“I am bored., way too bored.”

Lately that was the only word that stuck to my lips as I was mumbling alone. Playing online games made me bored, watching anime that I loved so much now seemed like boring. I was not like this before.

No, in fact, I still thought that that I am not like this. I was a man filled with dreams and ambition, wanting to get into a good university, getting a good job and settle in with a beautiful wife and live the life of a happy family.

But my dream shattered the second it was announced that I didn’t get into the university that I applied to. Of course I did applied for a few more university, but I did not get any sort of info from them which indirectly told me that I ‘failed’ even before taking their interview.

My dream of becoming a teacher and working half day had fall down to the drain. Of course the reason why I wanted to become teacher was not because they work half day and get weekend rest which is Saturday and Sunday.

Now that I think of it, I wonder why do I even wanted to become a teacher in the first place. Was it because the stable income? Or was it because it is a good job that contributing to the future generation?

I can’t think of any good reason.

The more I think of it, the reason why I shouldn't become a teacher is becoming a lot more apparent rather than why I should become a teacher.

The only legit reason why I wanted to become a teacher was maybe because of my mother whom was my teacher when I was in kindergarten. I do remember there was a time when she asked us what we want to be when we grew up and I answered I wanted to be like her, a teacher.

‘I want to be a teacher’ kind of mindset had stuck to me since then.

Maybe it is about time for me to think of an alternative occupation. Who knows, maybe a job that let me rake in cash without having to work hard.

If only I was born rich, with good looks and great muscular yet slender body. I could have just become a lover boy or something, but I guess that might be pushing the limit a little bit too far.

But instead, I was the sixth child in my big family. Not that I hate being born in as the sixth child in my family. But I just wish for something else, I wish for something that I don’t have right now.

I wish for something to change. But not a drastic change like what you read in manga or watch in anime where there are suddenly aliens who came visiting your house making you their fiancé, or finding a robot on your way home, or get a slave through a slight misunderstanding or something like that. I want things to change, but in a lot more subtle way.

All I ever wanted was maybe win a lottery or something or hit the jackpot and earn cash in one swoop. I could save half of the money in a bank and used another half of it to start a business. I would run a good business like a book store or a wineries, whichever that gives me good profit and within my ability.

Having that kind of mindset I began buying a lottery ticket every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. My siblings called me as a dreamer because the chances of winning the lottery are 1/100000. But still, I paid no heed to them and continue buying myself lottery tickets.

In the end, I won a few hundred thousand Yens

It caused me to become a lot more ecstatic about lottery. I started to buy more and more tickets to the point where I’ve become completely broke. I tried asking a little bit of loan from my sister but I was rejected. I was broke, completely broke, I don’t even have the money for my own food.

Not knowing what to do, I walked around the city. Tthe lively city that was busy with people with career somehow made my stomach ache.

Is this some kind of new inferiority symptom?

Regardless I found myself the nearest toilet available and let all the frustration that I had right into the toilet bowl. It feels good; I might even take my number two.

Once again I marched into the city, the noisy sound of the vehicle including the amount of black smoke that it let out truly give off the feeling of ‘urban city’.

“Wait, black smoke…? Geez, send your damn car for a maintenance would you?! You rich bastard with vehicle have enough money to buy a car or a damn motorcycle; don’t tell me you don’t have the money for a maintenance that needed to be done once every six months! You’re ruining the good air that my body was taking in. What are you going to do if I got sick or something?!”

Well, swearing to myself; would surely attract people attention. There was a little girl, who looked at me with curious eyes and said,

“…Mama, that man is talking to himself.”

“Shh… Don’t point your finger to people, it's rude.” That little girls' mother reprimanded her.

There was even a case where a middle age dad with his daughter having a conversation that goes like this,

“Daddy, that man is talking to himself like you always do…”

“No honey, he wasn’t talking to himself, he was talking to his air-friend. Surely you don’t think papa is someone odd who would talk to himself right.” The man said in reply.

“Un!” The kid nodded her head.

“That’s right; he’s talking to an air-friend. His fried is there but it just not visible to our eyes, just like papa air-friend. He’s visible to my eyes but neither to you nor the others.”

This time the middle age man was the one who nodded. When he realized that I was looking at them he immediately bowed down politely while excusing himself.

Sad life, he must have it hard too.

As I was thinking what I’m supposed to do with my life, soft winter wind came blowing towards my pure and innocence face. It was a cool and cold wind, as cold as my sisters’ heart who doesn’t listen to their little brother pleads. My fashionable hat was toppled down by the wind and fall onto the ground.

