Lucian brought up the dainty huatianxia cup to his lips, taking another small sip of steaming hot matcha before setting it back down on the end table he had shifted over; throat bobbing slightly as he swallowed down the savoury, bitter liquid.
Whipping out his holopad, he checked the time.
11:55
Wednesday, 17th of Verdant Blades.
Navigating into G@m3rs 4 Lyfe’s chat, he skimmed through the accumulated messages, occasionally smirking but mostly reading them all with an impassive face.
“Uh oh. Nothing good ever comes of that look.”
Glancing up at Iona’s sudden statement, he smoothened out his facial expression while powering off his holopad, levelling her with an arch look a moment thereafter.
“I resemble that remark.” He stated tonelessly, getting a disbelieving look in the process. “It’s not polite to point out a person’s faults, you know?”
Her lips twitched upwards ever so slightly, something he would have completely missed if he wasn’t so familiar with her tells.
“My home, my rules. What I say goes, ne?” She shot back, repeating a phrase she oft levelled at Seo-Yoon.
“Whatever you say, my lady.” He raised his hands in mock surrender before activating the faux cardboard box; focusing on it as it rapidly unfolded. “Speaking of… did you invite any of the others to join us?”
Due to his preoccupation, Lucian missed how Iona’s cheeks pinkened briefly.
She hid her cheeks behind her hands, willing the blush to subside before Lucian saw it. Thankfully, she felt the heat drain from them quickly, allowing her to respond with equanimity before he grew curious about her silence.
“It is a little late to only ask now, is it not?” Iona commented while checking the time. “Only two minutes remain until the New Age of Champions launches.”
Lucian looked at her after plucking out his neuro gear; casually tossing the reclosed box to the side and causing it to roll across the carpet. “That’s not an answer, my dear.”
She leaned over the side of her beanbag, retrieving her own faux cardboard box and copying his actions. “I did not. We can do that another time, perhaps.”
“How about your family?” He asked, getting a single arched brow as she straightened to look at him questioningly, wordlessly prompting him to elaborate. “Are they going to play NAoC as well?”
“Haya-nii and Nix-nii are.” She confirmed. “I am not sure about papa and mama, though…”
“Are the two going to enter the VRMMORPG at home?”
“Nope~. Haya-nii is with his intended and Nix-nii is with his…” Venom threaded through her voice as she spat out the last word. “Friends.”
While Lucian heard Iona’s disdain for Phoenix’s friends loud and clear, he knew better than to touch that entire issue – not even if he had a thousand-foot long pole.
He had always found it a bit… hypocritical how she disdained Phoenix’s gang of groupies for their comparatively low socioeconomic status, considering how he was no better. Some might say he was even worse off, with him being an orphan and all. Humans were just… complicated like that, he supposed.
“It is already 11:59 Cyan. You best start putting on your neuro gear before noon arrives. I doubt you would want to be late.”
Lucian quickly checked the time, realising what Iona said was right. Doing as suggested, he donned the neuro gear with easy familiarity, securing it to his temples and spine in short order.
Right at that exact moment, time measuring devices all across the globe ticked over to display 12 noon, Standard United Time; every single person wearing NAoC’s neuro gear hearing an identically monotonous voice drone in their ears.
Connect to the New Age of Champions?
Exchanging a final look of anticipation with Iona, Lucian declared.
“Yes!”
And then, his world was consumed in darkness…
…Only for his eyes to reopen what felt like an instant later, letting him catch sight of what seemed to be a world consisting solely of gentle white light, stretching far into the horizon and even beyond.
Calmly assessing the surroundings, he immediately realised that the only bit of colour in the empty expanse was himself.
Just as he came to that realisation, an eerily still, clearly genderless silhouette made from pitch black darkness and swirling stars materialised in front of him and caused him to step back.
“Owner of neuro gear confirmed. Welcome, Lucian Noxlear.”
Lucian retook a step forward, carefully examining the unknown being as a voice, identical to the one he heard prior to finding himself in this white virtual space, escaped the humanoid; one lacking a mouthlike orifice.
