Epilogue

The train ride back was filled with people and mixed emotions. Unlike the morning where it was peaceful and empty was now full with the applicants and their friends and family from the test. It was obvious to tell who passed and failed based off the expressions off their face. Cris gulped as he saw a few of them hang their head in shame as they stared at the floor. That would have been him if he didn’t get that lucky hit at the end.

He looked over at Bruno and Loco who were conversing about the lunch menu. Before he could ask what he had to do when he got back, Blue poked his arm.

“Sooo, tell me the details and don’t leave any of the gore or good parts out?”

He had a carefree smile on his face, one befitting the winner of the bet. Cris gave a wearily grin, thanks to him most of his room and board issues have been solved and now he can focus on why he came to Axis in the first place. Taking a deep breath he told Blue about the test from the start to the end. Omitting some parts, mostly the areas on his blunder and mistakes.

“Heh, didn’t take you to be a hybrid. Maybe, a block head for sure.”

“W-What? What does that even mean?”

Blue looked at Cris and blinked, he truly did not know what Blue as talking about.

“Did you not read the booklet they gave you at the check point or read up on Axis?”

Cris looked away as he knew he threw away the brochure when he arrived at Digital. As for reading up on Axis, he skim through most of the content.

“I-I might have skim passed those parts.”

“Heh, a resident who passed and doesn’t even know what he signed up for.”

“It’s a beta test for a game right? The new VR MMO or something?”

“Hah, no. Being a resident means testing out the simulations of the worlds. There is very little gaming components.”

“E-Eh? This is gamer central, it should be a game. You telling there are not classes like mage, rogue, and warrior?”

“That’s right. No, skill points, not talent trees and no spells. Just a virtualize environment.”

The image he had of gamer central shattered, this was not what he expected. This was not a game, he was just some lab rat testing some new tech. A game may come out of it but how long would that take? Seeing his confusion and deflated attitude, Blue decided to give Cris some hope about becoming a resident.

“It may not be a game but doesn’t mean you cannot play it like one.”

“Huh?”

“The worlds have infinite possibilities based off what you want to do. The way you use Terminal will determine how strong you are and where you stand. Finally, it is up to you to create your own content if you want to remain a resident.”

“Wait. What?”

“Take out your VRV and connect it your STEM. You should have a new option now.”

Cris did as Blue told him and took out his VRV and STEM. At the start menu before asking to dive a new option did appear [NEURAL MAP]. Selecting that option a flood of screens appeared in front of Cris but they did not overwhelm him. In fact he felt his mind racing with excitement as he saw all of them.

“What is this?”

“In not so many words. That is everything your body and mind knows sliced down into skills.”

He was right each screen show a unique skill with a bar of progression with five blocks. Some of the bars were highlighted up to three bars others with one or two. Everything he saw was everything he knew. Did Terminal map out his brain and categorize everything he knew?

“Terminal is really amazing. You can actually see what you know and how well you know it. You could upload information smoothly and see the progress of it. In other words making your brain into a functional super computer. But I bet you want to hear more about the game aspect than the science.”

Cris disconnected and put away his stuff. He was staring at Blue in amazement, he never knew that you could use Terminal like that.

“They’re basically three unique styles and I guess you could say classes when using Terminal; HUD Heads, Hybrids and Block Heads. Each use Terminal differently and have their strength and weaknesses. HUD Heads, are residents who personally create an overlay to overlap with their vision to interact in the worlds. They create mental scripts and macros with their gear and skills to get stuff done and they’re known screen users. Basically, they rely on Terminal processing and computing power along with their brain to play.”

Cris eyes widen that sound awesome to him, it almost sound like a spell caster and their magic. He did have images in his vision that he could not take off but they did prove valuable with alerting him with what was happening around him.

“Next up are the Block Heads, they are the opposite of the HUD Heads where they want to experience everything through their body and more instincts than mind. Like their name says they block out Terminal and interact with their senses.”

Cris’s mind was racing now, he was getting excited and wanted to go back in Terminal try these things out. He did experience all kinds of firsts in the world without using any screens but when he did examine things it did give him more information.

“Finally, the hybrids which you could have guessed are a combo of both HUD and Block. Where they use Terminal but don’t rely. They interact with their bodies but use tools and equipment along with Terminal to gather more information. That is you.”

“Yeah, I get it now. Hybrids use the most skill since they get the best in both right? That settles it, I am going to be a hybrid user. Anything else I should know?”

“Heh, not gonna say. Think of that, as a thank you for winning the bet. Now the real journey starts. You have joined the game. Let’s see how far you go.”

Blue had a devious smile as he gave Cris his last words before reaching their stop. All kinds of ideas and theories were rushing through Cris’s mind that he wanted to try out. He cracked a smile, from everything he just learned. He question why this place was called Gamer Central, now he knew. It was not a game where you were limited by classes, skills or talents. No, it is hard to explain but this was more raw and pure almost like an immortal life with screens. He just became a resident, now it’s time to show Axis, Terminal and the worlds of how much an elite he has become.

End of PvPer Casual: Book One: Welcome to Gamer Central.

Few Words

The bar has been set. This is not the end.