2035 was the era of virtual reality. Leache Corporation's virtual reality connection device,V-Gear,paved a way to the beginning of a new era. In just 10,000 Dollars anyone could experience the world of virtual reality.

Virtual reality did not just absorb the technologies of the real world, it fused those tecnologies together and developed a new world the 'Virtual World'.

Among them, virtual reality games were the most popular.

Game companies didn’t hesitate to invest millions or even billions of dollars into developing this new technology. As a result, they could release higher quality content than any other business in the world.

At the same time, it was the start of a war.

Due to their investments and preparedness, their games had similar quality, and none stood out as the best.

It was the beginning of a warring era.

Game companies experimented with new methods of raising their market shares, and many went bankrupt as a result. The one that put an end to this warring era was not a game company, but an AI developing company called Abbott. It was through their AI program that Strongworld was created.

Strongworld.

With a typical fantasy setting, the game was not too different from the other games in the market. In fact, it was much tamer compared to games where the players battled in space or flew in the air with wings.

It was the scale of its world and its stability that made it unsurpassable by others.

Abbott’s secret lied behind a management artificial intelligence program called M.I.

Simply put, the game wasn’t controlled by the company but an artificial intelligence program. Its initial development cost was huge, but the management cost was ground-breakingly small. At a time when the price of VR game programmers was soaring to the sky, the method proved to be especially efficient. A.I.s didn’t need a salary.

Plus, it was easy to copy and mass produce an A.I. Hiring a thousand professional programmers took at least six months, but obtaining a thousand copy of an A.I. took only about a month.

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Countless A.I.s worked to control and manage the server, and as a result, Strongworld became a game that surpassed any other game in existence.

November 6th, 2040, a year after the game made its debut, the player base was well over one million. By its 4th anniversary, the number rose to over ten million, worthy of the game’s title as the greatest game to ever exist.

Ten million was not a small number.

To play a VR game, one needed a VR device. Leache Corporation controlled 70 percent of the VR device market and its cheapest VR device, the Level 1 V-Gear, cost 10 thousand dollars.

In addition, one needed 1,999 dollars just to create a Warlord character. Upon creation, one could play the game free for 3 months, but afterwards, there was a monthly fee of 599 dollars.

In Japanese standards, it cost 1 million yen to buy the gaming device, another 200 thousand to make a character, and 67 thousand more every month.

There were ten million people who could meet such requirements.

Businesses smelled the money just as easily.

Numerous companies and corporations became sponsors of Strongworld players that had fame and influence. Famous rankers, especially the official top 100 rankers, were walking advertisements, and their bodies were worth at least a billion dollars.

Most importantly, Strongworld was fun.

Players with superhuman powers killing monsters with different skills and magic was more exciting than any movie, and the fact that a player could die at any time made the game more thrilling than any sports in the world.

In this era, one could gain the wealth and prestige of a professional soccer player or a major league star just by gaming. As a result, countless people sought to become this era’s protagonist.

Only a very small minority of players could enjoy the life of wealth and fame.

Right, virtual reality games were more unfair than any other games.

Even in PC games, there are good players and bad players. In a VR world, where everyone has superhuman powers, the difference was even clearer.

That’s not all.

In Strongworld, the best way to earn money was through live broadcasts.

However, only 15 channels were given permission to broadcast Strongworld-related content. In the past, when problems began to arise from gambling and swearing in private broadcasts, most countries began to require licenses for broadcasting certain content. In the case of Strongworld, only 15 channels were given licenses.

That was how the Top 15 Guilds were created. Guilds that obtained broadcasting channels received no small benefits.

Furthermore, these guilds used the money and influence gained through live broadcasts and live tickets to prevent other guilds from challenging their authority. Although everyone aimed to become one of the Top 15 Guilds in the beginning, the gap between a Top 15 Guild and a non-Top 15 Guild only grew wider over time.

They were in a league of their own.

By the time Strongworld entered its 4th year of service, no one could threaten to close this gap.

Except one.

The Red-Haired Swordsman named as the Immortal Necromancer.