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“Log 5819: Bone Dragon flight very limited. Seek alternative flying harbingers of doom.” - Personal Memoirs of the Revenant King.

 

I was falling.

 

Feeling the sudden downwards acceleration toward a sea of white clouds, I did what any sane person would do and screamed like a little girl.

 

“That comparison is rather unflattering,” Eve said next to me.

 

I turned my head and looked at her expressionless face, she was enjoying this, wasn’t she? Yes! She was definitely enjoying this!

 

“This is an intro cinematic I made,” she continued, completely dismissing my accusatory expression. “The good part comes now,” she finished before disappearing.

 

Suddenly I was engulfed in clouds, my vision was filled with white, before abruptly shifting to green as I broke through the clouds as suddenly as I had entered.

 

I discovered a vast stunning landscape. I was above some kind of city, but any signs of civilisation seemed to have been replaced with verdant greenery.

 

Words flashed in front of me. Written in bold impactful letters.

 

WELCOME TO GAIA

World of Beginnings

 

I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding, and before I could completely recover from the shock, I felt my feet softly landing on something solid. My heart felt like a rabid animal as it beat loudly in my ribcage.

 

That was terrifying… wonderful… fuck. I fell to my knees, waiting for my heart rate to settle.

 

“I recommend taking deep breaths to calm down.” Eve calmly said next to me.

 

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” I sarcastically replied, “very funny.”

 

She tilted her head, “It was an attempt at an inside joke.”

 

“Not a very good one, as the last time I heard that, you broke my nose.”

 

“Unintentionally.”

 

“Doesn’t fix my broken nose,” I snorted as I shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.

 

“It will fix itself. A benefit of an organic body.”

 

I took a few glances around, I was on the roof of some kind of building. I could make out some ventilation fans scattered around me, along with a room that had stairs leading downwards.

 

The place was covered in greenery, almost excessively so. Sprouts seemed to grow out of every available crack, moss covered most of the floor. Gingerly raising my hand, I poked a patch of moss next to me. It was… soft, I slowly scraped a bit off with a finger and brought it to my nose.

 

It smelled damp and earthy.

 

“What realism level are we operating on here?” I asked.

 

“Ignoring pain reduction programs and menus, 100%,” she replied in her unnaturally even tone.

 

“Well shit,” I replied impressed, the best vrmmo on the market should only be 60%. “Is it always going to be on 100%?”

 

“Yes, but you may adjust it if you wish.”

 

I rose, my hand wiping off the damp moss on my pants, “Where are we?”

 

“Gaia,” she answered, “I used father’s original one to one replication as a base, then simulated several centuries without human existence.”

 

“And what are we doing here?” I asked, it was a bit strange that we started in a simulation of our world, as opposed to whatever game world I suspected she made.

 

“You will go through your tutorial here along with character creation. Please think of it as a hub world or a menu you access before you enter the game.”

 

“Why Gaia though?”

 

“Gaia was father’s second greatest achievement, it would be a waste to not use it somehow.”

 

I nodded, it would make sense for father complex to try to shove everything down my throat. It was interesting that she considered Gaia to be second best.

 

Doing a quick stretch, I took a deep breath. The air almost felt unnaturally fresh and clear to me as I heard my arms and shoulders crack in a satisfying manner.

 

I started walking towards the edge of the building, feeling my breath being taken away for the second time that day as I saw past the short protective barrier at the edge.

 

I saw large, squat concrete buildings go as far as I could see. Yet here they were covered in rich vegetation. Moss and vines crept on the side of skyscrapers. Trees roots grew large and unhindered, cracking through ancient looking asphalt. Colourful birds flew by in the distance.

 

Part of me wanted to just stand there and admire the scenery. I did for a few minutes, but I was on a time limit.

 

I turned around to Eve.

 

“I suggest that you log off soon, it is unlikely you’ll get through both character creation and the tutorial in the remaining 11 minutes you have before the doctor checks up on you.”

 

I sighed, I wanted to stay here a bit longer but getting interrupted halfway through was more irritating than waiting.

 

“Fine!” I said, making a decision, “Show me the character creation options, I’ll have time to think about it.”

 

She nodded, and a holographic screen appeared in front of me. On it, was a long list of races.

 

“You’re free to customise your character’s appearance however you want. However, I suggest keeping to your real-life body proportions to avoid character disconnect.”

