Beatrice hands me some pillows and sheets then heads to her room and I hear the lock fasten as I look at the pile of sheets and pillows.

Flopping a pillow onto the sofa a thought crosses my mind. Why am I sleeping in a game?

Sleep or rest in games isn't anything new, in fact it's been around since the very dawn of RPGs. You would sleep to recover your stats and save your progress. But I'm in a VR MMO, the world is persistent and if I fall asleep, the time that I'm sleeping passes normally. That sounds like a weird thought, but in RPGs, generally you sleep to accelerate the game time, or skip to the next day. But here, I can't do that.

Plus, I'm not sleepy. Apparently chasing those rabbits and running to town in the morning helped build up my Endurance.

So, I grab an oil lantern and open the door.

Behind me I hear a creaking sound and Beatrice asks, "Heading out for a late night hunt?"

"Yea, just not tired yet, I wanted to get a head start on building my cabin. Maybe get some resources."

"Be careful out there. The wolves are still on the prowl I'm sure and they're also nocturnal creatures."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"You can take my rifle if that bow isn't enough and my travel bag is next to the door also. It's empty right now, so you can put some hides in it."

"Thanks! But you haven't taught me how to skin a wolf yet remember?"

"Ah, that's right. We still have those rabbits too. Well, if you hunt the tonight, we can skin them all in the morning."

"If I run into them I'll do my best to hunt down a few for sure."

"Oh and you can take the night light, oil is expensive, so I'd rather you not take my lanterns."

"Thanks!"

"Be safe out there."

Equipped with the portable light, I head out into the forest. There's two moons in the sky which provides a fair amount of light so I'm able to put the portable light away when I make it to the clearing a few minutes later.

Eager to get to know more about my newly acquired equipment I pull out the bow first and an Energy Arrow.

The Arrows are small canisters like shotgun shells and they attach to the center of the bow where a normal arrow would notch. The bow string pulls back easily and I see the top and bottom limb have a dim light to indicate how hard I'm pulling. Fancy.

Eden.

[Yes Carrots]

What are the stats on this bow?

[Information is not currently available]

What do I need to do before I can see Item stats

[Information is not currently available]

When I unlock External Interface it better have all this information or I'm going to lose it.

After a bit, I arrive at the river and see that it's actually pretty deep. The current is moving at a decent enough pace in the center that I getting across it wouldn't be simple.

Not looking forward to another pointless interaction with Eden, I head towards a clearing in the bushes that line the edge of the river and decide to give swimming a try. The current is calm enough at the edges that I can wade in up to my waist before I feel the equipment weighing on me. In most of the RPGs I've played, the equipment has never been a hinderance.

Not in the mood to drown, I turn and start heading out when I see a bush rustle further up river.

Extending my palm the portable light returns to me. Water sprays everywhere as I get out of the water. With a click I extend the bow into it's ready position.

Water bubbles and a soft breeze rustles the trees around me. Then, nothing. Relaxing the bow I look around and see nothing but the bushes trees. Then a branch snaps and I hear the crunching of leaves to my right as someone runs further up river away from me.

I run into the trees and between moon rays I see a figure that looks humanoid running away.

Debating on whether or not to chase them, the darkness thickens and they fade into the night. Who could that be?

[Information is not currently available]

Oh shut up.

With the coast clear, I look for another way to cross the river. Eventually I end up finding a fallen tree that doesn't wobble too much when I climb on to it and head across.

The moment I get to the other side of the water I hear Eden.

[Entering a land parcel owned by you, would you like to name this parcel?]

Surprised by Eden's sudden notification I almost fall back into the water.

After settling myself on solid ground I ask, Am I able to rename this parcel if I don't like the initial name?

[Information is not currently available]

Yes I would like to name the parcel

[What would you like to name this land parcel?]

Strawberry Fields Forever

[Are you sure you want to name this land parcel, 'Strawberry Fields Forever'?]

That questions gets me thinking that perhaps I can't rename it later.

No

[What would you like to name this land parcel?]

Can I name it later?

[Yes]

I will name it later.

[Confirmed, this land parcel will be named 'Later'.]

Oh you have to be kidding me.

The lack of mobs is very unsettling. There isn't any rabbits, deer, wolves, or even random alien creatures. It's like the whole zone was cleared out. So I start to wonder something and decide to try it out.

Eden

[Yes Carrots]

When a player enters a land parcel they own and it has no building, no mobs will appear in the land parcel, correct?

[No]

Ok, then, mobs will not appear in a land parcel that is owned by a player, correct?

[No]

Uh, then, mobs will appear in a land parcel regardless of a it being owned by a player, correct?

[No]

What other options are there! I throw my head back and stair into the sky, stars glisten and I want to log out. But I can't give up!

Eden, mobs will spawn in a land parcel regardless of the presence of a player or buildings, correct?

[Correct]

Nailed it! Eden loves to play 21 questions apparently.

With the presence of hostile mobs as a possibility, creating defenses on a land parcel owned by a player is possible, correct?

[Correct]

I can't help but do a little happy dance. This means, that if I can guess the information at a close enough level, then I can get Eden to respond.

[AI Interaction has reached Rank 3]

What?!

#domenet #chapter