“No can do lil sis. I’ve almost hit the cap in Crescent King. I ain’t got time for another virtual reality game right now.” Jäger nonchalantly waved away the ludicrous suggestion from his little sister. Only 39 people had hit max level in Crescent King out of the hundreds of thousands that played. It didn’t really offer much in terms of new content, but for some reason Jager had been hooked on the game since beta.
“Oh come on! Crescent King is old news. There are at least 70 virtual reality games I can name off the top of my head that are five times better than it.” Casey shot back. “This game is the most anticipated game of 2716! Considering the fact that it’s a PvP only game and how much you love PvP, this game is a match made in heaven for you!” Jäger’s ears poked up at the last sentence. No matter how dead set he was on reaching the level cap his will still wavered at the new info. PvP, or Player vs Player, was honestly the only reason he still played Crescent King, aside from reaching the level cap. It was the only game to go super in-depth into Player vs Player itself. No matter what VR game he played his favorite activity was PK*, thus his love for PvP.
“C’mon Jag. Please~? I can pay for the all the fee’s” Jäger shook his head mockingly at Casey’s fraudulent manner.
“Shut up, Ugly. I’ll pay for myself.” Casey, a buxom beauty to behold, faked an outraged expression, then lit up when she heard Jäger’s final sentence.
“Thanks bro! But~ I kinda already bought us each a copy. Here’s the chip.” Sheepishly Casey pulled out a small, black computer chip with flashing blue words imprinted on it.
‘Plague’ Jäger mumbled, reading the blue words on the chip.
“What's the game about?” Jäger asked. If he was going to play it, he might as well get some info beforehand. He took the chip and stuck it in his pocket.
“Well~” Tess began. “I don't want to spoil it, but it's a dystopia game. One side has to kill the other before that side is wiped out.” Jäger thought for a moment, then shook his head. Though he had played games with similar PvP scenarios never had he played a game where the objective was strictly killing the enemy team
“What’s the entry code?” Jäger asked, referring to the access code given to one when they buy the game. It was the only way one could get into the game, making stealing the chip all but pointless.
“OvV83-0096”
“Alright then sis. Since you seemed so pumped about this game, should we use our clan names?” Casey’s eyes lit up like beacons at that. Vigorously she nodded her head, trembling at the prospect of bringing their clan into this game.
“Yes, yes, yes, oh please, yes!!” Jäger was unable to control his laughter at his sister’s eager attitude.
“Alright… same as always?” He asked.
“Yep! Should we call the clan and bring a few people with us?” Though he hadn’t yet said yes Casey was already on his laptop surfing through his email.
“Hmm… who should we pick out? Jayla is a must, considering she’s your girlfriend. Akari? He’s good, really good, but he's so playful. George? He’s hot blooded, but he’s the best support role player I’ve ever seen.” As Casey mumbled to herself Jager uploaded his chip to his IH, or Immersion Helmet. The download would take a few hours, so he went downstairs and decided to take a nap while he waited.
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“Jayla, Sam, Anya, and Takeshi” Casey roused Jager from his nap by listing the names of the people she was inviting to the game. To them, inviting people to the game meant paying for their game as well as any DLC that might come out. Given how well-off Casey and Jager’s parents are this was no problem for them.
“You really wanna bring Sam into this game?” Jäger asked reprehensively.
“Why not? He’s as good as you in combat, even better when he’s with a team.” Casey responded, perplexed by her brother’s attitude.
“Yeah, but he’s also bloodthirsty as can be, not to mention he flirts with every breathing creature in a 500m radius.” Casey had to concede on that point. Sam had devilishly good looks, and had no trouble getting into the pants of any female-or male- he wished to.
“Should I choose someone else then? I think Molly’s been wanting to play this, so we could grab her instead…” Jäger thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“No, it’s fine. It’ll be nice having some competition. Though what we’ll be competing over….?” Jäger tried to pry the contents of the game out of his sister indirectly, but she instead smiled evilly and shook her finger.
“Nope! You’ll have to wait and find out!”
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“Uh, could you repeat that?” Jager asked, not quite certain if he heard right. The glowing blue ball-which named itself AI-90087- glowed brightly before responding.
