Jack was amazed at how quickly this whole thing became acceptable to him when he passed what appeared to be a miniature tridactyl in a cage without even a second look. Many apparent players were running about here and there with the vast majority carrying a toothy grin that gave them away. Jack noticed trouble and nudged Tom as he saw three men pushing a woman into a shadowed alley at knifepoint. Jack quickly followed the four people into the alley. Knowing Tom would back his play without even looking over his shoulder to verify, he was behind him.

Once he was within a couple of spears length of the men's backs, he spoke up," Is there a problem here?"

All of the men spun around, and one of them spoke up in a menacing sneer "Everything is fine move along."

Jack narrowed his eyes and looked at the man and said with ice in his voice, "If I was talking to you, we wouldn't be talking."

Then with a complete switch that surprised even Tom as gentle as could be, Jack repeated to the woman," Is there a problem here?"

The woman wasted no time and barged past the men and out of the alley back into the brightness of the market. Tom moved behind her. Jack waited for a second, giving the same icy stare that dared the men to follow a moment before turning away himself.

" Those ass hat's were going to rob me. Fucking rob me. Can you believe it," the woman said.

Tom called it first and said, "Ass hats?"

The woman sighed and said," Where I come from, it's just an expression....." she trailed off because the expression on the men's faces told her everything she needed to know.

She was so excited that her words came out in a burst of incomplete sentences" Holy fuck really..Players..No Fuckin way.." then, with a triumphant "yes," she punched Tom's arm and said " Cool."

Smiling broadly, Tom said, "Yeah," playfully punching her on the shoulder in return.

Introductions were made all around. Sara was from New L.A., on one of the planets in the Andromeda arm. She preferred her character name, Solaria. Neither men even questioned as they went about selling the loot why Solaria was tagging along. Perhaps it was just a player to player need to connect that made them accept her, or maybe a male need to protect. Whatever the reason, she became a member of their blossoming ragtag company.

As a beautiful busty woman went by going the opposite direction, Solaria pushed Tom gently, causing him to bump into the lady. The woman looked at Tom furiously. He spun to face her, bowed deeply, and said, "Mam, I offer you the sincerest apology. Your beauty stunned me, and I tripped over my own feet like a smitten schoolboy."

Tom then spun back around and caught up to the group with three quick steps leaving them woman speechless in his wake. Solaria giggled and clapped. Tom just winked at her and then carried on like nothing had happened. Tom did all the selling because he had the highest Charisma, and a unique ability he had acquired in character creation that had something to do with charm. Those attributes got Tom more than a little extra per item, and even more if he haggled a bit. It would undoubtedly be massive later on in-game.

Finding a general goods vendor who sold and bought a bit of everything Tom went to work. Jack thought about keeping the hammer but just didn't really want a hammer and had Tom sell it. Together, they got 444 in gold and 10 in silver for the weapons and various other things they split. The gems were where Tom really haggled, and they really made out. With the ring included, they got 2,225 gold. Jack and Tom both took 1,000 gold each and gave Solaria the 225 gold. The girl was ecstatic to have been given the gold and kissed both men on the check. Three hundred of the gold got was spent in the same shop repairing their equipment and buying rations. Thay also purchased adventurer's kits that included rope, torches, and other shit they would need at some point. The potions they were kept until they could have them identified.

Tom and Jack were riding high with full wallets and a head full of excitement when they decided to chill for a bit and eat lunch. After asking around, they heard The Grey Goose Inn was the Ritz of Pendershold and got directions. As they entered, Jack was impressed by the grandeur of the place. It had ceilings that were fifteen feet high, at least, in a central lobby with comfy chairs and a desk to the far end. They approached the counter and found a desk person with the air a superiority that one expects to find in such a place. Of course, the stodgy man looking down his nose had no problem taking gold and producing the keys to two adjacent rooms.

Before they left the counter, Tom said to the attendant, "Have hot water sent up so we can refresh ourselves before we eat in the dining area."

"We are a proper establishment, sir, and there is hot water in the room." was the surprising response. The man was apparently aghast that anyone would assume that the establishment wouldn't.

"Wonderful, my good man," Tom replied.

Solar waited for them in the lobby having not managed to get herself sullied yet.

