After tracking his steps back to his first spawn point, and ignoring the desire to window shop some more on the way, William found himself in front of a positively packed market square, with a large chunk of the people he could see wearing the signature raggy clothes every new player started with. With so many bodies present, the guards seemed to have been alerted to the situation and were now standing watch along the road circling the market square. For the most part, not much had to be done to enforce the law, but there was a flood of impatient travellers asking for directions, and some had to be told off with a stern warning when they got too pushy.

Curious to see if one or both of his friends had finally made it into the game and were perhaps waiting around the market proper, William was throwing searching glances around as he circled the square trying to avoid the crowds. Although he would really only be able to notice Robert with his hulking frame, since Williams' own natural height deficiency and hunched-over posture didn’t let him see very far.

Rather than getting lost among the crowds, and even potentially getting his few precious coins stolen, William directly strode towards the road that was supposed to lead him to the city guard training grounds. And it seemed that quite a few other players had received similar advice, considering the number of people garbed in starter gear William was walking among, and then very quickly walking after.

Following the road that led past another series of store fronts interspersed with residencies, the towering walls in the distance were getting closer and closer. Really, it only made sense that the guards should be somewhat near the city's defenses. And after crossing another road that was much less busy than where he came from, William found himself in front of what appeared to be multilevel barracks, with a wide gate between them leading into a walled-off courtyard. The bellowing voices of drill instructors and a cacophony of weapons clashing or landing on training equipment made it very much clear that William had found his way to the right place.

Yet as he lined up next to a dozen other players waiting their turn to be inspected by one of the instructors, William felt entirely inadequate. Compared to the men and women next to him, he must’ve appeared even scrawnier and weaker than he already did.

One after the other, they were called forth with barked orders and inspected by the trained eyes of the instructor, before being told to show their skills so far. And even though all of them were shouted down by the game-equivalent of a drill sergeant, most players got a kick out of it, which only further fuelled the instructors' fury.

“If you don’t stop grinning anytime soon, I’m gonna have the archers use your ugly mug for target practice! Get on with it and hit the dummy!”, the man in his shining armor - no really, it was literally giving off a faint glow - screamed at the current examinee, who was hiding his laughing face behind his hands. “That’s it! You! Get out of my training grounds! I’m not gonna have you disrupt the order of this place!”, the instructor barked at the person and waved them away, before turning towards the line of waiting players again.

“Next one! Go ahead, pick your weapon of choice and-- hold up. You there, lad!” Just as he was about to instruct the next person, a stocky and muscular woman with flaming red hair, the instructor seemed to notice William in the queue. “What are you doing here? Scouts and archers are trained over there!”

“You’re training warriors here, don’t you? Then I’m in the right place”, William rebutted with a stern expression, even though the effect was lost with his hunched over posture.

“Pah! Just a bunch of jokers today”, the instructor mocked and had the woman step back for a moment, a visibly heavy maul casually slung over her shoulder. “Show me what you got then! Go ahead, pick a weapon - if you can even lift one.”

Was everyone in this world so rude? Or had he been spoiled with Bertram greeting him? Either way, William hurried over with a displeased grimace and didn’t need long to make his choice, as he had been eyeing the array of weapons all this time: the spear. Oh, how he adored polearms. All the benefits of stabbing people to death without the need to get in their range. And he figured that, since most of the spear was made from wood, the reduced weight would somehow balance out his lacking strength.

Yet even carrying the weapon with both hands was a struggle for him, and his stamina bar noticeably drained even from just holding it. The tip of the spear swayed and wobbled as he moved into position, his grip almost failing as he turned towards the practice dummy. Cursing his miserable stats, William took a moment to catch his breath.

“Hey! Watch it!”, the female warrior still waiting for her turn yelled at him after the back end of the spear whiffed past her face in Williams' carelessness.

“Got enough stamina to hit the dummy? Hurry up, I don’t have all day!”, the instructor ordered with a less than amused tone and waved at him to get on with it.

“Yes! I heard you!”, William pressed out through gritted teeth and steadied his grip, before taking two steps forward and moving his arms in a thrusting motion at the practice dummy. At least this should be easy enough, no fancy swordsmanship or technique - just stabbing forward and hitting his target.

