"Fuc***!!!"
Rex had no idea when he screamed out the cursive. Uncaring of his displeasure. A timer materialized into view slowly counting off his 90 seconds limited window for purchase.
He glared angrily at Silver-Haired, she couldn't be bothered. Her scheming smile was still plastered across her face.
'55'
'54'
'53'
The situation felt like the generic approach games employed in equipping players with a resource and then putting them in an impossible situation where they had to immediately use the resource given, Only that this time the whole situation progressed through his own conscious decisions.
Rex clicked on purchase, with a defeated expression. He couldn't play mind games with an entity like the game engine that controlled Cosmic Ascendance, the ultra realistic VR-Game. He couldn't possibly outsmart a powerful engine like that with his simple human brain.
'This must serve a purpose,' he dejectedly consoled himself, as his dreams of ultra-high level wealth was prematurely terminated. All the luxury that was his for few seconds, forever to exist in nothing but fleeting moments.
[INTEGRATING COSMIC AI 1%]
A new pop-up materialized in his view after his purchase.
"What exactly is this Cosmic AI?" Rex asked the Silver-Haired lady in a soft whisper, slowly recovering from his very expensive purchase. He could still test iron in his mouth.
"Unfortunately, you have used up your three-question slot, Overlord Rex." Silver-haired answered, the delight in her voice barely hidden.
"But you would be able to figure that out once the integration is complete."
"Now, we would move on to our final discussion, Overlord." The smile disappeared from Silver-haired's face, as her face turned icy cold.
Rex mind switched to it's serious mode instantly, he had gotten very good at controlling his emotions in the last few months. A skill that was manifesting a lot since he logged in to Cosmic Ascendance.
"As an Overlord Class, you have an elevated authority level, this would allow you to access quests, inheritance grounds, special items and discounts that will not be available to almost every other player."
"Apart from this, there are several other benefits attached to having the Overlord Class, but this class comes with it's own responsibilities and demand."
"As an F-Ranked Overlord, your current demand is that you can not suffer any in-game death!"
"BOOOMM!!"
Rex's mind was shaken. It was true that he had developed quite the mental resilience following events after his parents' death, but the shocks he had received in the white marble room, was enough to bulldoze his mental defences several times over.
"I can't allow myself die in a game?" Rex asked, doubting his ears.
"Exactly!" Silver-Haired answered in professional confidence.
"These are rules imposed on you, due to your class. If you where to die, you would still respawn, but not as an Overlord Class anymore."
Rex was silent.
His eyes studied silver-haired, as his mind slowly made peace with the new information.
Silver-haired allowed him to digest the information for a little bit before she pulled her next stunt.
"That would be the conclusion of our interaction Overlord Rex, I hope to soon meet a higher ranked version of you very soon."
Before Rex could mouth any words, Silver-Haired mouthed a single word.
"Ciao"
The next moment she was gone, like she and her silver-rimmed glasses had never been in the space.
Rex the now sole occupant of the white-themed room, scanned the room as he tried to distract himself from the several thoughts racing through it. He did not know what exactly to feel, he had obtained the Overlord Class, succeeded in the quest that its failure would have meant a 'Ban.'
He had assumed that it was over, now he had 'to not die', or else he would lose his Overlord Class. He did not even know what his situation would be after losing his class.
Will he be an Unclassed Player? Or what exactly.
"Duuuuuuuuu"
The mechanical sound of the Air Ventilation Unit broke his train of thought. He distracted himself, scanning the hall for the ventilation unit. Several seconds later, he ended his fruitless search.
The room 100% did not have such fitting, it was as bare as bare can be.
The only feature it had apart from the white marbles that it was generously made of, where the desk and chair he sat on, which were made of 'guess what'? "MARBLE", and a very inconspicuous door made of white marble.
Rex stood and slowly made his way to the door; it silently slid open as he walked to it.
[INTEGRATING COSMIC AI 33%]
Behind the door, was a white tiled hall, an obvious shift from the marble craze. Rex walked into the room, he immediately spotted his almost bare reflection on the mirror that took up a side of the hall, facing the mirrors where mannequins that looked eerily like him.
Rex walked up to the closest one, admiring the pyjama wear it was clothed in. It was the patterned type that were made from very comfortable materials. He did not resist sliding his hands across it, feeling its smoothness.
[APPRAISAL FEATURE CURRENTLY DEACTIVATED: INTEGRATION IN PROCESS]
A tab popped up in his view, overlaying the cosmic integration feature.
"Well, lets wait for that to be done." Rex concluded as he went on to check out the rest of the Mannequins.
He soon came to realize that it was not just the 7 mannequins that where in the room, When he noticed that the mannequins in the mirror's reflection wore different apparel from the ones in the hall. It was a marvle, but each mannequin represented a role of diverse apparel of similar type, that extended endlessly down the mirror.
The mirror itself contained its own space within, an extension of the hall. His reflection were always there in the mirror, simply unreachable.
For reasons unknown to him, Rex kept dwelling on the mannequin row where sleepwears dominated, there was another for suits, another for formal wear, one for traditional wears, another for beach wears, another for gowns and the last for combat suits.
But he kept on admiring the rows and rows of sleepwear, until a timer appeared on the mirror beside his reflection.
Rex was still trying to make sense of the development, when the timer ran out.
"Beep!"
The next instant all the mannequins disappeared except for the last one he touched.
A mannequin adorning an oversized, comfortable ash cotton top and blue Tim and Jenny patterned dungarees, complemented by black bunny plush slippers.
"Crap!, it was time based," Rex blurted out as he put his hand over his face, repeating "Crap" an uncomfortable amount of time.
"Seriously!" he grunted as he put on his comfy wear. He liked how the wear felt, it had a therapeutic and relaxed feel. Like he was not currently gaming, but relaxing in a 5-Star hotel suite.
"Nice. . .Nice"
Rex admired his reflection on the mirror, his earlier displeasure about the Pajama set, dispelled. The only issue he had with the dress, was how much he looked like a loafer in it.
"No one will take me seriously in this wear," Rex muttered in low breath.
"I have to buy new garments once I spawn in Intirium,"
The moment he uttered those words, he felt a painful stab in his heart. 'His 100 Gold Coins'.
A new door had materialized in the room when he put on his wear.
Rex walked to the new door and opened it, curious of what it would be this time. However this time he met something very unique.
A middle-aged man who was clothed in apparel appropriate for an elite in the Industrial era, sat stooped over on a desk as he was focused on studying whatever it was that was spread across his table.
The tastefully dressed seemed to have felt Rex's presence and reacted.
He turned to look at him, a dark silver rimmed spectacle over his eyes.
"Well, that's new."