One month prior

Ring, buzzz, ring, buzz, rinnnnnng… "Alarm clock"

Chirp, chirp, chirpy… " birds in the background"

It was the morning, after yesterday's gaming session. Erin woke up with a dazed expression on

his face.

Erin started throwing around punches, and as he retracted one of those punches too quickly, he

accidentally hit himself in the face.

"Ouch, I'm awake, awake!" said Erin

After waking up on his couch, Erin started maneuvering around his things, to get to the

bathroom to get himself all washed up. After he was done he headed to the kitchen.

He turned on the stove and started cooking breakfast. While he was waiting for his food to finish

cooking, he turned on his laptop on his desk, to check and see when the servers would be back

up.

"Looks like the servers will be back up at around noon. Not only that, on the site, forum postings

were made for each beginner's area, of each respective region from around the world, and of

course one was made for Seedling Island as well. " thought Erin

After looking it up Erin went and ate his breakfast. Noticing he still had plenty of time, he started

working on his side job. On his laptop Erin was speedily writing up a gaming article to post on a

gaming news site to make some money.

"The game is amazing!... You can do this… It is so realistic… etc. etc. etc." As rigorously typed

away, he was thinking back to just one month ago when he was still deciding if he should buy

the ridiculously expensive capsule or not.

It was a cold and snowy, wintery December day.

Mid-afternoon day, Erin was treading his way through snow, back to his small apartment

complex where he was renting a room, after failing his 173th job interview. He was 35 years old

at the time, thinking to himself what am I doing with my life.

"I am sorry, but we have found someone else more qualified for the job… you are overqualified,

you are underqualified, you lack experience, maybe you should try this… this is an impressive

resume but…" These were all the things said by the human resources departments interviews

he's been through.

"Whatever it is. I have heard it all." said Erin

Each step he took was a heavy one, and each time the road was cleared of snow, another layer

would form just minutes after. Looking up at the blank white sky, of the never ending cycle of

wind and snow. A tear started forming in his eyes.

He continued treading onwards back to his place. About 10 minutes later the weather has

gotten so bad, that even the traffic on the road all stopped.

"Hey, young man! Get indoors quick! There is a blizzard hitting here soon" yelled a shopkeeper

from down the road.

"I am still an hours walk away from where I live!" said Erin

"Just get in here then, stay until things calm down." said the shopkeeper

"But, I have no money!" said Erin

"I don't care if you have no money. I am not just going to leave someone outside like that, not in

this weather!" said the shopkeeper

As he has no better options available to him, he quickly went inside.

Erin was seated on a table by a window. While waiting for the snow the die down, the

shopkeeper bought over some warm water.

"Thank you." said Erin

"Don't worry about it young man. What were you doing outside in this blizzard anyways?" said

the shopkeeper

"I was at a job interview, and failing for the 173rd time…" said Erin with a down face.

"Well, I don't have much to say about that, as in that you have probably heard it all and that I

wouldn't be able to help you out much at all, since I am barely making it myself as well." said the

shopkeeper

"It is already more than enough that you helped me out today." said Erin

As they went on talking for a little bit more, the shopkeeper went on back to his work.

Erin pulled out his smartphone. He was texting his one friend that he still kept in touch with over

the years his name was Chad.

"How did it go? My friend." typed Chad

"Failed again, my 173rd time." typed Erin

"Well, I will try and help you out some more." typed Chad

"You have already been helping out so much, ever since my last family member died. It was

also thanks to you that I managed to get this side job as a writer for a news outlet." typed Erin

"I wouldn't want to disappoint aunty Li, especially for not helping out his son since she has also

taken care of me at one point of my life. You have already done your part Erin you saw her off

with the brightest smile you ever made." typed Chad

It was six years ago at the age of 29, that Erin's mother passed away from a heart problem the

last of his family members. None of his relatives were there for the funeral, they all seemed to

have had better things to do. When things really took a turn for the worst everybody in his life

abandon him friends and family members. The only one who stayed was his best friend Chad.

Typing…Typing, Typing… Chad is still Typing

"Have you heard? VR: Acornstory is coming out! It is said to be the first 100% full immersion

mmorpg game. I can't believe that I am actually alive to experience something like this. It is said

to be the true successor to the original "Leafstory" and "Leafstory 2". Oh man, those two games

were our childhood." said Chad

"I know right! We would spend hours upon hours playing it. Though Leafstory 2 was a dud, we

always hoped that a game would come out that would incorporate the true spirit of both games.

The gameplay of Leafstory and the social aspect of Leafstory 2." said Erin

"And that is it! They are saying this is the one! They said it is releasing on the 2nd day after new

year. It is in VR too!" said Chad

"When are they selling the system to play it?" said Erin

"Soon! Ok, talk to you later my friend." said Chad

"Bye" said Erin

After a few more hours, the snow stopped, and saying goodbye to the shopkeeper he headed

back to his place.

He started writing about the blizzard and how it affected the city. As he was finished up. He

went to bed.

The next day he remembered that his birthday was coming up soon.

"So it is going to be another year already huh, I am turning 36." thought Erin

Not really caring he went on his laptop to search for information on when the VR system was

going to be sold.

"Eh, the system will be sold a few days from today. On my birthday?!" thought Erin.

"Let's see how much it will cost $500 for a 90% immersion helmet, $999 for a 95% immersion

helmet, and What! $10,000 for a 100% full body capsule, only 100 available! at release." said

Erin

Though it may seem like a lot of money, with the amount of technology that might have went

into making it they might just be breaking even, so more people can try out the game.

"Let see how much money I still have left in the bank."thought Erin

"$15,768"

"At this rate, I will never have enough saved to retire." said Erin with a sigh

"I will never be able to buy a house, a car, or even have a family with someone." shaking his

head as Erin said that out loud.

"Going on vacation for a week is just a waste of money… I might as well splurge on the $10,000

VR gaming system. I want to play without lag! I hate how I never had the best systems to ever

play my games, for some reason at every critical moment I always mess up because of it. Well

no more!" thought Erin

A few days later he stayed up until late at night, waiting for the timer to turn 12.

12:00am

It was his birthday… But he didn't care about that at all. Ready with all his information typed in

he clicked buy.

"Order has been placed, will be delivered in 2 weeks." written on in the webpage

Capsule #97

"That was so close. I almost didn't get one!" said Erin with a bead of sweat dripping down his

face.

"Must have been my birthday present." thought Erin

It's been two weeks.

Knock Knock.

"Package delivery." said the mailman

Erin got up and ran towards the door to pick it up. It was immediately placed by his desk and

couch.

He spent the following days setting it up.

When opening day came, he was already inside the capsule.

Logging in.

[Welcome, to Acorn....]