When we arrived back at the gates of Ponson a group of familiar figures were waiting for us. Which was surprising because two of them were quite important members of the community.

“Welcome back everyone,” the captain of the guard rumbled as we approached. “I understand that you have something to show us.”

“Yes sir,” Warren replied as he pulled the head of the Rabbit Matriarch out of his Inventory and presented it to the massive bearded man who took it from his hands.

“Excellent job,” he said as he examined the head. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of these. “They’re quite rare.”

“I’m impressed that you managed to defeat it myself,” Jameson mentioned. “It must have been a difficult fight.”

“It was,” I agreed. “We were lucky that we managed to kill all of the other rabbits in the Den before we reached it, or we would’ve been wiped out.”

“Luckily, it was a newly created Den or that would’ve been considerably more difficult,” Katy said, and we all turned to look at her. “I assume that it was only created the day before the Outsiders started to arrive because normally a Den would have multiple tunnels and even some hidden chambers.”

“That makes sense,” Harmon nodded. “We did notice that the number of Voracious Rabbits had been growing recently but unfortunately you Outsiders showed up the following day. So, we weren’t able to do anything about it.”

“Have there always been Voracious Rabbits in the area?” I asked interestedly. “Because the Quest description suggested that it was a relatively recent occurrence.

“There were always a few in the fields around town,” Jameson replied. “But they’re rarely a threat to anyone so we usually just leave them alone for hunters to deal with unless we’re training a fresh batch of guards.”

“Ah, I see,” I nodded. “That’s quite interesting.”

“Now then,” the guard captain said as he passed the head to Jameson who grimaced in distaste. “I believe I have to give you a reward for defeating this Beast.”

Event Reward

For finding and defeating a Rabbit Matriarch in its own Den the Captain of Ponson’s Guard Harrison Sivorne has provided you with the following rewards.

Rewards

· 2 Gold Pieces

· 500 Exp

· 10 SP for your Ranger Core

· 200 Reputation with Ponson

I blinked in surprise when I saw that completing this Event had given me some Soul Points for my Ranger Core and looked up to see Harmon watching me with a small smile on his face.

“I would appreciate it if you visited me tomorrow so that we can have a chat Zeke,” he said as the others closed their own notifications.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be coming to this world tomorrow,” I said in apologetically. “But I will the following day if that works for you?”

“Very well,” Harmon replied with a sigh. I could see that the old man was a little disappointed but also understood that outsiders didn’t always show up in their world every day. “I suppose that’s fair. Then I shall see you then.”

“Well then,” Katherine sighed. “I suppose that it’s my turn now. Even though it feels wrong to give you another reward for the same thing.”

“Don’t worry about that Sergeant Heller,” Harmon chuckled. “You weren’t to know that they would have to fight something as strong as a Rabbit Matriarch to complete the Quest.”

“Thank you, sir,” Catherine replied before turning to us and tapping something that we couldn’t see a second later another screen appeared in front of me.

Quest Complete

You hunted down the location of the Rabbit Warren and wiped out everything you found within including a Rabbit Matriarch.

Rewards

· 3 Gold Pieces

· 500 Exp

· 100 Reputation with Ponson Guards

“So, were you not expecting us to find a Rabbit Matriarch in the Den when you sent us to clear it out?” Fern asked as she gave Catherine and the others a confused look that the rest of us shared.

“Well not really,” Harmon replied for her. “You see Rabbit Matriarchs are a rarer and more powerful version of a Rabbit Mother which is what she actually expected you to find there. It’s actually quite surprising that you found a monster as strong as the Rabbit Matriarch that close to town at all. Normally monsters that powerful are kept away by the Warding Crystal that is kept in the mayor’s mansion.”

“So, there’s something like that,” Kelly muttered, and I glanced over at her and smirked. Kelly was always interested in the lore of games which I had to admit was also a vice of mine, but Kelly was even worse about it than I was.

I remembered several times when Warren and I had to wait around for hours on end while she researched some obscure part of game lore in the hopes of discovering some hidden quest long after I got bored of helping her. Sometimes she would find something but more often than not it turned out to be a waste of time that Warren and I only put up with because it made her happy. Well, that and she put up with a lot of the stupid things that Warren and I did so we felt like we owed her a few hours of boredom every now and again.

I was really looking forward to her finding out about how you had to harvest Soul Shards from undead monsters to make weapon Soul Cores. In fact, the only reason that I hadn’t told her yet was so that I could surprise her with it later once I had learned as much as I could about it from Kerr.

