"Miss me," asked Dave as he logged back in. Aragorn and Marieta were no longer zipping, hopping and blinking across the courtyard. They were sitting and meditating. "You're all out of psionic points?"

"Meditation is up high enough to keep on in the background," Aragorn said with his eyes still closed. "But it's faster to sit down and we wanted to be ready when you came back in."

“Well, I am back and ready to go,” I said. “But we should probably consider what to do with that.” I gestured to the withered corpse sitting on its throne. It was once just outside the control center, however, when the nano forge reorganized into a castle it somehow ended up in the courtyard.

Marieta and Aragorn looked at each other and shrugged. “Shall we roll on the loot?” He asked sarcastically. “Oh wait, there is no loot.”

“It's just as well, because we have no inventory either,” Marieta said. “They were selling backpacks in the town but I didn’t have any money. Since there is no loot it really hasn’t mattered.”

Dave looked at them in irritation. “Did you look at the castle interface I made at all? There's a resource reclamation option. It's one of the reasons I made Toolkit over there,” he said, gesturing to the tiny dragon pet flying over his head.

“Wait, what,” Aragorn said absently as a slightly vacant look came over him. Obviously, he was paging through the UI Dave made for him.

“Oh, I see it,” Marieta exclaimed. “Loot! Glorious loot!”

“About time,” Aragorn spat. “What kind of game is it without loot?”

“Fortunately, you won’t ever have to experience that,” Dave said sarcastically. “The nano forge can absorb the junk we find and turn it into... stuff.”

“Like what?” Marieta asked.

“I am not absolutely sure,” Dave began hesitantly. “Let's absorb the dead guy and see what happens, okay?”

“Sure,” Aragorn began dismissively. “While you were gone we tried to take his armor. It seems to be formed around him and and nothing we could do could damage it.”

“Where it was already damaged we could poke him but…” Marieta trailed off.

“Yeah, the games too creepy,” Aragorn said looking ill. “It's like playing with dead people. If this game has skinning I think it's going to be a dead skill. Too real.”

“I’ll have the forge absorb the boss and the throne and let's see what options we get,” Dave said. The cobblestones under the throne liquified into a silvery liquid and quickly absorbed the boss’s remains and life support 'throne'. The others had their eyes glued to the interface.

“Raw materials,” Dave said. “Decent ones. Looks like we can expand the castle a little or make another couple of pets or one vehicle pet or... wait is that armor?”

“Just a piece of it,” Aragorn said.

“Bracer, gauntlet or a belt,” Dave said uncertainty. “I think you can block with it.”

“It has armor,” Marieta chimed in. “But it's only on the part covered. Look at the other stat though. It has an amplification stat.”

“Oh finally we get something that does something,” Aragorn sighed.

“Oh stop it,” Marieta said brushing his whining away. “Any other game and we’d be killing rats to get a few coppers or torn linen boots.”

“That reminds me,” Dave asked. “What did you get out of the rat killing quest.”

“Just the Knight title,” Marieta said. “I know there’s an economy with items to buy since I went into the shops, but I haven’t actually seen any money. Still, it looks like crafting is pretty big in the game. I am all for that!”

“What do we want to make,” Aragorn broached.

“Well I have two pets already,” Dave said. “I would want a gauntlet or bracer. I think I can block with it, so it goes with the monk concept.”

“And it makes your attacks a little bigger,” Aragorn pointed out. “I bet there's a set bonus if you get enough pieces.”

“I think the pets are a priority,” Marieta said.

“Girls,” Aragorn snorted, eliciting a glare from the girl in question.

“No, she has a point,” Dave interjected. “You can’t absorb drops, store them or turn them into useful equipment without a pet. They look cute but they are actually your toolkit.”

“They can make things like the forge?” Aragorn asked doubtfully.

“No, only basic modules,” Dave replied. “But they store materials and I think they shrink and grow depending on what they absorb or use. But if you take them back to the nano forge they can feed it and then it can make the more advanced items.”

“Can’t you just carry the drops to the forge yourself?”

“I killed two husks out on my first real mission and I had to leave the swords where they dropped or drag them behind me,” Dave said simply.

“Sounds like even a real man needs a cute little pet,” mocked Marieta. “So let's... hey, where did the husks we killed go? They had swords we left where they dropped. We could get more materials for crafting!”

“According to Dave’s interface,” Aragorn replied. “There are twenty or so dead bodies in the storage shed.

