Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Rich Sentinel
The year 2280, was the age of fitness. With the breakthrough of science, humans could now live for a very long time. The average lifespan of humans could now reach 120 years old while some reach the age of 170.
Fighting competitions became the main form of entertainment. Fighting superstars were now revered as Gods while those in showbiz were nothing more but C-listers. It was very common to find good-looking people on the streets but what people admire are those who have beautiful bodies.
If you were ugly and didn't look fit, you'd be humiliated while if you were handsome and fat, you'd be an embarrassment. Unless you are in shape, even if you were ugly, people would still admire you.
Humanity had been obsessed with being able to live long as a result Virtual Reality had become very popular, its popularity was second to fighting competitions because not only is one able to experience the life of fiction, but how technology is rapidly evolving, and Virtual Reality made slowing time possible.
One day, in reality, was 56 hours in Virtual Reality, that's 2 and a half days! It was amazing what virtual reality could do and with how virtual reality is becoming so realistic each passing day, it became the second world for billions of people in the world.
The Haven of God, a virtual game where fantasy became reality, a world set in the medieval era mixed with eastern influence, became the most popular virtual reality game in the world.
A game that prioritizes realism and magic. A game that goes with the saying, "Hard work beats talent."
A game that sets the standard of imagination is your limit.
A game that removes the limits of what a human could do.
What sets this game apart from all others is its body functioning. What you are in the real world is what you also are in this virtual world, you could only customize your facial features but not your body, what your body looks like outside is what you also are in this world.
It maximizes the senses of the human body to the point that breathing in this virtual world feels surreal.
What capabilities you can do in the real world, you could also do all of that in this virtual reality and can improve it to the maximum efficiency.
Humans prioritize health over everything else, and as result, many incurable diseases could now be cured, including Ebola, cancer, and even long-term diseases like HIV but in-born diseases were still unlikely to be fixed but with virtual reality, a disabled person could live a normal life. A blind person could see, a cripple could walk, a mute could talk, and a deaf could hear. Virtual reality gave these people a chance to become the person they have been dreaming to be thus virtual reality became a part of people's lives.
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Upon arriving at the airport, Kaya and his grandpa was immediately greeted by men in suits, they lined up to show respect as they were accompanied to a limousine.
Inside the limousine was a man with gray hair wearing a grey suit shaking his hands with his grandpa.
"Chairman, it's been a while, how long has it been 20 years?" The grey-haired man said with a grin as he poured a glass of alcohol to his grandpa.
"Yeah, how's the company, Goodman?" The old man asked.
"It's doing fairly well, I'm not saying it's doing good but it's not going bad either." Goodman shrugged his shoulders and gave the chairman an iPad that showed a video clip of the famous VR game, The Haven of God.
"What's this?" The chairman asked in curiosity as he watched two people fight dazzlingly, using swords and spears as they cast magic spells with each other.
"Just its release 2 years ago, The Haven of God broke the gaming industry. Having no limits to the game's playability and how it efficiently uses the human body to its maximum performance, quickly made it a massive hit. Major companies have already invested in the game and now they have been performing successfully. It has over 4 billion users and 5 years from now we expect the numbers to double. Although we were able to get a slice of the pie, we had been relatively late and if we don't do anything about it, our competitors will leave us in the dust." Goodman explained. He began to give a brief explanation of how the game works and how it has affected the world's economy and listening to this, the chairman couldn't help but chuckle.
"Just a few decades ago, virtual reality was simply nothing more but a form of entertainment, who could've thought that it has become the number one enterprise in the world, and has already surpassed companies like us by leaps and bounds." The chairman sighed in deep thought wondering how he could improve the company.
"We've invested in a fairly known guild called Golden Tribulation, a 2nd-rate guild located in Black Rock Empire and we have 10% of its shares. With how they are developing this past months, we expect that they'll become a first-rate guild at the end of December. We just have to continue investing in them, and I'm sure we can get a huge slice of the pie." Goodman said to calm the chairman down and give him some breather.
"But are we the only one investing in this guild?" The chairman asked. Seeing the cold gaze of the chairman, Goodman couldn't help but swallow his nervous saliva as he hesitantly spoke.
"Two other companies are investing in them, one is a well-known tire company and the other one is a virtual cabin company. They've invested huge funds to the guild and we believe that the guild might cut ties with our sponsorship if we don't give them enough funds that could satisfy their greed, if that happens, I don't know if the company could last long." Goodman answered in a low tone and upon hearing this, the chairman rub his forehead and fell into deep thought.
"So, what do you think we can do now that our competitors are investing more than we have?" The chairman asked.
"One option is we invest more to satisfy the needs of the guild, but it's likely that our company can cough up that much money since we are also currently dry in funds. But there is another option, if we can nurture an expert, we can save some funds and wait until this expert can reach high levels and once we make this expert a bonafide player, we'll be sure to rack up some credits at that time, but its a bit of a gamble, if our competitors find out that we are secretly nurturing a player, they'll do everything in their power to kill the player back to level 0 until the player is forced to delete the account." Goodman gave a reply to the chairman.
"Have you found one such expert?" The chairman asked.
"We have, he's one of the promising rookies in last year's fighting competition and has been showing massive development but his price tag is too much, other corporations have been eyeing this rookie and would definitely scout him anytime they had a chance and once we remove him from his leash, he'll find most likely find another owner." Goodman regrettably explained.
"Why don't we use our men?" The chairman suggested.
