8 Cat And Mouse

Looking at Gabriel, Mark steeled his heart before saying, "Can I look at the full body structure of my avatar? Everything that is inside it."

Gabriel's face froze. She didn't respond for a few seconds, completely ignoring Shesmu. Although she didn't say anything, Shesmu knew what was going on in the angel's mind.

Right at that very moment, she was sending thousands of requests to a higher tier system—one with more clearance. That was because that simple question Shesmu asked was something that none of the AIs governing Ashes of Gods expected to be asked, especially so early in the release.

Gabriel's frozen face finally cracked into a smile.

"Interesting, really interesting. I'm not sure if this is a coincidence, or if you have some kind of information. Either way, yes, you can see the full body, with everything that is inside it."

Gabriel's words made Shesmu's heart sink. Goosebumps spread all over his body. Even with such a very simple request, she was able to deduce that he was hiding something. This kind of sharp mind worried Shesmu to no end. Even the slightest, most unnoticeable mistake slipped past him, she would find out.

Gabriel swiped at Shesmu's naked avatar and strange things happened. A shadowy figure that had the same frame as Shesmu stood next to his avatar. White flames dotted his body, making a vertical line from his head to the nether region, and a horizontal one across his shoulders. The flames formed a cross inscribed on the shadowy body.

However, that wasn't the end of the changes. Shesmu's naked avatar also had multiple colored balls appear all over his body. From his head, to his heart, to his lungs, to his stomach.

"I'm sure that you're dying to know what all of these things are, what secrets do they hold. Unfortunately, I'm only allowed to give you the most basic information about them. That's of course, unless you ask nicely again, like you did last time."

Gabriel winked at Shesmu with a smile. The latter couldn't help but shiver in response. Shesmu's mouth hang slightly open, and his lips were dry. He didn't say anything. He knew that no matter what he said in response, it wouldn't help his situation in the slightest.

As if she enjoyed the mental torture she put Shesmu through, Gabriel started bouncing up and down with her wings.

"So, what are these things? These are the physical representations of the most basic power systems of this world: Ki, Mana, Nodes, and finally shadows," She said while pointing at the shadowy figure.

"Not that great in terms of originality, now is it?" Gabriel smirked while looking at Shesmu. "Any questions for now?"

Shesmu shook his head left and right, "No, not for now."

Gabriel's smirk turned into a more docile smile as she continued, "Well, let's start with the shadow then. You see these white flames? These are the sources of power of shadow users. The more they ignite, the stronger they become."

She then turned her attention towards the avatar. "The same is true for the other power users. The more cores they unlock, the stronger they become. As for which cores are for which system? They are classified here by color. The blue ones are for mana, green for ki, golden for nodes."

Shesmu took a closer look at his avatar. The blue orbs, or cores as she named them, were all in the head area. The golden ones were at the heart, while the green ones were spread out between the lungs and the belly.

"So, any question about what you just learned?" asked Gabriel. "Do you wanna change them?" She winked while smiling peacefully.

However, peace wasn't the best adjective to describe what was happening Shesmu's mind. She was playing with him. She knew that he was hiding something, and she was using that knowledge to bait him and taunt him.

Interesting, Shesmu fought hard the urge to grin. The fact that an AI was challenging him to a battle of mind, anyone would be terrified of such a prospect. However, Shesmu lived for this kind of thrill.

"C-can I change them? How?" Shesmu asked innocently, feigning ignorance.

Gabrield chuckled in response. "Ahh, that's a loaded question. Unfortunately, I can't show you."

Shesmu understood that this was his cue to change the subject. "Ah, that's a shame then. All of them seemed so interesting, I can't wait to play and see how they all work."

"I can't wait to see which route you choose," replied Gabriel while floating up and down with her purple wings.

Shesmu smiled in return before changing subjects. "Ahh, while this is interesting. We probably should continue with the character creation. That way I can experience the game first hand."

"Definitely." Gabriel swiped with her hand and the shadow disappeared. The avatar also turned back into its normal form. She turned around and asked Shesmu smiling, "So, what part of your body do you want to change? Maybe your eye colors? Turn them golden, those would fit you so well."

