Natalie was still amazed at how long it had taken to upgrade the Sanctuary, Sam had confirmed all the other upgrades had only been the few minutes. But neither of them could work out why it had only been a few minutes for her, while Sam had recorded four hours.

She decided to let it slide for now she only had a few more days left in the Beta, she still had some questions for Molly. Natalie left the Sanctuary and walked to the Village. Soon she was at Molly's shop, since she was almost out of gold she had brought a few of the Chance Berries from the first harvest with her. Maybe Molly would buy them.

When she entered the shop Molly greeted her with a smile.

"Welcome Crystal," Molly said. "Have you used the scroll yet ?"

"Yes I activated it today," Natalie said, she then told Molly about the seed gardens.

"Good Crystal, those garden beds are a bonus," Molly told her. "Yes you can sell the seeds once they grow in a field, even the Chance berries."

"If I can sell the seeds why were you so astonished when I gave you the Chance Berries the other day?" Natalie asked puzzled.

"Ahh I forget at times that you are new to this child," Molly said. "Everything you get from a Chance berry including its seed can be used, just because you can sell the seeds doesn't mean anyone else can grow them."

"What would anyone want with the seeds if they can't grow anything from them?" Asked Natalie.

"Those seeds are very powerful Crystal," Molly told her. "they can be ground up, add in a little of the Blueguard and a bit of the juice from healberries and you have yourself a full regeneration overtime potion that lasts for 20 minutes to an hour."

Natalie was amazed, alchemy seemed like it was going to be very important to her, when the full game starts next week.

"I brought a few Chance berries along do you want to buy them?" Natalie asked. I used up my gold helping my brothers and I still need to buy animals for my farm."

"Yes I will gladly buy any you have to spare Child," Molly said. "My new partner is very excited about them."

Natalie place the berries on the counter and watched as Molly very carefully put them into a box with a lock on it. She then went into the back room and came out with a large coin pouch, which she handed to Natalie with a smile.

"The last batch you sold me has already been processed and sold," Molly happily said. "So I can afford to give you what those really are worth."

"Molly have you planted the two seeds yet?" Natalie asked.

"Yes planted and growing in my Sanctuary as we speak," Molly said.

"Good I'm glad." Natalie was a little sad, but at least Molly would have the pleasure of growing and harvesting her first Chance Berries before the wipe.

"Well I have to go to the Fletcher for another lesson." Natalie said. "Thank you for your help Molly."

"Your welcome Crystal," Molly said. "Make sure you listen to the Fletcher, he is an odd one, but he does know how to teach."

Natalie nodded then left the shop, she didn't really want to go to the Fletcher. It had just been hard to stand and talk to her friend knowing that in two days she wouldn't remember her or the conversations they had, she wouldn't even have the berries.

Natalie moved out of sight of Molly's shop then willed herself back to her farm. Once there she had Sam log her out, but only to the virtual room, she still wasn't ready to face her brothers in the real world. Natalie had an idea, she could ask Sam to help her with it.

"Sam, could you help me learn how to use a bow in here?" She asked. "I won't have time to learn it from the Fletcher."

"Yes I can," Sam said. "I have been anticipating this from you Natalie and I have already looked up the ways to teach someone, who is new to the sport how to use a bow."

After he said that, her Virtual Room seemed to stretch side ways, the trees with the desk all moved over to make room for a shooting range. Sitting to one side in that area Natalie could see her bow, it was the same as her game bow.

"I replicated it." Sam told her. "It has the same draw as well."

"Why Sam?" asked Natalie. "I will have to go and buy one again, when the game restarts. It might not be like that one."

"It will be that one Natalie," Sam said. "You mean you didn't notice that bow you brought is a bind on pickup?"

"It is?" Natalie shook her head. "To many things coming at me today Sam. I hadn't bothered to check that bow, I just went all out to practice with it."

"That is understandable," replied Sam. "Why don't you settle down here, have a nap I'll slip you into real sleep and wake you just before dinner?"

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

As he spoke a comfortable looking bed appeared in the forest, Natalie moved towards it a nap sounded nice about now. This would also cut down on the amount of time she would have to spend with her brothers, if they were even out of their pods by now.

"Yes Sam wake me up 15 mins before it please." Natalie said as she climbed into the bed, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

When she woke, Natalie did feel a lot better, still a bit nervous about seeing her brothers though. After exiting the pod she picked up a change of clothes and went to the bathroom. A quick shower and she felt almost normal, at least she knew that keeping a smile on her face wouldn't be so hard to do now.

Natalie walked downstairs, she could hear her mother and Chelsea talking and laughing in the kitchen. Natalie went in quietly and sat down at her place at the table listening to the bantering from the two. Her brothers were already seated, but they didn't say anything, just a quick look at her then they ignored her.

So that's how it's going to be Natalie thought, ok I can deal with that. She looked to where her father was seated to see him looking at the boys and then looking at her with a frown and a questioning look in his eyes.

Natalie looked back with her best innocent look and just smiled at him, but something in that made his frown deepen.

"Everyone one know that we have just two days of the Beta left?" Natalie asked quickly, trying to divert her father's inevitable questions.

"Two days?" Wailed Chelsea." But I just started three days ago."

"Well at least you had those three days," Jake said. "Brian and I only started yesterday, we gave a sanctuary each and that's about it."

"It's good you have the sanctuary's," Natalie said. "They are soulbound and you can take them into the open game when it starts up again."

"We can?" Brian asked while looking intently at her. "Where did you hear this from?"

"My pod AI, the game developers have released the information about it today," she replied. "I had my AI looking out for any information about the game."

"Good job on efficient use of your pod Natalie," her mother said as she served everyone their dinner. "Now enough about the game, time to eat."

Everyone obediently applied their attention to the meal I front of them. After they finished, the two boys tryed to leave the table first but surprisingly their father stopped them.

"Since Mother and Chelsea prepared and cooked dinner," he said. "You two will clear and clean the kitchen."

"awww Dad we want go check that information," Jake moaned. "Can't Natalie do it?"

"Yeah she doesn't have anything much to do." Brian said. "She can do it, can't you Natalie!"

Brian was looking at her hard his eyes intent on her. Both their Mother and Father turn to watch the two boys and Natalie's response, which they could see as a hunching of her body in a subconscious attempt to hide.

"Natalie has been doing all the house and garden chores since she was dismissed from school." Their father stated. " you two will clean this kitchen and then afterwards we are going to talk."

Both boys looked with chagrin at each other, they were in for it now. Natalie was standing like a deer caught in headlights, her mother took hold of her shoulders and directed her up the stairs to her bedroom, with Chelsea walking behind them.

"Now Natalie tell me what's been going on!" Her mother demanded. "Do not try to deny it, there is something not right in that whole scenario I witnessed downstairs."

"Yeah Brat spill the beans, what have the two twerps done this time?" Chelsea said. "I can only sort that it has something to do with the game right?"

Natalie felt trapped, she wanted to tell her mother but what if they agreeded with the boys, maybe she wasn't meant to be anything. Her brothers were both smarter then she and had more worth to the family, somehow she didn't want to know how she stood in the family's ratings.

But before she could say anything, Sam started to play a recording on the opposite wall of her room. He couldn't talk to them but he could do this, Natalie was horrified, she hadn't known Sam could do this!

Her mother and Chelsea, turned to watch the recordings, it was of the last three days of her ingame, Natalie could only watch. Her father entered the room not long after and he too settled down to watch Natalie's game play.

After it was done Sam made the pod go dark, Natalie's Mother looked at her father and a silent agreement seemed to go between them, for without a word they turned and left the room, Natalie could see both parents were furious.

Chelsea came to her little sisters side and hugged her.

"Your not useless Natalie." Chelsea said. "Those two have been getting big heads for a while now, I think that's going to change today, their is something you should know though. Those school tests you did, they rated you unfairly, base on the rest of us and our achievements."

Natalie was confused, they rated her on her family's standing? How can that happen, everyone was supposed to be rated on individual merits and learning in the school itself how did her family get put into this?

"I know, it's crazy, Mum and Dad are trying to get it sorted out, but it's taking longer then we thought." Chelsea explained. "We were all in the room when the education minister came calling the boys heard what your scores were, we all did."

Natalie shrank into herself at that, this was a nightmare, this couldn't be happening she must be asleep.

"Natalie, your scores are not bad, they only look bad compared to mine or the boys." Chelsea said. "You are not useless, your scores are only down a little from the average, that could just be from needing a different format of teaching, the general pap they feed everyone in schools like those isn't useful to everyone."

Slowly Natalie relaxed, as she listened to her sister, she thought about what Chelsea was explaining and it gave her hope.

"Does this mean I will be getting a change in my category?" She asked hopefully.

Chelsea winced, and looked away, Natalie's hope plummeted again.

"Sorry Natalie, but no," said the quiet voice of her Mother, as she and her father reentered the room. "You are still on the two year probation, your status has not changed, it just means they are watching you more now."

Great Natalie thought no pressure, just constant vigilance, no big deal she gave off a little hysterical giggle, this alarmed her parents, her mother hugged her right to her.

"It's going to be alright, Little Bee." Her father said. "You just try to keep doing your thing, don't let it worry you."

"Yeah Brat just keep playing that game too," Chelsea said. "I looked it up in my department, cause it is in there, believe it or not, that game has some serious backing. And Natalie it is made just for circumstances like yours, you just keep on being you sister."

"What do you mean Chelsea?" Their Morher asked. "How can that game help Natalie?"

"That game is going to be linked to every known large industry." Chelsea said. "It's huge and there are going to be so many opportunities up for grabs, Natalie has already gained a few big ones from her hard work so far, and that's just the Beta."

"But won't she lose those once it wipes on Saturday?" Dad asked.

"No Dad," Natalie answered for herself. "My Sanctuary is fully complete for my starting area, I was awarded the account bound status for everything I have so far. I can take them all to the main game when it opens and have a huge advantage over the other players."