*Tirirriring*

The peaceful atmosphere of that saturday morning was ruthlessly destroyed by the annoyingly sharp tone of an alarm.

Alice, woke from his dreamless sleep, slowly stirred from his lying posture, opening his eyes shortly after. He then got off from his bed in a set of groggy motions and stared at the offender, a hint of irritation visible in his sleepy eyes. He finally turned the alarm off and restored the peace and quiet of his room.

Looking at the time, he let out a sigh. It was eight in the morning, and while he usually wouldn't have needed any help to wake up at that time, today was an exception.

It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep earlier than he did, but the excitement kept him awake. And as he finally regained his place among the conscious, he remembered the reason why.

Right, today is the day that game comes out. I just have to wait two hours.

Just the thought of it was enough to bring a slight smile to his face as he started dressing up. Evertales, the latest VRMMORPG. The game in itself didn't really have any big selling points, it was more of an accumulation of small things. The technology was better, the class system was extensive, there were plenty of secrets to be found, and better AIs, among other. While the game looked nice, what made Alice giddy was the thought of starting a new game with his friends once more. It had been a few years since they last commited themselves to this kind of adventure. It had just been fighting, strategy and competitive games recently.

Now fully clothed, Alice stopped reminiscing and headed downstairs. He ate breakfast while browsing the news on his phone, which did nothing to hamper his excitement. After quickly washing dishes, he reluctantly decided to progress in his homework with what little time he had left. He could have spent more time looking for information on the game, but he already knew most of what little information there was available on the internet.

What little enthusiasm he had towards homework didn't last longer than half an hour however, and quickly subsided when he received a text message from one of the friend he was about to play with.

Ditching his current activity, the talk very quickly revolved around the game, their expectations, hopes and plans.

Unsurprisingly, doing something he enjoyed a lot more made time pass far faster, so much in fact, that they almost collectively missed the appointed time. Their discussions never failed to bring a smile to his face, but it was now time for them to depart to Primterra, the world of Evertales.

Alice picked the HoloBand from the desk and attached it to his wrist. He nodded to himself after quickly checking it, and positionned himself comfortably on the couch. Finally, he started the countdown of the HoloBand and closed his eyes.

His sight gradually turned white, and he then found himself in front of an exact copy of himself. He was a boy with very girly features, short, about 150 centimeters in height at eighteen years old, brown hair, grey eyes, soft features and line without any hint of possible facial hair. In fact, most people he met thought he was a girl at first. It led to misunderstandings and a bit of trouble in the past, but he then met his current friends in middle school and things widely improved.

[Loading complete. Welcome, Alice.]

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the voice of the AI assistant. His clone replaced by a large room about the same size as the living room he was in just a moment ago. There was a couch and a TV along some old game consoles to emulate games, a few bookshelves with various games and books, as well as a neat wooden desk. There was also a notification in the top right of his field of view. He directed his attention towards it, and it immediately expanded into a message.

[Download complete : Evertales – V1.0.0]

He had started the download the day before, when the game client became available and as such wasn't surprised by this outcome, not that it prevented him from feeling relieved.

[Start Evertales – V1.0.0 ?]

"Yes."

As the game starts, the virtual desktop fades away and soon after a clear voice spoke.

[Welcome to Evertales, Alice. There are no characters registered on this account, would you like to create one ?]

"Of course.", he said in a voice that betrayed his excitement.

[Scanning user for extra content.]

At these words, Alice could only tilt his head, unsure what this extra content was supposed to be.

[Mythical trace found. Query sent to overarching system.]

[Alice has been determined to be a candidate. The character creation process has been altered appropriately, proceeding.]

What is this all about ? I'm getting more and more confused.

[Please choose your Race.]

Seeing the game returning to something he was more familiar about, Alice shook his head slightly and examined his choices as a few copies of himself with different features appeared ahead.

So what do we have here ... Human, Elf, Dwarf, Demi-Human ... Vampire ? There shouldn't be a vampire race, or at least it wasn't announced. Is this what the extra content was about ?

Faced with this unexpected choice, he was unsure about what to do. On one hand, it could possibly be a rare race that few players had access to, on the other hand he had no information about it at all. Would it work with the class he had in mind ? Where would the spawn location be ? How long would it take to get to the point where they can party up ?

Alice closed his eyes and breathed deeply. There was some risk involved, but rarity aside, the vampire race appealed to him. He wasn't sure why, but deep down he felt as if there wasn't really any other choice he'd rather go with.

"Vampire."

His voice was tense, but firm.

[Please choose your Class.]

He was now faced with four carbon copies of himself in different poses and with different weapons. One was wielding a staff and seemed to be channeling a spell, another was holding a defensive stance with a sword and shield, there was also one with a short sword in one hand, a knife in the other and a bow in the back, and finally the last one seemed to be praying.

