And just paying for these up to date gears took the most of his wealth. Besides the one million he just paid to get himself here, he got only a couple hundred thousands left in his bank account.
"But why fifteen?" She shifted the topic back to the game, "you know the new game will be played with seven players."
"One main team, one for the backup team, and one extra for the coach," he said while watching her face closely.
"A coach? What? Are we a football team now?!" she didn't get it. Anyone who didn't compete at the pro tournaments wouldn't realise the importance of such a valued person in the team.
"Anyway, did you do any research about the game's new equipment?" It was Hao's turn to shift the topic away from that point. After all, speaking wouldn't do anything good to her.
She had to see and experience everything by herself to know the true value of people like the coach and the team captain.
"I read a few articles about them," her eyes shone again, "but never got the privilege to see one in the flesh."
"Alright, this is your lucky day then," Hao stood up and went to the closest box.
The boxes were all metallic silver, closed by a certain lock that couldn't be opened except with his fingerprint.
*Click!*
The big box opened like it was a giant suitcase. As the silver lid opened in an automatic move, the content inside appeared.
"These…" Hil's face was priceless at this moment. Hao looked at her in satisfaction. After all he also had the same look on his face the first time he saw these gears.
The station of this game was something neat and cool. It was the size of a small suitcase, covered with a metallic silver and red coloured shell that had extension like a spear from all its angles.
Inside was the main CPU, graphic card, and other items needed to operate the game smoothly without any lag.
The new thing here was the concept itself. These gaming companies agreed that using the normal computers and current operating systems to run the game was a losing case. They learnt from a few separately developing game station companies and decided to launch the first station ever built for just one game.
Next to it were three curved and big screens with the latest technology in the market. They came with a metallic stand that could hold even five and not three screens at the same time.
Hao tried these screens before. The resolution, colour details, and even the advanced reduction technology to the harmful effects on human eyes were all much better than any other screen currently in the market.
But these wouldn't compare even with the other two innovative things provided by the company.
"Is this… That famous glove?" Hil extended her hand and took out a black coloured big glove that looked like those used for people who had hawks as their pets.
It was made out of thick fabric, looking slightly heavy at first. Its outer surface was covered in a soft tissue, with a lustre of few metallic threads running through it. As for its interior, it was smooth as silk.
She wore it on her hand and it was big enough to cover up to her elbow. She closed and opened her fingers before muttering to herself:
"It's kinda smooth."
"You need to first adjust its size before wearing it," Hao smiled before adding when she turned to him and extended her arm with the glove, "this can only be done after opening the game station."
"Can it be controlled by it?" she pointed at the silver station lying in silence inside the box.
And Hao nodded.
"This glove isn't as simple as it looks," he tried to grab it off her hand but she moved her arm away in reflex.
"I like it!"
"Its colour is meant for boys," Hao helplessly chuckled, "girls have a much nicer pink coloured glove. You'll miss it if you insist on having this one."
"Are you telling the truth?" as a little girl fighting for her candy, she exclaimed and he could only nod.
"Why would I lie to you? Come on, put it back and be extra careful with it."
She hesitated for a moment before taking out her phone and took a selfie while showing off the glove. "Just in case," she said in explanation while returning the glove back.
"Is it true what people say about it?" she felt more attached to it as she returned it back. "I read many rumours, saying that it has a role in the game and we can use it to perform skills."
"That's why you should treat it with more care,"' Hao confirmed what she said without explaining anything.
This glove would indeed play a big role in the upcoming Dawn game. After all, the game developers bet high on it. It was developed by another company, a social media behemoth. That company invented it at first to allow its users to control illusionary hands in a virtual world to do anything they wanted.
The developers took this tech, adjusted it to suit their game. As Hao played in the beta testing phase, he knew how important this glove was to the game.
It would allow players to perform a series of moves, as if they were really doing the skills. The degree of success would determine lots of things in the game.
But he knew explaining this in words wasn't enough. Hil had to see this with her eyes and experience the feeling of these gloves in a real game to understand.
"And here comes the keyboard that rumbled the entire gaming world," Hil finally came to the last and foremost important piece the game developers made for this game.
She got out a keyboard the size of any normal keyboard. But this one was different. It had a special joystick on its right side, with a way to adjust its location slightly to suit any player.
It came in black, with keys that would be lightened in red, golden, and silver lights. Hao was familiar with this keyboard as well so he nodded once she took it out.
But when she started to play with that joystick, his face slightly changed.
"Stop it, you are damaging it," he hurriedly shouted to stop her, making her even this close from letting this keyboard fall off her hands.
"It's so sensitive!" he said in explanation while taking the keyboard off her hands before it would fall.
"I was just trying to test that debatable joystick!" she said in a challenge, not accepting the way he spoke with her just now, "I wasn't going to break it or something!"
"It's sensitive!" he argued, "and it's not debatable! This thing should have been added to our keyboards years ago!"
"I read it's one of the dumbest additions in the world of games!" she crossed her arms while saying in a challenging tone.
