Heading home from his last day of work Terence carried a huge beaming smile. Today was the day. His pod would have finally arrived and he could experience full-immersion virtual reality. Terence spent a large amount of time after college working as a kitchen assistant to scrape together as much money as he could. Although it wasn’t nearly enough to purchase the game subscription along with the pod. It was enough to enrol into the games loan scheme. Terence did see this as a huge risk but at the naive age of 18, It was now or never.
He had a plan to earn money in-game to pay off the loan and even make a good profit. Terence dreamed about slaying dragons and selling their dragon hides to make fortunes all from the comfort of his bedroom.
However, Terence was also ready to become a market vendor or trader to turn a profit from all the new players, all in all, he was planning on becoming rich. He didn’t hate working for a small wage, he despised it. Being the arrogant 18 years old he believed he could change the world for the better and generate massive amounts of cash in the process if he was only given the chance.
“Terence, your package is here!” Terence’s mum shouted the second he entered the home.
Filled with excitement Terence rushed into the house seeing the large package, instantly he began lifting it to his room. He was shocked at how light this was, he had carried computers that were heavier than this, and this was supposed to be an entire virtual reality rig.
Terence spoke to his mother and sister going over his plan one more time about the first-week dive into the game. Naturally, they both tried to deter him but once again he explained how even a month immersion wouldn’t have any negative side effects on his health and how he guaranteed he would be earning large amounts of money.
Unpacking the box Terence saw the odd egg-like design of the pod along with a packet of what looked like a metallic liquid. Going against Terence’s own philosophy he actually read the instructions, this piece of tech was too expensive to break.
He followed the guide setting up the egg-shaped pod against the wall plugging the power cable into the socket and placed the packet of silver liquid in the pod just like instructed. He eagerly pressed the start first setup button that was now flashing on the pod, the packet of liquid rapidly started expanding. The packet started moving almost like a mechanical robot filling the entire pod with the liquid.
Terence wasted no time as the game launch was only in an hour and he didn’t want to be left behind. He had money to make after all. Terence removed his clothes until he was bare nude, getting into the pod. Terence was surprised he thought the liquid would be cold and thick however it was warm. The liquid had different consistency depending on how he moved in the pod almost like it was matching his movement.
He shut the lid to the egg and the calibration began before Terence could even react his consciousness left him akin to that of sleep.
*Calibration Start*
The sound of a female voice reverberated in his head almost as if the voice was an internal thought. Terence found himself in a white space, that went on forever. There was no up, down, left or right. This experience reminded Terence of how people described drowning in deep waters. Instead of darkness and cold, it was light and warmth.
Terence was jolted out of his thoughts when a projection of a completion bar was placed in front of his vision. Terence was unsure of whether he could pick a race or class or even his name. Terence did have some experience with playing MMOs but he had a feeling that this would be very different.
*Would you like to choose a class from the selection or be automatically chosen the best possible class for your build?*
Another prompt appeared in his vision, he focused on the first option when another prompt appeared.
*Warning, selecting a class from the class list does not contain hidden or special classes which can only be selected from the automatic selection.*
Terence decided to take a look at the class selection anyway and figured he could always go back and select the automatic option if he decided to.
A list of thousands of classes appeared before him, some classes he recognised as simple classes from MMO’s he played like Fighter, Warrior, Rogue, Wizard. But there were also classes that he didn't have any knowledge of like Dragon Rider, Geomancer, Occultist, Guru, Elemental Adept, Swashbuckler. He could put together a rough idea of what they would be like but he had no idea of how they would play out as classes. Most of the options Terence deemed as “cool” but some, however, seemed like a waste of class like Cook, Pilot, Miner, Prospector, Diver. He was sure they could be useful but they seemed too mundane for Terence.
After scrolling around for close to 30 minutes trying to attach many of them to memory in case they came in useful he made up his mind that choosing a class from the list would be an impossible feat. Another thought sprang to mind where there feats in this game? This thought went to another about levelling and then items until he had to stop the train of thought before it derailed.
He closed out of the class list and selected automatic selection where he was greeted with another warning prompt.
*Warning after selecting the class you will be unable to change classes. You can gain new levels in classes in-game if you meet the requirements*
* Do you Accept your choice for automatic selection? *
*Yes or No*
Terence was curious about multi-classing, he loved doing that in his DnD games although the dungeon master would usually get annoyed if Terence found yet another way to break the game. Gritting his teeth he hit the yes button.
Once again a loading bar appeared, this time it was constantly changing almost like it was trying to decide on something. Another prompt appeared five minutes later which felt like an eternity for Terence eager to find out his class.
*You have been given an ultra-rare hidden class*
* Class: Psionic*
Before Terence could process these words his vision went to black once again.
*Starting Location, Withered Woods*
Terence awoke to find himself led face first in the dirt floor. Spitting the dirt out his mouth he forgot he was in-game due to the realism he was experiencing. He noticed he was wearing what he assumed were common clothes, with a small pouch which upon further investigation presented 10 silver coins.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
He immediately starting searching himself for any weapons or similar items that would prove useful in an MMO but he found nothing.
“Let’s take a look at my stats. “ Terence thought as a status window appeared.
