Chapter 2 Part 4

Cris finally got a job but it wasn’t he wanted but due to certain reasons he could not decline it. His first day on the job nothing happen. He got no delivery orders and so Loco put him to work on taking inventory and cleaning tables. Such menial work was a disgrace to someone like him, but it did keep him busy. Before he knew it his first day was over.

His living quarters, the basement where he was staying was nothing more than a storage room fill with boxes and old papers. It was a dusty and musty dungeon where the sun would never shine but that did not dissuade his roommate from making himself at home. Cris pleaded with Loco for better accommodations but she refused by saying “I’m not running a bed and breakfast”. However she did provide blankets and a space heater. Cris looked to Blue for any aid in his cause for better living condition but all he did was smile and nod.

Blue was far too accepting, in fact he didn’t complain about the matter, he kept his head down as he was doing his part cleaning and closing up. He accepted any help he got from Loco without any questions. He was definitely up to something. Later, that night after Loco and the rest went home, Cris could not believe what happened to the basement.

The boxes which made the basement feel cramp were place around like furniture. The boxes were folded and crafted to look like tables and chairs. Even though it was very crude and still look like a box, it did give the impression that it could be used as a table or chair.

The newspapers were gone and replaced with full big black trash bags. All the papers were stuff in the bags and near the boxes almost like they were pillows. Beside the poor man furniture the one item that stood out was a long tall slim fan. Cris asked Blue what it was he got the reply “a breath of fresh air”. The fan would suck up all the dust and purifier the air in a few days making the basement barely livable.

Cris was astonished of how the basement looked now, it was still crap but he could make do with this. Looking at Blue like he was some sort of magician, Cris inquiry how is this possible.

“When did you, how did you do, where did this all come from?”

“Whatchu talking bout? I’m doing this for me. O yeah, I’m heading out for a bit, don’t tell the boss lady. Also, don’t forget to sign up.”

Before Cris could follow up and ask where Blue was going, he was already up the stairs and gone. Taking one last hard look about his new room, he found a spot he could relax on. He plop himself on a pile of garbage bags and sank in. Taking out his phone he saw no new messages, he frowned thinking that no one from his old life cared that he was gone.

That night Cris went to the Axis website to sign up for the GLT. It was really simple a point, click, register and instruction of what to bring on the test.

So the test is in 2 weeks and I need my VRV, STEM and get to Central building before 9 a.m. Still, they didn’t ask me for anything! I have achievements, screenshots and leaderboard ranking to show off and impress.

A bit disappointed that the sign up felt too easy, that anyone could do it. Also, that all of his greatness will continue to go unnoticed. He let out a depressing sigh as he was setting himself up to enter into Terminal. With the pressing issue done, now he could have some fun by learning more about Terminal.

Diving into Terminal he found himself, spawned in front of Loco restaurant. It was night time as the sky was darken but not completely pitch black. The streams of blue lights raising up in the sky gave off plenty of light and looked like stars in the sky. He look at the building and found it odd. Last time he dived in was on the park bench and he spawned where his real body was in the real world. This time was not the case he was outside the building.

“Hmmm, maybe buildings work different in Axis?”

Ping.

The tutorial screen pop up but this time instead of brushing it aside, he was going to skim it for the key information. Most of what he saw was generic information about the city, mostly tourist information but he was looking for anything that would stand out.

He read that Axis Terminal Station is an augment reality built based off of the city of Axis placed upon the virtual worlds. Not entirely sure what that meant kept on scrolling through, then he found something that looked promising, The Rights of Guests. Quickly looking through all the perks he got the general gist of what Terminal is and what he could do.

The Rights of Guests

Guests have unrestricted access to Axis Terminal Station shops and interactions. Please look at Profile Panel for more information. Guests can only enter The Wasteland world and only in the Guest designated area. This allows Guest to experience The Worlds firsthand. Limited usage, only 6-minutes per day or until death (1hour in The Worlds). Guests have Inspection and Interaction features enabled.

