World of Remnant: Online Chapter 1: Not a Game Anymore, a rwby fanfic

Chapter 1

Not a Game Anymore

Hello – Text

"Hello" – Talking

'Hello' – Thinking

Hello/Hello – Emphasis

oOoOoOoOo – Scene Break

xXx – Chapter Start

xXx – Chapter End

'Hello' – Important Title

xXx

The year was 2297. An age where advanced technology touched all aspects of modern day life. An era of marvels that would have earlier generations in awe of the impossibilities that so casually surrounded them, yet were now so common that they rarely gained so much as a backward glance.

It was also an age of division. Defined by a class divide so wide and deep that it was all but unassailable. People born into wealth held the wealth, enjoying all the fruits of opulence that their station could grant them. People born poor were left living in squalor, living practically hand to mouth, day by day.

Oh, there was the rare individual who managed to break the status quo. That lucky person who managed to do the impossible and somehow work their way into wealth. Rarely championed, these people generally tended to be pariahs to both sides. The inherently rich looked down on them, considering them their lessers due to not being born into money. While the poor could only see them through green tinted lenses, people who abandoned them to poverty while they lived in luxury.

That's why, in his own rise to prominence, the man named Monyreak 'Monty' Oum, became such an enigma.

Unlike those who had set the standard for breaking the divide between rich and poor, he seemed to retain all the affability and down to earth nature that helped make him so popular at home. Starting out as an amateur animation artist, he made a living by selling his own personally made products to those who could afford them. Never pushy and always sealing the deal with a smile, he became popular for his attitude as much as his animation work, which quickly grew in popularity by word of mouth.

Over time, he gained enough capital to begin larger projects, his profits increasing with every innovation. Eventually, he became wealthy enough to fund his own animation studio, branching off into gaming and software design to create Monyreak Media Enterprises (MME). Wealthy, successful, and nowhere to go but up, things were looking brighter for the programmer than ever before. But with the new business flowing in, Monty quickly found himself wanting something more.

Not more profit or recognition, he wanted two things of a more personal nature. First of all, he wanted a gateway. For even as his wealth grew, as he became better off, he never forgot where he came from or the people who just weren't as lucky. He wanted something that could help them to get that chance. Something that could inspire them. Something to help them find that will and opportunity to push the envelope of their lives. To live better, happier.

Second, he wanted a legacy. Something to leave behind that would be a monument of ingenuity and imagination. An achievement that would go down in history and leave a mark on the world and the people within it.

Who would've expected he'd gain the inspiration for that idea from some ketchup spilling on his napkin?

And in that one moment, with a flash of imagination brought about by a dirty napkin, RWBY was born.

And how did this idea manifest? Why, it took form as a game. A VR-MMORGP. The most singularly immersive and living MMO ever made to date.

Due to the many advents in Virtual Reality technology and Video Game development, MMO's were more advanced and famous than ever before. More alive and realistic than ever before.

So, what did Monty do to make his idea stand out? He pushed the envelope even further than ever before!

Under the development name; 'Project: RWBY', Monty personally involved himself in the development, guiding the staff every step of the way. Whether it was AI programming, level design, character design or anything else, he was always there for every step of the way. Hell, he often participated in the work himself, making sure it would all be perfect. He'd accept no less.

So, after a long time of development, the fruit of all the work was finished and released to the world on 1/3/2197. A revolutionary new VR-MMORPG named, 'World of Remnant: Online'.

A truly living world, brought about by the finest in AI programming and a procedurally generated world environment, altered in ways big and small by players and NPC's alike. A world that started as a blank slate, held in development until it was deemed evolved enough for people to play.

A virtual world that was as alive and unpredictable and amazing as the real thing. A virtual world that was also a real world.

A world with that also had a heaping dose of excitement, danger, and amazing customizable powers for every PC.

And it was all free!

