Avatar Creation

"One Americano please, make sure to add another shot of espresso"

Blake is currently inside a coffee shop ordering his usual coffee. Usually, one Americano is enough for him but it seems he's going to need a lot more caffeine, judging by Salana who still stuck around with him.

Taking a seat at the corner, he waited for his coffee patiently.

"Hmm... the air feels refreshing here. Such a lively and peaceful world..." Salana mutters while looking outside of the window to the passerby with serene interest, sitting on the chair opposite Blake.

It was odd for Blake, Salana has a weird air of solemnity around her as she said that.

Blake then shakes his head and sighs, "I'll play the game, but only for a week"

"Am I really that untrustworthy? How can you be so stubborn, is your brain a rock or something?" Salana asked back in annoyance, her expression turns normal, and she reaches out her hands to pinch both of Blake's cheeks until they turns reddish.

Naturally, Blake tries to slap her hands away to no avail, "Geez, stop that!"

"People are going to look at me weird if my cheeks somehow stretched on their own!" he added, trying to keep his cool as there are some people stealing a glance at him for talking aloud to nobody.

It was only when she feels satisfied that she eventually lets go of Blake's cheeks.

Rubbing his throbbing reddish cheeks, Blake then shot a glare at her, "I'm not a kid, so stop doing that! You're lucky that I can't touch you, or you'll already be beaten to a pulp by now" Clicking his tongue, he then added, "How is it fair that you can touch me but I can't anyway?"

"Do you really want to touch me that much? Do you want to know the secret?" Salana asked.

Upon hearing this, Blake was stunned for a second before he saw Salana put her hand on the table facing up, signaling to hold her hand. Curious, he decided to try grabbing her hand and to his surprise, he was successful.

'I've expected her hand to be soft, but this is beyond my expectation' Blake thought.

Salana's skin is smoother than his expectation, it was very soft to the touch, almost as if he was touching a marshmallow. Even as he presses his fingers firmly, Blake feels like his entire hand is sinking into her hand.

"Enjoying the feel?" Salana suddenly asked with a light smirk.

Blake immediately pull his hand away and averted his gaze away, he was slightly blushing and this made Salana chuckle sweetly and leaned back on the chair. "It's not that you can't touch me. It's just that if you want to touch me, I need to be the one who will it first before you can"

"Our worlds are still separated, and I'm also still stuck in this form" she added.

Finding that her sentence flows out naturally, Blake started to have second thoughts. 'Is she really saying the truth? But it can't be, this is not like some fantasy novel, how can the game world be connected to real life?'

Pondering for a moment, Blake spends a couple of minutes in silence.

It didn't take long before his coffee came, and he started sipping it, trying to enjoy the first day after surviving a life-or-death moment. But then, he eventually said, "Okay, I'm finishing this so that I can create my avatar and play the game"

"If you want to, then you can create yours right here" Salana said excitedly.

Blake was confused but then he saw Salana taking out some kind of phone, she taps on the screen a couple of times before a holographic interface appeared, forcing back to back up a little bit to see the full of it.

Seeing the interface properly, he finds that it was somewhat within his expectation.

[Welcome to the magical world of Lunaris!]

[Before you start your journey as an adventurer and embark on this magical world filled with opportunities, mysteries, and the wrath of the Seven Moon Gods, please input the name for your avatar to go by in this world]

[...]

Aside from the box asking for his name, there's a figure standing on the side.

She was a gorgeous woman clad in a light blue dress and a witch hat. A bluish skin and also her stark blue hair flowing down to her back can be seen. Underneath her right eye is a deep blue mark, rooted like a branching vein. But one of the most eye-catching features is her eyes which are glowing white.

From her appearance alone, she looks like a moon goddess of some sort.

Salana saw the look Blake is wearing while he was looking at the moon goddess, she squinted her eyes in annoyance, "She's not even that pretty, what are you drooling at her for?"

"At least she doesn't have a temper like you" Blake replied automatically, it just came out.

Upon hearing this, Salana wanted to slap Blake's head once again but this time, he was prepared and already backed away which makes her even more annoyed. "Tch! Whatever, I don't care. I saw your games back at home, so you should have no difficulty in making your avatar"

Blake smirked in ridicule before his attention went back to the avatar creation tab.

As he was quite fond of playing MMORPG games, he know how this works. Moreover, he was quite good at this genre of games. But he has never been a team player, so he didn't amount to much in those games.

Contemplating for a moment, he then decided to use his usual game tag.

[DogOfWar]

[I'm sorry dear adventurer, the name is already taken]

"Damn. It's only been a day and some nerd out there has already taken this name?" Blake cursed as his favorite game tag was already taken, but he was not going to give up just yet.

[DogOfWar111]

[I'm sorry dear adventurer...]

[DoggyOfWar1313]

[I'm sorry dear adventurer...]

[WarDoggy?]

[I'm sorry dear adventurer, special marks are not allowed. Please choose another name]

[WhalePee]

[I'm sorry dear adventurer...]

"What the actual fuck?! I refuse to believe that someone actually uses WhalePee as their game tag, there's no way!" Once again, Blake was surprised by the absurdity of gamers, actually naming their avatar 'WhalePee' is beyond his wildest comprehension.

