My journey back to Tyrith was boring and uneventful. The odd skill set I had accrued combined with the fairly strong weapon I had found made the trip remarkably easy, although the little bit of extra exp I got was a drop in the ocean at this point. The lower level mobs were barely giving me anything worthwhile. The only reason I was killing them was the fact that even being a much higher level, they still aggroed onto me as soon as I stepped within twenty paces.

The sun had completely set by the time I saw the city gates, and I had to run across the open field separating the forest from the walls so I didn’t get locked out at night. I could always just log out if that happened, but I wanted to swing by the tavern and get Aly a much deserved drink. The cheeky little devil may press my buttons all the time, but without her I doubted my solo adventures would have gone so well thus far.

Judging the time, I had another hour before the UI would start bitching at me. Just enough time to stop by a tavern and log out for the night. It was still a little early in general, being only eight in the evening, but that was fine by me. I had been neglecting my gym routine for the most part thanks to the game and needed a serious session in order to feel better about the circumstances.

The last hour of the night passed quickly with lots of drinks being passed out and good conversation between all of the NPCs and myself. Even with this being just a game, the AI gave every NPC a top notch personality and it was entertaining even to just sit and bullshit with them all, a mug of ale in hand.

When the time came, I waved goodnight to the patrons and exited the tavern to log out on the street. Most players would opt for an inn room, but I didn’t see the small buff you got from that as worth the time and coin to deal with. A 5% exp gain for 4 hours was a nice boost, but not enough to make me want to spend the time getting it, especially when it didn’t count towards quest completion rewards.

As soon as I logged out and got out of the machine, I went right for my AR computer in order to check out my feed comments. How well people judged my play was a large part of my bonus, and keeping updated on the opinions of my viewers was only logical.

Dumadine Technology’s website had a link to all ten of its paid players feeds on their main page, and I clicked on my own to see how things were going. The big ‘Offline’ message was slowly winking in the box where my feed was supposed to be located, but the comments were still rolling in like crazy. Several people were arguing over the revelation that the various races were close to being opened already, although I knew that to be false. I highly doubted that I would be getting the Fae unlocked just by doing this, considering their backstory Caius had shared with me. Until the human populations became more peaceful, the Fae were staying well and truly away from Grendor with no chance of returning in force.

Equally so, I figured the Dwarves and Elves were in the same boat. Perhaps once one of the factions had taken the central throne things might be different, but at the moment the pending war was still overshadowing the return of other races. Oh, the current of the game wasn’t exactly broadcasting the encroachment of a war, but just looking at the state of things I knew it was only a matter of time. Once players started getting strong enough there was going to be a lot of bloodshed.

The thought of the future wars made me grin, the taste of my mildly large scale battle from earlier fresh on my mind. That feeling was thrilling and intoxicating at the same time, and I could easily see how the Fae considered humans a war-mongering race. In fact, I agreed wholeheartedly with them!

A new thread of comments caught my eye, the topic being that of players making threats and plans of trying to intercept the Fae party in order to get some good loot, with the possibility of wrecking my own plans being a pleasant bonus. Cocky bastards, did they think I didn’t check my own feed for the comments? Idiots… Now I knew to look out for some players looking to ruin my day at least. Surprise would be on them when Archie showed up and came with me. I wasn’t sure how he was building his character, but if I knew him as I thought I did, then his character would be a force to be reckoned with. That man’s ability to break down a game into relevant numbers to min-max the shit out of his toons was unparalleled.

Plus, I shouldn’t discount the chance that Kayla would join up with me too. Perhaps not as skilled at the analyzing or overall tactical aspects, she truly did have the best instincts of our group. If she built along her normal lines, then I could look forward to having a nice frontline tank with good forms of CC that would be used to perfection every time. The prospects of taking on these fool players who thought to ruin my plans with my friends beside me made the threat laughable. It would take a lot more than these ten or twenty players to ruin our day. Judging by their posts, they weren’t even hard mode players. Their stats would be almost half of what ours were.

