Chapter 1
Even though Ben had his past glory he never was overbearing. More inward then outward and seeks to avoid trouble were ways to describe him.
Naturally exceptions define the rule , since every person has buttons you should at best avoid pushing. Not that his mother or ex fiancé ever tried to skirt around it.
Although Ben knows it's a bad idea to return to gaming , considering the relapse into addiction , he believes that he is strong enough to overcome it.
"I'm just going to play casual" he said.
"What could possibly go wrong"he said.
"No way I'm going to return to the spotlight"he said.
Like this Ben tried to justify the relapse he will most likely experience.
He almost lovingly patted the necklace like device after putting it on. A crocked smirk appeared on his face , that as his shrink knew was just too rare for the 26 year old to happen.
"Hive download the other world software into your unit and connect this dive device into your mainframe." He commanded.
A few audible beeps and boops later his home unit accomplished given task.
But before Ben could connect , the release timer still had 4 weeks to go before the actual shift of the game from beta into full version.
"Time to do some research!" Ben happily exclaimed as he started to dial up a few old " friends".
Quite a bit of time , brain cells and bribes later he had what he wished for. Information that shouldn't be public or known to anyone besides the alpha or beta players.
Even though those players signed a contract to not divulge any information nothing that a big wad of cold hard cash can't fix.
Especially to the new and upcoming gamers on the scene. Ben always knew that connections had a certain value to them , even though he doesn't care about the obligations that adhere with being a 3rd generation gamer monarch.
Yes , monarch. Bringing enough fortune , honor and glory to your country in terms of electronic athletic championships and evola nobility title.
Sir Benedict Gray. The lowest title of duke was still something that amused Ben to no end. Especially since it's just in name. No subjects , tax collection or deflowering the virtue of maidens on their weeding day.
His grandfather and mother as well had nobility titles. Considering these nobility titles aren't passable to your children or spouses.
But there were still some obligations. Ball dances , gatherings and in general favorable looks if one attended such fund raisers.
We all , as the upper class , have to help the poor and less fortunate , a certain 80 year old governer once told him as he gifted 10million dollars to a fundraiser.
Hypocrite. After all that was 4% of his tax revenue and EVERY last penny was directly retransferred to his bank account , since it's tax deductible.
Ben at the thought shook his head as a displeased facial expression danced across his brows.
He used a finger to stroke along the blue sapphire attached to the dive necklace and immediately was immersed In a virtual copy of his living room.
Just with a blink if the eye he switched from reality to virtual. No buffering or loading required. Even though a macro second was wasted scanning his house.
He slowly strutted to the biggest room in his virtual and real house. The play room. As he pushed open the doors a smirk of the crocked variety flashed across his lips.
Consoles , tvs , computers , old flipper games and least but not least a 16.2 audio system filled with old 1980s rock and some new wave techno.
Every geeks dream. But what Ben was looking for was the big space in the middle of the room. A basketball sized partitioned off court with glass walls.
As he opened and closed the door to the place behind him that appeared empty from the outside , numerous swords , axes , pole arms , spears , shields and knives greeted him.
Even though this was a virtual copy of his home these items existed in and out of this space. A collection one would call it.
Ben on the other hand used this for training purposes. He just chose virtual space because the time bending. 4: 1 , one day in real life is 4 times the pace in virtual reality.
"Time to get started then." He said while looking over the weapon rack.
His eyes immediately fell on the bastard sword that was a exact replica of his elfen dualswordsmans favorite weapon.
'No I'm not going to make that mistake again.' Ben thought.
Ben stepped closer and picked up 2 axes. Cleavers one would call them. About 60 cm in length and sharpend. Heavy weapons considering the axe head alone was twice the weight of a equally long sword and that was just the iron.
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But somehow they felt right. Next Ben strapped a round shield that was just a tad bigger then a buckler to his back. He then pushed a spear through the bucklers straps and he felt like he was armed to the teeth.
A grin appeared on his face again. If his shrink could witness he 3 smiles a day today he would probably do backflips and maybe pray to whatever god he worshipped.
Sure , even Ben knew 3 weapons and a shield couldn't be wielded at the same time , but from the information he acquired there were benefits mastering numerous weapon proficiencies.
The axes sharp edges seemed to cut through the air with a howl as Ben made them dance across the space in front of him.
For a period of 2 hours he made himself familiar with the cuts , bashes and cleaving strikes these weapons entailed. Finished with this he made lightning quick moves with his arms and released them.
With 2 loud thuds they embedded themselves in the wooden walls Ben had configured up in the virtual space.
Next up were the spear and shield combo. Some could say the defensive position of right foot behind shield outstretched and horizontally readied spear was a Greek hop lite stance , but others immediately figured out this style was more leaned towards the old Germanic tribes that fought off Rome in the first guerrilla warfare war.
Ben bashed and stabbed , thrust and swiped and ever danced across the whole room fighting imaginary foes. All the while the trademarked smirk of the marketing bad-boy played across his features.
"Yeah nothing beats this ..." Ben remarked to no one in particular after he stopped his dance of death.
Another switch of arsenal and now with the shield on his right and the axe in his left he began a new set of motions. While the dual axes gave of a feeling of forcefulness , while the spear shield combo held a steadfast appearance the axe and shield emitted a grave inkling of coldness.
3 styles three different motion sets. Even though these motions appeared fluid and masterful this was as far as Bens knowledge went with weapons besides a bastard sword.
Still Ben felt revitalized by the motions and next practice was throwing the axes as if they were hatchets. After a few commands a straw dummy appeared for targeting pleasure.
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"Welcome to >The Other World<. Game will go live in but a few short moments. You may proceed to finalize the character creation stage. Input background story now." A sexy hot female voice resounded in the encased stone walls.
Ben naturally logged in 2 hours early in real life measuring too 8 hours in this virtual space to create his character.
8 hours to create a story , for the character , wasn't nearly enough but as per his informant during the story phase just handle certain key parts of your soon to be alter ego.
Namely name , place of birth , age and wishes of the future. Everything else would be automatically updated as you play out everything else.
"Angorod Ironskin a just came off age Dwarf. Born in a human town as his parents peddled there to give the pitiful humans a display of true dwarven blacksmithing. A natural born paragon fighter or champion of the dwarven kingdoms is his life long dream! " Ben opted to record his speech instead of typing it out.
His informant gave a simple understanding of the background story; even if you wish to be the half dragon half demon born wizard and acquired master fighter that once opted out of the god of lights realm , if you gave a good enough story why , how and who the system made it possible to some extent.
But in reality how the system accomplished to 'balance ' out every character at the start with the myriad of story's Ben or the now named Angorod knew nothing about.
His story was simple but had hidden meaning. Dwarfs alone had a high fighting capability , grew older then humans , fought beings numerous times their own size on a daily basis and naturally were gifted in strength and skilled trade.
But not only had he , Angorod , never seen the kingdoms under the mountains but also yearned for them. Partially that would open certain quest lines from the beginning ; or so his informant had told him.
The very idea of giving your own character a story would spice things. It was not only novel but also increased the immersion of the players to feel part of the world.
And after this would be the true test of character creation begin! Ben thought to himself as a smirk appeared on his face.