Second Life: Welcome to Gaia

The release day finally arrived. Two hours left to the launch, the quartet decided that they will leave the cleaning for tomorrow even the apartment being almost uninhabitable. There are dirty socks thrown across the floor, even in the kitchen, and leftovers are scattered around the living room.

When it was almost time, they showered and lay in bed with their helmets on, waiting for the moment they could finally log in to the game.

3...2...1...

Ye Yan appeared in a very spacious room, with a metallic wall and no doors or windows. Just when he started to wonder what to do a voice spoke to him.

System: "Welcome to Second Life. In just a few moments, you will start your new life in Gaia, a world where history and fantasy mix, allowing you to interact with legendary beings and famous historical and fictional characters. In this world, magic and sword make the law."

System: "Please remember you can only have one character in the game. If you want to change, 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. Your choice will determine the races that you can choose from."

"I choose the Righteous faction."

System: "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

System: "Righteous faction selected. You can pick one of the following races: human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, half-orc, fairy, Halfling, beastman, spiritual beast, and elemental."

"Wow, I can be a spiritual best too."

System: "Please make your choice."

"Human."

System: "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

System: "Race selected: human."

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."

"MALE!"

System: Are you sure?"

"This system is trying to fuck with me now."

"YES. I'm male. You want me to put my pants down?"

System: "Gender selected: male."

System: "You can edit your character appearance or keep the current one. You can change your looks between 15 to 30%, making yourself neutral, more beautiful, or uglier."A mirror appeared in front of Ye Yan so he could see how his character would look like.

"I want to change my appearance by 30%. Neutral." The 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: "Do you want to change your hair color or style?"

"No".

System: "Do you want to use the present appearance?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Once you confirm, no change can be made."

"Yes."

System: "Please choose your in-game name."

"Jun Xie"

System: "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

System: "Chosen name: Jun Xie."

"Verifying your real-world location: China: City B. Accordingly with the real-world location you will be teleported to City of Ji in the Yan Empire in 10 seconds."

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...

Ye Yan was teleported to a place that looks like an ancient Chinese city.

System: "Welcome to Gaia. We hope that you will have a wonderful second life."