I could taste the smell inside the transport ship. If a wet rat died and stayed damp under a pile of rotting fruits, the ship would still smell worse.

After dry heaving in the locker they called a bathroom, I got back to my seat next to Trixi and asked, “Are you wearing nose plugs or something?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you smell that?”

“Smell?”

“You don’t smell anything?”

“Which helmet did you buy?”

“It’s the... uh... Aker something”

“Are you vomiting?” Her furrowed brow and wide eyes looked up me up and down.

"No...” Sweat mats my hair as I lean against headrest.

“Hey!” I exclaim as she pokes my shoulder.

“Are you an NPC or something?”

“No, I’m a player.”

“How do you have bodily functions inside the game! Are you in a FIP?”

“I didn't!” I shut my eyes and take deep breaths, but I can feel her staring at me. "What's a FIP anyways?"

“Full Immersion Pod.”

“No, hold on.” Waving my hands I pull up the screen and search around in the settings.

Trixi shakes her head and scrunches up her face.

Inside the settings menu I find a setting called Immersive Sensory Sensitivity. I turn it down to 0. Sniffing the air, I can still catch the scent, but it’s not as horrible as before.

“Better?” asks Trixi.

“Much.”

Settling back in I ask, “How long is the trip?”

“You'll prompt to either sleep or stay awake. If you stay awake, it takes about an hour.”

“Why would anyone stay awake?”

“Some people take this time to do crafting or level up stats like intelligence or wisdom by reading and meditating. Things like that.”

“Wait, how do the stats work?”

Over the next hour Trixi goes on to explain the game stats to me and how work. In a nutshell, the more you perform an action, the more you level up the stats. But if you neglect them, they go down.

“What've you been focused on?”

“Mostly Intelligence and Dexterity to get myself ready for Technomancer.”

“Technomancer?”

“Yea, it’s like a fantasy class that lets you shoot elemental projectiles, but instead of using magic, you’re using technology to manipulate elements.”

“Like a flame thrower?”

“More like, agitating the molecules in a concentrated area and then projecting it by pushing the molecules around them.”

“Sounds really fancy and intense. Which class did you start off as?”

“Right now I’m focused on Engineer and Hunter with some Enforcer. But that’s most for survival.”

“Wait, you can be multiple classes?”

This prompts another explanation of the class system. Trixi helps me go over the classes available and explains that you start with 250 skill points to spend on abilities.

In order to unlock abilities, you need to have the Novice ability first. Like, Novice Ranger or Novice Hunter. Trainers in the major towns can teach you the novice abilities and from there you need to gain enough experience of the right type to unlock things.

“So you unlocked all three Novice classes?”

“Yup, and I have enough experience to get my third ranked Hunter abilities, but some idiot decided to kill the trainer in Vroma.”

“Is there one in Hajima?”

“No, I’m going to need to find one somewhere else, or find another player with the abilities so they can teach me.”

Curious to see my abilities, I pull up the screen and check.

Skill Points: 18/250

Class: Hunter

Fauna Harvesting III

Survival I

Class: Enforcer

One-Handed Weapons I

Class: Ranger

Light Weapons I

Class: Agriculturalist

Flora Harvesting III

Class: Engineer

Coding II

“Which Hunter skills did you need to get up to level three?”

“Fauna Harvesting and Surival.”

“I have Fauna three, how do I teach you?”

“You do!? Invite me to your group?”

This prompts another discussion about groups and how to form them using the Social section of my interface. Once we’re in a group I notice her health indicators show up under mine along with her class, Novice Enforcer.

"Why does your class only say Novice Enforcer if you have several other classes?"

"You can pick the title people see."

[You have taught Trixi the ability, ‘Fauna Harvesting III’. You gained 100 Teaching experience points.]

“I got teaching experience!”

“Cool!”

I check my Abilities info an notice a new classes on the left next to all the beginner classes, but it’s greyed out.

[Professor]

“Oh, there is a Professor class.”

“A what?”

“Professor class.”

“No there isn’t, what are you looking at?”

“In the abilities menu, I can see a Professor class but I can click on it yet.”

Next to us I notice another player. For most of the trip, they had been staring into space, most likely reading someone on their interface. Now I see them gesture it away and look at us.

Trixi: _You shouldn’t mention that you see a new class out loud like that._

Carrots: _Why?_

Trixi: _The Tier 2 classes haven’t been announced and only people that meet all the requirements get to see them._

Carrots: _But mine is greyed out, does that mean I have it unlocked or not?_

Trixi: _I have no idea, I don’t know anyone else with a Tier 2 class yet._

Next to her, the player who was listeding pulls up their interface again and their eyes glaze over.

Carrots: _What happened to them?_

Trixi: _They just went into hibernation for the rest of the flight. Probably soft exited to search the forums about the Professor class._

Carrots: _I didn’t know you could do that._

Trixi: _Big surprise there._

She smirks as I scowl at her.

We spend the rest of the trip going over my base stats and how they interact with my health gauges. Strength and Constitution influence my Health, Stamina and Dexterity my Endurance, and Wisdom and Intelligence my Mind. If any of the stats hit 0, I become incapacitated like PerniciousDogs did during our battle earlier.

“So what happens if someone performs that kill thing on me?”

“Well, since we’re still pretty low on the Combat Rating, you just incur some penalties to your base stats.”

“What if we get a higher rating?”

“Then you’ll drop items and incur the penalties at a faster rate.”

“How do you get ride of the penalties?”

“Visit a social club and watch the entertainers for your Mind, then find a BioEngineer that can make stimpaks that heal your Endurance and Health.”

