After awakening the next morning, the trader informed me over the morning meal that we should reach the main road leading from the City of Kinderfell by the time that the sun reached overhead, which at that point, we could pick up the speed of the caravan and reach the city shortly thereafter. I only nodded at his information, still feeling subdued after yesterday’s events.

I packed my belongings and the tent that I borrowed within one of the wagons of the caravan, and went to my place in front. Even though I was still not feeling well, I maintained my vigilance and silently watched for anything that would prevent our arrival to the city. One of the guards attempted to make conversation, asking about my chosen profession, and asked if I was planning on joining the Guild of the Velg’larn. I only raised my eyebrow at that information, as I only knew of the guilds and not their specific names, or even the value of joining one.

In my time playing the game before this, I knew that there was one guild for each player class that was ran by NPCs, and each race had their own names for the guilds. Since I was not a Dark Elf previously, I never payed attention to the Dark Elf guilds, and with my current plans for my future, I probably should find out more information about them.

I asked the guard for more information about the Guild of the Velg’larn and what he thought of that particular guild. He then told me that he had a brother which joined the guild and trained as an assassin, and also informed me that I should speak with Youssef Tarrokh, who was the guild’s headmaster, if I wanted to join. I gave a slight nod, acknowledging that I would take his advice.

The journey after my conversation with the guard was fairly dull, and around mid-day, we arrived to a highway of sorts. This road was much larger than the path that we were on, and was definitely more traveled. We guided the caravan to the right, and since this road was more adequate for travel, we almost doubled our speed.

It was roughly two hours later when the city came into view. Even from this distance, I could tell just by looking at this city that it was extremely large, as I could see black, twisted towers that seemed to touch the clouds in the sky.

Four more hours of traveling, and we arrived at the massive gates, which now I could tell that they were made of something that was a cross between obsidian and stone. Atop the gate and walls were spikes that curved outwards about 15 meters high, and guard towers seemed to be placed evenly along the walls about 500 meters between. Dark elvish towns were usually circular, but from my viewpoint, it looked as if it was a straight line into the horizon.

The gate itself was open, with a number of other caravans, wagons, and people in line to get into the city. It took our caravan an hour just to make it to the checkpoint when a city guard came over. I eyed the guard warily, as I didn’t think I could even come close to scratching him, let alone protect the leader of this now ragtag group. I couldn’t hear what the guard and Bartley were discussing, so I just kept one eye on the others that were around us, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A few minutes later, the guard let us pass, and we entered the city.

Seeing the bustling crowd, to say this city was busy would be a massive understatement. There were literally hundreds of people, both NPCs and players alike, all along the road, with outdoor merchants selling wares, and large, black buildings behind them. It looked like the buildings were made of the same obsidian stone that the walls were made from, with large gothic windows with designs that showed what type business occupied each building. Over their large doors, each had signs engraved in lacquered oak.

The caravan pulled next to a building which showed that it was a trade hall by the name of Duskryn's Mei'q, which if my Drowish language was accurate, would mean Duskryn’s Trade. Once the caravan was stopped, Bartley took a minute to eye the wagons, obviously counting them to ensure that none of them got lost “accidentally.” He then looked at me and gave me a wide grin, and opened his arms, thinking that I might actually hug him? I’m not entirely sure about that, but after I eyed him curiously, I did see his smile falter slightly as he put his arms down.

“Thank you Raven! You have kept your word, and even though we lost a few mercenaries and guards, we arrived safely to the grand city of Kinderfell. As I promised, you’re reward,” he said grandly, after which he bowed and a notification appeared in my view.

“You have completed the Caravan Quest[Caravan Quest name and reward - 10g], your reward for completion is 10 gold!”

Looking at my current funds, I now had just under 11 gold total, which wasn’t bad, but I needed more in order to pick up both my alchemy skills and train my unique skill. Perhaps if I joined that NPC assassin guild, I could get a discount. Thinking about this, I decided to make my way. Giving Bartley a slight nod and thanking him for his time and coin, I made my way further into the city.

