- You desire to be male or female? - a mechanical female voice asked.
- Female – I gave an answer without hesitation.
- And race?
- What can I choose from?
- Currently there are 6 races: Human, Elf, Orc, Dwarf, Vampire, Werewolf, Demon with first three having following variants: Human: North, Central and South. Elf: High, Wood, Dark, Light, Half and Orc: Troll, Tribesman, Gnome – the A.I. answered.
If I had control over body, I would have probably tilted my head while using my hand to cover chin. Right now I was placed before very difficult moment for a gamer, especially in the VRMMORPG.
There are various ups and downs with choosing a race. For example, Central Human has the ability to become every class, however it is impossible to excel in it. North Human has greater physical strength, vitality and cold affinity, while South Human possess greater agility, luck and fire affinity. However no matter what variant player chooses, he can more-or-less become what he desires to be.
That, and possibly highest compatibility with players, is what made Human race the most popular.
Second in the line are Elves. I believe that their variants are well-known to anyone who has even little knowledge of fantasy settings, however I'll still explain. High elves have the highest affinity for magic, making them picked very often by players desiring to become mages. Wood elves have the highest bow affinity, with perks to increased accuracy etc. Dark elves are more melee oriented then others. They can take some blows, but their main asset is their agility. Light elves make the best healers, and they can even call nature to their aid. Half-elves are a mix between humans and elves, making them more versatile then the rest, but unable to reach the pinnacle of pretty much anything.
Add to that their legendary beauty, and you've got the perfect race. Of course every elf has increased nature affinity.
Orcs are the go-to tanks and skirmishers. And Trolls excel in it. Their huge structure, great power and vitality is what makes them feared on the battlefields. Tribesmen on the other hand don't have that much strength, however the compensate for this better agility. Gnomes make good merchants and artificers.
The biggest drawback of Orcs is how weak they are mentally. That makes them prone to controlling effects.
Dwarves are go-to artificers and craftsmen. The legends of their skill with manual work are well-known to everybody. They can also make semi-tanks, as well as semi-damage dealers.
Every member of the race knows repair skill. As well as have a full-grown beard, fortunately for males only.
Vampires possess great offence and agility. Also, as the only playable race, they can recover their health by sucking on the enemy during the fight. This possibly the biggest combat prowess is compensated by the fact that they are very weak while being exposed to the sunlight. Also, unless they reveal their vampire traits, they are indistinguishable from Human race. Which is why they are considered as hostile by them.
Race mainly chosen by romantics, since the drawbacks are usually too much for a hardcore player.
Werewolves. Race often compared with Vampires because of the tales telling how one can be 'infected' by it. They are really bred just like normal races (which goes to Vampires as well!). Werewolves, when not transformed, possess great vitality. However once they transform into a wolf, they sacrifice half of it to gain boost to offence and agility. They are also considered hostile among Humans, for the same reason as Vampires.
They are quite rare because of the feral style of fighting, which involves biting.
Lastly, demon race. They are considered hostile by all, beside Vampires and some Human settlements. Boasting of their high intellect and twisted mind, they are mostly dire conjurers, summoners and mind controllers. Their high intellect and agility makes them hard to pin down, however they are broadly considered fragile. As a bonus they get increased rate of gaining experience.
The offset for hostility they experience is increased rate of gaining experience.
After reminiscing the information I have gathered so far, as well as considering I'm not good with people, I decided.
- I'd like to become a Vampire.
- Customize your appearance.
Before I could blink, I have had a body. As I briefly looked around, I saw that I was surrounded by mirrors. I looked into them and saw my body.
Obviously I was a female. I had roughly 1.70 meters. My wavy hair was dark brown, reaching my waist. I had straight face, with large, reddish eyes and medium nose. My mouth was appropriate to the rest of my face. My bust also was the right size. Not so big that it would weight me down, but big enough so that it's noticeable. Perfect.
I was drooling over the sight before me. My eyes wandered over the face once more, then ran down to the thin legs and arms, sexy cleavage and booty.
I was a total babe.
- I want to look like this – was my answer after coming back to my senses. Even my own voice was super sexy. Immediately mirrors disappeared. At least I had now my new body. I started walking around to get used to the new feelings, when the I heard the voice again.
