Cyber Nexus Online (CNO) officially launched in June 2025. The allure it has brought to its player base not only includes its futuristic aesthetic, but also the customability of player builds, allowing players to switch between different roles without having to create and train a new account. These features have increased CNO's popularity over the course of its life so far. We hope you enjoy your experience in this exciting and futuristic world.

-Cyber Nexus Online Manual: Welcome to CNO

After diving into the virtual world via the AmuSphere my vision went white. I entered my account username and password as prompted like usual and logged on with my Seed account.

It was still hard to believe such an incredible package existed. VRMMOs were already off to a rocky start when the first one, Sword Art Online, caused a nationwide incident that had its nearly ten thousand playerbase trapped in a death game for two years. After that, the next VRMMO to release, Alfheim Online, ended up being involved in a massive scandal that involved illegal human experimentation. Those two happening side by side made many believe the VRMMO industry was doomed for failure.

But all that changed with The Seed package. It allowed basically anyone to create their own virtual world. And on top of that, players could transfer their accounts to other VRMMOs created through The Seed. It revolutionized the industry and breathed life into it once again. Various VRMMO titles sprung up as a result, from the gun-filled world of Gun Gale Online to random worlds where you had the appearance of a bug. I had considered trying out a popular VRMMO called Asuka Empire when I first got my AmuSphere, but another VRMMO caught my attention first and had me hooked ever since. And after logging on successfully with my AmuSphere, I was greeted with the title of that very same VRMMO.

[Welcome to Cyber Nexus Online]

Cyber Nexus Online, or CNO for short as most people called it, was about eight months old now, going live for the first time in June of 2025. It had a rather unique feature to it that a lot of larger VRMMOs didn't have which incidentally is what drew a lot of its original playberbase to it. Over the eight months it had been live, it had grown to become one of the better average-ranked VRMMOs among Seed games. It certainly didn't have the popularity games like ALO had, but there were still more than enough people to make the game filled with players.

As I entered the world of CNO, my vision gradually cleared up. Quiet sounds gradually grew louder and before long the intangible mix of chatter among players was loud and clear, along with the background music of the main hub city of CNO. Serulis, the city of technology. I glanced around and saw the familiar futuristic city setting that had come to practically be a second hometown for me.

CNO had a futuristic setting and no place showed that better than Serulis. Although the majority of accessible terrain was ground based, there were flying cars and such moving through the air. Most of it was simply background for effect, but there were taxi services to allow players to move across the large city quickly. Floating holographic billboards could be seen with various advertisements being shown among them.

I walked over to the railing nearby and stared out at the vast city before me. No matter how many times I logged on, I never got tired of this view.

Serulis was large, but for the most part it could be broken up into three main areas based on elevation. The highest district was the smallest, mostly containing the Government Office that served as a place for players to turn in quests for rewards and register for events. The rest of it was mostly high class stuff. Restaurants with some of the best NPC-made food you could find. Luxury player-homes and fancy guild bases that cost a fortune to buy.

The second district was the middle-ground area. In addition to being the location of the Warp Monument where players like me appeared when we first logged in, it had a wide variety of buildings around it. Most of the basic NPC-run shops were here, as well as most of the more affordable guild buildings and player homes. The luxury ones at the top district were nice and all, but I couldn't even begin to imagine any sane gamer buying one unless they were filthy rich irl and could afford transfering money in-game. After all, this wasn't Gun Gale Online where you could transfer money both ways and make a living off playing the game.

Lastly there was the lower district, which was the largest of the three. You could find practically anything you wanted there, from weapon shops to casinos, and everything in-between. There were also a few NPC-stores there that sold higher quality stuff than what you'd typically find in the middle district, though you needed to know where to look for them as they were hidden. The trade off for it having practically everything was that it could seem like a maze to those that had never ventured around it. The first time I explored there, it took me over twenty minutes to find my way out. The only spot that was easy to locate was the Field Warp Zone at the far end of the district. It could teleport players to any of the major cities, one for each zone outside of Serulis.

