Avalon, a role-playing game based off of the Arthurian Legend. Not much is known of the game systems, and any beta testing has been kept secretive; however, anyone who has tested it has said it is an experience that cannot be forgotten. Due to all of comments from testers, including some famous players, it had become the most anticipated game of the century. Luckily I was able to get a copy of it. It took all of my savings, and even some of my parents savings to afford the equipment and the game, but I don’t regret any of it.

Wooden stairs creaked as I headed up to my room to play the game.

“How could you lend him the money for this?. You’re always to easy on him!” Screams were heard from my parent’s room. I could tell my father was angry at my mother for lending me me the money for the game, even if I promised to pay it back. Continuing down the hallway, light shined through a cracked open door. My little sister was talking to her friends on her phone. She was always so outgoing and friendly, unlike myself. When we were young, she was my cute little sister who looked up to me, but now…

“Ugh, what are you doing looking in here, go play on your computer or something.”

She thinks I’m just some worthless freeloader. We haven’t been close for years, but she’s still my little sister.

“Come on and get to bed, it’s late, you have school tomorrow.”

“Fine, Sorry Sherry, I have to go, my disgusting brother is nagging me about going to bed. Yeah, that’s right he’s just a loser.

The door slammed in my face. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. Finally I’m in my room, ready to play Avalon. I get into my brand new, well used, virtual reality pod, and close the lid. As it closed, a sudden pain was felt racing through my head. Then everything was dark.

Jolted awake by a sudden shaking of my shoulder, I spring up to notice a large bald man sitting there with a scar on his face, and rather well groomed beard on his face, despite his menacing appearance. The murmurs of people around my penetrated my ear drums, their eyes piercing into me like daggers. What an odd start to a video game.

“Hey are you alright? You were knocked-out after you came through the gate, you must be a user.”

The voice of the man was rough and deep, like that of an experienced warrior.

“Yes, I’m alright.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, my name is Gilroy. May I ask why you came to the City of Jultem?”

Ah, this must be some sort of tutorial NPC. Perhaps this is how I choose my class. From what little the beta testers had leaked though, there seemed to be a fairly open-ended class system if any. Though maybe I’ll receive some sort of bonus depending on my answer.

“I am Garoth, a magic swordsman. I’ve come to slay powerful beasts and demons!”

“Hooooo. A magical swordsman huh? That’s quite an interesting power you have there. Well, if it’s true you’re here to slay powerful beasts and demons, then you must be part of the adventurer’s guild, may I see your guild card?”

Adventurer’s guild huh? I’ve read about this in stories and experienced it a few times in many games, however I won’t have any sort of guild. But he seems to think I must be an adventurer. If I tell him that I’ve remained independent from joining the adventurers guild, there’s a chance I can get away without being in it.

“Up until now, I’ve refrained from joining the adventurer’s guild as I don’t like to be restricted. However, I’ve noticed limitations without the backing or knowledge of the adventurer’s guild, I would like to apply here. May I ask where the guild is?”

“I see. Well the guild is always looking for new members, and if you’re a user and a magical swordsman you’ll be more than welcome. Come, I can show you to the adventurer’s guild.”

Before I knew it the crowd around us had already dissipated. It must be some sort of system to have the players feel like they’re unique compared to NPCs. Though I wonder why I haven’t seen anyone yet? Maybe the tutorial is an instanced event? As I followed Gilroy through the streets of Jultem the banging of hammers, could be heard as we passed by dozens of blacksmiths. Sparks flew from anvils showering the stone pavement, making quite the unique sight.

“You don’t seem to be very well equipped for a magic swordsman. Do you perhaps possess a magic bag?”

A magic bag? Oh! He must be referring to an inventory. It would probably break lore to refer to it as that, so this must be what they call it in the game. Taking a quick look at my inventory, it seems pretty bare bones, there’s nothing in there aside from 10 silver coins. Though there seems to be slots for platinum gold and copper coins as well.

“Ah, yes. I do have a magic bag, but due to some circumstances I no longer have my equipment, all I have is few silver coins.”

“Hmm, I see. Hey, Cassius.”

As Gilroy called out, a short man with a huge braided beard turned around.

“A dwarf!”

“Oi, I have a name ye know. As Gilroy here just said, the names Cassius. Though, I don’t be liking yer attitude.”

“My apologies, I just haven’t seen many dwarfs, I was taken by surprise.”

“Haven’t seen many dwarfs, eh? Ye must be from Camelot then.” Cassius scoffed.

“Regardless of where he’s from, he’s a user. He seems to have come across some misfortune, and needs some new equipment. I’m taking him the guild right now, could you help him out later if I send him back?”

“Eh, I suppose so. But don’t think I’ll be taking any nonsense from ye.”

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“Ah, of course. Again, I’m sorry.”

Man dwarfs be pretty sensitive about the issue, I thought they were supposed to be a proud race?

“Sorry about that, Cassius is a bit sensitive when it comes to his race. He was kicked out of Nardwarf after all.”

“Nardwarf?”

Gilroy stared blankly at me.

“You really must be from Camelot. I’ve heard they don’t pay much attention to the outside world, but to think it was this bad. Nardwarf is the city of the dwarfs located in the Darkon Mountains. He was expelled from there many years ago, since then he has been here in Jultem. He may not seem like it, but he’s a good guy, he helps many of the adventurers here.”

Gilroy seems like quite the good person, despite his rough looks and daunting figure. He might be a noble of some sort. As we proceeded through the streets, a large building came into view, above the entrance was the image of a sword crossed over a round shield. This must be the guild. When we walked through the entrance, again all eyes looked in our direction… strange.

“Hey, Nia, help this boy here. He needs to be registered as a member.”