Most of the other threads here seemed along the lines of what I expected. People trying to find out where exactly I was, others trying to ask me about how to find their own Unique Fairy. A thread with a good amount of posts caught my eye, and looking in that one I saw something rather surprising. There were a large number of players looking to have me start a guild up and letting them join. Most of them were pretty much just looking to ride a wave of fame and leftovers, but a few of the comments sounded quite serious. Hmmm… Ideas.

Shelving those thoughts for the time being, I closed out the stream page and checked several messages I had waiting for my attention. My lawyer had settled the accident stuff quickly and quietly, leaving my accounts much richer from the ordeal, minus his fees of course. Worth every penny, that man. The rest of it was mostly a bunch of random things, nothing important and deleted or ignored for later.

I fired off one more message before I forgot about it, giving a warning to the President’s secretary that I was going to be busy in game at the time of our originally scheduled meeting and that I needed to reschedule for when this quest cleared up or perhaps immediately in the morning we could meet for breakfast before Archie showed up in Tyrith. I didn’t expect him to show up until the day after tomorrow, so this new meeting time would leave me plenty of opportunity to get my stuff together during the rest of tomorrow. A reply came back almost right away stating that the new meeting time would work for his schedule and to meet at the company cafeteria at eight AM sharp. I sent a confirmation back to the secretary and then set my alarm for seven to give myself enough time to wake up and get ready tomorrow.

Right then, problems solved and plans were made. Now it was time to get changed and head down to the gym for an extended workout. My muscles actually felt great now that I was used to the immersion device. The impulse stimulations kept my muscles working while in game which put any atrophy I may have experienced at bay. Not that it would replace a targeted workout routine though. With an eager smile, I got ready and headed off.

* * * * *

When my alarm sounded the next morning, I rose quickly from my bed well rested and eager to get this meeting over so I could hop back into the game. A quick shower in that glorious bathroom was followed by me dressing in black slacks and an equally black dress shirt. Forgoing a tie, I really hated the things, I left the apartment building behind to make my way across the compound to the cafeteria.

The weather was warm, but clouds threatened to dump rain on us at any given time with the humidity to match. I didn’t have an umbrella, so hoped the precipitation would hold off until I made it back to my room. Once there, the weather could do whatever the hell it wanted for all I cared.

I made it to the meeting location with ten minutes to spare, so I got in line to order myself a coffee and some breakfast, figuring Willcot would be sending his secretary up to get his own stuff if he was even eating. The line moved smoothly and efficiently allowing me to place my order for a spinach and mushroom omelet with a slice of fired ham to balance it out. Tray in hand, I moved over to an empty table to sit down and eat just as Willcot and his guards stepped into the large room. He spotted me almost instantly and gave me a wave and smile as he started in my direction. Shaking hands with a friendly greeting, we sat down at the table where Willcot began to speak.

“Again, thanks for meeting with me Dale. This project is at the front of our company at the moment, and all the feedback we can get is much appreciated. Much like this, I have a couple of the others meeting with me for their insights as well, so don’t hold back on me son.”

Sipping my coffee, I chuckled and nodded at the old man. “You got it Sir. Well, in all honesty, I can say the game is truly amazing. Perhaps a little more balancing for the early levels though. I just hit level ten, but a good deal of the fights were a bit on the easy side once I got a couple damage boosting skills leveled up.”

Willcot rubbed his chin as he thought about my words, a piece of omelet making its way into my mouth before he replied. “Hmmm… How many damage boosting skills do you have? At your level you should have a weapon mastery, but that should be it…”

“Ah, well I have my weapon mastery, but I also have the Blooded Tactician skill, as well as a Divine title that gives me more damage and even lifesteal now, plus I get even more damage from charging an enemy from my use of polearms. It is really adding up to quite a lot of damage so far.”

His eyebrows rose some at my words, his finger tapping the table as a smile quirked his lips. “So in other words, you just happened to have built a heavy damage dealer and got yourself a rare title to back it up. I see no problems there really. But, what is this Blooded Tactician skill? I have never heard of it.”

