Darith entered the Library through the grey magical barrier once more, the room was lit by the yellow glow of lanterns lining the walls and shelves. He could see a few other people still in the library reading despite the late hour. Without hesitating he went back to the first shelf he had started on and skimmed through the books. There were some books that were story related that Darith skipped over, instead he focused only on reading the instructional and informative ones that he thought he could learn from. He picked up books on tailoring, woodworking, blacksmithing and jewelry crafting, 10 in total as usual, then sat down at a table by himself and began reading.

Another 3 hours had passed and Darith’s hunger was getting the best of him, but he’d finished the next batch. While he didn’t gain enough experience to get another skill up in Scholar Mastery, he did get a few new skill prompts.

Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Blacksmithing(?)

Accept(x) Decline(x)

Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Jewelry Craft(?)

Accept(x) Decline(x)

Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Tailoring(?)

Accept(x) Decline(x)

Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Woodworking(?)

Accept(x) Decline(x)

Upon accepting the third of the four, he got another prompt.

You have gained the skill Blacksmithing(?)

You have gained the skill Jewelry Craft(?)

You have gained the skill Tailoring(?)

You have gained the skill Crafting Mastery(?)

You have gained the skill Woodworking(?)

Blacksmithing - Rank 1

Improves the crafting of items and objects using materials such as metals and ores. Utilizes forges, furnaces, grindstones, and anvils. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult materials, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned.

Workable Metals: Copper

Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0%

Recipes Known: 11

Jewelry Craft - Rank 1

Improves the crafting of jewelry using materials such as metals and gemstones. Utilizes forges, furnaces, grindstones, and anvils and a Jeweler’s kit. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult materials, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned.

Workable Materials: Copper, Quartz, Lapis Lazuli, Opal,

Quality: Low: 95% - Normal: 5%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0%

Recipes Known: 4

Tailoring - Rank 1

Improves your sewing skills when working with cloths, threads and textile based materials. Utilizes a sewing kit. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult materials, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned.

Workable Materials: Cotton, Linen

Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0%

Recipes Known: 12

Crafting Mastery - Rank 1

Improves your ability to craft items using various materials and skills. Higher ranks improve the chance of higher quality outcomes and reduce the chances of failing or wasting materials. This skill is influenced by Agility, Strength and Intelligence.

Woodworking - Rank 1

Improves the crafting of items and objects using wood based materials. Utilizes lumber mills, axes, saws, and a woodworker’s kit. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult woods, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned.

Workable Wood: Pine

Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0%

Recipes Known: 5

“I wonder how many of these crafting skills exist...” Darith whispered to himself. “That’s a lot of crafting types.” He clicked to look through the known recipes. They were all very simple recipes he’d read about in the books, copper daggers, swords, or pine bows and even a pine chair. He learned that cotton seemed to be used for common clothes, Linen was used for making robes and spellcaster attire. As he finished looking through his menu, he watched as suddenly a spectral head rose out of his table, causing him to slide back a bit, the ghost girl stood in his table, only her shoulders and above were visible.

She simply glared at him for a moment, then walked away in the opposite direction.

“That woulda got me.” An old man spoke as he approached Darith from another table. “You’re not afraid of Ghosts?” He asked, Darith turned to see his name. Kenneth, level 9.

“No, not really.” Darith shrugged. “It seems like she’s trying really hard though, that’s the third time and I just got here today.” Darith whispered.

“Yeah, she messes with people all day.” The man said as he sat down. “I noticed you reading through all the basic crafting books, you looking to be a craftsman?” He asked.

“Not particularly, just trying to learn about everything in this world.” Darith replied as he began closing the books.

“You’ve got a lot of reading to do then.” Kenneth replied, “Mind if I read here? She’s less likely to try and scare people when they’re in groups.” He asked.

“No problem.” Darith whispered back. Collecting the books, he went back to the shelf, this time he specifically targeted crafting books he thought would teach him the skills he was missing. He went after Leatherworking, Alchemy, Enchantment and Cooking, and grabbed any other books that looked similar to the ones that had taught him skills thus far. He made his way back to the table and placed them all down.

