The Editor

It was Friday night, another week passed by just like the previous ones. The weather was pleasant and as usual I didn't have any particular plans for the upcoming weekend. I was more the type to take life as it came I guess.

As was part of my usual routine, almost a ritual at this point I should add, I lay there on my couch scrolling through the emails I knew I wouldn't open. I was up to three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three unread ones so far, impressive considering last time I cleaned my inbox there were around ten thousand unread messages.

I guess I had a bad habit of ignoring the ones I didn't find interesting without even looking into them.

"Maybe I'll find something interesting this time." I thought as always, still scrolling through and quickly glacing at the subjects.

"New message from inSight BETA!"

I was just about to put my phone down and move onto greater things, such as maybe feed my hungry stomach, when this notification popped up on my screen. I can't say I was expecting it. It had been over a year since I had contacted them over issues with my account and until now I had not gotten a response. To be honest, I had given up on playing the game, regardless of how much time I had put in.

InSight BETA was, as the name suggested, a beta version of a new AR "game" that had been released about two years ago. It was basically an MMO overlayed on the real world. Quests, collectibles, dungeons, you name it. It had everything that a good MMO needed and the creators had somehow convinced the governments of the world to allow it worldwide connection.

With some luck and a lot of dedication, I had managed to get myself a tester spot for the BETA and became one of the select few in the world that got to have a first go at this game. The best part was that we even got paid to do it and depending on performance and incentives that were met, we were able to earn as much as we could.

Streaming the game also allowed us to earn "donations" from followers supplementing said income. The market was quite hot since this was the first AR game of its kind. Understanding the potential earnings I could make off this, I had quit my job and became a full-time player. I would eat, sleep and breathe this game. That is after all how I was able to afford this house that I was currently lazing around in.

Everything was going great. I was making tons of money, having fun doing it and helping test groundbreaking technology; until the last major update that is. For some reason I had been unable to log back into my account after it and so I could not continue to "play".

So there I was; lots of money, lots of time, and not much to do. I was definitely not going to get a job. There was no way I could after having made so much money in such a cool, fulfilling way. School was also out of the question. I was a big fan of learning but had a deep dislike for school. I preferred to learn what I wanted and at my own pace unrestricted by the classes reserved for my degree.

So I opted for what I felt was the next best option, spending my days reading books and learning a bunch of completely unrelated things. It was fun, but at times I needed a break; and so I would lay down on my couch, turn off my brain, and mindlessly scroll through my phone.

Hoping that the message would contain what I had been waiting for, I pressed the notification and started skimming through the message, looking for that one specific sentence.

"reset your password"

There it was. I can't say I'd ever been so happy to see that sentence in an email. I was so happy that I even ignored the fact that the "r" should have been capitalized and that I had not checked the sender to make sure that the email was legit.

Luckily for me, it didn't seem to be fake because once I pressed the link, the app on my phone opened up and prompted me to enter & confirm my new password. I shaking from excitement, having found that long lost feeling once again.

I filled out the prompt and waited with eagerness, watching the animated spinner on my screen; the longest 5 seconds of my life. Once the time passed, a success prompt emerged, followed by another with some more text.

"We apologize for the delay. As compensation for the time you have lost, we have elevated your privileges and given you the unique skill Insight. Thank you for your patience and please enjoy."

"It was worth the wait." I was even happier reading this prompt. Not only did I get to play again but I had even been given a unique skill. I sat up on my couch, took the smart lenses that were sitting on the table, and put them on. It was time to continue my adventure.

The lenses were one of the breakthroughs that had been made by the creators and one of the key reasons for the success of the game. They used a combination of nanotechnology that allowed for a screen to be overlayed over regular vision along with a material that would self-moisturize and self-clean, allowing them to be kept on the eyes for as long as necessary.

After the lenses finished syncing, the familiar overlayed interface once again appeared in my vision. I open the skill panel to see what this new, unique skill was all about. This was another piece of technology that had put this game at the forefront. The nanotechnology in the lenses was able to read the electrical signals from the body of the wearer, and after some calibration & training allow them to send commands using thoughts.

The skill panel appeared and I opened the new skill to observe its details.

Skill: Insight (UNIQUE)

Type: Auxiliary

Description: Observe properties and details of focused targets.

Restrictions: N/A

Proficiency: MAX

"What an absolute cheat!" I thought to myself. As an experienced gamer, I immediately realized the value of this skill, especially in a "game" such as this. Up until now, players had to rely on themselves and their own observations to discover things in the game and come to their own conclusions. With this skill, not only would I be able to bypass that, but the lack of restriction meant that I'd face no barriers in using this skill.

