If someone had told me that I was in the real world it would be easy to believe them. Granted there were not many realistic medieval towns on the edge of lush forests in the USA, but everything felt completely real. I looked around, the sky was perfect, with no lines of imperfect shading, and the wind was just slightly chilly. Even I felt perfect, my body its natural normal extension, right down to the goosebumps raising in instinctual reaction to the slight cold.
The world turned monochrome except for a blue popup in front of me.
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Welcome to Shards in the Light of Time (SitLoT)!
We hope your play will be a pleasant one!
You currently do not have a character; character creation will now begin.
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The world faded entirely until I found myself in a large white room, reminiscent of a VR pod’s default lobby. I guess they wanted something comfortable and not distracting to interact in.
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This interview can be conducted by text, voice, or thought. Simply make a determination.
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The interface had gotten good enough that they could do everything entirely by thought? I had known these new pods we were testing were more advanced but this was ridiculous. That feature had already started to appear, but not in the level of accuracy that suggested. I would probably get used to the idea eventually, but it still felt odd. I thought text would be cumbersome, so I said, “Voice, please.”
An androgynous alto voice came from in front of me. “Interaction with me as a game representative may occur periodically, especially as you are currently involved in testing. Would you like to customize my voice, appearance, or anything else?
“Umm, yeah, male, random but standard voice, use a typical random appearance from the USA but with appropriate fantasy clothes.”
“Anything else?” the voice asked, now with a slight baritone and an accent I could not place.
“Let me think… College graduate level vocabulary, standard American idioms, though not too much slang please, minimal cursing, though shit, crap, hell, that kind of stuff is fine. I don’t know how much you can actually understand…”
“Feel free to ask me for anything, if I do not understand or am unable to fulfill the request I will tell you so”
“Okay, good to know. Um… a question first then, can I change your characteristics later?”
“Yes, you may make a request to the game verbally or make a selection in the options menu.”
“Good good, okay then, umm I want you to have a personality. Also I want you to use my voice as a template for an accent so I won’t be distracted by not understanding anything. I also want you to treat me as a friend, but I don’t want you to be a typical “Bro,” I had enough of those at college to last me a lifetime. Umm… I don’t suppose I could request that you be favorably inclined towards me enough to help bend the rules of the game every now and then?”
The voice had a hint of a chuckle now, “I am fairly sure you knew that wouldn’t work, but it was a commendable effort. You have been in the game a whole five minutes and you are already trying to cheat and manipulate the system, best of luck with that, but I am separated from the parts that control the game. All I can do is give you information, or implement features that are already prepared. If you actually do find something though it will just get patched… though they might give you a reward for finding it, so who knows.”
I smiled. I hadn’t thought that would work, but you never know until you try…
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You have been awarded a title for attempting to openly manipulate the game rules.
Blave of the System (BotS)
You may occasionally get quests to maximize your character within the game rules.
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I blinked; well that had worked better than I thought. And it didn’t escape me that it spelled out bots for the acronym. It didn’t give much detail though, so I would have to see what use I could get out of it. I got back to business.
“Okay… I am sure that I have overlooked something, but for now I think that is good, thanks.”
A man materialized in front of me. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, white, and was either very tan or had a hint of Latino in his background. His features were almost classical but just a touch thinner, making his nose less angular and the typical strong jaw more pointed. His hair was dark brown, cut short and extended into a beard that was just shy of being only stubble. His eyes were a deep blue and looked serious until he gave an easy smile which tilted slightly more on this right side.
“Oh I just realized, I didn’t give you a name… unless you have one already?”
He smiled again, “Well, I am tempted to go with Galatea, but first that’s a women’s name, and second I don’t want you getting any ideas. Anyway no, I don’t have a set name, feel free to call me what you like. What should I call you?”
I wasn’t sure whether to roll my eyes at the bad joke or be ridiculously impressed at how well he answered. If the whole game responded like this… it was groundbreaking. I mean Centauri had promised that this game was groundbreaking, and they had always managed to keep their word, but there were a hundred thousand people doing the same character creation right now, and I felt like I was getting personal attention from a real person. I shook myself out of it after a moment.
