Chi and Neko

Background

The year 2022 was a groundbreaking landmark for the world of online gaming. It marked the year that the Virtual Multiplayer Online Systek (Virtu-MOS, or V-MOS) finally completed its last trial of development. Fundamentally, the V-MOS is a helmet designed to tap into human neural frequencies, allowing the brain impulses that cause movement and sensation in the real world to become just that in a virtual setting. A person wearing the V-MOS would be put into a kind of light sleep, which is necessary in order for the helmet to function properly and immerse one into the game. It was created by a team of researchers in Seoul, South Korea; they’ve told the public time and time again that they wished only to create a gaming experience that could reflect real life and teach younger kids how to interact with each other on a more personal level.

In response to the creation of the V-MOS, developers and computer engineers from around the world embarked on a race to create the very first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game).

In 2023, merely a year after the V-MOS headset was created, a game called “Kata Sempou Online” appeared in the headlines of a well-known magazine. According to the article, it was a player-vs.-computer swordsmanship VRMMORPG being developed by Swarzia & Co. and Tenmin Company, an Italian gaming company and a Chinese computer engineering corporation respectively. It seemed to be the only VRMMORPG anywhere near completion at the time. That article also called out to the gaming community, asking for the help of any ‘brave souls’ who were interested in becoming Beta Tester for them. At first, people were hesitant about joining the endeavor – virtual reality was uncharted territory as far as anyone was concerned. Skepticism grew rapidly. However, one month late, another article appeared in the same magazine. Apparently, a group of about ten young teenagers decided to take up the challenge of being Beta Testers. To the surprise of everyone else in the gaming community, these people gave only stellar reviews about the functionality and general appearance of Kata Sempou Online.

One month later, another article appeared. By that time, about four hundred people had become Beta Testers. Swarzia and Tenmin’s new VRMMORPG was becoming a hit.

In May of 2024, all Beta Testing ended. A total of one thousand Beta Testers were given a free V-MOS and a copy of Kata Sempou Online to take home with them.

In July of 2024, Swarzia and Tenmin created a special website explaining their creation and how to use the V-MOS. They gained a million hits in less than 24 hours.

In September of 2024, the website added a page where people could buy Kata Sempou Online. The only stipulation was that only 20,000 people could buy the game – according to several interviews, Swarzia and Tenmin had encountered financial problems that limited how many copies of the game could be made.
The game sold out in 20 days as the two companies only allowed one thousand games to be sold every 24 hours. By the time October rolled around, twenty-one thousand people were in possession of Kata Sempou Online, including the former Beta Testers.

March 20, 2025 was the release data for Kata Sempou Online. On that day, everyone with the game was able to log onto the world-wide server and begin their journey through fifty floors of monsters, NPCs, quests, etc.

There was only one little condition. When they logged into the game, they couldn't log out until someone won, and if they died in the game, they died in reality as well. It’s too bad the players had no knowledge of this.

For three years, the players of KSO struggled to beat all the floors and all the dungeon bosses. Out of the twenty-one thousand that came in, only nine-thousand managed to escape the grasp of KSO. When they all awakened, they realized how dangerous such a game could be. The Beta Testers traded their knowledge of the game with federal agencies in order to find out the locations of friends or lovers they had met whilst in KSO. The decision was unanimous across the globe: destroy the game completely.

The year is now 2040. A boy by the name of Damien Gladus has managed to find the only copy of Kata Sempou Online left in probably the entire world. Probably. Due to his curiosity, the young man dug out his V-MOS and is planning to enter a world of viruses and glitches, a virtual world that was never completely terminated. He is unaware of the history of the game, and is also unaware that the log out button was never restored.

Overview

Kata Sempou Online is a fighting-based VRMMORPG where players battle monsters and interact with other players/NPCs. There is little to no magic in KSO though the different types of weapons come with specialized skills and enhancements.

The main goal in KSO is to reach the 50th floor and beat the main boss, which essentially means that you win the game. Each floor has its own towns, NPCs, quests, monsters, bosses, and dungeons. You must beat one floor to be able to go to the next; once you beat a floor, you will always have access to the floor (meaning that if you are on floor 20, you have beaten all the bosses on the previous floors and will always have access to them).

