1 Prelude

Earth Defense Research Division, Experiment Lab #1.

"Sara, you may begin." A middle-aged man stated methodically while staring intensely at the metal pod behind the glass barrier.

"Affirmative sir, beginning test." A computerized voice said, "Test subject AA05 has started to enter the preliminary startup phase."

"Vitals?" said the man, turning his head and looking anxiously at what appeared to be a giant humanoid robot.

"All green sir."

"Begin transfer." The man looked hesitantly at the robot again. The robot appeared to spasm slightly as the transfer began showing that the subject started to link with the robot and could control the artificial musculature. The man looked up, hopeful as this lasted longer than the previous subjects. Sadly, his hopes were quickly dashed as several alarms started blaring.

"Sara! Report!"

"Sir, vitals are going erratic, the subject is unable to control the robot as his mind destabilizes, recommend immediate shutdown."

A loud garbled noise is emitted from the robot. One could only describe it as a robot screaming in pain.

"Shut it down…." The man looked dejectedly at the robot again as it stopped moving and screaming. He slammed his fist on the control panel uncontrollably and winced slightly at the pain. Suddenly though, his eyes lit up with an idea.

"Sara! Gather everyone, we're going about this all wrong! It's not the technology, it's the people!"

________________

Gray Wilhelm's parents had always taught him that kindness and bravery will get you far in life. His parents were correct if 'getting far' meant being a code-monkey for a multi-trillion dollar corporation and only a few steps above a basic entry-level employee. Unfortunately, Gray did not agree with them anymore since he was 29, single, and living paycheck to paycheck. Gaming was his only escape and partly to blame for why he was living paycheck to paycheck. He read several fantasy novels from the past about where people get reborn or transmigrated into a game, and he hopes that this will happen to him.

Finally… his dream… has NOT come true. That's pure fantasy. Still, that doesn't mean he can't dream!

In the year 2080, neuroscientists developed a method to transfer sensory inputs and thoughts to a machine. Initially, it was very awkward. While the human subject was still conscious and trying to control devices that didn't mimic humans, they found it almost impossible to control them without extensive training. Fortunately, humans will always find a way to get around these issues. Now controlling humanoid robots could be done by anyone with a healthy mind.

In this day and age, almost everyone is a gamer to some extent. Adventure MMOs usually lead the pack since everyone needs an escape from reality every now and then. With the latest virtual reality technology, you would feel completely immersed in your own world. Combine that with millions of other people and you could be in a completely different world with people you've never met.

Gray sighed to himself on his way home as he looked at the various advertisements for VR games while staring out the window on the Tram. He could only afford the older generations of VR hardware, so it was never fully immersive. Unlike the current generation that gave you complete immersion, only his hands and head gave input to the game. Many of the best gamers received a VR suite for free as they had been signed by various corporations or special interest groups. Unfortunately, they would have to promote that group's agendas and advertise within the games.

"I'm not as good as the pros, but I still love gaming and I think that is what makes it still enjoyable for me even without all of the fame." Gray mused.

"And THAT is why you suck at competitive games!" A loud voice said from behind Gray.

"Screw you, Jono! At least I'm not stressing over games so much that my hair starts to fall out!" Gray said childishly while pointing at Jono's hat, causing Jono to lower his head slightly while holding the brim of his hat.

"It's hereditary!"

This was Jono Randel, his best and one of his only friends. They both seemed to hate each other, but they were very close friends. Gray thought it may have been true that the closer you were to someone, the more you fought over things. If that was the case, they could've been brothers.

Suddenly Jono threw his arm over Grey's shoulders and hunched down, whispering to Gray, "Did you hear about the new game from Alterra?"

"No, I can't afford a new one anyways as I like to be able to eat more than once a day." Gray said.

"It's supposed to be a full mech simulation! A fully simulated world with politics, economics, and an old Earth setting! Alterra Online!"

"They used their own name in the title? Plus it doesn't seem like anything special just with that."

"By itself, no, but what if that was only a part of it. What makes it unique is that players occupy a very tiny portion of the game itself and the game world is a 1:1 scale of the solar system. AI that perfectly replicates humans will form the core of NPC interactions!"

"So it's going to be big and empty then?" said Gray without any sign of enthusiasm.

"Yes and no. NPCs will inhabit the world and it has been shown that a player and NPC will be indistinguishable from each other. Additionally, players and even NPCs can form their own groups or alliances outside of the major governments if they want. For casual players, you don't even have to be a pilot of a mech, or even do anything related to mechs. Generic mechs and parts will be available to all, but the truly powerful ones can only be crafted by players."

Gray still wasn't convinced. "This still doesn't sound like anything new."

"Ok, then I'll let you in on a secret, remember Kelly Lagerty?"

"What about her?" Gray's heart started to feel warm, remembering the girl he crushed on through grade school. He never asked her out because he always got friend-zoned immediately with most girls since he was nice.

"She dumped her last boyfriend just to prepare for this game!"

"Huh?!?" Gray was very confused as this seemed to be a very outrageous statement. Kelly had no interest in gaming and instead was a civil servant.

"Actually, that's a lie, but last I hear she really did quit her job and dump her boyfriend."

"That still has nothing to do with the game."

"No, but I know I can't convince you easily to play it, so just Google the trailer for it and you will see what makes it amazing!"

After a short ride home, Gray figured he should make himself some dinner before firing up his computer as he sometimes would forget to eat if he was playing. Gray grabbed his food and headed to his game room for another late gaming session. Heeding Jono's advice, Gray looked up trailers for the game "Alterra Online."

"Seriously, how big of an ego do they have to use their own name in the title of the game, or maybe they just decided to be uncreative with it." Gray said to himself.

The Alterra Online channel had a few videos on it explaining the game's different features. Gray became immersed and actually found himself drooling slightly after watching every video. Gray was hooked from the mech customization, mech details, the number of jobs, the variety of tasks, and even the NPC interactions! Everything looked extremely realistic, as if it was taking place in an actual Solar System several years in the future. What his biggest draw to the game was that player-killing was strictly forbidden. Sanctioned Player vs. Player was still allowed, but players were forbidden from killing each other for some strange reason. Gray thought this was strange as couldn't they just program it, so it was impossible to be killed by another player. This point was brought up by others in the forums, and Alterra stated that it was to promote realism. They were also going to have it so that your account would be closed permanently if you died in-game.

"What the heck? This sounds counter-productive since if anyone dies in-game they will lose a customer for life."

As with the strange no Player Killing rule, Alterra's response was that they wanted players to have a fear of death inside of the game just like they would in real life. It is over when you die.

"Well, at the very least, I am very interested in this game, but I wouldn't be able to afford the hardware for the game right now so I guess I'm going to miss out."

Gray noticed a giveaway event for a Diamond-Tier membership at the bottom of the page. Reading through it, he discovered that this would basically let him play for free for life since all hardware upgrades would be handled by Alterra. It came with a slew of other bonuses and perks, but they were too long for Gray to finish reading. Gray submitted a single entry even though he knew he would never win as the contest would be over in a few hours; That and the fact that everyone is probably using AIs to submit multiple entries for themselves repeatedly, meaning his meager single entry didn't stand a chance.

After submitting his one entry, Gray forgot about it and then decided to get back to playing League of Legendary Legends.