II

Chapter 2

Hour(s): 02 Minute(s): 41 Second(s) 09…08…07

*** *** **

Hour(s): 00 Minute(s): 00 Second(s) 06…05…04…03…02…01…00

A beep sound can be heard followed by a message.

[Welcome to Utopia by IMEX]

[LOGIN WITH:]

The VR room has my account and my parents,’ so I have to choose mine.

[Confirm?]

[Yes] or [No]

I choose yes and it uses the devices attached to my body (which are meant to monitor my vitals since some people play VR for so long their health fails. If it goes below standard, the VR will shut down on its own), to confirm m identity.

[Scanning]

[Identity confirmed]

[Welcome to Utopia, Allister Newman]

[Creating Utopia IRL Profile]

[Creation complete]

[NAME: ALLISTER NEWMAN

AGE: 17

HAIR COLOR: BLACK

EYE COLOR:  GREEN

BUILD: SLIGHTLY BELOW AVERAGE BUT NOT SKINNY [RECTANGULAR]

WEIGHT:

HEIGHT: 5’9

HAIRSTYLE: SLICK BACK]

[IS THIS YOU?]

[YES] OR [NO]

I choose yes and the IRL profile is replaced by In-game profile.

[IN-GAME PROFILE]

[PSEUDONAME: N/A]

RACE: N/A

ROLE: N/A

AGE: 17

GENDER: MALE

TIER: TRAINEE

TIER RANKING: 41135009/41135009 [IT KEPT INCREASING AS MORE PEOPLE JOINED]

LEVEL: 1 [BASE]

FORM 1: HUMAN-LOOKING

HEIGHT: 5’9

HAIR COLOR: BLACK

HAIR STYLE: SLICK BACK

EYE COLOR: GREEN

BODY TYPE: RECTANGULAR

UTOPIA COINS: 0

The first thing that stood out to me was 41 Million people have already joined and the game hasn’t even been out for a minute! This meant there’s going to be a lot of competition for me, and the game won’t get boring as more players join.

I hover over the pseudo name option and try choosing a name.

Allister Newman…[Denied]

Newman Allister…[Denied]

Ally Newman…[Denied]

My name was already taken. I am famous in the VR gaming community after all. I try a few more names until it works.

Dexter Bloom…[Accepted]

My profile is updated, and I move to the next section…race.

There are many races to choose from. I don’t know about others, but I feel like going in as a human would be boring. And I don’t know if you can change your race in future. Better choose something wild.

There’s orc, devil, wizard, angel, demon, dragon, phoenix, lizardman, and so on.

“Too boring. I wish I could find something no one else has.” I lament.

[Your account has special clearance]

[Would you like to choose from the hidden races?]

[Yes] Or [No]

This must be mom and dad’s doing. Yes please!

As I scroll among the hidden races, I see some weird things like Wizard Orc, Incubus Knight, and some others. Evil dragonkin. Hmm. Close. I’ll keep that in mind as I keep searching. I fumble through the list till I find something interesting.

Devil Elf.

There’s Dark Elf but then there’s Devil Elf?

I hover over it for more information.

[Devil Elf: A being birthed from the unexpected unison of the Devil Prince and his Elven lover. Possesses characteristics of each.]

Bingo. This is it. I look over more information and discover that I can maintain elven form most of the time and transform into a second form…devil elf form. Waah! That’s dope!

I choose the Devil Elf race and my In-game profile is updated.

On to the next line. Role.

Under the roles list, there are many to choose from They number nearly three hundred and many more may be added in future updates. Just like my race, I don’t want something others have.

“May I see the hidden roles?”

[Hidden roles…Confirming permission…Access granted]

[Choose a role]

I look through the hidden roles.

“Beast tamer…Necromancer…Ghost King…” Not really interested in any of these.

[Because you belong to the hidden race, Devil Elf]

[Hidden Role: Devil god successor]

“Devil god successor…That sounds pretty out there! I have no idea what it will be like so I’m going with it.” I don’t even read description.

Next…Age.

Every IMEX (my parent’s company) game usually has five servers. One for every age. Unlike in the past where it was one per region, such as Singapore server, Germany Server and so on. One server in the present age in geographical terms can be designated as global. So that one server covers the whole world but for IMEX servers, the restrictions are age-based.

SERVERS

10-12 Years

13-15 Years

16-18 Years

18-20 Years

21-ABOVE

Age 9 and below aren’t allowed to play most VR games. Why? Because scientists said so. As for the details, I don’t care much. Ages 10-12 will be able to play together but some features will be removed. As the age rises, the more access is unlocked. I am 17 at the moment so I’ll be missing out on the 18 to 20 and 21 and above servers’ features. I don’t know if this will work but…

“Can my age be overlooked so I can join the 21 and above server?”

[Checking…]

[Access denied]

“Hmph! Couldn’t let me get away with that one could you pops?” I sigh in disappointment. “On to the next one…Hair color.”

I have dark hair in real life (like dad), but I wonder what I would look like with as a redhead like my mom?

I choose red for my hair and a spectrum of shades to choose from appears. I adjust it till it looks just like my mom’s.

Gender.

I don’t know why you can change that but whatever.

Tier is fixed at trainee. I guess that will change by my actions in-game.

Tier ranking is identical to the number of players. Obviously can’t be changed as I’ve done nothing to increase my rank. Same goes for my level.

As for height, It’s unchangeable. I can understand why. Imagine some weirdo out there who is 4’9 in real life choosing 6’9 in-game. How are you supposed to coordinate the new line of sight? Some will complain but it’s probably the minority. The clique of the weird. They should make a club out of that.

I change my eyes color from green to blue.

Now this is what I would have looked like if I got my mom’s genes.

Body type…leave as is. I can’t be bothered. I’m proud of my body. Plus giving yourself a body type you don’t have will get weird. Imagine going from a mop IRL to a macho man in-game and coming back out to greet the mop in the mirror. That would be unhealthy…psychologically speaking at least.

Now to my second form…the Devil Elf form.