Dragavar, September 29 2012
As he exited, Velocity experienced a teleportation and now he was in the center of Dragavar city, the capital of the Dragonic Tribe. Each Tribe in Seption World had its capital, but that didn't mean the city of Dragavar was limited to the Dragonic Tribe. Life in Seption World was already heterogeneous, with the capital serving as the hometown and symbolic center of each Tribe.
He noticed that the structure of the streets as well as the buildings in this city, which were multi-storied and connected by escalators, were similar to the Mall buildings in the real world. But in the real world, this place was more akin to a multi-level parking lot of a mall that could be traversed by vehicles, although the vehicles in this virtual world were only mounts and riding animals. He noticed the mounts were uploaded into Mobius when they wanted to change floors via the escalator.
The atmosphere of the game was already starting to feel, he was in the middle of a crowd with a mixture of voices from Savior and Survivor with various Classes and Tribes. The text color of the character names is the first differentiator between Savior and Survivor. Of course, according to their habitat, most of the Survivors in this city are dragons as the Dragonic Tribe. Their clothing is also diverse with various professions from the real world such as chefs, farmers, or vehicle drivers. Their clothes can be distinguished from the Savior Classes uniform that he can compare the designs from the internet.
Although the capital in the virtual world can be explored extensively, Seption players should pay attention to important locations such as the Mobius Terminal, shops, refining blacksmiths, restaurants, and many other locations that will be frequented especially during the Savior's education. Velocity began to walk around to mark important locations that would be recorded on his Mobius.
Each floor of the capital had been divided into different districts. After exploring the other floors and marking the map with the Business, Industrial, Entertainment, and Legislative Districts, Velocity arrived at the bottom floor of the Savior District. This district is a residence with a special building for taking and reporting on available quests called the Savior Lounge. It's the most crowded place Savior has ever been with many players opening Chat Rooms—conversation rooms to communicate privately with other players. He can create his chat room with the C button on the keypad. There were a few players from the Squire and Pardoner Class, Rank B promoted from the Fighter and Merchant Class who opened their service shops. In addition, he could see a few other Classes that opened other service shops. He recalled that such service shops could be left by players offline or logged out and noticed that the Saviors' bodies were as small as Pyrus.
Saviors usually recruited other Saviors to do quests or field studies together. Since most Saviors are still at rank C or D, they look for a party to do field studies that consist of several quests at once. The collection of Chat Rooms and service shops at each table is reminiscent of a bazaar in the real world.
It didn't hurt to take one of the field studies so that he could instantly rise to rank C and make a promotion to the Cleric Class. He began to read the title of each Chat Room vacancy that spread. After only about five minutes of searching for vacancies, he was distracted by one Chat Room. He didn't pay attention to the title, but the name and figure of the Savior who owned it.
"Vestalia?" called Velocity who entered the chat room. He sat down at the table across from the dwarf cat who was quite striking in his eyes.
"Ve-Velocity?" replied Vestalia, surprised to hear her interlocutor. "You're back here already?"
"Umm, you can see the status of friends who are playing or not in Mobius on the friendlist menu," said Velocity. "If I'm playing, you can send me a private message. I forgot to tell you, didn't I?"
"Uh... Salvadore told me yesterday," said Vestalia, sounding a little nervous. "But, forget about that now. When you logged out, you fell asleep, and...and..."
Velocity frowned and interrupted. "Uh, wait a minute. My body was still crushed by Ifrit when I logged out?"
Vestalia responded hysterically. "YEAH, try listening to my explanation first!!!"
Over the next few minutes, Vestalia explained what happened after Velocity logged out. Velocity's facial expression turned serious, seemingly deep in thought after hearing everything.
"Our bodies become miniaturized like Familiar's, that's what the tiny bodies I saw from those offline service shops!!!" Velocity exclaimed in conclusion. "You should know that this game was developed with more sophistication than the previous game. It doesn't just add voice conversation technology. There are many new and more convenient features and experiences in the virtual world that feel real with our second bodies."
