And so I used the capsule VR machine to dive into the world of Next Stage Online.

The first thing that appeared before my eyes was outer space, only it was blue.

Occasionally, stars would drift like rows of 0s and 1s.

Huh, it really did have the feeling of being in cyberspace.

 

‘Welcome to the world of Next Stage Online. First, please decide on a name. You will not be able to change your name once it is decided.’

 

I see. There was the initial setup.

This was something that hadn’t changed from older games.

For some reason, I had thought the game would start immediately.

 

A name…alright.

Since my name was Nagai Kyuji, why not ‘Kyu-jii’?

Because the ‘jii’ looked like ‘oldman’?

No, I was overthinking it.

I wasn’t young, but I wasn’t that old either.

I was young at heart. The details didn’t matter.

 

“I’ll be ‘Kyuji.’

 

‘Certainly, Kyuji. Next, you must choose the appearance of your character. You will later be able to use facilities within the game to alter your appearance. At a price, of course.’

 

So, it wasn’t permanent.

However, these superficial changes that had no effect on your success in the game were always the ones to cost money.

Regardless, I would create a character that I would want to use for a long time.

 

Man or woman…

Better go with a man.

Now, I was confident in being able to create a cute girl, but being her was another thing.

Besides, I had once heard that doing such a thing could start to affect your personality in the real world.

It was not the kind of thing one should plunge into without some thought.

Instead, I would create an older, rugged type of man.

 

Hmm. They had a lot of options.

It would be easiest to autocreate, and then use that as a base and make changes from there.

Thankfully, they even had ‘rugged’ as one of the options in autocreate.

And so I touched it.

 

Hmm. What appeared was quite promising.

A sleek, muscular physique, with dull, brown hair.

But he had a shaved jaw, which gave him a refreshing look.

 

It wasn’t bad at all, but I made a few adjustments.

His eyes should be less severe and his jaw less wide.

Yes, now it was closer to Japanese tastes.

Nothing flashy, but that was they key to having a character that you wouldn’t get bored of.

 

“I’m done.”

 

‘Very well. You will now be sent to the world of Nextaria.’

 

“Huh? Already? I thought this game had a job system and…”

 

‘You will learn about that when you arrive.’

 

If that’s what the guide said, I just had to follow.

Well, this time, my adventure was beginning.

 

 ◆ ◆ ◆

 

The darkness faded away, and I could see again.

Apparently, I was in a city park.

There were several other players here on the grass, swinging their weapons.

Were they rookies like me?

After all, this game hadn’t been out for a full month yet.

So there were likely a lot of new players.

 

‘This is the park. While you are in the city, you can use your weapons and skills to your heart’s content. Your attacks will not hit other players. However, as they will be seen, you should avoid using anything you wish to keep secret.’

 

I see. So it was a place to test newly bought weapons and skills.

On closer inspection, not all of them had starter equipment like me. Some had impressive looking swords or were flaunting glittery magic.

Nice. I had heard that looking at other players’s equipment was great fun in online games.

It made me want to get something good soon, and attract envious glares.

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