*Ding*

What the hell... Hearing a loud ringing sound I look around when suddenly I feel light electric shocks running from my head to toes and back again followed by a giant blue wall of text.

Level 1 Forest Beetle Defeated! Level Up!

Please Choose Leveling Setting!

Level will be locked at Zero until setting is chosen.

Default: Level with default world settings. Base stat growth for race. Stats may be gained through training with unlimited potential. World settings locked to default until criteria met. Settler: Level with custom world settings. Base stat growth for race. Stats may not be gained from training. Bonus stats applied per level based upon the median stat gains for corresponding level of intelligent humanoid creatures upon the world. Base world settings unlocked with options for advancement. Pioneer: Level with custom world settings. Base stat growth Forfeited. Stats gained from training increased by 250% with unlimited potential. Advanced world settings unlocked.

The hell is this?! Staring in shock at the blue windows in front of my eyes I try waving my hand through the boxes. Turning red and shaking they refuse to be just a stress dream. Blinking and looking around they follow in front my eye’s almost completely blocking my vision. Augmented reality of some kind?

Taking a moment to look them over I realize they read just like a game.... What is this, a joke?

Thinking I may have gotten a virus on my core. I slap my wrist to bring up my helper menu. Not seeing the normal screen show on my arm, I began to get nervous. These damn things are supposed to be nearly impossible to remove or even turn off. Hell, I remember hearing about a guy last year who lost most of both arms and his legs in an Exosuit malfunction and having to use his leftover nubs to access his workplace VR platform to pay off his regrowth treatment. Trying to calm down the only thing I can think is that I am already in a game. But that pain! Speaking of, my leg feels amazing! Actually, my whole body feels amazing! All the little pains I have accrued over the years seem to have melted away with those little shocks.

Getting tired of trying to look around the blue text to check my leg I decided to quickly look them over and pick an option.

Not having the most experience in VR games, I wish Lizzy was here, she usually picks this kind of stuff. I usually just play for the lore. She’s all about the gun toting or sword swinging, whatever the flavor of the month currently is. Bah.

Well, default settings look bad, especially with being locked into game settings that I may, or may not hate with the only chance of change being special criteria. Maybe it’s something easy like sleeping in a bed or having a delicious meal… Nah probably some stupid quest like defeating an ancient god of juicy bowel movements or some shit... The pioneer doesn’t look terrible except for the having to constantly train part. With this realistic pain setting, I would rather get stabbed again than have to worry about muscle cramps every day or god knows what else the developers added. Then again with advanced setting already open maybe it has of offline training like that space game me and Lizzy played a few months back. Hmmm….Thinking about the settler option it looks like the best choice. Workout grind fest or crazy training just to be equal with everyone else, umm no thank you. May never be the best player but at least I will never be behind the curve, with half the work. And an added bonus of have some options already unlocked. Yeah, definitely settler.

Making my choice I try pushing my hand at the settler option instead of swiping the screens away.

Settler: Level with custom world settings. Base stat growth for race. Stats may not be gained from training. Bonus stats applied per level based upon median stat gain for world for current level of intelligent humanoid creatures. Base world settings unlocked with options for advancement.

*Warning*

Settler option chosen.

Setting is perminate once chosen.

Please Confirm:

YES NO

With a hesitant touch, I confirm the settler option. Eh, no going back now….

*Ding*

*Congratulations! You are now level 1*

Basic menu options have been unlocked!

Character sheet is now available!

Titles and achievements have been released!

Heading back inside the cave while reading the next text box. I decide to log out and find out what Lizzy knows about the game, she’s practically an encyclopedia about games and tech, hopefully she will have some info. Thinking about the pain settings and how realistic this is, I begin to worry that this could be the one that puts her over the edge into becoming an ehead. I can barely get her into the real world as is. But then again this may as well be real with how everything feels. Thinking about that level up I swear I feel like I’m twenty again. Maybe this will be the one that gets me to take the dive with her, if there is something in the options that gives me access to my media library in game this could be perfect. All this green and fresh air sure beats that stale recirculated shit they pump into our housing sector.

Making my way past the vines and over to my shelf I sit down and swipe away the latest notification.

*Du du da duuu*

Achievement earned!

Alpha and Omega: The first of the race HOLLOW! Current Bloodline has been lost! The Perk Store has been unlocked! +1000 Fame. Title unlocked, PROGENITOR, while equipped increased attraction from opposite sex and guaranty that offspring will be hollow race.

Achievement earned!

Timeless: You have surpassed the ravages of time. Immortal perk gained. Title earned ANCIENT, while equipped skill and level experience requirements decreased by 10%

Achievement earned!

Slow and steady wins the race!: Stay level zero for more than one year. Title earned THE TORTOISE, while equipped gain +100 stamina and 30% increased regeneration.

Damnit! Hearing the sounds of trumpets playing my vision is flooded again with Notifications.

Quickly glancing through the text, I notice that it seems the game decided to change my race. Weird I wonder if I just got lucky and its randomized. Looking through the rest of the notifications I start to get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Holding my breath I quickly swipe the notifications away. “Ahhhhh” I let out my breath. That was the last of them.

Saying “Menu” a new screen opens.

Menu Character Sheet Skills And Magic Settings Perk Store

Quickly I look through the settings and the character sheet. “Where the fuck is the logout!”. Checking the skills and magic tab I frantically start looking through each tab and setting.

This cant be right! “Logout! Help! Customer Service! Emergency! Bug report! Moderator!” Saying everything I can think of. I try to bring up a logout or force logout feature. Then I begin waving my hands through the air like I am controlling my core, trying every hand motion or word I know for logout. Why isn’t anything working! Every VR program is supposed to have a failsafe, just so this doesn’t happen!

Starting to hyperventilate my mind goes back to all the horror stories of eheads stroking out while gaming, leaving supposed ghosts in the machine. Is that why last night is so fuzzy, did I die while gaming? Or hell did the company push me into beta testing Eternium?! I know Lizzy said they were rolling out the testing phase, but people were lining up just for the chance to get in. No reason for me to be inside, everyone knows I prefer the real over VR. Even if most of it is shit. Or hell would that be a reason for them to bring me in on the testing phase?! Get one of the few people that prefer life without VR to prefer life inside? Gasping for air, I feel myself becoming light headed.

With a splitting headache, I open my eyes. Damn, I must have passed out.

Taking a deep breath I try to stay calm. Talking out loud to hear a person’s voice even if its my own I begin to list off what I know. “Ok so I woke up in a cave. I have a fancy pig skin that is maybe starting gear? I gained level one after killing a beetle, oh and pain is real here. I have strange achievements, pointing to either me being inside a game for at least a year with no memories or this is a premade character for testing. A game the odds point to being Eternium due to it being so realistic. Lizzy is in the landscape design department for the game and I work for the company doing maintenance in the massive server farm east of the company’s Carolina Biome. I cant log out.” Damn, maybe she mentioned my hate for most things VR, and the wrong person overheard her? Feeling like im just grasping at straws I try to think back to my debt contract. Hmm was there anything in there that would let them put me in the game without permission. “Bah” Who am I kidding the big corporations get away with pretty much anything they want, and if they wanted me as a tester. It would happen no questions asked.

This is getting me nowhere. My thoughts are just running in circles now. Whats done is done, I just need to deal with it and take everything one step at a time. Usually these things have a time frame, so I should hear from a moderator or something sometime. Unless they have a weak AI dedicated to just watching me…Taking a deep breath and letting it out I decided to look over my character sheet instead of going back down the rabbit hole.

Bringing the menu up I swipe the character sheet tab.

Michael Black Title: N/A Bloodline: N/A Age: Immortal Race: Hollow Level: 1 Class: N/A Profession: N/A Health: 50 Stamina: 55 Mana: 75 Armor: 2 Thirst: ---/100 Hunger: ---/100 Fame:1000 Infamy:0 Constitution:5 Intelligence:7 Strength:6 Wisdom:6 Agility:5 Charisma:3 Dexterity:7 Luck:3 Unused Status Points: 4 Resistences: N/A

Looking over the character sheet I notice most of the stats have different numbers. I Wonder if the starting stats are random or if they are based on what my real world values. I try pressing each stat to gain more information. It seems constitution increases health as well as health regeneration. Strength does what it sounds like, but also increasing melee damage. Agility increases running speed and attack speed. Dexterity affects fine motor control and accuracy with spells and physical attacks. Intelligence increases mana pool and power of spells. Wisdom increases mana regeneration and adds a bonus to skill and experience gain. Charisma is apparently how people view me and luck doesn’t have a description.

