《Ilmarinen》 prologue ~ the past, the present and the game. ¡°Welcome to Ilmarinen, the most realistic MMORPG this world has ever seen. Beta testers have called it a second reality. It is a game with few restrictions on gameplay and constantly adapting environments and NPC¡¯s. It is possible to become kings or live as poor farmers and craftsmen in a magical medieval society. under the careful watch of one of the worlds most advanced AI programs, the game will adapt to allow for lifelike interactions with NPC¡¯s and gameplay that adapts to actions we never expected a player to make in the original game. Like the typical MMORPG characters will be able to gain stat points and levels through the subjugation of mobs or other players and quests. However, just like you will be able to train attributes manually and there will be no inventory, unless you get an enchantment or spell for one. Also, like in reality there will be no levelling skills. If you want to do something use your own two hands and learn how to do it!¡±
VR has come a long way from the old pieces of plastic people used to put around phones in the early 21st century. The first FIVR, full immersion virtual reality, was the T-5 capsules that shocked the world. At first they were used to allow the rich and busy explore the most iconic parts of the world which the VR scanner technology had recorded. soon it inevitably began to be used for porn. Who needs to hire prostitutes if you could have sex with any girl you could imagine? They wouldn¡¯t even need to be human. It was also easy to program because you only needed one room of data and sensory information on one body that can be adapted for VR harems. Soon with the spread of nanotech there began to be whole worlds of fantasy created for FIVR just like the old VRMMO games and often with the same unconvincing NPCs. Suddenly, a breakthrough in neurobiology allowed for the cheap and easy selective disabling of motor neurons from the base of the spinal cord and smaller devices for the reading of the signals sent to the motor neurons. At first the fear of the motor neurons in vital organs prevented this technology from going public until they found out this ¡°kill switch¡± didn¡¯t exist. The vital organs worked based on their own neural clusters so interference in the signals from the spinal cord and brain would never affect them the brain could also not be switched off as the process only worked on the input and output signals to and from the brain, not the processing neurons. People soon began using these devices for FIVR and it finally took off on a public global scale. People began fully investing in the possibilities of this technology leading to the final creation of Ilmarinen. In the rest of the world we have had many interesting changes since the year 2000. Most impressively being humanities survival of multiple events we believed would lead to our extinction. We felt the full wrath of global warming with mike pence leading the global denial of climate change. Lumanlaid the groundworks for a nuclear holocaust. A meteor struck the earth during the eruption of the super volcanoes causing an eternal night and winter. This was humanity in the end. We survive everything. It stopped the problems of overpopulation, destroyed organised monotheistic religion for better or for worse, created a global government and created a greater measure of equality among all species. Most importantly, it created a reliance on computer assisted technology that led to our current automated communist government. We survived that winter by virtue of the explosion of the star IK Pegasus A and a supermassive solar storm, two other extinction level events.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. All these disasters left enough radioactivity to cause hypermutation and the rise of multiple other sentient species such as giant telepathic spiders and goat-fish. We also met some aliens that were friendly but with all the other stuff that happened it barely made the history books. It turns out these aliens had as much technology as we did in the 2030s and but threw it all into a single space mission to find intelligent life and skype back. They had to use their world¡¯s equivalent of Morse code. They were very disappointed by that. Back then few people had jobs, few people needed to, and weird species kept cropping up due to relationships and specie groups being able to reproduce despite all the odds. The giant telepathic spiders were great builders. Removing their web gave them a burst of building-based brilliance and euphoria. With that combination and the help of the other sentients we finally got our world repaired and back on track. We began to innovate and built the VR machines for Ilmarinen as well as finalising a cure for aging. Unfortunately, we also developed a portal to other universes and only a few people got the cure before we had our best, first and only meeting with people from another universe. That seemed good but the people in question were from an anti-universe. They had positrons instead of electrons