At the end of WW2, the world govenments came together and united the world. The formation of the United Earth Gorvenment was officiated on the 1st January 1946.

Over 250 years later terrorists detonate WMDS causing an extinction class nuclear winter. of the 25 billion people that called the planet home only 100 million people managed to escape into space, spread across Habitats spaning out to Pluto.

Now, almost a decade after the event now known as The Escape, tensions are running high as resources start to run low. The UEG has put together an ambisious and extreme response. The ARK missions, one-way tickets in deep stasis to other galaxies with potential golden worlds. The good knews, you don't age in stasis, the bad, most people who sleep for the time needed to reach even the nearest galaxy, generally wake up insane, or as a vegetable.

The UEG has said that this will be addressed by using a virtual reality to train and allow the sleepers to still have mental activity during stasis.

As a bonus to encourage people to sign up and ease the burden on the already straining resources, the first hundred thousand volunteers get some bonus privilages.

The choice was obvious for one band of comrades, or atleast for their boss so they got signed up and squared away, what will they bring to this new and different reality?

In a sad and lonely world with sad and lonely people, a game maker released a worldwide virtual reality game, called Virtual Life. Will this game make the world a happy place, or bring chaos among all...and who will beat the game...? Read to find out more...

This is the era of VR games and artificial intelligence.

As an ordinary college student, I finally have my first girlfriend in my life!

Although it is the artificial intelligence in the virtual reality dating sim, my life has been turned upside down ever since…

The fights between the virtual two-dimensional “wife” and the real live-in “girlfriend”?

Artificial intelligence with self-awareness?

My virtual and reality don’t seem right…

Sai- hard-working support staff of a research facility was invited to join an internship program of company that launched Virtual Reality game called CELESTIAL. 

Along with some of his friends, they venture into the world of magic and adventure, but what awaits them was not what they expected.

What is it that keeps you alive?

What is it that wakes you up in the morning?

Why do you get out of bed?

Existential question’s that only a few can answer in the length of a breath.
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It has been 200 years since the greatest change in society. A change from education inside classrooms into virtual reality. It is now a transition to a world where anyone can learn anything, and obtain any skill that would usually cost you more than an electric bill.

A pair of childhood friends; Sai Sherman And Izen Miray, both scholarly adulting individuals are about to venture into the new world through a game called CELESTIAL. They try their best to prepare to survive the challenges that the world will bring, adventuring in the virtual reality world they search their calling, cultivate their talents, and meet people good and bad along the way. 

What changes will this life of searching bring these two hatchlings that yearn to fly out of their nest’s, and longing to see the world beyond? How will these two answer these questions of life? When will they truly be prepared? What keeps them living?

Join them in their search for the meaning of life...
-----------------------------------------------

How about you?

Have you asked yourself: What is “My Life Support?”

