Arcanum Online: New Beginnings

Prologue

Chapter 0

Arcanum Online, the first fully immersive VR (Virtual Reality) game which has been taking the world by storm for the past year. Developed by Eternity Inc the leading company in electronics, neuroscience, weapons, and anything else you can really think of. In just the first few months of the game coming out there we're already around 10,000,000 people playing it, and by now I'm pretty sure almost everyone on Earth plays the game. The game boasts in its A.I that are so realistic that you wouldn't be able tell the difference between them and a player unless they told you which one they are, although telling the natives there in a game or even calling them NPC's will usually result in a very bad de-buff title called Insanity which makes NPC and players treat you like a liar and monster, the game also allows players to do or make almost anything they want (for better or worse), the game also plays at a speed 2x faster then that of Earth making it so that most everyone can find some time to play, and despite the game being out for as long as it has the main continent has still only had 30% of it mapped which mostly has to do with the fact that the main continent is at least 5x the size of Pangea. Despite all these amazing features I still haven't played the game until now because of work. Although now I'm going to be a lot less busy thanks to the fact that my more recurring clients have suddenly 'disappeared' which is fine because in the last 3 years I've earned more then enough money to retire even if I am just 22.

Even though I've wanted to know everything I could know about the game since its came out, I've limited myself because I wouldn't want to spoil everything for myself. One of the things I do know is that the highest known level reached has been 378 (keyword 'known') which isn't much considering they've had two in-game years and the level cap is at 999,999 (which is equivalent to op protagonist *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*), the game is also pretty hard considering you actually have to learn how to do things like fight, smith, or cook on your first try and the assist system still only help with things like skills and quality.

~time skip(brought to you by ₩D ₲ƋșȾЗг)~

When I finally arrived home, I put away my tools, took a quick bath, put on something comfortable, and made myself a nice dinner. When I finished, I set up the white egg shaped pod called The DreamScape, after getting in I brought down a helmet (that looked like it came straight out of SAO) to get started. Right after the helmet was in place I turned it on and after a three second countdown a flurry of lights bombarded me until all I could see was white, "The scape has been accessed would you like to begin your game?" I quickly respond with yes and as I do everything around me somehow begins to go whiter then it already was before. It was so bright in fact that I had to close my eyes, after a few seconds like this I noticed the light begin to dim and soon enough I was able to open my eyes.

The first thing I noticed was the sudden change from laying down to standing which was almost as nauseating as realizing I was not only standing but I was standing around 10,000 feet above above ground. (this would be bad if you were afraid of heights)

"Hello?" Just as I was getting my bearings I heard a high pitched voice next to me. I turned around and saw a tall gorgeous woman with golden blond hair, a white Greek like toga, blue eyes, and a pure with toothed smile. "Umm. Hello?" This woman seems to be trying to talk to me, maybe I should stop my long inner monologue and actually talk back, that's what normal people do right? "Hello, don't mind me I was just taking in the view." I have to say those things have to be double D at least. "Oh I see. It is quite a sight isn't it?" She thinks I'm talking about our surroundings, it's probably better like that. She did a little clap and began talking again. "Ah well let me begin. I am Aione the Goddess of beginnings. I am here to help you create your traveler."