Of course I who was deep in my thought paid no heed to small details like that. Let it burn or washed by the waves, it’s not like it can protect me from the shine of the bright sun like it supposed to do.

During winter time like this, barrages of clouds always block away the sunlight cause a dim lighted atmosphere, as dim as my future. Oh damn, the thought of my future made me feel like crying.

As I was staring into the nothingness, a little boy came into my field of vision. He was holding a floating balloon with an image of a clown who was holding a big ass knife with a big ass smile. Just where the hell did he got that kind of balloon from.

The little boy nose was running a number 11 on his nose. The boy inhaled deeply and the 11 immediately goes back to its cave. Now, what does this kid want from me, ice-cream?

Seeing the boy who was staring deeply into my eyes not moving an inch, I replied his action by looking straight at his eyes.

If it’s about staring-fight, I won’t lose. I was known as the Death-Stare who owns the stare of death back in high school period, I won’t wink. Not even once, give it up kiddo. Tremble before my power of stare and be amaze, I who own these pair of beautiful chocolate eyes are staring right into your eyes.

The boy blink his eyes once, slowly he opened his mouth with his eyes bewildered.

I won! Haha!

Or so I thought, but I was wrong.

The kid threw 1 thousand yen bill onto my hat that was on the ground and he ran away.

“……” I wasn’t able to say anything. Do I really look that pathetic to the point I can be mistaken as a beggar so easily?

Do I, this pure and innocence man with beautiful eyes and fashionable outfit was just mistaken as a beggar?!

Wait…

That can’t be true, even if he’s still a kid he would’ve known that this attire of mine are no beggar attire.

That was not it. I who own a beautiful pair of eyes with such a fashionable outfit must’ve been mistaken as a God. Yes, that’s it. It was not because I looked like a beggar; my existent was simply match that of a God that he threw one thousand ye bill as a token of respect.

I freaking knew it!

I then took the hat with the money inside.

My boy, I shall accept your donation and bless you with internal luck. But, please don’t come and find me if you became unlucky instead.

Well then, what do I do with this money?

I can’t do much with this one thousand yen bill, other than buying a few breads or possibly a bento at discounted price.

Or…

I can try my luck for one last time… I’m feeling lucky today. Ah but then if I were to win nothing then I would lose the money that I can buy breads with. I’m missing out food for 2 days now as I was not able to borrow some money from my sisters.

Should I gamble it on lottery?

Or should I just buy my breads?

While I was hesitating between two options a sudden light of blessing with the background music of glory came into my way. I turned my head around trying to find the source of that background music which complimented my divinity.

When I was wildly looking around, I realized that everyone within my field of vision was stammered. All of them were looking at the same point, the big screen of Einstel Organization Live Broadcast station that was in front of me. It was showing an advertisement.

A rather peculiar advertisement if you ask me, it was not a shady item that actually had no use in daily life kind of weird item. Instead, it was actually about a game, a cutting edge game which I was at that point was not interested in.

Accompanied by the bright light that was emitted from the big screen, the glorious background music kept on playing while a voice of a young woman narrating an introduction to the game.

“… popular among teenagers and the elderly. With the unlimited possibility of profession change and phase up, players can travel through 5 continents and 25 cities. There're up to 5 pick able races that player can select during the first initial stage of the player inside the game.

From the dexterous Elf to the durable Dwarf, the powerful Orc and the nimble Beast which outclass the human race. Players are free to choose their own destiny! Einstel Online, come and get a copy of your own!”

Soon as the advertisement finished, the noise that seems to have died down began taking it place once again, and again I was forced to move away from the warm bench which I had been heating with my bump for almost an hour.

I was walking aimlessly as I listen to the chat of the people surrounding me.

The all of them seemed to be busy talking about the same topic, which is Einstel Online.

Einstel Organization Live Broadcast is owned by Einstel Game.

Apparently, Einstel Online was the first ‘Virtual Reality’ game that was actually became reality. A lot of games with the theme of virtual reality had failed before due to the graphic that was deemed incompetence.

Like the recently so-called virtual reality game that came before Einstel Online. Rather than becoming a high tier game, it ended up becoming the most criticized game with the least popularity amongst all of the game that was recently gained their place in the market.

Einstel Online was deemed as a very successful game because of the actual ‘high tier gaming experience’ that it’s boasted.