Name: Terence Hutchings Level : 1 Title : The First Psion - ( +1 Intelligence + 1 Wisdom ) Health Points: 80 Mana : 170 (Regeneration : 1.1 / min) Armour Class: 10 (No Armour) Class: Psionic Strength : 7 Dexterity: 14 Constitution : 10 Intelligence : 17 (+1) Wisdom : 11 (+1) Charisma: 10 Luck: 13 Skills: None
Terence was already smiling at his title granting him +1 in two main stats. His celebration came to end when he heard snarling coming from his left, turning in an instant he saw what could only be described as a monster.
Upon further inspection, this wasn’t just any monster it was a bear. Aside from its glowing red eyes, the bear was covered with what looked like blisters along with a huge gash on its side revealing its darkened bone ribs with numerous scratches and tears out of the bear showing its decaying flesh underneath its matted fur.
Terence was stunned usually he would just get his weapon and attack however he did not have a weapon. A-ha he was a Psionic that was some sort of mystic wizard class he would just grab his spellbook and....... he didn’t have a spellbook either. He faintly remembered psionics having something to do with the mind. He was certain it was mind magic, Terence thought really hard staring at the half-dead bear in the eyes visualising its head blowing up.
*You have taken 30 points of slashing damage*
*Attack missed*
*You have taken 40 points of slashing damage*
*You have taken 20 points of slashing damage*
In an instant, the bear leapt towards him pinning him down, scratching and biting him. The pain wasn’t just real it was too real Terence passed out before the killing blow was done.
*You were killed by [Diseased Bear Level 12] would you like to review your game logs?*
Terence shocked and glad that the pain had gone thought yes as the logs he didn’t notice before due to the sheer amount of pain were now mocking his display.
Somehow he managed to dodge an attack though that was lucky he thought to try to find the silver lining in getting mauled to death by an infected bear mere seconds of starting the game. As if the game answered him further down the log he saw something that did pique his interest.
*Skill Gained [Lucky Dodge]*
* 0.5% chance to dodge an enemies physical attack *
Terence wondered if he could level this skill, I guess he would have to find out the hard way. Taking the loss in his stride he selected the re-spawn option thinking about how in the hell he would take out the level 12 bear.
*You have re-spawned in the same starting location*
Directly in front of him was the same bear gnawing on his corpse, this made Terence feel oddly sick, this game avatar looked exactly like his real body and he was watching a bear eating away at him. More importantly, his corpse still contains all his possessions including his clothes. As he looked down he was stark naked. Thinking that hiding his junk wasn’t the top priority right now hoping to god there were no players nearby he hid behind the nearest tree. Thankfully the bear was too occupied pulverising his corpse to notice him.
Terence began pondering his options, after ruling out running at the bear in the nude without a weapon he decided on trying to access some of his Psionic skills. Which annoyingly were not displayed anywhere on his status sheet. His new skill Lucky Dodge was giving a sweet 0.5% chance to dodge physical attacks. He wondered what the odds were for him to actually unlock the skill by dodging in the first place it must have been much lower than the 0.5% chance.
Maybe 13 points in luck was a lot he still had no way to tell what the stats actually effected and what classed as a good score for any attribute. Terence began thinking about how good it would be to have even a small dagger and how much easier this task would be.
While gesturing his hand around imagining if he did have an actual weapon he noticed something odd. There was something in his hand, it was the spitting image of the small dagger he thought of although it shone with a blue hue almost like it was a hologram.
Without another second wasted he tried to engrave the bark of the nearby tree and to his surprise, it worked he somehow created an actual weapon. “I’m coming for you Baloo!” Terence thought to himself only just noticing the notification in his vision.
*Class Skill Gained [Weapon Creation]*
*Use Mana to create weapons*
*You have created a Psionic Dagger 1-3 Piercing Damage*
Checking his status screen again he noticed that his Mana went down by 20 points. Maybe he could make better and stronger weapons. Once inspecting his weapon in his hand he was greeted by even more notifications.
*Skill Gained [Inspect]*
*Well done, aren’t you the observant one”
Terence was a bit confused about the sarcastic description of the inspect skill but this was blown away by his newfound knowledge of the weapon creation skill.
*Psionic Dagger 1-3 Piercing Damage*
*Mana cost 20*
*Mana Upkeep 2/min*
The weapons had mana upkeep. This was draining more mana than he was regenerating per minute however he did have a big mana pool so as long as he didn’t have the weapons out too long he would be okay.
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the bear going for the coin purse on his body. Remembering the lack of penalties for dying he rushed at the bear. Attempting a sneak attack to it’s back.
After stepping on a twig the bear instantly turned to charge at Terence just like before.
Terence sidestepped to the right holding the dagger out piercing its side as it ran past letting out a small yelp that turned into a growl.
The Bear stood up on its hind legs and roared causing another notification to appear which Terence ignored as he ran at the bear jabbing his dagger into it once again. It was stuck. After spending a few seconds trying to extract it from the bear he made the dagger vanish. It seemed his very thoughts were manifesting his weapons. This time Terence imagined a large black Scimitar in his hand but just before the blade materialised he pushed his hand onto the corrupted fur.
Terence felt the weight of his hand shift down as the blade appeared piercing straight through the Bear causing it to go limp.
Terence noticed how light-headed he felt and collapsed soon after.