It was a cold and chilly night. Jax spent three hours waiting in line for the newest game, Eden. This game was the pinnacle of virtual reality gaming, boasting that if there was no menu, you could confuse it for reality. VR has been around for quite some time now. The military used it for combat training, and corporations used it for product simulations. Eventually it was released to the public around 20 years ago. Ever since then, the competition between gaming companies became fierce. That was until ROYAL Gaming took the spotlight. With some of the worlds top scientist and developers ROYAL Gaming created Starfire, an incredibly successful space exploration vr game. The income per year was far into the billions. This gave them absolute dominance in the Vr market. With even more world-renowned programmers, developers, and creators joining, ROYAL Gaming continued to grow. And now it was Eden’s time to shine, what the creators called the most innovative and expansive fantasy experience to date. It claimed that every experience would be unique and that no person would play through the same story. Of course, this meant the game balance was flexible, some thought it was a promising idea, others would rather play it safe. The most impressive aspect of Eden was its AI. There were two types of AI the npc Ai which was top of the line in every regard, and the system AI, which acted like a GM to Eden, fixing what needed to be fixed and breaking what need to be broken. Eden would be the first VR game to have an AI GM. OF course it had numerous restriction and can only act within the power given to it, but unless something went terribly wrong ROYAL Gaming would not interfere. And thus, Eden would be a game to go down in history.
Jax took the gear and placed it on his head, anticipating what this new world would bring. Unable to contain his excitement he turned on the device. An angelic voice rung in his ear.
“Welcome to Eden”, as soon as this voice spoke an intro started showing various scenes of the in-game world. “We hope you have a pleasant experience, please create your character. The character created will be permanent!”
Jax thought for a moment, and another moment and another…. “Crap I’ve been thinking about this game for months and haven’t even decided what to be! Jax grumbled. “What are the options for Race”
“In Eden all players must start as a human, although chances to switch race are possible in the future” the voice explained.
Jax would have facepalmed if he could, how could he forget something so simple. “what are the classes” he asked, completely blanking out on the hours of studying he put into this game.
“The starting classes are the following: Warrior, Guardian, Rogue, Mage, Priest, Archer, Paladin (Light), Warlock (Dark), Bard, Dancer, Merchant, Tradesman, and Engineer.
Jax thought for a long while. “should I be one of the Faction exclusive classes, no probably a lot of others are going to play them, hmm,”
The game will begin in 20 minutes.
Jax thought harder and harder, warriors and mages were usually the easiest classes, but that being the case they were also quite popular, leading to their items and quest being tightly pursued. Of course, he could pick a bard, but who in their right mind would want to do that, and a merchant was way out of the question. That left the rogue, guardian, archer, and engineer, after all the priest was nearly as bad as the bard. Engineers were probably the most unique and versatile class. They had various bombs, gadgets and traps for the enemy, the only down side was that they spent more time on a workbench then actually fighting, either that or they were filthy rich and could buy the items outright.
“The game will start it ten minutes”
“Give me a break” he yelled at the system. “I choose the rogue class”
“Analyzing player, adjusting into game”
Eden used a body scanner to determine how your character appeared, long gone were the days of every character looking the same, attempting to look the “coolest”. Jax was 5’11” and was fairly built, a rather average face and the only eye-catching thing was that he had Snow white hair. Jax had a rough childhood, his parents passed away over 4 years ago when he was 15. Being the only child, he stayed with his older cousin Rose. She is 25, 6 years older than Jax. She was his lifeline, having nowhere to go, she was the one who took him in. She saw him as her brother and did everything she could to support him, including nagging him relentlessly. Even during the nagging, Jax felt nothing but respect for her and would try his best in every occasion trying to pay back her generosity. Jax had a hard time fitting in at school, especially after his parent’s accident, so he spent most of his time alone playing games. His favorite was Chance. It was another fantasy VR that will be the outshined precursor to Eden. Both he and Rose were good at gaming, Rose always had a large group around her as she was one of the better female players and more importantly very beautiful. Jax however only joined a party when it was necessary, even then he would usually decline which led him to miss many events. Still he was a skilled player and some guilds tried to invite him but they would be declined. Instead he created his own guild called One Man Army. Naturally this guild only had one member. He thought it was cool, and refused to let others convince him otherwise. This was the aspect he looked forward to most in Eden, complete freedom. The creators said that Solo players would have just as much opportunity as guilds and parties. Of course, there would always be disadvantages to both but they were considerably decreased for the solo players. This is why he chose to be a rogue.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Please choose your faction”
The options were Light, Neutral, and Dark
They all had their advantages, each one had exclusive buffs, abilities and class advancements. The light and dark factions gave more and an exclusive class, but they also were targeted by the other side, whereas neutral would be given less, but wouldn’t have to worry about being specifically targeted by one side or the other. Of course, there would be ways to change one’s faction, but it would be difficult and probably not until later in the game.
Jax chose neutral, he figured the less people trying to kill him the better.
“Please create a name for your character”
This was it… the moment he dreaded, the cursed name creation. Millions if not hundreds of millions of names would have already been taken. In previous games he would spend hours trying to find one that works. At least he arrived somewhat early so it shouldn’t be to bad.
“Jax” – Taken
“jax is back” – taken
“One Man Army” – taken
“Jaxx, jaxxx, jaxxxx, Jax is great, Jax the great, Jax the theif, noob, newbie, I hate this game, Jax, destroyer of nations, Conqueror of the world, The living incarnation of all that is evil, bob, I hate this Game 2
rfanmdslkfkar, - taken
AHHHHH! Jax yelled in rage.
“The game will start in 5 minutes”
“How many people could possibly have the name Jax”. He said.
“There are approximately 6783 players that have the Name “Jax” in their character name so far.” the voice replied in a know-it-all tone.
At this moment Jax was getting desperate, he wanted to experience this game from the beginning.
“3 minutes remaining”
“Vale Aeternum” ( Farewell Forever)
“Are you sure”
“yes” Jax said, eager he remembered a Latin phrase from a previous game.
“would you like to translate the name to English” the voice prompted
“no”
Character Created
“please assign 5 attribute points”
Jax choose to put 4 in agility and 1 in endurance. Each class has a certain distribution of 63 attribute points, giving more to the effective points for the starting class. Everyone began with 5 luck, charisma, and willpower.
Vale Aeternum Health: 135 Mana: 80 Stamina: 110
Class: Rogue LvL 1 Faction: Neutral Title: None Fame: 0
Strength – 8 Physical Attack: 32
Agility – 16 Magic Attack: 14
Intelligence – 8 Defense: 25
Wisdom – 8
Endurance – 11
Vitality – 7
Perception- 10
Luck: 5
Charisma: 5
Willpower: 5
Jax was satisfied with his character and started to watch the countdown
5,4,3,2,1…
Jax closed his eyes and awaited the beginning of a new life, a life in Eden.