Nothing notable happened during the second week of school. It would be more odd if something out of the norm happened, no? It is just school, after all.

Well, actually, that’s a bit of a falsehood. There was one thing that happened other than the normal routine of school.

Namely, I was bribed into joining my friend group over the weekend. They consistently bugged me with requests to join them on the new God Quest, even after I had told them I wouldn’t be doing it. It took the whole week for them to whittle me down to the point where I might just consider it—and then they unveiled the cincher.

If I participated with them during the thirteenth God Quest, they would bring me to one of the most expensive cafés in Jor. Once they told me that, my mind and my stomach engaged each other in the duel of the century. Of course my stomach won out in the end, though I’m not too down about it. After all, the chocolate cake at this café is said to be god-like. Such a thing more than makes up for the bother.

Anyway, that’s why I’m currently logged back into Ashenload, even though I was so bored with it last weekend. I had a bit of trouble right after connecting to the game servers, though.

You see, I had forgotten a little something that I had done last time I played. Of course, I’m talking about the little kidnapping incident I had gotten involved with. It seems that whoever had created this quest made it so that it wouldn’t end after returning that ‘young master.’

I logged in, walked around a little to try and find the meeting point my group had set up, and found myself surrounded by thirty or so shady looking men.

And of course one of them just has to say that cliché and stereotypical line.

“Oi, are you certain that this lass is the one who killed our men? Ha! She doesn’t look fit to kill a bunny!”

I sighed, and didn’t say anything. These guys are programmed AI, and will execute whatever sort of commands they need to for the quest. In this case, they’ll likely end up fighting me regardless, since I doubt that the guy who designed this quest programmed in a non-violent way of going about this. No, that would be too sophisticated and high-level.

One of the other men, presumably a survivor of that warehouse raid I did, spoke up.

“Yeah boss—it’s her, I’m sure of it!” He sneered, before continuing. “Surprised I know who you are?” He asked, probably referring to the fact that I had stayed in the shadows when killing his comrades, and everyone had fled before I walked into the open.

“I stayed behind, hiding to see the right bastard that killed ma friends! Imagine my surprise when I see a little bitch walk out!”

I snickered a little, before saying a simple “I know.”

Please, he would have had to try much harder to escape my notice. I could hear him returning after I initally scared him and his friends off. Idiot.

The man didn’t understand what I meant though, and simply stood there stupidly. Everybody else was slowly shifting closer to me, tightening the encirclement. Which, I’ll admit, is a good idea against an Archer class like me. Close the distance, render the archer’s weapon useless.

Unfortunately for them, the class system in Ashenload works a little differently than one would first assume. For instance, the Archer class boosts the speed, damage, range, and accuracy of arrows you fire. It also gives you a few class skills that allow you to move more silently, or grants bonus damage in certain situations. It does make you a bit of a glass cannon, as well, to preserve the game’s balance.

However, there are no penalties for using weapons outside of your classes’ specialties. That being said, there are no bonuses either, meaning that the damage you do is reliant on your own skill and abilities. Wielding a weapon outside of your classes’ specifications is just like handling a weapon in real life.

I threw my bow to the side, and laughed a little. Heehee.

I arrived at the designated meeting point—a well-known fountain—just a little late. Everyone else was already there, waiting for me.

Godard, or rather, Xavier, was the first one to spot me.

“Ah, it’s Vina!” He said in a deep and rumbly voice, calling out my avatars name—as is polite inside a VRMMO. Using your real names just becomes weird, in a way.

“Where were you?” Asked Diana, Haven’s avatar.

“Had…some difficulties.” I said, smiling back at her. She shrugged and didn’t press the matter any further.

With that, we all went to participate in the thirteenth God Quest.

Ah, wait. I should probably clarify some things about everyone’s avatars. It would be helpful to know what their names, professions, and races are, no?

So, lets start with Godard, whose avatar is named Xavier. He plays a Dwarf, as befitting a smithy owner, and a real life blacksmith. During battles, he can enchant our weapons to do more damage and the like, while also demolishing enemies who get past the vanguard with an appropriately sized axe. He, like everyone else, is max level.

Haven plays a Catkin named Diana, preferring to use its inherent speed and agility to deal hit and run damage to her foes. She has to play sort of like an Assassin, but without the big one-hit damage numbers. It’s a type of class that needs serious skill to play, due to the fact that it’s still relatively squishy compared to most other classes. It’s still not as bad as a straight-up assassin, though.

