While Alex began his Hunt 5 journey as a hunter, a few hours earlier, inside a massive room, a 16-year-old blonde boy sat on his bed, excitedly unwrapping his first Hunt viewer set.
It was a simple virtual goggles-like device that most viewers used to watch the game. Finally, he was 16 today and allowed to use this device.
So far, he had only seen a few replays of games on his father's phone, but watching the game on a flat-screen wasn't as interesting. If not for the minimum age restriction of 16, he might have gotten this device earlier.
Wasting no time, Ethan picked up his phone and dialed the only saved number in his contacts.
Trrr trrrr.
[Yo, what's up, Ethan?]
Without hesitation, Ethan shouted in excitement, "Ronney, I finally got it! Come online and teach me how to use this thing."
[Damn, you got it right on your birthday. Rich people.]
"Hey, don't start now. You have no idea how long I had to listen to my mom nagging before I convinced her to get me this device."
[Alright, alright, but don't ask me like I am some expert on the device. I only used it once, and the game I saw wasn't that interesting.]
"Ah, really? I thought VR would help us find more interesting games."
Ronney whispered, [I heard from my cousin that we have to find good games on our own.]
"Oh, and how do we do that?"
Ronney replied in a defeated tone, [We need gambling permission for that. I can't do it because my parents already activated the restriction on the set.]
Ethan's eyes widened. "Wait, really? What about mine? How do I know if the restriction is on or not?"
[Look at the top edge of the goggles. If there's a red light on, then you also have restrictions.]
Ethan turned his goggles and examined them hopefully.
He didn't see any light on the goggles. To make sure he was not missing something, he even powered them on. Still, no red light appeared.
He was about to shout in excitement, but then he stopped. He knew that even though Ronney acted sweet, he was sure this guy would snitch on him. This was something he could not afford to take a chance on.
It was only after 2 years he got the chance to see some of those cool matches. 'No, absolutely not.' He didn't want to risk losing his only chance to have fun.
Ronney asked again, [Dude, what happened? Did you see any light?]
"Oh, I was just checking the device after turning it on. I see a red dot on the top. Is that what you're talking about?"
[Sigh, you also have restrictions on bad luck. Well, forget about those things. Do you want to watch a game right now?]
Ethan took a few seconds and then said in a low tone, "After learning about this restriction, I'm not in the mood to watch anything. Hey, is there any way to deactivate this red light?"
[Nah, man, I already checked the internet, but I don't think there's any way around it.]
"Ah, let me find my uncle's number. He used to work for a VR company. Maybe he knows something about it."
[Really? Dude, if you find a way around it, don't forget to tell me.]
"Sure, I hope he knows something. Okay, bye."
[Yeah, I hope so. Bye.]
Ethan disconnected the phone call and sighed in relief. Thank God Ronney didn't suspect much.
He stared back at the goggles and placed them over his eyes. No matter what, he would figure things out on his own.
As soon as Ethan tapped the power button, a red light scanned his eyes, and then everything around him went black. Soon, the Hunter logo appeared in front of his face, and a blue notification popped up.
Ding!
[Iris scanning… Welcome, Ethan Muler, to the viewer space.]
[Age less than 18 years.
Do you want to activate restricted mode? (yes/no)
(Note: In restricted mode, everything related to gore, sexual content, and excessive blood will be modified, and there will be restrictions on gambling and chat groups.)]
Ethan wasted no time and said, "No."
[Gambling mode selected. Viewer Ethan, please connect to your bank account.]
A form appeared in front of him. Ethan clicked the side of the form and started the auto-detection for bank accounts under his name. He already had four accounts, so to be safe, he selected the fourth, least-used account. After a few steps of verification, he was able to connect his bank account to the VR set.
After that, another notification popped up in front of him.
[Please select your viewer's name. (Note: You won't be able to change it, so be careful.)]
Ethan thought for a long time. He tried a few common names, but most of them were already in use. Not wanting to spend more time, he randomly said, "B_dog."
[B_dog… Are you sure you want this viewer's name?]
Ethan nodded, "Yes."
[Welcome, B_dog, to the world of viewers. Note: To view any Level One and beyond games, you must participate in gambling.]
A smile formed on his face, as this was the reason he was waiting for. For two years, he saw multiple trial games but only heard about the ranker games.
He loves those snippets from the popular ranker game and wanted to be like them, but he was never able to see a full ranker match.
With that, a massive home screen appeared in front of him. There were a lot of things happening on the screen, and it overwhelmed him. But at that moment, another notification popped up in front of him.
[First-time user detected! Would you like help to understand the homepage? Please join the newbies' chat group. There, the senior members will guide you through everything you can do on the website.]
With that, he saw a corner of the website start blinking. He didn't think much about it and tapped on the newbie chat.
Soon, a black panel with white chats appeared in front of him.
[Newbie Chat (17/20)]
(new) Inky_3: Hi
(new) Boss_bits: Yo.
(new) B_dog: Hello.
Cool_stick: When are we going to start?
Uncle_404: Look at the total number. We will start once we have 20 members.
Bull_dull: Oh, 404, are you going to tell us about the stuff?
Uncle_404: Yeah, just wait a few more seconds.
(new) Lichi: Hey.
(new) Kami: What's up?
(new) Unis: Hi.
Uncle_404: Okay, we have all the members here. So hello everyone, I am Uncle_404, but you can call me 404 for short. Now, this is going to be a brief introduction to the website. For a better experience, you can drag the chat to your side, away from the website. To do that, just hold the chat for 3 seconds with 2 fingers.]
Ethan tried what 404 suggested, and sure enough, the chat popped out of the homepage. He could move the chat freely wherever he liked. For convenience, he placed it on the left, just next to the homepage.
[Uncle_404: You can move most things on the homepage as you like. You can look at online tutorials about the best homepage setup, or you can try it yourself.
Bull_dull: Done. What's next?
Kami: Don't waste time on boring stuff!]