A regular day in the middle of the ocean, on a fishing boat, after a night of fishing, with the first rays of dawn, stood a tall, robust man with disheveled black hair and a two-day beard. He wore a yellow raincoat, blue jeans, and yellow boots. With a sleepy expression, he slowly began to open his brown eyes. Looking up at the sky until he was fully awake, he stood up gradually, and seeing the boxes full of fish beside him, he smiled softly.
"Last night, I was pretty lucky and caught a good haul. I need to hurry back to the port so they can appraise my catch. This will be the last time I go out fishing. With what they pay me, I’ll have enough to live in an apartment and buy a virtual reality pod."
His name was Camir, a veteran fisherman known in the area as the "Emperor of Tuna." Despite going out alone with just his boat and fishing rod, he caught more tuna than anyone else. Buyers paid him directly, without the need for middlemen, because he not only caught a lot of fish but also ensured they were of extraordinary quality.
Rumors said that he only fished at night and that he had built his boat himself. It was made of materials he personally selected to withstand any tide and never sink. It was also said that his fishing rod never failed. Those who truly knew him were aware that he didn’t just catch only tuna, after reaching his tuna quota, he would head to unknown waters in search of exotic fish. Other times, people would call him to capture rare creatures they had spotted. On some occasions, only a few had witnessed him capturing true sea monsters.
Once his catch was appraised and he received his payment, he set out to buy his apartment with his savings. It didn’t take long, as a friend recommended a company with a nearby office. Inside his new apartment, he threw himself onto the bed in one of the rooms and pulled out his phone.
He browsed a website checking out virtual reality pods. They were all quite expensive, with various specifications, but Camir already knew which one he wanted: a pod designed exclusively for playing Bellaris Online, a massive multiplayer game where each player was randomly assigned a territory. The lord of the territory was responsible for making it prosper, competing with other lords to survive and expand their domains. It was the most popular game due to its difficulty and content.
His friend Mera was one of the best players, ranking 42nd globally. She wouldn’t stop talking to Camir about the game. At first, he wasn’t very interested, but the more Mera talked about it, the more intrigued he became. In his free time, Camir would chat with Mera, asking all kinds of questions about the game. He also browsed the forums, reading discussions and articles from top players. Sometimes, they would post guides with new strategies or updated information that threw the entire community and even the game's developers and administrators into chaos.
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Camir enjoyed watching the videos and guides of Balsar, a player ranked in the top 600. He was the only subscriber and viewer of Balsar’s channel. What interested him about Balsar was that he had been a naval admiral, possessing vast knowledge of the ocean, navigation, naval warfare, sea creatures, and ships. In the game, he mastered these elements so well that whenever other players spotted one of his fleet’s ships, they would turn around, knowing it was impossible to face him on the water. Camir and Balsar had been in contact since the game launched three years ago. In fact, they had met in real life several times and had become good friends.
Opening the chat with Mera, Camir wrote to her that he had ordered the pod and that it would arrive and be installed at his home in a few days.
Mera replied with a thumbs-up emoji.
"I have a few free days before the new player season starts and my pod gets installed. I need to stock up on food and make sure everything is ready."
Three days later, his virtual reality pod was installed. It consisted of a base platform where a person could fully enter. The body would be laid down, back aligned, with arms and legs resting close to the body. It was comfortable and had technology that read body status and other biometric data. When pressing a button, a helmet would automatically lower onto his head. The helmet detected neural impulses and had a built-in microphone since it didn’t read thoughts. Most importantly, it had a virtual reality visor. Since it wasn’t invasive technology, it was regulated by law and protected personal integrity.
In one hour, the Bellaris Online pre-registration would begin. Camir used the time to contact and greet all his friends in a chat group who played the game.
When the time arrived, Camir pressed the full-immersion button, sealing the pod completely. Of course, he could breathe perfectly fine thanks to the ventilation system.
"Welcome to Bellaris. Please enter your player name and select your character."
"Smurky."
The character creation menu allowed personal customization, random selection, or choosing from community-created avatars. There were also private characters that could be unlocked with a code. Mera had created a private character for Camir based on his preferences, so he wouldn’t waste time on character creation.
The avatar had short, light blue hair, ocean-colored eyes, and wore his signature yellow raincoat, blue jeans, and yellow boots. However, it didn’t look like an adult man without a beard and of short stature, he resembled a high school student.
"Your account has been registered."
"Initializing..."
Suddenly, the character creation screen disappeared, and everything went dark. Then, he found himself standing in the middle of a forest.
"Alambar Forest – Safe Zone."
