OFFLINE:\Philippines\Caloocan City\Franzen's House>
Franzen sat in front of his dusty piano black laptop computer with his copy of NOAH Online in hand. He peeked at his disc with a smug-filled smile. So, this is the newest global craze eh? Will I be able to find you, Derek? And your friends too?
He installed NOAH Online on his computer until he received another Cloudtalk instant message from Horngarner,
[ FranZetta66, DerekHit and his clan parted ways apparently. We're on a harder mouse hunt now! ]
Franzen typed, [ I'm gonna find him on NOAH, Horngarner ]
He grabbed three pieces of salty ridged potato chips as he waited for Horngarner's response. What the heck am I gonna do with him? Extort him money there? He wiped his salty hands with one of his shirts from his hamper. Another message from Horngarner popped up,
[ Hope you find our client there, okay? I have to restart our empire again ]
He typed at a speed of a quick-burst submachine gun, [ Yeah sure, Mr. Clean. But I thought you already have friends there? ]
Horngarner answered very soon, [ I'm still gauging them if they're worthy to keep, now that NOAH's the latest craze ]
He took a deep breath and tried to log on to NOAH. He created a Lycan character as his avatar. He gave him dark gray hair, sanguine eyes, brown complexion, outfitted him orange turtle neck shirt, black leather pants, & boots. He named his furious alter ego, FranZetta, the Howling Knight.
Like other players before him, he underwent a basic tutorial and fought monsters around Kanpeki Sekai for an hour.
IN-GAME:\NOAH Online\Freedom's Cradle Star System\Briarwelt Moon\Miyamoto Rainforest>
FranZetta unsheathed his standard-issued sword and sprinted on the rainforest path. He heard rumbling noises from the bushes within his earshot range. He followed the path until four treemps leapt toward him from behind.
He spun clockwise and slashed his enemies' forearms with a sword. The treemps flew sideways as the sword cut through their forearms. As they fell to the ground, red shiny blocks —in-game blood— showered his smooth face.
He jumped onto the nearest treemp then he gashed and slashed its hairy belly. As he made his final gash, the monster jabbed him with its bleeding fist. He fell onto the ground but recovered from the fall in a moment. "Damn, you got me there!"
The three remaining treemps scratched his left forearm and he jabbed his sword on one of the treemps' navel. He tumbled leftward and dodged the two angered monsters. He expelled a fiery white aura onto his sword. "Take this!" He dashed to the bleeding treemps, "BACK SLASH!" he slashed them sideways in a sweeping motion.
The treemps exploded into green crystalline particles, and dropped green pulsating holographic cubic chests. He looted the four loot chests and obtained some treemp fingers, two treemp tails, three stat +1 boosting fragments, a black leather long coat, a wooden [Moro War Shield] and a single-edged long sword, named as [Fading Sigbin's Kampilan].
"Yes, I got a titled weapon!" He raised his new weapon to the sky.
He stowed his standard-issue sword and equipped his war shield & his kampilan. He struck a knight's pose, unaware about lingering dangers in the forest. He heard Crikhei's choppy wailing cries within his surroundings until it ashore from the river.
The Crikhei leapt at him but he parried it with his shield. The monster hit the rocky ground headfirst. He stabbed its one of its eyes twice. An inhumane volume of pixelated blood drenched his new coat, as he landed his second strike on its eye.
As he blinded the boss monster, he ran farther away from the monster and cast his sword's installed ability: [Sigbin Cloaking]. His dashed back to the bleeding creature as he turned invisible due to the sword's spell.
OFFLINE:\Philippines\Caloocan City\Franzen's House>
Franzen grabbed 3 pieces of ridged potato chips with his left hand and ate them in one go. Oh yeah, I can solo this freak! He snatched a piece of paper towel and wiped off his salty hand. He looked back at his screen and saw Sirius slice his prized boss monster.
He felt overheated —as if he expelled his fiery blood red aura— and reddened his face, "What the hell!" He saw his current skill ran out of time. He mashed the Enter key and typed at great speed,
[ KS! KS! Leave or PK! ]
His hands excreted sweat as he commanded his avatar to cast another [Sigbin Cloaking] skill. His avatar turned translucent for the second time and gashed the monster.
"You'll not get the loot!" He rapidly clicked his left mouse button. What ticks me off are those freaks who'll slay your monster at its last moments!
He heard his mother's voice from the living room "Franz, are you okay?"
He raised his voice as he played the game, "I'm fine, mom"
"It seems you're fighting someone over the net, son" his mom answered from a distance.
"Don't worry about it" He answered back as he commanded his character to perform the [Sigbin's Blood Fang]
IN-GAME:\NOAH Online\Freedom's Cradle Star System\Briarwelt Moon\Miyamoto Rainforest>
FranZetta's kampilan vent out a blood red aura and sounded like a bat's shriek. He zipped towards the blinded Crikhei and stabbed its forehead with the powered sword.
