“A massive open world with unlimited consequences and choices?”
I said to myself-something I've done a lot for a while- reading out loud the marketing quota for this new VRRPG game, coming out in 3 days.
Being developed and published by a new company that I had never heard the name before, it sounded like a generic rpg of sorts. But the real interesting factor was the game engine that had just been developed and was debuting in this rpg.
Named the Gargantuan Engine ( or GE), the name was not the best, but it was supposed to have the best Artificial Intelligence to this day. Ever since the creation of deep dive technology and neuro stimution and input systems, games had to become more competitive in their strategies for success, NPC to Pyer interactions being one of the things that never felt 100% natural.
The Gargantuan Engine promises to change that, not only implementing a new range stimution for all senses, allowing you to taste food, smell the breeze and touch everything. But also describing its Ai systems as capable of learning, adapting and delivering any feedback to the pyer, no matter what they do.
“When I first heard of this game I thought it was going to be an MMO, but it looks like each pyer gets an individual world that can be shared as a server, allowing for solo py. Much more of my preference”
And so I find myself looking at the release countdown on my HUB, a virtual customizable personal space, that currently looks like a balcony with a nice view on a bright sunny day.
“ Change HUB to default mode”
Aaaand I'm back on an white empty void.
In front of me, on a horizontal lineup, are all the applications and functionalities of the HUB and my current window to the trailer for the game CERES EXPANSE. Or more like the trailer for the GEngine, the man on screen talking is the head of marketing for the company, Babel Tower Entertainment, only teases the characteristics of the GE rather than the content or mechanics present in the game he is selling. That could be a strategy to keep everything as a surprise and push up the performance of the engine once the game comes out, or it could mean the game has no outstanding qualities on its own. Honestly, they are probably right, the marketing around this unch has already been astronomical, with influencers, big industry names and famous artists, at this point the game will sell even if it was generic.
For everyone, the timer to unch read 70:48:13 till open servers, for me and a bunch of other overexcited people there was only 48 hours until we could py on the single pyer mode. The advantage of pre-ordering something you know nothing about. But money wasn't an issue for me, not like I was gonna spend it anywhere else, and sales numbers showed that more than 2 million people had already done the same, so what's the harm? I wanted to py something new, different, for too long I only pyed story games of other characters, and not that they are bad, many of them are spectacur, but now I wanted a story forged by my choices, at least in the virtual world I still made the choices.
Suddenly an arm starts ringing and a window pops up on my right.
Timer has run out: 19 hours have epsed since st time resurfaced.
I started settling that timer after my first 48 hours straight in the Deep Dive Unit, DDU was a central computer that had all my virtual data and gaming catalog. It also provided better response and feel than virtual diving from other consoles or just your everyday Neuro link colr.
Quickly I think resurface. And feel my mind instantly go back to my human body, opening my eyes I see the chair already unlocking to let me get up. The room where I keep the DDU is the one free room in this apartment, ocean blue walls with a white carpet. I didn't choose the colors of my residence, but had no desire to change at this point. It was a good pce, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and living room, all the appliances and amenities I could ever need, and yet most of my time was in that chair, in the infinite other words that marvel of technology and human greatness could present to me. “Time for a shower!”, exiting the room and on the next door i enter the bathroom, a full body mirror greets me, a skinny, small and long haired boy is the image reflected. I was not very proud of my figure, too much time gaming and to little food had dropped my weight below the standards for a boy my age, 19 by the way, i was fairly androgynous before, but now with the long straight bck hair and barely any weight i looked like a girl that crawls out a certain well, measuring 4′9 ft tall (151 cm). Removing my clothes, a pin oversized T-shirt and boxers, I entered the shower, looking to clean myself and soothe my body to be able to sleep until the day I could py Ceres Expanse.
I touched my Neuro link, a sort of half colr piece of tech that was attached to the back of my neck. It was a pink girly color, having been mispced when I ordered it, and me not bothering to change it. “Does girly pink even fit me? Good thing I don't pn to see anyone”, and looking I see my body in its full nude form, a pale white skin thanks to no contact with sunlight, chest and arms with no muscle and a skinny waist, and a but that even though also skinny, somehow remained a little round. ”The little food i eat goes to you huh”, and finally my manhood, the male pride, or maybe not, my appendage had 4 inches (10 cm) at most, which i considered small, had been a source of anxiety and nervousness when i still went outside now i only looked at it when cleaning or jerking of every couple of days, it wasn’t a priority anymore.
