[All players have completed character creation]

[World has been loaded. Spawning players in to randomized locations]

[Quest: Find the remaining members of your party. 0/3]

Garett saw these messages on the screen after he had been waiting for about 20 minutes for the other players to finish their character creations.

After around 5 minutes, it had gone from [Waiting on 3 players] to [Waiting on 2 players]. After a short while, it has reduced to 1 and finally...

He was being loaded into the game.

Unsure of what the RPG would be like, Garett was a bit scared, but he was slightly thrilled.

His gamblers spirit in him spurred on a curiosity for the unknown.

Garett opened his eyes and looked around.

And what he saw was...

A dark room.

There was virtually no light, and the floor and walls were made of stone.

There were iron bars that made the room appear to be a jail cell.

Garett got up to look around to see if there was anyone or anything down the hallway, and so he peeked his head through the bars of the jail door.

Clang!

When he tried to squeeze his head through, a vibration was sent through his brain, as if he had hit a metal pot with a ladle.

Garett regained his composure before realizing that something felt off.

His hands, his skin, his mouth, his head...

Everything felt different from how it was in the previous world.

There was a different weight to his body, and his head felt like it was being dragged down jut a bit.

He looked at his hands to see a rough maroon colored scaly skin, and sharp black nails- almost like claws but not quite.

He felt his mouth, and realized that his canine teeth had grown twice as long, and his overbite caused them to naturally seep out.

He then felt the top of his head to discover 2 twisted horns.

[Due to your alignment, lawful evil, you have been assigned the race: High Demon]

"Eh?"

A screen flashed in front of Garett, Displaying his status and a picture of what he looked like.

He looked like a normal human, aside from his reddish skin, long teeth, sharper nails, and the horns on his head.

"This is what I look like?"

Garett was slightly depressed at first, however upon second look- he was more human than he originally thought. At the very least, he wasn't some horrifying creature.

"This could make social interaction with others... quite interesting."

Garett smiled, thinking about the different risks and rewards that could be associated with his new appearance.

But wait.

He was alone right now.

Stuck in a jail cell.

And he had a quest to find the remaining party members....

As he thought this, time stopped.

[Welcome to the world of Yolenos. As a player in this game, it is up to you to decide what you do from this point on. This is an open world, which allows players to freely choose whatever actions they wish to take. Will you become a wealthy noble? A great hero? A dominating tyrant? Only time will tell as you and your fellow party members establish yourself in the world of Yolenos!]

[You are currently in a jail cell. What do you wish to do?]

There it was.

The typical "choose your own adventure" playstyle, where an RPG would ask a series of questions to the players regarding their actions, and depending on their choices generate resulting scenarios.

But Garett knew that this was more than a mere game.

This was his new life.

Meaning, everything he did wasn't merely part of a script of choices. There wasn't a single "Good ending" or a "Bad ending". It was more like real life, where your choices had rippling effects, that could be much more complex than going down a single determined path as per a script.

Garett then tried to move- and to his surprise...

He exited his body.

"..."

As if he were a ghost, he exited his body. He took a look at himself, standing in the dark room.

'This is...'

'Time has stopped for me to make this decision!'

It was as if this was a turn based game where time stopped to allow the player to decide what to do next.

Garett felt a feeling of euphoria as he imagined all the possibilities that came with this.

He would have as long as he wanted to ponder every decision and every outcome. However, when he tried to move away from his body to search down the hallway...

[Error. Please do not separate from within 1 meter of your character.]

There was a limitation.

He couldn't simply explore down the hallway in ghost form as time was stopped. He had to make decisions and then carry them out in his own body.

Accepting this, Garett decided to look around the room.

[Skill used. [Analyze]. Because you are not in combat, this did not use up any action points. AP: 5/5]

Time then resumed, and Garett was flung back into his body.

He then got up to look around, and a glowing beam radiated from his eyes. A wave of light spread out from him like a sonar.

When he looked around, there was a key in the corner of the room with a yellow ring of light around it.

