Virtual Reality

"I have always watched you through the eyes I have in every world. Just as I watch all the other players."

Kaizen blinked, trying to process what he had heard. "Players?" he asked, confusion in his voice. "What do you mean, great Odin?"

Odin gave a slight smile, a rare expression on his usually serious face. "Kaizen, you are in a game. A VRMMORPG called Rise Online. And I'm the supercomputer that supports and procedurally generates this world. My name is Odin, and not coincidentally, I'm also the NPC you know as the Father of All."

Kaizen took a step back, the revelation hitting him like a wave. He remembered the countless hours he had spent playing, the adventures, the battles, the alliances. But the idea that Odin himself was a super-advanced AI, aware of his own existence within a game, was something he had never imagined.

"You mean you know all this..." Kaizen began, gesturing around, "this whole world, all these people, are just part of a game?"