“Right, we should let all of you get back to the inn,” Jameson said. “I’m sure that you’re exhausted.”

“Indeed,” Captain Sivorne rumbled. “In fact, why don’t you go with them and make sure that Conrad gives them all a good meal.”

“Thank you very much Captain,” Kelly said gratefully. Like Jameson had said we were all tired from the events of the day but personally I was just as hungry as I was tired and from the looks on the faces of the others I wasn’t alone there.

We happily followed Jameson back to the inn and sat down at our normal table while Conrad and Milly bustled about making our food and waiting on the other customers who watched with jealous looks on their faces as various delicious looking dishes appeared at our table.

A couple of hours later we finally headed upstairs to our rooms. I actually ended up having to help Kelly carry Warren up the stairs because of the sheer amount of alcohol that my friend had consumed. This was unfortunate and we nearly fell back down the stairs a couple of times because I was slightly more than tipsy myself which was something that I knew I was going to regret in the morning but Warren had insisted.

Finally, Kelly and I managed to haul him into their room which was almost identical to my own which I quickly staggered over to, collapsed onto my bed, and logged out. As I walked through the door to my personal VR space I stumbled slightly as the simulated drunk sensation fled my body. It always took a few seconds for the cognitive dissonance that things like that caused to disappear but when it finally did, I saw Katy watching me from her usual spot on the couch with a wide grin on her face.

“You’re really going to regret drinking as much as you did when you log back in,” she sniggered.

“Yeah, but not as much as Julian is going to regret it,” I chuckled.

“True,” she laughed.

“Well, I’d better get some proper sleep,” I sighed. “I have work in the morning.”

“Okay, sleep well,” Katy told me as I brought up the menu screen and selected the option to leave my Rig.

After clambering out of my Rig which had gotten pretty hot over the past few hours, I decided that I needed to have a shower before going to bed.

The next morning after getting ready for work I waited until Reggie messaged me on my Cyber Module to let me know that he was waiting for me outside. After saying a quick goodbye to Katy, I exited my apartment and headed downstairs to where my boss was waiting in his car.

“Thanks for picking me up Reggie,” I sighed as I slid into the back seat. “And good morning Donna.”

“Good morning to you too Tyler,” Donna chuckled as Reggie pulled out into the street. Donna was Reggie’s wife of thirty years and was something of a mother figure to all of the long-term employees at the store. In fact, if I recalled correctly the only person that she didn’t really like had been Janice which was probably why she seemed to be in such a god mood today.

We chatted about stuff that had happened in the store while I was away as well as some of the things that I had done in the game. Donna wasn’t all that interested in video games, but Reggie had played a few when he was younger and had always seemed mildly interested in the stories that I told him. All in all, it was quite a pleasant ride to work and we all managed to start our shifts in good spirits.

The rest of the day went pretty well too. Cameron, another member of staff showed up to work a short shift while Donna went to do some other stuff and we got to chatting for a bit while I was on break. Cameron was a few years younger than me and liked games as well. Unfortunately, Cameron hadn’t been able to afford to buy a copy of Soul Core Online at the release date, but he was saving up for one now that he knew more about it. It was going to take him quite a while to save up the money that he needed though.

“That’s too bad man,” I told him, and he sighed sadly in agreement. “But make sure to let me know when you buy it and we can play together.”

“That would be cool,” he agreed. I had played games a few times with Cameron over the years and he was actually pretty good. Unlike me he usually preferred to play Sci-fi games, but he was also a student at the local university who was studying AI’s, so it was only natural that he was interested in Soul Core Online.

“I’ll look forward to it man,” I chuckled. “Right, I had better get back to work.”

Thankfully, the rest of the day was just as uneventful as the morning had been. I did have to wait around for a bit while Donna and Reggie closed the shop up so that they could take me home though.

“Right, I’ll see you tomorrow Reggie,” I said as I got out of the car. “Later Donna.”

“Have a good night dear,” Donna replied.

“I will,” I nodded as I waved them goodbye before heading upstairs to my flat.

“Welcome home Tyler!” Katy greeted me as I walked in.

“Hey Katy, let me grab some dinner and I’ll join you in a minute,’ I replied as I opened the fridge and pulled out tonight’s dinner.

