First Mission

"Otrera, did we cause all of this destruction?"

"Would the player like to enter the story mode?" Otrera asked.

Gene forgot he had a last-minute inspiration to make his process of building power as much like an MMORPG game as possible. Now that he was in the midst of using it he regretted this decision a little. He just wanted a simple yes or no answer.

A dialogue box popped up in front of Gene's eyes, "Enter Story mode, yes/no." Gene touched the floating button "yes" and waited as a movie screen appeared in front of him.

The story mode was a replay of what happened in the Superior Crafting Guild. The only difference is the replay had music added to the events, scenes were cut to make the standoff between the two guilds more interesting, and camera angles would change from time to time offering interesting and dramatic angles.

As it turned out, most of the death was caused by the battle between the Superior Crafting Guild and the King's Crafting Guild.

almost everyone from the Superior Crafting Guild was killed by the King's Crafting Sect before the beam of energy appeared.

Those burned up by the heat from the energy beam were mostly members of the King's Crafting Guild. By the time he woke up in his new body, there were very few survivors from either guild. The survivors fled to who knows where.

The King's Crafting Guild won the war but it was a pyrrhic victory as nearly all the members of their guild who took part in the battle and the army they brought with them were killed by their enemies. Gene's arrival helped finish the job.

The movie stopped playing. Gene felt guilty about the deaths he caused but those were accidental.

He didn't realize the energy beam would burn up everything around it. In fact, when he ran his calculations the heat output was practically non-existent.

"Otrera, why was the heat output of the energy beam so high? According to my calculations, the heat output should have been negligible."

"The instability caused prior to our launch caused a surge in the energy and heat output," Otrera responded.

It really was an accident, since there was nothing he could do he decided to move forward. "I wonder what I should do first. Otrera, why do I feel so muddle-headed?"

"The host body has different physical characteristics from the player's original body. The host body's brain is inferior to the brain of the player's original body, for example.

In order to regain your previous level of intelligence, the player will need to modify the new body through gameplay," Otrera explained.

Once the new host body and the player's original body synchronize, a level of normal function will return.

"Would Player like to customize his character?" Otrera asked.

Gene thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. "Might as well, let's take a look at the current stats." A screen opened up in front of him and on the screen was a three-dimensional image of his current body or as the computer called it "the character".

The name of the "character" was listed at the top as well as his background information. Everything was editable. It turns out, the young man was called Xan Gower.

Xan was orphaned by his parents when he was seven years old. His grandfather was unable to care for him so he brought him to the Superior Crafting Guild.

He hoped his grandson would have some ability and could be taken in by the guild. After testing, it was determined Xan had a superior grade talent, a genius.

The guild took him in happily given his talent was so rare. Not since the disappearance of the old ancestor had the guild have a superior grade talent.

There were four open character slots. Xan Gower occupied the fifth slot. This meant he could create four new "characters." As the game progressed he would be able to create more.

"Otrera, when my original body and this body synchronize, will 'Gene Alexander' be a character who takes up a slot, or will Xan Gower and Gene Alexander be the same person?"

"When the player's original body and current host body synchronize, the primary character will be the new synchronized body. Either character Xan Gower will disappear or character Gene Alexander will disappear," Otrera said.

"I want Gene Alexander to remain and he will be the main character."

"The Player should change the character name from Xan Gower to Gene Alexander. Then, click the box, make this the main character.

Player, please notice the indicator below 3D character that shows progress on synchronization.

Moving through the customization for the character, he made a few changes. He was informed by the system, Otrera, he would have another chance to customize the character after synchronization completed.

The gameplay focused on skill development which could be endlessly acquired so long as he met the right conditions.

At the beginning level, he could have a main profession and two sub professions. He chose a warrior as his main profession. His weapon of choice is a hammer. His two sub professions were crafting master and healer.

This MMORPG was different from others. In traditional games, a person would use points to build things like strength and dexterity. There was a separate screen having to do with the body and mental development.

He created a wholistic system and it took not just working out, but he also needed special materials and he needed to build specialized equipment.

This program was game-based, but everything happened in the real world. He couldn't just hit a certain number of experience points, glow, and then his body and skills ascended to the next level.

Checking his body stats there was a section listing the levels of development, a section for collecting necessary materials, and blueprints for the equipment he needed to build. He didn't need the computer blueprints since those designs were already in his head.

Finishing his customization, he received a system notification. "Welcome basket available, would you like to open yes/no?"

Gene opened the welcome basket, he received five hundred gold coins, a book "Basics of Crafting for Apprentices," a starter combat hammer, and a map of the Superior Crafting Guild.

Gene equipped the hammer and activated the map. Once he finished he received another system notification.

First mission:

Your guild is gone, but there are five precious treasures for a survivor of the vicious guild war.

Follow the map to locate the treasures of the guild. You have forty-five minutes to complete your mission. Failure to complete this mission in the allocated time will likely result in death.

The huge battle and blinding light seen in the skies has attracted many other powerful individuals who want to profit from the war between the two guilds.

If you fail to leave the guild grounds before their arrival; these powers may capture, torture, and then kill you. Good luck!"

Gene was surprised at first but then found the situation to be reasonable. He was actually surprised he had so much time.

Matching the map to the terrain, Gene ran to the guild to find as many of its hidden treasures as possible.

According to the map, there were five places he needed to visit in order to get all the treasures listed. He ran to the guildhall to find its treasures.