Ch 5- Lichen
Kelly hurriedly sat down in the new virtual cabin and glanced at the bracelet verifying it was still there. The virtual cabin's system interface appeared before Kelly's eyes. He saw a new pre-set background presumably it was another still from Lichen. His mouth opened agape in wonder as he slowly navigated and clicked on the game section.
Nesting before his eyes was the game Lichen. The game was surrounded by a dazzling golden light; as if begging the user to click on it. Kelly didn't hesitate and clicked the dazzling Icon. His vision turned dark when he opened his eyes and saw a white space surrounding him; which was typical when a player entered a game for the first time. The only item in the space aside from him was a large mirror; within the mirror was a man whose appearance was beyond words.
'If Gods truly existed this must be what they look like'. The man's eyes were an ever-changing color as if flying through the vast galaxy showing vibrant shades of purple, red, grey, orange, yellow, and more, never settling. His hair looked as though black and blue were constantly ripping and crashing into each other like the waves of the ocean on a moonless night.
Kelly fell into a daze staring at the man, he'd never seen such mesmerizing looks before. Perhaps perceiving his intense gaze the man smirked and finally spoke, awakening Kelly from his trance.
"Kelly Glacé welcome to Lichen, you are the first to arrive and one of the special selected six which is why I've personally come to greet you. I am the Main brain who controls and oversees this game. I wish you a pleasant journey into a whole new world. Now please close your eyes while I commence scanning you and creating your unique avatar".
'Ahhhhh, the main brain! I've personally spoken to the main brain who controls and stores all information known to man!!'. Kelly was screaming internally, no one could even dream of ever interacting directly with the main brain.
The main brain had access to all information and devices and could literally spy on any citizen's situation or even emotions through their communication terminal. It smirked as he perceived Kelly's fluctuating emotions and giddy mood. Kelly's eyelashes kept fluttering as he tried hard to keep his eyes from opening while the main brain conducted its work. As Casey's mind slowed down he couldn't help but wonder 'what on earth Gaia Tech offered in order for the main brain to be willing to appear before the six Virtual cabin winners'.
'Such an interesting kid' the main brain thought, after analyzing everything it knew about Kelly it raised its hand and started entering the appropriate code to design Kelly's character. Quickly Kelly felt his body changing and shifting, he was rather short in real life. Only 5'7 his character slowly stretched out to a staggering 5'10. Kelly felt a weight appear on his head as his hair grew to calf length almost instantaneously. Kelly focused all his senses on feeling his avatar change, he'd never experienced anything like this before if other VR games. 'Feels itching and slightly uncomfortable' Kelly frowned slightly as he felt the changes.
"Alright it's done. Open your eyes". Kelly opened his eyes and they widened as he saw the face in the mirror. Kelly was already an extremely beautiful man, which he found very hateful and miserable. However, looking at his face in the mirror Kelly felt as if the whole world was crashing down on him.
His skin was white as snow, not a pore or blemish visible, his lips were thick and red as if they'd just been ravished by someone. His hair was a silver-lavender color and his eyes were probably the most prominent and weirdest part of the character, he had big deer-like eyes; that seemed permanently misted over and they were iridescent. No matter how much one stared or looked at them the color would always fluctuate and change, shining various colors and lights hidden underneath. On his back also sat a pair of large dazzlingly pure white feathered wings.
If Kelly was considered beautiful before but now it certainly wouldn't be called a stretch to call him an ethereal immortal. "Fuck". 'Why why why?!'
'I look like a delicate beauty meant to be pushed around by everyone around me'. Kelly grabbed his hair in despair, he didn't think the main brain would screw him over like this.
'Wait wait… being beautiful doesn't mean I'm weak or have a bad race right?'.
Kelly raised his hands in a praying gesture before his nose and inhaled an inexplicably deep breath before speaking. "Main brain, what… race am I? And what is my recommended development path?".
