My name is Val, I'm nineteen years old and I'm a curious person.
Ever since I was a child I have the hobby of tinkering with my toys. I liked disassembling them for their parts then assembling them to create new things.
Most of the time, I can't get them back together, so I feel a sense of achievement every time I successfully piece them back together. It's a weird hobby for a small kid, but my dad didn't stop me and even supported this hobby.
I transformed my own room into a workshop, so I don't need to go out and waste time. I also didn't attend school since my father arranges my own tutor.
The only time I met some other kids was when my father hurriedly brought me to an orphanage. There's one small guy that kept glaring at me and if it weren't for the caretaker asking him to fetch some food, I think he would have lunged at me.
You know, like those beasts and monsters in the history books.
Nevermind that... Father wanted me to be friends with the guy but it felt like he was an impulsive type so I thought we would probably never get along. Well, I was wrong. We became best buddies and taught each other things we didn't know. He was strong, so I never won any physical games with him, but most of the mind games we played, I always won.
I rarely leave my workshop and we only meet every time my father brings me to the orphanage. Also, we usually visit on his day-offs.
What about my mother? Haha... This is probably one of the reasons why we became close. As far as I could remember, I never met my mother. The only memory of her that I had was the picture father showed me and the one on his room.
My friend? He has no recollection of both of his parents.
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Here I am busy screwing a toy my father gifted me. An 8-shot revolver bowgun. I think it was called revolbow or something... I didn't really paid any attention when my father was introducing the item earlier because I was already busy dismantling it.
It was an outdated weapon and a suitable one to gain knowledge of history's advancement. The revolbow functions like a crossbow while having 8-revolving arrows attached to its body. Its effective range is short to midrange distances.
People back then sure had such a weird naming sense. It could have adopted a futuristic name like 8RB-Prototype 1 but they chose something ancient like revolbow. It even feels weird in the tongue as I say it!
If there's one thing that caught my attention from what my father told me earlier. It was that the VR Capsule would finally arrive! This VRCapsule was made particularly for the newest craze in gaming, Apocalypse Online, the only VRMMO game that offers over 95% sync rate to the player's body!
The game was set in an undetermined future year and the weapon system was mixed of old and the new.
My dad was a researcher and an inventor. There were only 2,000 VRCapsules per region, but thanks to his job, he managed to reserve one for me.
The capsule was a newly released product in my dad's laboratory. It was contracted to them by Futuristic, the company that created Apocalypse Online. Furthermore, it's the only VRCapsule licensed to run Apocalypse Online, which means if you don't have this particular VRCapsule, you can't play Apocalypse Online.
The VRCapsule had better specs and progressive build than other VRCapsules. The one thing that separates them from other capsules was the nutrition fluid feature added into its functions.
VR Games require time limits since human bodies need rest and nutrients. With the addition of that feature, gamers would surely become more addicted to playing games while developers would become lax with game-time restrictions!
The three-day maximum gaming time might even get lifted!
And that's bad!
More and more people were escaping reality and turning to these kinds of games. They're making technological advancement harder when there were already fewer researchers working and studying on them!
According to the beta testersâthe batch of lucky gamers that got to try the game pre-releaseâalthough they were restricted to a small area, they were able to do anything they want inside the game. They even claimed that it was the only game that felt like the real world! You could run away from guards and become a lawless criminal!
There were pros and cons in the game though, features that make this game different from the other games on the market.
This game can bring "you" into the game. It allows some minor adjustments on the appearance but prevents a total makeover. Additionally, the game doesn't ask what class you want; it automatically detects what profession you excel in and what pre-generated skills you have.
A player could get strengthened when playing the game, and they could bring their progress out of the game. Beta testers who were weak outside the game became stronger even though there were no changes in their stats.
Furthermore, a permadeath system was in effect. Once a player dies, all items would drop while skills and levels would reset to zero. The only good thing was that learned skills don't get wiped and only their levels were reset.
There's also one major flaw in the game. When a player dies, the power stat would be reduced by one. After dying multiple times and reaching the minimum power stat which is one, the player would be kicked out and could only enter after gaining some additional power stats.
People see the game as a kind of opportunity.
To become stronger.
To become rich.
As for me? I'm just someone who's a bit curious.
