Jay watched as a group of 5 girls began to exit from the back room. Two of the girls were faces he recognized, they were Cassie and Arden, who he had just met. The other 3 were unfamiliar faces and they turned to glance at him standing near the couch as they continued their conversation.

One of the girls, who had blonde hair and a slightly chubbier figure, was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She seemed to have green eyes and was laughing loudly in conversation with the girls standing next to her. The girl to her right had medium length brown hair and olive skin. She was wearing a cute light green one piece dress and was a full head taller than the blonde girl.

The girl to her left had her hair dyed a fiery orange color that contrasted to her hazel brown eyes. She seemed to have just come from a workout, as she was wearing a sporty crop top and some yoga pants with running shoes.

Arden’s voice called out to the 4 girls that were walking ahead of her as she stopped in the middle of the lounge.

“You girls go on ahead, I know Zoey is starving since she hasn’t eaten yet”

The girl with the orange hair looked back at her and then exaggeratedly rushed towards the entrance while exclaiming.

“Fooood~!”

The other girls seemed used to her antics and laughed while following her. The blonde girl and her friend both gave a smile and a wave to Jay and Arden as they exited out of the building. Cassie stopped herself while holding the door open and spoke to Arden

“Just shoot me a text when you’re on your way or whatever. Also it was nice meeting you Jay, hope you are feeling better.”

She flashed a smile and a peace sign then hurried out the door after the other girls. As Jay was turning back to face Arden, he heard her languidly plop herself down onto the couch while a sigh escaped her mouth.

“Gosh they are so tiring~”

“I hope you don’t mind me using you as an excuse to get away from them for a little bit, it’s always so draining every time I deal with the whole group..”

Jay was a bit taken aback before smiling and giving a chuckle and then sitting down on the opposite end of the couch.

“No worries, they seem like a pretty lively crew”

“You don’t even know the half of it.” she said while waving her hand and rubbing her temples

“Anyway, how are you feeling? Any better?”

“Yes I am feeling much better now, thank you for helping me out, I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry about it, like I said, i’ve experienced some things like that myself. Thankfully not in a long time”

Arden then stopped massaging her temples and looked directly at Jay

“So you’re sure you don't need to see anyone? I can show you to the doctor’s office on campus here.”

“No, i’m alright”

“I can also just listen if you need to vent. I might be a stranger but I know that venting can sometimes help.”

Jay was about to deny her request again when he stopped himself

“Well…”

Arden perked up but upon seeing his hesitation, she waited for him to speak. Jay continued, seeing as he had her attention.

“I think I do have something to talk to you about, but it's not in relation to what happened to me before…”

“Oh?” Arden raised her eyebrows and tilted her head while waiting for Jay to continue.

“It’s like this…”

Jay explained his situation in detail as best he could remember, it had been over 10 years for him after all.

“So you mean to tell me….YOU SOLD YOUR PRIVATE CAPSULE!?”

Jay sheepishly nodded as Arden stood up in shock.

“Well...I figured since I have my Account card I could just play casually….but…”

As Jay’s sentence trailed off, Arden looked at him with mixed emotions

“So basically you’re having second thoughts and regret making that decision now?”

“Basically...yeah”

“I can’t tell if you’re crazy or stupid, do you even know how hard it is to get a regular capsule, let alone a private one!?”

Arden seemed incredulous over the situation. However she quickly recovered her composure and sat back down on the sofa.

“So what do you want from me?”

“Well you said you are the head of the club here right? I figure a club like this would have an extra capsule or two that I could use exclusively.”

Arden looked him up and down and then chuckled to herself

“Well you are right that we have an extra capsule, but it’s for club members only, why would I let you use it?”

“I never intended for you to let me use it for free. I’m offering a trade.”

“ A trade?” she looked at him puzzled

“Yes, I’m offering you my knowledge as a Beta tester in exchange for allowing me to use the Capsule”

My knowledge is a lot more valuable than you know!

Jay was not only a Beta player but he was also one of the foremost class researchers of Listonia Online with over 10 years experience!

In his past life, all of the top professional guilds and teams would have scrambled to gain access to his tips and knowledge of the game.

There was a flash in Arden’s eyes as she quickly kept her poker face

“What makes you think your knowledge is valuable enough to me to warrant a capsule?”

Jay knew she was tempted by the bait, he just needed to push a little bit further

“Well, judging by the fact that there were 5 of you, I expect you’ve done some research yourself as it's the ideal size for a starter party.”

“Not to mention you are gathering for a meeting the day before the public launch, it’s obvious you girls intend to be fairly serious about playing.”

