"What the … ?"
Takeshi was confused
He recognized the screen, its the same screen from "Freeborn Saga" its even written on it.
'what does that mean, did i reincarnate'
the idea of being reincarnated made takeshi feel perplex, by all means he didn't like his past life, in fact he hated it, but it was still complicated, the idea of being thrown into another world where he knows nobody, where he knows nothing about social norms or culture scared him.
Yes he played the game, but thats different from actualy living in it.
what makes it even more terrifying is that he doesn't know the ending, the game offered so much freedom of choice that even a player like him could never know every possible ending, and now that he is going to live in it, he will have even greater freedom, and making a choice from behind the screen is different from actually experiencing the situation, especially when you life is on the line.
But it's not like he has a choice, it's already happening. all he can do is accept it and make the best of the situation, and right now he has a choice to make.
The first choice you make in "freeborn saga" is which path to take.
each path has various starting points and endings, and it can be changed after selection, you can even play a path to it's ending and the start another in the same playthrough and with the same character.
so it's not a restricting choice it's mainly to keep the player aware of which direction they are headed, since so much freedom could be overwhelming for some players.
With that in mind Takeshi knew that the best path to start in if you're seeking power is the academy path, since it gives you opportunity to study in the aetherion dominion academy, an organization that holds so much power that even the royal family has to obey its rules once they enroll.
The academy teaches you all sorts of stuff from martial arts to engeneering and politics, with the best teachers in the world, like martial arts grandmasters, archmages, and scientific geniuses.
The academy path helps build a great foundation for when you finish it and want to start another path.
you could start the royal path and enroll in the academy, but then you will need to focus more in becoming a king, than your actual studies, and if you focus on the academy you will automatically be redirected to the academy path, except with the duties of a royal familly member, so you can never 100% focus on growth. the best option to start the game is in a low or mid tier noble familly so you live a comfortable life and focus on growth.
With that, takeshi choose the academy path.
[YOU HAVE CHOOSEN THE ACADEMY PATH]
[CONFIRM; Y/N]
"yes"
[CONFIRMED PATH SELECTION]
[INITIATING CHARACTER CUSOMIZATION]
"WOAH" a holographic projection of takeshi suddenly appeared, alongside it is a system screen with tons of costumization options like face features, bodybuild, talents and lineage.
"Freeborn Saga" was famous for its endless character customization options, but infront of Takeshi right now are many more options than he remembers there's even options for your family members and legacy, like what your family specialize in, what's your parents' jobs and talents are.
"Is this something new for the sequel?" said takeshi, as he was choosing his lineage, he choose a mid tier viscount family specializing in sword arts; his father was a sword master, and his mother was an archdruid.
After that, he went to distribute his talent points.
Talent points are points you distribute among various skills to determine how talented you are in them. They include swordsmanship, spearmanship, magic, druidic arts, etc.
The more points you put in something, the more talented you are. The ranks are:
2 points: below average
4 points: above average
6 points: genius
8 points: prodigy
10 points : a once in a 1000 year monster
normaly you would have enough poins to max out every state as this is how you set the difficulty of the game, you can max out every state and sweep through the game or go for impossible challenges like using only one point.
However, right now Takeshi has only 10 points, but surprisingly, he already has a bunch of distributed points
"Does the family customization have anything to do with this"
Takeshi noticed that swordsmanship and druidic arts are his highest stats. which means that the new family costomization is probably related to this.
"My swordsmanship is at 6, and my druidic arts are already at 9"
'The initial step is to max out my druidic arts, and then... what should I do next?'
'i could max out my swordsmanship, but then I will only have 5 points'
'i should put 2 in swordsmanship, bringing it to 8, then 2 to stealth and assassination arts, bringing it to 6, and 4 to battle IQ, bringing it to 8'
battle iq means things like how easy it is to read and analyze your opponents counter attacking and developing plans mid battle, in game it used to affect the of performing combos and piercing through your opponents defence
'Battle IQ is the most important one, as it is going to help me defeat stronger opponents, thus more exp, and no matter how talented I am at swordsmanship, it doesn't matter if I can't effectively use it in battle'
'The remaining one in holy arts, bringing it to 4, the ability to heal myself is gonna come is handy'
'Next are normal stats like int, str, dex, agi, mana. They can be increased by training and leveling up, so I should focus on the hardest to increase, like mana '
str: 10
agi: 13
mana: 13
int:21
dex:16
'I already have 7 talent points in mana sensitivity, so I am only gonna put 2 stat points, bringing mana to 15, dex and int both 4, bringing them to 20 and 25'
'And finally, physical features'
"Freeborn Saga" allows incredibly detailed physical features customization from the color of your eyes to the size of your nose. People would spend hours creating their perfect character.
And so did Takeshi right now.
But it was worth it because by the end he had made the most handsome character he ever did.
He looked like a striking 17-year-old with a captivating presence that blends both raw nature and refined martial grace, with high cheekbones, sharp jawline and a straight elegant nose. His green eyes are piercing and radiant, with long dark green hair just slightly below his shoulder.
Takeshi admired his holographic projection for a bit
After everything was done, Takeshi pressed the confirmation button.
[CONFIRMED CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION COMPLETE]
[SYNCHRONIZATION INITIALIZED]
...
[SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE]