Virtual Dimension (1)

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.