After setting up everything, I sat inside the capsule and wore the headgear. It connected me with the virtual reality world. A loading scene appeared before my eyes. It read,

The Altus Town, named after a great magician known as Altruino, is a prospering town known for its friendly and welcoming neighborhood. But the greatest attraction of the town is the Altrus Academy, established by Altruino himself. At first, it was a magic arts academy. Later on, it opened up to all kinds of basic combat and craft arts. Since then the academy has produced many great warriors over time.

I read the description three times already. By then, the loading bar progressed to 42℅ only. I kept staring at the bar. Soon my vision began clouding up. My consciousness drifted off to a past scene that I even dreamt of many times.

It visualized the day when 'Chaos' was released globally. They broadcast the in-game world on a big screen, inside a conventional hall. I still could remember it crystal clear. That day, standing among the sea of people in that hall, I muttered some words I couldn't hear because of the commotion shrouding me. Even though the ears couldn't pick up, the heart knew very well the indistinct sound I murmured that day. It fluttered, burning with a fiery passion.

There were people everywhere in the hall, gazing toward one screen exclaiming with excitement and wonder. Everyone was busy trying to get a picture of themselves, selfies. They wanted to create memories. But they had no care for the ones they came with. That memory they wanted was not about enjoying the moment together with their beloved ones. They just wanted the world to know that they were in front of that big screen, at that moment, busy with themselves.

There were people everywhere, yet there was not really any human. Because humans supposedly had hearts full of emotion and compassion, but these people had none. Wherever I observed, all the relationships were built on lies after lies. On the surface, they all seemed very happy, but deep down they all knew nothing would last. They acted to get along until that last day came. In reality, they were all alone in their vast solitary worlds, living inside a make-believe society.

Once you recognize these small details, you can't live in the bliss of ignorance anymore. Your heart aches. You start longing for...no, you start craving for something.

I wanted Chaos to suck in all the chaos of this sham of a society. I believed that only Chaos could lead me towards what I desired.

As the loading completion notification buzzed, my consciousness sprung back to the present time. It was the moment of truth. Henceforth, I began a new journey towards my dream.

At the end of the loading scene, my vision clouded up again, and everything turned deep dark. Right away it brightened up again bit by bit. But this time, I could breathe and feel the air around me, see my arms and legs. I listened to the breeze whistling, not just some background music. 

So, this is Virtual Reality.

However, It was white everywhere, even the floor, just like the Construct from The Matrix. Is someone standing behind me too?

Looking around, I found no one. As I pondered what I was supposed to do, suddenly a screen appeared above my head. I gasped out, jumping backward.

"Ahahaha… Did I scare you, Master?" A child giggled inside the screen.

A girl, at an age of 7 or 8 years, began calling me "Master" for no apparent reason. As if I was being served by an underage part-time worker in a maid cafe. However, she wore one of those short kimonos instead of the usual maid dress. But her red kimono decorated with flowers quite well matched her fluffy peachy hair.

But my desire to enter the VR world proved to be stronger than my sense of rationality and morality. Switching off a corner of my mind, I skipped the introduction part.

She seems like a support system anyway, most probably an AI. She should be the one giving out directions. Maybe, my own Paimon.

"Where am I?" I asked, "Is this the character creation room?"

"Well, we call it the Chaos Initiator though."

We? Who's we? Whatever, it's not important right now.

"Wait, if I didn't create my character yet, what am I right now?" I asked.

I extended my hands forward a bit. The hands look like mine though.

"It's a character look-alike your real self, created by the system, scanning your entire body." She explained. "In your case, it was me who did it. Meaning I have already seen everything about you, Master." Her face wore a mischievous grin. "Eve...ry...thing. Hehe."

What the heck? Is that the behavior of a 7-year-old kid?

"Is that so? Well good for you." I said, shrugging my shoulders. I had no interest in anything other than the new world right now. "Now then, what do I do?"

"You can recreate your character here if you like or you can progress towards the name selection part."

Nah, I don't wanna spend hours on character creation. It's too much pain with all those details. Good that, the system did the work for me.

"Okay, let's move on to name selection," I said.

"Alright Master, What do you want your character's name to be?" the girl asked.

"Ryoki… R-y-o-k-i."

"You can't use this name, Master. It has been taken already."

I began this journey really late. Chaos was more than 7 months old already. So it was reasonable that someone had already taken my name. but I did want to beat that guy up for some reason.

"Okay then, let's just go with Ryo. It should be available, right?"

"Nope."

"Tsuriyama?" I frowned.

"Nope."

"Maryo."

"Still not available."

"Mario." 

C'mon dude. Let me in already.

"Same." 

Fucking hell….

"Rio?"

Even the AI got tired. She just shook her head left and right this time.

Just what the fuck is going on? Now, what do I do? Nothing's coming to my mind anymore. Ughhh, fuck everything.

"Rio-002"

"Ah, that one is available."

Of course, it's available. Or else I would have logged out and cursed everyone on the forum until I cooled off.

"Do you confirm your name to be 'Rio-002', Master?"

"Yup"

"Now you need to create a password first for safety issues. I like to call it the Magic Words. It's kinda catchy that way."

"Hoh…Hmm, let's see… Alright, it's 'El Psy Congrii'."

"Okay then, I set it as the password, please don't forget it, master," She said. "So, Are you ready to enter the Chaos world?"

"Wait, I don't choose the class now?"

"Not yet, Master. You will get to choose your class during the Main Quest."

"Oh, I see." Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Here we go. "Okay then, let's login," I confirmed, opening my eyes again.

"Alright. Welcome to Chaos, Master."