Project Anima : A Virtual Reality / Reincarnated Tale

Chapter 1.3: Character Creation

A tall mirror flashed in front of him. He saw the new wolfish ears that had now replaced his. Staring at his reflection, he watched himself automatically customize itself based on his preference. The minute details of his face, hair, body, height, tattoos, and even tail gradually morphed and de-morphed on the fly.

When he was satisfied, the mirror vanished.

"And now," the vixen said, "Here are the initial jobs/classes available for your race."

Three breathing statues materialized this time, all of them having the same race he selected—the Lykant. However, each of them wore varying equipment and weaponry. The first one held a sword, the second held a knife, and the third a crossbow.

"Let me guess," he said. "Swordsman, Thief, Archer?"

The vixen chuckled. "Close. It's Fighter, Thief, and Rancher."

Shifting back to the living statues, he watched as each one moved and performed attacking motions within their respective simulation orbs. Stats and descriptions floated beside each, and the man weighed them all.

When he approached his choice, the specific statue offered its weapon.

Reaching forward, he took the dagger.

The statues disappeared and a grassland fluctuated into existence, replacing the whitewashed room.

Several gelatinous monsters bounced about, looking at him. They all had the nametag, Slime atop them.

"Let me walk you through the basics," the vixen said. "All actions are based on, Will. You can either Will by Thinking or Speaking. Failure to Will your action will result in no action done. So it is recommended to focus when you're in a battle and not have any stray thoughts."

Blobs of slimes continued to bounce, slowly approaching the man.

"Combat is fast paced and active. Multiple members in a party can freely act as they wish.

"Attacks can be auto or manual. When you Will an attack to be auto, your avatar will autonomously move to target and strike. Please try auto-attacking an enemy."

As soon as the man locked his eyes on one target and thought of auto attack, his body began to move on its own and jump to his quarry, autonomously swinging his own arm and dagger. The target slime groaned, and the number 17 popped for a second, indicating the damage done. A momentary floating bar appeared and displayed the slime's current health, which was now at 60%.

"Perfect," the vixen said. "Auto attacks can also be cancelled midway."

Jogging backwards, the man auto attacked at the slime again, and thought of cancelling. Instantly, his autonomous body went full stop.

"Good. You can also perform a Manual attack, which gives you more freedom about how specifically to strike. Please try manual attacking."

Filling his mind with the concept of manual attacks, he found that he could freely move his body now, as well as swing to his desire. He struck at the target slime multiple times, though not as fast as he wished.

Seems like my body is limited by stats, and in this case, attack speed.

The damage numbers 12, 15, and 18 floated for a brief moment as the slime cried with a gummy sound and jumped back. He also caught a slight chiming sound as he attacked consecutively. When he looked up, he saw a different number counter, where the words, 3-hit combo was displayed, followed by a decreasing progress bar that have now run out.

"Quickly striking enemies multiple times will charge up the Combo Drive," the vixen said. "The Combo Drive dies down when the hero fails to strike within the displayed duration. When the Combo Drive reaches past 100, the hero enters Grand Burst mode, where his damage is exponentially increased for 10 seconds. During this timeframe, the hero can easily deal damages numbering thousands."