A boy was sitting at a table in the cafeteria eating a submarine sandwich. It was the table close to the back of the room. Normally one wouldn't think of this as such an odd sight. That's because it wasn't. It was just a regular teenage boy eating lunch. He was by himself and it was the last days of high school, so you would assume he was a loner, but if someone talked to him they would notice that he had an affable personality and wasn't bad-looking. What was odd was the fact that close to a year and a half ago he had several friends. Now they had drifted away. Strangely enough the boy was exactly the same as he was the past year. He lived in the same house, didn't have any major family issues, his grades didn't change, and he enjoyed the same hobbies and pastimes that he always did. Therein lay the problem. It wasn't the boy that changed, but society itself.
This was because seventeen months ago, Royal Road was released to the general public. It was the first, and only game, with virtual reality. Now there were hundreds of millions of players all over the world, and the number was rising dramatically. Just about everyone that had an electrical socket and an internet connection had either already purchased a capsule or was saving up enough money to do so. Unfortunately this included just about every single person in Warren Fuller's school, save himself of course. Warren wasn’t particularly bothered by his friends drifting away, but he was dying to get himself a capsule to play this revolutionary game. Now his parents weren't exactly poor, but the cost of the capsule coupled with the monthly subscription fees was a luxury his parents couldn't afford. Warren knew this, and so didn't push his parents on it. If he wanted to play he would have to earn the money himself.
Warren tried to come up with ideas on making money. He knew how difficult it would be. There was no way to raise the eleven thousand dollars for the capsule any time soon, and then there was the monthly three hundred dollar fee.
Even if I could make that much money from a part-time job there would be no time to actually play the game. He sighed glumly and went back to finishing his sandwich.
After school ended Warren headed home and went up to his room to see if he won any prizes. Nowadays there were events and lotteries that gave out capsules and trial memberships in place of the traditional vacations and cash prizes. Because of this he signed up for just about every lottery or event that offered these prizes. He wasn't too optimistic about his chances given that millions of other people would also do the same, but there was still a chance. Most of the e-mails he got were spam, but there was one that caught his eye.
The e-mail read:
Congratulations Warren Fuller, you have been selected for a secondary round of testing for in-game services in Royal Road. This process involves a four-week testing round. An information session will be held shortly, please be on time for a brief presentation. More information regarding the location and time can be found below.
I must have signed up for this with the other surveys and lotteries, I doubt the pay will be good. Well, if it's an in-game job, I might at least get a capsule out of it.
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So it came to be that the following day he took the bus to the meeting place downtown. From the outside, the place wasn't anything special, just a small theatre building. It was part of the community centre and was used to hold plays so it had a fairly sizable auditorium. There were already about two hundred applicants sitting down. This was more than he was expecting for a job interview, but with so many people it partly explained why he was selected as well. Most of the people there were in their early twenties to mid-thirties. From what Warren could tell he was the youngest applicant there.
He found a seat in the second row from the back and sat down in the faded brown seat waiting for everything to start. After another twenty minutes the last of the applicants came in, about a hundred more of them or so, and the doors were finally closed. The lights started to dim and a man in a suit came onto the stage.
“Hello everyone, I'm glad you came to the introductory session. I know most of you have questions about what this job entails, who the employer is and the payment you will receive, so lets get started.” He turned the projector on, somewhat of an old technology but it gets the job done, and started his presentation. “My name is Jacob Turner and I'm here representing a certain company that's looking for a few employees who will do several tasks in-game for them. Now we'll hold off on expanding on the details of the job and who you'll be working for until after the testing is complete.” There was some grumbling at that, given that most people wanted to know what it was they were getting themselves into.
“I know it's a bit off-putting, but let me just tell you about the salary and the benefits. Should you get chosen you will receive a base yearly salary of fifty thousand dollars, as well as additional sources of income based on your own ability and performance. You will also be provided with your very own capsule and on-going subscription to Royal Road, all of which will be subsidized by the company itself.” At this the crowd murmured excitedly at the prospective rewards for the job. “I know it's impressive” Jacob said with a laugh, “but what you should keep in mind is that from the three hundred applicants only five people will be selected.” The auditorium fell silent at this piece of news.
Only five people will be chosen? Well given the salary and benefits it isn't all that surprising. I guess there isn't much of a chance of me getting selected. Warren was understandably gloomy given his unbelievably slim chances of getting the job compared to the older, better educated and more accomplished applicants. Might as well give it a shot, I won't lose anything anyway.
