42 Hours To Mayhem

It was morning, the air was fresh and the birds were very energetic. Chirping could be heard everywhere. In contrast, a middle aged man lay infront of his doorstep. He had tripped on huge box. All he wanted was a stroll in his courtyard, yet, this was what he encountered.

"Goddamn it, who the hell leaves a delivery package so close to the door, are you kidding me? Do I have dog sh*t luck or something?!" Bell groaned.

There was a sudden thump of footsteps, marching towards the front door with haste.

'Ah, that little brat is so caring, running to check up on me.' Bell thought.

The flames of joy that had kindled in his heart, were once again doused by a cold bucket of reality. He had assumed Pain had rushed to see if he was injured. The brat did not even glance in his direction, as he made for the two large boxes. Dave followed as well.

Bell was practically non existent to them.

"Hahaha! you brats, you dare to ignore me? Watch me starve you to death."

"Dad, there's a restaurant... No one is starving to death..." Pain replied.

"Ugh... nevermind. If you need me, I'll be in the courtyard." Bell pitifully picked himself off the ground and headed straight to the courtyard.

"Hold on, what are in those boxes? You didn't buy anything dangerous did you?" The scientist stopped to ask.

"No, its the games I bought yesterday, Dad."

"Oh ok have fun then. I picked up a quantum device on an online store for you, it will arrive later today. When you're done setting up your quantum identification and account, let me know so I wire some money to you. Can't have you using my device all the time, and on second thought, don't disturb me, if you need anything, get it yourself." Bell harrumphed.

Back in their new studio, both boys stood rooted to the ground. It had taken a while to get the large boxes inside. They had to pick them one by one, it was just too large and heavy. luckily, everything was automated; therefore, no help was needed in setting the helmets up.

"Amazing, I never thought I'd get to see a legendary Frost helmet in this life. Money! I need to get wealthy too!" Dave yelled with passion as he looked at the almost 'divine' helmets.

Designed in pitch black plastids, the helmets gave off a deadly aura. These particular helmets were customized; hence, its value was increased by several folds. But then again, all this was to give the duo a better footing against other players.

In order to officially support in-game competition, Frost Entertainment actually gave out forms to verify peak gaming studios. Not only did this serve as bragging rights, each member of a verified studio was granted a few perks.

The pre-requisites for obtaining a studio verification were quite strict. There was a budget cap to attain, a minimum number of members; participation in at least, one global event and the studio must also be amongst to top 1000 in the whole continent.

Very few studios were able to satisfy all the requirements; but that was the whole point. If every studio could be verified, would there even be the need for verification to exist in the first place?

The duo had outlined their plans quite clearly. They needed to first increase their reputation by participating in the global events. The primary goal was to get verified by frost. Everything would be so much easier after that. Recruitment, guild competitions, you name it.

Frost had been keeping things under tight wraps lately. Usually, global events were officially revealed, at least, a week to the actual release of their games. Yet, this time nothing was heard or seen. Even the big players with "connections" were unable to uncover anything.

"Well, this is it Dave." Pain hadn't gone through much trouble to gain the required knowledge on Gaia. Besides, it was a new game, there wasn't much to discover until he played.

The game's official website had revealed five basic classes: swordsman, mage, tecno, healer and defender. The identity and number of the hidden classes on the other hand, were kept secret; it could only be obtained by purchasing the legendary pack or completing a specific quest, related to the hidden class. Further, Frost had initiated a secrecy policy, which prevented every legendary pack owner from divulging any information regarding the hidden classes, prior to the game's release.

Hidden classes were extremely powerful. Possessing much better stats and special traits, an average gamer with a hidden class could deliver an above average performance.

Without wasting much time, Pain and Dave quickly wore their helmets. The visor slid down to protect their eyes.

"Callibration complete. Welcome to Gaia, 42 hours 21 minutes more to release. Would you like to set up your character now?" A melodious voice rang through the virtual space Pain was levitating in.

The noob looked around to locate where the voice came from.

'It seems there is no physical representation of the Artificial Intelligence running the callibration.' He gave up on looking after a while.

"Yes."

"Please choose your designation."

"Pain." He simply responded.

"Designation acquired. Thank you for purchasing the legendary pack, syncronization set at 99%. Pain value is set at 20%. You have unlocked ten hidden classes, please make your choice."

'Synchronization? What's that? Anyway, I'll check on that later.'

The class section popped up as Pain directly skipped the basic classes. Even a noob knew how to be picky.

Of the ten hidden classes that were listed, only two of them caught his eye. The shadow and the Divine Blade.

"I select the shadow." It suited his personality perfectly. As an assassin-type class, it required its user to be cold, calm and calculating. Although Pain didn't consider himself cold, the other two traits spoke to him a lot.

"User, due to fraud prevention and copyright issues, one may only change up to 15% of their appearance, would you like to make any changes?"

"No."

"Thank you. Please log in on the release day for your equipments."

With that, Pain's vision blurred and he was forcefully ejected from the virtual space.

Whether or not he would leap to become a gaming dragon, only time and opportunity could tell.

"Holy cr*p! it's actually at 99% synchronization?!" Dave suddenly yelled out after lifting his helmet.