Welcome to Arcadia!

The system welcomed Luke to a new world. Surrounded by the endless sky in all directions with a thin layer of water underneath his feet, He felt the sudden wetness between his toes. The character creation menu popped up asking him to decide on his desired physical appearance. There seemed to be an endless amount of options, ranging from gender to eye color. He decided to start with the real life preset and go from there.

Luke clicked the preset and it displayed a messy, brown haired young man. His own hazel eyes stared back at him creepily. He was clearly obese. Using the body fat slider Luke shaved off a hundred pounds in a second, after a decade of obesity he was finally skinny. It showed him what hard work looked like.

For once in his life he was confident in his appearance and thought to himself, “I look gooood.” He now finally understood why some people checked themselves out in a mirror. Not that he would begin to do it in real life. The only mirror he had was too small to fit him inside the reflection. After he messed around with a bunch of different options, he settled on his final appearance.

He kept his hair and eyes the same, but decided to keep his virtual avatar a normal body weight with a semi-fit build. He also opted for the five foot nine inches height he had in real life. He doubled checked his choices and pressed confirm.

A second later the screen changed and a virtual keyboard spawned. The screen asked him to decide on a given name for his character and a surname for his family. Underneath was a warning that stated, “A family name is unchangeable and bound to all of your characters forever. A given name is the name of that specific character. Simply put, it is a first and last name.” Clearly this was different than most games- which only required a single username. This however came as no surprise to Luke. Since the release of the trailer experts had assumed there had been a reason for the unique naming system.

After countless articles about it- the company, Vantasy, released a statement earlier last month that said, “We chose this design to create a more intimate connection with the people and the choices you make in Arcadia. To achieve this we decided it was best to give realism to the characters you create, even their names.”

This gave people plenty of time to prepare their new names. Many online forums and boards discussed this issue. The general consensus was to just use your real first name but, create a unique family name. This lessened the burden to create a unique two part name. It also gave the effect of better immersion which is what Vantasy was going for. Luke hesitated and he still hadn’t decided completely on a name.

Luke decided to think for awhile. He was unsure of what type or style of name to pick. Luke was just an average person, he realized that even if he spent hours thinking he would never be able to decide on a unique two part name. He pressed the first name section on the screen and typed in, “Luke”. Finally he wanted something bright for the family name. Something to inspire him in the darkness of his life. He wanted to be reminded of the light and warm embrace of his father, after all he had been in the shadow of death for too long. After going back and forth between a couple of last names he settled on Luke Brimwater.

The system accepted his input and displayed his new name, “Luke Grimwater”. His blood pressure rose uncontrollably. His anger soared to the simulated sky over his head as he was reminded of the death and darkness that had surrounded him. Luke realized he must have pressed, “G” instead of “B” on the simulated keyboard. Was this the curse of his years of obesity and fat fingering in real life? Before he cursed a hundred times he spoke up and asked the system, “I would like to change my family name.”

A voice spoke back that was indiscernible from another human person, “You cannot change your name here anymore.” Anger overwhelmed Luke and he cursed at the system a thousand times. At the end of cursing he thought he felt a stroke coming on, although that shouldn't be possible here in a virtual world. He sat down and tried to calm his mind.

Luke spoke to the screen, “This is absurd. What kind of system doesn’t let you fix a typo?” Talking to the screen was the same as talking to a brick. His brain eventually started to function normally. Something in the last message perked his basic level detective skills he acquired from watching too many crime shows. He asked the system to repeat the last message and confirmed it. The voice said, “here”. That must mean there is another way to change your family name. With newfound hope he stood up and saw there was still a screen hovering in the air. Luke examined the screen and realized there was text on it. At the top it read, “Unique Skills”. It continued underneath with an explanation about them, “A Unique Skill is linked to your character permanently. It cannot be changed or deleted once given. Characters in your family can have different Unique skills, however you can only have one character at a time. Should a character be deleted, you will have the chance to pass down your unique skill to your descendants or create a new one. You can input any desire or wish as consideration when creating your skill. The actual skill will be created by the system and balanced accordingly. It will reference your requested desire and game parameters. Please press confirm after having thought of the basis for your skill.”