Speaking of assassin, that’s what Ussen’s avatar is. In fact, he plays an assassin with such dedication, that his avatar is simply named EineStreik. We shorten it to Eine for brevities' sake. His race is of a Fae, which is kind of like an Elf, but frailer and smaller. It’s great for sneaking around with and dealing those single knock-out blows.

Our tank role is filled by Kormic, who plays an Orcish Paladin named Sparkles. We call him Spark though, simply because we don’t want to call a seven foot tall Orc by the name of Sparkles, no matter how scarily good looking his face ended up being. I swear; I didn’t know that such a race could even become attractive, but he somehow managed it. I think he said something about sacrificing a goat?

Sabrina is our healer/mage. She uses the smallest race available for players, a pixie. Yes, she has wings, and floats around while casting all sorts of nature based magic. Somehow, giant fireballs also fall into the category of nature magic, though Sabrina, or simply Rina as her avatar is called, never seems ready to explain how that could be. Isn’t nature magic supposed to be more…friendly? But apparently not. She’s absolutely terrifying when given leave to simply flit about the battlefield, casting spells with impunity. She also does the healing though, since we have nobody else to fill that roll. I will admit that it’s a little funny seeing large scale magics seemingly appear from nowhere, since Rina is so small as a Pixie.

So, that’s the group. We synergize together surprisingly well, though their party does fine without me. I mostly just provide support from the rear, dealing damage wherever it’s needed with my arrows.

Also, it should be noted that each person’s role is mirrored in real life. Most people in Ashenload chose classes that correspond with their real life specialties, in order to accustom themselves to it. While the races they’ve chosen in Ashenload may not resemble their Awakened forms, just the classes give them a good sense of how things work. For instance, Kormic’s suited for a tanky role in real life as well, and Sabrina pummels foes using long range magic during school-supervised sparing lessons.

After we met up by the fountain, we went to participate in the God Quest.

This new Quest is unlike any of the other’s that had come before it. Namely, it’s setting is of a civil war among the heavens. To start the quest, you simply have to sign up for one of the armies on either side. Well, that's how you start it now. The original start came when someone found a wounded spy in an alley-way, and helped him. From there, there were a series of quest to open up the civil war to all other players, and allow them to join sides. Next, the sides would begin to vie for supremacy by giving out strategically important quests to players. But first, we have to join a side.

One of which is headed by Zeus, King of the gods, and the ultimate authority on Mount Olympus. He is joined by his wife, Hera, as well as other Olympians like Dionysus, Hestia, Athena, and Hephaestus. They represent tradition, and the preservation of the current pantheon for all time.

However, the other Olympians were dissatisfied by this and waged shadow warfare for a while, until they were discovered and forced out into the open. From there, a civil war was officially declared, and Olympus was split.

Their side incudes the gods Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Ares, Poseidon, and Hermes. Plus, they’ve been able to get reinforcements from other gods not affiliated with Mount Olympus.

To join a side, all you have to do is enter one of their military camps. From there, you’ll be given a quest or two to prove your loyalties.

We decided to go with the Rogue Olympians, as players have called them. It seemed more interesting to the others, and they wanted to see these odd, non-Olympian gods.

“You know, I’ve done some research on this lately,” Said Xavier as we were entering the Rogue camp. “And there are some really intriguing things about these God Quests.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Rina in her high pitched pixie voice.

“Well, to start off with, all these gods are based of ancient human ones, right? Well, if we’re looking at their original pantheon, then there were indeed twelve gods. And, most of them are the same ones that we’re familiar with—though there’s a difference. They didn’t have both Dionysus and Hestia. It was always either one or the other, depending on the era you were looking at.”

Diana frowned. “But wouldn’t you only have eleven Olympic gods? That’s doesn’t make much sense.”

“Indeed! There was one god who was always present, but has been left out of the pantheon here in Ashenload.”

“And who was that?” Sighed Spark, knowing that Xavier was waiting for someone to ask that very question.

“Aphrodite—the goddess of love!”

...

...

“Are you sure you aren’t just making a big deal out of nothing here? Why would it even matter?” Asked Rina, and rightly so.

“It probably doesn’t!” Declared Xavier proudly. “I just think it’s interesting!”

...

We didn’t have time to groan about Xavier’s antics, since we had reached one of the recruitment tents at that point. There were players entering it and leaving in quick order, as others joined the civil war between the gods.

Spark pushed into the tent first, his head scraping the cloth ceiling as he did so. Everyone else went in after him, and quickly crossed the distance inside of the tent so that we were standing in front of a large wooden counter, behind which various official looking people were scurrying back and forth, handing out request papers and mercenary gold. One of them saw us waiting, and came over to handle our business.