Li Yao held his breath. He did not expect Professor Mo Xuan to be so outspoken as to tell all the secrets without him asking anything.
Was his professor really up to nothing at all?
"The main focus of our studies in the Virtual Spirits Sector was to perfectly simulate the environment of the material world when life was born. To be more specific, we 'created' a virtual primitive planet first and then added more conditions to it, hoping that it would slowly generate virtual fungi, trilobites, dinosaurs, apes and eventually 'virtual intelligent life'.
"I regret to say that we were too naïve and hasty back then. We completely underestimated the difficulty of creating life and overestimated our computational ability that we could output.
"Or rather, it would've been useless even if we had infinite computational ability, because computational ability was not proportionate to the soul."
"I don't understand," Li Yao said. "Can you explain?"
"Let me use a metaphor. If you have a metal puppet that weighs one ton and has strength a hundred times bigger than a human being's, what will you do if you want to turn it into a real human? By increasing its weight and force? Can the puppet be endowed with wisdom and will when it grows from one ton to a hundred tons and has a million times a human being's strength instead of a hundred?"
Deep in thought, Li Yao shook his head.
"Of course, nobody is silly enough to do that because weight and strength have nothing to do with 'consciousness' whatsoever. In fact, 'computational ability' is the same. Increasing computational ability crazily is equivalent to turning the weight of the metal puppet from one ton into a hundred tons. No life will be created at all. The only consequence will be collapse!
"It's a shame that we did not understand the logic back then. Or rather, we were unwilling to believe the logic.
"When there was the earliest sign of primitive life in the Virtual Spirits Sector, we gathered the twelve super crystal processors and poured their computational ability into the 'Virtual Spirits Sector' crazily. Eventually, it crashed.
"I do not want to talk much about the crash. You must've read about it in the news anyway. Despite all the exaggerations, the result is not wrong. Su Changfa was killed in the Virtual Spirits Sector. My soul and Lu Qingchen's were heavily wounded. In the end, I aborted the 'Virtual Spirits Sector' project, and Lu Qingchen even betrayed the federation and joined the Imperium's side.
"However, let me tell you a secret. I aborted the project not because I was too frustrated but because I suddenly thought everything through when I was about to be torn apart in the turbulence and storms of the Virtual Spirits Sector caused by the infinite computational ability!
"Too stupid. I had been too stupid and inflexible before!
"It is both impossible and unnecessary to create a virtual life from scratch in only several hundred years because we obviously already have a virtual life, one that is perfect and will absolutely not be against mankind. It is ourselves!"
The more he spoke, the more excited Professor Mo Xuan became. He pointed Li Yao and Ling Xiaole!
Li Yao and Ling Xiaole were confused.
"Wait…" Taking a deep breath, Ling Xiaole bit her finger and asked, "Professor, can we be counted as 'virtual life?"
"Why not?" Professor Mo Xuan opened his arms, as if he were embracing the entire world. "Look at our status right now. Is it any different from the 'virtual life' you imagined before?"
"But we have a body!" Ling Xiaole said in a hurry. "This is a virtual world. Our body is still in the real world!"
"Watch your words. This is the Spiriters' Realm, not a virtual world." Professor Mo Xuan's tone turned rarely rigorous. A moment later, he lowered his voice and said, "Yes. You do have a body, but ghosts do not. Ghosts are just a clip of complicated, mysterious waves that can be stored in a tiny chip. Therefore, can you agree that ghosts without shells are a 'virtual life'?"
Ling Xiaole tilted her head and thought for a long time. "I—I think so. If you must put it that way, ghosts are indeed sort of a 'virtual life'. They are… the Spiriters."
"They're more than that," Professor Mo Xuan said. "From the perspective of both law and ethics, ghosts are a member of mankind. Do you agree?"
"Of course!" Li Yao and Ling Xiaole did not hesitate at all.
It was a simple question. Since the 'Affirmative Action for Ghosts' had been enacted two hundred years ago, ghosts—or rather, the Spiriters—were already equal to regular humans in terms of legal statues.
Two hundred years was more than enough time to allow most spectral Cultivators to melt into the regular society.
"So, you all agree that a human is a human not because of his body but because of his soul, right?" Professor Mo Xuan asked. "As long as they have the soul of a human, it doesn't matter how their body changes or if their body does not exist at all, right? For example, Representative Lin, if you unfortunately sacrifice yourself in the battle to defend humanity one day in the future and lose your body, only to be reborn as a spectral Cultivator, will you still be a human being?"
Li Yao blinked and said, "Of course!'
"Therefore, the body is not important. The real foundation of the life form we know as 'human' is the 'soul'. We are essentially a unique virtual life," Professor Mo Xuan concluded. "The so-called body of flesh and blood is nothing but a 'shell' that helps us arrive in the material world for activities. It is similar to a crystal suit, except that the crystal suit of flesh and blood is gear that we are born in, like the eggshell for ovipara!
"Because the body is just a shell, it doesn't matter if the body exists or what it looks like. It doesn't matter if the body has horns. It doesn't matter whether the body can lift a weight of fifty kilograms or five thousand. They are just the differences among different 'models', but they are fundamentally the same, correct? Do you agree?"
