Chapter 3
Rance Just Rance.
Rance slowly became aware that he was sitting in a comfortable chair in a small grey room. It reminded him of an interrogation room from the myriad of cop shows he had watched over the years…All except for the comfortable chair he supposed.
Flashing red text appeared in his vision. “Welcome to Otherlife setup You may call me “System”. Are you ready to begin?” and a Y/N symbol appeared.
Rance said “Yes” out loud.
“You have responded with a verbal prompt. Would you like to make this your default mode of communication Y/N?”
“What options do I have?” Rance asked.
“You may communicate to me via text, mental command, or audible voice command at any time.” The system replied in scrolling text.
Rance didn’t think about it long. At his age with years of guns and loud music he was used to Closed Captioning on everything he watched. He didn’t even go to movies anymore because he missed too much dialog to enjoy them in the theater.
“Can you do a mental voice with something like captioning since I am used to reading and listening at the same time.?”
“That is possible.” The system replied. “Please choose desired voice template.”
Rance arched an eyebrow at this one. “Meaning what?” he said out loud. “And can we speak out loud with captions of course, when we are alone and no one will overhear us?”
“Noted.” said an obviously digitized voice. “You may pick a pleasing accent and style of speaking to make communication pleasant.”
“Interesting” Rance thought. He hadn’t expected anything like this. The only answer to his questions they had given him before dumping him in here was “You will be instructed as you go.”
“You don’t happen to have Morgan Freeman around do you?” He asked.
“That would be in violation of copyright laws and infringe upon the estate of said Mr. Freeman.” came the reply. “However” said the voice morphing into something eerily similar to what he had requested. “I can do a reasonable facsimile of his voice with certain changes.”
At the same time a small but readable string of text appeared at the bottom of his vision, translating what was said into text.
“Okay, that is just creepy.” Rance said “How about we try a female with a light Scottish accent, oh and with American English? I have always enjoyed them as narrators.”
“Is this acceptable?” Came the answer in a wonderfully rich female voice.
“Oh yes.” Rance smiled.
“Now that we have set communication parameters we will move to your character. Character Name?”
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“Rance” Rance replied.
“Sur name?”
“Just Rance”
“Due to your status as an inmate you only have the option of human for race.”
“I understand.” Rance said
“Age?”
“Do I have a choice?" Rance asked, surprised.
“Yes. You may choose any age from adolescence through geriatric.” System replied.
“Well shit.” Rance said “Let me think a second. “Will my body go back to that age if I pick a young me?” He asked.
“Your body will return to what you perceived it to be at the age you choose. Some customization is available to account for those who suffer body image difficulties.”
“Shit ya!” Rance said “25 for sure, right when I was finishing up my term of service. I was in the best shape of my life.”
“Any modifications?” The system asked.
“Can I make myself stronger or faster?” Rance asked.
“Modifications are only cosmetic in nature so as not to interfere with the gaming stat system.” System said.
“Okay.” Rance said thinking about it. “How about hair color and beard length that I have now, so that I look older than I am?”
“Does this meet your requirements?”
A slowly spinning 3D image of himself appeared in the air in front of him. It was odd in the fact that if he didn’t know that it was him he would be hard pressed to tell the age of the new him. He looked like an older man in extremely good shape.
“That is great.” Rance answered.
“Since you are a member of Otherlife as a result of incarceration you only have the option of the Noob starter kit.” The system continued “Also because of your incarceration you have a permanent 10% debuff applied to your stats. Do you understand these restrictions?”
“Yes I do.”
“However” , the system continued, “You have been granted an additional inventory item and a boon. The boon has very recently been upgraded from 10% to 15%.”
“Thank you uncle Cheatham.” Rance thought.
“Would you like to use either item now?” the system asked.
“No, I am going to hold off until I have a handle on what exactly is going on here.”
“I will also note that the boon is limited to non combat skills. This is also a result of your incarcerated status.”
“Gee, thanks for telling me so soon.”
“You are welcome.” The system said in a cheerful sounding voice. “Now we will review your character sheet.
Name: Rance Just Rance
Human
Class: None
Hit Points: 25
Mana: 10
Level: 0
XP: 0 of 100
Note: Stats and Skills will reflect a debuff of 10%
Stats:
Strength: .9
Intelligence: .9
Wisdom: .9
Dexterity: .9
Constitution: .9
Luck: .9
Stat points to spend: 0
Skills:
None
Skill Points to spend: 0
“What the hell is that!” Rance said “Rance Just Rance?”
“When asked your character name you replied “Rance” and when asked your character surname you replied “Just Rance”” the system replied. “Would you like to edit your name or surname?”
“Yes!” Rance said “Then he paused…you know what? Leave it. I have been saying “Just Rance” my entire adult life, so it kinda fits. Rance Just Rance it is.”
“Finally, please confirm your inventory status.”
Rance thought “Inventory” and three icons colalessed before his eyes. A book that now had a title “Project Gutenberg”. Something that looked like a backpack that said “Noob starter kit”, and a gold star with the number 15 in the center of it.
“I see three things.” Rance said.
“That is correct” the system said “Prepare to be inserted.”