Starting from Zero

Book 1, Chapter 2

Character Creation (Part 1)

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Note: There will be a lot of term inconsistencies from now on, like magic/spell, mage/wizard/caster, physical attack/physic attack, so on. These are fatal mistakes in technical translations but I don't think they are a big issue as long as readers know what I mean.

Oh the "SP" is not a mistake, the original author used "SP". I'm pretty sure he will switch to "MP" later.

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I activated the helmet, everything went black. Then I found myself in a light-blue colored room. Then there is a mechanical voice: "Iris locked, accessing brain wave."

Two seconds pause.

"Access successful, body scan successful, identity locked, configuration completed. Welcome to the system. The Mother Brain will guide you from now on!"

Another two second pause, then a female voice came to. It's doesn't sound charming, but pleasant enough.

"Greetings! Welcome to the realm of [Zero]. Your account is a gifted one, please draw your reward item now."

A giant wheel suddenly appeared inside the room. I asked, confused:"Can you explain this reward item thing?"

"The number of rewards each account will receive is random, it is decided upon the result of your drawing. The max is four, while the minimum is zero."

"Wait what? Zero? Zero means the account would become a completely ordinary one right?" What's the matter with this system? People broke several bones to get the gift account, and they can get no reward at all?

"Please begin your drawing." The system urged.

Fine. Five numbers, I got only 20 percent chance to get a zero. I walked over and rotated the wheel with full force, it started spinning fast.

Watching it slowing down, I'm getting nervous.

The pin is now pointed at Three, it's still going but will probably stop soon. I prayed, no not zero, please not zero.

Wheel is still moving, now it's One. I kept praying. One is fine too!

The pin reached Zero, the wheel didn't freeze but it looks like it will not leave the area. I closed my eyes, this is hopeless.

*Ding* there is a clear sound, and then a system notice. "Congratulations! You hit the biggest number, Four!"

"Huh?!" I can't believe my eyes, I'm pretty sure that pin stopped right at the middle line between Zero and Four. But the system is always more accurate than human eyes, that's for sure.

The system confirmed for me:"You indeed reached a Four. Please check your character, your account is allowed to create two characters, do you wish to assign rewards to different characters, or put them on the same one?"

Your kidding! No doubt on this one! "The same one!" You only need a main char in a game. Spreading on two is waste!

"Please create a character first. The reward will be applied to this character."

"Okay, but how do I do that?"

"Please call out the name of your character first. The name will be permanent, you will not be able to change it once character is created, unless you delete and re-create one. It is recommended to use Chinese characters only."

"Ziri!" I've always been using this cool name in every game.

"Character: Ziri, is now created. Initializing rewarding procedure." Two seconds passed. "You first reward item is determined. You will be able to choose hidden race. Please now choose the race of your character."

"Race? What are the races I can choose from?"

After a bright flash, two rows of characters appeared in front of me. The second row is floating in mid-air for a better view. Upon closer inspection, these guys look quite familiar.

Wait a second.

These are...me? They all look like myself!

The system seems to noticed my question. "These race models are configured upon your own appearance, you need to choose a race, then modify the character whose appearance differentiation cannot go beyond 10% of your own. The bottom row contains races that are available to anyone, the top row are the ones only available to those with hidden race reward. There are 12 normal races: Orc, Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Fire Elemental, Water Elemental, Earth Elemental, Undead, Air Elemental, Fairy, Monster. And 7 hidden races: Angel, Demon, Half Elf, Spirit Elemental, Half Orc, Half Angel, Divine Demon."

Well it's obvious the hidden ones are the better ones. "Can you introduce the features of those races in the top row?"

The system instantly removed the bottom row, and the remaining ones flew closer to me. "You can watch and check their outer appearance, now I'm explaining their attributes.

First, the Angels. Their trait: with the same attribute points, angels have higher Attack and Defense, with higher HP as well. They are born with the self-healing magic "Holy".

Second, the Demons. Demons have high Defense and Magical Attack power, and regenerate HP faster.

Third, the Half Elves. This race possesses the same high-level dexterity and night vision ability as other Elves, but at the same time they have higher HP than Elves, usually similar to the level of Humans.

Fourth, the Spirit Elementals. They are born mages, all spells cast by them will have a +5% attack bonus, and they regenerate SP faster.

Fifth, the Half Orcs. They have the same high Attack and Defense as other Orcs, but also possesses the Dexterity and Intelligence of Humans. Orcs will never become mages, but Half Orcs can.

Sixth, the Half Angels. Their Attack and Defense are similar to Angels but usually a bit lower. They can learn attacking spells which other Angels cannot, and they have higher resistance to Dark magics compared to Angels.

Lastly, the Divine Demons. A peculiar race. Divine Demons are the children between Angels and Demons, they possess high Physical and Magical Attack. They don't have the 50% resistance to Light magic like the Angels, nor the 50% resistance to Dark magic like the Demons. But Angels and Demons have absolutely zero defense against the opposite magic, while Divine Demons don't. In a word, it's a race between Angels and Demons. Also, the system will restrict the number of Divine Demons, after ten accounts have chosen this race, the following players will only see six hidden races."

Ha! Now I get it. But I still don't know which one to choose. They're all so good! "Can you remove the race when I say so?"

"Exclusive method? Of course!"

Woah! This system... They got some real artificial intelligence here! That aside. Let's start picking. "Not the Spirit Elemental. They look terrible!"

The Elemental up front turned into blinks of stars and disappeared. Six left.

"Half Orc looks too violent. Pass."

Blink. Five to go.

"The perks for Half Angel and Half Elf is not that obvious. Not them!"

Last three! Oh how do I choose...

"My name is Ziri (the Purple Sun), not a proper name for an Angel. So pass!"

Two left!

The Demon is obviously a caster class, I prefer warriors and knights.

"It's decided, I choose the Divine Demon!"

The system instantly responded:"Race: Divine Demon, has been chosen. Congratulations, you're the first one to choose Divine Demon, the system will grant you one Base Attribute Point. Now please set your character's appearance."

There's only the Divine Demon in front of me now. I took a closer look. The height is same as me, about 172cm, looks like they don't have any body height bonus. Balanced limbs, the face is a bit wicked, and a pair of black feather wings stretching out behind the back. Apart from these, we're almost identical. "Can I remove the wings?"

"Sorry, you can't! The pair of wings is one of the main features of Divine Demons. Just like you can't create a dwarf above 160cm. But do not worry, you can fold the wings, no one can see them if you don't want them to."

"That's good! Modify the lines on my face, a little more straight, there are too many curves. Nose bridge, more angular, oh and my eyes, sharper!" The character is changing in front of me, pretty good too.

"You modification has reached the limit. Do you want to use this appearance?"

I tried to make the character more manly, but no matter how I look, he still look like a female! Sigh. Never mind, I'll go with this.

"I will use this appearance!"

"Appearance confirmed! Character generated!"