The main brain had been off to the side enjoying the colorful emotions constantly being displayed and changing on Kelly's face.
"Ah, I was extremely surprised after analyzing the data. You fit into a mythical, legendary race called the winged unicorn. It's truly remarkable, the first official player was sorted into one of the rarest and highest races possible; it's quite magnificent; also the most suited projected path for you is magic".
"…magic huh?" Kelly had always focused on tanking, swords, or shooting characters. He has always felt magic users in games were weak and needed protection so he never played as one before in any game. Also as mentioned before this game is based on ancient Earth myths that have never been heard by interstellar citizens, so when the Main brain said his race Kelly actually had no clue what it was. However, hearing it was a rare and mythical race he automatically assumed it would be good and powerful.
'Take it as a challenge!'. Kelly's mental fortitude and adaptation skills were very good, he thought maybe this was a good attempt to try something new. Who knew maybe he'd like the new path forged for him.
"Alright!". The main brain clapped to gain Kelly's focus before speaking "one more thing about races I'd like to mention. The race is paired with your Soul, so in the game, the character will experience some of the same desires or inclinations their assigned race normally has".
Kelly froze upon hearing those words and looked at the main brain "what does that mean for me?". The main brain just smiled and didn't answer it made a small gesture with its hand. "I can't answer anything more for you now; the next player has logged in so I need to go over".
Next to the main brain's outstretched hand, a small pixie appeared fluttering its tiny wings and it spoke in a shrill high pitched voice. "greetings Kelly Glacé! I'm Perry and will take over your beginner's main face introduction. Before you can leave the system interface I need you to select and confirm your character's official name. Please note your name cannot be changed again, so please decide carefully".
'Hm. Well, I plan to live this game as if it was real… so let's.. use my name…'
"My character's name will be Glacé".
"Glacé, are you sure? We do not recommend using real names in the game, if possible I suggest you change".
Hearing the pixie's warning Kelly showed it a dazzling smile and spoke gently while reaching his hand towards it "Glacé is fine". The pixie blushed at Kelly's good looks and nodded shyly 'ah the AI is shy, how cute'. Kelly grinned in response.
"Glacé it is, now to the next matter please raise your right hand and think ' open system panel'". Glacé did as instructed and saw a white panel appear before him, he saw the tabs lined up neatly side by side starting from the left it read:
'inventory- stats/ skills- player info- Social- settings-'.
'All the usual things' glacé thought blankly.
*Ding!* congratulations Glacé for completing the first task 'opening user interface' 5-Exp acquired.
Glacé raised a hand to Perry to motion him to stop speaking and opened the social tab. Glacé looked for the live broadcast button and couldn't find it. He looked up "Perry, how can I start my live broadcast within the game?".
"You can go to the settings tab and find the broadcast option listen below".
'Ah settings, of course! How didn't I think of that?'. Kelly scrolled through settings and quickly found the start broadcast button and hit 'start broadcast'.
"Hi everyone this is Catcher here playing Lichen. I just finished my avatar design and am now in the beginner's interface with my AI escort Perry. Please follow along for the first look into the upcoming game!".
Catcher's viewers were going crazy upon seeing his avatar and kept spamming the screen with gifts and questions. Unfortunately for them, Glacé had already put the barrage away to focus on the tutorial at hand.
"Alright, I'm ready now Perry. Please continue with the tutorial".
"I'm just responsible for showing you the basic system interfaces of the game. In a moment your races delegate will come to pick you up and teach you everything you need to know".
As soon as Perry finished speaking a blindingly handsome young man with silver hair appeared in the white space and stretch out his hand "Hello glacé, I am Yuki and have received the task of bringing back to our winged unicorns sacred land. Please take my hand and we'll be on our way".
Glacé reached out and took Yuki's hand without the slightest hesitation and felt a burst of nausea overcome him. Everything turned black for a moment and before Glacé could even realize what happened he appeared in a completely different place.