Trevor groaned as the familiar sensations of his old body filled him once again. His muscles strained as he sat himself up. He didn’t feel weak persay, but it was if there was a distinct lack of liveliness. Or maybe it was a lack of youthfulness.
Turning to the side, Trevor grunted as he had to assist his bum leg over the edge of his VR chair. Finally he pressed the release on the back of the helmet. There was a distinct *snick* and the nerve port disconnected, allowing him to remove the helmet.
‘Were things always this colour?’ He wondered to himself as he placed the helmet on the side table.
Giving his eyes a gentle rub changed nothing and the world around him maintained its slightly lackluster look. If it was like this for everyone, then he could understand why people would get addicted to being in the virtual world.
“Ahh shit!” He swore out loud. “Cane would have to bloody well be on the other side.”
Another series of grunting and groaning ensued, as Trevor leant back over the chair to get his cane in hand. His first attempt at standing up ended with his bum leg giving out beneath him, his good leg didn’t do that much better though. Thankfully he fell back on his ass instead of forward and onto his face.
“Huh. I get why they call it a cloud chair.” Mumbling to himself he felt the cushioned set beneath him.
Originally called ‘VR Pods’, due to their shape and design. They were later rebranded as, ‘VR Sanctums’, by companies looking to sell at a premium. Trevor had felt a bit uncomfortable with these models. No matter how plush and gilded with gold they might have been, Trevor couldn’t get the thought out of his head that they were just fancy looking coffins. Eventually he found a specialty unit which was made, coincidentally, by the same company that produced the Boundless Realm.
His unit was called a ‘Cloud Frame’. The description being that it was basically a solid frame containing all the essentials, with a seat on top of it that was ‘as-soft-as-a-cloud’. It had originally been designed for people that might feel claustrophobic in a pod or sanctum type model, and Trevor had paid out the nose for the ‘specialty’ of its design. At this moment though, he was more than happy that he had. He had to admit, it was probably more comfortable than his bed was.
Eventually, Trevor made it onto his feet and then, with the use of his cane, went into the kitchen. The kettle, as always, was full and all that was left was for him to flick the switch.
‘Huh, need to get more milk.’
There was enough for now though, and that was what mattered. The food situation wasn’t looking quite as good. It looked like it would have to be an omelette with either, ham and cheese, or cheese and ham.
**** **** ****
Trevor leant back in his seat after a satisfying meal, and sipped at the last of his lukewarm coffee. A glance at the clock on the wall surprised him.
“Thought it would be later.” He mumbled. “Time is supposed to fly when you are enjoying yourself, not crawl.”
It had only been two hours since he had first entered the virtual world, but he felt like it had been much longer. Granted, a lot had seemed to happen, so maybe it only felt like he had done a lot. Maybe he hadn’t spent as long reading and meditating as he thought.
Shaken after his first in-game death, Trevor had decided against heading back out straight away and potentially towards a second death. Instead he had perused the set of books that were on the virtual bookcase he had bought. After discovering a section in one of the books describing a technique that would allow him to detect things in the nearby surroundings, Trevor decided to try and learn it.
The section in the book had been rather brief and had not gone into detail on how to go about using spiritual perception. He didn’t let that stop him trying though. The starting area had included a tutorial on how to ‘feel’ and use Ki and the book had stated that one just had to use their ‘spirit’ to control their Ki outside of their body.
Trevor wasn’t really sure what the book meant by the use of ‘spirit’ but he was pretty sure it didn’t mean spirit in the ghostly sense. He figured it probably meant something like using his ‘force of will’ or ‘willpower’.
After what had felt like hours, Auroch had still not obtained the
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Thinking back on it, Trevor ‘humphed’ to himself and thought that he should probably check what it did exactly. Without having looked up much information on the in-game specifics, he had no idea how great his gains were. Especially considering it was his first time playing and he was still only level 1.
Usually those who made a concentrated effort so early on, were the ones with a specific goal and the knowledge on how to achieve it. More often than not, they were also members of a player guild or group. Even those players would however, be shocked at the fact that Auroch had managed to achieve the things he had and still not have levelled up even once.
**** **** ****
There was a strange feeling of weightlessness and Trevor’s senses flooded with ambiguous sensations before it all faded away. The feeling of the soft cushioned seat beneath his gave way and was replaced by the pressure of his body’s weight upon his feet. Opening his eyes, Trevor found himself once again in the Boundless Realm.
