By the time I got back to my cramped room, I rushed to change out of my work clothes and finish off my dinner. Pushing aside all the scraps left, I set the console carefully on the small floor table, as if it were something fragile and sacred.
For a moment, I just stared at it.
A strange mixture of anticipation, hope, and doubt twisted inside me.
'Can this thing really still working?'
I let out a slow breath, swallowing hard as I tried to steady the quickened rhythm of my heart. The food I had forced down earlier churned uneasily, threatening to rise along with the surge of adrenaline flooding my veins.
With deliberate care, I untangled the console's knotted wires and plugged them into the television. My hands trembled slightly as I hovered over the power switch. Then, slowly—almost reverently—I pressed it.
A faint hum filled the room, followed by the soft glow of the screen.
The television flickered, shuddering with a burst of white static before slowly shifting. Jagged lines crawled across the glass, and then—there it was. The console's logo, appearing crude and grainy, stamped itself onto the screen like a ghost from another era.
I held my breath.
Then, the image changed again.
Pixelated letters slowly scrolled across the screen, accompanied by a chip-tune melody that tried its best to sound heroic.
Silhouettes of heroes holding weapons stood tall against horned beasts and looming dragons, etched in rough pixels, while lines of narration unfolded—a tale of a world scarred by disaster and tragedy, now waiting for champions to save it.
My eyes traced each word, one by one. Part of me wanted to press Start right away, to dive into the adventure without hesitation. Yet another part lingered, hungry to know more about the story unfurling before me.
After reading through the entire narration, I finally pressed the Start button. The screen shifted, revealing the character customization menu.
I lingered in front of the glowing screen, unmoving, as if the pixels themselves were daring me to take the first step. The soft hum of the console filled the silence, steady and patient, waiting. My fingers hovered over the buttons, hesitant, before finally pressing down. One click, then another—clumsy, uncertain, yet driven by a quiet excitement I couldn't suppress.
The menu unfolded before me, countless options opening like doors to an unfamiliar world.
At first I need to add name to my character.
I paused for a moment, trying to think of a name that sounded cool.
"Arleen… it sounds cool, almost noble. In a fantasy world, nobles exist, right? I'll become rich as an adventurer, then buy a grand mansion and rise to nobility," I muttered—completely clueless about how the actual gameplay worked.
And while typing, I wondered:
"Right noble had family name! ....what about Ygdrassil?... Yes that's sound epic." With a faint grin, I continued typing the name without giving it much thought.
Eager to start playing, I didn't want to waste too much thought on the character's name.
Besides, if I didn't like it later, I could always reset the game and create a new character anytime.
Without wasting another moment, I pressed OK at the confirmation message.
The screen got changed to character appearance customization.
Face. Hair. Eyes. Every feature can be altered, adjusted, refined until it no longer resembled the blank template on the screen but something else—something entirely mine.
I began to shape him.
First, the eyes: icy, dark electric blue, sharp and unyielding, a gaze that could cut through shadows. They gave him an aura both striking and untouchable, as if he were carved from elegance itself.
Next, the hair: deep black, thick as midnight, framing his face with a quiet nobility. It fell just enough to soften the intensity of his stare, yet carried the weight of authority.
The height option blinked before me—short, medium, high. Without hesitation, I chose high. The figure stretched taller, a silhouette that demanded presence even in stillness.
Bit by bit, he took shape into handsome, cool and charismatic character. The kind of guy I'd wish I could be.
I stared at him for a long moment, my reflection faintly caught in the screen. This wasn't just a character. It was everything I wasn't, but everything I wished I could be.
Satisfied with my choices, I drew in a slow breath and pressed Next.
The screen shifted, unveiling a new menu—this time a list of jobs, professions that would shape the very foundation of my character's journey. One by one, the names appeared in glowing letters styled like ancient script. Most of them were foreign to me, and even after reading their descriptions, the explanations felt dense and hard to grasp.
Knight, Paladin, Assassin, Ranger…
But then my eyes caught on a single word.
Mage.
I froze. The word pulsed faintly on the screen, as if it had its own heartbeat, drawing me in with irresistible gravity.
A mage…
The image rose unbidden in my mind: a figure cloaked in shadows, standing at the peak of a tower, hand raised to the sky. With a single incantation, they could summon firestorms or call forth a raging tempest. Power not bound by muscle or steel, but by the understanding secrets of the world itself.
My chest tightened with excitement. It was… spectacular and cool.
Without hesitation, I slid the cursor over the glowing word and pressed Next.
The screen trembled gently, as though acknowledging my choice, before shifting to the next stage.
The screen shifted once more, this time revealing the stat customization menu.
On the right-hand side, glowing text appeared:
Total Points = 10
Beneath it, a list of unfamiliar abbreviations stretched downward, each accompanied by a number:
VIT 1
STR 1
DEX 1
INT 1
DIV 1
CHARM 1
LUK 1
I leaned closer, reading each description carefully, my eyes narrowing as I tried to decipher the cryptic terminology. Every line described some hidden aspect of my character's abilities vitality, strength, dexterity, intelligence, divinity, charm, luck.
I still didn't know much about game term about stats, but from what I'd read, Mages needed INT for greater magic attack power and DEX for casting speed.
So I divided the points between INT and DEX.
But my gaze lingered on two others: LUK and CHARM.
As I once heard from my classmates back in high school, I could become cooler and more refined in the game world. Then I would not just be powerful. I want to be striking and radiant, someone who would be noticed and draw people's gazes.
With steady hands, I began allocating the points.