Chapter Extra 3: Terra nova

When talking about Terra nova, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

That question depends on who answers it.

For the new generation that did not go through Terra nova, it would remind them of that mythical virtual reality machine that made millions of people travel to a new world.

For those players, it will remind them of a magical and incredible world.

A time where they believed that a unique and unparalleled virtual reality machine had appeared.

Where a so-called company designed a ‘game’ that seemed unimaginable.

Where they could use just a virtual reality machine to enter a new world, full of ‘quests’, ‘NPCs’, and all kinds of ‘events’.

A place where you could learn magic, level up, and interact with anyone.

Having families and friends that everyone assumed were artificial intelligences.

But it would also remind them of their doubts and their loss of reality.

Their attachments to that world, their friends, their acquaintances, and everything they lost.

Terra nova had infinite possibilities... That might sound simple, but it wasn’t.

Players could have families, wives, and children... Just as they could murder or become whatever they wished.

Each ‘player’ took an ‘avatar’ which was a real body similar to the player’s original body with the only feature that it was immortal and reappeared every time it was killed.

Each player had a second life within that world.

A life where they could become strong, they could learn magic, learn to fight, or just stay in a small village to live a quiet life as a farmer.

When one thinks about the possibilities and what could and was done for ten years... It makes sense, the mass suicides that took place afterwards.

Those who had family believing it was artificial intelligence, and it was just fiction... Those who had fun acting like villains because they believed they were in a game or simply those who just went in for momentary fun and fulfilled all their dreams in that world.

When one thinks of all that the players went through and all that they did, believing it was just a game, it makes sense that when they found out it was all real, their world would fall apart.

Some will say that God is cruel... And maybe they are right.

It was true that a person could only have a single ‘character’ at a time, and that the Terra nova authorities could stop them with some means and lock them up forever in some prisons, thus reducing the ‘bad’ players.

Still, a lot of things happened.

However, if you were to ask what Terra nova is to a native of that world or some connoisseur, then the answer would undoubtedly be impressive.

Terra Nova is a higher-level plane that is said to have existed since the beginning of time.

For some, it is the ‘land of the gods’ because it is home to many gods and for others, it is one of the most powerful worlds.

Surely you are wondering how many worlds exist?

Well, that answer is beyond my knowledge, but I can safely say that the ‘worlds’ and ‘planes’ are more many than one might imagine.

Terra nova.

A ‘fantasy’ world with enormous magical progress and where humans were one of the predominant races.

A world several times the size of the earth and with countless different terrains and races.

A purely magical world where magical energy is incredibly high and where most of the races of that world can use magical energy at will.

Yes, they differ from humans on earth.

Terra nova humans can use magical energy and convert it into any element, being able to use any magic.

Affinity was important, but not as important as on earth where most mages are specialized and can only use one type of magic.

The Terravanians could use any magic as long as they studied the respective spells and were talented enough.

In that kind of world, you could encounter a mythological dragon in its human form or meet a god in a random restaurant... Does that sound far-fetched?

Personally, I have seen an extremely dangerous and terrifying Primordial Goddess using the appearance of a young girl.

Yes, a sweet young girl with chubby cheeks and blushing cheeks.

Of course, her appearance meant nothing.

That ‘little girl’ could burn anyone she didn’t like just for fun while smiling tenderly.

Back to the subject at hand, without delving into my adventures.

Terra nova.

What I can say about that extraordinary and striking world?

I think the most ‘shocking’ thing about Terra nova is that there are ‘levels’.

Although if you inspect, the ‘levels’ are ways of understanding the strength of a person’s soul, but we don’t need to meddle in such matters.

We just need to know that ‘levels’ were a way to increase a person’s overall strength by killing another individual.

They gained experience every time they killed another living being and with that ‘experience’ people gained ‘levels’.

That was the way that world was ruled.

It was by nature a cruel world where war and fighting were encouraged... Kill or be killed.

People could kill other creatures or other people to level up and get stronger.

That was the same for the players as it was for the natives, with only one difference and that was the ‘level cap’ the players could reach.

Perhaps that was the way to limit the players who, despite being immortal, could only become as strong as an elite soldier of an empire.

Although that limit did not matter, as some players found other ways to become stronger without needing to level up however, those methods were available to very few, because of the rarity and problematic to get.

And as there were some natives of that world and other existences that helped players get stronger for their own goals or fun.

