“Welcome to New Realm Online. You may now start the character selection process. Would you like a guided tutorial or pick your race now?”
“Guided,” Jean responded. She glanced around the room and her eyes were drawn to a swirl of magical energy in front of her that morphed into a bearded man in a toga. He reminded her of some of the representations of Zeus. He exuded power and intelligence.
“Greetings. I am Soron. One of the spiritual guides of New Realm Online.”
Jean had paid for the deluxe package for her character. She was no fool, she knew she’d need all the advantages she could get and having an AI guide was a no brainer.
“Do you know what race you’d like to know about?”
“I don’t want anything too weird, as human as possible, but I want a character that can grow into something powerful.”
“There are plenty of humanoid races that fit your description, however each race has a path to great power. That question doesn’t bring you any clarity in making a choice. Are you more interested in physical prowess or magical power?”
Jean frowned. David had warned her that choosing a character wasn’t an easy process and would have a lasting impact on how she played the game. “Both. I don’t want my options limited by race.”
“In that case, I recommend a race that comes with well-balanced traits. As a deluxe package user, you have access to several races that come with additional starting benefits. These benefits don’t guarantee success, but they can give you a head start.”
Jean had a good feeling about the AI. From her research she knew that these were some of the most advanced artificial intelligence programs in the world. They were smart, intuitive, and capable of dealing with complex problems. “What would you recommend for me?”
Soron rubbed his chin. “Hmm, reading your background questionnaire I see plenty of life experience that could be applied to the game.”
“Any time someone mentions life experience they mean old. Am I that much older than the average player here?”
Soron laughed. “Not at all, actually there are plenty of people in your age range and older. Although most of them have expressed lifelong interests in video gaming or fantasy. You don’t fit the norm of our long-term pod users.”
“I’m not exactly here by choice,” Jean admitted. “I’m here because of my granddaughter.”
Soron looked down at a tablet. From where Jean stood it just looked like a stone tablet, but she wasn’t sure.
“I see. Well, that does change things a bit. Certain races have their own starting areas. I can get you close to your granddaughter, but until you develop your character that wouldn’t be a benefit. You need to be somewhere close enough to travel to her, but you also need to be able to grow strong during the journey. As for your character, that does limit us to a few options, but I think I have the right one.”
Soron waved his hand and another swirl of magic started and then Jean was looking at a copy of herself. It looked like her except for a few minor differences. First, the eyes were not human looking. Instead of normal irises and pupils they were swirls of purple and crimson, and the image of her had fangs.
“Is that a vampire?”
“Not in the sense of traditional undead vampires from the movies and books. This is an Archon. An offspring from the breeding of humans and vampires. Archons have excellent physical attributes and the ability to use blood magic.”
“Do I have to suck blood to grow stronger?” Jean wasn’t keen on the idea, but she wasn’t going to say no just yet.
Soron laughed. “No, you don’t. Your bite is a weapon at your disposal but you certainly don’t have to act like a vampire. In fact, some of the traditional mythos about vampires doesn’t apply to Archons. They are not undead, they don’t die in the sun, they aren’t evil, nor do they sparkle. They don’t tan easily so sunburn can be an issue, and they do have a weakness to holy magic, both light and dark, but not so much as to take away from the benefits. I considered other races, but from what I understand of your background you seem to have a more analytical mind than creative, which can work with magic, but isn’t a perfect fit. The mages that grow the strongest tend to have creative minds that have been exposed to many fantasy games and legends. A character with strong physical attributes will benefit you at the start but the blood magic will allow you opportunities to delve into magic to increase your growth.”
Jean appreciated the level of analysis Soron was providing. She agreed about the assessment of her own attributes—it was something she was aware of, and always used to her advantage. She even used her lack of creativity as a management tool, hiring people that excelled in the creativity department to balance “OK. That works for me.”
“Excellent. The eyes and fangs don’t start out looking like this. You will appear human to anyone that doesn’t have the ability to scan you. Characters with a higher-level ability will see your true race, but anyone below you or without the right skills will think you are a normal human until you use skills that show otherwise.”
Jean was glad to hear she’d look normal. Looking into a mirror and seeing those eyes and teeth would be disconcerting. Mostly the teeth. The eyes were interesting, like something you’d see at a Halloween party.
“Would you like to alter your appearance now?” Soron asked.
The model of Jean started to morph and look younger. She became taller, her bust increased until she looked like some sort of Amazonian woman, then she became skinnier and looked more like a model.
“Just the way I look now is fine. I don’t need hormonal young men drooling over me.”
“You might be surprised how valuable beauty is as a tool. Although you have nothing to worry about in that department. We shall start you looking the same as you do now if that is what you wish. Archon is an offspring of one of the immortal races so you will find that as you level up, you will begin to look younger.”
“I suppose losing my crow’s feet and wrinkles is just a sacrifice I’ll have to make,” Jean said.
Soron chuckled at her wit. “Very well. Do you understand what you need to do to level up in New Realm Online?”
“Complete quests or kill shit,” Jean said.
“An apt description,” Soron said. “I would add that you can use trainers and magical books to learn new skills, and by repetition.”
Jean nodded. She’d read up on the forums enough to understand how the basics worked. If she wanted to be a good hunter, she needed to hunt. If she wanted to bash the skulls in of a certain guild, well then, she needed to be good at bashing skulls.
“Very well, now the next thing we need to discuss is a starting weapon. Do you have something in mind, or would you like me to select for you?”
Jean smirked at the AI. “I think you know the answer to that.”
Soron laughed. “I will provide the weapons.”
“Thank you,” Jean said. Normally, Jean wouldn’t let someone else make such a big decision for her, but she had already trusted the AI to make the decision of her starting race. If anyone knew the appropriate weapon for her to use it would be the AI. And as she got her feet under her she could always change things up. It wasn’t like she had a VIP account where you started with a superior weapon. She’d tried to get one of those accounts, but they’d all been sold out well before she’d started looking into the game, and no one with one of those accounts was selling. The deluxe package had been the best available option.
“That concludes our time together. Good luck, in your adventures. I’ve taken the liberty of setting your first quest; find your granddaughter. However, I wouldn’t make it your first priority. Getting stronger should be your first goal, but at least you’ll have a way to find her. As you develop your personal map, you’ll know what direction to head.”
Jean sighed. The AI couldn’t have given her a better gift, short of destroying the guild. “Thank you, Soron. I appreciate that.”
The AI nodded and waved his hand. “Good luck.”