I explained about the skill, adding in how I got it on top of the title during the large scale battle from the day before. “Also, I have to say… Nice touch on the devs for giving glimpses of the other races even before they can be unlocked. That will pique the interest of many players and cause them to rush around trying to find more and trying to be the first to become one.”

Laughing, the President picked up his own coffee and took a sip after saluting me with it. “Caught that, did you? Well, we figured someone would make that connection sooner or later, just don’t publicize the fact that they can’t be opened yet.” He checked his pers-com, flipping through AR screens while he spoke. “As for the skill, it must be the AI modifying the game already. I don’t see it on the list we designed. The title is available in different forms for several different weapons, so the fact you got yours just indicates you might be on the right path in choice of weaponry. Others will be eligible to gain the Divine title for almost every type of sword, dagger, axe or mace once they meet the requirements. Each one has a back story in the game too, so check out yours when you get a chance.”

My food was quite good, the chefs here being top rate, and I quickly finished my meal while Willcot was talking. “Well, I suppose that it is all good then. Have to say, I am liking the polearms in the game though. Every other game I played made them awkward to use to say the least, but RoI integrates them perfectly.”

“Good. I am glad to hear that, as we want all of the different types of combat to be comfortable and managed easily enough with a bit of practice. Real world experience also helps out greatly, but I don’t think you have ever used a spear in real life before?”

I had to shake my head at that one. “Nope. I actually tended to avoid them as they were next to useless in most other games anyway. Swords and axes I have handled before to understand how they were used, but I never even had much formal training in them either. Add to that, it was all a good while ago too.” I chuckled and shrugged.

Willcot waved a hand to dismiss it. “No need to fret over it. The game assists a lot in the way weapons are handled so it isn’t a big deal. Now then, have you come across any serious bugs or other issues in the game?”

That was something I had to really consider. Some of the things in the game just lined up too perfectly, making it pretty much a cake walk. “Actually, the AI seems to be a little on the lenient side. I have had great luck in almost everything I have done so far right down to finding a quite powerful scythe in the game right when I had just met the requirements to use it. On top of that, the Fae event drew out the local boss I was supposed to kill and allowed me to loot all of my quest items without even fighting the boss. Maybe I am just expecting it to be a bit harder, or if it is tuned down for the first part of the game, but it seems a bit on the ‘here have a ton of free shit’ side of the equation.”

Willcot frowned at me with a chuckle. “You mean to tell me you don’t want, as you put it, ‘free shit’?”

I laughed and shrugged. “No, I like to get goodies, but at the same time I want to earn them and not just be handed OPness on a silver platter. I can tell you right now that without that weapon, I would never have tried what I did that got me in the good graces of the Fae.”

“I get it. I have been hearing similar stories from a couple other testers as well actually. Perhaps we will patch in some changes, but not as many as you might wish. Most of the people we are going to cater to aren’t as hardcore as you and the others here, not to mention that they are casual accounts for the most part so their stats aren’t as high.” He flipped through a few AR screens and took several notes down from our conversation before nodding to me. “Right then. Anything else Dale?”

Shaking my head, I set my coffee down and extended a hand towards Willcot. He seemed like he needed to go soon, and I really didn’t have anything else to bring up at the moment. “Nope, that would cover just about everything for now I think. Like I said, my only real compliant is that I am being handed everything a bit too easily.”

Willcot shook my hand and then laughed. “You know, I saw the battle with the Grotto Guardian when you fought it. Can you really say you were handed everything?”

“Hah! Okay, you got me there. Maybe not everything.” I stood up with the President of DT and gave him a final nod. “Alright, I am going to jump back into the game and take care of stuff. Have a long quest coming up I think, so not sure when I will have some free time again.”

“Oh, no problem Dale. I get highlights from all ten streams with relevant information and get the gist of what is going on. These meetings are just to get personal opinions on the state of the game while not actively inside it. Thank you for your time.” He smiled at me once more, then walked away with his body guards surrounding him.

