The Future

"What is a hacker? When this question triggers the many neural pathways throughout the mind at speeds that were then unfathomable, the information travelling through people's minds are that of middle-aged men staring at a bright computer screen, at least that's what it was, before 2100" -Jason Li, 2587.

This was a phrase that inspired many amateur hackers. It said that we have advanced. It said, that we, hackers, are not what we used to be. It said, that we, as hackers, no longer have to hunch for grueling hours in front of computer screens. The world is currently exploring the benefits of virtual reality, and not that flimsy virtual reality that they had back in what we call the Days of Depression. But with this new platform of survival, many, like me, found a glitch in the system. And so, a new easy way to get money was born. My name is Brian Wolf, and I am a hacker.

In the year 2099, a team of scuba-divers, equipped with the latest technology, dived into the depths of the ocean. They found something that had escaped human eyes for millions, if not tens of millions of years. They found something belonging to the true owners of the land. They found something that could carve into Earth's dimension, and take out a chunk of what exactly? No one knows. Everyone just calls it the world energy.

This world energy could then be used to create separate, virtual dimensions. Back then, it appeared that the original owners of Earth didn't have our foundation, the spread of the internet and the extensive research labs, so their worlds were unbearably primitive, only supporting basic life, which was probably how they got past the instability of the forming of Earth.

We, on the other hand, learnt how to create virtual worlds accessible by all. Another thing that we learnt, that "they" did not know was that this world needed a continuous stream of energy to keep it running. That's why, experts from every country participated in and formed a coalition, named "New World Coalition".

Members of this coalition would each bring in a steady amount of world energy, and form a massive virtual world. For some reason, places down in the Southern Hemisphere had more World energy, so likewise, they got more respect. And as the Amazon rainforest, which mind you, is still standing, to all those pessimists out there, is a protected site, Australia, with its barren, uninhabited landscape, as well as Antarctica, became the metaphorical core of civilisation.

With twenty thousand years of survival without world energy, this seemingly unending supply of new power forced the world into a new era. Now, people live most their lives in virtual reality, as there, it was a 10:1 ratio of time. This meant people could live ten times more than normal. Of course, when the NWC first released their worldwide project of establishing a shared virtual reality, crime rate spiked. It was because of a lack of security. After some 100 years, the foundations were established. Now, children are stopped from entering before 16 due to the still somewhat uncontrollable system.

Now why is it uncontrollable?

It is because it is virtual reality. Not only was it virtual reality, it allowed people to have a deeper, more in-depth understanding of themselves and the makings of our world. This discovery allowed people to have an "upgrade", per se, and unlock abilities that were lying dormant to them.

Whilst discussing matters on the new world energy, the officials came out with a surprising but reasonable decree, they will shut off all space exploration programs. This was because they didn't even understand their own planet well enough, how could they interfere with others, and what if the new civilizations met already had a deep understanding of world energy, Earth would be doomed.

That's the situation our world is in currently. Now, I will tell you about me. My father and mother had some amazing innate skills. Oh yeah, by the way, forgot to say that we can only master one skill a lifetime, and they are ranked based on their abilities and effects. The innate skills are separated into three main categories, which then split into different subclasses.

The first main class is body enhancement, which is separated into 'lower body' and 'upper body'. 'Upper body' did not include the brain but did the other organs on the face, such as eyes and nose.

Then there was the main category called 'external power'. This meant control of your surroundings. Anything from telekinesis to summoning fireballs was an 'external power'.

Then you have the 'virtual class'. More often called the 'reaper class', it was the most frowned upon class in the new age. As the name suggests, it was a deadly class. And it only worked in the virtual worlds. They all were similar and had only two things in common. One, as previously mentioned, was that they didn't work in the real world, or at least the 'original world', we don't know what's real and what's fake anymore. Two, as its nickname suggests, it is designed for one purpose in the virtual world, death and domination.

These skills were also ranked through their effectiveness. Ranking goes from C to S. Every 2 years people go to their branch of the NWC and display their skill to a qualified examiner, who then gives it a grade. This was only just set up, say, 10 years ago and is not perfect yet. I mean, you can't just get someone to rank someone else's skill, which would be dumb as there are many different skills that are useful in lots of different cases.

My skill is perfect for my job. I have a virtual class skill. It's a little weird so bear with me. I have increased… everything, in the virtual world, from agility to sheer power to keen perception. My skill is fit for all those MMORPG fans who played assassins or thiefs. I can basically hide myself near perfectly, and create a clone of myself.

Oh yeah, now that we talk about it, I just remembered there's also another subclass. It's called growth class skills. My skill, which I named shinobi wannabe, is a growth class skill. It means that if I get enough experience and familiarity with my skill, it evolves. Basically if I kill enough people with my clone, I get another one. I only just found out about my skill last week, when I had my first compulsory skill-check at the age of sixteen, where the NWC allowed us access into the virtual world and all the resources it could provide.

I got lucky. I really did. Usually examiners would dis and negatively influence people found to have the virtual class. But my examiner just also happened to have a virtual class. A clear example that one could be anything with anything.But no spoilers, not yet anyway.Actually, I suppose I can give you some hints as to what happens. Anyway, back to what I was saying. It was a clear example that one could be anything with anything. And that was always my motto.

My motto for what, you ask. Good question. It was my motto for my world. Yes, I have big plans. Make an alliance between all virtual class people and make the most politically powerful and economically stable world, or worlds, depending on which ones suits the times, ever. I want to change the world, literally, to a new one.

Why? Because isn't it cool? Yep. I'm doing all of this to show off my *cough* humble *cough* self to the world. It was my lifelong dream since I was born, well, actually since I started being able to cognitively think and make decisions. Anyway, enough of that, now is the story of how I, Brian Wolf, started off as a small orphan with only one elder sister, searching for scraps, became hacker-extraordinaire, ruler of the mightiest worlds ever. And it all started in the city of Bridney in Indonesia, in the year of 2300.