Chapter 8: Admin's explanation
When Milo first awoke, he realized he was standing upon nothing inside an endless white room. He noticed a young lady dressed in modern clothing who seemed to be seated at a desk. Paperwork littered her table, but she was looking sternly into a floating monitor with deep concentration. Her hands were interlocked as he chin rested upon them, seemingly, not noticing Milo, who had awoken.
Soon enough, Milo recalled his situation before grumpily coughing to gain the woman's attention.
The woman's gaze broke from the screen, and "Apologies, I'm just reviewing what happened to you."
"Seriously...what the hell kinda game are you guys developing??" Milo growled in anger before going on an angry rant. "I can understand feeling slight pain from fighting and such, but I was literally being tortured! Do you think everyone wants to have their fucking heart ripped out from their chest and feel every last bit of it!?".
By the end of the rant, Milo was panting heavily as he tried to regain his breath. The young woman did not interrupt, nor seem flustered at what Milo had said. If anything, she had an apologetic face and looked troubled at what had occurred. After a moment, she spoke calmly, "Usually, before a race experiences combat or pain, they gain their racial skills and equipment that would dampen the amount of damage and pain they would feel. Lord Archus intervened before you had fully become a homunculus, so you had zero abilities as well as no medicine to dampen the pain. To make it worse, you enabled the hardcore function of the game to have the lowest setting of pain reduction possible. You also signed a waiver before you entered the game, stating you did not mind, and if anything were to happen, you wouldn't pursue legal action. I will say though that the pain you felt wasn't as bad as you really thought it was. As the system prevents any dangerous levels of pain. Fear amplified what you were feeling and caused you to enter a state of panic."
Milo frowned as he thought 'Oi, she's using a roundabout way to call me a wimp isn't she...'
"What happened to you was simply a random occurrence that deviated from what we had initially planned. We've designed the NPCs of this world to have human-like freedom, and it could be considered one of the most AI systems developed to date. Lord Archus was not expected to visit the area in which any homunculus was being created. What was supposed to happen was the researchers were to give you a sedative and numbing agent, but Lord Archus had intervened. Unfortunately for you, Lord Archus is one of the scariest and sadistic NPCs created that revels in other's pain. He made it as excruciating as possible and even somewhat screwed up the process of creating your race."
Milo was surprised at what she said but amazed at the same time as he contemplated the situation "So you're telling me that all of this was just a series of unlucky coincidences?" he asked skeptically.
"That is correct; if anything, it is quite a miracle for you to have run into such a high-level NPC. Most of the other players who chose the race logged out due to the harsh starting condition of being a homunculus, and some even requested race changes. Not only that, there are multiple laboratories across the entire continents with various types of homunculus being created, but you were the unlucky one to run into that demon in a child's skin. Onto the matter of compensation, I think you being monitored and nurtured by Lord Archus should suffice, but I don't know if that's considered a blessing or misfortune. Just remember that the human mind is a powerful thing; fear plays a significant role in how you perceive and feel things. We do apologize for what happened, but I assure you that it was mainly your fear rather than the pain you were feeling."
Milo took a moment to process the information dump as the admin patiently waited for him to intake all of it. "Wait, you're telling me that because I was so scared, I imagine the pain to be way worse than initially was? Also, you're keeping me next to that sicko??"
"Please understand Mr.Solus that there has never been such innovative technology or a game like this in existence. Everything feels and looks real, so the human mind can trick itself into perceiving that this is how things should feel due to you never experiencing such a thing before. There have been multiple occasions in which some of our beta testers experienced the same thing, and all of it was pointed to the same thing, fear. Governments all over the world have researched and allowed a public release of the game so we can guarantee that the game is safe. It was also stated within the game manual that was delivered with the capsule that this could happen. As to your second question, we aren't directly allowed to interfere with what's happening within the game as per company policy. " said the admin.
Milo thought about the manual, and to be honest, all he did was read about the lore, game mechanics, and races. He had skipped all the warnings and terms of service crap because whoever reads it? Hell ever since he was a child, he would scroll down and press the "I accept button" without reading a single thing, that would have to change it seemed.
Milo closed his eyes and thought about the whole situation. He recalled when he chanted "It's just a game mantra" the pain honestly did lessen. Even when he first came out the vat he only experienced a similar feeling of his lungs burning after a run. It was only when he stared down at his heart ripping from his chest that he freaked out. To be honest it was surreal how realistic the game felt, from the feeling of water touching his skin to the smells and sense of touch. Not only that, despite all the fear and supposed 'fear' he felt he had to admit that the adrenaline he felt was exhilarating. It was a tough decision and he couldn't really place how he felt about it.
"I suppose that makes sense. What about logging out? How come I wasn't able to." asked Milo.
The admin promptly answered "Because you were taking damage the system deemed you to be in combat. You can forcefully log out though but the mental command is force log."
"Oh..." was all Milo could muster before she spoke once more "Does this resolve your ticket, Mr. Solus?"
"Uhhhm...yes?" Milo awkwardly answered.
"Thank you for playing Althera, Mr. Solus! I highly suggest you reread the manual." the admin waved with a smile before his vision flashed once more.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Solus
Solus Okay, I literally stayed up all night for this. Might push out one more. That being said to those who are reading this. Please leave a comment and review! Tell me what you think so I can improve the story. As much as you enjoy reading, I also enjoy writing, and your comments give me the power to write more. Imagine this book to be a spirit bomb! Give me your energy!!!
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