“A New Adventure Begins.” Eli read aloud the title of his Darxon Hideout video. It was trending in the top 50 of new player streams on the World Streamer Website, Derrick had directed him to it to let him know where his viewers might be coming from. “Starting from the beginning, huh.” He looked away from the video that his eye implant was projecting in front of him to look over the other students piling out of the school, waiting for Derrick and Selena to come out as well. He tapped his feet sitting on the bench, half tempted to watch a bit of the video to see what he looked like, but decided to close it out when he saw Derrick making his way out of the school with the crowds of other students.

“How did you know!?” Derrick squealed with joy as he rushed to meet Eli, Eli waving him down.

“Know what?”

“The exam, you pointed out basically everything I needed to remember for it, it’s like you are psychic or something.”

“Mr. Hamburg is literal, when he tells you to study certain things, he is trying to help you pass, not trick you. I just went over what he told us to study.”

“Really?” Derrick looked as though he was having an epiphany.

“Yep. You should listen to the teachers sometimes.” Eli rolled his eyes at him. As they were talking, Eli spotted Selena shyly pushing her way through the crowds with her head down as if trying to go unnoticed. Eli couldn’t wave her down so he was forced to call out instead. “Selena!” She looked up, looking embarrassed as she smiled and nervously made her way over to the two of them. “How did your exam go?”

“G-good.” She looked down at her feet again, fidgeting her fingers.

“Cool, one more left to go then we’re free.” Eli glanced over the school building, almost feeling a bit of nostalgia. “We’re going to Kordas today, by the way Derrick.” Eli remembered.

“Nope, not me. I told my dad about the Simbox, he’s going to help me renovate my room and move stuff around so we have enough room for it. He said he’s fine with me playing as long as I help out with his shop over the summer when he needs it.” Derrick replied as the three started down the path towards the bus stop. “Man, you have no idea how excited I am for this. You’re finally gonna take a break from being the study nerd and become a gamer nerd with me, all summer long. Think of all the adventures we’re gonna go on. Cultists, abyss monsters, dragons, trolls, goblins, orcs, all defeated by the mighty Darkshot.” Derrick started daydreaming.

“I still can’t believe that the network was willing to pay for my university… How many months in the game are three real life months? 12?” Eli asked. Selena nodded back. “I’m going to be stuck looking at your ugly scarred face for a year? First thing I’m going to craft for you is a facemask.” Eli mocked him, causing Selena and Derrick to giggle.

“Hey don’t get mad just ‘cause my character is a badass. But you have to admit it, you’re starting to have a bit of fun playing, aren’t you?” Derrick asked.

“Eh… I guess it’s not a bad way to kill time.” Eli sighed.

“Look at this guy, trying to act all cool. ‘Take her back to Orm, we have to save the villagers!’’ Derrick replied in a mocking tone, to which Eli nudged him. “How about you Selena, you down to become super nerds with us this summer?” Derrick asked.

“Don’t listen to this guy, you don’t have to play as much as us.”

“N-no, I want to. I like playing.” Selena replied enthusiastically, looking up from her feet for the first time.

“Sweet, we already have a party of three, we just need two more for a full group.” Derrick replied.

“Nah, three is enough. Playing with others hasn’t gone well for me so far.” Eli replied jokingly as they arrived at the bus stop.

“Alright. I’m walking home from here, you guys have fun, I’ll be watching the stream. Make sure you’re back in Orm for tomorrow, that’s when the real adventuring begins.” Derrick cheered as he ran off.

“B-bye.” Selena bowed politely as she walked off in the opposite direction, leaving Eli to climb onto the bus with the other students and make his way home.

When he arrived at home he’d found that his mother Jillian had already left for work, but at some point had rearranged the furniture in the living room putting several pieces into the basement so that there was enough room for two Simboxes. He wasn’t expecting them to be placed there, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that no other room in the house could fit two Simboxes. He was starting to get the impression that his mom was a lot more excited to play than she had been letting on.

