PHQ-Nickname:
Unnamed0DV
Halfquake:
Home00|
Level:
7
Total kills:
17,360
Birthday:
September 22nd 1982
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| Chronicals of the Unnamed, Chapter 2 |
Description:
Continues from Chapter 1 |
 Chapter 2 – Enter The Game
The website was updated a great deal within the next few days with more in depth information that would for a normal game be included in some sort of strategy guide. But for this revolution everything was available. From skills and classes for the first 100 levels, to maps of Lydel and the surrounding environments to actual feeds of current players inside The Game; we couldn’t even think to ask for more.
Each day I was getting more and more excited about it, and with each news story and feature added to the site I was able to realize it was actually happening. Chris had kept pretty much the same attitude, where he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to do it or not, which I still believed had something to do with his brother thinking it was a bad idea, but I hoped he would come around by the time they set it up.
And that day was quickly approaching, according to the website the site would be ready by Friday and accepting signups into The Game. I couldn’t wait; though another side of me in all actuality was pretty scared-or at least wondering if I should be scared.
“You’re doing what?” My dad yelled after I had told him my plans.
I sighed looking to the floor. “You haven’t seen the news?”
I knew the answer to that already before I even finished asking. He rarely watched TV, not even the news. “Of course not and this is exactly why.” His voice shook as he began pacing back and forth until my mom came downstairs.
“What’s happening now?”
“He wants to move into the abandoned theater-.”
“It’s not abandoned it was bought.” I interrupted, almost instantly regretting it as he turned around and glared at me. “Sorry.” I said softly.
“He wants to move into the abandoned theater to live in a fucking game.” My dad finished.
“Not this game thing I’ve been hearing about?” She asked with a frown. I just nodded. “Absolutely not.” She declared.
I stayed quiet as my dad went off again. “You are supposed to get a job Steven, not find some other stupid fantasies about some bullshit game. You’re about to be eighteen for Christ’s sake.”
“Yea.” I said, quickly trying to think of something to follow it as they stared at me. “And that means it’s my choice.” I said finally. “I won’t be living under your roof so you can’t tell me if I can do it or not.”
My dad was stunned as this, probably almost as much as I was. But it was true and I had decided to do it already, and I wasn’t going to let him stop me this time. “Well you live under it now, and I don’t think you’ll be signing up for any fake scam if you’re locked up in a mental institution.”
“For what?”
“For thinking you can go live in a fucking game!” He screamed. My mom held his arm to try and calm him down but he quickly pulled away. “Do you realize how crazy that sounds?”
“Well its for real dad, just because you don’t believe in it doesn’t mean it’s crazy.” I turned and walked out the front door before he could start yelling again. I had made up my mind and there wasn’t anything they could say to change it.
He was screaming for me to come back, and for a moment I was afraid he would start chasing me to actually try and have me committed, but he didn’t and I made it down the block and his yells were soon lost to me as I made my way to Chris’ house.
He opened the door with a smile and a nod and let me in; I held back a sigh seeing Duncan sitting on the couch watching TV shaking his head. “This thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger.” He said.
“Maybe because it’s actually real.” I once again surprised myself with my retort before sitting on the chair next to the couch and glancing at another news show interviewing someone. “Do they know how many people are signed up and inside?”
“Last we heard it was about 7,500. Not sure if that’s counting the people who stayed from beta though.” Chris said sitting down on the couch next to Duncan.
“Have you come any closer to making a decision?”
Chris shrugged as Duncan spoke up. “I’m actually starting to think it might be a good idea.”
I was surprised at this, and apparently so was Chris. “What?” We both exclaimed in unison.
“I want to join it.” Duncan said getting up and going into the kitchen.
“Wait a second.” I got up following him, not intending to let it go that easily. “You were almost as against this as my dad, why the sudden change of heart?”
“It’s real.” He said with a shrug. “And it does sound like it would be pretty cool.”
I looked at him oddly as he put away a bottle of soda and walked past me back into the living room. “I don’t get you sometimes.” I said finally returning to my chair.
“You don’t need to.” He said smugly taking out a cigarette and offering. The two of us shook our heads as I turned back to Chris.
