World Gate Online Volume 2 Chapter 1: The White Haired Adventurer

"Hey, have you watched the trailer"

"Which trailer?"

"Come on, the one with the white hair!"

"Yeah, everyone's talking about it!"

"Can you believe it!? A dragon! Someone out there hasn seen a dragon!"

"But he was wearing the beginner's outfit right? Isn't it just some sort of advertis.e.m.e.nt from the game?"

"Eh? No way."

Behind Lucas were two of his cla.s.smates talking about the new video released in the Hall of Fame, [The White Haired Adventurer: Dragon Quest (Trailer)]

Not only that, but everyone in the cla.s.sroom, whether they played [World Gate] or not, was talking about it as well.

To this, Lucas can only shrink himself and avoid attention, afraid that someone might notice it was him.

"…How did it become to this…?"

Actually, this morning, he watched the video with his friends in the cafeteria.

The whole time, Lucas was nervous but in the end, no one recognized it was him. Well, changing his hair to white and eyes to red made it look like someone else. Since they were only watching through the screen, they didn't recognize the white haired person very well.

If they were to see Lucas in person though, he believes that they will be able to recognize him.

"Haah, well…no use fretting over it now…but d.a.m.n, that trailer was so cool, I wouldn't believe it was me if I had been in their shoes…"

The trailer started showing Lucas rescuing the vampires from the [Crypt Owl] then jumped to receiving the quest, then jump back to when he was burned by Denneth, then bits of fight scene with the vampires as his allies then Lucas jumping to push Sebastian out of the way when he was about to get eaten, though, they didn't show if Lucas had or had not saved him, they just cut it when the background music reached its peak and everything went black. Then, just when everyone thinks it's over, Lucas appeared again standing up with no limbs and the sword at his mouth releasing black aura and this time, the video ended.

"Haaah…that last part was too bada.s.s…did I really did that?"

Now having seen himself from the third person view, he really can't believe at all the stuffs that he did.

To that, Lucas can only sigh once more and waited for the cla.s.s to end.

Going home, his cellphone suddenly rang.

When he looked at who the caller was, it displayed [Forest Trask].

"Yes? Is something wrong?"

[[Yes, actually, several cinemas have requested to buy the movie before it will be uploaded and I wanted to ask your permission to allow or deny them.]]

"It's going to be in a cinema!!!???"

Lucas' jaw dropped and his eyes wide open at the shock of hearing something completely ridiculous to him.

After all, all he did was play the game and now he became a movie artist.

Though he also knows several players getting requested of such, he couldn't believe he will become one of them. After all, those other players' levels are way higher and they have a Job whilst Lucas is most likely the strongest [Novice]. That, he was confident of, after all, what kind of idiot wants to stay a [Novice] for so long?

[[Lucas? Lucas, are you there?]]

"Y-yes! This is Lucas speaking! I mean, seriously!? A Cinema!!!???"

[[Haha, makes you quite excited huh? So I take it that you'll accept?]]

"….Just in case….am I getting more pay?"

[[Well naturally so!]]

"Then good! Accepting is no problem!"

Blinded by money, Lucas accepted while ignoring his own embarra.s.sment.

"So, when will it premiere?"

[[That's still undecided, though I don't think it will be long, but I bet they would announce it in any gaming news.]]

"Understood, then….when can I get the money?"

Lucas, whose eyes had turned into gold, was keen on knowing when to get his money.

Well, greed is one of a human's natures so you can't blame him.

[[Yes, please come a day before the first day show.]]

Ending the call after thanking him, Lucas sat on the sofa.

Just like that, he continued to stare somewhere in the s.p.a.ce in front of him.

He was tired yet excited.

He was embarra.s.sed yet proud.

It was a weird feeling for Lucas and can only wait until all his emotions settled down.

After having calmed himself, Lucas grabbed his [Portal] and played the game.

+ + +

"'Sup you guys."

Lucas, who had entered the game, greeted the other vampires in a very familiar manner.

