His eyes opened… well, at least he felt like they opened as everything around him was filled with darkness. He tried to breathe, but he couldn’t, making him flap all seven of his limbs in panic. At least he attempted, as they weren’t responding to his commands. After a few seconds of panic, he realized that he didn’t have any need to breathe.
Then it hit him, ‘Wait for a second, why do I have seven limbs? Even if I counted my man limb, it would only sum to five… Also, where am I, and why can’t I move?’
Images of blue and red flashing lights passed throughout his mind.
‘Have I had some kind of an accident, and I am lying in a hospital bed with a coma?’ desperation filled his mind as he realized his possible predicament.
Calming down his thoughts, he tried to remember what happened, but that made him panic even more as he found something terrible ‘I can’t remember who am I… My name, my family, it’s all gone… Do I even have a family?’ The only thing that he could fully remember was a game that he used to play: Lorenia – Land of Miracles and Magic or, as often called by players, LOMM. It was a widely popular full-dive virtual reality game that took the world by storm upon its release. It was the first video game that fully integrated all five senses into a simulation, allowing players to feel like they were really in another world. That experience was reinforced even further by its live-like NPCs and seemingly infinite possibilities.
Instantly all memories of the game flooded his brain, causing him to black out in pain from the sudden influx of information. When the pain subsided, he could remember every detail he had ever heard or experienced about the game. From his memories, he was sure that he was more than an above-average player, even though he never got high in rankings. But that wasn’t due to his inability, but more likely due to the hardships of being a solo player and his hobby. Yes, he was a maniac into builds… spending most of his time trying exotic and irregular builds that he made. That by itself was an amazing achievement as most of them required rare and powerful items that were hard to obtain. He often spent weeks farming single boss just to obtain an item needed for the build. Most of the time builds he made were weird and mediocre, but sometimes he managed to create powerful and unique builds that he sold to rich kids on the internet. That was his livelihood and hobby.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a semi-transparent box.
Ding!
//
Welcome to Lorenia!
Please create your character.
<Continue>
//
It was a message familiar to any player of LOMM. It was the very first interface prompt that any player saw before creating their character.
‘Hahaha, my brain is probably breaking down from the lack of oxygen! Well, if I am dying, I might as well continue… I will at least die having some fun.’
Ding!
//
Please choose your race!
Option 1: True Dragon
//
He tried to scroll down with his mind, but no matter how much he tried, nothing happened, ‘Huh? Normally there would be more options… and I am sure that one can’t even play as a True Dragon. There was an Ultra Rare race Dragon Kin but… Why am I even thinking like this, this is all just fabrication of my mind, so of course, it is different. ‘
He confirmed his obvious choice.
Ding!
//
Please choose your gender!
Option 1: Male – disabled (incompatible race)
Option 2: Female – disabled (incompatible race)
Option 3: Genderless
//
Dragons in LOMM weren’t like dragons in most fantasy worlds. They were genderless and could lay egs by themself without the need for any sexual partner when they reached maturity and stable enough habitat.
There was nothing to think about, so he went straight into another part of character creation.
Ding!
//
Please choose your character name!
//
He started to think, ‘What should be a good name for a dragon… It must be a long and domineering name.’ He took his time as there was no need to rush, and after a few minutes, he came up with a name, ‘The first name will be Vesuvius like that volcano, second will be Dragor like… well like a dragon, the third one will be Ignatius from a fire element in Latin, and finally, the last one will be Cremator like a crematorium.
//
Please spend your starting stat points.
Stat Points (SP): 10 base + 50 race bonus
Starting base stats for the true dragon race:
Vitality (VIT): 7
Intelligence (INT): 17
Strength (STR): 4
Agility (AGI): 3
Defence (DEF): 21
Endurance (END): 8
Magic (MAG): 41
//
In a world of LOMM, every player had seven base stats. The first one was vitality which directly translated into the amount of HP and its regeneration. The second one was intelligence which defined the level of time dilatation, basically speeding up the player’s thoughts. It was also needed requirement to learn more powerful spells. It also used powerful game servers to boost players’ calculative powers. Then there were two stats: agility and strength. Agility determined how flexible and quickly one could react and move. In the meantime, strength determined maximal momentum and force that could be put into that specific move. There was also a defence stat. It wasn’t absolute defence as it was used to multiply effects of existing defences like armour, defensive magic or natural defences like an exoskeleton or a skin. The endurance determined the amount of stamina and resistance to poisons and other body-affecting substances. Lastly, there was the magic that increased the amount of mana one had and the strength of their spells. Also, most of the abilities in a game were based on one or more stats that were used to boost its effects.
Vesuvius looked at his option and smiled inwardly, ‘Hehe, if the race of average known as humans has all stats at 8, then true dragons can be considered as a cheat.’
As the proper maniac into builds, he spent hours thinking about how he should spend his points.
‘True dragons should have a powerful dragon breath ability and access to a unique magic school. Both of these should be boosted by magic. Let’s put some twenty points into it. They also have powerful innate defence in the form of their scales, so I will put twenty into defence to boost its effects even more. I will split the rest equally between vitality, strength and agility to give me enough physical capabilities to fight.
Vesuvius confirmed his choices before another box with more choices appeared in front of him.