章 20: Back to Reality
Dom slowly removed his headset, allowing the natural light to enter his vision. He was lay on his own bed in his dorm, much less comfy than the one in game, but more homely as it was his.
He placed the headset on the side and rolled off his bed. He had played the game all through the night and it was now 7:30 in the morning. 15 minutes earlier than his usual get up time and he felt extremely refreshed.
He quickly went to the bathroom, emptying his bladder, brushing his teeth and then having a very short shower. He looked at himself in the mirror, before getting changed and entering the main dorm room. Waiting for him was a Andrew who was seated and on his phone, reading intently.
"You are early?" Andrew exclaimed in fake shock, lifting his head from his device and watching Dom leave his room.
"I'm early?" Dom questioned smugly. "The game is something else, It felt like another world completely."
"Yes it is!" Andrew replied, "The whole of the online world has gone crazy, saying its the most realistic game ever released."
"It really is!" Dom commented, "I even slept in a stupidly comfortable bed, it felt so real!"
"All you think about is sleep." Andrew replied, "I'm jealous, I spent the night in a tent. The food was realistic as well, but I'm not describing stale bread and dried meat."
"Now I need to know more about that!" Dom requested.
"I'll tell you soon, first though have a look at this." Andrew said, passing his phone across to Dom.
There was an article on a popular blog that Andrew had been reading.
[World Conquest Online has had one of the largest consecutive player counts in history on its opening night, with over 100 million players worldwide joining the game on opening day. A whole 2% of the world's 5 billion humans played, with experts saying many more are expected to join in the first week.
With the majority of players being from the Eastern Empire, Western Kingdoms, the Southern Empires including the Royal Tang and Royal Dong dynasties. The game had the highest number of players in the Combined States, with the majority of their gaming community playing.
The game has been declared the most realistic game ever made, with the unknown creator's unavailable to comment, this mere writer will try and keep you abreast of any updates.
From discussions with other major gamers, we have discovered some awesome things, which you'll see in my later blog this evening.
Golden Sun VI signing off]
"Wow, that's a crazy amount of players!" Dom exclaimed.
"It is, I'm happy I bought it you in advance, it's going to be hard to get the guild up and running in a cramped market. This is going to be the biggest game in history." Andrew replied.
"I'll keep an eye on his blog, Golden Sun is normally reliable." Dom commented.
"He is, it's a shame he's from the Eastern Empire." Andrew replied seriously.
Dom took a seat next to Andrew on their sofa, expecting Kai and their other dorm mates to join them soon.
"So what's happened so far for you?" Dom asked.
"Well I decided to play as an adventurer, so for my tutorial mission I had to escort a merchant caravan from one city to another. We got attacked by bandits on route and I coordinated with the other adventures and caravan guards to push them back." Andrew replied. "It was exciting and very realistic! I felt the blood on my hands when I stabbed through this bearded bandit. It was a little to realistic actually."
"I had a similar situation, my tutorial was in a small town, bandits where planning an attack and I had to coordinate the defence." Dom added. "I tried out some tactics and we were successful. The amount of bodies was shocking and the death felt so final."
"That sounds great, well not the death part, the Town defence part!" Andrew commented, "Did you choose an Adventure class as well? You better had as I need you in my guild when I create it!"
Andrew stood after looking at his watch, making his way to the door that led them out of the dorm. He grabbed his keys and opened the door.
"Seems they've already set off." Andrew commented, before looking at Dom for his response.
"I was going to, but I ended up as a Lord Class." Dom replied with a smile on his face as they left the room and walked down the corridor.
"What!" Andrew exclaimed. "You are joking right?"
"No, seriously, I was also shocked!" Dom replied, happy at his friends shock.
"Don't tell anyone!" Andrew interrupted seriously, before whispering, "I'm serious, you'll have people trying to get in contact with you. This could be great for our guild! We need to keep this a secret!"
"Don't worry, that's also my plan." Dom replied in agreement, "I'm not that trusting, plus it'll be fun to shock Alice when we all meet up! Now tell me about where you are?"
