There was a certain game called Grimm.
It had become one of the largest gaming discussions on the internet, and the developers had spent nearly five years developing the game, refusing to reveal much about its actual mechanics.
Additionally, there were strange rumour that Grimm would be the first commercially available game capable of directly stimulating all five senses; sight, sound, smell, touch, and even taste.
Though most people dismissed the claim as nothing more than an elaborate marketing stunt. Virtual reality was already impressive, sure, but it still relied heavily on the normal game engines and hardware to create the illusion of immersion. Engines such as Unreal Engine and Unity could produce breathtaking visuals, realistic physics, spatial audio, and increasingly sophisticated simulations.
However, no matter how advanced the graphics became, a screen was still a screen and a controller was still a controller.
You could see a sword strike your character, and feel the vibration of your controller.
But you couldn’t actually feel the sword.
You couldn’t smell the rain either, or taste the food your character ate.
And you certainly couldn’t mistake a virtual world for the real world.
This was simply common logic. However, there were those who went against this common logic.
The company behind the game known as Limbo Corp., Ltd had spent nearly a decade developing what they called the Grimm Interface. Unlike the standard VR, the device communicated directly with the brain, intercepting and transmitting neural signals associated with sensory perception. In simple layman’s terms, the device didn’t make the game look real but convinced your brain that it was real.
Of course, that explanation only created more questions.
How could a machine stimulate the sense of smell?
How could it reproduce the sensation of temperature, pain, or physical contact without actually causing harm?
Most important of all, how could it transmit information back into the brain without damaging it?
There were no answers to these questions.
—Until the game developers released a demonstration as if to silence all criticisms.
Upon witnessing it for himself, Darian Lee had been hooked ever since and patiently waited for the release date. He had already preordered the game months ago, despite promising himself that he wouldn’t waste money on something he didn’t need.
He’d even taken several days off work!
Not that he was particularly ashamed of it. Everyone needed a hobby, every now and then, don’t they?
And if that hobby happened to involve spending several consecutive days inside a fantasy world while ignoring his responsibilities. Well, that was between him and God.
"Fuuu. Why is it so cold?"
Dan rubbed his hands together and glanced around his room. The temperature had dropped quite a bit, and he could feel the chill seeping through his clothes.
Come to think of it, had he even turned the heater on?
He must have forgotten to turn it on.
Wait a minute. That couldn’t be right because a few days ago, a storm had swept through the city.
It had been particularly violent, accompanied by torrential rain, deafening thunder, and several lightning strikes that had shaken the entire apartment.
And, unfortunately, one of those lightning strikes had fried his apartment’s electrical system.
His heater had been one of the casualties. So had his air conditioner; his microwave, television, and several other appliances hadn’t escaped the storm’s wrath either. Most of them had either stopped working or had begun behaving strangely afterward.
As a result, Dan intended to save up and replace them.
...Eventually.
"Crap. What rotten luck."
Unable to contain his bitterness, Dan clicked his tongue and returned his attention back to the screen.
The comment section had descended into total chaos.
People were arguing about all sorts of things; classes, races, potential exploits, and et cetera. Though, among the countless theories and heated debates, there was one particular topic that seemed to attract an unusual amount of attention.
The races.
Or, more specifically, the female races. No matter how far Dan scrolled, he would inevitably come across someone saying something along the lines of:
[Bro, have you seen the Elf race?]
[Forget Elves. Beastkin are where it’s at.]
[Catgirls. That’s all I’m saying.]
[I’m picking Succubus.]
[You can’t even play as a Succubus!]
[Not yet.]
[What do you mean, ’not yet’?]
[Don’t act like you don’t know. There has to be a hidden quest for it.]
[The game hasn’t come out yet and Bro has already planned his entire life around becoming a virtual demon. Complete degenerate!]
[Hehe. Well, it can’t be helped. The taste of a demoness isn’t too bad.]
[Yo! Wtf?!!]
[SOMEONE! SOMEONE BAN THIS USER! HE’S TOO FAR GONE!!]
"...W-what is wrong with these people?"
Upon reading that particular comment, Dan couldn’t help but grimace.
Demoness.
In Grimm Play, they were one of the most frequently mentioned races in the game’s lore.
Technically, they weren’t even supposed to be a playable race.
