Prologue - Polaris Dark

Welcome to Ascendancy, Izayoi Miyuki! This is where legends start and unfold, nurtured and developed. Ascendancy is where anything is possible as long as you are curious and inquisitive!

Yes, this is the game that appeared from no where, taking out all opposing game corporations as well as other entertainment enterprises. It caused a major hit sensation within the gaming community, cinema businesses, and other non-entertainment sectors. Ascendancy, not the first nor the most expensive Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (VRMMORPG), had something that other games of the genre and category did not have: Free Reign.

Some games had you chose a class at the beginning, others reduced your options to choose abilities by strictly limiting the choices for each class. Ascendancy, on the other hand,. could be summed up with three words: it did not.

To put it simply, Ascendancy is a fantasy, open-world RPG (Role Playing Game) that does not follow mainstream ideology. Instead, you dive into the game headfirst with nothing but some basic support. With no profession, class or starter skills, you make your way to the top from the very bottom. You acquire a profession (class) in game while traveling around the world, completing quests and exploring dungeons. The harder you work to find a good profession, the better chance you'll actually get something worthwhile.

This game is so complex that it broke the world record for realism and diversity within the first three days of gaming. Given that all the VRMMORPG use the same kind of technology, the RE Dive Capsule really puts the rest of the games to shame.

My name is Aida, your character creation guide! I am here to help you start your adventure, to help you begin creating your own legend!

Real Emotion Inc. developed this game as well as the Full-Dive Capsule for over ten years, making it one of the longest games to be developed in the history of entertainment and gaming. This greatly interested the rest of the world and when it was finally released, the storm of people buying was stifling... ...no, that's not the correct word. It was pure, hell, murder. So many people in Asia bought the game it ran out of copies in a day or two, prompting more and more development and production just to satisfy the supply and demand. Soon after, the rest of the world got in on the action and sales skyrocketed so fast, it broke the record of the highest sales increase within a month of the release.

Since then, a lot of girls and women started getting interested due to the complexity of the system and that it was not just a single play style; not all about fighting, not all about romance, not all about mystery and the rest of the genres. It was a virtual reality made for diversity, not limiting the game to combat but other forms of advancement.

I was not one of the people who bought the game early on. Actually, I was "forcefully" given the dive capsule and game. Strangely, the serial number of the RE Full Dive Capsule I received is the same as the Real Emotion Inc. CEO Kisaragi Sakumo's birth date. I dismissed this as a coincidence but left it inside my memory as an afterthought.

My classmates, Nonomiya Kaori and Yamato Shizuka, are avid VR gamers that were also lucky beta testers for this game. These two gamer girls are actually a part of the top five hundred players in the world rankings, going by the in game names of "xDreamFairyx" for Kaori, and "GrandSylphie" for Yamato Shizuka. The two of them holds the world ranking of 325 and 324 respectively, making them famous and well known throughout the world.

Please note that gender changing is impossible due to the studies that show negative and/or undesirable effects on the mind when a player chooses the gender opposite to their own for prolonged times

It was a school thing really; the institution we are taught at is prestigious for its technological development research as well as traditional arts of Japan. Due to some unfathomable reason, all three of my instructors wanted to teach their classes in the game and had paid for all processing fees and game purchase for the students of their classes. Maybe it's something to do with being able to use magic to teach quantum physics to create light shows as examples. Maybe it's the ability to do live practice of gutting fish and cooking dishes without actually using real materials since the game mimics even the difficulty of making real food. Although the time to make the food is reduced, it is still much the same as reality.

Well then, here I am creating my very first character in a game just for to attend class. I do not have many classes this term, with only three courses that run every week for a single day, I guess I'll actually be bored enough to play something like this. Well, it's still the holidays right now so I guess I'll play around for a while and get use to this VR world. From what I have heard and seen on the game forums, I noted that all of the players hated three particular professions.

Turns out, they hated those professions enough to warn new players not to pick those them if they come across them. Those "hated" professions are the alchemist, the summoner and the spirit healer. There were several people who tried becoming one of these professions before and they all ended up deleting their character after a while and restarting their progress.

According to the analysis done by experienced players, it is too difficult level up the alchemist and the reagents often cost way too much to be efficient moneymakers. The alchemist just takes up too much money buying and creating potions that do not even heal enough or recover enough mana. Even the stores that sell basic supplies have potions that recover more than user-made alchemy potions.

