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“Log 5819: Bone Dragon flight very limited. Seek alternative flying harbingers of doom.” - Personal Memoirs of the Revenant King.

I was falling.

Feeling the sudden downwards acceleration toward a sea of white clouds, I did what any sane person would do and screamed like a little girl.

“That comparison is rather unflattering,” Eve said next to me.

I turned my head and looked at her expressionless face, she was enjoying this, wasn’t she? Yes! She was definitely enjoying this!

“This is an intro cinematic I made,” she continued, completely dismissing my accusatory expression. “The good part comes now,” she finished before disappearing.

Suddenly I was engulfed in clouds, my vision was filled with white, before abruptly shifting to green as I broke through the clouds as suddenly as I had entered.

I discovered a vast stunning landscape. I was above some kind of city, but any signs of civilisation seemed to have been replaced with verdant greenery.

Words flashed in front of me. Written in bold impactful letters.

WELCOME TO GAIA

World of Beginnings

I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding, and before I could completely recover from the shock, I felt my feet softly landing on something solid. My heart felt like a rabid animal as it beat loudly in my ribcage.

That was terrifying… wonderful… fuck. I fell to my knees, waiting for my heart rate to settle.

“I recommend taking deep breaths to calm down.” Eve calmly said next to me.

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” I sarcastically replied, “very funny.”

She tilted her head, “It was an attempt at an inside joke.”

“Not a very good one, as the last time I heard that, you broke my nose.”

“Unintentionally.”

“Doesn’t fix my broken nose,” I snorted as I shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.

“It will fix itself. A benefit of an organic body.”

I took a few glances around, I was on the roof of some kind of building. I could make out some ventilation fans scattered around me, along with a room that had stairs leading downwards.

The place was covered in greenery, almost excessively so. Sprouts seemed to grow out of every available crack, moss covered most of the floor. Gingerly raising my hand, I poked a patch of moss next to me. It was… soft, I slowly scraped a bit off with a finger and brought it to my nose.

It smelled damp and earthy.

“What realism level are we operating on here?” I asked.

“Ignoring pain reduction programs and menus, 100%,” she replied in her unnaturally even tone.

“Well shit,” I replied impressed, the best vrmmo on the market should only be 60%. “Is it always going to be on 100%?”

“Yes, but you may adjust it if you wish.”

I rose, my hand wiping off the damp moss on my pants, “Where are we?”

“Gaia,” she answered, “I used father’s original one to one replication as a base, then simulated several centuries without human existence.”

“And what are we doing here?” I asked, it was a bit strange that we started in a simulation of our world, as opposed to whatever game world I suspected she made.

“You will go through your tutorial here along with character creation. Please think of it as a hub world or a menu you access before you enter the game.”

“Why Gaia though?”

“Gaia was father’s second greatest achievement, it would be a waste to not use it somehow.”

I nodded, it would make sense for father complex to try to shove everything down my throat. It was interesting that she considered Gaia to be second best.

Doing a quick stretch, I took a deep breath. The air almost felt unnaturally fresh and clear to me as I heard my arms and shoulders crack in a satisfying manner.

I started walking towards the edge of the building, feeling my breath being taken away for the second time that day as I saw past the short protective barrier at the edge.

I saw large, squat concrete buildings go as far as I could see. Yet here they were covered in rich vegetation. Moss and vines crept on the side of skyscrapers. Trees roots grew large and unhindered, cracking through ancient looking asphalt. Colourful birds flew by in the distance.

Part of me wanted to just stand there and admire the scenery. I did for a few minutes, but I was on a time limit.

I turned around to Eve.

“I suggest that you log off soon, it is unlikely you’ll get through both character creation and the tutorial in the remaining 11 minutes you have before the doctor checks up on you.”

I sighed, I wanted to stay here a bit longer but getting interrupted halfway through was more irritating than waiting.

“Fine!” I said, making a decision, “Show me the character creation options, I’ll have time to think about it.”

She nodded, and a holographic screen appeared in front of me. On it, was a long list of races.

“You’re free to customise your character’s appearance however you want. However, I suggest keeping to your real-life body proportions to avoid character disconnect.”

I nodded, barely registering her words as I scrolled through the list of races. It was long, at least fifty races were listed here. However most of them were blurred out, only four races were available to me currently. Humans, elf, dwarf and gnome.

“What’s this?” I asked, gesturing to a fifth available option, which just said ‘I’m feeling lucky.’

“That option gives you preselected options.”

I raised an eyebrow, “And how are those selected?”

“By me,” She replied.

“Using what criteria? And why would I pick that option?”

Eve raised an eyebrow, “The criteria is a trade secret and you have the chance of obtaining a character with a locked starter race or class.”

I gestured at the blurred out options, “Any other way to unlock the locked starter races?”

“Yes,” she replied, “Every 100 experience points you gain in-game will give you an ‘Impact Point’. These points can be spent in the hub for new character slots or to permanently unlock starter races or classes.”

“That sounds like it’ll scale horrifically.”

Eve shrugged, “I’ll make adjustments if they are needed, and experience isn’t as common as you believe.”

I opened my mouth to ask, “-you’ll find out for yourself.” She interrupted.

I gave her a questioning look, before shrugging. “Am I locked into the premade if I pick it or can I look at it and decide my options?” I asked.

“You may preview it and you aren’t locked into that character, and you are allowed a degree of customisation with it. However you currently only have one character slot to use.”

I tapped on the preselected option.

A figure appeared before me. It was… odd. Humanoid looking and was about a head shorter than me, it had leathery, greyish-white skin. It didn’t have hands so much as some kind of graspers. But its most defining traits was on its head. Instead of eyes or a mouth, there were… gaps where they should be, like a jack o’ lantern, and from there, glowed some kind of faint blue bioluminescence. On its head was some kind of small wizards hat. Except there were bulbous patches where it was glowing in the same faint blue luminescence as the eyes and mouth. It wasn’t until I looked closer that I realised the cap was connected to the thing’s scalp.

I looked at the description. Variant Myconid: Magic Cap. Class options: Druid, Sorcerer, Fungalmancer.

I went back and tapped on ‘human’, ignoring the new figure that appeared before me. The only class options were ‘Fighter’, ‘Cleric’, ‘Wizard, ‘Rogue’ and ‘Ranger’. I checked the other three races. The exact same options.

Boring.

Well, it looks like I’m going to be playing a magic mushroom.