Bright and early the next morning, Isaac rose and ate a quick breakfast.
“Today’s already the second day of BRYZ being hacked, and still nothing but the “we’re working on it” comments from BRYZ officials.” Isaac scrolled through his phone languidly. “Well, as long as they’re taking their sweet time fixing things, I might as well live it up and get some adventuring done.”
“Talking to yourself again?” Celica yawned, entering the kitchen. “I mean, understandable. Nobody else’d tolerate you.”
“Oh, you’re a riot.” Isaac rolled his eyes, clearing his bowl and heading to his room. “Go choke on a cornflake.”
“God, I hope so,” she mumbled, pouring herself a bowl.
Back in his room, Isaac wasted no time shutting the blinds and turning off the light, slipping back into his bed before turning on his N-LiFe.
I figure I’ve got a week or two at best before they figure out how to reset everything, Isaac mused as he imputed his password. Time to make it a summer to remember!
Eagerly, he activated the sensual override, relinquishing his body to numbness as the N-LiFe began its boot-up. As his vision went black, Isaac shut his eyes, and relaxed.
Moments later, he was once again face-first in the scent of lavender. Rolling over, he blinked against the bright rays of sunlight filtering through the notched blind slats in his room.
I bet I logged in way before the others, Isaac thought to himself, opening the door to his room.
“There you are.”
Standing right in front of his doorway was Tenshi, staring straight ahead with unblinking eyes.
Isaac nearly screamed, stumbling backwards and dropping to the ground.
Tenshi lowered her gaze to him. “I was waiting for you, Isaac.” She walked towards him.
“Well, I can see that. But why the heck were you standing right in front of my doorway?!” Isaac asked, rising to his feet.
Tenshi tilted her head as if not understanding the question. “It seemed the most logical way to ensure I did not miss you as you logged in.”
“I won’t even start on the other, far less-creepy way you could’ve done that.” Isaac shook his head. “How long were you waiting for me, anyways?”
“Nine hours,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“What is wrong with you?” Isaac stared at her in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you were there all night? What, couldn’t you sleep?”
Tenshi blinked twice in thought before simply replying, “No, I could not sleep.”
“I can’t even tell if you’re kidding or not.” Isaac shook his head. “C’mon, let’s wait for Charles downstairs, like normal people do.”
Tenshi wordlessly followed him.
Below the bedrooms lay a small bar manned by the owner of the house, an unshaven older man wearing a faded bartender outfit and obvious hairpiece. The previous night, Isaac noted he had a habit of muttering unintelligible things under his breath as he worked.
“Found the rooms acceptable?” he asked the pair as they walked downstairs, phrasing it more as a statement than a question. “Best inn in town, this is,” he stated, polishing a glass all the while. “This being the first town and all, other inns only try to hold as many people as possible, going for quantity over quality. On the other hand, my rooms here are the comfiest you’ll find around.”
“He looks like he’s about to really start talking,” Isaac murmured to Tenshi. “Let’s leave now before we’re trapped.”
Tenshi didn’t reply, following along and leaving the barkeep muttering to himself as he polished another glass.
Out in the street, Isaac shaded his eyes against the bright sunlight.
“Should we walk around town while we wait for Charles?” he asked, turning to Tenshi, only to find she was nowhere in sight.
“What the hell…” he started. “She was here just a second ago!”
However, despite scanning the bustling cityscape in all directions, Isaac could see no sign of her.
“Okay, calm down,” Isaac muttered to himself, passing one hand over his eyes. “Think rationally. If I were Tenshi, where would I go?”
He paused for a moment. “Wait a second, I have absolutely no clue what goes on in her head. How am I supposed to predict where she’d go?”
He began to walk down the street, looking in store windows and down alleyways, trying to catch a glimpse of her. “Think Isaac, think!” he murmured, opening up his game menu. “I can probably use the friend locater to find her. If I recall correctly, the map shows waypoints for everyone on my friends list.” Opening his menu, Isaac was greeted with a blank list, empty save for Nor’s name.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid, I forgot to add those two to my friends list!” Isaac muttered under his breath. “How am I supposed to find her now? Actually, why did she suddenly run off on me, anyway?”
Running a hand agitatedly though his hair, Isaac turned around and found himself face to face with Tenshi.
“There was a cat,” she said, holding out a stray cradled in her arms, as if offering an explanation.
“You ran off without telling me…to catch that thing?” Isaac clenched his hands.
“There was a cat,” she repeated, unblinking.
Isaac put his head in his hands. “No, I heard you the first time,” he croaked, exasperated. “I have so many things I’d like to tell you right now, but first, let me add you to my friends list so next time you do something crazy, I can actually find you.”
Tenshi cocked her head, then opened her menu and sent an invite.
“Okay, that’s out of the way at least.” Isaac sighed, taking a deep breath and accepting the invite. “Now, first things first. Why did you randomly decide to chase that stray?”
She stared at him for a long period of time, before finally responding.
“It looked cold and hungry.”
“Please tell me there was some better reason behind this?” Isaac asked, his voice cracking a little.
After a pause, Tenshi responded. “It was cute?”
“That’s it, you’re putting that back where you found it!” Isaac yelled, reaching for the cat.
Tenshi leaped out of range, clutching the animal to her chest. “I gave the cat a name, therefore I must keep it.”
“That kind of logic doesn’t follow at all!” Isaac exclaimed, making another lunge. “I don’t even want to know what you named it!”
Tenshi dodged again. “Having said that in the rhetorical sense implies you wish for me to tell you its name. I named it Cat.”
