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Even though Emilia had already experienced entering a full-dive game before, connecting to 'Arcadia' was still very much a fresh experience.
Compared to simply connecting with various sensory centers in the brain to 'trick' it, this time the full-dive gear seemed to directly try reaching into her soul, where its signal was intercepted by Cynthia.
Of course, a normal person may not be able to tell the difference outside of it being a 'better connection' or something along those lines. Though Emilia was sure that the hero must have a pretty good 'explanation' in mind in case someone discovered it.
It only took a fraction of a second for Cynthia to carefully split the single signal into two, one heading to the unknown depths of her soul, and the other one linking directly to her 'core' where the chaos energy ran most rampant.
'It... worked?!' Emilia couldn't help but cheer.
Naturally, her partner would never take unnecessary risks, and would definitely have dissolved the connection before the world will detected them if anything was amiss.
"Hmph, of course it did."
The crimson-haired girl giggled at her partner's smug tone, but she didn't have the time to compliment her on a job well done, as her perspective soon changed.
Emilia looked down in wonder at her perfectly replicated 'original form', and she couldn't help but sigh in admiration. "So this is the character creation screen, huh…"
Aside from a somewhat worn-out rag draped over her body, she was completely naked.
She'd naturally seen the exaggerated reactions of furious people in the original timeline, but Emilia only found it funny until she experienced it herself.
'It's no wonder that people are going to be outraged... not only are they not going to be able to hide their real identities in the game, but they can also be stripped naked and humiliated if someone so desired.' She sighed. 'And to top it off, they can't even log out while engaged in combat.'
But Emilia soon shook off the mild discomfort. Since there was nothing she could do about it now, fussing over such things would only be a waste of time, and Emilia would rather focus on what was in front of her instead.
The floor beneath her was covered in large glowing white tiles that seemed to extend infinitely, and a large mirror along with a floating screen seemed to be the only things to exist in this 'world'.
'Crystal should be in a character creation room as well, huh? It's a pity that I can't guide her much. And Cynthia seems to have been cut off as well.' Emilia hummed thoughtfully.
Luckily, she had the foresight to summon Crystal and fill her in on the 'game' in advance, so she shouldn't be too confused.
'Well, she's a smart girl, I'm sure she'll do fine. I should just focus on what's in front of me first.' Emilia smiled.
As for her connection with Cynthia... Emilia wasn't sure if it would be restored after she exited the character creation screen, or if her partner could figure some other way out to interact with her while she was inside the game. She could only leave it for later.
As she moved forward with a sigh, the words 'Select a Bloodline' appeared on top of the screen, and Emilia carefully observed the list of choices, even though she already knew what they would be.
After all, although it was unlikely given that she hadn't really had much of an international impact or any interaction with the hero yet, it wasn't impossible for some things to change due to her early arrival into the world.
"Let's see… Dwarf, Elf, Human, Orc, Beast, Dragon, Demon, and Goblin… pretty standard." Emilia nodded to herself. 'It's still the same.'
A standard 'prototype' of each option appeared next to their name, and Emilia curiously selected each of them to see the 'changes' in her own form reflected in the mirror.
It was all relatively minor, such as a few 'decorative' scales on her cheeks as a Dragonoid, thicker eyebrows and shorter height as a dwarf, slightly enlarged eyes as a goblin, etc. For some, there wasn't even any change that she could notice.
Emilia didn't particularly like or dislike any of them, as they all looked pretty good in her opinion. Of course, this was only because the level of bloodline while starting off was 'one', and the changes it could cause were minimal.
If she increased the level of her bloodline through various means later in the game, Emilia knew that it would cause her appearance to further reflect the typical characteristics of her choice.
It had caused many who picked 'goblin' because of their seemingly 'moe' appearance at the start to lament in regret later, after all. Though they should have known better after looking at the prototype.
Of course, aside from their varied appearances, the bloodlines also came with their own unique sets of advantages and disadvantages.
The dwarves, for example, received bonus strength and hp stats, along with an increased likelihood of acquiring points related to crafting and related skills. But their intelligence stat was lowered, and they had a harder time increasing their agility.
Having already considered it all before starting, Emilia didn't hesitate much before picking the Elf bloodline. 'Although I have no choice but to take the vanguard role for the team, agility and speed would still help me more.'
It would be a foolish choice for most people, but Emilia's soul was different from that of most mortals, after all. The speed at which she could think and process information was much faster, and even without her physical advantages, the crimson-haired girl knew how to make the most of her advantages.