Looking over the rest of my sheet I tap my age which just shows an infinity sign as a description and my title which gives me one of the three options I earned from achievements earlier. Going ahead and slotting the tortoise title for now, increasing my stamina by 100. Both class and profession are greyed out so I probably earn or purchase them later, along with bloodline maybe? Wait, one of my achievements earlier said I forfeited my bloodline. I guess that’s out for now. My resistance is showing a blank so I probably gain that from gear, looking at my two armor it probably comes from my only piece of equipment the pig blanket. Leaving just my race which shows a large detailed box.

Hollow: A race that has evolved from ancient humans by subsisting on pure mana. In high mana density area’s thirst and hunger become null, also gain +5 to both health and mana regeneration. In low mana density areas required sustenance at 1/10 the normal amount. In Null mana areas gain -5 to both health and mana regeneration as well as gaining hunger and thirst at three times the normal amount for humans. Gain +5 Mana per level +1 Con, +1 INT, +2 free stat points.

Closing out my character sheet I check my skills and magic tab, looking at both I have one ability listed.

Mana Leech(U): Directly attack targets mana pool, draining mana for a maximum of 5 seconds by touch. Cool down, 30 seconds.

Looking at thirst and hunger I guess those explain themselves.

Going Back to the main menu I look at the world settings next. It has a small list of things you would see in most games. Enabling the health along with stamina and mana bars. My vision suddenly shows a small red, blue and green bar in the corner of my vision. Looking around they track in the corner of my eye just like the text screens. Nifty. Next, I enable friends list. As well as showing buff and debuff durations and notifications under my bars. Then I change my notifications to auto minimize, hopefully that should keep me from getting wrecked mid fight if something pops up. The rest are greyed out like map options and inventory management. There are a few other lines showing as N/A I guess those are the advanced options I can unlock in the future.

Getting exhausted from looking through all the information dumped in my lap I decide to head back outside. Walking through the cave entrance I notice my red and blue bars loose some of their glow. Not noticing any notifications I check my character sheet, it shows the hunger and thirst sections now having a numerical value of 100/100.

I guess the cave is considered mana dense. Good to remember if I need to heal up or I begin to get hungry. Can use this place as a base before I start looking for people.

Hiking my makeshift skirt up I head outside. Looking around I immediately notice another beetle facing away from me eating the last few remains of my stomp happy session. Comparing it to the bug from before this one looks almost twice the size with the back of its shell coming to about waist height. While looking intently at the critter suddenly i see Level 3 forest beetle floating above its head. Hell yeah good guy options, guess now i know what level everything will be before i try and take it down.

But damn, the level 1 version almost gutted my ass, guess I'm not going anywhere till that thing moves on…

Creeping back inside the cave carful to not make any noise. I head back over to my trusty shelf. Sitting down I decide to look through the perk store on the menu, and distribute my stat points.

Perk Store Tier 1

Inventory (200)

Map (200)

The warrior(150)

The Thief(150)

The Sage(150)

The Leader(150)

Hunger pains(150)

My First job(150)

Credits: 300 Tier two >

Taping each option, I get no additional information. And the tier two option just flashes me insufficient level notifications when I try to scroll to the next tier.

Looking through the different option’s it seems the only sure picks are the inventory or the map, the rest may add some stats or something but the sure picks are probably for the best. Looking between the two. The map would help keep me from getting lost but not having any need of a camp or having been anywhere. I will probably have to explore before it shows anything. To find the nearest town I can just keep heading in one direction and hope for the best... Inventory is probably the better option of the two, better to keep anything I find on me than having to drag it along. Need to find the closest civilization, and other players. Maybe they will have more info.

Making my decision I purchase the inventory perk.

Inventory Unlocked!

Opening my character sheet back up I go ahead and put my points into constitution boosting it up to 9. Thinking about the giant ass beetle I decide more health is the best option for now, at least until I get a better idea of how my character progression is going to go.

Finished with checking over the menu and fiddling with the options I bring up my character sheet for one last look over.

Michael Black Title: THE TORTOISE

Bloodline: N/A Age: Immortal Race: Hollow Level: 1 Class: N/A Profession: N/A Health: 90 Stamina: 175 Mana: 75 Armor: 2 Thirst: ---/100 Hunger: ---/100 Fame:1000 Infamy:0 Constitution: 9 Intelligence:7 Strength:6 Wisdom:6 Agility:5 Charisma:3 Dexterity:7 Luck:3 Unused Status Points: 0

Resistences: N/A