Chapter 1: The Pre-Start

April 12^th, 2026 (08:06)

“Heeee… So this is the game console, [Gear]?” (Reis)

I grabbed the Console Helmet with my hands then I heard a chewing sound from my back.

The source of that sound was a famed ikemen (good looking guy) in Shuo University and my best friend, Kaito, eating the leftover from last night’s welcome party.

I sat across him inspecting the helmet and a set of Console Equipment that consist of a pair of gloves and leggings on my left side of the long sofa.

The other 3 sofas were occupied by 4 guys sleeping and snoring.

“That [Gear] came just now?” (Kaito)

“Hm? Yeah, I thought it’d come this afternoon or tomorrow, this [Veil Company] is surely fast response. You got yours yesterday, right Kai?” (Reis)

“*gulp* Yeah, I ordered it since a week ago, but you got it after a day, there must be not many new players! Anyway, I’ll show you how to wear the Gear before the OBT (Open Beta Test), it should be at 1 this afternoon, then let’s level ‘til dinner and surprise everyone during the first class tomorrow!” (Kaito)

“You played the CBT (Close Beta Test) didn’t you? I know nothing about Lost Continent” (Reis)

“Then hear me out! I’ll tell you all about the LC!”

Kaito was this kind of guy.

 His personality was easy to get along, coupled with good looks and attitudes, he became popular.

He worked at a bar during the night, although he quitted the day after he got his Gear.

Recently, he became addicted to Lost Continent during CBT.

He played every day at the Internet Café, from 3 in the morning to 4 in the evening, take a shower, sleep, then back to work at 9 pm. That lasted for nearly a month.

I was actually worried about this guy’s future since then, but that was only until I heard the [3 Factors].

Kai explained it to me clearly that there are 3 Factors that make it worth to play Lost Continent.

1. Game status will change the reality.

2. Famous Players have the right to earn salary from Veil Company.

3. 90% identical to reality.

“That’s why, leveling will be very important! I want to earn money by being a famous Player!” (Kaito)

It was his goal in life to earn money by playing games so he wanted to get the 2^nd Factor, and I had no choice but to help him, since he was my friend.

‘The 3 Factors are benefits… The 1^st one was explained before in the Talk Show, that playing the Game will help to get healthy, but what was the 3^rd Factor about? Was it the benefit of the Game’s graphic, or freedom or something….?”

After explaining the 3 Factors, Kai handed me a Guide Book about the Game.

Story was affected by Players’ Actions, AI with different intelligence level like humans, gender change was possible with money, allowed to change body shape but it didn’t seem like it was recommended.

‘I see, this much freedom must be the 3^rd Factor’

90% identical to reality means there’s 10% fictional.

The 10% was the freedom for the Players, and the Game must have not been constrained by mediocre AI and Game System where not everything is possible.

In this game, even destroying NPCs Kingdom, or stealing NPCs items were possible.

Veil Company must have enormous amount money placed on the VRMMORPG, Lost Continent to allow so much freedom.

---===---

 After skimming through the whole Guide Book, I heard 2 girls chatting with each other while walking down the stairs.

If all the guys here were not given scholarships, then they wouldn’t be able to live with these high level beauties.

Rinka Sakaki, a tomboy with a black ponytail, and the other girl has an aura that of a Yamato Nadeshiko with a silky long and beautiful black hair, Yuni Mizuki.

“Oh, you guys were sleeping here? No wonder the 2^nd floor was quiet” (Rinka)

“Well, we were about to have a midnight eating competition between boys last night” (Reis)

“Then…? The winner was?” (Rinka)

“No one. It was about to start then Kai slipped sleeping pills into that juice bottle, then… we all faint one after another” (Reis)

“That was an accident, dammit!” (Kaito)

“Ahahahaha! That was unexpected! How lame!” (Rinka)

“Hah! At least I’m not as lame as these heavy sleeper!” (Kaito)

“Right!” (Rinka)

Rinka and Kaito loudly laughed at each other like idiots, but the guys that slept on the sofas didn’t seem to wake up from their laugh.

Yuni sighed then cleaned the table.

Since I had nothing to do, I helped her bringing the dishes to the washer.

“Hey! There are still a lot of foods left, why don’t we have an eating competition?!” (Rinka)

“Oh! Challenge accepted!” (Kaito)

I looked at Kaito and Rinka that decided to have an eating competition, after a moment, they ran to the kitchen with foods on their hands.

I was dumbfounded looking at their easygoing side of them.

“It’s still morning yet, you want to eat a lot of those pizzas? And even more, a competition? You guys will get sick…” (Reis)

“Hah! Don’t worry, our stomachs are made of steel!” (Rinka)

After sighing, I shift my gaze from them to the washer, Yuni walked to beside me then helped me clean the dishes.

“I’m sorry, Rinka is always like that” (Yuni)

“No, it’s alright, its kinda fun to have friends like those two” (Reis)

“Nee, Izurugi-kun, you’re going to play LC too this afternoon?” (Yuni)

“I guess so. There’s nothing to do today but sticking around here or go back to sleep” (Reis)

“Th-then… Will you help me with something after this?” (Yuni)

“Sure” (Reis)

I didn’t look at Yuni, but it seemed that she smiled.

It was then, that Kaito and Rinka unveiled evil smiles then approached us.