There was a pause as the two stared at each other. Eventually Arden cracked a smile and a sigh escaped her lips.

“You’re very astute. Still how did you get so lucky as to be selected for the Beta?”

Jay just shrugged in response to her question. He was about to speak again but was cut off

“Don’t get your hopes up just yet. I know how valuable a Beta tester’s knowledge can be, but I have to get the opinions of the other girls. I’m not the only one who uses this place you know.”

Jay nodded in understanding and Arden spoke up again

“How about this, I’ll go catch up with the other girls at lunch and we can meet back here in a few hours? We can talk as a group at that time.”

Jay nodded and held out his hand for a handshake

“Sure that sounds like a deal.”

“You sure are confident”

Arden reached out her hand and the two sealed the verbal contract with a handshake.

With the meeting scheduled, Jay exited the building and began familiarizing himself with the campus, it had been a long time since he had been back at school. Not to mention he also had classes to start attending at the beginning of the next week

After spending some time going around and re-familiarizing himself with everything, Jay went back to his dorm room to do a little bit of prep work. Eventually he began to make his way back to the buildings with the VR machines and quickly located the building he was at before with the Women’s gaming club. He was greeted by Arden, who was waiting to let him into the building.

After a short greeting, she led him into the building and through the double doors that he had seen her enter before. Opening the doors Jay walked into a room with a high vaulted ceiling. Along both walls were a row of 3 Capsules with another one in the back left corner of the room for a total of 7. In the back right was a small desk with a computer and behind that was a glass door that led into what was obviously some sort of conference room.

As Jay followed Arden through the room he could see all of the power and ethernet cables that were running along the floor and walls. He looked up and could see all of the girls chatting happily through the glass door. As Arden opened the door and entered with Jay in tow, all of the girls in the room turned to look at them.

Even though he was already used to even worse scrutiny in his past life, he could still feel the nervous butterflies rising in his stomach. Arden and the other girls greeted each other casually while most of them looked curiously at Jay. Jay awkwardly shifted the backpack on his shoulder and then took this opportunity to go around to everyone and introduce himself.

“Hi everyone, my full name is James Milliard but I just go by Jay”

As he went around and shook everyone’s hand, he got to know all of their names

The orange haired girl named Zoey shook his hand vigorously

“Nice to meet ya sir~!”

The others quickly interjected, with the blonde woman laughing at him

“There’s no need to be so formal, I’m Vicky”

The taller girl with the Olive skin gently shook his hand and said her name with a smile.

“Sophia”

At this point Arden interjected, as everyone was taking their seats.

“Alright, since you already have met me and Cassie the introductions are over. I’ve explained the gist of the situation to everyone. Jay wants to use one of the capsules in exchange for giving us information from the Beta, what's everyone’s thoughts on this?”

Zoey immediately raised her hand and waved it frantically as if waiting to be called on by the teacher. Arden sighed and nodded her head, giving her the ok to speak.

“I’m 100% fine with it! I've been dying to hear about the Beta test anyway. I was jealous because my brother keeps telling me about his friend who was playing.”

Sophia also voiced her Opinion “I also don’t have any objection”

Vicky spoke up and said

“For the most part i’m fine with it, but thats under the assumption that the information he provides is actually worthwhile”

Cassie spoke her thoughts as well.

“I agree with Vicky, I know not everything would be put on the forums, but I don't really know what information would be that valuable?”

Arden patiently listened to everyone’s thoughts on the matter. Jay was impressed as he had seen team leaders before and Arden definitely had all of the qualities of a skilled team leader. Arden pondered for a moment and then spoke up.

“My thoughts are more in line with Cassie’s and Vicky’s here, I’m curious about what kind of information you are willing to share?”

Jay took a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Well that's kind of hard to answer, it depends on what you are looking to achieve or do in the game? Do you have a goal?”

Zoey interjected

“We are looking to Recruit members!”

Arden nodded and added on to her statement

“Essentially, yes we are trying to recruit.”

Jay looked at them puzzled

“Well if you want to recruit, i’m sure there are plenty of girls in the orientation?”

“While you aren't wrong, we are actually trying to recruit an Elite team. Last year we had double the members we have now, unfortunately they were all seniors who graduated.”

“We had a fairly notable semi-pro team who competed in tournaments across a number of different VR games. While I hate to admit it, all of us were just the rotational and substitute members.”

Hearing her explanation the gears started to click on why they seemed so serious about playing.

“I see...in that case, could you explain to me the information you are already familiar with?”

Like that, an intense conversation started as they talked about Listonia Online.