Chapter 1:
“Thank you all for your continual support through out the development of The Source. It has been five long years but we at Genesis Corporation have finally completed what we think will be the truly first VRMMO, The Source. Two weeks from today The Source will debut and be available globally. Of course, as you all know, to initially fund our huge project five years ago we held an event where players could entering a lottery drawing for a chance to be Beta Testers for The Source a week before the release date. By paying a small fee of $20 (US) anyone 12 years or older had a chance to be a Beta Tester. We received over 250 million entries worldwide but today only 10,000 lucky people will be a Beta Tester. This goes without saying that we here at Genesis Corporation will provide those lucky individuals with the Genesis headgear necessary to play The Source. Not only that but each individual will receive…”
On the television, the handsome young CEO who seemed to be in his early thirties stood on a large podium and was drowned out by a roar of cheers before he could finish his sentence. The camera angle quickly shifted to show a sea of people yelling and screaming with approval. The official announcement for release of The Source had drawn over 50,000 people from all around the world. Even some high officials and powerful politicians were present and mixed within the throng of people.
The reason for this uproar is because Genesis did not mention the addition of a free headgear and the other crazy benefits during their initial offer, which orginally offered only Beta Testing. Thus when people heard this they went crazy even though their chances of winning were only around a measly .00004%.
The TV droned in the background as Henry slowly ate his microwavable meal while reading that day’s newspaper. He sat in the middle of his small apartment living room that he also conveniently used for sleeping. The bathroom was cramped and there was no kitchen so he had a microwave plugged in the living room. It was around 0600 where Henry lived and sun was just beginning to crawl past the horizon. On the other hand, the announcement on the TV took place halfway across the world where it was already dark.
When Henry heard the title “The Source” from the TV he paused, then chuckled.
‘It’s already been five years huh. I almost forgot about the whole thing. To think I even entered the event too, using money I saved up since I was eight. Being barely 12 years old at the time I really wanted to play but a lot can change in five years.’
Circumstances had not been great for Henry ever since he was born but the past five years from ages 12-17 were particularly rough. Then again, were anyone’s circumstances not difficult?
At the age of 12 Henry’s mother died from an heart attack. The doctors said she passed away peacefully but Henry knew otherwise. He had seen her face twist in agony. He had seen her clutch for air, gasping. He had seen death coming to take his mother.
Henry’s father was no where to be found even before his birth. He heard stories that this man was a foreigner of status and had paid his mother to keep quiet about him. It seem there was no love between the two and Henry had been the result of a one-night stand sort of thing.
When Henry was little it helped him to imagine his father and mother being in madly love with one another. He would imagine his father suddenly turning up one day and taking his mother and him away from their dangerous neighborhood to a house that actually had a bedroom. He had imagined so many different scenarios but he never asked his mother for the truth. Maybe he was too afraid to face reality.
From a young age Henry held great interest in fantasy and other aspects of fiction that transcended the world he lived in. He enjoyed learning about the rules that govern other worlds. He liked reading about heroes with special powers beating unimaginably tough monsters. His mother, Claire, had noticed this too and bought Henry a handheld gaming device on his tenth birthday. Henry knew they did not have a lot of money and that his mother had to work overtime to afford the game device so he treasured it.
The only game pre-installed on the device was Heroes of Justice. Henry had cleared the game within the first few days of playing. He had beaten the game on all the modes, easy, normal, hard, legendary, and insane. He knew that installing a new game would require more money so he did not ask his mother. Instead Henry continued to play the game he had beaten countless times. Each time trying to find new aspects to the story that he missed or trying gather all possible items.
Henry loved the fantasy oriented Role Playing Game. When his mother was alive he play the game in-between school breaks and right after he was done studying. However, after his mother’s death he was tossed from relative to relative and during his third move (he was 14 at the time) one of his cousin stole his gaming device. Henry knew Mike had taken it and confronted him but his cousin wildly punched him in the nose and told him to get the hell out of his face. Blood dripped at a steady rate from Henry’s fuming nose. He glared daggers at Mike who failed to meet his gaze. Mike had suddenly gone silent and started muttering to his feet. Henry knew he would not get his game back and as much as he wanted to destroy Mike he held back. All his blaring anger contained in an overflowing box bulging at the seams.
Just like that Henry had lost one of his most valuable treasures. After the incident Mike obviously told his parents and the very next day Henry was hushed off to another relative’s home. After two more such moves Henry finally turned 16 and could finally live on his own.
The reason for this being he could now quit school and start working to pay for his monthly rent. Though, technically he was still under the custody of his relative called the Frotches until he was 18. Henry always knew his relatives did not like him but for some reason they never sent him to the orphanage. Maybe it was some sense of duty, but he highly doubt that, or maybe they were somehow benefiting from his presence. In any case Henry thought that him living alone would benefit everyone…
Henry looked at the time and it was already 0645. Caught up in pondering the past he had lost track of the present and would be late for work in 15 minutes. Turning off the TV he placed his half finished reheatable mash potato and meatloaf into the microwave and got ready. Pulling on his work boots and a thick leather jacket, Henry quickly dashed out to meet the morning cold.
