The beginning

As soon as he arrived at his apartment, Gustavo went straight to the sofa.

— How can they talk so much?!

Gustavo was tired. He had closed a big deal on the acquisition of a transport company and was invited to a congressman's dinner. He finally understood why people fall for politicians. There are so many words that don't mean anything, he got a headache.

— Julius, can you tell me the messages I have?

— As you wish, sir. — AI Julius started to list messages from oldest to newest. — Conglomerate Antônio's offers an agreement on the purchase of one of its properties. BoinThrop offers a partnership order in the development of a new aircraft.

Interrupting Julius, Gustavo said: — For all the most important things in this world, skip any work-related messages.

Gustavo couldn't take any more hearing about offers to buy, sell, and requests to participate in projects. That's one of the consequences of being a genius. In the public eye.

Julius then continued: — As you wish, sir. Miss Laila from Oxford University invites you to a lecture on nanotechnology. The Sunshine Group sent you a pass for Reverie's early access.

Gustavo showed interest. As an aspiring professional gamer, Gustavo had a lot of knowledge about the gaming world. The Sunshine Group has been on the lips of the gaming community recently, promising that Reverie would be the greatest of all VR games for centuries to come.

— Open the message from the Sunshine Group.

As soon as the message was opened, a small invitation text appeared in front of his eyes thanks to the hologram systems installed in his apartment.

— Interesting. I thought only famous Rankers would be invited to the early opening. — Gustavo naturally did not refuse, returning a positive answer to the company. —Now just wait for the access key to arrive.

This will be the game that will mark my career as a Ranker. No, I'm going to become a High Ranker!! Gustavo's thoughts almost leaked out of his body. He was very excited about this new wonder of the gaming world.

He quit the dream job of many to try to become a professional gamer, but he has been failing for the last 8 years. Even though he is a successful person with his rightful place in the market, he still doesn't feel complete.

The games that were providing a career were a space FPS, a spaceship racing game, and some Tower Defense, based strategy games. Gustavo failed in all of them. He was good at Tower Defense, but he didn't have the feeling to go on. Racing games never appealed to him. And as for the FPS, it's just awful.

Gustavo was still deep in thoughts about the new game. An RPG in the classic medieval style, with swords and magic, Knights and Dragons. The chance to show your real skills as a player.

— Sir, there are still unread messages. — Julius interrupted Gustavo's daydream who calmed down as he was getting a little euphoric.

— Any urgent messages? Gustavo was holding back so he wouldn't get lost in thoughts again.

— No sir. Just regular messages and some courtesy invitations. — Julius replied after evaluating all messages.

— Alright, I'm going to take a shower. — As soon as Sunshine Group responds let me know.

Gustavo's mind was completely focused on the game. Magic RPGs have been out of fashion for over 100 years and now a Triple-A has finally emerged. He took off his clothes thinking about the game, showered thinking about the game, got dressed thinking about the game and, as he had not received the answer, he ate dinner thinking about the game.

Gustavo was always very obstinate. If he had an idea, no matter how absurd, he would take it to the end. That's how he created the foundation that integrates the G-1 Processors and the entire next generation of Worldtech processors.

With so much willpower and enthusiasm, he spent more than an hour looking for things about the game on the internet until he received confirmation of the access key from the Sunshine Group.

— So the early access version is ready in a week and only new versions of VR pods with G-2 processors will be able to participate. — After reading the message and seeing what he needed, Gustavo was very excited and couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face. — Julius, contact the transport group. I'm going to donate my VR Capsule to Mars 3 Hospital. Schedule the pick-up for 15:00.

— As you wish, sir. Should I Order a New R-50 Capsule, Sir?

— No, tomorrow I'm going to the WT store to buy the new model AMX-10. Remembering that this store was in the biggest of all the malls on earth, and possibly the entire human domain since I was very excited, he added. -Order my Lamborghini Red Mars for ten o'clock.

— As you wish, sir.

Gustavo went to bed very excited. Beta players would have the opportunity to experience the game's mechanics firsthand. Although they couldn't take anything they got and started at different points from the start of the game, they would still have a very big advantage compared to the rest. This is because they would not be focused on the development of his character, but on how the world behaves.

The beta test had the function of evaluating the servers, finding errors and development flaws in the main NPCs, as well as the functioning of combat and lifestyle mechanics such as blacksmiths, bosses, alchemists, musicians, actors, etc.

The next day he woke up before the alarm clock because he was so excited to go out and buy the new FIVR(1) capsule. He hadn't felt so excited since the day he would announce his achievement of creating the G1 to the world. He was eager to get out. So eager that he was ready two hours before his car arrived.

Without much choice, he decided to look for more news on Reverie. The things that were in the threads were mostly interviews with the SSG CEO and techs, who talked about how excited they were for the beta test. However, one specific report caught his attention.