“Certainly! Before I do, may I ask a question?” THe blue ball asked. Curious, Jager nodded his head.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Do you have any prior information about ‘Plague’? If not, would you like me to give you a synopsis.” Jager shook his head eagerly. Considering he was probably the only person who’d gotten this game without knowing what it was about, any information would help immensely.
“It would be my honor to explain the basics of the game to you! Plague takes place in a slightly less advanced version of the modern world of today. Having finally made their second trip to the moon the U.S accidently brought back an inorganic disease known as ‘ZT-A2’. This disease turned dead humans into flesh eating monsters known as Mutants, brainless workers who felt nothing but the intense desire to feed on human flesh. Before anyone realised it a massive pandemic had already taken out 90% of the world, leaving naught but a few million humans left. As a player your job is to choose between Human and Mutant and wipe out the enemy side before it is too late. Once you have created a character, you will be unable to switch to create a new one, regardless if you delete your account. Thus, we advise you to choose wisely when making a new player.” Jager was thoroughly surprised at the structured background of the game. While he had been hoping for a more swords and shields type of game, this was fine too.
“Now that you know the basics of the game, would you like to create a new character? Or do you have any questions?” Jager thought for a moment, but then shook his head. If he really needed any info, he could just ask his sister. He was sure she’d researched the game before starting.
“Create a new character..”
Notification: Casey Abel wishes to create a party with you. Accept? Decline?
‘Bout time’ Jager thought.
‘Accept’ Instantly a dull pain appeared in his head, only to disappear a moment later. Moments later, three voices resounded in his skull.
“Nii-chan!”
“Clan leader-sama.”
“Babe!”
“Ah! Jayla! You were supposed to do it with a japanese prefix!!”
“Uh! Babe-senpai!!”
“No, you’ve already ruined it. I… I trusted you!”
Somehow, Jager could see his sister dramatically clutching her heart in imaginary pain. Shaking his head, he noticed that Anya and Takeshi were missing.
“Where’re the lovebirds at?” He asked. His answer was an exasperated sigh, presumably by Jayla.
“Oh come on! You haven’t seen me in a whole month and that’s the first thing you say? I’m hurt!” Jäger laughed out loud at this, slightly surprising the glowing blue ball which he had completely forgotten about.
“I'm at the race select. Which side you guys choosing?” He asked, deciding to ignore his girlfriend’s outrage.
“Mutant, Mutant, Mutant!” Jayla shouted cheerily.
“No way! Humans are definitely better. Mutants are literally walking boxes of cash. Haven’t you watched any ****** movie?.” Casey argued. A massive argument ensued afterwards, eventually dragging Sam and Jäger in before Jayla had enough.
“Fine then! How about this? Jäger and I will take the Mutant’s side, while Casey and Sam pick humans. Like this, we can even have a friendly competition inside the game.” Judging from the irritation in Jayla’s voice Jäger highly doubted this competition would be anything close to friendly.
“Fine then! Let's go Sam. We’ll create our own party. We don't need those stupid Infected in here.” Before Jayla could retort Casey had already disconnected from party chat.
“Well then… It's been awhile since we’ve had a competition.Ready to lose, clan leader?” Despite the fact Sam was hundreds of miles away from him and could only be heard through a virtual mic Jäger could feel the bloodlust directed at him.
“So eager for revenge? I've beaten you twice now. You sure you want a third loss?” Jäger, never the one to back down, willingly displayed his desire to fight. Few could match him in PvP, and going by the unique genre this game was classified in Jager knew he was in for a fight.
“Hmph! Beat me if you can, Leader.” With that Sam disconnected from the party chat, leaving Jayla and Jager to sit in an awkward silence.
“How dare they!” She yelled after a moment. “We are supposed to play this game together. Those two always pick the human race. Just cuz we wanted to try something different...” Despite how headstrong and cheerie Jayla always seemed, Jager knew she was soft inside. It was one of the reason’s he had fallen for her, not that he’d ever tell her that.
“S’alright babe. We’ll just have to prove them wrong by winning.” Jager glanced at the floating blue ball. It had not made a peep in the last few minutes, but he knew it was still there. And a moment, he said the six words that twisted his fate forever.
“I wish to be a mutant.”