Chapter 2: Ready Player One
Chapter 2: Ready Player One
~Liam POV~
…
…
*Vroom*
Entering outside the portal I managed to land on the ground and what seems to be in the middle of nowhere or more like… "New York? Whoa… I'm very off the target I'm in."
But not exactly as I remember what this dimension, I went to was based on the movie very bad but easy to win a lot of money in this small visit of exchange.
If one knows the plot of how it goes then I essentially have become the richest man in this dimension since I know what to do and speed run this shit.
Ready Player One…
In a dystopian 2045, people seek to escape from reality through the virtual reality entertainment universe called the OASIS or known as the Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation, created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Games.
After Halliday's death, a pre-recorded message left by his avatar Anorak announces a game, granting ownership of the OASIS to the first to find the golden Easter egg within it, which gets locked behind a gate requiring three keys which players can obtain by accomplishing three challenges.
The contest has lured several "Gunters", or egg hunters, and the interest of Nolan Sorrento, the CEO of Innovative Online Industries or known as IOI who seeks to control the OASIS himself by inserting intrusive online advertising.
IOI uses an army of indentured servants, and employees called "Sixers" to find the egg.
Then we have the protagonist of a teenage orphan Wade Watts' avatar Parzival, an avid Gunter, who participates in the first challenge, an unbeatable race, along with his best friend Aech, and Art3mis, a female avatar on whom Parzival has a crush.
Parzival regularly visits Halliday's Journals, a simulated archive of Halliday's life and hobbies, run by the Curator.
Wade receives the Copper Key from Anorak after he wins by driving backward, while Art3mis, Aech, and his friends Daito and Sho, all win the race afterward, later being collectively named the High-5 on the OASIS scoreboard.
Sorrento asks mercenary i-R0k to learn Wade's true identity, intending to bribe him to win the contest on IOI's behalf. Wade and Art3mis discover from the Journals that Halliday once dated Morrow's wife Karen "Kira" Underwood.
Wade and Art3mis visit the Distracted Globe nightclub to look for clues, where Wade confesses his love and true name to Art3mis. They survive an IOI raid in which Art3mis abandons Wade, explaining that her father died in debt to IOI. i-R0k, who was eavesdropping on their conversation, informs Sorrento of his findings.
Sorrento contacts Wade with his offer. When rejected, Sorrento attempts to dispose of Wade by bombing his home and killing his aunt Alice and her boyfriend Rick among others. Art3mis' player Samantha Cook takes Wade in.
Together, they realize the second challenge relates to Halliday's regret of not pursuing a relationship with Kira. Along with Aech, Daito, and Sho, Parzival and Art3mis search for the recreation of the Overlook Hotel. Art3mis asks Kira to dance and wins the Jade Key.
Sorrento's subordinate F'Nale Zandor storms the Gunters' hideout, taking Samantha to an IOI Loyalty Center to pay off her father's debt. Wade escapes with the help of the other High-5 users, Helen Harris (Aech), Toshiro (Daito), and Zhou (Sho) in Helen's truck. Samantha escapes confinement after Aech and Parzival hack Sorrento's OASIS rig.
The third challenge is found in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom, where players must guess Halliday's favorite Atari 2600 game to earn the Crystal Key. i-R0k places a forcefield around the castle using the Orb of Osuvox, but Art3mis soon disables it.
The High-5 led an army of OASIS players against IOI's forces. Parzival kills Samantha's avatar, allowing her to flee IOI with the High-5 picking her up nearby.
Parzival and Sorrento fight in the OASIS with Sorrento detonating the Catalyst bomb, wiping out every avatar on Planet Doom including himself. Parzival survives using an extra life coin given to him earlier by the Curator in a bet.
He plays Adventure, winning the Crystal Key by locating Warren Robinett's Easter egg. He uses the three keys to enter a treasure room, where Anorak offers him a contract to sign.
Parzival recognizes it as the one Morrow signed when Halliday forced him out of Gregarious Games and refuses to sign it. Anorak transforms into Halliday, who expresses his regrets in life and awards Parzival the Easter egg.
Ogden Morrow appears, revealing that he is the Curator. Wade decides to run the OASIS with the High-5, inviting Morrow to join them as a consultant.
After Aech sends the police a copy of Sorento confessing to the bombing, he and F'Nale are arrested.
As the IOI Loyalty Centers are shut down, the High-5 make the controversial choice to close the OASIS every Tuesday and Thursday for people to spend more time in the real world, including Wade and Samantha, who start a relationship.
At least to the plot of how the story was going that should be the case.
Still, I love my minor nerf powered of knowing this dimension as I already knew of this in my home dimension and would be helpful to find alternate realities of Earth for me to go to but first I need funds to spend on myself.
Also, a nice perk is that I managed to learn different languages as well…
That is convenient and useful.
Hmm…
I wonder if I go to different realities I would be able to learn more about the core dimension hell I might as well go towards the root of it in the process if possible.
Knowing my power though… not likely but –
HOLY SHIT!
*Fwoosh*
*Splat*
"Jesus Christ!"
That was till someone died on the spot falling from a considerable height as I see the gear needed to connect to the Oasis was on him… along with the chunks of flesh all around me…
But most concerningly is the fact everyone here just ignores it and goes on playing the Oasis game…
Honestly, this might be more concerning and disturbing at the same fucking time considering how fucked up this place is.
Although I need the money to get ready to use in other worlds similar to Earth but advanced on others.
Having money is its kind of superpower if you pay the right people for the right job.
And earning in this dimension would be good enough since I would be needing it to get myself a power-up in different dimensions.
Pickpocketing from the dead body – Ack!
I'm gonna hurl for this with the flesh of blood coming off from it and the sudden death of free-falling off a fucking building wasn't the best way to die. However, I ain't shying away from free loot for me to use.
Considering the fact I need it for entry and jump off to a different one with enough space for me to use and I can use the money I got with me with cryptocurrency.
Yuck!
After I clean this off from the blood…
Disgusting.
Cleaning up the headset on the guy I managed to rip it off and take what I could from the dead guy but what was more concerning was the mere fact that people around me aren't paying attention – wait a second?
Wouldn't they have noticed that I was looting someone in the broad of daylight and have the common sense to stop me?
Not that I'm complaining about it but…
Glancing at the people I see that the rest or if not all of them are busy playing the OASIS game moving around like a bunch of headless chickens and cringe-worthy movements.
Cringe…
Shaking my head of this I began to move away from this place and collect his wallet – on second thought I think I have enough money on me to pay for a single room of rent.
And if that guy fell off from a very high place then he must be broke or poor as fuck now.
Damn…
I'm taking this moment of silence for this sad office worker as I take the game to play OASIS as I began to erase the previous guy's info since his dead…
Right after I clean the brain matter of course it's filthy after all.
Eww…
Still gross though…
Winning half of a trillion dollars though is still about 500 Billions of Dollars' worth of winning this stupid game.
Ha!
I don't feel bad for Wade Watts at all for taking in the glory since I need to win this for my future travels.
And when I win I'll be sure to change the currency of the money I get into something else instead of China or Britain currency.
*Squish*
After I clean this off of the blood, flesh, and brain matter on the damn headset…
Absolutely disgusting.
Maybe there is a nearby restroom for me to use...