CHAPTER THREE : CHARACTER CREATION

The character creation screen.

I get to design my body.

The body I'll be stuck with for the rest of my life.

I was staring at a white mass with arms and legs with a blank face as text appeared in a black bubble at the top of my vision. "Physical body dada loaded. Import? Y/N" The text said as a mechanical voice read it out loud.

I closed my eyes thinking for a moment remembering what I looked like. I never had any complaints about my human self. I wasn't too overweight or had any features that I would call unattractive. "Yes, import data," I said out loud.

"Importing Data." The bubble said as I watched the white mass change and contort. The color changed to a light peachy tan. Black hair began to grow out of masses scalp. I recognized it immediately as my old hair. The same hair that greeted me in the mirror every time I walked out of the shower. The face molded and morphed, the nose was soft and round. The lips formed light pink, they were softly plump.

I watched as the details finished and there I was floating in the air in front of me, in a fetal position. "Are the parameters Acceptable? Y/N"

I nodded my head, "Y...yeah. They are."

The world shifted around me in my response my eyes were closed and a weightless feeling overtook me. Slowly I worked to open my eyes. When I opened them I watched myself descend slowly toward the white marbled ground. When I touched the ground I could feel… cold. The floor was cold yet smooth. I stood up and looked ahead. Five different orbs floated on pedestals in front of me. I knew them wall from my research.

One was bright orange that surged intensely on the platform. I knew that one to be fire. It's an element that is used for high damage through overwhelming force and putting damage over time debuffs on targets. Fire was said to be the easiest element to use to level up quickly through having an incredibly strong early game.

The second was a vibrant green that released a light soothing light. This element isn't used much for active combat but is expected to be needed in end game content, due to the healing powers only coming from the nature element. I shook my head thinking about choosing that element support didn't match my style. It is worth mentioning that people who choose nature as their element can mix plants and animal parts into powerful potions and poisons.

The third element looked to be simply a floating orb of rigid stone. This element was most likely to be chosen for people to prefer to be able to survive heavy beatings and dish them out as well while taking damage. Earth was also the only element that had the potential to develop the smithing talent meaning that many people would choose this element for that talent alone. It was a tempting element to take due to how dying leads to heavy exp penalties but still I shook my head. I wanted to be able to dish out damage.

The fourth element was a bright yet violent yellow, that seemingly wanted to break out of the confines of its pedestal. It went without saying this was lightning. It provided high-speed bonuses to anyone using it and was known for having the second-best early game due to the powerful abilities that come with lightning. People who choose this element are the only ones who can imbue armors and accessories with powerful enchantments.

The last element was a soft white that gently dropped down pure white snow around the pedestal. Cryo. Throughout the beta of the game, Cryo was spoken as the most underwhelming class that only works with mages. Testers claimed that Cryo though giving ridiculous crowd control also gives extreme penalties to stats that make the game almost unplayable. I don't know why I felt like this element was calling me… this most hated element. I smiled to myself and walked toward it reaching my arm out. The other elements disappeared as the white energy flowed into me. It felt warm.

A text bubble appeared overhead, "You have chosen Cryo. Penalties will be applied to main stats choose your class." Different pictures of classes appeared in front of my face all of them had stat bars but they were seemingly empty in strength int, cha, luk, vit, and end. I focused on looking through the classes I had a few choices. The choices I had were Lord, Mage, Knight, Blade, Summoner, Machinist, Archer.

I closed my eyes forgetting about the tier list but focusing on what sounded great as choosing cryo meant I was throwing the meta away anyway. The Blade stuck out to me. They were assassins that focused on using critical damage to deal the majority of their damage. Combined with ice magic it could work quite well. I chose Blade.

I confirmed the decision through another text box. "Welcome to the New World Online Adam Ronin." The text box said as I faded into a snowy world surrounded by stone buildings. Another text bubble appeared along with a voice overhead, "Congratulations. You are the only Cryoblade. A buff too base stats have been applied as a bonus. New feature added. To make things more interesting for the community a weapon evolution system has been implemented. To check progress in weapon evolution open the menu and click the evolution system icon."

"I don't remember anything about evolving weapons," I muttered to myself as the text box continued.

"Again welcome and enjoy your new life."

I looked around the world was seemingly empty besides the NPC's which had a lifeless look in their eyes. I knew that the starting location was based on the element chosen. "Had anyone chosen cryo at all?" I muttered to myself not seeing anyone spawning around me, "It seems not or I took less time in character creation than anyone else." I sighed reaching down in my pocket feeling a handful of coins in my pocket. I pulled them out they were seemingly made out of pure gold.

Even though it was snowing I didn't feel cold. I looked up at the buildings noticing a building with a sign with a picture of a bed on it, "An inn… I should have enough gold for the night." I said to myself entering the inn.

A woman in a red dress stood behind the counter. She stood almost motionless only moving to breathe or blink every so often. "Hello." I said to her, "How much for the night?" I questioned with a smile.

She didn't smile back. She kept the same lifeless look on her face. Her mouth though was moving to respond, "The first night is free would you like to spend the night?" She questioned as a text box appeared "Y/N"

I nodded my head, "Yes I would like to spend the night." I said.

She bowed in response and handed me a key that had 101 printed on it. She pointed down the hall which I assumed was where my room was. I left without saying goodbye. No reason to waste hospitality on an NPC. The first room to my right was room 101. "It's not much… but it'll do," I said to myself laying down on the bed. The fresh white sheets were… comforting.

Under the covers I looked up, 'This city should be much busier in the morning. For now… I really should sleep.' I closed my eyes slowly letting sleep take me. Not knowing what tomorrow would bring nor expecting how eventful it became.