Chapter 1 : Opal, the golem
Opal and the legend of Asteria by Cecilia-Eshwald
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There was the character creation phase. Now that I can see it in front of my own eyes I can only agree to what everyone has said until now : it is a wonder of technology. And from what I've read online, it's only the tip of the iceberg.
 
My avatar looks exactly like I do in real life. How did they do it? Oh, I know! Perhaps they were scanning my entire body during the initialization phase earlier. I could see my eyes right now : the same as the real me, with the same colors as my own eyes. A mix of green and brown.
 
My hair was similarly matching, brown and shoulder length. Though it had a luster and a softness I'd never seen before. As if I was looking at a prettier version of myself in front of a mirror. I appear to be taller in this game than the average person. A good head above. Are they all that short? Really? My character was currently wearing the equivalent of the underwear of this world. Each race had their own variants. Some looked lewd, but were probably designed that way to appeal to some players' tastes.
 
 
Julie was currently browsing through the races of the different humanoid factions. She could see the typical ones that you would see in VRMMORPG or standard fantasy genre, but also a lot of others that she had never heard of. The variety of races to choose from was incredibly vast. Each with their owns traits, passives, and characteristics. Currently, Julie didn't want to decide right away. Instead exploring all the possibilities. That is, until one button caught her eye:
 
Monster Faction

In this game it was possible to play as a monster.

Monsters seemed to be the category where they put all kinds of creatures. Ones that don't fit the usual humanoid view of society.

They could be described as power hungry creatures. Although the images provided didn't look that power hungry at all... They could be described as very small, cute, fragile and weak. It didn't match with the description she'd expected when she selected the monster menu tab. There must be something else.

"Or... Maybe monsters are beings that start very weak, and have a much more advanced growth curve than the usual races from the different alliances. " She thought.

She glided through the seemingly endless list of monsters to choose from. They were all babies, small, lesser or impure versions of the classic monsters.

She clicked on random one time, and marveled at the different options that appeared. In the foreground she could see a translucent image depicting what she would look like as that monster. In the background sat her current avatar.

After clicking multiple times on the random button, she suddenly stopped.

 
"This one is adorable."
 
It was a miniature golem. It truly embodied the term 'mini', standing at only 1/10th the height of her human avatar on its hind legs.
The mini golem was mainly made of dirt and some stone, with a few vines here and there. A very faint blue light emanating from its chest that seemed like a core. Its limbs consisted of two comparatively large arms and two smaller legs that were very crudely crafted and round. Just like a mace.

She clicked on another button that brought her avatar to the foreground, shifting the golem to the background. Then, she changed the color of her eyes to blue with a bits of yellow. The color didn't seem to mix into a green, as it usually would. She chose to make her hair longer, resting right below her shoulder blades. As her finishing touch, she made her hair a deep blue and added an ancient tattoo that covered her entire body.

"And... done. Now how does that work? "

Julie began reading new information that popped up after selecting her race.

[Select a category]
  • Mana dweller
  • Rock eater
  • Dungeon construct
  • Undead abomination
  • Desert roamers
  • Abandoned temple sentinel

...

  • Remnant

There were many others. But Remnant was the option that drew her eyes.

"Remnant... Remnant of what?" she thought. And the VR device took that as a command, showing her a prompt:

[Remnant]

A remnant is a part of a whole. Something bigger. Most remnants are born after a cataclysmic magic hazard or from the remains of a larger entity who died or disappeared long ago.

They're very fragile but have great growth potential.

They only appear within or near ancient ruins and battle site.

For some reason, she really loved the sound of it. Maybe there would be a special questline? Maybe it would be extremely difficult to survive? She would only know when she accepted. Right now, a remnant was hinting at something very weak at the beginning but with a very strong potential as it grows.

She clicked on "yes".

 
[Name Yourself]

She was pondering. Naming a fictional character was always hard and she wanted to do it seriously. "A name fitting for a golem... " The golem had inherited some colors from her humanoid avatar. The vines who were green had a blueish tint to them now.

Its head wasn't a rough ball of dirt and rock anymore but slightly elongated on the front. As if a nose would grew there later.

Julie took a look of both avatar once more and has decided.

"Opal. The eyes make me think of that blue stone with other gem-like colors within. If I'll become a cute little golem. Then Opal it is."

 
[Name: Opal]

Another validation window appeared.

It was asking here if she was sure about her name. Julie blankly pressed yes. And now she was Opal, the little golem. Or at least that's what was written above her avatars.

Character creation completed. Please wait a moment...
Loading data...
Starting location: Crater of Asteria
Selecting a fitting core for your golem based on your choices, personality and physiological data...
Blue Core Selected.
Igniting your core...

And the menu disappeared. Everything went black. But the next second she could hear sounds next to her. Sound of rock and stone moving or being moved around. She was super excited to start but the screen remained black even though her monster interface appeared.

"Huuuh... I can't see anything?"

*silence*

"Hellooo? Why is everything black? Did I spawn in a wall or is my status messed up?"

A blue & a green interface appeared right in front of her side by side.

 

[Profile]
Name: Opal
Race: Golem (Remnant)
Lvl: 1
Size: Tiny (17,8cm)

[Stats]
Durability: 5
Integrity: 2
Physical power: 2
Magical Power: 0
Senses: 4
Dexterity: 0
Agility: 2

[Status effects]
Core alimentation: (-2 Magic power).

"Okay now I can see something... I didn't thought having no dexterity was a thing. Am I some kind of brute? " Opal was relieved to see some light but also perplexed just by the weird stats she was seeing on her profile. She had no dexterity since she had no hands right now and the low amount of magic power was entirely sucked by her core to keep her alive.

"I don't know why but those stats seems... underwhelming. Like, extremely weak..." She was blind right now but also realized that she was utterly weak and relatively fragile right now. She needed to move but she also needed to see where she was going.

"Now let's see the green window."

[Passive skill]
  • Geo pulse I: send a pulse to map your surrounding. It will detect and show ores and mana sources within range. (Toggled: OFF)
[Active skill]
  • Rock eater I: allow the golem to eat basic minerals. (Drill mode toggled: OFF)
    • Accumulate Mass.
    • Damage everything on its path while "drilling".
    • Golem's "head" transform itself into an inverted conical drill and start eating as he move forward a chosen direction.
    • Absorb dirt, stone  and ore into his body to gain more mass and grow stronger.

"Look like I've found the cause of my 'visibility' problem." She toggled ON the Geo pulse passive skill. Pulse after pulse were sent from her core to the ground surrounding her with a light blue color, outlining the terrain surrounding her. Opal could only see everything in a 4 meters radius around her. Everything past that limit was pure darkness.

Opal couldn't wrap her head about the what, how and why she could use something magic when she had 'zero' in her magical power. Maybe was it all redirected to the core? Then redistributed to other functions? She only had questions without answers for now.

Her current objective was pointing toward a wall. The quest title was pretty simple: "Find a way to leave the pocket" and since Opal could see everything her immediate surrounding. She was indeed in a stone pocket.

She followed the yellow indicator of her quest and when she was face to face with the wall in question it pointed in a certain direction, slightly upward.

Opal looked up toward the objective and toggled ON the drill mode transforming her head into an inverted conical drill as large as her body and when it started rotating, it was starting to create a tunnel large enough for her to move in all four.

She was on the move, making a gallery straight toward her objective.

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