“Here I am.” I had just arrived at the prestigious Mapleheights University, which was renowned for its top level classes and an entrance exam with a 10% acceptance rate. Having realised that I basically just recited word for word in my mind what I had read on the internet, I began to mentally face palm.

I was incredibly tired and feeling sour right now. When I decided I’d go to university, I thought that it’d be smooth sailing. No, not the classes, the goddamn moving! How does anyone expect me to move anything with a single fucking arm!

And like that, the MC was already off to a salty start.

***Mapleheights University, 2027: 4 years after the accident***

A handful of hours later and reluctantly asking for some help from his dorm-mate, his neighbor, he managed to get everything into his room. His dorm-mate was a surprisingly nice person, he introduced himself as Adam East-something. Charlie really didn’t have an aptitude for paying attention at important times, like listening to the person that paid him any attention and additionally helped him carry his stuff to his room so that he could actually go to school and a have a place to stay.

“What courses are you doing anyway, Charlie?”

“Advanced Robotics and Psychology, what about you?”

“Really!? I’m also doing robotics, I’m doing an Art course as well, but we all know how useful they are.” Explained Adam, “I guess I’ll see you from time to time anyways considering we are in the same class and dorm, do you even know how unlikely that is?” Adam inquired.

“No? Is it really so strange?”

“Well, of course. There are over 112,000 students alone, furthermore Mapleheights has over 32 male dormitories alone!” he then retorted with “Of course it’s weird that I’m right beside someone in the same class as me. Get it?”

“Y-yeah, you can calm down. Anyways, more importantly what was with the entrance exam?”

“I know right! Damn it was hard, I barely pulled through with 82%. They made sure to drain me of everything I’ve ever learned.” Adam responded, with an exhausted expression of course.

“Huh… Umm, no. I-I mean l-like, wasn’t it a b-bit easy?” I asked nervously as it just dawned on me I was actually having a conversation with a ‘Homo sapien’.

“W-WHATT? Just what percentage did you get?!?” Adam was totally shocked, his mouth agape.

“9-7%”

“E-eh? How did you pass with 9.7%? Poor man…”

“N-no, 97%.”

At this point, Adam had collapsed.

******

It had been a few days since Charlie had arrived at university but he had just been relaxing in his room most of the time. Shortly after arriving, Charlie had found out that classes didn’t actually start for another two weeks. Until then the students could just relax and make acquaintances, or use the university's facilities. Charlie obviously chose the latter; he wasn’t a ‘Homo sapien’ person.

I really can’t believe the size of this library… It’s unbelievable, isn’t 5 floors really overdoing it? It is a university I suppose, a prestigious one at that. Surprised, I started looking for some kind of index or category section so I could save time and not have to venture through the entire library to find something of interest. Eventually, I had realised that I wasn’t getting anywhere and just decided to ask the librarian, she doesn’t bite after all.

“E-excuse me, miss.” A truly weak start. She totally just ignored me?!? Louder perhaps? “H-hey?”

“Yes, how may I help you?” She cheerfully responded towards me,

“Is there some kind of guide for this library so that I can find my way around?”

“Ah, yes. Here you go.” It was at that point she passed me what appeared to be a map, however I didn’t notice this and I realised I had just been staring at her for quite some time. There’s a reason for this, you see. She was 24 at the most with an incredibly cute face and blonde hair which was wavy and going just past her shoulders. She was petite in more ways than one and her little glasses just competed everything perfectly. Did I also forget to mention her fucking green eyes? Oh god, I can feel myself losing it.

“Yes?” she asked, puzzled as to why I was staring at her, I assume.

“Oh, sorry. I just realised that I don’t believe I know your name…” literally instant white knight mode activate.

“Oh, I’m Sarah. Are you perhaps new?”

“Yeah, I just arrived a few days ago.”

“Ah, I see. Anyways, I’ll have to be going, other people to help.”

“Y-yeah.” Well, that was awkward. She had begun turning around at this point. I now remember why I don’t talk to woman; I’m fucking terrible at it. I look down even more awkwardly, only to remember the map resting in my hand.

Library Map and InformationFloorsFloor 1Fantasy, HistoryFloor 2Psychology, BiologyFloor 3The Arts, LanguagesFloor 4Engineering, ElectricalFloor 5Miscellaneous, Information TechnologyStaffHead LibrarianMs. AnnAssistant LibrarianSarahBook KeeperMr. LarrannHelpersJack, Chris, Alice

Immediately I started heading towards the fourth floor, my mind all but clear about the embarrassing actions from moments before.

******

I suddenly feel a jerk at my arm. My only arm, ffs, it never fails to make me depressed. Where was I again? Huh? Sarah…? I suddenly became aware that I had fallen asleep on one of the couches in the library’s lounge area after reading so many books. As my eyes widen I begin to realise that it was indeed Sarah tugging on my arm, she hasn’t noticed yet that I’ve awoken, right? I start pretending to still be asleep. Another tug, “Why are you pretending to sleep? You were snoring your head off a few seconds ago, it’s kind of obvious.” She said, clearly towards me. Maybe she’s bluffing, just a bit longer…

“And no, I’m not bluffing.” Damn. I slowly open my eyes, the goddess is still there. I think I can feel my cheeks visibly redden, hopefully she doesn’t notice.

