As soon as I stepped into the room, I was teleported to another place. The new room where I arrived was painted in all-silver from floor to ceiling. There were lights along the walls, ceiling, and floor, that continuously blinked, creating a sort of a disco ball visual effect. Even worse, the silver coating was reflecting the ever-changing light. Additionally, I was floating--apparently, this place was in outer space! The lack of gravity and the glittering light made me feel very disoriented.

Soon, my companions arrived in this room one-by-one. And their reactions to the weightlessness and the lighting varied. Kalistra was nonchalant because she had long expected the unusual inside these ruins. Bila was very uncomfortable and she clutched my left arm as if I was her life support. Bjoukia squealed in delight at the new environment while Bjoukin, the ever-practical one, linked an arm with her to stay together with his sibling. Rijana looked around the room in wonderment of this experience while Sanhewa was looking a little pale and covered her mouth with her hand. Van, weighed down by his heavy armor and shield, was able to stand on the ground; he focused on his breathing and ignored the unimportant things.

The Gort-wannabe servant of the Ph'laens appeared in the room. The robot raised its left arm and pointed a finger, first at me and then at the center of the room.

I looked at the spot and noticed a nozzle on the ceiling and a metallic nub on the ground. Aha! I hadn't noticed them because of the continuously blinking lights. Knowing what the robot wanted me to do, I gently pushed Bila away from me and floated toward the designated spot. When I reached it, a silver light struck me. However, there was no pain. Instead, I felt a warm sensation all over my body. A transparent panel appeared in front of my face: "Connecting . . . completed. Access: granted. Level: captain. Awaiting orders." There was a blinking cursor under that last line.

A pop-up notification appeared to the left of the panel: "Major faction quest COMPLETED. Ph'laen Ruins #2 UNLOCKED. +1,000 XP." I read and dismissed the message. Suddenly, another projection appeared to the right of the panel. It was a replica of our current location--a base stationed above the planet! I mentally ordered the projection to be visible to my companions.

When they saw it, some party members gasped.

"Where are we?" Rijana asked.

"We're inside a base circling this planet," I answered.

"In outer space," Kalistra added.

Van pointed at the globe. "Our world is that thing?" he asked in disbelief.

I groaned inwardly at the question. I was hoping to avoid the Earth-is-flat controversy. "Yes, we are on a planet that revolves around the sun." I pointed at the globe. "This is where we are."

The paladin was skeptical of my answer. Mercifully, he kept silent and accepted my explanation.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is why we're floating?" Bjoukia asked.

"Oh, that reminds me. .," I facepalmed. I set the base's gravity to 1G.

Suddenly, everyone dropped to the floor. *BAM*

"Ow," Bila complained. "You should have warned us before you did that."

"Sorry," I winced.

Sanhewa took a deep breath and spoke up. "Brother Mulligan, can you explain what this place is?" The mage spread her arms wide for emphasis.

I looked around the room and saw that everyone was looking at me attentively. I nodded. "Do you recall the pirate raid? There was a slavemaster in control of the pirates?"

Everyone nodded.

"The slaver belonged to a race from the stars. It's a Zarxilian." I ordered an image of the creature to appear. "The Ph'laens are their enemies and they have secret outposts to protect this world," I revealed. I replaced the image of the Zarxilian, a small little green man, with that of the Ph'laen, a tall, lanky, gray-skinned man similar to the robot standing behind me.

"There are a total of four outposts on this continent. And apparently, I have to visit each one and connect to the controller to unlock them," I continued.

"Why you? What makes you so special?" Sanhewa asked.

"I was brought here from another version of Earth. The Gods have designated me as a 'Player Character.' And I have to become King in order to leave this world," I revealed.

Sanhewa shook her head. "There are so many things that make you a suspicious person--your ability to communicate with the Gods from both Order and Chaos; your outlandish accomplishments which belong in a fairy tale, and your ability to attract fame and attention wherever you go. And since you are carrying a Truth Stone, I have no choice but to believe that you are telling the truth." She sighed.

"So what now?" Bjoukia asked. The blinking lights in the room were making the elf very uncomfortable. The silver paint made it worse. Why couldn't the room be green instead?

