Not Selected
Leveclass="underline"
10 (0% to next level)
Alignment:
Neutral
Health:
100/100
Strength:
10/10
Endurance:
10/10
Agility:
10
Mana:
N/A
Skills:
(Click to View/Hide)
Possessions:
(Click to View/Hide)
Player Kills:
0
Deaths:
0
"I've been reset to default! What kind of shit is this?" Killum cried. "My VR upgrade just became a character downgrade."
He noticed a START button and a blue ? flashing. Killum almost chose the help button, just so he could complain. Instead, he concentrated on the START to see if that would resolve his character issue. A cartoonish avatar appeared before him, floating in the air. It kind of reminded him of a cartoon Martian, but with a wizard's hat instead of a helmet.
"Hello, Edward Kilroy! Welcome to the Hidden Realms. I'm Admin, your virtual assistant in this new world. Shall we get you started on your first adventure?"
"Yes, but can you answer questions?"
"Of course. I'm not just a pretty face."
Killum hesitated. If the Admin was making jokes, then he had to be speaking to a living person. Right? AI weren't smart enough for humor. Right?
"Okay, Admin, I was playing Realm of Battle with four others. I know one of them preceded me through that, um, portal. Can you tell me if everyone came through, and where the others are right now?"
"Well, okay, but I'm not authorized to give critical information about other players, like location," Admin said. "But multiple players came through, one after the other, and they are all at their secret Spawn Sites as we speak."
"Who else came through?"
"I cannot give names, locations, and actual numbers."
"What can you give me?"
"I can give you help in creating your new character," he said. His white-gloved cartoon hands touched the Character icon and a pop-up appeared. It was a perfect likeness of Killum, naked, except for the extreme skinniness, and whiteness. Even his hair was snow white. Then another box popped up in front of that one. "Pick a name, please."
"How about Killum?"
"Interesting name," Admin said. "What's it for? Kill 'em all?"
His name filled the small white box next to NAME, and then became permanent. He noticed the button next to it vanished, taking away his ability to change it easily.
Admin hit the button for RACE.
He shrugged. This was not the time to change things up. "Human and battle-mage for Class."
He noticed the changes in the character's image as he made his choices. Though he remained stark white until he chose "European" under Race. Then the image's skin color turned a normal "white." The pop-up for name, race, and class went away, and Admin flew around him, looking him over.
"I'm sure you want to make some adjustments to your appearance." The avatar pointed at various +/- around the image of his body. "You can adjust your physical appearance with these. I'm afraid you're stuck with that face, though."
"Hey! What's wrong with my face?"
"Nothing, if you're into that kind of look," Admin said, and laughed.
"You're a real comedian," Killum muttered, and studied his image.
"You can actually reach out and touch it," Admin said. "That works faster than using just thoughts, though thoughts work too."
First thing, he noticed his height was listed as 6 feet. Killum tapped that, and found he could scale up to 6 feet 4 inches. Admin advised all races were constrained to certain ranges of height. Then he chose Medium body type, before tapping the +/- for his shoulders to make them as broad as possible, which thickened his upper body and shoulders nicely.
"What about clothes? I'm not stuck in this tunic forever, am I?"
"Of course not," Admin said, flying across to the other side of the image. He tapped WARDROBE. "Each race is given a choice of three outfits to begin with. The spawn tunic will also remain in your wardrobe." He indicated Killum's choices. "Pick one."
First choice was a simple wine red tunic that looked to be linen and hung to about mid-thigh, coupled with blue linen trousers and simple sandals. Both tunic and trousers looked overlarge on the model. Next was a similar outfit, a shirt and trousers of black-dyed leather. He thought it looked a lot like a Ranger's clothes. The last option were dark blue wizard's robes, which he knew some liked but he thought looked too over-the-top.
"Option 2, I guess," he said. "Though, honestly, I don't like any of the options."
Admin snapped his fingers, and the soft black leathers appeared on Killum's body and on the image before him. He prayed the choice didn't prove to be too hot in that world, but the robes looked hotter, and the first option would make him look like a peasant farmer.
Current status
:
Name:
Killum
Race:
Human (European)
Class:
Battle-mage (Novice)
Leveclass="underline"
10 (1% to next level)
Alignment:
Neutral
Health:
100/100
Strength:
10/10
Endurance:
10/10
Agility:
10
Mana:
100
Skills:
(Click to View/Hide)
Possessions:
(Click to View/Hide)
Player Kills:
0
Deaths:
0
Killum frowned at his stats. "I have a question, Admin."
"I have an answer."
"I see level, alignment, health, strength, endurance, and even agility, but I don't see others that I'm used to seeing," he said. "Like constitution, luck, spirit, intellect, charisma…"
"Well, honestly, there's nothing we can really do about your intellect, or lack of," Admin said. "This is a grittier, more realistic game we're testing out, Killum. We may add other things in future upgrades, but as it stands this realm of the Game will not pretend you are getting smarter, more clever, or anything. Luck be damned. If you fuck up, you will suffer the consequences. Talent, well that's like intellect, you either have it or you don't. This is your real life, so you are on your own, player. No help from the Game."
"Well, bless your heart," Killum muttered, giving Admin a withering look. "The Game giveth, and the Game taketh a hell of a lot away."
"You have no idea, player," Admin said, wagging his brows. "Besides, it was all explained when you asked to come to this realm."
"What does that mean?" He frowned. The temple prompt just asked if he wanted to enter the Hidden Realms. "I wasn't told anything about this realm."
"Really? Interesting. Well, you'll figure it out in due time," Admin said. He flew over to an icon on the task bar, a square map. He touched it, and a map of the area appeared before Killum. "I'm going to comp you a little help and a hint, since I see by your online profile you are from Austin, Texas. I'm from Houston, so we're practically brothers. This is the map of the Goblin Run River Valley, where you are located." He indicated Killum's location on the map. Then he flew upriver and pointed at a town labeled "Oxenbluff." "This is the closest town, and I highly recommend going there first. Hint. Hint."