Chapter 1: A Scam ; Welcome to G.M.A.Y.C.
"Whoosh! "I've told you many times. Don't be late for classes. You're supposed to wait for your lecturers, not the other way around!"
Whoosh! "If you continue to be lazy, I'll send you to the military school. Understood?!"
Whoosh!
"AHHHHH!!" Lex woke up with a jolt. His breathing quickened and the forehead beaded with cold sweats.
'Thank God it's just a dream' He sighed in relief as he rubbed his chest to calm down his nerves. Then he fell back to the soft mattress and as soon as his back touched the bed, he hissed in pain. Oh no! It wasn't a mere nightmare. It indeed happened to him. Last night, he was beaten by his dad after an annoying lecturer reported his naughty behaviour. His father unmercifully whipped his back with a leather belt until his back bled and some of the skins got torn off.
The wounds must have opened up due to his abrupt movement just now. He endured the pain and staggered to the attached bathroom in his room to check on the wounds. Since the injury was on his back, he struggled to take care of it properly. It was Aunt Marie, the housemaid, who took care of his wounds after he got beaten up but Aunt Marie was off duty at the moment. He needed someone else to clean up the wounds and plastered a new and clean gauze on them. No way he would ask his dad to help him out. So without taking off the dirty gauze that had a few spots of blood on it, he put on his hoodie and pants to head to the clinic nearby.
He had been in a grumpy mood since last night. He bore bitter feelings towards his father and also that busybody lecturer. C'mon! He was no longer a child. He had turned eighteen last month and he supposed to be given the freedom to do whatever he wanted. It wasn't like he would become genius if he reaches the classes early or pays full attention to the boring lectures where the lecturer would read the same thing written on the slides that later would be given a copy to all students. Plus, he had already been punished by that lecturer to stand in front of the class for the whole two hours session till his face turned crimson red because of embarrassment being stared at for 180 minutes long.
Half-way to the clinic, something popped up in his mind and he instantly froze in his tracks. He took out his phone from his hoodie front pocket and checked the date and the time. It was 6.00 AM on the dot and underneath the time was written today's date-Sunday, XX XX XXXX. The pain on his back must have impacted him so much that he lost his mind for a while. He became crazy overnight. Only then, he noticed how dim his surroundings were. The sun had yet to rise and the sky was still dark. No clinic opened at this hour, especially during the weekends. Everyone was sleeping soundly, whereas, he, at the moment, stood under the flickering street lamp, agonized over how messed up his life was.
Devastated, he turned back towards his house's direction. Well, technically the house belonged to his dad and he freeloaded off his dad since he wasn't financially independent yet and he needed a place to live in so he put up with his dad's harsh punishments as long as he had a nice roof over his head to shelter him from the rain and a soft bed to sleep on during the night. Plus he was quite fortunate that his dad still gave him monthly allowance for food and college costs. He had been saving up to move out of the house by the time he graduated from college and this meant he had to suffer for another three years under his dad's strict parenting style. But three years seemed to pass so slow.
Last night wasn't the first time his back got peeled off and bled. His dad would use that leather belt to discipline him even though he wasn't guilty. He remembered the first time he experienced it was during his primary school. His neighbour asked for his science book to copy out the answers and since he was naive and innocent at that time, he gave it without a second thought. However, he was accused of bullying that two-faced neighbour whom he cut the kid out of his life after this incident. Dad came back home in fury and started beating him up without giving him a chance to defend himself. Even if he did, he would get an extra whip for talking back to his dad.
There was another incident where he almost got chased out of the house because the police mistook him as a drug dealer and had taken him to the police station for interrogation. It turned out he had been tricked by a pretty delivery girl with blonde hair and golden skin on her scooter whom he bumped into when he was his way home from school. The girl asked for his help to delivered deliver a brown package to one of his neighbours since she was rushing for her second part-time job. Lex was hoping that he could exchange contact number with that girl when he willingly accepted the brown package however sadly, the girl left after thanking him without giving him her phone numbers. Dejected, he dropped by his neighbour's house to deliver the parcel on behalf of that delivery girl. Unfortunately, when he reached there, he was handcuffed by two sturdy and buff policemen. They confiscated the package and his school bag to examine the contents. The package surprisingly contained several powdery substances which he wasn't aware of. He had to explain himself to the police to convince them that he wasn't a drug dealer. The police detained him for the whole day until they found out the truth. Although it wasn't his fault, dad beat him for getting tricked easily.
As he pondered on his sad fate, out of frustration, he punched the concrete retaining wall on his left side to vent out his anger. Only if he got money to support himself, he had left home ages ago. A soft muffled crackling sound buzzed through his ears brought him back to his senses. He started to panic as he saw a looming whirlwind glowed in the dark next to him where he punched that wall just now.
Zupp! The whirlwind pulled him in and in a blink of an eye, his surrounding changed into four black walls and the temperature dropped tremendously. It was freezing cold prompting him to sneeze and the snots streamed down his nose. He wiped clean the snots using the hoodie's sleeve as he curiously looked around that unfamiliar place.
