The adventurers’ guildhouse was a modest wooden structure, its beams peeling and roof tiles cracked. As such, I wasn’t prepared to step through the door and find myself in a large athletics field.

My gaze flicked back and forth between the cold and muddy streets of Brekinhiem behind me and what looked to be a sunny varsity track on the other side. Most games tend to have building interiors that are larger than the exterior would suggest, but it seemed a touch blatant to simply shove a completely unconnected bit of geography inside a building.

I wandered inside. There was a pleasant scent of freshly cut grass. Colorful tents had been set up along the side of the field where other players in their Novice gear lounged. As I approached the closest tent, a woman sitting behind a table, fiddling with a deck of cards, spotted me and waved me over.

"Hello, welcome to Penumbra!" She flashed a set of perfectly white and even teeth. Our eyes met and my return smile faltered for a moment. Though a lovely spring green, there was something flat and lifeless about her gaze.

I recovered before she noticed. If she was capable of noticing. "Hi. I just entered the game and was hoping for some help getting a few quests under my belt and leveling up."

"Then you’ll want a quest card," she explained. She shuffled the deck of cards in her hand. They had the ‘Lady Penumbra’ logo on their backs – the stylized crest of a mouthless woman’s face with a mantle of spider legs around it. "You get to pick."

With a smooth, practiced motion, she spread them before me. I picked one from the middle and read it out-loud.

"A Simple Request: Kill ten pink gummies in the novice training grounds and then turn this card in to Mortomer for a reward.

Progress: 0 of 10."

There was an image of a bubblegum-colored blob. That must be the pink gummies.

The woman pointed to the middle of the field. I could see a few other novices running around there with small blades, staffs, or bows. The grass reached their knees so I couldn’t see the gummies.

"Just place it into your inventory," she said. "Quest cards don’t take up space."

"Inventory," I said aloud. A three-by-three grid appeared in the air and I was able to shove the card into it. "Thanks. Where is Mortomer?"

"That’s the tent with the purple flag on top. All the way on the other side."

I thanked her again before jogging away. Something about that NPC struck me as off. She seemed far more mechanical than the NPCs in Brekinhiem. And she was so perfect and clean-looking. Come to think of it, she’d called this Penumbra and said it was a game. They must have different systems handling aware NPCs vs unaware ones.

I forgot about her soon enough when I waded into the grass. Though there was no wind, the long, fuzz-tipped blades rippled gently and a pleasant tingle in my ran up my legs as I walked through it.

I drew my blade and kept my eyes on the grass, looking for movement. A pink blob squeezed itself from the ground, inflated to the size of a dog, and rolled towards me. Curious, I let it get near. Once it was in reach, it stopped, gathered itself up, and slapped my leg.

It was like hot wax splattering against my skin. I yelped and backed away.

A glance at my health bar showed the attack had taken a crumb from it. The cool tingle from the grass increased and my bar popped back to 100%.

The giant wad of bubblegum pulled back into its circular shape and rolled towards me faster this time. I swung my sword at it awkwardly, hacking off a chunk of pink gel. It responded by smacking my hand. That stung something fierce and without thinking, I dropped my weapon and yanked my hand back. The skin was bright red and faintly blistered.

As I continued to back away, I waved my hand through the grass and was rewarded with a cool tingle. Checking it, I found it had recovered.

I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment as I looked at where my sword had fallen. It wasn’t even that painful of a burn—I’d simply dropped it out of reflex.

The bubblegum monster was intent on chasing me down, so I led it away, circled around, and then darted back. I had to search through the grass for a few seconds to find the sword. As I grabbed it in triumph, the pink gummy smacked the back of my legs.

A bark of pain and surprise passed my lips. I spun and plunged the sword into its center.

The monster shivered, swelled, and burst open with a ‘plop!’ After a few seconds, it sunk back into the ground, leaving only a wet spot in its place.

I pulled the quest card from my inventory and verified that it had been updated.

Another gummy burbled out from the ground several meters from me and I readied myself. Over the next twenty minutes, I fought gummy after gummy.

