Lucia entered the game space as normal, porting into the tavern where her crew normally congregated before going out to hunt monsters and treasures in the world of Euphemia, also known as 2nd world. Yet today, none of the crew was present. They were either working their real jobs or training in the real world to increase their game stats.

That was something about Euphemia that differed from most games. If you wanted to be a rogue you needed to train for it. Lucia had, doing gymnastics, parkour, tightrope walking, climbing and dual weapons wielding with a local group that got together for weapon’s training. She was also duel classed as a fighter, for which she had trained fencing and qi jong, which fit her play style. Right now, she was level 11 as a rogue and 7 as a fighter and operated as one of her party’s main damage dealer. Her whole party was duel classed. Roughly 27% of players duel classed, and virtually 100% of players on top ranked team did so.

Lucia though had decided that she wanted to do something that only 3% of the player population did; she was going to triple class. Also, doing so as a bard, one of the hardest classes to play well. This had shocked her main team for two reasons. One was that unless she played even more on her own, she would have to leave the party, and bards weren’t known for their ability to solo. She would have to leave the party because her experience points would be being split three and not two ways and the others would surge ahead. This was always a concern to get the mathematics of this right in a very complex party like she quested with. She might be able to keep up for a few weeks or a month, but it would just be a matter of time.

The other main reason was that she had never shown any musical competency. Never played instruments as kids. Never had any real aptitude. The last two months she had watched many immersive videos and learned a lot on a step learning curve. She had started with a basic drum and then added in a children’s wind instrument. She was far from perfect, but she felt that she now had the minimum competency to enter the Bard College and get the class open to her.

The reason she wanted to do so had to do with a deficiency in her party. They had a great tank to absorb the damage, a good healer who could be a little flighty at times and four good damage dealers including herself. What they lacked was the support player who could enfeeble the enemy, enhance the other team members, and do crowd control so they didn’t get overwhelmed. The party had wiped several times because even with how much damage they could deal out, they could be overwhelmed by numbers.

So, Lucia’s plan, which was not fully supported if the truth be known, was to triple class. She would have to find the time on her own to advance Bard while continuing to advance rogue and fighter with her main party. She needed to keep on making income as well. Juggling everything was going to be difficult but she’d literally been practicing juggling as well to have with bard persona.

“Welcome Lucia Fritch,” said the game AI. None of your main party are online but 128 people you have quested with and set up contact info for in the past are online right now. Would you like to reach out and contact any of them today?

“No, thank you Rose,” she responded.

“Your friend, Suzanne Baker had left a message and a picture from her recent quest in the Arial waste. She in currently physically locate in Tuscany. Would you like to see?,” queried Rose.

“No thank you dear but remind me as we’re leaving.” Rose was just another instantiation of her main AI but only when you were in the game could you see info on friends’ characters. It was a rule that many players didn’t like but Euphemia had turned deaf ears to those complaints.

“You are a check on all physical metrics and EEG connection. Remember, if you want connection to me during gameplay, you need to advance a class that has that kind of access..”

“That’s what today is about Rose.”

“Full game mode being entered now.”

In reality Lucia sat in her small living room on her couch that her parents had given her, just so the room wouldn’t be so empty. Over her head though was a state-of-the-art VR helmet, with eight dry electrode leads that recorded from most of the main cortices. In her hands she held a controller that her hands knew as if it were just an extension of themselves. She dreamed of one day being sponsored by one of the big entertainment companies and being put in a large isolation tank where her own physical movements would control her avatar. Lucia knew, however, that day wasn’t immanent.

Her visual and auditory world was now fully in the world of Euphemia. He AI could be counted to guard her physical both and instantly port her out. She had very real weapons on hand if that was the case, and the training to use them. That had never happened though and although she had heard stories about it occurring it was always through many degrees of separation. More expensive set ups could add body suits for touch and advanced helmets for smell, but Lucia didn’t know if either was really worth it. Many who had bought them complained about them.

