When his eyes opened, he was in the void. At first, it was black, an open space that stretched out with no end in sight. He looked down, expecting to catch a sight of his body in this empty expanse, but saw nothing there. It was a strange sensation, to have the feeling of a body, of fingers, of limbs, but with no visual feedback to it at all.

“Well this is… new,” he said, amusement and curiosity in his voice.

He took a step forward with his incorporeal body, the impact of his nonexistent foot upon a nonexistent ground that summoned forth a series of ripples. Ripples of seemingly black liquid, transitioning into lights -auroras- that took the place of the darkness that surrounded him. The lights swirled beneath him like a platform. Without warning, a text box appeared in front of him, signifying its appearance with a soft boop. It hovered in front of him in mid air, following his “head” movements and remaining at the center of his vision.

+++

Avatar generation in progress.

Would you like for your avatar to reflect your real life appearance?

Yes / No

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He wasn’t expecting that as an option, but then again he wasn’t all too familiar with VR games. He was, however, familiar with character creators in older RPGs, and the option to just generate a character model like him would eliminate the usual meticulous details that he’d put into such a tool. On the other hand, there were perks to having an avatar that looked completely different from him. Anonymity was the greatest draw of the internet, after all, but he wasn’t the type of guy that had anything to hide.

He “reached” out and selected “Yes,” the input sending a vibration through his incorporeal finger. The textbox disappeared after he did so, and left in its wake a group of motes of light. They flooded into the center of the platform. Starting with the feet, the light gathered and formed into the rough silhouette of a person. Just as fast as they collected, they scattered, leaving behind a human man.

He was tall, with a toned, but not overly muscular physique, and tan skin. His avatar also wore underwear, which gave him an amount of comfort that he wasn’t really expecting. All things considered, that detail was standard to any character creator, but the fact that he was looking at his own body emphasize emphasized that little detail enough that it was something that he noticed first. The next was his face, which held a blank expression, but the features it had gave off the impression that he was smirking even though he wasn’t. It wasn’t an overly handsome face, nor one that was too mundane, but there was something that he was certain of.

“Yeah, that’s definitely me,” he said. A smile tugged at the corners of his non-existent lips. By some strange compulsion, he tried to ruffle his avatar’s short, brown hair, but before his “hand” could reach it another window popped up as a barrier to his touch.

+++

Avatar generated, would you like to make additional changes?

Yes / No

+++

He took a moment to look over the avatar again to see if there were any oddities that resulted from its automatic generation. There were none, and with that in mind there was a brief period that he considered making some alterations. He did up the muscle tone a little bit while he was sifting through the sliders that appeared in front of him in the same fashion as the boxes of text, but other than that he kept his avatar’s appearance the same as his real life appearance. As soon as he finalized his avatar, another text box appeared.

+++

Avatar adjustments recorded.

Would you like character progression to be Class Bound or Free Form?

Class Bound / Free Form

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Another choice, and while his avatar’s appearance could be considered more important, this was the more critical choice in his eyes. From the little research he did before starting the game, Class Bound character developed allowed players to choose a class and progress through a skill tree as they leveled up. There were of course some variation to the classes, such as specialization, prestiging, or multiclassing, and many of these combinations or just straight class paths proved to be either competent to push a player to endgame, and at times even dominate the space. It was for those that wanted a simpler experience, something that could take a little bit of theorycrafting, but did not rely on it. Free Form, however, was an entirely different beast.

Where the Class Bound player generally trained under a Master to earn their class status, be it an NPC or even another player, Free Form players did no such thing. They started with no class, and rather than Masters their skills would be acquired from Trainers, which again, could be NPCs or other players. The advantage to this was that the Free Form player had the freedom to learn the skills that most suited them or adhered to their playstyle, but there was always the added uncertainty of how the different skills would synergize with one another. He’d read many a horror story on people having to restart their progress due to terrible builds that had already progressed too far to be corrected. At the same time, there were many synergies that he’d seen that were valuable across all situations across the game world.

For someone like him, the appeal of Class Bound progression was tempting. It was convenient, and it would just let him focus on the game. Enjoyment was important, but that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. For his needs, he’d something else. He selected “Free Form”.