With Monty paying the expenses for the game's upkeep out of his own pocket, price was no obstacle for whoever wanted to play. After only a few weeks in circulation, millions of people around the world were playing the game. Living out their own legends and fantasies, playing heroes and villains, leading gangs or making towns or even waging wars to found their own kingdoms. The quests were connected to the status of the living world itself; born, disappearing, altering and being generated by NPC's and PC's alike, there was literally no limit to what the players or NPC's could do within the confines of the game world. Wanted to be a fisherman? Do it. Assassin? Pull it off. A CEO? Make it happen. A Hero? No problem. A King? Look at everything else and say it doesn't look possible. Nothing was impossible, no goal or ambition too far. Hell, the content of resources, the environment, NPC's, quests, everything in the game was almost completely procedurally generated by the game world itself.

After a while, it became evident that it was impossible even for the developers to predict the actions of the entities in-game and how they could change the world around them. It was for this reason that nobody was ever able to write out a strategy guide for it. How could you write a strategy guide for a game that was as alive and varied as real life?

In only a few years after release, every one out of ten people in the world's known population was an avid player of the game. Connecting people from around the world, in a game where its virtual resources became almost as valuable as the real thing. An in-game market made by the players where anything from real estate, to resources, to businesses and even other PC characters were traded among the players for real world currency. The game itself had become an industry. A world that helped the poor to climb out of poverty with new opportunities, causing the line between rich and poor to slowly shrink. Eventually, Monty was forced to put a small price on playing the game, just to keep it running. Regardless, its popularity and potency seemed to only go up, increasing in players until a full ¼ of the Human population was playing.

This was Monty's Magnum Opus. His crowning achievement.

So you could only imagine the tragedy when he died. Age 72, forty years after the release of the game.

Without Monty's spirit to keep his staff and company going, everything began to slow down. Seeing an opportunity, rival companies descended like hungry vultures, snapping up the assets of the former juggernaut. Monty's friends and associates pushed hard to keep the company going, to keep his great achievement alive. But they merely managed to stave off the inevitable as other Corporations gradually bought up all the assets of MME over a period of decades. Eventually, they even bought off the rights to the game and planned to dismantle it, using the shell of what it used to be in order to make a new source of profits. The game that practically changed the world overnight, would be shut down after a long and hopeful runtime of 100 years.

It was with this knowledge in mind, on 2/2/2297, that a man named Joshua Bridger walked into his home. A tall man of 6'2, his height was the only really noteworthy thing about him. His eyes were the same medium brown as his hair. It was slightly unkempt, a few stray hairs refusing to stay down, with the back of it going down to the nape of his neck.

Not too handsome, but not ugly either, that would describe his features well. Slightly chiseled but blunt features, a straightforward look. His wardrobe consisted of a dark blue T-Shirt under a black hoodie, blue jeans, and finishing it all off with a pair of grey sneakers.

"Dammit," he muttered, low and under his breath.

He was also coming home in a very depressed mood.

Moving past the open doorway into his apartment and shutting the door behind him, Joshua took a long look at the room he'd entered. The living room wasn't particularly spacious, the rest of the apartment wasn't much better, but it was all he could afford.

Flipping a light-switch, the room brightened up to show a slightly dingy apartment. He had little furniture in the room, mostly just a worn leather couch he'd got on sale, a table in front of it, and a TV attached to the wall. He had a small collection of chairs and stools of various different materials, mostly plastic or fiber-wood. Real wood was generally too expensive.

Moving into the small kitchen, Joshua quickly rummaged through the fridge for something to eat. Pulling out the leftovers of some orange chicken from last night, he heated it up and sat down on the sofa to eat with some TV for some background noise.

He regretted turning the TV on the moment he hit the news.

"And in recent news, former entertainment juggernaut Monyreak Media Enterprises is slated for dissolution on the date of June 7th of this year. We're going live to Thomas Hargrave, a professor of corporate-economics, for what he expects to result from this news. Thomas?"

As Joshua's face twisted into a grimace, the scene flashed to a man who looked in his fifties with graying black hair, shooting one of those fake smiles you always saw on the news. "Thanks, Margaret. Now, in all honesty, I really don't expect things to go well at this point. Monyreak Media Enterprises wasn't the largest company, but it still had a dominating presence in their own industrial niche. With their dissolution, a great many people will be out of a job. More importantly though, is how the company's destruction will mean the end of 'World of Remnant: Online'. What started out as a game has become a way of life for a great many people. You could even say that it has its own economy at this point, trading real life currency for commodities and resources in the game world itself. While it's loss will be keenly felt by those heavily invested in the game itself, the full economic implications are far from condemning. Back to you Mar-"

CRASH!