“So does that mean you’re coming too?” I asked hopefully.
Chris just shrugged again getting up and walking to the computer in the corner of the room. “It would definitely be interesting.”
“Oh come on.” I said getting up and standing behind him. “It’ll be a lot better then just interesting and you know it.”
“Maybe.” He said. “But I doubt our mom will be much more receptive to it then your parents.”
I sighed. “Yea and I don’t really want to wait till I turn eighteen to go in.”
“Well I can fix that.” Duncan said, his feet resting up on the coffee table.
“How so?” I asked reading a forum post that Chris was looking at entitled ‘Philosophy of the game. Have they proven the existence of a soul?’ “What is that?” I whispered.
“A pretty heated debate brought on by the way your conscious mind is put into the game.” Chris said as Duncan walked up and patted me on the back hard. I jumped slightly at this turning to him as he smiled at me blowing some smoke in my face.
“Fake ID.”
I waved him away with a nod. “Maybe.” I offered softly.
“Whatever.” He said with a shrug going upstairs as I turned back to the computer.
Chris had been interested in philosophy for awhile now, as well as the many religions of the world, though I’m pretty sure he never truly believed any of it. “You know how they use the lights and sounds to apparently put you in a receptive state?”
I nodded. “Well the popular theory is that this is just another form of an out of body experience, that they have somehow found the right combination of sounds and light to put you into a highly meditative state to somehow cause a permanent-or at least controlled for however long you choose out of body experience, focused and centered in The Game.”
“Ok.” I said, trying to follow.
“Well that means that there could be something inside you coming out to connect to the game, and a lot of religious people are calling it the soul.”
“Makes sense.”
“Some are even sure that we could be in the game world with just the light and sound technique they use without having to be hooked up to the synapse, which is just what they have to do to have everyone’s out of body experience connect in one game world, though most consider it required for the feelings to be sent to the brain, which of course is bringing up another debate of whether or not these feelings will transfer over to the “soul” when we are somewhat out of our bodies.”
“Well I see why you chose the word interesting then.” I said moving back to the couch, not really interested in that sort of thinking at the time and more focused on the actual experience of The Game. “You think Duncan is serious about the fake id?”
“Probably.” Chris said still deeply involved in his reading. “He knows those kinds of people. Why don’t we just wait the month though?”
“Because I don’t want to wait the month.” Determination filled my voice for the first time as I got up and began walking to the stairs. I was finally excited about something in this life; albeit another way to totally escape it, but I still counted it. “I’m gunna ask him.”
“Ok.” Chris said still lost in his reading as I went upstairs to Duncan’s room.
He was sitting at his desk on his computer listening to music and surprisingly reading The Game’s official site. I tapped him on the back as I sat down on his bed next to the desk. He turned around taking off his headphones and grinned at me. “What up?”
“About the fake id…”
“I can get it for you for pretty cheap, though where we’re going I guess we don’t really need to worry about money anymore huh.” He said with a chuckle.
“Yea…” I said uneasily, still somewhat confused by his sudden change of heart. “Anyway, we won’t get into any trouble or anything right?”
“Nah, I can give my friend a call and have him come over, quick picture and he’ll have it made by tomorrow, or Friday.”
“Great so then we can go in The Game on Friday.” This was more an affirmation to myself then an answer to him.
“Is the site going to be ready by then?”
“Says so.”
He clicked his mouse a few times. “Huh, well you sure are in a rush aren’t you?”
I got up leaning in a little closer. “If I could I’d be in there already.” I whispered with an excited smile.
“So you want me to call him?” He asked as I left the room.
“Yea, please.”
That night wasn’t any better then the morning. My father yelled at me pretty much constantly when I got home until he sent me to my room to go to sleep. He actually took the plug from my monitor to my keyboard so that I couldn’t get on, but luckily I kept an old one from a previous computer and got on as soon as I figured I had given them enough time to fall asleep.
He was extremely mad at me for running out on him this morning, and again told me that there was no way I could do this. I didn’t want to escalate things so I didn’t tell him about my plans, but lying in my bed thinking waiting for them to sleep had me wondering if I really did just want to run away possibly never to come back.
