*Piii piii piii* The alarm sound drilled into my head.

"Ugh... My head hurts..." Drinking two beers may not have been the best decision.

I stumbled my way to the computer and plugged the headset in. The clock displayed 7:55. "Five minutes before it all starts."

There was still some pizza from yesterday's lunch. I ate that with some beer. "Let's beat some noobs."

I put my headset on and inserted the ID card. A needle went through the tube behind my head and connected directly into my brain. It was like being stabbed with an ice pick and have it twisted inside you. I knew it was safe, but I hated the feeling of it. Still, there was nothing I could do about it. If I had controlled it traditionally, I would've been far behind the others.

A message appeared in front of me.

'Do you give permission to Homunculus Gift 2 to intercept your brain signals? If you accept you may not be able to move your body while the program is running.'

"Yeah, yeah..."

I sat comfortably on my bed, accepted the terms of use without reading them, and entered the game.

'Welcome to Dusk Online' A welcoming message appeared in front of me. Everything around me changed to a chaotic battlefield where humans, elves, and many other races were fighting.

The game finished loading. I wasn't in my room anymore, but in a wooden room without doors or windows. The floor felt nice and comfortable. "Eh?" I looked down below, and I didn't have any feet. I was just a white ball of light floating around. It was easy to control. I could move in any direction with just thinking about it.

"Welcome, Gary," a woman's voice said.

"Say it in a sexier voice."

"Welcome, Gary," a much more seductive woman's voice said.

"Yeah, that's good."

Eight characters materialized and walked forward. They were all of a different race and had a golden text above them with their respective races.

A normal person, somewhat muscular, 'Human'. The stereotypical smug and pointy-eared elf, 'Elf'. A green fat orc, 'Orc'. A humanoid creature made of rocks, 'Golem'. A cat-eared person with a tail, 'Werecat'. A light blue individual with horns, 'Demon'. A creature whose top half was human and bottom half spider, 'Arachne'. And a humanoid fish, 'Sahuagin'.

"Which one should I choose?" If I was playing the game casually, I would have chosen the demon or werecat. But I wanted to win the tournament. So I needed to be strategic about this.

A window with their bonuses and background appeared at their side. I ignored their background and concentrated on their bonuses.

Human's bonus was 'Human Mind' (+20% Lrn +5% XP).

"What the hell is Lrn?" A floating tooltip emerged and the woman's voice from before read it.

"Learn: It's a stat that determines how fast you can comprehend new stuff. It's useful for quests and for learning new crafts and skills."

"Okay." The tooltip disappeared. I looked at the other races.

Orc's race bonus was 'Orc Power' (+10% Str -10% Lrn).

Elves had 'Elemental Sense' (It allows elves to talk with spirits and sense the elements). They started with Earth Magic as well. Hmm... I don't know how useful Elemental Sense will be.

Werecats had 'Heightened Senses' (It increases all their senses, allowing them to perceive enemies easier +10% Mov) The senses may be a bit helpful in PvP, but not that much. On the other hand, the +10% Mov Speed looks great.

Golem's had 'Heart of Stone' (+20% HP +20% PDef -20% Mov) It looks great as a tank for dungeons, but since I want to PvP, it may not be ideal.

Arachnes didn't have a buff, instead they had the unique racial skill, 'Web' (Shoots a web that binds their enemies). A text below said, "Arachne's eight legs make it easier for them to move in any terrain." And they began with some basic poison skills.

Demons had 'Demonic Protection' (+10% MDef). They were the race that started with the most skills. They started with curse skills and black magic. It looks kinda weak. I don't know how useful the starting skills are though.

Sahuagins had 'Aquatic Creature' (Can breathe underwater and, instead of the -20% Mov when in water, they have +20% Mov). They began with water magic. They seem to be invincible in water, but suck otherwise.

"Choose your race," the sexy woman's voice said.

I touched the cat people. Based on their bonus, they were the strongest, and I could create a new character later anyway.

"Male or Female?"

I'm a man. So, of course, I picked male.

The vision in front of me was replaced with a table full of data.

I clicked on Name as fast as I could. Getting a good name was hard.

"Gary."

"The name is available," the woman's voice said. "Do you want to take it?"

"Yes." I cried a bit. "Getting a good name is so hard, I can't believe I succeeded on my first try."

Name Gary Race Werecat Constitution (Con) -   15   + HP 750 MP 150 Strength (Str) -   15   + Sta 15 Lrn 15 Agility (Agi) -   15   + Mov 126.5 Dex 30 Intelligence (Int) -   15   + PAtk 30 PDef 15 Spirit (Spi) -   15   + MAtk 30 MDef 15 Unspent points: 5 Skills Skill Slot 1 Skill Slot 2 Tip: Initial stats are the most important. The stats you gain when you level are based on your initial stats. We recommend you to keep them balanced.

"Let's see how this works." I played with the plus and minus. The stats increased linearly. Each point in Con added 50 HP and 1 PDef. Agi added 2 Dex and 1.1 Mov, but that was because of my race. Str added 2 PAtk and 1 Sta. Int added 2 MAtk and 1 Lrn. And Spi added 10 MP and 1 MDef. The stats couldn't get lower than 5.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Now the skills." I clicked one of the skill slots and a big list appeared.

Skill Name Effect PAtk +10% Increase Physical Attack by 10%. MAtk +10% Increase Magic Attack by 10%. PDef +10% Increase Physical Defense by 10%. MDef +10% Increase Magic Defense by 10%. Dex +10% Increase Physical Attack by 10%. Mov +5% Increase Movement by 5%. Lrn +20% Increase Learn by 20%. HP +10% Increase HP by 10%. MP +10% Increase MP by 10%. Sta +10% Increase Stamina by 10%. XP +5% You gain 5% more experience. Stat +1 Adds one extra initial stat point. Detect

Passive: Allows you to see enemies near you, even if they are hidden or invisible.

