David soon forgot about the strange man as his turn to pass through security approached. His attention was directed towards the multiple large, faded posters pasted to the concrete barrier walls that led to the checkpoint, each emblazoned with large pictures of a long, narrow body of water and a man named ‘Desmond Hayz.’ The posters had large, aggressive titles with phrases like ‘THE CITY OF ENTIS TO RESTRICT THE LEVELS OF ALL ENGINEERS,’ ‘ENGINEERS TO PAY INCREASED TAXES IN LUGLAIN’ ‘ENGINEER RICHARD WILSON FLEES THE CITY, STATING “IT’S NOT SAFE FOR ME HERE” SEE MORE ON PAGE 3.’

The fact that they would post such things here, at the entrance to the city, was telling. David had known that engineers were not approved of in Luglain, it was a major part of the current treaty between Luglain and Astus, but he hadn’t realized it would be taken so seriously by the NPCs running the city. He was glad he hadn’t chosen to become an engineer before he came here.

Historically speaking, it had started with the country of Astus, directly to the south of Luglain. Astus was a country that previously focused its efforts on training both magic users and engineers for military purposes. They had succeeded in training an NPC engineer named Desmond Hayz. Desmond, who’s class had been Large Scale Weapons Manufacturer, had reached level 74. One of the first Engineers on the planet to do so.

His breakthrough challenge had purportedly been to create and use a weapon that could kill ten thousand lifeforms with a single attack. He eventually incited a war between Astus and Luglain, where he used his prototype weapon, the world's first Large Plasma Cannon. The weapon exploded due to interference from Luglain’s special forces, killing Desmond, but was successful in firing it’s first blast, destroying Luglain's minor border town of Halton, killing thousands of people instantly and cutting a deep, massive channel through the land.

The channel, known as ‘The Cleave’ extended in a completely straight trajectory for miles, ending in the ocean to the east, where it subsequently was filled with rushing seawater. The area where the plasma cannon had exploded was now a wide series of lakes, with many streams and rivers extending out from it.

Desmond Hayz had created a whole new ecosystem on the planet that day, creating a new border between the two countries - but he had done more than that. He had demonstrated the might of high level engineers and introduced a sense of fear in the two countries. With his death, there were no other high level engineers within Astus, and the two countries signed a treaty agreeing to restrict the levels of the engineers they employed, preventing another continent wide disaster from occurring.

Those events had happened almost fifty in-game years ago, but the effects were clearly still visible, as evidenced by the systematic oppression of the engineer type classes.

David read the posters quietly until it was his turn to step through the gate, where he encountered a low concrete wall with a glass barrier separating him from the soldiers inside the guard house. A bored looking soldier with a rifle slung over her chair sat in front of him, a stack of papers in her hand. She looked up at him, pen in hand, raised an eyebrow at his tattered jacket and shirt, and said “Name?” David cleared his throat. He had practiced for this in his head. It would just be a few questions and then he would be able to enter the city. He took a deep breath, trying not to show his nervousness, and then announced “David Apollo” as clearly as he could. ‘Did I say it too loudly? Can she tell how nervous I am…? Do I look suspicious?’ His thoughts raced, but the woman simply started writing on a form with a bored look. She eventually passed a clipboard with a couple papers attached to it through the window, a few sections on which had been highlighted.

The documents were all mostly just for identification purposes, with a few sections he had to sign stating that the failure to announce his class if he became an engineer was a punishable offense, and he had to sign a statement indicating that he was not already an engineer. He then had to sign a few papers stating that any and all training he would do within the city would be conducted within designated training areas, and that if he failed to do so and damaged the city he would be responsible for the damages. There was a section for high level warriors, which the bored looking soldier helpfully told him he could skip after taking another look at him. ‘Do I look that weak…?’ He cried in his heart, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief that she had not asked him any more questions.

After he handed over the clipboard and twenty of the hundred Luglain notes that he had stashed in his pocket earlier to pay for the processing, the soldier gave him a bored looking wave, evidently motioning for him to continue into the city, before another soldier walked into the room and stopped him. As soon as the soldier walked into the room his eyes met David’s, and a cold feeling washed over him. ‘He’s using identify on me? Do I look important enough to scan?’ To him, the Identify skill would actually just be a heightened sense of observation, and the NPC would receive information such as: David Apollo. No specialization. Danger level: minimal. The male soldier, with the last name Gutierez sewed to the breast of his uniform jacket, frowned at David. “You’re new around here? What happened to your clothes?” His eyes flicked from David’s jacket and back to his face, clearly indicating he found the damage suspicious.

David coughed nervously again. He had previously considered that he would be asked this, and had desperately tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for the damage while he walked towards the city. Try as he might, he could not think of a reasonable excuse, the tears made by the claws of the Cyclops Bear were simply too obvious, too clearly the work of an animal, and he had no choice other than to tell a modified version of the truth. He nervously prepared to tell the soldier an abridged story about how he had been attacked by a bear while traveling through the forest, only to be saved when another creature attacked the bear, allowing him to run away, when the female soldier scoffed. “Leave him be Gutierez, the man has clearly had a rough time of it. Are you going to deny him entry because of a messy appearance now?” The man looked down at the seated female soldier for a moment, finally releasing a sigh. “I always say you’re too nice for this position, Judkins, what if he’s a spy from Astus?” The soldier barked a small laugh, his face suddenly becoming serious. “You don’t intend to become an engineer do you?” His face was unusually intense when he looked at David, and David could only nervously shake his head no.

“That's good then, new-comer. While you’re in the city it's best to remember that this city follows the rule of law, and the first rule in Entis is that might-makes-right, you understand me?” David’s tightly pinched face could only nod up and down seriously in response, and the man laughed. “Of course, if you do not have the strength, the second rule is that sufficient wealth can also make one mighty. You had best keep that in mind, and do not step on the interests of Mr. Eadwhin and the council while you enjoy our beautiful city. So long as you remember this you will do fine here.” The uniformed woman cleared her throat impatiently, jerking her head at David in indication that he was free to go. Eager to leave before the male soldier decided to give him any more ‘friendly advice,’ David quickly turned and proceeded past the checkpoint and into the tunnel through the perimeter wall.

His system lit up with a message: Congratulations! You have discovered the city of Entis, Luglain. +500 EXP It was about half the EXP required for him to reach level 6, which would be a strong motivator for new players to travel to different locations within the game.

After walking for a few minutes, he exited the tunnel, where the footpath followed the road past a bus station, which was surrounded by a few military style barracks. The barracks housed many soldiers, tasked with the defense of this portion of the wall, but David’s attention was fully occupied by the bus that appeared ready to leave the station. It had a screen affixed to the upper windows, electronic letters flashing across the surface which read ‘LAST BUS TO ENTIS BUSINESS DISTRICT. BUS FARE 5N’

He hurried over to the bus, eager to avoid walking the unknown distance through the city, a task that would likely take him hours as the city was absolutely massive.

He managed to pay the bus driver without stumbling through the process once or even being forced to speak, for which David was intensely grateful, though the bus driver did give him a critical look when he saw the damage to his clothes. ‘I’ve got to get out of these clothes as soon as possible’ he thought to himself. It was too attention grabbing. Eventually, he was sure that his new persona, David Apollo, would not care about such things, but for the moment every sideways glance and thoughtful stare sent him into a state of nervousness, almost twitching at the thought that someone would speak to him.

The other passengers were mostly a mix of tired looking soldiers, occupations obvious even in their civilian clothes, and other foot-weary travelers like him. He didn’t see the strange bald man with the foul mouth among the passengers, which was something he was quite grateful for.

Before long the bus closed its doors, pulled out of the station, and departed down the road towards the city, leaving the military barracks behind.

