The town streets engulfed them with light as they entered through the gate, Kyle, Sly, Nakano had walked back to town with one goal in mind “So where’s the general store anyway?” Sly asked.

“Neither have you been around town yet?” Nakano questioned while staring at Lilior who fluttered around aimlessly staring at her own reflection in a water bubble she conjured and froze.

“I’ve been around but I haven’t exactly been to any stores…” Kyle lied “You?”.

Nakano nodded “I’ve already completed the basic quest, no wonder neither of you has a class yet…” she sighed.

“What are these basic supplies anyway and how would they help me get a class? I figured I’d get something through all the damn combat I’ve been through already!” Sly whined in annoyance.

“Pfft” Nakano chuckled “What have you only gone through the game’s front page? You can unlock classes through combat but not obtain them” she explained.

“Hey, I read the damn guide lines for the game! Doesn’t mean I comprehended them entirely…How am I supposed to know where and what an obelisk is? As far as I know damn thing just appears!” Sly ranted as they walked.

“Kyllix please tell me you at least-” she began to ask.

“Nope! Not a single thing!” but was proudly cut off by Kyle.

Nakano groaned “Fine dammit I’ll explain! Obelisks are found in the town plaza, you could have probably found that out by asking any NPC. The problem comes with using an obelisk, you need a class gem to activate the obelisk and look through your class progression! To get a class gem you need to complete trial quests, the general store’s first quest is one of these” she explained.

“But the sub-class advancement trial and class mastery trials are given out by NPCs called task masters, why not have them give out the first quest? Actually why not just spawn us in front of them in the first fucking place!” Sly continued to rant.

Nakano shrugged “How should I know? Oh wait…because I read the whole damn guide book, you?” they both glared at each other and continued to walk.

“Sheesh…” Kyle raised both arms in surrender as he stood in between “What is your guy’s concept of a quest?” he asked the both of them.

Sly glanced at him then around the busy market street “Interaction with an NPC or object is the activation, the tasks or requirements are the process and the reward is the finnish?” he said questioningly.

“Hhmmm…What he said” Nakano exclaimed.

Kyle sighed “That is the general consensus of a quest yes but why would it be the same in this game? We’re in a virtual reality driven system, a dream like existence. Why would the same rules of other platforms apply here for game design?” he asked.

Sly scratched his head “Huh…so what’s your point?”.

Kyle raised his fist in front of him “There is only one rule for quest design that must be followed” and raised his index finger “That it must have a process and is not a single task or action, that would be called an achievement or simply a task system”.

Nakano nodded in agreement “Wait you’re saying the whole start of this game is one big quest? How?” she asked in confusion.

Kyle chuckled “The start of the game is a fall from the sky to your death to teach the player what it means to die, whatever happens after your first resurrection is completely under your control. Doesn’t that strike you as unusual for an MMORPG?“.

Sly clapped his fists together “Ah! You’re right, usually this genre of game prefers to grab the player’s attention immediately after the creation of the character with some big quest or story plot!”.

Kyle nodded “But instead we were left to our own devices or that is how it is made to seem, honestly how many options did we have after respawning?”.

Nakano hummed in thought “Not many…to instantly start grinding in the forest, enter the city and speak to NPCs to find yourself doing the general store’s quest, travel to another city would most probably result in death and respawn here…”.

Sly chuckled “Player killing, being lured out to the bandit hideout, robbing a-” Kyle slapped his mouth closed with his left hand.

“Anyway this whole beginning was an illusion of freedom for us players, just a way blind us from the truth!” he exclaimed.

Sly pulled off his hand “Truth to what?”.

Kyle shrugged “That in reality we’ve been led by the hand to this point? No matter what we did?”.

“Ehh? But isn’t there one huge ass plot hole in your theory?” Sly said with a grin.

“Hhhmm? What’s that?” Kyle asked with a frown.

“You dumb ass” Sly karate chopped Kyle lightly on the head “and that fairy of yours, seriously how the hell are others supposed to get access to town with negative rep now?!” Sly exclaimed.

Lilior shrugged “Tough luck?” she said questioningly whilst hovering in front of them.

“How much will you sell her for?” Nakano quickly asked.

“She’s not for sale” Kyle reproached calmly, Nakano’s shoulder’s drooped.

“Hm?” Sly suddenly stopped walking gaining the other’s attention.

“What up Sly?” Kyle asked as he glanced back at him.

