Waking up the next morning, Nico rose with a start. In an instant, the memories of the previous twenty four hours rushed into his head, and he remembered everything that happened. Kadin was so drunk and tired from last night that when he got back to his bed, he simply fell asleep in his outside clothes.
Nico got ready for bed like normal and went to sleep soon afterward, being quite exhausted from the events of the day himself. After that, he woke up to a relatively peaceful morning, the memories of last night still fresh in his mind–after all, it was only several hours prior. When Nico had awoken, he found that Kadin, probably hungover and tired, was still asleep, even though it was relatively late in the morning; it was a Saturday morning, which meant that there were still two days left, including today, until the official start of his college career.
As it was his first time settling in somewhere new, Nico knew that the best way to spend all that time was to familiarize himself with the campus and continuing to try to forge new social connections–of course, he couldn't get the girl from last night out of his mind, either, her porcelain-like blue eyes a picture-perfect image in his head.
Getting up, stretching and yawning, Nico made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day; in half an hour, he was up and out of the dormitory room, leaving the still-sleeping Kadin to rest for the time being. His first order of business was to find food, as that would be a crucial component to his day-to-day routine; being freshman dorms, there was a nearby dining hall that the students were expected to eat at, as well as a university-sanctioned market that acted as a grocery and general store where students could get all of their necessities.
Since the residence halls were located on the outskirts of Excelsior's campus, the Institute's educational buildings, the location of classrooms and lecture halls, were found in the campus proper, with sleek, modern buildings unlike those of the older, historical college campuses. Though Excelsior was a historic institution in its own right, the constant revamps and renovations it underwent made it look like a new-fashioned academy. It then made it even more incredible that since despite its newer status, Excelsior was still a world-renowned educational facility, on par with the highest-ranked universities in the nation and worldwide.
The campus, to Nico, was already bustling, even though classes hadn't begun yet–being a relatively smaller, private school, there weren't nearly as many students as the bigger, more populated universities. Excelsior, however, was an extremely well-funded school, which meant that it was chock-full of cutting-edge technology and amenities and therefore was able to provide the academic world with avant-garde research into numerous fields–Nico guessed that this was why someone like Ingrid would try to attend Excelsior in the first place, as it was often a site for state-of-the-art scientific investigation, and her field of bioinformatics could definitely fit into that realm.
After getting a quick meal from the dining hall, Nico found himself walking around campus alone, simply familiarizing himself with the grounds and surrounding neighborhoods, too. A few streets away from Excelsior's borders were rows of city blocks that made up the eccentric downtown Brooklyn area, making so that students have an easy access to all that the borough has to offer; not to mention, Excelsior was home to a metro station that connected to numerous other major train stations and rail lines throughout New York City, connecting the university with the rest of the Big Apple.
Nico promised himself that throughout his time here, he would prioritize exploring New York City, as he knew it wasn't one of the most popular settings in fictional stories, ranging from movies to comics to theater plays, of all time for no reason. But for now, Nico mentally marked down places he could come back and study at, like certain buildings or libraries that were either going to be full of students or low-key enough for him to get some quiet, alone time in a campus where a mass of students would be packed tightly together.
By the time that Nico arrived back to his dorm around noon-ish, Kadin was no longer there. He assumed that he had gone out to eat or to meet up with Gracelyn or some other friend, and didn't mind it too much–he was glad that their friendship was forming, but Nico knew that they weren't going to be attached to hip or anything; plus, he wanted to have an independent college experience of his own, with hopefully multiple groups of people to call friends.
After putting away his things, Nico decidede to take a midday rest and lay in his bed, going on his phone for the time being. Scrolling through social media apps, he gave into temptation and searched up the name 'Ingrid', as he didn't catch her surname, on his device. The search bar came up with a few different results, but as he wasn't following anyone from Excelsior so far, none of them displayed any of their mutual connections.
But because of the geographic pinpoint setting of the app and his phone, it showed results of accounts with that name in the area, and it didn't take long for him to find the account with the profile picture resembling the face of the person he had talked to last night. Nico clicked the follow button and continued scrolling on his phone, but it wasn't long before a notification had popped up, saying that his request to follow her had been accepted and that she had issued him a request of her own.
In less than a minute, he had scrolled through her profile, seeing some of her preliminary pictures and had sent her a short message, saying, "Hey, hope you got home safely last night." She responded quickly after that, and Nico knew that it was a good sign, as their conversation continued and flowed smoothly–she went home with some friends before he had a chance to find her again after the altercation with Francisco, and she told him that she witnessed the interaction go down.
Soon in their texting conversation, he asked where she was and what she was doing, and she told him that she was preparing for something she deemed as 'EPS tryouts'. Confused by this, he asked her what that meant, and her reaction was that of surprise. But, Ingrid told him that before they talk more about player affairs–which was apparently what she meant by EPS tryouts–they should talk in person.
Being told to meet up at a local coffee shop, Nico quickly got ready and headed straight there, not wanting to be late, especially to his first meeting with someone he had such a vibrant conversation with the previous night. Wearing a simple outfit of jeans and a t-shirt, the still-summer daytime left the city in a pleasant climate, soon to be replaced by the roughness of the cold, autumn breezes.
