*Ring*... *Ring*... *Ring*...
[Player] William Rivera, Human, Male, 22 years old.
I launched myself from the bed like a cannonball. Sweat dripped all over me as I tried to remember the nightmare I just watched myself.
Chills ran down my spine as I momentarily recalled the blurry but all bloodied vision of myself getting tortured… It was very creative and life-like. Even to the extent that even I thought was possible.
I took a deep breath and shrugged.
It wasn't really the first time that I saw that nightmare. At first, I was rattled, but… no matter how life-like and ominous the visions were, I eventually got over it.
It has been weeks since the first time I got to watch myself get decapitated then rebuilt over and over again,
it was getting a bit dull for my taste.
Huh.
Now that I think about it, I really am more easygoing than I'm aware of.
Not everyone can tolerate a fucking nightmare every time they start their day and say good morning sunshine.'
*Ring…* *Ring…* *Ring...*
Well, I am what I am.
'...'
'Simply awesome.'
-Tap-
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Getting up in bed, I proceeded with my morning routine. After doing some taekwondo, Jogging, and weight lifting, I then moved on to do some shadow boxing.
A laborious routine that, for some reason, I could not get rid of. I was a professional fighter before.
Three years ago.
I was all in for the thrill, but… the thought of having rules to follow when fighting someone was a bit lame for me. And I am by no means a sore loser.
I didn't even lose a single match.
13-0, baby.
It was the rules that kept throwing me off. I mean, imagine training every day for a month just to prepare for a fight and not being able to give and leverage everything you have. And then they ask you to act like some sort of hype man, or in my case, make one out of you.
They'd ask you, 'how do you make it so easy?'
As complicated and diverse martial arts techniques have developed into, everything was plain underneath it all.
There was nothing unexpected. Your opponent, bigger or smaller, the match will always be a one on one. Same cage, Same flat but not so solid floor. No objects to grab on, no terrain to leverage.
It was… a bit limited for my taste.
Thus, after getting my own fill of showered praises, I left.
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By the time I got back from training, my parents were already preparing breakfast. My Mom was already preparing the usual bacon and eggs on top of garlic rice. My dad was having coffee as he continuously scrolled down on his phone.
After a quick shower, I went ahead and joined them.
It was nice. It took a while, but after I got the hang of the visions that I kept seeing in my sleep, my mornings returned to being slow and simple.
Perfectly mundane but nice.
Well… obviously, I'm still looking for my own thing even after three whole years. But well, I have the time.
And who knows,
Virtual Reality is coming up.
Maybe this is just the thing that I was waiting for.
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The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
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[Location] Inside Some Cafe
[TV] "Well folks it seems that the World Government has done it again. Full immersion virtual reality who would've thought that this would even be possible during our li---"
I know, right, Sheila? Who would've thought that virtual reality would come to exist during our lifetime?
Very impressive, right BURNS? Almost as amazing as the way you cut me off right there before repeating the exact sentence I was trying to say. That's really extremely witty, even for you.
Shiela then proceeded to massage the in-between of her eyebrows, her hand in a palm as if signaling to stop talking.
A few seconds later…
You done?
Burns inhaled deeply, obviously annoyed over Shiela's monumental pause.
As I was saying…
[/TV]
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[Info] Edizon Madrigal, Human, Male, 22 years old.
Edizon glanced at the antique square TV before serving the coffee on the table.
"Guilty pleasure?"
"Yeah."
I replied before eventually chuckling at my own approval.
To be fair, the program I'm watching right now is way below your average morning show.
Sources are bad... lots of fake news... but well… yeah…
It's pure entertainment.
The Shiela and Burns morning show has been airing for almost seven years, and the ratings are still as prime as ever.
Apparently, watching two awry folks who clearly hadn't had their cup of coffee bash each other while trying to deliver the morning news realldy makes your mornings a lot better.
And I think it's safe to say that I am speaking for most of the world. Number one show on both TV and the internet for over seven years already.
Guess the world is a sucker for bad morning shows, huh.
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We continued watching for another fifteen minutes before finally resuming our conversation.
"Entertaining as always. This show really is a living proof of how evil humans are." Edizon commented before taking a sip of coffee.
"Humanity does enjoy each other's demise. But of course, no one enjoys it as much as you do."
"Don't feel bad that you came in second. I'll ask Merc to bring you a cake after this."
Edizon and I laughed.
The two of us have been best friends ever since childhood. And although we excel in different professional fields now. Both of us are undoubtedly good at fighting.
Tried and tested.
Even before, Edizon has always been a magnet for bad luck. It was as if the guy was cursed.
Believe it or not, I wasn't really into fighting before, never have thrown a fist at someone, nor have I pushed someone just so I could get in line first.
It is all because of this guy.
Back then, we would get into fights day in, day out, and we would always go home with bruises all over us.
