Back to the Past!

In the afternoon, the secretary reported that the RnD Department of the Armaz Energy Corporation gave their approval. Unfortunately, the developers of the VR Box declined all the offers from all the Energy Corporations all over the world.

Hence, Mr. Jon Armaz was forced to proceed with his contingency plan of tasking Pedro to build a professional gaming organization for their company.

During their family dinner, Mr. Jon Armaz shared about this to his family and said that Pedro "must" participate to somehow put his so-called "gaming skills" into use.

Pedro was happy to be given a chance to prove himself to his family, especially to his father. At the same time, He also felt pressured knowing that this will play a huge part in the future of their company.

He contacted Annie and the other remaining members of his guild. Unfortunately, they declined his offer and chose to remain in their old VR game. Hence, they separated ways and lost contact with each other ever since.

As the VR game, Bearth Online, was released, every government in the world promoted it, including the newly developed technology called VR Box.

And as arranged by his father, Pedro played the game and was able to establish "Ares Guild". The guild that was sponsored and would represent their company, the Armaz Energy Corporation.

After a year, they became known because they were one of the professional guilds to enter the Tier-C Guild Rankings. Their company did well because of this accomplishment.

Yet, they were not able to completely dominate because of other competitor companies that also had Tier-C or higher Guild Rankings.

The Ares guild struggled to even be in Tier-C Guild Rankings because of the tight competition between the professional guilds.

Placing all his best and efforts, the Ares Guild was able to reach the Tier-C Bearth Championship Finals in the 6th year. Unexpectedly, almost half of the guild members that were participating in the finals terminated their contracts and left the guild a day before the Championship final.

Unfortunately, unlike other games, a single loss of player could cause the loose of a guild. What more a loss of half of his 'army'. They didn't have 'Top Tier' players amongst them, hence, their defeat was just a matter of formality.

This caused them to lose the Championship finals. Of course, the effect of their loss caused the guild to slowly fall on the guild rankings up to the point that they were even removed in the tier-C guild rankings.

To Pedro, who did everything he could to attain the glory he wanted to get since he was young on games, it was a heartbreaking experience.

The guild was something he built from scratch. On top of that, Bearth Online was 'the hardest' game that ever existed.

Monsters? Players? Dungeons? Those were not the only things that could pose a threat to a player! Those were not the only things that would test them or threaten their survival.

Yes! Even NPCs! Those NPCs that had a good favorability with you might become your enemy in the next second.

And to see a guild he built and survive for 6 long years from that cruel and unpredictable environment, it was really painful and heartbreaking experience to him.

"Cheer up son." His mother patted his back.

Then, his father added, "You should take it easy on yourself since we have even exceeded way beyond our initial goals, son!"

'I understand what you, guys, want to say. But... That was not the point!' He thought as tears started to flow out of his eyes, and he said, "Still... Still... The guild... The championship... I was this close to winning it!"

Yes, his father was right. They have had their goal accomplished a long time ago. Their company grew. However, the guild was something Pedro built with all his effort. It was akin to that sadness when your dog, that you painstakingly took care of and happily lived with for several years, had died.

Hence, unable to contain his sadness, Pedro didn't finish his dinner. He stood and went back to his room instead.

'Haa... What did I do to deserve this?' He kept thinking by himself while lying down on his bed.

Hours later, he was able to finally calm himself but, at the same time, he felt hungry. Remembering that he was not able to finish even half of his dinner, he went down to their kitchen to solve his hunger.

Not wanting to disturb anyone from their sleep, he decided not to wake his parents nor their maids, and simply took the bread he saw, cut it into smaller pieces, and placed them in the oven.

Boooom!

While the oven was heating his bread, an explosion occurred that was followed up by an electrical blackout in the whole house.

He accidentally touched a part of the electrical wire of the oven that had peeled of its cover. Pedro was electrocuted and died.

His vision became dark and his body felt cold as he slowly loses consciousness. However, for some reason, he started to slowly regain his vision in the next few seconds.

'Am I still alive? or is this afterlife like those fantasy stories?' Pedro questioned himself while slowly opening his eyes.

When he recognized the familiar ceiling, he glared towards it while he was at loss for words.

'I-Impossible! Maybe, this is just a dream?!' He thought in disbelief. He knew that he somehow got electrocuted because of the pain he felt was so intense to be a dream. At the same time, he still remembers that he was hungry and went to their kitchen.

