"What do you mean by, even I can play this game?" Beth's tone was low and even, and she seemed to be shooting daggers out of her eyes.
Jason realized that he had just broken the taboo that their family had an unwritten agreement about, and that was to never mention how terrible Beth was at video games.
Jason had always loved video games and that didn't change after he married Beth. He'd still spend nights with his buddies playing all sorts of different games and thankfully Beth didn't seem to mind.
After seeing how much her husband loved those games Beth decided to join him in playing. While Jason was more than happy to accommodate her wishes and would try teaching her how to play all the new big hype games, there was one problem. Beth was absolutely terrible at gaming.
No matter how good of a teacher Jason tried to be, it was nigh impossible for Beth to understand how game controllers worked. Even once she got the basic functions down, she would be unable to figure out the basic objectives of a game and quickly become lost; her character wandering aimlessly about the game world.
Beth knew she was terrible at video games, but that didn't stop her from attempting them over and over again so she could spend more quality time with her husband. This quality couple time eventually became quality family time as the kids grew older and more capable in video games.
Eventually the children quickly surpassed their mother in video-game prowess. She had a 'never-quit' attitude that carried her through the years of suffering at the hands of gaming. Jason greatly admired this attitude of hers and so he patiently persevered in carrying her through different games.
"Babe, I didn't mean it like…." He started to say but was quickly interrupted by Beth.
"Didn't mean to say it like that? Even I could play the game?" Beths' voice quickly raising in intensity. "Are you trying to imply that I'm terrible at gaming and will have difficulty in this game as well?" She sat back in her chair crossing her arms and put on an adorable pouting face.
Jason stared at her for a moment trying to sense the situation. He knew he was on dangerous grounds at the moment and suddenly realized he would much rather face a horde of demons alone than an upset wife.
"What I meant to say darling," he began, "I think this would be a great game for us and the kids to play together and that you would absolutely love it!" Jason put on a salesman like smile and stiffly held it, hoping that he had managed to put out the fire before it became a raging inferno.
She held her pose in the chair with her arms crossed, but Jason could see that the dagger-like gaze had been put away and in its place was hint of amusement.
She laughed and said to him, "You're too cute when your pushed against a wall and get all nervous like that. I definitely need to push your buttons more often." She winked at him and stood up with her empty plate. "I've actually had several friends invite me to join them in-game tomorrow when it starts. I had originally told them I wasn't planning on joining them, but now I changed my mind! I'll prove you wrong this time!"
Jason laughed and said "In that case I'll order some headsets today!"
Beth nodded and had a smug look of victory on her face.
After a moment, Jason smirked and said, "You know… you can push my buttons whenever you like." Saying that he gave a sultry look that he knew gave his message across.
Beth blushed and looked down at his plate that had barely been touched, "You better hurry up and finish or you'll be late to sign your discharge papers!"
Chuckling Jason quickly checked his phone and realized that he was indeed running behind on time. He wolfed down his scrumptious breakfast and ran to his bedroom to change out of his pajamas. He knew he had only escaped the situation due to his wife's love and mercy.
After changing and giving his wife another kiss, he entered his car, turned on auto-pilot and sat back. While his vehicle began taking him to his base of operations, he turned on his phone and purchased five platinum editions of the VR-headset that would arrive by drone to his house later that day. One for himself, his wife, and his three children.
There were three different editions of the VR headset. They varied in cost, synchronization rate, and the ability to play while sleeping. Synchronization rate affected how realistic the environment was to the individual. The higher synchronization rate, the more realistic the world felt to the individual. The more realistic it was to the individual, the higher their reaction rate in game would be.
This would become important the further into the game one would go as enemies became faster and more powerful, specifically in the player vs player department, or pvp for short. If two individuals with the same training, gear and class fought, but had different synchronization rates; the player with the higher synchronization would win 10/10 times.
