“I see,” the captain nodded slowly. “That doesn’t really explain why so many Outsiders act like arseholes but if you’re right then we can definitely use them.”

“Oh, he’s definitely correct,” Warren chuckled, and the others all nodded in agreement. “Don’t you worry about that.”

“Alright, so how are we going to organize this?” the captain asked.

“I think we should put up flyers and if you have criers maybe get them to talk about it,” I suggested. “We’ll also do some stuff in our world. If we do that, we might even get Outsiders who ended up in other places heading here to take part. If they have time that is.”

“Well, I’m not sure how long we have before the Lich decides to attack us,” the captain replied thoughtfully. “But if it was ready to attack us in the next couple of days then I would’ve expected you to have found more undead at the Barrows since that seems to be their base of operations. So, we could have a week or even more.”

“Is there any chance of you being able to get a better idea of when they could attack?” I asked awkwardly. “If we can then it will be much easier to get people to show up when we need them.”

“Of course,’ the captain agreed. “We need to know when they’ll show up as well, so I’ll be sending some of my men out to keep an eye on the Barrows and check the surrounding area just in case we’re wrong. We’ll let you know when we have more information.”

“That would be great,” I nodded. “Now, would it be alright to move onto our reward for completing the Quest?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot all about it in all the excitement,” the captain apologized slightly awkwardly. “Of course, we can.”

As he said this a screen appeared in front my all of us and I quickly read it in case there was something there that I wasn’t expecting.

Quest Complete

As promised, you scouted out the Barrows and reported back on what you discovered. This means that you have managed to fulfil the conditions to become a full-fledged member of the Rangers. The first Outsider to have done so. You even managed to defeat more than 5 of the Skeletons that were waiting for you which means that you have earned the increased Reward.

Rewards

· 6 Gold Pieces

· 1750 Exp

· 10 Soul Points for your Ranger Core

· Ranger Title (Speak with Harmon to obtain this reward)

“You will have to talk with Harmon so that he can officially give you the Title of Ranger,” the captain explained as he pulled several bags of coin out of his desk and added two more to each of them before handing them over to us. “I’m afraid that I don’t have that authority.”

“That’s fine,” I nodded as I took my reward money. “Is there anything else that we can do for you?”

“Well, I suppose that I can give you a Quest officially asking you to aid us in obtaining aid from your fellow Outsiders,” the captain sighed, and a new screen appeared in front of me.

New Quest!

The Horde approaches!

(Chain Quest Part 2)

Now that the Polson Guards are aware of the approaching undead threat, they have asked you to help them obtain aid from your fellow Outsiders.

You will be rewarded for every Outsider that shows up whether they show up because of your actions or not. Additionally, you will also be rewarded for every Undead monster that you kill between now and the arrival of the horde.

Success Conditions

· Convince as many Outsiders as possible to aid the village of Polson fight back the Undead Horde.

· Defeat undead enemies. (Optional)

Rewards

· 2 Silver for every Outsider that shows up to help.

· 1 Silver for every Undead Monster that you kill.

“Why did you make it so that we receive a reward for every Outsider who shows up?” Kelly asked. “That seems like an odd thing for you to do.”

“This whole thing was your idea,” the captain replied with a rumbling chuckle. “Besides, it’s not like I’m giving you a massive reward.”

“I see,” Kelly nodded thoughtfully. “Well, that makes sense. I guess that we should get to work now.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed. “I’ll find Harmon and sort that stuff out first though.”

“Thank you again for your help,” the captain said as we stood to leave. “We still might not be able to save Polson, but we should be able to get everyone evacuated thanks to you.”

“Well, we’re no different from the other Outsiders,” Fern chuckled. “We want to be heroes too. We want to feel like our lives actually mean something to someone. Even if it’s someone who’s not from our world.”

“That’s actually a good way of putting it,” I muttered under my breath as a look of understanding crossed the captain’s face.

“I see,” he nodded. “Well, I can certainly respect that, and I think I understand you all a bit better as well. It sounds like your world is a hard place for people like you to live.”

“It’s harder for some of us than others,” I sighed as I shot a glance at Warren and Kelly. “Anyway, we’d better get to it.”

“Good luck,” the captain nodded as we exited his office.

