Logan opened his eyes and found himself floating in space. He was surrounded by stars and planets. He could make out a few constellations here and there.

“Oh my god! This is freaking awesome! This feeling of weightlessness is exactly similar to the real world! And these rendering of space is so beautiful!”

Just then a grey box appeared in his vision accompanied by a notification sound.

[Congratulations player for being the 1st person to start the game! Please choose your reward from the list]

“I didn’t know that there was a reward for entering the game early! Must be why the others were in such a hurry. Wonder how I got the first place? Ah now I remember, last time dad came he said that he upgraded my house’s communication link. That must have affected my login speed. Cool! So let’s check out the rewards”

[

1:10 extra status points that have to be assigned at the beginning.

2: A choice of weapon in the beginning. (This can only be used later in the game)

3: Access to some locked races during character creation

]

“Hmm which one should I choose? I heard that gaining status points during the initial status is easy as compared to later. So choosing the stat points is not wise. As for a weapon, well I plan to use my kung-fu to fight so I doubt that I’ll need a weapon. Might as well go for the locked races. There was no information about this on the internet and mom & dad also didn’t tell me anything about it.”

He clicked the 3rd option on the window.

[You have chosen to have access to some locked races. Confirm? Y/N]

Yes

[You will now proceed to character creation]

He saw a bright flash of light from the window and was forced to close his eyes. As he opened then he found himself in a white room that seemed to go on forever in all directions. There was a middle aged man in a formal suit standing in front of him.

“Welcome User Logan. I am James and I will assist you in creating your character”

“Thank you. Why does this guy look like a butler?”

“There are two types of playable characters are unlocked at this point of time. Further types can be unlocked in game through missions. The 2 types available to you are pure human and mutated human”

‘But the message before said that locked races would be available to me during character creation”

“Ah yes that option is during choosing your mutation. For that I’ll have to explain the two races. First is the pure human. This is as the name says a pure human who has augmentations. This race does not allow for DNA modifications but only allows augmentations. These augmentations are all available to the people in game shops and can be bought using the game currency.

You will start out with 3 basic augmentations. There are 3 known tiers of augmentations-basic, intermediate, complex. Further tiers will be unlocked as the game progresses.

The second race is the mutated human. This is as the name says a human who has undergone DNA modifications. This race cannot apply augmentations. But instead they can tamper with their DNA and mix & match other life forms’ DNA with their own. Caution that the effects of such tampering can be good or bad. There are 3 known tiers of DNA, common, standard and rare. DNA of common and standard life forms will be available in game shops and can be bought. But DNA of rare life forms will not be available but you will have to harvest it yourself and use it. You will start out 2 mutations. Because of your reward you are allowed to choose from a greater number of choices if you choose this race.”

“What happens if I choose the other race?”

“I’m sorry but we cannot compensate you for your loss”

“………

Hmm the first race sounds easy to raise because the augmentations are available in shops. But I’m more interested in the second one. Man, DNA modifications can go to extreme but it’s very difficult to do and the dangers of doing it are there too. Meh to hell with it I’ll go with the second one.

I choose the second race: Mutated human”

[You have chosen the race Mutated Human as your starting race, do you confirm? Y/N]

Yes

“Now you can modify your race. You can only have up to a maximum of 80% mutation in the game as long as you stay this race. The amount of mutation will vary with each DNA. You can also change your race later in game through special missions.

You are currently 100% human. Please choose between the following mutations. Originally only common and standard mutations were to be made available but because of your reward 3 additional rare mutations have been made available.

You can only choose 2 mutations”

At this the images of various beasts appeared in front of Logan. The description of the beast as well as their effects if he uses their DNA was listed.

Some that caught his attention were

[Ant: A commonly found creature. Effects: Gains ability to see certain chemical indicators. Gains ability to lift weights 10 times user’s weight in game. Mutation 10%]

[Dog: A common creature. Effects: Gains boosts in hearing and smell senses. Mutation 10%]

[Wolf: A standard creature. Effects: Gains boosts in hearing and smell senses. Gains night vision. Gains 50% increase in reaction time and movement speed. Mutation 20%]

[Hawk: A standard creature. Effects: Gains far-sight ability. Able to lessen falling damage. Mutation 20%]

[Humming Bird: Rare creature. Effects: Gains high speed short distance movement skill. Gains high boost in reaction speed. Gains ability to change directions in mid-air. Mutation 30%]

[Swallow: rare creature. Effects: Gains boost to movement speed. Can travel in a straight line at high speed with low loss of stamina. Mutation 30%]

[Reticulated Viper: A Rare creature. Effects: Move without making noise. Gains thermal vision. Regenerates energy easily in the sun. Mutation 30%]

[Take note that mutation of the creatures in the game like goblins and dragons have not been unlocked yet but can be unlocked in the game. The side effects of such mutations are to be discovered by you.]

“Hmm well, seems like the rare mutations give greater abilities but also cost more mutation space. And a dragon mutation! I can’t even begin to imagine the effects that will have. Well for now I think I’ll go with the wolf and humming bird mutations. Wolf gives a lot of useful bonuses and humming bird is versatile.It'll help me in the long run. I think”

“I Choose the Humming Bird and Wolf mutations.”

“Are you sure? You are already occupying 50% of your 80% at the beginning.”

“Yes I’m sure. I don’t know when I’ll come across more rare mutations again so better to make use of it”

“If you are sure then so be it. Do you want to change your appearance in the game?”

“No, thank you. I don't know if i wanna talk to girls here. Imagine picking up girls in game beacuse i can't in real life! That would be pathetic of me”

“Please choose your character name”

“Might as well stick to Logan. Don’t want to get confused when someone calls me with a different name”

“Very well, your character name has been set to “LOGAN”. You will be now teleported to the tutorial section. Do you wish to skip the tutorial?”

“NO! I haven’t played games before so I’ll surely be lost without the tutorial”

“Congratulations for creating your character. Good Luck”

With that Logan felt the familiar feeling of being teleported.

I was supposed to add windows/tables in this chapter but i couldn't figure it out. Would appreciate it if someone fills me in