Chapter 31 Virtual Reality
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Alina was unable to contain her cool after hearing what the afro guy said. "Are you serious on using my sister’s life against us?"
"Well, if you have no schemes against the World Diagram, then you should have no problems with what I am doing, right?" The afro guy said as she gave Alina a mocking smile. "After all, your sister will not be in danger if nothing bad happens to the World Diagram later."
"......" Both Alina and Alex were inwardly angry at the slimy move that the afro guy used on them.
The secretary, who immediately left when the afro guy gave her the order, took only a minute to come back, and this time, she was bringing the same crystal phone that Alina used before.
"Hehehehe...." A hologram appeared from the crystal phone, showing a masked person.
"......" Alex felt chills covering his body as he heard the voice. It sounded both male and female at the same time, and even with his skills, Alex was unable to determine which is which.
As for Alina, her face was currently looking down as she clenched her fists tightly.
"So I heard that my ’servant’ made this ridiculous request..." The masked person said as his/her hologrammed image looked at Alina’s direction.
"... It is my request, Master." Alina replied while gritting her teeth, which plainly showed her unhappiness towards the masked person.
"Knowing you, my servant, you must have been planning something, right?" The masked person said as he/she broke his/her gaze at Alina. He/she instead looked at Alex’s direction as he/she seemingly smirked beneath the mask.
Alex’s body stiffened as he stared back at the hologram.
Alex was not sure why, but he could feel an intense sense of dread even when he was just staring at a hologram.
"You... you are the guy that is now sticking to my servant like a leech." The masked person said in a neutral tone.
This tone might imply that the masked person was calm, but Alina knew that this tone is the one that her Master uses when he/she was extremely angry.
"Who cares if I am a leech? I am a handsome leech!" Alex confidently replied, ignoring the shocked expression on Alina and Lord Gallius’ face.
The afro guy did his very best to not retort, while Asteria snickered as she cringed at Alex’s corny reply.
"You have some way with your words huh." The masked person said as his/her body visibly shook. "I presume that you are the one that forced my servant to change her request, right?"
"What your servant requested is all up to her. I think that you should not question it, even if you are her ’Master’." Alex replied dismissively.
"Good. Good. Good." Instead of looking angry, the masked person’s body only shook for a second before staying still. "What you said was right."
Even though the masked person sounded calm, the simmering anger beneath his façade was quite obvoius.
Alex and Alina could only hold their breath as they braced for any anger erupting from the masked person.
The masked person then looked back at Alina, with him/her suddenly wearing an air of superiority.
"So, is your request for the 100% of the World Diagram still valid? Because if it is, then I will use your sister’s life as the deterrent."
"........" Alina’s body language showed that she was extremely unsure now, as if she was suddenly trapped within a cage.
Alex did not like what he was seeing, knowing that it was partially his fault that things had proceeded here.
"I accept." It took Alina a full minute before she could say her decision. "Just don’t do anything bad to my sister."
"Well, as long as you and Alex will not do anything against the World Diagram later, then your sister will be safe and unscathed." The afro guy said, with his cold eyes boring down on Alex and Alina.
"...." Alina’s only reply was to look at the afro guy, while Alex could only let out a sigh.
"Okie, then we shall see each other 6 hours from now!" The masked person said as his hologram started to fade. "Just do whatever you want until I arrive!"
"Lord Ergo, can’t you just come in now?" The afro guy as he stared at the fading hologram with irritation. "I do not want to delay things longer, you know that."
"Well, I am a little busy with something related to my project, so I am currently stuck here in the Negative Plane..." Lord Ergo replied as his/her hologram dissipated completely. "Even with my power, it will take me 6 hours before I can leave..."
"S**t, he’s always doing those weird experiments..." The afro guy muttered angrily as he dismissed his secretary.
"You and you." The afro guy muttered as he pointed at Alex and Alina. "Some of my workers will bring you to a waiting room. You two will wait here until the arrival of Lord Ergo."
"I assume that our waiting room will be full of security and weapons, right?" Alex said as he felt Alina huddling closer to him. That made Alex felt slightly better, but that made his mood sour as he knew that they will be on their separate paths later.
"Well of course it will be." The afro guy dismissively said as he shooed them away. "We can’t just allow you two to do something later. So just like what you are thinking, we will be forcing you to behave and stay still."
"......"
"Can I say something here?" Out of nowhere, Lord Gallius, who was largely ignored, suddenly spoke up as he looked at Alex.
"This should be interesting..." The afro guy seemed to have picked up what Lord Gallius wanted to say, as his eyes suddenly twinkled.
"Instead of just waiting in boredom, why don’t we use the remaining time to entertain ourselves?" Lord Gallius said as he sent a knowing smirk at Alina.
"Oh, you mean that kind of entertainment..." Alina muttered dryly as she understood what Lord Gallius wanted.
"Umm... am I missing something here?" Alex tilted his head as he saw that everyone around him seemed to have understood what Lord Gallius was talking about. "I’m afraid that I am not understanding what you are talking about..."
"We are talking about holding a virtual match right now." Alina replied as she glared at Alex. "Didn’t I tell you all about virtual matches already?"
"Oh that... Hahaha, I understand now." Alex said as he scratched the back of his head.
"......"
