Creator’s Game

The shuttle landed on an indoor pad within the Archive headquarters. 

And in the hangar, there were 6 people waiting for him. 

Stacia, the Gatekeeper. 

Tanya, the Tech Support

Moses, the Major

Aurelia, the Queen 

Alexander, the Bank

George, the Operator

They all smiled as the shuttle landed, Hugo climbing out with coordinated steps. 

He smiled on approach. 

“Hey guys. Long time no see.”

“18 months! I was wondering if she had killed you.”

Stacia shot back, yet still walked up to him and gave him a hug. 

“You got taller.”
“Indeed.”

Hugo smiled and hugged back before shifting to the others. 

Alexander greeted him with a handshake. 

“Welcome back, sir. The Archive is still overflowing with cash, so no need to worry about business.”

“That’s good. Is the game generating profits?”

“It was doing so after only a week of operation. People are capable of making very real money within the game using our currency exchange and transaction system. This incentivized corporations to invest in their teams as the profit potential is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. After just a day it went from a game to a business.”

“Good. The Ascent was always meant to be more than just a game. It should be treated no different from reality.”

“Of course, there was also some scrutiny from some countries, but nothing we couldn’t handle with Eve’s help.”

He smiled, causing Hugo to chuckle. 

Backlash from countries was a given. There were many laws surrounding video games, and yet the Ascent had broken dozens of them just by launching. The biggest law they broke was in regard to monetary systems in game, which most countries either outright banned or heavily restricted. 

Well, the Archive didn’t give a damn and did what they wanted. The system they implemented was genius, allowing the players to generate profits yet prevent the markets surrounding it from behaving erratically. There were both game functions and real life management systems to sustain the practice and turn it into nothing more than a job, depending on how the player used it. 

Many countries wished to pressure the Archive because of this, but speaking to its power and influence, the Heads of the Archive brushed off all those problems like they never existed. Nobody could inhibit their venture. 

If they tried, they would be met with severe economic consequences. Alexander knew just how to leverage that, which was why he was known as the Bank of Archive.

From him, Hugo turned to Tanya. 

Tanya was a small girl about two years older than Hugo. She was unmarried as she spent all her time entirely focused on her work. It was of general consensus among them that she was addicted to computer science, electrical engineering, and gaming. 

This made her quite the savant in her field, but also a bit socially inept. That was also why she was close with Hugo and the other Heads personally, because he brought her on after being able to see past the social jitters, and they all worked with her, breaking past their barriers and becoming friends. 

Her long dark hair sloped over her shoulder as she bowed to him a bit, her big round glasses flashing, resting on a pale nose.

“Congratulations, Hugo. I didn’t know it was possible to become a superhuman in just 18 months. But if anybody could do it, it would be you.”

“Thanks Tanya. How is it in the game?”

“It’s fun! I’m working hard, so when you come join us, I’ll be able to help you as much as you need.”

“I might just take you up on that. I’ll come to you for a rundown before entering.”

“Okay!”

She smiled, her eyes flashing behind her round glasses. 

After that, Hugo turned to Moses. 

He was known as the Major, which was his rank in the military before he got discharged. 

Back then, Hugo had needed a Head of Security for the Archive. As it grew, the company was placed under a lot of pressure and had to weather both economic and physical attacks. Corporations would stoop to any level to ensure nobody else encroached on their territory, fighting wars that the normal consumer would never know about. 

Thus, Hugo needed to raise an army, and he found Moses to be the perfect fit for the job. 

Moses was one of the first superhumans in any military, not far behind the Martial Ancestors. He was insanely talented. 

But the world hadn’t been ready for superhumans, especially not the military where outliers were rejected. 

After countless conflicts with his superiors as a result of ascending the Steps to Heaven, Moses was forced to retire early, leaving him with nothing but his personal strength and experience on the battlefield. 

That’s when Hugo found him. In his eyes, there was nobody better to lead violent conflicts than a man well versed in violence and with the fortitude to become a superhuman. 

So Hugo gave Moses a blank check, a new division all to his own, and let him have his way. He was given full autonomy, allowing him to achieve what Hugo needed by whatever means he saw fit. 

It was a massive risk, placing that much power into Moses’ hands. But it paid off, and now, Hugo had the most trustworthy man imaginable running his paramilitary force. 

As far as he knew, Moses was a superhuman just beyond the Rage Step. Back when Hugo had found him, Moses had been working through the Rage Step, which was a part of the reason he was discharged in the first place. 

And it was Hugo’s trust that grounded Moses, gave him purpose, and helped him work through that Step to enter the Coalescence Step. 

That was the pinnacle of the Steps to Heaven, the highest any normal superhuman could achieve. However, there were rumors of a step beyond that, something only the Four Martial Ancestors had achieved. 

It was known as the Domain Step, the 6th and final Step, something that Moses had been searching for a glimpse of for a long time. 

And now, the two of them, a veteran superhuman at 64 years old, and a brand new superhuman at 33 years old, stood before each other. 

