Company logos and warnings about epilepsy, claustrophobia and such flashed on-screen before transitioning into the opening cinematic.

“Skip,” I shouted three notes into what probably would have been a rousing symphony, and the movie cut off, plunging me into a black loading screen. I wasn't interested in playing the game, which was a first for me. I had to get inside and get in touch with other players asap.

The next thing I saw was a map of Earth separated into the three main gaming zones; The Americas, Asia and Europe. A message appeared, saying the game was looking at my settings and closest server locations. Normally, a list of all accessible servers based on my fibre-optic speed would pop up and I would get to choose where I wanted to play but since there was only one SB-enabled server in the world, I was immediately paired with it.

Once loaded, the game gradually resolved itself and I was greeted to a view of a wide mosaic mural. It depicted temples, cities, mountains and various clans of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, such as human-sized, bi-pedal sauropods and appeared to be a portrait of a thriving civilization led by evolved dinos. I didn’t see any humans, however. The thing that drew my eyes the most was a large building situated dead center of the art piece. It was surrounded by turtles, some of whom seemingly in meditation while others read and wrote. They must play an important role. Normally, I would've kept staring at it for an hour, trying to coax out details and meanings about this world but I needed to get going.

I tried to move but my feet were stuck in place; All I could do swivel my head and move my arms. The reaction time was a 1:1 ratio, as if I was moving my physical body normally.

I held a torch in my left hand, and as I twisted and bent my limbs to get a feel for them, I saw a blotch on my inner right wrist, which looked like mud. As I tried to wipe it away, I received a message.

Cannot open main menu at this time.

I then peered to my left and saw a large bronze door-a strange sight in a game supposedly about stone-age cavemen. It must have been made by master craftsmen judging by the intricate relief pattern on it. On my right, the hallway I was in opened up into a larger space. I could see the silhouette of a colossal shape in there but it was hard to make out from here.

Finally, I noticed a plaque with runes underneath the mosaic. Most of it looked like an assortment of squiggly lines and random symbols that meant nothing, but a few words written in English stood out.

New game

Configuration

Exit

I reached out, pressing New game and elements appeared on my hud, opaque enough not to obstruct my vision. On the upper right was the same group of boxes with details on my synapse boost, which ran steady without any dips in performance, but below that I could now see quest info.

-THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE

Explore the ruins and complete the rite of passage.

-DEFENSELESS

You lost your weapon climbing the temple. Find a replacement.

Hp, mp and stamina bars, along with a fourth one whose purpose I wasn’t clear on, appeared on the upper left.

I heard sounds, a mix between chirps and growls, and tiny footsteps coming from the larger area on the right. I guessed it was the game’s way of letting me know where I should go. Now free to move, I walked in that direction, my steps echoing in the large empty complex. Whatever small creatures had made the noise fled as I approached the large shape which ended up being a crudely built statue of a turtle nurturing a sapling. It looked like a peaceful and benevolent race. Unlike the doors, this screamed a lack of craftsmanship experience, yet it was a center piece for some reason.

I jogged around the circular room and saw three exits, all of them caved in. So whatever I had to do here was probably linked to the turtle. I went back to it, studied the backside and notice hundreds of hand stencil paintings on it’s shell.

The quest log changed.

-THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE

You are more adventurous then your tribe-mates. Put your mark on the highest point of the statue.

A tutorial box then popped into view.

You can access your inventory through the main menu or directly by touching the pouch on your left hip. The main menu cannot be accessed at this time.

This game uses eye-tracking technology. To dismiss tutorial boxes, look at the upper left corner and blink twice consecutively.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I blinked the messages away then touched the leather pouch hanging on my side. A window opened, taking most of the view on the left side. There was only one item in my inventory, a small reddish sphere called a “pigment ball”.

Chew and spray over your hand to create a hand painting.

I sighed, not wanting to waste my time doing this. I first climbed on the statue’s pedestal then up the shell, using cracks in the aging sculpture as finger-holds. Having reached the turtle’s bald head, I took out the pigment ball by double tapping the icon and followed the instruction, chewing and spitting a brown liquid over my hand stencil. Due to this being a full-dive experience, I could taste the earthy substance to some degree and it sucked. When I removed my hand from the stone, I could see the print I had left but then I heard a loud cracking noise. The head snapped off the statue and we both tumbled towards the floor.

