~ CHAPTER 5 ~

THE MAGIC OF EMPATHY AND CONNECTION, PART 1

I actually loved it.

Stepping back into the light on the rooftops of Cowl’s Landing, my feelings were a tangled mess. My heart was going to all sorts of weird places, and my brain absolutely had no idea how to keep up. My first real quest! It was gunna be so awesome! OMG! In all honesty, I think I’d wanted to stay in the cozyness talking to the Keeper for a while longer. That wasn’t at all like what I’d planned when I logged into the game, but it had been so nice! and warm and welcome feeling… When was the last time somebody had hugged me like that?

Wasn’t I supposed to be a big boy who didn’t need things like that?

Every step up the long narrow staircase had felt like I was forcibly tearing myself away from what was important. Which was stupid, because she’d given me this quest and it was totally important, and I had to do a good job so that I would be liked by the Creator Flame… so that I would unlock my Class Skill.

I’d finally get to see proper combat and try out my Skills!… but they weren’t really all that interesting though. I wanted to unlock my Rune inscription now! Now that was interesting! Ugh but it would be a long while yet, I didn’t even know if this quest would be the last in the chain.

I resolved myself: I wanted to get back to that feeling. I wanted to make the Keeper happy, and for that I’d have to do a good job on my quest. Erm. To make the Creator Flame happy… To have the Creator Flame be made happy?

The sights of the city were dazzling, with sunlight glittering off sparkling wafts of green smoke and shining off the purple facets of the waygate focus. Off to the right of the giant crystal and a bit further away was the spire of the town hall clocktower, its hands pointing to a little past noon. To the right of that, much closer, were the floating rings of the mage’s guild library. Weirdly peaked rooftops jutted above me in odd directions all around, making the scene feel a bit like I was overlooking a twisted fairytale dark forest.

Whistles and clangs and weird squawking honks filled the air, and between them I could hear the clatter of wagon wheels on the cobblestones and the murmur of voices in the streets. It was hot and humid, and coming from the relatively cool dry air of the stairwell, my body suddenly felt sticky. A sort of ‘whoomph’ sounded off to my right, though I felt more than heard it, followed by a ‘squeeee’. Probably from the mage’s guild? ‘Clopclopclopclopclop’ went the woodworkers’ hammers.

Why do people play VR games? For this!

For that! The Keeper’s smile sprung into my mind. Um, but actually I didn’t feel like that was a standard sort of experience. Anyway, there was only one thing to do! Meet up with my friends? Who? Train the class we’d agreed I’d train? What? No, get out into the field and collect me some slightly-but-totally-not-completely-poisonous resin!

I sprung into action.

Or at least I tried to.

River was perfect. Fast, flexible, strong. Perfect balance, perfect eye-hand coordination. Gorgeous to look at. Ah, as soon as I’d stood up when heading out of the Keeper’s den earlier, I’d been reminded of that. Heavily. In the anterior direction. The person inside River was not so perfect. Moving around at high speeds while sporting a pair of abundantly sized breasts was not a challenge I’d been prepared to face. For that matter, jumping across rooftops while wearing a full length dress wasn’t one either.

Or, uh… remembering which rooftops to jump across.

Not a problem. I formed up the mental image to conjure my local area map… um… I formed the mental image to conjure my local area map! I formed… ah screw it. I made the little hand gesture Jaden Ness had taught me, and selected the local area map from the menu. My Mana and Stamina meters both took big hits from opening the map, but it was fine. There’d be plenty of time for them to regenerate before I got into combat.

Up popped the overlay onto my vision, displaying the parts of Cowl’s Landing that I’d explored earlier while dashing behind Portal Mason. Luckily, the computer would remember things I didn’t.

I started retracing my steps from earlier, taking my time this time to appreciate the scenery and get my bearings. Earlier, I’d been too occupied to pay much attention to my body, but now that I had a little freedom by myself, I could take the time to get used to it. The overwhelming sense I had was ‘powerful’, but I was also lower to the ground than I was used to being, and the way I moved felt slightly different. It wasn’t a bad different though: a little strange, but it felt natural, somehow. Touching my hair, I was entranced by the most incredible feeling of softness I’d ever imagined. Amazing!

