Confirmed. You are now the race: Dwarf.

Confirmed, however, your appearance will be adjusted to fit the race, ‘Dwarf’.

Please confirm that you are happy with the changes.

Ashur would see a reflection of himself in the statue of the Dwarf at the front. Ashur didn’t confirm it immediately, and made a swift decision that he would add a beard on. It was a fierce beard, bushy and at least a foot in length that already rode down his new height. This’ll be interesting. Ashur thought to himself.

So… should he stay as a Dwarf?

Ashur had chosen to look at the other races, taking his time and considering their looks. It would be pretty cool to be a Lizard or an Orc. If they only got one shot at this though, then he needed to be sure. He went through the different races: and options became available to him. Scaled skin - halfkin. In playing around, he had become a vague description of his old appearance, but somehow adopted the lizardfolk skin, while remaining as a dwarf.

'Why doesn't half-kin come up in the options?' Ashur asked.

'Half-kin are not a race in themselves. Some are cursed, others are bred - they do not share a single genetic line.' Book responded - offering him more insight. Well, he felt he looked fucking cool in the olive-yellow reptilian skin, between being a dwarf, an orc: and he refused to play a human.

In the end his choice had been made.

Confirmed.

There would be a flash of light and he would now be in the same area, except the statues had disappeared. Instead, the circular platform he was on had changed: he was now standing at the edge of a part that might be considered a balcony: staring down at the platform before him.

'Come look at the mirror.' The AI had reappeared, as though placed there instantaneously in their mausoleum-type balcony.

And, as Ashur tentatively stepped forward and into frame, he regarded upon his piece of work.

The platform had gained vivid colour and information: it was a map. It didn’t seem to matter that the platform they had been on was previously dark and almost obsidian, it was now a fully functional world. The map he stood on, the circle was the world. To his left was Book, the AI. She was concentrating on the map, but he did stare at himself.

'In Libergaea, you are free to choose your starting point. We do, however, recommend the following for those starting for your race.' The map would light up in several places on the platform, which he could see were various starting areas: from luscious green lands to dry plains, a hot savannah. It was a fully sized world.

Ashur didn’t really like extreme weathers, so he automatically rid those ones out. Out of pure randomness and deduction based off not like extreme weathers, Ashur pointed at one of them – in the centre, it would sort of highlight itself and a notification would come up.

You have selected the realm of Algernon.

Algernon is a country that’s grown to be fertile, adapting through the residual mana caused by the various wars that took place there: providing an endless strain and variety of flora and fauna, and provides a land which brings out the best in florists, and the worst in Alchemists.

Various landmarks across the land are inundated with dedications to Tulio, the God of Growth and Fertility.

Ashur looked pleased with the choice – but when you had a world of things to choose from it was inevitable that he would have to look at the others.

It was likely to be the most popular of the lands considering it was in the centre and varied climates but generally fertile.

There were multiple countries... how did one even begin? The others were more greyed out - but that was owing to the fact the AI had pointed out it was beneficial for his new race to go there.

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There were also bony mountains and beaches where people were less focused on the adventures and more on cardinal sin: it was also quite as tempting to go there.

There were also the areas that Ashur guessed people were less likely to go like the deserts and barren lands. Maybe some would, maybe they wouldn’t.

He eventually ended up coming back to Algernon, and it would pop up with the same notification again, and Ashur would cross his arms as he read through it one more time.

'I’ll choose Algernon.' Ashur finally decided after deliberation.

The AI to his left would smile, and the map they stood on would begin to zoom with a sleek and smooth transition, the land was now far clearer – giving a brief idea of what the geography was like.

'The map is not one hundred percent accurate, nor does the geography stay the same. This is to prevent people from gaining unwanted intelligence and learning secrets out of the game. The names and trivia are accurate, nonetheless.' The AI would state out of nowhere as Ashur was taking his time thinking about his choice.

'Makes sense.' Ashur would nod. Nobody liked a cheater. Only cheaters liked cheaters and even still.

He could start in the Capital: but that meant having to deal with lots of people. There wasn’t much to do he imagined, with the amount of people choosing to start safer. With such a massive player-base, people had likely been everywhere you could start.

It was also a full world as well. So many things going on at once, and with their level of technology Ashur ever doubted they would get to a level that allowed an archetypal earth in a video game, let alone Alcatraz allowing that to happen in the first place.

There were various villages and settlements that appealed to Ashur as he looked at them, their descriptions all giving some idea about what they were famous for, or a piece of history that people could take their first steps into adventuring.

As typical as could be expected in the game for the large almost square region had a kingdom in the north and in the south, though the southernmost kingdom laid on the eastern side against the sea.

There was one massive road that connected the two kingdoms, and from there branches off into the different parts of civilization. To the west was the sea: but three quarters of the border was obstructed by a long thick line of mountainous terrain.

As Ashur’s eyes travelled around, he settled to a village that seemed to be a hub – it was connected to both kingdoms, so he naturally thought it would be a better starting place for lack of words… but not as busy as he would’ve had by joining in on the Kingdom.

Ashur would point at that one.

You have selected the town Kirkenfold.

Kirkenfold is a small town usually used as an alternate road toward the Kingdom of Aurelius and other small villages in Algernon. It is seldom used due to the main road which is more direct to the Kingdom but is known for a curried goat recipe.

Would you like to teleport there?

Ashur frowned, that was a lot less information. Not that the information about the curried goat was just useless. Though, if it was fair enough to warrant a mention on the notifications, he would give it a go. He left the notification open as he looked around the map.

Perhaps Ashur was being difficult, but he didn’t come here just to be able to run, he came to be able to adventure. He was never into the big cities himself, maybe a visit every now and again was enough.

Perhaps it was a place that he could carve something out of life for himself.

'Adventurers have the capability to do anything they like that might not ordinarily be within their grasp, like your walking, for example.' The AI said randomly, as she had never left Ashur’s side and responded like she had been listening to his thoughts.

'Eh?' Such a statement took Ashur out of his scope. She was responding far too intelligently to know that.

'You’re… uh. Alive?' Ashur said. He meant the word sapient but as a simple man some of those words did not cross his mind.

'As alive as you are alive in this world.' She would smile at him, as if, teasing.

Ashur would look to the map for a second, his eyes squinting suspiciously, and then back to her again.

'You know you’re in a game?' Ashur asked inquisitively. Perhaps he had not been. The woman did not respond this time, but her eyes betrayed any lack of knowledge, and smiled back at him.

Hidden egg! +1 INT

The command prompt got swiftly swiped, and quite aggressively so after a tut by Ashur, growing weary of the constant barrage of information already. Ashur wasn't sure why he would have gotten a stat point for it - only because it was a unique action? He doubted it greatly, far more intelligent minds had come across their path, and hundreds of millions of people in all time, he doubted he was doing anything new or ground breaking.

'The game has already started. You can adjust those settings in game.' The woman’s eyes were trained on the map, staring down at the world like she had so many times before. After some deliberation, she would finally look back over to Ashur.

'So, Kirkenfold?' the woman would offer out her hand, which Ashur would take tentatively.

'Kirkenfold, then.' Ashur said, his voice softly resonating the awe of what had just happened. He couldn't put it into words – and as a man’s man just tucked it away inside his little head.

Somehow he thought he wasn’t the only person to have asked that question. And he wasn’t.

You are being transported to Kirkenfold.