Sam sat in his living room, looking at the Virtual Reality pod sitting in front of him. The words, Infinite Games could be seen deeply embossed on the side of the machine. *Sigh* 'I should just wait a few hours for the release of the game.' Sam sat, thinking to himself about all the work it took to get to where he was today. Though reminiscing didn't help much, he couldn't help but remember all the hardships he had overcome in his life. He lived alone, in a one bedroom apartment, in New York City. He spent the past seven or eight years in the employ of the biggest video gaming conglomerate in the world, Infinite Games. Just a few days ago they had suddenly called Sam and told him that they were firing all of their staff and the company was liquidating all of its assets. He received a severance check and was given the VR pod for their new game and wished good luck in the new world.
The game, Mythic Legends, was being opened for the first time today at 12:00 P.M. It was currently 10:30 in the morning and Sam had been sitting in front of the pod for a full 24 hours, waiting. He sighed again and proceeded to get into the pod.
[Welcome to Infinite Games' World Pod]
[Would you like to begin the calibration process? Process will take approximately 90 minutes.]
Sam began the calibration of his pod, there were very many technical calibrations that he had to go through. Including a full body and brain scan, performed by the pod itself. Once the pod was fully calibrated a strange, clear, viscous liquid filled the pod and surrounded Sam. Luckily he had put on the suit that came with it before he got inside. He laid back into the strange liquid and closed his eyes.
[Beginning connection...]
[Connection Complete!]
[Welcome to Mythic Legends!]
As the words faded, the world around him began to lighten. Sam was standing in a room, there was a mirror in front of him and he could see his reflection looking back at him. Currently he was looking at his own face and body.
[Welcome to Character Creation!]
The system prompt appeared before his eyes and he grinned. Time for the first step towards his goal. They wanted to fire him? Fine! He would become the strongest in this new world they created! [Please chose your Race]
[Human] [Demon] [Elf] [Vampire] [Dhampir] [Halfling*] [...]
There were many choices and Sam almost became overwhelmed for a second before he collected his thoughts. "System, filter my racial choices based on growth potential, highest to lowest."
[Rearranging choices...] [Complete] [Highest to Lowest growth potential] [Human] [True Dragon] [Demon] [...]
The list was quickly rearranged and Sam raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw the results. Human was at the top? In any game he had ever played, humans were always the weakest race. But he also understood what the system was saying. After all, humans were known for their ability to adapt quickly to most situations. He could also see that, when given the choice among so many other races, most of the players would overlook that fact and chose a "stronger" race right from the beginning. Having a harder start to receive so many other benefits later on, this idea never scared Sam at all. He chose human, and the system confirmed his choice before moving on.
[Please chose a class]
[Warrior] [Mage] [Priest] [Thief] [...] [Cultivator]
There were, of course, all of the normal class options available. As well as some that were not part of any other game. But one in particular caught his attention, [Cultivator], Cultivator huh? Sam grinned, it was just like those web novels he had read before. The human cultivator, the fact that it was part of a game that offered so much versatility in it's character options could only mean one thing. Infinite Games intended for this game, on its own, to be the pinnacle of the video game industry. It would be the final game, there would never be a need for any other game, ever again. Sam laughed loudly in this empty room, 'They are absolutely insane.' He chose cultivator as his class and prepared to enter the game. This game used the player's real appearance and name to create the gaming account, you could input a "Nickname" so that you could hide your identity a bit, but what was the point when your real appearance was being used. Once he was done, a door behind him opened, leading to a town square.
"Status."
[Character Status]
[Name: Sam]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Cultivator]
[Level: 1]
[Exp: 0/100]
[HP: 100/100]
[Strength: 10]
[Dexterity: 10]
[Agility: 5]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Will: 8]
[Skills/Abilities]
[Meditation, Passive, Rank: D- Allows you to meditate and absorb the spiritual energy in the world to cultivate. Cultivation level: 1, Spiritual Energy: 0/100]