Rydr followed after Syrna and left the graveyard. As they stepped out, it was like a veil lifted, and the sounds of the city rushed in to greet his ears. He wondered at the spawn point's preternatural silence but shrugged it away as he heard something he didn't expect.

"Are you looking for more DPS in your party? I'm a level three dagger user who can make dungeons that much easier. I won't steal loot like some rogues do!"

"If you're dying too quickly, please consider adding me. A quest gave me a healing spell, and your leveling speed will be sure to take off if you don't die as often!"

"I'm skinny to the eye, but I can tank hits like a champ! Come to me if you need a meat shield at the front! My shield makes me way better than those other wannabe tanks!"

Everywhere Rydr looked, divers hocked...themselves. It was like prostitution for party members! A hand landed on his shoulder, and Rydr found the much shorter Syrna was trying to throw an arm around his shoulders. At best, she hung off him like a weird, off-shoulder human cape.

"Squat down a little, you freak." Rydr would do no such thing. He might not have back problems in-game, but his seven-foot, ten-inch frame was based on his real body. His real body had authentic back problems. Rydr did not squat. Although Rydr bent several times before now, he did it without realizing it.

Syrna huffed and let go. "I bet you missed this when you barreled out of town, didn't you?"

Rydr silently nodded.

She snorted, "Friggin, noob." She smiled at him to take the heat out of the insult. Then Syrna focused.

Syrna grabbed his elbow and walked him around the town square, "Okay, let me break it down. Some shmuck in this crowd is a tank that can't do anything on its own. We are here to provide DPS for them. They are here to provide a useful distraction for us while we lay the beat down."

"Right now, there isn't anyone, including u...." she looked at the arm she held and down at her damaged armor, "including me, that can amount to much in a party. Think basic Dungeons&Dragons set up: tank, healer, mage, physical DPS."

Syrna patted Rydr's arm and started to pull him towards the group of folks advertising themselves as tanks. "I'm willing to bet that your strength score is a lot higher than you want people to know right now?"

Rydr nodded again. He had begun to feel distinctly like a bobblehead around Syrna.

"That's okay. Trust has to be built in any party," she paused for a moment and continued, "thank you for telling me about feats, by the way. A lot of divers would let me storm off and keep that information to themselves."

Rydr shrugged, "I'm not so good with people in real life."

The giant looked sideways at Syrna, "Thanks for not holding me over the barrel...I would have said almost anything to keep you from going."

He looked down at his feet, "I would have gone after my pickax on my own and died a lot if you had left. I get a little one-track-minded." Rydr was becoming more aware of how much he stood out in the crowd. People looked at his height and shirtless, newly ripped figure and held whispered conversations while they kept an eye on him.

"Titan-Classes shouldn't be allowed in this game..."

"Look at the friggin' cheater!"

Rydr wanted a shirt very badly. Amongst the complaints, Rydr heard a title rarely said in real life.

A title I never lived up to.

Syrna patted his elbow again, above the Stone-Guard Vambraces.

The small touch snapped him out of his thoughts. Syrna never noticed his lapse.

It would have been a caring gesture if Syrna hadn't started to use him as a breakwater to get through the thick crowd. She noticed when he realized and grinned at him. A shrug was the only apology she offered.

Rydr grunted and walked forward, mumbling apologies to people he bumped into.

It took nearly two minutes to cross the square without anyone getting squashed under Rydr, but they finally reached the "tank" corner. At least no one fell over. Lunchtime on campus is full of bookworms that don't watch where they're going.

Syrna pulled him up short before they walked into the group and made a hand motion to wait, then pointed at her eyes.

Wait and watch, got it. Rydr thought.

There were around forty tanks, give or take, as some joined parties and others showed up to offer their services. Some had shields, some had no armor at all, and others looked like they were kitted out from head to toe.

Rydr could only wonder how those people acquired so much gear so quickly.

Eventually, one tank stood out to him.

A little below average height, brown hair, and no armor. He held a great, big hammer that had to be a quest reward. Rydr admired the hammer but entertained no thoughts of taking it for himself.

The idea that some divers functioned that way pissed him off. His reasons were entirely personal, but Rydr tried not to dwell on them.

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Rydr watched the tank bounce from one side of the "tank" corner to the other, trying to get into a party.

What caught Rydr's eye is that he didn't give up or take the rejections to heart. He moved on to the next person, a smile on his face like he had a trip just talking to people. People liked him too.

While Rydr was no judge for these things, he felt that the shorter man was remarkably handsome. Something about a halo-effect.

Rydr didn't know how Syrna felt, but the sight of someone else who enjoyed the game just, well, just because, gave him a refreshed feeling. He would rather have someone like that in his party over an intense, guild-driven individual. Rydr nodded to himself; his mind was made up.

He tapped Syrna on the shoulder and, without waiting, strode forward into the crowd of tanks.

Rydr inwardly braced for their indignation, but damn if they didn't part like the Red Sea around his hulking figure. The giant made his way to the amicable tank without issue.

Said tank was talking to someone else, another diver in full armor, who went silent as Rydr's shadow fell across them. The brown-haired man turned around and looked up and up.

"Uh, hi, big fella. How can I help you?" He flashed his smile again, and Rydr realized this was the only guy in the crowd not put off by his new mass.

Or he is an incredible actor.

Hazel eyes peered through brown bangs. Without pause, the smaller man put his hand on his own head and moved it, flat, until it met Rydr's abdomen.

"Say, how tall are you anyway?" The affable young man's confidence never wavered.

