The United Kingdom is great at many things but its constant rains are not fun for everybody. It is true though, that the rain, black umbrella, and a suit are the perfect aesthetics for funerals, and someone as eccentric as Elijah. As technology advanced, suits were not that inconvenient of clothing anymore, they were not too restrictive nor did the heat bother people but still wearing suits all the time for someone young was not common.
Elijah Prince is not a prince nor in any way related to the royal family. His ancestral tree once filled him with great disappointment but when he read the Harry Potter books things changed. He found other than the shared personality type, he also shared surnames with Snape. As to why someone of his time should read a practically ancient novel, It was because every 10 years or so it would get a recast. One of the greatest VRMMO games was built based on that world. People's obsession with witches and wizards seemed a timeless trend.
Today he had another appointment for therapy. Elijah was what you would call a childhood prodigy. He did not think so, despite his parents' constant reminders that he was a genius, He knew from the actual IQ test that he was very intelligent not a genius. Yes, he read something one time and remembered it well, but he did not have an eidetic memory. He was not a genius, not by a long shot. That much became apparent with his successful application to Oxford. Since becoming a student at Oxford he realized the pain of mediocrity. He failed to get good grades, and hand in several homework assignments. He failed the semester.
He did not think being ordinary was bad but it was extremely bad for him. He had no friends, He never had a crush. His favorite author was H.P. Lovecraft, who was a 19th-century author who could be called the father of cosmic horror and the origin of Cthulhu mythos, meaning his room was filled with creepy posters. Now losing the protection of the genius title, his parents had realized he was depressed, years after he himself realized.
In the age he lives there are pretty good Therapy AIs. They are not designed for full diagnosis but to offer sound psychological advice. He had become interested in psychology and used one of the best ones 3 years ago and it diagnosed him, highly likely of depression, and recommended seeking professional help. He was not scared of therapy. He liked psychology and by extension psychologists. People often have different experiences with therapy. Some get great results and some do not. Honestly, He believed the former, after all, psychology is a scientific discipline. Those who come to heal, gain the ability to lead a normal life if the psychologist is even remotely capable. Even people in the last century had medicine for anxiety and depression. During taking those they would resolve the underlying issue with the help of the eyes of a trained professional who now has access to AI assistants that provide information analysis.
Those AIs are honestly creepy. If it were not for strict confidentiality laws, society as we know it would have collapsed.
His parent's realization was followed by swift action. He had to meet doctor Carl Reagan every week. His first name comforted him greatly. A psychologist named Carl superstitiously reminded him of Carl Jung, the legendary psychologist who founded a school of thought of the three psychological schools of thought. It also made him a little wary of any holistic approach, since many Jungians tended to go that way. Fortunately, he was not a Jungian.
“Hello, Elijah” greeted Doctor Carl.
“Hello,” said Elijah in a quiet voice. His agreeableness once again showed itself. It is a bad trait to have if you want to be successful in life.
Another session began, It usually ended up with him who had been tested to be an introvert, answering 22 out of 23 questions as an introvert, ranting and rambling for more than half of the session, and feeling strangely calm and unburdened after. Then the psychologist would tell him of his analysis during the session. Although he suspected a lot of it was filtered through social proprietary, it helped him to know himself better. Sometimes some tests and exercises were done too. This time though it was different since his parents were called too.
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His parents had high hopes for him. He has begun to think, that maybe his failure, is him unconsciously getting revenge on his parents. His mother March was a successful teacher and his dad Byron had a PhD in aerospace engineering. His mother's whole reason for marriage was the PhD then love happened, so you can expect what kind of expectations were set. Elijah was a math student at Oxford so if he could just graduate, and continue to further his studies, he would not have been far off the mark. The problem was when he was choosing to study math, his parents were against it and now they were being proven right. To him, this was a major disaster. His parents would think that he could not manage his life and would try micromanaging everything.
This session was different in more ways than one it seemed. Dr. Carl suggested to his parents that he take some time off from the university to focus on finding what he wants. As a recommendation to his parents, He suggested that he play a game and relax a little. He explicitly suggested Holy Wars, the new VRMMORPG. He claimed a lot of young people his age found that exciting and it may help him find friends. He also wanted him to contact him in the game if he could. Probably to see if he was still isolated. He did not say that part but it was implied, quite heavily so.
Eventually, the session was finished. He was forced to take a semester off and his parents bought him the latest virtual reality cabin, mostly used by pro gamers. It was equipped with nutrition capsules which allowed further playing time. It also had compatibility with home AIs. His family could use their home AI for checking on him and calling him in games and lots of other functions including watching his gaming session if they wanted to and had permission to do so. The default permission was on for parents. He was sorely tempted to turn it off but postponed it for later. He did not think his busy serious parents would be interested in watching their son play a game made for people with a god complex. Holy Wars was after all a game where players were gods.
He had to admire the breathtaking technology of the cabin. He always was fascinated by state-of-the-art technology. The creator of it seemed to have in-depth knowledge of psychology. The cabins were said to mimic the womb said to be the most relaxing state for a human being. Despite knowing the theory he still had the urge to tell the creator of this technology, that not all people have the Oedipus complex.
He did not have high expectations for Holy Wars. Not because of the game itself but its inevitable gaming environment. It was after all a newly released VRMMORPG with potential for esport and that meant the gameplay was bound to be extremely competitive later on. It was even one of those games that had put prizes for final rankings in the game. If the game was anything like the past works of Philemon, its currency was bound to become a kind of virtual currency and that meant war, as ironic as that sound. Guilds and pro players usually took the fun out of such games. In this game with precious virtual currency, some players were even used in some form of modern slavery.
There was one thing though that made him intrigued and eager to play. This game was one of Philemon’s games and their games always had the highest degree of freedom. Philemon was once an AI company and when they turned to the game market, the games created had realistic NPCs, and dynamic plots and offered extreme customization. The actions of players could influence the quests and plot of the entire game. In some games including holy wars, the quests seemed entirely reactionary to the player. The player character was formed bit by bit rather than selecting a class and being done with it. In an analysis of their last game, it turned out nearly all players' skill sets turned out different in some form or fashion. This was the terrifying personalization offered by Philemon.
Holy Wars was a very complex game based on the introduction on the official website. The tutorial depicted how the player rose to godhood from gathering faith as a divine spirit. It was the first quest and basically and it was a history quest. Holy wars had quests that formed the history of your character. They were character creation quests or class quests in other games, unlocking skills, and abilities but here they would affect your gameplay even more. In-game lore, your character was a reviving deity. There was supposedly a divine war that wiped out all the gods and now it was the age that the gods would be revived and return. This was used as an explanation to keep game history linear. History quests would be events your character faced before dying in divine war. Every history quest usually came with its memory dungeon.
He entered the gaming cabin. Soon he began to feel relaxed and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes to a musical hallway. One with a grand piano he bought with real money. This was a virtual lobby.
Virtual lobbies were personal spaces unique to you in this VR age. From here you could access the virtual games you wanted to play or you could arrange a meeting in someone’s virtual lobby. He selected Holy Wars with some anticipation.