With or without logical reason, there will always be someone or some event that would go out their way just to ruin everyone's day, and it would only happen whenever he's around.
Nevertheless, it wasn't that bad.
All in all, we had a very colorful life. We played around like kings during high school and lived a ridiculously free life during college. Kept our circle pretty small. And aside from some rare people we accepted as real friends, we pretty much treated everyone as your' business as usual, folks'. Smiling and ignoring them at the same time.
Maybe a crucial reason why we were prone to fights and gossip. But who could really tell?
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"They really managed to create V-..."
"Virtual Reality huh? I know right William. Who would've thought that virtual reality would even exist in our lifetime? It hasn't even been 2 years since the project was launched, and yet we're already seeing results."
"It really doesn't work. You– Now you're just ruining it for me."
"The vibe?"
"Hard to pull off, isn't it? I've been looking to use that skit, but there's just always something off whenever I play it in my head.
But yes... It has only been 2 years, and they're launching the thing globally already. You really can't expect less from the World Government." I mentioned as I watched the demo that was playing on the TV."
"Funny that statement would have been ironic if you said it 30 years ago."
"Yeah, but they made it happen anyway."
"Probably somewhere along the lines of delivering results and going overboard during the process."
"Something like that." We stared at each other before diving into a topic that we had discussed dozens of times.
The history of the World Government has always been fascinating for everyone.
Well… Ultimately it's because joining all of the governing systems in the world shouldn't be possible within such a short amount of time. The scary thing about all of this is that we would always conclude in two different possibilities as to why the World Government came to be.
The first possibility being that there's a very powerful common enemy enough to cause our World leaders to feel threatened and band together.
And the other possibility is that a single organization is strong enough to subdue everyone.
A single organization with absolute power, to be precise.
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"Okay back to VR. What are our plans?" I glanced at Edizon after finishing the last bite of the Carrot cake he ordered a while ago.
"I'm still looking for good companies and pro guilds to invest in."
"Won't just investing in pro guilds would be the best choice? I mean, sure they can't really fight that well now since the game will be in virtual reality. But that doesn't necessarily mean they won't learn how to fight. I don't know for others but I learned to fight right after I got into an 'actual fight'. And it hasn't been any harder ever since."
"Not entirely true. Opportunities should be equal for everyone as far as I'm concerned. Being smart does not necessarily mean you'll be able to fight better, nor that being good at fights does not necessarily mean you have the advantage and will encounter more opportunities over everyone.
VR is another form of reality, after all. It would even be rude to call it a game. And just like reality, having talent won't necessarily mean that you're going to be successful.
There's also luck, willpower, passion, interest, emotional quirks, and all skills in real life. If what the world government says is true, then all of that should have a direct equivalent in NOIM.
Another thing is that not everyone is as easy going when it comes to violence the same as you."
"I really don't get why people are so complicated."
Edizon rolled his eyes at the comment. He took a brief pause before continuing:
"More importantly, the World Government stated that simulation space will also be open to organizations, but can only be bought using 'Origin Coins' which is one of the most important currencies inside NOIM."
"That… Complicates things even further." I almost choked myself after hearing Edizon's response.
[Simulation Spaces are one of the many known secrets why the World Government, or should I say the world itself, has advanced in various fields and aspects. Simulation spaces allow you to create and simulate real-life scenarios inside a virtual space. Allowing you to predict cause and effect with a hundred percent efficiency, with life-like visibility of the whole scenario, not just data, and graphs but the actual visual result of the scenario if seen through the naked eye.
It can be used in medicine, agriculture, architecture and can even be used to predict the future.]
"The World Government even stated that you can even run world-scale simulations if you have enough Origin Coins to supply it." Edizon paused briefly after saying his most important point.
"Well, no shit… People looking to expand their businesses will likely go rave over all of this. Not to mention large organizations."
[Sometime after The World Government was instated, with the purpose of humanity's advancement, a law was created for businesses and organizations, and individuals to be 'Required' to contribute to advancement to be able to expand and own more properties.
There was a short uproar as land, branches of businesses, and even buildings were confiscated. The uprising was spearheaded by a massive coalition of Nobles, Royalty, Rich businessmen, and others, each of them in control of significant military power.
In they were all silenced down to their roots, and up to this date, that was the first and only uprising that ever happened and when the most privileged finally bent to rules.
Shortly after, the world came into a productive frenzy, be it creating new and better food recipes to finding cheaper and environmentally friendly ways to generate energy.
All those events largely shaped the world as it is today. And is why many writers and historians often call the World Government as a Messiah of an infinitely better era.]
"See. That's why I keep telling you that you should watch 'Normal' news every now and then."
"I'm gonna have to pass on that. My mornings will always be better with Sheila and Burns."
*Chuckle*
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To be continued