Chapter 31: Building a first class VRD.

I’m walking alone deep in thought in a roadway of Tidem’s campus while scratching my head. I have scratched my head so much that the tip of my fingers and my scalp are in pain.

Three years ago my dad’s company suffered a heavy blow, it was not enough to make it go bankrupt, but the stock prizes touched the bottom. Three years ago, I left home. The information about me from more than three years has been erased completely. ‘This doesn’t make sense at all!’ I say myself inwardly as I remember some pieces of the conversation with Leeloo this morning.

♪ ♫ ♪

”There’s no official declarations, there are only some speculations by some sensationalist magazines, there was some sort of leakage of a big project of T.I.R.G.” Leeloo says while looking at me.

”I… I need to know what’s going on, I need to go to Greenfield.” I say hurriedly.

”What for? To see your family? They no longer live in Greenfield.” Leeloo says with a serious tone.

♪ ♫ ♪

When I ran from home I did it so impulsively and I just didn’t want to look back. With the excuse of hating my father for what he did on a single day I never looked for anybody from my family in this last three years. With the excuse of acting independent I acted so immature, I never stopped to ponder about how things really are, I just thought about me. But what is done, is done. Now that I talked with Leeloo I have to try and put some pieces together.

First than all, it is already surprising the fact that my dad let me leave home so leisurely, not to mention my mother. But to actually leave Greenfield? That is out of the question, I have heard with my own ears how much he loved living in great grandpa’s house. ‘I need some answers, but there’s nothing I can do right now.’ I think inwardly as I clench tightly my fists. The feeling of powerlessness builds up in my heart.

♪ ♫ ♪

”I’ll be honest, when I heard about your background from Ana, and then I connected it to your little history, the first thing that came to my mind was that you should be under vigilance. Strangely enough, there are not even a tiny trace of someone trying to hack our net.” Leeloo says while stretching her body, still sitting on my stomach.

“I thought the same long ago, I constantly laid traps to see if someone was watching me but I never discovered anything…” I say as I recall how paranoid I was at the beginning, “Wait a moment, we? Us? Why are you in the same boat as me?” I say as I notice the strangeness of her words.

”Oh honey, do you honestly believe that if you are being watched, people close to you would not?” Leeloo says playfully.

♪ ♫ ♪

Although Leeloo always act weird, I sensed some concern in her voice this time. I’m not entirely sure if she told me all she found, but I have always trusted her and I’ll continue to do so.

‘There’s actually two possibilities… But if I want to know the truth, the only way is having money.’ I say inwardly as I clench my fist. If I impulsively chose to leave the country and look for my family, if there’s nothing going on, then my efforts of living alone in Glassglow would go to the trash, my grades will drop because of my absence, and I will only waste money. But if there is really something going on that not even my father could handle… What possibly could the current me do?

Dropping my studies is not an option, this is my own achievement and I’m proud of it, but I want to have contact with my family once again without affecting my lifestyle. I take out once again the golden digital card and I look at it, “If what Mr. Smith said is true and I can earn money out of this game, then I will give my all.” I murmur in a low voice. A normal person motivation to play games is to have fun or to make money out of it, although I could be classified into the group of money maker gamers, I’ll play ultimately for the sake of soothe the uneasiness I’m feeling after having that conversation with Leeloo.

As I hold the digital card, the sleeve of my jacket slowly drops and reveals something pink and fluffy in my wrist. “Damn it!” I say as I hurriedly cover my wrist. No matter how serious the talk is, Leeloo always will try to make a prank. The metallic sound of this morning was actually the sound of metal grinding against metal, Leeloo cuffed my hand to the bedpost and after leaving my room she didn’t free me. I forcefully broke the links of the handcuff, but I have no tool in the apartment to open it.

“Where the hell she got this fluffy handcuff?” I say as I continue walking towards the workshop to get a pair of pliers in order to forcefully destroy the fluffy handcuff. I wanted to rest a bit more, but I had no other choice since there’s no hardware store nearby the apartment complex, if I make a detour to get the pliers, I would get late to the university and since I already missed yesterday’s classes I don’t want to miss today’s classes too.

