Late Night Contemplation

Rin's mind jolted into wakefulness, causing him to sit up abruptly in his bed. He let out an incoherent groan as he struggled to adjust to the sudden shift in surroundings. After a few moments of focusing on the surrounding objects, he managed to calm himself down.

Rin's thirst for water remained unsatisfied, although his incessant pain of fighting wolves vanished slowly as he logged out.

Rin couldn't determine whether his mind was perceiving the events in the game as real or if he was simply thirsty.

Rin checked the time on the smartwatch strapped to his arm and was surprised to see that he had been playing the game for about eight hours. The watch displayed a glittering hologram lower in his sight that showed various metrics, including graphs of his heart rate, breathing pattern, body temperature, blood pressure, and reaction time to brain stimuli.

According to the watch, Rin's reaction time was higher than 99% of people, which he believed to be accurate, though he suspected the actual number was even higher. However, he didn't have time to dwell on that at the moment.

His current concern was to satiate his thirst.

"I need water." Rin let out a grunt as he reached out for the water bottle placed beside his bed, only to find it almost empty.

Exhaling, he stood up and crept to the living room. Once there, he retrieved a cold water bottle from the refrigerator and chugged it down. Once his thirst was satiated, Rin realised his stomach was empty.

However, despite his empty stomach, Rin refrained from eating the leftover food in the refrigerator. It was a bad habit to eat at odd hours. He had to work hard to keep his habits straight. He didn't want to succumb to them again.

Besides, it was already dusk. The clock was nearing closer to five. Rin yawned, resting his bottom on the couch.

"I need to shuffle things around in my schedule if I want to keep playing regularly," he mumbled to himself, leaning back on the couch.

The bigger question was: Would he like to play regularly?

The answer was, absolutely.

His life lacked excitement since he left competitive Esports a couple of years back. Even if he didn't want to go back, Rin liked to keep his life exciting.

'Perhaps I should have accepted Luke's offer,' he mused. Rin didn't fuel that thought.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't excited after playing Apotheosis. Although it was too early to decide anything, Rin liked what he had seen. Except for the issue with pain, everything was just too addicting.

Honestly, most of it was enough to rush him with all the excitement. Enough to make him consider a comeback.

To reach the height of a top-level pro player, one would have to play for twelve to sixteen hours a day until they hit the limit. This differed little corresponding to games and players.

Talent is relative, but hard work is absolute.

Rin couldn't just go back with a half-assed resolve. That's the difference between a regular player and a pro player.

It would just be ruining his name if he went back like that. Then again, Rin hardly ever cared about his image. He cared about being the best, and he had achieved it.

"I guess this is a thought for another time," Rin mused.

The game was still in the beta stage, and it would likely take several months, if not years, to release it to the general public. Based on what Rin had observed, it would require a significant amount of resources and funding to bring it to the mass market.

For instance, Rin received the VR headset and smartwatch as a gift, presumably for his professional achievements. However, this level of generosity would not be sustainable for everyone.

After all, Avalon had to make a profit. Developing technologies like this required a substantial amount of funding and competent men.

Rin gave it 1 year for them to even mass produce 50 - 100 million VR sets. Only then would it be possible for them to come up with a world-level competition like the World Avalon League.

Rin clicked his tongue as he thought. He couldn't bother with these lines of thought anymore. Not until he rested for a few hours.

Playing a VR game cannot be compared to getting a good night's sleep. Especially when it was all too real.

Rin yawned again, reclining his full body on the couch. He closed his eyes, completely unaware that Apotheosis Online had already taken over the internet.

***

Rin awoke to a cacophony of heated debates, causing him to question whether he was in the right place. He blinked a few times, clearing the blurriness from his eyes. No, he was in his own apartment, alright.

As for the cacophony, it was coming from his pub. Seth had likely opened it up in his absence.

Although The Laughing Drunkards was not located in the busiest part of the West Coast, it still had a cosy atmosphere that attracted dozens of regulars. However, the customers were typically not this loud or boisterous.

"Even yesterday, the launch of Apotheosis Online wasn't this heated," Rin muttered. "Oh shoot! The game, it's probably because of that."

Refreshing himself, Rin got downstairs at the pub, changing his drab shirt into a colourful floral t-shirt. He found Seth on the counter, watching the crowd with amusement in his eyes, though equally excited to the eager youths.

"What just happened?" Rin asked the older man. "Don't tell me, are the Nightshades coming for a show in our city?"

Seth shot him a humourless smile and gestured at the screen on the wall. "It's the game again," Seth said. "Apparently it is chaos on the internet now."

"Complains or praises?"

"There were praises," Seth said, reclining in his seat, "but the complaints outgrew them."

"Why am I not surprised!" Rin chuckled. "Give them something that could arguably be called an alternate dimension, yet they will still find ways to nitpick."

"Well, apparently, some of their concerns are valid. The terms and conditions of Apotheosis Online are quite shrewd, for sure."