The whole meeting only took twenty minutes, and I understood that he really was interested in our take on the new game. The opinions of us ten were of great interest to Willcot and the rest of the company as a whole, which made me look forward to helping direct the future of the entire game even if only in a small way.

Finished eating and ready to get things done, I set my tray in the receptacle on top of a trashcan and headed back to the apartment complex. There were a few people in the common area when I passed through whom I greeted casually before continuing to my room. Neither of my close friends were in sight, so I sent Archie a message to let me know when he got to my province in order to meet up with him. That achieved, I changed into comfortable clothes and logged back into the game. The feeling of vertigo was now my favorite sensation, as it heralded my entrance to Grendor and all that it entailed. Aly flashed into this plane beside me and settled on my shoulder as the bright sunlight shining on the city all around.

“Hey, Calamity. Can we go back to the tavern tonight? I want some more ale and wine.” Aly gave me a bright smile, hoping to sway me to her cause.

I chuckled and shook my head at her. “You are turning into a right little lush, aren’t you? Just remember, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.” Turning towards the gates, I decided to swing by the shops before turning in my quest to Vermund.

“I don’t have a problem! I just like the taste of it.” She huffed at me and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fairies don’t need food, but we can still enjoy it you know.”

Grinning, I patted her head with one finger, mussing her hair up a bit. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Aly. Tell you what, we can go back tonight for a bit, but after that we will be out of town for a while. Don’t pester me about it while escorting Caius, and maybe we can even get him to share some more of his wine, eh?”

Tiny hands worked to fix the messed up hair as she glared at me, but changed it to a smile at my words. “Sure! Sounds like a plan to me. I really liked that wine he had… Think we can get some more off him as part of your reward for helping?”

“Damn Aly, you really are turning into a drunkard!” Actually, that sounded like a good plan. That Fae wine really was a cut above everything else I had tasted either here or in real life. How the game made me taste something that I have never tried before was beyond me, but damn if it didn’t work quite well.

My Fairy didn’t deign to respond to my taunting, and instead looked over at a shop specializing in clothes just for Fairies. I caught her longing gaze and laughed. AI, code or Fairy, a woman always wanted clothes. Without a word, I cut across the street and entered the shop to my partner’s delight. She clapped her hands together and darted off my shoulder to the shelves lined with little dresses, skirts and tops.

A young girl came towards me from behind the counter, maybe sixteen years old. Short and cute, the kid could only be the owner’s daughter or niece. “Good morning Sir. Can I interest you in anything in particular, or is your Fairy just browsing?”

I gave the girl a smile and shrugged my shoulders, nodding my head in Aly’s direction. “I will pick up a set of clothes for my Fairy here, but the decision is all hers. All this fabric is well beyond my understanding.”

Laughing brightly, the girl bobbed a curtsey and moved over to check with Aly while I went through my menus. In my inventory, I had a large selection of items to get rid of. Some had to go to Amara, while the alchemy stuff had to go to the alchemist. I probably should learn the alchemy myself, but I never did like crafting professions… I was a raider and PvPer. All those side projects just seemed like a waste of time to me in most games, as I could just buy items from those who enjoyed crafting. Sure, some games made you pick up a profession or else you miss out on some decent benefits, but at the same time those benefits weren’t of the be all end all quality. Proper min-maxing of my stats and gear made up for the lack of the profession boosts, so I would probably pass up on the crafting bit here too. Shame I got the Advanced Herbalism skill wasting some of my free skill points upon leveling. Perhaps I could get rid of it as some point… Something to look into at the least.

My musings were cut short when Aly rapped her knuckles on my forehead. “Hellooo…? Wake up Calamity! I picked an outfit.”

I shook my head and saw Aly floating in front of my face with a put off expression. Apparently, that wasn’t the first time she tried to get my attention. Heh, oh well. She would deal, I was buying her clothes after all. “Right, sorry. Was thinking over some things. Let’s see what you are getting.” I shooed her back so I could examine the new clothes she was already wearing, but her close proximity to my eyes made it impossible to see it properly.

