*Kriiiiiing... Pedro noticed his phone that started ringing. He grabbed the phone and saw the name of who was calling. It was Annie."Why is Annie calling me? didn"t they cut ties with me 6 years ago?" He was a bit hesitant on answering the phone call from Annie after remembering what had happened after the "G.o.d Dragon" killed them 6 years ago. (After that incident, Annie and the other players were so furious that they blamed each other from what happened. This resulted on ruining their friends.h.i.+p and separating in their own ways. This incident gave Pedro a hard time during the start of Bearth and in establis.h.i.+ng the Ares Guild despite having a company supporting and sponsoring him.)
"Maybe.. they got the news about me being electrocuted? well.. It"s kind of them to remember me after everything that had happened.. I guess past is past and we leave it at that." He was thinking inwardly as he pressed the answer icon on his phone..
"I finally got through!!" Annie muttered with a relieve voice.
"... What"s up Annie?" He asked
"What"s up??? ... How can you be so calm, when you almost died in game?" Annie replied with a confused expression.
"Died in game??" Pedro was confused and shocked to the reply Annie gave. "How would I die in game? From the gist of it, I don"t even see a VR Box here in my room. Besides, I have never encountered Annie in Bearth.."
"Is your head kicked by a pony that you lost your memory or something? or you are just messing with me guild leader?" Annie started to become annoyed to Pedro"s answers, unsure if he was messing with her or something.
...
"...?" Pedro was rendered speechless to the annoyed response of Annie. a.n.a.lyzing everything that is happening, Pedro became quiet for a moment. "Died in game?... As far as I can remember, I only died once when I was playing the AVR game that I played with Annie.. and that is the "G.o.d Dragon" experience... However, if that"s the case, Annie won"t even bother call me... Else... If I remember correctly, there was also one time when I almost died, luckily I was able to force logout of the game after stalling time for Annie and the gang to escape the ambush by a group of unknown a.s.sa.s.sin players. and this was around 7 years ago."
"h.e.l.lo!? h.e.l.lo?! You"re still there? h.e.l.lo?!" Annie kept asking as Pedro became quiet..
"It can"t be.... " Still unsure of the current events, Pedro deduced that this is the event where he almost died on the AVR game he played with Annie and the gang 7 years ago.
"Annie, I need to hang up, something just came up!" Pedro immediately ended the call and checked the calendar on his phone. To his surprise, he really deduced it right. It was apparently 7 years ago.
To his shock, Pedro rushed to his computer and checked the date online to confirm that everything that is happening is real.
*haaa... Pedro exhaled heavily as he confirmed that he some how time traveled back 7 years ago. Realizing that he had returned back, Pedro tried to hold back his excitement as many thoughts and idea surged in his mind on how to deal with his current situation and his future.
"Calm down.. Calm down.. Let"s search for information about Bearth first.. If I am correct, closed beta of Bearth will happen 1 year before its official release.." when he finally contained his excitement, he calmly searched to glogol, an online searching website, about the game Bearth. He was able to access the website of the game Bearth. The website contained an advertis.e.m.e.nt about the closed beta of the game.
[Registration of Closed Beta Players is on going! Limited slots only! Closed Beta will start on February 1, 2031!]
"February 1? haa.. It"s just almost a week from now!" Pedro suddenly panicked. Scared of losing a slot to be able to enter the game earlier than others he quickly registered online..
*Tok.. tok.. tok.. He was tapping the table with his fingers while anxiously waiting for the confirmation email that signified he was qualified to partic.i.p.ate in Bearth"s closed beta.
For others, playing in closed beta of Bearth is just like having an upper hand on informations and contents of the game, like what weapons and equipment should they invest on. They also aim to determine hidden quests and such, but the overall advantage is that they get was to experience and familiarize to the new game mechanics to be imposed on Bearth. Other than the fact that Bearth can only be played with the VR Box, It boasts a new game mechanics that made it different from other AVR game.
(In Bearth, there were no cla.s.ses that were specific like other usual AVR games. Players get the freedom to choose the set of skills they want to use, whether the skill of an a.s.sa.s.sin, "stealth type", was combined with the skill sets of a healer. This was one of the common skill combinations of regular players who played healer roles in the past life of Pedro. Imagine a healer being invisible in the PvP battles. Safely healing the party with out the fear of being targeted or ambushed by the enemy. Unfortunately, this type of skill set has a draw back. In PvE, healers that had this skill sets had the most casualties based on an annual survey made by the developers. That is why, after a week of the official release of the game, players considered this as a "cheat code of the beta players" or "the trap of the developers".
Bearth also implements a new game mechanic where players will get the skills in any way in the game, either through quests, NPC, treasure boxes, monsters and even after killing fellow players. Luckily, Information about the basic skills that was needed during the low levels would be determined by the Closed beta testers and later leaked to the forum giving an easy start for players on the official release. The rating of the skills gained on Bearth was based on its attributes and effects. The skill ratings were Bronze-rated skills, Silver-rated skills, Gold-rated skills, Legendary-rated skills, and Divine-rated skills.)
....
*You"ve got mail! ... Pedro"s computer sounded after waiting for minutes of thinking and brain storming what skill set he should get to become the best player on Bearth.
A huge smile appeared on Pedro"s face after he read the content of the mail.
[Greetings Mr. Pedro Armaz, We are glad to inform you that you have successfully registered and can partic.i.p.ate on the closed beta of "Bearth" ! Please check the information below and secure the gaming utilities required, especially the VR Box, before the start of the closed beta on February 1!]