"That's the place," Eleria said with a bright smile on her lips. She then grabbed the handle of the most ordinary-looking doors Leon saw in his life before making her way inside.

"Excuse me," she called as soon as the staff members paid attention to her. "Could you please calibrate my friend?"

'Woah,' Leon raised his eyebrows, only to thank his hood for hiding his expression. 'So she is one of those,' he thought.

Eleria appeared to somehow sensed Leon's thoughts. She turned her head over her shoulder before sending him a sneaky, sideways blink.

'Freaking virgin killer.' Leon nearly made a guttural sound. He even had to stop his hand from clutching at his chest.

"Oh, sure thing," a lab official turned around on his chair as he replied Eleria's question with a professional smile on his own. "Come on inside, it will only take a moment," he then turned her eyes to Leon before inviting him in with his hand.

The official had the look of a youthful, energetic scientist. A kid in an entire neighborhood would root for and take pride in his achievements.

'He could be the picture-man of the success of this damned, post-war age,' Leon thought, all his shyness from before vanishing. A wave of coldness filled his vein as he looked at the official before following the instruction.

Leon then took off his hoodie, revealing a plain, heavily-used t-shirt.

"Come on, you are pretty cute," Eleria grinned while resting her elbows on the backrest of a chair and then her face in her hands. "Why hide such a nice face in the shadows?"

Leon blinked once. He then took a deep breath.

The coldness of the feeling from before filled every nook and cranny of his soul.

"My eyes are corroded," Leon replied, looking at the girl with no emotion in his used-up eyes. "I can't expose them to huge amounts of sunlight."

"Oh," Eleria let out a small moan of surprise. She froze as she stood, her smile twitching as her expression started to melt down.

The atmosphere became awkward.

Corroded eyes were one of the topics that hurt the development of VR technology the most. And in the most direct way possible, its victims bore witness to the crimes of the third world war.

"I see," the man stood up and straightened his long, white lab coat. He then pointed Leon to the special bed in the corner of the room. He then brought down the upper part of the apparatus before throwing Eleria a long look.

"I will need you to leave now," the official ordered in a professional voice.

"Hai," Eleria murmured before looking towards the bed. "I have to go now, but don't worry, there will be someone to guide you once the calibration is done," she said before raising from her place, waving cutely at Leon, and finally leaving.

"Due to your classification, your experience of the process might be a little harsher than expected," the official offhandedly remarked while playing around with the controls of the equipment.

Stolen story; please report.

"I'm aware and I do consent," Leon calmly replied, perfectly prepared for the question.

"I see..." the man sighed. He then froze for a moment in his thoughts, before shaking his head and looking down at Leon. "That certainly makes things easier," he added before averting his eyes and pressing the last button.

A shock.

A wave of electricity went through Leon's flesh and successively shut down each and every part of his body.

His consciousness fell into an insurmountable depth, cut off from any sensory data.

"Fucking hell," Leo uttered a shallow curse, his soul itself tensing up under the influence of the unnatural state.

'Any longer and I will lose my fucking mind!' the young man screamed out in his soul, unable to even feel his body.

Bit by bit, Leon continued to lose parts of himself.

After his senses came his memories. Days, weeks, and entire months vanished from Leon's mind, leaving nothing but huge gaps.

Then, Leon lost his sense of self.

A flash.

No, a series of flashes.

They ended as soon as they started. Like an afterimage of something that never came to be. And Leon found himself floating in an empty, white space.

"How are you holding up?" a text appeared right where Leon happened to be looking.

"I'm okay," the young man replied, breathing a sigh of relief. 'If I'm here, it should be over now,' he thought, more than ready to take some rest.

The experience of the calibration was extremely short... yet it was also equally dense.

"Do you want to go through the tutorial now, or later?"

A line of words replaced its predecessors as it appeared within the white nothingness.

"Tutorial...Hmm..." Leon hesitated for a moment.

The shock of the calibration messed up his memories a little, making it hard to properly reach for them.

And then, Leon's eyes widened.

"Right, we are going to beta-test the new expansion in this tournament, right?" he asked out loud.

"That's right. And there is a new opening, special for those who migrate with a high-level account. You will be able to make personal decisions that will be calculated into the foundation for your character in the game."

This time, the explanation took longer to appear but also explained more.

"Seeing the speed at which we can talk, I assume I'm not in the deep yet?" Leon suddenly inquired, seemingly out of nowhere.

"That's right, I wanted to make sure you are okay after the calibration."

The message changed.

"Shall we, then?"

Leon smiled.

'I guess I do deserve to relax a bit after that trauma,' he thought before resting his hands on his hips and nodding his head.

"Just make sure to play it out in deep, I don't want to be late for the tournament," Leon confirmed.

And a mere second after his words were voiced out in the white void, the reality around him collapsed, revealing a vast, green field with some wooden buildings hidden behind a near hilltop.

'Damn,' Leon thought, awed by the experience. 'Last season it was still a flat cinematic,' he recalled.

Contrary to the scenes of the game proper, openings were often made to be better looking than the game itself. That's why it was extremely hard to replicate it with the full view of a first-person.

And yet, those mad lads from Agebreak fucking did it.

Leon's point of view painted a gentle arc on the sky before flying low, over the fields and towards the buildings in the distance.

[You are the firstborn of a small, local noble.]

A line of white text appeared, contrasting with the natural look of the vast, swaying field of golden crops.

Leon's flight suddenly came to a stop, as small, informative windows appeared all over the place.

He could see the fertility rate of the fields. The rich deposits and a huge population of fur-bearing animals in the nearby forest along with the dangers of monsters lurking in the shadow of its trees. A road that cut through the vast array of fields towards the buildings appeared to lead to the nearest city and then further down to the capital.

'It's freaking beautiful,' Leon thought, unable to hold back his awe.

Even since the devastating nature of the third world war swept through all the continents and seas, this kind of vast sprawl of nature was unheard of.

'It's for moments like those that I fell in love with this,' Leon thought to himself, sinking in the magical atmosphere the place gave off.

[The information of your starting position is as displayed.]

The white text changed, finally attracting Leon's attention for real.

[What are your goals, ideas, and plans for the next few years?]