NOVEL WEB Chapter 3: Tricking Unsuspecting Players
On planet Earth, in a certain office of a retail gas station, William looked over a server chat message through his laptop. His initial thought was that this was a scam. It was not uncommon for fraudsters to promise something that was too good to be true, only to lead unsuspecting people to gambling sites, phishing schemes, downloading malware, or worse.
Nevertheless, the one who gave this information — CyberWarlock — was his good online friend throughout his college days. Moreover, the opportunity to partake in a fully immersive VR experience had been a dream of his since his childhood. Thus, William chose to take a leap of faith and extend CyberWarlock the benefit of the doubt. If it was truly a scam, he could promptly withdraw his involvement as soon as any indications of deception arose.
With his “PleaseBugMeNot” account, William clicked on the URL link that Cyber posted and was immediately perplexed by the website.
The first thing that caught his eye was an art cover featuring a wizard and a witch, set against the backdrop of a majestic academy. The wizard exuded an air of wisdom and possessed a striking handsomeness, while the witch displayed a captivating beauty with a well-proportioned figure that would undoubtedly capture the attention of most men and maybe even certain women. Both were adorned in their signature mage hats and attire.
This wasn’t the only image here, as other beautiful images of landscapes and powerful mythical creatures decorated the whole page.
“Is this really not AI-generated images?” William muttered as he navigated through the website. AI technology has made significant advancements in recent years. By now, it was almost impossible to tell the difference between AI artwork and pieces created by skilled graphic designers.
Holding the mouse, he scrolled down until his cursor ended up on the part where that might lead to the registration page.
Magus Academy Online
Unleash the Magic Within, Rise as an Acolyte, and Shape Your Destiny in Magus Academy Online: The Ultimate VRMMORPG Adventure Begins!
Currently in Closed-Alpha Stage
[Join Now]
Turning back to the Gamer’s Empire server, William noticed the server was experiencing a surge in activity from the link being shared. Many users were watching the screen with great interest even though they hadn’t sent a single message, perhaps awaiting someone’s review of the official website.
Within a large Discord server like this, it was expected to have a considerable number of long-time lurkers. It was becoming increasingly apparent that among the newly emerging users, there were unfamiliar faces that had remained in the shadows for years, their presence only now coming to light.
CyberWarlock: “In this game, the level of immersion and realism is truly unparalleled. Every sense you experience in the real world will be faithfully replicated within the game. The in-game time mirrors the passage of time in the real world, maintaining a 1:1 ratio with a slight time difference corresponding to the Eastern Time Zone, roughly 12 hours ahead. Since the game operates through a unique dream interference mechanism, playing it feels akin to being in a state of deep sleep.”
“Alright, then. I’ll check out what kind of game you are,” William murmured, intrigued.
He clicked the “Join Now” button, and then began filling out the information to make an account. There was no guarantee that this was not some kind of scam to get people’s data and sell them on the dark web, but he didn’t care too much about it since it wasn’t like the website was asking for their banking numbers and passwords. There was also a short “Terms and Services” that he didn’t bother to read, just like you’d find in any other game.
When he was done, he clicked the “Register” button, and the page immediately changed to the total number of applications.
Total Applicants: 1
***
“Phew! All done.” Victor stretched as the number of participants increased by the minute. As soon as it ticked up to a total of ten, he received a notification in the form of three lines of text on a blue holographic screen.
[Mission Accomplished!]
[Congratulations on passing the mission. You have done a great job in tricking unsuspecting players into becoming participants in your “game.”]
[The reward (100 academy points) has been issued.]
Lizbeth clapped her hands together. “Congratulations on completing your first mission, Master!”
“Geez, don’t startle me,” Victor said, annoyed.
“Teehee!” She smiled mischievously. “You can check the new mission in the ‘Headmaster’s Journal.’”
“I see… Good to know.”
As he was about to check the new mission, Victor realized that the applicants were coming from all over the world, meaning these players would be in different time zones. Quickly, he opened the Discord server and typed in:
“Currently, only US applicants will be accepted for the closed-alpha stage. However, as development progresses, we plan to expand participation to individuals residing in other countries and regions. Additionally, you can still register even if you are from outside the country.”
“Nooo! This is discrimination!”
“When will you accept players in Asian regions?”
“…”
The message garnered a range of responses. It wasn’t that Victor was being racist, but micromanaging a diverse player base with different active times right from the start could prove quite challenging. Therefore, he decided to hold off on explaining his reasoning and simply promised to provide a more comprehensive update once he had finalized a few things. Besides, the United States alone hosted millions of gamers, which would be more than enough for now.
To begin with, it was bizarre how the Eastern Time Zone would have precisely twelve hours difference from the time of this world. Victor had asked Lizbeth about it, and she said that the previous headmaster had anticipated all of this and made arrangements in advance. How weird. But when he asked who the previous headmaster was…
“I dunno,” was the answer that Lizbeth gave him. “All I know is that you’re the second headmaster of this academy.” She couldn’t have been more ambiguous than that.
In addition to this, what about the delivery of the consoles required to connect these players to this world?
Lizbeth had explained that these players would be given gaming capsules to connect to this world. The technology required aside, where were these capsules even manufactured, and how were they delivered to the players’ addresses?
“Rest assured, the System has its own ways of handling this. All that matters is what we do on our end,” Lizbeth assured.
Right. As long as it benefited him, Victor wouldn’t waste time questioning the hows and whys. This didn’t mean that he would completely turn his brain off, but he decided to hold off on asking too many unrelated questions until he got a better grasp on things.
“Oh, that’s so. Is there a limit to how many players we can summon?” Victor inquired, eager to understand the boundaries of their capabilities.
Lizbeth considered this for a moment, then answered thoughtfully, “For now, there isn’t a set limit. Naturally, creating bodies suitable for the players would require resources, which we have a limited amount of right now. I say, we can currently create ten bodies at most.”
“Figures…” If we can summon a thousand at once, that would be overpowered… “One more thing. How do the players come to this world, and how do they return? I’m sure it can’t be that once they are summoned they can never return home. Right?” Victor assumed there should be some kind of supernatural means to do the job. The word “bodies” that she mentioned might very well be a big hint to the answer.
“I believe it would be more efficient to guide you through the academy first,” the fairy offered. “I would be delighted to show you the wonders it contains.”
“Mhm, sounds good. Guess I should clarify a few things to the players first before that, though.”
Given the limited resources, Victor decided to summon only five players in the first batch. Any more, and he might have more than he could manage, especially since he was largely on his own, apart from Lizbeth. At any rate, what was most important was to make rules so that these “players” would obey him.
One had to know that Victor was tasked to develop the academy to be the greatest in the universe. Failure meant placing his own life in jeopardy. As headmaster, Victor had the absolute power to kick any disruptive players and impose permanent bans, if necessary. Still, he couldn’t outright force them to utilize their gaming capsules to partake in the online world and work for him. The Magus path, especially, was known to be a challenging and demanding journey, requiring a lot of time and dedication.
That was why he selected those he trusted and thought were the most qualified. He knew caution was essential; one wrong move could spell his demise!
As such, after sending an invitation to their respective emails, he added the five lucky players to a Discord group he had just created.
CyberWarlock: “Sorry for the sudden invite. I want to make some things clear with the first batch of applicants…”
Victor proceeded to explain the essential equipment for the game, known as “gaming capsules,” plus he forbade anyone from tampering with them. He stressed that breaking or attempting to dismantle the capsules would result in the loss of their eligibility. For one thing, revealing the magical nature of these devices could attract unwarranted and potentially hazardous attention, a scenario best avoided. However, he was certain that his warning might not dissuade unscrupulous individuals, considering this kind of technology did not exist in reality.
Luckily, Lizbeth guaranteed him that nothing on Earth could break open the capsules, and even if they could partially destroy them, the capsule would self-destruct. Victor was thankful for this fact as he couldn’t exactly return to his old world and call the police on someone for damaging his property.
PleaseBugMeNot: “Awesome! 😆 Can’t wait for this gaming capsule to arrive.”
Storm Bringer: “If this game is truly as good as you proclaim, I will stream it to my audience for free!”
As far as Victor knew, Storm was a streamer with thousands of subscribers. Although his channel wasn’t big, his free endorsement was more than welcome.
SuperNovaX: “Sweet! Don’t worry about the safety of the devices; we promise that no harm will be done to them!”
CyberWarlock: “Glad to see that you guys are being cooperative. If they are damaged, I can’t explain it to the company.”
ZeroXScyth: “Um, there’s one thing I want to confirm. Are there any charges?”
CyberWarlock: “No, no fees. At least, my superior has yet to say anything about charging fees during the development phase. But there will be no reward either.”
PleaseBugMeNot: “Neat.”
MikeIsHandsome1000x: “I still can’t believe that this so-called ‘gaming capsule’ exists. Well, I guess we’ll see if this is a fraud or not.”
Skepticism permeated the chat as it seemed doubts still lingered over Victor's claims. The first four people that Victor verified were people he knew very well, and luckily, they all lived in the US. As for Mike, this guy was once a hardcore MMORPG gamer who spent thousands of hours obtaining the finest equipment on the server, according to his profile. Inviting him would serve as a means to demonstrate the game’s authenticity.
Closing the holographic screen, Victor turned around and said, “Guess my work here is done. Let’s go on a tour of the academy. Please, show me what it has to offer.”
“Mm-hmm!” Lizbeth eagerly perched on Victor's shoulder, excitedly pumping her tiny fist. “Full steam ahead!”
“Hey, don’t treat me like your personal transport,” Victor retorted as he walked out of the room.