Dim glow of the monitor’s screen dimly illuminated Limp’s lean figure snuggled inside the chair, browsing through [The Upcoming]-related forums before the game’s launch. The game was scheduled to be launched in about thirty minutes. This time, the game’s developer, HHH corporation, had kept the lid extremely tight. Usually, the game developers prematurely leaked some interesting features of the game to gain some publicity. However, as far as [The Upcoming] was concerned, HHH corporation clearly didn’t feel the need for any such move. At the time of the game’s release, they announced a total expenditure of over five hundred billion dollars through the course of five years to develop this proclaimed revolutionary VR game. With such an outrageously shocking figure labeled on the game’s cover, keeping a tight lid on the game details had instead proven to be an excellent publicity tactic, giving an enigmatic outlook to the game. [The Upcoming] related threads brutally dominated the gaming forums.
The headgear’s insignificant cost of a thousand dollar had allowed the company to garner an unprecedented number of six million account purchases within a month after the game’s release. According to the survey HHH corporation conducted amongst the account buyers, this might be the first time in the gaming history that more than forty percent of the players who had bought the account were entering the game with certain financial expectations in mind rather than just for the fun of it.
After hours of browsing through the forums, Limp didn’t find a single credible piece of information. All he saw was players ranting about their own versions of perfect VR worlds. Some wanted the game setting to be futuristic, some preferred traditional ancient/mythological themes, some wished to have the option of playing antagonistical roles, some wished to play multiple classes simultaneously, and some just wanted to sleep with an elf before peacefully mounting their deathbeds.
Thirty minutes quickly passed away, and Limp stood up from his chair. Although he didn’t find a single piece of useful information, he didn’t feel bad at all. In fact, he had a faint smile hanging at the corners of his lips. Since he couldn’t find any information, most of the others players would be the same as him. Limp had only indulged himself in gaming during the last three of his twenty-three years of living. The experience of three years didn’t seem too shabby if one just wished to have some fun in the game, but to excel among the gaming veterans with decades of experience, it could only be considered pitiful. The more unusual [The Upcoming] turned out to be, the better would be his chances of success.
He lay down on the bed and picked up the headgear from the shelf beside the bed. Wearing the gear, he relaxed his body, closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and pressed the red switch above his right ear.
[Ding. Please name your character.
Caution: Only one name is permitted per account
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Caution: Only one account is permitted per player.]
Limp found himself as a dark shadow drifting about in a boundless light-blue space. At this stage, he felt more like watching his avatar from a third person point of view rather than being the avatar itself.
“Glum”. He softly spoke.
The world around him suddenly spiraled into darkness. After a few seconds, his vision returned. His point of view had merged with his avatar, which had changed from a shadow to a highly meticulous three-dimensional copy of his body, wearing a faded blue robe.
[You can alter your appearance within a limit of twenty percent]
Without a moment’s delay, Limp changed the color of his eyes from amber to black and slightly enlarged his jaw. His avatar’s appearance still resembled his original self quite a bit, but without his most prominent feature- his deep amber eyes- his acquaintances wouldn’t be able to recognize him at a glance.
[Are you sure you want to enter the game with these settings? You will not be able to alter these settings after entering the game.]
“Yes”
[You have been randomly assigned Recloud village as your starting point. Transportation complete in 3….2…..1]
Glum’s vision momentarily blackened before he found himself in an open field crowded with hundreds of players materializing randomly. The moment he gained his senses, he felt somewhat overwhelmed. Although he’d played a few VR games before, none of them had given him a faint feeling of anxiety and panic like this- as if he’d really awakened amidst a huge crowd. Even though none of the other VR games had such a high density of players spawning either, he didn’t think the number of players mattered as much as his senses; he had never felt so stimulated inside a virtual world.
Glum entered the crowd of players that were moving towards the field’s exit while flinging about their hands and legs, gyrating their shoulders, rotating their necks- making all sorts of movements to adjust their bodies to the virtual world. The crowd was oddly quiet, except for a few sighs and exclamations for the newly spawning players. The sounds of footsteps and winds dominated the field, not even low murmurs sounded. Then again, it wasn’t as surprising when he recalled that the system had assigned random beginning points to the players. It seemed that each person had to fend for himself, which was, of course, fine by him.
After twenty minutes, he’d exited the field. Even at this moment, he felt his movements somewhat stiff. In the previous VR games he’d played, he'd only needed two or three minutes to adjust to the virtual world.
Standing at beside the field’s exit, he saw rows of small and cute buildings with muddy streets coiled in between. Upon exiting the field, players swarmed straight to the NPCs roaming the streets. Of course, there were also many like him who stood at the side, observing and formulating their understanding of the virtual world they were in.
Before deciding on any course of action, he obviously needed to check his stats first.
A blue table appeared before him.
Glum(Redcloud villager) Strength: 1 Agility: 0 Intelligence: 0 Unassigned stats: 4 Attack: 5 Speed: 20
PS: This is my first attempt at creating writing, do offer any advice/suggestion/criticism you see fit.