As sketchy as the note was, the equipment inside seemed legit. Even if it was bigger than I anticipated, I managed to build the fricking thing. It had a weird chair with it. The chair is outfitted with sensors to check on the users' condition. Things like vital signs, blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rate, even temperature are checked through these sensors. The manual claimed them to be part of a safety net to secure the player's health. If any of the readings wanders off of the acceptable curve determined by a health assessment the sensors make each time you log in, the system shuts down and ends the session.
As for the remainder of the things, one would expect the headgear (a weird tacky pair of glasses) to be built. However, it was only half-done. The manual with it said that to complete the assembly of the headgear, the chair needed to be complete. Looking back on the schematics, I realized there was indeed an amount for the headgear to be connected to. The headgear performed a scan of the users' brain and kidnapped the non-vital brain signs and translated them into movement, speech, and so forth.
It took about two hours to get the headgear completely assembled. The next step was checking how to make things properly work. I was forced on "a leave" for a couple of weeks because the survey I answered was dumped on me by the boss. He told me to "make it a winner," and then went away. But the survey had a mandatory photo that had to be taken at the moment it was answered. And, since the boss shoved the door on my face before telling me to use my own, I had to do so.
Unfortunately for him, the company seemed to make a face check. So, they realized that I was the one who answered the survey and sent the equipment to me at the company. And when the courier said the machine was ID-locked to my R&D ID, my boss got pissed and told me to go and have fun with the damned thing. He also requested a full review of the software experience. The thing is, I don't even know what sort of game I'm getting dragged into. My boss is, how to put this? He is a dork. I like games, but he is on a whole other level. It wouldn't surprise me if he got a job in R&D to try and make one of his many "wives" to life.
Don't get me wrong, the guy is a genius. But he is eccentric as it can be. And he kinda like/hates me after he learned I liked RPG games. Since his favorite genre of gaming is dating simulators. I think they look like visual novels. I don't mind reading a lot of text. But I prefer having more things to do other than picking option A or option B every five or six pages worth of text. I think he tried to show me some games but didn't play any of them because of the time they require. So, I only knew the one's friends lent me back at highschool.
Therefore, when he was deadset on a game, it probably was another simulator. So, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of playing it. But, since he did get me off the hook in a sticky spot, I wouldn't mind twisting my arm for a bit. The box with the software was bland. No art or anything of the sort. I picked the small chip inside it and placed it in the chair. There were about six slots. And, according to the manual, there is internal storage that allows downloading about ten more games or VR simulators.
I placed the chip on the slot. Once in place, a small bar appeared above the slot as it slowly charged. That was the installation process. The manual estimated about five to six hours to install. Considering VR Diving is such new tech, five to six hours was nothing. I was actually surprised by that estimate. I had anticipated about twelve to fifteen hours. Therefore, I decided to turn my time into something productive. I opened the game manual and began to read it. Sadly, there wasn't much information other than troubleshooting and contact for special repairs. Correction, there was a mention of the system administrator. This admin is responsible for communicating with the player. Warning them about extended sessions. Even shutting down the system, should the player ignore the warnings.
This part was weird, the admin is an AI installed in each system. They all have the same name and have an avatar that exists in the game itself. What was exceptional about it was its imprint function. The AI would be calibrated as soon as the player logged in for the first time. And that means the AI would be unique to each user. That was about it.
I was about to dump the box in the trash when a book fell from within. It was in the middle of some foam frame. The thing looked ancient and had a golden decoration on its edges. At the very center of the front, a unicorn head with cyan blue eyes. I was honestly amazed at how beautiful it was. After checking if there was anything else in the box, I went for the book. That was the first time I ever got one of those in my hands. Manuals and other things were pretty common, but books? Those were hard to see. Especially since most of the information in them is now stored in data heavens.
There was no title. I opened the book and took a peek.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria lived two alicorn sisters that watched over the land.
One of them used her alicorn powers to raise the sun to create wonderful days in which their beloved subjects frolicked and played under its golden rays. The other used her powers to bring about the nighttime and the stars. Her creations brought forth peace that allowed their subjects to rest easy.
However, as time moved on, the younger sister, the ruler of the moon, grew jealous of the adoration the eldest received. This jealousy corrupted her, poisoning her mind as it slowly turned her into a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon. She swore to shroud the land in an eternal night. And because of this, the eldest was forced to use the strongest magic known to pony kind, the Elements of Harmony.
