It was the year 2105. There were no flying cars, no A.I. robots running around and no alien invasion.

Things haven’t changed much, until twenty years ago when the first Virtual Reality Game was released. Almost overnight, everything changed.

Well known Players replaced Holywood celebrities. First, TV shows popped up on various networks, showing some epic quests, amazing fights or just talking about the game. Then, various channels emerged with the intention of only showing Virtual Reality content, today there were over fifteen channels alone dedicated to VR Games.

Gamer was now an actual profession, and it was also the most coveted. There were almost endless means of making a living through VR. You could sell loot and currency for real money, record your adventures and either sell them to a TV station or upload it online, you could be a hired gun inside the game for real money out of it, travel agencies could hire you to take people somewhere dangerous. The possibilities were too many.

There was also another type of business that bloomed and that was Weapon Schools. There were more of them than Starbucks. Everyone soon realized that knowing how to wield a weapon would give you a big edge in the VR world. There were Sword Schools, Spear Schools, Archery Schools and any other weapon you could think of, there was probably a school for it. Most of these schools gave training both inside VR and in real life.

It was a great advantage to these schools to have a famous Gamer as their trainee, as it would bring more customers and the school would become renowned, giving them pride, glory and money everytime one of the trainee’s adventures would come on TV.

This story focuses on the rise of one of these schools, a school with only one apprentice.

*****

Close to a mountain range in the United States there was a big wooden house. To the left of this house was the black and white mountains and to the right a beautiful green forest, the two miracles of nature almost surrounded the wooden house completely if not for a small dirt road that traveled through the forest for 10km until it got to the closest town.

Even though it was a wooden house, it didn’t look poor. The solar panels that powered the house gave it a modern feeling, the wood was clearly very expensive and well maintaned as the youth of nineteen years old watching TV inside would take care of it everyday as was part of his routine.

There were two wide fields in the front and in the back of this house. The field in the back of the house had a large fence around it, with vegetables of various colors inside making it a beautiful sight. The field on the front was filled with tires, ropes, gloves and other cheap training paraphernalia.

The youth inside the house had the name of Jade. It was the name given to him by his mother, taken from his jade colored eyes, same as hers. It was also the only two mementos he had left of her.

His mother died of a brain aneurysm when he was only five. His father loved him very much, however it was very hard for him to be around his son, looking into the same eyes of the woman he loved and lost was painful, so he punished himself with work and alcohol until one year later he joined his wife in the after life thanks to a heart attack.

Soon Jade forgot, as young children do. He didn’t forget the pain or his mother’s smile, he just forgot most of his life with them.

After his father died, he went to stay with his grandfather, in the big wooden house. His grandfather was a chinese man as was his father, however Jade looked a lot more of a western descent thanks to his similaritys to his american mother. The only trait he got from his father was his black shiny hair.

His grandfather’s name was Lì Jaw-long. All he knew about the man was that he had been a monk in a chinese monastery until the age of 30 and that he loved old movies, after that it was all a mystery to him. He was a strict but fun man and he also loved Jade very much which is why he made him his only apprentice in the Martial Art he had created.

Jade started his training at the age of 6 as it was the only way his grandfather knew how to stop his grief and crying. It started with a heavy specialized fitness regimen focusing more on flexibility and stamina than strength, then started the hand-to-hand combat and later hand-to-weapon combat.

His grandfather’s Martial Art had no name, however over the years, Jade just called it Brutal, as that was what it was. It would look as if playing with its prey, skillfully destroying limbs and causing dangerous amounts of pain to weaken a target before going in for the easy kill. No danger, no compassion and no mercy.

Once Jade was 14, his grandfather started inviting prized students of Masters he knew to come and stay at the house for a month and spar with him. They all were weapon wielders and better than his grandfather at it since Lì Jaw-long never cared to learn how to use them.

However even with Jade not being able to use the full force of “Brutal”, such as destroying limbs since it was just a spar, he was always able to win much more than lose.

He was very quick on his feet and had endless stamina. Sometimes he seemed like a snake against a bigger opponent, going in to bite when he had the chance and then waiting for the poison(pain) to sink in before going in again and again until the opponent couldn’t stand anymore. It was a slow death.

He was starting to appear cocky, that cockiness though, came from the absolut trust that he had trained harder than anyone else with a great master watching over him. For his style of fighting though, it was almost encouraged to play cocky as long he kept his head clear, mostly because it would help in exhausting his opponents.

He had become a happy, cocky and funny kid. Even though he was home schooled, he was of the VR generation, so being alone with his grandfather in the middle of nowhere didn’t make him lonely. He had a few friends in every game he played and a few acquaintances in the town close by.

His gaming career wasn’t amazing by any standard, mostly because he had no goal and not enough time as his training took most of it. He would just enjoy putting his grandfather’s teachings to work on a few monsters. Jade would also play to socialize a bit aswell.

