I Need Credits

"What the hell!" Arthur who was sleeping just a moment ago was wide awake now. Its not because he had a bad dream. He was actually having a very good dream, in which he was with his girlfriend then with some another girl and then they were going to enjoy themselves some more but suddenly a weird looking cat popped up. A freaking cat for fucks sake! As Arthur got confused as to why the fuck was a cat there... It suddenly pulled out a teaser from somewhere and electrocuted him.

The last thing he could register was that fucking grin on the cat's face. Then he woke up.

"What the fuck happened. A cat?... seriously what the fuck is wrong with my head." Arthur rubbed his head very hard. He still felt as though his hand was numb, like it was actually electrocuted.

"Fuck! I actually forgot this thing." He looked at the ring on his finger. It was a smart ring that was used to do almost every function that a computer or a laptop could perform in his past life. It also had a very cool function. That is shock alarm.

Yes, when an alarm is set and after some casual reminders if there in no response from the user then a very 'mild' shock is given to the user.

"This world is very dangerous. There is danger in every fucking step. Even a fucking ring could possibly kill me if used wisely." Arthur felt like any moment someone was gonna pop up and point a gun over his head. Like he was suddenly thrown into a cage filled with gunslingers without a bullet proof jacket.

"The previous owner was really ruthless with himself to turn on this kind of function. Was that moron trying to die or something." Arthur was pissed because he couldn't complete his dream and probably couldn't complete his sleep either.

"Anyways, since I am awake I should probably start looking for ways to earn some serious credit. But before that I should fill my stomach. A wise man once said... Nothing can be done with an empty stomach." Arthur quickly walked towards the bath room while thinking about where he could find enough credits for his need.

After taking a bath he was ready to go out and eat something. Although he had food available in his room but he wanted to experience the new world with his own eyes.

"I am really poor..." Arthur walked out of the room while looking at the display in front of his eyes. It showed his current balance of 51,000 F.C.(federation credits).

As compared to most of the society, he was considered to be a wealthy young man. But Arthur's goal was so huge that it directly downgraded his view of his wealth to a beggar's level.

10,000 F.C. were enough to sustain a normal family for months. Considering just the basic necessities, he could support himself for almost a year on this. But who would have thought that some dimension level shit would suddenly pop up to suck him dry.

Arthur lived in the school dormitory as there was no one at his home so he stopped going back and just moved to dorms. His room was on 11th floor, so he had to take the elevator to go to the ground floor.

When he reached the place to take the elevator, what he saw was nothing that looked like a freaking elevator.

There was a transparent tube like construction which was half covered with a layer of some kind of energy barrier. There was a circular disk like platform that was levitating in front of him.

As if sensing Arthur, the disk like platform slowly lowered itself to the ground level such that Arthur could easily step on it.

Although he knew what it was from the memories but still he was gobsmacked because of how it looked.

"Welcome to the future mate. Lets get this shit rolling." Arthur crossed the energy barrier easily and stepped on the disk. A kind of force field was generated that kept him still. He could freely move but he felt hindrance when trying to move near the barrier.

Arthur tried to jump but he couldn't. As soon as he tried to jump, there was something that kept him attached to the disk itself.

Just as he wanted to experiment some more, various numbers appeared in front of him. He quickly selected the ground floor through his ring. Everything was connected to the ring, so the numbers that appeared in front of him were through it.

"Alright, show me what you can d--Shit!" Arthur was interrupted mid speech because the disk started descending at a very quick speed. Much faster than he thought. But due to the strange force field, his whole body was firmly stuck in place. He felt like he was riding on a roller coaster.

In just a few seconds, he was on the ground floor.

"That was awesome! I should walk out more often." Arthur walked out of the dorms and moved towards the cafeteria while looking at his surroundings.

There were a lot of people in the campus at this point of time. Some were walking while some were riding a skate board like thing. The only odd thing was that it was flying a meter above the ground.

It was a hover board. It was very popular even among the older generation as it made travelling much faster and also because riding it was super easy. There was no need to control it, as it was self driven. All you had to do was input a general location through your smart ring and it will take you there.