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"Okay... I managed to open the cover, but I can't remove anything inside if I still want to use it."
I placed my hand on the smooth silver cover of the VR Capsule before activating Assemble, one of my active skills. It's also a paired skill, a type of skill that only takes one skill slot while having two functions. Assemble together with Disassemble. My second skill was Identify, a skill that helps me identify materials.
And just like other skills, my skills have weaknesses too. Aside from the high energy cost, I can only use Assemble and Disassemble once I manually assembled and dissembled the item. It also only affects the parts that I touched, leaving the untouched places alone.
The VRCapsule glowed causing the detached silver plates to reattached themselves firmly. To be honest, I have no idea how to reattach them since there were no screws found on the outer layer, and I basically forcefully opened the cover plates by brute-forcing my way through with a screwdriver.
Well, since the skill accepted shoving the cover back as a successful assembly, I have no questions to ask.
I would experiment some more later after trying out the game.
I turned to the wall clock in my workshop and noticed that I still have some time before the game's global launch. I decided to take a shower to freshen myself up. After taking a shower and wearing some comfortable set of loose clothes, I went back to the VRCapsule. I opened the cyan glass cover and lied down on the soft cushion. The glass cover automatically closed off after I fully lied down.
I spent the remaining time re-reading the basic guides I found on the web then memorizing the important parts.
I was too engrossed in reading the guides when the alarm I set up on the VRCapsule rang. I could feel my body shaking together with the movements of the digital alarm clock on the hologram screen.
Its time to enter the game.
A rainbow of colors appeared indefinitely on my screen. I don't know what happened or when it happened, but the screen disappeared and now I'm directly seeing the rainbow lines in front of me.
[Welcome to the Apocalypse, Primeval. Would you like to edit your name?]
"Yes! Change it to Val!"
[Character name changed to 'Val'. Character generated. Scanning brainwaves... Profession acquired. Skills acquired. Basic stats applied. Congratulations! You've successfully registered your account. Enjoy!]
â
The second Apocalypse came and transformed the earth.
After absorbing the overflowing energy of the earth, the sleeping beasts sealed around the globe awakened.
The blessed seawater that prevented diabolical creatures from coming out of hell was dissipating.
As these legendary creatures absorb more energy, the seal that bounded them became fainter and was unable to stop a part of them.
Dwarves, elves, goblins, and orcs steadily came out of hiding. The barriers that prevented them from mingling with the human world weakened, allowing them to create outposts in the wild.
As the last hope of humanity, you have to choose whether to risk your life to seal the underworld or live a leisurely life until your last breath.
Adapt. Learn. Survive.
Apocalypse Online
[Redirecting... You have arrived at Capital City - R Park]
With a flash of light, my vision returned.
I was standing in a vast plaza together with other players.
There were tens of thousands of people gathered at the plaza standing next to each other. People were shouting and begging to be let through since movement was impossible due to body blocking.
There was little to no space to move around and if someone wants to get out of here, it's either by force or by waiting for the tide of people to wane.
I had an average height of 183cm and I have a weak physique.
Instead of trying to rush out of the plaza, I looked around and searched for loose space to squeeze myself and find an exit.
In the end, instead of getting out, I arrived at the center of the plaza under the monument of a great figure.
The stone statue measured around ten meters tall and radiated a strong aura. The statue could be seen by anyone from any direction of the plaza.
"The game trailer was great! Whoever said that skipping it would raise the chance of becoming a ranker is a nutcase. Introductory trailers like these are a must-watch!"
"Bro, just look at the sky. The amount of effort they put into this game is breathtaking!"
Some other people who got stuck at the center gave up rushing out.
I heard a few more remarks and felt that everything these people said was agreeable. The clouds in the sky and the vast endless space above, it looks exactly like how the real world appears.
I slid my palm on the base layer of the monument and felt the smooth texture of the black marble.
"It really feels like the real thing!" I exclaimed in excitement.
Too bad, I can't explore much at the time.
There were too many people logging in at the same time and the stream of people was increasing instead of decreasing. Did the management not predict this?
That 's a bit impossible.
"Let's just log out and come back later." After reaching a decision, I opened the system menu and clicked the logout button.
Nothing happened. I clicked it once more, and stillânothing happened.
What in the world?