Blue Orbs

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Fen's eyes widened as he stared at the programmer in disbelief. "What? Holographic version...?"

The man nodded, "yes! We finally created a holographic version of Blue Orbs! The first Virtual World Game ever!" He let out with deep pride.

Surprisingly, Fen showed obvious disbelief. He was not one to express much emotions, but right now, he was too shocked. "You mean... You are serious...?" Well, this man was Watson Charles, after all. "Seriously?" He thought, dumbfounded.

Watson watched as the other's features contorted with surprise, which caused him to laugh proudly. "Indeed! And I want you to test it out!"

Fen's eyes widened even more, but before he could ask anything, he got cut off. "Of course, it won't be a normal testing, " he suddenly warned him, becoming more serious.

Fen closed his mouth and stood silent, growing worried. He watched as the male got up and grabbed a few documents on his desk. Watson set them in front of the tensed up tester, looking more professional.

"The game has officially been completed two years ago," he stated as he crossed his arms and started pacing around the room. "Multiple testers already tried it out," he then revealed, "but we soon realized that if we just published this game as simple as it already is, it would be rather easy for rival companies to outdo us after learning how to make holographic games."

Fen rose an eyebrow, "and so I guess you guys added more features?" He let out, making the man smirk. "More precisely, I did. Indeed, these new features were slightly... Unusual. I got the permission to create them though, thankfully."

Watson stood in front of Fen, who's neck had to do the greatest effort to look up at him, since he was still seated. "What kind of features are they...?" He finally asked, curious.

"They are very simple, yet also complicated..." He started, dragging out his words, "First, there's the wish prize."

Fen blinked and frowned, "what?" He blurt out unconsciously, making Watson snicker. "Doesn't that feature already exist though?" He asked again. It felt weird and new for Fen to be this curious, but he couldn't help but wonder.

Watson nodded, "yes, but in a completely different level. By the way, do you know how the Orb System works in Blue Orbs?" He asked and Fen shook his head.

"Orbs are differenced by their colours. Usually, the strongest guilds would base their titles on one of them, taking example on the official guild for professional players, Blue Orbs Guild," Watson explained and Fen nodded in understanding, already knowing that part.

"The blue orb is commonly known as the strongest Power Orb, which means it is made of pure energy. To be the winner of the year, one needs to win our annual competition and gain the blue orb. Then, they can request something, anything, from the operators to be added to their settings (within certain limits). The two main choices are Wealth and Power, but they can personalize their wish afterwards."

Fen frowned, "okay, but... What does this have to do with the new feature? Why is it even called a 'new' feature?"

Watson set his hands on his hips, "because a new option has been added to the main options, thanks to me." Fen rose an eyebrow in confusion. "Since the game was completed, three players tested out the winning feature out. They were all successes, but it was the same thing as the computer game."

Fen was growing annoyed. "Stop with the constant cliffhanger! Say it! What is this new feature?!" He thought, whining mentally. That man was serious destroying his aloofness. Watson realized that and laughed openly.

"Fine fine. The third option which was soon added by me is 'Love'. It was an idea the last tester came up with after admitting that a certain NPC female had caught his eye. So, me being me, I found the idea interesting and... Came up with something that..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "kind of turned out dangerous."

"Of course," thought Fen and stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "What happened?" He asked.

"Oh. Well, the Love figuration was a success, but it kind of went overboard. The tester sort of got the NPC pregnant." He blurt out with an awkward shrug.

At this point, it was not shock nor disbelief that was expressed by Fen, but nothing. He was staring at Watson, waiting for him to admit that he was joking. The programmer looked back at him with an awkward smile, but a sincere one.

"This is a messed up joke..." Fen got up, ready to leave. "Wait wait, look in the documents! There's proof!" The giant quickly blurt out. Fen rose an eyebrow and glanced at the orange envelope. He sat back down and sighed, getting the documents out of their folder.

What Fen then saw left him shocked. It was a picture of a what was obviously an NPC woman holding what looked like a newborn in her arms. But the most shocking was the title on top of the boy's head.

"Axelloire
player lvl 1"

"Is this photoshopped?" He couldn't help but ask, still not believing a word of what has been said. Watson sat down, "this is an actual screenshot. If you accept the job, you will see them both with your own eyes..." He said.

Fen looked back up at him, frowning. "That job, you still did not explain it clearly..." He let out as he set the pictures back down. Watson stood silent a moment, then sighed.

"That little boy named Axelloire, here, is a half NPC, half Player." He explained briefly before going back to the main subject, "to get that Love feature done, two new orbs were created; the Black Orb and the White Orb. They were made to keep the balance between reality and virtuality. The only reason for Axel's birth is because one of the orbs was mistakingly added to the equation, creating... Him. Though, without that Orb, the game cannot be launched..."

Fen frowned and leaned in "what are you trying to say, mister Watson?" The big man mirrored his   move and leaned in.

"Fen. This job requires you to kill Axelloire."