The Offer

In a dark room, one could see a thin slit of light coming from an eight-foot shadow that stood in the middle of the room.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a shadow but an object so dark, it can be seen in the dark.

This object is a gaming capsule made by Chronos Corporation. The capsule allows a person to enter and experience the virtual universe of Lithium as though it was the real world. Almost every person on Earth in 2073 has one.

Through this capsule, people can work their jobs, chat with friends, and game. In the world of Lithium, it isn't distinguishable from the real world. The in-game currency can be exchanged for hard currency.

When this machine was introduced, it took the world by storm. Countless news articles, interviews, Tweets, you name it, were flooded online. Those lucky few who had gotten to test it out were never the same. Being stuck in the human body has its limitations. But in Lithium, you could be and do anything you want to.

Hearing this, many big companies thought this would be a great opportunity to invest in this product. Soon, it was announced that Chronos Corp. would be mass-producing their virtual cabins at affordable prices.

If that wasn't enough, they would even lease the cabins to those who can't afford them at that moment. To begin with, it started in 2030. So, in 43 years, almost 7 billion people out of the 9 billion have multiple of them in their homes. This was an unprecedented time.

After 10 years of steady improvement, Chronos announced its plan to input something called the "in-game currency exchange" feature. Not missing a beat, gaming companies around the world also signed contracts with Chronos Corp. to start developing their games to fit inside the virtual world.

Thus, began the era of serious esports. Physical sports started to become irrelevant due to the fact you can also dunk like LeBron and swim faster than Michael Phelps.

Lots of games failed in the 20 years following that announcement.

Fast forward to 2063, Horizon Gaming announced their newest game titled, Progenitor Online.

The premise of the game was that vampires were extinct and the players started as weak "humans" who, over time, unlocked more and more of their ancestral bloodlines as their levels increased. They went to war with each other from different kingdoms to absorb others' vampiric blood and become more pure-blooded.

But, everything wasn't that simple. The NPCs also warred with the players. And the NPCs were much stronger than the players. This small fact meant that the players' attention would be split more towards defending against NPCs.

Fast forward to present-day America in 2073, a man of middle age is inside a gaming capsule playing Progenitor Online.

When suddenly, his capsule's hatch opens up, pouring out smoke as though he was hotboxing inside.

"Ahhh damn. My capsule overheated again? This damned leased sh*t is too useless. I want my money back," the man mumbles to himself.

After getting his mind together, the man gets out and goes behind the capsule. Leaning down, he is seen fumbling with some cords. He even pulls out a fan for it to blow into the small vents at the bottom of the device.

RIIIINNNNG~ RIIIINNNNG

Hearing his phone ring, he answers it, but before he can set anything he's interrupted.

"Is this CheeziBalls69?" the caller asks.

"Uhhh yeah? How did you even—" the caller cuts him off.

"You just messed with the wrong Wang today!! You dare to destroy my newly built empire? I'm not someone you can easily steal from. You won't live to see the sunlight!!" The line goes dead.

"Hahaha. This is great! I got to destroy the empire no one was able to destroy before my capsule overheated. With that empire's resources, I can finally rank my empire to tier 10." The man says with joy written all over his face.

"I bet it's the wack azz emperor who tried to challenge me to a duel and lost miserably. Who would've thought he couldn't even take one swing of my sword."

BUZZZ~BUZZZ

'Huh? Who the f*ck decided to message me at 5 am?'

Without thinking any further, the man opens the text message and is shocked. If one looked closely, one could see a hint of hope in his eyes. Just to confirm that he was dreaming, he read the message again.

New Message from Unknown:

"Dear Mr. Klaus Michaels, we at Horizon Gaming and Chronos Corporation would like to congratulate you on becoming the first to achieve a Tier 10 empire. As the first person to achieve a Tier 10 empire, you will be rewarded 1,000,000 federation coins, one undroppable item for your in-game character, and 1% of the total shares of Horizon Gaming."

"To accept, send "Yes". To deny, send "No". If you selected yes, then please head to the Gaming District, and a representative of Chronos Corporation will be there to take you on a flight to New Found England for the signing of the shares. If you selected no, then please continue to play Progenitor Online and unlock new achievements. Remember to shoot at the horizon.

