After entering the vortex, Freddy found himself in a dark expanse of emptiness. A force suddenly act on his body and then he felt his body spin slowly while rising.
Phasing through something, he looked down and saw the rest of his body slowly phasing out from the ground like the ground was made of liquid.
As soon as his feet passed through, the ground felt solid again. "Pretty slick mode of entrance."
Raising his head, the first thing that came into view was a vast cloud-covered sky.
"Welcome to Arcadia, Realm-hopper" before he could properly enjoy the view, he was startled by a gentle voice from behind.
Jumping and distancing himself while turning, Freddy saw a cute-looking loli floating behind him. "Don't just scare people like that"
He also then notice that he was standing on a circular platform with a radius of fifty metre floating amongst the cloud.
Behind the loli at the edge of the platform, ten thrones were arranged in a semi-circular pattern with various figures occupying nine of them.
"Impossible! how can you possibly be here?" before Freddy could speak further however, all the figures on the throne suddenly had exaggerated reaction upon seeing his face.
Some widened their eyes, some sat up and others even stood up floating before their thrones. The elf lady who had the earlier outburst was among the latter group.
The lady with exquisite facial features, fair skin, pointy ears, long silver hair and slender body hovered in the air with widened eyes. Her pupil-less white sclera locked tightly onto Freddy's face.
"Ehh... Hi?" Completely dumbfounded, Freddy only raised his hand and stiffly waved. The sudden outburst had taken even him by surprise.
"Nora calm yourself, same with the rest of you. Carry on Sephrina" the dark man sitting in the middle seat of the pattern, suddenly spoke and all the others returned to their seats.
"I'm Sephrina, a messenger of the council of elder gods, welcome to the council of elder gods" the little loli spoke with a smile.
"Ehh... thanks, I guess" Freddy replied, his brain still trying hard to process the earlier reaction.
"Before we begin, I'll give you a brief introduction of the world of Arcadia." the loli continued, the smile never leaving her face.
And with that, she launched into explanation, explaining the major races, classes and situation of Arcadia, to which Freddy listened rapidly.
According to the loli and the information he had assimilated, there are ten classes in Arcadia Online; Swordsmen, berserker, Guardian, Assassin, Archer, Mage, Summoner, Cleric, Shaman, and Gladiator.
"Please choose your path, adventurer. Remember, once you have chosen a path, there is no going back" the loli said, her signature smile making her warning look un-serious.
However, Freddy knew better than to dismiss her warning. As according to the forum information, once you choose a class, it becomes bound to that particular helmet. So unless someone purchases a new helmet, changing class was impossible.
Ding!
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Select a class
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A blue translucent system Notification immediately appeared before him.
"A class from ancient times that no one understands, a path long buried in the annals of time" recalling the introduction of the Gladiator class, Freddy stood silently in deep thoughts for a while and then decided.
"I choose the gladiator class" he said outloud thinking"even if it turns out difficult to play, it's not like I want to become a pro-player or something"
However, as soon as he selected his class, many of the gods sitting on the throne nervously adjusted themselves again.
Ding!
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Class selection completed
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"What shall you be called on your path to power adventurer?" the loli continued.
Ding!
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Please choose your name
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Having been thinking of a name before even logging in, Freddy didn't hesitate much and mentioned a name.
"Aegis Kaelos"
The name immediately sent another wave of shock through the silent gods, even the dark man sitting in the middle quietly leaned forward.
"Alright sir Kaelos, due to your current alliance, affiliation has been set to Calonia kingdom, Clover city. Spin the wheel to decide your beginners town"
As soon as she spoke, a spinning wheel with around thirty names written on it appeared before him.
He reached out and spun, calmly watching the wheel spin before slowly coming to a stop. The word 'Hillburry Town' was under the pointer.
"Beginners town set to Hillburry Town. I wish you a happy adventurous experience" the loli Sephrina said and was just about to send him away when...
"Why the name and class?" the elve lady called Nora suddenly asked.
Slightly taken aback by the question, Freddy turned his attention to the thrones. "What's up with this Nora lady? Wait, Nora and Sephrina, nine gods and one servant"
"So they made the nine major A.Is and the minor A.I into gods huh. Well nice thinking devs" Freddy thought as he finally realized something.
According to Drenstar Corp, the ensure fairness and tranquility, the game will be controlled by nine major artificial intelligences and a minor one.
"The name belonged to a protagonist from my mother's favorite book" Freddy spoke, sadness brierly flashing in the depth of his eyes. "And the class, intuition I guess"
The lady pondered silently for a while before speaking "A word of advice young one, don't take this game lightly; not everything is as simple as it seems"
"What do you..." However, before he could speak the man at the middle suddenly waved his hand and he immediately fazed through the ground and disappeared.
"That was reckless Nora, there are not ready and you know it" the man suddenly spoke turning towards the elf.
"You all heard the name and even look at his face, there must be a connection somewhere Godric, I'm sure of it" Nora replied clearly convinced of something.
"Still that was very reckless, luckily you didn't divulge much so it shouldn't be a problem." Godric spoke and the others nodded.
One thing they all had in common was that they had no pupils in their eyes.
"Pay a visit to Grayson, ask him to keep an eye on that boy, and to let us know when anything special happens" he continued, to which Nora nodded and stood up. "And Nora, he is just allowed to monitor and not interfere in his adventures. Same with the rest of us"
Everyone nodded in agreement and Nora suddenly vanished into thin air.