Stretching a bit before getting out of my car, I saw the delivery truck in front of my small and nice house. I grabbed a few items, some groceries and the game "New World" developed by Old Dream, the only company that was able to rival Neo Dream aka the people who developed VR capsules and a lot of the major games associated with them. 

The reason why or so I've been told is that the game world is so advanced they have to use several AI or God Npcs to keep the world running and create new quests. Heck the NPCs respond to the player's actions and give a response, heck even changing their personality overtime depending on their interactions. 

At least from what I've been told by a good friend of mine who plays the game a lot, and I mean a lot. Well he wasn't the only guy I knew playing it, almost everyone was even my family who while not as obsessed with still played it whenever they could. So after some consideration, figuring out where to put the capsule in the first place and seeing if I wanted to follow the popular trend and play the game instead of the various racing games in the market.

Which I may do if I don't get into the game, eh it was good to try new things and see if you liked so I thought why not? I went over to help the delivery guys the capsule inside, without damaging my doors or my walls. I was able to get a nice spot near an outlet in my living room although I did have to move the couch over a little bit.

After signing a form the guy left pretty fast with his truck swerving out of the driveway, a little weird but maybe he was running late with his other deliveries or something. Welp didn't matter as I started to get all the equipment set up the proper plugs plugged in and whatever else needed to be put together to get the capsule up and working. 

It was shaped a little weirdly, it was a large cylinder with an entrance made of glass so that if someone was trapped in it could be broken out of, with all the proper gizmos and things inside. Basically, I didn't understand how all the stuff worked so I looked at the instructions that came with it to make sure it was all properly put together. 

So I got the game out and inserted the disc into the side of the capsule, making sure it was all turned on, and that I didn't have anything to do today by checking my schedule one last time. Seeing that I had nothing to do I opened up the capsule and carefully got into it, not wanting to damage it. 

Getting into a comfortable position, I got the helmet on and closed my eyes, letting my body relax and let the machine do its job. A loud buzzing noise emitted from it and my mind was instantly transported to the dream/game world more specifically the opening screen.

I was standing on a large grass plain wearing some brown shorts and a white t-shirt, otherwise, I had the same average build and my face was still the same amount of handsomeness if I say so myself. All around me though was an endless cloudy sky with the sun shining brightly behind me, Immediately in front of my face was a blue screen.

[Please choose a name: ???]

Scratching my chin, I knew I would have to think hard about an original name as a vast majority of the world played this game, well if my friend was right anyway. That's when I got it, a name so cringy no one would think of it and type it in.

[Are you sure you wish to be known as {Apep}?]

[Yes] [No]

I clicked yes and no screen saying someone had already chosen the name for what was essentially the serpent of chaos or something like that, honestly I wasn't that into Egyptian mythology. I was more surprised no on straight-up took the name, they probably thought another person did it and added a 01 or some combination of numbers/letters to it. 

It was possible that I just got really lucky with the name but welp it was too late and I already pressed the yes button. 

Instantly I was teleported in front of a large what looked like an ever-expanding black tower. The same screen appeared in front of me again giving me the tutorial quest. 

[Tutorial Quest]

[Climb the tower and learn from it]

[Rewards: Class selection + choice of five items dropped from the monsters slain here]

[Failure: None]

[Time limit: None]

[Notes: May the gods give you challenges]

With the quest being instantly forced up me and the tower gates opened. Entering the first floor it was littered with various wooden items, some of which looked like your typical spears or swords but others looked like a mages staff or something like that. Looking over the various items I went with the simple wooden spear, mostly because it gave the advantage of long distance plus you didn't have to know a whole lot about it to use, like the bow. 

[Beginners Wooden Spear]

[Traits: Fragile, Poke, Medium, and Mass-Produced]

[Damage: 10 atk 5% crit chance]

[Skill: Simple Poke: deliver a strong attack to the enemy with a +10% critic chance]

Swinging it around a few times, well it was an odd feeling, I could feel the wood on my hands and it felt...real somehow. I also wanted to check my own stats as well, as see what I was working with.

I was at level 1 of course and the main stats I had access to were the classic Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Strength, Charisma, and Luck. Each of the stats was well-rounded 5 with 25 HP in total, meaning that if I increased my Constitution I was guessing it would be 30 next. Mana was the same, and I'm guessing tied to how many stat points I raised in intelligence. 

I could guess what the rest of the stats corresponded to and began to make my way up the spiral staircase that led to the next level. It was a darker shade of black with only a few torches to light the way up. I gripped the spear with both hands, checking everywhere in case an enemy mob tried to ambush me or something. Once I got up to the first floor of the tutorial tower, I immediately spotted the enemy.

It was a sleeping bug, one that looked like a mix of an ant and bee with a gigantic stinger on their back that had red and black stripes. They had the wings of a gigantic bee, the head of an ant with gigantic mandibles that looked more like blunt instruments than anything. 

[Black Bant]

[Type: Insect]

[Traits: Sturdy, Fast, Dumb, Flight, and Small]

[Lv. 1]

Honestly speaking I didn't know what to think fo the traits, I mean it sounded straightforward forward but sometimes games like to trick you into thinking something is simple but it really isn't. Althought seeing the dumb trait did give me some insight into its mental abilities, and how this creautre would probably rely on simply attack patterns probably from the air, classic hit and run tatics.

That and it probably wasn't paying attention to its environment or potential enemies, aka me. Sneaking up slowly on it, I got my spear ready to stab down in between its joints to try and pin its movement down, keep it grounded. Once I was close enough to it, I jumped at it and stabbed my spear in between its main body and thorax. 

As the spear went closer and closer, it impacted with its exoskeleton and made a crack in its armor, except it didn't pierce through its flesh. It turned its head around and I was able to get a full view of its head. IT screeched out and quickly flew out of my eyesight and into the air. 

Jumping back I looked into the air, as it revealed a gigantic stinger and let out a loud chittering sound and charged right at me. Stepping to the side, It kept going forward until it hit the ground giving me a chance to deliver another strike to its already cracked exoskeleton, at least the spot I cracked it. 

It let out a shout as its shell was finally pierced and was dealt a massive blow. Soon enough it disappeared into a cloud of blue pixels as the system screen came up again.

[Black Bant Slain]

[XP: 15]

[XP stored until tutorial is over]

[Please head up to the next floor and see how far you can make it]

[Or you may exit now and take the following drop]

[Bant Dagger]

[Trait: Sturdy, Fast, and Poke]

[Damage: 15 10% crit chance]

[Skill: Bant Speed: Increase your straight movement speed by 50% and damage by 2 temporarily]

It was a tough choice on whether or not to go directly to the game or continue up the tower...for about five seconds as I closed the system screen and made my way p the tower.