"I'm going to sever my connection with the controller and then we'll leave this place," I answered. I concentrated on the panel and sent my thought. "Disconnecting link . . . complete." The light from the nozzle above my head and from the ground dissipated and I landed on my feet. I turned toward the robot escort and said, "I wish to leave this room."

The robot's eye flashed yellow and a panel on the wall opened.

As I walked toward the exit, I passed by a map of Britannia on the wall; it depicted the four locations of the Ph'laen Ruins, with two of them marked with green dots. I was happy to receive a visual confirmation from the Ph'laens that I had unlocked two of their outposts. Only two more to go! Buoyed by my progress, I walked with a slight bounce in my steps across the chamber. When I stepped through the exit, I was teleported back to the dark corridor.

Soon, the rest of my party returned as well.

I looked on with amusement as Sanhewa furtively kissed the ground. I knew she was extremely disoriented by the weightlessness in outer space. I also saw Van knock on the wall with his gauntlet. My other companions were looking at me expectedly. I walked over to the other end of the corridor, pressed my palm against the gemstone on the wall, and turned it clockwise to remove the stone blocking the exit.

I held my breath as the slab of stone slowly rose. It was a crapshoot what would be awaiting us on the other side. At the previous Ph'laen Ruins, we had to swim through a flooded cavern and then get off a cliff! Fortunately for me, Jasla flew with her wings and carried me back to the ground.

When the panel on the wall finally released my wrist, I stepped over to the exit and looked straight ahead. To my relief, it was only a tunnel. I cast my Light spell and commanded the sphere to move forward. "Light SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP." The light sphere remained in my eyesight but stopped moving at 30 feet, the maximum range of my spell due to my skill at Level 3 in the General sphere of magic.

Unfortunately, the tunnel was narrow and only one person could pass at a time. Bila took the lead, followed by Kalistra, me, Bjoukia, Rijana, Sanhewa, Bjoukin, and finally Van. The paladin was forced to walk sideways in the tunnel like a crab because the tunnel was too narrow for him to walk normally.

As Bila advanced, I matched her pace forward and pushed the light sphere the same 30 feet distance ahead of my position. The walls of the tunnel composed of dirt and rocks; they were uneven and we were forced to watch our steps to avoid tripping over rocks. After a slow, half-hour walk, we finally felt a breeze in the tunnel. Further ahead, we saw that the tunnel diverged into 3 more tunnels. The tunnel in the middle was too small for us to enter, leaving the left and right tunnels as prospects leading to the exit.

Kalistra turned around to face me. "Which way, milord?"

I gave her an angry scowl. I HATED being put on the spot like this. If I made the wrong choice, then I would be the one solely at fault. But then again, I WAS the leader of this party and the cat girl made the proper deference to me on this decision.

I held up my hand and closed my eyes. I activated my Spirit Sense and Magic Sense to scout my vicinity. There were multitudes of auras in BOTH tunnels. Ouch. The creatures in the left tunnel were normal while the ones in the right tunnel were chaotic. However, their positions and placements suggested that the tunnels would empty into wider chambers.

I opened my eyes and gave my party my report. "My senses show that there are creatures in both tunnels. However, the ones in the left tunnel seem to be normal animals while the residents in the right tunnel were chaotic. We may be able to walk through the left tunnel peacefully. If you're looking for a fight, then the right tunnel is the one we should enter." I read and dismissed the pop-up messages: "Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. Level 9, +300 XP. Magic sense SUCCESSFUL. Level 7, +300 XP."

Van closed his eyes and activated Detect Evil. A moment later, he opened them and said, "I sense no evil nearby. My preference is to investigate the right tunnel and see what chaotic beings are here. We are close to the village in Chilworth and I wouldn't want the common folk to be at risk from whatever is here."

I nodded my assent. "Then we'll go right. We need to extinguish the light spheres in order to retain our element of surprise. I will cast Dark Vision to allow us to see in the dark."

"I will cast this spell on the elves," Rijana replied.

I nodded and then cast the spell on myself, Sanhewa, and Van. I quickly read and dismissed the pop-ups: "Dark vision SUCCESSFUL. Level 3, +225 XP."

The party moved quietly in the tunnel. Soon, the small tunnel turned into a large chamber with many exits.

