The Immortal Player

Earlier that day, Inside a Chairman of a company's office

"That's the overall report for the first 12 hours of the run time of Bearth, Chairman!" A Chinese woman wearing a usual company attire, like a secretary, explained. A Chinese man that looked in his fifties and wore formal attire, like a Chairman of a company, sat on an executive office chair while holding papers about the first 12 hours of Bearth. The man had a troubled look and the air in the room started to become heavier each minute.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

A series of knocks rang on the door of the room. The man instantly frowned as his focus was turned to the door. Seeing the chairman irritated, his secretary went near the door.

"Should I open it, Chairman?" She politely asked as a sign of respect.

"Go on... It must be urgent!" He waved his hand as he commanded. The secretary bowed slightly and opened the door in a gentle manner.

'If this is not something urgent... I might dismiss this person from the company!' The irritated Chairman thought inwardly.

"Chairman... Sorry to bother you on an unprecedented note! I am here to report that the VR box maker company, The Yang Developers, had sent a notice that the mass production of the VR box would not be a problem! They solved the Energy Consumption Issue by partnering with a Southeast Asian company, The Armaz Energy Corporation! For the western and European countries, They partnered with The Joe Energy Corporation International!" A man in a formal suite reported respectfully.

"Someone was willing to invest and take a very high risk?" The Chairman was astounded.

...

The current problem of the VR box was energy consumption. If Bearth was opened to the public and they ordered VR boxes, It was predicted that there would be high amounts of players quitting due to the high energy consumption of VR boxes that may be costly for ordinary people to sustain.

Considering the difficulty of the game and VR boxes' high energy consumption rate, It would only look like the people were burning money for nothing. Which was not a good trait for a game. A game must cost low or be affordable at the least.

With the Atomic Energy Crystal III technology of the Armaz Energy Corporation, The overall operational cost (the total energy consumption rate cost) of a VR Box would become lower and be affordable for everyone. The only backlash was the overall price of the VR Box would increase a bit.

Although the overall price of a VR box increased, the market price was still affordable for everyone.

It was a risk for the Armaz Energy Corporation because the partnership was between them and a company in the gaming industry.

During this time, partnering with companies in the gaming industries was a huge risk. The success of a game and the chance that it would last for years was very low, even on those games who could generate a huge hype at their official release. In reality, there only a few AVR Games that were able to last for years of operation.

Regardless of the risk, the business partnership was considered 'small' compared to business partnerships between Energy Corporation and the countries' government. With the advanced technology available, the Energy consumption of the people increase. Hence, the demands for the Energy Industry skyrocketed.

The Armaz Energy Corporation took the risk by considering a few factors. First, Some of the company board members supported the partnership. To these board members, As long as the company would gain profit, they would give their support. The second was, the President, Mr. Jon Armaz, supported this partnership since Pedro, his son, personally proposed it out of the blue. Knowing Pedro, although he was a gamer, he was still performing good in his schools. Hence, his son must not be that d@mb to suggest a proposal just for a game.

Considering the circumstances, the company board members agreed to the partnership with the Yang Developers. However, they restricted their contract only in Asia and Australia.

...

"Yes, Chairman! With the help of this, we could also update the game back to its original feature!" The man continued.

"Wonderful! Tell the Yang Developers and the two energy companies to begin mass production already!" The Chairman shot up to his seat and ordered in a delightful manner.

"Yes, Chairman!" The man bowed slightly and quickly left the room. The secretary was patiently waiting beside the door.

"Ms. Luo! Please set up a hologram conference for everyone in a minute!" He ordered to the secretary.

"Yes, Chairman!" the secretary bowed slightly and was about to leave.

"Another thing! Please tell the Game Development Team that we would be speeding things up... a bit!" The Chairman added. The secretary nodded in response and quickly left.

"It's about time!" The Chairman, smiling, was standing while looking to the view of the city with the Sun, starting to set.

...

minutes later...

In a dark room, Holograms of standing people, arranged in a circular way, Started to appear one by one that illuminated the room. Other than the holograms, only the Chairman was inside the room.

When everyone was complete, the Chairman Clapped his hands and spoke.