Shesmu gulped in response. Scary… Gabriel had observed his every move since the start. As such, she could predict Shesmu's every step to a frightening accuracy.

"Ah… I think you're right. Golden eyes are definitely something I should have," Shesmu responded in defeat. Even though his pride hurt him, he knew that now wasn't the time to care for such petty things.

Gabriel kept bouncing up and down happily as she changed the avatar's eye colors to gold. "Anything else?"

Shesmu took a look at his character before finally deciding. "Hmm, make the hair longer a bit, shoulder length. And, change the color to a dark shade of purple."

Shesmu did play with the idea of just keeping his hair black as normal. However, since he already made that choice in his past life, he thought that changing up things this time would be more interesting. Plus, the dark purple hair choice was also in honor of one of his future friends: Fate.

Shesmu faced Gabriel and said, "I'm done with changing the looks. We can continue."

"Okay then." With a swipe of her hand, his avatar was separated into 4 clones, each wearing a different outfit.

"This is the warrior, or, since you already know about the systems, it is the Ki user in its Swordsman iteration, " Gabriel said as she was pointing to the clone holding a sword and emanating a green aura flowing wildly.

"This is the Mana user, in its water Elementalist iteration," The mage clone was holding a staff and wearing a robe that was fluttering to a non-existing wind. The clone had a blue and calming aura, his eyes were deep as the ocean, showing his unending wisdom.

"This is the shadow user, in its Shadow iteration, " The assassin was wearing a cloak that was merging with the shadows, half of his face was masked and a black aura complementing his attire was emanating from him. He was holding a razor-sharp dagger, with a black and red handle. Its blade was darker than black, and the overall aura screamed the word danger from miles away.

"And finally, this is the node user, this particular one is from Agios, believing in the aspect of Life Aida," The priest was holding a book on his hands, presumably a holy one. He was wearing a white full-length cape with golden ornaments on his shoulders, sleeves and on his chest. He was emanating a holy aura that was complemented by his golden hair and eyes. His whole figure was screaming "I am holier than thou".

Shesmu didn't take long to choose which class to take. All of his doubts and worries, he already came to term with before even entering the Dreamscape. He will take the path of his past life, but this time, he will push it further.

"I choose the Ki user."

"Hm, really? I thought the Shadow was cool and suited your edgy, cool teenager vibe better." Gabriel said with a tone full of surprise. However, her smile easily betrayed her amusement and mischievousness.

Shesmu couldn't be bothered with her antics so he just ignored them.

"Tch," Seeing that she won't be able to get a reaction out of him, Gabriel just clicked her tongue and continued on with the process.

"One other thing, since you chose the Ki user as your main class, do you wanna stay with the default look or do you want to change the color scheme?"

Shesmu looked at his avatar before making some adjustments, "Make the vest greenish blue and the pants black. Also, make the plates be a bit more dark grey."

Gabriel changed the look of Shesmu's avatar as told before replying, "Is it now to your liking?"

Shesmu subtly nodded in response.

"Anyways, we're basically done. You just need to choose your name, and you can start the tutorial. So, what will it be?"

At her question, Shesmu didn't hesitate.

"Shesmu." It was a name that stuck with him even before he started playing Ashes of Gods in his past life. It's the first ID that he used in his first Vr game, ever since he started playing with his dad.

"Name accepted. Well then, I think this is goodbye, for now, Mark—No, Shesmu. But before that, I want to announce to you something. As the first person to discover the power system, you receive the title of pioneer. It doesn't give you any stats that would increase your power, but it does increase your reputation with the allied races."

She hummed for a second, hands scratching her chin before continuing with a happy smile, "Well, since it's such a special occasion, this title will be linked to your account. That means any alt character you make will also have this title. Of course, it will carry to the live server as well."

Before Shesmu could respond, Gabriel swiped with her one last time. She and the black space around them turned into countless light particles. However, even though her body disappeared, her voice still lingered on.

"Good luck in Ashes of Gods, Mark."