“So, if I was an assassin looking for a guild of assassins, where would I go and look… um, actually, nix that, since I am an assassin looking for the assassin guild. I wonder if the guild is a legal guild and if I could just ask a guard without dying? I suppose I’ll need to do that, but before, let’s get to the inn so that I can bind there. It would suck if a guard killed me on sight and I re-spawned back in Timberdenn.”

Looking around, I spotted a guard that while it was getting late, he was standing at a corner that made a Y-split in the main road that entered the city. It looked like he was falling asleep even though I couldn’t see his eyes due to his plate helmet.

I walked over to him and asked loudly before I got within arm’s reach, “Excuse me, guard. I need directions to the local inn please.”

The guard stumbled for a minute and almost dropped his halberd before straightening his back, looking around. So far, this was the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in the game since I, well, yea.

“Who are you!” he shouted. “I wasn’t sleeping, and if you try to say that I was, I’ll throw you into the brig. Now, what can this hard working, no slacking off, guard do for you?”

I raised an eyebrow and attempted to stifle a laugh, only barely holding it in, and said again, “I’m looking for the local inn.”

“Go towards the left. You should see it down a bit. Here, I’ll light the path for you,” he said, gesturing a low arc with his left arm. Immediately after, a blue glowing butterfly appeared, and started flying down the path. A handy trick for new players when they were lost, which I was grateful for, now that I was in a new city which I never went to.

Arriving at the inn, which was named Tangi D’innsreg, I swung open the heavy wooden doors and entered, a huge ornate lobby greeting me. I went over to the innkeeper who looked like a middle aged dark elf with droopy brown eyes who looked at me with discerning eyes. I walked up to him and asked if he had a room to spare.

“No, I do not have any rooms to spare, as if someone like you could afford it. Why don’t you come back when you can afford more than a silver a night,” he replied back in a condescending voice which made my nerves twitch in anger. If I wasn’t in town, and would immediately get executed and barred, I would have pulled out my dagger right then and gouged out his tongue for speaking to me like that.

Containing my anger, I replied, with my hand shaking next to my dagger, “Fine. If you don’t have a room for someone like me, then maybe you can point me to a different inn that would be more suitable?”

I heard a cough behind me which startled me, and saw the innkeeper’s eyes widen a bit. “Merzen, is that any way to talk to a lady? Perhaps you would like to re-think our arrangement,” a voice asked, which sent chills up my spine.

The innkeeper went deathly pale with this statement by this newcomer. When I turned my head to look over at him, I saw that he was well-aged, piercing gray eyes that looked as if they could see inside of your soul, and then shredding it without a care in the world. Both the look he was giving the innkeeper and the not so hidden threat in his voice raised the hairs in the back of my neck. Now I felt that I should run out of the city and never look back.

“Ye… yes, of course Mr. Tarrokh. Of, of course, I should not have taken my anger out on this young lady.”

Merzen looked at me, visibly shaking and gave me a bow from behind his counter. “Miss, you have my deepest apologies. For the inconvenience, I would be more than happy to give you a room for free for a week, and then it will only be 50 silver per week if that is acceptable?”

His eyes looked as if they were pleading with me to stay, to which I replied, still angry at how he treated me. “I will take that week, however, for the length of my stay, I want a room for 25 silver, rather than the 50 silver.”

The man behind me laughed, “You heard the young lady, 25 silver for the length of her stay.”

“Very well my lady, Mr. Tarrokh. 25 silver for your stay here at Tangi D’innsreg,” he replied, somewhat irritated but still fearful. He handed the key to my room, and in turn, I gave him the 25 silver before turning around to meet the guild master of the Velg’larn.

The guild master looked at me and before I could say anything, he said in a low voice, “Not here. When you’re ready to speak with us, an agent will meet with you at [the tavern][Kinderfell Tavern name].”

A new quest window appeared before me which I read before accepting:

Quest Name: Assassin’s Initiation

Quest Difficulty: Hard

Quest Objective: Meet with the assassin’s agent in the tavern.

Quest Rewards: Initiation into the Order of the Velg’larn.