Sly was standing in the middle of the road tapping away at some invisible window “Birse figured out the in-game chat system it seems, their server’s up but soren and silv fucked up and got spawned far away cause of their race…They said they’ll be a while, trying to figure shit out. Told them about the general store quest and class gems, waiting on answer n- Oh okay Birse said to go on and figure our classes out, we’ll meet up with them after that” he explained.

“How do you use the in-game chat?” Nakano asked.

“The notifications at the bottom left are apparently located in the chatbox, seems like you have to manually tap at it to open up the chat and it’s windows. Hell they shoulda put this crap in a guide…then again the technology is fairly new in the gaming sector...Not surprised” Sly sighed.

Kyle nodded “Alright then let’s keep heading over to the general store, oh right! How many of us are on with Birse and soren right now?”.

Sly walked over and they continued to follow Nakano while Sly typed away “Just asked him, honestly should be full house but we- Oh yeap it’s full house but Skill’s late and Death’s having his usual problems” he chuckled.

Nakano hummed thoughtfully “I’m guessing since you guys are a group you round your classes through the trinity system or do you all just play whatever?” she asked.

“Depends on the game, if the game is highly PVE based we usually preplan but if it’s not we just play whatever. For GAO we all decided to pick whatever for primary class but plan together for our sub-classes, our group is fairly divided on the PVE and PVP aspect” Kyle explained.

“Divided? How so?” she asked curiously.

Sly groaned “Not all of us like constant PVP nor constant PVE while some do others like both…we’re basically divided into three parts, the PVPers, the PVEers and the PVXers. Kyle, soren and silva are the PVEers while me and Death are the PVPers. Our leader Birse along with the rest are all PVXers. Basically everyone does things together and kinda not…if we want to do something we see if anybody wants to join and if not we do it on our own or with pugs, we’re not the most organized bunch…” he explained.

Nakano laughed “I have no clue what you just tried to explain”.

“I know how we work and not even I understood that Sly…” Kyle chuckled while scratching his head.

Sly groaned in annoyance again “Whatever! Anyway how far is this gen- What the actual fucking christ?” he stopped in his tracks to stare.

Kyle glanced at him before following his eyes to see the building Sly was looking at, Nakano continued walking “That, is the general store” she said.

Both Kyle and Sly continued to stare in awe “That, is no fucking general store I’ve ever seen” Sly chuckled, Kyle simply nodded as he continued to stare awestruck.

The building in question was located all the way to the right of town, a couple housing plots away from the wall. To say the general store was just a simple store would be a gigantic understatement, the building itself was as gigantic. Standing three storeys tall while taking over a whole plot the general store could very well be called a Walmart, true to it’s name hundreds of players entered and exited the front. Made of differentiating shades of red bricks beneath a black tiled roof, the general store had long panes of glass lining each wall on both of it’s floors.

“It’s a giant fucking supermarket, in an MMORPG…” Kyle whispered to himself.

“You coming or what?” Nakano shouted while glancing back at the two still frozen down the road. They both glanced at each other before walking over to the crossroads then followed her to one of the entrances, a large archway with two huge wooden doors laying wide open, two guards standing guard per door side.

They walked in as several other players passed them by, warriors, mages, rogues and an assortment of other adventurers. ”33..29…36…38!” Sly whispered as he glanced around at the players.

“What are you doing?” Nakano asked as they stopped walking.

“With so many players around it’s the perfect opportunity to figure out the current average level, will tell me how much grinding I gotta do before I set out to pk again” Sly explained.

Nakano jolted up “Oh right! You two probably haven’t heard yet, a new announcement came out on the forums earlier. The level cap is set to 45 until the grand event not 80 as previously announced, you only got three more levels to go for now until the event”.

Kyle glanced between the two in confusion “Announcement? Level cap? Grand event?!” he began to freak out while scratching his head with both hands.

“That’s what you get for being a lore freak, the game’s level capped till some grand event the moderators planned for the game’s opening today. They gave us time to reach the level cap while they open up all the servers and settle any problems they might encounter, we still have about four hours real time so around six to eight hours in game time before the event. I was hoping to at least hit 60 by then but I guess…” Sly explained before sighing.

“Okay woah woah, wait a second!” Kyle continued to freak out “You’re telling me I got four hours to go from level 14 to 45?!” the colour seemed to drain from his face causing both Sly and Nakano to laugh.

“Calm down mate, levelling to 45 is seriously easy as long as you hunt monsters of your level. There is a serious experience loss from only getting an assist, I’m surprised you even got that many levels out of that kill! Let’s focus on our class first, then we’ll grind you up to 45 quick way before the event” Sly explained while pushing him forward “Who do we talk to for the trial Naka?”.

