Well, today is the day. Honestly, I was so excited last night that it kind of felt like trying to sleep on Christmas Eve when I was a kid. I got up early, the same as I would on a normal work day, six am. I started the coffee maker and took a shower. Once I was done drying off, I poured my coffee and went to the pod room. Yep, the haptic jumpsuit was hanging on the wall on the other side of the door. I put it on with nothing but my underwear underneath. It was actually reasonably comfortable. Some kind of cotton lining on the inside. The whole suit was about a quarter inch thick, which I assumed was to account for whatever in the suit would give me sensations.

“Are you ready to begin your journey to Midrealm?” What the fuck. The AI startled me.

“Uh, not yet. Just finishing up my coffee.” I told the women.

“Very well. Once you are ready, please get in the A1X and connect your suit. I will do the rest.”

Yep, my life is essentially going to be put in this AI’s hands. Not the most comfortable feeling, but one that is necessary, apparently. I sighed as I finished the last sip of my coffee. Well Matt, you got yourself into. You’re the one who wanted change. Here you go.

“OK, let’s do this,” I said out loud and clapped my hands together.

I approached the pod and waved my hand over the glass top. The glass turned black, and red lettering appeared. ‘Welcome, Matt Smith,’ and the pod opened for me to enter. I got in and found the insert that connected to my suit. I plugged it in. Every part of my body inside the suit got a strange static feeling for a few seconds, then returned to normal. I laid back and heard the women’s voice inside the pod. “Relax, and enjoy your journey in Midrealm.”

At that moment, I felt a few minor pinpricks in different spots coming from the suit. I felt as if I started to doze off.

***

I awoke to blurred lights of orange and red. I was not able to clearly make out any of my surroundings. It was like having the sun shining in your eyes, but no matter where I averted my eyes, the sun was still there. So I tried to close them, only I couldn’t. It was like nothing worked. I couldn’t move any part of my body. Did I even have a body? Damn, this felt insane. It was similar to that one time I took a particular mushroom. The brightness of everything around me slowly became tolerable. Hey, this wasn’t so bad.

I was just getting comfortable and content in this, whatever this was, when a voice spoke.

“It is time,” the voice seemed to be everywhere as if it was inside me.

“It is time for you to be the hero you were meant to be. The everlasting fight between good and evil is calling, and you must choose how you will face it.” before my eyes, the lights around me shifted, and in front of me was what seemed to be a character creation menu.

“You must choose how you will face the world. Please start by choosing your race.” Said the disembodied voice.

All around me were examples of different races, with descriptions of pros, cons, and small histories. I decided to start reading about the different races. Human, Elvin, Dwarfish, Halfling. So, I might as well be picking a character for Middle Earth. Come to think of it, Midrealm pretty much seemed like the same thing. So, I guess it’s a Middle Earth knockoff? It seemed kind of simple for a new MMO, but I suppose this is Xplicit’s first game using these systems, and it is meant to be about the full-body experience.

I was already pretty sure I would just be human. I mean, I am human already. I pretty much always just created better versions of myself when creating characters. I know, it’s not to exciting, but unless one of these other races had skills that were overpowered, I was going to be human. I looked at the halfling first. I read the description.

Halfling - The smallest and weakest of the peoples in Midrealm, the halfling will almost always lose in a battle of body; however, in a battle of wits, the halfling will most certainly win. Originally from the roaming hills territory close to the narrows of Midrealm, the halfling race originally grew to live in peace with the world around them. This peacefulness eventually allowed for a greater connection to the flow of mana found all through Midrealm. Halflings are by far the most gifted sorcerers on the northern continent. This gift for sorcery is what allowed the halflings to fend off the initial attacks from the Devourer's forces that came through the narrows over two hundred and fifty years ago.

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* All halflings start off with a +10 stat in intellect and -7 strength

Special ability

* Mana barrier: create a barrier surrounding yourself using mana that will absorb one point of physical damage per mote of mana the user has put into the barrier.

