Chapter 1 - Xion Online

Genius can take many forms. Being unrivaled in some sort of sport or easily getting perfect scores in academics are just some of the more popular forms. It doesn’t even have to be something important. You could even be a genius in something many would consider boring or useless. But no matter what kind of talent you may get, it’s still better than being someone who is average at everything.

However, not all geniuses have it easy. For instance, if there is a prodigy who had no rival when it came to killing people, will most people admire said person? If there is a person who could read your mind just by looking at your facial expression, will anyone want to become friends with the person? The answer: No. Not all geniuses are celebrated; some are even shunned and labeled as creepy or mad.

This is the story of two siblings who were geniuses in their own way. The treatment they received in their life however was completely different. The brother was shunned by everyone for being different. The sister, on the other hand, was hailed as a genius for being special.

But this is not a story about jealousy or conflict between the siblings. This is an epic tale of their adventure together.

⧫

“****!!! Come on!!! What are these stupid drops!!!” Bathed in the white artificial light coming from several computer screens was a young man.

He slammed his fist onto the table.

“Ouch!! That hurts!!”

“...Brother… that’s why I said you should go to the gym.” his sister who was sitting beside him said while lazily swiping through the social media feeds on her phone.

“Gym?!! I’m not going to that den only the normies visit.”

“Hm… If you go, you might even land yourself a girlfriend…”

“Ha! Good try! But I don’t need a girlfriend. I already have you.”

“Ugh… Brother is such a sweet talker. I’m about to vomit.”

The young man: Yuu (meaning Gentleness). 19, virgin, unemployed, socially incompetent, video game addict. His little sister: Aika (meaning Love Song). 16, super-intelligent, capable, cute, popular, not really Yuu’s sister. The two of them were in a dark room. The room was— several meters in width and length— pretty spacious but due to multiple large computers, wires that snaked across the floor, empty bottles of energy drinks, and cup noodles, there was barely any space to even stretch.

“Oi little sister!! What day is it today?”

“Um... January 5th. The fifth day since you last slept.”

“What?!! I didn’t even get to visit the shrines for New Year!”

“...Stop with the BS brother… Not like you have even gone out of this room in two years.”

That was true. Yuu had not left the room since that day two years ago. Aika on the other hand was only inside the room because it was summer vacation. Even though she didn’t live with her brother for most of the year, she liked to crash at his place during the vacations.

Yuu pretended not to hear anything. Only the clicking sound of the mouse and keyboard answered Aika.

“Wait for a second, Aika!! Isn’t January fifth the day Xion Online is getting released?!!” Yuu suddenly shouted.

“You’re too loud brother... And yes it’s today... To be precise, the servers will open in two hours”

“Isn’t that very soon?! Why didn’t you remind me earlier?”

“...Dunno...You didn’t tell me to.”

“So is the stuff I ordered here?”

“Should be in front of the door.”

Xion Online was the first DMMORPG.in the world. DMMORPG stands for Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Diving was a new technology only invented a few years prior and Xion Online was the first MMO to implement it.

By using a nanocomputer network together with various intracranial sensors, diving allowed players to experience the game world as if they were really living inside.

In other words, it was the perfect game for socially incompetent game addicts like Yuu who were tired of reality.

Yuu had used a ridiculous amount of money to preorder two of the DIVE machines online. They were supposed to be delivered to him early morning on January 5th, the day when Xion Online was going live. And it was 5 PM now. In other words, the machines should have already arrived.

How does Yui have so much money despite being unemployed? It was all thanks to some connections he had made online.

He got up from his seat and stretched. His body was stiff and weak from the lack of proper food and exercise during the past couple of days.

“Well, I’ll just go grab them real quick.”

“Just go already… I already checked the security cameras. There’s no one around.”

“Fine.” It was his duty as a big brother to do this kind of manual labor. He started making his way across the room by stepping over empty drink cans and ramen cups. When he got to the door, he couldn’t help but check the security camera despite Aika’s assurance.

The machines are there! Okay... There really is no one outside.

He opened the door and grabbed one of the boxes. It was heavy. In fact, too heavy for him to lift alone. He slowly dragged it into the room.

