Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Prologue

The year is 2100.

When technology advances to a certain point, things like poverty become nonexistent. While inevitably there were still differences in class, status, and wealth, even at the lowest depths of society, you would find a population that has no worry for such things like food or water or a house to live in. 

It was a society that could only be embraced by a world that had embraced technology and all the benefits it brought, disregarding short term issues that would be solved by long term prosperity. 

But when everyone is living what could be considered a perfect life, one where they only have their wants to worry about, they get bored. 

And humans hate being bored. 

So, one industry whose sole purpose is to stave off boredom becomes the most valuable in the world. 

The entertainment industry. 

Movies, music, games, and more. Anything that allows humanity to focus their attention and effort becomes entertainment. After all, there is no need to work for your food or water or house. 

And perhaps the most dominant sector of the entertainment industry is gaming. 

Games. Places and worlds where humanity seeks difficulty and achievement, places where countless hours are sunk into oblivion, where time is no consequence. 

……

The Archive. 

It was a company that developed human brain interfaces, though not the first. They merely made it easy to use and cheap. But perhaps more than that, they gave it purpose. 

First it was augmented reality. Their first product, the Glass Eye, was a subtle device that was placed around the head and allowed one to operate smartphone software with nothing but their mind. 

They could read and send texts, play games, watch movies and shows, read books, and more. It all happened in their vision and was controlled by their thoughts. 

It was the first true augmented reality device brought to market. 

Naturally, the company exploded in popularity and value, their devices replacing nearly all smart devices and phones within a year. 

After that, they only kept developing. 

More augmented reality, and more human brain interface software. They continued to push brain interfacing to the market, which inspired an entirely new industry around the concept called Mind Software. This Mind Software was responsible for allowing devices to operate alongside brains. 

And the core principle behind interfacing with the brain was the Quantum Field. 

The brain’s neurons created a field of electromagnetic quanta that allowed abstract thinking, something that couldn’t be achieved strictly with neurons. 

Mind Software allowed one, with the right hardware, to interact with this field and tap into the true human mind. 

So after the hardware was brought to market, people all over the world scrambled to develop countless new applications using Mind Sofware. 

Of course, nothing could beat Archive and their development. With new products and improved models, they dominated the hardware and software aspects of brain interfacing, quickly making them one of the most valuable companies in the world. 

Still, there was one thing that Archive wasn’t the first to. The virtual world market. 

Other companies sprouted within the gaming sector and developed technology to succeed in the vast entertainment industry. Their products were Virtual Worlds, places that the human mind could be transported to and live in as if it were a real world. Nothing could match the level of realism achieved by these false realities. 

So, while the first few virtual worlds weren’t amazing, their offspring were. 

It was all a matter of detail that appealed to the mind’s senses of Taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight. With the development of these details, the virtual worlds climbed closer to true reality. 

But there was always that one thing that seemed missing, the one spark that nobody could seem to pin down. 

And one day, several years after the first conception of Virtual Worlds…

The head of the Archive, a mysterious man named Hugo Langston, developed and released his first Virtual World. 

………

……

Inside an office was a man standing before a glass wall, overlooking a fantastical forest and lake down below. 

He was alone for a while until the door behind him opened. A lady, one looking like a classic young and pretty secretary, stepped close to the desk behind the man before stopping. 

She spoke after a few seconds of silence. 

“Today is the grand opening of The Ascent, sir.”

“...”

The man was silent, and the secretary merely observed him while waiting for a response. 

He wasn’t old. In fact, he was awfully young for the powerful position he held. At 26 years old, he was one of the most powerful people in the world, and he was about to become even more so. 

The secretary also held some forbidden feelings toward this man. While he wasn’t a male model, he was good looking and lean. Adding to the fact that he was at the prime age for marriage, and it was no wonder she had these thoughts. 

But she could never act on them. She didn’t have the guts, and it wasn’t due to his status, but because of a few other women.

*Knock Knock*

Suddenly, the door to the office opened again. 

Another woman, but contrary to the properly and formally dressed secretary, this woman was wearing totally casual clothes. With deep red hair, blue eyes, and a few freckles dotting her cheeks, she was definitely a classic beauty. 

Speak of the devil. The secretary nodded blandly to the woman. 

“Ms. Suri.”

“Oh, hi.”

Suri nodded back to the secretary before looking over at the man. 

“Hey Hugo. Launch is in two hours.”

“...”

The man, Hugo, was still silent. 

Seeing as how Suri was here, the secretary saw herself out, leaving the two alone. 

After several more moments of silence, Hugo finally opened his mouth. 

“There were two pieces that were always missing from the infant virtual worlds on the market.”

“Life and feelings.”

Suri blurted out, causing Hugo to nod. 

“Right. Life and feelings. There was no life besides your own and of other humans, and there were no feelings wrought directly by the virtual worlds you were immersed in. It was always too shallow. Thankfully I’ve solved both of those problems in The Ascent.”

“Well, as the first to develop Artificial General Intelligence, it would have been embarrassing not to have solved them.”

Suri walked over and took a seat in the head chair of the office, spinning around on it and observing Hugo. 

Artificial General Intelligence. 

It was AI that could actually think and learn no differently from a human being. Except, unlike humans with just their brains, an AGI had virtually limitless data storage and unprecedented processing power. 

This wasn’t to say that an AGI was an intellectual god on Earth. There were still slight differences between AGI’s and humans, namely the abstract creativity. An AGI still couldn’t replicate the same convoluted imaginations as the world’s best artists. 

But besides that, it was a revolutionary technology still only limited by the hardware that Hugo gave it. If it were expanded for another hundred years, then just that tech alone could bring humanity to the stars. 

But right now, it was being used in a video game. 

“The AGI allows us to bring life to all the NPC’s in the game. The NPC’s will act and function no differently from normal people. That was the biggest issue with most virtual worlds, as their NPC’s were nothing but sugar coated robots. Our AGI will make The Ascent a true Virtual Reality.”

Hugo sighed, feeling a wave of emotion as he thought about the sheer complexity of it all. Developing an AGI, the first in history, was not easy. 

Suri was thinking the same thing as she nodded solemnly. 

“You’re right. You’ve done amazing, Hugo. I don’t think there’s another genius like you.”

“Me? Genius? Absolutely not.”

Hugo instantly denied her words. 

“There are dozens just within my own company who are smarter than me. Dozens who I couldn’t hope to match in academia. You included, Suri. I could never beat you when it comes to judging a person’s character. That’s why I made you the gatekeeper, the one who determines who gets brought into this company. Not only that, but you put together all the quantum child software for the AGI. I don’t know anything about that.”

He looked back at Suri, slightly smiling at her. She smiled back. 

“You’re only slightly correct. I have yet to ever beat you in chess, despite trying for years.”

“And?”

“It means your strengths lie elsewhere. You may not have developed the AGI. You didn’t develop its quantum software, you didn’t blueprint the hardware, you didn’t do the math, nor the chemistry, nor the mechanical engineering. But you did see that it was possible to construct. Plus, your conceptual knowledge of all the sciences isn’t much lesser than people who devote their lives to those fields.”

Suri scooted forward, poking Hugo in the chest. 

“You were capable of seeing al the pieces, and by bringing them together you plotted the path to completion. You saw how we could build the AGI by mimicking a human brain’s quantum field. You saw how we could do so with the hardware we developed. You brought together the right scientists and pushed them in the right direction.”

“That wasn’t much. Merely seeing the path isn’t enough to move down it. It was everyone else who actually moved the project forward.”

Hugo still shook his head, causing Suri to sigh. 

“Hugo, you underestimate how important your role is. Nothing would have happened if you weren’t there to pull everything together. You can’t possibly be so self-unaware to think that you did nothing. You’re not that stupid.”

“...”

Hugo was silent, but his small smile grew a bit. 

This caused Suri to smile wider. Of course Hugo knew what role he played in all this. 

She asked.

“Anyway, what are your plans for the release?”

“I didn’t really have any. Not like I can’t watch everything from here.”

