Planet Earth, in a certain office of a retail gas station.
Looking at the server chat message through his laptop, the thought that first appeared in William’s mind was a scam. It was not uncommon for fraudsters to promise something that was too good to be true, only to lead unsuspecting people to malicious websites like gambling sites and whatnot.
Nevertheless, the one who gave this information — CyberWarlock — was his good online friend throughout his college days. Moreover, the opportunity to partake in a fully immersive VR experience was a lifelong dream that had lingered within him since childhood. With these factors in mind, William chose to embrace a leap of faith and extend CyberWarlock the benefit of the doubt. If it was truly a scam, he could withdraw his involvement promptly if any indications of deception arose.
With his “PleaseBugMeNot” account, William clicked on the URL link that Cyber posted and was immediately perplexed by the website.
The first thing that caught his eye was an art cover featuring a wizard and a witch, set against the backdrop of a majestic academy. The wizard exuded an air of wisdom and possessed a striking handsomeness, while the witch displayed a captivating beauty with a well-proportioned figure that would undoubtedly capture the attention of many males and females alike. Both were adorned in their signature mage hats and attire, adding an enchanting and alluring quality to the scene.
This wasn’t the only image here, as other beautiful landscape images decorated the whole page.
“Is this really not AI-generated images?” he pondered aloud as he navigated through the website. AI technology had made significant advancements. By now, most (if not all) flawless artwork might have been created with the aid of artificial intelligence.
Holding the mouse, he scrolled down until his cursor ended up on the part where that might lead to the registration page.
Magus Academy Online
Unleash the Magic Within, Rise as an Acolyte, and Shape Your Destiny in Magus Academy Online: The Ultimate VRMMORPG Adventure Begins!
Currently in Closed-Alpha Stage
[Join Now]
Turning back to the Gamer’s Empire server, William noticed the server had experienced a surge in activity after the link to the website was shared. Some were still watching the screen with great interest even though they hadn’t sent a single message, awaiting someone’s review of the official website.
Within a large Discord server like this, it was expected to have a considerable number of long-time lurkers. It was becoming increasingly apparent that among the newly emerging users, there were unfamiliar faces that had remained in the shadows for years, their presence only now coming to light. Even as an administrator, William couldn’t help but notice the influx of these previously unseen members.
CyberWarlock: “In this game, the level of immersion and realism is truly unparalleled. Every sense you experience in the real world will be faithfully replicated within the game. The in-game time mirrors the passage of time in the real world, maintaining a 1:1 ratio with a slight time difference corresponding to the Eastern Time Zone, roughly 12 hours ahead. Since the game operates through a unique dream interference mechanism, playing it feels akin to being in a state of deep sleep.”
“Fine then, I’ll check out what kind of game you are.” William read the recent message with great interest.
Therefore, he hesitated no longer, clicked the “Join Now” button, and filled in the data and email required. There was no guarantee that this was not some kind of scam to get people’s data and sell them on the dark web, but he didn’t care too much about it since it wasn’t like the website was asking for their banking numbers and passwords. There was also a short “Terms and Services” that he didn’t really care too much to read, like all he had been doing when playing other games.
Clicking on the “Register” button, he sent the application, and the page immediately changed to the total number of applications.
Total Applicants: 1
***
“Phew! All done.” Victor stretched his body as the number of participants increased by the minute. When the total amount reached ten, he received a notification in the form of three lines of text on a blue holographic screen.
[Mission Accomplished!]
[Congratulations on passing the mission. You have done a great job in tricking a bunch of players to become participants in your “game.”]
[The reward (100 academy points) has been issued.]
“Congratulations on completing your first mission, Master!” Lizbeth, the fairy, clapped her hands as she congratulated Victor.
“Geez, don’t startle me,” Victor said, annoyed.
“Teehee!” She smiled mischievously. “You can check the new mission in the ‘Headmaster’s Journal.’ Please check it in time.”
“I see… Good to know.”
As he was about to check the new mission, Victor suddenly recalled that the applicants came from all over the world, meaning these players would be in different time zones. Quickly, he opened the Discord server and typed in:
“Currently, only US applicants will be accepted for the closed-alpha stage. However, as development progresses, we plan to expand participation to individuals residing in other countries and regions. Additionally, you can still register even if you are from outside the country.”
“Nooo! This is discrimination against people living in other countries!”
“When will you accept players in Asian regions?”
“…”
The message garnered a range of responses. It wasn’t that Victor was being racist, but micromanaging a diverse player base with different active times right from the start could prove quite challenging. Anyway, he decided to hold off on explaining the intricacies for now, opting to provide a more comprehensive update once he had finalized the details. Besides, the United States alone hosted millions of gamers, which would be more than enough for now.
To begin with, it was bizarre how the Eastern Time Zone would have precisely twelve hours difference from the time of this world. Victor had asked Lizbeth about it, and she said that the previous headmaster had anticipated all of this and made arrangements in advance. How weird. But when he asked who the previous headmaster was…
“I dunno who the previous headmaster was. All I know is that you’re the second headmaster of this academy,” was the answer that Lizbeth gave him. She couldn’t be more ambiguous than this.
In addition to this, what about the delivery of the consoles required to connect these players to this world?
Lizbeth had explained that these players would be given gaming capsules to connect to this world. The technology required aside, where were these capsules even manufactured, and how were they delivered to the players’ addresses?
“Rest assured, the System has its own ways of handling this. All that matters is what we do on our end,” Lizbeth assured.
Right. As long as this benefited him, Victor wouldn’t waste time questioning the hows and whys. This didn’t mean that he would completely turn his brain off, but at least he decided to hold off on asking too many unrelated questions until he could get a grasp on things.
“Oh, that so. Is there a limit to how many players we can summon?” Victor inquired with curiosity, eager to understand the boundaries of their capabilities.
Lizbeth answered thoughtfully, “For now, there isn’t a set limit. Naturally, creating bodies suitable for the players would require resources, which we have a limited amount of right now. I say, we can create ten bodies at most.”
“Figures…” If we can summon a thousand at once, that would be overpowered… “One more question: How do the players come to this world? They can’t possibly be summoned and never returned back, can they?” Victor assumed there should be some kind of supernatural means unknown to him in this place to do the job. The word “bodies” that she mentioned might very well be the key to the question.
“I believe it would be more efficient to guide you through the academy personally,” the fairy offered. “I would be delighted to show you the wonders it contains.”
“Mhm, sounds good.” Victor nodded in agreement. “Guess I should clarify a few things to the players first before that, though.”
Because of the limited resources, Victor had decided to summon five players in the first batch. Anything more, then he might have more than he could manage since he was alone (not including Lizbeth). At any rate, what was most important was to make rules so that these “players” would obey him. After all, he couldn’t be sure these players would listen to him.
One had to know that Victor was tasked to develop the academy to be the best in the universe. Failure meant placing his own life in jeopardy. As the headmaster, Victor had an absolute power to kick any disruptive players and impose permanent bans, if necessary. Still, he could not force them to utilize their gaming capsules and partake in the online world to work for him. The Magus path, especially, was known to be a challenging and demanding journey, requiring a lot of time and dedication.
That was why he had selected those he trusted the most for the qualifications. It was better to exercise caution. Otherwise, it might cause his demise!
As such, after sending a qualification to their respective email, he invited these five lucky players into a Discord group he had just created.
CyberWarlock: “Sorry for the sudden invitation. I want to make some things clear with the first batch of applicants…”
With his account, Victor proceeded to explain the essential equipment for the game, known as “gaming capsules,” plus he forbade anyone to break them apart. He stressed that such actions would result in the loss of their qualifications. For one thing, revealing the magical nature of these devices could attract unwarranted and potentially hazardous attention, a scenario best avoided. However, he was more than sure that his warning might not dissuade unscrupulous individuals — with how this kind of technology did not exist in reality.
