"Just as a refresher, since it has been three years since you entered character creation, let's go over the basics," the being said in its chipper voice. "All races are rated on a scale from G to SSS, with SSS being the best. Most humanoids start at F or G tier, though some do start at the E tier. Because of your stellar performance in the Tutorial, you can select a starting race as high as C tier if you want, but you will be limited to humanoid races for now. I'm sure you're tired of hearing me talk, so I'll just send you the options and you can look them over."
Mark was glad the thing finally stopped talking, and for the first time, Mark was able to interact with the System.
[Race Selection Available]
Please choose an available race to continue with Character Creation
[Human (C)]
The sentient lifeforms you have seen all your life, though not unique to Earth. While not very specialized like most races are, they are incredibly versatile. As a C-tier representative of this race, you would be above and beyond most other members of this race.
Strength: 12 Dexterity: 12 Constitution: 12 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 12 Charisma: 12 Free Points: 10
[Axarin (C)]
Originating from the desert planet Axaris, these psionic beings excel in most things involving the mind but lack strength and social skills. As a C-tier representative of this race, you would be above and beyond most other members of this race.
Strength: 8 Dexterity: 12 Constitution: 10 Intelligence: 16 Wisdom: 16 Charisma: 10 Free Points: 10
Mark only caught a glimpse of two of the races before the rest populated his field of view, scrolling past at an insane speed. He knew that there were too many to read individually, so he needed some way to sort through them. As soon as he had the thought, a drop-down list appeared with ways to sort through them. To evaluate them, he needed to decide first what kind of character, or person, he wanted to be.
He had done the exploring thing, and while that was fun, it was the small amount of group play he had enjoyed. And while now his life would be on the line, he decided that working as a group, or even leading a group, was what he wanted to do.
"Hey..." Mark started to get the being's attention but realized that he never got the creature's name. Deciding to ignore that for now, he moved straight into his question, "Since I did so well in the tutorial, do I also get a better class as well?"
"Yes, but usually that comes after the race selection, but I see where you're going with this. You do get to select a better class than most will get upon starting."
"What about professions?"
"Well you do have the option of getting a better profession, or you could split the difference and get a decent class and a decent profession."
Mark started to sort the classes, but stopped as he remembered one last thing he needed to know before proceeding, "So is Earth going to be like it was in the game? Like a constant life and death struggle?"
The being took a moment to think for a moment before responding, "In most ways, it will be harder than the life you knew, at least at first. I predict that 64% of the population will adjust to their new lives within a week. That number should increase to around 85% within the first month. Past that, it gets hard to predict. But as the frontrunners among you prove themselves, life will return to somewhat normal levels of safety."
With that in mind, Mark began sorting the various race options that he had. He knew that he wanted something that would allow him to unite people to protect them and provide them a place to grow in relative safety. To protect them, he would need to be strong. From what he remembered of the Tutorial, there were many ways to fight, but he wanted to be more traditional in his approach. Put a pistol in one hand and a plasma cutter in another, and he could do some serious damage. The only downside to this was that he had to be fairly close to his enemies, and that wasn't always practical. Deciding that something that generally had a mix of strong physical stats, as well as good charisma, he got to work.
After nearly thirty minutes of sorting, and prioritizing what he was looking for, he finally found something that seemed like just what he wanted.
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[Raxxor (C)]
The Raxxor are a warlike people from the Raxxin system. They are sought after for their ability to lead and prowess in combat, but are not considered the most insightful and have a tendency to take the straightforward approach. As a C-tier representative of this race, you would be above and beyond most other members of this race.
STR: 16 DEX: 12 CON: 14 INT: 8 WIS: 8 CHA: 14 Free: 12
Mark checked a few other races, but none fit the bill like the Raxxor. He even checked back at human to be sure he didn't want to stay human, but ultimately the draw of becoming something different led to him selecting the Raxxor.
[Confirm Race Selection: Raxxor]
Yes/No
Mark tried to select 'yes' when he realized he could just think 'yes' to select it.
[Allocate Free Stat Points: 12]
Remembering how the Tutorial worked, Mark knew that once the free stat points were allocated, there was no changing them, and he wouldn't get more until he reached his first race advancement. As fun as it might be to drop all twelve into strength, he had to be smart about it. Bumping everything by one would round him out well and still leave him with six to spend. He decided to do this because, in the tutorial, every point in an attribute represented an exponential increase in that stat. He also wanted to bring up some of the stats that he knew he would need, and put two points into dexterity, one in constitution and three in charisma.
[Confirm Stat Point Allocation]
STR: 17 DEX: 15 CON: 16 INT: 9 WIS: 9 CHA: 17
Yes/No
As soon as Mark selected 'yes', a crawling sensation radiated out from his chest. It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable as it felt like bugs were crawling across his skin. He looked down at his body and saw the changes taking place.
As the sensations spread out from his heart, he first saw his skin changing to an ashy white color. It still looked almost human, so far so good. The color change reached the ends of his hands and feet when his bones started to transform. He immediately felt heavier, so heavy that he wasn't sure if he would be able to stand up if he wanted to. Just as the weight hit its peak, and he felt he would fall out of the chair, his muscles bulged with new power. They swelled to that of bodybuilder proportions, and he quickly approached normal and was able to sit up straight again. His muscles condensed, but did not lose any strength, then swelled again. Once again his muscles shrank back to a normal size but were now toned to a point he could not hope to attain no matter how much time he spent in the gym. He tested his new muscles by standing and jumping but rammed into the ceiling of the office twenty feet above him with his head and shoulders. He landed gracefully and felt no pain from his collision with the roof.
The being spoke up at his antics, "Be careful there, such a large growth in strength and reaction times can lead to some nasty accidents while you adjust to your new abilities. Now, moving on, it's time for the real fun stuff: your class. Although, as I mentioned earlier, you could also choose an advanced profession. The ones that have chosen to do this have made some pretty amazing creations. So what will it be, class, profession, or a little bit of both?"
"I think I'm just going with the class for now. I don't know what kinds of professions will turn out to be useful, and which ones will just be crap."
"That makes sense. In that case, I've taken the liberty of selecting five classes that I think you will like, but you will also have access to the starter classes of soldier, hacker, medic, pilot, and psion. I wouldn't pick any of those if I were you, they're pretty boring for a while."
Once again Mark's vision was filled with options, but this time it wasn't nearly as bad as there were only five options. Mark quickly scanned through what was available, but three of them he was fairly familiar with. There were two that stood out. One was a hybrid psion/soldier class that used psionic abilities to supplement weapons, but it was not something Mark wanted to do. The final option was something that did speak to him.
[Commander]
The Commander is a class that is capable of solo combat, but truly strives when leading others in battle. While more difficult than many combat classes as it requires knowledge of combat strategy, it also requires that you can lead and maintain the morale of the people you command. *Note: While the number of NPC troops scales with level, the combat effectiveness of the troops is dependent on how well you train them. Any gear upgrades must also be acquired, but once obtained, will apply to all troops. NPC troops start with a basic knowledge of warfare and how to wield a weapon. It also comes with the additional restriction that all leadership positions directly below you in the command structure must be other people that have willingly entered the role and sworn allegiance to you.
Despite the class's significant drawbacks, especially the troop training, Mark felt that this class was perfect for him. All of the others seemed just basic and were balanced without any extreme caveats. Mark was a little hesitant about the "requires knowledge of combat strategy", but he had always enjoyed reading about military tactics, up to and including modern times. Making sure that he was aware of the drawbacks of what appeared to be a very interesting class, Mark made his choice.
[Confirm Class Selection: Commander]
Yes/No
Mark selected yes and refocused his eyes on the being in front of him.
"Well, now that we have that sorted, it was fun talking to you, and I will be watching you with interest. Good luck"
Mark started to speak but felt himself falling downward into darkness as the room he had been in flew away from his vision. "Wait I had more questions!" he yelled, but was not heard, or at least not answered.
Mark rubbed at his eyes and took in his surroundings as he prepared to start his journey.