Virtual Reality, or in short VR…

The essence of VR is that Players are able to use all of their senses that they can use in reality in this VR game. They are able to move their own limbs, see with their own eyes and smell things with their own nose. They are also able to make an expression with their face unlike casual computer games where players are provided with set of emotion in chat interface.

Above all, players are able to chat directly with the others just like in real world. There is no need to type in message just to chat with the others, although the messaging system was still applied to Einstel Online as whisper.

Like what the narrator had said in the advertisement, players are able to choose their own race from the 5 selectable races which are Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Beast and Human.

While I was thinking that, I found myself in front of the lottery centre.

Eh?

Have my habit of buying lottery subconsciously brought me here?

“Oh Nii-chan, come for another try?”

An old man named Tanaka-san who was wearing a bandana greeted me. He was wearing a Hawaii patterned shirt with a short pant. He walked toward me with his oddly styled slipper and said,

“We got a new set of tickets that came today,”

Tanaka-san was busy managing the boxes that almost took the whole lottery shop entrance space. I wonder if that was the new set of ticket that he got today, if it was. I doubt he will run out of lottery ticket for a few months.

“New set of ticket…?” I asked for confirmation.

“Yeah.” He answered short.

“Lottery ticket?”

“Well, you can say so… how about it, want to try?”

“How much is it for 1 ticket?”

“Usually it would be 500 yen for one, but as these tickets are new there are not so many people that know about this ticket. Selling this ticket is five times harder than selling the normal lottery ticket.”

“Ah, I see…”

“A new stock came even though the last one didn’t even have 0.10% of the amount decreased. It’s really troubling me, geez. I called the headquarters that I don’t need any supply for that EG ticket but they sent it anyway. Now not only I don’t have a good income from it, I also got a deficit from it.”

“What is EG?”

“Einstel Game or something, I don’t quite sure.”

“I see, well that’s bad… isn’t?”

“Hell yeah it’s bad… Say nii-chan.”

Tanaka-san looked at me while holding five tickets in his hold.

“Want to have a go at these ticktes?”

‘”Eh?”

“I mean, you are my regular after all… Come on, five tickets… Who know it might be your lucky day. You might actually win something today.”

“I’d love to, but I am no longer in the position to do so.”

“Why?” The Tanaka-san asked.

Letting out a sigh I showed him both of my pockets that was left with nothing but dust,

“… I am literally broke.”

Yep I said it, due to my NEET lifestyle and the way I was spending my money with lottery, I’m broke. That was also the main reason why I cannot say anything in objection to my sister when I was asking them to lend me some money and they refused.

“I see… well anyway, how much do you have now?” Tanaka-san who doesn’t seems to give up in selling his unpopular lottery ticket asked again.

Giving up, I take off my hat and took the 1 thousand yen bill.

“Well, I do have 1 thousand yen with me.”

“Okay Nii-chan, because you are a regular of this Lottery Center of mine… I shall give you a special offer. 200 yen for 1 EG ticket, how’s that sound?”

“200 yen…”

I who was already weak with things called discount and special offer was thrown off from my track. The thought of buying breads with that money no longer reside in my train of thought, hesitantly yet not so hesitant I let go of 1 thousand yen bill.

“5 tickets!”

I slammed the money onto the reception desk with a ‘bam’ resounded from the surface of the desk.

“I knew it that I can count on you Nii-chan…” Tanaka-san handed me over the tickets in reply.

I looked at the tickets; it was definitely different than usual. Normally the lottery ticket that I bought was as big as a business card patterned with black dots with [Scratch Here] words imprinted on it. But this one was small, as small as the train ticket.

Instead of [Scratch Here], the word that was imprinted on it was [EC].

“What does this EC word means?” I asked.

“Ah, it stands for capsule or something…”

For some reason I got a bad vibe from this.

I asked Tanaka-san for the scratcher, though I said that I was only borrowing a 10 yen coin from him.

I scratched off the first ticket.

[Loser]

And the second ticket,

[Loser]

The third ticket,

[Loser]

The fourth ticket,

[Monolith Capsule V. 1.5]

The last one was scratched off too,

[Loser]

I took the ticket with the [Monolith Capsule V. 1.5] written on it and discarded the others into the shredder.

“Looks like I won something…” I said to Tanaka-san.

“Ohh… to actually win something for the first try, you sure have good luck in you.”

Though it was actually on my fourth try that I won that thing, but I will keep my mouth shut about it.

