VRMMORPG: Dragomancer Reborn



Arthur lay on the ground while his body spasmed in pain. His eyes were twitching nonstop while more notifications kept on popping up.

>Synchronization has risen to 68%<

The Synchronization didn't seem to stop at all, and it was hard to tell when it would. 

"Why… won't… it… stop…" Arthur was out of breath, barely being able to keep his head on.

He felt like ripping out his hair and carving out his skin with the pain that he was feeling. He might have even done so, if not for the fact that his body was also immobilized from the pain. He could only watch on hopelessly as his condition kept on deteriorating.

>Synchronization has risen to 69%<

'When will this end… or will it ever end?' Arthur wondered, his mind starting to get blurry.

Every minute felt like an hour to him and he lost track of time. Only the ever-increasing notifications were able to tell him that he was still existing.

>Synchronization has risen to 70%<

But when the Synchronization reached 70% a change happened.

>Synchronization has reached a partial match!<

'Huh?' Arthur looked at the new notification feeling strange.

While the pain hadn't lessened, the change still felt fresh to him. It was a slight distraction that gave him the illusion of the pain disappearing for a moment.

>External Data Stream detected!< 

But that was merely the start of it, as more unusual notifications popped up.

>External Data Stream is compatible with the player Arzhur<

>Class credentials have been matched!<

>Data Stream shall be initialized<

'What's happening now?' Arthur had never seen a notification like this. 

He didn't know what an external data stream was, and neither did he knew why it was matching with him in the first place.

>Data Stream Loaded!<

~shua~

Arthur's vision suddenly turned dark, his body turning lifeless all of a sudden. But his mind was the opposite of this. He suddenly felt the pain disappearing as if it had never existed in the first place, while his mind was stabilized.

"What in the… what just happened?" Arthur was confused.

He was getting a floaty feeling around him, which was a bit familiar.

'This is… similar to that time… Am I dead?' Arthur questioned.

It was a strange thought to him and felt unfair as well.

"All that I had planned… all that I wished to get… and now I'm dead? That too by some random anomaly?" Arthur didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"You are not dead." But much to his surprise, he actually got an answer!

"Wha—" Arthur 'looked' around.

While he didn't have a body exactly, his consciousness seemed to be floating around in some kind of space. Even without having a true body, he felt like he had a body. 

'Who spoke?' Arthur wondered. "Am I just hallucinating?"

"You are not." Another answer was given to him.

"Who's doing that!?" Arthur called out. "Show yourself!" 

"You cannot see me." The unknown person spoke.

"Why's that?" Arthur was still debating if this was just a hallucination and he was actually talking to himself.

"You are not talking to yourself." The unknown person replied.

"Wait a second… I thought that and didn't speak… You're reading my mind!" Arthur replied. "But if you are reading my mind, it means you are inside it! You are a hallucination!" he tried to analyze.

"You are partially correct." The unknown person replied. "I am inside your mind, or rather we both are." 

"Huh?" Arthur was confused. "This place… is my mind?" he asked feeling doubtful.

"It is indeed. But I am not a hallucination." The unknown person added. 

"Then what are you?" Arthur asked.

"There are several answers to it… it depends on what you want to take it as." The unknown person said mysteriously. "I can be taken as a bundle of memories, a soul perhaps or maybe… Just a set of data." It spoke.

"Huh…" Arthur found it strange, but then when he thought about the strange notifications he was getting, he found some links.

"It can't be… That Data Stream notification…" Arthur muttered.

"You are correct." The unknown person confirmed. "That was me."

"I see…" While the things were really strange, Arthur reckoned they may as well get as odd as possible. "You did stop the pain, so I guess it is good that you arrived." He added.

"I haven't stopped it." The unknown person corrected him.

"What?" Arthur was confused. "But I don't feel it right now." He stated.

"While you don't feel the pain right now, it doesn't mean it hasn't stopped." The voice replied. "Your body is still feeling the pain but your mind has dissociated." It explained.

"Then isn't that the same as not feeling pain?" Arthur asked.

"Not exactly… Once you return to your body, you will feel the pain again… All of it at once." The unknown person revealed, inciting fear within Arthur.

"Is… is there any way to avoid it?" Arthur questioned.

"There is not." The unknown person answered.

"Then why am I feeling pain in the first place? Is it due to that Synchronization stat or whatever?" Arthur questioned feeling anger.

"The Synchronization stat is indeed the reason for it. And the pain that you are feeling is the cost." The unknown person answered.

"Cost? Why would a stat have such a cost? There was never such a thing in Morpheus Online." Arthur retorted.

"Just because you do not know about something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist." The unknown person responded. "There is more to Morpheus Online than you know… Arthur Grey." 

"You know my name?! No wait, you can read my mind so of course you know." Arthur realized. "But what do you mean there's more to it?" 

"That is the purpose for which I am talking with you here." The unknown person replied. "You obtained the class Dragomancer, do you know what that entails?" The unknown person asked for the first time.

"The class? Isn't it just a strong Legendary Class that allows one to have the powers of a Dragon?" Arthur replied.