I open my eyes. I’m on the bed beneath the blade trap. Pretty much same thing as before. I lift my left arm where I can see it. It looks weird and I feel very disconnected from it. I open my hand in front of my face. My hand is covered in tiny little lines and has uneven coloring. Wonderful! I’m in a world of blotchy uneven avatars. I really don’t feel like moving much yet. I feel oddly disconnected from my surroundings.

[System: Game interface initializing…]

[System: Brain wave monitoring and synchronization…]

[System: Detecting encoding schema…]

[System: Compiling game interface kernel…]

[System: Downloading kernel into game avatar…]

My vision blanks out for a moment. When my sight comes back it’s different. The world seems surreal. I’m seeing still images sequenced rapidly. The world seems distorted. I feel…

[System: Kinesthetic, tactile, and haptic interface initialized]

I feel.

I have no idea what the heck I’m feeling. My whole body is stuffed with weird sensations. Overstuffed. I hope I don’t stay like this.

[System: Game interface initialized.]

[System: Welcome to Real World Online. Have fun!]

[System: Achievement! Player H. Grindswell is the first user to survive Real World Online character creation +1000 xp]

[System: Level up! You have 5 stat points to distribute.]

During the level up message, I heard a ‘ding’ sound. So that’s what the 'ding' is for.

Survive?

I'm laying here staring at the blade trap. I wonder why they have those here. I see a targeting marker on the blade trap and some text next to it: [Ceiling fan].

Huh. Well, I came here to understand about my weird dreams. Time to get moving and check this place out.

Sitting up I look around the room. Targeting markers show up all over the place: [Bed] [Door] [Desk] [Computer] [Pencil] [Paper] [Carpet]. Argh, too many nameplates. I wish they’d go away. And they did.

Cool!

Nameplates on. Nameplates show up everywhere. Nameplates off. They disappear. There’s a 1:27:33 visible in the upper right corner of my visual field where the 33 is counting down. Think. Think. Think. That’s my time remaining. Time remaining off. The display disappears. Time remaining on. Numbers. I wonder how the system knows what I’m thinking. I know, it's mind magic.

Next up: check out my clothes. Shirt and pants check. Not like the ones at home but they are pretty obviously shirt and pants. Inventory bag, nope. To-do list, no. I grab paper and pencil from the desk. I’m not sure where to put them since I’m missing a bag. How do people here carry around their stuff? I also don’t see any weapons or armor in the room. I do have some sort of helmet that I’m wearing. I put on some shoes that are next to the bed.

Well, I have clothes, I have a place to end my adventure, I have supplies for making to-do lists. Player's world, here I come. I open up the door.

It's adventure time!