BORNEO

Ch. 2: Soldier Under Command

February 1st, 2113.

Ever since the Capital of Indonesia moved to Borneo in the 2020s, the island experienced massive growth in infrastructures and facilities. Although Ketapang is a small coastal city, it now also boast major facilities including the military training camp and Arang just arrived at the military training camp to report for duty.

With a forest surrounding it, the training camp gives a rare scenery in the modern day. Development sacrificed nature on it's process, and the forest surrounding the training camp is one of the few remaining forests. Arang breathe the fresh air before continuing to enter the big building in front of him. He reported himself, got a tag and uniform, before proceeding to enter a big hall where every new cadets gathered.

"Hello everyone, I will be your head instructor during your time here." A cold looking middle aged man greet the cadets when everyone has gathered. He is standing in front of the cadets, together with 6 other people, 5 males and 1 female. Arang guessed they are the other instructors.

"As all of you already know. Ever since the Great Disaster of Climate Change happened a few decades ago, our country has been pressured by various countries to submit and become a major nature conservation area for the world sake." The man continued.

"We had struggled during that period. We refuse to become their scapegoat when they were the ones who started the disaster in the first place. How come they able to enjoy the development and riches, when we were forced to halt our own development?! We fought them, and now it's your turn. We can't get complacent even when we have survived the Great Disaster and find the solutions for the climate change." The man said coldly.

After his speech, the middle aged man ordered the other 6, who are instructors like Arang guessed, to start counting the cadets and separate them into 6 groups. Each instructor lead one group. There are a total of 534 cadets on this batch and Arang got into group 4, lead by the only female out of the 6 instructors. She then led her group to their dormitory before telling them to gather back in front of the dormitory in 30 minutes to start their first training.

Arang search his room based on his tag and found that he will share a room with 3 other guys. All three are older than him since they finished university first before registering for military service, the common occurence in the community unlike Arang who go straight after he become an adult. The first one called Tito is 25 years old, the second and the third is both 23 years old and called Toni and Fendy.

After 30 minutes the group 4 members already gathered in front of their dormitory. Now that they will finally start their training, most of them look nervous, including Arang. He is worried that if he cannot follow the training well the government might cut his salary. The first training is actually testing the physical capabilities of the cadets, although it is a bit hard, Arang managed to pass the physical test with good scores. He is thankful all the years of hardwork doing odd jobs helps him with his physique.

As the life in the training camp continues, it is now April 1st, the day when "BORNEO" is officially launched. The sale of the gaming equipment has started from last year when the game first announced, and today based on GUPA report there are already more than 100,000,000 units sold. It is a small number compared to Earth population which are more than 30 billions, but considering it just a pre-launch sale, the number is astounding. Don't forget the unit costs IDR 150,000,000 (about USD 10,700) and the game also required monthly fee of IDR 4,000,000 (about USD 285). The opening day of such a game definitely attract attentions and created an uproar from the players.

A few hours after the server opening, some players started to make a post explaining how the game is very realistic. The game itself have a 4:1 time ratio, so 4 hours in game equal 1 hour in real life. Then came the uproar from the players. The GUPA company actually played a prank for the players on the 1st day server opening, an April Mop joke according to the company.