Li Yao and Ling Xiaole both opened their mouths. Professor Mo Xuan's theory sounded ridiculous at first, but as they thought about it more carefully, they somehow found that it was absolutely flawless!
If they admitted that ghosts and demons were a member of mankind, then the only conclusion would be that the appearance of the 'body' of a human did not matter at all and that it was the soul that really counted!
Therefore, the body of flesh and body was just a shell, and human beings were a virtual life form in the first place!
"You understand my stupidity in the beginning now, don't you?" Professor Mo Xuan mumbled in self-mockery. "Mankind is a virtual life. Yet, I turned a blind eye to such an obvious fact and dedicated myself to the creation of a brand-new virtual life instead of reaching my hands for what was right next to me. My attempt even led to a catastrophic accident. It was truly stupid of me.
"Wrong. Wrong. Our previous studies were fundamentally wrong. As the technology on crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus developed explosively, the key point that we should focus on is not to create a brand-new virtual life but to make human beings take a leap in the path of evolution and enter a new form where they are completely virtualized!"
Li Yao suddenly raised his hand.
"What's your question, Representative Lin?"
"Professor Mo Xuan, I wonder, if the laws of this world permit, could you make a giant rainbow lollipop first and introduce the rest of the information while licking it?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because I feel that you truly look like one of the ambitious supervillains in the fictions, games, and movies right now. I'm getting quite nervous. Therefore, I was wondering if the atmosphere would be more comfortable if you talked while licking a lollipop."
"…Well, professor, I second Special Representative Lin's proposal," Ling Xiaole said. "Your theory is indeed a bit… creepy."
"Absolutely!"
He snapped his fingers and then delved into his pocket. Then, he truly picked out a big, round rainbow lollipop. Ripping the package, he licked the lollipop carefully and said, "If you are still nervous, would you feel better if I tell you that all those theories have been written into books and delivered to the leadership of the federal government and the major academic institutions, and that every corner in the entire 'Carefree World', including the conversation we are having right now, is being closely monitored by the Secret Sword Bureau?
"I can even ask the Secret Sword Agents who are monitoring this place to join us. Perhaps you will even recognize a few colleagues from them. Do you want me to do it?"
A middle-aged man whose eyes were deep and whose face was solemn was now licking a giant rainbow lollipop carefully. It was indeed quite… a weird scene.
However, it did wash away the gloomy and zealous atmosphere from a moment ago.
Li Yao and Ling Xiaole both blinked. It did make sense. As the 'special representative of the Speaker of the Star Ocean Republic', Li Yao was there to visit such a highly confidential project as the 'Tinder Plan'. It would be utterly unreasonable if he was not spied on by the Secret Sword Bureau.
"I know what you are thinking, but things are not exactly what you imagine them to be," Professor Mo Xuan said casually. "Representative Lin, under normal circumstances, how much time do you spend on the crystal processors and cyberspace every day?"
Li Yao thought for a moment and replied, "Counting the training in the Grand Illusionary Land, ten hours or so. After all, for Cultivators of my level whose computational ability and soul are powerful enough, we can lengthen time in the Grand Illusionary Land and turn one hour into three to four hours. A lot of training and deduction work can be done in the virtual world."
Professor Mo Xuan nodded. "What about you, Miss Ling?"
Ling Xiaole thought for a moment and replied, "It's not fixed. When I'm on a mission, it will be shorter, but I'm basically online all the time during holidays. So, it's also ten hours or so on average."
"Alright. You are both very close to the average online time in the federation." Professor Mo Xuan smiled. "According to the latest statistics, after exchanging all the time lengths in different planets and starships into twenty-four hours a day, the average time that a person in the federation spends on the Spiritual Nexus every day is nine hours and twenty-two minutes. For the active age group between eight and a hundred and twenty, their average online time is twelve hours and thirty-three minutes a day.
"Although the time is only half an entire day, almost all the important things that modern people do, i.e. entertainment, socialization, self-improvement… everything is done on the Spiritual Nexus.
"We can even say that the focus of modern human life has long been completely and irreversibly shifted to cyberspace!
"I would like to ask you a question. If you have to spend half of your life and do ninety percent of the important things in your life, including work, training, friend-making, and so on, through the Spiritual Nexus, and you are even glad to do things in such a way, are you really a carbon-based life form or a virtual life form? Do your souls live in cyberspace or in the material world? Is the body of flesh and blood in your so-called 'reality' not just a 'shell' that ensures that you can surf online normally and allows you to reproduce for the next generation who will also surf online?
"Is it really difficult to admit that mankind is a virtual life and cyberspace is our future, our foundation, and our everything?" Professor Mo Xuan declared resolutely while biting his rainbow lollipop hard.


