Real life is hard. Also, my computer is dying a slow death. It's dying of slowness...

As always comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 1: Slow Start, Fast Growth

Dead World Online was set in a world that was ravaged by constant war. Monsters roamed the land in great numbers after the Great War to defeat the Demon King ended around five hundred years ago. The players know very little of the war other than how recent it was and that it caused nations to crumble.

The armies of men that once protected the land are now scattered, some turning to banditry while others formed communities to survive. The world had become dangerous for everyone to live in. The gods of the mortal races banded together and made a move to protect their respective peoples. They opened up a portal to another world and used some of their strength to empower certain children born into their world so that they could survive and grow strong.

This was their plan to save the intelligent races, bringing them back from the brink of destruction. However, they did not know what kind of people would come through the portal and into their world. Would anyone even come through or were they destined to watch their people die. The uncertainty and fear filled the gods with despair and they wept. It is said that their tears created a lake. Such a lake was foretold in a prophecy. From the lake a hero would be born, one who would drive back the dark shroud covering the world and restore it to its former state or even greater. That lake is sought by would be heroes as well as those with ill intent for it is the goal of all who seek power to reach that place.

Reid put on the virtual reality helmet as he lay down on his bed. It was almost time for the beta to begin and he wanted to start it the second it opened so that he could be one of the first to see it. The helmet tapped into his consciousness and pulled him into another world when he spoke “Log on.” He entered a round room with different life sized icons for all the games he could play. He didn’t choose any of them and just waited.

Directly in front of him, a large doorway appeared but instead of a door, it was a swirling vortex of light and dark that beckoned him forward into the unknown world. He smiled and walked into the doorway.

“Welcome to Dead World Online, a world ravaged…”

“Skip” He knew everything it was going to say and didn’t need the introduction. He appeared standing in a blank white room. A text screen popped up in front of him.

You have the choice of being born into this world or you may be a traveler from another. This has no impact on race or other aspects of character creation. Choosing to be a native will increase required in town time from two to six weeks.

Native/Traveller

“Native”

Are you sure?

“Yes”

Please select race.

“Human, yes I’m sure.”

Please select bloodline:

1. None (Human)

2. Elven (half-elf)

3. Orcish (half-orc)

4. Demonic

5. Fairy

6. Draconic

“Draconic bloodline. I’m sure.”

Please select traits.

A long list of possible traits to choose from appeared in front of him. Traits were game changing effects placed on characters from the start of the game. They could not be changed and they all had varying levels of effectiveness. Some were small increases to one thing or a skill to start off with. Others were great benefits that came with great drawbacks. Reid was fairly certain which two he would select, but he couldn’t tell if he was making a good decision or not. He decided that he might as well just follow through with his plan, so he chose his traits.

“Traits Hero’s Burden and Lone Wolf. Yes, I’m sure.”

A character customization menu appeared in front of him and prompted him to select a draconic bloodline. He chose the ice dragon bloodline, turned his hair silver as he lengthened it, and made his scaly skin to a greyish white. He left his blue eyes as they were and decided he was done with that much so he touched the three-dimensional finish button and locked in his character’s looks.

-Please select character name

“Frost” he confirmed the spelling when a small window popped up.

-Please select starting city, Frost.

He selected a city in the far North of the continent after spending a minute memorizing the map of the continent that he was shown. After that, everything went dark.

He opened up his eyes to see what were probably his in-game parents. They too were humans with the blood of ice dragons running through their veins. He couldn’t move his body very well and it appeared he was a baby. His parents turned to him and his mother spoke. “We’ll call you Frost,” she said.

Once again, everything went dark and he felt his consciousness slipping away into sleep. His eyes opened again and it seemed that he was a child this time, probably around ten years old. He was in a small room that was occupied by a bed, a desk with a chair, and various children’s toys. Just from the state of the room and the quality of everything around him, he guessed that his family was fairly wealthy. He stood up and was bombarded with system messages.

You have gained a title: PioneerThis title is granted to the first of the potential heroes in this world

+1 to all stats

You have gained a title: FirstbornYou are the first of the chosen ones, gifted power by the gods, to be born into this world. The gods have great hopes for you and wish for you to restore their world

+5 to all stats

Ice Dragon BloodThe blood of dragons flows through your veins. However, it has the impurity of human blood tainting it and reducing its strength.