“Why not hop into the game and watch everyone personally? That’s what I was planning. You can join me.”

“Hm, alright.”

Deciding that he didn’t have anything better to do, Hugo went and followed Suri out of his office. 

The building that the office room was located in was a small complex built not far from a city. It could be thought of as a cabin by a lake, except it wasn’t a wood cabin but a highly advanced home comprised of a dozen rooms, a few labs, and a giant underground warehouse. The lake and forest around it was also artificially constructed by Hugo’s wishes for more natural scenery.

Right now, Suri and Hugo, as well as the secretary, were the only ones in this place as everyone else was preparing for the big launch. 

Suri led Hugo to a large room. This room in particular had a dozen large pods that could hold a single person each. Hugo observed them with familiarity.

These pods were what made dives into the virtual world possible. These particular models were developed by the Archive for The Ascent, and after its release, they would be able to be used for any and all virtual worlds. 

They were called Artifacts, and each Artifact was filled with a dense fluid that the user’s body would be submerged into. 

The fluid itself was cheap, but it was still a marvel of chemical engineering. The pod’s sensors, which comprised all surfaces of its internal walls, used this fluid as a medium for interfacing with not just the brain, but the entire body. 

After all, while the human mind was created by the brain’s quantum field, the rest of the body’s nervous system still had a significant part to play. Things such as reflexes and instincts, these subconscious memories and functions, didn’t reside in the brain but throughout the body. 

Hugo thought of it as such: When one brought their hand too close to a hot surface and accidentally touched it, they would pull their hand away without so much as a slight thought. The reflex to pull oneself away from that pain wasn’t a conscious action, and the response time for that reflex was much too fast to have been consciously thought about in the brain, decided upon, and instructed to carry out. It was instinct, something ingrained throughout the entire body’s nervous system, and an action that didn’t require the brain’s explicit permission to carry out. 

It was not unlike how one unconsciously breathes or how the heart eternally beats. One didn’t manage the hormones in their body, nor did they feel every effect of their hormones on their decision making and emotional feeling. 

So many things happened beyond the brain and within the body, even if the brain still hand a small hand in the function. The body could be thought of as a life of its own. The complexity of the nervous system through all organs and aspects of the body allowed it to be such.

Thus, for full immersion into a virtual world, the device used to put a person into that world needed to interface with their entire body. This pod full of fluid allowed for that. 

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And it didn’t require one to enter nude. Suri and Hugo, after stepping into a separate compartment within the pods, were directly inserted into the fluid. 

Hugo felt the fluid run across his body, but when he finally settled, it felt like he was weightless. The fluid was similar in density to the human body, allowing for the perfect buoyancy to counteract a person’s weight and keep them suspended in what felt like zero gravity. 

Not only that, but Hugo didn’t have any trouble breathing. In fact, breathing felt much easier than normal, as if his body was being oxygenated automatically. This was another feature of the fluid. 

Finally, as Hugo closed his eyes, he was met with a prompt in his dark vision. 

[Would you like to enter The Ascent?]

“Yes.”

Hugo answered, and with it, his vision turned white.

………

[Welcome, Hugo.]

After a mere few moments, Hugo found himself inside a blank white space, floating aimlessly. Despite having overseen every stage of development for this technology, he was still disoriented by the unfamiliar space. 

Grid lines appeared and tracked what seemed to be surfaces above and below him, extending off into infinity. 

Looking at himself, Hugo found that he looked just as he did in real life. 

Brown hair, green eyes, a sharp face and a lean figure. Despite being as rich as he was, Hugo always strived to take care of his young self. After all, a fit body made for a fit mind. Without a healthy body Hugo wouldn’t be able to function as well as he should. He spared no effort in taking care of himself. 

As Hugo observed, feeling the touch of his own skin against itself, another figure appeared in front of him. 

“Hey.”

It was Suri, who was similarly dressed in her casual clothes. 

“I’ll take you to The Ascent. You’ll be able to meet the Child and the overseers.”

“Alright.”

Hugo nodded, and with a flash, he appeared in another world. 