I then handed the ticket over too Tanaka-san. Tanaka-san was inspecting it with his glasses neatly placed on his ears. He frowned as he was looking at the ticket.

“Is there anything wrong?” I asked.

“Hnn… nope, nothing’s wrong.” Tanaka-san said and took out a box out of nowhere. “Hmm let me see, monolith capsule eh?” he said and fixed his glasses position that was about to fall down.

He opened the box and took out a card, it looks like a lottery card but it was actually a business card. Wait, business card?

“Here you go.” He said and gave me the card.

When I look at it carefully it was not a normal business card, written on the card was actually a description of something that is very lottery like but written in a very peculiar, or so I thought. Anyway, the things that was written on the card was this,

Congratulation!

You are a person who was born with luck; you are a person who was born with skill. You are deemed worthy by the Goddess of Luck and you are blessed with this card.

Dear adventurer, your adventure had just begun. Come and join us, brandish your sword and polish your armor. March toward the glory and create a name of yourself throughout the history of Einstel World.

We shall be waiting. Please Bring this card to EOL Main Branch in your nearest city to claim our limited edition of [Monolith Capsule]

“What the heck…”

“What the heck indeed… what is this thing called Monolith Capsule actually?” The old man asked.

I thought he knew what the thing was. Truth to be told, I don’t know anything about it myself. All I know was; to be able to connect to Einstal Online you need to get inside some kind of big box. And from what have the rumor of the wind told me the box was a pod.

This is the first time for me to see a capsule being used to connect to Einstel online. Though, not like I’ve seen pods before.

“It’s something like a pod that connects us to Einstel online… I guess.” I replied.

“So it’s like some kind of alternative gear to connect into Einstel Online?”

“Perhaps so, I’ve never seen an Einstel Pod before. I’m not really sure but from what I’ve read from the card it is something like an Einstel Pod but this one is capsule version of it. It is limited edition after all.” I added.

“Hnn…” The old man frowned as he made a difficult expression. I bet he didn’t understand a single thing that I’ve said.

Monolith Capsule… Limited edition… Wait isn’t this…

“Tanaka-san…” My voice was faltering; I just had an incredible idea. It was too ingenious of an idea that I’d like to nominate my brain as the world brightest idea holder. “Do you know how much does an Einstel Pod costs?”

“The price you mean?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s about 100 thousands yen or something. I don’t even know what Einstel Pod was so I’m just assuming things here.”

Wha wha wha wha… WHAT?!

100 THOUSAND YEN?!

If Einstel Pod priced about 100 thousand yen then does it mean this Monolith Capsule can reach a higher price than 100 thousand yen?

WHAT LUCK!

I better look for some info later for the possibility of this Monolith Capsule being priced higher than that Einstel Pod. Einstel Pod being prized at 100 thousand yen was just a price that Tanaka-san had assumed after all.

I shall do that.

“By the way Nii-chan…”

“Huh?”

“You don’t planning on selling that do you?” Tanaka-san asked.

“Eh…?!” My eyes widened, what’s with this Old man, some kind of mind reader or something? “…Why? You’re planning on buying it from me?” I replied.

“Nah… not that, I was just thinking that it would be a waste when you got yourself a good haul from a lottery and you’re planning to sell it just like that. Though if you can sell that thing and buy even more lottery from me it would be great in its own essence ha ha ha!” Tanaka-san laughed.

“Of course I won’t sell it…”

I lied.

“Oh good then, here…”

“What is this?” I asked when Tanaka-san handed over a book with colorful images imprinted on its cover.

“Ah, it’s an extra that was included along with the EC Lottery ticket…”

“Oh, this is an introduction book for Einstel Online. I wonder if they were planning to advertise and explain the game a little bit to spark people interest to buy their lottery tickets.”

“Who knows… As long as they rake in money for me I won’t complain about extra goodies, though these boxes of introduction book for Einstel Online do trouble me a little bit.”

Oh… So inside those boxes was actually the introduction book. I thought it was the new lottery tickets or something.

“Ah, I see… Well then, should I help you a bit?” I asked offering him my help.

“Oh! You’re a life savior nii-chan. Please do.”

§§§

3 days after I won the Monolith Capsule lottery ticket.

I got it.

Monolith Capsule,

Now let’s see, from what I got in the internet… I’ve come to know a few things.

First, no one had actually got a Monolith Capsule before, which means I am the first one ever to won the lottery.

I see, so I am the first one huh. That also means that currently I am the only one who owned this limited edition Monolith Capsule.

