After choosing his name, he spent a few minutes on the character creation menu.

The game itself only allowed up to a certain level of modification to the user’s body, as they wanted to avoid people getting mental issues about their new body, or even causing real-world problems (though there were ways to request drastic changes via the support chat), aside from the standard privacy filter that scrambled people’s look a minimal amount to make sure everybody was anonymous, at least for a while.

Sam simply set up his preferred hair length (it grew a little in the game; there were even hairdressers that one could pay to change the appearance of their hair), and added a little electric light to his eyes, but left everything as it was.

Electric blue looked just too good to be left out.

Then he clicked on the accept button, and another small text showed up.

[Starting the game in 5… 4… 3… 1…]

There was a moment of silence, then a gentle voice sounded, coming from nowhere.

“Welcome, Solar, to Magic Unbound!”

Then Sam was blinded by a flash of light, and suddenly he found himself standing on rough ground, yet still surrounded by the very same darkness, the only source of light providing illumination was the portal swirling in front of him, while on the other side the rough, dirty road continued in the distance, ending in a small town.

And next to the portal stood one of the most famous characters of Magic Unbound.

The greeting fairy, Selena.

She was tall, with luscious silver hair that cascaded down on her back, her face was symmetric, yet not as much as to trigger the uncanny valley feeling in people, adorned by small red lips, a cute nose, and eyes that were swirling with light that reminded Sam of pools of gold.

Her body was art made real, and in the future, many paintings and poems would be created based on it. And upon seeing her for the first time, Sam had to agree with that sentiment. Whoever designed her body clearly knew what they were doing. And on her face was a smile that radiated the fact that she knew more than Sam or anyone else.

Which didn’t really surprise Sam, as the greeting fairy was actually an AI that acted as the external guardian of the word of Magic Unbound, or in layman’s terms, she handled the cybersecurity of the game.

So, he simply nodded and returned the greeting with the first thing that came to his mind.

“Hello there.”

Selena’s smile grew a little, then reached into her clothing, though Sam couldn’t spot any pockets, and took out a small, brown sack, which she immediately threw at Sam.

As he caught it, feeling the sting of the hit, as the sack contained some amount of coins, he looked back at the woman standing next to the portal.

“This is your starting money. It will be enough for you to start your adventure. Anything else will need to be acquired by you,” came the calm explanation. At the same time, the brown sack in his hand began to shine, then a second later dissolved into pixels that rose into the air and then vanished one by one, leaving him with an empty hand. “It will be added to your inventory, which you will be able to check out after you step through the portal.”

Despite knowing all this from the inherited memories, Sam was still a little underwhelmed by this simple ‘tutorial’.

He looked at where the coin bag vanished, then back at the still smiling, beautiful fairy.

“That’s it?”

“Yes,” came the answer, accompanied by an enthusiastic nod, that did wonderful things to the woman’s anatomy. “Magic Unbound prides itself on the freedom it provides to the players. You could step through this portal and do whatever, or follow the road and enter the town you can see. Everything is up to you!”

Sam stared at the woman, his eyes straying a few times, but then nodded.

“All right. Any last-minute advice?”

Selene’s smile grew extra wide, showing off her pearly whites, and threw her hands in the air to cheer.

“Yes! Have fun!”

Then suddenly a suction force seemed to grab his body, preventing any movement, and the next moment Sam found himself standing on the proper dirt road with the portal snapping close behind him, with only a small voice escaping it.

“Good luck!”

And then he was in the game proper, a little winded, his hair and simple clothing of white shirt, gray jacket, brown pants windswept, and surprised but raring to go.

Then text notifications started to appear in front of him.

[Welcome to the game, Solar! Please enjoy your stay!]

[Future Unknown wishes you an enjoyable playing experience!]

[If you come across any bugs, glitches, or errors, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at…]

Sam just waved them away and spoke only one word.

“Menu.”

Another screen appeared in front of him.

[Character Status]

[Skills]

[Inventory]

[Quests]

[Logs]

[Settings]

[Log Out]

It was rather barebones, but with time and effort, it would expand. For example, founding a guild or merchant company, or even a permanent party, would have their corresponding menu appear on the screen. And just to be sure, he quickly tested that the Log Out button worked. To his relief, it did.

Then Sam quickly went through the Settings, set the screen colors and such, their responsiveness, and the control options of the screens. Sadly, or luckily, depending on who you were, the game couldn’t really read minds, so saying ‘Menu’ or ‘Status’ in your mind would do exactly nothing.

But if Sam were to set a movement macro (for example snapping his fingers, or clicking his tongue) for opening the menu, then he could use the menu silently, which was always a plus, as yelling ‘Menu’ out loud sounded really stupid, and would be detrimental when stealth was important.

Checking his inventory, he found the ‘generously’ provided money.

[You currently have 1 gold, 42 silver, and 27 bronze coins.]

Sam nodded, dismissed the inventory screen, then opened the status screen.

