. . .
"Hello"
"Player 1045B3"
A voice that felt devoid of anything natural sounded in Rex's mind. The voice slowly tethered Rex back into consciousness. His senses completely failed to give him a sense of exactly how much time had past from when the moment the pod had sealed to this instant were this artificial voice was rousing him up.
Ashis control over his mind improved, Rex slowly began to take note of where he currently was. All around him was darkness so overbearing, that it felt physical.
The only console was a bright entity that lay before his eyes, a ray of light in the vast emptiness. The light felt near and distant all at once. As Rex trained his focus on it. He could feel his grip on his consciousness improving.
He could barely feel his physical presence, it felt like all he was at the moment was a consciousness that only existed to interact with the light entity.
"Player 1045B3, state your name" the phrase sounded in the very core of his being.
"Rex—Rex Axel" he answered. Not in a form of communication familiar with him. He had communicated with his thought. It felt like the space he currently existed in, his thoughts were not considered private.
"Welcome to Cosmic Ascendance, Rex Axel"
A response was borne directly in his own thoughts.
NAME: REX AXEL
AFFLIATION: EARTHBORNE
CLASS: - - - - - -
INSTINCT: 7
INTELLIGENCE: 6
SPEED: 8
STRENGTH: 7
VITALITY: 7
"My base stats are been analyzed" Rex thought to himself, An action that was tantamount to screaming in the current realm he existed.
"Yes, it is so"
"You would begin your Ascendance journey with the current stat of your mortal frame"
" . . .Ohhhh" Rex thought with a slightly bashful feeling. He actively tried to empty his mind as he had come to intimately experience the peculiarity of having to converse via thought.
Analyzing Moria's Thread…
Threadpath found…
The intensity of the light from the entity slightly intensified.
Rex could feel like every single fiber of his existence was going through the most intense of examination. The invasion was so strong, it was painful.
The pain permeated every single aspect of his being.
Untangling thread knot…..
Threadpath established…
Overlord Affinity established.
As the last string of words appeared in Rex's view.
There was a rapid change in his surroundings, the intensity of the light from the entity intensified. The intensity was so much, that the darkness which seemed to have a physical presence was complately vanished. All Rex could view around him, was nothing but intense light.
OVERLORD AFFINITY GREATER THAN 1%
As the last string of word appeared. Rex could feel the piercing pain from the intense analysis of the entity cease. He could feel a deep satisfaction flood every single fiber of his being in response. A deep-seated satisfaction borne from being finally freed from the entity's analysis.
"Player Rex, Prior to your descent into the world of Cosmic Ascendance, You would challenge an Aspect Test."
"This test is aimed at helping ascertain your class affinity".
Rex imaginary brows were raised, he had heard of this. A brief challenge players had to face, before the game began. After the test, players were awarded a class and a useful skill, item or familiar, that would massively come in handy during the initial stages of the game.
"You can choose to challenge any of these three Paths"
'Path of the Warrior'
'The Specialist's Path'
'Summoner's Path'
"CHOOSE!!!!" Rex's thoughts spiralled out of his conscious control. Based on what he knew, there was no choice to be made at this point in the game. Once players initial analysis was done, the aspect test was initiated with a brief quest intro.
After sometime, Rex finally got a hold of his extremely ecstatic thought process.
Analyzing the three options, the first and the second, he felt he was familiar with what they could be. The path of the warrior would have to do with classes that are battle oriented and the second "The Specialist path" would have to do with the rarest class of players. Edward was such a player. He was a herbalist, with a completely different playstyle, he could make potions and had very unique abilities.
This group of players were very rare, and each person who had received such class, their success in Cosmic Ascendance was more than certified.
His mind was already leaning towards a decision as he glanced at the third option, Summoner's path. He knew nothing about that path. But from the name, it seemed to have to do with the ability to either summon familiars or bond with powerful creatures. But he had never heard of such a playstyle in Cosmic Ascendance.
As Rex's mind was stuck in a dilemma of what to choose, Specialist or Summoner. With his desire strongly leaning towards the later. The light entity broke the silence once again.
"There is one more path available for you"
Rex's being was brimming with attention.
"The Overlord Class Path"
"Overlord Class" Rex repeated after it.
"Yes"
"But a penalty is attached to challenging this path"
"Failure implies a ban from Cosmic Ascendance"
Rex's imaginary eyes widen to it's utmost limit. "BAN!!!!!'
In the first place, there was no penalty attached to these aspect tests. It felt more like an assimilation gameplay, to familiarize players with the realism level of Cosmic Ascendance.
But even without ever playing the game, or having a personal feel of its play mechanism. He was being offered an Aspect test that its failure would ban him from Cosmic Ascendance.
Rex's mind was racing with calculations.
"After 33 seconds, the 'Overlord' option will be permanently erased from your play history"
Rex could intimately feel that the simple-sounding word, 'Play History' was not as simple as it sounded. He felt once the option was initiated, he would not even have any memory of this unique class path.
His mind went into peak reasoning mode, as a countdown materialized infront of him.
'31'
'30'
'29'
. . .
'7'
'6'
'5'
"I choose the "Overlord Path"
Rex's thought slowly consolidated into a single sentence.
His decision borne from a bit of his desire for power, a bit of his perfectionistic personality, a bit of his deep-seated curiosity. In essence, it was borne from the exact crux of the person he was.
He had an inherent obsession with challenges. A challenge blended with so much secrecy was 1000% irresistible to Rex.
'Overlord Path Chosen'
'Establishing thread'
'Thread Path 007 established for the Overlord Path"
'Establishing Ley line'
. . .
. .
.
"Overlord Quest Initiated"
"Goodluck Rex Axel"
Rex heard the unnatural voice for the final time. A voice that felt neither male nor feminine, neither endearing or hateful.
He was assaulted by a several times more intense grogginess than he had experienced earlier, when the Cosmic Pod closed. But this time he managed to hold unto his consciousness a little bit.
He could feel an intense pull downwards, it felt like he was falling downwards in a speed so massive, it could not be quantified.
With a body being brutally assaulted by grogginess, he looked downwards, towards the direction he was being dragged towards. He saw something that felt so alien to his current self.
A distant pulse of swirling colours. The colours could'nt feel anymore alien to the permissive darkness and bright entity that had been his company for some time.
This final thoughts of his felt like walking in murky water, as the grogginess finally won him over.