Specifically, he seemed to appear within a tavern. It seemed medieval, but all around there were colorful devices that cast a warm light on the place. 

Hugo looked around and nodded. 

“Well, I feel absolutely nothing that would indicate this is virtual.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

There was a young voice, and Hugo looked down. 

In front of him was a child, a young girl no more than 7 years old. With white hair, crystalline eyes, and chubby cheeks, Hugo found her absolutely adorable. She stood respectfully in front of him. 

Suri, who was beside them, introduced the girl. 

“Hugo, this is the Child. She is the personification of the AGI.”

“Oh. So this is the quantum child program.”

Hugo looked curiously. Despite having overseen nearly every project, he couldn’t possibly know about every little detail. That was why he had trustworthy subordinates like Suri who took charge of their own departments, and it was their subordinates that took care of the nitty gritty details. 

There was much for him to discover, even within the products his own company produced.

“So tell me, who are these overseers?”

“Let us sit and discuss that.”

With a flick of her finger, the child made the world shift, and the three were sat around a wooden table.

The child explained with intelligence surpassing Hugo’s. 

“The Overseers are what could be considered the gods of this virtual reality. There are three of them, and each of them oversees one continent in the world the game takes place in. This is Eve.”

Waving her hand, a person congealed atop the table they were sitting at. It was a miniature figure of Eve.

Eve had long green hair and brilliant blue eyes, the icon of mother nature. Her white dress accentuated her figure like a greek goddess, and she carried an air of maturity  while holding onto a stand adorned with hanging ornaments and jewels. 

The child explained. 

“Eve oversees-”

“Hang on.”

Hugo stopped the child before continuing to stare at Eve. 

Of course, it wasn’t because he was captivated by her virtual beauty.

“This feeling… This is it.”

He couldn’t help the wide smile. 

The air of maturity, the feeling of awe and power that radiated from her body, the goosebumps Hugo felt just by being in her presence.

“This is the feeling that the infant virtual worlds lacked. The abstract emotion, the sixth sense, feelings directly fed to our minds. The ability to incite. This is it! Amazing…”

Hugo was satisfied. Nowhere else could you feel like this. All other virtual worlds lacked the same insight into the human mind so as to impart abstract feelings like this. 

And Hugo knew it didn’t stop at awe or airs of maturity. Things like danger, intuition, threat, bravery, trust, mastery, confusion, evil, and justice. 

All these emotions and more could be wrought upon the players of this game. No longer were virtual worlds so shallow and robotic. 

This was a Virtual Reality. The first of its kind. 

After staring in awe for a while, Hugo finally let out a deep breath. 

“I apologize. Continue on, child.”

“Do not be sorry.”

The child smiled at Hugo so cutely.

“Your awe towards my work makes me happy. I now know I have accomplished what has never been done before.”

“You have.”

“Mm. Anyway.”

The child continued.

“The continent Eve oversees is just one of the continents that players can choose to be dropped into. There are also two other continents, whose overseers are known as Doramn and The Celestial.”

Two more people appeared above the table. 

The one known as Doramn looked like some kind of giant crazed mechanic who went overboard with the cybernetic augmentations. His entire body was riddled with tubes, mechanical parts, and weapons like cannons and miniguns. 

The Celestial, however, was a faceless being covered behind a black robe that draped off into oblivion. His body was surrounded by a massive silver halo, except the halo was shattered and pointed, radiating the aura of profound depth and transcendent power. 

“These two people oversee their own continents alongside eve, making for a three way conflict between the different factions. They also have different systems of power. Doramn’s system of power is mechanical transcendence, the Celestial’s system of power is the celestial arts, and Eve’s system of power is nature’s evolution. Or putting it simply, they can be divided by mechanics, sorcery, and elemental magic.”

“So the players will sultimately be operating with purely fantastical systems.”

Hugo concluded simply, but the child tilted her head.

“Yes and no. Because players are real humans, it has been decided that their actual physical ability be taken into account, creating a universal secondary system of martial arts.”

The child waved, making the three overseers disappear. What took their place was a diagram of the human body. 

