Harmon and I silently examined each other for a few minutes from our respective seats on opposite sides of his desk. Harmon was obviously trying to judge how to answer my previous question. Even now, just watching the old man think I was impressed by how human these NPC’s were, I had no idea how the company that owned Gransoft had managed to make AI’s as sophisticated as these, but I did have an idea of why they had allowed Gransoft to use them in Soul Core Online. VR games made billions of dollars annually so both companies stood to make a lot of money especially if the AI’s were able to add to the game world like Katy said they were. Using the AI’s in the game would also allow them to easily show just how advanced they were allowing them to kill two birds with one stone.

“What do you want to know first?” Harmon asked eventually, still watching me closely to see how I would answer.

I considered his reply for a few seconds, obviously this was part of some sort of test. I had a large number of questions, but there was one that if I was asked which one, I thought was the most important one to learn the answer to then there was only one that fit that bill.

“Who was the guy who killed me and why was he here in Ponson?” I asked. I was sure that this was the question that Harmon wanted me to ask him first and my theory was quickly was confirmed when he barked out a laugh.

“Good question!” He replied giving me a grin. “The man that killed you and that’s still weird to say by the way was a spy from another country who was part of a group that has been spreading chaos in many of the towns throughout the kingdom.”

“That was the reason he put Tylie and Milly through that?” I said my voice turning cold.

“That’s right,” Harmon replied. “The Theocracy of Garros is a place that will use any means that it’s ruler deems necessary to increase their territory and power.”

I nodded as Harmon said this. During character creation I had been able to read up on the countries that the different races that I could’ve picked from usually lived. The Theocracy of Garros was a country controlled by the Priests of Garro the god of war and the most common race that lived there were an elf-like race known as Renzo. Though I called them elf-like, according to what I read they were more like Drow than the elves most people would think of when they heard the word. Having skin so pale it was almost translucent, sharp teeth and predominantly dark hair. Another thing that set them apart from the elves that I had heard of was that they had fairly similar body types compared to humans instead of the slender bodies that elves were known for.

From what I had read the priests that controlled the country were very cruel and treated their lower-class citizens almost as poorly as someone else might treat their livestock and were perfectly willing to throw thousands into battle poorly armed and barely trained where they would fall like wheat before a scythe and what was even more horrifying to me was that the citizens of the Theocracy went along with this willingly as the priests had long convinced them that those that died in battle went to their version of heaven which reminded me somewhat of Valhalla. Naturally this sort of fanaticism had put me off the idea of starting as a Renzo completely and I had actually forgotten that the Theocracy and the Kingdom of Issaronia were neighbours.

“Is Ponson close to the border with the Theocracy?” I asked. I had yet to see a map larger than the small one that I could use as a player so I didn’t know of this was the case but if it was then that would explain why someone like Harmon here in Ponson.

“Not really,” Harmon replied shaking his head. “But that doesn’t matter was much to the Theocracy, after all one of the best ways of winning a war is to make it so that the country you are invading is already falling apart from within. My guess was that this was a test to see whether you outsiders could be used for that purpose.”

Well there goes that theory about why Harmon was in this town. But more important than that was this new information about war.

“Is Issaronia at war with the Theocracy?” I asked, try as I might I couldn’t recall something like that being mentioned in the information I had access to in the character creation area.

“Well no, not yet, but with the Theocracy it’s only a matter of time,” Harmon sighed. “They do follow the god of war after all, so they like picking fights with other countries. To them war is just another form of worship.”

I stroked my chin as I processed this information. It would seem that this was the setup for a game event of some sort. One that would end the lives of countless NPC’s if it ended up happening. This realisation put somewhat of a damper on what would be exciting information in any other game.

“Well let’s hope that the other spies get caught before they can do too much damage,” I said. “If they get caught then that might make the people in charge over in the Theocracy think twice about invading, or at least make them postpone the attack.”

“Indeed, I have to personally thank you for what you have done as well,” Harmon said.

“You really don’t,” I replied holding up my left arm to show him the bracelet on my left arm. “You’ve already given me more than enough.”

