Archie opened his eyes now, character creation done, and the real game about to begin.

Argh, gotta stop thinking that way, he struck his forehead with his hand, I’m not Archie in here, I’m...

He did not have a name yet. That had not been part of the character creation. Was he supposed to go by his own name here or was there something further?

He thoughts back and realised that race was also not part of the options. He looked over his body and realised that it was a human as it had ever been. Actually, it looked rather familiar. But why was he in a dressing gown? The kind worn by patients at a hospital.

Looking around the room he felt this was much like a hospital room. The walls were white, the ceiling white, the floor white, and finally the door was also white.

What is it they usually say? he raised a hand so the light that appeared to be emanating from the ceiling ran through his fingers, An unfamiliar ceiling? Something like that... But I thought this was a fantasy game...

There was some slight pain in his neck. He remembered now that the deep dive system had an allowance for pain transmission as well, though it was obviously set to more tolerable levels, no matter how much pain he would go under. He put a hand to the back of his neck and felt a slight bump which seemed unusual.

Suddenly the door sprung open and two armoured figures walked in. The graphics were remarkable for a game which was still in alpha. These figures appeared to be decked out in full armour sets resplendent with a plumed helm. The armour gave off a Japanese feel though. He still wasn’t sure what the setting was, but this was much more the fantasy vibe he had been expecting.

“Ah, I see you’ve woken up,” another man walked in, he seemed out of place compared to the guards. He was constantly wringing his hands, and his eyes darted around the room. His garb made him seem like some sort of doctor.

“Yeah, suppose I have.”

“Good, good. Everything fine? Mind if we run some test?”

“Ah, the usual tutorial stuff, sure, go ahead.”

“Excellent, follow my finger with your eyes,” Archie followed all the instructions as they came, “walk forwards, backwards, turn around, jump. Excellent. Everything seems to be fine. Follow me.”

The doctor walked out of the room and the guards motioned for Archie to follow him. He did so obediently, and they fell in behind him.

“Um, what about clothes?”

“Ah, just wait. Gotta join the others first.”

“Others?”

“Yeah, the others who were brought in with you?”

Of course! This was an MMO or something wasn’t it. Of course, other players would have alpha codes too!

”How many others?”

“Oh, there’s, um, six others. Yes. You’ll be the seventh.”

“That’s not too many is it? Oh, right this is a test of the system. Just a few players to see how it goes?”

The man remained silent.

Ah, he’s an NPC of course, he won’t say anything unless I say the right phrases. Whatever. I’ll just enjoy the game and see if I want to log back in tomorrow.

The corridors started boring, but as they continued further into the complex the plain walls gave way to windowed walled. The panelling reminded him of the Japanese buildings he had seen in manga and anime, ones that usually surrounded a central garden. Lo and behold a garden appeared on both sides, the plant life seeming vibrant an alive.

Really went all out with this. Now there’s just going to be some Yakuza and the feel of a Japanese RPG will be complete!

Archie wasn’t aware of how true his words were when the next moment they walked through a door into a large hall-like room with many people within it. Several guards lines both sides, and a few more stood on the ground before a dais. Atop the dais were two figures.

The first was a skinny man, back facing the entrance. He had dark hair flowing down his back, but it wasn’t enough the hide the phoenix tattoo that covered his back. The colours were vibrant and the tattoo almost felt like it was moving. Beside the man sat a slender woman, cross-legged, covered in a veil.

In the middle of the room where six other people. They were a varied bunch, though currently they all wore the same gown he was wearing. There were three girls and three guys. Archie took the time to study them, if they were to be the six he would be playing this game with.

Most of them were of average height, only two stood out in this respect.

The first was a shorter guy. He had blonde hair and fair features. His stance and demeanour seemed to scream white-collar worker. He yawned while he was waiting.

The taller one was one of the girls. She was lithe, like a gymnast. She stood apart from the guys a bit and seemed to only talk to the other girls. Archie guessed she was probably slightly older than him, but her face had a young look to it.

The other two girls seemed to be in high school like he was. They were surely under twenty. Neither of them really stood out too much, and they just spoke quietly with each other when he entered. They didn’t appear to be saying anything bad, just passing the time.

The other two guys were opposites of each other. One was blonde with a muscular build, he was obviously older, and may have been a construction worker or something. The last had raven black hair and was seriously thin. He seemed nervous and was looking at the guards with darting glances. He could not place any of the ethnicity, but that was the nature of the world nowadays.

The man on the dais did not turn around but his voice filled the room with its presence.

“I am glad that you are all well, and that all seven of you have now woken up.”

Archie walked forward and took his place with the other six. A quick greeting went around, a simple hello, then they all turned to look ahead.

“I am sorry to have brought you all here, against your will, but we are in dire need of your assistance.”

“Pfft, sounds like some isekai story,” said the skinny dark-haired boy.

“Shhh,” said one of the girls, “This might be important. The games only just started. Dialogue like this matters.”

“As I said,” continued the man, “I have brought you here because we need your help. You can refuse, but then what are you going to do? Being in a new place with no real direction,” He let out a hearty laugh at this, “Please, call me Nyx. How may we call you?”

Archie blinked in surprise as an input box appeared in front of his eyes, with a keyboard below it. The other each seemed to be tapping away at the screen. He watched as a couple of them swore a little and furiously began tapping again.

Ah, now I get to choose my name, he thought and then thought more as he tried to choose a name, How about X-AE-A12?

Denied flashed across the screen and the box was empty again.

Fine, what about TR4iT0R?

Denied appeared again, followed by more text this time, Please choose a thematic name, and no not use numbers or symbols not found in normal names...

Normal names? I suppose they are allowing things like dashes and stuff. Whatever. They want something a little more thematic? OH! I get it, the NPCs are going to say the name, so it needs to be pronounceable.

He tapped on the keyboard and then hit enter. It was finally accepted. He looked up and saw that the others were also done now. Some were grumbling a little, but others had a strange glint in their eyes. The woman beside the man raised a folded fan and pointed towards the tall girl.

“You may call me Grif-Madar,” she said proudly.

“Unusual, but acceptable,” the voice from the woman was light and familiar. She pointed towards the next girl who had fiery red hair.

“Since you were being difficult, then so will I be. Call me Hildr van Richteveldr. HA!” She seemed proud of the name.

“Fine, we will try,” the fan moved across again and after each name, she made a short comment then moved on.

“Call me Nala,” said the other schoolgirl, smiling shyly from under her strawberry blonde hair.

“Watatsumi,” came from the dark-haired boy. The name made him feel like a web. He definitely didn’t look Asian.

“I’ll be Mor Rioghan,” exclaimed the sturdy fellow.

The shorter boy yawned, “Um, yeah, I couldn’t be bothered, so just call me Frank.”

The fan finally points towards Archie, “Um, sorry, I wasn’t as creative as the others. But I wasn’t as boring as Frank either. Call me Filpin.”

“You seven are now officially part of this world,” Nyx said, his back still facing them.

They all just stood around in their gowns waiting for the next bit. Quietly chatting together. He knew they had meant for this to be some kind of momentous occasion, but it just didn’t have the gravity it would have had in a single-player game. At least no one had used swear words in their name...