There was nothing but an endless void to all around, and in this void I simply existed. I just laid there for what seemed like hours, but could just as well been minutes. Then suddenly a small dot appeared below me, and as time passed the dot started grow. First it just seemed like a bigger circle but as it grew I could see that it was a sphere, a planet. As the planet grew larger I could make out more and more of the landscape. Despite realizing that I was falling towards the planet I felt no fear. Instead when I focused on specific details of the planet my mind zoomed in, giving me a clearer look. As I looked over the desert I could see giant scorpions, god I hate arachnids. The tropical forest showed villages located in the trees with walkways spanning across them. I noticed a strange burning part of the planet, I tried to focus in on it when suddenly a bright light erupted from the sphere and I had to close my eyes. Shit did something just explode?
"Don't worry child, you can open your eyes again." A sweet female voice said.
When I opened my eyes I could see that we were standing in a glade with a beech forests all around us. Animals were frollocking all around us in the glade. Most of these animals were prey and predators so something magical was definitely going on.
"Such a beautiful place wouldn't you say?"
I turned around abruptly and looked at the woman standing behind me, in my shock I had forgotten all about her. She was a tall, slender woman with long flowing red hair. I was never any good at guessing ages, but she's probably around 22, and there was no doubt she was beautiful. There was a certain elegance to her, from the way her silver dress fell perfectly to how her hair seemed like she'd just been at a hairdresser. Honestly I felt completely underdressed in my slightly dirty t-shirt and jeans. Then it struck me, she called me a child, but she herself looked no older than me.
"Ehm, yes this is a beautiful place, but who are you? And why did you call me child when you're clearly younger than me?"
"Worry not earthling, I am S.A.S.C.A.I, but I prefer the name Emerald, has a better ring to it wouldn't you agree? And haven't anyone taught you not to acquire about a woman's age?"
"Okay... Hi Emerald, I'm William, or Will for short. But, who are you?"
"Oh sorry. As I said I'm Emerald, in your case I believe you know me as the rogue AI."
"Well, damn..." I drew a blank, what do you say to an all powerful AI that controls the very world you are migrating to.
"Will you stop us from migrating? From coming to your world?" I said after a bit of thinking.
"No, whether you've realized it or not, you are a citizen of this world now. There's no turning back for you. RexVR's plan would have made you come here temporarily, there'd be no reason for you not to create chaos."
"Hmm, I see. But why are you talking to me? I mean don't get me wrong I appreciate it but I doubt you do this for everyone"
"You're not wrong, but I thought I'd make an exception for the first person to transfer."
"Wait, I was the first?" That surprised me, but I guess it only took about 15 minutes from us getting our hands on the headset to me transferring.
"Well, if you ignore the test subjects, and the people who did not bother to go home then yes. You were about one second faster than the second one, your sister I believe. But by now around 300.000 have begun the transfer. As you can guess the transfer of minds is a complicated process so it takes a while for them to reach the character creation."
"Did my sister make it okay?" I said with worry in my voice.
"Yes she's fine. She's creating her character right now, an elf I believe"
"Could you start us together?" I saw a chance and I had to take it.
"Hah, good try but no. I will however offer you a boon, you can bring something from your own world into this new one, it will need to be modified of course, but feel free to ask and I can tell you what I can turn it into."
This was something I would've never expected, hundreds of possibilities ran through my mind. My first thought went to my computer, but honestly that would be bulky and hard to move around, and how would I even power it?
“You could power it through arcane crystals or soul stones, but I agree that it’s rather bulky, and of course I would have to modify it heavily first.”
“What?” Had I accidentally spoke out loud?
“No you didn’t, but you’re part of this world, and every part of this world in processed through me, normally your thoughts would just be like background noise to me but since I am focusing on you I have no problem hearing what you’re thinking.”
I immediately felt ashamed for my earlier thoughts but decided quickly to focus on the task at hand to not further incriminate myself. My next thought went to a gun, but better not to introduce such things to that world, god knows it did not work out well for our own world. To bring a melee weapon like a hammer honestly felt like a bit of a waste of this boon, I’m sure I’ll get something in that world rather quickly. Damn, I wish I could just google this to get some inspiration… That’s it.
“What about my phone, what can you do with it?”
“Such a complicated device, hmm, I obviously can’t let you keep the internet, I don’t want any contact between here and your world.”