For a moment, Joshua just stared at the screen. The now broken screen. The broken screen that now had the shattered remains of his diner plate scattered in and around it.

He sighed. "Well, there goes dinner."

Really, he couldn't help it. Today…. hell, the whole damn week had been just one letdown after another. First his rent went up, then he lost his job, then he ended up losing his credit card and lost most of his bank and checking accounts before he could shut down the card… and now this.

The loss of something as large as 'World of Remnant: Online' was bound to hit certain people hard. Unfortunately for Joshua, it hit him harder than most.

That Thomas guy hadn't been kidding when he said the game was an economy unto itself. Many fortunes and livelihoods were made and improved on by it. Lots of people with low paying jobs relied on the transactions in the game to make extra money. To make a better living.

And he was one of them. Joshua Bridger was one of the many people whose larger income depended on transactions made within the game world. With it gone, he'd practically be back at square one. Just some other faceless nobody with no chance to move up. And it all happened just when things could've started getting better.

"Fuck it all."

Joshua turned off the TV and slowly rose up from the couch, then turned and walked down the small hallway to his bedroom, leaving behind the shattered plate and left over food for tomorrow. He wasn't really in any rush for anything, not with his situation or his mood.

Compared to his living room, Joshua's bedroom was noticeably more furnished. With a queen sized bead to the wall underneath a window, a small drawer table beside it, a comfortable chair and another TV, he spent more of his personal time in here than he ever did in the living room.

Why? Because his Full-Dive was set up in here. Right on the desk by the foot of the bed.

The Full-Dive was the most up to date VR-MMORPG console available on the market, equipped with all the software and devices necessary to play the complete experience of the available games. The original and unmodified model could cost up to $700. A fully modified custom model could have a cost somewhere in the thousands.

Of course, the costs for the full experience were a lot lower when you knew how to make the parts and modifications yourself. Granted, Joshua hadn't exactly done a perfect job with the looks, but it still worked perfectly. After all, he'd been working with electronics since he could hold a screwdriver in his hand and taking electronics apart just as early.

Illegal? Yes. Worth it? Big time.

And soon, all that work would be for practically nothing. 'World of Remnant: Online' was the only VR-MMORPG he had. The only one he'd ever considered worth the time and work to buy this console and upgrade it for.

For a few minutes, he just stood there in front of his Full-Dive, reminiscing. He'd had some good times, running around the virtual world and living out so many of his childhood fantasies. After all, what child ever grew up without dreaming of being a superhero? In that world you could really live it out. For however many people played it for money, there was always people who just played it for fun. And he'd played for both sides of that fence, for money and fun in equal measure.

So many memories, and the source of them all would be vanishing at midnight.

"I wonder," he whispered, looking up at the clock on the wall to check the time. 11:00 in the afternoon. Just one hour till midnight.

Was it enough?

"….Ah, hell," he breathed out, chuckling. Since when did he get so sentimental? "What have I gotta lose from one more hour?"

And with those words out of his mouth, Joshua Bridger walked over to his desk and took a seat in the chair. Putting on the helmet, gauntlets, leggings and other equipment, he turned it on and literally dived right in.

It was always a weird sensation, feeling his senses slowly fade until his mind woke up in an endless blue plain, surrounded by a number of icons for the games and functions. Turning around until he found the icon for the game he was looking for, he tapped it once with a virtual finger and he began feeling a sense of vertigo and the scene around him change into a tunnel of flowing light. Don't ask him how the sensation of vertigo was possible in virtual reality, it's just what it felt like when he was being rushed through cyberspace to the next server.

It was only a moment before the transition was complete and he arrived at the Title screen for 'World of Remnant: Online', high above the skies of the world and looking down at the geography of the world below.

He briefly wondered if Monty made this kind of game introduction so awesome on purpose, but he quickly discarded the thought. Of course he did it for the awesome factor, that was just his style.

