It was the same girl that Sevs had thought the voice was familiar. “X77, that you?”

Someone who knew him, that in itself was not unusual, but this had a familiar tone. That was odd. The last people who he would have thought would recognize him had ascended. That was what had started him trying for a different build. After Patrick ascended, the last beta tester he knew was gone, so who was this?

Sevs nodded in confirmation to the question. There were some murmurs from the people watching. His ID wasn’t famous like a few players, but the length was unmistakable. He was one of the first in the game and older than them by lifetimes. He would likely be older than the grandparents, with many greats for many of these. Generations older. Initially, it had been a badge of honor, but it had started to sour over the last couple of millennia. It felt more like a shame, like a failure. Sevs knew that was an internal feeling and wasn’t really shared with someone who was also still playing. They mostly understood how hard it was to ascend, and it wasn’t directly tied to any action. If anything being around longer showed, you were more complex. That wasn’t much of a comfort to Sevs.

“BX1098y, we met not that long ago,” She said. Sevs remembered in the cafeteria right before his last dive. Pulling himself out of his inner thoughts, he mustered the words to respond. “Oh, Bexy! Yeah, I remember you. How are you doing?”

This time his words came out clear and authoritative. A stark contrast to their previous encounter. Before Bexy answered, Robert from the floor groaned up. “A beta tester, what are you doing here? I thought you would have ascended millennia ago.”

In response to his questions, Sevs just smiled sadly. Then, finally, Sevs reached down and offered a hand. Robert took it grudgingly. And Sevs helped him up. Robert then slid past them to his bunk, rubbing the lump starting to form on his forehead.

“Not bad, you?” Sevs responded to Bexy.

“I’m surprised to see you as I had a bit longer tutorial than normal.” As she spoke, Bexy leaned against Sevs bunk, getting comfortable.

“I did, too, oddly enough. I don’t think I have ever entered the main world so old before. I have to say it’s a nice change. Though you would have to have the right tutorial to be willing to stick with it for a long time.” Sevs considered.

“Mine wasn’t bad. I was trying out a new build and learned more from the tutorial than I had since I first started playing.” Bexy said.

“That’s right. You said it was an INT build, right? What do you normally play?” Sevs asked.

“AGI or WIS, I liked being a rogue or shaman. Hadn’t gotten me very far yet. Glad I didn’t go for AGI seeing what Zim said.”

“I doubt it was really that serious. I think Zim just doesn’t like Jason.”

“Hey,” an indignant cry came from below their feet, and Jason’s head popped out. “I’ll have you know Sarge likes me just fine.”

Bexy bent down and shook Jason’s hand. “You must have an interesting story too. Did you also know Sevs already?”

Sevs suppressed a chuckle; despite the odds of running into someone you know, it was even more unlikely for him. He wasn’t sure if he could really say he knew anyone anymore. The last of his friends had ascended, and he never bothered to make new ones. Instead, his few old friends from the beta had done all of the interacting wherever possible.

“Nah, we just met last night. Seems cool, though.” Jason said.

“I’m surprised to see you here, Bexy. What are the odds we take around the same time in the tutorial and get in the same world?” Sevs said.

“Pretty low, but I don’t think the system lets things come down to chance very much. Unless it tells you directly that it will.”

“That would also mean the system watches us outside the pods.” Bexy just shrugged in response.

That was a pretty intriguing thought. It’s not like players would have any privacy from the system. The other thing neither of them mentioned was that if the system bothered to put them in the same world, it must have had some reasons for doing it. There must be something that they could learn from each other.

“I used to play an INT build almost exclusively. I can give you some tips sometime if you would like.” Sevs offered. Sevs only vaguely understood what this might mean to a relatively new player.

“I have read some of your guides on the forums. I think the time I spent looking is why you are a bit older than me. I spent a lot of time digging into a new build before starting. But I would be honored.”

Sevs flushed a little. One, that was embarrassing. She seemed to have too high of an estimation of him by half. Two, Sevs hadn’t even considered researching CHA builds. Not that he regretted how things turned out, but it made him feel stupid. “Those guides are a bit outdated. Besides, they didn’t do me much good in the end.”

“What do you mean? The builds you laid out had two dozen tier IV skills. Two dozen!” That got people’s attention. A few more heads perked up listening in. Bexy continued. “I don’t think I have ever met a player ingame with half of that.”

Sevs felt his initial reaction was to curl up with all the attention, but he pushed it down. “Well, I’m still here?”

“For you, maybe that’s a failure. I am still young and only finished a couple hundred playthroughs. I’m not looking to ascend yet. I want to live and play for much longer.”

That was not an uncommon perspective, not one that Sevs had run into much lately, though. Maybe it had something to do with the anemic birth rate.

“Tomorrow over dinner, we’ll talk then. But first, I need to get an idea of your goals. Then maybe I can help you plan a bit.”

“That would be great!” Bexy said excitedly. Without warning, she went in for a hug, leaving Sevs stunned as she whirled around and headed to her own bunk.