Authors note: I planned to release this sooner, but I had some work deadlines crop up at around the same time. I'm going to aim for at least once a week release. My intention, though, is to release twice a week. We'll see how it pans out over the next few chapters.

I've also done less editing than I have in past chapters. Usually, I use a tool that helps point out potential issues - such as wording, long sentences, word-to-syllable ratios, etc... But I figured I would let "my voice" show through more in this chapter without the editing.

-----------------------------------------

"I can give you five-hundred for it."

"Come on, it's worth more than that." Brian insisted.

"There's a huge hole in the middle of it!" The merchant argued.

Brian sighed and shook his head. This is the last time I deal with a player when selling stuff.

"Fine, five-hundred Wen." He stuck out his hand for the money.

The man, who now had a big grin spread across his face, handed Brian the coins and took the boar skin. Brian glared at the man as he stuffed the coins into his inventory. He could have gotten a better price if he had put in the effort, but he wasn't fond of doing merchant work and was willing to take a bit of loss in exchange for convenience. Between travel time and PKs, I'm better off at the docks...

Sighing once more, Brian began heading to the part of the market that Cao Cao kept his stall. He still had the boar meat and wanted to give it to Cao Cao. Boar was a mid-tier meat, from what Brian had read. He could probably make about a Liang if he made the effort to deal with more merchants. But he also felt he owed Cao Cao for the help he had given him on his first day.

It didn't take long for Brian to find the the stall. However, instead of the dinky little stall that had been there before, there was now a much more respectable shack. Brian could even consider it a structure now. Where as before there had been a stall and stools made of bamboo, now stood a hardwood bar with a roof and all. The front of the small building was open to the street, though.

As Brian approached, he saw there were a couple of people sitting at the bar and two more at a small table set up to the side of stall.

While he was admiring the new upgrades, Cao Cao startled Brian with a shout.

"Junjie!" The tall man waved, his arm bent by a large margin to keep from hitting the ceiling.

Pleased that Cao Cao remembered him, he walked up to the bar and sat down on a stool. Lot more sturdy.

"How's it goin'?"

"Good, just got back from a hunt." Brian replied.

"Oh yeah? How'd that go?" Cao Cao asked as he sat a small stack of stuffed buns in front of another player at the bar.

"Pretty good," Brian said, opening his inventory and taking out the meat. He stacked the two slabs on the bar.

"Whoa!" Cao Cao burst into a laugh.

"This was all I was able to get, though. Ran into a few PKs." Brian explained. "My arm was actually disabled for a bit, but I ran into a traveling doctor on the way here and he fixed that with some powder."

As Brian was telling his story, Cao Cao had began to examine his gift.

"This is some high quality stuff, man. I can make you one helluva pork bowl with this."

Brian was about to reply when he was interrupted.

"Jun, man, is this boar?" He demanded, head whipping up from the meat.

"Yep," Was Brian's simple answer.

He threw his head back and began to laugh. Much to Brian's surprise, the other patrons didn't even flinch at the loud laughter.

"Wow, you're full of surprises. Most people don't upgrade to boar until a few months after they've played. Can't afford weapons that can penetrate their hide, you see?" As he said this, Cao Cao had begun to cut the meat into smaller slabs, tucking most of them under the bar.

"What weapon did you use?" He inquired as he cubed one of the slabs.

Brian lifted up his right fist, which caused Cao Cao to arch his eyebrow in confusion.

"My fist," Brian clarified. "I only know bare-fist techniques. No weapons yet, unfortunately."

Cao Cao's reply was a bark of laughter. It was Brian's turn to arch an eyebrow.

"You're serious?" Brian nodded. "You really are full of surprises,"

He shook his head as he tossed the cubed meat into a skillet on the stove to his left, right beside the bar. The smell reminded Brian of the Hibachi grill at the local Japanese restaurant. Despite this being a game, the smell felt so much more... real to Brian. Like what he had smelled in real life had only been a cheap imitation of what grilled meat really smelled like.

"I see you've upgraded," Brian said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Ah, yeah. I've been saving up for the upgrade for a while now. If all goes to plan, though, I'll be opening my own restaurant in a city in a few months."

