[Data being Downloaded…]
A mechanical voice echoed incessantly in Roy's mind. He felt as if he were suspended in mid-air, yet he couldn't sense his body, nor could he pry his eyes open.
[Data download complete]
As the voice faded, Roy strained to open his eyes and finally succeeded. He found himself ensnared in a colossal tank chamber. His face was obscured by a large helmet, and his body was submerged in a tank brimming with liquid. He was clad in a sleek, black suit with pipes snaking from his body to the apex of the chamber.
Roy attempted to move, but his body refused to cooperate. When he tried to unlatch the chamber, he found himself powerless.
After what felt like an eternity, he spotted a minuscule red dot on his helmet. He concentrated on it, blinking his eyes as if he were donning a virtual reality headset.
A window materialized out of nowhere and instructed,
[Blink three times to open the chamber.]
Without a second thought, he blinked, and a mechanical voice resonated,
[Opening chamber, Asura.]
The liquid in his chamber began to drain slowly, and the floor of the chamber gave way. Roy was left wondering,
'What on earth is happening?'
Suddenly, the pipes tethered to him were all detached without any forewarning.
He let out a muffled cry as his throat felt alien to him,
"Holy shit, I can't move! Stop it, somebody stop it!"
He slid through a slick tunnel for a few moments before abruptly landing on a soft bed that cushioned his fall. Roy found himself sprawled on his back.
When he tried to rise and walk, his body remained unresponsive. Baffled about why his body wasn't obeying, he pondered,
'Did the experiment fail?'
The only thing Roy could do was scream and shout. Out of sheer frustration, he bellowed,
"Body, move! Move, damn it, move already!"
[Voice Recognized]
[Welcome home, Mr. Roy Keaton. I'm your A.I. Assistant. Your parents designed me to assist you.]
A female A.I. voice introduced herself in a serene, gentle tone.
Roy, feeling disoriented as he couldn't even feel his body, asked anxiously,
"Why is my body not moving? I can't even lift a finger. What's going on?"
[Your body and mind are at 0% Synchronization State.]
[To restore that, you need to wait. Should I initiate the procedure for Synchronization?]
Roy, eager and impatient to regain control of his body, commanded,
"Yes. Start already. How long will it take for me to walk properly?"
[Beginning Synchronization - 0%]
[To reach 100% Synch rate, it's going to take two or three days.]
"I can't just lay here for that long. What about eating, restroom, and everything?"
[Your body is engineered to function at 100% without consuming food and water for one month, and for the restroom, there will be no waste that needs to be ejected; everything will be converted to energy.]
'Holy shit. I'm a superhuman now. Just imagine what I can do with my body when it's fully recovered.'
Roy's mind was already racing with the possibilities, like leaping from building to building, averting a train crash, or even instigating a train crash.
After some time, while lying down, he surveyed the room.
The room was bathed in the glow of LED lights. He noticed a stack of files on a rack in the corner, a solitary PC system on a table, and a massive box, nearly seven feet tall, shrouded with a sheet near the table. He then glanced up at the ceiling and saw a message that read:
"This is your new home, Roy."
A smile tugged at the corners of Roy's mouth, and his eyes glistened with unshed tears, as he mused,
'Father must have written this.'
After six hours of idle contemplation, staring blankly at the walls,
[Mr. Roy Keaton, your Synchronization rate has reached 10%.]
[Body motions have reached the minimum requirements. You can now move your body.]
Upon hearing the A.I. voice,
Roy attempted to rise but was met with a numbing sensation coursing through his body. He grappled with his unresponsive limbs, managing to stand, but his legs buckled when he tried to walk.
He hoisted himself up again and endeavored to walk in a straight line, gradually acclimating to the sensation.
A broad grin spread across his face as Roy exclaimed,
"Yes, I'm walking! Holy shit, I'm walking! Look, I'm walking!"
In his excitement, Roy tried to jump but promptly face-planted the moment he left the ground, muttering,
"Okay, still too much to ask for a sudden jump, huh? Still, walking is more than enough now, I guess."
Roy ambled towards the table in the corner. He sifted through the documents one by one, revealing reports about Synthetic Bodies. One detail caught his eye, leaving him aghast.
"What the? The success rate of transferring memory to a synthetic body is less than 5%, and even after a successful transfer, the test subject is most likely to go into a coma."
In a fit of rage, Roy flung the documents and bellowed,
"Are you kidding me?!"
Roy sank to his knees, cradling his head in his hands.
"What kind of lunatic parents do I have?! This is horrifying!"
Gradually regaining his composure, Roy finished reading the document, which primarily detailed the workings of the synthetic body.
He then settled into the chair before the system on the table and powered it on. The hard drive was barren—no backed-up files, pristine and untouched. Despite his best efforts, he found no data.
"This system has no files, completely blank. What am I supposed to do with it? No second OS, no user IDs, no data history, no internet access, nothing. It's just an empty system with nothing but a stadium picture as wallpaper. Where the heck is this stadium?"
As he rambled to himself, his interest in the system waned, and he sauntered towards the massive box. As he yanked the sheet off, he was greeted by a colossal glass box.
Roy was taken aback and burst into hysterical laughter upon seeing the contents.
"He knew, he knew I would walk in this path no matter how many times. That crazy father of mine. Look at that, the in-game Black Suit Armor from 'A Thief's Paradise' game is a spitting image of this. How do I crack this open?"
Roy pumped his fist in the air, as his path slowly began to materialize, and he was eager to embark on this journey.
Roy tried to pry open the box, running his hand over the glass in search of an opening, but to no avail. Frustrated, he hollered,
"Hey, A.I., how do I unlock this box?"
[Not enough authorization to disclose this information.]
"What? Not enough authorization! Then who can authorize this? Tell me."
[Not enough authorization to disclose this information.]
"Damn you!!"
Exhausted, he abandoned his exploration and retreated to bed.
--15 hours have elapsed since his revival--
[Mr. Roy Keaton, your Synchronization rate has escalated to 25%. You can now access information on the system.]
[A.I. program has been upgraded to intermediate mode.]
"Seriously! Hell yeah,"
Roy exclaimed, leaping from his bed as he felt the stiffness in his body recede. He sprinted towards the system and powered it on again. The screen displayed:
[Internet access Unlocked]
[User ID unlocked]
Roy fired up his browser and delved into everything related to Roy Industries. He was taken aback by the revelations about his imprisonment but maintained his composure while reading, knowing that anger wouldn't serve him well. He was determined to make Taylor experience the same agony he had endured.
Roy soon discovered how he was falsely accused of murdering his own father, a hefty bounty placed on his accomplices, and a statue erected in honor of his father's contributions.
What piqued Roy's interest the most was the re-release of "A Thief's Paradise: Gain or Nothing" VRMMORPG. He scrutinized all the details about the revamped video game he had previously dismantled.
Roy ruminated in a calm manner, anticipating something of this sort from Taylor,
"That cunning Taylor. He changed new algorithms and models, even neural networks for this new game and created a new programming language to make things complicated, but kept the game UI to show this is the same game. "
Roy reflected and berated himself,
" Taylor is good; I can't approach carelessly. James is just a part of the company, but Taylor is behind every operation and project. Damn it, how did I let myself be fooled? I should have been more careful. From now on, I never should trust anyone."
As time ticked away, Roy did nothing but gaze at the system in the room, absorbing how everything had transformed. Soon, Roy began formulating a plan and then slowly retreated to bed and reclined. Eventually, he succumbed to sleep.
[Mr. Roy Keaton, your Synchronization rate has surged to 50%]