Novis Talen

**Novis Talen** was a teenager that learned the sword from a ghost trapped in a sword and used his skills in the VR game Virtual Sword Warrior during the Magicless Era of Earth. He is the protagonist of Virtual Sword God!. Novis' game ID was **ProNovis**, while it was **Pendragon** when Arthur Pendragon was in control of his body.

# Appearance

At 15 years old, Novis had short black hair and was the average size for his age.

# Biography

It is known Novis lived in a town that had an harbour, in England in the Berkshire county during the Magicless Era of Earth. He most likely lived in our future, as virtual reality and holography went beyond our technology.

## Attending Montem Middle School

At 15 years old, Novis was attending Montem Middle School, where he had classes about history, physical education and maths. He was remarkably talented in soccer. The school had many sports clubs, such as football, baseball, rugby, etc. Like a Japanese school, it had cleaning duty.

Novis struggled with money and so sought pocket money from his grandfather.

Contrary to his 12-years-old little brother Bill Talen, Novis would not spend his time playing video games and would not go online as soon he got home. Novis and Bill live with their mother.

Novis' room was bare, excepted for a guitar in the corner of the room. It was upstairs, first room on the left.

Novis was usually good at everything with little efforts.

## Finding Arthur's sword

When he was tasked with cleaning up his grandfather's dojo, Novis found a sword with a dragon emblem only he could see. The soul claimed to be Arthur Pendragon. Novis' grandfather thought the sword hosted the spirit of a Dragon that protected the Talen family for generations. Novis' mother could not see the dragon mark but his brother Bill Talen could.

This Arthur Pendragon said he had been a knight for the King of Avrion (the King of the Redwings Kingdom?) and that his duty was to be the King's champion. He would battle the knights of other kingdoms almost every day. One day, he was tasked to duel a knight from another kingdom and felt ill during the fight. He was poisoned and betrayed by someone of his kingdom. He was unable to rest in peace, so his soul became bound to the sword. The sword eventually came in possession of a young boy that could hear his voice that became his pupil, but he died at 25 years old of a sickness. Eons later, **Novis Talen** was the second that could hear his voice. The soul of Arthur got transfered to Novis' body. This Arthur had yet to complete his dream of creating an unbeatable sword style. There is no indication that this Arthur was the famous King of Logres, despite he had the same name. Arthur was also the leader of the Dragon Knights.

Arthur kept appearing as a ghost on Novis' side, although only he could see him. The minds were linked, so Arthur could feel Novis' emotions directly, and not merely infer it trough conversation.

## Getting familiar with Virtual Sword Warrior

In order to fulfill Arthur's dream, Novis started playing the game Virtual Sword Warrior as it was the only realistic way to wield a sword in this era. Arthur adopted the pseudonym **Pendragon** in the game while in control of Novis' body.

He lost badly to his brother Bill Talen, therefore he started to attend the classes of the VSW Training Centre and frequent an Internet café to play, where he met Lucas Bell, son of the champion of the game.

He went to attend the Children's VSW tournament, where he was noticed for his judicious analysis of a match, although he was merely repeating what Arthur was telling him.

When he was pondering wether he should go pro, his little brother Bill Talen offered him his second VR headset, the black one, so he could get some practice at home. He decided to make an account for himself (**ProNovis**) instead of for Arthur and test all the characters he could in his placement matches. Seeing how terribly he fared, he asked Arthur to teach him the sword. He spent months running, practicing four weapons in the Talen Dojo (long sword, dual swords, spear, chain sword), training even in his dreams.

One day he saved the developper Tom Dane from four robbers, then demonstrated his training regime at the dojo. As a reward, he was offered a Goldware VR capsule. Novis' demonstration of his training led Dane to add to the game a character entirely based on him both as thanks for his rescue but also to shake up the pro scene of the game.

When the school bully Mac Ruman threatened to expel Scarlett Springett and Alex from the VSW Club, Novis not only defeated him in the game with the new character based on him, but Arthur beats him up in real life with Novis' body. His father, head of a gangster group, vowed to avenge him.

