“Ahh...ma’am, my name isn’t Red” I said while trying to correct the misunderstanding. Why can't they just type it in a floating keyboard or something so I could think my nickname through? Red definitely wasn't the first choice I had in mind for a nickname. I'd choose something cooler like Raven Hawk, Captain Inferiority or even Michael Myers. That last one was my favorite of the bunch.

She sits down and looks at me with a contemplative look for a few seconds before answering “Your name has already been registered. If you wish to change it, you may try to do so by filing an official request at the Main Guild Headquarters in Korvan” great, now I'm stuck with it until I can go to this Korvan or whatever.

“Where is Korvan exactly?” I asked. She then took out a large map under her desk and pointed to an island to the far west surrounded by seven different small islands.

“This is Korvan the ‘Mercenary Capital’” and then she pointed to a huge mass of land placed north east.

"This is where you are right now. In one of the kindgoms of the Grand Crimson Empire. Kilgean's Capital, Loam” I held my head with both my hands. Holy shit, that's far. That means I have to cross a whole continent just to change my name!. The woman then proceeded to talk while I was cursing at myself.

“My name is Eleanor Rosso Fuoco, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 13th Battalion of the Grand Crimson Empire. I’m here to explain to you the rules and regulations while you're staying in Loam” she said, taking out a paper and pen under her desk.

“First you need to sign this document here to state that you are now a legitimate citizen of the Empire and vow to defend it with your life. You will then be granted with support that those who are not citizens of the empire won’t receive” I took the paper and read it, careful not to miss anything

From it, the first three important things were that when a foreign invader comes with hostile intentions, we as citizens will then be called to arms to defend it if the Army fails to do so. Second, is that we may not do anything that will cause harm to the Empire as a whole and lastly, we may only abdicate from the Empire if we pay a sum of 10,000 Gold coins + 10% of the equivalent of any private property you own here in the Empire

It’s also stated here that when we take on a request at any of the guild branches in the empire, we will receive a 20% bonus to experience gained if you completed it. If we fail the quest, we will receive a penalty of only 50% of the initial gold reward instead of 150% and only twelve hours of jail time instead of a whole day. We also have the rights to join the army as citizens of the Empire.

Ouch, that penalty hurts my pixelized pochets. After reading the document, I sign the paper and handed it back to her. Eleanor then reached for something under her desk and took out a jingling pouch and a dagger.

“This is customary for first timers here, take it and be smart enough not to spend it all on useless things. You should also head for the guild building first, it’s a hundred meters straight from here then take a left turn on the fifth street that you pass. You wont miss it, there's a big red signboard saying ‘Loam Guild Headquarters' in front of it’” she said while handing me the pouch and dagger.

"Also, Welcome to Loam Red. I hope you have a successful career here” She smiled and pointed towards the door behind me, indicating that the conversation was over. That's all? How about game mechanics? Stats, skills, food, water...anything? I don't even know how to log out of the game! Grumbling as I open the door, the sunlight blinds me for a couple of seconds as I hear people talking and walking in front of me.

"So where do we go first?"

"Charged milk. Get your fresh charged cow's milk! 25 silvers each!"

"Hey, wanna buy a poison toad dagger? Half the price just for you"

"Let's leave no witnesses alive and hide the bodies under the sewers. No one would find their corpses there" woah, that last one was kinda dark. I open my eyes, but what greeted me was a ten feet tall jaguar carrying bags at its side. Someone then shouts into my ear as i was looking at the black beast.

“Get out of the way rookie! You’re in my way!” a burly looking man holding a shield as big as he was, was staring down at me. This guy looks familiar... On a closer inspection, he had curly hair and a bored face that says 'You fuck with me, I fuck with you ten times over'. Doesn't he look like that one wrestler from a long time ago.

"Did you not hear me rookie!? I! SAID! GET! OUT! OF! THE! WAY!" he shouts right next to my ear, making me jump in place. I immediately went to the side as not to disturb the man. Sheesh, grumpy people. Why can't they just ask politely and not scream at someone.

"Fucking shits, why are they all around the place today" he then went inside Eleanor's room, slamming the door behind me. Someone needs to take the chill pill, on second thought, give him the whole pill case to swallow. We don't need to worry about over dosing. With that done, I take on the surroundings more clearly for the first time.

"Wow, not bad" admiring the view in front of me. I was in a plaza where a fountain was at the middle of it.A lot of people were hanging around it and posing like some kind of selfie moment. Laughing and giggling, making the others take poses along with them. Even in the virtual world, there's still people like that' sighing as I shake my head from side to side.