Syrna stuck her head out from behind Rydr and said, "I've been wondering that myself!" She proceeded to lean on him like a tree and cross her arms. Rydr hardly felt her weight. The smaller man registered her presence and blinked. No one noticed her behind the giant.

"Oh, uh, I'm a little under eight feet, missed it by two inches," Rydr answered sheepishly. He felt like he blushed but didn't know if the game was that detailed.

"We, well, I, was wondering if you'd like to join our party." He stuck his hand out and said, "My name is Rydr, and this is Syrna." He indicated the small woman using him as a wall.

The still-unnamed man looked Rydr up and down and said, "You look like the whole party on your own, bud." He smiled and took Rydr's hand.

"The name is Urginok. I'm a tank, but I don't want to use a shield." Urginok shook Rydr's hand firmly but without the normal pissing match guys engaged in.

Rydr didn't back down at Urginok's claim. He pointed at himself and Syrna, "I'm a warrior, and Syrna is an archer. I only buff my Strength." He offered his own unorthodox statement to match Urginok's. Let's see if he's willing to tank for another weirdo.

If anything, Urginok's smile grew bigger. "That sounds like it might be...interesting."

That's when Syrna said, "He beat a wolf to death with his bare hands. At level one."

The blonde pantomimed, bracing her foot and ripping something.

"Ripped its jaw off just as I ran up on the fight," Syrna smirked as Urginok's eyebrows vanished into his hair, and Rydr turned tomato red. "He even forgot he had a weapon in his inventory."

Then Syrna blinked and added, "Oh yeah, I only buff my Strength too."

Offhanded as her comment was, Rydr snapped out of his embarrassment to stare at her. "A Strength-based archer? How does that work?"

Syrna shrugged, "Most people would say it doesn't. I'm going to make it work." She stared at Urginok, and her face said "so there."

"Besides," Syrna tapped her knuckles on Rydr's arm, "I found myself a smith that makes Thor look tiny."

Urginok's head swiveled back and forth between them as they spoke, but his smile never wavered despite his evident surprise.

"A smith?" He asked as he eyed Rydr with renewed interest.

"Well, not yet. I dropped my pickax under a pack of wolves." Rydr rubbed the back of his neck and explained his ore quest.

Urginok nodded as he listened to Rydr talk. For some reason, he seemed to get a kick out of just talking to other people. Rydr found his energy infectious and smiled as he spoke to Urginok. The rest of the crowd ignored them as they spoke.

When Rydr finished speaking, Urginok remained silent for a few moments before he nodded and said, "It sounds like this will be weird, so I'm in! Plus, I bet you would make gear for all of us, right?"

Rydr didn't feel like Urginok was trying to take advantage of him but instead made a judgment about Rydr's character. He nodded.

"So, East of town, yeah? Can I get an invite?" Urginok bounced his eyebrows at Rydr and Syrna.

Syrna gestured, and Urginok's name appeared in the party interface at Rydr's vision corner.

Rydr didn't know how to use the interface commands, but he felt he could get by without them. He focused on Urginok's name and thought "options."

Like magic, a sub-menu opened next to his name, and Rydr concentrated on the option to send Urginok a friend request. A transparent checkmark faded in and out of Rydr's view a moment before receiving a notification that said Urginok accepted his request.

Urginok glanced at Rydr before he turned and walked with them through the town square towards East Main.

As they walked, Rydr looked around town since he didn't take the time to drink it in before.

Everywhere he looked, he saw overgrown plants.

Divers ran from place to place and eliminated the plant growth. Some pulled plants from the ground and fell on their ass. Others used weapons to hack at the plants or torches to burn them.

Guards showed up and arrested the torch wielders for attempted arson. In Rydr's opinion, they were arrested for criminal stupidity.

Everywhere he looked, there was an ongoing war against nature. The plants stubbornly grew back once divers left them alone long enough.

No wonder most folks had a couple of levels and gear on Rydr. He never once tried to complete other quests after the Strength Challenge.

Rydr burned in silent shame. Syrna was right to peg him as a complete noob.

"What the hell is this?"

Rydr's head snapped up to look at Syrna and quickly followed her line of sight. Oh, Izor's door is still in the wall....wait.

His view telescoped to Izor's tower's gaping entrance and was instantly hit with a brick of recollection. That insane mage! He's on this street!

Wide-eyed Rydr lunged forward and grabbed the other two's wrists. He ignored their confused cries and towed them quickly past the wedged door and ivy-covered tower.

Getaway, getaway, getaway. No more anything wasted on mage stats. Rydr feared Izor would drag him into the tower for good this time. Maybe use Stockholm Syndrome to brainwash Rydr into joining the Mage's College.

"I'll explain outside the city," Rydr told the other two. They quieted down for the moment and did their best not to fall and face being dragged out of the city by their large party member.

Urginok looked shocked that he couldn't resist Rydr's pulling. Syrna looked resigned to her fate and focused on not falling.

Rydr only stopped his tractor impression once they were outside the city and away from the main path. Rydr was bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to calm his heart.

"What was that about, Red?" Syrna stood behind him and crossed her arms. Urginok was right beside her. His face looked like a kid waiting for a good story while the tank pulled thorns out of his blue tunic.

Rydr knew he had to face the music and turned around to explain.

"Hey, Rydr, while you're out, do you think you could help me with something?" He was there. Izor. Right behind Urginok and Syrna, like he had been there the whole time. He was waving. His dirty blue bathrobe fluttered in the breeze, hints of unconscionable horrors hidden in the shadows of its skirt.

Rydr registered all those things in that exact order. Then he shrieked and leaped for the skies.