"Greight Republic, Gyead Division, 3rd Brigade, 3rd - 5th battalions; Lushiane Thieves, Gyead Brigade 1st Battalion, assemble at the ground floor…"

"Looks like the general's making his move," Kain remarked at the emotionless voice that blared over the magical auditory formation system in the barracks. "An attack?"

"I wouldn't think so," Lupe replied. "There's no point, it's not like a tainted enemy would have any siege capability. The Bulwark's walls are shielded against them too. Additionally, who would only send a few thousand men, a fair number of them thieves, into this kind of war?"

"So, probably a strategic objective," Kain speculated.

"Likely, a sabotage mission of sorts. Maybe recon, but they wouldn't take so many other battalions. Search and rescue is also a possibility."

"Maybe we should follow behind them, it could be a good opportunity."

"That would be good, but nighttime mobs will chew us apart or the army will discover us."

"Then we go in the morning, maybe we can find some scraps."

Lupe nodded in agreement.

"Let's keep exploring," Kain said, turning towards the exit towards the square. In the corner of his eye, he noticed a trio of familiar players descend down a stairwell, one that Lupe and Kain had been barred from entering. "Hey, it's those guys again."

Lupe gave them a look. He immediately noticed Gram's shiny greatsword, Jodie's staff, and John's abnormally large pistol. "They have new gear."

"They must have gotten a reward." Kain hadn't been paying attention earlier, but he didn't doubt Lupe's sharp eyes. "Aren't quests locked though?"

"Supposedly," Lupe answered, still examining the three. He considered some options. "We should follow them."

"Sure," Kain said, shrugging.

At the same time, the trio was appreciating their new weapons. They arrived at the ground floor and headed out the entrance.

"What did you get?" Gram asked.

"Fire staff," Jodie answered, sharing the details.

[Recruit Fire Staff]

A-Grade Staff

Durability: 40/40

Attack Power: 8 Base

Equip Requirements: Basic Magic Mastery Level 1, Player Level 2

Modification: None

Options:

- Enhances Fire Damage by 10% (Capped after 5 additional damage)

Notes: A standard recruit staff suitable for beginner pyromancer

John nodded. The staff was a good find. The option was pretty rare at such a low level, but the cap on it made the staff only suitable for a few levels.

"And you, John?" Gram asked.

John displayed his [Heavy Recruit Pistol], letting the pair examine it. They nodded too.

"Your turn," Jodie said to Gram.

"Take a look at this."

[Hefty Recruit Greatsword]

A-Grade Greatsword

Durability: 50/50

Attack Power: 12 Base

Equip Requirements: Basic Greatsword Mastery Level 1, Player Level 2

Modification: None

Notes: A standard recruit greatsword; large but somewhat unwieldy; does higher than average collision damage; very heavy

"Yeah, that's a good amount of damage," John commented. He wasn't surprised that Gram had picked a lumbering behemoth of a sword. To be fair, though, such a weapon was a good choice. It used an impractical amount of material and would definitely cost a lot: the free weapon order was put to good use.

"So, who do you think won?" Gram asked.

"It's all about the same, isn't it?" Jodie replied after some thought.

"It's the recruit armory, you can't expect anything to be much better," John answered.

"Perhaps it would be good to test that," Gram proposed. "We can fight some of the newbies."

The three were now entering the square. In the more open area, John noticed the presence of two players tailing behind discreetly. They were doing a good job, for beginners, keeping a safe distance and acting inconspicuously. Of course, before John's wealth of experience, their unique newbie appearance and constant presence gave them away in a flash. But to prevent alerting them, John couldn't get a good look at their faces or names.

'Someone's tailing us,' he thought. 'Do they know that we are level three? Maybe they know that we've met the general?' But that wasn't possible, John had already instructed his party to hide their levels and the followers wouldn't have been able to pass security.

'It must be the gear,' John concluded after dismissing a few more possibilities. Their starter equipment was fairly badly damaged and Gram's greatsword was very noticeable. 'But how to draw them out?' The best John would be able to do in a city is get a glimpse of their names and faces before they disappeared. The city guard would apprehend him if he tried to take more direct action. 'And what are their intentions?'

