Ian's one true love in life was Chronicles of Mythos.
As an aimless teenager wandering through solidified school relationships my options for company were queer not to mention availability and lifestyle rarely mashed up. My folks told me to try the media but after a month of loose effort I dipped under.
I turned to the domain faithful forever, in keeping me entertained —Games and lore.
Imagine my confoundment when I happened upon the unveiling and teaser of Chronicles of Mythos. The centuries most masterful combination of my two favorite things, the banger... it was premiering with Advax's newest marvel: The Vaxlore Chamber!
Vaxlore was the name of the first hyperimersive VR chamber that would grace mankind.
Star-struck, that I must have watched the trailer 18 times. It was then and there my life's mad compass, purpose, stabbed a fierce north.
There was nothing more to think about but preparations. I talked to my parents about buying the Vaxlore...and the construction service. That was where I hit my first road block, curious, we all visited the net and got an estimate of the price that wiped my mom's summer tan clean off.
1.8 million wasn't a number most sane parents would be comfortable spending on their kids gaming rig. Nothing was said. Nothing more about the game from me or them.
Desperate, my thoughts fizzled away at home and at school for three days till I came to a conclusion. It was a fact I had to have the game when it came out. Fhe only way I was getting the funds within four years was by my self.
Swiftly I started streaming my gameplay on Tidbit.
It took awhile learning the onsite rules how I would get paid and the science of entertaining hosting but I eventually began earning a stable cashflow. Lucrative as it was it didn't meet more than half my quota in three years. Then came my "labours" I signed up for various competitions hell bent on winning.
The first was a local go cart contest. The first stage was to build one out of parts and submit it to the host for appraisal. I failed twice and got one warning for my borderline cheating builds. Thankfully the last was accepted in the midst of all this I repeatedly honed my driving skills. Imagine my glower when I was told we would all race with identical registered issues.
After a tough race I lost.
I felt despair.
Why? Why didn't I win?
After a week of depression and giving me space, my Dad couldn't stand it then left me with a single sentence.
"Now atleast you know what it means to be a man, reach harder."
I promptly got up, cleaned up my messy room, then took a shower. I swore then I would die before I failed. I spent 2 weeks in an endless cyber hellscape pinging various competitions while still streaming.
They were eight competitions in total. First was a citywide marathon, next was a popular game show, an under 17 soccer league title. I even did a gardening contest when my father graciously offered mentorship and monetary support.
What really got me was a show called Survival of the fittest in zones 61, 83, 26, and 59. It had this lackluster name but the money was far more than what I got from winning any other competition.
I was 18 then, a month away from my birthday, Advax's Alpha team had finished the chamber and the game and it was to be released in 9 months. This competition was scheduled to last 8 months and it would put me at enough for the 2 million dollar game rig.
The ordeal left him raw in the head. Above all, he won. Now, he would reap the fruit of his labour.
Two months later, the he had the rig constructed and logged into the game at it's launch. It was unfortunate Ian had lost much of his fervour for the game from his enormous mental tolling to get it.
After uploading the scan of his neural pathways, Ian sank into the synthetic pool.
...
Body scan complete
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Welcome to Chronicles of Mythos
A transparent screen appeared infront of him inquiring he type down his in game alias. After typing Ian he was about to hit the enter button but stalled with a thoughtful expression.
"Ian lives a discontented life as a man struggling to relax. I loathe Ian's reality where I strive for ordinary results repressed by reality. I will have my vengeance on the world so cruelly stole my joy, my freedom. I will just like 'he' did."
With that he typed the six letter name pressing enter.
Select your faction
Celestial
Warrior
Noble
Ancient
Peasant
Guardian
Destroyer "
Embyronic class
Warmonger- Basic
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It had been three years now after going through a year of multiplayer rankings with players all over the world he quit when the rankings stated to come out. He focused on enjoying various class branches in game.
There where so many plays that he was only beginning to understand various perks of the Destroyer faction. He was called for an interview just about that. While he was crossing the street debating whether to talk about the hidden line he found someone screamed.
The show went well. At least it seemed so at first, so when lots of trolling and peppering began over the seemingly bogus existence of the hidden class his reputation imploded. He was made a laughing stock, a referential soothsayer.