Once we were outside, I asked Frederica where Harmon was most likely to be while the others left.

“Hmm, well he headed off in that direction,” she replied as she pointed down the hall in the opposite direction that my friends were heading. “But other than that, I don’t know. Both him and Jameson seemed to be in quite a hurry. But if you tell me what’s going on then I might be able to give you a better answer.”

“We discovered signs that a Lich was using the Barrows that we were sent to check up on to create a horde of undead monsters to attack Polson,” I explained. At this point it didn’t really matter much if I wasn’t supposed to tell her. Everyone who lived in Polson would find out soon anyway.

“And I take it that you provided some sort of solution to the problem,’ Frederica replied making me blink in surprise.

“How did you know?’ I asked awkwardly.

“Oh please,” she chuckled. “Like I don’t know those two well enough to know that they weren’t anywhere worried enough for them to not know that there was a solution. Even though it’s pretty hard for me to believe that there is a solution to a Lich and its horde attacking us. Anyway, Harmon probably went to the Comms Room to contact the Church of Malam and let them know what’s going on. It’s the fourth door on your left down the hallway.”

“There’s a Comms Room?” I asked.

“Of course,” Frederica nodded. “There are several Communication Crystals in there that we can use to contact anyone that we might need to.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” I nodded as I realized that I had been looking down on the Locals a little bit there. If they could create something that could keep monsters away from their cities, then of course they would be able to make something that they could use to communicate over large distances.

After saying goodbye to Frederica and thanking her for her help I made my way down the hall to the room that she had directed me to and after knocking I opened the door.

“Oh, hello there Zeke,” Harmon greeted me as he looked up for the bench that he had been sitting at. “I was just finishing up here.”

Embedded in the bench was a crystal ball that was about the same size as my head and even at this distance I could see that it had mystical symbols engraved on its surface. There were several other people sitting at similar benches all speaking into something that resembled an old-fashioned microphone. From their panicked tone I could tell that they were all talking to someone on the other end about the undead horde that the Lich was raising.

I made my way over to Harmon as quickly and quietly as possible before explaining why I was there.

“I know that you’re busy at the moment, but I was wondering if you could officially make me a Ranger now?” I asked awkwardly. “If it’s not too much trouble, of course.”

“Oh yes!” Harmon exclaimed as he slapped a hand over his face. “I completely forgot about that in all the excitement.”

The other people in the room turned to look at us with a mix of confused and irritated expressions at Harmon’s sudden interruption so we quickly apologized before leaving the room.

“Well unfortunately it doesn’t look like we have time to have a proper ceremony for you, so I’ll get right to the point,” Harmon said a bit sheepishly once we were out in the hall. “Sir Zeke of the Outsiders. Do you swear to fight injustice and aid the church of Malam in its mission to repair damage to our world?”

“Of course,” I nodded without even skipping a beat and Harmon reached out to place a hand on my shoulder with a slight smile on his face. As he did so I heard a strange sound like the ringing of a bell, and I knew that the eye that I had seen the day that Harmon had first asked me to become a Ranger had appeared in the sky and was examining me right now. Apparently, it seemed to like what it found because several new screens appeared in front of me a few seconds later.

Special Action Completed!

Due to your actions, you have obtained the Title of Ranger. You are the first Outsider to obtain this Title and as such you will receive a boost to the reputation that you would normally obtain.

+50 to reputation with the village of Ponson.

+50 to reputation with the church of Malam

+10 to Global reputation

Title: Ranger

+1 to all Stats

Reputation Increased!

Congratulations your reputation with the church of Malam has increased to Accepted (1000 reputation required to reach the next level).

At Accepted reputation, the church of Malam will be more likely to aid you if you ask for help.

“Congratulations,” Harmon said as he removed his hand from my shoulder and held it out for me to shake which I did happily. “I’m sorry that we don’t have time to make this a more momentous occasion for you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” I chuckled. “I don’t really like things like that. Besides in some ways it’s actually better for me if we don’t make a big deal out of this.”

“What do you mean?” Harmon asked.

I paused for a few moments while I tried to figure out how to explain the idea of me being a GM in terms that an NPC in a videogame that wasn’t aware that he was in a videogame. In the end I could only come up with one explanation that might work if Harmon wasn’t offended by the idea.

