Leaving the dorms, Ian's first thought was to try visiting the school library where he could look for books to help him find out what a chimera was but the school seems to be closed and inaccessible to students for now.
I guess that would wait until tomorrow," he sighed as he turned away from the school with no idea where to go. He wasn't much of an outdoor lover so he wasn't exactly keen to go exploring the city. A second reason why that was a bad idea was the fact that a lot of people would outdoors right now, including bullies.
"I think I should just go back to the room," he sighed as he slowly made his way back to the compound.
"Hey, did you hear about the VR tournament the third years are hosting?" his ears perked up as he heard someone say. He was already at the gate of the dorm for the first years.
"What tournament?" a different guy asked.
He casually stood there, looking at his watch as if he was checking something to make his eavesdropping less obvious.
"The third years are hosting a tournament for the whole school, including the first years," the conversation continued. "They would be asking for challengers for some of their best fighters. There would be no risk of injury since it'll be in virtual reality."
"I think it's just an avenue to show off their power to first like us. They are just trying to tame us."
"It would be interesting nevertheless. No one is gonna oppose them either way. Besides, we might see a few surprises. There might be a few first and second years strong enough to beat the thirds years."
"While that's possible, it would only be adding to their rank. They would be scouting whoever is that strong. The second years should also be in cahoots with them. They should already know all the strongest students among the second years by now."
"Would you stop being such a critic and follow me?" the first person groaned as he dragged his friend along. "It'll be fun either way. They'll be hosting it in the VR arcade too. I've always wanted to see that place."
Ian watched them leave towards the direction of the arcade and with nothing important to do, Ian decided that viewing the contest was a pleasant waste of time.
He followed after the boys at a distance, careful not to alert them since he didn't know the direction to the arcade himself. They didn't look to be watching their surroundings either, or he just didn't seem to be threatening enough for them to care.
"I just might be really good at scouting," he thought as he felt a little proud of himself.
They soon arrived at the VR arcade and he immediately stopped following them to go his own way. This VR arcade was a lot bigger than the one in the dorm compound and walking in, there were a lot of VR pods. A big screen at the far right end made it possible for everyone in the arcade to watch the games in the pods.
He made his way to the desk front as he decided it would be better to go into the pod. He's always heard about the VR pod from his classmates in school but he's neither had the time nor funds to go try one out.
Now though, he had the 50 digital coins given to all students daily. He had nothing better to spend his money on either way.
"How much is it to rent the pod?" he asked the lady behind the desk. She had purple hair, dark skin and a beautiful smile. He was a little taken aback as she smiled at him. People rarely smiled at him.
"Oh, it's free today," she smiled. "The thirds years already rented all the pods for their event. Hold on, I'll try finding you a free pod if there is any."
She tapped and swiped quickly on the holographic screen for a few seconds before flashing another smile at him.
"You're in luck," she said as she tapped something and his watch beeped. "A pod was free a few seconds ago. Make your way to Isle 32 and use Pod 15. Have a good gaming experience."
"Thanks," he smiled back as he immediately made his way to the pod. He hurried over to the pod, a little apprehensive that he might be bullied off it.
He found the pod easily and he immediately made his way to the pod. His watch lit up as he approached the pod and the pod also responded, with the light in front of it lighting up too.
He hesitated for a few seconds before getting in, unsure if it was safe to do so. After his close call with death last night, he realized how much he loved his life, as pathetic as he thought it was.
He finally decided to get in since there was nothing to lose anyway. He would die in ten months.
[Welcome, Ian Yaeger]
A monotone female voice said and the words were also displayed in the form of a notification in front of him, reminding him of the system. This caused a slight shiver down his spine.
"I hope this one doesn't tell me that I'll be suffocating to death in a few seconds," he thought.
[Would you like to register an account or play as a guest?]
"As a guest," he replied.
[Confirmed.]
His consciousness was soon transported into the game, making him appear in a waiting room of sorts.
[Welcome, Guest.]
A notification appeared in front of him, but there was no voice this time.
[As a guest, your stats can be set manually by you. Set your skin and stats.]
A tab showing different skins soon appeared in front of him, giving him a variety to choose from.
After a lot of thought, he decided to go with the skin of a ninja but changed the clothing from the tight black outfit to something with a little more freedom but flexible enough to move in.
For the hair, he chose blue spiky hair and blue eyes for the face while the rest of his face was covered with a mask. He chose daggers for weapons and a red scarf to cover his neck as an addition to the outfit. He thought the scarf would give him a menacing look.
"Stats, huh?" he thought. "Should I change my original stats?"
After a lot of deliberation, he decided against to only tweak it a little. He didn't want to become addicted to a life of being strong in virtual reality.
He chose to make all his stats a balanced figure. In the end, his stats looked like this;
[User: Ian Yaeger]
[Health: 10/10]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Stamina: 5]
[Would you like to choose an ability?]
"No," he said and the option disappeared.
"There's no point in choosing one," he thought. "I'm only here to spectate anyway."
Now he was faced with a new dilemma. He doesn't know how he was gonna watch the tournament.
First, he decided to test a few things. He touched and pinched himself and was surprised that he could feel every single thing. It was almost real. He was amazed at how well the pod was able to replicate human feelings like pain in the game.
"I just hope they don't bully in this game," he thought. "That should be impossible, right? I can just log out if anyone acts funny."
With that thought in mind, he decided to tackle his present problem, a way to watch the tournament.
"Um, how can I watch the tournament?"
[Would you like to watch the ongoing tournament?]
[Yes] [No]
He tapped Yes and one more question popped up.
[Would you like your name to be made public to other viewers?]
[Yes] [No]
He tapped No this time and he was immediately transported to an arena-like area with a lot of people sitting in the stands. He was transported to one of the few empty seats at the back as people cheered.
"Wow," he said out loud. "Is this inside a game? It feels so real."
"Never been in a VR game, before?" a girl beside him asked, causing him to turn around. "Woah, what's with that outfit?"
She had green hair, long ears and a symmetrically beautiful face. She was dressed in a plain green jumpsuit and had a sword on her back.
"What's wrong with it?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"Oh, I'm sorry if I sounded offensive," she said. "You just looked a little too.....unreal."
"Why do you say so?" he asked. "Is it unusual?"
"No, it's not?" she laughed nervously. "It just made it obvious that you are trying to hide, Mr...."
"Anonymous," he replied quickly.
"Yup," she nodded in confirmation. "You are definitely trying to hide."
"Um, yeah," he replied.
"You don't have to cover your face and all that," she said. "You can just change your face without having to make it obvious that you are hiding. Just like me. This isn't how I look outside of the game. If anything, covering your face only draws attention to you."
"I think I prefer it this way," Ian smiled. The girl didn't see it though.
"Okay," she shrugged. "I'm Bria."
"Oh, I'm-"
The crowd roared loudly as a new contestant made it to the stage. It was obvious from the reaction that this person was a favourite among the contestants.
He scanned the crowd for a while, giving no reaction to their cheers before pointing directly at Ian.
"You!" he said. "I choose you as my next opponent!"