The entire lower district was visible from the spot I was standing. Normally I might have gone down there to check out my favorite shops and see if any new and interesting items were in stock. But I had something more pressing at the moment, the reason I had rushed through lunch today.

And that reason was floating high in the sky above Serulis.

A massive cubic structure with a brown stone-structured exterior with blue lines of light spreading around its six sides. Most players just called it The Cube. It was used for a vast majority of events, only appearing the day they were held and being completely absent from the skies of the game any other time. Although the exterior never changed, the interior was a completely different story. Inside The Cube was a vast complicated maze that always changed its layout every time it appeared.

Today was one such event where The Cube would be used. And I was one of the many players that had registered for the event. After all, the prize mentioned for winning the event was something that any CNO veteran would die to get their hands on. A special item known as an Ultra Core.

As I stared up at The Cube, a notification sounded for me with a small tab floating in front of me to inform me that I had received a message. I tapped on it and a window opened up with said message.

[It's almost time to meet up. If you're late, I'm making you treat me to a Cream Tart later. Better hurry. -Violet]

I rolled my eyes as I closed the window. Violet. Among the many players I was acquainted with in CNO, she was one of the small handful that I could call a friend. I met her about two months after I started playing CNO. Among her many traits, one that stuck out was the rather large sweet tooth she had, and how she often tried to con me into helping her satisfy it.

Well she wasn't getting me to pay for her this time.

I took a quick look at the time. 12:35. Ten minutes before I was supposed to meet up with Violet. It would take me about seven minutes to get to the meeting spot if I hurried. That left me just enough time to quickly double check that I had everything I needed for the event.

Putting my left index and middle fingers together, I swiped down and opened up my menu. A series of tabs appeared in a circular wheel, reading [Inventory/Equipment], [Friends/Guild], [Communications], [Quests], and finally [Settings]. To the left of the circular tab wheel showed my avatar name and the amount of money - or bits as they were called in CNO - I had.

Tae
Bits: 472,359

I tapped on the [Inventory/Equipment] tab and a new window opened up. On the left was a human body outline with various tabs showing what I had equipped where. There was one for the head, one for each arm, one for the back, and finally one at the feet. The type of equipment that could be equipped to those areas were called gadgets. Put simply, they were special types of equipment that could be used for a variety of purposes. At the top of the human diagram showed two more tabs.

NBS: Hermes
Main Weapon: Amber Pummel
Sub Weapon: Silver Photon Blaster
Weight Limit: 43%

NBS. It stood for Nexus Battle Suit, the most important type of equipment for a player. They were human-shaped exoskeletons that players used to fight. They acted as the main source of a player's stats as well.

Remember how I said CNO had a unique feature most VRMMOs didn't? Well the NBS was a part of that unique feature. Most MMOs had some way for players themselves to grow stronger. Some used a leveling system, where you killed enemies and completed quests to earn xp, level up, and gain an increase to your stats. Others used a skill-based system, where you had to use various skills repeatedly in order to improve them and make them stronger, thus making yourself stronger as well. CNO wasn't like that however. Players themselves didn't have levels or stats. The only stat players themselves had was a HP bar, which was set at a 1,000 base for every player, a value that didn't take much damage to eliminate.

It would be no exaggeration to call the NBS a player's lifeline in combat. They had their own HP bar and other such stats. There were numerous NBS models to best suit a player's combat preferences. The last time I checked, the amount of different NBS models currently in the game totaled nearly 120.

Each NBS had its own base stats, but they could be upgraded. The process for this was using items known as Cores. Using a Core allowed you to upgrade any one of a NBS's stats. However, there was a limit. A NBS could only be upgraded ten times. After that its stats were set, though gadgets and weapons did provide certain stat bonuses sometimes when equipped.

