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Monday, October 13th, 2031

"This is it!" Mahn Li muttered.

He was holding the first-generation VR rig in his hands. It looked very sleek for its time, but still much bulkier and more awkward than the version he was used to.

Shrugging, he checked all the connections and slipped on the VR headgear. A slight hum was heard when the device powered up and scanned his irises.

Then the world melted away. Mahn Li felt weightless like his whole body was in a void. Not even the pull of gravity was felt. Smiling, he welcomed the familiar sensation.

The darkness around him was then replaced by an empty room, with a notification screen accompanied by a soothing voice.

〔--- NOTIFICATION ---〕

〔--- Welcome to the Epoch of Liberty ---〕

〔--- Character roster is empty. Please create a new character ---〕

〔--- Please select a race ---〕

Without sparing a glance at the dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, etc, Mahn Li immediately made his choice.

"Human."

While this race had no distinct advantage over the other races - as part of the game balance - it was his favorite race to play. The human race had a slight hidden bonus to learning speed. In addition, their physical proportions were (understandably) similar to his own, allowing him to move around intuitively. Races with shorter legs or longer arms would always take some time to get used to. That was why most of the fast-paced close combat characters were humans.

〔--- Please select a class ---〕

A list containing possible characters was displayed. He entered "Crimson Mage" into the search box and selected the result.

" You are an apprentice to a veteran Crimson Mage, master of destructive magic. Years spent on dingy basements copying spell scrolls and acting as a lab rat to your mentor has affected you physically. However, your mental state has become significantly stronger. "

" Attribute adjustment: -4 Str, -3 Con; +4 Int, + 3 Wil "

" Bonus Mana Regeneration "

" Other bonuses (hidden) "

〔--- Please select a background ---〕

A long list of backgrounds divided into a few dozen pages was shown in front of Mahn Li.

* Abandoned in the woods 〈 Show details ▼ 〉

* Abandoned on the mountains 〈 Show details ▼ 〉

* …

Here was where the customizability aspect of the game came into play. Besides two dozen races and fifty classes, the game offered hundreds of character backgrounds and hundreds of traits.

Backgrounds represented the character's childhood and upbringing. They had a wide variety of effects. The most basic ones were some bonuses or penalties to stats or the addition of some skills. In addition, a character's background influenced how the game world interacts with them, and some could even unlock hidden quest chains.

The mix of races, classes, backgrounds, and traits resulted in a staggering number of combinations available to the players right off the bat. This was enough to make many players spend hours, if not days, trying to find their "ideal" character.

Later on, as subclasses and additional perks were revealed, the diversity would become even more pronounced. Each character could grow into a unique being, unlike any other.

At least, that was in theory. In practice, people tended to min-max their characters, favoring either magic, ranged combat, melee combat, or some combinations with production classes. In about ten years, the game would grow to revolve around a thousand builds that rose and fell in popularity over time, depending on the meta-game.

Mahn Li picked the background 「Raised in a circus.」

" As an infant, you were found by a member of a traveling circus. You spent the first 10 years of your life in a harsh environment. You dabbled in a bit of everything: knife throwing, juggling, cleaning the lion's cage... under constant abuse by the circus master. "

" Inadequate living conditions have affected your health somewhat. On the other hand, the years spent throwing knives, dodging knives thrown at you, and surviving lions' attacks have honed your dexterity and reflexes. You have also learned to charm the crowd with your performances and become more charismatic. "

" Attribute adjustment: +2 Awa, +2 Cor, +1 Cha, -1 Con "

" Bonus points to weapon mastery: Throwing Knives "

" Other bonuses (hidden) "

Besides the listed bonuses, he would also have better luck when dealing with animals, as well as several other boons.

〔--- Please select two traits ---〕

The list of traits was even longer than backgrounds.

Mahn Li quickly picked two traits he had previously decided on: 「Animal Whisperer」 and 「In tune with nature」

「Animal Whisperer」 was a hidden condition for a number of quests. It also stacked with 「Raised in a circus」 and improved his chances when dealing with certain creatures.

