“D-Didn’t I just jump off the roof?" I asked myself. "So what’s this blue screen?” Still completely blind and not being able to see anything else.
Welcome Player
“Is this some weird type of afterlife or something?” I questioned, trying to feel for something with my hands but finding nothing.
Trying to figure out where I was for about a minute, I suddenly heard a familiar sound of heeled shoes walking towards me. A woman's soothing velvet voice then spoke softly, saying “Okay. Time to start.” her voice became enthusiastic “Welcome Player! You and 9,999 other fellow Players have been specifically chosen to take part in the Creator’s New World!” Out of nowhere the sound of thousands of fireworks started to explode all around, and high above me; it was accompaniment by loud celebratory music echoing throughout the entire space, and it all naturally caused me to crouch down in surprise and fear. “Huh? Are you scared of fireworks or something?” The woman questioned in confusion.
“Oh wait, you can’t see! My apologies, Player, I should've noticed something so obvious earlier. Allow me to fix that for you right away.” I decided to stay silent, still confused and surprised about the whole situation, but after a moment of silence I heard a strange unfamiliar sound. The sound began swirling all around my head, and I felt something warm touch both my closed eyes. “That should do it." said the woman, with the strange sound disappearing. "Sorry again for not noticing earlier, though why don’t you try opening your eyes now.” Still confused about what exactly was happening, I cautiously listened and opened my eyes, and for the first time in four years I could truly see everything again.
Crouched down in front of me, I was greeted by the sight of a perfect, fair-skinned, golden-eyed, and angelic beauty—a beauty that's more a work of art rather than something real. She had longish wavy raven black hair that went just past her shoulders, and that faded halfway into a silver dyed colour. On her throat was a perfect bold black tattoo of the roman numeral XIII, with no other visible tattoos on the rest of her body. She wore a short shoulderless black dress that complimented her collarbones well, with see-through long sleeves, and black heels to match. But the thing that stood out the most about her were the two large black raven-like wings that looked to be protruding from her lower back.
“This really must be the afterlife after all." I unconsciously said aloud. "And that must mean she’s an angel, because there’s no way anyone could be that beautiful.” Being absolutely captured by her beauty.
“Thank you. But I assure you, Player, this is not the afterlife, and an angel isn't exactly what I'd call myself." I immediately covered my mouth after realizing I just said that out loud, but she just smiled and said "Here. Let me help you up.” As she extended her hand out, I unconsciously grabbed it to stand up. “So, how are they?" she asked, "They’re fixed, right?” pointing to my eyes.
It took me a few seconds to stop staring, as I then shook my head and saw my hands below me, and slowly realized what she said. “Oh my god! I can see... I can see...! I CAN SEE!” I shouted out in happiness, with tears beginning to fall from my face, while the woman simply smiled at my delight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don’t know what you did, or how this is possible, but thank you!” Feeling the happiest I’ve ever been in a long while.
She chuckled, “You’re welcome. Though I really must start the introduction now, or you might fall behind the other Players and miss the chances to get the best rewards.”
“Other Players? Rewards? What are you talking about?” I finally took in the surroundings and saw that we were in a huge endless white space. “W-Where are we? Are you sure this isn't heaven?” I asked, looking for a way out but finding nothing.
The woman strangely looked like she was looking at something, but there was nothing there, as she then said “We only have 5 minutes left with the introduction, so please save your questions until the end. I’ll have to shorten the introduction now.” pausing before saying, “Hello, Player. My name is Thirteen, and I will be your Guide until the very end—as well as 99 others of your fellow Players. You are all part of the 10,000 Players chosen to participate and experience this new world we call Novus; a place filled with fantasy for you to live, explore, and conquer. However, before you are sent off on your adventure in the world of Novus, all Players must first complete a Basic Tutorial to help acclimate you with the System, which will be starting shortly.” Thirteen looked to be finished speaking, but added “I can now take any of your questions if you'd like?”
Trying to process all the information she just told me, I said “You said 10,000 other Players, right?” Thirteen nodded her head yes, “And 100 of which you're guiding?” she nodded again, "Then where's the other 99 Players? 'Cause clearly they're not here." I gestured into empty white space.
"The other 99 Players I'm guiding, as well as 9,900 I'm not, will all be simultaneously completing the Basic Tutorials in their own spaces. It was decided that would be the case, as managing and teaching Players separately would likely result in us having to deal with less...variables." She answered openly. "And there's no need worry about me leaving to go tend to the other Players, as us Guides all possess the ability to split ourselves into 100 to be able to guide our Players simultaneously."
“Weird, but okay." I accepted her explanation for now, and instead asked "Then how about the way you keep on referring to us as Players, does that mean we’re playing a game? And if so, are we competing against each other?”