Nothing could be done regarding this as he could not return to his old world, nor could he inform the police. But Victor didn’t care. The reason being that Lizbeth had guaranteed that nothing on Earth could break open the capsules, and even if they could partially destroy them, the capsule would self-destruct.
PleaseBugMeNot: “Awesome! Can’t wait for this gaming capsule to arrive.”
Storm Bringer: “If this game is truly as good as you proclaim, I will stream it to my audience for free!”
As far as Victor knew, Storm was a streamer with thousands of subscribers. Although his channel wasn’t big, his free endorsement was more than welcome.
SuperNovaX: “Sweet! Don’t worry about the safety of the devices; we promise that no harm will be done to these state-of-the-art capsules.”
CyberWarlock: “Glad to see that you guys are being cooperative. If they are damaged, I can’t explain it to the company.”
ZeroXScyth: “Um, there’s one thing I want to confirm: Are there any charges?”
CyberWarlock: “No, no fees. At least, my superior has yet to say anything about charging fees during the development phase. But there will be no reward either.”
PleaseBugMeNot: “Neat.”
MikeIsHandsome1000x: “I still can’t believe that this so-called ‘gaming capsule’ exists… Well, we will see if this is a fraud or not.”
Skepticism permeated the chat as doubts lingered regarding the fully immersive VR game. The first four people that Victor gave qualifications to were people he knew very well, and luckily, they all lived in the US. As for Mike, this guy was once a hardcore MMORPG gamer who spent thousands of hours obtaining the finest equipment on the server, according to his profile. Inviting him would serve as a means to demonstrate the game's authenticity.
Closing the holographic screen, Victor turned around and said, “Guess my work here is done. Let’s go on a tour of the academy; I’ll see what it has to offer.”
“Mm-hmm!” Lizbeth eagerly perched on Victor's shoulder, excitedly pumping her tiny fist. “Full steam ahead!”
“Hey, don’t treat me like a mode of transportation,” Victor retorted and walked out of the room.
Planet Earth, in a certain office of a retail gas station.
Looking at the server chat message through his laptop, the thought that first appeared in William’s mind was a scam. It was not uncommon for fraudsters to promise something that was too good to be true, only to lead unsuspecting people to malicious websites like gambling sites and whatnot.
Nevertheless, the one who gave this information — CyberWarlock — was his good online friend throughout his college days. Moreover, the opportunity to partake in a fully immersive VR experience was a lifelong dream that had lingered within him since childhood. With these factors in mind, William chose to embrace a leap of faith and extend CyberWarlock the benefit of the doubt. If it was truly a scam, he could withdraw his involvement promptly if any indications of deception arose.
With his “PleaseBugMeNot” account, William clicked on the URL link that Cyber posted and was immediately perplexed by the website.
The first thing that caught his eye was an art cover featuring a wizard and a witch, set against the backdrop of a majestic academy. The wizard exuded an air of wisdom and possessed a striking handsomeness, while the witch displayed a captivating beauty with a well-proportioned figure that would undoubtedly capture the attention of many males and females alike. Both were adorned in their signature mage hats and attire, adding an enchanting and alluring quality to the scene.
This wasn’t the only image here, as other beautiful landscape images decorated the whole page.
“Is this really not AI-generated images?” he pondered aloud as he navigated through the website. AI technology had made significant advancements. By now, most (if not all) flawless artwork might have been created with the aid of artificial intelligence.
Holding the mouse, he scrolled down until his cursor ended up on the part where that might lead to the registration page.
Magus Academy Online
Unleash the Magic Within, Rise as an Acolyte, and Shape Your Destiny in Magus Academy Online: The Ultimate VRMMORPG Adventure Begins!
Currently in Closed-Alpha Stage
[Join Now]
Turning back to the Gamer’s Empire server, William noticed the server had experienced a surge in activity after the link to the website was shared. Some were still watching the screen with great interest even though they hadn’t sent a single message, awaiting someone’s review of the official website.
Within a large Discord server like this, it was expected to have a considerable number of long-time lurkers. It was becoming increasingly apparent that among the newly emerging users, there were unfamiliar faces that had remained in the shadows for years, their presence only now coming to light. Even as an administrator, William couldn’t help but notice the influx of these previously unseen members.
CyberWarlock: “In this game, the level of immersion and realism is truly unparalleled. Every sense you experience in the real world will be faithfully replicated within the game. The in-game time mirrors the passage of time in the real world, maintaining a 1:1 ratio with a slight time difference corresponding to the Eastern Time Zone, roughly 12 hours ahead. Since the game operates through a unique dream interference mechanism, playing it feels akin to being in a state of deep sleep.”
“Fine then, I’ll check out what kind of game you are.” William read the recent message with great interest.
Therefore, he hesitated no longer, clicked the “Join Now” button, and filled in the data and email required. There was no guarantee that this was not some kind of scam to get people’s data and sell them on the dark web, but he didn’t care too much about it since it wasn’t like the website was asking for their banking numbers and passwords. There was also a short “Terms and Services” that he didn’t really care too much to read, like all he had been doing when playing other games.
Clicking on the “Register” button, he sent the application, and the page immediately changed to the total number of applications.
Total Applicants: 1
***
“Phew! All done.” Victor stretched his body as the number of participants increased by the minute. When the total amount reached ten, he received a notification in the form of three lines of text on a blue holographic screen.
[Mission Accomplished!]
[Congratulations on passing the mission. You have done a great job in tricking a bunch of players to become participants in your “game.”]
[The reward (100 academy points) has been issued.]
“Congratulations on completing your first mission, Master!” Lizbeth, the fairy, clapped her hands as she congratulated Victor.
“Geez, don’t startle me,” Victor said, annoyed.
“Teehee!” She smiled mischievously. “You can check the new mission in the ‘Headmaster’s Journal.’ Please check it in time.”
“I see… Good to know.”
As he was about to check the new mission, Victor suddenly recalled that the applicants came from all over the world, meaning these players would be in different time zones. Quickly, he opened the Discord server and typed in:
“Currently, only US applicants will be accepted for the closed-alpha stage. However, as development progresses, we plan to expand participation to individuals residing in other countries and regions. Additionally, you can still register even if you are from outside the country.”
“Nooo! This is discrimination against people living in other countries!”
“When will you accept players in Asian regions?”
“…”
The message garnered a range of responses. It wasn’t that Victor was being racist, but micromanaging a diverse player base with different active times right from the start could prove quite challenging. Anyway, he decided to hold off on explaining the intricacies for now, opting to provide a more comprehensive update once he had finalized the details. Besides, the United States alone hosted millions of gamers, which would be more than enough for now.
To begin with, it was bizarre how the Eastern Time Zone would have precisely twelve hours difference from the time of this world. Victor had asked Lizbeth about it, and she said that the previous headmaster had anticipated all of this and made arrangements in advance. How weird. But when he asked who the previous headmaster was…
“I dunno who the previous headmaster was. All I know is that you’re the second headmaster of this academy,” was the answer that Lizbeth gave him. She couldn’t be more ambiguous than this.
In addition to this, what about the delivery of the consoles required to connect these players to this world?
Lizbeth had explained that these players would be given gaming capsules to connect to this world. The technology required aside, where were these capsules even manufactured, and how were they delivered to the players’ addresses?
“Rest assured, the System has its own ways of handling this. All that matters is what we do on our end,” Lizbeth assured.
Right. As long as this benefited him, Victor wouldn’t waste time questioning the hows and whys. This didn’t mean that he would completely turn his brain off, but at least he decided to hold off on asking too many unrelated questions until he could get a grasp on things.
“Oh, that so. Is there a limit to how many players we can summon?” Victor inquired with curiosity, eager to understand the boundaries of their capabilities.
Lizbeth answered thoughtfully, “For now, there isn’t a set limit. Naturally, creating bodies suitable for the players would require resources, which we have a limited amount of right now. I say, we can create ten bodies at most.”