“Well, let’s just say that the gods gave me the mission to keep an eye on other Outsiders and make sure that they’re not doing things that they aren’t supposed to do,’ I explained cautiously. “Which I would like to point out is kind of the same reason that you wanted to make me a Ranger yourself.”

“I see,” Harmon nodded. “But why do you think not getting the ceremony that you’re quite frankly entitled to gives you an advantage?”

“Because I’m not quite strong enough to be ready to reveal my status to the other Outsiders yet. My people tend to fight back against anything that’s perceived as authority. Even though I don’t intend on actually using that authority except when start breaking the rules that we all agreed to when we decided to come to your world.”

“Alright but you do realize that you can ask me or the Church of Malam for help if you need it right?” Harmon asked. “We don’t expect you to handle everything by yourself.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” I sighed. “But I’m not really that comfortable with the idea of having some big ceremony for me anyway so it’s not a big deal.”

“If you say so,” Harmon replied with a shrug. “So, is there anything else that you need?”

“Well actually, I realized something after leaving the captain’s office,” I replied. “While getting my fellow Outsiders to fight with us shouldn’t be too hard there is another problem. And that’s the supply of gear. I’m wondering if there was something that we can do about that?”

“Hmm, well I suppose that I could give you some letters to give to crafters around Polson asking them to hand out gathering Quests to Outsiders,” Harmon shrugged. “But most of them already are, so I’m not sure how much that will help.”

“Well, anything is better than nothing,” I said. “I might also ask my friends if they want to help train some of the other Outsiders as well.”

“That actually sounds like a good idea,” Harmon nodded. “If you find anyone promising you can even bring them along to our training sessions if you want to. You’re going to start coming to our training sessions again, aren’t you?’

I chuckled a little nervously at the look that appeared on Harmon’s face as he asked me that question. My friends and I had decided that we were going to stop coming to Harmon’s training sessions for a bit since we needed to work on Levelling Up and improving our Crafting Skills. We had tried to keep up with it at first, but it became pretty clear after the first couple of training sessions that we weren’t going to be able to keep up with everything. Even though we recovered from the training far faster than we would in real life it was still enough to slow us down for a bit. Which was a little annoying because they had been quite useful for increasing our Stats.

“Yeah, we will,” I agreed quickly. “Now about those letters for the Crafters?”

“Of course,” Harmon nodded as a twinkle that I decided I really didn’t like appeared in his eyes at my response to his previous question. “Follow me and I’ll get those sorted out for you right away.”

I followed Harmon to his office where he quickly wrote out several letters and told me who to take them to. Thankfully, I knew all the people that he had given me letters for, so I bid him farewell and headed out. On my way to the first recipient of the letters that I had been given I contacted the others to let them know what was going on.

“Okay, that sounds like a good idea to me,” Katy replied over our Party Chat. “By the way Carla Primrose from Gransoft contacted me a few minutes ago to let you know that she wanted to have a meeting with you as soon as possible.”

“I see, “I sighed. “Alright, it’s getting pretty late in-game right now, so what you do guys think about calling it a night once I’m done delivering these letters?”

The others all agreed so I quickly finished up my errand before returning to the inn where they were already waiting for me.

“So, you’re a Ranger now huh?” Warren asked as I sat down. “How does it feel?”

“Well, I don’t really feel any different t be honest,” I shrugged. “That might change after my meeting with the lady from Gransoft though.”

“Well, I hope that goes well for you Zeke,” Kelly told me with a smile. “And not just because they offered Warren and I a job as well. You deserve this.”

“Thanks Kelly,” I said as I shifted slightly in discomfort before turning my attention to Fern and Evie. “And I’ll ask if they can sort something out for you two as well if you want.”

“You’d really do that?” Fern asked excitedly even as Evie avoided my gaze.

“Of course,” I nodded. “I’m not making any promises though. Is something wrong Evie?”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Evie said quietly. “My family wouldn’t want me to work for a game company anyway.”

I watched her for a few moments before slowly nodding. I didn’t know anything about Evie’s situation in the real world but for some reason I wasn’t really surprised by her response. A quick look around the table told me that no one was interested in invading her privacy over this either. Maybe she would eventually open up to us but that would have to be her decision.