[Name: Solar

Level: 0 (0%)

Title: -

HP: 100/100

MP: -/-

STR: 5

DEX: 5

AGI: 5

VIT: 5

END: 5

MAG: -

PER: 5

WIS: 5

LUCK: 7]

It was all very basic. The only thing new to this game was that nobody started with magic and mana ready to use. They would have to unlock it some way, then they would get a starting MAG stat and would be able to use mana.

Strength, dexterity, and agility were the physical stats, vitality governed health and health-related things, while magic, perception, and wisdom were the mental stats. And with luck, everybody started with a 7, and nobody could increase it on purpose. Only random events and accidents could increase and decrease it, respectively. Finding a rare flower in the middle of a meadow covered with flowers would increase it. And falling for a trap in a dungeon could decrease it, depending on the situation.

Satisfied with his status screen, Sam closed the window and began his trek towards the town in the distance.

Thankfully, Future Unknow set it up so that people in the same geographical location would start around the same area in the game, so Sam’s starting town was the same as in his memories, despite his move. Which made it so that he could make use of the other Sam’s memories.

And the first step was to unlock his mana.

Trudging up to the town, Sam couldn’t help but express his admiration towards the game developers, as despite only needing to walk for half an hour, he was lightly sweating and taking larger than usual breaths.

It was amazing how they managed to reproduce all these sensations…

Standing a few meters before the town entrance, he beheld the unfamiliar yet familiar sign of Greenwood town. Nodding to himself, he approached the entrance and noted as the lounging figure of the guard slowly rose from their seat, and stood there, making a motion with their hand for Sam to approach them.

“Ahoy, traveler!” came the greeting from the soldier. He was wearing old, but well cared for chain-mail with a helm, and in his hands was a spear.

“Well met!” returned Sam the greeting.

“Do you have any identification?”

“Not yet, sir. That’s why I came.”

“Then that will be 5 bronze for the entry.”

Sam nodded again, expecting it, and handed over the requested amount. The guard checked the coins, pocketed them, then moved to return to their position, but Sam interrupted him.

“Excuse me, do you have a mage tower in your town?”

“Huh?” the guard looked back at him, clearly expecting to return to their napping without interruption, but after a second, he managed to process Sam’s question. “Oh, yeah. Just follow this road. It leads to the main square, and the tower is there.” And with that, he took a big step as if telling Sam that he did his duty and please let him nap.

Sam just chuckled and followed the road. He didn’t really need the directions, but building rapport with the locals was always useful.

Greenwood was a rather standard starting town (or as some called them, tutorial town), with simple stone, wood, and brick houses. Most only had a story, but a few here and there had two or even three. They even had a few nobles, mostly rich merchants who bought their titles living on one side of the town in mansions situated around the town major’s home, which was naturally the biggest and fanciest mansion.

The people were mostly farmers, some crafters, people working in the shops, and a few retired people. But overall, everybody seemed relatively happy. And as far as he could see no other player was present yet in the town.

Standing before the mage tower that was definitely not a tower but a simple two-story building (but was called mage tower out of respect and tradition), he couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. This would be the first step in the plan he painstakingly prepared.

Then Sam took a big breath and pushed open the door.

Inside was cooler than outside, with a few plants that desperately needed watering against the walls and a receptionist area with a stereotypical bored receptionist who couldn’t have been older than 19.

‘Probably an intern…’ chuckled Sam in his mind.

The young woman sitting behind the receptionist’s desk, intently reading something, didn’t even look up upon his entry.

Sam cleared his throat.

“Hello, miss. I’m here to get my mana unlocked.”

The young, homely-looking woman still refused to look up, just lifted one of her hands toward him, palm up, and spoke up in a droning voice.

“Ten silver.”

Sam chuckled and placed the requested money into her hand, knowing full well that in the future, this price would rise to several gold coins as the influx of new players would overwhelm the Magic Association. Though the guilds would be able to take over from them, helping new players, but that help came with a different type of strings.

There was a moment of silence, then with a long-suffering sigh the silver coins vanished from the young woman’s hand into a drawer, and she closed her book, which after a glance, looked like some kind of romance novel to Sam, and pulled a big book towards her.

Opening it, she began to browse through it, still not looking up.

“Master Simon is free. First floor, third door on the left. Goodbye.”

And with that, she closed the book that contained the availabilities and returned to her own book.

Sam said a quiet thank you and left towards the mentioned room.

He knocked softly on the door, and upon hearing a quiet ‘Come in!’ Sam opened the door and entered.

Inside the room, he was met by the sight of an older man with messy brown hair, almost taken over by the gray strands sitting behind a desk weighed down with massive tomes.

He looked up as Sam stepped into the room and gave him a small smile.

“Welcome, young man. How can I help you?”

“Hello, Master Simon. The receptionist lady directed me to you. I wish to have my mana unlocked.”

