Looking at the pod, he spent time going everything again to make sure no problems had taken place. A burnt circuit from the side frame needed to be taken care of. It was his fault for not doing it properly. An appointment to have a good company come out and take care of it already in place.
*Ding dong!* The doorbell went off. Answering, he was surprised at the person. He had no idea who she was.
"Hi, Mr. Vincent is it?" The young woman looked at the envelope reading from it. In her hand was the mail for several houses. The mailer had jammed everything in her mailbox and left.
"Yeah, but just call me, Vincent." Taking it, he thought over how he should have chosen a different name in the game still. 'Vladis and Vincent are not to different than each other. Oh well.' He looked the young woman over and reached into his pocket to give her some credits for her trouble. "Sorry, you had to do this, for your time." She refused the money.
"It is ok. I needed to meet my neighbors anyway. But from the look of things, I am not the only new person to the area." She eyed a few boxes in Vincent's living room. Most of the game pod boxes had not been thrown away yet. "Well see you around if I do. Name is Taka by the way." Her long black hair whipping around with her movement. With a wave, she went to the next house. Handing over mail and chatting briefly.
*Sccrecch!* A van pulled up in the front. The company was from Ziodyne Industries. A small company that did repairs and upgrades on technology. They were expensive but really good. Vladis remembered the company had a zero-tolerance policy and was happy to spend the extra money to enforce it.
"Come in, I will not waste your time. I know you guys are busy." Vladis gestured them inside and sat down at the kitchen island. He watched them work but read from a tablet mostly. He was chatting with a Nutritionist about ways to improve blood flow. While waiting for a response from a bone doctor about his wrists.
Nutritionist: I have sent a small change in your diet. It should work fine. Your recent medical files still need a look over again. I suggest a cat scan again as well. Considering your previous incident. You just reached adulthood and should expect some changes.
"I will set it up. Thank you for your time."
Nutritionist: Happy to help. This is not the old days, as Earthlings, we do not reach adulthood to our 30's. Your worry like a 90-year-old. More worried than my own mother. If you experience any high fatigue let me know.
The chat ended. Vincent checked his email and saw a response from the bone doctor. Suprinsgly, he had an opening to see him today. Around four. Setting the appointment, Vincent felt a sense of relief wash over him.
He moved over to give the workers a drink and a sandwich. They ate it happily and went back to work. Vincent didn't get in the way at all or ask any outlandish questions. In fact, he moved trash out of their way and handed tools to the really busy workers.
The workers left energized to deal with the next appointment. Which was actually in the area. Out all the people they serviced so far today, Vincent was the most pleasant one.
.
-Doctor's office-
.
The level of the tests were very deep. Vincent felt they were more intrusive than the one's in the future. The needles that drilled into his bones were enough to drive him mad. Didn't help the Doctor jumped at the chance to dig into him because of something found in the Gamepod data sent over.
"You will be fine young man." Dr. Eli said. His nurses looking on with interest watching each of the cameras. "Just a little longer." The drill finished and sent out the outline solution. "Oh my.."
The cameras lit up immediately. One of the nurse's eyes almost bugged out of her head. Vincent's muscles and bones showed signs of deterioration. The final stages of a very rare disease, but that was only current.
In the future, it is very common and treatable.
Taking every sample they finished up and provided the temporary relief to slow the advancement down. It would be a miracle to prevent any further advancement and despite the exhalation from finding it, they were saddened. But the fact Vincent had healthy tissue underneath caused problems in anything they have seen before.
"Ok, Vincent" Dr.Eli walked over and sat down looking at Vincent while the nurses removed the drills. "I am so sorry. But you were right. Your case is unusual, I will consult with who I can to see why it is like this. It will be costly.."
"I will not waste money and time on it." Vincent answered calmly. Two of the nurses stopped and stared at him. "The level of deterioration will just cause problems. So, the basic treatment I will take and go from there. I am not going to overthink about it or waste effort on it. I think I will change how much I work though. Better to take it easy more."
All the treatment available now wouldn't help in the least.
"But you are young. Surely your body will bounce back. If you handle this correctly.." Dr.Eli stopped when Vincent shook his head no. "I will make sure your information is handled carefully."
"I will be fine." Vincent sat up after they finished. Sitting in the wheelchair, they wheeled him into a room. An hour passed by going over what he could expect to happen and the level of pain. Vincent only paid attention halfway. He heard it all before with several other people in his future support group. 'Has it accelerated because I was in the final stages in the future and effected my mind in the hear and now? Or is it because of my mindset thinking of it in the background? I fight and move like someone in the final stages. Maybe it is affecting my body due to the high Synchro rating? Too many questions.'
The doctor and the nurses never thought this would be the results.
.
-Back Home-
.
"The ad has a few bites. With me having to leave work now, using them to earn a little money as a sponsor should help. But if I kick the bucket it won't matter. Hopefully, I can resist the next stage. I rather not become a mummy again till a recession of my joints."
Flexing his fingers, Vincent didn't feel anything wrong. His body didn't ache till he actually thought it should hurt. Fingers trembling till he thought of something else, like food.
"Ughh, what in the hell am I gonna do? Should I even waste my time playing this game or spend my time on other things?" Vincent stopped by the Gamepod and rubbed the glass. Seeing the blinking light, he knew a message was waiting for him. "Guess play a little more before I can't anymore."
