When we arrived at the adventurers guild, the loud affairs of the incorporated guild hall didn't lower a decimal. The sight of novices limping through this place, was undoubtedly a regular occurrence. Ned guided us to the medical hall of the large gaudy building. Between the three of us, our treatment cost about 1 gold coin. Ned had only needed his wound cleaned and sutured. If I had been in a better state, I would have done that myself. I was no amateur at DIY stitches, especially the kind that hospitals report to the police. Randy and I had substantial wounds. Thanks to Randy's healing, and our cheap starter potions, they were not life threatening. The healing from the guild official felt like being submerged in powerful solar energy. It was much more intense than Randy's Minor heal skill, and if I were not a scaly Dragonkin, I could even imagine getting a tan from it.

Once we were healed, and our debt was paid, the three of us headed to have dinner. For such a grand building, the dining hall sure reminded me of the cafeteria from my inner city high school. Only cleaner and the trash can's were not chained to support beams. Seriously, who ever heard of an underground market for stolen trash can's? As we approached the lunch lady, or her official title: 'Dining hall attendant' the menu had an array of expensive options:

Calcitor strip steak, 1 side, bread: 2 silver

Roasted Venison, 1 side, bread: 2 silver

Fried Archfowl 2pc, 1 side: 1 silver 6 copper

Braised Platycin with vegetables, bread: 1 silver 2 copper

Porcus rump roast, 1side: 8 coppers

Bullhare stew, bread: 5 coppers.

Steamed vegetable dish, bread: 3 coppers

"Yo, if I'm going to have the calculator steak I need to know what it is." Randy announced, mispronouncing the name.

"It's basically a cow. Arch fowl is like a high-level chicken, Platycin is a duck monster, Porcus are like farm pig's, not like the giant boars in the forest. Bullhare's you already know. I assume you know what a vegetable is, right?" Ned finished explaining with a grin.

"No joke, Randy's actually a skilled botanist. He has a serious green thumb." I commented.

"Yeah, I started out growing weed hydroponically. Then I grew tomatoes and jalapeno peppers n' stuff. I Gotta award for a Venus fly trap I grew, once." Randy confessed.

"That's ...quite surprising." Ned gawked, "Anyway, Making potions is a complex, but lucrative business here."

"Yeah, I've been scannin' the potion's n shit. Once I learn the plant's and buy the equipment, 'aint no thang'." Randy assured.

Randy purchased the steak and I got the Bullhare stew. Ned ordered the vegetable dish, being a vegetarian, and together we sat down to eat. Randy and I were two different examples of growing up poor. As a result of our humble beginnings, Randy gave little concern to his spending. Not that he always chose lavish and extravagant things, he didn't squander. Price just didn't concern him when he wanted something. I, on the other hand, was known to be unnecessarily frugal. I usually learned to make something myself, or went for the more economical choice. My clothes were not effected by this behavior though. For example my tripp pant's and fitted hat's were a cost I deemed necessary, because I simply felt uncomfortable in anything else. There were limits to my abstemious and provident sacrifices. That's probably because when the old man and Randy were simultaneously incarcerated, I spent most of 1995 living with my grandmother. My school clothes that year consisted of a 'Super rangers' hat, and jeans so tight science classified them as a second layer of skin.

After the meal we entered the main hall and sat at a table, away from the usual commotion. I thought for a moment bout my inventory:

Inventory 20/50

1. Anvil

2. Tongs

3. Fine hammer

4. Metal Molds/casts

5. 15lb's salt and other spices

6. Small tent

7. Blanket (Bullhare hide)

8. Fine rope

9. Fine shovel

10. (4) Bullhare hides

11. (8) Bullhare Meat

12. Adventurers guild badge

13. Fine washtub.

14. 1h iron axe.

15. Rusted iron armor (Set)

16. (4)Throwing knives

17. Coyadae corpse

18. Coyadae corpse

19. Rusty oval shield (broken)

20. Harpy corpse

"Hey does my armor take up one space, because Its in a carrying bag?" I asked Ned. "The meat and hides too, because they were tied together?"