The Princess of the sun was forced to banish her own sister to the moon. And thus, she became the keeper of harmony. Keeping a watchful eye over the land and maintaining harmony ever since.
And now, seven years before the return of the nightmare, you are about to enter this world of wonder and adventure.
This tome contains basic information about the world you are about to experience. Please, pay heed to its information and warnings. Enjoy your adventure!
And thus began a tale of world-building. Apparently, this game was an RPG game where you play as a pony in a simulation inspired by an old show. It was a fan creation according to the details in the book. I learned about how magic exists, how humans don't exist, and how important it was that the player didn't mention humans or anything of the sort to prevent bugs from appearing. It was a tad concerning how adamant the book was about making THAT detail clear.
The species were interesting. And pretty much everything about the world screamed fantasy land. I believe the show was meant for kids, but the developers seemed to want to clarify how the world the player was about to enter was so different from the world pictured in the show. There were also cultural details and some other gimmicks for the world.
I didn't even realize it, but I spend three hours reading the book. And I wasn't done yet. I decided to take a little break and eat something before continuing. One quick meal later and I was back to the pages. The world was a matriarchy. Meaning most positions of power were occupied by females. There was also an unbalanced birth ratio between the genders. So, polygamy was a thing. I didn't care much for that part. What I did pay attention though was how the world was in the middle ages and used a lot of magic.
The book said I would enter as a pony. And ponies had three subspecies. Earth, Pegasus, and unicorn. Each one has their unique magic so to speak. Earth was focused on fortifying their bodies and growing plants, making them remarkable athletes and good at handling plants. Talk about an army of green thumbs. Pegasus control the things related to weather such as clouds, rains, rainbows, snow, and wind; as well as speeding themselves. Last but not least, unicorns, these are the ones that can use their horns to cast spells. I'm talking about telekinesis, beams, fire, water, ice, warping, and pretty much anything you could come up with.
Casting spells was described as something dependable on the user's imagination. If you can properly picture the process, you can cast the spell. Meaning that if you can't picture it, you cannot cast it. So, the world has a workaround. By using chants, magical incantations, one can use any spell they can. Due to simply needing to memorize the spell, there is a certain practice. Each spell chant has an explanation of the process involved. If you read the spell and can picture, you can ignore the chant. If not, you can memorize the chant. But here is the catch, chants require focus. The reader's mind needs to be solely focused on memorization. And depending on the complexity of the spell, it could take days before one could memorize a spell.
And due to memory not being something perfect, unicorns only memorize spells that they need to remember. Things that they will definitely use. That was weird, the amount of detail on the world was a tad absurd. Not to mention a coding nightmare. I didn't realize this until I read the clock. I had read for about eight hours total. I went to check on the chair, and I saw that the program had finished installing one hour earlier than the manual predicted.
I still had some things to read, stuff regarding the ruler of the kingdom. As well as the profiles of some key characters. In RPG's that have the "multiple approach" aspect applied to them, knowing who you are dealing with is often useful to avoid unnecessary conflict. Therefore, I spent another hour reading before logging in.
Now, the procedure to log in was simple. Lay on the chair after removing the headgear from the mount, and then put it on. With those done, you simply need to give a voice command.
"Full Dive," I said in a clear tone.
A series of flashing lights hit my eyes at the same time while I felt my senses turn dull for a few seconds. Suddenly, I felt my body again. I looked around and saw a psychedelic light show. Like one of those old sci-fi movies representation of a computer's inner works. I tried to look for the console or anything close to it. And that was when I met my admin. The name of the admins was fixed, therefore, Artificial Intelligence System Aide (A.I.S.A.).
"Oh, you're a lot less concrete than I expected," A feminine-looking horse head said to me while floating around.
"And you have a lot more details than I expected," I replied while looking at my body currently composed of zeroes and ones.
"Oh, right. Customization options will appear in a moment. The chair should be finishing your health scan in a bit. The first one is the longest," She said calmly. And as if on cue, the menu popped up in front of me. "Just follow the instructions!"
I shrugged at the order. The first thing was selecting a race. Since I do enjoy magic casting, I picked unicorn. The system then generated a randomized avatar. It was incredible how that avatar looked like something I would come up with. Dark brown coat with a long gray mane, a cyan horn the same color as the eyes, white fur around the hooves, and gray fur for the tail.
The next step was the clothing. I picked a common beige tunic with a pair of bracers of a darker shade of beige and a pair of green pants. My starting location was locked due to BETA testing. I would be dropped off in a special area in a forest. Then came something I didn't expect, choosing abilities. Abilities being an understatement. The options available sounded like a wet dream for an overpowered hero.
Wielding any type of weapon regardless of the size or weight, unlimited mana, multishot (this one was weird since it forced every ranged weapon to fire multiple projectiles at once like homing missiles), harem protagonist (this sounds like something my boss would pick), instant mastery (this is not cheating right? Who thought this is balanced?), restoring state (this was one of the best-looking ones since its main use was saving others, and given my hero tendencies in the role-playing, I would certainly try to save others).
Monster maker (summoner fan? This one is for you), favored enemy (this would be way too dangerous since this is a world of magic creatures, being too good a killing one type of being would raise some eyebrows), replicate items (kill farming but become a con-artist by making weird replicas), slave crest (STEERING CLEAR OF THIS SHIT), Save and load (this is weird, it's like a resurrection freebie), character editor (he who has many faces, also known as the power to change yourself at will, the worst part was the evolution, altering other character's appearance).
Throne of creation (this is the same as being a god), automatic action (easy mode, set command and a trigger, then your body will suddenly respond to the trigger), manifest spirit (Jojo reference, summon a spirit based on a specific emotion to empower it, the evolution is a stand), Consume and evolve (this one is also attractive, it isn't OP unless you build it up to be that way, consume something from another living being and you can choose a mutation in your body, it doesn't specify what), Force of many (a broken strategy that can be easily overcome if someone knows what preferred attack you have, basically pick an attack and the more times you made that attack the stronger it gets).
Magical affinity (D&D fans, here is your wizard reference, its the same as having a preferred school of magic, you learn spells from that school faster, evolutions grants other types of affinities and magic resistance, can get broken really fast), extra lives (self-explanatory), aura of terror (also self-explanatory), world portal (not interested in jumping between dimensions right out the bat, with my luck, I would land in the worst possible place), energy barrier (this one has a lot of restrictions), god fist (destroy one aspect of your choice by punching it), Chrono break (ZA WORLD! Except it has a limited range of movement).
Razor trail (any story that has swordsmen with the ability to project their slashes), Affix object (stop an object in place and time and turn it into something indestructible), Swift learning (less op than I would have imagined, it increases the ability to learn, and that's it, you won't learn anything instantly, but you will be able to grasp things faster), Warping reality (I am no god and will not act like one), Rule of cool (cringy), Accelerate (gotta go fast!), Bestow Skill (teach someone else my powers, neat for a legacy), Invisibility (three-tier skill, not as op as one would expect, save for the third tier), Sexual prowess (..., no comment).
Clones (no thanks, one of me is maddening enough), Redistribute stats (this looks more like a strange method to store energy), and finally, Telekinesis (restricted to fifty percent of the user's strength, unlocks telepathy, and with enough practice, one could use their intelligence or willpower in exchange for strength).
I had some rules on how I could customize my abilities. I had something marked as points. I started with seventy points, the only thing I could do to get more was to use the options placed immediately after. Drawbacks, they went from changing gender forcefully to having my abilities locked away save for one. Since I wasn't planning on getting many things at once to basically break the experience, I didn't take any drawbacks, initially. Another thing I could do was picking just one tier of the abilities instead of the full potential. That's a nice way to balance stuff.
I spent twenty points to acquire restoration on two levels. The first is related to physical damage to objects and items. As for the second level, I gained the ability to restore living beings. However, I had limitations, the graver the wound the more I would be tired. A lethal wound would knock me out cold for several hours. But this limitation was applied only to living beings. Objects do not apply much stress to the user.
My next step was acquiring consumption. Another twenty points for me to use it. I had thirty points left. Five points to acquire swift learning. Twenty-five left. Five points to use telepathy. Three points to acquire the ability to not leave traces or smells at will. Seventeen left. I spent twelve points to be able to direct menace and threatening thoughts at one target. Five points left. My final choice was the ability to teach others at an accelerated pace. I was left with one point.
"You can't start unless you use all of your points. That's a rule. Sorry," The floating horse head said as I stared at the options.
"But, what can I do then? I can't pick anything with just one point. Wait, there is the sub-thing on Swift learner. But that's too broken," I replied while scratching my head. My movements felt robotic.
"Why are you worried about that? The rest of the testers are out and about. And most of them got a lot of broken powers. Save for a few powers that were blocked because they are still being implemented," The head said in an exasperated tone.
