Chapitre 6: Chapter 6
"Have you already looked around your starting home, Stryker?" I heard Glimmer's voice again.
I spun around and nodded at her.
She smiled. "Every player's room was designed according to their preferences," she explained. "I hope we were able to give you some satisfaction regarding your flat."
I was even more amazed when I learned how they designed each flat according to each player's preferences. The creator of this world is a genius! I didn't know how he could develop and produce this kind of game, but damn... This is so unbelievable!
"How's that possible?" I asked her, very curious about how they run the world.
"During calibration, our system was able to pick up your preferences and incorporate it with your starting home as soon as it was all transmitted," she elaborated. "You also might be wondering why this world is somehow parallel to the real world."
I nodded to confirm her guess.
"Well, this world was designed with the intention of bringing a piece of reality into the game," she said.
To be honest, I was utterly speechless. I didn't know how to react anymore. The game had already managed to exceed my expectations. How I wish that my team, especially Trey, was able to play this game as well. I bet they'd be astonished just as I was. The games that we had already played were just a scratch of this game.
"Before I finally leave you and let you roam around the city..." Glimmer trailed and waved her wand to show me some kind of sword. "This is the starting sword that was specially designed for you."
Careful and very cautious, I reached out for the sword. The grip even had my gaming handle engraved on it. It looked personalized. Its blade was also simple, just like I wanted it to be.
I had never used a sword before. I suddenly became dubious whether I could pull that off or not. The game wasn't about playing with controls anymore. I needed to use my own body in my subconscious state.
If only this game was as simple as playing with a mouse, keyboard, and other gaming consoles with controls, but Beyond the Realm was even more challenging than Xbox or Wii or Playstation.
"Your sword will be your weapon for every challenge that will come your way," she continued explaining as my guide. "You can upgrade your sword if you can find stones or gems you can use and if you have enough Facles to pay the blacksmiths. The type of stone or gem you will use to upgrade will determine how much you need to pay for the labor."
While I kept taking notes inside my head on everything that Glimmer was explaining to me, I nodded.
"You can win rare gems or stones whenever you finish a quest or defeat a boss, but you can also search for gems or stones in caves that you will see once you view the map. There will be legends for you to define the symbols on the map," she continued to explain. "As of now, you have 5,000 Facles as your starting money. You can see it in the upper left part of your view. For a piece of additional information, Facles is the currency used in Beyond the Realm. You'll be able to earn money by winning and finishing quests."
Biting my lower lip, my mind had already started planning a way to survive and top this game. I became so serious about beating a game for the first time in my gaming life. I used to play games for fun, but it's entirely different now. I still wanted to have fun, but my desire to be the best player became more intense.
"You can also use Facles to buy yourself a new home, virtual food, clothes, and other necessities," she said. "However, you should also note that every Facle you earn here will be automatically converted―every time you log out―into dollars that you can use in the real world. That said, 1000 Facles is equivalent to 25 dollars."
My jaw completely dropped in amusement.
"I will leave you now to roam around the city, Stryker. Do you still have any questions for me before I go?" She smiled at me and blinked a few times.
When I shook my head as an answer, she finally vanished in the air.
I leisurely lifted the sword and tried to familiarize myself with how to move it according to how I wanted to use it. I had never used a sword in my entire existence, but I could actually move and swing it vigorously, to my surprise.
I also didn't feel tired after trying to move around with my sword. Guess this is an advantage of playing a VRMMORPG game. You could just lie on the bed, and your gaming soul would do the rest.
***
"This is my home..." I whispered when I went out of the building where my flat was situated.
New York, in this realm, was still as busy as the one in real life. However, instead of businessmen and women walking down the streets, I saw gamers trying to utilize their swords by doing mini-missions.
As my eyes continued to wander around, a signboard outside the border in Time Square caught my attention. I moved closer out of curiosity and read the note along with other players.
According to the signboard, the middle of Time Square was the neutral battleground in the starting state, New York, where you could do a PK with other players. Other missions and quests were also written on the board. Last on the list, which made everyone gasp, was about bosses.
Once the current state boss is defeated, the next state will be unlocked. We could either move there or visit. If we wished to move, though, we could still return to the starting state by accessing our maps. However, the state boss will only appear once we finish the three main quests per state.
Feeling the cold wind blowing against my skin, I looked up to stare at the sky when I saw the biggest billboard on Time Square after reading the signboard. The number of players left in the game was displayed. There was still a total of 650 lucky players, and I was one of them.
I loved how the creator incorporated a piece of our world into his magnificent world. I realized that no matter how much we wanted to get lost in a fictional world, a piece of reality wasn't so bad after all.
If only my friends were with me in this game, I think it would be more fun.
Remembering my team, I glanced at the time on the bottom left of my vision.
As much as I wanted to go on for the rest of the day exploring the realm, I still had a prior commitment to Kings of Kings in the real world. We had a scheduled game with a team of Challengers for 1,500 dollars. It was the largest bet we had made so far, and we couldn't miss it for the world.
I moved my hand to navigate my controls, went to the options where the log-out option was placed, and then pressed it immediately.
---REAL WORLD---
I gently removed the headgear from my head and turned off the console and main power carefully. I pushed the button on my AR bracelet to turn it on and saw that I was already flooded with messages from the guys. I quickly sent a notice on our group chat that I was already on my way to pick them up.
Just as I was about to push the screen down, my curiosity led me to open mobile banking and check my balance instead. With slight hesitation, I pressed the savings button to view my balance.
When an additional 250 dollars was added to my savings, my eyes shot open. I also got an email confirmation from my bank about the money transferred from the game.
It is effin' legit!
Smiling to myself, I shook my head as everything seemed so surreal to me, but there was no doubt… Beyond the Realm is the best game of the century.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone