As they neared the tree line, Eli voiced his concerns. "Life is pretty fragile here. I almost just died."

"I think you were down to two HP," Amy confirmed. "Not that you have a lot of HP to begin with."

"Right. And someone must've placed that trap." Eli sighed. "I was certain it wouldn't be all rainbows and puppy dogs. There are people or things out there who want to hurt us."

"Just like in real life," she said, her voice low.

"My sister was outside Event Horizon Dynamics," Eli said.

"So she's here?"

"I don't know. I think so. She was protesting outside the building. I have to find her. She wasn’t among the group where I woke up. She was with the protesters."

"She isn’t alone, Eli. She’ll be fine."

"I hope so."

"I'm sure she is. Jacqueline has access to these health potions too. They're pretty nifty."

"How many of those potions do you have left?"

"I started with five, so three now. I’ve got a few mana potions too, and some food and water."

"Water?" he asked, his throat suddenly parched.

"Sure." She held out her hand, and a plastic bottle popped out of thin air.

"That is weird," he said, gratefully accepting the bottle. "Also, why a plastic bottle?"

"Convenient, right?" she asked. "And why not a plastic bottle?"

"I mean," he said, looking her up and down, then realized she couldn’t see him. "You’re wearing clothes like you’re a slightly wealthy peasant in medieval times or something. You know those shows that are supposed to depict common folk, but the costume department does their job a little too well, so everyone is dressed just a bit too nice, and no one has even a speck of dirt on them? That’s kind of what you look like. So, why not complete the image and use a water-skin or something?"

"No clue. So, have you thought any more about your class?" she asked, changing the subject. "Not in the fifteen minutes since our last conversation. I've been a little busy being blown up. Maybe a hunter or something? The Beastmaster class might not be bad, you know, if we’re hunting together. You have your pets, and I have mine. Keep us out of danger."

"Hunting together?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Eli immediately turned warm and red. It even spread from his face down to his chest.

"I didn’t mean..."

"I’m just busting your balls. Of course, we’ll stick together anyway, all right?"

"Yeah," he said. "So maybe Beastmaster."

She nodded. "Shepherd is a support class, but if I'm interpreting these things right, I'll have a lot of potential later on, even if I won't go waving a sword around myself. I have animal slots. Rufus takes up two slots out of ten, so that leaves eight."

"So what happened when you leveled up? Did you get another slot?"

She thought for a moment, and her eyes jumped around. No, he realized, she wasn’t thinking. She was operating her interface with her brain.

"No more animal slots. It gave me five stat points to allocate and increased my HP, MP, and my stamina. Also, I got a skill point as well, and a few skills to choose from, other than my starting ones."

"Cool," he said, as they broke through the tree line and out onto the grassy field again. It was empty of people now, so they set their sights on Infinite Innovation Solutions.

"Do you see any critters around?" Amy asked.

"Not really. There are some birds up ahead, but that’s about it."

"Perfect," she said. "I want to try taming one."

"What do you want a bird for?"

"My pets have skills too. So I want to see what sort of skills different pets get. I can release the bird after if I want to. So there’s no harm in trying, right?"

"Right," he said, glancing down at the dog. "What’s Rufus got?"

"Right now, all he has is Growl, which gives the Intimidated status, and he has Fetch Help, which is what I used to get him to run to you. Also, a passive skill called Good Boy, but as far as I can tell, it doesn’t grant anything."

"So his skills are basically being a dog."

"Such a good dog, though," she said, scratching behind his ear.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Rufus looked up and tilted his head, like he wasn’t quite sure what the hell they were talking about.

"We're coming up on the birds now," Eli said. "How does this taming skill work?"

"Well, it costs a bunch of mana, and I just select the target. There’s a range component, so I have to be kind of close. The success rate is a really complicated-looking formula. I’m going to need pen and paper to calculate this. Or my phone, if I didn’t lose it."

"I don't think it would work here, anyway."

"Guess you’re right," she said. "We have to get closer."

"Ah, crap."

"What?"

"They flew off. I think we spooked them."

"Oh well."

Eli reached up and grabbed hold of her shoulder.

"What?" she asked.

He pointed, feeling stupid, and told her, "There’s something on the grass between us and the building."

"What is it?"

"I don’t know. It looks kind of like a person, but small, with big ears, and its skin is green, I think, but darker than the grass."

"Sounds like an orc? Maybe a goblin, since it's small?"

Eli squinted. "Maybe. Now it's waving at us."

"Waving?"

"Uh-huh."

"What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go say hi," Amy said.

They approached the greenish, small man-thing with huge ears cautiously. Rufus sniffed the air, but didn’t seem frazzled.

"Hello," it said.

"Are you a goblin?" Eli asked.

It frowned. "My name is Solomon, and yes, I am a goblin. What kind of question is that? You can see, can't you? Small, green, big ears, pretty nose. A goblin. You’re humans. Have we settled that now?"

