Chapter 12: Blown Away

Virx slowly opened his eyes, taking in the familiar sight of his bedroom. It felt like he'd been away for ages.

"Was it all a dream?"

He took off the helmet, but the vivid memories of the game lingered—too real to be a dream.

After confirming that it was indeed reality, Virx burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! I can't believe I've lived long enough to play a fully immersive virtual reality game. I can die happy now!"

As he laughed, tears of joy welled up in his eyes.

Virx loved games. Some say that if you turn your passion into a job, you'll stop enjoying it. But he didn't agree with that. Even though gaming was now his livelihood, his passion for it remained strong.

That's why he always criticized bad games—not just for the sake of his content but because he was disappointed in them.

"Wait! Did I bash this game before?"

He suddenly remembered his comment on Steam. Quickly opening his computer, instead of deleting it, he added another comment below:

"Guys, I have something to announce—I was wrong. I'm an idiot for doubting this masterpiece. But I won't delete my original comment; consider it my punishment for speaking out of ignorance."

"This game is the real deal, a fully immersive virtual reality game, just like the ones in those old online game novels—only better. Those novels talked about 70–80% realism, but this game? It's 100% real, no exaggeration."

"The lighting effects, the sensory experience, everything is just like real life. Sometimes you can't even tell if you're still in the game or back in reality. I don't know how they pulled it off, but I'm here to tell you this game is worth every bit of hype!"

"And the freedom in this game is insane. No rigid systems or rules—you can interact with anything, even NPCs. The physical laws of the real world apply here, too. For instance, you can burn wood to make charcoal. Sandbox fans will lose their minds over this!"

"As for gameplay, even though it's an MMORPG, it's not about the players fighting themselves—there's no swords and magic. Instead, it's all about Pokémon. Players control Pokémon to battle, similar to pet systems in other games."

"But these magical creatures aren't just dumb pets—they have emotions, personalities, and they're even smarter than real-world pets like cats and dogs. They're super powerful too—breathing fire, shooting electricity, you name it. They're absolutely lovable."

"Since I've only played one day, I'm not familiar with everything yet, but that's it for now. Long story short, this game is the best, and it's going to be huge, without a doubt! It's going to be the world's number one game!"

"Oh, and just so no one accuses me of being a paid shill, I'm going to out myself—I'm the C-site creator, Silent Walker. I'll be posting this review there, too. If anything I say turns out to be false, I'll quit the internet, and everyone can hold me accountable."

After typing out his thoughts, Virx looked at his post with satisfaction.

Not bad! Despite pulling an all-nighter, his mind was still sharp.

Wait! He'd been playing the game all night, yet why did he feel so refreshed? It was like he'd slept!

Could playing this game actually be as restful as sleeping? If so, wouldn't that mean he had twice as much time as everyone else?

In other words, it was like he had double the lifespan!

"Wow, this game is..."

Virx couldn't find the words to express how amazing it was.

Just as he marveled at it, his phone rang.

As soon as he answered, Bryan's excited voice came through.

"Hey, Virx, did we meet in the game last night? It wasn't a dream, right? There's no way two people could dream the same thing."

"It wasn't a dream. The game's real."

Virx chuckled. The two of them must have been thinking the same thing—worried the game might've been a dream.

"Hahaha, I knew it was real! Thanks again, man. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to play this game."

"Oh, by the way, before we logged off, we exchanged contact info with a few other players. I'm thinking of starting a game group chat and adding everyone, so we'll have a place to discuss things."

"A group chat sounds good. Add me when you're done."

"No problem, see you in the chat."

Not long after hanging up, Virx received an invite from Bryan.

[Shadow of the West Wind has invited you to join the group 'Pokémon Supreme.' Do you accept?]

The group name... not bad! Pokémon really is the best! Accept!

Shadow: "All five players are here. Now we can talk about the game in the group."

Bell: "Why are you the group admin? You don't seem reliable at all. Shouldn't I, the first person to capture a Pokémon, be the admin?"

Shadow: "Damn, stop bragging! I'm already so jealous. Keep it up and I'll silence you in the chat!"

Leaf: "@Silent Walker, are you really that C-site gaming creator? I've watched your videos before."

Bell: "Wow, really? How do you know it's him?"

Leaf: "This guy commented on the game we're playing and posted a screenshot on C-site. With a name like Silent Walker, who else could it be?"

Shadow: "You really went all out, huh? Your fans must be losing it."

Virx glanced at his feed and smiled helplessly.

Silent Walker: "Yeah, they're losing it. Quite a few are even accusing me of selling out for money."

Shadow: "So, what are you going to do?"

Silent Walker: "Nothing. The truth speaks for itself. Once they play, they'll see I'm right."

Stella: "The game has an official website now. I copied the link from the pre-registration page. You guys can check it out."

Stella suddenly chimed in with some important news.

Everyone eagerly clicked on the website.

The homepage was as bare-bones as the pre-registration page, and the group couldn't help but think: you developed virtual reality technology, but couldn't make a better website?

The site only had three sections: a player forum, game announcements, and the Pokédex.

The player forum was for players to interact... so maybe there wasn't a need for the group chat after all.

The Pokédex was meant to introduce Pokémon. Currently, it only listed the ones they encountered last night, without any images.

There was also a note saying the Pokédex could be updated by player contributions.

And the game announcements page had just one update notice.

"What? They're updating the game already? There must've been some issues during last night's test."

"But I didn't notice any bugs. I wonder what they're updating?"

Curious, Virx clicked on the update notice.