Defenders of Valontra (LitRPG Series Collision on Mongro Book 1)

Chapter 1

To everyone who feels like they don't fit where they are

I WILL NEVER LEAVE THIS HOUSE.

This realization dawns on me slowly but inadvertently. My life is ruined and I only have myself to blame. Why did I even dare something that wasn't meant for me?

Now I have to pay my price.

There were no signs that this day would be fatal for me. On the contrary, I was looking forward to it for the entire week, waiting for the chance to try out the brand new virtual reality game set I got from my friend.

I left my workplace, a house at the end of Birch street that our team started renovating this week. At three in the afternoon, as usual, I drove into my favorite Larry's Grill to get pizza, chicken wings, cola, and a bag of chocolate candies—my established Friday tradition. I was going to have dinner while watching a show, and then finally try out the new virtual reality helmet and the new game Collision on Mongro.

I would never be able to buy this game with all its VR gear that cost more than my pre-owned Honda, but I was incredibly lucky, because my best friend, Carrie, was one of the programmers who developed the game, and when it was released, she and other members of her team got two game sets each as a part of their reward from the company.

As nobody in her family was interested in gaming, she gave one of them to me this week, when she came to visit her hometown—she took a few days off after a few months of intense overtime work—she is a total digital geek, married to her job, spending her days and nights there.

I didn't get a chance to play yet as I was pretty busy the entire week helping my mom with her church charity, so I decided to dedicate the Friday night and most of the weekend to exploring the new game.

Collision on Mongro made a lot of hype since the moment it was advertised as it promised not only the visual effect of virtual reality but the full immersion with most realistic sensations achieved by stimulating different zones of the brain with electric impulses. Of course, lots of people raised a fuss, claiming that this game may be harmful, but Dunn Corp. got it certified for use by anyone aged eighteen or older.

When I'm finished with my dinner, I carefully take the red helmet out of the box and remove bubble wrappings. It was surprisingly light, but made of what felt like durable plastic.

I quickly scan through the pulpy instructions and look inside the box again to find a bracelet that served as a control panel and measured the pulse of a player. It doesn't seem hard to set everything up.

I go to the bedroom and sit in a Pikachu shaped bag chair - my entire room is filled with stuffed toys of cute anime and cartoon characters. For sure, I hide them in the closet when I have any visitors other than Carrie or my sister Alice. For some reason people think that if an adult man buys himself stuffed toys, there must be something wrong with him.

The gaming helmet has multiple rows of studs resembling comb teeth, but thicker. They tickle my scalp when I place the helmet on my head. As follows from the instruction, these are sensors and electrodes designed to stimulate different areas of the brain, giving the most realistic in-body sensations of what happened in the game.

Feeling quite comfortable after a few quick adjustments, I lower the helmet's visor, lean back in the soft chair. Then I push the button below my left ear, starting the game. I see a pop-up text of the user's agreement that scrolls down as I scan it with my eyes, just a bulk of standard phrases, nothing unusual.

A message at the bottom asks me to click the central button on my bracelet if I accept the agreement.

I click the button and hold my breath in a thrilling anticipation.