She stomped over to stand cross armed in front of them “I’m going to ignore you ever called me that” she glared at him “Nakano or nothing at all, respect great historical figures damnit”.

Sly sighed “Ehh? Fine, Nakano where do we-”.

She cut him off “This way” and turned to immediately walk away.

Sly grimaced “Women…Let’s go…” he sighed and both followed her, Lilior continued to flutter around Kyle as many of the players stopped to look at the curious fairy.

(“At least nobody is making a scene about her…”) Kyle thought in relief “Lilior, sit down you’re gaining too much attention” he told her, Lilior glanced at him then around herself at all the players staring at her “Ye..yes master!” she responded and fluttered over to his shoulder blushing.

“Over here” Nakano waved at them from the middle of the store, Kyle looked around as they walked over.

The store’s bottom floor was unlike anything you’d imagine, cylinders of crystal and light lined the walls with equipment floating inside for show while multiple circular desks with salespersons filled the middle. Players walked around the edge of the store looking at the equipment while others spoke with the salesmen and saleswomen as said NPCs made the equipment appear with magic, in the very middle of the floor were two large staircases that snaked around each other going upwards, very little players made use of it.

Kyle and Sly walked over to Nakano who stood lined up by one of the large circular desks “This strangely feels like GE but more…” Sly whispered, he continued to stare around the store in awe.

“Oi it’s our turn” Kyle shook Sly out of his daze after noticing the player in front of them taking his leave, Nakano walked up to the desk with the NPC.

The salesman was a tall lean fox-man with ginger hair, beard and blood red fox ears and tail that ended in white “How may I help you today Miss Nakano?” the salesman asked her before glancing over at Kyle and Sly who stood behind her.

“Two noobs looking for the general trial” Nakano pointed back behind her, Kyle coughed catching himself from saying something while Sly grimaced.

The salesman nodded “Very good! Might I start with the introduction then?” he smiled at them.

“Sure” Kyle answered.

“Firstly I welcome you to our humble generalmart, here you may find all sorts of starting equipment along with tools, materials and other generic assets including gathering tools, crafting tools, storage tools, foods and drinks, traveling equipment, item appraisal, a vast choice of armour and weaponry. As per Esfeltran Dominion rules new adventurers are to prove their worth before classes can be given out, changed and upgraded, through each of those steps a trial is given to the adventurer with an item called the class gem as reward. Here at the generalmart we provide the first trial where you may obtain your very first gem, upstairs you may find an ancient relic called an obelisk you may use it upon. Do you two wish to uptake the general trial?” as he spoke he drew in the air with his glowing index finger making shapes of light showing them each and every item’s form he spoke of.

Kyle nodded “We will, can you explain what the trials entail?”.

The salesman bowed “Of course sir, each trial is it’s own specific event and you do not have to worry about the next ones until you must take them. As for the current trial you are to face, the general trial entails testing the very basics of being an adventurer and we ask of you a very simple task. Deep within Frostbite forest to the west of Il’e lives a certain type of monster called the Snow Blur, you are to identify said monster, hunt and capture one alive then bring it back to me your trial giver“.

A notification appeared for both Kyle and Sly

Quest Received{Trial};

Complete all tasks given by your trial giver:

Identify a living Snow Blur

Capture a living Snow Blur

Bring back living Snow Blur

Rewards;

5 gold 60 silver

[Class Gem]

“Sounds easy enough” Sly exclaimed “Although…what does a Snow Blur look like?” he asked the salesman.

He shook his head “I’m sorry sir but that is for you to determine, you are of course allowed to make use of external information through other adventurers but we aren’t allowed to help you further” he explained.

“That settles it” Nakano declared while spinning around “Off to the west forest men” she then ordered while dragging them both back by the shoulder.

“Yo did we elect a new dictator?” Sly asked as he turned around ignoring her hand.

“She’s disillusioned, let it go…” Kyle whispered also turning around.

“She’s right here and has ears” Nakano said with a rigid expression. “Hhmm?” Sly hummed as he walked by ignoring her.

“Where’s the west exit by the way?” Kyle played along while walking after him.

They both froze as a rush of murderous intent rushed through them from behind them, Kyle was completely frozen due to the stat difference but Sly managed to glance back as Nakano glared death at the both of them with great sword in hand. Kyle grimaced as he noticed Sly’s aura joining the fray “Oh? You wanna go here and now Sly?” Nakano asked as said person took his pole-arm in hand, feeling Sly’s aura fighting whatever ability Nakano was using Kyle managed to turn around to see them facing each other while grinning.

