“Whoa!”

“So pretty!”

“It’s beautiful!”

We, along with every other player, chose to go through the portal right away. And then, we got our first glimpse of the teleportation hub. We came out on the northern end into a massive circular plaza surrounded by white marble roman style pillars. On the inner circle are 100 portals decorated with various materials.

So far, only two portals are lit. The one we came out of with a wooden frame carved with spiders, and the one right next to it made out of carved bone. Some players have opted to head straight into the second portal, and I was going to as well, but I got stopped by Gem before I could move. She starts running as if frolicking through a field of flowers, while Ilyena and I follow at a normal pace.

“Should we be concerned?” Ilyena asks.

“Nah, let her do her thing.” We follow her out of the plaza onto a white bridge. The entire floor of this place is reminiscent of white marble, and there is a faint layer white mist almost like dry ice, or wisps of clouds just above the floor.

We’re not the first ones to leave the plaza, as apparently a portal has opened within the centre of Fairhaven. Therefore, many curious players came rushing here after confirming it was safe.

“Whoa!” Gem leans over the side railing of the bridge, “You can see the islands from here!”

“Huh?” I look over the edge, and sure enough I can see a bunch of floating islands off in the distance below us.

“It’s a reminder of how far we have to go to clear this game.” Ilyena comments. “Sigh, we’re going to be stuck here for a while.”

Gem ends off with a sour expression on her face. “Well, I for one am glad to have come here.”

“Same.” I continue, “There may be no coming back after death, but how’s that any different from real life. Rather than being stuck going to school or work every day, I prefer being here.”

Gem nods in agreement, but Ilyena ‘Hmphs’ before continuing down the bridge.

On the other side of the bridge is a wide platform that is at least twice as wide as the plaza and many times as long. I notice a large group of players have crowded around a fenced off area 30 feet.

“Let’s go see what they’re doing.”

“Alright.”

We push our way to the front of the crowd and see a group of players arguing.

“What’s everyone doing?” I ask a nearby player.

“Well,” He looks around, “Apparently this is a purchasable plot of land, but those guys from the Sacred Order have already tried laying claims to it.”

“Surely there must be other land for sale, why fight over this plot?”

“Hur Hur” He leans in closely, “This is the largest plot of land available, and it’s in the best location. Plus you have all the traffic coming to and from the teleportation plaza.”

“Oh? Is that so”

“Yup. There are a total of eleven plots in this centre portion. Think of it as a 4x4 grid. This large plot consists of 4 squares, and covers 1/4 of the entire land. Eight small plots line the two sides, and two large, but narrow plots are in the back.”

“I see. But why aren’t they purchasing it already?”

“Hur hur. It’s too expensive! So, they can only argue over claims.”

“Oh? How much does it cost?”

“5,000,000,000 Tor”

“Pfft” I spit out the imaginary food in my mouth. I could at most could scrounge together 200,000 Tor, let alone 5 Billion. I guess that’s the difference between the working class and the 1%. Well to be fair, I’m richer than most of the working class, but still.

Then it hit me.

I received a certain item not even a week ago. ‘Confers selected plot of land’s ownership to player. Costs are negated. land must be available for purchase’. Oh this is too good, an evil smile forms on my face. I go up to the roped off area with the deed in my hand.

This plot of land is available for purchase.

Cost: 5,000,000,000 Tor.

Do you wish to purchase Yes No

I select [Yes]

Notification You do not have sufficient funds. Do you wish to use ‘Deed of Ownership’? Yes No

Do you even have to ask? [Yes]

Congratulations

You are now the owner of this lot.

You have permission to build on this lot.

As ‘Deed of Ownership’ was used, ownership of this lot cannot be transferred.

If you die, this land will undergo an appraisal and be auctioned off.

“What are you doing?” Gem questions me.

“I’ll tell you later, lets go explore the rest of this place.”

“Okay!” “Mn”

We make our way out of the crowd, but as we near the edge, someone calls out from where we just were.

“Hey! Someone has purchased this plot!”

““What?!””

“Who has 5 billion Tor sitting around?! I only have 10,000 at most!”

“What’s going on!”

“Who can afford this?!”

The rants continue on, but I grab Gem’s hand and lead the two of them away. The noise fades into the background.

Things will get interesting from here on out.

To Be Continued.