The system seemed to adjust the behavior of the monster as I got used to it: First they moved a bit faster. Then they’d try to dodge my swings. Then they’d slap me twice instead of once. Then they started attacking in pairs.

It was all very basic stuff but the pain kept me on my toes.

Standard synchronization achieved. Activate combat assist? Y/N

"Yes," I said between pants. I had two of them on me and they were spread out. When I tried to approach one, the other would swipe my leg or hip.

This time, when I stepped forward, both of them lunged at me. My body jerked of its own accord to the left. My muscles burned, protesting the unusual movement, but it was less painful than getting hit.

The combat assist was strange. It was like having a sudden, uncontrolled spasm, only the spasm did exactly what I wanted my body to do.

Sweaty and panting, I felled the last of the pink gummies with a chop. Even if they didn’t drop goods, there was something oddly satisfying about the way they burst open like ripe fruit.

I wiped my damp hair back and sheathed my blade. In the real world, I’d never been much of an athlete. Here, my body was light and swift, but it seemed easily winded. I closed my eyes and let the grass’s magic wash away the fatigue from my muscles. When I opened them, I realized another Novice had approached me. I’d spotted her while battling and now she seemed to be studying me.

She was a tall woman a with greatsword strapped to her back. Her eyes were silver and faint glowing lines were etched along her face, suggesting she was one of the advanced or exotic races.

"Yes?" I asked as I licked my salty lips.

"You’re new, aren’t you?"

"Obviously."

She laughed at that. "No, most people here are alts. But it is obvious by the way you fight that you’re new." She frowned at my clothing. "No legacy gear, either. You picked the trait that gives you better starting equipment. It’s one of the worst ones."

"Right." I spotted a tent with a purple flag in the distance. I wasn’t sure why this girl was bothering me, but I had things to do. I moved towards the tent and she walked beside me, not getting the hint.

"I’m in Mercadia. You?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What starting city did you come here from?"

"Brekinhiem." You could come here from different cities? That made sense.

"Are you enjoying the game? Do you have any questions?"

I wanted to say that I was enjoying the game until someone interrupted me. That would be rude, however. Some people are extroverts. They can’t help themselves from chatting up strangers.

"It’s all up in the air, I’m only level one. Started playing an hour ago." I shrugged. "Not bad so far. Any hints?"

"Don’t play to win," she replied. "Explore the world, try a little of everything. Listen to the moth. There’s something for everyone in this game if you give it time, but it’s very frustrating if all you want to do is hit max level and get the best gear."

We’d reached the tent. A thin, creepy-looking fellow with greasy hair sat at his table, a bored expression on his face.

I pulled out the quest card. "Mortimer?"

"Mor-TOW-mer." He snatched the card from my hand in irritation. "You get five silver as a reward. I will also teach you the first aid ability."

He rifled through his own cards and set down one with a Rod of Asclepius on it. I picked it up and flipped it over in my fingers. The golden edges flickered in the sunlight.

"This doesn’t teach me anything."

The other player had hovered behind my shoulder throughout this exchange. "You can slot that ability," she offered, helpfully.

"Slot." I told the air. Nothing happened. "Abilities."

There we go. A row of five slots appeared in front of me. I stuck the First Aid card in the first one and then pushed the resulting icon. A familiar cool rush swept over me, then the First Aid card turned dark and a small count down appeared on its face.

"I can only use this every fifteen minutes."

"Right, it’s a Novice skill," the woman said. "It’s meant to help you out before you have regular healing items or abilities. Though I’ve known a few Warriors who keep it handy while leveling."

Extra healing never hurt. I flicked to my character screen and realized that I’d hit level two. It must have happened when I’d turned in the quest card but I’d received no notification.

"Can I keep getting quests from the woman by the entrance?" I asked.

My companion grimaced before answering. "Sure, but it’s boring. The Novice quests here are generic ones for people who aren’t familiar with VRMMOs. They’re basic and grindy, and the rewards aren’t that good. Most people only come here to rush through a few levels, or to check out the item shops and auction houses."