More eager than he’d care to admit, Eli threw off his bag, kicked off his shoes, ran upstairs and hopped into the game world as Aegis.

When his Avatar finished materializing, he was immediately prompted to continue live streaming, and he hit yes. Once again standing in the familiar bustling village of Orm with the many other players and NPCs rushing around him, Lina stood a few feet away and smiled when he appeared.

“Ready to go to Kordas?” Aegis asked her, and she nodded. “Looks like it’s just going to be the two of us, kinda like a date or something.” Aegis made the offhand remark as he began heading towards the stables. He didn’t mean much by it, but Lina got awkwardly silent and her face went red - he instantly regretted his choice of words. “I mean, not really, we’re just going to the city for some quests. It’s just a game after all.” Aegis tried to recover the awkward situation.

“Mm...mhm.” Lina nodded. “I-I’ll get the wagon, so you can get your stuff in storage ready.”

“Oh, yeah, right, good idea.” Aegis replied flustered, turning from Lina and heading to the storage house as she went the opposite direction, but stopping a few feet away. “W-wait, party invite first.” He sent the request, and she accepted quickly then continued towards the stables. The two didn’t say anything directly to each other, but Aegis was worrying his whole walk to the storage house that he’d said something incredibly stupid. He decided to focus on the logistics of the plan instead and started neatly piling all of his copper and leather crafts in an orderly fashion. Each type of gear was put in its own neat organized pile by the time Lina arrived with a wagon pulled by two horses.

“Ooh, that’s bigger than I expected.” Aegis commented as she pulled up with the reins in hand.

“Do you need help loading it all in?” She asked.

“Nope, I’m good.” Aegis tried to answer politely as he worked to keep his piles organized. His inventory was full, and soon enough the wagon was nearly full as well. Lina put a cloth over the top and made sure it was secure before getting ready to pull the horses. Aegis saw the job was done and they were ready to set out, and only then realized there was only one place for him to sit on the wagon, right beside Lina. Still not completely cured of the awkwardness he’d caused, he debated in his head whether or not he should just walk beside the wagon instead, until Lina motioned him up to the wagon.

“You climb up like this, on those stairs. Have you ever rode a wagon before?” Lina asked. Aegis was relieved she didn’t seem bothered anymore by the situation and followed her instructions to climb up.

“Nope, first time.” Aegis replied as he sat next to her. She pulled the reins to direct the horses in slowly turning the wagon around, they then began to casually trot through the streets as the other players and NPCs made sure not to obstruct them.

“Horseback riding and wagon riding skills go together hand in hand. They’re like weapon mastery and resistance skills, you get them automatically just by doing it. Here, you should try.” Lina held the reins over to Aegis, and he shook his head.

“N-no thanks. I’m probably just going to crash the wagon.” Aegis replied. Lina giggled and insisted.

“You can’t crash the wagon so easily, horses have pretty good AI. It’s really not that hard, trust me! Horseback travel is really fast too so everyone should learn it.” Lina pushed the reins over to him again. Aegis reluctantly took them, looking down at the two brown horses in front of him that were strapped to the front of the wagon.

He held the reins, expecting as though he’d need to do something, but the horses just trotted along on their own as they should.

“That’s it? I’m not actually doing anything. What am I supposed to do?” Aegis asked, confused.

“Well, if you want them to go faster you whip it a bit, if you want them to slow down, you tug it. They kind of have 4 speeds. And if you want them to turn, you just tug gently in the direction they should turn. Don’t go faster than this in settlements though, the guards will get mad at you.” Lina instructed him.

“Really, that’s it? I thought it’d be way more complicated.” Aegis replied surprised.

“They’re just animals, not computers, how complicated could they be?” Lina explained while smiling.

“I guess that makes sense.” Aegis replied as the wagon came up to an intersection in the road.

