Please select your race.
Ethan's eyes snapped open to find himself standing in an endless white void. To say that wasn't suspicious enough would be poor judgment of the situation. Surprisingly, floating before him was a translucent blue interface panel he recognized all too well, it was the character creation screen from Lost World Online! The very game he had spent most of his life playing!
"What the…" He couldn't finish his sentence as he processed what this meant.
His account had been disappeared, and he was very sure he had gone to sleep, so how was he here?
'I don't remember even starting the game.'
He looked down at his hands, finding them very present, perhaps too present? Seeing how real thy felt, even realer than in-game, he couldn't help but think if he was in some kind of dream.
'I've heard of lucid dreams and all, but isn't this too much? Don't I have to initiate it first?' He thought to himself in bewilderment.
He had to be dreaming, right? But it felt nothing like a dream, though. He could think, reason clearly with cognitive sense to everything, everything was crystal clear, not hazy or nonsensical like normal dreams.
He flexed his fingers, seeing how it flowed without any issue, well, not like he couldn't do that in game. He would pinch himself, but he didn't exactly want the pain.
Before him, the character creation prompt waited for his input, pulsing faintly in a gentle rhythm.
Please select your race.
Studying the options before him, it all looked familiar. The race selection wheel materialized before him, presenting a variety of options: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Beast-kin and Demon-kin.
Ethan reached out, his hand almost passing through the holographic interface as he selected Human out of habit, well, he'd always played Human.
'They give you all these choices, but it doesn't even matter, does it? Just aesthetics.'
For someone very connected to his in-game character, his avatar meant more than just skins, it felt like his very own digital version, how could he mess it up?
Once he selected his race and confirmed it, the interface expanded to show more options.
Customization Available.
Immediately, a naked mannequin appeared before him, rotating slowly. The scene sure brought back memories. He had created several accounts apart from his main one, which meant he had gone through dozens of character creation screens, but now that his main account had been deleted, it felt different, even for a dream.
'It's just a dream anyway, might as well go all out.' He thought to himself.
Without even thinking about it, he drove the height slider all the way up to 6'7ft—a height he could never have in real life where he stood at an unremarkable 5'8ft… at least it was unremarkable in his own mind and world view. Well, he always played tall characters—online he could be tall and bold.
Well, that was the way it is.
He went ahead to sculpt a heavenly body according to his standards. He created a lean but muscular, athletic but not bulky build. The build maintained a balance of speed and strength in equal balance, a true swordsman's body—as he saw it, of course, not that he knew much about real swordsmanship outside anime.
Well, next was the face.
Ethan usually spent hours on faces, agonizing over every detail, but something about this dream state made the process much easier. He blended features like an artist, crafting a truly remarkable face—strong jawline, sharp cheekbones, eyes that seemed to hold depth and intensity. He was going for an Asian base, as that was what coloured his perception of a swordsman, specifically, a samurai, trying for that anime hidden master swordsman look he'd always admired, but something shifted as he adjusted the sliders. The face that emerged was... different.
To say the least, it was striking. It had features that seemed to blend and take from all over the place, but in the end, it was the most handsome face he'd ever created. As long as the avatar still looked like a "true swordsman", he didn't mind.
"Damn," Ethan whispered to himself. "That's actually kinda perfect."
Please input character name.
His fingers moved before he could think twice. Yamamoto. The name appeared in glowing letters, and for a moment, his chest tightened as he thought of the recent incident. He could only sigh and shrug it off. Who would have thought that the pain would follow him even into his dream? 'Seriously…'
Before he could drown in his sorrow, something strange drew his attention… there was a second prompt that appeared:
Surname required.
Ethan blinked in confusion as he read it. "Surname? Lost World never required surnames..." He said to himself.
Thinking about it though, this was a dream, wasn't it? Dreams were weird. Might as well roll with it.
He thought for a moment, then smiled despite himself. If he was going to dream, he might as well dream big.
Odinson.
Son of Odin! God of thunder! Power incarnate!
"Haha…"
Yamamoto Odinson.
It appeared in brilliant gold text above his character's head, and Ethan couldn't help but feel a surge of satisfaction. It didn't quite match the image of a swordsman, but it did go very well with Yamamoto.
Please select your class.
He chose the swordsman class without hesitation. He actually always played as a swordsman, even throughout all is smurf accounts. He'd tried, possibly, all the builds possible, all the metas too. He was a master in the class. As he would say to himself every now and then in his delusions, -The blade is my language-.
He had always been a stern fan of the "One man, One blade" Ideology. One time, he even starting a new account where he used the beginner sword until he abandoned the account.
The moment he confirmed his selection, a simple one-handed sword materialized in his character's hand. The default starter weapon.
With that everything was done.
Character creation complete. Welcome to Lost World Online.
'Hmm? That's odd? I haven't even clicked to start the game yet.'
A button appeared before him: [Start Game]
Checking to see that everything was ok, Ethan reached out and pressed it.
With a second's delay, the white void shattered like glass.
And then—
—Wind.