Tucking a strand of hair behind her ears, Fayte said, “Me as well. I wonder what we can expect?”
“No idea.” Adam grimaced. “There are so many rumors floating around right now that it’s hard to tell if any of them are even remotely true. I think it’s better to go in without expectations.”
“You might be right,” Fayte agreed.
“Anyway, since you cooked dinner again, I will be doing the dishes.”
Adam stood up, grabbed his and Fayte’s bowls and utensils, and then headed for the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Fayte said.
“You’re welcome.”
After Adam washed the dishes, the skillet and pans, and put everything away after drying them, he spent another hour sitting by Aris’ side as he waited for the fateful moment when Age of Gods would become playable. At 11:50 pm, he went back into his bedroom and opened the box containing the VR gaming system for Age of Gods.
It looked like a high-tech choker. There was a clasp on one side that locked it in place. The clasp went on the front, while the system itself sat against the base of the spine. According to the basic information found in a pamphlet that was also inside the box, the device used the nerve endings along the spine to connect the brain to the game system, allowing someone’s “spirit” to enter the gaming world.
His choker was dark red.
Adam attached the system to his neck. He was about to lay down, but then a thought occurred to him.
He grabbed his phone off the charging station, scrolled through his contacts, and selected the one called Lilith.
“Master?” a smoky and seductive voice said from the line.
“How many times have I told you not to call me that?” asked Adam with a sigh.
“I have lost count. What do you need of me?”
“I’m about to enter Age of Gods. Fayte is too. I want you to get the system for Age of Gods and enter this world as well. Find Fayte and help her out for me.”
“Yes, Master.”
Lilith did not even question Adam and just agreed to do as he wished, which made him sigh as he hung up and climbed into bed, not bothering to climb under the covers as he laid down with his head on the pillow and shut his eyes. He took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and let his body fully relax.
12am. It was time.
“Activate,” he called out, and the entire world went black.
Within a dark room, a man sat behind a desk, his elbows planted firmly on the surface, fingers clasped together as he leaned forward and gazed through the window into an isolated room. The room was empty, save for a single item in the very center. It was a gold-covered wooden chest with a lid that had two angels on either side, their wings stretched forward as if to touch their tips together in union.
“Sir,” a voice said behind him. He turned to find a young man with a blank look in his eyes. “It’s time.”
“So it’s finally begun,” he said, lips peeling back in a grin. “I’ve been through many trials, dealt with numerous problems, and nearly died, but at long last, the next stage of my plan is beginning. What a momentous occasion.”
He walked away from the isolation chamber and toward a large screen that currently displayed a number. 1,544,236. It was quite the number, and it continued to rise even as he stood there, causing him to chuckle.
“Look at how many people have decided to join me. So many individuals, brimming with life… ripe for the plucking.”
Another chuckle.
“Go ahead and play. Enjoy yourselves to your hearts’ content, right until the very end.”
The young man behind him remained there, his expression as dead as his eyes.
Entering the virtual reality world for Age of Gods felt… strange. Different. Adam had no better way to describe it. It was like… like something had been pulled from his mind. He felt a slight tug inside of his head as if someone had grabbed a hold of his brain and was yanking it out of his skull through his ear—except it wasn’t actually painful. It didn’t hurt. It was just a feeling, an ephemeral sensation.
It was something he had never experienced before while gaming.
When he opened his eyes again, Adam found himself standing in… a library? He looked at the bookshelves surrounding him on all sides. The room he had been transported to was circular and possessed a domed roof with a painting of four beautiful women bathed in light fighting against a devil-shaped woman cast in shadows. This was different from the standard white space world he often found himself in during the character creation process, but he took it in stride.
Within this room was a winged figure. She was an ethereal beauty with silver hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Semi-translucent wings fluttered on her back. The outfit she wore was a long robe that trailed down to her bare feet. She smiled at him, and then opened her mouth to speak.
“Welcome to Age of Gods. My name is Lim, a virtual fairy who will be your guide during the character creation process. I am also in charge of announcing rankings and notifying people of important breakthroughs such as when the first person leaves the Village of Beginnings, when someone breaks a new record, when the first guild is created, and so on.”
Adam said nothing. The fairy named Lim continued.
“The world you are about to enter is vast and filled with many wonders and mysteries. Before you can get started on your journey, you must first build your character. Now, please enter your name.”
As she finished speaking, a small screen appeared in front of him:
Your Name: ?
Adam debated with himself for a moment. Should he use his real name like he did when he was earning money for Aris’s medical equipment and expenses? It might help his reputation if people discovered he was the Untouchable Emperor, but he didn’t think anyone would remember him since it had been about two and a half years since he last played.
Another moment passed before he decided.
