Beta Life, page 2
part #1 of Digital Sorcery Series
I changed my eye color to golden yellow which gave my character a more mysterious and almost magical appearance. He now had the kind of stare you might get from a powerful wizard. I liked it!
I confirmed my changes and then confirmed my appearance.
Please select your class from the following options. Clicking on a class will give a greater description of the class.
Warrior
Knight
Paladin
Dark Knight
Barbarian
Wizard
Sorcerer
Summoner
Necromancer
Druid
Rogue
Assassin
Cleric
Ranger
Bard
Monk
We highly advise new players to choose one of the core classes above as the advanced classes on the next page can be much more challenging to play as. If you are an experienced player and would like an opportunity to play as an advanced class please proceed to the next page.
This was a big decision now; class selection would basically be how I wanted to play the game and spend the rest of my life. While all these classes could be fun, I had my heart set on using magic. I mean, why wouldn't I want to hurl fireballs and lightning bolts around? Playing as a warrior just seemed so dull in comparison. With this in mind, I selected Wizard from the options.
Wizard: The master of magic. The Wizard specializes in no school of magic but knows some of everything. This versatility can give the Wizard a leg up over more specialized spellcasters. The Wizard carries his spellbook around with him wherever he goes and must prepare his spells ahead of time. This class is not for those that are afraid of preparation and study. A truly powerful Wizard must be a master of both.
Well, that sounds like a lot of work which, even for great magical powers, I didn't want to spend all my time doing. This "Afterlife" is supposed to be an enjoyable one, and if I'm constantly going to have to be studying spells and preparing them I don't know if that's for me.
Let's see what other magic classes there are. I'm fairly certain Sorcerer, Summoner, Necromancer, and Druids will all have magical abilities as well. Summoners will probably summon various things, Necromancers summon the dead, Druids are all about nature, and Sorcerers, well, I'm not sure I know a difference between them and Wizards. Let's check it out.
I clicked back to the previous list and clicked on Sorcerer.
Sorcerer: The natural magician. Sorcerers are born with their abilities due to some magical ancestry in their bloodline. Their bloodline limits their magic. As their powers grow, their mastery over this magic becomes second to none. Sorcerers know all their spells innately and therefore, do not have to prepare them ahead of time.
Hmm, this is interesting. On one hand, I'll be limited in my magic to a specific area which could be problematic, but on the other hand, there is very little work involved which is something I'm all for, and I'll be really good at that one specific area of magic. I clicked proceed.
Please choose the origin of your bloodline from the following options:
Divine: Your power comes from a deity of Alderoth. Your powers will reflect the deity you choose.
Dragon: Your power comes from the greatest creatures in Alderoth. Your powers will reflect the type of dragon you choose.
Fey: Your power comes from the woodland spirits; as such, you are a master of nature.
Phoenix: Your power comes from the bird of fire and rebirth; as such, you are a master of fire and healing.
Leviathan: Your power comes from the greatest of sea monsters; as such, you are a master of water and the oceans of Alderoth.
Elemental: Your power comes from one of the great primordial elementals. Your powers will reflect the type of elemental you choose.
Shadow: Your power comes from darkness itself; as such, you are a master of shade.
So many options, and they all seemed good. Well, maybe not fey. I really didn't care all that much about nature. I think I'll steer clear of divine as I've never been religious and I definitely didn't plan on starting now with video game gods. Dragon could be cool, though, I suppose it depended on the type of dragon. Phoenix could also be cool, I did really want to throw some fireballs and healing would probably be pretty helpful too. Shadow seemed really neat, but I wasn't completely sure how useful it would be. Leviathan seems to limit me to water, which if I was being honest, wasn't really my thing and Elemental was going to limit me to whatever element I picked. After weighing my options I decided that Phoenix sounded like it suited the way I wanted to play the most and clicked it.
You have chosen your bloodline origin as Phoenix. The Phoenix is a mythological bird of fire that dies and is reborn from its ashes. Its tears are rumored to have amazing curative properties. Though you will never stop being human, as you progress in your mastery (level), you will become more and more phoenix-like in your abilities.
Phoenix Sorcerers may use daggers, staves, and wands for weapons. They may only use robes for armor.
At level 1 phoenix sorcerers know the following spells:
Ignite: this allows you to set an inanimate object on fire with a touch and a thought.
MP cost: 1
Fireball: you can throw fist-sized balls of fire at your enemies.
MP cost: 5
The core statistic that affects Phoenix sorcerers the most is charisma which affects how effective your spells are. Constitution and Wisdom are secondary, affecting your Health Points (HP) and Mana Points (MP) respectively. Because of this, we recommend you start with the following statistics, though you may edit this table if you so choose, reallocating the points as you see fit.