"Oh, I call that the 'bundle rule'. Like if you put in 100 marbles, it would take 100 spaces. Put those marbles in a pouch, and they only take 1 space. But if you put a glass of water in, you just withdraw a wet glass. I learned that the hard way. But if you seal it with a lid, it works just fine." Ned informed.

"We need to buy some pouches." Randy noted.

"The down side is, if it's 'bundled' you lose the ability to withdraw it individually. Like trying to spawn a specific marble from the pouch, you have to spawn the pouch and fish out that specific marble." Ned continued.

I withdrew the Bullhare meat, to see for myself. Indeed all 8-1lb portions of meat, arrived packaged together.

"So do perishables spoil in our inventory?" I asked, giving the meat a cautious sniff.

"No, Thankfully. Ice doesn't melt either. I tried a cask of hot coffee once, It was still hot after a while." Ned commented.

"So some kind of stasis, or dimensional storage? That's convenient." I added.

"Can we make it bigger?" Randy asked.

"Higher leveled Tester's say it increases by 5,every 5 levels." Ned relayed.

I pulled out my pack and summoned Lila.

[Greetings] Lila said, soon after materializing.

"Hi. Where do the things go, that we store in our inventory?" I asked the small AI.

[Stored Items have their data copied, then are destroyed. The data is stored in a file on your PAC, then deleted or spawned as needed.] Lila explained.

"So no pets in the inventory, check." I joked.

[The inventory is incapable of storing living creatures, correct. However it is capable of storing harvested plants and remains.] Lila replied.

"It's cool, but not as cool as magical or dimensional storage." I thought aloud.

"The Npc's have this kind of storage too, they call it 'magic' storage. Theirs is super small, or so I'm told. That's why they carry packs and carts" Ned included.

"NPC's have the same storage as us?!" Randy demanded.

[Monster's also have these features] Lila pointed out.

"What! ...So monster's have inventories too. Why haven't any of them dropped money or items then?" I inquired.

[Perhaps they were too low leveled, or simply didn't have anything to drop] Lila offered. [When a monster has items in it's inventory, your PAC or AVA will prompt you with a 'loot' icon]

"Huh!" I exclaimed, "Learn something new everyday. Thanks Lila, much appreciated."

Lila smiled, and then disappeared.

"Oh... This will blow your mind, All the adventuring NPC's you see here," Ned gestured to the bustling guild hall, "Are Generated Artificial Player's or Gap's, AI clones of actual Tester's!"

Randy and I, both gawked in silence while processing this new information.

"So... there are alternate dimension-like versions of us, adventuring across all the different instances?!" I interrogated.

"Well the system will only Generate a fraction of total player's, to reduce overpopulation and stress. But given the limited number of tester's, it's probably using AI versions of us all... temporarily." Ned informed us.

"Unlimited Fat Jerks" Randy whispered in 'awe' while staring at me.

"Lets fix our shit, skin these Coyadaes and crash, I wanna get out there and make level 3 tomorrow." I ignored the dwarf.

"That harpy put you guys over level 2, and I can feel myself on the verge of level 3, but we should find our forth party member first." Ned recommended.

Out of curiosity I pulled up Ned's stats:

Name: Ned Bailey level:2

Race:Undead Class: Black mage HP:120/120. ST:120/120. MP:164/164.

Age:18 Height: 5' 09 Weight:172lb

Stealth:5, Strength:5, Agility:7, Speed:6, Charisma:5, Mercantile:6, Vitality:7, Endurance:6, Intelligence:11, Wisdom:9.

Skills: Health drain(Racial/active)(novice14%) Basic windshot (Magic/active) (novice 19%) Appraise (General/active) (novice 21%)

Active effects: +5% magic regen (racial), +2% max magic (armor)

+1 Intelligence (accessory)

Armor base:09 Damage base:13

"I got a prospective candidate, for our fourth member. I just haven't asked her yet." I proclaimed.

"What's her class?" Ned investigated.

"She's an assassin, Lets just hope she says yes." I answered.