Your Name: Adam
It was just his name, sans his last name. He honestly didn’t think anyone would figure out who he was based on just that. There were hundreds of thousands of people named Adam, after all, and most people never used their real name when playing. Figuring out his identity would be easier if someone didn’t rely on his in-game name.
“You have chosen to call yourself ‘Adam.’ Is that okay?” Lim asked.
“Yes,” Adam said.
“You are in luck. No one else has used the name ‘Adam’ yet. The name ‘Adam’ has been confirmed as your name.”
At that moment, the screen in front of him disappeared and another one took its place. This one contained a table:
Choose your class:
Assassin
Archer
Mage
Summoner
Priest
Warrior
Choosing a class that suited your particular style of combat was imperative in virtual reality games. Some people were better at fighting close-range, while others were great at long-range. Some people didn’t like fighting, so they chose the priest class, which focused primarily on healing and buffs. Of course, this was just the beginning stages of the game. Adam assumed that, like most online role playing games, this one would allow people to upgrade or change classes later on.
Adam chose the Warrior class. This was a close combat class that was well-balanced between attack and defense, and was often best for fighting on the frontlines, which was something he would need if he wanted to shock the world and increase his reputation.
“You have chosen the Warrior class. Is this okay?” asked Lim.
“Yes,” he said.
“All right. I’ve confirmed your class. You are a Warrior. Now that you have chosen your class, please select which stats to allocate your status points to. Please note, you only have 25 status points available. You will gain more points as your level increases. Please note that allocating status points is permanent. You cannot change what statistics they go into once you have finalized your choice.”
Another sc
reen replaced the one with the classes:
Amount of status points currently available: 25
Strength: 0
Constitution: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 0
Speed: 0
These looked like pretty basic stats. If this followed standard RPG settings, then Strength determined the attack power a person had, Constitution determined the amount of health a person possessed and their defense, Dexterity was their ability to hit something and dodge attacks, Intelligence determined their magic points and magic attack power, and Speed was how fast they could move in-game.
Adam didn’t hesitate to allocate his stats:
Amount of status points current available: 0
Strength: 5
Constitution: 5
Dexterity: 5
Intelligence: 5
Speed: 5
Since Adam’s class was a purely attack class with no magic involved, he wanted to disregard the Intelligence stat, which would only be useful to magic classes, but he thought better of it for now. Having at least +5 on all of his stats across the board sounded logical. He could focus on the Strength stat after leveling up.
“I see you’ve allocated your status points. Please check again and confirm if they are acceptable.”
“They are,” Adam said.
“Very well. Your status points have been allocated. It looks like you are just about ready to begin. However, before you enter Age of Gods, there are a few things you must know. First and foremost, because your “spirit” is what’s being sent into this world, it is possible to feel pain. However, it will not be as harsh as when you feel pain in your own world. Your ability to experience pain in Age of Gods is only 15% of what it is in your world. This is not only to help make the Age of Gods world feel more real, but also to alert you to when your ‘spirit’ has been damaged and requires rest.”
“Oh?”
Adam crossed his arms. He’d never heard of something like this before. Most games were painless no matter what happened. Adam had once lost an arm in a game and didn’t feel a thing. A virtual world where a person could experience pain was new to him.
But this still wasn’t a problem.
He was well-versed in pain.
He would even call pain an old friend.
“Finally, while those stats you currently have are the main stats available, there are such things as hidden stats. In order to acquire hidden stats, you must earn them in the game through your actions. The two hidden stats ‘Comprehension’ and ‘Luck’ can only be acquired if you accomplish something extraordinary.”
So there were extra stats he could gain by doing something amazing in the game? If he had to guess, Comprehension likely had something to do with his ability to learn more techniques and maybe understand the Age of Gods world better, while Luck probably involved matters such as item drops. For example, if he had a high Luck stat, an enemy he killed might drop rarer items than someone without the Luck stat who killed the same enemy.
“Do you have any questions? If so, please ask them now. If not, I will send you to the Village of Beginnings. Oh. Before I forget, the Village of Beginnings is where all players start off. In this village, you will learn the basics of gameplay and the leveling system. You may think of this as the tutorial stage, but it is not like most tutorials as you know them. Your ability to learn will depend largely on how quickly you can adapt.”
“I do have one question,” Adam said.
Lim tilted her head. It was a curiously human gesture that looked off on her too-perfect features.
“What is your question?”
“What about my character’s appearance? Do I not get to choose what my character looks like?”
Adam always made sure his character looked different from his real world appearance. He kept some things the same like his height, physique, and body weight because it made integrating himself into his character easier, but his face, hair, and skin was always changed to be as different from his own appearance as possible.
Lim blinked once as if a light had gone on. “Oh! I guess I forgot to mention this, but you cannot change your appearance in this game. This game uses an incredibly advanced synchronization program that transports your ‘spirit’ into the game world. In other words—”
“In other words, my appearance is based on how I perceive myself in the real world,” Adam finished for her.