But before the tip could even connect, Williams' stamina bottomed out and he keeled over from the strain, the spear uselessly clattering to the floor. From his prone position, he couldn’t see the instructor shake his head at this display, and William couldn’t care less over the dry-heaving that threatened to eject the earlier meal from his body again.

“That’s what I thought. Still want to be a warrior now? It’ll only get worse from here.” His dismissive words stung, and William wanted to lash out against this judgement, but could do little else except wait for his stamina to refill and then slowly got up on his feet again.

“Ye-- hurgh yes, I do”, he shot back out of pure spite, the acidic taste of bile in his mouth only worsening his mood further.

“Right. I don’t even have to see your status to know your strength and constitution are in the single digits. What do you have? Seven? Six?”, the instructor stood next to him and steadied his still shaky body.

Flashing his teeth in a snarl, William looked away in shame. “Four strength, five constitution”, he admitted after a moment of hesitation, and thanks to his much higher perception could easily tell the other players waiting were snickering at him.

“That low? You should rethink your career choice, you’re clearly not cut out for this. What class do you even have? Clearly not a warrior class with those stats.”

Was the game trying to force him to change classes now? Then why allow him to follow through with his decision, when everything seemed to want to deter him from his path?

“The Aspirant, and it was the only fighter-class available to me. I promised my friends that I would be our frontline fighter”, he tried to impress the instructor there at the end, just like it worked with Bertram, but apparently the mere mention of his class was enough for the man to show a genuine interest now.

“An Aspirant you say? Haven’t had one of those in a long time”, the instructor spoke more to himself and seemed to ponder this for a moment, the crease of his brow deepening. His demeanor had changed rather drastically, considering he was shouting people down mere minutes before.

“So you know more about my class?” Williams' eyes almost lit up with hope. Maybe this was his entry ticket into training under the city guard?

“Indeed, I do, though I don’t have time to go into detail now. Either wait here or return by sunset, then we’ll talk. Ask for Roland if you can’t find me”, the man offered him, which seemed to trigger a change in his current quest involving his class.

Quest update! ‘Baby Steps’: Roland, an instructor of the city guard, seems to be interested in your class and has offered to tell you more about it. Return to him after sunset! Reward: One piece of class-appropriate gear, information about your class (no longer variable). Exp: 150

“I will! Thank you so much!”, William couldn’t contain his excitement that he was actually making progress now, despite the more than dire prospects earlier.

The man could only grunt at his enthusiasm. “We’ll see about that. Now get out of here, you’re in the way. Lass! You’re up!”, Roland dismissed him now and waved the redhead warrior towards him while William was leaving the area. No need to just sit around all day when it was only barely past midday. Throwing a few curious glances over his shoulder, he still witnessed the female fighter utilize that war maul with impressive ease. It almost made him feel dizzy with jealousy.

Just when he was out on the street again, and had walked past a positively packed queue of players wanting to enter the training grounds, William came to a sudden halt. He should’ve asked about that stat training! That might’ve already helped pass the time, but turning around again he only met the unwelcoming glare of the guards keeping the new arrivals in line. And he definitely didn’t want to spend even more time standing in a queue.

Instead, William set out to properly explore this sprawling city. Since it was part of such a sophisticated world, there had to be hidden quests and secrets just waiting to be discovered by players. And while he wanted to start improving his stats as soon as possible, there was little he could do about that at the moment.

Leaving the beaten path of the main street, he quickly found himself in much quieter alleys that offered little in the way of shops, but rather were used for residences and the occasional tavern. People went about their duties, children played in the streets and a very rare sight of a guard patrolling the streets gave these parts a rather trustworthy and calm atmosphere. With a soft breeze easing the heat of the midday sun, everything felt so fresh that he would’ve liked to just lay down in the grass and enjoy the moment.

Alas, his eager search for any amount of secrets spurned him on, and after a long while of passing rows upon rows of residences in a straight line, William suddenly found himself at the edge of a sunbathed orchard. The house blocks abruptly ended here, leaving a broad dirt road between them and the endless lines of absolutely packed fruit trees. Harvesters were milling about between the trees, collecting the bountiful goods from beneath the foliage with skilled ease. Unsure whether he was allowed to trespass, William chose the direction leading towards the city walls again and strolled along the slightly dented road.

Every now and then, the straight housefront to his left gave way to small plazas in between the residences, most of them vacant except for a few people resting or children playing. However, one of these plazas was significantly more busy, with a team of harvesters carrying baskets full of apples from the orchard towards a group of elderly women who were working on peeling and chopping said apples. A large cooking pot to the side regularly received a new batch of apple slices that were stirred into it. Everyone involved seemed keen to quip and joke at each other, with a cackling laughter occasionally rocking the group.

William couldn’t help but stand and stare at this scene. Just how detailed did they make this game? This was easily a dozen NPC’s that were acting in such a natural and realistic way, it must’ve taken ages to program all of that. There weren’t even any repeating lines of dialogue or recycled voice actors! So much effort was put into a remote place like this, where surely only a handful of people would ever find it. William just couldn’t help but smile, knowing full well that he might be the first to witness all this. It was such a small, insignificant detail, yet it spoke so much of--

“Oi! You there!”, one of the women called out to him when she noticed him staring like that. “You seem rather unoccupied, care to help with the apple sauce?”, her request got a rise out of the other women as they seemed to laugh at an inside joke.

“Who? Me?”, William shot back and got a few tentative steps closer.

“You see anyone else not busy around here? Come on over, there’s a jar of applesauce in it for you as well, sonny”, one of the other ladies waved at him and pointed next to her, before a quest prompt appeared in his vision.

Quest alert! ‘Communal Cooking’: A group of elderly ladies has invited you to help them preserve a harvest of apples, promising a small share of their produce. Surely you won’t disappoint these lovely old dears? Reward: Jar of Applesauce. Exp: 50. Reputation: 50 Failing or refusing the quest will reduce reputation with ‘Wide Wide Orchard’ by 50 points. Accept/Decline?

Well, this wasn’t quite the kind of hidden quest he was looking for, but any amount of progress was welcome. Plus, he would surely be able to handle a paring knife, even with his poor stats. With a swift swipe of the hand, he accepted the quest and joined the round table.

“I’d be happy to help!”, he offered a friendly smile towards the others, before being handed his tools for the job. The knife seemed to be plenty used, but still holding up fairly well. Sadly, the game didn’t provide him any information, even after staring at it for an embarrassingly long amount of time that didn’t go unnoticed.

“What’s the matter, boy? Don’t they have knives where you’re from?”, one of the crones mocked him with a good-hearted cheer in her voice, a few others chiming in with a chuckle.

“Ahh, no.. I mean! Of course I know what a knife is! Sorry, it’s nothing”, William tried to play it off and got to work instead, watching the others for a moment so he didn’t have to embarrass himself again by asking how they wanted the apples to be chopped. And it was surprisingly easy as well! Not like peeling and cutting fruit was difficult in any way, but his fingers moved with such agility that rivaled, and perhaps even surpassed his real self.

Guess that was his higher than average Dexterity at play - neat!

“Look at him, so eager to try and show up a bunch of old women”, one of the elderly quipped, while she didn’t even have to look at her hands to flawlessly work through the stack of apples in the middle of the table.

“Well, I would never!”, William shot back with a slight grin, raising his eyes only momentarily since he didn’t trust that he wouldn’t accidentally cut himself. “Just gotta earn that sweet, sweet apple sauce.” Even though he didn’t have a backpack to stow it, and would have to carry it around when heading back. Like he didn’t receive enough ridicule for his poor stats, now he'll be known as the guy who goes to training with applesauce.

While chipping away at the never-ending pile of apples, thanks to the constant supply from the orchard, William tried not to throw back too many comments, even if the old ladies were more than eager to involve him in plenty of jokes and accompany each quip with cackling laughter. But despite that it was a genuinely pleasant experience, not to mention a tasty one anytime he snacked on an apple slice, and time just flew by as he was focused on his task.

Right up until a notification popped into his vision and startled William, making him miss with his knife and, instead of slicing the apple, left a jagged cut on his thumb, triggering another system notification. “Ouch! God damn it!”

Small Blades Mastery (Novice I): This skill grants a small boost to all small blades in melee combat, both attack and defense. Impacts Daggers, Sax’, Knives, and any other weapons that fall under the broad ‘small blades’ category. +1n% accuracy, damage dealt, and damage blocked when using small blades, where n = skill level.

-3 health. Minor slashing damage. Minor Bleeding: -2 health per ten seconds (15s left).