 

I nodded, barely registering her words as I scrolled through the list of races. It was long, at least fifty races were listed here. However most of them were blurred out, only four races were available to me currently. Humans, elf, dwarf and gnome.

 

“What’s this?” I asked, gesturing to a fifth available option, which just said ‘I’m feeling lucky.’

 

“That option gives you preselected options.”

 

I raised an eyebrow, “And how are those selected?”

 

“By me,” She replied.

 

“Using what criteria? And why would I pick that option?”

 

Eve raised an eyebrow, “The criteria is a trade secret and you have the chance of obtaining a character with a locked starter race or class.”

 

I gestured at the blurred out options, “Any other way to unlock the locked starter races?”

 

“Yes,” she replied, “Every 100 experience points you gain in-game will give you an ‘Impact Point’. These points can be spent in the hub for new character slots or to permanently unlock starter races or classes.”

 

“That sounds like it’ll scale horrifically.”

 

Eve shrugged, “I’ll make adjustments if they are needed, and experience isn’t as common as you believe.”

 

I opened my mouth to ask, “-you’ll find out for yourself.” She interrupted.

 

I gave her a questioning look, before shrugging. “Am I locked into the premade if I pick it or can I look at it and decide my options?” I asked.

 

“You may preview it and you aren’t locked into that character, and you are allowed a degree of customisation with it. However you currently only have one character slot to use.”

 

I tapped on the preselected option.

 

A figure appeared before me. It was… odd. Humanoid looking and was about a head shorter than me, it had leathery, greyish-white skin. It didn’t have hands so much as some kind of graspers. But its most defining traits was on its head. Instead of eyes or a mouth, there were… gaps where they should be, like a jack o’ lantern, and from there, glowed some kind of faint blue bioluminescence. On its head was some kind of small wizards hat. Except there were bulbous patches where it was glowing in the same faint blue luminescence as the eyes and mouth. It wasn’t until I looked closer that I realised the cap was connected to the thing’s scalp.

 

I looked at the description. Variant Myconid: Magic Cap. Class options: Druid, Sorcerer, Fungalmancer.

 

I went back and tapped on ‘human’, ignoring the new figure that appeared before me. The only class options were ‘Fighter’, ‘Cleric’, ‘Wizard, ‘Rogue’ and ‘Ranger’. I checked the other three races. The exact same options.

 

Boring.

 

Well, it looks like I’m going to be playing a magic mushroom.

---

I opened my eyes, blearily stretching my arms as I rose from the hospital bed.

 

First things first, “I was invited to a vrmmo by some kind of AI,” I whispered. The words came out, it was safe enough to assume that Eve had removed the program on me... Or just patched it so I could speak more freely. At this point, I couldn’t be sure until I tested it.

 

I checked the time. ‘11 pm.’ It was pretty late. A car should be here to pick me up by now. My finger moved towards my Messages, I paused as I noticed a new app underneath. ‘Gaia.’

 

Two messages. One from Matt asking for more details. One from my parents telling me the car was on the way to pick me up.

 

I quickly typed up a message to Matt. “Apparently, all the driving programs all bugged out at once…” I paused and typed. “Is what the police think, the truth is that some god level AI hacked into them…” I stopped and deleted that line.

 

It sounded crazy now that I typed it down, and I didn’t want to drag Matt into this, not yet. I had too little information, both on Eve and the game she was trying to sell. I’d like to think I have a good grasp on Eve’s ‘personality’. If Eve has as much processing power as she claims to have, then there is no point in attempting to trick her. Guilt-tripping her about her ‘father’ worked, or was it just pretending to make me feel like I had leverage? She can definitely read my mind as well.

 

Ughh… fuck. There’s no way I can outthink that thing, and if I think about the ‘ifs’ of her behaviour then I’ll spend forever in a constant loop of bad outcomes. Stick to what I know first, use Occam’s Razor. Whatever that AI is, it's fucking powerful. For now, I’ll just assume the worst and say it has several planets worth of computing power behind it.

 

Second is that the AI is interested in keeping at least a semblance of humanity. Perhaps the only thing I could exploit. I definitely can’t make her lose her sense of humanity somehow, or at least the apparent obsession with Giles Cooper.

 

Third would be her goals… Which seems to be just fulfilling whatever Giles Cooper wanted -mental note to find out everything I could about that man- which is displaying all his major achievements and/or the creation of worlds.

 

Fourth… I can’t think of a fourth. I’ll come back to it later.

