Elijah laid on the gray carpet in his room panting for air. His dark skin was covered in sweat and his muscles were sore. Elijah closed his eyes and took slow deep breaths. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth as he waited for his body to recover.
“Another failure,” Elijah announced to the empty room.
Two weeks ago, Elijah received information about the future from his future self. He wasn’t given information about new technology, stocks or important changes in society. Instead, he was given information about a new video game called Fallen Heaven.
Fallen heaven was a new virtual reality game that surpassed all other virtual reality games. Unlike other virtual reality games, the user didn’t experience any disconnect between the senses. As a matter of fact, the five senses were able to absorb more information from the virtual world than they could from the real world. This meant that food would have more flavor, music sounded better, and sex felt more pleasurable.
Better sex was the only thing the game needed to draw in people that were interested and uninterested in virtual technology. However, future Elijah didn’t tell the present-day Elijah about the game because of physical pleasures. He told the present-day Elijah about the game because the cultivation techniques in the game would bring great changes to the real world.
Cultivation techniques in the game were how characters grew stronger. After some time passed, people noticed that they were able to use the cultivation techniques in the real world as well. The people using cultivation techniques in the real world gained the ability to resist modern weapons.
Money became less important in a world where people could take what they wanted by force. The best way for Elijah to prepare for such a world was to enter the virtual game with the information he needed to build himself a good foundation. Of course, Elijah was still somewhat suspicious of the information he had been given, even though the information directly appeared in his mind.
Knowing Elijah would be skeptical, the future Elijah provided a way for the present-day Elijah to verify the information he was given. The winning lottery numbers. Future Elijah gave present day Elijah the winning lottery numbers for multiple lotteries.
Sadly, present day Elijah wasn’t allowed to cash in the winning ticket for any of them. Future Elijah told him karma, destiny and fate were real. Fate was already affected by giving present day Elijah information about the future. Therefore, Elijah had to restrain his greed, and avoid doing anything else that would disrupt fate.
Fortunately, the future Elijah left the present-day Elijah something much more valuable than money. A cultivation technique that he could use in the virtual world and the real world. The cultivation was perfectly suitable for the path the future Elijah recommended he take.
The future Elijah said the cultivation technique couldn’t be cultivated before he entered the game. In fact, Elijah would have to continue to play the game if he wanted to continue making process with his cultivation technique in the real world. Wishing to prove his future self-wrong Elijah tried and failed for the past two weeks to use the cultivation technique.
“The game should be starting soon. I should take a shower and grab something to eat.”
An hour later, Elijah was laying on his bed with his virtual reality headset. The color of the helmet was a mix of blue, black and grey. The electronics for the helmet was focused at the top and the back of his head while his face was covered by high-tech screen. The headset had its own battery, but it could be operated by hooking it up to a power source.
Virtual reality technology was more advanced than a simple headset. However, Fallen Heaven could be accessed without an advance virtual reality setup. This was a key factor that would let the game become popular and help people realize that there was a lot more to the game.
Putting the headset on his head, Elijah laid down and powered on his headset. He quickly moved to the virtual website where he would be able to download the game and saw a countdown with ten seconds left. After the time elapsed, Elijah began downloading the game and entered once the download was complete.
First, Elijah’s vision went black. Then colors zoomed toward him as he felt his body rapidly move forward. Then he abruptly stopped and found himself floating in space.
“Welcome to the world of Fallen Heaven.” A gender-neutral voice said.
Streams of light appeared in space and gathered to form a ball. The ball emitted a bright rainbow-colored light, but the light wasn’t blinding. In fact, Elijah felt a feeling of peace and comfort when the light landed on his body.
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“You are about to start a journey like no other. A journey that will grant you knowledge, power and most importantly a true path. First, I would like to know your name.”
“Eli.”
“Welcome to Fallen Heaven Eli. Next, I would like to ask if you would like to walk your path as a martial cultivator or an immortal cultivator.”
“Martial cultivator.” Elijah already received information about the two options from his future self. The most important difference between the two options for Elijah was that martial cultivators engaged in battles more than immortal cultivators. The future Elijah suggested he walk the path of a ruler and being on a continent that was more likely to have conflict was better for him.
“Martial cultivators are sent to a continent where people are primarily focused on becoming powerful through martial arts. However, martial arts are not the only way to gain power on that continent. Are you sure you wish to be a martial cultivator?”
“Yes.”
“The next thing you need to do is pick a starting location. Would you like to start in a sect, city, clan, or the wilderness?”
“Wilderness,” Elijah answered without hesitation. The wilderness was the most dangerous in the beginning of the game, but it became the safest as an individual gained levels. In comparison, the sects, cities and clans became more dangerous as an individual gained levels. However, the main reason Elijah chose the wilderness because it gave him the ability to develop his own territory and gather followers with less interference from the different organizations in the game.
“Are you sure? To gain levels in this game you need a cultivation technique, and you won’t receive one before you enter the game.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay, you will be transported to a random location in the wilderness. Finally, let’s take a look at your status and stats.”
Status
Name: Eli
Cultivation Level: 0
Energy:0/100
Race: Human
Cultivation Technique: N/A
Specialty: N/A
Job: N/A
Health: 100/100
Stamina: 100/100
Mental: 100/100
HR: 0.1/min
SR: 2.0/min
MR: 0.5/min
Attack: 2
Defense: 2
Stats
Strength: 10
Intelligence: 10
Dexterity: 10
Wisdom: 10
Endurance: 10
Perception: 10
Vitality: 10
Willpower: 10
Free stat points: 0
Talents:
Identify
Cultivation Skills
Passive: None
Active: None
Specialty Skills
Passive: None
Active: None
Job Skills
Passive: None
Active: None
Titles: None
Elijah took his time looking over the blue window that appeared in front of him. Everything looked exactly as his future self said it would. The game system did not register his cultivation technique because he didn’t use it in the game yet.
“Looking at your status and stats you can see the world of Fallen Heaven uses a system similar to what you would see in other games. The big difference would be the Cultivation Technique, Specialty, and Job. If you want to learn more about those three items, you will have to research them in the game. This will be a bit harder for you because you’re starting in the wilderness. However, as long as you survive long enough you shouldn’t have any trouble obtaining more information.”
“Now, other than the three items I mentioned, do you have any other questions?”
“No.” Elijah answered.
“Good. Then I wish you luck on your journey through the world of Fallen Heaven. Do your best to find a path that suits you, follow that path and increase your strength as fast as possible.”
The ball of light vanished once it finished speaking. Next, Elijah began to fall. Stars began to rush past him, and Elijah felt a cold wind hit his face. He briefly wondered why he could feel the wind in space for a few moments before he saw a world appear before him.
Elijah was able to see a large continent with several smaller land masses surrounding it. Before he could blink, Elijah was in the atmosphere of the world zooming toward the edge of the major landmass. In the blink of an eye, he could make out some of the mountains, lakes and rivers. Another blink and the ground were a few meters away from him. Then his vision went dark.