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Chapter 129: Stealing Rooms

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Ten times... the time inside the Private Server is ten times faster than the time outside. It was seven times faster than the time rate in Terroa.

And yet, everything feels the same. Nothing was out of place and aside from the feeling of being a normal person without feeling for sensing magic, everything is just like in Terroa —there was a palpable feeling of everything else around them being a game.

This was a feeling that only those players of RPG: Terroa are aware while those who're still "normal" became obviously surprised by the realism of the VR-Technology.

In the real world, was the norm while the NLD-Console is a rich-kids-only gaming rig since the next best thing was a [Dream Rift] device —a classic console-type gaming rig whose output was a rendering on a boxer's headgear.

Aside from the sense of taste and touch, players have a clear panoramic view of their surroundings. With a separate add-on machine, the sense of smell is also rendered quite nicely.

It has motion-sensor built within that controls your camera view, while your hands plays a joystick controller for your avatar's actions in the game.

While the technology's application method is old, it still featured better "rendering" compared to its competitors since the Technology and its improvements throughout the years led it to its current "good" performance.

Nevertheless...

Gamers around the world still craved on that next big thing and so the developers of the Dream Rift Console released an immersive expansion-rig.

Enter the [Gamer Gear], the next best thing in the gaming experience-expanding add-on demand for the Dream Rift Console. Although it is somehow a bit expensive when it was released, gamers still raised their moneys and bought the set. It was a "sexy suit" in all respects but it simulates senses through electrical impulses built-in on the device so the audio-visual aspects of the game added a "touch" into it, with only a sense of "taste" missing to complete a completely world-immersive gaming experience.

Its outer appearance was a spandex and for those looking for "more immersion" to their game, even more so to those MMORPG Gamers, they would be willing to sacrifice their game avatars' "flip and roll" skill just so they could immerse themselves to that feeling of being reborn in another world.

The reason why it sacrificed "flip and roll" abilities of their game-avatars is that the Sexy Suit needs the User's own reflexes to be used in the game.

There was a company who launched a "sphere" to support this feature —allowing players to flip and roll within the sphere— but not only it was a very expensive item, it was also space-consuming that it practically wastes so much space inside their house and so wasn't that accepted by the gaming community and was eventually scrapped later on.

Yes, the new "spandex" was immersive, but aside from the smell-simulating device that comes as a purchasable add-on to the entire Gamer's Gear setup, gamers around the globe complained that they can't play the game better while wearing it. It only made them "feel" but that's it. It ends there.

As such, the hunger of the gamers only increased as the demand for the "next best thing" pressured developers into releasing a real —and also safe— "Virtual Reality" Technology-enabled gaming rig.

It was a problem that lasted for decades to come that many aspirants and fans found to be worth a lifetime's research and gambling.

Then came that incident.

A couple or so decades ago, an experiment made in Hapon-country became a global sensation as it involved the morally-banned "Human Experiment" aspects in the endless pursuit of innovation.

Regardless of the purpose of the experiment, ten thousand people were used as test subjects with only 1000 people surviving the incident.

Years later, similar related cases still continued to erupt almost in a yearly interval. They included disappearances of certain people and low-profile theorists and post-graduate aspiring scientists with their creative theories and concepts, as well as the disappearances of some civilians who then reappeared years later, claiming to experience a "life beyond earth" and came back, so the police called these incidents "reincarnation files" —but because they're hardly plausible apart from being fantastical and scientifically impossible, they were dismissed, forgotten, shoved somewhere in the endless stacks of x-files and fanciful reports.

Only the 1000 survivors of that incident was proof of humanity's cruelty and conceited hypocrisy in its pursuit of power through innovation.

For the sake of "answers" —regardless of morally acceptable or evil, revolting reasons— they will stop at nothing until they become the ones at the top, looking down at the world.

In the end, it boiled down to who was powerful or weak in a clash of principles.

Because the world is in its middle stages of the Information Era, humanity's way of life improved while its needs and demands increased in folds.

Work and employment, business, and sports are all mundane while entertainment became the very focus of recreation —with its forms going from a bunch of daring and boldly entertaining industrial commercials, to movies, and eventually gaming.

As such, while the demands for the world's "Next Best Gaming Experience" continued to pour in, it was eventually up to the developers on how they will answer this growing ultimatum since they are aware that the longer they delayed development, the more saturated and choked the industry will become. And for businesses, what they feared the most is the customers boycotting products.

The [Dream Rift Console] continued its operation, publishing games with both clichéd and innovative gaming concepts —some RPGs, some MMOG, some lifestyle games, some strategy— but in the end of the day, the players still became either too bored or too strong with them and the developers were beginning be choked by the pressure.

Although it went on different cycles and sets of improvements, the fact remains that it was NOT satisfying the demands of the gamers worldwide so the [Dream Rif Console] began to lose it shine as the years passed.

Many wanted to capitalize on this opportunity and so they introduced their own versions of what can only be called "disappointing VR-wanna be's" as it was nothing more than a changing of the brand that is the [Dream Rift Console].

Game Companies worldwide could only raise their hands in surrender, saying that with their current technology available in the market, genuine Virtual Reality gaming is just plain impossible———

—until two years ago when a recently established company, Panorama Corp., publicized the release of the first official Full-Dive Technology-enabled Gaming Rig in human history.

Here comes the era of the NLD.

One device —a different world!

Expensive it may be but the experience cannot be explained in words until you actually see it.

The world was taken by storm. Game Companies were unable to cope up with the entry and so the market began to crack and a tide emerged. Those who were weak had to quit while those wanting to enter the boat of Panorama Corp. were destroyed by its surge like a tank, plowing obstacles beneath its threads in the battlefield of Amusement Trade.

In no time at all, Dream Rift imitations were burnt and only the Dream Rift Gaming Console was just the only one left. It was a head-on clash and they all knew that Dream Rift is losing. It's only a matter of years —or months— before they die.

The former number one became the number two while the leading name, Panorama Corp., became the new "standard" of the gaming industry.

Virtual Reality is real and possible, and this was a notion supported and even advertised by the World Government.

Still, the fact remains that it was expensive.

Not everyone can afford the NLD and there's also the monthly game-subscription fee to consider so up until the present, after two years, only around 150M people are actually playing the game. But it was a number that continuously increases by the day and this was an alarming matter for the Dream Tech Ltd. —a company under the Union of Seven Nations—cannot tolerate as an enterprise.

As of late, [The Union] of the real world had been "okay" in the 40% share of the world against the 50% overall collective shares of the Five Great Clans; but this VR-Technology was just so much of a game changer that it practically tipped their existing balance, like a magnet or a sponge that absorbed so many commerce transactions into it like Worldwide Telecommunications Industries, Advanced Technologies Development Industries, the Engineering Industries, and many more...

RPG: Terroa is just so revolutionary and so huge in potential that it being priced this way was seen as proper and just normal —and in fact was even considered as user-favoured marketing price for an unimaginably expensive technology.

Of course, The Union wasn't stupid either.

Panorama Corp. is merely just a mask. The real developer of this NLD was none other than the World Government —the real culprit behind the Hapon-country incident that killed 9000 people.

After all, the technologies used to create the NLD were exclusive Military Expertises the UNICORN allowed to be commercialized to the world market.

For whatever purpose they have with its release to the world, it was still lost business to The Union and they knew they were losing ground fast.

They knew they had to do something.

Panorama's NLD Console was an exclusive tech, controlled and protected by the UNICORN.

Thinking about this, although The Union still had a chance to make a comeback in this gaming trade, The Union's [Dream Rift Console] —and all other commerce opportunities connected to the gaming industry itself— was slowly dwindling into the red fonts and this is a sign of bad business future.

More and more subscribers are switching to the NLD System —which, by the way, also came with a built-in household Net-connectivity upon a first purchase— and although majority of the gamers all around the world are yet to buy themselves an NLD Console, it was only a matter of time before the [Dream Rift Console] become a history in the long list of "outdated items" in this brutal arena of Entertainment and Games.

This is why those first timers who entered into a simulated reality wore the faces of both fright and fascination all first-time players of RPG: Terroa had worn on their own first-timer days.

*****

It was a place like the Central Station in York New City back in the real world. It had ten tunnels for a specific purpose.

These short-tunnels extends for 10m, connected to an iron door at the far end. These tunnel were large, able to fit 30 people pacing at arms' length in a line formation. It's at least two elephants high so in short, it was a tunnel meant for huge military trucks to pass through —even as much as an S-Ranked monster carried into a trailer centipede.

But why was there a connection to the military?

It's because the trucks meant for them to hop into were parked heads first towards the large doors.

Men and women in military uniforms guarded the doors —a show of force— and they held their rifles at the ready while glaring at those civilians close enough to warrant them the order to scare.

Curious bodies stared in wonder towards these soldiers as many of them were handsome with the rest beautiful; something only seen on a movie, or an anime, or read in a novel where the MC was a reincarnation of a God, written by a sickly author.

*****

Rex stood beside Chronos in the only window in the room. Just a moment earlier, it showed a farm view but with one swipe from the old man and the entire countryside scene changed into this closed area of a military operation.

"Here's the deal." Said the old man. "There will be a wargame after the assessments are done and in that wargame, you will be on your own. I want you to survive, Mister Kingsley, against these people, alone, and I want you to at least be one of the 31 who will be the last ones standing."

"Isn't that just too cruel? I'm not Rambo." Rex was a little angry with the condition of this punishment.

"Sure you are." the old man laughed. "You took down 20+ men and even killed Kanzu who came from the Tang Sect of East Alliance. Did you know that he's a disciple of a friend of mine? You taking him down was a slap to my friend's face so unless you do this, he will personally come to you and take you down instead. Do you want to test the limits of the powers of my Abraxas Family?"

The old man was just teasing but Rex knew that it was a warning rather than a passing joke.

Rex also knew that challenging the ire of this old man wasn't a good idea. He may have managed to plant a doubt in their organization but their power itself, even just its basic tentacle, was something an ant like him with no real and tangible strength to boast about cannot hope to defy.

He also knew when to compromise and although it was a troublesome deed, he had no choice but to acquiesce. "I will fight then but only until there are 30 people left. I hope you will not force me to join your ranks after that. But since we had a deal, I'll be expecting that [Order of Exception]."

"Of course. You can rest assured. The [Order of Exception] is hereditary so even if you don't use it, you can still pass it on to your descendants. It will not indicate any serial number or any trace of issuance so you can rest assured that no matter what year you decide to use it, as long as we are in power within the UNICORN, the [Order] will still be valid no matter the year."

"That's good enough, then. Well now, during this assessment, do you want me to suffer or do you want me to erase all competitors and choose the 30 people I think are worthy?"

Rex's words made the old man look at him with a trace of amusement. This was a test to 'measure' the military capabilities of possible soldiers and it was a must that the 30 chosen ones had the rare talent of "battle sense" —measured by their ability to make sound and justified decisions under great stress and pressure (or courage under fire).

This was called "mettle" in an expert's tongue.

And for Rex Kingsley to say that he had the ability to decide who could pass or not was something a person his age shouldn't be saying at all.

—it's the result of his growth in Terroa...

AG had put him in so much pressure that Rex was ultimately changed in and out.

The better his performance, the better the data it can provide to their Project Salvation. It was good enough that he had confidence but if Rex is truly capable of pulling that off here —a place without magic and technology that [Siva] had in Terroa— then it only meant that he was actually worth of all their investments and compromises.

It made Chronos happy that he couldn't help but smile back at Rex.

"Do it, then, if you can. I won't care of the others that will fail but I do care about the results and on how you will carry out this task of yours. Oh, and since you're concerned about resources... since you hated to be a Rambo, I won't give you a large barrel machine gun. Instead, I'll give you a chance to choose your weapons before you set off."

"...and I assume that I am also the enemies of the proctors you planned to put in this place?"

"Of course. If you have no rivals, how can your skills going to be evaluated then? Pressure and stress is the key to evolution. I'm looking forward to your powerful display of skills... Siva."

Rex stared at the old man. Intently. Of course, he shouldn't be surprised that Chronos knew that he was Siva since, after all, it was easy to trace who Amanda was with that "pendant" and then connect her beautiful face to the only guy she was close with and treated with intimacy.

What more, Christiana Monarchy was also part of this old man's Family. Margrave John Bryn also once said the same thing; given Siva's fame, it's easy to guess his identity if Scion's face was the same as Amanda's in the real world.

Inwardly, Rex had decided with irritation.

—I was planning to play this by the book but now I changed my mind. I'm going to steal the good guys from your spoons tonight!

Rex was a bit angry. He wanted nothing to do with the World Nobles as much as possible but since the old man insisted on making trouble for him, he could only reward himself with resources available during the trouble he was put into tonight.

"So let me choose my items then." He said. "How much time do I have left before it all begins?"

"30 minutes." said Chronos in dismissal. "Those candidates have undergone their briefing while we were in discussion earlier and so the physical alertness assessment test will be starting soon. It is just like a normal Military Recruitment Exam but the only difference is that this time, amateurs and aspirants are put in the same table and this is now a show of who will be the one with the best talent and adaptability aptitudes and who the trashes are that don't have the right to speak a word at all."

"But isn't this already a training regimen for those in the regular force? What makes you think they'd be as strong as they are in real world from here?"

Rex's point wasn't baseless. Skill assessment and aptitudes tests are the exams taken when already accepted into the army. This is to see where the soldier's specialization lies so that he could be put into an assignment that would better help not only the unit's overall capacity to perform its missions, but also help soldiers mature and develop as their skills continues to grow the longer they serve the military unit. On some countries, even, in order to give soldiers a chance to learn new things, they'd even send them to another country as soldiers on an "exercise" mission to better both the countries' relationships as well as make the soldiers learn a few new things or two.

Of course, Chronos knew this as well but he had a point he wanted to convey here. "Not really. On a larger scale, these kids already had high-grade skills and abilities. What they need is just the right amount of pressure to see how they could grow and where they could be put into. After all, what they're joining isn't a game but the army and our enemies are out there. They aren't playing around unlike what these children thought it was."

Truth be told, Rex also understood this point. In short, this "Military Recruitment Event" was just a way to see who's actually going to be okay in the Military, those that can be molded to soldiers, and also those who are truly a lost cause.

"But not everyone is brave. How would you know who is better to be put behind a desk and who're better to be put in the frontlines?"