Nick could hardly wait to get out of bed. He'd barely slept the night before, far too excited to close his eyes until he eventually succumbed to exhaustion. Flinging his blanket off with a start as his eyes snapped open to the sound of his preset alarm blaring.
Today is the day it finally releases! Excitedly jumping on the balls of his feet, he hurriedly threw on his clothes as he walked out the door to his one room apartment. Nick could have afforded to live somewhere nicer with his job, but his apartment was cheap and he had been saving his money. Why? Precisely for the package he was waiting for. Speaking of, as Nick tugged his shirt down and stepped across the threshold of the door he nearly ran into a delivery worker walking toward by his door.
"Whoa! Careful there man." Nick stated, surprised at the size of the box being delivered.
"Sorry sir. Kind of hard to see. I was just about to knock after I managed to get this set down somewhere." Speaking up to here, what appeared to be a relatively short but well defined woman appeared from behind the box as it lowered to the ground. "This the first one of these I've delivered today and while it's not really heavy, this box is massive."
"What's this supposed to be anyway?" She asked a curious tone seeping into her voice.
"It's the brand new World-Link Neuro System developed by Galaxy Software." Nick said, some pride leaking into his voice.
"A Neuro System? Wow, those things are crazy expensive. Can't say I was paying much attention to the games they've been releasing with these though. I doubt I could afford one on my salary anyway." The delivery girl lamented with a shake of her head.
Nick nodded, "Yeah, they can be pretty expensive outright. They sell them on instalment plans too though. I got mine at $175 a month currently. It comes with access to their new featured game Creation Online. That's about the same price as buying coffee at Starbucks every day... excluding weekends."
Sighing, she acknowledged, "Yeah, but that's really the only way I'm staying awake right now." Picking up her head she said "Anyway, if I could just get you to scan your NUWatch or provide an ID scan for me I can verify the package has been delivered."
"Of course." leaning forward Nick pressed his Neural Uplink Watch to the scanner she presented for identification. With the introduction of neural technology stolen ID became much harder to fake since no one could link their neural network to a calibrated device except the owner.
"Thank you! Have a good day!" Leaving in a chipper mood the delivery girl retreated down the stairs to continue making her rounds.
After watching her leave Nick hurriedly collected his package excited to enter the game. Pulling open the box he quickly followed the quick start guide placed at the top to finish wiring everything in and getting his preferred setup ready. With everything ready to go he quickly went to the bathroom and ate an organic synthesized food supplement from his fridge before laying down and booting up the device. Going through the process of linking his NUWatch to the sleek black system tower was simple and with the app link appearing on his Neural Hub he clicked it and quickly fell asleep.
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Slowly gaining regaining his consciousness Nick found himself surrounded by an inky darkness. Slowly a small blip of light appeared at the center of his vision. Soon it was followed by another and then two more blinked into existence, slowly at first and quicker and quicker his vision became filled with a field of stars and a deep and profound voice whispered, "Let there be light."
Welcome. Please begin by designing your avatar.
Simply imagine how you wish to look and allow the system to generate a template.
Really? It can do that?
Quickly thinking of a character Nick immediately ruled out his normal self. His gaunt figure hardly inspired any confidence in his appearance. With a few adjustments to his mental image he imagined himself, albeit with a bit more muscle and size and long black braided beard.
So what he couldn't grow facial hair! Here he didn't need to!
Avatar template confirmed.
Scanning mental and physical faculties.
Generating initial skill recommendations based on perceived capabilities.
Please Select a Starting Skill:
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(Uncommon) World Shaper:
"Mountains rise, valleys sink, the earth is my canvas."
Ease of creating ecosystems, geology, and environments is increased.
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(Rare) Life Bringer:
"I hope everyone is living well."
Ease of creating and guiding species is increased. Lower chance of racial flaws and mutation.
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(Rare) Wild Growth:
"I've created a monster! Good."
Increased chance of random mutation and uncontrollable creatures. Increased generation of bio-mass and fauna.
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(Unique) World Programmer:
"Life is just a more complicated function. Now where did I forget the bracket?"
Able to create new skills and generate automated AI for specified functions. Powerful in creative hands.
Sentient AI can become unpredictable.
Looking at the list one option immediately stuck out to Nick. World Programmer can create AI?
Nick was instantly intrigued. Being experienced as a software engineer Nick created AI occasionally as a means of automating one of his projects. Is that why it was unique? Because it was chosen specifically for his talents?
The Wild Growth skill was certainly interesting, but when presented with a "unique" opportunity Nick knew exactly what he was going to pick.
Skill Confirmed.
World Programmer Skill Acquired!
Generating initial world template.
Welcome to Creation Online!