Even though the actual injury was tiny, it definitely hurt more than it should have. And holding the wounded digit up to his mouth to stop the bleeding did little as well. What was that just now? Did he actually gain a weapon skill from cutting apples? Courtesy of his Aspirant-only abilities for sure, but that was still kind of ridiculous.

“Don’t suck on it, you’ll just get it infected! Let me see that”, one of the women at the table, a considerably younger one, stepped over to him and demanded to see his wound with an open hand, the other one holding what seemed to be a small first-aid kit. William complied with a displeased grimace - that would be the second time he required medical attention today, and hopefully this one wouldn’t cost him either.

“You klutz! My little brother could handle a paring knife better”, the woman mumbled under her breath, her shoulder-long, chestnut brown hair falling down as she leaned over his outstretched hand and got to work. The other ladies around them just gave them amused looks. “Figured that for once on my day-off I didn’t have to stitch someone up, but nooo..”

“Wait, stitches?!”, Willian panicked and tried to pull back his arm, but her grip was almost adamant and didn’t let him even so much as budge.

“Calm down. That wasn’t meant literally”, she shot back as her skilled hands applied some kind of salve and wrapped the thumb in a clean linen strip, tying it closed. “There! Might leave you with a scar, but it sure beats paying a priest for it.”

William was pleased to see that the bleeding debuff had already vanished, and the tiny amount of health he lost had already been restored. Giving his thumb a small stretch, he couldn’t find anything wrong, except a dull throb. “Can’t argue with that. Thank you, uhm..”

“Lena. And you’re welcome”, she just told him flatly while collecting her tools into the kit again, before settling down on her chair again. “It’s not like I could’ve let you get blood all over our applesauce.”

“Fair enough..”, William relented and was about to reach for his knife again, when the distant sound of a bell tower caught his attention. Three, four, five.. six strikes! For crying out loud, how much time had he spent on this? And a cursory glance towards the sky told him that the sun was already approaching the horizon again. Even though it was still a bit before he should head back to the garrison, he basically just spent half a day sitting around making applesauce in a hyper-sophisticated video game world!

Then again, he did get a skill out of that, so he got that going for him, which was nice.

“What’s the matter, boy? Still in shock over a teeny-weeny cut?”, one of the elderly joked.

“Ah, no.. I just remembered that I’m supposed to meet someone soon. Totally lost track of time here”, he admitted while slowly getting into his rhythm of peeling and cutting again. “Is it alright if I fill up this bowl and then head out? If that’s not enough I’ll just have to hurry.”

“Don’t worry, you did well enough. Really, I didn’t even expect you to stick around for that long! Consider your task more than done after that batch”, the woman who had initially invited William - or rather, demanded his assistance - assured him.

And sure enough, as soon as he finished filling the bowl with apple slices, handed it over to the women working the large cooking pot and was handed one of the still lukewarm jars, another notification informed him of his completed quest.

Quest complete! ‘Communal Cooking’: For going the extra mile in your task and working much longer than expected, your rewards have been increased. Rewards: one jar of applesauce. Exp: 70 (50 base + 10 for every additional hour). Reputation: 50.

Reward item, perception check is automatic success! Item identified: Wide Wide Orchard Applesauce (Common). This sweet and lightly sour condiment is frequently used as an ingredient for simple desserts, but most often eaten right out of the jar. Unmodified benefits upon consumption: restore 10 health, 5 stamina per tablespoon. 30/30 tbsp.

So you could actually get more rewards from exceeding the expectations of quest-givers? That’s definitely something to keep in mind. Also, had he really just spent three hours on this one quest only to earn a measly seventy Exp? Ah well, that was worth it for the information alone. And the apple sauce, which seemed to be some kind of potion? Food restoring your vital stats in video games isn’t uncommon, though WIlliam doubted he would have the time to eat any of this during battle.

Unless he could somehow stop time and guzzle down jars worth of applesauce.

“Alright, I’m gonna head out. It was nice to meet all of you!”, William called out into the gathering, with most of the ladies saying goodbye to him in one form or another.

“You can stop by anytime, sonny. We can use all the help we can get”, one of them offered him with a warm smile, waving her hand at him as he was already walking off.

“Gladly! See you then”, he said his goodbyes as well and strutted off in the same direction where he came from, weighing the jar with an appreciative glance. It has been an unusual first day in a videogame for sure, but William was in no way displeased at how it all turned out so far.