- What do you want your name to be?
- Viricide – I answered, slowly getting used to it.
- Starting location?
- Can you show me the map? - I asked.
Instead of the answer, a big world map appeared before my eyes. There, I could see that the world was gigantic. There were two continents with a great number of isles around them. The continents were connected by numerous passages, and some were branching off to the greater isles.
The northern continent had many mountain ranges, and as many lakes and rivers. Human settlements were placed near them. Elves preferred dense forests, and from what I knew, Orcs and Dwarves were deep in and under mountain ranges. Demons were nowhere to be seen, however I can imagine that's because my character isn't of a demon race.
While I'm at this, the thing worth mentioning is that once you create your character, there is no going back. Very rarely you can create another one, however the catch is that you can't choose another race other then your primary choice. This is to prevent leaking important information, especially Demons' whereabouts.
Me, being of the Vampire race, could see towns, cities and villages of Humans and Elves – that's because of the close bonds forged between two races.
Thanks to that players of either race are given the luxury of starting in the combined pool of those races' towns. And that goes for Vampires as well.
South continent wasn't accessible for now, because according to the world lore two continents were waging a constant war since forever. Because of that most players didn't even bother to inspect that continent. However I looked over it carefully, making notes of the great plains, numerous rivers and cloud-reaching mountains. However the forests weren't as dense as up on the northern continent.
Then something stroke me. It was a feeling I haven't experienced for a long time. I'm not even sure when was the last time.
I was excited.
And it wasn't something momentary either. I could feel the desire to explore that new world.
I wanted to see every little part of it, feast my eyes upon unimaginable sights.
Yeah, it's a kind of girlish thing.
- Have decided on your starting point? - the A.I. put me back to my senses, after I dozed off thinking of the adventures before me.
I hastily checked over the northern continent.
Immediately I noticed that south was explored all-the-way to the passages. Being an explorer by heart, I immediately shunned away the thought of starting there.
The options left were west, north and east. Out of three of them, east and north were explored about evenly. Two choices left now.
Finally after some quick consideration I asked a question.
- Are there any pros and cons of choosing given starting location?
- Yes, however only slight and depending on the climate. For example when starting in the very hot climate, you gain some bonus affinity to fire. The con is deprivation of affinity with ice. Cold climates offer the reverse of hot ones, that. Neutral climate offers neither pros nor cons.
Great, some useful information. Now I had to consider these as well.
I am going to explore a lot. And I absolutely am going to scale every mountain there is. With which having ice affinity would help me a great deal.
However after some time I will have to cross that passage. As well as a lot of territories around them, all of which are hot.
Catching my chin wit my hand, I started looking at the map. There I noticed that south continent had many deserts.
My immediate thought was: “Just great”. After all everybody knows that the sands of the deserts contain many long-forgotten ruins, only waiting to be found. Ruins, containing ancient secrets.
- Have you chosen yet? - the A.I. put me back to my senses once again.
I kept repeating that I should focus right now.
…
…
…
After finishing some brainstorming, I finally decided.
Even though deserts and the temples are piquing on my curiosity, mountain sights are even more so.
I quickly looked over the northern part of the northern continent, this time focusing on actual names. There I learned that it's called Aio, while southern – Dea. I looked over the map once again, putting names and locations into my mind notebook.
…
…
…
- Are you do... - the A.I. was about to finish the sentence, when I finally gave an answer.
- Seclusion.
- Are you sure? It's the region located on the front-lines of the north exploration, as well as the coldest place currently available. Because of that you will, on top of increased ice affinity, receive cold-resistant clothes. Bear in mind that those alone won't be enough if you decide to wander off the town right off-the-bat. Your choices are...
- To either work and buy better clothes, or hunt for the materials, right? - I cut the A.I. mid-sentence.
- That's about it.
- Thanks – I honestly thanked her.
- Now, before you start your adventure, as a former beta-tester you are also given permission to pick one item from the following – after the A.I. said that, before me appeared a notice box with item names and description. - Note that they are supplementary items designed to help you at the beginning – she finished.
