Have you ever dreamed of ruling a country of your own? I'm sure most people had, that's one reason why we created games. A place to have fun, a place where people gather, and for some, a place to escape. According to current data, almost 1 million video games are registered, and among them are 'Nation-Building Games'. It is a masterpiece of greed.

Human has urges to conquer everything even inside a video game, that's just genetic, I think. Well, I can't really blame humanity because I'm also part of it. However, I don't feel ashamed at all. Even since childhood I always wanted to have everything, it's a pleasurable feeling to be above everyone, to be on the very top, if you know what I mean. They called me a 'Genius', all because my intelligence is far above average though I don't really care about that. Intelligence doesn't just come on its own after all, it develops. The more you study the smarter you are, a very classic excuse. Everyone can be smart, but very few chosen ones become Geniuses. One of them is me.

But seriously, they have to stop taking me everywhere, my parents. I know I'm a genius, no need to prove it. They take me to various places just to show people how smart I am, completely unnecessary. But at least they provided me with everything I needed and wanted, I just need to say it. Ah well, enough with that. I want to rest and continue playing games.

*click*

"*sigh* They finally leave me alone, how tiring. At least I'm free now"

Civilization develops and so is the game industry. Game Box and Computer become obsolete ever since the invention of DVR (Deep Virtual Reality), imagine a VR where you can move freely without restriction and you do it while in a state of unconsciousness. For someone to create something like this... makes me very jealous, I want to make something like that too! If only I had been born earlier.

[Device Activated, Preparing to Dive]

Well, see you in the morning.

~^~^~^~^~^~

"Hmm?"

Oh, I'm already here. Slower than it should be, whatever. The game I'm playing, 'Civilizica', is an odd name for sure, it holds no meaning at all but who am I to protest?

[Welcome back, Player Amalia]

==========

A black-haired woman can be seen walking in the hallway followed by another woman behind. Amalia was her name or at least that was her username in the game. There's nothing eye-catching about her besides her wearing a military uniform. She's still quite young, she's not even in her 20s but she emits a charismatic aura. She acts maturely for her appearance.

She suddenly stops on her track and looks out the window, a city resembling that of the early 20th century Central Europe came into view.

'Seeing this kind of view is indeed better than seeing tall white buildings that get in your way, I hope I was born earlier'

She can see some very early models of cars on the road, it's still considered a new technology in this era, or at least in this game. Everything else is nothing special, people walking on the street, newspaper boys selling newspapers, a group of gentlemen enjoying their tea, women gossiping, dragon flying, and baker selling their breads. Dragon? I don't understand, it's pretty normal here.

'Enough sightseeing, let's get back to my room'

Civilizica, it's a game where you can build a civilization of your own based on real-life culture. There have been games like this before, but they are all dead because of one reason, boring. They put you into an office and force you to stay there forever, people are also starting to realize managing a country is hard despite the developers' efforts to make it as simple as possible.

Civilizica is the first to solve all those problems and create one of the best games you can find. Here in Civilizica, you can choose to build your own civilization from scraps or choose to be a wandering player wandering the world and visiting other people's civilizations. That's what makes Civilizica different from others, they didn't force you to sit in an office, they let you explore the world, no matter how big it is. One thing very conspicuous, they added a little bit of magic. Thus the players who choose to create a civilization are divided into two major factions, in simpler terms, Magic vs Science.

Back with our player, Amalia. She finally arrived at her room's door, this place is so massive, it would be tiring to walk from one end to another, can't even imagine it.

She enters the room along with the woman behind her and sits on a fancy couch there.

*sigh*

"I don't feel like playing for now, I just want some relaxation. Bring me a cup of tea!" She ordered.

The woman who had been following her from earlier understood the assignment and began to prepare her a cup of tea.

"Here's your tea" That was fast.

The only thing lacking in this game is the lack of NPC dialogue, the game's size is already so big they are afraid they can't afford to make it bigger than it already is, at least they make the NPC movements lively enough.

"Ummh..." Looks like she enjoyed the tea as she had =w= expression on her face.

"Tea is the best"

She placed the cup back on the table and let out another sigh.

"Nggghhh, what is this"

Looks like the tea is very strong.

"Since when did they add sleepiness to the game?"

Little did she know, she wasn't the only one experiencing sudden sleepiness, every player in this country also experienced the same feeling, and even the NPC was affected.

~^~^~^~^~^~

"Nggghhh"

Amalia opened her eyes, it felt so heavy.

"I fell asleep? But how? It doesn't make any sense"

She looked around and noticed a woman lying on the floor unconscious. She ignored her and walked towards the window, staggered, and almost fell a couple of times. People, both NPC and players started to wake up, they were all confused just like her but they let themself fall into panic.

"Unggghh"

Amalia turned around and saw that the woman was also starting to wake up.

"What happened?" She said.

'What's with that expression and way of speaking' Thought Amalia.

While it's true NPC was able to express emotion and have its own way of speaking, this is beyond what the game can do.

"You're awake" Amalia decided to set it aside and went with the flow for now.

"Hmm? Ah, My Kaiserin! A-are you okay?!" She said panickedly.

'What was that?!'

She is shocked after seeing and hearing what she just said.

'This is not normal, she's too expressive. What happens to the NPC?'

"My Kaiserin, please answer me!" Said the woman worryingly, maybe a bit overreacting while getting closer to Amalia.

"Stop it dammit, you scared me!"

"I-I am sorry! I'm really sorry! I will cease to exist if you will it! Please forgive me and my family!" She cried on the floor.

"Stop that, you're overreacting! I'm fine!"

'What is wrong with her?!'

"T-that's good to hear!"

"Stand up, we have a problem"

"R-right"

Amalia gets back looking at the city, the people of the city start to panic and question what just happened. Luckily the police arrived and took the matter at hand despite them being confused as well. At least the situation can be calmed down. The same does not apply to the players though, something must have caused them to panic even more, and some even go hysterical.

"Why are they like that?" She whispered.

Then, she realizes something. She feels like... living. She can feel every breath, she tries to hold her breath and ends up suffocating herself. That shouldn't happen, you shouldn't be able to breathe inside the game, and that's not possible. Even if you hold your breath, in real life, you are still breathing. She can also feel the warmth of the room, but again that's not possible, DVR doesn't have that capability.

'This is strange'

"Menu" She whispered.

Supposedly, when a player says 'menu', a menu pop-up will appear, but it doesn't, not this time.

'This is very strange! No wonder they are panicking'

"The situation below is not looking good at all"

"S-should I arrange an emergency meeting?"

'Can't even catch a break, huh? I want an explanation myself, I guess there's no other choice but to go with the flow unless I want her to be suspicious of me'

"Get hurry, then"

"Consider it done, My Kaiserin"

And there she goes.

Amalia looks back toward the window and continues to watch the scene below.

"What a mess. What may have caused this? A server error? Impossible, the players would be forced to exit the game when that happens"

'What a troublesome situation, I will surely lose a lot of money on this'