Without any hesitation, he strode toward the nearest door, a sinisterly dark-red entrance shrouded in ebony mist, surrounded by skulls and pools of blood, looking as cool as a gateway to Hell.
"Alright, let's create a character with these thirty thousand bucks and then log off and return it." As Mo Tan muttered to himself and extended his hand, he found that his seemingly effortless push led to a deafening rumble, and then... the door crumbled...
It felt like a cornered creature choosing to self-destruct in the face of humiliation!
"Hey, hey, hey!" Mo Tan eyed the carnage against his feet and twitched uncontrollably, "Isn't this too much...how badly do you not want me to enter? Couldn't you just lock yourself up instead of blowing up!? How much could a door possibly hate me!"
Despite his words, a grin sneaked onto his face. Rather than irritation or disappointment, the spectacle kindled excitement. He would have been disappointed had he managed to open a door labeled 'Evil Chaos'.
Moving onwards, he approached another door, half-black and half-white. As he reached out to push...
Boom!!
"Hey..."
Mo Tan rolled his eyes at the door, now collapsed on the floor in front of him. He was at a loss for words, as the door had suddenly attempted to topple onto him.
This was a door marked 'Neutral Chaos', its vibe highly unstable.
"Such a characterful alignment~" Having received the answer he sought, Mo Tan sauntered up to a golden door decorated with white patterns and asked, "I bet you won't open for me, will you?"
The door labeled 'Lawful Good' subtly moved itself back, discreetly yet politely rebuffing Mo Tan's ugl...uhh, proposition.
"Alright, I admit this over-personalized DND (Dungeons and Dragons) ruleset has caught my attention." Mo Tan shifted a few steps to the left, placed his hand on the pure white door, pushed it gently, and as expected, walked right in.
As his figure vanished, the door representing 'Absolute Neutrality' closed behind him with a deafening boom.
...
[Your chosen alignment is Absolute Neutrality. This status is irreversible. Calculate your initial talents, race, abilities.]
In the darkness, Mo Tan heard the system's voice again.
As expected, the official site of the game 'Realm of Innocence' did mention this information that a player's initial alignment stays with their character forever, but its exact role is left to the players' further exploration...
The fact that the system determines the race and talent, not disclosed by the official site, did come as a surprise to Mo Tan.
[Calculation is completed. Your initial character data is as follows:]
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Level: None
Alignment: Neutral Absolute
Talent: Affinity (slightly increases all creatures with vague personalities favorability towards you)
Basic attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 5, Wisdom 7, Constitution 5
*Hyperlinks*
Strength: Increases physical attack power, carrying capacity, specific skill damage.
Dexterity: Increases movement speed, maximum evasion, theoretical hit rate, specific skill damage.
Wisdom: Increases magic damage, magic power limit, magic resistance.
Constitution: Increases maximum health, stamina limit, physical resistance.
[Note: This is only the tip of the iceberg!]
"Alright~ so that note basically negates all the above." Mo Tan, unsure of his location, used his consciousness to close the hyperlink, and continued reading.
Civilization Attributes: Articulation 5, Charm 2, Knowledge 8, Leadership 0
"High Knowledge should be because I understand DND rules well, Charm and Leadership...alright I admit I lack the charisma." Even though not clicking the hyperlink, that didn't stop Mo Tan from making a sarcastic comment.
Combat Attributes: None
[Please name your character.]
Mo Tan considered briefly and decided on 'Hei Fan.' He knew that most of the time his main personality wasn't 'MoTan' at all. So, borrowing a bit from both parts of his real name, he paired 'ordinary' with a bit of polish to carve out this subtly self-deprecating name.
[Character's Name: Hei Fan. Please confirm.]
The two characters 'Hei Fan' appeared at the top of the character's file. Since the system was in sync with the player's thoughts, there was no need to worry about homophones. But it still needed one last confirmation.
"No need."
[Do you want to adjust your look?]
The moment Mo Tan heard these words, he saw himself floating in mid-air, still dressed in the rough cloth.
"No need."
[Character creation completed, Hei Fan, the Absolute Neutral, welcome to The Realm of Innocence]
...
The darkness faded, and Mo Tan opened his eyes the moment he regained control of his body.
He found himself lying on a somewhat spacious bed.
[Triggering Guided Quest —]
A translucent window suddenly popped up in his line of sight, and Mo Tan quickly read the short text on the taskboard: Leave the Greenery Inn and join Marshal's Autonomy Army.
Simple, clear, and concise tasks.
Mo Tan got down from the bed to find himself dressed just as he was when the system had confirmed if he wanted to adjust his appearance. Following the tutorial, he saw his queued instructions from earlier in the day and consciously opened the equipment panel.