So mage, warrior, scout and acolyte. Those are the ones I remember so there doesn't seem to be any change. I'll go with what I was planning to.

"Mage.", he said without hesitation.

Back when he told his friends he was going to play as a caster, they looked at him in disbelief. "The 'fairy of war' as a mage ? You do know that the staff is there to cast spells and not bash enemies, right ?". Or so they said, but he was going to prove them wrong, experience something new, and master another playstyle all at once. Incidentally, the 'fairy' part came from his habit of playing small, childish and often girly characters, not unlike his actual physical appearance.

[You chose mage. Once an Archetype is chosen, it cannot be changed. Continue ?]

"Yes.", he affirmed, his gaze resolute.

[Character creation complete. We wish you good luck for your upcoming adventures in the lands of Primterra.]

This was so sudden, that Alice was left stumped for a second.

W-wh-what ? Wasn't there supposed to be more to character creation that race and class ? Don't I get to customize my appearance and choose a character name ?

The game however didn't pay him any mind, and all he could do was close his eyes to avoid getting too dizzy from the change in environment.

The first thing I'll have to do is take a look at my character info to see what happened.

Thinking such, Alice opened his eyes, only to find himself lying down. He reflexively tried to sit up but-

*Boom*

"Owowow"

-hit his head fairly hard against the stone plate that was centimeters away from him.

He managed to recover and push the stone lid away despite his teary eyes. He stepped out of what seemed to be a sarcophagus.

"Sherioushly... What ij thish shpawn location ? Why playshe jish kind of trap from je get-go ?"

It took him a few seconds to calm down and breathe out.

"And what'sh up wif my voishe, efen for me jat'sh way too girly. Why am I sho shmall, and why am I wearing a dresh ?!"

He sighed.

"Character info."

 

"Female... Did je game get it wrong ? No, it efen changed my name for some reason. Je dress and je voishe make shenshe now, but what about je height ? I'm already a bit short, but now I feel like a twelfe years old."

She sighed, yet again.

On the other hand, the vampire stat corrections are quite good. Well, sunlight weakness aside. 20 is the average for a level 1 character, as well as a regular adult human. After the class stat adjustment, a level 1 human mage would have 40 intelligence, and I have twice that. Although ... my faith is 0.

She took a look around, the fact that she was able to see perfectly without any visible light source surprising her a little. She was underground, in a plain large stone room. The sarcophagus she was in was in the center of the room, on a slightly elevated area. The only other thing of note was an altar next to the wall opposite to the only entrance. Now sure there wasn't any immediate danger, Alicia sat down slowly, closed her eyes and took deep breaths to clear her mind. She wanted to take the time to deal with her new situation.

Being like this feels a bit weird, but not uncomfortable. Well, sitting on the ground is a bit uncomfortable. I have a little bit of trouble pronouncing words the way I want with the fangs though, well nothing too dire. Breathe in ... Breathe out ... This is me in the game and it'll be impossible to even get close to my usual level if I can't get used to it.

Time passed, as Alicia sat there silently, the quiet of the room proved to be a suitable environment for this sort of exercise, and although it might not prove to be of much use in a majority of case, when Alicia woke up an hour later, there was no more discomfort and nothing unnatural in her movements as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. Apart from the fangs, speaking normally again might take a little longer. The speed at which she progressed surprised even Alicia, who was somewhat used to it with her wide virtual experience.

I haven't even exercised yet, and I don't feel any awkwardness anymore. This is a first. Alright then, let's take a look at this altar.

Pumped up, she stood and walked confidently towards the altar, ignoring the flutter of her dress. The altar itself did not really look interesting and there wasn't even any sort of symbol engraved on it, there were however a few things worthy of note. There didn't appear to be any dust around it, unlike the rest of the room, and the few items placed on the altar looked to be in pristine condition. As she approached to try and pick one such item, she was met with a burst of electricity and some sort of shield appearing.

"Eep !" *ding*

Is there anything in this room that doesn't trick you into hurting you ?!

She immediately removed her hand, and looked at the barrier warily, her eyes shining slightly.

Her glare however intimidating did not have any effect on the force field and so she decided to look at the notification instead.

[Location discovered : Hidden Crypt of Dawn]

[Quest started : Lost gift of the ancestors

While the exact use of this crypt has been lost to the ages, some of the items left behind have not. Prove yourself worthy by completing the ancient trials, starting on this floor and you may be rewarded with some of them.

Trial of the ancestors : 0/1]

The exact rewards aren't written, but I most certainly want to complete this quest chain. I wanted to explore this area, and I need to find the exit anyway.

She turned around and walked towards the entrance of the room.

Before leaving, she threw one last glance at the altar, "You should ready yourshelf, becauje thish wawj je lasht time you japped shomeone !".