I stepped out of the bathroom and zipped up my fly, wow when you gotta go, you gotta go. Now that I was done with that I headed down to the kitchen and washed my hands before making breakfast. My phone chimed a few more times as I ate but I ignored it, my stomach was telling me that food was more important right now. But as soon as I finished eating I took my phone out to see what it was bugging me about. My eyebrows rose as I saw in the 30 minutes since I watched Ned blown up by a creeper 10,000 people had joined the game. I didn't think it was going to catch on that quick, people tend to be cautious of the unknown after all. But when I looked at the other notifications I realized why so many people took the plunge, one of the first hundred players discovered a village. But that alone wouldn't have done it, after all to the outside observers it looked like the people who entered the portal just vanished. That would cause some fear for people but it also would have increased their curiosity.
But when I made the villages I made it look more diverse than a minecraft village and the villagers themselves were more like terraria NPCs. Each NPC in a village had a different purpose, like the blacksmith or explosive expert, and each one sold different things. And where does the money come from? The Merchant of course, you can sell anything to him. I even gave the Guide a few things to sell, but I renamed him the Elder. One of which was an emblem that cost a couple of silver coins, and it livestreams the player to the rest of the world. It connects and streams on every streaming service out there in order to reach the most people. And now that people could see what was happening inside the game they were less afraid and more likely to join in the fun. I watched the streamer myself as he explored the village, he was in awe of the iron golems patrolling and luckily for him he decided not to steal food from one of the many gardens. I watched a little longer before I decided to join the game myself, so after I sat in a comfortable chair I pressed the dive button..
A couple of minutes later I appeared in Oasis as a slightly fitter version of myself, not more handsome of course but I did slim down and add some muscle. Just a smidge, I didn't really like the whole bulging muscles thing. Anyway, when I looked around I saw all the people talking and having fun in the new world and I smiled. There were more people arriving every minute but it never seemed to get too crowded or loud, a handy feature for some of the more shy players. Instead of joining the game I decided to walk around and just listen to what people were saying about this place. After about fifteen minutes of just wandering around I had gotten a pretty good idea of how people were reacting. It seemed like when people first arrived they were understandably nervous but the more time they spent here the less they felt like this was some sort of trick or trap. Many were curious how this was possible, a lot of them thought Stark had something to do with this.
I had to snort at that, like Stark could do something like this, and even if he could. Would he really do it without putting his name on it? And this place is child friendly, he would probably make Oasis at 24/7 haven of debauchery. At least before the Cave, he hasn't had the chance to go through his crucible yet. There were a lot of people that took to exploring the different buildings, everything here was free so some people just had fun and tried on ridiculous clothes. I saw one guy through the window of a building wearing bright red leather pants, a purple spotted fur coat, no shirt, and mickey mouse shoes. I just stared at him as he put on a hat that would make Dumbledore jealous before he smiled at the mirror and walked out. He got a lot of spit takes when he walked past a cafe and most people gave him at least a chuckle, some ended up on the ground clutching their stomach after he walked by.
But he didn't let it bother him, his huge shoes just making slapping noises with every step he took as he walked on by. I smiled and gave him a nod when he passed me as I couldn't help but be impressed by his confidence. There were even a couple of people that went into the stores after they were able to stop laughing to see if they could outdo him. Some people were trying food that they wanted to eat in real life but couldn't because they were either allergic or they were on some sort of diet. Most of them had smiles as they stuffed their faces. I tried to make the food taste as good as possible so it would taste like the best version of whatever they were eating. Some of the more adventurous people took this opportunity to try new foods that they had never even heard of. There was this one group of guys that had found a place that just had insects, they were having fun daring each other to try out the weirdest combinations. Chocolate covered tarantulas had no takers so far but someone would probably work up the courage to try it sooner or later.
There were a couple groups of people that acted differently from the rest; they simply found a quiet place to sit down to watch the people around them as they explored this strange new world. One man in particular was surrounded by a group of people that were all smiling, they were all sitting at the table while the man in question was standing. Only he couldn't seem to stay still, hopping from one leg to the other while the people around him just smiled at the ants in his pants and talked among themselves. I walked over to join them as I was here to experience this world with the people I made it for, but I didn't actually have anyone to spend my time with. These people seemed nice so why not them. When I had reached within a couple of feet I noticed that a couple of them tensed, a tall buff man with wild black hair that spiked up into four points was the first affected. The others seemed to notice his reaction and tensed in anticipation.
