10. Claire

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." — Bruce Lee

Amidst the bustling city of the modern era, a blend of concrete and steel, many found solace and hope, while others faced despair and oblivion. The rest were striving for a life filled with promise. 

In a pre-war apartment building nestled away from the affluent parts of the city, a young woman somberly made her way up the stone steps to the third floor. Resigned in her moments, she opened the think front door and walked inside the homie two-bedroom apartment she shared with her father.

After taking off her coat and putting away the groceries she had just bought, the young woman, Claire, changed into more comfortable clothes and sat down at her computer. 

Today was her commencement ceremony, but she did not go; they would mail the diploma anyway, so why waste money on renting a cap and gown when nobody would be there for her anyway? 

As soon as the computer loaded and she opened the browser, she was met with her grade sheet from the latest semester, which was all completely and utterly average. 

Instantly switching tabs to her bank account, she wanted to curl up in a ball and hibernate for a month; she did not have much money—definitely not enough to move out and live alone.

Looking in the corner of her room, she saw a black coffin-shaped capsule, the Echo-Chamber, the gaming device she had used all throughout high school but had refrained from touching since college had started.

As a chronic internet user, she was aware that more and more people were making a living playing games now that machines had taken over vast swathes of jobs. 

'Should I try to make money playing a game?'

Before dissolving, the thought crossed her mind: not everyone could make money playing games, and not all games allowed or facilitated trading with real-world currency. 

Although she had been pretty good at a few fighting games in the past, she knew that if she tried to make money playing a game, it would not be very much; most games were highly saturated with people trying to make money, and breaking into the market was challenging. 

After thinking it over, she decided to do some research into the subject. In the end, playing a game was significantly more appealing than searching for one of the rare jobs available for the major she got a degree in.

Meteorologists were in low demand, after all.

After a quick search, she found a website detailing what games it was hiring players for, what they were supposed to do, and what they would get paid.

Looking at the list, Claire felt her scalp go numb.

'This is worse than minimum wage.'

These seemed like the things younger kids would do to earn extra money playing video games. 

Quickly realizing that no career jobs playing video games would be just up on the internet, she decided to look into games where actual currency trading was allowed and facilitated, not even thinking about games where if you were caught, you could get banned; who wanted that little job security? 

After looking for a long time, it was already midday; tired from her search, she decided to watch some videos online.

As soon as she clicked on a video of someone reviewing a book she had read just a few days beforehand, "A Catcher in the Rye," a quick five-second ad came up, no video, just a still screen. 

Click to buy Harbinger's Call now!

Time until Release: 0 Days 2 Hours 06 Minutes 11 Seconds

Join one of the five ruling factions of the continent, Valoria, and fight for hegemony.

Starting Price $200

Looking at the ad, she suddenly had a strange feeling; she had been looking at games, and now this ad popped up, which seemed convenient.

That was unimportant, though; quickly opening a new tab, she looked up the situation regarding earning money on Harbinger's Call.

After some quick research, she found that the game was intended to launch with real-world trading mechanics, but because of legal and security issues, it would only gain those features two weeks after launch.

Claire was cautiously excited. Although waiting two weeks was not ideal, it had its advantages. Having a game come out was much more critical. People would need to learn what exactly they should be doing, and it was much easier to get established. There was a higher chance of being the person to discover a new method to make money than on an older game. 

Switching back to her bank account, she made some quick calculations.

'After buying the game, it should be fine not to make any money for two weeks.'

Although money would get tight, and she did not want to talk to her dad to ask for more, it would work as long as she could start making at least some money after two weeks.

With that in mind, she instantly made an account and began the pre-launch install, somewhat excited about playing a game after so long.

Before launch, she made some food while doing more research into the game.

From what information was available, players could choose from five factions that were completely separate, almost like five different games with five different zones where your faction influenced your race and environment. For instance, you could not be an elf in the mostly desert faction, the Crimson Covenant, having to choose between humans and eagle-like people. 

Deciding it would be better to choose a faction before launch, she started looking through all of the options, finding some utterly incompatible with her and some promising. 

After looking through the information available, her eyes were stuck on two factions: the Emerald Enclave and the Arcane Assembly. The Emerald Enclave was ruled by elves and had a beautiful and lush territory with sprawling coastal cities and even a few islands. On the other hand, the Arcane Assembly was on the other side of the map, a cold area in the north ruled by humans, where people lived tough lives, and monsters were a constant danger. 

After a long time of just staring, she finally came to a decision.