The next time he opened his eyes was within an endlessly green plain. The sky was blue, the sun was bright, and the wind was fresh.

He moved his body, surprised that at how natural it felt. Giant evil corporations are good for something, I guess.

Would you like to begin the Deep VR tutorial?

“Uh, no, thanks Bin” Dante said, looking for the voice. There wasn’t an image in front of him, but he could visualize the box inside his head.

Would you like to customize your Home?

“It's alright. Can you show me Broken Realms please?"

Of course. The download time will take approximately 35 hours.

"What! Seriously?" Damn it he knew he should have checked everything was ready when he set foot into the house. Now he's going to waste so much tim--

I apologize, Master Dante. Master Rolf commanded me to reply in that manner.

Dante held his tongue. Who the hell was Master Rolf? "Are there any more of these commands, Bin?"

Even if there were, Master Dante, I am unable to tell you. Master Rolf is the main admin. Their commands precede yours.

“Ah whatever. Give me Broken Realms.” Only Jarckal and Sai had this bothersome sense of humor. The servers opened minutes ago. He couldn’t waste any more time on them.

A screen appeared in front of him with a single animated picture inside it.

Broken Realms. Not as epic as he'd imagined it to be. Its icon was just its letters in gray with embers floating by.

He started up the app. He quickly found himself in another endlessly green field. At the very least Dante was now surrounded by mountains in the distance, and instead of just grass flowers and trees sprouted all over. No intro scenes? Dante likey. Those were always a bother.

Human, Elf, Beasts, and Orc bodies materialized in front of him with descriptions and difficulty rankings appearing when he focused on them. Each one had a stat "scaling" for Strength, Constitution, Agility, Soul ranging from Minor to Greater. Some had a combination of Ki or Mana.

Humans had a Minor in all stats, including both Ki and Mana, and could spawn in multiple kingdoms. They started with the (Epic) Curiosity skill. It allowed them to learn 2 additional professions and were able to use both mana and Ki. They had an Easy difficulty ranking.

From the descriptions, Dante assumed that Ki was martial arts like skills while mana was for the traditional fireball type of skills. Those were limited base on race.

Dante did not even consider Elves. They had Minor Strength, Constitution, moderate Agility, and Greater Soul. They started with the (Epic) Prodigy Mage skill. It allowed them to use mana, started by choosing a magic skill, received a bonus magic skill every 3 levels, and granted an additional "element crap," whatever that meant.

Whoops, that's "elemental cap," not crap. This was definitely not his biases turning the words. Long ranged combat was not fun, game or no game.

The Beast race was most interesting. Three different races appeared when he focused on it; Avalion, Feline, and even a damn bull. They all looked human except for a few distinct futures. Avalions had set of angle like wings. They had Minor Strength, Minor Constitution, Moderate Agility, and Minor Soul. They started with the (Epic) Sky Mages skill. It allowed them to fly, and allowed to use mana at a 30% increased cost. Very Difficult ranking, which made sense. Flying sounded like a hard thing to do. The debuff sounded ridiculously harsh as well, though it made sense. Having someone fly high in the air and rain hell from the safety of the sky didn’t sound fair.

Feline were by far the most attractive. In addition to the fluffy ears and cat eyes, they started with moderate Strength, Minor Constitution, moderate Agility, and moderate Soul. They started with the (Epic) Land Warriors. It allowed them to use Ki and reduced the cost of STM and Ki skills by 20%. Normal difficulty.

Taurus were large, wide, and had two demon-like horns that aimed forward. They boasted Greater Strength and Greater Constitution but had a "lesser" Agility with a minor Soul. They started with (Epic) Immovable Defense. It allowed them to use Ki, increased their Armor by 20% and lowered the effectiveness of Armor Penetration skills on them by 50%. Easy difficulty.

While humans can do any role and Beast creatures have specialized roles. It was kind of selecting a class.

By this point it was clear that the difficulty levels weren’t a danger to their start, but difficult to how the race would be used. There were also two facets the race had—base stat scaling and skills. Putting a point of Strength into a Taurus probably provided more strength than a Feline. There weren’t actual numbers for that, so all Dante could do was guess.

The second was skills—those did have precise numbers.

Finally, there were Orcs. Not as ugly as he thought they would be. The one in front of him had a squarish face, a large jaw, and a nose instead of the two uncomfortable looking slits some other orcs had. They weren't built like super bodybuilders, nor were they just "fit." It was more like Dante's body--just in between.

If it weren’t for their silver skin, Dante would have mistaken them for his uncles. Not terribly pretty, but built sturdy enough that you’ll give them a pass.

They boasted…well, everything. They had a Moderate for all of it. They started with the (Epic) War Race skill. It allowed them to use Ki, increased "recovery power" by 50%, and reduced the resurrection timer by 50% for non-PVP deaths. The cost was that they could only learn one profession with a 35% experience penalty for it.

Guess I was wrong, Dante thought when he looked at the difficulty rating. Even though Orcs had the best stats their difficulty ranking was Very Hard.

Their difficult start must have been the one turning the level up, otherwise none of this made any sense.

He had two good choices, four bad ones, and a stupid one. Human was the safe bet, but it sounded quite boring. They could pursue anything, but that was only good for people that were unsure of what they wanted to do.

Dante did. He was a front-line idiot. That made Elves and Avalions non-factors. Feline and Taurus fit his criteria, with one heavier than the other. Dante liked to go fast, so between Feline and Taurus, he knew his preference. Plus, he would rather dish out damage than receive it.

Finally, the awesome choice: Orc. Where feline was superior in mobility, Orcs seemed to boast everything a decent fighter needed. That must have made it the most popular. Then again, Orcs had a strange difficulty setting. For a beginner like Dante that might not be the wisest idea.

Oh what the hell, I’ll be stuck here forever. Tired of waiting, Dante decided to go with orcs. Both sounded good to him anyway.

What matters is how you play your cards, not just what cards are dealt, Noah always said.

He had gotten himself a kitten, after all. If both races worked, then what a little difference would make?

Wait a minute. A Feline race in the game that Jarckal sent me to, and for me to confidently find a discarded kitten, who Carl pointed out, the night before...

How unlikely was that?

Dante reached for the orc race. If Jarckal wanted him to pick Feline, then he'll obviously pick anything but it.

But wait! What if Jarckal expected me to notice this confidence. In that case, wouldn't that make orcs the race he wants me to pick?

Be warned that you will not be able to reset your account once you choose a race. Are you certain you wish to be born as a Feline?

His finger froze an inch away from the Y/N prompt that appeared.

Wait, damn you Jarckal, you think I’ll always walk into your hands?

Dante stepped away from the Feline and went towards the orcs.

Be warned that you will not be able to reset your account once you choose a race. Are you certain you wish to be born as an Orc?

“Fuck yes,” Dante yelled as he confirmed, and then inputted his name. “You can’t have everything your way, Jarckal.” Jarckal expected Dante to notice the coincidence of the cat so he would pick orc, but in reality, Jarckal also expected for Dante to realize the coincidence that was just another distraction. This meant, in the end, Jarckal wanted Dante to pick the Feline race. That made orcs the right decision.

A blaring light from the body turned the world white, causing Dante to wince back. He felt himself falling through the depthless ground. He fell at such speeds that he thought he left his heart behind. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but Dante didn't care.

Not today, Jarckal, not today.