The scenery around her gradually changed, from the austere look of her virtual room to an imposing space filled with wall to wall bookcases and antique furniture. It was impressive considering that it was only the character creation. The developers even went as far as to imitate the smell of paper and wood polish. It all felt so authentic.
She was still gawking when she heard one of the doors opening and letting an old gentleman in the room. The only thing missing was a top hat and a monocle, since he already got the suit, cane, and mustache on him. Bear almost felt a snort coming but she held it off with sheer effort, it wouldn’t do to make a bad impression. It was not uncommon to find actual people, be they GMs or game developers, manning the NPC guides especially since the game launched just a month ago.
She thought she was not successful in hiding her mirth but the NPC was professional enough to not question her when he got closer. When he was close enough he gave her a shallow bow and indicated for them to sit on the couch located closest to them.
“Good day to you Ms. Bernilde Saint and sorry for the slight delay.” Uhuh, privacy you were once mine. “I am Ambassador Edgard Farron and I handled your application for a visit to our world. It is with great pleasure to welcome you and to wish your stay to be interesting.” Looks like I can’t make a new name but have to stick with mine. Bummer.
“Congratulations. Now would you like to explore on your own or if it is not too presumptuous, I could guide you on the basics.” He looked genuinely happy congratulating Bear that she thought it would be rude to just outright reject the help. She also wondered who was brave enough to enter the game blind. She was adventurous but you can only make one character within the game so if she messed up once it would be really a pain in the ass in the future.
“I would be happy with your help, where do we start?”
“Thank you for giving me the pleasure to help you. So many youngsters nowadays are impetuous and even though the help is free, they would still not avail of it.”
This is hard core role-playing. Bear was not averse to this bit of acting and it was fun to play a character once in a while. “Is that so sir? Well, since I too am a bit impulsive in considering a vacation to your world, your help will be greatly appreciated in navigating your society.” Or something. Speaking is hard, let’s not do that too much.
“Since I am not sure where I could help you, let us get a baseline of what you do know. As far as we know your world is not governed by the System but according to past travellers you are already familiar with them?”
Looks like one of the game developer’s an isekai fan. “Yes I’m quite familiar with the System.“
“That’s good! Now please check your status and familiarize yourself with the options. I'll be here if you need any clarification.” With that said, Mr. Farron stood up and walked towards one of the bookcases adjacent to where Bear was sitting. “Just give me a shout if you have any questions, there’s just the two of us here so loud voices don't really matter much.”
Do I have to say it out loud or is it okay to just think about it. Might as well. “Status”
PERSONAL INFORMATION and ATTRIBUTES
SKILLS
TALENTS
ACHIEVEMENTS
Looks like I could only access one tab. Let's try a non-verbal command this time. Attributes please.
PERSONAL INFORMATION and ATTRIBUTES NAME BEAR ST. LEVEL 0 HEALTH 100 MANA 100 CLASS --- STR 10 INT 10 JOB --- AGI 10 DEX 10 STATUS WELL FED // WELL RESTED VIT 10 CON 10 AVAILABLE POINTS 0
That's a bit weird. It looked like the attributes were fixed and the usual additional points based on a players actual body was not implemented. What made VR gaming interesting was the incorporation of the players' actual abilities and their bodies' potential. Although it made the character creation part longer due to tests, the prospect of seeing your actual "self" grow was the bigger draw for gamers. So Bear was a bit disappointed but then again, she could just ask Mr. Farron about it.
What she was actually happy about was her name on the information tab. She was afraid that they would use her actual full name instead of the one that she had used in filling up on the official website. It was a good thing that she listened to Jane or she might have the preferences be set on default and paraded her whole name in-game.
The [WELL FED] and [WELL RESTED] status meant that food and sleep was important in the game. There was a good chance that water was also included, and maybe some sickness if the developers really wanted a more realistic gameplay. I should take a note of that. Supplies are a must as early as your first day on the game. There’s no Journal tab so maybe there will be an available skill for notes or note-taking, let’s hope so.
”Mr. Farron, I just finished checking my status.”
While waiting for the Ambassador to arrive, Bear fiddled with the visual settings of the screens. Having a see-through but still legible screen is a must, having opaque ones was a sure way to get yourself killed.
Stolen novel; please report.
It was a few minutes later when she remembered about the NPC, Bear was too engrossed with personalizing her settings that she forgot about Mr. Farron.
“Sorry about that Sir, I got too caught up with changing some things on the status screen.”
“No problem Ms. Saint, as long as you only do that when you’re in a safe place. Otherwise, it will get you killed on the field if you’re not careful. Now, do you have any questions about your status before we move forward?”
She was sure she could get more understanding when in-game and she was also impatient to just get on with it. There was no time indicator on her status page and she hadn’t seen any clock in the library, she was worried she would spend too much time in tutorial.
“Everything’s okay. What’s next?”
