1 Finally Online
The wind was hitting against the windows on a snowy night. The loud sound of the howling wind, no matter how loud it was, was cut off from the room with the high tech sound cancelling program set inside every apartment. A young man with flaming red hair was sitting on his comfy looking chair, staring at the holographic screen in front of him as his hands typed on the holographic keyboard non stop. His hair had started to resemble a birds nest, because of his habit of ruffling his hair each time he made a mistake in his work. His eyes looked tired but were filled with ambition. It was not easy for him to develop an online game. He got help from few companies but the main worker was himself. In a world where humans received gifts from Gods, he was the only person to get a gift from the Goddess of Life. However, as the number one ranking Goddess in the high heavens, her chosen one would be in a different league compared to others. He was given healing powers, and a body that never aged and never died. His tiny village became afraid of him, and everyone stayed away from him. After spending 400 lonely years, he would finally realize his dream of creating a world where he would not be an outcast.
The world he created had six continents with different leaders. He planned to take charge of one of the continents as the developer of the game and decided to choose the other leaders after the official launch of the game.
After going through all the settings and requirements, making sure it worked correctly he decided to test the game as the first player to enter it. He slowly put on the gaming helmet, even though his face was emotionless his beating heart portrayed his excitement.
After putting on the helmet he looked around him as he waited for the game to start. The game took a bit longer since it needed to do the required downloading.
After a short time, his surroundings faded into white as a figure appeared in front of him. "Welcome to the new game respected creator, as a thanks from the system who considers you as a parent we will provide you with all the resources you need. What do you wish to do today? Perhaps a testing play before the launching?" The figure clad in white robes asked kindly. The system was set to have a free will, but it was controlled strictly by the higher authority. To make the game more realistic, he gave all the NPC's free will and the ability to think for themselves.
"Yes, I came to do a test play before the real thing goes out to the market. I would like to create an account for myself." He replied to the girl with the white robe. The game was strict to have all players use their real ID to create an account. It was private information only available for the game company. This was a safety measure to not have cheating or frauds in game. One account per person and ten characters per account were the settings he had set.
"Very well, let us start then respected creator. Please tell me your name and your age." The girl smiled encouragingly to him. "Alra Bilen, 418 years old." Alra answered honestly. He had nothing to hide from a system he had created with his very own hands. "Input confirmed, please give permission to the system to connect to the net to automatically get rest of the required information directly from your ID device." The girl said as she looked expectantly to Alra. "I give my permission to the system." Alra said, answering to the request positively.
After getting Alra's permission the girl closed her eyes waiting for the requested data. "Data has been received, and your account has been created, would you like to continue to character creation?". "Yes please, take me to the creation menu." Alra nodded to the girl.
"Let us start from picking a race then, currently available races are Angel, Elf, Beastman, Human, Demon and Fairy. It is expected that future updates will bring more races with them."
"Let's pick the Angel race then. Can you show me the classes after that? I will customize after picking a class."
The girl looked at Alra, as she entered the request to the system. A mirror appeared in front of Alra, showing him his current looks, which was now him as an angel with pure white wings behind him. "Continuing the character creation. Please pick a class from the currently available list. We currently have Priest, Hunter, Assassin, Necromancer, Mage, Druid, Paladin, Knight, Bard. It is expected that there will be more classes added with future expansions. Take your time to decide."
Alra looked at the options. He had set up these classes after giving it many thoughts. Even though it was impossible to change classes in game after creating the character he had added many options to the classes to give players many ways to play a class. Hunter would play with a bow, and the person playing it had the option of getting system help when aiming. Necromancer was a class which used undead to attack and defend. Priest and druid were mainly healing classes but it was made possible to play it as a damage dealing healer. Paladins and knights would be tanks. Bard was the only supporting class for now.
He decided to become a priest because he did enjoy the idea of aiding others. "I will pick priest." he answered to the girl who was patiently waiting. "Respected creator, I will open the customize system now. The mirror will show you the changes of your avatar."
The customize menu was quite simple, with different sections. He kept his hair color the same but made it longer than how it was in real life. His face was also kept the same. His height was increased by 10 centimeters... His height was 1.75 in real life, which was average. He looked at the mirror after making these changes. His face remained the same, and his hair was lengthened to his waist and was still a fiery red color.
He was feeling satisfied with this, but he remembered he had wings as an angel. "System is it possible to make these wings colored red?" he asked expectantly. "It is possible for the creator." system answered as she applied the request to the system. Now an angel with red wings were looking straight at him from the mirror. He felt satisfied with his current appearance. "System, I am done." he looked at the girl, smiling happily. "Then please pick a name for your character, and then I will guide you to the starting zone." The girl smiled back.
Names were hard to come up with, especially in online games, however as the first player in the game he had the chance to pick any name he wanted. After thinking deeply for quite a while, Alra finally decided on a name that would fit his new character. He informed the system about his name and waited as the system finished inputting the data as usual. "Well then, as system avatar 01 I am proud to take you to the starting area." The girl, named 01 said as she hold out her hand to Alra. Looking at the hand that was outstretched to him, Alra hesitantly reached out.
The second he grabbed the hand, his environment changed greatly, as he was transported from the white zone, to a white hall. The exit was right in front of him. "System avatar 01 wishes a fun and safe journey to the creator in this world. If you need help, system will be available to help you at all times." 01 said to him as she let go of his hand. Alra looked at the girl who started to wave at him as he made his way to the exit. It would be a new world, and a second chance for him to find new friends after 400 years. A tear fell from the angels' eyes as he walked in the white hall.
System avatar 01 looked at the red winged angel who was walking slowly as she waved her hand. She met with her creator today, after more than ten years of working, he had finally managed to create the perfect game. She smiled warmly as she looked at the lonely back of the angel avatar. "System 01 wishes for your happiness, creator." She whispered as she teleported back to her hall of duty.
Alra looked at the scene in front of him, as he opened his eyes widely. After leaving the white hall, he arrived in a forest which was covered with snow. He realized his starting zone would be in the Northern continent he had designed. He looked around him, and raised his hand slowly. This move opened up few screens, which showed him his status and his friend list.
His status was written neatly on the screen. Lifegiving Blaze, Angel priest, level 1. He was the very first player in this game. He walked as he looked around him, looking at the world he designed. He reached an edge after walking for a while. He stood on the edge and looked at the friend list screen. The number 0 was written on top of the screen. "One day, this game will be popular and I will have lots of friends." He shouted at the valley in front of him and listened to he sound echoing. If this game becomes successful, he won't return to his old days of loneliness.
Lifegiving Blaze showed a determined look and returned back to the forest to log out. He would start leveling when the game officially came out. He had to contact the company to confirm the state of the game.
In a week, the multiplayer online game "Reaching the Heavens" was mentioned in almost every platform available. The release which was in a month became the most awaited day of the year and when the day finally came, the game broke a record of being the game that sold the most in 24 hours of release. The amount of players passed millions in the second day as everyone immersed themselves to this new game.
After a week, the excitement that didn't die continued as people played the game anywhere they went because the game also supported PC style users who played without going inside the game.
After a month, companies started to use the group function in game to hold their meetings online. The game turned into a daily life essential rather than a game making it even more popular by all ages.
The company "Blazing Garden" gained much fame and much money. But a certain player who played the game after the launch to make friends continued looking at his friend list which showed the number 0 with teary eyes, as his dreams shattered. "I didn't expect this..." he mumbled as he recalled the times he tried to join groups but failed because he was too shy to talk. He actually forgot simple communication skills after 400 years of loneliness... Alra was finally online, without any friends as usual.
