Ugh... If that was how [Diving] into the ADVR world felt like, then I'm not going to do that again on a full stomach. It took a while to open my eyes and clear my vision. To my surprise, I’m lying down in my bed anymore. Now, I’m standing in a strange black empty room. There is no furniture, decorations, or even appliances. Just a featureless black room. Thankfully, my brotherly instincts hadn't kicked in yet, because when I look around the room, I saw Kazuki right in front of me. He is in awe of our new surroundings as much as me.

"W-Whoa! I-I can't believe this! We're actually inside the virtual world!" Of course, those would be his first words right after being brought into some kind of a strange virtual room. The real question is if this is the world of [Isekai Online]. But I didn't have time to think about this as Kazuki turns around to focus on me with his big smile of his. "Hayate! Can you believe this?! We're inside in a virtual reality world! Together! Isn't this great?!"

"Y-Yeah... That's nice..." I try to reply very calmly, but I’m too busy wondering if Zac and Damon said about this game are true. "But where are we? Isn't the fantasy-themed virtual world supposed to be...? You know... B-"

All of a sudden, a strange orb quickly pops out of the floor as I scream and jump back at the sight of it. [Hello! Welcome to [Isekai Online]! Thank you for registering and purchasing the game!]

A... Greeter? In the form of a strange orb? And I’m the only one who is startled by it.

[Before you can create your character, we detect a minor in our [Character Creation Chamber]. To the registered minor player, please confirm your age and the username of your [Guardian Player] to proceed.]

Great... And I thought embarrassing myself in front of my brother with those memories is enough... I even saw him chuckling at my latest embarrassment regarding the orb. At this rate, I’m going to make a fool out of myself again. "Can you type in your age and my username before I have to do something stupid again?"

Eventually, Kazuki finally stops chuckling as he follows the instructions, as well as typing my username in a holographic window right in front of him. Then, a new window appeared right in front of me, this time showing the terms and conditions of the game as well the form of agreement of my role.

As a [Guardian Player], my role is simple. Keep an eye on the minor, which is Kazuki, and make sure he doesn’t stray off from me during gameplay. Also, I was given more information about the special stray feature that we mentioned before. I have the power to give Kazuki 30 minutes to an hour to play the game alone. If I disobey this and leave him alone past the allotted time, the system will report me to the company and government officials and I would get banned from the game. The process might be a little too stern, but with the laws against child abuse and neglect that were passed a few years ago, due to a few cases involving ADVR, I can understand why they have to put this complicated process in the game just to give the minor players a chance to join any VRMMOs in the market.

After I read through the forms, I type in my password before I reach out for the holographic pen to put in my signature into the forms. Once I put the pen down, it disappears along with the window as it is replaced with a window with a single word: [AGE AND GUARDIAN PLAYER CONFIRMED]

[Thank you for your confirmation. You are now free to proceed to the next step.]

Just before my eyes, two human figures and windows appear right in front of me. Upon a closer look at them, they seemed to be lifeless and had no distinctive features other than their matching clean brown haircut and emotionless expression on their faces. It's as if I staring right in front of a corpse. It sort of creeped me out for a second.

[The first thing you need to do is to choose your character's race. Each race has special bonuses to benefit your mastery of choice. But choose your race wisely, you may unable to change it later.]

So in other words, our character's race will be permanent for the whole game. I decide to read each race carefully before choosing anything.

[Human] (No Racial Bonuses)

[Elf] (Intelligence Bonus to Magic-related Masteries)

[Beastfolk] (Strength and Constitution Bonuses to Combat-related Masteries; Half-Beast)

[Feles] (Dexterity and Charisma Bonus; Half-Feline)

Other than Feles, most of these races fit with the fantasy genre. However, I did notice a strange race below.

[Insignis] (Intelligence and Wisdom Bonus, Storyline Bonus)

'Storyline Bonus’?

I wonder what that meant. But since I planned to just enjoy the game with Kazuki, I decide I might as well go with Human. Much to my surprise, the character in front of me just envelopes itself in white light, yet there seemed to be no changes to his appearance. With that, I decided to check on my brother then. "Hey, Kazuki! Are you done picking your character race yet?"

"Just a second! I'm still thinking!" He is still reading through the race selection window, but I couldn’t blame him. This is is his first game after all. Though the question is what ki-

"Got it!"