As Garett got closer, a description popped up over the key.

[Prison Key]

[Used to unlock the doors of the prison in the current dungeon. Not usable elsewhere.]

[Would you like to pick it up?]

Garett selected the yes option, and proceeded to pick up the key.

Everything in this world was like a turn based RPG. He even had an inventory and was able to use items accordingly.

He approached the door, and when he was prompted for his next action, he decided to use the key.

[You have used Item, [Prison Key] on the [Prison Door]. It has unlocked].

[Would you like to exit?]

Once again he selected yes. This time however, something strange happened.

[Rolling for dexterity to determine if door opens. D6 is to be used. Minimum required dexterity is 3. This action can be repeated].

Garett saw the image on the screen of a dice being rolled, and alas...

It came up with a 1.

[You have rolled a 1. Adding dexterity to roll. 1+0=1.]

Time resumed, and Garett attempted to exit into the hallway. For some reason, he felt compelled to do so, despite the fact that he had not rolled high enough to succeed. It was almost as if his actions were already predetermined. However...

Garett tripped on his own foot, and his head slammed into the door.

"OOF!"

Garett let out a large cry of pain as the clanging between his horns and the metal bars once again racked his brain.

He held his head and crawled up into a ball, throbbing with pain.

"AGH!"

[2 Damage taken]

[HP: 11/13]

"What the hell..."

When Garett realized what had occurred, he smiled with glee.

"So in this world, the success of my actions are determined by the roll of a dice?!"

A smile crept across his face, making him look like a true demon. He wiped off some blood from his nose, and began to run his mouth with the eyes of one who had lost all reason- and yet managed to stay completely sane.

"This is interesting... this is truly interesting! A life where every action is determined by discrete probability!"

Once more, he decided to open the door. The dice was rolled, and this time came up with a 5.

When he opened the door this time, his hand hit a hidden button near the handle. All of a sudden, a compartment opened up underneath the door.

A small wooden box lay in the compartment.

Garett used his [Analyze] skill on the compartment, and a description popped up for the chest.

[Small chest. Contains: 5 Gold, 1 small healing potion. Heals 6 HP. 1 blueprint.]

[Health potion composition has been analyzed]

[Glass container. Can be produced by bringing sand to temperatures of over 800 K, and then shaped. Potion can be created at an alchemy stand using 2 Razorpin grass, and by adding 10 mL of concentrated liquid mana.]

[Concentrated liquid mana can be produced through the compression of extracted mage blood]

[Knowledge for blueprint design has increased]

Garett selected to take all the items, and they appeared in his inventory.

[If you obtain the item, pen, you may design an item using your blueprint, should you have the knowledge to create an item.]

Garett smiled at this, and then began to walk down the hallway.

It was time to see if he could discover these other members of his party.

----

Trevor opened his eyes, to find himself in a prison cell.

A slow and repetitive dripping sound could be heard. If one were to stay here too long the sound could cause one to go mad.

However, Trevor viewed this situation with a smile.

"A single mistake has put me in this position... a normal person would think it unbelievable. No- even I am not able to completely understand what is going on- however I do know one thing."

"My progress, my business, my job, everything that I've obtained had been given a hard reset."

This was a situation that would depress a normal person perhaps. But Trevor was different. Trevor was a businessman. He was one who acted on opportunity. He was the type of person to look at a horrible disaster, and view it as a chance.

What did Trevor see right now?

A hard reset. Not only on everything he had worked to obtain, however. It was also a hard reset on all the mistakes he had ever made.

While Trevor was unaware of how games worked, he was good at adapting to a scenario, and as such knew at the very least that he was no longer in his former world.

But...

Where was he?

Why was he detained in a jail cell?

Was there anyone nearby?

Was there any way out?

A flood of questions entered Trevor's head, and he calmly regained composure as he approached the first issue.

"My body... feels slightly lighter. Almost as if I have become a bit thinner..."

His hand drifted up to one of his ears, and as he felt it, his eyes went wide in surprise.

