Martial Online.

Chapter 1: Nocklund

"Well, Mr. Kraham." A doctor dressed in his usual white lab coat nudged his glasses. "We found a very small capillary fracture in your right wrist. It is not bad enough that you need cast, but you have to limit its use severely."

"Ah." A young man sitting in a wheelchair looked at his right wrist. He carefully rubbed it and flinched in pain. "I... understand."

"Don't get discouraged. This is your first bone fracture in nearly three months." The doctor tried to lighten up the atmosphere. "Are you able to use a wheelchair with one hand? I can ask for the nurse to..."

"I will be fine." The young man interrupted him and sighed. "Has the taxi arrived yet?"

The doctor nodded and looked at his silver-rimmed wristwatch. "Yes. Then, take these with you and tell your parents to sign them."

He handed over three pages of paperwork, which the young man accepted.

The young man then spun the wheelchair around and used only his left hand to roll himself towards the exit of the room.

"Also, Jesse. In your last visit, you talked about getting that new VR game. Have you?" The doctor asked.

Jesse had his left hand on the doorhandle, but stopped after hearing the doctor's question.

He looked over his shoulder at the doctor and shook his head. "Not yet... I didn't pre-order it."

"Hmm, I see." The doctor said. "Some of my colleagues had suggested getting that game for their patients that have a hard time doing normal things.

"It is said to be equal to the second world, which feels so real that it is hard to see the difference. Maybe, in your situation, getting that game would help your psychological situation as well.

"I think it's a good idea for you to get it."

"I... understand." Jesse nodded, opened the door, and rolled slowly out of the room. He then headed down the corridor, towards the exit of the hospital.

'I have saved enough to purchase both the VR helmet and the game. The servers would open the day after tomorrow at 12 a.m., but I don't want to waste my money without knowing if the game is good.

'Maybe I should check the reviews from Beta Testers and the in-game footage that was released a week ago. I still have a few days to decide, and I don't necessarily need to be playing right away.'

Jesse thought quickly, and once he reached the doors that led out of the hospital, a kind elderly man opened the door for him, allowing him to wheel out of the hospital.

He thanked the elderly man before going to find his taxi. Soon enough, he saw a taxi with a familiar-looking driver that had been waiting outside for him.

"Hello, Mr. Kraham. Straight home?" The taxi driver asked.

"Yes, thank you." Jesse nodded and rolled the wheelchair towards the backseat. He tried to hop onto the backseat like he always had, but he would need to use the strength of both hands.

Unfortunately, he had a small fracture in his right wrist, making it unusable.

Understanding the predicament, the taxi driver offered assistance. With Jesse's permission, the driver gently lifted him, supporting his feet and shoulders, and carefully placed him in the backseat.

After that, the taxi driver folded the wheelchair and placed it in the trunk. Then he closed the trunk and returned to the driver's seat. He twisted the key, started the engine, and then began driving away from the hospital.

Jesse watched the passing buildings with a fatigued expression. His reflection in the window showed his mirrored self.

He had blue eyes that seemed to have lost the luster of his youth and a face that was now filled with fatigue. He donned an all-black outfit, which he had worn for years, and a high-tech wristwatch that showed his heart rate.

His body was quite unathletic, as he couldn't exercise much due to his condition. His face was also rather average-looking; some might consider it below average as there weren't any noticeable features on him.

After a while, the taxi stopped at red lights.

Jesse still looked out of the window and saw a group of students loitering around the entrance to the school.

A young man with quite striking red hair wrapped his arm around his female companion and happened to look directly towards the taxi. His smug smile conveyed thousand words.

Jesse averted his gaze silently and waited impatiently for the red light to change. Soon enough, it turned yellow and then finally green.

As the taxi continued moving forward, Jesse caught the sign of the school.

Nocklund High.

...

"It's finished!" exclaimed a woman with disheveled hair as she excitedly sprinted down the corridor, rushing into a packed meeting room where a gray-haired man was delivering a presentation.

The gray-haired man shot an irritated glare at the messy-haired woman, clearly displeased by the interruption to his presentation. "Jonna, what the hell?"

Jonna, undeterred, shouted with enthusiasm and proudly displayed a white-colored VR headset with a golden visor. "My baby is finished! Look!"

The man glanced at the VR headset and then back at Jonna, perplexed. "What am I looking at?"

The rest of the individuals in the meeting room raised their eyebrows, eager for an explanation of Jonna's disruptive behavior.

"This VR headset is going to revolutionize the world! I just need your permission to begin mass production!" Jonna exclaimed passionately.

The gray-haired man sighed, frustration evident on his face. "Not again. For heaven's sake, just let go of this idea already! It's never going to work!"

"But it will work! I have a prototype, and it functions flawlessly!" Jonna argued back defiantly.

"For the last time, the answer is no. You're a brilliant developer, Jonna, and we need you when the servers go online. Please, put an end to this... madness," the gray-haired man pleaded, his expression filled with exhaustion.

"You guys don't understand!" Jonna shouted. "This has the potential to revolutionize the world!"

"Or potentially destroy our company," someone interjected from the table. "We don't have time for extensive testing, let alone mass production. This VR headset is far more complex than the standard ones."

"It works, trust me!" Jonna insisted. "I've conducted experiments, and it has proven to be successful."

"You've already tested it? On yourself?" The gray-haired man clenched his teeth. "That's dangerous! We have no knowledge of the potential side effects!"

"Only on myself, of course," Jonna boasted, pushing her chest forward proudly. "And I feel incredible. Better than ever before!"

"Leave and abandon this obsession!" the gray-haired man shouted, waving his hand dismissively. "If I hear another word about this VR headset, I will fire you. Do you understand?"

"Ugh, I understand..." Jonna lowered her head, overhearing a few snickers from the people at the table. She tightly gripped the VR headset in her hands.

Apologizing for the interruption, she exited the meeting room and walked down the corridor, passing a window that revealed a factory in full swing, assembling and packaging thousands of VR headsets for distribution.

Jonna looked at the VR headset in her arms and smiled. "It works, I know it does. This can change the world, and I won't let those fools halt the revolution."

She hurried down the stairs and entered the bustling factory area where company workers were diligently preparing for the imminent launch of the servers.

The pre-orders for the VR headsets had already skyrocketed, and their superiors anticipated even higher demand in the days to come.

Nodding in acknowledgment to the workers, Jonna seamlessly made her way towards the neatly arranged boxes in the room. It wasn't her first time in the factory area.

Her eyes landed on a partially filled box containing VR headsets, each meticulously packed in their individual boxes.

Ensuring no one was observing her, she surreptitiously placed her VR headset inside a vacant smaller box and securely closed it. With a stamp in hand, she pressed it against the box, imprinting only the location.

[Location: Nocklund City]