Looking around, James could feel the difference from other VR Games he has played in the past.
"It's weird, I can't place a finger on it but this just feels kinda complete as if it has what the others are missing," , James thought to himself as he walked toward the building, the air, the smell and the feel was just there, complete. "Must be one hell of a Physics engine they using"but then he paused" I get why everywhere felt deserted, they want everyone to get used to the feeling, hah, what a showoff but what can I say, they've got me hooked just with this realistic settings, I can't wait to see what they do with the combat engine ", then he started running feeling the wind and that freedom he never knew he could feelin his own body, it has to be known that James has always had difficulty doing extraneous exercise, low stamina and feeble body that crashes once he overexert himself in any work, so it was understandable when he started tearing up but he willed himself to calm down as he was slowed down and started walking toward the building and pushing the door open and got hit with a blast of hot air coming from different people cramped in a single hall that was as large as 2 football stadium joined together still yet it was packed full with players of different shapes and sizes all scattered around the building except the middle that was empty of players, it was occupied by a buff, bare chested and tall middle aged man that stood like a statue overlooking all the players with his hand folded in his chest, James was curious what's going on so he went closer to the nearest player that was closer to him and gave him a tap on his shoulder to call his attention "sorry to bother you but what going on here and what's with the tall mascot in the middle of the hall" James asked the sweaty teenager that was fiddling with the edge of his commemoner clothes.
The guy turned sharply then glared at James "don't scare people like that and didn't the weird orb called the guide tell you what to do once at the ground floor and didn't you get a floor objective already what is there to explain, I guess there'll always be people like you in different games that need handholding ", the teenage boy humphed before resuming to leave before he got held by James once again "sorry but the guide didn't explain anything to me and sent me here directly so i only got the floor objective to work with", James explained as he cursed in his mind "that buggy orb can't even get a single job done, dammit if this was reality I'd have gotten Adam and the rest to give this idiot a makeover for his face ", but didn't express it outwardly.
"You must be a pretty bad person to have made a bad impression on the guide since he was nice and answered all questions except those who were asking weird questions, even those only got rejected politely, I guess you can't judge a book by its cover, even a handsome guy like you has got a personality... Sigh", the guy lamented with a shake of his head, James had to resist the urge to smack the idiot on his face.
"Well listen here, there are different buildings on this floor corresponding to different Jobs or Classes as they're call in this tower, this building is for the Fighter class which include: Monks, Boxers,Fistfighters and the likes of those that fight with their body and it's called the Fighters arena, the other building for different classes gott their own weird name, I tell you this game is different in a weird way, more realistic too, so the only way to move on is to challenge that guy over there and you'll be able to leave the building to gather experience points and have access to the training room, so here we are locked up with that guy but no one's challenging him since they can't even see his level" the teenage boy finished.
"Ohh, I see thanks anyway " James gave the boy a nod then started walking toward the middle the boy noticed this then he ran after James "wait.. what are you doing" he asked perplexed
"Huh, of course I'm about to go challenge him, I'd like to get this over with" James replied
"But why don't you wait and see if other will challenge him so you can at least know what you're up against", the boy was still confused
"Nah, nevermind, doesn't matter anyway" James replied as he finally stepped past the final player closer to the man and came face to face with the buff guy giving off huge pressure that almost made James fall but he held himself well.
The man looked at James for awhile before he shook his head in what felt like disappointment then looked away. James also took his time to inspect the man he was facing then he decided to check his info,
"Appraise" he though in his mind
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Name: Veskya
Class: ???
Grade: ???
Level: ???
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"If this guy is so strong why is he here, do they not want anyone to pass or what" James was having a bad feeling about the man but still went in a combat stance
"Please do guide me", James spoke to the man in a calm manner that left little to no doubt about his confidence. The man raised a brow and gave James a second look as if wondering where his confidence came from but still have a nod as accepting the challenge without a change in his pose standing with both his arm folded he said: "Come, show me what you got as long as you can hit me you win", it was James turn to be surprised but he still nodded and took an exaggerated breathe the focused on the man , suddenly the players around felt the atmosphere became charged as if two titans were about to clash but they knew it was false, just a titan standing against an ant. but all that got nothing to do with James as he was in a different dimension entirely, this wasn't his first time fighting and maybe it was coincidence or fate he was actually a fighter in all the VR Games he's always played, it was a familiar territory but this time it was different as if all he went through was all his fights in those VR Games were merely preparation for this moment, his breathing pattern changed to a different rhythm, the breathing method was something he labored and worked hard taking countless hours to create and perfect to help him when he goes through extraneous exercise and it also helped when he fights in the past VR Games as they reduce the stress on his mind when he fights and he can last much more longer, conserve his stamina and increase his strength.
Ding!.
There was a alert on his interface but James was too focused to hear it, even Veskya was starting to get serious when he saw the kid he dismissed starts exuding a pressure even he felt even though he could shrug it off as nothing but a gentle breeze it was still there, and he became a little interested in what the kid was about to show him.
Even the crowd of players that were beginning to surround them took a few steps back unconsciously before someone in the crowd thought out loud
"Why does this feel familiar, as if I've witnessed it in the past"
"Yeah me too" someone else added
"It's Lord Alexander!!!", someone yelled from the back and everyone gasped in shock, Lord Alexander was a legend in the game community for his combat and leadership abilities, he never created a guild or gaming studio, nobody knew who he was except for the team of band of misfits he's always with, they will challenge dungeons getting first clears, beating others record, challenge top players and then fight Field Bosses that requires 100 player with his team of not more than 20 players and win with minimal losses, he was truly a legend, he was mostly loved by players who fight without weapons using only their fists as he was a role model to them that they could fight players using sword and bows and defeat them with nothing more than their fists.
The incident that brought him world renown was a fight that took place after some guild member of a high ranking guild PKed his team member for a rare piece of equipment, he took matters into his own hand and ambushed the core members of the guild who were on their way to fight a Field Boss, one man against 100 players of the same level and he destroyed them all with no one else left standing after a fight that took more than 2 hours to conclude, then called the rest of his team members to assemble and went on to defeat the Field Boss the guild was about to challenge, the whole fight was recorded by a passing lone player who then went ahead to upload it on the cyberspace, there was an uproar throughout the cyberspace as some thought it was a directed movie and not a fight as it was impossible to fight nonstop for more than 30minutes tops but these people opinion were drowned in spit when others came up with more videos and evidence that Lord Alexander doesn't act according to convention, he breaks them.
Since then there were lots of people trying to join James team everytime but he always reject them, different guilds sent invitations to him promising lots of benefits but he always rejects them all.
The only thing that makes all the player base frustrated is that he never spends more than a year on a single game before he disappears from the gaming scene after dropping negative reviews on all the game pointing out different bugs and unoptimized flows in the game thereby causing the game companies playerbase to fall through and affecting their shares in the stock market, some displeased companies levy lawsuits against him but retracts them immediately after receiving documents containing the errors and bugs contained in the game.
So it wasn't a surprise that James was popular to the more avid gamers as most have watched most of his recordings and some have fought against him so they knew almost everything about him, but that was none of James business as after feeling he was ready looked his opponent in the eye and mouthed in a voice that belied the tone and authority of someone who was used to fighting strong opponents "Here I Come!"
BOOM!