Gabriel started marching towards the novice village. Every couple of moments Gabriel would have to step to the side to dodge the people teleporting. Most players took a couple of moments to adjust, lightly walking or bending down to touch the ground to fill the realism. As D.O. wasn't the first VR game that allowed players to feel like they are using their real bodies in game, most experienced players didn't take to long to adjust. D.O. main selling point lay in it's immersion value, such as the true sense of smell, taste and feel. With over population and the divide between the haves and have nots only increasing every year, a lot more people choose to escape to virtual reality. Deliverance Online became one of the most popular after people beyond the average gamer began to join the world.

Gabriel gazed around, listening to people talking and comparing the world with previous games, he could also here people shouting out to each other in recognition.

"Hey I-SMASH-MEET! Fancy us smash bros getting transported to this novice village. Let's go smash!" Two short dwarves called out to each other from across the green running off together.

"O.M.G. Look at your hair, it's so silky and smooth, and that chocolate skin is gorgeous"

"No your fair skin just looks as beautiful, not including those legs girl"

A Dark elf and High elf girl were complimenting each other well poking and prodding each other all over. Those two girls were quite striking so they started getting a lot of attention from the wolfish boys around them. All of a sudden, the Dark Elf girl grabbed the High elf's breast and gave it a squeeze.

"ohhhh" The High elf let out a very seductive moan by accident due to the Dark Elf's groping before quickly putting a hand over her mouth and turning bright red.

This made majority of the guys watching them pass out and the others check their noses for blood. Gabriel included. Most of the women in the crowd shook their heads in disgrace. The two girls blushed deep red looking at the various reactions of others and both quickly logged out in embarrassment.

Gabriel quickly got the hell out of there. Luckily because of the scene though, he was able to get into the Novice village without any more people getting in his way. Gabriel had 3 must do-things he needed to accomplish in the novice village before leaving.

He had to get some points of familiarity with the Village Elder to get a specific class and quest. Get the first kill of the level 10 hidden world boss 'The Watcher' and find the rare weapon Khopesh. The weapon and class should come together. The Khopesh is the only weapon in the Novice village that has the potential at this point to kill 'The Watcher'.

Gabriel quickly headed to the Centre of the village. There he saw the village elder. He was an old man sitting on a stool, talking to some of the other players and handing out the classic novice fetch quests. He looked like he was from Chinese descent, with a bald head and an impressively long Fu Manchu moustache. He was wearing traditional Chinese Qipao robes, he stroked his moustache while speaking, giving off a pleasant grandfatherly feeling.

Gabriel knew however that these village elders were not to be looked down upon, as one group of players was about to find out. A tall male human, with slicked back black hair stood inches away from the Village Elder. Looking like a typical young master with his nose in the air. He was talking down to the elder, with two classic looking goons behind him. Agreeing with all his words, like the young master was some sort of prophet.

"Listen here old man, I know you must have some better quests for someone of my caliber to do. I am not dirtying myself with simple fetch quests. Don't make me lose my patience". The young master demanded.

"Yeah, don't waste the young masters time"

"You best to start talking soon old man. Our Young master has showed you enough respect already just by talking to you"

The goons backed up there master, almost tripping over each other to be the first to talk.

The old man just kept stroking his moustache and nodded before responding. "Like I have said before young man because you are new travelers to our world. It is best you take things slowly first. My name is not "old man' by the way, it's Tu Manchu".

Gabriel almost burst out laughing at his name but kept it in at the last moment. Some of the other players watching the scene couldn't help but chuckle after they heard his name, earning themselves a glare from Tu Manchu.

'The developers sure had fun with some of the names of NPC's in D.O.' Gabriel thought.

Tu Manchu looked down and started muttering to himself "why do all these travelers find my name so funny... I don't laugh at their ridiculous names".

Because of the realism of D.O. most players chose more normal names then their usual gamertags as the NPC's would call out and remember your name. Some NPCs even judged you by your name as well. Though there were still some players who kept their old gamer names like 'I-SMASH-MEET'.

The young arrogant prick walked up and slapped Tu Manchu on the top of his bald head, as he noticed he didn't have the old man's attention anymore. "Hey Baldy I was ta...." before the Young master was half way through his sentence, Tu Manchu had punched a hole through his chest. That's right a hole, in his chest. With just his wrinkly old fist.