“Even if this universe is truly nothing more than a brutal, bloody, shadowy forest, we Cultivators will burn all that we have just to give off a single weak flickering spark in the darkness! 
“No matter how weak each spark is, how short-lived, how small… As long as the sparks flow unabated, then one day one of those sparks will light some tinder, and that tinder shall light some fallen branches, and those branches shall set ablaze each and every last tree of the forest! 
“In the end, even the smallest sparks will eventually set the shadowy forest ablaze and illuminate the whole world!”
------
** Qidian International and the former translator, Mr. Strivon, have reached an agreement to buy out the chapters and host them on our site. We will be continuing the translation from the last chapter translated by Mr. Strivon **

In a flash, almost two months went by.
Within this period, Lin Huang elevated from imperial-level rank-3 all the way to imperial-level rank-9 by consecutively using six Virtual God rank-9 Godheads as the main materials and a sea of Godheads from various ranks as supplements. 
Initially, he took 20 days to elevate from imperial-level rank-3 to imperial-level rank-4. However, as his combat strength rose, the speed at which he refined Godheads accelerated, as did the speed of his level elevation.
Subsequently, it took him only 14 days to elevate from imperial-level rank-4 to imperial-level rank-5. After that, he merely spent 9 days elevating from imperial-level rank-5 to imperial-level rank-6 and 6 days to go from imperial-level rank-6 to imperial-level rank-7…
Altogether it took Lin Huang a total of 56 days to elevate from imperial-level rank-3 to imperial-level rank-9.
Perhaps for others, such rapid elevation might have resulted in a weak foundation. However, Lin Huang's imperial-level was different from the rest. Refining one Virtual God rank-9 Godhead was the equivalent of building his foundation all over again. In other words, it was making his Life Palace sturdier, which made his foundation all the more stable.
Given that his physical constitution and spiritual resilience were already at Virtual God level, he was able to handle the stress that such elevation methods invariably put his body through. Two months of continuous rapid elevation had no side-effects on him whatsoever.
Naturally, Lin Huang was very careful. Every time he elevated up a rank, he would check his body over very carefully to make sure nothing had gone wrong. He only refined the next round of Godheads after making sure that everything was fine.
He finally stopped refining Godheads after he elevated all the way to imperial-level rank-9.
He did not get out of cultivation immediately either. Instead, he began checking his body carefully again.
"My body is already close to peak-stage Virtual God rank-9 while my strength and speed are at Virtual God rank-9 level already…" Lin Huang examined himself with care, finally turning his attention to his Life Palace.
His Life Palace, which was originally black, was now faintly imprinted with a dark-red divine pattern.
"Life Palace: Monster Paradise"
"Life Palace's Territorial Range: Radius of 10,000 kilometers from the Life Palace possessor (potential for expansion)."
"Life Palace Ability 1: Within the Life Palace's territorial range, the dead summoning beast's soul will return to the Life Palace with its body reconstructed and revived. Those with a broken soul will have their broken soul pieces recalled and recovered."
"Ability Restriction 1: Each summoning beast can only be revived 30 times within 24 hours. Their soul will disintegrate after 30 times and they won't be able to return to the Life Palace (potential to grow)."
"Ability Restriction 2: Each summoning beast can only have their soul recovered 9 times within 24 hours. Their soul will disintegrate after 9 times and they won't be able to return to the Life Palace (potential to grow)."
"Derivative Ability: If the Life Palace possessor dies within the coverage range, he can choose to use a summoning beast as a substitute in death. The summoning beast chosen as a substitute won't be able to be summoned for 24 hours (potential to grow)."
"Remarks: The Life Palace possessor can only be substituted 9 times within 24 hours. He can only be substituted 3 times if his soul has disintegrated (potential to grow)."
…
"Life Palace Ability 2: Within the Life Palace's territorial range, the Life Palace possessor and his summoning beasts would have a nine-fold boost in strength, speed, and spirit. The other summoning beasts would have a 30% drop in their strength, speed, and spirit (potential to grow)."
"Remarks: The Life Palace possessor can turn off the boost and the undermining effect as and when he wishes."
…
Lin Huang's Life Palace abilities had seen great improvement since its elevation from imperial-level rank-3 to imperial-level rank-9.
Not only were the territorial ranges widened, but there was also a significant improvement in the summoning beast's number of revivals, substitution abilities, and ability boosts.
 "My Life Power is much more powerful now but it still doesn't seem to be at its peak…" Lin Huang sensed clearly that there was still room for improvement in his Life Palace.
It did not matter if he were elevating to virtual god-level or elevating directly to true god-level in future; he was still not at his maximum potential for elevation.
"Don't tell me I need to elevate to imperial-level rank-10 to go any further?" Lin Huang mumbled softly.
"You should try and see if you can continue to elevate," the stone tablet's thick voice sounded all of a sudden, "Since you feel that your Life Palace isn't at its peak yet, it's definitely possible to elevate further."
"But my Life Palace has stopped absorbing the remaining energy coming from the Godheads. Right after I elevated to imperial-level rank-9, I had a small amount of Godhead energy left behind. I tried making my Life Palace absorb it but there was no response as if it were already full," Lin Huang raised his doubt.
The stone tablet fell silent for a moment, before suggesting, "Since you feel that it hasn't reached its peak, it's very unlikely that it's full. I think you can try refining Godheads from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-9. If that doesn't work, then there are only two possibilities. One is that your Life Palace can still elevate further but there's a specific condition attached to it. The other possibility would be there's something wrong with your senses. However, the chances of the second possibility are fairly small. After all, you're not a rookie who has just stepped onto the cultivation path."
Lin Huang nodded. From the storeroom, he took out Godheads from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-9 and tossed all of them into his body. He activated Divine Fire and proceeded to refine them.
Time flew by; two days passed. After the Godheads had been refined, Lin Huang repeatedly activated his Life Palace to absorb the energy. However, there was no response from the Life Palace at all.
"I've tried Godheads from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-9, it doesn't absorb any more energy…" Lin Huang looked helpless.
"Then there's a high chance there's a specific elevation condition. You'll have to figure out exactly what it is on your own." The stone tablet was out of ideas as well.
"Forget it, I'll leave things alone for now." Lin Huang set the issue aside decisively. He began discussing questions about further elevation with the stone tablet.
"I should have two choices for elevating to the next level when my Life Palace is fully elevated. One is to consolidate Godheads to get to virtual god-level. Another is to refine Divine Fire to directly get to true god-level. Which do you think is better?"
"If you would like to elevate your ability in a short period of time, elevating to True God would naturally be faster. However, if you're considering development for the long run, I personally suggest elevating to virtual god-level first," the stone tablet answered after thinking about it for a while.
"Given the stability of your Life Palace, you can certainly use it as a Godhead and refine your Divine Fire directly. However, think about it this way for a moment. Although you would save time by skipping virtual god-level and going to true god-level directly, it would waste what you've been accumulating for the past few years. Your elevation to true god-level would be no different from other True Gods."
"However, if you go through virtual god-level before getting to true god-level, you would be the top powerhouse among the True Gods. Not only that, in the long run, you would have a higher chance of elevating to Heavenly God or even Lord-level in the future."
"There's another reason why I don't suggest elevating to true god-level directly. The gravel world that you were in before had incomplete rules and denies True Gods from entering. For you, the difficulty of returning to the gravel world after elevating to true god-level would be very high. Even if you managed to return, you would be hindered by the rules of the world everywhere you go, unless you seal your combat strength below true god-level."
Lin Huang fell silent for a long time after hearing what the stone tablet had to say.
He had considered those issues before as well. However, the gravel world's impending crisis was getting closer; there were less than nine months left now. Naturally, he was anxious, which had resulted in him wanting to elevate his ability as soon as possible and thus neglect many details.
He had a sudden epiphany regarding the stone tablet's words.
"I know what I should do now…" 


Lin Huang was a 15-year old boy from Earth, on a path to live his life in a world full of monsters. With his younger sister in his care, and given only 91 days to live, the odds were not in his favor at all... That is until, he killed a vicious vampire, purely by accident. With a twist in his tale, his life was changed completely. As he fought his way through this world with the help of his troops made of men and monsters, the boy sets his sights on a much larger ambition of becoming the greatest monster hunter in the world!

In the past hundreds of year, Prinz has gotten immersed into the Virtual Dimension by himself. While in isolation, he refuses to get in contact with all his colleagues. And unlike how all his colleagues have done, he temporarily transferred his consciousness into the system whilst Prinz's body stayed inside a capsule to prolong his life. Prinz has one purpose, and for that, he depends on his ability alone.

Unlike all 44 of Prinz's colleagues whose purpose are to conduct the policies, actions, and affairs of the Virtual Dimension by an authority in their respective expertise, his sole purpose is to enhance the system and its environment. Prinz advocates against perfections and therefore he persists to ceaselessly improving the system. Time after time, he will create a solution for some inadequacies that he found in the Virtual Dimension. But because he could not immediately perform the upgrade, he has to wait.