Summoners are able to summon monsters and creatures that help their summoner before disappearing after the summoner is finished with what he or she wants to do. However, the problem arises here is that the summoned monsters and creatures are only a fraction the strength of the summoner and this leads the the problem of battle strength when the creature dies (de-summoned) and leaves the summoner defenseless. And then the summoner soon follows their summons to the grave.

The spirit healer took the worst hit out of the three "useless" professions. It seems to be a rather weak variation of the priest and healer classes; their healing spells and support magic do not have nearly as much effect than the two mentioned support classes and most of the spells they use require too much mana (or MP) to be efficient. This makes them have a harder time finding parties due to the priests and healers taking the spots as efficient and good support characters.

Let's begin your character creation, shall we?

Every time the message window appears in this blank character creation space, a rather mature female voice is heard as well, relaying out the message.

Well, let's see what we have here then...

"Alright, I'm ready to begin Aida-san"

Perfect, let's start with your preferred name for your character

"Yukiara"

Confirmed. Now, please choose your desired race for your character. There are hundreds of races and subtypes in the world of Ascendancy. At the moment, however, there are only a certain amount of starter races to pick from. Here is the list of races and the basic models of each race for you to chose from. Strange enough, no one seems to have gotten the chance of discovering new races even now, so there are only four available.

Four models of each available race appear in front of me, allowing me to look at each race's physical attributes so that I can pick what I like best. The models are all female as I am a girl, which does not allow me to change genders to male in game. So only the default starter races are available right now. This makes wonder what the players are doing in Ascendancy, not even discovering and unlocking a new race in the past year the game was released.

While browsing through the figures, I rotate the models around and look at each with a critical eye. Stopping at the human female with long red hair and sparkling green eyes, I ask Aida, the character creation AI, a question.

"Please tell me the specific advantages and disadvantages of each available race. Include the physical appearance attributes as well."

Yes, even physical appearance has an effect in the game. Especially when there is the mature content that is unlocked if you wished for it to once you are in the age of majority. In 2027, Japan had changed the age of majority again, moving up by one year so that it reaches 19. It was changed from 20 to 18 in the summer of 2015, but apparently, there was some conflict afterwards and so the government compromised, putting the age of majority in the middle.

Alright. We will start with the Human race first as you should be familiar with them. Humans are average in physical stature and capabilities, their mental aptitude also average. Basically, humans are the all-around race, capable of doing anything but unable to master their abilities without great difficulty. The true strength of the human race is that they can even learn abilities that may be exclusive to other races. The only limitation is that they cannot achieve the same level of expertise as the ability is not native to them.

Humans have a bonus affinity to element fire, being the very first race who discovered natural fire and get bonus stat points every five levels. The majority of humans are, however, slightly disadvantaged against the element dark. Not counting the ones who have fallen to the darkness of evil, there are very few who are able to resist darkness, much less control and use it.

The model of the red-haired human female, wearing brown leather armor, boots and pants, unsheathed a sword from the left side with her right hand and spun once before slashing out, posing for a moment before returning the sword to it sheath before going back to her resting stance. I then turn to the female elf model. The elf was gorgeous, with her very long blonde hair trailing down to her waist, hands on her hips while smiling forward. Her sapphire blue eyes makes her look regal and determined to take on the world.

That model is the Lana Elf, the most common of the Elven race and one of the basic starting races that you can choose to start as. These elves are more attuned to nature and the environment, giving them a boost in magical expertise and mental capability. They are quick, strong and flexible, capable of performing physical and magical feats that humans on the same level can never match. If you match the average human with the average Lana Elf, the elf will surely win if the equipment and supplies for both are the same. The Lana Elves are natural at using body enhancement magic, allowing them to further increase their abilities to match against powerful enemies without being disadvantaged.

They have bonuses to elements water, earth and wind but are rather weak against fire and lightning. Their biggest elemental weakness is darkness: even a moderate dark elemental attack can cause severe harm to the Lana Elves. Because the body of the elves naturally use magic, if their supply of mana (MP) gets low, they'll weaken both magically and physically, making them a liability in long periods of combat.

