In the background a female reporter was monotonously going over the daily news in a voice in completely lacking articulation which made it a miracle how anyone watching was even awake. It really wouldn't be too surprising if the reporter fell asleep while she was talking.
“I’m about to leave!” Her colleague called out from the kitchen. The two lived together since college and never really separated.
The quiet girl that was reading carefully dogeared her book and pushed it away. Looking at her electronic clock, she smiled at it. Particularly the date.
11: 39 PM | May 3rd 2052.
Exactly a year since the New World Order took over. A year ago, to this day, Donut Tramp united North America, Europe and Russia (yes I know Russia isn't a continent) under the New World Order.
Holding 97% of the world’s nuclear arms above the rest of the world's head and assassinating any ruler dumb enough to resist them, the New World Order held complete control of the planet in less than twenty-four hours. On live television, the entire world watched as their own governments surrendered to the New World Order.
Those politicians who surrendered without a fight were given back their positions as governors that reported directly to the NWO and their countries weren't damaged.
China was the only country that posed a threat to the NWO, holding 3% of the world’s nuke supply. Sadly, more than half the government officials were bribed and those who resisted were publicly executed.
North Korea tried to nuke the NWO capital(present day Switzerland) using their few nukes but the missile defense system made that attempt a mere pipe dream.
Less than thirty minutes later, the reprisal attack wiped North Korea off the map and 'unification' began.
'Ahh yes' Hitagi thought.
'Unification.'
Shortly after, ISIS (isol) staged a worldwide attack on the schools and public infrastructure in nearly a hundred countries across the world killing nearly three thousand people and injuring over thirty thousand.
'With an average of three people at each of the hundred locations, killing only three thousand is a bit pitiful.' She silently thought. "Matou-kun, what's with that expression?"
Her colleague Shizuki asked. Her colleague was a sad existence who tended to trust people easily. Which also explained how she had now been raped twice, nearly killed, lost a kidney, and was stuck in a dead-end job with a demanding boss.
Nonetheless, she had a optimistic outlook which can’t really be counted as a positive or a negative aspect at this point.
"Oh hey there, Shizuki" Hitagi replied, quickly hiding her look of disgust behind her usual one of disappointment "Just intrigued how ISIS only averaged ten kills per insurgent".
"Only?" replied Shizuki quizzically.
"Ten kills yet a hundred injured. Do they not know how to aim or are they just dumb?"
"In a hurry more like. New World Order forces were everywhere after the takeover. Anyways, I'm off, Matou-kun. Gotta help boss with her paperwork."
“Bye zu~ki~”
Hitagi *wanted* to get back to her book but laziness overtook her. 'Meh... I'll have to reach all the way to it and then get to the right page and open it and read it'
Turning her head as little as possible, she carefully edged the clock back into her view.
11: 53 PM | Ma~ [(??益?）?? ┻━┻]
Hitagi cursed herself for nearly forgetting. Flinging expletives a people would never expect from a girl like her, she roared and jumped up, completely forgetting her desires to do absolutely nothing. Dashing through her house like a world class athlete, she charged across the floors, lept over furniture that was in the way, and scaled the stairs in record time.
Hitagi Matou was by no means athletic. Neither was she fat nor was she anorexic. It simply was well rounded, figuratively speaking.
'Awww shit how did I forget Conquest Online launches at 12:00???'
(AN: Stereotypical name much?)
The simple thought of missing the launch time set her soul on fire and injected her with enough adrenaline to fuel her parkour-like dash to her capsule.
After clicking the icon on the display and kicking the capsule a few times to speed it up, she completely stripped and jumped into the capsule. The helmet silently slipped on and the top panels slid closed. A wide set of apparati attached themselves to various parts of her body and she closed her eyes.
When she opened them again she found herself at a character selection screen. A cute NPC guide began a well articulated speech.
"Welcome to Conquest Online! Blah blah blah character selection blah blah skills blah blah blah you can choose now." Hitagi liked how her brain filtered out everything she didn't need to know. It was a necessary skill in the twenty first century.
"Well, I'll start then if you don't mind" she sighed, slightly sarcastic.
"Name?" The friendly NPC asked.
"Hitagi"
"How would you like to look?"
"As is."
"Race?"
"High Human." High humans had high intelligence levels compared to regular ones. According to the manual their strength and agility were lower but wisdom and intelligence was the most important for mana.
"Class?"
"Assassin."
"Trump card?"
"Flash." She finished without hesitation.
Trump cards were a unique feature of Conquest online. Among them were:
Trump cards are generally regarded as OP, coming with the drawback of only being able to use them once a week.
The clock changed to 12:00. Hitagi selected Akira, the [Center of the World] as her starting point and she blinked into the world.
The first thing she noticed was that she was in a large chapel. Large as in very ginormous. Over ten thousand players were inside a large auditorium like building. She was on the second floor of some overhang overlooking a stage with a fat, balding man on it.
"With this! Come my f- blah blah"
Ignoring the fat man, she turned and walked out into a large hallway. She already read through the tutorial released while she was in ‘the hype’. Opening her status page, she poked away until she found her Inventory.
"What the fuck... a crappy knife, ten crappy pieces of bread and a silver coin? What are we, in the slums of a beast race village?"