With the intention of improvements, Prinz needs first-hand information for analysis to facilitate the solution. For this reason, he relocates into the Virtual Dimension as a participator and thus he set himself; side by side with the other humans living in the system.

Prinz is different from everyone else; who discarded their own body for eternal life.

He never has truly relocated into the Virtual Dimension; from the time of its completion until now he does not. Prinz is afraid of losing a part of him. He believes that humanity exists because of their inherent unique consciousness, and the physical that he or she is born with is a shell that provides them sentience. 

Humanity is a selected primate that lives on Earth as its protector and craftsman; therefore for aeons, humans always triumph against other species in survival. The physical fleshes we are born with are very adaptable; for that all generations the human genomes vary for the surviving kin.

The brain contains human intelligence and the body regulates its system to sustain it. Without the body and the brain; functioning side-by-side; humanity would never be able to obtain new knowledge. Prinz however, is alone in his belief.

Virtual Dimension is created as such every human consciousness could multitask with ease. Imagine a human who could work and play while asleep. It is exactly this way; how the system controls and enhances the brain functions. It is unfortunately impossible to get something for nothing. While the system seems pleasantly unreal, Virtual Dimension has all the controls over hierarchy and social developments of every human. These controls facilitate the system of checks and balances in a manner that disables all human exclusive controls.

In a laymen term, the world-systems in the Virtual Dimension divide human consciousness into a core and periphery existences. A core existence focuses on the higher acquisition of knowledge from concluding researches and has all the power to exercise their rights as the one who leads and commands; while the periphery existences focus on the acquisition of information with lesser-to-none power. All periphery existences enforce the dominance of core existence by carrying out their respective roles as a whole.

Prinz and his 44 colleagues are the only core existences that exclusively control the Virtual Dimension while actively engaging in their tasks – to explore the tangible unknown in the vast universe and to maintain the universal order in the system while simultaneously scrutinizing the human consciousness developments. After all, the world is still shrouded with various infinite mysteries. At the same time, humanity must be systematized and to be predisposed of; during which they will always be in relating to one other according to the social organizations in the system.

This is how the current Virtual Dimension becomes a complex hierarchical structure. As more research findings, technological breakthroughs and social developments are being integrated into the system, the complexity will always exponentially rise.

In the room, where Prinz and all his colleagues gathered.

"Hey, Prinz! Prinz, are you listening?"

Diana's voice is quick to alert him who is deep in thought.

"Sorry, Diana and everyone. I was lost in thought for a moment." Prinz apologized.

"Hmmph..." Diana pouts as she holds her robot arms together against her chest; although, her eyes focus on the cube.

"What is that cube, Prinz?" Diana asked in curious.  

"This cube is my latest invention. I store another auxiliary system that now has been progressively integrated into the Virtual Dimension. Actually, I want to show everyone this system. No, I wish to share everything that I have been working on in the past few decades and invite everyone to join me."

"Another auxiliary system? Join you?"

"Yes, Diana. Let me explain to everyone."

Prinz spins the cube a few times on the table. A little while later the cube glows. He then immediately grabs the cube with his right arm. Shortly after, a projected image displays a whole lot of information. The image turns into holograms that rises above and vivid showing the auxiliary system timeline and progression.  

"Everyone, this is 'Tree of Life'. A system that is based on imitation of human's natural senses and inner emotions. It is included in the 'In-Depth Reality RPG' that has always been part of the Virtual Dimension. The 'Tree of Life' has grown into a platform where everyone can experience a corporeal-like life; while alternatively, they could participate in an entertainment-like life through an avatar." Prinz explained in an excitement.

He stops his sentence to breathe before he continues:

"The avatar simulates the five human senses and various human emotions; as if one is being alive inside a physical body. Up to a certain degree, the 'Tree of Life' capable to recreate a sense of realism. However, the system itself is still far from completion."

He looks down feeling less enthusiastic.

Prinz always knows that it is not easy to entirely reconstruct the five human senses and various emotions in the Virtual Dimension. Despite that, Prinz persisted; each time he confronts with failures because he wants humanity to regain their natural disposition - one that they had once discarded and lost.

But, for what reason does he went all the way to create the 'Tree of Life' system in secrecy?

Prinz is aware that humanity has begun to search for something to yearn for, that is akin to the feeling of possession and needs; even more than just to stay living in perpetuity. At the same time their instincts have yearned for physical touch and turmoil of emotions – just like how they are once alive. However, it is impossible to wholly incorporate the 'Tree of Life' system into the Virtual Dimension. There are two reasons why.

First, the system is not perfect. Second, the complexity of the Virtual Dimension makes it impossible to completely integrate the 'Tree of Life' system. The entire Virtual Dimension is exclusively created to preserve all humanity consciousness at all times.

Facing with difficulty, he now seeks his colleagues for cooperation.

Prinz requires supports and a boost to complete the system; with the intention to escalate the 'Tree of Life' system development and to recreate an entirely new experience inside the Virtual Dimension. To start with, he first needs to convince the 44 others who were proficient in various expertise; with an aim to obtain their assistance in every aspect.

"Prinz, have you completely thought everything about this system?" Phil questioned him in retrospective.

"I do and the 'Tree of Life' design is for the purpose to present humanity with something that they have once lost together with their body. I wish for humanity to remember their origin. Despite that, I hope the system will not be assimilated into Virtual Dimension; instead, it will always remain as an auxiliary system."

"I see your point and I understand now," Phil replied.

Prinz then continues his presentation. He pointed to a subfolder and reveals its contents.