She jerked her thumb towards one of the larger tents with a dozen or so people sitting on the ground, each absorbed in their invisible screens.

I palmed the five silver Mor-TOW-mer had given me and wondered if there was anything I could afford. Unlikely, she’d made it sound like they were mostly for alts of higher level players.

"I wouldn’t mind grinding through a few of my low levels." Maybe ‘the moth’ would disagree with me, but low levels were something to rush through.

"Do you know what class you’ll pick?" she asked.

I shook my head. I hadn’t even considered it.

She fished in the pouch hanging on her belt, took out a small vial of neon yellow liquid, and offered it to me.

"Experience potion," she explained. "If you want, we can party together and I’ll help level you."

I didn’t want to party up with her or have her level me, but it would be silly to refuse.

"Sure," I said as I took the potion. I could hear the distinct lack of gratitude in my voice and tried to sound more enthusiastic. "Thank you, it’s very nice of you."

I’m one of those people who suck at sounding appreciative. Even when I’m sincere about it.

Aria Truelight has invited you to a party. Accept? Y/N

"Yes," I said and then turned to her. "Nice to meet you, Aria. Lead on."

Thankfully, she was less chatty and more business-like once I’d agreed to her help. She returned to the quest giver tent and pulled out five cards. Flipping through them, she returned three and drew three different cards.

"You can always reject a quest," she explained. "The ones on the Novice Grounds are pulled from a pool. We’re looking for ones that can be completed quickly and have scaling rewards."

After drawing and discarding her hand of five cards several times, she settled on the quests she wanted. The NPC who greeted me had a sour look on her face as she watched Aria shuffle through her deck, but didn’t object.

"There we go," Aria finally said as she handed the cards to me.

The first quest was simply making our way through an obstacle course three times. I climbed up poles, crawled under barbed wire, walked across a balance beam, hopped over boxes, and then sprinted while winding back and forth between cones.

Aria tackled the course with me. I could see she’d done it before, though interestingly enough I was better at walking the balance beam than she was.

It was over before I knew it and we headed towards a black-colored tent. Its only feature was a hole in the ground and a rope leading into the dark.

"Don’t worry about falling. There’s water below," Aria said before grabbing the rope and starting to shimmy down. When she reached the end, she swung back and forth and jumped out of sight. I followed.

The air cooled as I descended into what looked like a large grotto. Glowing fungus illuminated the dark waters beneath me in pale blues and greens. Aria stood on a ledge, waiting for me. It was about three feet from the rope to the stone outcropping.

I began twisting my body, swinging back and forth until I was as far as could get, and then leapt. For a moment, I thought I’d made it, but then my momentum died and I fell. I hit the ice-cold water with a splash.

My muscles seized up at the shocking cold. For a terrifying moment, I sunk downwards as darkness enveloped me. Once more, the assist kicked in. This time far more aggressively. My legs churned the cold water, slowing my descent and then propelling me upwards.

I broke the water, gasping as control returned to me.

On one hand, I was glad I wasn’t totally dependent on my own reactions when it came to a life or death situation. If the human race had my survival instincts, we wouldn’t have made it out of Africa. On the other hand, my legs literally swam without my input or control. It is not comfortable realizing that the system can hijack my virtual body whenever it feels like it.

Aria leaned over the outcropping, offering her hand to me. I grabbed it and she helped haul me out of the drink.

"You almost made it," she said.

"What?" I smiled, giving my wet hair an exaggerated flip. "That was planned. I got sweaty earlier and figured a nice dip would help. That was refreshing!"

This earned me a soft laugh. I scrambled to my feet and tried to squeeze what water I could from my soaked clothing.

"What next?" I asked.

Deeper into the complex, there was a basket full of unlit torches beside a small campfire. She grabbed two, lit them, and handed one to me.

"If you die in here, you’ll respawn by this fire. There’s no penalty here. If that happens, I’ll come back to get you," Aria explained as I tried to warm myself. "There are three different quests in this cave network. The first is to kill giant naked mole rats and collect their teeth..."