“Figures…” If we can summon a thousand at once, that would be overpowered… “One more question: How do the players come to this world? They can’t possibly be summoned and never returned back, can they?” Victor assumed there should be some kind of supernatural means unknown to him in this place to do the job. The word “bodies” that she mentioned might very well be the key to the question.
“I believe it would be more efficient to guide you through the academy personally,” the fairy offered. “I would be delighted to show you the wonders it contains.”
“Mhm, sounds good.” Victor nodded in agreement. “Guess I should clarify a few things to the players first before that, though.”
Because of the limited resources, Victor had decided to summon five players in the first batch. Anything more, then he might have more than he could manage since he was alone (not including Lizbeth). At any rate, what was most important was to make rules so that these “players” would obey him. After all, he couldn’t be sure these players would listen to him.
One had to know that Victor was tasked to develop the academy to be the best in the universe. Failure meant placing his own life in jeopardy. As the headmaster, Victor had an absolute power to kick any disruptive players and impose permanent bans, if necessary. Still, he could not force them to utilize their gaming capsules and partake in the online world to work for him. The Magus path, especially, was known to be a challenging and demanding journey, requiring a lot of time and dedication.
That was why he had selected those he trusted the most for the qualifications. It was better to exercise caution. Otherwise, it might cause his demise!
As such, after sending a qualification to their respective email, he invited these five lucky players into a Discord group he had just created.
CyberWarlock: “Sorry for the sudden invitation. I want to make some things clear with the first batch of applicants…”
With his account, Victor proceeded to explain the essential equipment for the game, known as “gaming capsules,” plus he forbade anyone to break them apart. He stressed that such actions would result in the loss of their qualifications. For one thing, revealing the magical nature of these devices could attract unwarranted and potentially hazardous attention, a scenario best avoided. However, he was more than sure that his warning might not dissuade unscrupulous individuals — with how this kind of technology did not exist in reality.
Nothing could be done regarding this as he could not return to his old world, nor could he inform the police. But Victor didn’t care. The reason being that Lizbeth had guaranteed that nothing on Earth could break open the capsules, and even if they could partially destroy them, the capsule would self-destruct.
PleaseBugMeNot: “Awesome! Can’t wait for this gaming capsule to arrive.”
Storm Bringer: “If this game is truly as good as you proclaim, I will stream it to my audience for free!”
As far as Victor knew, Storm was a streamer with thousands of subscribers. Although his channel wasn’t big, his free endorsement was more than welcome.
SuperNovaX: “Sweet! Don’t worry about the safety of the devices; we promise that no harm will be done to these state-of-the-art capsules.”
CyberWarlock: “Glad to see that you guys are being cooperative. If they are damaged, I can’t explain it to the company.”
ZeroXScyth: “Um, there’s one thing I want to confirm: Are there any charges?”
CyberWarlock: “No, no fees. At least, my superior has yet to say anything about charging fees during the development phase. But there will be no reward either.”
PleaseBugMeNot: “Neat.”
MikeIsHandsome1000x: “I still can’t believe that this so-called ‘gaming capsule’ exists… Well, we will see if this is a fraud or not.”
Skepticism permeated the chat as doubts lingered regarding the fully immersive VR game. The first four people that Victor gave qualifications to were people he knew very well, and luckily, they all lived in the US. As for Mike, this guy was once a hardcore MMORPG gamer who spent thousands of hours obtaining the finest equipment on the server, according to his profile. Inviting him would serve as a means to demonstrate the game's authenticity.
Closing the holographic screen, Victor turned around and said, “Guess my work here is done. Let’s go on a tour of the academy; I’ll see what it has to offer.”
“Mm-hmm!” Lizbeth eagerly perched on Victor's shoulder, excitedly pumping her tiny fist. “Full steam ahead!”
“Hey, don’t treat me like a mode of transportation,” Victor retorted and walked out of the room.