 

The other thing is the game she’s trying to sell. If everything I’ve heard about it was true, then it’s on a scale that has never been attempted before. Replicating a person’s senses in a virtual world with 100% accuracy isn’t impossible, it just takes a shit ton of processing power. Hence why no VRMMO on the market has ever gone past 60%. Not only that but there are also horror stories about ‘sensory bugs’. If some idiot accidentally swapped two sensations around, then suddenly that cool breeze you’re feeling in VR becomes dozens of needlepoints stabbing you. Or there’s a model glitch and you phase yourself through an object. Needless to say, the sensation of being stuck in a table isn’t pleasant.

 

Just having an entire world with 100% realism would be enough to make Gaia the most popular game in the world. The fact that it was just acting as a hub world for something greater is…

 

Wonderful.

 

Somewhere along the line, Matt’s stupid enthusiasm for VRMMOs infected me as well. Even if I became jaded after the dozens of failures we’ve tried. Some were fun, but none of them felt real. Gaia felt real. I smelled the freshness of the air, I felt the damp softness of the moss. Mundane and small details lesser vrmmos had to sacrifice to get server space.

 

For the second time today, I felt my heart speed up, my blood rushing.

 

I wanted to be there when the first perfect VRMMO was released. I want to play it, I want to experience it.

 

I tapped a notebook on my interface, Eve had allowed me to copy down the class and race descriptions so that I could make a choice. Just from a glance, Druid seems to be a conditional generalist whereas the other two are specialists. However, with how vaguely defined the sorcerous aspects are, Sorcerer might also be considered a generalist. If we’re going by classic RPG magic, then mana alone encompassed a lot of magical shit. Fungalmancer had the vaguest description, however, it was the most unique of the three and had roleplaying value for being a mushroom mage on a mushroom race.

 

Race: Myconid

Subrace: Magic Cap

A myconid born in a mana rich environment, it is innately talented in magic and possesses the rich vitality and spore-based racial skills the species as a whole is known for. However, in addition to the myconids' natural aversion to sunlight and dryness, extended periods without mana may kill it. Beware of deserts and null magic zones.

 

Stats:

Body

Strength: 8

Agility: 7

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 15

Stamina: 10

Vitality: 12

 

Mind

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 15

Charisma: 6

 

Soul

Will: 10

Aura: 10

Perception: 10

 

Growth:

+1 Wisdom per level

+1 Intelligence per 2 levels

+1 Free point that can be spent on CON or VIT per 2 levels

2 SP required to raise Dexterity

5 SP required to raise Agility

5 SP required to raise Charisma

 

Racial Abilities (Summary):

Superior Darkvision [Passive]: Can see in dim light within 40 meters as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern colours in darkness, only shades of grey.

Fungal Body [Passive]: Innate resistance to poisons.

Sun Sickness [Passive]: Being in direct sunlight will drain your stamina, this effect can be mitigated by raising Constitution.

Mana Dependency [Passive]: Taking physical actions with low mana will drain extra stamina.

Pacifying Spores [Active]: Eject spores at a creature within 5 meters of you, if the target fails a Constitution Save then it is put to sleep. This skill scales with your Constitution and Vitality.

Innate Magic [Passive]: Gain 2 Tier 0 Spells from the Magic Cap Myconid Spell List.

 

Languages: Common, Undercommon

 

Classes:

Druid

Druids draw upon nature for power. It is a very versatile class with the ability to shapeshift into various creatures and access to both defensive and offensive spells. However, since druids call upon nature for power, you may be required to actively help and protect nature or risk losing its favour. Your powers may also weaken with proximity to civilisation or extended periods without assisting nature in some way.

 

Sorcerer

A mage that draws upon an innate talent for power. Their spells are known to be extremely powerful, however, the magic they can achieve is limited to their bloodline. As a Magic Cap Myconid, your available bloodlines are Mana, Spores and Primal Elements.

 

Fungalmancer

A specialised mage with abilities closely relating to fungus. It can use far-spreading spores for a variety of… colourful effects and summon or create fungal lifeforms to do its bidding.

 

I couldn’t think of a single reason why I wouldn’t want to play any one of these classes. Druids had drawbacks and conditions however, it seemed to be the most versatile of the three, just the ability to shapeshift into different creatures is overpowered. Sorcerer covered a lot more than what I initially thought of it and Fungalmancer was unique and fit the mushroom theme.

 

It was when the doctor came and removed the gel that I had decided. If I was going to play a weird race, I might as well go for the weird class.