Pacing back and forth between the white almost marble-like flooring, I notice at the entrance of each portal was a billboard. Each billboard was themed base on the type of game they represented. The one outside Bulletstorm was shaped to look like a rusty airplane door while the one beside to it looked like a hollow screen made to represent the game Space Admiral. My eyes were drawn to a particular billboard, this one made of basic wood and iron nails. History was my favorite subject in school and seeing something that looked like it was ripped out of an eighteenth-century town really drew me in. Walking up to the board, my UI was bombarded with an array of different banners and signs. Focusing on the banners, I notice that a majority of them were sales ad or players looking to sell their material in bulk quantity. Some banners had a different unique logo on them, one with swords others with wands and staffs. Pressing on one of the logos, a large recruitment page popped up, listing out the requirement for joining this particular guild.

System: Guild [Mandolin]

System: Level 80+

System: Raid Time 1600ST

Swiping the banner aside, I scrolled the board some more looking for anything that could make me money. After twenty minutes of searching, I came along a green and white banner with minimal print.

System: Xuxan Inc. is hiring.

System: Position: Retail Sales Associate.

System: No previous work history needed.

System: Pay Rate: 8C/H

Grabbing the contact info at the bottom, I wrote a small message letting them know I was interested in the position. No less than ten minutes later a reply was sent to my inbox letting me know they were ready to give me an interview. Attached to the note was a small square shape disk with a key embroidered on the side. Hovering over the item it showed me a set of weird numbers along with a use button. Pressing the button, my vision blurred for a moment before I was transferred into a large lobby filled with people in suits and blazers. A woman sitting behind a large semicircular table ushered me closer.

“Are you here for an interview?”

“Y-y-yes.”

“Good, hop on that telepad over there,” pointing towards a yellowish circular portal, “and I’ll send you up to the recruitment floor.”

With a nod, I made my way over to the pad. The lady pressed a few buttons and my vision went blurry once more before appearing in a much smaller room. A blonde hair man dressed in a well-crafted pinstriped suit held his arm out towards an office chair. Opening his UI screen he scrolled through a series of different files.

“Hello, my name is Jim, nice to meet you. I see you're looking to join our sales team,” Jim said in a low rumbling voice. “We have quite a few open positions right now, what time are you available to work?”

“Um… anytime?” I replied questionably.

“Is that so. Do you have any previous work history?”

“No, but the ad said I didn't need any.”

“Don’t worry, we just ask that to see if we need to assign you a work associate. So was there a specific game you wanted to work at?”

“What do you mean?”

Opening another UI, the man showed me a list of games, each one with different sets of numbers next to them. “We have about seven different games right now that have open positions, If you're not looking for any, in particular, I can just assign you an open slot.”

“Um… maybe nothing with guns.”

“Well that eliminates a majority of the list,” Jim said swiping away at the games. “Your left with two option, I have a racing sim and a hack and slash RPG.”

I didn't have to think long before choosing the second option. “Grand Wold, not a new game, but pretty popular with good player retention. You have any knowledge of RPGs?”

“I use to play a single player game while I was in school, Dragon Scrolls 17.”

“Ah, a long-running franchise,” Jim nodded. “Look like we're all set then, I’ll send some documents over to the managers running our Grand Wold division, are you able to start tomorrow?”

“I could start today of that’s an option.”

“I can’t do that before we get the papers ready, but I can send you over to the store where you will be working. You might not be able to work yet, but you could make your avatar and be able to meet some of your work associates.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Sid, Sid, hey Sid,” A voice rang out in my head. Opening my eyes, I looked over at the pounding wooden door. “What is it?” I said, opening the door.

Jenny, one of the co-worker ran into the room, her eyes wide open. “Terry just got deleted.”

“What?” I said in a faint confusion. “What does that even mean.”

“It means what it means, I don’t know why but it just happened.”

“He’s not stupid, he has been working here longer than anyone I know, there is no way he forgot to pay his subscription,” I said rushing out the door with Jenny following close. “Where was he last?”

“Doing an inventory check.”

Barging in through the back room, I saw four other employees along with Greg, our manager. “Guys I’ll deal with it, you guys get back to work,” Greg said.

“Greg, what happened?” I said.

“Not sure what to tell you, looks like Terry got deleted.”

“Why, why was he deleted?” I yelled.

“That a strike,” Greg said. “I'm going to need you to calm down or I'm going to give you another strike.”

“Strike? Strikes, who the fuck cares about strikes, someone was just deleted.”

“That’s two. Now I advise you to leave the shop and cool your head before you do something you might regret later. I know you're angry, but this type of thing happens every day.”

“Fuck you, Greg,” I said flipping him the bird.

“That’s it, you're done,” Greg shouted, his eye furrowing. Opening his UI, he pressed a series of buttons. My vision became blurry as my body warped outside the building. Running back, I was blasted back by an invisible force sending me tumbling across the cobblestone.

System: You have been blacklisted from entering this property.

Fuck, I shouted once more. After ten minutes of pacing outside the shop, I made my way towards the edge of town. Running out of the east side gate, I followed a narrow footpath. After another ten minutes of running, a red flashing indicator light popped up on my UI.

System: Warning: Energy below 5%.

Slowing down, I began to briskly walk towards the sound of crashing water. Sliding down a steep incline, I came upon a wide-open creek with rapidly flowing water. Opening my inventory, I extracted the brown paper bag of pastries. Munching down at the now even harder piece of bread, my energy replenished at a sluggish pace. Traversing up and down the edge of the water, I collected small stones the size of my first. Stacking them up into a small mound, I found a long piece of driftwood and placed it in the center. Setting the remaining half load on the altar I closed my eyes hoping that maybe this was all just a bad dream. But I knew better, as an NBC we don’t dream we don't even feel the passage of time.

A low reverberation shook my body as a giant frog bear hybrid creature came storming in my direction from the other side of the creek. I scanned the creature attempting to get more details.

System: Creature: Brogen

System: Type: ???

System: Level: ???

Above the creature was a large red skull indicating that it was way beyond my level, but that didn't say much as I was only level 7. Scrambling up the side of the slope, I attempted to make my way out of the embankment. Splash, a wet sticky substance slammed into my back and drip down my side. Taking another step, I quickly toppled over from the wet slimy substance encompassing my feet. Looking over, I could see the monster haunch down aiming its slimy gaze in my direction. With a deafening boom, the monster lunged high into the air, its muscular legs launching it across the twenty-meter gap. Not wanting to get squished, I rolled into the only directed left, the flowing water. My body trembled as the freezing water carried me off north of town. The monster finding an easier meal of the bread stopped pursuing me. The water picked up sending me into a cascade of thrashing waves and rocks. Trying to find my bearing, I snatched at an adjacent log. With a might crash, the log slammed into a large rock, breaking into three separate pieces. Still hanging onto one of the larger pieces, I kicked my feet, steering me toward the crest of the embankment. Almost reaching the side, my body was shotgunned by several pieces of wood.

Opening my eyes, I woke up on the side of the bank in a dark woody area. Opening my UI, I was assaulted by a series of different warning lights.

System: Warning: Health below 5%

System: Warning: Energy below 5%

System: You are [Wounded]

System: Your movement speed is reduced by 50%,

System: Your natural healing decreased by 100%

System: You are [Bleeding] You will take 1% of your maximum health as damage every hour.

I can’t die in this place, all my items will be dropped including all my credits. Pulling out the remaining bread, a slice of strawberry tart, I bit down on the creamy confection.