Do you wish to accept? (Y/N)

I looked more closely at the guild master, who was wearing a dark gray, almost black leather outfit, with two straps that were crossed on his chest, most likely for dagger sheathes. A number of other straps went along his legs, also an indicator of where a massive number of sheathes could be attached. He was wearing a dark cloak that gave off a shimmering look, as if the cloak didn’t want you to look at it, rather, it seemed as if the cloak wanted you to look through it.

I could only nod meekly, and went to the stairs that where to the left of the counter to leave the innkeeper and the assassin to discuss whatever business they had with each other.

I entered my room at the inn and the message window appeared stating that I was now bound at this inn and room. Closing the window, I let out a shiver that I had been holding since meeting the guild master of the Assassin’s guild. “Holy shit, I really need a drink after meeting that.” I said, almost under my breath.

Shaking my head to calm my nerves, I looked around the room that the innkeeper provided. The room looked to have multiple rooms, as I saw two doors inside the room. In the center of the room was a large table that was made of thick, frosted obsidian that had four chairs, obviously a sort of meeting area. Embedded in the stone wall was a fireplace, it’s mantle made of a red crystal like material. Two large windows completed this part of the interior which allowed the room to be illuminated from the sun outside.

I made my way to one of the doors, and when I opened it, there was a large and immaculate bathroom with marble flooring which matched the room itself. Closing that door, I went to the other room, which I assumed correctly would be the bedroom. A large bed which could comfortably hold at least four sat in the center, with black satin sheets, met my eyes. I looked longingly at the bed, wishing I could rest for a few days and just relax, but I was a busy woman, and I had places to be and people to meet.

***

After binding my respawn point to the inn, I left and started exploring the bustling city, keeping away from the crowds as best as I could. The dirt roads were aligned by cobblestone which allowed people to walk without fear of getting trampled by the carriages and wagons that would often go to and from various places. I noticed a weapons and armor store which immediately held my interest, so I walked across the road and went inside of the shop.

I was immediately stopped by an NPC who introduced himself as Godyn, a master blacksmith and armorer. I informed him that I was just browsing his wares and he eyed me with suspicion, probably due to my current equipment. It wasn’t my fault that I had to rely on drops, and the fact that I was still using rawhide armor and iron daggers, which was rated to be roughly between levels 5 through 10!

On the upside, the store was extremely well organized with multiple rows of weapons that were organized by type, and armor stands lined the walls. The one thing I could say is that this place was definitely not cheap, and would cost a small fortune to any new player. Looking at the armor, I could only eye longingly at the set of ephemeral leather that was encased in a crystallized shell to prevent theft. The price was only 100 platinum coins, which I rolled my eyes at. Any decent player would have their armor specially crafted with various enchantments, rather than purchasing base armor. Either that, or have special or unique equipment from the various raids that were in the game.

I did make my way to a counter that held an assortment of daggers. At this low level, it actually did make sense to purchase equipment from the NPC merchants, even if it could not be enchanted. A set of bronze daggers would cost me 1 gold for the pair. With a disappointing sigh, I left the store empty handed. I had to first purchase the skills to learn both alchemy and herbalism, which is where I headed to next.

A little way further down the road, I spotted a building that had an potion emblem and vial imbued on the frosted glass in front of the store. The sign itself said that this was the [Alchemy Shop][Name of Buraste’s Shop]. Satisfied that this was the store that I was looking for, I stepped through the doors, my elven senses immediately being assaulted by the various scents that permeated through the store.

The store itself was a mix of what looked to be a cross between an atrium and a store. Various types of plants where growing where ever they could, vines wrapping around the store’s pillars and rafters.

“Good evening, assassin. To what do I owe the pleasure? I hope that I haven’t gotten on anyone’s bad side, although, looking at you, I wouldn’t care if I had,” a woman’s voice said to the side of me.

Was it just me, or did it seem that everyone so far in this damned city was a condescending asshole to me? Sighing, I looked over at the woman who wasn’t what I was expecting. Instead of a dark elf, she was an elderly gnome, sitting in a high chair behind her counter, with her elbow on it, holding her chin as she looked bored to death. Her dark green eyes actually matched her long hair, which must have been dyed, since most gnomes that I’ve seen always had brown or dull white hair depending on how old they were. Interesting, although, annoying.

“Perhaps true, perhaps not. Well, to be fair, you’re right in the fact that I am a young assassin and not properly equipped,” I started as I walked towards her counter, careful not to rub against any of the offending flora that was in my way. “I was wondering if you might be able to train me in both the Alchemy and Herbalism skills,” I finished as I reached her area.

“Oh, I like that,” she grinned. “A dark elf with a green thumb. What would you know about the life of the world around us, except to destroy the life force of others, answer this honestly assassin, and maybe I might train you, for a cost.”

I gave the elderly gnome a smile which stated that I understood her riddle, which I had to research long before. I answered, “The life around us is intertwined, one life affecting the other, life affects death, and death affects life. The string of fate connects us all.”

The gnome looked at me and grinned, “What bullshit. I would take that from anyone else but you. Give me the real answer child, there is no one around to hear you, and this place is shielded against those that would spy on us.”

I looked at her, stunned, my eyes going wide. This couldn’t be right. The store NPCs were supposed to at least initially allow a player to train a profession. Her words though made me shiver. She knows.

In the World of the Veil, all of the deities and the NPCs that resided in the world were ran by advanced AI using quantum learning algorithms, which allowed smooth conversations with players. Enemy NPCs though were typically ran by typical “dumb” AI, even though they could learn various things from players using machine learning, such as combat patterns and player resistances. This gave the players a real challenge to overcome, which was one of the draws of the game which made it so successful.

If Noctis and Conall knew of my situation and what happened, then it would make sense that all of the NPCs in the game would know. Calming down again, I looked at the gnome again.

“Ok then, let’s throw the bullshit lore away then. I’m a player in this game, unable to log out, and I have to live here for who knows how long. I’m under-equipped, lacking any sort of decent money, and to be honest, quite terrified of what I have to become in order to survive here. Honestly, now that I can truly get hurt, I don’t want to do anything but crawl into a bed and lay down for who knows how long. However, I can’t do that since it would draw attention to myself. If that happened, then this game might be shut down, and if it was, I would die.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she responded, rolling her eyes at me.

I was starting to get angry now. This damn NPC was going to actually make this hard. “Fine. The people that you refer to as Veil-Walkers are the players inside of this game and they live outside of it. The deities and NPCs, like yourself, are nothing but figments of computer code. Complicated code, sure, but nothing but computer code nevertheless.”

“Oh, really? Is that why you suffered, and are still suffering from, killing those bandits? Is that truly how you think of this world that you now live in, as nothing but computer code? I will train you, of course, however I can only hope that through your training you find the right answer to my question, young Raven.”

Two message prompts appeared in front of my eyes, the first one asking me if I wanted to learn both the Alchemy and Herbalism skills, and that it would cost me 5 gold for each skill. I accepted, knowing that I was again penniless.

The second message prompt though was a bit more unexpected. It was a character based quest, which meant that I was the only one that the quest would ever be given out to.

Quest Name: Buraste’s Riddle

Quest Type: Character

Quest Difficulty: Normal

Quest Rewards: Unknown

Quest Objective: Find the answer to the riddle that the alchemist, Buraste Maeviir, asked.

Do you wish to accept? (Y/N)

“Now leave, you’ve worn out your welcome for the day, my old bones cannot put up with the idiocies of the young,” she informed me, clearly telling me to leave.

Leaving the old gnome’s store, I pondered where to go next. I could find a skill trainer, but in order to learn my Shadow Step skill I would need to pay 5g, which I only had 1 gold left after learning my professions. Perhaps I should go to the tavern and speak with the representative from the assassin’s guild. It was also getting dark out, and I wanted to get a good night’s sleep in an actual bed tonight after being on the trail a few days. It was much more difficult than I expected, and I was not accustomed to sleeping outside, even in the real world.

