Chapter 42: Avatar I
With Ana's help, Sheldon and the others entered the gaming chamber.
When the chamber door closed, everyone realized that the inside was very comfortable and spacious.
Before they could appreciate the interior of the machine even more, a screen was projected onto the glass of the door.
"It looks like you all liked the interior of the gaming chamber," Alex joked when he saw everyone's reaction.
Noticing the screen in front of him, Tam didn't understand what kind of technology was used to project images on a glass surface as if it were a TV screen.
When he heard Alex's voice, he opened his mouth to comment.
"I was a bit scared, but this place feels really nice inside."
"Yes, I'd love to sleep in here," Missy said.
"Well, the gaming chamber was created so that your body stays as comfortable as possible, even if you spend hours and hours in here."
Alex said while analyzing the status data of everyone. In the data Ana was monitoring, Sheldon's heart rate was high. Alex noticed the other party was a bit nervous.
[Sir, all data has been collected and stored. Can I initiate the neural link connection?]
Sheldon, who heard Ana's voice, couldn't help but ask: "Data? What did you collect?"
Alex thought for a moment before responding to Sheldon.
"It's a registration with your personal data, like: name, weight, height, age, and a few more things."
"Why do you need that information?" Mia asked, curious.
"So your body in the virtual world is just like in the real world," Alex explained.
"Are you saying we can't create our avatars in the virtual world?" Tam asked, intrigued. Since it was a virtual world, he thought he could change his appearance.
"Actually, you can change it, yes. But before officially entering the virtual world, you'll go to the Avatar Creation Lobby.
Based on your real data, you can make modifications to your character. The customization has a high degree of freedom—you can do anything; the only limit is your own imagination.
Of course, you can also give your character a different name or use your real one."
Alex explained patiently. Time was passing, but inside the virtual world, time moved much faster.
The human brain is very powerful; when a person is dying, their brain remains alive for a few minutes.
No one knows what happens during that time, but many believe you can relive your entire life in that brief moment.
With this idea in mind, Alex was able to convert the virtual world's time rate. Ten minutes in the virtual world equals one minute in the real world.
"This sounds cool. I'm excited. Can we begin?" Missy said.
"Of course. Are you all ready?" Alex asked.
"Yes!" Everyone replied.
"Alright, Ana, it's up to you." Alex gave the order and closed his eyes. When they saw Alex close his eyes in the video, everyone was confused.
But before they could ask Alex why, Ana spoke:
[Everyone, please close your eyes.]
No one understood, but as soon as the order was given, they all closed their eyes and felt very sleepy, and before they could react, their consciousness was pulled somewhere.
They only felt a falling sensation, and when they opened their eyes, they were standing on a platform floating in space.
In the distance, everyone noticed a round blue planet. Looking in another direction, they saw another smaller round ball—it was the moon.
"Wow, amazing," a female voice said.
It was Missy. To her, this was all too incredible—she never thought she would one day see Earth from space as it really is.
"Yes, it's very beautiful," Mia commented.
"So that's what Earth looks like from space," Sheldon said, surprised. Even he hadn't expected such a scene.
"Why? Did you imagine Earth would be different from here in space?" Tam asked with admiration in his eyes.
"That's Earth? It's so blue," Billy commented.
"Yes, Earth really is blue when seen from space. Did you like the surprise?" Alex said.
Everyone looked toward the source of the voice, as they didn't recognize it. But when they saw an adult man standing there smiling at them, everyone wondered: who is he?
Alex, noticing everyone's confused looks, answered: "It's me, Alex. This is my character in the virtual world. What do you think?"
"You—you're really Alex?" Mia asked, a bit shy. To her, the tall and handsome man in front of her looked very different from the Alex she knew.
To be precise, Alex's avatar was based on the tyrannical demon king, Anos Voldigoad.
Even the golden name above his head was Anos Voldigoad; everyone noticed and was surprised to see an unfamiliar man there.
"Yes, it's me. This is my avatar and my gamer nickname. What do you all think?" Alex asked.
Everyone looked at each other without knowing what to say. To them, this was all so amazing—who would've thought they were inside a virtual world?
But Alex knew that the realism was only in the game's lobby. Once inside the actual game, the realism would be reduced so that people's minds wouldn't get confused between virtual and real worlds.
"I want to create an avatar of a very beautiful and sexy girl. Can you help me?" Missy was the first to break the silence.
"Of course. You can choose a ready-made model and modify it as you wish, or create an avatar based on your appearance."
Alex explained, and a copy of each person appeared in front of their eyes, along with a command panel to customize their avatars and names.