Finishing the shower and wrapping a towel around my body I got to the kitchen, “Ready to eat, full vitamins meals, where would I be without you? Hehehe”, these meal services were good if you don’t have the capacity to male anything edible, and the surprise aspect of each meal being random was an interesting little game,” Am i gonna get beef or chicken today?” It was vegetarian…
Anyway, my link provides the entertainment of watching my test anime of the season, it’s supposed to be a remake of a very old one called JOJO. The story was interesting till now, currently the third part as I read in the forums online. It was this or catch up to the test One Piece episode and I was on hiatus for that one right now.
Incoming Call
Jhoana Maxilian.
“Argh, what does she want now?” I said to the call window demanding I pick it up, instead clicking on ignore, i’ll send her a text ter. Sleep now, nagging old woman ter.
“But before that let’s check what people on X.40 found about CERES”. Turns out we are all in the same boat, the only new information is on rumors and people hyping it other for the release. Among the rumors were things of every variety, from: it’s gonna be a baby rpg free for all ages, to the game has the equivalent of 2 thousand hours worth of early game alone. The first was ridiculous because the game already had a 16 year old age requirement, not even gonna comment on the second. “The game was developed by a team of only 20 people? That’s not even possible hehehe”
Message arrived: Sir. Renhardt Bckhammer return contact immediately
Ouch, whole names were serious, she must be wanting to talk something about the company, maybe the shares, or accounting, or worse, legal stuff. Can already feel the headache, let’s get this over with…
Two hours ter…
“That was it, should be fine now for de managers to handle the rest”
Breathing a sigh of relief, i hear Jhoana concluded the impromptu business meeting, i only had to deal with that every few months and even that was a little too much. No idea how she does it on a daily basis, but she did have many degrees and masters, to each their own.
“And i hope you’re eating more than once a day, little man. Try to be a bit more healthy.
“Okay Jho, goodbye, and thanks for the hard work”.
Finally some sleep… My room is the same color as the rest of the apartament, a single pin bed on it, some poster from franchises a liked, some trinkets my retives gave me, and on the bed, my sleeping shirt, some 3 sizes too big for me, but i slept in it every night or day. Funny enough it read mommy’s girl in bold letters in it. Gwen’s sense of humor had no bounds. I took off the towel and put my sister’s gift, falling immediately face first and embracing sweet dreams of a full house, with a balcony and five people, looking at the setting sun.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some 44 hours 47 min e 30-ish seconds ter, i’m woken up by the pre-set arm pying California Girls, good songs don’t age. Get up, change, shower, eat some eggs on a ready meal, get the mini refrigerator and set it up in the gaming room with some water and packed full of energetics high on caffeine.
Ready… Set… Dive.
The HUB is still in the default mode for now, just like my avatar, that looks like me in real life but with a translucent and smooth body. The game is just finishing installing and readying for initiation, the game’s front art shows a giant dragon battling two people, one using a sword and the other a wizard staff. But the real kicker is not the rpg but the engine, in my excitement i keep pressing the start command and in a moment the game unches, i could swear my vision goes pink for a second but maybe it’s just a lighting bug.
I felt the familiar pull in my mind of starting a game, almost like diving deeper in the ocean or going really fast on a car with no top. When I opened my eyes, I was a vaguely human shaped, dark blob of a semi liquid, as if oil suddenly had come to life, but my mental image remained that of four functional limbs. “Good, it is always so hard to get the proper body control when they give you more arms\legs\tais! Now where is my character?” I started looking around, the space was completely empty, a sea of shining, colorful lights stretched all around me, giving the impression I was floating in between gaxies. Then in front of me appeared a brilliant silhouette, it was white and translucent in a humanoid shape. I tried touching it, only for my liquid oily hand to pass right through, and a screen popped up after.
Race Selector:
Humanoids>
Beasteals>
Monstroids>
“Three rger groups of races huh, so what will you choose this time Ren?” I asked myself in an inquisitive tone.
“I’m tired of dealing with extra limbs from the Monster Destroyer games and I wanted to create my story in this game anyway so might as well pick my own species”
I quickly select the humanoids category and it subdivides into others like Human, Dwarf, Elf, Goblin, and more. This level of depth was expected of this generation games, but for a genetic rpg they really give you freedom of choice. Clicking Human I immediately eat my words.
“It’s locked on male gender? Why? Is it locked to the real life body type of the user?” The figure in front of me turned into a human male that had almost exactly my body, it was a little smaller, at 4'8 ft (147 cm), “And i thought i was small”, and had shiny white skin and a complexion of someone who ate their regur three meals a day.
The only other options a could choose were hair and eyes, not even paintings, scars, any other extras whatsoever. “The engine is good, you have to experience this, so let’s just get through the issues and py”. I chose a slightly dark red hair, mid length, just above the shoulders and a little fluffy, so as to not look like me anymore, and bright blue eyes, since real life mine were brown.
Css Selector
In the world of Ceres, csses can have skills that are exclusive to them, so it’s advised to think deeply about which css to choose.
