Crow was huffing by the time they had reached a narrow river - no more than ten paces across. It ran through a half-crumbled wall that seemed to surround the ancient city, and there were even a few stone buildings on either side with intact roofs. A good spot to camp, but it still felt like a nightmare. He dived into new worlds to escape his own, but how was he supposed to level in this body? Funny how he hadn't noticed just how out of shape he had been until now. He was acutely aware of every glance that was sent his way, and there were more than a few. They had acquired a trail of newbies who didn't know what to do, which was another problem. Too sizable groups just meant that whatever they found would be shared with more people, and there would be more arguing. A group of five would have been ideal, but now there was close to a dozen.

"Are you sure we shouldn't set some snares? It would only take an hour," Thomas said.

Crow shook his head. "Water is important, but if we spend our time hunting for food then we won't have time for anything else. Hunting and foraging will become far easier once we have leveled." And hopefully, they would get to choose their avatar at an early level. He was still bothered by the fact that he couldn't open the menu. And neither could the others, judging by the constant complaints. "We should rest here."

"You mean you should rest here," Ramon said and mimicked Crow's panting. "Why are we even following you?"

Crow knew it had been coming. The fellow speaking was clad in a leather vest over a green t-shirt and jeans. He also had more piercings and tattoo's than Crow cared to count. His name might or might not be an alias, but he had been trouble from the start.

"You don't have to," Crow responded. He wished his voice would have been a little steadier. It wouldn't have been a problem if he had his usual avatar, but being in his real body made him insecure.

Ramon walked up to Crow and looked him up and down contemptuously. "How would you level? You'd only be in the way." Ramon smirked at him as if he had won a victory when Crow didn't reply and walked away.

"I'm goin' to explore the city," he called over his shoulder. "Anyone who wants to come," he paused to look at Mel," follow me."

Most of the people turned to follow him, and some laughed at the confrontation.

Crow's heart was thumping like mad in his chest. He would have been able to handle it with an avatar, but he had lost his confidence in his own body. It didn't help that he was sweating more than anyone else, and still panting besides. Oh well, at least he wouldn't have to suffer this for much longer - he just had to wait until the system was fixed and rebooted.

Ramon paused when Mel and Thomas didn't move. "It'll be better for you with me," he said, showing some uncertainty for the first time.

"Thanks, mate," Thomas said, "but we will stay here."

Ramon gave Crow another glare before walking away with the others, while loudly proclaiming that the first elf maid they found was his. The others laughed, and together they walked into the city along the riverbank.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Why did you let him get away with that?" Mel said, making Crow jump. He hadn't noticed her walking up to him. "Now they think you're a coward. Don't disappoint me like that, I thought you knew what you were doing."

Crow stared at her in surprise. She had been calm and collected through their entire walk, but now her eyes blazed.

"Toughen up," she said when he didn't respond and walked over to the river.

Crow couldn't help but agree inwardly, which made him even more depressed.

Thomas appeared, pushed a stick into a patch of soft dirt and put a stone in the shadow. "This was how you did it, right?" he said and winked at him.

Crow replied that yes it was, but was still burning with shame. What was Kalon doing? They should put the servers offline. Even they wouldn't trap players like that. They shouldn't even be able to. There were keywords which you could use to bypass their programs and go offline, but they weren't working either. The more Crow thought about it, the more he realized that there was some deeper problem at work. Of course, there was an exception to the rule in case a player got injured and couldn't speak or move, in which case you could deactivate your own sense-wear through your own implants, but that didn't work now either, which was the only thing that really worried him.

He walked over to the river, lay down flat on his belly and reached down with one hand to scoop up water. It tasted fresh and clean, which was something at least.

Thomas knelt down next to him to drink as well. "Should we go into the city as well? Maybe we can find something useful there."

Crow frowned. Maybe there would be NPCs with quests there, but then there would be a rush as everyone tried to complete the same one at once.

"Let's go and level up first," Crow said. "Maybe we can find some coins so we can buy something once we get back."

He, Mel, Thomas, a young boy named Loran, and a lanky one named George walked toward the wall. Crow glanced suspiciously at some flowers with red stalks and green flowers. Had they just moved? Perhaps they were poisonous. He came to a sudden stop at the thought. If the menu didn't work, then maybe the pain thresholds wouldn't be lowered either. He hoped fervently that such wasn't the case, but it had to be tested. He walked over to a nearby tree and punched it. And yelped at the sudden rush of pain. It definitely hadn't been lowered.

"What the hell are you doing?" Thomas cried out. But he just nodded slowly when Crow explained, his brown eyes studying him thoughtfully. "So we need to be careful then, huh?"

Crow rubbed his knuckles sourly. He shouldn't have punched so hard. "Yes, we do," he said.

They found a part of the wall which had long since crumbled, and big rocks lay strewn across the opening. They made their way across carefully - a sprained ankle would be awkward here. Despite all the troubles, Crow found himself looking forward to how the leveling system worked. That feeling of getting steadily stronger was one of the main reasons which he came back to play new vrmmorpg:s.

A wide gentle plain with clumps of trees and brush stretched out before them once they had exited the city, and far away, but within walking distance, there was a forest. The river snaked its way through, heading through the city perpendicularly.

They looked at each other, shrugged, and started walking across it toward the forest. The sun stood high and was baking them mercilessly, and sweat started beading Crow's forehead again.

It didn't take them long before they reached the treeline, which looked incongruous with normal trees mixed with others in a wide variety of colors and shapes. They followed the river's path and soon came to an area where the grass was low and tree limbs were bare.

"What happened here?" Loran, a boy of no more than fifteen, asked.

"Some sort of herbivore," Crow responded. "Or maybe a disease." It still made him uneasy to see the trees tower over him like living skeletons.

"Hey, there is slime on the ground," Thomas said. "It goes this way," he said and hurried away from the river.

"Wait, we don't have weapons," Crow protested, but Thomas didn't stop and neither did the others. Crow sighed. He had done similar things when he was new as well. He just hoped that the slimy things weren't fast.