The rooms were on the third floor and were quite extravagant, Jack thought. He assumed the other was similar to his, which consisted of three rooms. There was a decent-sized sitting room with two sofas, a bedroom with a large bed, and a bathroom complete with an ornate tub. Before long, Jack figured out that pressing a rune on the wall made hot water and filled the basin. As Jack washed the globs of blood out of his hair, off his face, and his hands, he focused on some of the messages he had let slide.

The level and skill messages he focused on first.

You have progressed to Spear Level 11

You have progressed to Dodge Level 2

You have progressed to Short Sword Level 6

You have learned Rapid Strike Level 1

You have progressed to Rapid strike Level 2

You have progressed to Rapid strike Level 3

You have learned Demoralizing Shout Level 1

Jack quickly scanned his combat log and learned that combat skills leveled up based on the damage, and the two rapid strikes he had done caused the damage needed to get him to level three in the skill. The massive damage over a short period also caused something called Carnage boosting the success rate and power of will based effects in any enemy witnessing the event. Which is why the shout had been so powerful, Jack realized. Noting that tactics would be paramount going forward, Jack released the notifications and finished cleaning himself up.

When Jack got to the lobby, Tom was speaking with the attendant again, "So what are the benefits of paying for long term boarding?"

The attendant, who's name was Alfred, that's right a butler type with the name Alfred Jack thought smirking to himself. He could just imagine a nerdy chin beard programmer had had some fun with that.

Alfred replied to Tom's question " If you pay for the entire month besides getting a discount you will be able to call this your residence, get mail here, as well as have professionals bring their wares to you, have the staff take your gear to be repaired, or the use of crafting tables and training areas our facility provides."

Jack's eyes piqued at trainers and crafting. He liked his spear, but if he could outfit himself in a manner more befitting his experience, he would absolutely do it. He began to contemplate what he thought might be possible. If he could get his hands on some niter, then gunpowder was a real option sulfur, and charcoal was bound to be in existence. He then started thinking in terms of weapon designs. He would have to make something at least close to the M1 Garand of WW2 for it to be practical. He supposed he just needed to get more information.

Jack was pulled back from his musings when Tom handed the man 200 gold and said he planned to eat, and then he would like to see a tailor for non-combat attire. Jack also paid the man 200 gold. He thought about Solaria but then figured she would be logging out and then said, " Tailor?" lifting a questioning eyebrow at Tom.

"Listen, I have no intention of spending my leisure time in the same sweaty blood-splattered clothes I adventure in," Tom said. Jack admitted, only to himself, that he had been thinking of it as kinda gay at first without thinking it through.

" Make sure the tailor knows he will be meeting with two men and a woman," Jack added.

Solaria explained during lunch that she had just spawned in Pendershold about an hour before the incident in the market. Apparently, the game had launched for players at midnight. She had made it in the following afternoon after her college classes. She said that men in the Market District targeted her and got the drop on her because she was still in awe at the city itself. Jack surmised that he and Tom spawned at relatively the same time, give or take a few hours, and about the same distance from the city but in different places. Jack just had more questions when he realized these facts.

Would there be a steady stream of players spawning in the city now?

How many spawn areas were there?

If Jack had already met two other players in nearly as many days, what could that mean for the number of players in the world?

There were so many new questions rattling around Jack's head that he was only pulled away by the tailor's arrival. The tailor arrived with two large female assistants that struggled with the most enormous chest the players had ever seen. Jack felt unmanly watching as the women struggled with the chest up the two flights of stairs and eventually couldn't help but ask, "Do you need help with that?"

The slightly bigger of the two women replied in horror, "Oh no, sir."

Jack had managed to make the situation awkward, and everyone kept their mouth shut from that point. It was uneasy until the players sat upon the sofa in Tom's room and watched as the tailor opened his massive chest. Solaria burst out with " I'm so friggin excited?" and the silence was broken.

What followed was a flurry of clothes, shoes, and prices that Jack would never admit was a good time. Getting his inseam measured was especially uncomfortable with Tom and Solaria watching. Still, Jack was a good sport and got over it quickly.

Jack was the first player to chose an outfit. It was a green tunic of a flannel material that felt both warm and soft. When the tailor suggested the accompanying dark brown pants, Jack agreed with the nod of his head. To everyone's surprise, the assistants reached onto the chest. They pulled out a folding table they set up and efficiently began making the needed alterations. The tailor took advantage of the focus. While motioning to their shabby clothes, and said, "I'd like to prepare at least one outfit for each of you before I leave. Anything beyond that will be sent over from my shop via a messenger."

