Virtual Reality huh?

I never expected that Mathijs would have been busy with that. I knew that he liked reading, even to the extent of solely focusing on it. So it wouldn’t have been strange for him to spend all his time reading.

I was sitting on my bed, the day after I sent Musa and Mathijs home, pondering about how to go from here. I was trying to focus on FIFA and forget about the conversation that had to take place. But I was playing like shit, and the game got boring after a few minutes. I turned off my console and started to resolve myself, for the conversation to come.

It was a little bit painful to see Musa accept Mathijs’ offer immediately, because I couldn’t afford to. I knew my mother probably wouldn’t like the idea of me, gaming fulltime, and not going to university. Damn.

I believed Mathijs almost immediately, because I had never seen him so serious before, aside from karate. And I prided myself a little in that I was able to see when Mathijs was bluffing and when he was serious. Although I wasn’t sure all the time, this time I could tell he was serious quite fast.

So of course, I wanted to accept his offer immediately, holy shit, just think about it, Virtual fucking Reality!

It’s a shame I’m not in a position where I could’ve just immediately accepted his offer though… I owe my mother a lot, and I can’t suddenly explain everything to her, because she wouldn’t understand the idea probably. Even if I told her that it would make a lot of money, which could help the both of us, she probably wouldn’t believe it anyway. She tunneled way too much on me going to university. I could totally understand that though. But still, I won’t give up this opportunity without at least trying!

Having resolved myself, I turned off the TV, and exited my room.

Maybe it would be easier to convince her if she would see my ebullience.

I wasn’t going to deceive my mother, I wanted to be straight, and honest with her, because I loved her way too much to dissemble her.

I called out to my mother, who was preparing dinner already in the kitchen. I almost forgot that I slept until the afternoon, we kept talking so long into the night yesterday… Damn, my whole day is gone.

“Anne (mother), do you have some time?”

My mother looked up from her work, and smiled:

“Ogulcan, is there something wrong?”

Well, at least she has some time. Damn, how I’ve dreaded this conversation. I really want to spend a year or two with my friends in virtual reality, and under payment even!

I had to resist sighing out loud, because I was almost sure that my mother wouldn’t accept my reasoning. Lanet olsun (damn it), I’ll just soldier my way through this conversation.

“Can you follow me to the living room for a bit? I have something to discuss with you.”

“Oh, will this conversation concern your future?”

What the hell, is she a psychic?

How’d she know?

Normally, I would try to avoid talking about the future, as much as I could. So it’s pretty weird how she would mention my future…

I’m not sure if this is a good sign or a bad one. Maybe she already has a fixed path for me in mind. I already know, how hard it’ll be to convince her to change her mind.

My mother set aside whatever she was working on, and followed me to the living room.

I’m glad my sisters aren’t at home right now, because this conversation might take a while. And I really, really, want this.

“Ehm, mom, I’m not sure how to say this…. But, ehmm…”

What the hell, I should’ve thought this through. If I start talking about virtual reality right now she’ll just think I’m crazy. What am I even trying to do….

My mother smiled, and suddenly interrupted me:

“Yes, I have heard a lot about it, you want to take off one or two years and spend some time playing games under payment with your friends right?”

I opened my eyes wildly, and was almost about to say ‘what the fuck’ to her.

I’m glad I didn’t.

“Yes, Mathijs came over 2 days ago, while you were out with Musa. He called me, and said that he would like to talk about something that concerned you. I was pretty worried that something shady was going on, so I invited him over. Then he tried to explain something, but because he was talking in Dutch, there was way too much I didn’t understand. Luckily enough, he knew someone who could speak Turkish fluently, and was working for this so called company he was talking about. The kind sir, told me all about a new project, and about how he insisted on having my son participate. He said it would give them valuable information, and he would reward you greatly, depending on the results.

I didn’t believe him at first, but he kept explaining to me, about how you would be able to enroll to a university after spending some time on this project, and how much you would be able to learn from this experience and how it was a one of a kind opportunity for you.”

This… This is a lot to take in it at once.

Is she serious? Did Mathijs actually furtively inform all our parents behind our backs? Damn, that was shrewd of him to use a Turkish colleague.

But this means, that I might have chance!

This makes everything so much easier, hahaha, I never expected this to happen.

