Chapter 2

Two seconds later I was in Allsium.

“I'm back, guys," I said excitedly, as if it was the first time I had ever logged on. Did you miss me?

“No way, Gunner”san. Has Mom changed your diapers yet?

Zen was kind of obnoxious, but I had to put up with him. He was one of the people I shared life with on Allsium since I logged on two years ago. You couldn't access the Allsium worlds freely until you were sixteen, but you could go to school on virtual Earth, something I had never done because my mother was old”fashioned, but which millions of people took advantage of because it was free.

Zen, like me, was one of the many geeks who spent almost twenty”four hours a day hooked on Allsium. He told me that the good stuff started from virtual coming of age and claimed that soon the real world would be invaded by Allsium. That was similar to what the Allsionists were saying, a new social and virtual movement that was gaining many followers in both worlds.

For the Allsionists the real world was a mere link to the unique world they wished to live in, which was none other than Allsium. I wasn't too much on the subject, but they were a bit of a buzzkill, though on some things I could agree.

Being of age to be able to go on adventures was fine, but leaving Allsium's virtual Earth was equivalent to signing a release that assumed that, whatever happened, we acted at our own risk. The system did not activate the user's security away from the domain of the virtual Earth, but only at certain locations on the planets of lawlessness.

In any case, not everyone could leave the virtual Earth. You needed money and knowledge about the planets you were visiting, but above all money. In two years on the virtual Earth of Allsium, we had not yet been able to collect the necessary amount to be able to travel to the first mandatory world where the adventure on Allsium began.

Although we were getting closer and closer.

We were a group of four people. Not that it was necessary to team up in Allsium, in fact, most of us went solo and so the profits from the missions were not shared, but the friction made the affection, and since in real life we suffered the same unfortunate fate, we decided to form a team.

“I just got robbed on the street, guys," Dagon announced rather apologetically.

It was just one of many.

“What a bummer, man," Zen replied, "Are you all right? Did they hit you?

“Just a couple of minor scratches. Because they ran away, otherwise....

Dagon was an overly optimistic person who had grown to weigh a hundred and thirty kilos and was also incapable of raising his hand to anyone, even though he could easily split a watermelon with one hand.

“Well, I'm glad it was nothing," Zen replied, trying to empathize with the big guy. Don't worry, when we reach our goals no one else will be able to abuse us.

By achieving our goals he meant learning powerful path abilities and getting our hands on unique Allsium weapons and items, the kind that were forbidden to materialize in real life. When a security breach opened up in the system we would take advantage of the occasion and transfer everything to reality, so we would go beyond the limits of the human and no one would ever dare to mess with us.

But for that we had to know how to open a security breach in Allsium.

“How is the "end of the adventure" operation going? “Dagon asked, trying to forget what had happened in reality.

That's what we called our plan to become invincible.

“First there must be a "beginning of the adventure", don't you think, ragazzone? “It was Greek, always ready to bring you down to earth no matter how high up you were.

“It will start soon," Zen replied, "We're only a thousand credits per head short.

Soon it was just a figure of speech. A thousand credits was a lot of money.

“A thousand credits? What are you spending our savings on, you damn bookworm? “Greek blurted out without holding back, as usual.

“We have had to pay to enter into safe simulations of the missions that await us on the planets of lawlessness," he replied with his usual calmness. Would you rather we had traveled before we had any idea of what awaits us there?

In the safe virtuality simulations one could not die, but neither could one gain experience or money. It was a way to train and to know the kind of missions one could encounter on lower level planets.

According to Zen, it was a mandatory expenditure of money.

For money Dagon preferred to work in real life and was a cook in a small”time restaurant in New York. In Allsium, however, he devoted himself to studying and attended as many classes as he could. In reality, education was exorbitantly expensive and too elitist, so not everyone could afford it.

Earning a thousand credits meant, at best, a whole month working eight hours a day in real life. So while our bodies slept in reality, in Allsium we tried to make some extra money cleaning hotel rooms.

Buying housing in Allsium was not fashionable, but it was customary to pay for hotel rooms or any room in which to leave our virtual selves well protected when we returned to reality. It was not a good idea for the virtual body to be left out in the open, at least not in the unprotected illegality, as one could be robbed, beaten or even killed.

Another thing, and a very different one, was if one left the virtual Earth to visit other worlds, the so”called illegal ones. Then the price of travel skyrocketed and sometimes it was worth buying free apartments, especially since moving from property to property was free.

Needless to say, for millions of users around the world, including us, losing their lives in Allsium was an irreparable loss.

And if that happened... game over, my friend.

And there was no possibility of returning in any way.