Chapter 03: First Dive

“Oi cripple, wake up!”

“Oi, bitch. Stop calling me cripple for God’s sake. I’m tired of it.”

Mrs Green stood in front of the doorway, after having barged the door opened. She then cracked a wicked smile as she put her hands on her hips.

“Suddenly got a soft heart? Or a thin face?”

“It’s socially unacceptable if you call me that.” I answered at her while still lying on the bed. I was supposed to get up earlier, but I’m too lazy to move around with that decrepit old wheelchair. I swore I got a splinter somewhere on my arse riding that thing.

“Oh. And it’s socially acceptable for you to mope around for 8 years and do nothing?” Mrs Green was pissed off, as usual. She hated to wake me up for I’m not known to be too cooperative in the early morning. I slipped the blanket over my head.

“I did something!”

“Like what? Playing games all day and stuck yourself in the room. Your rooms reeked like a morgue! And you looked like a zombie.”

“So what? I’m sick.”

“Yeah. So much for being the tough Special Force member, Bryan Walker. Now a cripple, asking from an old lady 5 bucks to play games.”

And now, she was starting to piss me off. I rose up, get on my wheelchair and rode towards her. Though still groggy, I’m not about to be low-blowed.

“Fuck you, bitch. You don’t have to go so low, hitting my soft point like that. By the way, it’s part of my treatment. For PTSD, you know.”

“Treatment, or running away?”

“Both! I give everything to this miserable country and I get nothing. Nothing. Why should I go and get myself killed for people as foul-mouthed as you? Better the enemies come here and kill you off for all I care.”

Mrs Green was speechless. At that time, I knew that I had spoken far too much for my own good. I wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but I should know better than crossing that boundary.

“I-I’m sorry, Mrs Green. I-I don’t mean it like that.”

“But ain’t that right, Bryan? You are our hero, and yet we treated you as such.”

“I was a hero. That was in the past. I’m now a crippled who suffers from PTSD and lived with a foul-mouthed lady who would spill more poison than a cobra.”

Mrs Green and I knew each other for a long time before I was crippled. I knew her through her husband, who was my drill sergeant back when I was enlisted in the force. She was the first person to accept me for who I was when I returned from the battlefield. And what was more that I’m in my wheelchair now. Broke, disabled and now staying here under her welfare. I thought she had been calling me names just to spur me on to action. It was not that I did not do anything, but…

Yeah. Just say it that I did not do anything redeemable. I was running away, playing games as an excuse for my PTSD. What I wanted was to get my vengeance first, and then return to the battlefield and fight alongside my comrades. I yearned for action and the smell of sweat and tears. Playing LIXXO was one way, but not the only way.

“You know what Mrs Green. If I ever earn more than 1000 dollars from my game, I’ll swear to you, on my own names and of my dead comrades, I’ll improve my life.”

“By going to rehab first?”

“Yeah, rehab first until I get to walk again.” I made an impromptu promise to cheer her up. Though I’m pretty sure, going by my lousy luck these few years, I would never earn more than a 100 bucks to my name. But hey, a 100 dollar was still a lot of money.

“And then find a job?”

“Yeah, and find a job so I don’t spend any more times than needed here. You are bad for me, Mrs Green. Hahaha” I let out a loud laugh as Mrs Green looked at me, cracking a rare happy face.

“But before you do anything, get yourself clean and please, shave that awful miser beard away from you. It’s disgusting.”

“And then, we will eat breakfast?” I playfully asked her.

“Yes, then we will eat breakfast. But nothing too fancy. I’m an old woman relying on her pension money too, you know.”

“By the way, can you drive me to downtown? To the cybercafé that I always go?”

“After you clean yourself, Mr Bryan and then I’ll see what can I do.”

For the first time, in a long while, Mrs Green was happy. I too was happy because I could make a little money from gaming. If what Ed and Al told me was true, making money from the game could considered a way of living and working. Since I had struck a deal with Ed regarding the sales of my account, he had told me that there were many ways on how I could use the games that I played to help me change my life for better. A good news at least, but I didn’t know how far it would go. But as I had always been trained, be ready at all times; the good times, the bad times and the worst of time. I had done the latter two, so it was time for good times, I thought.