Just before I started down that final staircase to the canal, it occurred to me that retracing my steps was actually kind of pointless - I wouldn’t be able to climb over the grotto wall from the canal side. With a sigh, I turned back towards the street-above-the-street, and made my way to the edge of one of the buildings.

I peered over, and after carefully planning my route, started clambering down. Hopefully nobody was going to notice a lovely Mistborn lady in a nice dress desperately hanging off pipes and sprawling down one and a half stories into a smelly, dimly lit alleyway, especially since I’d had to hike that dress up a bit too much for comfort to make the trip. I was definitely going to ask about this when I next saw the Keeper.

Safely on the ground, I slunk out of the alleyway and attempted to blend into the crowd. Attempted being the key word. No sooner had I rejoined society, than I started getting wide-eyed stares from passersby. Awkwaaard… It felt like there was something on my face, but somehow I didn’t think that was it. Hey guys, get a life! Like I was one to talk.

“Hey babe, wanna party up?”

“Wow, a Mistborn!”

“I wonder what class SHE is?”

“Damn I wanna ask her…”

I get it, I’m hot, now go back to your own business!

Mmm… but it probably wasn’t just my figure they were staring at though. I had encountered a grand total of six Mistborn so far, including myself, of whom four had been NPCs, and all but the Keeper and myself had been guys. Ah, but I was a guy also though, wasn’t I? Not that they’d know that… obviously.

Anyway, one in fifty, but if most players were only just logging in, I might be the first Mistborn girl they’d seen. I also wasn’t carrying an instrument, focus, or bow, which made me even more unusual. Unusual because not carrying a weapon was unusual, but also because not carrying one of those three types in particular, as a female player, was unusual. Female character.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Wait, why was that? On second thought, was that even true? I had this notion that women played healers, ranged dpsers, and pet-based classes in VR, but now that I thought about it I wondered if that was actually even the case. The stereotype was that those in melee range were big muscular guys who could take lots of hits, but in a world of fantasy and magic, there was really no reason why that had to be the case… right? Unless there was some other reason.

Looking around, I realised that actually a lot of other people weren’t carrying any weapons either, male or female. I hadn’t considered most of them because they were obviously dedicated crafters, but it thoroughly disproved my theory as to why I stood out. Unfortunately.

Those looks were starting to make me feel uncomfortable. There was a press of people all around, going to and fro picking up quests and gathering supplies and running small errands and who knows what else. Most of them ignored me. Which was good. Some of them didn’t. Which was feeling a little less good. In the corner of my eye I saw a flicker of something red that seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn’t think from where. It was gone before I could take a closer look.

Something brushed up against my butt. Awkward accident, moving along. I skipped forward. Nope. That was definitely a grabbing motion. Nope. Nope! Not an accident then. Ah, ‘Unless there was some other reason’. I’m just going to ignore that.

I now knew why you had to use your own face in VR.

WTF?

Moving on! Nearly at the gates.

“Woah look at that cute expression!”

“Haha look at her go!”

“Damn, don’t just ignore me, bitch.”

They were talking about me. I slightly didn’t like this place so much anymore. I looked around to find a clear path to the gates, and sped up a little more to get there sooner. It’ll be fine, they’re just new to VR and excited to finally be playing. There are plenty of other hot girls around, they’ll work it out of their system soon enough. One in fifty meant that there’d be hundreds of Mistborn around in a few days. Or close to a hundred anyway? So fifty or so others like me. That was good.

I was at the gates.

I took a deep breath to clear my thoughts. If I was going out into the field, it would make sense to pick up a few more quests to stack up alongside my main one. I looked over to the job board conveniently placed to the left of the gate. A group of adventurers was crowded around, but there was enough room for me to slip in if I wanted. It probably wasn’t the best way to get quests, but it meant there was always a handy supply for times like these.

I approached and found a good spot. A slightly scruffy looking Balar with a cutely roundish face and tufts of ginger fur on his cheeks, was standing next to me wearing a dirty brown robe that looked a bit like a monk’s habit only with way too many pockets. He had a scowl on his face, but it didn’t look like it was directed at me, the quest board, or rather anything at all in particular, and he was absent-mindedly wiping his hands on the cloth over and over as if he couldn’t quite get them clean but didn’t actually care enough to really try. Beside him and almost twice his height was a tall and angle-y Eladrin who was scowling even more fiercely, but his eyes were also focussed elsewhere. He glanced down at me, glared, then glanced away again, as if to say ‘you, insect, are wholly unworthy of my attention’. What a crowd.

