"Are you sure you want me to start first?” Ferris asked. “Don't you want to do your own set-up, Amiya?”
Amiya shook her head.
“You don't know much about MMOs or video games in general, so I’ll stay here to help you with the details.”
“Nn. I’ll be relying on you, then.” Ferris replied, with the word ‘relying’ prompting a smug “Muehehe~” from Amiya.
Ferris put on the headset and laid down on his back in bed. To his surprise, the goggles were see-through, albeit with a very dark tint. A message seemed to float in the space in front of him:
[Begin Virtual Reality Dive?]
[NO] [YES]
He tried to tap the ‘yes’ option with his finger, but his hand simply passed through the display. Puzzled, Ferris turned to Amiya.
“How do I use the menu?” he asked.
“The headset will read your brainwaves to activate.”
“I see,” he replied, not understanding at all
“... If you think about selecting the ‘yes’ option, then the system will automatically do it for you.”
“Nn.”
A white light began to fill the edges of his vision as a countdown began, starting at 5.
4…
3… The weight of his body seemed to fade, as though he were floating.
2…
1…
The light was blinding by now, and all sensation faded into a profound—and surprisingly comfortable—emptiness.
…
Eventually, light particles began to flit away, revealing endless, rolling hills of grain, as well as the clearing he was situated in.
“—erris? Can you hear me yet?” A small window appeared in the corner of his vision, showing an image of Amiya at his bedside.
“Yeah,” he replied, still disembodied. “What happens now?”
“You should be entering the character creation screen. You’ll be able to change your appearance and probably some gameplay stuff, like your stats or job... not that this game has a job system, anyways.”
“Would I not just appear as myself in the game?”
“You can, but… wouldn't it be interesting to try something new?”
“That's true.”
Suddenly, a text window appeared in front of Ferris.
[Welcome to the world of New Star Online! Let’s start by creating your “avatar”—how you will appear to others inside the game world.]
A familiar figure faded in, appearing at the center of the clearing.
That's… me? Ferris thought to himself. It feels weird looking at myself from this perspective.
“It’ll probably take a while for you to go through all the settings, so…” The screen showed Amiya curling up next to Ferris’s body. Ferris couldn't feel any of it, but it was still cute.
"Comfy?”
"Yup!” She snuggled his arm. “Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll just… be here…”
“Nn.” He turned his attention back to the various sliders on screen.
[While you can freely change the size and shape of your avatar, please note that any discrepancies from your real body may cause disorientation when entering/exiting the game. Your appearance will not affect your in-game stats.]
After becoming increasingly disoriented by the sheer number of sliders and buttons, Ferris reverted his changes and settled with just slimming down his muscles; he wasn't particularly burly, but people always seemed a bit intimidated by him. His bulk also seemed to convince others that Ferris was older than he was, which he didn't really like.
As for my hair… I guess I’ll have it a bit longer than normal? Ferris figured that it'd be better to start with his hair long since he'd be able to cut it later, so he set his hair to be back length.
Satisfied with his appearance, Ferris moved onto the ‘race’ tab.
[Your race will impact your appearance and certain aspects of gameplay. Choose carefully, as it will normally be difficult to change once finalized. However, you will be able to freely change your race through the early access period. Experiment and find what suits you best!]
"... Why do the races have sliders too?"
“Bwuh—” Amiya jolted awake and quickly wiped away her drool. “Dats— That's so you can have half-races ‘n stuff! The more you increase the slider, the more attributes you get from that race.”
Ferris squinted at the ‘Human’ slider—which started at full—thought for a moment, then set its value to zero.
His form collapsed in on itself into an ominous, shadowy mass. The sound of static and whispers without any one source filled the space, faint at first, but quickly crescendoing into a deafening, chaotic din of tormented screams and--
Ferris set the ‘Human’ slider back to full.
Let's not do that.
“Each race has its own stat adjustments, but selecting multiple of them will average out the adjustments,” Amiya explained, unaware of the horrors that Ferris just witnessed. “Supposedly, this keeps the total stats for each player about the same."
Ferris looked at his options, going down the list…
Human:
No particular strengths or weaknesses; the most numerous of the races.
Elf:
Deeply attuned to magic and dexterous, but relatively frail.
Dwarf:
Resilient and dexterous; for better or worse, most notable for their short legs.
Beastkin:
Varies greatly by species; generally has improved physical stats at the cost of magical ability.
Scalekin:
Varies greatly by species; generally has great offensive power, but often slow and/or clumsy.
Mechkin:
Also known as ‘the Argent’. Pure Mechkin have unparalleled power, but are wholly unable to use magic.
“Which do I pick?” Ferris asked.
“You haven't played games before, right? Since you don't have a playstyle in mind, you might as well just pick whatever you think looks cool and play around with it; that's what the grace period is for, anyways.”
“I see,” Ferris replied, still unsure of what race to pick.
“If you ask me, though,” Amiya continued, ignoring the fact that Ferris had, in fact, asked her. “I think you should do two points of Wolf Beastkin.”
“Why?”
“‘Cause that’ll give you fluffy ears and a tail~”
“... Sounds cute.”
“Do it!”
Ferris’s avatar—“Fenris”—was complete.
