The display clears.

.:The next stage is selecting your people. This looks to be the last stage before you are sent to the simulation.:.

"How will that work, with the delay?" I asked.

.:You won't notice the delay at all, different simulations run at different relative speeds, and competitive simulations are always run at the highest speed. For your time skip your consciousness simply won't be simulated at all. A week at the competitive simulation time will be about an hour at our current simulation speed, and we are being half-hosted by the competitive simulation while we are setting up.:.

"Why is there such a large time compression, and what is the rest of...?" I trailed off, not knowing what to call the collection of entities out there.

.:The rest of the network, which is how the digital entities communicate with each other. There is such a large time compression because then the interesting parts of the different perspectives of the simulation can be strung together to make a coherent story. There is no need to show the boring parts if it is simulated fast enough to cut them. As to what relative time the rest of the network is running at, between entities it is agreed in the communication handshake. On average it is about a thousand times slower than competitive simulations.:.

Everyone on a single network, being simulated at different speeds... Sounds complicated.

"How many people are connected to the network?" I asked.

.:The number of unique entities is numbered in the quintillions. It is a big universe, and sentient civilisations all eventually figure out faster-than-light communication and join the network, as far as we know.

We should move on to picking your people. You can filter the groups by any criteria you want, and can limit the number of people in the group. The simulation should manipulate an event to happen when you are entered into it to split your group off. The way it usually works is that something will happen, or have been happening, that will place you in a position of leadership for the group.:.

I should probably pick a group based upon their combat effectiveness, as mine with my powers seems to be low. And the scenario is based on an angry god, so maybe people who aren't religious?

"How many groups, of any size, with no duplicate members, if we limit it to mostly non-religious people?" I asked.

.:Removing any group that follows a god. 600 groups, average size of groups is 30 people, with a maximum of 100 and a minimum of 1.:.

"I can choose a group of just one person?" I asked.

.:You can, but it is quite a disadvantage with your minimum victory condition, if your single person dies then you have lost the scenario. A single person also isn't likely to have the variety of skills you will need to survive the end of the world. With a larger group you only need one of them to survive the end of the world, and you will be better equipped to defend yourself.:.

The setup phase appears to be trying to balance the Champions before the simulation starts, so I'm sure having a single person would have some balancing factor to compensate, it would almost have to be a stronger individual. Maybe that is even how I could get my starting delay reduced or removed. Putting that aside, I think I want to try to be as defensive as possible.

"How many groups with a maximum size of 1 that are also defensive focused?" I asked. "Area defences, preferably, and not personal combat."

.:There are 6 groups that match those criteria, 10 if you include combat defenders. I would still recommend a larger group, as the benefits are obvious. Displaying the 6 matching groups.:.

The display splits into 6 areas, each one showing a person with their background. I am confident in my reasoning for a single person. Looking over the profiles, one of them stands out. Not in any obvious way, but I feel as though I should pick this person without even looking at the others.

Chantelle Warder, height 160cm, age 22 years old. There was a hologram showing her attractive hourglass figure, waist length brown hair, pale skin, and startlingly bright green eyes. But it wasn't the physical that was pulling me towards her. I couldn't explain it. Her profile said that she was the heir to the Warder clan, who specialise in various warding spells, enchantments, and physical warding effects. If you wanted to protect an area from teleportations, siege spells, or interference from gods, you needed a Warder. It read a little bit like an advertisement for the Warder clan.

Chantelle being the heir would make her a strong warder with access to all of their wards. That I was so strongly attracted to her was a little worrying though.

"Interface, I seem to be irrationally focused on Chantelle Warder, to the exclusion of the other candidates, what is causing that?" I asked.

.:Give me a minute.:.

I went back to studying Chantelle's face... It was almost like I knew her.

.:It should not be possible.:.

"What was that?" I asked.

.:One of the administrators of the competitive simulation must be influencing things. Someone else is taking an active hand in this setup. It is the only way it would be possible for her to be here, and for you to choose her out of all of the possible choices.:.

Interface was muttering into my mind.

"Interface, what is it? Who is she?" I asked.

.:She was a consciousness, a person, from your last simulation that you ascended from, also the first you'd ever been in. She died and should have been randomly reassigned to another simulation that was starting up. It is a vanishingly remote chance that she would even be in this simulation, let alone the possibility for you to pick her out as the focus of your goal. You don't remember her, and she can't remember you. I don't know what whoever is doing this is doing, or how they even managed to do it.:.

I thought on that while Interface continued to mutter.

"Does it matter?" I asked. "Will it hurt my chances of winning the simulation?"

.:No, if anything it helps you. And I'm sure it will get you followers, anyone who has seen the recording of your past life will be interested in how the two of you manage. It was a long time ago, though, and took forever to progress. We will have to get people to rewatch it, which shouldn't be too difficult, First Ascendancy stories are always popular.:.

I followed the first half of that... But if it isn't going to hurt, then that is good enough for me.

"I'll be choosing Chantelle Warder as my person who will be surviving the end of the world." I said, and it felt right.

.:Right. Locked in. Oh, you got a hidden power for choosing a single person when you should have chosen a group.:.

The display cleared and a single line of text appeared.

Power 6: Chosen Person Sense You instinctively know in what direction and how far away your chosen person is. Your chosen person has a weaker form of this power.

That sounds very useful, we won't be able to get lost from each other.

"Okay, that should be it? Start the simulation?" I asked.

.:Not quite. I forgot you have to set up an avatar.:.

I hadn't even considered what I looked like.

"How do I do that?" I asked.

.:Just focus on how you would like to appear, your avatar from here will transfer over to the competitive simulation. You may want to make a set of mirrors to be able to see yourself.:.

I stood up and moved away from my chair. Standing in a clear area I focused on creating standing mirrors surrounding me. I looked... Odd. And definitely male. I hadn't even noticed before that I wasn't wearing any clothing. Other than that I looked like a not very realistic manikin, the only detailed part was my anatomically correct maleness.

Focusing first on my facial features I made myself less plastic and bald. Brown hair falling to below my shoulders. Similar facial structure to Chantelle, but different enough to not be related, and match her skin tone as well. Squarer jaw. Where her eyes were a neon green, I went for neon blue. A short brown beard covering my lower face. Moving on to the rest of my physique I gave myself a martial artist muscle tone and conditioning, and put my height at 190cm. My male member I left alone entirely. If that is what I instinctively gave myself, that is how I will leave it.

Looking myself over in the mirror I looked.. Human. Which was an improvement over manikin me, so I'll take it.

"I think I'm done." I said.

.:You may want to make some clothing for yourself. You do not have anything to be ashamed of, but civilised people wear clothing in each other's company, plus it is going to be winter in the competitive simulation.:.

Right. Clothes. I didn't have any memories of any clothing in particular, and the image of Chantelle was wearing a dress, so I went with a thick robe in a light grey colour.

"Now I'm done?" I said.

.:I would mention underwear, but I am sure you will be able to get some. You should be starting in a village, if these variables are correct. Confirm you are ready and I will transfer you to the simulation.:.

"I'm ready." I said.

.:Initiating transfer. Good luck.:.

Everything started fading to black, which was much nicer than suddenly being aware somewhere else.

As everything went black I heard, fading away .:Error in transfer? How can there be an error in the transfer...:.

Everything snapped back into focus. I was hip deep in snow with my robe pushed up to my waist. It was very very cold. I should have created underwear.