It went without saying that the stars of the game got much more advanced version of all these things in their isolation tanks. It did come with downside, however. While in the tanks the players muscles were being moved and stimulated to replicate many things happening in the game. Yet so was pain. Experts had estimated that only about 40% of the pain that was created by the game corresponded with what the injuries in reality would have caused. Yet it had chased off many a pro-gamer who decided that it wasn’t for them after all. The real pain angle, though, gave the pros such an advantage in getting viewer to their streams. Who wanted to watch pretend when there were people really willing to put themselves on the line.

Lucia exited the tavern with a close eye on her surroundings. Pickpockets were all around in this part of town and she had more gold on her than usual to pay the Bard College for testing. The NPCs were no problem because they all seemed to know that she was a dues paying member of the thieves guild, and therefore not a mark. Among the players the situation was different. If the player had joined the thieves’ guild they were given a proximity warning to other dues paying rogues, but some actually viewed this as a challenge. The guild was not kind to those who went this route. The thing that the guild really came down hard on was freelance thievery. The city officials turned a blind eye to whatever the guild did on this issue. In fact, since the master of the Guild was the third highest member of the City Counsel and some speculated the power behind the mayor, many things were swept under the carpet.

She loved this city though. The mix of people was great and most major schools to class into were represented here. It was a crossroads of the continent and was near passes that divided mountain ranges running both north to south and east to west. Visually the surrounding areas reminded her a lot of Switzerland, where she had spent some time in a year abroad after high school. Merchant trains were coming through often and many a player had transitioned through the location. Since teleporting was expensive and being a guard on a merchant train was often good for both coin and adventure, many players took the slow routes between cities. Lucia thought it sounded boring, and teleportation really wasn’t that expensive.

Her home base tavern wasn’t in the worst area but far from the best. People here just might be worthwhile to pick their pocket. Lucia didn’t like that element of being a rogue so after gaining the base proficiency that was required, she had never advanced it again. Lock picking, that was a different matter, because she saw herself as a bit of a Robin Hood and didn’t mind stealing from those well-to-do who were robbing the poor. This includes both NPCs and PCs.

The Bard College was a section of the in the University and to get there she needed to cross the mercantile district. It was awash, as always, with a smorgasbord of npcs and players from all nations and societies. Lots of action happening. She preferred her own section although if admitted to study as a Bard, and if her Party fell apart, she may need to relocate for convenience. Cross that bridge if she came to it.

Lucia was able to run the whole way. It wasn’t uncommon to see people running in the game like it would be in real life. The distance she could run was based on the metrics she had demonstrated in the real world, and she did a lot of working out to maintain her strength, dexterity, and constitution, adding to them when she could. Many people’s characters were very limited by the lack of real-world fitness of their owners. But that was ok for them. Some people never left the cities, finding plenty of things that didn’t involve adventuring. That was even more true in some of the attached worlds that you could reincarnate into if your character died in one VR world. In fact, the VR world that mirrored the present day had very few adventures to be found. People went to school in it or had reunions with long lost friends. You could do that in any of the seven worlds, but the majority preferred the familiar. Plus, learning magic in the world she played in, called 2nd world, wouldn’t get you much in the real world. Many claimed that there were applications to the meditation and breathwork patterns that you needed to learn but they weren’t to really cast spells in the real world.

She began to slow as she approached the square in front of the college. There were plenty of entertainers in front of the Bards College, not all of them bards at all. Some were charlatans playing confidence games. She had to learn them in her early rogue training but now the confidence games that she played were usually bigger. Going after a noble’s son who had cheated a tavern out of money. Cheating a merchant out of the amount he’d overcharged. Even going after charlatans but with this she was picky. She remembered the days of required training on this and didn’t begrudge those who were looking to earn just a few dishonest bucks.

Slowing, she stopped in front of the giant doors to the Main hall. The right was partially open. Unless they were magicked, she was sure they took more than one person to open and close. Taking a deep breath, she headed inside.