Clay sat there for a while, simply reeling from the shock of the situation and the weight of the potential implications.

This is insane.

This can’t be happening.

It was like some isekai type story come to life. Except of course this wasn’t real life, but then again, it doesn’t really matter. If the situations conditions were to be believed, then it might as well be real life to him, for all intensive purposes.

He was fucked.

Fuck this! He was absolutely not moving from this god damned bed. A fantasy world filled with monsters that want to eat you, except pain is real and your life is on the line!

Absolutely fuck that.

It’s joked how this situation is a geek’s wet dream, but try actually being here in it, and see if you still feel that way.

To hell with this. If he just stays here for a while then surely someone from the outside world will realise somethings wrong and he’ll be rescued. Not that anyone would even notice he’s gone for at least a week, he lived alone after all. But he surely is not the only person in this mess. Clay highly doubted that he was the only person entrapped like this.

Yep, that’s the answer, just stay right fucking here till help comes! He almost felt relieved by that sentiment, before it all came crashing down, like biting into a sugar coated grapefruit.

The time dilation!

If that message was to be believed, then he could be stuck here for like a hundred years before anyone on the outside even knows something is wrong. Fuck! This explains why they needlessly mention such a detail in that admin announcement. It’s so that you know: there is no help coming.

No, there’s no point in panicking! No good will come of breaking down, or just sitting here, given the assumed circumstances. He needed to take stock of the situation and he couldn’t do that from inside this room.

Clay, for the first time, took in his surroundings proper. He was in a room with a single window, currently closed off by ugly wooden shutters. The room had an equally ugly table and mirror above it. The bed he was currently sitting on was old and stained, like something thats been around way too long in a cheap motel. Clay immediately kicked the covers aside, disgusted by the thought of what must all be living inside the thing.

Looking down, he noted that he was wearing some rather haggard clothing that had seen better days, seemingly made from some kind of hemp, but that was just a guess on his part, since he did not know what hemp was like in real life. He was also wearing some tacky and mouldy smelling boots.

Why was he wearing boots inside a bed anyway? Especially boots this gross. Then again given the condition of the bed it probably didn’t matter all that much. It was likely that the ‘game’ ‘spawned’ him here in full kit. But if that was the case, then where were his weapons. He wasn’t wearing a belt or anything like a holster, so they likely weren’t going to be carried physically. Then what? An inventory?

Clay thought about accessing an inventory and found it quite intuitive. It was revealed to him, what he was carrying, as well as the weight of those items. Naturally, he was carrying one, poor quality iron dagger, one poor quality iron spear, two poor quality minor health potions and thirty nickel coins.

Clay tried equipping the spear to his right hand and it appeared after a brief delay. He almost dropped the weapon due to the suddenness of it. Despite the shaft being made out of some kind of hard wood with only the head being iron, it still felt pretty weighty in his hand. Was he really going to be able to use this thing in a fight? No, wait, he was getting way ahead of himself here, who says he’ll even be doing any fighting.

Clay stored the spear back in his inventory and immediately felt weighed down by it. Like his entire body had just grown ever so slightly heavier. Weight and carry capacity hey. It would seem that’s how it worked. Inventory is not free.

Clay got out of bed and stood up. Despite himself not weighing all that much, the wooden floorboards creaked noisily. Probably rotting wood. He was sure he could smell the frikkin mould. This reminded him once more of the fact that none of this was actually real. He had been so absorbed by the disastrous situation that he had forgotten all about the ‘Deep dive’.

Everything was so real, the mouldy smell irking his nostrils, more than they probably should, the feeling of the spear that was in his hand, the sounds of the floorboards as he stepped over to the mirror and the clarity of his vision. It all felt, more than real.

This thought actually scared him a bit. If he were to return to the real world, would it actually seem dull, like it was ‘less real’. More than that, if he stayed here too long, he felt like he would simply accept it as ‘reality’.

Clay shook the errand runaway thought train from his mind, there was no point worrying over intangible things like that, especially right now. He looked into the mirror and saw exactly what he expected to see. His avatar, looking right back at him.

Clay was once more impressed with the ‘Deep dive’. Here he was moving about in a body, not his own, of a different build, height and bone structure, and yet, it felt perfectly natural, like he had been born with it.

Clay went over to the shutters and opened them. He was momentarily forced to squint as the orange morning sunlight assaulted his eyes. As soon as his eyes adjusted a bit, he was able to make out a sprawling and lively city. There seemed to be quite a bit of commotion going on.

In the distance was a huge stone wall. It seemed to wall part of the city off. A part that was on a slanted hill and seemed to hold what he could only describe as ‘upper class’ houses, compared to the deluge of dull greys and browns that were exhibited all throughout the lower city. The upper city, as well as a portion of the lower city that extended around the outside of the wall found its back up against a steep sprawling mountain range. There was also a smaller wall in the distance, that seemed to border and protect the lower city along the left side, not that he could see more than one side of the city from his third story view point.

