บท 1: Arriving In A New World
Zhhiiinn!
"Huh... what's with that buzzing?" Chen held onto his head with a look of pain after waking up.
He was hit with a severe headache the moment he opened his eyes.
He looked around him and noticed that he was in an unfamiliar room.
He was laying inside a kind of crystalline-looking tub with a helmet beside him.
"Where am I?" He muttered softly in confusion.
He stood up, exited the tub, and walked around the room.
The room had very little space. A small bed was placed against the wall behind along with posters that displayed another world in a virtual reality game.
He noticed his reflection in the mirror placed on the right side of the wall.
"What? Who is this?" The face that stared back at him was different from the face and body he was familiar with.
It was the face of a young man that looked no older than twenty years. He had blue and green irises and pupils. A black shoulder-length hair with a touch of blue and green. As well as a face that was beyond handsome. Calling him a beauty wouldn't be an understatement.
He literally looked like a male that wouldn't need to make moves before ladies started falling.
He was also quite lanky and up to 6'4 in height.
Chen was about to move closer to the mirror when he suddenly developed a wave of headache.
"Ughh?" Memories that didn't belong to him started flooding into his head mixing his original memories.
"What the...?" He voiced out in confusion and disbelief as he saw these memories.
Memories of the body he occupied currently as well as information about this world came in waves.
In this world, there was a VR MMORPG named Overworld. It allowed players to bring skills and abilities to the real world.
This VR MMORPG game allowed players to be completely immersed. Their minds were transported to another world inside a body created by the system.
Levelling up in the game also brought about an increase in strength in the real world.
There were certain requirements for bringing an ability into the real world as well as some levels in the game that also needed to be scaled before a player's strength, in reality, would be increased.
Nevertheless, great gamers had become powerful in the real world by leveling up in the game.
It was practically a world of supernaturals different from the world Chen came from.
He realized that he was in the body of a twenty-one-year-old named Pete Evans.
Pete was a dropout from college due to insufficient funds.
He was orphaned five years ago when his parents were murdered by unknown assailants.
He loved his parents but he never thought of revenge for several reasons...
The culprits were unknown assailants and even if he could trace them what would he do?
He was only sixteen years old when it happened.
He sold his parents' house to cater to himself and his little sister.
While trying to survive over the past five years he wallowed in debt.
When the game was created about six months ago, he realized that this could be a turning point for him.
Not only could skills and abilities be bought into the real world but also items that could be sold for real money. Skills and abilities could also be sold if the user willed it.
The rich would be interested in buying such because their wealth didn't have to be their only source of power.
They could also get a physical boost in strength since their world was undergoing transformation due to this new game.
Pete got a loan and used it to buy an immersion Pod which was where Chen found himself after waking up.
When Pete started playing five months ago, it was going pretty well.
He managed to level up fairly quickly and was also amongst the first players to bring an item into the real world.
However, since it was an item and not a skill or ability, it could be easily taken from him.
He was ambushed in reality and was unable to defend himself.
He was severely injured and a part of his body that was crucial for game immersion was damaged.
Ever since then, he couldn't level up. He was still in level eight even after five months had gone by.
Pete had been wallowing in self-pity, pain and suffering for the last few months.
He had gone from hopeful to hopeless. He could hardly cater to himself and his sister.
There was also the issue of loans that the bank and other corporate entities kept troubling him about.
They threatened to take everything away.
Pete had been looking for ways to heal himself inside the game but it was proving difficult.
Each day he had to fake smile and tell his sister that everything would be alright when in reality, he was only waiting for the day of his death.
Pete died of overthinking a few minutes ago.
As the memories flooded in a tear was already rolling down Chen's left eye.
"Huh? why am I crying?" Chen cleaned the teardrop on the side of his face.
The memories had finished streaming in for now.
He felt every bit of Pete's emotions before his death.
Despair! Pain! Emotional Turmoil! Hate! Disappointment! Helplessness!
"May your soul rest in peace... I promise to take care of your sister," Chen swore.
Even though he couldn't fully understand what was happening, he knew that he had been transported to another world, inside the body of Pete.
The memories that flooded in were proof.
At the very least he had to make it up to the previous owner of this body.
Another thing that confused Chen at the moment was how he got here.
"I was heading for another meeting a while ago, Did I die?" Chen wondered with a confused expression.
He was a businessman in his previous life. The type that travelled all across the world for different kinds of meetings. He was pretty rich and well known in the business world on the earth he came from.
