Jay would normally have been tired by the process of killing twenty wolves, but the journey through the forest was entertaining. There were critters everywhere, but they were all the normal denizens, so there were no more Bestiary entries to be found. He was pleased with his five Bestiary entries, even though the wolf entry was the only one with any real use. The sights were just as beautiful as the first moment he saw them, except more immersive with the new console.

The benefit to all the reckless wolf murder was clear in terms of levels. Jay and Taylor Lynn were both level five, though Taylor Lynn was close to six. At the fifth level he’d gotten a notice for a new class ability.

System Message: Ability acquired! Aimed Shot: Monster Hunter takes a shot with a ranged weapon at a vital point of the enemy’s anatomy. Target’s attack strength will be lowered by 10% for one minute after successful attack. Ability takes two seconds to charge.

He was looking forward to testing it out, but it would have to wait. Taylor Lynn’s new ability was a spell to throw globes of fire like baseballs. Jay was a little jealous. After the long trek, they were finally approaching their first city.

There were two guards standing in front of the massive gates. The path led straight through the gates and into the city proper. The game provided names, levels, and a health bar at casual inspection. Jay inspected the guards, which revealed powerful level eighty security forces. He wasn’t going to be crossing these guards any time soon. It would be nice to be able to relax a bit, while they kept the city protected. Wolves were less fearsome with strong guards walking around.

Ilra was a major Elven city, though not their capital. It was a trade hub and it showed. The moment Jay and Taylor Lynn walked past the guards – receiving only a polite nod of acknowledgment – they were bombarded with colorful merchant signs everywhere. Jay assumed the guards left them alone because they could tell the pair were Elvish citizens. Among the shops, were tanners, blacksmiths, and even an ice cream shop.

“Let’s look for our first quest,” Taylor Lynn said.

“I was thinking we could check that out first,” Jay countered, pointing to the ice cream shop, called Icy Frost Creams. The sign sported a dancing ice cream cone. “Looks fun. And tasty.”

She turned and considered him, her frosty demeanor thawing some at his excitement. “Not a bad idea. Less calories in VR, I guess.”

They set off for the ice cream shop and found it quite crowded. There were a dozen people in line. Most of them didn’t stand out, but a small blonde woman talking emphatically was drawing attention. She was loud enough her discussion of different flavors was audible from the other side of the shop. Her companion was impossible to miss, especially in the vibrant colors of the Icy Frost Cream shop. The man was tall and wearing a completely black outfit with a hood shrouding his face. Jay tried to catch a peek of his face but it was covered by a mask.

He thought the mask was pretty cool. The wood was painted a soft gray color and covered his whole face like a theatre mask. He was clearly a roguish class. He was laughing at the young blonde woman, which was a little weird coming from underneath the mask. The audio experience was smooth, like he was really laughing through the mask.

Thankfully, the line moved swiftly. When they reached the front of the line, it was possible to peer into a display counter and see the items. The reason for the popularity was obvious. Each ice cream conveyed a buff lasting between an hour and a day. There were buffs for character statistics, damage multipliers, and even a buff for experience.

“So, we have to get the experience buff, right?” Jay asked.

“Among other things,” Taylor Lynn replied, distracted by the deluge of options.

They walked out of the ice cream shop with three different types of ice cream each. Taylor Lynn found something to increase her magic power and movement speed. Jay found some to increase his Speed statistic by three points and to increase the damage of his melee attacks. And they both ate the experience ice cream.

Gummy Tornado Ice Cream: This magical fusion of gummy and cream will increase player experience by an additional 50% for twenty-four hours. Level Requirement: Available for players under level 20.

The ice creams were well worth the twenty-five gold Print total cost. He was a little disappointed the ice creams only worked for lower level players, but couldn’t object to the game design. Making the lower levels as seamless as possible made players feel like they were progressing. Even better, Jay actually felt the taste of the ice cream. Cold, sugar, and melts in your mouth – like real ice cream. Not far from the shop they ran across the strange pair from earlier.

The one Jay thought looked like a rogue was a Scoundrel, based on his class nameplate. Somehow, “Ken” was managing to eat his ice cream through the mask. The young woman with him was listed as a Rune Cleric. He remembered that class being offered to him; despite his refusal, a healer would be handy for his level one hundred mission. Jay thought about trying to make friends with them, but Taylor Lynn was already leaving him behind.

They did not stop to eat as the other group had. Instead, Jay followed Taylor Lynn through the city at a jogging pace as he tried to keep up. He managed to take in some details of the architecture as they went. Everything in the city was made of wood, which made sense. Ilra was situated in the middle of a forest, so there would be wood aplenty. He remembered the trees were called Burlen Trees and they made for beautiful, magical buildings.

Thinking about building materials, he almost ran into Taylor Lynn’s back when she finally stopped in front of a unique shopfront.

There was an assorted magical gear sitting behind the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Several other mages were window shopping. There was a wand, several staves, and even something labeled Sceptre of Lightning. A mannequin next to the weapons was dressed in purple robes complete with a pointed witch or wizard hat. After eyeing the selection, Taylor Lynn made her way into the shop.

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

Jay saw several spellbooks sitting on the shelves as they walked in. More spells – and some more fire magic – would be nice for their questing. Many forest monsters were bound to be weak to such spells. Examination made apparent the spellbooks were attuned to different types of magic. There were spellbooks for Fire, Ice, Earth, Arcane, and Shadow magic.

“This place is cool,” Jay offered. “But what are we doing here? This all looks expensive.”

“Buying me some new gear,” Taylor Lynn explained. “Gear will be important with just the two of us. You’re not exactly a tank and we can’t surprise every group of enemies. You likely noticed from the claws in your stomach.”

Stalking wolves was, in a word, difficult. A pack of wolves had gotten the jump on them during the journey to the city. Jay shuddered at the memory of watching his health plummet in the ambush. “Good point,” Jay agreed. He opened up a window for trade. Taylor Lynn feigned surprise, but accepted anyway. Jay transferred her five thousand of the remaining gold Prints. She pumped her fist into the air.

“I was hoping you’d be willing to share,” she admitted. “And totally wasn’t leading you this direction. Receiving gifts from other players is well within the bounds of my contract.”

“Yeah, yeah, do your shopping,” I said.

The possibilities the money provided went a long way towards improving her mood over the next thirty minutes.

When they finally left, Taylor Lynn didn’t want to explain what she purchased, but was wearing new robes. Jay noticed the shop sign was animated by magic to explode before reforming into a small ball of fire on his way out the door. The magic shop didn’t have a name, which made perfect sense, because they had exploding fireball signs.

Taylor Lynn paused in the middle of the street.

“What are we doing?” Jay asked, pausing behind her.

“I’m not sure how to find quests,” she confessed, scanning the area for a clue.

“We could just start talking to people and see what happens.”

She scowled. “I’m not going to start talking to random non-player characters and hope for a quest.”

“Alright,” Jay said with a shrug. “I’ll do it.”

Jay did just that. Taylor Lynn followed, covering her face in embarrassment. The first several people told him that there was a quest board in the town square where quests could be found. Several more people were worried about the wolf population, which made sense based on Jay’s experiences. In the end, he found a merchant standing outside her shop and staring at it mournfully.

“Do you have a quest for me?” Jay asked at the same moment as another voice. Jay looked to his side to find the two people from the ice cream shop. Jay’s eyes narrowed, but assumed the odds of stumbling into a quest were low.

“Actually, I do,” the merchant confessed. She brushed the hair from her eyes and turned to the pair of them. “But I only really need help from one group. I don’t suppose one of you wants to back out of the quest?”

Jay and Ken the Scoundrel both shook their heads.

“Very well,” the merchant said with a sigh. “We’ll have to settle this as true adventurers. Let the duel begin in…” At this point, Jay was convinced this was intervention from the game masters, though he had no idea why they would force a duel between such low level players.

Numbers started to flash down from ten on Jay’s HUD. At the count of five, as Ken looked at him incredulously, Jay sprinted away from his opponent. He didn’t stop until reaching the border of the dueling territory. People in the streets were clearing the way for the duel. The crowd watched with incredulity. With one second on the clock, Jay drew his crossbow, starting his Aimed Shot. Ken didn’t stay surprised for long; he was only a few meters from Jay when the attack went off.

There was no time to reload, so Jay dropped his crossbow to the ground as the shot struck, using the time Ken needed to regain his footing to draw his dagger. The HUD flashed with an indicator next to Ken’s name, confirming the weakening effect of Jay’s ability.

Ken’s eyes widened at seeing the dagger, which was much better quality his own weapon. Steel clashed in the first trade, neither of them landing a real strike. Jay thought he was Ken’s match until he felt his legs get swept out from under him. Ken’s dagger descended, aiming for the chest. Jay rolled out of the way, taking the blade along the side of his back. Jay was fortunate. He was much faster and had the better gear.

Jay sprung to his feet. He was only a foot away from another edge of the duel territory. He felt the sensory feedback from the game. His bones were ringing from the effort of blocking the next clash. His wrist twisted, causing severe pain, as the dagger tumbled from his grasp. His thoughts blurred, so he acted out on instinct.

Before the dagger hit the ground, Jay started charging his Wild Strike ability. He dodged several slashes from his opponent in quick succession. He shuffled his feet, trying to use his speed to his advantage. The opponent was trying to edge him away from his fallen weapon.

The count hit two and his opponent’s mouth dropped in shock as Jay stepped forward, instead of dodging again. Ken’s attack missed as Jay punched him in the jaw with the full force of the Wild Strike behind it.

Ken stumbled backwards. Jay kicked him while he was off balance to knock him prone. Jay scurried for the dagger he had dropped, hoping to end the fight, but there was no need. Gold lettering flashed across his screen declaring him winner.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but didn’t forget his sportsmanship. Backtracking to his opponent, Jay offered his hand to Ken. The man looked stunned for a few moments, but accepted the help to his feet.

“Thanks,” he muttered. “That was weird. Never heard of a duel for a quest.”

“No problem,” Jay said. “I think-” Nora spoke to him, distracting him from his point about the game master teams messing with things. He turned to the merchant as she started to explain the details of the quest without further prompting.

“You’re the winner,” she said, looking at Jay. “I’m looking for assistance tracking down what is happening to my shipments. The name’s Nora. My caravan drivers report a growing herd of boars with strange behavior. They attack caravans, on the road, without any provocation.”

Nora continued her speech with her eyes on the floor. “I deal in unique items, so every lost shipment has the potential to be devastating. If I lose the wrong item, I’m sunk. Each of the boars has a strange mark. Collect twenty of these marks as proof of kill and return to me. Will you help?”

“Of course I will,” Jay agreed, “Well, my friend and I will.”

System Message: Quest Accepted! Strained Shipments. Nora, the merchant of Nora’s Curiosities, has explained that her shipments are being attacked by a strange herd of boars with weird markings. Dispose of twenty of them. Boars Killed: 0/20.

Jay turned and saw Taylor Lynn in animated conversation with Ken’s companion. Her nameplate, now that Jay was paying attention, revealed her name was Jenny. Taylor Lynn waved, so Ken and Jay both walked over. The Scoundrel did not seem pleased with his loss. Jay wondered idly if the game would allow Ken to strike in cold-blooded revenge.

“Actually,” Taylor Lynn said as he walked up, “Jenny and Ken are going to help us with our quest.”

“And then you’ll help with ours,” added Jenny. “It’s a party!”