"Greetings, respected leaders!" the Chairman bowed slightly as a show of respect to the leaders of the different countries.

"First of all, I give my sincere apologies for calling you all in such a very short notice!" the Chairman Bowed a bit deeper this time.

"It's fine Chairman! Please get to the point immediately! I was currently in the middle of a meeting! I had to stop it for a while because of this!" The American President spoke in a hurry.

"Well... I was in the middle of my lunch!" the Philippines President chuckled with a wryly smile in his face.

"Your Excellency is really humorous!" another leader interjected.

"Ehm... Before this goes out of hand... I would now start! We are about to speed up things and would be ready tomorrow! As agreed upon, I would like to request you, respected leaders, to do your part as soon as possible!" The Chairman explained briefly.

"Is that all?" the Korean President asked.

"Yes, your Excellency!" The Chairman who was still slightly bowing responded.

"Very well! I'll leave now!" the hologram of the American President disappeared immediately.

"Thanks for your time!" The Chairman spoke as one by one the hologram disappeared.

"Mr. Wong! Don't forget to send us some extra VR Boxes for free! Just kidding!" The Philippines President expressed jokingly as he waved goodbye to the Chairman. His hologram disappeared.

When all the holograms disappeared, The Chairman walked to the door and was about to go outside the room.

"It seems the world would be busy these coming days!" He uttered in a low voice and smiled.

...

When his online classes already ended in the afternoon, He already waited for his father while reading in the forums. Nothing notable was present and almost all contents were about the level of difficulty of survival in the game.

While waiting for his father to come home, Pedro was suddenly called by one of their maids.

"Young Master! Come and take a look at the news!" She hurriedly approached and called Pedro.

He followed the maid and went to the living room where his grandma and mother together with the other maids were watching.

"Breaking News! After almost half a day of its closed beta opening, the game Bearth Online was announced that the game would proceed to its Open beta phase by tomorrow night at Philippines time 9:00! Not only that! Almost every government leader in the world has shown their support to the game, some of them even adding the game as an additional subject in their curriculum for high schools and college level, as Electronic Survival Sports and Development subject! In our country! Our President also endorsed the said game, at the same time signed the pending bill that makes Electronic Survival Sports and Development subject, Bearth Online, to be included and offered in high school and college level! Specific details were to be announced by the Department of Education by tomorrow morning!" a local television news anchor reported.

"Oi Pedro! Don't think that because of this, we would give our full consent on you playing these games!" His grandma scolded while pointing fingers to Pedro.

"Calm down ma! Jon and I won't let Pedro's future be destroyed by these games!" His mother defended him.

"Stop spoiling him!" His grandma stood and walk going to her bedroom, annoyed. She was assisted on the way by one of their maids.

"Good heavens... what is the government doing? Spoiling all kids nowadays for money?! During my younger years, not a second were we allowed to slack off... If we did, we would not eat anything on that day!" She complained as she remembered how hard life was during her younger days.

...

"You heard your grandma, Pedro! It doesn't mean that it was added as a subject that you would only focus on that! Remember that you had other subjects too!" His mother adviced as his Grandma entered her room.

"Of course..." Pedro uttered softly. Deep inside, he was shocked to the core. First of all, there was no open beta phase of Bearth in his past life at all. This was a new event, that might be due to him causing a butterfly effect!

'If so... then the "announcement" on school tomorrow must be about this!' he remembered the sudden university announcement tomorrow.

Just as Pedro was contemplating the new events, the tv news program showed its next news...

"The Philippine Energy Company, Armaz Energy Corporation was partnered to the Yang Developers for the production of VR Boxes to be used in the game that's making a worldwide trend, the Bearth Online! Here is the live footage outside the Armaz Energy Corporation Main Office and the President and owner of the Armaz Energy Company, Mr. Jon Armaz!" The news anchor reported that was followed by the live footage of the interview.

"Mr. Armaz! Mr. Armaz! What can you say about the worldwide trend, Bearth Online... Did you partner with the Yang Developers because you know about this?" the reporter asked...

"I'm sorry... I can't disclose confidential information! All I can say is... Good Job Pedro!" His Father answered before riding his car.