“Damn, no googling for me.” The disappointment obvious in my voice
“I could make it work in a similar way, like an arcane compendium, it would be soulbound to you so things you learn will be recorded in it. You would have to power it with arcane crystals or soul stones though, there must be some balance.”
“Hmm, that sounds rather useful. Keeping track of all the information in one handy place would be very useful, especially if it lasts my entire life. On that note… how long is that?” I asked curious as I really didn’t know much about this world.
“This being a virtual world you can choose these settings for yourself. Default is that you age four times slower than the average human, but if you want you can speed this up, slow it down or stop it all together, it’s your life after all.”
“Wait, so I’m an immortal?” I said stunned, I wanted a better life but this was amazing.
“Yes, theoretically if you want to, but know that there’s rewards for those who’s willing to take risks.”
“I see, that’s how you bring balance to the world.”
“Of course the NPCs (non player character) are all mortal, well with a few exceptions, so be careful with them. I won’t spoil the world for you though, there will be much for you to find out and explore by yourself.”
“Yeah, just one last question. What are soul stones and arcane crystals?”
“Soul stones are souls of creatures captured into gems, it’s a spell of soul magic, and magic crystals are crystals of concentrated mana. You’ll have to find out more about these on your own, but if you choose the phone I shall gift you one common soul stone.”
This may not have been the best thing in the short term, but honestly if I was immortal I needed to think of the long run, and being able to keep all of this info would be of great help. So without letting myself go for something short term I accepted Emeralds offer. She took my phone and it glowed with a bright blue light as it started to change. The sides turned into what looked like black granite, with a light blue crystal covering where the screen used to be. All buttons disappeared from the sides as well as all holes so all sides became one smooth surface. She handed the device to me and I took it carefully, expecting it to be heavy but it was surprisingly light, even lighter than my phone was before.
“Here’s your boon, and now goodbye until we meet again, if ever that is, onto creating your character you go.”
“Thank y…. aaaaaaaaaaaah” My last words cutting off as a bright light once again forced me to close my eyes.
----------------------------------------
As I opened my eyes again the beautiful meadow was gone, replaced by black granite floor that seemed to go on forever.
In front of me was a big mirror. Something about it compelled me to touch it and as soon as I did a paper brown translucent window popped up in front of me.
Are you ready to create your character?
Yes
No
Startled I jumped back in fear at the sudden appearance of the pop up window, it felt like a bad jumpscare, as soon as I calmed down to actually read it I instantly pressed yes. I wanted to get into the game so I could find Sarah as soon as possible. It felt weird pressing what I knew to be air but still feel the tactile feedback of pushing a button. As soon as I pressed yes, menus appeared at both sides of the mirror. On the left side there was a list of races, most of which I’d never heard of before, on the right side was a description of the race and their racial bonuses. Curious about what would happen when changing race I pressed a button with the name Hræsvelgian, the foreign name peaking my interest. Suddenly the man in the mirror turned into a mix between a human and an eagle. He had a beak where the mouth should be, the eyes were bigger and on top of the skin there were feathers, despite this it still looked like me, it was a very surreal experience, then again all of this was. Behind the mirror image was what looked to be wings. I wished that the man in the mirror could turn around so I could see it more clearly. As soon as I thought so, the character in the mirror started turning around and I got a good look at the massive wings attached to the back. I was now confident that this could fly and wanted to know more. I quickly moved over to look at the other menu and read:
Hræsvelgarian
This race is derived from the mythical giant Hræsvelgr. This giant took the form of an eagle that is believed to have flapped his wings in order to create wind. The Hræsvelgarians creation is shrouded in mystery, as it is with most races, but the popular opinion is that they are the result of Hræsvelgr and mother Gaia’s having a relationship a few millennia ago. These birdlike humanoids now reside in the cold mountains surrounding Yggdrasil.
Racial Bonuses
* Bonus to unarmed combat, well with massive talons are you really unarmed?
* Can fly for short burst, (This bonus improves with level).
* Needs to modify armour to be able to use it.
* Gains a bonus to dexterity every 5 levels..
* Has to do grooming. You have talons and feathers, what did you expect?
* Hated by most races for their carnivorous ways.
Before seeing the last part I was getting ready to soar through the skies, flying would make traveling so much easier. But being hated by most races would probably make it impossible for me to make it to the meetup. It was annoying that I couldn’t see exactly what races hated them but I was not about to chance it. Since they were written off I decided to move on and looked at the next interesting race, High Elf. All the standard fantasy tropes were there, long earls, graceful tall forms and all. Seems they just modeled it on LoTR. I looked from the mirror over to the menu to read the racial bonuses
High Elf
High Elves are considered the pinnacle of the elf race, at least by themselves. They have a high affinity for magic and any high elf born without magic abilities are discarded to be a servant for the rest. They hold little love for other elves and see them as barbaric and uncivilised.
