NOVEL NEXT Chapter 982: "God, please wake me up if this is a dream."
My name is Zarnok Virellius Thalmarion Quen'Zai Elorath Draxil Omberon Kaelis Varneth Solarius Myrrh Caligo Xenthos A. Kryntari, and I'm scared shitless for my life.
I'm what Terra people would call a new-age otaku who had fallen in love with their stories, movies, manga, and nearly all forms of entertainment that they have come up with during their existence. I have dedicated the majority of my free time in VR to absorbing and enjoying as much as possible, and there was so much of it that even after years, I have yet to reach even five percent of their total collection. To be truthful, I'm not sure if I have even reached five percent, and I thought of it as a good thing since it meant I would not face the problem many of my fellow species encountered during their long lifetimes: boredom and stagnation. I was sure I would always have the excitement of experiencing something new from the empire.
However, it looks like my pastime has now backfired against me, as I'm now being judged by the characters of the entertainment I had enjoyed in the past.
"Am I suffering from mental mana poisoning? I'm pretty sure I have a few centuries before it even becomes a probabilistic possibility," I said, speaking to myself loudly, wondering if I was hallucinating or if I had applied for an experience that I had forgotten. But no matter how much I tried to think, nothing that would make sense of what was in front of me made sense unless I was in VR. But I am pretty sure I'm not, as VR technology has a specific feel that was deliberately implemented to prevent mixing the two, and although that feel might not be felt when you are focused on doing something, it will instantly be felt the moment you try to focus on it.
"Are you willing to surrender, or do you intend to resist?" the human wearing a large leather jacket asked me as an arrow hovered mere millimeters in front of me.
I raised my left hand, trying to touch the arrow in front of me, and, "Ouch," I screamed as even the slightest touch from me cut my finger. My short scream was not a result of pain but just a reflex made by the time I realized I was bleeding, having felt nothing during the cut.
"Are you crazy? Why would you touch that? Do you want to cut your finger or something?" the man in front of me asked as the blade retreated a short distance from me. "This is an atom-tip arrow. Do you want to die before you feel the pain? Aaah, you almost lost me Merit Points from your curiosity…"
The man in front of me went on and on about how I could have harmed myself, making me wonder why he was worrying when he was the one threatening me and asking if I wanted to surrender or not. "I have a few questions before I make a decision," I said, trying to bargain for more information despite having already made my decision.
The man, stopping mid-rant upon hearing my words, looked at me for a moment before a look of what I could understand to be amusement, based on the media I had consumed, crossed his face. He said, "You are quite an interesting individual. Fine, I will humor you and allow three questions. Ask them at once, and I will answer all of them. After that, I need your verbal decision."
"This palace looks identical to my home, but is it really home, or am I hallucinating or in VR? If it is the real world, then how did you arrive here? What happens if I surrender, and what happens if I don't?" I asked them as fast as I could before he changed his mind, as with each passing second, I felt things become more and more real, scaring me that this might actually be reality and not a hallucination or any other explanation that I would be happy to welcome.
"You are not hallucinating; this is your home. The empire opened wormholes and sent us here to take control of the planet as a response to the Conclave's attack. And lastly, if you surrender, I will put this on you. If you don't, I will do the same, but the effects of this will change depending on the decision you make," the man answered me as he showed me a bracelet-looking thing that looked to be made of nanomachines, based on how it rose from his palm.
"What? War? What the fuck is going on? When did that happen? How come I didn't know anything about it? Where did the empire get the technology? What happened to VR? Did the empire lose?" I couldn't help but ask a rain of questions because the situation had shifted from me wondering if I was hallucinating to now hearing that I wasn't and that we were in a war with the empire. The fear I felt inside me had changed, and it looked like it had received a boost in levels, as, without my realization, my body shook due to my mind considering the many implications of this.
"I gave you three questions, and you agreed to decide once I answered them. Are you going to go back on our agreement?" the man asked me, but the look of amusement had disappeared from his face.
"I surrender," I said immediately upon the realization, as I knew from the things I had read about humans that if you surrender, the treatment will be better than if you fight back. Although there were instances where the opposite happened, I had a better chance of taking the surrender option than trying to fight because the moment I made a move, I was sure I would have a hole made from the atom-tip arrow that was still floating in front of me.
"Ah," the man said, spreading his hands wide with a smile on his face before he said, "You have made an excellent choice." His right hand then moved for a handshake, which scared me for a moment as I thought he was going to slap me.
With my shaking hand, I met his, and the moment our hands touched, nanomachines crawled towards me. No matter how I tried to break the handshake, the man's hand remained closed until the nanomachines formed a flexible bracelet.
[Brain data scanning: COMPLETE]
[Matching DNA sequence to ID: COMPLETE]
[Retrieving data to new device: COMPLETE]
[.................]
[Welcome to the VR network]
Those words appeared on a screen that had materialized a moment after the bracelet was formed, looking no different from AR technology.
"This one has a direct connection to servers on Earth without needing VR towers since a majority of them have been destroyed. From it, you will receive all the information and answers to your questions, but keep in mind, as an individual who surrendered, there are a few restrictions on your actions, which I am advising you to read first before you do anything else, because the moment you deliberately break them, you will regret doing that," the man said as a final warning before turning around, whistling. A second arrow appeared beside him while the first one retreated from me.
He then turned around and walked through the window, which was on the tenth floor. Just as gravity was about to take him, one of the arrows became his stepping stone, with the second one supporting his other leg before the first arrow moved to receive his right leg. In that manner, he went to the floor above me.
But although I was surprised, my mind really didn't have time, as I immediately dived into gathering as much information as possible to make a basic understanding of the situation.
God, please wake me up if this is a dream. No, please, even if it is reality, turn it into a dream. I hate it here, I prayed, but despite that, I continued with what I was doing as a backup, in case my prayer was not answered.