Chapter 1: Thank You For Joining!
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10 minutes later...
Alice opens her eyes in shock. She had been conscious the whole time, but she couldn't do anything but wait. It was as if only her mind was functioning.
She looks at herself, realizing that she has regained her body. But she also notices that she is not in a familiar place. It was an impossible sight, a flat horizon with water as the only ground, but unlike reality, Alice was able to walk on the water. The sky was illuminated by thousands of stars that shimmered in different colors.
"What the hell was that?!" Alice screams into the absolute nothingness that surrounds her. She looks around, trying to understand where she is, until an idea clears her mind. "Wait... This must be a dream!" This realization makes Alice laugh in relief.
Just to make sure, she pinches herself, hoping not to feel anything, after all, it's all just a dream. "Silly me! This is what I get after playing for 15 hours- Ouch!" She pinches her arm, but is surprised to feel the pain. Confusion and fear start to take over her again.
"Was I kidnapped?! No, wait, I can't walk on water... Did I die?!"
"Fear not, MissBlade."
A calm voice echoes throughout the plane. Alice turns her head in all directions, searching for the source, but she finds nothing. Until she feels something touching her shoulder, with a quick reaction, Alice startles and falls to the ground.
"I apologize for the scare. Dreamstar hasn't implemented my introduction cutscene yet."
She turns around to see a "person" in a suit, but their skin is white and their face has a question mark instead. This being extends its hand, offering to help her up. "Who are you?" Alice says.
"I am a Non-Playable Character assigned to help you adapt to Dreamwalk and accompany you during the Beta Test. I am named BOB."
Alice gets up with BOB's help. "Dreamwalk? Beta Test?" These words are familiar to her, she's sure she's heard them before, but she doesn't know where. BOB can sense the confusion in Alice's eyes, and the symbol on its face changes to an exclamation mark.
"Ah, I understand! The console must have messed with your mind. It happened to the others, but don't worry, in most cases, your memory returns in a few minutes. Just tell me what you know about Arcadia."
This question makes Alice's eyes light up, as if she has been waiting for this moment for years. "Are you talking about the best MMORPG game that ever existed? That even 10 years after its release, it's still at the top? I have, like, over 15 thousand hours in that game, there's nothing I don't know about it. By the way, did you know they're finally releasing a sequel? I heard they were looking for players to test it, so I sent an email and- Oh."
Alice has an epiphany, finally realizing where she is. Her memories, which were once hazy, are now clear. She remembers excitedly opening a box containing a headset with the name 'Dreamwalk' written on it, and then lying on her bed with the device on her head. "Oh my god. I'm a Beta Tester." Alice whispers in shock.
"That's correct. You not only received the opportunity to be one of the first to play Arcadia 2, but also the new Dreamwalk console."
"So this is the console?" She looks at her body, noticing that they made an exact replica of her appearance, even in the clothes she was wearing before entering the game, which amazes her. "I don't even want to know how many lines of code were needed for this."
"I see that your mind has returned to a more acceptable state. Would you like to proceed with the test?"
"Of course!"
A panel with a giant text appears in front of Alice, with the title 'Arcadia 2: Terms of Service'. With her finger, she can navigate through the panel like a tablet, so she goes to the end of the text, ignoring what is written there, and selects the option: 'Accept all terms'.
As soon as Alice confirms her choice, the ground begins to shake. Alice tries to maintain her balance while BOB shows no reaction. Then, hundreds of objects float up from the water.
"Choose your weapon. Your class will be permanently defined once you decide."
Without wasting a second, Alice starts to observe each item in the water, noticing that there are none that are the same. For example, even though there are hundreds of spears, they all have different sizes, shapes, even textures.
Everything that can be considered a weapon is present, swords, staffs, bows, a potato... "Wait, a potato?"
"Of course. The boss wants to give the player as much freedom as possible. Do you want to become the Potato Warrior?"
Alice chuckles at this absurd and random idea. She begins to imagine herself defeating her enemies by throwing a flaming potato at them and saying some cheesy catchphrase like "Taste the defeat!"
She continues searching for her weapon, carefully observing the swords, remembering her avatar in Arcadia, MissBlade, who was a swordswoman capable of cutting through space itself. "I think this one will do." She pulls out a metal sword with a slightly wider blade.
Once her choice is determined, Alice's clothes change. Now she is wearing a short-sleeved brown tunic and black pants, both made of the cheapest cotton in the world. She also wears leather boots that definitely won't last more than 1 week.
Alice tests her new weapon, expecting to fail miserably due to lack of experience, but she is shocked with her suprising good mastery with the sword. "Okay... How? I spend the whole day playing, there's no way I can do this."
"It's true. But your avatar can. Thanks to the 'Artificial Muscle Memory' system, we can implement any skill on you. But I only put 1 year of experience into your avatar."
"1 is still better than zero." Alice continues playing with the sword, impressed by her new abilities. She can feel the weight of the sword in her hands, something she could never even imagine while playing the first game. But her fun ends when BOB holds the sword with two fingers.
"Now that your class is defined, you're almost ready to start your adventure. Show me your stats."
"Okay... How?" Just thinking about 'viewing stats' makes a status screen appear in front of her.
[Alice LvL. 1]
[HP: 50/50]
[Stamina: 50/50]
[Mana: 50/50]
[Class: Swordswoman]
[Unused points: 5]
[Strength: 1]
[Defense: 1]
[Stamina: 1]
[Speed: 1]
[Intelligence: 1]
[Magic: 1]
[Luck: 1]
"You have 5 points, use them wisely."
"I will." Alice puts all the points into Strength.
"And finally, as a gift for being in the Beta test, I will transfer a skill from your avatar in Arcadia 1."
Without hesitation, Alice chooses. "Give me Kill Aura." Her favorite passive skill, which allows her to counter any enemy attack with 100 times the damage. BOB's face immediately changes to an ellipsis.
"Don't you want something more... Balanced?"
"Yeah, you're right. That would ruin all the fun..." She recalls her first days in Arcadia, imagining which skill could have greatly improved her experience. Then she remembers a skill that practically allowed her to enter the Top 10 in PvP. She smiles and says, "I want Perfect Block."
"Okay!"
BOB's face changes to ':D', it snaps its fingers, which visually doesn't change anything, but Alice receives a message.
[1 Star Skill: Perfect Block has been given to you.]
Actually, BOB should ask the player if they are sure about their choice, but it preferred to remain silent to prevent Alice from changing her mind and choosing another absurd ability.
"What's left? Customizing my appearance?"
"Unfortunately, that is still in development."
"So I'm stuck with my real face? Dang it, you guys really want a more realistic experience."
"That's the whole purpose of the Dreamwalk. Now, let's start."
The entire plane begins to collapse. Alice starts to fall into a dark void, accompanied by BOB, who is falling upside down.
"The boss asked me to deliver this message to you: 'I want you to find and report bugs, of course, but my main goal here is your fun, so explore as much as possible! Thank you for playing my game!'"
"W-wait, can you send a message back to him? I wanted to thank him for creating Arcadia, it really helped me back ther-"
BOB's body disintegrates as if it never existed. Alice is annoyed at being ignored, but she takes a deep breath and remembers that she is about to have an unforgettable experience. She continues falling until she can no longer see her own body.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Alice mentally screams.