The first thing I noticed when I woke up was my head hurting like hell. It felt as though someone had driven a spike right through my skull with a sledgehammer. My eyes were still closed, but I could feel them fluttering open. Slowly, carefully, I opened them just enough to see what was going on. The room looked dimly lit, and I realized that it must be early morning because there wasn't any light coming in from outside. When I tried to move, however, pain shot through my body like a bolt of lightning. A groan escaped me, and I fell back onto the bed. I flicked the air to access the game menu like I would normally in Infinite Fantasy Online, and it appeared in front of me.

─ Name: Adam Turner

─ Level: 1

─ Class: Commoner 

─ Skill: Blacksmithing

I sighed and shook my head, trying to clear away the fog. "What happened?" I asked myself out loud. My map was completely blank, but the title of the town came up [Baal]. I had migrated to the right place after all, where was everyone else though? There was some chatter coming from outside the window, so I got off the bed and walked over to it. The sun was rising, and I could hear people talking excitedly.

"Hey! You awake yet?"

My head hurt too much for me to answer, so I just grunted.

"Come on, get up!"

It was Leah, she was my guild mate, and one of my closest friends. She was the guild leader, and I was her second-in-command. But instead of her in game character, it was her actual real life self. She was much younger and cuter than I thought she'd be, and was a lot shorter than me. She was wearing a red dress, and I could tell that she was about to cry. I quickly ran out of the building, which I learn was a house.

"Leah, what's wrong?" I said, worried.

She didn't say anything, but just hugged me tightly. I was surprised, and I returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, Adam," she said quietly into my ear.

I pulled back and looked at her face. Her eyes were puffy, and she was sniffling.

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked.

"Because... because..." she started crying again.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to the guild?"

"No, no, nothing like that."

"Then why are you apologizing?"

She looked down, and tears spilled out of her eyes. "It's just that... I never imagined this happening to us."

I knew what she meant... Earth was going apocalyptic on us, and the world of Infinite Fantasy Online seemed like the best bet. This was our reality now.

"We're here now... We need to make the most of it. Because we'll never have another chance like this."

She nodded and wiped away her tears. 

"Where is everyone else? I want to know what's going on."

"The guild is at the Wombat's Burrow, at the west end of town. You can't miss it. I'm sure everyone will be there already. They're probably waiting for us."

"Alright, let's go. I'm ready to meet them."

We headed towards the Wombat's Burrow, which was a large tavern in town. It was a huge place with a lot of tables and chairs, a bar at the far end and stairs that presumedly headed up in rentable rooms. 

When we entered, I saw a familiar face immediately.

"Hi, Adam!" Tanya said cheerfully.

She was sitting at a table with four other women, all of whom I recognized. The first was Liliana, who played a mage character, though now she was her real life self and had a commoner class like the rest of us. She was the oldest woman, and had been playing since before I joined the guild.

Next was a young woman named Rose and Leah. Rose had been a warrior, and was the youngest person in the guild, and Leah had been a ranger. 

And lastly, was Grace. She used to be a priestess. I had always thought she was cute, and I liked how she dressed.

On the other table was the guys of our guild; George, Damien, Greg, Leon, and Sam. I knew which table I was going to sit at.

"Hi, Adam," the girls all said in unison.

I smiled and sat down next to Leah. "What's going on?"

Liliana spoke up. "We were just discussing what to do with the guild."

"I don't know about you all, but I'm starving," Rose said.

"Let's order something then," I said.

"Oh, yeah, I'm famished too. I haven't eaten anything since logging in." Liana added.

"Does anyone have any money? Because I don't," Leah said.

A dark realisation dawned on everyone's faces.

"We're broke?" I asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"This sucks," I muttered.

"Well, we'll figure something out," Rose said.

"Maybe there are some quests we can do," I suggested.

"There aren't any quests available right now," Felicia replied.

I had spawned with a satchel, I checked it now and it contained some basic blacksmithing materials. I decided to try crafting something.

[You require a forge.]

Ahh damn it. I needed to find an forge.

"Okay well, it looks like we might be able to craft some things. Shall we meet back here for lunch once we've crafted and made some money?"

Everyone agreed, and I left the tavern.

I walked around the town, looking for a forge. There was a blacksmith shop near the entrance to town, but it was closed, the forge was there though and nothing to stop a passerby from using it. I went inside.

The only recipe I had was [Bronze Ingot] and my satchel had copper and tin ores... Scrounging around I found some more blacksmith recipes and tried to learn them.

[You lack the necessary recipe slots, gain more skill points and try again later.]

I sighed. The game mechanics were different to Infinite Fantasy online, where crafting wasn't restricted by having to learn a recipe, as long as you knew the ingredients you could attempt to craft something. I went over to the forge and toggled the crafting menu and began crafting [Bronze Ingot]

─ Skill: Blacksmithing

─ Recipe: Bronze Ingot

─ Required Materials: Copper Ore, Tin Ore

─ Require Fuel: Mana 0/3

─ Durability: 0/10

[You do not have the required amount of [Mana] to craft this item.]

[Would you like to use experience in lieu of [Mana]?]

Fuck an arsehole, yep, yeah send it.

[You do not have the required amount of [Experience] to craft this item.]

Crap on a stick! I stole as many items as would fit in my satchel and promptly stomped out of the workshop.

I headed to the general store and sold my stolen goods, the clerk didn't even blink an eye at me selling the stuff. He just took the items and gave me the gold. The randoms items took me to 560 gold. There was still plenty of time until I was supposed to meet back up with the guild so I explored the town of Baal a bit

I walked past a few houses, each of which had a sign outside stating that they were available for rent. The prices varied greatly depending on what the house was equipped with, but most of them were priced reasonably.

I passed a shop called 'The Wanderer's Rest' but carried on down the street. In the main square of the town I noticed a number of other shops including a weaponsmith, a leatherworker, a tailoring shop, a woodcarver, a tannery and in the centre was a well. The biggest and most impressive building in the main square was the Mercenary Guild. It was a huge structure with several floors, and was painted in red and black. The front door was open, so I stepped inside.

There were two guards standing outside the guild hall, and they stood like statues. I approached one of them, and he remained motionless. I did the same with the other guard, and then walked into the guild.

Inside I found a hall, probably used for martial training, and several door that petered out of this room. There was a desk at the far end of the room with a man behind it.

"Welcome to the Mercenary Guild. How may I help you?"

"What's a Mercenary Guild do?" I asked.

"We provide mercenary services to those who need them."

"So, like you hire out mercenaries? Like a mercenary company?"

"Yes, exactly. And we also offer classes in combat."

"Can you teach me combat?"

"I'm afraid not. We can only train people with [Fighter] job classes, your current job class is [Commoner]."

"Oh, okay."

"If you ever decide to change jobs, please come back. We'll be happy to train you."

"Thanks," I said and left the guild.

I walked out of the guild and saw Rose. "Hey, I'm gonna head back to the Wombat's Burrow, wanna join me?" I said as I approached her.

She was startled, and looked around nervously. "Oh, hey Adam?"

"Yeah, let's go."

***

The Wombats' Burrow was busy as usual, but it was late afternoon and most of the customers were already gone. A few of the servers were cleaning up and getting ready for closing. 

"How'd everyone go?" I asked as Rose and I joined Leah, Grace, Tanya and Liana at the table. The boys had their own table and looked over at me jealously.

"Didn't do so well," Liliana replied.

"Yeah, I don't have any mana or experience points," Rose added.

"Me either, couldn't craft anything," Felicia said.

Leah just slumped her head on the table in defeat. The mood was depressing as a result.

I left the girls to their misery for a moment and went to the inn keeper, when I concentrated on her her name tag appeared above her head, it read Ms Nellie Pelt.

─ Character: Ms. Nellie Pelt (Human)

─ Class: Innkeeper

"Hi"

"Hello there, I'm Ms. Pelt. What can I get you?"

"Can I get some food? I'm starving," I said.

"Of course, what would you like?" she said, and a trade menu popped up.

Most of the options were pretty expensive, so I just got five serves of [Grilled Hare] for 500 gold... which left me with only 60 gold. Not that it would be hard to just steal some more stuff to sell. 

The girls looked up as I approached with eager eyes, and I divvied up the [Grilled Hare]

"That should be enough for us all," I said.

They thanked me and dug in. I watched them eat and smiled, they were actually quite cute when they were eating, except for Grace... who wasn't eating.

"Everything okay Grace? You're not eating," I asked.

"I'm a vegetarian."

"Oh, okay..."

The conversation died after that. I tried to start another one but she ignored me. I just ate my food, after I finished I got a notification.

[You have gained 28 EXP]

It was a revelation! Eating food granted experience points! I was so excited I jumped up and down, then sat back down when I realised everyone was staring at me.

"Sorry, it's just pretty cool!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Leah said.

"At least now," Rose said, "we'll be able to start crafting."

I nodded. I was still hungry and Grace must have notice because she passed me her [Grilled Hare] which I greedily consumed, before getting up.

"Where are you going?" Leah asked.

"To the blacksmith. I want to see if I can craft some ingots."

"Why don't we go together?" Leah said.

"Sure, why not."

"Wait, are we going to meet here for dinner?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yah, 100%."

***

"So, what skill did you get Leah?" I asked on the way to the black smithy.

She sighed. "Astrology..." 

