< Connection Acquired, Logging...>

Me? I'm a gun lover!

You are telling me a woman can't like guns!? Like I care about what you think! I've loved them ever since I was a small child. My first gun was a Mossb*rg MC1SC. My dad gave it to me when he came back from the States after a job with a major company. He used to work for the government. I loved him so much...
But even before that, I already loved everything about them. I remember going through the Gun Catalogues in his collection, and playing games about assembling and disassembling them when I was only 6! Yeah, I love them a lot. Unfortunately, guns are very expensive to own and even shoot... So, when they released the nerve implant, I was stoked.

The Nerve Implant is a joint technology between the Chinese Government and Haoei, a gigantic company! I was so happy that I moved to China just a year before its final release. The NI, for short, is a genius idea. It works as a bridge between the nervous system and the Nerve Universal Interface, NUI. It scared me at first, but the convenience of not having to carry any documents or credit cards, since it was all already written into one of the many EEPROMs embedded into the chip. Not only was it perfectly safe, since most connections were made in Read Only mode, the two redundant 27GHz processors were foolproof! The whole system was released all the way back in 2033, but it took them over a decade to become fully tested and mass produced. Also, the depth and quality of the connections increased thousandfold. The already phased out superconductors were superseded by bioconductors, very similar to human nerves.

Ah... I'm rambling to myself again... Sorry... I get a bit too excited thinking about it. Anyways, I got myself one few years before, and now, almost a quarter of the whole world uses it. Safety and Privacy were major concerns in the beginning of it, but I guess the upsides of the technology were just far too good to ignore.

Sooooooo... Fast forward a few years when I finally got my hands on the latest hit VRMMORPG for the Advanced Immersion NUI.

< Welcome to >
< Shi Xunhuan >
< Death Loop >

"Wow..."

After the white title appeared in front of a blurred background, I was slowly able to focus on the image of the city beyond the glass wall.

"God... This looks so real!" I stared in awe at my hands and legs. Of course, this was a first person game. The quality was amazing! But obviously, my skin looked almost completely smooth. The tiny details and imperfections of Human Skin where nowhere to be seen. In front of me, an enormous city built in plain concrete extended as far as the eye could see. Grey suspended avenues wriggling through the colossal buildings that, like this one, surrounded the first Radial Roadway. Inside, the far smaller and fancier apartment skyscrapers formed a crown, surrounding the main building of this whole city. The Terrarium. One of the seven last bastions of vegetable life in this world, scorched by nuclear war.

How do I know this? I read the leaflet, of course!. This is the Starter City, Xin Jian, a bastion of humanity built in the middle of the Tibetan Plateau, housing over a million people. That is, in the lore of the game. In actuality, it was built to house the hundred thousand players who joined the Inaugural Server today.

I guess this is my Personal Room as a new player... I guess there's something I need to do First…

I started in a plain white cubicle, there was a simple white bed with equally white sheets, a small desk, and a closet embedded into the wall. I looked around the room, exploring it as there didn't seem to be any Tutorial as of yet... There's no Graphic Interface either.

Eh... such a confusing choice... I guess I need to do something in here first, before I can venture outside. I can see players not used to VR getting completely lost though...

I walk towards the table, and pull its clean minimalistic chair, seating down. Nothing happens. Eh... Then what is left is the bed and the closet... I'm going there then.

I tuck the chair beneath the desk again, organization and cleanliness are key! As soon as my hand opens the closet, the environment around me changes completely. Wow, I finally feel I'm inside a game.

So this is the Character Creation Menu... What is there to choose...

In front of me a massive mirror appears while I stand in front of it. There are mirrors in all directions... Hold up! Is there one on the floor too!? I look down, realizing I'm wearing a skirt.
Ah... They thought this through...
I sigh in relief as the image through the mirror is blurred. I guess the Devs wouldn't make such a rookie mistake.

Above my head, on the mirror in front, a Name appears. I guess this is my nickname for this game... I'll go with Xunli!

< Username already taken >

Ehhhhh!!! How!? I joined as soon as the server opened!

A red error message flashed beneath my chosen name that glowed red. I guess I won't be able to use this... Ah... I really don't want to use my Guaipo one... I guess I'll make another one up. Okay, Kyuna it is!

< Valid Username >

Wow... I guess most of the players here really are chinese... My old nickname worked just fine. Confirm!

I pressed the green button floating in the air with my hand. And three characters appeared in the mirror side by side.

Eh... I guess I have to choose a class... Hold up! My appearance is defined by the class!? Nobody told me that!

I stared in awe at the three characters. Both looked very similar, but still completely different. The game has three main classes. Penetrator, Hawk and Grunt.

Penetrator, as the name implies, is the class used by hackers and infiltration groups. The characters are slim and cute. But most importantly, CUTE! They are a unique class that has many exclusive perks, but has the downside of being very weak and flimsy. So, low health and slow while carrying heavy weapons. Sure, there's also an aim penalty... But that's only embedded into the Aim-Assist, if you disable it, although much much harder to shoot, you can overcome the difficulty with effort and training. Hawks are the average jack of all trades, they are sharpshooters and scouts. Fast, slim, and precise. But they lack most of the perks from the other classes... I guess this is the average class for casual players. The last one is the Grunt, they are large, bulky and muscular, the opposite of me! Eh, I guess they do have a lot more health, can wear massive armor and also carry a lot of weight while being still average... But still! They are walking targets! Of course, this is a skill based game, for gun lovers, so there's not much in the sense of stupid leveling stuff... At least not for PVP, hunting and missions are heavily dependent on the Player Rank, which is needed to unlock weapons, equipment and locations...

Which class I chose? Innit pretty obvious? Of course I chose penetrator! I'm a specialist when it comes to guns.