“Woooooooahhhh!”

 

Even when this was just the introduction scene, Stefan couldn’t hide his amazement. Aura Tech had really put a lot of effort into this. The art was crisp, the color was vibrant, everything was so lively and real. Stefan could feel the wind blow, brushing against his skin, bringing such a cool sensation. The stronger the flow of wind, the colder it became. There was a campfire nearby that helped to warm things up. The wood-burning smell of it also got into his clothes. 

 

Stefan then crouched down, touched the snow on the ground. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed. Its texture and feel was just like that of real life, so light and fluffy!  Smiling in excitement, Stefan brought his palms together, making a snowball. He then threw it at the nearby tree. Thud, it made a sound on impact. He made another snowball, and threw it at the same tree but with a lighter swing. Thud, same kind of sound, but smaller indeed. He then tried to concentrate and listen to other sounds…

 

Rattle… rattle... 

 

Nearby, something was moving under the thick layer of snow. 

 

Rabbit? 

 

Snake? 

 

Are those animals still active in winter? Stefan thought.

 

And suddenly…

 

Aww Ooooooooooo!

 

The wolves from somewhere far away howled! There were probably living in the forest at the foot of the mountain. 

 

Yes, after all, Full Dive was a technology that let the player experience the world with all five senses. Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. But in order to do that, every single sense as well as everything that triggers or stimulates it had to be programmed. And how many simulations were there in real life? Trillions! There was a famous saying in this Full Dive industry: “to recreate a single second of life would require a million years of writing codes”. Well, no one knew how true that was, but it was true that in order to create such an amazingly realistic scene right here, an insane amount of programming and processing power had to be combined!

 

And the most impressive thing of all was that there was no lag or bugs. 

 

Everything ran smoothly.

 

Neuro-ping stayed green.

 

And then, shortly, a nice female voice delivered a notification.

 

<Welcome, Mr. Stefan Feuchtwanger.>

 

“Ohhh! That was fast!” Stefan exclaimed.

 

The system had just finished scanning his brain for signing in. In older Aura models, an user could use username and password to log in, but in recent years, that method had been replaced by neuro-measurements and biometrics. In other words, the logging in process had been fully automated. 

 

“Alright, let’s go!”

 

Stefan waved his hand, a digital keyboard and screen appeared, both were big and adjustable with just the process of thoughts. He placed his hands on the keyboard. Click clack… “Nice! A mechanical keyboard!” he gasped. There was sound, there was even haptic feedback, meaning that he could feel the buttons like when using a real keyboard!       

 

Shit, I’m so scared to check the specs now... Stefan thought

 

But he opened the setting nevertheless, and went to device configuration.

 

Device: Aura Phantasmal MaxPro 2080.

Weight: 5 grams; Width: 2 centimeters; Length: 5 centimeters; Thickness: 0.5 centimeters

Power Supply: Aura Quark Fusion Reactor  

Processor: Aura Crystalline 5080 Ultra

NeuroLink input: Aura DeepSensor 19.9b 

NeuroLink output: Aura DeepMovement  19.9b

Sensory crosstalk: ON

System Overclocking: OFF

Time enhancer: Aura Chronos 4.2.0; Default time stretching factor: 1.0; Maximum time stretching factor: 8.0

 

...

 

Seeing this, Stefan dropped on his knees and started shaking. “Damn it, Shoji!” he punched the ground with eyes shot open and goosebumps all over his body! “Those are all monsters right there! How can you even squeeze them into such a tiny space!?”

 

Indeed! From the core processor, to the NeuroLink system input and output! Every single one of them was the latest and most powerful one that was not even available in the market!

 

“And NeuroLink Crosstalk, are you serious!!!? So that’s how you made it so tiny, you fucking madlad!!!”

 

Yes, the NeuroLink Crosstalk was such a technological advance that even Stefan couldn’t imagine it being possible. Normally, a typical Full Dive headset would handle everything itself, process every command, input and output from A to Z. However, with Crosstalk, the device was now connected with the brain, turning the user’s own neuron system into a part of it! 

 

Therefore, no need for any line of code for the feeling of cold, as Stefan’s brain could just automatically generate this on its own! The same could be done with taste, smell and sense of touch. All the Aura Phantasmal had to do was just generate the minimal amount of information enough to fill in the gap!

 

And that TSF, if Nyanko hadn’t informed Stefan beforehand, he would have passed out after seeing it for sure. Time stretching factor of 8.0, that means that a mere 1 hour of gaming could be equivalent to 8 hours!

 

“Sorry Nyanko, I said 4.0, but I can’t resist going higher now!” 

 

Thus, couldn’t resist himself, Stefan slid the STF bar in the setting to max. Instantly, he could feel the time being warped. All the sounds prolonged, stretched with a lowered pitch and the trees were seen swaying in slow motion. 

 

2.0

 

3.0

 

4.0

 

5.0

 

6….

 

“Uerghhh!”

 

Stefan stopped and slid the STF bar back to 5.0. He almost vomited. It was such a stupid thing to do, changing TSF that drastically so quickly. It seemed that his body could only handle a TSF of 5.0 for now.

 

“Alright, let’s play.”

 

Stefan said and exited the setting. There was a clock that showed the real time at the corner of his vision. It was ticking suuuuuuper slow. Stefan then opened a list of applications, and there was something that instantly caught his attention.

 

There was an app, with the icon of a cute anime girl making ahegao face.

 

“Shoji!” Stefan laughed out loud. “Dude!”

 

Although installing and playing illegal games on Aura devices was forbidden, this was not the case with Stefan. Why? Because this app, also known as Stefan’s most famous dark app, was already installed into the device, by the CEO of Aura himself, Shoji Ryoichi!

 

Project name: Loli versus monster, the simulator!

 

Basically, this was an illegal game that Stefan created and let people download for free on the dark web along with his Aura cracking software and guides. In this game, the player could choose to be either a cute loli or a slimy tentacle monster, or in other words, harass or be harassed. The game featured both single and multiplayer mode. It was such a simple but intense game that everyone could easily get addicted to.

 

And thus, without hesitation, Stefan selected the app. After a quick loading screen, a cute loli and a tentacle monster appeared. Stefan pointed to the loli, maxed all sensory settings…

 

I wonder, if I coom in the game with sensory crosstalk, will I coom in real life too?

 

However, just before he entered the game as a loli...

 

Something happened. In just a blink of an eye, everything disappeared. The game, the interface, even the menu refused to pop up no matter what command Stefan used.

 

Now, all that left inside his vision was just a clock and a TSF number.

 

Both seemed to be broken as well, as the clock now said year 0342 and TSF number rose to 10.0...

 

14.0...

 

17.0...

 

20.0... 

 

It shouldn't be possible, as Stefan would instantly die at that TSF...

 

Or actually…

 

Would he?

 

What the hell is this? A glitch? In the endless realm of darkness, Stefan asked himself. His mind was in full panic at the moment but he still tried to keep calm and assert the situation.

 

System failure?

 

Likely. This was a very new device, so there was a possibility that the system would fail. But Stefan instantly rejected this scenario. 

 

No, such an error will trigger the safety measures and wake me up...

 

And not to mention Nyanko is also watching me...

 

It’s Shoji I’m talking about! That guy is always dead serious when it comes to safety! This must have been through countless testing before he could give it to me... 

 

Then why? 

 

How?

 

Suddenly, Stefan heard something.

 

Woooooosh~~~

 

Strong wind blew.  The wind was so cold that Stefan felt chills in his bones.

 

And at this moment, he opened his eyes.

 

“Oh no…”