That was what made CNO special; what separated it from other VRMMOs. Even if you were a complete newbie to the game, you could still quickly catch up to even the most veteran players in a short time if you had the money. Cores were sometimes given out as quest rewards, but there were some shops that sold them, albeit for a rather hefty price. The one advantage being a veteran gave you was playtime to let you gather funds to buy and upgrade multiple NBSs and gadgets, and increase your overall skill as a player. That made skill one of the top factors for battle in CNO between players. As with any game, when two players with roughly equivalent levels and equipment fought, whoever was more skilled typically won.

Not every NBS was equally good of course. The starter model for every player, known as the Proto model, paled in comparison to even the mid-tier NBS models in the game. While CNO didn't assign values to models to help rookie players decide which ones were of higher quality than others, there were hundreds of online forums with players ranking each NBS in their own various tier lists. MMO Today had even published an article two months ago, detailing 'The Top Thirty NBS Models in CNO' which had been accumulated based on input from thousands of players.

The Hermes model I used was one of the better ones currently in the game as far as speed was concerned. Incidentally, it had ranked 23rd on MMO Today's list. I had already gotten it to the maximum number of upgrades. Until they released a better AGI-type model for me, it was what I would stick with.

That was where the top prize for this new event, the Ultra Core, came in. It was a brand new type of Core. Like any Core, it was a one-time use, but what made this one special was whichever NBS it was used on would boost its maximum number of upgrades from ten all the way to fifteen. Needless to say, a lot of players wanted to get their hands on it.

To be more specific, this would be the first Ultra Core to be given out. According to the latest message from the developers, Ultra Cores would be given out as prizes for various events going forward. All players like me who had a favorite NBS they used already upgraded to the max would be able to enhance them even further.

I looked over my inventory to make sure I had enough recovery items for the event. Once I confirmed as much, I closed my menu and took off running towards the spot Violet and I were supposed to meet up.

As I ran along the middle district of Serulis, it was easy to tell the upcoming event was on everyone's minds. Almost half of the floating ad banners were advertising it. The small bits of gossip I overheard amongst chatting players were all about the event. No doubt some players were making bets at the Government Building or casinos on who would win.

After a few minutes of running I finally arrived at the meeting spot. Leaning against the railing and staring out at the lower district of Serulis was the player who had been waiting for me. Violet.

I had no way of knowing whether or not she had customized her avatar after it was first randomly generated or not, but true to her avatar's name, Violet's long hair was that very same color. Technically, it was a bit paler and as such leaned more towards lavender rather than violet but I wasn't one to get hung up on semantics. Besides her hair that fell a little past her shoulders, her blue eyes were either beautiful or cold and deadly depending on her mood. I had seen both sides personally and I very much preferred beautiful and sparkling over the glare of death that would make even the Grim Reaper cower in fear.

It's all fun and games until she turns those eyes on you. And trust me, it isn't a pretty sight.

Her avatar's attire consisted of a simple pink turtleneck, black shorts, and a pair of white shoes. Very few players had their NBS fully equipped when they weren't out in the fields and instead opted towards casual wear. When a NBS was equipped but disengaged, it took the form of a gauntlet on the player's left forearm. For Violet, hers was a pink stylish gauntlet that had a flowery design spiraling around it.

My own gauntlet was an orange color with a wing on each side end. As for the rest of my avatar's appearance, my real world brown hair was replaced with messy red hair, and my green eyes were now hazel. My outfit was a simple blue jacket over a short sleeve grey shirt, and brown pants.

I called out to her with the typical nickname I had come up with for her. "Hey Vi."

Upon hearing my voice, Violet let out a sigh. "Damn. One more minute and I would have had a free Cream Tart."

"Well normally I would have arrived a couple minutes later. After all, isn't it customary for a hero to be fashionably late to score that dramatic timing?"

Violet narrowed her eyes and looked at me with an unamused expression. "You'd think a hero wouldn't be such a cheapskate that he'd offer to treat a girl to a dessert occasionally."

"With how expensive your tastes are, no thank you."

Violet let out a sigh of regret, but quickly brought her attention back to the main topic. "So, you all set?"

"When am I not?"

"Two months ago in the Frostpeak region."

