Leveling down into the negatives
The year was 2056... The entire world had its eyes on a newly released game called Heaven’s Reverie.
Everything began in 2047, with the global release of a virtual reality game called Neon Rift. It was the first VR game to attract players from all around the world and rise to the number one spot globally. During its first five years, Neon Rift received highly positive feedback, and the company’s shares reached billions of dollars in value.
However, in 2052, everything changed when a software error in Neon Rift caused the death of a player. Although the developers claimed it was just a simple bug that would be fixed immediately, one question remained in everyone’s mind: How did that player die?
Neon Rift had been designed to transfer at most 30% of the pain a player experienced in the game to their real body. But due to a software malfunction, the damage a player took from falling from a high place was fully transferred to their real body through the capsule. At least, that was the company’s explanation. When the player’s family found their child dead, rumors quickly spread around the world that Neon Rift could actually kill people.
Within a few years, the value of Neon Rift’s shares dropped by more than 90%, and the number of players drastically decreased. By 2056, the company had gone bankrupt, and all its officials, including the developers, had disappeared.
Humanity’s favorite — and only — virtual reality game, Neon Rift, was gone, and people began searching for new alternatives.
It was at that moment that Heaven’s Reverie was announced.
People who were already looking for a new game bought the Heaven’s Reverie capsule and logged in.
The game’s fundamental concept was this: Heaven is promised to humans, but it is a place you cannot see before you die. The purpose of Heaven’s Reverie was to let people experience heaven while they were still alive. That was the game’s founding idea.
However, since players preferred RPG and combat-oriented games like Neon Rift, a level system, battle skills, and combat mechanics were added to Heaven’s Reverie as well. The game featured five main classes: Archer, Warrior, Mage, Priest, and Assassin.
Heaven’s Reverie analyzed players’ physical and mental conditions to suggest suitable classes. Players who were physically strong and skilled had a higher chance of unlocking special classes related to their real-world abilities rather than pure luck. For example, a person who practiced archery in real life had a much higher chance of unlocking a hidden class when selecting the Archer role.
When the game launched, it broke sales records worldwide. The company’s stock value increased a thousandfold in a single day.
Our main character, Kaelion, was nineteen years old and lived alone. His parents had disappeared when he was still a child. No matter what happened, he never gave up and tried to adapt to the ever-changing world. He had previously owned a Neon Rift capsule, but after the game was shut down, it became useless, causing him great loss. Buying the Heaven’s Reverie capsule was a huge risk for him.
However, two weeks after the game’s release, he decided to buy the capsule and take his first step into the game.