They didn't think of him as rude, more like, they also returned a familiar response.

"Lucas, you're here, come, I have something to show you."

Sebastian appeared and beckoned Lucas to follow him by nodding his head on the direction they're heading.

After reaching a hut, Sebastian knocked and stated his business. To which, the door opened revealing a beautiful vampire holding out some kind of fabric on her hands.

"This is…"

"It's your armour. Well, technically it's just clothes but I'm sure they are better than your current ones. The whole set is called [The Nocturnal]."

"T-thanks…let me try it on then."

Lucas hurriedly wore the clothes given to him and looked at himself in a mirror.

He wore a black sleeveless hoodie with a cross pattern on his left chest and a separated sleeve running from his elbow to his hands which now had a glove, on his lower part is a black trousers and black boots.

The only metallic parts are the shoulder guards and the metal plates on his gloves and his boots.

Most of the material used was most likely from the [Dracula Bat Leather] that he got from the [Dracula Bats] with a bit of [Owl Feathers] mixed in which was why it was called [The Nocturnal] with bats and owls being nocturnal themselves. The only one different is his scarf which has the color of a [Grey Wolf] only, this one had red linings which suggested that it came from the [Alpha Grey Wolf] that he defeated before.

As for the metal plates, it seemed that there are ore veins here for [Ebony Ore] and that it was used for his shoulder guards and other metal plates.

Other than [Ebony Ore], there are also ore vein for [Iron Ore], [Gold Ore], [Udathum Ore] which is mostly made for elven armors.

Lucas eyes' nearly turned gold when he heard of the [Gold Ore] and wanted to do some mining before he leaves.

Aside from metals, gemstone can also be found.

An example would be [Ruby] which is pure red, [Elbdine] which has a color of blue like [Sapphire] only that it has a hue of red, and [Bridrodite] which colored yellow with an orange hue.

Lucas was practically drooling at this and immediately asked for a pickaxe.

But before that, he has business to take care of.

"Now then, before anything else, let's go see Gildas' skeleton."

That's right, a lot has happened already since he accepted Gilds' quest and he still haven't received the reward. Though of course he was surprised by the fact that you can complete the quest through a hidden ending, he can only be amazed at how flexible the system can be as an IT student.

"Now then skeleton, hand me my reward already."

He kept poking on the skeleton's head hoping it would revive and give him a suitable reward.

"…How am I supposed to get a reward from this guy?"

Lucas tilted his head and tried to take out the diary he found here out of his inventory to see if there are any changes.

Just as he did, the diary shined along with the skeleton and a transparent person appeared before him.

The person was an old man that looked like he lived for a hundred years or possibly more. He kinda looked like a certain old wizard that you see in the movie, only, this one is wearing a battle armor instead of mage robes.

"…So his spirit really is here huh?"

"Yes, I am here. Haah, I can't believe my successor would be this ungrateful idiot that didn't read my background story…"

A voice of an old man echoed inside Lucas' head.

"Who're you calling an ungrateful idiot here skeleton, I completed your quest didn't I?"

"…Indeed you did. I must admit, I didn't expect such an outcome. I was blinded by revenge…and here I am, dead. A fool that tried to pa.s.s my revenge on another person completely unrelated to it…"

"Yes yes, hurry up with the reward already~, I'm itching to go mining now."

"…Haah, fine, you really are an ungrateful idiot…well its fine, I know you're actually kind and strong. And you will grow even stronger."

"I'm only ungrateful to you, you know?"

That's right, unlike Sebastian, Gildas didn't even help him with the fight against Denneth. Though he is grateful for the [World Key] but if Lucas said it, he feels like Gildas will only put on airs.

"Yes yes, here, your reward."

With a bored expression, Gildas waved his hands as if to shoo Lucas and soon, a bright white light enveloped Lucas.

NoticeYou have been given a hidden job [Wanderer]!

Wandering around undiscovered places, you have encountered and completed Gildas' quest. From now on, you can unlock the skill trees and equip any items and armors from all the available first jobs except from hidden jobs.

