The year is 2147 AD and there was a certain term: VRMMORPG.
It meant "Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game".
Unlike their predecessors, these games weren't played merely by sitting in front of a screen while mashing buttons, instead, they had a very intricate and a durable console connected to the brain via a state-of-the-art neuronal nano-interface— it is what you can call a intracerebral brain-computer network, created thanks to the fusion of cyber- and nanotechnology.
With such advanced tech, these games were programmed and set as such to make their user experience their games as though it was real life.
And even though there were several of VRMMORPG games that reigned over the market, one game stood at the top of the pyramid:
Myths and Legends.
The game that ruled the market, wasn't exactly developed for VR, but was just updated to suit the current market, it was originally a PC game, a declining one at that, about 28 years ago, such technology like the intracerebral nano-technology was still under its testing and development phase, making the current reigning ruler of the Market, PC.
Though it was made for PC, the VR version was, if not better than its predecessing version, compared to other VRMMORPG games of the time, Myths and Legends selling point was player freedom.
But not only that, they had an enormous amount of content that was transferred from the PC version to the VR version, and while the number of content within MAL both PC and VR versions were several, they still continued updating and updating, which made their player base grow and grow.
To the point that only 1 server contained over 750 million active players, afk or not, it outnumbered even an entire country.
***
Somewhere inside a small one-floor house, was a VR capsule, while the user still isn't home, the VR adorned by its dazzling neon blue lights are automatically radiating the room, as the ceiling lights were still shut.
The room was as dark as a tunnel, and the only light present was the VR capsule's bright lights, with a dark view of the room, all you could see was the clean and polished wooden floor of the room, and the well decorated interior, radiated by the bright and dazzling lights of the VR capsule.
Neatly arranged bookshelves, that contained either novels, magazines, games, and overall different books with different types of literature present in them.
"God damn, today's the last day." A muffled voice was heard from the other side of the door, the only door that was used as the entrance and exit for the house.
The clanking sound of the lock opening, and the thrilling creak of the door released their sounds, soon, a hand from the outside world entered the room and placed itself right on the light's switch, flicking it upwards.
Then, immediately as the lights were flicked open, the entire room lit itself up from the ceiling lights, showing the pure cleanliness of the room, from the small kitchen space to the Capsule's area, to the bathroom, it was clean, without a speck of dirt present.
A man soon entered the clean room, as he entered, he revealed himself to be a slightly young-looking man, with messy hair, unbuttoned suit and clean slacks, and a slingbag hanging right on top of his shoulder but don't take his looks for granted, he is a 40s-year-old man.
He was Anton, his job was a history professor of a prestigious university, and he is also a freelance IT support specialist or technician, sometimes even a programmer or coder when he had time, you could say he is more or less talented in some ways, but definitely, he was talented in his own way.
Currently, after a long day at work with his university and students, he finally had time for himself, because just recently his contract relating programming and IT support with a large company finally ended, he got the payment and was now wondering how to spend it.
And he knew the perfect way to use it.
"Gaming!" He yelled as he raised both of his hands high in the air, soon throwing the slingbag away from his body and onto the floor.
He then proceeded to bend his body and take off his shoes and placing them near a shoe rack, with him finally finishing his preparations, he rushed onto his VR capsule, opened it, and entered it with complete Ease.
[Welcome, User, Anton2103, what do you wish to log into?] He was greeted by a robotic female voice, the voice of the Capsule's AI.
"Myths and Legends." He replied in an animated tone, excited as he was about to idle his time away in his favorite game.
[Affirmative, please close the capsule's upper door, and wear the Headset.]
"Yeah, yeah..."
Anton followed the capsule's AI orders, he first closed the capsule's upper door, the one he used to enter in, and soon saw himself inside the capsule's pure darkened interior, the only light present was the small patches of light inside.
But since he was a tidy man, he knew exactly where he hid the VR headset, from the nearby front compartment. Soon, he took it out from the front compartment, and wore it over his head.
[Greetings, User, Anton2103.] The AI greeted him as he wore the headset, [Logging in Myths and Legends, Logging in...]
Soon Anton's entire body felt a surge of electricity from the top down of his entire body, like electricity itself entering his body.
Immediately closing his eyes, he awoke in an entire new place, from the dark interior of the capsule to a now imposing throne room.
He rotated his head as all the game's interface were still in the meantime, present, towards the Throne room's interior, which had over several limited-edition possible decorations currently strapped and placed onto the dungeon's walls, a well-decorated interior, and also a well-designed architecture.
looking down before him, was a red carpet, it's edges were laced of gold, from the Throne room's entrance towards the elevated throne were Anton sat, he shifted his glare again, this time straight to the front and saw several pillars that supported the ceiling and roof above his throne room, each pillar had a stone statue before them with a [Blue Torch] stuck on a slightly elevated position on the pillar's, making them slightly above their heads, the stone knight's stared upon the red carpet in a composed but also intimidating manner, wielding different weapons each but had the same type of sculpture design, they were like real knights that protected the throne room.
