Into the game

The black chip shone with a violet hue as Felix closed his eyes, and felt his consciousness pull away. It wasn't uncomfortable, nor was it comfortable, yet it did feel a little alien.

Felix's mind tried to comprehend what was happening for a moment, before he gave up, as he was met with a much grander sight.

Light emerged from the endless darkness his mind was pulled in as a room quickly materialized around him. Felix tried to look around, but as he did, he felt a shiver run through his mind as he realized he had no body.

As panic started settling in Felix for a reason he did not even understand, the feeling instantly washed away as an orb of light appeared in front of him, and a voice came from it.

"Welcome to Intermundia. I shall be your guide before your descent into Epoch."

The voice was strangely soothing, and sounded strangely human. Felix could not tell whether it was male or female, old or young.

Felix felt like scratching his head, and to his surprise, he did have a body now. Wasn't he supposed to customize it first? Feeling confused, he asked. The light was quick to respond.

"To ensure a good synchronization between your brain and your game character, you may not alter your looks. However, you may choose a name for the game."

Felix was a little surprised by the unexpected limit, but ultimately he did not really care. He did not intend on making a character that different from himself anyway, maybe he would have made himself a little bigger, but that was it.

"Any limits for the name? Must I select a unique name?"

"As Epoch was built to house the entirety of humanity within it, it would be unrealistic to expect everyone to find a unique name, and would also be unfair to those who come later. I must also warn you, NPCs and players alike will be able to see your name unless hidden by special equipment, and as Epoch is set to be as realistic as possible, NPCs will react to your name."

Felix's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he heard that. NPCs advanced enough to hold a conversation with a human and react to things such as names had already been made, but each of them was a complicated algorithm that required a lot of energy to power.

So to populate an entire virtual world with millions if not billions of such advanced AI, the energy and infrastructure needed should be massive.

But Felix guessed that this was where Dark Energy came in. A machine the scope of the Stanley Machine should also be absolutely massive, yet it was smaller than a car.

Anyway, in the past few days, Felix had thought of a few names already, but since he did not have to worry about the name being already taken, Felix felt a little bold.

"Do you confirm the name 'Odin'?"

"Yes, I do."

"You shall henceforth be known as Odin. All system prompts shall address you as such."

This name had actually come to Felix when he was faced with the prompt. Felix was of Norwegian blood, and growing up he had always been enthralled by mythology. And Felix trusted Yasue's judgment of the spear being the most suited weapon to him, and since he wanted to pick up magic, the name came naturally.

After all, not only was Odin the first name that came to his mind when he thought of spear and magic, it was also an awe inspiring name. Of course, Felix did not doubt that there would be many others sharing the name, but for a small unknown player like Felix, it didn't matter.

It wasn't like he was standing at the top of the game.

"You shall descend into Epoch in two minutes and thirty three seconds. You may ask any question while waiting, and I shall answer them to my best."

To be honest, Felix felt a bit put off by the way the light spoke, it did not really feel like an advanced AI, it felt rigid. But maybe it was even more advanced than it seemed, and was faking rigidity to sound inhuman. Food for thoughts.

"Don't I have to choose my class?"

The light replied, "Classes are earned, not given. Classes will either be offered by individuals or the system after performing certain feats."

Felix asked, "So if I fight with a sword, I will get the Swordsman Class?"

"That is a possibility, yes."

"Are all classes equal? Are they split in ranks?"

"Classes are ranked in power, but a Common Class could evolve into a Legendary Class through hard work and legendary feats. Classes are not a fatality."

Felix nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"May I know a little about the world of Epoch?"

This was a question probably shared by many users, as almost no information had been given about the game itself. And the light unfortunately shared the developers', or scientists' rather, opinion.

"Discovering a new world is part of the experience offered by Epoch."

Felix acquiesced, and a warning appeared in front of him.

[Descent into 30 seconds!]

[Descent into 29 seconds!]

[Descent into 28 seconds!]

Felix watched as the counter trickled down, feeling excitement rise within him, as well as apprehension.

Epoch wasn't just a game. It could be a turnaround in his life, might be just what he needed to stand up on his own.

Finally, the countdown reached its end, and Felix once again felt the same sensation of a sudden pull.

This time though, the change was instantaneous as Felix suddenly found himself surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds of people.

Whipping his head around, Felix realized he was in a large town square.

"People from another world, welcome!"

Just like everyone around him, Felix turned his head towards the rough human voice that spread through the crowd. The many whispers were quieted down as everyone saw a couple of men standing in front of the largest building in the town.

One of them, the shorter of the two, was quite fat, and looked like he lived an extravagant lifestyle. His clothing looked expensive, although a little archaic, and overall he looked proper.

