Edition: Reality

In the very luxurious-looking room, a young man was sitting by the fireplace, drinking scotch and smoking a cigar. The entire room was vast, reminiscent of a blend of Gothic and Victorian styles, evoking a sense of aristocracy and nobility.

The room was filled with several sofas and leather chairs that looked as if they had been crafted by an artistic mind, as they were perfect in every single sense. There were even some plants that were giving off the feeling of not a very dead place...

At least something green was in the chambers...

However, at the same time, the room also gave off a rather utilitarian feeling, on the contrary, because not even a single centimeter of space was wasted. That was mainly because this was the sole room within the entire object that was created with such luxury.

He wore something that resembled a military uniform, though, at the same time, it had far more of a feeling of nobility. The entire uniform was black, with golden and red lines, appeared in perfect condition, and was well-fitted to his muscular physique.

"So... it doesn't seem like a dream..."

He silently muttered as he puffed out a bunch of smoke and scratched his head. 

Looking at the asteroids, which looked like a bunch of scattered floating rocky debris, smashing into the invisible energy shields that were pushing them all away.

There were countless smaller rocks falling onto the shield, but no matter how many of them crashed into the shield, they could not damage it.

"Yeah... we are not in Kansas anymore..."

After a wave of confusion, stress, and joy, he was able to calm down considerably before the transparent messages started popping out in front of his eyes.

[Congratulations to Sirius McDowell for reaching the Root! For such a splendid and unique achievement, the User has been rewarded with the opportunity to transmigrate and also with the System of the Cosmos Records: The Game!]

[Due to transmigration to a different world, you are given the choices you previously made as the reward. Namely 1 Skill of the old character of the Cosmos Records: The Game and 2 Items of the old character of the Cosmos Records: The Game.]

 [As the bonus compensation, you have been rewarded with the Epsilon-Grade Superhuman Physique from the start.]

[Do you wish to display your stats?]

The man looked at the transparent messages in front of his eyes as he adjusted his blonde hair and then scratched his perfectly trimmed blonde beard. The feeling he felt was something that confirmed to him that this was a real world. 

Within a mere moment, he was filled with excitement at the thought...

Just a few hours earlier, he was still sitting behind his computer like always and either writing novels or playing the Cosmos Records: The Game. If he wasn't lecturing classes at the University, he was spending all of his time writing his books and playing Cosmos Records: The Game.

His life on Earth wasn't bad in the truest sense of the word, but at the same time, it wasn't anything fulfilling, and he would mostly say that it was a boring life. He wasn't rich by any means, but at the same time, he was relatively well-off financially, as he had very low expenses and earned a rather decent salary.

And probably, without his cats keeping him company, it would also be much lonelier than it already was. 

For him, if it was the truth, then this was his salvation from the hellhole of monotonous existence that had been repeating for the last three decades of his life. Finally, there was something that was interesting and exciting that happened, something that made him want to really live...

After giving it some thought, he opened the status screens of the Cosmos Records: The Game System, as he dubbed it in his mind. 

[Name: Arcturus Al-Yesod Crawford 

Race: Human

Classification: Warrior

***

Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (Level 5 Master - 0%)

Abilities: N/A

Innate Abilities: N/A

Physique: Epsilon-Grade

Augmentations: N/A]

Everything was like he remembered... 

The Cosmos Records: The Game.

It was a game designed with a lot of freedom, affording players the opportunity to go on adventures, enlist in the armies of galactic nations, and fight wars on an unprecedented scale. They could also become space mercenaries, pirates, merchants, and practically anything they could think of.

Even though Cosmos Records: The Game was a science fiction-based game, with civilizations developing weapons powerful enough to obliterate entire stars or travel across the Galaxies, there was one interesting aspect of the game.

Due to the development of personal shielding, genetic engineering and enhancements, and so on... close combat rose in prominence within the Universe.

Those with superior combat senses and mastery over close combat could even block blasts from the energy-based weapons with ease and annihilate battalions of soldiers by themselves.

"It even seems that I have retained the identity of the character that I created within the game..."

And the biggest and most significant reward that he got from this entire endeavor was most probably his most prized possession, which he had spent whole years obtaining.

It was considered as one of the most powerful spaceships within the Cosmos Records: The Game, with one of the most advanced pieces of technology. It wasn't very mobile or fast, but it was suited for maneuvering; however, it was created to bulldoze its way.

In Cosmos Records: The Game, the players had relatively high freedom regarding what to do and what not to do. Sirius, or rather now Arcturus, was the Star Mercenary. He mostly subjugated pirates or took commissions, looted the pirates, and sold their loot.

He spent a lot of money on the Obscurus, which was the name of the ship, a real fortune to get his hands on some of the weapon systems and shields, as those were not available to average players but only to VIP players.

Basic mercenary players bought a high-spec battleship with strong combat ability and then went to hunt the pirates or to complete the commissions. 

"Display the status of the ship..."

[Name: Obscurus

Appearance: Pyramid-shaped

Class: Adjudicator-Class Warship

Model: Capital Ship

*

Dimensions

Length: 1,8 kilometers

Width: 950 meters

Height: 500 meters

*

Armaments:

Primary Plasma Batteries x2

Secondary Plasma Batteries x30

ADP Lasers x50

Shielding: Void Shield Generator

Engines:

- Sublight Engines (Anti-Matter)

- Hyperdrive Engine (Anti-Matter)

***

Facilities: Command Room, Personal Chambers, Cargo Room, Training Room, Vault]

The entire ship was controlled by the Central Artificial Intelligence of the starship; for that reason, it lacked the crew and the facilities... that was another thing that I was going to buy and install because the spaceship was largely empty.

Aside from the basic necessities for the ship, the facilities referred to the things that were not essential for the starship to function appropriately. 

Just the Military-Grade Plasma Batteries cost me a few thousand euros, not to mention the Void Shields, another Military-Grade technology that could only be bought with real money.

Arcturus chose the Pyramid-shape for the starship just for the fun, because it reminded me of starships from the TV Series of the Star Gate, but they also looked rather cool and due to their size, there could be countless weapons installed on them.

"Let's try some weapons..."

He then stood up from the sofa and grasped the sword that was next to his personal armor.

That was his personal sword, shaped like a katana or at least had a similar appearance, entirely in black. It wasn't a simple weapon, but it was instead a Power Weapon, one of the most advanced melee weapons that were in the Cosmos Records: The Game.

Power weapons generally exude a hazy field of bluish energy that wraps around the primary impact region of a melee weapon, be it a sword's blade or another weapon's head, which is capable of disrupting the molecular bonds of matter when it strikes.

These weapons may be constructed to appear as a primitive, simple melee weapon, with the power field generator concealed within the hilt or haft of the weapon.