“Skills system huh”, My avatar disappeared and in front of me the many csses. “ Decide if you're gonna be a trash or god game will you please”, It was more of an affirmative than frustration, how can the game not provide gender choice and have this many csses at the same time ? This is supposed to be triple A, be more consistent!.
I began analysing each css to make the most fun option, this was a solo game and I didn't need to be optimal in numbers or rush the process. There was the typical Warrior, Mage, Rogue, but there were also more specialized variations like Assassin, Ranger, Healer, Padin. There were even more complicated csses like Necromancer, Summoner, Monk, Diviner, and more. I was passing through the Summoner css thinking I wanted some companions to work for me when I saw the perfect choice: Tamer.
Css: Tamer
Tamers are very rare individuals who can bond or control certain animals and creatures, in Ceres they were once very revered as having the capacity to spread life in the nd and commune with some deities, but with time the tamers disappeared and people forgot they ever existed.
Css exclusive perk:
Bestiary (knowledge of creatures can be accumuted and evolves the more you discover natural life)Upon choosing receives on soul bond companion that grows alongside the pyer
Css starting skill and spells: Soothing Voice , Animal Control, Bond of the Tamer .
I liked animals, and ecosystems of gaming worlds were always fun to explore, even if they were badly made you could ugh at how nonsensical it all was. “Tamer it is!”The excitement was clear as I excimed loudly and pressed the css button. My avatar appeared again, this time with a window asking for the name, and I just put my nickname there.
Character Details
NAME Ren
RACE Human
CLASS Tamer
And another screen appeared with the text…
Descend Upon Ceres?
YES NO
I shoved that aside to get a proper look at my character and that’s when I noticed I had no clothes.
Aside from a loincloth-that for some reason was riding up my butt- there was no cloth article in my avatar. I was looking at it from the back, the body was really just like mine, almost no muscle, a butt that was perfectly round even if small and the not so high stature to boot. Turning it around I found something even more strange… I had a bulge in the front of the loincloth. “ There was nothing saying that this was a mature game! Not even any warning pop ups”. But it was there, even had a little red pubic hair going up from the cloth, stopping a little under my belly, no other hair on my body aside from the head. “Just like real life then. I knew the Neuro-virtual scans your body for a better integration but i didn’t know it could use it like that”. I tried touching my avatar again to no success. “Maybe it’s just for cosmetic reasons, they didn’t advertise maturity beyond the 16+ years old requirement, so the loincloth must be the base undergarment and you're not able to take it off!”. With that somewhat reasonable expnation, or attempt at denial, I clicked on the YES button and my POV changed to my character’s, my vision went dark and I felt the pull of virtual reality once again.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I woke up confused, lying on top of something rough in texture but hard like a rock, closing my hand and bringing it to my face, it was holding some hay? grass? It felt like hay in a video game but it was green. My vision cleared more and I noticed the structure that surrounded me. A barn, just like those in medieval farm games, the wood seems to not have aged a lot so probably didn’t have many years of existence. I was lying on a pile of green hay. “Not the usual start for an VRRPG…”
Getting up, I immediately think the default command HUD up , it works. There are three bars on the left top side of my vision: HP, Stamina and Mana. My character information is also visible.
Attributes
Ren, Human Tamer ♂
Level 1
Strength 6
Dexterity 6
Fortitude 5
Intelect 10
Wisdom 9
Charisma 14
Luck 0%
“Based on the status distribution this css is charisma based, what about the skills?”
Skill
Soothing Voice
Your voice is softer! You have a chance to calm savage animals and people talking to you feel more comfortable. Percentage is based on Charisma.
Obtained by choosing the tamer css.
Levels up for every new skill achieved (3/20) or upon taming 5 different animals or creatures (0/5).
Skill
Animal Control
You can give rudimentary commands to animals you have under your control.
Obtained by choosing the tamer css.
Levels up for every new skill achieved (3/20) or upon taming 5 different animals or creatures (0/5).
Skill
Bond of the Tamer
You gain a mark on your hand that symbolises the bond shared with your animals, and allows you to have up to 5 animals in your currently used party.
Obtained by choosing the tamer css.
Levels up for every new skill achieved (3/20) or upon taming 5 different animals or creatures (0/5).
The skills were good for the css, but not for battle, and I could already tell Charisma was gonna be my be all, end all. Looking at my status again I saw something that could only prove the developers were crazy or stupid. “There are Hunger and Thirst bars? This is a survival as well?”
Upon inspection the bars had descriptions as well…
Hunger
Eating is one of the joys of life! In case the pyer doesn’t ingest the required amount of nutrients, debuffs will apply when the bar reaches zero, considerably slowing the pyer down, among other effects.
