Chapter 0:Cheaters Gateaway

My name is Verdura Haven. I am a 20-year-old college dropout. I have lived alone since I was 15 and had enough money for my daily expenses covered. Ever since I moved out. I saw the truth of life. It's miserable, unhappy, and having no purpose. We exist meaninglessly, so rather than living authentically. I chose to like to live a lie. That's why I love video games. It helps me escape from reality. Well, not the fair kind of player I am; I love to cheat and hack with my buddy Shadow Runner. His name is an alias, but I do know him in person.

My passion for cheating in video games began when I found that compelling games became more competitive and stricter. Online multiplayer was the worst. I just wanted an easy life, and games were not of that part anymore. 

I met Shadow in an online social gathering in a web forum Four years ago. He was selling his hacks in the forum. I was curious about this personality and questioned him about his hacks and why he does cynical stuff. We chatted about games and stuff that mattered to him, tho everything was going ahead over me. I still have the conversation going, and for the past four years, he and I have met physically and online trading hacks for money, and I have become his monthly customer.

**Scene 1:**

I got the best game of all time, The Fantasy Wars of Realms in Yewlda, Which was recently released and had superb reviews by playtesters, a 5/5 in 2050 — impossible to see. For context, the average is 2/5. A 5/5 means either they bought the reviewers or it truly is engaging. So, it requires an Advanced Synchronous VR gadget, which helps us get into the game — very advanced tech, obviously not in my budget. I had been saving up for years for something big, and when this game came out, I knew I had to have it. I sold my house, moved into a cheaper place, and finally bought the insanely-priced device. It was a huge gamble, but I couldn't resist the lure of the ultimate gaming experience.

"Hey, what's up, buddy? So, I bought the game. I lived in the prosperous city of New York, USA, so it was available first-hand. Are you going to come check this out? Like, I would love to have hacks for this game. I'll give you any amount of money you want."Verdura to shadow.

"Wait! Have you already hacked it, dude? How is that possible?" - Verdura to Shadow.

"Well, I was one of the lead programmers, and the AI they used was also made by me and the team. What they didn't know, was that the AI was secretly giving some source to me. So, it happened. I cracked it and made some cheats. I'll give it to your 3D PrinterFax. It's hardware cheat for not detecting your location from the internet."

**The printer starts to print the hardware model sent by Shadow.**

"Holy! Thanks, bro, this is huge. If you need anything, I'll be glad to help."

Shadow immediately hangs up after the call — pretty strange that he never demanded any money from me. Still, I had a lot of money after selling an apartment in New York. I would give it to him once he comes here physically.

"So, where do I put this hacking hardware into the machine? There's a little knob, maybe over there. Nope, not getting anywhere. Ahh, I got it, so it's inside the VR helmet."

At first glance, I was thrilled with this machine because it looked like military equipment used for gas tears. It had a long rope and two cylinders on its helmet, very fancy tech lying in between the neck. I searched online on how to wear it, but none of the tutorials were uploaded on usage. Strange because in the world Nowadays, any guide video gets uploaded in milliseconds after its release, and this is pretty advanced tech. I called Shadow again, but it showed busy. I called him again, and he hung up.

"Seems like he's pretty busy. Ahh! Bummer, I have to figure this out on my own."

The evening passed, and I finally finished wearing the suit. I integrated the hacking hardware near my neck. Now, all that remained was to push the button near my neck. It was pitch black from the inside; I could not see or breathe the air from the room. The cylinders might be the reason for the oxygen supply, but how long can it sustain my breath? I pushed the button needlessly without a second thought. The suit then compressed till it felt like it was a part of my skin layer; it kept compressing like an old blood pressure tester. I now had second thoughts about wearing this suit. Then, the helmet started to engulf my neck with an unknown fluid. It was super sticky, and I was sweating a lot at that Moment. It felt like I was in a horror movie; gooey stuff wrapped my nose and kept on dripping inside continuously; I was unable to resist the forces that were given by the suit, My body was still under pressure.

I slowly lost consciousness and was unable to hear anything or breathe; everything seemed like pitch blackness.

I had gained consciousness, and slowly, I got up, like I got up from a nightmare. I saw a boundless white space expanding to where my eyes couldn't reach.

"Where am I? Is this the game?"

I saw myself; I was out of the suit entirely and touched my face and hands to find no evidence of the suit existing in the first place. Was I out of the suit, or was it never there from the start? Questions rattled until I heard an angelic voice.

"Welcome, warrior!"

I turned myself in wonder, only to be astonished by the appearance of a goddess. She was huge, wore a white robe with a scarf, and had lots of golden hair attached to an infinitely distant where my eyes couldn't see. She spoke with her angelic voice:

"Welcome to this world, warrior! I invite you to make this world a better place. You will find many adventures on your way, many challenges you will need to face to grow, and many unpleasant experiences you get to live."

In this game, I am mesmerized by the details; I can't believe it's so real. All the sensations I am getting by the mere presence of this godly feeling are astonishing.

I replied to her:

"So, you might be the game introducer."

Godly figure: -"Oh, how rude of me, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Aerilstron, and I am the leader of the Angolic lifelong, one of the creatures that rule the space and Heavens. I request you to protect our mortal realm from the evil that roams around the Hellium. Hellium is a vast realm boundless of the space where our creatures cannot enter. We have signs that they know a way to enter the Mortal realm. That is the reason!, why we recruit outworlders to enter the Mortal realm."

This is some plot to go with the storyline.

