Prologue - Part Two

After tea he headed down to the basement, as his parents washed up, and slipped into the capsule.

The plush interior was surprisingly spacious as he settled into the chair and began the start up process. Within a few moments the standby Unicorn Corp screen had changed and he found himself staring at the Royal Road title screen. A red laser light shone into his eye.

-:Confirming unregistered user. Shall we create a new account? :-

Yes/No

A simple start. He confirmed it and the screen changed to the beginning of the character creation process. A rendered silhouette hovered in front of him with its arms outstretched to the side.

-:Select the name of your avatar:-

"O..G..R..E. Ogre."

He spelt it out then repeated it to ensure the system registered it correctly. He was in luck as the name hadn't been taken yet.

-:Thank you. Please select your gender:-

Male/Neutral/Female

A small name tag appeared above the featureless paper-doll that read . He selected male and as the doll slowly morphed into his perfect visual copy as he wondered what exactly a neutral gender was and if it would play any differently from the other two. He wasn't brave enough to find out.

The Doll now had his face and a more masculaine outline but it still showed no clothing at all. Just the impression of chiselled pecks under the blue rendering.

-:Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine:-

A row of small figures appeared under the dolls feet and he used his finger tips to scroll through them. Twenty nine were displayed and of the remaining twenty only blank outlines could be seen. When he tried to click on one a grey cross with the word 'LOCKED' appeared over it.

He spent several minutes looking at his character as various elves and dwarves before picking a human species: Barbarian race.

They were almost identical to the humans on the Continent only a head taller a slightly stronger. A human sub species that had evolved in keeping with their climate.

-:You may alter your appearance:-

He was about to skip this phase but a strange urge gripped him and with one quick slide of his right index finger he connected his eyebrows into one impressive mono-brow. He pulled various facials which the doll imiated like a mirror. This single change seemed to add an air of intimidation to all of them regardless of if he was smiling or pouting. His doll grinned back mercilessly before glaring at him, seething with anger.

-:Thank you. your account has been activated. your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road. On behalf of Unicorn Corporation please enjoy the fully immersive world:-

-: Please note that due to racial selection you will receive +5 points to Strength and Agility but -5 points to Intellect and Wisdom. If you are aiming for a Spell-casting class we advise altering current race:-

Jon paused a moment to consider his options based on what he had found on the official sites forums. Humans had average stats with no major advantages or weaknesses. Dwarf's had skill penalties applied and some races of elf's had environmental penalties. As a barbarian he would start with 15 strength, 15 agility, 5 intellect, 5 wisdom and 10 stamina instead of the average Human equivalent of 10 in all stats.

The trade off was inconsequential as Jon had no intention of being a glass canon. He waved the message on.

-:Starting in Barbarian Rock, Lasalle due to racial selection:-

-:Welcome to Royal Road. The first step on your journey of high adventure beings now:-

The message faded to white as did the screen and in a blinding flash he found himself standing in a primitive looking village.

Between the countries of Lasalle, Tullen and the land governed by the Britten Alliance lay an imposing mountain range. the peaks of which stretched high above the clouds. They were nowhere near as tall as Horom Mountain in the Plains of Despair but they were still impressive.

The area of the range inside the Lasalle border was known as Barbarian Rock. A large flat plateau, a great tabletop that seemed to support the horizon. It contained an expansive cloud forest full of deadly predators that easily blended with the undergrowth just waiting for unsuspecting prey to wander to close.

The Barbarian people themselves carved out a living in a single tribal community nestled at the forests edge overlooking the forested Lasalle plains below.

Jon, now Ogre, looked around.

Leather clad men, women in fur and half naked children were going about their lives like normal people. The level of realism and detail in the game was such that at first glance it was difficult to distinguish the Players from the NPC's.

He allowed himself a few moments to mentally acclimatise before he headed off to the training hall to begin his "therapy session".

The basic training hall in other human settlements was a simple building with rows of wooden dummies that players of all levels used to test new skills or improve their stats with. The one in the Barbarian settlement differed completely.

It was an arena.

A single large dirt circle in which people sparred, surrounded by rows of seats and under a patch canopy made of bone and hide. It put Ogre in mind of the Coliseum crossed with the Thunderdome.

After confirming his stats, satiety and inventory he joined a group of twenty, Players and NPC's alike, already waiting on the instructor.

Character NameOgreHealth100Mana50AlignmentNeutralProfessionNoneTitleNoneLevel1Stamina10Strength15Agility15Intelligence5Wisdom5Charisma5Luck5Fame0

Offense0Defence0Magical ResistanceNone

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Sorry about the mess I'am still trying to fix some formatting errors. SL