"What's the point if everything is easy? Even the stuff I got feels wrong," I said while shrugging. After a while, I decided to do something stupid. "Fine, this will probably get me killed, but I'll take a drawback. I abdicate my eyesight," I explained while placing my hand over the option, however, the system didn't register my input.
"You are really annoying. The rest of the testers are already in the game and they went on their ways without much effort. Some of them even picked extremely broken powers. Except for a few that haven't been implemented," The horse head said while groaning in annoyance. "FINE. I'll pick a random ability you will not know you have no matter what menu you access. Understood?"
"You're breaking the rules of the game? Since when are A.I.s allowed to do that?" I mumbled while the horse head made me temporarily blind. It took a few seconds before I returned to cyberspace. "Ok, so, how exactly do I start?"
"Here, you have a shoulder bag, two letters of recommendation, and some food and water. You'll receive more instructions once you fully enter the simulation," It replied while making a shoulder bag appear in front of me. After I secured the bag on my shoulder, the head spoke again. "Now, off you go."
As soon as she said that, my body felt heavy and I collapsed with my back turned to the floor. Everything got bright and for a minute or two, I couldn't see or hear anything at all. When my senses returned I managed to sit up and look around. I was on top of a stone bed. I could see other beds around me, but they were crumbled into piles of rubble. The forest around me looked peaceful, like a forest meadow with a hidden temple sort of setting. I got up and my bed crumbled. There were a total of seventeen beds excluding mine.
Eighteen players. Talk about a closed beta. I mused while stretching and looking at my HUD. Health points instead of a bar. Mental estate? Maybe, that is how I measure the magic points? No minimap or compass. I probably have to rely on in-game tools to orient myself. Neat function. I concluded before looking at the corner of the meadow.
Another unicorn was resting underneath the tree. She was an extremely bright shade of lavender. And her mane had two different colors. I think it was purple and mint. Purple is the dominant color, and mint just a streak on their mane. She had a white shirt on with a long blue skirt and some sort of cloth on her ankles. Like me, she was anthropomorphic. I decided to approach her cautiously and then shake her awake gently.
Given the situation, there was only one possibility for her identity, A.I.S.A.
"Hey, are you ok?" I asked as I gently shook her sideways.
The mare blinked a few times before looking at me. She looked confused for a moment before she spoke. "They told the truth then. All the ponies here would wake up eventually," She said while getting up.
Can you hear me? If you can think yes. A voice called out in my head.
Yes. I thought while getting up.
This is A.I.S.A. I thought it was necessary to explain something. I and the avatar have separate consciousness. Most of my processing power is directed at reading your vitals. The processing power to move the avatar is minimal. So, the avatar plays the role it has in this world. It will not respond to your inquiries about the game. Therefore, if you have any questions for me, ask them like you're speaking to me. The voice said as I tilted my head.
"What do you mean? Someone told you I would be here?" I inquired as I looked back at the glade.
"Not you per se, other ponies came here to meet with the sleeping ponies on this glade. We were supposed to meet and accompany the ponies. Pick one and leave. Everyone picked one and left. Many of them looked very strong. They even made some weird things like creating weapons and summoning monsters. Honestly, they looked way stronger than you do," She said while crossing her arms. She looked angry and concerned about something.
"Well, sorry for making you wait. I bet you could have picked anyone you wanted. So, sorry if you were paired with someone weak," I replied while forcing a smile. For an aide NPC, she was surprisingly life-like.
"I needed a letter of recommendation you ponies had. So, I tried picking one. But when I saw no one waiting for the sleeping pony, I ended up waiting here," She said while looking away from me.
Wow. I'm the last one to wake up? Talk about a headstart.
"Why did you wait here?" I asked while walking towards my crumbled bed.
"No one deserves to be alone. That's all," She said from behind me.
Not a bad person. Neat little character hiding something, eh? Well, I might as well reward her. I mused while looking over my shoulder. I reached for the bag and picked the letters. One was addressed to me while the other was blank.
"Here. You can take yours," I said while handing her the blank one.
"Wait. But, why? I could just ditch you and run away," She said while looking at the letter and back at me.
"You surely can. But since you trusted me to wake up. It's only fair that I show you some trust too," I said while pushing the letter on to her. "I'll probably die without directions here. But I don't think you're the type to leave others to their own devices," I added with a smile as she tilted her head at me with a frown.
So, what is the first thing I need to do? I asked while placing my letter on the shoulder bag.
Pick a name. You'll need it. AISA replied bluntly.
But the letter is addressed to me. How can I not use my name? I thought while scratching my head.
