Ever since "Full Dive" was publicly revealed back in 2135, Full Dive Massive Multiplayer Online games, or FDMMO, became the mainstream. Standard single player and multiplayer games where of course still around, but not as popular as these MMO games. Full Dive was like a large reclining chair, with a design that's similar to a street car seat from 100 years ago. It came with a socket that had to be connected to the back of your neck, or use the helmet interface module if you did not have a Universal Brain Interface, or UBI, connector implant.
Ever since Clay was young, he mostly played old school games that required a computer or a console that could emulate the olden games from his parents. He specially loved the block game, Mycraft, where you could explore a wide world that was completely random, or set to be a specific seed to always be the same. Build whatever you could imagine and go on big adventures.
When he reached 18 years of age, Clay finally bought his first full dive headset. He wasn't that interested in the MMO type of games that was popular in his school. No, the game that he bought was a standard single player game with multiplayer components. It was very similar to the Mycraft he played when he was younger, but instead of being mere blocks this time, it was now using the new technology called "Photon". It was this new engine technology that would change the VRMMO landscape in the future to come, but to Clay, it didn't really matter.
To Clay, this was THE game of his dreams. It was everything that the Mycraft was, but more. Not only that, the NPC's in the game felt real, as if they lived in the said world he generated. And just like the game, the sky was the limit.
But the other selling point of the game for him, was the extensive character creation tool. Not only could you create your own NPC's to your liking, but you could also change how the player's avatar looked like. This was Clay's wet dream of a game, a TRUE sandbox experience!
Of course, living in that world was Clay's favorite dream, but alas, that dream would not hold in this harsh reality he lived in.
Plenty of years has passed, and Clay's finally reaching the age of 40. Of course, after all these years, he did not stop playing the game. And working as a salary man in a black company wasn't really that exciting either.
"The latest O2 canister, Breo-matic 4000, now has 5 hours of breathing time before it needs to be replaced! Get one today-"
"Ugh, damn ads."
Clay turned the TV off as he looked outside. Acid rain, poisonous air and terrible radioactivity from the last world war. The world looked gray, and dull. Empty. His grand parents once told him how the world back in the day. Blue sky, birds flying in the sky, fish you could catch from the sea, the green and beautiful hills and much more.
Now, the world looked dead. 96% of all animals on the planet has already gone extinct, and you can't even go outside without having a gas mask with a proper O2 filter. Clay sighed and closed the window shutters went towards his Full Dive and sat down.
Since Clay did not have an UBI implant, he went for the helmet interface instead. He was never keen on the implant to begin with, and since he got the model with the helmet interface, which they stopped releasing over 25 years ago, he was quite lucky. Not that he was going to buy a newer model anyway, since he was happy with the game he got.
"Boot."
The moment Clay said the command, the booting sequence started and all of his surroundings became a black void for a few seconds until streaks of white light flashed towards him. In the next moment, he was in a large white void, with a game title right in front of him. "Unique World" was the game Clay has been playing for years. The name choice was a bit strange, but it was on point.
Every world, NPC, adventures and experiences within was unique. Nothing was the same, and most of all, it was a world with with greenery and a blue sky. A true escape from his harsh reality.
"Start Game: Unique World."
As Clay was launching the game, something unexpected happened. Everything around him started to glitch out. In a panic, he thought that maybe there was a hardware failure, so he decided to shut off the machine. But before he even could even head into the system panel, a massive pain surged into his head and he passed out the moment after. The last thing he saw was a massive system error message displaying in front of him.
~***~
After slowly waking up from the massive pain, Clay noticed that he was in a green looking forest somewhere.
How did I manage to start the game from what happened earlier?
Clay was quite confused. How did he manage to start the game if there was a massive system error? And what was with that massive headache? The more he thought about it, the more confused he got. He simply shook his head and tried to open up the system panel.
But nothing happened.
He tried again. And again. And again. And again. Until he gave up.
"Ugh... The system panel isn't even working... Hm?"
After calming down and taking in the scenery. He noticed something, or to be more precise, he felt something. The wind, the chilly cool wind and the warm summer heat. These were things that wasn't reproduced at all in the VR world due to legislation. And not only that, there was no user interface anywhere.
Is this one of those reincarnations or something? ...Or maybe not.
When Clay looked down he not only saw 2 large mounds blocking his view, but also some silver looking hair. He placed his hands on his cheeks and felt around, noticing that he did not have any facial hair. It was smooth as a baby's bottom. Not only that, his face was more defined, or maybe refined was the right word?
He then checked his ears, and noticed that they were quite pointy and were 2 times longer. After feeling around for awhile, he was sure of it. He turned into his avatar he crafted in the game. Probably.
"Aaah~ Aaaah~ ...My voice is also more feminine now. My voice did not change at all in the game, so it being changed now really confirms that I'm no longer in my own world. If those isekai stories and what not are to be believed.
If this really is a fantasy world like those stories, I should have one of those status panels right? Status!"
....
....
A few minutes passed, and nothing happened. The only thing that happened was his own embarrassment for shouting it out loud while nothing really happened. After trying a few more commands such as "appraisal" and "item box", Clay gave up thinking he didn't get the cliché cheats from the novels he have read when he was younger. As Clay was slowly getting up, he heard a thunderous sound not far from here. As he looked up he noticed not only dark clouds in the sky, but a breath taking view.
"That's one massive gas giant. It's like I'm in the Argent system, on planet Argent-II. Haah~ ...If only I had enough money to travel in space. But doing that would only put me in debt, and that's not what I was after at the time."
Space colonies was something new that many countries and private companies spent trillions on for the past 6 decades. Not that it meant anything to Clay, as he was too poor for any of that. But seeing the gas giant in the sky confirmed that he was no longer on Earth, or even in the game he was playing for a long time. The game "Unique World" only had a moon rotating the game world, as it was based on planet Earth. You could however install user created modifications, or addons, that could modify the sky to add planets, space travel, new planets and what not. Though, the only addons Clay had installed were those that only changed the gameplay a little in his single player world.
Rumble~
Another thunderous sound was heard. The thunderstorm was getting closer. Clay had to take shelter as soon as possible from the incoming rain somewhere. But all he saw was trees and even more trees all around him. So he decided to just head straight forward instead until he found something, anything. After heading a straight line, or rather, a straight line as humanly possible for 10 minutes, he finally stumbled upon what looked like a cave.
As he got near the cave, he noticed that there has been some human activity here before. Though, it looks like It has been less than a decade since anybody was around these parts. Old rotten crates was found scattered around here and there, a few more could be seen inside the cave itself. Maybe it was a bandit hideout or something at one point?
When Clay entered the cave it just started to rain. He got lucky he didn't get wet from the rain, as it looked like a heavy rainfall. Thankfully it wasn't acid rain like it was on Earth. Clay Poked around to see if there were any kind of conserved rations around here, or anything edible. But after searching for awhile, he only found some old rotten food, and nothing else.
"If only I could say things like [Open Inventory] to grab some of the stuff I had on me from the game, that would be great. Not like that's going to wo- huh?"
Just as he was going to complain, a transparent AR like window appeared before his very eyes.
Glad to have you back.
Surprised to see this alive.