1 1 Coffee time

" First things first, let's get rid of all the trash I stocked up in my room over the years."

---

The sun was high in the sky when Alex finished his off-season spring cleaning. His room had undergone a heaven-defying change: gone were the unused cardboard scraps, the broken electronics and the worn-down school books. It had metamorphosed from a cramped and messy 'cave' with an unpleasant atmosphere, to a delightful bedroom filled with a tranquil ambience.

Content with the outcome, Alex took a shower to freshen up before proceeding with the art of brewing the perfect cup of coffee. One that gives the finest taste, the most subtle of aromas and the most developed flavour. The espresso method combines all of that by pouring steam at high pressure into the finely grounded coffee beans.

"A proper cup of coffee. The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast." Alex takes a sip, "Uuummmm, that's a delicious coffee."

While he was enjoying his well-deserved espresso with a croissant, the world was in a state of total chaos.

----

[Los Angeles E3 20XX - Main Stage]

"I'm Kim Dong-soo, CEO and founder of Virtum Entertainment. My team and I have laboured for the past 10 years into creating many gamers' dream. Ladies and gentlemen... Welcome to the future."

The screen behind him sprung to life, revealing the short compilation of landscapes. From the Scottish highlands to the sandy Indonesian beaches to the majestic peaks of Huangshan, and the Amazon rainforest. It appeared to be a trailer for a new documentary. The visuals were breathtaking.

After it ended, the audience was confused, after all, they were at a gaming conference, THE GAMING CONFERENCE, not NatGeo. But what followed next shocked them all.

"All of these landscapes were generated by our game's AI, the Goddess of Novus. Now, granted, it does look extremely realistic and immersive but that's not even the best part... what if I told you, that you can interact with every single thing in this environment?.... without a mouse, without a keyboard, without a controller, but with your mind?"

The whole conference when crazy. After 15 minutes, the crowd finally recovered.

"Hahaha, well let's just say it out loud. The Age of Full Dive Virtual Reality is upon us. NOVA TERRA is the first VRMMORPG in the world. It will officially release worldwide on Wednesday at the retail price of 999 USD for the basic DreamGear. The 'advance' DreamGear, which boasts a higher immersion rating of 97% instead of 95%, will retail at 19999 USD. You can get yours online."

The screen displayed a cinematic trailer.

The scene opened with a bird-eye view of a massive fleet heading towards a giant continent. It cut to a traditional tea house, surrounded by a Zen garden. Four men were drinking tea together discussing the colonisation effort of a new world. A katana lay beside one, while a hwando lay beside another. A Jian lay beside one and a talwar rested on the laps of another. Switching to a throne room made out of sandstone, a man sat on the throne fiddling with his shamshir while listening to the endless naval reports. The cold replaced the desert warmth, a man wearing a lorica segmentata chest plate armed with a gladius, watched the legions preparing to board the awaiting fleet. The final scene was of a well-lit study, with a massive map on a massive table. Looking over it, stood an unarmed man in golden robes. As the camera panned towards him, he looked up and smiled directly at the viewers, and spoke: "It's about time for you to join."

It faded to black with the release date plastered in white.

The hall regained its previous demeanour, chaos once again reigned not only over the hall but on social media throughout the world. Within 15 minutes, everyone not living under a rock was informed and hyped.

A million pre-orders for the DreamGear had already been received. That was a billion dollars earned within 15 minutes! But then again it was the first of its kind. Additionally, the very essence of the game genre gave early starters an advantage over the rest.

--- -

Quietly sipping his delicious dark brew while basking in the golden rays of the sun, Alex was contemplating his future. After all, something had changed within him. Gone was his old self, filled with dread towards his endeavours and what his future had in store for him. Liberated from personal fears after years on the battlefield commanding both fear and respect from his enemies and allies alike. His soul had been tainted with the endless abyss known as the void. His body and mind had undergone both a physical and psychological rebirth, one recreated to end a war that plagued an entire system. Having served the empire with both honour and distinction. He had requested to use the all-powerful void gate to return to his own dimension. Having grown too powerful, the different clan heads agreed to his request to maintain the peace that had been attained thanks to all the bodies Alex had buried in his few years with them.

"My lord, I have detected a surge in internet traffic, my lord. It seems like a new video game... is releasing next week. From what I gather it is similar to the battle simulation back on Solaris. But instead of just combat, it replicates an entire ai-driven world for users to be entertained by."

"Oh. That is perfect. Ask and you will receive wise words. So Full Dive VR is out, that good. Hopefully, it has a real-world economy with the possibility to convert ingame currency into real cash. Mordis, who is releasing it? China or the US?"

"It is a Korean company, the game was developed with the help of both Japan and China. Japan worked on the 18+ content while Korea did the story and the world and China made the hardware and the networking aspect of the game."

"Oh pay to win then... Doesn't matter order the game."

"Yes my lord"

avataravatar
Next chapter