"Oh, okay. Well, what does that do?"

"It tells you how the stars will affect you in the coming month."

"Oh, interesting, I got blacksmithing."

"Oh, really? That's cool. So, what do you plan on making?"

"The only recipe I have at the moment is [Bronze Ingot]."

We made it to the blacksmith shop and luckily he still wasn't around. Must be his day off?

It turned out 10 experience points equaled 1 mana, and I needed 3 mana to make a [Bronze Ingot]. Leah just watched as I activated the forge which brought up a crafting menu and selected the only available option.

10 seconds later my copper and tin ore magically turned into a [Bronze Ingot], but that was it , I started out with 56 experience points but the task chewed up 30 leaving me with 26 experience points, just enough to do jack shit.

"Well... can't do much else."

We needed more money and one bronze ingot was going to buy dick all, so, we did what any reasonable gamer would do and stole as much as we could carry, sold it and headed back to the inn to call it a day.

I shouted everyone, including the boys, this time I got something vegetarian for Grace. My total experience shot up to 66, meaning I'd be able to craft 2 ingots tomorrow.

The rooms were pretty expensive, and we could only realistically rent three rooms...

"So... how should split the rooms?" Rose asked knowing we'd have to co-sleep.

"Grace and I can share with Adam. Tanya, Rose and Liana can share one, and the five other boys can share the last room," Leah suggested.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes, I am. It's just until we get our bearings, then we'll move out."

"Okay, sounds good." I said, noticing the scowls on the other boys faces. I'd never slepp in the same bed as a girl's, let alone two... 

***

There was only one bed, and I was relegated to the chair, which wasn't much better than trying to sleep on an airplane. Since we rented three rooms we got 3 serves of breakfast, which meant we only had to buy 8 more serves. I headed down into the cafeteria where most of the guild were already waiting. They were chatting away as I approached them.

"Morning."

"Good morning Adam," the girls replied.

"What's the plan today?" I asked.

"Umm, we have a problem..." Rose began, "another guild has spawn in Baal."

"Another guild?" I said, confused.

"Yes, they're called the Dark Souls."

"Dark Souls? Why would they be in Baal?"

"The same reason as us... because they're trying to take over the town."

Fuck! Arse! Fuck! Fucking arseholes!

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I said, annoyed. I was going to rip Rose a new one but was interrupted by Leah bursting into the inn...

"We have a problem!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, we know already!"

"You already know about the Asura guild? How?!"

"What?! There's another guild besides the Dark Souls?" Fuck it to hell! This was suppose to be our town, and our town alone.

"There is. It's called the Asura guild. And they're here."

I looked around the room and saw Liliana's face drop, followed by Grace and Felicia. I sighed.

"How many members in each guild?"

"About 15 to 20 members in the Dark Souls, and about 20 to 25 in the Asura guild."

"Shit," I muttered, we only had 11 members. "What are they doing now?"

"They're just getting their bearings around town. They haven't done anything yet."

"Didn't think they would, but let's keep an eye on them."

Leah nodded and went back to her seat. I turned to the others. "Guys..." I said, looking to George, Damien, Greg, Leon, and Sam, "I want you guys to fleece the east side of Baal, steal everything you can get away with and sell it on as soon as you can."

"What?" they all said, surprised.

"Just do it, and don't come back until you're loaded with dough. Got it?"

They all nodded and started talking amongst themselves.

I turned my attention back to the girls. "Let's get to work. We've got the west side. We need to make a lot of money or we're fucked."

"Right, we'll help you," Grace said.

"Thanks."

***

Leah and I arrived at the blacksmith's workshop, the owner was just finishing up a piece of equipment. Monkey's-left-nutsack! With the blacksmith here, it was going to make stealing his shit a lot harder.

"Leah, can you distract him? Just make sure he isn't looking over here?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I'll do just that." she said and handed me her satchel, so that I could hold more stuff.

"Okay, good. Let's get this done."

Leah moved over to the blacksmith, and I watched as she began to talk to him. The blacksmith looked at her and smiled.

"Hey, you're pretty cute. What's your name?"

"My name is Leah, but everyone calls me 'Princess' for some reason."

The blacksmith laughed. "You're funny. I like that."

"Thank you, so do I. You know what, I have some spare time right now. Why don't you show me your work? I bet you're really good."

The blacksmith's eyes lit up. He stood up straight and proudly showed off his latest creation. It was a shield, but it wasn't like any shield I'd ever seen before. It was large, and had a big red gemstone set into it. But it wasn't really the time to be admiring the blacksmith's handiwork, I needed to steal as much of his stuff as I could before he realised I was there.

"Wow, that's amazing! Where did you get the gemstone from?"

