Murim Recurve

"And…do you cover your third eye with a Tikka jewellery?" The boy's voice resounded, causing Re'Kha to jerk in shock.

"What? How did you know about that?" Re'Kha frowned.

"The names of some of the other races…" The boy spoke again, "Are they Treka, Bisheen, Gaiko, and Pitruha?"

"What the…" Re'Kha was even more shocked now, "How did you know about them too?"

"Wait, so when you were controlling my body, you didn't even realise what that helmet was…" The boy paused in confusion before nodding as if he got the gist of it, "I see, so that's why it said Access Denied."

"What do you mean?" Re'Kha inquired.

"Well, we have something called a VR Game here. It means a game using Virtual Reality." The boy said.

The moment she heard the word, a flood of information gushed into her mind, immediately allowing her to understand everything about Virtual Reality. Though, there was some garbled static that accompanied it this time, preventing her from understanding certain stuff in them.

Even then, she obtained a general gist of it, enough for her to understand just how they functioned and the reason the headgear and the hexagonal platform existed. 

"Do continue," Re'Kha nodded.

"Alright," The boy too nodded in return as he continued, "In recent years, the rate of obesity around the world was increasing to an alarming percent. It was because of the grain surplus that had been generated thanks to new agricultural breakthroughs. So, to combat this, they developed something that would make people willing to move naturally."

"Hmm, I didn't see a lot of obese people though," Re'Kha muttered, "I have been here and in Bengaluru."

"The percentage is still relatively less in these two cities, thanks to our genes. But obesity is a growing cause. I don't know the exact numbers, but that had been the case one year ago. Now, thanks to this VR, a lot of obese people have managed to reduce their weight to acceptable levels."

"So, what game is in this VR that made this possible?" Re'Kha inquired, able to understand their perspective. In her world, even the merchants weren't fat or obese. They were fit because numerous incidents happened all the time. And, if someone was unfit, they wouldn't be able to escape from a problem or even have the strength to face it.

Moreover, the mentality prevalent in their society disdained anyone who wasn't fit enough to protect himself. So, she hadn't ever seen anyone that was obese in her world.

But on Earth, the situation was different. It was a largely peaceful world. And with the advent of technology, it brought the world closer, allowing people to access information from all parts of the world from the comfort of the couch in their homes.

And, thanks to all door delivery options, one didn't even need to step out from the comfort of his/her home. And this was the primary cause that caused one a lack of exercise, which eventually added more and more weight to his/her body.

And, being obese was dangerous to one's health; combating the issue was of primal importance. So, Re'Kha was curious as to how they managed to do it through a game. After all, based on the information she had obtained, all the games could be played with minimal exercise.

At most, one had to move their fingers. So, it wasn't enough to lose weight.

"It's a simple but ground-breaking game that makes people fit to the extent they can pose as martial artists." The boy laughed as he said, "After wearing the headset, the neural transmission technology in it synchronises with our brain waves, allowing us to perceive an entirely different world."

Followed by a chuckle, he spoke, "And, we obtain an avatar that we control in this world. We can customise it a bit to our liking, but the general bone and muscle structure follow our real-life's version. And, once we enter that world, we complete missions that earn money, wield supernatural powers, etc."

"And the best part about this is…" He smiled, causing his lips to curl up, "Our avatar in-game would only perform the set of actions we execute in reality. So, if we wish to run fast, we have to run as fast as in reality. The hexagonal platform is for that. It allows us to make all sorts of motions and movements without moving away from the platform. This way, we don't risk any injury while playing."

"But, that's just like real life. Earth is even more interesting than the survival world you speak of." Re'Kha frowned.

"Surely technology is convenient, I'll give you that. But, most of us desire that something which isn't available on Earth. But it is present in-game. And, that is all we ever need to dive into it." The boy replied.

"And that something is?"

"Superpowers," The boy said, "Each of us can choose an attribute of our choice and develop our character accordingly around it. And, the way we develop it displays our skill. Most people may or may not have the interest to prove themselves better than others in life, since there isn't any parameter to determine that in a world as complex and disoriented as ours. But, everyone loves to prove themselves in a game. After all, there is one concept in games that make them addicting."

"And that is?"

"As long as you put in the effort, you can visibly see your improvement. This improvement is visible, quantitative, and can allow us to judge whether an action we took is beneficial to us or not. And, as we have to constantly move to use the superpowers, we would end up losing weight in the long term."

"And," He chuckled, "Thanks to the vivid immersion that allows us to experience ourselves wielding the powers of fire, thunder, gravity, etc. we are completely addicted to it and before we realise it, we become fit enough to do gymnastics."

"And, is Contemporary Murim the name of this game?" Re'Kha inquired.

"No," The boy shook his head, "That's the name of the headgear. And, since it has been designed to forge our obese bodies into perfect, fit-looking humans, the game has been termed…"

"Steelcraft!"