The blonde haired Lana Elf model takes out a wooden bow from behind her back and notches an arrow from her quiver that is also strapped to her back. The elf wears forest green battle gear with brown boots, making her look even more natural in a forest setting. She pulls back the bow and shoots the arrow upwards before replacing the bow back behind her and return to the resting stance. The arrow fired disappears a moment later.

Walking over to the short, slightly pudgy female model, it is clear that this is the model that represents the dwarven race. I note the dark brown hair that is tied into two braids, hanging freely down the sides of the model's face as well as the sharp, slightly squinting brown eyes that seem to make the grin on the dwarven model's face look like she is smiling deviously.

"Hm... I would like to skip over the Dwarven race since I'm pretty sure I know what they're strengths and weaknesses are. However, the two races that you've explained to me already have differences that are quite unique to this game. I will listen and read about the dwarves anyways to double-check."

But of course Izayoi-san. I pretty sure you know that the Dwarves are a short but well muscled race that are famous for many crafting professions, especially with metal and rare materials found underground. Basically, the dwarves are what they look like; physically powerful, steadfast and rather brash. They have lower mental capabilities and are terrible at magic. However, they are also fairly resistant to magic, no matter what type it is.

The dwarves have an affinity bonus to fire while weak to the element water. They have even higher affinity bonuses to element earth, but are rather averse to wind and light. Although the element light does not affect them too much, they simply dislike the brightness of it and can become distracted by light elemental attacks.

The uniqueness of the Dwarven race is their innovative abilities in terms of metalworks as well as being able craft items that receive bonuses when enchanted with magic. Unlike the Lana Elves and the Humans, the dwarves do not have any innate abilities that sets them apart, making them rely on their innovative creations to balance the races.

The brown-haired dwarven model brings up the large warhammer she is holding and lets out a deep, but feminine yell, swinging it with a mighty blow and then slamming the head on top the ground, creating a booming sound. The female dwarf model gets back into her resting stance, the shining silver plate-mail, leggings, greaves and gauntlets she is wearing clinking and clanking as the pieces hit each other slightly.

I nod speculatively and finally turn to the last model that is quite similar to the humans.. The last race model is definitely a physical-type race with all that muscle and that large stature. This model is tall, muscular and very intimidating, with a mess of dark brown hair that hangs near the middle of the back and stormy grey eyes set on a face that was frowning slightly, this is definitely the one unique game races known as the Karok, a race of humanoids that are by average taller and built larger than the rest of the races.

The last model represents the Karok, a humanoid race of largely-built "humans" that separated from the "humans" a long time ago. Unlike the rest of the races, the Karok has no aptitude for magic at all and have not much innovating ideas for creating things. They're similar to the Orcs but are not as battle loving as those grey-skinned counterpart in this game. The Karok's strength and agility far exceeds the other races but are rather clumsy when fighting one-on-one. The Karok excel when fighting against multiple enemies, wielding huge spears and staves to knock out the enemy.

The Karok cannot use magic but have no weakness against magic as well, making them the most "balanced" in terms of magical defense. They do tend to have some affinity bonuses with the elements earth and water without having any weakness in elements. Other than that, the Karok do not have any unique traits that sets them apart from the other races. With their massive strength and agility though, they do not really need one to beat out the other races in a contest of power.

The Karok woman, wearing a heavy grey breastplate that does not cover the stomach area, armored short pants and metal greaves of the same dark grey color, slammed the character creation floor with a huge and heavy iron battle staff three times without changing her expression and then returned to the resting stance.

Thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of the races I decided to make a request to see if something else was possible.

"Aida-san, is it possible to request for a race pick that includes a few of the locked races?"

Oh ho~ Finally! I cannot believe that no one asked about this before you did. Apparently, they were all too eager to try to become the best in this world and did not even bother with thinking outside the box.

Well, Izayoi-san, normally I would not allow for another choice, but since it seems your RE Full-Dive Capsule serial number is "strangely" the same as the company CEO's birth date, I will allow a random picker to run through the entire list of races in this world and when the picker stops, you can choose that stopped race or go back to pick one of the four starter races. Is that fine with you?

The female voice that speaks out sounds a bit amused when she speaks of the "strange" coincidence of the serial number.

I thought for a short moment and then nodded.

