Oh crap, I forgot all about Rachel. Opening the filter system, I initiated the search function to look for her username. After the thirty-second scan of my inbox, a list of different messages appeared.

Inbox: BreadLoafer| What is going on?

Inbox: BreadLoafer| Hello?

Inbox: BreadLoafer| Hey

With a bit of hesitation, I pressed on the oldest message.

Inbox: BreadLoafer| Hey

I heard what happened with Terry and the store. I came looking for you at the apartment, but they said you never came back. Come visit me first thing.

She must be worried, I did just randomly run off without telling anyone. Scratching my head, I pressed on the other two messages.

Inbox: BreadLoafer| Hello?

I’ve scoured the whole town looking for you, and no one has seen you the entire day. If something’s wrong, let me know.

Inbox: BreadLoafer| What is going on?

Your name was just broadcasted across the server for a fish or something, I'm not sure. I’m really lost, please message me back asap so I know you're ok.

I placed my finger on the reply button but stop short wondering what I should reply with. Hey, I almost got killed twice, but I’m ok. I’m now stuck in a building in the middle of nowhere with a wyvern outside waiting to eat me. Mmm… maybe not that. Taking a stroll across the large empty hall, I thought about what to write but was interrupted by a system message.

System: Your view time will expire in 5 minutes, would you like to purchase the property

I don’t have that type of money, even with Terry’s gift, a building like this would probably cost a few million. Taking in a deep breath I press the continue button on the prompt, ready for the building to kick me out. What, I gasped, this place is only 437k, that’s absurd. Why is this building so cheap? Oh yeah, looking at the Wyvern looming outside. Who wants to own a building surrounded by huge dangerous monsters?

Beep, another message enter my inbox passing through my filters. Rachel again. Better see what she messaged me this time.

Inbox: BreadLoafer| Anyone home?

I'm going to be sending a message every hour just to make sure you haven't been deleted.

She’s totally serious, I sighed. Clicking the reply button next to the letter, I responded, letting her know I was okay and not to worry. Going back to the prompt, I hovered my hand over the yes button. Closing my eyes, I thought about Terry’s letter. Well, Terry, you wanted me to do something big, so let go big.

System: Thank you for your purchase.

System: Dear user, this building has been identified as a stand-alone and must be designated a server. Would you like to make your current server [server 1] your main designation?

What? Having never bought a building before, I was wondering what all this meant. I pressed on the info tag near the top of the UI panel hoping that maybe I could get more details.

System: A building designated as a stand-alone will have identical copies placed in each server. All parties entering the building will be transported into an external hub placed within the specified server.

Whoah, I gasped. Only town halls or official buildings have this type of privilege. Which server to choose from? Most buildings of this importance set themselves up on server one, but that’s boring. Opening the dropdown menu I scrolled through the available set of eighteen servers. Maybe I’ll just use eighteen, that’s way off the path. No, that’s a lame reason to choose a server. Oh, I snapped. I’m so dumb, this has to, of course, be setup on server seven. I mean the only reason I was able to find this place was through dumb luck, and seven was also Terry’s favorite number. Here’s to you my friend as I thumb the UI screen. An assortment of rattles rolled along the wooden floor as the building finalized its initialization. A wide array of screen popped up on my UI some filled with charts and number I was unable to make heads or tails off.

System: Building 114-125 setup has completed

System: Would you like to set a name for Building 114-125

Uh… As I was thinking of a name, a ringing jostled me out of my thoughts. A UI screen popped up in the middle of my vision asking me If I would like to take a call.

System: Incoming direct message from [BreadLoafer]

Pressing the accept call, another prompt asked me If I wanted to use the face to face option. Again, pressing the yes button, a blue panel popped in my view showing Rachels face.

“Where are you?” Rachel asked in a not so polite tone.

“To be honest with you, I have no idea.”

“What do you mean? You’re obviously in a hub, how else would you be receiving a direct call. Also, when did you get a standard account.”

“Wait, how do you have a standard account?”

“Didn't I tell you my job pays more than yours?”

“Yeah, but I didn't think you got paid that much,” I furrowed my eyebrows.

“Well, unlike your previous job, mine pays me based on my cooking level. Wait, you're deflecting the question. Where are you?”

“As I said, I have no idea,” I said, throwing my hands out at the screen.

