Diving Into The Virtual World!

- 21st of March 2030, Tokyo. -

No matter whether you were watching TV, listened to the radio, or simply browse through the internet -you would see a news report about the upcoming release of Undral Legacy literally everywhere.

It was always the same: they praised «ArgoCorp.» for making the human dream of a completely immersive VR experience possible, and their affiliated game-design company «New-Level» for creating the very first VRMMORPG in the history of mankind.

Another thing they were talking about, was that the game immediately sold out in the online shops after a few seconds only.

"As you can see, the people here are waiting in the past 5 days in line for the offline-sale! No matter where you look, the sidewalks are crowded with tents and game-enthusiasts!

Additionally, this is only one of the many shops in Tokyo with copies of Undral Legacy! In total, the first printing wave of the game is estimated to be around 28.000 copies, with many more already on the way! Official sources state, that several million people registered online for the next printing wave, ignoring the numbers outside of Japan!

After the release today, Undral Legacy is scheduled to launch in April for the rest of the world, for the reason that ArgoCorp. is still waiting for the servers overseas to be set up for them!"

The female reporter was conversing all excited in a loud tone, because of the noise in the background made by the people at the scene. You could hear them yell and scream in celebration and the reporter seemed to be trying her best not to join them.

I turned off the stream on the internet and shut down my computer. There was not much time anymore until the servers went online and I would not want to miss a single second of it.

As I sat down on my bed, I took a last glance at my room.

There was nothing special or noteworthy about it. Some games and novels were tidily lined up in shelves, a modern wooden wardrobe, a writing-desk with my computer equipment -paired with an office chair- and lastly the bed I was sitting on. I had no need for anything else since I would spend most of the time reading some novels or browsing the web.

"It is 4 pm now." I stated to myself, as I checked the clock on my smartphone.

( Finally, the time has come! The server for Undral Legacy is about to open! )

I smiled brightly and hold up a certain headgear in front of me. It was the hardware that was necessary to connect and dive into the virtual world -the ArgoSpace.

I was lucky enough to order the game online, so I already had it delivered to me today.

In order to use the device correctly, I connected the sensors -that were linked to the ArgoSpace- at the top of my spine on my back, which was a crucial point for the human nerve system, and some on the left and right side of my neck.

Lastly, I turned on the gear and put it on my head.

All I now had to do was simply lie down in a comfortable position and initiate the dive-process, by selecting the «Start» button in the menu on the screen with my eyes as an input device.

The interface was rather small and only covered a small part of my face, just like the equipment itself.

"The wait has finally an end, Undral!"

My words were full of excitement and without any delay the ArgoSpace took control over my body, engulfing my eyes and consciousness in darkness for a second. Shortly after, a bright light filled my vision as the game assets were loading, and many system gadgets scanned my yet invisible body.

When the game finished its start-up routine, a crimson-red text appeared in front of me:

- Welcome to Undral Legacy! -

I did not have much time to read it, because my vision blurred and I found myself in a virtual room for the character customization, shortly afterward.

This mostly empty space looked like the embodiment of science-fiction. Data constructs were passing by, decorating the digital walls that surrounded me in a circle. I seemed to be completely alone in this room.

"Welcome to the magical world of Undral Legacy, Player!" A female system voice called out to me, happily greeting my arrival.

I could not bring myself to give a reply. I was still dumbfounded about the design of the place I found myself in, but now an automated system began to talk to me out of nowhere.

"To start off your own adventure in the vast world of Undral, please enter a name for your new character!"

In unison with the voice, an interface titled «Character Name» popped up in front of me with a gentle bell sound.

The contents of the small window were just a blank space with an «Apply» button on the bottom.

I did not give it much thought and began to type on the virtual keyboard, which appeared as soon as I pressed on the blank space. The letters that I pressed one after another were: "M-y-s-t".

To wrap the whole process up, a single tap on the confirmation button was enough.

There was no system message notifying me that the name was either invalid or already taken, so the interface closed without any problems afterward.