“You’ll be spreading yourself thin if you try and do everything, it's best to focus on one craft instead. Once you pick your affinity for intermediate level, it’ll only grant experience boosts to the related skills.” Kenneth commented.

“I’m mostly just trying to learn what they do, I don’t think I’ll level them all.”

“Fair enough.” Kenneth shrugged as Darith stretched and let out a yawn. He couldn’t tell the time but he thought it’d be at least past 1:00 am now.

“Tired?”

“N-not really.”

“I could help you with that.” Kenneth shrugged without looking up from his book.

“You mean like coffee?” Darith asked.

“No, a skill.”

“What kind of skill helps with sleep?” Darith replied, his interest piqued.

“The kind only an old man could learn.” Kenneth looked up with a smile. “I could trade it with you.” He asked. Darith suddenly had a dozen red flags pop up in his head. A strange man approaching at night offering him a trade deal, all signs pointed to scam. Still, Darith wanted to know more of what he was talking about.

“What sort of trade?” Darith whispered, keeping the conversation as quiet as possible.

“My basic skill for one of yours.” Kenneth asked.

“So I teach you and you teach me?” Darith asked.

“That’s how skill trading usually goes. Never done it before?” He asked with a friendly smile. More red flags, he was looking to see if Darith was new at this.

“No… what’s to stop you from leaving after I teach you?” Darith asked.

“Oh, you’re worried about that.” Kenneth shook his head. “I can go first in that case, I’m not looking to trick you.” Kenneth whispered back.

“What are you looking for?” Darith asked.

“Some new skills to teach my Granddaughter. In the real world I’m a 70 year old man with my memory on its way out. My lovely granddaughter invited me, and since I’ve gotten this body my memory has held up. I’m not much for adventuring so I stick around here reading all the books I can, but I’m always on the lookout for skills that I could teach my granddaughter to help her adventuring.” Kenneth replied. A story that draws sympathy, a common tactic from scammers both in games and the real world, Darith wasn’t convinced.

“How old is your Granddaughter?” Darith asked.

“She’s 16, young, naive and kind hearted.”

“She pick an affinity?”

“She calls herself a Paladin.” Kenneth replied. “If you don’t want to trade you don’t have to, it was just a suggestion to let you spend more time here.” Kenneth shrugged, feigning lost interest as he went back to his book. Darith hesitated, also looking down at his book. He thought over the potential gain and loss, and in the end the idea of learning new skills won him over.

“Alright, what skill do you want from me?” Darith asked.

“You mind if I Magic Read you?” Kenneth asked.

“You can learn my skills from that?” Darith replied.

“Yes, I can see the names of them at least. I won’t know what they do unless I’ve read about them or seen them before though. It’s one of the benefits of being a Scholar.” Kenneth replied.

“Okay, sure.” Darith shrugged. Kenneth reached forward and a purple spell circle appeared facing Darith, vanishing after a second. It looked very similar to the magic Vanessa had cast.

“Hm, not many. I’m guessing you just started playing. Cartography, Dash, Sprint, got all these… what’s this ‘Through the Pain’ skill?” Kenneth said as he waved his finger in the air, going through the list of Darith’s skills.

“That lets me use endless energy for a short time, but afterwards I get exhausted pretty much until I sleep. It’s kind of an emergency last resort skill.” Darith whispered back.

“That sounds incredibly useful. Go ahead then, check my skills, let me know which one you want.” Kenneth said.

“Magic Reading.” Darith whispered, and a spell identical to Kenneth’s came from Darith. His interface popped up with all the available information on Kenneth, including his level, affinity(none), name, list of basic skills. As Darith scrolled through the information he saw all of the skills he knew, but then dozens and dozens of skills he hadn’t seen before.

