The menu presented had a variety of options to it once he selected 'Shattered World'; each of which had its own explanation off to the side.

  Ezekiel stared at the selections. The 'Random' option didn't look too tempting. He wanted to play as one of those bug-people again... and definitely not a summoned pet. Maybe Lord would be fun, later. He had enough credits for the lowest-level package to not be a significant burden. But Shard was right. He should try things out as one of the more basic folks, figure out how the normal people lived.

  He tapped the 'Player' option for a moment. It showed a much more detailed, but familiar, view of the different species he was already familiar with; and a strange, rock-like one he didn't know. Bug-people, porcupine people, reptile-people, mushroom-people, and of course, the 'human'-like blue-skinned ones.

  He backed out, and chose 'Employment - Selective' instead.

  Two menus appeared; one for 'Imperial Province' work, and one for 'Rebel Province' work. The Imperial province work... was all either summoned pets, wandering monster pack, or comfort jobs... essentially prostitutes. He closed that one, and focused on the 'Rebel Province' tab.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Ezekiel stared at the selections for a minute. These didn't seem to be pleasant options. He glanced at Shard. "What would you recommend, if I go with the selective option?"

  "Well. Victim would be over quickly, generally. You might get a week or two of an ordinary life, among other folks like yourself; all dead, no natives; and then poof. Imperial warships come in, bomb the place, and most of you die. Especially if you fight. That's what I'd recommend. You won't be allowed to prepare for the invasion or anything, but you'll live a life, feel what the world is like... and then die. Kinda a... trial run, almost."

  He opened his mouth for a moment... and stopped. "You know what. You're right. Make a few up-front credits, get to know the world a bit better, see how it's changed since I left... then I'll know what I want to do for something more long-term."

  He selected the Victim option. There were options here; like comfort girl, child, laborer, town guard; with notes about extra credits depending on just what happened when the player-controlled Imperial fleet inevitably arrived to crush them; town guards would get bonus credits for killing or wounding players or enemy NPCs; actually, any of them would, and if any of their people survived and escaped. All of them would get bonus credits for escaping destruction; so long as they didn't flee until the fleet arrived.

  While most settlements in the world were real, with real, native people, these 'Victim' settlements were just... temporary, artificial establishments. He wondered just how real these other places would be; and decided to make sure he survived, to reach one and find out in person.

  Town Guards would be penalized for fleeing without fighting, and he wanted to survive, if possible. So.. he chose Laborer. Hopefully he wouldn't have to genuinely work for a living; he hadn't done that in decades. The race selection menu popped up again, each of them with an image of sample male and females of that race.

  Ezekiel blinked. He'd remembered playing a Clickshan, but had thought all of them had the drone pets, not just the females. Both sexes had the same powers, right? Was this a change they made when they updated to the new, living, world?

  He backed out for a moment, and went to the Explorer function; running a quick search and realizing that... the Clickshan had been officially genderless, but implied to be female. The 'Males' were NPC-only, though the mantis-like males vaguely resembled the absolute highest tier of Drone pet that a female could summon, when she was at the highest possible size and level.

  So... probably, in the game's lore, the ones he'd played had always been female. But they didn't want to introduce genders with actual, statistical, differences.

  Shard was simply watching, amused, as Ezekiel studied the options, frowning.

  "Something wrong?"

  Ezekiel glanced at Shard. "Well. Apparently my favorite species and class combo in the old game.. I used a species that came with pets, and a class with its own pets, that enhanced both his class pets, and the species pets... is female-only in this game. I mean, it makes sense in a way; it lays eggs that turn into drones, and keeps a collection of eggs around to hatch at need. But... its easier to contemplate that if you're not going to actually feel what it feels."

  Shard chuckled. "Well, I'd honestly recommend picking something close to human, and male, for your first time, since you have a choice. But if you want to try it out, doing it as a 'Victim', a job destined for just a short-lived fight against the Triakan invaders followed by death? Well, thats a good way to try it out. If I ever lost this job, and the job was available all the time, I'd likely just roll Victim over and over, and make sure I died each time, to get a good bankroll."

  A deep breath. "Yeah. Alright. Not like I'm gonna have to be a tavern wench or anything." He reached back to the menu. "Oh. How are you going to be along, for the rest of the day? Or will you?"

  Shard shrugged. "This is my job for 24 hours from the moment you paid me, helping you, not playing victim, or anything in that world. I'll be able to talk to you, give you advice, so long as you share vision with me. Thanks, by the way. This is going to be an especially easy day for me; normally I'd already be helping someone else by now."

  Ezekiel raised his hand over the button. "Will I just... instantly wake up as a bug?"

  "There's a transition. You'll wake up in a brief sort-of 'demo' area, get to walk around a bit, feel how the body works, see its stats, modify them if you're allowed. Then, when time is up... you wake up in the Shattered World. In a village, doomed to die."

  He closed his eyes, reaching out to press the image. When nothing happened, he opened them, looking around.

  Shard shook his head. "The interface turns off if you aren't looking, or aren't mentally able to make choices. No 'accidentally' turning yourself into a wandering slug in 'Universe of Pain'. You have to actually look at it, read it, and pick it."

  "Fine, fine." He focused on the choice; and pressed the holographic button once again. The room abruptly vanished around him; all turning back to grey once again.