He pointed to the gem in the shield. "This is a rare stone called an [Amethyst].' It gives +1 to Dexterity"

"That's great. I'd love to try it out."

"Oh I'm sorry, you would have to buy it first. It's not cheap, but it will save you a lot of pain."

Leah was terrible with bartering, she'd often end up buying thing she really didn't need, and right now we really didn't need a [Amethyst]. My bags were stuffed full, anymore stuff and they'd explode. I rushed over to Leah, but before I could stop her she already started speaking...

"Oh, that sounds great!" Leah said, I tell she had just enter trade with the blacksmith. I grabbed her by the arm to go, but she was stuck.

"Leah, we don't need a shield, let's go," I whispered

"Adam... I can't move... I can't even exit out of the trade menu..."

Damn it! Now what?

"Leah, let's go. I'll buy the damn thing if I have to."

"But I can't move..."

"Okay, fine. I'll buy it. How much is it?"

"10,000 gold."

I cursed under my breath. We have no money... we couldn't sell the stuff I'd just stolen from him... could we???

"Here take these items and place them in the trade menu."

Leah placed the items in the trade menu.

"It's not enough," she said, "that's only gotten us to 4,530 gold."

There was still plenty of stuff in the workshop... I methodically gathered everything I could, making sure I never came within the blacksmith's line of sight. When I was finished I had 23 iron ingots, 12 blue steel ingots, a Legionnaire's long sword, a couple of axes, and iron leggings. I then put them all in the trade menu and waited.

Leah moved away from the blacksmith free from menu stasis. She held the shield and a sack of gold coins.

"Thank you for shopping at the Sharp Anvil. Stop by anytime you need steel mended."

"Wait, try to sell the shield back to him," I said.

She went back to menu stasis, and I waited...

"... he doesn't have enough money to buy the shield back."

"What?" I said, shocked.

"Yeah, he says he needs at least 6,000 gold to buy it back."

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

"What do we do now?"

"Let's try Cartus."

"The general store guy?"

***

Two new people stood outside the general store, dressed in modern Earth clothing.

"Who the fuck are you kids?" One of the new and unfamiliar faces barked at me and Leah. They must be from one of the newly arrived guilds, Dark Souls or Asura.

"My name is Adam Turner, and this is my guild mate Leah. We're here to trade with the general store. Who are you?" I asked.

The two newbies looked at each other, then spoke in unison. "We're from the Dark Souls guild."

"So, you're what, taking over the general store?" I asked, sharing a worried look with Leah.

"Yah something like that," the short one said, "what guild are two from?"

"We're from the Dandelions" I told them with pride.

They both just stared at us for a good minute before breakout in laughter.

"What the fuck is so funny?" I said.

"Nothing, we're just fucking with you. You're a total newbie. You don't even know who we are."

"Why does that even matter?"

He snickered. "... it means you've never been in any guild wars."

"Yeah we're one of the top 100 guilds in the world," the tall one added.

I groaned.

"No, you don't understand. I mean, you're not a part of any guild war. That means you don't know how things work."

I looked at Leah, she nodded.

"Nice shield," the small one said, before the tall one took the cue and grabbed it, Leah tried to hold on but the combination of not being ready and half the size of the guy made her lose grip.

"Hey, give me my shield back!" she yelled.

The tall one shrugged. "Sorry, but you can't have it back. It's ours now."

"You can't just steal! Give it back!"

"No way, bitch. If you want it back you better pay up."

The short one nodded. "Yup, we can do that. How about 10,000 gold?"

I glared at the two of them, then grabbed Leah's arm, "Come one Leah, let's go," I whispered.

"What?"

"Don't argue, we're leaving."

Leah sighed. "Fine."

Fucking Dark Souls pieces of shits. I had to admit though, I was impressed with their tactics. They had locked down the general store and who knows what else, they had taken our stuff. And they had also scared Leah. I guess I should have been thankful they hadn't beaten us up, but I still wanted to kick their asses.

As we walked away I heard the tall one say: "Now, if you want to get your shield back, you'll have to pay us." And the two Dark Souls members laughed to each other.

***

Leah and I went to the blacksmith's workshop. It similarly had a few Dark Souls members guarding it. Fuck it to hell. We change directions and headed back to the Wombat's Burrow.

"What do you think we should do?" Leah asked, as we sat down in the Wombat's Burrow's cafeteria.

"It's a shit show... it's going to be a race to take over the town," I said, rubbing the demons out of my brow, "stay here and block the door after I leave, don't let anyone but our people in."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going to hire some muscle to come help us take over the town. Hopefully we can beat them here before they can do anything."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, you don't even know what they are capable of?"

"You got a better idea? Besides, I'm tired of running away."

"Adam..."

"Just stay here and wait for me."

"Alright."