"…………………………………wow…"

That was all Lucas can say after looking at the Notice window.

"…Isn't this basically cheat?"

Is what he first thought but, if you think about this calmly, it isn't that much of an advantage.

Before explaining why, let's look at Lucas' status.

NameLucasLevel1GenderMaleMoney1 G 20 S 50 CJobWanderer LVL 1RaceHumanHealth740Mana650STR160INT110SPD145DEX110VIT128LUK217Fame1270Charisma1000Rage0Pa.s.sive Skills

[Play Dead] Beginner LVL 5(25.87%)

[One Foot Walk] Beginner LVL 7 (57.52%)
[Mouth Mastery] Beginner LVL 7 (28.11%)

[Bash] Master LVL 10(100.00%)

[Dragon's Wrath] Beginner LVL 3 (52.54%)

[Dragon Roar] Beginner LVL 1 (0.00%)

Pure-blooded Vampires +1000

From what can be seen, Lucas level has returned to 1, thereby reducing his Health and Mana by 13100 from when he was Lvl 132. That level is his [Base Level], basically the level of [Lucas] himself which increases from experience gathered in killing monsters or completing quests.

[Job Level] however, is different. The [Job Level] increases from experience gathered using the job's skills. This is greatly beneficial to crafting jobs since they didn't have much attack skills. Also, in this game, you are allowed two jobs, so separating the main level from the job one is so that you cannot increase the other job's level purely by using your other job.

Now, for every [Base Level], you gain 5 [Stat Points] like explained before. For every [Job Level] however, you gain 1 [Skill Point] that you can allot to unlock skills in your skill tree. Of course, [Skill Points] aren't the only requirement sometimes but all skills form the skill tree needs a [Skill Point] at least.

Now then, Lucas, who can have the skill trees of all first jobs except from hidden jobs, can only have skills worth one job. Since [Skill Points] stop increasing when you reach Lvl 300 [Job Level], you basically have the same amount as everyone in the end. Well, having maxed Beginner, Intermediate, and Master Lvl of skill can also gain 1 [Skill Point] so every player varies but it is still around that number.

Actually, it will be hard for Lucas to choose among the many skills and has to coordinate each of them.

As a Novice, [Base Level] and [Job Level] is the same, so now Lucas has 132 plus 9 from maxing out [Bash], [Stomp] and [Night Vision] so 141 all in all.

He only has a bit lead to others since he wasted time leveling as [Novice] for 132 levels but it was still better than nothing.

"So? How is it?"

"…Am I supposed to be a Jack of all trades master of none? What's with this half-a.s.sed ability…It basically means you're indecisive…"

Lucas gave an uninterested response to Gildas who seemed to have pride with his reward.

"Seriously!? I gave you a hidden job and this is what you say to me!?"

"Haah, just ascend to Heaven already, or descend to h.e.l.l, whichever's fine, just go away already."

"Gh-! You…haaah, whatever, even when I'm dead I'm already tired of talking to you, why can't you treat me like that dragon or that vampire."

"'Cause you're a ghost?"

"That's you're problem!?"

"Kidding kidding, jeez, can't take a joke from a living can you? Anyway, I'm really grateful for this job. I have a feeling I'll be able to make good use of it."

Lucas thanked Gildas seriously this time which made Gildas surprised.

"…Sure sure…another thing. You should check on the rusted sword you got as well."

Tilting his head, Lucas just followed Gildas and remover the [Rusted Iron Sword] he got from before.

NameRusted Iron SwordRankGDamage5~12Durability10/30DescriptionAn iron sword that used to be wielded by an adventurer, however, the adventurer had died and the sword was left to rust.

"As poor as ever…what do you want with this."

"Just wait and see, it should begin awakening right about…now!"

As he said, light begun to wrap around the sword and its form changed.

"W-what…the h.e.l.l…"

What appeared before Lucas was a pure white long sword with golden linings. Completely different from [Draughtbane]'s color, though they both have a royalty sort of feel around them.

