The Closed Beta Begins

Planet Vopal, Kingdom of Virpal, 12:00. Just beyond the Town of Dawn, the sun is high in the sky and right by the roadside from seemingly out of nowhere, hundreds of people suddenly appear.

"Whoa, it's really just as they advertised! I can really feel the wind against my skin. I can hardly believe this is a game!"

"Guy's I think there's a bug! I can't strip off my underwear!"

"Can we report this guy for obscenity?"

"I wish I could have a fluffy tail like this IRL."

The players have arrived, big and small, male and female, Human and Beastfolk. When creating their characters there were two options at the start, to customise their start or let the System randomise it for them. Each planet has its own unique races for the player to choose from when creating their character, these are usually the dominant races of the six starting planets. For Planet Vopal, the players had a choice of either Human or Beastfolk. But if a player chose to randomise their start, not only would their starting options be randomised but their starting position would be random, however, there is also a small chance of having a non-dominant race chosen for them.

When selecting random, it is possible for the player to reject the outcome and randomise again, but this can only be done up until a non-dominant race option appears for the third time. When a non-dominant race option appears and gets rejected, that race option will no longer be available. This allows players to reroll their character if they're unsatisfied with the random starting stat spread or the minor changes in appearance, but it makes the players decide between a rare starting race with suboptimal starting stat allocations or a displeasing aesthetic, and gambling on getting a better start. But this information wasn't publicly announced beforehand so almost all of the players right now are unaware of this.

After a few short moments, all the players receive an announcement from the System, telling them that when near any NPC any mention of this being a game and anything related to it is prohibited and will be censored, while repeat offenders will be punished.

"I would think this is for realism," says a short and stubby cat beastfolk player called Smol Kat.

Despite his humorous name and appearance, several of the other players recognise him as a member of Team Yggdrasil an Esports team from Northern Europe. A Danish player whose well known for making silly characters. Originally a streamer for the team, he was recently announced to have been made a Captain of Team Yggdrasil's newly opened Eternal Universe Online Esports team.

With the sudden influx of new people, it doesn't take more than a few minutes before a group comes from the town to check on what's happening. The group is led by the Post Office Branch Manager, Harold and the Chief of Dawn's Police, the Wolf Beastfolk Wolfhard. Originally they were out scouting for some recruits for the joint mission between the Towns of Dawn and Hadrow, but upon seeing a large group of people suddenly appear they went over to check it out.

Driving up to where the players are, Wolfhard gets out and yells, "Don't make any sudden movements!" Then pointing to Smol Kat, Wolfhard asks, "You there, Cat Beastfolk, where did you lot come from!?"

"Why me?" Smol Kat thinks, stepping forward as he along with everyone else gets a new quest.

[Quest: Arrival (Rank F) ]

[Description]: Give an explanation as to where you all come from.

[Rewards]: +500 EXP, 300 VD

[Warning]: Depending on how the situation is handled there may be consequences. Refusing this quest is equivalent to failing.

[Failure Penalty]: Potential Arrest.

Upon seeing the quest, Smol Kat feels a cold sweat as the eyes of all the other players behind him. He knows that if he messes this up, getting arrested is probably the least of his worries, he's more concerned about his popularity and getting beat up by the other players.

"Sir, we are adventures looking for work. Is there anything we can do for you?" Smol Kat asks.

Hearing this, several of the other player's stares sharpen while some just facepalm after hearing possibly one of the worst explanation possible. And Smol Kat is fully aware of this, "What do you want me to do!? I've never done this kind of thing before!" he shouts out in his mind.

Of course, Wolfhard doesn't believe his words for a second, "I'm going to have to bring you all in for--"

"Now, now, there's no need for that, Wolfhard. If they want to lend us a hand with our problems I say why not," Harold says as he steps out from the car, interrupting Wolfhard.

"But Sir!"

Lowering his voice, Harold whispers, "think about it for a moment, do we even have enough space for all these people in your cells? Besides, they are offering themselves as helpers so why not take advantage of it. At the same time, we can investigate these people to see if there is a potential threat."

"But… sigh, very well. Just know that if something happens I won't be taking any responsibility for it."

"Don't worry, I want to bring some of them along for our trip to the Sea of Trees. I'll be there as well so there shouldn't be a problem," Harold says before turning to address the players. "So long as you don't cause any problems, your welcome to stick around. And as a matter of fact, there is something I could use some help with. I need a group to accompany me to the Sea of Trees. There have been strange things happening there recently and we were looking for people to join our investigation team."

Almost instantly several dozens of players are yelling out "pick me!" and after a few minutes, Harold picks out several of the players and makes four teams of twelve.

"This is more than enough people. I would like to extend my gratitude to all of you who offered to help, once this is over, I'll make sure to hand out a reward for your efforts. As for the rest of you who won't be coming, feel free to visit our humble town."

As Harold leads the four teams away, Wolfhard says, "Be thankful to Sir Delfringer, if not for him I would have arrested everyone here. I will guide you to Dawn but do know, cause any trouble and no one will save you from being arrested."

As the Chief of Dawn's Police Department, it's in his job description to be wary of such suspicious people, but he knows that Harold is right and that even if he wanted to arrest them all, there wouldn't be any space to put them all. "I should increase the patrols from now on," he thinks, leading the players to the Town of Dawn.

For the players, some are envious of the ones that got picked by Harold, some are amazed at how realistic the ai of the game is, and some have slipped away to explore the world on their own.

As the players begin to explore the Town of Dawn, they find all sorts of miscellaneous quests, such as helping a farmer deal with some monsters disrupting their crops. Many have already gone out and found people that can give them a main class, the so called Class Instructors. With the civilisation of Planet Vopal being a magic based one, magic based Main Classes are the easiest for the players to obtain. They can go to Dawn's local Magic Association to be a Mage or go to the cathedral to obtain the Priest Class. While players seeking a Class with more physical attributes have a slightly harder time, it isn't impossible for them as there is a small dojo in Dawn where they can obtain the Pugilist Main Class.

But such conveniences are only available to the players who didn't choose a random start. For these players who decided to randomise their start, it's much harder for them to quickly and easily get their Main Class.

Starting late compared to the players who joined the moment the game opened, is a player who randomised their start and now finds themselves in the middle of the Sea of Trees.

"Maybe I shouldn't have randomised my start…"