There was no chance of accident as it moved in a predefined path through a very powerful set of program governed through the Skynet, which was just like the internet, just more advanced version of it. It connected each and everyone on this planet and also many different planets all together to the Federation.

"Here we are. Time to eat something delicious." Arthur reached the canteen area pretty soon.

He looked at the empty hall and made his way to the counter. As food was also available inside their room, although at a high price, so almost no one liked to come here... specially at the time when exams were over their heads.

The counter looked nothing like a normal counter as it was totally empty. There was no one to serve him, no menu, no nothing. Just a long platform.

As he got in front of it, he could see a digital image of a menu of some sort.

"Every fucking thing is digitized... I hope they don't deliver food through this shitty ring." Arthur quickly glanced and looked for something to eat.

"What the fuck is this shit? Gene Enhancement Solution? Basic Protein Bar? who eats this kinda shit." As Arthur kept scrolling through the menu, he saw some very weird terms that should have never been associated with food for gods sake.

"Huh, finally something normal...Sandwich." Arthur ordered four sandwiches and coffee. Surprisingly, people still drank coffee here.

He moved towards a table in the corner, pulled the chair and sat there. Just as he sat, a cart moved towards him automatically. There were four sandwiches and a cup of coffee on it.

Arthur picked up his food and started eating."This is really delicious. Although the reception was extremely cold, at least the food is good." Arthur was quickly eliminating the food from his plate.

"Phew. Now that I am full, I should think about where to look for credits."Arthur opened the interface through his smart ring and started looking for a way to earn federation credits in short time.

From his previous set of memories, he knew of few methods to earn some credits but it would take too much time and he just wanted to become rich overnight. So that he could explore more of that dimension inside of him.

"Hey buddy! You finally decided to show up. Not studying anymore?"

As Arthur was desperately fantasizing about becoming a rich man, he heard a loud voice directed towards him. Well there was literally no one else in the cafeteria so of course someone was speaking to him.

He looked back and saw a boy of around his age was walking towards him. He was drinking something from one hand and held a hover board from the other.

He had a thin physique, long-shoulder length red hair, his iris were green with a hint of blue just like the sea.

Arthur instantly knew who he was.

He was his childhood friend Nicolas. They both grew up together just like a family.

Arthur smiled and stood up from his seat. Nicolas was a very helpful friend, and a much better human being. Through the memories of the predecessor he knew Nicolas' character. Maybe he was affected by the memories or maybe he really liked his character, but he felt warmth in his chest as he saw Nicolas. Like finding a long lost friend in a new place.

"Hey man, It's been a while...hasn't it?" Arthur walked towards Nicholas and suddenly gave him a punch.

"What the hell was that for!" Nicolas almost spilled his drink due to the sudden punch.

"Nothing. Just checking whether you have progressed or not. Looks like someone's not gonna make it this year." Arthur smirked and sat back on his seat.

Nicolas too sat across Arthur, looking at him with a weird gaze.

"Did you finally lose your shit? I told you to relax from time to time. Just like me, I always enjoy the beauty of nature along with the beauties of nature. You should also calm yourself in some way you know."

Nicolas lazily finished his drink and put the can on the table. Then he fixed his gaze on Arthur again. Today, he felt that Arthur was somewhat different. Not the usual bland Arthur but a more calm one.

"Fuck! I know what kind of 'beauty' you like to enjoy. I am not interested in that shit right now. I have some more pressing matters than fooling around with some random giirl." Arthur didn't even bother looking at him and concentrated on browsing the skynet.

"What matters?" Nicolas was dumbfounded with his reply. Now he was really interested in know what was going on with his friend.

"I need credits, a lot them." Arthur replied thoughtlessly.

"..."

"Fuck." Nicolas was speechless with his reply. He knew just how less Arthur spent on a daily basis. There was no way he was anywhere near bankrupt.

"Seriously dude...What the FUCK is going on? Did you really crack your fucking head?"