Chapter Text
Nakamura eyed the silver finish of his brand new laptop with awe. Sleek edges, a fourteen inch LED display, and a fancy video card thingamajig with the RTX or whatever. The guy at the store said it was the best bang for his buck, rubbing his hands together with a customer service smile so wide it screamed “buy it” already, you’ve been here for two hours. Nakamura looked up at his mom with pleading eyes until she sighed and fished the shiny orange debit card out of her purse.
She had agreed to buy Nakamura a laptop if he did well in school and helped save up for it. Nakamura, being the good son that he was, did pretty well last semester. He tried to pay more attention in class instead of staring at Hirose too much, and made sure to do his homework earlier in the day when he got home.
Saving money was a little harder, but he was able to get some money by helping out at the antique furniture store at the edge of the neighborhood. The old man heard the story from Nakamura’s mother when she passed by on the way home from work and was more than happy to offer Nakamura a job.
After a whole semester of hard work and patience, he was finally standing in his room with a brand new laptop. He cooed at the sight of it, pressing his head on the side of his table just to see what it looked like up close. It didn’t feel real at all.
Nakamura sped to the kitchen and grabbed his tumbler, filled it with iced coffee, closed the lid tightly and took a sip from the straw. Not too sweet, just how he liked it. Nakamura took a coaster from the table and brought it back into his room. He placed the coaster and tumbler carefully on the desk, making sure his hands were dry, and then turned the laptop on.
There were many reasons to get a laptop. It helped with schoolwork and made it easier to research things, but the thing that pushed Nakamura into really wanting to get a laptop was simple. The MMORPG “Sea Light Online”. The game itself was out for almost a year now, and he’d been interested in it before because it featured a lot of interesting sea life. But the newest “Tideborn Update” featured three news sets of skins, weapons, and classes including cephalopod based content like the “Octopus” class.
He came across it while scrolling through social media one night and shot up from his bed. It was adorable. The character model had octopus tentacles in place of its arms and legs, a little bit like Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants but cuter with fluffy hair, kind eyes and a big smile. When Nakamura watched a video about the game, he could tell the game developers did their research because it was accurate to how smart and emotionally complex octopus really were. Just watching a gameplay video of the Tideborn story made him cry.
Now he could finally experience it himself. It took him a while to download it, he didn’t quite understand how to install at first but after some quick searches on the internet, he was able to get the game running.
The title flashed on the screen in big fancy letters and grand fantasy music, and then a window popped up.
[Welcome to Sea Light Online, Seafarer!]
Wow! Nakamura thought. Even the windows have great graphics!
He clicked to the next window.
[Create your Username: _________]
Username? Uhhh, let’s see.
[Create your Username: Tako]
Nakamura entered it.
[Sorry, this username has already been taken!]
What? He scratched his head. Guess it was too simple. Then…
[Create your Username: Tako123]
[Sorry, this username has already been taken!]
That too?
[Create your Username: Tako111]
[Sorry, this username has already been taken!]
[Create your Username: Tako12345]
[Are you satisfied with the Username Tako12345?]
He winced. It was way too long, what a tacky username. What if people thought he was a bot? He didn't want that so he typed in other variations.
[Create your Username: TakoTako]
[Sorry, this username has already been taken!]
[Create your Username: Tako-san]
[Sorry, this username has already been taken!]
[Create your Username: Tako-kun]
[Are you satisfied with the Username Tako-kun?]
Nakamura blinked. Really? That wasn’t taken? It’s such a cute name. Tako-kun…. He giggled to himself and spun his chair to the aquarium. “Hey, Icchan. It’s a good name right? Tako-kun.”
Icchan puffed inside the glass, bubbles rising from his body. They seemed to like it.
Nakamura turned back to the laptop and confirmed his choice. After that, he was prompted to put an email address, a password, birthday, that kind of stuff. After he finished one final window popped up.
[Welcome to Sea Light Online, Seafarer Tako-kun!]
The window disappeared and the screen faded to black for a few seconds. Then, the character screen popped up. A normal looking guy with black hair and a sailor outfit was in the middle, and when he moved the mouse left and right, the character model moved with him.
There was an assortment of tabs and selections on the right side of the screen. Hair, Face, Eyes, Body, Class, Skills, and Abilities.