“Turn them here to the right, so we start heading out of Orm on the east road to Kordas.” Lina instructed him. Aegis nodded and gently pulled the reins of the two horses to the right, causing them to turn slowly onto the correct road. Once the turn was complete, he felt a ridiculously high level of accomplishment, despite having done something simple.

“Good job!” Lina cheered, seeing Aegis’ gigantic grin.

“Hah, cool. I always thought people still riding horses in 2090 were all crazy, but this is kind of fun and relaxing.”

“Better than an Autopod, right?” Lina asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” Aegis joked. The wagon wheels rumbled along the dirt road, it wasn’t steady or smooth, nor was it quiet, but from their elevated seats on the top of the wagon he could get a good few of the people in Orm carrying out what seemed to be their daily lives all around him. It was very surreal, and hard to believe the world they lived in was so completely different from the world around them.

Skill Learned: Horseback Riding(Beginner)

Skill Learned: Land Vehicle Mastery(Beginner)

“Hey, I got the skills!” Aegis said excitedly as he closed the notifications.

“Good! You should drive us all the way to Kordas so you can get a few basic levels, you never know when you need to travel places fast.” Lina smiled.

“What about you?”

“Oh, mine is already level 10. I was using a horse to do my class quests already.” Lina shrugged. Aegis nodded back as he cautiously returned the reins to a neutral position, worried he might cause a wagon crash if he wasn’t careful enough. The wagon wheels spun on as they made their way out of Orm village and crossed the eastern bridge onto the open road.

“You seem to know a lot about the Shattered World. I was wondering about that… do you watch a lot of streams, or something? I tried to study about the game as much as I could, but the information out there is all over the place.” Aegis asked her.

“Well...” Lina turned away to look at the trees lining the dirt road. “I know a lot because… the reason, it’s a bit weird I guess, and embarrassing.” She replied awkwardly.

“I’m not going to laugh at you. If anything, I’m the weird one, you had to change your hair just to play with me.” Aegis tried to reassure her, but she continued to look away. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.” He shrugged.

“N-no, it’s okay I guess. I should tell you. The truth is…” She started fidgeting nervously and looked at her feet dangling over the side of the wagon seat. “This isn’t my first time playing. I deleted my old character.” She finally answered.

“Really? That explains it.” Aegis replied, his curiosity satisfied. “I hope it doesn’t bother you that me and Derrick have been relying on you a lot, I was starting to feel bad you had to explain so many things to us.” Aegis added. Lina was taken aback, expecting more questions, but instead Aegis gave off the impression that he was the one feeling embarrassed for not knowing as much as she did.

“Oh, it’s okay! I don’t mind, I’m used to people using me for information.” She tried to reassure him.

“Using you for information?”

“W-well yeah, that’s what my old guild did before I rerolled. I was really good at identifying monster weaknesses and sneaking in to figure out how to take out difficult encounters. They always sent me stealthed so I could tell them all how to beat stuff…”

“Is that what you like doing in the game? Being a stealthy player that gathers information?” Aegis asked.

“Not really… but I was good at it and I didn’t have anyone else to play with, I did it for them so they’d let me stay in the guild.” Lina shrugged.

“Is that why you rerolled? You got tired of doing it?” Aegis asked, he was being careful to watch her facial expressions to make sure he didn’t push her too far, he noticed her fidgeting and could pick up on her reluctance to answer at first.

“Y-yeah, sort of. I saw that you started playing… and… I thought, you know, it would probably be more fun to play with you.” Her face went bright red.

“Oh, that puts a lot of pressure on me then.” Aegis replied jokingly as he leaned back. “I gotta try not to be too boring.”

“You’re not!” She replied. “I’m having fun playing with you…” She smiled at him, but when their eyes met, she turned away. “A-and Darkshot, you know, and… everyone else… like the horses, and, uhm, Galanis…” She mumbled nervously. The two went quiet for a moment as Lina looked to the trees again, anxiously wondering what Aegis was thinking, but when she finally mustered up the courage to turn and look back at him, he was staring straight ahead with a serious expression.

“Did I say something bad?” She asked worriedly.

