Jack was surprised that the whole process of getting on the ship had been easy. He had expected something more in tune with the slow-moving mess of regular air travel instead of the smooth efficiency he took part in. The boarding process was more relaxed because Jack had opted to fly up to the space station the day before boarding. Jack's thought that it would make it easier on himself proved to be more accurate than he had expected. Staying in the finest hotel off the earth's surface, sleeping in, and having a sizable amazing breakfast before his years in the medpod was a fortuitous indulgence. The hotel specialized in guests that were coming in and out of the space station, so they had both a shuttle to get him to the ship and a priority boarding agreement that got him to his medpod in record time without a large portion of the red tape.

  Jack rationally knew that there would be thousands of travelers, but the countless medpods lining the hull of the ship were astonishing. He couldn't see the end of the line to either his left or right, while in front of him, the med pods were stacked well over fifty high, at least. Jack had been in more than a few medpods, but he was irrationally uncomfortable as the attendant got him in, and the glass cover began to shut him in with a swoosh of air.

  Quickly, blurriness hit him, then complete darkness overtook Jack, and he forgot why he was there. His ability to distinguish time and space evaporated in a slightly nauseous wave of deliriousness. As the fuzziness faded, the realization started to creep in, and he remembered why he was there. He calmed nearly as quickly as he had panicked. This was the game. He was floating in some cool darkness, and he was ....disembodied.

 Spread out before him were portraits of all the different races a person would expect in an RPG and many many more. There was the typical elf, dwarf, gnome, and such, but also a humanoid version of nearly every imaginable animal and some things Jack couldn't explain.

  Jack said, or instead, thought, seeing as he had none of the biological necessities needed for speech, " What if I wanted to be a woman?"

  With that thought, the portraits, but not the frames they were in, swirled a pinkish smoke, and as the smoke receded, the portraits beneath had changed to females. Jack called out, in his voice that came from nothing, two or three hellos, waited, then with no answer, then got a little more colorful in his attempt to solicit a response.

  “Fuck, I don’t want to be a woman.” he thought.

  Surrendering, Jack focused back on the portraits and decided to roll with it. The elf woman was attractive, but Jack thought, no way, to himself, and before he could utter the words, the portraits began to change back to men. Interesting, he thought. Okay, this is the game I signed up for.

  As the portraits focused Jack found that when he focused on one of the images, it moved slightly closer or got a little bigger, he noted when he realized that as things were laid out, he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. The portrait Jack was focusing on also developed writing along the bottom, giving a description and benefits of each of the races. The dwarf and elf had the opposing aspects one would expect; the former was strong and hearty, getting bonuses to strength and fortitude while the elf was agile and intelligent, getting bonuses to dexterity and intelligence. Humans were the ultimate jack-of-all-trades, getting no bonuses but rather more points to use when they leveled.

  There was also a gnome, orc, goblin, kobold, lizardfolk, and more. Jack could now tell that the portraits receded into the distance, and he could will them to cycle through. At the far end, after he cycled through countless different races, a portrait that was just a blacked-out humanoid finished the options. When Jack focused on the blacked-out portraits, the word multi-race appeared, and that voice began again, "A multi-race character may have any of the attributes of either of their parents."

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  Jack was fairly sure he wanted to be more martial then magical, so when he saw what a human dwarf did and got half of each benefit he played with the box for a bit until he realized that each time he changed the options, it randomized the results. Jack got excited for a moment, hoping to find a combination of the two that offered an extraordinary benefit. Still, it waned when he realized that no matter what he did, the overall point allocation was always balanced. He chose to be human with a sigh.

  He decided he was good with this character and the voice returned, "This decision can not be undone. Are you ready to progress?"

  Again things progressed with the thought being the only acknowledgment.

  " You will be called," the voice said.

  "Jack Hendrickson"

  "Your parents were..." the voice said as the next series of portraits arrived.

  The portraits were all of a male and female. The female had a baby in her arms in each portrait, but that is where the similarities ended. They all were dressed differently, and after looking at the first, he began to get the idea. They were all different professions and offered skills based on what they did. There was a warrior, a merchant, a hunter, and a mage. Each added a point to a base stat like strength, wisdom, and intelligence, along with giving three skills. He chose the warrior and got a bonus to strength, but more importantly, he remembered being a child watching his mother cook and having his father teach him how to hold a spear and shield while chuckling as he struggled to heave the weapons. He had memories of learning to swing a sword and other parts of his father's trade, gaining five levels in the skills spear, sword, and shield.

  "As a youth, you were noticed to have an aptitude for..." the voice continued while more portraits appeared.

  These were of a surprisingly cute boy doing different tasks in these portraits. One looked to be leading a group of other boys that Jack was confident he would pick. The others were of the same boy counting on an abacus, and one was stacking large rocks. The last contained a boy feeding a horse that was larger than he was. He chose the first and immediate memories of his other boys following him around, memories of mock battles, and the camaraderie and power that filled his heart. His charisma gained a point and got the five levels in both leadership and tactics.

  "Young men were expected to add to the community and you..." said the voice, still leading him through his creation.

  More portraits appeared with the boy having noticeably grown now being taller, leaner the softness of his child look yielding some. In one he was selling various items in a market, the next he was adding a blacksmith, herding animals, hunting small game, gathering herbs and roots, and finally helping a construction crew. This was the hardest choice thus far, and they all held skills that he would like. The selections also gave the one point in a base attribute another, Wisdom this time, and five points in three skills. He finally chose hunting small game and got five levels in tracking, five in skinning, and another five in something called hunter's sense. He again acquired the memories that went with those skills and time spent in the forest-covered mountains near his village.

  "As a young man, you found a place..." said the voice.

  This time a young man's images were before him childishness wholly gone from his features. Mage's apprentice, chieftain's aid, scout, infantry trainee, squad leader, skirmisher, and finally craftsman were the new set of choices. Without hesitation, he chose squad leader and gained another point in charisma along with another five levels in leadership and learned ambush with the five levels like before.

  "Adulthood was reached when you.." the voice continued.

  Hunted a dangerous animal, killed an enemy in single combat, started a business, had a known escapade, led a caravan guard, hunted a known bandit, or crafted an advanced recipe. This posed a hard choice, and he didn't choose easily. He chose, hunted a known bandit, a little reluctantly. He got a point in strength and dexterity and another five levels in spear, distinctly remembering the near-perfect thrust that killed a wanted man who had mocked his age and opted to fight when cornered. This time he received more than the memories he expected of the hunt he also got returning to his village and seeing all dead, and it burnt to the ground.

Then again came the darkness.