Chapter 2. First Taste

 ‘Soon, my ass.’ I had been patiently waiting for Yuri to give me the go-ahead to log in and begin. It had been six days since this newer high-tech pod came. I had no option but to hook up and sit in the loading screen to get fed nutrient paste from the pod’s reserves. It held over a month’s worth, so I wasn’t worried about running out. Dipping into my pod’s reserves also beat being fatigued and getting dizzy. But I was past due on my oxygen tax. If I didn’t pay that, plus the late fee soon, I’d be forced into an indentured workforce to pay my debts.

[Call from: Yuri]

  This pod didn’t need voice commands; instead, the device attached to my forehead could read my intentions, and the redundant eye trackers confirmed I was staring at the circular ‘answer’ symbol. The Cerebral Measurement Unit, or CMU, picked up on my intention and answered the call.

  “What’s going on, brudda? You ready to do this?” Yuri appeared as a three-dimensional model in my menu hub. I was still aware of my body and could move my arms while in this state people called ‘half-diving,’ but my vision showed me standing in a mostly blank room that I could decorate and full-dive into.

  “Been ready for days, man. Logging in now.” The CMU read my intention to fully dive into the pod, pulling my blank avatar fully into the sterile-smelling room operating as my homepage. The only things displayed in the room were– my nutrient paste storage measurements, a three dimensional cube that would launch Yonder, and a screen that displayed my contacts and current text messages.

  ”Send me some clips as soon as possible. The person who commissioned this task wants them sooner than later. Make sure you set your pod on capture mode. If you manage to do more than ten, I got credits waiting for you.” I did as he asked and set my pod to start recording everything from my point of view.

  “Got it. I’m going in.” I waved goodbye to the man, and he disappeared. He had told me earlier we’d have to be brief when I was sent in. The time dilation was so extreme that spending too much time chit-chatting would cause me to lose my targets. I touched the spinning cube with the large Y on it, and my vision blurred with bright blue and white lights as the game initialized, displaying the game’s title screen.

Welcome to Yonder

  The words came into focus over a vast blue ocean resting on the orange and purple horizon. The ocean under my feet moved towards a land mass, while the words remained the same distance from me. I moved faster and faster, feeling a slight sensation of wind. In my lower left-hand corner, I could see that the game was getting biometric data on me through the cerebral attachment and scanners within the pod. Cities moved by in a blur beneath me, some places giving me a glimpse of peaceful and serene landscapes, others giving me a snapshot of players and monsters in the midst of all-out war. The bar finished loading and the welcome message faded, as did the scene beneath me, sending me onto a large golden platform covered in markings, in a dark open area that looked like it went on forever. A blue-bordered text box appeared before me, floating in the middle of the platform.

Please Choose a Class:

  I eyed the prompt, at first about to use my hand to scroll through it manually. Instead, I used my mental command to flip through the options. I needed to get used to it sooner than later. Of the several base options provided when starting this game, I was stuck between three: the caster class Witch, the bow-wielding Ranger, or the Druid. Druid seemed like a good choice for a utility healer, and I knew that choosing a pure DPS class was a sure way to spend hours looking for groups to take on dungeons. The base class didn’t matter besides the stats I started with, which were bound to change depending on how I played. None of the starting classes were production-type, either. Since I wanted to focus on production classes to earn in-game gold to exchange it for credits, and getting into hard dungeons or large raid groups to get access to rarer ingredients seemed like a must. I had read quite a few guides on how to maximize profits, but all of them seemed wildly different, except the ones that stuck their nose to the grindstone on production-type classes. That seemed to be an overall favorite of those looking to get rich in this game.

  “Druid it is.” my body flashed to wearing a simple brown robe with white patterns along the hem of the sleeves. I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. I wasn’t too worried about the starting class. I’d do my job, then try to get some legendary mass production ability that could make me rich.

Choose a Name:

  I chose my real first name, not to make things too complicated, and a fantasy surname that seemed to fit my name nicely.

Noah Arkmoar, You have chosen Druid as your base class. Your class will be customized based on your playstyle in the tutorial world over the next ten days . You will gain abilities that will form your Class’s foundation.

  The air rippled around me and the dark expanse transformed into a city that began to fill with other players, who twisted their heads back and forth, taking everything in around them, likely just logging in for the first time as I was. Over seven years since this game's launch, and still, so many new players continue joining every day. People lived their whole lives in this world. Not in the tedious way that I did in Platoon Lords, but because it was exceptionally better than real life. An invisible force began pulling the other players and me into a glimmering rift that deposited us onto a large platform identical to the one we had just been standing on. The city around us was populated with NPCs and other, slightly fewer new players going about their business. A new text overlay appeared before my eyes just a moment before fading away.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Welcome to The City of Beginnings!

You have (1) Unread Message

You have completed your map of the area!

  I mentally opened my messages with no icon to focus on, just the intention of opening them. A two-dimensional envelope appeared centered in my vision that unraveled itself to display a semi-opaque inbox with a single unread message.

  “Welcome, Noah The Druid. Thank you for joining the world of Yonder. Over the next ten days, you can explore and learn about the game while the game learns about you. While in the tutorial instance, exp will not be gained, and skills cannot be obtained. Instead, you will obtain three abilities curated by the A.I based on your playstyle. These will form the core foundation of your Class. You can opt out of the tutorial at any time by visiting Fosako, The Elder Tree, and obtaining your abilities at random.”

  ‘Well, I was hoping I could start grinding production and have something to sell when I found an auction house, but this might be better. I can leave here earlier and start grinding a production class.” I mentally closed my inbox and willed the map open. I was surprised by how massive the area was. Instead of icons on the map, it looked like a rough topographical sketch with handwritten words over only the largest or most renowned buildings.

City of Beginnings

  I could select a pen tool and make markings on the map myself. So in the spirit of experimentation, I drew a smiley face on the map, erased it, then played with the symbols for a moment before a giant of a man wearing full plate armor distracted me.

  “Let’s hit the tavern!” The man said to a much smaller woman wearing a similar garb as mine. “There’s a quest board there we can hit. I got 30 hours left here. Let's move it.” he barked as he began jogging towards the center of town. Waving his new companion forward to follow him. The woman swiveled her head around as she ran, taking in the awe-inspiring sights.

  I dropped my semi-translucent map from my view and took the city in for myself. Large buildings filled with NPCs going about their day, with no large icons over their heads to show available quests; only defeated faces that all but begged for assistance in some manner. I flipped on the less immersive mode and saw question marks above the heads of every NPC and player. Apparently, I needed to actually find out their names before the field was populated.

  “The realism in this place is on another level.” Even seven years after launching, the entrance to this tutorial world held a massive stream of new players dropping in every second. I started walking instead of standing there astonished looking like a tourist, like all the other new players. As I set down the road I eyed the ground. The cobblestone looked and felt real; when stepping on it, I could feel the grooves in the ground and individual pebbles. I picked up a stone off the ground and tossed it, listening to the clacking sounds of it hitting the road.

  ‘Why did I wait so long to play this game?’ I thought, taking in the smells of the air. The aroma in Platoon Lords was that of gunsmoke, whereas here, the smells seemed complex and delicious. Without intending to, I had moved towards a food stall selling roasted vegetables and meat skewers. An overlay with the prices appeared, and I immediately coughed up two of my starting 100 silver coins for a stick of mixed vegetables and meat. Without hesitation, I began scarfing down the kebab, eyes watering with joy. Even synthetic meat was hard to come by on CX12 without a huge corporate salary; the complex smoky flavors of sweet and spicy took me on a journey that suddenly ended when I realized I’d finished my meal. I bought six more skewers and continued down the road, absently munching on my meal.

  ‘I’m never logging out of this game.’ I decided after spending a few hours circling the city. I came across various interesting places like the smiths, taverns, and other food stalls. I bought snacks from every stall I passed and even made a trip back to the kebab stall. The city was packed with players and bright smiling faces; only then realizing I had been walking around with a huge grin on my face as well. That’s when I noticed a large column of players not enjoying themselves, faces solemn and bored. They were being talked to by a lightly armored woman walking back and forth in front of them like some sort of military commander.

  “At Terra Group. we pride ourselves in, over everything else, deadlines being met.” The woman walked back and forth with a small shortsword at her hip. I drew closer. Sliding into the group while not trying to make it look overly obvious, I was trying to figure out a way to get their names.

‘Bingo.’

  “Each of you has reviewed your packet and has a ten-day plan set out for yourself, you will be able to contact me through the friend system, please take a moment to add each other as well. “ When I thought about a friends list it appeared before me in the same text box as my inventory and character sheet. I felt an opportunity arise, so I switched back onto the immersive mode that showed character information and began wildly sending friend requests to the Terra Group players as they turned and did the same to each other. Every single player accepted, as I went to add the lady in charge, I decided against it. She might have a list of names of the Terra employees. Even without her, I had fifty-three names on my friends list.

  “If you finish your daily goal ahead of time and work with each other as support, this is the most important phase of the game and will change the trajectory of your career here at Terra Group. I have my own goals, so I will need you to be patient when requesting my aid. I will call on you all for assistance from time to time.” The black-haired woman then began what looked to be a side conversation with another player, his smug face– the only smiling in the group– made me think he was likely to take over her role of slave driver in this place when she moved onto the real Yonder world. He had accepted my request, displaying the name Gary Citrinal.

  ‘Well, my job just became a whole lot easier.’ Still twenty or so feet away, I turned and started walking back the way I came, not wanting to get spotted by the group and taken off their friends list. I found a nearby soup stall I hadn’t tried yet and sat down at the bar to sample another delicacy. ‘This game is so realistic I'm getting chills,’ I thought as my avatar shivered from the cold breeze and excitement. Taking a spoonful of the beef soup-

Temporary Ability Added!

Gourmet (Passive) (Rare)

You can taste the value of a dish. When eating a prepared dish, you can determine all ingredients. When eating a raw ingredient or prepared dish, you can tell the market value for the food based on region.

  I blinked at the text box. “That has to be the worst ability ever. I can’t think of a single useful application for that…besides maybe judging a cooking contest?” I needed abilities that led to large sums of gold. ‘I’ll just quit eating until I get out of the tutorial. Yuri said these will change quite a few times before the end of my time in the City of Beginnings.’ A large inn with outdoor seating stood on the other side of the road. Several players and NPCs gambled with dice while others drank and cheered. ‘Maybe I could score a luck based skill?’