"Second body? If we log out, this body is lifeless, right?"
"More or less. I don't understand the system yet, for example, automatic activities like sleepwalking as you saw with Salvadore," Velocity said as he scratched his dragon horns like human hair.
Velocity tried to digest the information he had gotten to get to know the game world. He switched topics recalling other information that some players had shared over the internet such as the time difference of each server and location in the game. He explained to Vestalia about the time difference like in the real world.
"So, Dragavar city on the Genbu server right now in the game is still at dawn?" Vestalia tried to conclude Velocity's explanation.
"In short, we are in a virtual world with different time zones. The five servers in the game can form a globe like Earth. It's strange but real, isn't it?"
"Amazing!" exclaimed Vestalia. "I've never played a game where the virtual world is so complex."
"Oh, just wait, when you've learned combat factors and other sciences, you can open your own course at the college."
"Hoeee!!!" Vestalia was surprised. Velocity seemed to be getting used to every 'Hoe' from Vestalia.
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"Don't think too hard," Velocity chuckled. "That's the fun of playing games. Just enjoy the game and the journey. Now, back to the main event."
"Oh, yes. I've already taken up the subject of this field study," Vestalia began pulling out an envelope from her Mobius.
"Let me see, you can give me the Item link," said Velocity who took out his own Mobius.
Vestalia should be able to click and drag her cursor on the envelope to her monitor, Velocity thought. In a few seconds, he saw the contents of the opened envelope. It was a piece of paper with a list of missions for them to do. He looked disappointed that the mission list was all about cooking and alchemy.
"There's no Nightmare or Fear Extermination and all we're doing is gathering food from monsters then taking cooking and alchemy lessons!!!" Velocity complained. However, he turned to Vestalia who had a worried look on her face. He didn't want to make things worse.
"Look, the missions are honestly boring to me. But we have to unlock the features on Mobius anyway, sooner or later we'll have to run this subject. Save the best subjects for last, I guess."
"Ahaha, alright," Vestalia sounded relieved. "But, do we really have to study something like this even though there are Classes with cooking and alchemy specialties?"
"That's right, even players who don't take the Cleric Class can learn how to first aid a Savior like you did with Accelacus yesterday," Velocity paused for a moment before speaking again. "Still, we only learn the basics. If you become a Chef or Alchemist at rank A, they will be more effective in utilizing them in battle and can also open their service shops."
Vestalia responded with an o-shape from her mouth. Velocity tried to take over, "But if it's just this mission, the two of us are enough to complete it. Now, do you want to go to the restaurant in Dragavar city now?"
Vestalia seemed to think for a moment, then replied. "Okayy...um, Velocity?" she called out to Velocity in a low tone.
"What?" Velocity was staring at Vestalia now. Why was he getting nervous too looking at her face?
"Can I... ask for your contact number?" Vestalia asked shyly.
"What?" Velocity responded mischievously. "For what exactly?"
"Well, I actually—" Vestalia's words trailed off.
Oh my. This girl wouldn't say something so ridiculous, would she? Velocity thought.
"I'm looking for a friend!!!" exclaimed Vestalia loudly. "You want to be my friend, right?"
"Friend?" repeated Velocity. "You mean we're already friends on the friendlist, right?"
He didn't want to cause any misunderstandings. Especially there were vocabularies in foreign languages, like in Arabic, where the word friend meant more than just acquaintance.
"Hmm, I'm fine with that. But don't players like you make friends with other girls?" asked Velocity with an idea.
"I would," Vestalia replied honestly. "But all the players I've met and greeted so far have been males. I feel like you know the most about the game. So, I can ask you a lot of questions."
Well, that makes sense, Velocity thought. Maybe he could learn a few things from Vestalia, too. Velocity wasn't very good at socializing, especially with the opposite sex.
"Alright, I'll send you my contact number via private message," Velocity said, he couldn't resist. "If we want to be closer, we can use shorter nicknames, like Velo and Vesti, how about that?"
"Hoeee?" Vestalia responded nervously.
"Ah, I have another idea," Velocity said. "Before that, let's go out to a quieter place and make a party for the two of us."
The two of them exited the Savior Lounge. Vestalia accepted Velocity's party invitation and put the field study envelope back into Mobius.
"You can let go of the Mouse you use to move around," Velocity said. "Look at this. Hold."
Velocity spoke the Keyword and Vestalia was surprised to see the effect. Vestalia's tiny body was picked up and carried by Velocity, then he positioned Vestalia to sit on his left shoulder. With that position, Velocity began to walk towards the floor where the restaurant was located.
"This is a special function for Tribe Eldora. You can sit on my shoulder like this or stand on my head," Velocity said as he walked. "You can use the Mouse to descend and you'll also automatically descend into the battle zone."
Velocity turned her head to the left, she looked at Vestalia who looked stunned. "Vesti?" he called out to Vestalia.
"Ah, no! I...," Vestalia paused for a moment. "I just need to get used to it."
Vestalia's face looked nervous. Velocity was also feeling awkward about the situation. Did he say the wrong thing? It seemed like what he was going to say next shouldn't offend her or cause any misunderstandings. Plus some Saviors would definitely look at them as a couple.
"Hey, I'm doing this as a symbol of our friendship," Velocity said carefully. "I'm just copying a scene from a novel I read. It just so happens that there's a Keyword with a similar function in Mobius."
"Novel? You collect novels?" said Vestalia curiously.
"I'm a fan of several comic series and novels, not so much that I've memorized every title in the bookstore," Velocity replied, sounding enthusiastic. "I remember a novel called Friendship with Cat. It's about an anti-social college student who takes in a stray cat for a pet and he starts making new friends from his actions. He considers the cat his first friend."
"Errr... Am I your first friend now?" asked Vestalia shyly.
"Of course not," Velocity chuckled again. "I have old friends from the Espion game and some of my classmates are quite close to me because they often study and play games together. Anyway, next week I'll be meeting up with my old friends in this Seption game."
"Your friends?" Vestalia repeated the topic Velocity had raised.
"Right, you can get acquainted with them too. Then as a friend on the friendlist, you can visit my house with the Keyword Visit with the name of the Savior's house you want to visit."
"Ah, yes. I.... I've already studied that tutorial," Vestalia nodded shyly again.
"So, now let's get into the restaurant and have a field study," Velocity pointed toward the restaurant that was getting closer.
Upon entering the restaurant, Velocity and Vestalia saw a mix of Saviors and Survivors enjoying their meals at their respective tables. Saviors could be distinguished from those who were also trying to cook at the tables. It looked like their cooking utensils could go in and out with Mobius like their weapons. Velocity walked further to meet Brisket, the name of the Survivor who would be their instructor now.
They were greeted by a dark red-skinned Dragonic with the look of a chef's uniform. But there was another figure that distracted them.
"Err... what's Pendragon doing here?" Velocity pointed at Pendragon who was asleep snoring on a lined chair.
"Ignore him, kiddo. Maester Pendragon does have a different sleeping schedule than most residents here," Brisket replied lightly. "I can only obey his orders when he needs a place to sleep like now."
Velocity and Vestalia used the sweatdrop emoticon of a large sweat on their heads. If they had not been acquainted with Pendragon before this, they would not have cared. Velocity wondered what the culture of the Seption world would be like if Maesters were allowed to sleep in public places like that. Brisket called them, signaling that their lesson was about to begin.
Several hours passed with various activities. Velocity not only completed the field study with Vestalia but also taught Vestalia the science of playing RPG games. Afterward, they also chatted with each other in a Dragavar town cafe on various in-game topics, until the evening time when they had to separate them to log out. He made sure to log out inside his home to avoid any strange things that might happen.