So. Glass cannon? Healer? Tank? Support mage? Crafter? Was crafting even possible? I hadn’t seen any mention of it in the tutorial. Should I just pick at random? I hadn’t seen any mention of stat resets, so my choice could very well be permanent.

There were only a few stats that I was allowed to spend points on, as a beginner.

* Vitality - determines your health. Additional uses hidden.

* Toughness - determines damage reduction. Additional uses hidden.

* Precision - Decreases margin of error for movements, makes automated skills more easily triggered. Additional uses hidden.

* Endurance - increases your stamina cap. Stamina is drained by using automatic skills. Additional uses hidden.

* Strength - Determines physical strength. Related to damage dealt. Additional uses hidden.

* Dexterity - Determines movement speed and speed in combat. Additional uses hidden.

* Concentration - Determines strength of magical attacks and mana pool. Additional uses hidden.

Tank? I’d never liked playing tanks in MMOs, and I wasn’t sure whether I liked the idea of standing there and taking hits. I was a speedrunner, after all. That made Vitality and Toughness dump stats. Precision determined ‘automated skills and margin of error for movements’, supposedly, but I wasn’t sure what that was, and the tutorial had surprisingly little information about the topic. Endurance seemed fairly straightforward - many games I’d played before had a similar mechanic. Concentration was also fairly straightforward - I’d never enjoyed playing mages in games, which made that a bit of a dump stat, too.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

In the end, only one choice made sense to me.

I was a speedrunner, after all. I dumped everything into Dexterity. I subtracted everything I could from everything else. My other stats were sitting at the minimum allowed by the Game, and I couldn’t help but wonder if a stiff breeze would kill me. Then again - it was just a game, right?

I hit confirm before I could change my mind. There was no prompt to choose a name, oddly enough.

Only when I started falling did I realize I’d been floating that entire time. Gravity in the game seemed to be lower, though - I had plenty of time to prepare myself. I hit the alien grass and rolled. It felt easier than it should have been. I raised my hands to check myself for scrapes or injuries - nothing.

Health full, the voice in my head chimed. The simulation could read intent? Now that was interesting…

I took a moment to examine the world around me. I was standing on a grassy green cliffside, though there were patches of orange and purple grass mixed in with the green. There was a sandy beach below the cliff, with small waves crashing against it.

Sitting on that beach was Charles. He was staring out into the waves. I almost called out to him, but for some reason - something stopped me. We were never particularly close, and the competitive streak in me pushed me to explore without him, at least for the time being. I kept scanning my surroundings. A little rocky path led down the cliffside - that must have been the route Charles took. A forest stood a few hundred yards away, around the clearing where I spawned in.

I had just managed to get into the treeline when another player spawned in. He started down towards the path that Charles had gone. I decided it was time to make myself scarce, and started making my way through the forest.

When I’d walked for a few minutes, an extraordinarily tall tree stood before me. There was an opening in its twisted roots, with battered stone steps leading into some sort of underground cave. I grinned.

I knew how to recognize a dungeon when I saw one.