In the way, they can’t help but notice their feet. The toes didn’t get the joint upgrade, however; the nails seemed to have turned into right proper claws. At least, going by the feeling in their bones they get when the claws tap on the ground. Like when you click your teeth together, except at the end of your toes. Also, they’re completely covered in fur barring the pads, or as the Internet would put it, they had toe beans.

  This made them smile, and smile, and smile. Which brought Gem’s attention to another change. Even if their mouth felt normal enough, once they started smiling, it became obvious that it had widened like some kind of creepy fae. Not that they were complaining and it didn’t feel like their smile was close to ear to ear, so not too bad.

  Though as they reached the mirrors, it took on a new twist. Their teeth had changed. And uh, whatever their diet was, these chompers were now made for meat.

  Oh, and despite starting this all with the equivalent of sleepwear, like the lizard guy, Gem now lacked any clothes at all. This didn’t matter because, much to their joy, there wasn’t anything to care about, even so, clothes would be nice. Though seeing as both Randoms they had seen so far didn’t come with clothes, they guessed there might be a stockpile of the stuff for people to use somewhere nearby.

  Gem turned to head over to Dewdrop, but it is at this point that their attention strays to their new tail. It had sort of just been there and so ignored, but now they could really feel it! The thing swished back and forth, the fur on it seemed extra sensitive to the movement of the air. That could be a problem, depending, but they had questions to ask and so ignored it.

  However, as they made their way over, the next person finished unlocking and, despite ending up a centaur, they had clothes! That just wasn’t fair. Gem was even more of a humanoid shape and yet the centaur got some spiffy duds?

  This anger must have shown loud and clear on their face, though, because Dewdrop was on top of things. “We’ve got clothes in the shed behind the mirrors and don’t ask me the rules for why some get clothes and others don’t. Best guess is it works on cartoon logic. So, if in a cartoon you could manage the look, you’re fine.”

  Gem shrugs, “Long as you got a shirt and some shorts for me, maybe a pair of sandals.”

  Dewdrop nods, “We should have most of that. In fact, we only have sandals because you can adjust the straps better for strange feet.”

  By this point, a couple other people had been unchained and all of them had the effect of chains appearing and breaking. Gem makes a face, “And what’s up with me not getting chains?”

  Dewdrop smiles, “It means you’re special. When you check your status, you’ll find out. Though just in case you are blind, check your alignment.”

  Gem, “I literally just started, what does end game faction nonsense have to do with me?”

  Dewdrop, “Despite how people portray it, alignment is simply where you fall on the axis of order/chaos and good/evil. As long as you prove yourself, a person can lock their alignment as early as they want. Or sometimes, random results in people like you.”

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  Gem shakes her head, “Meh, I don’t want to be ‘chained’ down by something like that. Besides, part of alignment locking is evolving into an advanced species.”

  Dewdrop sighs, “Stop trying to argue with me. Go get some clothes on while I finish unchaining your group.”

  Gem, “Can I just leave after that?”

  Dewdrop shrugs, “You can try, but I advise letting me send you off. This isn’t private here so I’m sure the local powers and player guilds are waiting for you.”

  Gem’s stomach drops, they did not want to deal with that kind of nonsense this early. There, however, was nothing they could do about it and so went and threw some clothes on. Just some cord sandals, cargo shorts, and what might be charitably called a shirt if you ignore the resemblance to a bag with holes cut in it.

  Though they can understand the variance in quality after watching more ‘unchaining’s. Many more people end up without a shirt than do pants or footwear. Soon enough, though, everyone was unchained and only three ended up needing special accommodations.

  One was simply a gigantic stone elemental of some sort. Their accommodation was easy enough as they simply needed to get onto a stone pad that was connected to bedrock. It was something about needing a direct connection with the world’s bones.

  Another was an honest to goodness kraken. And not the old stories type of kraken where they’re just a giant squid. This was the more modern fantasy kraken, which meant inherent psionic magic.

  And the last was some sort of high altitude birdfolk. Their problem being that the air was too thick and Dewdrop had needed to use one of the potions on them. All the while the more normal results had left.

  Even the rock girl had left, earth gliding through the stone pad itself, heading towards the deep tunnels. This left a couple of people with important identities outside of the game, the Kraken, birdfolk, and of course, Gem. Dewdrop gave the two a hard stare, but when they didn’t back down, she shrugged.

  Dewdrop, “Okay, five people needing relocation is a little high. Normally, there are only one to two in a group. Anyway, birdfolk first since you’re the easiest.”

  Dewdrop pulls out a wand from her moss and zaps them. This causes them to be encapsulated in a bubble before rocketing into the sky. “Their problem was simple enough. Just need to send them straight up. Now for you, Mr. Kraken. There is a nearby saltwater ocean, so you’re in luck.”

  She pulls out a coin, “This is a one time use recall token. It will recall you to a city over there. I’ll call ahead so they know you’re coming.”

  The kraken wriggles and a voice is projected into everyone’s heads, ‘Yes please, the shallow water is really quite stressful.’

  Dewdrop flips the coin at them and in a shower of sparkles, they vanish as the coin begins to smoke and slowly burn away without leaving a mark. “Now, all that is left is you three. You’re all last because what needs to happen is annoying. Recall tokens won’t work since you’re already here and besides, they would take you to the teleport platform.

  “No, we need to blink you out of here and into a random part of the city where you showing up will not be noticed. This will not prevent you all from being noticed, especially you, Gem, but it gives you a head start. However, to do this we need an Admin since none of the provided magic can do this.”

  “Which is where I come in!”, a man in a retro video game t-shirt and slacks says as he steps into view from behind the trio.

  The man smiles, “Welcome to SoulDive, I hope this experience won’t turn you off the game. We leave this public because nothing short of system interference could keep the locals from finding out what happened and being open puts the players on an equal footing. Now go have fun!” And he snaps his fingers.

  Hello everyone! I plan to post 1k chapters mon, wed, and fri. Though for this first week I'll be posting a chapter every day. Also, as an incentive, if we hit 500 follows and then 1000 I'll release bonus chapters!

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  Oh, and a bunch is already complete over on so the chapters here will be consistent! Also, feel free to come over to my if you want to chat about the story.