Chapter 7
A new life
part 1
“Excuse me, sir..”
His words felt as if he was waking me up from some deep slumber.
“Umm.. y-yeah, Sorry, where do I sign?” I said, awkwardly. I could feel my body begin to get hot from embarrassment. I must have looked like a was missing a few screws, and at that moment I felt like I might have, for I had this feeling in me I couldn’t explain. It was as if one moment I was here and the next I wasn’t. Perhaps I had overworked myself too much, but it was so worth it. For I finally had her, my most prized possession.
“Like I was saying, just sign here and the ARK VR pod is all yours.”
“Of course, sorry about that,” I said, looking down at the electronic pad he had in his hand, as he showed me where to sign my name.
I signed my name and with that, I was the owner of the ARK, which stood for Artificial Reality Kernel VR -pod, which was a giant piece of equipment that any gamer would have dreamed of in their wildest dreams.
I had finally done it, after saving all of my money from all that over-time I had taken at my job. I was finally an owner of the most advanced piece of technology any gamer had to have. And if I was honest, this wasn’t just for gamers, no, this was the most advanced piece of technology of the century. This had revolutionized not only VR technology but life as well.
“Congratulations, sir,” the tech guy said,
“Also make sure to keep it plugged in all day to get all the updates that Second Life Corp is releasing this afternoon. But other than that, enjoy the beginning of your new life.”
“T-Thank you,” I said, as I escorted him out of my one-bedroom apartment, eager to start this new life of mine.
The ARK VR- pod sat at the corner of my living room, taking ownership of the area. I had removed all and every piece of furniture my little one-bedroom apartment had, and luckily I didn’t have a lot of furniture. Considering I didn’t need a lot to begin with, since I didn’t have any friends to invite over so there was no point in getting anything fancier than a two-person couch and a table with one chair.
But all of that didn’t matter now, I had this behemoth of a device sitting in my living room, and with this, I was going to experience a life that was more exciting than this one, or so they said.
I had read and heard many great things about this ARK VR-pod and how it had changed people’s lives as well as enriched them. And if I was honest, I was a tad bit interested in it, I mean, if I could make a living playing video games, well that wouldn’t be too bad, would it?
But to be honest, I just wanted an escape from my mundane life, and unlike the other pieces of VR technology that had come before this one, this one actually felt real since it used full-body immersive technology, the first of its kind.
Some gamers have said that it felt like they had been transported to another world. So I was curious to see just how real it was, and as an avid gamer, what more could you ask for than a fully immersive experience.
I looked at the manual the tech guy had given me, but I wasn’t really in the mood to read, besides, I find it’s better to tinker a bit with a new toy. It feels more intimate, so I tossed it aside, wanting to jump right into the VR-pod.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“This feels so cool,” I said, having the widest grin on my face, as I took in the VR-pod in its entirety. Saying I was excited was an understatement, I had waited for this for almost a month, and luckily, me paying a few extra dollars had put me on the fast track for it.
“Is a good thing I took my two-day work vacation.”
I let out a slight laugh, not only had I saved enough from all those hours I slaved away, but I also had saved my hours just for this. I had two days to play nonstop and enjoy my experience. To test drive just how good this was.
I drove my hand around the VR-pod metallic body, feeling its cold body on my fingertips.
“So beautiful,” I thought, this was truly a piece of art, it looked like some futuristic spaceship with its flashing lights around its body.
I reached for the button that was on its side and pressed it.
The center of the pod opened up just like the cockpit of some futuristic aircraft.
There was a dark blue leather chair inside the pod with a VR headset next to it.
It looked like I was about to drive a spacecraft. There were a bunch of cables and a screen to the side.
“This feels like it’s about to fly at any moment,” I said, chuckling.
“Well, it’s now or never.”
I got inside and took a seat on the driving seat, ready to take flight to my new world.
I put the headset on and closed my eyes. I could hear the ARK begin to go into overdrive for I could hear a humming sound, it almost felt therapeutic, like I was being hypnotized and in the blink of an eye, I was transported, well my mind anyway, to a white room.
“Welcome to New LiVe VRMMORPG VR2.0 .”
A blue screen greeted me.
“Well, that was fast,”
I said as I looked around where I was.
There was nothing in the white room except for this transparent blue screen floating in front of me.
I scanned my body and found it was made of nothing but ones and zeros as if I was made out of bits of some computer program.
“ Initializing scanning….”
A soft woman's voice said, taking me by surprise.
A light blue screen window appeared with a download bar in front of me. And as I watched the bar start to fill up, my body which was nothing but ones and zeros began to take form. I could see it self-begin to be filled with my human body.
“Scan complete, welcome Max Reinfeld to Second LiVe, “ the woman's voice said.
‘How?” I said, as I inspected my body, it was me alright, there was no question about it.
I was completely naked, but it was my real-life body, and not only that, it felt real too.
I touched every inch of my body and every part of it felt like the real thing.
“This is amazing!”
I jumped in excitement, this was unlike anything I had ever experienced. No wonder the ARK had been called the greatest achievement of the century. Making Second Life Corp the richest corporation in the world, heck, it was even richer than the GDP of some countries.
I tested my body by running from corner to corner and everything felt real, the room, me, heck even my sweat. It was as if it wasn't a game but real life .
“We would now begin by choosing your class, but remember that the class you choose will impact your story,” the soft woman's voice said, it almost felt familiar, which was silly.
A bunch of screens appeared in front of me, each one with a drawing of a character class.
The screens had warriors, clerks, wizards, knights, thieves, summoners, and a bunch of other classes that were all too present in any RPG game. This game was said to be the RPG game to end all RPG games, or so it sold itself as, and I was beginning to agree with it.
I sat down on the floor, swiping through my options. Some of the classes were new and others were familiar, but I had already made up my mind on the two I was interested in.
“This is a hard one, I usually pick either the knight class or the wizard class,” I thought, looking at the two screens for the knight and wizard classes.
“The Knight class is a weapon-based class, able to wield weapons of great power, they are a class who abides by the light and defends those that are weak.
Starting class: Squire”
“Wizard class is a magic-based class that uses the ancient words of mana to cast spells of great destruction.
Starting class: Apprentice. ”
“Hmmmmm….”
“This is hard, the knight is mostly a physically based class and doesn’t rely on another person's protection for combat, but the wizard class is very powerful but it does have cast times, making it need a partner for combat.”
After a long time of deliberating, I had made my decision.
“I’m ready miss computer,” I said, as I got up from the floor.
“I choose the knight class.”
I didn’t want to rely on anyone else in the game, besides, I was sure there was a class in the knight tree that could use spells.
“Knight class selected, profile will now begin construction,” the woman's voice said, and the next thing I knew, I was floating in the air, and a light surrounded me.