Once Hades had returned to his room, he sat down at his computer to look up and research the virtual reality game his uncle had mentioned to him at breakfast.
According to the website set up for the game by the company, Olympus Reborn was a mmorpg game that was set in a medieval/fantasy era with magic and mythical beasts. Players could choose between many different races for their characters, and could design their character to match their own appearance if they so wished. NPCs were created with an advanced AI, and would behave like actual people, with their own thoughts, behaviors, and preferences. Olympus Reborn had many different maps and countries, and players would first spawn in a random area. Players also would reach get a random class that could be changed later if they didn't like it.
In the game, players could play it differently. They could set up shops, work as artisans or merchants, become brave warriors or explorers, and even create their own kingdoms or countries. Hades was particularly interested in the kingdom building mechanics, so he decided to look into it further.
He quickly jotted down some of the details on how a player could began a kingdom. One of the things he noted was how a player could create an entire kingdom of only NPCs, without needing a single other player.
Finally, as he concluded his research, Hades closed his computer, not wanting to ruin his eyes by staring at a screen all the time. His health was already fairly fragile.
Instead, he decided to grab a book from his library, which was a closet-like room next to his bedroom that was filled with books he had collected over the years. He had mangas, comicbooks, sci-fi and fiction books, nonfiction and educational books, and everything in-between. His collection had grown as Poseidon had brought him new books every time he came back to the house to visit.
Hades entered his mini library and headed for the fantasy section. He wanted to find a book that would give him ideas on what to do once he started playing Olympus Reborn. After browsing the titles of the books he had, he decided on a book titled "From Rags to Royalty", a fantasy book set in the medieval era about a commoner who rose through the ranks of nobility and eventually broke away from the kingdom to start his own kingdom.
He headed back into his bedroom and plopped into his bed, book in hand. He began to read, immediately immersing himself in the story. He wasn't the fastest reader, but he often ended up finishing books far faster than the average person because he didn't get distracted while reading. His focus was solely on the words of the book in his hands.
~~~~~
Hades set the book down on the dresser beside his bed, having finally finished it. Just then, he noticed a plate of food that was still warm resting on the dresser, along with a note from Briares. He smiled when he saw the note, because he knew that Briares wanted him to eat, but didn't want to bother him while he was reading. Glancing at the nearest clock, he could see that it was just slightly past the time he normally ate his lunch, so he quickly brought the plate over to his desk to eat.
The meal was a cheese sandwich filled with fresh lettuce and tomatoes, along with a small bowl of warm tomato soup. He ate the sandwich slowly, enjoying the taste.
A soft ding sounded from his phone, which heralded the arrival of a message from one of his online friends. He opened the messenger app to see who it was.
{Ultimate Warrior}: hey reaper did u hear bout the new VR mmorpg about to come out?
{Ultimate Warrior}: i got access to the beta version, hbu?
Hades smiled slightly upon reading the messages. Ultimate Warrior was a friend he had met on one of the mmorpg games he played. Ultimate Warrior was his username on the messenger app, but the name he usually went by was Ares. The name Hades usually went by while online was usually some form of a reaper. The username he used for the messenger app was SoulReaper. He quickly responded with a grin.
{SoulReaper}: Ah, Ultimate, I just heard about it this morning. I'm getting access to the beta version as well. It sounds really fun :)
{Ultimate Warrior}: yay! when beta opens we should meet up in game
{Ultimate Warrior}: what class would you want? its random right?
{Ultimate Warrior}: id want either knight or barbarian
{SoulReaper}: Ha, that's very fitting for you. Both of those classes are just to whack people with large sticks. I'd probably want one of the less combative classes, maybe something like Smith or Priest
{SoulReaper}: We can always change the classes later if we don't like them.
{Ultimate Warrior}: hey knights use swords not sticks
{SoulReaper}: My bad. *large metal sticks
{Ultimate Warrior}: ...
{Ultimate Warrior}: i mean, you aint wrong
{Ultimate Warrior}: anyways when the beta test opens send me ur location hopefully we spawn near each other
{Ultimate Warrior}: im gonna use the user Ares like usual, u?
Hades thought about it for a second. He wanted to use a name that would stand out, but he didn't want a name that might seem like he wanted to kill everyone and everything. Finally, he decided on using his own name. After all, it wasn't like he knew anyone in real life, so he didn't really need to worry about giving out his real name.
{SoulReaper}: If it's available, I will most likely use Hades.
{Ultimate Warrior}: ur not gonna use reaper?
{SoulReaper}: No, that user would make people think I want to kill everybody.
{Ultimate Warrior}: ah i understand
{Ultimate Warrior}: oh shoot i gtg cya tmrw reaper
{SoulReaper}: See you tomorrow Ultimate
And with that, Hades exited the chatroom, a faint grin still visible on his face. Now that he knew at least one of his friends would be playing Olympus Reborn tomorrow with him, he was more excited to play the game. Most games were more fun with friends, and he suspected Olympus Reborn was no different.