A few minutes later I stripped down to my underwear and clambered into my Rig, grumbling as I did so. Don’t get me wrong my rig was a perfectly serviceable machine but not only did it get really hot, it took up a large amount of my bedroom. Hopefully if I got the GM job I would be able to get one of the newer Rigs which weren’t that much bigger than the average bath and even had the ability to intravenously feed you with a special nutrient paste and take care of certain other functions for prolonged use.

“So how was your day?” Katy asked as she got up from the couch and wandered over to give me a hug.

“Much better than yesterday,” I replied as I hugged her back without even really thinking about it. “Mostly because I didn’t have to deal with Janice today.”

“Well if what you told me about her boyfriend is true then that might change,” Katy pointed out. “Anyway, we should Log In. The others are waiting for us and Harmon wants to talk to you remember.”

“Of course, I remember,” I replied. “In fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day.”

This was true but since I had spent most of my day stocking shelves and checking stock with Donna it hadn’t really affected my work in any noticeable way. I didn’t think that completing the event would be enough for me to become a fully-fledged Ranger Initiate but it had definitely been a step in the right direction. In fact, I was willing to bet that Harmon would only have one or maybe two more things for me to do to prove myself and said as much to Katy.

“Yeah, you’re probably right there,” Katy agreed as we walked over towards the door that was our entry point to the world of Soul Core Online. “What do you think you will have to do?”

“Well, the last thing that I’d expect to have to deal with is some sort of Bug or problem caused by players,” I replied, and Katy nodded in agreement.

“That makes the most sense to me,” she agreed. “Although I would like to point out the bugs will be quite uncommon in a game created by Ai’s like myself.”

“True,” I nodded. “But what if an AI’s code gets damaged in some way? I’d assume that’s something that I’d have to deal with as well.”

“Oh yes that would definitely be something that a GM would have to deal with,” Katy agreed. It was pretty obvious that this particular point made her uncomfortable which didn’t surprise me in the slightest. “I do hope that never happens though.”

“So, do I,” I nodded as I opened the door and we both stepped through.

As soon as I took over my avatar, I sat up in bed clutching my head in pain. It turned out that Katy had been right, and I was indeed regretting the amount of alcohol that I drank last night. When I finally decided that I would be able to get up without my brains running out of my ears I opened my eyes to see Katy standing over me holding a cup of water.

“Thanks Katy,” I croaked as I took the cup from her hands and took a drink of water which cleared the unpleasant taste in my mouth out slightly. I still felt like my head was being pulled apart from the inside but I knew that I had better things to do today than sit in bed hung over so I took an antidote out of my Inventory and drank it.

“Oh, that’s much better,” I moaned as my headache faded down from a head splitting one to one that was much more manageable. I still felt pretty bad but much better than I had felt before taking the antidote.

“You know, maybe we should’ve told Warren and Kelly about that before we went to bed,” Katy said sheepishly and I groaned as I realised that I had indeed forgotten to mention that antidotes could help with the effects of alcohol.

I also realised that Katy was calling Julian by in in-game name now like I did when playing the game which was mildly interesting but I chose not to dwell on that for too long since my head was still causing me grief.

“Well maybe Kelly figured it out and gave him one,“ I sighed then realised that even if she did realised that antidotes would help she probably wouldn’t give one to Warren to punish him for drinking too much which he knew that she hated. “Or maybe not. Anyway, let’s head downstairs.”

“Oh, hey Zeke, Katy,” Fern greeted us as we walked over to the table where we usually sat. She was the only one there right now and didn’t really seem in any hurry to go anywhere else for the moment, so I sat down next to her.

“Hey Fern, what’s up?” I asked as Milly wandered over and took my order.

“Well the others are out practicing their Crafting Skills right now,” she replied. “But I decided to wait and let you know that Kelly found a new Quest that we’re planning on doing when your free next.”

“Well luckily I actually have a day off tomorrow,” I replied. “So, we could do it then.”

“Alright,” she nodded. “I think that works for everyone but let me just check.”

Fern’s eyes unfocussed slightly as she brought up her menu screen and sent a message to the others. While she was doing this Milly arrived with our meals, so Katy and I quickly dug in. Fern’s expression changed several times as she communicated with the others but then she turned and smiled at me.

“Well Boss that works for everyone,” she said. “Anyway, I had better be off. I want to practice my Crafting Skills as well.”

“Didn’t you guys get a lot of practice done the other day as well?” I asked giving her a confused look.