The boulder smashed through the ancient temple’s floor, creating a gaping hole that I tumbled in. I felt pressure and a subdued feeling similar to pain when my back hit the bottom. Roughly 25% of my hp bar was gone with that.

I sat up, shook my head clear and looked around the area where I had landed. A bit of light shone down on me from my torch which I had dropped on the upper floor but everything outside its radius was bathed in darkness, making it hard to make out anything. Seemed like I was in another hallway. I did spot a object in the distance giving off an eerie blue glow.

The quest log changed to a vague “find your way out” description and since the rubble from the collapse blocked off the section of the hall behind me and there was no way I could climb out as the ceiling was too high, I hugged the wall and began moving towards it until I had passed a threshold into another large room.

With no more wall to hold on too, I took baby steps, hands in front of me to avoid walking into an unseen obstacle. I still managed to trip on something littering the ground that made a rattling sound when I crashed into it. The telltale sign of a pile of bones being disturbed… not good.

I jumped back up and stood in a defensive position, anticipating a potential trap or attack but nothing came. I dismissed it for now and crossed the remaining space to the glowing orb thing, which was the obvious objective.

When I got to it, I noticed that it was a crystal the size of a basketball and that the glow seemed magical in nature. Inside, they’re were random burst of light blue particles that rippled all over. I stared for a moment, mesmerized then noticed something interesting. It kinda felt like these bursts were communicating with each other, that they were alive or something. Couldn’t be certain tho, and honestly it didn’t matter, I had to keep moving.

I touched the stone and felt an energy shoot up my arm with a numbing snap, like when your body discharges static electricity. It traveled to my core where it radiated everywhere else. I gasped, the energy shocking my system like being drenched in ice cold water. Or at least, the vr rig made it seem like that. It faded away a moment later.

Received a forced evolution skill:

Prying eyes (passive)

Your eyes can now see what few others can. Allows passive ability to see in the dark, harvestable resources, target stats and mana apparitions.

As if someone had turned on the lights, I could now see my surroundings clearly, albeit with a hazy blue-ish tint that made me think of being in a spiritual world. My gaze then fell on a grizzly scene.

The floor was riddled with a few dozen skeletons as if there had been a battle here long ago. Most of them were human but there were a handful of bigger ones near the entrance were I had just passed, which seemed reptilian in nature. All of those were geared up in metal armors and I spotted metal weapons near their remains. In contrast, most human fighters had cheap leather tunics and sharpened sticks. I bent down and examined a human skull. It was split nearly in half.

If my guess was correct, these… creatures, whatever they were, broke in and killed everyone. It had been more a massacre then a fight.

But the strangest thing in the room were the spirits of five individuals floating near each other at the back. They must be the so called mana apparitions that my newly acquired skill allowed me to perceive. I approached these ethereal forms slowly, studying them.

There were four men and one woman, whose physical features varied from each other. For example, one was taller and larger by a good measure and another had dark skin. They were all decked out in better gear then the rest of their peers. What they had wasn't made of metal, rather it looked like it had been crafted with animal parts such as bones, scales and such. And some of it had glowing lines on them as if it was higher tier magical equipment. The stoic, tough-as-nails demeanor they gave off, coupled with what they wore made me think they were the leaders.

The ghosts were located where the fighting seemed to have been the heaviest judging by the pile of corpses here. There was a hallway leading out of the room behind them. I couldn't help but get the impression that they had been protecting that passage. This had been their last stand.

As I stepped closer to them, their forms flared up, became more tangible and detailed. In the same breath, the game pinned me in place so that I couldn't move from this spot. The words “Clan selection”, written in a ghostly bluish font like the apparitions, appeared above them and a box popped into view.

Five proto-human clans survived the Saurian cleansing. Each live in hiding in their own territories, scattered throughout the continent. Each have a unique Taxon trait, a genetic ability developed from centuries of living in their specific environment. Choose which clan you belong to.

(Look at the crystal symbol above the head of each clan representative to display detailed information)

I dismissed the box and stared at the symbol over the nearest character which unveiled background info on that particular race. I didn't bother to read any of it, instead immediately blinking at the accept button at the bottom of the text. The race I chose wasn't important, I just had to finish this damn tutorial/character creation level.