Twirling around a few times, Aly flew backwards and beamed a smile at her new clothes. The outfit looked like something from a fashion magazine, or maybe just a normal set of female clothes, I don’t know… Not my area of expertise really. Either way, the top was a black halter looking shirt with the back open to facilitate her wings and leaving her midriff bare. A black skirt started at her hips and went down halfway to her knees, those tiny feet still bare. Fairies obviously didn’t appreciate shoes since they are always flying.

“Very nice! Looks good on you.” Truly she did look quite lovely, and it made me thankful that she was so tiny. The thought of having a normal human partner running around in those clothes with her figure… Well, the game was rated Mature 18+ and I was a red-blooded male. Turning back to the young woman working the counter, I paid the ten silver for the clothes. Quite pricey for such a small outfit, but worth the cost as Aly seemed to be happier than a pig in shit as she flew all around with her bright smile.

My remaining stops both went smoothly with me dropping off all of the hides and leathers I looted at Amara’s shop and the rest of my loot at the alchemists. I even left my elixir with him so he could study the vial and try and work out what it did. Amara offered to make me some more gear with the materials I left, but I declined her offer. What I really needed was to upgrade to chainmail at this point. My skill set was looking to be that of a front line fighter, and I needed more protection than just leather could offer.

Shopping stops all done, I made my way up to the keep and into the building Vermund used as his base of operations. I had really outdone the quest parameters in regards to goblin slaying, so I was hoping that I might get a bonus for my efforts. My quest sheet was sitting at 86/30 Goblins killed. Nearly triple of what the quest called for. Pulling the Banner out of my inventory, I leaned it against the wall behind Captain Vermund’s large desk, then took up my position in front of him to wait. The huge man liked to make people wait until he was ready, and wouldn’t address me until it was convenient for him. Currently, the black armored knight was writing something down on some parchment.

Vermund finished quickly and flashed his gaze up at me, then to the banner and back again. “So you have finished the task already? That was rather quick…” He trailed off as he studied me, and the weapon slung across my back. “You have been touched by the Divine… What title has been bestowed upon you, Calamity?”

I hesitated a moment before answering. The look on his face made me pause, that expression seeming unreadable but in a cold and not quite friendly way. “Uhmm… I was gifted the title Soul Reaper. Seems the gods liked the fact that I wreaked havoc on the goblins with my scythe here.”

A sharp nod of Vermund’s head was the only response for a moment, the man seeming lost in thought for a solid minute before he spoke up again. “There was once a man who wielded a scythe and was blessed by the gods in this House. Allistar Halshome was a fearsome warrior on the battlefield who brought terror to our enemies. The only problem was that he was blind… As if that would stop Allistar though. His hearing was beyond anything you could imagine, and using that instead of sight he slaughtered hundreds of enemies in his lifetime.”

Resting both of his hands on the desk, Vermund leaned forward with his gaze still locked on me in an uncomfortable way. “The story of the Grim Reaper was brought about because of him, you know. He was a fighter so wore plate armor, but since he needed to hear to fight, Allistar wore heavy black robes over his armor to muffle the sound of his own body as much as he could. All of those who saw his scythe and black robes fled as quick as their feet could carry them, lest they fall to such a strong foe.

“There was a downside to his tale, however. In the midst of battle, Allistar could not determine friend from foe and killed all he ran into once set loose. That is why people fear the name Grim Reaper. To see another title so close to that of Allistar is a bit alarming to be honest.”

Well that was shocking… So the Grim Reaper in this game was an actual person who pretty much was the personage of death on the battlefield to any and all who encountered him. To think that it was a Divine title he had received made a lot of sense really, as the gods seemed to like blood and carnage from what I had noticed. I had no idea of what to say in response to Vermund, so I instead kept my mouth shut. Probably the smartest thing I had done in the game so far actually…

The Captain shook his head and straightened up again. “I will have to talk with Lord Tyrith about you, Calamity. Until then, I cannot give you any more tasks. Here, your reward for completing this latest one for now.” A bag of coins was set on the desk, then pushed towards me. Inside was a good bit of silver.