But there’s still something wrong. It seems like my mother is letting me do what I do what I want to, but it still feels like she’s up to something.

I think she’ll force a certain condition upon me.

Hmm, if I can get away with playing VR for a year, then it’ll probably be a small price to pay.

I grinned and started talking again, thanks Mathijs, for making this a lot easier than I thought:

“Oh, it looks like you’re almost fully informed, mom, does that mean that you’ll allow me to play?”

She had a smile on her face, whilst talking about her conversation with Mathijs’ colleague, but that smile disappeared as fast as it appeared.

“No.”

“What, are you serious? But anne, this means so much to me, why would you not allow me to take this opportunity? Mathijs worked so hard for this, and I don’t want to let him, and Musa, down.”

“I still think, that university is way more important than this game or something. Even if you’ll get paid, it’s still not enough.”

“No, I will still do it. I’m sorry, but this time I won’t let you ge-”

*Ting*

While I was trying to convince my mother, my phone interrupted me.

I looked at my mother, and she raised her eyebrows. I think she wants me to check my phone.

Damn you, whoever you are! This is an important conversation, how dare you interru-

*Ting*

Arghh, I sigh out loud, and check my phone.

Two new messages, do you want to open them?

Sender : Mathijs

Received : 17:48

Sender : Mathijs

Received : 17:49

YesNo

What the, this timing.

I touch the yes button, and read the messages.

Mathijs : 17:48

Yo, Ollie. I just thought I’d inform you, because I made a deal with the higher ups, next to paying us for playing the game, they’ll also fund all the costs of the study we choose at uni, after playing the game.

Mathijs : 17:49

Oh, and by the way, if you have trouble convincing your mother, just tell her what I told you above, and tell her that you’ll focus solely on university after we finish this.

This guy.

That does make things easier, hmm let’s see if it’ll work.

I first set my phone back into ‘silent’ mode, don’t want to get interrupted again, do we?

Although, I was a bit lucky, that I forget to set it to silent before that.

“Anne, Mathijs just told me, that the company will pay for all the costs of university, if I’d be willing to participate in their program. This means that, I’ll have to game full time, for one or two years. I also promise yo-, no I swear, that I’ll study next to gaming, and that, afterwards, I’ll focus solely on university.”

Please, let this work.

I look at my mother with a very serious look on my face, and I can see her ponder over the information I just provided her with.

She raises her head a bit, something she always does when she makes up her mind, and she started talking.

Oh shit, here it comes:

“Alright, Ziyattin. But only if you solemnly promise me, that you’ll keep up your studies, and afterwards, will go to university. I won’t allow any slacking, or exceptions. Is that clear?”

“Yes anne, it’s totally clear. I promise you I’ll do my best! And thanks for this, really, it means a lot to me.”

I-I DID IT!

Hahahahaha, I never thought I would actually be able to convince her, oh my god.

The glamour of life!

Damn, I really have to resist the urge to gambol around!

Ahh, screw it, I’ll just do it anyway!

Mathijs told me, that the machine would arrive tomorrow, and that it wasn’t a simple helmet like in SAO. So I had to clear up some space in my room for later.. But we arranged that we’d play at Mathijs’ house for a week or so, because his mother went on a vacation for a week. The three machines would also be delivered at his house.

Damn, I can’t wait!

I think I’ll get some snacks and drinks for tomorrow, pack my bag, and clock off early.

I need to be fully rested, because we’ll probably miss a lot of sleep.

Demesne, prepare yourself, because Glinc is coming!

***

After I let Ollie and Musa in, we stood there, in the living room, in silence for a moment. All three of us admired the three machines lined up there.

We already prepared our sleeping arrangements.

We had prepared our instant food too.

I had already informed that it’d be fine if they would do the tutorial first, before spawning in the town I told them to choose.

Anxious.

That is the word that fits this situation best.

It had been a long time, before I could finally touch the machine. I deceived, bluffed, threatened, lied, and manipulated a lot of people to reach this point.

It was all for this machine, this small electronic piece of work, that would change the lives of almost everyone.

I powered the machine, by putting the plug in electricity socket. All the lights lightened, and the main button showed a green light.

All set.

I licked my lips, and a grin appeared on my face. I had specifically chosen a time, where I would have a lot of time to embark on this journey.

