Ascend!

The notification greatly shocked Jiho. He unlocked his phone and read the message carefully.

{Dear participant, we are excited to tell you that you've won the VR headset giveaway for the VRMMORPG game 'Ascension'}

He jumped in excitement and happiness. His emotions went out of control and he just couldn't express his mental state at this moment.

He decided to confirm if this was real or a scam so he directly opened Ascension's website and checked the giveaway page. 

The page displayed a congratulations popup as soon as he opened the page, confirming his win in the giveaway.

"I won!" He exclaimed but his voice echoed throughout the room so he decided to lower his voice.

He had never been this interested in games and thought that they were just a waste of time but now, he was jumping like a monkey on winning a game set for himself.

He checked the status of the delivery and found that the delivery man was already on his way, covering half the distance to Jiho's house.

This made Jiho more excited, he had the feeling to not go to college today and instead, take a leave and find out more about the game.

He stepped into the bathroom and freshened up, heading straight to the living room afterward.

His mom and dad were sitting on the couch, watching daily news and updates about the world.

Jiho gently sat next to his father and came straight to the point, "Mother... father... I wanna take a leave from the college today, I think I need a good rest today." He sounded like any 5th grader, not wanting to go to school today.

His father chuckled and replied, "Sure, you can rest all you want, we can never stop you from taking a rest, can we?" He shifted his gaze to Jiho's mother, who also replied with a nod.

"Thank you for being so caring!" Jiho smiled and went to his room again.

***

After taking a bath, he put on a new black T-shirt and brown pants.

He was looking charming and beautiful today because of the new set of clothes and his muscles.

He jumped onto the bed and unlocked his phone.

The delivery guy had almost arrived near Jiho's house, which made his heart beat faster in excitement.

This was one of the best days in his life, he had never been so excited.

Time passed by, but he kept looking for more details about the game, he found out that players had to choose a class of their choice and it was unchangeable once a class was chosen, unless there was an exception or a certain circumstance.

Class selection was one of the major things that could lead a player to stardom and a wealthy life.

Another thing that piqued his interest was hidden classes. 

Hidden classes were special types of classes that were not given as a choice to players but they had to earn them with tons of effort and triggering special quests.

The special classes were more like the advanced version of the common classes which were given to everyone.

There were also stat points like any other RPG game and at last, there were special legacies that were not given to anyone, instead, they could only be obtained if a special figure in the game favored a player or there was an exception.

Jiho could tell at first glance that the game was going to be fun.

He checked the delivery status once again, impatient about when he would get to play the game.

Just as the page opened up on his phone screen, the doorbell rang.

He put his phone in his pocket and dashed to the main door before his father or mother could.

He quickly opened the door, hoping to see the delivery guy with his long-awaited package, and to his joy, a guy was standing outside with a box in his hands.

"Sir, your package..." The delivery man said with a smile.

 Jiho instantly snatched the box off his hands, making him look like a little girl who had just got her dream Barbie toy.

The delivery man slightly bowed and then left, waiting for nothing else.

Jiho thanked him from behind and instantly shut the door with a bang.

His father lowered the newspaper in his hands and looked at what his son was up to.

"Did you order something, Jiho?" He asked, raising his brows. He was frowning, afraid that his son had bought something expensive.

"No Dad, I won this in a giveaway." He knew his father would ask so he answered honestly.

"Hmm, what is inside the box?" His father asked, curious about the contents inside the box.

"Ah, just a newly launched game, nothing much," Jiho answered and then headed to his room.

His dad nodded but then realized... "Huh!? When did he get interested in games?" He wondered but then again focused on the news, not wanting to investigate further.

Jiho took out a small knife from the desk near his bed and started unpacking the VR headset.

He didn't care about the outer box and tore it quickly and put it aside, putting his main focus on the long-awaited VR headset.

He took a good look at it before taking it out of the plastic covering.

It was black and had a shiny 'A' logo on its front.

There were straps on it to tie it to the head tightly and its fabric was comfortable to make sure the player didn't have any marks left on their ear and neck.

There was a guidebook that showed the steps to use the headset comfortably.

He read the guide and found out that the headset didn't require any computer or power to run but only a stable internet which Jiho already had.

He continued reading the guidebook carefully, understanding every single step of using the headset.

After finishing reading the whole guidebook, he clicked the green button on the headset, put on the straps, and lay on the bed comfortably.

Without any further ado, he said the magical word to log in to the new world.

"Ascend!" He shouted and then suddenly felt his consciousness slowly fade away.

***

Jiho woke up and felt his head hurt a little. He found himself sitting on a metallic chair, which was strangely comfortable to him.

He clenched his head with his palms, feeling the pain in his head.

Shortly after, the pain subsided and he became normal as usual, just that his knee didn't have the slight pain that was always there.

After regaining his memory, he finally noticed the powerful presence which was sitting in front of him.

It was a beautiful woman who was perfect in every aspect, she had nice curves, a good body and more than that, she was really powerful.

Upon seeing the beauty in front of him, Jiho got up from the chair and slightly backed off.

He was being oppressed by the powerful aura of the girl, which was terrifying.

'This feels so real, is this even a game?' He thought in his mind, fascinated by how real the game was.

"Welcome to 'Ascension', player! We are happy to see you." The girl smiled and came near him.

Jiho stayed silent and stood in his position.

"First of all, how may I address you?" The girl asked, and a holographic panel suddenly appeared in front of Jiho's eyes.

He looked at the panel and moved his fingers on it, entering a name for himself.

He decided to go with "Fallen" as his in-game name. He clicked on the tick-mark icon and his name was updated. Luckily, this name was not taken so he managed to get this name easily.

"Nice to meet you, Fallen. You can now choose a class which suits you." The girl gave out a cheerful smile.

The name panel disappeared and a new panel that displayed various classes came up in front of Jiho.

He checked every class carefully as this decided his future abilities in the game.

'Hmm... Which one should I choose.' He looked at the panel, squinting his eyes.

[Melee: Swordsman | Warrior | Knight | Assasin | Berserker | Monk | Brawler

 Ranged: Archer | Gunner | Hunter | Marksman | Ranger

 Magic: Mage | Wizard | Witch | Sorcerer | Dark-Priest 

 Support: Healer | Paladin | Alchemist | Herbalist | Priest | Robber ]

There were more than 20 classes in the game but Jiho mainly focused on a few of them.

A typical gamer would go for mostly Melee, Magic, and Ranged classes but he decided to choose something that he needed.

Upon close inspection, he finally chose his class.

The girl gave a warm smile before speaking, "May you enjoy your time in Ascension, and ascend to godhood...