One last trip through the small apartment I had lived in for the last fourteen years confirmed that it was completely empty. There was the occasional scuff mark on the walls or stain on the carpets. Each had their own story and all were far from my mind as I checked over the recently cleaned rooms. Nothing of mine was left.
I’d put what few mementos I cared to keep in long-term storage and sold off or threw away the rest of my possessions. There was still a couple of weeks left on this month’s rent but I’d already given the landlord my keys and I didn’t intend to come back. The last of my worldly possessions were the phone in my pocket and the clothes on my back.
With a deep breath, I turned and left the apartment, pulling out my phone as I descended the stairs and walked towards the street. A few taps on the glossy display was all it took to request a public car. The app showed the car’s license number and tracked its location via GPS as it was redirected to my street. So I stared at my phone as the estimated time of arrival and route line both grew shorter and my excitement started to build.
Finally the empty car arrived and stopped at the curb in front of me, both doors on the side opening outward automatically from the middle. The front and back seats faced each other, though it was kind of misleading to call them that since they could switch depending on traffic conditions. The self-driving car had sensors all around the vehicle and didn’t care which direction was front or back. I flopped down on one of the seats and pulled my seatbelt on. As soon as it clicked the doors closed and the car began moving towards the destination I had put in the app: the Virtual Worlds Entertainment facility I was assigned to.
As the car pulled out onto the major street near my apartment I pulled out my phone and checked my email for the intake information VWE had sent me. By this time there were certainly no surprises in it, but I used it as a convenient way to get to the backer information on their website. It had been over a dozen years since I’d been involved in the crowdfunding campaign VWE had launched for their new and extraordinarily ambitious virtual reality project.
At the time I’d spent more money than I could really afford on the idea. I’d been scoffed at by a chorus of doubters but over time, and with every incredible monthly update, the doubters were not only silenced but converted. What had once been considered a pipe dream at best or a scam at worst was now the most popular and most followed entertainment project in history. And it was officially released to first backers three days ago.
A loud honking startled me and drew my attention to the road. Someone on a motorcycle was weaving in and out of lanes, the self-driving vehicles automatically making space for the person. I shook my head and wondered what they thought to accomplish by honking at automatic cars. The reckless driving sure seemed like a good way to lose a very expensive license.
It was only a minor disturbance in the flow of cars on the busy road, however, as the AI controlling the traffic simply moved them all aside as one. The quantum servers that housed the government AIs were more than capable of processing all the information and reacting in time. I couldn’t help but think of the much larger servers responsible for creating Novarra.
I settled back into the seat and idly browsed through the info on my phone that I had seen countless times before. My mind wandered back to when the first update was released after VWE’s successful crowdfunding campaign. They were a team of computer scientists so I had expected them to hire on some artists, writers, designers, and the like to develop the virtual world of Novarra but instead they hired more scientists. Astrophysicists, Biologists, Geologists, Anthropologists, and Botanists joined the team.
The original group of people at VWE all had one thing in common: they were all experts on machine learning and artificial intelligence. When the extreme processing capability of quantum computing became available these fields took off in a big way. Though often misunderstood, machine learning is really just a program detecting patterns in large sets of data. But paired with quantum computing the “learning” process went from weeks to mere moments and some artificial intelligence designs began to mimic, and even surpass, human intelligence.
What truly shocked the worlds of business and entertainment, though, was when VWE used the considerable amount of money they’d raised to buy a warehouse and stuff it full of quantum servers and storage with one purpose: to house a single AI. Scientists then taught the AI about the laws of nature and the history of how our world was created. Then they told it to create another one.
Many thought that quantum computing was limitless at the time, but they were wrong. It took that enormous server farm more than eight years to create Novarra. In fact, it had just finished last month and the first waves of people were already experiencing it. My excitement grew as I thought of what awaited me. As one of the first backers I was lucky enough to get in on the earliest phase of the project.
I had been so caught up in my woolgathering that I didn’t notice the car arriving at the facility until it stopped and the doors popped open. I startled a bit but then pocketed my phone and hopped out. The building was completely unremarkable and looked like an average office building. I almost thought I was in the wrong place until I spotted the VWE logo on a sign sticking out of the small lawn on the left side of the entrance.
Other cars pulled up to the curbside, I wasn’t the only one to arrive for Orientation and Induction today. Everyone was bright-eyed and eager, much like myself I guess, and we all streamed through the open double doors at the front of the building. There were multiple signs pointing down a hallway indicating where the orientation would be held and some VWE staffers also herded people down the same way.
The hallway opened into a large presentation room with an enormous LED screen behind a simple podium and row after row of conference seating. It was absolutely packed and I was early. Despite how many people were already here I figured it wouldn’t get started until at least the scheduled start time, so I grabbed an end seat on a row near the back and pulled out my phone again.
I just couldn’t help it. It wasn’t that I was anti-social or anything, I was just dying for more information on this incredible world that had taken shape before my eyes over the years. There were quite a lot of impressive streams and a boatload of speculation based off of them but very little in the way of official info. The one exception had been the revelation of how our avatars would work in the world mechanically with some details about attributes, races, magic, skills, and abilities. I browsed to the section on attributes, wondering if anything had changed last minute.
Everything looked familiar to me, which was hardly surprising considering I’d checked it on the ride over. I was still kind of amazed that there was no attribute for health or hit points though. The speculation was divided among two groups: it was either level based where a certain amount was granted every character level or strictly based on resistance and mitigation and we’d only ever have a set amount. I wasn’t really sure which it would be but either way it was a curious model.
Paging over to the next section on the website I looked over the races again. With a dozen to choose from there was sure to be quite a bit of variety in Novarra.
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They all looked familiar until I got to the last choice. I’d never seen the Custom option and I must have been so distracted on the ride over that I missed it. Even though I’d already spent countless hours deciding on the choice, I now had even more options than the mere dozen I’d started with. When I first made the decision I’d gone with Dark Elf because I wanted to have a stealthy option and to be able to pick my battles. The passive to see in the dark struck me as powerful as well but now I might be able to get another passive in addition to that with the Custom option, provided I had a bit of luck.
Then again, I could get screwed and end up with the worst possible combination and only three bonuses. With the luck I’ve had in my life, it didn’t seem too far fetched. But I set the thought aside. I was about to enter a new world with new opportunities. It seemed like a good time to roll the dice.
My ruminations were interrupted by a flurry of activity in the room as people rushed to take their seats. I put my phone away and saw the cause for the commotion: a woman in a suit was standing at the podium, patiently waiting for the crowd to settle. There was palpable excitement in the air as our investment from over a decade ago was finally bearing fruit.