Quest Completed!

You have completed the quest Show of Force.

Rewards: 1000 exp, 1 gold

Return to Captain Vermund at a later date to learn of Lord Tyrith’s decision of your future within House Tyrith.

Congratulations!

Alysandaria the Chronomancer has gained a level!

Current level: 10

All available skills are now eligible to reach level 2.

Refer to the Talent Tree to select the skill you wish to level up next.

Well, Vermund’s words seemed ominous… But on the bright side, Woohoo! Level 2 skills for Aly! Had to enjoy the good things where I could, considering I wasn’t liking where my position within House Tyrith might be going. If this Allistar guy was that big of a pain in the ass for them, Lord Tyrith may just kick me out of his House and ban me from these lands. That would suck, especially with Archie on his way here even as I interacted with Vermund.

“Uhm… Alright. I have some other things to take care of starting tomorrow, but I will return after I complete my objectives and find out your decision.” I frowned, thinking of what to add in that might swing the vote into my favor. “Know that I am grateful to House Tyrith for their treatment of me thus far, and hope to stay with you here for a long time yet.”

Vermund merely nodded once at me, then shooed me away so he could get back to work. Perhaps I spoke too soon to Willcot… Things looked like they could be going sideways rather sharply on me with this situation and all of those goodies I got are coming back to bite me in the ass. Giving up on the situation for the time being, as I had no chance to do anything about it at this point that I could see, I left the building and stood at the side of the road to pull up my menus. Aly was able to level up her skills, and I quickly pulled up her talents tab to see what I could do. The tier one True Haste skill was the only skill I was able to select to gain experience, so it looked like I was going to have to do them in order once again.

True Haste

Skill level: 1 -> 2

A Unique Skill known only to Alysandaria the Chronomancer. Unlike a normal Haste ability, True Haste actually modifies how a target perceives time itself. The effects are similar as the target will have increased movement and attack speed, but the True Haste skill also lets the target think faster than normal as their whole body will be moving at a faster rate of time.

Time increase: 20% -> 30%

MP cost: 30MP/s -> 35MP/s

(Cost is calculated and paid in relation to the time perceived by the target of the skill)

Exp: 0/6500

Hmmm… That looked to be a good boost for only leveling it up once. The time boost versus MP cost got better at level 2, even if it would cost me more per second. A fair enough trade in my book if it continued on this route every skill level. Looked like I would still need a lot more MP for skills to really shine though.

I closed out Aly’s window and pulled up my own for a quick check before dismissing it as well and looking at my partner. “Well, we have all afternoon to do whatever we want. My friend will be here around mid-morning tomorrow. Any suggestions?” I raised a brow at her and saw her eyes light up, then cut her off before she could utter the expected answer. “Besides the tavern…”

The click of her mouth closing in reaction to my last words echoed in my ear from her position on my shoulder. Her predictability and expression made me laugh as I started walking towards the city gates to gather myself some more experience.

“That’s not nice Calamity! You can’t get my hopes up like that and then dash them against the rocks like a forlorn wave breaking against the shore!” Hah! Getting poetic in her attempts to sway me now?

Well, two could play at that game… “Tough shit. Suck it up, buttercup.” Okay, so mine sucked. Whatever. I never claimed to be the wittiest person on the planet. “You will get your fix of booze later tonight, so keep your skirt on.” I almost said ‘don’t get your panties in a twist’, but that brought up a whole other topic I really didn’t want to get into with the tiny Fairy. To be quite honest, I wasn’t even sure if the little beings wore any underwear, and I really didn’t want to find out… That would just be wrong.

Name: Calamity

Player Level: 10

Stat Level: 35

Exp: 25,320

Titles

Nightblade, Soul Reaper

Fame

300

Armor

34

HP

570/570

Energy

420/420

MP

500/500

Str

45

Fort

42

Dex

30

Int

50

Agi

45

Will

23