V1C1 Master of Bread

Welcome to Alpha Sensation!!

The first words I received barely registered due to my ecstatic excitement. Ironically, the capitalized words reflected my mental state. If I were to try to define my mental state, it would include the phrases: holy piece of, moTHER OF, shit stained denim dream world, where the fuck is Alice in this wonderland, and so on.

…

I’m excited, alright? Cut me a break.

After entering my login information, I found myself standing in an undecorated room. This was perhaps to help players get used to the new sensation.

Of what, you ask?

Of virtual reality, I answer.

That’s right. Honest to God virtual reality.

It’s the stuff out of fiction, a bunch of ones and zeros actually putting you in the game. I tried to wrap and rewrap my head around it. Everything was as close to reality as reality was itself. And it was weird. Weird, because I had to keep telling myself it was just a game.

I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face.

The game had just come out, and stores worldwide had started selling it the night before.

The awe I had towards his pinnacle of technology, virtual reality, had been on the forefront of my mind leading up to the release. Though the science behind it piqued my interest, I resisted the temptation to research it. It was just too over my head.

As I pressed the advancement button, the floating words faded, allowing the next words the now empty space.

Please wait while the servers initialize.Time until servers go online: 0 hours, 30 minutes.

The news made me sigh and shake my head. With nothing else to do, I started to think back to the past couple of weeks. The company, Cyclops, out of the blue, announced their amazing technology earlier in the summer. Nonetheless, they announced the VR system/ game combo. The helmet-like console was named Alpha Sensation, perhaps playing off of the fact that it was the first of its kind. The game, Endless Fantasy, was to be the swords and magic kind of fantasy game. In their announcement, they acknowledged the MMO setting and a few basics of the game. It would be level and classed based. It would be the usual quest and grow stronger; however, there was no main quest the game would focus on. It was such as to offer more freedom. I had only a small understanding of the specifications, but I guess I’ll see soon enough.

Near the eight minute mark, I noticed a new message had popped up, asking if I wanted a tutorial. I pressed the advancement arrow. It led me through the basics, like opening the character and inventory menus with thoughts.

I’ll spare you the details.

There was also a copy of the instruction book. Might as well…

The usual information about health, magic, and stamina. One of these reserves gains 10 points on a level up, class and race notwithstanding. Then came the stats: strength, agility, wisdom, intelligence, charisma, and luck. Every level up gave 5 points to distribute. Again, class and race notwithstanding. It also mentions fame. Fame was how well known you are and can only be increased by one’s actions. Then a hodgepodge of information. High infamy cause bounties to be placed on you. Critical hit ensued when a vulnerable spot was attacked. Players could not choose to be a member of the opposite gender. Yadda yadda, yadda, ya yadda yadda.

Then,

Servers online. Proceed to character creation?

I rubbed my hands while mentally clicking the arrow.

I was not disappointed.

OH, THE POSSIBILITIES!

I reigned myself in and filled my name in. It’s my usual tag: Thundatwin. Nodding to myself, I confirmed and then considered the list of races that sprouted. Each manikin was my unchanged appearance in each race. Neat.

Humans. Of course. I was already an experienced human outside of the game, so why would I choose this? I considered it, however, as each race had advantages and disadvantages. Unsurprisingly, the humans were the balanced all-rounder race. Booooooriiiiiiiiing.

Dwarves. Strong in close combat and proficient blacksmiths but had magic and agility drawbacks. They came tough and had a small damage mitigation. These midg- I mean, this vertically challenged race, had a high connection to earth if the player chose to wield magic despite the drawbacks. After all, the drawback might be worth the mitigation for all I knew about this game.

High Elves. Almost opposite to dwarves, the high elves seemed to have magical, especially nature magic, affinity. With a boost to wisdom and intelligence, they made a good glass cannon build, as they would dish damage like no tomorrow, but were quite fragile and would succumb to physical damage easily.

Dark Elves. The agile cousins to high elves, they came with an agility boost and an affinity to dark magic. They had night vision, which was cool, but they had a disadvantage in the day, which was not-so-cool. Classic rogue race, though I guess they weren’t limited to just that.