Originally, John had planned to split up with Gram and Jodie after returning to Gyead. He had broken through the first barrier of Assimilation, clearing the requirement for the hidden quests he planned on completing. But now, he decided to stick together a bit longer to find an opportunity to uncover the stalkers. Any people with the foresight to follow John at this point wouldn't be ordinary.

"Alright," John agreed to Gram's proposal. "We do something about the rest of our gear and head to the arenas."

They first crossed the square to the market. On the lowest floor of the establishment, the fifteen floor, a huge isolated area was dedicated to the smithies. This was probably because of the immense heat that was generated.

Huge forges cast the area in a dim orange. The sound was huge, with the pounding of hammers even though it was getting late in the evening. Sparks flew everywhere as blacksmiths pounded at slabs of glowing steel and massive bellows breathed upon dancing flames of endless greed.

They quickly dropped off Gram's plate armor for repair at a random vendor. In RISE, armor repair took time as well as money. At least they didn't have to queue up because of the emptiness of the pre-release. They headed to the tailors in the meantime.

The tailors were mostly located on the western end of the sixteenth and seventeen floors. But John brought them to a famous tailor in a previous life in an obscure corner of the twentieth floor of the market. It had been popular among beginners for the fantastic prices. In the past, the ridiculous number of repair orders had made the place inaccessible for most.

"They're just running errands," Kain yawned. The two were hiding in a nearby trinkets shop.

"But why are they running errands?" Lupe asked. "The tutorial just ended, but they already need to repair their gear."

"I don't know, maybe they skipped it."

"But why would they?"

"Maybe they'll beta testers," Kain shrugged, coming up with the same conclusion as Gram.

"Seems like it," Lupe said. "This tailor seems to be special too."

"Good for them," Kain answered, bored.

"Have patience, they'll probably give us even more information."

Kain and Lupe continued to watch as John purchased new leather armor rather than repairing his old set. Lupe found it worth noting but didn't comment on it. The trio then visited a magician's shop on the twenty-fifth floor to buy a set of magician's robes for Jodie.

Finally, before they returned to the forges, they stopped on the nineteenth floor to sell off the tainted fungal spawn. It was the quaint old man by the central stairwell. His name was Chem and he was actually a special NPC that gave out great alchemy related quests and sold exotic goods when enough affinity was acquired. John was grateful that Kriens had given them such a tip even if he had known beforehand.

"It's the old man again," Kain muttered.

"He must be another special NPC."

"Did you know earlier?"

"A bit of intuition; a bit of luck."

Inside the shop, out of view of the two spies, John and Gram placed their mountains of shells. The old man, hidden behind the huge pile, didn't seem surprised by the trade volume. "Selling?"

"Yes please, there are 374 shells between us," John said. It was convenient the inventory kept count for players.

The old man closed his eyes, using an advanced mass-appraisal skill. "Unfortunately, your tainted fungal shells have died of sustenance loss, decreasing the quality. Still, the mushroom outbreaks are rare and with this freshness, I can offer half a copper each. There are 238 whole shells and 58 lightly damaged ones which I will offer half price for. The rest are too heavily damaged, likely by impact, which I can only offer a tenth of the price for."

Gram's eyes went wider than when he had fallen into the pitfall. "That's…" His mind calculated at superhuman speeds, coming up with a surprisingly accurate figure in less than a second. "140 coppers."

"That's 137.4 coppers," the old man corrected.

"That's a rip-off," John further corrected.

The old man frowned. He was well aware that it was a rip-off, only he expected the players to sell it. Chem might be a great NPC, but he tended to deceive players. They could simply ask around for a better price but Chem knew not many did.

"One copper each," John demanded. "And that's quite generous of me already."

Values of commodities fluctuated constantly in RISE but based on the values during the time John was familiar with, he extrapolated that 1 copper was currently below the market value by a fair amount.

"Deal," Chem replied immediately. He knew that the shell was worth around 1.5 coppers each and judging from John's confidence, he could tell that John knew too. But he could also understand John wanted to further a relationship. "The total is 274.8 coppers."

[You have gained 2 silvers, 74 coppers, 80 irons]

[You have gained 10 Affinity with Chem]

Jodie and John dragged away the awestruck Gram and returned to the forges to grab his repaired armors. The group finished their errands and headed towards the arenas on the third basement floor to the tenth floor in an area directly below, but larger than the upper and lower central squares.

