(A Few Days Later)
"Good morning class!" said mister Nakagawa as he stood in front of the whole class.
"Good morning sir!" responded the whole class as Nakagawa nodded and turned on the monitor board behind him that showed a series of weapons, armors, and other tools that were made to tackle rifts.
"So a week has already passed since the official start of school and the Hunter's Agency on exploring and understanding the rifts has been going well, so well that we can finally move on to the next stage for you students. We are officially going to start preparing you for the rifts you will tackle starting next month" said Nakagawa as all of the students inside the room have their eyes wide open in surprise.
"As you all know, there are new buildings plotted throughout the campus, and its officially time to open them, let me introduce where they are located and what they are for," said Nakagawa as the screen behind him flashes to show a series of buildings and their insides along with something similar to IVR pods spread around a room.
"We have this room which will be integral for your studies, Hunter Agency's IVR pod supplied for all students, and guess what, we will install one inside all of your houses so yes, all of you will get the official IVR pod produced by Gtech," said Nakagawa as everyone's eyes shone while some even drooled because IVR pods are expensive and are equivalent to something prestigious to own.
"Look, Sora, you can finally own an IVR pod!" said Zoran by the side.
"Y- yeah," said Sora as he looked at the IVR pod shown on the screen with heart-struck eyes.
"And Hunter Agency already made a revolutionary "game" for all of you to enjoy. It's a simple game where you can input all of your real-world stats into the game and simulate what it is like hunting inside rifts without putting your real-world self in danger, its revolutionary for the development of the whole world, and Hunter Agency plans to ally with Gifted Incorporations to hasted the development of the world, aren't they great?" said Nakagawa with a smile as everyone in the class nodded while Jong-ga looks at the IVR pod with squinted eyes.
"And not only that, to make it more enjoyable, there is the MMORPG mode for the game where you will be sent into a replica of our world and start out from scratch, it's a new New World but for rifts and hunters," said Nakagawa as he played some videos on the board that shows the game with all its glory and how COOL it was that some might even get a boner when it's revealed to a much larger scale.
"Sir! When will it be revealed to the public?" asked a student from the class.
"In a couple of months or years, we are still in the learning and development stage regarding our knowledge about rifts but there is a ton of content you can explore in this game. For now, it will only be given to those who are a part of prestigious schools and Hunter Agency because the supplies of IVR pods are low and the servers are still being developed to accommodate such a large amount of people" said Nakagawa as the class nodded in understanding.
"And more good news, playing that game will now be an official part of our lessons!" said Nakagawa as the whole class cheered while Nakagawa grinned at his students' enthusiasm and joy because a student can only learn best when they really want to learn the subject willingly, and what better way than a fun game.
"Okay, so who is ready to play the game!" suddenly said Nakagawa.
"Wait, we can go play it now!?" shouted the students in surprise.
"Of course, we are going on a test run for now in a sandbox level, tomorrow we can officially launch the MMORPG game mode to you guys, so, does anyone want to play?" asked Nakagawa with a smile.
"ME!" shouted the whole class like giddy kids while Nakagawa laughed from his student's excitement to play a game that has more purpose than that, a purpose only a few know including Aki who was grinning inside his mind.
"Well students, line up then because we are going to that building right there, it holds all of the IVR pods inside the campus and will be the main building where you guys can play inside the school," said Nakagawa as the whole class hurriedly lined up and followed Nakagawa out of the building with a grin on their face and not only that, many classes were also heading out of the building to head over to the building holding the IVR pods.
As they arrived inside the building, they were greeted by the sight of rooms filled with IVR pods with their grade and section being on top of the entrances to clearly show which room they are allowed to go in.
"Okay, those who don't know how to use an IVR pod raise their hands!" shouted Nakagawa as more than half of the class raised their hands including Sora.
"Okay, to those who know please stay inside the room for now while I teach the basics to the students who have no prior experience with IVR pods," said Nakagawa as the class nodded with the other half entering the room to wait.
"Woah, oooh, ah!" the same gasps of awe resounded all around the room as the sheer glory of IVR pods brought tears to some students and it truly shows how far society has come since the era of chaos.
"Say, don't you guys think the Hunter Agency is a bit suspicious?" suddenly asked Jong-ga as the trio sat down on a comfy couch.
"Hmm, why do you think so? I think they are great even, look, we are allowed to literally play for class, like that's the dream!" said Zoran by the side with a large grin on his face.
"Yeah, we are able to play games for school, and it's a much safer alternative compared to going to an actual rift full of danger," said Akihiko as Jong-ga sighed.
"But isn't it suspicious that they were able to presumably make a game rivaling that of New World in a matter of weeks?" asked Jong-ga.
"Maybe Gtech is already allied with Hunter Agency and is keeping it a secret," said Akihiko.
"Maybe," said Jong-ga while ruffling his hair with a sigh.
"Don't be so paranoid, it would lead to some mental problems down the line" said Akihiko while patting Jong-ga's head with a caring smile which took Jong-ga by surprise as he blushes and averted his gaze.
"Don't act like I'm a kid Aki" said Jong-ga while moving his head away from Aki's pats while he chuckled with a wry smile.
"Sorry, my brotherly instincts just take over sometimes, I have a little brother you see and he's the best little brother anyone can have…" said Aki as he starts to brag about Shiro while Jong-ga's mind went elsewhere with a certain memory entering to the front of his mind.
(Flashback)
Blood, rubbles, a red sky, a broken city riddled with injured men.
A city was seen being broken down to pieces with the red sky illuminating it with a red glow while a being was floating high above the sky wearing golden-white armor illuminated with a golden light created from the wings of lights behind their back.
And below the being was a gigantic rift spewing out monsters that destroyed the surrounding land but the being calmly raised his arm towards the sky and out came a beam of light that shot high above the sky illuminating the whole city with a warm golden glow as the injured people all around the city got healed and empowered from the rainfall of light and that wasn't the end for the beam split into many beams of lights and hastily changed direction towards the monsters.
And with a single blow, all the monsters around the area got eradicated from the world as this angelic being brought terror to the monsters and hope to the hunters inside the city desperately fighting the monsters with all they have.
And as Jong-ga looked at the being with wide shaky eyes, the being suddenly looked at him through his helmet of golden-white metal that made him feel as if he was looking not at a fellow human but a higher being and that made his body frantically shook in unknown chaotic emotions.
(Flashback end)
As that scene flashes in his mind, he looks at Aki in front of him happily bragging about his brother, and sighed inside his mind at how different the person Aki was talking about is from the one he knows.
"Hey Aki, I hope that your brother is okay" suddenly said Jong-ga.
"Oh, he's more than fine, in fact, he's more annoying than before with him clinging on to me so much since the rifts appeared, but I find it endearing of him, I can't imagine what it would be like once he grows up and he doesn't call me Nii-chan anymore!" said Aki with a reluctant face with Zoran and Jong-ga chuckling at Aki's actions.
AN: This is 1558 words, you're welcome.
The Sword of Damocles hangs above each and everyone one of you with its ever present threat of despair, so send me some power stones with your power of friendship and save the thousands perhaps even millions to come who will read this masterpiece immortalized in the tunnels of time.
(April 12, 2022 – 139th day of writing)