Noah Collins, a 20 year old young man, 175 in height with a lean build and short brown hair and glasses over his navy blue eyes, sat on the sofa watching the current program while pumped. The Vice president of Virtual Works Malcolm Brim was going to appear. Noah has idolized Malcolm for a long time hearing from his dad how great he was.

Next to him was his father, Noland Collins, a man of 48 years with brown hair that was started to turn white, with a somewhat large build and a large gut of a man of age. His face had lots of wrinkles showing off his age. This man is an expert dark gamer in his day but has since retired from pro gaming and makes money by teaching the younger generation the works of Virtual Reality gaming.

Yep, VR exists and has for over 20 years already since the rise of the game Second Life from the esteemed company Virtual Works. Noland was a close friend in and out of the game to the current Vice President who they were currently watching on the show.

The host was recapping the success of the first game and showing images of the grand Draconian Magis Puppeteer that created the strongest magical puppets and ruled as the puppet master.

From there he showed the dozens of successful games from other companies that came with the rise of Virtual Works leading game. Now their new game was going to be released and they were going to bring Malcolm Brim himself to talk about the game.

“Now then let’s call a good friend of this show who we all know and has been quite familiar with this stage, Malcolm Brim!” The host says making the live crowd cheer.

A man in a tux comes out; he looks like he is in his mid-forties, has black, with a spot of grey, hair, an average build and has an air of noble gentleman.

“Good afternoon everyone!” He says comes out waving and then shakes the hand of the host.

“Good to see you again, it’s been years since you came here, I think it was before you officially started working at Virtual Works and was playing your father’s game and threatening that insane class.” The host says sitting down with Malcolm.

“Haha yes those were great times but I think we should leave those for another time?!” He says pushing that aside.

“Yes let’s first talk about the new game, so tell us a few details about the new game from Virtual Works titled “The Nebula”

“Ok. Well, first off the game is obviously more in a futuristic period, no magic this time! What we have this time is something we call Psi which is a resource for Psionic abilities. Now the universe is set around 500 to 1000 years in the future and is possibly the largest game in history because it actually takes the real universe into perspective.” He says as he starts explaining.

“So you’re saying that it’s the real universe we will play in?” The host asked curiously.

“Yes, but the realism will lower as we get further from earth, since we don’t know exactly how it is on those planets, the correct distance between each solar system and at best we can only pinpoint the suns’ location from here and let the AI do the rest. This game will feature many races but we will be able to play only with the most humanoid ones, anything to outward isn’t playable because of the diet and different mentality may cause real life problems.” Malcolm says.

“I’m sure it’s been on everyone’s mind but how or where do we start the game?”

“The game has three factions that we can join at the start, the Holy Terran Federation, the Galactic Dominion and the Liberation.

The Liberation is a neutral faction for those who want don’t want to be tied down by centralized government; they are kind of like renegades, they don’t actually have a central government and are more like a collection of several hundred to thousand powerful groups that don’t want to be part of the other two factions. The ideology of this faction is freedom of oppression and commerce. They fight to stay free and live their own way.

The Dominion is a union of Human and other races that want total domination of the galaxy, the ideology they possess is that power rules over all other which is why they believe themselves the strongest and want total control. While they may seem ruthless and brutal, they are surprisingly fair should one prove themselves worthy.

Next is the Holy Terran Federation, which is a religious faction made up of many races of the galaxy that believe in the same faith. They are the oldest faction being the one that has the capital in the game’s version of Earth in the Sol system. Though they are a religious faction they have massive military strength which keeps the other two factions at bay should battles break out. They believe in having a higher meaning by spreading their teachings to all other world and saving the other groups from ignorance.

Players begin in mining stations within the boundaries of the union they choose.” Malcolm said.

“Why mining stations, is it safer?” The host inquired

“No, actually it’s more dangerous there than normal because they don’t have the strong battle ships but this is the best place to train capable fighters. Players start as mechanics and other jobs and work together or alone to rise in the game. This brings us to the job systems. At the start of the game you can choose from a few sets of skills such as mechanic skills or fighter skills, please remember that they are skills not jobs. It’s very possible that you get skills you can’t use due to lack of real life skills.” Malcolm says in a serious tone.