Orcs. These green buggers had a fierce appearance. They had an intelligence and wisdom drawback. Surprisingly, there was also a drawback to technology. I had to check the help option, and was surprised to find that they would never get as good stats from their equipment as other races. However, orcs had a generous strength boost and a damage mitigation, and their description even mentioned an intimidation effect. Although this caught my interest, I read further that all of the other races had the potential for this as well so I decided against it.

Beastmen. In other words, humans with longer teeth and animal ears. Or so I thought. There was actually a slider to look more bestial. Cooooooool! After messing around with it for a while, I finally resumed my inspection. There were three options, each with similar specs. They all had a nature affinity as well as an agility boost. The dog variant came with a small strength boost but lower wisdom and intelligence. The cat variant had a dark magic affinity but had a small strength disadvantage. They, like the dark elves, had night vision but no day time drawback. The rabbit variant had a further agility boost as well as a charm and luck boost, but majorly lacked in the strength department.

Undead. These suckers looked legit. And disgusting. They looked like decayed corpses. Again, a slider for the amount of decay, stopping a little before complete skeletons. They had a large boost to dark magic affinity and were unable to use holy magic. Imagine that. They also came with a large day time drawback. As the booklet said that time passes the same in game, the drawback deterred me a little from the race.

…

I had my work cut out for me.

After a large time full of experimenting, I was wrapped in light that gradually brightened. After the almost blinding light receded, I found myself in the starting town I picked. Specifically, I was in the town’s center, staring at a fountain in front of me. My imagination gears putted along as I began understanding this… World? Game? Meh. Anyway,it was obvious that this city had plumbing. Plumbing’s good. I guess I can look forward to the sewer setting dungeons. I took my time, watching other new players appear. By focusing on an individual, their name would appear above them. Each player had to enter a name. Such is the basics.

The amount of girls playing the game surprised me, though the race skew was about as much as I expected. The rabbit variant was dominated by females while the human, cat variant, and elven races were about even. There was enough female undead to count on one hand, though no more than that. The other races were male dominated. It was strange to see everyone wearing the same clothing though. A brown t-shirt and brown shorts were in every direction I looked.

“There you are!”

What ho! A voice from behind!

“You take forever to make a character, y’know.”

I spun, cautiously, around to face the masculine voice assaulting my ears. The owner of said voice had the appearance of an orc. The name Lil’ Wub Wub sprouted above his figure as I trained my eyes in on him. My response came naturally and flowed towards him.

“’Sup brah.” (T)

Witty, no? Prolific language aside, he is, indeed, my brother. In fact, he is my twin brother.

“’Sup brah my brown gift-wrapped, orc ass! I had half a mind to ditch you and wander around to find a quest like the noob I am!” (W)

“Yeah yeah, you’re an impatient gift to NPCs everywhere, what with your questing and squirrel-like attention span. Would you rather me kiss your feet, or the ground they walk on? ANYWAY. Catch me up to speed.” (T)

“My feet, thanks for asking. Starting out, you’ve nothing to your name. However, you can hit up the adventurer’s guild and they’ll give you your rightly noob items. You get a choice of weapons, and since we have the Beginner class, you can equip any type of gear. But wait, there’s more! You’ll get bread. A whopping ten loafs.” (W)

“Lead the way, O all-knowing Master of Bread.” (T)

This brought a snicker to the crowd around us. We didn’t think much about it, though, because this is how our speech usually goes. There is a difference, if I might add, because we usually have the same voice. We were identical twins IRL, but that's about all you'll hear about our lives. Why we don’t sound the same now, you ask? This is because I choose the beastman race. Specifically, the rabbit variant. Why the rabbit variant, you proceed to ask? Because I wanted to, you curious sack of unending questions. I happen to lean towards the luck stat, since I wondered what it would do, because only a close-minded individual would really believe that the information book would give all of the information out. But we don’t have to worry about close-mindedness, do we, my questioning companion?

