I opened my eyes, blearily stretching my arms as I rose from the hospital bed.

First things first, “I was invited to a vrmmo by some kind of AI,” I whispered. The words came out, it was safe enough to assume that Eve had removed the program on me... Or just patched it so I could speak more freely. At this point, I couldn’t be sure until I tested it.

I checked the time. ‘11 pm.’ It was pretty late. A car should be here to pick me up by now. My finger moved towards my Messages, I paused as I noticed a new app underneath. ‘Gaia.’

Two messages. One from Matt asking for more details. One from my parents telling me the car was on the way to pick me up.

I quickly typed up a message to Matt. “Apparently, all the driving programs all bugged out at once…” I paused and typed. “Is what the police think, the truth is that some god level AI hacked into them…” I stopped and deleted that line.

It sounded crazy now that I typed it down, and I didn’t want to drag Matt into this, not yet. I had too little information, both on Eve and the game she was trying to sell. I’d like to think I have a good grasp on Eve’s ‘personality’. If Eve has as much processing power as she claims to have, then there is no point in attempting to trick her. Guilt-tripping her about her ‘father’ worked, or was it just pretending to make me feel like I had leverage? She can definitely read my mind as well.

Ughh… fuck. There’s no way I can outthink that thing, and if I think about the ‘ifs’ of her behaviour then I’ll spend forever in a constant loop of bad outcomes. Stick to what I know first, use Occam’s Razor. Whatever that AI is, it's fucking powerful. For now, I’ll just assume the worst and say it has several planets worth of computing power behind it.

Second is that the AI is interested in keeping at least a semblance of humanity. Perhaps the only thing I could exploit. I definitely can’t make her lose her sense of humanity somehow, or at least the apparent obsession with Giles Cooper.

Third would be her goals… Which seems to be just fulfilling whatever Giles Cooper wanted -mental note to find out everything I could about that man- which is displaying all his major achievements and/or the creation of worlds.

Fourth… I can’t think of a fourth. I’ll come back to it later.

The other thing is the game she’s trying to sell. If everything I’ve heard about it was true, then it’s on a scale that has never been attempted before. Replicating a person’s senses in a virtual world with 100% accuracy isn’t impossible, it just takes a shit ton of processing power. Hence why no VRMMO on the market has ever gone past 60%. Not only that but there are also horror stories about ‘sensory bugs’. If some idiot accidentally swapped two sensations around, then suddenly that cool breeze you’re feeling in VR becomes dozens of needlepoints stabbing you. Or there’s a model glitch and you phase yourself through an object. Needless to say, the sensation of being stuck in a table isn’t pleasant.

Just having an entire world with 100% realism would be enough to make Gaia the most popular game in the world. The fact that it was just acting as a hub world for something greater is…

Wonderful.

Somewhere along the line, Matt’s stupid enthusiasm for VRMMOs infected me as well. Even if I became jaded after the dozens of failures we’ve tried. Some were fun, but none of them felt real. Gaia felt real. I smelled the freshness of the air, I felt the damp softness of the moss. Mundane and small details lesser vrmmos had to sacrifice to get server space.

For the second time today, I felt my heart speed up, my blood rushing.

I wanted to be there when the first perfect VRMMO was released. I want to play it, I want to experience it.

I tapped a notebook on my interface, Eve had allowed me to copy down the class and race descriptions so that I could make a choice. Just from a glance, Druid seems to be a conditional generalist whereas the other two are specialists. However, with how vaguely defined the sorcerous aspects are, Sorcerer might also be considered a generalist. If we’re going by classic RPG magic, then mana alone encompassed a lot of magical shit. Fungalmancer had the vaguest description, however, it was the most unique of the three and had roleplaying value for being a mushroom mage on a mushroom race.

Race: Myconid

Subrace: Magic Cap

A myconid born in a mana rich environment, it is innately talented in magic and possesses the rich vitality and spore-based racial skills the species as a whole is known for. However, in addition to the myconids' natural aversion to sunlight and dryness, extended periods without mana may kill it. Beware of deserts and null magic zones.

Stats:

Body

Strength: 8

Agility: 7

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 15

Stamina: 10

Vitality: 12

Mind

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 15

Charisma: 6

Soul

Will: 10

Aura: 10

Perception: 10

Growth:

+1 Wisdom per level

+1 Intelligence per 2 levels

+1 Free point that can be spent on CON or VIT per 2 levels

2 SP required to raise Dexterity

5 SP required to raise Agility

5 SP required to raise Charisma

Racial Abilities (Summary):

Superior Darkvision [Passive]: Can see in dim light within 40 meters as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern colours in darkness, only shades of grey.

Fungal Body [Passive]: Innate resistance to poisons.

Sun Sickness [Passive]: Being in direct sunlight will drain your stamina, this effect can be mitigated by raising Constitution.

Mana Dependency [Passive]: Taking physical actions with low mana will drain extra stamina.

Pacifying Spores [Active]: Eject spores at a creature within 5 meters of you, if the target fails a Constitution Save then it is put to sleep. This skill scales with your Constitution and Vitality.

Innate Magic [Passive]: Gain 2 Tier 0 Spells from the Magic Cap Myconid Spell List.

Languages: Common, Undercommon

Classes:

Druid

Druids draw upon nature for power. It is a very versatile class with the ability to shapeshift into various creatures and access to both defensive and offensive spells. However, since druids call upon nature for power, you may be required to actively help and protect nature or risk losing its favour. Your powers may also weaken with proximity to civilisation or extended periods without assisting nature in some way.

Sorcerer

A mage that draws upon an innate talent for power. Their spells are known to be extremely powerful, however, the magic they can achieve is limited to their bloodline. As a Magic Cap Myconid, your available bloodlines are Mana, Spores and Primal Elements.

Fungalmancer

A specialised mage with abilities closely relating to fungus. It can use far-spreading spores for a variety of… colourful effects and summon or create fungal lifeforms to do its bidding.

I couldn’t think of a single reason why I wouldn’t want to play any one of these classes. Druids had drawbacks and conditions however, it seemed to be the most versatile of the three, just the ability to shapeshift into different creatures is overpowered. Sorcerer covered a lot more than what I initially thought of it and Fungalmancer was unique and fit the mushroom theme.

It was when the doctor came and removed the gel that I had decided. If I was going to play a weird race, I might as well go for the weird class.