“Really?” He asked. “But that’s just more work for you to do.”

“More work is exactly what I want,” I chuckled.

“And why is that?” Harmon asked leaning forward to look me in the eye. “Why do you want to do things that can get you killed?”

“Because in my world I’m a nobody,” I answered honestly meeting his gaze. “The only time I really feel like I’m alive in worlds like this one. In worlds like this I can be whoever I want to be without people telling me that I can’t. And there are plenty of other outsiders who are no different in that respect.”

“What’s stopping you from helping people out back in your world?” Harmon asked giving me a confused look.

“I don’t look like this back in my world,” I answered gesturing vaguely at my body. “Back there I’m a half-starved looking kid who works at a store because he dropped out of school and barely makes enough money to get by. I can barely take care of myself in that world , let alone other people.”

“Besides,” I continued. “Things here are much simpler, back in my world something as simple as trying to help someone out can get you in trouble if they’re the sort of person who doesn’t appreciate that sort of thing.”

“Your world doesn’t sound like a very nice place,” Harmon said shaking his head sadly. “Maybe we should move on to a different subject then?”

“That would be great,” I replied feeling slightly guilty that I had unloaded some of my baggage on the old man. “I guess we should talk about the results of the quest that you gave me.”

“Indeed,” Harmon said looking relieved to be talking about a subject that he could actually help with. “Well, I think it’s pretty clear that you completed the quest that we gave you, the outsiders are in our custody and the spy is dead. You’ve already received part of the reward for the quest and like I promised you can now take part in the training sessions with the guards, the innkeeper has also told me that he has something for you as well.”

“Cool,” I replied It was always nice when people appreciated the help, I gave them. As I said this the quest completed notification finally appeared in front of me.

Guard Training (Part 1) Complete!

Due to you completing a secret objective the rewards for completing this quest have been increased!

Rewards

You can now participate in training sessions with the Ponson guards. + 100 reputation with the Ponson guards.

Special Rewards

Ranger Initiate Title, Silver Bracelet and Ranger Soul Core. Unknown reward from the Ponson Innkeeper.

Ok so I completed a secret objective I guess that sort of explains what happened out in the courtyard, but there was still something about it that bothered me.

“Harmon, why did you make me a ranger?”

“Well, you remember how I told you that the Theocracy was testing whether they could use outsiders to sow chaos in other countries?” he asked, and I nodded in reply. “Well, the church of Malar decided to try and use other outsiders to counter that.”

“Because we can come back to life?” I asked my hand coming up to rub my chin thoughtfully. It was a good idea and sort of suggested to me that the church of Malar was something that the AI’s had come up with in order to turn those players that the NPC’s deemed worthy into something along the lines of system administrators or Game Masters, giving them powers that normal players didn’t have so that they could bring criminal players to justice. Maybe I had been a little hasty in judging the way Gransoft had decided to let the AI’s handle criminal matters regarding players.

“Indeed, I’m sure that you can understand why that would be a useful trait for someone in law enforcement,” Harmon replied. He was right, outside of the game policemen and women died on a daily basis so it was very easy to see how the ability for someone to come back to life when something went wrong could be a literal gamechanger.

“Alright, so I’m some sort of trial run to see if outsiders can be trusted with something like this?”

“That’s a good way of looking at it,” Harmon said nodding at my question. “I actually recommended you myself. There are a couple of other outsiders who we are watching but for now you are something completely unique in this world; an outsider who is also a ranger. Naturally we retain the right to remove your ranger status and there is a trial period, but I don’t expect that we will be taking your Ranger status away from you, after all you’ve already sacrificed yourself once for one of us.”

“Well thank you for the vote of confidence,” I said glancing once more at the thin band of silver around my wrist. “What can you tell me about the sort of Skills I can get from the Soul Core?”

“Well why don’t we go over the Skill you already have first,” Harmon said.

“Alright, I might have a look at my Skills as a whole then if that’s alright?” I replied.