“You're in a hub, go ask the owner, they should know,” Rachel rebutted, the volume of her voice rising as she paced out each word.

“You know what, I'll do that right now.” I mockingly paced around the large empty hall for a few seconds before calling out my name. “Hey Sid, do you know where I am?” Turning to the right, I said back, “Yeah man, you're in I don’t know.” Turning left, I replied, “Thanks man, you were a great help.”

“Wait, are you telling me you own a hub?” Rachel asked with a puzzled look.

“It’s a long story but yeah.”

“Wait, so what are you even doing?”

“I was choosing a name for the place before you called me. Also, there is a wyvern outside waiting to rip me to shreds.”

Rachel crossed her arms, giving me a look of mock disdain. “Just tell me what happened from the beginning.”

Taking a few minutes, I recanted the story, trying my best to not leave out any details.

“Uh-huh, so after you got the fish, you found a magic seed from the sky, and that seed summoned a dragon. Running away from the dragon, you found an abandoned building that was incredibly cheap and so you just bought it with the money Terry gave you. Am I getting that right?”

“Close enough,” I shrugged.

“What the fuck,” she shouted, emphasizing each word. “That was the stupidest story I have ever heard. I thought we were friends.”

“We are, just let me...”

“Apparently not,” she said cutting me off.

“Wait, wait, I have proof.” Opening my bag, I pressed the view button next to the fish rendering a 3D image of it in front of me. Turning the chat screen around, I showed Rachel the Luminaria, its bright body lighting the large room like a blue-tinted sun.

“Wow,” Rachel gasped, her hands held over her mouth. “What about the star seed thing?”

“I wasn’t lying about that either,” I told her while rendering the object in my hand.

Looking sheepish, Rachel stared at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it,” I told her. It’s a farfetched story, not even I would believe it without proof.

“So, what’s your next plan?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. The first thing I need to do is find out exactly where I am.”

“Give me a second,” Rachel said, pressing her fingers towards the screen. A map popped up taking a fourth of the chat screen. “This is a map I purchased from a cartographer a while back, the details are not perfect, but it should be good enough to find your location.” Rachel placed her hand on the screen and drew a small circle. “This is Amrah. This is the creek you said you ran towards. If you follow it, it continues for a while until hit mergest with a river and heads out towards the sea. So you must be somewhere between these two points.”

“What about a pond or a lake, that’s where I woke up after hitting the rapids.”

“That's right the rapids. This must be it,” Rachel said, pointing to a white zigzag line towards the end of the creek. “That eliminates two-fifth of the search location, but I don't see any ponds or lakes on the map.”

“Maybe they added one during an update.”

“That’s stupid. The developers don't add terrain, they just expand the base, everything else is generated by the game, including all the monsters. The only thing developers add by hand are the event dungeons and monsters.”

“Wait, that’s another clue. What is the average level range for wyvern?” I asked.

“Depends, what color was it.”

I turned the video UI around once more, this time showing the huge wyvern floating outside the building.

“Why is it so big?”

“What do you mean, it’s a wyvern, what size are they suppose to be.”

“I’ve seen wyvern in videos before and they are never that big. Hold one, I got someone that might be able to help. Do you mind if I add someone to chat.”

“Uhh… I guess not.”

Pressing a few buttons the screen split into four partitions, one for the map, Rachel, her invite, and a chat box.

“Yo, waddup waddup waddup.” a man in a demon mask said. “Sup Rachel, what you be needing.”

“Kyle, take off the mask.”

“What, I just got it from the Blood Blossom dungeon. It hella nice with my samurai set,” he said, zooming the camera out to show off his armor.

“Sorry Sid,” Rachel said, closing Kyle’s feed. “I’ll get someone else.”

A ring came back up on the screen as Kyle rejoin the call. “Yo Rachel, chill. I’ll take off the mask. So, what you be needin that you be calling me…,” looking to the corner of his UI, “ at two in the morning.”

“Oh please,” Rachel smirked. “I know you’re a night owl. Never mind, I need you to help me identify a monster.”

“Sure,” Kyle said, scratching the back of his head.

Taking my screen, I turn it back around towards the wyvern.

“Holy shit, that things huge.”

“I know right,” Rachel said in excitement.

“So what is it?” I asked.

“One sec, Rachel can I invite someone to the call?”

