Editor: Krishy
A single-player game, ‘Breeze of Murim’.
A player can choose the role they want as soon as they start. The role ranges from the disciple of the Murim’s factions to the warrior of the Armed Escort Agency, the disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect, and etc. It was possible to master martial arts and become a leader of a faction or to become a Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect. Or one could be the owner of the Armed Escort Agency and get active in trading and dominate the Murim market.
Ajin played the ‘Breeze of Murim’ in every role playable. He was a House Leader of all the Murim’s factions before and he also exterminated the Heavenly Demon Sect by domineering the White Path Murim. And ironically, he was also once the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect. He also dominated the Murim’s economy and made both the White Path Murim and the Black Path Murim subject to him. He also grew a weak family into a strong one, and was well-known without belonging anywhere.
And that time, he tried being a family’s general. He wanted to know how much he could grow a family just by using his brain and managing people. It was entertaining because it was unusual but he felt like he should stop playing the game. Ajin came out of the capsule and reached for water in the fridge. He played the game for a long time so he had some attachments to it but,
“I should stop here.”
Ajin made up his mind. ‘Breeze of Murim’ was the most famous single-player game ever made and was most praised for its high degree of freedom and details. Even after some time, it would probably remain as a classic masterpiece. But he decided to stop there.
He played it for quite some time because of its high degree of freedom but then he thought of switching to a more interesting game. Ajin threw the empty bottle into the trash bin and went to his table. There was a parcel delivered to him that morning on the table. Ajin stared at the parcel and opened it.
Frankly speaking, he didn’t think he would win it.
It’s been ten years since virtual reality games were introduced in the market but a virtual reality game that was playable online was not yet available. It was because it was extremely difficult to make a world large enough to hold millions of players. Also, a server that could accommodate that many people was not developed. So, a single-player game was the limit of virtual reality games.
But only until that point. There was finally an RPG game based on virtual reality that was available on the market. And that was what lay on the table. ‘FIRST’. The NPCs in single-player games were already close to real humans. But the NPCs in ‘FIRST’ were incomparable to all the previous AIs of NPCs. The NPCs genuinely thought and acted on their own and the system did not restrict them. And a world as massive and realistic as the real world. Overflowing monsters, and players that started in the same conditions.
Well, at least that’s what the ‘FIRST’ advertisements claimed but he yet has to experience it himself to trust them. It held the title of the first-ever online RPG so they must be quite confident.. But. again, he had to test it himself.
“Beta-tester huh, I got lucky.”
‘FIRST’ didn’t start its service officially. But they recruited beta testers over a month ago and How many applied? He didn’t know the exact number but the news said most of the gamers around the world applied. So, there must be a hell lot of applicants.
Gang Ajin, 24. He earned his living from making walkthroughs. He played all the single-player games released and made walkthroughs to all the games and sold it to websites for money. He started this job ever since virtual reality games were available on the market so he was an expert in that field.
It was also why he applied for it right after he heard about ‘FIRST’ recruiting beta testers. It would be Red Ocean later but online virtual reality games at the moment were Blue Ocean. The faster he was in it, the more he could earn. But the recruitments were public so there were hell a lot of applicants. So he never thought he would win the opportunity.
{*Red Ocean is a term used to refer to a market that is competitive and Blue Ocean is a term used to refer to a market that is non-competitive.}
‘Beta Open at 7 pm.’
Ajin lifted the small cube inside the parcel. There was a guide to ‘FIRST’ beside the cube. Ajin checked the time. 5 pm. It was a bit early but time would pass fast if he ate dinner and read the guidelines. Ajin went to his capsule and pulled out the ‘Breeze of Murim’ cube and placed the ‘FIRST’ cube in.
He came back to the table. There was nothing to watch while he waited. I should just eat instant noodles. Ajin thought to himself and placed the ‘Breeze of Murim’ cube on the table. He was too lazy to make food and ordering food seemed like an extravagance. So instant noodles it was. The whole world advanced but instant noodles were still cheap.
And it didn’t take much time to eat.
After he left his empty bowl in the sink, Ajin opened the sealed guideline inside the box. He would eventually learn all those stuff from the tutorial when the game starts but reading the guidelines before playing definitely helped. There was often miscellaneous information in the guidelines that weren’t included in the tutorial.
‘..Hm?’
But as soon as he opened the guideline, he was puzzled. Normally, the first page of the guideline would have elaborate explanations of the world. But the ‘FIRST’ ‘s guidelines had none of that. When a player accesses the game, the player falls into the starting point, after a tutorial.
That was it.
“What the hell. The guideline was so uninformative. So we have to understand how the world works by experiencing it ourselves?” Ajin clicked his tongue and turned to the next page. Well, it was a large-scale RPG game. If they had perfect AIs then there was no need for a fixed plot. It could be a plot in which players could make out themselves. The degree of freedom was already perfected since the virtual reality single-player games. Virtual reality games were completely different from previous computer games. Players did not choose from a set plot and continued the story from it. Players in virtual reality games acted and spoke for themselves. There was no need to had already scripted plot.
‘…No.. Stats?’
But that was not the only thing that surprised him. As he read the guideline, Ajin was shocked again. ‘FIRST’ had no stats. All the single-player games that had levels, had stat points that were distributed when a player leveled up. But ‘FIRST’ was different. Stat points existed but players didn’t receive them directly. Instead, stat points increased according to players’ act, and as their levels increased, the stat points were distributed according to the players’ propensity.
What does that mean? If stats were distributed by the players’ propensity, the game was no different to the real world. In the real world, if you study, you expand your knowledge. If you work out, you gain muscles. ‘FIRST’ was like that. Even if the stats were more explosive since it’s a game, to be smarter one had to study, and to be stronger one had to fight. Instead of using a plot story, this was how they planned to control the players’ random rampages? Ajin understood.
‘The only race players can choose is.. human. Is it because it was a beta test? Well, there could be more races that the players could choose as they level up.
Through a tutorial, the player understands more about the game and acquires a specialized skill. The skill would vary depending on the player’s personality and the player would grow with the acquired specialized skill.
‘The more you invest, the stronger you get huh.’
After fully understanding the guideline, Ajin looked at the time. It was almost 7 pm. Ajin closed the guideline and stood up. For now, Ajin memorized all the given information. There were many ambiguous things about the game but he had to find it out by playing it himself. Ajin reached for a bottle in the fridge and drank it. Then he went to the toilet and then went inside the capsule.
[Will you enter the cube?]
“Yes.”
[The inserted cube is.. ‘FIRST’. Confirm?]
“Confirm.”
Ajin replied to the system and closed his eyes. The sign up was completed from the saved information in the capsule. The light inside the capsule turned off and pitch-black darkness surrounded him. His conscience drifted away. And when the mechanical sounds came close…