"They are the dumbest people ever," Hao retorted in disdain, before pointing at the keyboard in his hand, "it's the thing we should have had a long time ago. Instead of using useless mouses and clicking all the time to move like idiots, this joystick will allow us to fully control our champs to the fullest. Only those with retarded minds will say something like this over this masterpiece."
"Humph, speaking like you are the one to invent it," she was still annoyed by his attitude just now with her.
"Appreciating beauty isn't a crime," he said before pointing at the joystick, "this one here not only acts like a control stick, but it also allows us to use the ultimate of each champ when needed! See this?"
He pointed at the top of this joystick. In fact his joystick wasn't like any small joystick famed to control some games. It was long enough to be held by a grown up man's fist without even touching its top or bottom.
The closest thing to this joystick was the joystick to control drones. In fact Hao heard from one of the developers that they took inspiration from these.
Yet it was also different. Unlike that rigid joystick, this one had many smaller joints, allowing it to move in unbelievable flexibility, to the degree of letting any player control his champ body parts if he was a good micro player.
And that was why he was scared when he witnessed her playing with it like a real stick or something.
The thing he pointed at was a red smooth small ball in the centre of the top of this joystick. He placed his thumb and rolled it, while adding:
"See? It's moving smoothly under my thumb like it isn't fixed by anything. This is the ball to control the range of the skills used by any champ. So say goodbye to those useless antique mouses and their retarded ways to control the champ movements and the skill range and direction. This is the brand new future which we all deserved."
Hil looked at this ball before she extended her hand asking to hold the keyboard.
"Be gentle with it," he warned.
"As if it's not designed to be smashed by our fists," she teased him and he could only swallow such a comment.
After all it wasn't like he didn't smash keyboards before in his pro days. But he still gave her a glaring look, as this keyboard was so damn pricey.
"It's flexible," she commented when she moved the stick with caution, "this ball… It gives me a nice feeling," she admitted when she tried moving the central ball with her thumb. "And it's clickable as well!"
"This is to launch the ultimate skill," Hao said before pointing to the side of this joystick, "and here are the buttons for the assigned spells. Any player can change the settings of these buttons and allocate the spells in the order he sees fit."
"Looks like words coming from a man who played this game," she raised her head off the keyboard and asked with a smile that wasn't one.
"You are free to guess," he didn't give her any firm answer, "anyway you'll be the first member of my team."
"Your team?!" she lowered her hand with the keyboard, but didn't place it back in the case.
"Of course I've bought all of these to build up a team," Hao returned to his desk while she raised one eyebrow.
"And who said I'll agree to join your team?"
"What? Do you have anyone else to provide you with such chique gears and also can coach you to become a better player?"
Against his questions, she stood speechless for a few seconds.
"Come, come and sit before saying anything else," he grinned in a confident way. Of course he knew she wouldn't dare to decline his offer.
As he just said, was there anyone else as crazy as him to give her such an offer?
"I still have the lady!" she said once she sat down again.
"She will give you such good gears? Come on! Just take a tour outside and you'll know the difference. Besides, will she also coach you or something?" Hao didn't show any courtesy when he replied.
"Well… About that…" Hil's face changed abruptly when Hao said these words. Of course he wasn't just bragging or something. He knew the situation here wasn't that good as she knew such facts.
"But she said she will establish a team in the game," she said, trying to stick to the word she once gave to that lady, "one that will be called the Illuminati."
"Oh, such a familiar name," Hao's eyes flashed when she said this name. He already guessed that last night with his challenging match.
'Interesting,' he thought to himself. He now wanted to meet such a mysterious lady more than ever.
"By the way, can you join her team if she offers that?" Instead of being poached, Hil tried to poach him.
"That's just funny," Hao instantly laughed, "I got everything I need to start up my team. Why the hell should I join someone else's team?"
There were other words that he didn't say but to himself. 'I had enough working for someone else! I won't do this again. It's either my team or nothing!'
"This…" his firm and decisive decline startled her. She thought it would be a great idea to join hands with the lady. After all, it was a win-win situation in her eyes.
But little she knew about Hao. He just had a recent and massive trauma out of a similar situation. He would never allow himself to experience such humiliation ever again.
"At least talk to her," she tried again, "after all she will come and visit you today."
"Visit me? What for?" Hao was sure he didn't give any hint about his real intentions here before his chat with Hil just now.
"It's a standard protocol," she shrugged, "she will meet any new leader of the dorm. After all, she was the one who supported us all this time and even created this dorm from the beginning."
"She is such a kind lady," Hao honestly said.
"So can you give her a chance? Please?" Hil mistook his response to be a chance to persuade him. But he slowly shook his head in response.
"Sigh, such stubborn dude you are," she said and he took it as a compliment.
Just before she could say anything more, the delivery man arrived. Hao stood up and paid the price as promised, then the two ate the meal while Hil kept asking things about the game.
"Have you played the game already?"
"What's it like to play it?"