Gimbal had orchestrated Onboarding close to a million times and he was bored of it. The same dialog, the same motions, and the same results. He had seen it all. Boring. It was boring, but it was just a job and it did pay for his room and board. More importantly, he needed it to reduce his debt to the guild. He was an odlong so his life expectancy was long and could be measured by counting the number of stars born in a star factory nebula, so by human standards he would be considered an eternal being. But a long life came with a cost, boredom. And to relieve boredom many odlongs, like himself, turned to gambling. And if one had to gamble in The Modus, gambling through gaming guilds was the best option.
Gaming guilds guaranteed payment and allowed gamblers to bet on the outcome of grand events like large scale intergalactic wars and finding answers to deep questions like determining the number of star systems hidden in a cluster of dark matter. The guilds also accepted wagers on odd things like counting the number of times a specific high level celestial entity would go to the bathroom before the next supernova and on even simple things like a coin flip.
However, if one really wanted to make bets that showcased their intelligence and pride then betting big on The Game was the way to do it. The Game was the universe’s showcase. Most races in the Modus watched it and the biggest gamblers played it. The biggest bets and biggest winners would be highlighted by the immeasurable amounts of galactic level social media platforms. If you won or lost big, everyone would know. If you wanted to win big and rub it in someone’s face or another equivalent body part, winning a big bet on The Game would do it. Some entities have wagered billions of Zs, control over 100 light year wide galactic quadrants and even ownership of space faring species.
And to top it all off, anyone could place a bet on any aspect of The Game including something that some immature races would call unfair like betting on which entities cheated and which external entities aided in cheating during the course of The Game. As the old sports adage goes, “You should always try your best to win, since it’s not considered cheating until you are caught. And if you are caught, but you still win your bet, then it’s fair game.” The entity who came up with the saying was considered a genius of the highest degree since the wisdom entailed within it was considered flawless.
Everyone understood that when it comes to betting on inter-galactic level events, once one weighed in the immeasurable number of known and unknown physical laws and the strange oddities that existed in the universe, one could only conclude that cheating could never be removed without a level of undesirable uncertainty nor stopped in its entirety indefinitely. So cheating became allowed and anyone could bet on it.
Gimbal was not a high tier being though he might seem like one to a low level lifeform. For the medium tier and higher races in the Modus he was nothing more than an existence qualified to be a useful salaryman. Hence he was perfect to run Onboarding for The Game.
His job might bore him, but he had to do it. His gambling debt to the guild must be repaid. If one’s debt was deemed irredeemable by the guild, the debtor would be recycled, their parts sold and reused to enhance a more fitting prospect. Such was the rule.
But today something interesting happened, so his boredom was abated just a little. The player provided by Zeeber Eyeree Gamer’s Guild #1192 made surprising choices during his Onboarding.
Kai regained consciousness in a room filled with other players. Everyone was standing including him. Everyone seemed to be listening to a purple mass hovering in the air. He could not make sense of any of it since the dialog spoken was not English. Perhaps his Babel translator software module was broken. The ongoing event really did not matter to him since he was still disoriented, groggy, and in pain. The endorphins that suppressed his pain during his encounter with the EULA had vanished. Like tides dancing along the shore, moments of clarity and delusion ebbed and flowed within his mind.
He started to wonder if he was going through Neural Shock. He felt awful since the moment he triggered the glitch. He had already forgotten much of what had transpired up to this point. He barely remembered anything, his life felt fragmented.
Suddenly he recalled reading a Reddit thread talking about the Neural Shock phenomenon that was rumored to make sensory gamers sick. It speculated that some players had experienced Neural Shock, a sensory overload that resulted in a player getting SAOed. But since nothing credible could prove its existence, Neural Shock became myth. Regardless, several notorious Sensory Gaming haters called it a conspiracy used to hide the dangers of TESS and to protect the interests of the large corporations that profited from the technology. Some flamers responded with “Haters will hate” while others responded with “Dream on fanboy, SAO is not real!”
Many extreme fans of Sword Art Online wished for the technology depicted in the anime to be real. They wanted to believe that Neural Shock existed as it took them one step closer to living in a world presented by SAO’s story. The main protagonist was stuck in the virtual game world where ingame death resulted in real world death. For the non-anime sci-fi fans, the reaction of SAO fanboys in acceptance of Neural Shock was akin to overzealous Star Wars fans finding leaked video footage of a U.S. soldier wielding a lightsaber. They would have easily claimed that the footage was real and the Internet trolls once again would have flamed them.
The room became silent. Out of nowhere a colorful panel appeared in front of him containing symbols that he failed to comprehend. An incomprehensible voice spoke out and after a pause it repeated. He felt nauseated. Then a sharp pain stabbed into his brain, he started to recall fragments of his last moments in Alpha. He began to unconsciously repeat his last spoken words.
“...My smartphone.”
A tone sounded followed by a voice that said something incomprehensible again.
Suddenly a dark gray mist surrounded everyone. Then Kai screamed as his arm burned. A tightness wrapped his arm, so he looked down to find the source of the pain. The gray mist that had wrapped him was merging into his arm. A thought appeared in his mind and Kai mumbled again, but it came out incoherently. Once the pain dissipated he noticed three dark gray bands on his arm. Oddly the bands seemed to move as if alive, then they changed shape, illuminated parts and formed tiny runic engravings before finally settling. He rubbed his arm but nothing felt odd. The bands were like tattoos that did not leave a bump. As he looked around he noticed others rubbing their arms as well.
Some more foreign words were spoken to and from the purple floating thing. It made everyone restless. The next thing he knew they were separated into several groups. Kai still had no idea what was happening and in his current state he could care less. Suddenly everyone gave the AHBR salute, a closed right fist over their heart.
After a few more unfamiliar words were spoken, the players started to glow in different hues and then disappeared one after the other.
Kai stood there and began to glow a light blue. He could see the purple blob motioning in a familiar way. He felt that it somehow disapproved of him, but since he did not understand any of what just took place, it didn’t bother him much.
The next thing he recalled was waking up in the hall where he puked. He tried to call up his event log, but it had no effect. Now he had no idea what was said or what his action or inaction had triggered.
After recalling the past few hours, he was at a loss for words. He was happy to be participating in BETA. But after recalling the experience, one big question lingered warily on his mind.
What is BETA?
Gimbal was disappointed. First it chose a simple low intelligence communication device from its species as a weapon. He could not recall the last time a player selected a non-weapon as their first band. To him, it seemed like the fastest way to get recycled.
To control his gambling affliction, he had never made another bet for a very long time. But something in the back of his mind told him to make a bet on this player. He had a good feeling about it so he picked up his universal communicator and placed a bet. It could not be considered gambling if you bet on a sure thing.
