Looking at the players sitting cross-legged on the floor, deep in meditation, Victor pondered the gains he had made from this venture. For once, now that the players had all logged out, he was left alone in this academy with a fairly frail fairy… Not that these players would enhance the academy’s security in any way.
“Earth… huh.” A melancholic and longing expression formed on Victor’s face as he chewed these words. “Aah… How good would it be if I could come back to Earth, too?”
He was being honest with himself. Compared to endangering himself in this world, if he could hide his real body in another world, he would be more than willing to do so. There were precedents where high-ranking Magi conquered small planes to hide their real bodies and explore the world with their avatars.
“—You can.” Suddenly, a sassy voice interrupted his train of thought.
“Yeah, it’s nothing but impossi— Huh?!” Victor turned his head toward a floating fairy beside him — Lizbeth — who had appeared out of nowhere. Did she just…
“You haven’t misheard; you, in fact, can.” She stressed each syllable. “As long as you can create a magic ship capable of traversing the dangers lurking in the depths of the nexus space — such as dimensional rifts and eldritch monsters — or have a strong enough physical body, then it’s not completely impossible. Earth itself exists in a different dimension than this one, but that only makes things a bit harder. After all, we have the coordinates.”
“Seriously?!” Victor’s tone carried a trace of excitement mixed with disbelief.
Lizbeth, seeing her master’s mood was changing for the better, sat on his shoulder. “Seriously.”
Victor couldn’t help but entertain the thought of returning. However, he quickly realized that such solutions proved to be not feasible.
Firstly, the idea of creating a magic ship capable of traversing dimensions was no less bit daunting. The cost of such an undertaking would be astronomically high that even if he sold the academy and himself into slavery ten times over, it would be far from enough.
Secondly, by going with the second option, he would only gain the ability to withstand the harsh conditions outside Seraphia once he reached the rank of Nexus Temporal. However, even at that rank, he wouldn’t be able to go to nearby planes and would be limited to the peripheral space of Seraphia. Only powerful Sigil Conversion and above Magi possessed the qualifications to travel far with their physical bodies alone — which might take decades at the very least without additional methods.
Thirdly, embarking on a prolonged voyage would pose a dangerous risk to the academy. With him being away, the academy would be vulnerable to attacks or disasters, potentially leading to its destruction and jeopardizing his life.
While there might be other solutions, such as utilizing a nexus gate or an extremely large far-distance teleportation formation, the reality was that these methods could only be executed if someone had already explored and established connections with the desired plane or world. Typically, Magi would mark the coordinates of a plane they discovered and construct a nexus gate as an anchor point on the other side. So, even if Victor had the coordinates, there was a high chance that he would end up in an entirely different location, especially considering the complexities of dealing with different dimensions.
All in all, as enticing as the idea of returning to Earth was, the obstacles and risks were too great to overcome at the moment.
“Speaking of different worlds… I wonder, can they remain in this world forever?” Victor inquired another question that had been bugging his mind.
If it was possible to establish connections to this world without any lag whatsoever, then what about staying here forever? Victor presumed it wouldn’t be implausible, and Lizbeth’s answer seemed to confirm his suspicion.
“They can.” Lizbeth gave Victor a knowing smile. “The gaming capsule has the means to upload their minds and let them stay inside their alternate bodies forever.”
Victor nodded, finding the idea worth taking note of in the future. “Thought so. But what would happen to their bodies on Earth?”
Lizbeth shrugged her shoulders, her mischievous grin never leaving her face. “Well, they will be dead, of course. What do you expect to happen? Remain alive like undead?”
Victor made a self-deprecating smile at Lizbeth’s straightforward response. Indeed, it always came with a somewhat permanent consequence, fundamentally a one-way ticket. Guess if this ever becomes a choice, it will be up for the players to choose… though I wouldn’t mind trapping them here if the need ever arises.
But wait, such a thing wouldn’t be traceless, considering that it would leave behind corpses inside the gaming capsule or nearby. If the government on Earth caught wind of this, then his VR game would be banned and closed down as a consequence. He could already picture the news headlines the next day: “Dangerous Game! Many Died While Playing… But Found Alive Inside a Video Game?!” and the news reporter’s dramatic voice narrating the whole incident.
