Prologue
Year 2037
To most it was a year like any other, there were no world-changing discoveries or major catastrophes of note. To some it was good to others bad, that is the nature of life.
There was however one thing that happened that year. Something trivial yet life-changing all the same. The release of 「 」.
「 」was not the first VRMMORPG, but while few recognized it, 「 」was truly the first of its kind.
For example, unlike most other games 「 」made full use of the VRCapsule and was capable of reacting to users intentions and giving them impressions at a level where it could be considered mind reading and telepathy.
Not only did this revolutionize the usage of magic, it also meant, that the system could potentially translate any language the users might speak or write to something any other user could understand, regardless of their location or origin.
The best thing about 「 」though, was without a doubt the system which operated it.
You see most VR games are run by some obscenely complicated AI. They work very well of course, but in the end they are just really big programs, and therefore, limited.
「 」is a bit different. It still uses AI's for things like system messages or user interface of course, but the world and it's laws, including the NPCs, are managed by the world itself.
That may sound weird, but that is the most accurate way to say it. I suppose another way of describing it, would be to say that every grain of sand, every atom has it's own AI and the world is a collection of an unlimited amount of them, but when most people think of AI, they imagine some huge all-knowing entity, not a tiny program that mostly just goes: “if that hits me from that direction, then I move in that direction.”
All this means, among other things, that this world is limitless.
Want a new planet? Just copy one atom and paste it enough times for the “gravity” to take effect and let the planet form itself. Ad a few variations for different elements and presto. A whole new world.
Want to travel to said planet? Sure, just build a spaceship.
Of course 「 」is a fantasy world of sword and magic so you wouldn't have the tools for it, but everything works the same as in real life, even the magic is just a “new form of energy” with a bit of a fantastical element to make it actually do something. So if you take a big enough cannon and invent a spell to counteract the crushing force of acceleration, then you could, theoretically, launch yourself into space.
But enough about that for now. You came here for the story. It's time I start telling it.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I woke up to someone yelling outside.
I stretched, yawned and stood up. It was still dark out and I contemplated whether or not to see what was going on. The shout didn't seem all that desperate, but I wanted some fresh air anyway, so I stretched again and headed towards the balcony.
On my way there I walked past Tom, who was sleeping on the couch with a book on his face. He is a pretty average looking guy in my opinion with short black hair and brown eyes. He stays out turing most days, and I ignore him most others, but he does give me food and keeps the balcony door open so I guess his okay.
It seems that whoever woke me up is gone now, but the weather is nice so I decided to stay a bit. The stars are shining and the white tabby from across the street is prowling on the neighbors roof. I sometimes try to talk to her, but like most other cats in the neighborhood, she doesn't seem to have much interest in me.
The sky is clear and full moon is shining and I decide to take another nap.
•••
I woke up to yelling again, but this time it was Tom.
I was quite happy to ignore him and go back to sleep, but he yelled again and this time I distinguished the words “Nori” and “food” and since I was feeling a little peckish anyway I decided to get up and see what he had to offer.
The food was mostly dry and tasteless like usual, but this time Tom had added some fish to it, so in the end I was quite content. I always liked fish for some reason. I just can't resist it.
I headed out of the kitchen and was just about to lay down on the couch to resume my nap when Tom started to move it for some reason. He put it in the shadows and I didn't feel like going out of the warm sunlight so I went for a walk in the neighborhood instead.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Everything looked the same as always, but it seems that one of the yards a few houses down the street has a new resident. A big light-brown guard dog. I was quite startled when it tried to jump me while I was walking by, but I soon saw that he was chained up and wouldn't even reach to fence. In fact I had a had a lot of fun trying to agitate the dog and then just stand there and watch as it tried to reach me. After a while it got boring though, so I moved on.
When I got back Tom was already gone like always, but there was something black and shiny in the living room instead. It was long with round edges and it had an open hatch on top. Inside it there was a chair-like bed, kind of like the one on the balcony and it was positioned right in the middle of the room where the couch used to be. In the sunniest spot.
After a moment of hesitation I decided that it looked harmless enough and the inside comfy enough, so I hopped in and laid down.
"Hmm. This might actually be better then the couch."
Just as I was about to dose off, all of a sudden I couldn't feel the soft bed under me anymore and everything turned dark.
Would you like to enter「 」?YesNo
•••
This is weird. Not the fact that I'm now suddenly floating in some dark place or that there is a transparent blue screen in front of me. All that is weird as well, but what's really shocking, is that I can understand what the screen is saying. Or are the strange squiggles the ones saying it?
Now that I think about it Tom sometimes stares at some books or a computer for a long time and they had the squiggles on them as well. Could it be that he understands them too?
I stared at the screen for a while, thinking about why I suddenly understood it, but after some time I got bored and decided to do something else. I didn't really like the nothingness and since the screen asked if I wanted to go to some place called 「 」 I said yes.
As soon as I said it, the surroundings changed again. This time I appeared in a big white room.
Error#: 57HYUY2829
user imprint not compatible with available starting races
Searching for a compatible construct.
Processing …
Compatible constructs found under:
Familiars/ Beasts/ Feline (small)
Modifying constructs for user interface
processing …
Congratulations! You have unlocked 4 new races (basic races not available)
Choose a race.
______________________________________________
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hey, so I hope you liked it.
I'm (rather deliberately) going out of my comfort zone with this one. No planning ahead, the MC actually interacts with people early on and I will probably use a lot of suggestions (if i get them). Well there is still little to nothing about the world so the only thing to ask about is the VR name and it might actually be interesting to leave it blank for now.
* By the way. In case anyone didn't get it. The MC is a female cat. (The gender is unlikely to make a difference though.)