OK, definitely a strong caster race. Maybe this Midrealm is a bit different than Middle Earth. Halflings are basically hobbits, and hobbits are notoriously a stealth-based race. According to the map I had looked at last night, the roaming hills were, like it says, directly north of the narrows, which is where the battleground between the northern content forces and the southern forces meet. The Devourer is the name the Northerners use for the South’s evil leader. They are supposed to be some kind of a God. Ok, on to Dwarves next.

Dwarves - This robust race of craft-driven peoples originally resided in the great mountains located north and west of the roaming hills. They now live throughout the Northern continent, sharing their extraordinary architecture and craftsmanship with all the races of Justara’s alliance. Dwarves have some affinity for sorcery, though they mostly use it as a helping hand to their great skill with axe, mace, and shield. Dwarves have great strength and ingenuity. They were the first to join the halflings in the fight against the Devourer.

*All Dwarves start with a +15 to any crafting skill. They also gain the ability to create new and unique items that other races cannot.

Special Ability

* Stone lore: Turn the user’s skin into stone, allowing for greater defense against all incoming damage. Negates incoming healing while ability is in use. Can be toggled on and off at the user’s will.

Definitely a classic dwarven race. I really like that they seem like a warrior race with incredible defensive capabilities. It's very much my style; however, I would wait to see what elves and humans could offer me. I noticed another little nugget of information in there. There’s something about Justara’s alliance in there. I assume that halflings, Dwarves, elves, and humans formed this alliance to fend off more attacks by the Devourer. Elves next.

Elvish - The Elvish people of Midrealm primarily reside in the great forests to the northeast of the roaming hills. These long-lived people have a great affinity for the natural world. This has allowed for the elvish to gain many different skills. Among these is their remarkable ability to heal themselves and others. Many long years spent among the trees have also given the elvish the great ability to move through the woods without being seen or heard. The last to join Justara’s Alliance, the elves can be very solitary, though in more recent years, they have begun to spread throughout all of the Northern continent.

* Elves start with a bonus to agility and willpower.

Special Ability

* Moonlit Regeneration: An instant cast spell that heals the target for three percent of their health pool every three seconds for one minute. The caster must touch the target. Spell has a cooldown of five minutes.

So Elves on Midrealm look to be druid-like people, maybe. Either way I have never seen myself as an elf, to stuck up. Let’s see what this says about humans.

Human - The youngest of the four races located north of the narrows. The human race has evolved to adapt. Originally from the north of both the great forests of the east and the great mountains of the west, humans have become used to enduring cold weather and the snow-covered mountains. Today, humans are abundant throughout Midrealm, both in Justara’s alliance and the Devourer's forces, though it seems the humans on either side know little about each other.* Humans begin with the ability to learn all weapons and are the only race on Midrealm with the starting stat of Luck

Special Ability

* Roll the Dice: This ability grants the user and their group a buff in one random stat. This ability can be cast once every six hours and gives a plus five at level one.

Hmm, it seems a little lackluster. I suppose Roll the Dice could be pretty strong especially at low levels, if you get a stat thats beneficial. Interesting that humans are are on both sides of this war. I wonder why that is.

Although I like the abilities and stats of Dwarves, I had already decided I would pick humans. I was human, and if this was my chance to be the Hero I was meant to be, as the disembodied voice suggested, I wanted to do it as myself, not some other race that I wouldn’t recognize if I looked in a mirror. So I took a deep breath, blew it out, and said to the voice, “I have chosen to be Human.”

“Very well. Please use the system to customize yourself, then tell me when you are ready.”

Everything around me shifted and blurred, and then a mirror appeared before me. I was a bit taken aback when the full-length mirror showed a naked me staring back at me. I mean, I knew it was me, but damn, I looked pretty good. It was like I had lost ten pounds of fat and gained another ten of muscle. I also looked like I was maybe five to ten years younger. It was pretty much me, just better. It’s like the system automatically knew what I wanted. I might even be a couple of inches taller. Hmm, not bad, but I think I’d prefer to be my own age. I also gave myself longer hair to go with my already salt-and-pepper beard.

“Alright, I’m ready. Midrealm, here I come!” I proclaimed.

“Very well. You will be awakened in five…four…three…two…one.”