“Who?”

“My guild leader.”

“Sid,” Rachel said raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied.

“Don, Don, hey Don, you fucker.”

“What, Kyle,” a voice in the background screamed.

“I’m going to send you a call invite, I got something to show you.”

“Fine, but if it’s another one of those dragon humping videos, I'm going to gut you until next week.” A man with a stout complexion popped up on the screen, his face marked with a set of dwarven tribal tattoos. “Holy shit, what is that,” the man said, his face getting closer to the screen.

“Dude, gross, just use the zoom function,” Kyle said, putting his hand out blocking a portion of the screen.

“What the fuck is this?” Don asked.

“It’s a live feed from one of Rachel’s friends.”

“Can someone tell me what this is already,” Rachel said, her head shaking back and forth with impatience.

“Well, that’s obviously a wyvern,” Don said.

“Yeah, we figured that much out, why is it so big?” Rachel asked.

Don let out a low rumble as he sat down on a large wooden chair. “Kyle, go get Minesa in the alchemy lab, she should have the answer.”

“Uhhh… or I can just call her.”

“No, bring her to the meeting room, also get Vencer and G.J.”

“Wait, we’re adding more people,” I said turning the camera back around.

“Just a few more,” Don said, putting his feet up on a large granite table.

“It’s fine Sid, these players are very skilled and should be able to help figure out what’s going on,” Rachel said.

“Fine,” I said. After several minutes an entourage of people join the call. Minesa, a girl dressed in a fine silk green robe studied the monster as the other two men, Vencer and G.J. proceeded to shout like school girls over how large the monster was.

“Okay boss,” Minesa said, her screen packed with different panels and sliders. “So here is a normal wyvern,” pulling up a screenshot, “now this is of a dire wyvern,” pulling up another screenshot. “The dire is about one point five to two time the size of the normal one.” Looking at the heads bobbing up and down, she proceeded with the next slide. “Now this is an elder wyvern, these can be up to three times the size and are generally above level one hundred.”

“Is this getting anyone else hard?” Kyle said.

“Shut up,” Don, Vencer and G.J. said in unison.

Pulling up a blurry screenshot, Minesa pointed at the large monster in the photo. “Don, do you remember that bounty guild Riverseer had last year.”

“Of course I do, we were cheated out of that contract,” Don said in a scowl.

“Do you remember what they were hunting?”

“Yeah, an elder wyvern.”

“Yes, this is the only screenshot I have of it, and I had to pay a spotter good money for it.” Placing a virtual ruler over one of the players on the photos, Minesa counted out the notches and made a note next to one of the players. Doing the same to the Wyvern she placed a significantly larger number over the massive beast. “Anyone know who this player is?”

“Grund,” Vencer answered in a soft but precise voice. “No one else wears blue heavy armor with gold filigree in their guild.”

“What race is he?”

“Dwarf,” Vencer answered.

“Don, what the average height of a dwarf.”

“Just because I'm a dwarf doesn't mean I would know the average height of a dwarf.”

“How tall are you?” Minesa said, rolling her eyes.

Don open his UI screen and scoured his player page. “Four, six.”

Crunching a few numbers Minesa’s eyes bulge.

“What is it?” Don asked.

“By my calculation, this thing is only six times the size. The one on the video feed is double the size of the elder wyvern.”

“What does that mean?” Rachel asked.

“This means we're looking at the first documented ancient wyvern in the game. A monster has to live over three years to get that big.”

“How does a wyvern get that big without anyone noticing,” Rachel asked

“I might have an answer to that as well,” Minesa said, pulling out a set of old records. “Who here remembers the typo riot that happened three years ago.” Everyone raised their hand except me.

“I don't know what that is.”

“Have you been livin undah a rock,” G.J. said in a heavy Australian accent.

“Yes,” Rachel answered. “He lives and eats like a hermit.”

Placing a block of text over the screen, Minesa pointed at a particular line. “This is the update notes from three years ago. This line right here stated that the developers added in six additional regions, but only five were ever found. People started to riot on the forums asking the developers if this was a typo. The developers never replied back to any of the posts causing a bunch of veteran player go insane at the thought of a lost region.

A chorus of squeaks could be heard across the meeting room as Don, G.J., and Vencer all jumped out of their chairs as they pieced together Minesa’s story.