Alexandru saw himself. He glanced from right to left, but there was nothing except his image in the blackness.

“Welcome, new player!” His image shrank and in a shower of sparks appeared a wizard, dressed in robes that had stars twinkling on them. Unbeknownst to Alex, it was the spitting image of Devan Richelu. “I am Verringale, your guide to Real Fantasy Online. Let’s get your adventure started, shall we? In this game, there are no controls. Simply think what you want to do and it will happen, like running or swinging a sword, or opening the menu. Try thinking ‘open menu.’”

“Okay…” Alex did as the wizard asked, and a command menu popped up in front of him.

“If you want, you can use your hands to navigate. But you might not always have that luxury. The NeWorld Cranial Console can scan your thoughts, so you don’t have to worry about it. The menu contains your equipment, inventory, and personal settings, as well as communications with other players like your friends list, and the logout button. Yo8u can also activate these on voice command, but be wary. Several quests require stealth!”

“In this game, you can take nearly any action you could in the real world, with the notable exception of 18+ actions. You will only be able to remove underwear when alone, and will be censored in view of others. Repeated flags and violations can result in temporary or even permanent bans, so be careful! But that’s what you can’t do, not what you can.” The wizard’s smile widened. “And you can do, in this world, more. Magic is available to every class, although some are specialized in it. Strength, speed, endurance, all can be made superhuman here. So let’s get to the fun part!”

“First of all, your avatar.” Verringale regarded the image of Alex. “Very nice! But you don’t have to stay that way. Set appearance to default?” Alex considered briefly, but shook his head. Getting away from his current life was the entire point.

“No.”

“Okay! Note, avatar selection only affects appearance, weight, and reach, and will not affect equipment or stats. Now, who would you like to be? Male, female, or unspecified?”

“Male.” Alex answered immediately. He didn’t want to get that far away from himself. Verringale nodded.

“Here’s the base male template. Let’s customize!” A generic brown-haired man stood in front of him. There were several sliding bars, labelled face, body type, height, and age among color options for skin, hair, and eyes.

“Hmm.” He mentally slid the bar back and forth, watching him go from rotund to skinny. He randomly slid bars around, watching him morph and reshape before his eyes. He paused on a comically short, muscly, slender boy with large eyes. “Hmm? Well, I was going to go with something slightly more dignified, but…” This was his chance to escape. Why not go whole hog? He’d go full anime shonen protagonist.

After flipping bars to adjust, Alex smiled at his avatar’s visage; a young teenager, nearly two heads shorter than his real body, and much more slender with short blonde hair and big ruby-red eyes. He nodded. Totally anime. That was about as opposite from his normal form as he could get.

“Set as avatar?” Verringale asked.

“Yes.” The form glowed, and pumped his fist.

“Alright! Looking good! Let’s go over stats quick before we go on. There are four stats that govern Real Fantasy Online: Strength, Toughness, Special, and Speed. STR, relates to how hard you can hit, and how much you can lift. TGH, relates to how hard you can shrug off attacks, your HP, and how much you can endure. SPC, determines how strong your magic power is, and your MP. And SPD, is how fast you can move and how fast you can attack, how many hits you’ll be throwing at any time.”

“Though stats aren’t and shouldn’t be the entirety of your character. Putting all your points into one stat is a strategy, but going for an even spread is also viable. Everyone has a base we assign for every character, an athletic human. No matter your athleticism in the real world, you’ll be able to move and run freely. But be warned, there are ways and methods of overcoming great stats, and not everything has to be solved by combat. You receive five points upon levelling up, which you can assign to any stat you want. And classes have bonuses that apply for free at every level. Some have negatives that apply, but you can never be placed under the initial base. Equipment will affect stats too.” Verringale explained.

“Now let’s choose your class.” Several pop ups appeared, separated by warrior, mage, or beastmaster groups. His avatar was dressed in the style of each one in the windows, showing the class in action. Alex touched them in turn, starting with the warriors.

“The Raider class.” the wizard explained. +2 STR, +2 SPD. Able to wield all light weapons such as fists, knives, one-handed swords, axes, spears, and chains. Raiders are meant to hit hard, and hit fast. Unfortunately, their defense isn’t quite up to snuff. This class is the most customizable, able to be styled and flavored however you want! Will you be a traditional warrior, swashbuckling pirate, cunning brigand, or deadly assassin?” Alex watched as the avatar dual-wielded swords to slice up a goblin. He clicked the next one.

“Knight class. +2 STR, +2 TGH. These stalwart champions defend themselves and others with incomparable strength, able to wield heavier weapons like two-handed swords, shields, greataxes, warhammers, and greatclubs. Unfortunately, all that heavy armor and equipment means they aren’t moving as quick, but you don’t wanna stand in their way.”