The very Throne room itself was imposing and well-designed that Anton himself was once again speechless with awe and astonishment.
No matter how many times I log in, This is still the best! Anton remarked as if he was about to cry from joy.
It was his dungeon's throne room, Anton's Dungeon and Guild headquarters, Hades, derived from the Greek god of the underworld, Hades.
During Myths and Legend's Global Pantheon update, several gods from earth from their respective countries were chosen as bosses within the game, as part of the limited-edition event called 'Godslayer'.
Whoever killed a god in their respective territory would acquire not only their attributes and their title, but also their respective territories, in terms of ranking, Hades was the most powerful god ever made by the game.
Many Guild leaders that wanted to acquire most of the underworld’s territory and its resources tried invading Hades's Territory not only once or twice, but several times, it reached the point, they had to make alliances with other guilds to try and zerg the underworld’s monsters and Hade’s underlings, the territory's defenses, and eventually Hades's Himself.
Yet it was all futile, not only did they get obliterated several times, they were also humiliated on the internet, because who would've thought that such a historic event wouldn't be recorded.
But then, the ranked 5th player entered the scene, intending to conquer Hades with his one-man guild.
One-man guild was a term for a guild that literally only had one player inside their ranks, it was another term for loners, excessive whalers, tryhards, sweats, etc.
But this one-man guild was different, as the 5th ranked player, who was Anton at the time, with his well-known username [DARKSNYD3R] appeared, he was currently, during this time, level 267.
Since Myths and Legends was originally a PC game, their max level was originally at 150, but due to the VR transfer, constant updates, and data Transferring it reached the max level cap of 300.
Data Transferring was the limited time transferring of the Player's data from the PC to the VR version, those who had been playing MAL ever since its PC age was called by many, the 'First-Generation'.
Anton was one of those 'First-Generation' players of MAL, not only was his character maxed out in the PC version, but he also mastered, adapted, and memorize the game's PC content, to the point, he tried, tested, conquered and acquired several Easter eggs, hidden bosses and rewards, and even recorded tips and tricks using his smurf accounts.
He was by far addicted to playing MAL.
Using his previous memory of the game, and having a headstart because of the data transfer, he immediately grinded his way to 200 then after another update, grinded his way yet again to 250, all the while exploring the new content of MAL after their VR updates.
Defeating several newly placed in-game bosses, acquiring and mastering several classes and jobs, acquiring several SSS and EX, even World-class items for his personal use, and even spending most of his salary in the in-game shop and cash items.
He was Anton, MAL's [DARKSNYD3R].
"Haah, goddamn, even the forum is in absolute craze..." He said in an exhausted tone
Accessing the forums in-game was easy, for as long as the Player wasn't in any sort of combat, they were allowed to browse the in-game forums, hence, as he sat on his mixed adamantine and obsidian throne, he browsed the forums, in hopes of an encounter.
Currently he was viewing one of the popular threads, which was one of the many massive guild wars ever recorded and experienced in MAL, the Alavrum and Carus Guilds, labeling it as the Alvarius-Caruis guild war, with a total of 12 participating guilds, the two included, and having over a total of 120,000 participant players, it became a sensation for the other players.
"Ho, isn't that a Myth-class items." He commented as he watched the replay of the duel of the two Guild leaders, The Alavrum Guildmaster, [Label_0N], and the Carus Guildmaster, [KingsmanCarolus].
His comment was towards the Carus Guild's guildmaster, who wore the Myth-class armor, [Fropa Crab Shell], a rare type of armor that needed the shell of the infamous Fropa Crab, which was currently a level 150 beast, coincidentally, it also was the max level of the former PC version of MAL, which technically made it a world boss in the PC version.
After watching the replay, he moved onto another thread which showcased a famous player within MAL, An Archer called [x|Charles|x], who was currently at level 149, he was also currently streaming it on the streaming website [Blink].
In terms of why he was popular, he was a streamer with exceptionally good looks behind his masked gameplays, [DARKSNYD3R] and several 'Veteran' players mostly thought of him as a faker, but after closely reviewing his footage, [DARKSNYD3R] undeniably retracted his claims against [x|Charles|x], his viewership and good looks apparently overshadowed his overall talent as an archer in-game.
“As expected,” [DARKSNYD3R] boasted, “Since he has the apparent protection of the [Guild of Hades] he was basically untouchable until a few months was it?”
Before [x|Charles|x] rose to prominence as a popular streamer and even a ranker within the ranks of the MAL rosters, he was often exploited and bullied by several large guilds and ‘bad players’, that was until the [Guild of Hades] which was the name for the one-man guild of [DARKSNYD3R] backed him with the common rule of:
Against him, Against my Guild.
It Practically made [x|Charles|x] an untouchable player until the [Guild of Hades] retracted their backing, now, [x|Charles|x] was now a prime target by many guilds, in fact, he even streams himself wrecking them single-handedly.