+10% physical damage reduction

+5% magical damage reduction

+80% cold resistance

+20% ice magic affinity

+10% ice magic resistance

-25% mana

There wasn't anything particularly special about this bloodline. Regular humans had more resistances and health, as well as other perks. Every race, bloodline and sub-race had something that made it a good choice depending on what type of character a player was trying to create. Every race had increased resistances, health, mana, and/or skills. After all, in this world, the players were supposed to be heroic figures granted power by the very gods. If they were just like everyone else, what would be special about them? The real reason he had chosen the bloodline was because he thought it looked cool and because he didn't want to be cold while playing the game. He could have chosen any other race and it wouldn't have mattered.He just thought the Draconic bloodline would be more fun to play as.

Hero's BurdenBeing a hero is never easy…

+75% experience required to level up

Increased stat gain upon leveling up

Lone WolfYou grow faster without anyone to slow you down. You have never needed friends or allies.

+15% experience gained from defeating an enemy when fighting alone

You have gained a title: ChosenYou were born into this world stronger than others with a blessing of the gods.

+50 health

+2 to all stats

Increased intimacy gains with NPCs

Reid had chosen to be born into this world and chose the Hero’s Burden trait despite the gaming community’s heavy criticism of these two selections. It wasn’t clear how much of a stat increase one would gain from the trait and there didn’t seem to be any worthwhile benefits to being a native. However, Reid knew that the game was designed to have no bad choices or options in character creation. Every option was intended to be balanced at the start of the game.

He had already received two titles and a ridiculous amount of stats for a level one character. This proved that being born into the world was just as good as being a traveller.

“Status window”

Frost Winterstorm Lvl 1Health 190/190Mana 105/105Stamina 140/140Strength18Vitality18Dexterity18Stamina18Wisdom18Intelligence18Agility18Luck18Health Regeneration0.28/sMana Regeneration0.28/s

"Hahaha!" Reid laughed, thinking about how overpowered he was becoming.

Reid had chosen two of the options that were considered terrible for anyone to choose when creating a character. The first was choosing to be born into this world which was heavily criticized as being for casuals as it gave everyone else a head start. However, that had already proven to be worth it as he had extremely high stats for a level one character. On the other hand there was the trait Hero's Burden. There was no way of knowing how many extra stats he would gain on a level up. Every level up would give 5 distributable stat points, ten health points, ten stamina, and ten mana. With the Lone Wolf trait, he would need to fight alone and gain 60% more experience per level. He would need to get at least three extra stat points for it to even out. He was expecting at least four extra stat points, otherwise the trait would be worthless.

Reid knew that there were no bad options in the game so he had to wonder just how good it was. Also, there was a level cap at some point in the game so all of the extra stats would make him much stronger in endgame. The only problem was the tournament three months away. If everyone was a much higher level with the two early game handicaps he had, he would lose. Despite these problems, he had a plan. While everyone else was fighting monsters and grinding, he would do the same. When others went to work or school, or took a break from the game, he would still be fighting and would catch up to their levels. He had two handicaps, but others had a big one as well. They had real life to deal with.

At that thought he felt his confidence rise followed by a brief moment of depression. 'It's like I'm a NEET. Not to mention that I'm just making things worse for me with the Lone Wolf perk. Damn. What am I doing? Well, too late too change it. Time to get going.' Frost left the room to go find his pretend parents while getting used to the feeling of the game. While everything looked and felt real, something felt just slightly off, as if to remind players that this world was not actually real. Frost walked down the stairs feeling the walls and decorations on the walls. It all felt so real. The simulations he had done and tests he had helped with weren't this good. Their improvement on Virtual Reality was really amazing. No wonder they were so secretive about it.

He entered the ground floor of their house which appeared to be a shop that sold equipment to adventurers and bought their old gear to sell to others of lower level. It was probably a very lucrative business. His 'parents' appeared to be in the middle of a transaction with random NPC adventurers. After they left, he smiled and said, "You know, I'll be an adventurer once I'm old enough, right?" Reid was still a child at heart so playing the game as a child was amusing to him.

"You're too young to make that decision, don't you think?"

"No. It's set in stone, I'm afraid. I'll be a great warrior." He smiled and waved as he left the house to go explore the streets and begin step one of his plan to become an extremely powerful character. It was time to start creating skills, if he could.

Frost didn't know it but his 'parents' watched him leave the store with confused looks on their faces. "What's gotten into that boy?" his mother asked.

"I don't know, but at least he's more energetic and vocal than normal." The two shook their heads and went back to talking about other things. If anyone had heard their conversation, they might have realized that Dead World Online is more complicated than everyone thought it was. It was entirely a world of its own.