Nexus

Thorne looked at the package in his hands, his eyes shone with glee. This was the cheapest bargain he could have ever picked up. He had long heard of VR games appearing on the market and the extraordinary experience but as a construction worker who lived in the coop region of New Old York, those were way above his pay grade.

He had been saving money to get himself a nice cupcake and a bottle of flavored water for his upcoming birthday and after several months, he managed to save up to 90 credits; enough to get himself a vanilla cupcake which cost 32 credits and a small sized bottle of flavored water which cost 52 credits. He didn't mind the price of the water because although it was just a small bottle, rumors and adverts stated that it tasted way better that the tap water he was used to. In all, this kind of purchase would have been worth it even though it cost him this much.

But who would have thought that just a day before this grand purchase, an army van would pull up in the slums claiming to sell government sponsored VR game helmets at a very cheap price of 50 credits. Initially, he thought that it was just a prank by one of those bored rich people in the Castle Region but after seeing the government approval seal on the boxes, he quickly went to purchase one before they got sold out. One must know that the average price for even the lowest tier VR game 2000 credits and he got one for 50. There was no way he was going to miss this pie from the sky.

He could care less about the game encrypted on this or its immersive ratio, having one of these was like a dream come true for him. After purchasing this and giving out almost all of his personal details which they required for some reason, he quickly rushed back to his apartment with his loot, fearing someone might realize the ridiculousness of the prices and order them to return the headsets.

This is the story of the package in his hands. Upon entering his apartment, he wasted no time in unboxing the package. The first item he took out was the headset itself and he realized it looked diferent from normal. Unlike other standard headsets, this was like a motorcycle helmet without the see through visor, so everything remained pitch black on the inside. He didn't know the reason for the new headset design but he reasoned that maybe there was an improvement in the VR tech industry. Anyway, there was a government stamp on it so it was bound to be safe at the very least, or so he thought.

Putting the helmet aside, he picked up two manuals from the bottom of the box. One was the headset user manual. Apparently, the headset only required a stable and constant power connection as well an internet connection, which wasn't a problem for even Coop dwellers because the government provided that for free. The other was the game manual. Surprisingly it was just a sheet and all it stated was the name of the game: NEXUS.

Looking underneath the name, there was another statement written there. 'A different experience.' There was also a golden crown shaped badge at the top corner.

And that was it. Nothing else. He turned the sheet over and noticed something.

'19:00:00'

He guessed that would be the time of the game's launch, but there was no date though.

"Is it today", he wondered.

Frowning, he picked up his phone and searched the game up. The first result was the game's official website. He was hoping to obtain some basic info of the game but the website only had a countdown timer with a two hour and a couple of seconds indication gradually ticking down. Then nothing. Just the name of the game, a countdown and that was it.

"Is this a new marketing strategy", he wondered, "Making the game look so mysterious would definitely attract a number of players."

Putting those thoughts aside, Thorne, who initially wanted to read a few articles about the game to see if there were any beta testers who had published guides or something, put aside his phone and went ahead to eat and shower before the game's launch. He had just got back from work at the site and was hungry and dirty and he definitely couldn't game in that state On his phone, on article which was titled, 'What The Government Isn't Telling Us' disappeared without a trace and the clueless man who was humming in the shower at this moment had no clue how much the article would have shocked him should he have read it. Ignorance is indeed bliss

Two hours later, he was lying in his tiny bed which took about three fourths of the apartment space, with the helmet over his head. The power cable had been connected to a socket, ensuring constant power supply. With this, he was sure his bills would shoot up in the upcoming months but he didn't mind it one bit.

"Launch Nexus"

He issued the command to launch the game

DING!

What followed was a cold mechanical voice.

[Command Received]

[Initiating B.S.]

[B.S. Complete]

[Initiating C.T. ]

[5, 4, …,1]

Thorne's body twitched violently on the bed before coming to a stop a couple of seconds later. He did not feel that though because at that moment he was in a dark void. All around him there was nothing but darkness except from a faint source of light from a seemingly distant blue object which he assumed to be a star.

[CT Complete]

The cold mechanical void resounded through the void.

"Oh, so the source of the source is this star, interesting."

Whoosh!

The star let out a wave of light that washed over him and even though he couldn't detect or see his physical body, he felt the warmth of the light within. The feeling was just surreal and magical.

"This game sure is impressive" he praised. This level of realism was top tier.

[C.S.S complete]

The blue star which had just been flickering mildly a moment before, let out a dazzling profound light, lighting up the entire void.

[Congratulations on being crowned the last of the Seven Children of Synthetica]

"The what now?"

Thorne was confused.

Didn't he just get here?

What was this all about?

He barely had time to think when the star acted up again.

The blinding star retracted all its light until it became a tiny golden dot, then it begun moving tracing out a line in void. It seemed like it was drawing something.

Over a period of time that Thorne couldn't quantify, he watched, awestruck, as the golden light sketched out a ginormous humanoid mechanical outline, more like a construct. To picture this you'd have to imagine an artist sketching out the outline of a sci-fi mech armor, complete with the helmet on paper.

Just that this time, it was way way larger, the canvas was a dark void and the lines were golden.

It was just an outline so aside the lines that defined the structure, there was nothing else. You could see right through it.

That being said, the construct was just majestic. Its sleek slender structure radiated an profound aura that earned it a look of reverence from Thorne.

"Seriously, what is this game?"

[As a son of Synthetica, you've been granted the Cosmogem of Energy]

WHOOSH!

Looking through the giant, Thorne saw a blazing comet speed right into the space where the heart would have been should the structure have been human and then set off a massive light explosion.

As the light dimmed, he saw that a pulsating white star had taken root in the chest area and a smaller silver object moving in a faint gray orbit around the star. They looked gigantic in his eyes but they only fit the chest area of the giant

[Syntheticon Complete]

[Your stellar core has been destroyed and replaced by the Cosmogem of Energy]

[ You have acquired a Quarkite Starshard (Luminous)]

Whoosh!

Thorne felt himself speeding into the giant.

"What the…"

[Welcome to Nexus]

[Spawning…]