I quickly escaped through the city gates, marking my minimap with a waypoint leading to the portal. As I walked, I filled out reviews for Jailen and Icalia - Denise and Ken, I mentally corrected myself.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ambiance - Did they enrich the game experience for you: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Character - Did they stay in character for every interaction: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Competence - Were they skillful in their role: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Acting - How believable were they in their role: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Recommend - Likelihood to recommend or use again in a future encounter: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I filled in 5s across the board. I did promise a great review. After submitting reviews for both Denise and Ken, I clicked favorite as well. A new tab formed called Roster. When I clicked on it, it populated with Denise and Ken’s in-game bio - what roles they were qualified to fill, how long they’d been employed, and their overall ratings as actors. I wasn’t surprised to see they both had high ratings - in normal circumstances, I was sure they were quite rigid with staying in character and enriching the mercenary experience for their clients. It was just my natural charm that had pulled them out of their flow.

My status as a Damsel may have played a factor too, I suppose…

With that done, I bee-lined deeper into the city of Hope’s End, moving fast enough to avoid lingering stares, but not so fast that I purposefully drew attention to myself.

I hadn’t synced up with Jeremy in a while, so I shot him a quick message:

RayGun47: Yo, Jer. I got delayed a bit with some forced event, but I’m about to hop through the portal that leads to the capitol. You there yet?

It was only a few moments before he replied.

SnotPuppy: Ray! Wondered where u were! Ya dude, its wild here. Theres probably 20k ppl here.

RayGun47: Ummm, that’s not good. You think I should hold off on coming through?

SnotPuppy: no! Def come on over, youll be fine! Lost in the crowd for sure. Theres a million isabellas running around, doing chores and shit

RayGun47: Hm, if you say so. I’m gonna head through now.

SnotPuppy: Fuck ya! Also, heads up - I did a thing…

I immediately was on guard. Jeremy using punctuation in an appropriate manner was always a red flag. But, the fact that he didn’t come right out and say whatever he had done meant he knew I wouldn’t like it.

RayGun47: God dammit, what is it?

SnotPuppy: id rather you see it in person

RayGun47: Just tell me! I hate surprises. The last surprise I got was an exploding apartment!

SnotPuppy: no fuck u! Just get here. This is way better than that!

I groaned. There was no point - once he dug his heels in, that was it. I was too annoyed to reply, so I started towards the building in the center of the city that appeared to house the portal system.

As I moved deeper into the city, I pulled up my Inventory and Character sheet. First, I wanted to see exactly how much gold Git and the other players had dropped. If it was anything like BigSword, I was filthy rich. Next, I wanted to check my weapon skills, because I had slain a shitload of mobs, and I expected a massive boost across the board.

I checked my gold and stopped in shock.

Gold: 726,291

The amount staggered me. That was more than I’d make as a Damsel actor for five years. It was enough for a down payment on a house in Baltimore - and then some. A nice car. Good clothes…

And I would never get to spend it on any of those things.

The reminder of my situation immediately killed my joy, but I tried to frame it positively. At least I wouldn’t struggle for gold in game. I could use this to buy all new gear from the Auction House, buy a nice plot for player housing, and who knew what else I would need it for.

Next, I pulled up my skill sheet.

Passive Skills Active Skills

Unarmed Combat level up 4(+6) → level 10.

[Freezing Wave] - Rank: 5

Unarmed Defense level up 4(+2) → level 6.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Polearm Combat level up 1(+27) → level 28.

Polearm Defense level up 1(+21) → level 22.

Mail Armor Defense level up 1(+14) → level 15.

Swimming Efficiency level up 1(+3) → level 4.

Sprinting Efficiency level up 1(+9) → level 10.

Mercenary Efficiency level up 1(+6) → level 7.

Seemed like quite a few passive skills had leveled up, but the actual effects were less clear. Number go up, I guess. But then I noticed that I could hover over each passive and receive more information. It was mostly slight increases in efficiency across the board. The Sprinting Efficiency, for example, reduced stamina usage while sprinting by 1% per level. The Polearm Combat increased my chance to bypass physical defenses by 0.2% per level. The Mercenary Efficiency increased the stats, resistances, and resistance bypassing of any hired mercs across the board, but by small amounts.

All good stuff, and I realized I needed to make a more dedicated effort to get these passive skills leveled up as fast as possible.

