Syn's vision slowly started returning to him after being blinded when the world was inialized. He sincerely hoped that wouldn't happen every time he logged in, thinking it would get pretty old pretty fast. And as you can probably imagine, if you had to experience something that uncomfortable every time you logged in you would get tired of the game no matter how good it were.

The first thing that greeted him a blue screen. Syn grinned, finally, he was there, in an actual virtual reality game. You could say it was one of his biggest dreams, being able to live another life, not just the plain, boring one everyone had to deal with. The constant struggle, dealing with others, especially those "above" you; the fear of tomorrow, because you never know what it has in store for you. But now, now he can finally be a part of something bigger, something fun, a world full of adventure awaits him, and he was ready.

Welcome, Syn!

Welcome to the world of Arcadia! A world full of adventure awaits! There are many positions to fill like soldiers, mages, knights, heroes or maybe even villains. The path is yours to take. We would like to encourage everyone to try to make their paths as unique as possible. And we would like to warn you that there are no redos in Arcadia, after you have picked your class, race and other customizations you went through in the character screen, you will have to stick with it. Yes, folks, you heard it right( Well, read *snicker*)!

Good luck and have fun!

Congratulations! As you are on the first 10000 people to log in you will receive a reward for your "effort"! You can reclaim your reward at you nearest post office!

Good luck and have fun!

Syn was in a great mood after the last message, though he really cringed at the first one. Not because of the character restriction per account but because of that cringe as hell joke at the end. Yikes! He was actually glad about the character restrinction since it would prevent "netbuilds", Syn really hated seeing everyone building the same in most games because of those builds being most efficient. What's the point of games if not to have fun? And where is the fun in that?

Syn was suddenly snapped out of his thinking by an older man approaching him sporting a cheshire grin. He didn't know why but that grin unsettled him deeply. And then he was struck speechless when he noticed it. This man couldn't have possibly been a player. He took a look around in utter awe. The details in everything were so accurate and polished to perfection you couldn't notice the difference between this world and reality. He was suddenly broken out of his reverie by the man clearing his throat to get his attention.

"Greeting, traveler! I was expecting you!"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Expecting me? Why? What do you need me for?" Syn replied with confusion apparent in his voice.

The old man just smiled slightly like he would at a child and spoke to dissolve his confusion.

"Don't worry, the arrival of your kind was long foretold by the Gods! And I am just glad I was able to see it in my lifetime."

"Oh, well, are you here to help me? Because I'm not exactly sure where I should go."

"I suppose I could. There isn't much to do around here even as a village elder. But first things first. What is your name, child? I am Evan, the elder of Methler."

"Oh, haha sorry, I forgot all about that. My name is Syn. So this village is called Methler?"

"I am glad to meet you, Syn, welcome to our village. So how can I help you?"

"Can you tell me where the nearest post office is? And where can I spend the night? Is there some work around here I could do to? I am pretty much broke right now."

"Haha you really don't mess around, straight to bussiness. Well, we have one in the village, and generally visitors sleep in the inn, and don't worry, I will give you some assignments later. You can also talk to other villagers, as I am sure they have some tasks you could help with. Since you are broke I will give you some money to help you start out."

"Many thanks. I'll be on my way then."

Syn received the 5 copper coins the old man gave him and went to the post office where he received a little box with a handle at the side. Since he didn't know what to do with it, he just went with the gut and spun the handle. It caused the box to produce music, which sounded kind of ominous, but he ignored the feeling since it was a gift from the company, and they wouldn't do anything to harm their customers- probably... the music came to an abrupt stop and a Jack in the box sprung out scaring Syn half to death.Syn

Congratulations! You have received a Unique class "The Joker". Due to the nature of the class, you won't get any additional information on your class, you will have to discover it alone through levelling and experimentation. New skill acquired!

Weapon up! 

You get a random weapon. You cannot change the weapon until you leave combat or die. The chance of getting a good weapon rises with luck stat.

Syn was really excited and wanted to try it out as soon as possible so he went out of the village. Outside of the village there was a sizable meadow and behind it was a forest. The meadow was filled with critters like rabbits, foxes, oversized squirells and the like. Perfect opponents to try it out on.

"Weapon up!" he yelled on top of his lungs. A sword appeared in his hand, the sword wasn't flashy but it was engraved with some weird characters. He struck a rabbit and the sword cut clean through, leaving the meat sizzling. The sword was probably enchanted with some fire dmg. The detail of the game baffled him once again, thankfully the corpse disappeared quickly before he started vomiting and left a hide behind.

Feeling full of confidence he strode into the forest where he quickly stumbled upon a bear. He quickly weaponed up, quietly this time, afraid of aggroing the bear. In his hand appeared a small handgunlike weapon. Feeling confident he aimed at the bear and pressed the trigger. The gun squirted the bear with water, yes, squirted! The bear turned around and ran at him. He was so horrified by the monstrosity charging at him that he didn't even manage to think about running, much else do something about it.

And that was the first death of our Joker, not even 2 hours into the game, which meant barely more than half an hour in real life! Feeling quite glum, he went to take a shower. Not that he could get back to playing, since the penalty for dying in the game is being locked out of the game for 1 ingame hour per level.