"'A city'?"

"Yeah, man. Not sure if I want to stick around Louyang. You've heard all the stuff about that new gang causing trouble for people, right?"

"Hmm." Brian hadn't heard, but he could believe it. Criminal gangs attracted a lot of players. Since the dawn of online gaming, the route of the Red Player Killer had been a popular one. People usually prefer to kill and steal than to take the route of hard work and effort.

"So, you want to learn a weapon skill?" Cao Cao asked, after a short silence.

"Yeah," Brian nodded. "One of the PKs I ran into had a sword. Fist is fun, but I don't see how I can get into a fight with a weapon user without getting messed up."

"Then you may want to talk to Jellybean over here," Cao Cao threw his thumb to the side, pointing at the player he had given the stuffed buns to earlier. He only had one left, which he was in the process of eating when Cao Cao pointed him out.

The player, Jellybean, looked up, confused for a moment. Brian couldn't help but notice that his avatar was a bit chubbier than what he was used to seeing in the game. He had come across a few players who were outright fat, but had never had much of a chance to get a close look at them. He was obviously a Martial Artist, with a spear strapped to his back. He also had some leather armor on, protecting his vital areas.

Jellybean must have noticed Brian's examinations, as he began to chuckle.

"I used to be a Tourist." He explained, as if Brain should know what that was. He must have realized Brain didn't know, though, as he continued.

"Tourist are the players who only log on to eat and look at stuff. Their avatars get fat," Patting his belly. "Now I'm taking the game more seriously, though, and my avatar is getting more fit."

"Oh," Brian hadn't known that an avatars appearance could be changed like that. It made sense, though.

"Anyways," Cao Cao sat a bowl of grilled boar meat atop rice in front of Brian. "Jellybean here is part of a local Martial Arts club that specializes in spears."

Jellybean nodded, "Yep, the Broken Twig Spear Club. It's in the Western part of the city."

"Clubs are almost like a Sect, though not as strict. They usually teach their own style, too." Cao Cao explained.

"Eh," Jellybean interrupted. "I wouldn't say they're almost alike. The difference between a club and a sect is almost night and day. You're not going to find any badass internal techniques or Qi manipulation in a club. Plus, a club requires that you pay tuition fees to be a member. Joining a sect is usually a life-long commitment. Almost like a cult. It's why a lot of them will only accept new members at a young age, like Wudang or Shaolin."

"I suppose you're right, man," Cao Cao agreed. "But what I was getting at is they both teach their own styles. As opposed to an Armed Escort Agency or a gang, which will barely train you and then throw you into a fight. A club will teach you something, train you in it, and continue to help you practice. Even if it's only once a week or whatever."

"Speaking of that, Broken Twig is stricter than most Clubs. Two hours a day except for one day a week. Sifu Ma is also a hardass about who he lets in. You've either got to impress him or get him drunk."

"Drunk?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, he's got a bit of a drinking problem. There's a few rumors going on around him, some say he's a failed Shaolin monk and drinks to get over the grief. Personally, I think he's really a member of the Beggar Sect. Although it doesn't quite matter, as it's Cong that does all the instructing."

"I see," Brian wasn't sure about joining up with this Broken Twig club if the Sifu was a drunk.

"I-" Cao Cao began speaking but stopped abruptly, staring into the distance.

Brian looked to Jellybean, who only shrugged.

"Sorry about that," Cao Cao said after a few moments. "Gotta log off. See ya dudes later."

"Hope nothings wrong," Jellybean supplies, to which Brian nodded.

"I gotta get going, club meet will be soon." Jellybean stood up from the bar.

J3llybean would like to be friends. Accept? Yes/No

Yes

"Why the three?" Brian asked.

"Plain Jellybean was taken by some asshole." Jellybean chuckled. "If you're interested in the Club, just hit me up."

It was then that Brian realized that Jellybean's voice sounded a bit... young. Like a teenager in High School. Not that it mattered, but it was his first time interacting with a younger player, so far as he knew. It felt odd.

"Alright, will do." Brian supplied, after he realizes he had forgotten to reply.

