Short summary of the last chapter:

Spoiler : There was an interview with the head of DI, the people that made DIVE. They announced the five winners of the DIVE competition. Brenton won a DIVE pod and free access to DIVE for the rest of his life.

This story is the first time I’ve ever actually written for more than like a day, so if anyone has any suggestions or tips please feel free to let me know. : )

Brenton was startled by the sound of the phone ringing. He jumped slightly, and picked up the phone.

“Hello? This is the Pell family.” He said trying to sound like his heart didn’t almost just jump out of his chest.

“Hello, may I please speak to Mr. Brenton Pell?” asked a cheerful, but to the point sounding woman.

Brenton knew this voice. It had just been played on live television. Why would the owner of DI personally call the winners?

“I am Brenton, how may I help you?” After a brief moment he added, “Mrs. Gray?”

He thought he heard a small chuckle.

“Yes, Mr. Pell. This is Mrs. Gray. I have decided to personally call the winners to let them know we have already shipped their pods and it should be arriving sometime today. Furthermore, I wanted to let you know that all five contestants will be given one special skill or item.”

“Isn’t that a little unfair to the people that didn’t win the DIVE pods?” Brenton asked.

Mrs. Gray laughed a good natured laugh. “Yes well I have never heard of someone complaining about getting special treatment.”

Brenton blushed slightly.

Kelsey continued, “But you are right, every player will get a special skill or item when they join, but the five winners get are going to get a unique item or skill. Five items, and five skills have been prepared, whichever ones aren’t chosen are going to be made into rare boss drops. Ah I think that it’s time to go.”

Brenton heard the doorbell ring. “I’m sorry Mrs. Gray, but it seems like we have visitors, I’ll be right back.” He said apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it Brenton,” Kelsey said, “Have a fun time playing!”

She hung up with a very confused Brenton. He went to the door and opened it to see four large burly men holding a large eight foot tall box.

How did she get this here right at the end of our phone call? Well whatever I guess I will start trying this new game.

After he invited the men in they installed the pod in his bedroom. He had made sure his room was clean and had mad adequate space just in case he won. The setup was done in less than thirty minutes.

It looked amazing. With chrome colored sides, a single dark blue button on the side, and a dark blue semi-transparent lid, it could only be described as something out of a sci-fi novel.

He hit the dark blue button the lid opened on the left side, the hinge was only seen when the door was open. Brenton lay down in the pod. After the door closed everything went black. For a few seconds Brenton fought with an intense feeling of claustrophobia. Then the entire pod went blindingly white.

Damn, he thought to himself, why wouldn’t they give a warning if this thing could blind you?

Suddenly a very mechanical voice was heard.

-Iris scan complete. New user detected. Would you like to start DIVE?-

Brenton heard these pods could respond to thoughts.

He thought yes.

-Very well, starting your first DIVE.-

After a few more seconds he seemed to be in a completely white, but far less blinding room.

He realized his eyes had been closed the entire time.

Well I guess I couldn’t be blinded, still would have been nice to have a warning though.

He was greeted by a voice that was higher than the average person, but with some quality that made it feel very gentle.

“Hello there, my name is Bit-Bee. That’s not my real of course, but that is what I’m going to name my character when I start playing. So since you are the first one here let’s get this started.”

“Get what started?” he asked a little suspicious of this lady.

She had dark tan, lovely skin. She was shorter than him probably about 5’ 4”, with average length black hair, and deep brown beautiful eyes.

“Hehe, I’m going to do something evil.”

He started backing away from this obviously mentally impaired woman.

“Oh come on,” she said as if she were exasperated, “I was only joking. It’s time to make your character. The first character in DIVE I might add.”

“Ok then,” he said still a little uneasy, “what do I need to do?”

“First you have to decide your race. You can then change your body as you wish, although it is recommended that you pick something similar to your own original physique.”

“Why is that?” he asked not understanding why they would put restrictions on character creation in the supposedly most diverse game in the world.

As if reading his thoughts Bit-Bee replied “Well it isn’t really required or anything, but it would be much easier to move around a body that you are used to right? Just about everyone that decided to change their body shape or type in the war sims were extremely disoriented when they stated and exited the pod. Although we have minimized this effect, we still recommend a similar body build so that you are less disoriented the first time.”

This seemed very considerate of the company to go out of their way to tell the users. “Thank you, that’s very nice to know.” He stated.

Bit-Bee seemed to be pleased with his reaction.

“Then I would like to choose my race, can I have a detailed description of them please?”

“Sure thing, first off is Human. They don’t really get any advantages or disadvantages, except they do start with five bonus stats. Also most of the npcs are all humans,” she seemed to whisper the next words so quietly Brenton wondered if she really said them, “at least in the big kingdoms.”

“Next are High Elves, while they are not as physically gifted as the other races they are masters of the arcane arts. After that are Wood Elves, and Dark Elves. Wood Elves are the second best hunters in the game, as well as superior trackers and druids. Dark Elves are descendants of demons and High Elves. They are weaker than High Elves in most magic, but excel in fire magic and dark magic. Unfortunately all Elves are born with low vitality, and strength, but that is easily overcome with magic.”

Brenton interrupted, “If Wood Elves are the second best hunters in the game who is the best?”

Bit-Bee smiled, “Secret~. After the Elves are Dwarves. They have the best earth magic, and are the finest craftsman in the land. They are short in stature but boast high defense and vitality. While they are less agile then their elven counter parts they are more suited for close combat. They also can’t use air magic. Finally there are the Half-Ogres.” She said the last part in almost disdain. “They are stupid and are unable to adjust to combat; the only class they are allowed to take is barbarian, until they can raise their int, wis, or agi by themselves. They have no magic capabilities whatsoever, and it takes twice as much to level up agi, wis, or int, but str, end, and con grow three times as fast.”

Luckily Brenton knew what each of these stats did since he had played rpgs before, but this was a brand new game so he would look at them when he got into the game.

“Hmmmm,” he thought to himself:

I’ve always loved being the healer, so maybe I should go with High Elf, but I also like to make my own items and enchant them so maybe dwarf?

“Then I guess I’ll go human.”

-Race determined Human. Is this correct?-

“Yes,” He said.

“Alright,” Bit-Bee said, “Next is the features, you can choose to change any of your features you want within the bounds of your race.”

Before him appeared a tall lean man. He stood at 5’11” and weighed about 130 pounds. He was toned, but not buff. With his brown hair and eyes, he was considered fairly attractive by the people he went to college with.

“I’ll stay the same.”

“Well I would too if I was as attractive as you.” She gave a playful wink. “So would you like the unique item or the unique skill? Whichever one you choose, item or skill, will be randomly chosen for you. “

“Well,” Brenton decided, “Since items will probably lose value eventually I would like a unique skill please.”

“Okay then. Go ahead and try to move around a bit before the DIVE.” As she said this she disappeared into a puff of smoke. No doubt the smoke was just used to impress him, and just in case she was still watching he feigned an astonished look before starting to move around.

At first he couldn’t move at all, he was completely frozen except for above the neck. He tried to move just his left knee. It worked, but he stumbled and fell, not even able to catch himself as he fell. Eventually, after several minutes and more falls, he managed to take a few staggering steps before he heard an announcement.

-Players being transported to DIVE in 3… 2…1.-