“We should head to Zuria as Nort said, but I think we should buy you some armor first! As you can see my gear looks a bit more then just a lvl 1 default gear.” After a closer look I could see that Cortez`s gear was a bit more detailed and cooler.

“My guardian gave me some of his old gear and he showed me where to buy gear and weapons too, come I will show you!” Cortez headed deeper into the city. I followed.

We arrived to what seemed to be the marketing quarter.

“Here you can buy food, gear, weapons, supplies. Everything you want, but for a price ofcourse.” We entered a building filled with people.

“This is the auction house, just like in the real world, you buy and sell items here to other players. If you where to sell it to an npc you would not get as much gold and the item you sell would just disappear. How much Meseta you got?” Meseta is the currency of Felia.

“I got 10 000 mesetas” Not sure if it was much, but it was what I have gathered from quests and beasts.

“it is enough to buy some good lvl 3 gear, since other players want mesetas they usually sell outdated gear. The quest givers does not give you the best of items every time, usually it is useless and you can just sell it back to them or some vendors, its not rude. They are npc`s after all.” We went up to one of the auction guys.

“Step right up! Buy or sell whatever you want!” The auctioneer cried.

“Hey! My buddy here want to see some lvl 3 assassin gear, can you show us your wares?” The auctioneer picked his pocket and a big hud appeared in front of us.

“Here you can see the gear, how it looks like, the stats and price. At lvl 3 you will not have so many stats, but if you deal 1 more damage every strike, it could save your life and you know just as good as me that you only got 1 life. Save 3000 mesetas and die by doing so is not worth it you know?” Cortez was right, I should always keep my gear updated, if I suddenly meet someone or something and my gear is a few lvls lower then me, it wont be easy to survive.

“What do you like about your class so far? You should gear up after your own play style.” I had 3 choices of gear. Some with good poison boost, some with stealth damage boost and the one with regular basic attack damage boost.

“I kind of prefer to be the silent type, I guess stealth is more my cup of tea. It is probably the best stat for our questing as well; we can kill everything in one instant with a synchronized attack.” The stealth gear appeared in front of us after I enabled the category “stealth” as a main stat. The gear was black. Black hood, black bandana as a mask that could cover my mouth and the other parts of the body was also black, but more leathery.

“I don’t have enough money to buy a whole set, so I think I will buy the hoodie and the mask.” It cost me 7500 mesetas and the stealth stats was 3 on the hood and 2 on the mask, the armor value was a bit higher then my lvl 1 default gear, but my default gear did not have any subclass stats.

“Thank you for the purchase! Come again! We are open all times everyday!” The auctioneer was really happy looking with a classy hat and typical old facion salesman suit.

The auction area reminded me of a bar, all wood, 2 stories and filled with people. The players in the game had so many types of gear, it was like a fairytale. Being inside a data world could take some time to get used to.

After buying gear for me, we headed outside and the smell of some really good food stooped both of us in the tracks at the same time, like our minds was synched. We headed to the restaurant and ordered some boar steaks.

“Wow, this smells so good!” Cortez sniffed away all the smoke reeking from the boar meat, then he picked it up and took a huge bite!

“This is just as good as it smells! No wait! Its better!” Cortez took another bite as he was struggeling to talk and eat at the same time. He was literally gasping for air!

I picked up the boar piece and took a bit.

“Wow, you were not kidding at all! This has to be the best meal I have ever tasted! So tasty! No wondered it cost 1500 mesetas each.” I took another bite.

“Worth every penny!” Cortez swallows the meat and prepares to talk.

“ Tell me, why did you chose to live here? Hope its not to soon to ask.” Cortez seemed to have something on his mind.

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“I was living in a bunker as shelter, we were attack and the only way out was to go here, it was not an easy choice for me to make, but it had to be done to live. My little sister, Celia was with me, but she distracted the soldiers away from my capsule as the programming was going on. I want to think that she made it, but it is not that likely, but I still have faith. I keep telling myself that she knows the bunker much better then them and she is small and fast, there might be a chance.”

I was about to cry as i remembered what i saw back then.

“Your sister sounds brave, Sky. If she really distracted those soldiers I would say she got guts and your right, she knows the bunker much better than the enemy, if you think she made it, I would bet she did one way or another.” The words of Cortez was really reassuring .

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“My family was not really nice. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters, my father was always depressed and fighting with my mom, I always wished they would both disappear. I lived in an isolated city in a mountain, we had a facility too, a little one with 4 capsules. It took me a long time before I managed to take the initiative of actually using one. I had been reading the brochures secretly so I knew a bit of how to use the capsule and how the world works. My mother found the brochure in my room, she got mad and started crying, my father walked up the stairs, drunk. I knew what was coming, before he got up I was out of there, I jumped out of the window and ran as fast as I could to the facility. I opened the capsule and threw myself in. I managed to program it before my parents came to stop me, once programmed there was no way to open it or stop the process. The last thing I saw was my mom crying and father angry as hell. Sounds worse then it is, I am not that sad actually, even thought it has been several hours, it feels like a whole loot longer, this world keeps amazing me.”

I could see his eyes, it was true what he said, he wasn’t sad. He probably have had some shit parents. I don’t know what is worse, to not have any parents or have some shitty once. There was many times when i and Celia lived in the slums I wished for comfort of my mother and father, I only had pictures that I treasured more than food.

"You are probebly wondering why i picked Archer? Well, if my father was good at something it was archery and i went hunting with him all the time, there really wasent much else to do. Hunting and working out haha!"

His smile was really uplifting.

After the food we realized that it had become dark outside, we found a hotel to stay at, Cortez paid for 2 separate rooms, since he still had some money because he didn’t have to buy gear, he said he could pay. The room was not really big, but it beats sleeping in a black cold alley.

The bed was just as comfy as the bed in the bunker. As I laid down in the bed all I could think about when I looked at the moon outside was Celia. The flash backs hunted my mind, the uncertainty of her survival, if she actually manage to escape, how could she buy enough time inside the capsule to make it here without being noticed?

She is a smart girl, I know she will make it! You have to! Celia!

While Sky and Cortez fell asleep, there was some shady players in a camp in the hills outside the city.

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