NetGameSaga.ph Stage 01 (English)

Level 01:\Startup -The Unfair Game of Life-

OFFLINE:\Philippines\Pasay City\Bayanihan Clamshell Gigamall>

It is a sunny December 21st in the Philippines, throngs of people flocked in the biggest shopping center in the metropolis. Cute, disembodied Japanese and Korean voices laid over a dubstep music's were heard from the outside.

Ren Hernandez poised in front of the convention hall's entrance for a moment, then stepped inside. He grasped his gamer's badge in hand, Mom, Dad, I've gone this far, and now...I'll really put my best in this game!

He brought himself here for one reason: the annual Call of the Battlefield Online tournament. That game is an American first-person shooting online game that caught the gaming world by storm, that even players with low-spec computers can enjoy blasting their frenemies online. Think of it as Special Force or Cross Fire but not made by Koreans.

He gaped at the stage setup consisted of three glass-enclosed colored gaming booths and eight 64-inch television screens surrounded the booths. So, this is it...

He wore his badge and few young bystanders glanced at him. They called him by his in-game name: RenDerringer. Like many famous pro-gamers worldwide, he shook their hands and sought photo op with him using their camera phones. Ren smiled at his fans and signed their autographs like a local TV celebrity.

After the moments of fame, the smell of fried beef patties lured him towards Estelle's hamburger stand. He peeked at her cooking and exchanged smiles.

"Good thing, that mom and dad allowed me to work with them today"

"Why?" Ren brought out his black wallet from his cerulean fleece shorts.

Estelle flipped the burgers, "So that I can cheer on you, Ren the Ringer!"

"It's RenDerringer. Ren DER RINGER"

"Either way, it'll really sound Ren the Ringer, Ren"

Ren bought a piece of hamburger from Estelle and sat beside her food stand.

"Eh? I though you don't like us gamers" Ren spoke while he chewed a small bite of his hamburger.

Estelle replied as she fried 5 beef patties, "It's because you waste a lot of stuff in that hobby"

While having casual chatter, they watched two online roleplaying game player-versus-player tourneys for two hours

The e-sports host called the participants for the Call of the Battlefield team deathmatch. Ren bade goodbye to Estelle as his teammates found him. His team moved to the gaming booths in a composed manner, like it was another skirmish in a local internet cafe. From this hour onward, Ren donned his in-game representation of himself, an avatar to be precise by logging into the game. He's RenDerringer, a Korean Special Force assault operative for the last glorious time.

IN-GAME:\Call of the Battlefield Online\Operation Shattered Hourglass>

RenDerringer and his teammates, clad in slate-gray & sand camouflage, took cover behind the fallen temple's bullet-ridden mudbrick walls. Three adversaries, wore dark blue combat fatigues represented as the French counter-terrorism unit, GIGN, sprayed bullets on them but no one got hurt.

"Throw a grenade!" RenDerringer commanded his teammate while blindly sprayed a round of his submachine gun.

His comrade cooked the grenade and hurled onto rushing GIGN operatives. The bodies of their opponents flew away in a grenade blast. His team dashed through the smoke to reach the bombed marketplace.

They spread out and took cover behind wooden stalls & crates. Two of his teammates sniped four oncoming enemies' heads in succession.

"No camping on their spawn point, let's make this game clean!" RenDerringer ordered his operatives.