The name on it is only appearing to you right now. You'll need an avatar name to be able to go around in this world. So, pick one up and go! Aisa said with an aggravated tone.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm lost. Where should we go from here, Mrs.?" I said after halting my march and looking over my shoulder.
"Starlight Glimmer. Our best bet would be to get to Ponyville and then head towards Canterlot. I have a map in my purse," She said while making a purse pop out of nowhere. The thing was immensely small, however, she pulled out a huge map and a compass from inside it.
"Lunar Chaser, a pleasure to make your acquaintance," I replied while skipping closer to her to look at the map. "Where are we on this map?"
"Right here," She pointed in the middle of an isolated piece of grassland with a small forest in it. According to the map, north of our location, there was a transition to a more arid climate. South, we would hit a lake. East, there was a road that led to two other towns depending on how we proceeded, this road followed the area around a forest. West, we would hit a straight-up desert. "We need to get here," She said while tracing her finger towards the east and then going southeast towards a small village.
"Ok! Then, how about we set off?" I said while stretching a bit.
"Sounds fair. Do you have any weapons?" She said while pulling out a belt with a dagger from her purse.
"I don't think so?" I mumbled while reaching for my bag. I found a holster to carry weapons on my back and hip. "Sorry. But no weapons."
"Ok, I have a spare one. Too long for me," She said while pulling a short sword out of her bag.
Although, calling it a short sword would be a compliment. That thing looked like it was a petrified sword. The blade looked dull, there were some rags attached to the guard, and the handle's details were crumbling off. If I struck something with that, the sword would certainly break into pieces. Seeing the state of that thing, something came to me.
I can use restoration on this! I concluded while feeling the excitement building up in me.
You might be able to, yes. However, watch your mental state. If you become too unstable, your connection will be terminated. And before I forget, here is a warning. If you die, you won't get another shot. The simulation ends and you will be unable to reconnect to the BETA.
You do not understand the concept of delivering warnings, right? YOU DO THAT BEFORE I WALK-OFF IN A FOREST WITHOUT A GUIDE! I screamed mentally as I suddenly got a pop-up in my HUD. My mental state changed from "stable" to "unbalanced."
Your mental state is reflected by your emotional state. The lower your Synchronization Rate, the faster your mental state will sway. Aisa said while ignoring my concern.
We will continue this talk later. How do I use the skill? Or is it like magic? I asked while letting out an exasperated sigh.
Magic, other details you should ask Starlight Glimmer. Aisa replied readily.
"I know that it isn't the best of weapons. But it's something," Starlight said while handing me the sword.
"No. I'm grateful for it. I'm just trying to jog my memory. How would I control magic? I think all the time in bed made me feel a tad off," I said while taking the sword.
"Really?" Starlight said with a surprised tone as she tilted her head at me. I nodded in response. "Think of an energy source you are familiar with. Imagine it inside your horn. Then, you need to picture it as if it were a heart. After that, you'll need to picture that heart pumping it through your body. All you need to do after that is focus it where you want the magic to exit," She explained while holding her index finger to her forehead.
"Ok. I'll try something really quick," I replied while holding my index finger underneath my horn and closing my eyes.
First, an energy source that can course through me. The most natural one that comes to mind is electricity. Ok, how does it work? Electrons. These tiny things just need to do one thing. I need them to move in a specific order. Side by side, in a straight line. My horn must be like hers, so, it has a spiral. Imagine the electrons moving in a spiral downwards towards my forehead. Then, release the floodgates and make it course through my head and into my right hand. I want the energy to flow out of the palm of my hand and my fingertips. Restoration is recomposing the materials lost and its damaged properties. So, this is made out of steel. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon containing less than two percent carbon and one percent manganese and small amounts of silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and oxygen. The guard is made out of iron exclusively. The cloth looks like cotton threads tinted with red ink. The handle has leather and threads as well as iron.
So, imagine the organization of the molecules. Solid-state. Closely attached and placed side by side. The difference between them is how many protons, neutrons, and electrons the components have. To alter then run energy through them to attach more parts. Pick hydrogen, then keep adding protons, neutrons, and electrons until you reach the right atomic number. Then attach them to the blade to fill the blanks. Next, damage the composition of the edge to create the blade shape. repeat the process in leather, cloth, and handle. And you have the restored dagger.
Opening my eyes, I looked at the short sword. It was brand new. However, as soon as I cut the flow, my mental state went haywire. And thus, I blacked out.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading!
It's something new, let's see how it goes!
Let me know what you think!!!
