Coming back to reality I was greeted by a pitch black view of the inside of the Gate, until the helmet’s visor started to clear up and I was free to take it off. It seemed as I was the first one out as the others were still sitting in their various positions around the room. I had set my alarm earlier than their so that I could make everyone some lunch before returning to the game.

While making my way to the kitchen, I heard Nicole’s alarm start to go off, and figured I should stay until she’s out to ask her what she would like.

“Hey Nicole, welcome back to the work of the real.”

“Ello, nice to see you again. What did you start as, and where? It seems as if the friends list has some range limits on it.” Nicole said all this while slowly getting up and stretching her body which seemed to of been in a rather awkward position until now.

“I started human in Desri, how about you?”

“I started human too, but I’m in Lumbridge with Sarah.”

“Guess that means that only us three started as humans then, seeing as those were the only options.” Using the process of elimination I deducted such, and Nicole simply nodded in acknowledgement.

“Anyways, enough chit-chat for now, I’m hungry and I’m sure the others will be too!” Nicole seemed to now be too influenced on her stomach to continue on for now, and I went off to the kitchen to make some sandwiches.

When I came back, I was greeted by the sight of everyone else already awake, and talking about their adventures so far.

“Hey Jacob, how are ya’?” Michael was the first to notice me and curtly said hello, before moving his eyes onto the sandwiches in my hand.

“Oh Jacob, I’m glad to see you were thinking ahead!” Jordan said this before taking three of the sandwiches from my hands, the others then followed suit until I was left with only my own simple ham and cheese.

“So, what race and city did everyone choose?” Nicole was the first to strike up conversation after she devoured her sandwich.

“I’m human in Desri.” I responded simply just to get the ball rolling.

“I’m human in Lumbridge, same with Nicole.” Sarah was next to chime in while adding Nicole as well.

“Dwarf in Bahrst.” Michael followed suit and added his as the first non-human.

“Morgan and I are Elves in Faladrion.” Jordan chimed in,” Seems that would leave Dawson as the last eh?”

“Save the best for last, anyways, I’m a dwarf in Bawold.” Dawson seemed to be rather happy for being last as it let him try a witty comment. Key word of course being try.

“So what are your guys’ cities like, I thought mine was in a mountain at first, but once I reached the exit I found out we’re dug into the underbelly of a damned floating island! Going up though, I saw that we were still in a mountain too, with a few settlements in the valley down below.” Dawson continued on while revealing some pretty interesting information.

“For me I’m in a pretty normal fantasy city, but the land is floating in the sky too, and above the town is a castle on another floating land.” Briefly summarising the sights around me, I then motioned for Sarah to detail her own.

“I don’t know if Lumbridge is floating or not, the entire city is surrounded by mountains with a giant lake in the middle.” Sarah seemed to be slightly miffed at the fact that her city didn’t get a beautiful aerial sight as her glare face scrunched up while recounting the sights.

“Typically elven villages are in forests right, well Faladrion is just inside of one big tree, with the gate leading out onto branches. I couldn’t tell if we were floating or not, as the vines and leaves blocked me from looking for too far." Morgan said this and right after, Michael followed up.

“Well my city seems pretty dull then. For Bahrst we seem to of just dug down from a field. There is a town for trade up above, but through the entrances dotted around the city you can enter almost like an ant colony which holds most of the important stuff.”

“Huh, the developers sure didn’t skimp out on landscape design now did they?” I asked this rhetoric question and was responded with a plethora of nods and yeps.

“So did you guys find a job yet, or any skills?” Curious, I continued the information sharing with a simple question.

Michael, Jordan and Morgan quickly said no, but the others seemed to of gained something.

“Sarah and I found a jobs as grocers from an elderly lady after after we helped her when she had fallen, It gives us increased effects from food, and lowers cost from other merchants. No skills though.” Nicole gave a report about their job and then motioned towards Dawson for him to speak next.

“Well, being a dwarf and all, I found a job as a miner. It gave me some strength and vitality, as well as it gave me the mining skill. It’s pretty boring though, so I might leave after earning some coin.” Dawson seemed tired even in real life, although that didn’t really surprise me.

“Well for me I found a job as a body artist. It gave me some dexterity, as well as increases my tattoo skills, of which I gained the skill body artistry.” Seems like I got the most exciting of the jobs as everyone looked at me while trying to think of what to say next.

“What is a body artist?” Eventually Michael chimed in and asked the question I was preparing for.

“Body artist are pretty much tattooists. They put tattoos on people that then give buffs or debuffs depending on the tattoo and the dye. In game my boss, Ezos, gave me a dagger tattoo on my forearm that should increase my reflexes in battle, but make people slightly scared of me. Oh, it’s temporary by the way.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool, I’m kind of jealous.” Morgan chimed in while almost subconsciously making a pun off of her name.

“Yeah, I’m trying to save up money to enter the magic guild and learn runes.”

“I was really surprised that the schools cost money, although it does make sense for a business.” Sarah chimed in this time, while grumbling under her breath about how insane the costs were.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to earn enough money to enter though.” Michael said this, while emphasising the word money.

“Why wait then, when we can just enter right now?” I asked this to michael and smiled, while reaching for my Gate.

“Guess you’re right, shall we?” Michael responded in turn by mirroring my actions.

“Let’s.” And with those word I went back into the Fractal Worlds.

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Another chapter done! This time we get to see the characters interacting a bit in the real world, and explaining some of the sites that you will get to read about later on. Quick question now, do you guys want me to make a side chapter with even more detail on each city as kind of a bonus bit, or would you rather me focus on continuing the story for now. Comment down below and depending on the results, there might be a bonus chapter on the city and scenery of Desris.