I had spent countless hours, figuring out which direction to choose, and what choices I should make. It felt like this moment, would mark the start of a long, fun, and exciting journey ahead.

I nodded at Musa and Ollie, and I could clearly see they were just as excited as I am.

“Okay guys, it’s alright to enter the machines now. You’ll have to personalize your character first, you can do this by talking to an AI at first. Just pick a race and an appearance you like best. Afterwards select the town I told you about. Don’t forget its name, it’s called: Fellsmarch, and it’s the capital of the biggest human kingdom. Oh, and don’t forget, it’s alright if you take some time to finish the tutorial. It’ll take around 15 minutes, but it’ll make it easier for you guys to get more comfortable in VR.”

Time to start exploring!

Oh, I almost forgot to add something:

“By the way, the game is still in the beta phase, but it’s as good as finished. They just want to see if the game’s stable, and if the biggest AI in human history, the one controlling the world, will be able to handle everything. There are a lot of people already playing, especially rich and famous people. Only the ones with hard cash could afford to enter the beta phase, so maybe you guys can even play the white knight, and pick up some hot, and maybe even famous, chicks along the way.”

I start to chuckle at my attempt to loosen the mood. Luckily enough Ollie and Musa laughed too. Oh well, enough talking, let’s get on with it!

I removed the little beam, blocking the entrance of the machine, and entered the machine with my lithe body. The beam closed automatically after I entered, and a small screen came down.

The screen lightened up, and text began to form.

Do you want to log in to Demesne?YesNo

This is it.

I was finally able to make my dreams come true.

I reached out with my hand, and pressed the “Yes” button.

***

The world around me, changed from its colorful and rich textures to a bland and boring grey.

But that only lasted a short moment, the world started spinning again, and suddenly I saw myself standing in a big room, with a blue lighting. I looked around me, and in every direction I could see a mirror.

Nice, I could see every side of me.

That’ll make character customization quite easy for me.

While I was immersed, in looking at myself, a comely, female voice began to talk.

“Welcome to Demesne, the database came up with negative results for your ID. Do you want to register?”

It was almost as if I was talking to a real person. Just as expected.

I grinned and replied:

“I’d love to.”

“The database has come up with the name ‘Tensaiz’ for you. Is this your desired name for your character?”

Oh, they do know how to have their AI research huh.

Hmm, I like the name Tensai though it’s more because of the irony than the real meaning.

Nah, I’ll decide against using it, if I really become famous inside the game, then calling my character by the name ‘Genius’ won’t do me any good. Humbleness is what everyone likes, not arrogance.

“No thanks, I’d like to go with the name ‘Enza’, do I have to pick a last name too?”

“It’s not absolutely necessary, but it’s possible to tell me, I’ll add it to the additional info. It probably won’t be of any importance though.”

“All right, thanks. I’d like my last name to be Entreri.”

“Please select your gender, the choices consist out of; female, neutral, or male.”

Neutral?

Are you serious… I never knew that they included that in the game.

Oh well, that just shows that there’s enough about the game that I still don’t know. That’ll make it more enjoyable anyway.

“Male.”

“Please select your race, there are 7 playable races at the moment, but a lot more will be unlocked by special quests and other ways. If you discover a new race, you can select the option to change to that race as the first player who discovered them. Do you want me to sum up the playable races?”

“No thanks, that won’t be necessary.”

I had researched a lot about this game already, if I didn’t know the standard playable races from the beginning, I wouldn’t be fit to call myself a researcher. To sum it up the playable races are:

• Human: Are the most well rounded race and the most popular race in Demesne

• Dwarf: Are proficient in crafts

• Elf: have a higher affinity in magic as well as nature magic

• Half-Elf: Half the positives and penalties from humans, as well as elves

• Barbarian: Able to gain health and mana as they fight

• Dark Elf: Affinity for magic as well as arcane arts

Hmm, this was a tough one.

I was aiming for a class, which revolves around a dexterity berserker. But this simply wasn’t available through standard means. I resolved myself already to keep leveling without a class, until I’ll find a unique or rare class. This will bring a lot of negatives with it, because a class gives very nice bonuses, playing without a class for a lot of levels, will seriously affect me.

Oh well, I’ll make it work anyway.

As far as anyone knows there are, the normal classes, which could be gained in guilds or through apprenticeship.

