Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Oxford, United Kingdom
It was precisely 11 o'clock when everyone left the lounge and gathered on the training grounds.
When the clock struck 11:11 A.M., all the students vanished from their original spots and entered the supernatural realm.
Just like they entered a white room for preparation after entering the fourth layer, this time, Matthew, Natalie, and the others all arrived back in this white room together.
There was nothing around, just a white room, except for a holographic panel in front of them.
The panel before them was divided into two parts. The first part contained the avatar they had created and were using on the fourth layer.
Although Matthew couldn't use his original avatar because he had used the Superman avatar on the fourth layer due to the Hero Template Card, his original avatar was still displayed on the panel.
Matthew's original avatar was William Turner Jr. from Pirates of the Caribbean, and his avatar name was Pirate King.
But instead of focusing on the avatar section, Matthew focused on the other part of the panel. After all, they couldn't change their avatars on this layer.
The other part of the panel contained Party and Team settings. Matthew and the others needed to form their teams and choose a party leader.
Matthew quickly placed himself and Natalie in a team and then voted for himself as party leader.
They had a total of ten minutes to make all the adjustments.
If they didn't complete all the adjustments within that time, the Supernatural Realm would randomly generate teams and send them into different OASIS worlds.
But Matthew and the others didn't even need ten minutes because they had already made their plans.
The others quickly formed their teams and voted for a party leader. And Matthew was elected party leader with all 10 votes.
After Matthew was elected party leader, a new button appeared on the panel. The button read "Enter OASIS."
"Is everyone ready? If you have no questions, I will activate the OASIS entry," he said.
After everyone shook their heads to show they had no questions, Matthew said, "Proceed as planned. The party talk will be active on day 4. I will contact everyone then."
After giving his final instruction, Matthew pressed the button on the panel, and everyone instantly vanished from the white room they were in, and the three teams entered three different OASIS worlds.
When Matthew and Natalie opened their eyes again, Matthew realized they had arrived at OASIS because Natalie was wearing her Elizabeth Turner (née Swann) avatar.
Looking around, he saw many shops.
Matthew knew exactly where they were. Besides the information the Professors had given him about this planet, Matthew was quite familiar with it thanks to his knowledge of the Ready Player One world.
They were currently in the center of the planet Incipio, located in Sector 1. This planet was set to be the first planet where the newly created avatars would spawn in OASIS.
Incipio was also the planet where the leading shops were located. Avatar Outfitters, the store Parzival visited with Aech after winning the first key, was on this planet.
However, players didn't have much to do on this planet besides shopping and chatting. Therefore, this planet was generally referred to as a player hub.
But Matthew knew there was a much more critical building here: the Halliday Journals. A massive archive containing all the information about James Halliday's life.
Matthew planned to visit it later. After all, even though he knew how to win the race, he still had to pretend he had discovered it in here.
But first, there was something else they had to do.
"How would you like to proceed? Do you have a plan in mind, or should we start by asking around?" Natalie asked at that moment.
"I want to try something first. If that doesn't work, then we can start asking around." He said.
"Okay. What's on your mind?"
"Do you remember the famous Gunters, who were among the NPCs on the fourth layer?" Matthew asked.
"Yeah. Daito, Sho, Aech, Art3mis, and Parzival. Are you thinking of trying to contact them?" Natalie asked, beginning to understand Matthew's intentions.
"Yes, their being the famous Gunter means they frequently participate in the race to the first egg. This means they need to get their vehicles built and need someone to fix them," Matthew explained.
"And you want to reach that person through these Gunters. A nice plan. And in OASIS, it's possible to contact anyone whose avatar name you know through the player panels. Unless they've blocked strangers." Natalie immediately analyzed the situation.
"Exactly. I'll try to contact Aech and Daito. Can you try Sho and Art3mis?"
"Sure."
Then Matthew and Natalie tried to reach Gunters by calling through the panel.
But when Matthew tried to call Aech, he got the message, "You cannot contact this player before without meeting them in person."
He received the same warning when he tried to contact Daito.
It seemed the Supernatural Realm wasn't going to let things be so easy.
He looked at Natalie and saw her shaking her head negatively. "What happens now?" she asked.
"I don't have much hope, but I'll try calling Parzival. Then we can ask around if anyone knows where these Gunters are. The warning just says we can't contact them before meeting them directly." Matthew said and simultaneously tried calling Parzival through the panel.
But this time, contrary to his expectations, he didn't encounter the previous warnings, and the call function now showed that Parzival was being called.