High Jump - Rank 1

Parry*

Disarm - Rank 1

Grapple - Rank 1

Trip - Rank 1

Disengage - Rank 1

Shield Block - Rank 1

Cartography - Rank 1

Dash - Rank 1

Sprint - Rank 1

Evade*

Calligraphy - Rank 6

Mimic - Rank 1

Conceal - Rank 1

Heat Tolerance - Rank 1

Cold Tolerance - Rank 1

Poison Resistance - Rank 1

Power Nap - Rank 26

Darith stopped after seeing the first high ranked skill, though the list went on.

“How do you have so many?” Darith asked in disbelief.

“Trading with young folks like you who pass through here.” Kenneth replied. Looking at the level of his basic skills, what he said seemed to be true, almost all of it was low rank as if it hadn’t been used before. “Most are happy to trade for my Power Nap skill.” He whispered back.

“What’s it do?” Darith asked.

“Makes you get a full nights sleep in a shorter time.” Kenneth replied with a proud grin. “This game calls it a skill, but it’s something I do every afternoon.” He chuckled. “So how about it, I’ll teach it to you and you teach me that Through the Pain skill?” Kenneth asked.

“Okay, deal.” Darith nodded, the thought of being able to sleep less meant more time for grinding and leveling up. If it really did what he said, it’d be a huge advantage in this game. Kenneth started by reaching out his hand.

Player Kenneth is trying to teach you the skill: Power Nap.

Accept(x) Decline(x)

You have gained the skill Power Nap(?)

Power Nap - Rank 1

Reduces the amount of time needed to recover through sleep, but reduces experience gained by 10% for a period of time afterwards. Time required to power nap, and the length of the experience penalty reduces with ranks.

Power Nap Duration: 2 Hours

Experience Penalty Duration: 4 Hours

“Just be careful, you’ll be hard to wake once you’ve used that skill.” Kenneth said.

“Right, thanks.” Darith nodded, then reached out his hand to teach Through the Pain.

Teaching Successful.

“What about your other skills, will you trade something for them?” Darith asked.

“Come to me with more skills and I’d be happy to trade more with you.” Kenneth replied, then reached his hand out to his interface.

“Mandy, I’ve got quite the new skill for you, come visit me next time you’re in the city.” He said, his words directed at his party members rather than Darith.

“That’s a good idea… thanks, I’ll see you around.” Darith smiled as he began closing up the books.

“Have fun.” Kenneth smiled. Darith rushed to put them back on the shelves, then stepped out of the library and pressed everyone’s names.

“Guys let’s take a break, meet at Griffin Square. I’ve got a good skill for everyone.” Darith said, and got yup’s and okay’s from the four of them. He made his way down the stairs and out of the Academy where he saw Liana.

“Darith!” She smiled and waved while running over to him. “What’s the skill?”

“It sounds lame but its really good. It’s called Power Nap. An old guy traded it to me.” Darith said with enthusiasm, and began teaching it to Liana as they walked.

“Whoa this is pretty good!” Liana said after learning it, looking at it in her menu.

“I also learned a bunch of basic crafting skills from reading about them. How’s your healing going?”

“I’ve almost got Life Mastery to rank 4, once I get it to 5 I’ll move to the other towers. The experience goes slower now that I don’t have endless mana, so it’ll probably take me a few more hours to get it to 5.” Liana replied.

“That’s fine, I’ve got a ton more to read about. The depth and details in this world are incredible, even when it comes to making items.” Darith replied. The two talked about what they had learned until they reached Griffin square, and standing at the fountain in the dead of night were Elise, Gabriel, and Jaese. All three were looking run down, their starting armor sets were drenched in sweat.

“How’s it going?” Darith asked.

“My dagger mastery is rank three now. I’m getting the hang of it.” Elise smiled.

“I didn’t think crossbows would be so much different than a gun, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. My crossbow mastery is also at three.” Jaese replied.

“Two-handed swords is almost five. I’ll be going to the next weapon soon.” Gabriel replied.