Vendors where also strewn here and there, trying to sell their wares, ranging from weapons to animals. It looked like a bazaar, or maybe because it was one.

"Sir! 50% off just for you!" a blue bonet wearing merchant said to a male customer looking at his wares.

His fellow merchant across from him interupted their conversation.

"I'll sell mine for 60% off!" he grins at his competitor. Meanwhile, the first merchant gave him the death glare. Chanting 'Die, die, die, die a hundred times'. It's just one customer, how much of a grudge can you hold against him?

"You trying to rip him off? I'll sell it to you for half the price of what their offering!" an old lady then came in front of him and offered something lower. Looks like granny won this one.

"Sheesh, this place is hectic" I said out loud, while walking along the stalls. I then stopped, when a big red panda in a cage caught my attention. That's the fluffiest and cutest thing I'd ever seen in my whole life! Pikachu can't hold a candle against this massive fluff ball!

I walked closer to it.It was lying down at a height of almost two meters, using it's two paws to eat a bamboo shoot. Do they sell this as a stuffed animal? I want one of them to hug for my own cozy nights. I'd even get a part-time job just to get one of them. Heck, I'd even take two part-time jobs if it's necessary, but, three is too much, even for a giant red stuffed panda... maybe three is still good though?

“Interested in buying her sir?” The vendor approached me as I was observing the big red fur ball.

“What is it called?” I asked, The big red panda reaches out with its front paw, looking like it wants to shake hands. Ain't that cute! I smile at the animals attempt to make friends, but when I was about to reach out and shake hands (or paws), the vendor swats my hand away.

"Waa?" confused, I turn towards the vendor with a surprised look, like when a child who was denied from eating candy after a meal.

“Don’t let yourself go near her sir, especially when you’re a stranger to her. If she gets a hold of you, she ain’t letting go” as he wags his index finger. I suddenly see the giant claws on it's paws, and the cute, adorable smile that the thing had in my head suddenly turned into a sinister look. Not so friendly then.

“This here is a Red Sun Panda, the symbol of the Grand Crimson Empire symbolizing might and tenacity. They're only found in the Sun Bamboo groves in the center of the Empire. She's a young one, only just six months old. So she's very easy to train” brushing the panda with his right hand. Easy to train... as in a dog to keep as a pet, but instead of teach it to fetch you teach it to fight?

“Are you interested in purchasing her?” he asked with a hint of expectation in his voice. Hell yeah, I was interested. Who wouldn't want a big red panda to fight for you?

“How much is she” I asked and he put up five of his fingers.

"What?" tilting my head at his odd behaviour.

"I only take gold sir" putting on a happy expression. Oh, five gold coins then?

“5 gold?” he shakes his head. What?

“500?” and he shakes his head again for the second time. More?

“5000?” then he nods. I... I took out my pouch to look at how much I got and saw that there were 50 copper coins and one silver coin. Immediately after he saw how much I had, he shooed me away.

"Wow, nice business etiquette" I moved along, not sparring the man and his panda another glance.

After going in a circle and making it back to the fountain, I then thought that I should contact my friends in-game, but I immediately realized that I didn’t even know what nicknames they chose. Heck, my own nick name here doesn't even come to me as something I would willingly choose. I looked down towards the ground to think and saw that I only had a white sleeveless shirt and brown pants on. At least I ain't naked. Well, I can't do anything about their names now. I’ll just ask them tomorrow or when I see them here. I then went to look for the guild building.

I passed by a blacksmith shop, a store with an Erlenmeyer flask on the sign board, and an odd looking one with a black door and a skull with crossed swords symbol on it, that’s been chained and pad locked from the outside. This city is too big to navigate in a day, I need some time to get used to this. I turned right at the corner and saw the guild headquarters’ big red signboard. Eleanor was understating when she said big.

"This signboards as big as a fucking two storey house!" I exclaimed, looking at the six storey building and the signboard occupying the front of the second and third floors. If they wanted to advertise the guild with that giant ass signboard, it did the job. I went inside to check if my friends were in there, but to my dismay, I couldn't find any of them.

The place was filled with people wearing the same attire as me. Hey, this attire might trend in the internet someday, imagining people memeing the fuck out of everything this days. There were already some looking at a signboard for what appears to be a ‘Quest Board’ to take on requests. Better get this quick and check it out.

As I fall in line with the rest for I don’t know what for, but it must have been important since almost all of the people I see are falling in line for the counters. There were male and female clerks behind it, wearing a white under shirt and a red blazer. When in rome, do what the romans do, be like Brutus and stab to death your friend, or was he his friend? Let's party and Et tu, Brute all day long!

