Sebastian looked around the town square. Players were running around everywhere; some of them spawning into existence before his very eyes. Sebastian would have loved to have entered into a game where things were flowing as naturally as a normal game would; but in reality the scene before him was chaotic. People were screaming and crying, pushing and shoving. He heard voices around him.
‘This has to be a joke,’ someone said from behind him.
‘No way! This is awesome; now I won’t have to take that test tomorrow,’ said a voice beside him. Sebastian almost expected that to be Alister, as he didn’t know anyone else who could sound that excited. But instead he saw a small boy with glowing blonde hair and blazing eyes.
It seemed as though the news of the game mechanics had spread quickly.
‘Don’t worry, I’m sure this is some big mistake. It will all get sorted out soon,’ said another voice from the crowd.
Sebastian couldn’t deny that the behaviour of the players around him did in fact reflect a part of his own feelings. But it wasn’t helping him. Sebastian only had two objectives, finding his friends, and learning the game. And the panicked crowd weren’t helping him with either.
Suddenly from within the chaos, a player approached Sebastian. A tall boy with brown hair and freckles. His skin was light green and scaley. He was clearly an orc.
‘Hey you! Umm Aquila, have you seen a girl run through here? A short little girl with brown hair.’
Sebastian guessed he was going to be going by Aquila now.
Aquila looked a little more carefully at the player in front of him. A green tag appeared above his head.
Noob_slayer55
Level 1
That name was so unoriginal. And the fact that he had to include a number next to the name meant that someone else had already taken the actual name itself. And Sophia used to tease him; telling him that his gamer tags had been lame.
‘Sorry, no. I’ve only just spawned in.’
‘Do you think it’s true? What everyone’s saying. Apparently there’s no way out and if we die in the game, we’ll die in real life.’
‘My Guide told me something similar. I’m not sure if it’s true or if the people who made the game are just playing with us. But it’s a little scary.’
‘Dammit,’ Noob Slayer said, ‘I’ve got to find Rachel.’
‘Wait have you seen…’ Aquila asked but it was too late. Noob Slayer had already run off, disappearing into the crowd.
Aquila began wandering through the town square which was becoming so crowded with players that he could barely see a few feet in front of him. Aquila guessed that the majority of players were probably spawning in around the same time. Though he was certain that a small percentage of players had opted to skip the tutorial and enter the game before everyone else, but he definitely felt like that would probably be more detrimental than advantageous. Getting the jump on everyone by getting ahead in levels, wasn’t worth missing out on the essential information that the tutorial had given him. And if they didn’t know the consequences of dying in the game – that could be trouble.
Certainly everyone who was spawning in now knew about it the dire mechanics of the game. Players were yelling and screaming and panicking all over the place. Aquila had planned to wait in the spawning area for Alister and Sophia, but it was filling up so quickly that people were beginning to bump up and knock against him. He knew there was no way he was going to be able to find them in this crowd. Aquilia decided it would be better put a bit of distance between himself and the spawn in point – before it became so crowded that he couldn’t move, and was squished to death if that was even possible.
Moving out of the crowd was harder than it sounded. People bumped against him, pushing and shoving in a chaotic frenzy. Many people were looking for someone they knew – others were having a mental breakdown and some seemed as though they were genuinely eager to play the game. Several times, as he was moving through the crowd towards the outskirts of the square, he received a trade request from another player. He hadn’t even opened his inventory yet and he didn’t even know what he had to trade, so he closed the windows pretty quickly and just ignored them.
Eventually he made it to a less crowded part of the town square and quickly ducked into one of the side streets that he could only assume led to the edges of the town. There were still players running through these streets, but there were nowhere near as many as there had been in the town square.
The streets were wide and open, and most of the buildings he passed were single story cobblestone houses. Some of them had doors and windows that were wide open, others were locked tight. Eventually he came to a part where the street widened and led to a large gate that was open and manned by two guards – each of them wore a set of chainmail armour and carried a halberd.
A window hovered above each of their heads.
Town guard,
Lvl 10.
Aquila had played enough RPGs to know that they wouldn’t disturb him if he didn’t disturb them. He continued forward.
