Chapter 1 Eternal code

June 7, 2047. On that date, a VR MMO Eternal Code was released into the world. It had been more than four decades since humans had first dreamt of a VR MMO (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online) games.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, a variety of media, such as manga, anime, and video games, began to incorporate Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online games into their stories as the ultimate dream game.

From among a sea of creative entertainment, people eagerly looked forward to the release of a VR MMO, and in the 2010s, quasi-VR headsets were released, offering enhanced quality of sight and sound immersion. Although at first a mere product of fantasy, VR MMOs were anticipated, developed, and then finally given form.

In the 2020s, haptic suits were designed and created and even though they were not able to give the complete feel of the game, it was a game changer in the VR gaming industries.

Around the end of the 2020s, a group of scientists were able to integrate digital signals and create a simulation in the brain, leading to the start of a new era in the world of VR. The beginning in the development of nerve gears.

In the 2030s, a few full dive VR MMO games were released, allowing players to enter game worlds using all five of their senses, but nerve gears were not available to humans at the time. They had to wear big suits and immerse themselves in a pod which simulated their senses. Even though the world had moved a step closer to the creation of the perfect VR MMO.

The reason so few were released was due to the difficulty and enormous cost of development. This meant that only companies with leading technology and sufficient resources could even make an attempt. Or perhaps more were attempted, but never completed. The world of VR MMO game creation had endless potential, and it was yearning for someone to tap into it.

The few completed games that did make it out into the world were quickly met with disappointment. Unlike the VR MMOs depicted in fiction, these lacked realism, they assailed the senses with discomfort, and their graphics were hardly any different from existing game systems.

Also, despite guarantees of a safe design, players one after another fell ill and were taken to the hospital. The development companies behind the initial dive VR MMOs all went bankrupt due to poor sales, bad reputations, and numerous lawsuits from afflicted players.

A reviewer from the time had the following to say about these games:

"They managed to create the 'idea,' but not the 'dream.'"

Dive VR MMO games continued to be developed, but none were made that could be considered a success. That is… until Eternal Code was released.

The lack of information about Eternal Code before its release was quite strange. It was kept secret the whole time, and on the day of release, the game developers only made one announcement simultaneously across the global media networks. In it, they presented four key selling points for the game.

First: All the five senses of the user will be perfectly simulated. The game will be only available on the console created by the Ubiquity team.

Second: Even if the entire population of the world started to play the game, they would be present in the same server and the same game world.

Third: Players could choose how they'd view the game world, with options including realistic, 3D CG, and 2D anime.

Fourth: Time within the game would flow three times faster than in the real world.

In response to the announcement, voices from around the world could be heard saying: "This is not really possible, is it?" "How much time and money did they spend to create the tech and the game?" "Even for a case of misleading advertisement, isn't this going a bit far?"

Although the announcement had an impact, people found its content simply absurd. Out of everyone that saw the announcement, and this included non-gamers, 99.99 % of the world population didn't believe it and didn't buy the game.

The remaining 0.001% of people, however, said things like, "Even though it seems like a lie,  I should give it a try" and they headed into stores to buy the game.

The necessary hardware cost around 1000 dollars, and was an extraordinary, some would even say reckless, pricing scheme. This helped lure in customers, with some saying, "Well, even if it's a lie, it's only 1000 dollars." So they bought it and started playing.

And once they logged into the game… they all knew it was the real thing. Overcome with amazement at the game's realism, they would log out and look at their clocks, only to be astonished even more. The dreams they saw were all real — the idea of the "dream game" was now a reality.

The company's marketing team had all of this planned out, it was only 1000 dollars for the first version of the nerve gear and less than 100K copies were available around the world. They sold out pretty quickly. The price increased steeply with the next revisions.

The day after release, amid the clamor set off around the world by posts and comments from those who played the game, the developers released another announcement.  This time, the contents of the game were detailed. A man named Dr. Kelvin, the lead developer for Ubiquity, presented the broadcast announcement and said the following:

"The game system in Eternal Code has a special feature. Rather than relying on thousands of possible combinations of jobs and skills, this feature provides absolute and distinct uniqueness. This feature is the hex soul. It will offer players truly infinite possibilities and unique customization. Hex souls will respond to the personality and personal circumstances and evolve from among an infinity of patterns. These souls will not merely be different colors and parts, but will even include unique skills, allowing them to be truly limitless in scope. This is what Eternal Code is all about."

"Yes, Eternal Code will provide you with a new world and your very own unique possibility."

These words served as the last trigger needed to turn the game into a giant movement.