A few seconds later, the other party accepted the call, and then Parzival's avatar appeared on the video call screen.
"Pirate King, I don't think I know you. What do you want? If this is another clan invitation, as I've said many times before, I don't clan."
While Parzival was speaking, Matthew gave Natalie a thumbs-up to indicate the call was connected, and as soon as Parzival finished, he began speaking.
"Hello, Parzival. And no. This isn't a clan invitation. I need a middleman to introduce me to someone. The payment is good, are you interested?" Matthew said.
Matthew knew Parzival wouldn't spend much time with a stranger. So, he immediately started talking about the most essential thing that would interest Parzival: Money.
Matthew knew that Wade Watts, the user of the Parzival avatar, wasn't well-off financially. Therefore, he wouldn't immediately turn down a well-paying job.
At least he would be curious enough to ask what the job was.
And just as Matthew expected, after a few seconds of hesitation, Parzival asked. "Middleman? You want me to introduce you to someone? Who is it and why?"
"My girlfriend and I want to participate in the next Egg Race. But we don't have a vehicle, and if possible, I'd like to have one custom-built from scratch. You can understand who I need for that, right?"
Matthew spoke this way both to avoid arousing Natalie's suspicion and to test Parzival.
After all, he couldn't possibly know yet that Aech was a mechanic, and if Parzival gave him someone else's name, he would realize he couldn't trust Parzival on this matter.
"Do you want me to introduce you to Aech? If you want a custom-built vehicle, there's no one better than him, but Aech doesn't accept just anyone's request." Parzival said.
"I know, that's why I want you to be the middleman."
"I don't know, man..." Parzival started, but Matthew interrupted it.
"10,000 coins."
"What?"
"Your fee is 10,000 coins. If you accept, I will send you 5,000 coins now, and the remaining 5,000 coins after we meet Aech in person?" Matthew offered.
After a moment of silence, Parzival said, "Are you serious?"
"Absolutely. And that's just an introduction fee. Even if Aech doesn't accept the job after meeting with us and listening to what we want, I'll still give him 10,000 coins for taking the time." Matthew said with a mischievous smile.
Meanwhile, Parzival froze, and if Matthew hadn't known the quality of OASIS, he would have thought the video call connection was lagging.
"I... I need to talk to Aech about this first," Parzival finally said.
"No problem. But let me remind you, Parzival, these fees I'm offering are only for talking to Aech?"
"What do you mean?" Parzival asked suspiciously.
"If Aech accepts our request, I will discuss his fee with him separately, but since you're acting as a middleman, I'll pay you an additional 90,000 coins for your effort. So, in total, this is a job worth 100,000 coins for you."
"You're not kidding, are you?" Parzival asked, his face one of the funniest Matthew had ever seen.
"No," Matthew said, quickly performing a few transactions on his panel before continuing. "I've just sent you 5,000 coins as a prepayment."
Parzival quickly checked his coin amount with a side glance and, seeing that Matthew was telling the truth, asked in surprise, "Why?"
"Because I trust you. And I hope you can get back to me as soon as possible, because we intend to participate in the race next week," Matthew said.
"Understood. I'll contact Aech and get back to you as soon as possible," Parzival said, then ended the call.
Seeing the conversation end, Natalie asked, "Do you think Aech will accept our request?"
"I think so. Judging by the conversation, Parzival and Aech seem like good friends. And even if Aech wasn't originally inclined to take this job, he'll most likely accept to help his friend," Matthew said.
"Help? Do you think Parzival needs this money?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"After killing Parzival for the first time in the Battle Royale on the fourth layer, even though the Supernatural Realm gave a lot of coins as a reward, the coins and items dropped from Parzival were quite small. In fact, he was one of the poorest participants in the Battle Royale," Matthew explained.
"Hmm... If Parzival really is someone who isn't well-off financially, then offering a bonus fee was a smart move," Natalie said.
"Exactly. This way, instead of trying to convince Aech ourselves, we can leave the task to Parzival. Aech probably will accept the job just to help him."
And just then, Parzival called Matthew back.
Matthew, seeing Parzival's call on the panel, first smiled triumphantly, then, with a warm smile, answered the call.
"Hello again, Parzival. I hope you have good news for us," Matthew said.
"Aech has agreed to meet with you and listen to your request. But I can't guarantee he'll accept. I'll take you to his workshop. Where are you right now?"
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.152: Making A Deal
Ch.153: Transformers
Ch.154: Towards the Last Day