As I follow my brother, I start to inspect my character. I made him slightly skinny with tight and subtle muscles. My fur was a dirty blonde color and was sprouting on my hands and faded out further up my forearms. My nails were almost claws. I remember glimpsing at my face during the creation part. What strikes first is how angular the face looks without ears. Instead, I had rabbit ears the length of my forearm sticking straight up. I get distracted wiggling them around… I mean, growing accustomed to my new body! Yeaaaaah… Anyway, the hearing with these things are incredible, yet I don't find myself overwhelmed. Which is nice.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Then I remembered my tail. I tried twisting my body to see it and was surprised to find my body’s flexibility pretty high. And then I started to experiment with my fluffy tail, once again distracting myself.

My thoughts drift towards my brother, as I wonder what his future build looks. Of course, he would choose a healing class, as he finds the role amusing and he is, for the most part, predictable. From there, my thoughts steer towards my future build… so many choices…

I then notice the three foot bubble of personal space around my brother and I. I stare questioningly at the faces giving us such a wide berth. Some, I noted, we're just going with the flow; however, most of the people we glancing away with worried faces and sweat dripping down their faces. It was almost as if they were trying to not catch my eye…

Or my brother’s.

I took a closer look at his face and was rewarded with a sudden realization. Not only do we sound much different, we look a lot different. Specifically, my womb-mate had altered his appearance a lot.

To put it bluntly, he was fucking ugly.

His face was scrunched up and was centered with an abnormally large nose. His bottom lip looked permanently fixed open with a line of drool accumulating. He was missing an eyebrow and his pointed ears stuck out, demanding to me noticed. To top it all off, he was as bald as he was green. And he was a brilliant hue of puke green.

In barely succeeded in holding in my laughter, I started connecting lines in my head.

‘So this is the effects of intimidation…’

My thoughts are interrupted by a ding. I look up towards a bell ringing, indicating that we had stepped through a door into the adventurer’s guild. I glanced around the room after criticizing my distractive qualities. There was an advancing queue in front of us, towards the back of the room. Tables, full and otherwise, were to the right. There were stairs nearby, and a doorway I assumed that led towards a kitchen. There was the lull of a multitude of conversations going on. I shot my brother a questioning glance.

“This place doubles as an inn for low levels, with the whole three day ban on leaving the starter city and all.” I nodded in understanding. “The rooms are free, but the meals cost a decent chunk out of the silver and 50 copper starting balance.” (W)

“Yeah, but sounds better than bread…” (T)

The murmur from eating area and the queue filled the silence between us. I don’t mind; the choice of my future weapon is on my mind. We get to the counter, and I choose a sword. It’s an ironically dull choice, but it compliments my brother’s staff. It, being my sword, deals a decent 4-6 damage. I opened my inventory and equipped it.

Skill Learned:

Sword Mastery

“Thank you for dropping by, Thundatwin, and good luck on your adventure!”

I responded after her, thanking the female NPC at the counter with a mighty grin before walking away to allow the next in line to their Christmas present.

I then noticed she used my name. I would say that the name came from me being the younger twin, lightening before thunder, after all, but it would be a petty excuse. The reason came after the name.

I shook my head to get my focus again. I opened my character screen to spy my new skill’s details.

StatusName:ThundatwinLevel:1Race:Rabbit BeastmanGender:MaleClass:BeginnerSubclass:NoneTitles:NoneHealth:100Mana:100Satmina:100STR:8INT:10AGI:12WIS:10CHR:11LUK:11Fame:0

Cool.

Not.

I’m as weak as a carrot cake in a bunker in WWII! But I have a more important matter to focus on.

Sword MasteryLevel:1EXP:0%The road to mastery starts with a single step!... Or, in this case, a single swing. Nonetheless, you’re on your way to being a sword master!+1% Damage with swords

My face must have shown my disappointment. Specifically, it must’ve reflected the expression one would make when catching a whiff of a three-day-old, yet still potent, fart, because Wubs started to laugh. I was made his support, as his core would allow no action close to standing on his own.

Finally, when he was done laughing, “Geez! Have some mercy! This may be a game, but the pain in my sides feel real enough! I’m guessing it’s about the weapon mastery?” (W)

“Bingo! Show him what he’s won, John!” (T)

“Gameshow host besides, you and I both know that it’ll be a great help later on.” (W)

I grunted, showing my understanding while still conveying my displeasure.

At this point, we had just gotten out of the building. I turned and asked my brother what was on my mind.