“Do you have a fever? Anyways it’s about time you wake up, it’s just been me and you for ages.” How perceptive can one be?!? Just us?!? I feel a tug in my chest, it quite literally hurts. This is either what they call love or I’m going into cardiac arrest.

“Y-yeah sorry, I’ll leave.”

I begin leaping up and trying to get out of here before I really do have a heart attack. Should I say good-bye? Yeah, I think I might…

“Good night, Sarah.” I then begin to observe the library as I accelerate towards to exit. It’s quite bright for night time? I see the sun beginning to approach the horizon. Fuck; I really am terrible with women.

“For you maybe, it’s only 6 PM.” She begins to cheerfully smile, I take it more as a job towards me more than a simple joke. I’m at the exit now so I just begin to make my way back to my dorm, then my room and then finally, my bed.

******

“No updates, huh.” I mutter out loud to no one in particular, no one was with me after all. Continuing to check news websites technology sections, I realise that there really hasn’t been any new development for prosthetic limbs. Do scientists not understand how much pain one goes through not having a limb? And I don’t mean the physical pain… Maybe there’s no profit in it? I suppose… Hmm, what’s this?

VR Still Going Strong!After world-wide release last year for VR technology from the tech giant,

Expeon, Experts say that VR sales are still going to continue just as strong

as the first day of sales and won’t slow down any time soon, he additionally

commented, “Poor bastards, people are still camping out the front of retailers

and waiting in lines of hundreds! They're literally retarded, you can order

them online from the retailer for $20’s more! Huh, wait, don’t keep this,

okay?” For protection purposes we have omitted the researcher’s name.

The VR headset itself is referred to as the CNS Cortex Linker and requires

an internet connection to connect to the Companies most popular game

“Economicalopoly”. The user will find themselves in a world mirroring reality

with estimates at 12 billion NPC’s. The game is based around the economy

and is greatly effects the economy of the real world, reasons for this may be

because Expeon reportedly opened a web-based store where one can

exchange their credits for a portion of the company’s wealth. One should note

that one’s perception of time inside the VR world is greatly increased;

8 seconds inside the game is equal to 1 second in real life. Some had fears the

having your brain operate at such a high capacity possibly causing damage,

however, this was baseless and until otherwise nothing is suggesting at this.

Hmmm, interesting. This thing doesn’t actually sound that bad. I never really saw myself playing any VR game. At the start when it was rumored to be in development and some videos were leaked I was hooked on the idea, slowly it kind of just faded and became but a memory.

I decided to begin searching for more information on Economicalopoly,

Welcome to the official Economicalopoly Website!Below you will find some links to travel between the different sub-sections of this website.External Trading CenterLeader Boards (N, U, B)Rules and RegulationsInformation for BeginnersBasic InformationExternal Trading Center (ETC)Users can invest in stocks in-game,

purchase currency with real money

along with listing various items in

their Users Inventory in exchange

for money or credits.Leader Boards (N, U, B)There are three official leader boards,

Nations, Users and Businesses. They

rank all Nations, Users and Businesses

by economic power or worth. Nations

list all nations inside the game in order

from most to least economic power.

Users list every single individual user’s

name and total balance. Businesses list

all businesses in the game in a similar

fashion, most to least, economical wise.

Take note that there is no search bar to

look-up an individual User or Business,

however, Nations are allowed.Rules and RegulationsRules and Regulations shows all rules

associated with the game, listing

from most important to least

important. Don’t think we aren’t

aware how most people won’t bother

with the terms and conditions, we’re

the same after all.Information for BeginnersAll entry level information that anyone

outside of Economicalopoly should at

least partially be aware of. Everyone

actually playing should most definitely

know everything here.

‘N, U, B’… Nub. I can somehow feel everything jabbing at me, reminding me of the arm I lost. They could have used fucking ‘Companies’ instead of ‘Businesses’!

Never mind, I should probably look at Information for noobs, right? Yeah, I’ll go with that.

Clicking on ‘Information for Beginners’ the site loads up with several bits of information which even I happen to partly know.

Economicalopoly is a VR game developed by us, Expeon.

The game is only playable with a CNS Cortex Linker,

also created by Expeon.

First released in 2026 we quickly gained a medium sized

player base, we had an enormous surge of players in

2027(this year). The influx of players was due to

investing the company’s money in Economicalopoly,

essentially giving in-game credits a real world monetary

value. Quickly we gained an incredible amount of

players, currently around approximately 3 billion.

The game itself is a mirror of reality (or as close as

we could get it) where one simply lives and earns

money. Take note, money can be obtained in anyway.