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Henry worked at a construction site a mile from where he lived. He didn’t mind the work because he didn’t have to interact too much with people. Plus lifting beams and carrying pails of tools gave a good workout. The people there were mostly older guys in their mid-20s or mid-30s. Except for the foreman and a few architect, the people Henry worked with, including himself, had no high school diploma. Nonetheless they were hardworking and capable men. Their day started from 0700 and usually ended at 1600 or 1700. There were two short breaks for lunch but other than that the manual intensive labor continued throughout the day.
When Henry turned 16 and started working for the construction company called Foundation First he would always go home tired and sore. But after about two years of working Henry’s muscle adjusted to the demands of the job and he now only occasional got worn out. And Henry’s body reflected this too. He was around 5’8” and had well-built muscles. His angular jaw and high bridge nose complimented his body, but his overall face was just average looking. It was more ordinary than anything. Nothing especially noticeable.
When the foreman signaled that the day was over Henry stored his work clothes and hard hat in his locker and began to head home. He was hungry because he had not had time to pack anything for lunch and had only half finished his breakfast. Climbing up the stairs leading to his apartment Henry noticed his next door neighbor, a young college girl, probably a freshman, squealing at the front desk.
“OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. IS IT ALREADY HERE ?!”
“Yes,” the receptionist replied. “We got it in just an hour ago.”
“OMG IT HASN’T EVEN BEEN A DAY YET! AHHHHH!”
Henry observed the scene for a bit and soon figured out the cause of the girl’s excitement. The receptionist handed the girl a box. On the outside of the box were the words “THE SOURCE” written in light blue.
Henry smiled. ‘Talk about fast delivery.’
He quietly congratulated the girl and went to his room to eat his mash potato and meatloaf…
***
For the rest of the week Henry repeated his daily routine of working, coming home to read, and then sleeping. He did this for five more days until it was Sunday and work stood on standby for the day. Most of the construction workers usually went out to drink and eat while others went to church or did other things. Henry, however, took this time off to go grocery shopping. It was 0900 when he returned from the grocery store with bags of microwavable and canned foods. Henry strolled up to the front desk of his apartment and asked for his mail. Although all he usually received was advertisements, he looked forward to getting his weekly subscription of Fantasy Tales, a sort of fantasy world and story that is created from readers’ feedback and suggestions. He had contributed to part of the world’s creation by writing as many suggestions as he could.
After a minute of waiting, the pretty receptionist came out with a white box with the words “THE SOURCE” written in light blue lettering and called out to Henry.
“Here is your package. And on the top of the box is your mail. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Hah. Hahaha. Ahahahah.” Henry coughed up some painful laughs.
The receptionist couldn’t tell if the man was happy or sad or just insane so she said, “I hope you have a nice day.”
Snapping back to reality Henry nodded and hefted the box up to his apartment room. After closing the door and setting aside his other mail he greedily tore open the box. He had not been this thrilled about something in a long time. His monotonous life style didn’t meet much excitement so this event was extremely rare.
‘Did I really win? It can’t be right, right?’
Holding the Genesis headgear in his hands Henry simply stared blankly at it for a while. After 10 minutes of gawking, he quickly installed the system, which was designed to be pretty easy to do and afterwards carefully read the long manual that came with the headgear. Henry wanted to make sure he understood the basics of the game because it was new to him and he didn’t have much experience gaming. Plus there may be something in there that could help him in the game. Much of the information was basic and consisted of advice to practice healthy habits of playing, temperature where headgear should be stored at, how much electricity the headgear used, how the headgear worked and a lengthy section detailing the brain’s connection with the headgear. Henry finished reading the manual by 1100. He then noticed a little blue slip in the box that he had missed before titled “For Beta Testers”.
Henry picked up the slip and began to read that too. As he continued down the list he grimaced and his face began to lose color. The contents of the list told Henry that he should have checked his mail sooner. All of the points on the list were exciting but also irritating due to his current situation.
The contents of the list are as follows:
For Beta Testing your account and character will be deleted after the testing period of a week starting from (09/23/2034 Midnight -9/30/2034 Midnight)
For Beta Testing your character will gain 2x exp and 2x item drop rates from monsters.
For Beta Testing regardless of race, the only starting location for players is Nosiris Kingdom.
For Beta Testing PKing is not allowed anywhere.
For Beta Testing players can identify one item that can be transferred to their official account when the game launches. This identified object can be changed as many times as players want but only the item last registered at 9/30/2034 midnight will be transferred. (Note: items excludes animate objects such as pets and also excludes items that cannot be equipped. Other restrictions apply and players will be notified in game if the item is non-transferable.)
Without further delay Henry laid in bed, put on the Genesis headset, and said the initializing phrase.
“Start The Source.”
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