“That’s not even a name!” Isaac retorted, preparing for a third lunge.
“I capitalized it,” Tenshi shot back, crouching into a ready position. “That clearly denotes it as a proper noun.”
“Geez, at least when you two abandon me, you don’t make yourselves hard to find,” a familiar voice called out from up the street.
The two turned to see Charles striding towards them, clad in and unbuttoned white shirt over a deckled tee and blue jeans.
Tenshi leapt back, did a roll and came up behind Charles, using him as a shield between herself and Isaac. “Isaac was attempting to steal my cat,” Tenshi accused, still hugging the stray.
“Hey now, picking on girls isn’t cool, bro,” Charles needled.
“That is so not what is going on here!” Isaac panted, out of breath from chasing after her. “She randomly decided to take in that stray! Talk some sense into her, would you, Charles?”
“Aw, let her keep it,” he returned, nonchalantly waving his hand. “It’s just a digital pet, that’s no big deal, right?”
“I give up!” Isaac sighed, throwing up his hands and moving to join the two. “Let’s…just get back to exploring already.”
“Now that’s the spirit!” Charles grinned, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and whistling a tune.
“Someone’s in a good mood today,” Isaac commented sarcastically. “You’re over yesterday’s heartbreak already?”
“A cool guy like me doesn't mope around for long,” Charles returned good-naturedly. “Every morning when I wake up, I look in the mirror and whisper “Good morning Charles, you sexy beast!” over and over until I’m feeling better. After starting my day with that kind of self-confidence, nothing can keep me down!”
“…That actually works?” Isaac raised an eyebrow.
“I swear by it!” Charles grinned. “Try it and see; double your confidence and self-worth in days, or your money back!”
“Not saying I’ll try it or anything…but I might have to write that down.” Isaac fumbled for his notebook.
“Go for it, man.” Charles gave him a thumbs up. "You'll feel ten feet tall!"
“On that subject, where is our first objective, meow?” Tenshi cut in, holding the cat in front of her face.
Ignoring her antics, Isaac turned and addressed Charles. “I figure at this rate, BRYZ will last at best a week or two, so we should play with that in mind. For now, why don’t we continue with our first goal of taking down a boss?”
“Sounds good to me!” Charles grinned, pumping his fist.
“Isaac, could it be…you do not like cats?” Tenshi asked, lowering the cat from her face. “Would it be better if I found a dog as well?”
“Please, just stick with a cat,” Isaac pleaded. “We look ridiculous enough as it is.”
“Acknowledged.” Tenshi nodded, petting the stray.
*******
As they approached the gate, Isaac turned to Charles. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you; How many of the citizens walking about are players? With the exceptions of the obvious NPCs like the shopkeepers and guards, I can’t tell the difference between which of the passersby are human or not, and I designed this place!”
“Easy; they’re all human, every one of them.” Charles waved his hand. “Excluding the obvious NPCs you mentioned, of course. Ever since our BRYZ and your Alveus got intertwined, the shattered remains of what used to be the giant BRYZ hub were transformed into cities and towns like this one. Spread throughout the lands, whoever remains in one of these towns can use all the normal BRYZ functions, such as internet searches, banking, e-mail, jobs, and whatnot just like normal. In fact, even a handful of the wall guards you’ve seen are probably civil servants of some sort, hired to pick off any monsters that venture too close and guard any travelling citizens.”
“What a cool idea!” Isaac exclaimed. “Those who want an adventure can have it, while the rest of the population goes about their lives as normal! I never thought of that!”
Charles paused, giving him a funny look. “What do you mean, you never thought of that? You built this world, didn’t you?”
Suddenly, shouts could be heard coming from the nearby gate, followed by the town bell ringing out an alarm. The trio looked up to see the gate closing, as a score of guards hurried to bar it with a thick oaken beam. Over the bells, another guard could be heard yelling out orders to the others. “Man the walls! We’re under attack!”
Almost as soon as the bells had begun to ring, the streets erupted into a maelstrom of panic, as players pushed and shoved each other, flooding into the nearest shop, hotel, or public building they could find.
“Why are they all heading inside?” Tenshi questioned.
“Game rules,” Isaac answered, opening his menu. “Players can only log out inside buildings in a town, otherwise their in-game body will be left behind for a period of time. I created that rule to prevent players from cheesing difficult situations by just logging out.”
“Fair, but also kind of a hassle if you ask me,” Charles shrugged, already equipping his armour. “So, I assume we’re going to help with the defenses?”
“Couldn’t hurt,” Isaac replied, pulling out his revolver and loading the bullet belt in, snapping the two magnetic ends of the chain together. “Still, I thought cities weren’t supposed to get attacked, Charles?”
“Actually, I just said that there hasn’t been a single recorded case yet.” He laughed grimly. “I guess we get to be the first.”
Isaac sighed, adjusting his gun belt. “Okay, we need a plan here. Tenshi and I can pick off enemies from the battlements, but what about you? The gates are barred, and it doesn’t look like you have any kind of ranged skills.”
“When the time comes, I’ll leap over the battlements and stem the enemy’s charge, single-handedly of course!” Charles boated, thrusting out his sword. “A hero knows no fear!”
“Or common sense, apparently,” Isaac shot. “There’s a fine line between courage and idiocy, doofus.”
“True, but a Hero can’t afford to know it!” Charles retorted, following up with a hearty laugh as he strolled up to the gate.
“Foolish,” Tenshi muttered, reaching into her hair for her rifle before following behind.
ns3.144.252.248da2
然後按「加至主畫面」