Despite the silly name, 「In tune with nature」 was a quite powerful trait, . It provided a wide range of advantages when trying to survive in the wild. In addition, it also allowed the user to see the flow of Mana in certain areas and boosted Mana regeneration (both of which are hidden effects).

〔--- Please adjust your starting attributes ---〕

Two windows were displayed in front of Mahn Li. One showed his base attributes.

〕 ===〘 Primary attributes 〙

|> Strength: 06 (+/-)

|> Awareness: 12 (+/-)

|> Coordination: 12 (+/-)

|> Intelligence: 14 (+/-)

|> Willpower: 13 (+/-)

|> Constitution: 06 (+/-)

|> Charisma: 11 (+/-)

*** Free attribute points: 10

Note:

- Crimson Mage class: -4 Str, -3 Con; +4 Int, + 3 Wil

- Circus background: +2 Awa, +2 Cor, +1 Cha, -1 Con

All starting characters began with 10 in all attributes. After that, race, class, background and traits were factored in.

Mahn Li's race (human) and traits did not affect his attributes. Only his class and background did.

The second window shows the derived attributes.

〕 ===〘 Secondary attributes 〙

|> Health Points: 90/90 (+ 0.45/s) (CONx10 + STRx5)

|> Stamina Points: 120/120 (+ 0.6/s) (CONx10 + CORx5)

|> Mana Points: 205/205 (+ 2.05/s) (INTx10+WILx5)

|> Capacity: 42 kg (STRx5+CONx2)

Mahn Li adjusted his primary attributes. He reduced Strength by 1 point and put most of the free points into Intelligence to drive up his Mana pool and regeneration. He also invested some points into Awareness and Constitution.

After glancing at his stats, he hit Confirm.

〔--- Please customize your appearance ---〕

Epoch of Liberty offered a few different choices when it came to creating a character.

With the first option, Players could select from a collection of faces and body types then fine-tune if necessary.

The second option was to use one's own appearance as a base and modify it from there.

The third was to start from scratch.

Mahn Li did not want to bother with this step, so he selected the second option. Immediately, a character modeled after him was created. Standing in front of Mahn Li was a young man about 175cm tall, gangly and pale. He had unruly short black hair and stood slightly hunched over.

If it was before, Mahn Li would "normalize" his avatar to give it the stereotypical action hero stature with bulging muscles and six-pack abs. This time, for some reason, he found the quirky character more amusing.

The game did not forbid people from using their own appearances for their avatar. While many players enjoyed this, it would lead to plenty of problems when people were harassed in real life because of what they did in the game or vice versa. Pausing for a moment, Mahn Li decided to change his face.

Fiddling around with the controls, he adjusted the face to be older and leaner, and, on a whim, added a scar over the left eye. The result looked like a cross between a hobo and a pirate.

Eyeing his avatar once again, he nodded.

〔--- Please select a name ---〕

Mahn Li almost said "Ghost Blade" but stopped himself.

'Hah! It seems I'm more attached to the past than I thought.' He smiled wryly.

He realized he never thought about what to call his character. After scratching his head for a bit, he shrugged and enters "Manco the Face Wrecker". An arrogant and childish name, but he could always change it later, so it did not bother him much.

〔--- Please review your choices---〕

〕 ===〘 Character Info 〙=== 〔

〕 ===〘 General 〙

|> Name: Manco the Face Wrecker

|> Class: Crimson Mage

|> Level: 1 (0.00%)

〕 ===〘 Pri. attributes 〙

|> Strength: 5

|> Awareness: 15

|> Coordination: 12

|> Intelligence: 20

|> Willpower: 13

|> Constitution: 8

|> Charisma: 11

〕 ===〘 Sec. attributes 〙

|> HP: 105/105 (+ 0.525/s)

|> SP: 140/140 (+ 0.7/s)

|> MP: 265/265 (+ 2.65/s)

〕 ===〘 Traits 〙

|> Animal Whisperer

|> In tune with nature

〕 ===〘 Perks 〙

| None

〕 ===〘 Titles 〙

|> None

Mahn Li carefully perused his choices. Satisfied that he left nothing out, he nodded.

"Confirm character creation!"