<2:14 PM>

Ryu smiled to himself as he headed to his next destination. Dot was proving itself to be very convenient.

Stepping through the wooden frame of a somewhat torn but otherwise sturdy looking building, he took a look around. There were a few other players running in and out the door, as expected. This was the source of a well known quest line. Specifically, it was the man standing behind a counter at the back of the building - a shopkeeper, who always seemed to need a hand.

Ryu approached him.

“How’s that job coming along?” said the shopkeeper.

The last quest he’d been given by the shopkeeper was to find him some mushrooms in a forest somewhere, which he had done, only for Dot to sell everything and undo his progress.

“I changed my mind, got anything else?”

A notification popped up in the corner of his vision.

[Sanctuary Reputation: 235(-5)]

“That’s unfortunate… well I do need someone to help me find something I lost. A few weeks ago I made an order which was to be delivered by carriage, but it seems to have gone missing. Do you think you can help me?”

Ryu pretended to give it some thought. “Yeah.”

*Ding*

[Quest Log Updated: Missing Supplies]

“The delivery was meant to arrive through the main gate, so I’d start by looking along the road in.”

Ryu took that piece of advice and departed immediately for the city's exit. Following the road once he’d gotten outside. Most of the land outside the city was kept clear, so there wasn’t a whole lot to see, but in the distance it entered a forest. A location infamous for facilitating various forms of crime on whoever dared to pass through.

Ryu entered the forest which was anything but that, at least for the first hundred or so meters. Being a leveling ground close to the city it was always populated, so it was only once he’d gotten deep into the forest that he got another update.

*Ding*

[Quest Update: Search the area for clues]

Of course, Ryu had no intention of doing such a thing. He wanted to test Dot’s capabilities even further, both so he could teach it a few things and also learn its limitations.

Ryu started with the hard dirt road beneath him.

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That wasn’t useful to him, especially considering the road was covered in such tracks as well as footprints. He scanned around the sides of the road, searching for any signs of the cart being taken off the main road. Carts didn’t vanish into thin air - well, actually they did. Ryu had to remind himself this was a game.

*Ding*

[Quest Update: Investigate where the tracks lead]

This was a D rank quest, hence the excessive quest updates. Ryu couldn’t confirm it himself, but he’d heard that higher ranked quests were more immersive, with one factor being their lack of handholding.

Ryu didn’t really need to follow the tracks, but rather follow wherever Dot told him to go. Whenever he ran out of directions he’d look down and Dot would find the tracks again, leading him along until he found what he was searching for, a cart looking totally out of the place in the middle of a clearing.

[Quest Update: Check the cart]

Ryu already knew where this was heading. Anyone who had ever played any video game would know where this was going.

“Can the enemies just ambush me already…?” said Ryu, sighing as he walked up to the cart.

*Rustling leaves*

Ryu drew his short sword as he spun around to “find” a thuggishly dressed thug charging at him with a dagger in both hands.

[Quest Update: Kill the robbers]

Ryu waited until the thug was close, before his body pivoted to the side in an attempt to counterattack.

The thug stepped to the side, evading Ryu’s attacks, and slashed at him. Ryu’s HP didn’t like being slashed in the back.

“How did I miss?”

Ryu kicked himself forward and spun around to put the thug back in his vision, only to duck as an axe flew through the air where his head had been. Two more thugs had joined the fight, circling him. One wielded an axe and and the other a single dagger.

“What the fuck are you doing Dot?”

“Who’s Dot?” said one of the thugs.

A dagger stabbed towards Ryu who had to deflect it on his own. His blade was slightly longer, giving him an advantage, but he was still outnumbered. Ryu wasn’t entirely incapable of fighting on his own, but to put it bluntly there was a reason he’d made Dot. The fact VR required more than simply knowing what button to press when didn’t help.

The thug to Ryu’s right, bearing an axe, raised it into the air while the other two thugs kept him at bay. Rather than allowing himself to be split into two, Ryu sprung to his right, tackling the thug to his right and causing them to drop their axe and fall over. Ryu used his momentum to put some space between himself and the other two thugs.

Ryu wouldn’t have long until the third thug returned to the fight, so he had to move.

His hand adjusted its grip on his short sword, before his right leg kicked into the ground, propelling him into the dual-wielding thug. Before the thug even had time to raise a defense Ryu’s blade stabbed into their chest.

Ryu pivoted on his foot immediately after, spinning with his blade outstretched to slash straight across the other thugs chest. Almost in sync, two thugs collapsed onto the ground as Ryu set his sights on the third thug, still unarmed, as they ran to collect their weapon, tripping on their own toes when they looked back.

Ryu didn’t need Dot’s help as he raised his blade into the air and brought it down, piercing straight through the thug’s chest.

[Quest Update: Return the shopkeepers supplies to them]

Loot was automatically collected, and at the end of combat the thugs bodies vanished, leaving behind no trace.

“Not bad.”

Sheathing his sword Ryu walked towards the cart. He’d learnt more than he expected about Dot’s limitations in this test, and he had every intention to make sure they didn’t get in his way next time.