The helmet on Adam's head suddenly flared with an intense blue light.
Under its glow he squeezed his eyes shut. His breathing slowed; his body turned strangely light, as if it were losing mass. His heart hammered faster and faster… until, all at once, everything froze in an absurd, total silence.
Then, in the middle of that silence, came a terrifying sensation of falling that swallowed him whole. His stomach lurched up into his throat as if yanked by an unseen hand, and his body plunged downward, stripped of any support.
Panicking at the freefall, he snapped his eyes open, only to find not the inside of the NeuroLink, but a clean, boundless white.
Even though this must be my thirtieth time using this thing, I still can't get used to the feeling of shifting my consciousness, Adam thought, turning in place within the endless white.
A huge, excited grin spread across his face. "Login screen."
At his words, the white world shivered. From the blank space in front of him, glowing golden runes began to appear. They hovered for a heartbeat, then drifted in a slow circle around him like a welcoming procession for a new player, before pulling back a step and spinning faster on their own axes, as if preparing to fuse.
It's exactly the same every time... and it still looks fantastic, he thought, watching the runes whirl faster and faster.
A blinding light burst from the strange symbols, then cut out a second later.
Where the runes had floated, a gold-tinged login window materialised.
[Welcome, player. Please enter your login and password.]
Adam eyed the fields for login and password.
He tapped the login field, and a holographic keyboard unfolded in the air before him.
I still don't get why we have to type this in by hand and can't just log in by voice. It breaks the mood a little. But well, it's early access, and this is brand-new tech. They've probably got a thousand more important things to fix than the login screen… he thought, studying the keys.
He raised both hands and typed Protagonista for the login, and PlotArmor for the password.
The window gave a small shudder, as if it had frozen.
Hoo… first time I've seen a laggy login menu.
Then again, it's launch day. Everyone's probably trying to get in at once, Adam thought, eyeing the still jittering window.
He reached out with his right hand to tap it -hoping to "debug" it with a poke, when the screen burst into sparkling motes of light that swirled and settled into a new line of text.
[Welcome to the world of Hundred Floors.]
Looks like it fixed itself quickly. Let's hope we don't get that kind of bug during combat, he thought. The words faded, the boundless white trembled again, and before Adam a mirror several metres tall took shape, its frame inlaid with ancient-looking golden runes.
At first the mirror reflected only the surrounding white. A second later, Adam saw himself within it-slightly blurred, as if painted in water.
[Create your avatar.]
Holographic menus rose from the mirror's surface in the form of semi-transparent cards.
There were four in total, though one of them was dull and greyed out. Adam focused on the faded card to read the text upon it.
[Race]
So they still haven't added anything but human. I suppose a lot of people in the community will be disappointed the dev didn't manage to ship any fantasy races before launch.
Letting the broken promise go, Adam examined the remaining three floating cards:
[Body Build]
[Face Appearance]
[Voice]
Right, same as the demo. Still only three main segments, he thought, then reached for the Body Build card.
At his touch the card brightened, and the mirror's surface quivered. His reflection began to shift - his frame stretching, shrinking, gaining muscle, then becoming almost childishly slight.
Semi-transparent sliders appeared in the air: [Sex], [Height], [Muscles]
Adam snorted with a small laugh at the sliders.
"Half the players will set themselves up as hulking, six-pack barbarians-or elf models-or cute, innocent girls…" he muttered, watching his reflection swing wildly with each adjustment.
He grabbed the [Sex] slider and moved it in the opposite direction. The mirror thrummed, and his reflection became a woman's silhouette with delicate features. Adam rolled his eyes at himself in the glass.
"Yeah, no… Paul would never let me hear the end of it. He'd say I only swapped to be his 'waifu'." He chuckled and slid it back to the original position.
He nudged the [Height] slider slightly to the right, leaving it at his real height—184 cm.
The [Muscles] slider he raised just a touch: not a stick, not a bodybuilder.
"That's enough. Me...ordinary Adam. No 'cover hero,' no mass of veins," he murmured, watching the figure stabilise into something very close to his real build.
