Level 02: Login
Offline:\Bayanihan Shopping Complex>
Hours after the commercial launch, Orion, five of his co-developers, and his children gathered in a fast food restaurant. The white-haired father took everyone’s orders, and he went to the counter to buy their chosen dinner. While waiting for their order, Iris vent out her angry to Henry verbally,
“Oh-em-gee! Look at daddy; he didn’t bother to clean out his hair dye! What is he thinking anyway?”
“Sis, you got to understand papa. He is doing that for business, to appease potential players” Henry rebutted at his sister.
“Oh c’mon, the game’s press launch is done, Henry!”
Henry sighed and then he saw their father calling them by hand signs. He immediately approached his father, then helped him deliver trays of food to their table. Their trays consisted of 7 french fries, three plates of fried chicken with baked lasagnas, five quarter-pounder cheeseburgers, and 7 assorted soft drinks in medium cups.
Offline:\Sinagtala Relocation Site\Mang Mario’s Internet Cafe>
Ren approached Mang Mario, the computer cafe owner, and he bade,
“I won’t extend it anymore, but the game’s so nice at the start!”
Mang Mario smiled at Ren, and he asked the boy,
“Ren, do you want a copy of the game? I have fifty copies of it here on my box”
“Sure, why not!” Ren simply answered.
The computer cafe owner went behind the counter, and then gave a NOAH game disc to Ren. The stubby bearded computer cafe owner warned,
“Ren, don’t forget to logout your account there! There might be mischievous peeps who hijack avatars!”
The boy went to his cubicle, and promptly logged out from the game. He went back to the owner, and simply informed him,
“Mang Mario, I’m leaving, and thanks for the game!”
Ren left Mang Mario’s computer cafe fulfilled by his curiosity about the game that Butchoy told him. While walking home, Ren glanced at the back cover of the game’s disc, and read the specifications required for his computer at home.
NOAH required a post-Wyngdyz XP operating system, a cable or DSL internet connection, a three gigabyte RAM, eight gigabytes of hard drive space, an Ether Quintel 4 at one gigahertz, and a DX09-compatible sound card.
“I hope my computer’s specs will be able to match theirs, or at least perform better” Ren thought to himself after reading the required system specifications.
At home, he went to his room and opened his desktop computer. His computer took five minutes to fully start up towards his Wyngdyz XP desktop. He excitedly inserted his NOAH game disc to his computer’s DVD drive. All of a sudden, NOAH’s splash screen appeared over his desktop window, with a long-haired semi-realistic adult human, wearing a space marine armor, showing the buttons. The options are ‘Game Install’, ‘System Test’, ‘Game Help and Lore’, and ‘Exit’. Ren is doubtful about his computer’s specs, so he clicked the ‘System Test’ button. Upon clicking, his DVD drive made a smooth, whirring noise. His system unit’s hard disk drive light indicator flickered fast, and Ren smiled, with excitement overflowed through his face.
A dialog box appeared over the screen, and it displayed, ‘We will now commence a system test on your system’. Ren simply clicked [OK], then the system test program is loaded.
Meanwhile at the Jolly GreenMacs, Bayanihan shopping complex branch...
Offline:\Bayanihan Shopping Complex>
Orion’s friends started a personal conversation with him. The Chinese-Filipino man with buzz cut hairstyle spoke first,
“Bro, seems that your daughter’s concerned about you on that getup”
“If I were you, I think you should take off your white hair, people might think of you as a legitimate cosplayer, where in fact you are the boss, the creator of the wonderful NOAH game!” added by the stubby bald co-worker.
Unexpectedly, a group of teenagers, and other cosplayers surrounded their group.
“Told you!” yelled by the fat bald co-worker, and pointed his fingers to the group.
The guy wearing an orange tracksuit with black streaks; spiky blonde wig, and a ninja headband, asked Orion Kanlaon,
“Orion, can we take a picture of you together?”
“Watch over my kids for now, Gorio!” told Orion to the stubby co-worker.
Orion, and the rest of the ninja anime cosplay groups went outside the Jolly GreenMacs, to take a group picture with one of the prevailing game developers of the Philippines. The faces of the cosplayers around the game developer exuded gladness, and honor from the man behind NOAH. After their group photograph, the cosplayers finally asked out for his signature, and if possible, disc copies of the game too. Orion signed their items gladly, then he told the cosplayers,
“You can always download it via torrents, or just ask your nearby internet cafe for free copy of the game”
The cosplayers thanked Orion for his time, and then the white-haired developer went back to the fast food restaurant. Gorio and others finished their food, and then Orion enticed his children,
“Iris, Henry, we’re going home. Our staff members already have your costumes, and your clothes packed in our care. There’s nothing to worry about, kids”
Orion’s children nodded, then they all walked their way to the parking lot, heading home...
Thirty minutes after...
Offline:\Estoril Park\Kanlaon Family Mansion>
Their family van finally arrived at their modern mansion’s carpark. Orion's family is welcomed by their maids. One of the maids approached Orion and handed down his white coat, and Orion told the maid,
"Aling Marisa, have it dry-cleaned for my next convention"
“Will do, sir! Seems that you and your children were like going to your war room or something!” Aling Marisa, the maid, chuckled at her boss.
“Sounds like it!” Orion smiled at his maid.
The white-haired father, and his children, immediately went to the basement.
At the dark underground complex, illuminated by countless computers, server units set up like sturdy pillars, and handful of wall-mounted work lights, Iris is surprised, and a bit unsettled by the environment,
“What the heck, dad! How did he afford to have this below our house!?” Iris thought to herself, as she looked at her father’s workplace.
While descending towards the servers’ core, voices of other co-workers are heard.
“Grandmaster, on the first hour of commercial launch, we now have over 120,000 players on all of our servers” hailed by one of the male game monitors.
“Sir! We have received commendations from our inspirations, and one from our main competitors. They are mainly from other Asian game companies, and special mention from Notchins, Another Life, and even from World of Wazeroth!” uttered by Orion’s online relations head from another desk.
Finally, they made it to NOAH’s facility, welcomed with outstanding reports from the staff.
“Grandmaster, your game succeeded! We have exceeded our initial expectations regarding your creation, sir!” proclaimed by the online relations head.
“Very good, team! Very good! I knew that the world will always find fresher worlds to play on!” Orion exclaimed victoriously.
In the meantime, at Ren’s room in Sinagtala Tenements...
Offline:\Sinagtala Relocation Site\Sinagtala Tenements>
Ren’s computer is able to accomplish NOAH’s system test, and the results are brought out,
‘OPERATING SYSTEM: Wyngdyz XP, OK!
PROCESSOR: Ether Quintel 4 1GHz, OK!
MEMORY: 3GB RAM, OK!
HDD: 120GB, OK!
GRAPHIC MEMORY: 2GB, OK!
3D CAPABILITY: TRUE, OK!
GENERAL ASSESMENT: MINIMUM SPECIFICATIONS MET’
Ren sighed for a moment, and talked to himself,
“Don’t worry, I’ll work hard, and I’ll gradually upgrade you, Compy!” then he lightly patted his system unit like a resting puppy.
Ren finally navigated back to the installer’s main menu, and clicked on the ‘Game Install’ button. His computer’s disc drive produced another whirring yet soft noise, preparing itself for another operation. The screen went black, and gradually unveiled a picture of a blue planet, surrounded by orbital space colonies, five moons, and a handful of asteroid colonies. A high-tech neon blue dialog box showed up,
‘Welcome to NOAH game installation program. Please select the location for installation’
The installation path is set to ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Orion Digiworks\NOAH’ by default, hence Ren immediately clicked the OK button to confirm installation. While installing the game, he heard his mother calling him for dinner. Ren immediately went to the dining area, and joined his mother.
Offline:\Estoril Park\Kanlaon Family Mansion>
Henry and Iris sat on their own terminals, then logged in as their game master accounts.