Item Name:Item Description:LongswordCondition: 80/100
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Normal Longsword. An effective one-handed weapon.
Requires 15 strength to equip.Fur coatCondition: 100/100
A fur coat. Useful for keeping oneself warm. Increases tolerance to cold. Quite plain.Iron BootsCondition: 80/100
Solid pair of boots. Plated with iron pads, enforces wearer's kicking power slightly. Not really fashionable, but with the right clothes/armour one can look good in them.Weakening RingRing infused with weakening spell. The wearer is drained of a part of their power. To make it work, wearer must infuse the ring with right amount of mana (health for Vampires).
Spell lasts for 24 hours, after which it must be renewed.2 x DaggerCondition: 80/100
A sharp dagger. Can be used as a replacement for a kitchen knife.MaskCondition: 80/100
A mask. Useful for hiding one's identity. Wearing one in villages, towns and cities will make people speaking with you wary. May pique interest of guards.
You might wonder why those items only have 'Condition' stat. It's simple.
Every item's attack power, as well as defensive power, depends on it's condition. Whether it's sharpened, oiled, etc. Generally it goes down to how well can you maintain your equipment. Even things like cleaning the blade of a sword from the blood before putting it to it's sheath matter. Not that they can be used over and over again, and then repaired as if nothing happened. After excess use the maximum value for the condition decreases. Which makes items without condition especially sought after.
Also Condition is the reason there's a popular trend to form a party with craftsman able to maintain equipment, or even go as far as to create new one. Back in the beta, it became a norm for skilled craftsmen to offer a price for being hired by a party doing a dungeon run or exploration.
Also, damage dealt or received was dependent on the place which was hit. This realistic battle model is excellent replica of real-life. The only difference is magic. If one can put their hands on enchanted weapon or armour, his effectiveness can increase even as much as 100 times.
Sure, it sounds ridiculous, but when you imagine mages calling down meteorites or creating a very active volcano right in the middle of battlefield, and cleaning any mess afterwards, you know that something is happening.
Ending my train of thought, I looked over all those things once again. Most of them were really common items. However the only thing which caught my attention was the ring.
- Does every beta-tester receive the same set of items to chose from? - I asked the A.I. out of curiosity.
- No, they are generated randomly and after choosing one of them, the rest is destroyed. Also, it is noted that rare items can appear only once. It is to prevent sudden increase to the amount present.
- In that case I'll take the ring.
Right after seeing it I was set on taking it. Being a solo player has it's cons, but the greatest is that you don't have anyone with you to help you out. Being such an introvert as me, you wouldn't stand being with other people.
I smirked as I recalled being called a dungeon hermit once. Truthfully there is nothing which cannot be dealt with. If you need team to conquer a dungeon, you just need to get stronger. It's something I have learned throughout my school life, when I was failed by my so-called 'friends' too many times...
- “Ah, snap. I started to think about it again.”
Before I took off again, I came down to earth. Without the A.I.'s help this time.
- I'd like the ring – I said with confidence.
Immediately I felt some extra weight on my ring-finger. Looking on my hand, I noticed small, silver ring with snake biting it's own tail engraved. I recognized that to be the Ouroboros.
I've had many mixed thoughts regarding this symbol. Beginning of the End? Or maybe the End of Beginning. Before I could dwell deeper into my considerations, I heard the A.I. speak once again.
- The Character Creation Process is now complete. You will be now transported to the Seclusion. I wish you many great adventures in the world of 'Mist'.
With that I was surrounded by the blinding light.
But I wasn't surprised.
As a Beta-tester, I was used to this kind of sensation. By now it was an everyday thing for me. However I could feel chills going down my spine.
I have received the ultimate chance for a man. Yes, I'm a man. And I have transvestite tendencies. Being a man, I have chosen to be a woman in the game world.
Call me a pervert, I won't mind it. At least I'm not afraid to show my curiosity of the opposite gender.
Yes, I did it to learn more about women.
I must say I'm fascinated by their look on the world. I believe that by becoming one, at least in the game, I can unravel some mysteries.
Slowly getting anxious, I patiently waited for the teleportation process to end.
…
…
…
Once I thought that any longer and I won't take it, the light died out.
I felt the weight of the fur overcoat on my shoulders. Being spawned in some kind of a temple, I looked around.
It seems no one was present beside myself.
As soon as I thought that, I felt the chill. I tightened my clothes to give myself some warmth.
However I still felt the chill seeping through the overcoat.
Thinking I have nothing better to do, I started warming up. After five minutes I no longer felt cold. Also, I have received an information:
Notice:Because of the physical exercise you have done in the icy-cold weather, you receive:
+2 strength
+5% ice affinity
I was surprised. Increasing my stats was never so easy in the beta. At best it took 1 hour of constant training to increase strength by 1. And the overcoat felt lighter.
I grinned. If there is an exploit, I wasn't the person to let it pass by.
I tried to channel my mana to the ring so that I could receive 'weakened' status and receive even greater bonuses. However I couldn't.
After spending a while ramming my head I remembered I am a Vampire. Another unique trait to them is that they don't possess mana – instead, they use blood.
That gave me an idea. I bit my finger hard enough to draw blood, then I speared in over the ring, willing for it to weaken me.
Somehow it worked. I felt immediate effect, as I nearly dropped to my knees. Grinning maliciously, I spent another half an hour exercising. When I felt I was ready (+20 strength, +10 agility, +15 vitality and +10% ice affinity) I went outside.
After I went out from the temple, I was greeted by the light. And cold wind. Once again, I almost fell down to the ground. This time however was a little better.
Unable to bear with the chill, I hit my face under the hood which was a part of the overcoat. Only then I looked around.
The sight before me was unbelievable. As if I entered the world of ancient Nords, with building made out of wood and stone. And not shabby-built, but wonderful work of art.
There were stone building everywhere I looked. And most of them was decorated with wood, giving them amazing look. Especially since most of the wood was sculpted in various forms.
Looking around I saw eagles, lions and even dragons from time to time.
With my hood on I took my time wandering around.
* * *
Finally a few hours passed since the first time I came into this world. I finished walking around the town, remembering every more important places.
I knew that to survive in such environment I had to be strong. I went to the training hall I noticed while overseeing the Seclusion.
Being on my way, I noticed once again how unpopulated this town is. - “No wonder it's called Seclusion, with having so little townsfolk. I'm even surprised they didn't move elsewhere”.
With thoughts like these I reached my destination.
Training Hall was probably the only building which didn't have sculpted wood, and whose owners could afford it. I imagined that on cold, mountainous terrain like this wood was a scarce.
I wasn't much off.
Finally I entered the building.
To my surprise it was quiet. And dark. It seems that there wasn't anyone training.
- Hello? - I asked out.
However no matter how long I waited, nobody answered. While shrugging it off, I opened my equipment. There I saw I had 2 goatskins of water and 10 loafs of bread. Of course, that's what I expected. I took a sip of the water, when I heard somebody coming in.
That person seemed to know what he's doing, as he started lighting the lamps which I noticed just now.
The room was filled with light.
Finally the man turned over and looked at me.
- So, how'd'ya like'our Training Hall lass? I'm the instructor here, folks call me Raven. Mind telling me yer name?
- …Viricide
- Viric... what? No matter, I'm going to call ya a Grennhorn unless ye show this old guy some aplitude. Which weapon do'ya chose?
- ...I want to fight with two swords.
- Dual wielding, huh? Ya don' know what ye'r getting into. Very well, I didn't have anything to do for months, might as well put this and that into ya – he said and pointed towards wall behind me. - There're the weapons, pick two swords. Don't worry, they're identical.
I looked behind, and on the wall I saw all sorts of weapons hanged. Maces, axes, broadswords, swords of all sorts. Even some morning stars. But I was bent-on the swords ever since being a kid. And I thought that swordswoman is extremely sexy.
Then my attention was caught by katanas displayed. As if a spell was cast on me, I picked two of them and walked over to the instructor, who had his eyebrow raised slightly.
- Kept me waitin' long enough, greenhorn. So these are your weapons of choice, eh? Let me show ya how to deal with them...
And so my training started. If only I had any idea how hellish it's going to be!