Chapter 1- Gods' meddlings and new beginnings

She woke up excited this one morning (for once). Yep, Alya finally had a capsule for playing Tales of fate, the first as well as one and only VRMMORPG. A real feat of modern engineering, the pinnacle of science: virtual reality. Yada yada. Somehow it pushed through the countries administrative tapes in record time and was launched 1 month ago simultaneously across the world. There must have been serious money and connections involved … and yet, as far as the world could tell, nobody had ever heard of “SITUM corporation” (sole creator and distributor of this new wonder) until the launch. Mysterious! But she only cared about the result, aka the virtual reality that went from nonexistent (oculus rift does not count) to 99.99% realistic. Oh my. Lucky…..isn’t it….. ?

VR…… Who could have though that it would ever be available in her lifetime? Certainly not her. There may have been HUDS and AIs, but this was a whole another level of technology. And yet here it was, a new world ripe for the taking. The possibilities were endless, and it would become what them, the users, free of law and morals, were gonna make of it.

Now, why did she only get it one month later? Because there was a quota of one capsule per family for the first month (something about demand and offer), and her adorable (not!) younger brother, the golden child of the family that could do no wrong in the eyes of his peers …. lied to her and sneakily applied first. Dayum. So here she was, 31 days later, ready for her jump into the unknown!

Sure, one had to be at least 8 to be allowed to play, and there were age blocks for certain contents (ah, administrative tape, you won this round!), but they were free to do what they never would in real life. Moreover anonymity was possible through the appearance changes. Anything and everything was possible. Oh yes!

Our troubled young woman decided that she was going be 100% herself in there. No mask, no restrictions, no fear of consequences. She would be true to herself ….and if it was to spread her wings through the crimson path of blood, then so be it. You play to enjoy yourself don’t you? Then let her…. too.

Yes, she felt kinda violent lately. Well, no need to worry, because playing would allow her to let some steam off.

And so…. she would rampage, satisfying her thirst for violence, feeding the chained monster, the void eating her up. The Chaos! Oh yes, here she came, Tales of fate.

On the other hand, she also wondered what the other users would do. They were all so… repressed here. Values, morals, rules, … yada yada yada. So …boring. With this free ticket to a new world, would they all unleash their inner monsters? (Why yes, everybody has an inner monster, don’t they? No? oh…) It was gonna be interesting. She grinned.

First, she had to register. She happily entered her new capsule and activated the game. Darkness took her.

Welcome to Tales of Fate, the scan on your soul imprint has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you wish to create a new account?

Surprised, Alya looked around her. There was… well… nothing, in which she seemed to be floating. Quite disturbing. And….. scan on her soul? Really? The game developers certainly lacked common sense. Not really caring, she proceeded to answer the female voice

“Yes”

— Select the name of your avatar

“Kifirin.”

Alya had decided to choose a random name taken from a book read a few days ago. The name of a dark god. She though it quite fitting considering her intentions.

— Select your gender from male, female or neutral

“Female”

— Tales of Fate has a certain number of race races. You may select your race from the Basic nines or Mixed thirt…

“Human!”

- You may alter your appearance

“Hmm…. My hairs are short so make them longer…. Hip length. Yes! It’s very nice with my natural wave! I never had them so long IRL, too lazy… it requires a lot of hair care. Now for the color? Black. Make my eyes black too. And a bit bigger. Also…. I’m too tall with 1m80, make me 1m70. Flawless skin, ivory white. Yes! Well done. Now…. To preserve my anonymity… Hmm make my face a little rounder and give me bangs. She looked at her character. Nobody would recognize her, and she gave an interesting aura, quite otherworldly with the black hairs and ivory skin clashing.

Happy with the changes she decided to apply the settings “That’s it, conserve this appearance”

— Your account has been activated. Your stats shall be determined while you are playing Tales of Fate. You may choose a class whenever you find the right opportunity. Your profession shall be chosen for you by Systra when the time is right, so make sure to behave in a way …

“Pass!”

— Select a city and kingdom you want to start…

“The City of Heimlin, Strategos Empire!”

— Welcome to Tales of…

“Pass!”

A red flash seared her retinas right after she found herself standing…. Somewhere. She couldn’t tell, blind as she was. *Argh! My eyes! This hurts! It has better not happen every time I connect! ….hum… soooo….. let’s not act like a pansy shall we? This is nothing. Yeah. But I don’t fancy pain* rambled Kifirin

Ding!

Then she rambled some more while falling on her ass. The ground was trembling. Hard. *Is this an earthquake? Why the hell did I connect into the middle of an earthquake? No wait…. Am I gonna die? Seconds after my first connection? This….. this would have to be a record right?* The panicked Kifirin rapidly took on a fetal position in the hope it would spare her from a miserable first death. Then she changed her mind. If she was going to die, then she would do it with style!

