Ace felt his body moving rapidly in a certain direction, like he was being pulled somewhere.
Starting to feel dizzy, he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back up, bright lights flashing past him as he flew by.
Trying to make out his surroundings, he could only get glimpses of strange places.
One moment he's flying past an Egyptian looking place with tall statues and pyramids and the next moment he's racing past futuristic ships taking off from a place you would see in science fiction.
Trying to speak, no sound came from his lips, almost as if he were in space, where sound doesn't escape.
Ace continued to watch the interesting scenery and felt like he was being enlightened, feeling very small in comparison.
'Makes me realize how big the cosmos can be, even if this is just a game.' He thought to himself, closing his eyes once again, he was starting to feel a queasiness in the pit of his stomach.
Before he could vomit up the gas station burrito that he ate earlier, he felt himself stop moving.
Waiting for the nausea to pass, he cracked his eyes open and found himself lying on a dusty steel surface.
After he felt better, he sat up and surveyed his surroundings.
He was in a steel room with no windows, no furniture either, the whole room was empty, only a door on the wall across from him.
"This must be the spawn location" Ace muttered under his breath as he rubbed the back of his head.
Standing up, he checked his body and found that he was wearing a black long sleeves shirt, a pair of green cargo pants and black boots.
Feeling the texture of the material, he felt more excited for his new journey.
" Man! Everything feels so real!" Ace exclaimed to himself as he started rubbing his eyes, if he didn't know any better, he would think he was still in the real world. He couldn't find a single flaw that would give away that he was in a game.
Let's see here, since this is a game I obviously have a status screen of some sort..
"Status!"
A screen popped up in front of him, showing his stats, skills, ailments, buffs and a couple notifications.
The first thing he checked was the notifications.
'You've entered a different plane of existence through a wormhole modified by a higher lifeform. Leaving terra formed planet 'Earth'.
'Arrived safely to pre designated location'.
'Welcome to Origin!'
Chuckling at the notification, Ace found it interesting how entering the game explains it as entering a wormhole to another world, it's a cute concept.
This world must be called Origin, the lobby everyone starts in.
Scrolling to the next set of notifications, he starts reading.
'You're soul has gained enlightenment from the multiverse travel, you've gained 1 Skill Point. Use wisely!'
Three free points right off the bat? This games off to a great start, most likely the newbie bonus. Ace nods his head, tapping his chin in thought with a smirk on his face.
Ace scrolls down to the last notification.
'A Soulstealer has locked on to you!'
'Calculating gap in strength...'
'Impossible to determine due to the gap in strength being too large!"
---
'You've survived an encounter with a Soulstealer (Boss) ! Calculating the gap in strength... Calculation complete. Soulstealer is calculated as 'Impossible' difficulty '
'Special achievement award granted!'
'Awarded Secret title 'Main Character Energy'
Ace blankly stared the last notification.
Huh..? Soulstealer? When did this happen?
Ace thought back to when he was in the wormhole, he didn't remember running into anything, he passed by many different places but he didn't see any actual people.
Thinking harder, something came to mind.
Could it be when I was creating my character, that figure that I saw was the Soulstealer?
Rubbing the back of his neck, Ace could only assume it was that since he didn't meet anyone before or after that.
Looking at the new title he got and seeing the 'Secret' tag on it, a smile grew on his face.
"Whatever the case is, it seems I got really lucky; I didn't have to do anything and got a free title. He said to himself, the smile growing wider by the second.
Ace clicked the title to check it's description.
'Main Character Energy'
Rarity: Secret
Description:
You overcame impossible odds with either luck or wit. Equipping this title makes it to when you face an opponent/opponents or an attack that will kill or severely injure you, your stats increase by 25% and you gain a passive forcefield that shimmers on the surface of your skin that blocks 1 attack from anything under a boss level creature, cool down: 1 hour.
Title note: I like those odds.
Gained 1 Bio point, 3 stat points and 3 Skill points for being the first person to unlock a title!
Gained 10 Bio points and 5 stat points for being the first to unlock a secret title!
Looking at the title he got before even playing the game, Ace's eyes were bulging out of his head.
"This.. This is nuts! That's a crazy good title! Able to block anything under a boss level enemy? A 25% boost in stats? A bunch of free points as well?" Ace was nearly drooling at this point and he clenched his hands in glee.
" The games been out for about 2 days now, so other people might have gotten some good stuff already, but this title definitely put me at the very least, on their level, if not having a better advantage."
Ace was feeling very satisfied at this point, however he wasn't quite sure what the points were used for.
"Skill and stat points are pretty self explanatory, but what are Bio points?" Scrolling his status screen, he found where the points were at and clicked on them.
'Stat Points: Used to increase stats, these can only be earned from completing a world'
'Skill points: Used to purchase skills from NPCs. Can be traded to other players.'
'Bio Points: Rare rewards that can be used to purchase bloodlines to absorb into your body. Bloodlines give unique abilities and/or physical/mental enhancements. Bloodlines can also have debuffs so use with caution.
'To use Bio points, you're required to have the DNA of whatever bloodline you're choosing in your inventory, the more DNA you have, the higher the success rate.'
I see!
