It was finally time.

Now, located in my own private area, the temperature of the room is overall cold so as to reduce my energy consumption to the maximum. With a subdued aura of anxiety & excitement. My hand slowly glanced across the smooth pink surface of my custom VRDP (Virtual Reality Dive Pod) for which I lovingly crafted all for this moment.

It was a completely beautiful piece of tech that used a lot of principles that would only be understood in a few hundred years if not for me; of course I also used some stuff I gathered from the future. There was truly nothing like it in existence whether discussing past or future - with this I would be able to maximise my time in the game. A major plus was the fact that I do not require oxygen, food or water which allows for me to throw away that pointless stuff and include some more purple LEDs instead.

There were countless different facilities with one of the most obvious ones simply being the ability to reach a higher level than average compatibility with the game character. Obviously there would be a disconnect between a mind using a new body. Different levels of pods slowly began to be developed to counteract this as much as possible; my own masterpiece reaching at least 97% synchronisation.

Although higher sync rates gave another… Benefit.

Included in the long list of features was the ability to fully link up with the web. Keeping up to date on matters of the outside world is actually far more difficult than one would initially assume - one has to remember that it is not simply a game. It literally throws the user's consciousness into a new universe.

Your standard EM wave method is not going to be very effective in crossing the gap; thankfully I was a genius like no other.

More specifically I managed to somewhat apply my own system to create a second bridge between the me inside the game and the me outside the game. Changing the prior one way pathway into something which would allow information to pass back and forth. From there it was very simple to send commands to the pod which obviously already had a connection to my own servers.

There was no way I would trust those shady internet service providers with direct access to my mind hence why I had already developed my own network of servers across the world. The amount of shell locations I possess cannot be understated. Combined that with a couple simple AI’s to run scrutiny security into what I’m pumping to my mind? Well now I simply have nothing to worry about when it comes to data collection or the safety of the data that I’ve collected.

►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄

<< You Are Welcome >>

►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄►☼◄

Of course I also connected it to Furstin’s database and other resources. I even decided to increase my power by releasing these high-tech pods onto the market - if neutering them compared to my own masterpiece all in order to give me an advantage. Playing fair? That is for losers.

“Are you ready boss?” My security captain finally brought me out of my congratulatory spiral.

Currently I (as well as the squad in charge of following me) was located right in my bedroom as it was the easiest room to secure. In addition, me being here, allowed them to also make sure that no peeping toms managed to sneak into the bathroom. It would undoubtedly be annoying to have to silence anyone who managed to see my shining knight.

Since I clearly could not defend myself while in the game - it only made sense to have the squad form a security net since I wasn’t exactly as if I had no enemies that would salivate at the chance.

*cough* Not so United States of America.*cough*

“Those yankees really did not appreciate me interfering in their precious weapons market…” Mumbling to myself as I turned towards my security guards. Not saying anything else but merely satisfying all their questions with a small but confident nod.

From there I reached out to press a button hidden on the underside of a crevice from which LEDs did their job; pressing the button caused a light hologram of a simple finger outline to appear. Along with that an angelic voice, of which I modelled from my memory Jesse, called out to me. “VRDP M.ARC Is Awaiting For The User To Authenticate Identity.”

Hearing that made me smile as I reached one of my thumbs to slowly pull off a very thin layer; the funny thing about being a spirit is… We do not naturally possess finger prints.

Pressing my now bare finger against the hologram caused it to have a rotating symbol of “Void” - like a singular circular inky brush stroke - before it finally gave a nice little *ding* to confirm my identity. I just put the fake fingerprint on my finger as the pod hissed. Slowly the various moving parts worked together to have the top slide open from the top and bottom.

Soon a comfortable foam seat was revealed which I obviously let myself sink into as the processing unit behind my head began whirling. A sound that brought an intrinsic satisfaction. It only took moments for the device to once again close (this time with me inside) as my vision was filled with sky like visuals.

That combined with the chime-based white noise to make a calming chamber.

“Do You Wish To Reveal Desktop?”

“No need… Boot up Love Heart Online.”

…

“Boot Up Failed; Error Report States ‘One Minute Till Scheduled Release’.”

“... Then boot it up when it is finally available.”

“Affirmative.” 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Now was the time for real.

Within the clouds now existed the bubbly bright pink text that proudly exclaimed that I was now in the closed beta of Love Heart Online. Whoever thought such a cutesy innocent logo as well as a name for a gritty, realistic and almost lawless game was… Well they were sadistic to put it briefly.

“Welcome To Love Heart Online - The Game of Change!

Anything Is Possible In The Worlds of Love We Have Gathered Together For You To Explore; As Long As You Have The Luck, Talent And Gumption Required To Make It So.”

A cheery girlish voice - while previously containing a bit of roboticness - echoed throughout the cloud filled vacuum for which I found myself located, not that I was surprised, having already expected all of this I remained completely silent. Awaiting for the voice to continue with her explanation. Something she seemed more than a little excited to do as her voice once again echoed through the “sky”.

“Every User Is Rewarded With A [Chaos J. Crate] Upon Signing Up To Love Heart Online However, As A Closed Beta Tester, You Will Be Gifted With A Second!

Do You Wish To Open T-?”

“NO, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS UNHOLY, NO!” I had heard about those cursed and sadistically predatory loot boxes as they were something that everyone both foamed at the mouth for but also feared above the gods themself. Each box allowed one the chance for a completely random reward. It could even grant one the ability to cut down the heavens with a mere thought; however more often than not it robbed the fool of what he valued most.

When I say they were sadistic I meant it quite literally.

While other “surprise game mechanics” could at most grant a shitty reward… The worst “reward” I have seen recorded was a little known case where someone “won” -100% soul strength. Apparently his body just fell like a sack of potatoes on the ground after releasing such a breath screech of fear that those watching couldn’t help thinking they imagined it.

