Failarièl stood right next to me. I couldn’t believe it. I never had a friend in my entire life before.

I never had a friend before. It was a shock for me to realize that I never had any friend before. And now on my first day in this second reality I made my first friend. Fucking good for a start.Just look at her.

“Hey Jawal, what did you get for the quest? I mean it was definitely not a high grade quest but it was still a quest where you had to interact with a high level and famous person out of RoyalRoad. And I am a little interested what you get for such a quest.”

Failarièl looked into my eyes and saw pure irritation. In my happiness I didn’t realize that I the quest wasn’t completed.

“Uhm, I didn’t get a quest reward yet. Weird. Maybe we forgot something.”

Failariél looked at me. She was just as irritated as me.

“Then let’s go in again.”

They found Arug in the same position as he was when they left him. No one else was there.

“Arug, somehow I didn’t complete the request the trainer gave me.”

Arug didn’t turn around. I went over to him. Somehow this entire situation was extremely weird. The quest wasn’t completed. Arug saying nothing and now this silence. With shock I realized that Arug didn’t swung his hammer. As I turned him around I almost screamed. I could hear Failariél’s scream from behind. A high shriek which went through blood and bone. A long black sword was stuck in his chest. Long rails of blood ran down his body and all signs of wisdom had left his eyes. They were hollow. People came around to see where the commotion came from. I heard more screams and gasps. Who would do something like this? Arug was a friendly person. He was a blacksmith who could do no harm to anyone.

I saw that Arug hold something. It was a crumpled up sheet of paper. I took it. It was my weapon recommendation.

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Obtained: Arug’s evaluation

“Jawal, a peredhel, who is slim and has basic musculature is a katana-style type. He reminds me of “The Silencer”. Hopefully he won’t end like him.”

Bring this to the trainer of the trainingscenter.

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Completed quest: Blacksmith Arug

You got your weapon-recommendation. Arug was found dead inside his temporary blacksmith.

Reward: Experience, Quest, unidentified Dagger

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Level up

Level up

The system windows popped up one after another. It was too much information at once. 2 levels? Is that much? And what dagger? Which quest?

More and more people entered. One of them was the leader of the guild which I recognized through Failariél’s clapping on my shoulder. He was broad shouldered and sturdy. Plate mail covered his body. Black steel. Hard grip on his sword hilt which hung from his jewelled belt.

“What’s this commotion?” He said at first but then he saw Arug.

“What the hell. Arug!” He ran to him and checked his pulse. He couldn’t believe it.

“Who did this? Who! Tell me.”

The people crowded. Nervosity grew.

“The 2 elves over there were here first.” Said one of them to break the silence.

The leader looked at us. It seemed like he recognized Failariél.

“Failariél? What happened here?”

“Master. We were on a quest and wanted to speak with Master Arug about it but we found him dead. Jawal - she pointed at me - got the quest from the instructor of the trainingscenter.”

His mood lightened up a bit as he realized that we weren’t the culprits.

“Which quest? And who are you?”

I was under pressure. That guy was strong. He had a great aura.

“I am a new player. I just began to play. And it was a difficulty E quest. I had to get a weapon evaluation from Arug.”

He was a bit shocked as I said the fact that I am a new player. Just like Failariél was before.

“So you are a new player? That’s definitely weird. Failariél. Where did you find this guy?”

He was wary.

“As a guide of the warrior guild I found him at the entrance. I offered him my help for the quest because he made a good impression on me. He told me everything while we were on the quest.”

He accepted the answer but still looked skeptical.

He searched through the body of Arug. He noticed that every possession was stripped from him. Even the notebook. Only a dagger and the sword in his chest remained. He drove it out of him and Arug vanished to thousand of little blue particles. Data remains. He analyzed the sword.

“Weird. It’s the sword which Arug wanted to make for me.” He put it into his inventory.

After that he looked at the dagger. He analyzed it as well and gave it a lingering look.

“Here, take it. It is your quest reward isn’t it? I can still see your windows. Too bad that I can’t have it. It’s definitely worth something because I can’t identify it.”

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Obtained: Arug’s rune engraved dagger

Damage: 10-22 Durability: 30/30 Level requirement: 15

Extras:???

Description: ???

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I couldn’t believe it. That dagger had more than four times more damage than the wooden sword I possessed. And on top of that are their extras which aren’t identified yet.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it that you gave it to me.”

Something was still on his mind.

“We still haven’t found the culprit. I give up a quest for everyone in the guild who wants to find the culprit.”

He went out and the crowd slowly ebbed away. This will be great rumors. A starter quest’s follow up kills the famous dwarf Arug. Wonderful.

“Hey Jawal. I have to go. It’s late already. You know the friends list? You can contact me via it. And Jawal.”

“Yeah?” My heart began to beat even louder than before.

“Today was really something. I feel great to have met another elf here in town. And on top of that someone like you.”

“Same goes for me. Let’s meet again sometime. And you know I leveled up 2 times. By the way do you know where I could identify this dagger?”

Failariél thought about it some moments. She really looked beautiful.

“Not really. If Garen couldn’t identify it then it will be difficult to find someone else. Maybe someone from the mage guild. You see Garen is above level 200.”

“Hmm. Thanks anyways. Well, see you around.”

On one hand I wanted to get this situation passed as fast as possible but on the other hand did I really like her and I feared that I won’t see her again. My first friend.

“Yeah. See ya.”

Something changed in her tone over the day that I couldn’t categorize. Did she like me as well?

She vanished in thin air. So, that’s a logout.

Ahhh. I totally forgot about time. I logged out as well.

Zhim, zhim, zhim

I was inside the capsule again. My body was stiff. I opened up the airlock.

Shuuu

I looked around. I was perplex. So late already? It seems like I really forgot about time. Now I know why no one wants to go to school anymore.

I took out my mobile phone. It was already past ten. No missed calls? Weird. Looks like my mother is really not thinking about me.

Behind me the machine went quiet. Silence. I inhaled deeply.

Wushhh, ahhhh, wushhh, ahhhh, wushhh, ahhhh

So still here. No disturbing noises nothing. Just me. Perfect time to think.

But I didn’t use the time to think. I wanted to get home fast so I packed my bag, stuffed it with some magazines and went out. I looked the door and ran down the corridors. Really amazing what you could do when you are alone in school. Breaking rules ain’t that bad. It feels great to be so free.

It seems like not everything has changed. The bus just drove away when I arrived at the station. Great. My bad luck again.

I took a deep breath again and began to jog home. I needed sleep as much as I wanted to play further. But tomorrow will be a long day. School is over for the next few days. We had winter holidays. Funny that the teachers didn’t even mention it.

I didn’t go the same way as normal. I went through the small alley and stopped by the door. I pinned a sheet of paper against it. I wanted to thank the old man who laughed all the time and who changed my life completely but I couldn’t do it personally. He said that he didn’t want to see me before I am strong enough and only then inside the game but he didn’t mention that I couldn’t give him my thanks on paper.

The block I lived in was dark. All lights were out. Seems like everyone went to bed already. I sneaked up the stairway and opened the door carefully. I heard a loud snoring noise from the living room but went straight to my room. I stripped my clothes off and went to sleep.

I dreamed of RoyalRoad and Failariél.

I didn’t see the message my mother had laid down on the table.