I started observing the objects around me to test the effects of the skill. I was amazed by the detail of the presented information; it was so accurate that it was almost scary.

Target: Four-Legged Table

Material: Wood (Elm)

Age: 2 Years

State: Excellent

Builder: CXT-24515 (Industrial Machine)

Price: $ 400

<More Details>

Target: Premium Couch

Material: Leather [5%] | Cotton (70%) | Wood (Oak) [15%] | Metal (Steel) [5%]

Age: 2 Years

State: Good

Builder: AGT-10244X (Industrial Machine)

Price: $ 1000

<More Details>

"Urgent Quest!"

Before I could keep fooling around with this new skill, a notification appeared. How long had it been since I'd seen this? I quickly opened it up to see the quest details.

Quest: Monster Hunt

Difficulty: C

Location: City Park

Description: Save an unsuspecting victim from a monster attack

Failure Penalty: None

Distance [Insight]: 300m

Details [Insight]: Solo White, a male 23 year-old, is going on his evening run through City Park. His running path intersect with a hungry vampire demon that has escaped from an underground lab and is hiding there. The target and the victim will cross paths in about 10 minutes.

The magic of the newly acquired insight skill showed itself once again. With the information that was given, I'd be able to fully prepare myself to deal with the situation and avoid wasting time figuring out what the goal of the quest was. I accepted the quest and quickly put on my gear prior to heading out.

The specialized gear was a part of the immersion feature of the game. It allowed players to physically interact with the overlayed objects and creatures from the virtual world. My usual weapon of choice was a sword as sword-fighting had been one of the many skills I picked up since starting my player career. Constantly fighting against "real" enemies had honed this skill much more than any sparring could have.

Fully equipped and with my sword in hand, I started making my way towards City Park. I was lucky that I lived close to it as 10 minutes was barely enough time to ensure successful completion of this quest.

"What are these?" As I approached my destination, I noticed some hazy footsteps on the ground, some red and the others blue. It seemed that this new skill of mine would need more in depth research before I fully understood everything it was capable of. It wasn't the time to ponder however, time was ticking and I had a person to save.

Using insight to lock in on the footsteps, revealed that the red ones belonged to the escaped vampire and the blue ones were Solo's. I had two options now; go straight to the vampire and eliminate it or follow Solo and save him from being attacked.

After a bit of thinking I decided on the second. The quest only required me to save him from being attacked. Killing the vampire would just increase the difficulty and may not bring any benefits at all. So I ran along the blue footsteps until I saw a figure running ahead of me.

"Hey!" I called out to him hoping he'd stop. It seemed like he didn't hear me as he continued running. He had earphones on and if I had to guess, I'd say they were noise-cancelling; not the best choice when running at night.

I started running faster so that I could catch up to him and stop him from getting any closer to danger. Just as I was about to reach him, he seemed to feel something and he turned around. I saw him glance at me and a look of panic appeared on his face as his eyes honed in on the sword in my hand.

"Hold on for a second..." Before I had the chance to finish my sentence, he took off sprinting as if trying to get away from me. Thinking about it, I should've probably put my sword away before approaching him. I guess most people would panic seeing a hooded figure with a sword running at them, let alone in the middle of the night.

"Stop running that way! There's danger ahead!" I shouted to no avail, sprinting behind him to no avail. I guess at this point he had panicked and I would probably not get through to him.

As we kept moving forward, I saw a translucent red wall of light appear ahead of us. A bright label was hovering close to it:

Danger Zone

"I guess I should've just gone for the vampire from the start." I lamented in self-depreciation as I kept running forward. I was just a couple of steps behind him at this point. It was too late however, as were just a bit away from the danger zone.

Solo stepped through the wall and almost immediately I saw a shadow dropping towards him from above. I pushed off the ground with all I could and leaped forward. As I was moving towards Solo, airborne and all, I raised my right leg and kicked out, striking his posterior, and flinging him out of the path of the shadow.

Using the momentum from the rebounding force, I twisted my body and aimed my sword at the shadow, successfully blocking the claws that headed my way. The shadow and I both came back to the ground and stepped away, vigilantly jumping away from each other.

"Wait what? Emilia?" I glanced at the shadow after landing, and to my surprise it was my disappeared childhood friend.

To be continued...