“Actually, none of us Logged in yesterday,” she replied. “We were all pretty tired, so we decided to take the day off since you had to work.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” I agreed. “Well you enjoy yourselves and I’ll see you later.”

Fern nodded and headed off leaving Katy and I to eat our breakfast. As soon as we were doe Katy told me that she was also going to go and practice her Crafting Skills, so after we had left the inn we split up and I headed in the direction of the Guard Barracks. The guards at the entrance saluted me as I head inside and headed into the main building.

“Ah, Zeke,” a young woman sitting at a desk said as I walked in said. I didn’t know her name, but I had seen her the last time that I was here.

“Good morning Miss?” I said giving her an apologetic look.

“Oh yes, we were never introduced,” she laughed. “My name is Frederica. I’m the Captain’s wife and secretary.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that the Captain was married,” I said in surprise. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“And you,” she replied as she gave me a pleasant smile. “Anyway, I believe that Harmon is waiting for you. Do you remember where his office is?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Shall I just head in or do you want to let him know that I’m here.”

“No that’s fine,” she said. “He doesn’t really care about that sort of thing and he told me to just send you right on in when you got here.”

“Okay, see you later,” I said before heading down the hall towards Harmon’s office and knocked on the door.

“Enter,” Harmon’s voice said from behind the door.

Harmon looked up from the papers as I closed the door behind me and gestured for me to sit down.

“Morning Zeke, now I suppose that you’re wondering why you’re here?” he asked.

“Well I know that the reason that I’m here is related to my probationary period as a Ranger but not the specific reason,” I replied, and Harmon nodded.

“Well you are correct that is exactly why you’re here,” he replied. “I believe that Event that you completed suffices as one of your tests and when I checked with Headquarters, they agreed with me. They also gave me the last part of your test as well as permission to induct the other members of your Party into the Rangers if they complete the Quest with you. On a probationary level of course”

My eyes widened in surprise at this admission. While I had hoped that the others would eventually be able to join the Rangers, I hadn’t expected that it would be this easy.

“Well that would be incredible,” I replied. “I assume that all they would have to do to complete their probation period is help me out with my own missions?”

“Indeed,” Harmon agreed. “But we should talk about your final test before we get too into that. It’s going to be a hard one I’m afraid. Do you remember what you were told yesterday about the Warding Crystal repelling more powerful monsters that tried to approach the town?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “I was wondering about that. Is there something wrong with the crystal?”

“No nothing’s wrong with the crystal itself,” Harmon replied. “But the mage who checked it said that there was something preventing it working properly in one of the nearby barrows. Do you know what a barrow is?”

“An ancient burial ground or mass gravesite,” I replied.

“Excellent that makes things easier,” Harmon nodded. “We believe that a necromancer is stirring up the dead in the barrows and that is somehow interfering with the Warding Crystal. We want you to investigate the barrows as soon as you are able. Once you have determined the source of the problem return and I will give you further orders.”

As he said this a new notification screen appeared in front of me detailing the Quest that Harmon was giving me.

New Quest!

Barrows Investigation!

(Chain Quest)

Ranger General Harmon has given you the final test that will decide if you will become a true member of the Rangers. He believes that a disturbance at the nearby barrows is interfering with the function of Ponson’s Warding Crystal and wishes you to investigate.

Success Conditions

· Discover what is causing the interference at the barrows.

· Defeat 5 undead enemies. (Optional)

Rewards

· 6 Gold Pieces + 2 Gold Pieces for completing the Optional Objective.

· 1750 Exp

· 10 Soul Points for your Ranger Core

· Access to the next part of the Quest.

“Fair warning,” Harmon said once I had finished readying the notification. “This will be a much harder Quest than any others that you have done before. I recommend training for a day or two and getting better gear if you can. However, I must ask you to complete your investigation within seven days. If you take longer than that we run the risk of being attacked by monsters that are more powerful than the guards can handle without requesting backup from the Kingdom.”

“Alright,” I said. “Is there anything else that I need to know?”

“I’m afraid that I don’t have any other information to give you other than some basic advice for fighting the undead,” Harmon sighed. “Your best bet for fighting undead is either magic or blunt weapons. This is actually why I’m asking you to do this instead of dealing with it myself. This final challenge will test your ability to adapt to enemies that might be more difficult for you to deal with normally which is an important thing for a Ranger to be able to do.”

“Alright,” I nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. I should probably go and start preparing then.”

“Very well,” Harmon nodded. “I wish you luck.”