THE MOMENT
"Merchant? Seriously?" Steven was too amused to be upset; but, he still found disappointment. He stood in a forest clearing with the sun still high in the cloudless sky. It was the first view he had of this new world, and it was infinitely better than the crowded mall he was crammed into every day. He was still young and handsome enough to work in trendy store that catered to young and beautiful people; but, he'd been there long enough to hate it. He was close to his wit's end when a strange customer offered him the chance to start a new life in a new world.
Steven had heard of the isekai genre before, and he was a good enough employee to play along with whatever the customer rambled on about. Everyone he sold a pair of jeans to was an insightful, and intelligent person. He accepted the offer with absolutely no expectation of even remembering the conversation in a few hours. But, now that he was in this lovely forest, he was confident that the interaction would stick with him for some time. He wished he'd paid more attention to the non-descript customer. They all kind of blended together, and Steven never even got the man's name. But, apparently, the stranger thought Steven was a good merchant.
He stared at the status screen to try and make sense of what he could do. There were 10 colored hexagonal slots arranged in different groups. Two were assigned to the 'Race' section labeled 'Body' and 'Soul'. Two more were assigned to the 'Class' section labeled 'Class' and 'Specialization'. The remaining six slots were all lined up, each one next to a stat. Agility was green, Charisma was gold, Dexterity was black, Intelligence was blue, Stamina was purple, and Strenght was red. At the moment, 'Merchant' was the only notable choice made for him, with the 'Body', 'Soul', and 'Specialization' still blank. And, a golden gem with a rough hexagonal shape was slotted in next to 'Merchant' with the ability name - [Appraise].
[Effect: Passively reveals the basic market value and quality rating of items you examine. Provides a Minor chance to detect forgeries and flaws. Grants a subtle highlight effect on items of Uncommon or higher quality.]
"I guess it could be useful...," Steven sighed. It wasn't a combat Ability, so he knew his first priority was getting out of the forest and to a town. It would've been useless to try and make a base there when he couldn't defend it. He studied every inch of the glassy Slate trying to find a map, and instead found two tiny buttons on the bottom left hand corner. One said 'Finish Creating Character' and the other said 'Request Assistance'.
"Oh," he realized the missing information meant his character wasn't completed yet. He almost reached for that button, but changed his mind at the last minute and asked for help. Maybe if he didn't lock in the character, he could still change out of the Merchant class. He pressed the button and his Slate immediately, went solid white. Then, red text appeared.
[Please wait...]
"I hope it doesn't take too long...," he mumbled to himself. He thought about starting his walk; but, the last thing he wanted to was to walk the wrong way. If he was about to get help, they might be able to tell him where to go at the very least.
"Thank you for your patience," a voice spoke up quickly as a faceless mannequin walked onto the screen. It was a masculine voice and he seemed to have a solid gold body. At least, his head was gold and polished smooth with no eyes, nose or mouth. He wore a crimson silk suit with a golden tie and stopped in the center of Steven's menu to look up at him. "My name is Helios, and I am the A.I. system representing Sharp Development; you've called for a Mod, how may I help you?" he asked.
"I don't want to be a merchant!" the introduction was a lot to take in. The last thing he expected was an A.I. chatbot in his new world, and it threw him off mentally. He defaulted to asking for the thing he really wanted to change. Helios looked up above himself at the 'Class' slot, then shrugged.
"Too late," he chuckled. "Thank you for calling on Sharp Development, I'm sorry we couldn't help you. Have a great adventure in the AlterNet!" he added with a jovial tone, then waved and turned to walk off the screen again.
"Wait! Can't I change it?" He asked. Helios glanced at the watch he wasn't wearing, then shook his head.
"Not 'til June'," he said. "Players can only reroll their character for the Summer or the School Year. The tutorial should've covered that; you should've paid attention," Helios said.
"I didn't get a tutorial!" Steven replied.
"I'm an A.I.," Helios shook his head with a touch of disappointment in his voice. "You can't lie to me, I'm too smart. See, that's because I happen to know how this system is designed. You can't make a character without completing the tutorial and here we are...," he gestured at the screen he was standing on. "...making your character. It's logic," he said.
"I didn't! Some guy gave me something called an 'Isekai Node' and I woke up here with Merchant already picked!"
"Huh," Helios glared at him, and Steven was mildly unsettled not being able to see where the mannequin was aiming his gaze. "Well, the other reason you can't lie to me is because I can just tell by your vitals... and, you're not lying. Wait here, I need to escalate this...," Helios said. Instead of walking off he simply disintegrated and disappeared.
At the very least, Steven could see the time on his Slate. He counted the minutes as they passed and after about 12 of them, a tall black portal opened in front of him. But, even as he anticipated someone coming out, Helios called his attention again.
"Pssst. Play it cool. She's not part of Sharp Development; but, she's the best person I could get on short notice," he said. Then, he vanished again as Steven looked up.
"Hi, I'm Jenny," the Japanese woman said. She had black spiky hair and wore a fantastical trenchcoat that seemed to be made out of water. It rippled as she moved toward him. "Helios told me you needed help. I didn't ask him what you needed," she said. By then, Steven had time to think about his situation and he was better able to put it into words.
Someone handed me an 'Isekai Node' and now I'm here. Helios said I couldn't change my character until June, and I've kind of made peace with that. He also said I shouldn't be able to make my character without the tutorial; but, I didn't get a tutorial.
"Wow, so you're really really new," Jenny smirked as she flicked her wrist up. Another Slate like Steven's appeared in front of her. Except, he couldn't read anything on hers, it was all opaque grey glass. Her hands danced across it with practiced ease for several moments, then she suddenly stopped. "Helios!" she said suddenly.
"WHAT!?" the golden mannequin appeared on Steven's display again and yelled from there. Then, he looked at Steven, or at least turned his head toward him. "Sorry about the intrusion, she won't let me anywhere near her equipment."
"It's a rigged node that runs automatically; it doesn't take effect until he does something with it. He still hasn't synced with it yet, so that's not his character. But, you totally need to update security across all nodes so it doesn't happen anymore. I don't think they were doing anything malicious; but, it's not impossible," she said.
"Okay, I'll take care of that if you take care of this guy," Helios said.
"Deal," she nodded and Helios vanished one last time.
"And, I guess you get your wish," Jenny said. She walked closer and offered him a new, crystal clear node. It was different than the one he got, but it was just as impressive.
"I'll take this one off your hands and you make your character the way you want. There are 30 classes to choose from, each one with a variety of specializations. And, there are even some specializations, like 'Prince' or 'Wanderer' that can fit any class. The tutorial will walk you through it," she said. She held out the node; but, Steven didn't move to take it.
"That's a lot of choices...," he mumbled. Jenny nodded with a giggle.
"Yeah, and of course, your body and soul; 30 choices for the body, same for the soul with 10 extra choices."
Selling was easy as far as Steven was concerned. All he had to do was tell the customers what they wanted to hear. He never had to do a lot of thinking, or make complex choices really. He wasn't used to it.
"Well, maybe merchant won't be so bad, to learn with at least...," He shrugged. "And, I can change my class in a few months, right?" He asked. Jenny nodded.
"I'm sorry for the trouble," he shook his head. "If I was going to keep Merchant, you didn't need to come out here."
"Helios learned about something that needed attention," Jenny shrugged. "And, now, he owes me a favor," she added with a giggle. "I feel like I came out ahead. Let's get you to a town...," she gestured toward a path; but, a black portal opened even as Steven took his first step forward. "...we can take a shortcut."