Lately though, Jade had more time. After almost 14 years of grueling training, his grandfather had nothing new left to teach him. His daily training was now almost kept to the basics, with just keeping his body fit and flexible with a couple of sessions of sparring with his grandfather twice a day, whom he haven’t beat once in his life.

He kept busy with training, but it was now down to 5 hours a day, with another hour for chores around the house, he had a lot of free time.

He also took his tests to finish highschool and easily passed so he didn’t need to study anymore. He applied and was accepted to a few colleges but he didn’t want to go yet as there was nothing he wanted to study, so he deferred for a year. Now, he spent the majority of his time watching TV or inside the VR capsule.

That TV was almost always on, even when he wasn’t home. He picked up the habit from his grandfather, as always since he was a boy, they watched old movies together. There were about 5 channels that passed only old movies 24/7 and they enjoyed every bit of it.

The TV was mostly on one of those channels except for an hour a day when Jade switched to VR news.

Today was another normal day. He was watching TV, it was on a VR channel and there was a show on about those Elite Weapon Schools, everytime one of these shows was on, he always remembered a conversation he had with his grandfather.

*Flashback*

Jade was 13 years old and they were watching a VR show about Weapon Schools and the experts were ranking them based on their Gamer apprentices and their achievments, when Jade asked a question.

- “They don’t look all that strong to me. Hey, old man. Why don’t you go show them who’s best?”

- “Don’t underestimate your opponents, you idiot. Besides, i’ve had my time of glory, next is yours.” - Said the old man seriously, but then it turn into a grin and he continued - “Whatever life holds in store for you, never forget these words, with great power comes great responsibility, this is your gift, your curse, who are you?”

- “I don’t know. Who are you?”

- “Me? I know who i am! I’m a dude, playing a dude disguised as another dude!”

- “I know you. You know you. And i know you know that i know you.”

- “What we’ve got here is... failure to communicate!”

*End Flashback*

And that went on for about thirty minutes, as they kept coming back and forth with their movie quotes from over a century ago. Jade couldn’t help but smile every time he thought of it.

However he hadn’t missed the first part of the conversation. His grandfather passed on to him what he knew, and now it was his time to try and make a name for himself, or better yet, for his grandfather’s Martial Art, he just didn’t know how yet.

The show ended and Jade was about to turn off his TV when he heard the news host again.

- “Today we have a very exciting guest. I’m sure most of you know, but the 13th VR game ever is coming out in two days, named “The Colosseum”. Joining us now, is one of the creators and brilliant minds of the VR world, Dr.John Kage.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Jade put the remote down, and sat to listen again while the people in the news audience were clapping. A man in a professor suit, glasses and a handsome face came walking in.

- “Thank you for having me, Dave.”

- “The pleasure is ours, Dr.Kage. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let’s talk about what matters, and that is “The Colosseum”. I know you’re as much a creator of VR games, aswell as a player. So tell me, what can we expect from this game?”

- “Well, you can expect...Glory.”

- “Glory? I’m not sure i understand, can you explain?”

- “Certainly. As i talk about the game you’ll see what i mean. We’ve decided to go with the medieval setting, with magic of course. That in itself is nothing new, however most other things are. I won’t go on about Lore as you guys can check that in-game, although i can tell you that every city has an Arena of sorts with specific levels to enter. I can assure you that this game will have more PVP than any other out there.”

- “So there are no monsters and dungeons?”

- “Oh there are. However there is no experience points in this game. The monsters and dungeons are there for a few reasons. So you can keep practicing and gain stats, but most importantly, for their loot. We’ve set it so that if you wear a piece of armor that you didn’t win or make, it will have less 10% of it’s effects, so you’re also encouraged to go out there and get the bad monsters body parts. There’s also skill books out in the world, which encourages you to leave town even more.”

- “There is no experience? That is a first. How do people level up then?”

- “Well, we came to this solution when we looked at how levels work in other games. For instance, two warriors with the same exact skills are at level 50, one puts all his points into Strength, the other into Intellect, are they’re still both level 50?”

- “Well, yes.”

- “Exactly. We don’t want that, we want the level to be an actual number that you look at it and you know more or less how you’re doing. We call it a “Power Level”, as it says, it’s the level of your power. Instead of gaining stats when you level up, you gain stats to level up, and there are also other ways to gain levels.”

- “That actually sounds pretty interesting. Can you give some examples?”

- “Sure, i can give you a fast run through of what i did in the beta test, it was only until level 23 so it’ll be fast but informative. I’ll start as anyone else will, in the pre-game choices. Before you actually get into the game, you will choose two or three stats that you will want to focus on more, from those stats you get the choice of a variety of basic classes and basic weapons.”

- “Will we be able to change classes and weapons later if we want to?”

- “Of course, these are just basic classes for the early levels, however they will influence throughout the game. For example, if you choose to focus on Intellect and Wisdom, then choose a Mage class, later on you will not be able to change to a warrior class that focuses on strength. If you want a a Spellsword type, you can choose Intellect and Strength or/and Agility and there will be a variety to choose from. This is just so you decide how you more or less want to play. Same with weapons, if you chose a warrior class, you will be able to wield most weapons, so the choice at the beggining is just so you get something early on that you are comfortable with.”

