“Aaah..”

Matagi sighed as she looked at the long line of people in front of them. Aisha was at her side, Gaea was in the front and Atlas and Electra followed behind, the width of the queue only let two people be beside each other. They were in the waiting line to board the ship for half an hour now, almost 200 people had gotten on already but there didn’t seem to be an end to the line and many players and NPCs were still ahead of them.

The ship-rigged vessel had been made in a special black/gray alloy that didn’t rust and at the same time was as light as oak wood. It had three masts, foremast, mainmast and mizzenmast (from bow to stern), made out of a similar alloy, but sturdier, and four sails, the course sail, the topsail, the topgallant and the royal, plus three staysail connected to the foremast and a spanker connected to the mizzenmast, all made out of white/yellow linen.

[A/N: Visual aid.]

Most of the players in the queue wore a rather flashy/cool armour if they were male or a sexy and revealing outfits, making Electra wonder if women lost their modesty just because it was a game. Then Gaea reminded her what she was wearing: tight, form-fitting dark-blue leather armour without sleeves, which showed her navel, cleavage and most of her back; fingerless gloves of the same colour that reached just before her elbow; short black pants, that resembled jeans, they barely covered half of her thighs but at least had back pockets, a gray/white belt and wide black ankle boots without heels.

After the reminder, Electra’s cheeks became slightly red and she began avoiding eye contact, she didn’t know how to rebuke Gaea’s statement. All five of them got new equipment, both for the sake of the expedition and for the fact that their old one wasn’t useful anymore. Atlas wore a heavy-looking gray jacket over a metal plate armour, making him look like a cyborg with a jacket on. Of course, the armour was a really light one as he was just a mid/long-range fighter. His long pants were a set with the jacket and thus had the same colour, but Atlas found them pretty easy to move in. The jacket’s long-sleeves also kept the hidden blades in his gauntlets well covered, he bought them in case of necessity.

Gaea received a new set of equipment from Æsir: a full body armour, from helm (that she’d put on only when needed) to sabaton, all made out of mithril, a white metal as rare as gold, with various azure motifs of forests with birds freely flying through them and Æsir’s emblem, the ravens Huginn and Muninn, over her heart symbolizing the sun over the depicted forests. To match her armour more, Gaea also changed her ribbon from red to blue. Matagi bought a traditional samurai armour and requested the iron parts to be coloured black while the leather to be dark-red. She choose to not buy a helmet but she did buy a faceplate, or menpō, that resembled a Noh mask.

Aisha wore a Cold Steel (Cold Steel continuously emitted cold air because of a gemstone embedded into it, the reason for this was to make the metal keep its form, as it was actually mercury, but it normally was just as strong as normal steel and more flexible; it has a metallic colour with light blue veins) breastplate over a Meitnerite (Meitnerite is iron that has been overcharged with mana for various years, it can only be rarely found in nature as ever attempt at artificial creation ended in failure; if paired with Cold Steel it can provide a temporary amount of mana until it runs out, losing its benefits; it has a metallic colour with light purple veins) chainmail and a white shirt. She also had Cold Steel pauldrons, couters and fingerless gauntlets, their gemstones were small and hidden inside. Aisha wore a Meitnerite cuisse on top of long black pants that seemed leggings, lastly she had a pair of leather shoes to run and walk comfortably.

“Stop.”

The coyote beastman guard told them after it was finally their turn to board. Maybe it was the long wait, but Gaea seemed to snap. Her voice was a pitch higher than normal as she said “What?! It’s our turn!” to the guard while glaring at him. The man didn’t seem to mind, probably thinking she was just like a kid throwing a tantrum, and calmly replied to her and all the others in the queue, who had also began to get angry at this injustice, they had already been chosen and accepted, so why can’t they board now?

“The first ship is full, wait here till the second ship comes.”

“Ah. ..I see, sorry for getting angry.”

Gaea quickly recollected herself and apologized, then she grumbled mentally at the fact that they’d have to wait who knows how much before boarding, making her wonder if she really had to apologize to the man. At that point, Aisha just simply sat on the ground, giving birth to a domino effect as all the other players and NPCs in the queue followed her example. They all watched the vessel disembark and then watched another dock in its place after there was enough space left.

‘Ningyō [人形]..’

The only difference Aisha could spot was the name of the vessel, but probably an expert would have found more discrepancies. Not all got up and readied themselves to get on the ship, the line was so long the ones in the back knew that they would surely board on the next one. The group was the first to mount on the vessel and they calmly observed everything, noticing that there wasn’t many changes in colour beside the gray of the metal, the white of the sails, the brown of the barrels and the blue and white uniforms of the ship’s équipe.

A small wood elf (they were recognizable from their low stature) guided them to their cabins, Aisha and Matagi were together like Atlas and Electra, Gaea instead would get a random roommate. The cabins were 3 meters long and 2 meters wide, they each had two bunk beds, two small chests, a small porthole, a desk and a toilet shared with the cabin next door. They were useless for the players, but NPCs used this ships too, so of course they were present.

It was around mid-afternoon when Ningyō departed, leaving Xin Jen’s port behind.

End of Volume 3, part one.

And that’s it guys! See ya after three chapters of Phantasmagoria!