As I’m about to enter the workshop I notice a familiar feminine figure at the counter. Her black hair is not too long and is tied in a ponytail, she has small glasses, white skin, pink lips, and hazel eyes. She has an exquisite buttocks, it seems as those buttocks has its own gravitational field because your head will always turn to look at them, no matter the gender. Although her breasts are not as impressive as her buttocks, they aren’t small either, it’s just that her bottom calls so much the attention. She is wearing a tight black mini skirt with matching color pantyhose and to top it off she is wearing a tight white blouse with a deep V shape that reveals a lot of skin.

This teenager outfit normally wouldn’t be a problem, although most of the time I use the uniform in order to come to the university, that isn’t a rule set in stone, any man or woman can wear whatever they want. However, it’s not the case for the woman in front of me and there are in fact a couple of problems. First than all, this alluring woman even if she tries to dress as a teenager, she is in her mid 30’s. Second, she is a teacher.

When I cross the door of the workshop she immediately notices me. “Oh Marcus, I was precisely asking for you.” She says and starts walking towards. With each step she takes her whole sways, specially her hips and her legs. You couldn’t get tired of seeing that seductive form of walking. Never.

“Teacher Durian, I didn’t know you were looking for me.” I say as I try to look her straight in her eyes.

Teacher Durian’s lips curves upward slightly, revealing an alluring smile. But it is not only alluring, there is some mysteriousness and mischievousness in it. She puts on the lab coat she was holding in her left arm while walking towards me, spreading in the air a fragrant scent. “Well, I was looking for you because I’m 99% sure you can help me finding someone.” She says as she is just one meter away from of me.

“Sure, if I can help teacher Durian, I’ll help you gladly.” I answer her with a genuine smile. After all, she has helped me a lot.

Teacher Durian’s smile turned even more alluring as she licked her lips, “Well, you see, I was looking for a guy who used a special system command on 19/04/2080 at 7:59 p.m. at an establishment called Gamer’s Corner and didn’t make the proper report within 72 hours.” She says in a sexy, yet menacing tone.

Hearing this, I freeze up completely and my mouth opens involuntarily. ‘Oh for Cthulhu’s sake…’ I say inwardly as I punch myself mentally. The guy she is talking about is obviously me just before the third round of the tournament. Using a special system command as the one that I used to decrease the system restrictions, even if I use it selfishly, will only get me a scold at max, but that is if I do the proper report within the time limit. Not making the report carries severe consequences. I got so distracted with Ana that I completely forgot it.

Seeing my reaction Teacher Durian laughed softly and took a step forward. “Marcus, you know I care about you a lot but you can’t be so careless.” She says while patting softly my shoulder with one of her hands.

“Well… she certainly cares for me as if she is a mother…” I mutter in a low voice.

Unexpectedly for me, Teacher Durian was so close that she heard me. She tightened the grip of the hand that patted previously my shoulder, causing a slight pain to build up. Her gaze turned menacing, and her genuine smile vanished. “Did… did you say that I am so old that I could be your mother?!” She says in a cold and menacing tone.

‘God damn it!’ I say to myself as I gulp a mouthful of saliva. There’s no doubt of the skills of teacher Durian, she is one of the best rated teachers in Tidem, not for her looks, but for her knowledge. However, she has a complex: She is single! If anyone mentions her age or the fact that she is single, he is screwed.

“I was going to go easy on you, but now that you are being so disrespectful to your teacher, then I must punish you. Tell, me, are you legal?” She suddenly says while I was looking away.

Legal… Legal… That word resound in my ears trying to associate to something, and then I realize. “Teacher, you don’t mean…?” I say with a trembling voice and a flushed face.

“Of course I mean to go drinking, I’ll teach you how youthful I really am.” Teacher Durian says while smiling at me.

I let out a sigh of partial relieve. Although for a moment I misunderstood her, the situation is far from being good. She is known as the Drink Queen, no one can compete with her when it comes to consume alcohol. That’s one of the main reasons she is single at such age with such good looks, a lot of men get scared after the first couple of dates and can’t keep up with her pace.

“I’ll look forward to hang out with you then… hehe… hehe…” I say while laughing awkwardly.

Teacher Durian puts one of his arms beneath her chest and rested the other arm a top of it while placing her hand under her chin. She ponders something for a moment, “Regretfully I have this weekend covered with some blind dates, so I’ll program you for next weekend.” She says with an innocent tone.

‘Too damn straight!’ I say inwardly after hearing Teacher Durian’s words. “Teacher, is it really nece…” I say as I try to convince her to just forget about the matter but she interrupts me.