All the other players gasped and took a couple of steps back in horror. The two goons behind their young master barely reacted before his body laid down on the ground and slowly disappeared. The penalty for dying in D.O. was pretty intense, as you were forced to log out for 12 hours. Which because of the time dilation of 2x. It was 24 hours in game. Nobody wanted to die but you really didn't want to at the start, as that would put you well behind everyone else.

The two goons finally reacted and drew their Common short swords that everyone starts off with in the game, it has 0-2 damage and is only useful for killing the [LVL 1 - Horned Rabbits] outside the of the village.

Gabriel's eyes lit up, as this was a great chance to earn himself some familiarity with [Tu Manchu]. Gabriel rushed ahead, he hadn't equipped his starter sword yet, so he just had to use his hand-to-hand combat to begin with. Depending on your strength and dexterity stat, fists can become a deadly weapon if trained properly in D.O.

There was a famous player by the name of Dragon Lee in Gabriel's past. This player managed to earn himself a special class that didn't allow him to use weapons but it had unbelievable martial art skills. He ruled the PVP fights and as long as it wasn't a group of over 5 pros, he was unbeatable.

Gabriel quickly put all the training he had been doing with Kristof to use. He used the back of his hand to quickly slap the flat of Goon #1's blade. Before throwing a quick one, two punch to his face. Goon #1 threw a wild haymaker with his sword; swinging it like a bat. Gabriel performed a full crouch under it, before swinging his leg out in a sweeping kick to knock the feet out of Goon #1.

He landed with an "Oaf!" on his back and looked dazed. Gabriel got two notifications in his head, only he could hear.

[Unlocked Unarmed combat – LVL 1– 0% to next upgrade. 5% Chance to stun target for two seconds. Fists and kick attacks do an extra 5% Damage]

[You have stunned [Guard-#1] for 2 seconds]

Gabriel laughed out loud when he read the name. He thought 'you should have just called yourself Goon#1. Ha!'

Before Gabriel could finish [Guard#1] off though, he saw a soft slipper like boot come down on [Guard#1]'s head hard enough to bury it into the ground. Tu Manchu looked up at Gabriel and nodded. Gabriel spotted behind the elderly man, the body of [Guard#2] laying on the ground. It looked like the neck was twisted so far the head was facing the wrong direction.

[+20 reputation points with Tu Manchu (Novice Village no.105 Elder). LVL???]

Tu Manchu slapped his hands together like he just took out the trash and sat down on his chair. He then lifted his hand and beckoned Gabriel over. The crowd was to shocked by this development and just watched Gabriel walk over to [Tu Manchu]. Gabriel leaned down, putting his ear next to [Tu Manchu]'s mouth.

Nobody could hear what was said but they noticed Gabriel stand back up with a smile on his face, before he sprinted off towards the exit of the village.

Before any of the players could chase Gabriel to find out what he was doing. [Tu Manchu] said "So! Now that is over, which traveler wants to help out with a few tasks I have here?".

People forgot about Gabriel and swarmed towards [Tu Manchu].

[Tu Manchu] thought to himself 'If the young lad can defeat that monster at his current level and return alive, he might just be deserving of that weapon'.

Gabriel set his pace at a light jog and headed out of the village gates. The direction he took was towards the east, where the LV4-6 Draugr roam. He quickly accessed his inventory, which only had:

[INVENTORY:]

1x Minor Health potion – Instantly recovers 25 HP. Cooldown 30 seconds.

1x Iron Short sword (Common) (non-repairable)

Durability – 10/10

Damage 0-2 (slashing, stabbing)

INFO: A common short sword, usually made by blacksmiths to practice their craft. Not worth repairing or even keeping. Not balanced well and far too heavy at the tip. Not a good sword. Maybe try using it as a bat?

Gabriel laughed at the info on the sword, hidden within the sarcasm is a hint on how to use this sword. He knew it was his greatest chance to do the impossible quest that the old man had given him. As Gabriel was jogging away from the village, he didn't notice a small form hiding near the entrance watching him. When Gabriel made it to the forest and continued the shadow stopped watching.