“Oya. The atmosphere was pink just now, nee Kai?” (Rinka)

“Yeah, somehow, it was hot just then” (Kaito)

“Wh-what are you talking about?!” (Yuni)

“…..” (Reis)

The atmosphere became lighter and I smiled at the three of them.

‘Living with these guys will surely be fun’

---===---

Veil Company, the biggest Gaming Company that released a lot of VR Games.

The passageways were packed with people running around with their documents in hand.

In one of the room, there was a person sitting on a comfortable chair, but her face was distorted.

“2 hours left…. Will the server be fine with this much players playing at once?” (Secretary)

“Don’t worry Kathy-kun, the server is able to hold two times the amount of humans in the world. Since this game is a global VRMMORPG, it’s obvious to use the high end equipment” (Asakura)

“Yes, I hope so, Asakura-sama” (Secretary > Kathy)

“This is still the 1^st Step in the 1^st Stage, once the game starts, give the order to start the 2^nd Stage. We’ll advance with 2^nd Step of 1^st “ (Asakura)

“Yes, Asakura-sama” (Kathy)

---===---

“In 5 minutes, we’ll be allowed to create Avatar by logging in!” (Kaito)

“Hehe, this sounds fun, playing together!” (Rinka)

“Yeah, I’ll get ready to create my Avatar, be back in 10 minutes” (Reis)

I went to back to my room, and then equipped the Gears that were laid on my bed.

I didn’t understand the reason why there were gloves and leggings, but at least they were comfortable.

I laid my back on the bed, after connecting my helmet with my PC.

A lot of windows appeared in front of my vision, but I didn’t mind it, and just clicked the button to play in the helmet, then my consciousness gradually fades, and finally everything turned black.

It was pitch black, but at least I could see the time on top right of my vision.

‘1 minute left, I guess I logged in too fast’

After a minute passed, the screen got brighter, I could see a mirror.

I approached it, then I heard a monotone voice.

“Welcome to the Lost Continent, Please, selects your Race”

‘Hm… There are a lot of races… Human, Elf, Dark Elf, Orc, Giant, Dwarf, halfling, Undead, (Beastman), (Vampire), (Demon), (Dragonkin). I can’t choose Demon, so I guess they’re still locked like what Kai said”

‘Reading the whole benefits for each race will be a hassle, guess I’ll pick the normal one, human’

“Please, customize your Avatar, it is recommended to not customize your Avatar”

‘Hm….It’s fine as it is, changing my body all of sudden will have an impact on my balance anyway, but I guess I’ll turn my hair to white and 1cm of the hair edges will be black in 3^rd of the front hair, and the rest of the edges will be red’

“Alright, perfect!”

“Please, select your starting class, you can change your class once you reach 10 and reach the Main Cities”

“Hm… I’ll go with Melee Class” (Reis)
"What will your username be?"

'Playing with real name will be embarassing...'


"Rice!"
"The name is already taken"
"Eeeeh! Then... Moonlight!
"The name is already taken"
"Again?! Hm.... Let's see...."

I ruffled my hair to think about a weird name that no one will take, and it will be a disgusting one.

"Po*p!"
"The name is already taken"
"What the-!"

I despaired with the position of (orz) on the floor, then I had an idea.

'Ah! How about I combine my name together!'

"Regi!"
"The name is already taken"
"The heck?!"

I screamed out loud, thinking that it will reach someone.
After I screamed, the monotone voice asked me a question that made me like an idiot.

"Would you like to know the available names from your combined name?"

I stared into the blackness after hearing it, then sighed.

"Yes, please.... And also, limit the character from 4 to 5"
"The available names from your combined name are.... Reiz, Reru, Eisgi, Rezui..."
"So many of them.... Hm! Wait... My name... Reis... if I used Katakana, then using the translate program from that search engine from Japanese to English, I get... Leith!"
"The name is available"
"Alright! Go with that name!"

“Would you like to see the Beginning Story Scene of Lost Continent?”

‘Now I’m curious… There were a lot of topics about Lost Continent, but not the game’s story even once…”

“*nod* yes, please”

After I answered, in a moment, the scenery changed to a beautiful flowers hill of a mountain but that was only the scenery of the hill, but down below, there were bloods, and people fighting each other

[War between races was an everyday occurrence in the World of Radvel]

[Everyday, corpses piled up in the battlefield]

[It lasted for centuries]

[One day, the Goddess of Chaos, brought the battlefield to a massacre, causing Chaos through the world]

[All races decided to work together, to repel Chaos’ Invasion, but failed]

[On the brink of destruction, 3 Goddesses and their Guardians emerged]

[Goddess Eros, Goddess Gaia, and Goddess Nyx]

[The Goddesses and their Guardians managed to repel the Chaos and finally sealed the Goddess of Chaos]

[After the deed was done, The Goddesses and their Guardians disappeared from the World]
[After the Chaos Invasion, the World cracked and the Land divided into 3 Continents with 1 Continent full of Chaos Monsters, lost in the Void, while the other 2 Continents were apart from each other in the world]

[After the Chaos ‘Invasion, all races in each Continents proposed peace treaty and they lived a peaceful life]

[However, the peace was not eternal, and one day, there may be someone trying to open the Seal of Chaos]

[The future will converge, when the Adventurers appeared]

[Now, the fate of the world, depends on you, Adventurer…]

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"Eh? What?" (Reis)

[April 12^th, 2026 (12:29)