In no time, he spotted a girl in loose cargo pants and an active-wear long sleeve top, her tied into a ponytail; it was the color of the pale-blonde hair he remembered, and she perked up when she noticed him as well.
"Ingrid," Nico exclaimed when they were finally in close distance, "I got you a frappucino–I didn't know what you wanted, so I hope it's fine." He said, handing her one of the drinks that was at the table he was sitting at, waiting for her to come; the cafe wasn't far away from campus, and it was only a ten minute walk from his residence hall.
Ingrid's eyes flashed with a pleasant look as she graciously picked up the drink, taking a sip of it, "Thank you!"
"So, why'd you tell me to come here?" He asked, still not knowing the reason she wanted to meet up so suddenly.
The blonde's demeanor changed, and she looked more serious this time. Quickly scanning their surroundings, similar to how she tried to read his expression the moment that they first talked to each other, Ingrid began in a low whisper, "Over text, you said that you were a new player, right? That you'd just awakened this summer?"
Nico merely nodded, not knowing where she was going with this.
"Then tell me, how much do you know about being a player?" She questioned. It then dawned on him that they could be heading into a serious topic matter, and so he shifted to a more serious posture as well, wanting to take whatever she was about to say with sincerity; he also thought about integrated the player community must be, as even someone from Sweden could know the same knowledge as a player from America, for example.
After he went over the basics of what he understood about being the player phenomenon, Nico inquired, "Is there something else I should know?"
"Listen," Ingrid finally began after a short pause, most likely to gather her thoughts, "all of that is true, yes. But there's still something I don't think you've fully understood, and it's that the player world is first and foremost dangerous, Nico."
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He furrowed an eyebrow at this, starting to get a sense of what she was trying to convey to him. He knew that it was dangerous, especially ever since the tutorial; he could still remember the rush of pain that coursed through him, and the very real threat that was the Shadowmaw, whose powerful muscles he sunk his blade Tear into.
"What... do you mean? I went through the tutorial, I knew that Shadowmaw was real." He answered, trying to reassure the almost-fearful look on her visage. He wondered if there was a reason for telling him, someone who was only a little less than a stranger, all of this.
"A Shadowmaw?" She queried suddenly, "You faced a Shadowmaw as your tutorial?" Ingrid's tone conveyed genuine shock, and Nico was now even more confused.
"Doesn't everyone? I guess I never researched about how the tutorial process went for other people, and I had no one to ask since Kadin was the first player I met since my awakening." Nico replied, trying to fill in any gaps of knowledge.
Ingrid shook her head, "No, everyone's tutorial was different. For example, mine was merely casting a spell; to face a monster as your tutorial, even if it was a low-level version sounds almost impossible. And you're saying you killed it?"
Nico nodded, not sure how to take all of this in, "I used a spell too, the only active spell I had when I awakened."
After another short pause for pondering, the blue-eyed girl opened her mouth and continued, "Okay, I'm glad you understand the dangers of our world. You must be stronger than I thought–is that why you stood up to Francisco?" She then asked, referencing the previous night.
"Um, no. I did that because I wanted to help Kadin and Gracelyn, why?"
"I've only been here for a day longer than you, but I've been a player for a while, so I know how to get with the community quickly. And I was deeply integrated into the Stockholm player collective as well, so I know my way around these matters; it didn't take me long to hear some of the same names come up when it came to the topic of the strongest players at school in our grade." She then stated.
It was at that moment that Nico realized that he was in over his head. A massively late bloomer with little information about the world he was about to dive deep was what he is. With a quick realization of the situation he was in, Nico eagerly listened and asked more about what Ingrid wanted to tell him, as he needed all of the details he could get for now.
"Tell me more." He implored, and Nico was lucky that for whatever reason, Ingrid was telling him all of this.
She nodded before continuing, "Now he's not as strong as Blake or Aleksy, or so I've heard," Ingrid said, using the names of people had hadn't heard of before, "but Francisco can act the way he does for a reason. He's a powerful player, and he has a strong, rare class to back it up, too. He's a Phantom Lancer, a tank-type."
Nico sat to take in this information before asking, "So you're saying that last night could've gone a lot worse if there weren't non-players around?"
Ingrid nodded once again, affirming his suspicion, "Apparently, he's been known to get into fights with other players while regular people are around–they don't use their abilities, but his physical strength as a tank-type makes him hard to deal with for the average player. You don't want to mess with people like that."
"Okay, I'll keep that in mind; thank you for telling me, I know you didn't have to do that." Nico said with genuine gratefulness; he knew that the player world could be a lonely one, so to find two people, Kadin and Ingrid, who showed kindess to him so far was something that he had to cherish.
"I had a friend, back in Stockholm," Ingrid's eyes showed a hint of sadness for a second, "who awakened around the same time as me. We were both young and reckless, and thought that we could take on anything. We had just gained 'superpowers', after all," she said using her fingers as air quotation marks, "But one day, we both entered a dungeon way out of our league. We both got hurt, but she was hurt much worse. She was never the same after that–quit being a player, tried to live a normal life. But even still, sometimes, the system issues you random emergency quests that you can't avoid. That's why I want to join EPS, to get stronger, and that's why I wanted to warn you."