There is no way, unless I am literally forced at (something superior than) gun point, that I am ever risking my plans by opening one of those horrofic-

“Are You Sure?”

“Yes I am very sure…”

Letting out a sigh at the confit-

“¿̴̜̼̓͘~̸̪̝̃ṣ̸̩͑ǝ̸͉͖̕ʇ̶͙̀ɐ̷͍̬̈ɹ̸͇̓Ɔ̴̮́̈ ̸̲̆ͅʎ̶̙̈́ɔ̶͚̼̽͗ᴉ̶̝̰̆n̷̦̼͛ſ̵̠͛͌ ̸̗̓͑͜ʎ̸͉̝͑̚W̵̮̿͋ ̸̯͑ɟ̷̙̞̊O̷͖͗͝ ̷́ͅǝ̶͚́ǔ̴͇O̴̘͘ ̵̩̜̔u̷̱̳̔ǝ̸̮͒̓ď̷͍̤̂Ǒ̶̺ ̶͉̋̇o̸̩̬̊┴̴̟͍͑ ̵̣͓͊ʇ̴̧̛̳͗ư̴̡̫ɐ̷͎͍̏̕M̴͔̄̕ ̵̡̪̔ʇ̵͓͌̒o̸̳̅N̶͉̪̉ ̴̘̙͌ǫ̶̟̈́p̴̗̟̓͋ ̷͕̈́̃n̵̬̿͒o̸̪͙̿⅄̷͙͝ ̷̼͋̀ǝ̴̤̙͗́ɹ̴̭̻͊n̶̘̄S̷͙̄̿ ̸̻̇n̸̛̻͊o̶̮͓̎̇⅄̷̢̦͝ ̸̟̘̀̕ǝ̶̥̫̾͆ɹ̶̣̄͐∀̴̼̻͘”

I couldn’t help clutching my head because, what the actual fuck, my head is absolutely killing me upon hearing whatever archaic nonsense that just came out. It was still the same sweet voice yet seemed to contain a level of slyness that could not be produced by the most advanced of AI’s. Not to mention I couldn’t understand what was being said… Likely meaning it was complete gibberish.

Nevertheless I felt some intent behind that balderdash.

“Let me pick my starting world already!” I didn’t care enough about it to actually change any of my plans just because of some weird glitch that occurred within this new system.

“Your Available Options Are:
-Phallen; Plane World, Cultivation Focus, 90Z Population, Resources = Average, Rank 5 World…”

“Bring me to Axis preferably on the Prearran Continent” I already knew what I wanted so there was no particular reason to wait around for the system to go around naming them all. Plus, if I wanted to know all the details, there is no doubt they will be uploaded in a few days. The professional gamers sadly mostly ended up on my world and ended up on my continent due to its advantages but I could get a nice head start then exploit those very people.

In front of me appeared that familiar world that I dreamed of for so long.

“Now You Can Choose Your Race.”

Life was never fair so neither were the races. They had several different ranks, on top of different bonus, which allowed them to gain a different amount of attribute points per level: 

• Mortal Rank:
  • Red = 1 AP
  • Blue = 2 AP
  • Purple = 3 AP
• Earth Rank = 5 AP
• Sky Rank = 7 AP
• Immortal Rank = 9 AP
• Heaven Rank = 12 AP
• Divine Rank = 15 AP

There was also a rumoured “True” rank however that had only been heard in whispers through in the game in rumours, The guilds theorised that the bosses of the job towers or the chief gods of the divine pantheons possessed such a rank. Their theory stemmed from the fact that the second “Mother” had the title of “True God” which no one reputed even after her death.

Though since this was just something even the strongest ‘npcs’ knew little about it was impossible judged impossible that mere players could actually achieve such heights.

That was only if they could get access to powerful enough npcs to even hear of the rumours of a level above the sacred divine.

I only learned through diving into the deepest depths of HERO.

When one first comes into the game (like me right now) they will be assigned a race that they could also change before they chose a world. I was the outlier since I asked to choose a world first. There was a small problem with choosing a race though; nothing in the world came for free.

While races were free to choose such as human or that of a house cat - those were only races that were ranked as Mortal (Red). Through luck there were those who happened to naturally have a higher ranking race assigned to them. Anything above the mortal rankings was so rare it may as well have been considered impossible as, even 10 years into the future, 70% of all players sat within the mortal rank.

At the time the game first came out I found the statistics to be even more appalling with the highest race ranked recorded for the first two years being only within the Sky.

To add insult to injury - you cannot just pick which race you want to be but have to manually enter a gacha pool to obtain the race you want. There was no mercy to the paying customer and seemingly less to the free to play casuals who didn’t care.

Thankfully there was another way to make up the difference between those with money and those without since one's character rank didn’t stay completely stagnant. Whether through completely changing one's race or upgrading it into a higher tier one was actually able to improve their character rank. Often it required rare items that the various guilds hoarded to themselves including needing a Rosetta stone for race changes. That could only be obtained from one place out of all those different worlds…

The very place I desired to monopolise~!

“I may need to spend a lot of money but let's see what race I have been giv-”

Race: Dark Matter Spirit ([Origin of Eldritch] + [Phenex Mantis] + [Primal End])
Rank: Divine

“Should have expected that… Well at least it was easy~!”

Although that was some very interesting information; also seems like this system is more well learned than my useless BITCH. I do not know what to do with this information but at least I now know a little bit more about my origin and I can say with certainty… I am more impressive than I gave myself credit for!

“What if I…”

*ヨ尺ヨヨ~廾丹山*

*CRACK*

“ㄩ卄ㄖ卄…”