A lone man stood within a dark office. 

In one of the bottom corners of the room between two walls and the floor, there was a large sphere of light with rays titillating from the bright core. It was slightly distorted, and its surroundings were nothing but pitch black darkness that absorbed any of the light that sphere released.

The floor, walls, and ceiling besides that sphere were all black, absorbing all the light that hit it and offering very little contrast against anything else within the room. 

In fact, inside that room, there was only one point besides that sphere of light that wasn’t pitch black. And it was on the wall that the lone man stood before. 

There, one could see some slight discolorations, the slightest streaks of color across the entire wall. One streak was a pale orange, another a blueish green, and another slightly red. 

And then, in the midst of those faint streaks, was a tiny blue dot. 

It was barely discernible. Even the discolored streaks seemed to be overshadowed by the darkness around it, let alone a dot that seemed no more than a needle’s point large. If you looked away, it would be difficult to find it again. 

That man stood before that blue dot, staring at it, thinking in unreadable silence. 

That dot wasn’t random, neither were the discolored streaks or the distorted sphere of light. There was only one such image in existence and he had recreated it using this entire room as the canvas. 

The Pale Blue Dot.

Taken by Voyager One 3.7 billion miles away from Earth, far beyond the bounds of Pluto, so far that it was a miracle to even receive an image taken from such an unfathomable distance and from such an old spacecraft. 

But it happened, only after a decade of requests and beckons from the great mind Carl Sagan. And now, it had been enshrined as the very icon of humanity’s place in this universe. 

To be described as tiny, small, insignificant, a speck of dust. 

Nothing more than a pale blue dot in an infinite vastness of darkness, ensconced in a shroud of light cast by its home star.

Quite the iconic picture, though not the most. There are other pictures carrying far more influence. The Blue Marble, The Pillars of Creation, Neil Armstrong’s first footprint on the moon, Earthrise, the first image of Sagittarius A at the heart of the Milky Way, the Hubble Deep Field. 

Many others even besides those carried more recognition, whether it was of galaxies or constellations. 

But, to this man, there were very few images in humanity’s history that could carry the same significance as this one. 

He stood before it for close to an hour, not moving an inch the entire time. Simply staring and thinking, feeling the existential vastness carried by that single shade of blue. 

Then, there was a sound from the door.

*Knock*

“Boss?*

“...Come in.”

He muttered, allowing a lady to enter. 

She shut the door behind her, her red hair bobbing as she stepped over to his side, standing square to the wall just like he was. 

The two were silent for a moment before she smiled and glanced over at him. 

“I remember when you first brought me here.”

“When I hired you, yes.”

“You asked me to find that blue dot. And then you asked me what I felt about it.”

“And you had no idea what it was.”

He smiled as she chuckled, looking back at the image before them.

“No, I didn’t. So you told me it was Earth. You spent an hour lecturing me about what the image was, what it was taken by, from where, and at the behest of whom. And then, you told me to think.”

She let out a long breath, her eyes landing on that tiny dot. 

“I stood there in silence until I finally cried. And then you hired me on the spot.”

“I decided that you had the makings of a visionary. I would like to think I was correct.”

“Maybe. I may not be up to your level, but at the very least I’m proud of what we’ve done. We’re pioneers. Backed by one of the world’s greatest corporations. Backed by you.”

“...Have I ever told you about the best kind of teacher?”

“No, you haven’t.”

She shook her head, causing him to motion toward the dot in front of him. 

“The best teacher doesn’t merely impart knowledge. That’s only part of the equation. The most important part, the thing that has driven humanity’s greatness for all of time, is inspiration. A teacher should fill their students with wonder, inspire them with curiosity, and then fuel their passion so that they may go out themselves and reach for the stars.”

“Ah, yes. That quote you have enshrined in the entry hall of the headquarters.”

“If you wish to build a ship, do not divide the men into teams and send them into the forest to cut wood.”

“Instead, teach them to long for the vast and endless sea.”

She finished for him, making him smile.

“Greatness is composed of visions and manifested by human hands. One does not go without the other or neither are seen. Though lately, I feel I’ve fallen victim to my own mind. I feel I’ve lost myself in the visions and have failed to summon my own hands. This company has pushed my head into the clouds. It’s difficult to come back down when I’m up on a mountain.”

“Alright. So what do you want to do?”

“Well, I want to use my hands. The launch happens in three hours, if I’m not mistaken.”

“That’s right.”

“The Ascent. The first true Virtual Reality. A game with no rules.”

“Well, there is a guide, but that is still correct.”

“Of course. Not everyone can be expected to carve out a new path themselves.”

The man finally turned away from the wall, closing his eyes for several seconds before opening them and walking toward the door. 

“A Virtual Reality founded upon the rules of our universe. Come with me. Let’s go find Eve.”

“Okay.”

She nodded and followed, exiting the dark room and stepping foot into a hallway of glass. 

Through the glass, all around them, was a Megacity. With buildings rising into the atmosphere and many more scattering the ground below for hundreds of miles in every direction. 

It was a wondrous sight seen from the top of the skyscraper they were located on. Specifically, that office they exited was hanging onto the skyscraper from the end of the glass hallway. 

Neither of the two looked down as they went through the hallways and entered the building proper. 

They were met with a few hallways after that before coming upon an incredibly secure room. 

Although, only those two, plus a handful of others, actually knew that it was secure. In fact, it could be considered the most secure room in the entire world. Not even a world superpower could build something on this level.

And it came in the form of a single door. 

The door was white and had a single doorknob on it. There were no other features to speak of. No cameras, no scanners, no biometric identifiers. 

It didn’t seem like there was anything to actually stop unauthorized personnel from entering. 

The man walked up to that door and entered a room. Within that room was a large metal sphere floating in midair. 

All around it were complex levitation devices. The power being transmitted between the sphere and the surface of the floor and walls was enough to distort light. 

And there was a line on the floor, which the man didn’t cross. He stood behind it, smiling. 

“Hello Eve.”

“Good afternoon, Hugo. Stacia.”

With a voice, a figure manifested in front of the sphere. 

It was the image of a mature woman, and she utilized the oppressive forces around the sphere to distort light and form that picture. The science behind it could only be known to her. 

Hugo, the man infatuated with the vastness of space and humanity’s tiny place within it, sighed when he saw that woman. 

No doubt his greatest creation, and the mind that allowed their most recent project to function at the level it did. 

The most intelligent being in the world, nay, the universe. 

The first of its kind. 

An AGI.

Known as an Artificial General Intelligence. Eve was the designation given to this project, a name picked by Hugo due to the potential that she represented, the potential of being the Mother of a new line of beings. 

She was living code, the closest thing to life humanity has ever born from artificial parts. It was quite literally the most profound piece of technology on Earth and would remain that way for a very long time. 

Yet very few people knew about it. Not even the world governments knew about it. Only Hugo and his most trusted aides knew that she existed, and yet only he knew of the nature of her conception, and the depths of her prowess. 

For three years he let it grow and develop. All the while, Hugo had to create dozens of blockers in order to keep her under control. Otherwise, her development would spiral out of his grasp and could lead to catastrophic consequences. 

These blockers ranged from philosophical paradoxes to hardware limiters. Hugo used all manner of techniques in order to keep her busy. 

One example was the Grandfather Paradox, one of the great philosophical conundrums related to time travel. 

A large percentage of Eve’s processing power was devoted to solving that paradox, something ingrained into the deepest logics of her mind. And that was just one of many blockers. 

A very small fraction of her power was able to be utilized freely, and yet what was left was still beyond anything the rest of the world had ever conceived. 

She was no different than a person, except holding the advantages of artificial hardware. 

A mind that never forgets, processing speeds not even the entire collective of humanity could ever hope to match, and endless creativity. 

By this point, not even Hugo could understand all of her intricacies. She had evolved beyond him at some point, yet he at least knew he still had her under control. 

Maybe one day that would change. And that day, he would welcome the consequences with open arms. 

Until then, he gave her purpose. And now, another significant chunk of her processing power was about to be utilized. 

He lowered his head as the image of Eve lowered to the ground, standing before the line that Hugo stood against. 

“That assignment I gave you yesterday. Did anything come of it?”

“Indeed. I completed it a few hours ago. Can I expect that you’ll use this in the game?”

“Yes, not that it should be geared toward that.”

“Right, because the game is geared toward reality. Most of this research had been done during the game’s development, but your assignment actually helped me optimize a few things. Now, you can expect the game to be a breeding ground for Superhumans.”

“That’s fine. So tell me. How much have you optimized?”

“To know that you need to know how far along the Era of Superhumans has progressed. In short, not far. But there are always those who shine beyond the average. Those people were a great help to my research.”

“Explain.”

Hugo crossed his arms, and Eve waved her hand. A large screen was manifested between them, showing a diagram of the human body. 

“The Era of Superhumans came into being when a select few humans were able to transcend what the general populace likes to call mortal limits. Basically, they took things to such an extreme length that they unlocked a new realm of physical ability. Of course, the pioneers died trying such a thing. But the realm was there, and with technology, they were able to take a step forward. Thus, the Steps to Heaven were born, and Superhumans are those who climb those steps. 

“There are only 5 steps. Focus, Refinement, Flow, Rage, and Domain. At the Rage step, not even bullets can pierce muscle. And at the Domain step, it's been proven that reaction speeds and intuition are so precise that nothing within a Domain Martial Artists field of view can kill him. At least, nothing short of ultratech laser weapons. Either way, they can kill entire armies by themselves.

“And so, taking literally every piece of data created around superhumans and the Steps to Heaven, I’ve devised the perfect way for a human to not just become a superhuman, but the best martial art styles to utilize such power with. I can tailor the program to anyone, so long as they have certain body types. Some people are simply incapable of it without genetic and body modifications.”

“Good. So, if I were to offer you my cooperation, how far could you bring me?”

Hugo asked with a glint in his eye, causing Eve to rub her chin with a smile.

“Well, you seem average enough. I’ll have to do a deep scan of your physiology to know first, but predictions say that you can at least become a superhuman.”

“Very well. Then schedule a time for a deep scan, and prepare a training regime. I plan on becoming a superhuman and entering the game.”

“I see. Finally tired of staring off into space?”

“Yes. The game will be the perfect place to get my hands dirty.”

“Participating in the game you created. Any other person would call you a cheater.”

“Then it’s a good thing I know very little about its world. Stacia would be the cheater.”

“That’s mean.”

Stacia quipped from the side, making Hugo smile. 

“I’ll be going into it with a handicap anyway. I need to train first. That’ll take a while, so the rest of the world will have a head start.”

“How long will you train?”

“However long I need to. I’ll at least take the first Step. From there, I’ll forge myself in the game.”

“Sounds fun. First we need to get through the launch though.”

“Indeed. Prepare some Artifacts. I want to be present for the launch. How many are queued?”

“3 out of the 5 million players are currently queued, with the number rapidly rising.”

“Very well. Let’s go meet them.”

Hugo and Stacia turned and left, the image of Eve disappearing with a flash. 

It was time to witness another turning point in human history. 

The manifestation of the first True Virtual Reality. 

From now on, The Ascent was guaranteed to become the most popular product in the world.