Victor shook his head, dismissing the absurdity of it all. As much as he wanted to let the players stay in this world forever and help him in his cause, he definitely didn’t want it to come with a side of real-life chaos and headlines, and it would also erase one of their unique abilities: being able to revive indefinitely.
Staying in the game forever? Fun in theory, but the consequences? Not so much.
“Still,” Victor began, looking at the player named SuperNova, “that one player reminds me of something. Is it possible for these players to be brainwashed by high-ranking Magi, like, being cast mind-reading spells like {Mindscour}?”
Lizbeth pondered for a moment before responding, “Probably.”
“Why with the uncertainty?”
“You do realize yourself that Magi possess the strangest spells to do the strangest kind of means… There is no guarantee that anything is impossible.”
Victor scratched his head, considering the possibilities. He didn’t want to be an overprotective headmaster, but if one of the players encountered an evil high-ranking Magus who mastered those forbidden spells, curses, or even hexes, death would be the least of their concerns. Being tortured by such a being would be worse than hell. This didn’t include the fact that his secrets might be revealed…
“Well, let’s hope it never comes to that,” Victor uttered with a half-hearted smile. “Anyhow, we’ll cross that bridge if we get there.” He would only worry about that when it became necessary. Well, there is no gain without risk; they’ll be thanking me later. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Shaking his head, Victor said, “Whatever the case, this is beyond me at this point in time. Let’s go back to the bedroom.”
“Mhm! Low key is the key here. Pun intended.” Lizbeth closed her tiny mouth with both of her hands, trying to hold back her laughter.
“Well, that’s funny. You’re getting some improvement on your jokes.” Victor snickered lightly at the wordplay, feeling slightly tired.
“’Course it is! I’ve been practicing!” She hit her chest pridefully.
It was such an exhausting day for him, but he had something to do before taking a good night’s rest, which was to practice his daily meditation…
***
Early in the morning on Earth, the Gamer’s Empire Discord server was already bustling with activity as the server owner, ZeroXScyth, made an unexpected announcement, catching the attention of many lurkers to come out from their dens:
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Dudes! This game is awesome! If this doesn’t become as popular— No, more popular than Minecraft and Roblox at their most popular phase, I’ll do the chicken dance in the middle of the mall naked!”
Locktekei: “Huh? That’s unlike you to be so overdramatic over something.”
Squadzell: “@ZeroXScyth I haven’t seen you or the administrators all night. I thought you were arrested for doing something illegal. If you know what I mean… (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
ThunderLord999: “What game are you talking about? Why haven’t I heard of this game before? :blobcatconfused:”
Locktekei: “Have you been living under a rock? We've been spamming this channel with messages since like two days ago!”
ThunderLord999: “Welp, I was recovering from my surgery, so I haven’t had the chance to open Discord…”
Locktekei: “Oof, sorry to hear that.”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “(2). It’s a fully immersive virtual reality game that Cyber Warlock sent to the group yesterday called Magus Academy Online. Here, I will pin the message.”
ThunderLord999: “Aight, thanks!”
Princess_Tomato: “Wait, so the game’s real?! It’s not a hoax all along? Can you show us some screenshots or something?”
Squadzell: “Shoot! So you have tried the game? How is it like?”
Locktekei: “Yeah! Hurry up and tell us what exactly a fully immersive virtual reality game is like? Can I play it on my Oculus Rift 2?”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Absolutely real! I’ve tried it, and it’s mind-blowing. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I can’t show you any proof; the console doesn’t have in-game recording nor screenshot features yet. And Locktekei, my friend, you want to play it on that old-school head-mounted screen? Hahaha! Keep dreaming! Here, we use a gaming capsule with a VR helmet inside, just like those popular in Korean novels of old.”
Locktekei: “Man, seriously?! ”
Noobzilla: “No proof means it’s a hoax. @ZeroXScyth Maybe you should touch some grass and stop daydreaming.”
Squadzell: “Hey, don’t be rude!”
Noobzilla: “I’m just trying to make my point here. Don’t you think it’s weird that a fully immersive VR game exists in 2026? Even from the most optimistic estimate, it would take dozens of years for that. And if it truly does exist, why don’t I hear the media cover it?”
It was at this moment that Storm Bringer — the herald of updates and strategies — appeared on the server and put his input. Quelling any lingering doubts about the game’s existence.
