A bad choice

James looked intently with eyes full of joy and anticipation at the men installing his virtual reality pod. It had been four days since James had turned 18 and only today would he finally be able to enter the world of virtual reality games.

The world of virtual reality games emerged a few decades ago, but only in the last decade has it become like those fantasy stories that we can read in various novels and comics, ironically, it was due to the appearance of virtual reality games that these novels and comics that existed completely lost their popularity, even though many of the games were based on them to create their universes.

The last two years have seen a huge shift in virtual reality games with the appearance of a new virtual reality game called MEDIEVAL FANTASY that allows players to be more than just humanoid figures. Despite several game companies having tried before, none managed to make players control their bodies due to different anatomies, after all, it is not easy for us to crawl or fly when we are used to walking on two legs, our brain simply cannot process. Fortunately, the new game company, "Evolutionis", managed to overcome this problem, thus becoming the number one game company in the world.

About "Evolutionis", little or nothing is known, it is only known that it came out of nowhere, it was the developer of the game MEDIEVAL FANTASY, it reformulated the concept of virtual reality pods, and it has an incalculable monetary heritage.

After five hours of hard work the men finally finished installing the virtual reality pod that James bought, wasting no time James thanked the men who installed the pod looking forward to finally being able to start playing.

"Thank you very much for your hard work, thanks to you I will finally be able to play MEDIEVAL FANTASY!" James said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

'Look at the enthusiasm with which the kid is, let's not make him waste any more time' The leader of the men noticed the enthusiasm with which James was, and being a MEDIEVAL FANTASY player, he was quick to say goodbye.

"Okay, sir James, we'll let you try your new pod and experience the wonderful world of MEDIEVAL FANTASY, if you need anything, here's the "Evolutionis" customer service card…" while the man was talking, he pulled out a paper card from his pocket which he promptly handed to James "... If you don't need anything else we're going, excuse me then, good afternoon."

Taking the card James said goodbye once more. "Thank you so much again for your hard work."

After the men left James heard a man's voice behind him.

"So, the day has finally come when the whole family can finally play together!

Of course, for that to happen that ungrateful bastard shouldn't have abandoned us." The last part was muttered under his teeth, so James didn't hear it much less understand.

The man who spoke was a slim, well-built man with a youthful air, likely to be between his late thirties, and early forties years, had well-combed dark brown hair, and black eyes and the features of his face were almost prefects. He was dressed in a simple white T-shirt and dark blue jeans.

Turning to the man who had just spoken James replied. "Of course, dad, but first I will explore the world of MEDIEVAL FANTASY alone, only then will I join the family guild…"

Not letting James finish speaking the man immediately interrupted with a tone that was slightly concerned and irritated at the same time. "What are you thinking of doing James, you know perfectly well that the only way we can help you grow is if you are a member of the guild, otherwise it will be impossible for you to have any help from us, at least until you achieve something worthy of note. So, if you don't mind, explain to me what you are thinking of doing to waste an opportunity like this. Do you know how many people would kill for a chance to have our guild help them evolve?"

In MEDIEVAL FANTASY there is no possibility of loading a player with stronger players, only if he is part of the same guild, clan, mercantile company, group, or anything similar, hence the misunderstanding of James' father. A guild or similar can also hire players or groups of players, but they have to have achieved something noteworthy, which over time is becoming more and more difficult to achieve, not something noteworthy, but yes the possibility of being hired by a guild or similar for something worthy of note, due to the restrictions imposed by MEDIEVAL FANTASY itself.

"Father, if you let me explain…"

"Explain? Explain what? There is nothing for you to explain. You just want to follow in your brother's footsteps and create a guild on your own, so you don't have to listen to your parents…" when James' father started talking about that topic James couldn't help but smile, as he already knew where the rest of conversation go "… then you will say that you also want to live alone and that you are fed up with us, luckily your sister is not ungrateful, unlike you and your brother. But know that if you don't join the guild now, I won't let you join it anymore..."

After James' father said the last sentence, a bawl could be heard from the back of the house.

"CAN'T WHAT?"

After hearing the bawl that came from the back of the house James' father turned white. Not wanting to get into more trouble, he was quick to calm the owner of the voice.

"Honey, that's not what I meant."

As James' father spoke the owner of the bawl joined in the conversation, she had shoulder-length black hair, and green eyes like the brightest emeralds, and unlike the man her facial features were perfect, she seemed to be in the house thirties in terms of age, and no one would have guessed that she had already had three children from her physical form, the woman was wearing a simple pink summer dress.

"Oh no? So what was dear? Do you mind explaining it to me? It just seemed to me that you said that our dear James couldn't join the guild, please correct me if I'm wrong at any time."

James, knowing his parents and knowing where the conversation was going, didn't waste any more time and started walking towards his room, he would finally be able to play a virtual reality game. As James headed for the bedroom, he couldn't help but speculate at the thought of finally being able to play a virtual reality game.

'For as long as I can remember I've wanted to be able to play a virtual reality game and today is finally going to be the day.'

When he reached the room, James wasted no more time and get in his pod.

The pod that James had was built by "Evolutionis" only the pods of the company "Evolutionis" allowed play MEDIEVAL FANTASY, so if someone wanted to play MEDIEVAL FANTASY he was forced to buy an "Evolutionis" pod, to compensate for that and the fact that the company "Evolutionis" only has one game, the game MEDIEVAL FANTASY was already installed in the pods.

Inside the pod, James was transported to a white room where there was a human woman who was perfect according to James' subconscious.

After a few moments, the woman spoke, her voice was also what James' subconscious considered to be the perfect voice. "Welcome, new user to the world of MEDIEVAL FANTASY, first of all, please say your name, be careful which name you say will be your name forever."

Without thinking twice James said the name he intended to use "SHADOW"

"Successfully chosen SHADOW name, welcome SHADOW to the world of MEDIEVAL FANTASY. As this is the user's first time, please choose your species first of all. To choose, just say the name of the species you want, note that once a species had been chosen, it is impossible to change it."

After the woman spoke, a list of endless choices appeared in front of James.

"Finally I can start playing MEDIEVAL FANTASY I don't know how long I've waited for this moment. All right, let's see what species I can be."

[Human

Beast-man

Elf

Dwarf

…

…

Demon

Angel

…

Dragon

Goblin

Orc

…

…

Dungeon Master]

"Is there still a possibility to choose a Dungeon Master? But who would want to choose the slave species…"

"Successfully chosen Dungeon Master, I hope you have fun in the world of MEDIEVAL FANTASY, user SHADOW." With that last sentence from the beautiful woman, James was transported out of the white room.

"Nooooo. Wait, cancel the choice. Go back. I did not want…"

Without having time to finish complaining or canceling his choice, James was transported to a different space.

(End of chapter 1)