The last point jump out at him, the wording felt a bit misleading. Ignoring it for now, he turn to face Loco’s restaurant and tried to use Inspection. Focusing a little bit on the building a screen popped up about the shop. The screen contained information about the restaurant, along with some pictures and hours of operations.

“I thought so. It is like a website. Now let’s try the profile panel.”

Closing all of his open panels and using a down flick of his hand he open the profile panel. Studying it for a minute, Cris frown at the fact it was just a bland generic profile page. It was more like a browser with history of all the places he visited. He could also connect a bank account for transaction and other options he found useless to him now.

“Let me try this in The Wasteland. Now how do I…”

Clicking on one of the places he visited both in Terminal and Axis, a bright blue light filled his vision and he was teleported to the shop he asked for directions.

“Holy shit! That’s cool.”

Looking at the panel, a map appeared showing him all the locations he could teleport to without walking to them. He grinned at the possibility of seeing Axis in a whole day but now wasn’t the time for sightseeing. Looking up at the shop with the broken bot, he spat at it wanting to write a bad review but he had a job to do now. Clicking on an entrance to The Wasteland, he was teleported to a subway entrance with the letter “W” on it.

A pop up appeared warning him about where this was heading and the possible dangers. Preparing himself this time he took a step in and was teleported to an empty plain with nothing in sight. Taking a fight stance upon spawning, he was not going to get blindsided again. After a few minutes he let his guard down assuming it was safe enough to proceed.

Opening up his profile panel to verify his suspicion if it would be different or not. He was right this panel was significantly different than the one in Terminal. However, again something was off about it, this was not a game profile.

“This can’t be right. This is just an inventory bag. Where is my character screen, my stats, attributes, at least show me my skills?”

Staring at the empty screen with vacant slots, Cris tried other commands to see if there was more to it or that he was missing something. After multiple failed attempts of audio and physical commands nothing happened leaving him more confused.

“Maybe, because I am not a resident? There should be like a skill class or something? I saw Swagger and others in action.”

Images of his once admired idol flooded his head and his very unique fighting style. He was a swashbuckler with a side arm of a pistol. His signature single sword style with combination using the firearm earned him glory in the arena and lead his team to multiple victories in V-Sports. Cris couldn’t help but to start fall for him again but he reminded himself of how he betrayed him.

“I guess I get to pick a class once I become a resident. Well, I got sometime before I get kicked out let’s take a look.”

Exploring The Wastelands without being radiated and eaten alive was quite enjoyable. Even though he was in the noob zone he was gaining valuable experience of how this world works. Before he was about to get booted off due to his time limit, Cris found something interesting. Getting closer to it a screen popped up, he smiled as he read the plain text of the item.

“Thought so. I need to become a resident to pick my class.”

[ITEM: BROKEN PIPE SHOTGUN: DESCRIPTION: INSIGNIFICANT SKILL LEVEL.]

Picking it up, his inventory screen popped up, not sure what it meant he went with his gamer instincts and try to put into the screen. The screen took the shotgun and a few of the vacant slots was filled with the image of it. Letting out a confident laugh that he was finally understanding how to play this game. His timer was up and he was thrown back into the basement.

Over the next few days.

Cris, continued to not get any orders for delivery and was stuck just helping others out. His boss wouldn’t let him go play in Terminal during the day even on his breaks. Which made his late night expeditions into Terminal more valuable. Each trip there he was learning more about The Wasteland, like how the shotgun he picked up disappeared from his inventory or how other items showed him the same plain text.

During the day, he had the time to think and process his findings and observe his coworkers. From his surveillance he learn that the restaurant was extremely understaffed making him work fulltime. Besides a few temps who covered a few shifts, the bulk of the workload was done by Loco and Bruno.

