Chapter 17 - A preview at V.R. (1/2)

He was standing in an empty space. A beautiful and pleasing voice sounded in his mind. As he turned to he saw a wavy shadow of a beautiful woman looking at him.

”System check-up...”

”Retina scanned, ear lobe scanned, brainwaves analysed, identified as a new user. Account created for the new somnium technology.”

”The identity and bank account information have been bound to your account. You need to have a thought password set to the account to modify any of your personal details. You can do it right now or later at any registration office of the alliance.”

”Do you intend to set it now?”

”No”, sounded his own voice as he thought about it.

”No issues detected in brainwave activity until now. Running a small test to confirm that there are no issues with brainwave activity.”

He felt drowsy and the world around him went in and out of focus. Then, everything went back as it was.

”Test completed. No issues found. You are free to browse the alliance virtual reality network. All kinds of purchases are allowed through the helmet.”

He was immediately transferred to a large circular hall. It was quite spacious with a large number of counters. He walked to one of the stalls.

”Hi, this is the somnium technology's introduction hall. Temporarily the game vita-nova can't be accessed. Other V.R. games don't support the features of the somnium technology. All other facilities available. This hall is similar to the alliance virtual reality hub. Any queries or specific location you want to be transported to?” asked a pretty female attendant at the counter.

”I would like to explore the Blyth medical technologies,” answered Robert.

The V.R. technologies of the alliance had advanced to a state where every organisation which had a website also had a V.R. site where they could explore the options provided by the organisation and even explore many locations virtually.

A display immediately appeared in front of him with the search results for Blyth medical technologies. As soon as he selected the official V.R site, he was transported to it.

It was different than the traditional V.R. experience of a console where it was really hard to find a good angle of view they wanted or a V.R. suit where one had finer control and feel the world. But this had a much more natural feel to it.

”This is just like I am actually standing in such a place. This is what virtual reality is actually supposed to be,” he thought.

As he was exploring V.R. site, he was suddenly informed that he was being logged out of his account externally and then, he got up as his helmet was removed by the attendant.

”So, how was it?” asked the attendant.

”It was very immersive. I thought the V.R. suit wouldn't be much different from this, but this is definitely more natural to feel. I would definitely recommend this to others,” said Robert to the attendant. He was really impressed by the technology.

”I am glad to see that you enjoyed the experience. The new somnium technology is not only employed in the V.R. helmets but also in the V.R. cabins going to be released on the 1st of January. The cabins have better sync with the game and as all cabins have, allow you to consume nutrient fluids through them providing you a longer gaming experience,” said the attendant.

”I am not really into gaming, but thanks for the offer,” said Robert understanding that the attendant was trying to make a sale.

”Oh! Are you interested in the gaming helmet? We are having a special offer today. We provide you warranty for an additional two years on the usual three years. Also, the ones bought here can connect to the internet and access all V.R. sites from today,” said the attendant.

Balthazar knew that the somnium technology would become extremely popular. Most online software services, educational and training services, interactive videos would become somnium V.R. technology in the future. Even some freelance operations and software development would use the somnium technology for daily work. He decided to best get a cabin as soon as possible.

”Any offers on the V.R. cabin?” asked Balthazar who was right beside Robert.

”The V.R cabins could be pre-ordered with the same offer. They will be delivered to the address you specified by Metis technologies. It is considered to be excellent for gaming and it also monitors your vitals during use.”

”I would like to buy a cabin. Could you please quote the price,” said Balthazar to the attendant?

”The original price is 5 million. We are having a discount of 10 percent for the pre-order. So, you can have it 4.5 million credits,” replied the attendant.

He quickly conducted the transaction, providing his home address to deliver the cabin. Robert was extremely surprised that Balthazar had bought a V.R. cabin. He knew that Balthazar had dabbled in V.R. games during college but didn't expect it to be to an extent that he would purchase a V.R cabin.

”You bought a cabin? You plan to be an active player in the game, when you are serving in the military?”

”It got three months of recommended leave and I am not planning to be joining till May. When I leave, I can just leave it to the workshop for Rudra and the others to use,” explained Balthazar.

”You know what? Seeing you even I am tempted to get one. I am going to buy a helmet myself.”

Robert got a headset and they left together with it. They carried on to the combat coliseum like they planned. The combat coliseum didn't always have aliens fighting one another. Its original owner were pet trainers and they were the ones who organized the fights. More than half the time, it was them having their pets perform tricks and feats.

Both Robert and Balthazar weren't that interested in these as much as they were in the fights. On finding out that there would be no more fights for the next two hours, they went to the shuttle. Soon, they were back at the Blyth mansion.

”Entora city wasn't as fun as I expected it to be,” confessed Balthazar.

”Maybe we had very high expectations of it since childhood and now that were have grown up, we were kind of set for disappointment.”

”So, what now?”

”We have about 2 hours till 5 p.m. meeting with Salazar. We can try out his assignments before the evening runs.”

”As good a thing as any. We need to do it sometime.”

They headed off to the herbariums and soon found themselves searching uprooting plants and separating the bark, stems, roots and other parts and packed them up. They needed to move them quickly to Salazar's lab and work on removing poison out of them and also refine them.