“We all got some Endurance, Strength and Agility stat boosts as well.” Jaese added.

“That’s pretty good for a few hours of training, especially since none of you have used those weapons before. Here, I got this skill from a guy in the library.” Darith said as he began teaching Power Nap to the three of them. “This’ll lessen the amount of sleep we need to help maximize our efficiency. So we can get stronger as fast as possible.”

“Great, I’m going to use it now.” Jaese said.

“Me too.” Liana added. The two of them both channeled their Return skill, and 10 seconds later vanished in a flash of light.

“Guess I should too. This thing forces me to sleep right?” Gabriel asked.

“I think so, haven’t tried it yet.” Darith shrugged.

“Aite. Thanks little man.” He replied. After using return, he too disappeared.

“Ah, Darith, before you go, I just thought you should know that I’m staying in the Tavern over there, it’s called the Dragonhearth Tavern.” Elise said, motioning towards it.

“Really, in the game world? Are you sure?” Darith asked with disbelief.

“Yeah… I thought about what you said…” Elise replied.

“What about your parents?”

“My parents think I’m staying with Miranda, my maid... and she thinks my dad got me a place, so for now I don’t think anyone will be looking for me.”

“You could probably stay at my place…” Darith suggested.

“No, it’s fine here. I’ll find a way to make gold and get stronger and make it work. Thanks to you I see a way to be myself for once… live the way that I want to. It’s a bit scary but also exciting.” Elise smiled.

“Alright… to be honest I’m a bit jealous, that sounds awesome. If I could somehow get my mom to join I’d probably do the same thing. I can’t imagine what it’s like staying in a fantasy tavern.” Darith replied with a twinkle in his eye.

“Wanna see it?” Elise shrugged.

“Your room?”

“Yeah! It’s really cozy.” Elise replied.

“Of course!” Darith said excitedly.

“Cmon, I’ll show you.” She replied, motioning him to follow her into the tavern. He stepped in and witnessed the scene of bards and drunkards singing and shouting with the heavy scent of musky ale filling his nose as he walked through the tavern towards the stairs. He watched in amazement at all the races standing around various tables with drinks in hand, barmaids rushing around from table to table trying to keep up with orders. Despite the late hour, the place was lively.

When they reached the stairs, Elise led him up to the second floor to the room marked with a 207, opened the lock and led him inside. Once the door shut behind him, all the sound from the outside was blocked out, leaving them in silence.

“So that sound magic was used here too. It’s like this in the Academy Library too.” Darith said as he looked around the room.

“So what do you think? Is this like in the games you’ve played?” Elise asked as she sat on the bed.

“Yeah, it’s just like I imagined it, even a lantern. I always wondered what it’d be like to live inside an MMORPG, and now we can actually do it.” Darith said with glowing eyes.

"How much gold does it cost here? I could give you some to help out." Darith suggested.

“Nope, no thanks. I don't want to rely on you, I can figure it out..." Elise waved her hand. "This fantasy magic stuff is really starting to grow on me. Do you think there’s dancing in this world too?” Elise asked.

“There’s gotta be. I’ve been reading about different masteries and skills and they seem to cover everything you can imagine. You just gotta find it.” Darith replied.

“Cool! I’m gonna try and look for it then. Once I’m done with the dagger and kunai stuff. When are we gonna start hunting monsters though?”

“Once everyone’s done figuring out their weapons we’ll get started.”

“They’re not scary or anything, right?”

“Nah, nothing that bad. Giant spiders, bats, turtles, stuff like that.”

“I hate spiders.” Elise shivered.

“That’s what the daggers are for!” Darith replied.

“You think I’m going to run up and stab spiders? I don’t want to go anywhere near giant spiders.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of the Spiders for you, you can stab the turtles.” Darith chuckled.

“Oh you’re going to protect me?” Elise smirked.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You went from being afraid to talk to me, to coming up to my bedroom late at night and telling me you’ll protect me from big spiders.” Elise said while kicking her legs back and forth on the end of the bed.

