Pantheon Online

Bright lights flew past Colt as his avatar loaded into the game. In the same fashion as most role-playing games, he appeared in his own body, with the exact same features as he had in real life. This was nothing new to him. If he was some rookie, he would probably be screaming about his identity being exposed in-game. He knew differently though, although he could use his own appearance, there was bound to be a part where he could create his in-game avatar.

In the next moment, a bright sunny sky spread out before him. He found himself to be standing on top of one of the many clouds. Looking around, he noticed bursts of golden lights appearing on other clouds as more beta testers loaded into the game. 'Hmm, seems like quite a lot of people accepted the invitation.' His eyebrow suddenly raised as he noticed part of his cloud rising to form some kind of map.

There was a large circle in the centre on the map with a wavy line that ran down its centre. Each half had writing on it that Colt was unable to understand. 'Is this some kind of in-game language? They certainly went all out.' Colt was intrigued by the level of detail the developer's seemed to be going to. Surrounding this large circle were seven smaller ones. Each of them had a single word written on them, but he was unable to understand it yet again.

There was one thing that was different about the smaller ones compared to the larger ones. Not including the dividing line and the larger one had had a separate word on each half. That was the fact that each of the smaller ones glowed with a golden light, while the large one had dull grey colour to it. Colt felt a sudden urge to put his hand on the grey circle. When he did so, he was met with a system prompt swimming in front of his eyes.

[You do not have the necessary Authority to access this realm. Please select one of the highlighted realms.]

'Realms, huh? So, they're probably different servers then. Let's take a look.' Colt closed the prompt and placed his hand on one of the golden circles. His vision was suddenly filled with a golden hologram containing a lot of information. However, most of it was in the same language that he could not understand.

[Skill: Basic ****** Language Unlocked]

'Why the hell is the name of the language censored?' Colt wondered as he closed the latest prompt to view the new information. There was not much of the language that had been translated, but it gave him a general idea of what he was looking at. He scrolled through the remaining realms to confirm his thoughts. 'Sure enough, it's a race selection screen.'

From what he could see, there were seven playable races. Minus the two that were greyed out in the central circle. 'I wonder if the players who join during the public release will have access to those?' At this point, he was wondering if either of those two races may hold an advantage over the others. 'Well, the Beta Test only lasts two weeks. I can always restart if either of them looks to be decent enough.'

His mind turned back to his current options as he began to consider which one he would choose for now. The standard 'Human' Race was there, which was typical of all games. However, he did not understand why it stated the racial benefit as being the most numerous Race. On the other hand, the second part about being a versatile race made sense to him.

Then there were the standard fantasy races that followed. Elves were gifted in natural environments and magic. Dwarves gained benefits on mountain and rugged terrains while also being naturally gifted in the forging profession. Dark Elves, gifted in stealth and assassinations. Orcs, known for brute strength and being talented warriors.

The following two confused him a little, though. Warbeasts, beast/human hybrids that excelled in different areas depending on bloodlines. Colt could only assume that they were another versatile race like humans. Most games these days had some kind of beast race, so it was not overly surprising. It was the last one that caught his attention.

Elden, the first mortal Race to walk the realms. Gifted in primal magic and known for their strong bodies. 'Hmm, a race unique to the game then? So what's the difference between magic and primal magic?' Just now, he had no reference to go on. So he was unsure what would be the best way to begin building his character.

'Well, for now, I should probably choose something versatile. It will give me the chance to try a bunch of different things and find the right fit. However, I can't really take myself seriously if I end up running around with a pair of cat ears and a tail…' That thought settled it as he scrolled back to the Race he had set his mind on.

[Are you sure you wish to choose the 'Human' Race? Warning, this choice is irreversible.]

"Yes," Colt replied in a confident voice. He prepared himself to be teleported into the new world.

[Race has been set to 'Human'. Please select Sub-race.]

"What the fuck!" Colt swore out loud. His brow creased in confusion. He had never come across a game where they implemented subspecies of the various races. 'Oh wait, is this what it meant when it listed versatile as a racial benefit?' The more he thought about it, the more confident he became that this deduction was most likely correct.

His eyes turned to the new list that appeared in front of him. Each subspecies of the Human Race seemed to have different specialities and aesthetics. Each of them resembled a different point of ancient history to real humans. 'Eh, there's even a samurai type?' He was really impressed by the developers now. This kind of option would seriously open up different possibilities for the players.

His eyes finally met a choice that brought a smile to his face.' This… Just got interesting.' He thought as he eyed the preview model in front of him. These people's name was 'Skardian', but anyone from Earth would recognise them by another name.

'I always wanted to be a Viking…'