Vol. 1 - Chapter 26 - Calling home

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Mathias, who spent his time with Vlad and the other younger guys, talked about the game, mostly them asking him about how it feels and about hunting and questing.

Not finding this aspect troublesome, he told them his hunting experience, omitting the boring details.

Eating the pizza, he heard his friend ask him something surprising.

"Matei, once the live version kicks in do you want to team up with me, maybe form a guild together?"

Hearing that question, Mathias stopped munching on his slice of pizza, and after gulping down and taking a sip of beer, he looked to be pondering on the question.

"What kingdom do you want to play in?" asked after ending his thoughts, feeling like not changing his starting location because of his apparent reasons.

"Eternal or Gauss, I haven't settled on those two. But those two will be the ones to give me the most benefits compared to the big locations such as Saharan."

Getting a confirmation about Vlad's starting location, he didn't take long to tell him, with a dull voice.

"Well, your choice conflicts with mine because I will play on the Saharan side. Strictly because it goes hand in hand with my small project."

"Tsk, do you force me to play in Saharan too? What's there even to play for, being already in the strongest starting zone? Where is the fun in this? That's some cheap tactic to do this to one of your friends."

"No, you are wrong there, Vlad. All the locations give an equal chance to the players, you think Saharan is all great, but it is the same start even for the players there. Furthermore, I wasn't the one wanting to team up that much. Sometimes I will not even play that much for levels and stay inside the city to explore and look around, getting my references from around."

Vlad just waved his hand and seemed to be contemplating his choices after hearing about Mathias explanation that every player, regardless of location and a fair chance at the game.

'This bugger knows something, and he doesn't want to share? Nah, I doubt he is the type of person who will tell you in your face what he feels about you. Ahh, and I wanted to become some noble of the Eternal Kingdom or the Gauss Kingdom, now my plans will go to drain, thanks Matei.'

However, as he was contemplating, another thought runs in his mind that suggested another plan.

'Wait, wait. I could still achieve the same feat in Saharan. Just imagine the accomplishment feeling when I become a noble in Saharan, compared to a noble in the other kingdoms. I could look down on everyone, hmm, with exception to Matei since he is obsessed with history and might actually try to become bigger in nobility.'

'I can imagine him pulling something akin to the characters he kept telling me from history, Justin, uncle of Justinian the Great, a peasant who become Emperor, Basil, Ivaylo the Cabbage? The heck, why do I even remember about those guys right now?'

'This bugger is a bad influence for me. He might turn me into a nerd interested in history stuff.'

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Only after some minutes did he nod his head and said to Mathias, who was eating his slice of pizza.

"You know what, you lazy bastard, I will join Saharan too. Rather than playing alone, I'd rather have someone around, so I don't get crazy from loneliness. I shall challenge myself to see if I can rise to a nobility status there."

Mathias just smirked a bit and said a bit sarcastically. "I pray for your success, friend. However, you know that in the first levels, we might not encounter ourselves because of the randomized spawning of the game. Meaning, we will group up after we reach level 15-20, passing the starting zones."

"Man, I hope we get spawned in the same place. I really want to get carried by you, the 'pro'."

"I will not mind it if you give me all the loot that the monsters drop."

"Hey, hey, I am not that big of a noob, and that's really a cheap tactic."

As those two were talking, discussing their plans for the game, the two younger ones just listened quietly to their talk, digesting the information spread out, planning also in their minds for when they will try the game.

Two hours passed since Mathias got to his friend, but when he looked at his phone for the clock and noticed the passage of time, he explained to them he also had to go, having other plans on his schedule.

"No problem, Matei. In the meantime, I will try the game, but I need to make some connections before this, so those brats can also watch what I see in the game."

"You can do that?" asked Mathias, confused.

"Yea is like a stream feature. I just have to tune some settings and link the capsule with a program the devs released on their website and bind it. That's how people will stream this game in the future. Those devs sure are smart to think of things in advance."

"Argh, something probably I will never touch in my life. Anyway, have fun boys, I will take my leave. Bye, you little snots, enjoy the watch of Satisfy, for now. The legal age for playing the game is 14, just around the corner for you two."

"That's what sucks, big brother, but it's fine, we can learn the game from Vlad, and once we get inside the game, we will smoke those noobs, right, Ian?"

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"I still have to have mom agree to buy me the capsule." said the other boy, with an awkward tone.

"Same, but we will figure out something. Maybe getting the best in class and top grades will soothe mom into buying this after two years?" commented Gabriel, taking a peek at his older brother.

"Maybe." said Vlad, as he was at the computer.

Then after that, he turned at Vlad, and getting up, he shook his hand and guided him to the apartment's hallway.

"Bro, you should accept my friend invite when you enter the game. Take care, also, tell me if you have problems with those gypsy bastards."

Getting his shoes on his feet, he raised his head to look at Vlad and shaking his head, he told him, casually. "Those idiots got arrested for about one month. By now, they should be sent to prison for all sorts of crazy stuff. Drugs, human trafficking, and all other bullcrap. It's on the news. Check it if you are curious."

"Nah, waste of time. So this is why you were so fresh lately."

