"A mage? What's that like?" Aya asked curiously. "I don't think I've ever met one of them,"

The cashier, who at this point had not given her name stared at Aya with an expression of incredulity. After all, mages were one of the most popular classes most people chose to play, second only to knights who were at the top of character creation.

"I find that hard to believe," the cashier said. "What do you play?"

"A summoner,"

Aya was met with a snort in reply, the cashier put down the magazine ready to face the conversation.

"Now that's...interesting," she said.

"I'm Aya, by the way, you uh...haven't given me your name," the brunette said in a friendly manner, maybe they would be able to exchange information and play when Aya eventually left Bloom Haven.

"Nisha," the cashier replied folding her arms. A silence passed between them, Nisha wasn't much of a talker and Aya felt too awkward under her cold gaze.

"It's nice to meet you, Nisha," Aya said lifting her drink in a pseudo cheer.

Nisha raised an eyebrow at Aya’s cheerfulness then cracked a slight smile. She leaned back on the counter and sighed.

“It's nice to meet you too, summoner,”

“Summoner? It’s a little weird to call someone by their game class isn’t it?” Aya said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, the cashier was frankly a little weird but Aya was never one to be rude to someone because of that.

Especially in the environment, she grew up it. The apartment on the outskirts of town, Aya guessed she could have decided to find a place in the city but the crime in more affordable areas would make that a death wish.

“I’d like to be addressed as Mage,” Nisha said with a serious tone. Her dark brown eyes looked away from Aya and back to her magazine, the lights above them flickered prompting them both to look up at the same time.

Aya didn’t want the other feeling judged, after all maybe Moon Valley helped her with social skills, the area was pretty isolated and Nisha probably didn’t get to talk to a lot of people often.

Aya knew these were a lot of assumptions but it was all she needed to acquiesce.

“Alright Mage, so what’s your favorite part of Moon Valley? I really like potion making and exploration maybe,” Aya said with an awkward laugh, it was all worth it when Nisha’s head perked up at the response to her request.

The act reminded Aya a lot of Risel, the way the elf’s ears would move and twitch with emotion whenever she said something interesting or sad.

“Looting bosses, I’ve beaten a number of them,” Nisha said eagerly. She didn’t get to talk about the game often, that much was clear.

“That’s my least favorite part,” Aya whined.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Nisha gave a small smile before it saying.

“Your party’s probably trash then,”

Aya paused, taking a moment to take in the girl’s words about her beloved Sprite and Rabbit Knight. She opened and closed her mouth, trying to find words of rebuttal, all that came out was a small.

“Huh?”

“Oh was I too blunt, you’re a summoner and I know they can be pretty weak but you should try to equip as many summons as you can as fast as you can,” Nisha replied all in one breath, Aya couldn’t tell if it was awkward or apologetic the way Nisha looked away from her.

It was the most Aya had heard her speak so far, Nisha clearly liked the game and knew a lot about the class she played, but that wasn’t the right way to say things.

“Right...have you met any other summoners in game?”

“Not many people play them,”

“Why?”

“It's tra-I mean the skill floor to get good at playing is pretty high,” Nisha said folding her arms.

At least Aya could say she was making an effort not to be as blunt as she previously was. Nisha rubbed her arms allowing Aya to get a glimpse of the cute nail polish and nail art the girl had on her fingers. It was black with little skulls scattered over each finger nail

“And they can’t really participate in PVP,”

“Oh yeah, why do people like PVP so much it just seems like a hassle y’know? Players jump you and stuff?”

Nisha snorted.

“Only if you’re weak,” she said with utter confidence.

Aya decided she liked this cute but mean girl. Nisha was different and looked about her age, she wasn’t mean the way Viviana was. Haughty and degrading, Nisha was quite endearing.

“Do you want to exchange IDs?” Aya asked with a shy smile.

Nisha gasped, eyes widening at the sound of the question. She watched Aya take out her phone and begin opening

“You really want to be friends in game?” she asked leaning over the counter in excitement.

“Yeah but it’ll be a while before I get to one of the main areas in the game, I’m currently stuck in a secluded area,”

“Is it a proving ground?” Nisha asked as she entered her game ID into Aya’s phone.

“Something like that,” Aya said, at this point, it would be wiser to keep her mouth shut about Bloom Haven, too many players even on the forum were trying to find out her secrets.

“Oh been there, I’m on my way to Alfinheim,” Nisha said.

“That sounds elvish, are you an elf?” Aya asked.

“A human actually, I know elves have the best stats for magic but I like how balanced humans play,” Nisha said. “And yes Alfinheim is one of the largest kingdoms of elves, everything about elven lore is in there,”

Aya was glad Nisha was opening up a bit.

“I gotta go but let’s meet sometime in game and if you need some potions I’ll brew them, my alchemy is pretty good,” Aya said hopping off the counter she had been sitting on. She made her way towards the exit as she spoke,

“Alchemy, that’s such a rare skill!” Nisha said in a whisper as if someone was waiting to poach Aya from her. Aya stopped to giggle.

“If I come across any summon stones I’ll trade with you first before I auction them off,” Nisha wrapped a finger around her Afro curls shyly as she spoke. She didn’t get off from work for a while so all she could do was speak before the checkout line.

“I’m sorry I was mean about your party, other players are usually a bit antagonistic,”

“Oh no worries, I understand,” Aya said. The same applied in the real world, sometimes the only thing you could do was anticipate an enemy, even when there was none to be found. “The world’s a rough place,”

“You got that right,” Nisha said snorting again. “Hey there’s going to be a tournament in town, are you game?”

“What kind? Who’s hosting it,”

“Eos Conquerors,”