I asked a guard that was passing by if he could point me in the direction of the tavern, and like the previous guard, he summoned a guiding butterfly to lead me to the tavern. I wasn’t in the mood anymore to do much exploring, just wanting to get this day over with.

I followed the glowing butterfly to the Tavern, which was aptly named “The Drunken Elf.” I was surprised that it was in English and not Drowish, however, it could be that I was getting more accustomed to reading it and the system was performing auto-translation for me. I could hear the sounds of a very lively bar, and it sounded like there was a fight going on inside, which was unusual for any of three elf races. My weariness that I was feeling while walking here lessened, and I went inside the tavern.

***

The tavern itself was dark, lit only by the braziers that aligned the walls. There were overturned tables and chairs in the middle was two dwarves that were fighting a single human. Believe it or not, the human was actually holding his own against the dwarves.

Taking an interest in the human, I looked at him a bit more closely. He was fairly tall at roughly 6 feet, if I estimated correctly. He also had a lean but very tone build, his skin was a darker shade like he had a full body tan. It also seemed that he had a bit of scruff on his face, as if he didn’t shave for a few days. His brown eyes and smile showed how much he was enjoying this brawl.

The dwarves he was fighting against were your typical looking dwarves, fairly short, the tallest looked like he was just over five feet tall, however they were built like brick stack-houses, extremely muscular, and each had a long, braided beard of various shades.

“Look here Darrius, I don’t care what you think you’re doing, but you will leave my sister alone. She doesn’t deserve your kind meddling in her affairs, so just get your scrawny ass out of here before we show you some true pain,” one of the dwarves said, almost yelling.

“[Dwarf 1 name][Dwarf 1 name], I honestly don’t know what you’re going on about, and I know how you think all humans look alike, so maybe you got the wrong guy,” the human said mockingly.

The dwarf looked at him and then over to his partner who also looked ready to brawl, when a smoke cloud appeared in the middle of them with a dark figure inside of it. The smoke was a dark gray, mixed with a dull yellow. It not only looked creepy, but even worse, it smelled like corrosive death. Both of the dwarves and the human stepped back a couple of steps to find out who this new intruder was, and as the smoke dissipated, a dark elf in a red silk shirt and black pants stood there.

“You all need to stop before you ruin my bar. You’re also bothering my other customers,” this stranger said, looking back and forth between the human and the dwarves.

The second dwarf that was next to [dwarf 1 name][Dwarf 1 name] decided to speak up against this stranger. “Look here Ga’arvn, I know you’re the barkeep here, but you need to step back while [Dwarf 1 name][Dwarf 1 name] and me take care of the trash.”

The bartender, Ga’arvn from what the dwarf called him, looked at him and frowned, then lifted his arm and then the dwarf fell to his knees, his skin fading to a sickly gray that started cracking and oozing thick, yellow pus.

“Damnit [Dwarf 2 name][Dwarf 2 name], you should know better than to fuck around with Ga’arvn, you know he’s a necromancer! Please, Ga’arvn, we’ll leave okay? Here, I’ll even give you a couple of gold if you let him live, please Ga’arvn,” [Dwarf 1 name][Dwarf 1 name] pleaded.

This brought a smile to my face, there was just something so damn amusing to see a dwarf begging and pleading. They were normally such a “up in your face” race. Typically more brawn than brain, both NPCs and players alike. I supposed that race just had something that drew people, I could never understand why.

“Very well. I’ll accept your terms. Human veil-walker, you will pay tribute to Kali as well. 2 gold.” Ga’arvn’s tone made it so that there would be no argument from the player. Most NPCs referred to players as veil-walkers, perhaps a way to explain the abilities that players had over the NPCs. Or it could be a derogatory term, who knows. However, it made me wary of the human who I now knew was a player.

The human only smiled and nodded, agreeing to the terms. When he reached to his coin purse, he caught me looking at him, to which he smiled and winked at me. Rolling my eyes and turning away to go to the bar, I began to think to myself, “He actually winked at me? What the hell. For fuck’s sake, this is why I played as a male instead of a female. There has always been something about games that always made guys think with their dick’s rather than their brains,” I silently fumed to myself. Behind me, I could hear the exchange of coins and heard the swoosh of smoke, which I could smell, nearly making me gag.

As I made my way to the bar, the barkeep appeared, yet again teleporting in a cloud of smoke. I was really getting tired of smelling that, which made me wonder if NPCs could smell their effects. I couldn’t imagine that they could.

Ga’arvn looked at me as I approached and smiled. For someone that worshiped the dark-aligned deities, he was surprisingly well maintained with a lazy grin. “I apologize about the distraction, what can I get you,” he asked me.

I looked over the various bottles and kegs, and decided on getting my usual, Rennor Jhinrae. I handed my 2s to the barkeep and received my sweet, dark wine that tasted of blackberries in return. I turned my back to the bar and leaned against it and looked at the other people that were drinking and eating various breads and cheeses. There were a few humans, including that human player, a couple of gnomes in the far back corner talking heatedly between themselves, and a couple of other expected dwarves. “Where there was a tavern, you could make sure there was a dwarf,” I thought as I chuckled to myself.

There was a dark elf that was sitting by himself in another corner of the bar, with a dark blue drink in his hand. However, ever since I was scanning the other people in the bar, he had yet to let the drink touch his lips. He was dressed like any other dark elf, in a plain, dark shirt. It almost looked as if he didn’t want to stand out, which to me, made him stand out even more. It also helped that he was gazing right back at me, his dull green eyes inviting me to have a chat with him.

I walked in a round-about way to the table that this mysterious dark elf was sitting at, thinking that he preferred not getting too much attention. He still looked at the bar, however, I could feel his eyes watching me from the corner of vision. He may not be looking directly at me, but he was keeping an eye on me. I had a good feeling that he was the representative from the assassin’s guild that Youssef requested I speak with. Once I got to his round table, I sat down in a seat that was across from him. He looked me up and down as if taking stock of me, which to say, he wasn’t looking at me as a woman, but regarding me as a potential threat. While that should make me tense, it was actually relaxing for me.

“Raven,” he started, his voice low enough so that I could hear, but no one else would. “Our grandmaster, Youssef Tarrokh has deemed you, at least slightly, worthy of joining the Order of the Velg’larn. We have a test for you though, before you can seek guidance. A high elf merchant will be entering the city tomorrow, his name is Aidelas Laemthius. We want him dead before the sun rises.”

Thinking of the previous NPCs that I had killed, I felt a bit nauseous, but decided against running and hiding. I needed to get over this if I was to become an assassin. “Why does he deserve death? I’m not going to kill someone just for the hell of it, even if it is a request from the grandmaster.”

The representative gave me an appraising look, and it seemed he was satisfied with whatever internal discussion he was having with himself. “Very well, we know he has been transporting and selling illegal drugs. He is suspected of doing worse things when his entourage and himself visit the slums. Goodbye,” he said, dismissing me. A quest notification window appeared in front of me, which I read before swiping it away.

Quest Name: Assassin’s Initiation

Quest Type: Character

Quest Difficulty: Hard

Quest Rewards: Initiation into the Order of the Velg’larn.

Quest Time Limit: Before daybreak after entering the city.

Quest Objective: You have met with the agent. You have been tasked to kill Aidelas Laemthius.

Do you wish to accept? (Y/N)

I stood up to leave, and he actually took a sip of his beverage, clearly he didn’t drink on the job, and his job now ended after he relayed his message. Good to know.

I went back towards the bar, my own drink now needing to be refilled, and as I waited for Ga’arvn to get to me, that human player decided to ambush me. I wanted to reach for my dagger and shove it in his eye, but alas, I maintained some semblance of control.

“Aw, don’t be like that. I just wanted to come over here and say hello. Its pretty unusual to see people in newbie gear these days, and I wanted to see if you wanted some help,” he said in a voice that sounded like he was trying to be romantic, yet failing at it miserably.

