Noob Player

Shen went for a shower, he went to the bathroom inside his bedroom. His breathing was ragged a little bit, climbing stairs was an easy task before but after what happened during his evening jog, it was tiring to climb his room on the fourth floor.

There was a little sting on his right knee as walked out of the bathroom. He sat on the bed and retrieved the phone, "Should I make an appointment for a check-up?"

Shen then looked at the Gaming Pod across him. On the side of the gaming pod, there was "Sky-Platinum" written on it. It was the type of gaming pod he had since gaming pods had many types that gave you different things with different prices.

Sky-Platinum was the middle-upper class pod, even so, it was costly. Fifteen million RMB for Sky-Platinum, but for someone who had the beforehand gaming pod for the Universe Online, they can have a cut based on the gaming pod type.

For Shen, he could get a million cut, so he only paid fourteen million RMB. Below the Sky-Platinum, there were Sky-Gold, Sky-Silver, and Sky-Pod. Sky-Gold cost five million, Sky-Silver cost a million, and Sky-Pod cost five hundred thousand.

Of course, there was a level higher than the one he had, Sky-Diamond. It cost forty million for this one, the one that belonged to rich people. The reason he chose Sky-Platinum was the time he could play in it.

With Sky-Platinum, he could play up to twelve hours a day. That was the limit for platinum, while the gold was up to ten hours. That was one of the benefits of buying the expensive pod. For the diamond pod, the playing time was up to sixteen hours.

Those were the types of regular pods. There are different versions of pods aside from the regular pod, it was the Pro version. The Pro versions were built for the professional player, they could log in for days with the Pro version gaming pod.

Of course, the Sky branch company which produced the gaming pod did not miss their chance to make more money out of the pro version. There were three versions for the pro version, Pro Silver, Pro Gold, and Pro Diamond with a sky-high price.

Tomorrow, eight in the morning was the Tribe Online launching. He did not want to miss the launch since he wanted to be the fastest in the game. That was his goal playing the game, no else.

Shen had been living to fulfill his mother's last wish, his injury did not change his goal. The difference was that he had to achieve the goal inside the virtual world

While he was thinking, his phone lighted up and vibrated. He looked down on the phone, Dale was calling him. He was his foreigner friend from high school. His mother was Chinese but his father was British.

He picked up the phone, "Yo Shen, have you got your gaming pod?" Dale's Chinese accent was a little bit off, but he was used to hearing it so he understood what his friend said.

"Yes, it arrived this morning. How about you?" He laid down on the bed.

"Just get installed in my room. My father bought me Sky-Platinum!" Dale's excited voice could be heard, but then the excitement was longer there when he spoke the next words, "Unfortunately, we can't play together…"

Dale was currently in London, he studied at Imperial College London. Maybe that was the reason why his father bought him the Sky-Platinum because the only top student could enter that university. On top of that, the pod could be used for study too, more reason to buy his son a good gaming pod.

In high school, Shen truly almost copied all the homework from Dale since he was focusing on his training. Little time to study because of the training so he was not that good academically. The reason why he did not enter the college.

As for why Dale could not play with him, that was because Dale could only play in Europe Server while he could enter the China Server. So the two friends could not play together.

"What about Ming? Does he get his gaming pod yet?" Dale's concerned voice came out of the phone. Ming was his best friend too, the trio often hanging out together in the high school.

"I don't know, he hasn't contacted me for a week…" Shen's voice paused as he remembered the argument between him and Ming.

"I heard from him you two fight, but you should not say that to him, Shen. You should know him more than me…" Dale wanted to say something but stop midway, "Anyway, you should make up with Ming before I come back to Shanghai."

Shen was about to say something until he heard a woman's voice from the other side. The woman was speaking in English, so he could not understand what she said, "It seems you are busy, huh!?"

Just typical Dale, aside from being known for his smart brain, he was actually a playboy. He dated many girls in high school. Who could blame him for that, his friends were handsome, smart, and rich.

"Shen! I warn you! Don't tell my mom, okay?" Dale spoke something to the woman, maybe asking her to not speak before he talked to Shen. He also did not bother to hide it from Shen.

"Depend~" Shen grinned when he heard his friend's serious voice. Dale's mother was the conservative type, strict, and quite fierce sometimes.

"Okay, fine. I will introduce you to my beautiful sister. Deal?" Dale was speaking about his little sister. From his friend's mouth, his little sister seemed to have a crush on him, but she was too young for him. When she was in his third year of high school, Dale's sister was just her first year in junior. By now, she should be in her third year of junior high.

"Deal, your ass. Buzz off or I will tell Auntie–" he had not finished his threat as Dale immediately closed the call.

Shen shook his head as he looked at his phone. Then he remembered what his friend said just now, about Ming. He searched Ming's number, his thumb was about to press the call but stopped halfway.

He let out a sigh and threw his phone to the side. He climbed up to the bed and got in his position to sleep. It was as if he had forgotten about the appointment call he had been considering for a while.

*** ***

*Alarm Ring* *Alarm Ring*

It was seven-thirty in the morning, his phone alarm woke him up from his slumber. He turned the alarm off and got up from the bed. Shen looked at the clock on top of his gaming pod. It was his habit to check the clock instead of checking his phone.

He woke up from the bed, scratching his belly while yawning as he headed to the bathroom. Usually, he would do a light workout before going to have his morning wash. But not this morning, after a quick shower, he went out to the kitchen for his breakfast.

Shen got the leftover two pieces of white bread from the refrigerator. He smeared the peanut butter on top of both pieces of bread before he put the bread in the microwave. He set a minute timer to warm his breakfast since he did not have a toaster.

He finished his breakfast slowly since he still had time until the server's launching. He finished the warmed peanut butter bread and drank a glass of milk for his breakfast.

After that, he went back to his room, standing next to his brand new gaming pod. He opened the pod and sat inside, it was the time for the game.