He had no idea if he died or his soul was just transported here by God knows who.
He was in a good state of health so it still didn't make sense to him.
"Hmm, that should be the immersion pod," He stared at the crystalline tub placed on the ground in front.
There was a blue helmet with purplish stripes lying within. Due to the information he got from Pete's memories, he already knew about its functions.
"I have to find a solution for the level-up issue," Chen stated with a look of contemplation.
This was the major problem at hand now. Which was also one of the problems that sent Pete to an early grave.
From the memories, Chen already knew that surviving in this world was impossible without being able to level up.
Pete had no college certificate so working to pay off the debts was almost impossible.
Pete was already working in a nearby factory before his death but was only earning peanuts.
It would be impossible to earn enough to take care of his sister, and himself while also paying off the debts with this job.
He still accumulated a lot more debt even after getting the pod because there were times when his earnings were not enough to take care of himself and his sister.
According to the memories, good gamers had gotten rich by selling items that were retrieved from the gaming world to people in the real world.
"Maybe I'll be able to find a solution within Overworld," The VR MMORPG was the only place Chen could think of that would have a solution.
Although Pete had also searched far and wide for solutions within the game, Chen felt he could continue from where Pete stopped.
Chen walked back towards the pod.
He was about to enter when he heard a knock on the door.
Kom! Kom!
From the heaviness, it sounded urgent.
"Big brother! Big brother! They're here again!" A soft feminine voice laced with panic could be heard coming from outside.
Chen figured that it was Pete's little sister from the voice.
Kom! Kom!
"Big brother are you there?" The force used in banging the door increased when no one replied to her.
"Yes, I'm coming," Chen answered and walked towards the door.
Click!
He opened the door and what appeared in his line of sight was a 5'4 tall, slim-looking teenage beauty.
She had sky blue-colored long hair with patches of pink, that extended to her lower back.
Her pupils shone with bright pink color while her irises were blue and fairly large.
She had a heart-shaped face and tender-looking red lips.
Her gaze was brimming with kindness and innocence.
Even the faded brown gown that reeked of poverty and low standard of living, couldn't hide her angelic looks.
She was the depiction of true beauty but right now she had a panic-stricken expression.
'How are both siblings so good-looking?'
Chen froze for a second after seeing her so he didn't hear her statement.
He had seen her in Pete's memories but seeing her physically was like being in the presence of an angel.
"Um, what did you say?" He asked after noticing her mouth had been moving the entire time.
"Those people are here again, they're trashing our living room!" She voiced out again.
Chen's eyes slightly widened as he recalled something from Pete's memories.
He walked out of his room and slammed his door before quickly heading down the stairs with his sister.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Chen's had a dark look on his face upon arriving in the living room.
About six bulky men were trashing the place.
They kicked the chairs, tore the carpet open smashed the few pieces of furniture they had.
There wasn't much to destroy here but Chen was still incensed when he saw this.
"Hey what are you doing!?" His yell made the men pause their actions.
"Pete Pete tsk tsk... you haven't forgotten about my money have you?" A short man clad in a brown leather jacket walked towards Pete from the corner of the room.
"Chief Enzo, Is that why you're trashing my place? Didn't I tell you I was gonna pay?" Chen voiced out with a look of dissatisfaction.
From Pete's memories, he recalled this to be the man Pete loaned money from to buy the immersion pod
Pete thought of selling it to refund the man but he later changed his mind because the interest rate was up to 70%. This was the deal he made with the man when he was receiving the money.
Even if he decided to sell it, he could only sell the pod at most 50% higher than he bought it since Overworld was such a hot VRMMORPG game that was wanted worldwide.
The problem was getting the rest of the money.
Even though only 20% would be left, that 20% was a huge sum of money that Pete wasn't sure he would be able to accumulate even after working for twenty years. If the pod was gone, the only hope he had of trying to make big money would also be gone so how would he pay back the rest?
He decided to keep playing, hoping for a miracle to happen.
"This was only meant to be a reminder since you seem to have forgotten that your debt was due a month ago," Chief Enzo added.
Chen's face squeezed up as he realized that this was true.
"I'll pay you next month," He said with a pleading look.
"Oh it's always next month isn't it...?" Chief spoke while walking past Chen.
Chen turned around and noticed Chief Enzo standing in front of Pete's sister.
"You could always give this beauty to me and your debt will be settled," Chief Enzo stated while licking his lips in a lewd manner as he stared at her.
Pete's sister stared at the man in disgust and subconsciously took a step backwards.
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