I had no problem leaving my father, but my mother I loved. I didn’t want to disappoint her, but at the same time didn’t really believe I could convince her that this was what would make me happy.
I was sitting at the computer when an instant message from Chris popped up. ‘I’m gunna do it.’
‘Great! You’re brother’s friend said I’ll definitely have the ID by Friday so we can go in then’ I responded. Duncan’s friend has shown up a few hours after my little talk with him and after a few questions took my picture and left. We had decided to make my birthday this month since it was so close anyway, and I hoped it would look at least somewhat legitimate.
‘You’re really excited about this huh’
‘Of course aren’t you?’
There was no response for a few minutes. ‘Yea’
I sighed, wondering if he really wanted to do this or if it was just tagging along with me and his brother. ‘You sure?’
‘Yea, just a little nervous I guess’ Came another response after another few minutes.
‘Well try not to worry its gunna be great’ I typed, hoping to reassure him.
‘Thanks, I’m gunna head to sleep now I think’
‘Ok, I’m going to keep reading, I’ll talk to you tomorrow’ With that he logged off and I found my way back to The Game’s page, reading until the sun came up, my thoughts swimming in my head. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep even if I tried.
The next day was mostly spent arguing and fighting more with my parents. Not getting any sleep kept me pretty quiet and when given a break I took a little nap after lunch. I had talked with Chris who informed me they still hadn’t gotten the ID, and by the end of the day I was worried that our plans wouldn’t work out.
I slept that night, getting up early to see if Chris was on to find out if he heard anything about it; but he wasn’t. I looked at the clock to see 6:43, pretty surprised I had slept so long and just realizing that I didn’t have any nightmares. I let out a soft almost unheard laugh; The Game was already making me a happier person.
I made my way downstairs to get some cereal and found my mom sitting at the kitchen table. She looked at me when she heard me and just shook her head at me taking a drag on a cigarette.
“You don’t smoke.” I half questioned as I stopped a few feet away from her.
“I do when my son is thinking of running away.”
“I’m not running away.” I said with a sigh sitting down next to her. “I’m moving on…what’s the difference between moving out into this or moving out and living life out here?”
She just looked at me her mouth half open. “It would seem like an obvious answer Steven. Your talking about fantasy, it’s not real no matter what kind of technology they have.”
“Can’t you accept that this is what will make me happy?”
“Oh stop with that, you just don’t want to get better.” She was annoyed now. “Life is what you make of it and if all you do is whine and bitch then its not gunna be that fun, but you can’t just run away from it even more. You have to work at it and get better.”
I just lowered my head. “This life isn’t for me…it never was.”
“What do you mean?” She asked after a moment of shocked silence, with a hint of fear in her voice.
“I don’t belong mom! I’ve never fit in and I have no interest in doing so. Going out and getting a job I hate to barley survive so I can make other people rich, all this work for a supposedly better life that I’ve never seen any proof of…especially not in this house.”
She was even more shocked at that and closed her mouth standing up and turning away from me. “How dare you.” She whispered harshly.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t want…” I sighed struggling to find the words.
“Don’t want what?”
“Don’t want my leaving to just be some escape in the night; I want you to be ok with my decision. I want you to understand this is what I really want and I am going to do it.”
She just sighed sitting down. “I know we can’t stop you if you are truly set on doing it, but at least we have a few months to try and make you realize you’re making a mistake. Cause as crazy as this company is I doubt they will let a minor sign in.”
Not wanting to give away my plans I hid any emotional reaction and just sighed as she would have expected it. “Well just remember this is what I want with my life.”
“You can’t possibly know that.” I stood to walk away. “It will just be a mistake!” She paused, “just be glad you have nothing to sign over to them if you do make it so when you realize it you’ll have something to come back to.”
“And if it isn’t, if I decide to stay and live my life there?”
She looked at me with sorrow in her eyes. “Then I will miss you.”
I sighed again, not sure what to say next as she went back to staring off into space. “I’ll miss you too.” I said finally before turning around and heading back to my room.
