Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

"Deep immersion capsules?" Klaus asked the instructor.

"Exactly. This is the latest NeuroGear model released by Hónghé Holdings. These capsules use virtual reality technology to create an immersive environment for playing VR games. Not only are these capsules more comfortable for the user than other models, but they also take care of your health by monitoring your heart rate, blood sugar levels, the frequency of use of your brain's synapses, and many other things."

"That sounds impressive," Klaus admitted.

"Would you happen to be interested in that, Mr. Klaus Park? If so, I can show you exactly where this facility is located on your map."

"Wow, that would be great." Klaus walked over and showed the instructor his cell phone.

She excused herself and looked at the map on his screen for a few seconds, easily finding the location and circling it so Klaus knew exactly where it was.

"There. What about the additional material? Did you find anything of interest?" she asked.

"Yes, yes. I'm quite interested in learning more about virtual reality technology, and I think the Software Engineering Startup subject might be interesting if it's related to that."

"Oh! That's a great choice, sir. All right, I've just enrolled you in the Software Engineering course. However, sir, I must warn you that this is an S-grade subject and your profile is rated B. These grades don't say much about which students are the best right now, as you have all just enrolled, but please know that there is a chance that you will encounter some difficulties in choosing this subject."

"It's okay, I'll do my best."

"Okay, so you're all set. Are there any more questions, sir?"

"No, I think I understood everything that was in doubt for now. See you, Kayla," Klaus said with a smile and left.

At that moment, the instructor was a little surprised that he called her by name, and then she remembered that her name was on the name tag on his chest, so she briefly laughed at herself.

"See you later, Mr. Park." She whispered as she watched him leave still looking very interestedly at the subject pamphlet. "Next!" She exclaimed to the people in line, who were already stressed about Klaus' delay.

*

It was 11:30 in the morning, almost lunchtime, so when Klaus left the main building, he saw that most people were going to the cafeteria.

However, he had another idea in mind. Ever since he had heard about virtual reality pods a few moments ago, he couldn't think of anything else and was certainly determined to try this out.

Recently, he was already thinking about buying a more up-to-date NeuroGear model for himself, and having the best model available to him was such good news that he almost couldn't contain himself with excitement.

The place marked on the map by instructor Kayla was in the middle of the city, which made him even more interested, since he could go there after class instead of having to use the NeuroGear in his dorm room. By the way, it would be a little awkward to be using the NeuroGear while the other guys were in and out of the room, not to mention that they would probably make fun of him for having such an old model of NeuroGear.

"I definitely have to see these pods with my own eyes." Klaus said to himself as he walked as fast as he could to the location marked on the map.

It was said that the New York State NIST facility was located nearby or in Woodbury, however, the truth was that the entire area granted to this institute in the past was not only a Military Academy, but also a census-designated region.

A census-designated region was basically a region governed by a county.

So, like all other census-designated regions in the country, this region had schools, hospitals, housing, stores, and so on, which were maintained even after the region was transferred to NIST. So, no doubt, the whole campus was like a real city.

Klaus had already realized how big this place was when he walked to his dormitory and then when he walked to the archery department's hangar, but little did he know that he had walked barely 5% of the total campus area.

Although the initial area of the facility and the dormitories had a higher concentration of people on the first day, there were also many others who spread out to explore everywhere. Everyone was very impressed by the vastness of the area, and wherever Klaus went, he heard several comments about it.

"Did you see that there is not just one sports stadium here, but two?"

"Gosh, I just learned that the Hudson River washes a good part of the region."

"Really?! Too bad it's winter now, or I'd go swimming there."

"There are several trails in the woods for us to run in the mornings!"

"The classrooms are amazing and very nice from what I hear."

"There's a Starducks in the center, let's go there!"

"Brother, they even have a golf course according to this flyer, so what must the labs be like?"

It was obvious why everyone was so excited.

Everyone felt that their lives had just taken an unpredictable turn, anything could happen, and for a reason as clear as day, all those who were admitted were confident that they would do well, knowing that they were good enough to be among the best of the best.

Klaus didn't feel much different. He also felt the excitement of being in a completely new place, but if there was anything that could distract him from this dangerous feeling of confidence, it was certainly Rise Online.

When he arrived at the place marked on the paper, he saw that the facade of the establishment looked just like an Internet cafe, with LED lights at the entrance and posters of famous games. The interior was partially dark, with only the colored lights illuminating it.

The big difference between the 'Virtual Reality Room' and an ordinary internet cafe only became clear to Klaus when he entered the place.

Internet cafes usually had dozens and dozens of tables with computers, monitors, mice, keyboards, chairs and so on, but the 'Deep Immersion Room' was different, because instead of all this, the place had several rows of modern white capsules, tilted 45 degrees backwards.

Klaus soon saw that each of these capsules had a monitor on the front that indicated whether it was occupied or not with the colors red and green, and most of the capsules seemed to be occupied, which surprised him a bit.

After a few moments of surprise, he turned to the side and saw a small counter to the right of the entrance to the facility.

Behind the counter was a blonde woman with short hair, tanned skin, and a leather jacket. She was chewing gum and seemed to be concentrating as she typed in a line of programming code.

Klaus approached the counter and before he could utter a word, she seemed to have noticed his presence without even looking at him directly when she asked:

"Hi, can I help you?"

Klaus nodded. "Yes, I would like to know more about the deep immersion capsules. I'm interested in using one to play Rise Online." He said, stopping himself from animating.

The woman looked at him and turned her chair around. "You can use these pods to play Rise Online. They are all equipped with the latest virtual reality technology available on the market."

"Great." Klaus said. "How much does it cost to rent one of these pods for an hour?"

"Since this is a program facility, we only charge the token price of 1 academic point per day so that we can have more control over our databases. I understand that all of you students have received 1,000 academic points, so just swipe your access card on this detector and I will release your access for use today." Like the other instructor, she pointed to a small scanner on her counter.

"Okay, thank you." Klaus said and swiped his card. At the same time, he felt his cell phone vibrate, probably from the payment notification in his email.

After the beep, she handed him a remote control and explained some basic instructions on how to use the equipment. And then she allowed him to use any of the pods that had a green light.

The lan house had two floors and several rows of pods on both floors, Klaus thought as he walked up the stairs to the second floor:

Since most of the pods on the first floor are already in use, I'll use some from the second floor.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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