Thirst
No living thing survives without water! In case the pyer doesn’t ingest the required amount of liquids, debuffs will apply when the bar reaches zero, considerably slowing the pyer down, among other effects.
“By the text it doesn’t straight up kill me to reach zero but I will be penalized. Thank you devs, for making it harder”. I wasn't the biggest fan of survival games, especially the ones with hunger bars, my brain just couldn't wrap around the fact you were required to consume but there is no waste to dispose of. Oh wait, is that a body waste toggle on/off?. What kind of game is this?. To sooth my logically impaired mind I toggled the waste option off for me, and changed my sight to something more useful, the Soul Bond Companion.
Css Specific Perk
Soul Bond Companion
Upon choosing the Tamer css, one soul linked animal shall be selected to grow with the tamer.
Confirm
Cancel
Pressing confirm a translucent book with varying animal silhouettes was presented to me, I couldn't see their stats or perks, presumably because I had no knowledge of their species yet, so I decided on the option of picking the one I liked more and suited many purposes.
In between ones that looked like a mouse, a cat, a wolf and even an eagle, I chose one that was simir in shape to an owl. The sky advantage would be key, owls have very sharp senses, good vision even at night, and sharp talons to hunt prey. Plus they look adorable, like a pillow full of seething hatred.
Upon selecting the book disintegrated and the light reformed into a medium sized white egg in my hands. That started cracking, and I started panicking. HOW DO I TAKE CARE OF A BABY OWL? I THOUGHT IT WOULD COME FULLY GROWN!!!
The owl hatched in my hands, it was mostly grey and bck with some red coloring on it”s feathers. I had never seen an owl that looked like this. It started chirping at me with cut slitted eyes and a window about it popped up.
Bestiary
Birds:
Owl of the Ash Mountain.
A rare species of owl for the south isnd of ???... It has an incredible hunting ability to survive in its environment… ???
Bond Contrat
Give a name to the accepting animal for a Bond Contract to be formed.
The Bestiary still didn’t show all the information, perhaps because I cked a skill or just had to discover more about my little friend. The owl was just a baby and female. I had to give it a name for the contract… Which name?... maybe… yeah, this is my story after all, at least here you can somewhat be with me.
“Would you like the name Rhea?”
The small feather ball chirped up at me happily and in the back of my right hand a bck tattoo in a heart shape was formed. It glowed pink for a moment together with Rhea’s eyes, after I could feel my connection to her and the status window appeared.
Familiar
NAME Rhea ♀
SPECIES Owl of the Ash Mountain
OWNER Ren
Level 1
Strength 4
Dexterity 5
Fortitude 2
Skills : ???
Hint
Tamer innately straighten their controlled creatures, giving them unique characteristics and perks, like growing up faster.
The skills weren’t showing yet, and the base stats weren’t the greatest, but according to the hint she would grow fast, hopefully still being cute and getting stronger.
“You and I will grow together!”. “CHIRP!”. Rhea was happy, that’s a good sign.
“What's such little cuties doing in my barn?”
“W-W-What?’. I whirled around in an instant, clutching Rhea in my chest. Only now noticing the softer voice effect making my scream thinner than I intended. The game changed my voice?. But I had other worries, in front of me stood a giant-might as well be one compared to me-of a woman wearing dark blue overall, a white cloth shirt and a straw hat. She had smooth brown skin that reminded me of milky chocote, silver fluffy hair flowing from under the hat to her back, and silver shiny eyes. Physically speaking she was big, not only tall, close, if not, 6 ft tall (182 cm) but also curvy. Some would say fat, overweight, and while that is true… She’s beautiful. An impressive figure with huge hips and ass, but she definitely had muscles putting everything together, and right on my eye level, as if just to make me more nervous- I was essentially invading this woman’s property and had no expnation- an incredible pair of boobs. Those got to be beyond F cups, and so firm too, that’s not physically possible. What were the devs thinking giving a starter NPC that look?. She gave meningite to the word Big Bodied Woman.
“If you’re looking for valuables, the house would be a better searching pce sweety, haha.”
She gave a small amused ugh. I was invading her barn but my clothes must not have really looked like a burgr. Now I usually can communicate normally with NPCs in games but the way she was speaking didn’t sound like any pre-recorded or generated line I had ever heard before, she sounded like a real human being talking to me. And I'm not the best at talking to strangers… or just people in general– not to mention I haven't spoken with anyone other than Jhoana in more than a year.
“I-I-I aaahh… I was lost and needed a pce to sleep, I-I’m r-really sorry ma’am!.”
“Poor little one… You and that owl must have been lost huh, and judging by your clothes… or ck of, you don’t have anything of your own, am I correct ?.”