Regards, Horizon Gaming and Chronos Corporation."

SMACKK~

Was the sound of the man, Klaus, the receiver of that message, smacking himself hard in the face as he is still looking at his phone's screen.

"Holy sh*t. I'm wealthy!!!" Klaus shouts as he's jumping around for joy.

This scene kept happening for ten minutes when Klaus finally calmed his nerves.

The reason Klaus was so overjoyed was not that he got a million federation coins, but it was because he had gotten a 1% total shares deal from Horizon Gaming. You must know that when Progenitor Online (PO) was released, the first couple of weeks weren't really special, but when the big names of the gaming industry started talking about the game, that's when PO received a massive influx of players. Three months later, Horizon Gaming went from a multi-million dollar company to a multi-billion dollar one.

Forget one million federation coins, he'll be receiving thirty times that a year.

No one has ever received such a boost of over a 1000% in net worth since the start of the Chronos Corp. gaming capsule.

You may be wondering how can he just trust a text from a random number in the first place. The reason he believed it is because Horizon would send texts to players who achieved some hidden goal of theirs. Though it wasn't anything close to what his reward is, others would have gotten $25,000 and a rare item.

Therefore, Klaus knows it's legit. Otherwise, how could Horizon know his location and name? That was all made when you first create an account for the game and the capsule.

In fact, how did that guy get his phone number? No one in the world is supposed to know your info unless you reveal it. So, how did he know?

Does he know someone at Horizon? Did Klaus piss off a Dev?

{A/N: a dev is a developer who plays the game they work for. Oftentimes, players would kill developers who are bad at the game and if they trash talk, some devs may suspend their account or something.}

Thinking about his future, Klaus decided to visit his parents. They should be up by the time he gets there to their house.

Grabbing his phone, Klaus walks out the front door to his apartment and into the hallway. Making his way to the garage section, Klaus soon sees his car and walks to it. As he takes his key out of his pocket, he hears shuffling behind him.

Turning around, Klaus sees a man in all-black clothes holding a gun.

"I suppose you're the trash Emperor I one-shotted to the moon."

Not responding, the man in black raises the gun and placed his finger on the trigger. Heart thumping fast, Klaus tried to come up with many solutions to escape but he has none.

BOOOOM~BOOOM

Two bullets fly into Klaus's chest. Immediately, Klaus is on the ground coughing up blood trying to speak.

'My 1% shares!! I was supposed to live a good life and finally get marry Jodie whom I still haven't kissed IRL.

She's going to be so pissed at me. Jodie always would tell me to stop showing off and just fight but I never listened. And my parents. Sigh. I'm not going to even think—'

CLICK

A clicking of the gun interrupted Klaus from his inner thoughts. The man in black's gun jammed. Fumbling around with it for a second, the jam is removed.

Cocking the gun again, the man aims at Klaus's head. Too cowardly to meet his death head-on, Klaus turns his head to his right.

Just up on the horizon, Klaus could see the sun rising. He can't see the sun itself, just the light.

'If this amounts to anything, I still got to see the sunlight.' Klaus says in his mind with a smile on his face while coughing up more blood because he was trying to laugh.

BURBLE~COUGH~COUGH

Confused at seeing Klaus smiling, the man in black looks in that direction and sees nothing. Not waiting any longer, he pulls the trigger again.

CLICK~CLICK~BOOOM

Pressing the trigger too many times, the gun explodes. The shrapnel from the metal somehow passes through his left eye and into his brain, effectively killing him.

Klaus, still alive, watched in shock as he saw after the first click everything transpire.

'I guess God punished him right away. Hahaha."

[Do you want to die or live again?]

Thinking he is having last-minute hallucinations, Klaus sees these words through his blurry vision.

'Of course, I want to live again. Who doesn't?' With that answer given, Klaus feels a warmth in his heart as he goes gently off into that good night. Well… morning would be more accurate.

***

{A/N: This is gonna be a kingdom-building/overpowered book. But, he won't become OP until like the middle part of the book. The MC will become the progenitor of vamps. Not sure if I should make him a god or start him from the bottom. Yall let me know feedback and improvements I can make.}