In order to confirm that he was not really dreaming, he slapped his face to know if he could feel pain.

"Ouch!" He cried as he felt pain in his cheeks.

"This is too painful to be a dream." He said.

Still confused, Pedro saw a VR gaming helmet beside him.

'What's with the gaming helmets? Aren't they replaced by VR boxes 6 years ago?' He thought.

Kring!

Pedro noticed his phone that started ringing. He grabbed the phone and saw the name of who was calling. It was Annie.

'Why is Annie calling me? Didn't we part ways 6 years ago?'

He hesitated to answer the phone call from Annie because he felt guilty of leaving them in the past.

'Did I really got electrocuted? And Annie is just calling because they got the news about it?' He thought as he pressed the answer icon on his phone.

"I finally got through!" Annie muttered with a relieved voice.

"What's up, Annie?" He asked.

"What's up? How can you be so calm when you almost died in-game?" Annie replied with a confused voice.

"Died in-game?!" Pedro was astonished by the reply of Annie.

'How would I die in-game? What is she talking about?'

"Was your head kicked by a pony? Do you have Amnesia or are you just messing with me, guild leader?"

Annie started to become annoyed with Pedro's answers, not sure if he was messing with her or not. Little did she know that Pedro was thrown into a state of confusion making him speechless.

It took him a few seconds to calm himself and started asking himself, 'Died in-game?'

'I didn't play Bearth Online with Annie... So, she is probably referring to Dragona Online. But... That was like six years ago? What is she talking about? Dying in-game? As far as I can remember, I only died once when I was playing the Dragona Online and... That is the "God Dragon" experience.'

He paused for a second, then he said, "Else... If I remember correctly... There was also one time when I 'almost' died on Dragona Online! When we tried to escape the ambush of player assassins, seven years ago!'

"Hello? Hello? Are you still there? Hello?" Annie kept bugging as Pedro remained unresponsive for almost a minute.

"It can't be!" He said.

Still unsure of the current events, Pedro deduced that this was the event where he almost died on Dragona Online, approximately 7 years ago.

"Annie, I need to hang up. Something just came up. Sorry!" Pedro immediately ended the call and checked the calendar on his phone.

To his surprise, He was right. It was 7 years ago.

Still unconvinced, Pedro rushed to his computer to check the date online, trying to confirm that everything that is 'real'.

'My phone might be malfunctioning! But... Online Net time, It won't be the case! No matter what, It is always right!'

When he saw that the Online Net Time displayed the same time as his phone, his mind went blank as he somehow time-traveled seven years back to the past.

'Calm down. Calm down. If all of this is real then... The closed beta of Bearth Online will happen a year before its official release. The registration for the closed beta should be around these days!'

He calmly searched at 'Glogol', an online searching website, about the game Bearth.

'Boom!'

He was right. He was able to access the website of the game Bearth Online. The website contained an advertisement about the closed beta of the game.

~~~~~~~

Registration for Closed Beta Players is ongoing!

Limited slots only!

Closed Beta will start on February 1, 2031!

~~~~~~~

"February 1? There's just a week left!" Pedro panicked. The thought of 'time travel' quickly vanished in his mind as he was filled with excitement, at the same time, fear of losing a slot to play for the closed beta version of the game.

After submitting his registration form, he was anxious, thinking if he can still be accepted to participate in Bearth Online's closed beta version.

"Tok! Tok! Tok!"

He tapped the table with his fingers whilst waiting for the confirmation email that would signify that he qualified to participate in the game's closed beta version. Soon, after almost half an hour of waiting, he finally got a response.

~~~~~~~

You've got mail!

~~~~~~~

Pedro's computer sounded after waiting for minutes. In that period, he was able to think and brainstorm what he should do during the 'Closed Beta' phase of the game.

A huge smile appeared on Pedro's face after he read the content of the mail.

~~~~~~~

Greetings Mr. Pedro Armaz,

We are glad to inform you that you have successfully registered for the closed beta of Bearth Online! We are pleased to inform you that you are qualified to participate in the incoming Closed Beta phase.

Kindly check the information below and secure the gaming utilities required including the VR Box before the start of the closed beta on February 1!

You have our deepest gratitude.

Good luck and we hope that you enjoy the game!

~~~~~~~