Chapter 11 Pandora

Everything was set up and the VR mind capsule was ready for use. The workers who had come to set in the VR mind gear capsule came to John and asked for some signatures and then left the place . The VR capsule was placed inside an unused big room which was previously used as a storage , but it didn't have that much things to clear away , just some old unwanted stuff, so it was nearly arranged after cleaning up and the whole room was ready to be used.

While John was discussing with the workers . Lee and Alex got introduced to themselves. Lee got into the story of John saving his life and Alex was joyfully listening to it along with Beom who was grinning with his teeth happily rejoicing that Alex had ended up with a VR capsule and they can play Pandora with it together. It was getting late , John refused to leave them without dinner , so they had good dinner prepared by John and Alex. They asked their guests whether it was okay for them to have rabbit meat and vension, to which they agreed as it was a delicacy they had had at times at some world class restaurants. Alex finishing his working came and set up the dinner table beautifully for the four and John followed along with the dishes.

Lee had never tasted something unique and refreshing in a while , even though he had had foods at restaurant that were the best in the world the food cooked by John and Alex had a homely and nurturing feel to it and it felt to him as if it was made by his mother. Beom had never seen his father eat that much of food, and he also couldn't stop himself from stuffing his face.

"I really enjoyed the dinner, Mr. John", Lee courteously thanked John for the wonderful dinner to which Beom chimed in repeating his father. They bid their goodbyes and left for their home after advising Alex and John on how to use the VR mindgear capsule to treat John , Alex was really happy that they could diagnose this in its early stage without letting it progress, because if it had progressed it would have become dangerous for John's health as it would have become an irreparable damage to the brain.

Alex and grandpa John talked about the events that happened for sometime and Alex was explaining about Pandora and how he really wanted to play it. John was happy to see Alex in a joyful mood .Alex was pretty tired after the whole day ,so he went to bed .

Beom on the other hand was getting a bit restless. He had to make sure that Alex was ready to play the game. So he had to teach him the basics of playing the game. He started to create notes on how to play the game on his way home. Lee was looking at Beom suprised because he had never seen his son do anything for someone else without them asking , and he knew his son was pretty lazy and this was the first day that he saw his son work on the behalf of someone willingly and excitedly.

Beom was thinking of the kind of monster Alex would become in the game if he was able to use the same skills that he has in real world. Alex was thinking how to enjoy a game with infinite possibilities. Beom and Alex met everyday till the release of the game , where Beom taught him how to interact with the NPCs and how to use his skills , and how many stat points he would begin the game with and how to distribute it. Beom also told him not to settle for any class and search out for a unique quest that leads to a special class. "Not choosing a class will really help you to choose a class of your own choice Alex", Beom wanted that point to get into Alex's brain, because as soon as a class is chosen then the path of the player becomes limited to the class selected.

Beom also taught Alex how to create skills inside the game by imitating real skills from outside world inside the game. "So as long as I don't perform a skill perfectly it won't register as a skill..... Okay can I blacksmith inside the game without selecting a class", asked Alex curiously. "Ofcourse Alex for that you don't need any class , go to the smithy and ask the blacksmith he would let you start smithing once you complete his quests or else you can go to the city center where you can also rent a forge and start smithing".

Alex and Beom had pretty serious conversations everyday and they fell more in love with the game, they were really waiting for it to get released. "Hiding your identity is also important Alex because once you let your identity known to the world you will attract some unnecessary attention," Alex took everything Beom said to his heart. Beom also explained about selecting the starter villages and which starter village they were going to choose and then also about the gold to currency conversion ratio for making money in real life. Beom couldn't explain all the parts to Alex as he had only seen the feature , but he couldn't access it as it was only a beta version he played. Beom his the fact that he was a Beta player from Alex as it was not something that he should reveal to others , that was what he signed in the agreement that he made with ApexGen Studios.

The information Beom gave out was general info that any player in the world must know and will know if they had played enough games. But Alex didn't fit into the category so he had to explain everything to him as he was gaming for the first time in his life. The day Pandora was getting released arrived and the timer for the release was around eight in the night. Alex and Beom met in the private space created by Beom and they made sure that their game was properly installed. Alex had gotten permission from his grandpa after finishing his chores to play the game. Alex and Beom's first task was to create their character, finish the tutorial and then select the same starter village and meet inside the game.

The game got released worldwide sharply at the designated time . Alex and Beom had entered the game world.

"Welcome to Pandora " ,a beautiful voice echoed into the ear of Alex."My name is Mathilda , the overseer of this world , please feel free to ask any questions ?". Alex shaked his head and said ,"I don't have any questions let's proceed".

"Do you wish to create a character similar to yourself?",asked Mathilda and Alex replied with a quick nod denoting a yes , Alex was still getting accustomed to the world and his nod was taken as an answer to the question that Mathilda asked. The reason Alex chose his original body was that Beom had asked him to do it, because if the height or weight of your character is different than reality then it may affect our mind to get accustomed to the body and it would take time to get accustomed to the new body and other users will quickly surpass them. You can change your appearance inside the game but never your height or weight , it can be only changed by using skills temporarily. It would also be hard for Alex to make any skills if he didn't get accustomed to his body quickly. "Can I change the colour of my hair alone and have a small beard", Alex opened his mouth for the first time.

"So you can speak , feel free to change your appearance later, but once you fix your height and weight it cannot be changed again", replied Mathilda and a big mirror appeared in front of Alex. He was wearing a beginner set of clothes . He changed his hair color to brown and placed a small beard on his face and some moustache and it made Alex look really handsome and mature unlike his old self, Alex's beard in real life hadn't grown yet so Alex felt satisfied in knowing how he would look with a beard.

Alex was all set for the next part of the game. Mathilda went on to explain how to open the inventory and how to use the items in the inventory. Alex was familiar with it but he repeated whatever Mathilda told . After hearing all the information and after the primary instructions, a beautiful girl wearing a long red dress appeared in front of Alex and greeted Alex and told him that she was Mathilda, Alex was perplexed by the beauty in front of him. She instructed Alex to say a pledge and repeat after her , a small message popped in Alex's screen with the terms and conditions of the game and Alex skipped it without reading it as everyone would usually do. Mathilda's pledge was the user's way of acknowledging and agreeing to the terms and conditions of the game. After repeating the pledge a small mark appeared on the back of Alex's hand symbolising that now he was a user and citizen of this world.