[attr="class","fateisscroll"]
So what did their team consist of? A kid, a guy who already talked too much, and some other guy. Hardly a comp that would mean anything meaningful, but he’d dealt with worse. And it seemed like things were about to get just like that.
[break][break]
Adam forwent any formal introduction and quickly brought up his menu screen, a few taps later, a holographic message came across each of the people present.
[break][break]

[break]
He didn’t care too much if any of them accepted or denied his request, but if any of them knew anything about how this game was played, then they should have known something about party synergy. If there was any synergy among them, this was the best way and only way to figure it out.
[break][break]
“Join.” He said simply before drawing one of his swords and getting wary of their surroundings.
[break][break]
It was a school. Great. That meant hallways and blindspots. It was quiet, dark, and he was pretty sure he saw blood on the walls and some weird black stuff. He didn’t like it. It was gross and disgusting and unnerving. It felt like walking into a video game.
[break][break]
Well, this was a game after all.
[break][break]
And Adam did notice that there was suddenly someone else among this group. A figure was at the distant end of the corridor. Adam went still as he saw the youth attempt to signal them.
[break][break]
Quiet.
[break][break]
He was gone before there was a chance to call back to him. And yet, time surely wasn’t on their side. Looking around, Adam’s eyes narrowed in cautious concern. There was movement on the walls, a pulsating, organic rhythm.
[break][break]
Like that of a beating heart.
[break][break]
Quickly, he pulled out the warning bell from his inventory. But regardless of whether it was ringing or not. Adam was the first to react. He stood one of his swords and swung down hard in the general direction of the wall away from the rest of the group.
[break][break]

[break]
Blue electrical flames burst outward from his sword, an explosion of pure destructive energy, with fire blazing in a conal shape and enveloping the entire wall, if not also setting it ablaze…

---

CHAOS FLASH COOLDOWN 0/3

[attr="class,fateistag] Pori Vincent Cross Val St. Claire

[attr="class","fateisscroll"]
Adam was sitting cross-legged in the center of his apartment complex. Eyes closed, breathing deeply.
[break][break]
Right. Meditation. One never really would have thought that Adam was a practitioner, but instead of allowing himself to stew on his anger, he decided he could do well without doing so. Clear his mind, keep calm, all that jazz.
[break][break]
Keep focused.
[break][break]
The blinds were closed, allowing some light to seep through. But then, he heard the familiar noise of a pop-up.
[break][break]

[break]
Adam paused, reading over what was being offered to him. What was this?
[break][break]
Another chance to fight, to gain experience, and to win. Perhaps at the cost of others' failure, but it was a chance to gain more information. What were these other tutorials like?
[break][break]
When the countdown reached one, he stood up, and selected a checkmark.
[break][break]
He was transported inside of a building, and another familiar message popped up. He couldn’t leave until the boss monster was defeated. He looked around, seeing he wasn’t the only one who had been transported there. The first girl he recognized. He didn’t say anything to her as he reached out his hand. A briefcase appeared out of code, and a flash of electrical blue flames.
[break][break]
When he opened the briefcase, he was actually quite good for once. Two shortswords with sheathes, which he flung over his back. And well, a can of spray paint, which may have come in use later, but perhaps never at all.
[break][break]
Whatever.

---

ANTI-HERO CORE ACTIVATED Adam receives 2 D-Rank shortswords and 1 can of spray paint from his briefcase.

