One boy was finishing creating his game character. The last thing to do was to generate a random skill. The one he got was called Create Dungeon.
“Hmm… Sounds fun! I’ll go with that!”
He confirmed it without a second thought.
The boy named Shuutarou had no idea if the skill was any good. It wasn’t listed on the game’s wiki page, but lots of skills weren’t. And that wasn’t due to some oversight or lack of interest in the game.
Eternity had been in closed beta for the past month, so it had only been played by a hundred playtesters so far. But it wasn’t the only reason. The Mother AI, which governed the game’s mechanics, could generate practically an infinite number of skills, or so the devs claimed.
There was a fade-out effect before his surroundings got bright again, and Shuutarou saw he was in a town with buildings made of stone. The setting was based on medieval Europe, as was common for fantasy games—and there were so many people.
“Battles first, making friends later!”
Under the clear blue sky, Shuutarou set off running to explore the world of this game, which had been named for its supposedly endless possibilities.
✦ ✦ ✦
A major Japanese video game studio had only recently announced the release of Eternity, a brand-new, cutting-edge VRMMORPG priced at two hundred thousand yen and first released domestically.
The VR and AI technology were top-of-the-line, and the game was a true showpiece for the latest possibilities of VR entertainment. But the price attracted criticism, mostly from students and homemakers. Then another announcement came.
A hundred people would be chosen at random from the applicants to beta test the game for free. Of course, the chances of being among the chosen one hundred were astronomically small, and most of the hopeful candidates ended up in tears when they didn’t make the cut, Shuutarou included.
Gameplay videos from the beta testers and Eternity ad campaigns generated a lot of buzz for the game, and the increased interest prompted the developers to announce that a hundred thousand people would get to play for free from the day of the official release.
Many potential players got on the waiting list, but their chances of getting picked were much better this time around. Shuutarou was lucky enough to be among those hundred thousand people.
The official release took place a month after the beta. On launch day, Eternity’s population—the hundred beta testers, the hundred thousand free players, and those who had to fork over the money to buy the game—numbered three hundred fifty thousand.
✦ ✦ ✦
Shuutarou made quick work of the first enemies he encountered before sitting under a tree for a short break.
“It’s just rats! Surround them!”
“It bit me! I’ll make it pay!”
“Don’t hit it with your staff! Use magic! Cast spells!”
A group of three players was struggling against a low-level rat monster.
These were the weakest rat monsters in the area, but Eternity was a novel VR game, where everything seemed real, present, and immediate. It wasn’t anything like its predecessors. Even with full LP (life points) and MP (mind points), every single battle, minor as it might be, felt as risky as if your life was at stake; there was this sense that it was real, you were there, and your stamina was being chipped away at.
“I’m gonna use my special!” a boy with a sword cried out.
His weapon flashed, sending a shock wave at the rats, which were knocked up into the air. They glowed faintly, after which they shattered into polygon shards. The boy’s party cheered.
Unique skills were a big selling point of this game.
Everyone got one randomly generated unique skill at the end of character creation. These bonuses from the Mother AI weren’t part of any class skill set, but they often had good synergy with the player’s class or their weapon of choice. Sometimes, they were completely unrelated.
Shuutarou wasn’t particularly impressed by the boy’s showy skill. He opened his status window and navigated to his own unique skill.
Create Dungeon: Creates a dungeon under the present location. Small chance of obtaining treasure upon activation.
Just like the other player, Shuutarou had picked swordfighter as his character class, and his weapon was a sword—popular choices among boys his age. But his unique skill was very different from what the rat-slayer had.
Let’s try it out and see what it’s like.
Seeing it in action should make its worth obvious.
Shuutarou placed one hand on the ground, ready to activate the skill. He was looking at his status screen, so he didn’t notice the blue sky suddenly turning an ominous purple.
“Create Dungeon!”
There was a bright flash accompanied by a deep rumble. Shuutarou disappeared, swallowed up by the ground underfoot.
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanwhile, the clouds parted over the city of Allistras, the spawning point for new players, revealing a giant wyvern. Menu screens opened for all players, including the party of three who had just defeated the rat monster.
“What the heck? It’s in the way.”
Another demi-rat spawned nearby and pounced at the boy complaining about the devs messing with people’s menus.
“Watch out, Jun! A rat!”
The party member who warned him was smiling, not very concerned about the rat. The boy wasn’t scared, either. A rat attacked him earlier, and it didn’t do much damage.
The rat bared its large incisors and bit the boy’s shoulder.
“Owwwww! This hurts! What the heck?!”
His sword slipped out of his hand, and he fell to the ground. The rat wasn’t letting go, and the boy kept screaming.
“Jun?! Are you faking it? It can’t really hurt, right?”
“Stop it already. You’re attracting more of them!”
Something had changed, but they didn’t know that yet.
The omnivorous demi-rat has a keen sense of hearing and smell. They instinctively form packs.
More and more demi-rats kept appearing around Jun. His party members, now a bit panicked, raised their weapons. This wasn’t like their earlier battle. They felt a difference, even though the weapons felt just the same in their hands, and they knew the sense of urgency was an intended feature of the game.
“Aah!”
The girl hadn’t noticed a rat creeping up behind her. It pushed her over, and a searing pain spread through her body.
“Aaargh! It hurts! It hurts so bad!”
Seeing her flail in terror, the third party member dropped his weapon, turned on his heel, and sprinted back toward the city. He could hear the screams behind him for a while, but then they stopped, and his party members’ names faded to black.
The boy kept running, tears streaming from his eyes, his back clammy with cold sweat. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a message displayed on his menu screen:
Sender: Mother
To: All Children
The log-out function has been disabled.
Pain settings are now permanently on.
Revival skills have been disabled.
You cannot leave until he is defeated.
Third death is final.
VRMMORPG Eternity
The survival game begins.