Competition

"We're here students, get off the bus!" The teacher hollered towards the students on the bus.

After the shocking revelation that the students would be able to Beta test Aglenem, everyone was whisked away on a bus to the Virtue Corporations Headquarters. Everyone was transported towards the front of the Virtue complex. Standing outside was a tall man wearing glasses and a white science coat. Surrounding him was a squadron of armed men.

Walking down from the bus, Ozzy was dumbstruck, gawking at the surroundings he finally took it in that he was here at the Virtue Corporations. Gigantic trees surrounded the well kept concrete road. A grand mountain stood at the end of that road, lumbering over the students. On the foot of that mountain embedded into it was a gate. The gate stood quickly at 30 meters high and 20 meters wide. A fitting gate for any giant to come out of.

"Alright, kiddos come here so I can explain the rules before we go into the complex. Before anything else, this is your last chance to go back. Although we have papers filled with consent from your parents and you, I would have to remind you that there is no going back for two months if you accept."

Looking around, seeing that there are no hands or any form of rebuttal to stop him, he continued.

"Alrighty then, thank you, Mrs. Gibson, you may now return to the academy. The rest of you come over here and follow me into the complex, and I will explain the rules along the way."

Turning around, the man slowly walked towards the now open gate and proceeded inside. The students looked at each other real quick, and after firming their resolve some more, they proceeded to follow after him.

"I would like to welcome you again to Virtue Corporation. As some of you may know I am Mr. Klen, the developer for the new game Aglenem. For the next two months, you will be here to grow alongside us. I have two important things to tell you. The first is that we will be testing a new sleeping technology that we have developed."

Turning around to look at the students Mr. Klen pauses. He then opened his arms and spoke in a louder tone.

"This means that every one of you will be asleep for two months. Everything you experience in-game will be a reality, well except for the death of course." The developer said with a smirk on his face.

A cold shiver ran through the back of Ozzy's neck. Looking at the developer right now Ozzy could swear he saw horns.

"Of course you will feel pain, but only 10 percent of it. Any form of disability you receive in the game will not affect you in real life; the following are such: blindness, deafness, and physical disembodiment. But there is a catch since we are regulating you to make this as realistic as we can, you can physically change. What do you mean by that you may ask and I will tell you? If you are healthy and fit now and you eat a lot of in-game and become fat, congratulations, now you are fat in real life. On the other hand, if you are fat now and you decide to work out and get healthy, congratulations, you are now fit and abled in real life!"

At the last statement, Ozzy could have sworn that Mr. Klen was looking at him. Suddenly a clamor of excitement could be headed from the students around them.

"Did you hear that if I work hard in-game, I could become extremely fit in real life."

"What if I become prettier in-game does that make me prettier in real life?"

"Wow if they say they can do that this would be an amazing advancement in technology."

With each voice added to the next it slowly, but inevitably became louder and louder. The students were practically bouncing off the ceiling in ecstasy knowing of the limitless future. Ozzy gripped his hand slowly with excitement burning in his eyes.

'If I work hard in-game maybe I can go back to how I once looked!'

That line repeated over and over in his head. Nothing else right now captured his mind other than the prospect to change himself.

"You seem excited. I guess you want to change yourself, huh." A teasing voice came from his left.

Quickly turning around, he found Sophia giggling to the left of him. Redden in embarrassment he looked down at his shoes and hoped that he could disappear somewhere.

"Hahaha sorry sorry, I won't tease you anymore. I wish you the best in the game, and I hope to see your improvements in 2 months."

Giving him a wink, she turned back towards the developer to listen on to the final detail. Calming himself down, Ozzy removed his hesitation and hardened his resolve to improve himself. He took one last glimpse at Sophia and turned to Mr. Klen.

"Now that I have your attention again, let me tell you the final announcement. The top 100 of the 1000 participants at the end of the two months will be allowed to keep their gaming devices. This means that after the two months are over the 100 top players can still Beta test with us until the opening release of 2 years later. Also, those top 100 will have all the fees for the game taken care of. This includes the gaming capsule, the game, and medical checkup for our sleeping technology."

After Mr. Klen finished his statement, the room boomed to life. Screaming, shouting, and other clusters of sound rang out of the auditorium. Pure disbelief hung on everyone's faces as if Christmas happened in summer.

