The windows shimmered and blinked out of existence, replaced by a swirling black mist that coalesced into a towering figure in front of Dean. Darkness clung to it like smoke, and golden words shimmered above its head: Character Creation.
Noticing the character model, Dean first went around to choose his race. After looking at the various races, none other than the demon and ooze race drew his attention.
"I wish to combine them to make a new species worthy of my excellence. Sigh!" As if hearing Dean's distress, a new button appeared next to the character model.
Dean spotted the new button and leaned in for a closer look. Hovering above the button, bold golden letters pulsed with an ethereal glow: Race Fusion. Each flicker seemed to hum with promise as if the heavens endorsed it.
He could even hear the faint sounds of an angelic chorus—truly holy music.
It immediately tempted him to press the button, but his fingers froze when he spotted the number 10,000 dollars in tiny text.
"What the hell! It costs 10,000 dollars to use race fusion." While Dean complained about how corrupt and money-loving the game designer was, his hands clicked on the button.
After selecting the demon race and ooze race for fusion, the character models twisted violently, collapsing into a spiraling vortex of obsidian and void flames. Tendrils of energy lashed out as the whirlpool devoured the Demon and Ooze race character models.
After several odd clanking noises rang, the whirlpool spat out a new race.
Demonic Ooze! A fusion of the demon and Ooze races created a new, frightening monster.
Dean nodded, reading the brief race description before looking at the stats and abilities.
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 5
Vitality: 9
Defense: 3
Magic: 3
Spirit: 8
Dean looked at it with satisfaction. While its stats weren't the best, its abilities made this race a monster.
Abilities:
Morph: The ability to change shapes and sizes as long as the required mass has been achieved. Special effects are that health is based on mass.
Dissolve: The ability to break down items and equipment for experience or additional mass. Due to the ability Frighten, Dissolve can now break down monsters and players as long as they are under super suppression.
Frighten: The ability to suppress other players and monsters that are your enemies, giving them minor status debuffs. Under the condition that the player was 10 levels higher than the target, super suppression was activated.
Quickly locking in on the Demonic Ooze race, he customized the appearance to look as cool and demonic as possible.
"That was simple enough. Let's see if I can make my character even more overpowered." Dean scratched his chin as he clicked the Race Fusion button again without hesitation.
He selected his newly created Demonic Ooze and the Dragon race and watched with pleasure as they were sucked into the black whirlpool.
After the character model turned into a black whirlpool, the expected clank was replaced with a sizzling sound.
"Sorry, user, but the fusion has failed. Please try again." The cold mechanical voice that had disappeared previously spoke to rain on his parade."
"You can't be serious."
"There's a chance of failing a 10,000-dollar draw!"
Dean was in utter disbelief at the outrageousness. And questioned the voice to ask why it failed.
"Dear user, the fusion failed because of incompatibility between the Demonic Ooze and Dragon races."
"Please try again for better luck."
The mechanical voice explained this with an apologetic tone, urging him to continue gambling.
"You're lucky I'm rich, or I wouldn't bother with you," Dean muttered and tried again.
Watching the animation sequence of Race Fusion again, Dean felt his heart racing as he thought that, this time, it worked successfully.
*Sizzle*
"Another failure," Dean's eyes twitched as he tried again.
Sizzle. Sizzle. Sizzle. Fifty-thousand dollars vanished like steam.
Dean stared blankly, twitching. "How low are the chances?"
He waited for a few seconds for a response but got nothing.
"I'm not spending a single cent more unless you tell me the odds." Dean scoffed.
Then, magically, a fresh new window appeared.
"Dear user, the Race Fusion failed due to high incompatibility between the Demonic Ooze and Dragon races. According to our calculations, there is a one-in-a-million chance of success."
"Please try again for better odds." The mechanical voice said with excitement.
"These game developers are truly greedy; they refuse to tell me the odds unless I threaten them." Dean shook his head and felt glad he was a rich customer.
Money truly was power.
"Whatever, the Demonic Ooze race is already strong. I should choose my second character's race."
Dean stared at his Demonic Ooze race stats and abilities and sighed at how incredible it was. He felt excited for his second avatar.
*Ping*
Just as he was about to start making his second avatar, he received a message saying that it was from William.
[We are already at the spawning point for everyone in the city. Where are you at?]
"Tsk, everyone is already done with making their characters. Maybe I should pick up the pace?" Dean muttered in shock.
Dean paused before shaking his head. He wouldn't let his characters be sloppy just because others were too lazy to perfect themselves.
"It's not my fault. Everyone else only has to spend half of their time customizing compared to me."
Dean sighed from the troubles of his success before sending William a short reply.
[I'll be there in a minute…make that several minutes.]
After sending his reply, it was time to create his second avatar. After some thought, Dean decided to go with the opposite appearance of his previous character.