Jellybean waved and then walked off into the market, towards the South gate. As Brian watched him walk, he received a pop-up letting him know his real-life hunger needs were becoming critical.

Log off.

**

Brian sat in the total darkness of the pod for a few moment. The sound insulation was insane, and he could literally hear his blood flow. As he concentrated on the sound, it began to grow until he felt like he was standing near a white water rapid. While he was doing this, he thought back to the Qi interface in the game, and how he could feel the reservoirs of energy within him. He could almost feel them in the real world, but not quite. It was as if they were there, just microscopic compared to the already tiny pools in the game.

A while later, Brian wasn't sure how much time had passed, he fumbled for the glowing orange button to open the pod. The experience was always an odd one. Despite decent airflow to keep things fresh, the inside of the pod felt like a sauna after he had been in it for a while. As it opened, the much cooler air from inside the house seeped in and chilled Brian. The sudden contrast shocked him out of the meditative state he had been in.

Sitting on the edge of the pod, Brian yawned and stretched his arms. The padding was some advanced stuff, as he never seemed to be sore even after spending eight or more hours inside. His limbs definitely got stiff, though. As he stretched, his body popped and cracked in ways he hadn't known possible before getting the Ingenium. Oddly enough, Brian had come to find the cracking satisfying after a prolonged session.

Yawning once more, he made his way to the kitchen. In the back of his mind, he knew he had to pee as well. But for now, the painful hunger in his stomach was more important. His house was dark, as night came much sooner in the real world than in the game world. He had motion sensors installed to turn on the lights automatically, but after his first couple of session he realized that his eyes took much to long to adjust to the brightness and he didn't feel like shilling out the money for some of the more advanced sensor systems that would auto-adjust to the dilation of his pupils. Instead, he simply disabled the sensors so he wouldn't have to deal with the blinding light.

Once in the kitchen, he sat about making himself a bowl of cereal. Cereal and microwave meals had become his best friend these past few months. Even as he made his bowl, he had to push old containers of Chinese food out of the way. I really, really need to get my life back in order.

Sitting down at the kitchen table, he munched on his food, doing his best to eat as quickly as possible. As he sat, though, he noticed his phone half-buried under some junk with a blinking screen. He reached out and grabbed it.

The phone showed he had missed two calls a number of hours earlier and he had received a text message. Upon inspection, both calls were from Aniyah, his uncle's agent, and the text was from her as well.

Brian - HRU? Its been a while. Fear you may have died on me, so coming over tomorrow about 3PM. Also have stuff for you to sign -Aniyah

Stifling a yawn, he typed out a short reply. He hadn't seen Aniyah, or even talked to her, since she and her husband had dropped off his uncles belongings. That got him thinking about The Jianghu. It had already been a month since he had started playing, yet he felt like he hadn't made much progress. During his initial researching into the game, he had known that it would be a slow process. Heck, it seemed like most of the people who had been playing the game since the beginning didn't know much and hadn't gotten far. In fact, the only people who seemed to have gotten anywhere in the game were those who had beta tested the game, or those who had gotten close to them. That meant they had at least a year, up to three, of experience on the people who began playing at the official launch. This was thousands of people, but still that was thousands out of millions. I need to work harder to catch up...

After downing the last of the milk, Brian tossed the bowl and spoon into the sink and made his way to bathroom. Deciding to be efficient, he brushed his teeth as he relieved himself. Briefly he thought about taking a shower, but decided against it as he really wanted to get into bed. After a quick rinse, he shuffled his way into his room and plopped down on the bed. Not even bothering to cover himself, he promptly passed out.

Some hours later, Brian sat up from his bed. A loud knocking had woken him up from a dream. The dream had been about him dueling with people in Louyang and he was really enjoying it. He had been using some odd Kung Fu he had never seen before, but it seemed to be capable of beating everything that went against it.

The knocking began again, this time even louder than before.

Groaning, Brian lifted himself out of bed and made his way to the front door. As he walked, he had to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight streaming into the house through the windows.

As he answered the door, Brian was briefly surprised to see who it was until he remembered the text message from yesterday.

