Ethan woke up in his gamer chair with a gasp then took off his VR headset with a groan. " Back in reality" he murmured dryly
He moved to the sitting room to read through his mails, bills mostly and then check his phone.
He was a member of the telegram's Eternity Edge community and got the latest updates on other players.
" The game is a lot more real than I expected it's like I literally got transported into the game" A player gushed.
" Everything's good and dandy right now but where's the real action" Another commented.
Ethan gave a half smile and scanned through more comments so far no one had really done anything spectacular to talk about, they were all concerned with leveling up.
A quick look at his watch showed that he had played the game for two hours " That gives me 46 hours" he said and glanced at his gaming chair.
He had studied mechanical engineering in earlier years with the hope of getting into a car manufacturing company but since his parents accident he had come to loath the occupation.
However in other to survive he had gotten a job in a repair shop nearby, it was nothing fancy but it paid the bills and some. He had finished his shift for the week and free for the next two days.
At his gaming console he downed a cup of coffee after a quick shower and typed in his name and password. " Welcome Recoil! Logging in!" The message was emblazoned on the screen in clear letters along with the game's logo.
Soon it began a count down and transported him into the game at 0…
Recoil opened his eyes at his in-game home and surveyed his environment.
His bedroom was simply furnished with a single bed, chair and bedside drawer. " Welcome back Recoil" Nova greeted cheerfully. " So what's the plan for today? Are you going to complete quests or work on levelling up?"
He scrolled through his player menu and tapped the 'edit profile' option. " First I'm gonna change how I look a bit" he said and selected ' hairstyles' he saw a lot of options but eventually settled on one.
It involved a side of his head shaven and the rest dreadlocked and arranged carefully to fall at the other side.
The effect was instantaneous as the haircut gave him a somewhat bad boy aura. " I believe this fits your profile's personality perfectly" Nova approved.
" Ya think?" He tapped the purchase button and used an holographic bar to increase the volume of his dreadlocks a couple noches.
" Now we need to work on improving my stats before engaging in any quest again" He said. " A good way to begin is with increasing your fighting level, you have to get a mentor, someone who could train you"
" There's no easy way to this is there?" He asked tiredly " fine do you know any?" Immediately Nova brought up a large visual map highlighting three spots in the city where potential tracksuit bottoms could be…
" What the heck I'm I doing here?" He asked in exasperation. " This is where you will meet your mentor" Nova replied.
The receptionist looked up as soon as he entered and they recognized each other instantly. " You?" Recoil said in surprise, it was the same person who gave him the mana generation pill.
" State your business" The receptionist said unruffled " well I'm gonna need a mentor but you don't look like you could kill a fly"
The man gave a knowing smile and tapped a button under his desk, the action triggered the opening of a hatch in the floor behind his desk.
The hatch led into the earth and the receptionist went down it without a second's hesitation leaving Recoil to stare in surprise.
" Hello? Should I come down?" He called and gave a little shrug before descending down the hole. He climbed down a long ladder that led him to an underground training centre the floors were linoleum and the shelves holding the weapons showed signs of maintenance.
" Whoa" Recoil said in awe and met the receptionist at the foot of the ladder. " I thought you were only a drug store attendant…" Recoil said in confusion. " I'm the drug store 'owner' and I train players as a hobby" the man explained.
Recoil glanced at a part of the wall that housed a collection of deadly looking daggers, digging out their stats he became even more impressed. He saw daggers capable of inflicting: -50points damage -100 points, -150 points, -250 points damage…
He walked up to one in particular that caught his fancy, it was a beautifully crafted blade filled with lethal undertones it had two sharpened edges one made razor sharp and the other serrated. The knife was perfectly designed as a throwing knife. He raised a hesitant hand to touch the blade.
His hand were just inches from it when the man appearance and tapped his hand away. " You have good eyes boy, that knife deals -1500 points damage accessible only to a rank SS player" he looked at him and added " in any other hands it would be as heavy as Mjolmir, now convince me on why I should train you"
" I'm sorry I underrated you, I thought you were just a…" " Nevermind that crap though always remember when dealing with people there might be more to them than meets the eye, now convince me" The man cut in.
" Convince How?"
" I use a brutal approach, can you withstand it?"
" Yes sir". " The name's Maverick, you might be needed to run some of my errands, many of which are dangerous" he warned " can you do it?"
" Yes sir!" Recoil repeated.
" Don't call me sir! You will be under intense pressure until I get the best out of you, are you ready?" Maverick inquired.
" Yes sir!" " Do not call me sir!" Maverick repeated. " Yes Maverick" Recoil corrected immediately and Maverick smiled he could
tell that he was going to like his new trainee.