Nakamura clicked on the appearance tabs first. There were so many options for the hair alone, but he wanted to use the Tideborn assets. He scrolled down so many options before he finally found it, but the options appeared faded. When he clicked on the hair he saw on the ad, a notification popped up.
[Unlock Requirements: Level 75, Tideborn Story Quest Completed.]
What?!
Nakamura sunk in his seat. He sighed and settled for what could work with. If it was unlockable at level 75, that meant he could change his appearance later anyway.
By the time Nakamura finished his character, the iced coffee in his tumbler was all gone. His character was a normal looking. A guy with a green robe, a big green wizard hat, and dark hair. He chose the mage class because he found out the Octopus Class needed mastery of the mage classes in order to be used.
He went through the tutorial with no issue, WASD to move, mouse to navigate the screen, numbers assigned to use his skills, and all that stuff along with killing a simple shrimp looking boss.
After that, his character was teleported to a port town’s main plaza. He found himself standing at a fountain with a statue of a woman with long flowing hair, and water flowing down from the clam held in her two hands.
Buildings made of bricks or wood surrounded the vicinity, bazaars and stores lined up across the plaza, and afar was a large dock, with various sized ships, boats, and canoes moored along its wooden poles.
It was filled with players, their usernames, classes, and levels all hovering above their characters’ heads. Most of them were in the high 100s. The game was released almost a year ago so it made sense that he’d stick out like a sore thumb.
The public chat was going so fast he couldn’t even process some of the messages of the players welcoming him to the game. He just put a thank you and headed to the guild tavern for his first mission. The NPC at the tavern was a knight clad in full armor, you couldn’t even see his face. Nakamura talked to him, and was hit by a string of generic dialogue until he finally got to the dialogue options, and chose quest select.
An array of quests showed up in a big window on the left of his screen, most of them were in bold red text, and recommended levels that were way higher than his. He scrolled up to the green texted ones and picked the quest with the mage class recommendation.
[Quest: A Rocky Start | Suggested Level: 1 | Suggested Class: Mage
The mountains near Port Brilehaven are being terrorized by a mysteriously large rock golem taller than even the oak trees! Merchants and travellers can’t make their way to the port and the supply of my favorite fishing tackles are running out! Please help! ]
Seemed easy enough.
[Quest Accepted!]
The quest title blinked on his tracker on the top left minimap, so he made his way past the port plaza, to the edges of the city and towards the path of the mountain area with his trusty wooden staff and basic wizard hat. He would have bought more equipment or some potions but because he started off with so little gold, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything with it anyway.
Nakamura made his way up the yellow path, climbing the hills towards the thick foliage of the mountain forests. At some point he spotted a statue similar to the one in the plaza. A woman with long flowy hair, holding an apple this time.
He walked up to it and clicked on it. His minimap flashed and text appeared on his screen.
[You may now fast travel to: Verdant Mounts]
The map popped up on his screen, and the entire area, which was a fog of black, blinked and cleared up fully, showing him detailed twists and turns and areas he could visit. Among them was the marker for his current quest, blinking with a yellow pulse of light.
He was close!
He rushed through the path and finally found it, a golem made up of pure rock. Dust and earth plumed from its body with each step and the ground shook. Its head towered over the top of the oak trees and spotted him.
The golem growled and threw a boulder at Nakamura’s direction and he dashed to the side. The boulder landed with a loud thud, easily three times the size of his character.
Wasn’t this thing too big for a level one?!
The golem growled again, and Nakamura started casting a blizzard. A channeling bar appeared above his character’s head, slowly filling up. And then, the golem threw another boulder.
Nakamura gasped. Again? That fast? He wanted to dash but the spell was almost over, if he waited till the last second once it finished then-
Boom!
[You have died. Select a respawn point]
What?! Nakamura gripped the edge of his table. That wasn’t fair at all! Was this really for a level 1 player?
Nakamura chose the Verdant Mounts respawn point and rushed to the golem again, but he didn’t fare any better. Instead of casting spells, he decided to keep dodging until there was a clear opening. But before that could even happen, his character ran out of dash charges and got splatted again.
[You have died. Select a respawn point]
He tried again.
[You have died. Select a respawn point]
And again.
[You have died. Select a respawn point]
And again.
