailing her, but she would never let it show that she was actually nervous. Although the debate of suicide was fresh in her mind, she was not going to throw her life down the drain because someone forced her too. No, she would collect herself and work down the path. If it was kill or be killed, so be it. 

She patted down her body, noticing her previous, what they all called, avatar had disappeared. A quick look in a window showed she was of her own appearance. Most here seemed disconcerted about this(Perhaps because most of the cute girls had become odd men of various ages) but Yuurei was hardly bothered. No one here knew her, and she would likely avoid most people anyways. Right now, her goal was to learn how this ‘RPG’ thing worked. She set off to find a place that might have some helpful information.

[Yuurei 0]

An hour passes by in the Town of Beginning Yuurei learned it was called. People were still panicking, the thought of death consumed them rapidly it seemed, even though every second they live they're getting closer to it, here or in the real world. Others, including her, that were much more composed seemed to have either begun on their way outside the town, or were scrounging for information like she. If they had all played this game before, one would think they would have at least some bravado under their belts.

Her luck paid off in the long run. She was beginning to think there was no ‘first timers help kiosk’ here, but then a man with a large backpack next to him and what seemed to a disorganized store set up on a blanket called her over. Perhaps he had something she could benefit from. It wouldn't hurt to investigate.

[Yuurei 0]

Yuurei’s first impression on the man was his girth. He was a rather robust for all that extra weight though, full of energy. He quickly stood up and talked in a loud, booming voice with a semi-thick accent whose origin she had trouble pinpointing.

“Aye ther’ Lass! Ya’ be lookin’ like one a dem’ tough one, no? Ya’ seem a tad lost though! Allow me to ‘elp ya’!” Before she could get a word in, he was reaching into his large bag to grab something.

“Oh, that’s good and all, Sir, but you see, I’m not necessarily ripe with affluence.” Yuurei replied disconcertingly.

“No worries, young Lass! This is on ‘te house!” With that last, and loud, statement he slapped a page-weighty book into her arms. “Off ya’ go now! I hope ya’ survive!”

She shoved off quickly. Kindness was a virtue, but she sucked when it came to social interaction and did her best to avoid it entirely. Yuurei found a quiet place to read, a fountain running with calming water, and opened the book.

[Yuurei 0]

This book happened to be a guide, not even to RPGs in general. This was a well made document from the beta testers that explains the fundamental of the game for new players like herself. She hit the digital jackpot. It explains how to open the menu for her stats - This took forever to figure out - and showed what kind of equipment she had. Her equipment slots were empty, it seems she had to equip them beforehand, lest she wish to go into battle unarmed. Her starting equipment included a standard saber and an iron breastplate, which she promptly switched into the ‘equipped’ state. Her equipment phased onto her body. That was simple enough.

Next it talked about stats, which really caught the noobie off guard. They were much more confusing than equipment, and she wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing. Before she did anything, though, this guide book was her bible.

[Yuurei 0]

Skill Points - The basic necessity of a gamer created to express experience gain. In other words, this [censored] is the tits. Yuurei pulled up the menu with the skills list in. It categorized all the available skills she could work towards. There was the basic ones, lit up a light blue, and then the others that were shaded out with a lock symbol next to it. Simple enough.

Weapon and Armors were all she could invest in right now it seemed. With that in mind, it would be a good idea to put what she had into her current weapons skill. Sliding back to the equipment screen to check the saber’s weapon type, Yuurei found it to be of the Curved Class. She pressed the Curved Weapon Skill five times then the ‘okay’ button. A prompt warned her she could not respec her points once she put them in. She had to look up that word. Once she figured it out, she clicked ‘yes’ to apply them. She now had Level 1 skill in Curved Weapons.

[Yuurei 0]

The rest of the basics in the ‘tutorial’ you could call it explained how to acquire SP through methods of killing ‘mobs’, which was game lingo for re-spawnable enemies, and quests which one could perform for rewards. If there was money involved Yuurei would be on it soon enough, but first, she had to figure out how combat would work in this game. She had never played a game like this before; she had definitely never held a weapon of any kind before. With that in mind, she checked through her book again. Combat was explained, the experience would be nice, but she should take it carefully in this world were the price of death is stressed much more boldly than in a normal game.

The explanation includes stats and a lot of numbers. It seems equipment is the best way to gain an advantage against her opponents along with leveling up altogether. Being prepared was something Yuurei found necessary, as should everyone else in this game. Equipment first - Experience second.