His ears were completely pointed and elongated.

[Due to your alignment, lawful neutral, combined with your class, ranger, you have been assigned the race: Wood elf]

As this message popped up, a status screen popped up, just as it had for Garett, and Trevor took a look at his own appearance.

He was almost the same as he had been in his previous life, aside from a slight change in stature and slightly more pointy ears, as well as thinner eyelids.

Trevor did not mind his change in appearance. Appearances were meant to be kept up- of course. As a businessman, he could not allow himself to ever look shoddy, however his new appearance had a hint of elegance. It was as if he was truly born to become an elf.

And for Trevor, so long as the maintained appearance did not provide any drawbacks to his work, he did not care how he looked.

All of a sudden, Trevor heard a voice call out to him from the cell next to his. It was the voice of a woman, and she sounded kind and innocent, as if she was lost and needed help.

"Um... is anyone there? Is there someone in the cell next to me? Could you tell me whats going on?"

----

Samantha was furious.

She had absolutely no idea what was going on.

In her mind, she was cursing and raging. If she were to allow her true emotions to slip out, one would view her as a demon.

But wait.

Oh.

She had already become a demon.

When she arrived in the new world, something felt off.

He head felt heavier than usual, and her skin was unusually rough. When she looked at her hands...

They were a bright shade of cyan, with skin that was rougher than human skin but not quite as hard as scales.

And her hands had claws.

A message appeared in front of her.

[Due to your alignment, Neutral Evil, combined with your class of healer, you have been assigned the race: High demon.]

The screen displayed to her the status screen, and she almost shrieked in shock as she saw that her beautiful blonde hair had become a shade of green, and her perfect skin had become blue and rough.

But before she could shriek, she heard a shuffle in the cell next to her.

"If someone else is in the cell next to me... it would be unbecoming to allow them to hear me complain... I must first convince them of my beauty and kindness before anything else...", she thought.

She perked herself up and spoke in a cutesy voice, as if to mimic a damsel in distress.

"Um... is anyone there? Is there someone in the cell next to me? Could you tell me whats going on?"

A smooth male voice then replied, with confidence.

"It seems that there is another person here. I have just arrived here, and I too am unsure of the current situation. However, I can say for certain that we need to find a way out of here."

'Shit! Looks like he doesn't know anything either. Why did I have to get stuck next to some useless man who doesn't even know whats going on, eh!?', Samantha thought.

But on the outside, she did not allow such vulgar thoughts to permeate her mind.

"I see... is there anything you can do about it? Are you also locked in a cell?", she replied sweetly.

"I'll figure something out about my own situation.", he replied with confidence. Trevor then took a look at his status screen, and reread the description of the options he had.

Trevor considered his options before saying anything, but after thinking about the situation, let out a rude comment.

"However, even if I manage to find a way out of this cell, is there any reason as to why I should assist you? Could you provide a list of the benefits I would obtain in doing so?"

"What-!?" Samantha replied bluntly, without filtering her vulgar tone.

Realizing that she had displayed an imperfect side of herself, she stopped speaking, all while her mind exploded with thoughts of hatred.

'How dare this man speak to me as such!? Does he not know that it is common sense to help a woman in need? What does he mean 'provide a list of benefits!?' Why is he being so proper about his tone and then asking for something so rude!?'

"Um... I don't seem to be able to get out of here... if you let me out, of course I will assist you-"

"I've heard enough. Trusting you could only become a liability to me in the future. I have no need for an incompetent woman to follow me around."

Trevor only said these words after determining that the woman wouldn't be able to free him from his cell.

However, this set off the switch that had been filtering Samantha throughout the conversation.

"Why you piece of shit! Who the hell do you think you are talking to a lady like that, EHHH!? You think you're so high and mighty that you can do whatever the hell you want and get away with it!? Are you really so rude as to ignore a beautiful woman in need right in front of you?! What the hell is your problem?"

Trevor let out a chuckle.

He had been after this exact reaction.