“It’s not really your bedroom.” Darith said with a red face.

“Hah, there’s the Darith from School.” She said as he blushed.

“Now you’re just making fun of me.” He sighed. “I’m gonna go sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night Romeo.” Elise mocked as Darith began channeling return, and a few seconds later he was gone. Elise flopped backwards into the bed and rolled up under the blankets, still smiling to herself as she clicked around in her menu.

“Alright let’s try this thing. Power Nap!” She shouted, and was instantly asleep.

[Darith + Liana + Gabriel][Suit Up]

“I got the biggest suit I could based on your orc measurements… I just hope it’s big enough.” Kristen said as she returned that morning while Gabriel, Liana and Darith sat in the living room eating cereal. All three of them still had the experience debuff for another two hours from using Power Nap, but felt completely refreshed.

For lack of any chairs that could support Gabriel’s Orc weight in the kitchen they opted to eat in the living room on the more durable furniture. They had been waiting for Kristen to return from the tailor shop with clothing that might fit Gabriel’s orc body. The moment Kristen walked in Gabriel stood up and walked to meet her, taking the suit from her. It certainly looked big enough.

“Thank you ma’am.” Gabriel replied.

“Go ahead and try it on.” She motioned him to the bathroom and he nodded, having to duck under the doorframe to avoid hitting his head. With the door shut, Kristen moved to join the others.

“Was it easy?” Darith asked.

“The tailor thought I was playing a joke on him when I gave him the measurements… but they don’t call themselves Big and Small for nothing.” Kristen shrugged.

“Hey Mom… if I could get another invite, would you be interested?” Darith asked with a mouth full of cereal.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. And I don’t think so, all that magic stuff seems a bit too crazy for me.” Kristen replied.

“It’s not just magic, you can do anything, it’s like you can become anyone you want, or just a better version of who you are. The city was filled with all sorts of cool skills, there was even people working as waitresses.” Liana said excitedly.

“Well that sounds glamorous, being a waitress in a fantasy world.” Kristen rolled her eyes.

“Elise is already staying there, she said she’s going to find a way to make gold, and got a tavern room.” Darith said.

“What do her parents think about that?” Kristen asked as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.

“I don’t think she told them yet…” Darith hesitated.

“Mhm.”

“I think you’d have a lot of fun, we could do so much stuff together there!” Liana said with excitement. Kristen noted her enthusiasm as she poured milk into her own bowl.

“What would I do in a fantasy city?” Kristen asked.

“You could do anything. Buy a house, build a house, own a shop, rent a wagon, learn to ride a griffon…” Darith said with excitement.

“Maybe meet a handsome knight on a white horse.” Liana jumped in.

“Mm, I like that one.” Kristen said with a nod towards Liana. “But what’ll happen to my job, to the house? I can’t just pack up my life and move to a video game world.” Kristen replied.

“There’s plenty of people who did, we met them.” Liana said.

“And what happens if we get game over, we lose our memory and we’re homeless?” Kristen asked with a raised brow.

“That won’t happen, Darith will protect us.” Liana smiled.

“Pfff, boy you two are persistent.” Kristen sighed.

“You’d be able to see what we’re doing and experience it all, so you don’t have to worry about Darith so much.” Liana added, Darith went silent as he noticed Liana was being much more convincing than he was.

“Tell you what, if you find a way to invite me, I’ll think about it alright? But if I understood all this game mumbo correctly, you’re all out of invites. So we don’t need to talk about it.” Kristen said as she took a spoonful of cereal in her mouth, and she could visibly see the sparks of determination light up in Liana and Darith’s eyes simultaneously.

“If we find a way to invite mom…” Darith whispered to Liana, clearly audible to Kristen.

“Then we get to move to Avistion.” Liana whispered back excitedly. “But what about my invites, I should have 4 too, right? We just figure out how to use them.” Liana said.

“You can’t invite people unless you leave the party, and if I understood everything up until now, you can only do that if your party leader gets Game Over… it’s a weird system.” Darith said.

