I still had over six hours left after practicing my two new Skills and new Spell. I couldn’t actually put them to good use, since there wasn’t anything to practice on. I decided to try and ask System some questions.

After ‘waking up’, I asked for System to come speak to me. The little hole opened up and out walked the sharply dressed robot butler that I didn’t want to be a guy. I guess that can be my first question.

“What gender are you?”

“I don’t have a gender. But my AI is based on Male Subject Number 39. I could change that, if you wished.”

“Do you have any female subjects recorded?”

“Yes. Is this better?”

The voice it spoke with was a bubbly idol girl voice.

“Ugh, nope. Stop it. That’s too creepy. Do you have a more calm, secretary like female subject?”

“Yes Master. How do I sound now?”

“Awesome. And can you be a maid instead?”

“I am programmed to be a robot butler. I have no intention of becoming a maid.”

“Okay then. Never mind that, then. How do I get food? Or spice up this place? Or spice up my wardrobe, for that matter.”

I was already tired of these white clothes. Too dreary. System was talking about how the new body actually didn’t need as much as old ones used to. We were each given $1,000 to begin our life, though. If we were to die, I bet Genesis would be a little ticked about losing some possible money. I decided to pay for a monitor that could read my body and accurately display information that I needed to know.

It was well made, as I was reminded of the Sims games where I could see a hunger bar and such. It could even connect to the headset allowing me to know when I needed to sleep, or to eat, or drop a deuce…or whatever. After I had purchased it through System, it had strangely enough, appeared on my bed. Must be that teleportation they discovered.

I also bought a catalogue for future use as well as a new computer. I then bought a cheap $5 table with the last of my money. I was crying a little at the $3 I currently had left. What a shame. After setting up the computer, which was mainly done by System, I checked the internet.

I cried a little again. It seems that after many people like me started to sleep, my favorite stuff I used to read or watch or play became nonexistent. The home page and default browser were both a part of Genesis. The main page actually linked to the game forums. Had to check on that. It even used the same login as the game.

I noticed I was only the 13,803rd  member on the site. Maybe others aren’t so quick at this? Well, I can’t say anything. I found a list of people comparing what they picked and got for their Skills and Spells. Thankfully, the website also had the countdown to game launch. I searched the threads and made some as well. After finding a thread called “Becoming a Blacksmith?” posted by user Klepto_Kat, I found out that certain races had a step up from Humans. Klepto_Kat had a friend that they found after they awoke and communicated. This friend had picked Dwarf as their race and managed to begin with the Blacksmith Job. Maybe we had a chance at promotion. I decided to leave after a bit, thanking them for the info by saying “Guess since I’m a Miner, we can work things out!” Not even 2 minutes later I got a ping and noticed someone had personally messaged me.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

* Klepto_Kat: PM user Dwargo the Magnicifent

* Evil Ginger: Is that the correct spelling?

* Klepto_Kat: …Yes…

* Evil Ginger: Alrighty then.

After finding Dwargo’s profile, I sent him a friend request along with the message, “I’m a Miner sent by Klepto_Kat. Want to work together?”

I didn’t get as immediate a reply as I did from Klepto, but it was still less than 10 minutes. He had sent me a link to a thread. I clicked it and was sent to a thread named “Let’s Make a Guild!” by user Merry-Go-Roundabout. I instantly backed out and sent Dwargo a “nvm”. He still accepted my friend request, though. I also sent one to Klepto, but didn’t receive a reply.

After scouring the internet for good ‘material’, I found that most of my old favorites were still up and running. Nothing like porn to make a lot of money. I cleared my history, realizing I actually didn’t have the urge to do ‘the thing’. Feels kinda weird, actually. I looked up some easy strength building exercises that I could do in the game and make myself stronger, and discovered that knowledge on muscle training was complete. I could even purchase a surgery that would improve my body.

There was also one to help you gain psychic abilities, and another that could change your race. The thing was, this was in real life! How far has Genesis gone?! It was in the catalogue, too. I just hadn’t read it yet. But thanks to my computer, I could start keeping a journal of my actions. This would also help me remember people and stuff.

I spent almost the rest of the time reading and checking threads. I had already started to annoy people, especially those that already knew me. Not that any of these people knew the real me. Just my internet name. It had also become a little well known in the past 6 hours.

Yep. The countdown now had only around a couple minutes left. I laid back down on the bed and put the head gear on when I remembered I didn’t check to see how many more people had become members or if Klepto had accepted my friend request. Oh well. Maybe later.

“Welcome, please be patient as the time remaining is currently 00:00:28.

00:00:25.

00:00:13.

00:00:07.

00:00:03.

00:00:02.

00:00:01.

00:00:00.

You may now begin playing! Have fun!”

Awesome! I can’t wait to see the Tower, the Coliseum, the Temples, ohoho, this is what I always dreamed of! Wait…why is the Tower so far off? And why is this…town? We don’t start in the central city?! What the shit?! This just means I have to make more money! WHY?!