-Ethereal- BOOK I

Character Creation

Darkness surrounds me in an instance. The weight on my shoulders eases. A bright light appears revealing the word Yggdrasil being displayed in my field of view. After a brief moment, my view fades to black again and a light engulfs my view again traveling a login screen.

"Y/N. Would you like me to enter the account for you" Guilt asks

"Yes please do" I reply

"Of course, doing so now" I reply

The text fields are filled with the account information and I hit the login button. Different color lights flash and see the party icon light up on the top right of my field of view. Chatter begins to flow. All my friends were all talking among themselves. A few moments later, I feel a strong drift and find myself in a garden. My body was outlined and transparent. I look around and I see an option in my interface, label of the dropbox is race. Over the chatter, I can hear my friends are a little further in the character creation section. Opening up the dropbox and see multiple options. The list reads Human, Heteromorph, Demi-Human and a third one that is untranslated.

I suppose the mod Pricilla gave us is incomplete. I think to myself

"Forgive my interruption Y/N. Gin sent a message with some information and recommendations. Would you like me to interpret?" Guilt asks

"Go ahead" I respond

"Very well. Gin explains some of the text is not translated because it dev account specific. He will not be translating everything because it does not matter much. However, the untranslated choices are the reason we have these accounts, to begin with therefore those are the ones you should choose also not that you need reminding but the untranslated options are not present to our dear friends. Recommended walkthrough goes as followed. Race; fourth untranslated option. Species; last option way down, there would be no text just an empty choice. Class; there will be only one, an empty choice. Subclass; only one empty choice. Job; there will be two options. Choose the bottoms option, it will be an empty choice. Lastly, there will be an empty description with three empty choices choose whatever you desire he does not believe the choice will affect anything. After that option, there would be straightforward choices that no longer matter since its personal preference." Guilt recites

So many instructions. Oh well, since Gin went through all this trouble to obtain these accounts, might as well make the most of them. I sigh

I follow Gin's recommendations, and chose the first option on the choice Gin mentioned did not matter. Finally, I proceed to the appearance phase of the character creation. The first question is sex. I chose Male and continue. After a few minutes into my character creation, everyone starts calling me out.

"Y/N are you in?" I hear my name being called

"Yes, I'm here working on my character" I reply

"How is your character coming along? I can't wait to see it" Priscilla states

"I not very creative but ill try" I comment

"My boy, I too am not very creative. I hope I don't make a bad looking character" Henderson adds

"It is ok Mr. Henderson you make whatever you feel is comfortable to you don't worry about anybody else" I assure

Everyone chatter slows down and questions begin to come up. Some asking how to do specific customizations or how to get to specific molds to work better. Gin eventually jumped in and helped with characters creation questions.

Time kept passing by and after about an hour everyone was still stuck in creating their characters. Listening to their conversations, I hear everyone comment at least once, they were starting from scratch again. Time passes and I noticed many customizations not typical to RPGs, at least not to a specific race. Not knowing what race I had chosen I was unsure if this was normal. However, race features did look human in nature. Able to elongate his ears I was making him look more elvish in nature. I then began to mold his face to look as close to mine as possible. After a good while, I felt I had accurately molded my character's face to look like mine. As I was admiring my work I thought to myself why not add some more features. Since this was a fantasy game I might as well. Final touches were to restore his elongated ears to normal human looking and changed the black hair to a Nordic White. Finally deciding to shorten the hair and give it a spiky fade look. The only problem was the skin slider, only had gray and a pale skin tone. At this point I assumed I chose some kind of undead race. Pale skin color was chosen, not wanting to look scary. Eye color was kept green. No makeup or tattoos were added.

Not bad if I do say so myself. I think to myself

"What do you think Guilt? Does it look like me?" I ask

"Apart from the hair color its a spitting image. Well done Y/N" Guilt responds

"Well, I think I am done with my character. How about you guys?" I inquire

Everyone begins to whine about not being close to being finished. I relent on their whining and decide not to enter the server. After confirming the customization, the UI disappears and I am able to move around in the plains where my character was being modified. There was not much space to move on. The plains were suspended on a platform in endless skies. there was an invisible wall preventing me from leaning or jumping off the platform. As I move around I feel a breeze. Look down at the swaying grass I decide to touch it. A realistic grass texture gave me a tingling feeling. However, as I try to pull it out my fingers just slide off the blades. Game limitations were preventing me from destroying the grass. Deciding to use a technique, I place my hand on the ground.

Scan. I think to myself

I feel a surge of information flow in me. I am able to meticulously Identify every blade of grass in the immediate vicinity. Since the platform is not connected to anything else my reach is limited to its size. However, I am also able to see the boarders lined around the platform.

Analyze. I think to myself again

The surge of information changes from visual to a formulaic form. This change of information gives more detailed information. Now I understand the flow of wind hitting the blades of grass, how much the grass has been moving and what areas are the first to be hit by the wind and what areas are last. Eventually, I am able to predict wind motion patterns on the grass. However, I realize something strange. There was no wind present and blades of grass are programmed to move as if the wind was present. I return my hand from the ground and stand while keeping my analyze technique active. The wind I feel is being copied from the grass movement.

Is that how the game is programmed to give me a sense of feeling? I ask myself

"Forgive my interruption Y/N. But this game offers no sense of touch. What you feel is being simulated by your VR unit. A regular VR unit user would feel noting" Guilt informs

"I see. Thank you Guilt" I thank Guilt

The longer I use the technique analyze and scan the more details I receive from the surrounding area. The range also moves further and further. Two very handy techniques to have indeed.

I spend another half an hour trying out other techniques I learned from my FAMICI. Some worked others did not. The restrictions on FAMICI in this game might be why. After some time Mr. Henderson and Mr. Rolto finish their characters and were now moving about their respective platforms. Gin finishes up a few seconds after and so does Esther. Pricilla was still working on her character. Everyone begins to laugh and cheer as they move about their platforms.

"Hurry Priscilla! Its been long enough don't you think. Everyone is going to get pissed at you for taking so long" Esther shouts

"You shouldn't rush art! You handle it incorrectly and it won't shine" Priscilla exclaims

"It's been hours now!" Esther responds

"Oh shush! I'm done now" Priscilla comments

"All right, ladies and gents. Let's start it up. Now Y/N choose a server" Gin instructs

I look at all the available servers. None of which are translated. As I scroll through the servers I see one in red with the only letters being displayed.

"What's PK?" I ask

"All right, guys join the PK server. Here we go!" Gin shouts

"Ballsy! Y/N very nice. Let's go" Priscilla comments

"Ok let's get going" Rolto excitedly states

"Ah yes here it is. I joining now" Henderson cautiously responds

"Didn't you ask what PK was?" Esther asks

"Yes I did but it seems like everyone has joined so whatever. Let us go Esther" I reply

"K" Esther mumbles

I focus on the server with the red text and launch the server.