Enchantia—a multiplayer fantasy MMORPG in virtual reality with 100% immersion and connection to all senses. Tens of millions of players, hundreds of unique servers, countless quests, dungeons, and character progression options await you. Be whoever you want in a world indistinguishable from reality!

That's what the first line of the description on the VR headset box says. I've read it hundreds of times on the internet, and finally, this thing is in my hands! It feels like some kind of dream.

Enchantia... The company "Dream Gate Software" was on the brink of bankruptcy and closure. They invested their last remaining money in creating five hundred headsets and released it to the market.

That was seven years ago. Due to the unique technology connecting all senses, the game instantly gained incredible hype, which hasn't subsided to this day. Absolutely everyone plays it: from influential politicians to dishwashers. Tons of cosplays, themed events, millions of YouTube views, thousands of popular streamers... Enchantia has become part of world culture.

Dream Gate itself is now among the top five most valuable companies in the world, with its capitalization recently surpassing $7 trillion. Surprisingly, in all this time, no one has been able to replicate their technology, even though the headsets have been taken apart countless times.

Huh... I got carried away reading their history and lost in thought. I wonder why they added it to the back of the box? For coolness?

Whatever. By the way, speaking of dishwashers playing Enchantia—that's me. Well, until yesterday, when I quit. Such a cool thing, of course, is expensive—$5,500, and I'm lucky there's no extra charge for delivery since I live in California, where their office is located. One headset is intended for only one player; they scan biometric data and enter it into their database to avoid black-market schemes.

I had to kill myself with a side job for two months and scrub dirty dishes at night in a supposedly elite restaurant, although the treatment of employees there is far from elite. And it was difficult to combine with school.

What a joy that it's in the past, and now I can fully compensate for my suffering. But spit-covered plates will haunt my nightmares for a long time. Why did the customers even spit in them?

Although, who am I kidding—with a rate of $16 and a part-time workweek, I would never have earned so much. I thought I could work for four months for the full amount, but in the end, I quit after I had enough for the down payment to get an installment plan. I don't have the rest of the sum, but... they say it's easy to get rich in Enchantia with frequent play!

I take a utility knife, open the well-sealed box, and pull out the contents. Besides the headset, there's a charger, sensory gloves, a vest, and... a mat. You can only enter virtual reality in "full gear" and lying on the mat. Officially, the mat is needed for safety, but I still don't understand how it works.

I've watched many unboxings of this headset, so within five minutes, I was already lying on that very mat, in gloves, vest, waiting for the headset to turn on. It's good that today is Friday, and my parents are on a long business trip, I can play until morning.

A lot of my friends and acquaintances also play Enchantia, but they don't know yet that I'm joining the fun. Actually, I simply don't want to appear as a noob in front of them, as they're very leveled up and unlikely to bother with a newbie.

However, there's one person I can trust—Patrick, my best friend. He was extremely happy about my purchase and agreed to be a mentor in the beginning. He chose some good server for newbies and told me the name. After connecting, I'll send him a friend request, and we'll meet.

Patrick has been playing for four years, since 8th grade. He's in the top 100 best players in the world, even showed me a special badge hanging in his profile. Every day, he consistently spends at least twelve hours in Enchantia, in short, totally addicted, although he doesn't admit it. He's also the head of a very popular guild that spans several servers, but in real life, he's quite antisocial. Though, in that respect, I'm not far behind...

Also, Patrick comes from a fairly well-off family, his parents bought him the headset without question back then. I could have easily borrowed money from him for the headset for an indefinite period, but... I don't seek easy paths.

I also know that one of my neighbors plays Enchantia, we're about the same age. Well, I definitely saw her in cosplay of several popular characters, most likely she plays. Unfortunately, we've never talked, at most exchanged glances.

The headset made a ringing sound and lit up blue, signaling it was on.

Finally!

Following the instructions, I make myself comfortable on the mat, put on the headset, and wait with bated breath...

...

Nothing's happening... Did I forget to turn something on?

As soon as I thought about it, my body suddenly weakened, and my consciousness was thrown into a dark blue void, through which I'm rapidly flying. I almost panic, but Patrick said the first connection would be unusual and might cause mixed sensations. The main thing is not to panic.

Calm down, Dean...

[Initialization...]

[Synchronizing biometric data...]

[Creating account and player profile number FN-48-297-081-H63...]

[Generating interface...]

[Loading...]

Next, the company logo appears, a giant... no, GIGANTIC user agreement, and options "accept," "decline."

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Of course I accept!

Basic module installation complete. Dream Gate Software thanks you for purchasing the game. We are pleased to welcome you to Enchantia! We wish you the most pleasant time.

God, I must be dreaming.

After the last message, the void suddenly blurs, I feel a rapid fall downward. This lasts for about three seconds, and I find myself in the main lobby. It's a large bright hall, reminiscent of a throne room, with beautiful patterns on the walls.

I've seen it a thousand times, but to observe it in person... Holy crap, I'm really seeing it with my own eyes and can move my hands as if in reality. I can even feel a slight draft, it really supports all the senses!

As soon as I blink, a virtual keyboard appears in front of me with the inscription:

Enter the nickname by which other players will know you. For confidentiality purposes, DO NOT enter your real name. It will be displayed for players you add to "Close Friends."

When setting up the headset, you must confirm your identity. Convenient that it's already in their database.

Who will I be?...

After some consideration, I decide not to show off and enter the nickname I use almost everywhere—GreenDuck58.

What the hell, it's taken?! Okay...

Then a foolproof option—Unknown07.

Nickname successfully chosen. Would you like to adjust your appearance?

The keyboard is replaced by the most advanced character editor in the world. This is not an exaggeration, people on the internet build entire careers on guides for it. The column of just basic parameters is three times taller than me.