Looking at the options arrayed on his visual HUD, Joshua pondered over what to do next. His decision to play the game one last time was a spur of the moment thing, he wasn't entirely sure what to do right now.

He had six characters to choose from, each with varying levels, backstories, races, skills and countless other details. Really, the character creation system in this game was beyond amazing.

Taking a moment to look at the characters he'd made over the years, he thought of taking one of them for one last run. A little time to relive those old days. But that didn't quite sit right with him. He wanted to try something else.

With that thought in mind, he decided to make a new character entirely.

Instead of spending hours of time customizing the perfect look for his avatar, he just decided to go with 'Personal'. An option that took information of his body and appearance that was uploaded from his Full-Dive.

He smiled in his new body as it was formed up from code. "Hello, me."

Likewise, instead of spending time coming up with an alias, he just put his real name down for his new avatar. What? It wasn't like anybody was gonna get on his case about it now, right? The game was gonna be shut down soon.

After that, though, things became a little more intricate. When the game first came out, Monty hadn't been kidding when he said it would be immersive like no other game ever before. There were so many options on how to describe the character more deeply. Backstory, family, goals, hometown, even your birthday and age of choice, it's like you were making a real life profile.

He just breezed through most of the backstory stuff, only taking a moment to set his age at 17, then just designated his spawning point and hometown. Choosing the city of Silberlicht in the Kingdom of Atlas, he braced himself for landing.

One thing about making a new character in the game? Once you were done, your new avatar spent a short time literally falling down to Remnant like a damn meteor. He remembered hearing some other player raising a stink about it because it was too scary for new gamers or people scared of height and falling.

Wusses, all of them.

Fortunately, Joshua had plenty of experience with this part. In fact, he rather enjoyed it, diving down headfirst through the atmosphere as light consumed his vision. Picking up speed every second of his fall as the world below grew ever closer.

Then he blacked out for a few seconds before waking up outside a building in his hometown, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of NPC's, bundled up in heavy clothing to block off the cold.

The town of Silberlicht was yet another example of the sheer immersion of the world. It started out as nothing more than a craggy stretch of land at the foot of the nearby Mt. Grau, but then a group of exploring PC's discovered several huge veins of silver near the mountain's base. Word quickly spread of the wealth to be found beneath the ground, and soon PC's and NPC's alike came to make a profit off the precious metal.

In time, in-game companies and profiteers moved in to buy up the land, turning it from wilderness to a boom town, to a large town verging on a small city.

This gradual change happened over a period of twenty years of real world and game world time, back when he was just 4 years old. Just another example of how truly incredible the world was.

As he stood there, a bit of melancholy crossing his face, Joshua couldn't help but feel some nostalgia wash over him. He felt like some newbie again, jumping into this whole new world for the first time all over again.

It was almost enough to make him cry. Almost.

Checking the time, he realized he only had around 15 minutes left until shutdown.

Reminiscing over, he walked off to take a stroll around the town, just one more time.

It was a cold time of year up in Atlas. Then again, it was pretty much always a cold time of year in Atlas. The chilly wind of winter was breezing through town as snow gently fell from above, forming piles that had since been moved off the roads in large piles and mounds. Everywhere he looked, there was icicles hanging down from the edges of roofs and streetlights.

Frankly, he kinda felt like he was stuck inside a Christmas snow globe.

Walking by without any real destination in mind, he continued to admire the scenery around him, letting it all sink in.

After all, he only had one more chance to experience this world in all its glory.

Sadly, the time really seemed to fly for him. He hadn't even gotten a single quest before he barely had one minute of time left.

Taking a seat on a bench at the side of the tiled road, Joshua leaned back and watched the people walk by. Watched the snow fall and collect of the roofs and branches of the few scattered trees he could see along the street.

Watched the timer count down the seconds.

11:59:40

11:59:41

11:59:42

11:59:43

11:59:44

11:59:45

Did he regret coming back? Did he regret logging in with a green character in the last moments of the game?

11:59:46

11:59:47

11:50:48

11:59:49

11:59:50

No. He didn't regret it. Not at all.

11:59:51

11:59:52

11:59:53

11:59:54