The master magician nodded as if he was expecting him, then slowly stood up from his seat, and motioned for Sam to take a seat in the middle of the room that was suspiciously empty, only covered by a simple carpet.

“Sit down cross-legged, young man, and leave everything to me.”

“Thank you.”

As Sam sat on the carpet, eyes closed, he couldn’t help but think about what would follow.

The developers solved the usual yelling out the attack or spell name with this deceptively simple mechanic.

Every character started with their mana locked, and they would have to have it unlocked by somebody and when that happened the gaming helmet (or capsule) would make a connection to the player’s brain, and thus they would ‘attach’ magic to the brain as an appendage, capable of being controlled with just a thought.

Yelling out the spell names would still be a way for people to play, but the top players or anybody who wanted to play the game well would spend hours in the game practicing with their new phantom limb. And the more they practiced with it, the more they would be capable.

Sadly, this one was one thing that his inherited memories didn’t help with.

This was purely a muscle memory.

At least he knew how it worked, and that would allow him to use the best practices that would be developed in the future. And after reaching a certain level of mastery, he would be able to go after some advanced mana control abilities.

But for now, he waited excitedly as the older man, taking his sweet time, stepped behind him, and placed a hand between his shoulder blades.

“Don’t worry, young man, it won’t hurt.”

And then…

Sam tried to enter the meditative state learned from his memories (and practiced in his new apartment after an exercise session) after a moment of focus his practice paid off and he could feel himself slip into it, losing access to his senses, only paying attention to the weird feeling as something unknown entered his body, then began moving around.

Sam felt as what he knew as mana circulated in his body until, after minutes of seemingly aimless wandering around in his body, it finally reached his head, and something clicked.

For a moment, he felt lightheaded, as if he had held his breath for several minutes, but then the feeling of mana in his body slowly went away leaving a slight itch behind his eyes, or at least seemingly originating from there, and leaving Sam oddly disappointed.

Mana felt awesome!

Then he felt himself shake lightly, and he snapped open his eyes, only to see the old magician staring down at him with a small, self-satisfied smile.

“It seems you have a great aptitude for mana, young man.” His eyes gained a faraway look as he continued. “I haven’t seen such ease at unlocking since…”

Sam made sure to smile back, then slowly stood up, stretching his legs, while the other man stopped their reminiscing and slowly shuffled back to their seat behind the desk.

Master Simon took up a scuffed pen and looked at him.

“That’s done. Anything else I can help you with?”

Sam shook out the last tingle from his limbs, then turned fully towards the magician and bowed.

“Thank you very much, sir!”

The other man instantly seemed happier at the clear demonstration of respect.

“If it wouldn’t be a problem, could you maybe sell me a copy of the Mana Shield spell?”

“Hooo, I didn’t know young people still knew about that spell…” exclaimed the older man before starting to grumble. “It seems nowadays, everybody using that new Mana Armor spell… they have no respect for the old…”

Sam cleared his throat, and the old magician snapped out of his grumbling and gave him an apologetic look.

“You know what? I think you would do well with that spell, so here!” He waved his hand and an unremarkable tome floated off one of the shelves lining the room into Sam’s hand. “I think you, er… what was your name again?”

“It’s Sam, sir.”

“Right, Sam, I think you have the talent to make it work, so go ahead and show the world what you are capable of!” At the end of the proclamation, the old man was almost yelling, but he seemingly caught himself, coughed twice into his fist, then hunched over his desk a little. “But I have to continue my work, so if there is nothing else…”

“That’s alright, sir!” answered Sam respectfully, inside giddy at the thought of gaining the spell for free. “I’ll see myself out and thank you again!”

“You’re welcome…” and with that, the old magician’s attention was on the tome in front of him, as if Sam didn’t even exist.

He slowly opened the door, not wanting to disturb the other man, and stepped into the hallway. The moment the door clicked shut behind him, a new prompt appeared before him.

[Congratulations! You’ve acquired the Mana Shield spell book! Do you want to learn it?]

Sam looked around to see if anyone was watching, then simply spoke up.

“Yes.”

Instantly, the book in his hand, like the coin bag that Selene had given him, turned into light, then into pixels that began to swirl before him, but instead of simply disappearing they swirled around for a moment and then rushed into his chest. He jumped a little from fright, expecting it to hurt, but he didn’t feel anything.

Then, as if a dam has been opened, a deluge of notifications popped up.

[You’ve unlocked your mana!]

[Gained the Magic stat!]

[You gained 5 MAG!]

[You handled your mana unlocking exceptionally well!]

[You gained +1 MAG!]

[Mana is available to use!]

[You’re lucky! The bitter old man gave you a spell book for free!]

[You gained 1 LUK!]

[You gained the first name ‘Sam’!]

[You learned the spell, Mana Shield!]

[Mana Shield: Level 0 (0%) Using mana, you can form a simple shell around yourself, which decreases the damage you take. Damage decrease depends on the amount of mana invested.]