'What is this place? Is this some kind of Platform 9 3/4 where two different world dimensions are connected? Am I mistakenly transported into another world?' It didn't seem like he was floating in mid-air because he could feel the hard ground under his feet but at the same time, the floor looked like a hollow space. The place resembled a completely concealed room with no exits and windows.
Ding! A soft and light object fell down from above and hit his head lightly. It rolled on the floor before stopping next to Lex's feet. Lex squinted his eyes to identify that object and its shape looked like a bunny with white and fluffy furs. As if it could sense Lex's sharp stares, it opened its eyes and greeted Lex in a female robotic voice, "Hello! My name is Eva."
Lex blinked his eyes several times in a daze and even lightly rubbed them at the object that suddenly popped up in front of him out of nowhere. He couldn't believe that this bunny had just talked to him. Could it be that Annabelle ghost had possessed this bunny and wanted to engulf his soul too?
The bunny noticed the puzzled look on Lex and continued her welcome greeting, "Welcome to G.M.A.Y.C Virtual Game."
"G.M.A.Y.C. ?"
"Yes. G.M.A.Y.C. Generate money at your comfort. Congratulations! You're the 1001st human, who successfully accesses our portal. Our game is exclusively for selected humans and you're among the lucky ones. My name is Eva and I'll be your virtual assistant. To start the game, please choose your username and register your fingerprint on the screen to create your account."
Next to the bunny, a virtual monitor screen window was floating in mid-air which the word 'Username' was written on its screen. Underneath the username box, there was a fingerprint reader on the screen.
"Woo wait a second. Can't you explain to me what this game is all about? It seemed like you're forcing me to play without telling me what I've gotten myself into. Who knows if this game is a scam. I can't risk myself getting whipped again by my dad." As he said this, he felt itchy around the wounds' area.
"Don't worry. We're a not scammer but a trusted virtual game where you can generate your money by playing our game. Our game provides you with the best and virtual experiences which you can enjoy at free cost. You can choose to opt-out of this game before signing up or after completing the first ten levels and we won't charge you anything if you choose to play the first ten levels. In this game, we use Pearl as our currency and at the end of Level 10, you have the option to convert the pearls into a real dollar currency. By completing the quests assigned to you in missions, you'll get pearls credited into your account. Don't forget to update your bank details at the account tab to allow the transfer of the money into your bank. One pearl worths 100 dollars."
"Wah. That's a lot." For a moment, Lex was tempted by that amount.
"Our bosses are generous. They know that young people need a lot of money to carry on with their life. To rent a decent apartment near the college, it will cost them at least $1500, if they can get a cheap one, which equivalent to 15 pearls. To be able to graduate from college, they need to pay tuition fees of $100k or 1000 pearls. To buy gifts for their girlfriend from a high-end brand, at least their account must have 5 pearls if they buy discounted items. Through this game, they will gain easy money and be a financially independent student. This includes you as well."
Lex paid attention attentively to Eva more than he ever focused on the lectures and everything she said was true. He indeed needed money if he wanted to move out of the house. This lucrative offer only came once in a lifetime. It would be a waste if he misses it out. Plus, there was no harm in trying and as Eva said, they won't charge him anything until level 10 so who knows that he might get rich even before reaching level 10. At the thought of becoming rich, the pain on his back disappeared and he turned excited as his expression brightened up. He then created his account by typing out his name-Lex in the username box and pressed his thumb on the screen. Less than 30 seconds, the system successfully registered his identity as the 1001st player.
"Ding! Congratulations! 5 pearls have been credited into your account," notified the system.
Wow, that was easy. Now he had $500 in his account which enough for one-month food allowance. If he could get 10 pearls more, it would be sufficient for deposit to rent an apartment near his college. Awesome! If it's going to be this easy, he would be a billionaire before he reached Level 10.
Afterwards, on the floating screen, it displayed Lex's account details.
1001st Player: Lex
Current Level: Level 1 Beginner
EXP: 0
HP: 100
Tool kits: Basic VR glasses
Completed Mission: 0
Success rate: 0
Unsuccessful Mission: 0
Friends: 0
Current Account Balance: 5 pearls
"Select Tool Kits tab to equip the tools that you've purchased. The basic tools are given free in each mission to all players at the beginning of the mission. To upgrade them, press on the Upgrade button next to the items. The system will charge you accordingly to the costs stated. To purchase other advanced tools, go to the Cart tab."
Like an obedient child, Lex followed every single thing that Eva told him as he got used with the features. Once he clicked Equip button underneath the VR glasses icon in the Tool tab, a gust of wind blew on his face. He now had the VR glasses over his eyes. The glasses looked like the normal spectacles but with special features. Only the wearer could see the virtual images set by the system as they moved around the places throughout the missions. Lex noticed the EXP and HP bars on top of the lenses' view.
"Click on the Mission tab to choose the location for your mission. A random location will be selected for your first mission. Pearls will be credited to your account once you completed the quests in the missions. Good luck and all the best. "
"Eh, wait! That's all? No mission tutorial?" Before he could receive a response from Eva, another looming whirlwind appeared on the floating screen and he was pulled into the screen by that strong wind.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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sxpphxrx Hello. This is my first time writing a book in Games genre and English isn't my first language. Pardon my mistakes and do let me know in the comments of any mistakes for me to fix them. Happy reading!
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