- “Seems there’s a lot to choose from and that’s what we like. Will we be able to train the stats that we didn’t choose aswell?”

- “Yes, you will. However, for instance, for a mage trying to train strength, it will be harder than for a warrior. Also, let’s say a warrior has no stats other than 100 strength, he might be 25 “Power Level”. If a mage also has no stats other than 100 Strength, he will probably be 8 or 9 “Power Level” as his spells won’t deal much damage, his staff will hurt though.”

- “Okay, okay. I think we get it. Sounds actually pretty fair. Carry on, please.”

- “So after you make your choices pre-game, you will be in a starter city. All these citys have an Arena from level range 10-20. As any other game, you will need to eat so you will also need money. In these citys there are a variety of schools, if you join one they will give you food and a place to train and sleep. However they take a percentage from your winnings in arenas.”

- “These schools. Can we leave them later?”

- “Yes. They only teach the basics, and once you have enough money to be on your own you can easily leave. If you don’t want to join one of these schools there are also other jobs and small quests to do around town.”

- “Sounds like a neat way for players to avoid being so poor they can’t eat early on.”

- “Yes, i thought so too, so i joined one of these schools and started training until i got to level 10. It wasn’t that hard, however later on it will get a lot harder to gain a stat compared to early on, as to be expected. After that i went outside the city looking for small monsters and animals to kill so i could make some armor and weapons. Speaking of crafting, when it comes to making weapons and armor everyone has that ability in-game.”

- “So everyone will be able to create their own weapons?”

- “Exactly. There’s a 3D interface that helps you make what you want, once it’s done, you give it the materials necessary and it will give you the things you made, depending on the materials used it will come out with different stats. It sounds a bit more boring than in other games, however with the creativity of our users in their gear, we will hopefully overshadow that.”

- “I agree. Can’t tell how many times i’ve wasted materials trying to make the weapon that i wanted, just to get a preset one instead.”

- “True. So once i equipped my gear i was at level 17, i also got lucky and found a skillbook with a rare skill that brought me to level 23, i had to unequip items just so i could enter the arena, ahaha.”

- “What? Gear and skills also affect your level?”

- “Ah! Of course, forgot to tell you. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you are a Mage at level 20 and you get a pretty good new skill. Are you still level 20? Is your “Power” still the same? I say it’s not. The same thing with gear. Also, you can actually disable skills before entering an arena so you’ll be able to enter which is quite handy. Still, your “Power Level” won’t be everything as we all now, tactics and Martial Arts play a great role in battles. We just thought that giving a more accurate number would make it easier for everyone.”

- “This certainly sounds different than what we’ve seen so far. So, what can you tell us about the World itself then?”

- “I can tell you a little bit. For now only one continent is discovered, there are several others though. However in this continent, there are various kingdoms that surrounds something in the center, and in the center of this continent, there is The Colosseum itself, i won’t say it’s the only one nor will i deny it, but in this continent it’s the biggest Arena. Every kingdom sends their best men and women to fight in the games as they get various benefits from winning. It’s a way to avoid war, while still showing all the glory and prowess of their kingdom.”

- “That sounds like something i’d definitely want to watch.”

- “Right? Speaking of Glory. That is a new stat we implemented into the game that is as much a benefit inside the game as it is outside.”

- “Outside? What do you mean?”

- “Well, the Glory stat is something you get from the public. Gladiators are fighters but they are also entertainers. You can win all your fights, but if they are boring, you won’t get much Glory stat. The Glory stat works a lot like the Fame stat, however there are other benefits, such as getting a bigger payday every time you fight because more people will want to watch you in the arena. Also, more entertainment inside the game, means more entertainment outside aswell, as TV stations will want to show the best fights. Just so you know, if the fight is inside an Arena, only the winner can upload it or sell it.”

- “It’s looking to be the next great VR Game. The first release of the software is already sold out, how long until we get more in stores?”

- “Well, we are both happy and sad to say that we made a huge miscalculation. We didn’t think the game would get off the shelfs so fast, mostly because in America alone we already sold over 50 million copies, and that’s including the ones we had in storage. So it will be another month before they are in stores again, we apologize and thank you for your patience.”

- “The Colosseum, get it because it will be amazing. Ladies and Gentleman, Dr. John Kage!”

As the show ended after the applause of the audience, Jade finaly felt a presence behind him, it doesn’t happen often anymore that his grandfather catches him unwares, however he was so psyched about the new VR game he didn’t even notice him.

- “How long have you been there, old man?”- Jade asked without turning.

- “Oh, for most of it. Looks pretty good. What do you think?”

Lì Jaw-long asked as he looked down at his grandson who had his hand shaking a bit and giving a wide grin.

- “Wait ‘til they get a load of me!”