Very quickly, we were handed details on the preliminary quest that would allow us to join the Rogue armies, as well as a badge for each of us. The badges appeared next to our username as soon as we received them, informing everybody around us that we're trying to join the Rogue army.

We would be given a different badge after completing this first quest, one that would declare us full members of the army. The same system is in place for the Olympian army, though the badges are of a different color. The badges are an essential part of the preliminary quest we were given, though—Since we would each have to kill a member of the opposing army, and present their badge as evidence. This was done to ensure our loyalty to the Rogue army, as well as our suitability. Again, the Olympian army has the exact same quest though, so we have to be on our toes, lest we become another party’s ticket towards being accepted. After all, preliminary members still count towards the completion of this quest.

Though, I don’t think we have to worry too much. Our party is just a teensy bit overpowered.

No, not because I joined them. Not at all.

You see, these five friends of mine have a little bit of a reputation in Ashenload, due to some of the things their party of five has done. Well, the first of those notable things would be that they are a party of five, when the normal number is anywhere from ten to fifteen. From fifteen onwards, all members of a party get diminishing returns on any experience gained.

But, the point is that they formed a party of five, and have done nothing to increase that number. Even better, they’ve done things with the five of them that larger parties have thought were impossible. For instance, during one of the earlier God Quests, the five of them somehow managed to hold a strategically important mountain pass for three days and nights in a scene greatly resembling another ancient Greek myth (The timescale for that event was sped-up, so that an hour in the game was a minute in real life).

Because of that event, the party’s been nicknamed the ‘Spartan Legion of Five’, or simply ‘The Spartans’. Really, they’re something of celebrities in Ashenload, these friends of mine.

This will make finding chumps to finish the preliminary quest with easy, since there should be some idiots stupid enough to offer their avatar’s life to us, with the promise of glory and fame in the unlikely event that they win against The Spartans. To facilitate such a thing, we went to the largest and busiest city in Ashenload, appropriately named Fantasia. Then, all we had to do was walk through the most frequently traveled street in order to draw attention towards ourselves.

It worked like a charm, since all the players who saw us immediately took note of the fact that we were rocking the preliminary badges, and were joining the rouge army. It was kinda entertaining to see, actually—Since the crowds seemed to split, allowing our party uninhibited passage through the middle of the street while everybody whispered around us. Most of the conversations centered around the badges, and the fact that we were now open game and participating in the new God Quest.

However, I heard some of the conversations centering around me—Or rather, “Wait, why are there six of them now?”

I’d taken pains in the past to remain inconspicuous, and it looks like they’re paying off now, since nobody knows who I am, nor why I’m walking in the company of The Spartans. Of course, the trade off is that nobody knows who I am. Duh.

What I mean, is that there’s a completely unknown, and to them, untested person walking with their idols. Some of them are certainly extremely jealous at the moment, or outright just want me dead. Sigh, the pains of being noticed.

Although, this turned out to be a good thing. Like I said, some of them wanted me dead, and completely by happenstance, one of them was a member of the Olympian army. This idiot, seeing the badge by my name, decided that now would be the best time to prove himself, and kill a member of the Rogue army while showing the infamous Spartans that he was far more worthy than I.

After all, it’s just a tiny little elf, right? How hard could it be, in all actuality? —Is what he was likely thinking when he charged me, weapon raised high. He should really ask these questions to the group of no less than thirty-two NPC’s I left dead in an alleyway earlier today. They would be able to tell him that charging me was precisely the wrong thing to do. He should be running away, instead of towards me.

As is stands, though, I didn’t even have to move. Spark noticed the aggression towards me, and absolutely pancaked the man with his massive shield before he could even get close. I’m sure that nobody noticed me pouting, as their attention was glued towards Spark, who was looking at the flattened pile of flesh in front of him with distaste. He shook the bottom of his shield vigorously, attempting to dislodge the little bits of goo still stuck to it. He looked at the crowd around us, heavily scolding them with his eyes.

“This girl is our friend.” He said, his voice seemingly making the air vibrate. I noted with some amusement that he was using the skill [Taunt] to apply a megaphone-like quality to his words. “Treat her as you would one of us.” He continued, speaking directly and to the point.

It worked, in a way. People were viewing me with new eyes now, though they were probably wondering “Who in the flying fuck is that girl?”