The Stream [DARKSNYD3R] was currently watching was in fact, a road to level 150, but at the same time, he was Pk’ing in the entirety of the stream, which was undeniable funny for the veteran players, [DARKSNYD3R] included.
“Now, what’s next in the forums.”
[New Monster area spotted! Coordinates here! Easy Grind!], soon, he saw a thread with detailing the title, as far as memory served him, the coordinates that he was teased with was somewhere on the Main world.
The Vast expanse of Myth’s of Legends had exactly 9 worlds, each of whom was large in their own category, because due to the constant updating and given the possibilities of updating using a super computer, a VR medium, and a headset directly set into the brain, it was indeed possible.
They were the overworld, the Elven world, the World of frost, Main world, the Dwarven World, the Monster world, the world of infernos, The Devil’s world, and the Underworld, each had their respective spawns.
For example, if a new player chooses an Elf as their starting race, they’d spawn in the Elven world, if they were a human, they’d spawn in the main world, if they choose a heteromorphic race, they have a chance to either spawn in all the worlds, except the underworld and overworld.
except if the player was a heteromorphic race, there were worlds that were unable to be spawned in, for example, the Monster world, the Devil’s world, the Overworld and the underworld they couldn’t be used as a spawn point for a player, but a player can travel or teleport there once they finished a set of requirements in the tutorial areas.
Each world houses their respective resources, rewards, treasures and was occupied by their respective NPC’s and characters, and monsters, beasts, bosses.
With [DARKSNYD3R] finally finding what coordinate’s whereabouts, he stood up from his throne, and announced.
“[Teleport to Coordinates!]” He commanded.
Soon a bright light covered his entire body, the feeling was nothing more than a tingly sensation, given that VR technology still hasn’t progressed that much, it was to be expected, [DARKSNYD3R] was a veteran player since the PC ages of MAL, and even though he could feel what his avatar felt, he more or less loved the sense of nostalgia, even though he had been playing for almost everyday.
***
Somewhere in the Main world…
Inside the deep parts of a dense forest, surrounded by the deep lushness of the vegetations, the expanse of trees, the sea of green, surrounds a monster, a dead one.
“That’s it?” [DARKSNYD3R] said with an expectant tone, he currently thought of it as an area that housed an enormous amount of monsters, but there was nothing more than a few level 190+ beasts.
The King Earth Lizard, a level 195 beast, having a powerful outer shell, and having the ability to breathe out tier fireballs, it was the equivalent of a tank in the medieval ages, low-rank players and noobs would get destroyed with just one shot of it, even a level 219 player was recorded to have been defeated by one King Earth Lizard.
In the Game, while level matters as a form of requirement to unlock a certain amount of content, the player's skills and tactics also mattered, [DARKSNYD3R] was at the max level of 300, but accompanying that was his several skills and experience in-game, all of which he mastered while playing MAL, so he was undeniable good in both PVP which required individual’s skills, and PVE which just relied on the attack patterns.
Being a player that finished the main story and the side story as of recently, he memorized most of the monster’s attack pattern due to the very boredom he was experiencing at the time.
“Haah, what did I expect.” He sighed in irritation, to think that the most feared and one of the highest ranked player was fooled, while in the eyes of other players, it wasn’t apparently as ‘boring’, [DARKSNYD3R] was only able to finish the area quickly due to his experience and mastery in the game, which made his experience, quite stale than others.
As he was about to [Teleport] back to his dungeon in the Underworld to view some forum threads, a sudden announcement suddenly rang out in front of his avatar.
[Attention, Bug has been detected in the Server, Anti-virus in unable to combat, Initiating complete shutdown sequence.]
Hearing this, Anton was stunned, as he knew that a shutdown sequence meant that the server had to be shut down for the repairs to be manually done, but what shocked him the most was that, there was only one server active, and that very server housed 500+ millions players around the globe.
Wait a minute, isn’t there only one server in MAL?
Shutting down the game's largest server and doing manual repairs was equivalent to temporarily discontinuing the game, which was a bad move.
But suddenly, in the middle of the announcement and Anton's deep thoughts, a sudden aching pain entered his brain to the point it was akin to a migraine, a very severe one at that, due to the said migraine, [DARKSNYD3R], no, Anton’s strength soon waned.
“Shite!” He Grumbled as he slowly collapsed on the ground, both of his hands still holding his head, but was unable to, due to a helmet that covered his view, it was so tightly placed that he was unable to try and take it off.
“AAHHH! I Can’t take it anymore!” Anton yelled before losing his consciousness, not only in the game…
but also, the real world.
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[This just in, around the entire world, the same phenomenon has occurred, Myths and Legends players who were currently playing in their capsules suddenly died, all around the world, the head developers and founders who were barraged with questions committed suicide not long after news reached their ears...]
[Death toll has reached over 500 Million players… in only one… entire day.]