The scaly monster roared in pain as his powered blade sucked its life force. Sirius dashed behind the helpless boss monster and lunged his spear on its spine. "Mind if I help you?"
Crikhei's roar invited a pack of treemps and seven human-sized orange poison arrow frogs. Sirius and FranZetta stood back-to-back. "Hmph! Now's the time" he patted Sirius' puffy right shoulder.
The boss monster limped back to the river, as the two overgrown poison arrow frogs shot their tongues on him. He parried the frogs' tongues and cut them with his enchanted kampilan.
"You know, I could have pawned that Crikhei if you didn't come, Sirius-ly!" he yelled at Sirius as he slashed two poison arrow frogs at the front.
"You're stingy!" Sirius swept three oncoming treemps with his spear.
"Because I'm hunting it alone!" He slashed another overgrown frog, and did an upward slash on the other frog.
Three frogs and four treemps remained as the Crikhei recuperated its wounds underwater. The two glanced at each other and they slaughtered them with normal attacks.
The Crikhei went ashore with shimmering green furs draped around its lower jaw and legs.
"Oh no, he got an upgrade!" He said to Sirius as they stepped back from the evolved boss monster.
The evolved crocodile wolf monster howled in front of the two. He and Sirius covered their ears until the monster blasted them with small, focused electrified beams. Sirius tumbled backward and regained its offensive stance, while he suffered a three-second paralyzing electric shock.
"You have not fully familiarized yourself, Zetta!" Sirius laughed at him as he rolled rightward and struck the monster's azure eyes.
He got up from the paralyzing blast and jumped toward the boss monster. While mid-air he slashed its head with the blood-draining power of the Sigbin fragment. As he landed to the ground, the evolved Crikhei caught them inside his purple electric orb. It roared again and knocked the two away with its electrical explosion.
"NOAH surely knows how to twist things!" the two got up fast and gulped their healing vials, determined to end the monster once and for all.
"Sirius, go for the head this time!" He said to Sirius as he slid under the monster's belly.
"Okay!" Sirius charged towards the monster and threw five powerful thrusts in a blitz on its head.
He cut the monster's tail and performed a powerful thrust blessed by the Sigbin fragment. The evolved Crikhei shattered into ruby pieces, and dropped a gold holographic chest in front of the two.
The two fighters opened the chest and Sirius grabbed a sword with an emerald segmented, leaf-shaped crystal blade. Upon closer inspection, the new weapon boasted powerful bonus fragments:
[X-Buccaneer, T-Cicada Escapist, T-Matanglawin, T-Wakwak & T-Phoenix Child]
Wow, I think I can sell this to a sword user at a good price! Sirius held the well-enchanted weapon.
"May I take a look?" FranZetta showed his palm to him.
He handed over the sword which is later identified as [The Buccaneer's Scaled Emerald Barong of the Escaping Blazing Falconeye]
FranZetta widened his eyes when he saw the stat & ability bonuses bestowed by the attached fragments. "Well look at that, I got the most OP gear so far!"
"Are you done, FranZetta?" Sirius asked.
"Y-yeah, and I'd like to—" he grinned wide as he tried to stow the powerful blade to his inventory.
"Return it to me, Franzen!" Sirius pointed his standard-issue spear on his chin.
FranZetta stepped back, "Derek? Sirius-ly, are you Derek?"
"And your name's simply obvious, Franzen!" Sirius pushed FranZetta to the ground. "Give me my freaking rare sword!"
"No way, Derek! This sword's worth 20,000 Pesos if you ask me!" FranZetta pointed his kampilan on Sirius' navel as he moved back.
Sirius smirked at him, "How did you know its real-world value for a powered virtual sword?" he poked FranZetta's kneecap.
"The fragments installed in this thing are rare, dumbass!" FranZetta waved his sword on Sirius' shins. "Never forget that Horngarner still wanted you to cough up some dough!"
Sirius stabbed his spear to the ground and knelt on the dirty ground, "It's been four months, and still he's looking for his share?"
"Yes, and this time, we'll both pay for ditching Horngarner." FranZetta sheathed his kampilan, "He went mad at me too, since I failed to get our cut from your prize money"
He kicked Sirius' head, "What's worse, I'm your friend, Derek!" and stomped on his left thigh, "I repeat, you betrayed me as a friend, for your mom's medicine!"
Sirius dragged himself away from his maddened friend's avatar, "Stop it, Franzen! Stop it!"
FranZetta gazed at his former friend, "Okay, but at least, we'll start moving away from Horn." He logged off with the rare powerful sword in hand.