— The Moment of Truth: Reverie's Big Difference!

Gustavo was intrigued by this. Although it is not even thirty minutes since it was published, there were already more than fifty million clicks.

— Interesting. SSG was brave to announce outside of a press conference when there are many game companies releasing news to ensure the new game falls off its pedestal before it's even been revealed.

Gustavo opened the website and started reading. At first, it was like the other notices and notes of the company, a fancy title, but nothing concrete. But before reading half the contents of the page, shock and disbelief were his emotions.

In one part it was written:

"New AI and VR technology allow for extremely realistic simulation with a passage of time that will be eight times faster than current standards. The difficulty in getting levels in the game will be blatant, but the feeling of achievement will be fantastic. The main and secondary systems as well as the support subsystems will grant the player freedom never seen before. Don't think it's a bluff. In the end, the world we created will be a second world for anyone who wants to participate.

Keep in mind that in addition to the accelerated time perception mechanism, more than 50 different types of AI were employed for each region. That is different behaviors, different cultures, and different ways of life. This world is big enough to hold 4 times the human population and all NPCs, even after decades, will still have tons of secrets to discover. All this is because we managed to make the dream calibration system a reality together with a world where history still happens. Reverie will be as realistic as possible."

Gustavo was completely amazed to read this. He expected something big, but not on this scale. Current games were amazing, but they used a common time system, where the passage of time was done by an illusion of perception that guaranteed a feeling that time passed twice as fast as normal. Now, 8 times faster than that? This is unheard of and insane. The so-called dream calibration system was a theory created over 600 years ago that has been researched, but with no apparent progress.

— If that's true, then the world will turn upside down. — As a great scholar in the field of computers and creator of the technology of the G1 Processors, he knew well about this theory. It consisted of controlling people's dreams to resemble a computer-generated world through the use of X-waves, released directly into the brain by electromagnetic components.

— Whoever is responsible for this creation, if it's true, he changed the gaming world forever. I think you could say it's the beginning of the Fifth Great Era of Games.

Losing himself in thoughts about the new technology, Gustavo didn't realize that it was time to leave. And he probably wouldn't have noticed without the AI butler Julius's warning.

After putting a bullet in his mouth to avoid having bad breath, Gustavo took his coat and went to the entrance of the building. He greeted the employees as usual.

As he exited the building, he saw a luxurious red car floating by. It was so flashy; it was the first thing you saw. Of course, it was the Lamborghini Red Mars. Its design was similar to that of a Lamborghini Aventador with curved additions and small auxiliary wings reminiscent of a spaceship. The front was slightly tapered, to give the feeling of being a fighter aircraft, but keeping the characteristics of the car. Its aerofoil and red paint, combined with its curved headlights, gave the car a ferocious feeling as if it would come to life and attack at any moment. Equipped with a system of hidden tires attached to the floats, it was the wonder created by one of the companies that survived the Third World War.

As soon as he got in the car and started it, the dashboard screens turned on. Everything digitized. The steering wheel, which was similar to those used in Formula 1 cars, came out of the dashboard in front of the driver and was ready to be used. Although he could use autopilot, with such a machine in hand, which could do over 500km/h, Gustavo believed it was a waste not to drive it.

The drive to the nearest mall was smooth. And even though it was a considerable distance, on the expressway he went at full speed, arriving in less than 30 minutes.

When he arrived, he went straight to the Worldtech store to buy the newest model of Capsule VR.

— Mr. Lopes, it is a pleasure to have you in my shop. Even though it hasn't been open to the public for sale yet, we have one ready for you.

Gustavo was the main reason for the current success of the company and, as a bonus gift, William Maximus, the owner of the company, always has a new model available for him. Both have become friends in recent years. Willian has always liked games, so they've played together a few times.

— Can I see the final model and specs?

The reason Gustavo came to the store to buy in person was to assess whether it was worth it or not. Although he has a relaxed and fun personality, when he needs it, he proves to be a great leader and a great observer. In truth, he is not a genius as the world sees him. He's practically a madman who doesn't take the word impossible. So, he did what he did. He just went back to basics to achieve what he did. The truth was, the first-generation G1 Processors were no better than the I200 S3. But as he proved it was possible, he received tons of investment to research the second.

And of course, he had help. Without his ability to lead a team and get the most out of them, as well as knowing how to listen to them, even the janitor wouldn't have made it. A secret that only his team and Willian know is that it was the janitor who came up with the idea to create the processors. He was once a genius student, but after committing a heinous crime, going to prison, he ended up becoming a simple handyman in the company, responsible for the cleaning robots.

After confirming the quality of the product about the old models, he made the purchase and returned home. With no surprises or compromises, the days passed and the Beta Testing would start in three minutes.

— Very good! START CONNECTION!

Gustavo started the Beta Test and was ready to start his great journey to become a High-Ranker.