It wasn’t until I got back and sat down at my desk that I realized I didn’t get any food, any my stomach was rumbling. Not wanting to go back down I took a sip of the warm water that was left over from last night to tide me over and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.
After I got out my mom had gone back to bed or at least wasn’t in the kitchen and I was able to get something to eat, Chris logging on around 7:30 to tell me the good news of the ID. Duncan’s friend actually ended up dropping it off a little after 4 am, and they were holding it for me, ready to go.
I checked The Game’s site and sure enough it was updated saying that the site in our town was now open and accepting applications. I quickly got dressed and as quietly as possible left the house, spending a minute in front of my parents room saying a silent goodbye.
I practically ran to Chris’ house, my heart racing, my mind still going a mile a minute and the slight fear I had been feeling getting a bit stronger as I realized what I was actually doing.
What happened if my parents came after me, found out where I was and told them I wasn’t 18, would it matter if I was 18 by then? Would they force me to come back out, maybe for good? I tried my best to ignore these thoughts as I made it to Chris’, the door already open and him waiting for me sitting at the computer.
I walked over after closing the door to see him hold out a small id card. “Well, I guess I’m eighteen.” I said catching my breath.
Offering me an obviously nervous smile he handed it to me. “Happy birthday.”
We arrived at the site about an hour later. None of us wanted to wait any longer; possibly because of excitement and probably before we would lose our nerve. The old movie theater, which hadn’t been used in years had been made up quite nicely in such a short period of time, they must have been planning it for longer than I had thought.
The outside of the building was totally changed, sleek silver metal covered it entirely and the doors were now automatic. A big banner over them read ‘The Game’; and of course we weren’t the only ones heading inside.
Upon entering we saw the entire inside had been changed as well. Walls were removed and after going through a second set of automatic doors directly after the first, we entered a large open area, with people lining up in front of counters in the center.
“Well this is it.” I said gathering whatever courage I had inside of me and leading the way to the back of the line.
Most of the room was bare, the same metallic substance of the outside covering all the walls and making up the composition of the counters. The only light was artificial, and it was air conditioned almost too cold, I hugged my body as we waited.
The wait was pretty long, making me wish there were some TVs or at least music to distract myself from my thoughts. We made nervous conversation with each other, but usually it didn’t last and consisted of a variety of this is going to be awesome comments.
After an hour and a half it was almost our turn. There was just one group of people left in front of us, and I could make out what was behind the counters. It looked like most if not all of the original construction was changed, and one huge wall was now separating the room we were in now with another, two small double doors in the center. I assumed this was where everyone who was in The Game was, and as the last people were called and we were next my nervousness raised even more, my mouth dry and my heart racing.
“Well I guess this is it.” Duncan said somewhat mocking me in a veiled attempt to deny his own possible fear as we watched the people filling out forms and talking, each silently wondering who would finish first. “Next.” I jumped being pulled back to reality looking to the farthest counter on the right, a young woman smiling and waving us over.
All three of us approached as the same time as she greeted us. “Welcome to The Game, are all three of you friends?” We nodded. “We are offering group sign ups that will allow your names to be automatically added to your consoles so you can find each other when your inside.” She said warmly.
“Ok, that sounds good.” I said halfheartedly.
“I know it seems like a lot of work but it’s really easy to get inside. We just need to see some IDs to make sure you are eighteen, and you’ll all need to sign this.” She said offering out three contracts.
“What are these?” Chris asked as we all took out our ID’s. I was nervous as I handed her mine but she seemed to accept it.
“Just saying that you entered The Game of your own free will, and also if you decide to stay in the game you will sign over your possessions to us.”
“We aren’t signing anything over by signing this are we?”
“No no.” She said shaking her head. “This just tells us that if you do decide to stay in the game that you agreed to have your things signed over to us. It has no effect if you come out of the game or anything. It’s mainly there incase you don’t want to come out just to say you want to stay in.”
She nodded her head slightly as she looked over the IDs before handing them back. “I’m also going to need fifty dollars from each of you.” She took the cash and wrote down on some forms. “I see you two have the same last name, siblings?”