“So what’s the plan now, MB? Surely, it will include dragon vanquishing and the like.” (T)

“O ye of little level, what else is there to do, but to start with the slime equivalent? Besides, it’s not like we can leave the city yet. I’m down to find a quest and get closer to having a class… and by the way, MB?” (W)

“Master of Bread, your official title, of course!” (T)

“… Mhmm.” (W)

“Whatever, I know you love it, so you’re welcome. Anyway, wanna split up to find some quests?” (T)

“Sure, lemme just send you a party and friend invite.” (W)

Affirming both spontaneous windows added a new subject to my peripherals… which I guess I should explain. In the top left was my name, level, experience, health, mana, stamina, and satiety, the latter five in the form of bars. Just added below was his information, though it was limited to his name, level, health, and mana. At the top right, there’s a minimap, my position in the middle in the form of a yellow arrow. My arrow overlapped another, colored blue, which had to be my brother. The map showed the barebones of my surroundings, but it only displayed what I myself have seen.

Moving on, we parted. I took the time to observe the people around me. Some people decided to go all out with their character design, which made for a cool sight. Still, the amount of brown clothing… I set my mind and decided to investigate the game’s natives, that is to say, the NPCs. They were walking around, taking care of their business, dressed in simple attire. That was a lot better to see than the brown clothing… There was even an occasional guard in their chainmail uniforms. I took the chance to question one for a quest, to no avail. With a sigh, I made my way to a nearby inn or tavern, following the directions I’d gotten from the local NPCs.

I saw a female beast(wo)man dip into the inn as I walked around the corner. She was the dog variant. I caught a glimpse of her username as the door almost swung closed on her wild-looking hair. Surprisingly, it missed both her hair, and her tail. St- something or other. I checked the sign hanging up before following her in. The Braying Mare. Cliché, but fitting.

I poked my head in just in time to hear, “What was that about my mom…?”

This oughta be good!

I didn’t see who said it, but a loud “BAR FIGHT!!” echoed around the entire tavern. I relayed the message out to the crowd and made my way into the brawl. I made my way over to the girl I saw walk in. I began to piece together that she started the whole ordeal, insulting her orc enemy’s dear mother. It was three against o- make that two against one, as one of the orc’s goons just went down with a chair to the head before getting up and chasing the perpetrator. The dog woman rolled under the orc’s swing and ended up behind him. She took the chance to knock his feet out from under him. With a crash, he ended up on the ground. She moved to straddle his chest and lock his arms under her and rained down punches on his only-a-mother-could-love face… which might be the reason he was insulted enough to start a fight.

I tackled the other goon, an undead, because c’mon. 2-on-1? On a girl? Luckily, he was surprised at her aggressiveness and had just begun to move in on her. I moved in and tucked my shoulder and lifted when it hit, throwing him onto a table. I moved in and clenched the rotting hair sticking up from only half of his head and slammed it on the table. Then, I grabbed the closest thing to me, which happened to be a mug full of beer… I think. I shrugged, assuming now would be an opportune moment to start drinking. I guzzled the mug while the undead, named L0ckJ4w, was still dazed. Finishing the beverage off, which I came to realize was root beer, I smashed my ugly mug into his ugly mug. I picked him up and threw him into a storm of fists. I was lucky that his rotting flesh didn't weigh too much, as my stature would have a tough time otherwise. I announced my dominance with a mighty belch. Root beer’ll do that to ya.

I jumped a little as a massive dwarf woman bested my root beer-fueled belch with a burp that came closer to a roar than an exhale of gas. I couldn't divert my attention too much, so the only thing I could tell was that it wasn't turd colored. We squared off, the brute and I, and cautiously inched closer. She dodged my jab by backing up just out of reach. My follow-up jab grazed the side of her head, and then everything went slow motion. I saw her move in, her shirt straining as it tried to contain her power-infused muscles as they formed into my personal bane. She grunted, letting lose a gut wrenching punch. Ironically, the phrase was quite literal, as I noticed her aim was my stomach.

‘This is gonna suck…’

I clenched my eyes just in time to be lifted off of my feet. My breath was left behind as I flew four feet back and crashed into the wall. My back took the brunt of the impact, but my head was still in motion. That is, until it collided with the wall.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy!