With the setback of another level up weighing on Gary's mind he blew out his candle and stumbled slightly at the harsh shift in movement before pulling off the cover on his clock. The timer had run out at some point.

Before leaving, Gary checked his messages. He thought he might have heard a beep or something, but he had been too focused.

Message from Mike_Armani Message from Cassandra_Neuroscience

Is that Cassandra's last name? Can't be. I thought she was some social worker. Maybe I should ask her.

Message from Mike_Armani

Gary! Did you see the news? I'm sorry buddy. Don't let it get to you! You really should stop saying "cool" it's such an oldy word that sounds really dumb. Everyone says "sparkles" now. It's kinda like ironic???

Anyway I'm keeping up with the wave. I hit level 7 a few minutes ago in my main class and 4 in my second class. The wave should rush the next town in two days and thanks to my broken body I have 24 hours a day to keep myself ON TRACK.

For money. Most people use a production class to earn cash. Like your Stonesmith class, right? Swap that one out as soon as possible, friend. Geartinkerer is great at early levels. You can also do some quests, but they are basically a tutorial for the production classes.

Good luck Gary!

What kind of stupid word is "sparkles"? Do they understand how silly it sounds? There's no way I would say that. And how can he possibly be level 7? I've been training in shadows nearly the whole time I've been here and I'm level 2! Are you on drugs Mikey!? And how do you expect me to swap my class when there's a 7 day cool down!?

"Aaarg!" Gary dismissed the message as hard as he could, though his groan and flail didn't have any special effects. "And what about the news!?"

Gary found two game news articles written by players in the chat section.

612 Wave Players Standing!

The first days are always the most harsh for wave players. All it takes is a small slip sometimes and you can lose your place at the top of the most powerful players, but somehow an outstanding number of players have held on and smashed the record for one day wave players by over FIVE TIMES! Competition will be intense as the 612 wave players do everything they can to beat the game in the fastest possible time and gain the unique title. "Waver"

Good luck Wavers.

So that is what this wave thing is about. Too bad I messed up my classes and have a broken useless character. Thanks game.

Cool Actor Class! Spotted in the slime forest. Amazing COOL oldy style acting performance. Username Gary_Forhan.

The simple article including his username ended with a video of him struggling to fight a slime and punch himself in the head. "Don't you have anything better to do?! You think acting that way makes you cool?!" His past self shouted as the video cut off.

Are you serious? This is a public news article for anyone that plays this game! Why did you give everyone my username?

Gary wished to logg off again. Return to his simple life among people, not much better, but people he understood. Logging out wasn't an option for him. His body was trapped due to the coma. Then for a moment Gary considered just staying in this room.

Finally he opened the last message from Cassandra.

Message from Cassandra_Neuroscience

Hello Gary. I saw the news! Do you have a problem with your body? I've called a repair team to check things over, hopefully it's just an equipment issue, but you should meet with me immediately to be sure it's not something more serious.

Gary, this is not a joke. Please answer right away.

Gary winced away from the message. On the one hand it was a mistake to not tell her from the start. For all he knew the "bug" could have been caused by ongoing brain damage, but he ignored it. In the end it was nothing of the sort, but just due to the messed up game rules. He was tempted to pretend he was ignorant about it all so that he could hopefully get some small revenge on this game and maybe the horrible players would feel bad about what the way they acted.

Part of Gary said it wasn't his business and he should let it play out, but a bigger part said he couldn't use Cassandra like that.

Message to Cassandra_Neuroscience

Wait. I think it's because of the class I picked in this game. I don't think anything is wrong with me or my equipment. Sorry for worrying you. I can't believe someone would record me and make fun of me that way.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Cassandra, when can I get out of this game?

Gary sent the message and with a sigh, stood up and opened the door. He wanted to see what the cave had to offer and explore this game even if he had to make his way past the people that play it. For that he would need a steady supply of cash. That meant a walk around town to chat with the NPCs and look for quests.

There was another group of players in the lobby. Gary wasn't sure, but it looked like different people. He hadn't looked so close before.

No matter what, I won't give them any reaction. Whatever they say, it will be like I'm deaf.

"Thank you for the room, Innkeeper, could you tell me where to find some beginner quests? Especially those that pay." Gary asked the innkeeper.

"You're welcome anytime Gary. Granite Cave Guard One told me you use knives, is that right? There's a training quest for knives given by Weapon Shop Owner. It doesn't pay much, 10 copper, but I think you can really do it. Unfortunately there is no crafting quests... " The innkeepers eyes flickered to the other players for just long enough for Gary to notice. "That fit your classes, but you can try any or all of the other quests and they will give you a leg up on crafting. I'll mark your map."

Did the NPC give me a secret signal so that the other players wouldn't find out about my embarrassing Stonesmith class? Could he really be a machine?

At the same time the Innkeeper smiled unnaturally wide with dead and soulless perfectly still eyes. It was unnerving how still he could stand, as if he would fade into the background and disappear even while Gary watched.

"Thanks for the help," Gary said with a involuntary shiver.

"Hang on a sec!" one of the players stood up. "Sorry guys, I'll be right back," he said to his friends before turning to Gary.

Should I just walk away?

"NPC advice kind of sucks. You should skip that 10 copper quest. It takes about 15 hours and the only other reward is a title that doesn't do anything," the guy said. He was in Knights armor with an elbow shield and pike.