"Although they are experts, they are subpar at best, they wouldn't be even able to achieve the evolved realm and at most they'd only reach peak awakened. It's hard to find bonafide experts these days as each one had been scoured by big companies. Plus the younger the player is, the better." Goodman explained. The chairman looked at Kaya who was currently in the back watching the buildings and people in the window and quickly thought of an idea.
"How about my grandson?" The chairman said grinning.
"Huh? I thought you'd put your grandson under strict training since he'll become the next heir of the company. He shouldn't have time for that." Goodman refrained.
"He's still far from becoming the heir, plus I still have many years in me. It's also good for him to know more about the world and meet people since he had been isolated all his life, he's like a hermit living with animals and I can tell you, he's an expert, no he's probably a genius." The chairman confidently said.
"Re-really? Your son has the looks and the body, and I am sure he'll do our company good but can he fight amongst the top-ranked experts in the field?" Goodman asked.
"All his life, I've taught him how to fight, he's learned all the martial arts of the world and has more experience in battle than the many experts I've found. He has been under the harshest conditions and in each one of the near-death situations, he has survived all of them. Although he is still out of reach from defeating his old man, he's not far from it." The chairman grinned as he looked at his grandson.
"Chairman, are you saying that he's near your level? You're nicknamed "Nuclear Fist" because you're an unstoppable force, to think that someone can reach your level." Goodman was surprised by the chairman's words as he couldn't help but stare at Kaya in curiosity.
"Nuclear Fist huh? It's been so long since I've heard that name. So how about it, should we invest in my grandson?"
"If that is what the chairman wishes then we can only oblige." Goodman immediately started preparing the necessary papers to document Kaya.
On the other hand, Kaya was mesmerized
By how many people he saw, every one of them was unique on their right, one looked tired, the other one had dirty thoughts, one looks entitled, one looked like he had killed someone and the other looked retarded. It was really fun seeing such diverse cultures, he was even shocked to find two men kissing and the people around them didn't bother and acted like it was normal.
"Huh, weird." Kaya recorded every moment on his smartphone.
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They finally arrived at their destination which was a 15-story building. A corporation owned by his grandfather, Night Wing. A fighting company that holds fighting tournaments, it was the UFC of southeast Asia.
Just like how it was in the airport, all the employees greeted the chairman. They walked through a line of people from men to women bowing in 90 degrees while the other onlookers stared at the scene. Their gaze quickly fixated on Kaya as his built looks stood out like a dandelion in the wild. Girls fell for his looks while the men admired and envied him. Just his height alone was a form of jealousy for anyone, he stood at the height of 6'4, and he was abnormally tall for a Filipino.
(Note: The average Filipino male is only 5'1 while the female is only 4'10.)
He was a great example of a role model.
Kaya could hear the constant murmurs from the onlookers and couldn't help but be embarrassed as he could hear what they were talking about despite whispering to one another.
"Damn, doesn't he look hot?"
"Holy shit how tall is he? Is he a Phil-am?"
"If I was that tall, I'd get some bitches on my dick, but I'm nothing more but a bitchless virgin who watches anime in my mom's basement as I masturbate to gay loli hentai. I'm such a loser." (Pov: That is you.).
Upon reaching the top floor, Kaya could see the beautiful scenery on the balcony, he immediately snapped a pic.
"Woah, this place is beautiful," Kaya said in amazement.
"You like the view grandson?" The chairman said whilst looking at the scenery.
"Yeah, it's unlike the forest where what I could see was nothing but trees and more trees," Kaya replied.
"This building we are currently standing at, I made this from the ground and up. With my blood and sweat, I poured everything into this company." The chairman expressed.
"Woah, with how big and complex this building is, building this with your two hands alone probably took you decades to finish," Kaya said in bewilderment.
"You bastard." The chairman pinched Kaya's side causing him to bellow in pain.
"Ow! I'm kidding okay? I heard what you guys were talking and it seems that this company won't last if I don't do anything." Kaya said.
"It's my burden to handle and I'm not forcing you to do it, if you wish to live a normal life, I'll grant it to you, it's you're own life to live, being your last living relative, my job is simply to support your decisions." The chairman expressed to Kaya. Kaya had experienced too much for a young kid and the chairman had long thought if his decisions to live with his son in those treacherous woods had been correct. His fear of getting a weak bloodline corrupted his mind and has set to remove that foolish thought away as he simply wants nothing more but for his remaining child to grow up to be a person with upright morals.
"Don't worry grandpa, I'm here to help, I heard that you wanted to nurture some sort of expert into this virtual game. Well, I can be that expert. This is also good for me to experience new things, maybe meet new friends even a wife!" Kaya joked around but his tone was genuine. He knew that his grandpa was getting old and shouldn't be dealing with problems as it will only affect his health. He wanted nothing more but to see his grandpa's remaining days happily on a deathbed and not being buried with papers due to stress.
"So you really wanna experience Virtual Reality? You know that virtual reality is far different from reality, although you cannot die in virtual reality, you can experience pain much worse than you could imagine, and what you can do in this reality it's limitless in this virtual world." The chairman gave Kaya a firm resolve if he truly was serious in his decision.
"Yes, I'm going to enter this virtual world and make sure the company will thrive," Kaya spoke in a serious tone.
"Good, I've already reserved a virtual cabin for you in your room, your assistant will go to your room and help you make an account, he will also be the one who'll teach you how the VR game works, if you have anything you want to ask or wish to acquire, just ask your assistant."
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