“Sorry I was getting distracted in my own thoughts. I don’t really have a good name for you, and I don’t want to do anything to strange that I won’t remember. Well, I guess most of the common names of my world won’t be used as much here, so I will just call you David. As for me… ”
I tried to think of something to use as a name. I didn’t want to use any names I had used before, fictional or otherwise, and my real name Jason was out. I had thought of different options, but just hadn’t been able to decide. I was going to be living here for quite a while after all, so it was important. I sucked it up and just decided. I might as well go with something most people wouldn’t get and had zero ties to my old life.
“Let’s make my character name Genius Loci, and my nickname can be just Loci… Genius would be a bit pretentious.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“That will work. Okay there are three possible modes of “
“Wait… can you still give me the options and such in the standard pop-up format, I like reading things. Just answer any questions or provide commentary in vocal form if you can.”
A quick smirking close lipped smile and a nod from David followed.
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This is a window! Exactly as you asked for!
Character Creation Options:
1. Slightly Above Average Character – All stats start at human average +1
2. Point Based – You have a limited number of points which you may allocate as you please, these points total human average.
3. Test Based: You will be subjected to a number of tests to determine your stats and characteristics – these results may be above or below average with no set maximums or minimums.
- Additional skills, stats, and characteristics may be given for interacting with the game, npcs, etc…, even in standard character creation mode
- Infinite Fantasy has no set classes or restricted skills
- All players start at level 1
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“The third option says that I will be subjected to various tests but doesn’t say the number is fixed, can the number be different for different people?”
“Yes”
“Okay. If I know some things I am good at can I ask to be tested on those things?
“Yes.”
I thought about it for a moment. It sounded good. I was certainly not the best at everything physical, but I could pick tests that play to my strengths. If I designed the tests well I might be able to get a really big advantage. It sounded too good to be true… was I missing something?
“Being able to pick some tests to assess my personal strengths seems like it should be too much of an advantage… am I missing something about the tests?”
“Firstly: it is an advantage, and you get that because you thought to ask. Asking that question and acting on it will be reflected in your character. Secondly: Just because you pick some tests by no means indicates that you will be able to pick all of them.”
I nodded. I had gained an advantage but I would need to be careful to pick my tests thoughtfully, and I still had no control over what the game would subject me to in other tests. I considered for a moment. What tests should I use? The little note at the bottom of the character creation options made me think that one of the things I should focus on was showing off my education to maximize skills.
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For carefully attempting to use your advantages in creating your character you have received a quest from your BotS title:
Blave New World
You may pick up to 5 tests to be administered. Maximizing your character in skills, traits, etc… may give additional rewards, as will using less tests. Failure to properly make use of the opportunity may result in penalties.
Conditions for Success: Hidden
Rewards: Varies
Penalties: Varies
To activate quest: Choose test based character creation and accept.
Restrictions: Acceptance of this quest will prevent creation of a replacement character for six in game months.
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Nice! Or at least it was potentially. I would freely admit that I was not happy to see that it was possible to get penalties and that I would be stuck with my decision for six months instead of the game’s normal two-week rule.
I could just pick the second option and pull points from mental type characteristics to put into physical. I was sure that I would get plenty of those points from my play style. Plus they had told us that they would use the pods to maintain our bodies so that when we came out they would still feel natural. If that was true then enhanced physical characteristics should partially translate back into the real world. No, I could probably end up with a more balanced character with the second option, but the odds were that I would just end up playing to my strengths in game anyway, so I might as well maximize those.
“I want to pick option three please, do I get to pick my tests whenever, or are there standardized tests I have to take first? Or some other order?”
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You have chosen to be tested.