“Would you like to connect the neuro gear to any of your holodevices?”
Reacting instantly, he said. “Yes, please.”
“Understood. Connecting to holodevice now…”
Not even a handful of seconds had passed before.
“Connection complete. Would you like to proceed with Character Creation?”
“Proceed.” He confirmed.
Instatnly, colour flooded back in all around him in a dizzying display, before eventually settling back down and revealing he was standing in a lively field of grass slashed through by a burbling brook and ringed by a lively, thriving forest.
A blazing Sun beat down from high overhead, suspended in clear blue skies hard to find in pollutant-spewing metropolises like Goldstar.
Before Lucian could take in more of his surroundings, the unknown being reappeared right in front of him; monotonous voice leaving its figure an instant thereafter.
“Actualising avatar…”
A second after it trailed off, another figure abruptly appeared, standing between Lucian and the featureless being; one that caused his eyes to twitch involuntarily…
For it was a replica of himself down to the finest detail, from the mismatched pair of birthmarks on the outside of both his forearms to the subtle, pinkie-sized indent marring his right shin; something he had gotten after a nasty fall years ago.
One might have asked, how did he know all this? Well, the avatar, from the black hair on its head, all the way down to its littlest toe, lacked even a single stitch of clothing except for a plain pair of boxers; exposing his near-nakedness for all the world to see.
Thankfully, he was all alone here – ignoring the unknown being, that is.
“Please adjust your avatar’s appearance.” Aforementioned unknown being continued. “Please note that alterations cannot exceed a 10% variation from the base model.”
Even knowing that the being likely wouldn’t react, Lucian still couldn’t stop himself from shooting it a bewildered look.
That… was a strange restriction, to put things mildly.
Having played his fair share of VRMMORPGs, this was the first time coming across such an odd, seemingly pointless restriction. Curious despite himself, Lucian willed his doppelganger to grow until it reached an even two metres tall.
Unfortunately, nothing happened; confirming that the unknown being spoke the truth.
Forcefully stopping himself from continuing to test the restriction’s limits, Lucian looked himself over critically, thinking of what to change in his soon to be avatar. The first thing he did was erase his birthmarks, not wanting such identifying marks to remain and potentially give him away. He didn’t bother with the small indentation marring his flesh, knowing that clothing would easily cover it up.
While he wasn’t the most handsome guy out there, he had confidence in his own looks – something that probably couldn’t be said about many others.
Alas, said confidence came with a lacking desire to change anything truly substantial about himself. That was a problem, unfortunately.
Considering he knew what amounted to diddly-squat about how NAoC would play out, he really didn’t want people to be able to recognise him with a mere glance.
Circling around the avatar several times, Lucian hummed to himself contemplatively, thinking about whether he should simply change the colour of his hair; already having done some tests and finding it was feasible.
He was quite reluctant though. He was quite fond of his black hair.
Coming to a stop eye to eye with the avatar, he peered into light brown depths speckled with flakes of gold and motes of silver; a flash of inspiration striking his mind right at that moment.
Lucian’s most unique feature—or so Iona and Seo-Yoon always said—were the specks coloured like precious metals swimming in his eyes.
None of the doctors he had seen over the 25 years of his life had understood the reason for such a non-standard trait, but every one of them had made reassurances that it was nothing to be worried about.
So he had filed it away as such, classifying it as just a feature that made him stand out and nothing more.
Until now, that is.
Willing the colour of his doppelganger’s eyes to change, he watched, fascinated, as brown rapidly receded like the tide, replaced with subdued silver in his left eye and sharp gold in his right.
The overall picture, with his approximately 1.75 metre tall height and lean physique, made for a rather striking one, he wasn’t ashamed to admit.
Looking his soon to be avatar over for one last time, he nodded to himself, satisfied, before saying, “I’m done.”
In the literal blink of an eye, Lucian’s perspective of the world around him changed. Initially having been standing across from his avatar, he suddenly found himself standing where it used to be; his prior position completely empty.
Whirling around, he came face to featureless face with the genderless unknown being, only then understanding that he had truly become his avatar.
Lucian had to admit, he was damned impressed. In every past VRMMORPGs he played, the transition from his body to the avatar’s had been nowhere near as seamless.
“Please create the moniker you will be known by in the New Age of Champions.”
Without fanfare, a hard light keyboard, completely incongruent with the rustic area, popped up in front of him; hovering at a height perfect for his hands to interact with.
Casting his awe aside, Lucian focused and rapidly keyed in his chosen name.
“Please confirm. Are you sure you want your moniker to be Equinox?”
“Absolutely.” He stated firmly.
“Understood.” It intoned, the hard light keyboard vanishing out of sight instantly. “Next, please select your trail.”
Lucian didn’t even have time to react before finding himself suspended at a height above the treetops, the idyllic clearing he was previously standing in located far below and right underneath his bare feet.
“First, the Trail of Iron-blooded Domination…”
As the voice trailed off, day and night cycled in fast forward, as if a span of years was passing by in the span of a few seconds. As it did, ramshackle huts sprouted out from the previously idyllic clearing like mushrooms after rain, the trees ringing it cut down in the blink of an eye.
People, dressed in what looked like an archaic peasant’s garb, swiftly moved between the nascent settlement and the stream; jugs of water and fishing poles carried over exposed, tanned shoulders.
Before Lucian even had a thought about properly examining the newborn settlement, the ramshackle huts were replaced with houses made from wood then stone and then brick, every new iteration fancier and more complete than the last.
At the same time, the peasant garb was swapped out for clothing of a finer make, colours liberally subsuming the previously drab fabrics while superfluous ornaments hung from less weathered frames.
All the while, the settlement’s size constantly ballooned, expanding out and far beyond the initial clearing until it became a town then a walled city; paved roads winding between less prosperous settlements he glimpsed far off in the distance.
Just as Lucian thought the expansion was never going to end, the rapid cycle between night and day came to a sudden stop like a holovid paused abruptly; monotonous voice making itself known an instant thereafter.
“Second, the Trail of Intrepid Freedom…”
Out of absolutely nowhere, a wave of monstrous creatures drowned all the settlements, devastation and natural disasters following in their wakes.
From mountain-sized dragonflies kicking up sandstorms under their buzzing wings, to earthworms the length of skyscrapers creating canyons wherever they burrowed, and even honest-to-Champions dragons, creatures only spoken of in myth and legend, bringing down the wrath of Nature’s elements and reshaping the terrain at their whim…
In the proverbial blink of an eye, all the progress made to cultivate the land was undone; leaving behind biomes widely ranging from scorching deserts to icy tundras and everything in between.
Throughout it all, Lucian watched. Though he had initially cowered, he quickly realised that it was all just a cinematic – even if a scarily realistic one, far more terrifying than others of its kind he had seen in prior VRMMORPGs.
As he watched, survivors of the devastation crawled out of the proverbial woodworks, fighting the monsters that remained and slowly exploring the brand new hostile world they found themselves a part of.
Once again, as if it was happening in fast forward, settlements sprouted up, each one uniquely suited for their specific biome, the people far below carving out a safe place for themselves to survive and thrive.
Much like earlier, just when Lucian thought he would be watching for quite some time, the monotonous voice made itself heard once more.
“And finally, the Trail of Hoard Agglomeration…”
In a flash of light, he was relocated without any further warning.
Suddenly, a towering pile of what were clearly treasures materialised in his line of sight.
Gems sparkling with all the colours of a rainbow. Gleaming suits of regal armour and glinting stacks of every weapon imaginable. But more eye-catching than all that, mounds upon mounds upon mounds of silver and bronze and gold; each and every precious metal fashioned into coins of various shapes and sizes.
Lucian let out an involuntary breath of amazement at the sight. While not materialistic by nature, a person would have to be a veritable saint of some sort not to be drawn in by the amount of wealth put on such blatant display.
Just as he was preparing to examine the pile of treasures closely, the monotonous voice sounded off for a final time and whisked him away.
“Please, make your choice.”