Contrary to what one might assume, the city was actually quite empty at this point, as the area surrounding the interior of the walls was entirely agricultural in nature. This gave one an idea of how truly massive the city and its exterior walls were, as the majority of the city's food supply was grown within the walls, which stretched for what must be hundreds of miles around the city. Few houses dotted the landscape, looking small compared to the massive equipment sheds and barns periodically scattered throughout the fields. The fact that the agricultural district stretched around the entire city was a true marvel, allowing the city to entirely provide for itself should it ever be besieged.

This was, of course, by design. With the city being the capital of Luglain, a country that had faced periodic threats of invasion by Astus and occasional swarms of monsters and other wild beasts, security was obviously a huge concern. This would play a huge factor during the aggression plague event in the future, David considered. ‘Unfortunately, the walls just aren’t strong enough for what will come…’ He sighed. Entis would survive longer than almost any other city during the last major event, but even its well planned defenses would eventually fail. Its massive fields wouldn’t be able to handle the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees. David tried his best not to think about the destruction that his former co-workers had so excitedly discussed in the break rooms at E-World. For them, it had just been an exciting, action packed adventure planned for the players to enjoy, and if a few million NPCs suffered, well…it was just a game.

Not so for him, unfortunately.

For him, this was real life. The only life he had.

That life would be threatened to a major extent during the plague event, and he would need to achieve a high level of strength to have a chance at survival.

He almost released a sigh, then, trying not to think about the hardships he would face in the future. He hoped he could handle the changes to come.

After about thirty minutes on the sparsely populated road out of the city, the bus entered the city proper, industrial style buildings sprouting from the concrete-clad land, factories with pitched roofs and smokestacks belching smoke high into the sky. The land throughout most of the city was quite flat, and the skyline here was filled with many such smokestacks, the tops of skyscrapers peeking up over the factory rooftops in the distance. The bus remained on a relatively straight path, the road widening into a small highway as it passed by factory after factory, crowds of dirty looking workers filled the side streets and entrances to the buildings, evidently at the end of their shifts and preparing to go home.

David kept his eyes pointed out the window, his eyes glued to the city as he absorbed information about his surroundings. He noticed a robust rail system spread throughout the industrial district, at times traveling in parallel with the road and deeper into the city, towards the business district. Scattered throughout the factories one could see the inner workings of the city, dirty buildings in disrepair, large apartment blocks for the less well-off, small corner stores poked out at the bottom of large, multi-story housing complexes. It reminded him of some of the cities he had seen back on earth, and a strange feeling of nostalgia pervaded his thoughts as the bus continued on its path.

Eventually they entered the business district, the true ‘heart’ of the city. Here the buildings had a much cleaner appearance, with more space between buildings which had glass faces or unique architectural designs, each building towering up above the road, which was now filled with other traveling vehicles. The business district had a strange appeal to it - different from any city one might find on modern day earth. Almost every building had a large courtyard attached or sometimes entire floors dedicated to training. At first glance, it was quite peaceful, as the courtyards had an almost ancient Japanese styled theme to them, allowing warriors to both train efficiently during their off time and find a peaceful niche to meditate in. It was a strange mixture of beauty and engineering, in an area where concrete was the king, the AI that had designed the city had still managed to make the district beautiful. Above it all, the gorgeous and eye catching Headdon Palace, clad in black marble with crenelated exterior walls meant to keep out the lower class citizens, rose up in the center of the city. From this palace, Charles Eadwhin and his councilmembers administrated the city.

The bus ended its journey at another bus station that was placed on a side road, traveling perpendicular to the main road through the business district, not too far into the city. David exited with the others and stood on the sidewalk for a while, taking in the sights.

The city truly was nostalgic and beautiful. He took in deep breaths of the city air - so different from what it had felt like in the forest. It reminded him of home.

A pang of sadness filled him then.

A small part of him wished he could return.

An even larger part of him wished he could simply start again. He could go about life in this city in a way that wasn’t too different from his past life.

