The next morning, I had made breakfast for Yuki and me, except this time, she doesn"t get ready for school. I was setting the table, and I heard shuffling coming down the stairs. Yuki was half asleep and wearing her pajamas, which was just her underwear and a shirt.*Yawn*
"Morning, mom."
"Morning, Sweetie. Remember, after breakfast, go get dressed and make sure you have a spot in your room for the VR Pod. They are coming today to install it."
"Don"t worry; I will."
Even though our house is small, the room size is are decent. My room is downstairs with the bathroom next to it. The bathroom has two doors, one to my room and one to the living room. Yuki"s room is upstairs directly above my room. Not the best floor plan, but its what we can afford.
We spent the morning moving stuff around in the bedrooms. I thought about getting rid of the bed as the pod could be used while sleeping, but in the end, I didn"t.
The installers came by afternoon and were moving the equipment into the rooms. They even had some mover androids with them too. Androids were commercially used back in 2042, so it was common to see them now. About an hour and a half later, all pods were set up, and they had left.
Yuki and I went to the living room for a quick lunch while she did some of her schoolwork.
"Hey mom, you know what race you are going to play?"
"What"s that? I don"t know what you mean by race."
"Sorry, I forget you don"t know much about video games. The race is what species you want to play as. Usually, in these kinds of games, you have humans, elves, and dwarves."
"Oh, then I guess I will be a human."
"Don"t play as a human! You will have so many choices; you should play something different."
"Alright, calm down. I"ll think about it. I just don"t know how I am supposed to act if I am something like an elf."
"You don"t need to act like anything. Just pick a race that looks good to you and just be yourself."
I nod my head and walk over to our computer and turn it on. If I am going to play this game for money, I should probably research it a bit. Spending about an hour going through everything, I got a bit more knowledge of the game.
There are only three confirmed races; Human, Elf, and Dwarf, just like Yuki said. There are, however, over 108 different races, and most of them you can only mutate into by meeting specific requirements. Reading the thing about mutating reminded me of that horror movie about a thing in Antarctica.
I also found out something about a level cap. I got more information about this from Yuki as I didn"t know what a level cap was. The level cap is 300, at which point you need to visit the Shrine of the Reborn, where you rebirth yourself. Your level becomes 1 while your total level and stats don"t reset. During this process, you can also choose to mutate your race, but doing so is permanent.
I also found out you can only talk long distances with other players if you use an item called a word stone. Since the game is aiming for immersion, that will help with something some people call "Meta Gaming." I didn"t know what this was and had to look online for the meaning.
Seeing as there wasn"t a whole lot of information out yet about the game, I turned off the computer. I walked back over to the couch and sat down with Yuki.
"Looks like after we make our characters, we will be placed randomly into the world." I had said while watching Yuki do her homework.
Without looking up, she responded. "That will put a small wrench into our plans. Since we can"t add people as friends unless we are in the same area, we can only meet up at the main capitol."
"I guess we will have to tell your Aunt to meet us at the capitol and then make our guild thing."
Yuki gives out a slight laugh at my comment.
"You know, mom, it"s going to be fun watching you play. I am curious to see how well you do."
I feel like I was just insulted, but I can"t bring myself to reprimand her for it.
----
The next day came, and Yuki was up early, finishing her homework for the day so she could play the game.
The website had said that it would go live at around 10:00 am our time. I had to make sure that breakfast was ready, and Yuki finished her homework was finished.
"Remember Yuki, you can skip lunch, but I will not allow you to miss breakfast or dinner. You still need to take care of your body as well, which is why on Sundays, we will not play but spend time doing some sort of physical activity."
"Yes, mom, I will take care of myself."
Ten was rolling around, and we decided to head to our rooms to our pods. I would be lying if I said I wasn"t a little anxious. This is a brand-new world with all kinds of fantastical things. Maybe a second life would be just what I need.
The pods need as much skin contact as possible so it can read your biometrics and vitals, so I had dressed down to my underwear. I looked down at my D cup b.r.e.a.s.t.s and sighed. These things always did kill my back.
The pod I received was the Elite version, meaning that it did come with the ability to feed your body sustenance as well as ma.s.sage the muscles to prevent atrophy. I didn"t want to rely on these, so that was why I set ground rules for Yuki and myself.
I crawled into my pod and attached the various sensor sand other attachments and laid back. I pressed the green b.u.t.ton on the inside wall, and the pod door closed. The next thing I see is a white room with some floating text that says choose your game.
The only game I can choose at the moment is Rebirth Online, so I chose that one.
The surrounding turn dark and a wall of words appear in front of me.
Warning: Rebirth Online is intended for an adult audience. There may be some adult and/or morally questionable content. By creating a character, you agree to the terms and conditions for Rebirth Online. You may read these terms and conditions at our site.
Do you wish to continue?
Now I am kind of scared to play this game. But I really could use the money right now. Plus, if I don"t like it, I can quit it and find something else. With my resolve strengthened, I continue with the game.
The scenery changes, and I am now back in a white s.p.a.ce. This time there is a tall floor mirror and a woman standing next to it. She is wearing a sleeveless black dress with a slit going up on one side and some black heels. I decide to walk up to her and greet her.
"h.e.l.lo, how are you?"
"Welcome, ascended one. My name is Eri. I have been chosen to be your guide by the G.o.ds. You are their chosen champion summoned from another world to help bring prosperity to this one called Elara."
Eri gives me a small bow before continuing.
"You have retained your old appearance from your old body, but if you would like, you can make some changes."
She directs my attention to the mirror next to me.
Looking at the mirror, I see my self in all my nude glory. From my big b.r.e.a.s.t.s all the way down to…
(Wait! Did the pod scan my body? Am I trimmed the same way down there as in real life? Nevermind just going to ignore that.)
Pushing those thoughts out, I focus on the mirror. In front of me are the words saying choose a race.
Human
Dwarf
Orc
Beastkin
Halfling
Elf
I go through each one reading their descriptions. I was told I should choose something other than human, so I ignore that for now. I read the description for Dwarf and ignore that too, as it is too brawny. I also overlook the orc as that reminds me of those creatures from that old Rings of the Lord movie that Yuki and I watched. Beastkin sounds a little unusual; I also don"t know how I feel being a half-cat or half-wolf. I skip halfling as they seem too childish for my tastes too.
"Hmm, elves have a long-lasting life span and almost endless youth…"
"Eri, I choose elf!"
"As you wish."
The floor mirror then morphs into a small hand mirror and floats in front of my face. Eri then speaks back to me to explain the next steps.
"You are limited in how you can change yourself. Your appearance will be based on your old self and the new race you chose. You may change some facial features and your hair color as well."
Looking back into the hand mirror, I see a younger, more vibrant version of myself staring back at me. Seeing myself like that brings tears to my eyes as I stare at myself for a bit.
Coming out of my thoughts, I decide to adjust some of my appearances. I did not like the long elf ears, so I shortened them a bit, so they retain their elven beauty but are much shorter now. I was messing around with the skin features and found I could give myself scars if I wanted to but decided against it.
In the end, I changed some facial features such as the chin, jaw, and nose. I then settled on black hair which was opposite of my blond hair. When I finish my appearance, the mirror disappears.
"It looks like you are done with your appearance. Next, I will explain some of the basics to you."