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “What Zero said is absolutely true; I can vouch for its authenticity. And just to further solidify his claims, feast your eyes on these photos of the gaming capsule I took with my phone.”
A series of images depicting the intricate gaming capsule were shared by Storm, effectively silencing any naysayers from piping up. The revelation also ignited a spark of intrigue among the active members of the gaming community on the server.
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “Observe closely. The gaming capsule’s design includes no ports or connections for external devices, which means data transmission occurs wirelessly. The catch is, we can only access the game itself without any other external features. In fact, the helmet itself is detachable from the gaming capsule and can still be turned on, so I suspect that there’s a private network used by the consoles that’s apart from the one we used. These images are my testament for now, and it’s entirely up to you to decide whether you believe me or not. Dang it! If I can stream the game on my channel, it would be trending among viral videos!”
Locktekei: “Whoa! You’re right! It looks so cutting edge that my VR console feels like a relic in comparison… ”
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “Indeed, having spent considerable time immersed in it, I’ve managed to compile a fair amount of insights about this game. Zero, could you create a restricted category and channel where only those with administrator privileges and above could converse? But on second thought, I think it’s better to make a customized role for the five of us… and for Cyber as well, I guess.”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Sure. Hang on a sec.”
Aside from his identity as a streamer, Storm Bringer boasted an illustrious track record as he was once one of the finest DOTA players and one of the top one hundred in Valorant. Although he wasn’t a hardcore RPG gamer like Mike, his gaming prowess for competitive games was a subject of admiration throughout the server. His aptitude for game critique was equally renowned.
This man played games every day, barely scraping a living from his streaming job and his investments in stocks. His presence extended beyond multiplayer online games; he was also a fixture within speedrun communities — faithfully streaming his endeavors. His accomplishments formed a gallery of impressive masterpieces, and numerous server members had benefited from implementing his personally crafted strategies. Without a doubt, he was a full-time game player.
Thus, the server members found themselves compelled to listen to what he had for the game. Excitement and curiosity danced among them, igniting a fervor of anticipation for the uncharted realms of the immersive virtual reality game…
Looking at the players sitting cross-legged on the floor, deep in meditation, Victor pondered the gains he had made from this venture. For once, now that the players had all logged out, he was left alone in this academy with a fairly frail fairy… Not that these players would enhance the academy’s security in any way.
“Earth… huh.” A melancholic and longing expression formed on Victor’s face as he chewed these words. “Aah… How good would it be if I could come back to Earth, too?”
He was being honest with himself. Compared to endangering himself in this world, if he could hide his real body in another world, he would be more than willing to do so. There were precedents where high-ranking Magi conquered small planes to hide their real bodies and explore the world with their avatars.
“—You can.” Suddenly, a sassy voice interrupted his train of thought.
“Yeah, it’s nothing but impossi— Huh?!” Victor turned his head toward a floating fairy beside him — Lizbeth — who had appeared out of nowhere. Did she just…
“You haven’t misheard; you, in fact, can.” She stressed each syllable. “As long as you can create a magic ship capable of traversing the dangers lurking in the depths of the nexus space — such as dimensional rifts and eldritch monsters — or have a strong enough physical body, then it’s not completely impossible. Earth itself exists in a different dimension than this one, but that only makes things a bit harder. After all, we have the coordinates.”
“Seriously?!” Victor’s tone carried a trace of excitement mixed with disbelief.
Lizbeth, seeing her master’s mood was changing for the better, sat on his shoulder. “Seriously.”
Victor couldn’t help but entertain the thought of returning. However, he quickly realized that such solutions proved to be not feasible.
Firstly, the idea of creating a magic ship capable of traversing dimensions was no less bit daunting. The cost of such an undertaking would be astronomically high that even if he sold the academy and himself into slavery ten times over, it would be far from enough.
Secondly, by going with the second option, he would only gain the ability to withstand the harsh conditions outside Seraphia once he reached the rank of Nexus Temporal. However, even at that rank, he wouldn’t be able to go to nearby planes and would be limited to the peripheral space of Seraphia. Only powerful Sigil Conversion and above Magi possessed the qualifications to travel far with their physical bodies alone — which might take decades at the very least without additional methods.
