Nightmare Fantasy Online

Light came back to the world and I could see my surroundings.

I was inside a small room with the walls, roof, and even the floor made up of some black metallic material. The only items in here are a cheap, half-broken bed, a small wooden chest, and a fountain filled with dark water. Oh, and there's a vault door that must lead to the outside world. Its handle was placed low enough for even me to reach. 

That's right. I'M SMALL!! 

Correction, I'm a Grey Demon. And that's small. I couldn't reach my original knees if I'm walking on all six, which is how this race is designed to be like. 

Ah, now I remembered. This must be that "Player Room" that the website mentioned. I should see what's going on here from the system menu.

"Open Menu" - Garami

And there it popped up! Voice command rocks! 

Ehm, there's a tab for my stats, for my equipment (it's empty right now), one for my Player Room, one for friends and messages (less likely to be filled than the equipment tab...), one for various stuff like the map-thing, and one for settings...yup. Nothing looks wrong here.

My stats can be seen whether I have the [Identification] skill or not, but I can't open the system menu in combat, so skills like [Head-Up Display] are necessary if I wanna keep a close eye on my stats while in combat. Anything else except for me is a lost cause for me, therefore the need of [Identification]. 

So these are my stats...I'M WEAK!

Well, stats aren't everything. Even if one guy had 100 STR and started a fist-fight with someone with 50 STR but owned some [Fist] skill that makes you better with your fist at a high level but the first guy didn't, then the guy with the skill would be the one with the highest chance to win. Or that's what the website said. I got no proof for that as of yet.

As for my all-important skills...

I knew it. I decided on them just before after all. I'm not feeling ridiculed...*sniff*...

What about my Player Room...

Cheap!? Why's all my stuff "cheap"!? 

Calm down, me. These are likely the starter items that everyone has. No need to panic. There were even DLC-packs that you can buy to change the appearance of this place. I saw them while surfing their website. And those are worthy of being called "cheap"!!

...let's wait until deciding whether to buy that stuff or not. Especially that R-18 special pack...

Seems like I've checked everything I need to check for now. This body, despite being that of a monster, moves completely according to my own will. No discomfort or anything. As expected of Terra Sol-tech. They didn't build stuff like cybernetic sensory organ replacements for nothing. Allowing blind people to see and deaf ones to hear is likely less difficult than making people get used to the bodies of monsters. How are they even doing that?

Ah, I digressed. This isn't the time to be thinking about nonsense. I gotta figure out where I am.

All I know is that I'm supposed to be in some Grey Demon-friendly environment...hmm? The door...it's...stuck...! HEEELP! MY STR IS TOO LOW TO OPEN THE DOOOOOOR!! WHOOOOOOOOO---!!

---

*Wheeze, wheeze*, that was a horrible first start. But, I managed to get that door open! And the first thing I'm gonna buy for that room...is an automatic door.

I walked out of my Player Room and walked into...a castle? There's even a carpet on the floor...shouldn't this thing be colored red? Or, velvet-colored? Why purple?

The door leading to my Player Room is located in a dead-end of the castle corridor. Or more like the bottom of a T-junction with no places to go. The place is illuminated with torches that have a purple-colored flame. And it's dusty here. Extremely dusty. Enough to make me admire the game developers' sense of details. 

Maybe it's supposed to be a ruined castle? There are lots of broken parts of stone here and there, and you don't need to be an entrepreneur to figure out that this junk once used to be part of the walls and roof.

I tried searching through the junk but found no hidden treasures or anything. The only special about this is that it seems to be of a material that resembles concrete more than regular stone. 

Feeling bored with messing with the concrete rocks, I decided to move on and walked toward the top of the T-junction. Now, which path should I take? Left? Or riiiiight..., right..., hello, mister spider. I'm not..., I AM NOT TASTY!! HEEEEELP!!

---

"...happy deathday to me..." - Garami

My vision returned to me after the humiliating defeat at the hand of that monster spider. In my defense, anyone would freeze up if a red spider the size of a large-breed dog came charging at you! VR sure is amazing...

Fortunately, there is no death penalty here in NFO. It's not because my level's too low to be assigned one or anything like that. There is no punishment whatsoever. Except maybe having your equipment getting a serious beating from the battle. And that other nasty part...

"That spider grew stronger with that battle, didn't it?" - Garami

Unlike most other games, NFO's monsters will earn experience and level up when they defeat players, NPCs, and other monsters. This is the real "death penalty", so to say. Though, it also means that we players can learn from our deaths without worrying about our powers dwindling. Not that I wanna die that many times anyway.

Knowledge is humanity's greatest weapon. Gotta use it to its fullest. And while we're on the subject, I did manage to snatch some info from that spider before it bulldozed me. I risked it all to Identify that thing. I think the result was something like this:

Hmm, not much. Not much at all. At Lv.1, the [Identification] skill only gives us the name of the race, its level, and its disposition. 

...wait a sec. Wasn't it so that all creatures of a racial rank shared the same level-cap? And isn't that the same level-cap I have...