"Did you come here through a black hole?" Eli asked.

"I—what?" Solomon asked. "I'm not sure we're speaking the same language."

Solomon turned to Amy. "Is he slow in the head or something?"

"I'm not sure," Amy said.

"Look," Solomon began, "You really shouldn’t be here. Best you leave. I tried to talk to your friends over there in that huge building, but they wouldn’t see me, wouldn’t let me in to talk. They just kept looking at me through the window and a pair of guards kept shouting at me to leave."

"Why shouldn’t we be here?" Eli asked.

"You don’t belong."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means you’re in goblin territory, and the goblins around here aren’t so friendly with humans. When they spot you, there'll be trouble. Since you brought some sort of stone Mage tower, it won't be long before they notice you."

"You’re friendly," Eli said. "Kind of."

"Well, I’m not with them, am I? Me and a bunch of others left because we grew tired of their barbaric tendencies."

"Barbaric how?" Amy asked.

Eli took the opportunity to inspect Solomon during a long series of annoyed grunts and exasperated from the goblin.

Solomon, Goblin, level 22.

Nothing about class, stats, or skills.

"They’re animals. Figuratively, of course. They are goblins, but they act like animals. We're pretty far from civilization around here, so things get a little crazy sometimes."

"Are there more humans in Aryxia?" Eli asked.

Solomon looked at him like he was the densest person in existence. "More humans where?"

Eli pointed around aimlessly. "Well, I mean... everywhere. This place is called Aryxia, right?"

"That is the name of our world, yes. And there are more humans. You are the most widespread race, after all, since you breed like rabbits. Now, are you here to make a claim and fight this area’s goblin infestation? If so, you’ve got a great friend in me. But if not, you take that ugly hunk of stone with you and just head north."

Solomon pointed over his shoulder. "You keep going north until you hit one of the main roads. I mean, I’m not judging, but your level is pitiful. You wouldn’t stand a chance against the goblins, and I’m guessing your scared friends in that tower won’t, either."

"What’s your class?" Eli asked.

"Class? You mean, like, my profession? I’m a librarian by trade," Solomon said. "I work with books, scrolls, all that good stuff. You have any? I can trade you."

"I’m afraid not," Eli replied. "So your group is fighting against this other group?"

"Hiding, more like."

"Do you eat humans?" Eli asked.

"No, of course we don’t," Solomon said. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry," Eli mumbled.

After a moment of silence, Solomon shrugged. "Well, goodbye then."

They watched him go.

"So, what do you think?" Eli asked.

"I think you should work a little on your tact. Solomon seems nice."

"Well, was he an NPC?" Eli asked. "I mean, if we’re going by this being a game, then..."

"I don’t think so," Amy said. "He was far too eloquent to be a scripted NPC."

Eli nodded. "I agree.

"Just because we’re in a game-like world doesn’t mean we’re in an actual game. You know, infinite universes and all that," Amy said.

"So you’re saying a black hole transported us to another universe or dimension where people just have stats and classes and backpacks with magically appearing bottles of water?" he asked.

"Why not?"

"Maybe," Eli said, not convinced. "I still think there’s something bigger about all this. At least now we know where to go if we want to find other humans, right? North, like he said. We should probably head into headquarters and inform the others about the threat of goblins and everything else we’ve learned. I’m sure they’ve found a bunch to share, too."

"Right."

It took them about forty-five minutes to reach the entrance to Infinite Innovation Solutions, where they found two people waiting outside for them. One held his spear pointed right at them, and the other kept his sword sheathed by his hip. They were both in leather armor.

"Stay right there," the spearman said.

"How do we know you’re human?" the other one added.

"You’re the security guards, right?" Eli asked. "You must recognize Rufus here, at least. There can’t be many seeing-eye dogs coming into the office on a daily basis."

Their shoulders relaxed, and the spear tip moved to point toward the sky instead.

"Right, of course. Sorry. Everyone’s on edge. People are scared. We haven’t had many stragglers coming this long after everyone got pulled together."

"It’s fine," Amy said.

"Can we come in?" Eli asked.

"Sure, sure, of course," the spearman said, stepping out of the way. "Unfortunately, we don’t have any power, so you'll have to take the stairs."

Amy groaned. "I hate stairs."

"Which floor?" Eli asked.

"Well... all of them. Most of everyone is accounted for in here, really," the spearman said. "Most people went to their offices."

Eli inspected the spearman.

Marsch. Human. Level 1 Fighter (Spearman).

Was Spearman a sub-class? It showed up like a little spear icon to the right of his class. The guard wielding the sword had the same class, but with a sword icon.

Daniel. Human. Level 1 Fighter (Swordsman).

He wanted to ask more about their classes, but Amy pulled him inside. Together, they entered the building of Infinite Innovation Solutions as if it were any other Monday.