"Jeez, you look like shit, Brian." Aniyah said as she pushed past Brian and walked into the front room.

"Thanks?" He asked, closing the door.

"You look like that ghoul from your uncles fifth novel." She called over her shoulder as she walked into his kitchen. "What was it called again?"

Half-yawning, "Dunno." was his reply.

There was a crash from the kitchen, causing Brian to jump. He hurried over to find Aniyah had pushed all the junk on the table off the side and was in the process of emptying a bag he hadn't noticed before. As he watched, the aroma of fresh Chinese food filled the room.

"I figured we could eat while we worked," Aniyah explained. "I hope you like white rice and sesame chicken."

Brian nodded and sat down. He began sorting through the various boxes.

"You don't have any forks?" Aniyah asked as she dug through the kitchen drawers.

"Probably in the sink," Brian said, pointing.

Aniyah stared at the mess in the sink before shaking her head.

"Good thing I got the plastic stuff," She said and sat down next to Brian.

For a few minutes they ate in silence. For his part, Brian scarfed down most of the food without much chewing. He hadn't realized just how hungry he had been. After spending weeks eating a bare minimum, just barely feeling his stomach once a day, the hunger seemed to have accumulated. He would order out from time to time, but usually didn't as it meant he would have to be awake without being in the pod while waiting for the delivery.

"So," Aniyah began pulling some papers out of a briefcase she had with her. "There's some stuff for you to sign."

She shuffled through the various packets, organizing them.

"I had your uncles lawyer - your lawyer now, I guess - look through them and he says it's OK. But, just in case, I also had a contract lawyer look through them. He gave the OK, too." She said, placing the first packet in front of him and setting a pen on top.

Brian finished the last of his food and then sat about signing the pages. Each already had an X next to each spot he needed to sign. He knew this was to ensure all the royalties and rights to his uncles works transfered over to him. The fanbase for Johnny Whoopus had actually signed a petition to try and convince him to release the rights to the public domain or something. Wonder whatever happened to that.

"Okay, this next one is a bit odd. Apparently your uncle did a fair bit of publishing in China, too." Aniyah placing another packet in front of Brian.

This one was a bit thicker, and it had sticky notes all over. The contract itself was in Chinese.

"This is just a formality, for the most part." Aniyah explained as Brian signed on the X's. "The pirating that goes on over there makes what we have here look like nothing. Don't expect any money to come over." She chuckled.

"And this last one is for the house," She said, referring to his uncles old home. He had put it up for sale almost immediately after receiving ownership after the Will reading.

Brian signed it quickly, preferring not to think back on the house where he had come across his uncles body.

"You really need to take care of yourself more, Brian." She said as she stuffed some trash into a bin. "Jie would kill me if anything bad happened to you..."

Brian stacked the offers and then placed them off to the side.

"I guess you're right." He admitted.

"Damn straight I'm right!" She chuckled. "Listen, I'll start bringing over some groceries and will help you get back on your feet. I can't even imagine what it's like to go through this once, let alone twice."

"Three times."

"Huh?"

"This is the third time," Brian explained. "When my real parents were murdered, I found their bodies. When my adoptive parents died, I found their bodies. When Uncle Jie died, I found his body."

"...Oh..." Aniyah whispered.

There was an awkward silence as she continued to clean. Brian felt like crap, she had just been trying to help and he made her feel bad for it. But she was right, he really needed to get his act together. If he kept up like this, the Ingenium probably wouldn't even let him connect. He patted his stomach, marveling at how small it had gotten. He had never been overweight, but before the... accident, he at least had some meat on his bones. Now he felt like he had been starving.

And his arms. They looked like sticks. What little muscle had been there before was completely gone. Brian was sure that if he went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, he really would look like a ghoul. I need to do something.

"Aniyah," He began, stopped for a moment and started again. "Aniyah, can you do me a favor?"

"Huh?" She asked, looking up from her solemn cleaning.

"Next time you come by, could you get me some weights or something? Maybe an elliptical? I need to get back in shape." He finished by holding up his bony arm.

"Sure," She replied before turning back to her work.

"Thank you."