[Red Dawn Mayor Francis, Level 10, Chieftain]

As for the second one, he was much taller than the Mayor. It was hard to estimate his height because of the distance, but Felix would bet he was over two meters tall. He was covered in what looked like heavy plate armor, and on his hip was a giant sword. Even standing there motionlessly, he looked quite threatening.

[Knight Cailin, Level 15, Lord]

These words hung above the heads of the two men, and the same applied to everyone around him. He probably was the same.

Interestingly enough, though, there was no HP bar around the names of the two NPCs. This was unexpected, as there was always the HP bar of the enemy somewhere in sight in typical MMORPGs, but Felix figured this wasn't a typical game.

Felix did feel a little curious about the designation the two NPCs had though. Chieftain and Lord. This was something the players did not have.

They looked like ranks, but they were misleading. Lord sounded higher ranked than Chieftain, but Knight Cailin was standing behind Mayor Francis, and looked subservient. Maybe the rank didn't have to do with political power?

Another useful information Felix got out of this reading was the name of the place he was in. Red Dawn.

Mayor Francis quickly continued, "I am honored the gods decided to send you all to my beautiful town. However, please remember that while in my territory, you fall under my laws."

Felix felt a little surprised by the Mayor's words, and already felt the effects of the Advanced AI. Usually, introductory NPCs like the Mayor would be very welcoming to the player and explain everything that needed to be explained, and sometimes even gave out a quest.

Mayor Francis was a lot less welcoming though, and he wasn't doing much effort to be discreet about it.

To start off, he did not refer to the town as 'our' town, as most would, but instead chose to use 'my'. This was a subtle play of power in Felix's eyes.

As for the less subtle part, Mayor Francis had directly told everyone in the square that they fell under his laws. Even the densest player would understand not to mess with him. But as to whether people would take heed of the warning or not, only the future would tell.

Mayor Francis continued in a more reserved tone, "The areas surrounding our town are quite dangerous, so I advise you not to try to head to the cities before hitting Level 10, or you will die a gruesome death."

Mayor Francis finally smiled and finished with a cheerful voice, "With that said, I offer you my most sincere blessings! May Thosdum watch over you!"

The Mayor did not waste any time as he directly headed into the large building behind him, probably his office, followed closely by Knight Cailin.

With the Mayor having left, the players around Felix immediately started scattering. Some left on their own, literally running, while others formed groups and looked calmer.

"Hey, do you want to form a party to hunt?"

Felix looked to his right, where a short Asian guy stood.

[Thousand Streams, Level 1]

Felix smiled and replied, "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm going to explore the town a bit. To find a weapon, for example."

The guy shrugged and replied, "Your loss dude."

And with that, he left. As for Felix, he did not move, and instead called out lightly, "Status."

As he did so, his character sheet appeared before him in the form of a blue hologram.

Name: Odin

Level: 1

Title: Otherworlder

Profession: N/A

HP: 90/90

MP: 220/220

Vitality: 9

Spirit: 22

Strength: 6

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 16

Faith: 5

Free AP: 0

Skills: [Expend]

Equipment: [Expend]

0 Copper, 0 Silver, 0 Gold

Felix had six stats, with some being self explanatory, but he still looked at the description of each of them.

As expected, Strength and Agility were physical strength and speed. Vitality had two functions, the first of which was to decide how many Health Points he would have, and the second calculated his resistance to damage.

Spirit determined his Mana Points, and his Intelligence the potency of his magic. A high Intelligence not only made magic stronger, it also made one more resistant to it.

Finally, Faith, Felix's weakest stat, was a little more mysterious.

[Faith: Connection to Higher Spirits. Used for Scriptures.]

Felix wasn't exactly sure what Scriptures were, nor what exactly the system meant by connection. Faith meant worship to Felix, but he did not worship any God, so for his Faith to be at 5, there had to be something more.

Felix also felt a little curious about how his stats were generated. One of the few things known about the game was that the stats would be generated according to one's real body, and Felix could understand how Strength and Agility could be scanned.

But how did the System decide the magical stats? There was no magic on Earth after all.

The system did not offer any further explanations though, so Felix turned to the two expandable options, starting with his equipment.

[Linen Tunic, Common, Level 1]

[Defence: +1]

There was only a single entry in there, and it merely showed that Felix had the worst equipment in the game on him. Well, that he knew of.

Fortunately, it covered everything that had to be covered. It did feel a little strange to walk on the ground barefoot though.

With nothing more to see, Felix opened the Skill tab, and once again saw a single entry. His Innate Skill.

[Hyperactive Spirit]

[Rating: Innate]

[Effect: Comprehension massively boosted, Mana consumption increased by ten times]