The mirror rippled once, as if confirming his choice, and a prompt appeared:
[Body Build - confirmed]
A second later the notice vanished, and with it the card in his hand dissolved into the air.
Adam looked at his now empty hand - as if the card had never existed - hen reached for the next card floating before him: [Face Appearance].
The card brightened; the mirror shivered again, and his reflected face began to change.
Cheekbones shifted beneath the skin; his jaw lengthened, then shortened; the nose reshaped itself again and again. His hair flickered from light and short to long and dark, while his eyes flashed through colours like a kaleidoscope. Each version lasted only a second, yet it was enough to plant dozens of faces - dozens of possible identities - in his mind.
New sliders rose into view, this time labelled: [Nose], [Jaw], [Hair], [Ears], [Eyes].
Honestly, I don't feel like fussing with character creation. I just want to get in and dive, Adam thought, eyeing the fresh batch of sliders.
With that in mind, he adjusted them quickly to resemble his real-world features as closely as possible.
The mirror rippled once more. In its surface stood a slightly tall, slim youth with short, messy blond hair and light green eyes.
I really do look like myself - just a touch more stylised, Adam thought, and he confirmed the face.
The card in his right hand dissolved like the previous one.
A moment later, the last card drifted into view: [Voice].
It glowed softly; the mirror trembled, and a brief tone sounded from its surface - like the echo of a breath in the void.
A new list appeared, this time as vertical tabs:
[Default], [Deep], [Younger], [Feminine], [Powerful], [Distorted]
Adam raised an eyebrow and let out a quiet chuckle.
"All right, let's see how ridiculous this can get."
He tapped [Powerful]. The mirror flickered, and from his reflection came a voice like a film narrator crossed with an angry thunder god:
"I am… the one who will conquer all one hundred floors!"
"All right, that's far too much testosterone in one sentence." Adam almost winced at the sound coming out of the glass.
He switched to [Feminine].
This time the echo from the mirror was soft and melodic:
"Hey, hey! Ready to begin the adventure?"
Adam blinked, genuine amusement tugging at his mouth.
"If I talked like that, Paul wouldn't speak to me for a week."
After testing [Younger] and [Distorted], he slid back to [Default] - his real voice: slightly husky, natural, with a trace of youthful energy.
That's best. It's supposed to be me, not some trailer actor - or something out of a dodgy film, he thought, nodding in satisfaction.
A familiar prompt appeared:
[Voice - confirmed]
The mirror shook again - this time more strongly. The frame blazed with a blinding light, and the air filled with a low, pulsing heartbeat.
From the mirror's surface, threads of light began to pour out and wind around Adam's arms, legs - his entire body.
Each golden strand pulsed, as if it could breathe on its own.
When Adam moved his hand, the threads responded, curling around his fingers and wrists, leaving behind a pleasant warmth.
"This is… new," he whispered, watching in wonder as the filaments wrapped him from head to toe.
They suddenly sped up, as if intent on swallowing him whole.
Adam tried to step back, but something tugged hard at his chest. Right over his heart.
One strand pierced his breastbone, slipping through his skin like a ray of light.
He froze.
There was no pain, only a strange, intense warmth spilling through him.
His hands trembled. His breath quickened.
"Synchronisation…?" he whispered.
As if in answer, all the threads tightened at once and pulled him toward the mirror.
"Hey, wait! That's not how..." He didn't even finish the sentence before the strands yanked with enough force to lift him off the ground. His body pitched forward and slammed into the mirror's surface-which swallowed him whole.
For a second he was immersed in thick, cool light. His senses went wild - the tang of ozone, a pulsing drone in his ears, the vibration of space itself.
He felt layers of his body dissolve into the radiance - skin, muscle, bone - until only he remained. Pure awareness, spiralling in a golden current.
The world around him expanded - then collapsed inward. Gold, white, and blue merged into a single instant of blinding brilliance.
[Synchronisation complete. Welcome to the world of Hundred Floors.]