“Ok, that’s not gonna work at all. We’ll figure something else out!” Liana replied. Just then, the bathroom door opened and Gabriel stepped out. The suit was tight fitting, but it worked. He stood in the hall as a 6’4 orc in a suit and tie. The seams looked as though they were screaming for help around his shoulders and back.

“It looks good, but I wouldn’t bend over if I were you. It’s a rental after all. Oh, and here, for those cute little tusks.” Kristen said as she pulled out a prop mustache and beard from her purse and carefully stuck it on Gabriel’s face while standing on the tips of her toes. “Got it at a prop store on the way, figured you’d need it.”

“Thank you ma’am.” Gabriel said.

“There you are.” Once she finished, it was hard to notice the oddly shaped jaw unless specifically looking for it. Gabriel got a message that his Conceal skill leveled up to 2.

“Now turn back into your normal self and I’ll drive you.” Kristen said. Gabriel nodded and transformed back, but found himself standing there in his boxers and socks..

“Ah, yeah, I forgot, the first time you change is a bit weird with clothing, if you take off what you were wearing, it stays off.” Darith said while squinting.

“Wow you’ve got a lot of muscles.” Liana commented with eyes wide. Kristen turned red and quickly looked away.

“Ah, right, let me see if I can find some old clothing from Darith’s father you can wear.” Kristen said as she rushed upstairs. Without any attempt to cover himself up, he turned towards the two, and Liana made no attempt to hide her ogling - she stopped watching the spoon she was eating from, but kept doing the motion of grabbing cereal and putting it in her mouth.

“Still don’t get why ya’ll are going through all this trouble. You don’t even know me, or the sort of person I am. Or the things I’ve done. I aint used to people being this nice to me for nothin.” Gabriel said as he looked at Darith, who was busy staring down at his own body but trying to hide the fact that he was doing so. “In my experience, you help people for free like this, you just get taken advantage of.”

“It’s not exactly for free, you’re gonna help us, right?”

“Help you get revenge on my little bro? Still sounds like you’re helpin’ me.” Gabriel replied as Kristen came back downstairs with clothes, she had also thrown on a simple black dress quickly as well.

“I think what he’s trying to say is that he doesn’t want to be indebted to you.” Kristen said as she handed the clothes to him and he quickly put them on.

“You either, ma’am.” Gabriel replied politely.

“How about you pay me back by taking care of these two little ones.” Kristen replied.

“I can do that, ma’am.” Gabriel replied.

“Then… can you… y’know.” Darith motioned awkwardly to Gabriel as he finished putting on his clothes.

“What?” Gabriel asked.

“Can you help me get muscles like yours…” He asked shyly.

“Heh.” Gabriel smirked as he eyed Darith up and down as he sat plump on the couch in his normal body. “Yeah, when all this is done with, we’ll get you good ‘n buff little man.” Gabriel replied.

“Ready to go?” Kristen asked.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied.

“Remember, if anything happens just use the key and run to Avistion.” Darith said, and he nodded back while leaving the house with Kristen.

“You want to get big muscles?” Liana asked as she stood up, preparing to open a gate.

“Well, yeah…”

“Why? They don’t help us in the game.”

“You know… to look good. Girls like guys with big muscles, don’t they?” Darith replied shyly as he stood up as well, waiting for Liana’s gate to open. Liana rolled her eyes at him then gently put her hand on his shoulder after he’d transformed back into his Nemothyne body.

“Oh my innocent young Darith, so much to learn.” She mocked him.

“I’m older than you, remember.” Darith grumbled back as the two stepped through and entered Griffin Square. The sun was up and the place was lively once more with adventurers and merchants doing business, shouts for hunting companions and trade deals rang throughout. The two made their way straight towards the Magic Academy, but on the way Darith navigated to his friends menu to find Belle’s name and pressed it.

“Hey Belle, can you hear me?” Darith asked.

