Setting Up

Dom opened the large white box that was placed on his bed, that originally had a red ribbon on it that he had removed. Inside the box was a surprisingly thin instruction manual, lots of polystyrene balls and the World Conquest gaming headset itself.

The Headset was more like a helmet than anything else. It covered the back of the head with lots of padding, with the front of the helmet covering the cheekbones, over the nose and an eye shield to protect the eyes. Inside the helmet was a complex array of sensors that read and transmitted data for a fully immersive experience.

Dom placed the helmet on his bed, whilst quickly grabbing the instructions manual for a glance.

*The World Conquest Headset can be used and played when both awake and asleep, giving ample comfort and protection whilst you game.

To start, please place the headset on your head and allow for the internal padding to adjust to your head size for additional comfort. Once adjusted the game will load and collect DNA for sequencing, this will be painless and through the sensors on your head.

Each player once synchronised will be added to the singular online server and limited to one account per person. Headset's can be replaced if damaged, but will log in to the same account through DNA sequencing, which is your login.

The game will run at a 3x speed compared to reality, and players will be capped at 18hour gaming sessions.

If you have any queries during game, please ask for "Game Support"*

Dom placed the instructions down beside him.

"Gaming whilst sleeping? Damn I may be on time for once!" Dom exclaimed excitedly.

He stood up and headed towards the central room that he shared with Andrew, who was dishing out their noodles.

"Thoughts?" Andrew asked excitedly

"Not what I was expecting, did you know you can play whilst asleep?" Dom replied confused.

"I had seen that earlier, shocking isn't it. And the with the 3x speed and maximum of 18hours, it means that if you play the full allowance, you are live for 3 out of 4 days." Andrew commented, "Should be fun when we get going, it will be interesting to see how it starts! Plus, you have no excuse for not getting up on time"

"Let's finish this and catch up later!" Dom declared, eating the noodles he really didn't want, with a surprising amount of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan!" Andrew replied, taking his bowl to the kitchen and heading to his room "I'll try and work out the internal comms and get in touch as soon as possible."

Dom headed to his own room, grabbed the headset and placed it on his head. Slowly it tickled as the internal padding cushioned his head comfortably, before he slowly lay down on his bed.

The first thing that Dom saw was a bright white light, followed by light blue prisms that floated around the screen as it loaded.

[Game loading.....] the screen showed. Dom felt excitement throughout as he waited for the screen to finish loading. [....Connecting to global server]

Black specks of light appeared and dropped and slowly filled the screen until it was pitch black. A small white light appeared in the middle and started to grow, with the sounds of wind flying around Dom's head.

"Wow it feels so real!" He exclaimed to himself.

[Game will now take DNA sequencing - Collecting DNA Sample]

Dom felt a slight stroke on his forehead, before it disappeared again.

[DNA sample collected, DNA sequencing completed - Dominic Lazarus, Welcome to the World Conquest]

Suddenly Dom was stood on a floating white cloud in the sky. Opposite him was a woman dressed in a smart black business suit, sat on a chair with her legs crossed. She had long red hair, and a natural elegance to her. She had deep green eyes and held her head up high. Causing you to feel that you were being looked down upon and that you needed to give her respect. Seeing this was a game, if felt almost real when looking at her.

The cloud that they were on floated above a gigantic world, with large landmasses and oceans that adorned it. It was green and lush, and Dom was excited to explore it.

"Welcome to World Conquest, I am Game Support, if you have any queries please shout for me during the game." Game Support explained, "Firstly please choose a player name."

"WhiteWolf" Dom replied automatically, this was his gamer name across multiple games that he played with his small group of friends, so it would be easier to find him online.

"Would you like to confirm?" Game Support asked, "Would you not prefer something like BigDaddy003, GeneralSlaughter671, RedHeadsAreBest2475 or ILoveBigBums"

"Yes, please confirm!" Dom replied confused, what sort of names were those!