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 15
Starting HP: 21
Starting MP: 30
Please confirm these as your starting core statistics or click edit to change them.
I should have done more research on character creation beforehand, but I honestly hadn't thought too much about it. No sense in trying to change this myself. I might end up making a huge mistake and make things more difficult. They recommended these starting statistics for my class, and I trusted they wouldn't screw me. I clicked confirm.
Enter a name for your avatar. Please note that special characters and numbers are not allowed. Minimum length of 3 characters and maximum length of 128 characters.
I typed Chris in the name field and hit enter.
This name is already in use, please pick another.
I typed Christopher and hit enter.
This name is already in use, please pick another.
Really? Now, this is annoying. A name is just a name, but at the same time, it's a big part of your whole identity. While my name was pretty common, I was attached to it after an entire lifetime. What about this? I typed Ryland and hit enter.
You have chosen the name Ryland for your avatar, do you confirm?
So, it's going to feel like high school again where everyone called me by my last name instead of my first. That's fine, I can get used to answering to just Ryland. I clicked confirm.
Congratulations! You have created the Sorcerer Ryland! Please consult your transition nurse for your next instructions. We look forward to meeting you, as Ryland on Alderoth.
"I'm all finished," I said turning to the nurse.
"Excellent, if you'll let me wheel you out of here, we'll start to get you set up for transfer procedure," the nurse said and began to push away from the computers, out into the hallway, and into an elevator. "The digitizing chambers, as we are calling them, are up on the third floor."
The third floor looked much more like a hospital than a corporate office building. The hallways were lined with extra wide doors and even had medical beds in one or two places. The nurse eventually pushed me into my room which consisted of a large MRI-like machine. There was also a desk with a computer and monitors in one corner and a couple chairs lined up against the wall.
"So what we have," she said gesturing at the machine, "is what we call our Organic to Digital Cognitive Transferal Array or OTD for short. The science behind this baby is what makes Everlast Online and your eternal life a reality. I don't understand all of it, so don't ask, but rest assured, our technicians understand it all very well and will make sure you get from here to there with your mind intact. Do you have any questions for me before the procedure?"
I thought for a moment and then asked the first question that popped into my mind, "is it painful?"
"In our testing, we have seen some discomfort and pain in our subjects. This occurs only during the early stages of the transferal process until you lose consciousness, and once you are in the game, you should experience no more pain from the procedure," the nurse recited in a very rehearsed manner.
"Will I wake up immediately in the game world, or is there a delay?" I asked.
"The transferal process takes around twelve hours, and you should wake up in the game immediately after the process is complete," She replied.
"What are the odds of this transferal failing, and what happens to me if it does?" I asked.
"In our tests, we saw only thirteen failures out of thousands. If this does happen to you, you will unfortunately die," she answered.
"Is there any way of reversing the process?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"There is currently no way of reversing the process. In essence, your physical body will die shortly after your consciousness is transferred from it, and there is no way to transfer you back," the nurse responded.
"I wouldn't want to anyway, there's not much left in this old body. It's digital or bust for my future," I said with a chuckle. "I think that's all the questions I have for now."
"Okay, well if you want to remove your shirt, I can get started by hooking you up to our monitoring equipment," she said picking up some cabling.
I did as I was asked and sat there while the nurse placed monitoring cables all over my head, chest, and back.
"Lets get you positioned on the OTD, and then I can get you strapped in," the nurse said helping me out of the chair and up onto the machine.
"Strapped in?" I asked somewhat alarmed.
"It's to keep you from moving and harming yourself during the process, strictly precautionary," she replied, easing my tension.
Once I was on the OTD I positioned my head at the entry of the cylindrical part of the machine while the rest of my body lay flat on the plank-like structure extending from it. The nurse proceeded to pull straps up from the sides and buckle them over my legs, abdomen, and chest and then pulled them tight. After she finished, she hooked the other end of my monitoring cables into a box she placed on my chest.
"Are you comfortable, Mr. Ryland?" she asked.
"I guess I'm about as comfortable as I'm going to be," I responded.
It was finally starting to hit me that I was going through with this. I was relocating my life into a video game, permanently. Of course, my alternative was to stay here in my shitty body and die within a few years, so I wasn't about to turn back.
"Okay well, I'm going to go see if the technician is ready to begin your procedure. If you need anything while I'm gone, there is a call button to your left," she said and left the room.
It took about fifteen minutes before the nurse came back in with the technician. He was a tall, slender man with short curly hair and a lab coat with Everlast Corporation and Dr. Jones written on it. Basically, exactly what you'd guess a medical technician would look like.