***********
7 days ago, when Alex was about to start his combat training with Alina, Alina told Alex that they can use the option of having virtual matches.
Just like what its name says, virtual matches were matches that happens in the virtual reality.
Anyone who reads cheesy light novels like Alex before will definitely know about virtual reality and virtual matches, especially the games developed from virtual reality.
In this Esper World however, the technology of virtual reality is not that fully developed yet.
In this world, virtual reality is still only on its initial stages.
There are no virtual reality games that are out for the public to use.
From what Alina told Alex, virtual reality in this world can only be used on military and training applications, which include virtual matches.
According to Alina, when two people fight at a virtual match, their consciousness will occupy a virtual avatar, which will be their body in the virtual match.
Unlike the real world, the amount of Mental Power of the virtual avatars are only set to be at the same amount with each other.
This means that two people fighting in a virtual match will have the same amount of mental power in their virtual avatars.
With the advantage of mental power gone in a virtual match, the only way to win in a virtual match was through better Esper Techniques and Abilities.
Alina gave Alex one example to simplify her explanation further.
If Alina and Alex were to fight in a virtual match, they will both occupy virtual avatars.
Each of this virtual avatar will have Mental Power of 100, ensuring that both Alex and Alina will have the same virtual power.
These virtual avatars can wield the Esper Abilities of Alex and Alina, and they will move and act like normal human bodies.
Alex can win in the virtual match if he can defeat Alina’s virtual avatar before his Mental Power gets exhausted.
If both Alex and Alina loses their Mental Power with their virtual avatars intact, then it will be a tie.
When Alina explained about virtual matches to Alex, she also told him that fights in virtual matches will not increase Alex’s Mental Power, since it is not a real fight.
The only benefit that Alex can get in a virtual match is the improvement of his Esper Ability.
Because of that reason, Alex decided to not conduct a virtual match with Alina, as his goal at that time was to increase his Mental Power.
Because of that reason too, Alex threw the matter of the virtual matches at the back of his mind.
He only managed to remember about it when Alina mentioned it to him right now.
************
"Seems like you remembered what I told you before." Alina said before glancing at the smirking Lord Gallius.
"Lord Gallius, I presume that the reason that you brought up the matter of virtual matches is because you want to fight a virtual match right now?"
"That is exactly my reason." Lord Gallius replied before his gaze swiveled towards Alex. "And to make the virtual match better, I decided that the virtual match will be between me and Mr. Alex."
"Hmm... that is actually interesting..." The afro guy interjected, interrupting Alina before she can complain. "I want to know if Miss Alina’s... friend is a capable individual."
"Don’t do it Alex." Alina said before Alex could say anything. "Even if you and Lord Gallius will have the similar Mental Power in that virtual match, it will be much harder for you to win. He has tons of experience that I fear you cannot match."
"That will really be a big problem for him." Lord Gallius said as he sent a provocative gaze at Alex. "But knowing that you are a Battle Esper, I am sure that you are sorely tempted to fight me now, right?"
"Tsk, so you knew about me being a Battle Esper huh." Alex muttered as he let out a sigh. "Fine by me. Let’s fight right now!"
Alina saw the glint in Alex’s eyes, and she realized that she cannot stop him now.
"Sigh, just make sure that you win." Alina said as she stepped back by two steps.
Alina then looked at Asteria, who somehow looked pleased with what was happening.
"What?" Asteria mouthed as she saw Alina glancing at her.
"......" Alina chose to not say anything as she just wished that Alex’s Main Mission will not involve destroying the World Diagram.
Because if that is the mission, then saving her sister will be back to impossible levels again.
****************
"Put this on your head first." Alex heard this instruction from Alina as he held a sleek-looking helmet in his hands.
"Oh, so this is the virtual reality helmet huh." Alex said as he tried to not geek out.
Alex liked science fiction and fantasy when he was young, which made him somewhat worshipful of anything cool.
The virtual reality helmet that he is holding right now is one of those cool things.
"Don’t you drool in front of me." Alina muttered as she seemed to look at Alex with disgust. "Each one of these helmets costs a lot, so dirtying them with your bodily fluids is a big no-no."
"..." Alex chose to not mention the fact that numerous bodily fluids will surely be ejected in the future once these virtual reality helmets became available for everyone.
Information like that will surely be predicted by the World Diagram itself. There’s no need for Alex to mention it.
"Ok, so once I put this on my head, should I say something like ’Link Start’?" Alex said, remembering a very divisive light novel that he read before.
"No." Alina said as she looked at Alex as if he was a freak. "Just close your eyes for 5 seconds after wearing the helmet, and you will be in."
"Gotcha." Alex followed what Alina said, and before he could realize it, he felt that he was in a different place now.
Alex tried sensing his environment, and he found out that even though he can still sense everything properly, there is still the feeling of unreality, as if there was something artificial about his surroundings.
"So this is the virtual reality..." Alex muttered as he looked around him. "Not bad, not bad."
But before Alex could enjoy the scenery around him, he felt weight pressing down on his left shoulder.
"How could you be here?" Alex has the right to be surprised, since he saw Asteria, the small fairy queen, sitting on his virtual left shoulder!
"I am your Guide, and you are my Traveler." Asteria said as she gave Alex her pearly-white grin. "Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you."
"..."
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