Chapter 3 - The Infinite Loading Screen
I sat on the in front of my PC and relaxed my body, then tilted the chair backward.
Now that I look at it, the FDVR headset looks like the 'NerveGear' from a certain anime.
I felt the smoothness of its design and the softness of the padding inside. It's really a masterpiece, even though this is a commercial grade product. Whoever produced this piece of tech has my utmost respect!
I put the FDVR headset on and looked at it through my phone's front camera.
'Handsome as always me', I thought to myself as I took a selfie. I put the phone away, and closed my eyes, then shouted "LINKU STARTU!!!" in excitement.
As expected, nothing happened!
Well, the only thing that happened was 'Four-eyes' who retorted at me with the word "Idiot!" from outside.
So you have shown your true color Comrade Four-Eyes!
Also, I am not an idiot!
You are the idiot!
Your whole family are idiots!
Seven generations of your ancestors are idiots!
Humph! How about that you necrophiliac bastard!
To tell the truth, I just couldn't hold back myself as my soul is that of a true fanboy.
That is to say, I don't think I am the only one that has done that though, plenty of other idiots roam the under the same heaven too.
Back to the FDVR headset, there are a few precautions one must take note of mentioned in the manual. Things like; maintaining a safe body posture while being in the game, not forcefully plug off the headset from someone's head even though the device is safe and there is no harm, it might have some hangover effects.
It is also noted to not use the device for more than six hours a day, and any more than that will cause the FDVR headset to forcefully log you out.
How very thoughtful!
This device is amazing no matter how you think about it.
After following the instructions, checking, and double checking everything, I readied myself and took a deep breath then laid down on the bed next to my Desktop, stretched my legs in a comfortable way, turned my head in a steady position, and looked at the ceiling.
Couldn't help but grin while pressing the button on the headset.
I closed my eyes and the metallic voice of a countdown started. As the countdown reached zero, my mind sank into the darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What I saw in front of my eyes was a wondrous space all in black, looking around didn't really tell me where is left or where is right.
Out of nowhere, a thick white text popped into my face.
'Bethesda Studios'
This was scary, next time, I'll add that mod that removes that scarecrow that the company planted here.
After that, some white smoke came from surroundings drawing near and nearer blending in the space.
Strangely, I am breathing, but no type of scent comes to my nose.
I became aware of how does it feel when someone loses their sense of smell, I thought I would smell the smoke but I smelled nothing at all.
It's a very weird and uncomfortable sensation, having to breathe like you are not breathing, it proved many things about the real world smell to me.
What an eye-opener!
Also, I noticed that the rest of the senses are pretty much weaker than usual too.
That was expected. Actually, I heard on the TV that it's natural, due to the difference between the amounts of information between the digital realm and the real realm.
But still, having to experience this myself is quite the feat!
I checked my surroundings once again and I saw a very familiar scenery of a dragon emblem made of metal that has few cracks. The dragon is the Imperial Dragon, the symbol of the Empire from the game.
Beneath the dragon on right was a smaller symbol of the game company and on the right of the dragon appeared to be a few words materializing midair.
They are as followed:-
-New
-Load
-Credit
-Quit
Everything seems to be in place!
I tried to select the 'New' select option, only to notice that I have no hand.
The hell?
So it was like this!
If I remember correctly, I have to use my mentality to move the marker between choices.
So let's give it a try now!
Actually, it's a piece of cake, me moving around the dark space a while ago was done using my mentality too.
So that's how things work.
Switching between the options for practice, I choose 'New' and confirm for the confirmation message.
From this point, things should go smoothly, but a message box appeared, looking at the box I realized it was not something from the game.
Then it got to be a mod.
[Thanks for choosing our mod 'Origins of the Lost'. This mod will take your primary character information before you start. You can choose appearance later in the gameplay.]
[-Continue-]
Oh, it was that mod. I forgot to read how it works and immersed myself in the overall details, silly me!
Still, for it to work like that! Impressive.
There is only one choice anyway so let's be done with it.
First, it asked about the 'Race'.
Races in Skyrim are categorized into ten different races but they are basically Humans, Elves, and Beasts.
The Humans are Nords, Imperials, Redguards, and Bretons.
Nords are Skyrim natives, strong, proud and beautiful people. They mostly reassemble the Vikings.
Imperials come from The Cyrodilic Empire, they are good in both magic and combat. They reassemble the Roman.
Redguards are the natives of Hammerfell, who are natural warriors and they resemble both Arabs and Africans.
Bretons are the natives of High Rock, who has elven ancestry and like elves strong in magic. They are a bit shorter than most Humans but they are the closest race to Europeans.
Elves are High Elves, Dark Elves, Wood Elves, and Orcs.
High Elves are from Summerset Isle, and they are naturally gifted in the arcane arts. Tall, long living and arrogant folk with a bit of golden skin and pointy ears.
Wood Elves are from Valenwood, they're known for their excellent talent in marksmanship and taming animals. They are the closest to your typical elves from the movies and they are much better in manners.
Dark Elves are from Morrowind east to Skyrim, they are strong battle mages. They are not as haughty as the High Elves but their nobels are a true pain in the ass.
Orcs, who are counted as elves, are a cursed race of elves, they are gifted in battle and smithing, they have the same looks as Warcraft orcs, but in a human size and a bit darker skin.
Argonians and Khajiit are categorized under Beast.
Argonians are the Lizardmen with human figures.
Khajiit are people with heads and fur of cats.
Both races are good at stealth.
With that knowledge in mind, I choose the 'Human' section and then 'Nord'.
They might not seem attractive to a first-time player, but Nords are all good. They have 50% Frost resistance and combat talent bonus. Also, they are good looking, tall, and fair-haired folk. More than that, they are the natives of Skyrim.
I would normally not worry about racial buffs or abilities because with a high level enchanting and gear, all of that is meaningless.
After selecting the race, another box popped up asking for the gender and the name. I normally play as a male, but I had no name in mind.
Maybe the name "Jon" would do for now. I use it a lot since I started watching 'Game of Thrones' anyway.
I used my mind to entered the name and it was magically, or mentally, formed.
A piece of cake!
After finishing all that and choosing 'Confirm', the screen changed and all items on it disappeared then another scene from the game came up.
This was the typical first time Skyrim loading screen.
It was a Black Dragon with fiendish appearance, it has a spiky black scales, two rear legs, and two spread out wings. It also posed into a roaring position and looked scary ferocious. The Dragon was standing on a half circular Word Wall and that wall was full of runes of the Dragon Language from the inside.
The dragon itself looked scary and sinister, this is one of the loading screens that shows up every time the players start their gameplay.
There was also some 'game facts and hints' on the bottom right side of the Dragon. It's usually some lore and gameplay related stuff.
First fact or tip was...
"And the Scrolls have foretold, of black wings in the cold, That when brothers wage war come unfurled! Alduin, Bane of Kings, ancient shadow unbound, With a hunger to swallow the world! -- Song of the Dragonborn"
Then...
"When a dragon uses a breath attack like fire or frost, it is speaking in an ancient and powerful language. A battle between two dragons is actually a deadly verbal debate."
Yaaaawn...
"Tiber Septim brought peace to Tamriel in 2E 896, by conquering all of the known world. Thus began the Third Era."
Yes, thank you...
"Nord belief holds that the honored dead live forever in Sovngarde."
It's taking a bit too long...
Tip after tip, fact after fact, it took longer than expected.
Is it Skyrim's most infamous 'Infinite Loading Screen'?
Come on!
Something is not right...
It's almost an hour and the loading is not done yet.
Didn't they say the headset will make the performance much better?
The hell is going on?
Okay, this is serious!
I can't do anything in the loading screen, and there are little to no methods to sort this kind of situation.
'Emergency Logout!'
Nothing...
'Force Quit!'
Also nothing...
'Task Manager!' 'Restart Program!'
I suddenly realized that I am not aware of the track of time anymore.
This has taken too long.
I am feeling some pain in my head.
What the fuck is going on?
Seriously, what the hell is this all about?
Did I perhaps put my head in an uncomfortable position?
I can't even seem to force myself out.
I don't want to spend six hours like this!
Is it because of the number of mods I added?
I do admit that five hundred mods are quite the amount but I thought it was fine.
After a long while, the loading screen blacked and nothing appeared on it anymore.
Even its music has faded away.
All that is left was blackness. Just blackness!
It has been loading for an hour. I am starting to feel sick of seeing the color black.
I feel dizzy.
I feel like a stone in water.
I feel tired and sleepy too.
this is bad!
Why do I feel sleepy while actually sleeping in a FDVR set?
This doesn't make any sense.
I can't hold on much longer.
I hope the headset forcefully pull me back out.
Please...
(Chapter has been edited by Josue561.)