It was no longer the [Rusted Iron Sword] that he saw before.

NameDurandalRankSSDamage150~250DurabilityN/AJob RequirementWanderer cla.s.s
Swordsman cla.s.sDescriptionA holy sword that was once wielded by the [Legendary Adventurer Gildas] that was left to rust when he had died. However, finding a new successor, it was awakened once again. This sword has the ability to severe darkness and is extremely effective against the Dark attribute.

"So it isn't Excalibur!?"

"Why would you even think it is!? Excalibur is still planted in a rock in- Hey what are you making me say!?"

"Well, it's holy and shiny and feels really sacred and stuff so I thought…"

"Still! Excalibur isn't the only holy sword you know!?"

"Well Excalibur is the only one I know so shut up already."

"Y-Youuu…"

"Well if that's all then bye~"

Gildas can only stare at Lucas' back in shock as he really did leave.

"…I can't believe that guy is my successor…well, that's fine. He needs to follow his own rules. Those are the most interesting ones after all."

Behind Lucas, Gildas revealed a wry smile and disappeared.

+ + +

Next day, Lucas woke up after hours of mining and finally decided to log out.

"Lucas! Have you heard? Tomorrow's the screening for [The White Haired Adventurer: Dragon Quest]! We're going to watch it, wanna come with us?"

This was what greeted Lucas once he reached school and saw his Gavin and his friends.

"Well…not like they'll notice it was me right? And I'm also interested in it…"

Lucas calmly thought it out first in his head.

"Alright, let's meet up after dismissal time tomorrow."

All around Lucas, he would constantly hear about the movie. It was really annoying to keep hearing about him but he can only sigh.

"Maybe I shouldn't have accepted the offer?...Well, nothing I can do now…"

Once again, Lucas sighed deeply.

That night, Lucas finally decided to leave the cave and head back to [Drachedge].

"Are you sure you're already leaving?"

"Yes, I have stayed long enough, thank you for taking care of me until now."

Lucas bowed at the entrance of the cave.

"No no, it should be us that are thanking you, after all, you are the one that saved us from our predicament."

To this, Lucas can only smile wryly and finally headed out.

After they can no longer see him, Sebastian spoke to Denneth.

"Is it really alright? To entrust Lucas with your revenge."

"…Yeah…If it's him, he can fulfil it."

+ + +

It seems he was actually far east of [Drachedge] and will have to travel for 3 days. So Lucas decided to log out and continue tomorrow.

Anyway, this is the day he and his friends were supposed to watch the movie of him.

They were looking at the cinema flowing with a line of people that stretched even outside.

"…There's an awful lot of people here…good thing we already had tickets. Where did you get these anyway Lucas?"

"Ah well…I have my connections, anyway, let's get going."

Lucas hurried his friends in front of the line and showed the tickets to the guard stationed there.

While going in, they were eyed by the people in line. It was explainable, after all, the movie isn't even open yet. Even though it's already 4:40 pm, since the screening will start at 5:00, there are a lot of people waiting to see it.

The reason why the first screening was so late at the afternoon is because they just received the movie the other day and spent the rest of yesterday editing it further.

"…We're like some kind of VIPs…seriously, where did you get these Lucas? You're kinda scarring me…"

"You don't wanna know."

Lucas revealed a cold voice as if he used an unspeakable method to get it just to joke around but it seems that they didn't see it as a joke.

"T-t-t-that's r-right…w-w-we d-don't n-need to k-know…"

"Y-yeah Lucas…i-it's fine n-not to k-k-know"

"O-oi!!!! Why did you believe me!!!??? Am I that scary!!!????"

Lucas can only scream in his head since it would be embarra.s.sing if it was actually him that's being joked upon.

Well, after a while, Lucas can no longer stand it and gave up.

"Haah…I got it from someone in the company that made [World Gate] and [Portal]"

When he thought this would make his friends sigh in relief, he was wrong. Instead, they grew more afraid.

"W-w-w-wait Lucas! I-it's f-f-f-fine!"

