[Welcome to the Steampunk Online, the age of machinery and mysticism]
"YES BABY I'M IN!" Kline shouted excitedly as he looked around in the white starting space.
"But damn this place is empty, I wonder how far the boundaries are?" Kline was curious as to how far this seemingly infinite white space goes. So he tried moving around but very quickly realized that he couldn't.
"Huh? I can't move. Well it's probably because I don't have a body yet."
[Hello Player, welcome to Steampunk Online. Please make your character]
[Gender - Male/Female] (WARNING! Spiral Corporation is not liable to any physiological or psychological changes and trauma that may occur due to choosing the opposite gender)
"I can change genders? That seems pretty fun. Wait that warning seems concerning, let's just choose male then. Would've been fun trolling some players as a female though. Imagine how many players I could fool!"
[Gender Confirmed - Male]
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[Please pick a race]
Human
Dwarf
Elf
Orc
Beastfolk
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"Where are the descriptions? Like seriously, why doesn't it tell me anything???"
Prior to the release of Steampunk Online, Spiral Corporation decided to withhold any information about the game expect that it's an MMORPG, it has a magical steampunk theme, and that players can do almost anything they want. The trailer only showed how the game looks and how immersive it is. Not crumb of gameplay information. But no one knows why the corporation refused to give any information about the game, including the lower and middle level staff. Perhaps only the founder himself knows.
"What should I just choose then?" Kline wondered as he mentally scratched his non-existent head.
"Should I wait until some players enter the game and see what it's like? No that's the boring why out. Plus who knows what I might miss if I wait for people to post information to the forum." He decided that awkwardly waiting around would take too long and that relying on random people wasn't a good idea. Afterall, who knows what kind of lies they might post.
Using his previous experience in playing video games, Kline attempted to guess the traits of each race. "If I'm going by convention, the human is the jack of trades. Dwarves should be a production type race. The elves probably have a greater affinity for magic and ranged weapons. Orcs seem like it should be a tanky race. And beastfolks...fulfil the dream for all men of culture? *A-Ahem*, no it's probably a speed or strength type class."
"Anyways what should I choose? First off I'm not choosing the human. That race is waaaaaay too dull for me. Being the jack of all trades is a boring playstyle, choosing something else should be pretty interesting."
Kline played a wide variety of races in other games and he always felt that the human race was too lackluster. Plus, he's read a lot of webnovels and he hates the protagonists that always chooses the human race.
"Dwarves seem like a production class, which isn't bad, but I want to fight more. Also I don't wanna be short so that's a nope."
Standing at a proud 187cm, Kline did not want to experience the life of being 130cm.
"I'm not interesting in tanking and prefer to do the shredding so let's not choose the orc race. That leaves the elves and beastfolks."
Faced with these two choices, Kline didn't know what to pick. He was fine with close combat, long ranged combat, magic, or physical damage. In the end he decided to use the best strategy known to man when facing a difficult decision.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...
if you holler...
eeny, meeny, miny, moe! Alright beastfolk it is!"
Kline firmly selected beastfolk race without any hesitaion.
[Race Confirmed - Beastfolk]
[Please pick a subrace of the Beastfolk race]
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Werewolf
Werecat
Merfolk
...
==========
"WHY ARE THERE MORE OPTIONS WITH NOTHING TO EXPLAIN THEM?!?!" Kline shouted in confusion as he wondered if the developers are sadists and wanted to see players suffer.
"I'm guessing that the other races must also have subraces considering that it wouldn't make sense for the beastfolk to be the only race with subraces, right? Alright since there's still no information, I guess it's back too fate."
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...
if you holler...
eeny, meeny, miny, moe! Ok I guess I'm becoming half-cat then."
[Subrace Confirmed - Werecat]
[Basic Character Selection Complete]
[Initializing Character Creation]
[Scanning Body]
[3%]
[27%]
[84%]
[100%]
[Configuring Character Model]
[Character Model Complete]
[Would you like to make some adjustments?]
A handsome figure clothed in simple garments appeared in Kline's view. A tall, strong looking 18 year old with toned muscle, short black hair, and hazy gray eyes. He had silky clear skin, sharp eyebrows, and looks that wouldn't loose to any K-pop member from the era before the Spiral Corporation. The only differences being the new set of ears and tail on his body.
"Sweet, this race comes with a pair of ears and a tail. Anyways with this face of mine why would I need any changes? Skip."
[Character Model Confirmed]
[Synchronizing Character Model]
[15%]
[100%]
Kline suddenly felt an indescribable sensation as he started to synchronize with his character. After a little bit he realized that he completely merged with his character.
"Nice, I finally have a body now. Wow it feels exactly like my body in real life! Wait I gotta feel my new appendages real quick." As Kline touched his ears and tail he felt a shiver go down his spine.
"HOLY SH*T THOSE ARE SENSITIVE. They feel nice and soft too. Hehe, now I know the developers are true men of culture." While Kline was murmuring to himself a notification appeared in his vision.
[Would you like to enter Steampunk Online]
"Huh, there's no class selection option? It seems like classes can only be acquired in the game then. Anyways let's not enter for now."
Instead of immediately entering like most people, Kline decided not to. Why? Because the game gave him an option to not enter. If there was nothing else to do why wouldn't the game force him into the game instead? While it could be for the people who want to logout, Kline was able to move around in the white space instead of being confined to a certain location. This led him to believe there might be secrets lurking in this white space.
"Let's see what's hiding in this place." Kline said as he picked a direction and started walking.