With my monologue done, I listen to the conversation of the people in front of me while I wait for my turn.

“The game time is six times faster than it is in the real word, so even if you only have a few hours a day you can still catch up. I also heard that you need to first level up your basic skill before you can change your job, try to call out in your head ‘Status’ to see what what I'm talking about” said a lanky looking man with his hands in his pockets looking smugly at his companion who had big eyebags under his eyes.

“Eh? How’d you know about that?” a female then asked from behind him. He then tilted his forehead upward looking more smug than a few seconds ago. Wow, this guy's showing some major ego showing on his face.

“I got connections. I have some acquaintances who played the beta and shared their information with me” he said.

"Then how do you log out from the game?" she asked. The lanky man smiles and waits for a few seconds before answering her question, putting on an air of importance as he looks at the female that was anticipating his answer. I was getting slightly irritated at how he does things. This dude has a stick stuck too deep in his arse, I thought while wanting to kick the said stick and making it go deeper inside his hole.

"Just say or think of the word 'Log out' and a window will pop up in front of you, then press yes"

Wanting to try out the new found information, I said in my mind ‘Status’ and a blue window appeared.

Status Level 1(0/100)

Name RedGender Male

Class N/ASubclass N/A

Affiliation Grand Crimson Empire

State None

Physical attack 2Magical attack 1

Physical def 3Magical def 1

Evasion 0%Critical 1%, +40% added to damage

Resist None

Str 1Vit1

Agi 1Con1

Dex 1Luk 1

Wis 1Int 1

Skills Basic Human Necessity(Passive) 0/10

So I needed to first level up my Basic Human Necessity skill to get a class huh? I thought to myself while looking over my status window. After looking every little thing written on it, I didn’t notice that I was the next person to go to the front desk. Not wanting to keep the line waiting, I rushed a head and I saw a very attractive green haired androgynous looking man (?) with pointy ears greeted me with a smile. Is it weird if I find him/her attractive?, I question myself for a few seconds before I snapped back to reality. Although, my attention was back, I just kept staring at him because I had no idea what this line was for. Sensing my dilemma, the man explained to me.

“Good afternoon, sir. These lines are for those who are registering in the guild, gathering information and taking up official requests that are plastered on the ‘Quest Board” flashing me a wide smile. It's too bright! I shield my eye's with both of my hands from his dazling smile. He looks at me weirdly, as I cover my eyes. Slightly emberrassed for the silly things that I was doing, I coughed once before I asked him a question.

“Ehem...do I need to pay anything if I wanted to register?” bringing out the pouch filled with coins.

“There is a registering fee of 5 silver coins, but it will be deducted instead on the first 5 quests that you will take up and finish. 1 silver will be deducted on each quest and if the quests you take up doesn’t have any monetary reward it will then be deducted on your succeeding requests” informing me on how the registration works.

“Let me sign up then please” he then took out a black card and a few papers. After signing the documents he pointed towards a small blade to his left.

“You need to put a few drops of blood on the black card in order for you to be officially registered in the guild” I did as I was told, picking up the blade and pricking my finger. That kinda hurt... and then I realized something.

Wait, I’ll feel the pain when I get injured in the game!?I was now looking at the blade with a new found fear. Calm down, this is just a game. It's for fun...hah...hah, taking deep breaths to calm my fears.

“Thank you for registering in the guild” he then said shouted ‘Next!’ as I sat on one of the couches in the lobby, I looked at the black card and saw the words ‘Guild Card’ written on it with my name and picture. It also states how many jobs I’ve done and my current guild rank that was brown. I guess brown means the lowest rank.

Brown, the color of shit. Laughing to myself at the similarities that I found amusing, I waited for the swarm of people flocking the quest boards to go away before I went there myself.

"Wow, just one poster left" looking at the wooden board, I only see one piece of paper that hasn't been taken yet.

“Rat extermination” was written on it, with a monetary reward of 20 silver coins and 1000 exp reward with a yellow color stated as its rank. Rat extermination? Isn’t that an easy one?, the request and reward aren’t even proportional to what the request was.

Remembering what I did back then when we had a rat infestation in the orphanage. I placed those sticky paper traps on the ground and waited for the rats to get caught in it. When they did get caught, I then took the paper and just threw them in the garbage can. I immediately took it before anyone else did and went back to the clerk to register my first job.

This is gonna be a peace of cake~ laughing at the fortune I had in my hands.

I mean, how hard can a few rats be?