The two guards strolled back and forth casually as Aquila approached the gate and looked out onto the open fields beyond. It seemed as though the city was situated upon a hill, because he was greeted with a grand view of the fields, with grass that shone unnaturally vibrantly yellow and green, and birds that darted through the air; in the distance there was a large lake that reflected the yellow sun which was slowly making its way down toward the horizon. It seemed as though the game had a natural day – night cycle. Beyond the lake was a small forest, made up of tall trees (of a type he couldn’t seem to identify). The trees seemed unnatural, with leaves that were an array of green, blue and purple. Aquila couldn’t see much beyond that – he wondered if his vision would improve once he began levelling up his perception skill.
A few players were already running through the fields. Some of them had their swords out – others their bows; they looked as though they were trying to level up by slashing rabbits and shooting birds. There were some players that had already gone as far out as the lake. Aquila didn’t blame them. He’d probably be doing the same thing, levelling up and exploring the world, if he had entered the game alone. But as it was, he needed to wait for Alister and Sophia. He needed to find them. The three of them would progress through the game together – they’d lookout for each other.
Seeing players around him wielding weapons reminded him of something. As he turned and began to wander back the other way, he realised he hadn’t even checked to see what starting equipment he had. Probably not much. The players he’d seen out in the fields had only been using basic weapons and they hadn’t even had any decent armour equipped. Though he had spotted one player, who looked to be an elf, holding a short bow. Another player who had tinted green skin seemed to be holding a two handed longsword.
‘Open inventory,’ he said aloud.
Almost immediately a screen popped up in front of him.
Inventory:
Rusty short sword, flimsy short bow, 5 arrows, 20 gold.
Each item had an icon next to the name.
While he had been looking through his inventory; players had been passing him. He closed his inventory as a girl was running past. She had blue eyes and silver hair.
‘Excuse me,’ Aquila said reaching out to get her attention.
‘Umm. What is it? I’m kind of in a hurry right now – in case you haven’t managed to figure it out, all hell’s breaking loose right now.’
‘I just wanted to know – well – if you could tell me what equipment you started with, that would be great,’ Aquila asked, ‘I’m just trying to figure out how this game works.’
‘A short sword and a healing spell scroll. Everyone gets different starting equipment depending on the race they chose. Dah. Can’t believe that you couldn’t even figure that out on your own.’
The girl didn’t wait for him to finish – instead she continued to run off down the street.
Just as he thought. His starting equipment was based on the race he had selected. He closed the window and quickly pulled up the main menu; and selected equipment tab. An image of himself reflected in this window, and showed an outline of a humanoid figure with each piece of equipment fitted where it was currently fitted on his body.
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Traveller’s tunic.
AC: 1
Characteristics: None
Traveller’s pants.
AC: 1
Characteristics: None
Traveller’s boots:
AC:1
Characteristics: None
Leather gloves.
AC: 1.
Characteristics: None.
Aquila flicked his hand and the game seemed to sense his desire to close the window, because the window disappeared. He pulled his inventory up and added both his sword and his bow to his quick select menu; they appeared as small orbs on his belt.
***
‘Knock, knock, knock; can I ahh…come in here?’ Aquila popped his head into one of the cottages with open windows and a wide-open door. An older lady tottered about in what looked like a very simply dining room; tables, chairs, a crackling fire – the place was decorated with ornaments, books and pot plants. The whole place looked quite cosy.
The lady had a grey tag above her ‘Agitha’ – she was clearly an NPC. Aquila almost didn’t know how she would respond if he had just walked in, which was why he was standing awkwardly in the doorway.
‘Come in dear, come in. What’s a wood elf doing so far from the forests of Silvawood?’
Aquila stepped into the cottage.
‘I ahh…’ he didn’t exactly know how to answer the question – but it seemed he didn’t need to. The lady continued on her own.
‘I’m glad you’ve come, I actually need help with a small task. Do you think you might be up for the job? You look like a sturdy wood elf.’
Aquila scratched his chin.
‘I actually had some questions of my own. But sure – I can help you if you need me to.’
‘Thank you, thank you. Have a seat. Can I get you a cup of tea or coffee?’
Aquila moved forward and pulled out a seat from under the table – plonking down onto the wooden chair. Light streamed brightly through the windows completely illuminating the dining room, and when he turned and looked behind him, he could still see players running back and forth along the streets.
‘A coffee would be nice, thanks.’
The lady took a seat opposite him. Two small porcelain mugs appeared in her hands suddenly, and she placed one of them in front of Aquila. She also put down a miniature bowl of sugar, a teaspoon, and a smaller cup of milk. He began to smell the aroma of fresh coffee, so he added a teaspoon of sugar and hurried to take a sip. It was the best coffee he’d ever tasted. Almost immediately after he finished the drink, a green text appeared in the corner of his eye: 10% speed bonus. 20:00.
The 20:00 began ticking down.
19:59.
19:58.
The text disappeared after a few seconds.
‘So, what was it that you needed help with?’ Aquila asked.
‘You see those logs burning over there in the fireplace?’ the old lady pointed over to the cobblestone hearth where the fire crackled heartily. Though it had an odd colour about it, the flames were yellow, but they flickered with an aura of green, blue and purple.
‘Yep,’ Auila nodded his head.
‘They’re special logs called pseudo fairy wood. They aren’t very rare, and really not worth much at all. But they burn for quite a bit longer than regular wood. The fire also glitters at night when those logs burn, and I think it’s quite pretty. Lately supply has been low, so I need a brave adventurer to go get me some me some. If you do, I promise I’ll make it worth your time.’
A window appeared in front of him.
New quest: Help out an old lady.
Accept / Decline
A fetch quest. Aquila didn’t know what else he should have expected from an interaction with an old lady at a low level in the town where everyone was beginning the game. He thought about it for a moment, but in the end he decided it couldn’t hurt accept the quest – even if he didn’t have any intention of doing it for a while. He clicked accept.
The window disappeared and Agitha began talking.
‘Excellent. You can find the pseudo fairy logs in a forest not too far from here. If you follow the main road all the way to the gates and keep going until you see a lake – the forest is not far from the lake. Oh, and you’ll need one other thing.’
Item added: rusty axe.
‘All you need to do is equip that axe and hit the tee trunks as hard as you can. Keep an eye on your stamina too. Let me know if you need anything else. All the best’
‘I also wanted to ask you something.’
‘Go ahead,’ Agitha replied.
‘Do you know if there’s a way to find other players in this game?’
‘I have no idea. You might want to ask the Guide in the town square.’
Aquila huffed in frustration.
‘Do you know if there are any places around here where I can buy equipment?’ Aquila asked.
‘Yes there are. The business district is in the town square. If you need more information; I’d suggest you speak to the city guards. They’ll be able to help you better than I will.’
‘Umm, okay,’ Aquila said getting up out of his chair, ‘I’d best be going now…and ah…heading out to get you that wood.’
What a waste of time.
‘Take care out there,’ Agitha smiled and waved.
***
The sun was slowly sinking towards the horizon, the sky was a beautiful scarlet. It would have been a sight to behold if Aquila wasn’t desperately trying to pull his thoughts together and figure out how he was going to move forward. It had been a bit over an hour since he’d entered the game. There was absolutely no sign of Alister or Sophia. Though the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if he’d be able to find them. After all, there were a hundred thousand people entering the game. So many people in such a small town. Would finding them even be possible?
Aquila ducked into a smaller alley way, he needed a quiet place to think. He opened the main menu and began scrolling through the options. There was a friends tab, and a clan tab, but he wasn’t part of a clan; and when he pulled up his friends tab, the only option he had was to add someone by inputting their username.
0 friends found.
‘Dammit,’ he cursed.
Aquila fell back against the wall of the alley and closed the window. He looked up at the sky the was slowly getting darker. Just as he began to calm himself down; a red exclamation mark appeared in front of him.
Player caught pickpocketing.
And then, as if appearing out of thin air, a player stood over him. The player was a boy with long black hair, a pointed nose and eyes that seemed to glow. He was dressed exactly as Aquila was, but Aquila noticed that the player’s fingernails extended into short claws.
Had he been invisible? Sebastian thought.
‘Crap,’ the player said and began running off down the alley.
‘Wait!’ Sebastian said jumping up and running after him.
The player who’d tried to pickpocket Sebastian had already run out from the alley and onto the main street. However Sebastian chased the player, moving forward much faster than he normally would. Not only did Sebastian have a natural racial speed bonus, but the effects of the coffee he’d drank earlier were still active. A moment later Sebastian had also popped out of the alleyway. The player was trying to run toward the city centre, Sebastian realised he was probably trying to lose himself in the crowd of people that were surely still lingering in the town square.
The player hadn’t gotten far before Aquila caught up to him and grabbed him by the wrist. The player, who Aquila could now see had the name Avion hovering above his head, turned to face him with an annoyed look.
‘You can’t restrain me here, we’re in a safe zone,’ Avion said and pulled his wrist back. Aquila felt the Avion’s wrist phase through the palm of his hand. It seemed that it was possible to touch other players in safe zones, but players weren’t able to take any forceful action against another player.
Avion turned to run back down the street, but due to Aquila’s heightened speed, he was in front of Avion before he could move.
‘What do you want!’ Avion screamed at him.
There was still a red exclamation mark floating above his head.
‘You tried to pickpocket me?’
‘What does it matter to you. It failed. You didn’t lose any of your items!’
Aquila quickly pulled up his inventory and saw that Avion was right. He still had everything he’d started with, including the rusty axe that the old lady had given him. Aquila quickly closed the window. He supposed there wasn’t much he could do about the situation anyway – except maybe follow Avion wherever he went. But that would just be a waste of time.
Avion moved to step around Aquila again; but this time someone else was standing in his way. The city guards. Three of them.
‘You’ve been caught pickpocketing. That’s against the law in this province.’
They surrounded both Avion and Aquila in a second; but Aquila wasn’t the one with the exclamation mark flashing over his head. Aquila backed away slightly – the guards didn’t seem to care. Their attention was focused Avion.
‘You’ve got three options, pay a fifty-gold fine, serve time in prison, or die. Make your choice.’
‘I haven’t got fifty gold and I certainly don’t haven’t got time for this. I can’t sit in prison while everyone else gets ahead.’
Before any of the guards could respond, Avion started forward, ducking around one of the guards and taking off.
Don’t do that! Aquila thought, they’re level 10.
One of the guards turned and slashed downward with his halberd before Avion could get more than a few feet away. The halberd drew a red line through Avion and his health bar appeared and dropped below three quarters. One of the other guards had drawn a short bow and sent an arrow flying after him. The arrow phased through Avion’s back and his health bar depleted completely.
‘NO!’ Avoid screamed just before he shattered into a million pieces of light.
And that was how Aquila learned what happened if you broke the law within the city. Though he guessed things would be different once people began to level up and actually have a chance of defending themselves against the guards, or even use stealth to get away quickly.
Aquila looked around. He realised he wasn’t the only player observing the situation. Several other people had also been watching the show.
The guards put their weapons away; and one of them turned to face Aquila.
‘Thanks for helping us take care of that criminal. Here, take this as thanks from Novus town, and as a recompensation for being the victim of a crime. If anything like that happens again; come straight to us. We’ll help you take care of it.’
‘I didn’t mean to - ’
But it was too like. A notification that read +30 gold appeared on his screen. Then the guards turned and walked off. The sun had almost set now, and the sky had turned a deep purple, with several stars glittering in the sky. The lanterns in the houses had begun to turn on, and there were green fairy-like creatures hovering around over the roofs of the houses.
The players had come to thin out a little at this point; as Aquila began to make his way towards the town square, he noticed that a little girl was sitting down against the wall of a building sobbing quietly. She definitely wasn’t an NPC because she had a green tag above her head that read Dancing Elf.
Aquila approached her and knelt down beside her. The girl looked up, her face was red and her cheeks were flustered. Aquila put a hand on her shoulder.
‘I know things look bad, but you might come to see, at some point in the future, that they weren’t as bad as you once thought. There’s not much else I can do to help…except, maybe this.’
Aquila clicked the button under the girl’s name tag that read: request to trade.
A few seconds later a window appeared that was divided into two.
Trade:
Aquila offers:
Dancing Elf offers:
Accept/decline.
Aquila added 30 gold to the trade window and clicked accept. The girl put a finger in the air and the window vanished, as well as 30 gold from Aquila’s inventory.
‘Hopefully that will help, at least a little.’