4 Welcome to Gaia (New Version)
The day that the entire world was waiting for finally arrived. At 9 p.m. (GMT +8), the game will be launched worldwide, enabling players to log in to the game system and start their second life in the virtual reality world, Gaia.
People from different countries were reading themselves for the release of the game. And like many others, the quartet was making their preparations, showering, eating, and going to the bathroom to 'unload' so they wouldn't need to make any pauses later.
Their apartment was very messy, with pieces of clothes and dirty socks lying across the floor of the living room, and leftovers scattered all over the kitchen. But they decided to leave the cleaning for tomorrow, even the apartment being almost uninhabitable and went to their rooms because they were too excited to do anything other them wait for the moment they could log in.
Hu Ling, the younger of the four, even sprayed some expensive perfume on himself before lying in the bed and put on his game helmet, as if the female players could smell it. He is what you can call a playboy, a rich guy that changes girlfriends all the time. He has average looks but is always confident, stylish, and charming, making him a perfect target for certain kinds of women.
When only one minute remained before the official release, the quartet was already laying in their beds with the helmets on, looking at the clock display on the helmet visor. They started the countdown to the launch of the game and, in the meantime, Qian Zhong's body started to wring in excitement, as if he was dancing while laying down.
3...2...1...
When the countdown reaches zero, they closed their eyes and when they opened again one second later, they were in a very spacious square room, with metallic walls and no doors or windows. Ye Yan looked at his own body and noticed that it was exactly like in real life but he was only wearing underpants, maybe if it was not because of the censorship, he would be naked now. When he purchased his game helmet, he passed through a machine that scanned his body, and the information collected was used to set up his game helmet, so the system could make an exact model of his body for the game usage. There are customized game cabins that come with the body scan function, updating the system with the player's data in real-time, and have an internal locking for the player's security, a smoke sensor, a kind of thermometer to measure the ambient temperature and it can be designed in the way that the owner wished or can afford. A rich socialite even ordered one with diamonds encrusted on it. The game helmet has the same functions and capabilities as the cabins, except for security and personalization.
Ye Yan looked around but found nothing and when he began to wonder what to do, he heard the system's voice that sounded like a female speaking.
System: Welcome to Second Life. In just a few moments, you will start your new life in Gaia, a place where history and fantasy mix, creating a fantastical new world.
A huge mirror appeared out of nowhere in front of Ye Yan followed by the system voice.
System: Starting character creation. Please remember you can only have one character in the game. If you want to change it in the future, you will have to delete your current one and wait 3 full days to create another. Now, please choose your faction."
System: You can choose between the Righteous faction or the Dark faction. The Righteous Faction represents justice, good morals, and law-abiding characters. The Dark Faction is evilly aligned, traitorous, and full of outlaws. The faction chosen determines the races that you can choose from.
"I choose the Righteous faction." Normally dark players have many restrictions put upon them on NPCs cities and only those that prefer PVP and like to use unorthodox means would choose it.
System: Are you sure?
"Yes."
System: Righteous Faction confirmed.
System: Please choose your gender: male or cross-gender. If you want to start the game with the opposite of your birth sex, please chose cross-gender. Certain races only can be chosen by a specific gender.
"MALE!"
System: Are you sure?"
[This system is trying to fuck with me now.] Ye Yan though.
"YES. I'm male. You want me to put my pants down?" Ye Yan knew that he was acting like a child but he couldn't stop himself from doing so. If more people were seeing it, he would never do such a thing.
System: Gender selected: male. Confirmed.
System: You can pick one of the following races: Human, Fae, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Beastman, Spiritual beast, Elemental, and Humanoids (non-human)[1]
[Wow, it has a spiritual best race too.] Ye Yan thought the other races are cool but he couldn't see himself being different than how he is in real life. And if he chose another race, he could need some time to adapt to the new body and would have difficulty in fighting.
"Human."
System: Are you sure?
"Yes."
System: Race selected: human. Confirmed.
System: Subtype detected: Asian. You want to keep this subtype or chose another?
"I don't need to change."
System: Subtype: Asian. Confirmed.
System: You can edit your character appearance or keep the current one. You can change your looks between 15 to 30%, making It neutral, more beautiful, or uglier.
Ye Yan didn't mind about appearance then he just decided to choose neutral but he doesn't want to be recognized in real life, so some change in his looks is necessary.
"I want to change my appearance by 30%. Neutral." His appearance in the mirror changed and he becomes a person with looks similar to himself but different at the same time, neither more beautiful nor uglier.
System: You want to make another change in the character's appearance? You can change any of the physical aspects or add some other characteristics.
"No need."
System: Do you want to use the present appearance?
"Yes."
System: Are you sure? Once you confirm, no change can be made.
"Yes."
System: Please choose your in-game name.
"Jun Xie" Ye Yan is terrible at naming. His previous character names in games were chosen by his friends because they couldn't see him playing with a character called Little Yan anymore. This character named was chosen by his mother when he played a game at 10 years old. But this time they decided it was time for him to chose the name himself, then he decided to use the nickname that others put on him.
System: Are you sure?
"Yes."
System: Verifying your real-world location: China: City B. Accordingly with your real-world location you will start the game in Yan Empire, City of Ji.
System: Your ID is Jun Xie, Yan Empire, City of Ji. And your hidden ID is #8618411632866. [2]
System: You will be teleported to Gaia in 10 seconds.
10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...
Ye Yan appeared in a place that looks like an ancient Chinese city from paints and books.
System: "Welcome to Gaia. We hope that you will have a wonderful second life."
.....
[1] The most famous races weren't put under any group like the elves that are a type of fae in European mythology.
[2] +86 is the Chinese dialing code.