Clicking on the glowing fusion button, he selected the Angel race and, after thinking for a while, chose a strange race called War Spirits.
As the character model turned into a black whirlpool, a new window appeared with a system tip.
Fusion Warning: Incompatible races have a higher chance of failure. Uncommon fusions may result in unique abilities.
Dean's lips twitched, seeing he only got a warning after starting the Race Fusion. He cursed under his breath and watched the spiraling whirlpool with anticipation.
Then, there was an annoying sizzle.
"Sorry, user, but the fusion has failed. Please try again." The mechanical voice that had disappeared previously spoke to rain on his parade.
"You can't be serious."
"Another failure."
Dean stared in disbelief. "Greedy bastards," he muttered, questioning the greedy mechanical voice about the odds of success.
"Dear user, the fusion failed because of incompatibility between the Angel and War Spirit races."
"There is a 20% chance of failure rate for fusion of those two races."
"Please try again for better luck."
Dean, for some reason, felt that the voice and the words in the blue panel seemed to have a hint of mockery.
After hearing the voice's explanation, he put away the thought of writing a complaint to the developers. Deciding that he had already spent 60,000, he decided that it was fine to spend a little more.
"Okay, one more. Last one….maybe a few more times. Then that's it. I mean it."
The character model transformed back into the black whirlpool, pulling the Angel and War Spirit.
*Clank*
Hearing the weird sound of success, Dean nodded and didn't let the previous failure bring him down.
"At least my luck is still with me. Just like my old Pops used to say, having money makes people luckier."
Looking at the new race before him, he marvels at the strange creature.
Its appearance could only be described as beautiful yet strange. Ironically, its most defining feature is its face or utter lack of one.
It lacked eye, mouth, ears, nose, and other features that made up a face. Its face was a blank slate of metal-like substance.
Since it has not been customized yet, it has a body that is not gender-specific. There were pieces of clear crystal gems attached to its chest and limbs. It has a pair of angelic wings on its back.
Looking at its body, he made a silent note to himself to add a face to his character.
Spirit Angel:
A race created from the fusion of War Spirits and Angels. This is an angelical species with the special characteristics of the Spirit Race.
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 6
Defense: 5
Magic: 5
Vitality:4
Spirit: 6
After seeing the Spirit Angel's excellent stats, he looked at its abilities.
Holy Aura: This ability from the angel's side creates a holy light that, when touching allies, gives them a small buff of willpower.
War Mode: This ability from the War Spirits grants the user a buff when entering combat. The special effect becomes activated when entering War combat.
"Its abilities aren't as good as compared to the Demonic Ooze, but it has better stats for sure."
Locking in on the character, Dean could finally customize the appearance of his character models.
He selected his first character and looked at the vast array of options. Of course, some options were grayed out and not selectable because of the race's special characteristics.
For example, gender, height, and skin were all not selectable because of the Ooze race characteristics of being a blob.
His character model became more demonic after spending around 10 minutes changing things.
The avatar pulsed with slick black ooze, its semi-transparent body swirling with bloody red sparkles, mysterious purple sparkles, and various sparkles that gave it an ominous yet magnificent presence.
Despite being made of slime, it displayed a set of well-defined muscles.
A set of Horns made of the darker ooze formed the shape of a crown sat on top of its head. Lastly, the hands and limbs had sharp claws, which looked like they could rip apart the world.
"Now that's a body worthy of my status. Look at its powerful body, which looks like it can crush everything from its sheer weight." Dean said while being deeply satisfied with his design.
Moving to the next character, he spent about 15 minutes creating it since it had more available options. The reason was that its special characters didn't prevent many changes.
The Spirit Angel's form now radiated divine elegance—slender limbs sculpted from gleaming white flesh. Its new face was porcelain-smooth, adorned with delicate features that felt both ethereal and divinely perfect.
His first character oozed dominance and was stereotypically masculine. His second character was the exact opposite, stereotypically feminine.
It had the stereotypical features of Angels with the classic long crystal blonde hair. The previous lack of face now had one that could only be described as angelic beauty from God's touch. In the middle of the character's plump chest was a large color-changing crystal with similar smaller versions on the hands and feet.
Dean once again nodded in satisfaction at his lovely creation.
*Ping*
Just as he was marveling at both of his characters, he received another message, but this time it was from Barbara.
[I'm getting bored. Send me a pic if you're still making your character.]
[Oh yeah, everyone else is getting annoyed too.]
"I guess I spent too much time modifying my characters. This is already a masterpiece." He grinned and sent Barabra a reply back.
[Sorry, I can't spoil the surprise just for you.]
[As for everyone else, tell them I'm on my way.]
After letting Barbara know he was finally coming, he clicked on the large start button that appeared at some point. Hearing the soft pleasant click, Dean suddenly felt as if his mind was torn apart and split in two.