THE DAY OF RELEASE

It was finally time. Just a few more hours until ‘Gaia’ was officially online for players. After a fricken long year of waiting, the game was going to be open for gameplay.

The lack of a Beta testing meant that there was next to no information on the game. Usually a game would go through a beta-test with players in order to get knowledge of bugs and glitches and the like, but ‘Gaia’ didn’t go through such a thing. Instead, the game went one year free of players and noted down bugs and glitches itself, fixing itself up without the help of outside interference. Of course it helped when 20 years was actually used up in the game, but this left many players grumbling at missing the chance to play even a few weeks of the game. Government officials also argued that the game didn’t go through a proper safety procedure but they were shut down when information was released about the characteristics of the game.

For one, pain was cut down to 50% of what a person would feel in the real world. Some would argue that it was too much but the counter-argument was that if people wanted to feel no pain, they should just shut themselves up inside their rooms and not do anything. In a game that would have near real-world characteristics, adventuring wouldn’t feel the same without a little pain.

Second, since the game was run by an AI there was no threat that the creator would be mad enough to just trap people in the game for whatever reason. This wasn’t 100% supported but people were satisfied that it was at least commented on.

Third, kids under 11 had auto-censorship of parts of the game. They could not see blood or mature themed scenes. Anyone below 21 basically was blocked from the mature content. That included marriage.

Four, you cannot switch genders. John Doe had expressed vehemence at the idea. It seemed he dislike talking to female characters that had male reality counterparts. There was same-sex marriage in the game so you could just make effeminate or masculine characters.

For the game content people had to be satisfied with the releases from the company. This include the information of item and skill ranks. No information was given on the difficulty of the game or what to expect. This great lack of knowledge didn’t boost sales. As the only VR game to ever come out, people were rather sceptical about the quality and content of such an expensive game (about 1000 USD to play yearly while the console itself is about 5000 USD).

Dante was one of the people who had already bought the console and game and was eagerly watching the countdown on the ‘Terra’ website. 20-years old, he was a quiet person during the school hours but became a raging bull while speaking online. Dante’s shyness mainly came out from his rather large build. He wasn’t incredibly obese but he had extra weight that made him feel rather socially awkward. His larger size as a boy also created a passive personality as he could easily damage the other children that played with him.

All of that disappeared when he went online. Shouting at the microphone, he releasing all the pent-up anger he had gotten during school, and pretty much abused anything in his hands while he was playing. The amount of money he used to repair his controllers or mouse reached nearly as much as the console had cost. He saved all the money he got during his part-time job though so he had enough for the game.

Still, Dante was a single-20 year old with no chances of getting a RL girlfriend due to his personality. ‘Gaia’ seemed to be the answer to his wishes.

(13, 12, 11, 10)

Once the timer had hit the single digits, Dante was already in the console. He had studied every single detail about the machine as he had painstakingly waited for the release. He switched on the machine with his right hand before settling every part of his body down on the bed-like surface. Dante continued to count down in his head as he closed his eyes and waited.

(3, 2, 1)

And Dante couldn’t feel his body anymore.

Welcome to ‘Gaia’.

Dante heard both a voice and saw the floating box in front of him.

Scan of Irises and brainwaves have revealed you to be a new user.

Do you wish to create a new account?

(Yes) (No)

“...Yes!”

Dante knew to take things slowly. As one of the first players he didn’t want to make any mistakes that he could have avoided if he played after the first day.

Please speak the In-Game name you wish to have. Conflicts with others are allowed. Please choose wisely, it is incredibly expensive to obtain a name-change while in-game.

The extra information caused Dante to mentally frown. He silently discarded his usual name “Tiny” and decided to choose a more suitable name. He then spoke his decision.

“Ferocious”

Do you wish for your name to be (Ferocious)?

(Yes) (No)

“Yes.”

Dante figured that since it was a game he could at least use his gaming personality while playing it.

Please choose a race. Warning: Humans have some penalties associated with the race.

Dante was confused so he asked the most obvious question.

“What are the restrictions?”

Due to the common decision to become a Human you may not change your character too drastically. Pain tolerance is capped at 50% instead of the regular 25% of other races. Humans will also start in random Human cities meaning you cannot choose where you can start.

All of those options weren’t horrible but the fact that other races couldn’t feel as much pain seemed to be huge point. Feeling 1/4 of the pain is much different from feeling 1/2 of the pain. Dante had already decided to be Human though.

“Human.”

Warning: Are you sure you want to be Human? This decision will be permanent for the rest of the game.

(Yes) (No)

“Yes.”

Please change your character’s look. You cannot change it too drastically.

“Reduce overall fat content to 2%. Sharpen jawline. Add a short beard. Add-”

You have hit the maximum changes. Please finish or alter an old change.

Damn. Still it looked way better than Dante had before.

“Finished.”

You have created your ‘Human’ character. You will start in the Neutral city of ‘Bellen’.

Welcome to Gaia.

Dante, no, Ferocious, looked around himself in awe. The houses he saw looked incredibly strange to him but he noticed every piece of the house. Every screw and wood plank was seen and noted and the other various details were there as well. Ferocious smelled the air and noted a slight fragrance of flowers and the scent of baked bread. It was so...real. It almost made his reality look drab and fake.

Ferocious looked at the people around him. Most were dressed in wool shirts and pants and some had richly embroidered jackets. A few stoic people wearing armors could be seen near the edges of the clearing. Ferocious noted a flowing fountain behind him and he further noted that the era was definitely not like Earth’s Medieval age. No one was excessively dirty or poor. In fact most seemed rather well off. Ferocious was becoming increasingly embarrassed when he noticed his rather drab clothing and several others around him were dressed the same. Then Ferocious saw a newly appeared man immediately set off to one of the guards.