“Sure, go ahead,” Harmon replied. “If you want, I can even give you some advice on the sort of Skills you should be focussing on.”

“I might take you up on that offer,” I said smiling at the old man as I brought up my Soul Links screen.

Zeke’s Soul Links

Current Links:3 Skill Links

Basic Glaive Core

Level: 1/10

Soul Points 4/10

Skills

Slash: 150% weapon damage (Slashing). Cost: 15 Spirit. Cooldown: 3 Seconds.

Additional Stats

+1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution.

Basic Spellglove Core

Level: 1/10

Soul Points: 8/10

Skills

Ward: Absorbs up to 200% of Magic Power. Cost: 20 Spirit. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown:20 seconds.

Additional Stats

+1 Intelligence.

Ranger Core

Level: 1/50

Soul Points: 0/10 (This Soul Core can only gain Soul Points by completing special Quests.)

Skills

Detect Truth: Allows the user to sense when someone is lying. Cost: 20 Spirit. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

Additional Stats

+0.5 to Spirit regen

I frowned at the sight of how many Soul Points my Glaive Core and Spellglove Core had, it would seem that the player that I had mortally wounded had either died from his injuries or the game had decided that I had dealt enough damage that he was treated as my kill when Jameson decided to put him out of his misery. Then I turned my attention to the new listing, unfortunately the Skill (which was probably more accurately a spell) that I now knew because of the Ranger Core wasn’t one that was useful in battle however it did give me a boost my Spirit regen which would allow me to use my Skills more often which was useful. Also, jeez how many levels did the Ranger Core have!? Just what sort of thing had I been given? I mean sure even raising it to Level 2 was going to take a long time due to its special requirements, but 50 levels seemed a little bit over the top, especially as I was still only Level 1 myself. Still it raised the question of just how much one of these Soul Cores cost.

“Alright, I’ve got a Skill called Detect Truth,” I said to Harmon who nodded.

“Right as I’m sure you’ve already figured out this Skill isn’t useful in battle,” Harmon said. “In fact, very few of the Skills that you can learn from the Ranger Core are.”

“What! Really!?” I shouted in surprise. I had expected from that Rangers were some sort of ultra-powerful warriors but with those few words Harmon had all but destroyed those expectations. Seeing the look on my face Harmon started laughing again.

“Don’t worry,” Harmon told me once he had calmed down. “Ranger Cores mostly exist for the purpose of increasing the user’s stats, in fact there are very few Soul Cores that come close to the Ranger Core in terms of both the number of different Stats the Core can increase the amount of Stat Points it increases them by.”

“So, what you’re saying is that the Ranger Core is really to make powerful people even more powerful?” I asked. This actually made sense as it stopped Rangers from having a shared fighting style which would make it easier for their targets to counter them.

“That’s a good way of looking at it,” Harmon said giving me a pleased nod. “Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you can’t learn Skills that are useful in battle from the Ranger Core but that’s not its primary purpose. You can also learn Skills like the one that you could use while using the Glamor ring, which I need back by the way.”

“Oh! Right,” embarrassed slightly that I had forgotten I handed the small metal band over. ‘Can you give me an example of the combat Skills you can learn?”

“Hmm, one of the most useful is called Bind and as you might expect it wraps an enemy in magical ropes,” Harmon said raising a finger. “If they don’t struggle it lasts much longer so it can also be used for transporting prisoners.”

“I see,” I replied raising my hand to my chin as I thought about the uses that sort of spell had. “That is indeed a useful Skill. Alright what can you tell me about the Skills that I can get from my Glaive Core and Spellglove Core?”

“Well when you level up your Glaive Core you can choose from either a Stat increase or a Skill that attacks an area in front of you.”

“Wait!” I interrupted before he could continue. “You can choose between different things? I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, that’s the way any Soul Core that Levels up works,” Harmon replied. “But don’t worry about it too much because you can always choose the one you didn’t get last time.”

“Is it always between two different things or are there more options?”