I almost jumped at his sudden shout just as he tapped on the window. "Kazuki! Indoor voice!" However, I didn't even finish my sentence as his character is also enveloped in white light. To my surprise, his character's appearance changed, unlike mine, getting light brown hair, pale skin, and a strange rune-like mark on his left shoulder. It didn’t look like an [Elf] or a [Human]. And it didn’t have the animalistic features that the [Beastfolk] and [Feles] had.

"Wow... So that's the Insignis character? It looks very mysterious."

I can agree with the "mysterious" part. It made me wonder how this class fits into this game.

[Are you sure that these are the races you wish to assign to your characters?]

I just tapped [YES] on the window. As I said, I’m going to enjoy the game, so I’m okay with just playing as a normal human being. And I didn’t know why Kazuki chose that race, but I doubt he could change his mind afterward. With that, the window quickly changed to some kind of a character sheet and controller as our characters open their eyes while retaining their emotionless expressions.

[Now, you can now customize your character to your heart's content. You are free to change the skin colors from your assigned races and the gender of your characters. You are also free to change your character's appearance if you purchase the required items within the cash shop. Once you are finished, tap the [NEXT] button to proceed to the next step.]

So they also had cash shops in this game as well. Though I decide it’s best to stay away from them just in case. We didn't want to drain our parents' credit cards after all.

Still, choosing a race was hard enough. But for me choosing our characters' appearance is another story. Kazuki seems to be the only one who is enjoying this as I watch him fiddle around with his character, changing his hairstyle and hair color in the process. I, on the other hand, just stare at my featureless character, confused at what will my appearance in the game will be. I didn’t know if the Greeter can respond to any questions, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Excuse me. Will it be possible for my character to have the same appearance as my own?"

I‘m a little worried that it won't respond to my question. However, it quickly turns around and looks at me with its camera-like eye. [Affirmative. Just tap on the [MIRROR] icon on your creation screen and your character will change into your real-life appearance right now.]

I am surprised at how it answered my question, but it is still helpful than just greeting us. I quickly follow it's instructions as I tap the mentioned icon. Just like that, my character quickly envelops in white light once more. This time, it quickly changed into my reflection.

I’m certainly surprised. From my messy brown hair, my swept ahoge (which Zac calls it because of a certain video game series about school trials), and my green eyes, I’m a little shocked that it managed to capture my exact appearance. Still, my peach skin looked sort of off in this fantasy setting, so I decided to tweak it a little bit by changing it to a tan color. I didn't change anything else, but at least it's enough for my character.

"Hayate, are you done yet? I'm already done with my character!"

That was fast. I am curious once he declared himself finished with customizing his character, so I decided to check on him. Much to my surprise, his character is very different than his current appearance right now. His height remained the same, yet he now had white hair going down until his neck and light blue eyes that somehow matched his race's appearance. Suffice to say, I couldn’t help but be impressed by what he’d done. "Wow... I can't believe how much you customized your character so far. Are you sure you didn't sneak out of the house and play this game before?"

"Wha- NO! Of course not! I just wanted to have a mysterious appearance right after I chose the Insignis race. I just hope it isn't too much."

From my point of view, I doubt it’s too much. Yet, this proves that he reads too many fantasy novels in his free time... "Well, at least it's better than my own. Let’s go to the next phase then." With that, I went back to the creation window and tap the [NEXT] button. This time, the window is now showing a list of what I can guess are classes of some sort.

[To finish creating your characters, you must choose 7 [Masteries] from the list. These will be your skills for you to master during your session and it is highly recommended to choose at least one weapon Mastery. Once you have made your selections tap the [FINISH] icon and you will be changed into your finished characters immediately.]

So, basically, instead of choosing character classes, we could decide on what kind of skills we can use inside the game. Guess the company isn’t kidding with the freeform style of the game it’s promoting. At this point, we had to discuss this very openly. We were playing as a pair and it wouldn't be fair if we didn’t know each other's abilities after all. That and I had no idea what to choose from all of these skills...

"So... What are you planning to pick from the list then?" I asked very sheepishly while I'm still staring at my window.

"Basically [Arcana], [Thunder], [Wind], [Alchemy], [Magecrafting], [Magical Affinity], and [Scribe]. Since I am going with a mysterious race, I figured it would be best if I go with a mystical build like a sorcerer or wizard." Of course, he is going for the most obvious choice for the strange race he picked. Almost made me wish I had the same image as his. "What about you? Did you pick your Masteries yet?"

"U-Um... Well... I might need your help with that..." As I said, my brother is a fantasy geek. So I had to let him help me decide because of the long list of skills. My head hurt just from looking at it! I back away just a few feet for Kazuki to see my window.