Hugo had heard that superhumans could sense each other. Eve explained it to him as being a combination of quantum fields created by their powerful nervous systems resonating with each other, and pheromones released naturally. Other superhumans would be able to sense the sheer power of another through the quantum fields while smelling the fact that they were superhuman through the pheromones. The ordinary couldn’t sense the power, but they could smell the pheromones. To them, all superhumans smelled really good. 

And Hugo could in fact feel it. He could feel the power of Moses’ body, a power that towered so far beyond his that he couldn’t see the height. It was oppressive, revealing another side to Moses that Hugo had never seen before. It painted him to be a completely different person. 

Moses smiled. His giant body rested before Hugo’s, the very icon of a strong man. He almost radiated testosterone. 

“You’ve become one of us. But I sense something different about you. You seem quite sturdy despite your build. Are you at Focus or Refinement?”

“I reached Focus yesterday. Now I get to rest for an entire week, the first rest I’ve had in 18 months.”

“Hm, I see. You do in fact feel erratic, but I guess that’s your mind, not your body. How are you feeling?”

“I’m not sure, but it's not good. Part of me feels like I want to tear my skin off, the other part feels like I want to tear other people’s skin off. It’s like I can’t calm down.”

“Mm, I understand. Well, if you need some stimulation via combat or the like, you can always find me. Still, it will be good for you to learn how to calm down. Otherwise you won’t be able to handle yourself later on.”

“Thanks.”

Hugo nodded, though his words were still echoing in the others’ minds. 

Tear other people’s skin off? He looked perfectly fine and calm. They didn’t realize he was facing so much inner turmoil. 

It seemed those 18 months had done a number on him. They really couldn’t imagine. The only one who could was Moses. 

Moses pat Hugo’s shoulder, squeezing it before Hugo turned to Aurelia and George. 

Aurelia smiled and walked over, giving him a big hug, her bountiful chest flattening against his. 

“It’s good to see you, my sweet. My, you really do smell amazing. Just know that I’m also available if you need some stimulation.”

“I’ll think about it. I hope the countries didn’t give you too much trouble.”

“Of course not. Alexander’s too good to me to let me suffer alone.”

“Tsk.”

Alexander clicked his tongue to the side, looking less than pleased. 

Aurelia laughed a bit before focusing back on Hugo. 

“Don’t worry about us and get into the game. It’s really a lot of fun, especially with a completely new identity. I can really let loose in that place without having to worry about optics and the opinions of a bunch of ugly old men. No offense, Moses.”

“Hrm.”

He grunted with a smirk. 

Then, George jumped in, taking Aurelia’s place and giving Hugo a hug. 

“What’s up, dude! Man, you really do feel sturdy.”

“Hello George.”

Hugo smiled a bit as George punched his chest a few times. 

George had initially been a regular superhuman, stopping after reaching the first level. He wasn’t an athlete, nor a serious lifter or anything of the sort. Whenever asked about it, the reason he always gave for becoming a superhuman was so that he would have more stamina for his job. 

It was quite the hilarious reason, but nonetheless impressive that he could so casually become a superhuman. Moses often lamented how George was wasting his talent sitting at the bottom of the barrel when he could climb much higher. 

However, over the last 18 months, it seemed that George did in fact progress, though Hugo couldn’t be sure. 

So he asked. 

“Did you climb a Step?”

“I did! I think I finally found my reason to climb. It seemed Eve already knows everything about superhumans considering the system she implemented in game. And considering her results with you. Seriously, I’ve never seen a sturdier human being. Nor one that smelled so manly. Aurelia was right.”

“Alright alright.”

Hugo pushed George away as he started sniffing closer. 

He looked to the side, glancing at Stacia, Tanya, and Alexander. 

“Do I seriously smell?”

“It’s an aroma, not smell, but yes, yours it is rather… heavenly.”

Stacia took a deep breath with closed eyes. Tanya just nodded in agreement, her face a bit red, while Alexander didn’t bother answering. 

Hugo hummed. It seemed he really did smell that good. 

After greeting everyone, Hugo waved. 

“Alright, let’s go inside. Tell me about the state of the game.”

Hugo walked ahead, the Heads following behind him as George gave a report. 

“5 million Artifacts were released before launch day. Of that 5 million, only about 2000 were either stolen or resold to third parties that have so far deconstructed it in an attempt to steal technology and data. No attempts have succeeded, and Moses has retrieved most of them.

“Beyond that, the game itself is nothing less than perfectly successful. It is limited by the hardware we are capable of rolling out, but in a year and a half, the initial 5 million players has risen to about 96 million. We will soon have 100 million players, 92% of which are consistently active even after extended periods of time.”

“That’s good.”

Hugo nodded as they arrived at a small lounge just for them. After everyone gathered around a table, Aurelia was the one who took the reigns. 

“Competition within the game is quite fierce. At first, it was the gamer clubs that formed coordinated groups within the game in order to advance their goals. But then people started to figure out that athletes, especially superhumans, have an advantage within the game. So those two groups started to flock and establish their own clubs that rival the gamers. There was an interesting development recently though. Two of the Four Great Dojos have established formal clubs and entered the game. Many athletes have joined these dojos in order to hone their skill, making them far more popular than before.”

“Naturally.”