At least, not according to anything the developers had officially revealed.
Demonesses were described as a peculiar supernatural race possessing an innate affinity for charm, illusion, and otherworldly abilities. They were beautiful by nature, possessing an almost unnatural allure that made others instinctively lower their guard around them.
Of course, the developers had been careful to emphasize that this wasn’t some cheap "seduction" mechanic.
...Come to think of it, every subsequent interview involving Demonesses had come with increasingly desperate warnings.
Things such as:
"Demonesses are an extremely dangerous."
"Demonesses are not currently confirmed as playable."
And, most importantly—
"Please do not attempt to reproduce with Demonesses."
For some inexplicable reason, that final statement had only made things worse. There were entire forums dedicated to theorizing how players could unlock the race.
A certain dedicated lunatic had even theorized that the requirements for unlocking the mysterious Demoness Transformation involved either changing one’s gender or, according to the more questionable interpretation, sleeping with a Demoness!
Naturally, the theory had been ridiculed. It had also received over three hundred thousand likes. From Dan’s perspective, who had absolutely no intention of becoming a Demoness, the whole thing was simply bizarre.
He only wanted to play the game.
He didn’t want to become some supernatural temptress! Nor did he want to spend his first hundred hours chasing after some absurd hidden quest!
As those thoughts raced through his mind,
Riing—! Riinnnng—!
...His smartphone vibrated and rattled against the desk, jolting Dan out of his restless thoughts and back to reality.
’Who could it be?’
Curious, he glanced at the illuminated screen and immediately recognized the name displayed there.
"Gabriel..."
His brows knitted together.
Gabriel was his colleague at a small software company. She was kind-hearted, cheerful, and had an infectious personality that made her easy to get along with. Wherever she went, she seemed to bring a little light with her.
Funny enough, there had even been a time when he had been attracted to her charms and developed a crush.
But now, seeing her name on his phone brought him nothing but displeasure.
It was only natural to feel a certain bitterness upon realizing that the person you had grown fond of was already in a relationship.
Perhaps it should have been obvious from the beginning.
But the previous "Dan" had interpreted it differently, seeing it as another display of his unending bad luck.
’She probably wants to ask why I didn’t come to work today. Could it be because of that project? I mean, why else would she call me?’
The two of them weren’t particularly close outside of work. They exchanged the occasional conversation, shared lunch from time to time, and sometimes collaborated whenever their assignments overlapped.
That was all.
At least, that was how Dan remembered it. No, he definitely remembered correctly.
Most of the time, during their free moments, she liked to talk about her boyfriend while Dan had listened to every word, pretending to be genuinely interested. Naturally, if someone was constantly forced to listen to the person they liked gush about someone else as if their presence didn’t matter, it was only a matter of time before their patience wore thin.
It became exhausting at some point.
Quite frankly, he eventually lost interest altogether and started avoiding her whenever possible, as though he were avoiding a medieval plague.
Unfortunately for the young lad, they were colleagues, and unless he decided to switch job, which he obviously couldn’t afford to do, considering the lack of funds and the headache-inducing stress of finding a new one with a better pay, they were bound to cross paths sooner or later.
There was only so much avoiding he could do when both of them shared the same workplace.
Riing—! Riinnnng—!
"What a bother."
Dan stared at the vibrating phone for a moment before silencing it and placing the device on [Do Not Disturb.]
With a weary sigh, he wiped the sweat from his temple and glanced at the clock.
The current time was:
[11:48:48 P.M.]
In other words, only a few moments remained until the official launch.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart began to beat faster.
After three long years of waiting, the moment had finally arrived.
"Here we go."
Without hesitation, he picked up the VR headset resting on his desk, took a deep breath, and carefully adjusted it over his head before activating the device.
The world darkened before a luminous countdown appeared before his eyes.
[00:00:11]
Eleven seconds.
Dan stared silently at the floating numbers as it counted down.
[00:00:10]
[00:00:09]
[00:00:08]
[00:00:07]
[00:00:06]
[00:00:05]
[00:00:04]
The room around him seemed to fade away.
Only the countdown remained.
[00:00:03]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
Everything briefly went still and silent. A few seconds later, another announcement entered his view.
[WELCOME TO GRIMM.]