However, there is a slight “problem” with KSO. During the last part of the production stage, Swarzia and Tenmin began to go bankrupt. In an effort to save themselves and the game, they sold off everything they owned related to the game to a man named Felix Nordin, the president of a PC gaming company located in Sweden.
With the game in his hands, the Swede changed some aspects of the game’s environment, making gameplay simpler, smoother, and more realistic. However, without telling anyone who bought the game, he took the “log out” feature out of the coding. No one knows that he has done this, and no one knows why he would ever do such a thing.

With this being the case, Nordin is forcing the players of KSO to beat the game before they can leave the game.

ChiNoMizuumi

Damien Artyom Gladus

I'm just a curious kid who somehow knocked on hell's door..

‡ People call me Damien or Dami.
‡ I am 19 years old.
‡ I am male.

‡ Who am I?;

To be honest, I've never had any special skills, at least academically. I'm not an honor student, and I'm certainly no genius. Though, if you put some computer code in front of me, I'm good to go.

Currently, I'm enrolled in a 5-year, American college program to earn a Masters in Computer Engineering.

I'm a simplistic kind of guy raised by simplistic Russian-immigrant parents.

NekoLen

Noah

"Hello, my name is Noah. And you are?".

‡ People call him Noah.
‡ He looks to be 22 years old.
‡ He is male.

‡ Who is Noah?;

His name is Noah. That's what he is known as in the game; no last name, nothing. He has white hair and red eyes, and he wears a black, hooded trench coat.

Noah has a shop on every floor, up to floor 49. He is sometimes shown as a high level cleric, and other times he is a knight or warrior. He talks of this as being a "Paladin", something that was written in the game's code, but never actually put into the release. There were plans on releasing different patches, where new roles would be available. This, of course never happened.

He speaks of the game as if it is real, but he doesn't seem to have a script or data like other NPCs. He interacts like other players, but he just seems... off. He doesn't seem to know of anything that happened after 2028.

He seems to know a lot more than he lets others know. He's a kind and helpful person, but, at times, he acts quite... strange. Is he a real person stranded for god knows how long in this virtual reality, or is he just a corrupted computer programme?

---------- Post added 01-07-2013 at 12:35 AM ----------

Boredom was sinking in faster than he expected. The house was completely empty, devoid of anything except for the furniture, some food in the fridge, and a note on the table that basically slapped Damien in the face. There was nothing for him to do on his first day back home other than torture himself, so he trudged back into the kitchen where the note was. With sluggish hands, the orangette picked up the paper and brought it up to his face.

Your father and I left for a trip around Europe. Don’t turn the house upside down.

Groaning in a mix of anger and frustration, Damien tossed the note into the garbage. “What a drag,” he murmured under his breath. “I come home from college, and this is what I get?” He growled lowly, plodding around the first floor with anvils for feet in an attempt to find something – anything – to do.

It seemed as though the young man’s parents had thrown out or moved all of the games they used to have, essentially removing any memories of his younger self. It only made the living room feel less alive. He was home, he was back where he belonged, and yet he felt nothing at all. If he was going to stay in this house for three months, the he was going to find some sentimental whatsits and get all sappy about his childhood. It was an odd thing to become determined to do, but that was the kind of person Damien was.

Against his wonderful parents’ wishes, Damien embarked on a mission to ravage the entire house, searching from top to bottom for anything of his childhood. Unfortunately, everything was… gone. His room was absolutely empty and seemed to be in the middle of some redecorating. The other room, his parents’ room, was still the minimalistic bore it always was.

Damien was becoming discouraged. Had they just trashed everything? No… there’s no way they would do that, he tried to justify.

There was one place left to look: the attic.

“Attack of the dust bunnies,” he snickered, pulling down the ladder that led upwards. Just as he predicted, a cloud of dust settled around his head, eliciting a coughing fit from the asthmatic. Once the cloud had dissipated, Damien made his way up to the dank attic, immediately letting out a boisterous hurrah.

Everything was right there! Albeit it was all in grimy boxes. Excited to see what mysteries lay in the boxes, Damien leaped into the first clump of cardboard boxes, opening them gingerly.

“…What’s this? A V-MOS?” The very first box had bestowed upon him an old Virtual Multiplayer Online Systek. He remembered when his older brother had bought the V-MOS. It was state-of-the-art at the time, though it was certainly a different story now. It seemed as though all the Systeks had been taken on the market and replaced with something similar, but not exactly the same.

Peeking into the very same box, Damien eyed a colorful game cartridge. The name on the package said ‘Kata Sempou Online: The First VRMMORPG.’

The first…?

A childish smile crept onto the teen’s face. There was no time to waste!

Those who didn’t know Damien personally could only call the scene that occurred next neurotic and crazy. In two hours, he managed to hook up an old (but powerful) desktop computer, reinstall the proper operating system, and configure the settings for the virtual helmet and KSO. He had a rough idea of what would happen once he put the helmet on: he’d be put into a light sleep during his time in the game, which would allow the helmet to function correctly.

With the headset securely on his head, the teenager laid down on the mattress he pulled into his once-empty room. Thus, with a click of a button, the game began.

It wasn’t really smooth sailing from there, however. The very first thing he encountered was a calibration screen filled with her measurements and such. He had no idea that the V-MOS was advanced enough to sense one’s body measurements. It was an interesting concept, but it was also very creepy. The other VRMMORPGs that had been developed did not care if you lied about your body type. Usually, they didn’t even have anything as detailed as this.

Pushing the feeling aside, Damien tried to reach out and press the accept button that was floating in front of him, but he couldn’t. His arm was stuck, attacked by a wave of static that rendered the right side of his body useless. I guess the game has been corrupted after all this time, he grumbled inwardly. It was either that or the game was made badly. He hoped it was the former. Bad coding pissed him off.

After a few minutes of yelling and some ridiculous arm-waving, the boy managed to get the script to work, and the static had ceased to bother him. At this point, he had hit the accept button and was waiting to get past the starting screen. While the title of the game flashed before his eyes, he looked down at himself. The game had even determined his exact skin color, of all things. He felt an odd sensation crawl up his spine. Perhaps, it was the feeling of anxiety. Something felt off.

The starting screen sizzled away, obviously corrupted by time. Damien knew that he had to get out of the game as soon as he could. But, an hour or two in the virtual world might be okay.

Slowly, the world before him loaded up.

TOWN OF NEW BEGINNINGS

That sign flashed above him.

There it begins. Floor 1 – The Town of New Beginnings.

Beneath a synthetic blue sky, the small town sprawled across a cobbled path, in between grassy green hills. It looked like an old country hamlet, somewhere in Europe. The buildings were wooden, with straw thatched roofs. The cobbled path led through the locked buildings, to a large town square that had a fountain set in the middle. The three different classes stood together, water shooting from their weapons into the shallow pond. A sign by the fountain read, "Welcome Newcomers to the world of Kata Sempou Online!" The water seemed realistic enough, but it seemed to be on a loop. If one studied the flow for long enough, you could see where it started over again.

The buildings stood empty, but claimed to be inns and various other places. The grass and gardens around the path swayed in a non-existent breeze. The soundtrack of multiple bird calls played softly in the distance. A small, green clock shined in the corner of the world, showing that it was 4:05pm on December 2028. It seemed to have frozen on a particular date, but the clock was still right.

Past the village lay a gate, leading to the first boss and towards level 2. To the east was a small stream, next to a stall carrying fishing rods. To the west was a forest, a place to level grind before the boss. Near the fountain in the centre, sat a pedestal with a large button on it. This was a message from the creator himself. All Newcomers had to press this, as a way of learning the rules of the game. They would not be able to go to any other areas without pushing this button.

Even though this was the welcoming area, it was nearly empty. No other players, and only two NPCs. An old man near the fishing stream, scripted to explain how to fish and a beautiful lady near the bosses gate, to direct people to train in the forest. There was one other in this level. He had come down after a small message had told him that there was a new arrival. It had been a long time since someone new had logged in. Noah had been very lonely, only talking to NPCs and defeating the various bosses and enemies over and over again. He had gotten very good at fighting.

He hid near the forest entrance, knowing that after the new person listened to the rules, he would make his way towards the forest. Unless he was stupid and went straight to the boss. Quite a few Newcomers had made this mistake. Back when Noah had many people to talk to. He decided he'd help this person. Maybe they would help him out when it came to defeating the final boss he had yet to try and defeat.

