For Cross Arena, the arcade cabinet looked like two circles connected by an even bigger circle where the game and tokens are supposed to be. 'oOo' where the left circle is marked with 'P1,' and the one on the right is marked as 'P2.'
There were a total of four similar cabinets in the entire hall, and Trex went to the closest one.
Stepping inside the circle marked as 'P1,' the holographic window appeared once again.
[Detected tokens: 23]
[Play a game (Character Card Not Detected) - 3 Tokens]
[Create a new character - 20 Tokens]
With his free hand, he tapped on 'create a new character.'
The yellow tokens in his hand had vanished, and so did the holographic window. His vision blurred as his surroundings seems to have shifted. The area around Trex formed a holographic environment. Looking from the outside, One could see Trex's clothes changed into a bland leather armor and leggings. Within the circle marked as 'P1,' a holographic environment also appeared.
In contrast, the arcade hall seemed to have turned into a hologram as the environment of the game solidified around him.
This time, a base model of his body without any detail appeared in front of him.
Above the head of the model read the words 'Customize Character.'
Trex knew what to do. Honestly, he still really didn't care how good he looks. Besides, he's already satisfied with his current one. Marko Rhemi, in terms of the 20th or 21st century, would be considered a very good-looking man.
After confirming his looks, a set of costumes appeared. These were basic costumes such as an arcanist robe, leather armor, chain armor, and cloth armor. There were also other clothes that looked like professional, casual everyday wear, or even shirtless.
First of all, Marko Rhemi was a spell caster. While he had the talents to use the other discipline, his forte had always been spell caster. For Trex, who inherited the knowledge of multiple arcanists, knew that fact. They interacted with Marko Rhemi, after all.
With that thought, Trex decided to pick an arcanist robe.
Then came the weapon. As a spell caster, there really was no need besides magic amplifiers in the form of orbs.
These orbs are called runic orbs. These orbs hold some runes that help hasten spell casting. The higher quality ones could either contain spells or amplify a caster's magic.
After selecting the runic orb, the customized character moved and conformed to Trex. He didn't feel anything else change as his body was still his, but the character he's using is what he appears right now. These were the limits of the arcade. Even then, this was already the state of the art when it comes to entertainment. Not even home consoles could provide an experience similar to this.
Still, if he had changed his character's height or bought someone else's character. There would be a slight shift in the character's movement since the game reproduces physics as if it were real.
With that thought, another customization settings window appeared in front of him. With a ten-minute timer, a massive list of abilities, and a window labeled as 'Character Skill Tree.'
*ding*
["Please think of the abilities that you are aware of. Due to the nature of your character's equipment, abilities of spell caster and mage is the only ones accepted. General arcanist abilities are always accepted."]
The moment the prompt appeared, Trex immediately recalled all of the abilities the mercenaries had.
Swiftly only 35% of the entire list had remained. Even then, the remaining list had reds meaning they were incompatible, leaving only a little over 150 abilities for him to pick from.
*ding*
["Please select a total of ten abilities."]
["Reminder, abilities in reality do not work as well in the game as moves are balanced with in-game stats in mind."]
'This…'
Trex was really surprised. If this kind of game appeared on Earth, it would've been one of the more boring ones as most gamers have no personal fighting abilities. Not to mention, this game blurs the difference between reality and virtual.
Looking at his own body with the altered clothes, he really didn't know how to feel.
This goes beyond what a virtual game could do as it was possible to train one's body in this game. This was what mixed reality wanted to do back on Earth and more.
There were quite a number of abilities listed. Out of the nine mercenaries, two were spell casters, and two were a specialized mage.
Due to the timer overhead, Trex didn't waste more time and scanned through the list.
While Trex could understand the timer, it indeed was inconvenient. He was creating a character that he needed to cultivate, after all.
For a minute, he browsed through the list, but he was getting nowhere. Over a hundred and fifty abilities only to choose ten. Not to mention that these abilities needed to complement each other. Even then, most of the abilities he knew did not appear on the list due to the game system not having them or, at the very least, is not available at the preliminary stages of the game.
After getting nowhere, Trex paused.
'Reading one by one wouldn't help me pick. I should probably pick the ones I'm more familiar with and go on with… right, these aren't my memories nor experience. I'm completely a blank slate…'
Trex paused for another second before deciding. 'I should just try to plan it in a way that I am familiar with.'
Trex was initially designed to be able to procedurally generate a game world after Jonathan placed the variables. These include in-game skills.
If Jonathan wanted a class like a fire mage, Trex OS would've been able to simulate various cases of fire and convert them into abilities.
In that case, I should do the same.
Quickly, Trex brought up his smart mind interface and opened a notes app.
In an instant, the comprehensive list was moved towards the notes app.
Quickly, Trex sifted to the skills. There are quite a number of mages, and that is not about the kind of abilities they have. Instead, it was the set of abilities they have. A glass cannon is a mage that lacks mobility and defense but has tons of firepower. A utility mage has a lot of spells that do crowd control. A support mage could either be a healer or someone who gives blessing and curses. There are also mages that are considered jack of all trades where they have the ability to control the field while dealing damage and zip through the field.
Using his experience generating content and the memories of actual fighting, Trex decided he'll do a damage-speed build.
- Haste (Hex) increases the mage's physical speed.
- Air Lines (T1-L5 Spell) creates paths in the air that can be rode and slide by the caster.
- Ice Bolt (T1-L1 Spell) creates an icicle with the initial hardness of a stone. Hurls an icicle towards the target.
- Lightning Field (T1-L6 Spell) electrifies the field, helping the caster move faster while dealing with additional lightning damage from physical attacks. Initial radius of 10 meters.
- Flick (T1-L9 Spell) transfers the caster from point a (the caster's location) to point b (the target). Transfer time is an absolute 0.5 seconds regardless of distance—an initial distance of 10 meters.
- Spatial Jab (Hex), using the power of space, a quick jab is enhanced by shortening the distance between the hand and the target.
- Thunder Round (T1-L6 Spell) creates a deafening sound in an area that effectively muffles the caster's movement. Initial radius of 5 meters.
- Sneak Strike (Hex) uses the power of shadows and strikes at the enemy that deals blunt damage. The brighter the location is, the louder the movements of the shadow.
- Impale (Hex), using the power of metal, the hexed body part turns sharp that could pierce.
- Shadow Spikes (T1-L6 Spell) sends out tendrils of shadows. Traveling through bright areas weaken the spell, whereas traveling through dark areas strengthen the spell.