Glancing around as he was unconsciously cursing loudly, Blake apologized with a wry smile.

Eventually, he sat back down, ignoring the annoying expression Salana is wearing right now. "Just try and pick whatever, you can change it with a name-changer item inside the game that is not that expensive to buy"

Blake takes a deep breath and decided to think of something he can use temporarily.

'Surely, this time it will work...'

Praying inside his head that the name will be eligible before he's starting to lose his hair from frustration, he then types in the name while subconsciously holding his breath as his heart thump faster.

[...]

[MoonDespoiler]

[MoonDespoiler, huh...? What a wonderful name, your name reeks of greatness! Look, the stars and the moons are aligned in response! Even they recognize your great name as the chosen child that will triumph over the lurking danger in the world!]

As the Moon Goddess said that, Blake can see the moons and stars glowing behind her.

'Neat effect, I like it' Blake thought, rubbing his nose excitedly.

[Please pick your starting class, these are the available options just for you]

Blake wanted to check the listed options, but the holographic avatar creation window suddenly disappeared and went back to a phone-like object in Salana's hand, "Wait for just a minute, don't mind me. Not doing anything at all" She said.

"What the? What are you doing, I'm making my avatar" Blake said in aghast.

It was her that told him to quickly make his own avatar, but now she was the one wasting time doing God knows what. Soon enough, the holographic tab appeared again after Salana did something on her phone.

[Please pick your starting Class:]

Warrior

Thief

Assassin

Gladiator

Hunter

....

Viewing the listed options, Blake frown as it was not as he was expecting.

Since he has played a bunch of MMORPG games already, he knows that the starting class should be the generic ones. But these classes are all melee weapon-based classes. In any MMORPG game, there should be a magic-related class like a Mage, but there's nothing of that sort here.

'Even an Archer is not listed, there's Gladiator instead. Hmm... it's weird' Blake thought.

But after pondering briefly, he decided to pick the Gladiator class considering that he has the Limited PK VR Helmet. Out of these options, the Gladiator class is the most beneficial one as it focuses on dueling.

It would definitely help him utilize his advantage in the game immensely.

[Interesting choice! A new Gladiator Champion has been born today, may the battle-hardened experts hold to their wits as their position will definitely be shaken by MoonDespoiler!]

[Next, please choose your starting race:]

Human

Giant

Elf

Orc

Werefox

As soon as he saw the fifth option for the starting race, Blake's eyes shifted over to Salana.

Despite feeling something is off when picking the Classes earlier, he didn't think much of it. But now he realized what's going on, this is going overboard as it's quite obvious by now, "What a terrifying coincidence, no? All of the available starting class options are melee-based, and now there's a Werefox option as my starting race"

"What do you think Salana? These options are not tweaked by someone, right?" He added.

Upon hearing this, Salana averted her gaze elsewhere acting as if she was not doesn't have any involvement in this. "Drop the damn act and show me the actual options, I'm not going to pick Werefox as my starting race!"

"Why not?!" Salana cried back, trying to use her puppy expression to melt Blake's heart.

But her crocodile expression wouldn't affect Blake in the slightest, 'I'm not going to pick Werefox just because she uses that face. From the way I see it, this is manipulation at its finest!'

Just as he was about to lose it, Blake's eyes suddenly widened as he got an idea.

A mischievous smile appeared on his face, and in an instant, his entire demeanor changed as he looks at Salana passionately. "W-Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked stutteringly, feeling Blake's burning gaze heating up her entire face.

"I'll do what you want under one condition" Blake said with a resolute yet whispering tone.

Like a kid given candy, Salana's expression lit up instantly as she quickly asked back, wanting Blake to choose a Werefox more than anything, "What is the condition? I'll accept anything as long as you pick the Werefox race"

"The condition is simple, can I touch your hand again...?" Blake suddenly asked.

Not expecting such a condition, Salana feels her face burning once again, turning reddish like a tomato. "What- What are you saying, you're making me shy" She said meekly, blushing while trying to hide her face with her hands.

Oblivious to her, the smirk on Blake's face blooms even wider when she covered her face.

"I-If that's what you want, then here, you can hold my hand if you want to" Salana eventually puts her hand back on the table, stealing a blushing glance at Blake that requested something embarrassing like this.

Grabbing her hand lightly, Blake holds it and gave her the best smile he can put on.

But in the next second, he quickly snatched Salana's phone from her grip with his lightning-fast movement, "AHA!" he shouted excitedly. "Gotcha! Who the hell wants to play as a lousy fox in a fantasy game? I'm gonna choose an Undead as my starting race and become a Lich later on!"

"Eh...?" Salana was stunned for a moment before she snapped out of her daze in realization.

In an instant, her face heated up as she fell to Blake's trick. Salana mentally spewed every vile curse word at Blake as she attempted to snatch her phone back from him. But Blake's hand, holding her face stopped her from getting close.

"No... give it back, please!" She implored.

Despite her plea, Blake has no intention of giving her phone back until he picks a race.

Just as he was about to do that, Salana managed to grab the edge of the phone. At that moment, Blake lost his grip on the phone as it stumbles and surprisingly, out of sheer bad luck, went right inside the coffee cup.

Upon seeing this, Blake and Salana felt a shiver on their spine as their eyes widened.

Gasp!