With his mouth agape, Damien gawked at the scene before his eyes. Never before had he seen such a precise and realistic virtual world. Even so many years after the Systeks had been made, the quality of VRMMORPGs had hardly risen. Their environments lacked details such as blades of grass, chirping birds, and breezes. You could hardly move beyond the game’s preset movement patterns, and you couldn’t even feel yourself breathe.

Kata Sempou Online completely shattered all of the existing barriers of virtual reality. Damien took a deep breath in, filling his lungs with what felt like air. There was a slight tinge of freshly-baked bread floating in the air, undoubtedly part of the scripting that served to transform the Town of New Beginnings into a familiar and inviting place for newbies. As he allowed his senses to readjust to his new surroundings, Damien looked up and to the left at his health and mana bar. They were full, and his level was set as 1, though the number “1” was missing quite a few pixels. Right above his hit points bar was his username: Somnia. A fitting title for a boy who always wanted to sleep. Looking down again, the boy raised his hands up and flexed his muscles, gradually balling his hand into a tight fist. He could see his muscles ripple beneath his skin.

After a few minutes of mindless ogling, the young orangette refocused on where exactly he was. It seemed to be the equivalent of a welcoming hall, clad with ornate tiling and a beautiful fountain in the center. Right near the fountain was what looked to be a lectern. Is there supposed to be some welcoming announcer over there?

Taking the opportunity to experiment with the movement settings of the game, Damien started to jog over to the lectern before sprinting at full speed towards it, nearly knocking right into it. “Seems like the calibrations are slightly off… Nothing to worry about,” he chuckled, bringing his attention to the podium. There was a little, red button on it that didn’t seem too inviting. It looked almost worn away by time, and some of the pixels were frozen by an eternal ripple of static.

He hesitated slightly before hitting the button, and he really wished that he did no such thing.

At first, nothing happened. In fact, the button’s coding hadn’t even recognized that a player tried to use it. Taking a step away from the podium, Damien gave it a dubious glance. Out of nowhere, the scripting took action, sending sparks flying from the podium. Fireworks? he wondered incredulously.

If only it was fireworks.

The beautiful, blue sky had one spasm; then another; then a few more until it became tinted in almost a bloody red color, entire sections of pixels cascading down from the heavens in a treacherous storm. A figure began to emerge from the scarlet – a hooded man with outstretched arms and a mask covering his face. His voice boomed relentlessly in an amalgamation of a man’s voice and a woman’s. It was demonic.

“We-elcome to the world of Kellsium in Kata Semp—Online,” the thing stuttered. “If you have not ch-checked already, you may notice that your menu does not include a “log out” feature. I am here to inform you that this is not a mistake. There is no problem in the scripting of this game. You -re not allowed to log out until someone beat- all 50 floors of Kellsium. Each floor is more dangerous than the previous. Failing to succeed on a floor may result in death. True death. Believe me whe- I say that the game will destroy you, so tread carefully. May the games begin.”

Static erupted throughout the entire skyline, causing the scripted welcome to explode in a frenzy of glitches. The sky above Damien was now no longer in existence, instead replaced by a black void that very slowly started to chew away at the remaining blue.

The end of the tyrant’s tirade had rendered Damien rendered speechless and immovable. He couldn’t figure out if that thing – that person – was actually telling the truth. Was this game really so screwed up? Was that why he had never heard of it?

Breaking free from his trance, the young man quickly opened the menu with a flick of his hand. Scrolling down to the very bottom, he let out a barely audible squeak. “It’s not… here…” Falling to his knees, a look of complete devastation spread across his paling face. What the hell was this place? Who gave this man the right to trap players in a game?

“Fifty floors, huh?” The orangette smirked mischievously. “I’ll beat your fifty floors, man. Just you wait.”

With fists clenched and eyes filled with a determined shine, Damien took off, blitzing through the empty town and towards the west where the signs indicated a forest. In his hands was a longsword, and across his chest was an iron breast plate. The plan? Level up and start taking down the bosses, one by one.

Watch me as I destroy your sickening game.

As the dead pixels floated towards the ground and disappeared like black snow, Noah watched with interest at the red haired boy dashing for the forest. Did he think he could rush through the game? He only had his starting equipment, and hadn't bothered to catch some fish or explore the town. Noah knew the town of by heart, having been here many times, but he had never seen the Creator quite that angry.