Ignoring the glares from the NPCs and beast race players around her she then looked at her skills.
(Author's Note: YAYYYYYY BLUE THINGS!)
Running outside under the dark sky, she made her way to a stand, she found a(n)
"Hey, I'll sell you this ancient dagger and mummified bread for three silvers" she said.
“The dagger is from an ancient civilization called the uhh… Charigans which my party found outside the city today. Buy em before the others sell theirs so you can profit quicker!”
The merchant accepted, although skeptical and she took her remaining money to buy a knife about ten centimeters long coated with anesthetic.
About to leave, she turned around and
'Kekeke getting rid of my shitty equipment before everyone else makes it worthless was a good idea. Now to make some money!"
The monetary system in Conquest Online is simple.
~~~
100 copper = 1 silver. 100 silver = 1 gold. 100 gold = 1 platinum.
~~~
Going to the guild headquarters, she looked at the request board. Her eyes widened in total shock… a hundred goblins would only get you a bounty of six silvers. Her dreams of making it big overnight were instantly shattered to pieces.
'Hehehe look at those walking wallets... with crappy people attached to them. I should kill some players to get some easy cash instead of grinding monsters (average of 16 and 2/3 of a goblin) to get a single silver.'
The only problem with killing players/NPCs was that if a guard saw you, it would turn into Grand Theft Auto very quickly (except without cars). You would also get a bounty on your head, they would start a manhunt for you, and people would refuse to do business with you. A red arrow would also be above your head basically screwing you over.
Suddenly concocting a new plan to get rich quick, she walked to the residential district and found a relatively large house.
'The key is to act like you aren't gunna kill people' she thought and with much swagger, got to the door, trying the doorknob. Unfortunately it was locked, but all the lights were off. Taking a quick look around and seeing no one, she used her [Flash] to get past the door.
'My current mana will allow for about twenty seconds of invisibility so I should be careful.' she thought. 'Hopefully I won't need it.'
Making her way forward, she found a man sleeping on a couch. 'Hehe must have made his wife angry.'
"[Inspect]" she whispered, bringing the level 3 man up. All she could see was that he had around 220 HP.
Slowly steeling herself and walking up to the man, careful not to make any sounds, she drew her dagger up.
"[Lethal Strike]" she whispered and stabbed down onto his neck. The man shot awake choking on his own blood and died after another stab to his chest.
Killing someone in the game was different from killing someone in real life, but the new NPC AIs were made to be extremely human.
She backed away slowly and dropped her knife in shock at the spreading blood pool. Her level shot up to level 3 and a sliver of EXP. Embarrassed by her own childish horror, she chided herself and picked up her knife.
'This isn't finished' she remembered.
Making her way upstairs, she found the woman and killed her as well. She dismissed the notification and the level ups. Distributing points between agility and intelligence, she was about to start searching for valuables.
Suddenly, hearing a noise, she paused. It was distinctly that of a door opening. She suddenly cursed herself for her carelessness. A cold sweat ran down her back as she walked to the door. A teen-aged girl, likely a daughter had gotten up and was headed to the living room.
'oh shit...'
'she's gunna see the old bastard's body!'
Luckily she wasn't seen as the daughter was walking in the opposite direction. Taking out her blowdart, she took careful aim at her back.
"[Lethal Strike]"
The dart flew true and it embedded itself into the teenaged girl’s back. The girl looked confused as she reached behind her and pulled out the dart. Seeing the blood cover her hands, she started trembling and cried out “Daddy, help!”
But it was too late. Hitagi was already almost on top of her. A single second of [Active Camouflage] was all it took.
"Sorry, its nothing personal, really." Hitagi said as she moved in for the kill.
A slash to the throat and the dying girl's whimpers ended.
After confirming herself to be the only one left alive in the house. She began to loot anything of value, stuffing it into her inventory. She unlocked the back door and left for a pawn shop.
Several trips later, the house was empty except for furniture.
But before she could leave, she hauled the bodies into the fireplace and poured all oil all around, spreading the fire around.
Smiling in satisfaction she left, now two gold and seventeen silver richer. Hitagi walked to the marketplace with a smile on her face.
Nearing the market, she heard the shouts of the fire control agency on their way to a burning house. Looking around for a decent bow, she spotted a bluish longbow.
"That looks pretty powerful" she muttered. Apparently not quiet enough as the stall-keeper heard her.
"Ahhh yes, a fine beauty. You can have it for 1 gold and 50 silver."
"1 gold 45." She replied curtly.
"1 gold 47." He followed up.
"46." She countered.
"Done." The merchant smiled, a hint of malice at the edges of his lips, quickly replaced with disbelief as she put only 46 silver on the counter and took the bow.
"Wait missy!" He called, but it was too late.
She was already gone.
Buying steel tipped arrows and weapon poison made from a mix of black snake venom and queen spider venom, she carefully applied the poison liberally on each arrowhead.
The level seven Hitagi then left the city, tailing a party of five that just left the chapel. Hearing their laughs, she smiled. It was the smile of a predator that just spotted a helpless victim.
--A Certain Public Order Report--
Three bodies found in the burning remains of a house. By the time the fire was under control, there was little left worth saving. There are no further leads.