Chapter 0:

Prologue -encounter beneath the stars & above the waves-

In Search of the Precious Tear


---Prologue

“Good grief… this really is the worst class.”

After exhaustively spilling those words to no one in particular, a young man took a seat in the middle of a large staircase within a narrow pathway. In one hand he held a magic staff which carried a glowing blue orb at the center of its design. The young man’s clothing consisted of a rather loose-fitting shirt and hooded vest, along with some traditional red hakama pants. It was a bit of an odd combination. That said, strange clothing choices weren’t uncommon in this ‘world.’

“I just had to choose the Healer class, didn’t I…?” the young man sighed.

This was the world of Myth of Genesis Online: a popular full dive VRMMORPG. The young Healer had just trudged his way through an undersea dungeon, and had finally arrived at the staircase that leads up through a tunnel to the arena on the surface, where he knew a boss monster awaited.

After tapping the purple shape printed on the back of his left hand, a small transparent window popped up in the young man’s field of view. The window displayed his current stats, as well as his name: Quartz12.

Quartz12, commonly referred to as simply Quartz, swiped the screen, moving it to another page to check his allotment of items.

“I’ve already used so many of the scrolls I’d saved up…” Quartz could only place his palm to his face, dreading the fact that he still had one more big fight to go.

In Myth of Genesis Online, Healer-class players have extremely limited offensive capabilities. Naturally, the role is designed around support and recovery. It’s usually unwise for a Healer to ever tackle a dungeon on their own, but…

“What kind of MMO dev locks skill progression behind story quests in the first place?!” Quartz groaned.

When faced with mandatory quests for the in-game story, the player must abide. This particular quest required defeating the boss of this dungeon, the Water Cathedral, without the help of a party. It was one of the few solo-only story quests dreaded by all who played the Healer class.

Given the limitations, Quartz did his best to grind and collect as many scrolls, items that allow one-off offensive magic attacks, as he could get his hands on. Alas, after making his way here to the end, those precious items he’d been depending on to defeat enemies had nearly depleted.

“Well, I’ve already made it this far… At this point, it’s do or die.” Quartz muttered, finally building up his resolve.

After double-checking his stats one last time, Quartz rose to his feet, re-casting a defensive buff on himself before turning and making his way up the staircase. His footsteps echoed within the narrow tunnel as he climbed his way up through the exit.

The sound of splashing waves surrounded Quartz as he now stood on a giant arena in the middle of the ocean. The full moon overhead reflected brightly off the ocean’s surface, illuminating the stone architecture with a majestic glow. There, amidst that breathtaking scenery, he stepped forth, prepared to face the Water Cathedral’s boss monster: the legendary sea serpent Aquaticus.

… Or at least, he should have.

“… Huh?” Quartz muttered with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“Yaahhh!!” echoed a voice with a much higher pitch than Quartz’s.

There, before Quartz’s eyes, was the legendary sea serpent… getting punched in the face by a small girl.

“GROOOAAUGH!” the beast roared in pain as the small girl continued to land one punch after another.

The girl had shoulder-length pink hair, and appeared to be a Fighter-class player. She was wearing what looked to be some kind of karate or judo uniform. Or at least, the top piece of one. She was wearing it almost like a robe on top of some other clothing. In fact, the only adornments on her legs seemed to be some ankle guards. Just as he observed this detail, the girl landed a harsh kick, smashing those very ankle guards right into the serpent’s face.

Just like that, the boss monster fell, dissolving away and dropping its loot now left sitting in the middle of the arena.

“Phew…” the girl exhaled, before cheerfully waltzing up to the loot and scavenging through it while muttering to herself. “Hmm… Not here, huh?”

“… You’ve gotta be kidding.” Quartz fell to his knees, disheartened to see the boss defeated by another person right before his very eyes. “Bosses take a whole hour to respawn…! What am I supposed to do now?!”

“Hm?” the girl lifted her head, taking notice of Quartz for the first time. “Oh! Sorry, did you want to fight that big fish first?”

The girl quickly skipped over to Quartz’s side, and began poking at him.

“No, don’t mind me… I didn’t realize anyone else had come into this dungeon before me. It’s my bad.” Quartz sighed.