and negatively charged protons instead of positively charged protons. In other words, they were made of anti-matter (see Minecraft antimatter bomb). When they flooded into the world they and the space around them became bundles of neutrons, releasing a great energy that killed off all but the most frugal of survivalist nut-jobs or their friends that just happened to be with them at the time. Because none of the other races had truly gone through the horrors of the extinction level events, these survivalists were almost entirely human. As was typical of humanity, they undid everything we had achieved and killed off almost all remaining non-human sentients, hiding the fact that they ever existed. Sitting on a plannet sized lump of rock, limping through space with all their old flaws, life continued as always under the rule of the still active systems that had been set in place by mankind at the dawn of the post-apocalyptic golden age¡­
Who am I? I am one of the few to have gotten the cure for aging and visit a certain survivalist nut-job friend. I am also the ghost in the system. I see all but can do very little. I only have my wife and survivalist friend to interact with one is a female, giant, telepathic spider whilst the other is a unique decedent of a goat-fish and a strange lemon-with-legs-type sentient, that evolved from who knows what. The system provides everything we need. They both got the cure for aging too. Eternity is a long time to spend with anyone. A very, very long time. Chapter 1 ~ Delivery and a name Nworie Azuka raced down the maze of tunnels that made up the empire. He was racing against time. The mix of metal plastic and the mysterious white material, that made up the tunnels seemed to wiz past him. He pushed himself again. The others had taken the bus and he wished he could afford it. his teacher, Mrs Harrison, was one of the few people who treated him well and had let him leave early enough to have a chance. He hated missing school like this and it felt like he was the only one. He lived a little short distance from the school in a small flat. It was pretty and well looked after but without any of the flamboyance the other houses in his neighbourhood possessed. He preferred it like that but knew it ashamed his parents. They never had friends around and would just struggle on in their meaningless dead-end jobs. He wanted to do more than that. He felt like his chest was going to burst. They had finally released the game. He had to get home fast. It didn¡¯t matter that he was 6¡±4¡¯ with a passion for martial arts and well trained muscles. His parents weren¡¯t home and his parcel would be stolen by the local bad boys as they get back from school. There would be nothing he could do to stop them if he wasn¡¯t there. He waved to his neighbour as he passed and saw his delivery in front of the door. He sighed with relief and picked it up. This was what he had spent his savings on. Nworie was a kind, strong and intelligent boy. He had four passions which he pursued constantly. He loved knowledge, martial arts, helping people and games. Of these gaming was his favourite. Unfortunately, his family was poor and had come from an Igbo background. He could never afford anything more than the old two dimensional games. They were still popular because the VR games are not only expensive but terrible and few. In games, he had an odd quirk which he could never seem to break. He would always try to achieve the objective of the game avoiding the most obvious method. For example, in fantasy or action games he would avoid killing no matter what and in peaceful games he would try to rampage as much as possible. He would level with the completion of fetch quests and joining teams as a healer. He gained the nickname pacifist after being the first person to gain a hidden award for reaching max level on one RPG without killing anything. He liked the nickname despite it having been intended as an insult. Of course, gaming required money. He became the go to person for those who wanted an odd job done for a small fee. He would help regardless if they couldn¡¯t afford it but almost everyone who asked for his help could. In between he would practice the old martial arts. He never needed to train the way he did. Most people would just use the electro-bed to train their bodies. It could be set to decide the intensity exercise that it would imitate and was both easier and safer than traditional exercise. However, there were two simple reasons why Nworie would never use it. Firstly, it would mean a person didn¡¯t hurt because of exercise and they would never become more resilient and able to push themselves. Nworie loved both. He liked the burning sensation that showed he had made progress and he loved the amazement people showed after he got up after a fall with minimal injury and without any reaction to the pain.