Due to this reason, people quickly realized that the edition of the headset was just as important as innate skill and talent. Platinum edition headsets would be in such high-demand after the first week of --Might, Magic, Mayhem-- came out that they would sell for almost 5x their original price.
Eventually VR Pods would come out for sale at insanely high prices, which boasted synchronization rates at 100% and the ability to play for days on end due to nutritional fluids that would be injected during gameplay.
The Bronze Edition was the most basic and cheap version that allowed anyone to enter into the game. It's cost was at $99 and was aimed to be affordable for the majority of people. It's synchronization rate was at 92%. The Silver Edition was double the price at $199 but only brought the synchronization rate up to 95%.
The Golden Edition of the headsets brought the user up to 97% synchronization rate and brought along the option to play while sleeping. This vastly increased the play time of individuals, allowing them to quickly pull ahead of their competitors and leave the casual players in the dust. This edition was priced at $1700.
The Platinum Edition set itself apart by boasting the ability to play while sleeping and was the only edition (besides the VR Pods that would come a month later) that had 100% synchronization rate. This liberated the player of any awkwardness while playing and allowed them to fully immerse themselves in the game. The Platinum Edition was sold at $5,000 per unit.
Jason took a glance at his savings and winced in pain when he saw how much of his savings he had spent. There was only a couple thousand left now, and he knew he was going to get an earful from his wife later that night.
As he waited for the AI to drive him to his office, he stared out the window and began to think of what the future would bring with the next steps he would have to take. Out of the many tasks he needed to complete as soon as possible, one of the major decisions was right in front of him.
As his car pulled into a parking spot, he sent a text message to his chief.
{I'm here} Jason
He quickly received a message in return.
{Come to my office} Chief
Jason stepped out of his car and began the first step in his journey to change the fate he and the world once had.
Passing through security and the hallways of the building, Jason arrived at his Chiefs office. He crisply knocked on the door and waited a moment before he heard a stern and deep voice commanding him to enter from the other side.
Grabbing the doorknob and crisply opening the door, Jason entered the room to see a large man sitting behind a desk. He was a bit on the heavier side, dressed sharply in his military uniform with his mustache sitting proudly on his top lip.
As Jason smartly walked in and stood at attention in front of the desk, he wondered for a moment what his chief would look like without his mustache. With that though he knew his chief would probably kill him if he knew what he was thinking about.
"Jason, no need to stand on ceremony with me. Come, have a seat." Chief said as he gestured towards a chair in front of his desk.
Jason smiled, relaxed and languidly sat on the chair and spoke, "You have my discharge paperwork ready? I'll be sleeping on the couch for a month if I don't sign that today!" He knew that for a fact, as that was exactly what had happened in his past life after he had re-enlisted on this day.
Chief chuckled and relaxed back in his chair, clasping his hands across his slightly plump belly. "Before I pull those papers out I wanted to talk to you. You have a very specific skill set that the military spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on. I know you plan on getting out, but I was authorized to give you a special re-enlistment offer."
Already knowing what the "special" offer was going to be, Jason nodded and waited for the Chief to finish his spiel. Essentially the offer was about $200,000 with half of it to be paid up front and the rest at the end of the 6 year re-enlistment period.
This was a decent offer that would've paid for all of his fathers medical bills and paid for all his debts. Yet in his past life, the half that was supposed to be paid up front was supposedly delayed, and each time he would inquire they would tell him that the delay was pushed out further.
He eventually found out that his Chief never actually had the authority to give him a special offer, but that he as the Chief would receive a reward if he managed to convince Jason to stay on as an operator.
As the chief was going on about the pros and cons of staying in the military Jason interrupted him.
"Chief, I really appreciate the offer, but nothing you say can convince me to break my word to my wife."
Chief paused for a moment, and seeing the determination in Jason's eyes, he sighed.
"I was worried you were going to say something like that Jason. In this case I have no choice now. Jason, there's a Top Secret mission that I want to invite you to be a part of…"