“Similar to someone getting a pilot skill to pilot a ship and not having the coordination to do so.” the host asked as an example.

“Exactly, you can get a job like pirate which is a combat job and still have mechanic skills.”

“So jobs aren’t everything in the game?” The host asked.

“Exactly, similar to real life jobs are like a position, since this game is made with modern ideas in mind, unless you’re doing things solo you will get a job which is similar to military ranking or a job found in the sidelines.” Malcolm said.

“Ok, now about the game ships that players might get at the start, does everyone gets one or only certain players?”

“No, everyone can gets one, that said the cheapest ships they get at the start is an old rusty mining ship with one weapon slot and three equipment slots, one of those already has the mining drill and other one has a basic storage, they have no weapons at the start. It is possible to work as a contract miner which is simply someone that pilots a ship owned by the station owner. The player doesn’t own the ship but only uses it to mine a quota for the station.” Malcolm said.

“So is this is a dog eat dog game?” The host asked.

“Very much so, as such we have placed the obvious restriction of 18+ since children would not be able to pilot a spaceship or do many of the complex things you do in space unlike in other medieval fantasy setting games where it’s easy to censor things to a child. PvP is a large part of the game and it’s one of the reasons why the mining station zones are really dangerous since both players and NPC bandits fly around ready to kill you for what you have and what you don’t.” Malcolm said.

“One last question before we go, it’s about the mining, is this to give players something to do or a way to test players?” the host asked

Malcolm smiles and thinks for a few moments.

“Both, we put it like this to see how good someone is and if they can figure out the ins and outs of the game. The game has two forms of mining, space and planetary. The best and smartest are the space miners since they need to know how to move in space.” He says.

“Well, with that we are out of time, thank you for coming here and speaking to us about the new game. Remember everyone, The Nebula goes live in one month, pre orders packages can already be purchased but there is a limited number of pre orders available so call fast!” With that the segment for this was over and Malcolm waved and left.

“OH MAN!! This game is going to be awesome!” Noah shouted after hearing about the game.

“Well we still have a month to go before the game goes live so we have plenty of time since we already have our copies.” Noah’s dad, Noland said.

Noah’s father, being friend of Malcolm, had been able to preorder a few of the first copies of The Nebula through Malcolm and was planning to play with his son or at least start out with his son.

The father son pair kept watching as the show showed some previews of the capital planets for the three main factions.

“Alright, let’s not get overconfident son, let’s go for our daily sessions. I think after 8 the server for the game will go online and we can access the character creation and tutorial section of the game. It’s better we both do this since space holds many unknowns for us.

Noah nodded and gets up.

Due to Noland’s experience with VR he has made sure to teach his son the ideology where “VR is basicly reality in a virtual world. Real life skills work in them and will give you an edge.” Because of this the elder who looked to be getting fat had a strong heavy build of condensed strong muscles underneath since he has been training for over 20 years making him an experienced martial artist and a very skilled man in many thing because these 20 years were spent at least half the time in virtual reality. Most VR games only use a 1:4 time distortion which mean the 20 years he spent was actually 40 to 60 years depending on the time spent in game.

The two leave and go spend the day exercising. Because Noland was extremely well off for his expert teaching job in the works of Virtual reality Noah didn’t really need a job and mostly focused in martial arts and sometimes VR games that were allowed to him when he was younger. That didn’t meant he shrugged off school but that was also now done through VR except PE.

When the two return it was already 7 pm and they each go to take a bath and were out much later.

They each go cook, competing to see who has better skills which ultimately ends with Noland winning. If you are wonder Noland is a single dad. His wife had left him when noah was around 2 years old. Left is kind of an understatement, it was more of abandoned them both after she was able to steal a huge sum of money from Noland. It had caused some difficulty for a few months but due to connections with friends Noland quickly got up again and it was around that time he retired from a dark gamer and became a VR tutor which gave even more money than dark gamers who relied on auctioning items which after a while lose value.