"As long as there is a chance for something else, then that is fine."

Alright, let's start the random picker!

A light square appears on the floor behind myself and shuffle through a huge variety of female race models before slowing down after a moment of quick changing. As the picker slowed down, I noted a lot of demi-humans in the picker and even a draconian before the picker comes to a stop at a small, slender humanoid female with mysterious long white hair, a couple of bangs framing her small, perfect face. Her beautiful red eyes shine with an understanding light, mirroring my own pair of blue eyes. This female model was human enough, if not for the furry ears on top of her head and most interestingly, nine white tails swaying behind her to and fro in an hypnotizing manner. The model is wearing a sort of extravagant Japanese shrine maiden uniform.

Already drawn in to the bewitching eyes of this race's model, I ask about this mysterious looking nine-tailed fox girl.

...Well what do you know? It seems you've just drawn a race with the model that only allows one person to have it... it is an exclusive race. This, Izayoi-san, is originally a human that has been possessed by the Nine-Tailed Fox demon known as Yun. To figure out the history, you will have to play as this race so I cannot just tell you.

Well, I can at least tell you that this race is far more difficult to play as than even some of the highly specialized races that can be unlocked. Not only does it require more time to gain experience as this character, it's abilities are also rather low and skills are very weak until they are well above the average margin. You will have to find out the rest of the advantages and disadvantages to this race by yourself in game since this is not a race that a user is supposed to be able to use.

So, will you pick this race?

"Interesting, something that has to be discovered by myself. I like it. Yes, I'll pick this race."

This race is known as the "Kitsune" a separate race from the fox demi-humans of similar qualities. You, however, picked up the nine-tailed version of the "Kitsune", which is unique variant that is supposed to be extremely powerful. However, since you start at Level 1 as a new character... it makes this one much, much weaker than it is suppose to be in the beginning. One last thing, you are able to hide your ears and tails and change the way you look from human to your "normal" form as well. Just think of the form when you change or leave your appearance the way it is in game. Your human form will naturally be a lot weaker than your normal form, so be careful of the place you are in when your transform.

Once you become stronger, your race will natural change to "Amatsukitsune" (Celestial Fox).

The race "Kitsune" with the variant "Nine-tailed Fox" has been chosen. Please confirm your choice.

"Confirmed."

Alright, race confirmed. Would you like the change your appearance?

"I will stay as I look in human form."

I have long, silky black hair that flows down to my back along with sharply contrasting cornflower blue eyes that frames a small, fragile-looking face. Most of the students in the school that have seen me seems to compare me to a character in a light novel. Apparently, I look similar to Shiba Miyuki from Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. The teachers and professors here that read light novels also seem to be amused that I look similar to Shiba Miyuki and my first name is also Miyuki.

I would change my rather petite height to a taller avatar, but it may get awkward to play as someone with a different height. Height differences in VR and the real world can sometimes cause one's body and mind to forget which is which and mix up the neuron signals temporarily. This would cause the body to move awkwardly, as if it is not use to moving. So I guess I'll just remain as I am at 155cm (or 5'1").

"In the race's normal form, I would like it so that the color of my hair, tails and fox ears to be the same white as the model."

Alright, will you remain in your human form or normal form when you start?

"I will remain in human form."

I can see the data surrounding me and "explode" into a flash of light, giving the "me" in this virtual room the abilities and stats of the race I have chosen.

Where do you wish to start?

A couple small models of the major cities and towns show up along with some descriptions of each.

I look around a bit more before deciding on the main starting point for most human players that wants a diversity of shops nearby.

"I would like to start in the City of Arvenus please."

Alright, your starting point shall be the Glass Garden in the City of Arvenus. Do you wish to go through the tutorial?

Well, it can't hurt to go through something that could potential aid you in the long run.

"Okay, I wish to go through the tutorial."

I focus on my transformation ability first to prepare for the tutorial and find myself glow a warm white color before my hair turns to a snow white color. Furry fox ears appear on top of my head as well as I halt the appearance of the tails to just one single swaying fox tail. I already feel stronger in the form as I feel energy well up and course through my body, giving me a boost of confidence to take on the tutorial.

Tutorial is commencing... ready? Let's go!

The rather nondescript black world of the character creation area lights up and blinds me.

{{Non-Proof Read Version}}