“Yup, how’s it going?” Belle replied, her voice was audible inside his head, not too unlike how he’d think to himself. It was still taking some getting used to it.

“It’s going great, I wanted to ask you a question about inviting other players though.”

“Sure, what’d you want to know?” Belle replied. Liana could hear Darith speaking beside him as they walked, but she couldn’t hear the responses Belle was giving.

“After I use my 4 party invites, is it still possible to invite more players somehow? Like use my party member’s invites?” Darith asked.

“Nope. The game is set up so that they’ll be able to make their own parties if they lose their leader, but otherwise they’re stuck with you and you’re stuck with them. Aaron pointed out that it’s almost like a test of friendship between the party members.” Belle replied.

“A test of friendship? What do you mean?” Darith asked.

“Well, think about it. The first person, the party leader, usually knows less about the game starting out in the first week, and doesn’t get access to Avistion until after that. Anyone he invites will have that 7 day grace period and be armed with all of the advantages of whatever their leader had gathered before they joined, making it pretty easy for them to surpass their leader in strength. Assuming they utilize that 7 day grace period the NPC’s give beginners to the fullest. That’s why you have to be careful who you invite, someone might get tired of you and try to take you out so that they can form their own party.” Belle replied.

“That’s a good point… I don’t think anyone in our group would do something like that though…” Darith said as he thought to himself nervously, recalling Gabriel’s words that they didn’t know anything about him. He didn’t know much about Jaese or Elise either.

“Well you can never be sure. The power you can get in this game changes people. That’s why so far I’ve stuck with just my husband.” Belle replied.

“Wait so you still have three invites?” Darith asked.

“Yup. Why, did you have someone you want to invite to the game?” Belle asked.

“Y-yeah, my mom.” Darith replied.

“You could always try forming a guild.” Belle replied.

“Forming a guild, that lets you invite people?” Darith asked excitedly.

“Yep, from what I’ve heard, The Guild Leader gets a game invite each time the guild gains a level by doing guild or city quests. They’re big in scale though so you usually need a decently sized guild to start doing stuff like that.” Belle replied.

“That’s okay, how do I form a guild?” Darith asked.

“You’ll need to be high enough level which you’ve got already, but it’s expensive as all hell. You’ll need 100 000 gold.” Belle replied.

“What? How do I get 100 000 gold?” Darith shouted out, Liana listening to the conversation from one side.

“Seriously, we need 100 000 gold?” Liana asked Darith in disbelief.

“Beats me, you had more gold than I did.” Belle replied.

“Damn… so If I want to invite my mom on my own and form a guild we’ll need to find a way to get 100 000 gold.” Darith sighed.

“Sorry.” Belle replied. “I’d offer my invites but I’m still thinking I should hold on to them and use them to fill out my party with people I can trust.”

“No problem, I understand. This whole invite system, the way the game keeps itself hidden, it’s all really strange. Why not just invite everyone.” Darith mumbled to himself in thought, but both Belle and Liana could here.

“My theory is that it’s a beta test. The game is testing how the world reacts to what it can do, and if it has a bad effect or a good effect on people. Maybe the makers plan to tweak the rules and balance it based on how we act and treat each other. And guilds like New World Order are failing the test horribly.” Belle replied. Darith thought on her words, and it sounded plausible to him. “If you make a guild, make sure to let me know and Aaron and I can join to help you do the guild quests.”

“Okay, great! Thanks.” Darith said, then turned to Liana.

“So how do we get that much gold?” Liana asked as they walked into the Academy Garden.

“I don’t know yet… I’ll keep studying and hopefully come up with an idea. Our first priority should be to get stronger, find affinities and beat Tai.” Darith said.

“Right. I’ll become a powerful Cleric as soon as possible.” Liana nodded as they reached the fountain in the garden where the path split towards each tower. “I’ll see you later.” She smiled, leaving towards the Green tower.

“See you.” Darith replied, then made his way towards the library, but not before looking to see Elise and Jaese’s energy bars fluctuating.