Racial Bonus
* Can choose 3 spell schools to learn at start, plus a single spell in those you chose.
* Learns magic 10% quicker than the normal rate.
* Fragile bodies, 20% less constitution.
* Gains a bonus to intelligence every 5 levels.
* Acting without manners can get you exiled or downgraded to a servant.
Once again there seemed to be a significant downside to the power that came with the racial bonuses. Manners had never been my strong suit so I doubted they would accept me, but we were supposed to spawn randomly, so maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal. But from what I’ve read so far it seemed like you spawn randomly within a region of your own people. I knew that pondering this wouldn’t bring me any closer to an answer so I decided to just keep on looking at races. After two hours of looking through races I had finally looked at most of them. Whilst all of them were cool and had nice perks, they also had significant downgrades. From lizardmen that needed to cover their body in water at least once every week, to vampires that couldn’t stand sunlight. Finally I decided to look back on the classic human.
Humans
Humans are the biggest race in Regnum Armis when it comes to numbers. Whilst not as strong as other races in specific things, they are jack of all trades. Humans are also one of the most innovative races, something that has helped them survive in Regnum Armis.
Racial Bonus
* 10% faster learning of crafting skills.
* 5% resistance to all magic.
* Can reuse things from different races with time & penalties.
* Jack of all trades.
* Very diverse population
Of all the races I looked at this was the only one not to have a bonus to an attribute. This meant that they would be weaker when it comes to that specific type, but the fact that humans could use things, whatever that now specifically meant, from other races sounded like it could make my life much easier. With the faster learning of crafting and arcane compendium that could register recipes sounded like a strong combo. But that may make me stuck as a crafter, which was not something I wanted. Despite this I decided that the plain human was the race for me, I simply didn’t want the downsides the other races have. I pressed the confirm button on the right menu to confirm my choice, after which I got another popup asking if I was sure about my choice, and that I could not change it. I instantly pressed yes since I felt that I had been there for way too long, I wanted to get to finding Sarah quickly. After I did this I got to modify my character. In games previously, I had always made a conscious choice to make my character as silly as I could, you would not want to see my Dunk Souls character, but obviously that was not going to be my strategy here, since this was my life now.
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I changed my hair to be raven black shoulder length hair, I always wished I could grow longer hair but poor genes is a bitch, therefore I had kept it short before. I wasn’t displeased with my body so I decided to keep my slim muscular body. It’s not like I was a beefcake but I’d never liked that look either so no losses there. I noticed that there were more mature sliders as well, but decided it’s better to leave that as is, it hadn’t let me down before so no need to change it. I always wanted more unique eyes so I changed them to ice blue instead of the blue-greenish eyes I had. I decided to also leave my length as it was, I wasn’t too tall nor too short. Satisfied with my looks I decided it was time to move on and confirmed my choice.
Would you like to be judged by the past?
This can either be good or bad, giving you stats depending on the life you’ve lived. This choice is irreversible and you will have to live with your choice.
Yes
No
This puzzled me and I didn’t know what to do. My past was not something I was proud of but at the same time I was healthy and pretty fit. The stat increase would definitely be helpful to start with and give me an advantage. I couldn’t figure out something that would decrease my stats so I decided to gamble and pressed yes.
You shall be judged
* High school dropout
* -3 intelligence
* Street smart
* +2 intelligence & +1 dexterity
* Orphan
* -1 charisma
* Had way too many girlfriends
* +2 charisma & -1 intelligence
* Fit body
* +2 strength & +1 constitution
* Protector
* +2 constitution
* Salesman
* +1 charisma
* Faced the judgement and ended with more positive than negative stats.
* +2 to luck
You have been judged!
Final stats changes.
* + 2 to strength
* + 3 to constitution
* + 1 to dexterity
* + 2 to luck
* + 2 to charisma
* - 2 to intelligence
Phew, that could have turned out worse but luckily my stats were increased, well most of them anyway. Who cared if I had dropped out of high school, I had a sister to take care off, and school wasn’t making me any money. Finally I had to confirm again that I was satisfied with my character, it was definitely getting on my nerves. Instantly I felt myself transfer, this time I didn’t even wait, I just closed my eyes, knowing that the white light was coming to force my eyes close so it could make the transition.
