**Author's Note: I was going to introduce a little background story for the main starting group but that would have made the prologue too long. So chapters 1 and 2 will kind of be the introduction chapters to give some info on the characters and a glimpse at their personalities.**

It was a time when Virtual Reality, VR for short, was a common technology used in households everywhere. Since it was mostly a form of entertainment, there were many VR games out there from various different genres. A company called Torgate was bringing out a new technology to compete in the VR field. They claimed that not only will reality have an effect on the VR, but the VR might also have an effect on reality. They called this technology Full Immersion VR, FIVR for short.

FIVR worked differently from VR in that things you do inside the VR world can have an effect on reality too. Not to mention that unlike typical VR games, with FIVR, a person would be able to feel everything as well as see it. It allowed the use of all 5 senses inside the game as if the person was living there. The company claimed that the reality level of their game was 95%. The release date of the game was still a few months away but there were already over a billion copies sold.

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"Hello everyone, thank you for tuning into VRTV news. My name is Lenore Mckenzie and I will be your host today. Today, we bring you an interview with the CEO of Torgate enterprises. On to you Marina."

"Thank you Lenny. Hi everyone. This is Mariana Rush of VRTV here with Ritsu Shinosaki, the CEO of Torgate. We're here to talk about the upcoming game that's kicking up a storm on the net these days."

The camera switches focus to an East-Asian lady who is dressed in a business suit. It is hard to tell her age from her appearance but she looks to be in her mid-40s. She waves at the camera and says, "Hello. I am Ritsu Shinosaki and I hope that everyone will greatly enjoy Celestial Realms."

Marina: "Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today Mrs. Shinosaki. I hope you can answer some questions we have today. I want to start by asking what makes FIVR so different from regular VR."

Ritsu: "That's a good question. I want to tell you but then I would need to kill you."

Marina turns a bit pale as it was said with a very serious face. A couple of seconds pass before Ritsu winks and starts laughing. After calming down, she adds, "Joking aside, the difference between FIVR and VR is that VR mostly uses the visual cues to let a person see things from a different view. With FIVR, the person will be able to use all 5 or 6 senses to almost fully experience things."

Marina: "You said almost fully. Why not fully?"

Ritsu: " Well...if it was fully, then if you were to die in the game, you really would be dead. I don't think anyone wants that. Which is also why we've capped the feeling of pain at 50%. Of course users can set it at lower level as the minimum is 20%. So if you get hit, it will hurt but only in the game. But if you were to exercise inside the game and your muscles feel pain from the growth in strength, you will feel that in reality as well. This is because FIVR will electrically stimulate the muscles in the body to develop the muscles used in the game. This was done to make it so that people who play as Warriors will not have a disadvantage against those who play as Mages."

Seems the information was a bit much for Marina (and the rest of the crew) to take as a strong silence settled in. A few minutes later, Ritsu broke the spell with a small cough. Still a bit dazed, Marina asked, "So you mean that athletes can train inside an FIVR environment and actually see results?"

Ritsu: "Yes, that's correct. Assuming they survive getting attacked by monsters and such anyway. There are limitations as there's only so much available in the starting areas. So if athletes want to continue to improve, they would need to be able to fight off dangerous creatures as well."

Marina: "Moving on, what can you tell us about the game Celestial Realms? I heard that there are different classes and races in the game. Can you tell us about that as well?"

Ritsu: "I won't say too much about the world as that would spoil things a bit too much. But I will say that like the real world, the world inside Celestial Realms also changes. As for the classes and races...well, there are the typical starting races of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs for now. Everyone starts as a Trainee until they decide to change to a different class. Most class change takes place fairly early at level 10. Typical classes include Warrior, Mage, Thief, and Cleric. There are others out there though. Classes like Paladin or Assassin, players will have to find on their own. As for any other information, I will not spoil and give away."

Marina: "You said, 'for now,' when you were talking about race. Does that mean there are other races for players as well?"

Ritsu winks and just says, "That's a company secret. I will say this much though, the biggest limits to your character inside the game are ones each player sets for themselves."

Marina: "Looks like there is a lot for people to discover in Celestial Realms. I'm getting excited to see how things will be. Thank you for your time Mrs. Shinosaki. And that's all we have for you about the upcoming game, Celestial Realms. Good luck everyone. Back to you Lenore."

Lenore: "Thank you Marina. I'm not sure about others here in the studio, but I'm looking forward to this game now. I think I'll make a Human to play around with. See you next time on VRTV news!"

**Author's note: Feel free to give feedback and criticism regarding any mistakes I make.