The rest of our meal was a little bit awkward but eventually Katy and I retired to our room. As soon as I laid down on the bed and Logged Out of the game. Everything went dark for a moment before I found myself back in my personal space. Sure, enough there was a new door waiting for me there.

“Alright Katy, wish me luck,” I said as I accessed the list of outfits that I had available and changed into a suit.

“What are you talking about?” Katy asked as her own outfit changed to an elegant black dress that matched my suit. “They want to see me as well.”

“Oh, well okay then,” I replied. “Let’s go then.”

Katy looped her arm through mine as we made our way over to the door and opened it before stepping through. On the other side of the door was the same office that I had been in the last time Carla had contacted me but this time she wasn’t the one sitting at the desk.

“Welcome Tyler, Katy,” the man sitting behind the desk greeted us. “It’s nice to meet you both. Please, take a seat.”

“I thought you said that Carla was the one who wanted to talk to us,” I hissed at Katy as we made our way over towards the man.

“Don’t ask me,” she shot back. “I wasn’t expecting him of all people to be here either.”

“As I’m sure you have realized, I am the CEO of Gransoft Entertainment Liam Hartright,” the man said with a slight chuckle. “You two and your friends have been making quite a splash. Not only are you the first player to become a Ranger but you also uncovered the first Event.”

“Well, we weren’t exactly expecting that to turn into something so large when we accepted the Quest,” I sighed as I sat down next to Katy.

“No, I expect you didn’t,” Liam agreed. “Still, you are quite an impressive group. I understand that your friends Julian and Sarah have also been offered a position with us.”

“That’s correct,” I nodded. “Actually, I was hoping that you would also be able to offer a position to my friend Fern as well. Sorry I don’t know her real name.”

“I see,” Liam nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t see why not. Getting in contact with her should be easy enough. Now. About your own position. As my Assistant Carla explained to you last time a Ranger also works for my company as a Game Master or GM. Are you still willing to take that position?”

“Well, that depends on what my responsibilities will actually be,” I replied firmly. “I need assurances that I won’t be forced to do something that I disagree with.”

“Of course,” Liam nodded. “I wouldn’t expect anything less and I have no reason to disagree. The AI’s that control that world chose you for a reason after all. Don’t worry there are provisions in your contract. Speaking of which.”

Liam snapped his fingers dramatically and a screen appeared in front of me.

“This is the contract that my lawyers have drawn up,” Liam explained. “Please feel free to take it with you and get it looked at by a lawyer.”

“Katy?” I asked as I turned to my AI who nodded.

“I’ve already saved the file,” she replied.

“Excellent,” Liam nodded. “Do you have any other questions for me?”

“Well, why did you give AIs to the people who pre-ordered Soul Core Online?” I asked. “I’m not complaining. That just seems like a lot of money to give away for something like that.”

“That’s an excellent question,” Liam nodded. “As I’m sure you’ve realized the main reason is that it was fantastic advertising. The other reason is that we needed data on how our AIs could develop. You see many of us see them as our children and that includes me even though I didn’t have all that much to do with the actual creation of the AI’s or the crystals that house them.”

“I think I understand,” I nodded as I glanced sideways at Katy who looked like she was hanging onto his every word.

“Well, that’s good,” Liam said with a smile. “Actually, that’s part of the reason that I asked Katy to accompany you today. I wanted to see how she was for myself.”

“I appreciate that,” I replied sincerely. “I haven’t known Katy for very long, but she’s quickly become very important to me.”

“That’s good to here,” Liam nodded and then froze for a moment.

“Are you alright?” I asked after a couple of seconds, but Liam didn’t reply for a few more seconds before blinking.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “It seems that we’re going to have to end this meeting for today but how about we sort out a day for you to come and meet me in person so that we can get that contract signed.”

“Okay,” I nodded, and we spent the next few minutes working that out before Liam bid me farewell and disappeared. “Well, that was certainly interesting.”

“Yeah,” Katy agreed. “Shall we go?”

I nodded in agreed and we left the room the same way we had come and collapsed on the couch next to Katy.

“I’m exhausted,” I groaned. “I think I’ll Log Out for a bit and have a quick nap.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit.”