“Yes, that is correct. Do you have any more questions?”
Adam shook his head. Not being able to change his appearance was going to cause problems later on. It would be annoying, but he would have to see if he could get a mask or something that he could use to at least hide his face. The last thing he wanted was someone using his appearance in the game to locate him in the real world.
“In that case, I will send you to the Age of Gods world now. Good luck, Adam.”
With those final words, Adam’s vision went completely dark as he left the library.
The Village of Beginnings
When Adam’s vision returned, he realized he was no longer inside of the library but standing in a cathedral. He didn’t know how much time had passed. It felt like only a second had gone by, but really, he couldn’t be sure of that. His sense of time had become skewed by the sudden shift of his location.
Observing his surroundings revealed that he was standing on what appeared to be a slightly elevated platform. There were steps leading off the platform. On either side of a red carpet that traveled down the center of the cathedral were unoccupied benches, the kind he expected to find people filling as they listened to sermons on weekends—if this game world had weekends. Light filtered in through a stained glass window near the front and the scent of dust and aged wood filled his nose.
Wait a second. The smell of dust and aged wood?
Adam took another deep breath of air and realized that, indeed, he could smell. In fact, his sense of smell in this game was just as strong as it was in the real world. That was odd. Very odd. He hadn’t played a lot of virtual reality games in the last few years, but from what he could remember, the world’s technology had not advanced far enough that anything but vision and touch could be affected—and even one’s sense of touch was dampened because the connection between a person’s brain and the system was incomplete.
Barely a second after he appeared, several balls of light floated down from above. He glanced at one and nearly jumped back when the ball flashed and a person appeared. It was a young man. Looking at where the other light balls had landed, Adam saw that people had replaced each ball.
“So this is Age of Gods! Awesome! Hahaha! I’m finally in the game!”
“It’s time to begin! For the glory of the mighty Black Beard Alliance, I will begin my adventure here! Arg!”
“Black Beard Alliance?! Ha! You’re a part of that weak-ass guild?! My Rising Phoenix Alliance is the number 1 guild in the entire world!”
“Number 1? Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Don’t make me laugh! Your guild is just a branch guild! You guys are nothing but dogs wagging their tails for their master!”
“What was that?! You wanna die?!”
“You’re the one who’s gonna die!”
“Grrr! Who cares?! We all start this game with the same stats! Just wait! I’ll show you!”
Adam grimaced as the people around him kept talking, but everyone fortunately had no desire to remain inside and rushed toward the exit. No one paid him an ounce of attention.
With slow and careful steps, Adam walked down the stairs, and he marveled at how realistic it felt. He raised his hand to stare at it. This was his hand. It looked exactly like his hand in the real world right down to the scar running across his palm. It even felt like his hand did in the real world.
When he was playing virtual reality games to earn enough money for Aris’s medical treatments, the games had always felt slightly awkward. It had felt like he was controlling somebody else. This game felt like he was inside of his own body.
He pushed the aged double doors open and stepped outside. Warm sunlight rained onto his body as a small village appeared before his eyes. As he walked down the steps of the cathedral, he looked around the village that appeared reminiscent to villages found in medieval Europe. Most of the buildings were made of wood or stone, with thatched roofs composed of straw. A few had signs up, but they didn’t have words written on them, instead using images to denote what they were.
Those must have been shops.
Several people were going about their business, walking, gossiping, and greeting each other. Most of them were dressed in what he assumed were commoners’ clothing. They wore baggy pants and overalls, shirts, and dresses. Most of them were an off-white color, though a few were dressed in muted reds and blues. A man standing by the cathedral and staring at him wore slightly better clothing than the rest. He also had a hat.
As Adam stared at these people, a small bar and lettering appeared above the people’s heads. He gazed at one person in particular and focused on the letters.
Name: Earnest Hemmingway
Description: Villager
Lvl: 1
Health: 50/50
He blinked and walked the rest of the way down the cathedral steps.
“Welcome, young otherworlder,” the man waiting for him said. Adam focused on the letters over this man’s head and read them.
Name: Cyrus Stevens
Description: He is the Town Mayor of the Village of Beginnings.
Lvl: 6
Health 120/120
So this person was the town mayor. That explained why he was dressed a little better than everyone else.
“Hello,” Adam greeted in a polite tone.
“Quite a few otherworlders have been showing up today. You are the one thousandth otherworlder to appear within the last hour,” Cyrus said with a wry smile. “Would you permit an old man to take a bit of your time? I know you are in a rush to get started on your new adventure. People wishing to leave this Village of Beginnings must reach level 10, so I’m sure all of you are in a hurry. The Sun Goddess knows the other otherworlders could not wait to disappear and ran off without even listening to me. However, should you permit this old man to ramble, I believe you might find the information I can provide worth your time.”
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