I almost let this stop me but I soldiered on, "Hey, sorry to bother you but I just wanted to ask your friend if he was alright." The others were cautious and looked at each other for some sort of que, the man in question was the one to take the first step. He was tall and had wavy brown hair that reached his shoulders. Like most of the people here he was slightly more muscular than an average person would be but nowhere near some of the others I had seen. Some of the men I had seen looked like they were literally made of muscles, no neck, arms the size of barrels and the legs to match, they also seemed fond of no shirts to show off their new eight pack. "I am fine thank you, I'm just unused to being able to walk again." I smiled and nodded, "I hadn't thought of that. I guess this place will give a lot of people a taste of an aspect of life that they hadn't experienced before."
A thought occurred to me so I asked someone who would know better than I would, "Do you think it would be better if people were given the option to keep what sets them apart? I mean I heard that some people would rather stay deaf than have a cochlear implant because they would no longer be a part of that culture." He tilted his head in thought before responding, "I think it would be better to have the option, it would be very overwhelming for some people if they spend their entire life blind before they came here and suddenly they were able to see. Just imagine all the new things they would have to get used to, I imagine it would be very frightening." I smiled at his answer, he had given me something to think about and even if he didn't know it I would be taking his reasoning into consideration. "I am sorry, I have been very rude. You can call me Tet." When I offered my name it appeared over my head.
It was a little feature I added, when someone introduced themselves the name would appear above their avatar. It didn't have to be their real name and I planned on having two accounts. One where I would interact with people as the creator of the realms, named after the God of Games Tet from No Game No Life. The other would be under my actual name Alex, for when I wanted to fly under the radar. After introducing myself I held out my hand for him to shake and he did not hesitate before doing so. "It is nice to meet you Alex, my name is Charles Xavier. This is Logan, Dr. Hank Mcoy, Ororo Monroe, Raven Darkholme, and Erik Lehnsherr." My eyes widened as I heard him speak each name, I could see the people I read about in each of their forms. Logan should have been obvious with his unique haircut and his reaction before I even reached the table, his animal instincts may have warned him about me.
Even though I entered through the app instead of my dreams that didn't mean I had lost my power, flexing that power was just a choice. I think I could be forgiven for not recognizing Hank, here he had chosen to be in his human form so not being blue and furry really didn't help me out. Ororo sat differently than the rest, with a kind of pride and power posture I assumed came from her time being worshiped as a goddess before joining the X-men. Or maybe it was something that came from being linked with Gaia through her powers. Raven on the other hand sat in her chair and kind of faded into the background, but once I looked a second time I could tell she would have no problem launching from that chair to attack me if needed. Erik and Charles were the outliers, they both had posture as if the weight of the world rested on their shoulders.
Erik took this responsibility in stride and his stance stood firm, he didn't have white hair like I thought he would but instead it was a light grey. His face was set with hard lines, but I could tell from the glances he kept shooting at Charles that he was happy for his friend's inability to sit still. The moment Charles introduced his friends I could tell that my poker face had not fooled him, he knew that I had recognized those names. And while he didn't say anything I could tell that he was curious to see how I would react, "Well it is nice to meet you all, especially such beautiful women. What do you think about this new world?" I got a couple of smiles for my compliment and Logan rolled his eyes before chugging his beer, I hadn't even noticed he had one before now. Charles on the other hand seemed to relax minutely which caused the others to relax as well.
If Logan was the early warning system then Charles was the character assessment. I spent the next hour just talking to them about various topics; their experience in this world so far, if there was anything they wished was different, we all shared some snippets about their lives outside as well. The elephant in the room was not mentioned, I did not volunteer how I knew them and they did not ask about the depth of information I provided about this place whenever they asked anything. They also did not go into too much detail about their lives, I already knew a lot about them from the various sources in my old world but it turned out that in this world they all worked at Xavier's school. Even Raven and Erik worked there so that meant this world was different from the one I learned about and I shouldn't pray to the gospel of Marvel for guidance.
I think Charles was confused when he saw that I was surprised Erik and Raven worked with them. But he didn't push and I even skirted the truth when I told them I was a game designer. Technically true but widely understating, I had to suppress a laugh when I said that and Xavier would probably catch on if I gave any more hints. After that hour they told me they had to leave so I said my goodbyes and asked if I could contact them if we were in here at the same time again. That stopped them from leaving for a bit as I had to show them how to communicate here. When I designed this place I made sure not to make it complicated and I hoped it was idiot proof, but that would be tested in the coming weeks. You never really know just how stupid people could be until they prove it. But back to the system, you just need to go into the building with a sign above it that looks like an old fashion phone, you know the one that had to be plugged into the wall to work.
There you'll find a counter with an explanation on how to get the communication feature working. Place your hand on the counter and say phonebook, then think of a way to have a phone. It can be a physical object, like a real phone, or a tattoo you have to press on, or even a floating snail that takes the features of whoever you are talking to. I decided to tattoo the same symbol that hung above the door on the inside of my forearm. Once the rest of the group got their own versions, Hank was the only one who went with a non standard version. I was disappointed most of them didn't want to be more imaginative but the cute floating robot that bobbed beside his head made up for that. It was also easier to exchange information as well, once someone gave permission there weren't any numbers, you just had to think of who you wanted to talk to and the realms would do the rest.
It would notify the person you were trying to talk to and if they accepted you could talk to each other. Once we all exchanged info we said our goodbyes again, apparently the students were starting to get anxious to explore this place. And now that the adults were satisfied it was safe they were going to let them know it was ok to try. After they were gone I stood there for a second before deciding to take another look at how the players playing my first game were doing. So I walked to a nearby building that was just for people to sit down and relax before pulling up an interface only I could see that showed the data on the realms. While I did this the teachers I had spoken to were getting used to being back in their own bodies again. Charles was the most affected and looked sadly at his legs before a hand rested on his shoulder.
Erik was the one to comfort him and he smiled at his long time friend before looking at the rest of the teachers. "Well that was certainly interesting." Logan grunted in agreement, "That's one way of putting it Chuck, if that kid didn't have something to do with this I'll kiss my own ass." That got a chuckle out of a couple of them and a scoff from the others, "Yes, well I wouldn't have put it quite like that but that young man spoke about that place with a fair amount of pride. He also seemed to know us, but for some reason he was surprised at Raven's and Erik's allegiance. That opens up a few different possibilities."The rest of the X-men thought about that and threw around a few more ideas before turning back to the topic at hand. Was this safe for the children under their care to use?
Ororo was the first one to speak in favor of letting them explore, "So far no one has reacted in a negative way and the children will be liable to mutiny if they are unable to join in exploring this new world with the rest of their peers. Plus there is the fact that we did not have our powers in that realm, I can think of a few students who would relish the opportunity to experience life without the burden of their mutations." Raven could not stop herself from smiling at the thought of being able to hold her daughter once more, while Hank could not help but make a comment. "Although it was nice to be able to see my skin once more, there are a couple of students that I believe would not enjoy the restriction on their abilities." Erik did not flinch but his thoughts moved towards the more aggressive of his students, most of which would not enjoy being normal once more.
But Charles spoke up before he could comment, "I do not think that will be a problem. Remember what he said about disabilities? As we spoke further about that I think he was open to the idea of allowing people that are outside the norm to have the choice in keeping what sets them apart or shedding that burden for a short time. Because he seemed to know us I believe when he spoke about this he was speaking about more than just people that are deaf or blind. I think you will find that, perhaps even the next time you enter the realm, you will find the choice of how to use your powers in your hands once more." Erik spoke up at this point, "That is a fine aspiration Charles, but you know as well as I do that it would be better if some of our students did not have their powers in a world without consequences."
Charles frowned and made one last comment before sending them off to inform the students of their decision. "If the young man we met today does not put in safeguards against abuse of power then it will be up to us to get the point across to our students." With those last words the rest of the teachers walked out of the room to find the students and Xaiver's School for Gifted Children entered a period of silence that it had not experienced since it first opened. Meanwhile across the world many places were the opposite of silent as people were still running around to try and understand what this was. Many organizations had sent people inside to try and find out anything they could, while others tried to restrict access from the people under them. In some less developed areas it even worked, but a couple days later when night fell, people would find their dreams much more real than they ever remembered. And that would cause the world to change forever, after all what if people suddenly had twice the amount of time available to them.