Due to the menaces of Mac Ruman, the VSW got deserted, the leader Alex got forced to rely on Scarlett Springett, Novis (as new ace player) and the newbie Dan to participate to the Local VSW Tournament of the Berkshire county of England. Since a fifth member was missing, Novis recruited the kendo student Ashley into the team.

At Ashley's father dojo, Novis met another Dragon Knight ghost, George, and he accepted to host him in his body as well. Novis also came to the realization that several game characters were based on the Dragon Knights, and suspected it could not be a coincidence on the part of the Goldware Corp that developed the game. The company turned out to be aware of the spirits trapped in weapons and knew the identities of several of them.

## Local VSW tournament for the Berkshire county

The team had only one week to practice and initially had mediocre results, and Dan had some private training with his brother Kyle. The tournament was hosted by the Westgate Private School, the school Lucas Bell attended.

The first match was against the Eton school (4 Silver players and 1 Gold). Dan took down two players and Ashley two on her own. Ashley and Scarlett Springett went to the rescue of Alex and took down the last player. It was over in an instant. Ashley received the nickname Monster of Montem.

Just before the second match was against the Hershal Grammar school, Scarlett Springett was abducted by the Ruman family. Dan, Novis and Ashley rescued her, and Arthur even demonstrated that sword energy (Qi) could stop an entire magasine of bullets. In the end, the team arrived on time for the match. When Scarlett was once again in danger, Novis was revealed to be a berserker. In the end, Montem won when Scarlett Springett captured the adversary flag. This victory against one of the strong teams attracted the attention of Tick media.

Because Alex's grades dropped, his parents forced him to drop out of the team. At the same time, the former adversary Frank Burney of the Hershal Grammar school transferred to their school. Since there was no one else fit for the job, he became the new captain.

The quarter-finals were against the Woo Woo Boys school. Alex decided to disobey his parents and attend the game. Due to his absence, it went disastrously, and the only thing that allowed the game to continue was the stubbornness of an opponent to get a penta kill. All the players were eliminated but Novis. It is then he defeated all of them on his own, making his grand début for the public. Tick media also revealed he had once won against Lucas Bell at the Internet café, causing a lot of hype.

Unexpectedly, Alex's mother was once in his situation, and decided to support his dream of being a professional VSW player. The team went to his home and witnessed the spirit Mortem, that was at the moment possessing Lucas, destroying all her opponents and her own team, making them quite demoralized. Dan decides to step up his game and learn from Tony, the muay thai practicioner, and Novis tries to learn sword energy. To defeat the Westgate school, they decided to practice playing as a team and finally achieved the Silver rank, and eventually Gold. The team also learned about Dan's involvement in a gang.

Just before the semifinals started, Hastam Grey fought Mortem and had to escape. He also got the opportunity to meet Novis, Arthur and George. They emitted the hypothesis the sword spirits came from three different worlds. At that moment, they were attacked by five members of the Snake Bite, including Mortem. In the end, both Novis and Mortem did not participate to the match, as the spirits were busy fighting each other. During the fight, Bill Talen arrived and George had to possess him so he could survive. Arthur Pendragon overpowered the enemies and forced them to retreat. Novis entered Lucas' body, and the two of them defeated Mortem to obtain control over the body. When Novis and Lucas returned, they witnessed Montem's defeat.

## Training outside the game

Novis decided to quit the team in order to step up his game to be in a team with Lucas in the Titan University, an university specialized in Esports. Bill replaced him in the Montem team, and the following year, Montem won against Westgate. In England's tournament, Montem was eleminated in the quarter-finals.

For a year, Novis stopped playing the game, did odd jobs, and challenged well-known fighters in nearby towns to learn from them. Although he was no longer playing, Novis researched how the pros played, and asked Alex for advices.

When Novis resumed playing, he used for the first time the Pendragon account because he wanted to challenge stronger players than the Silver ones his ProNovis account limited him to play with.