[attr="class,fateistag] Pori Vincent Cross Val St. Claire

[attr="class","fateisscroll"]
So, he walked away.
[break][break]
Or at least he tried to walk away from the kid. She seemed intent on following him for no apparent reason. He didn’t have food or anything that she would have wanted, so why did she want to follow him around? The hell if he knew.
[break][break]
His usual frown didn’t leave his face as he continued his pace. He simply just continued as if she wasn’t there at all. It was quiet in the city, it gave a lonely, if not eerie feeling, seeing all these tall buildings and once crowded streets now empty and void of people. Adam supposed even he could be unnerved by the sight and lack of sounds.
[break][break]
When the girl pulled out a bag of potato chips and began chomping down, his frown became slightly more annoyed. The girl had stated she was hungry, so whatever. At least she had food.
[break][break]
Adam remembered days long ago when it was hard to get even that. But that had been a long time ago…
[break][break]
He remembered being a kid once. He supposed that this change in the world would be hard on kids, people who didn’t have the mental fortitude to deal with death, and the harsh realities of playing this game. He still frowned. He didn’t really like thinking about the realities of it either.
[break][break]
He’d almost died in his tutorial after all.
[break][break]
He breathed out, feeling his heart rate go up as he thought of that sick, far selfish player he’d encountered then. Nostrils flaring, he couldn’t exactly hold the anger that began bubbling in his chest.
[break][break]

[break]
With a sudden movement, he drew his sword and swung it hard. Blue flames surrounded the blade, then an explosion of the electric blaze came forth once again, enveloping a nearby car and causing it to catch fire. Perhaps the sounds of slimes hiding out inside the car could be heard screeching as they caught fire and burned, but Adam didn’t flinch.
[break][break]
He paused, watching as the flames engulfed the car.
[break][break]
He then turned to the girl, no direct malice in his tone, but perhaps instead a bit of a lonely one.
[break][break]
“Adam.” He said, “My name’s Adam.”

---

Chaos Flash Cool Down 0/3 Posts

[attr="class,fateistag] Pori

[attr="class","fateisscroll"]

[break]
“It’s not cute” Adam said flatly.
[break][break]
Whether it was cute or not, it didn’t say anything about how deadly it could be. In Adam’s experience in this new sort of fucked up system, yes, it could be very deadly.
[break][break]
Adam kept his sword up, not wanting to take any chances. As the creature waddled around, it seemed to adore the shining dolphin that Elisande had summoned and allowed to get somehow close to it. The mole-like creature continued to make some ”Burr! Burr!” noises to the point it was more annoying than endearing.
[break][break]
Finally, he was done with it after watching it continue to make a fool of itself for the next few moments. Adam sheathed his sword and simply walked past it, deeming it not worth his time. As Adam walked past it, the creature made energetic “Burr!”’s and quickly followed after Adam, waving its giant claws back and forth.
[break][break]
It indeed was fairly harmless.
[break][break]
Adam continued down the path until he saw light near the end. He slowed a bit, but soon the tunnel came to a large opening. What was on the other side was actually a quite AMAZING site. It was the inside of the mountain… but it was entirely hollowed out with strange, unique rock formations carved into the stone. Above, strange winged creatures flew in the giant open-air cavern. Adam took note, just in case any of them were hostile as well. He then noticed that the mole creature hadn’t left his side during his entire trek into the cavern. Frowning, he really wanted to just stomp down and squish the thing in order to end its incessant Burrs.

[attr="class,fateistag] Elisande Kiaris

[attr="class","fateisscroll"]
If it was a joke, Adam wasn’t laughing. He only glared back as the avatar made some snarky comment about him being an anti-hero.
[break][break]
Continuing so, Adam relaxed his stance a little because it seemed this avatar wouldn’t be causing problems of the like or transporting them into another to the death area. Looking over at Min-su however, Adam narrowed his eyes. Treating what was their brand new overlord like some groupie? Adam wasn’t sure whether to be surprised but remained silently critical of the other.
[break][break]
The jeering happiness, however, wouldn’t last that much longer, as suddenly an incredible amount of rage and vulgarity spewed from the avatar’s mouth. Adam recoiled instinctively but controlled his movements, unable to say anything back so soon.
[break][break]
What was with this avatar? Its out-of-the-blue violent turn of emotions even unsettled Adam, who’d only ever seen or interacted with its usually annoyingly cheery attitude. Earth-chan could and would get very mad and who knew what the thing could do with a sour mood…
[break][break]
Adam’s silence continued even after the avatar had vanished, leaving behind some strange golden cooking utensil.
[break][break]
Adam looked to Min-su, unsure of how to gauge the man’s reaction to both Earth-chan and the fit of rage that it had showed. Did the man even deserve an explanation?
[break][break]
Yet, there was a somewhat endearing quality to him. One that, perhaps Adam couldn’t ignore, genuine kindness and innocence that somehow hadn’t been lost to him in this systemized world.
[break][break]
“I asked it how to win the game.” Adam said cooly, crossing his arms. “It said it didn’t care who won, but also long as people were having fun.” His gaze turned towards the golden spatula once again.
[break][break]
“But that means there must be a victor.” Adam continued, “It’s as it said. Gain levels, spend points, become stronger.”
[break][break]
“I intend to do so.” Darkened eyes turned back to Min-su, to the animals that seemingly adored him. Something inside Adam turned cold, like frostbite creeping up his chest. His words reflected a lonely type of path, but one he knew he had no other choice to go down. This new world was filled with people that would never understand.
[break][break]
“I will become the winner.”

[attr="class,fateistag] Yun Min-su

[attr="class","fateisscroll"]
He still needed to get stronger. He had gained some power, but he was far from powerful. That was the thing about this game, it was hard to discern precisely when level-ups happened, but it seemed that after the first five levels, it would be harder to continue gaining more at that initial rapid pace. That made sense. Wasn’t that how games worked? The higher the levels, the more time and more experiences were necessary to gain the next one compared to the initial few.
[break][break]
But he still wanted more. No, he needed more.
[break][break]
And so he was staring at the leaderboards once again, trying to deduce the highest levels currently out there right then. It didn’t seem that anyone had even hit level 10 yet, no double digits… And how many levels were there exactly? Was there a limit, level 99 or level 100? He supposed it all depended on how long Earth would let this game continue on…
[break][break]
And so, while in the hub, research was his defining activity. Research about powers, abilities, other top players, other tutorials, missions, guilds, anything he could get his hand on.
[break][break]
And speaking of guilds, he recalled that medallion that he had been gifted and the other half that Vincent had received. If there was anyone he would have wanted to start a guild with…
[break][break]
But he was distracted suddenly by a tap on his shoulder, and his body instinctively tensed about to reach out and summon a certain briefcase-
[break][break]

[break]
Oh, it was just a kid. He relaxed his shoulders somewhat, looking the blond up and down. Something to eat? Adam had never quite thought about eating in the hub. Wasn’t it a virtual space, like, was this even their real bodies or whatever?
[break][break]
Scrolling through some menus, Adam swiped them over to the kid. One of which continued a sort of map to follow, and it pointed out a food court area. [break][break]

“Try that.” Adam said curtly before returning to his own set of holographic menus, which ranged from lists of players to some screens that somehow showed highlight reels from various tutorials and players out in the field. How in the hell Earth got that footage, Adam didn’t need to know, but what it did want to know was picking out all the stronger-looking candidates and seeing just how capable they were.

[attr="class,fateistag] Fox Kingstone

[attr="class","fateisscroll"]

[break]
“So what if I am?” Adam answered, setting his sword at his side and standing tall. This girl couldn’t have been older than fifteen. But she had been here, in Seoul, where some of the worst of the tutorials had been. Or maybe she been teleported somewhere else for a tutorial and was here for some other reason, like Adam himself.
[break][break]
“Didn’t realize hunting grounds had to be claimed.” He said grimly, watching as the girl picked out a whip and did a strange motion with her mouth. He tensed, ready for an attack.
[break][break]
Adam narrowed his eyes, “So do we fight about it now or what?” He could fight, if prompted, but he had just used his ability, and the next option was to use his original, but that did require getting in close and getting hit… Which were neither things he really wanted to do in a fight if he was being honest.
[break][break]
But he would do them anyway if he needed. If this girl really was looking for reason to get into a battle, he could easily provide.

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Chaos Flash Cool Down ⅔ Posts

[attr="class,fateistag] Pori