As soon as the choice was made his avatar split back into motes of light. They lingered in the air for a brief moment, like a gathering of stars, before they surged towards him. The movement was sudden enough to make him flinch, raising nonexistent hands to block the incoming lights. His vision was blinded by a flash of light, and as his sight cleared his incorporeal hand were very much corporeal, along with the rest of his body. Compared the general weightlessness that he was experiencing before, the addition of a body that felt very much real prompted a brief disconnect that almost resulted in him falling flat on his face. Still, it was a body, with all the motor control of his actual one, so adjusting to it took no time at all. He took some time to examine himself, new but old body and all. From what he could tell, he was now inhabiting the avatar he just created, though with the added addition of a simple shirt and pants. His clothes too, felt very much real, soft, like cotton. He whistled.

“They went all out with the sensory programming didn’t they?” he said to himself as he waved his limbs around. As a final test, he snapped his fingers, smiling at the crispness of the sound it made.

As soon as he was finished, another box appeared before him, displaying two pictures in addition to text.

+++

Please select a starting city.

Retissia

Lit by the auroras and stars above, the city of eternal night is home to a peaceful, mystic people. Rich in magical power, the citizens of Retissia are blessed by plentiful magical flora and fauna that aid in the development of magical skills and practices.

Common Races: Human, Elf, Celestial, Beastkin

Gram

The city of craftsmen is situated within the depths of the Gobi Valley, the natural barrier between the Chobin Desert and the Deepwood. While not as saturated in magical power, the seemingly endless resources of the Valley have made the city a hotspot for aspiring artisans and merchants alike, leading it to become a marvel of technology and the arts.

Common Races: Human, Dwarf, Infernal, Petra

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He took a closer look at the two pictures. True to it’s description, Retissia sat under a night sky filled to the brim with stars and streaks of multicolored lights that went over the horizon. The structure of the city itself might as well have been ripped right from the pages of Tolkien, with brilliant, white buildings that towered over the streets below. That was only part of the city’s make, however, as he noticed a number of buildings that appeared to be more modern in design. They held the sleek, white aesthetic of the older buildings, but there was a more rigidity to their design that made them feel distinctly new from the antiquated towers above. The people who walked the street were dressed in clothes that, while not exactly reflective of modern day fashion, wouldn’t be that out of place if worn out in public in the real world. To amplify the mystical feel of the city, it sat on the coast of a lake that's waters were unnaturally still. Its surface was almost like a mirror, even through the picture. A very tempting choice, all in all.

Gram was a different beast. The city sat at the bottom of what was closer to a basin rather than a valley, surrounded by tall walls built from white stone. Its appearance held a more industrial feel, with smoke stacks that pumped into the city’s skies and bits of machinery, some recognizable like cranes, holographic displays and the like, with others that looked too obscure to identify the purpose of. Even with all of this industry, however, there was still a lot of green that lay dispersed outside and inside of the city. A forest surrounded Gram’s walls, it's trees tall enough to match the height of the city’s barrier, while the inside of the city patches of trees, grass, and other flora filled in the city with just enough color to equalize the industrial aspects of the city. To top that all off, every building in Gram blended architectural beauty with industrial practicality. There were far fewer spires than Retissia, but even the most basic square buildings had noticeable flourishes to their walls such as paintings or carvings, and it all managed to give the city an odd, yet captivating source of beauty.

Magic was tempting, as it was so different from the real world, and that alone almost made him select Restissia out of impulse. The odds of Gram having any sort of Trainer specializing in the magical arts were low, but he knew in his heart that he was always a man that preferred to work with his hands. As much as he knew he would enjoy magic, he felt more resonance with the city of machines and artisans. That, and there was the high possibility that he’d end up in Retissia sooner or later, so he could scratch that itch when he got to it. His mind made, he selected the city of Gram.

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Please enter your Username:

__________

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Thankfully, his choice didn’t require much thought

“Gabriel,” he said.

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Username, Gabriel, selected. Is this correct?

Yes / No

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He selected yes.

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This username is currently in use by 1408 players, would you still like to use this name?

Yes / No

+++

He selected yes again. The uniqueness of his name didn’t matter.

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Understood, username finalized.

Would you like to enter the world of Aelios now?

Yes / No

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It was odd, up until that point he never even considered that he was stepping into what was essentially a completely different world. He’d been so preoccupied with his choices that he’d forgotten to feel excited, but the sight of this text box brought it out of him. His chest went tight with anticipation, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes... yes I am."