A-hahahaha...I lost to someone of the same standing. No, considering it's just a mindless monster and I've got a human's intelligence, didn't I lose to someone that technically is below me on the totem pole!?

Ugh, if I don't find a way to beat this thing, I'm never gonna be able to live with myself...

Since it has "Angry" in its name, is it safe to think of it as a berserker-like character? One that forgets anything and everyone in its anger and just breaks through anything in front of it with raw power? Well, probably not on that level, but it seems to operate underneath those rules. 

Which...is pretty bad. It's this early in the game, yet I've already discovered my nemesis! Nightmare Fantasy Online...I shouldn't underestimate this game...

Enough goofing around. The problem here is that I lack any combat abilities.

Even weapons would be fine. When I was walking around, I noticed that the two foremost of my eight legs can work as arms. If I want to, I could limit myself to four legs to walk with and four "arms", but my movement speed would plummet. These strange, four-tipped claws are also better at holding things than one would first expect.

Meaning I could probably hold a sword..., maybe not something that big, but maybe a dagger or a hammer? Even a frying pan would be of help here.

Maybe those concrete rocks would do the job? Not sure how to use them though...

Eh, let's look at some skills. Maybe there's a "rock fighting"-skill in here. Scroll, scroll, scroll...oh?

This! My best stats are DEX and LUC (as well as SPD) after all! Not that I expect that this alone will be enough, but...maybe I can throw shurikens and stuff like a real ninja if I develop this skill? 

Oh boy! Just imagining that makes my tension rise! Though, I would need to evolve to something with a human body first...

Though, even if I take this skill or not, I'm probably gonna need something else as well. That spider doesn't look like it would crack with just a few rocks thrown at it. Many rocks, maybe. But it's too fast for me to bombard it enough to kill it before it reaches me. 

Isn't there something else here...oh? Oooohh!? This skill-! If I have this one as well, I could..., probably beat that thing? I can't see any other skills that could work...with this lame body! Ugh, I wanna evoooolveeee. And isn't it way too few skills on this list? Or do I need to do something else to unlock more skills?

Whatever the case, these two skills are the only ones that could give me an advantage against the spider...probably. I first gotta check if I can use those rocks outside..., outside......, round two, door! COME ON!!

---

*Wheeze, wheeze*, I HAVE to replace that door ASAP.

Ignoring my epic battle with what's likely the last boss of this place, my research has born fruits. These rocks are possible to use. 

Croncrock, huh... pretty spot-on. Are the walls also made of it? Maybe if I find some dynamite, I could blast the walls to proceed?

DUNGEON!? This place is a bonafide Dungeon!? It's not a castle? Tch. Here I was half-hoping that some pretty princess (hopefully with a hot bod) with a nightmare fetish would adopt me...

Welp, just means I can take stuff without feeling guilty then.

Wonder what Mr. last boss is considered in the game system's eyes?

.........YOU WERE THE LAST BOSS FOR REAL!!?

Can't defeat this guy..., I mean, I'll let you off the hook for today!!

Okay, focus. Let's rather target the jerk which I can defeat instead of Mr. Impossible over there. The rocks should be fine as throwing weapons, so let's take [Throwing] and the other skill...there. 

After testing the new skills a little, gathered some rocks in both of my frontmost limbs and sneaked a peak on the right path of the top of the T-junction. The Angry Spider is still there.

I believed that it would come and look for me when I started to make some noise with all those rocks, but guess it's stationed there as part of some game rule. 

Hmm, it's a little too far for me to hit with my low STR. How to get him closer...let's see his info again.

Lv.2!? That bastard, he did level-up from assaulting me! Police! We got a molester AND a thief here!

Ah? Did the spider look over here? No, he's coming over here with murder in its eight eyes!! Why!?

Don't tell me...people will notice you if you try to Identify them!? Crap, that's a big weak point. Glad I noticed it now.

I aimed at the spider with the Croncrock chunks in my "hands". And fire! How about one more!

The two rocks flew in a straight line and hit the spider's face with a notable "thud". The spider stopped for a moment before starting its chase with enhanced vigor. Rocks, rocks-! And throw!

*Thud!* *Thud!*

It's still not dead!? More rocks, I need more-, too late! The Angry Spider jumped at me, ready to beat me to death for the second time today! 

Hehehe. Did you think I wouldn't anticipate this? Watch this! The effect of my second skill, [Evasion]!

With smooth movements my real self would never be able to replicate, I back-stepped away from the spider before it could reach me. While doing so, one of my free hands grabbed a new rock and threw it at the angry critter. 

After getting another rock to the head, the Angry Spider started to live up to its name and chase me in a blind rage. I used [Evasion]'s movement assistance to escape damage while picking up more rocks to throw at the jerk's face.

Backstep, sidestep, and I even ran under it while it was in the air. And after the twelfth-or-so rock, the spider fell onto its back. Did it die...?

Yahoo! I won, I won! I got to avenge my first loss!!

I jumped around in pure happiness before noticing something strange happening with the spider's corpse. It started to disintegrate into some black smoke, leaving nothing behind..., no drops? Boo~.

Well, whatever~. I won~! I won~! Yippie~!