“Brother, I really find this whole setup really awkward for a game company!” Iris complained at her younger brother, while she typed in her game master account data to the login screen.
“Just get used to it, sis. Dad planned for this setup for ages!” Henry irritatedly replied to his sister.
All of a sudden, their father approached them, and heard Iris’ slight disparage,
“I did this, in order to shelter NOAH from any potential troublemakers who might attempt to bring down my game” Orion firmly replied at his eldest daughter.
“Why would they do such?” Iris asked her father without any hesitation.
“Iris, I will tell it to you later, but for now, your GM avatars are now at the game” Orion attempted to cease their conversation.
Iris simply nodded, and tried to play the game as a game master, with slight air of unwillingness painted on her face. Henry logged into the game as well, and even mumbled,
“It’s showtime!”
Online:\Sleeper Ship Noah's Ark\Citysphere 01>
Two anime-styled teen avatars in white clothing arrived at a seemingly-large glassed city. It turned out that all avatars starting this game end up in this place, dubbed as ‘NOAH’S ARK’. One of the new avatars is a puny-looking bespectacled boy, whose white, center-parted layered hair drooped towards his cheeks; donning a white fur cape; ash white long-sleeved polo shirt that ballooned near the cuff; black Bermuda shorts, with suspenders clung on his shoulders; watched thousands of newcomers spawning all over the arrival center.
"Pappy, so far, all game entities are okay!" Henry, as GM-Iota, reported, while watching the newbie area.
"Keep watching, this universe is so open, that this game might be tampered with unauthorized alterations" Orion advised every member of the Fabulous Rainbows game master team via group chat.
A human boy avatar with frumpy red hairdo approached Henry's GM avatar and he casually asked,
"Whoa, what's your armor?"
"This? I'm wearing a rated-EX Hekmatyar Coat"
"EX?"
"Yup, as in exceptional. Only GMs can have an item of this rating"
The frumpy-haired boy in black punk outfit, with spiked futuristic football armor donned over his black shirt, left him afterwards. Then, a bespectacled girl in Hekmatyar Coat, with long hip-length layered hair, wearing icy blue tanktop, white fitted cycling shorts, and white knee-length Western boots, approached GM-Iota,
“Brother, is my avatar cute?” then she winked at her brother.
GM-Iota smiled, and nodded repeatedly at his sister in-game.
“Seems that you’re geared to kick butts right at the first day of our duty, sis!” GM-Iota praised, and looked at her, from head to toes.
Iris’ in-game handle as a game master, is GM-Mintaka. Game masters will always stand out if they have any form of rainbow aura on their clothing, and they are the only ones that can have it.
The two went to the group of newcomers listening to a realistic male human in red bulky powered armor. The bald African red-armored marine yelled at the newbies with a commanding tone,
“All right kiddos, I am Corporal Payne McTavishgart, of 100th NOAH Homeland Defense battalion! And you kiddos will be training under me!”
All of the player avatars around Corporal McTavishgart nodded, then the officer continued,
“I will give you different weapons for you to master, and will suit your playstyle!”
Everyone around him gained every known weapon type in the game. Then Corporal McTavishgart told them,
“There are so many weapons that you guys can use! From simple swords, to energy sabers; From handguns, to sniping cannons; Heck, you can even have glaives, rapiers, voulges, sword-staves, and there have been few people who are designing new weapons as we speak!”
Many of the players are amazed on the diversity of armaments they can use in the game. One of the heavily-armored realistic human avatars asked,
“How come you’re not helping us, sir?”
Corporal McTavishgart laughed, and mightily replied,
“Ha ha ha! You know, as much as I’d like to help you guys out there but I’m gonna be watching over this place for new citizens who’ll take arms!”
The welcoming soldier’s response isn’t one of the programmed responses given to the players. In most games, non-playable characters tend to give programmed responses, that are usually written as walls of texts to players. The bespectacled white caped-girl, GM-Mintaka, giggled at the non-playable character that unexpectedly answered back to one of the players. GM-Mintaka whispered to her brother, GM-Iota,
“Hey, our dad’s right about this” then she chuckled.
