1986 Cubicles and Simulators

The dean acted like a kid.

Joker just smiled and asked.

"Well, would you prefer to play actual game sir? Rather than the demo version that the student just played.

"

"That is not the actual game?

"

"No Sir, I just played a preprogrammed demo just to show you guys. If you play the actual game, you will be the first person to play this.

"

The dean's eyes brightened up and he jumped high pumping his fist.

"Of course, I will play the real game. You can leave the demos for the other losers.

"

Joker didn't answer and guided the Dean to a different machine. This one has a platform in the middle and there are a bunch of pillars around it. Joker and the dean went to the platform, after the dean stood on the platform, Joker snapped his fingers.

A gold coin appeared out of thin air. Unlike Joker himself, this is not a projection, it is a real coin and under his directions, it went into a small slot that's on the side of the platform.

As soon as the coin dropped, a ring of light flashed and scanned the Dean's body.

A holographic screen appeared in front of him. The screen showed an image of the dean and there are a few empty slots to fill in the details.

"Please speak up your name Sir.

"

"Wharton.

"

The name appeared in the slot, and then there are a few slots where the Dean had to choose his profession, he marked it as the dean of the college and then his fighting style, if he is going to use any elemental energy or not.

After choosing everything, the pillars around the platform started projecting an image.

A glowing text appeared right in front of his eyes along with that projection.

'Level 1' it said.

The projection changed to that of a forest. There are a bunch of trees and the Dean suddenly lost his spiritual sense, but instead of worrying about it, he became excited. This is going to force him to purely react on his instincts. This will hone the battle skill a lot.

He could already see the benefits this will provide.

From within the trees, something similar to rabbit type beasts started hopping. They are like white and grey flashes as they targeted the Dean.

He started punching them.

Joker and the Deans along with some instructors who followed them watched as Dean quickly punched down the rabbits.

"This machine is designed to improve quick reaction in fist fighters. They cannot get off the platform and their area of action is very limited. The condition for clearing the first level is to defeat at least eighty percent of the creatures.

Based on how many creatures a contestant defeated, how many hits he took and how many creatures completely left, a score will be allocated.

The score they gain in this, can be converted into the Hub Points which the contestants can later redeem into gold coins or use it as a currency for hub transactions.

"

"And how much do they need to pay to play these games?

"

"One gold coin for one try.

"

"That is it?

"

The deans were shocked. Rightfully so. A training session that is focused to this level and also provides the necessary visual simulation and increased difficulty, it is very cheap.

"Yeah, with one gold coin, everyone will be able to start from Level 1. They can play as long as they can survive, the current highest available level is 120. If they are capable, they can even reach the Level 120 with just one coin.

"

While he was speaking, the Dean cleared the Level 1.

A sound along with some fire work display and a word appeared in the projection.

"PERFECT- LEVEL CLEARED

"

Joker turned to him and smiled.

"As expected, this doesn't pose any challenge to the Dean.

"

Dean Wharton was about to go to the next level, but Joker stopped and spoke to him.

"I know you are excited to try Dean Wharton, but I humbly request sir to hold back the excitement, you have a lot more exciting and a lot more interesting things to try and I need to show you.

So, please. If you can leave it for now.

"

Dean Wharton was clearly reluctant, but the Dean of the Zeus academy spoke.

"Wharton, you shouldn't throw a tantrum like a child here. There are thousands of people waiting behind us. I am sure you can find time later.

"

Wharton reluctantly nodded, just like a kid.

Joker gave a brief about other categories of machines within the arcade and they finally moved to the next area.

Now, this area is actually filled with cubicles.

"This area is what I would like to call the Research area.

During my time, I have travelled across hundreds of realms and I have met all kinds of people. And of course, I gathered knowledge in every possible. Some methods are the most obvious ones like buying their knowledge in the form of books and scrolls or some other recorded format, some not so pleasant.

But all the knowledge is recorded in here.

There are three main categories of this knowledge. One is flora. This contains knowledge of the vegetation of all these areas. If you want to research about some medical herbs with specific qualities, or wood some specific properties, or some poisonous plants and cures for those poisons, you can find it through this.

Then the second category, fauna. This includes information about both beasts and cultivators of different races. Elves, Kinneras, Kimpurushas, demons, lycans, giants, titans, I have met many species and I can't even begin listing the beasts that I have seen.

You can get all the information of that here.

The final category is of minerals. Stones, ores, metals, alloys. You can gain information about all of that.

And the search format is actually based on conversations.

"

As he spoke, he opened one of the cubicles.

"Please, someone step in.

"

One of the Deans took the chance and entered. The cubicle is not very big, but there is a very comfy chair and in front of them, there is a large and slant crystal table. It is like a digital touch screen.

With a snap of Joker's fingers, the demo started.

Another projection of Joker appeared, but this one is smaller and he wore white robes in that.

"What would you like to search for?

"

The smaller projection asked. Flora, fauna, minerals, the three options hovered and the dean selected the flora.

The projection changed and the white robes changed into a dress that looked like it is made of woven holographic screen or if you want a bigger projection, you can use the bird's eyes to do a larger 11:31

projection.

"

leaves.

"Give me some description please.

"

"I need information of herbs that increase the natural body heat. Increase the virility and vitality of a person.

" He casually said and then the projection moved to the side.

After a bunch of data scrolled past on the projected screen, a number appeared.

"3278 results matching the search. Filter it with more details.

"

Then the dean started giving more details.

Cultivation level, the potency of the herb, possible undesirable side effects, possible size, possible rarity and the more he went, the lesser the number became. Even after more than a dozen filters, it still showed a three digit number. Finally, he filtered it with locations and asked for herbs that are available in the neighboring three realms.

But he felt that would be ridiculous filter. Only to his surprise, it actually reduced to a two digit number.

"It can be this precise?

"

He asked Joker.

"Of course, you can actually download all this data too and access it at your time. The data will be of the herb description, an image, even the spatial coordinates of the realm, planet and a rough area within the planet based on its ecosystem and geographical factors.

But of course, based on the level of information, the price will increase.

Since you have information about 20 herbs or so, it would cost about 20 to 30 gold coins. The search function itself only costs 1 gold coin.

"

The deans are once again impressed.

"And by the way, there is a surprise in this. This data can be directly obtained in the form documents, or they can be sent to the wrist band you got for the puppet. You can watch them on the small holographic screen or if you want a bigger projection, you can use the bird's eyes to do a larger projection.

"

As Joker explained more and more details, Deans just opened their mouths wide and this is just the second phase of the Hub. There are many more things inside the hub that will shock them more and more.

And the shocked they were.

The next phase is what Joker introduced as Experiment Simulator Areas.

These are mostly for the professionals who are skilled in smithing, other artisan crafts, formations and inscriptions.

Instead of performing the experiments outside with real materials, they can actually simulate the environment they want along with all the ingredients and factors to run simulations. They even have time acceleration function, that will allow them to waste unnecessary time in waiting and preparation.

These cost a lot more than the first two phases, but they are still considered cheaper.