I would often use this name in online games if it were not already taken. There was no special reason behind it, other than that naming was not one of my greatest strengths and a good friend of mine picked it out for me.

Luckily, since UL just went online, the chance of my name being already taken was incredibly low.

"A great name choice, Myst! To finish your customization, you will now have to choose the appearance of your character in Undral Legacy. In order to make your look unique and the editing easier, we processed the calibration of your ArgoSpace and the entered personal information to create a character template. Please edit and adjust the look to your own preference."

While the voice had yet to finish, a virtual model of a person manifested in front of me.

To my surprise and shock, this character template really had been configured and build after my real-world appearance to the even smallest details. It was as if I was looking into a mirror.

Well, obviously you could tell that it was a digital replication of me since the look of this world drifted slightly apart from the real world. This was only natural because it gives off a greater fantasy feeling that way.

Still, it was almost frightening how accurate the data was that the ArgoSpace had collected from me from the calibration.

You see, in order to safely use the device, there were a couple of steps you had to take first. This procedure was called calibration.

Since the ArgoSpace makes use of Brainwaves and the human nerve-system, it needed more information on the person using it.

For example, touching yourself on your shoulders and your feet gave the system enough data to record the needed distance for calculating your height. If you followed the whole process correctly, the ArgoSpace should have created a virtual image of your body.

The policies of ArgoCorp. required you to enter some personal information afterward, like hair-color, age, address, and so on to create a user profile. It was apparently needed for legal reasons, such as in the case of emergencies or tracing back criminal activities.

I could understand that very well since people tend to behave carefree in absolute anonymity and ArgoCorp. ensured they would not misuse the information.

As I swiped through the available customization options in the character interface, many common gadgets such as changing your hair-color, eye-color, facial features, and more were present.

It was an interesting concept to start with your real self because you could slowly edit and adjust the unique template to your liking, creating a better version of yourself. Or at least give yourself a slightly different look, that fitted into the fantasy setting if you were already pleased with your appearance.

I decided to configure my character template quite a bit by changing my black hair-color to a western blonde together with a spiky long hairstyle, a more defined face, and making myself overall more muscular. You could say that this was the typical fantasy hero look, but there was something about it that intrigued me.

It was also a nice change to my rather androgynous appearance. I was your typical gamer, so I would not do something like building up muscles in the gym and I was only 17 years old, to begin with.

"Now this is what I am talking about!" I exclaimed, grinning widely at the creation in front of me that I had designed.

I was just about to confirm my character customization on the interface when something strange happened.

For a short moment, the virtual model in front of me distorted just like the TV screen when it had signal issues and switched to my original template, before going back to the edited one.

"How strange..."

Waiting for something to happen, I stared at the customized character for a short moment, but nothing similar of the sort occurred afterward.

I decided to shrug it off as a glitch and pressed the button to apply my changes. However, exactly at the moment that I tapped on the screen; the exact same glitch started to take over again.

This time, my character did not return to the edited version and simply stayed in the template form. I had hoped for the system to announce an error and ask me to confirm again, but that did not happen.

"This completes the character-creation setup! We hope that you will enjoy the magical world of Undral and the limitless features to its fullest!"

The female system voice conversed normally with me again and did not notice any errors or complications.

"No! Wait a moment! This is not what I selected!"

The system of Undral Legacy did not pay any attention to my protest and before I could add anything more, my vision had been engulfed in a white light once more.

When my eyes caught sight of my surroundings again, I was not in the digital construct of a character-creation room anymore, but in the middle of a huge plaza.

The place was crowded with tons of players, where crazy hair-colors greeted me in every direction. Many of them looked like warriors from fantasy novels.

Within this huge crowd of avatars, there was me, who was now stuck with the default template of my real-world appearance.

Even though I wanted a style that differed completely from the actual me, I was presenting the virtual world of Undral Legacy my real-life body.

"You've got to be joking, right...?!"