Author's Note:

Same stuff as last time, Italicized words are for the MC's thoughts, spoken words will have quotations, feed back is appreciated, yada yada yada. Edited last chapter a bit when I looked over it and realized that some stuff like format didn't and italics didn't carry over from word, dumb mistake but it's my first time posting on RR so shouldn't happen again.

Arc 1 Freedom has its price

Chapter 2 It's going to be a long game

"Welcome, Calamity, to FREE World, however you are unable to access the rest of the game until 6pm when the servers go live, while you are able to stay here until the game launches it is not recommended."

Oh, right, forgot about that, oh well it'll go by faster in real.

"Alright then, Logout"

After I give the command a similar sequence happens to when I logged in, a fade to blackness then slowly being able to see again, only this time I 'wake up' in my pod. Looking at the clock on my nightstand I see that's only 10:30.

Guess they weren't lying about that time dilation effect. I have never spent so long making a character before, yet in reality only about half an hour has passed, damn nearly broke my record for fastest character creation, if you judge it by real time that is. I still have more than 5 hours before I can actually play, might as well get ahead with my school work so I don't have to worry about making time when I want to play.

Walking over to my desk I turn on my laptop and start working on my assignments, mostly readings as this was the first week of class. At around 12:30 I get myself some lunch, going back to work at 1. Continuing with my readings I start getting distracted, looking at the time I see it's only 3:45.

Damn still more than 2 hours to go, I need a break.

Deciding to take a small break I head to the FREE World website and start browsing the forums.

No new information, but this new thread seems like an interesting way to kill some time

Clicking on a new thread called Player Characters I see a large number of posts with pictures of player characters. Looking through the posts I notice most are fairly bland, mainly a mix of elf, dwarf and barbarian types. Though a few interesting ones popped up here and there. One was a sort of lizard human hybrid but with a pair of bat wings on their back. Another was some sort of large rock golem creature with a beak for a mouth and talons on its fingers. Finishing the thread I notice I had spent half an hour on my break. Deciding that I could deal with working for the remaining time I get back to my readings. I end up finishing them by 5:50, just in time for the game. Making a quick dinner and leaving a note for Dave telling him I'll likely be playing most of the night and to not worry about disturbing me. Heading back to my room I quickly enter my pod and say "program start" the familiar transition sequence occurs and I find myself back in the white room with Calamity standing in the middle of the room. Looking towards the wall I see a Countdown clock with 6 (in game minutes) remaining.

Maybe I should have waited until the game started, going to be a long 6 minutes just standing here. Oh well not worth it to log out then back in again.

Slowly the countdown ticked down until it finally reached the last few seconds.

5

4

3

2

1

When the countdown finishes I notice a new message screen hovering in front of Calamity

Would you like to play this character? yes/no

Walking over and clicking on the yes button I get enveloped in blinding white light. The light slowly starts to fade and I find myself standing in a grassy plane. Looking around I notice a couple hundred other players in the vicinity as well.

Looks like I grouped up with a bunch of unoriginal people huh? The most unique character besides me looks like a dark elf. Are they all content to be boring ass humans, or are they just not that creative?

Shrugging I try to take a step forward, and promptly fell backwards landing.

What the? My backpack can't be that heavy can it?

Rolling over and pushing my self back up I promptly fell back down, only this time on my face.Spitting out a mouthful of grass I look around and notice a bunch of players looking at my, laughing their asses off. Keeping my temper at bay I shout out

"What never seen a dragon person play in the dirt before?"

I get a few chuckles out of the players. Scene over they slowly start going away, looking for some monsters to fight or a nearby town probably. Trying to roll myself over I realize I'm stuck.

"Oh for the love of... I forgot I had fucking horns!"

I get on my hands and knees and push my self up, freeing my horns from the ground.

Damn that was embarrassing, I kind of forgot I had horns on my head. Wait...Shit I gave myself a tail too, no wonder I feel over, my balance is completely out of whack because of it.

Mentally slapping myself for the stupid mistake I slowly ease myself into a sitting position, moving my tail with my hands to circle coil around me.

