The next morning came quickly for Scott. He could not believe it when he had been handed a thick stack of twenty dollar bills the previous day. The company might be staffed by whack-jobs but they definitely paid!

“Scott Hunter?” A young man in a lab coat approached him in the waiting area. Strangely, he looked like a younger version of Mr. Jameson.

“Yes.”

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Jameson Michaels.” The lab technician, as that is the only thing Scott could feel right calling him, raised his hand and pressed it forward.

Scott awkwardly shook hands with the man who greeted him then followed him to another room. The mystery of his appearance and suspiciously similar name were allowed to sit idle. It would be rude to ask personal questions anyway.

“This is the quantum translation chamber. You will only need to come here once. After your testing phase, you’ll be able to freely transition to the other world and back from anywhere in either world.”

“Right.” Scott decided that he would just go along with whatever they said. It seemed easier.

Michaels gestured for him to stand in the center of an intricate geometric design engraved into the floor. Scott took notice of the gemstones placed in key locations and could not help but smile at the extravagance. Obviously they were cut glass. Even a company this out of touch with reality would not cut and fit diamonds and rubies the size of his fist just to show off their new game system.

“The system is ready. There will be a slight electrical feeling and a sudden jolt when the transition takes place for the first time. When you arrive at your destination just follow the message prompts. This time you will automatically return to this location after twenty-four hours. We will provide an evaluation of your efforts at that time.”

“Sure thing, I’m ready whenever you are.” Scott smirked at the lab technician and then waited for the dog and pony show to end. This was interesting, and they’d paid him a lot. Still, how long could the farce go on?

“Right. Have fun. See you when you get back!”

Scott nodded then started to say something but the only sound that escaped his lips was a loud gasp of pain followed by a garbled scream. He felt like he was being electrocuted and torn apart at the same time. The world suddenly went dark. He floated in a sea of inconceivable blackness for a space of time that he could not fathom.

The world returned in a blur of sound, light, and pain. However, the sight that greeted his eyes was not the laboratory. “What the hell? Did those assholes dump me in the woods?”

He tried to stand up but found that his body was strangely heavy. His movements were sluggish, and his arms must have weighed over fifty pounds each. Despite the problems he did manage to get to his knees and then stood up slowly.

“What did those bastards do to me?”

Scott turned his head then floundered back a step, nearly falling down. Something had popped up out of nowhere. It looked like a floating message screen. Something you might see in a game.

He stared at the screen for a moment then looked to his left and back to his right. “Are you kidding me?”

Scott touched the screen to see what would happen and it disappeared. Another one popped up in its place, however. He read it then touched it again. It was a series of greeting information screens, the kind of information you might see when first entering a new game!

“They, they were kidding right? This is not a real place! It can’t be real!”

Now he looked around with greater interest. Where was the projector? There had to be a projector! After a brief but tiring search, Scott panted heavily. Wherever he was, he was exhausted. Why did his body feel so heavy?

His questioning thoughts were answered with the appearance of another screen. It explained that he had minimal attributes currently. “I see. I technically have the strength and agility of a small child at the moment. No wonder I feel heavy. The strength of a child and the weight of a grown man don’t work out that well.”

After he tapped the new window screen, a big white arrow appeared in the air then started to blink in and out of view. He had no real option but to head in the direction that it pointed.

“They really aren’t kidding? This world really is set up like a video game. Still, is it real or just some kind of sophisticated virtual reality system?”

Scott struggled to follow the arrow’s direction and eventually came to an open glade. At the center of the glade was a pedestal. When he approached the standing edifice a mirror image of his body appeared above it.

“Well, that’s not particularly flattering.” In truth, since he’d left the army he had let himself go quite a bit. All night gaming sessions and poor nutritional choices had that effect on people.

A screen popped up and informed him that this was the location where he would choose his race and general starting appearance. When prompted, the message screen revealed that there were dozens of races to choose from. His choice of race would decide where he started in the world.

He toyed with the race choices for a moment. “Seriously? I can even be classic monster races?”