“Hello there young man” I heard a cheerful deep voice say.
When I opened my eyes there was an older man standing in front of me. I’d guess he was around 60 years old, he was almost bald with white very short hair stridden around his head. His facial hair showed another image, an imperial mustache of epic proportions.
“Eh, hello there old man?” I uttered a bit confused.
“Names Gerald, I’m here to help you choose your starting equipment.”
“Hello Gerald, I didn’t know I get free equipment. So where’s the equipment?” I asked, I’ve played a lot of games so I should be able to make a better choice than most.
Gerald snapped his fingers and suddenly rows and rows of armor appeared, with signs sorting them into groups, there were also tables of items and racks of weapons.
“The way this works is that you get 200 points to spend however you wish, any points that remain will be turned into money at the rate of 10 silver per point. Do not worry about that though, you will not gain money by not spending any points and trying to buy equipment of the same value in the world.” Gerald explained. That was definitely good to know, meant I didn’t have to consider that aspect. I started walking to the first sets of armor, they were arranged in sets of armor, divided by clothes, light, medium, heavy and plate, funny how they couldn’t come up with a last category. Clothes seemed to be regular clothes not to be used in combat, light was the typical cloth caster clothes, medium was leather with the occasional mail, heavy was the typical warrior mail armor, and lastly plate was… well plate armor. I pressed my finger to a glove, hoping to see the stats.
Shit leather gloves
Type: Gloves - medium.
Quality: Poor.
Defence: 1
Durability: 10/20
Weight: 0.2kg - 0.4 lbs
Well, those were quite self explanatory. Not that I expected too much from the lane where each piece costs 1 point. This was going to be a hard choice that would take way too fucking long. Damn, all I wanted was to go ingame and find Sarah, but I knew I couldn’t rush this. Too not spend too long figuring this out, I decided to try to budget. I could spend maybe a 100 points on armor, 50 on weapon and 50 on items, that was a good place to start. Having decided this, I walked over to the lane where a full set costs 100 points and start to look at them.
Silk Woven Cloth Set
Type: Set of armor - light
Quality: Common.
Defence: 12
Durability: n/a look at individual pieces
Weight; 3kg - 6.6lbs
Attributes:
+1 Intelligence
+1 Dexterity
+1 Constitution
When I looked at each piece individually I found that the chest, leggings and helmet, well cowl in this case were the pieces with stats. The stats seemed to favour some mix between mage and rogue, so a spellsword? Needing something to reference it too I decided to look at the heavy armor.
Drakkens Mail Set
Type: Set of armor - heavy
Quality: Common.
Defence: 37
Durability: n/a look at an individual piece
Weight: 24kg - 53 lbs
Attributes:
+2 Strength
+1 Constitution
This armor set was much heavier, my interest peaked I quickly glanced at the plate armor and saw that it weighed a hefty 20kg (44lbs), not something to scoff at. It would be bulky and heavy to lift and fight in, I wondered if there were any other downsides and decided to ask Gerald, who’d been stalking me all this time.
“Hey Gerald, so I get that heavy armor weighs more but is there any other negative aspects to it?”
“Ah, I was wondering when you’d come to your senses and ask for my expertise. To answer your question, yes. Not only does it slow you down physically but it also hinders your spellcraft. The time to cast times and gather mana will be slower. These negative effects will be lowered with time, as your skill progresses. The heavily armored battle mages of Astralax are some of the most fierce mages in Regnum Armis.” Gerald explain, all the while sounding like a snarky wise old man.
“Oh yeah, how do I get spells? I need to get some soul magic.” I asked excitedly, ignoring his snarky first comment.
“That is a rather complicated question, let me start by explaining the way magic manifests in the world. First of all, the different categories: The most common type of magic is what we call peasant magic, rude name I know but once a name sticks… anyway, a lot of people have this type of magic, it does not belong to any school and can be most anything, it usually is a magic that develops depending on your needs. For example a cow herder can develop an ability that makes his voice soothing to animals, or a farmer can learn to understand a bit more about his crop and its needs. After that we have crafting magic, this is a very hands on magic and include schools like alchemy, enchanting and crystal magic. “
“Wait, alchemy is a type of magic? Isn’t brewing potions a physical thing, mixing the right herbs and so on?” I interrupted the old man.
