Booting...

Automated account creation...

Welcome to Limitless™!

Do you want to read the Terms Of Service numbering 15,604 words?

"No!" said Mei in a hurry. Who even reads 'TOS'es anyway?

Then, light eveloped her vision.

She found herself in a strange room. There were no windows or door, only hundreds of mysterious looking golden runes plastered all over the pure white walls. (She couldn't help but spend a few moments to marvel at them.) In the centre of the room was a huge glass pod with a perfect clone of herself in a very tight catsuit floating inside. It was a strange feeling to see oneself in person. Mei found it somewhat creepy.

"Hello! This is the character creation room." said a robotic female voice. "Here, you are allowed to choose your race and change your looks. You can change your looks just by willing it. Try it out!"

But at this moment, she wasn't too keen on that.

"Um, can I log out for a while? I fell on my face earlier and I don't know if I got any bruises or something."

"I can assure that you are fine. The system will send you out automatically if it detects something wrong with you." answered the voice.

"But-"

"No buts. I'll let you out once you're done with this." said the voice.

"That's not fair! I might not be dying, but what if-"

"Blame yourself for not reading the safety instructions. Now don't waste my time and get to it." the voice sounded annoyed

The Ai had a point. She wasn't sure how to rebut that.

"Wait, you can read my memories?" she realised. Discomfort welled up within her. What if the game company was prying into her deepest secrets and gleaming-

"I can only read thoughts from your brain, not memories. As for not reading the instructions, obviously, someone who READ IT wouldn't be silly enough to use the gear standing up!"

"Ah... Um, I think I'll just do the character creation right now..." she said meekly. What type of Ai is so vicious to the player?

"Good." said the voice.

She turned to the pod containing her clone. The tight suit clung onto 'her' body, making every flab stand out twice as much as it would normally. As if they didn't stand out enough normally! She thought to herself about how she looked a little less fat in the mirror. At least she was able to fix them in the game.

She focused and willed the flabs to shrink.

Swiftly, the flabs faded into a smooth belly much like that of a magazine model's. Mei admired it and nodded. Surely there was nothing wrong with looking a little better in the game, right? She changed her hair from its natural shade of black into purple because it was her favourite colour, made it neater and a bit longer, removed all the pimples and scars she had and made her face a little thinner. She then began to make some more minor changes-

"Are you done yet? I've been waiting for 10 minutes! Also, just a reminder that your face is still smushed against the floor."

"Ah!" in her excitement, she had forgotten that she had fallen on her face in real life. "Yeah, I'm done!"

"What would you like to name your character?" asked the voice.

"Hmm..." Mei took a little time to think.

She did have an online gaming username that she used for almost every game she played, but this was a VR world! NPCs and other players would be calling her by that name, so she didn't want anything outlandish. But at the same time, she didn't want to use her real name.

"is 'Zera' available?" she asked after a minute.

"Lucky you. It's available!" said the voice.

Mei was a little surprised. With tens of millions of players, surely 'Zera' would have already have been taken?

"You're in the Asia server. 'Zera' has already been taken in a few other countries."

She was a little surprised to hear that the Ai could read her mind for a second but realised that to the gear, it was the same whether she said it aloud or not. It was reading thoughts from her mind directly either way.

"You can change it back to your real looks later if you want to. Now for the races." continued the Ai.

A menu popped up before her. There was were six options: elves, beastmen, dwarves, fae, humans and demi-demons.

(AN: Some people said that the race list was kind of an infodump, but I thought it might be odd if I didn't include it. Feel free to skip it entirely by not opening it; you won't really miss out on anything important. You can read it too if you want, I guess)

[Race List]

>

A race of beautiful people highly attuned to nature.

Racial Enemies: Dwarves and Demons

Talents: Nature Classes and Magic

Stat Bonuses: 1.5x MAG and DEX

You will start in an Elven town if you choose this race.

>

Half human and half beast, these people pack a real punch.

Racial Enemies: Demons

Talents: All Melee Classes

Stat Bonuses: 1.5x STR and AGI

You will start in a Beastman tribe if you choose this race.

>

Short and stout magicless people blessed by the earth god, the dwarves are robust warriors and excellent at forging.

Racial Enemies: Elves

Talents: Forging and Crafting

Stat Bonuses: 2x STR and 1.5x DEF

You will start in a Dwarven town if you choose this race.

>

Small and delicate winged people who cast the most powerful and complicated magic.

Racial Enemies: Demons

Talents: Flying, All Magical Classes and Spells

Stat Bonuses: 1.5x MAG and AGI

You will start in a Fairy town if you choose this race.

>

They were born with nothing and are thus the most versatile.

Racial Enemies: Demons

Talents: None

Stat Bonuses: 1.25x All Stats

You will start in a Human town if you choose this race.

>

An amalgamation of human and demon blood, such people are hated by all and cursed by the gods.

Racial Enemies: Elves, Beastmen, Fae and Humans

Talents: All Magical and Melee Classes

Stat Bonuses: 2x STR and MAG

You will start in a Demon tribe if you choose this race.

Stat Legend

STR: Increases your physical strength and your maximum health by a little.

MAG: Increases your magical damage and your maximum mana by a little.

DEX: Increases your accuracy with all weapons and critical chance by a little.

AGI: Increases the speed your body can move.

DEF: Makes you take less damage from attacks.

She looked through all of them. The elves seemed to have decent stats, but she decided against them. From watching a few streams, she knew that the elves had to follow a vegetarian diet in this world. She had nothing against vegetarians, but she wanted to sample all the tasty food in the virtual world! So that was definitely a no-go for her.

The beastmen also seemed pretty strong but she didn't want her whole body covered in fur. The dwarves' tendency to forge and craft didn't fit her playstyle and she didn't want to be short. The fae seemed good to her but she didn't want to be a tiny fluttering fairy. The demons had very powerful stats but she didn't want to be discriminated and hunted by others...

So after a bout of excuses to herself... she chose human in the end.

Character saved!

"You can create a new character afterwards if you want to play as a different race." said the voice.

"No need. Can I log out now?" she asked.

The Ai didn't respond. But suddenly, a window popped in front of Mei. Inside was a video of her in her room! Her face was pressed sideways against the floor and her behind was pointed awkwardly in the air. There was an oddly goofy grin on her face.

"I get it! Let me log out now!" Mei was very embarrassed. What if her parents saw her like that?

But the Ai didn't respond this time either. She was about to complain when she heard a voice from the video.

"Mei! What was that bang sound!" said her father's voice.

"Shit...." she muttered.

"I'm unlocking the door if you don't answer!" the sound of jingling keys soon followed, the door opening as her father entered. He stared at Mei who was slumped on the floor.

"Ah! Stupid girl... No wonder there was such a loud bang!" growled her father.

Her father lifted her up and placed her upright on her bed before walking out of her room and shutting the door right after.

"Want to start the game for real now?" asked the Ai cheerfully.

"NO!"