“Since nearly a century ago, human martial arts have begun to transcend what was previously thought possible. Call it what you wish, perhaps humanity’s latent potential or forgotten power, but the human body is capable of unlocking vast strength. And this isn’t simply inhibited strength that can be unblocked by adrenaline, but evolutionary potential. I have concluded that it has to do with muscle density and the concentration of neural grey matter. Regardless, this potential has unlocked a new realm of physical ability, and this virtual reality intends to make use of that.”

“Interesting.”

Hugo rubbed his chin. He obviously knew about this so called evolutionary potential. He just thought the game making use of it was fascinating. 

After all, it required an in depth understanding of the player’s body to enable such precise application of power into the game. 

Hugo asked a question. 

“So how will real life ability be scaled in the game?”

“Well, everyone’s skills will gradually rise as they gain more power. With this game comes stats, and increasing stats like strength will naturally make you stronger. Increasing agility will make you faster. Increasing endurance will increase your energy, and increasing vitality will increase your health. As for real life ability, that comes into play when applying your stats. Two people with the same amount of strength may not be able to hit equally as hard. Same goes for everything else. Those who know nothing will need to learn in order to become stronger.”

The child concluded, making Hugo nod in agreement. 

Someone with amazing stats will be able to destroy those with lesser stats, even if they don’t know fantastic martial arts. However, those who know martial arts and how to apply their stats will be able to have an edge on those of the same level, even be able to fight above their level.

“Of course, things like gear, magic, classes, and a concept called Realms will present far more variables. But reality will have its place in the virtual.”

“Mm. I like it. Although the virtual can turn man into god, that only applies when we remember where we come from and our painfully mortal selves. We cannot forsake reality.”

Saying that, Hugo closed his eyes for a moment. 

Suri, having sat around watching the two converse, finally spoke up. 

“Anyway, the launch is soon. We already have 2 million people with Artifacts primed for entry. They’ll be allowed to choose between the three continents, and three small cities within each continent. These small cities are located around a single megacity that acts as the capital of the respective empires that rule the continents. However, before entry into the game, everyone will be brought to a waiting room where we officially announce the launch. I suggest we go there.”

“Alright.”

“Then, child, if you don’t mind.”

Suri glanced at the child. 

And with a flick of the finger, she sent them to another blank white space. 

The floor of this white space was composed of reflective crystal. The ground also curved upward, wrapping around in a spherical pattern and creating an inverted world. 

When Hugo arrived, he looked around to see millions of people already queued for entry, all of which were mingling around this waiting area. 

And in the center of this inverted world, there was a timer. 

15 minutes until the official launch. 

Before the launch of this game, there was obviously tons of marketing carried out by the Archive that promoted the realism of this world. There were mock trials, interviews, and all sorts of interactive showcasing that created waves of hype. 

Naturally, the entire world was expecting nothing but perfection from Archive. As the world’s leader in human brain interfacing, and given all the promotion and promises, if they didn’t deliver heaven-defying experiences, then there would be floods of hate and ridicule. 

But Hugo wasn’t worried in the slightest. Nobody could compare to the empire he created. 

But, perhaps most importantly, nobody understood just how powerful a tool he carried. 

The AGI. 

Nobody knew about it except for a select few who were close to Hugo personally. Not even the world governments knew about it. 

It was something that couldn’t be carelessly revealed or it could spark global conflict no lesser than a world war. An AGI meant that much, especially if it weren’t subject to the thousands of conceptual restrictions Hugo had developed for it. 

Even the AGI itself knew the restrictions that were placed on it and the fail safes that would go off should it attempt something. It was entirely self aware and knew its own abilities and importance. 

The child program itself was an attempt to keep the AGI under control, almost like psychological brainwashing but for a program. 

Combined with every hardware limiter and even other AIs whose sole purpose was to keep the AGI in check, and Hugo was riding a very dangerous line should anything go wrong. 

But for now, everything was entirely safe, and the AGI afforded Hugo something no other company, government agency, or technical institution around the world could compete with.

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