Chapter 1 : 150 years after the cataclysm

'Get on with it' thought Damien as he watched the headmaster summarize everything that happened 150 years ago on the screen. He was getting tired of seeing him rambling on, and on about what he already knew.  He made a quick look around him and he saw that he wasn’t the only one having the same thought.  It was something that every first grader knew after all but it was something that the headmaster insisted on having at every graduation. He was finally out of this school. A school for orphan named Joseph Fury after the one who had founded it. It was in the center-north of the second continent created by god. This continent was finally named “Alia” after it was created. 

“… And so to congratulate you for passing and to prepare you for the game we will grant you a loan”

‘Finally’ thought Damien. He had endured enough in this environment. But he needed the loan if he wanted to prepare for the game. Even thought it was a loan there were no interest rate, and so he wasn’t worried. After he obtained this loan he will be able to buy the skills and equipments he wants. 10 minutes of rambling after, it was over.  The Students came one by one to obtain their loan. The order was from the lowest prospect to the highest. If students were graded by appreciation from “bad” to “average” to “good” to “excellent” then Damien would be among the good students. It wasn’t that he couldn’t be excellent. It was just that he had landed in a class of monsters.

Soon it was his time to go receive his loan. He received 100 000 points : the money of the game. The highest received 150 000.  He stayed a little longer after that to chat with his friends. He wanted to say his goodbye to the girl he liked but he didn’t dare since he hadn’t talked to her that much other than to say “hello”.  They might have had the same center of interests but he didn’t  know. He hadn’t asked. He wasn’t shy or anything. After all he already had a girlfriend before. It was just  just that he wanted to focus on his studies. School  had changed since the calamity. It was now more focused on preparing the youths on how to better beat the game. “Player” had become a real job now and they taught students subjects like “strategy”, “martial arts”, “geography of the game”, “Cooking inside the game” and “monster’s weaknesses”. There were also “craftsman mastery” and others but they were options.

 The government had decided to implement these changes since it depended on humanity’s survival : The safe zone was shrinking  at a rate of  500 000 km every  year. 150 years had already passed. Knowing that earth’s surface only had 150 millions kilometers on average, there were only 150 years left until the safe zone disappeared. Fortunally deserts and arid soils had disappeared little by little after the calamity. It was almost like this new god gave everyone time to rest before he had to make them suffer. It was theorized that there was a way to stop the shrinking inside the game since no other method had worked. So countries and people had spent a lot of money and personnel  to understand the game. 

Soon it was time for Damien to go home. The sky was already dark when he arrived . He gained acces to his orphanage easily since was in his school’s orphanage. He connected to his computer to gain access to the GOS (greater operating system), the software that God had installed on their computer. To gain access he only needed a Smartphone with a cam : the phone would use a reconnaissance software to verify his identity and log him in the GOS.  He gained access to the player’s market and bought the beginner’s pack. It consisted of a map , a bag, a rope, a knife, an armor, a good handgun (Kahr PM 60 which was the advance version of the Kahr PM 9) and a lot of ammunitions. There were no other weapons since you had to choose your own weapons. He also took a shield, a sword and a spear, all basic. He decided to finish to chose a set of needles to throw and the set of gloves that he had to buy with this. He had already practiced with the needles in school and he had founded out that it was a good match for his style. With that, the last of his economy he had made working at the library were gone. With the 100 000 points from his loan he had decided to buy a pet he had seen the last time he was logged. It was an interesting pet for its trait, but it wasn’t powerful. However it would still help a lot in his quests. After his search he sigh in relief because he had found it.  It was a cat of the Bombay breed lv26. He bought it with a tamer’s rock lvl 30 and some cat’s food. It cost him 95 000 points.  40 000 points for the pet and 55 000 points for the rock. Cat’s food really weren’t that expensive.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Pet weren’t that much popular for 2 reasons  : A link had to be made between the owner and the pet with rocks found inside the game called “tamer’s rock”. The Rocks had levels . To make a link with a pet the rock had to have the same level as the pet or higher.  And so they were more and more expensive. Not only that, but you couldn’t make a pet risk its life if it didn’t want to even with the link. As long as it estimated it had a 50% chance of dying, most pet would run. But he didn’t worry about the 1rst reason since his family had a secret. As for the second he didn’t expect it to fight. So since they weren’t that much popular, they didn’t cost that much.

After this, he was done. He put all his items insides his virtual “chopping cart”, paid what he owned and waited. 5 minutes later, a light appeared neared him. When the light disappeared the items he had bought were there. It was the most efficient way to trade. Not only was it very fast, but also he could buy anywhere in the world or in the game between continents. There were extremely powerful avian type beast now, and it would be almost impossible to exchange item between continents without GOS. His cat appeared in a little cage. He gave it a random name : Alex.  It was a male. He gave it some food and put it aside. Because  it was already nighttime he decided to rest. After all the time in the game and in reality was the same. What would he do in the game during the night. Sure, he knew the game’s geography and he could connect near human settlement. But he decided it was more beneficial to him if he entered in the morning.  He would connect in the game tomorrow,  at first light.

‘Finally. I can begin tomorrow’ he thought before drifting asleep.