“Dad, I’m going to go do the tutorial and character creation.” Noah said to his father.

“Sure thing and do it properly and don’t skim through it.” Noland says.

Noah runs to his room and finds the large capsule which was a large oval machine with an opening like a door on the side that leads to a seat inside that has the machines to transfer into the game.

He picks up the game box for the disk that contains “The Nebula” and inserts it into the capsule before entering and sitting.

Greetings Noah Collins! Which program would you like to choose from.

A female voice asked. Next second a screen appeared in front of him.

Second LifeZ Day SurvivalFallout: Earth’s DownfallSoldier's Life: WarfrontThe NebulaVirtual MallVirtual Community Hall

“The Nebula” Noah says and feels the falling sensation that came with the immersion into the VR systems.

Scans of your brainwave and iris show that you are a new player.

Do you want to activate your account?

“Yes!” He says almost shouting.

A sudden flash of light blinds him and when Noah opens his eyes he finds himself in a white room and a window as in front of him.

Time until game begins 30:1:56:42Would you like to do the character creation now or later?

“Now.” He said.

At his words several models appeared looking like a different race.

Current races availableTerriansThe most average race in the galaxy, previously known as humans before entering space. With a high capability for adapting humans can living in most environment given time and resource to secure their safety. They can learn at a quicker pace due to their natural creativeness and are capable of learning how to use the technology of other races.

Racial Trait: Environment adaptability (passive)

Weakness: No weakness but no resistanceElfA mysterious race of psychic humanoids that look almost like humans but with more refined looks. Their body naturally creates and stores an energy they have called Psi and through intermingling with other intergalactic races, has taught them how to create this within their own bodies but it’s not natural like it is to their own bodies.

Racial Trait: Innate Psi production (passive), Natural Psionic Manipulation (bonus to psi power skills by 10% and resistance to Psi)

Weakness: Weak to physical attacksDwarfA race of Elves that live in high gravity planets. Their stature is shorter than other races but their physical proficiency (strength) is nearly 3 times higher and their ability to build machinery is top class. They are born tinkers and mechanics because to survive in the high gravity planets they naturally appear from they make large mechanical suits to aid them. They spend a huge amount of time underground and have naturally formed a kind of night vision that is further enhanced by their suits that are all tailored to each dwarf. All dwarf and half dwarf has at least one no matter how crappy it is of it it;s needed at all.

Racial Trait: Night Vision (passive), Natural Mechanic and tinker race (bonus to all craft and production skills by 10%)

Weakness: No resistance to Psionic Attacks.OgreA race of Variant of Elves that are large muscular humanoids. They are extremely powerful in terms of physical proficiency (strength) and are some of the best mercenaries and guards. Their strength is mostly physical but when outfitted with tank class shields and armor this race can make a normal tank look like a toy as their physical proficiency later on can easily allow them to lift tons of weight without needing power armor unlike other races.

Racial Trait: Berserkers Instincts (The more injured and the longer they fight the more powerful they fight), Natural warrior (bonus to all combat skills by 10%)

Weakness: Gear gets damaged faster, Low mental attack resistance.AndroidA machine race with a human appearance. These were originally supposed to serve the other races but they were occupied by intelligent AI and they became a race of their own. Their level of sentience is to the same degree as the other races. The android body actually acts as a cage for the AI and once one enters an android body they can’t escape the cage of the body. The body must be upgraded to make it stronger but because they are machines their mental capabilities can’t be compared to organic beings.

Racial Traits: Photographic Memory, Innate programmers (starts with some knowledge in computing skills)

Weakness: No natural Health regenerationToskA race of Reptilian humanoids, these are reptile men are from several dozen to thousand kinds of reptilian species all adapted to a different environment. Tosk are simple minded, bold and honorable warrior race. In space they are typically freelance mercenary that prefer to live and survive by day and live for the challenge as a warrior. Some less aggressive Tosk tend to also possess more complex thinking than the simple minded warrior types but these are rare and far in between but these do take up the basic jobs like craft and leadership jobs.

