SWNOVELXO Chapter 3 – Welcome to Magia
Haruka Sumeragi’s POV
After coming home, I quickly change out of my school uniform into comfortable clothes, put on the VR headset, and lie down on my bed. The device was already set up yesterday, so all that’s left now is to launch the game.
I’ve been waiting for this since forever. Finally I can start playing Magia.
Ruminating on all those years leading up to this point, I push the launch button.
I feel my consciousness being taken off somewhere, and the next thing I see is a spotlessly white room roughly the size of a school classroom.
Erm… I can move now, right?
I look around, but there’s nothing of note here. I walk up to one of the walls and cautiously touch it.
Woah, feels so real.
The sensation is no different than in reality, so I continue to brush my fingers against the wall with fascination, marvelling at the fact that I get to experience this virtual world.
Suddenly an androgynous voice echoes in my head, while a blue translucent display appears in front of me. The voice sounds like it belongs to a very cheerful person; it feels as if I was talking to a real human.
According to the owner of the voice, this room is where new players adjust their account settings and create their avatars. This happens only once, as from the second login they are directly sent to the world of Magia.
I also learn that the display screen in front of me is called the status board. Apparently you can input information here, as well as check your current status and condition.
Following the instructions of the voice, I launch the status board. It says I need to start with the basic character information, so I proceed to fill in the empty fields.
Player name: Haruka
Class: Mage
Main server: Japan
When it comes to player names, it seems that it doesn’t pose a problem when you choose a name that is already in use, as the game identifies you based on other information.
Classes look easy to understand, because they work similarly to other RPGs, where you choose your basic class at the beginning, and then you branch out into various subclasses, depending on your playstyle.
I prefer fighting from a distance over melee, so I pick a mage.
It looks like it’s possible to change your class later on, but I’ve heard that it’s best to make the final decision as early as possible, because levelling your class from zero once again is too much trouble if you’ve made a lot of progress.
When it comes to servers, your main server is generally the same as your country of nationality. You can request a transfer to a different one, but there is a limit – servers can’t accept a greater number of foreigners than 30% of their nationals. Since the Japanese server is very popular, the maximum number of foreigners is always full, so it’s difficult to transfer here.
After I finish filling in the character information, I move on to creating my avatar, which is the player’s appearance in the world of Magia.
The avatar’s height can be adjusted, but needs to be within a certain range, while sex and age must reflect reality and cannot be changed. Everything else is possible, it seems.
I think about what to do for some time, but ultimately decide not to make any major changes. If I start tinkering with my face, it might become unrecognisable, and altering my height or weight too much could make moving around feel unnatural.
But it probably wouldn’t hurt to lower my weight just a tiny bit, so I decide to change it in the end. I also make my skin a little lighter, and with that, I finish adjusting the settings.
My body shines faintly as I transform into my new avatar, while my clothes change into default mage equipment. I am now wearing a wide-brimmed purple witch hat, a white blouse with frills on the placket, a black pleated skirt that ends 10 cm above the knee, and a robe of deep purple colour.
When the light disappears, I hear the cheerful voice in my head saying goodbye. It seems that now I’ll be sent to the world of Magia.
I notice that my vision starts to go dark and slowly close my eyes. When I hear a commotion around me, I open them, and what appears is a scenery so stunning that it couldn’t possibly be real.
In front of me I see an observation deck, and beyond it, absolutely nothing but a perfectly clear blue sky. Looks like this place is at a very high altitude.
For some reason, my feet move towards the observation deck on their own, as if I was being drawn by something. When I reach the edge of the deck I grab the railing and look down, which makes me gasp in wonder.
“Amazing…” I utter unconsciously.
What spreads out below me is the view of the largest crater I’ve ever seen, and a city surrounding it.
“This is… Magia’s Flamehammer!”
According to the legends, the crater was created by Magia’s deity with just a single blow, and that is why its walls are completely charred, so when looking at it from a distance, they appear uniformly black.
It looks like an entrance to the abyss, deliberately opened wide to lure players in. It makes me wonder, what on earth lies in there, beyond the impenetrable blackness?
Driven by curiosity, I try to lean over the railing to take a look, but I suddenly feel as if I was being sucked into those depths and my legs freeze in place.
It scares me… But I can’t stop looking.
I keep staring into the crater as if possessed. I don’t even know how long I’ve been standing here just watching. When I come to my senses, I notice people around me glancing in my direction.
Crap!
Feeling my face turning red, I hurriedly move away from the railing, clear my throat awkwardly, and pull my hat over my eyes.
Sooo embarassing!
Me wearing beginner’s clothes makes it even worse, I must look like such a country bumpkin!
I sense second-hand embarrassment in their gazes, and I just can’t stand it, so I scurry away, and head straight in the direction of the teleportation portal.
Hmm… I have no idea where to go.
I fumble with the portal’s terminal and try to pick a destination, but as a newbie, there aren’t many places I can choose from. Remembering my classmates talking about one area being especially good for beginners, I select it and click the teleport button.
I hear the sound of the machinery operating, and my vision goes dark.
I’ve decided to teleport to Raha Village, and from there go to Raha Forest. It’s said to be an area without any strong monsters and a perfect place for newbies to practise.
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