As the darkness enveloped Milo once more, he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to understand his situation. The sense of realism was devastating to his psyche, and each breath he took was labored. The sound and sight of the people that were beside him screaming as they were being ripped apart truly bothered him. That wasn't the worse part, though. The scariest thing was the feelings he felt as it all happened. It was as if a kaleidoscope of emotions were shoved into his brain, and there was no way to turn it off. Remembering the feeling of despair and utter hatred when he marched with the army of undead was frightening. At that moment, he had truly felt the eternal hatred for the living, and it scared him that the game had such power over him.
With his eyes still closed, Milo contemplated everything that had just happened. He didn't believe that the game creators would throw him or every other player into a battlefield for no reason.
'One, to show the capabilities of each faction. Two, to show the players the horror of what they were getting themselves into. But why did they place them into bodies of those who lost the battle? Was it to show them that there was always someone stronger out there? Or was it a way to show the players the despair others would feel?' Milo thought of many different reasons that raced through his mind.
"Please choose a faction." a feminine voice rung out.
Milo, who was lost in trying to regain his composure and collect his thought; finally opened his eyes. All around him was a battlefield with the two factions facing off against one another frozen in place. He could feel the warm wind as it brushed across his cheek with the smell of iron, blood, and searing flesh. Races of all kinds stuck in mid-motion as they fought for their lives could be seen as far as he looked. It took him quite a bit more time to finally snap out of his deep gaze, but when he came too, he remembered that he was supposed to pick a faction.
"Supernatural faction, please," Milo said with a hoarse voice.
Just as he finished saying please, he noticed that all the soldier's clade in armor started to turn into dust and slowly disappear into the wind. What was left behind were countless races that looked humanoid to even monstrous beings.
"Remove all races that aren't humanoid or does not have humanoid forms," said Milo with renewed vigor as he stared intently at the horde. Soon creatures like minotaurs, giant flesh-creatures that seemed to be stitched together slowly faded away into dust as well. Still, there were hundreds of different races that occupied the battlefield.
"Show me all races that excel at supporting other, use magic, but still have close quarter combat, capabilities," Milo said with a sigh.
Soon the massive hoard was thinned down to around ten races. Milo approached each one, and from the corner of vision, a scroll gave him the name of the race and a brief description.
Race: Mummy
Description: A deceased humanoid whose skin and organs have been preserved by dark magic that has allowed them to live even after death. Has magical capabilities that can enable the player to raise the dead, summon hoards of insects, summon blinding sandstorms, and can slowly cause plagues.
Race: Djinn
Description: Created from the purest fire without smoke. Neither innately evil nor innately good, they are spirits with the ability to shapeshift, possess, or even turn invisible.
Race: Incubus
Description: A demon in a male form which lies with sleeping women to engage in sexual activities. Excels at charming, deception, nightmare magic, and stealth magic.
'Uh...would totally take it, but my wife would probably kill me,' chuckled Milo as he skipped onto the next few races, but they didn't take his interest. Finally, after a while, he stumbled on one race that caught his eye.
Race: Homunculus
Description: Created from black magic and alchemy, an artificial being that was created not by the Gods. Has the ability to absorb materials and alter things around them as well as themselves to their advantage.
The homunculus caught his eyes; it's figure donned in knight's armor that seemed to grow from its skin. Alchemic runes littered the shield and blade glowed menacingly as the battlefield around it seemed to distort to its favor. If not for the fact that the armor and sword were bonded into it's being, Milo would have thought it was a human he was looking at. It reminded him of an animation that he watched when he was young. It made quite an impact on he viewed alchemy, and it was the first time he ever heard of a homunculus.
'If they're anything like that then I wouldn't mind being a homunculus...' thought Milo as he pondered the situation. Most likely, everyone else in his group would pick pure combat classes, and they needed some kind of support. Being an all-rounder that could use magic, fight in close-quarters, and provide alchemic runes or just alchemic potions would change a lot. Sure other races could learn alchemy and black magic, but being made from it should give him a significant bonus.
"I choose Homunculus," said Milo after contemplating on the matter for quite some time.
Soon the entire battlefield turned into dust along with all the other races. The homunculus's armor and blade receded into its body. The random appearance of it slowly took his likeness as it stood at 5'10 with black hair and an average body. There was a slight visage of a handsome man in there, but he couldn't help but notice how aged he has become.
'Sheesh...I got old...' thought Milo before he slowly turned back the age slider and looked like he was in his early twenties. Soon he was messing with sliders to get rid of his dad abs and modestly gave himself muscles that resembled his youth.
"Hah! Much better!" exclaimed Milo as he waggled his brows with a silly grin.
What stood before him was a tanned young man with long black hair that covered his face partially. His lithe yet muscular figure wasn't exaggerated by any means but was tone and complimented his sharp look. Quite pleased with his modification, he couldn't help but think that if his wife would see him in game, she would once more fall in love with him all over again.
"Modifications complete," Milo said as he dusted his hands together.
"Name?" the system prompted him.
"Solus," Milo said out loud as he reminisced on his old gamer tag. He wasn't worried that anyone would take his username as the developers noted that names could be used multiple times. Being as realistic as possible, it would make sense that there will be others with the same name.
"Information has been finalized. Are you sure you wish to proceed with your selection?" the system asked.
"Yes, please!" said Milo before once more, his vision faded into black.