He could find a job. Maybe save up enough to get a small studio apartment. He could have a hobby of visiting the many varied warrior training areas. The city was so complex, he could have a whole second life without ever leaving the city. He could stay right here…’and I can die with the rest of the NPCs when the plague comes…’ His heart was heavy as he observed the faces on the streets around him, wondering how many of them would survive the events to come. It was a burden, a curse, and at the same time a blessing. To know the future.

‘Perhaps, if I get strong enough, I can change things…’ He thought.

‘Maybe I could save them...’

It was wishful thinking, chances were high that he would not be strong enough when the time came. He would be too weak.

He knew that.

Yet he was the only one who knew what would happen and could possibly do something about it. The other developers, who were not allowed to publicly influence the game with their own player accounts, would not be able to help him even if they wanted to, which they wouldn't.

He felt a strange mixture of determination and despair as the weight of the future fell heavily on his shoulders. The NPCs here may not be actual, real people, but to him they would be no different from people on Earth. He lived among them, now. He didn’t want them to face untold death and destruction, not without having some sort of chance.

He sighed, and then let his feet carry him through the city. He had collected a helpful looking map at a bus station kiosk, and his system map had glowed with a light notification indicating that he had updated his internal map. His nine stat points in perception didn’t help him here, as it was too low a number to sync properly with his internal map and his eyesight. He had to stop frequently, pretending to check the map in his hands as he instead used the more helpful system map, allowing it to fill up his vision. He made his way through crowds of serious looking businessmen and women, filtering from building to building in a dense network. ‘From above we must look like ants, busily scurrying from place to place within the hive…’ He allowed his thoughts to wander as his feet did the same.

One thing he noticed about the people around him was that many wore training outfits, carried gym bags, or even carried fighting equipment or wore combat gear as they walked, and the other pedestrians paid no attention to this. It was just a common occurrence in the city of warriors.

He made note of the buildings and businesses he passed on his way out of the richer parts of the business district, his feet carrying him towards the intersection of the residential district, an almost suburb-like area of the city, and the start of the factory district. Here lived the middle class of the city, and the businesses started to cater much more strongly to people like David. This area, which was nicknamed the adventurer district, would be extremely popular with the players after they learned the city. His feet carried him across a massive square surrounded by businesses; restaurants, bars, gear stores, general goods…It had it all, everything the players would need until they gained advanced power and wealth. Players would definitely congregate by the tens of thousands here as they trained, recruited, talked and traded.

David finally found the building he had been looking for, the Entis Estates hotel. It was a quaint building with an appealing design, it had a large courtyard in the center, with the hotel rooms leading in a large square around it. This meant that every room had equal access to the training yard, but it also meant that every room had a view of its occupants. He wasn’t sure if he would be getting much use out of the courtyard anyway, so this didn’t bother him as much as it might. He had found his way to a food stall beforehand, and now that he had finally eaten he was ready to collapse with exhaustion, having had too many harrowing experiences in the span of a single day.

‘I hope the doorman will not comment strictly about my appearance…’ he cried sorrowfully in his heart, walking past the man who only nodded professionally, seeming not to notice David’s present state at all. ‘He must have seen much worse here in the accurately nicknamed adventurer district…’ David thought as he approached a computer desktop, pretending to be engrossed in the information presented on the screen in order to avoid the smiling clerk behind the desk. He was able to pay his 60N for the room and receive an electronic door key, one which would deactivate in twenty four hours unless he paid again, without once interacting with another person.

A fact he thoroughly enjoyed as he avoided eye contact with the still smiling clerk behind the desk.

Having completed that he left the office area of the hotel, found his room, and spent a few seconds walking around its small interior and admiring his high-tech shower. He had no luggage or possessions to unpack, since his few possessions were all inside his inventory space. He simply stripped his clothes off, took a short but well deserved hot shower, toweled off, and collapsed in his new bed.

If he only looked at the comfort level of the bed, then it was just like home.

Almost.