“The term 'Players' is simply the term that was voted upon by all the Guides. It could've easily been: Avatars, Contestants, Incarnates, Participants, or even PCs. And to answer your question about if you’re playing a game...well I guess you could see it that way. Although make no mistake, dear Player, the world you’ll be experiencing is very much real, and dangerous. As for competing against the other Players, I guess that’s up to you, and how you want to play.” adding “Any other questions?”
Thinking of questions to ask, I had to make sure, and asked “You won’t tell me why 10,000 people got chosen to be here, right? Or what the end game for all of this is?”
“Actually, us Guides have been given full permission to tell you exactly why you were all brought here today." She corrected me, "It's with the hope to entice, and incite all of you to put your best efforts into participating. Though as you might have guessed, I cannot tell you the details about 'end game’.” She air quoted. “So, would you like to know the reason?”
I shook my head vigorously, “Of course I do.” listening intently to what she had to say.
Thirteen's face became hauntingly wicked as she widely grinned, “To put it bluntly, us Guides were finally bored to death of eternally watching and waiting, and so it was unanimously decided you insignificant little worms were to be brought here as new toys to play with and entertain us in the mean time.”
“W-W-What?” I stammered, utterly taken back Thirteen's suddenly cold and frightening tone.
She continued by revealing, “You worms laughable died all at the exact same time, either desperately clinging onto the meaningless last moments of the world and people you truly love, or fully accepting your deaths in a horribly corrupt world that had nothing left to offer someone as useless as you. And for that reasons alone, it made you all the perfect subjects for our frivolous entertainment.”
Still shocked by her abrupt change in attitude, but slightly understanding the situation, I said “So you Guides picked us based on people who’d be excited for a new start in life, and people who’d be driven to find a way back to their old ones, is that about right?”
“Not the reaction I expected, but you're more or less correct.” Thirteen nonchalantly shrugged, with her expression returning back to normal. "Though who knows how you Players will react, and feel about stepping into your new world..."
“But that can’t all be it, right? You don’t actually think all the Players will put their best efforts into participating in whatever you want them to do just because they have a new start to life, or hate that you brought them here, do you? I mean anyone with half a brain would know that what you told me just now was way too intentional to be true." Believing that there was something more to all this.
Thirteen laughed in amusement, “You're quite bright, Player. I think you're gonna be my favourite in our group.” giving me a charming wink. “Now as for further motivation you’re searching for, well you’ll have to wait until the end of the Tutorial, and beyond for that. Speaking of which, it looks like it's already time for us to start.” She clapped her hands together, and a light-blue light emitted from them and shot up into the empty white sky above. I then watched as the light-blue light turned into letters and numbers in the sky.
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Tutorial Time Limit: 7 Hours
It then began counting down on its own.
Tutorial Time Limit: 6 Hours, 59 Minutes, 58 Seconds
“Woah, woah, wait a second. We have a time limit?” I questioned, worryingly looking up at the time counting down.
“You do." She smiled. "And I suggest you try your best or you’ll end up missing the bonus rewards for finishing in the Top 1,000 Players, and most importantly the extra bonus rewards for fully completing the Tutorial.”
Feeling pressured by the time going down again, I said “Okay, okay, okay. What do I do then? I don’t see anything.” Looking around at the empty white nothingness.
“You’ll first need to start by opening your Menu and clicking on the words Get Started. Think or say Open Menu.” Thirteen explained.
Following her instructions, I said “Open Menu.” A similar light-blue screen to the first one I saw suddenly appeared, and right in the middle of it was the boxed words Get Started.
[Get Started]
I simply used my hand and clicked the box, and then five other boxed words appeared in its place.
[Character] [Skills] [Inventory] [Quests] [Social]
All the words were greyed out except for Character, and Thirteen said “Now click the Character Menu.” Doing as she said, the words Character moved to the top of the screen while the others disappeared, and a new screen appeared over the Character Menu.
[Choose your Race]
When I clicked the next box, 3 different sized people unexpectedly came out of nowhere and stood still in front of me. They each had a screen labeling them, and of course I recognized them without even needing the labels. The one on the left was a Dwarf, the middle a Human, and the right an Elf. “What the hell? We actually get to pick our Race? She said I could see it as a game, but this is definitely the start of one!” I thought to myself, having already decided my pick the moment I was shown the choices.