Not so far away, a man was laughing. His every laugh coincided with the earthquake that was trying to level up Heimlin. He radiated happiness, and wonder. His laugh, for once, was not of madness, but of joy.

The capital was shaking. Never had such tremors been felt from the earth. Players as well as NPC ran together for cover, for their lives, as they feared that they’d be crushed if anything fell down.

Kifirin opened one eye, then another. She was alive. Good. And apparently in one piece too as she seemed to be able to stand up (after the third try, mind you. The ground was moving quite a lot). Shakily, she began dusting off her beginner garb. While she finally took in the sight of the city she landed in, a look of wonder befitting a little child appeared on her face. Everything was … well… moving. But also so real! She could feel everything. Hearing, sight, touch, smell and even …taste, as she could testify thanks to the dust permeating her mouth. Laughing happily, she began dancing for the hell of it, all the while maintaining a precarious balance.

It was neither graceful nor beautiful, but it was powerful, her lone figure moving in rhythm among the tremors of the earth, while everybody else cowered in fear.

Ding!

Around her, the nearest structures stayed still, all in one piece as if they had been graced with divine protection, thus witnessing the fall of their neighbors throughout the city. A collective sigh escaped the mouth of –almost- every single being left alive in the city as the earthquake ceased. Deaths numbered in the thousands.

As the ground stopped to shake, an unconcerned Kifirin opened up the window that had somehow appeared at the beginning of the earthquake.

System notice: Awakening completed

Because of your true nature seeping through and coming to the attention of the concerned authority, your race and class have been forcefully changed. Base skills have been learned that may be unlocked upon completion of the job requirements. You may not delete them.

*Huh. That’s strange. What is this about my true nature? And since when could the GMs forcefully change your race and class upon arrival in the game? It’s not like I did anything to warrant it. Oh! Wait… the dance! Was it because of the dance? …. No… I heard the notice before getting up. After the red flash tough. Oh well, what’s done is done, let’s just see what it is*

Curious, Kifirin asked for her status window

“………. Munya?”

A flabbergasted Kifirin looked at her status window. Nevermind her class and race being mighty strange, what really got her looking was her overpowered stats. They were simply monstrous. And let’s not talk about the skills. What the hell? And why have a skill she could not unlock? She felt like….. well…. like a cheat. She looked up her stats again. And then she laughed. Hard.

*Eheh this game is going to be fun. Stats are hard to raise, so these OP stats are a godsend. When I finish the physical and intellectual basic trainings, I will be well above the normal stats. And I will enjoy myself… PKing!!*

Alya had obviously not wasted her month of waiting, gathering as much information as possible on the game, and had prepared a plan to start off with as much advantages as possible.

And so off she went, lightly jumping over fallen bodies and moaning persons, to the library.

[Forcefully Equipped ]Title: #1 oddball of the earthquake

For an unprecedented feat of…. uh….. courage? You are awarded with this title

When the great earthquake hit the capital of Strategos Empire you did not cower like your peers, but decided to dance on the earth tremor’s rhythm, with madness as your tempo and guts as your conductor.

- Agility : +20

- Stamina: +10

- Fighting spirit: +50

- Charisma: +10

- Luck : +5

Whenever you are within 30 m of oddball #2, the stats given by this title shall be doubled

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Ankara’s POV

Ankara, a not so squishy mage was resting alone against the fountain, letting the sounds of falling water soothe her.

She loved water. Thus she was specializing in water to become an ice mage, and had obviously taken up fishing. It was resting as well as good for water affinity and HP.

Thanks to her hard work, at lvl 66 she was possibly one of the best leveled up mage, even going as far as to completing the 2 basic trainings (Contrary to her idiotic brethren, she had not used power leveling to trump her lack of HP and stats).

Anyways, all went well in her little world, with her minding her own business and all, when a mighty red glow fried her eyeballs. Rapidly gulping a health potion to recover her eyesight, she zeroed in toward the source of the health hazard, set on giving it a piece of her mind.

And then she stopped on her tracks, unable to even breathe

A girl was glowing orange-red (not the scorching red that destroyed her eyes, thanks Loki for small favors), her whole body giving off the glow, as if illuminated from inside. Her eyes were balls of fire, and yet they exuded a darkness like no other as they gazed into nothingness. Her hairs, filaments of fire were framing her face, giving her a regal look. Great wings of fiery red burning feathers graced her back.

Her clothes were MIA. *Oooooh god what a beauty…. Such a defined body…. If I wasn’t straight…. I would eat her up! And these little boobs? So cuuuuuuute!* Though the witch while ogling Kifirin, her revenge forgotten before the sheer magnificence of the glowing lady. *Aaaaah my perfect, perfect beauty!*

What she did not notice was the fact that while there were not a lot of persons near the fountain, they were still a few, and yet none of them even spared a glance at the freak show going on near them.

