Before George entered the machine he looked back one more time, not knowing if he would ever see this house again. Usually, Vincent would have a chat with him every day before they entered the virtual reality world, but today he seemed to absent minded to think about George. For some reason, this made George even angrier like he didn’t exist in the eyes of his brother.

After entering George entered the tutorial world where he came every day.

Access granted.

The random player name selected. >

George couldn’t see anything except the white room but could feel a difference from the last time he was here.

A screen appeared in front of George with a yes or no option on it. Even though he has never entered NASH, he had lived in the tutorial world for a really long time and had seen screens pop up many times.

George moved his finger to press yes but his hand was shaking. Even though he knew a long time ago that he would leave after he turned sixteen he was still afraid of being alone. But he decided to take a chance and hope that he would be in a better place.

Just as George pressed yes his capsule was teleported out of his parent’s house without him knowing.

--------------------------

Before George knew what was happening the white world started to collapse around him. He was standing in a big open space full of grass and flowers. It felt totally different from the tutorial. He could feel the heat from the sun and the breeze from the wind.

In front of him was a town with at the center a big castle. From the moment George was born he had never experienced something like this. He had never left his house and didn’t have the money to visit anywhere but the tutorial world. George had read and seen pictures of grass and trees but this was the first time he was seeing it with his own eyes. He was amazed how real it looked.

After looking around for a while George came back to his senses. He started to look for a clue on what he needed to do now. He was put in the game with no objective or any advice. What George didn’t know is that the game had turned into the real world for most of the players. They would spend most of their lives in the game and to them if felt more real than the small homes they had to return to every five days.

After thinking for a little while and scanning the area George decided to walk toward the town. He could not see inside the town because of the high walls but he could see the big castle so high it felt like it could touch the clouds. George had never seen anything this big and felt like he was experiencing a brand new world. The town was surrounded by a big empty field of grass with some houses and farms surrounding it. He didn’t know why but the feeling he got from the castle was different from the other buildings. Behind the castle was a big forest that looked like it has no end.

There was nothing in the surrounding so he started to pay attention to himself. It was incredible, he still felt the shoulder pain he always had from the time Vincent pushed him against the wall. The next thing he noticed was the clothes he was wearing. It was a simple set of brown clothes with white shoes. Even though it was thin he didn’t feel cold because of the sun shining so brightly.

After walking for a while he came a little closer to the town. George had a weak body and was out of breath really quickly. So he sat down to take a rest before starting to move again. He couldn’t see where the entrance was but he found a path and decided that it was his best chance to find the entrance quickly.

After walking for another hour he found the entrance of the town and saw two men guarding it. They didn’t look that old and were wearing leather armor. Both had a long spear and were standing in front of the entrance.

“Halt! identify yourself.”

The man on the right had a serious look on his face as he pointed his spear at George.

“My name is George Noir, I just turned sixteen and entered NASH for the first time.”

The man on the left had a big smile on his face as he knew what was happening.

“Follow me.” Said the grumpy guard.

After entering the town George started to look around. The inside of the town surprised him. It was completely different from the castle. George had never smelled anything this bad before and had a hard time keeping up with the guards. Most buildings were made out of straw and wood and everything looked old. After walking for a while they entered the inner part of the city. The bad smell was replaced with the smell of fresh bread. The castle was surrounded by stone buildings some bigger than others. The biggest one was right next to the castle and had barracks written on it. After entering the barracks the grumpy guard gave a look at the other guards sitting around a table laughing, he started to walk towards a man in blue clothes who was sitting at a desk writing.

“Sir we have a newcomer who arrived today. But if you ask me he doesn’t look like a big catch.”

The man in blue gave George a quick look and went back to writing.

”We don’t pay you to think, if you had a brain you would have taken him to the academy instead of bringing him here wasting my time.”

“But sir you told me to bring you the new recruits first before sending them off to the academy.” The grumpy guard said with a little fear in his eyes.

“Seems like your ears are just a useless as the rest of you. I said to bring me interesting newcomers, not a small boy who looks like a twelve-year-old.” Said the man in blue with a cold voice. He looked young but George could see a confident look in his eyes that he was a little jealous of.

“Yes sir, I will do that at once. Please excuse me for wasting your time.” The Grumpy guard quickly pushed George out and started to walk away. His mood became worse and he even started to mumble beneath his breath.

‘Like I’m supposed to know what he means by interesting. They are all new brats, so what can be so interesting about them. Every time I bring a new snotnose to him he scolds me.’ Every time this happened he promised himself that next time he would bring the kid to the academy, but he didn’t know that the commander meant by interesting, and knew that this little scolding was nothing next to the beating he would get if he brought the interesting one to the academy first. That’s why over time he had come to hate newcomers.

George was really good at reading situations and decided not to anger the grumpy guard more than he already was. Al this time with Vincent had thought him how to become invisible. Even though his feet hurt he followed the guards without any complaints and tried to make as little sound as possible.

Luckily for him, the academy was not far from the barracks and they arrived quickly. The guard started to look around impatiently and went inside to take a look. After they passed the entrance port of the academy George saw an old man cleaning the floor with a broom. In the real world, the houses are cleaned automatically every day so he has never seen anyone clean before. George didn’t know how they did it but every day when he came back the house would be spotless. Even their clothes would be cleaned for them.

“Old man, I have a newcomer.”

The old man looked up for the first time and took a long look at George like he was measuring him up. He had a smile on his face like he had no care in the world.

“What do you want me to do with him?”

The grumpy guard started to get annoyed again and pushed George forward.

“My job was to bring him to the academy, you can send him to hell for all I care.” After he said that he started to walk away mumbling underneath his breath.

The old man started to laugh like he was expecting the man to say that and started to clean again. Every now and then he would give George a look and start cleaning again.

George didn’t know what to do, but he was tired and waited for the old man to finish his task. He didn’t like to confront people and thought that the old man would get to him when he was done with cleaning. So he decided to go to the stairs and take a seat. After sitting down he started to inspect the academy. It was a little smaller than the barracks but still had that grand look to it. The academy was made out of three buildings that were connected by bridges on the second floor connecting them. Every building had his own entrance but only the middle one had academy written on it.

After the old man was done cleaning he put his broom away and started to walk toward George with the same smile on his face.

“Follow me, I will bring you to the entrance exam.” As they were walking to the central building George started to look around. He could see some students and teachers but the building was emptier than he had expected.

“Let me give you a piece of advice newcomer, I don’t know where you’re from, but here you need to take action to get what you want. Don’t wait for it to be handed to you because that will never happen. The only question you need to answer yourself now is, do you know what you want?”

The old man gave George an interesting look and slowed his pace because he saw George was getting tired.

for the first time, George started to think about this question. Until now it was only about surviving, he didn’t have the luxury to think about things like dreams.