-----

Before heading to the dormitory, of the adventurer's guild, I asked the Dwarf, and Lich to accompany me to the Questing hall. A small wing of the building with 4 doors labeled Novice quests, Apprentice Quests,Veteran quests and Master quests. We entered the door appropriate for our rank, the novice door, and inquired if anyone had posted a quest or bounty for a harpy in the woods. Unfortunately there had been no such posting's, so we left disheartened. We then went to have our armor and gear repaired, because at this time we lacked the materials to do it ourselves. Luckily It was a quality service offered at the guild hall, for a price of course. Since my shield was broken I purchased An iron heater shield with a sharpened edge. We then determined the best place to process the Coyadae carcasses, was our favorite infinite white void, the Games Lobby. We tested it with a giant rock and a Bullhare hide, to be sure they would remain after we left, and fortunately they did. The Lobby was accessible from our PAC anytime we were in a town. But we decided to hold off on processing them until tomorrow morning. We did condense our inventory using the 'bundle rule' before turning in for the night. Before going to sleep I sent a message, well more a proposition to a Nightkin Assassin.

-----

That night I dreamt Randy and I, were sitting in the back of the old man's pickup truck he called FrankenFord. The old pickup received this epithet because it had several other manufacturers parts modified to fit it, as low cost repairs. Hootie and the blowfish played from the one and only working speaker, while the truck circled the terrible neighborhood. It was a time when I had no control over my life, no money, no power, no choice. I was literally and figuratively 'along for the ride.' I never wanted to be rich or powerful, but I will never again be an aimless passenger of a life going nowhere.

When morning came, I was on unofficial watch when Ned woke up. I whistled and Randy woke from his slumber and poked his head up. After getting ready, we headed to the cafeteria to get some coffee and bread for our storage, I grabbed some ice and milk too. Tying the small casks of coffee and milk together tightly, I managed to store them In the same space. But when I spawned them I noticed the liquids tasted blended together. Guess there are limits to cheating the system. My PAC lit up as I received a notification.

"Hey guys! Lets head to the lobby and break down these carcasses." I recommended, "Our fourth will meet us there later."

"I think I'll skip the processing, if you don't mind." Ned repudiated, "It doesn't bother me or anything, Its just that I'd be in the way."

"Ok buddy Ive got yours, so if you want I can bring you the finished leather and meat later." I offered.

"Yeah that would be great, thanks." Ned accepted.

-----

After Randy and I skinned the monster's, we also butchered the meat and processed the fat into oil. Monster's are much harder to process than their reality counterparts, but we still managed. The Coyadae killed by the Harpy had its pelt mangled, so we tanned it for strips and patches to use in future repairs. I could only imagine how difficult a boss monster would be to process. At this time a light flashed behind us, and we turned to find a Nightkin girl standing behind us.

The small AI notified.

"Thanks Melony" The dark skinned avatar dismissed her AI, "Are you guys... butchering those monster's in the lobby?!"

"Is there some rule that says we can't?" Randy asked

"It really is the perfect place, plus it's outta the way." I added.

"Well now that I think about it, that does seem practical. But I gotta say, not a great first impression. This place looks like if God moonlighted as a serial killer!" Casey chuckled. "Anyone else would have probably freaked out, I mean you two look psycho."

"Well thanks for that, we're mostly done." I replied, "I'll send you a party invite, then we can meet at the adventurer's guild In an hour."

"Ok." She grinned, as I pulled up her stats:

Name: Casey Jones Level:3

Race: Nightkin. Class: Assassin. HP:130/130 ST:160/160 MP:126/126.

Age: 21 Height: 5'08 Weight: YUSO nosey* *AI override.

Stealth:10, Strength:6, Agility:9, Speed:8, Charisma:7, Mercantile:5, Vitality:7, Endurance:6, Intelligence:7, Wisdom:6.

Skills: Cloak (Racial/active) (novice 24%) Basic waterblast (Magic/active) (novice 21%) Appraise (General/active) (novice 18%)

Active effects: +5% max magic (racial), +2% physical damage(racial), +1agi (armor bonus)

Armor base:10 Damage base:14

"I can show you a good spot for hunting Slime's" She smiled.