The road was becoming narrower, winding its way through ancient, towering trees. Human settlements grew scarce, and we encountered only a handful of fellow travelers along the path. Well, calling it a road was a bit generous, as this stretch hadn't seen maintenance and was essentially a well-worn trail that could turn into a muddy mess if it rained.

We came across a massive cart loaded with various goods pulled by what appeared to be some kind of oxen with three horns. The driver courteously made way for us, and I raised my hand in gratitude as we passed by.

He watched us with a wary eye. I had the feeling he wanted to say something, but then, he only greeted us. He was likely on his way to town to sell his wares.

The air was delightful, thick with the earthy scent of the woods. Many of the trees in this area emitted resin known for its reputed health benefits. Occasionally, we passed trees adorned with pink and red, albeit poisonous, fruits. While the poison wasn't lethal, it was potent enough to induce severe diarrhea, and some people gathered these fruits for use as laxatives.

Perched on the coach's bench, I found myself in a contemplative state, engaged in a silent conversation with my 'tattoo.' Nature's beauty surrounded us, but my thoughts were a turbulent sea. Dolores, the soliloquist, they could have called me.

Several things bothered me, and I attempted to categorize them, a technique I often employed to regain focus. I sorted through the issues, aiming to address those within my control while temporarily shelving the ones I couldn't immediately resolve. My go-to strategy for that type of problem was to tell myself, "I'll revisit this later; bury it for now."

So what were my troubles? I counted them on my fingers: the NPC story, the world story, the fact that I could not log out, the situation I got myself in this world.

These would be four main categories of problems that were busting my brain, and each of them had the potential for enormous trouble.

The NPCs... You did not need to be a specialist to realize that they were very advanced. Even regular, stupid animals, even insects, were behaving intelligently. Well, like insects or animals would behave. Like real ones. Can this be? OK, it is, but how can this be? Did they make a breakthrough in artificial intelligence that I do not know about? OK, I do not know about many things, but wtf, even a backwater girl like me would have heard or read or found out somewhere else, not first in a game, that we have that level of artificial intelligence at our disposition?! Why would they do this only for a game? This is much above any promoted 'artificial intelligence' 'robots' that I've heard about.

No, I cannot solve it. I will just treat them as 'persons' to be treated by them back as a person. Weird, but what else can I do? The question is, what does this mean? Will this AI revolution come soon to our world? Will my car start having feelings? OK, I do not have a car, but a hypothetical car? My dishwasher? Uh, fuck. I don't know. I will try to be polite with our dishwasher.

The world. Is this a problem? Well, how on Earth did they make the world so perfect? It is perfect. Everything fits. Either my brain and eyes, my senses were downgraded and could not discern the difference, or they made it perfect! How can this be? The computing power needed for this was immense, as well as the networking requirements. How did they solve the latency problem? No, I cannot solve this; I leave it as is.

The logout story. Something did not add up there. How could Spartacius' continuous playing be ignored by his room colleagues? OK, I could ask the same question about Lola, but if she had just opened the door to my room, saw me in my bed, and closed it back... that could have happened... Besides Lola, who would come to check on me in my room? Clara? Only if she would gain some brownie points. Nobody else. Fuck, I was lonelier than I thought! Only in cases like this do you truly realize how few people in this world know and care about you. The school? They would send a bill and a reminder in three months. My parents, yeah, but they would need a couple of days; first, they will call, see that they cannot contact me, and then come. And that's it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I sighed.

"I just fucking realized that I am so lonely."

"Yes, I can feel your distress, and I understand your feelings. There are few true friends; that's why they are so precious."

I almost had to bite my tongue not to comment on this. Speaking about AI and behavior: to be understood and get the compassion of an AI! OK, I said I'll treat them as persons.

Then I thought about Spartacius and Ivar, the ghost. All lonely people. Maybe Ivar is even worse than me; he did not mention a Lola or his parents. Fuck. Lonely. Guy.

I shook my head. I'll think about this later.

Alright, this might take another 10 hours to sort out. I'm not talking about my solitude but my never-ending gaming session. I can't imagine Lola leaving me alone in my room all evening, and Spartacius can't be neglected any longer by his colleagues.

If not, my parents will end up calling, and they'll insist that Lola takes me away from the game. It would be fucking embarrassing if it came down to that, my parents having to intervene and pull me out of the game.

So, all I need here is to keep patient; things will get solved. Ivar, the ghost, might also help us. It's a pity that this area seems to be devoid of players. Where are all those Chapter 2 players?

I took another deep breath. Keep cool, Dolores; this will be solved.

Coming now to my fourth point. My situation here.

I have got myself into a lot of trouble and got two kids with me, a human kid and an NPC that thinks she is a feeble sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl. By the way, I need to ask her about her age. Oh, whatever. The kids can only create more trouble for me through their actions, but frankly speaking, I'm good enough for that myself. For creating trouble.

Yeah, OK, here I might have a point that I could solve. I can get rid of Thiara. So Thiara-Tina has to go. I'll find a way how I can deliver her back home.

For the rest, the idea is to survive and see what I can do later.

Now, first, let me get rid of this Grackak-problem I have hanging at my neck. Then I'll think about the rest.

I raised my head at a particularly noisy banter from the two behind.

“Hey, you two, don't make such noise! Everybody and his cat knows we are here on the road.”

Spartacius disagreed with my attempt to silence him:

“The roads are secure! The only problem is that your mount does not let me ride it!”

“You want to be carried? Come here, show me what you are worth! Grrrr!”

“Attack! Take this, you dirty Lynx!”

“Dirty? Growl!”

I rolled my eyes and rested my head on my hand. At least the Lynx accepted to be labeled as my mount. I'll mark that as progress.

I heard a girl's voice, speaking casually, confirming my worries:

“She is so right! You are much too noisy!”

I turned to see who was speaking. Did Alice and Tina get down from the carriage? But I did not recognize their voices.

Spartacius answered for me:

“Amazons!”