The development of CR technology had revolutionized the empire in a way that was unprecedented since the creation of faster than light travel. CR, or Created Reality, presented unlimited opportunities. It allowed someone who had access to a server and possessed all the required skills to generate an entire simulated reality that would be unrecognizable from our own, well unrecognizable outside of whatever changes or additions that were programed into this new CR. Understandably this new technology had an impact on a number of branches of the empire, but the most noticeable impact was of course in the entertainment industries.
The CR pod in front of me was already preloaded with all sorts of media and games to choose from, enough that a person could happily spend their entire life in the pod never leaving the constant stream of entertainment and content CR could provide. More than a few people chose to live their life that way in fact, I remember writing an essay on the growing number of citizens that chose to never leave CR in school a few years ago.
I might even have chosen to live my life like that if not for the debt hanging over my head. It turns out that a girl can’t even afford to own a CR pod when she owes the Council over forty thousand credits, which brings me to my current dilemma.
“Instillation of Eden’s Promise is complete.”
I gulped as the synthesized voice informed me that my last ditch effort had finished installing itself onto my rented CR pod. Eden’s Promise was a new concept for entertainment that combined both gaming and gambling, it all revolved around spectating and sponsoring an individual from one of the conquered races who exists in a CR designed to function like a fantasy RPG. The more gold that the individual you sponsor earns the more you yourself can gain in payouts, but for every death they suffer you have to pay an increasing fee for their revival. For some it’s a just a pleasant pastime, a fun way to spend a few credits and maybe gain some back, but for me it was the only realistic way I could hope to repay my debt to the council.
Eden’s Promise cost nothing to install or begin, the game could potentially give me a huge payout without my having to spend a single credit. That was good as I had less than one hundred credits to my name, but realistically I already expected that things wouldn’t go that smoothly. In fact I had already made peace with the fact that by this time three years from now I’d be a debt slave probably being sent to the frontlines of the imperial naval force.
At this point I figured that either I’d get lucky and win it big, or I could enjoy my last few years as a free woman seeing what all the fuss around this popular spectating game was about. Either way I’d enjoy myself, at least until the extension on my debt runs out.
I nodded and ran my finger over the smooth white surface of my newly rented CR pod. As the white egg like capsule opened itself up for me I climbed in and let myself relax as the pod closed in around me. As the neural gel I laid on began to glow I felt my consciousness begin to slip away…
***
Welcome new account holder!
Please answer a few questions so your account can be finalized and you can begin your experience with Eden’s Promise.
What name would you like to hold this account under?
I thought about that for a moment before deciding to just use my actual name.
“Alice Black”
My voice had a strange echoing quality to it that I was sure the developers had programmed in on purpose. It seemed like every start up sequence for a game or event had to be the same, a disembodied echoing voice in a white void replying to prompts. It was to the point I wished someone would do something different just to break the norm, but I guess a companies wouldn’t want to shell out credits for their development teams to spruce up an initial account set up sequence that would take their customers at most ten minutes to complete.
Hello Alice!
Would you like your account to be public or private?
I didn’t really care all that much, but if I was forced to choose…
“Private please.”
Alright, almost done now!
Would you like to add credits to your account? (Note that all credit transactions within Eden’s Promise shall be kept confidential and be stored as privileged data. Eden’s Promise is not liable for in game credit transfers, trades, donations, etc… between account holders.)
I didn’t have anything much to put in, but I had already decided to use my last credits on this. I doubted there was much I could do with my measly one hundred and three credits, but it should be enough to purchase at least one revival for my future breadwinner.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Yes, I authorize a full transfer of credits to this account.”
I almost winced as I watched the climber stop at one-oh-three, it was sad to think that the sum total of my funds only just barely made it to the three digit mark.
Ok! 103 credits have been transferred over to your account and can be accessed by selecting your balance tab from your spectator menu.
Now that your account has been set up it’s time to select your hero! Please take extra care while selecting your hero as you may only have one per account. You will not be able to reselect at a later date either, so please choose wisely!
Races available:
Human (Humanity-Terra)
Elf (Olimas-Olim Otar)
Beastkin (Hesher-Hesh)
Dwarf (Gigan-Gigus)
[Premium] Gnome (Misentaurus-Kelios)
[Premium] Angel (Lorilosian-Lorilo)
I stared at the races available to choose from, well at least the non-premium races, there was even a helpful note about what species each actually were and where they were from in parenthesis beside each option. I didn’t know a whole lot about each of the races or the species that they came from, well anything outside of what everyone knew that is, so I honestly wasn’t sure if there was a race that had an advantage over the others. All I had to judge them off was what I knew about them, and that mostly boiled down to their appearances and how easily they were conquered by the empire.