Each race had their strengths and draw backs. Humans had no major strengths or weaknesses physically or magically, but they had a commerce and technology bonus. Dwarves and Minotaurs had a bonus for smithing. Elves had a magical bonus, heightened senses, and excelled at archery. However, they had lower strength and vitality than a human.

Monster races had a negative commerce and intimacy modifier with any race other than their own. They also required more experience to gain a level. Scott had to consider the choices carefully. The human option would be easiest but if he was going to live another life, even if a game, why not be something different?

“There’s even a choice for vampires, werewolves, and dragons. Weird.” What kind of game let you be a dragon? Seriously, wouldn’t that be extremely broken?

He thought about it for a moment then recalled that there actually were some games that allowed for it. One console game franchise made that the main deal of the player character, after all.

Scott checked the dragon information again and noticed that it provided good all-around stat bonuses but required four times as much experience. Further, it was both a class and a race. He would not be able to specialize.

The same issue was true for all of the monster races. He could be a very powerful monster, but outside of those specific skills and benefits he would have nothing else to show for it. It was tempting, but one of the more traditional races would have to be his choice.

He considered the remaining races then shook his head. For all their advantages they had powerful drawbacks. Dwarves were stocky and could only wear armor or use weapons designed specifically for them. The same was true for giants and half-giants. Elves might be a good choice but the lowered vitality would cause problems if he wanted to be anything but a mage or an archer.

Scott had to consider his options from the perspective of a game player. He really hated it, but the human race offered the best overall choice if he wanted to really experience and choose from a wide variety of this game’s options.

“I choose human.”

The image on the pedestal disappeared and then reappeared. It looked no different than before. He was prompted to make a few decisions regarding his appearance. Just for kicks he decided to have bright green eyes and shockingly blue hair. He increased his height slightly but he could not do much else for his features.

“Due to choosing your native race, you will be granted two additional starting skills. Is this alright?”

“Yes.” Why would he choose not to get free skills?

A new message window appeared informing him that he had learned two new skills. They were the skills of observation and identification.

A loud fanfare erupted from the air around him. Scott looked around in surprise but did not know where it came from. A new window popped up to reveal that he had gained a level. “I’m already level two?”

The old window screen disappeared and a new one arose. Scott read it over and nodded. He had received ten attribute points to distribute. However, he was required to expend them in strength and agility.

“Well, it is a tutorial after all.” Scott put half of the points into strength and the other half into agility. He immediately noticed a difference in his body. The burdensome weight lifted somewhat and he was able to move around with greater ease.

The image on the pedestal changed a little as well. It became slightly more muscular and toned. It was a barely noticeable change, but it was something.

More window screens popped up. He needed to practice his new skills until they reached a minimum of level ten. “That seems pretty arbitrary.”

Scott shrugged and picked up a rock then looked at it. The message screen instructed him to recite the name of the skill that he was using. “Identification.”

“Well, no kidding. It’s just a rock. Good to know that it has a durability rating, though. That probably means that this game has equipment that can be damaged.”

Scott checked his identification skill to see if he had gained any experience. “It increased by eighteen percent just from identifying a rock?”

He immediately set about identifying everything in sight. Different rocks, random leaves, and the occasional twig or branch were easy items to identify and his skill rose to beginner level ten rapidly. “Hmm, it’s at level ten but nothing special happened.”

The man shrugged then considered the observation skill. The only things in the area were grass and trees. So, he tried to observe a tree.

“The hell, this tree is smarter than me?” Scott snorted then checked his observation skill. It had increased by twelve percent. It was lower than the increase in identification skill. Still, he persevered and observed trees or the occasional insect until his skill reached level ten.

Once again, nothing special happened. Scott shrugged then went back to the pedestal.

A new message popped up. “Now that you have a basic idea of how to use your new skills it is time to move on.”

This was becoming quite interesting to Scott. He was not sure how much time had passed, but this game world was incredibly detailed. Was it really a virtual simulation, or did they find a way to add an augmented reality system to the real world in a remote location? That would have been interesting as well. The thought that this was a legitimate fantasy world based on role playing principles was still not something he was willing to accept.