It was around four in the morning, on a Saturday that Zac woke up. His droopy eyes easily showed his lack of sleep, probably from browsing the web till two in the morning before finally getting some much needed sleep.
It was the biggest news in the world, the Azuer VR machine and today was it's release date. Today it's creator, Zentech, was finally going to start delivering the capsule sized machine, and install them in the 1.4 million households that pre-ordered it.
Of course VR already existed and many companies made billions off it, but this model, this version was much more advanced than any of it's competitors.
On launch day it would only be available in America, but once it gained traction the company was planning on going global. The entire system ran on one server that took up the space of a skyscraper. And on top of that it costed tens of billions to build, but the expected profit was in the hundred billions so it's investors didn't mind the large cost of building it.
At the moment Zac was brushing his teeth, while staring at his his face in the mirror. It was just like any other day that he had experienced, except today he would join another world, the virtual world.
In the mirror reflected a 20 year old caucasian man. He had dark brown muddy hair, brown eyes with a hint of gold that drowned you in a swamp of amazement at the beautiful color that radiate from them.
His body could be considered average. He didn't work out at the gym, but neither did he gulp down loads of unhealthy food, while spending most of his days on his computer. Standing tall at 5'11 he was by no means a "handsome" guy that girls would flock around, but the didn't necessarily bother him.
The VR was indeed scheduled to arrive today, but by no means was it going to be delivered at four in the morning. So the waiting game began for Zac, as he desperately searched for something to pass the time with.
Zac was currently attending college, his studies were in business and management. He had a particular thing for controlling things from the sidelines, not having to worry about being on the “front-lines.”
Fir Zac the World was just a big ball of hypocrites, liars, thieves, and scumbags that tried taking as much as they could without having a care in the world for others A free-for-all where you took what you could and prayed it was enough to make it by and then repeat.
Well that was the conclusion he came to after observing and studying the people around him from the sidelines for past few years that he could think for himself.
There were times when people around him made him feel good, like raising money for a homeless shelter to feed the poor. That was something he smiled at and remembered that there are still some, a very few, that still care about others like they care about themselves.
Of course he also witnessed more sad things than good, like people getting screwed over by others. People always hurt other people and that was a fact.
But to Zac he was a spectator.
He lived by his own set of values that included not involving himself in other people business. He wasn't socially awkward or shy talking to girls, but he had no reason to involve himself with others.
Life was a journey and nowhere did it say you had to go through it together with a lover, friends, or even family.
Of course he wanted to blend in with others. Sticking out of the crowd only annoyed him so he would greet his fellow classmates every now and then. Always thinking of an excuse to get out of talking with his classmates and coworkers he always tried to be alone.
It was like a bouquet of flowers that had one particular out of place flower mixed in among the rest. No one noticed the fake among the group, but it was always there.
To summarize it all up he didn't have friends, never had a girlfriend, and even his parents were always preoccupied with their work to care about him. It didn't bother him that he never had anyone to rely on, but he never really needed a shoulder to lean on in the first place.
His only relatives alive were his Uncle. The guy was an honest man that tried his best to raise Zac when he moved in with him at the age of 8, after his parents had passed away.
George tried to straighten his nephews view on life as much as he could, but all his effort was in vain. Zac had already accepted and embraced his secluded nature and didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Zac still vistited his uncle every month, at least once a month. He could understand the feeling of being alone, although for Zac it didn't necessarily bother him.
But even Zac had the decency to at least visit his uncle who had raised him every now and then
Back in his apartment, Zac was currently checking the games forum for any new news.
He opened the forum for the game and noticed a new guide that was posted by an admin. He quickly loaded up the page and started reading the hours away.
Apparently the guided was a manual about the various systems like jobs, classes, exploring, etc.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
… … … … …
[Knock Knock]
With the sudden knock on the door Zac sprung out of his office chair and sprinted to the door.
His heart racing, excitement building and patience fading he opened the door.
Finally! He was so close to being able to enter this new world. A world were the world was a lot less shitty and a lot more interesting then reality.
Delivery Man 1: “Is this the Wilten residence?”
Zac: “Yes!"
Zac replied with a small grin.
Delivery Man 1: "Were from Zentech, here to install the VR machine. May we come in?
Zac: "Of course, right over here."
After entering his apartment the two delivery men immediately began installing the machine were Zac had cleared for it.
… … … … …
After around an hour of setting up and calibrating the machine the two delivery men quietly left the apartment.
He spent the hour reading the manual four times, as he waited for the delivery men to install the machine.
Zac's face and behavior betrayed what he was feeling at the moment. He could have burst into happiness at any moment, but he choose to put on one of his many casual faces he would wear in reality.
[Beep]
Now in the capsule Zac powered it on and after releasing the start button the machine beeped a few times.
Suddenly he couldn't see anything anymore. Up, down, left, right everything was dark. He couldn’t even see his own hand in front of his face.
[Swoosh]
A bright white light flashed and his vision lit up.
Welcome to the World of Azuer!
After the message disappeared, he found himself in a empty white room the size of 10x10 feet.
A list appeared to his right with thousands of customization options for the character model the was standing beside the list.
From how the characters hair was cut to the freckles around it's cheeks, there was truly no limit to how much you could customize your in-game avatars appearance.
Of course Zac had no intention of playing as a female or super buffed guy, he wanted to look and play like himself and there was indeed an option for that.
Apparently the machine took a picture at different angles and recreated the user face and body as best as it could, but even the machine made a mistake every now and then.
That mistake was his eye color. The game didn't have his exact eye color so it recommend either brown or gold and of course Zac chose the gold ones. Of course they were different from his real eyes, but they looked pretty bad ass so he just decided to go with them.
After double checking his avatar's appearance he was promoted with another window.
Please Enter Your Character's Name:
He already knew the name he wanted to use and quickly entered the name "Zero" into the window.
After entering the name into the window another window appeared just as Zac had expected from reading the guides.
Please Select a Starting Point:
Along with the window appeared a map of the kingdom that players could start in.
Zac quickly selected a rural village on the outskirts of the Cowfel kingdom near the southern border of the continent.
After confirming the selection Zac's vision went dark again and a narration video began playing.
[Narration]
After about 2-3 painstakingly long minutes Zac-, Zero finally entered the world of Azuer.
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I will write the next few chapters before posting the next chapter, sorry.
[Also, I edited this chapter a bit now that the project was accepted and could use the full text editor.]