“Y-Yes ma’am. My name is Re-en.”
“Well Ren, I’m Jade and I welcome all travelers in need of help on my farm, and first of all you need to cover yourself, correct ? And your little pet needs some food I'm sure.”
“That would be wonderful ma’am, thank you so much”
“Call me Jade sweety, ma’am sounds so formal. Hahaha”. Jade’s ughter made the situation less awkward just a little bit, after all standing semi naked in front of a woman i don’t know was pretty high on the awkward scale. A little exciting too, don’t you think? SHUT UP BRAIN! ’.
“Let’s go to the house, I’ll find something for you”. She exited the barn through a big set of doors in front and I followed with Rhea chirping happily in my arms. Once we were outside I could take it all in. It was breathtaking. The sun was in the sky in the early hours of the day, all around was a vast expanse of yellow grass fields reminding me of a savanna but not nearly as hot, like fields of wheat spreading over the hills, the farm was just big enough for a person to care alone. The fields of hay were to my right, in front of me there was a vegetable field that probably could feed 10 people all year round. To my left there was a fenced area adjacent to the barn, and inside it there were many giant, flightless birds- Chocobo? . Following Jade further I saw the house, it was a two storey house made entirely of wood, keeping the same dark red color that the bark had, a porch with a big chair was the opening to the house and Jade was already going up the very short steps and reaching to open the door.
Inside it was a simple house with not much decoration-aside from the colorful flowers in every pot. ”Jade likes flowers,noted”. The house wasn’t by any means even though it was two floors high, the base floor was composed of a single spacious main room and three adjacent doors, one that clearly opened to the back of the house. In the center of the room was a wooden rectangur table with six wooden chairs, a nice green carpet adorned the floor and two dressers pressed against the wall on the far side, a big mirror reflected the room form the the left of the entrance and on the right side the stars led to the second floor.
Jade turned to me. “I think i had something that might fit you but i’m not sure you will like it, it was something a footer left as payment for spending the night but it was not my size, hehe”.
“Thank you, anything is good in my case”
She reached inside one of the dressers and took out a blue dress… Or maybe not, the fabric was almost like one of a sundress, but the actual dress only covered the chest area completely and flowed down in the front and back, leavened the sides completely exposed, reminding of Chun Li without the shoulder parts. That is not a dress! . I made a surprised face and Jade could see my discomfort at the dress.
“I know a boy wouldn’t want to wear a dress but it’s the only thing I have in your size, sorry honey. I can try cutting some material from one of my old clothes ter, that will fit you better”.
Not wanting to be a rude guest, I took the dress from Jade with a quick “Thank you”, left Rhea on the table looking curiously at me and downed the dress on me without even looking at the screen popping up in my vision.
Hint
How you act towards other people makes them like or hate you more, your deeds also spread your reputation through the nd of Ceres.
Dress of Alluring
rank I
A dress made with the intention to show off the ‘assets’ of the wearer.
Gives the passive skill Alluring Cheeks
Has a 10% increase in Charisma.
I gave an awkward smile towards Jade, and she said “Beautiful, now I'll get some berries for the little one and then we can talk about why you’re here”. She entered one of the adjacent doors, that now I knew, led to the kitchen, while I blushed a little at her calling me beautiful. Control yourself! you’re handsome, not beautiful. And will take off the dress as soon as possible, also there was a pop up, what does it say? .
“A buff to Charisma is always welcome,but what’s this weird skill?”.
Skill
Alluring Cheeks I
Your butt is a bit bigger! Your cheeks attract the attention of people behind you, compelling them to pinch or sp it. 30% chance.
Obtained by wearing the item Dress of Alluring.
Permanently gain the passive skill after ten pinches or sps (0/10) .
Bimbo tree.
WHY IS A SKILL LIKE THAT HERE? I will definitely look for more information on this when I log out. The forums and devs never said this game had this side to it. I considered taking it off, but with no other viable options I would make do. Just then Jade came back into the room carrying a basket of red berries.
“Here it is! Hope you like it… Uuh...”
“Rhea… Her name is Rhea”.
“Little Rhea, what a cutie”.
Pushing a chair to sit, Jade motioned to one for me.
“So… I’ll ask this now because I've seen simir cases, Ren, do you know anything outside of your name?”. Simir cases huh, that is my chance, let’s do some role pying.
“No I don't, unfortunately”.
“The Gods sometimes take certain people's memories, either because they are not needed or because those people have a role to py for the Gods. Be that as it may, you'll need a pce to stay and food until you decide what to do with yourself”.
Quest
Working For Your Bread
Jade Krono is offering you a pce to stay and food for your belly. But she requires work on her farm as compensation.
Accepting or declining the quest will affect Jade’s opinion of you.
Reward ???
