The Worst Beginning
Cadence woke up to the sound of war drums beating. That wouldn't have been to strange if he lived several hundred years ago, but as he lived in the modern age where a country could send a missile at supersonic speeds through a kitchen window from three thousand miles away, it was quite strange.
Right. No! Not right! Definitely wrong. Super wrong.
Cadence languidly opened his eyes and was met with...dirt. Once again, not strange. Not unless he went to sleep on a plush bed in his house in upstate New York. If that were the case, well, definitely strange.
[Hello, New User. Welcome to the pre-production version of Dyon Online: Your Whole New Reality.]
"What?" Cadence mumbled, flattening his aching palms against the dirt and rolling over. He didn't sign up for some pre-production game and he definitely didn't think a game could make him smell campfires and feel the very real thump of marching armies shaking the ground beneath his back. He also wasn't even a gamer. He'd never been into games---more into spending time with his friends on the field, playing football, and spending time with his girlfriend.
Even before his magical boost into a man with the muscles of a Greek statue thanks to puberty, he still preferred reading over playing games. He liked watching stories play out in his head and immersing himself in mystical and magical worlds with grand battles, beautiful womans, deep romance, and steamy sex scenes.
Text rolled into his head again:
[As part of the pre-production (beta) team, you've been sedated and brought into the production offices for medical monitoring while living in the game world.]
"That's where you've lost me," Cadence grunted, looking down his chiseled---naked---body and wiggling his fingers and toes to make sure they worked. "I don't recall signing up for this, and I don't know how it even works. It feels...real." Digging into the ground at his side, Cadence was able to pull up a clump of dirt and feel how the slightly-moist earth broke apart in his hand as he squeezed it, every loose piece that fell through his fingers imitating a feeling so close to real life that he couldn't tell the difference.
[You've had your central nervous systems bugged with a surgically installed hardware port that the game uses to override your senses and make it feel as real as your life outside the game.]
[Note: Users in the game will never suffer real harm.]
[Note: All harm felt inside the game is artificial and does not translate to harm in real life. If you die in the game, you will not die in real life.]
[Note: Game time is not 1:1 with real time. Every hour that passes in game is roughly equal to one minute outside the game. You've signed a contract for 480 minutes (eight hours) or 20 in game days over a single sleeping period. You will not be able to logout during this time under any condition. All happenings inside the game during your time are anonymously recorded. Your identity and actions will remain private to all individuals but yourself. Are you ready to begin?]
"No!" Fuck no he wasn't ready to begin. There was no way in hell that he was staying inside a game for what felt like twenty real days. Not when he didn't know the game and not when he didn't think this was legal. What if this was some Souls game in which he would die, repeat, die, repeat, die, repeat, kill, die, repeat, die, etc etc? He didn't know what dying felt like in real life and he certainly wasn't gung-ho about trying it in a game that hijacked his central nervous system.
Alas, the text remained in his head. Big, blocky blue letters.
Asking whether he was ready to begin wasn't actually a choice at all.
"Fine! Fuck! Begin!" He shouted to the game world.
[Perfect. Building character based on pre-established data. ID: 839-8458628-968-06. Please pick a name before initial status is shown.]
Cadence rolled his eyes. "Cadence."
-----LOADING CHARACTER STATUS-----
<|BASE INFORMATION|>
{GIVEN NAME: Cadence}
{SURNAME: Unregistered}
{RACE: Succubus}
{GENDER: %ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE%}
{CLASS: Dynamic}
{LEVEL: 1}
{HEALTH: 80/80}
{STAMINA: 140/140}
{MAGIC: 110/110}
-
<|ATTRIBUTES| >
{STRENGTH: 1}
{WILLPOWER: 1}
{DEXTERITY: 6}
{LIBIDO: 8+5}
{INTELLIGENCE: 2}
{WISDOM: 4}
{CHARISMA: 10+5}
{LUCK: 1}
-
<|SKILLS| >
{IS THAT A BANANA IN YOUR POCKET OR...}
>-You are a succubus, therefore you have the natural charisma and charm of a succubus. (+5 Charisma.)
{BUSTIN' MAKES ME FEEL GOOD}
>-You are a succubus, therefore you do not need food or water to live, only sexual energy. (Character food and water requirement is replaced with sex. +5 Libido.)
{BEAUTY AND THE DEMONIC BEAST}
>-You are a succubus, therefore your skill trees are replaced with unique paths designed for your race that revolve around sex, beauty, and demonic power. (Normal character skill trees are replaced with DEMONIC>SUCCUBUS skill trees.)
-----CHARACTER STATUS END-----
"You gotta be fucking kidding me," Cadence cursed as he felt his body start to change against his will. "This has to be the worst beginning anyone has ever had."
[Enjoy the game, Cadence. To level up, simpy say "level up" and to see your status say "status." Good luck and goodbye. Thank you for choosing to beta test for us.]
"Yeah, wherever." Cadence slowly stood up, hating how he could feel something extending and moving from the small of his back. A tail. A fucked-up tail with a heart at the end of it. And what happened with his gender? Weren't all succubus supposed to be women? Is that why it said %ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE%, because his race was incompatible with his gender? Shouldn't he be an incubus, not a succubus?
Before he could question anything else, a dart hit him in the side of the neck.
"Shit! Ow!" He immediately pulled the dart out, shocked by just how real the pain felt. Unfortunately, he was a bit too late. A paralytic poison worked its way into his veins and his vision started fading at the edges as his legs gave out.
Over the sound of his fading consciousness and stumbling, he could hear the hoots and hollers of a bunch of men that sounded beyond excited about "catching a demon."
Yeah...this was gonna suck.