Vivan regains his consciousness by a system voice.
Downloading files 97%...
98%
"Where am I?" – He asked himself in a half asleep voice.
99%
Download completed.
"Wait! Downloaded? What is downloaded? "- the thought echoed in his mind.
Patch 10.3.1 installed.
Booting System files.
"What is going on?" – he shouted inside his head.
For a split second, everything froze. Then a thin red crack pulsed across his vision like a shattered screen. It disappeared before he could blink, but something inside him whispered that this wasn't normal.
Initializing Exile.exe.
Then the world expanded in front of his eyes. A room made of white tiles. At the center of it a female character was standing. Vivan was few inches away from the character, standing on his feet.
Checking subject mentality. – system voice echoed in his head.
"Who is checking what?"- Vivan was confused.
Subject mentality – condition stable.
Subject heart rate stable – 64 bpm.
"Who the hell is talking?"- More confusion added to Vivan as the only human except him in that room was just standing still.
He felt empty inside, like something had been carved out and stitched shut. He tried to remember how he came here but nothing came in his mind, then he tried to remember past events to come to some answer but there was nothing to recollect in his head. He could not even remember his name.
"Why can't I remember anything? What is this place? Who am I?"- the questions were piling up inside his head.
He tried for sometimes but all the efforts were in vain. So he moved forward towards the standing lady with a hope to get some answers. As soon as he came closer to the lady she spoke with a welcoming smile-
"Welcome to Exile. Player1247."
Vivan was afraid hearing that. He asked with a shout-
"What? I have been given exile? By whom? For what reason?"
And the system returned.
Subject heart rate spiking 5% - 68 bpm
The lady gave a look to her left as if she was looking at the owner of that systematic voice.
"Please do not panic Player1247. I'm Erina, your AI guide through the registration process for the game. Do you want to register now?"
Vivan was shocked.
"It is a game? I'm in a game? How's that even possible?" –all these thoughts spiraled in his head. But as he is now, he knew he won't get any answers out of his head. So he decided to try asking the AI guide.
"So you are Erina, right?"
"Yes! So shall we proceed with the registration step?"
"Hold on a second, Erina. You see I'm having a little problem remembering how I came to this place. So can you help me with that?"
Erina smiled a little-
"Sure! Player1247. You were hit by a truck on the crosswalk on 31/12/2056. Then your body went to coma while you were being treated under special care of Dr. Hedwig Maestro."
"Coma? What? I'm in coma? Are you for real? Then how am I standing and talking with you? "- Vivan asked in confusion and fear. His heart was pounding louder.
And again like a notification-
Subject heart spiking rapidly- 70%, 109 bpm.
Possibility towards state of cardiac arrest -10%.
Erina looked again at her left, then worriedly continued under the same tone, calm, composed.
"Our organization, The V.R Corp, took responsibility for your body and now you are under an experimental program called Exile.exe where we try to keep users brain stimulated, so that the user does not fall to eternal sleep."
"V.R. Corp? Experimental program? What about my parents? Did they gave you guys the authorization? Who gave you the rights to do all these?"- he asked in frustration, anger swirling up inside.
That was too much information to process for him and Erina was indifferent to these questions of him, she only glitched twice. So Vivan understood that she is really a program and can only provide available information. Therefore he tried to keep his composure. He needs more information rather than questioning possibilities of which he may not get any answers.
"So you guys use Virtual Reality system for medical usage?"
The system voice notified-
Subject heart stabilizing- 80 bpm…75 bpm…68 bpm.
Heart rate stabilized – 64bpm.
"Yes, Player1247." – Erina replied with a relieved tone.
Vivan got a little irritated-
"Well Erina! I don't think that's my name."
Erina looked at screen popping up in front of her face and then smiled-
"Yes! It is not your real name but the name that you are registered under this program."
"So do you know my real name?"- his eyes curious.
"Yes, Player1247! As per the identification documents found in your wallet your real name is Vivan Halden, age – 24, male as per the hospital report."
Vivan's mood lightened a little. At least he got his name.
"Well then can you call me by my real name, because it will feel easier to communicate that way."
"Sure, Player1247."
A system voice echoed- Profile name updated to Vivan Halden for Player1247.
Erina continued-
"Successfully updated! Well shall we proceed for the registration Vivan Halden?"
Vivan responded hurriedly.
"Uhmm! Actually I have 2 more questions before that. Firstly, why a game? Because it is a part of treatment right?"
Erina replied to that calmly-
"We found multiple mails for Pro gamer applications in your email history. So we have decided to use our first V.R. game project to be the best way of keeping your brain stimulated."
"Ok! Last question, why can't I remember anything?"
Erina replied to that seriously after glitching once again.
"You had undergone heavy surgeries due to the accident, also your brain was partially damaged. So amnesia is not uncommon in these kinds of situations. But do not worry, that's why we took you under the special program to keep your brain fully stimulated."
