Jackson was hype for the release of The Next Age Online. He hadn’t been gaming in years, but VR had progressed beyond your basic headset. With full dive now marketable to the public (outside billionaires), he was among the first to purchase the new capsules that were barely bigger than your standard racing chair you see streamers using on all channels.
Once it came in the mail, he spent the requisite several hours on setting the thing up, hoping like all others that all the connections were right despite the myriad screws he had left with no discernable purpose.
The system loaded smoothly, to his extreme relief. That particularly long bolt with the copper tip had him worried, but the virtual room that was the same dimensions as his own in reality loaded without issue. Stark as it was, he took about a half hour to customise it to his own comfort. It didn’t have his typical furniture, as that would be boring. Instead, as he was fully mobile within the space, he set it as a couple palm trees on some grass adjacent to a beach. Complete with salty breeze and cool ocean air, he had a hammock swung between the trees and an ice cream shop across the street for a convenient treat.
Laying in his hammock, the system interface was a simple glance to the right of his peripheral away, which he accessed immediately. A screen with the download progress of NAO popped up showing it would be about fifteen minutes before he could enter the game. Anticipation distracting him, he nonetheless pulled up the in-engine browser and navigated to his favorite fiction site. After a distracted time reading the exploits of his favorite sandwich eating, assassin-esque expat, he received a notification from the system that the game he was downloading was finished.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Immediately bailing mid-chapter, he swapped over to The New Age Online’s launcher and jumped right in. The technicolor portal transition was expected as last-gen VR transitions had a reputation for motion sickness with their immediate and abrupt scenery changes, but he ended up standing in a generic-looking town square in your basic tunic and trousers starter outfit that would make better kindling than protection.
Not daunted in the slightest and honestly a little buzzed in anticipation, Jackson sauntered over to the nearest guard and asked for directions to the local library. The guard, stoic as anticipated, pointed mutely down the street he was beside and pointed up to the sign of the closest building. It was obviously an inn, with a symbol of an overflowing tankard, but he got the idea. Walking down the street, he spotted an open book on a sign outside a building. Wandering in he asked loudly, “Where can I find some magic?!”
A few moments later a young man, maybe eighteen, poked his head around a bookshelf and said, "uuuh… check row seventeen. There are a couple of introductory guides there.” before ducking back into obscurity.
“Seventeen you say?” Jackson asked. There was no reply, so he wandered back to the specified row after a few moments of silence. Once he was engrossed in a tome that looked honestly way too advanced for him, the librarian poked a curious head around the corner and watched him in silence.