Pride Online

“And how does this work?”

A mutter of complaints sounded from room 808’s owner in Grand Villa Condominium, who’d been busy unpacking the box from Pride for a while. And that was since he got home and found that Pride had left a package for him with the receptionist; he took it and rushed to his room with a rocket speed.

From the first second, he entered the room, the man didn’t waste any time on the toilet or changing clothes. He threw himself on a sofa in the living room, hurriedly opening the box with his two hands, as if he were a kid who couldn't wait to check out their new toy.

Actually, his hasty action right now was not driven by excitement or anything like that.

“Damn! What are these cords? Why do they have so many? Man, I’m in a rush, and now they’re tangled up! Orn probably had logged in the game for a while. What if other dudes are already flirting with her?”

His mouth kept speaking, as the mind started imagining things.

No way! Just seeing the picture of a guy holding hands with this cute, sweet little girl of his dreams made him work faster on untangling the cable cords. The pair of brown eyes searched for a manual nearby to guide him.

“Okay, what do I do next?”

Wisana said after he saw equipment that looked like glasses with thin frames and light brown lenses. He picked them up, checking them out from left to right with confusion before he saw the note that came with them.

“This is Prider Mutilation, or P.M., a device that uses electricity to transfer brainwaves into… Damn it! Pass! I don’t need to know this. Let’s see the next one… To activate the device, press the button on the right. Press the button three times to connect to Wi-Fi, and it will start updating the newest patch and data of the game...”

He did as the instruction said until there was a beep with a red light shown below the Wi-Fi icon. A few seconds later, the red light had changed into green, so he knew that the connection to Wi-Fi was already successful.

"In case the device is switched on for the first time, it will need to be charged for the battery to function at full capacity... Holy! And how long does that take!?"

He continued reading.

“Eight hours!? My ass. It’s not gonna be ready to play today, isn’t it? What do I do now?”

He didn’t finish complaining yet when another note slipped out and fell to his eyesight. That note was attached to the box all along, but he was too focused on tearing the box open to notice it. Wisana raised his eyebrows before reading through the squiggly handwriting.

-----------------

Dear Na, my beloved son. I've already charged the battery. It’s all set and ready for you to play.

.

PS. I also bought you some gifts in the game. Don’t forget to check it out.

PS2. Good luck and have fun, kiddo.

PS3. Don’t tell Wimon that I gave you this console. Tell her that you bought it yourself. Got it? I don’t want to argue with your mom.

-----------------

This short note gave the beloved son a big smile.

“That’s my dad. I’ll thank you later for this.”

Then he put on the equipment and lay down on the couch, his eyes were fixed on the game manual.

“Pro tips, players should lay down in their most comfortable position to avoid body pain and sprains… Man! Do you really have to tell me this crap? ... Well, this one is more interesting. Time in the game is three times faster than time in the real world, which means 1 hour in real-time is equal to 3 hours of in-game time. Therefore, players need to manage their time online well. In addition, players can connect their P.M. to smartphones with USB cables, to sync contacts and communication systems from the real world to the game....”

After he finished reading that one, Wisana just threw the manual away. Time was up for learning from the book! He was going to learn how to play by just playing it. Wisana didn’t want to win the trophy, anyway. He just wanted to play with his crush. When he thought this through, he pressed the button to launch the game.

-----------------

“Where the heck is this place? It's just gonna port me to anywhere like this without warnings?”

He started hollering as soon as he noticed the changes in his surroundings. He was now standing in a small room, the walls were built with navy blue, square tiles, and nothing else. He looked around for a moment, then raised his eyebrows.

“What do I do next?” He mumbled to himself when there was nothing else to do.

“Welcome to The Pride’s world.”

“You scared me!”

Suddenly, a woman just floated out of the wall, making Wisana jump. He gazed sternly at her. Standing in front of Wisana was a young woman with a delicate figure and a bright expression, wearing a very weird short, puffed dress, and sporting green hair.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“My name is Ada. I am an NPC to guide inexperienced players, like you.”

Wisana scratched his cheek.

“What’s an NPC?”

“I am happy to answer your question. NPC stands for Non-Player Character. We are Pride’s AI system. Our duty is to facilitate and support the players, and/or to be characters for flavors of the game’s story.”

“Oh, so basically, you’re a computer. As an A.I., they made you very pretty, though. But I feel that it's a strange contrast that you have such a cute, innocent face of a schoolgirl, but the huge, erogenous breasts of a college student.

Perceiving that the woman in front of him was just an A.I., this punk’s mouth started to slip. When she heard this disrespectful comment, Ada’s eyebrows twitched for a second, before putting her lively face back on again.

“There are many NPCs that have real people behind them. They are not all controlled by just A.I. So, may I suggest that you be careful with your words if you do not wish for a slap on your face.”

“Ooooh, very scary.”

