LINKED | Brothers Online Series | BK #1

Chapter 2: Modifications

Thomas Min':

"Link start!"

The screen of the NerveGear instantly turned white and various colored cylinders shot towards me. After the cylinders faded away, small blue gears appeared and the diagnostic test for my regular five senses began.

Touch – Ok

Sight – Ok

Hearing – Ok

Taste – OK

Smell – Ok

The symbols spun and turned green for each test before sweeping to the side. They dispersed after the test was completed and a small blue box popped up. This box allowed me to pick which language I wanted to play in. I chose English because, after all, it was the universal language. Besides, my English was much better than my Japanese.

Afterwards, I was met by the login screen. I put in my username and password and proceeded to the next screen with the words 'Welcome to Sword Art Online!' After that, blue electricity streaked through my vision before fading to white. When everything had cleared up, I found myself in a strange environment.

It looked like a room, or at least some sort of enclosure. I wasn't too sure. Everything was white and there were no discernible details. I turned my head and found that I could indeed move. Just to be sure, I wiggled my fingers and swiveled my ankles. Yep, still there. Glancing around, I waited for something to happen.

Suddenly, a robotic voice spoke out, its voice reverberating around the white space, "Welcome to Sword Art Online – the first ever RPG that literally puts you inside of the game. We record your five senses to allow you to control your own character in our virtual environment. Before you get started, you must create your character for use in the game. You will now be presented with the options to create your character."

Ah, so this place was a character creation room. That would make sense. I've never played this game before and I would need a brand new character. My brother Karim, on the other hand, wouldn't need a new avatar. He could reuse the one from the beta test.

After the robotic voice had talked, several boxes appeared. Each one had different body features such as face, nose, hair, body type, etc. A mirror appeared next to the options and allowed me to see each change that I made.

I started scrolling through the options to see what happened. As I changed my hair, I felt a little tingle. The short buzz cut was instantly warped into long shaggy hair that covered half my face. 'Ew. No,' I thought. 'That's just gross.'

The hair made me look all Goth and Emo. I did not like it. I pressed the next arrow in the hair-style box and watched my hair change into what could only be seen as a Mohawk. That did not suit me either. It was way too pointy for my liking.

I kept scrolling through the list and viewing each hair-style until I settled on one that was rather spiky but not too long. It looked sort of like the super-saiyan hair that you see in the Dragon ball Z anime, except that it was a bit shorter. I also finished off the decision by leaving my hair in its original black color.

I continued on with the character creation and found that none of the other features really fit me. Honestly, I didn't like the way each change made me look more different.

I didn't like how the muscles bulged in one body type and how I stretched out in another body type.

Heck, I didn't even like how the new noses looked on me. None of them worked. Each new feature, each new style and each new change disheartened me.