Chris nodded. “Yea.” Duncan mumbled uncaringly skimming the form and signing it at the bottom.
“We offer a sibling program inside The Game as well; you can be brothers in there if you want.”
Chris shrugged looking at Duncan who just rolled his eyes. “Sure whatever.”
She smiled taking his form as Chris signed his. “Great.” She took his and me; the one who was most excited about it was hesitating. As she made eye contact I swallowed hard signing it and handed it over. “Ok just head through those doors back there and someone will get you into The Game.”
“How do we…”
“It will all be explained to you.” She interrupted, pointing and waving for the next person in line to come.
I shrugged to the others and we made our way across the rest of the room to the doors. Heading through we saw the other side of the building was much the same as the first, though it was a lot more then just half.
Set up in rows throughout the entire place were metal bed like devices, with a large metal headpiece that almost looked like half an MRI machine that was hanging above them. There were already plenty in use that I could see, the headpiece not hanging above but covering whoever’s’ face was lying underneath.
There was someone standing by the door in a uniform, and a bunch of other people waiting just beyond the doors in a small area outlined with silver marker or something on the floor. The man in the uniform looked at us and smiled. “Just a few minutes.” He said handing me a small robe that looked almost like a hospital gown.
He pointed us a few feet away on the edge of the wall where a set of changing rooms were set up, and we each made our way to them and changed into their robes. I was extremely cold now and realized there was no back to the lower portion of it, but more of a flap.
I made my way back to the waiting area with Chris and Duncan watching as someone dressed in the same silver uniform as the man who gave us the clothes (which looked more like tin foil then clothing) came and took a large group of people waiting away.
Within a few minutes a few people came in from behind as another group was led away, and another person quickly came after pointing out five or six people in front of us and me and Chris. “He’s with us too.” I protested, pointing to Duncan.
“Ok, you too.” The man said leading us away from the entrance and down the same row of beds. There wasn’t much room between them so we all went single file, and when we reached the end there was some of the people we were waiting with already laying down; a person each working on getting them situated into the machine.
The man instructed the people in front of me each onto a bed, and made his way to me, as I again hesitated trying to look and see what was happening with everyone else. “Just relax.” He said laying me down flat on my back, and pulling off the flap at the back of my robe.
I realized that there was a small section of the bottom of the bed that had a hole in it and was hollowed out, and didn’t really want to think about it as my heart continued to beat faster and faster, my head really unable to move in the neck piece that was fashioned into the top of the device.
I looked strait up at the headpiece, which on the inside had numerous bulbs of different sizes and color, with earpieces connected as well on each side that looked more like earplugs. “I’ll see you in there!” Chris yelled to me; I couldn’t tell if his voice was nervous or excited.
I managed to shout back an enthusiastic “yea!” as best I could while someone approached the side of my bed and looked at me.
“What’s going to happen?” I asked.
“Have you read about the process on the site?” The man asked, taking my blood pressure.
“A little.” I managed to choke out, my throat suddenly very dry.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about.” He said reassuringly. “You will see flashing lights and hear noises, and you will enter a sort of trance like meditative state. It’s not uncomfortable or painful in any way.”
“What about the injection of the nerve thing?”
“You may feel a slight pinch, but by then you may be already too disassociated from your body to really notice. We’re going to also inject you with a small dose of Ketamine to help you become more receptive to the procedure.”
I looked at him. “Ketamine? Isn’t that illegal?”
He shook his head. “No it is used as an anesthetic, though usually only with children. It is necessary for this procedure though and has been approved, don’t worry.” I nodded, or at least tried too as he searched for a vein. “You may feel a slight burning when it is injected, but we are going to hook you up to an IV now before hand so you won’t have to worry about much pain with it.”
“Why do I need that?”
“You know, just to feed you and keep you alive.” He said lightly. I managed a weak smile as I winced with the pain. “All done,” he smiled at me. “You ready?”
“I think so…how do I do all this stuff once…the procedure happens? Do I need to keep my eyes open?”
