The dark enclosed space of the capsule flashed brightly and when Owen opened his eyes he was in a wide, expansive field with no end in sight. A loud *DING* as if a large bell had been rung sounded throughout the field and a voice spoke.
The scan of your iris and vein have determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?
“Yes”
Please select the name of your avatar
Owen was stumped, he almost blurted out the name he had always used, but it felt wrong. That name had always been used to play with Thomas. It didn't feel right to start an adventure without him using a name that had so much history. His pondering was interrupted by the voice asking again.
Please select the name of your avatar
“I don’t know”
Would you like to create a random name?
“No…”
--Don’t want to end up with something weird--
“Wait, can I be assigned a name based on my actions in the game”
Contacting administrator for special request
Owen didn’t have to wait long before hearing another voice speak
“Good afternoon Mr. Jacobs I understand you have a special request?”
“Yes I can’t decide on a name so I asked the AI if I could be assigned one based on my in game actions”
“Hmm” “Well that certainly is a novel concept…” “I see no problem with it but you must understand this may lead to you having a name that you won’t like?”
“Yes, I thought about that…guess I’ll get used to whatever it picks”
“Alright request granted” “Anything else Mr. Jacobs?”
“Nope that’ll be it”
“Okay, the AI shall be back shortly”
Another few minutes passed before the AI’s voice spoke again
Select your gender from male, female or neutral
“Male”
Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine
“Can I see what all the races are?”
Another him, dressed in a simple outfit, shimmered into being on the field in front of him. To the left and right of this other him more figures shimmered into being. Elves, dwarves, orcs, beast-men, he saw his features in all of them. Owen was amazed at the level of detail in the figures. As he concentrated on race its starting stats floated in a box above its head. He spent some time perusing all the available races before coming back to stand before the human once again. He had weighed the options, benefits and drawbacks of each race before deciding the most expansive option was the best. He reached out towards the human him. The AI’s voice came out of the air.
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You have chosen Human is this correct?
“Yes”
You may alter your appearance
The other races faded away leaving only the mirror image standing in front of him.
“Alright uh, increase height to 6 foot even”
The facsimile grew about 2 inches.
“Hmm can you make me a little more muscular?”
His avatar grew muscle upon its thin frame and became much healthier looking.
“Change hair to a dark burnt orange and the eyes to a bright green”
Owen was starting to like how he was looked.
“Shave the sides down, but grow the rest out to his shoulders and pull it back”
“Give him a light beard…alright that’s it”
Owen’s avatar faded from sight and the field was once again empty.
Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road
Select a city and kingdom that you wish to start in
“Show me a list of possible cities on a map please?”
A map sprung up before his eyes with the continents of Royal Road and pinpoints of lights denoting each city he could start in. A list of each cities names appeared next to the map.
“Can you show me the cities with the lowest player population?”
The list rapidly shuffled the names of cities around and displayed the cities of lowest populations at the top.
“Take away all cities with player populations above 50,000”
More than half of the lights on the map went out and the list grew substantially smaller.
“Progress!” “Limit the remaining cities to those with training halls”
Most of the lights on the map went out leaving only 4 cities lit on the map.
“Display city info for each remaining city please”
Owen spent a few minutes going over each city’s particulars before deciding which one to start in. There was a northern city nestled in a valley, two towns in the east that were beginning to grow, and one in the southern desert close to the shore, with a forest nearby. Looking over all the cities had to offer he knew he had made his choice.
“I’m going to start in the southern desert city of Sandedge”
Welcome to Royal Road. Would you like to start the tutorial?
“Pass”
All round Owen a great light grew brighter and brighter and in a flash he had disappeared from the field.
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