Project Overworld

Exiting the institution by its main entrance, Keith was feeling very elated. Today was the last day he has had to attend the university. No more lessons to study at home now!

This exam session has been really distressing to him but he felt like he did quite well in the end. The results would be communicated in two weeks from now, a few days before the graduation ceremony.

'Finally... I may now entirely focus on Project Overworld until I get my diploma.' Keith breathed out.

Regarding his progress in the game, he has not been able to do a lot recently. He did manage to complete the first module that would be part of his space station, but nothing really more to it.

However, he now had a two week delay which he could use at its fullest to build upon its launcher and put the module into orbit.

'Well, I'm beat for today anyways. I should take a rest now and start playing tomorrow.' Keith decided.

When he woke up the next day, he impatiently laid his hands on his virtual reality headset and plunged into the game.

'So, where did I leave my projects at?'

And so, just like that, Keith spent the next two weeks working on his rocket while making sure that nothing would be missing for the day of the launch.

Since this type of rocket was larger compared to the previous generations and Keith has had to make a few adjustments on both the launching pad and the attachment pylons to better maintain such a large structure.

With everything being done by the end of the two weeks delay he had before the graduation ceremony, Keith entered the control room that would allow him to plan out the next launch from a secured bunker.

Only a small window allowed him to witness what was happening on the exterior, but a small screen on the side of the room also displayed a lot of informations about the rocket and its critical parts.

Since the values seemed regular, Keith activated the countdown until the launching phase. The main engine ignited, and smoke started to erupt within the spatial room. This time around, he had also improved his vents so that they would keep up with the amount of smoke and flames produced by the 'Station Launcher' type of rocket.

With a thundering din, the rocket slowly escaped from the ground while the ceiling was opening up. The pylons started decoupling from the flying object one after the other and Keith saw his creation elevating in the distance.

Before knowing it, only a small layer of fog was left within the spatial room.

'Good, this should be enough to make it into orbit.' Keith thought. Regardless of the result, he would be notified of every movement of the rocket thanks to the radio waves transmitter it was equipped with. He also made sure this one had a receiver so that he could manually change its trajectory to best fit his criterias, or initiate the destruction of the rocket if this was to be necessary.

Without wasting any more time within the control room, Keith turned off the display and regained his office to look at the rocket's data sent directly to his computer.

_______________

- "Okay, everyone goes at their assigned post." Eric ordered. Climbing the ladder on the side of their rocket leading to the c.o.c.kpit, he quickly realised that only two of them could fit into it.

- "Leyla, why is there only two seats in there?" He inquired.

- "I figured we could not fit more people in the c.o.c.kpit without making it about twenty percent larger, leading to the necessity of improvements on the rocket so it may accommodate to these changes." Leyla replied.

- "Hmpf." Eric manifested his frustration with a grunt. However, now was not the time to make a ruckus. They were about to initiate their seventh rocket launch and could not delay it for such a childish matter, especially since he has planned to livestream the event and notified his viewers about it on social medias.

After everyone confirmed that they were ready on their end, Larsen and Eric installed themselves tighly within the c.o.c.kpit. While the usual control board welcomes them, Eric started livestreaming the event.

Readying themselves in turn, they finally gave their approval to the other members of the Starise group. Without any more delay, the launching phase of the rocket begun.

This time around, they planned to reach the the high parts of the mesosphere a few forty miles away from land. It was only a small portion of the long run to the moon, but bit by bit they hoped to get closer to it.

Every time, they improved overall structure of the rocket and the efficiency of its systems such as the refinement of the various fuels being used or the power saving of the engines.

It was really satisfying to them to witness the fruits of their labor as they launched higher into the sky than during the previous launch. Today was no exception, or so they thought. They had been working on this rocket for the past few weeks and were really proud of the improvements made.

It was time for them to test this thing out.

- "Let's go!" Eric exclaimed as they were leaving the ground.

_______________

- "So, Shyram or Jötunheim it is, huh?" Amber thought out loud while looking at the last message Keith sent to her. Although 'Jötunheim' was a really interesting choice since it was concerning the nordic mythology, just like Yggdrasil, the fact was they were slowly running out of names from those legends.

Either they stuck to this way of naming cities and continents, and eventually run out of ideas, or they used different naming styles based on the continent. The later choice also had its cons, as to what style one should choose from, but it was really better in the long run.

That was why, she was thinking this second proposition of Keith was also quite interesting. It was simple enough to be pronouced every day by thousands of players, while being quite mysterious and fantasy-like.

- "But if I do that, we shall be naming every continent in a different style." She thought. They still had to name every continent they had explored, and Amber decided to let the initial discoverers send to her some propositions.

Of course, all of these propositions were also based on the nordic mythology and she has had to delay the naming of these places while thinking about a solution.

And just like that, this solution has been presented to her. Without further ado, she filled up some paperwork concerning the name of the north continent and decided to redact an official post on the forums regarding the naming process of each continent.

She explained she would let a lot of freedom regarding the style one could choose from, but that they could not use the nordic mythology as a basis.

With that being done, she focused back on the organisation of a fifth edition of the Inventopia. This one would also have a general theme, just like the previous one, but this time the theme would revolve around both 'electricty' and 'exploration'. Every participant would then choose from one of these themes, or even better by using both, before working on an invention to introduce to the public.

This one would also be taking place in Niflheim and after the event she planned to make a huge announcement over the future of the society within the game.

For the time being, she would be stuck with paperwork and professional meetings regarding matter related to both Midgard and the Inventopia.

- "Ah, what what wouldn't I give to go and visit Niflheim at this exact instant. I want to see the improvements they have done since last time I went there..." She desperately expressed her feelings.

_______________

- "Admitted, huh?" When waking up today, just like every day, Keith usually checked his mailbox to check if there was anything serious that popped up. And unlike every other day, he had received a mail from the university communicating the results of his scholarship.

He was really glad that he had been admitted, and not only that, with a good passing grade. In two days from now, he would have to attend to the graduation ceremony and say farewell to his comrades. He made quite a lot of friends there, but most of them he knew outside of the academic institution, so their relationship would not be affected by the end of their studies.

Regardless, he would have to think about his future from now on. He had already accepted a job at a factory under the assumption he graduated from the university, so he would be able to start earning money.

He did not know exactly what he wanted to do as a daily job. This worker occupation was only temporary, because it was the easiest to find in Atlanta. In fact it would give him a bit of experience in the manufacturing domain so he was somewhat interested in that profession.

Eventually, however, he wanted to do something more relevant with his hands. Something that would impact the future of humanity as a whole.

'Hey, maybe I should apply to some aeronautical companies after I've got some experience in manufacturing. That would be quite interesting.' Keith realized after thinking about what he was actually accomplishing within Project Overworld.