Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Launch

10 minutes to launch. 

Hundreds of thousands of people logged into the waiting room every minute, increasing the population density of the inverted world.

Among the millions before Hugo’s eyes, Suri pointed out any celebrities that popped up.

“Look, that guy right there won the American National MMA tournament last year. Truly a superhuman.”

Hugo’s vision zoomed in when he focused, revealing the champion that Suri pointed out. 

The man was 6 foot 9 inches tall with a bald head and tan skin, and at just a glance, one could see how strong he was. Even through his sweatshirt and sweats one could see his bulging muscles. 

Suri even pulled up an anatomic scan of his body, showing off the ridiculous muscle density. There were also some records that showed his sheer performance capability, boasting outstanding numbers in punch force and speed. 

The fact that he was waiting for this game, however, was probably the most astonishing thing about him. 

“Since we told everyone that real-life performance would translate in this game, those with overwhelming skill would naturally want to see if that were true. And if it is, everyone would be incentivized to train, and more people with amazing skills would want to play. Where else could you show off your abilities with wild abandon?”

Suri mumbled while searching through all the people. Hugo just listened and watched as she spoke. 

The entertainment industry was massive, so there were naturally many people who could be considered celebrities. From professional gamers, to athletes, to actors and prominent businessmen. Everyone from all walks of life was here. 

But without question, it was the professional gamers that everyone was looking at. 

The conception of virtual worlds spawned a whole new level of gamer dedication. What used to be tiny 5 man teams turned into large gaming guilds that would hire hundreds or thousands of people whose sole job was to play the game and carry out certain tasks. For them, gaming wasn’t just a pastime, but their career. 

And these guilds often had large sponsors behind them, companies that wanted the promotion these professional gamers brought. 

Millions could easily be poured into a guild to be used in a game. After all, these game companies wanted to make money, so many of their virtual items could be exchanged with or bought using real money. Hugo had even heard of a game whose sole currency was the real world dollar. That game crashed very quickly due to poor balancing.

Regardless, the gaming sector was a huge investment pit. After all, in a society where everyone’s needs were taken care of, all their money was sent to their wants. Well, virtual reality games, which had taken over a majority of society, was now where all the money went. 

Games, or their virtual items, could make players and companies alike rich. 

Gamer Guilds, being professionals, were the targets of investment. Some were even publicly traded. 

Although, with The Ascent where real life ability could significantly affect in game performance, the scrawny gamers in the guilds may not be the best investment choice anymore. People like the national MMA champion, on the other hand, might be worth looking at.

Suri talked about the most prominent people who were in the waiting room while she and Hugo waited for the timer to count down. 

5 minutes to launch. 

Finally, when it hit this point, a large figure manifested in the center of the world below the timer. It looked like a ghost, ethereal and draped in white cloth that covered its face. 

“Greetings, players from all corners of the globe. Before you are all officially inserted into the world of The Ascent, there are a few things that must be explained.”

Its voice entered everyone’s ears in the language of their native tongue. 

“In five minutes, you will all be able to choose one of three factions within the virtual world. There, you will be prompted to generate your character, but there will be significant limits as to the extent of your alterations.

“First, as this is a true virtual reality game, all of your real life characteristics will be translated directly and perfectly in the game. By all means perceivable, this world is no different from reality itself. Therefore, you will not be allowed to alter your body in any significant capacity so as to maintain fairness.”

The white ghost explained, earning all manner of reactions from the crowd, both agreeable and disagreeable.

Hugo agreed with such a decision himself. 

Imagine if that MMA champion gave himself the body of a little girl. That little girl would naturally have a small fist. However, the strength and power of the champion would remain. This means that he would be able to deliver superhuman power into the small arm of that little girl. 

A small object with inhuman force behind it wouldn’t be much different than a bullet. Such a thing wasn’t fair to anybody. After all, the laws of physics would apply in this virtual reality. In order to keep things fair, people at least needed to retain their overall bodily stature. Of course, things like one’s face wouldn’t matter, so they would be allowed to change that among other details to a reasonable degree. 

The ghost continued.

“Secondly, The Ascent can be played with entirely realistic effects, which naturally include the consequences of combat such as bloody wounds and pain. The visual effects can be dampened and censored without restraint. However, pain can be censored only with consequences toward one’s true physical ability. Reducing pain is no different from reducing one’s physical sensitivity, so if you reduce pain, there will be detriments toward performing at your true physical capacity. In order to fully display your physical abilities, you must maintain pain intensity at an 60% minimum. Anything below that threshold will dampen your physical attributes and result in more reliance on the system.

“And lastly, there will be no baseline time dilation within the game. Every second in the game amounts to a second in real life. The only things that change this will be the skills and powers you attain in the game, which can potentially alter your perception of time.”

With that explanation, the crowds below began fervently chattering in curiosity, especially when they heard about the time dilation. Though, many were also concerned about the pain sensor minimum. Of course, the only ones worried about that were those who didn’t have any significant physical prowess to speak of. The ones who did were more interested in how things would feel once they finally entered a battle.