Then there were the rare classes, usually gained through difficult quests or special NPCs.

Hidden classes were practically unknown, there were only a handful and nobody was really sure how to get them.

Only rumors so far, were the unique classes.

Nobody knew of a unique class so far and according to the gossip they were seriously strong.

It was even possible to change classes, at least to some extent.

One could become a warrior through the guild, then join the Knights and then rise to Paladin and then maybe get a rare class, I heard about some kind of Templar class, through a quest.

Those classes weren't necessarily stronger than the other as it was more important to find a class that suited you and the way you played.

I focused on which race to pick again.

I don’t want to take a dwarf, because it’ll be really annoying to play with a character that will have half the height of me.

Elves, Dark elves, or half-elves don’t work out too. They have a lot of penalties to the use of some weapons, and I didn’t want to limit myself. Even if they have a bonus to AGI, I didn’t want to shut out some opportunities.

Barbarians, hmmm, well no thanks. I like the idea of a berserker a lot. But I love speed too. So playing a barbarian would mean that I’d have to give up speed. No thanks.

Human it is.

“I’d like my character to be human, please.”

“The customization part starts now, please tell me if you would like to alter your appearance.”

Finally, this is where the fun starts.

I grinned, and looked at the mirrors, showing every side of my body, in its undies.

“Can you lengthen my hair a bit? No, not that much, halfway to my shoulders. Yes. That’s perfect.”

Damn, I look good, even if I say so myself. I think I’m a narcist… Oh well, whatever.

Hmm, I can see a six pack, but you can only see them really clearly, when I flex them, or lean back a little.

“Oh before I forget, can you add a little more definition to my six pack? Also, is it possible to shorten my nose a little bit? Yeah, just like that. Oh add a little blue in my hair too, hmm also give my eyes a little more depth of brown. Yup, that’s exactly it.”

I looked at myself; yup you could clearly recognize it’s me. I only changed a little bit, so I would fit in more in a fantasy world.

“Oh, by the way, is it possible to make me more flexible? Or is that determined by the game and changeable?”

“Your flexibility will be determined by the system. But if your will to become flexible is high enough, then you’ll probably become it too.”

Pleased with myself and the answer, I end the customization process:

“That’s it, thank you.”

“Do you have preference for your starting location?”

“Yes, I’d like to start in Fellsmarch, capital of the human kingdom.”

"You can gain your skills and a class according to the way you choose to play, do you wish to complete the tutorial? In the tutorial mechanics on how to play are explained as well as the lore and history of your kingdom and starting location?"

Let’s see, what did I know about skills again?

Skills can be created by either being taught, by acquiring skill books or by performing the skill and gaining it after enough practice.

Depending on your real life abilities you could gain skills pretty fast, a great scientist would get the alchemy skill very fast and a skilled swordsman would acquire sword mastery with lightning speed compared to someone without any experience.

Raising your skill could be done through gaining experience with it, that means if you would repeat the same move every time or cook only the simplest of dishes your skills would barely rise and after a while you wouldn't gain any experience by it at all.

That made sense to him, a chef who would always cook scrambled eggs would never achieve greatness. So if you fought difficult battles in unknown environments or learn and improve constantly, your skills will rise.

Higher stats could be gained through leveling or doing certain activities. One could even do push up training, like in real life, to raise the strength stat. Although training with weapons, or running with weights, could also raise stats and would usually rise others as well and even give experience for skills.

So naturally, many posts in a variety of forums, would recommend doing combined activities to raise different stats at the same time. Although the training should fit the person, or the time you invested would just be wasted.

As if I didn’t already know everything I could research about on my own, no thanks!

“No thanks.”

“Your avatar has been created; I wish you the best of luck and fun.”

The room slowly became a blur, and a bright white light blinded me.

Eventually the light faded away, and I was able to see my surroundings again.

There I was, standing alone, in simple, plain clothes.

It was a medieval town, full of life.

I was spawned in the center of the village, near a great fountain.

People swarmed around everywhere, and I could see a lot of merchants and fighters around.

Hmm, Ollie and Musa are probably still playing the tutorial.

I should move around a bit to get comfortable.

After doing some shadow boxing and random kicking I felt comfortable enough.

Oh well, first things first.

“Show status window.”

***

Volume 1 - Chapter 3