Thirdly, embarking on a prolonged voyage would pose a dangerous risk to the academy. With him being away, the academy would be vulnerable to attacks or disasters, potentially leading to its destruction and jeopardizing his life.
While there might be other solutions, such as utilizing a nexus gate or an extremely large far-distance teleportation formation, the reality was that these methods could only be executed if someone had already explored and established connections with the desired plane or world. Typically, Magi would mark the coordinates of a plane they discovered and construct a nexus gate as an anchor point on the other side. So, even if Victor had the coordinates, there was a high chance that he would end up in an entirely different location, especially considering the complexities of dealing with different dimensions.
All in all, as enticing as the idea of returning to Earth was, the obstacles and risks were too great to overcome at the moment.
“Speaking of different worlds… I wonder, can they remain in this world forever?” Victor inquired another question that had been bugging his mind.
If it was possible to establish connections to this world without any lag whatsoever, then what about staying here forever? Victor presumed it wouldn’t be implausible, and Lizbeth’s answer seemed to confirm his suspicion.
“They can.” Lizbeth gave Victor a knowing smile. “The gaming capsule has the means to upload their minds and let them stay inside their alternate bodies forever.”
Victor nodded, finding the idea worth taking note of in the future. “Thought so. But what would happen to their bodies on Earth?”
Lizbeth shrugged her shoulders, her mischievous grin never leaving her face. “Well, they will be dead, of course. What do you expect to happen? Remain alive like undead?”
Victor made a self-deprecating smile at Lizbeth’s straightforward response. Indeed, it always came with a somewhat permanent consequence, fundamentally a one-way ticket. Guess if this ever becomes a choice, it will be up for the players to choose… though I wouldn’t mind trapping them here if the need ever arises.
But wait, such a thing wouldn’t be traceless, considering that it would leave behind corpses inside the gaming capsule or nearby. If the government on Earth caught wind of this, then his VR game would be banned and closed down as a consequence. He could already picture the news headlines the next day: “Dangerous Game! Many Died While Playing… But Found Alive Inside a Video Game?!” and the news reporter’s dramatic voice narrating the whole incident.
Victor shook his head, dismissing the absurdity of it all. As much as he wanted to let the players stay in this world forever and help him in his cause, he definitely didn’t want it to come with a side of real-life chaos and headlines, and it would also erase one of their unique abilities: being able to revive indefinitely.
Staying in the game forever? Fun in theory, but the consequences? Not so much.
“Still,” Victor began, looking at the player named SuperNova, “that one player reminds me of something. Is it possible for these players to be brainwashed by high-ranking Magi, like, being cast mind-reading spells like {Mindscour}?”
Lizbeth pondered for a moment before responding, “Probably.”
“Why with the uncertainty?”
“You do realize yourself that Magi possess the strangest spells to do the strangest kind of means… There is no guarantee that anything is impossible.”
Victor scratched his head, considering the possibilities. He didn’t want to be an overprotective headmaster, but if one of the players encountered an evil high-ranking Magus who mastered those forbidden spells, curses, or even hexes, death would be the least of their concerns. Being tortured by such a being would be worse than hell. This didn’t include the fact that his secrets might be revealed…
“Well, let’s hope it never comes to that,” Victor uttered with a half-hearted smile. “Anyhow, we’ll cross that bridge if we get there.” He would only worry about that when it became necessary. Well, there is no gain without risk; they’ll be thanking me later. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Shaking his head, Victor said, “Whatever the case, this is beyond me at this point in time. Let’s go back to the bedroom.”
“Mhm! Low key is the key here. Pun intended.” Lizbeth closed her tiny mouth with both of her hands, trying to hold back her laughter.
“Well, that’s funny. You’re getting some improvement on your jokes.” Victor snickered lightly at the wordplay, feeling slightly tired.
“’Course it is! I’ve been practicing!” She hit her chest pridefully.
It was such an exhausting day for him, but he had something to do before taking a good night’s rest, which was to practice his daily meditation…
***
Early in the morning on Earth, the Gamer’s Empire Discord server was already bustling with activity as the server owner, ZeroXScyth, made an unexpected announcement, catching the attention of many lurkers to come out from their dens:
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Dudes! This game is awesome! If this doesn’t become as popular— No, more popular than Minecraft and Roblox at their most popular phase, I’ll do the chicken dance in the middle of the mall naked!”
