Chapter 2 - Yeah School!
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“Wait, I can gain stat points here?” I asked Hermia.
“Of course you can,” she says.
“Isn't that a glitch?”
“How so?”
“Because there's no concept of stamina here! Couldn't I grind forever on these dummies?”
“You could, theoretically. But think about it. How many players want to do that?”
“Me, I guess. Seems pretty cool.”
“Well it would, except I have order to kick you out if you stay here too long.”
“But what if I convince you to let me stay?”
“Oh. How so?”
“Well think about it. You're the great goddess of the world right?”
“Well, yes. Technically I'm the most powerful AI in existence, but yes, you are correct.”
“Well then, how do you stay entertained?”
“...” She remains silent. I wait.
“You make a good point.” She replies after a little while. “There's not much to do here.”
“Right?” I say. “Don't you you want some company while you're doing boring chores like world managment?”
“Huh. I never thought of it that way. Alright Chris, you have a deal. You can stay here and train before you descend, but don't mess up anything.”
“Alright!” I exclaim.
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
I hear the alarm I set off before started the game. “Alright. I have to go. See you Hermia!” I say.
“See you soon,” Hermia says. She smiles and I log off.
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As I take off the helmet, I’m greeted by the familiar sight of my room. Laying my VR helmet on the side of the bed, I start to get dressed and ready for school.
As I get ready for school, I amaze at the new technology available. My VR helmet accelerates time on a 6:1 ratio. That means 6 hours in-game is equal to 1 hour in real life. Super convenient for playing before you have to go to leave!
As I walk downstairs, I greet my brother, Joe. He is playing with our dog, like always. As I come down, the dog jumps up at me, but I ignore it as usual. “Yo, broseph,” I say.
“Hi Chris,” he replies. “You start the game last night?”
“Yep. Its pretty fun!”
“Pretty fun?” He looks at me incredulously. “I got PKed after spending 20 minutes designing my character.”
“Huh?” I say. “Did you restart?”
“Yep. But then I got killed by a rabbit, then a fox, then a wolf, and then another rabbit.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Oh,” I say. “But then?”
“Well… I sort of wiped out every mob surrounding the village, then hunted down my PKer, and hit level 10.”
Yep. That sounds a lot like my brother. He may not be the best gamer in the world, but he’s definitely more talented than I am.
“Alright,” I say. “Time for school.”
We get in the car and drive to our school. When I walk into the classroom, I see her.
I freeze. Then calmly walk to my desk.
“Hey Maria,” I say as I sit down next to her. “How’s it going?”
“Good morning Chris!” She say. “Everything going great!”
“That’s cool,” I say weekly.
The conversation ends.
I go through the rest of the day, taking peeks at Maria out of the corner of my eye. She’s beautiful like always. “Oh hey Chris, do you know about Sacred Sword?” she asks.
I freeze. Maria’s the last person I would think to ask me about Sacred Sword. “Yeah, I started playing last night,” I say.
“Oh, that so cool!” she says. “I just got a VR helmet last night. Maybe we could meet up together in the game!”
“Yeah, totally,” I say.
After school, I walk to my usual spot in the yard. I sit down next to one of my only friends, Earthen. “Sup, Chrit,” he says.
Yep. We’re both on a certain website that hosts a bunch of fanfictions. We bonded over these fanfictions so we call each other by our usernames.
“Hey, Earthen,” I say. “Read anything good recently?”
“Dude. Square Tiger and I Will Free the Earth haven’t updated in, like, forever.”
“That sucks. You started playing Sacred Sword yet?”
“Yep. I haven’t died once.”
“Really?!”
“Well, I also haven’t left the city I started in, but that beside the point.”
“I knew there was a conditional in there somewhere.”
“Dude, how’s your goal going.”
“Shut up Earthen.”
“Seriously, though?”
“Fine…”
Earthen knows that I entered the game for a stupid reason. I usually don’t get excited for video games, but after I learned that Maria would be getting a VR helmet to play Sacred Sword, I decided to get Sacred Sword as well. For obvious reasons.
We hang out for a couple hours, then, when Joe finishes his sports practice, we head home. After finishing my homework and eating dinner, I head back up to my room. I’ve got a couple hour before bedtime and I’ve got some grinding to do.
“Enter, Sacred Sword.”