Chapter 2: How to (not) create a character

“Yo, Phillip. Are you busy today? I was wondering if you wanted to hang out, maybe we could go pick up our copies of the new VRMMO coming out today.” After I put my phone to my ear I hear this annoying feminine voice.

“Go to hell Cecilia, you woke me up from my wonderful dream.” I snarl in to the phone.

“And you wonder why you don’t have any friends?”

“Nope, I am willingly mean to everyone. I call it ‘Equal Opportunity’. Get with the times already, Cecilia.”

“You’re still a pain, so you wanna come with me or nah?”

“I’ll go, don’t you worry your… head, I guess.”

“Isn’t the saying, ‘Don’t worry your pretty little head’!? Why did you drop part of it!?”

“For starters, I don’t think your head is little. I distinctly remember you telling me that you had to buy larger hats because your head is slightly larger than the average persons.”

“I can understand that much, but why didn’t you at least include the pretty!?”

“Cause I didn’t feel like it. Anyways, I’ll see you in an hour, because knowing you, you are either outside my house already, or you are on your way.”

“I’m at your door, let me in.” Cecilia then knocks on my door. “No, please let me in! It’s cold outside!”

“Oh, would you look at the time. I think I have to get ready for work.” I smile as I hang up the phone. I stay laying in my bed for half a second before…

“Let me in or I’ll break down your fucking door!”

“I can just call the police then!” I take a deep breath, “Help! Someone’s trying to break in to my home!” I shout, but just loud enough for Cecilia to hear. I don’t actually need the police here.

“Phillip, just let me in already!” Cecilia hits the door as I get to it. The door shakes slightly, but stays on the hinges.

“Oi now. What are you gonna do if my door actually br- oof!” I suddenly receive a strong tackle from Cecilia.

I curl up on the ground in a ball from the impact. She was trying to actually break down my door, but instead, broke me!

“Ah, whoops.” Cecilia scratches her head as she stands up. I just glare at her. “Ah, sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to tackle you, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting you to actually open up your door… well, you’re not really cleaned up at all. Don’t you have work soon?”

“I was fired… technically? Ah, it’s complicated. But I don’t have work. So I was sleeping in, or was until someone rudely woke me up and showed up to my house unannounced.” I stand up and dust myself off. “Go grab something from my kitchen while I get cleaned up. Oh?” I look outside and look around, “Where’s Mark? Isn’t he always with you?”

“We broke up. I finally saw that he wasn’t good for me.” She sighed. “After I found out he cheated on me, I moved out… and I actually don’t have anywhere to go. He was sneaky and he owned everything. He was planning on throwing me out.”

“Well. My condolences. I hope your family at least takes you in.” I sigh as I look around awkwardly.

“About that… my parents moved to a different country. So I don’t really have anywhere to go…”

“NO. NO. I will not let you live here! You teased me through all of high school. Even while you were in and out of relationships. I can only imagine what someone like you would do with someone like me alone. No.”

“Please!” She gives me puppy dog eyes.

“No! You have a job, buy your own dammed house!”

“Come on!” She gets down and puts her head down to the ground, “Please let me live here for a few days while I get my stuff together!”

“Fine. But the moment you do anything out of line, I kick you out immediately. That includes, trying to shower with me, assaulting me while I am asleep, and walking around without clothes. Your important bits must be covered at all times.”

“Yay!”

“Also, you help out with cleaning and meals… speaking of meals, looks like I might have to get proper food now.” I sigh, “I better get something good in my next life for this.”

“I could give you… never mind. That statement would get me removed from this house. Thank you so much! I owe you a lot now. You have no idea how much this means to me.” She hugs me quickly as she goes out around the corner of my house and grabs a large suitcase…

“You brought that here!? What if I said no?” I bring my hand to my head.

“Your house wasn’t my first stop… but don’t be sad, it wasn’t my last option!” She smiles as she drags the luggage up my steps.” She pauses. And frowns, “But I do have a sma~~~ll problem.”

“The way you dragged that word probably means that it isn’t a small problem. Just out with it.” I sigh as I grab Cecilia’s stuff for her and show her to an empty room.

“Well… I just preordered… a VR pod… and they need an address to deliver it to… today…” As she finished talking I slam my head on the nearest wall. “If it’s really that big of an issue… I can always just get my money back… but I really wanted to try it.”

“Fuck you and everything you stand for! Sell it and go buy a house!”

“Please!” She gets down on her knees and grabs my hand. “Please Phillip, let me bring it here. I’ll let you use it too!”

“I don’t need it! I already have one! Plus, it can only be used by one person!” I force her to stand up and I walk over to a door that opens to a set of stairs going down. “Look down there! What do you see!?” I shout at her.

“Holy shit! You got one of the ten prototypes!?” Cecilia practically jumps down the stairs to look at it. “How did you… no. The news said someone won one of these in a lottery. They said his name was Phillip, but they never released a last name for fear of people going to kill him! That was you?”

“Yep! That’s why you should just sell yours and get a house instead. Save up for a little bit and then get your pod.”

“I see…” She sits down on the stairs looking at the VR pod that would put supermodels to shame. I walk over and pat her shoulder and smile.

