3 The Choice

I opened my eyes and looked at the surroundings; there were nine other masked people in the wide room we arrived after leaving Claus's office.

I, of course was wearing a similar mask, after agreeing to join the dangerous beta-testing and signing the contract while confirming there were no loopholes, Claus told me more about the testing event.

"there are ten other candidates who will be joining the testing, your starting points will be different, but the chance of meeting is still there, we will soon meet them, so you have to wear this mask in case one of them has malicious intents towards other 'players', since we won't be restricting your actions involving other players according to the contract"

We were supposed to meet a higher-up together before finally entering the game, to me, I was more excited than afraid, this will after all be the first time I can move my body.

Soon after a man with a huge build who was wearing a suit entered the hall, while clapping.

"as expected of our carefully chosen candidates, 10 out of 15 chosen ones embraced the challenge and didn't run away like cowards"

Some of the other masked people wanted to retort, but were stopped by their accompanying staff from VD.

"I know all of you are facing certain difficulties in life, that's the only reason someone would do something this dangerous if they are in the right mental state, but then again all of you have something special, which is the reason you were chosen and also the reason you may survive more than other ordinary people"

A tense atmosphere covered the air, as a few other participants stood up, nobody liked thier secrets to be exposed after all.

Bang!

the huge guy hit the desk in front of him as he continued to speak.

"you are all driven by a special reason, but that doesn't matter anything now, let's get to the last details so as to send you off as soon as possible"

The guy gestured his hand to Claus who rapidly moved close to the huge guy.

"as chief just said, I will be briefing you on the last info that you need to know, firstly the testing period will last a whole year and your bodies will be maintained to the peak while you are inside the game, but you will instead experience a whole ten years inside"

I was sure I could almost see the shocked faces under the masks, after all, although different paced VR games were not that scarce, but a 10:1 rate was hardly achievable, I kept my calm as I remembered that this was a game that should be almost another world, was the time conversion rate more shocking than that?

"secondly, unlike normal VR games, you will have different starting points to a certain degree depending on special calculations"

"Last but not least, a game system would still be there, and can be pretty helpful to some point, that is to say depending on your ability, should you use these points well, you could survive longer"

Everyone seemed to be pondering as they considered the info we just received, but soon the guy who seemed to be the chief, clapped his hands once.

"that should be all, the staff will soon accompany you to your respective capsules were you will reside for a whole year, as a friendly reminder, if you were to meet somehow with other players co-operating would be better than hostile actions, but you are free to do what you think is right"

A kind(?) Smile appeared on his face, but somehow it seemed to hold an ominous feeling.