“Depends on the Soul Core, higher ranked Soul Cores often have more options with each Level Up, but you will only receive one new one the next time you Level Up, with the other options being the ones that you didn’t choose, the Stat increases are larger too,” Harmon replied.

“And what about my Spellglove Core? I asked.

“Yes, that was an interesting choice on your part I don’t think I’ve heard of another outsider who uses one,” Harmon said frowning slightly. “Although that could change over the next few days if you keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Was it a bad choice?” I asked choosing to ignore the dig at my tendency to attract unwanted attention.

“No, no it definitely wasn’t,” Harmon replied quickly. “I’m actually quite fond of spellgloves myself but they can be a bit tricky to get used to. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen someone get badly injured when they tried to block an attack only to have their ward break.”

“Ah… yes that does seem to happen,” I admitted making Harmon cringe slightly.

“Well when it comes to the Skills you can learn with a Spellglove Core there’s a good one that can knock back any nearby enemy called shockwave, I also recommend upgrading your basic Ward when you get the chance, although you won’t be able to learn the really good upgrades until you get a better Core,” Harmon said making me blink in surprise. “Also, if you want there’s a Skill that coats your fist in Mana that can be useful on occasion but you already have a melee weapon so I wouldn’t worry about that too much it’s really only for mages to use in emergencies.”

“Wait, you can upgrade Skills?”

“Yes of course, you outsiders really don’t know much about Soul Cores, do you?”

“Ah, no that would be difficult, we don’t have them in our world after all,” I said.

“Of course, I know it’s not your fault it’s just weird for me,” Harmon chuckled.

That was certainly true, it was weird enough that they had immortal people appearing in their world who could pull weapons and things out of thin air and yet not understanding how things in this world worked.

“Well I’m sure that the other outsiders will be spreading the things that they learn when they get back to our world so they won’t be clueless for long, although that may just make it easier for them to cause problems,” I sighed realising partway through my sentence just how much of a pain players would become when they started Levelling Up. Speaking of which.

“Harmon could you remind me where the person who was handing out the rabbit hunting Quest was please?” I asked. “I don’t think that going after the Terror Chicks is a good idea until I get used to fighting with my naginata, especially after what happened last time.”

“Hmm, that’s probably a good idea,” Harmon admitted before smirking at me. “Jameson told me what happened last time and that was when you were fighting with a weapon you had been using for a long time, but first one last thing, check the properties of your bracelet.”

Jeez, this old man like to tease people about things, but I suppose I should do as he asked.

Rangers Silver Bracelet

Item Tier (Rarity): Masterwork (Epic)

Required Level: N/A

Soulbound

Magical Defence:3

Core Slots:

1 Skill Core Sockets (Locked)

This once well-made but plain piece of jewellery has been turned into a very special item by the Soul Core slotted into it and will now grow and change as its wearer becomes a more respected ranger.

This item can now change its shape to hide its true nature.

Whoa, that’s different, I wasn’t quite sure what Soulbound meant in this world, but it was still a fairly impressive item. Especially considering that it could change its shape, after all if all rangers walked around with bracelets looking like the one on Harmon’s arm… wait a minute.

“Harmon have you changed your bracelets shape?” I asked looking at Harmon’s left arm. Instead of the intricate silver bracelet that I had noted during the ceremony earlier he was now wearing a simple band of what looked like iron around his wrist, actually come to think of it he had been wearing one earlier as well I just hadn’t really paid attention to it.

“I can’t believe it’s taken you this long to realise,” Harmon sighed sadly. “Yes, as you might imagine letting strangers know that you’re a ranger id generally considered to be a bad idea so our bracelets can change shape to disguise this fact.”

He proceeded to show me how to change the shape of my own bracelet and soon I had what looked like a similar iron band around my own wrist. After I had successfully managed to change the shape of my bracelet, he gave me the directions to the man who was giving out the rabbit hunting Quest.

“Oh, and just so you know there’ll be a training session for the guards first thing in the morning if you want to take part,” Harmon told me as somewhat of an afterthought as I got up to leave.

“Cool,” I replied. “I’ll see you then.”

“Happy hunting.”