“It will all be explained to you. Just try and stay calm you have nothing to worry about, it doesn’t matter if your eyes are open or closed.” His voice remained as serene as ever as he lowered the headpiece over my face. He didn’t lower it totally, and with the little remaining light that was left I could see his hands reach up to the ear piece and pull each of them out. They were connected by wire, and he placed them each in my ear pretty snuggly, totally cutting off any sound stimuli.
Once he was finished with that my anxiety reached its peak. I could feel the headpiece lock into the table as all light was cut off and I was left in complete darkness. The man’s attempts at keeping me calm had utterly failed.
Panic was beginning to set in as I wondered if I had made a mistake. I almost prepared to get up and run away from it when the first flashes started. They were bright and fast, and I closed my eyes at the suddenness of it. That didn’t change how bright they were, and as they continued to change patterns I could make out colors flashing around the center of my vision. I didn’t know if this was colored lights or hallucinations, but I kept my eyes closed as my body began to feel light.
Suddenly I heard a high pitched tone tear across the inside my head as the lightness continued to spread through my body. My right arm felt extremely heavy as the lights somehow became brighter and brighter.
The heaviness from my right arm quickly spread throughout my chest down to my legs, and for a moment I thought I was dieing. I couldn’t perceive myself to be breathing or hear a heart beat, and pretty soon my entire body was a foreign concept to me. I couldn’t feel any part of it and in all actuality couldn’t even remember ever having one.
The combination of the lights and the high pitched sound had me figuring I had gone blind and deaf, though the concept of sight and sound was also foreign. My mind was blank for a moment I suddenly felt my lower body, a very small but noticeable pressure under my left leg.
But as quickly as it came it was gone, and I was back in the brightness that continued to intensify. The tones that I heard became more sharp and echoed throughout my entire being, as the flashing seemed to become one steady stream of dazzling light that was brighter then anything I could have possibly imagined.
It continued to get lighter as a thought of my discussion of the soul popped into my existence, and I wondered if I was now existing as my soul, and I could feel myself rising and rising, with so much intensity that the stream of whiteness became all encompassing, it was my entire existence and it was more vivid and pure then anything I had ever experienced before.
As it continually got brighter and the tone continually got more high and the rising was felt more and more intensely I felt my essence almost peak, and suddenly out of nowhere the sound vanished, the whiteness turned to dark, and the rising leveled out and I felt as if I was floating in a position I had never felt before or even could be explained in the language of man in a void of darkness.
I was almost positive I had died, and wondered what would happen next, and for a time nothing did. I stayed floating in this place, my body, or whatever was left of it feeling calm and at peace. Through the time I almost totally forgot about that body and the life it had, when eventually I heard a voice.
“Welcome Steve.” I couldn’t tell if it was coming from inside my head or me since I didn’t really have a head, or from within whatever space I had now occupied. “Don’t be alarmed.”
“Who are you?” Again I wasn’t sure if I had spoken this, or if it was thought by me, but whoever-or whatever this was heard me fine.
“I am an artificial intelligence program designed to guide you through the character creation process and help you enter The Game. You may call me CC.”
“So I’m in The Game? I thought they said the AI was only used on NPCs that were inside of the world and they weren’t allowed to know they were actually computers?”
“As a rule yes this is true, but I am a special program aimed to help guide and accommodate your transition to The Game; as well as create your character and answer any questions. I am not technically a part of The Game nor real life; though I can communicate with you in The Game through your guide on your console.”
“So I’m not in The Game?”
“Not yet. This is a space designed just for my program, to make the characters before implanting them into The Game’s world. You can consider it a sort of staging area.”
“Like the Matrix?”
“Exactly.”
“So what do I do?”
“We make your character. First things first, what would you like to look like?”
“I’m not sure…”
“Well would you like to look as you did in real life?” As he asked that colors began to form in the distance of the darkness and I could see myself begin to materialize. “You are about the same age as the young adult model so you can look virtually identical to your previous self in The Game if you wish.”
I somehow managed to zoom into the brilliant colors that made up my former body and examined it from a third person perspective. “How am I doing this?”
“Everything you are seeing is made with the help of your own mind. You have total control of everything you see, and can change whatever you want to look however you want.”
