On his way to the dorm with his friend, Chad, who could not stop talking about and commenting on the various female body shapes in his sight, Ray thought about which class he should play as in Honor & Destiny, <
"Oi, Ray, you listening? You dumb sh*t, are you ignoring me again!" asked Chad as he started hitting his friend. "Dude, I was telling you how hot that new chick in the economy lecture was. Damn, these boobs and that ass! Women would kill and men sell their lives for that body bro!"
"Yea, whatever dumbass. She does not even know you exist mate, stop dreaming. Besides, I don't even know who you are talking about."
After a short while of silence, Chad spoke up again, "Bro... you know I treasure our friendship... are you gay by chance? You know you can tell me. "
"Chad, would you please stop that. I am not gay, you are just a dick."
"What do you mean I am a dick?! You are the same anyway, right? Right?!"
"No, I am different. I am keeping all of this to myself, and I am not proud of it also, unlike you. But can you turn down the volume, you are too loud mate." Ray chuckled as he shook his head and hinted at all the people around them.
Chad started to look around and discovered that quite a lot of people noticed what was going on. While some of the girls in the vicinity had a look of disgust, a few ones only shook their heads im disapprovel. The boys however either smirked knowingly, laughed silently and some even shot him a thumbs-up, which earned them the glares of the girls in their company.
Chad cheered up slightly, although he felt embarassed by all the girls glancing at him, after seeing the support of his fellow brothers.
Ray simply grinned at this sight of brotherhood, and continued walking through the little park, not slowing down for his friend, who got distracted by the people around, in the slightest.
Chad, while catching up, told Ray in a low-voice, so that others can't eavesdrop, "He He, aren't we all the same in the end."
"No, we aren't the same, obviously."
"Stop being a smartass. Someone told you that you are an asshole once?"
"You are telling me all the time" retorted Ray and chuckled.
Bickering in this way the two friends arrived at the student dorms, walking in the hallways and nearing their rooms.
"By the way, don't forget, H&D is gonna be officially released at six so be online sometime earlier. And be online!" threatened Chad before he went into his room with the number 114.
<
<
That being said, after eating Ray did his usual training routine for an hour and lied on his bed and looked at the time.
It is already half past 5. Seeing the still packed VR-Device on the floor, Ray decided to unpack it first so as such he standed up with a small sigh again. After unpacking the BrainGear, the platform on which the VR-Games operate on, he briefly skimmed through the manual.
<
Lying on his bed again while putting the manual away, Ray put the helmet on, which enveloped and covered his eyes.
"Link."
"Link has been successfully established."
"Start."
"Starting enginge.... BrainLink started."
The darkness was slowly filled with colors, forming a tranquil scenery of a log cabin near the beach and a deep blue, clean sea with a cliff on his left side and a small boat near the log house.
Looking behind him, he saw a great mountain ridge with some mountain peaks even hidden behind the clouds, with a forest covering the landscape.
Admiring the scenery, Ray startled when he felt a touch on his right shoulder suddenly. Turning around he looks a young chestnut haired man straight into his cold brown eyes.
Lifting his hand from Rays shoulder, the man stared back, "I am your private BrainLink AI, which manages your private system, #FG8302. This is your lobby, where you can spend your time doing whatever you desire, as long as you grant BrainLink the necessary authority it needs."
"What can I do?" asked Ray in curiosity.
"After linking the necessary accounts, you can use your bank account as you usually would, you can access your smart home system, or let us manage and supervise your home that way, you can access the internet and browse, link your Social Media Profiles and use these as well. You can naturally play games, take note that they can be of all types as this is still a virtual reality. You can al- ... " responded the AI, directly listing countless features of BrainLink, or rather, would have, as Ray cut him off fortunately early on.
"Alright, that's enough. I will just ask you if I need something. What was your name again?"
"...My name is #FG8302." answered the AI seemingly saddened.
"Alright then, can I change your name?"
"Yes you can but why wo-.."
"Because your name is troublesome to call out. You are Craig from now on." retorted Ray
"But...alright... Then why would you name me Craig?" asked Craig, his countenance changing from a saddened to a confused expression.
"You look like someone who would be named Craig, thats why." answered Ray in a dismissing manner, slightly annoyed at the curiosity of the AI.
<
"So what time is it now?" enquired Ray as he walked into the log cabin.
"It is 17:37." replied Craig.
Looking around the room, there was a kitchen in one corner, a shelf in the corner next to it filled with books. On the opposite site was the chimney, with a persian carpet, on which were placed two arm chairs, in front of it. For some reason there was neither a bed nor any kind of toilet. After asking about his discovery, Craig said that his virtual body neither has to eat, sleep nor go to the toilet, his real body needs to. "Makes sense, then what about the kitchen? " Well, in contrast to sleeping or visiting the toilet, cooking can be considered a hobby. And even then, if you really do want to do either of these, the system can still create these facilities, or others if you need them as well, of course."
Nodding in understanding, Ray went on to sit in one of the arm chairs, while asking how to login into H&D.
"It is still 17:39. Are you sure that you want to log in already? You won't be able to do anything, nor hear, smell, feel, taste or see."
asked Craig softly, who apparently got over his earlier distress.
"I don't mind, I guess. It should be like sleep I think."
"I can assure you, this won't be the case. Your brain is indeed in a half-sleeping state while using BrainLink. In fact, this is only the case as your brain directly controls a virtual body of yours, and not your own physical body. Imagine you are in a lucid dream right now. If you sleep in your dream you wake up, as you are sleeping already. If your brain is put into a half-asleep state, it still believes to control a real body. As such, any kind of stimulus you receive, your brain will believe it to be real. And no stimulus at all... should be really unnerving, don't you think?" explained Craig with a sheepish smile on his face, while Ray listened attentively.
"On the other hand, that means I can sleep here, even though I will have to leave to eat and **** regularly. In that case, wake me up a few minutes before the game starts. Oh, and I want a comfortable bed please. Thanks" said Ray as he nodded, complacently smiling, making slow but steady steps towards one fairly vacant corner of the cabin.
"Yes, indeed. I will wake you up at 17:58 sharp. Have a good sleep, Ray. " said Craig, slightly smiling and slowly disappearing while at the corner Ray is walking towards, which is seemingly getting wider in area, a bed appears.
Lying on the bed, Ray rests for some minutes, before Craig wakes him up.
"You can already login to the pre-game-start character creation. To login, just enter this portal right here."
Still slightly groggy, Ray stands up, walking over to the portal.
<
After a short moment, Ray felt the ground beneath his feet. Waiting for a bit, Ray walked right forward, as he noticed that nothing happened. A moment later, there was a small light which got brighter really fast, illuminating the place where he was at. In front of him was a wall with a display which said:
"Welcome to Honor & Destiny, dear player please start creating your character. The game will begin in: 1 minute, 27 seconds"
Pressing on the "Create Character"-Button,
the display disappeared into the wall. In its place, a life-sized figurine of a human was pushed out.
"Please select your race. "
"Note: Honor & Destiny does not feature classes. Although races grant their own boni, which players will have to find out on their own, the class of your character will be decided and updated by analyzing your stats, skills and playstyle. It represents your individual character. There is no limit set for the amount of people having one specific class. As the race grants boni to your character, it does affect your class. Furthermore, the appearance of your character is limited to the parameters set by your selected race. Please choose wisely."