Her role might need her to stay close to the enemies and keep them occupied, but Emilia believed she should be able to do it even with an 'evasion' based build, although it would be significantly more challenging.
The crimson-haired beauty nodded in satisfaction as her height increased a little, and her delicate ears turned pointy.
Based on what she could observe, Emilia verified that, contrary to the rumored belief in the original timeline, the 'Elf' selection did not, indeed, make one prettier. Unless someone had an obsession with pointy ears, that is.
Still, turning around to observe herself closely, she couldn't help but grin as her ears twitched along with her movements. 'Cute… I'll have to try this look out later with big sis… I'm sure she'll like it, since she seems to enjoy nibbling on them so much.'
Her somewhat naughty thoughts were interrupted when the screen changed with her next set of choices, and Emilia quickly shook her head to regain her focus.
"A class, huh… or more like, a job." She hummed as she observed the list.
In Arcadia, no one was really 'forbidden' from picking up particular types of weapons or skills, aside from the fact that they might need to meet certain minimum requirements, but that didn't mean that classes were useless.
In fact, acquiring skills and abilities outside of the 'skill tree' given by the class one picked was actually quite difficult, and took more time than it was probably worth.
Even though it was indeed possible to switch later, or even get a special class, picking the right one from the start would definitely increase the rate at which she could progress.
As for the choices, well... unfortunately, they were quite limited at the start.
— [ Warrior ] - Melee
Starter Equipment: Beginner's Sword or Beginner's Spear, Beginner's Plate Armor
Starter Skill: Taunt Grade 1 or Fury Grade 1
— [ Ranger ] - Ranged
Starter Equipment: Beginner's Bow, Beginner's Leather Armor
Starter Skill: Focus Shot Grade 1 or Homing Arrow Grade 1
— [ Healer ] - Melee / Ranged
Starter Equipment: Beginner's Mace or Beginner's Staff, Beginner's Chain Mail
Starter Skill: Mend Wounds Grade 1 or Cure Disease Grade 1
— [ Rogue ] - Melee / Ranged
Starter Equipment: Beginner's Dagger, Beginner's Leather Armor
Starter Skill: Basic Scouting Grade 1 or Weak Trap Grade 1
— [ Mage ] - Ranged
Starter Equipment: Beginner's Staff or Beginner's Wand, Beginner's Cloth Armor
Starter Skill: Small Fireball Grade 1 or Small Icicle Grade 1
'As expected, it's still the same.' Emilia nodded to herself as she confirmed her choice. 'Warrior it is.'
Almost immediately, her new equipment and weapon appeared on her body, and the crimson-haired girl couldn't help but chuckle. "For being called plate armor, it sure doesn't have much metal. But at least it looks alright."
In fact, aside from the layered plates acting as her skirt and a rather small breastplate, the rest of it was made of a rather flimsy-looking red leather.
Knowing that the starter armor's design was 'random', Emilia felt that her luck was quite average. After all, at least what she was wearing seemed decent.
Unfortunately, it seemed like instead of letting her pick from either a sword or spear, or even the starter skill, the choice was also randomly made for her. She was hoping that wasn't the case, but there was nothing she could really do about it.
It didn't really matter to Emilia, since she was fine with either of the options, and understood that she could freely switch whenever she wanted to, and acquiring such basic skills was also easy, but... she couldn't help but be worried for their poor healer.
Being forced to go solo was bad enough, Emilia just hoped that the poor girl wouldn't be stuck with 'Cure Disease' to start with.
'Well, I can only try to find and help out earlier in that case.' She sighed.
The next choice was for her starting 'Element', and Emilia picked 'Wind' without hesitation.
It might not be as flashy, but the crimson-haired girl knew just how much of a difference even a little bit of movement speed could give, especially at the start of the game.
Not only would it allow her to evade her enemies better, but it would also significantly increase the ease with which she could strike them down before they had the chance to defend themselves.
'That should be it...'
The screen in front of her turned blank for a moment after she made her choice, and a final 'Are you sure you are happy with the character you have created, or would you like to restart the process?' dialogue appeared before her.
Emilia smiled as she picked 'Confirm', and the character creation 'world' seemingly shattered before her eyes before she found herself standing in a clearing facing a… pig?
[Wild Boar - Level 2]
As if offended, it immediately charged at the crimson-haired beauty with a loud squeal, seemingly intent on skewering her with its abnormally long tusks.
Emilia couldn't help but grin as she unsheathed her sword. 'Looks like my luck is pretty good!'
At least she thought so until something shot right through the charging 'pig' first.
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