He backed up, hiding in the pixelated shadow of a large tree. He decided he'd watch the boy for a little bit longer, to see if he was experienced in combat or not. He knew that the "Newcomer Forest" only held marginal threats under its dark branches. Rats, snakes and giant slugs were all set to level 1-5, and had poor stats. Noah could slice a Giant Slug in half easily, but then again he was level 100.

Inside the forest, only the sound of rustling could be heard. The rustling sounded a lot like a quiet static, however, and occasionally stopped. The monsters that roamed the woods used to appear randomly by transitioning slowly in front of the adventurers with a dissolve effect. Now they just suddenly glitch in, sometime with dead pixels or an arm in the wrong place.

The forest has three parts to it, the entrance area which was a clearing a little way into the trees. There was a small water pond, with a sign happily stating, "Please, no dr...king the water!". The grass here was short and a drak green, littered with golden leaves and twigs. Monsters appeared in certain points of the clearing, but only as level 1.

As you walked the path heading towards the second clearing, monsters appear at a higher levels. Even though it is given the appearance that you can walk freely, there are invisible walls preventing you from walking through the trees. The second clearing has nothing but grass and higher level enemies, appearing at level 2 and 3.

The path leading to the last clearing was steep and difficult to traverse over. A new monster, the Wandering Imp, may be fought here, along with the higher levelled rats, giant slugs and snakes. The last clearing holds a chest, inside the chest is gold and some potions. This chest appeared in different places, for different people, preventing the other players taking your treasure. A monster may be triggered near the chest. Known as the Treasure Hoarder, it appears to be a small reptilian griffin that breathes fire. It was originally intended to be a dragon, but the programmers changed it near the end of release into a bird/lion hybrid. This monster is rarely seen on the lower levels and is set to level 10.

Damien was more skilled at games like this than he looked. He had participated in plenty of other VRMMORPGs as a preliminary beta tester of sorts; gaming companies hired him occasionally to try the game out before releasing it to beta tester just to get any major software glitches out. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and the only reason he ever managed to get there was because his professor fancied him.

That being said, Damien had few hesitations about jumping right into the forest. There were some issues, however, that made him wary of his surroundings. For one, there was this distinct static noise in the background. It could mean one of many things. Perhaps the audio track scripted to play here was corrupted, or perhaps there was a severe glitch somewhere in the environment itself.

Once Damien had taken a few steps into the wooded area, his gleaming smile vanished, replaced with a calculating stare. A quick flick of his wrist opened the main menu once again. As a force of habit, he checked for the log out button again, and, once again, he couldn’t find it. The idea that he was stuck in a game was baffling, mind-boggling, and he couldn’t quite grasp the fact that he wasn’t going to get out any time soon. A sigh passed through his lips before he scrolled back up to his inventory. All he had was a newbie longsword for a weapon and a chest plate for armor. Typical of these types of games. Wasting no more time on silly thoughts and ramblings, Damien equipped the sword and the plate armor, watching as his statistics adjusted to the increase in strength and defense. Now, he was ready.

He barely made it a few more steps before a grotesque, deformed monster glitched right in front of his face. It was supposed to be some kind of rat, but its facial features were distorted and even missing. It looked like the result of a really bad chemistry experiment. “What the -- !” the orangette exclaimed, jumping back right before the creature had a chance to swing at him. Clasping the sword in both his hands so hard his knuckles turned white, Damien rushed at the monster. His sword, imbued with only the power of his hands, glowed a steady white as he focused on attacking his enemy, using the system’s automated attack command to land his first successful hit of his KSO career. It felt mighty good to watch the monster’s pixels fade to nothing. Peeking up, he noticed that his experience bar had filled just about a fifth of the way. Not bad…

Noah was impressed. This one had some potential. He probably could defeat each boss without his help at all. He moved through the trees, ignoring monsters that lurked before him. He could easily kill them with just a flick of his hand. He stopped near the pond and decided to wait for the red-head to come talk to him. He didn't know how to start conversations any more. Years of talking to NPCs had made him forget what a real person was like.

Noah knew that he would be very helpful to the newcomer, though he wouldn't do any of the fighting. As his level said, displayed beside his user name, he was level 105. The game was supposed to stop people from levelling past 100, but Noah had managed it. He had been here for a long time. He rarely came down to these levels, so he had forgotten how corrupted the game had become.