“Next are [Basic Skills]. First, put your hand on top.” Mr. Faroon held a giant book between them. She wasn’t sure how the old man carried the weight, maybe he maxed out his STR? Just as her palm touched the cover, there was a sudden pulse of light that originated within the book and then winked out just as suddenly.
“That’s done then, with that you can now access the [Skills] tab on your page. There are only thirty [Basic Skills] and you can only pick ten of them so think carefully. This is important because these skills can only be obtained before entering the World of Trikos, there are maybe similar named skills but they can only be obtained through apprenticeships or by getting jobs. Now, please review these skills and if you have any questions feel free to ask.”
PERSONAL INFORMATION and ATTRIBUTES
SKILLS
TALENTS
ACHIEVEMENTS
Interesting. Skills please.
SKILLS BASIC SKILLS (AVAILABLE SLOTS - 13) BLESSING (active) FIRST AID (active) MOUNT (passive) BREW (passive) GUARD (active) OWL'S EYE (active) BUILD (passive) HASTE (active) PET (passive) COIN PURSE (passive) HEALTH RECOVERY (passive) RECORDS (passive) COOK (passive) HIDE (active) REPAIR COUNTER (passive) IDENTIFY (active) SLOW (active) DISCOUNT (passive) INVENTORY (active) TRADE (passive) DISMANTLE (passive) LANGUAGE (passive) UNARMED COMBAT (passive) DODGE (passive) LULLABY (active) WEAPON MASTERY (passive) ENDURE (active) MANA RECOVERY (passive) WHISTLE (active)
“Excuse me, Sir Farron. I thought I could only pick ten skills but it says here that I have thirteen available slots.” Bear wished that this was not a glitch or she may have to restart the character creation process.
“I’m sorry Ms. Saint, it seems due to excitement I may have forgotten to inform you of a few important things. I know that your government offered generous packages to entice you and your fellow citizens to visit our world. I think they call them Bonuses? From the papers that they’ve sent us, you have qualified for all of the available bonuses, unfortunately only two of them are allowed and the rest are already available in our world and bringing them will cause undue issues between our government and the merchant guild.”
“To make up for the misunderstandings, we would like to give you extra slots in exchange for the lost incentives. Are you amenable with this?”
Bear had actually forgotten the items included in the bonus content that she bought. Since it didn’t affect her gameplay that much, she thought the proposed exchange was really beneficial to her. Most bonus packs contain cosmetics and some game credits so exchanging it for skills would be considered a steal.
“I’m okay with that. Since you’re only offering me three additional slots does that mean that I am getting the other two packages when I enter your world? Or is it possible to have them now?”
“The packages will be forwarded to the town where you will be dropped off. Just show your up on the local Adventure's Guild for verification to collect them. But if you want them now I can give them you. Would you like receive them in their physical form or would you like to pick an appropriate soulbound storage space for a more efficient item transfer?"
"Wait, soulbound storage space?" Bear asked. She was sure that AfterLife would like to mimic real life as much as possible with the added benefit of setting it in a fantasy world. And even though there would be magic, getting a personal hammerspace was too much of an advantage. It would also break suspension of belief especially for those who play the game in a roleplaying standpoint.
"Soulbound means that the skill is inherently a part of you and that there is a good chance of your children getting the same skills if you are so inclined to start a family in our world. It also means that what ever is in your soulbound storage prevents your items from being accidentally dropped or being stolen. Unfortunately, this also means that you will take your stored items in death."
She forgot about the death penalty. Dying in the game means starting from scratch all over again.
“That’s too good of a skill, what’s the catch?”
“It is a good skill but you have to remember that souldbound storage skills are only available during the initial immigration process for the one’s living outside our world and during the First Ascension, as it is called, for us who are born in Trikos.” Mr. Farron leaned towards the table where the huge book that gave me skills’ list was located. He opened the book, then gently tapped the pages and then a screen popped up on top of it.
An identical [Basic Skills] list was on the screen. He pointed his finger on some of the skills and explained. “There are three soulbound storage skills available to you right now. There’s [Inventory] for items, [Coin Purse] for money, and lastly [Records] for notes.” He tapped the pages again to close the screen. “How about this. I will get your packages first and while retrieving them that will give you the time to pick your [Basic Skills] first. If you decided to get a storage skill then we could do an item transfer before I drop you off in one of our towns or give them to you as-is. Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah that’s okay. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“It is no trouble, it is my job after all. I’ll leave you now to get packs, it will probably take me some time to get them so no need to rush in picking up skills. And just like before, call my name if you're finished. I’ll leave the door open so I’m sure to hear you even if I’m in the farthest room.” With that said, the old man stood up and went out of the same door he used to get in the room. There were a couple of doors scattered in the room, Bear wondered what would happen if she just went out on one of the unused doors. Pretty sure that will be a bad idea and that someone probably did it already.
Focus Bear. Now’s not the time to get sidetracked, there are too many skills to get picked, let’s get on with this.
“Skills please.”