I opened my eyes as I scanned through my surroundings, I could see a total of nine individuals who wore emotionless white masks sitting on seperate chairs behind one long angled table.

Of course, I was also sitting behind the same table, wearing a similar mask as I had already signed the contract provided by Claus after I have decided to accept his offer while making sure that it had no loopholes.

As it seemed that the beta testing’s launch would start today, all I could do as a precaution was send a message with a copy of the contract to my uncle, even while knowing that it was unlikely to provide much use if the company really wanted to screw us over, it was at least better than doing absolutely nothing.

“It seems like there are nine other candidates who chose to join the testing, the all-over recruitment was more or less a success… Though I personally expect a lot from you, the starting points for the ten of you will all be different, but the chances of meeting once you enter the game isn’t null. As such, you will have to wear this mask before we head to the meeting so as to stop one of you from targeting the other in case he had malicious intent…” 

This was what Claus had said to me by the time I finished signing the contract after he received a phone call as he gave me the mask that I was currently wearing before we headed over to what seemed to be the meeting hall…

We were supposed to meet up with the higher-up who was responsible for the whole project AL for some briefing before being thrown directly into the game, at this point, considering I already signed the contract anyway, I was getting a bit excited, at least more so than scared, as I really wanted to try and see if I could truly move like normal humans, if it actually worked, it might be really worth it for me even I ended up dying later…

As we waited quietly, a suited man with a big build and a rough face entered the hall while clapping…

Clap…Clap…Clap…

“As expected of our carefully chosen candidates, 10 out of 14 decided to embrace the challenge and risk it, you have chosen well!” the one who seemed to be the higher up that Claus talked about said after he sat in the main front table where he could be seen by all.

Some of the masked candidates appeared to be a bit shaken by his statement, probably because they were forced due to having their own serious problems like I did, but they didn’t show much audible reaction as the suited staff, who seemed to be Claus’s colleagues, that stood beside each of them patted their shoulders lightly…

“There is no need to hide it or feel worried about it, it should be very apparent that all of you have your own serious difficulties that brought you here, otherwise, almost none of you would be here if you were in a proper mental state. However, you are all special in your own ways, which is why you are bound to survive longer and also why you were especially chosen.”

The previously shaken candidates started to get a bit worked up, they could feel that speaker was half-reassuring yet half-exposing which made them a bit tense, of course, there were still quite a bit of them who were completely calm and composed as I was.

Bang! 

The suited speaker dropped his big hand on the table as his face turned a bit too serious that it started looking aggressive as he said loudly, “you are all driven by a specific factor, whether it’s your own difficult circumstances or the hardship of someone you care about, but that doesn’t matter now, all of you will have to leave that past behind soon, you should only remember it to give you more motivation and nothing else. Now, let’s get to the fine details that you will need to learn so that we could send you off as soon as possible…”

It was quite apparent that this higher up wanted to make this as transparent as possible, owing to the fact that some might have grasped the whole situation vaguely just like I did, the main reason might have been to remove any hostile intention between players once they enter the game knowing that they are all in the same boat.

Just after he said that, the big guy lightly snapped his fingers, which made Claus who was standing beside me move towards the main following that gesture as he added, “Continuing Chief’s talk, I will be briefing you about the important details that you need to know about before you access ‘The Lost Realm’…” 

“Firstly, while you do know that the testing period will only last for slightly less than a whole year according to the contract you signed, but in fact this year will equal 10 years of in-game time, of course, your bodies would be fully sustained in the capsules to ensure nothing wrong happens from our end.”

Confirming what I heard was real and not a hearing misconception, I could swear I almost saw the shock apparent on the faces of the other candidates even behind their masks, this was really deserved in a way though, after all, while VR games that offered different and slower time ratios existed, a 1:10 ratio seemed more like a golden ratio that developers could only dream about yet not reach it, it was almost more shocking when compared to the unbelievable realistic settings which Claus kept emphasising that it was the core part of the project…

‘Maybe it’s like a side perk that came along with the development of an almost real VR world?’

Claus took a light pause before he continued his explanation, “Secondly, certain calculations will decide you different starting points according to what makes you special to begin with, as you should already know this game won’t give you standardized entry points like the normal ones…”

This somewhat seemed to be another thing that they stressed on, which should supposedly boost the immersion to quite a high level.

“Last but not least, the intricate system of a game, including status screen and other game-ish setting will still be in place, it can even be helpful to a critical point when it comes to your survival, like providing some guides, tutorials and such, but that all depends on how you use it, so simply try to act a bit more wisely, and live longer.” Claus seemed to have finished his speech as he left the higher-up, or the Chief’s side where he was standing and returned to my side.

The masked candidates all seemed to be moving into pondering or contemplating positions as they probably started considering the complementary information the Claus added to our original info set…

“Mhm, that should be all, the last notice I believe that it’s important to remind you of would be to… co-operate! If you ever meet another player it would be the best option you have that would go along with both of your interests, but that’s just a friendly reminder, you are free to do what you believe is right as we won’t be restricting hostile actions between players either! Your assigned staff member will soon guide you to your own capsule chambers…”

What seemed to be a kind(?) smile appeared on the Chief’s face after he finished his own speech and closed his eyes, but I could only get ominous vibes when I looked at him for the second time…