I always chose the Elven Race in every game I played, as they were always renowned in all of fantasy for their amazing dexterity, their swift gracefulness, and their unparalleled archery skills; reminding me of my very own skills. When I selected Elf's screen, the other Races disappeared, but 2 more Elves appeared beside the first one. The left was labeled High Elf; having golden blonde hair, ocean blue eyes, and pale fair skin. The middle was labeled Wood Elf; with fair lightly-tanned skin, chocolate brown hair, and deep forest green eyes. And the final one on the right was labeled Dark Elf; they had light-grey skin, silvery silk hair, and captivating purple eyes. Each Elf stood well over 6 feet tall, the shortest being the Dark Elf who was probably 6’4”, and the tallest being the High Elf at 6’8”.
"I'm sure any of these would be a great pick, but I think I'll have to go with my trusty Wood Elf." When I made my choice, an extremely long description appeared for it. "Ugh... A lore dump." Glossing over the information, it predictably explained the basics stuff about Wood Elves, and what they were good at. It was something I was more than familiar with from reading other fantasy fictions, and playing MMOs and RPG games, but the description did oddly omit anything about what elves were like in this particular world—which usually is part of the descriptions like these. “They must not want us to know about the world yet, or maybe they just want us to learn about it on our own?” I figured, wondering if these elves would be all that different from the ones I was familiar with. Though I was able to find out that the Elves in this world only had a lifespan of about 500 years, which is relatively shorter than most fantasies. Eventually reaching the bottom of the description, I saw that there were Racial Passives that came along with my choice, but unfortunately it didn’t allow me to know what they did.
Elven Racial Passive: Elven Physiology
Wood Elf Passive: Keen-Sighted
Confirm Choice:
[Yes] or [No]
Out of curiosity, I took a look at the High and Dark Elf ones, and saw that they had the same Elf Racial Passive but had different Elf Passives.
High Elf Passive: Mana Adept
Dark Elf Passive: Dark Vision
Having an some sort of idea of what each Passive did, I ultimately confirmed my choice of Wood Elf anyway. But after a moment, a sudden indescribable excruciating pain surged throughout my entire body. "Aaahhhhhh!" Screaming out in crippling pain.
Changing Race from Human to Wood Elf.
The pain brought me down to the ground, naturally bringing me into the fetal position, and causing my whole body to convulse and spasm all over. I then felt very my body forcibly, and unnaturally altered through some immense and unknown force. I could hear my bones breaking and shifting all over, and I even felt my organs moving and squirming inside of me. The only thing that made this barely bearable, was the warm, green magical light healing the different parts of my body every few seconds.
After about 3 minutes of screaming and enduring the excruciating pain, a new message popped up in my face.
Race Change has been completed, your Race has now been changed to a Wood Elf.
The pain all dissipated, and I looked at my hands and saw that they were slightly different now. “Thirteen, right?” Finally calling the woman her name.
“That’s correct.” She answered.
“Couldn’t you have given me a little warning before that happen?” I asked her, slowly picking myself off the ground.
“If I told you what was going to happen, would it have hurt any less?” She argued, giving me such a beautiful smile. “Anyway, if you ask me, I think you’ll like the results. You really got lucky to gain such a desirable appearance. Actually, you know what? Here. Have a look for yourself." She then magically conjuring up a full body mirror from thin air.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I was completely unrecognizable, basically a stranger who was just wearing the same white t-shirt and sweatpants I wore. What I saw in the mirror was a handsome young elven man with sharp facial features, sandy beige skin, stunning light-green eyes, and slightly long wavy black hair. Most of the man's hair was tucked behind his pointy ears, leaving two long strands hanging slightly past each of his cheek bones, while the rest of his hair rest reached down the back of his neck and just passed his slightly protruding Adam's apple. Helplessly admiring the change in myself, I started thinking “Not that I was bad looking before, but if I compare my previous self to the elf I am now, even I'd call me hideous. Elves really are just so unfairly good looking for no reason. And I’m also so much taller now.” Guessing that I was around 6’7”.
Not seeing what to do next, I asked her “What's next, Thirteen?”
“Next you choose a name, and then we’ll begin the next part of the Tutorial” She replied happily.
I took a moment to collect my thoughts, “This feels like some weird type of dream I’m having.” Pinching myself to confirm it’s not. “Literally just a few minutes ago, I accepted death with nothing left to live for, but now things have completely changed.” Staring at my new self in the mirror again. “I regained my eyesight, my body is healthy and improved," looking to Thirteen, "and whatever these ‘Guides’ have planned for us ‘Players’, it can’t be worse than my life before! Now all that's left is to accept and embrace this opportunity to its fullest.”
Clenching both my fists, I made up my mind, and said “I really only lost two things in the previous world I cared about, so I think I'll use my name as a constant reminder of the things I hold the most dear to me.” claiming, “My new name will be... Eyes Thalion.”