The countdown of the launch began as it started to tick down from the number, 5.
«5»
«4»
«3»
«2»
Beth could no longer wait to make the jump into this virtual world.
"Here goes nothing," she muttered.
«1»
«0»
[First Launch successful]
Beth had shut her eyes during the jump into Nexus out of fear and at the same time overwhelming excitement, all in anticipation of entering Nexus. She wondered what the world had in store for her.
After a few minutes passed, Beth slowly opened one of her eyes, squinting to adjust to light from the sun and using that eye to glance around to be sure that she was still alive.
She saw the new environment she was transported to and could not recognize it.
It was an unfamiliar expanse with flourishing grasses and the warmth of the sun before noon touching down to the ground.
She opened her second eye and was smitten by the scenery that she laid eyes upon.
An expanse that was coloured beautiful from the grass and yellow-orange from the sun.
It was a captivating sight, even better when the wind moved past and allowed the grasses to dance in the direction it went.
"It's beautiful."
A voice rang in her head that interrupted her, forcing her to turn back and to her sides instantly.
She saw nothing and no one behind her. Beth was alone in this vast land and stood there, looking around and confused.
"What was that?"
She was a bit slow but after putting the slightest thought into it, she realised that the voice was familiar.
It was the gentle feminine voice behind the Axon gears.
[Welcome, participant of the First Launch]
[Participant has been tagged with a number]
[Participant is player #157]
[Welcome to Nexus Online, Player #157]
—––
Arriving in the new world, Beth examined her body thoroughly.
Even though she was in another world, she didn't feel different except for the digital texture of her body.
She looked and felt the same as her usual self.
"So this is it."
After jumping into Nexus, she appeared in a vast grassy land, vast with sweeping wind and the sun that hung high in the sky at the horizon. It was an empty borderless land of short greenery.
She turned her head around but there was nothing and no one else except her and the expansive space of nature.
'Where are the others?' she wondered. 'Perhaps they were transported elsewhere.'
Ding!
A row of texts appeared in front of her, floating in the air and bearing a welcome message to her arrival in Nexus as well as an assigned player number.
Beth heard the voice and saw the notification as well. It was only then that Beth realised that she was not wearing her Axon gear.
However, that was the whole point of the Axon-Neuronal (A-N) link that she underwent and the switching of command mode.
The Axons were designed to become invisible in Nexus, albeit the core of the gear is stored within the lower spinal area of the players to allow them access to their gears.
Even though Beth no longer had the visible and tangible gear on her, she could still access the device with a simple thought.
"What is this place?" she inquired of her Axon.
[Participant is currently in the «Anteroom»]
Beth skimmed over the message and read further down to the description of what the «Anteroom» was.
Beside the description button was another one that read [Expand], she chose that option just to see what it offered.
The screen that she viewed in her mind manifested physically before her eyes and became visible and larger for easier manipulation.
"I thought as much," she said, before clicking on the description button for the «Anteroom».
—––
ANTEROOM:
[The Anteroom is the first location for every player that arrives in Nexus. It has no specific designs and largely varies and as such different players may meet different Anterooms]
—––
"Hmm… is that so?"
The description continued.
—––
[The Anteroom comes with tasks which each player must perform and complete before allowance through the Gates of Nexus]
—––
"Tasks? I wonder what kind of tasks it offers."
Beth went over the screen one more time and saw different buttons with different words on them, namely: stage, tasks, collapse, description and so on.
As a character, she was tagged with the name [Visitor] pending when she created a proper character.
She tapped the [Task] option to see what it had in store for her and a drop-down menu appeared with a list of things required for her to pass the level of the Anteroom.
[You have requested to attempt the «Preliminary Level» task]
[Do you wish to proceed?]
"Yes."
[Preliminary Level: Level 0]
[Location: «Anteroom»]
[Tasks]
1. Create an avatar
2. Activate «Avatar-Player Synchronisation»
3. Activate «Official Player Card»
—––
"Hmm," Beth breathed. She folded her arms and rubbed her chin while pondering on the type of character she wanted to make.
Choosing a name was not going to be a problem. She already had in her mind what her avatar will be called; what best that the name she had always used for her game characters.
She also had a good idea of what the avatar should look like but she still needed to incorporate the details, so that it all ties up to the perfect picture in her head.
She pressed the [Create your avatar] tab and waited to see what would happen.
Another drop-down menu appeared with an empty character template that she had to fill out herself.
—––
[Avatar Profile]
Name: «Enter Name»
Race: «Select»
Level: «Locked»
Class: «Select»
Skills: None
Inventory: None
Coins: 0
Experience Points (XP): 0
Energy Points (EP): 0
Health Points (HP): 0