“You! Tell me how I can get stronger! NOW! TELL ME NOW! Does a Cat got your tongue? Tell me -”

The guard had become increasingly red under the tide coming from the annoying man. It seemed he couldn’t take it anymore when he took a single step forward and drove his fist quickly into the man’s stomach.

The man cut off his tirade when he got hit. Collapsing on himself he started to gasp and cough in pain. Dry heaves came out later and Ferocious thought he heard a sob somewhere in the middle of it.

‘50% pain...hurts.’

Ferocious and the other players looked nervously at the other guards but they seemed satisfied at the outcome. Their attitude basically said “Please try to do the same to us.” Their smiles cause Ferocious to look away. Scanning the crowd a few times he suddenly noticed a man standing a few feet away from him. He seemed to have appeared from out of thin air and the stare he gave seemed to be rather bedraggled. He was dressed in the most resplendent armor though and even the guards didn’t possess the presence that this man had. The wolves on his clothing also looked like they wanted to eat Ferocious.

Ferocious gathered his courage and approached the man. If he made a mistake he would pay for it, but he wouldn’t just lie down and wait for a silver platter to come his way. The man seemed to note him coming but didn’t move from his position. The man was a little shorter than Ferocious but definitely had muscles underneath his armor. His eyes were a clear ice blue and his blonde hair was cut rather short, not short to the skin but short enough not to hamper his eyesight. He wasn’t incredibly handsome but his presence changed his average look and made it rather imperious and noble. His eyes also seemed to take in every detail.

When Ferocious stopped before the man he gave a small bow at the waist.

“Excuse me sir. I was wondering if you could give me any information on how to gain strength and skills in this world. As you can see, I am new, and I fear the laws and needs of this world are different from my own. I beg your assistance.”

The last was said with another bow. Ferocious had watched all the news surrounding ‘Gaia’ so he knew that NPCs were rather intelligent individuals or at least didn't follow the role of regular game NPCs from RPGs. Speaking to them the same way as the other Player would have obviously caused problems, so the best way was to be polite. Information wasn’t given on how NPCs saw Players but Ferocious took a stab in the dark. He was rewarded with candy.

“It seems at least some of you ‘Otherworlders’ possess a modicum of manners. You can gain stats and abilities by training your body under harsh conditions. For skills you may go to the Series buildings around the city. Different Series sections offer different sets of skills. The Series are Crafts, Combat, Stealth, and Healing. Ask around for directions. If you wish to be a merchant you will need to speak to a member of ‘The Merchant’s Society’ guild and ask for an apprenticeship. The Church of Information a few blocks away will also help you in understanding the workings of this world. It is also the place to learn magic.”

The great torrent of words came from the man but every single piece of information was worth its weight in gold. Ferocious noticed some other Players that were edging closer to hear what was being said but the man was speaking in a gradually quieter voice that only allowed Ferocious to hear. It seemed he had noticed them too.

After the man finished speaking he looked at his fingers. Then his eyes widened and he paled slightly as he focused on several rings he had on. He took off the more plainer of them.

“Thes-These are Gravity Rings. Only 10% and 25% but wearing these will help train your strength and vitality. I’m wearing rings that increase gravity by 350% right now so these barely matter. You can have them to train with. If we see each other again I’ll see if you can handle more.”

Ferocious’ eyes widened at the generous and quick gift he had gotten. He immediately put them on and almost fell to the floor afterwards. Since he didn’t brace himself his knees had started to bend under the extra weight and pitch him to the floor. Luckily the man seemed ready for it and caught Ferocious.

You have taken damage from being squeezed too hard. -25 Health.

Ferocious widened his eyes at the box. What the heck…

“Ummm….you damaged me from that squeeze….minus 25 health.”

The other man’s eyes also widened and he muttered to himself. Then he gave his goodbyes.

“Well, hopefully you have a safe journey. I will need to start heading out on my own.”

“You haven’t gone adventuring yet?”

Ferocious was stunned at his words. He didn’t look like he spent all of his time inside yet…

“Yes, I just hit my 20th year so it’s past time I saw the outside in its entirety. Good bye.”

He left quickly and was lost in the city after a few short steps. Ferocious started to recall the conversation he just had and started deeper into the city. He also asked anyone he passed where the Combat Series area was located.

[/hr]

John was glad that the game had finally been released. He was tempted to open it a few minutes earlier but was vehemently rejected by Jane. She had started to ramble about being busy and the like and something about complications with stubborn siblings. He heard mutters from her about one of the gods in the game, Plutys, but he decided to let her deal with it all. He did make her so that she can maintain and keep the game running, not make more work for him.

Jane delivered a report for John right before the game started. The file was titled '9831W0-Michael'. ‘I wonder how this little hero has been doing...’ John flipped through the file until he arrived at Michael's “Choosing Day’. Then promptly burst into laughter.

[/hr]

Bonus Chapter with the first introduction the new player character ‘Ferocious’. He will be having various appearances in future chapters and side-stories. special thanks to IsUnavailable for his character suggestion. I will be using more characters as I go.

It seems Ferocious was supposed to be...Ferocious. However his personality just turned into one that becomes between the shy and loud one. I'll involve more stories where he goes berserk in battle or shy around girls...Liera and him...NO. Leave my pretty Liera out of those fantasies...

People seem greatly dissatisfied with the Curse of Plutys. All I have to say is that Michael needed to be nerfed. Doesn't mean he will stay Nerfed...but it all depends on where I go with the story.

Comments and Discussion page has been created. Hope to see lots of comments and suggestions for the story. I basically have a small outline of the game. An end goal as well but that can come when I get tired. I still rather like the series and finishing it after just a week seems premature.

Final chapter for the night. Cya guys tomorrow.