His boss Loco a demon witch in hostess clothing was always working. She always put on the airs of being a nice caring person. Her regulars were infatuated by her presence and seem to always make time each day to stop by and order. However, under all that warmth was a cold cruel task master. Loco only kept appearances with her customers and ran a tight ship with her employees. Only the main employees and not the temps got to see her true nature of a being a brutish mongrel.

The next one up is the minion peanut head, Bruno who could be sum up in a few words, a womanizer who hates all men especially ones after Loco. Apparently, he and Blue had a dispute, which led to a cook off and the one who won would be head chef. Loco sanction this and they went at it. Bruno lost but surprisingly he did not complain or resist about handing over the kitchen. In fact he was quite happy with his main role of being a server. He would spend majority of the time flirting with the females and ignoring the males and avoiding them as much as possible.

The last one up is Blue the troublemaker, who took over the kitchen who is always up to something. He received a scolding from Loco for transforming the basement and kitchen but using his twisted logic he convinced her. There was not the end of their fights, those two are like a cat and a dog always going at each other. Bruno usually stay out of those fights cause he is always too busy hitting on some girl, leaving Loco to keep tabs on Blue. Some of the fights got so bad that Loco threaten multiple times to cancel the bet and throw us both out. However, the only saving grace for Blue was that he could cook. In fact his cooking was so good that the customers couldn’t get enough of it and was always in demand. Seeing the popularity of Blue’s cooking, Loco had to stomach his gloating and his attitude while she kept her eyes on the bigger picture.

Finally, which leaves me the future champion caught up in this whole mess. After my first day, I thought I could use my idle time at work to get some studying or research done on Terminal. I happened to be an honor student but when I told that to the staff they laughed it off as a joke. Well, when I pass and get to the top I will be the one with the last laugh. However, due to Blue’s cooking and Bruno’s neglect to the male customers, I been busier than ever.

Now I don’t even have a moment to myself, I am constantly out delivering orders and dealing with customers. At first I refused to be seen dealing with people and demanded to have a new job with less customer interaction. Loco threw me a hat and a scarf with her restaurant labeled on it. She told me “Wear this, if you’re that scared but do your job. If not I’ll make sure no one will recognize your face when I am done.” I wonder what people would think if they saw her true colors.

With my new disguise, I thought that was the end of my problems, but it open up a whole new set of ones.

With Blue’s cooking got a bit of a rep people were actually putting in orders. For me to do a delivery, I had to go on foot or take the tram. Loco had no bike and Axis doesn’t allow cars which made deliveries a pain in the ass. When I got there another huge problem always came up, which was getting the food to the customer. Every building in Axis has this stupid security system that scans the people when entering the building. With Blue’s fake ID and my disguise I am always stuck right outside. It usually ends in a standoff where I refuse to remove my disguise and they don’t let me in. So in the end I would leave the food in front of the door and leave. Thank god for Axis online or Terminal or whatever payment system where it tracks and confirms the package and releases the money. So far there hasn’t been any issues or Loco would surely be on my case.

Now the other part of my job dealing with the customers mostly the men. Bruno always took it upon himself to handle the women especially the really hot ones. He would give them the royal treatment; the best service, best locations, best food to order and his number. Surprisingly none of the women were turn off by it, in fact they love the attention and service. Which left me with the guys who always gave off a murderous intent when they saw me. At first I thought it was my disguise but shortly after I learn it was the fact I wasn’t Loco. Almost all the guys that come in here wanted to see her and talk to her. However, she is a busy witch but always takes it upon herself to check in at least once. Which leaves me with a bunch of angry horny dudes who don’t want to leave until they meet her.

Each day is the same, the same bullshit every day. I hate doing this work and I hate my job. An elite like me shouldn’t be wasting his time here, I should be preparing for the GLT. At the end of each day, I found it harder to jump into Terminal to the point where I just stop doing it and forgot the reason why in the first place. Every day was wake up, work and sleep and before I knew it judgement day was slowly creeping up.

End of chapter 2