Prologue - Part Two

After tea he headed down to the basement, as his parents washed up, and slipped into the capsule.

The plush interior was surprisingly spacious as he settled into the chair and began the start up process. Within a few moments the standby Unicorn Corp screen had changed and he found himself staring at the Royal Road title screen. A red laser light shone into his eye.

-:Confirming unregistered user. Shall we create a new account? :-

Yes/No

A simple start. He confirmed it and the screen changed to the beginning of the character creation process. A rendered silhouette hovered in front of him with its arms outstretched to the side.

-:Select the name of your avatar:-

"O..G..R..E. Ogre."

He spelt it out then repeated it to ensure the system registered it correctly. He was in luck as the name hadn't been taken yet.

-:Thank you. Please select your gender:-

Male/Neutral/Female

A small name tag appeared above the featureless paper-doll that read . He selected male and as the doll slowly morphed into his perfect visual copy as he wondered what exactly a neutral gender was and if it would play any differently from the other two. He wasn't brave enough to find out.

The Doll now had his face and a more masculaine outline but it still showed no clothing at all. Just the impression of chiselled pecks under the blue rendering.

-:Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine:-

A row of small figures appeared under the dolls feet and he used his finger tips to scroll through them. Twenty nine were displayed and of the remaining twenty only blank outlines could be seen. When he tried to click on one a grey cross with the word  'LOCKED' appeared over it.

He spent several minutes looking at his character as various elves and dwarves before picking a human species: Barbarian race.

They were almost identical to the humans on the Continent only a head taller a slightly stronger. A human sub species that had evolved in keeping with their climate.

-:You may alter your appearance:-

He was about to skip this phase but a strange urge gripped him and with one quick slide of his right index finger he connected his eyebrows into one impressive mono-brow. He pulled various facials which the doll imiated like a mirror. This single change seemed to add an air of intimidation to all of them regardless of if he was smiling or pouting. His doll grinned back mercilessly before glaring at him, seething with anger.

-:Thank you. your account has been activated. your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road. On behalf of Unicorn Corporation please enjoy the fully immersive world:-

-: Please note that due to racial selection you will receive +5 points to Strength and Agility but -5 points to Intellect and Wisdom. If you are aiming for a Spell-casting class we advise altering current race:-