Three days passed by after the abrupt meeting and confrontation of the new kid and the Circa. As instructed, they were going to fly across the sea to attend a certain convention.
"So, the time has come, huh?" Tori said, shooting a goblin coming her way.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty nervous though. But, we'll be fine, right?" Andi replied, slashing his ax to an enemy barbarian.
"We'll be fine. Besides, GS will guard our backs." Jayson said in certainty, releasing the canon ball to the enemy lines.
They sat in wait at the lobby of the Stello International Airport where terminals meet across the globe. It is the biggest and fanciest airport built in the new earth.
The Circa, while waiting, got bored so they decided to play the game they usually have in the VR. They formed a Kin and indulge in fighting and defending against other Kin, the Smash of Kins. It was a game developed by ORION for those who wanted a communicational team game. They have to choose a character class and acquire skills thru leveling up and looting. the goal is to destroy the enemy base in the shortest amount of time.
The Circa had their Kingdom, named White Knights, being protected by walls, weapons and artillery, magical towers and all other stuffs commonly found in medieval ages but with a twist of fantasy. They happen to find an easy opponent, so they kept on trying to win the trophy and the loot.
They used the VR portable glasses where they are not put to sleep when they use it but they can still navigate to the VR through the stimulus-induced program. The glasses must be inserted with a hard drive where the game is saved and running. They also have to connect it in the internet in their hard drive's wireless system. They control their avatars by thinking on what they were supposed to do and the VR do the rest.
"I wonder if the three can manage to pursue the ceremony even without us..." Sandra said, shooting a Giant with a magic spell.
"They'll be fine, have faith in them. Look out! Oh well, they're part of the Circa , right?" Andra replied, shooting her arrow at the enemy tower.
"I know. I'm just, dunno, nervous." Sandra said. She had destroyed one of the enemy tower.
"They can do it. As for ours, we need to focus on this stuff." Alex said, ripping open the enemy wall making a way for Jayson and the other to get through.
"As expected from our Pekka. You did a good job tearing that wall!" Sandra replied. "But, it's unusual for you to say this kind of stuff, Alex."
"What did you say?" Alex stood and face Sandra making funny faces on her.
"Please don't do that on a Pekka face... you're making yourself hilarious.."
"And there they are again..." Jayson muttered. "Hurry and take the Town Hall already! The time is almost up!" he commanded.
They charged to the center of the kingdom to subdue it wholly and get the loot for destroying it all. They can also level up in this game and get to another league.
"Come to think of it, the new guy's not yet here," said Jayson.
"Yeah, how come? I wonder if he got lost again..." Andi said swinging his ax to a nearby tower trying to destroy it.
"I don't think so..." Michiyo laughed under her breath. "Oh, wait.. don't go outside the circle, I can't reach my healing magic out there..." he said to Andi.
"Oh, sorry.." Andi replied.
"I don't trust that guy, he's so suspicious. You see, he just came and introduced himself as Mr. Reiko's son, whom we haven't heard anything about for the past 17 years." Tori said, now watching the others finish the remaining areas to be destroyed.
"You're right. But, if it's what Mr. Louige said, then maybe it's something real. Let's just trust him for now. Besides, he was chosen to be part of this group, so, we better open ourselves up, got it?" Jayson explained. He had taken down the enemy's king.
"Yeah, right.." Tori muttered.
"I dig something about him the night after the meeting..." Andra said, gathering some loot.
"Then, what have you discovered?" Michiyo replied.
"Nothing." Andra rolled her eyes. The others exchanged looks and felt unease.
"There is nothing much about him in the web and the system. It seems that his identity was concealed. They just indicated him as a Transfer student. It was all confidential in there." She continued.
"There must be a reason why Mr. Reiko chose to make it a secret. The Circa don't meddle on the President's affairs remember." Jayson exclaimed. "We keep his secrets as well, especially the company. That's what scholars like us swore to keep."
"Hai, I'm sorry about that, Jay.." Andra said. "I was just... I just want to know something about him, just to make sure... but, his records are quite similar to that of Markus the hacker."