This was the greatest selling point of Arcadia. A unique skill, personally crafted for you based upon your request. The advertisements boasted about unlimited possibilities however, it also stated Unique Skills could be similar to others. They explained that while it was possible the way users used the skill would differ as well as their class choices and personal progression. It certainly was a unique idea. Luke wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to be too hasty and pick a skill that ended up to be trash later on. If he put it off too long there was also the possibility that it was being wasted and was merely a handicap holding him back from the advantage of others. Regardless Luke decided to put off registering a unique skill right now. He had already wasted a lot of time controlling his emotions and thoughts while creating his character. He pressed the cancel button that said register later. The screen immediately disappeared into thin air.

The next menu to pop up was the map. Although it was mostly blacked out by fog. There were a couple locations in the viewable area that seemed to be many tiny remote villages on the edge of the world. Above the map at the top of the window was the text, “Please select your starting location. More will become available for future players through in game player progression.” Marked on the map over a single village read the name, “Town of Littlegrove”. Luke thought that even the name looked beginner. With no more time to waste he clicked on the marked village. The screen disappeared and his vision started to go black as his consciousness drifted away.

A blue screen flickered into existence illuminating the darkness inside his mind, “You feel a force pulling you into this world.” Slowly his eyes twitched. Luke opened his eyes and realized he was standing in front of a man. Luke looked around. The building seemed to be a church but looked more like a run down shack. Where stained glass would normally preside in a church, there were just cutouts in the wood. There were also no windows in place. The openings let the gentle breeze drift in through the holes all around.

The fellow looked old and ancient, worn down by life itself. He donned the robe of a seemingly normal priest. Upon his head sat the most basic looking mitre. It was dingy tinted color of white. His face was wrinkled, his nose crooked. Luke almost mistook him for an undead type. Ironically his hair was a brighter white than his clothing. On either side of him stood another person. They were dressed in clothes that could only be for a nun. Contrary to the black and white of normal nun clothing people thought of, the ones they wore were completely white. As white as dingy white could be.

Luke continued to check them out and hoped underneath were the bodies of beautiful girls. Upon close examination of their faces however he was disgusted with himself. Luke stuffled the urge to puke. They were old ladies. Their faces were partly covered by white veils yet they smelled of death.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The priest coughed, “Ahem.” This wasn’t the first time he saw this look of disgust. By now, he had welcomed many people into this world already. The first time the priest saw it happen he was upset but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to offend them. They couldn’t afford to. As he interacted with more and more of the summoned, he seemed to think they all looked that way due to the shock. He cracked a sad smile and trudged up great enthusiasm, “Welcome to our world high-born hero! I am priest Allard Evencrest from the order of Lightspire. On behalf of my country, Gluylia, I would like to thank you for receiving our call. We are honored and blessed that you would descend from your world to our lowly plane. The forces of evil that lurk along the border suddenly started attacking us from all directions months ago. We don’t know why they started, but they have been moving further into human territory. Villages have been destroyed, countless lives lost. Safe spaces are far and wide apart. We must mount a defense or soon we will be overrun by them. In our time of need we used the ancient magic of summoning. When other villages hear of the success they will do the same. You stepped out through a portal and answered our call so please help us.” A quest window appeared before Luke that displayed what the priest spoke.

Defend Humanity!

You have been summoned to Arcadia and requested by priest Allard Evencrest to help defend humanity in anyway you can!

Acceptance: 100 copper coins

Clear: Changes based upon merit

Failure: No penalty

ACCEPT

DECLINE

The current reward for accepting listed 100 copper coins. It was a quest with possible future rewards that depended on the level of help provided. This must be the starter reward and quest for new players. There was no requirement to help them even if you accepted and took the money. Luke thought back to what the priest had said. Something from the first sentence he spoke bugged him. Luke asked, “What is this ‘high-born’ you speak of?”

Allard was lost at first but regained his wit quickly. Speaking up he said, “Allow me to explain. Highborn is a status that is only given to those who had been summoned here from their own worlds. The legend goes, in exchange for them coming to our world the gods have gifted them with many abilities we could never hope to learn. Highborns are even blessed by the goddess of life, Hyarel and given the ability to resurrect. They are also able to learn our skills. As you can see, that would mean they are much ‘higher’ than us. True noble heroes! As such we refer to them and you, as highborn. You have the power… so please help us, highborn hero!”

