Chapter 2: The chance of a lifetime
"Isn't reality just boring?"
"Typical?"
"Sad?"
"Unfair?!"
A man said his form was unknown.
Meanwhile, Cain listens to the advertisement carefully, it was one he was all too familiar with. To be honest it was all the hype these days.
'Isn't this the trailer for the biggest VR MMORPG game Pandora, that came out five years ago?'
Cain asked himself, as it was a trailer he has heard on more than one occasion.
Even then, the talk about it was truly exaggerated if you asked him. Seeing that they are so many things you can do on Pandora that can affect even the real world.
Yes, these talks extend to that level of impossibility. In some interviews that were broadcast live on television, some people have claimed that Pandora is more than just a game. Instead, it's another world altogether, disguised as a game.
The reason for this all stems from how real it is, and how the NPCs are just built differently, they behave and act as if they a real, and even high-quality artificial intelligence can't compare.
Many people have even claimed the character the player makes and play; are all real as well. Some people even go as far as to claim that the currency used in Pandora is the same currency that is used in our reality, so if you make money in the world of Pandora it automatically goes to your bank account in the real world. Meanwhile, if you spend money over at Pandora as well, it will deduct from your bank account as well.
But to be brutally honest with you all, not much is known about the legendary VR MMORPG game that is Pandora, and the sad part is, you can't stream on Pandora either, so no one can claim most of the craziness as the valid truth that seamlessly happens within the game, all we can go on is words of the mouth.
'*Sigh!* Truly if such a world exist I wouldn't mind playing, I heard even the cripple can walk there, and even the blind can see the world again if you cross over to the virtual space, but the game is fucking expensive like it cost $1,000,000. And the crazy thing is, we are not even paying to earn it permanently. No! I mean it's 1,000,000 USD a month, that's the price you have to pay if you want to play Pandora.'
'It's a small price for true freedom my ass, how can these fools claim that $1,000,000 is a small sum, maybe to the rich it is a small sum, but to the poor, that's an amount we only ever hear about in our dreams and everyday life .'
'It's impossible for the poor to play, much less dream about.'
'And what's even more insane is the fact that's just scratching the tip of the iceberg, I might be inactive in this thing called life, but my sister seems to have a habit of leaving the TV on, so when you're like me, you hear a lot of things if you like it or not, Lord kill me now, when she watch those old school Spanish novellas I could only cringe in this prison call my mind.'
But despite all the myths and rumors about Pandora, the most notorious one is the fact that the materials that one gets in that world could be brought over into real life as well, and also the game is so real that once you die in Pandora even once you can't log back in again, meaning you would lose everything. And no matter what you do you can't log back in. Even creating a new player account is impossible.
'Yeah I know, it sounds a little bit too exaggerated if you asked me. Now my opinion on the matter is the fact that I can believe the part about not being able to log back in when you die, but being able to bring equipment back into the real world is another ball game altogether.'
Cain announces, after all, Pandora by the end of the day is nothing more than a game. Mixing reality with fiction is just insane, he might be inactive from reality due to his body being destroyed in an accident when he was younger. But it's just too hard to believe.
'But still, it would be a dream to play Pandora even if it's just for a little while.'
Cain thought, picturing himself in a world of fantasy, eating food, swimming, and talking to someone else. He just wants to feel the touch of another person, see the world around him. Feel the amazing sensation of sand under his toes.
The sensation which he has long forgotten, a sensation that would make him feel... Alive again.
But just as when he began to think that, something rather unexpected began to happen, the same advertisement he had listen to thousands of time already began to diverge from the usual path as the voice the man then said.
"We lived in a world, where human limitation can only carry us so far, here on earth, the world is split into two categories, the rich, and the poor, the lucky and the misfortunate, the talented, and average. Hehehe... I said six, but it still came down to the same thing."
'Ha? Is this a new commercial, hmm... This only happen when they are updating the game, or maybe its to announce something big, at this point of the commercial, all you would here is mostly music, and people opinions about the game. And I presume picture of what you can expect inside the world of Pandora, although I wouldn't know for sure.'
Cain said to himself a little startled about the sudden change, however he began to listen keenly. Maybe it was something entertaining, who knows.
"But what if I tell you, there is a way we escape this illusion we call reality. What if I tell you there exists a world where all wishes can come true."
'They really going all out to sell their products ha?'
"A world with no laws."
'Sound like pure chaos, definitely my type of party.'
"A world with no rules."
"No consequences."
'At that point it would be a dream come true.'
"And best of all, a world filled with monsters, and endless servers aka worlds with different genres all together within something we call the Paradox stream."
'An intriguing concept as usual, sadly I can only picture such reality.'
"Well if you are interested in a world of absolute freedom, a world that can be considered as real as ours without the limitation of human logic, we at Eqrisum LTD, present to you the new updated servers of the popular VRMMORPG game Pandora."
'As I thought it's an update announcement.'
Cain thought to himself, after all, this wasn't the first update announcement, that the massive gold mine that Eqrisum LTD, has announced over the years.
Although update announcement are rather big since it only happens one time every six months, that would make it two times for the year.
I wonder what's new, definitely larger servers with more treasures, story events, and maybe a lot of different quest lines as well.
"A world where even the poor can become rich in both worlds, a world were even the weak and hopeless can become God among man, and best of all; if any player finds all 13 crowns of power, they can become the Gods of both world."
'Crowns of power, truly it's what makes many people want to play Pandora to begin with, so the founder of Eqrisum LTD, Orion Eqrisum is a very mysterious individual.'
'So much so, he is just as a mystery as the currency myth in Pandora, a complete wonder, a ghost even. Seeing that no one has ever seen his face before. It's speculated that he might not even be alive. And when it comes to advertising it's mostly the co-founder High noble Viscount Thesmethora of Planet Neptune that does these things, if not it's either him or the founder's son or daughter.'
But as far as the founder identity goes, his name is the only thing that was reveal to the public.
Thought Cain to himself as he could recall his limited knowledge over the years.
'Well, it doesn't matter anyways, what can I even do in my state, it's not like I would be able to see the founder even if I wanted. Even if his face was reveal to the public, I would miss that event regardless... Hehehe sigh!'
However at that moment, just when Cain was about to return back to his world of silent. The next words that came out of the advertisers mouth was what shock Cain to the very core of his soul.
"That's why, today and today only, we are offering a 1-month free trial at a worldwide scale to give everyone a taste of true freedom, you can now download Pandora on your Celebrium free...of.... cost!!!"
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'¡¡¡WWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTT!!!"
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