Mage of the Abyss: Siola Mithra

Chapter 6 - Character Creation

Static blue and gray color, 1 0 1 phasing me into the world of the system. When the turbulence stopped, I'm greeted by a little girl waving at me. Transparent from top to bottom, she swears pixelated clothing similar to that of an adventurer outfit. Her entire body including the clothes is seen as pixels, deep blue in color. Two symbols unknown to me are carved on both sides of her forehead.

She never introduced herself but many people would just call her the Intro Girl, as lazy as people generally are, it is what she is. But the way she stares at a player without blinking her eye...

It's creepy.

! {Welcome, it seems that this is your first time here in Ekolia. Would you like me to guide you through the Basics?}

The creepiness is gone and it turns into a good feeling.

'Ahh, the nostalgia...' I thought to myself.

"Yes, please!" nodding enthusiastically.

She began explaining in dramatic posture and gesture.

! {Ekolia, Home of the High Fantasy, filled with limitless possibilities. It is up to you to decide what you want to do with your life. You may either fly so high up to the endless sky or fall deep into the bottomless abyss...}

{... or maybe you just want to live normally. Having a comfortably stable normal life on the Second Earth just like any other people as an ordinary person... it is all up to you}

The girl lifted one of her arms, {You have the power to choose} and we flew through the passage of dynamic screening of many scenes and environments from Ekolia in a blink of an eye. It feels as if we are moving at a Mach speed but then we stopped abruptly.

"W-Woah."

No damage to me at all, and the scene disappeared without me ever reacting to it, but the shocking experience felt real.

Soon, all of the somewhat familiar interfaces appeared. Social Networks like forums, video streaming site, and other option of what a normal operating system would look like is there. Though, all of them are locked except for one, the Character Creation.

! {Before you delve into the Second Earth, here is where you can customize your appearance, choose your occupation, what kind of skill you want to have, and what class you want to be. After all of those options, you can then decide whether to enable the Realism Mode}

'The Realism mode, huh.'

I haven't tried it before, mainly because of how hard it is. At least I know that both Rakuri and Kurira have been playing on a few of their character slots with them [On].

! {Realism Mode is our...}

Her explanation is quite lengthy, but basically and fundamentally, everything that is happening is real. Or should I say, realistic? The air, the scenery, the interaction, all of them seem to be a touch above when it is enabled. But the downside is... there's no pain reduction, no aim assist, and there is a lot more survival mechanic that has been added into the gameplay as well. Hunger, thirst, and fatigue. I wonder if I can overcome those challenges. The gameplay wise though seems fun.

'General populace usually plays at 10-15% sensitivity. They won't have all the feel of Ekolia but enough for them to feel some feedback. It's also the sweet spot for pain reduction.'

Like the taste of food, touch and hearing senses, exhaustion when running out of stamina, and fatigue when running out of mana, among other things. There are people out there who choose not to enable Realism Mode but go up on the sensitivity to 30 or even 50%. Getting stabbed by a knife, getting shot by a bullet, all seems normal when you play Ekolia. The pain is just on another level in that mode.