(“Shit shit shit shit”) Kyle thought as the two’s auras visually clashed against each other, practically everyone in range stepped away to watch the scene.

“Oh what you’re going to fight a puny little classless fighter like me?” Sly exclaimed loudly.

(“Fuck it, I tried to reason with them. If they want to beat each other to death, I’m just gonna watch”) Kyle sighed as he stepped back joining the crowd that formed around them.

“Says the guy who spent his time player killing albeit being classless, what where you too lost to find your way to town from the respawn point?” Nakano retorted, both of their auras increased in volume as they closely watched each other.

“Yo a duel” Kyle heard some of the players reacting to the scene “In here? Oh they’re in trouble” another said, Kyle looked around for the speaker and noticed what they were talking about. Four guards in total, one from each entrance were walking over to the scene. Kyle inspected the guards

Esfeltran official guard Level ???

Each gave the same result sending a shiver down his spine (“Shit these aren’t your average city guards”) he thought, Kyle grimaced as he stepped forward “Sly cut it out, Nakano we apologise for messing with you but we need to leave. Now” he declared.

Both of them glanced at him then around the hall like room, seeing the guards moving in their direction one by one they shut off their skills and sheathed their weapons.

“We’ll continue this later as planned then?” Kyle asked the both of them, Sly nodded and moved to walk away and through the crowd,.

“Hmph, fine” Nakano followed.

With some ‘Boos’ and chatter the crowd broke off as one of the guards arrived but was unable to locate them through the scattered players, Kyle walked through the crowd and towards the west exit followed by Nakano. “Where did…” Kyle looked around but was unable to see Sly anywhere “Fuck not again!” he exclaimed as Nakano stopped by him

“What?” she asked.

“Sly’s gone” he answered.

“Gone? What do you mean gone? He was right…Seriously?” she was staring off back inside the generalmart.

Kyle turned around to see what she had seen “So it is a distance system…”. Being in a party they were able to see where each other was through chevron like icons that appeared above their head if they distanced themselves from each other, one such green chevron currently hovered above the exit on the complete opposite side of the generalmart.

“Why…how…what…” Nakano asked in confusion as she stared at Sly’s party marker in the distance.

“You get used to it…and don’t ask how…it just…happens” Kyle chuckled after explaining. Suddenly his notification window expanded as new text appeared along with a keyboard window beneath it

SlyOkami whispered;

SlyOkami whispered;

You whispered;

You whispered;

SlyOkami whispered;

You whispered;

Kyle sighed after tapping away the chat windows “He’s on the w-”.

Suddenly the wind cracked and earth shattered as Sly appeared by them sending the guards at the gate toppling over “Yo” he greeted as the violet aura surrounding him dissipated, Kyle and Nakano glanced behind him at the cleared path of shattered floor as it began to glow and repair itself.

Players stared at the sudden scene as the guards stood up cursing “Halt! No misuse of magic in town!” one shouted as he glared at them.

“Dammit run” Nakano declared as she turned tail and ran.

“Huh?” Kyle stared dumbfounded.

Sly shrugged “RIP” and began to run as well.

“Halt!” another guard shouted as they walked over to Kyle.

“Fuck this” he said before turning around and chasing after Sly and Nakano. The cursing of guards quieted down behind him as he ran from the scene, Kyle chased after them as they took a turn away from the block that held the generalmart and stopped a couple meters away.

“Are you trying to land us jail time?!” Nakano exclaimed although she spoke with a restrained smile.

“Heh we would just break out” Kyle chuckled as he caught up.

“And rob the guards on the way out” Sly said before all three began to laugh.

“So which way’s west gate?” Sly asked still chuckling.

“I can show you but I can’t be held responsible for what direction you decide to take Okami” Nakano declared and continued to laugh.

“He’d probably walk out East gate” Kyle added also laughing.

“Not my damn fault that this place’s maze, first time I’m even in the town! When I respawned after the fall I just walked out into the forest to grind” Sly exclaimed.

“Wait how did you find monsters if you walked out into the east forest? The monsters spawn around the west area, the other side?” Nakano asked.

Kyle kneeled over laughing “He lost his way there!” he said in between breathes, Nakano joined him in his laughter as Sly groaned in annoyance.

---

The party of three exited through the west gate “So we’re looking for a snow rabbit?” Kyle asked as he searched the forest’s edge.