After a bunch of clothes and more than a few pairs of shoes were bought and paid for, Tom dismissed the tailor and asked the man to send Alfred up. When there was a knock on the door, Tom's eyes lit up, and he bellowed," Enter."

Alfred swooped into the room and said, "Sir?"

Tom said with a wide grin, "Alfred, my friend, I need a bottle of wine and the assistance of a discreet professional." Tom then flicked a gold coin at the man and winked.

Alfred said, "Excellent, sir."

Jack was laughing when he also tossed a gold coin at the servant and said, "Same for me..minus the assistance of a discreet professional."

"I'm going to log off for a bit," Solaria said, standing to make her leave.

Turning to her fellow players, Solaria said, "Meet downstairs in two hours to take in more of the city?'

"Sure," Jack said in response.

"Make it two and a half hours, and I'm in," Tom said, adding a wink to his typical grin.

Jack cleared his throat and said, " Are we going to synchronize your hourglasses or something?"

Solaria rolled her eyes, said her goodbyes, and retreated from Tom's room a few steps in front of Jack. Soon after arriving in his room, Jack opened the door to a servant and a bottle of wine. Jack handed the man a silver coin and said," I can take it from here."

The servant nodded slightly and said, "As you command." leaving the room quickly.

Jack settled in with the bottle and begun replaying what he knew. Truth be told, it was fucking little, and that made his uneasy. He did, however, decide that he needed to get information sooner rather than later. Chief among them was how the crafting worked and what the level of chemistry was around here. Another thing on the top of his list was the relationship of magic and science chiefly being the areas where magic might be more effective in designing weapons. For the first time, Jack wondered if he had gone about his character creation wrong. If he had chosen mage, maybe it would have opened different options.

Both Tom and Solaria had skills he hadn't even seen in his creation, and that could be due to his flying through it. In fact, he could distinctly remember thinking that he wanted to be martial and not magical. Had that affected things?

If he had of been more open to possibilities, would his options have been different, the game could read his mind after all. Jack guessed he was on to something there. From the time he had entered the game, he had pigeonholed himself. He had a vision in his head of the typical human warrior, and the game had given him the options to create that vision.

Jack also thought about magic. He had briefly questioned Tom about the subject. In his sometimes annoying aloofness, Tom said it was "super easy, all you have to do was focus on your intention and channel your mana into it."

Jack focused on the tip of his right pointer finger, willing fire to light. No matter how many times the little voice in his head screamed that he looked like an idiot pointing toward the ceiling staring at his finger, he kept at it, though. He refused to give up and continued to focus on just a little flame, and even though he saw the thinnest wisp of smoke, no fire came. Jack began to develop a fear that he would somehow set the whole fucking place on fire, so he gave up the attempt for the time being.

Jack laid on his bed and began thinking about safe spells to try. Jack set himself to the task of learning a spell and thought a basic light spell should be safe, useful, and to Jack's imagining easy. It's not like a simple floating orb would be like shooting a fireball, Jack thought as he began to focus his energy. Jack closed his eyes and willed a light to float in the room. Jack put all his focus on the spell and felt a sort of tingling sensation. To Jack's surprise, his status bars came up, and the mana began to drain. Before him, Jack saw a floating orb of pure white light, but it dissipated as soon as he stopped putting energy.

Well, that won't fucking work, Jack thought. If he had to keep his focus on the spell, it would never be a good combat option, and he couldn't have his fucking light going out when he decided to enter combat. With frustration, Jack both pulled up and dismissed a prompt saying that he learned Mage Light.

You have learned Mage Light

Jack knew that he should pay attention to the prompts, but he was frustrated. He hated to admit it, but Tom was quickly leveling his Performance ability and would become boss first. Jack felt the need to have a useful skill that he could practice in idle time like Tom did with the lute. Lock picking came to mind first, but Jack really wanted to spend time on something more offensive, but nothing that would be safe with people around came to his mind. Jack decided to give the subject more thought, but in the meantime, question Alfred about trainers.

Solaria was already in the parlor off the lobby downstairs positioned so she could see either of the men enter the lobby when Jack descended the stairs. She waved to Jack when he came down, and Jack snorted out a small chuckle. Jack thought to himself, yeah yeah, I see you without the least bit of anger. To Alfred, Jack said, " You mentioned training areas earlier?"

Alfred, who stood arrow straight all the time, still managed a straighten a bit more when he realized he was being addressed" Yes, sir. We have training areas on the lower level that can be used at any time."

Jack thought for a moment and said," Trainers?"

Alfred replied quickly," We can arrange trainers for any common weapon or skill, sir."

Jack smiled "Wake me half an hour before sunrise a with coffee and eggs. I would like a spear trainer here at sunrise if that proves to be problematic; a short sword trainer would be acceptable."

Jack got quick directions to the training area and joined Solaria in the parlor, asking for water and coffee. Tom joined them about fifteen minutes later, apparently pleased with himself. " That didn't take long," Jack said in teasingly.

Nodding, Tom conceded. Smiling wolfishly, the bard said, "I will admit that it was probably not my best showing, but the gold I paid made being...umm...selfish acceptable, if not appreciated."

Jack explained his frustration with the Mage Light spell, and Solaria was the one to offer the answer. Solaria said, " You have to overcharge it, silly."

Noticing Jack's confusion, she continued, "You'll have to practice, but basically you put more mana in the spell then it needs while also not letting it just eat up the power by getting brighter."

Jack understood the getting brighter part because he had done that already. However, pretty much everything else she had said was foreign to him, and he knew he would be practicing. There were so many things to practice; it was insane. They were not really serving themselves staying in this comfortable inn opposed to out in nature, leveling up all sorts of nature-based abilities. The only reason he could justify the soft life was his level being so low that a safe place to level is a good idea. He may be losing ground now, but if he leaves the city in a month having leveled up some skills and wielding proper equipment, he could make up those levels pretty quick. More importantly, Jack realized that more so then ever in his life, his options were limitless. Jack had no intention of being a jack of all trades, no pun intended, at the expense of the power that comes from mastery of a particular skill set.

Jack was thinking about this when Tom interrupted him by saying," What you chewing on?"

Solaria looked at him quizically, and Tom clarified," Thinking about. Jack over there seemed lost in thought. I said what you chewing on an expression for thinking about."

They both looked at Jack, who explained his thinking about leveling. The other two players understood where he was coming from. They had both had similar thoughts, and excitedly told what they wanted to do with their skills. Tom planned on pretty much continuing his current choices and practicing his lute. Beyond that, Tom planned to buy a flute for fear that he could break or lose the lute leaving himself unable to play music though he thought he could sing and have his spells still work. Solaria planned to be straight offensive magic focusing on summoning, magic shields, and ranged spells.

She added, as almost an afterthought, "I also want fucking wings."

Tom and Solaria left to take in more of the city, but Jack decided to check out the training area. Jack walked down two flights of stairs after donning his armor and battle gear. The trip was made far more significant by the high ceilings. Jack guessed they were fifteen feet tall in the least. He wondered what that was in meters seeing as the game was basing things on the metric system. Around five and a half, he thought.

Jack was impressed with his first sight of the training area when he reached the bottom of the stairs. The city was as well lit as any gym back home, and it was all a polished white marble with subtle grey veins. Signs at the bottom of the stairs had arrows pointing towards all sorts of things, including magic training, weapons training, bath, Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina training. Jack chastised himself for looking like a tourist because an attendant must have noticed that he was staring at the signs and quickly approached.

The young man stopped in front of Jack and stood smartly enough to pass muster anywhere and said, " Good afternoon, sir. I'm trainer apprentice Marko. We currently have a sword, mace, shield, fire mage, and healing magic trainers on staff. The martial trainers are on your left, and the mage trainer you're right while behind me, the open area is for private practice. Feel free to use the equipment and weapons on the racks along the wall."

Jack asked about the crafting tables. The young man looked him up and down as if to say you don't look like a crafter and was told him to descend the stairs to the next level down. His first shot at anything to do with crafting seemed to be a total bust. He couldn't use any of the tables, and he was informed by a rather self-righteous dwarf that he would need to learn the profession then make or buy a schematic first.