All these random strangers ever felt was an undefined, and very strong sudden sexual heat. They proceeded to leave as fast as possible in order to seek a much needed release. Not that they found any, with the earthquake, thus earning themselves the lovely titles of ~Turned on earthquake freak #n~. They came with nice stats though (Every earned title is forcibly equipped for the 48 hours played following acquisition of said title).

The girl ceased glowing and fell down her ass, magically clothed, thus depriving Kara from the vision of heaven she had witnessed.

Ding!

The desperate mage waved away the system notice without bothering to look at it, headed straight to the fountain, and began using the water manipulation skill to shape the body of her queen out of water and mana. Then the earthquake began in earnest.

She did not notice it, concentrated as she was on the outline of her water sculpture.

As a matter of fact, she noticed nothing at all until the completion of her personal masterpiece. It took her a while, and depleted almost all of her stamina as well as her mana, but she happily registered the result as a subspell of the water manipulation skill. It made it possible for her to summon the water sculpture whenever she felt like gazing on its radiance.

Ding!

Then she rapidly turned back to the place her goddess had sat (ehem… fallen), very surprised at the background of destruction that met her, surprise soon followed by agony at the disappearance of Kifirin.

It was her own damn fault she lost her! She should not have let her out of her sight, even if it was to save her beauty for the posterity. Yes, a great step for humanity indeed, but none at all for herself.

Her misery skyrocketed when she remembered that she never saw the human face of her goddess, and realized she had absolutely no way to find her.

Dismayed, she opened her system notices

[Forcefully Equipped ]Title: #2 oddball of the earthquake

For an unprecedented feat of…. uh….. concentration? You are awarded with this title

When the great earthquake hit the capital of Strategos Empire, you did not cower like your peers, but decided to replicate the (naked) body of X (oddball #1) with water by using mana. Sadly, your art is only temporary and will quickly be evaporated by the sun (thanks the Sacreds for small favors!)

- Intellect: +20

- Wisdom: +10

- Fighting spirit: +50

- Focus: +10

- Luck: +5

Whenever you are within 30 m of oddball #1, the stats given by this title shall be doubled

“………”

*Earthquake? Really? I felt…… well…. nothing. No wait. It was a GREAT earthquake. Ah. That’s what made my goddess stumble. I guess she did not expect it.. But….. really? There is almost no destruction here. Farther though…. Hmm…. The goddess mush have protected me* she though, smiling. She was also happy at the received title *Nice stats! Woot!*, even though she did not really understand why her actions qualified her as an oddball.

System notice: As a lvl 66 chaotic aligned person present at the awakening of the personification of chaos, your class has been forcefully changed. Said change is permanent.

Your are also the new owner of an evolving soulstone

Ps: Witnessing such an event can scar a mind deeply [Hidden status effects]. You should get yourself checked out by archmage Olivia. Better be safe than sorry. Really. And I mean, REALLY!

Titriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

*** Interference -> Because of ###### your race has also been changed. Beware, you are the last of your kind.

“HA!” shouted Ankara “Personification of chaos eh? I WILL find you, my precious……. Oddball #1!” Grinning like a mad woman, she reread the system notice. Her smile splintered at the edges. And then it shattered. *forced class and race? But… but…. No! My char is perfect as it is! Shit shit shit* (Ps? What Ps?)

A little bit scared, Ankara proceeded to open her status ans skills window.

*Holy Shit*

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Vanhart’s POV

Vanhart was exalted. Finally. He did it. He finished the hidden quest for the alchemy skill. It had taken him months. He had almost given up twice because of the lvl of difficulty and the sheer amount of efforts needed…. But he did not! He would be the first player to get the sought-after skill, and probably one of the few mad enough to complete the quest entirely. Laughing he handed in said quest.

Ding!

Skill : Alchemy [beginner 1 – 0%] has been obtained

You can make potions and slaves out of everything you may get your hands on

Ding!

Message from : Azraphaël, Sacred of Order

Hello

Because of a typing mistake (on purpose?) made by Loki at the creation of the skill, “salves” has been replaced by “slaves” in your skill description. The mistake has now been corrected but you as you are the first to get the skill, and thus the only one to get the unedited description, it still applies to you.

The right modifications have been made to your avatar in order for the skill to be active. As a result you have been sent back to level 1. Your stats (those not related to lvl up) and skills are untouched. You may complain about the changes to Loki. Please, do so.

As an apology for the bother occasioned, your main skill has been raised to true master.

Check your status window

Ps: I advise you to skip out of town. Fast.

Bright Lord

“….. ” Van sweat dropped. As a priest he did not really mind losing 3 levels, but…… he had a bad feeling about this one. A really bad feeling. “Status Window!”

*Oh boy*

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