“A snow hare” Nakano corrected “Their fur blends perfectly with the snow and have innate magic that lets them sprint at insane speed with as insane an agility” she pointed towards the forest “And you can find them literally anywhere in the west forest, they are very annoying to find and catch”.

The three stood outside the town staring into the forest, knee deep snow and larger than average taiga trees. “So what other monsters should I be looking out for?” Kyle asked as he stepped towards the trees.

“At your level? Hell even the vine serpents not to mention the tundra wolves, ice wyverns, gryphons or taurus roaming the forest” Sly listed out the monsters as he followed by with pole-arm at the ready.

“You met an Ice Wyvern?” Nakano asked as she unsheathed her greatsword.

Sly laughed awkwardly “Let’s not…talk about that encounter…It’s what ended my grinding spree”.

Kyle chuckled “Oh so if that hadn’t happened I would have been skewered by bandits, such good friends I have” he reached the taigas and began scanning around.

Sly shrugged “I didn’t fuck with any bandits…well I guess I did but…Yo the hell!?” he suddenly shouted.

A flash of white light and a blur of white shot out from the snow by them and off into the distance, too quick to make out it’s form. “Was that?” Kyle tried to follow the blur of white with his eyes.

“Yeah that’s it, a Snow Blur” Nakano answered as it disappeared out of view.

“We’re supposed to catch that!? Alive!?” Sly exclaimed as he put away his pole-arm.

Nakano nodded “They get confused easily and freeze up when you scare them, all you got are aura skills so it should be easy for you blockhead”.

Sly suddenly crouched down deep in thought as he scanned the trees “Aura huh?” he said as a sudden rush of power burst from his location, his whole body encased in a violet aura that lashed out at nearby trees shaking them lightly as snow parted around them. Suddenly multiple blurs of white rushed out of their hiding spots and bolted through the snow and trees, Sly’s eyes constricted “Gottcha” his aura suddenly burst forth sending snow and tree bark flying in each direction.

Sly bolted forward with power as he separated snow and tree alike from his path, Kyle and Nakano stared with shock and awe as he stopped multiple meters away from his starting point. “Dammit” he cursed as he stood up, a crater of snow around him while destruction followed back through his wake.

Kyle whistled “What’s that skill called Sly?” he asked as he ran over.

Nakano answered from behind him “Has to be an aura skill like my warrior’s aura, although mine is more of a buff than…that” she gestured around at the destruction.

Sly turned around with two monsters per arm “That’s one” Kyle noted as Sly dropped the bloody and squashed second Snow Blur from his left.

“The first skill was Aura Clad, I created it by using Warrior’s Aura and trying to force the aura to deal physical damage. I gained my mana bar through that and made my Aura tangible, the next skill is called Aura Clad Dash, I created it by using Aura Clad while focusing on going faster with Beast’s Agility” Sly explained as he cleaned off the blood while keeping the small creature with one arm.

The Snow Blur no larger than the average hare lay still and frozen in fear under Sly’s arm, the second too dead on the ground to move. “I just got another skill from that, Aura Clad Strike” he pointed down at the seemingly boneless hare on the ground.

“Tangible aura huh?” Nakano whispered as she studied the dead hare.

“Lilior how does aura work exactly?” Kyle asked the little fairy on his shoulder as she stared down at the hare corpse in pity.

“Oh…Aura is a mana like resource that is interacted with through emotion master, the stronger the emotion used to focus aura the more powerful the aura. Master should look for something else Lilior thinks, aura magic is very hard to control and bad for groups” she frowned.

Sly grimaced “I did almost kill myself on multiple occasions with Aura Clad Dash so I’ll have to agree with the fairy”, he rattled the Snow Blur under his arm a couple times “This guy’s seriously frozen up, he’s trembling like he’s gonna piss himself”.

Kyle almost tripped “You clad yourself in tangible aura and rushed the poor thing like some crazed monster, smashing his friend’s skeleton to pieces. Yes Sly, it probably already pissed itself”, he searched the forest around them “We’ll have to move away from here now, saw multiple of them running off so you probably scared them all off already”.

Nakano nodded “They didn’t sprint around so much when I was alone so it might be our numbers, we’ll head back and turn in his catch while you get your own” she added.

Kyle agreed “Sounds good, I’d rather catch my own anyway. Sounds fun” he mused.

“Aight see you in a bit then” Sly said as he turned towards the town.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get lost” Nakano joked as she followed.

Kyle chuckled “Don’t destroy the place yet, we need the town remember?” he joked back while waving them off, he turned around scanning the forest “So…how to go about this…”