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. For his love of knowledge Nworie would throw himself into his studies at school and read where possible. He had a naturally brilliant mind but he would put this to the end of his list. His greatest love was in the old myths. He would memorise entire ancient pantheons and be able to recite stories of each god. It was pointless and illogical but he loved learning for the sake of it rather than any practicality. He had a few flaws. He was far too stubborn and that had cost him a lot. He had the hatred of the local gangs and almost everyone in school. He would never retaliate and would always be faced only by large groups. Many called him a saint. The human authorities hated that even though the system says it values such qualities it would never favour him for it all for the concept of fairness. He picks up the case and moves through the door. He moves straight to his room. This was something he didn¡¯t want to delay. He carefully places the parcel on the bed of his closet- sized room and carefully peeled off the dark brown wrapping. A smooth steel sheen is immediately visible. He breaths deeply, almost shaking with excitement as he unveils the helmet. It was entirely undecorated except for a single logo on the front. Despite this it looked beautiful. He walked back to the front door, locked it and moved back to his bed. With the greatest care, he could manage he plugged in the helmet and placed it on his head, adjusting his long hair to avoid impeding the device¡¯s function. He presses the small power button on the side of the device and a single light blinks in his vision whilst the rest of the world goes black and the rough feeling of the cheap bedsheets below him disappears. ¡°Please select a program to start¡±, states a weird metallic voice. I look at the two options: the VR multiverse and the game, Ilmarinen. He smiles. The game shares the name of the smith god that created the sky in Finnic mythology. ¡°This is going to be interesting¡± he thinks to himself as he selects Ilmarinen.
Please select a player name.
He pauses for a second. He hadn''t thought of that. His usual name was just a jumble of letters,numbers and symbols but from the distinct lack of keyboard he would have to say it. He smiles as he thinks of the perfect replacement. "My player name is" He stops and proforms a series of strange hand movements combined with some leg jerks to form some form of odd jig laughing quietly to himself the whole time.
Please confirm player name.
Now laughing openly, he repeats his jig.
Player name confirmed. Welcome to the game MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
A stick figure floats in the air next to the prompt, proforming his silly jig."Why did I do that?" he thinks to himself. Chapter two ~ grass As the world came into focus once more it was no longer a blank white room. The floor was covered in green fronds and a vast fantasy landscape was visible over the edge of the circle of turf he was standing on. Another blue screen floated in the centre of the pillar. He wandered across to it marvelling at everything around him. He squatted down and placed his hand in the grass. He had lived his entire life underground. He had never seen simple plants and even loose earth was a rarity only found on the upper levels of the empire except for the farms. Trees were rare even there. He combed the grass and then carefully scooped a single blade of grass from the ground alongside the relevant roots and dirt. He prodded it and rubbed it carefully having noticed just how fragile the grass seemed after being trodden. He loved the way it offered just a little bit of resistance and made a small squeaking noise as it was rubbed he giggled and tried again. He got a small cut on his finger but it hurt. He looked at the miniscule injury causing so much pain. ¡°I think they went a little overboard with the pain.¡± He said ignoring the injury as he punched himself. ¡°Nope. That feels like normal.¡± He again extracted a blade of grass with the same care as before. He looked up to see a few more boxesappear.
Congratulations. You earned your first point in intelligence for analysing the world around you. Later stat acquisitions by this method will not be so easy.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Congratulations. You earned your first point in wisdom for deep contemplation of the mundane. Later stat acquisitions by this method will not be so easy.
You were attacked by a blade of grass for 2 damage. Well done.
You attacked yourself for 5 damage. Why?
Congratulations. You earned your first point in endurance for dealing senseless harm to yourself. Later stat acquisitions by this method will not be so easy.
Congratulations. You earned your first point in vigour for loosing over half your health. Later stat acquisitions by this method will not be so easy.
He looks at the boxes in amazement and then waves them away. He wanders forward to the box in the centre of the clearing.
Name: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Race: Human
Health: 6/13 Mana: 13/13
Stamina: 12/13 Alignment: 0
Vigour: 1 Endurance: 1
Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 1
Strength: 0 Agility: 0
Charisma: 0 Luck: 0
Unassigned stat points: 100 Noob.