Racial Trait: Natural Armor, Cold Blooded (resistant to heat)

Weakness: Weak to Ice and cold attacks or environmentsHalf breedA mix of two race. The half breed shares features of both species but to a lesser degree.

Racial Trait: Depends on parent races

Weakness: Depends on parent races.

“Oh! Nice selection! Let’s see… Fantasy races in a future setting but three of them seem to be descendants of the same ancestor. Coming from elves simply shows that elves were the ones to go into space and the other two appeared after that.” Noah muttered.

Going in order, Terrian’s are humans, that is obvious enough. No need to explain that since it’s simply a copy of the player.

Elves are pale skinned beings that range from 170-220 cm tall and are thin bodies. Their facial features are refined and very beautiful race both males and females.

Dwarves are short and stumpy standing between 100-150 cm, 150 is a rare height for dwarves and anything taller is a half dwarves. They normally have a large beard and bulky muscles.

Ogre’s look similar to Elves and possess a refined look but in a different manner. They stand between 200-250 cm and are muscular and possess a refined warrior feel to them which is different from the refined noble look elves have.

Androids look like humans in every sense and you will only be able to tell otherwise by looking into their eyes which is mechanical or wait until use some form of hidden weapon from inside their body.

Tosk are like lizardmen. They have a range of species of reptiles to choose from as well as degrees between how humanoid they can be. It goes from almost demi human, human features with some animal features like scales, eye, tail, to beastman, reptile on two legs. It is an interesting race to play around with the selection because some reptiles give different natural skills depending on the species but the major weakness always stays the same.

Lastly half breed is just as the name suggests. Choosing two races and mixing them to get a lesser degree of each race.

After looking through them all Noah had his choice.

“I’ll go with Dwarf!” He said.

The other models disappeared and only the model of him as a dwarf appeared.

You are free to customize your character.

“Sweet! Now then, make it a dwarfs max height.” He says first.

The 110 cm model stretched to 150 cm tall. The stumpy legs and arms also stretch up but also build more muscle and still look stumpy because of this.

“Reduce muscle mass by 10%.” He says.

The bulging muscles start to decrease and stops and calling it again and again he goes and reduces 40% of the muscle mass before the dwarf went from ball of muscle to a kind of short muscle builder person and looked proportion with muscle and body size.

“Good! Now then reduce the beard size to 5 cm long.” Noah said.

The beard that was down to the waist rapidly reduced and left a short beard. This included the mustache which had been long and braided but now as as short as the beard.

“Now reduce the wrinkles and make a more youthful face and change the potato nose to a normal one.” He said

The normally ugly wrinkled face reduced and showed a youthful appearance. As the wrinkles vanish the large swollen nose also shrinks and becomes more proportant. The previous ugly dwarf now had a rugged look with the burnt tan skin below.

Nodding satisfied Noah ended the character customization only to have something new pop up.

Character customization is complete. Please customize the look of the beginner Dwarven utility suit!

Next to the Dwarf a suit of armor appeared. It covers the whole body.

“Wha! What is this!?” He asked.

This is the dwarves beginner armor. Similar to the dwarf, all other races will get their own racial type armor, weapon or tool. This is a bound item that will never be lost so as to make sure a player that loses everything isn’t without at least some equipment.[tr]

It made sense to Noah the exclamation. The armor itself looked light. With a tight fit tailored to the dwarf model there was an inner armor and some chest plate, shoulder guards, arm guards, boots, knee guards and leg guards. It had a belt with some pouches on the back and on the left arm was a keyboard probably for a built in pc. On the back was a box like backpack attached where it wouldn’t obstruct movement.

The color scheme was pure white and there was no helmet.

Well since it was more for looks at this point i made the color scheme more towards camo.

It looked really cool and i had the AI put it on the dwarf. Because the dwarf was 150 and the muscle mass wasn’t as bulky he looked nearly human if not for the pointy tan colored ears in the middle of the messy hair that i had shortened.

“Okay done. Come to think about it, what does the armor do and what comes attached to it.

[tr]Beginner Dwarven Armor comes with built in basic computer and coms module. On the back is a portable tool box with basic tools for repairs and tools for crafting basic items.