## Admission to the Titan University

The tryouts for the Titan University in the Berkshire county were held at the Westgate school. Surprisingly, Alex, Frank and Dan also wanted to enter that university. Lucas changed his surname for Lally, his matronym, in order to not be tied to the reputation of his father. On 523 candidates, only 5 would pass in this county.

The first test was to make the candidates run in a 400 m track field while measuring their heart rates. Those that had a rate exceeding 120 bpm or that were passed by a runner were eliminated. The runner would change pace all the time to incite candidates to make mistakes. Alex was eliminated. 256 candidates were left.

The second test was to stick one's hands in scalding sand to test willpower and pain resistance. Novis had an easy time to pass it thanks to sword energy and the fact Daiki already trained him with this method for a year. 40 candidates were left.

The third test was a test of reflexes. An attacker must strike at a defender in a box with a digital weapon. The defender must evade. This time, Dan was eliminated by Lucas. 20 candidates were left.

The fourth test was to play VSW games with a team of five strangers, and Novis was with the A team. The leaders were decided randomly by the organizers. In the first match, Novis was mandated by his team to be an archer since they already had roamers and damage-dealers. He quickly abandoned that role and fought with a knight's sword. In the second match, his teammates let him play Heros Puer like usual, and the match was quickly won. Lucas, Novis, Phil, Bob and Yaz made it to the Titan University. Due to winning in the selection process, they did not have to pay the tuition.

Alex and Scarlett Springett went to their backup university. Dan ended up signing in the muay thai gym he went to train once. Frank Burney became a coach for the Hershal team after the lost twice against Montem. All three of them went to the Bimm University. Ashley taught at the second dojo her father opened.

Dan revealed to Novis he was his love rival concerning Scarlett.

## First term at Titan

The students were taken to a private island. It had augmented reality fields and a state-of-the-art gym. Although the food was plain, it was exactly the nutrients they needed. Rooms had 12 people in 6 bunk beds. Immediately, Novis got on a bad food with Blake, a bully.

# Relationships

## Family

* Grandfather. He started his Talen Dojo to get kids off the streets and focus on something else.
* Mother
* Father, who works for a game company and always away from home
* Bill Talen, his 12 years old little brother

## Friends

* Scarlett Springett, Novis' friend and love interest
* Lucas Bell, son of the champion of the game
* Alex, captain of Montem Middle School's Virtual Sword Warrior Club
* Dan, leader of the track team, the Wild Dog of the Noir Gang
* Ashley, kendo trainee, junior classmate of Novis
* Frank Burney, former student at the Hershal Grammar school, substitute captain, tank

## Mentors

* Arthur Pendragon, a Dragon Knight ghost
* George, a Dragon Knight ghost
* Paul Snellart, teacher in the VSW Training Centre
* Daiki, Ashley's dad, kendo teacher, Japanese immigrant in England

## Acquaintances

* Sophie, employee at the Internet café
* Tom Dane, VSW developer

## Enemies

* The Ruman family:
	+ Mac Ruman, the school bully and son of a gangster leader
	+ Bob/David Ruman, the former's dad and a gangster leader
	+ Tony the Tiger, Thai under contract with the Ruman
	+ Rob
* Mortem, evil scythe spirit belonging to the Snake Bite faction that stole Lucas Bell's body

# References

1. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 1
2. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 62
3. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 50, 69
4. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 61
5. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 2
6. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 11
7. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 11
8. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 17
9. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 32
10. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 1
11. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 3
12. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 6
13. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 5
14. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 29
15. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 34
16. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 1
17. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 73
18. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 74
19. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 2
20. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 14
21. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 22
22. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 3
23. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 4
24. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 5
25. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 10-13
26. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 17
27. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 18-19
28. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 20
29. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 28-29
30. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 31
31. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 35
32. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 36
33. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 75
34. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 1
35. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 27
36. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 6
37. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 44
38. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 3, 17
39. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 1, surname revealed at the ch. 78
40. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 22
41. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 10
42. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 37, 39
43. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 28, 49-52
44. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 100
45. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 66
46. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 140
47. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 82, 129
48. ↑ Virtual Sword God!, ch. 81