I really need to figure out how to use this thing. It's going to be hard to get move around with it just dragging around behind me.

Putting the problem to the side for now I notice a flashing icon in the corner of my vision. Focusing on it a few messages pop up.

Please enter a name for your race.

Please enter a name for your class.

Note there is no effect from class or race, its only a personalization feature

Opening up my status screen I think about what to put down.

The race is fairly easy but what should I put for my class? It's not like I have a clear idea about what I want to be yet.

Mulling over the question I decide to just go with something that has no obvious meaning, unlike a warrior or mage, that sounded cool.

Status WindowName:CalamityAlignment:???Level:1Class:Wandering DragonRace:DraconianGender:FemaleTitles??Fame:0Infamy:0-Health:100 / 100Health Regen:0.2%/ SecMana:100 / 100Mana Regen:0.2%/ SecStamina:100 / 100Stamina Regen:0.2% / Sec-Strength:10Agility:10Vitality:10Intelligence:10Wisdom:10Endurance:10Luck:6-Attack:10Defense:10

Satisfied with my decision I close the menu and turn to the problem at hand, actually being able to move with my character.

Maybe the tail wasn't such a good idea, yeah it's cool and all but now I'm going to need to figure out how to work it if I even want to get back up on my feet. Still it could be worse, could have gotten my tail tied up in a knot or something. First order of business it to figure out how I move this thing, then I can try to stand up and then I can finally start playing the game.

Resolving myself to the task at hand I focus on trying to move my tail. At first I tried to will it to move, sort of like directing it with my mind. Needles to say that failed. Seeing that that wasn't an option I started to focus more on the sensations the tail gave me. The sensation of the grass slowly waving against it, the feeling of warmth from the sun and other similar stimulus. The more I focused on it the easier it was to perceive them, it didn't help me move it but it did let me know that it was as much a part of me as my arms or legs. Thinking about a method to help me start moving it I came up with the idea of trying to get it to 'twitch' by trying to contract the muscle on my lower back. Though it was about difficult I manage after a few tries and lo and behold the tail actually bounced up a bit.

Nice! Now that I know what muscles it's connected to on my back it should be a bit easier to figure out how to move it.

"Though that's what I thought it still took me 2 hours before I made any progress" I grumble under my breath

Still now that I've manage to move it a bit without 'twitching' all that's required now is practice. I'm still not quite sure how I managed that but I'm not about to complain

For 2 more hours I practiced moving it before I was able to exert about as much control on it as I do with one of my toes. Confident enough to at least be able to balance myself I try to stand up. The first try ended up while my falling back down onto my butt but the second time I somehow managed to keep myself from falling by pointing my tail straight back rigidly.

Finally back on my feet, now onto the final stage: moving!

Before I tried taking a step I noticed another flashing icon in my vision. Deciding to take care of this before I tried moving I focused on the it and a message popped up.

Due to your actions you have earned new skills

Curious about what I obtained I opened my skill list and found I had gotten 3 new skills.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:PerseveranceBeginner10%When trying to solve a difficult or lengthy problem you are more likely to find a solution.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:ConcentrationBeginner10%When focusing wholly on a task you are able to complete it 10% faster but are unable to notice changes in your surroundings

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Night VisionBeginner10%Do to the unique physiology of your character you are able to see clearly in the dark as long as there is enough ambient light.

Shocked by the last skill I look around and notice that it is indeed night time and there are no longer any players near me any more.

It seems like the game started at the same time as in reality, interesting but not too important. I guess having dragon eyes gives more than just a cosmetic effect. I wonder if my other chances can have hidden benefits as well. It's fairly likely but I don't really feel like exploring the possibly right now, I'll come back to it later.

Closing the skill list I prepare to take my first step in FREE World, as I lift my leg .. I promptly fell back down.

I Sigh, "this is going to be a long night".

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading, same stuff as last time: leaving corrections and suggestions in the comments. I will be putting up a post with an explanation of some basic stuff for FREE World, ill be updating it as we go along and learn more about the game.

Thanks

Ren Waya