"That was one time! I was in a rush! How often are you going to bring that up?!" I complained.

Violet opened up her menu. "In any case, let's go over what we know about the event. As usual, the layout of The Cube is completely randomized so there's no way to plan out any routes beforehand. The event itself is basically a race to locate the Ultra Core first. There's no respawn area so if you die while inside you're out of the event."

"Given how rare the prize is, they'll likely place everyone roughly the same distance away from wherever the Ultra Core is located." I commented. "It wouldn't make sense to completely randomize warp locations and have someone end up right next to it."

"Agreed. That's been the case anyway for most of the events similar to this kind." Violet noted. "So we stick with the agreed upon plan. Try to locate each other as soon as we can after being teleported and make our way to the Ultra Core together. After we get it, we have a duel to determine who keeps it."

I nodded my head in confirmation. Violet and I had worked together plenty of times for things like these to improve our odds of success. Sometimes it was an item only one of us wanted and that person would simply keep it afterwards. Other times it would be something we were both after and we'd have some sort of competition to determine who got it in the end. With the Ultra Core on the line, having a partner you could rely on for help made things significantly easier. And there wasn't a player in CNO I trusted to have my back more than Violet.

The time quickly ticked away and it was soon 12:58. At 1 pm sharp, all players that had registered and qualified for the event would be automatically teleported into The Cube. From there, the race to the Ultra Core would start.

Suddenly, all of the hologram billboards floating around the city went to a video feed. It showed a girl with short black hair wearing a pink dress resembling a pop idol. It was a player that nearly every person in CNO knew. Sayuri.

Three months after CNO went live, there was a contest held. It allowed female players to apply to become CNO's poster girl. All applicants had to do was register at the Government Building, submit a few pics of their avatar, and then the players of CNO voted on who they liked the most. One female player by the name of Sayuri was the lucky girl to win that contest and her face had become widespread throughout CNO ever since. She helped host various events as a commentator, and there were even pictures of her on ads for CNO in the real world too.

"Hello all you CNO players!" Sayuri greeted eagerly from the live feed. "It's just about time for today's big event to start! Who will claim the fabled Ultra Core?!" I could hear several players around me cheering with excitement, as well as a few drowned out yells throughout the city. Sayuri continued. "Oh, I wish I could participate myself, but them's the breaks I guess. Don't you worry though, I'll be cheering on each and every one of you with all my heart!"

I had to give Sayuri credit. She definitely knew how to do her job well. Male players fawned over her, while female players envied her charm. She had fans all over. Though the rumors I had heard about some people using her avatar's image on more… mature items… were a bit unsettling at times. It was probably even more unsettling to Sayuri though, considering what people did with them.

Sayuri continued addressing the players in the city. "We'll be providing live footage of the event for the whole duration! If you're looking to place bets, your time's almost up!"

At the top right corner of the video feed, a timer was ticking down. The time remaining before the event officially started. Sixty seconds remained.

Violet glanced at me. "Make sure you don't die before meeting up with me, got it?"

I showed an overly-dramatic look of hurt. "Madam, you doubt me?"

"The only thing I don't doubt is that you're going to piss off everyone you meet in there with that mouth of yours."

"I prefer to call it charisma."

Violet simply responded with a roll of her eyes before muttering something under her breath too quiet for me to hear.

Thirty seconds left. I took a deep breath and mentally psyched myself up. Once we were teleported, I couldn't afford to waste any time. Even a single second could make the difference between obtaining the Ultra Core and not. I was fairly confident in my skills after playing CNO for a few months now so I had no plans of going down easily. I just needed to focus and take it one step at a time. And most importantly, smile for the camera in case the feed was showing me.

"Here we go everybody!" Sayuri cheered. "Count down with me! Ten! Nine! Eight!"

I steeled myself for whatever I would encounter in The Cube and spoke one final message to my partner for the event. "Good luck in there."

"Thanks. You too."

"Three! Two! One! Zero!"

And just like that, I found myself enveloped in a white light.