"So I started in a giant city called Carthage, It was a desert like city on the coast and it was very hot. The buildings were yellow and white, but even though it was in a desert like location, it was beautiful. Stunning flowers and trees grew, and the ancient looking houses had flowers in baskets on window sills." Andrew started. "I spawned in to a town square, where there were merchants and a variety of Warriors. The city was walled on 3 sides, with a walled docks on the coastal side."
"Wow, that sounds amazing, what happened next?" Dom asked as they left the building and strolled across the campus.
"I walked around and spoke to the different people, most were very friendly. I even bumped in to lots of other players who were chatting and discussing the game. I wanted to find a place where I could earn some in game money quickly. There were some good quest options and I had taken one where I needed to explore the land to the north and feed back to the cities scouts." Andrew began, "The cash rewards were average, but it's an ideal starter mission to get used to the game. I joined some other players and we set off as a small caravan. That's where I got the tent from."
"Did you find anything interesting?" Dom asked.
"Just how crazily big the world map is. Other than that we didn't see anything exciting." Andrew replied, "Well other than the massive army the cities leader was building. Cavalry, Archers, a wide selection of infantry with swords, shields and spears. Oh and there were also Elephants!"
"Elephants for war?" Dom exclaimed, "Incredible, they must have been majestic, I have only seen them in the virtual museums and books."
"They really where, we only saw them from a distance, but it was incredible." Andrew replied. "The army was huge, easily over a hundred thousand people, enough to fill one of the big capital stadiums."
They entered the cafeteria and sat down with a small bowl of porridge each. The extra time they had gained from Dom getting up early, was slowly being eaten in too, by the time they spent talking about the game.
"What about you?" Andrew asked interested.
"I fought against a giant bear and captured some kittens." Dom summarised, "I'm still trying to work out the rest of it. It's a lush area where I am based, with a forest, river and some mountains. It's very picturesque."
"We'll need to find a world map and work out our distance from each other. Seems that I'll have to head towards you, if you are setting up a base." Andrew replied. "What's the Lord Class like?"
"You get some building and NPC's and have to grow and level it up." Dom replied, over simplifying his experiences.
"That sounds complex, you are more used to fighting, you'll struggle with anything city planning wise!" Andrew replied, "If you need any advice, just let me know."
They soon finished their breakfast before heading through the campus to the auditorium, where they expected a short lesson due to yesterday's exams. They bumped in to Kai on the way, who had set off early due to some personal reasons.
They soon entered the auditorium to a large clap from behind the desk at the front of the room.
"Wow, Mr Dominic Lazarus is on time!" Chimed the teacher, Mrs Gargoyle.
"I didn't want to disappoint you so close to the end of the year." Dom replied with a smile, that wasn't a smile, as he followed Andrew and Kai to their seats. He sat down and looked around, catching the eye of Alice who had a big grin on her face. A grin that meant trouble.
"As you all completed your final exams yesterday, today I'm going to teach you a little about what your futures could hold." Mrs Gargoyle announced, "As most of you will only be on Campus for a couple more weeks before you move to your next destination on your journeys through life."
Most of the class had been talking amongst themselves, but stopped to listen in to this lecture.
"The key paths ahead of you, as you'll know depend on your results, and in some cases, connections." As she said the last line she looked across at some members of the audience, such as students like Kai, Claire and Florence that had strong backgrounds. People like Dom and Andrew didn't have backgrounds as strong and would rely on their grades to get further.
"The main location for you will be in either Military or Civilian Universities. Some of you may receive invitations to illustrious families and clans that may fund your studies for your future loyalty and support. The Kingdoms of our Western Kingdoms are made on the roots of those big families and clans, so if you are successful you should take the opportunity." She continued, scanning the room to make sure all were listening. Most of the students were planning their best case scenarios in their minds.
"Others whose results are more niche may be invited to some of the different Sects of our kingdom. For those with strong martial capabilities, you could join the impressive martial clans such as the Hidden Gardens of Wine Country or the Isles of Brittany's 100 Sword Peak." She added. This caught the attention of the athletic students with little background. People like Alice, who was a fighting enthusiast were also listening intently.
"Finally, those whose results are not up to standard." She continued, looking around the room at several faces once more. Dom took note that she hadn't looked at him, which was a relief. "You will have the opportunity to join the military or a scholarship in civilian life."
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