Nicholas laid on his living room couch, working on some university tasks. It had been over a week since the start of the year and now they had actual work to do. The main subjects their line of work concerned over were neuroscience and advanced programming which were supported by other subjects such as math and a little bit of medical science.

Their first years were about understanding the current limitations of the human brain and virtual reality machinery so they could dwell deeper into what they can do with the current knowledge and technology. Later on the subjects would have to become more specific but during the first years their struggles were the basics with no real connection between a person and the computer.

Programming in it self had become a main part of the normal school curriculum a decade ago so most if not everyone of the younger generation already knew how to make programs on a normal computer and programming on a Link wasn't much different though it did have plenty of new additional requirements and rules.

You could run programs on a Link externally with a computer or use the more advanced way which was of course using the link itself and programming in a virtual environment, however that was a bit volatile for beginner usage.

Any program made in a virtual environment had little error control by default so if you made a mistake it would leave you at least with a migraine and at worst it could leave you with something you could never get rid of.

As scary as that might sound to a beginner, most professionals preferred to use the virtual environment as it opened up a lot more options and all of the dangers could be removed with control programs and safety nets as long as you understood how to use them. Nicholas didn't have to think much about dangers as first years they would only use the Link as a intermedium to run the programs so there were no dangers to the user.

His homework was simple. Make a calender like you would on a normal table computer that takes the date, month and year from the links own internal timetable and add an a notification to a day, however now you would have to fulfill the requirements needed for a Link to run the program.

Nicholas had plenty of experience with programming since he studied it during his school years as well as having to program a few devices while working. At first he struggled but he found the missing pieces eventually and everything worked properly so he submitted it to the assigned drop box.

With plenty of the day left he unplugged the Link from his trusty laptop and put it on to immerse himself with what had become one of his favorite pastimes, Land of Irith.

Even though it had only been roughly a week since she had started as a blacksmithing disciple, in game it had already been almost a month. She had over time come to impress the whole workshop and in doing so become one of their trusty workers in essence.

She had started her own little project as well during work downtime where she would go out and mine a bit and once she was satisfied she would come back and sell the ore to buy steel bars so she could continue the real project. Forging her own set of armor. She also had some interest in a weapon however with a multitude of choices for a weapon she was at a loss on what to make so she focused on her armor. The set of armor consisted of 3 pieces with 2 pieces on the way.

A chest piece, shoulder piece, elbow guards, gloves and boots all made of steel.

She had completed the three most simple design pieces which were the chest piece, elbow guards, and shoulder pieces. The chest piece covered her from her shoulders to her waist, which had been designed so that certain pieces had hinges which allowed some freedom of movement if she wanted to kneel down or crouch.

She made the elbow guards as an after thought once she realized that the armor set she had in mind had gaping holes from her wrists to her shoulder and if she ever had to block something blunt with her arm she didn't have any way to avoid injury.

The design was simple it reached from her shoulder piece to her wrist, the metal parts only covered her elbow side as she wanted to reduce movement limiting factors. It had three leather straps that held the pieces in place and the three pieces were connected hinges which allowed full movement of the arm.

The shoulder guards were probably the most delicate in design, they covered her shoulders and around her neck. Both pairs had four moving parts which allowed full movement of her shoulders from kneeling down to lifting something over her head as the hinges let the pieces move respectively. She had finally finished them today and it was certain they took the most work out of the three pieces so far.

The other two pieces left were gloves and boots which surprisingly were more tedious to make, each finger on a glove required numerous moving pieces and they were all different size, each foot required four independent parts so that the whole foot could move and adjust to the environment for balance.

Most of the armor she had made so far in the workshop had had very little moving parts and was designed for mass production more than for a specific person and took far a lot less time to make due to that.

Having some simple armor wasn't to her liking, if she was to travel and fight someone head on at close range she needed something she could be as comfortable as she could and as safe as she felt she needed to be. She had foregone the idea of a helmet and pants due to helmet reducing her vision and head movement and the pants which obstructed a lot of her leg movement which was crucial in combat.

Most workers looked at her work in awe and wonder, not only because of the results which were good but because making this sort of armor required a massive amount of patience and skill. Even Cybil was shocked when she had finished her shoulder piece, if it weren't for the fact that they were designed for a dwarf girl the design itself screamed expensive.

"That really is some beautiful work you've done there Aleyn."

Cybil had been observing her as she finished her shoulder pieces and was now polishing and removing rough edges with a grindstone.

"Oh hello Cybil" She had been concentrating so hard she didn't even notice him approach.

Aleyn put the shoulder pieces on a wooden stick figure she made that held all of the pieces she had made so far.

"It could have came out better but I'm still very happy with the results."

"Nonsense, they look absolutely fantastic." Cybil patted Aleyns shoulders trying to encourage her which caused her to blush with pride.

"You're not done quite yet though are you thought? What's next on your list." Cybil asked curiously

She pointed on the table which had a few scrolls on it which had drawings and writings on them

"Plan is to make pair of gloves and boots still. Then I think I'm done with the armor and can start thinking of what sort of a weapon I want, to go with the armor."

She had written down most thoughts and drawn multiple sketches of every piece multiple times, it was quite a stack of papers.

Cybil took a look at each of them. Each page had measurements and even some speculation with trial and error comments. He took a look at the last two pages which contained the gloves and boots, both of their models were very intricate and specific.

"This is very good. The gloves and boots look very difficult to make though. If you need any help don't be afraid to ask, Im sure anyone here should be happy to help you with them."

He put the papers down and turned to Aleyn.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Though work comes first of course. We got a request for some nails and building tools, it seems someone's planning to build a new house here."

"Gotcha, Am I working with someone or solo?" She said while wrapping things up with her project.

