I was staring up at the sky. There weren't really any thoughts in my head. Just waiting for the hour to be over.
"Gabriel!" A boy scowled.
Again, like I said, I wasn't doing anything. Just sitting down and doing, well, nothing.
But this shorter guy came and accosted me. But because he was shorter than me. Me of all people. It came off as more of an annoyance than anything.
"Yes?"
I had quite some fun just messing with the guy. It was to the point that I could barely even remember the reason why we were on such bad terms.
But what're you gonna do?
We were hostile to the other from... well like I said, I couldn't remember.
So why should I try to reconcile? Really, why?
"The fuck are you doing here you mute bastard!"
He put his hands out like he wanted to box with me. Laughable.
I guess he wanted to fight but really? Really?
I tried to hold back the laugh because... well it would encourage him more but it ended up coming out either way.
He threw the first punch. Like I had done a hundred times before, I grabbed his arm and placed it behind his back.
It was a classic move to put a lot of pain on my opponent. Pain my opponent felt.
I smiled viciously. This was my favorite.
"Oh..." I muttered. Letting the boy go.
My face was placed before his fist as he yelled out some profanity.
"HEY! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
It was the person who I assumed was supposed to administer the exam.
"No, I know what is happening and you can go back home. You're disqualified."
She looked at my teary eyes and bruised face.
The other students said nothing.
So she just sighed and went on her way towards the hall.
The security guards escorted John outside of the school. Oh yeah, John was the name of the boy. Not that it needed to be remembered.
I tried to relax against the wall but just as I was getting comfortable the bell rang and a voice came on the intercoms.
"Nominees please enter the gym, further instructions will be given momentarily."
I followed the crowd and entered the gym. Taking a seat at the exact front. Well not completely exact as there were two people to my right that would probably be considered first and second. But whatever.
Minutes passed until every seat was taken. There wasn't a single empty one and when a late student tried to enter he was kicked out.
The same admin who had John kicked out came to the mic, tapped on it for a second, then spoke.
"Thank you for gathering, unfortunately today will not be like any of the other exams."
Some people started mumbling and I could see why. They had taken rumors at face value and thought this would be a written exam. Idiots~
They were confident because they assumed they were right.
I mean it was likely to be true seeing as the previous two exams, that we knew of, were the same
But what can you do. They all prepared for something that wasn't even true.
A curtain lifted up to reveal two state of the art pods.
"As you all can see" She pointed to the two pods behind her, "There will be no written portion, no interview, a pure test of skill."
She stepped down and the other teachers went around giving out slips of paper with numbers written on them.
"If you have all been given a number…?" She trailed off and turned her head to one of the staff behind her. He nodded and she continued, "Then can I please have number 1 and number 2 come to the stage."
/./
Sanctuary
A simple name for such a complex game.
Apparently the name was picked for a very specific reason that was disclosed to us.
Through the developers and beta testers who played it over and over again.
They all came to a unanimous decision.
A sanctuary for each and every person. Whether they want to rest from work, or to explore the endless reaches of the galaxy.
This game is a sanctuary for the minority and the majority. Having features for every walk of life.
It could even be a stand in for real life if one wanted it to be.
A game that could be anything and everything. But if it was just that then these countless schools, colleges, offices.
They would never consider investing in this game. But they had.
All because there was a trade of money.
People could make an account and the stuff they purchased would go to a bank account and vice versa.
So a person could buy anything in the game. A whole new industry.
All because it was so lifelike and billions of people were projected to play it. Even more with all the investments.
Everything would have to go through a player. Though that wasn't too much of a problem and there would probably be solutions found after sometime.
But really, think of it. Truly think of it. This was at a scale never seen before.
Think of the industries that would bloom out of this game. The sword masters whose hobby was a mere niche would flourish, traditional blacksmiths would be paid exorbitant amounts to be able to do what they could do in the game.
There was so much. So many possibilities.
New countries could be made by a handful of players.
Truly, it was a sanctuary.
A place where billions of people played. A whole new second earth with an economy to match it.
Really. It was no wonder that this was so hyped. So advertised. And that so many were ready. Literal hundreds of millions waiting for the first day of release.
For it was the first and only true VR game to ever appear within this reality. Within this world.