“And this is how I make my character?”
“Yes.”
I surveyed the body. “What about muscle?”
“Body mass is attained in game through stat gain. Endurance and strength are the main governing stats with agility playing a secondary role. You will essentially be able to tone your body to your own specifications through tools provided in game in ways of exercise.”
“So it’s pretty realistic then?”
“For the most part, but since through the leveling process you can gain so many points that your body mass would become huge certain restrictions have been put into place. You can exercise according to three categories, though they have unlimited customization for each person within the boundaries.”
“And these boundaries are?”
“Slim build, where even with high strength and endurance you still appear small compared to a muscular person, this will focus on exercises to concentrate the muscles within your body while keeping a small and slim but tone build.
Next is medium, where the muscles are normally grown as they would be in real life. The exercises focus on normal growth and these would be the usual body type, ranging between slim and huge.
Finally, just added today there is big build, where with much work the muscles can grow even further, and can possibly even change your entire body shape to a larger taller bigger creature. This requires a lot of work, and for the latter extreme work which is considered to be very long, hard and almost impossible.”
“Some?”
“Some of the NPCs. Things added to the game are rarely added at a pure technical standpoint, unless it is a fix or tweak to certain mechanics. There will always be rumors and myths about certain things, mainly upheld though NPC communication. Though many of the more hidden aspects most NPCs do not know about.”
“Wait, so there could be things like hidden classes that no one knows about?”
“Correct, as well as less public ones that may require getting into specific circles of NPCs that will try and keep it secret. But you will enter the game as a commoner and any class questions you have can be answered later.”
“Ok.” I said focusing back on the projection of me. “I guess I will keep my basic face structure.” I said as it almost imprinted into the blackness, becoming more vivid and realistic. “Do I have any limitations of hair or eye color?”
“No, any color you wish. Hair color can be changed in Desex, but eye color cannot so choose carefully.”
I wondered how I would look with green eyes, as the color changed instantly from blue to green. “I like that.” I confirmed to myself, and changed my blonde hair to dark brown. “What about the cut…does hair grow back?”
“Yes, and you can change your hairstyle whenever you want by allowing it to grow.”
“Allowing it?”
“You can turn growth on and off, when you find a hair style you like you can keep that for as long as you’d like, and then if you wish to change it can turn on growth and have it cut a different way.”
“Ok…” I had my short hair get even shorter; a buzz cut…like one would get in the military, and liked the setup. I let myself grow a slight goatee, something I never was able to do in real life, and was mostly satisfied with the way I was looking. “Will I need to wear glasses?” I wondered, eyeing my ears.
“No. You can for show but it is not required.”
At that I made my glasses disappear and lightly moved my ears that had started to stick out slightly because of them a bit straiter and closer to my head. I also totally cleared my skin of any problems, a couple of bumps and a birthmark, as well as any acne that had found its way to the image. “None of that will come back will it?”
“Not if you don’t want to.”
I looked at the image again, zooming in and out and looking at me from all sides before fully satisfied. “Well I think I like it.”
“Very well, upon reaching the adult model in one year would you like to do this again, or would you like it to be an accurate portrayal of the aging of this image?”
“Well what would it look like?” Another model formed from light and color to answer my question before I even finished asking it as I looked at the future me. The facial structure was what I mostly looked at as the hair could be changed. “I like it.” I said after the same inspection and the two images disappeared into the darkness.
“So you’ll take the predetermined avatar?”
“Yea.”
“Now you can determine your starting stats, as well as the build you would like to be. You can also choose no build if you are not planning on taking the adventure route. Your build choice can be changed in game but you cannot change the choices for your starting stats, so choose carefully.”
“Ok…remind me of the stats again?”
“Strength; this will determine how strong you are. This will determine the amount of damage you can inflict in combat, as well as how much you can carry. It also plays a direct role in muscle development for your build. It is the most important stat for a strait melee class, and very important also as secondary stats of the agile melee classes.
Dexterity determines how accurate you are. Not just in combat but using sub skills as well. It also determines how well you can block with a shield or other device. Along with agility they are the most important stats for the agile melee class, and are also very important as secondary stats for pure melee classes.