The main entrance to the arenas was through the central lower square stairwell. It descended right over the main arena and arrived at a transparent platform where players could look down on the spectacles. A bridge allowed visitors to access the other facilities.

"That's a long way down," Gram admired. The main arena spanned a huge surface area and ten floors of empty space. Magic floodlights illuminated the large expanse and compact stands lined the walls, capable of holding thousands of spectators.

"The fights must be breathtaking," Jodie remarked.

"Sure, but they don't use it enough," John said. "And we definitely won't be using it."

John led the team across the bridge to the side of the main arena where they took a lift, one of the few non-military lifts in Gyead, to the ground floor. They gave the main arena one more look before disappearing down a passageway.

Elevators were a pain for stalkers. There was no way they could enter the same little metal room as their targets and the relatively simple machines at Gyead didn't display the location of the elevator. The frustrated duo called the lift a few minutes after their targets.

"What floor?" Kain asked, looking at the column of buttons for each of the levels.

"First floor," Lupe answered. "I can't see them visiting the stands."

"The training arenas," Kain read.

"Looks like you might get your wish to PVP."

Kain nodded. He had never voiced his desire but Lupe must have found it fairly obvious.

John, Jodie, and Gram emerged into another well-lit area. The three subterranean levels were much taller than the normal floors of Gyead and housed over a hundred smaller arenas and practice rooms between them. Most of them were used exclusively by the military as training grounds, but some were available to the players.

On the third underground floor, fifty or so users were gathered around a few of these facilities, participating in fights. The arenas sunk into the ground here, creating a rocky square where contestants could duke it out to the cheers of the spectators above. John's party entered and waited around what seemed to be the most competitive ring.

In the arena, a burly guardian knocked out a gunner out of the duel. The guardian was the defensive equivalent of the warrior, boasting a huge shield, mace, and stature. This guardian, Tristan, roared in triumph, riling up the crowd. "Who's next?"

In response, a ranger, with a short bow and sword burst into action, landing in the arena with an elegant roll. Rangers were a crossbreed of an archer and skirmisher, dabbling in the two unique playstyles. They also used pets and various traps to outplay opponents. The two entered the dueling mode and circled each other, anticipating a savage battle.

The crowd called for a fight but John didn't pay attention to the enthusiastic fighters. Rather he eyes were locked on the entrance. This was his planned opportunity. The vertical design of the arenas would create distance and the bright open area would allow them to examine the spies favorably. John would then bait them, possibly into the arena, to determine their intentions.

'If they're anything like me, they'll join the fight.'

John planned to use his companions to probe the pursuers first. "Gram, over there," John instructed, pointing to a vacant arena.

"There's no one there," Gram said.

"There will be soon."

...

It took Kain and Lupe a bit of time to find the right passageway. The arenas were numerous, but after a bit of searching, a set of dark stairs led them towards the distant cheering of a player crowd.

"I don't like this," Kain whispered.

"I don't either," Lupe agreed. The passage ahead seemed to be an open area, and the crowd seemed to be far away. It was brightly lit and unwelcoming: they would be very visible the moment the entered the room.

"Still go?"

"Yes," Lupe answered.

It was possible that they had been discovered, but that was unlikely. There should be no harm to getting spotted at this point. Even if they were exposed, what were the consequences? It was the start of the game and they had the support of the Thunder guild.

...

John spotted motion at the entrance. He immediately determined their classes by their footwear and pants. 'Archer and skirmisher.' This conclusion made his heart skip a beat. He should have known the moment he spotted the same outfits in the square, maybe at least felt somewhat paranoid about it.

Then, the floodlights of the arena brought a face into view. It bore even more familiarity than the clothes. It was the flat nose, thin eyebrows, deep brow, and observant eyes that darted around rapidly like it could uncover any secret you had. The skin was less pale and the cheeks less thin, but the appearance invoked in John the same heinous feelings as its deceptively innocent cousin in reality.

Behind John's still figure, Tristan smashed his mace into the ranger's face. It caved in with little resistance, slathering the ground with an unpleasant mixture.

The crowd shouted in approval after the beautiful match. It really had been a display of skill but somehow for John, it appeared to be a cry for blood, echoing, no, paling before, his own vengeful desire.