Humanity looked about the same as we did, they even called themselves human as well, and it took over two years for the imperial naval force to subdue them so I assumed that their species would be pretty powerful. The Olimas were pale and had weird ears, they also took almost no time to be conquered so I guessed they weren’t a good race to pick in a fantasy RPG with real combat. Hesher had a few strange features like furry tails and ears, but I remembered they were a bit of a primitive race so they probably wouldn’t be a good choice either. Gigan were a bit small, but they also waged a four year long war against the empire and even managed to destroy a few colony ships so they were surely fierce which was good.
Weighing my options I decided my hero would be either a “human” or a “dwarf”, but I couldn’t decide between the two which would be the better option. In the end I fell back on a simple judgement that decided everything for me: which would I rather watch for the next three years? The answer to that was simple enough.
“Human please.”
At least my hero would look more pleasing to the eye then one of the short and wide Gigan, sure I was being a bit shallow but this would be a person I’d be looking at for the next three years. I wanted their race to at least look similar to mine, and the Gigan just didn’t.
What sex would you prefer?
Human:
Male
Female
I didn’t even hesitate, and might have even been blushing if I had a body right now, as I spoke.
“Male.”
I didn’t even bother to try and justify my choice to myself, if I was going to be watching my hero for a few years then they might as well be eye candy for me. I could even entertain the fantasy that he would be my brave knight fighting to rescue his fair maiden from her crippling debt. If nothing else I was determined to enjoy these three years as much as I could, and if that involved my watching an attractive alien fight fantasy monsters on my behalf then so be it. There was no time to be embarrassed or ashamed of myself when I could very well become a slave unable to enjoy these sorts of luxuries in the near future.
You’ve selected a human male as your hero, please confirm that this selection is correct before continuing. Remember you will only be able to make this choice once.
“Yes, I picked a human male”
As soon as I finished speaking the void was replaced with a plain white room with five men standing in the nude lined up next to one another. They didn’t seem to be able to see each other or the room around them, but I could see each of them clearly. They ranged widely in age from one another, I saw a teenager, a middle aged man, and man who looked to be at least two hundred judging by his wrinkled features. There was also a number above each of their heads.
A pool of fifty randomly selected individuals meeting your preferences has been generated. Please select one of the individuals from this pool to be your hero by saying the number above your choice’s head. (To view the next line up please say next.)
I looked over the five before me, but none really stood out to me.
“Next.”
The five men disappeared and were replaced by five new options. I ended up staring at seven for a good deal longer than was probably necessary, but in my defense he was very easy to look at with that sculpted body, long blonde hair, and sharp green eyes. In the end I resisted the urge to pick him out right and decided to look over the other forty options before making a choice. I was very glad I did too, it turned out number seven wasn’t the only option that was easy on the eyes.
As glanced over the line up for thirty through thirty five I saw something that made my brain stop working for a moment. There in between a man in his middling years and a boy who looked like he might have just finished school was a grey haired masterpiece. Wavy and slightly messy light grey hair that looked like it would be super soft, piercing blue eyes as clear and deep as a lake, a face that managed to be simultaneously cute and handsome with its mixture of fine and soft features, a body that was slim and packed with lean muscle that looked delightfully hard, and the tool between his thighs…
“N-Next?”
I couldn’t believe I was stuttering, stuttering over a guy that wasn’t even the same species as me, but I couldn’t help myself. As I looked over the rest of the fifty options no one else stood out and I couldn’t get thirty three’s toned body and beautiful eyes out of my mind. He would be my hero, I would accept no one else. Hell if I got to watch him for three years than maybe this effort with Eden’s Promise wasn’t pointless after all, after seeing thirty three I also knew I would be adding a few new scenes to my little brave knight fantasy…
“Thirty three please.”
I couldn’t hide the excitement in my voice as I said what hero I wanted, I also felt deeply grateful to the me from a few minutes ago that decided against picking a dwarf. I was sure there would be no thirty three among a lineup of Gigan.
You have selected your hero!
Evo
Age: 19
Class: Rune Master: LV1
Subclass: Trickster: LV1
Skills: Rune Creation, Tricky Mask