Jack thanked the man for his help and went upstairs. He figured a shield trainer was definitely worth a visit. Jack was surprised to find that the trainer was another dwarf, a stout armor-clad dwarf with a very dwarf-like black beard. The dwarf stood in front of seven people and led the people through a series of shield movements in an upbeat manner that reminded Jack of a TV exercise show. He had to admit, it was amusing. No one had weapons, so Jack leaned his spear against the wall and joined the ranks following along. After a bit, the dwarf urged everyone to keep going and walked around slightly adjusting the movements, foot placement, or shield angle of individual students as they went through the motions. The class ended maybe twenty minutes later, and Jack just stuck around going through the motions one more time. Not ready to stop when the class ended, he retrieved got his spear and just held it as he went through the motions more. He knew from experience that mastering the simple basics was the most essential part of learning a skill. Jack was mostly looking to build muscle memory and find the right place in the movements to unleash a spear strike. Within half an hour, another class began, and Jack stayed for that one as well.

Jack gained three levels in his shield skill. A conversation with the trainer, Winstow, revealed that the Trainer skill added a percentage increase to experience gained. With Jack's low level and Winstow's high level in Trainer, Jack could seriously level up over the next month. Jack made sure to inquire about the schedule of when different trainers would be available. Jack's smile was evident, feeling great due to the excellent workout he had just experienced. He had thought staying in the city would put him behind, but with access to high-level trainers, the opposite appeared to be true.

A spear trainer was taking Winstow's place that appeared the exact opposite of the short, stout dwarf trainer. The new trainer was a tall, lean human with bright blond hair. To Jack's amazement, the man looked like Prince Charming from the movie Shrek. The man was even dressed in a white tunic with gold trim that reminded Jack of something the character in the film would wear. Then the man spoke, and the similarities ended. Hordred was the man's name, and he was a miserable foul mouth sadist.

Jack made his way to his room after the spear class feeling the ache of sore muscles. After cleaning up and changing into his green tunic, he worked on his Mage Light spell for maybe half an hour. Jack still had not managed to overcharge it properly and stopped with a sigh of frustration.

Jack couldn't leave it alone, though, and after a few minutes, he went back to work on the spell. He got it after another hour or so. Without the use of clocks, Jack found it hard to judge the passing of time, but he had laid in his soft bed quite sometime before he had managed to overcharge the Mage Light properly.

Then Jack laid staring at his creation with awe and pride for the few minutes or so thinking about how mesmerizing it appeared. Jack got stuck on that idea and envisioned a mesmerizing ball that would provide light and allow Jack to walk by or kills his enemies as he saw fit. Jack continued to look as long as it stayed lit. When it dimmed out quickly over the span of maybe a couple seconds, Jack realized to his surprise that the sun was setting, and he was famished. With that, Jack set off to get dinner on the first level of the hotel pondering the option that he had spent longer than he had thought playing with the spell. Checking a prompt, he had gotten at some point, he was stunned to read.

You have learned Mesmerizing Mage Light.

That is awesome, he thought to himself, wondering how resistance worked in the game. Was it based on Intelligence, was there some savings throw or something to resist the effect? He let go of the questions in his mind. He was famished and deciding to get some food with Tom and Solaria if they hadn't eaten already.

The three had a dinner of roasted lamb. It was absolutely perfect: the meat literally melting in your mouth, along with root vegetables that were covered in a thin salty broth. Jack ate until he was uncomfortably full, rising to his feet with a small groan. The men said their goodbyes and retreated to their rooms while Solaria logged out for the night. Jack thought about the morning training with a small amount of excitement eager to sleep so he would be rested for the practice.

He didn't rest mush though because Tom was banging on his door half an hour later. Jack pulled on his tunic and slipped into his pants before going to get the door.

"Let's go to Maven's. I tried hanging out downstairs, but they are a bunch of stodgy bastards." Tom said.

" Why do you want to go to a dive bar when we live here?" Jack asked, genuinely surprised.

" Go to heaven for the climate, but hell for the company. Mark Twain is often cited for that, but my point is we live here because it's comfortable, the food is good, and it offers unique benefits. However, if we want to enjoy a night of adult debauchery, this is certainly not the ideal place. Come on, Jack, I need a wingman. The vixen of my dreams may have a strapping admirer for you to fight." Tom said.

" Aren't you supposed to fight off the other would lover," Jack said, already cracking a smile.

" Look at this face," Tom said, pointing to himself. "I am way to handsome for drunken bar brawls. I spent a crap ton of time customizing my look during creation and then got a bunch of Charisma points for a reason."

" Wait, you customized your appearance," Jack asked.

" You didn't. Who am I kidding? Of course, you didn't."

They went to Maven's.