Accept
Decline
The quest pop up was unexpected, and welcomed, i was in need of some direction thanks to the ck of any tutorial. And spending more time with Jade is not bad either. So I thought about pressing Accept, and the game responded.
“I would like to stay if that doesn’t bother you”.
“Excellent! We’ll start right away, just follow me”
Jade got up and started for the front door. I was surprised by the suddenness, but guess that’s the type of person Jade is.
“Today I have to care for the kelenkes, it always takes a full day to get their eggs and clean the pen, so i want you to water the vegetable garden and then help me with them ok?”.
Bancing Rhea in my shoulder– she surprisingly had no difficulty in steading herself.
“Ok, are the Kelenkes those big birds next to the barn? What do they eat?”.
“Yes. They eat everything from berries to bugs and even some pnts so most days I just let them out and they come back at night because their nests are here”.
We reached the garden and Jade grabbed a metal watering can and gave it to me.
“Pull some weeds if you see them, the can has a skill of infinite water so long as it’s near a water source, see the well over there? Don’t get too far from it, if the water runs out you are too far and just need to go back to refill”.
Having received my instructions I directed myself to get the watering can, Jade turned and strided for the barn. The job was simple really, the can never run out of water and the system popped a screen whenever I saw a weed. Must be part of the quest . I got a little dirty but nothing a good shower couldn't handle, Rhea even helped me pull some weeds out with her cws, and ate some of the bugs and worms that were unlucky enough to catch her sharp gaze.
When I was done I collected Rhea and we walked to the barn. I couldn’t see Jade so I got a little closer to the Kelenkes pen. Maybe I can tame one . The kelenekes, as the bestiary said, were giant flightless birds common to this region, simir to an emu or ostrich in real life, but much bigger, it was written people used them for mounts or even consumed the eggs.
As I was watching the birds turn the dirt around looking for worms, and a smaller one that must have been a juvenile, I felt a sharp pain in my left ass cheek.
“Yeep!”. That sound I produced was not very manly, neither sounded like it was with my soft voice.
“Ready to hable the big gals I see! hahahaha”, Jade had left her hand imprint on me, i couldn’t bme her. It’s the stupid dress skill . “Let’s go, but be careful and don’t irritate them.”
She and I collected some of the eggs the female produced, when suddenly I felt another pinch on my butt, but Jade was in front of me this time. “Ouch! Who?”
Behind me was that juvenile I saw before, he had pecked my left cheek. “HAHAHAHA… Young Yago likes you!”. “He could like me without pecking me”.
Yago was looking at me with what I swear was a pyful expression, but otherwise he was not aggressive. “Yago here is my second male, I tend to keep one around to stimute the females for eggs and once in a while grow the flock. Really i don’t know what to do with him, his father is still pretty young and he is reaching maturity, i don’t want them computing for females and hurting each other”.
That sounded like an indirect, but I couldn't be sure she would just give me one of her birds.
The rest of the day was just tending to the birds and some other chores around the farm.
Yago didn’t peck me after the first time but he stayed around us. Like a giant curious kid.
Jade on the other hand must have marked my butt red because I had obtained the skill Alluring Cheeks by the end of the day. Now I'm stuck with this weird skill.
We entered the house and Jade told me to take a shower and that she would clean my dress, after taking hers will see about making clothes for me. I took the dress off, once again assuming my semi-nude appearance and left Rhea happily chirping at the table and eating berries.
I opened the second door on the first floor and the bathroom was beautiful, there was a metal shower and a tub filled with hot water. Must be a skill imbued on the tub or some other item that keeps the water hot.
I moved to clean myself when a thought entered my mind. Wait, I'm still wearing the thong. Can I take it out? , the curiosite spoke loud in my mind. “If this is real than this game is too different from any expectation i had before”.
With agonizing slowness I reached the hem of the cloth. It parted from my skin when I hooked my thumbs, and in a swift motion, like ripping a bandaid off, dropped it. What stared back at me was the spitting image of my real penis,2 in soft, 4 in long when hard, the base and around covered in a few pubs, white and with a pink head covered by foreskin, and two small, smooth testicles hanging close to it. The only difference was the color of my fuzz, now dark red like my hair. They replicated my dick! Why? Can I even use it in this game? . I examined my whole body naked and now my slightly bigger butt. “It really is alluring”. I said feeling it’s softness with my hands.
Suddenly the door opened and Jade walked in, wearing only a towel… Around her waist… I must have taken too long .
Jade looked surprised as well. I was staring straight at her tits. Soooo biiigg, they must be so soft to touch. . Her niples were prominent and perky, big in the right way, just a bit darker than her skin… I was drooling.