"Oh," She looked back up and smiled, her gloom instantly disappearing. "Your welcome! I'll get you a whole gym. Using your own funds, of course."

There was a sharp beep and Aniyah pulled out her phone. After a moment she tucked it back into her pocket and headed back to the table and began repacking her briefcase.

"Gotta go. Sam needs me to pick up Jenny from her club and wants me to grab dinner on the way home." She said as she began heading towards the front door.

"Alright, thanks for coming." Brian said, following.

"Be sure to eat," She lectured. "I'll be by in a couple of days with some groceries, so try and clean some space."

"Alright, I will."

She stopped for a moment and sniffed, frowning.

"And take a shower, you stink." And then she was gone.

Brian chuckled to himself as he closed the door. He stood there for a moment, trying to decide what he should do. Well, I know what to do.

He headed to the bathroom and started the shower. As the water heated, he sat back and looked at himself in the mirror. What he saw startled him. His eyes looked sunken into his skull. His hair was a mess, too. The back was smashed close to his head from the padding of the pod, while the top was a wild torrent of hair. He shook his head as he chuckled.

Sighing, he stepped into the shower and got to work cleaning himself. He couldn't remember the last time he had showered, but he was sure it was at least a month and a half.

Cleaning himself, Brian's thoughts drifted to The Jianghu and his plans for that day. That Broken Twig club that Jellybean was in seemed like a joke. Jellybean, however, seemed like an alright guy. So perhaps it isn't so bad as it sounds. And the encounter with Player Killers yesterday taught him that having a weapon would be a lot safer - he wouldn't always be so lucky as to run into a level ten idiot. A spear would be a good choice, too. It would allow him to attack from longer ranges and keep enemies further away. As he thought about the virtual injury from yesterday, he rubbed the spot he had been cut in the game. I need to stock up on some of that healing powder, too.

He needed to do some research before he decided, though. Even if he didn't go with Broken Twig, there were dozens of other clubs in the city. He would often pass them and their closed-off courtyards. He usually couldn't see the members due to the tall walls, but he could hear them train. Some of them would have open training areas that allowed those passing by to watch. But those were mostly the more well-known clubs and the Armed Escort Agencies who wanted to show off their abilities to potential customers.

Finishing up, Brian climbed out of the shower and walked over to the spare bedroom as he toweled himself off. Sitting at his desk, he began to search for information about Louyang Martial Arts clubs.

Jellybean hadn't been kidding when he said that his Sifu had a lot of rumors surrounding him. There wasn't much discussion about the club, but what was available centered around "Sifu Ma" and his drunken escapades. Most seemed to be split between the theory that he was a failed Shaolin monk and that he once ran a successful Armed Escort Agency but lost it all after he got defeated in a duel. The former because he was said to be balled and had some strong fist techniques and the latter because the club taught a spear technique. Spears were the weapon of choice for most of the Agencies in Louyang.

There were some posts that defended the school. One of them was from J3llybean himself, on the official forums. He shared his theory about Sifu Ma being a member of the Beggar Sect and said that his drinking was so he could master the sects Secret Style, Drunken Fist. He also said he would accept a challenge from anyone who doubted the ability of the Broken Twig Spear style.

One thing Brian was sure of, was that this Sifu Ma fellow was an NPC. Some of the post he read suggested that the rumors were started by other NPCs.

None of the other clubs he found information about really stood out to him. Most of the player-ran clubs didn't actually teach anything and just provided a place for sparring and finding groups for hunting. So essentially like a guild from other games, like he had been told. The NPC clubs seemed to have a lot of drama between them and most of the player members seemed to be displeased with the teachings. That, or they complained about the high tuition fees.

In the end, Brian decided he would pay a visit to the Broken Twig club, as he wasn't having much luck finding something better. No other club in the city, at least of the ones he could find information about on the Internet, seemed to teach spear techniques. The more he read about spears, the more he liked the idea of using one. Plus, someone had posted directions to the club and he knew exactly where it was.

Getting up from his chair, he pressed his thumb to the scanner on the pod. As it opened, he slipped on some old clothes he had left on the floor. Dressed, he crawled into the pod and pressed the button to close it.

Back to Main Page