I stared at my snarling opponent, a well-built beastman of the tiger tribe. His bright orange fur standing on end from the tension. We weren’t alone, two others were at our sides, a paladin in gilded plate as well as an enchanting elven sorceress. There were no allies here, only one person would walk away a winner.
The tiger makes his move, slamming down a tile to his side of the table. The 4 of bamboo, not something I need but the elf to my left seems eager.
“Pon,” chirps a whimsical voice as she reveals two other 4s of bamboo from her hand.
She discards a useless wind tile and I ignore it as I draw my own. Does this tile win me the game? It does not, goodbye green dragon I will always remember you. My gaze meets the knight as he takes his tile from the wall, do you have it? My ticket to victory?
He breaks into a cold sweat as I smile sweetly at him. With hesitation, he throws down a 5 of dots; and not just any 5, this one was red. My smile widens so much that my cheeks begin to hurt, fangs are unintentionally put on display.
“Ron~,” I coo as I snatch his tile and reveal my hand.
Ignoring the pained screams of the tin can on the floor I stand with relish. The game of mahjong ends and I gain a paltry amount to my ranked score.
“He’s going to be crying for hours Rival, it might even affect his performance in the raid tonight.”
“Not my problem, he was talking all that smack earlier too.”
The doll-faced blonde may have been musing now thanks to her second place finish, yet she forgets that I’ve seen her throw many petty tantrums over the years.
[ Lissa Elaine - Lv100 ]
A rare person in this world, the rarity being that they’re actually on my friends list. I can’t send friend requests myself however, an anti-botting limitation on free trial users, though I can still receive them. I tend not to add too many people, thanks to a similar limitation being that I can’t send private messages to players either. It bothers other people more than it bothers me, especially this energy vampire who is always inviting me to group activities.
It still surprises me that she leads a guild of a few hundred people, the girl is aloof and a magnet for trouble. Even after rejecting her requests for me to join, she pestered me for months until we eventually became friends. She even claims that I’m an honourary member of [Mushroom], though I wouldn’t be caught dead in a guild with such a stupid name even if I could join.
The sobbing paladin on the ground was one of her members, a well-known raider who primarily plays tank classes. He acts like he hates being dragged into mahjong yet takes it so seriously.
[ Lucas Vido - Lv100 ]
Being helped to his feet by our resident fur ball, the knight points a finger in my direction accusingly.
“Give me back my ranking points you demon!”
I hit him with the ‘shrug’ emote and an auto-chat input.
“{I don’t have it.}”
Any attempts at protest were met with chain shrugs, the fool never stood a chance. A snicker comes from the tigerman, the person here who I have known the longest. We aren’t exactly close per se, more of a kindred respect for one another. The others don’t fight in the arena very often, though beastboy and I have fought many many times.
[ Roaring Mountain - Lv100 ]
He’s kind enough to visit the Lv70 bracket every now and then, even though he can’t practice with his higher levelled abilities. He claims it still requires more effort than the opponents in his own tier but isn’t that because he’s lacking his overpowered endgame skills?
He’s not in the same guild as the other two, belonging to [Zodiac] instead, so he generally has less free time as a result thanks to their high status. [Mushroom] bafflingly enough was ranked in the low teens, beginning as a role-playing guild and attracting a decent amount of high level players.
The space we were occupying had begun to fade, with the game being over we would soon be warped back to our respective places in the world.
“You playing another?” asked the beastman.
“I need food, I’ll be on later.”
I wave to the trio as my surroundings become a blur, one short loading screen later and I arrive at my personal lodgings. Nothing fancy about it, just a glorified dorm room given for reaching a certain rank with the local barracks, buying property was out of the question as the cheapest land cost more than I could carry on the free trial.
Two turquoise gems stare back at my character from the wall-mounted mirror, not particularly significant considering I could always see my character. The small details like the mirrors actually showing reflections were just part of Rogue Tale’s charm. In the world of elves and beasts, I chose a human to be my model, a little boring if I’m being honest.
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The woman in the mirror was pale with sleepy eyes, her wavy teal hair tied into a neat ponytail. Cosmetic horns from a Halloween event add some unholy flavour to the otherwise vanilla maid outfit, demon maids make powerful rivals indeed. Only after admiring myself for another half minute do I tap escape to bring up the main menu, clicking log out I get up from my desk and stretch.
Throwing on a hoodie and some sweatpants I leave my apartment, the moon unable to find gaps in the clouds leaves me walking in mostly darkness. I’m not too fussed, the service station is only a few streets away, and I can see my phone screen just fine regardless. Browsing the forums in one hand, I reach the store and wait by the sliding doors for the person behind the counter to buzz me in.
*Bzzzzt Ding*
I wave to the elderly shopkeeper as I enter and make my way to the back, picking up a few cups of spicy noodles as well as a large iced tea from the fridges. I place my items on the counter and wait for them to be scanned.
“Will that be all for today?”
“A packet of Pales as well, blue or gold is fine, one of lighter triple-packs too.”
The granddad squints his eyes questioningly.
“And how old are you missy?”
I squint back as I retrieve my ID, replying in my most monotone voice.
“Twenty-seven, you ask me this every other month I swear, here.”
Angling the card in the light, he examines it briefly before beginning the inquisition.
“State your full name.”
“Lorraine Thompson.”
“Birth year?”
“Ninety-nine.”
“The second last digit of your ID number?”
Ah, I hate this man.
Sending my best 'Are you fucking kidding me?' glare, sparks fly until his straight face cracks.
“Give me back my ID,” I huffed.
Returning my card with a chuckle he added the cigarettes and lighters to the pile. I tap my bank card to the reader to pay for the goods as the items are loaded into a plastic bag.
“You can use the machines here if you want to eat those now—unless you also wish to purchase an umbrella?”
Frowning, I turned to look out the window, my vision only meeting a wall of flowing white.
Thank you nature for this freak of a storm, you couldn’t have waited literally 10 minutes?
“Well?”
“I suppose I don’t really have much of a choice, thank you.”
Eating my noodles in silence at one of the few tables, I flicked through the forums not finding much of interest. Mostly people talking about the upcoming beta, already sharing their grand plans before even having been selected, the delusions of these players. Only two days ago we got confirmation that 10000 spots would be available, while that may sound like a lot, Rogue Tale has over 100 million active subscribed players spread across its many servers.
None of it particularly mattered to me, my gameplay would only be different in the sense that I wouldn’t see a few faces for a while. Knowing Lissa, she would somehow get in. While it would be a little quiet without her around, I could always tune into her stream to say hi.
*Bzzzzt Ding*
My train of thought is interrupted as two people in suits enter, the man and woman bickering between themselves. The woman’s high heels clicked with each step, her black hair was cut short to a bob and bounced in tune. The man kept pace with fewer steps, clean-shaven with dark ginger locks tied into a messy bun. If you told me that these people were models or celebrities then I would wholeheartedly believe you.
“Two packs of cigs, any brand.”
Oh my god, he has an accent, so brazen and unapologetically Irish.
“Make it three, you always come begging to me when you run out.”
Ah, she has one too. Something European, I can’t quite place it.
Both parties received bonus points on my evaluation, I finished my noodles satisfied, dinner and a show. Perhaps they’re filming a movie or something, as unlikely as that would be here in rural Australia, we tend not to get big name visitors in this small non-coastal town.
I keep my head down until they leave, lest I somehow get caught in a conversation with these deities, it’s hard enough speaking with normal people you know. I overhear something about finding a hotel as they leave, causing a sigh of relief as I’m finally freed from the IQ debuff aura of attractive people. Once I see their car leave, I throw my waste in the trash and wave to the old man as I head out.
It’s still raining, only lightly spitting rather than the heavy pelting from earlier. The short trip home only got me a little soaked, nothing a hot shower couldn’t fix. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I frowned, the bags under my jade eyes were darker than usual.
And those people saw me like this. Ick.
Perhaps there was a pretty face here once, maintenance has been lacking as of late, it’s hard to care too deeply anymore. Tracing my cracked lips with a finger, I ignored the nagging voice of my mother conjured from my imagination. She was right though, I did look rather sickly right now.
*Pshhhhhhhhhhh*
Twenty minutes of being engulfed in hot water later, I wait for my hair to dry within the wrapped towel while on my balcony. Lighting a cigarette, I lean back on the bench while staring at the sky. If you had asked me ten years ago what I thought about smoking, you would have been told that I found it abhorrent. Both my parents were heavy smokers, and I had seen the damaging effects firsthand, yet all it took was a bad breakup combined with a stressful work environment to change that mindset.
Everyone had their crutches, the things that kept them going. In my opinion, if it was getting you out of bed in the morning then there was at least some merit to it. Even something as silly as watching numbers go up in a video game had worth, it certainly was a factor in my life. Whether it’s a bad shift at work or just one of those days, at least Rogue Tale would be there to put my real world problems on hold.
Years after starting my free trial playthrough, I’m still in the process of consuming any and all content available to me. I wonder if I would finally subscribe after completing everything, it’s a scary thought considering how close I am now. What most people saw as the largest restrictions I found to only make me enjoy the game more.
I liked not being able to trade with other players, crafting and gathering everything myself was fulfilling, there was a real sense of pride and progression. Being unable to send friend requests was mild compared to not being able to send private messages, both were more of a slight annoyance than a deal breaker. No joining guilds, another nothing-burger to me, if I needed help for a dungeon I could always just use the auto-queue to find random players. The currency cap mainly prevented buying up the limited land in the game, it presented the unique challenge of needing to find money sinks to prevent inefficiencies.
There were many other instances of functions being unavailable, some making sense and some not. The overall negatives were unable to compare to the sheer amount of content in my eyes, it was not uncommon to meet Lv100 players who had never experienced specific dungeons or bosses due to those being side content. Besides, most of the constraints affected group activities while I was content with completing tasks with my own abilities.
Although I said I would be back online later, it appears that I have subconsciously arrived in my bedroom. Multiple days of rationing my sleeping hours began to cause a backlash, the suit of flesh I pilot initiating its emergency protocols in response. Sleep and I shared a love-hate relationship; it was like waiting at a bus stop, if I missed that chance to rest then I would be stuck awake until the next bus arrived. Faceplanting onto my modest double bed, all signs of resistance were broken, I was whisked off to the land of dreams.