“My, my. You look handsome, Bryan.”

I had shaved, cleaned myself up, got the messy room back in order and took out my exercise equipment out. It had been a good 6 months since I touch those metal bars and plates. Though I still maintained my strength and physique, nonetheless, I could give myself a workout or two after I’m back from meeting Ed and Al.

“I’m always handsome, Mrs Green. Always am.”

“Good. Keep it up and you might get your life back again. So, shall we go now.”

*****

Mrs Green drove me to AppleFruit as she was on the way to buy some groceries. Leaving me there, I was making my way towards the cybercafé when I was suddenly stopped by a young blonde girl. Wearing high heels with a matching office suit that accentuates her beautiful body, I could not help but to take notice of her. I’m sure she was not local, seeing how much she behaved and acted anyway. The girls here would run away when they saw me.

But not her. She was smiling when she came to me.

“Ah, so you must be that Mr Bryan Walker?”

She extended her hand for a handshake which I duly obliged. “I am but who might you be, Miss?”

“I’m Catherine, President’s secretary of ABC Network Company.” She introduced herself with such pride. I’m sure she was happy to work there. I could not help but to acknowledge her enthusiasm, which was something that I lacked when I came back here.

“So, Miss Catherine, what can I do for you?”

“Cat, please. And it’s not what you can do for me, but it’s what I can do for you.”

I was curious and prodded further. “Hmm? Do something for me? What do you mean by that?”

“Haven’t you read the news yet, Mr Bryan?”

“Just call me Bryan and no, I had not read any news or heard anything similar. Is there something I must know?”

“Ohh… is that so? Then shall I accompany you to Edward’s place and explain to you?” Cat rubbed her chin as she looked at me. Her gentle but sharp eyes though assured that it was not something bad, like I’m owing her money.

By this time, I had more questions than answers but I’m going to be cool about it. I’ll see what she wanted to say to me and all those stuff. Besides, I needed to talk to Ed too regarding my account sales. Hopefully, I do get a 100 dollars from that. I could pay my rent first so Mrs Green could make for me breakfast like usual.

When the three of us took our seat, Ed asked me the same question as Cat did earlier.

“Have you read the news?”

I just shook my head. “I don’t have the internet connection at home and no, I don’t watch that crap called news.”

“I see… so you want to check it out now?” Ed asked me which I readily nodded. That was my sole reason to be here in the first place anyway.

I took out my phone, an outdated model of 5 years old but it was still functioning. I see no reason to change it to the latest model, and not just because I was broke. Entering my saving account from the phone, I could not help but to see from the corner of my eye Cat’s growing interest in me.

If I did not know any better, I thought she was flirting with me. Not that I wouldn’t mind a beautiful woman like her to flirt with me, but I got more important things to do. Checking how much I have was definitely more important than entertaining a woman who was flirting with me. That was how strong the power of being broke made me into now.

As soon as I laid my eyes on my balance statement, my jaw dropped. I was a very well trained soldier and nothing could have surprised me ever, but here I was, looking like an absolute tool. I looked at the account, rubbed my eyes a few times, thinking that it was playing tricks on me, but the numbers were still the same.

10 million fucking dollars?!!!

I look at both Ed and Cat and they just nodded at me.

“That’s right. It’s 10 million dollars as per your account sales, Bryan.”

“B-But… this amount…” I stammered a little. I’d never imagined that I could stammer like this.

“Bryan, I came from the company that bought your account. I came here today to vouch for the legality of the transaction and then to complete it. Of course, I too wanted to see for myself the owner of the Legendary Demon King’s character. And I’m impressed to say the very least.”

No. I’m the one who was supposed to be impressed. This was not 100 dollars that I first thought. There were additional…

1…2…3…5 zeros behind it.

5 fucking zeros too much!

