A moment later, a scratching noise could be heard as a pen was crushed under the developer's heel. His foot suddenly slid out from under him, causing his body to jolt forwards.
Within moments of hearing the sound, Arthur's body had involuntarily lunged forward, giving him more than enough time to put his own body in the path of the developer's fall.
The three seconds that followed played out exactly the same way up until the point where the developer's head would have made contact with the machine. Instead Arthur had caught the man as he was falling, allowing him to regain his footing and ultimately preventing the incident.
The projection of the man's body lying in a pool of his own blood slowly faded away, and the feeling of nausea became stronger.
This train of symptoms was playing out in a similar fashion to the incident with the soccer ball that happened several months ago, and it was the first time this phenomenon had occurred since then.
His original train of though was that it had something to do with the elevated brain activity he experienced after returning to the past, due to it not occurring a second time, but now that he had confirmation that it had nothing to do with it, he was ready to research the phenomenon once more.
More people began leaving their capsules, and the developer who almost hit his head finally received the phone call he was hoping for. His anxious expression faded away as he received news that Gaia was disconnected in time.
Arthur finally remembered that there was an incident that happened early in the beta stage, the developer had tripped and hit his head, but fortunately it wasn't lethal.
Eventually everyone had left their capsules and were led towards the briefing room as usual. There wasn't much to talk about this time around, instead it was a lot more helpful tips and suggestions to leave the beginner village by next session due to the next wave of players that were going to be introduced into the world next week, leaving the playerbase at four hundred players instead of the current two hundred.
The player achievement segment was cut short, their excuse being that they weren't given enough time to collect data by the end of the session due to the sudden event. The top three on the leaderboard were still mentioned, although everyone knew the outcome already. Merlin was first, as usual, with Typhoeus and Snowbunny taking the second and third positions respectively.
As the briefing came to an end, Arthur and his friends were the last few to make their way out of the building. As he approached the exit, he saw a few groups hovering around the entrance, waiting for their rides to arrive. One of the people hovering around was Kyle, and upon seeing him talking to a group and standing next to the path, an evil thought ran through his mind.
Kyle was the perfect scapegoat for a plan he began concocting in his mind as he approached. The NPCs didn't seem to like him, and his usual behaviour made him suspicious at the best of times, all Arthur had to do was plant a seed.
"Hey guys, have you made it to Orchomenus yet?" Arthur spoke slightly louder than usual, and he slowed down his walking speed so that he could give Kyle more chances to overhear him. "Have you been to a store called Lychester's Provisions yet?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Acai responded, seemingly confused as to why Arthur raised his voice.
"Have you bought any spells from him yet? I figured out a way to get them cheaper." Arthur stated out loud, at this point he could practically see Kyle's ears twitch. "Arwell Lychester seems powerful, but the guy is a coward."
"All I did was accuse him of scamming me, I told him that the utility spells were overpriced." Arthur spoke up once more, Kyle had tuned out of the group conversation he was previously in, and was seemingly more invested in what Arthur had to say. "It turned into a screaming match, but if you just keep screaming back at him louder and threaten to turn him into the merchants association, he eventually gives in and begs you not to. I got three spells for nine silver pieces."
"You should have told us earlier, I wanted to pick up light but it was a gold piece." Acai retorted, he seemed excited. "I know what to do first thing tomorrow then."
As Arthur's group walked away from Kyle, he secretly informed them that he wasn't telling the truth, and instead was baiting Kyle's group into a trap. Acai showed his disappointment at first, but he cheered up when he realised that he'd get to watch Kyle's group suffer.
The group broke off as they each went their respective ways home, Donovan greeted Arthur as he approached his car.
"You seem excited, did something good happen?" Donovan asked, seeing that Arthur had a large grin plastered on his face.
"Not yet." Arthur gave a short response before entering the car, not giving out any more detail.
The two drove home, Donovan asked a few probing questions due to his sense of curiosity, but Arthur didn't budge, although he did promised to give him all the details afterwards.
They arrived home, due to it being earlier than expected, Arthur had more spare time before his sister and father left work. He ran up to his room and took care of his plants before turning his computer on and checking his social media.
Within a few minutes of logging on, he received a message from Quinn asking if he wanted to play with him and Holly. Arthur joined the voice call and gave his greetings as the game started loading.
"Is it just us three tonight?" He asked, they usually had a full team of five.
"Yeah, the other two have just been playing the new shooter all day." Quinn responded, "Do you have any fills?"
Arthur remembered that the new hero shooter released last night for those that pre-ordered it, Quinn hadn't bought it due to him being warned about New Genesis, and he seemed kind of disappointed, but he'd thank Arthur eventually when the game completely dies after the year.
"I might have two actually, hold up." Arthur responded.
He tabbed out of the game menu to send Acai and Maria a message in their group chat. "Do you two play Ancient Defence?"
"Yeah, I'm divine two." Acai responded almost immediately, "You need a fifth?"
"Need a fourth and a fifth, we've got a three stack." Arthur responded, "All three of us are around ancient rank."
"I play too, invite us to the lobby." Maria responded, "Are you in a voice call?"
"I'll send you both invites to the voice call." Arthur invited both of them to the server, the five of them would eventually be working together in New Genesis, it was better for them to get to know each other earlier than later.
Two join notification sounds rung out as Acai and Maria joined the call. Arthur gave a brief introduction to both sides, then everyone gave their greetings and started sending out friend requests and party invitations.
"Woah, you're immortal." Holly practically squealed as Maria joined the lobby.
Arthur thought Acai would be the highest rank in the lobby, but it turns out Maria had him beat.
"Positions?" Quinn asked as he started queuing for a game.
"Me and Holly are supports." Quinn answered first.
"Offlane or jungle for me." Acai responded after.
"I play hard carry usually, but I can mid if needed." Maria also spoke up.
"Oh, perfect, I main middle." Arthur wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep his role, but everything worked out in his favour.
The five spoke for a few minutes as the game searched for people to pair them with. Quinn and Holly both asked questions about New Genesis, their only source of information up until that point was whatever Arthur told them, but it seemed they were hungry for more. They wouldn't be allowed into the world until session thirteen, at the start of the seventh week.
"Holly, come support me in lane." Maria requested.
"I'm not sure if I'll be good enough to match an immortal's playstyle." Holly meekly responded.
"Don't worry, it's unranked." Maria pushed, "I'll help you out if you need it."
"Ok, don't yell at me afterwards though." Holly said half-jokingly.
The game eventually started, and everyone marked down their positions and hovered over their heroes. Holly and Maria went bottom, Arthur took middle, and Acai and Quinn were left at top.
The game went well, there wasn't any serious miscommunication due to everyone being higher than the average rank. Out of everyone, it seemed Holly and Maria clicked really well. So well in fact that they kept laning together for the next three games.
Arthur heard a knock on his bedroom door, followed by his sister peeking her head out from behind the door frame. "Dinner is ready."
"Alright, I've got to go eat, I'll play a few after if you're all around." Arthur informed his group.
Both Acai and Quinn informed the group that they were also going to get food. Maria and Holly decided that they were going to play a game with just the two of them while they waited.
During his family meal, both Anna and Arthur's father grew curious as to why Donovan burst into his office saying Arthur had done something and wouldn't tell him. Arthur shrugged everything off saying that he planned something funny in game and was looking forward to it tomorrow.