"It does something!" one of his friends shouted. "It makes you look like you got fooled by an Innkeeper! Ha ha ha!"

The pike guy chuckled. The innkeeper was as still as ever.

"If you need starter cash there's a herb you can gather for engravers. They should by it in bulk for about 20 copper a leaf. You can pick them pretty quick with no skills or classes as long as you can avoid monsters and make a good 24 silver per hour. Depending on the market of course. You can get a head start and get a lot before it becomes popular. I'll even buy them from you if you want," said the player who ran up to him.

24 silver per hour sounded much better than 10 copper for 15 hours of work.

The player patiently waited for Gary with a smile as warm as the fire he was just sitting by. Gary looked at the NPC with the dead eyes running the inn.

"No thanks." Gary turned and walked out of the door before he saw what kind of reaction he would get. There was a few giggles from the guys friends, but Gary told himself that it had nothing to do with him and focused on getting out of the door.

Finally free. I know who I've had most fun with and I know who has my back. I'll try that knife training first. Wasn't that the same shopkeeper that I met before?

"Look! It's Cool Gary!" A girl screamed.

All of Gary's composure evaporated when he heard the shriek. As much as he tried to tell himself it wouldn't bother him, it did. So he ran for the nearest shadow.

"He's so fast! Are you recording? I think he's going to perform!" A guy yelled.

Gary stopped with a cloud of dust from the dirt road right in the shadow of a building.

Don't mess this up you useless stupid idiot! Just run on the shadow and don't make a fool of yourself for once!

Gary could almost hear his virtual body's heart filling with pure adrenaline. He wasn't sure what, but something shifted in his mind. He leaned to the shadows so that it would be harder to see him and ran for the weapon shop.

"It's got to be a long distance class."

"No, it's clearly a short speed boost to the whole body. It must be a combat class skill that he repurposed."

The players ran after Gary. He was gaining distance, but he couldn't control his direction and new players also joined in to watch. In desperation Gary jumped on a roof and awkwardly ran along the edge with his fingers dipped around to catch the shadow.

"Can you do that?"

"Why is he running like that?"

"Gary! Say how cool we are!"

Gary dipped and ran with all he had, jumping with all his force when he had no choice but to cross a place with no shadows and occasionally checking the map so that he could make it to the weapon shop. The voices of other players died down on his way.

Gary pulled the door and spun his way inside so that he could slam it as quick as possible.

"Look at this!" the shopkeeper said in that fake voice the NPCs have been using with other players. "My first customer is back! Where's the fire?"

Gary chose to peek at the windows to see if someone was after him rather than replying.

Didn't I already tell him to act like he wants around me? Anyway it looks like I lost them somehow.

"Sorry about that. Some more players are following me. I want to be on my own right now," Gary told him as he turned around. Gary noticed that the items had changed.

"Har har. No problem, you can always come to my shop!" he said with a fake laugh. Gary had seen enough NPCs to read a little body language.

"Why are you still acting with me? You look uncomfortable," Gary asked the giant smith NPC.

His eyes grew wide as his posture stiffened. "Oh dear, my acting must be really bad if you can pick up on that, I hope I don't get in trouble or need to be fixed, and I thought I was the one that made you uncomfortable last time. When I showed you who I really am you ran away. I'm sorry. I don't really know what to do or how to act. Only a few players even talk to me so it's really hard. Can you tell me what you want me to do please?"

Gary struggled to keep up with the pace the NPC talked in, but just as he opened his mouth again Gary spoke. "Wait! I didn't mean to make you feel like you bothered me, but you are also my first A.I. so-"

"NO WAY!? REALLY? I'M THE FIRST? That is so sparkles I can't believe it!" The bald shopkeeper did a tiny victory hop with a blank expression. "Oh! No wonder it surprised you if you only interact with humans, I guess you just needed a little time to think it all over, is that right? But wait, you absolutely HAVE to tell me how you managed to avoid all A.I.s. That must be a really sparkles story!" He stiffly leaned over the wooden counter as it let out a creak so he could wait, at least for the moment, for Gary to talk.

"Ummm... I had a heart attack, I guess, I was in a coma for a long time. A.I. could only pretend to talk before I came here," Gary tried to answer as quick as possible to keep up with the conversation.

"Wow. Are you so old? I love to read about those wild days. You should totally tell me some oldy stories. Can you tell me what it was like to pilot a personal computer?"

"Yeah, I had a- wait. Huh?" Gary's thought tripped over themselves with the unusual terminology. "You mean to use one? I spent a lot of time on one of them. I turned it on in the morning and made it run whatever programs I wanted."

The shopkeeper recoiled back slightly. "Ew. Sick... But I guess those computers didn't feel so much..."

Gary blushed and looked down. "I guess you wouldn't want to hear about me using it like a tool. Sorry. Hey, I came here to ask about the knife training quest."

"Oh, sure! Do you have the knife I sold you? You can just come down this way into the training room and we can get started as soon as you are ready."

Gary shut his eyes and pulled out the broken handle.

"Oh. I see. Well, I can let you borrow one that might actually be better, the lower the accuracy is the quicker you can learn and I think I have a total failure around here that has an accuracy of two if you can believe that."

Gary almost couldn't wait to show him the horrible collection of accuracy zero knives he made.