Anyway, the ‘level’ was some of the biggest reasons why the players thought they were in a game and not in a real world.

In their defense... In what mind could it possibly fit that a world had levels?

When one hears about ‘levels’, the first thing that comes to mind is a game... Of course, for Terra nova insiders, ‘levels’ had a logical reason and were natural.

Quite different for Earthlings who went with a mindset that they were playing a wonderful game.

Of course, the levels were one of the many reasons the players believed they were inside a game.

That the world was so chaotic and always hectic, as if there were ‘events’ designed specifically for the players’ enjoyment, was another reason.

Let’s be honest, though.

That world was so magically dense that it was normal for high-ranking creatures to appear out of nowhere.

Also, magical beasts of all kinds were so normal that they spread out breeding among them.

Spirits or undead awakening in a graveyard were common, let alone a creature in an abandoned swamp that could devastate entire cities.

As bad and dangerous as that world may sound, it also had its good things.

Dozens of different races with their own kingdoms, their own lands, and their own cultures.

Huge wonders like islands with waterfalls floating in the air, flying cities or subway cities.

Trees that could reach up to the clouds and majestic palaces that could be seen from a distance.

Terra nova undeniably was and surely still is an enchanting world.

Perhaps pessimists will say that Earthlings entering that world as ‘players’ ruined it.

But to say those words is to believe that earthlings are important enough to change everything in their path and to the regret of many, it is not so.

Today, if you talk to any Terra nova native coming to Earth, they will tell you that what happened on Terra nova with players was just one more era.

Just another turbulent time in their history and, quite possibly, it was.

In the long history of Terra nova, it is known how their people once joined together to invade other planes as conquerors, just as it is known that other conquerors invaded them.

In their history, they have battles of gods, deadly diseases, fall of empires, rise of continents and sinking of them... In a literal sense of the word.

Not to mention the constant wars between races or wars against demons from other planes.

That they had visitors from another world was not as strange as one would suppose for the inhabitants of Terra nova.

Terra nova was a world that was connected to hundreds of other worlds, so it is normal to encounter a visitor from another world.

I think it is common for them, because while we were thinking if we were alone in our universe, they through magic created portals to travel between other worlds and planes.

That meant that while we right now still do not travel into space to explore the galaxy, they have already explored entire universes.

It is known that Terra nova is a distinct ‘universe’, a ‘plane’ that has its own universe independent of any other.

When they traveled from ‘world’ to ‘world’, sometimes exploring particular ‘universes’, we were most likely in the dark ages... Or maybe we were unevolved apes.

Perhaps I seem to be over idealizing the inhabitants of Terra nova and their entire world.

It may seem that way, but knowing the past of that world where Gods lived will help you know what we can achieve.

Although we have been using magic for a short time, we have to know that our possibilities are infinite.

However, we have to remember that we not only depend on magic, but also on technology.

We earthlings do not have that natural affinity with magical energy as any inhabitant of Terra nova, who can use their magical energy to perform any spell of any element or any type of magic.

There is no doubt that some earthlings have an innate ability that allows you to imitate them, however, they are not in the majority.

We have to understand that magic is not our only strength and that we also have technology and science, something that on Terra nova was not so advanced.

However, we also don’t have to take pride in our abilities believing that with them we can become all-powerful existences.

Before the Gods and the countless worlds, we are a speck of dust in a desert... A enormous desert.

We have to know that in our world we still have countless questions to answer and we are still surviving in the face of the ‘Chaos’ of the outer void.

We are in danger. There is no doubt about it.

Perhaps to those powerful existences, we are still children who were given weapons and used them to beat each other.

Children who do not see the reality of things and also do not see what their real enemies are.

Little children who think their ‘parents’ will always protect them, so they can fight each other over little things.

At some point, we will stop being children, not because we will mature, but because they will stop taking care of us.

Then, at that moment, we will realize where we are and the danger we are in.

At that moment when we are alone, we will realize that, since that machine that took us to a new world left, it was only a ‘machine’ to teach us how to walk.

Now, we can either walk in the same direction to survive together or beat each other, blinded by power... A power that will not serve in the face of what the future holds.

The choice, as funny as it may seem, is not in those ‘Gods’, it is in us.

It’s on you.

—Excerpt from Sage Su Chin’s ‘Analysis of the Worlds’.