AQUA

Arya's pov

     I've always loved games, honestly speaking games have been the only thing that has ever held my interest, I remember the times that Mum tried to convince me to further my education or to continue the numerous amount of things she signed me up for and it simply didn't work because I get bored of it quickly. I'm smart, yes, I grasp everything I learn quickly too, but my attention span on them was weak. Mum stopped trying to get me to do other stuff as long as I was financially stable and thankfully during that period, games had already started real-time transfer of game currency to cash so it didn't take long for me to make money. And so now my mom is off my back, though albeit annoyed I'm using the brain she gave me for games only.

     On the aspect of games though, nothing beats my excitement as I was glued to my screen waiting patiently for the live broadcast to start. Three years ago, the CEO of Azrath declared that they would successfully develop a smooth and running VR MMORPG game and release it the the world. Three years later they succeeded, the only known info about the game was the name THE REALM OF AZRATH, all other information would be released during the live broadcast. I changed my position when the timer finally started counting down to zero, the screen lit up and a man in a navy blue suit surrounded by hundreds of cameras was shown, flashes were going off as the reporters waited for the man whose family held the world's technology in his hands to speak.

"Three years ago, azrath decided to venture into games, not video games as the market was already saturated but VR games. There have been countless attempts from other companies to release a functioning game and without a doubt they all failed. And without any suspension, I present to the gamers........ THE REALM OF AZRATH!!!"

    Applause resounded through the area as he left the stage and the large screen lit up. Welcome to Azrath silently displayed on the screen before the image changed to avatar creation. The avatar could be seen rapidly changing through various humanoid races before settling on the orc race, I watched with zeal as the once slim avatar turned into an orc but the most fascinating thing was his features were the same "Seems like you can't change your actual body in game. Interesting. " Moving on, the orc was now scrolling through the classes available and that's when I first got stumped 

"Sniper, cannoneer, bomber? Azrath is a sci-fi game!!" 

All games nowadays take on the medieval sword magic route but it seems Azrath found that boring and simply decided to switch it up!!! 

I was extremely confident I wasn't the only one surprised and impressed as the live viewer count broke two billion viewers!! The orc clicked on the recommended class and was given the cannoneer class. His previously naked body was suddenly dressed up in what seemed to be black trousers and a fitted button-up shirt while a one-meter-long hand cannon was slung on his back! 

"That's a crazy class though. Isn't it heavy?"

 My mutterings didn't stop the orc as another screen appeared saying good or evil with a lit-up random button. The amusement that flowed through my body at this rate was crazy because what do you mean you can't pick whether you want to be a good guy or not? Didn't matter much as the icon settled for the good faction and instantly the image changed, the orc took us to the training center in his chosen city and manually learned how to maneuver the class 

"No assistance? Oh, people are gonna cry ha!" 

The orc also showed us how to cast runes which is the alternative for spells and damn that looks tricky. The image once again changed to dungeons, despite the requirements set it was still possible to solo it thankfully and we moved to the clan system which requires one to either be captured or acquired from the city somewhere out of the city, the clan war was messy to watch but the defeated clan is going to be a vassal clan to the victor, there's no restrictions to that aspect and quitting a clan will make you the clan's enemy.

     The image changed again to the border between good and evil, the fight happening here was ten times worse than clan wars, crazy people were carrying the corpse of fallen enemies and raping them, robbing the bags of said corpses and removing their geared equipment, it was honestly bad 

"that's why it's rated 21+. I hope people don't ignore the obvious warnings" 

I muttered as the image finally changed from the devastating battlefield to a wedding?!! From the wedding, we are taken to a man who's fixing vehicles and then to thankfully a blacksmith's shop, other careers were also displayed with the two they recommended but go crazy, I laughed at that. The tone suddenly softened as the orc was seen on top of a large mountain enjoying the view before he jumped down... To his fucking death!!!.