“Huh? N-no, nothing like that. It’s just…” Aegis sighed as he sat up straight again. “I hated this game so much, because of what it represented to me, you know…” He motioned to the livestreaming icon above his head, and Lina nodded. “But playing it with you guys, saving the villagers, fighting those monsters… It’s really fun, really exciting, a part of me really wants to enjoy it. But another part of me is just angry that it exists, and I’m worried I’m just turning into the thing I hate, especially because of this…” He motioned to the icon again.

“I don’t think you’ll be like the… thing you hate.” Lina replied, they were both avoiding the proper nouns as best they could.

“How can you be sure? Wouldn’t I just be better off not playing?”

“N-no, you should play! It’s lots of fun, isn’t it?!” Lina exclaimed with urgency.

“Y-yeah, but…”

“You want to become a doctor, right?” Lina asked, grasping at straws now as she began to frantically worry Aegis wanted to quit the game. Aegis nodded.”If you met a really bad doctor, he was popular but he did things in a really bad way, and he sometimes hurt people… would that make you want to stop being a doctor?” Lina asked.

“No… I’d want to still be a doctor, I wouldn’t give up on it just because of one bad one. I’d just try to do everything better than he did, fix his mistakes…” Aegis answered her honestly, and slowly began to realize the point she was trying to make.

“So if you really have fun playing, and want to livestream to make money, you can apply the same principles you would in that circumstance.” Lina smiled, still nervously trying to convince Aegis.

“So I’m not a hypocrite if I do what he did, as long as I make sure to do everything better. Without being selfish and using the people around me… is that what you’re saying?” Aegis asked, and she nodded back. They went quiet for a moment once more as Aegis contemplated her words.

“I won’t use you… like your old guild did. Or anyone for that matter. I don’t plan to, I want to play together like friends, and not leave people behind just for money or something. So if you ever catch me doing something like that, will you promise to put a dagger in the back of my head?” Aegis spoke in a serious tone.

“O-okay.” Lina nodded. “So you can play without feeling bad until that happens, and just enjoy the game. There’s so much to enjoy.” She motioned to the surrounding forests, and the horses pulling the wagon.

“Yeah, you’re right…” Aegis replied, sounding still as though something was bugging him. Lina noticed he once again went serious and stared off, but she thought it best this time to not bother him.

The rest of the ride to Kordas was uneventful. It took a full day's travel where Lina and Aegis discussed their last exams, and Lina shared a few stories of some of the dungeons and monster’s she’d fought on her old character. Long after the sun had set and the full moon shone brightly in the sky, the large capital city of Kordas came into view.

Its large stone walls wrapped around the inner city with numerous towers plotted along it. They were lit by braziers and the torches of the guards that patrolled atop the walls. Outside the walls were large expansive farmlands, and the interior of the city beyond was made up of tightly packed buildings that towered upwards with various colorful rooftops. In the far distance, in the center of the city was the Kordas Palace, towering above all the other buildings in its magnificence, the moonlight reflecting off of the windows of its tallest tower that looked to reach for the heavens themselves.

“Wow… places like this exist?” Aegis’ jaw dropped in amazement when he laid eyes on it. Lina smiled and watched his kid-like expressions as the wagon got closer and closer to the city until finally passing under the gate and entering inside. The horseshoes clopped on the cobblestone streets alongside the many other travelers moving about despite the late hour. They blended in perfectly, surrounded by a plethora of players of varying levels, races and classes, wearing all manner of equipment. He saw elven knights, gnomish thieves, dwarven wizards, lizardfolk priests, craftsmen minotaurs, and much much more.

The equipment variety he saw on them was inspiring, some of it looked well beyond anything he could ever imagine crafting, from gigantic pauldron with the heads of dragons carved into them, to serrated longswords and spiked staves in the shapes of curling serpents, he immediately started imaging the sort of weapons he might be able to craft eventually.

“Welcome to the city of Kordas!” Lina cheered at him.