"Yo." Marvin got seated on a cleaned-from-snow bench, where his friends were already gathered amid slight laughter.
"Hello." They greeted back, and the laughter died as the discussion turned from jokes to talking.
"Sigh… Should we just skip the school?" Lionel suggested, and the only reason he was currently in the school sulking was that his mother forced him to leave the house.
"Nah, I have a hunch that this day might not be as boring as we first thought." Marvin said with a slight upward grin, "Did you guys bring the helmets?"
"Yeah." Lionel, Niko, Ins, and Derek nodded. A few of them demonstrated their open bags, which contained a VR Helmet buried among a sea of books.
Marvin grinned.
When the school bell rang, the students still on their way to the school building accelerated their pace.
Marvin and his friends stood up. They made their way to the school building, where they were greeted by an open glass door that led to the second floor. Once there, they found a large auditorium and sat down.
The auditorium was lit up with natural light, and there were over a hundred seats. A frozen lake and snow-covered trees could be seen through the large windows of the auditorium.
Marvin, Niko, Lionel, Ins, and Derek got seated in the last row. The seats around them remained empty— everyone else sat as far as possible.
Latecomers, however, were confined to the seats directly in front of them. A clear look of vigilance appeared on their faces, and they decided to keep their breaths as quiet as possible, hoping not to arouse the delinquent's anger.
Suddenly, the back door opened, and a middle-aged teacher with squinted eyes walked in with stacks of textbooks in his arms.
The door slowly closed on its own.
After all the books were placed on the desk, the teacher shuffled papers, frantically searching for his notes as the auditorium fell silent.
He found them soon after and turned around to find his classroom packed to the brim.
"Alright…" His tired voice echoed across the auditorium, "The world has changed drastically, and there is no going back…"
The students listened closely.
"I know most of you want to stay in your homes… Play the White Online, and maybe make it your career."
Many students nodded their heads, and many thought it was better than rotting in the school rooms.
"That's why… School's admiration, decided to add class similar to VR Operation Class, so be on standby, the first class will be held today."
They widened their eyes in surprise and began whispering among themselves.
Marvin's eyebrow shot up as he and his friends argued about the purpose of the class. Fighting was already a relatively skillful endeavor for all of them, and nothing else was likely to improve it.
"All right, let's start the class." The teacher said as he sat down in the softly padded chair and opened his book.
Suddenly he heard grunts of irritation coming from the class sitting across from him.
With a wry smile, he began teaching. After the class ended, the school bell rang, and the students sprung to their feet and began to leave the classroom.
Lionel pulled up his sleeve and checked his wristwatch, "We have half an hour."
"Damn, not much." Marvin unzipped his backpack, took out the VR Helmet, and placed it around his head. His friends did the same. Soon, five buttons were pressed, and they became emotionless dolls.
Although many left the auditorium, many remained in their seats. They wore various VR helmets, varying from Bronze Helmets to Gold Helmets.
Bronze Helmet wearers looked embarrassed and put the helmet around their heads quickly and entered the game before hearing the imaginary laughter.
A teacher observed the students' condition after finishing packing. He glanced to the right at the VR Helmet that was lying in his own backpack.
Zipping his bag, he slipped out the backdoor. He hurried back to his office and grabbed his Helmet.
Thirty minutes later, every soul heard the bell ring.
The students in the auditorium woke one after another. Suddenly, Marvin's emotionless face fell apart.
"Damn, that fucking water is impossible to be crossed!" Marvin cursed with annoyance.
All of Marvin's friends shook their heads in agreement. All of them were unlucky enough to spawn in a village that was surrounded by a lake filled with dangerous aquatic animals. They were attacked each time they attempted to cross it either by swimming or by boat.
The only reason they had to swim was due to the fact that the boat had been destroyed by the massive jaws of a ten-meter-long Shark!
After Marvin had packed the helmet, they left the auditorium to make their way to the next destination.
Their school day continued until the last class of the day took place. The teacher had told them that the class was called VR Mastery Class, and it was the last class of the day.
The entire group was gathered in a slightly smaller room, but it was still a large room with the capacity to bring in 100 students.
This particular class was taught by a short man who made no attempt to stand out from the crowd. The absence of presence he exhibited made him seem like a vanishing cloud.
He said, "I was chosen as the class teacher because my level happened to be the highest among the teachers, so bear with me."
"Our goal is to use the training helmets to find out which areas need improvement and then climb to fix the problems."
The students nodded. In spite of this, many of the students felt a bit arrogant about their levels and accepted that there was nothing new to learn.
A VR helmet was connected to the TV by the teacher, but as soon as it was connected, the TV began to flicker.
A scene was displayed where the walls and floor were transparent— only the ceiling was visible.
"Who wants to be the first?" He faced the students and saw many raising their arms. At that moment, he noticed a young man almost asleep in the corner of the classroom.
"You, Mister Niko, come here."
"Hmm?" Niko opened his left eye and let out a yawn. He was pushed forward by the group of friends snickering and laughing.
In the blink of an eye, he stepped down the hall, and soon he was sitting next to the teacher on a chair. The teacher offered him the training helmet, and Niko yanked it away with a slight motion which resembled a shrug of the shoulders.
The teacher smiled slyly and pressed the button on the side, "Good luck…"
"I don't need any!" As soon as he closed his eyes, his body stopped moving.
"Hehe, let's see…"