Vivan was not fully satisfied with the explanation but there was nothing he could do apart from going forward. Also she said he was a gamer as per the record so it should be alright. So he decided to go with the registration process.
"AAh! I'm not getting more clear of an answer right? Fine then Erina. Let's go with the registration process."- he replied with a smile full of worries.
Erina replied joyously-
"Alright Vivan Halden. Before we start the process here are some details you need. This is a Virtual Reality Open world MMORPG. To activate the interface, please say interface. "
Vivan followed-
"Interface"
A red screen popped up in front of his eyes.
Inside the screen there were three rows with blank field to type and a button, create account.
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Username:
Password:
Confirm Password:
Create account
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Erina continued –
"Once you have registered with your desired username we will proceed to the evaluation room, where depending on your performance your basic stats will be decided, new stat points will be gifted for you to allot, you may also gain some unique skills."
After giving it some thoughts Vivan decided his in game name. In the username section he inserted GhostWalker. Then passwords and finally he hit the create account button.
And with that Erina welcomed him with a bow of grace-
"Congratulations! For registering to Exile.exe, let me give you a fundamental tutorial GhostWalker."
Vivan replied to that with acceptance.
"That would be really appreciated."
Erina smiled gracefully-
"Say Status"
As soon as Vivan pronounced status, a new window in blue color opened.
At the top right corner of the screen –
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Player Level – 1
Player EXP – 0/500
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Then the rest of the screen below was divided into segments. On the right side of the status window there were general stats and on the left side mental stats.
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General stats: Mental stats:
STR – 10 Courage – 0
AGI – 10 Resolve – 0
INT – 10 Blood thirst – 0
LUK – 0 Empathy – 0
SPD – 10
HP – 1000/1000
MP – 200/200
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Erina explained- "Those are your starting stats. You can gain stat points to allot to segments for general stat points through clearing events, taking actions. Mental stat points are only earned through the nature of the action you are taken."
Vivan was little confused.
"So you are saying I can earn stat points and allot them to general stats only. The earned stats can't be allotted to mental stats? "
"Yes! Ghostwalker."
"Ok! One question the mental stats affect the gameplay or only character behaviors?"
Erina replied with a boast full tone-
"We use a brand new EDS gameplay mechanic – Enhanced Deep Sync and MIM – Mentality Integration Mechanic, that allows the gameplay to reach a never seen before peak. Your mental stats are not just for character interactions or behavior. They directly influence your core gameplay, your performance as well as skill set."
"So you are saying this is a totally new mechanic?"
"Yes GhostWalker. We call it LME – Living Mortality Engine. You have to play the game to understand better. Now say Skill."
Vivan pronounced "Skill".
The skill window opened in green hue.
The window was divided into three segments-
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Innate skills Learned skills Created skills
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Al three fields were blank. Not a single skill was listed there.
Vivan asked in doubt- "Why don't I have any skills?"
Erina smiled with explanation- "Your skills will be decided in the evaluation room. As you can see you will have innate skill but you can learn skills and create new ones. Also if you say inventory you can check your inventory window."
Vivan called Inventory and the window opened in golden hue consisted of two item one beginner sword and a pouch of gold that had 1000 gold coins as starter.
Then Erina started walking towards the back of the room. Near the wall as she touched a specific place a small rectangular slab popped out of the world. She entered some passcode through the panel of the slab then turned back to Vivan.
"Shall we proceed to the evaluation zone?"
Behind Erina a slide door opened with very little to zero noise. A dark room could be seen even without entering. Erina walked towards the door and Vivan followed.
Once they crossed the door the room lit up with blue neon. From the door a 12 feet long and 7 feet wide ledge of tiles with rounded end welcomed them inside the hollow dome. The dome was bottomless. If someone falls from the ledge their body won't be recoverable from that bottom less pit. Erina walked towards the rounded end of the ledge the pointed a circular circuit placed on the floor of the ledge for Vivan to stand in it.
As soon as Vivan stood inside the circuit, the circuit lit up with rainbow colored neon circulating inside the round circuit in high speed. A system voice echoed-
"Welcome GhostWalker! Are you ready to move forward?"
A system interface window popped up in front of him-
Do you wish to enter Evaluation zone?
Yes No
Vivan pressed yes. And then the whole dome lit up in blinding white lights through which red, blue, green, yellow and pink neon flashes kept moving from bottom to top in a linear motion. That's when Erina's voice came with a forget full tone-
"OOH! One thing I forgot to mention in the detail. If you die here, you die for real. This isn't just a simulation anymore… Enjoy the game."
Her smile didn't falter but for a second, it didn't feel like part of the code.
Then a small push from behind and Vivan was descending through the linear motioned lights from the ledge to the bottom less hell.
And this time Vivan's shout of fear echoed through the dome-
"You should have mentioned this in the first line of details! YOU DUMB HEAD. "
And the system voice returned with a cry.
Subject heart rate spiking rapidly – 80 bpm..95 bpm..111bpm…120 bpm.
…TO BE CONTINUED