Welcome

After buying the VR headset, the group of friends decided to eat in the mall before going home and calling it a day so they headed to the food court of the mall.

While eating their food, the group talked about Genesis.

Theo, "What's the time that the servers will open again? I forgot."

Calvin, "I think the website said its today at 12 pm UTC."

Richard, "What's UTC?"

Fred, "Universal Standard Time. If I'm not wrong, I think its 8 pm for us."

Mark, "He's right. I just looked it up and it really says it here."

Leo, "Nice timing. It looks like were lucky."

Darryl, "Yeah, I can only imagine in the other countries where they need to wait until midnight for the servers to open."

Henric, "That sucks."

"It is." Everyone.

Calvin, "Speaking of which, I heard that there is a time difference when inside the game?"

Leo, "Yeah I think the website stated it as well. Its about a 2 times difference."

Theo, "So the game is 2 times faster than real life?"

Leo, "Yeah pretty much."

Darryl, "Doesn't that makes it hard for people like us who still needs to go to uni? How can we catch up to those who can play longer?"

Fred, "I heard they implemented an exp boost system when your out of the game for too long."

Mark, "Also, the boost is capped at 2x. The only that changes is the duration. It's based on how long your out of the game. So basically, the longer your logged out, the longer you have the boost on."

Henric, "Ohh that's neat. But that doesn't really do much for equipments though."

Calvin, "We can only suck it up then."

Henric, "Oh btw is it really true you can trade IG items for real money?"

Fred, "I think so. Since the bank is involved, they might just have the power to do so."

Henric, "Well I do hope so. I wanna try to earn some quick bucks if I can."

Theo, "Me too. I'm low on money right now."

Richard, "But cause of that, a lot more tryhards will appear in the game."

Leo, "Can't really do anything about that. Some people treat is as their job so of course they'll do anything."

Mark, "But it doesn't work the other way around. I read that you won't be able to convert real money to IG money. Well at least not yet."

Darryl, "The time that happens is when it will fuck us F2P players up for sure."

"True." Everyone sighed bitterly.

Theo, "How about the story of the game?"

Fred, "Still nothing."

Leo, "It might not be revealed till later when the actual game is open."

Theo, "Ohh damn it I'm so excited for the game already."

"Same." Everyone replied with excitement.

The friends soon finished eating and continued hanging out as they walk around the mall, buying things they need and want until the time ticked to 6 pm.

They bid farewell to each other from the entrance of the mall and parted ways as they return to their own home.

Calvin reached his home at 6:30. He saw Marilyn standing at the door with her phone in her hands as she waited there.

Marilyn smiled as she rushed to him, "Welcome home Cal. Where's the food?"

Calvin smiled as he was already used to his older sister childlike behavior, "Thanks I guess. Here sis."

He handed it to her as Marilyn smiled excitedly and rushed inside the house. Calvin shook his head as he followed her and saw Madelyne sitting in the couch watching TV.

Madelyne smiled upon seeing him, "Welcome home Cal."

"Thanks mom." Calvin smiled as he sit next to her.

"You had fun?" Madelyne asked.

"A lot. Its been a long time since we last hang out." Calvin replied.

Madelyne smiled, "Good for you then."

Calvin smiled back before remembering something as he goes to his wallet and picked up some money, "Ohh yeah here mom. The change for the food."

Madelyne seeing the money smiled even more as she took it from him, "Thanks Cal."

"No problem mom." Calvin grinned.

Madelyne stood up and looked to Marilyn, "Ok time to eat. Lyn, help me get the food from the kitchen. We'll eat here. As for you, go change clothes Cal."

"Ahh ok mom." Marilyn replied as she sat up and goes to the kitchen together with Madelyne.

"Ok." Calvin said and walked upstairs towards his room.

After changing to a comfortable shirt and shorts and leaving the box of the VR headset in his room, Calvin goes back downstairs and saw that the food is already prepared.

The family of three soon had their dinner and having fun talking to each other about random stuff while watching TV.

Soon after they finished, they watched a movie together until it was 7:30. Calvin said to his mom that he will go upstairs to prepare for the game.

Madelyne nodded and let Calvin go as she and Marilyn continued watching the movie together.

"Have fun Cal!" both mother and daughter said smiling to Calvin.

"Thanks! You guys too!" Calvin said as he smiled back before rushing upstairs.

Calvin opened his room's door and quickly picked up the box with the VR headset. He opened it and saw a futuristic looking headset that looked more like a helmet with a glass like visor in the front with the brand of NDO right in the forehead.

Calvin couldn't help but say, "Damn this is cool."

Picking up the manuals, he carefully read every word inside it in order to fully understand how to use the headset.

When he read that the headset needs to be charged only one word came into his mind.

"Shit."

He got nervous because there were only a few minutes left before the servers open up. If he needs to charge it now and wait for it, he will start late compared to others.

But the moment he thought of that, he saw a line in the manual that said.

"The VR headset is fully charged at the time before purchase."

Calvin sighed in relief, "Ohh good. I almost thought for a second that I will be late in the fun."

Quickly reading the rest of the manual, he put the headset on his head and clicked the power button on the right side of the helmet.

The moment he clicked it, a timer appeared in his eyes showing the time left until Genesis is open to the public.

[Time remaining until Genesis's servers are opened: 00:06:09]

Calvin waited anxiously as his heart started beating faster in excitement.

The wait felt longer as Calvin tried to distract himself by thinking of the future and what will he do in the game.

When the time was up, a new message appeared in his eyes that was quickly followed by a robotic female voice from the small speaker of the helmet.

[Genesis is now open!]

[Would you like to connect to Genesis?]

Calvin replied, unable to contain the excitement inside him, "Yes!"

[Request Confirmed!]

After that words, Calvin felt his eyes become heavy as he fell asleep before immediately waking up into a world of white.

In front of him is a system message that can only be described in one word. Grand.

[WELCOME TO GENESIS!]