Kalistra entered the closest opening. A minute later, she reappeared, holding a sword drenched with yellow blood. "They're kobolds. We have to kill them all or else, they will breed like rats and raid the nearby village for foodstuff," she whispered.

We systematically entered each cave and killed the inhabitants. The noise soon attracted the entire clan and we were forced to fight back-to-back. But their superior numbers of approximately 70 kobolds meant nothing due to the high-levels of my party members. After an hour of fighting, the kobolds were eliminated.

The only challenge for us was to avoid getting in each other's way because of the tight space in the underground den. For example, I could not cast Fireball or Lightning Bolt because the risk of hitting my companions was unacceptably high. Thus, I limited myself to casting Magic Missile and Acid Arrows as necessary. However, I noticed that Kalistra had no trouble acting like a wrecking ball because she was jumping on walls and ceilings and decapitating kobolds on every pass.

After the fighting had ended, our party was split up. Kalistra and Bila continued onward to search for the exit to the surface while the rest of us searched the den for any valuables. Our search came up with a combined total of 1 gold, 23 silver, and 130 copper pieces. In addition, we found the mutilated bodies of a few villagers and their belongings--including a hunting knife with "E.K." etched on the blade and a broken bow with "Bo" etched on the limb portion of the bow. I decided that the coins should be given to the victims' families.

I took a moment to clear up my notifications. I received a combined total of 600 XP for fighting the kobolds and casting my spells. I was only receiving 25 XP for each kill and I was credited with killing 8 kobolds. Thankfully, my spamming of Acid Arrow brought my skill in the Water sphere up to Level 3.

When the cat girls returned with news of an exit, we took the 3 bodies of the villagers with us for a proper burial. Kalistra also collected the belongings for purposes of identification by the village when we return there. The bodies of the goblins were stacked together and then we lit a torch to burn them. We had to burn the bodies so that their remains could not be used by a necromancer to create an undead horde. We hurried to leave the smoke-filled tunnels and soon, we returned to the surface.

Van looked around and chose a spot to bury the villagers. He used his tower shield to dig the dirt; his shield was pointed at the bottom and thus, could be used as a digging tool. Unfortunately, no one else had the tools to dig a grave and thus, we took turns whenever one person was almost out of stamina from digging.

It took us a good 3 hours to dig up a grave for each deceased villager. The earth was solidly packed and very difficult to break through with an improper digging tool. When that task was finally accomplished, I received a pop-up notification: "Minor faction quest COMPLETED. +250 XP, +200 Reputation, +400 XP."

With Bjoukin the ranger leading the way, we reached the Village of Chilworth in under an hour. Since he was a familiar face with these villagers, I decided to let him break the news of the deaths. Kalistra gave him the belongings of the deceased. Soon, cries could be heard from the humble, wooden houses.

I looked up at the sky. It was already dusk. I didn't want to travel through the forest after dark. It was better to spend the night here in Chilworth and return to Southampton tomorrow morning. I turned toward my companions and said, "Let's stay outside the village for the night. We brought them very sad news and we may not be welcome in the village. Please make a campfire."

Rijana and Bjoukia departed to gather wood. When they returned, Sanehwa used her fire magic to create the campfire.

When Bjoukin returned to our camp, his face was full of sadness.

I patted him lightly on the shoulder. "Thank you for breaking the news to the village. As the leader, I should have been the one to report the sad news to the villagers," I admitted.

The elf shook his head. "No, Lord Mulligan, you made the right decision in allowing me to volunteer for this task. Once you introduce yourself to them, they would not be comfortable in the presence of a nobleman, a mage, or a member of the Church. Since you're all three-in-one, you are like their worst nightmare," he joked feebly and laughed forcefully at his own joke.

Bjoukia nudged him gently in the ribs for the inappropriate joke.

I held up my hand. "It's fine. It's better to laugh than to cry, right?" I looked at each of my party member in the eyes. "This adventure beyond Southampton was a lot more than you expected. Thanks to your bravery, we have eliminated a dangerous threat to these common folk. I am very proud of you. You earned your rest today. Now, let's eat our lousy rations and then return to Southampton tomorrow morning for a nice meal at The Trade Wind."

My companions laughed and together we unpacked our rations to eat and then rest.