Hugo smiled. Over time, Eve had given him information on not just superhuman nature, but its history. 

There were Four Martial Ancestors. These were hailed publicly as the strongest humans in the world, and were some of the first superhumans to ever exist. 

Andre Rochefort, from France.

Ron Hardy, from America.

Lady Gold, from Africa.

Xiao Kai, from China.

These four had supposedly gone beyond the highest level of the Steps to Heaven, a level beyond Coalescense, a Step dubbed the Domain Step. But not even Eve could know if that was true. If they played the game, she would figure it out quickly, but they hadn’t yet. 

However, she and Hugo knew something even the other Heads didn’t. There was one person who had in fact achieved this Domain Step, and he was within the game. But it wasn’t one of the Four. 

Nonetheless, the Four Martial Ancestors founded the Four Great Dojos built to train superhumans. They achieved success, further cementing their authority, allowing them to make far more money and expand across the world. 

Now, The Ascent had given people a good reason to train their bodies. So they were flocking to the best places to do so: the dojos. This was further exasperated by the fact that two of the dojos had now dipped their hands into the game officially, likely because it could actually improve a superhuman by offering them the ability to put their skills to the test and push their techniques to the extremes. Of course, all of this was founded on the fact that this translated to improvements in the real world. 

Eve was ingenious with her designs, allowing one’s body to sit suspended within an Artifact yet still allow their nervous systems to fire as if they were in the real world. This did everything short of stressing the muscles themselves, meaning fine motor improvements and reactions in game directly translated to the real world. 

And it came at no risk to the physical body, proving to be the single greatest tool for superhuman develoment since the creation of Serums. It was also why George started training again, taking another step.

Aurelia continued. 

“We haven’t done anything officially since you were gone, but now that you’re back, we’d like to run something by you. We were wondering if you’d like to establish an official Club. It would have an in game group known as a League and compete with the rest of the Clubs.”

“Hm, I would hardly think that’s fair. At least from the perspective of others. I thought it would be normal for the Archive to remain the moderators, the gods who kept their hands away from mortal affairs.”

“That’s what I tried to tell George, but he wants a League.”

“It would be fun!”

George shouted, causing Aurelia to roll her eyes. 

“We’re not ethically allowed to, George. And the boss just said no.”

“Tsk. Well we should do something. I like working with people I can trust.”

“We still can, but we all decided to wait and see what the boss wants to do. If anybody is going to found a League for us, it should be him. But again, that’s his decision. 

“...”

Everyone’s eyes fell on Hugo. 

It was clear that the anticipation for his arrival had been brewing for a long time now. Of course, among nobody but his Heads. Nonetheless, all he needed to do was give the word and they would all throw away their progress for the sake of rising together as a group. 

They would finally become the Hydra, the 7 headed Dragon. 7 people holding transcendental power, operating as a single entity with little to no disputes to speak of. 

It was unlike any other corporation. For one, Hugo owned the vast majority. The only shares he ever gave away were to his heads, who owned 5% of the company each. That was 30% of the company in their hands, and not nearly enough to even attempt to shake his grasp on its ownership. 

But besides that, they were all amazing friends. They were a tight knit group who worked together well. And even if their interpersonal relationships weren’t the absolute best, they all still revered Hugo himself. 

Who else could do what he did? There was no question in their minds who the smartest man in the world was. He alone pioneered the greatest advancements in human neural interfacing, spreading it across the world before then creating an AGI, and then the first True Virtual Reality. 

And now, he had become a superhuman. Any one of the things he did would put his name in the history books, and yet he was doing all of them. 

Their reverence couldn’t rise any higher, so their loyalty was a given. And that wasn’t even considering their pasts with him. 

So they waited for Hugo’s response, which he gave after a few moments of thinking. 

“I think I want to go at this by myself for a while.”

“Huh?”

“I might end up establishing a Club in the future too, perhaps if I find some talented candidates along my path. But what I don’t want is for you all to bring me up to your level so easily, or for me to bring you down and throw away progress unnecessarily. I’d like to work my way up, so that when I catch up, nobody can say I don’t deserve it. Also, nobody must know of my identity if I’m doing all these things, so it might be time to start a new life.”

“...”

Everyone looked at each other as he rubbed his chin in thought. 

Hugo was naturally the type of person to gather people under his banner. He established the company, after all. He may not be the most charismatic leader, but he was more than smart enough to lead others properly. 

So they weren’t surprised by his words. They were more so a bit sad that they wouldn’t be able to join him right away.

They might be able to play by his side when he rose to their level, but considering all of them were standing at the forefront of power among all the players, that could take some time. Not to mention if he was also trying to raise a brand new Club. 

Stacia sighed. 

“I kind of expected that.”

“At the very least, we can give you some advice. It’s all stuff you can find online.”

“Sure, I’ll accept that. We have some time tonight. Tanya, walk me through it.”

“Okay!”

Tanya jumped over to his side on the couch, pulling up a holographic screen and loading Hugo’s mind with all kinds of information.

That’s how his first day back ended. Eve didn’t even want him entering the game for his week of rest, so he could only spend this time preparing his mind for what was to come.