[You have died. Select a respawn point]
Nakamura sprang up from his seat, whining. “What’s with this quest?! This is so unfair!” The chair fell to the floor with a thud, making him flinch. He sat back down and this time just sat at the statue, wondering what to do next.
Should he look it up?
A chat popped up.
[Kanihiro123]: Oh, a newbie!
A player with a shell on his back, and a large crab claw in place of his right arm, walked up to Nakamura. The username [Kanihiro123] hovering above his flashy brown hair. Holding a sword in his regular hand, the player walked up to Nakamura, his brown boots crunching against the path.
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: Hello! What are you doing in the Verdant Mountains?
Nakamura wasn’t expecting direct communication with another player so soon, it made him a little nervous.
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: Just doing some quests… and, hello too.
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: Oh, the starter quests? Man, I remember doing those. What a long time ago hahaha!
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: Do you need help?
Nakamura’s eyes widened. Was this person really going to help a newbie like him? What a nice guy.
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: Actually, I had a question.
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: That’s the Crustacean class you’re using right?
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: Yeah!
Kanihiro123 used a unique emote, pinching his crab claw a few times.
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: Cool right?
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: Yeah! It’s really cool! The details of the claws are really accurate and even the pinching motion is the same.
Nakamura flinched. He needed to stop gushing over sea creatures…
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: Anyway, I was wondering how to unlock those classes.
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: WHAT?! LOL
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: This guy’s level 1 and already thinking about the tideborn DLC, what’s up with that?
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: I think the Cephalopod class looks cool.
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: That’s hilarious. You need to get to level 75 to unlock the Tideborn DLCs. You need help?
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: Really? You’d do that?
[Whisper] [Kanihiro123]: Yeah! Newbies don’t appear often so I’d be glad to boost you haha.
[Whisper] [Tako-kun]: Then I’ll be in your care…
[User Kanihiro123 has sent you a party invite! Accept? Y/N]
Nakamura tapped Y.
[You are now in Kanihiro123’s party!]
The window of his character’s data and profile picture shrunk a little on the top right, and right next to it, Kanihiro123’s window popped up. He was level 150 and had a “Veteran” tag too.
Woah, this guy was strong.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: So what did you wanna do?
[Party] [Tako-Kun]: I was doing this quest but I think I’m doing something wrong.
[Party] [Tako-Kun]: Which one?
Nakamura highlighted his quest on the tracker and Kanihiro123 spammed the laughing emote with his character.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: The golem?! Of course you’re having a hard time, it’s a party quest! It’s almost like a raid boss. You need someone to tank the hits or it’s gonna kill you before you finish casting your spells. Mages take forever to cast anything at level 1 LOL.
Nakamura was dumbfounded. If mages couldn’t handle the quest then why did the quest recommend that class? He hoped it didn’t reflect on the rest of the game’s design because he really wanted to enjoy it.
[Party] [Tako-Kun]: So, what should I do?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Switch classes!
[Party] [Tako-Kun]: But the octopus!
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Oh right. Alright just stay behind me and I’ll tank all the hits for you, let’s go!
Kanihiro dashed ahead, leaving a trail of flying dust in his wake. Nakamura tried to keep up but the sheer difference in agility made the gap between them so big it was taking him a whole minute to get to the area right outside the golem’s range when it only took Kanihiro 15 seconds.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Tako-kun!
Kanihiro flailed his arms above his head with the wave gesture, jumping up and down.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Over here!
Nakamura spammed the dash button as much as his cooldowns allowed and he made it back to the peak of the hill where Kanihiro waited. In the distance, trees laid snapped and trampled along the trail, and large circular footprints left indents on the soil. They could see the golem’s head high above, the ground shook with each step the giant creature took. Definitely a menace.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: You see that hill over there?
Kanihiro pinged, an arrow flashing the nearby hill on a higher altitude.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: We’ll go over there, and I’ll rush at it. You should be in range over there so you can start casting the moment we get there can. Got it?
Nakamura nodded in real life, then blushed realizing Kanihiro obviously couldn’t see that. He typed out a response.
[Party] [Tako-Kun]: I got it.
Kanihiro sprang up into the air, clearing the distance between the two hills with one jump before landing on the peak of the other hill. It was crazy how much more players could do at higher levels.