System: Health: 23%

System: Energy 46%

System: Dexterity +4 (6H)

That’s two problems temporarily solved, but I need to do something about this bleeding debuff. Pulling out a small guide that was sold in the store, I open the pages retaining to basic herbalism. Quickly skimming through the recipes, I found one that was able to cure bleeding. Reading through the list of ingredients, I was pleasantly surprised. I knew all the items were easily available around these areas due to the high amount of the stuff the store had taken in from wondering adventures. The thickly overgrown grass at the edge of the shallow water rustled putting me on guard. Crouching down near a set of large heaping of boulders, I peered out wonder what monster I would have to deal with next.

The water glowed with a faint blue hue as a glowing fish swam passed the thick reed. Whoah, I gasped, not believing my luck, a Luminaria. This is an extremely rare fish that can only be caught using a specialized rod and bait along with having an extremely high fishing proficiency. They only come out at night, and can be… I stopped mid-thought as I open my UI. It was 10 pm, that means I was passed out for more than ten hours. This is the worse, monsters become more aggressive at night meaning I need to find a place to hunker down and stay out of sight.

Shaking my head, I focused back on the glowing fish. From what I remember from the store’s sales log, less than a dozen of these have ever been sold to the store. I’m not exactly sure what they are used for, but by the looks of it, I might have a chance to obtain one. The fish moved closer and closer to my location, snapping its large mouth at the small bugs that gathered to its glowing light. I stood atop the rocks ready to pounce on the fish but was halted as it advanced closer and closer. It was no ordinary size Luminaria, this thing was massive. The Luminarias I observed coming into the shop were miniature, one to two feet at most, compared to this hulking goliath. This thing was about two meters long with a mouth so wide it could swallow me in one gulp. How could a Luminaria even get this big? Maybe adventures found this place so boring they decided it wasn’t even worth their time to visit, or maybe this could be an unexplored zone.

The fish shook its body churning the bottom of the muddy floor exposing a series of different smaller fish and shellfish. It then thrashed its body, sending an array of smaller fish scattering into the bank. The Luminaria proceeded to trudge its way towards the shore and gulp down the paralyzed fish. It's now or never, I muttered, hunching down on all fours. With a prayer, I sprang upon the fish, wrapping my whole body around its enormous frame. The Luminaria swung me back and forth trying to get its body back into the water. Digging my heel into the mud, I gripped onto the gill and pushed forwards trying to get the Luminaria fully out of the water. Putting one foot in front of the other, I did not want to give the fish an inch. The large fish whipped its tail trying to knock me off balance. Bending my knees, I hunched down like an immovable rock letting the fish tire itself out. After about an hour the fish was noticeably weaker. With one large push, I was able to strand the fish onto the shore of the pond. A series of notification flashed in front of me sending me into a rollercoaster of emotion.

System: Warning: Energy below 5%

System: Warning: Health below 5%

System: Congratulation: You have earned the title [Beginner]

System: Congratulation: You have earned the title [Novice]

System: Congratulation: You have earned the title [Master]

System: Congratulation: You have earned the title [Grand Master]

System: Congratulation: You have earned the title [Wise Old Fisherman]

System: Congratulation: Your [Luminaria] has been posted to the leaderboard at position [1]

System: Congratulation: You have reached level [8]

System: Congratulation: You have reached level [9]

System: Congratulation: You have reached level [10]

System: Energy 100%

System: Health 100%

Oh man, with all these levels, I'm back up to full health and energy. A screen suddenly popped up on the Luminaria asking me if I wanted to put it into storage. Of course, I shouted pressing the yes button. I was ecstatic even though the fish took up more than ninety percent of my inventory weight. Pressing on the fish, a series of number jumped at me.

System: Item: Luminaria

System: Type: Fish

System: Weight: 287pnd

System: Time: 2 days 23 hours 54 minutes

Scratching my head at why there would be an info timer, I pressed the small information button next to the data.

System: Time: Indicate the date in which the [Luminaria] will stay alive while stored in the inventory

Hmm, that’s not good, I need to get this thing back to town before it dies.