Agility determines how fast you are. It determines how well people can hit you in melee, and how fast and successfully you can maneuver. It also determines how much stamina you have and how graceful you are. It is a secondary role in muscle development determining how much and how long you have to work out for to maintain and strengthen your build. As said it and dexterity are the most important stats for the agile melee class, and they are also very important as secondary stats for pure melee classes.
Endurance determines how tough you are. It determines the amount of health points you have, and how many are taken away when hurt. It also plays a direct role in muscle development more so with intense work of advancing the build then basics. It is important to all classes as it determines how long you will stay alive, but more important in the agile melee and magic classes who don’t depend as much on armor.
Intelligence determines how smart you are. It also plays a direct role in the use of magic, which makes it the most important skill for the magic classes, though it can be important to everyone with its help with social skills and logic.
Charisma determines how charismatic you are and helps you mostly with social situations. A good leader has to be charismatic, as well as any higher ups in the kingdom’s army or running a shop, therefore is also an important skill for non adventure classes. It also influence some rogue skills as well as magic, charm and persuasion skills. Someone with high Charisma and Intelligence could easily dominate the conversation over someone with low intelligence.
You are given 75 startup points to put in whichever stats you want, and I must remind you again to think carefully about it when thinking about which class you will ultimately want to peruse.”
“You mentioned agile melee classes, what exactly are those?”
“Rogue, ranger and monk type classes.”
“When you say monk you mean like a fist fighter?”
“Yes.”
I had always loved playing monk classes in the games that had them, though some games used Monks as names for their Clerics so I had to make sure. With that in mind I decided my most important stats I would need would be strength dexterity and agility, though I would also need a lot of endurance, and I defiantly didn’t want to be dumb or even worse shy and quiet like I was in real life, so I would also need a good amount of Intelligence and Charisma.
“I’ll start off giving 10 to each of them.” I decided first off.
“That will leave you with 15 more points to give out.
“Give five more to dex and agility.”
“Five more.”
“Two more to strength and endurance, and one more to intelligence.”
“So your stats will be strength: 12, dexterity: 15, agility: 15, endurance: 12, intelligence: 11 and charisma: 10. Are you positive this is what you want?”
“Yes.”
“Done, now you have the choice of being born inside the city of Lydel or to arrive some other way.”
“Arrive some other way.”
“Do you wish to be born in one of the other villages under the rule of the kingdom of Lydoria, would you like to have survived in one of the settlements of the old rebellion, or would you rather not know?”
I thought about this for a moment. “If I don’t know, is it just randomly chosen?”
“Yes.”
“Can I choose to be from the old rebellion, but also not remember?”
“Interesting...” The voice was silent for a moment. “Yes that can be done, upon your implementation into The Game you will have forgotten the request and will not know where you are from. This will also by default choose you as an orphan, at least not knowing who your parents are.”
“That’s fine.”
“I will finally need a name for your character. Since you are to be an orphan with no memory of your parents or where you came from a last name is not required.”
Again I thought about this for awhile, I was never good at making names and usually just clicked the random name generator on most games until one sounded somewhat acceptable. I didn’t want to do that this time around though…but I didn’t want to keep my real life name either. I finally decided and asked the question hoping it would be allowed. “Can I be Unnamed?”
“Interesting...” Was the repeated response and yet again I was left in silence for some time. “I understand it is acceptable. You will be known as Unnamed.”
If I had a face I would smile. “Alright, anything else?”
“That is all for character creation, once in the game you can use the guide to learn about anything and everything you can imagine.”
“Alright, thanks.”
“It is not a problem…welcome to The Game.”
I suddenly felt strange, as if my existence was being stretched and skewed. I felt the black space slipping away as I could once again start to feel my body. As I became more and more aware I could feel myself crouching and the feeling of soft ground on my hands and legs.
Realizing that I had my eyes closed, and opened them to see the short grass blowing in-between my fingers. I blinked, focusing on it… the world having the same beyond real look as the videos when I understood what had happened. I was in The Game.
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