Illegal activities, robbery, extortion, suing or like the

majority, from a job.

The game utilises advanced VR complete immersion

technology to accelerate the brains processing power,

changing the user’s perception of time. 1 second

in-game is 8 seconds in reality, because of this, since

we started the server in 2026, a year and 6 months

ago, 12 entire years have passed in-game. It is the

year 2038!

When a new player starts Economicalopoly they will be

forced to partake in a tutorial. The tutorial is in-place to

have the player learn vital in-game information and to

complete their users I.D - Resume. Other games would

simply refer to this as the User status page. For reference,

the tutorial goes for 1 month in-game. This is almost 4

days in reality. The user is permitted to leave the game

and return to real life however they will have to continue

from the same place when they return. The last important

bit of information is that the tutorial decides on your starting

credit balance and the tutorial will have to repeat it if you

spend more than half a year in reality attempting it.

If you would like any more information about Economicalopoly,

you will have to take the tutorial.

Oh god that was too much information at once, how much of this will I actually retain? It doesn’t matter. I think I finally understand it, this game is quite literally just a job. You play it for credits then convert credits into money IRL, why would someone ever spend actual money on credits? I guess I’ll have to actually play it.

******

I had been waiting in line for over four hours when it finally almost became my turn. I really should have just ordered online, damn scientist. Currently, I was located outside of my Game and Console dealership named simply, ‘GameShop’. I had the largest possible grin on my face when I finally, after hours of complete and utter boredom, arrived at the cashier at the front desk. The first thing he noticed was that she, the cashier, had what appeared to be the most solemn and unexcited expression possible. She had sapphire-blue eyes and blonde hair down to her waist and was a solid 9/10 on any guys list.

“Next.” She said with an angelic like voice,

I proceeded to approach the front desk while staring at her. All the guys around me gave me scornful looks as I realised I was probably giving an intensely creepy stare towards their goddess… I could quite literally feel their killing intent.

“Hello? Anyone inside?” she asked while giving me an irritated look.

“O-oh, yeah, umm… Right, Would I be able to get a CNS Cortex Linker?”

“Is that all?” she monotonously replied, almost robotically.

“Yes, thank-you.”

“Alright, that all comes to $1349. That good?”

“H-huh? I thought it was only $1299?” I questioned as I tilted my head to the side with a puzzled look.

“Did you forget about the mandatory body scan? It’s $50.” She seemingly asked but I realised she was only trying to rush me so that she could serve the next company and collect her big fat pay-check for the most servings a month award.

“Yeah, sorry.” I replied as I handed her my Fastercard to pay,

“Here’s your receipt, and CNS Cortex Linker.” She explained. A message popped up on my G.U.A.R.D, It was the receipt.

Money TranferFromFastercardToGameShopTotal$1349 Including Tax

A G.U.A.R.D (GUI Utilised Advanced Resales Display) is a device that is worn on the wrist. It has a sleek silver design and is primarily used to, display transactions, display the balance in your bank accounts, aid in transferring money and get rid of the accidental loss of your precious, precious, receipts. It had really revolutionised the money industry.

At the same time as the receipt arrived, she began to hand me the CNS Cortex Linker in a box about 40cm long, tall and wide. It was incredibly annoying how much advertising the box had on it, why advertise on something I’ve already bought?

“Thank-You very much!” I curtly replied as I flashed a fake smile to cover my annoyance with the advertising. I began to turn around as I realised I had no idea what this stunning beauty’s name was. As I was about to ask it occurred to me that all employees at GameShop have name tags.

‘Alysia’

Beautiful, it fits. I smile happily as I turn around and leave.

******

Opening the box was a serious challenge. I needed to bust out a knife and after a while I just began indiscriminately hacking at the box. At last the box opened; inside was a helmet that looked like it belonged inside a fighter jet or some other airplane. In the back was an Optical Fibre Port, or at least, that’s what the instruction manual said. On the side of the helmet was the word ‘Expeon’ which I remembered as the name of the VR Company. Near the face Visor was a button on the opposite side of the helmet than the logo. No matter how you looked at it, it was a power button, I then proceeded to plug-in an optical fibre cable into the back and then into the wall port and then I slumped down into my desk chair in my room. Pressing the button on the side and I suddenly felt my body go light and then my vision went completely white.

In my ear I hear a female’s voice which seemed to not come from any real direction,

“Welcome to Economicalopoly! As we have scanned your eyes and additionally your brainwaves we have determined that you are a new User. Due to this, you must take part in the tutorial to make sure that all new players have an understanding of how to play and obtain their I.D - Resume.” She had a calm but neutral voice which confused me, was she an A.I or a prerecorded voice?

***End of Chapter***

Thanks everyone! I hope everything is starting to come together, it might seem fragmented right now but I hope it becomes more easily understandable soon. If you seen any spelling mistakes/grammar/punctuation, let me know please! :3