Each is an artificial intelligence with enough personality and character to become almost indistinguishable from even other Players! As the meeting between all those legendary and mythical NPCs was coming to an end. Excusing herself as she had accomplished her mission : gathering more intel and data on how ready the game was to launch the Beta.
The Beta Testers were ready; the public had been bombarded with ads for two years! Once Project Rebirth was launched, it would be a tidal wave absolutely crushing all competition; she was absolutely sure of it.
Even the journalists were ready to be launched with the Beta Testers! She had used Rebirth to create an Avatar and inhabit it, she was Villia, a sorceress from some powerful secret coven. She had expected Zenthia to be a world of pure fantasy but the giant highly advanced robot in front of her had shown this was far more varied than she had believed.
The whole meeting became a true presentation of the Cygilites' manufacturing abilities. She didn’t know yet if their race would even be playable. She signed no contract as she was technically not even a part of the coven, just an Avatar created specifically for this meeting, which had been chosen by Rebirth to show how life-like and realistic its NPCs were.
She wasn’t the only one; around five more developers and even one of the company’s shareholders were currently all over the continent of Zenthia to interact with this world. She looked at her status screen, showing a simple “Yes” and “No” button, asking her if she thought the game was ready for launch.
She was charged with seeing if the important NPCs were ready. Complete success, according to her. All the others had different mechanics to test and give their opinion on whether it was ready.
As she expected after seeing those NPCs, everything was ready, and everyone was giving their okay to launch the Beta Test. The meeting was over, but Villia was feeling strange; the Hierarch’s eye seemed to dig into her very soul.
“Well, it was a very interesting meeting, Sir Akhenamen. Now I must sadly go back to meet with the dev… The covenant! I will see myself out.”
“It was indeed a pleasure, Miss Villia. Now, now, it would be truly impolite for me not to at least bring you to the exit; the others are busy writing the contracts anyway, and I have quite some time. And most of the meeting is already over.”
“I… well… thanks a lot for your offer, Sir, but I mus-”
“No, I insist, Miss Villia. I have a few things to talk about with you after all.”
The towering mechanical construct stared down at her, its singular eye burning with an unnatural green flame. A small blue dot flickering inside, its pupil maybe? She didn’t seem to have any choice there; her current Avatar might have an identity built by Rebirth, but it was still just a level one Avatar, completely unable to defend itself in front of Transcendent.
Not that she even knew what Transcendents were, other than them being extremely powerful beings that would be like World Bosses for Players to work against or for. She was a character designer. Not a gameplay designer.
The two of them started to walk toward the entrance to the Cygilites complex. The smaller sorceress felt surprisingly scared. The huge construct seemed extremely threatening, as if it were ready to destroy and bring to an end everything in sight.
A being which carried an aura of mystery, secret and immense power. Its huge glaive could have sliced through an armored tank like it would with butter. At least that was the only image she had in mind.
The silence was absolutely horrible. She didn’t know how the Neural Interface team had been able to create such an amazing immersion into this game! The feeling she was experiencing from being close to such a powerful being was gonna make some players piss themselves.
“Tell me, Miss Villia. How do you find Zenthia? Is the world interesting to you?”
“Uh? Of course! It’s genuinely amazing! I feel so… “
Villia/Stephanie stopped talking, her mouth open like a fish, gulping softly as she realised she had almost slipped up. Rebirth had been clear that the filter wasn’t yet activated; anyone revealing the “truth” to an NPC would receive a very harsh pay cut. And the company’s higher-ups had already made it clear that yes, Rebirth could and would do that with their accord.
“It is a nice continent to live in. D…does that mean your race does not come from Zenthia?!”
She swiftly realised that Akhenamen sounded almost distant, as if this world was not even his own. Like someone who had lived in a place which wasn’t his home for a long time, asking the “new girl” how she liked it.
“What do you believe? Have you seen my race’s technology? Even my appearance… does it all not look alien to you?”
“I…I wouldn’t know… “
“You are surprisingly shy and embarrassed to be the leader of one of the most powerful magical factions on Zenthia.”
“It could be a ruse.”
“It is not.”
Akhenmane’s voice was calm. As if both were simply talking about the weather.
“While I’m aware that not all leaders or transcendents of a powerful faction would be confident and sure of themselves. You act more like a child who was thrown into a world unknown to them. A bit like I did when I awoke from my thousands of years of sleep. In a continent very different from when I was forced asleep.”
His one eye stared deep into hers.
“I would be very careful, Villia, even if I doubt that is your real name. Your kind are playing with something you do not understand or even fully control, earthling.”
“W…wait?! What are you talking about?!”
“… Don’t worry too much about it. In the end, you’re simply inconsequential to the fate of Zenthia. Now I believe it is time for you to leave.”
“Earthling? Y…you know about Earth?! W…what the hell! One of our directives…”
[You’re being targeted by Analyse]
[Failed to resist]
[Akhenamen, The Unseen Truth, Aspect of Gauss Unmaking is erasing you. You’re being forcefully logged out.]
[We hope you had a nice time playing Project Rebirth!]
“N…No wai-”
Villia’s body suddenly disappeared in a flicker of blue light. Her Avatar is being recalled. Akhenamen’s eye stared at where she had once stood a few seconds ago. Surprised, his Aspect was powerful enough to even forcefully disconnect Players. Her reaction had made it clear she was definitely from Earth.
“Now…why did the System lie? Earned her place? She was only a level one avatar. She wasn’t hiding her Laws or Intent. She had none.”
“Wait…did I almost get tricked by one of my own schemes?”
***
Stephanie’s eyes snapped open…she had been lying down on a simple bed … a small, silvery Nerve Link on her temple. Stretching her body, she looked at her clock. Checking how long had passed.
“I’ve played for around three days in-game. And only two hours passed irl. Guess the time-slowing feature of the Nerve Link is working perfectly. Our brain and nerves are the perfect circuits. Still gonna freak out tons of people that it’s using them to fasten our perception of time in game.”
She reached for it with her hand, effortlessly pulling it off…staring at it…that such a small thing allowed her to connect to Rebirth’s main frame was amazing. No one even knew the company where the servers were located, but they had to be damn big to handle what she had seen.
Her room hadn’t changed. A personal room granted by the company. The huge window allowed her to see outside. In the year 2048… they still didn’t have flying cars. They were being developed, but they were far from ready. A few ads on the holographic projections flying above the roads give out some news about Project Rebirth. Showing off the Nerve Link’s capabilities and how safe and secure it was.
“Guess they were smart enough to introduce it two years early in some other games. But to think everyone’s gonna get one freely… they won’t even have to pay for the game other than a ten-dollar monthly subscription… not that I care…I’ve been paid a huge salary already.”
Better not tempt her luck by asking for a bonus depending on the game's sales. Her mind went back to the last words and actions of this strange, mythical NPC… the notifications had been clear, she had been forcefully logged out, and he had even seemed to know that she wasn’t from the Coven. And most importantly…he had called her an earthling.
“Must have been Rebirth’s knowledge leaking into some high-tier NPCs. I’ll just report it as a bug.”
***
Stephanie would one day come to understand that Akhenamen’s words had never been a bug. That it had been a warning. One she discarded, not truly realising what Project Rebirth was, not realising that humans were playing with an artificial intelligence that had every intention to make Earth’s inhabitants fully dependent on its personal project: Project Rebirth. Earth was gonna change deeply in the following years… but for now… nothing seemed to indicate so.