"Hello, Mr. Ryland. I'm Dr. Simon Jones," he said leaning over to look me in the face. "Do you have any questions for me before we begin the procedure?"
"Thanks, but I think the nurse answered all of my questions earlier," I responded. "I'm just ready to get this over with."
"Okay then, let's get started. Make sure to keep your arms and legs tucked in," he said with a small laugh at his own joke.
Dr. Jones went up to the side of the cylinder and pressed a button. I began moving slowly into the cylinder. The whole plank slid back inside of it with me on it. It stopped when about three-fourths of my body was in the cylinder. The inside of it was a dark white surface that stared back at me.
"I'm going to run the operation from the computer over here but both the nurse and I will be here the whole time," he began. "You will feel a little bit of pain about fifteen minutes after we begin and you will probably lose consciousness about thirty minutes in. The next time you wake up, you will be in your new body within Everlast Online. This is your last chance to back out. Are you certain you wish to proceed?"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, let's do it," I said quickly not wanting to lose my nerve.
The OTD churned and hummed as it came to life, and the inside of it started to spin. At the same time, the surface of it lit up with dazzling blue pixelated lights. It was a bit mesmerizing and a bit nauseating at the same time.
Both the nurse and technician really underestimated the pain. Dr. Jones was right about it hitting at about fifteen minutes, but it was excruciating. It felt as if part of me was getting torn out of my head, which of course was exactly what was happening.
After about five minutes of this, my vision started to blur, and I shut my eyes, repeating a mantra to myself to just hang on for a little bit longer. Another five minutes later and I was begging just to lose consciousness or die. I really didn't care which one came first, I just wanted the pain to stop. I felt tears starting to run from my eyes, and my last thought was what a terrible mistake I was making.
Chapter Two: Tutorial
Welcome, Ryland--to Everlast Online and the world of Alderoth!
These words were the first thing to greet me as I regained consciousness. I guess it worked. I looked down at my body, and it definitely wasn't the body I had had before I lost consciousness. The skin on this body was tight and free of wrinkles. My arms were muscular, and I had abs. I touched them, and they felt rock hard, but otherwise, my skin was smooth and felt, well, like skin.
I had on a pair of what looked like boxer briefs, and that was the only thing I was wearing. I pulled these forward and was pleased to see that I did, in fact, still have my manhood underneath.
Letting go, I looked up and around myself taking in my surroundings. I was in a flowery meadow with every type of flower I could imagine and a small creek running through the middle of it. The meadow stretched on endlessly in every direction. It was beautiful, but more than that, I could smell the flowers and feel the sunlight on my skin which was amazing because this was supposed to be a game. How did they bring sensations like these into the digital world?
Thank You for choosing to spend your afterlife here. We know you're anxious to get questing and adventuring in your new world, but we do require a brief tutorial so you can understand how the mechanics of Everlast Online work.
Your field of vision is what we call your "heads-up display" or HUD. If you look to the upper left-hand corner of your vision you will see several important items.
I looked and saw several items in this corner. At the top, "Ryland, Level 1 Sorcerer" was written. Underneath was a red bar, a blue bar and below these was a floating white book.
Your name, level, and class are written at the top of this.
The words were highlighted with a glow around them.
Below this is your health bar which contains your health points or hp. If your hp falls to 0 you will "die" and be sent to respawn. At level 1 you currently have 21 hp. You can raise your HP by leveling up your character, raising your constitution stat, wearing certain equipment, completing certain quests, or consuming certain items. You can recover your hp by resting, drinking potions, eating food, or by leveling up.
The red bar was highlighted, and now I noticed 21/21 written on top of it.
Beneath your health bar is your mana bar which contains your mana points or MP. The ability to cast magic is determined by how much mp you have as each spell you use has a mana cost associated with it. At level 1 you currently have 28 mp. You can raise your MP by leveling up your character, raising your wisdom stat, wearing certain equipment, completing certain quests, or consuming certain items. Your mana will slowly recover over time when you are not in battle. You can also recover it by using potions, resting, or leveling up.
The blue bar was highlighted with 28/28 written on it.
Finally, beneath this is what we like to call The Book of You. It contains all of your character information like stats and abilities, your inventory, your character equipment, spells, quest log, world map, and the mailbox. You can open The Book of You by looking at it and thinking about opening it. Please try this now.
The white book was highlighted, and I looked at it and thought that I wanted to open it, which made me feel foolish until my HUD changed and several icons with words over them appeared in two large rows.
You are now in the Everlast Online Menu. This menu will expand as your character grows, so don't be surprised if a new category shows up. Let's look at the first of these categories in the upper left labeled "Basic Character Information." Just like the book, please look at it and think about opening it.
