“Today we have an exclusive interview with the genius behind the recently announced game ‘Aether Online.’ So tell me Ms. Veldorbell, is the game truly what we’ve been promised, or is it going to be a major letdown like so many VR games have been now?”

The woman smiled, “It's even better than promised.” With that simple sentence, the media fell into an excitement induced frenzy, “How has the alpha been tested if at all?”

“That's a trade secret.”

“How will you ensure that those alpha players will not have a significant advantage over new players when the game is released?”

“Progress won't carry over to the official release.”

The press continued to throw question after question at the woman.

Six Months Later.

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April 6th, 2034, The 50/50 Kingdom Nydvilien

On this day Millions of players all logged into Aether Online for the first time. They looked at the world with wonder, a youthful sparkle in their eyes. I completely understood their reactions, after all, I had been in their place only a few short months ago. I pulled up my status and bemoaned the loss of progress, my stats were even lower than when I first started. “They really went and nerfed me that hard? Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.” I was here for a few reasons, one of which was because my spawn point reset, and the other was to; again, grab my starting equipment. I opened my inventory and ‘Oh?’ realized that the equipment was already inside. ‘This should have been standard.’

It was at this point I realized that the tutorial quest had completely disappeared along with the training hall, instead being replaced by a welcoming sign saying “Enjoy Your Stay.” With such an extreme amount of freedom given I'm sure that some were confused about what to do from there, luckily I'm not one of those people.

{Mysterious Pills have been ingested.}

{Body Modification Hardware has been adjusted.}

{Body now possesses the “Semi-Fluid” attribute, and a second pair of arms has been installed.}

‘That's good.’ I sighed with relief, ‘I thought I’d get different modifications.’

[Reminder: “Be the first to kill that thing! Remind me when the server resets.” ]

‘Ah yes, thanks for reminding me.’

And so I began running in the direction of that bastard's nest, there was something I needed there.