CHAPTER 1
Earth in 2088 did not look like the future people once feared.
There were no flying cars weaving between skyscrapers.
No neon-soaked megacities glowing in perpetual rain.
No androids replacing humanity.
Instead—
The world had become quietly efficient.
Energy grids operated with near-zero loss.
AI systems optimized logistics, climate stabilization, and medical diagnostics.
Carbon levels had stabilized decades ago.
Urban skylines were cleaner. Taller. Smarter.
Progress had not been loud.
It had been incremental.
Precise.
Governments regulated immersion time strictly.
Four hours per day on weekdays.
Six on weekends.
Virtual reality was no longer entertainment alone.
It was infrastructure.
Education modules ran through it.
Military simulations depended on it.
Therapeutic exposure treatments were built around it.
And games?
Games were indistinguishable from reality.
Neural-sync pods interfaced directly with the sensory cortex.
Pain dampeners modulated intensity without removing consequence.
Motion feedback systems mapped muscle impulse in real time.
You didn't play.
You entered.
And among all immersive worlds—
One dominated.
⸻
The War of the Holy One
Eight years ago, a novel had shaken the internet.
The Rise of the Holy One.
It was brutal. Unfiltered. Unequal. Blood-soaked.
Its author had claimed it came from a dream he experienced repeatedly—visions of a world named Eskarnia, where mystical energy called Auror governed life and death.
The story followed a commoner who rose through cultivation realms, defeated the world's greatest villain, ascended to godhood—
And then it ended.
Not because the story was complete.
But because the author died.
Before his death, he had hinted at the next arc:
The Upper Plane.
Gods beyond gods.
Realms beyond mortal comprehension.
He claimed he knew exactly how it would unfold.
It was never written.
The unfinished ending turned the novel into legend.
One year later, Super Nova Gaming Sports—a multinational gaming conglomerate—acquired adaptation rights.
Three years of development followed.
Neural-synced full immersion.
Upper Plane expansions based on the author's interviews.
Balanced mechanics layered over a fundamentally brutal world.
The result—
The War of the Holy One.
Four years after release, it still dominated global rankings.
Millions logged in daily.
But only a handful stood at the peak.
⸻
Ash Leviathan wiped broth from his chin and leaned back in his chair.
He was twenty-five.
Lean. Calm. Unremarkable at first glance.
Backend systems engineer by profession.
Machine learning architect by obsession.
Rank 9 globally in the most competitive VR world ever built.
His second monitor scrolled endlessly.
Chat messages poured in.
"Rank 9 still solo??"
"Patch 9.0 is unlocking Overgod cap, right?"
"Only 21 Divine Emperors worldwide and our Ash is the real Deal!"
"Ash explain the River-Flow footwork again!"
"Ash,will you challenge Rank 1,this time??!"
Ash smiled faintly.
"I'm not racing for rank one," he said calmly.
It wasn't false modesty.
There were only twenty-one Divine Emperor players in existence.
The Divine Emperor questline was widely considered the most punishing progression arc ever designed.
It required:
• Completion of multi-faction continental war
• Upper Plane trial ascensions
• Divine Law resonance thresholds
• Territory conquest under live PvP conditions
Only thirteen players had reached Level 249.
The hard cap.
The final limit before Overgod expansion.
Ash was one of them.
Peak Divine Emperor.
Level 249.
Fans had given him multiple names over the years:
"Sovereign of the Primordial Sea."
"The Eternal Tide Piercer."
"The Ultimate Solo."
"The Lone Sea Wolf."
And, more absurdly—
"Rod Single for Ten Thousand Years."
He didn't join guilds.
Didn't pursue political alliances.
Didn't roleplay nobility.
He preferred systems.
Clean mechanics.
Water-based builds required control, timing, and efficiency.
Most players chased explosive fire paths or flashy lightning chains.
Water demanded patience.
He liked that.
Streaming paid extremely well.
But it wasn't obsession.
It funded something else.
On his primary machine, three experimental AI models trained on distributed compute clusters he rented using stream revenue.
Self-improving neural reasoning frameworks.
Architectures designed to analyze emergent system behavior.
He liked solving systems.
And The War of the Holy One was a beautiful one.
Brutal.
Elegant.
Mathematically balanced beneath narrative chaos.
A notification blinked on-screen.
Hidden Oceanic Ruins – Side Expansion
Recommended Realm: Divine Emperor
Ash's eyes sharpened slightly.
Oceanic.
Subtle content.
Probably resonance-based puzzles layered over environmental combat.
His specialty.
He finished his lunch.
"Alright," he said to chat.
"Side quest run before logoff."
He stood and walked toward the neural pod in the corner of his apartment.
White. Minimal. Government-certified.
Retina-bound.
One account per human.
The lid opened with a soft pneumatic hiss.
He laid down.
The adaptive gel conformed to his posture.
Neural interface engaged.
A low harmonic hum vibrated faintly behind his ears.
Retina scan confirmed.
Ash Leviathan.
Connection authorized.
The apartment dissolved.
The world shifted.
And somewhere far beyond simulated oceans—
A storm gathered unnoticed above a quiet city roof.