After dragging in the second box, he slammed the door shut and heaved a sigh of relief.

“You don’t have to be that scared of meeting people, you know?” Aika’s voice came from behind him.

“Don’t scare me like that! I almost thought it was someone else..”

“Heh… as if anyone else would talk to you.”

“Why do you have to be so cruel to your big brother? Anyway, let’s set these guys up.”

Yuu grabbed a scissor and started opening the cardboards covering the DIVE machines. After tearing through several layers of styrofoam, the devices came into view. They were beautiful white machines big enough for Yuu to lie on.

“Charging cables… present… nutrient fluids… present… Network cables… present… No missing items.” The nutrient liquid was vital for people who wanted to play for a long time. The machine would automatically inject it into the player at regular intervals so eating became unnecessary. Needless to say, the device would also warn the player when it ran out of the nutrient liquid.

Yuu had enough liquid to last him one month. He had wanted more but the liquid was out of stock due to the sheer number of people wanting to play Xion Online.

Usually, the human brain would need rest but the DIVE machines also took care of that. Playing nonstop for days was not a problem with these machines. After connecting all the cables and inserting the cartridges of nutrient fluid, he opened the two machines to look inside.

There were luxurious leather beds inside. All Yuu had to do was sleep on this bed and close the lid of the machine to start diving.

He checked the clock on the wall.

“About two minutes remaining… What the… Did I spend that much time setting up this machine?”

“Are you done yet, brother?”

“Yea. You ready, Aika?” Yuu asked Aika as she was also going to play the game. She usually did not play games but she had also decided to ride the big wave known as Xion Online after some persistent persuasion by Yuu.

“Okay. Let’s get this over with. And cook me something after we play. I’m sick of eating cup noodles.”

“Sure. I’ll make something delicious.”

Yuu helped Aika get into her machine first. After making sure there were no problems, it was his turn.

He climbed into the other machine and pressed the button to start diving. He was nervous and excited at the same time.

Soon, darkness descended on him.

Yuu found himself in a large white space. There were no boundaries. Just endless space.

A message box and a keyboard appeared in thin air. He typed in the name he had been using in every other game.

Karna. It was also the name of a warrior in Indian mythology.

After that came the appearance customization. His body from the real world floated in front of him in mid-air. Black hair and black eyes. Even the face was the perfect replica of his real face, complete with his nasty-looking eyes. He wasn’t exactly ugly but he looked like a thug.

What the… Do I still have to look like my real self even in a game?!

He didn’t know why the game developers would implement such a rule. Wouldn’t it create privacy issues? After some consideration, he decided to make the avatar a bit taller and change the color of the irises to red.

Well, not exactly handsome but this will do.

Satisfied with the results, he pressed the confirmation button.

He suddenly found himself in midair.

“Whoa!!!” He was floating on the clouds. A breathtaking scene stretched out beneath him. Beautiful rivers, fields of wild grasses, thick swatches of a forest, and a red sun setting on the horizon.

So this is Xion Online, huh? It looks even more amazing than what they showed in the promotional video.

Then a countdown appeared.

100...99...98....

There was a huge list of cities available. Yuu chose the one he had already decided on with Aika ahead of time. Altean City in the Reneruth Kingdom. One of the awesome features of Xion Online was the sheer area of space that players could explore.

10...9...8…

....3...2...1...0...

⧫

At the same time. In a world far away from earth.

Birds were singing their love songs. The sound of water flowing along a stream added to the serenity of the place. Colorful flowers bloomed on lush green trees. It was a garden that would not look out of place even in heaven.

In the middle of this garden, a girl was staring at the surface of a pond. She had white wings on her back and a glowing halo several centimeters above her head.

Her skin was snow-white. Her hair and clothes were also pure white. Coupled with a stunning body and facial features, she was the very image of perfection. Even the scenery around her seemed bland compared to her beauty.

“It seems like the summoning was a success,” she spoke as she continued staring into the pond. Her voice was clear and soothing.

She smiled. It was a smile that could easily topple nations. “What will these heroes from the other world do? I can’t wait to find out.”