“Ew. I feel like we’re playing in the chainsaw massacre version of MMOs,” Marieta said with an ill look on her face.

“Let me absorb those too”, Dave muttered. “Looks like I can squeeze three pieces of armor and two starter pets. Oh, gauntlets and bracers come in pairs!”

“Makes sense. Can you make money too,” Aragorn asked with a smirk. “Maybe that's why it hasn’t dropped, you have to mint your own.” That elicited a brief chuckle from the group... after a quick check showed that it wasn’t an option.

“Alright you guys make your own pets,” Dave said as he worked on his gauntlets. "I think as you get more pieces your pets seal the parts onto to you. Like the boss’s armor.”

“I don’t know how to feel about that,” Aragorn said dubiously after a moment's thought.

“Claustrophobic,” Marieta said shortly. The boys nodded.

“I’ll go with a circlet,” Aragorn started. “And a flying adder.”

“Very Flinx like,” Marieta said as she fiddled with the interface.

“Huh?”

“It was a series of books my father has. Main character has a flying telepathic snake that spits acid,” Marieta replied absently. “Okay, sphinx for me. And shoulder guards. I think it may amplify the wings and ectoplasm more.”

“I am not sure it works like that,” Dave said. “But you can tell us. Or rather you could if you had a DPS meter.” The others scowled at him for the reminder.

As each finished a globule of silver bubbled up from the ground and quickly formed an item or pet.

“Oh, I have a telepathic link to the pet,” Marieta exclaimed in delight. “Oh and Telemechanics level 0!”

“Ah, so that was what we were missing. You need a pet to interface with first,” Aragorn said with a smile. “Oh, nice. I can see how crafting is going to be fun. Wow, I can modify the interface with a thought.” Dave frowned to himself. He had definitely gotten his skill before he had a pet.

“This game could have the best crafting mechanic ever!” Marieta nodded to herself confidently. “Okay, we have everything we need. Let's get going.”

“Let's get going,” Aragorn agreed as he started porting out of the castle in short jumps. “Wait, is this thing locked to us? I don’t want to leave and find out someone else just waltzed in and claimed it.”

“It's not locked but I see the option. Let's link it to the guild interface so only members can come in and use it,” Marieta said, taking advantage of your new tech skill.

“Make sure it's tiered so only officers can withdraw resources,” Aragorn reminded. The girl nodded as she made the changes.

“Let's roll out,” Dave said as they finished up and the portcullis closed behind them. Golems stared out watchfully on the ramparts.

In actually they did almost everything except roll. Aragorn blinked in and out of existence every fifty feet or so and the distance gradually got larger. Marieta did a sort of hopping glide with her wings while Dave did something very similar with his sliding jumps. Mostly he skated on the ground but occasionally he would practice leaping into the air, using a bit of Levitate to float back down.

The map led them in the general direction. Dave also kept track of the time. The system was obviously doing something tricky with their sense of time because even though the real world time showed only thirty minutes it felt like two hours of travel. While it was longer than they really wanted to spend they all admitted that practicing their movement skills was a lot more fun in total immersion than it would be at a keyboard.

“Can we access the internet from in here,” Dave asked. Marieta replied before the system had a chance.

“You can get virtual screen projected,” Marieta began.

“It's actually better than in real life,” Aragorn interrupted, earning a look from the girl. “It's like the old VR stuff without the screen door effect or pixilation.”

“You also don’t have to have a keyboard,” Marieta took over. “At least since we got the Telemechanics skill. If you don’t have that you need a virtual keyboard which is clunkier.”

“Anything is clunkier than browsing the internet with your brain,” Aragorn said with a snort. Marieta didn’t have anything to say to that since it was very true.

“So is there a forum for the beta,” asked Dave.

“Yeah, but it's pretty empty,” offered Aragorn. “Mostly complaints.”

“About what?”

“The same thing we were complaining about,” Marieta said wryly. “No economy, no balance, no storage, and no loot.”

“You forgot that people wanted more of character selection,” Aragorn said.

“Like Elves, Dwarves, and Tauren,” Dave asked. “That would be nice. I had assumed there were other starting villages that had those.”

“No,” Marieta started in embarrassment. “They wanted, er...”

“A bunch of guys wanted to dress up as female elves and do emotes and dances,” Aragorn interjected with a grin.

“What?” Dave asked blankly. “It's a total immersion VR. How would you even do emotes?”

“A bunch of guys want to dress up like women and you're wondering about the emotes,” Marieta asked.

“Well I don’t care about the dancing,” Dave said dismissively. “I can understand the female character thing though. In a traditional MMO all you see is the toon’s rear end all day. I’d rather see a female derriere all day than some guy’s butt.”

“Yeah, but in total immersion you gotta wonder about guys that basically want to be girls,” Aragorn said, wiggling his brows.

“Eh, whatever,” Dave said dismissively. “I don’t care what they do on their own time.”

“What if this hot girl starts to flirt with you and it's not really a girl?” Aragorn asked with a smirk as he continued popping in and out of existence along the road.

“Rule number one,” Dave returned with a smile. “Don’t flirt with MMO players unless you know them in real life. Even then, don’t.”

“Why not,” Marieta asked.

“You don’t know when they’ll go on a bio break and their little brother will sit down and start typing things in. It happened in a raid. Some guy pulled a Leroy Jenkins. After the wipe he was like ‘What happened man?’.”

“How do you know he wasn’t just griefing you?” Aragorn asked with a chuckle.

“He was a long term guildie,” Dave said. “Nice guy, so we knew it was the truth. But I came up with rule number one afterword.”

“Well, fortunately you can’t switch genders yet,” Aragorn said. “You know it's going to happen eventually.” He was silent for a minute, “Good rule.”

“MMOs aren’t dating sites,” Dave continued.

“Don’t let some of my friends hear you say that,” Marieta said. “Some of them set up marriages with other toons. It got pretty intense.”

“Yeah, this is where I escape reality,” Dave said. “Not where I re-enact my most angsty and darkest parts.” Off in the distance, a slight shadow could be seen. “I think that's the city. Map says it's a few miles away.”

It was indeed the capital of Meliferent. As they approached they saw the entire city was encircled in a massive stone wall. Dave wasn’t sure how effective it would be against flying husks but it did look impressive as they neared it.

“That is big,” Aragorn said as he looked up at the looming barrier. “I know they don’t actually have to construct virtual real estate but that is just bogusly huge.”

“I don’t think they made walls that large in real castles,” Marieta agreed. “Looks neat though. Oh, look. Angel templates patrolling the wall.”

Small squads of guards with vaporous wings flapping around them flew in formation just above the walls above them. As they shrank off in the distance a new patrol was visible in the opposite direction.

“That seems pretty secure,” Dave said.

“Eh, maybe,” Aragorn said doubtfully. “That boss we fought was practically crippled and we barely took him out.”

“Yeah, but it was patrols like them which crippled him,” Dave said in reply. “Probably.”

They entered in the open front gate without any questions. The guards on the ground were the typical knights and they simply glanced at them as they passed. As they passed the gate a tingle went over them and their newly created items heated up momentarily.

“What was that,” Marieta asked. “I felt something.”

“Me too,” Aragorn said. “A defensive barrier I guess. It definitely detected the Imperial tech.”

“They didn’t stop us though,” Dave said. “I wonder how they know we aren’t spies from the Empire.”

“Because the AI said so,” Aragorn said with a shrug. “There could be a plot behind it but since the system decided that the beta players didn’t need any cutscenes or back history, who knows?”

Dave didn’t respond. It was a good point. After his last experience with the training montage, he was wary about asking for cutscenes, however, it would be nice to know some of the details.

Inside the city was bustling with NPCs. A few players were visible but they seemed busy doing their own things and ignored the trio. Dave wondered if the entire city was this busy. Frankly, he also wondered if all of these digital people existed when there were no players around. If he and his friends went around the corner would they all suddenly vanish and snap back into existence when a player came into view? He shook his head. Such thoughts were a bit too deep for him while he was playing.

The NPCs had set up shop along the main streets, probably all the way to the palace. Dave and the other looked at each other and then at the merchants in disdain. They didn’t even have money. What was the point in having NPCs selling items?

“You think any of these guys have quests?” Marieta asked.

“No doubt,” Aragorn said gravely. “They may even reward you with a mythical copper piece.”

“I am going to have to log soon to eat dinner,” Dave interjected. “Can you wait on searching for random quests until then? I want to see what the king asked to see us for. Sounds like the main quest line.”

Marieta gave him a mildly evil look but continued to walk towards the palace. When they reached the front of the palace they all stopped to gawk. It wasn't the beauty and majesty of the building. However lovely it was they completely ignored it at the sight before them.

"The programmer is a troll," Aragorn said, mouth agape. The others nodded in agreement.