On the right arm armguard is a hidden low caliber rifle for self defense.

“So very basic of the basic stuff. Still i get starting tools for mechanics stuff, that’s cool. Well since i am done this part let’s move on.” Noah says.

Please which faction you will support and the location you wish to begin.

A map appears showing the info that the Official site had released. It was a massive map with three colors showing the three separate factions and their territory. Because i didn’t want to be bossed around by either of the “good” and “bad” factions i choose the neutral one, The Liberation.

The map zooms in showing only the several thousands of stars under their control.

The brightest red glowing star was the capital star where the HQ was. Noah can’t begin there and has to go to a mining station further away.

Besides the bright red capital star there were a few thousand ones that were red and further even closer to the borders were blue, green and white stars.

Mining solar systems are colored in Blue and you can choose from those. Green colored stars are systems that can become a mining system or colonization system. White stars are unexplored systems and can have anything from planets to bandit hideouts.

“So only blue ones huh. Still this is rather nice. So many to select from. Let’s see what we have here” Noah muttered.

He looked a from planet to planet. Each of them had a different level of development in the planets of the system and different materials to harvest. After a hour of searching the solar system Noah chose was called Kelha. The planet was Kelha II which was the a developing mining planet with a large asteroid field making it a hotspot for both planetside mining and space mining.

The system had 4 other planets and 2 gas giants, one with 3 moons and the other with 2. Two planets besides Kelha II already have developed planetside mining cities and are being terraformed for after the resources deplete the planet’s can be sold to planet development companies so that they become colony planets.

Kelha II was in early stages of development and didn’t have a dense atmosphere but it did have one but it was comparable to mar’s making the planet extremely cold on the surface.

You have chosen Kelha II station in the Orthion Sector under The Liberation?

“Yes!” Noah said.

Please choose your character name.

Noah: Noah. “My name isn’t that common so it will work for a character name”

Please choose your set of skills you will start with.

Note: you will not be given a job just skills.Mechanic Skill SetFighter Skill SetTechnician Skill SetPilot Skill SetWeapon Maintenance

Weapon Repair

Scrap Weapon CreationLaser Weapon Mastery,

Missile Weapon Mastery,

Sword MasteryProgrammer,

Weapon PlannerSmall Ship Piloting Skill,

Evasive maneuver Mastery, G-force resistance

“Basic but it seems like a good beginner skill set. Not to broken and well balanced giving just basic skills.” Noah muttered. “I’ll go with the Mechanic Skill set since i benefit most with my race.” He said.

Skill set chosen!Character creation complete!Time until game begins 30:1:23:42

Would you like to do the Tutorial?

“Wow! I really took a long time. With all the things it still took hours to finish!” Noah said. “Since i have so much time i will do the tutorial later.” Noah said and from there was about to leave before asking.

“What is a dwarfs stating stats?”

StatusName:NoahFaction:LiberationBounty:0Fame:0Health:530HP Regeneration:0.22Psi:135Psi Regeneration0.05Level:1Extra Stat Points:0Physical Proficiency:20Resilience:12Dexterity:15Agility:7Mentality:5Willpower:5Charisma:10Leadership:10

“So much physical proficiency!” Noah shouts.

Dwarves were born when Elves moved to several high gravity planets. To survive they naturally built stronger muscles and denser bones to handle the high gravity. They have the highest physical proficiency and dexterity but they have the lowest Intelligence and wisdom in starting state which affects their Psi capacity and regeneration

“Ah that seems reasonable since they have weakness against Psi based attacks. Well, I’ll be going!” Noah said and exited the capsule and runs to his father to tell him where he would start and what race and how he looked.

His father had been waiting so he could start himself.

“Good, go eat and take a piss before you go do the tutorial. Spend a good time until you are accustom to the systems and can do it without getting hurt.” Noland says and goes to his room.

Noah did as he says and goes eat some and to the bathroom before jumping back into his capsule.

“Now for the tutorial!” He shouted.

(changed Strength for Physical Proficiency, Vitality to Resilience, Intelligence to Mentality and wisdom to Willpower. Why Because it seems more Sci-fi like)