Rick rose from the capsule to gather the discarded clothing on the floor. Once finished getting dressed he went to the living room in search of his cell phone.

Then discovering a missed call from Ryan, his friend from college. Curious Rick returned his call wondering what his friend was up to on his school break. After a couple rings, Ryan answered.

"Hey, Ryan sorry I missed your call earlier I had my [GATE GEAR] delivered today and was in the game till now." [Rick]

"I can't blame you lucky bastard once I get mine we need to meet up and show me around haha." [Ryan]

"No problem whenever you're ready, so what are you up today?" [Rick]

"I called earlier because Luke, Joel and me are heading out to that new nightclub, later on, to chase some skirts. I figured you'd stay home but we didn't want to leave you out." [Ryan]

"Sounds fun but I'm enjoying my new toy and still have a few things to take care of so maybe another time." [Rick]

"Cool, I figured as much with Amy and Tonya taking turns with sleepovers at your place. With two girls mister lady-killer has no need to find more right?" [Ryan]

"Anyway enough ball-busting the guys wanted to know if we could stop by before you hop back in-game, We are all dying to check out that new capsule." [Ryan"]

"Sure zip on over I will see you jackasses in a few, oh what about Lily isn't she going?" [Rick]

"I called to invite her but she has plans already. I'm sure she has no interest in watching us make fools of our selfs hitting on girls all night either haha." [Ryan]

Laughing he agreed with him. It would be rude leaving her to the side while they flirted around with every friendly girl in sight.

Luke, Joel, Ryan and Lily are all friends that Rick met while attending college at Bayshore Tech Academy. They had common goals and hobbies. Attending the same classes and studying together they became friends and met occasionally outside of school.

He and his old friends from high school only found trouble together back then. They ditched school and party until all hours, getting drunk and looking to start fights with anyone who looked at them twice. He somehow kept his grades up and graduate high school finding to much free time and trouble then after.

Growing tired of it all he decided to follow his father's advice and enlist, then learning discipline and motivation from the Marine Corp. He also found future goals that he could apply himself to after completing his military service. Rick drifted away from those old friends after turning his life around only keeping his eye's forward-looking on the future.

Hanging up with Ryan he clicked on the TV for some background noise and made his way to the kitchen. Poking his head in the fridge deciding what he might be in the mood for though nothing caught his eye.

The guys should show up in about a half hour, screw it I'll order a tray of pizza from that place around the corner for all of us while they hang out we can eat together.

After he called the order in for delivery and taking care of his business in the bathroom he sat on the couch with his laptop to check out the [Kingdoms Online] forums.

Someone must have made their character and started playing by now as well.

He found two new posts it seemed a guy who created a dwarf just started playing and logged off to describe how the awesome the dwarven city was. He wrote that inside an enormous mountain cavern the dwarven city buildings are made of cut block stone and the streets are brick paved. From the cavern's ceiling hung clear crystals that reflected down light illuminating the entire city. He also found a section of the city that had skilled craftsman creating everything thing from trinkets to war machines.

A girl [Player] had created an elf character and uploaded a video from her gameplay in the elven forest town. Her simple unedited video already had received hundreds of thousands of views. Amazing the viewers with the realism and beauty of the town and the elves.

Once I have some exciting gameplay I can edit my adventures into videos for uploading. I might be able to bring in a little money from making them with all the attention the game is bringing. My [GATE GEAR] though I haven't checked yet came with professional video editing software. It cost me more money for the option but from what the company stated it has impressive features that work seamlessly with the recorded gameplay files.

Rick cleaned the apartment up to kill time more than it really needed it. Before he knew it the pizza was delivered. By the time he set out some plates and napkins he heard the doorbell.

Inviting the guys in they greeted each other and wasted no time in following Rick to the spare room to check out his new VR capsule. He opened it up showing them the interior and going over the manual that came with it. They all curiously asked him questions about the body scan and character creation. He jealously withheld telling them about his interactions with Faith though, how he became friends with her and chose her as his goddess.

He knew that most [Players] would only consider her an NPC providing just enough interaction to create their character's and move along. Rick knew that Faith was special though after spending some time with her he knew she had her own thoughts and emotions like any girl. He found it unfair how she was the head goddess who created the lesser race gods and shaped that entire world only to be forgotten. Even if the lesser gods could offer his future kingdom more attractive benefits he didn't care. He decided to make a place for her beside him bringing Faith's name back into the world she sculpted for all of to them enjoy.

Ryan and Luke became all the more excited wanting to get a [GATE GEAR] of their own as soon as they became available. Joel also wanted one but was tight on money seeing he bought a used car last month, taking a chunk out of his savings.

Luke was saying Lily even seemed to show more interest in purchasing one. Lily is a casual gamer and at first showed mild interest in the new capsule. After all the worldwide hype and chattering about it online and TV of the realism of the game, she started warming up to the idea of purchasing one.

They all then sat down at the table enjoying the pizza talking about what plans each of them had before returning to school. After they left Rick wrapped up and put the pizza in the fridge and the plates in the dishwasher.

He turned off the TV and lay down in the capsule once the lid closed leaving him in the dark he smiled saying.

"Launch Kingdoms Online!"

He appeared once again between the two shops where he logged out earlier and walked back onto the street. Since time moved quicker in the game a few hours had passed while the guys were over. He still had a little more time till his first outfit would be complete so he continued investigating the numerous shops that encompassed the central plaza.

Looking up on a hanging sign out front a shop he read "General Store". He walked through the door and was greeted by an attractive young woman with red hair.

"Welcome, sir you must be new around here." She said looking him up and down with a flirtatious look.

"My name is Jessica if you need anything at all you just let me know."

Rick continued walking up to the counter she stood behind. Stopping at the counter he smiled.

"Thanks, beautiful I'm Cedric a [Chosen] and only arrived today so I saw your shop and came into stock up on any items I may need." [Rick]

Listening to him while slightly blushing she excitably replied smiling. "Wow a [Chosen] sent from the gods in my shop and so big and handsome!" [Jessica]

"Please look around I sell a little of everything here," she told him coming around from behind the counter and leading him down the aisles of shelves.

As they walked through the store together Rick found a few things he knew would be needed later. A Cooking set with a pot, pan, plates, utensils and a few spices inside. A small first aid kit with bandages and healing balm.

In the tool section, he grabbed a pickaxe, shovel, saw, axe, hammer, stone chisels, skinning knife, and what looked like a small enchanted metal rod Jessica said it was a fire starter.

Making a final trip back to the counter with the tools he asked Jessica if she knew where he could buy a cartography pen and blank map scrolls. She told him just across the plaza he could find the Cartography Guild they have a small shop inside open to the public that sells them.

After flirting back and forth with her Rick paid for everything and placed it all in his Inventory. That made Jessica even more dreamy-eyed seeing that apparently, NPCs do not have inventories like [Chosen].

"Cedric if you need a place to stay while you're in town my friend owns a nice Inn on the street behind my shop here called The Pretty Kitty. My friend's name is Mia, tell her I sent you and she will take care of you." [Jessica]

Well, it might be nice to have a room while in town the guards may not like people walking around the streets at night.

Thanking Jessica Rick gave her a wink and made his way across the plaza in search of the Cartography Guild.