Jacob continued talking. “Now to determine your suitability for this position, each of you will be required to move to a prepared dormitory for the four week period. You'll be provided with food, lodging and a specialized capsule for your own use. For the first two weeks you will have free reign to prepare yourselves for the final test. Feel free to collect whatever items you deem necessary. There won't be any information given in regards to the nature of the test, so be prepared for anything. At the end of the two weeks you will automatically be teleported to a specially-made dungeon. Now that covers all the pertinent information, on your way out please register and pick up a set of keys and directions, feel free to take a book covering the basics of game-play as well.”
At this the applicants got up and made their way out. Most of them seemed to look forward to the test, but a few seemed disinterested and didn't even bother picking up their keys. Warren was unsure whether or not to go. However, given that the four weeks were in the summer and he was planning to go on a trip anyway, it didn't seem like a bad idea. At the very least I'll get to play Royal Road for a month. He smiled to himself and went to pick up his keys.
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Jacob watched the people making their way out. About twenty-five have left without their keys, not as high a number as initially predicted. His eyes roamed over the men and women, most still young and in university. Those youths in t-shirts and jeans made the largest chunk of people, who he had the highest expectations of. Then there were the slightly older professionals, dressed in suits like for a formal job interview. Though most companies would be more interested in professionals, Jacob quickly dismissed them, assuming that they would all fail the test.
He quickly sized up and analyzed the applicants, looking at each one only for a second, making his own mental notes regarding their suitability. When he noticed a teenaged boy, who seemed to be the youngest in the room, his eyes lingered for a while. The boy was the only face he remembered from the initial screening. He seemed interesting, but ultimately he had even less of a chance than the stiff-necked suits milling in confusion. Beyond the matter of age, he was also the only applicant that had never played Royal Road. Still, he couldn't help but want to root for him, since everyone loves the underdog. Good luck kid, you're going to need it.
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After a few hours of begging and reasoning with his parents, he got the okay to go to the dormitory. A few days later, after the school year ended, he had packed a suitcase with clothes, a toothbrush and other necessary items. He took a taxi to the building specified on the map he received. It was a thirty minute trip so he took out the help book he received from the information session. He had already read most of the book, and found it very useful. He read up on the current starting cities and geography of the Versailles continent, as well as the physical and magical combat systems and gained a better grasp on the stat system. The most interesting thing was the information on raising stats by training and crafting.
After finishing the last section on the various standard classes, he was about to close the book up when he saw a small paragraph on the middle of the final page. It read:
The greatest mistake you can make is to treat Royal Road as a game. It is not a game but another world, it is a place to grasp destiny with your own hands and forge your own path to glory. Create another life for yourself, for greatness awaits you.
He smiled as he read that. You don't have to tell me twice. I will be the greatest.
“We're here” the taxi driver said. Warren paid the driver and went inside. He went to room 204, which was written on his key, and went inside. It was small, with the capsule taking up half the floor, and a table taking up a quarter. Besides that there was a small closet for his clothes. It seemed that the capsule would function as his bed as well. He made his way to the ground floor and found where the gym and the cafeteria were. The cafeteria and the gym were open throughout the day to allow applicants to focus on playing Royal Road.
Well time to get started. He went back to his room and got into the capsule. He leaned back into the soft gel layer and closed the hatch. The Screen above his eyes then displayed a message.
He swallowed in anticipation and loudly said “yes.” The world faded to black. Before he could take in the fact that the entire universe had disappeared a female voice sounded out.
The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?
“Yes!” He shouted out excitedly.
Select the name of your avatar
“Wraith” he told the disembodied voice, thinking of the creatures that are unseen and unnoticed but are more free than anything else.
Select your gender from male, female or neutral.
“Male, obviously.”
Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine.
“Human.” He thought long and hard about this before he got here, most races offered some sort of advantage, orcs made great warriors, elves great mages and archers, but since he still had no idea what class he was going to be he decided on human, since while they didn't offer any great advantages, the balanced stats opened the door to all possibilities.
You may alter your appearance
“Can I see my current appearance?” As soon as he said that he was looking at a model that mirrored his appearance. He was fine with his current appearance, but decided to change his hairstyle in keeping with the fantasy element of Royal Road. “Add five inches to my hair length.” He looked at his current appearance, satisfied with how it turned out he said “okay that's good.”
Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road
Select a city and kingdom you want to start.
“The Citadel of Serabourg in Rosenheim Kingdom.” This was discovered and became a starter city quite recently so it would provide greater opportunities than cities in the central continent that have been around much longer.
Welcome to Royal Road.
“Skip the tutorial.” From what he had read the tutorial was about two hours in length, but it didn't provide any information that you couldn't learn while playing the game. He only had two weeks to get his character ready, eight weeks in-game, so he didn't want to waste even a single second. The blackness of the virtual world was then replaced by a blinding flash of light as he was transported into the game.
Next Chapter
*This is my first fanfic, so bear with me while I get used to it. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.