"I won? Seriously?"

Gray couldn't believe it, so Spoon dragged him over to the screen and showed him. He pointed at the name 'Gray Wilhelm' in the shiny diamond-shaped area on the screen.

Spoon started to smack Gray's arm excitedly, happy for Gray and in disbelief that he himself had not won.

"Looks like I CAN play this game after all! Hey, with your sweet setup Spoon we can even play together!"

Spoon looked down dejectedly and said, "The shweet shetup wash going to be that, I can barely afford to live alone, I will jusht borrow my shishtersh when she getsh it."

Gray looked confused at Spoon, wondering how he could be so careless and bank on winning a competition open to everyone.

Also, Spoon had a sister? Gray was never informed of this, and it is every man's right to be notified when a friend of his has a sister in order to avoid her, obviously... maybe... Looking at Spoon, Gray thought it might be better to avoid her if she was anything like him. He didn't believe in judging a book by its cover, but sometimes the cover was nice to look at!

Gray thought it would be best to return home quickly as he suddenly felt like he would become the center of attention if he stayed around in a gaming store.

Once he got home, absolutely nothing happened. He wasn't swamped with reporters or bombarded with calls and messages. Maybe it wasn't him? Maybe someone had the same name as him?

As these thoughts started to enter his mind, his armlet suddenly chirped, and the HUD said "Jono Randel," and he answered with a touch to his glasses.

"Hey Jo-"

"THAT'S B******T!!! COMPLETE B******T!!!" Jono screamed, cutting off Gray as Gray felt his left ear go deaf.

"Chill out! What's b******t?"

"You! I submitted over 4 million entries using a few AIs and you, who didn't even know of the game until yesterday, steal it from me!" Jono said with indignation.

"Tell you what, you can come over and watch me play…."

"Go to Hell!"

Jono hung up after that. He is pretty sure Jono just chucked his armlet instead of hanging up. Still, back in his mind, Gray tells himself Jono was just congratulating him.

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Online, the forums exploded with people outraged, claiming that the contest was rigged. Several people even started having a competition by themselves to brag about how many times they submitted entries with AIs. It's like how college guys would brag about having a bigger "codpiece" than the other guy. They would talk a lot of crap but never actually whip it out to prove it true.

In the heat of it, a more level-headed person finally posted a thread that was quickly stickied to the top of the forum. The post was a screenshot of the contest rules with the part highlighted, "Applicants must submit their own entries. Any use of AI assistance will disqualify all of an applicant's entries. Duplicate entries are allowed but do not increase the odds of winning." The thread was locked after the 53,040th user posted the slapping forehead emoji.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

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After Jono called, Gray received several other calls from other "friends" that had known him through school or work. A few girls even called him, which got him a bit excited. Fortunately, his Basic Social AI started playing an old song called "Gold Digger" in his other ear each time a female called.

When Gray's mother finally got through to him, she congratulated him warmly.

"Gray! I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks Mom! I was extremely surprised myself!"

"Just don't forget to get some sleep instead of playing all of the time, I know you tend to do that sometimes!"

"Mom, that's the beauty of the latest VR technology, I am asleep while I play!"

"So this game is about sleeping?"

"No mom, I am asleep while playing the game, it's about giant robots!"

"Oh, so if you're asleep then how do you play?"

"Mom… it is full immersion VR, my body is asleep, but my mind is still active."

"So when does your mind sleep?"

"…" Gray keeps forgetting his mother is from a different generation and never had much exposure to this sort of thing. "Don't worry Mom, I'll get plenty of sleep!"

Gray knows his Mom means well, but he is still surprised that he didn't get fat growing up as his Mom always doted on him. Her catchphrase became "Did you eat?" followed by "What did you eat?". If she didn't like what she heard, she would offer Gray food until he finally stopped resisting and ate something else. Still, even with the awkward conversations, he missed his parents sometimes.

"Speaking of sleeping Gray, you should get out more, maybe meet a nice girl so your father and I can have some grandchildren to spoil."

"Mom, what does sleeping have to do wi…." Gray suddenly got the joke his mother dropped and wished he hadn't. Joking like that with his Dad isn't as bad, but with his Mom, it just felt… eww…

"I need to go Mom, tell Dad I love him!"

After hanging up with his Mom, a call from an unknown number rang through. Gray thought it might be an AI, but she sounded pleasant to listen to, unlike most AI Gray had heard.

"Is this Gray Wilhelm?"

"Yes, that is me, you are?"

"I am Nadia, an AI for Alterra Corporation. Alterra would like to congratulate you upon winning our diamond tier contest."

It really was true… Gray had won…

"Thanks! What do I need to do?"

A small notification appeared in Gray's HUD saying Nadia wished to send a secure form for him to fill out. Gray excitedly accepted it and grabbed his tablet. After a brief moment, the form appeared on the screen. He read through it just in case there were any hidden items or loopholes Alterra was trying to give him. You can't just sign stuff without reading through it first!

The contract was surprisingly concise. The first page merely stipulated that Gray would let nobody else use the VR bed, and only Alterra Corporation technicians were allowed to fix it should it break. The second page was the usual warnings about how full immersion VR should not be used while under the influence of any substances that alter your perception. Operating under these conditions could cause permanent damage to your brain. Alterra Corporation will not be held accountable should damage occur from it.

"Looks good to me," said Gray as he pressed his thumb down on the 2nd page to sign as the tablet verified his identity through his genetic fingerprint.

"Excellent, Gray Wilhelm, we shall process your information and you will receive the VR bed in 2 to 3 business days. The Alterra Online lobby is already open and the game will be accessible early only to you and other Diamond tier members a week ahead of release."

Gray closed his eyes and held out his hands. After signing the contract, he was expecting to suddenly be covered in light and gain some new powers or a system of sorts. Sadly, this was reality, and luckily nobody saw Gray pose like that.

"Uh, thank you Nadia, I can't wait to play!"

"Of course Gray, it was a pleasure working with you!"

"Uh, it was a pleasure working with you too!" Gray said, getting slightly confused as he was not really sure what to say or do.

"Of course it was," Nadia said quickly as the AI disconnected, which caused Gray to pause as he had to process what the AI said. He dismissed it as her programmed personality of that particular AI.

Gray realized he did have one major problem… Looking at his tiny 3-room apartment, he realized he had nowhere actually to put the VR bed once it came.