The quest would remain listed as long as you accepted. Luke decided to decline the quest. Allard’s face looked like he had seen a ghost, there was no reason to decline. He asked one more time as the quest popped up again, “Would you please help us!?”

Luke responded nonchalantly as he declined once again, “No. Now stop begging, don’t you have any shame?” He did not want to be bound by this quest. He didn’t want to help them. In this world Luke wanted to live for himself, not others. This was his decision. However, he would have helped them if it had been two young, cute girls asking instead. Real life had been cruel to his interaction with females. At least in Arcadia he had a chance. The NPCs didn’t know his true form. Luke ignored the continued request from the old priest and walked out of the doorway. Yes, there was no door.

Luke exited the church, if it could even be called that and was blessed by the vision of a beautiful sunny sky. A couple of clouds drifted by but it was a perfect day out. In front of him was hills and flatland as far as the eye could see. He turned around and saw the church rested on a flattened hill itself. He wanted to leave before he got roped back into accepting this quest. He didn’t want a big questline adventure. Luke wanted to roam free as can be. He followed the dirt path from the front of the church out into the hilly countryside. He wondered why the system didn’t actually spawn him into town but thought perhaps there was a reason this church was so far out of the way. Not long after he could see a fork in the road. There was one post with only two signs on it. One pointed somewhat to the west and had a small picture of a town carved in it, along with the name “Town of Littlegrove” crudely cut into it. The other pointed north and had a picture of what looked like slimes marking it. Luke figured this was far enough away to avoid unwanted priests. He opened his game menu and selected his character sheet.

Luke Grimwater

Level: 1

High-born Human

Hitpoints: 100 Mana: 100 Stamina: 100

* Character Statistics

* Strength: 10

* Dexterity: 10

* Constitution: 10

* Intelligence: 10

* Wisdom: 10

* Charisma: 10

A human summoned from Earth.

Basic. That was what Luke thought when he saw the screen. He couldn’t expect anything more from the starting stats. They were the definition of basic. He figured he would die in a couple of hits if he went to fight slimes without a weapon. Not that Luke even wanted to kill slimes. He didn’t. Luke wanted to pass his time as peacefully as he could.

Other users came and went beside him. It wasn’t as packed as Luke had thought but, then again he wasted a lot of time in the creation menu. Luke started to think about classes. He was interested in the class choices. The trailers never showed how they would select classes or anything like that. Luke looked around in all the menus he could find. He still couldn’t figure out how to select a class. Then it hit him, he didn't check his inventory for starting equipment. Finally he opened his inventory and checked to see what the game had given him to start with. There was only one item inside.

Magic Crystal

Magic item

Physical Damage: 1

Soulbound

Untradable

* Active Skills

* Transformation: This item can transform into any basic weapon or tool. Consumes 10 mana per transformation. Duration is continued until mana ceases to flow through it. 60 second cooldown between transformations.

Weight: 0.1 lbs

Requires the user to be classless.

A crystal imbued with magical properties by the goddess of magic, Cythera. Present this item to a person you wish to take as a master. It is proof that you have decided to learn their skills.

Luke immediately wanted to use the attached skill and test it. He resisted the temptation. Instead he decided to examine the item. The crystal looked as if it had just come out of the ground. It had jagged edges but seemed refined in a weird way. It reflected light itself.

Magic was something all gamers wished to feel. He grasped the crystal in his hand desperately. It braced against his sweaty palms. Nervously, he tried to imagine his blood flowing out from his hand and into the crystal. The system guided and registered his intention.

A stream of blue particles enveloped the crystal turning it into the object of his desire, a dagger. Luke was blown away. Magic sure was cool. After fiddling with the dagger for sixty seconds, he tried to transform the crystal into something else. It would not transform into a gun but whenever he tried to, it transformed into a bow that could shoot out mana arrows. Not quite the same but it was good to know.

It was finally time to test the crystal to see if it could transform into the item he required for his desired class. Light glittered all around the crystal as it slowly morphed into a basic tool. The shape and form of the object reminded him of his dad. Luke was lost in his emotions for a long time. He felt like it was finally time to mourn his father.