{Realm of Fantasia.}
The first VR game that one can fully immerse in.
Promise with endless possibilities of content and story one can enjoy on their own.
Be it exploring the endless land of the world.
Fighting with other players for glory.
Clearing the unexplored dungeons and labyrinths. Learn the way of the sword and magic.
There is even content for those who simply want to do what they cannot do in the real world.
Become a farmer without the long wait for harvest?
Make your very own cake shop?
Become the florist you've always wanted to be?
Or simply just enjoy the excitement of fishing?
All of these can be done in this game.
This game is considered another world that people wanted without the sense of danger to their lives.
A game that everyone in the world wants to play. And finally, the most-awaited game to ever be released on the internet.
This was over a decade ago.
The current game has barely a million players every year.
Due to its popularity, the game's content was quickly rushed over by players in just four years after the game was released.
The game's plot progression was completed.
Players reach the level cap of 300, obtaining the highest level of weapons and armor, and maxing out their skill level and stats.
Explored all the possible dungeons and labyrinths, and killed all the monsters within them.
Making those who once enjoyed the leveling up and fighting the monsters in the game, bored with it.
And without a goal to reach anymore, people abandoned the game.
Even though the game still gets updated, no one bothers to come back.
The game is mostly played by adults who simply want to enjoy a relaxing weekend without leaving their home.
*****
Within Southeast Asia, in a small bedroom with only a window and a small cabinet beside a bed. A man held onto a VR headset.
"After all these years, I finally got one." The headset in his hand was the latest model of it, said to reach 30% of what the VR capsule can do.
The man was around his mid-20s, due to his financial needs, he couldn't buy one back then when the first model was released in his high school years.
So in the end, he couldn't experience the glory days of the game himself and could only watch the people around the world describe how amazing it was.
Instead of feeling bad about his situation, he pushed himself to do better and told himself: One day I'll have one with my own money.
But the world is not fair. Even though he pushed his very best in his studies and graduated, he couldn't get a high-paying job.
He only managed to get a job in a convenience store that paid minimum wage. For years, he endured this.
By pure dedication, he somehow changed his situation and managed to make his very own small business.
His business was a simple gardening supply store which had everything the gardening mothers of the households needed.
And thanks to his reputation, he was trusted by them making him their call to man when they needed something.
Thanks to this business of his, he managed to save up 50 thousand US dollars and buy the latest model of the VR headset.
This was the best thing he could afford since the lowest models of the VR capsule were around 300-400 thousand dollars.
If he wanted to have one of those, he would need to save up more and wait a few more years. So in the end, he decided to buy the latest model of the headset only.
Finally, after all these years, he can experience the game world that the internet has been going crazy about.
"Still, it's called a headset, but it looks more like the glasses people wear."
Without wasting any time, he put it on and lay down in his bed. Pressing the small button on the right, the headset lit up.
Covering his head with a blue dome. Slowly he closed his eyes and felt his consciousness fading away.
[Ding!
You have entered the Realm of Fantasia.]
Even though he couldn't see anything else, he heard a voice he had been hearing all these years, from the videos of the players of this game that had been uploaded on the internet.
He opened his eyes and found himself in a dark space with a small white panel before him.
[Would you like to start the character creation?]
"Yes." As soon as he answered, tens of panels appeared before him.
Each one has its own specific goal, needed for him to complete to move to the game world.
He already knew what he needed to do in this place, so he rushed over the entire thing.
He told the AI his game character name and decided not to change anything about his looks and gender.
Picking the [Villager] class, which can learn all types of skills from the other classes. But only having 25% of the actual power of the skill.
Making all his stats five points. And choosing his beginner weapon, which is a short spear.
Finally, letting the game AI choose which village he will be in.
[Congratulations on completing your character creation. You will now proceed to the real game world.
We hope you enjoy the Realm of Fantasia to your best.]
With those last words of the AI, the dark space disappeared, and he found himself once again unable to do anything.