Locktekei: “Huh? That’s unlike you to be so overdramatic over something.”
Squadzell: “@ZeroXScyth I haven’t seen you or the administrators all night. I thought you were arrested for doing something illegal. If you know what I mean… (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
ThunderLord999: “What game are you talking about? Why haven’t I heard of this game before? :blobcatconfused:”
Locktekei: “Have you been living under a rock? We've been spamming this channel with messages since like two days ago!”
ThunderLord999: “Welp, I was recovering from my surgery, so I haven’t had the chance to open Discord…”
Locktekei: “Oof, sorry to hear that.”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “(2). It’s a fully immersive virtual reality game that Cyber Warlock sent to the group yesterday called Magus Academy Online. Here, I will pin the message.”
ThunderLord999: “Aight, thanks!”
Princess_Tomato: “Wait, so the game’s real?! It’s not a hoax all along? Can you show us some screenshots or something?”
Squadzell: “Shoot! So you have tried the game? How is it like?”
Locktekei: “Yeah! Hurry up and tell us what exactly a fully immersive virtual reality game is like? Can I play it on my Oculus Rift 2?”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Absolutely real! I’ve tried it, and it’s mind-blowing. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I can’t show you any proof; the console doesn’t have in-game recording nor screenshot features yet. And Locktekei, my friend, you want to play it on that old-school head-mounted screen? Hahaha! Keep dreaming! Here, we use a gaming capsule with a VR helmet inside, just like those popular in Korean novels of old.”
Locktekei: “Man, seriously?! ”
Noobzilla: “No proof means it’s a hoax. @ZeroXScyth Maybe you should touch some grass and stop daydreaming.”
Squadzell: “Hey, don’t be rude!”
Noobzilla: “I’m just trying to make my point here. Don’t you think it’s weird that a fully immersive VR game exists in 2026? Even from the most optimistic estimate, it would take dozens of years for that. And if it truly does exist, why don’t I hear the media cover it?”
It was at this moment that Storm Bringer — the herald of updates and strategies — appeared on the server and put his input. Quelling any lingering doubts about the game’s existence.
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “What Zero said is absolutely true; I can vouch for its authenticity. And just to further solidify his claims, feast your eyes on these photos of the gaming capsule I took with my phone.”
A series of images depicting the intricate gaming capsule were shared by Storm, effectively silencing any naysayers from piping up. The revelation also ignited a spark of intrigue among the active members of the gaming community on the server.
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “Observe closely. The gaming capsule’s design includes no ports or connections for external devices, which means data transmission occurs wirelessly. The catch is, we can only access the game itself without any other external features. In fact, the helmet itself is detachable from the gaming capsule and can still be turned on, so I suspect that there’s a private network used by the consoles that’s apart from the one we used. These images are my testament for now, and it’s entirely up to you to decide whether you believe me or not. Dang it! If I can stream the game on my channel, it would be trending among viral videos!”
Locktekei: “Whoa! You’re right! It looks so cutting edge that my VR console feels like a relic in comparison… ”
Storm Bringer (Administrator): “Indeed, having spent considerable time immersed in it, I’ve managed to compile a fair amount of insights about this game. Zero, could you create a restricted category and channel where only those with administrator privileges and above could converse? But on second thought, I think it’s better to make a customized role for the five of us… and for Cyber as well, I guess.”
ZeroXScyth (Server Owner): “Sure. Hang on a sec.”
Aside from his identity as a streamer, Storm Bringer boasted an illustrious track record as he was once one of the finest DOTA players and one of the top one hundred in Valorant. Although he wasn’t a hardcore RPG gamer like Mike, his gaming prowess for competitive games was a subject of admiration throughout the server. His aptitude for game critique was equally renowned.
This man played games every day, barely scraping a living from his streaming job and his investments in stocks. His presence extended beyond multiplayer online games; he was also a fixture within speedrun communities — faithfully streaming his endeavors. His accomplishments formed a gallery of impressive masterpieces, and numerous server members had benefited from implementing his personally crafted strategies. Without a doubt, he was a full-time game player.
Thus, the server members found themselves compelled to listen to what he had for the game. Excitement and curiosity danced among them, igniting a fervor of anticipation for the uncharted realms of the immersive virtual reality game…