A long pause occurred between them, Ingrid's story resonating in Nico's mind; he warned himself at that moment to never take such a responsibility as lightly again. From now on, he wanted to try to walk into any situation with more poise and knowledge.
"T-thank you for telling me that," Nico said finally, grabbing her hand for a brief second out of habit to comfort her, "But can you tell me more about EPS? What is that?"
The girl gave Nico an incredulous look, as if it was ridiculous that he hadn't known what she was talking about, "Right, you're new. But you should really get educated on our world, Nico, even I knew this, and I was an ocean away until two days ago. Anyways, the Excelsior Player Society, which everyone calls EPS for short, is an exclusive club of players."
Nico, having never heard of this before, besought her to continue, "A club?"
"That's right," Ingrid nodded, "one of if not the most exclusive club in all of the American East Coast. It's an organization that is different from a guild–I'm assuming you know about guilds, right?"
"I do, yeah."
"Well, they contain Excelsior's powerhouses, the best of the best players in the university. Excelsior isn't just known for its regular academics, you know, it's the gathering place of many of the world's most talented young players. If you get into EPS, you get access to tremendous rewards, like participation in large-scale dungeon raids, the ability to partake in lucrative quests, and you get easy prospects for the future into any of the mega-guilds of the region or even the country."
Nico took a moment to take it all in. It sounded like nothing he had ever heard of, and he was guessing that there were more of these spread throughout the world; but Excelsior being a hub for talented university-age players was news to him, though it seemed like he lucked out in choosing this as his school.
He knew from his video gaming days that surrounding yourself with the highest tier of skilled players improved your standign as well, and he also knew the concept of guilds. They were organizations of players that were often deeply incorporated into businesses and firms of all types in the non-player world as well, making positions in them not only worthwhile in terms of being able to keep leveling up as a player, but also being able to be a well-off person outside of the player world.
"So you're trying to join EPS, too? How competitive is it?" Nico finally piped up after a moment of ruminating.
"Very," Ingrid simply replied, her face morphing into a slight grimace, "There's a reason it's practically world-renowned. Only about a dozen out of hundreds of Excelsior freshmen get in per year, and anyone who isn't strong enough gets weeded out instantly. Tryouts are on Monday."
Nico's eyes widened at that last part, "Monday? Where at? I have to take part in this if I want to be a real player, right?"
"If you're serious about taking being part of the player world, then I'd recommend it. You could get seriously hurt or die any moment as a player, that's the cruel reality of it. It might not be fair, but that's the life we live now for whatever reason the system decidede to choose us of all people. Everyone in this world wants to get stronger, to raid harder dungeons, to clear quests; if you get left behind, it becomes increasingly dangerous." Ingrid stated seriously, wanting to instill into Nico what it meant to be risking so much by merely existing.
At this point, the why of the situation didn't matter–it was more beneficial to accept one's current reality and continue moving forward through the proper channels, or at least that was what Nico thought. But he had one sneaking suspicion as well, and it was that he was backed up by some unknown force that allowed him to become the class that he was an expert at wielding.
Throughout all of his time looking into the phenonemon, no one had ever recorded such an instance occurring; this meant that for one reason or another, Nico had something that other people didn't, and he now realized it was imperative to capitalizing on it. So without hesitation, he blurted out a question to the girl in front of him.
"Ingrid–I know this is sudden, but can you help me? I've never raided a dungeon before, and I know that clearing a beginner-level dungeon would probably not benefit you in any way, so you can say no, but if you say yes, I think it'd help me out a lot." The words flowed out of his mouth before he even had a chance to think about them–in truth, he barely knew the appropriate way to find, enter, and clear a dungeon, let alone thinking about doing it solo.
Of course, Nico was an expert at conquering the many crypts that laid throughout the planet containing gateways that led into pocket dimensions where monsters existed. These lairs, dubbed dungeons, resulted in loot, experience, and overall progression as a player. They were one of the few ways to raise your status, skills, and general power, so they were quite coveted. The more lucrative repeat dungeons, which were dungeons that once cleared didn't fade away but instead respawned the monsters and treasure inside after a certain period of time that can be either hours or even days, were all owned by player-organized groups such as guilds.
But of course, littered throughout cities were beginner-level dungeons which were untouched merely because they provided extremely little toward the progression of a player; they were more there to get a brand new player familiar with the mechanics of their unfamiliar reality.
Fortunately for Nico, Ingrid responded in a way that made his chest flutter just a teeny bit, "You're lucky I think you're cool and don't want to see you hurt." She answered, "No time like the present, especially if tryouts are in two days. Even if you don't pass, which a newbie shouldn't expect to make it in, you should still try your best, as getting experience fighting other players is crucial to being able to defend yourself against rogue players; they're the ones who harm others without regard for morality and laws."
"I'll keep that in mind–and I can't thank you enough, Ingrid. You just met me, and you're already helping me this much; is there any way I can repay you?" Nico asked sincerely.
The Swedish girl thought about it for a second before saying with a warm smile, "How about dinner some time?"