"Ffffoooo--Hooooo". . . . "Fffooooo-Hooooo",
Rex, a dark-haired boy with dreamy blue eyes and an athletic build, inhaled and exhaled with a pursed lip as he attempted to get his breathing under control. "Darn, why does this pod has to be so heavy?" he thought.
He had just finished moving the cosmic pod to another position in his room. This time, he had moved it immediately beside his bed, where to him, it did not feel like a cluster.
"Even if I end up disliking this new placement, I won't be moving it again today" Rex reassured himself. His young hip was on flames and his now-damp polo and briefs were really uncomfortable.
Pulling off his damp polo that was clinging to his chest,
he let loose the flamy athletic build he had earned from his intense body training over the last six months. One of his several investments in building up a solid foundation for his debut in cosmic ascendance.
He quickly dashed into his bathroom, which was built into his room, to freshen up. He couldn't bear the guilt of embellishing his new pod with a sweaty body.
-----
Rex, having freshened up put on a light brief, to minimize the hassle of having to strip off later on.
He made his way to the glossy black cylindrical monument with a marble-like feel, that was his refrigerator. As he moved closer to it, the doors slid open noiselessly. A movement initiated by "Home". The remote house AI.
One of the more advanced remote home AI, capable of fully running all of it's operations off-line. It's name, which seemed to be devoid of any creativity, was the handwork of Ella. Butler Edward's only daughter.
Ella was afflicted with an illness, an auto-immune disorder, that kept her barely able to use her muscles. Rex had always been familiar with her, even before he started living with the family.
Ella had lost her mum at her birth, but that wasn't where fate's displeasure with her had ended. She had been diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder soon after.
A disease that kept her almost paralysed. But not minding all that, she had a very comedic approach to life, a trait she often displayed in light-hearted gimmicks.
Like changing the home AI's name which was a weekly ritual of hers.
She and Rex had always been close, even from childhood. As she lived with her Dad in Rex's mansion.
After the fiasco that followed his parent's death, Rex had moved in with the family, after Mr Edward Carson, the butler, became his guardian. The three lived together in a simple suburban house, one of Rex's inheritance, he had been able to hold on to.
Rex pulled out the three cylindrical glass jars containing a luminescent green liquid that pulsed intermittently: "COSMIC ESSENCE".
Holding the cool radioactive-like liquid within his hands, Rex couldn't stop the pleased grin that appeared on his face.
Unlike traditional games, Cosmic Ascendance placed a large demand on players' physique and was also able to affect players' constitution physically.
If you were to perform 100 push-ups in cosmic ascendance, your unconscious body will also show all physiological changes that would happen with performing 100 push-ups, And this physical exhaustion, directly tarried with players in-game stamina.
This made it so that very active gamers couldn't game on it for long, this was until the company that owned cosmic ascendance, launched their next product. The "Cosmic Essence".
The cosmic essence was an Energy-rich liquid, as much as the urban controversies could say about it.
It could be equipped on the cosmic pod, which is able to refine it, using it to supplement the player's body. Directly replenishing the physiological exertion, cosmic ascendance placed on players body and even facilitating the physiological growth and improvement that was borne from this physical exertion.
With cosmic essence, if you were to begin a hardcore gym bro lifestyle in "cosmic ascendance", you wouldn't have to wait three months to see the result. With cosmic essence literally replenishing your stamina and supplementing your physical body. You could raw-dog your body training, till you could physically see improvements. You could go from Fat Lad to slightly chubby in several hours. But this unique perk of Cosmic Ascendance could only be experienced with the use of cosmic essence.
Rex has spent a huge chunk of his inherited fortune to purchase this unique liquid. An exact amount of $225,000.
The satisfied grin slowly disappeared from Rex's face as he slotted in the third essence bottle into its compartment in the cosmic pod.
Knock! Knock!,
His thought process was suddenly interrupted. He straightened himself up from the squat he had assumed for better accessibility of the essence port. "Open" Rex said, as 'Home', the home AI unlocked his door and slightly opened it.
A spry middle-aged man gently pushed the door backward and walked in. The man was Edward Carson, Rex's current guardian. He looked to be in his mid-forties with a refined and welcoming vibe about him, with each of his movement seemingly free of any sort of imperfection. Everything about him was embellished in grace. With a smile that could tame the wildest of hearts..
He stared at Rex as he said "I would really love it, if you would join me and Ella for dinner before your escapade. You know Ella would love it". Rex felt a thug on his chest, from Edward's word.
He really disliked displeasing Edward and, even more so, Ella, in any way.
"I would really love that, but my plans for the evening are set in stone. I can't possibly think of anything else, that wouldn't be this, you know". "All my mind has been on cosmic ascendance the whole day" Rex replied to his guardian. "I promise I will make it up to you and Ella" Rex swore.
Another smile appeared on Edwards's lip, He had definitely expected this reply. But he had to try, Ella always looked forward to dinner cause Rex is there; not having him there would displease her. The displeasure which will subsequently be experienced by him alone, as Rex was just too idolized in her eyes.
"What can a dad do to stay on her daughter's good side?" he thought.
"You know, cosmic ascendance isn't just any game, Rex...", Edward spoke out of worry.
Not wanting to jinx Rex's debut in cosmic ascendance. Edward said in a soft tone "Stay Safe, Rex". He wasn't superstitious, but there was no need to overdo it.
"It will be mostly tutorial-like activities for now" Edward reassured himself as he closed the door. But he couldn't stop the little anxiety building up in his mind.
The VR game Cosmic Ascendance was so unpredictable ,no two individuals experienced the same gameplay. It was a novel experience for each person. Couple this with the far-reaching grip this game had on real life. He couldn't help but be anxious about what impact the game would have on Rex's life.
As Edward left the room, the door gently shut back.
It was now less than ten minutes before Rex could finally be logged into "Cosmic Ascendance"
He stripped himself off his briefs, walking towards the capsule-like pod. He slid his hand across the rim surrounding the hatch of the capsule. As he did so, the top lid of the capsule opened silently, displaying the dark, padded interior.
The inside of the pod seemed to be filled with a colorless fluid. The fluid was actually high-density gas. Rex had come to be familiar with this based on his past attempts on the pod. As Rex climbed into the pod and let himself be submerged by this fluid-like gas. He could feel all his accumulated tension ease out.
He felt completely relaxed.
"This is niceee," he thought. The cosmic pod was perfect in every way. The Pod silently, as it opened, closed back. Dim lights that ran in a spiral form, slowly lighted up on the interior of the lid.
The dim spiral lightning slowly increased in brightness felling so unreal, and as Rex tried to focus on it, he couldn't help but feel groggy.
It was the acclimation phase of Cosmic Ascendance. The ephemeral shift between consciousness. The window that displayed a countdown to Rex's seventeenth birthday that he had become accustomed to, did not appear.
Rex could feel it.
He was finally logging in to the VR world of Cosmic Ascendance.