I closed out the Skill sheet as I approached the transit building. It was a low, squat structure, unadorned and innocuous. If the icon on my minimap hadn’t led me here, I would have walked right by it.

As I neared the front, I noticed a steady stream of players from all factions coming and going through the entrance. It surprised me to see so many players, as there had only been maybe a dozen from my own faction participating in the event. I had to assume those numbers applied to the other two factions as well. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. The event seemed to be a onetime thing to gain portal access, so any player frequenting the city would have already done it.

The steady traffic gave me pause. Was I really ready for this? Through that portal would be thousands of players. And if my interactions with Git, Damien, Osgoth, Ysillith, and the others had shown me anything, it was that I stood out, no matter how much I tried to act like an NPC. I needed to take some steps to improve my odds of avoiding detection.

I went into my inventory and unequipped all my armor. That would help me blend in as an Isabella companion - I hoped. Next was my new weapon. I admired it for a moment, watching the haze of red light undulate around the shaft and the blade. God, it was gorgeous. Its mere presence made me feel powerful, like I could slice-and-dice through Osgoth, Ysillith, and whoever wanted to fuck with me next.

So I unequipped it.

That was a dangerous feeling - feeling powerful. It had a tendency to make you act powerful. And that was the exact opposite of staying under the radar. So as much as I wanted to flaunt my new [Rare] Glaive, rip through a host of mobs like butter, I had to restrain myself.

Act like a damsel.

Act like a damsel.

A few quick psych-up breaths, and I was walking past the players and into the transit building.

The lobby of the transit building was large, almost taking up the entirety of the space, it seemed. Probably to accommodate the foot traffic. There were three hallways branching from the main room, and symbols engraved over the doorways corresponded with the three player factions.

I weaved through the throngs of players, keeping my eyes low. All three factions were represented among the crowd, but they ignored the other factions for the most part. I realized why a moment later.

Lining the walls, and at each hallway, there were dozens of Hope’s End guards. They were all level 60, and there were even a handful of elites among them. Unlike the guards who had been useless when Osgoth and Ysillith had attacked me, these guards gave off a heavy presence, like they were looking for a reason to aggro. I hadn’t noticed before, but they were even among the crowd, intermingling with the players. One of them passed by, and I started in surprise.

He had looked at me, recognition in his eyes.

An actor!

Suddenly, I thought back to the earring Al had given me before we went to Null Space. In the commotion of the Scarlet Horde event, I hadn’t even given it a second thought. But now, I realized that it was hot against my ear.

How long had it been like that!?

My heart started pounding against my ribs. Were they watching me right now? That’s what Al had said, right? When the earring was hot, S&S was watching.

Oh, fuck…

Was the actor inside this guard NPC part of that?

I picked up my pace, heading through the hallway marked with the Consortium symbol. Two guards had their swords crossed, blocking the entrance, but moved them as I approached. I risked a glance behind me, but no one appeared to be in pursuit.

Was I just being paranoid?

The earring was hot, but not that hot. More like a little warm, now that I thought of it. Was I imagining that knowing look from the guard?

God dammit! What kind of warning system was an earring that got hot or cold?! That was, like, the least precise unit of measurement Al could have come up with.

I resisted the urge to whisper ‘Fuck you, Al’ under my breath. If Holt or Goldman or whoever was really watching me, I didn’t want them to pick up on that.

My pounding heart had settled a tiny bit as I neared the end of the hallway. Not like I could expect anything else - of course S&S would be trying to watch me. They had made it clear from the beginning that they did not appreciate my existence in their game.

Before me, there were two portals, one marked in and one out. The portals were big enough to fit an elephant, and were oddly reminiscent of a Stargate, looking like a puddle of blue light before me. A handful of players were streaming out of the portal, just as a few that had been in front of me had gone in, popping out of existence.

I paused before the giant portal marked In. Players streamed around me in annoyance, casting me dirty looks for holding up the line. One of them did a double take, and that steeled my resolve - I had to go through so I stopped drawing attention to myself.

I knew from my earlier experience with the dungeon exit portal that I should be fine going through. But that only put me at ease a little bit. The truth was, I didn’t understand my existence within the game. What if taking portals degraded the code holding me together? What if Holt had a way to co-op portals and transported me to the middle of an ocean, or space, or just erased me somehow?

Oh God, I was feeling another panic attack come on.

No, fuck that!

I took a deep breath, and jumped into the portal.