It was night. The streetlights had been out for some time now, and only a few houses were still covered in light. In one of them, it was also pitch black; only in one room did a blue ceiling light burn the room of a teenager!
"Lux, watch out, one on the right!" came a voice from a headset. Lux's face looked strained and concentrated. He was currently playing one of his favorite games with a friend. Lux made short work of the opponent, and after 10 seconds, Lux smiled. "Got him, easy!"
Lux took a brief breath and continued speaking. "Zyl, tell me, have you tested out Virtual Combat yet?"
Zyl was the friend he was playing with; the two were talking about the game. Although Zyl lived a few minutes away, they were playing online together today. Zyl laughed. "What kind of question is that? Of course! Haven't you??" After a short pause, Zyl continued. "I'm already level 31 and ranked 1450 on the leaderboard!"
Lux listened intently. The game Virtual Combat fascinated him so much that he went into debt with his parents to buy the famous V2 VR headset. It arrived directly with the game Virtual Combat. At this moment, he was downloading it; he played a little to pass the time until it was finished.
"Good, I'm ready to come online too!" Lux spoke with a joyful tone because he was very excited!
They exchanged the names they went by in the game. Lux wrote down the name: "Destroyer42! Hahaha, what a name, seriously! I definitely won't give myself such a funny and embarrassing name. Hmm, what would be a good name?" Lux thought while turning off his PC and standing up from his chair. His room was empty; it only had a desk with two monitors, a keyboard and mouse, and a PC.
In the corner of the room, there was still a small bed, and LED strips that glowed blue were stuck to the ceiling. And in the middle of the room sat a large blue box, and next to the box lay a headset. On the blue box, a name was written in white yet beautiful script: "Virtual Combat."
Lux sat down by the headset. He took it and plugged it into the blue box. Immediately, the headset lit up, showing it was on. Lux took the headset with him to his bed; the cable even reached for several meters, but this wasn't necessary. Everything worked, so Lux lay down on his bed, equipped the headset, and pulled it over his head. Just as he was about to start, something else occurred to him. "That's right, I got the Deluxe Edition! I can choose a better sword right in the game, haha perfect, this will be the best time of my life!"
Lux pulled the headset on and activated it. After a few seconds, a strange feeling washed over him, as if he were traveling through dimensions, as if something were tearing him into another world. Immediately, Lux's vision changed. He saw a white wall. He couldn't move his hands, nor his body, but looking around was possible though difficult, it worked. Lux saw only white. He waited briefly, and indeed, something came.
In large blue letters, the title of the game floated past him: "Virtual Combat." Immediately, text floated past him: "HELLO PLAYER! Welcome to Virtual Combat. In this game, you will fight a lot! And fight and...….fight and fight"
Lux startled. A bug? The phrase "fight" repeated itself too many times. But then it stopped and continued normally: Before you get to character creation, you will play the tutorial. It will surely be easy; after all, you only have to defeat the Tutorial Knight :) But we won't reveal anything!
The text whizzed past Lux, and the environment changed instantly. The background became azure blue, a few broken crates spawned in the area, followed by a small ruin, and then action came immediately. Lux thought he was still on the loading screen, but it began instantly. In the middle of the ruin, a small yet well-equipped knight spawned.
He had a sword in his hand that was sharper than any knife Lux had ever seen. The knight had silver armor and a half-broken helmet. "It's starting? W-what the... I don't even know anything yet??" Lux looked around frantically. Immediately, he noticed the boss display: (Tutorial Knight 20/20 HP).
The knight immediately stomped toward Lux. Full of surprise, Lux fell onto the blue well, nothing, there was nothing but blue. "Wait, wait, how do I pause, how"
Time stood still.
Lux looked around; he couldn't move anymore either, only look around. "Did I pause it? Huh." Immediately, text came floating past him: (Hello Player! Thank you for buying the Deluxe Edition! You receive the Deluxe Sword and 5 free levels to level up. Generous, isn't it? (Well, it did cost $25 more than the base game!!!)
Lux sighed. "Yes, $25 more!!"
Immediately, a new menu opened: (You have received: 1+ Deluxe Sword, 5+ Levels (The levels will be transferred after the tutorial!)
"Good, the sword should be enough for now, I think," Lux said, and suddenly the knight stomped toward Lux again.
Lux's eyes sharpened, and he was ready to begin. "Good, then let's start fighting in the virtual world!"
Lux stood up with a jerk. He felt the Deluxe Sword in his hand; it had a silver hilt and a silver blade. Lux actually felt the weight of the blade. This game and this VR headset were so advanced, it was far ahead of its time, which is why it was so famous; it was already known all over the world even though it had only been out for 2 weeks! Well, it really was a master invention! Lux stood straight and immediately took a combat stance. He raised the sword and was ready to strike. The knight was already almost upon him and swung forward with a sword strike.
The knight's armor clattered. Lux quickly stepped back. The sword slammed onto the blue floor and splintered some wood from the broken crates nearby.
"This is my chance for the first strike!" Since the knight had just attacked and needed a few seconds to prepare for the next attack, this was the perfect moment for Lux to attack.
So Lux wound up and aimed exactly at the bent-over knight. Time slowed down. Lux was full of adrenaline and struck quickly and straight. A clatter and... the Deluxe Sword broke right into two pieces. A few seconds later, Lux held half a blade in his hand while the broken part turned into white pixels. Lux's eyes widened. "What the??? No way!!"
Suddenly, something grabbed Lux by the throat