“Tch, tch.” Teacher Durian clicks her tongue as she waves her finger in the air, “You know my name is Lena, no need to call me by my last name.”

“Ok, Mrs. Lena.” I say casually, but as soon as Lena hears the Mrs. Her expression darkens and looks at me angrily. “I mean, Miss Lena.” I try to correct myself hurriedly and her expression softens.

“Fine, I have things to do so see you around.” Miss Lena says and then walks past by me, but then she stops, turns around, and whispers me in my ear, “Tell Leeloo to be careful with her sadistic plays, bringing a fluffy cuff to the university is not a good thing.” She winks, smiles, and then goes away.

I remain standing still while I reflexively cover my wrist with my hand.

After finally getting rid of the fluffy cuff I attend to classes normally. Four hours later I meet with Leeloo at the entrance of Tidem.

“So… what is the interesting thing you were talking about earlier?” Leeloo says as we are walking towards the other side of the street. This morning, before she left my room I asked her to meet me after I finished my classes. “You know, there are proper ways to ask a girl to go on a date.” She says with a teasing smile.

“It’s not a date… I…” I say while scratching my head but she interrupts me.

“Humph!” Leeloo pouts like a little girl.

‘Since when does she know to make such expression?’ I ask myself inwardly while seeing a different side of Leeloo. “Fine, I’ll treat you something in another occasion, but I really need your help with this.” I try to convince her to just follow me while searching for my cellphone in my bag.

“Ok, is a promise, show me.” Leeloo says with a charming smile.

‘She is totally different outside from her apartment uh?’ I say to myself. “I need your help to build this.” I say while showing her my sketch in an app of the phone.

“You… want to build this?!” Leeloo says with her eyes wide open, “This… where do you plan to get all of this pieces?”

I just smile and stop a cab. “You’ll understand once we get there.” I say with an air of mystery. “Oh, by the way, Miss Lena sends you greetings.” I enter the cab and Leeloo follows me.

5 minutes later we get to the entrance of BME. Leeloo hugs one of my arms and seems to be a bit surprised, but I just continue my way. I go directly to the reception and ask for Jasmine. A while later the elevator rings and a woman with a light blue shirt, light blue skirt, light blue ribbon, and light blue glasses walks towards us. ‘Don’t tell me she does this every day…’ I say inwardly remembering that she was dressed full of pink the Monday.

After introducing Leeloo to Jasmine, we enter the elevator once again heading towards the 3rd warehouse. Jasmine is holding a folder with some documents, she opens it and gives me some sheets. These are the forms she talked about the Monday. Leeloo frowns when she sees the sheets, she has the wrong idea of what is going on. The design I made cost around 350.000 dollars, getting the pieces directly from the manufacturer will make it a little cheaper, but she doesn’t know that everything it’s free.

“Here we are again.” Says Jasmine with a smile as she opens the door of the warehouse. I can’t help but be amazed again with the size of this warehouse. One the other hand, Leeloo’s expression is priceless.

“I have an agreement with the president.” I whisper to Leeloo’s ear, “I can pick whatever I need from here but in exchange I have to show him some improvements in my gaming experience.”

“Just that?!” Leeloo says with a shocked expression, “And here I was thinking that you used some contacts of your family for once.”

I just smile gently at her.

“Geez, why any research group tells me ‘take whatever you need and show us results later’? You are quite lucky.” Leeloo says while making a funny expression. It is like she is angry but happy at the same time.

“If you need something I don’t think there will be problems.” I say coolly.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’m fine. Since this is a favor the president of the company is doing to you it would be impolite of your part to take multiples of a piece, let’s get to work.” Leeloo says and her expression turn serious.

“Okay, I’ll search for this pieces and you search for this others.” I say while sending the data to her cellphone.

In the midst of the searching, Jasmine approaches me. “Mr. Trevor, can I interrupt you for a second?” She says timidly.

I stop for a second and turn to look at her. Unexpectedly she is closer than I imagined and I couldn’t help but examine her in detail. Although she has a nice figure and an innocent face, what called me the attention was another thing. ‘Really? Light blue contact lens?’ I say inwardly but then I shake my head. “Sure, don’t worry, you are not interrupting.” I say politely.