"Please don't say that name if front of me..." Alex muttered, his face turning red, forming a fist.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot." Andra slowly bowing her head.
The end game music sounded and they announced their victory. They take home a lot of loot and enough trophy to level up a league. They removed their VR glasses but everyone turned silent. They came back to reality and scanned the lobby, trying to adjust their sight. They suddenly hear the noise around the airport. The hum of the airplanes' engines, aircrafts landing and taking off, people passing by, cellphones ringing, and their heart beating fast as sweat dripped on their foreheads. They know they cannot meddle on that matter about the "Markus" stuff in front of Alex. They weren't able to be happy about their victory.
To break the ice in their midst, Jayson utterly replied, "Why don't we just ask him..." with a dry smile.
"Guess that's not happening..." Alex muttered. "Anyway, you know that guy, Sandra?" he asked.
"I... don't know him. Why did you ask?" Sandra answered, trying to avoid the question.
"I saw how you look at him the last time we got to see that guy. It seemed like you knew each other." Alex continued.
"I haven't met him before... he's a..." Sandra stared at her cellphone "...a total stranger."
"I guess you have to know if he really is a total stranger." Louige said in a low voice.
Louige and Hachiro arrived from the back entrance of the airport. Louige came with a big luggage full of equipments for their long journey to a difficult mission.
"I don't care if that's what they think about me.." Hachiro said looking away from their direction. He brought a bag pack but seemed to be empty. He wore a white shirt and a denim pants under his black coat.
Sandra felt guilty of what she said and suddenly remembered what they have talked about before. After what happened 3 days ago, she came to go along on what her friend asked her to do. She wanted to act her share because she still don't know how to help her friend. Now, she just wanted to help him on any way she could, even if she is trying to avoid or severe their friendship. The others still don't know about it. They chose to make it hidden.
"Ja, let's get you in the plane. I'll re-orient you about what you will have to do when we're up there. It's not safe to talk about it here." Louige said. "I'll accompany you until you reach the ship going to Argon, so, don't ya worry." He added and they went their way to the runway.
They approached the expensive 25-passenger beige Japanese alloy private aircraft with a huge logo of GSTech on its tail.
The hatch opened when they arrive near it. The stairs were laid as Louige stood to welcome the guests.
"Welcome aboard to the Flight Shizora. This is your service for today, I hope you'll enjoy it." Louige said.
...
They went inside and find their own seats like important persons aboard. Hachiro chose to stay at the back part, seating alone, far from his companions. Sandra sat next to Jayson in front of Alex on the front part of the plane.
"As what I have said, I will re-orient you about your mission on Argon," Louige said. He flashed a presentation on the LCD built in the wall of the plane. "The place will awe you in all extents but you need this equipment to fight against all odds."
"Ne, Mr. Louige, is it safe to talk about it here?" Sandra asked.
"Why did you ask, Sandra?" he replied.
"Because, we're talking about the hacker who can do most of stuff. Isn't it vulnerable to talk something trivial in here? I mean, there might be bugs lurking around."
"It's the safest aircraft since time immemorial, Sandra. No need to worry. This is the newest version of private airplane where all the interference from the outside will be blocked by its default program. Also, the foreign objects inside here, like bugs as you mentioned, will be scanned and removed directly if its not in the default program. Thus, you cannot overwrite the system by installing or downloading materials from other sources unless approved by the administrator and the programmer of the system." Louige explained. "Also, if your phones or other gadgets are the ones who have bugs, no worries, the default system cancels all activities from your devices rendering it useless inside the plane."
"Seriously?" Andi muttered checking his phone and saw that it has turned off.
"Yeah, that's how we do it here. That is why we chose this aircraft for the transport of the team" Louige added.
"The programmer might be very picky and untrusting..." Jayson exclaimed, keeping his useless phone.
"Probably..." Louige said.
"Isn't it made by Mr. Reiko, Mr. Louige?" Andra asked.