“Archer class. +1 TGH, + 2 SPD. The long-range option class. Adept at moving and firing, this class hurts without getting touched in return, but their STR suffers as a result compared to other warriors. This class favors bows, longbows, and crossbows.” Alex rolled his eyes. He was well familiar with the advantages of archery, he didn’t need to do it in the game too. Next were the mage classes.

“Magus class. -1 STR, +2 SPC, +1 SPD. The masters of the arcane, these wizards typically have little physical prowess, but more than make up for it with their selection of spells. They boast the highest MP amount in Real Fantasy, but aren’t as adept or hardy as other classes. Able to wield staves, rods, and wands with ease.”

“Priest class. +2 TGH, +2 SPC, -2 SPD. The holy figures of the gods, this class uses the divine influence granted to them to help both themselves and others, both healing and strengthening. However, a lifetime of prayer means that no matter how divinely bolstered they are, they can’t move as quickly. Their weapons are clubs, maces, and hammers among others.”

“Alchemist class. -1 STR, +2 SPC, -1 SPD. These brave men and women are magical engineers and researchers. While they don’t cast much magic themselves, they can channel and use the magical energies around them into potions, explosives, and traps. Unfortunately, they don’t have much in the way of strength or speed. However, their inventory space is triple the other classes. The weapons they typically wield include hammers, clubs, knives, and crossbows.”

“Bard class. +1 SPC. This class makes merry music and magic, able to calm savage beasts or rejuvenate allies, and they can make allies. Travelling troubadours by trade normally, the bard offers no great deficiencies or weaknesses, but aren’t too powerful on their own. Preferring verisimilitude and variety, they use instruments, knives, rapiers, and clubs.” Alex blinked. Even Verringale seemed unsure of the blurb with that much alliteration. He clicked the next classification, the Beastmasters.

“Tamer class. +2 TGH. One who masters this class doesn’t pack much of a punch on their own, but they bring friends. There will be various monsters you will meet while questing, and Tamers are able to control them, making a party unto themselves or a substantial addition to any group. Unfortunately, most of their magic is focused around controlling, healing, and fortifying their monster allies, leaving little for themselves or human friends. Tamers wield light swords, rods, staves, and whips.” Alex clicked the last class available.

“Shifter class. -2 STR, -2 TGH, +1 SPC, -2 SPD. An awful lot of negatives, right? Shifters would agree. That’s why they augment their abilities with the techniques and forms of monsters, able to breathe fire, increase their strength, grow tails, or even discard their human forms completely! Unfortunately, they don’t have much to offer outside of that, so use it wisely! Shifters can use rods, clubs, claws, and flails.”

“And there you have it!” Verringale said, taking center view again. “Some of the classes are more difficult and harder to use than others, but it’s up to you how you want to play. We’ve only begun to discover the world! Those stats will be useful, but so too will be equipment. Explanation of equipment?”

“No.” Alex said. Honestly he was getting sick of all these menus and explanations. “I’ll pick it up. Is there any way to end this and start?”

“Skip tutorial?”

“Yes!” he said. The wizard nodded.

“Choose class to begin.” Alex looked over the options again. Some of them seemed intriguing, but complicated for his tastes.

“Let’s stick with something simple for now.” He went back to the warrior classes. He’d done each of what they offered in the past. He immediately passed on archery; while he’d used a bow before, he’d disliked it for fighting. He stared at the knight. He heard thundering hooves and desperate shouts, the clang of metal on armor and screams of terrified civilians. He shook his head.

“Raider class, huh? Sounds promising.” He tapped the menu, and his avatar held up a fist. Verringale nodded.

“Please assign beginning stats. Note that this will be unchangeable until you progress through the game.”

“Let’s see…” Alex squinted at the menu. Four stats, five points, an automatic two point bonus to STR and SPD. He debated with himself back and forth, but decided to put one point into everything and the remainder into STR. The wizard conjured a keyboard.

“Please enter screen name.” Alex rubbed his hand on his face. It had been half an hour, and he still hadn’t actually started! He glanced at his smiling avatar.

“Allocrax.” There. Close enough to his name so he’d remember and answer to it, and appropriately fantasy sounding, in his opinion. Verringale clapped his hands.

“Very well. In this world, fantasy is reality. Welcome to the nation of Kazerlande, adventurer! Go forth, and find your destiny!” Alex’s avatar glowed and everything grew brighter. Brighter, and brighter, and brighter, until there was sudden darkness.