Chapter 1: Character Creation

I arrived at the door, pushing it open with one hand, the other clutching precious cargo - a package that I had been waiting for weeks. I called out, "I'm home!" as I meandered over to my room, conveniently labeled on a small metal plaque as "Arthur's Room". Dropping my backpack and miscellaneous school supplies onto the floor, I rolled over to my study desk and set down the box, grabbed some scissors, and opened it. I slowly, almost reverently pulled out the Sagittarius Mk II, the latest and greatest Full Dive VR headset. All the news about its insane processing power and the various features it had flashed through my head. After I had finished geeking out, I quickly plugged everything in and set up the device from the outside. It was finally time to put it on. I slid on the helmet, heaved myself onto the bed, and after ensuring I was comfortable, said aloud, "Begin Simulation."

A rush of colors passed by my vision, before a glowing orb spun into existence before my very eyes. A genderless, monotone voice emanated from the orb, "Welcome, brain pattern recognized as User Arthur Salken, is this correct?" "Yes," I said, struggling to hold back my excitement. I was finally in VR! The orb swirled around, catching my attention again. "Would you like to load most recent calibration settings from your profile, Arthur Salken?" "Yes," I declared firmly. A body, similar to my real one, appeared between one blink and the next. The orb announced, "Simulating starter environment, please be ready, in 3... 2... 1... beginning simulation." A study formed around me, making me stumble as my feet touched the simulated floor. My feet sank into the plush rug as I looked around. A large desk occupied the wall directly in front of me, to my right a large window showed rolling hills. To the left was a painting showing an idyllic scene at a coffee shop. Turning around, I found what I was looking for, a nearly empty bookcase, only 2 books on the top shelf. Looking at the spines, one read SYSTEM RECALIBRATION, the other PSYCHE ONLINE. I slid Psyche Online off of the shelf and opened the book, soon finding myself standing in the white room of its character creator.

A screen popped up in front of me, detailing how to make a character and explaining the basics of the game. Always the game nerd, I read the whole thing. To summarize, the game is entirely based around skill and stats, with the system acting as more of a measuring stick. An exception existed, though - Abilities. These were the classic "skills" of other games. For instance, assuming two players have the same stats, but different focuses for knives, one being for cooking, the other for combat, the players would be shown to have two completely different skills. However, the system can upgrade skills, teaching the player a better way of using the skill. The stats were based on an efficacy standpoint, at least in the character creation. For someone who put everything into strength, their strength raises faster and is more effective, etc. Now, time for my build! I had thought of what I wanted to make for a while and had decided on a magic wielding rogue. As there were no classes, I just needed to select the right skill manuals here and get good enough stats. My setup ended up looking like this: