Pandora. Pandora was the name of an artificial intelligence singularity engine of the thirtieth century, and its applications were endless. One of them, the full-dive virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game or FDVRMMORPG for short; its name – Pandemonium. In the ten years of its service, it reached the staggering player count of thirty billion, which amounted to roughly over ninety percent of Earth's population. Everyone played it, from young children to elders. Some were heroes, while others were villains. Craftsman, and many others. There was no limit to what you could be in this fantastical world or what you could achieve, which was precisely what attracted people to it.
But what was the process of starting your life in Pandemonium? Before anything else, you needed to have Pandora's chip implanted into your brain. The first step then was to purchase the piece of hardware known as the capsule. After that, you simply had to buy the game for the exorbitant price of a thousand dollars.
Upon completing these simple yet crucial steps, all you had to do was enter your capsule, and before you knew it, you would find yourself in the world of Pandemonium. There was no character creation. Your name was set to your nickname in the Pandora system, and your appearance reflected your real-world self. You couldn't change your gender, age, or anything similar. Your race was randomized, ranging from standard races like humans to legendary ones. You had no control over one more thing – your class. It was either vagrant, commoner, or noble. But that was only your class.
Your job, however, was something else entirely. You could choose it freely. But there was a catch. If you failed to acquire a job in twenty-four in-game hours, then a noble would default into either a knight or a priest. A commoner would default into a craftsman. And a vagrant would default into a slave. And there were no do-overs.
I clapped my hands once, twice, thrice. "That was some nice exposition, little brother."
My name was Valeif Ritsuka, a senior at the University of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying computer science. I was twenty-three years of age, and I had ignored Pandemonium and games in general until today. Because, frankly, they were a waste of time. I could do literally anything else with my time, which would be more worthwhile and productive. Reading, studying, and so on…
"So, how much do you need?" I asked. In his monologue, Demi mentioned the price of Pandemonium but not the capsule. "Three thousand? Five?"
"THAT'S NOT IT!" Demi shouted out, catching our parents' attention, who were just in the next room over watching television. But he didn't care and continued on. "I WANT YOU TO PLAY WITH ME!" His voice was full of desperation.
I shrugged it off in refusal as I stood up to leave, but that was when our mother chimed in. "What's the big deal, Valeif? Just play with him, as it is your little brother's birthday and all.
"Please, big sister."
A sigh escaped my mouth. "Fine, I will go change…"
"Me too!"
When we were both ready, my little brother and I left our house and headed for my car. It was an old but nice car nonetheless bought with the money I saved from all my birthdays, but that was only a third. The other two-thirds were from my part-time jobs as well as internships.
"I am assuming that I still need to buy Pandemonium, and so my question is, do they sell them in capsule cafes, or do we have to go to a specialized store?"
"That's right; they sell them in the capsule cafes."
"Okay." I drove directly to one of them.
"When I first started," My little brother began. "The race chosen for me was human, and my class was noble! And I became a knight!" There was such pride in his voice. But…
"And you are proud of that?" It was a valid question, considering that a human was just a standard race and knight was one of the default jobs. But I guess noble was what Demi was proud of.
"Mhm," a nod was accompanied by his word. "I am sure that you will become a knight too!"
It seems that I was wrong. He was proud that he was a knight and not a noble.
"My first quest as a knight was to…"
I listened to my little brother's stories of his adventures, and I had to admit, they were interesting.
"We've arrived," I said as I parked the car. "Shall we go inside?"
My little brother practically dashed into the building.
I sighed. "You're too excited," I muttered under my breath, loud enough for only myself to hear, and followed him inside. He was waiting for me at the front desk.
"Big sister, hurry!"
"I would like to book two capsules for a few hours, and I will also need a copy of Pandemonium."
"I'm terribly sorry," the staff replied. "But our last copy of Pandemonium was sold just a few minutes ago."
"I see." I glanced at my little brother, whose face fell. "I'll just drive to a specialized store and buy it. You can go into a capsule and start playing."
My little brother's face lit up. "Okay, big sister."
I paid for my little brother's capsule and left, but not before saying, "I'll be right back."
Some minutes later, I arrived at the specialized store of everything Pandemonium. The first thing that caught my eye was the capsules. They were beautiful in design, and they came in many different colors too. But most importantly – their price. It was over ten thousand dollars. "Ridiculous"
The next thing that pulled my attention was the massive crowd of people, but I ignored it and went to the counter. "I want to buy Pandemonium."
"You are not interested in the world tournament?" The clerk looked away from the screen at which that crowd of people was looking. He was a handsome young man with short, chaotic black hair and mesmerizing emerald green eyes. His physique was nice too.
"No," I said flat out. "Now, ring me up."
"Then, you must be a new player," the man smiled warmly, but I showed no reaction. "It will be a thousand dollars." He nodded his head. "I have received the payment." He placed Pandemonium on the counter.
I am really doing this, aren't I? I thought before opening the box. Inside, there was nothing but a single engraving. When I looked at it, a notification message appeared before me.
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And then came a flood of messages from my friends.
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I replied to them all by saying, "It's just for a few hours and only today."
Time to go back to Demi…
I drove back to the capsule café, paid for my capsule, and got into it; before I knew it, I found myself in Pandemonium. It was breathtaking. The sight before me.
"What do you say, Valeif? Will you help me in my quest for world domination?"