*Chish!* As the pod closed, a shock passed through as he became Vladis. He was back at the character creation screen.
"Welcome!" The Help guide said. A small bit of light formed into Noin. She stared at Vladis with a smile. "We need to talk about your health."
"Did you hack my information!?" Alarm bells already going off.
"No. I already knew your information from the future Vladis brainwaves." She fluttered in space. "I and a few others are the reason you are back. As well as the Heroine. But that can wait till later. Your illness has affected your young body due to your mind. A small thing overlooked that has caused a terrible problem. But we can stop it, thanks to you going to the doctor so early."
"How so?"
"You and the Heroine carry information that will be used to help the Milky Way Galaxy. It will be revealed slowly overtime to make sure nothing terrible happens. In return, you help us?"
"Uh huh.. with what?' Vladis tried to log off but it was greyed out. Thinking about how this was nuts did not escape him. As someone who returned to the past, he could not throw the information out the window. "What can I possibly do?"
"Play what you believe to be a Game. The Rp Servers will not fold into others this time if I can help it." Noin fluttered about with a serious expression. "Fix what happen to you last time and see how much it changes the game. Your efforts and others efforts will help so many, such as the Heroine."
"I was a Villain last time, what is to stop that from happening again?"
"You and me working together. As well as the Heroine. But that is for the future. There are countless years to go before we arrive at that point. More will be revealed as you play and become stronger. But do not worry, we are making sure others are receiving Quests to do the same. The ending can not be the same as the last one. A "Scorched Galaxy" is awful." Noin had a pained look on her face. If Vladis didn't know any better, he would swear she was about to cry. "Play as you have and do not worry about the Game Admins finding out about you. However, the Fairy ring will hide some of your skill."
"My health will be fine and I can take care of a few people that screwed me over. Sounds good." Vladis answered happily to questions she did not ask. "It will be hard to be a Hero, Deja Vu, and emotions are so strong in the game. Habit may get me killed."
"That is why I turned your hair to a Fairy Home. Who else to help calm an angry person down. I was not counting on Blue Fairy to break the law. She has received punishment and knows to tread carefully in the future." Seeing Vladis strange expression, she clarified some things. "She is not like me. In fact, none of the other Fairies are like me. They do work for the Company, however..."
"However they are not under code like you are. Or as smart as you are maybe?" Vladis's head hurt as he had a long day already. "I need to log back off and get some rest. Can you let me log off to do so."
"Actually it will be better if you sleep in the Game pod for now. Slow treatment can be applied to your mind that will affect your body. Eventually, you will be fully healed and ready to go. A few months of treatment and no problems. "Right now it will help make you stronger in-game."
"Alright. Will my stats drop or anything?"
"Nope. In fact, you should get stronger faster still. The patch update will take care of that. User's like yourself will experience a growth rate changebut an increase in pain. Which won't matter for you with that high Synchro rating. Your Breakthroughs will be crazy with the information you have. As well as all the books you read in the library. In fact, your character has made it back there is reading again." Noin watched a screen that showed Vladis in-game reading a book on deep sea diving. "Just need you to help a lot of Users. I can not change much more for now. It will cause problems without letting time pass."
"Uh huh, so weapons. What will happen if I find the high level stuff on my own? Will I get punished or anything?" Vladis was thinking about a few of the things nearby. He wanted them for himself instead of letting them get lost or sold to the enemy. 'I had some enemy's in the future that I will not allow to grow strong in this life!'
"If you get them, you get them. What would be the point of the Heroine and yourself getting sent into the past and getting weakened or us stopping your growth?" Noin shook her head ruefully. "The Fairy Ring absorbed so much to keep a Glitch from messing your stats up. But your character has been checked over an over again. The game code found nothing on its own. And I made sure it found nothing from your personal thoughts."
"Well, thanks for that." Vladis felt himself turn calmer as they spoke. The effects of the Help guide's voice doing its job as she moved closer. "So the ad I made to have a Game Team on another Server, will that be a problem?"
"Nope. In fact, I will assign a Help guide to look them over closely. As long as they are following the contract of course." Noin pulled up a copy of the document and looked it over. "Not bad. If they grow strong, it will be great to have forces in the future when the cross-server stuff starts." She watched as Vladis gripped his hands tightly. "I can not reveal certain things to you, like what you do not know completely. But I will do my best to fill in gaps in your memory."
"How long till I know everything?" Vladis asked.
"In time. Your reputation with the Fairies is one way. You know more than others Old young man, to much info at once make people do stupid things." Noin said sagely. If she was not so tiny, Vladis would have thought it was a stab at his personal history. "I will do my best to make sure things go better. I promise Vladis."
"I am going to need a lot of strength. How many new Events are popping up in the next month?" She gave Vladis a smile and said nothing. "Fine." With a shrug, he relaxed and thought about problems that happen around the area. "Ugh, just gonna do the small quests in the village and see what new things I can learn. Especially if I can get a high rep before level 10 will be great. Then heading out to the immediate area by myself will be a cakewalk."
"You have a helper coming your way actually. Or should I say, Follower." Noin floated over into his hair. "The Vampire subrace has a lot of stuff in it. As well as you being a Mental Mage, it will be really easy to interact with them."