Ace nodded his head in realization, it seems he got hefty rewards for doing basically nothing!
It seems that he can't use it yet though, if he's lucky, maybe he can get a hold of a good bloodline in a dungeon or two.
For now, it would be best to focus on skills.
The oddity that Ace wasn't actually in the game yet when he met that strange figure and shouldn't have met the requirements to gain rewards didn't cross his mind due to the excitement.
Closing the opened tabs, now Ace checked out his current stats.
Ace Diamonte Valdez
Age:21
Male
Race: Human (Complete Soul)
Skills: N/A
Body: 10
Mind: 4
Willpower: 14
BP: 11
SP: 4
StatP: 8
With no way of knowing whether his stats were good or bad, he decided to see if he can figure out that type of stuff.
Body:
Determines how much strength, speed and agility you have. Also determines toughness, meaning you can take more hits the higher this stat is.
(You're pretty weak but at least you're above average for your kind)
Mind:
Determines Intelligence, Charisma, Perception and Understanding.
The higher this stat is, the more you can be aware of hidden details in your surroundings, get information/lie to people and increases learning speeds for specific skills and memory.
(You're kind of stupid but still better than some people, it's hard for people to take anything you say seriously)
Willpower:
Willpower is something you can't see with the naked eye.
Influences your resistance to negative debuffs (Fear, Rage, Sleep, Manipulation, Ect.)
Willpower affects your pool of special energy (There are many forms of energy such as Mana, Chi, Psionic energy, Ect.)
(You have a soul so willpower is doubled for you, you're so lucky! When you get a form of energy, it will be purer than the average persons)
Resisting the urge to get annoyed at the little notes at the end, Ace focused on the willpower stat.
'Hmm, it mentioned having a soul doubles the stat, wouldn't it be doubled for everyone?'
Not quite sure why the creators of the game would give everyone free stat points like that, Ace decided to not think about things he doesn't have the answers for.
"Based of the information I have, its probably a good guess that 10 would be average." Ace says with furrowed brows, glancing at his mind stat was making him kinda unhappy.
He didn't think he was THAT stupid. Sure, he was terrible at puzzles and subjects like math or science made his head hurt but isn't it kind of low If 10 is the average?
Looking at his 8 stat points, he hesitated.
It seems like they're quite rare, if not for the two achievements, he wasn't sure when he would get more or even HOW to get them.
The general rule is to wait until you know what type of character you want to play before using stat points but it was kind of bothering him.
'I have 8 points and haven't even played the game yet, so I could just think of these as freebies and use them up.
Mind seems like a very useful stat and having it below average doesn't sit right with me.
My other stats seem pretty good right now, especially my willpower, Body is above average, probably better then the other nerds that started.'
If it was possible, Ace would have steam shooting from his head with how hard he was thinking.
Thinking a bit more, he made a decision.
"I don't want my low IQ to be the cause of me losing. I have to be able to think on my feet if I get in a tight spot and having increased charm doesn't hurt either."
Yes. He definitely wasn't thinking only about being charming.
Having made his decision, he put 6 of the stat points into mind. He decided to save the last two when he decides how he wants to use them.
Instantly Ace started getting a headache.
Grimacing while he rubbed his head, he closed his eyes. The pain only lasted a few seconds before going away and he could immediately feel a difference.
'Wow is this from just 6 points? I feel like my head became incredibly clear! I really was a dumbass if the average person feels this clear-headed. I'll have to figure out later how much of a difference those points made.'
It was a strange feeling, he could only compare it to a blind man getting new eyes.
Mind: 10
Determines Intelligence, Charisma, Perception and Understanding.
(You're gifted with a sharp mind with attention to details. People tend to listen to you so use this new brain of yours to stay alive. Or just woo the ladies)
(You're now eidetic)
(Due to your Mind stat reaching 10, you've unlocked the 'Observe' action. Some data is unreadable for your current level)
Nice! The famed Observation skill, that will simplify everything in the future!
Wait..
Furrowing his brows, Ace looked closely at that last line.
Eidetic? As in remembers everything?
That's a rare ability, that can only mean 10 is not the base for mind.
With a strained smile, Ace shakes his head.
"I guess I don't understand enough yet, let's hope I made the right call either way."
Whatever, whether I made a good or bad choice will be known in the future, for now I'll just enjoy the perks.
Closing the screen in front of him, Ace stretched his body out, pops echoing around the room.
Raising his head, he glanced over at the door. Walking over to it with a pep in his step, he decided to give the outside world a gander.
Hmm? The door won't open?
'You must complete one world before exiting your base.'
Ah. That's how it is.
Shaking his head, he understood what to do now. There was no option for Shopping and trading from where he's at so the only conclusion he can draw is that you can only do that from outside, possibly a market area.
Looks like there's nothing more I can learn or do right now. It's time to head out to my first world.
The anticipation was killing him anyways, his curiosity with which world he would enter first was easily understood.
"Hopefully it's something I know" Ace murmers to himself brushing his hair back.
Since it's his first world, the game wouldn't be cruel enough to send him to a place outside his power level right?
Pulling up the game menu once more, he steels himself, takes a deep breath and hits the 'Enter random single player world' button.
A moment later, a flash of blue light appears and then the base was empty.