"I want you to decide what you want to play and how you want to look; you have an editable screen from the palm of your hand. You can access it. This shows your stats, gender, spell, class, age, etcetera. Choose wisely. Once you enter the mortal realm, you won't be able to edit your class, race, or gender. But you can grow your stats by gaining experiences from defeating Evil bosses, dungeons, and challenges. Helping out your companions and the ones who need your assistance will boost your experience much faster than normal. I want you to take this; it's a special aural item, a gift from our race that represents our faith in you, an aegil bounder, A very influential item that makes your special attacks buffed by 10 times."

Hmm, interesting. These batch-looking things certainly enhance your abilities because I can feel their effects already. Its energy is oozing in my body, and my hair is glowing brighter.

"Thank you, ma'am err..Aerilstron.I like this gift, I should make good use of it, for the goodwill, for the mortal realm.":-Verdura said

Now, let's check the screen, so I have nothing in here.

Oh!, something popped up.

"You will activate your Screen user interface. Once you have arrived at the boundaries of the mortal realm. You will know once you reach there. Now, you must leave Warrior as soon as possible.do you have any questions?" :-Aerilstron

Not in particular, though I do have one pretty stupid, but let's ask out.

"What if we die in the mortal realm?" I asked in curiosity

"Do not fear death warrior! Have faith in Celestials and Gods that will protect you."- Aerilstron

You guessed it correctly! The devs won't tell. Lol!.Probably a game over.

"It's time then, warriors carry out good deeds. Step into this portal when you are ready."- Aerilstron.

"And just so you know, my name is Verdura.": Verdura said

"What a Wonderfull name now, Go, Verdura save our mortal realm from evil.": Aerilstron

**Smirks**

I like this NPC.

A black aura appeared. It had the same texture as the suit I remembered when wearing it. I stepped onto the floor of the black space, and it slowly escalated away from Aerilstron. I saw she was crying while wishing me goodbye. Inside the portal I had the same claustrophobic reaction; I didn't feel any motion whatsoever until I saw a bright light appearing to me or was appearing to it, it was hard to tell.

It was like a user interface showing 187/1000 and that's it, nothing else, No complex UI just a simple indicator, I am wondering if this player counts in the world right now or is currently connected to it hard to tell with nothing indicating what it is. I waited for hours for the numbers to grow, but it didn't happen. Suddenly, a pop notification came in, I didn't know where it came from then I realized it might be the screen it must be editable now. The screen then opened up from me with simple UI determining my choices I was curious if I would choose human because that is who I'd like to be, an elf well maybe but would love to have a companion who is an elf.

I got a message in my inbox, and I wondered who it might be, "Ohh, it's Shadow, is he also playing this game?"

The mail read to me "I am not playing the game it's the message from the hacker hardware, This is the AI-integrated software to who you are speaking, I will integrate these hacks onto your device be ready." Yay! he is not the type to play games, I forgot, just hacks games for fun.

"Installation complete 100% no detection!"

"I have a Warning there was no anti-cheat service or tools to deflect my hacks, This is strange because most of the games even 1/5 of them have an anti-cheat when playing online... ": Cheat Ai.

What does this mean? It doesn't have an anti-cheat impossible it's the best game how couldn't it not have one?

"I'll be leaving now though it's highly unlikely I'll be caught due to no anti-cheat service here, toddles...": Ai.

"Hey, I forgot to ask something how do you log out?": Me

Bummer it

I didn't receive any instructions on logging out from Aerilstron, nor does the UI on my palm display a logout button.

"I guess I'll have to figure it out myself."

Wait, I can change gender? How's that possible? I'm male, and everything feels intact. My biological body is male, so how would it feel where there's nothing? It doesn't make sense. Well, there's only one way to find out.

*Proceeds to change gender.*

Hmm, so I changed. *Looks down* Oh damn, revert it, revert it. Oof, I still don't know how, but I was feeling the physics of being a woman there. I'll stick with the male gender only.

Now, what does it say about character elements? Hmmm, what should I choose here?

Pyro elements are super effective with the highest damage but lack in defense.

Ice elements are balanced in attack and defense but lack in attack speed. Be careful when and where to hit and run.

Geo elements are the most sturdy with lots of defense power but lack in attack speed and are easily dodged.

Lightning elements are the fastest but inefficient in defense or raw attack power.

I don't know, there are 16 elements here but none that I can decide on. Some are very good, most are balanced, and some are poor. Let me check if the cheat has a solution for it.

Oh, the cheat UI shows that I can mix two or three elements of my choice to blend them. It says it's a skill of Dragonhor level 100, but I can use it as an elemental user. The cheat is capable of that.

Alright, I've decided. I'll use Pyro + Geo.

I entered it with the special cheat UI and chose the class of a warrior. In an instant, it provided me with special clothes with a volcanic design. The texture is like Erebus, flowing with the rage of lava. A matte black sword with a red gemstone and a red aura surrounding the tip of the sword.

I think I'm all set now.

The screen UI showed my stats all at level 1, which is not what I desired. I maximized my stats to levels beyond capacity: 2000/100. That would be an amazing speed run.

XD, I thought. My new stats were 2000% more than the max, my speed was 1000% faster than the original, and my durability was 5000%. Sweet, I guess this would get me going.

Okay, I'll be the 188th player to join the game.

"Let's do this the cheater way."

The PalmUI showed, "Get ready to enter the world?" "Yes! Ready!"

Pressing the button released tremendous energy from my wrist, and I fell unconscious.