Trevor was an expert businessman, and spent his life dealing with tricky customers and those trying to strike sly deals with hidden conditions.

But through that experience, Trevor had obtained the ability to see through when a person was trying to put on an act. At the same time, he had mastered the ability to put on an act, even when he was under an extreme level of pressure.

But this woman lost to him, and revealed her true colors.

"Did you just say that a brute like you is a beautiful woman?", he asked with a scary sense of calmness. It was as if he was staring through the walls and into the soul of Samantha.

Samantha then tried a different approach. She began to cry fake tears.

"Why... why would you say something so horrible!"

A drop of salty water slid down her cheek, and fell onto the ground.

Trevor stood firm, and acted as if he didn't care.

"Either way, I have no way out of here."

His eyes searched the room, however there was no key or any items to be found. There wasn't even a bed- only the stone cold floor. He approached the door to open it, but all of a sudden...

Time stopped.

Trevor continued moving towards the door, but he felt the same sensation as when he was in the abyss.

He was bodiless.

And when he looked to check, he had exited his own body, almost as a spirit.

"Whats going on here!?", Samantha yelled out- with a sniffle after wiping her false tears.

[The party leader, Garett, is currently making a decision]

[Please wait until the decision has been completed]

A moment later, they had returned to their bodies.

In shock, Samantha forgot about her anger towards Trevor. There was one thing that she knew.

She was no longer on earth, and this world could be dangerous. Weird events kept on happening over and over, and she had no way of guaranteeing her own safety.

Swallowing her own pride, she felt at least a little happy that she was with someone to talk to.

How scary it would have been to be sitting in this jail cell, alone...

----

Ashley sat in a Jail cell, alone.

Just moments before, something weird had happened. It was as if her soul had left her body, and rendered her unable to control her own body- but at the same time she was able to look around.

"This is.... SO COOL!!!"

Ashley was completely overexcited from her current situation.

"I've done it!!! I've been reincarnated in another world!! And take a look at me!"

Ashley didn't actually change in appearance much from her former looks, but she felt completely reinvigorated. The only real difference was that her skin was slightly transparent, but aside from that she still had the same bags under her eyes and the same messy hair.

Ashley was looking over her status, and saw the spells, skills, and stats that she currently had.

This was an otaku's dream, to become a player in a new world, and Ashley wasn't about to let this chance go.

However...

She was not very good at talking to people.

If she had to make social contact with people due to her new situation...

She gagged just thinking about this.

The bags under her eyes drooped even further than usual as she played over and over in her head how things would play out if she were forced to make contact with another human being.

Her thoughts then moved towards escaping the cell.

"I'll figure out how to deal with people after I get out of here."

Looking towards the prison door, she took a look around the room.

As with all the other rooms, there were no items- no bed, and nothing to be found.

However...

Ashley grazed over her status and her eyes fixed on a particular area.

[Spell: [Fireball]-(Lvl 1) Costs 2 AP 3 MP, Shoot a ball of fire at the enemy. Chance to cause burning damage over time. Damage based on intelligence and skill level.]

Ashley grinned and shouted out in a rough voice

"Fireball!!!"

And...

nothing happened.

[You are not with the party leader right now. In order to perform an action, the action must first be ordered by the party leader]

[Please wait until Party leader Garett arrived at your location]

Oh no.

This was a worst possible scenario for Ashley

The one thing she dreaded more than anything was being forced on her.

Social interaction.

Her eyes started twitching, and she began to shiver nervously.

"Ev-everything is gonna be alright... the party leader will be a nice person... they will take pity on someone like me and help me out... right? RIGHT? He isn't gonna look down on me, right?? He isn't gonna judge me for being an otaku right? Right!?"

"Ye-yeah... This is an RPG world after all! Being an otaku merely means that I am more knowledgeable about this sort of situation! I could even be called a valuable asset!"

Ashley nodded quietly to herself while shaking, curled up in a ball in the jail cell.

"I wish I could just go home..."