“Sorry honey, I even forgot you were still inside. Your clothes are washed, I'll give you a few more minutes to take care of your excited friend”. She said that with a pyful smile, and I looked down to see my prick standing at attention, quickly covering it with my hands. Jade had already turned and excited the bathroom… I need a cold shower .
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After stepping out of the bathroom and cleaning the loincloth, I put on the dress again, and while Jade was showering… Don’t think about it … I sat at the table and mindlessly petting Rhea, decided to check my HUD for anything I hadn't seen on this erratic day.
The HUB had many tabs and functionalities, my attributes and general bars were the first thing in sight, on their side was the Skills Tab. It wasn't a Skill Tree, more like a Skill Forest, so many different paths and categories I could get lost in it for hours. But most were either blurred or unaccessible, I also didn’t have any Skill Points as the game puts it. Maybe I get those leveling up? But by how many there are I would need about a million points so there must be another way to get them. I already achieved a skill so they can be acquired by special conditions .
Speaking of which…
Skill Achieved
Alluring Cheeks I
Your butt is a bit bigger! Your cheeks attract the attention of people behind you, compelling them to pinch or sp it. 30% chance. Passive effect.
Obtained by completing the requirement of the item Dress of Alluring.
Levels up once received 50 sps or pinches to your butt (11/50).
Bimbo tree.
Averting my eyes as if the skill had personally attacked me, I looked at the next tab. Spells tab, this could be acquired by skill, using books or buying them with also skill points, but that seemed to be less cost efficient since I could buy the books without spending such a precious resource. “It would be impossible to open these tabs during a battle, so I need to do all my preparation beforehand”. The next tab was my css specific one, the Bestiary. It had information on the animals I had contact with until now, and strangely enough there was a category called Humanoids, and in it there were humans. “Are NPC’s species considered in the bestiary ?”.
Humanoids
Humans
Humans come in many shapes,sizes and colors. They are one of the most dominant species in Ceres. Humans can also have a variety of genders and body modifications according to the skills they have earned or were blessed with. Thanks to a disagreement between ??? males are rare and most are ??? There are F???.
I couldn’t read certain parts, just like with Rhea’s entry, I cked knowledge or skills. I had just thought of the word Map when it appeared to me, but it was obscured by a fog of war, the only visible part read Jade’s Farm , and on the top was written Continent of Trimega.
“So Ceres is the name of the world and I'm in Trimega right now huh”.
Just then Jade returned– fully clothed this time. She sat a dinner of soup and bread on the table, it had an incredible earth smell and must taste delicious.
“So Ren, what did you think of your first day on the farm?”.
“It was tiresome but rewarding in a way. Do you do this alone everyday?”
“Most days, yes. Sometimes there is a traveler or two for company, but mostly it is just me and the farm. It helps to work, certainly much easier than when I started out”.
“You weren’t a farmer before?”.
“Oh no, haha. I was a soldier”.
“A soldier ?”
“For The Empire, east of here. Amassed enough money to buy my release from the army and came to work as a mercenary for the merchants in Caldrem. 5 years ago I bought this nd and farm”.
“Wow, is this life better than being a soldier?”
“Leagues better, it’s quiet, soothing and sometimes I get to see lost cuties stumbling out of my barn. Hahahaha”
I blushed a little, at the complement and my involuntary invasion. “I’m lucky i found you as the first person in this world Jade”.
“Thank you sweety, I try my best. But do you want to stay here on the farm for a while or…? I wouldn't oppose the extra help”. She said this with an almost hopeful look.
“I don’t know yet… I have no knowledge of this world and all that is so wonderful it makes me want to see it. But right now I would barely st a second out there… So if you let me, I want to stay until I'm ready, and if possible come back here once in a while?”.
“Of course you can Ren! You may not have a story yet, but we’ll definitely make one from now. Hehe. You showed real talent when dealing with the Kelenkes, and Rhea too, do you like animals?”
“A lot! I wanted to ask you, do you know where they come from? How do they behave? Are there wild ones or is the species fully domesticated ? Can they travel far?” I noticed my own rambling of questions and Jade’s surprised look. My face burned scarlet.
“Hahahahaha, curiosity is good sweety. I don’t know much beyond just taking care of them and I have a healer who comes by every few months to do check ups, but I do know they live in flocks, and come from the wild pins, which is to say the region we are in right now.
Stretches from one side of the continent to the other with the Great Rive. They are great mounts, can walk for miles at a slow pace and be really fast in small stretches, but are not as resilient as horses and don’t move fast for very long.”
My face could not be less excited, the rest of the meal was just me asking about the surrounding area wildlife. There were some forests not far from the farm, animals like rabbits, boars, even the occasional wolf, though those tended to stay north according to Jade. She admitted to not knowing everything that hid in the woods, but warned against monsters and humanoids, goblins, bandits and the like.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After that we worked on taking some material from Jade’s old clothes, we managed to make a pair of short shorts and an improvised shirt, neither of us was good at sewing.
“Good night hun. Sleep well”. She bid me goodnight and spped my ass once more, making me blush. I didn’t have the heart to stop her at this point,
In my room I couldn't sleep. I was talking to myself, reviewing everything I had seen and learned about this game. “It doesn't make sense. This game was not supposed to have these features, I know these kinds of games exist but this is supposed to be front and center of the industry, the regutions and investors would bust a blood vessel if this came out”. Rhea was looking outside at the moonlit night. I had left her on the window, she would not fall, her bance was perfect at this point.
I spent a good chunk of the night talking to myself when suddenly a window appeared in my HUD.
Skill Achieved
Philosophy of The Loner
Talking to yourself so much might get boring. So why not bounce ideas with yourself? Creates a mental copy of the pyer that can talk back to them.
Obtained by talking 4000+ words to yourself and answering your own questions in less than 20 hours.
“I talk to myself that much?”. ((Yes you do, when you are puzzled that is.))
“Whaaahh”. Rhea looked at me in arm. “What are you? Am I hearing you in my head?”
((I’m you, or should i say a carbon copy of you, like the skill said. But don’t expect much from me i can only respond to your quest or give quips when the plot allows.))
“Plot ? What? How can a game do this ? “. (( Oh you know, some brainwave reading and matching, a little generative AI, and bang, we are here. Don’t worry though I’m not that instruse to you.))
This is weird. “ HUD down, pause game!”. The command worked and everything around me froze. I had to check online, all the 18+ stuff was one thing but making a copy of the pyer ? That was weird. “Log Out”.
The same familiar pull of resurfacing brought me out of the game and into my Hub. And when I looked at the timer another surprise hit me. There had been barely 15 minutes… How? I spent an entire day under. Let's check the forums, maybe even social media has something. This can not be just me going insane…
Maybe I am insane…
I spent about two hours looking through every site, every wiki being constructed, and some things I had experienced were confirmed by the other people pying. Nobody was streaming the game, because it was impossible to stream. The company had just released this information, the Gargantuan Engine had a ultra brain process function, basically it made the game pass through almost the same process as a dream, what feels and pys like hours, in reality only sts a few minutes. The current proportion was 1 hour in reality was 4 days in game. I had heard some news about the technology being in the testing phase a few months ago but it never crossed my mind that it was gonna hit market now.
The mental copy and skill system were also real, apparently some pyers like me talked so much to themselves we received that skill, and it really was just a response program NPC with your personality and memories. Anyone could get it by simply doing the requirement.
What really made me think I was crazy is the fact that no one seemed to be pying the same game I was. In other gamers' worlds there was a starting town, a shallow expnation of the system and skills, and NPCs to help with all necessities. There was nothing about nakedness, lewd NPC designs or even weird skills. It was just a well made game with incredible technology.
I even checked someone with the same css as me, apparently not many people chose Tamer because it had a really slow start to power and you could get pets and mounts through other means, even if they were not capable of using them in combat like the tamer.
“So to summarize… I’m pying a version of this game that is so different from the normal released version, it might as well be another game, with other skills and mechanics. And apparently no one except for me– to my knowledge. Has access to this. Or maybe they were just silent online, like me”.
There were other things too: The Jobs Skills, The Generative Quests, the NPCs that acted and felt more than in any game previously…
“But nobody is pying the same game I am. WHY???”.
Really it was beginning to form an obsession. What else was different in my game? What else can I discover? How will my story unfold?...
“There is only one thing I want to do. I don’t wanna share it, or run away, or py something else. For the first time in a year and a half I felt this want for something just beyond my reach. I can’t just ignore it…”
I’m gonna explore this entire game until the ends of Ceres!
And I looked at that generic page with the dragon, and with determination, a little bit of fear and anxiety, and excitement, screamed: “DIVE START”.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4 HOURS BEFORE THE PRE-LAUNCH OF CERES EXPANSE.
“Naya, what are you still doing there? Thanks to you we got the engine’s program, you can just ditch these prudes and come back to the team”.
But Naya was occupied typing frantically on the screams in her Neuro Link.
“I’m leaving a few people a little farewell present, don’t worry my resignation letter is in my back pocket. HAHAHAHA, I can’t wait to see what happens next”.
“You do whatever you want then. Just don’t get caught, our pns are just starting, we have a ton of work piling up. Antonio is already spiraling into a marathon, and I am not entering his room again.”
“Kisses Brij, I’ll finish soon. Starting transfer now. This is gonna be so much fun, I just love pying with minds, hahahahaha…”.