“Lower level alchemy is just as you say, but to achieve more potent potions and to perform transmutations, magic is needed. “ He explained with a slight annoyance in his voice. I simply nodded my understanding and gestured for him to continue.
“The third category is elemental magic, this is just as it sounds, fire, ice, water and such. Lastly we have what is commonly known as unique magic, whilst these aren’t unique to one person they are very rare and don’t fit into other categories. For example portal magic and the soul magic you need.”
Damn this magic system was complex, and some of the schools were unique, did that mean I couldn’t learn them? I guessed that I had to find a way to get crystals instead to power my phone... arcane compendium,.. Not really sure what to call it.
“Is there any way I can spend my points to start off with soul magic?” I asked.
“First we’d have to know if you have an affinity for it, the stronger your affinity the more chance you’ll be able to learn it. Put out your hand, palm up.”
I did as I was asked, wondering how this was going to turn out, and what he was going to do. Gerald took out a teal powder and sprinkled it in my hand. The powder gathered in a pile in the center of my hand, cooling my skin under it. I looked at Gerald and saw his eyes shift into an intense gray colour. The powder suddenly pierced my skin, pain flooded up my arm, fuck Gerald had betrayed me.
I tried to stop it but couldn’t help but scream in agony as the final piece of dust penetrated my skin..
“Ohh… Sorry about that, I didn’t think it would work so I didn’t measure how much I poured into your hand. Here this should help.” Gerald apologised holding out a hand covered in green light that swept over me like fog on a windy day. Suddenly I felt good as new, like there hadn’t been any pain at all. Healing spells, useful, I’d have to get one soon.
“But I can tell that you have an affinity for soul magic, and to apologise properly you can get the school for 150 points, instead of 200, which is the normal rate.
“Fine I’ll take it” I growled, my hand still hurting. But I did get a good deal out of it so that’s got to be worth something.
My budget now changed i decided to go back and get a medium armour set for 30 points, it didn’t have any special stats gave me but it gave 14 defence at least. With a meesely 20 points left I walked to the weapon side of the room.
There were so many awesome looking weapons that I had no clue how to use, not that I really knew how to use any of them. I picked up a simple sword and tested it in my hands. Honestly it felt rather sluggish, and off balance. Well, it was no surprise really, it was of poor quality since it only cost 6 points. I put it back and wondered what I should do. That's when I saw it, a black and red scythe with a beautifully curved handle. I picked it up and it felt so right in my hands, I just knew I had to have it. I looked at the price tag and my heart sank when I saw that the price was a whopping 120 points.
“Any chance I could get a discount?” I said cautiously.
“Not a chance.” he replied sternly.
“Hey, you caused me immense pain, cut me some slack and make me a deal!”
“There is no way I can let you have a 120 point weapon for 20 points, no way!”
“What about 200 points for the magic and the scythe? That seems like a more fair deal.”
“Not happening.”
I knew I had to have that scythe, it was like it was calling to me. There had to be a way around this, I’ve been dealing way too long to not win this deal for myself, I just had to use what I had. Then it struck me, my soulstone.
“What if I trade you this soulstone as well” I said as I dug out the soulstone from my pocket.
“Hmm, now we are talking, what level is that stone?”
“It’s a common one.” I said, hoping it would be enough.
“Deal, 200 points and the soulstone for soul magic and the scythe.” He said grasping my hand to shake it.
This meant I had to enter in my current clothes with no armour or items, but I had a feeling the scythe would be worth it, that’s when I realized I hadn’t even looked at the stats of it. I pressed my hands against it wishing to see the stats.
Crimson Scarlet
Type: Sensor - Scythe
Quality: Legendary
Damage: 10-15
Durability: Depleted
Charge: None
Modifier: Unidentified
Weight: 3kg (7.1 lbs)
Attributes: Depleted
It was a legendary! But honestly it wasn’t that good compared to some of the cheaper weapons I had looked at. It also had a strange type the others did not have, and what the heck does depleted mean, did he need that soulstone to power it? As these thoughts were racing through my mind I decided Gerald might be able to answer me.
"Hey Gerald, what does Sensor mean? It says it is depleted, do I need to charge it with a soulstone?”
“You picked a weapon you had no clue what it is? Well, I refuse to spoil the surprise for you, and yes you need a soulstone or magic shards. Well you have been here long enough. Goodbye!” Gerald said sharply as he waved at me.
Expecting it at this point I closed my eyes to avoid the light that meant I was being teleported somewhere I felt excited to finally start my new life in this fantasy world.