Death really isn’t appealing, and not just because of the pain and possible item loss once my CR is high enough, but those Fixers. Shiver.

“You won’t have to worry about that too much for now. We’ll be facing some pretty low level mobs on our first few missions out.”

“How do you get quests?”

“There is mission terminals in the cities. Based on our CR the missions will be pretty basic. Destroy some lair of monsters, maybe transport some cargo. The usual.”

“Cool!”

We land in Hajima and I’m glad to finally be out of that ship. As we disembark I notice the transport center here isn’t a large circular building, but a massive hangar bay instead. The wall are about ten stories up and made of a dark copper alloy. Above the exit is a blue banner with a white stripe down the middle and a symbol in the center.

Smack.

Tripping over my own two feet, I fall face first into the ground. The pain is sharp enough that it gets through my dulled senses. I stand quickly and grab my nose instinctively to stop any bleeding that might happen.

Around me I hear chuckles and whispering.

“Did you see that idiot?”

“Maybe he isn’t used to VR games yet.”

“What kind of loser falls on their face in a game? Can you even do that?”

“Maybe it’s an NPC?”

“Why is that guy wearing pajamas?”

Trixi comes up next to me and asks, “You alright?”

“Yea, I think so.” Tears roll down my face and I wipe them with my sleeve.

“Are you crying?”

“No!” I sniffle.

“Why are you holding your nose? Do you feel the pain or something?”

“Yea, don’t you when you get hit?”

The scowl is strong with this one. It’s long and thorough.

“Do you.” She rubs her forehead, looks around us and pulls up her interface.

Trixi: _You feel pain and smell things in the game?_

I nod, still holding my nose between my fingers leaning my head back.

Trixi: _Stop holding your nose, and let’s get out of here.

“How can you be so sure?” I ask her, full nasal voice and all.

Trixi: _Stop. People are staring_

Around us, some of the players that had been snickering before are now watching in curiosity. Smiling, I lower my head and let go of my nose.

Dapping at my upper lip, I don't see any blood so I sniff a few times and twitch my nose.

Trixi: _See. You're fine._

"Yea, yea."

"Let's get to the terminals and pick up some missions."

"There is actual missions here?"

"Yup. You can pick from several missions that get posted up pretty often. It's nothing super special, mostly it's deliveries, or pest control."

Images of the wolves attacking me and tearing my arms cross my mind and I shudder. "Mind if we do some delivery quests?"

"We don't get anything for deliveries. Just, dims and affinity."

"Affinity?"

"Yea. Basically if people like you or not. If you get a high affinity with the shop keeper they give you discounts."

"Sounds like that would be worth it."

She raises an eyebrow and walks ahead of me out of the building and into the city outside.

Neon colors, dust, smoke, and the subtle scent of garbage welcome me as I step out of the building. Above me is a huge rotating hologram that reads, 'Hajima Transport' in roman letters, then changes to a language I can't recognize.

The buildings climb high into the night sky covered in holograms advertising varies wares, their light drowning out the stars. Music comes from all around me in a cacophany of sound, mixed with the buzz of people and merchants trying to attract the passers by.

"Watch it!" Yells a pedestrian as a hover bike zips past them. "Rior's star. These newcomers are going to be the end of us."

Looking over, I see a talking fish that's almost as tall as me! Their long brown smock fits like a monks outfit, tied by a blue sash. Our eyes connect and they squint at me, at least that's what I think it they did, with those eyes that never blink.

"Come on over, and have a look at our armors Citizen." Their whiskers sway as they smile.

The crowds around me are unphased as people walk past me, a young girl almost bumping into me as she stared into oblivion. I step towards the fish.

"Hey." Trixi calls out.

A bright green vehicle that looks like a duck bill with a bubble on top idles near her.

"Is that yours?" I ask.

"Nope, it's local transport to take us to the our rim of the city. The quests there pay better and we'll get some combat experience along the way also."

"I'm not sure."

"Don't worry, it's automated, you're not getting into a car with a stranger."

"I beg to differ."

She rolls her eyes and taps the side of the green 'cab' to open the door and climbs in.

"I wouldn't go to the outer rim if I were you." Calls out the fish merchant.

"Why?" I ask.

"Even if you had actual armor and better weapons, you'd still have a hard time out there."

Fish giving me advice. That's new, but what did I expect from a sci-fi game? The rough leather of my knife rubs under my palm as I take hold of it.

"Believe me, you're better off buying some armor and heading back to Vroma to hunt the Mountain Frogs until you're a bit stronger."

Trixi opens her window and calls out, "Hey! You coming or not?"

A glance back at the fish holds me in place. I catch it frowning at Trixi and my feet won't move. Why would I get into the cab with her? All of this was so sudden. I just logged into the game and I'm already heading to a zone I know nothing about?

"Excuse me. Sorry!" Exclaims a cat wearing an orange eye piece and plated armor as they bump into me.

"It's ok." Stepping back towards the transport terminal.

"Carrots!" Calls Trixi.

“I can’t go out there without some armor at least.”

“You’ll be fine, come on.”

“What’s the rush to get out there?”

“Are you coming or not?”

Chancing a glance at the fish I see them shake their head slowly.

“Butt outta’ this you cod!” Trixi shouts at the merchant.

“Cod!? How dare you.” The merchant’s eyes widen, “This person is not someone you want to head into battle with young one.”

“What’s he talking about?” I ask Trixi.

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

“Are you coming or not?”

"No." I reply, before heading back towards the terminal and dropping the party.

A crowd of people is coming in and out of the entrance as I make my way past the main room towards a quieter area to gather my thoughts.