"Are you sure you want me to start first?” Ferris asked. “Don't you want to do your own set-up, Amiya?”
Amiya shook her head.
“You don't know much about MMOs or video games in general, so I’ll stay here to help you with the details.”
“Nn. I’ll be relying on you, then.” Ferris replied, with the word ‘relying’ prompting a smug “Muehehe~” from Amiya.
Ferris put on the headset and laid down on his back in bed. To his surprise, the goggles were see-through, albeit with a very dark tint. A message seemed to float in the space in front of him:
[Begin Virtual Reality Dive?]
[NO] [YES]
He tried to tap the ‘yes’ option with his finger, but his hand simply passed through the display. Puzzled, Ferris turned to Amiya.
“How do I use the menu?” he asked.
“The headset will read your brainwaves to activate.”
“I see,” he replied, not understanding at all
“... If you think about selecting the ‘yes’ option, then the system will automatically do it for you.”
“Nn.”
A white light began to fill the edges of his vision as a countdown began, starting at 5.
4…
3… The weight of his body seemed to fade, as though he were floating.
2…
1…
The light was blinding by now, and all sensation faded into a profound—and surprisingly comfortable—emptiness.
…
Eventually, light particles began to flit away, revealing endless, rolling hills of grain, as well as the clearing he was situated in.
“—erris? Can you hear me yet?” A small window appeared in the corner of his vision, showing an image of Amiya at his bedside.
“Yeah,” he replied, still disembodied. “What happens now?”
“You should be entering the character creation screen. You’ll be able to change your appearance and probably some gameplay stuff, like your stats or job... not that this game has a job system, anyways.”
“Would I not just appear as myself in the game?”
“You can, but… wouldn't it be interesting to try something new?”
“That's true.”
Suddenly, a text window appeared in front of Ferris.
[Welcome to the world of New Star Online! Let’s start by creating your “avatar”—how you will appear to others inside the game world.]
A familiar figure faded in, appearing at the center of the clearing.
That's… me? Ferris thought to himself. It feels weird looking at myself from this perspective.
“It’ll probably take a while for you to go through all the settings, so…” The screen showed Amiya curling up next to Ferris’s body. Ferris couldn't feel any of it, but it was still cute.
"Comfy?”
"Yup!” She snuggled his arm. “Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll just… be here…”
“Nn.” He turned his attention back to the various sliders on screen.
[While you can freely change the size and shape of your avatar, please note that any discrepancies from your real body may cause disorientation when entering/exiting the game. Your appearance will not affect your in-game stats.]
After becoming increasingly disoriented by the sheer number of sliders and buttons, Ferris reverted his changes and settled with just slimming down his muscles; he wasn't particularly burly, but people always seemed a bit intimidated by him. His bulk also seemed to convince others that Ferris was older than he was, which he didn't really like.
As for my hair… I guess I’ll have it a bit longer than normal? Ferris figured that it'd be better to start with his hair long since he'd be able to cut it later, so he set his hair to be back length.
Satisfied with his appearance, Ferris moved onto the ‘race’ tab.
[Your race will impact your appearance and certain aspects of gameplay. Choose carefully, as it will normally be difficult to change once finalized. However, you will be able to freely change your race through the early access period. Experiment and find what suits you best!]
"... Why do the races have sliders too?"
“Bwuh—” Amiya jolted awake and quickly wiped away her drool. “Dats— That's so you can have half-races ‘n stuff! The more you increase the slider, the more attributes you get from that race.”
Ferris squinted at the ‘Human’ slider—which started at full—thought for a moment, then set its value to zero.
His form collapsed in on itself into an ominous, shadowy mass. The sound of static and whispers without any one source filled the space, faint at first, but quickly crescendoing into a deafening, chaotic din of tormented screams and--
Ferris set the ‘Human’ slider back to full.
Let's not do that.
“Each race has its own stat adjustments, but selecting multiple of them will average out the adjustments,” Amiya explained, unaware of the horrors that Ferris just witnessed. “Supposedly, this keeps the total stats for each player about the same."
Ferris looked at his options, going down the list…
Human:
No particular strengths or weaknesses; the most numerous of the races.
Elf:
Deeply attuned to magic and dexterous, but relatively frail.
Dwarf:
Resilient and dexterous; for better or worse, most notable for their short legs.
Beastkin:
Varies greatly by species; generally has improved physical stats at the cost of magical ability.
Scalekin:
Varies greatly by species; generally has great offensive power, but often slow and/or clumsy.
Mechkin:
Also known as ‘the Argent’. Pure Mechkin have unparalleled power, but are wholly unable to use magic.
“Which do I pick?” Ferris asked.
“You haven't played games before, right? Since you don't have a playstyle in mind, you might as well just pick whatever you think looks cool and play around with it; that's what the grace period is for, anyways.”
“I see,” Ferris replied, still unsure of what race to pick.
“If you ask me, though,” Amiya continued, ignoring the fact that Ferris had, in fact, asked her. “I think you should do two points of Wolf Beastkin.”
“Why?”
“‘Cause that’ll give you fluffy ears and a tail~”
“... Sounds cute.”
“Do it!”
Ferris’s avatar—“Fenris”—was complete.