     The screen switched off as Mr Wei returned to the stage with applause welcoming him. When the place finally quieted down he spoke out 

"I will allow three questions" 

Instantly hands were raised and he picked the first reporter 

"Mr Wei, are you not worried that people won't buy the game when they see such gruesome scenes?" 

"THE REALM OF AZRATH has a large 21+ for a reason, this is simply preparation for what can occur in the game, from players and the residents alike and I don't care"

 Flabbergasted by his nonchalant reply the second person asked 

"What about the mechanics of the game, surely azrath can't expect to players to learn the skills and crafts all by themselves right? " " If you can't don't buy"

 "Hahaha!!" 

I burst out laughing at his answer, this man does not give a fuck! 

"Are there going to be repercussions for players that participate in illegal activities?"

 Mr. Wei for a few seconds stared at the reporter silently, annoyance displayed on his face and simply left the stage, the reporters were left confused as the live stream finally ended.

I stood up from the bed gently stretched out my muscles and switched off the gadget. I headed out of my room and went downstairs while navigating through my phone and ordering a VR pod from Azrath so I could play the game when it officially launched.

    Reaching the living room, it was empty as my mum hadn't returned from the lab yet so I navigated to the kitchen to make dinner for the both of us, standing at 2 meters tall with a short wolf cut and caramel skin, I was the replica of my mum if she had bigger muscles and my oddly weird white hair, I did get her red eyes which is cool!! But yeah the house is designed to cater to tall people.

    Preparing the ingredients for dinner, my actions came to a halt as my mobile rang. I stopped what I was doing and brought it out of my back pocket, mum was displaying on the screen so I picked it up 

"Baby can you come pick us up, we're at listings hotel."

 My mum's soft voice penetrated through the mobile as I ran up to my room to get a hoodie I said 

"On my way" 

And hung up. The mobile was returned to my pocket I took out a singlet to wear before wearing a black hoodie. I took out the car keys to my Galaxy X Turbo 24c, azrath's latest muscle jeep that has seven seats and went out of the house. I went to the underground parking lot and drove out when I suddenly realized

 "Who's us?"

   I soon arrived at the listing hotel and was directed to the underground parking lot, this was the first time I'd been there so I was a bit curious as to why Mum was there. Mum told me to head over to room 245, she didn't mention why though. Thankfully I didn't need to meet the receptionist or whatever and simply headed to the elevator and got off on the floor, I quickly found room 245 and knocked. At first they didn't open so I simply resumed knocking, harder the more I knew, after about three minutes the door swung open and a heavily built man covered in muscles opened the door glaring at me, the man that was very much shorter than me growled out

 "what!!" 

The stench of weed was thick as I frowned and with worry simply pushed the man out of the way, my eyes were instantly locked on my mum who was heavily drunk but still protecting two females behind her, I took a cursory glance around the room and found five extra big men inside with what seems to be their boss talking to mum.

The man I left at the door tried to pin me down, word tried, I simply dodged and hit his head on the nearest wall swiftly knocking him out which caused all eyes to be on me. I let go of him as my eyes caught Mum's own, her eyes showed relief seeing I was here as the so-called boss spoke 

"How may I help you" 

His men surrounded me not being stealthy about it as they attacked!! The first two to my left charged at me with knives out to which I just rolled my eyes and brought out my self-made pistol and shot at the two men's kneecap fast!! They screamed loud and before the others could react * Tii! Ti! Ti! * They were downed, now five men were on the ground clutching their knees as they cried as I locked eyes with their boss 

"Pick-up"

 A smile grew on my face as he glared at me but made no further movement.

 I went to my mom's side 

"You ok? "

 But she was out cold. A sigh escaped my lips as I simply put my hands under her knees and waist and lifted her, which looked comical as we're the same height 

" Let's go miss "

 I said to the woman who was covering her daughter's eyes since I got in here, she nodded weakly as we left the hotel and got in the car attracting some stares but who cares! Welcome to Aria!!!