'That and other things. Mostly because I have more free time since using the game to write my story.' thought Mathias to himself, but he chose to keep quiet and only nod his head.

"Ciao, stick to what we talked about. Don't bother with the creation of fancy avatars. It will most likely cost you in the long run because of the devs adding some other restriction."

"Haha, I will not cosplay as a woman, don't worry." said Vlad, when Mathias reached the door, while the latter cracked a hearty laugh, saying before exiting the apartment.

"You can't pull that there. Anyway, see you in the game."

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Mathias took the journey back home, moving toward the metro station that wasn't so full he waited again, this time a bit more than 5 minutes. Nothing of the ordinary happened to him on the way back as he arrived back home.

Moving toward a small couch in the main room, he searched for a number in his call history. [Mom].

Dialing that number, he took a while waiting for the line to be picked, and finally, after about one minute of waiting, he heard the voice of a woman calling back with a worried voice.

"Hello, dear mother. Nothing bad happened, don't worry, I just called to hear your guy's voices. It has been two weeks since we last talked. Sorry for not calling too often."

"I see. I am glad to hear that you guys are doing fine. Unfortunately, I doubt I can get to Alex's 9th-grade entrance ceremony or Cristian's since I am planning to take a break using all my break days from work on Christmas and also the New Years' Eve."

"I think it will be fine, mom."

The son and mother duo continued to talk on the phone until 50 minutes passed, with Mathias telling his mom about how his regular working days are, his endeavors at work, and funny moments with clients of the hotel, running butt-naked on the hallways of the hotel telling him they got stuck outside because they forgot the magnetic card.

They laughed, and even Mathias's mom started telling him about how her work usually went. Later reminding him that he should be careful of his body with a sad undertone, focusing on the aspect that she was ageing.

"I will think about it, mom. You know how the situation with those university degrees is. Most of those kids getting that piece of paper are primarily incompetents who can't do their job right and yet have the arrogance to boast about their degrees. Still, I might be generalizing saying that since there are also people who know what they want in life and pursue that something.

The situation in the country doesn't help this aspect either. The government once again does their shenanigans, trying to get more money from taxpayers because they can't support their flawed pension system."

"No problem, mom. That university thing, I will consider it. Once I get more experienced at work and get maybe a promotion in another sector, I might enroll next year, or when Cristian finishes high school and wants to enroll in a university. I can help him out with my place, so tell him that since he seems to be upset with me."

"Thank you, mother. Have a good evening, and greet the boys at home." said Mathias with a bitter smile on his face, preparing to end the call with his mom.

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Looking at the long talk he had with his mother, he walked to place his phone to charge, and changing his clothes, he opened the laptop from its sleep.

Checking his email, he saw a notification from the forum page, and accessing the site, he read the message of the user [Maple Mist], who humbly thanked him for not trying to have the video cancelled, and also seeming to look forward to more of his appearances online.

"Haha, kid, don't make me into something I am not, a popular person. One video of me is enough to circle around the internet. I doubt I will let any other guys record me like that."

As Mathias said that, he moved to check the comments on the forum out of curiosity to see what the people were thinking about him, and once there, he could see all sorts of different opinions.

Gazing at those comments, some made him crack in laughter, especially at the one online war between one guy who speculated he was a cheater.

--- He is a hacker. Can't you see the amount of damage he does to those elite monsters? I am sure he is a hacker.

--- Imagine this idiot accusing this spearman of cheating in a new game that should be cheat-proof. How dumb can someone be to directly accuse people of cheating when they didn't even try the game.

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Mathias could see that they had a beef right there, a bit toxic, but done in a sarcastic manner, so he just scrolled past them to look around, and after some minutes, he could see that most of the people who commented had a good vibe for the upcoming game.

Laying back on his chair, he smiled to himself and said. "I did my part as a beta player. I can't rebuke myself for not letting future players know about the game. Even though there are better videos than mine, about users fighting monsters, attempting starting level dungeons and being wiped out and so on."

"The atmosphere itself it will get louder with each month it passes."

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Then after stopping from looking at the forum threads, he moved to the stash of chapters left hanging on a folder for his novel and set one chapter to be released automatically by the platform, point where he closed that tab and put the laptop to sleep, preparing himself to enter the capsule.

However, along the way, right when he settled on the capsule, his body signaled that it was time to release the valves of his pipe. The beers he drank started brewing in his stomach, and now he could barely contain the pressure accumulating down his pipe.

In a moment of life and death, or better said, a mental war, he jumped off the capsule and dashed off toward the bathroom, and immediately released the flood.

"Drink two beers, piss the amount of 6 beers. Our body is really smart, not going to lie." commented Mathias while gazing at the flood he was unleashing.

After that, he flushed the toilet, washed his hands, and only after finishing that, he moved to drink some water to calm his thirst.

"Is not like I even drank that much. Still, I better hydrate myself while my body releases the alcohol from the blood. It is nice knowing that the capsule has a warning system for the body's needs."

Taking a bit before entering the capsule, he moved to eat some crackers before he returned, starting the game, and with the intent to finish most of his quests that were lying down, waiting to be pursued and completed.