“I have a friend of mine inside the game. Since you will be on your own, maybe she can help you with the basics.” Jasmine says while fidgeting. In truth, she thinks that the president is being stingy by just allowing me to access the 3rd warehouse and not the first, she feels embarrassment and is trying to help me further.

“Sure.” I say with a smile. Then I give her my Universal Virtual ID (UVID). With this, anyone can send me a message while I’m online in any Virtual Reality.

Luckily all shelves are neatly organized and it takes the two of us less than an hour to find 90% of the pieces I need. After signing the form Jasmine gave me and checking that everything is in order, Leeloo and I leave BME with two big bags full of gaming equipment. However, we are not done yet.

We pick another cab and go to the shopping district. I need to find the most important part for a Virtual Reality Drive: A good reclining chair. Although I could just use my bed, a reclining chair is more comfortable if you are planning to expend a lot of time inside a Virtual Reality. I also buy some tools and some miscellaneous parts I couldn’t find in the warehouse, then Leeloo and I return to the apartment.

Since Jasmine told me that this pieces were pieces that didn’t pass the first quality control test, Leeloo helps me to test each piece in order to find flaws, but as we test each piece, we start getting a weird feeling.

“Maybe I am really lucky or their standards are so high that we don’t know why this pieces were discarded?” I say while holding a sensor.

Leeloo frowns. “When a piece doesn’t pass the quality control test, the whole lot is put in a quarantine, and then each piece of the lot is carefully examined in a second quality control. Normally a company as BME shouldn’t let roam freely a kid and pick whatever they want from this warehouse, the president must have a really good impression on you to let you do that.” She says while deep in thoughts.

There are strict international guidelines when it comes to Virtual Reality spare parts. The reason for this is that even if it is used for gaming, this spare parts are classified as medical equipment. Something in which you can submerge completely your consciousness is far from being simply a game.

After pondering for a bit, we couldn’t get to any conclusion and just stop thinking about that. We work for two straight days calibrating all the spare parts into a single Virtual Reality Drive.

“Uh, what’s this?” I say while looking at the bottom of a bag. A tiny digital card lies there quietly. “I don’t remember picking this.” I pick up the tiny black card and then I start examining it. “XFTS-05 prototype AI” The string of letters surprises me a little. “Well, I didn’t expect this but I suppose it will be useful.” I say quietly and then I store the AI in my pocket.

One more day passes and finally Leeloo and me finally finish the high end VRD.

“Are you sure you can even turn on that thing? This is the first time I have seen such horrific specs.” Leeloo says while looking at the finished work.

“If I can’t, I’ll get used to it.” I say with confidence. “Thanks for your help Leeloo.”

“Remember your promise.” Leeloo says while slapping my forehead, and then she leaves the room.

I insert the Downfall of the Champions digital card on the VRD and then I start attaching all the sensors to my body. Finally, I put on the helmet and recline in the chair.

“Let’s see if I really overdid it.” I say with a bit of worry. “System command: start game located in the digital card.”

Reading data sequences…

…

Loading sequences…

…

Communicating with Server DTOC001…

…

Connection stablished, starting transference of consciousness.

Suddenly my whole body starts to feel really weird as I feel that I’m being transferred to a virtual reality. I experienced the sensation of this kind of teleportation multiple times, but right now it is at least 50 times more intense. I’m about to give my firsts steps in Downfall of the Champions.

END OF CHAPTER 31.

Sorry for the big delay in this chapter, but it was more difficult than I imagined. The beginning of this chapter (the conversation with Leeloo) originally was a part of the last chapter, however, I needed a bit more of time to really think what info I will reveal. I mean, I'm the author and I know the whole plot, but sometimes limiting the information that the characters know proves to be really hard when you don't have anyone to check if you say something that you shouldn't, so I had to check, and check, and check again so in the future I don't have to backtrack and fix a mistake. Fixing typos or grammar mistakes is ok, fixing plot mistakes is definitely a bad sign.

PS: If you think that Marcus being "pushy" is a bad thing, sorry, but that is a trait of my MC, Marcus has a lot of awesome hidden things and I didn't want a super bad ass MC with no flaws, so being pushy and having little experience in life are part of those flaws. Someone commented in the first chapters that it was better if Marcus was not rich from the beginning and then makes his way up, but precisely this traits (pushy and little experience) can be attributed to being and ex-spoilled rich kid. Anyways, here is a third woman that "plays" with him and there will be a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth.