Chapter 8. Arthur the Asshole

The tallest and loudest of the three gamers strode straight into the group of rabbits as they entered the field. He swung a two-handed sword; its chipped metal edge sliced downward and felled a rabbit in one swing. “Thomas, get out in front of me. I’ll flank them. Christian, stay at range, " he commanded.

“Arthur, we don’t need bossing around,” one responded. “You don’t have to be the GM right now, it’s just a group of rabbits.”

GM meant guild master. I knew that from previous games. I also knew that guild masters tended to be a certain type. Pushy. Demanding. Not my favorite.

“We need to stay tight,” Arthur shot back. “Perfect practice makes perfect. You sass me again and I’ll demote you.”

I couldn’t stand people like this. I’d met dozens of them. Stuck up, bossy, arrogant fools who thought their privilege gave them the right to tell others what to do. Anyone with the gall to name themself ‘Arthur’ in a fantasy game had issues.

They made short work of the group of animals. As commanded, Christian stayed at range with his bow. He shot eight arrows and two of them landed. Thomas held a sword and a wooden shield. He got to the front of the pack and blocked multiple rabbits from attacking him by batting them back with his shield. All three of them were squires by Job. It said so above their nameplates. That meant they’d be well ahead of me in Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. The thought that I’d be essentially gathering materials for people like this gave me pause, even if I was able to switch Jobs and farm in this game. I both loathed the idea of helping them get stronger and relished the thought that I’d be profiting off of them.

They strode over toward the house. I remained a moment too long, too busy leering at them to get out of line of sight.

“Hey you!” Arthur hollered as I tried to slip around the corner of the house. “I saw you. Come out and say hello.”

Ugh.

I stood against the wall for a moment, taking a deep breath and trying to calm myself. I stepped around to face them.

“Arthur, he’s a Mystic,” Thomas said in a whisper of excitement.

“I know, idiot. I can read.” Arthur directed his attention to me. “How’d you get that Mystic Job? We’re like two hours into game-launch.”

“I rolled for it in character creation.”

Arthur had a large square face and straight blond hair. He had prominent eyebrows and brown eyes. He looked to be about six foot four with massive shoulders. An image of He-Man popped into my head. Had he made his character look like this or was this how he looked in real life? His nameplate said level three, but I doubted that six points in Strength and six in Constitution would make a person that much larger. Arthur was probably built and traditionally handsome in real life. Most likely rich as well. Some people had everything.

Thomas was shorter and round about the mid section with short brown hair and a pudgy face. He had a kind look about him, but I doubted he was actually kind. Like attracts like.

Christian stood taller than me and slender, but with terrible posture where he didn’t stand upright. Possibly a consequence of being so tall. He had a pointy, hawklike face with a sneer on it that I hadn’t seen disappear yet. He had blond hair like Arthur and, now that I looked back and forth, the two could pass as brothers.

“Lucky,” Arthur said. “Do you have any healing spells? We’re heading up into the mountains for a quest chain called ‘Into the Silverlode Mine’ and we could use a healer.”

“I’m not really looking to get into any questing,” I said. “And the healing spell I have doesn’t even work yet because mana doesn’t regenerate.”

Arthur pulled the three of them into a huddle and began whispering.

Janica pulled me aside. “Warren, we need to go with them.”

“Absolutely not,” I whispered to her. I turned my back to the three, looking at Janica. I pursed my lips and shook my head.

“Look,” she said. “I told you I had a plan to get you out of this situation, right? You need to trust me.”

“By getting myself into danger?” I whispered. “And with these fools? I don’t have a mining pick, or any of the equipment I was supposed to get as a worker.”

She held my gaze. “Just trust me.”

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I sighed and turned around to face the three men. This was going to come back to bite me.

Arthur spoke before I could. “We talked it over and we agreed. If you have a healing spell this early in the game, even if you can’t use it yet, it’s worth carrying you through this quest.”

“We didn’t agree,” Christian said. “You decided. For the record, I’m against bringing this amateur with us.”

Arthur glared at him, then turned back to me. “Hear me out. I’m the leader of an elite guild called Impervious. We’ve been around for over a decade, with first kills in all the major online games. We have over twenty members, all of them completely dependable. Except Christian. If you come with us and do well, I’ll let you apply to join us. It’s kind of a big deal. I’m not doing this out of charity. I’ve heard that it’s going to be nearly impossible to get any magic until some major events happen in the game. And the fact that you even have a healing skill is unusual. I’m doing this for the guild. And because I need a pocket healer. But if you get us killed by doing something stupid, I will not be happy. So you need to agree to stay back and follow orders.”

If this little speech was meant to motivate me to join them, it did the opposite. I wanted nothing more than to walk away and avoid people like this. But just because I had a new profession didn’t mean that I’d be successful. It was clear that I would have to kill beasts in order to skin them. I needed an edge, a new Job that would help me gather ingredients or something. And Janica seemed to have a plan. I didn’t know what to do.

“Why is he talking about this like it’s a game?” Janica asked.

I ignored her. This wasn’t the time to discuss existential issues.

“Just so you know,” I said. “I don’t have any useful skills except that I can talk to spirits once a day. I had a spear, but I broke it. So I can’t even attack anything.”

Arthur reached into his inventory and pulled out a simple wooden pole and offered it to me.

You received Wooden Staff.

Wooden staff

Item Class: Spear

Item Quality: Common

Damage: 2-4

“Thanks,” I said.

“You’re coming with us then?”

“I’m not sure. Is there a quest reward?”

“Here,” Arthur said. “ I’ll share the quest with you. It’s a quest chain and we’re on the third part, but let’s just see if it’s sharable. Because we’re not going back to help you with the first parts.”

A holographic image of a man appeared before me and began to speak in a nasally tone. He wore nice clothes, similar to what a banker might have worn in the 1800s complete with a top hat, a fancy-looking tie, and a pair of round spectacles. “Hello, Visitor. My name is Nigel Attinson. I’m the Mayor of River Junction. For years, our town has thrived because we sit at the junction of two major rivers, because we have rich farmland, and because of the plentiful Silverlode mine, which lies in the foothills North of town.

“However, six months ago, an angry Earth Spirit attacked the mine, killing dozens and destroying our mining equipment. Without silver from the mine and the resources that it provided our town, we have begun to lose our hold as a center of trade, and many families had to relocate; it started a chain reaction that could ruin River Junction. We sent groups into the mines to clear out the spirit, but…” Nigel closed his eyes and shook his head, “they didn’t make it out. I take full responsibility. I begged Central City to send us aid, but our little silver mine is not a priority.

“I’m begging you, please dispose of the Earth Spirit or, at the very least, discover a clue which can help us remove this foul creature.”

You were offered a quest.

Quest: Into the Silverlode Mine

Objective: Dispose of the Earth Spirit that inhabits the Silverlode Mine or discover a clue that can help the town of River Junction

Rewards: 100 Silver and increased reputation with River Junction

Do you accept: Yes /No

My eyes widened thinking about the reward. One-hundred Silver was the equivalent of $100. No brainer. I accepted the quest.

“Great,” Arthur said. “Let’s go.”

“Janica,” I whispered, once the other three were out of ear-shot. “One hundred Silver! Is that why you pushed me into accepting this quest?”

She hesitated. “Warren, I hate to tell you this, but you’re not getting any of that money.”