After gawking at the scenery for a few more minutes, Clay reinforced his resolve and closed the shutters. He exited the room and followed down the hall. This was apparently some kind of inn, as he passed a number of numbered doors, presumably more rooms. Clay idly wondered as he descended two flights of wooden stairs, if these rooms were housing more ‘players’?

When he arrived at the ground floor, he was greeted with a large open space, housing some tables and chairs, as well as a fireplace and a reception desk. A rather plump looking woman quickly ended her conversation with a much younger man and scurried over to Clay.

“Hi there, I’m sorry, I don’t remember you coming in at all?”, She asked in a half curious, half accusatory tone.

“Ahm, well- I”, Clay could only stutter unsure of how to deal with this. Clearly she had not been expecting him. He was however saved by the young man.

“OH! I know! He’s one of them, a world walker!”, the young man exclaimed rather excitedly.

Wait a second? Were these NPC’s?

The woman suddenly regarding Clay with a warm smile, “Oh dear, please excuse me. You’re our first one. You lot have been popping up all over town, but you be my first. Caught me off guard, that’s all.”

“Um, that’s fine I guess.”

“What’s your name son?”

“Clay.” Clay only realised a moment after he spoke the name, what he had done. His name should for all purposes have been ‘Veil piercer’, yet he had given his real name without even thinking about it. The conversation was just such a natural one, like you would have with any person. But these were not people, they were NPC’s equipped with artificial intelligence. The fact that they were so natural that they would be indistinguishable from any other human being was really throwing him for a loop.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

AI tech had gotten really good in the last few years, but this was light years ahead of even that. Sure, ‘Infinitum online’ had advertised the next generation of AI as part of their sales pitch, but this was so much more than what he expected. Would he even be able to tell NPC’s and other players apart at this rate? There were just too many major things happening for him to keep up, he was seriously starting to feel overloaded here.

At any rate, talking to an AI so realistic they might as well be human, it did not seem right to give up a childish name like ‘Veil piercer’. He would probably stick with ‘Clay’ from here on out.

“Hey what’s your stats?” The young man interrupted Clays musings.

“Ten in all stats.” Clay answered, seeing no reason to withhold the information.

“Don’t be rude!” The rotund inn keeper scolded her son.

“Huh? Ten? All? My two year old sister has better stats than that! What the heck?”

“Hassum!” His mother clearly getting more than a little irritated with him.

Clay was also getting a little ticked off now, “Jeez dude, I just got here, I’m only level zero you know!”

“Level zero?” Both mother and son looked at him in shock, before looking at each other seemingly puzzled.

“What the heck?” Hassum suddenly burst out. “What good is a level zero gonna be?”

“Hassum, stop being so rude!”

“Oww, Oww, Oww!” Hassum complained as his mother literally dragged him along by the ear.

“I am sorry for my son’s behaviour. If you’ll excuse me, I have to discipline him a little. If you go out that door, turn left on the street and then follow the road all the way down, you’ll come upon the main market square. Can’t miss it, it has a functioning water fountain, quite pretty it is. Anyway, the mayor has instructed us innkeepers to send all the world walkers there for now.”

“Ah, thanks?” Clay mumbled after the women as she dragged her son through a door behind the counter and out of sight.

Clay sighed. This was already exhausting and he hasn’t even left the bloody start location yet. And what was up with that kids rude behaviour? So what if he was level zero, he would just level on some monsters in the end. Well, the whole pain and death thing still rang true, fresh in his mind, so maybe he wouldn’t.

Either way this little encounter actually answered a whole lot of questions for him. But in turn, it also raised a bunch of new ones.

With nothing better to do and no better leads, Clay followed the woman’s instructions, exiting the inn, he began walking down the compacted dirt road. The sights, sounds and smells were once more bombarding his senses. The smells being the most prominent, as he could smell the smell of wet earth, the smells of piss and shit and the smells of delicious food being cooked. Honestly he did not quite know what to make of it all.

He instead tried to distract himself from the sensory overload, and pondered the earlier conversation. There were clearly other players all abound. But the NPC’s clearly can’t tell them apart from other NPC’s any better than he can, even if they are aware of the concept of the players, as indicated by the term ‘world walker’. Things were certainly getting interesting.

Also some of the kids remarks while rather insulting were also quite strange. Why was his stats or his level such a surprise. It was a given that new characters started at level zero. Even if NPC’s didn’t share such general real world knowledge, they surely would have been instilled with such obvious information for the sake of the game. And it was more than that, not only were they surprised by the information, but it almost seemed like the woman was pitying him at that point. What the heck was the big deal, he would level soon enough.

The whole time while Clay was walking down the street, past many houses, establishments and food and item stalls, he was assaulted by his various senses. This was clearly going to take some getting used to. There were many people around all milling about and apparently chatting quite excitedly. The few conversations that he did overhear, seemed like most were talking about the ‘world walkers’ and what it means for the city and the world. Although he did not really catch much of the conversations, instead focusing on not being overwhelmed by his senses.

Clay eventually reached a sizable open plaza filled with people all wearing the same outfit as him. There was a pathetic excuse for a water fountain in the center of it all. Pretty my ass.

It did not take a genius to figure out that these were all players. There was at least a few hundred of them present. Clay wondered if this starting town was perhaps instanced. There should have been at least tens of thousands of players online for the launch and this is not that. Also you could not fit that many players in a town.

On the other hand ‘Infinitum online’ did brag a lot during marketing about its infinite procedurally generated game world. If that were true, there may have been no need to instance anything at all. Either way, it would be hard to answer right now.

As Clay approached the group, he noticed that the tension in the air was positively palpable. The mood was indeed quite dire, it left no doubt in his mind that everyone here had received the same doomsday message. There were a lot of serious hushed conversations going on.

Clay also noticed that the entire plaza was lined with what could only be described as city guards. Even though they all had a wide variety of weapons and equipment and all looked rather shabby, they all gave off the vigilant watch dog type aura only city guards can. Clay was certain, this plaza, full of pensive rowdy and foreign elements, probably had the guards all on edge. At least that was the impression they gave off.

Clay also noticed a couple of women amongst the players, only a handful mind you, but those that were present were all talking and carrying themselves in a very unladylike fashion. It only took a moment for Clay’s brain to catch up… They were all most likely guys!

A bunch of guys trapped in female bodies. Given how the game let you create any human avatar you wanted and the way the ‘Deep dive’ strove for realism and integrated the avatar seamlessly with you mind… Being stuck inside a female body under such circumstances, must be a real mind fuck.

I mean, there are considerably differences between men and women, beyond physical appearance. There are differences in mindset, in hormones, emotions and a host of other things. Clay doubted the ‘Deep dive’ was simply going to gloss over these details, based on what he had seen so far. He also suspected it perfectly capable of and willing to make changes to your thought patterns. Clay was seriously concerned about the long term repercussions of a gender swap under these conditions.

Come to think of it, there were only a handful of female avatars present. By any RPG’s standards there should have been a lot more. Where were all of them?

Clay pondered the thought for a few more moments, before realising the answer was in the question itself. If you as a guy woke up, in bed with a fully functioning and most likely hot female body that was perfectly lifelike and integrated with your mind, what would you be doing for the next few hours? We would likely not see the bulk of the female avatars for some time to come.

Clay almost envied them, but ultimately the concerns over the gender swap and its potential issues were too much for him to regret his choice of male avatar.

“All right, good morning everyone.” A suddenly loud and authoritative voice called out across the plaza. Everyone, both the players and the crowd of NPC’s that had gathered, quieted down.

“I am commander of the city watch, you can call me captain Angsun. I welcome you all, world walkers, to the great city of Belloram.” The aged and strong looking man, with a head and beard full of greying and unkempt hair and a face full of old scars, suddenly signaled, and all the city guards started clapping. The crowd joined in too, as if to celebrate the arrival of the players.

Well this part is feeling a little more like a games opening ceremony at least.

The captain continued speaking once the clapping died down: “We have been expecting your arrival for quite some time now and as such, the king has handed down instructions on how to welcome you and assist you in this world.”

He paused for a moment to make sure all the players were following him and paying attention. “Myself and various other volunteers from the guard will be talking groups of you out into the wilderness to get a feel for the local environment and monsters, and assist in any questions you may have. We will do this a couple of times as a welcoming and an introduction of sorts.”

“Also there is a large communal lodging being set up, just outside the main market district to house you guys, until you can get on your feet. Some very basic rations will be supplied if necessary, courtesy of our kind mayor.”

Angsun indicated to words a rather fat and well dressed man, who in turn waved while the crowd once more clapped on.

“Alright before we go any further, I just need you guys to provide me with a bit of info. First up, I don’t see any of you carrying anything, can I confirm that you all have inventories like the rest of us?”

There was a lot of nodding.

“And do any of you have weapons that you can use, stored?”

More nodding.

“Great, that’s good news. Okay, I know it’s a bit rude for a stranger to ask, but I need to know what I’m working here, for safety sake. Can you guys just give me an idea of what the average level is amongst you?”

Clay noticed that a lot of NPC’s especially the guards started smiling, seemingly in eager anticipation. The mayor especially so.

And then came the answer. Many people answering ‘level zero’ and many more nodding in agreement. It didn’t take long for the captain to realise that every single player present was level zero. It didn’t take long for the crowds noisy chatter to completely die down to the point that you could hear the birds chirping in the distance. Nor did it for most of the guard and crowd to have a mixture of pensive looks, shock and outrage on their faces. The mayor especially seemed to turn a deathly pale shade of white and looked like he was about to throw up.

Angsun turned to have a heated whispering match with the man next to him. There were several furious hand gestures involved, some clearly indicating the players other seemingly praying to the gods above.

Eventually as the crowd had started becoming noisy once more, this time for very different reasons, Angsun once more turned to address the players.

“Okay. So, um. We are going to still go with the same plan. Your levels are admittedly a little lower than we expected, but we’ll just have to compensate. Prepare yourselves, we will soon be leading groups of you to go-” Angsun seemed almost physically pained by what he was about to say next, “- frog hunting.”

The crowd grew even louder and the mayor, well he seemed to simply storm off in quite a huff.