"Denied." Game Support replied with a smile, "Name must relate to your name, you only have one name."

Strange, Dom thought. What an unusual rule.

"Yes it is." Game Support relied, to Dom's shock. "Please remember that we are communicating through brain waves, so I can therefore hear your thoughts. I do, however appreciate you not mentally undressing me, unlike some of the males that have joined so far."

"What should I be named then?" Dom asked, not daring to insult the Game Support, who seemed very human.

"Lazarus." She replied.

Dom had a real dislike to his surname, that he had inherited from his father, like most people did.

"As you have not declined, that is now your name." Game Support replied, "Well, let's continue. Would you like to slightly alter your appearance or keep it the same? Please note this can not be changed at a later time. You will however be able to purchase clothes and disguises throughout your World Conquest journey."

"Keep the same please" Dom replied, he would just buy a disguise, he expected Andrew and Alice would keep the same so the gaming trio would be able to recognise each other easy enough. He wondered if Alice could have persuaded Claire to join.

"Interesting choice, respectful." Game Support replied. "In World Conquest your spawn point will be decided based on your class, stats and decisions made during the tutorial. Would you like to hear more about the classes?"

"Yes please." Dom said, he was planning to play as an adventurer, as they normally had lots of flexible stats on most games and would allow him to support Andrew's guild easy enough. However, little had been announced other than the basics, and he was interested to hear more.

"There are several starting classes, that can evolve in to sub classes: Warrior, These are guards, soldiers or mercenaries primarily that will fight for the countries Emperor, Kings, Lords or Leaders that are across the realm, a fun play style for the majority of gamers. Adventurers are for those driven by quest style game play, exploring the far reaching and unexplored zones, following quests set by Town and City folk. Lifestyle players who can take on a new identity in the game, trying and learning new skills and crafts, ever wanted to become a Baker or a Blacksmith?" Game Support started. "All of the above classes are key to the game and there are opportunities to move between the classes to learn corresponding skills. For example a Warrior Knight who enjoys Baking as a hobby"

Game Support laughed to herself at the thought, whilst Dom looked at her with a confused look.

"Game Support, I have a question." Dom interrupted.

"Go ahead, Lazarus." She replied with a smile.

"Are you programmed with certain lines of text, or are you an AI?" Dom asked inquisitively, "I do not mean this in a rude way, I am just interested."

"Interesting, not many have noticed, I am an AI programmed by the game makers to manage and support the set up and transition in to the game, and to then support from a tech support perspective then onwards." She replied with a smile, "If that is ok, I will continue?"

"Thank you for explaining," Dom replied, with a slight bow in gratitude.

Game Support slightly bowed her head in response, sat in her chair, before continuing. "The roles can also evolve, depending on your relationship with the environment. A smart Warrior may become a Strategist, an talented Pottery Maker may receive a contract from a Kingdom and create their own large company. Do your family have strong familiar lines and strong support, maybe set up your family companies in the game? Have trusted friends, why not create a guild? So many options."

Game Support stopped talking and looked up at Dom in the eyes. A Serious expression on her face. "There is one final class, it is mainly pre-arranged by the game developers and creators. Those with Powerful backings get the opportunity, however as the game master in this initial period, I can put people forwards a tiny few players with certain characteristics in to the original challenge . If you perform well I can grant you an opportunity, and this is just an opportunity, to start as a lord class player yourself." She continued, "If you pass, which is unlikely. Lazarus, you will be granted a Lord Player Class to create your own destiny, if you survive it could grow and hit unknown heights. If you fail, well you can play like everyone else, so no loss."

Dom looked at her in confusion, wondering firstly, why he was stuck with this game name! Secondly what a good opportunity, why was she helping him?

"Interested?" She asked, with a wry smile on her face. "Would you like to play the normal tutorial, or would you like to challenge the Lord tutorial?"

"I'll take the challenge, please. Thank you for the support and for the opportunity." Dom replied.

"Don't let me down." She replied, before the game faded to black.