“He somewhat expected this to happen, that there’ll be players who’ll really talk to non-playable characters. Hence, Papa produced new modules inherited from the core administrator that he designed” GM-Iota replied, as if he just read it from his father’s design documents.
“I see, bro. Still, let’s move on!” GM-Mintaka appreciated her brother’s answer.
The two game masters left the group of new citizens around Corporal McTavishgart...
Offline:\Sinagtala Relocation Site\Sinagtala Tenements>
Ren washed their dishes, and he began thinking about going to NOAH for the first time,
“I wonder if my computer will really be able to run it well...”
He quickly rinsed their dishes, and hurriedly placed them back to their dish organizer. He went back to his room fast, to see the game’s installation status. His computer displayed a dialog box stating that the installation is finished. Ren excitedly logged into the game, using his account created at Mang Mario’s internet cafe. His first character, named Rennin is intact, then he entered to the game with his chosen avatar.
Online:\Sleeper Ship Noah's Ark\Citysphere 01>
Fifteen different avatars, including Rennin, emerged to the Cityscape’s central park, in which Corporal McTavishgart is stationed, alongside with other avatars getting started to the game. Rennin, and the rest of the avatars approached the Corporal for tutorial, except for three randomly-made avatars with unpronounceable names. The three avatars were speaking in unison,
“Your ten pesos will become ten million credits, go to www.gold4noah.info!”
At first, they seemed to sound like they’re singing, but turned out to be repeating the same sentence.
The Grandmaster suddenly phoned the game masters around the Citysphere,
“Three promoters of gold-farming business sighted at the Cityscape spawning point. Trace their IP addresses, and if you can, ban their characters, and IP addresses at once!”
GM-Iota, and GM-Mintaka immediately returned to the Citysphere 01’s spawn point. GM-Iota materialized his ivory winged rapier, and a male operatic system voice spoke to him,
“Administrative operations, granted!”
GM-Iota’s weapon shed a sparkling rainbow aura, and he went towards the gold-spamming avatars. GM-Mintaka on the other hand produced an ivory barrel-bladed pistol. The bespectacled female game master fired few shots onto the offenders, while GM-Iota lunged his glowing rapier onto the chest of the first offender. The first offender stopped speaking, and his body began to disintegrate into crystalline hexagonal pieces. The male operatic system voice started mentioning the offender’s IP address, and its offence: ‘promotion of unauthorized real money trading services via unofficial scripts illegally installed in the client’.
GM-Mintaka blasted the two other offenders with her pistol, and obtained information about the offenders. Rennin was stunned at the feat performed by the white-caped game masters, and thought to himself,
“I didn’t know that... I feel safe here!”
The offenders shattered into crystalline hexagonal pieces, and the glasses girl with a pistol smiled at the remains,
“Pops, seems that being an online game cop is fun after all!” GM-Mintaka snickered at the Grandmaster.
“We have permanently banned them... In a flashy manner!” GM-Iota added.
“Keep up the good work, kids! NOAH’s future depend on you guys, make sure to keep it safe and sound!” the Grandmaster praised the two game masters, who happened to be his children in real life.
Unexpectedly, three anime-styled human avatars emerged, and one of them is a girl with short byzantium hair, wearing her futuristic beige turtle-necked long-sleeved shirt, and pink cotton Daisy Dukes, trampled the remains of the banned avatars. The girl shouted,
“I am Hatsumi, and my adventure to the rising MMORPG, NOAH, starts now!”
Rennin, GM-Iota, GM-Mintaka, and others looked at the athletic, scantily-dressed, young, anime girl. Rennin approached the byzantium-haired girl,
“Shall we party?”
The eyes of the two anime avatars met, paralleling each other’s view... Their network game saga begins!
DISCLAIMER: The site mentioned in this chapter is fictitious, and this online novel isn’t condoning any form of gold-farming practices.
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