Active: It furthers passive Detect's range and lets you see their HP/MP/Sta bars. It costs 3 Sta per second.

Dash Doubles your Mov for a second. It costs 10 Sta. Swim You don't get Mov penalty while in water. You can breathe for longer underwater. Levitate Float in the air. It costs 10 MP to activate, then 3 MP per second. Protection Subtract 10% of damage after calculations. Energy Shield Summon a shield that absorbs damage. Summoning it costs 5 MP, then 2 MP per second, taking damage costs MP depending on the damage taken. Familiar Contract a creature, then you can summon it. MP cost depends on the creature contracted. Statue Activate to become a statue. While in statue form, you triple your PDef and MDef, but you can't move or attack. It cost 2 SP per second when active. Efficient Magic -10% Mana costs on magic spells. Meditation Regenerate 3% of your HP, Mana and Sta while out of combat and immobile. Summon Turret Summons a turret. The turret stays immobile and fires any enemy that appears in its line of sight. MP cost depends on the turret summoned. Blood Magic Use HP to cast spells when you don't have enough MP. Invisible Your body becomes transparent. It's hard to see you, especially from afar. It costs 10 SP to activate, then 2 SP per second.

"Let's try to break it."

The extra stat point caught my attention. When I added it, I got an extra unspent point, and when I changed the skill, the point was gone.

"What would happen if I change the skills when I don't have any skill points?" I tested it. Half a second later, the skill with the most points had been reduced by one. "Woah, it takes a whole half a second for it to subtract the bonus point. This may be useful."

I switched the skill and quickly pressed 'Done'. I didn't customize the character's looks, but I could delete it later, anyway. If this worked, my character would get an extra stat point without the Stat+1 skill.

"Is this okay?" the woman asked.

A new window popped out asking me to confirm my character. It showed one less of its top stat.

"No..." I said. "Fuck it." It didn't work. Even if I did it during the half a second, the stat went back to normal. "Let's try something else..."

I put Con to 17 and the other stats to 16. I changed the skill, then I pressed minus three times. Con was 14, then... it became 13.

"Man, this is fucking great, with this I should be able to get it below five!"

I tried again, this time clicking as fast as I could. I clicked nine times and Con became 7. It wasn't enough, but I kept trying, again and again. The best I got was lowering Con to 6.

"Fuck this shit. I'm just going to use autoclick."

I took out my helmet. The game recognized I wasn't playing it in VR mode and the game window appeared on the PC. It kinda beats the purpose of the game, but I would do it only for the character creation.

With autoclick, I could easily lower Con to 5. I waited a bit and... 4. "Yes! The stat gets to four!" I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but it did. I raised it to the top and tried again. Trying to make it 3 this time, but it went to four again.

I needed to do something different, so I changed the skill a few times before lowering the stat. But such a thing couldn't be done in half a second.

"If I modify the RAM directly it will work..." The idea crossed my mind, but I discarded it just as fast. "No. I shouldn't. That's cheating! So far I only used... unintended features. But if I modify the RAM, I will be cheating. And the game must be protected anyway. They will just ban me. Hmm..." I had one trick left up my sleeve. I disconnected the internet. Five seconds later, the lost connection message appeared. "Five seconds is quite a lot of time."

I went back to the character creation window and disconnected the internet. Then I spammed the minus button and connected it back again. The stat was 5. "That makes sense." I still needed to try it, even if I thought it won't work.

I disconnected the internet again and changed the skills. I waited half a second, but nothing happened, then two seconds and still nothing. "Uh?" I connected back the internet, and soon the stat lowered one. "Buahahaha. I see, I see. This is great."

I disconnected the internet, changed the skill five times. Connected the internet back, and spammed minus with autoclick. The result... Con: 0.

I totally didn't dance like an idiot for the next five minutes. Okay?

"Wait a second... What would happen if I continue? If I go... beyond zero. Would it get into negative HP or... I will get an impossibly high HP. An HP so high that will make me immortal. I will be the king of the game. Let alone conquering a simple tournament. Nothing will stop me. Hahahahaha. Or I could continue even further and create an infinite amount of extra points. I will be invincible!"

I wiped out my drool and did it. I switched it six times. The stat went to five and... the screen turned black. "Eh?"

'DuskOnline.exe has stopped working.'

"Oh, fuck. The game crashed. Oh well. I guess I will should be satisfied with only a few extra points."

I went back to the character creation screen.

I should choose either cat guy or orc. I think cat guy is the best. I don't want be a fat orc.

I need strength to be able to win. So I should keep that one. I need agility to move. Constitution is pointless if I evade all their attacks, so that's gone. That makes spirit useless. If I have zero HP, then anything can kill me anyway.

That leaves intelligence. Since I don't have mana, I can't use magic. So it's kinda pointless, but learning is useful. So I shouldn't lower it too much. To five will be enough.

It took me a few times to get it right, but I managed to do it, I lowered Con and Spi to 0.

That gives me ten extra points. For skills, I will take the +10% PAtk. Not sure what other one. Let's check the list...

Many of the skills needed MP, and I didn't have any.

"Done."

Name   Race Werecat Constitution (Con)    0    HP 0 MP 0 Strength (Str) -   40    Sta 40 Lrn 5 Agility (Agi) -   35    Mov 148.5 Dex 70 Intelligence (Int)    5    PAtk 88 PDef 0 Spirit (Spi)    0    MAtk 10 MDef 0 Unspent points: 0 Skills PAtk +10% Dash Tip: Initial stats are the most important. The stats you gain when you level are based on your initial stats. We recommend you to keep them balanced.