You have been awarded stats for actions and thoughts in your decision process:
* For being polite: +2 Charisma
* For asking a VI to act like your friend: +2 Charisma
* For attempting to use that friendship to cheat: -1 Charisma
* For getting the title - Blave of the System: +5 Luck
* For getting your first title before the game begins (one-time bonus): +5 Luck
* For asking questions to make a better choice: +5 Intelligence
* For looking for and asking what you might be missing: +2 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom
* For careful reading of character creation rules and attempting to maximize your skills: +2 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom
* For unlocking the quest – Blave New World: +5 luck
* For unlocking your first quest before the game starts (one-time bonus): +5 luck
* For considering other, more sure, options and then rejecting them for the riskier choice with more rewards: +1 Intelligence, +5 Wisdom, +3 Luck
The room disappeared and I felt myself surrounded by black water. I almost took a surprised breath out of reflex, but stopped myself just in time. I reminded myself that it was just a game. It was not like I was going to actually drown, or at least it would not be permanent if I did. The thoughts helped, but not as much as I would have liked; instinct is a powerful thing and I could feel a part of my brain gibber in terror as I tried to stay in control. I knew that as long as I was holding my breath I should be rising to the surface… if there was one. I tried to reach out around me and feel if there was anything nearby. If I felt rocks or something it would probably be the bottom. There was nothing, not even a difference in the water’s temperature.
If I was actually supposed to do something for my test I needed to find a way to the surface. My breath was holding out quite a bit better than in real life, which was probably part of the game aspect, but even with more time than normal I did not have forever. I tried to think of a way to the surface and had an idea.
I felt down around my waist with my hands and felt a pair of swim trunks. I quickly took them off and held the pant ends together in one hand and stuck my head into the waistband. Trying not to think about where my trunks had just been I used my other hand to secure the waistband as best I could around my neck and blew out some air. Hoping that the trunks were reasonably air tight I tried to hold as still as possible, and could feel the trunks tugging faintly to my left. I kicked with my legs and tried to orient myself until the trapped air was as close to being above me I could manage. Here goes nothing… I took the trunks off my head, let them go, and tried to swim upwards in as straight a line as possible.
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You have learned skills:
* Swimming
* Detect Direction
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Happy as I was to get new skills, it seemed like forever as my arms and legs grew heavy, and my lungs felt bruised with the pressure I was keeping on them to help prevent me from trying to breathe in. I wondered what would happen if I just breathed the water in, it was a game after all, I might just be able to breathe under water. I kept resisting anyway. I would count just a few more seconds and then a few more, trying to overpower the need to pull in a breath. Finally my vision began to darken and I could resist no more. Bubbles spewed from my mouth and I really hoped I could breathe this water. I couldn’t. My vision faded to black.
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For pushing completely to your limits without giving up you have received a trait:
Iron-Willed
You can take a lot of punishment and keep going.
* + 10% Resistance to Mental Damage
* + 5% Resistance to Fatigue Damage
* + 20% Chance to Resist Illusory Statuses and Compulsions
You have been awarded stats:
* For not taking a breath out of surprise: +2 Wisdom, +2 Dexterity, +1 Luck
* For taking a moment to try to calm down: +2 Wisdom
* For trying to make sense of where you were: +2 Intelligence
* For finding a way to tell which direction is up: +4 Intelligence, +10 Perception
* For discarding modesty for practicality: +3 Wisdom
* For swimming with all your strength until you fainted: +3 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +7 Endurance
* For unlocking your first skill before the game starts (one-time bonus): +5 Luck
* For unlocking the trait – Iron-Willed: +5 Luck
* For unlocking your first trait before the game starts (one-time bonus): +5 Luck
I came gradually to myself sitting in a comfortable chair in the white featureless room. Opposite me David sat in a similar chair reading a book. I took a brief look at the title “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” I snorted and rolled my eyes.
“David, you are a right bastard you know that. I think that may well have been one of the worst experiences I have ever had.”
“Loci you know you are in a game, you even were aware of it in the water. You didn’t have to fight as though your life depended on it. If you hadn’t the test would have been different.”
“Oh… and I suppose dropping me into the situation completely unprepared was part of the test too…”
“Yep!” He smiled at me brightly, his eyes crinkling with apparent joy.
“And if another test needs to surprise me I suppose you won’t be telling me. Right, I get it. Well I want to pick the next one.”