Whatever. I turned to go over my options. Skin [Wilderskamp]s for their furs and deliver them to the leatherworking shop. Probably not in the right direction. Also, ew! Assess power levels in the [Resonating Pylon]s and check for damage or displacement. That was an option, but sounded a bit too involved for my taste, and for my timetable. Moving on. Deliver proof of death for any [Spider Monkey]s I encountered to the town guard… Seriously? Spider Monkeys? Still, I wouldn’t have to go out of my way for that one, and I didn’t even necessarily need to pick it up to get the reward.

There were some others that looked like they would need a party to tackle. I wasn’t having much luck, but I didn’t really want to deal with a party right now. Besides, I wasn’t planning to stay out for long anyway, hopefully. I turned to head out a little regretfully.

A friendly looking young Freechild man in shiny chainmail approached and waved at me, smiling warmly. “Hey you, ok let me guess, going out to pick some nice herbs? Want some help to keep you safe out there?”

Thanks but what? Did my appearance really scream ‘herbalist’? Was there something I was missing? I once again organized my thoughts into something resembling coherence, and offered him a bright smile. He obviously meant well, so I should let him down gently. “Thanks for the offer! But, actually, I’m looking to take things at my own pace for a bit. Still getting used to the game, you know?”

He gave me an even bigger smile. “Of course! That’s fine, we can take as much time as you want. It’ll be more fun that way, and we can get to know each other!”

No, that’s not what I meant. I rolled my eyes internally. Nice guy, thick shiny skull. I shook my head. “Oh, sorry, that wasn’t quite what I meant. What I meant to say was that I’m really just looking to play solo for bit, if that’s ok. Sorry.”

He frowned for a moment, like I’d just said something really challenging. “Ohhh I get it, you’re too good for me, huh?” All of a sudden his tone had gone clearly angry.

Shit, nonononono! That’s not what I meant that’s not what I meant that’s not what I meant! Wait… why would he even go there? What on earth had I said that would make him think that? Something felt very weird.

“Um. Sorry! I totally didn’t mean it like that at all!” I wailed and shook my head vigorously. “Please don’t take it personally!”

He was sneering at me now, obviously threatening. He was bigger than me, and probably had better Skills too. Suddenly he didn’t seem friendly at all, he seemed scary. When had that happened? I realised I’d started backing up unconsciously. “Anyway, I’m going to be going now, so I hope you have lots of fun and find someone great to party with soon!” I squeaked at him in my meekest voice, then hurriedly turned away and sped towards the gate, my heart slightly in my throat.

“Damn stuck up bitch. You’ll never make friends that way!” I heard him yell after me.

WTF?

WTF was that?

Has everyone gone crazy? Well, obviously not everyone… I needed to get out now and begin questing before I started to question my own sanity. I was shaking a little. I didn’t need to be. It was just one guy. He was weird. It’ll be fine. It’s ok. I hurried out through the gate. There.

*whoosh*

A banner flowed across my vision.

Now Entering:

[Lower Spelltouched Wilds - Cowl's Gate]

PvP restricted. Lightly patrolled by allied NPCs. Unexplored.

~ ~ 26/1/1/12:33 ~ ~

Status: [River]

Class: [Novice Mistborn Magical Martial Artist]

Location: [Lower Spelltouched Wilds - Cowl’s Gate]

Health 38/38 ~ Mana 22/40 ~ Stamina 25/41 Equipped Skills (5/8):

[Force Infused Palm]

[Myriad Fists]

[Imbued Defence]

[Unarmed Discipline (Passive)]

[Body Conditioning (Passive)] Statistics:

Defence +8

Resistance +4

Constitution +4

Willpower +4

Endurance +4 Equipped Items (2/8):

[New Arrival’s Simple Dress]

[New Arrival’s Simple Shoes] Other Skills:

[Inscribe: Rune of the Creator Flame (0/1)] Other Items:

[Special Edition Founder’s Token]

[Novice Healing Potion]

[Novice Mana Potion]

[Small Glass Jar]

[Small Pouch (Contains Items)] Active Quests:

[Acquire Ancient Flame-Seared Ink]

[The Ancient Keeper of Runic Magic (Part 2)]