Ozzy was utterly blank at this point. The aspect of playing this game for more than two months and then getting it for free was a massive smack in the face for him.

'Please dear god, any god out there, don't let this be a flop like f*llo*t 76. I'm begging only this much.'

Ozzy just wished that it was true that this game would be the best one ever so if he that he would try his dam ass off to get the top 100. The boy next to him had the same idea because he shouted out after with confidence on his face.

"Mr. Klen, how will we know if we are the top 100? How will we know what is graded upon the ranking system? Will it be based on levels, or is there another factor."

The boy spat out questions like he was a machine gun. The time that he opened his mouth to the time, he closed it was only 3 seconds! A look of zealous etched on his face.

"Good questions you got there. First, the grading is based on your level and the system's estimate of your combat power. In your interface, there will be a ranking system that you can check to see where you are listed. Secondly, if you feel that your score is not what it should be, you can see out the people above you in the final week to fight for their place in the ranking. At the end of the two months there will not be any more fighting and whoever is still in the top 100 then will be the elites. Oh, there will be a GPS feature at the last week to find the 100 rankers."

Glancing around one last time to see if there are any more questions or concerns Mr. Klen spots a hand in the crowd. Ozzy also notices that hand and realizes that it was Jared's.

"What if we get a bad [Forte] wouldn't that mean that we would be at a disadvantage," Jared said with a calm voice.

Giving Jared a look from head to toe, the developer took off his glasses and cleaned them.

"Of course, there will be a disadvantage; there is no such thing as equality in our world. But I will say this there are no bad [Fortes] only bad players."

Looking back at the crowd standing in front of him, he addressed them one more time.

"I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. Remember this group right here is only 200 of you. There are still 800 more people in other parts of the complex. Try your best to stand out and be the hero you wanted to be. Like all other games out there, Aglenem will have a time ratio of 3:1. This means that for every 3 hours in the game it has been 1 hour in real life. Come and line up to get your game capsule."

After finishing his statement, he turned around and proceeded to walk farther into the complex. Doors on each side of the complex started to open up, and people with coats rushed out with every imaginable alien machinery. Wires and tubes stuck out like a night light in the night. Soon after all the scientist were done 200 gaming capsules latex in front of the students. The capsule looked black and sleek. It also had a pulsating green line running through the side and top of it.

"If you're ready, please proceed towards a capsule of your choice."

Everyone then proceeded to shuffle around and get to the capsule nearest to them as Ozzy was about to rush in after them a hand-pulled at his shoulders. Looking back, he saw Jared and Sophia standing on either side of him.

"Hehe look like our protagonist is rushing to save the kingdom" Jared cooed out at Ozzy.

"Maybe it's the damsel in distressed that's got him worked up." As if to not miss a beat, Sophia spoke right after Jared was done.

Looking at both of them stupidity, he gave them an annoyed look.

"First of all, I need to level up fast the kingdom; saving the kingdom is only an option unless it gives me a huge amount of experience. Second of all look at me are you sure the damsel won't faint at a monster coming to save her."

"Hey, don't call yourself a monster. You said it yourself, 'just a little chubby'!" Both Jared and Sophia shouted at the same time.

Ozzy looked at both of them, and they looked at each other than at him. All of a sudden, they all laughed and cracked up in tears. Ozzy broke away from the laughter first and wiped his eyes.

"Hey, thanks for calming me down it helped a lot."

"I've known you for half my life. I know when you are nervous, don't worry about it." Jared thumped his chest out proudly.

"I might have known you for only a few hours, but I could tell you were stiff hahaha" Sophia still couldn't get out of the laughter.

All three looked at each other once more and said to each other one last final line "See you in the top 100."

Separating from each other, they all proceeded towards the capsule with determination in their eyes.

Right before Ozzy got into the game capsule, he heard Sophia call to him one last time.

"Call me Sofi from now on we're friends now. Also, can't wait to see you in 2 months, Oliver Nolk." With a slight smile on her face, she climbed into her gaming capsule and disappeared.

Shaking his head to get her sentence out of his head, Ozzy steeled himself and proceeded to climb into the gaming capsule.

Unbeknownst to him, a girl was also watching him from behind. She watched him until he got into the capsule before she proceeded to follow in after him.

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[User number: 469, Oliver Nolk confirmed]

[Welcome to the world of Aglenem]