Set up in front of the majestic fountain was an NPC dance troupe busking the crowd for donations. An obvious female elf in gauzy veils swayed and leaped in an alluring swaying dance. Another elegant lady played the lute while a little girl rang the chimes. It was a simple yet attractive melody.

"Is that a dwarf," Marieta asked. "Cause it looks like a dwarf."

Swaying next to the elf beauty was another NPC. Short and squat, it wasn't a small cute dwarf. It could be said to be a more traditional Tolkien dwarf. At five feet it was only slightly shorter than the average human, yet the muscles and width would put most body builders to shame.

"Oh my god," Aragorn shouted in dismay. "I think it’s a woman!"

"Technically dwarven females have been depicted as having beards," Dave said slowly backing away. It wasn't that the dwarf was unskilled. It could be said that she was as skilled as the female elf she danced next to. It was simply that there was something that their minds objected to seeing a hairy muscular female with a beard swaying opposite the delicate elf. It made them uncomfortable without actually knowing why. "Um, let's go. Now."

"Wait," Aragorn said, obvious suppressing chortles. "I need to take screenshots of this."

"You can take screenshots," Dave stopped his retreat temporarily in surprise. "How does that even work?"

"Dude, it's just a game," Aragorn shrugged while framing his two hands in an obvious pose. The system supplied a very audible camera click. "That one is going on the forum next to the people petitioning for crossdressing tunes."

"It's not really crossdressing they are asking for," Marieta said as she abruptly turned from the dance troupe and marched energetically to the palace. "They want to BE the opposite sex, not dress like them. There is nothing stopping you from dressing however you like in the game."

"Except not having any money to buy clothes," added Dave, who was thoroughly focused on following her.

Aragorn caught up with them within a few seconds. "Did you see the sign next to them?"

"I had my entire attention on not seeing as much as I could," Dave said resolutely.

"The sign said 'Dance Lessons' fifty coppers. Parties and events fifty silvers per hour," Aragorn continued.

"Maybe the economy hasn't been started yet," Marieta said. "It seems odd to have crafting but no economy. Do you think players are supposed to barter?"

"If you want to look at it that way," Dave contributed. "Your pet can store almost infinite modules. There's nothing to keep you from using them as currency."

"Yes, but you can't trade them for money," Aragorn said. An odd look came over Dave's face and he froze.

"Hold on a sec," Dave said as he started moving again in another direction. He jogged over to a kiosk selling some cooked meat on a stick.

"Oh come on," Marieta said in exasperation. "You’re the one that said you were in a hurry."

"I know, I know," he waved his hand in vague apology. "I would like three of those. Do you have change for one of these?"

As he said this the dragon landed in hand, squatted and excreted an Imperial tech module.

"Ew! What the..."

"How did you..."

"Of course sir," the elderly NPC said as he accepted the module. "Here is fifty gold in change. You might get a better exchange in a bank but I would be happy to accept this."

"Welcome to the economy of Meliferent," Dave turned around and triumphantly looked at his teammates.

"Um, good job," Aragorn said with obvious conflicting emotions. "However I don't ever want to shake your hands or eat with you. Ever again."

"Seriously? It's a construct made of imaginary nanites," Dave said in exasperation. "Grow a pair!"

"No, I kinda agree," Marieta said with a scrunched up nose. "You can keep those."

"What a bunch of babies. It would have been exactly the same if I had Toolbox spit it out."

"Or you could have had it ooze out a glob of silver like a good little construct," Aragorn offered, glad to give his companion a hard time.

Dave froze for a moment. "Okay, that didn't occur to me, but my point stands."

"While you think about your point, how about you wash your hands in fountain," Marieta instructed him.

"Why not use the restroom?" Aragorn asked.

"You may not have noticed," Marieta said. "Since this may be the first time you have ever talked to a non-trainer NPC, but bathrooms don't exist in this game."

"What? How is that possible... oh never mind," Aragorn started to protest until he realized how pointless a bathroom would be in a land that had no biological activity. "It just feels wrong. Like Nat and the poop thing."

Dave had just come back from the fountain after rinsing his hands. "Okay, last time I enlighten you mooks to the underpinnings of the universe. Let's go."

"Aren't you going to eat those," asked Marieta, pointing to the meat on the sticks.

"No," Dave said reluctantly as he dropped them off at an NPC's table. "Let's go."

The three headed into the palace, thoroughly ignoring the guards displaying their shining armor, the tall white spires and the sun refracting a rainbow through the fountain's mist.