Nakamura took the safer route, guiding his character through the trail and making his way up the slope. Once he made it to Kanihiro, Kanihiro flashed the thumbs up emote and charged straight for the golem, swinging his sword at its feet.
The golem growled. Aggro was drawn and Nakamura could see the thing’s HP bar highlighted on his screen again, that big red bar of HP that he couldn’t touch once decreased rapidly. Each of Kanihiro’s strikes took out a sizable portion of the golem’s health.
Nakamura stared for a while. He was mesmerized by the way Kanihiro moved. The animations were awesome. Glowing cleaves of light flashed with each of Nakamura’s swings, his character whirled in the air, then blinked from one area to the other.
This game was amazing.
When the golem growled again, Nakamura flinched and realized he wasn’t doing anything. He quickly started casting blizzard and blue energy swirled around his staff. A bar above his character slowly filled as he channeled the spell, and flashed with a blue light. Nakamura’s character swung the staff towards the golem’s direction and a large shard of pure ice zoomed towards it.
The ice collided with the golem’s head and shattered with a loud crash. Nakamura couldn’t believe he did that. It must have done-
The damage number from the ice briefly floated above the golem’s head, a tiny 7 disappearing as quickly as it showed up. The hp bar didn't even go down.
Seriously? How the heck was he supposed to finish this by himself at all? That was just impossible.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Ah, you hit it? Good, that means you’ll get exp now.
Kanihiro sheathed his sword and raised his crab claw. With a decisive thrust, he shoved the claw against the golem’s foot and pinched it hard. The crit sound snapped into the air and a large number flashed across the golem’s body. 9999.
The hp bar disappeared and the golem poofed into dust.
Afterward, Kanihiro turned to him and smiled, using the gloat gesture. Nakamura swallowed. It almost felt like his heart skipped a beat when this was just a video game. This guy was insanely strong.
Kanihiro jumped and landed next to him.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: So? Did you level up?
Nakamura checked his exp bar, and he leveled up to 2. After he confirmed the quest, he got a party bonus and got to level 3.
[You’ve unlocked Thunder!]
Nakamura allocated all his extra stat points to his magic and agility, and set Thunder on his 3rd slot. It felt nice seeing his character getting stronger.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: I got a new spell. And I went up a level because of some bonus?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: That’s the party bonus. You stick with me and you’ll reach level 75 in no time.
Nakamura nodded and Kanihiro led him through the early stages of the game. He picked out easier quests or harder ones that were “actually really easy”. They grinded all day. They fought slimes, rushed through caves, spawnkilled a bunch of bosses, and the like. Nakamura died multiple times but still, he got so much exp it didn’t matter.
And during the lulls when they were doing preparations or travelling to the next area, they’d end up talking because they were bored.
Like when they were on their way to the waterfall caves for Nakamura’s first class upgrade.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: So why do you want the octopus class anyway?
[Party] [Tako-kun]: I like octopuses.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Oh, really? Why?
[Party] [Tako-kun]: They’re misunderstood! People think they’re really scary and gross, but they keep themselves and their homes really clean.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: They’re also really smart, and can connect with people.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: You see, octopuses remember faces. If you see an octopus a lot they’re sure to eventually react to seeing you. I think. That’s why I like them so much.
Kanihiro walked quietly ahead, leading the way with no response. Nakamura swallowed, he suddenly felt self-conscious, and typed slowly.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Is that weird?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Huh? No, I think it’s pretty cool! It’s jsu,
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Sorry, my finger slipped. I just got reminded of someone.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: I actually thought octopuses were weird before but something happened and I had to hold one. They’re pretty cool.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Right?
[Party] [Tako-kun]: And the design of the octopus is really cute and accurate so I wanna try it.
Nakamura was smiling at his screen. He didn’t realize how fun it could be to just talk to a party member and play together. No wonder people liked playing these kinds of games so much.
For one quest, they had to wait a few minutes because it was time-gated. So they just wandered around the Port Brilehaven looking for inventory. Nakamura didn’t have a lot of gold on his person, but Kanihiro was more than happy to lend him some. Apparently, party members could do that.
He didn’t understand it. Kanihiro was just so nice.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Why are you helping me?
Kanihiro paused by the fountain.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Why do you ask?