"Y-yeah! W-w-w-we d-don't really want to k-know…"

"W-what the h.e.l.l!!!???"

He got the tickets from Trask when he asked about it. Since he foretold that there will be a lot of viewers, Trask suggested giving them a VIP pa.s.s to which Lucas agreed.

Lucas gave up, he didn't care about it anymore and just patiently waited for the movie.

"U-Uwooh!!! What's up with that huge owl!?"

"C-check out those beauties! I wanna see a vampire too!"

In no time, they were back to normal and Lucas can only smile wryly.

"So there's a way around the paralysis effect?"

"Looks like it, from now on, paralysis type potions and skills are useless."

"Check out that sword…"

Around him, there were all sorts of talk.

After all, almost everything that Lucas encountered in that cave was new.

"Here it is! The dragon!"

"Raid! It's a raid!"

During this part of the movie, everyone was quiet.

There were some tearjerkers, excitement, and, amazed expressions around him.

A fight with a dragon, of course everyone is excited. That's basically every man's dream in adventuring. If someone says fantasy then there has to be dragons.

Then comes the part where Lucas tried to save Sebastian from being eaten.

"Ah"

A sound escaped from someone in the theater.

"…Is that it?"

"What? Did we really pay for this?"

"Che- in the end, he's just some kid in a [Beginner's Outfit]."

"Haaah, this was a waste of time, let's go."

People were beginning to stand up and Lucas kept getting irritated.

"Well sorry for still being a [Novice]!"

Just when they start to leave, someone called out.

"H-hey look! He's alive!"

Everyone turned. They saw Lucas' limp body trying hard to get up despite being limbless except for the right leg.

"W-woah…that has to hurt…"

"Uwahh, no arms and a leg…"

Soon enough, they went back to their seats and quietly watched.

And the movie was over.

"Woaaahh! Did'ja see that black aura like thingy at the end!? That was totally bada.s.s!"

"I'm looking forward to seeing him in game!"

"They didn't reveal the name though."

"Who needs a name! Someone like him is bound to stand out soon enough!"

"I wonder what rewards he got!"

Lucas was as always, smiling wryly. He can't help it, they were talking about him so highly it was embarra.s.sing.

There and then, he decided not to tell anyone about him.

He also needs to take care at his actions.

The sword was seen in the movie, so that means that Lucas can't flashily wave it around in a crowd. And [Durandal] was no exception since it was too flashy.

He also needs to avoid using [Dragon's Wrath] since it was the one that really stood out.

"Well, if it can't be helped then there's no choice."

After they got out of the cinema, his phone rang.

[[How was the movie?]]

"Ah yes, thank you for the tickets. Honestly, I can't believe how awesome it turned out…"

[[Haha, that's true. Jumping to business, the truth is…]]

Lucas was shocked.

To the point where his jaws touched the ground and his eyes almost popping out.

After all, he was told that he'll have an interview with one of the gaming channels.

"B-but I'm…"

[[I know you have it, a [World Key]. You can use it as disguise.]]

Lucas frowned at Trask's answer.

Since Lucas hadn't told anyone about the [World Key], it was surprising that someone know he had one.

"Well…I guess this is the consequence of asking him that question…"

A few days ago, Lucas asked Trask a certain question and Trask tried to keep it a secret that he knew.

"Sir…I have a question…….have you ever thought how interesting it would be if your game character was brought here in the real world? Do you think it is possible?"

Lucas guessed that was the reason.

"…So what made you reveal knowing it?"

There was a slight pause and even though they are separated through a phone, Lucas somehow knew that Trask was revealing the same smile he showed when he said he didn't know about the key.

[[…You'll see soon enough. And when you do, you'll definitely come running towards me.]]

A chill trickled down Lucas' spine.

[[Let me know whether you'll accept or not tomorrow at 12 noon.]]

With that, the call stopped and Lucas was left hanging.

"? What's with the pale face Lucas?"

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Lucas snapped back to reality when his friends called out.

"A-ah no…it's nothing."