“What do you mean boy? I’m 26.”

“Wahahaha. You? 26, that’s a good one. You look more like you’re 16, wahaha!”

What does he mean I look like I’m 16? Now that I think of it I haven’t even designed my character, does they game assign you a random avatar? In that case what do I look like?

“You don’t happen to have a mirror do you?”

“Wahaha, still insisting on the joke are you? We don’t have a mirror here, but you could look at your reflection in the fountain of town square next time you’re there.”

“Ahem. Are you two finished? I thought I was supposed to be helping him join the guild. And haven’t I told you to call me Nadia at work? Calling me by a nickname is unprofessional.”

Looking at Nadia, her right eye seemed to be twitching and her left eyebrow was raised. It seems like a vein could pop in her forehead any moment.

“Ha..ha. Yes, if you’ll excuse me I have other business to attend to, please take care of him. Nadia, I leave Garoth here in your care.”

Gilroy laughed awkwardly and hurried off before I could respond. What kind of woman is this to have scared off such an imposing man?

“Sigh… He’s always like that. I can’t ever get him to act seriously. Anyways, my name is Nadia, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She instantly turned from being angry to having a bright smile on her face, the transformation is amazing. Now that I think about it she is quite the beauty. Before I realized it I was simply staring at her face.

“Ah, yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you too. My name is Garoth, I’m here to sign up as an adventurer.”

“Sure. If you’ll follow me we’ll start the induction process. First I’ll give you an overview of what the guild can provide, and what duties you’ll be required to do for the guild, as well as rules and regulations. Then we’ll take you to the Orb of Knowledge to create your guild card.”

“Orb of Knowledge? What’s that?”

“Surely you jest? You don’t know of the Orb of Knowledge?”

“Yeah... about that. I came from camelot so I’m not sure about a lot of things around here.”

“Really? You came from Camelot!?”

“Yeah… why?”

“I’ve read many stories of Arthur. He’s always been my hero. It’s why I became a receptionist at the adventurer’s guild, I hope one day I might meet a new hero just like Arthur was. So what is it like there? Are there other heroes like Arthur? Or perhaps are there powerful wizards such as Merlin?”

“Uh.. uhm…. Well I guess…”

“Oh, sorry. How rude of me, we’re supposed to be conducting your induction process.”

After that she explained to me what the Orb of Knowledge was. It is an orb that contains vast magical power, and is rumored to hold all knowledge of the world and it’s residents. It was originally a gift god Mimir to assist the people in their evolution; however, he quickly realized this was a mistake as humans weren’t capable of withstanding their greed and quickly began to abuse it’s power. Thus, he put a limit on the orb. This limit would only provide minimal knowledge on the people of the world. This would allow people to have security and identification of one another. When you touch it an identification card will be created with your information on it. This guard can be used as identification anywhere you go, it can also tell others who you’re associated with. In this case, I’ll be associated with the adventurer’s guild. Depending on your association, the color of the card will change, with the adventurer’s guild card being black. The card will contain various personal information, but I can limit it to only show needed information to others, while other information will only be seen by me.

“So, that’s the basics of the Orb of Knowledge. Now, onto the other information. First, the rules of the guild. In the adventurer’s guild there are three major rules. One, information on guild members is secret and should be protected. Don’t ask other guild members, and you don’t have to respond when people ask. Two, any arguments between guild members will remain between them. The guild won’t interfere with personal arguments. Three, always perform with professionalism on the job. We know many adventurer’s can be a bit rough around the edges, but we ask that you at least keep minimum professionalism while on an assignment.”

“I see, so what happens if one guild member is causing an argument but the other is trying to avoid it. Will the guild step in then?”

“The guild will only step in when an obvious injustice has been committed. Now, onto jobs. There are four job classifications, and three types of jobs. The three classifications are standard, emergency, unrestricted, personal requests. Standard requests are your run of the mill quests that have a certain ranking assigned to them. Members with ranks within that range may participate, as well as those one rank above or below, though rewards may vary depending on rank. Emergency requests are jobs that everyone above a certain rank has to participate in. If you don’t participate you will face punishment from dropping in rank, to being arrested depending on the circumstance. Unrestricted requests are requests that are available to anybody as they may require special skill sets not dependant on ability, or have been unable to be completed for a long period of time. Lastly, personal requests, are requests that come for an adventurer directly. These are often valued higher than normal requests and submitted by nobles and merchants.”

“So what are the types of jobs then?”

“There are escort, subjugation, and miscellaneous jobs. Escort jobs require you to escort someone, usually a merchant or noble, and protect them from any outside threats. Subjugation jobs are to kill or bring back parts of monsters or bandits. Miscellaneous jobs can be anything from helping build a house to gathering herbs in the forest, they won’t include fighting monsters.”

After that she explained the ranks of the guild. The ranks go from G-S+ with G being those who aren’t old enough to be adventurer’s, but want a head start to help with miscellaneous tasks. S+ are known as heroes to the people, with all sorts of ranks in between. I’ll start as rank F as I’m old enough to join, but not yet experienced.

“Do you have any further questions?”

“No, I think I understand mostly for now.”

While there was quite a lot of information I’m not quite sure on. It should be fine if I ask questions later.

“Come on. We’ll take you to the Orb of Knowledge and get your guild card. Since it’s the orb for the guild, it will automatically create your card with the affiliation of adventurer’s guild.”

As we entered a small square room, there was a jade colored orb hovering above a large golden pedestal. A fog pulsated inside of the orb making it seem cloudy and vast. As I placed my hand on the orb, the fog swirled and the colors changed to a scarlet red. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Nadia with a shocked look on her face. After the process was over I looked down and there was an onyx colored card placed before me, I picked it up and looked at the status.