"Everyone, please look at these pictures."

He displays a collection of images and his findings. There were many picturesque images of various backgrounds and nature scenery; though, the most obvious thing that they see is the natural dispositions and expressions shown by several human avatars in the images. Some of the avatars are rejoicing as if they have won something big, while others are shedding tears of incessant joy.

"These images came from one of many In-Depth Reality RPG games called 'Rebirth on a New Earth'. The game has been included with the Tree of Life system. Just like how the name implies, this game allows human consciousness inside Virtual Dimension to rebirth into a new Earth; in an avatar to explore the various unknowns of new Earth. It's called 'New Earth' because the world has a completely different history and topography. Moreover...."

"Hahaha!"

"Hehehe…."

"Wahahahahahahahaha!"

"Huhu.."

Amid Prinz's explanation, every single one of his colleagues suddenly burst into laughter. If there is no tomorrow, they laugh constantly for a certain period before they finally stop. The room that is once focused only on Prinz's voice began to fill with unbroken hilarity.

Prinz is confused at this moment. His mouth is wide open in astonishment watching all his colleagues.

"What? How and why did you guys laugh?" Prinz hastily raises his doubts.

"Puhahaha, Prinz. Your face is really unbecoming right now. Diana, do you take the picture?"

"Worry not Mat, I did. Hihi, it's still hilarious when I look at this picture."

"Hehe, I would never think that Prinz; who is notorious for his wisdom would be outwitted by us." Loci alleges indifferently.

"Chris, would you take the honour; to enlightening our hardworking leader?"

"Hahaha, I will do it. Hahaha."

Chris is the next person who later joins Prinz on as one of his research colleagues. He is also Mat's best buddy as the two of them are friends since childhood. Chris had a strong skill in IT, especially in security and networking. Needless to say, his programming skill is top-notch. Regardless of any programming languages, Chris has mastered them all - even before he completely relocates into the Virtual Dimension. He is also known for his 'sly hands'. Conversely, Chris regrets that his hands could not keep up with his mind. One momentous day, he voluntarily decides to relocate into Virtual Dimension.

 "What is going on? Why is everyone laughing? No, wait. How can you all laugh?"

Prinz greatly bewilders at the moment. He doubts about everything that comes across his mind. He has his suspicions, but could not comprehend them.    

"I'll do the honour for everyone." Chris quickly replies.

He then opens his two arms in warm.

"Prinz, you definitely have seen that we can all laugh. Yes, we do laugh. It is because we have already known about the 'Tree of Life' system; since a few decades ago if you are curious when we found out. Also, we are actually inside the 'Rebirth on New Earth' game too. Hahaha, our avatars are famous you know. We are called the 'Sovereigns of All Life', plus our empire is actually your adversary. Hahaha."

"What? How does everyone know about the system? 'Tree of Life' is definite a separated entity from Virtual Dimension. It is an auxiliary system like I told before. I made sure of it. Moreover, why everyone is playing 'Rebirth of New Earth' too?"

Chris takes this opportunity to answer Prinz's questions. He replies:

"Well, of course, everyone would know. As the core existence in Virtual Dimension, we are very sensitive and vigilant towards any variation that occurs to the system. When one day there was a sudden spike of energy usage followed by a boost of consciousness productivity in the system, I got first notified by these changes and because I have nothing urgent at hand I began to investigate. By chance, I found out the system variation inside the In-Depth Reality RPG. Then I directly let everyone know before we decided to further probe into it. And finally, we found the variation instigated by the 'Tree of Life' system. It would be quicker to brute force into the system, but Diana had a concern with the after-effects and she refused to go along with the method. Thus, I had to find another way. In the end, I hacked the system and without leaving any trace behind. I bet you are curious about how I did it. It was difficult you know spending about a decade just to..."

"Chris, get to the point!" Diana shouts loudly as she glares sharply toward Chris.

"Ah, I apologize for going off track. Let me cut it short. In summary, I hacked into the 'Tree of Life' and figured the system belongs to you. I revealed my findings to everyone and we decided to deliver you a 'punishment'. The reason is that because you never let us in whatever you are trying to do; besides for never trying to contact us at all. Everyone also helps to expand and assemble the system with their own resources and expertise. Oh, for your information, 'Rebirth of New Earth' is just something in everyone's interest to play. Who would have known that the simulation of human senses and emotions are integrated into the game? I have my suspicion and so did everyone at the time. Diana especially, she made an inference that you would be part of the game in order to involve yourself in close to the research; like you always do. The game is really awesome! At first, we do not know your avatar. What it looks like, what you are doing. After years of searching, we eventually found you. But then, we are already further in the game to casually say hi to you. No wait, Diana said not to contact you. At the end under Diana's ruling, everyone assembled to be an adversary of your guild. The end!"

Prinz listens to Chris from the beginning until the end with his jaw wide open and his eyes bulge in doubt.

For hundreds of year, humanity was unable to decipher the secret inside the brain. Until more than 800 years ago, Prinz Heilig and his close colleagues discovered the secret and began to change the way humans perceive the world. Together, they created a Virtual Dimension for humanity and became the exclusive core existences that control it.

However, everything changed one day. During the system upgrade, the world evolved and Prinz was taken into another space. He had been given a chance to revive.

Believing that he was still alive Prinz thought that it was ludicrous to simply accept a revival.

