[Are You Sure You Wish To Apply For A Character? This choice is irreversible. Y/N]

 

 

 

 

Andrew's attention remained fixed on the pop-up window, which had now become the third consecutive one to intrude upon his screen. Its persistence was becoming increasingly aggravating. The Multi-User Shared Hallucination had crossed his path randomly while idly passing time at work, delving into peculiar games reminiscent of his college days. It appeared to be a privately operated platform, accessible only by invitation, lending an aura of exclusivity to the mysterious offer. Yet, on the flip side, the constant warnings and deterrents seemed determined to dissuade him from signing up altogether.

The application process took over three weeks.

Finally, he got a confirmation email. He had almost forgotten about the application, so he eagerly agreed. But now the email seemed to be trying everything in its power to get him to turn it down.

He clicked on yet another 'YES' button.

 

[It doesn't look like you read the end-user agreement. You clicked quite fast. Perhaps you should go back and reread it, one more time, just to be SURE you agree with everything.]

[Do you want to go back to reread the end-user agreement? Y/N]

 

 

"What the heck?" Andrew cursed under his breath as he clicked the N, "Just process my Damn application!"

 

[FINE]

 

Andrew quirked an eyebrow.

 

[DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU]

 

Everything went black.

 

 

---

 

 

"Well, this is an interesting build."

 

Andrew surveyed his surroundings, a sense of unease settling in. The space around him was peculiar—a featureless grey room with only a solitary desk. Seated behind the desk was the grey outline of a humanoid figure. A vaguely female voice resonated in the air. Andrew continued to glance around, a growing realization dawning on him that something crucial was absent from the environment.

 

His body.

 

"What the... What's going on?" Andrew looked around frantically, only to discover he couldn't move from the point in space he was looking from, only change the direction.

 

The grey outline emitted a sigh. "Another one who skipped over the end-user agreement, I assume." the vaguely female voice remarked with a click of the tongue. "You warn them and warn them, but do they listen? No." There was a pause before she continued, "Well, technically, it was all text, so you couldn't listen. What you didn't do was READ." The outline shook its head, emphasizing the point. "And NO. There is no going back. Your old life is over. You're stuck with this one. A deal's a deal."

 

Andrew tried to stand up, lean to the side, or move in any direction, but he couldn't, "Am I strapped in a chair with VR goggles on?" It didn't feel like he was, but he was desperately trying to understand what was going on while still relating to a paradigm of reality as he understood things to function.

 

The outline rubbed her forehead, "Seriously? I'll sum it up. You applied to be a part of our little community. It was explained, that it's a world that is a training ground. It's real, the people are real. Everything is real. Remember?"

 

Andrew spoke softly, "I thought that was just fluff text."

 

"You people always do." She sighed, "Look. We've taken your application because we are really... and I mean REALLY. We are REALLY low on support classes. It's... it's a mess. The whole world is a mess. Unfortunately, it's a sort of crucible. The purpose of this world is twofold."

 

The figure held up one finger, "The act of adventuring in this world generates mana. A LOT of mana. We constantly siphon off the excess. We use it to fuel the war effort. What war is that? Don't worry about that at this stage." She held up a second finger, "The second is for training purposes. We get a whole lot of ordinary souls, but none of them ever make it to the big leagues. We encourage them to progress, but most don't. That's fine. You can just do whatever. We still need mana."

 

Andrew interrupted, "Progress?"

 

She nodded, "Progress. Advance in level. If you advance in level, you get perks. Advance far enough, you can get contracts to go fight in the war."

 

"I don't want to fight in any war!"

 

The outline nodded, "As I said, that's fine. You don't have to, but we do make it worth your while if you do. We don't want to just go shoveling people into a meat grinder, so we really will only approach you if you prove yourself capable." She paused and seemed to drift off for a moment before she continued, "We have lots of meat for the grinder. What we need are exceptional people who are more than just a pile of stats. It's people like that who can move the needle."

 

She shook her head and seemed to return to the here and now, "Honestly, we get LOTS of people trying to make it the cut once they hear about the perks, so if you aren't interested, That's okay. Your soul is REALLY powerful. We'll get plenty of mana generation from you for as long as you just... do your thing and survive. No pressure." She held up a finger, "If you make the cut, you'll be contacted and told we got your eye on you. You can take the offer, or turn it down. We profit either way." She held her hand to the side of her mouth and spoke in a stage whisper, "Just between you and me, everyone takes the offer. And no, we don't strong-arm you. We need true believers, not reluctant conscripts."

 

She sighed and let her shoulders slump, "The problem is, we get so many... SOLO applicants. We are trying to encourage people to form TEAMS, but they just..." She shook her head, "We don't get it. Maybe it's the environment or the type of people this sort of program attracts, but we rarely get team players."

 

She perked up, "That's why your application was fast-tracked! We get next to NO applications for support characters."

 

Andrew had been silent while she rattled off her explanation and finally spoke up at this point, "Uhh... did you read my application?"

 

She nodded, "It's... unusual, but acceptable. You picked so many weak classes with support abilities that the higher-ups were worried about your survival, but after we reviewed your requested starting race, we figured it would all work out."

 

Andrew tried to rub his forehead, realized he didn't have an arm, and then took a deep breath, "They approved it, without any arguments? I figured how game-breaking it was, that'd you torpedo most of it, and I'd have to compromise."

 

The figure laughed, "Seriously? You applied for a fifth-level starting character! You could have started at eleventh. Very modest! You have no less than four starting classes and only one advanced class, and it is the weakest advanced class possible. Nobody takes it! Multiclassing always results in a weak combat build, so you'll certainly be relegated to party support." She shook her head slightly, "I have no idea how you'd think it was game-breaking."

 

"Uhhh... and... the bloodlines were approved? All of them? All three bloodlines in one character; lesser, greater, and crown. As a HUMAN?" Andrew sounded baffled.

 

The figure poked at the table between them and some windows appeared on the surface, "Well... yes. A bit unusual, but it's why we approved the character to compensate for the poor build. Crown Bloodline Titan, Greater Bloodline Mythral Dragon, Lesser Bloodline Angelic." She looked up, "Very unusual combination, but considering how weak your start is..." The being's voice trailed off with a tone that implied a great deal of sympathy and pity.

 

"And the Martial Artist, Psychic, Obolmancer, Librarian, and Divine Mind classes in their alternate configurations were all approved?" Andrew sounded like he couldn't believe it, "Seriously?"

 

The figure sounded annoyed at having to repeat herself, "Yes. That's what I said. However, you understand that your build doesn't quite work. There are some errors in your calculations, so there are a few last-minute-"

 

"No errors!" Andrew gleefully cut the figure off, "Just let me set it up in the right order! There is a very specific way that everything must be purchased!" Andrew sounded somewhat panicked, "Can you... I dunno. Give me hands and let me do this?!"

 

The figure sounded confused, "Uhh... I... can't see how the buy order will change anything." She shrugged and snapped her fingers, then tapped the desk. The windows all reversed direction to face Andrew, "Go ahead." She clicked in the corner of the primary window to zero out the build, "Spend things in whatever order you want."

 

 

 

 

Andrew started tapping on the character build windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the outline had a mouth, it would be frowning MOST deeply.