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Isn’t it a waste of time for you when you could be doing things to grind for yourself?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Nah, I’m already in the endgame. There’s nothing left for me to do except grind mats and I don’t wanna do that right now.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Besides, I like helping people. And you seem pretty cool. You’re easy to talk to.
Nakamura blushed a little. This guy, he couldn’t even see his face and yet he wished they could hang out even more.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: You too. Thanks again by the way.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: It’s fine. Ah, the quest is ready. Let’s go.
Hours passed. Nakamura’s eyes were dry and bloodshot, and he was practically hunching over his screen. The moon was starting to rise, spilling moonlight through the cracks of his curtains. He yawned, stretching his arms so far up his stomach peaks out from his shirt. Only then did he realize he hadn't eaten anything all day.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: What level are you now?
[Party] [Tako-kun]: It says I’m level 49.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Just one more. Oh, I know. Here.
[Kanihiro123 wants to give you “Water of Growth”. Will you accept? Y/N]
Nakamura accepted and it showed up in his inventory. The description made his eyes go wide. “Increases the player’s level by 1 on consumption”.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Are you really giving me this?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Yeah, I’m max level anyway.
Nakamura consumed the item and he leveled up one more time. A window popped up on his screen.
[You may now choose a second-tier class!]
The window showed him two options, wizard and sage. He remembers that the Octopus class needed mastery over the wizard class so he chose that. After he clicked it, his hat poofed into a bigger one, with the tip bent at the top, and a wider brim.
Nakihiro saw the class change and used the clap emote.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Congrats you made it to the first powerspike!
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Thank you so much, Kanihiro. You’ve helped me so much. You’re an angel.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Aww, you flatter me too much. It was nothing. You gonna log out now?
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Yeah but, I wanna play with you again. It’s a lot of fun.
Nakamura stared at his screen waiting for a response. But nothing came. Kanihiro’s character just stood there, unmoving. Just as he was about to type up a follow up message, a window popped up on the top right of his screen.
[Kanihiro123 sent you a friend request? Will you accept? Y/N]
Nakamura instantly pressed Y.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: There, you should be able to see if I’m online tomorrow. It’s summer break so I play a lot these days.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: I definitely will! I guess it’s bye for now…
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Ah wait! One more thing.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: What is it?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Just one more quest. This one’s really quick I promise.
Kanihiro led Nakamura’s character up a large, empty mountainside. They climbed the steep paths surrounded by fog, and the low hum of the stormy winds. The place was grey and bleak, but Kanihiro led the way with a lantern, his clawed hand swinging back and forth with each step.
After several minutes, they made it to an alcove in the mountains. At the center of it was a large stone triangle engraved with intricate patterns. On each of the triangle’s points, tall pillars towered high, casting eerie shadows over them.
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: You should stand there.
Kanihiro pinged the center of the triangle and Nakamura moved to the exact spot.
[Party] [Tako-kun]: Like this?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: Yeah. Just stay there.
Nakamura stood there, and the three pillars glowed with a bizarrely purple glow, like energy trying to burst out from inside the stone.
What was happening?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: You know? I just wanted to say this was really fun. And…
A window popped up on Nakamura’s screen.
[Sacrificial Altar has been activated]
Huh?
[Party] [Kanihiro123]: I’m really sorry about this.
Before Nakamura could type, three glowing tridents burst out of each pillar and impaled his character in the chest.
His screen faded to black.
[You have died. Select a respawn point]
Nakamura selected the Port.
[You offered your character to the Pillar of Sacrifice! The following debuffs have been inflicted: EXP DEBUFF 75 % (Duration: 7 days)]
What the hell is this?!
***
In a bedroom on the opposite side of town, a boy with wispy brown hair pulled off his headphones and sighed. He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms and legs.
“Finally got that achievement…”
He stared at the shiny new trait he got for his character on his PC.
“He’ll be fine... I’m still on his friends list, maybe he’ll TP to me tomorrow.”
From downstairs, the muffled voice of the boy’s mother called out to him. “Aiki! It’s time for dinner!”
“Coming!” He shut the device down, tossed his headphones on the keyboard and jogged downstairs. He wondered if Tako-kun was eating dinner, or if he still felt too shocked by what happened. Hopefully that guy got over it quickly, he thought.