1 From the Ashes

He was surrounded by darkness. There was nothing, but the abyss, an abyss without stars. That was until a blue screen appeared before him. He wanted to reach forward, but there were no hands. He didn't even have a face.

'What is this? Just consciousness?'

The player flailed, or at least tried. Yet there was nothing. No reaction, no heat, no friction. There was no feelings in one's body. He wanted to open his mouth and scream, but nothing came out, as there was nothing for it to come out of.

Centering their attention on the screen before them, they were surprised. It was the character creation system from the game? He died? He had died plenty of times before and this never happened. Trying to look away from the screen, it followed what one could be considered his vision.

'Is this for real? This can't be an update… Where's the logout button'

Focusing back on the vibrant blue two dimensional screen with the default splash window, he would initiate the start of the creation.

It was just like the game. It started out with choosing of one's race. There was a total of 275… The number alone would've made him raise a brow.

'What? The game only had 250… Why is there over that many?'

Scrolling through the selection, he started to find the reason for this. Non-humanoid races were included in the list. He could be a Dragon, a massive serpent. He could even be a slime!

'Hmm… I remember reading novels that had some reincarnations into non-humanoids. They were definitely interesting… Oh, I'm imagining myself as a Goliath Spider. That'd be weird… A massive spider beast that can cast magic.'

He made himself laugh, but of course, there was no sound which didn't really come as a shock now that he accepted his consciousness was disembodied.

Continuing to scroll through the selections, he also began to notice MOB type races available such as Goblins, Ogres and Kobolds. And as he was just imagining not too long ago, a Goliath Spider Beast.

When he got down to the humans and elves, he began to notice they had dropdown menus attached to them. Subraces, one could choose from various types of humans and elves. Immortals, and so on. The possible combinations available were endless almost.

'Hmm… '

That's when he spotted the Dragolion, a massive creature that had the appearance of a Dragon and a Lion combined. Their body was covered in gold colored scales, though that could be changed according to the player's taste. Their large eyes usually matched their scales in color.

They had claws and fangs which matched its massive size and predatory nature.

When fully grown they were twelve feet long, by average, and lived a thousand years should they not be slain. It sounded good, didn't it?

For him, a fan of big cats, this was an ideal choice. Even though in game he even had a mount which was of the same race.

Choosing the Dragolion out of all the other possible races, the customization screen opened up revealing his 'cub' appearance. "Hmmm..." Looking over the color scheme, he changed the golden scales into midnight black with a natural pearlescent coating. However, he left his eyes a bright golden color, turning the sclera pitch black in return.

When he was finished he hit the next button, showing the following screen which ad big bold upper case letters at the top saying LEGENDARY.

'So… Legendary?'

Looking over the new screen, he traced over a toddler humanoid form with small ears that had their ends folded into pointed tips. By default his hair was the same color as his scales and his skin was a pale olive tone. His eyes were gold and the whites of his eyes were black.

He sculpted his jawline rectangular, his eyes like almonds and his hairline the shape of an M. Whilst he would also be able to control the shape of his future facial hair, making the perfect Van Dyke Beard.

With that part of his customization done, he hit the next button once more.

Another screen appeared, asking for a name and talent selection.

'Creatures can have a talent? If I die, would this talent move over with me to my next life…?'

Obviously the player was still thinking of this as the game. He didn't even really know if he were to come back if he died. However he was definitely curious about the quest killing him the moment he had accepted it. On top of that, the idea of not being able to log out was still bothering him more than anything else.

This customization screen was keeping him busy though. There were only five choices:

『Instant Identification』This talent allows the barer to instantly identify objects, items and people. It can also be referred to as Instant Appraisal.

『All-Tongue』This talent allows the barer to speak as well as to understand all languages without the use of magic translation matrices.

『Raw Golem Creation』This talent grants the barer the ability to instantly call upon the elements to bring about the birth of a Golem for approximately one fortnight, or two weeks, at most.

『Mimic Magic』This talent allows the barer to copy and derive magic spells. It can also be used for the perfect defense against magic attacks and vice versa.

『Grand Magic』This talent is a gift from the Gods, it allows the barer to access the previously unaccessible unbalanced magic, to the player.

The player simply stared at this array of choices that were given to him. Instant Identification was more like a shortcut to using appraisal spells. On the other hand, he didn't think he needed the All-Tongue talent if this was the game. Everyone pretty much spoke the same language, right? Plus he always had the Closed Captions on and set to English.

The last three though were tempting. A Raw Golem? He could create a Golem Companion for fourteen days without having to make cores for a permanent golem. The other two, Mimic Magic and Grand Magic, were even more tempting then the one before them.

Mimic Magic would allow him to gain access to unknown magics without needing to study, at least from what he understood. So just watching other people cast and practice magic made it so he could be unbelievably more powerful than he already was.

The Grand Magic was the most tempting of all. Unbalanced spells that hadn't been implemented for Player use? It was so vague that his imagination was going all over the place. Could it consist of instead death spells? Perhaps the unique spells that essential story NPC's in the game? He figuratively licked his lips at the thought of it.

'Grand Magic seems to be the best choice out of all of these. Mimic Magic would be awesome, but… What if I don't encounter anyone with new magic?'

Selecting Grand Magic and putting in the name Sion, Lord of the Dark, as his alias.

At the bottom of the screen was a button, another button, labeled Energize.

The moment he activated it, the screen vanished and darkness consumed everything once more. He was alone, there was nothing for over an hour before suddenly nothingness faded.

"You are Sion, Lord of the Dark," the old raspy voice of the game's creator spoke. "Revered as a God by the Lesser Kobold of Fanton Island. Good Luck and remember you quest." His voice slowly dissipated just as the nothingness was finally gone.