Chapter 4

The following day, after classes, the trio went out for a shopping spree to buy stuff for D.O.

With D.O. being a VR game and none of them having ever played a VR game(with the exception of Heather for obvious reasons), the three of them made a beeline straight for the VR store in the middle of the mall.

As soon as they entered the store, an employee came to greet them.

"Welcome to Virtual Net, the best VR store on the block! What can I get for you guys today?", said employee cheerfully called out.

"Thank you ma'am. We're just looking around for now." replied Justin.

"Alright then. I hope you find something to your liking."

As the employee walked away, Justin turned towards his friends who were wearing a weird expression.

"What?"

"Nothing, just surprised that you can actually be polite", Mingkai replied.

"Right back at you, you son of a-"

"Y'all, chill. We're in a store in a public area and people are already staring. Let's just get this over with", Heather interrupted, glancing at the few people who were giving them quizzical stares.

The three made their way towards the section of the store that had the VR devices.

"Hot damn man! Look at these things! They look so cool and sleek!", Justin said excitedly.

"Yea, yea. Look at the prices though. We can't afford that", Heather said, staring at the price tag of $5000 dollars.

"Oh….", Justin said dejectedly.

"Over here", called Mingkai from a couple rows down.

Heather and Justin walked towards where Mingkai was.

Standing in front of a couple VR devices that looked a little shabby, Mingkai said,

"These look alright. They have good specs and are quite affordable too."

Heather grabbed the price tag.

$500 dollars.

A whole 10x cheaper than the smooth looking ones.

Hmm, she thought, maybe I can find that brand I used to use.

Walking down the row of devices, she examined each brand before coming across the one that she was quite fond of.

"Hey guys, I think this is a pretty good brand."

Mingkai and Justin came over, both a little confused with Heather's sudden brand preference.

"Oh wait", Mingkai snapped his fingers, "this brand seems pretty familiar to me. Weren't they the brand that was #1 about 7 years ago?"

"Okay, then what are they now?", Justin asked.

"Unranked", Heather replied, having searched on her phone for the answer.

"Unranked since the court case that bankrupted them."

"Then why are you saying this is a good brand?", Justin asked.

"Because this brand is the brand that was showcased when D.O. first came out. Despite having already fallen by then, D.O. still showcased this brand. That's why I think this brand is the best choice if we are going to be playing D.O.", Heather replied.

Well, it's also because I used this brand and am the most comfortable with its controls. Of course, can't tell them that, Heather thought.

"Huh. Well you kinda do have a point. It's pretty cheep to, sitting at..what does it say? $450?", Justin mused.

"So, we decided then?", Mingkai asked.

"I guess so. So, we need a charging port, a VR device, and then the actual game file. Adding all that up..uh…", Justin racked his poor brains.

"$450 for the device, $50 for the port, $300 for the game file. That's $700 Justin. It isn't that hard of math", Heather chuckled.

"Shut it! I'm not a genius like you idiots."

"Ma'am, can we get three devices, three ports, and three game files under this brand over here?", Mingkai called.

"Oh this brand? Okay, I'll ring that up at the counter and have the materials shipped to your houses."

"Thanks Ma'am", the three chimed together.

Suddenly, Heather broke into a sprint towards the counter, hands quickly grabbing out her credit card.

"Sh*t!", Justin cursed, "She's gonna beat us there!"

"No point in trying now...we'll just have to try and pay for whatever big comes next before she does", Mingkai huffed.

As the trio left the shop and parted ways, Heather scrolled through the article she had noticed last night.

It seemed that theme DELIGHTON had chosen was the PVP theme. would pvp the suspected player and if the won, the player must reveal if they are a truthfully.

If the player is a , their contract will end.

If they are not, they will be marked with a special symbol that basically shows that they have been checked by a and is not a .

DELIGHTON ended up changing a couple of the rules to make it harder for their .

First of all, will suffer a one month penalty of being unable to log in if they identified a player incorrectly.

Secondly, each is only allowed to challenge a player once a month.

And finally, due to the unique aspect of D.O., the rules of the pvp match will be dependent on which realm the players are in.

Heather huffed.

So that means, ideally, you would want to be ranked number 1 in one of the boards and then proceed to camp there forever.

However, that would easily give away that you are a .

But if you're combat power(CP) is too low, any hunter could challenge you and you would lose easily.

After a while of pondering while unlocking the door to her dorm, Heather came to realization.

Ah! CP is dependent on what items you have and what level.

And rankings are dependent on CP regardless of level.

Then I'll just store away top-grade gear so that I won't appear on the rankings, but I'll be powerful enough to beat any hunter that challenges me.

Satisfied with the result of her brainstorming, Heather prepared for bed.

As she laid on her creaky dorm bed and drifted off to sleep, Heather knew that as long as she stayed hidden, her life will be incredibly stable.

Just gotta keep that money coming, she thought as she feel asleep.