+ + +

"Ohhh"

After getting home and eating dinner, Lucas played [World Gate] and continued to travel until he finally reached [Drachedge].

Seeing [Drachedge] another time, he can't help but feel amazed to finally see civilization.

He had constantly avoided monsters and anyone so that he'll stay a Lvl 1 when he reached the city.

The reason?

He wanted to start out like anyone else. It was annoying since he got stuck in the cave and stayed there for a long time. He felt like some country b.u.mpkin finally seeing the city for the very first time.

That's why he resisted attacking any monsters or encountering any NPCs or players along the way.

Yes it is unreasonable, but this is Lucas being stubborn.

["So this is a city huh?"]

A voice can be heard beneath Lucas.

Moving towards the wall with the sunlight behind him, he faced the wall where his shadow showed.

There, a person's face can be seen.

"You've never been in one, Warren?"

["Yeah, I have always been in that ruin where you found me since forever."]

Warren Black. A resident of this world, in other words, an NPC.

He is one of the Shadow people, the [Phantoms], beings that can only exist in the darkness. Their weakness to the light and holy attribute is even greater than vampires. They travel through shadows and can only materialize there.

Lucas found him on a ruin of a city that he pa.s.sed by while getting here.

That time, he only rested there for a few minutes to eat the foods he received in the village. Well, now that he isn't a [Novice], he now suffered the satiety system where you need to constantly eat.

Anyway, while resting, he suddenly heard a bored voice somewhere.

["Oooh, what tasty looking sandwich. I wonder if he'll give me some if I ask. Not like he'll see or hear me anyway."]

Lucas raised his head from the sandwich and looked around, though, he still can't see who made the voice.

"? Where are you? Are you hungry?"

["!? Y-You can hear me?"]

"? How can I not?"

Then, all of a sudden, his shadow swelled up and a person appeared.

The person had black and white color scheme, as if all colors were s.n.a.t.c.hed from him, only his pupils were crimson red that seemed to glow. He wore a hoodie and was a bit taller than Lucas, only, his feet can't be seen as it was merged with the shadow.

"…W-who are you?"

["The name's Warren Black. A Phantom also, I'm not hungry. Whether I like it or not, I cannot touch anything."]

Slightly remembering the past, Lucas drifted off until he was called back by Warren.

["Hey, you listening? Lucas?"]

"Hm? Ah sorry, just remembering how we met."

["You're doing that now?"]

Lucas just shrugs off and began looking around.

Their meeting can be said as a fateful encounter, it seems that for some unknown reasons, Warren was trapped in that ruin and only someone else can remove the barrier surrounding it.

Since the [Phantoms] are a race that can only be seen and heard by supernatural beings or gifted ones, Warren has no way of asking others for help, then Lucas came.

Removing the barrier was really simple, all he had to do was remove the orb in the middle of the ruin, though, it seems that the orb is also not visible to normal humans.

As for why Lucas can see the orb and Warren, the cause might've been the [Dragon Eyes] of Lucas.

Anyway, Lucas and Warren walked around the city plaza where all beginners start. Though it's more like only Lucas walking and Warren riding on his shadow.

["…Are you popular or something?"]

"…Don't ask…"

The reason why Warren asked this of Lucas is because on the plaza, several beginners were white haired and red eyes.

They were obviously a fan of the movie that was just released, more precisely, a fan of [Lucas].

"Oh? Lookie here, another fan of [The White Haired Adventurer]"

"Wow, the guy's seriously popular. But this one isn't wearing a [Beginner's Outfit]."

"Must've been one that wasted money to change his appearance. Haha, what a weirdo."

Their comments were starting to annoy Lucas. After all, being told that he's a fake when he's not was absolutely irritating.

"This might be the best for covering up my ident.i.ty but…it still irritates me."

Saying that, Lucas wore his hood in order to avoid their stares. He also placed [Draughtbane] which was shown in the movie inside his [Inventory] so that they will know he's not the real one.

"Now then, where do we start?"