"No, someone special made the system, not Reiko-sama."
"Who could it be?" Andi whispered.
Hearing all of those, Hachiro fell silent to hide the truth though Shichiro is shouting in his mind "We did it! We're the ones who made the program!... ne, Ha-chan, say it to them! Say it!"
But Hachiro shun him up, keeping his head low.
Louige flashed the gears on the LCD to explain the things he had inside his luggage. He slowly handed it to them.
"This one is not an ordinary watch." Louige said. "It may look like one but it is the counterpart of the headgear in ROA ver 2.1, it serves the same purpose as well. Bluetooth connected, Wi-Fi ready, scanner embedded, receives message/calls, can transmit holographic images, and many other stuffs. This will be the catalyst to make real what was pre-programmed in these chips in the AR."
Their eyes glimmer with awe in every word Louige had told them about the watch. They can't believe that they can use the latest model of game equipment which is not yet released by ORION.
He handed them 10 chips, like memory cards but thinner and smaller than those, and said, "These have numbers from 01-10 to indicate what was in each chip you have to use. We have pre-programmed 5 things on 01-05. 01 has a sword, 02 has a shield, 03 has armor, 04 customizable weapons, and 05 has a vehicle. All of these can be customized to your liking."
"Awesome.." Andi said under his breath, he wear the watch and insert some chips.
"Suge.." Michiyo muttered.
"You'll see what these got when AR is activated though," Louige said
Andi's expression switched from on to off.
"The chips 06-10 were left empty for you to program stuff you think you need," Louige added. "The watch can hold and run 3 chips simultaneously without damaging your cognitive state."
"Damaging? What is that? Sounds dangerous." Sandra exclaimed, her hands stop moving the device.
"Yeah, unfortunately, it is. There is some kind of setback in using this equipment. The user can damage his brain if the equipment is overused because it's in AR. What happens in AR happens directly to the body. And the one who will react as the first one to experience the damage is the brain itself. Running programs simultaneously will cause stimulus interference and may run wild." Louige explained. "Unlike in the ROA versions, the headgear produces everything in the REM state, but the AR is different. It dwells in the artificial reality where everything is experienced in the conscious state, thus..."
"The stimulus is not filtered and altered to make things so much real that it creates much damage in the cognitive and psychomotor state, is that what you are saying, Mr. Louige," Jayson asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. That is why we chose the best brains to keep this mission possible to happen. The longer you dwell in the AR, the more susceptible to damage your brain is." Louige said.
"So that is the reason why the AR is not yet famous these days regardless of its advancement," Andra muttered.
"Your right, that is still the thing we need to take care of in the prototype version," Louige replied.
"Prototype? So, that is why you need to test its efficiency through the Ciphertext Convention." Alex exclaimed.
"That is right. It's an experimental process pushed by the Scorpio." Louige said.
"And the GS Tech approved to make it happen," Sandra said.
"With the purpose of tracking the hacker? Yes, we kinda gave a blind eye on and a deaf ear on it." Louige replied.
"You have a long running issue about him, huh? Well. That's pretty dire.." Alex mumbled.
Everyone turned silent. They felt the air getting thinner and hard to breathe. They looked outside the window and saw a vast sea of clouds everywhere they look.
"Good thing you got your VR glasses with you. Now, we can have an exercise at the VR world."
He connected the cables from their seats and ran a system.
"Get yourselves ready and wear your VR glasses because we are gonna have to have some mental exercise."
Everyone turned and get their glasses.
"Why do we have to do it in VR?" Andi asked putting his glasses on. "You said it should prepare us for the fight in AR, right?"
"Yeah, but we cannot afford to ruin the airplane and risk our flight because you will be roaming around. Though it might be in the AR, you will be really moving to make those moves, thus risking the safety of the plane."
"Ahh,, you're right. We can't back out now, right?" Andi replied.
"Unfortunately, you can't, Andi. This is where we need your help. We're counting on you." Louige exclaimed and the game inside the VR started.