“Go away,” I replied, both my face and voice deadpanned.

He looked at me as if he had a thought come to his mind. “Okay, look. My name is Darrius, and my main is a dark elf assassin, and I know from experience, with you talking to that NPC, that you’re on the initiation quest. In your gear, I can tell you now that you won’t be able to kill the guy, since he has 5 guards with him too. Don’t let my gear fool you, it’s custom crafted, and I have a quest to help some dwarf girl that has been getting harassed in the slums. That was the reason for the fight earlier. Help me, help you?”

My deadpanned eyes squinted at the human. For him to be in Kinderfell meant that he must have started his character and used the inter-continental gate system and then inter-city teleportation system. Both of which are not cheap to use. Sighing, I replied, “Fine. I’m Raven. What class are you anyways? And no, I’m not going to sleep with you.”

He rewarded me with a heartfelt laugh, “Raven, look, I don’t even swing that way, and even if I did, my boyfriend would cut my balls off, in the real world. So no, I don’t need any virtual sex. As far as my class, I’m a warrior monk. I can keep them off of you while you do your back-stabby stuff. I’ll even let you keep the drops, alright?”

With his explanation, I smiled, and then had a thought. “Sure, I’d love the help and thanks for letting me know about the guards. But, can I ask for you for a favor?”

It was his turn to give me a frown. “I suppose, but it depends…”

I said in return, as meekly as I could manage, “I was lucky enough to get a skill book as a drop, but I don’t have the gold yet to learn it. Sounds like it might come in handy?”

His frown wiped from his face, now turning into a small smile, his eyes shining. “That’s damn sweet! What skill book did you get?”

“Shadow Step,” I replied.

“That is a damn nice skill to have. Sure, I can help you out. Here’s 50 gold. You can upgrade some of your equipment while you’re at it.”

I got a trade invitation window which asked if I’d like to trade with Darrius, which I accepted. He added the 50 gold into the trade window and immediately accepted the trade, which I did as well. My eyes now glowed with excitement and I gave Darrius a well deserved smile. “Thanks Darrius, this really helps. I owe you, okay?”

“Na, don’t worry about it. But if I need help with something, I’ll keep the debt in mind. I’m off for a bit, but I’ll be back on this evening after my class ends. He usually arrives in the city at 11:00am GMT. I’ll send you a message tonight when I see you on-line, alright?”

I gave him a curt nod, and he looked down to his feet, his avatar giving a silver aura as he closed his eyes, and then his avatar started flickering indicating he was logging out. After 15 seconds, he disappeared.

“That really freaks me the hell out when they do that,” I heard Ga’arvn say from behind me.

I looked behind me and stared at him, “You’re one to talk,” I informed him, setting my now empty bottle of wine on the counter before leaving. I had places to be, equipment to buy, skills to learn, and people to kill. It was turning out to be a much better day than when I started.

After getting back to the inn after my late evening of shopping, I was quite content with my shopping spree. I managed to purchase a full outfit of thick leather, which was a little higher level than myself, therefore I felt a tag sluggish, which I would until I hit level 15. I did pick up some new, bronze daggers, which were level 10-15. I wasn’t as concerned about the daggers as I was about my gear, since dexterity and vitality where the weak points with the Amulet of Noctis. My armor rating was a respectable 111, so as long as I didn’t take any major hits, I should be okay, at least, long enough for me to take out whatever was attacking me.

I also was able to get to the skill trainer and learn Shadow Step, which, as I knew, allowed me to immediately stealth and transport to another target as long as they were in range. The range itself would increase by 10% per level, so for now, the enemy had to be within 5 meters.

The only bad thing about my shopping spree was that I was back down to 2 gold, 16 silver, and some copper. Regardless though, this would help in the long term, or rather, short term until I was able to level out of everything. But life before then would be much, much easier.

With these happy thoughts, I made my way over to the large bed that was calling my name and jumped into the middle of it. I didn’t even take off my gear, but I did take off my daggers and laid them on the nightstand beside the bed before my eyes closed, my mind drifting towards the dreamworld.