>>Buzz<< >>Buzz<< Emy smacked her shaking alarm clock. “I’m up. I’m up.” She stretched as she sat up in bed. After defeating the island bat, she logged out for the evening and got some rest. When she entered the forest proper, the lack of light made it impossible for her to see. The fireflies stayed primarily near the forest’s border, and the heavy foliage obstructed the moon. Finding a good source of light at night was on her new to-do list.

After visiting the restroom, she stepped into the kitchen. Her mother and father were both enjoying breakfast at the counter. There was a plate of eggs and bacon waiting for her.

“Morning, Dad. Morning, Mom.” Emy called out as she made her way to the food.

“Hello, sweetheart. How was your game last night? I hope you didn’t stay up too late.” Her father said.

Emy shook her head. “Nah. I got to bed pretty early, actually.”

“Oh?”

“It was too dark for me to fight monsters.”

“Monsters?” He mother inquired. “What game are you playing?”

“Collector’s Quest.”

“Isn’t that the one with the large cash prize?”

Emy chuckled. “Yeah, and If your nice I might share it with you when I win.”

“If you win.” Her father jested.

“When I win.” She retorted.

“That’s the spirit, sweetie, but I don’t want you playing games all day long. Have you called your old boss and let him know you’re home for the summer? I’m sure he would be willing to give you your old part-time job while you’re home.” Her mother said.

Emy puffed her cheeks out, and some egg fell to the counter. Her dad gave her a stern look.

“Listen to your mother. You can’t waste your whole summer with games. Besides, don’t you want some spending money when the new semester starts?”

Emy deflated. “Fine. I’ll send him a message when I log back on.”

“Thank you.”

Emy finished her breakfast with her family and headed back into her room. She closed the door behind her, shut the lights off and put her headset back on as she got into bed. A moment later she found herself in her personal VR room.

Walking over and grabbing the book for Collector’s Quest, she hesitated. She pulled up her messages, located the contact for her old boss and sent him a message. Once the message was sent, she opened the portal to her game and stepped in.

Her clothing changed into her in-game clothing as an enormous book materialized at her side. To her surprise, she stepped directly into Goldcrest and not the edge of the Forest where she logged out.

“Hmm… That’s interesting.” She said aloud.

“What’s interesting?” An unknown man’s voice responded from behind her.

She spun on her heals and found a muscular, dark-skinned, bald man standing there. “Um… Hello?”

“Hello. My name’s Mac and you must be Emy. Rupert told me about you.” Mac extended his hand expectingly.

Emy extended her own and shook when appropriate. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mac.”

“Now what’s this I hear is interesting?”

“Oh. I was just saying it was interesting that I left the island while in the forest, but when I came back I was here.”

“Ahh. If you log-off outside of a town, you’re body will remain there for a few minutes before it fades. Once it fades, you’ll transport back to nearest town.” Mac explained.

“Wait. So my body stood in the wild for several minutes after I left last night?”

Mac nodded. “Yes. The time to log-off should be displayed near the log-off button. It varies based on where you are, how many threats are around and the such. The systems in place to prevent people from just logging-off when things get to dangerous.”

I didn’t even see the log-off button. I just hit home. She opened her menu and sure enough, there was a log-off button with a timer under it. “Thanks. That’s good information to have.”

“You’re very welcome, miss.”

“But wait. What if I want to stay in the wild? I planned on heading into the mountain today and I don’t want to be teleported back here if I need to log-off.”

“A great question.” Mac reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue crystal. “This is a anchoring stone. If you have one of these on you, you can anchor your log-off point and choose to remain where you log-off rather than teleporting back to a town. They’re very useful to have because they’ll actually check if your log-off spot is safe before letting you back in. If it’s not, you’ll have the option to go back to a town or transport somewhere nearby that’s a bit safer.”

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“That sounds great. Where can I get one of those?”

“Well. Once you convert one from a card to an item, they’re bound to the area. You’ll need to collect a few if you plan on traveling. They’re sold at most inns, but I can give you one for our island. In fact, here.” Mac tossed the crystal to Emy.

As soon as she caught it, it transformed back into a card.

110 - Anchoring Crystal / Item- F / ∞

A crystal used to anchor your spirit to a specified location. You may then choose to log-in to that location rather than at the nearest town. Note: Once an anchoring crystal is converted into an object, it will automatically bind to the surrounding area and will only be effecting in its bound space.

You have obtained card #110 - Anchoring Crystal. You currently do not have this card registered, and it has not reached its registered-limit. Would you like to add this to your registered card slots?

Yes / No

Emy selected no and the card turned back into an inch long crystal. The crystal was clear at first, but took on a blue tinge as it bound to the area. She slipped the crystal into a pouch on her belt and checked her options again. Her log-off button was now split into two options. She could either ‘Log-Off’ or ‘Anchor & Log-Off’.

