VR technology has existed for nearly 55 years. In the first few years, most of the time was spent deciding how to launch VR technology.
One of the world's top geniuses, Brad Anton, suggested that VR technology should first be used for GAMES—
Games have entertained humans for thousands of years—and still do.
Brad Anton believed that modern mobile and PC games needed a major upgrade, and that upgrade was VR technology. Everyone agreed with Brad's suggestion.
Thus, the first virtual reality games were born.
For nearly ten years, VR games became extremely popular. Demand was high, and many players spent millions. But eventually, players began to lose interest—same levels, same stories, defeating the same bosses, the same leveling systems. It also started to feel too expensive.
Costs kept rising, players kept dropping, and complaints kept increasing.
Observing this situation, the VR authorities started searching for a new direction. Eventually, they reached a decision: to create a completely open, free-will virtual world—one where people would feel as if they were truly living in a real world.
Twenty years after the birth of VR technology, its true potential was finally realized. The authorities launched the first full-scale virtual reality world—[KINGDOM].
The Divers selected for beta testing praised the world endlessly. Large, detailed articles flooded online platforms.
This news captured the attention of the entire Nexus world, pushing the VR tech industry to the number-one position globally.
A new race began—one that dragged the entire world into it.
Thus, a New Era was born, where humanity started descending into a completely different virtual dimension, filled with overwhelming excitement and anticipation.
Players from all over the world began entering the VR world KINGDOM, creating a massive flood of players—like a great river in full flow.
Within the VR world, Players came to be known as DIVERS, as they began diving into an unknown ocean of virtual reality in search of new adventures
Countries around the world invested in this technology and began creating their own VR worlds—but many failed to deliver realism.
Only five VR worlds have fully satisfied Divers. And even today, those VR worlds reign as kings, ruling not only the VR industry but also the hearts of Divers themselves.
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"Show me the Top Five world list," Lisa ordered the AI assistant sitting in front of her.
Hearing her command, the assistant gently moved its right hand to the left, as if drawing aside a curtain.
"Zztt—"
Suddenly, a large blue-hued screen lit up and appeared before Lisa and Clara.
"Kingdom…" Lisa softly read the name displayed at number one. She glanced at Clara and spoke,
"There are massive wars going on in this world for the Emperor's throne… and to even survive there, fighting skills are a must. We couldn't even kill a sleeping fat frog…"
Lisa puffed her cheeks, making an innocent rabbit-like face.
"Yes, I know," Clara replied calmly. "But this world has 90 percent realism—almost on par with the real world. Don't you want to experience it? There's a reason the whole world is going crazy over it."
"But… we'll get crushed before we can even experience anything," Lisa said nervously. She was scared of diving into Kingdom—especially of feeling pain.
"Sigh…" Clara let out a long sigh, as if she had already predicted Lisa's reaction. She knew very well that the girl standing in front of her was probably the most cowardly person alive—someone who could get scared just by seeing her own shadow at night.
"Then you tell me. Which world do you want to go to?"
Lisa looked at Clara, then stared at the screen for a few seconds, thinking.
"How about this one?" Lisa pointed at the fifth entry on the list while looking at Clara.
"Holy Land? You want to dive into that boring, peaceful world?" Clara asked, slightly shocked, just to confirm.
"Y-yes…" Lisa replied shyly.
"Fine. But this time it's your choice—next time, it's mine," Clara agreed, accepting her timid best friend's suggestion, but adding her own condition.
She just looked at Clara, who was wearing an expression that clearly said she was enjoying watching Lisa be scared.
"....Okay."
As Lisa looked at Clara, she quickly moved her finger forward to touch the screen. Her fingertip was only a few nano-inches away when the screen suddenly updated. The fifth slot shifted upward slightly, and a new entry appeared.
[6. Apocalypse: Survive or Die (NEW!)]
[ SELECTED ]
"Eh?! …Wait, what?"
Lisa pulled her gaze away from Clara and stared at the screen with wide, confused eyes.
She was absolutely sure she had selected the fifth slot.
Then when the hell did this sixth slot even appear?
[Ms. Lisa, please be ready. In 30 seconds, the door to the world 'Apocalypse: Survive or Die' will appear.]
The AI assistant announced calmly, her expression completely blank.
"Why did you choose the sixth slot?" Clara asked, clearly disappointed.
"I didn't choose it! It suddenly appeared under my finger!" Lisa hurriedly defended herself, panic and regret creeping into her voice.
"What do I do now?" Lisa asked helplessly, looking at Clara.
"Nothing much… just DIVE into this trash copy world and ask for a refund," Clara replied angrily. Her mood was completely ruined.
"You know the Authority doesn't give refunds so easily. They need solid proof that convinces them," Lisa said, her face showing no confidence that she would actually get a refund.
"Then forget about the refund," Clara replied casually.
"Are you out of your fucking mind? Do you even know how much a single Virtual Gold Coin is worth right now?" Lisa burst out in anger at Clara's words.
To dive into any virtual world, an entry pass was mandatory. Without it, diving was impossible. The current price of a single entry pass was 100 Virtual Gold coins, and in the real world, 1 Virtual Gold equaled 100 dollars.
That meant Lisa had just used two entry passes—200 V-Gold Coin, which translated to 20,000 dollars disappearing from her parents' pocket in a matter of milliseconds, all for a virtual world she knew nothing about.
Hearing Clara talk so casually made Lisa even angrier. She knew exactly how valuable those entry passes were—and that was what hurt the most.
"Just kidding, my-dear-baby-16-Lisa… don't take it so seriously...
Clara burst into laughter when she saw Lisa puff up in anger. Watching Lisa like that was pure entertainment for her—she was enjoying it to the fullest.
" I'll talk to my dad about the refund."
"You bi—" Lisa was about to curse, but suddenly stopped herself. She took a breath, forced her anger down, changed her expression slightly, and said, "T-thank you."
"Why do I feel like you were about to call me a bitch just now?" Clara asked, barely able to hold back her laughter.
"You're enjoying seeing me like this, aren't you?"Lisa pretended to say sadly, trying to fool Clara so she wouldn't tease her any further.
"I know this rabbit-like acting—" Clara was just about to expose Lisa's fake expression when, suddenly, a golden door appeared behind them.
"Zzzz~"
Both of them turned around and walked toward the door.
"Apocalypse: Survive or Die," Clara read slowly from the golden plate on the door, as if trying to understand its meaning.
"Maybe the world is already destroyed, and we have to survive until the very end," Lisa said, voicing her thoughts out loud, influencing Clara's thinking.
"You're right… the world itself is called Apocalypse. That means we'll have to survive in this apocalyptic world," Clara agreed, reaching the same conclusion.
"But it's probably just another copy-paste environment," disappointment was clearly visible on Clara's face.
"I don't care how it is—I just want the refund," Lisa said, glancing lightly at Clara. "You remember what you promised earlier, right?"
"Of course I remember. Now open the door," Clara replied impatiently.
This was her very first virtual adventure, and no matter how trashy the world might be, she just wanted to experience it. After all, once an entry pass is used on a world, you can only dive into that same world.
"What kind of luck do we have today," Lisa muttered,
"That our very first virtual experience has to begin in some trash, unknown New World…"