Oh, if only they knew…

After that little encounter, we made our way to one of the most popular bars in Fantasia in the hopes that more people will notice that we’re participating in the God Quest, and spread the news. The plan is to simply take badges from those who try and take ours. Simple, yes, but effective so far. We were in the city for all of ten minutes before someone charged. And though he was going for me, rather than the group as a whole, we still got his badge from his troubles. Honestly, I’d like to thank him for the donation, but he’s probably going to be avoiding us for a time yet.

So, instead we simply settled down in the bar, and ordered some food and drink.

You know it’s virtual reality when the food you eat tastes really, really good, and the alcohol you drink doesn’t have any side effects. Well, normally it does, but most of our fortitude levels are high enough to simply ignore them. Except for Eine, who, as an assassin, has largely ignored those stats in favor of more speed, stealth, and attack power. In other words, he’s a virtual lightweight, in a group of people entirely unable to get drunk. Ironically, since his Wrath Awakening in real life is technically undead, he can’t get drunk outside the game. He can enjoy the sensation here, though.

As a side note, there is no drinking age limit in virtual reality, since it doesn’t affect whatever happens in real life. In fact, younger people are often encouraged to drink in the game, since they can get a feel for what it’s like, and know for themselves what the side effects can be. The worst that can happen is simply that you accidently kill your avatar by jumping off the castle or something. And then the avatar respawns, perfectly healthy— except for the embarrassment of the player, of course.

It was nice to kick back and relax, though. The bar itself was dimly lit, and music drifted through the rooms lazily, putting everyone who was inside at ease. My friends started recounting some of their exploits during past quests, and I enjoyed listening to them speak. Especially Xavier, who has a bit of the gift of gab when he’s not talking about seemingly stupid things.

Alas, the atmosphere was not to last. Our little ploy worked too well, judging by the three whole parties that charged into the bar, thirsting for our blood. Normally, I would be flattered that so many were sent, but I think it’s more due to the Spartan’s reputation in this case.

We all stood up when they stormed the place, weapons at the ready. It looks like they’ve been organized into parties of ten, making it about thirty players. Oh boy, this’ll be fun, won’t it?

First things first, I typed out a quick message and sent it to everyone in the party, suggesting that we take this outside. Honestly, I’d rather not trash such a nice bar. I heard the tinkling laughter of Rina, before a massive magic circle winked into existence under our feet. It expanded to encompass the hostile parties inside the bar. Then, the circle collapsed inwards on itself, bringing everybody into it.

The bar was left silent, most of it’s patrons not understanding what just happened. Most people have never seen a top-tier nature spell used after all. This one was called Selective Mass Teleport. It brought the six of us and the three enemy parties outside the city walls, where we would be able to play to our hearts content.

We didn’t give the other parties time to figure out what had happened, immediately bursting into combat while they were still slightly disorientated from the abrupt teleport.

Spark, as our vanguard, closed the distance and lay about him with a mace taller than I am, both in real life and the game. His shield also smacked wetly into those caught off guard, instantly relieving three enemies of their lives. Xavier followed behind Spark closely, applying buffs to his armor and weapons—making them almost overkill levels of deadly. When that was done, Xavier grabbed his axe, and deprived those around him of their kneecaps.

Diana ran around the battle area, and wherever she passed, deep cuts and wounds would appear on the enemy. Occasionally, her swords would slice through the leather ties holding a persons armor together, and they would suddenly find themselves without the protection it provided. Once that happened, Eine would strike for their most vulnerable points, often going for the heart, or any arteries. Even in a game, a slit throat will kill you, and you can also die of acute blood loss. Anyway, Diana and Eine worked well together, each taking advantage of whatever openings are created by the other.

Rina flew above the battle, and cast spell after spell, most of them designed to debuff the enemy. Getting burnt to death is a debuff, right? She also flung nasty little icicles into legs and arms, limiting enemy movement greatly.

As for me? I mostly sat back. There was really no need for me to intervene, though I did kill a guy sneaking up behind Xavier and Spark, my arrow shooting straight though his head. I kept an eye out for similar situations, acting as over-watch for the most part. That way, I would be able to act when I absolutely needed to. In the game, my role is as a rear-guard, acting only in the worst of situations.

It’s totally different from what I’d do in real life, unlike the rest of the party, whose Awakenings are suited to the style they use now.

Anyway, I shouldn’t have to say that it was a massive victory for us, right?

Not a single scratch on any in the party, and all the enemies lay dead. That’s thirty Olympian army badges, allowing us to smoothly join the Rogue army officially, and delve deeper into the newest God Quest.