****
Dear readers,

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Life is hard. Life is full of challenges, inequity, grief, sadness, and a cruel hierarchy where the rich is the top of the pyramid. Poverty, world hunger,  overpopulation, pollution, alcohol, and drugs. These are all the bad things in life. Some people are born rich, while others are born dirt poor, hard-working people are being ignored while chosen ones are always at the top. So what? These things are what make us human either physically or spiritually. The things that made us mature as we grow so that we can move forward in life. Then what if there is another reality? Another chance to escape your unfortunate fate? Then there's no need for more introductions. Ambition, a worldwide popular virtual game.
A virtual game? Aren't there already virtual games? There are already many virtual games, however, Ambition took virtual games to virtual reality, making it extremely popular worldwide. With company branches in all continents and nations. Ambition, another reality


Present time...
A black-haired man could be seen reading a book in his room.
It was already 10 years since the event that made him enjoy his freedom.
His name is Gilbert Augustus, 22 years old, 2nd son of the Augustus main family, one of the Ten Great Noble Clans of the Dragon Empire.
And he has a secret that only he knows.
He used to be someone named Gilbert Cross.
He is a reincarnated individual.
His current world is somewhat different from his previous world.
In this world, modern technology has surpassed his past world.
Much that he had even thought at first that he was on his past world's future, but he was wrong.
Unlike his past world, the current world has a different map and a completely different history.
There are three ruling Superpowers in the current world known as the 3 Great Empires: the Dragon, Serpent, and Phoenix Empires which had the world divided into 3 parts equally.
A result of a Great World War that happened about a century ago from the current world's history.
The Augustus Clan was a military clan that made many contributions from the Great World War.
Coming from a great military clan, after being defeated from the duel 10 years ago by a teenage girl, Gilbert had lost the favor of the current family head which was his father.
He had even undergone a month of suffering as punishment.
Still, because of it, he has been freed from the responsibilities and could do whatever he wants, so it was worth it.
10/10 would get beat up by the girl again.
Gilbert Cross
His past life
Who was he?
He was nothing special.
In his previous life, he was someone who spent his entire life without as much a purpose besides trying to be happy and satisfying his curiosities.
Games, Books, etc. He would just spend most of his time outside work trying to enjoy life far away from the presence of other people.
Overall, he was just an introverted curious man who only wants to be at peace satisfying his curiosities and thirst for temporary happiness.
After dying in an unfortunate accident, he was then reincarnated in this world.
At first, he was a little excited.
He thought that he was like a protagonist since he had just reincarnated, he thought of a possibility that the world would revolve around him and wanted to know what the world has to offer him.
But it didn't take him long to learn that he wasn't a chosen one.
In this world, there was a thing that didn't exist in his past that immediately grabbed his attention.
Internal martial arts.
Cultivating such a thing, your body would be enhanced and achieved great levels beyond that of a normal person.
During the Great War, people on the higher levels in effect could even resist guns and in turn, made a lot of contributions.
However, right now since modern technology had advanced far, such people would even be vulnerable to the common mass-produced firearms of the modern military.
Still, internal martial arts managed to remain significant.
Right now, it was acting as a sort of special trait that enhances someone's status.
Generally speaking, the higher the status of the person, the higher their cultivation is.
Gilbert learned the family's martial arts, and unknown to anyone, had reached a high level of cultivation beyond someone his age.
But for him to reach a glimpse of the apex, he would have needed to spend the majority of his entire life practicing the family's martial art tirelessly.
It was nothing unexpected.
It was for sure the norm that to master something, such amount of hard work and talent is needed.
And for him who wasn't a genius, he knew that he would have needed to sacrifice a great amount of blood and sweat in the future.
He was nothing special, the world doesn't revolve around him, he was not a protagonist.
He had attributed his fast growth at first to his adult mentality, and if a gifted individual would have the same discipline and put the same amount of hard work, they would surpass him easily, leaving him behind in the dust.
The royal families of the three empires are a good example. It was a bloodline of geniuses.
Compared to them, his progress was nothing.
And as Gilbert grew learning about the family and the current world, he had then realized that there are many dangers if he wanted to reach such height.
Weighing the pros and cons, he realized that it wasn't worth it.
Just displaying a level of talent had already made some problems appear.
For Gilbert, death wasn't something he is afraid of since he had already reincarnated once and had already experienced it.
If he dies, chances are, he could get reincarnated again.
Nothing he could do about such thought process, experiencing such a thing called death and reincarnation twisted his mind so much that he couldn't even take death seriously as much as before.
Even if he saw a stranger die right in front of him.
They could've been reincarnated as kings or queens on their next life.
Even if in the end it only chanced, but it did already happen once with his own life as the witness, so there was always a good chance it could happen once again to him or even to anyone.
Right now, what Gilbert was afraid of was not about death but about dying without satisfying his curiosity about this new world and the happiness he still couldn't experience.
His greatest curiosity was the question about his reincarnation.
Who/What reincarnated him and for what purpose?
However, he had zero clues on how to find the answer so he could only ignore it for the time being.
Since his family was rich, Gilbert had done his best and managed to become a successful leech.
Someone who only learned an acceptable level of martial arts and had then decided to spend his time lazing all day after suffering the trauma of being defeated by his fiance on a duel.
That would be what anyone would say if they were to describe who Gilbert Augustus is.
He was sort of a black sheep in the family but at least he wasn't going around outside and making problems for the family like the black sheep of other great families.
The other noble families' black sheep are so problematic, to the point that it had lessened the shame his current status is showing, enabling him to enjoy his life freely with the support of riches.
He was enjoying such an easy life.
A perk of being a rich 2nd son.
In this world, games also exist, and unlike his disappointing past life, the virtual technology had already improved greatly, it was one of the few things that this world had achieved with great success.
For example, there are many virtual games with the same or greater playability as the old world's massive open-world RPGs, with high-end graphics unmatched even if compared to his previous world's most costly pc games.
The virtual technology is so popular, so much that it was even used to train soldiers, and even used in academies for learning.
And through such technology, anyone could learn many things faster than learning in real life.
With a maximum of 3 times, the time in the virtual world would flow faster than in real-time helping many industries.
However, unlike other things, cultivating internal martial arts couldn't be done on virtual, for he needed a real body for it to work. Making Gilbert somewhat disappointed.
Still, Gilbert had just spent most of his time enjoying himself on such virtual creations in the past 10 years.
Virtual games, virtual movies, virtual concerts from virtual idols, and even r18 virtual entertainments.
For a curious person, learning is something he took seriously.
And Gilbert's seriousness didn't disappoint, he had learned many things.
There are virtual teachers that could teach him a variety of skills.
And whatever made Gilbert curious, he would learn it.
Because of reincarnation, knowledge became even more valuable to Gilbert.
For a curious person like him, it was already valuable before, but right now it was even more so.
For if he dies again, he won't be able to bring all his money and things belonging to him, but he would still have the knowledge he had learned in his memory.
So he had been learning and learning.
He learned so much, but with a few exceptions, he would always back away when it comes to time to mastering such skills to the maximum.
He only had so much time in comparison to what he wanted.
He was like an anime or movie addict who was suddenly transported forward centuries in time and realized there is so much to watch, but not enough time.
Still, mastery is far from easy, and he could at most achieved something at the level of an average pro.
And that was only on the skills he was most interested in.
Some skills he would only be an expert and sometimes even on average level.
Jack of all trades, master of none.
Including his past life skills, he could certainly be called that way.
Of course, if he really wanted to even learn the same expertise he had in all trades literally, a lifetime won't be enough.
So, he could only choose what caught his interest, and learn on a level he was satisfied with.
Because of the built-in life support system in a virtual cabin, Gilbert could even spend a total of 21 days in the virtual world which was equivalent to 7 days in the real world without being interrupted.
Most of the time he would be in the virtual world, however, today is somewhat different, he was not on the virtual world learning a skill, but on his bedroom in the real world.
Right now, Gilbert is currently holding a book that took most of his recent interest.
It was a book delivered by his cousin.
It caught his interest since his cousin was acting unlike usual.
Most of the time, his cousin would only call him or visit him from time to time, in a bid to make him come outside his house and become less lazy.
And suddenly out of nowhere, such cousin gave him a manual about a virtual game, saying that she had already pre-ordered a specialized game cabin for him, expecting him to play it.
'I will also play the game', saying such words, she gave the manual of the game to him personally, yesterday afternoon after sending a message via his virtual ID.
What a weird combination.
For Gilbert, games and her was a combination so unfit, it would beat the combo of ice cream and soy sauce.
Sending a game manual...
It was not even an E-book but a hard copy... What a hardcore.
Still, the unusualness of the event made him curious about the game manual, so he had read it fully. And he had just finished reading it just a few moments ago.
And what he had read surprised him so much, it made him doubt if her cousin is playing tricks on him, making him expect something great, only to have his expectations crushed by reality tomorrow.
No one could blame him for thinking so, what the manual told him was just so out of this world, it sounded like a scam.
An RPG game simulating another world.
Unique NPCs that 100% simulate real people.
100% realism that simulates the senses without a margin of error.
7:1 game to real-time conversion.
An age-restricted game.
"Open World VRMMORPG Utopia..." 
Even for the current world's technology, such a level of simulation would be abnormal.
How could they do it?
He had tried several virtual games in this world, and even then the jump in technology is too high.
It was like leaping generations.
How could such technology suddenly come out of nowhere without any waves?
"..."
Well, now that he thought of it, he had heard of some rumors of an upcoming revolutionary VRMMO game in the past days, it was just that he was currently busy learning in regards to virtual idols, so it must have slipped his mind.
"Still, how did she know that I didn't order such a game?"
Then Gilbert thought of a possibility...
Of his cousin having a way to track his online transactions.
Didn't that mean that she knew all of his questionable purchases?
"..."
Well, nothing he can do about it.
He was already a black sheep, so adding another bad trait won't change his status much.
It was already as low as it could be.
Gilbert skimmed the game manual as he once again thought about the game.
'Utopia...'
If what's written is true, then he could only describe it as a 'Miracle'.
And thinking about such word, there was only one experience he had that could be said to be considered as such.
His reincarnation.
"A miracle huh... Interesting..."
...

...

VRMMO Utopia!

A game that simulates a fantasy world.
A game with NPCs that could 100% simulate the unique thoughts of a human being.
A game that could simulate all of your senses 100% without a margin of error.
A game that has limitless possibilities!

...

Such an interesting world!
NPCs and Players!
Who are the enemies and who are the allies?
What is good and what is evil?
What is real and what is fake?
When the game and reality isn't so different, how would people act?

... 

Join the reincarnated otherworlder; Gilbert, together with his partner in the game; a soul weapon named Ava, as they explore the world of VRMMO Utopia, trying to satisfy their curiosities, and clash against many.

...

--------------------------------
Warning
1.) Some dark elements would be present.
2.) MC is not heroic.

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