Chapter 3- Assimilation

Arthur started reading through the manual very carefully. Luckily for him, he was quite into reading in his spare time so it didn't feel tedious to go through this very detailed manual to use the FIC. 

There were comprehensive steps and drawings to accompany each step. It was as if the developers didn't want their users to mess up even a single step. 

'That does make sense since this is a completely new technology.' the boy thought to himself as he moved to the next page. 'What's weird is they aren't mentioning what could happen if one person made a mistake in one of these steps. Are they that confident people will be correct? I wouldn't be that confident, Divinity Corp. People have their colorful ways of doing the dumbest things.'

Shrugging, he continued to read the content of the manual from start to finish. When he was done, he looked up with a smile on his face.

"This seems easy enough." He muttered. "No, this is actually amazing. I need to try now."

So, without waiting, he stood up and approached the capsule. Then, with a focused look on his face, he extended his arm and put the palm of his hand on the glass front. Almost immediately, the entire capsule flashed with a faint light as if it was signaling it activated.

The light then quickly moved down the capsule's entire frame and accumulated around Arthur's hand.

"Identification process has begun. Please don't move your hand." A robotic voice spoke from within the capsule.

'This is insane, hahaha!' Arthur could only grin in excitement. This was pure magic in his eyes, no other word to describe it.

Meanwhile, the light continued moving around Arthur's hand as if it was absorbing all the information necessary from him. A few seconds later, the robotic voice spoke again. "Identification completed. How should I address the host?" 

"... Hmm…"

'I need to choose my user name, huh? How about… Hmm, the Dark Eater! Or no, Void Breaker! Wait, what am I even thinking about? I'm not a kid anymore. Those names aren't cool!'

"Ehem, Arthur it is."

"Name registered: Arthur. Do you confirm?"

"Yes."

"Accepted. The host's name has been updated: Arthur. If you wish to change the name, please apply for a request."

"Yeah, yeah. I have no reason to change it for now."

A moment later, Arthur noticed that the light had suddenly spread everywhere and vanished before the glass front started opening up swiftly. 

"Wow." With a curious look, Arthur peeked inside to check the interior. The capsule inside was quite cozy and simple in contrast to its futuristic outer design. 

"The cushion is so soft. It's way better than my bed!" He exclaimed as he tapped the soft fabric. "Well, at least I won't worry that I will have a strained neck after a session. It says here that sleeping in the capsule is exactly like sleeping on a bed if not way better. That's very convenient. I won't have to worry about spending an all-nighter inside the game."

Arthur didn't know how exactly they were able to pull it off but it was certainly a very good feature. The only thing that stopped people from playing a game the entire night was sleep, if they could do both at the same time, then it was perhaps perfect.

"Ok, now the next step is to put the Physical Enhancers in the Capsule."

One of the most prominent features of the FIC and the one that put it at the far front of all news was the serum that came with it. These serums promised to actually improve the human body's physical power while the user simply played.

Using the in-game actions, the serums would be injected into the body, and by some kind of miracle, their body would get stronger, better, and healthier. In other words, this serum replaced training completely.

Not only that, but it also promised faster and better results in way shorter periods of time. The only condition was for the user to regularly enter Divinity Online and play the game. 

'I still don't understand how this small thing can really have such an effect.' Cutting one of the stacks, Arthur pulled one vial and looked at it. The liquid within looked sky blue in color and a little viscous.

"Interesting." With a curious look, Arthur approached the capsule and started inspecting the upper part of it. Eventually, he clicked on a small button, and a little socket opened up, revealing three vial holders where he was supposed to put it.

"Three holders? I guess the Deluxe version comes with three instead of just one. Does that mean I will get muscular quicker? Hahaha, I wish." He muttered as he started putting the vials in their appropriate spots.

Almost immediately, the machine started absorbing the content of the vials as it lit up with a sky-blue color.

"Cleaning internal system…"

"Absorption process has begun. Please don't pull the vials out."

A few moments passed as the vials were almost completely absorbed before the process finally ended. Then, right above the glass front, a screen lit up. On it, Arthur saw that the capsule was fully recharged.

"Don't forget to recharge the capsule." The robotic voice said.

"Yeah, got it." He said. "Well, what's left now? I think that's it. I can enter the capsule now?" He checked the manual one last time before he nodded and carefully entered the capsule.

"Ugh, so comfortable. My back is in heaven." He muttered as he almost fell asleep just lying in there. "It is also air-conditioned. What else did they add? This is insane!"

Somehow, the capsule was shattering Arthur's expectations even though they were already very high. He didn't know how to describe his feelings at that moment.

"Ehem, close the capsule."

