There was nothing.
Immediately after my conversation ended with that AI, I was engulfed in darkness. There wasn't even enough light to see the nose on my face.
Without warning, a white box materialized, blinding me temporarily.
Welcome to Libertas Online
Configuring: 1% (1 hour remaining)
You may leave your capsule during configuration
'Like that's going to happen', I thought.
I had promised myself that I never would leave my capsule again. The protein harness system and static rejuvenation field installed in my pod ensured that I wouldn't ever need to either.
The world had scorned me, I was simply returning the favor.
Shaking my head, I decided to not focus on that, there were better things to do with my time. After opening my Capsule's internet browser, I pulled up some info on Libertas Online.
Aegis, the company who developed the game, was a fledgling corporation, not having released a single title beforehand, yet it was the only company to have Government Approval to make a VRMMORPG, much to their competitor's dismay.
The Government had to approve of every single VR program before release in order to "protect the psychological state of the consumer". It was a bunch of bull. All they really cared about was full control of the market, not safety. I guess that was just all the more reason to leave.
The general public had little idea what Libertas Online was even about. Aegis was extremely secretive, enforcing a strict ban on information leaks. No matter where I looked beforehand, there wasn't a single iota of info online besides the release date.
I was amongst the first wave of gamers to play, so I didn't expect to find much. To my surprise, Aegis had revoked their ban of leaks the moment that the game released. The internet was flooded with speculation riddled here and there with a few specks of truth.
Luckily, I had a few reliable sources to go to.
Most of it was lore related: pantheons, kingdoms, myths, etc. But what caught my eye was the levelling system. On first glance, it was pretty standard fare for an RPG: you kill something, level up, kill something stronger, and the cycle continues. What made Libertas Online unique was the talents system that used what your mind was talented at in order to decide whether you could acquire a related skill.
Supposedly, as the game was configuring, it pieced together a full brain scan from your capsule's history. I glanced up at the now-ominous white screen, wondering if it was a good idea for me to be in my capsule during configuration after all.
'I hope my talents are useful', I thought, 'I'd hate to be a manual laborer or something.'
I also knew that most of this information was tentative at best. Obviously, there was no way for the game to prevent someone from defending themselves, even if they had no talent for combat. At least, I hoped so.
Engrossed in my thoughts, I didn't notice the Configuration Box slowly approaching 100% until a second box appeared, snapping me out of my reverie.
Configuration Complete
Welcome, Gray
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
I only had a moment to read the message before the box expanded wider and wider, engulfing the entirety of my vision.
Would you like to enter the public or private tutorial?
"Private", I said instantly.
No doubt the public tutorial rooms were clogged with people meeting up with "friends". I couldn't stand their disgusting smiles, their ugly laughter.
The words faded out of existence, leaving me alone for a split-second.
The world warped, twisting and contorting wildly for what seemed like an eternity. Just as I thought I would lose my stomach, the motion abruptly stopped.
I found myself sitting on a red couch in the center of a sterile white room. Nothing else was in the room, not even a door.
A motion below me caught my eye. It resolved to a skeletal foot, with pronounced, chalk white bones. Each bone was clearly in contact with another, yet just how they stayed attached without tendons or muscle wasn't apparent.
My eyes naturally flowed from bone to bone, tiny to large and back again. Eventually, my sight rested on a skeletal hand.
'...I didn't think something so beautiful would be in a human', I mused.
The hand was delicate, yet also held a dangerous aura, reminiscent of a venomous spider. The metacarpals looked much longer than they would clothed in flesh.
Slow realization poured over me. With trepidation, I tried to clasp the skeletal hand into a fist.
The motion was smooth, silk-like, reinforcing my mental image of a spider. With excitement, I noted that the bones made no noise when they came into contact with each other. Stealth would be that much easier.
Even more importantly, I could "feel" the contact. The fact that I had not lost my tactile sense was wonderful news. The bones felt smooth and comfortable to the touch, making the fist easy to accomplish and comfortable to hold.
For a while, I experimented with my new body, noting the subtle differences from my old one.
The first thing to get used to was the new timing when touching things. After all, with no flesh, my body would come into contact with things a fraction-of-a-second faster than my human muscle memory would remember. In the short term, that meant going slower, lest I stumble over myself or grab at nothing. I would get used to that soon enough.
Second was my lack of bodily functions. Even as I analyzed myself, I had to constantly remind myself that I didn't need to blink, as I had no eyelids. The lack of lungs also made it difficult to breath. Yet, once I acclimated to this body, that would become a huge boon. I would always perform at peak efficiency, no hunger, thirst, tiredness, or discomfort would ever stop me.
After my inspection was done, I was elated. Not only did my body hold great potential, it was also very much different from a human's. No longer being part of the human race would provide me with a huge psychological boost. I was aware of my misanthropy, and was willing to accept both its pros and cons. That was the path I had chosen.
With a start, I realized that I hadn't tried speaking yet.
Just as I was about to attempt it, I heard a loud pop. Looking up, I saw something strange: a very small, winged humanoid, hovering a few inches from my face. It was unclothed, yet had no discernible genitalia.
'A pixie', I thought, awestruck.
A creature straight from legends, from movies, books, and games, was right in front of me. Their appearance, powers, and even temperament varied wildly from iteration to iteration, but one thing always held constant: they were troublemakers.
Its tiny eyes scrutinized me, sending a shiver down my very visible spine. Something about the creature made me intensely nervous.
"You.. you're Mr. Gray, right?", a squeaky voice inquired.
I nodded slowly, not taken in by its attempts to be cute.
"This one is Hanna. Hanna is very sorry she couldn't come sooner, there are many more travelling spirits than the World Tree thought there would be", she apologized, pointed ears drooping.
'World Tree must refer to Libertas Online's controlling AI, and travelling spirits to the players themselves', I thought. I had read enough webnovels to know that.
"So", she exclaimed, tiny countenance brightening, "is Mr. Gray getting used to his new body? Many travelling spirits said that it was a strange experience."
I paused for a moment before replying.
"Yes", a thrumming baritone voice emanated from my teeth. My words reverberated within the confined space of the white room.
'Huh, I thought it would be gravelly and coarse', I silently rejoiced, 'I don't even need to move my jaw to speak.'
"Good! Great even! I had hoped Mr. Gray would be comfortable. Lady Endvil told Hanna to keep an eye on you", the pixie said happily.
That was concerning.
"This... Lady Endvil, was she the one I spoke to to create my avatar?", I questioned hesitantly.
Hanna nodded with a huge grin on her face.
"Mr. Gray was the only one of the travelling spirits to catch the Lady's interest", she said animatedly.
That was bad. Very bad.
I couldn't afford to get on an A.I.'s bad side, especially one that was capable of flawlessly handling millions of character creations at the same time. With that level of computational capacity, I would essentially be a sinner in the hands of an angry god.
On the other hand, having "her" favor would be nice in the short term, but would inevitably lead to quite a bit of attention directed my way by news coverage, pvp'ers, and players in general. That was the completely opposite of my plans.
"Anyway", Hanna said bubblingly, "We only have three days together, so why don't we make the most of it?"
...The pixie was right. It was no use worrying about something I couldn't change. I had to focus during those three days, otherwise... I wouldn't be able to survive in this world.
After all, you have to know the rules to play a game.