"Well, you like going outdoors and we are playing as a pair... So what about this?" Kazuki quickly taps some skills as if he’s playing a mobile game on our iPad. I didn't bother to stop him and ask just, to know what he had planned for my skills. I didn’t want to get another glare from him after all. Eventually, he stops and backs away from my window as he said, "There! It isn't much, but I hope it fits you to a T."

I am curious about what he chose for me, so I approach the screen to see what he picked out for my character.

[Archery]

[Woodcrafting]

[Swordsmanship]

[Cooking]

[Wind]

[Physical Enhancement]

[Hunting]

Okay, these were what I call a strange set of skills. I was still wondering what I can even do with [Wind] and [Physical Enhancement]. "So, what do you think? It might fit with your skills during your biking and hiking days."

I had no idea what to say... I just turn to Kazuki to see him smiling very widely for some odd reason. "It's okay... But you do you know that biking has nothing to do with the fantasy genre." And I doubt riding horses would even count as very similar to it.

"Still, those look very outdoorsy to me. Plus, since I'm doing the magic stuff, at least you can do the physical stuff." Huh... That's true... Still, those other skills might’ve come in handy at a later time. I guessed it would have to do for now. Besides, we could try to respec some skills later on down the road.

"Good point. Guess we better finish up and enter the game then." With Kazuki back in front of his window, both of us tap on the [FINISH] button at the same time. However, we were caught off-guard as we were both envelop by a bright white light, as I shield my eyes from it, which I guess it might change into our characters. When I open my eyes as the lights were gone, the two figures in front of us are gone as I look around in confusion. "W-Was that supposed to happen?" I’m still inside the virtual room, and I look around as I put my gloved hand down.

Wait, gloved hand?!

I quickly look to see that I’m wearing short brown gloves, something that I didn’t wear when we first arrived here. I guess that light must have had something to do with it. When I turn around, my suspicions were confirmed as I saw a mirror that seemed to appear when we finished our characters. My appearance stayed the same other than the tan skin I’d added through the creation process, and my outfit had changed into a simple white shirt with a brown harness around my chest, brown pants, and leather shoes. If the Greeter said we're going to change into the character that we made after that, it isn't kidding. But what about Kazuki's?

"Wow! This is awesome!" I quickly turn around when I heard his voice and a little surprised at his current appearance. He not only had the same white hair and light blue eyes that he made of his character, but he also wore a white coat, blue dress shirt, grey pants, and grey shoes. Compared to me, he managed to snag a much more stylish wardrobe than me. "We look like some fantasy heroes from the novels right now!"

"Y-Yeah... I guess..." To be honest, we look like those characters from the MMO light novels and anime, but I rather not ruin his moment of awe. But before we can forge on, another new window has appeared right in front of me. The greeter didn't say anything about it, but I did guess from the name input and keyboard that we have to type in our name. Though now that it mentioned it, I realize that I haven't thought of it before.

"Name, huh? I already have one in mind!" I look back at my brother once he said this. I’m curious about what he chose, so I approach him with my window now following right in front of me. When I did, I read the name that he typed in: [Kazu]

"Huh? I was expecting that you use the name of one of your favorite characters." The last time he did so was when he played a mage character during a D&D session with my friends. So I’m expecting that he would do the same with this one.

"True... But this is different than Dungeons and Dragons! I am playing as myself and there is no way I'm missing that opportunity just to play with you in the same VRMMO!"

That is true. 'Isekai' was named after a cliche light novel genre and the Japanese word for 'another world'. Just renaming himself into his character's name would ruin the immersion. "Well, since you are planning to use that name, I might as well use this name then," I said as I type my decided name into the input: [Wind]

"'Wind'?"

"Yeah, from my name's meaning. You know, 'Hayate' stands for 'sudden' or 'sound of the wind'." It's the only name I could come up with after I saw his name, but at least it fits since we are playing as a pair.

"I don't understand why, but if that's the name you're going for, then I have no complaints!" At least he’s okay with it. Though, he’s right about my naming problems. "Besides, we should head out right now! The sooner we are finished here, the soon we will enter the game!"

I realized that he’s right. We couldn’t stay for long anyway. Hoping that Kazuki already finished his name, I tapped [ENTER] to approve my name. Afterward, the virtual room began to fade away as we found ourselves enveloped in the white light once more.

[Congratulations on finishing your characters and welcome to the world of [Isekai Online]! We hope you will enjoy your stay!]

I didn’t know what we will expect in the game, but I hoped we might able to have fun at the same time. I closed my eyes to await our arrival in the virtual world.