“Thank you.” Emy nodded her appreciation.

“It’s my pleasure.”

“Rupert said you had some good food at your inn. Sorry I haven’t stopped by yet, but I don’t have a lot of jewels.”

Mac waved away her apologies. “No, please. Don’t worry about it. Everyone comes through our little town differently. Some don’t ever bother coming to visit me or my wife Grace.”

“I’m sorry, I haven’t had the opportunity to meet her either. I’m still fairly new.”

“She runs the guildhall.” Mac pointed to the only other unidentified building in town. It was a small cottage.

“Guildhall?”

“Yes, miss, the guildhall. It’s where you can learn more about the guilds.”

“What guilds?”

Mac chuckled. “I forgot there were still people who don’t know about the guilds. On the mainland, there are several guilds you gain favor with by completing different quests. That favor will allow you to raise in their ranks, which comes with certain benefits.”

“That sounds interesting. What guilds are available and am I limited to joining only one?”

“To be honest, I don’t know much more than that. You’ll have to speak with my wife if you want to learn more. Now. If you would excuse me, I have to tend to my stew.”

Emy nodded. “Thank you for everything, Mac. I think I’ll go stop in to see your wife.”

“Sounds like a plan. Best of luck of Emy.”

With that, Mac departed and entered his inn. Emy looked around briefly for Rupert but couldn’t find him, so she headed for the guildhall. She knocked on the door and hear a woman’s voice call out for her to enter. So she did.

The interior of the small square building was decorated nicely. A wood counter cut the space in half. Behind the counter were several open crates stacked up with a variety of goods in them. Hanging on the wall were four banners, each elaborately detailed.

On the other side of the room, where Emy entered, was a large rug, some seats and a large board. Pinned on the board were various requests for the different guilds. She wanted to head in that direction to read some of them, but the lady waved for Emy to approach the counter.

The woman was slender, had long red hair, and was wearing what could best be described as a uniform. It consisted of a blue and black plaid skirt, long black stalkings, a white undershirt, and a black uniform jacket. The ensemble also had a blue and black plaid tie that matched the skirt. The jacket had blue trim and a gold crest where the front chest pocket normally would be located. The crest looked like a card but had four smaller symbols in that appeared to match some of the objects from each banner.

“Welcome to the guildhall. My name is Grace, and it's a pleasure to meet you.” Grace curtsied.

Emy, out of respect, returned the curtsy with a slight bow. “Hello. I’m Emy and I just met your husband Mac.”

“That burly old fool? I hope he didn’t say anything foolish.” Grace covered her mouth to hide a wide smile.

Chuckling, Emy shook her head. “No. He was very nice. He’s the one who pointed me in your direction. I was hoping you could tell me more about these guilds he mentioned.”

“Splendid! I would be happy to introduce you to the four guilds. What do you know about them already?”

“Well… I now know there’s four of them.”

Grace chuckled. “Oh, my. You are new.” Realizing to herself that what she said could be interpreted wrong, Grace immediately apologized. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come across that way. I just meant I could teach you.”

“No worries. No offense taken.”

“Thank you.” Grace curtsied again.

“Let me guess. You have to stay really professional to represent the guilds? I also assume that's why you’re wearing that uniform?”

Grace nodded. “Again, I apologize. Allow me to explain the guilds.”

“Again, no need to apologize, but please proceed.”

Grace gestured to the first banner hanging on the wall. It was primarily red with yellow accents. The banner was pointed at the bottom and contained two swords crossing one another over a shield.

“This is the adventurer’s guild. They are known for hunting monsters and keeping the peace.”

She took a few steps to the side and gestured at the next banner. This one was blue with gold accents. It was winged at the bottom and showed the image of an open book. On the left of the book was a stylized quill, and on the right was a stylized question mark.

“This banner represents the guild of knowledge. They run the various libraries across the world. Their main focus is discovering the secrets of the world, recording them, studying them and writing about them. Next we have,” she moved to the next banner.

This banner was shadow tailed at the bottom. It had a green and gold theme and displayed a pickaxe crossing over a saw. Underneath the two tools was a diamond.

“This is the mercantile and laborer’s guild. They focus on crating, gathering and, of course, making a profit. Most tradesman on the mainland belong to this guild.” She turned around and gestured toward the last banner. “And that brings us to the last of the four primary guilds.”

Emy looked up at the last banner. Its bottom was square, and it had a black and white theme to it. In the center of this banner was an open book with cards surrounding it in a circle.

“This is the collector’s guild. They focus on collecting all the cards they can and work toward completing the collector’s quest.” Grace turned to face Emy. “What else could I tell you about the guilds today?”

“For starters, how do I join one of them and what does joining them mean? Can I join them all or am I limited to choosing one? Also,” Emy pointed to the board full of notices behind her, “can I take notices for guilds I don’t belong to? Basically,” she leaned in, “tell me everything.”