The moment he said that the glass door closed on him. 

"Arthur has been detected. Capsule is activating. Have a long journey, Arthur." The robotic voice said.

'Ok, now I'm supposed to fall asle-'

Before he could even finish that thought, Arthur's eyes grew heavy and he lost all ability to think as he fell asleep almost instantly. Darkness engulfed his vision for a second before it suddenly shifted into a bright white color.

In a split second, Arthur found himself floating in this white world as if he had wings. Looking down at his body with shock, he muttered one word.

"What?! Am I inside the game? This feels so real! No, this is reality!"

Touching his body, Arthur couldn't feel any different from how he felt in the real world. 'They didn't lie when they said that this was basically another reality. I can't tell the difference.'

"Welcome, Player Arthur, to Divinity Online."

At that moment, the boy heard a beautiful, feminine voice speak to him. Looking up, he saw something he didn't expect.

An extremely gorgeous woman had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She was clad in beautiful ceremonial white robes and had two pairs of white wings that made her look like an angel. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes that made her appear ethereal and divine.

For a second, Arthur admired this beauty as she was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

'Damn, I already like this game and I didn't even play it yet.' He thought to himself as he blinked.

"I shall take your information. Please rest still." The woman added coldly as she extended her hand. A ball of energy formed on her palm.

Arthur didn't know what that meant but he followed her orders. He already realized that this was perhaps an NPC they integrated into the main menu if this could even be called a main menu.

"Please, do whatever you want to me, Miss Angel." He said with a smile as he extended his arms.

"It is done." Retracting her arm, the angel replied.

"Oh, already? So quick." Saying that, Arthur's vision was suddenly assaulted by something.

[Name: Arthur.]

[Age: 16.]

[Height: 160 cm.]

[Weight: 55 Kg.]

[IQ: 95.]

[EQ: 150.]

"What the hell?!!" Reading through the weird blue boxes that just appeared in front of him, Arthur was completely shocked. No, shocked was a light word, he was flabbergasted. "What is this?!"

"I have created your profile. Please confirm the information so that we proceed." The angel replied casually.

"..." 

'I have been… I feel like I have been violated. What the hell is this profile? Why is my IQ 95?! She called me stupid in such a roundabout way! I didn't consent to this!'

Feeling like he was about to cry, he looked at the angel. "Uh, Miss Angel?"

"Please confirm the profile." She replied coldly.

"But…"

"Confirm the profile."

"Can I at least change some details?"

"Divinity Online is the second reality, changing appearance or integrated information isn't allowed at the current stage." She replied.

Arthur pursed his lips before he sighed. 'They've really been faithful to this 'Second Reality' motto. Fine, if I'm gonna have my own body here, so be it!'

"I confirm."

"User has confirmed the profile. Creating Avatar." The Angel said in a rather robotic tone. Then, the system windows shifted in Arthur's vision. Now, there was a holographic 3D image of a boy.

He was rather short with a skinny stature, he had very dark black hair and bright blue eyes. He wasn't particularly handsome or cute, but he wasn't ugly either. Just a very plain young man with no features worth noting.

'Wow, that is quite literally me. They got me down to the smallest details!' With an awe-struck look, he examined the appearance of his Avatar. Even the smaller details like acne and moles were there. 

"Please confirm the Avatar."

"I confirm."

After saying that, the holographic image vanished and the woman retracted her hand again. "Avatar has been registered. Thank you for your cooperation."

After saying those words, the Angel suddenly vanished from sight as if she was never there in the first place.

'So cold? What was that for?'

[Ding!]

[Profile has been completed.]

[Information has been registered in the database.]

[Assimilation process initiated. Please don't leave your capsule.]

The boy read the new notifications with interest. A second later, his body suddenly started emitting a bright blue light. The light started from his legs and spread up to the rest of his body. He couldn't really feel anything weird so he assumed this was a normal procedure.

For almost two minutes, he floated in his place, waiting for the assimilation to finish.

[Assimilation process completed successfully!]

[Connection initiated!]

[Ding!]

[Player Arthur has been connected!]

[Time left before release: 3:25:45.]

"Hmm, three hours, huh? Well, that's exactly midnight." He muttered. "I guess there is no point in staying here then. I should go eat some dinner and get ready."

With that in mind, Arthur looked up and said. "Log out."

The moment he said those words, his eyes suddenly opened and he was back in the real world very quickly. Looking around him, he didn't feel as if he had been asleep as there was no drowsiness or sluggishness. It was as if his mind had suddenly traveled somewhere else and then came back.

'This is so weird. But, I don't hate it! I might get addicted to that feeling even!' He thought to himself as he opened the capsule and stepped out.