“Oooh…” the girl lifted a hand to her chin, thinking hard. “Actually, I had a bit of a picnic in the dungeon earlier. I was in there for a while, so you probably never saw me enter. It’s no wonder you thought the coast was clear… So yeah, sorry!” the girl bowed, clapping her hands together.

“Who has a picnic in the middle of a dungeon?!” Quartz replied, dumbfounded by the bizarre explanation. “Well, nevermind. Regardless of the situation, I’ll have to wait around anyway…”

“Oh, in that case, I can keep you company while you wait!” the girl offered enthusiastically.

“Huh? You don’t have to do that.” Quartz pushed back at the idea, confused. “You probably had to fight it for a quest too, right? You should head back to town to submit it and get it done with. I’m fine on my own.”

“I don’t have a quest like that, don’t worry!” the girl smiled, taking a seat next to Quartz. “We can just sit and chat! You’re free anyway, right?”

“Um… Well, I guess so…” he replied, nervously.

Does this girl normally go around punching bosses in the face for fun after having a picnic alone in their dungeon? Talk about bizarre…

Quartz felt like he’d run into quite the unusual player. After getting a closer look at her, he began to notice how cute she was, so he started to clam up a bit when faced with her earnest smiling face.

“My name is YUI-YUI, but you can just call me Yui!” she spoke with a beaming smile.

“Ah, um, I’m Quartz12… Just Quartz is fine.” he muttered, trying to avoid eye contact.

“Quartz…! Like the character from the anime?!” Yui asked, bubbling with curiosity.

“Y-yeah… See, my friend invited me to this game. At the time, I didn’t know what to name my character, so I just named myself after the guy from the anime… Pretty lame, huh?” Quartz smiled awkwardly.

Myth of Genesis Online recently had a 12-episode tie-in anime broadcasting on TV, and one of the featured characters was a healer named Quartz. Since he chose to go with the healer class, he decided to take on the name of the character from the anime as well.

“No, I think it’s cool! It shows your passion for this world, after all!” Yui grinned excitedly.

“Passion for this world, huh…? I wouldn’t say that myself, but… I guess you aren’t wrong.” Quartz smirked with a shrug.

“I watched some of the MGO anime too, but I haven’t seen the end yet! Quartz was pretty cool, so I can see why you went with his name and class!” Yui leaned in close while talking eagerly.

“Y-yeah! You should watch the rest sometime. The ending is the best part!” Quartz continued trying to look away, feeling embarrassed by how close Yui was getting to him.

The two continued to make small talk and chat while the hour slowly passed by. Quartz rarely had one-on-one conversations like this with people he’d just met, so it was pretty refreshing. The positive energy radiating from Yui was a bit infectious as well, so Quartz couldn’t help smiling a few times too. He surprised himself with how much he was getting along with such an energetic girl.

“And then… oh! I think it’s almost been an hour!” Yui perked up, realizing the time.

“Oh, right… The boss…” Quartz rose to his feet, rekindling his determination to face the boss.

“Is it okay if I watch?” Yui asked, moving to the corner of the arena.

“Sure thing.” Quartz nodded timidly. “Um, hey Yui…”

“Hm? What is it?” she blinked.

“If I win… Give me your friend code, okay?”

Just as Quartz asked that question, a glowing beam of light suddenly burst from the center of the arena, and the giant serpent Aquaticus reemerged with a loud roar.

“You bet, now go get ‘em!” Yui cheered, giving Quartz a thumbs-up.

With that, Quartz nodded and dashed forth to take on his foe.

This was the first meeting between two players who would soon become inseparable. A pair whose destinies would be forever intertwined.

Their tale begins here.

[Prologue – END]
mfvice
icon-reaction-1
Hina
icon-reaction-1
Napryzon
icon-reaction-1
SkeletonIdiot
icon-reaction-1
minatika
icon-reaction-1
Chowrites
icon-reaction-1
Nika Zimt
icon-reaction-1
Memo Alfonso
icon-reaction-1
Peace Sign
icon-reaction-1
empire
icon-reaction-3
Kitsune
icon-reaction-3