Chapter 36 36 - The Sim Room

After classes that day, it was finally the weekend and Milo was diligent in his training of the chain sickle, he had now gotten to the point where he had complete control over the chain when swung out. He had also found ways to control the length of the chain he was swinging. As well as practiced using the chain sickle in defensive ways as well. These he unfortunately would be unable to test until he got a chance to spar again.

After coming back to his room for some rest and a shower to wash away the smell of sweat, Chris and Mark came in asking if he'd like to go get some food with them. Milo agreed and the trio made their way down to the cafeteria. While sitting around the table, Chris was raving about a bunch of things he found around the school meant to help them train. His favorite was something he called the Sim Room, sim being short for simulation. In the simulation room there were many different virtual reality machines that acted as a way for students to practice fighting against different monsters or even pair up against other people who were also looking to train. One of the coolest functions of it was that a group could go in together and tackle a simulated gate together to practice working as a team. This was common for guilds to use for new recruits before they went to a real gate and also to build chemistry with the raid group they were placed into.

After talking about it for a while, the group of three decided they would all head down so that Milo and Mark could check it out for themselves. When entering the room, the group was surprised to see a snack bar along the one wall and a little lounge where they could all hang out and be teenagers. It was very similar to internet cafes they had read about, that were popular in Japan and Korea. After the three took in the surrounding area Chris took them to the front desk and got three stations assigned for them to use. When walking over Chris explained how it worked, there was a type of mask you'd put on before laying back in the chair at the station and when ready, on the right armrest, there was a button you would press that would take you into the simulation. From there, they would have to set a screen name and they could join another person's lobby, or select one of the different simulation modes. Chris had given the other two his screen name so that they could friend him and join his lobby.

When activating the machine, it was an experience that Milo had never felt before. One second he was staring at the black darkness behind the VR mask and the next his vision blurred before he appeared in a white room. Just as Chris said there was a screen that popped up, the top option said, "create account," from there Milo created an account, after pondering what a good screen name would be, he eventually decided on "Pho3nix" a play on his name and a nod to the fact that he originally could hold three abilities when he awoke the system. He also wanted something inconspicuous so as to not draw any attention to himself.

After setting up his account he added Chris and joined his room.

Mark who now had the name "SteelFist1" floating above his head along with Chris were already there waiting for him.

"What took you so long?" asked Chris

"I was trying to think of a cool username, what kind of name is HotHead anyways?" Milo asked, starting to chuckle, drawing a laugh out of Mark as well.

"Yeah, whatever, at least it isn't as simple as SteelFist1," he said, mocking Mark's naming sense.

"Hey I couldn't help it," Mark said defensively, "SteelFist was already taken."

All three started to break out laughing and after the mood returned to normal, Chris explained a bit more. From here they could do a few things, they could go into a gate simulation, go into player vs player or pvp for short, or they could take on waves of monsters that get generated. If they did pvp, then two would have to spectate while one of them fought, unless they all split up and selected the mode from their own lobbies.

They decided to go their separate ways and would leave after they each fought a match to try out the mode. Before selecting the mode, Milo could select a weapon and an ability that he could use in the match. After selecting frost and a sword just to test he went into a match.

He found that the simulation copied all his stats perfectly and because of this, the game was over quite quickly, as Milo's stats were leagues above any of the other students. After finishing his match, Milo logged out and was greeted by a system screen in his vision before taking off his helmet.

[Enemy Defeated]

Reward: 20 exp

[clear]

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