Auroch stretched and flexed his whole body in turn, revelling in the fresh energy that flowed through him. A small smile appeared as he couldn’t help but notice once more that he was free from the aches and pains of his body in the real world.
The short break he had taken in the real world, had wiped away the last vestiges of apprehension after experiencing his first death. He still didn’t relish the idea of possibly dying again any time soon, but he also didn’t start to feel anxious and queasy at the thought of it.
He had briefly considered playing around with the newly acquired mastery, to see if it let him do anything interesting, but the desire to journey outside the sect was stronger. Auroch didn’t want to put it off for long, just in case it developed into something more. He had to get back on the horse, so to speak.
Walking at a slow but purposeful pace, Auroch made his way to the sect’s gates. He had been too focused on what he might see outside the valley last time and had not appreciated the well crafted scenery around him. Although it was the main path of the sect, it was not paved. It seemed that only the roads of the Core area were worth bothering about to those who made the decisions. Despite that, there was a distinct lack of dustiness.
The buildings that lined the main path were all set back from the path by about a metre. Though there was no real uniformity to the buildings themselves, they all had a garden like section on the path facing side.
Eventually, the buildings gave way to large open fields. Some were clearly growing crops, but others looked like they were full of flowers being left to grow wildly. Now that he had taken the time to actually register what he was seeing, Auroch was amazed by how full of life all the plants looked.
Not just looked, but felt. He knew what he was seeing were not ‘real’ plants, but his eyes and his brain were in agreement that these things he was seeing, were anything but ‘pretend’.
Finding himself at the sect gates once more, Auroch took a deep and purposeful breath. Taking one final look behind him, he could see the whole valley spread out below.
He smiled to himself as yet again he was reminded of the youthful and seemingly endless energy this body had. He hadn’t even noticed the incline of the hill as he walked along the path. Something he would have been all too aware of, if he had been the real world.
**** **** ****
You have died!
Respawning player at last Safe Zone.
“*Sigh* That was stupid.”
Auroch didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand, he wasn’t entirely surprised that it had happened. What did he expect? Do the same thing, get the same results. On the other hand though, he thought that it might have just been an unfortunate happenstance last time.
“Oh well. Live and learn I guess.” Appearing once again in his player home, he gave his body a good stretch. “Maybe I should try going left next. Or I could just follow the path I suppose.”
Once again the invisible attack had killed Auroch before he was even aware of the danger. Even with his raised alertness he had been helpless against whatever had attacked him. Thankfully, this death only gave him a sense of frustration and discomfort, without the anxiousness that had shaken him the first time.
**** **** ****
You have died!
Respawning player at last Safe Zone.
“…” Auroch didn’t even sigh this time. If he had control of his body at this point in time, he would have been hitting his head in frustration. “Okay, sticking to the path it is.”
He had originally planned on walking along the path that lead to the sect and seeing where it would take him. At the last minute though he changed his mind and decided to see if the area to the left of the sect was any different to the area on the right. Apparently, it was not.
Auroch was slightly confused as to why an area that instantly killed new players was so close to the area they started out at. He could only guess that there must be an invisible line somewhere that denoted he was entering the ‘wilderness’ and he wasn’t aware of it. Even that line of thinking didn’t really make sense, but with nothing else to go on, it was the only thing that remotely made sense to him.
**** **** ****
You have died!
Respawning player at last Safe Zone.
“Fuuuuuck!”
Four deaths in one day. He was not doing well. At least this time it was actually his own stupidity that killed him. Although he was unsure whether or not that was something he should actually feel fortunate about, at least he knew how he died this time.
“Stupid, furry little shits.” He swore.
He hadn’t cursed this much in a while. His thoughts were full of frustration and self mockery. What had possessed him to pick up the little critter? If that wasn’t bad enough, dropping it when it had bit him had apparently caused it some damage. It’s parents had not taken kindly to him injuring their offspring and Auroch had found himself suddenly being confronted by two overgrown ferret looking things.
If that wasn’t bad enough, his ‘escape route’ had led him straight past more of them and they were more than happy to join in the pursuit.
The only ‘positive’, about the whole series of events; was that he was pretty sure a few of the giant ferrets had followed him off the edge of the cliff. Auroch was pretty sure that death by falling was probably a lot less harrowing than being eaten by overgrown fur scarves.
‘I guess that makes two positives.’ He thought to himself mirthfully, and he sat back in his bean cushion chair sighing. His frustration finally having run its course.