I don't have a particular desire to mess around here. Enchantia uses your real-world appearance as a base. You can work with it, or erase it and build a completely new one, including changing race and other things.

I'm generally okay with my appearance, it's not the main thing in the game. But there's one thing I would change...

I go to the "Eye Color" parameter and change the palette to green. I don't know, I've always wanted green eyes instead of blue.

I confirm the changes, and the editor disappears. The last part remains with... Damn, how quickly she appeared next to me, I was slightly startled.

A girl appears in front of me... who's a bit shorter than I thought. That is, a girl with long black hair, bright purple eyes, dressed in a light green dress that shimmers with magical particles. Despite her pleasant appearance, she has a perpetually emotionless expression.

This is the most popular NPC in Enchantia—Bellatrix Shadowmere. She inhabits the lobby, serves as a guide to the game (she has a fantastic AI built in, thanks to which she can answer any question), transfers you between servers, and... that's about it. The reason for such popularity is not very clear to me, nor why they gave her a last name.

"Welcome to Enchantia, Unknown07!" her voice is as sweet as in the internet videos. "My name is Bellatrix Shadowmere, I am the game guide for Enchantia. Would you like to go through the tutorial for new players?"

"No, thank you," I've watched so much content on Enchantia that I think I could be a guide myself.

"As you wish. In that case, I can answer your questions about the game if you have any. For example, I can recommend a server based on your preferences. If not, I'll transfer you to the server you choose from the general list."

I can't say I have any questions for her, but I've always been interested in personally checking a few things.

"Who created Enchantia?"

"The developer and publisher of Enchantia is the private company 'Dream Gate Software,' specializing in software development and virtual reality video games. If you meant a person, the CEO of 'Dream Gate Software' and the author of the Enchantia idea is Gabe Reeves."

This was the dumbest and most popular question in the game community.

"What day is it today?"

"April 12, 2038."

"Who is your direct creator?"

"One of the developers under the nickname FadeLight."

"Who is FadeLight?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with this information."

And here's one of Enchantia's mysteries: everyone knows about Gabe Reeves, but almost nothing is known about the team of main developers. Including the creator of Bellatrix.

Okay, nothing new. Time to get to the server and play!

"Thanks for the answers. I need to go to a server called... Uh..."

Damn, what an idiot I am. I even wrote down the name Patrick sent in my notes, but I forgot. What to do now?... I only remember its first letter.

"Bellatrix, I'm supposed to meet my friend on a server, but I forgot its name. As I understand, the server isn't in the top list, the first letter of the name is C. My friend said it's good for beginners and it's usually night there."

"Perhaps you mean the Celestial Rift server?"

"Yes, exactly!" I exclaimed in surprise. Wow, she really is very smart.

"Understood, I'll connect you now. However, I must first inform you that the Celestial Rift server is currently hosting the quest 'Blade of Madness,' which is part of the global event 'Legendary Artifacts.' The quest involves finding the weapon 'Dagger of Madness' in the 'Bewitched Forest' location, valued at 125,000 gold coins. The dagger's active ability is 'Sweet Oblivion,' which allows subduing NPCs of any level, except divine."

Oh yes, this event is all over social media. A couple of months ago, the developers scattered a hundred artifacts with very strong effects across different servers; most have already been found. But Patrick said this is a fairly unpopular server with low online activity. Strange that they placed them even on such servers. Probably trying to boost online activity.

However, I'm not likely to get any Dagger of Madness. It would be good not to die from the first goblin.

"Thanks for the information, connect me."

"One more important thing—Celestial Rift is part of a network of servers supporting the 'Divine Blessing' mechanic, which allows you to receive a passive bonus effect depending on the god of worship. This blessing will be fixed for you on all servers in the network. You won't be able to change it for ninety days. You have the option to refuse to choose a blessing."

Wow, the top 2 server supports this option too! I think I'm starting to understand why Celestial Rift is so good.

"I want to choose a blessing," I said, remembering guides on this mechanic.

She waves her hand, and a row of windows appears in front of me.

[Blessing of the War God. Passive effect: +15% to damage and defense.]

[Blessing of the Goddess of Wisdom. Passive effect: +15% to mana regeneration and spell learning speed.]

[Blessing of the God of Trade. Passive effect: 15% discount from all merchants. Increased chance of items with 'Epic' quality and above.]

[Blessing of the Nature God. Passive effect: +15% to health regeneration.]

[Blessing of the Time God. Passive effect: -15% to ability cooldown time.]

[Blessing of the God of Adventures. Passive effect: +15% to experience for exploring new locations.]

[Blessing of the Goddess of Luck. Passive effect: +15% chance of favorable circumstances.]

Ideally, the effect is chosen based on how you plan to level up, but I haven't decided yet. I know Patrick has the War God's blessing, he's always the first to jump into the brawl.

Reviews said that the strongest blessing is luck. Not surprisingly, if you're lucky, an enemy will miss with lethal damage, you'll get a very good discount, or you'll receive a rare magical ability. I guess I won't reinvent the wheel.

You have received the passive ability [Blessing of the Goddess of Luck.]

"I've chosen, you can connect me."

Bellatrix looked to the right—at that moment, a dark purple portal with a dim glow appeared nearby. I headed toward it.

I wonder what battle set Patrick has?

I've already entered the portal and feel the familiar weakness with consciousness being thrown out. In the last second, Bellatrix suddenly appears next to me and says:

"The troll fears fish," it seemed to me that her voice became warmer.

I didn't understand what this meant and didn't have time to react, as the connection began.

Probably some rare glitch due to the transfer to the location. After all, there's no such thing as a perfect AI.