1 Frigga
4 in the afternoon, the busy throng of university students walking home filled the exit gates. Two students, a mischievous looking young man and a young lady with a calm face entered a bustling cafe across the street.
Sitting down opposite each other, the young man flipped through the menu before settling on a cup of Espresso with cream and a pasta alfredo. He then said,
"Hey Elle, have you heard about the new game? Age of Heroes?"
"Nope." the young lady replied flatly. She was busy thumbing through her phone.
"How could you not know! Its all over the news, the newest product of virtual reality, a new world full of magic and adventures!" He continued, unperturbed at her cold demeanor, "Look, I'm thinking of starting a guild with the guys, you know us, we will definitely be the top guild in no time heh."
The young lady did not reply, instead she pulled the pasta alfredo over and started eating it with her fork.
"We'll definitely be pros, we might even get some - Heok! hey that's mine! I haven't even eaten lunch yet!" The young man said dumbfoundedly.
----
Later in the evening,
Elle sat cross legged, alone in the dining table. Her parents worked late in the night and her older sister lived abroad so she was used to living by herself most of the time. She was busy browsing her phone, her hair still wet from the shower. In front of her was a plate of cold, half eaten chicken paprikash.
...I'm still full from the alfredo... she thought. As she thumbed at her feed, she noticed it was full of posts about the new game, Age of Heroes. She remembered the young man from earlier. Although she indeed used to play games, she had stopped because the workload from entering the University had limited her time. However, she had gradually adapted to the lifestyle and had been bored recently with too much free time. And it was not as if the game did not pique her interest. Indeed, the technology of Deep Dive was something that shocked the world to its core. So much so that half her classes had switched to a virtual setting. With the convenience of manipulating the actual reality and displaying virtually anything, professors are now able to teach topics and concepts much easier. Just earlier, her biology teacher had displayed a perfect rendition of dinosaurs according to anthropologists. The dinosaurs felt so real that the entire class shouted out as the velociraptors leaped to the tables. It was not only school either, virtual restaurants where you could eat the juiciest steaks, walkthroughs of famous places, even hotels were possible.
She walked over the unopened capsule at the corner of the living room. It was a slightly expensive model, having been bought just recently; sleek, black and rectangular, the top cover was translucent. Opening it up, inside was a comfortable foam bed, designed for long periods of lying down. To the side was a small screen with menu and power buttons. And the actual Deep Dive was implemented using a built-in helmet. Although Elle did not know the specifics as the technology was a patented secret, but the company claims it uses a non-invasive method of manipulating brain waves to render a very strong hallucinatory effect. They claim that the effect is so potent, it is capable of simulating reality at up to 98%.
Lying down, she fastened the belts and wore the helmet over her head. As the capsule whirred to life, her body fell into a deep slumber.
----
...Initializing...
...Welcome!...
Elle was greeted with the usual menu, which she operated, choosing the option to install a new Application. Opening up the store, she searched until she found the option to install Age of Heroes, before completing the transaction with the stored credits in her account. The installation proceeded smoothly, As she read through the terms and conditions before finally finishing.
After installing the game, she was not in a hurry to start out. Apparently, the game's open beta just started yesterday. Opening up a browser, she first read the impressions of the first players in the game.
"This game is very promising with a lot of quests. As a veteran of online games, I, can only say that it is one of a kind, FutureTech will definitely earn lots of $$$$ with this one" - SquidWard
"The classes and skills are definitely very interesting, it reminds me of the old mmorpgs, but at the same time refreshed. The setting is definitely beautiful, I started out at Lyonne and you could spend a day just wandering inside the city!" - RedCloud
"The people inside are almost real! Heck, if not for the system, I wouldn't be able to distinguish between people and NPCs, that's how good this game is." - Killer
She then read through a starting guide, watching videos of players in action. There were four basic classes, and five races available. But as the player advanced, it was possible to choose more advanced classes, and also unlock certain race traits. The game developers even claimed that there was almost a hundred classes and it was possible to find a class to suit just about any playstyle.
The setting was massive, the current playable land area measured over a million square kilometers, roughly the size of a large country, with almost twice that in oceans. For comparison, france, measured only over 600,000 square kilometers. The content itself was procedurally generated by a powerful supercomputer, thus, even the developers don't know exactly what is inside.
After perusing the starting guide, she returned to the starting interface. Scrolling down, she then selected the icon for Age of Heroes.
"Start the Application? Y/N", the system responded with a window.
Taking a deep breath, she replied.
"Yes"
----
When Elle opened her eyes, she was lying down in a small clearing. Standing up, she looked around, her avatar was still in the default state. Ting! A window popped up in front of her.
"Welcome to Age of Heroes"
"Please select character slot."
She chose one of the four unfilled character slots.
"No saved data on slot, proceeding to Character Creation!"
"Welcome to Character Creation!"
"Please select a race."
She quickly browsed through the descriptions of the different races. According to the guide the five classes each had their corresponding race trait, which evolved as the user progressed through the game. The guide also noted that different races will give different interactions to characters in the game. The game also offered an explanation of the five races.
the first class was the Humans, who with their strong stamina and well rounded bodies had the starting class trait 'Tenacity', which granted a bonus to VIT and WILL. Then the Elves, with their light graceful bodies, had the starting class trait 'Wind's Blessing', which granted a bonus to their movement and casting speed. Dwarves, which had a short but stout stature and had a penchant for industriousness were given the race trait 'Robust', which converted a portion of their Physical and Magical Resistance stat to STR and INT. The Fae which were blessed with their connection to nature and the world, had the race trait 'Leyline' which granted them an increase in Mana and Health Regeneration. And finally, the Daemons, which looked similar to humans, but were restricted to having pale skin, had a class trait called 'Fervor', which granted them a buff that increased their stats everytime they land an attack.
Elle was already prepared, before as an avid gamer, she had honed her playstyle over many years of practice and already had an idea of which race was the best fit. She chose,
"Daemon"
"Understood"
"Rendering Avatar"
"Please adjust the desired settings"
In front of her, a randomly generated face was displayed. To the side were sliders for the measurements. Every feature of the face was adjustable, from the eye height, to the nose width, to the chin portrusion. It was also possible to add such things as freckles, tattoos and makeup.
She busied herself adjusting the face, testing the parameters. At one point, the character looked ridiculous, with wide eyes and a drooping nose, but under her care, it slowly took shape. The long hair was cut into a short bob, and the face, which originally looked quite innocent, slowly transformed into a sharp femme fatale, with a pair of deep black eyes that narrowed into a penetrating stare, a pointed nose and a small mouth that seemed to hide a coquettish smile.
"Face Characteristics has been saved"
"Please adjust the desired settings"
Next was the body, similar to the face; it sported several sliders to adjust the body characteristics, build, height, shoulder width, chest, almost everything could be changed. She quickly chose a build that was neither muscular nor too thin, but was lithe and supple, and gave of the impression of a professional athlete. Under her meticulous directions, the entire body was finished.
She carefully scrutinized her handiwork. In her mind, her future avatar looked like someone who was both a model and a trained warrior. Testing out the different facial expressions, she made some adjustments before finally nodding in satisfaction. She rubbed her tired eyes before finally selecting the 'Finished' button.
"Body characteristics has been saved."
"Please assign a Name to your Character"
Elle smiled,
"Frigga"
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