Second, the Einstel Pod cost 150 thousand yen and above after the game popularity boom for the past 3 months.

Third, apparently the time in Einstel Online is 3 times faster than in real world, which means if its 3 days of Einstel Online equals to a day in real world. But who cares, I don’t do the math.

The time system sounds so bogus but I’ll leave that behind for the mean time.

Now,

I’ve asked a few of my net friends, who are playing Einstel Online. Apparently there was no one who was interested in buying it. I had even put it up for auction but there was no bidding, and the view count didn’t even reach 3 digits.

I wonder if there was even a meaning in this Monolith Capsule if no one willing to buy it. Oh wait there is, to connect to Einstel Online. Duh! Silly me...

Oh well, I guess I’ll try it out first and see what I can come up with.

I’ve set up the Monolith Capsule like what the introduction book to Einstel Online showed me in the misc chapter of the book. There were a lot of new terms that I had to search via internet as not to mess up again and again while I was dealing with the colorful wires that needed to be joined here and there.

After almost an hour, I finally finished setting it up.

I let a small sigh as I wiped off the sweat from my forehead. After long years of living a sedentary life, it looked like I’ve became somewhat… weak (?)

Well not that it matters anyway.

I turned on the power.

The monolith capsule began to light up in bluish white color; it was letting out a small groovy sound like an old computer with poor maintenance. I wonder if it’s really okay for me to get inside this thing.

Now that I think of it, rather than capsule, this thing looks a lot more like a coffin.

Regardless I open the door of the capsule and get inside it; it was almost like an air-conditioned coffin. I hope my electricity bill won’t be affected greatly. As soon as I lay down inside of the capsule, the door that was left opened before closed down automatically.

Before I got in I made sure to eat something, Tanaka-san gave me a few bentos after I finished helping him, I heated one of the bentos in the microwave and gulf it down like a wolf. One must eat before heading out to battle. I was full and ready for a try out.

I was engulfed in darkness for a few second when I got inside the capsule until a bluish transparent notification popped out in front of my eyes. Apparently there was no need for me to register for an account like what I have to do in normal computer games.

There was a memory slot inside the capsule that saves the player data. All I have to do is to take out the memory and stick it into the port of any capsule or pod to continue playing the game. In short, the memory card was the account.

I clicked ‘okay’ after skipping through the License Agreement thingy. Seriously, who the hell even read that?

It was as if I was sucked into a black hole, my mind went blank for a few moment… When I realized I was in an empty space, together with a woman wearing an outrageously sexy costume.

§§§

“Welcome to Einstel Online.”

“… …”

“What is the name that you desired?”

“Just4Fun”

“Sorry but the name is taken.”

That name is taken huh, then what about …

“…ShinyEyes?”

“Sorry but the username ‘ShinyEyes’ is taken.”

How about…

“…kingkong?”

“Sorry but the username ‘kingkong’ is taken.”

Seriously? If kingkong is a no then how about gorilla, surely there is no one that would want to have that as a name would they?

“…gorilla”

“Sorry but the username ‘gorilla’ name is taken.”

“Holy mother of lottery! Who the hell would even normally name themselves as gorilla?” I shouted in surprised.

“The username ‘Holy mother of lottery, who the hell would even normally name themselves as gorilla’ is not taken, however it has exceed the allowed limit of 16 characters long.”

“… …”

“Please choose another username.”

“Ichiroku.”

“The username Ichiroku is available; would you like to set it as your username?”

“Please do.”

“Username Ichiroku, please choose your race.”

“Human.”

“Please choose your base city.”

Base city? What is base city? …Some kind of starting city or something?

“…recommendation please,”

“Would you like to set Beginner Town as your city?”

“Okay.”

“User name Ichiroku. Base city, Beginner Town... Please choose your race…”

“Human!”

Really, why do you even need to ask twice?

“Are you sure you want to set your race as human?”

The woman asked me as she leaned over and stared at me with a blank expression. She's floating by the way.

“Yes!”

“User name Ichiroku, base city is Beginner Town, race is human. Would you like to save this setting?”

“Yes.”

“Your character data has been created, good luck in your adventure.”

“… …”

§§§

________________________________________________

Thank your for reading! I'm sorry if there are any unusual narcissism that goes beyond comprehension. I'd like to thank my friend Aru-kun for the illustration that he provided. (was actually meant for my other book last year but I used it here instead - in case you saw the date it was signed with) Advertisement Previous

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