The ghost finished.

“That is all. Players from all corners of the globe, you are welcomed by the executives of the Archive. What you are about to experience will be unlike anything ever fathomed throughout human history. The first True Virtual Reality is upon you. Prepare yourselves, and embrace this historical leap for humanity.”

With that, the ghost faded away. 

Down below, the 5 million people who had logged in were awestruck by the feeling the ghost left them with those final words. It was unlike anything they’ve ever felt, especially from a VR game. 

They had gotten a small glimpse of what the rest of the game would be like. 

1 minute to launch. 

Everyone watched the timer with ever growing excitement as it continued to tick down. 

Hugo, who had been watching silently in the air, heard a new voice at that moment.

“So you guys were here!”

Another person popped into existence beside Suri, Hugo, and the child. It was a middle aged man with a scraggly beard and long hair. 

Suri nodded to him. 

“Garet.”

“Suri. You should’ve told me you were watching. I would have joined.”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Busy.”

Garet shrugged casually before looking at the timer. 

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30 seconds. 

“I can’t believe we’ve come this far. Hey Hugo, you should make your character first. You could be the official player one.”

“Mine? Hm, I didn’t plan on playing…”

Hugo rubbed his chin while looking down at everyone, contemplating thee decision. 

10 seconds.

“...No, that’s alright.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. There’s no point in taking such a small honor.”

With his word, the timer suddenly hit zero. 

Hugo watched as all the people in the waiting area flashed a brilliant white. 

Then, the system spoke.

[Let The Ascent Begin.]

The Virtual Reality was officially launched. 

………

……

…

As Hugo told Suri and Garet, he didn’t plan on playing The Ascent. 

But that didn’t mean they weren’t playing it. Although they were both executives of the Archive, their jobs didn’t require every waking hour of their time. They could easily spend half their day within the game and still take care of work. In fact, they could take care of work while in game, courtesy of the Child AGI. 

But besides that…

The world was expecting perfection from The Ascent. Their standards and expectations were colossal. Never has there been such a game as hyped and promoted as The Ascent. And so, the first day of gameplay was instrumental toward the game’s future. 

And after the first 24 hours…

Every single player could confidently say that it was the best game ever created. 

Realism that was no different from reality. There was nothing stopping the players from doing anything they wanted, and anything they did do would feel just as it would in real life. 

For example, a player could bend down and touch the stone floors of the city they were dropped in, picking at the rocks with their fingernails and leaving behind small streaks. They would feel every vibration, every scratch, and their fingernail would be deformed accordingly. 

Players could also strip the clothes that they were given as starter gear, going totally nude and streaking through the city. Though, this was swiftly met with apprehension and punishment by the NPC’s of the game. 

That was another major selling point. 

The NPC’s acted no differently from normal people. A player could hold a conversation with anybody, and each NPC had their own personalities, mannerisms, history, preferences…

The entire city was full of life. It was a world that could operate without the existence of the players. So when the players were thrown into this world, they could truly feel how vibrant and alive it was. 

A world that moved with or without the player. That was a true virtual reality. 

And so, with all its details that blew players out of the water, The Ascent’s popularity exploded. 

Hugo could watch millions of orders be placed for the Artifacts in real time. Everyone seemed to want these pods, and any gamer guild that hadn’t already invested in the game was now doing so. 

It was a massive success, though, Hugo expected it. 

That was the power of an AGI. 

They even had quantum network stations installed all around the world specifically for this game due to the massive amounts of data it required to run. And every Artifact seamlessly tapped into this vast network. 

Still, the heart of everything was the AGI.

For the next several days after its launch, The Ascent only continued to garner more popularity. 

It was talked about in every media outlet all around the world. Players were constantly being interviewed, and thousands of articles were written every day about all aspects of the game. 

Of course, many people tried to find flaw with the game. But as many came to point out, what people thought of as flaws were really their own personal preferences. 

As the ghost said in the waiting room. 

By all means perceivable, the game was no different from reality. 

From one’s physical abilities to the feelings they experienced, everything was just as complex and in depth as reality. 

And so, the player count only rose. 

In only a week, the player count rose to approximately 15 million, all of them entirely unique people with their own Artifact. 

After that explosion, the number of people joining every day dwindled, but not due to any kind of popularity issue. 

The Archive could only produce so many Artifacts at a time. Hugo knew it would be popular and ordered around 15 million Artifacts to be made before the launch. But all of it was quickly bought up, meaning they could only sell as fast as they produced more Artifacts. 

This naturally meant that people began selling their own Artifacts for sky high prices, leading to a lot of controversy over entry into the game. 

But Hugo didn’t care. He just sat back and watched everything happen. 

At the same time, after about a week since the game’s launch, he began looking at the game’s story and functions a little more closely. 

His own game had piqued his curiosity.

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