“Hey, you can’t even use this one. They are bound to you and you alone, remember, so even if they get stolen, no one else could use it. You have to send it back to the company if you want it to be used by someone else.”

“I thought you were going to console me, not make me feel worse.”

“Despair! Feel despair Cecilia!” I say with an evil laugh. I notice Cecilia smile and starts laughing happily. “But you know.” I motion to the other side of the room and sigh, “There is enough space for a second pod down here. Let them know you can have it set up here.”

“Really…”

“Yes really. I know I said a couple of days just a bit more than a minute ago… but you’ve been a good friend to me through my life, even if you did tease me in the younger grades. You were a slightly respectable person nearing the end of high school. We will have to write up a contract and I may make you pay rent and we will have a few more rules.”

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“Thank you so much!” Cecilia stands up and hugs me with a huge smile on her face. “You have no idea how much this means for me!”

“I probably don’t. I will say that I will be strict though, and when you move out, don’t just run away, I require two weeks of notice.”

“Thank you.” Cecilia says in a quiet voice as tears stain my shirt. I was thinking about pushing her off of me, but now isn’t the time to be callous. I gently hug her back as she quietly cries.

To be honest, she isn’t bad looking though. A good looking girl crying happily in your arms, I don’t think any man could push her away coldly. Everything about her screams average though. Average height, average build, long brown hair, hazel eyes. I’m not in to her, but there is probably a huge crowd that would be.

I’ll just let her cry for a while… but my back is already starting to hurt.

---A month later---

“Phillip, breakfast is ready!” Cecilia calls for me from the kitchen. I stand up and stretch.

“Was it your turn to make breakfast today?” I say as I make my way in to the kitchen. “I could have sworn it was my turn.”

“Don’t worry about it. Today is a special day for both of us, I thought the better cook should make some food for this day.”

“Oh yeah, today the servers,” I yawn in the middle of my sentence, “the servers for the new VRMMO open up.”

“You don’t sound too excited. I know I could barely sleep last night.” She smiles as she puts a plate in front of me. Waffles, eggs, and bacon.

“I am, it just doesn’t affect me as much as it does others. I’ve played in the VR pod for a while and some of the fun things that were released really let me get the feel for using VR properly.” I start to eat my food.

“The servers open in five hours, do we have anything we need to do before that?” Cecilia asks as she starts to eat her own plate of food.

“Uh, I don’t think we do. We have enough food for the week. We went shopping yesterday. We have all the house cleaned up.” I tilt my head. “Oh, there’s your new relationship. How’s that going?”

“Not too well.” She sighs as she stabs a large piece of bacon with her fork. “Guys tend to not want to pursue you when you tell them, ‘Hey, I live with my friend, you can’t come over cause he’s a dude.’ I say it differently, but I’m just trying to get my point across.”

“I understand, but I know you might want to bring him over… but the walls here aren’t soundproof between rooms. I can hear everything you do in your room perfectly clear.”

“Yeah,” She smiles weakly, “It was embarrassing when you told me you heard me, but then… it was awkward. Oh well though, I can just go out and do that stuff.”

“Be careful though, there are some strange people out there. You should get to know them before you follow them to a house. Or even an area that you don’t know too well.”

“I know. You know you’re more like a father than some random friend I have?”

“Is there a problem with that, young lady?” I say with a weird tone to make my voice sound deeper and slightly sharper.

“Ha! You are exactly like my dad now!” Cecilia smiles as she finishes up her breakfast.

“Well, there’s probably a good man for you somewhere, but he sure as hell isn’t here.” I smile as I grab Cecilia’s plate and clean up the dishes.

“You aren’t my type anyways. I’ll take the shower first then while you do the dishes.” Cecilia stands up and walks to her room to her room.

I sigh as I start to wash the dishes. She really is trouble. Oh well though, I’m more excited for this VRMMO.

Forged Path. The new VRMMO that has been sold for months in advance. It boasts an astonishing one hundred percent realism. It says there is magic, but only if you are extremely lucky or have the knowledge, whatever that means.

I finish washing the dishes and dry my hands with a towel. I pull out my phone and check online forums to see if any info has changed.

A world twice the size of earth. Fifty percent water, fifty percent land. I wonder how the ecosystems work with only that much percentage of water. I don’t know, not even any pictures of the world have been released. Estimates say it will take almost a hundred years for people to explore the entire world. And that’s just the surface. No one can say how many secrets are hidden in this world.

Actually. How did they have enough time to develop this weird world? If they spent a hundred years on it, it wouldn’t be enough time to do this much. That’s probably why people are saying this game will be a flop.

Oh well. Maybe they did some revolutionary things. I don’t mind revolutionary, but it is probably risky to develop a new concept with new technology. Risky, but if it works, the reward will be massive. They’ve probably already made their money back.

Thankfully, the game is a single purchase and there is no fee for playing. The game has no in game store, to further focus on realism. Supposedly it is a mostly medieval setting with random technology thrown in. One of the developers leaked a photo of an in game vehicle, it looked like a car, but no one has heard from him since… but no one really cares.

It is a world with no menus, no text boxes, and no inventory. You have what you carry. If you can’t carry it, you don’t bring it with you. No one knows how monsters will work. Everyone hopes they will make it so they disappear after a short amount of time and then respawn. No one would want to fight in a beginner field with a million dead rabbit corpses covering the ground.

Along with the realism, the head of the company developing the game said that everything will seem real. Pain has been greatly limited, but due to certain exploits, a person will be booted from the game forcefully if certain stress levels are detected within the mind and body.

Touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. Everything will seem like it is reality.

There is no limit on play time per session, but, the system will detect things like declining health and will boot you from the game forcefully. Of course, the system supposedly suspends you in a semi-conscious state. It seems odd that they are able to force the player in to a state that makes the body think it is asleep, but the mind is awake.

I go to my room and prep the clothes I will wear for the day. I wonder if I should wear something more comfortable than practical. I think I’ll go for comfort. I grab a pair of jogging pants and an old baggy t-shirt from my dresser and lay down on my bed.

“Shower’s all yours.” I hear Cecilia say from the door of my room. She is dressed in jogging pants and a plain long sleeve shirt.

“Okay. I was just checking out the forums on Forged Path.” I stand up and grab my change of clothes.

“Anything new?” She continues to dry her hair with a towel.

“Nah, I haven’t seen anything too new. Just the same old stuff.” I sigh as I walk down the hall, “Maybe you can find something new, but I don’t think there will be anything.” I walk off and enjoy a nice and warm shower with no interruptions.

---Several hours later---

“Well, have fun in the game Cecilia.” I smile to Cecilia as I sit down in my VR pod.

“See you later, maybe if we are lucky, we’ll choose the same starter city.” She smiles as she closes her pod’s door.

“I hope not.” I sigh as I close the door on my pod.

[Initializing… Authenticating… Access Authorized. Welcome Phillip Tethers. Please choose the game you would like to play.] A calm and smooth robotic voice echoes is my ears as I put the module inside on my head.

“Forged Path please.”

[Certainly. Please wait a moment while we connect to the servers.]

I calmly wait while thinking. I know I’m not part of the ‘I must play in the first 5 seconds!’ but I can’t believe we were an hour behind startup.

[Server connect status: Perfect. Would you like to connect?]

“Of course.”

[Please wait a moment.] The voice pauses as my vision goes black. I sigh in my mind as I lose control of my body. No matter how many times I experience, it still feels weird.

[Welcome to Forged Path.] I hear a different voice. This one sounds like a female. The voice is so smooth that I almost confused it for a human’s, but I know it is an AI. [In Forged Path, any path you take will create an experience like no other.]

A view of a massive planet appears beneath me. I immediately gain control of my body. The planet beneath me is spinning relatively fast as well… is that normal?

[The world beneath you is the world of Forged Path. The planet’s name is Gaia. The continent names are irrelevant at this moment in time.]

“I see.” I look at the world in awe and slowly turn to face the figure that had appeared behind me. “My name is Phillip Tethers, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

[Greetings, Phillip. You may address me as Goddess Orusu, or Ms. Orusu.]

“Hm.” I slant my smile slightly, “I remember seeing an information leak that said your first name was Ireina. I’ll just call you that.”

[So friendly already.] Ireina smiles gently towards me, [But buttering me up will get you nowhere. I am a programmed AI. I have a task and it is to help you and all of the others from your world assimilate in to the world I have helped create.]

“So that’s how they did it. They used their AI to create a world of their own. Risky. Very risky.”

[Ignoring me?]

“No, no. Your goal is to help players assimilate in to the world you helped create.”

[So you actually listened.]

“Sorry, that was just an old habit I had. I would randomly change the subject to something I was thinking of earlier if it suddenly made sense in my head.”

[Apology accepted. Now then, where would you like to start? You have five choices. Each on a different continent.]

“Wait is there no character creation?”

[Unfortunately not. Due to certain circumstances, you will be transported in to the world with your current appearance, clothes and all. You may change what you wear once you are in the game, but there is no tutorial. There are no menu screens, there are no help screens. You are on your own after I send you down on to the planet.]

“I see. Is there anything different about the starting locations?”

[Yes. Desert, mountains, coastline, forest, and caves. Those are the starting locations. The resources at all of them are practically the same.]

“Which would you recommend for me?”

[I would recommend starting in the forest. Due to your build, the weapons there are a lot less limited and the safe area is slightly larger than the other starting towns.]

“Then I guess I will just go with that. I don’t need to play a ‘balls to the wall, I must be the highest level!’ kind of style. I just want to take my time and enjoy the game.”

[Of course. I will now send you down to the forest starting town of Ravenwood. Also, you may want to pursue a magical class. I feel like you would be good at it.] She winks at me as my vision starts to fade.

“Wait… what!?” I scream at the AI as soon my vision fades. My vision is dark for what seems like a long time. I slowly open my eyes and see a busy and bustling town square with a fountain.

Many people weaving in and out of the crowds. Merchants shouting to try and sell some goods. Some people were on the ground crying, and others were huddled in corners wondering what to do next.

No tutorial… you have to make money from nothing…

What a shit game.