He made a drawling sound just to be annoying, thinking that this girl here was definitely an A.I., judging from her strict and serious demeanor.

“May I have your name, please?” Her question brought Wisana back to the topic.

“Wisana.”

“Mister Wisana, may I briefly scan your abilities?”

Wisana raised his eyebrows in doubt, then nodded.

“Alight, excuse me.”

She said then abruptly approached Wisana, making him raise his eyebrows and prepare to back away from her. However, the NPC was faster. She grabbed him tightly by the shoulders, gazing into his eyes.

“Wh... what are you doing?”

“I am doing an abilities scan for your registration.”

“Is that so...”

“Please stay still and look at my eyes.”

“Oh... okay...”

His voice was shaking as he answered. Wisana was shocked that, all of a sudden, a pretty woman approached him this close. Also, this game was incredibly well made. He could even smell the gentle, cool scent from her, very clearly!’

Ada stepped back after a while, sending Wisana to sigh in relief.

“The scan is completed, and here are the results,” she said in a monotone. Then, she drew a square shape in the air with her hand, and suddenly a huge holographic panel appeared.

“Player Wisana, class newbie adventurer. The most suitable class is inconstant. I cannot suggest the playing guide because all of your abilities are equivalent. Your ID was registered on January 3rd. You have 5,000 coins, and your starter items are the following:”

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- Water potion energy drink, 5

- Rock, 15

- Guidebook for newbies, 1

- Gold star treasure, 1

--------------

The holographic panel was visible in the air. The young man whistled, impressed with this Sci-Fi technology. He did not say anything, maybe because he did not understand a thing that the NCP was saying!

“Your registration is complete. Next, would you like me to show you the game’s introduction, gameplay tutorial, and the systems of the game?”

“Nah, don’t wanna.”

The outright refusal made the NPC’s face twitch again.

“Mister, Wisana, are you sure that you want to skip the introductions and tutorial? I suggest you learn this information, or you may not..”

“No, I'm okay. Cutie, why don’t you just let me in the game already?”

The young man still insisted on not listening. Well, he did not register to play the game anyway. He just wanted to see Warunya, so screw this game tutorial!

“Yes, sir.” Ada finally responded. “So, what city would you like to go?”

“Chiang Mai.”

“...”

The NPC went silent. There was an awfully long pause before she could speak again.

“I am sorry, sir. There is no Chiang Mai in the Pride.”

“What about Bangkok?”

“There is no Bangkok, either, sir.”

“Pathum Thani, then? Rangsit? Lam Luk Ka? Bang Na?”

“...”

This time her face did not just twitch a bit anymore, but she closed her eyes like she was counting 1-100 to calm her nerves.

“Just stop messing with me and pick your destination already. ...Please.”

This A.I. was not fun at all.

“Okay, just send me anywhere. You choose.”

“Understood.”

Suddenly, the surroundings started to glow, then everything started fading away, including the cute face of Ada. And Wisana swore that he saw an evil smirk there, the second before she disappeared entirely.

THUD!

“Ouch!”

In just the blink of an eye, he was now sitting on the ground, rubbing his hurt butt. From that room, he was teleported to an unknown place again. And this time there was a difference in the ground level!

“Now I understand that AI’s smile. Obviously, she did this on purpose.”

He muttered complaints as he got up. He looked around and saw nothing but this endless, empty grassland.

“Damn, when I said to send me anywhere, I didn’t mean in the middle of the field like this.”

He sighed, looking around to explore. This game was very realistic just as how their friends kept bragging about it. He could feel the refreshing breeze on his skin. He thought he could smell the grass and flowers in the air, too. Then, he started walking.

Well, the game was realistic and impressive, but excuse me,

“Where the heck should I go from here?!”

He whined, awkwardly looking around for a road, or a sign, but there was nothing. Until the next second, something caught his eyes.

“What’s that weird thing?”

In front of him, there was a creature that looked like a round, green lump, bouncing back and forth in one spot. The monster was about as tall as him. He stared at it for a moment before deciding to quietly approach it.

“Hi there, what the hell are you?”

He greeted it as he leaned closer. And it started to look more like a rocking doll with a ‘Kick me’ sign on it. This conclusion made him grin before he kicked that green lump, harshly.

13!

A mysterious number appeared above the green weirdo for a brief moment, just enough for Wisana to notice.

“What’s the number for?”

“Player Wisana has attacked Green mushroom. I may suggest you run because the levels are too different. “

“Huh?! Run from what? And who’s speaking?”

The poor guy asked aloud, awkwardly looking left and right to find the female voice’s owner that popped up in his head. His questions were not answered, yet, when the vision before him made his eyes widen. The green slump that he just kicked started to transform into something that looked like a giant mushroom with cute black round eyes and the ‘W’ shaped mouth like a cat’s.

Just by looking at it, he already knew that a disaster was knocking on his door.

“I am so, so screwed.”