"Everyone's busy at the moment so you need to work on your own this time. It's not a complicated order though so it should be fine. Here's the details." He handed the order to Aleyn.

500 Nails

8 Hammers

6 Hatchets

6 Axes

3 Whipsaws

"Woah, all of this is gonna take at least a few days." She said with some worry.

"Yeh its a big order, start with the tools. Once you've made a hundred nails send them my way and I'll get someone to deliver them. I'll get you some help once people become free."

"Okay, I'll start then."

She was about to leave when Cybil stopped her.

"Oh yea, do you have copies of these armor plans? I'd like to show off to some friends when I go back to Dvalfgar in a couple of weeks."

"Yeh you can take those, I got copies in my badge." she said with a sigh and left the scene

"Sweet." Cybil whispered with a smile.

He had lied about wanting to show off. He had something far more interesting in mind.

Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks in game while it only had been a few days in actuality.

Nicholas's school time was uneventful. Andre worshipping cult seemed to have died down a bit but would every now and then be resurrected when his new achievements were aired on tv and he boasted about them in class. Nicholas didn't really give a damn about them of course as his mind was mostly full of either studying or his little armor project in game.

The whole class was hanging around in a room after their programming class since they were allowed to use the computer classes as long as they didn't interrupt any classes that were going on in them.

"Yo Nic, whatcha doing?" Ken came up to him after seeing Nicholas staring at the computer screen and making notes.

Nicholas was currently looking at medieval armor and pictures of armor people had posted from LoI.

"Oh not much. Just researching and helping Elle."

Elle was sitting next to Nicholas. She was working on today's task and occasionally ran into issues which Nicholas helped her with.

Ken took a look at what he was looking at and writing in his notebook.

"You making armor?" Ken asked while raising an eyebrow

"Yeh, I've finished it mostly but having some problems with the gauntlets so trying to see if i can find a spike of inspiration somewhere."

He took a quick look at Elle's code after answering.

"You misspelled the directory."

"Dammit." Elle frustratedly replied as she noticed it herself.

Ken was took a look at Elle's program and tried to encourage her.

"Don't worry, you're almost done." He tried to at least be encouraging.

"Mhmmm..." Elle grunted a reply, obviously slightly frustrated with the whole thing.

With his encouragement plan failing Ken tried to change the subject.

"By the way, you going to attend the Arena tournament Nic?"

Nicholas took his face off the computer in confusion.

"The what?"

"Oh you haven't heard about it? Well..." Ken started explaining the event.

Apparently each capital city had its own Arena for fighting, and every three months in game they would hold a tournament where people fought one on one. The competitors gain rewards based on their performance on rankings and the person at the top would fight against the other capitals winners for fame and fortune. As much as it was entertainment it was also the best opportunity show your skills.

"That's fancy, whats the grand price?" Nicholas asked as the event had grasped his curiosity.

"No clue, its usually money and items but the amount and items vary from tournament to tournament. Though last year it was 15 thousand gold and eight high grade elemental stones."

"Woah 15 thousand?! That's an unnecessarily large amount of money." Nicholas said in shock he had no real clue about the elemental stones, but the amount of money was already absurd.

"I feel the same." Elle replied while on her last few lines of code

"Its a big deal, though if you win two times in a row then you don't get anything until someone else beats you and you win the next one." Ken continued

"Wouldn't that make it profitable to just fake a loss though?"

"Yeh it would, but the fame you get for holding your title is large. Also imagine how big of a hit your status would take if you were caught losing on purpose." Ken explained

"Well when you put it like that it does make sense."

"One guy got caught during the first year of the game release and he can't enter the tournament anymore from what I remember." Elle said with a slight tone of relief as she finished her task.

With all the talk about fame and fortune something crossed Nicholas's mind.

"Let me guess.. Andre over there is the champ?"

Ken took a look at the guy who was surrounded by a lot of people in his own little corner.

"Well he is quite high ranked but he actually has a lot of competition and has to work for it."

"He usually has to compete against a like five people but lately the number has been increasing..." Elle added.

"Figures. Would be odd if there weren't other strong people looking for glory."

"I'm gonna go get some coffee, you two want any?" Elle said as she stood up and stretched a bit.

"No thanks." Both Ken and Nicholas Declined.

As Elle took off Nicholas thought of something.

"So hows the tournament rules then, everything goes or what?"

"Ah, you can check all of the rules online. There's way too many things to remember."

Ken opened up a new tab on Nicholas's computer and showed him a site which had compiled info on the tournament.

You could fight using magic and weapons, rule set on weaponry was somewhat lax which confused Nicholas, wouldn't it be bad if people died due to something silly? But as it turns out there was a safety net in the tournament, they hired a massive amount of people with high grade magical ability to summon a protective zone inside of it.

The people in the arena couldn't die, but could be injured to the extend they wish they were. After every match the fighters would be healed to their original condition however it didn't effect weapons or any other equipment. Basically, they wanted a bloodshed without casualties.

"This has potential to be a late night movie." Nicholas said while reading the fine print.

"It's actually broadcasted on television and people log on to watch it in the arena in masses. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it, though actually.. no I'm not." Ken replied.

"Comedian huh..." Nicholas frowned at the comment.

"Well don't get me wrong, but you're really lacking in that department."

"But... no you're right."

Nicholas couldn't think of anyway to refute Ken, he really wasn't on track with the times.

"Anyway, I'm probably not attending. I'm going to put it on my to do list though so I'll enter some day."

"Figures, not confident?" Ken smirked

"You could say that."

"Well, that's probably true. You should really leave that town of yours and get some fighting experience."

"Soon, my dear Ken, soon." Nicholas smiled.