"Hello there I'm Veria. I'm here to help with setup and to make your experience of Gates of Eternity smoother. You don't seem to have setup for calibration as per instructions. Do you need help?"

"Hi Veria, do you remember me? I'm Alex I helped with some of the prototypes."

"Of course I remember you Dr. Lustig."

"So... it's possible that trimming down the prototypes made the calibration necessary but I'm betting it didn't and even if it did I bet you still have my avatar on file. Daisy didn't strike me as someone who deletes things if she can help it."

"You are correct on both counts. Would you like to reload your old avatar or should I update it based on how your body has changed?"

"I'll take the update. I've been working hard on my exercise routine."

"Certainly. Just a moment."

Alex shivered a little as the sensations of his physical body are replaced by those of the nearly identical avatar. His casual sweat pants and t-shirt replaced by sturdy pants and boots, a tank-top and some fingerless gloves. The room around him was similarly transformed becoming a small doctors exam room while his bed was exchanged for an exam table. He sat up and pushed himself off the table. "Alright, seems to have worked what's next?"

"Based on your avatar's shape and size we have derived starting values for your stats. You may assign a starting points budget to gradually apply over your first week in game. You have ten points to start and you can assign a maximum of 4 points to each stat." A screen pops up on the surface of the mirror in front of him.

Strength: 10 + / -

Endurance: 10 + / -

Range of motion: 10 + / -

Proprioception: 10 + / -

Quickness: 10 + / -

Acuity: 10 + / -

Retention: 10 + / -

Focus: 10 + / -

Available points: 10 [Reset]

"Advanced mode and fractional points become available at later levels. Mental stats begin at 10 for all players. Stats may not reflect all discrepancies between players and should not be relied on for precise comparisons."

"Is this going to get too far out of line with my body? I don't want to get too used to enhanced physique or other hand-holding only to not have it in the field and get hurt."

Veria's swirling paused for a moment before becoming more angular. "That isn't something you'll need to worry about too much. There may be some small differences but I'm confident you will be able to adjust."

There's something in that wording that seemed a bit off but Alex mentally dismissed it. "Alright, I'll trust you on that."

Even though he says he trusts Veria he still distributes the points about as widely as possible. He tosses the extra boosts into some of the mental stats that seem like they'll be the most obvious and thus easiest to notice when they're gone.

Strength: 11 + / -

Endurance: 11 + / -

Range of motion: 11 + / -

Proprioception: 11 + / -

Quickness: 11 + / -

Acuity: 11 + / -

Retention: 12 + / -

Focus: 12 + / -

Available points: 10 [Reset] [Finalize]

He taps finalize.

"Thank you for finishing setup Dr. Lustig and welcome to the Gates of Eternity. You can summon me at any time by saying 'Veria help please' or by accessing the menu." The mirror rippled, the metal surface transmuting into something that looks a bit like the surface of a rippling pool only vertical instead of horizontal. "You can step through the gate whenever you're ready."

"Thanks Veria." Alex confidently stepped through the gate. Touching the surface it feels like the real one. The weird disembodied roller coaster bit is actually toned down from reality. He's pretty happy it doesn't have the high pitched shrieking sound. It's shorter too. He stepped out at the end. It was a bit of a rush but he didn't stumble. He looked around. The place where he'd landed was an interesting mix between a high-end sports facility, a military training camp and some kid's fantasy land. Honestly it's a good fit for what it's for.

"Man, you took that a lot better than I did, better than most people I've seen actually. Were you in the Beta?" A woman asked him from the side.

Alex was briefly surprised by the question but tried not to show it. "Nah, I've just been on a lot of carnival rides and done some ziplining. It's not quite the same but it's close enough that I could keep my feet." It was actually not quite a lie. Those were actually parts of the recommended training for going through the real gate and he had mostly managed not to stumble his first time.

"Huh, good to know. I guess, I'll probably be getting some of my own practice ziplining." She gestured towards a zip line visible above. "I'm Tania by the way." She reached out a hand to shake.

"Alex," He reached back and shook. "This should be fun." And productive He added without speaking aloud.