“Well, there you have it, Cat. The owner of the account all in his entirety.” Ed was laughing as he took out a bottle of champagne out of nowhere. My mind was too haywire to think anything straight. I-I still couldn’t get over it. 10 million dollars? No way in hell, right? But I knew I’m not dead yet, seeing how I am sitting in this old and decrepit wheelchair that once belonged to a certain Mr Green and the rusty metal that was poking my arse.

I tried to keep myself calm and collected by taking a deep breath. After a while, I returned to my usual and composed self. Yeah, the one part of myself that was missing conveniently for the last 8 years, suddenly decided to appear. Thank you very much for being missing when I needed you most. Money really did wonders, after all.

“Well, you can check my account if you want. I’ll give you the passwords and everything you need.”

“As you wish, Bryan.” I proceeded to give Cat all the related information regarding my account in LIXXO. I never knew that playing that game would change so much of my life. Helping me with PTSD was one thing, but this was way over my head.

“All done, Cat?”

“Yeah, all done. You know, I played this game for quite a number of years but I never see anything like yours before.”

“You mean my sword and equips?” I nonchalantly asked her. Cat nodded.

The weight of my account sales was still over the top of my head, but I was in my element, gaming in LIXXO. “Ohh… the sword dropped after I killed a Red Dragon. Let me think, more than a hundred I think for it to drop one.”

The strongest and hardest monster to kill was Red Dragon. I took 3 hours to kill one and I must not die. And I did it all alone too. I thought it was impressive but I never knew that it was this impressive. Well, I could earn myself a few bragging rights now.

“And the equips?”

“Ohh… The body plate was dropped by the Sovereign King of Atlantis, the helm, shoe and gauntlet from the other dragons and the wing… yeah… the wing was from Siren Queen of Andalusia.”

“And all of those were the peak monsters of the game, right? Many challenged them, though no one would ever survive even with a party of 40, what more soloing. The drop rate was below one in hundred thousand.” Cat continued to ask me enthusiastically. She must really love this game too judging from the way she was drooling over my items.

“Impossible right. And that’s why I love LIXXO. Impossible made possible if you put your heart into it.”

“Couldn’t say it better myself.” Ed was pouring drinks for us. And this was the first time I ever drank a champagne after all these years.

“Well boys, I would love to talk to you more, especially you Bryan, but I need to get back. The President really wanted to get his hand on the account and he could not wait any longer. He had been calling me nonstop since this morning.”

Cat took her leave immediately when her phone rang as she predicted. Well, she sure was busy. And I’m sure was an extremely happy man. As we looked at her leaving the shop, I turned and asked Ed, “What’s your account number. 15% commission right?”

He just passed to me a paper with his account number and I completed the transaction in less than 2 minutes. 1.5 million commission payment and I’m left with 8.5 million dollars. For me, that was helluva lots of money.

“You know, Bryan. I’m happy to be involved in this record-breaking deal, but I’m sure you won’t stop there, right?”

“What do you mean?” The champagne was good and that made me a little talkative. Besides, I’m now a happy rich man.

“Ever heard of Noble Path Online?”

“Yeah. A little. Not that I could get to play it anyway.”

“Well, with what you had earned, aren’t you going to play it?”

“Nope. I promised Mrs Green that I’ll go into rehab and get my life back on track. I had been a sorry excuse for myself for nearly a decade.” The promise I made to her earlier in the morning must now be fulfilled, whatever the cost.

“I see. That’s a pity. The game is in its final beta test and would be launch somewhere in about 6 months from now. So, you have time to think about it whether you want to play it or not.” Ed took out a CD case with NPO’s animation on it coupled with flyers of sort and handed it to me.

“Why do you ask me of this?”

“I believe you have what it takes to earn good money from playing this game, Bryan. I just know you would. And I want to be the person in the middle of it when it happens.” I took the CD case, observed it for a little while, admiring the beautiful animated drawings. I then turned my attention to the flyers and took one out with the headline ‘NOBLE PATH ONLINE: A Virtual World Made Real.’

“Aren’t you playing too then?” I asked while reading the flyer.

“Oh yeah, I will. But trust me when I say when I play, I don’t play as good as you do.”

“Ohh… sounds fishy. But if I were to play and get you involve, what would my role be?”

“Let us not talk about that before it happens alright. When you are ready, come to see me. And then we will talk.” I returned all the items to Ed but he declined. A gift he said to which I gladly accepted it.

“Alright. I’ll keep in my mind about it. Well, Ed. I really appreciate all your help. I better get going to or else Mrs Green might drove away without me.”

With that, came an end of my poverty life. I was broke and in a night or two, I became a multi-millionaire. And I needed to pay my dues. The year was 2035 and after a brief period of my disaster of a life, I’m making a path for a new one. My own ‘Noble Path’. Starting now.

*****

6 months later…

I had paid all my loan-sharks money. Don Caputa was surprised that I came and returned all his money in cash. So surprised that he asked what did I do to which I replied by giving his bodyguard a punch to his face, breaking a few front teeth. The same bodyguard who kicked and punched me the most, that night. And I said nothing else. But Don Caputa was not a man to be turned down easily. He would not take no for an answer, but this was the only time he turned back on himself as to respect me paying him the full amount. And because of that, he did not pursue his interest further but only to extend his hand in friendship if I ever needed one.

Now, I’m left with 3.5 million dollars. Taking care of all of Mrs Green’s mortgage and enrolling myself in the rehabilitation facilities, I was left with 3.3 million. The amount of money was good enough for me to live on for the rest of my life without needing to work any longer. But something that Ed said that day had struck a deep chord within me during this whole time.

“Earning good money.”

It stuck in my mind like a stubborn chewing gum on one’s backside as I was doing my rehab. After 6 months of intensive program, I could now walk by using crutches, a feat which was quite impossible for me in the first place. There were studies and research that was in advance stages that could help me regain my physical abilities back, but because I had stayed far too long without treatment, I had slim chance to recover. Hell, a slim chance was better than no chance. Give me 0.00001% anytime, any day and I would make you eat your words. The treatment, once passed the final testing phase, would be extremely expensive, costing above a million. Maybe even more. So, before that happened, I wanted to earn good money. And of course, there was one more personal reason why I wanted to earn more. The past trauma would not let me sleep peacefully at night until I finally face it. The demon that haunted me must perish once and for all.

Noble Path Online or NPO for short.

I needed more information about it. Searching through the official site, hundreds of players’ forums, fansites, guides, social media, video sites and many more that I could think of, I observed NPO as how I would break down war strategy. One by one piece of information; official news, rumours, hearsay, opinions or even false positive and negative information, I dissected it as I scrutinized everything that came my way.

It took me another 6 months before I finally equipped myself for NPO. By this time, NPO has 50 million registered users from all over the worlds. 80% market share of MMORPGs and the most intimidating of all was the 5 companies that merged and formed the mega-company that run NPO, Cybertronic Entertainment Corporation. RoundNox, Avalanche, PotatoHard, CyberCraft, and Pony Limited all combined into one giant entity. The biggest players in the gaming industry merged, created and then ran this new VRMMORPG.

The scale of this game was beyond massive. LIXXO was not even 1/100th of the size of the NPO. And that did not even include another huge portion of the game that was not opened to the players yet. And what was amazing was the total viewership of the events that NPO would often held. Dubbed as the world most popular e-sport and second in world most popular sport behind World Cup football, it attracted no less than a billion views in any one of the events. The last event was the Siege of Thoran, which was viewed live and streamed by no less than 300 million people. When the event video was uploaded to Mytube, a video file-sharing website, it garnered 2 billion views in the space of four days.

And the AI? Well, honestly I didn’t know much about tech stuff that went into it, but from the reports and official site, the NPC behaves just like a living being. Some players even said that these NPCs had emotions too. Weird but nonetheless impressive.

Well, it was not the time for me to actually be in awe of the size and the complexities of this ‘gargantuanic’ of a behemoth game. It was now time for me to make my mark in NPO. As I remodelled Mrs Green’s house a little, which she happily obliged seeing that I paid off her mortgage, the room I slept was converted into virtual reality realm.

With Ed and Al’s help from AppleFruit Inc., they made this room to be the best that they could completed with all the technologies that money could buy. All it needed was a hundred thousand dollars and a month of time. If I wanted to play, I better play with a bang. But I must not forget my grassroots of how I reached here in the first place.

The Virtual Reality or VR gear that Ed brought for me was state of the art. A little fancy to my liking but what I love most was the immersion of the visual and sound that it gave me when I tested it. It was compact and light too. And best of all, it had the technology called NerveAdapter.

Because I was paralyzed from the waist down, being a fully immersive VRMMORPG would pose a problem for me. If I could not walk in real life, I would be damn sure that I could not walk in the virtual world too. But the NerveAdapter bypassed all that by receiving the signal from my brain directly instead of having me to move like a lumbering fool or using another tool to actually insert command. It was just like how I would do in real world. I just needed to wear the gear and voila, I’m Bryan Walker reincarnated in the virtual world.

The reaction speed and time was perfect. There was no delay at all. Response time was impeccable. There was no lag between receiving and transferring data. A bane to all the online players, VR or not. In the whole world, there were only 100 units of this gear that came with NerveAdapter technology and I happened to own one. Surprising? No. It was given as a gift from President of ABC Network Company as they were the one who developed this VR Gear. This gear was still in early development phase, and I’m a guinea pig. Well, whatever. This gear was a lifesaver and there were all to it. I just loved my gears as how I love my combat gears. They were the same for me.

And now, fully equipped and well prepared, I made my first dive into the world of Noble Path Online.

Scan of your iris and fingerprint earlier indicate you are a new user. Register?

Yes

No.

A soothing sound of a woman’s voice. The moment I wore my gear, I was transferred to an empty room with a console in front of me. I just smiled and said yes. I didn’t have to even say it, just to think of it in my mind. That was the power of my new VR Gear with NerveAdapter technology. But I said it nonetheless. I was this pumped up. This would be my new battlefield. Understanding what I’d just said, a screen came out of the console that was in front of me.

Log into the Noble Path Online?

Yes

No.

As soon as the Log in command popped up as a hologram, I was given a choice. Well, easy enough. Yes!

You have not created any character.

(System Reminder: You can only create one character throughout your whole account.)

Create Character

Quit (Return to Main Screen)

Simple enough. One person, one account for lifetime. The iris and fingerprint scan were done to bound us to our account. If you do a mistake in the character’s initial setup, well… you have to live by it. But the mistake only concerned racial and gender issues. Nothing to do with classes and skills. Not a big deal unless one got bored easily.

Suddenly, the console gave me a screen of options to choose from. Heh. Standard stuff. Nothing too complicated. I keyed in what I wanted up to the level of the details of how I wanted to look like in the world. This would take quite some time to do though. I could either use the VR to scan my whole body and use it as default look or create a new one from scratch. Well, since it came to this, I just did what I would do best.

Once completed, I touch the ‘Finish Setup’ hologram screen.

Are you sure?

Yes

No.

Yeah, yeah. I’m sure. The command lighted up and suddenly the whole place turned white. As I was engulfed in the light, my whole body was suddenly transformed to my character’s avatar. Neat. Could do this in the real world too. As my character began to take form, another command screen popped up.

Select your starting city?

A list of starting city came up. In NPO, there were no less than 100 of them. To optimize my chances as best as I could, I picked the one that I had chosen before logging in.

Congratulations! Your details had been…

“Skip!”

Thank you for choosing Noble Path Online…

“Skip!”

No need to waste my time on formalities. The world was now awaiting me. As the flash of lights surrounded me yet again, I was transferred to the City of Asgardia, Kingdom of Asgard. And here, began my new journey.

*****