Eternal Dominion Book 1

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Bern Dean

Copyright © 2021 Bern L Dean

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: ebooklaunch.com

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Year 2286, month July, day 16

ED, year 1, day 1.

Morning, July 17, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 2.

Evening, July 17, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 4.

Morning, July 18, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 5.

Afternoon, July 18, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 6.

Evening, July 18, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 7.

Morning, July 19, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 8.

Evening, July 19, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 10-11.

Evening, July 20, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 12

Morning, July 21, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 14.

Evening, July 21, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 15-18.

Evening July 22, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 18-33.

Evening, July 27, 2266.

ED, year 1, day 33-36.

Evening, July 28, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 36-45.

Evening July 31, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 45-46.

Morning August 1, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 47-49.

Morning, August 2, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 50-51

Evening August 3, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 51-56.

Morning August 4, 2266.

ED, year 1, days 56-60

Evening, August 5, 2266

Preview

Afterword

About The Author

Year 2286, month July, day 16

It was supposed to be the day Twilight Sky finally rose to the same level of other top guilds and was recognized as a true power in Eternal Dominion. However, it was all a set up. Alex thought he could trust those around him after working for over a decade to reach this point after starting with nothing. However, it was a lie at the finish line. They were sold out and their guild was done. All this was due to his guild’s leader, Frozen Sky.

These were Alex Bell’s thoughts as he slowly worked his way through a bottle of whisky. Alex was a professional VR gamer who had spent 20 years playing the VRMMO “Eternal Dominion” since day one. He had honed his skills with others and eventually joined “Twilight Sky,” a small guild that he had helped develop, becoming one of its vice guild leaders as he did. Then out of nowhere the guild leader had decided it was better and easier to just merge into “Abysses End,” one of the current top ranked guilds. As a vice guild leader, he had signed a contract that meant he had no choice but to join Abysses End, or quit. He was not alone as the vote had come down to Frozen Sky, with his guild leader status breaking the tie vote once all members with voting rights had voted. Alex couldn’t stand Abysses End; they had caused so many issues for Twilight Sky and he and several other guild members viewed over taking them out as their top goal. The vote had come out of nowhere. As everyone was preparing to launch a full out assault on Endless Abyss, an emergency meeting took place in which Frozen Sky informed every one of the offer and called for the vote, and that was that. Alex had quit and now had to start from scratch at 38 years old. Happy birthday to me were his last thoughts as he logged into Eternal Dominion and deleted his character of 20 years. As Alex awoke, an agonizing headache greeted him. Slowly, as his eyes came into focus, he noticed something was off. He was sitting in his teenage self’s room and it looked exactly as he remembered it. As he looked around, he noticed himself in the mirror and about had a heart attack as his 18-year-old self with his messy brown hair and hazel eyes stared back at him. It was July 16th, 2266, his 18th birthday and the day “Eternal Dominion” had launched. On his nightstand was his neural helmet that was loaded with the game and ready to go when the system opened up that night at 6:00 PM his local time. He remembered how hard he had to work to save up the 1,000 credits to get his gear and the deal he made with his parents that if he couldn’t move out at 19, he would give up on his dream to become a professional VR gamer.

How is this possible? I must still be asleep…

As Alex tried to understand what was going on, only maintaining his calm due to the years of conditioning from playing ED, his phone rang. It was a text from Dan confirming that they were meeting up to discuss their plan for the launch with Sam, Nicole, Amanda and Fred over lunch. He remembered how each shared his dream of becoming a pro gamer and viewed Eternal Dominion as their best shot. This was due to timing and how it was expected to revolutionize the VRMMO world as the first game to truly perfectly implement time dilation past two for one at three for one, making 72 hours in game equal to 24 hours in reality. He also recalled how he was the only one to make it past year two as the rest failed to make enough through playing to support themselves. Alex wished he had been able to help them out, but he had been only barely scraping by as well and had been living off ramen noodles at the time.

Alex quickly responded, “I’ll be there,” and headed downstairs to get breakfast. In the kitchen his mom was working on a birthday breakfast for him. His dad was already at work and his younger sister Anna was already sitting down waiting. Both his mom and sister had brown hair and hazel eyes like Alex. His mom kept her hair short while Anna had long straight hair that reached to the middle of her back.

“Morning, Anna, morning, Mom.”

“Good morning and happy birthday Alex.”

“Breakfast will be ready shortly honey.”

“Thanks, Mom, it smells delicious. Hey, Mom. Remember how we made the deal that if I can’t afford to move out by 19, I would have to quit VR gaming?”

“Yes, honey I do and no, I won’t back down on that.”

“Oh, no, I agree completely that I can’t just waste these years doing nothing and end up being a bum. What I wanted to ask is if I can prove that I can make a living out of it, would you be willing to cosign a home loan with me?”

Alex’s mom looked like a truck had hit her as she just stared while the pancake she had been about to flip started to burn.

“Where is this coming from?”

“Well, I was thinking that if I did manage to make it, that even if I had the funds, getting a loan would still be difficult being so young and all, plus rent just keeps going up. But, if I can pay off a home, I don’t have to worry about that.”

Alex’s mom looked him over seriously as she thought about what he was asking, before answering.

“Alex, I will need to discuss it with your father, but if you can show us that you really are able to afford it, I don’t see why not.”

“Thanks, Mom. Also, I think that pancake is done.”

Alex’s mom looked down and frowned before removing the now blackened pancake from the griddle.

The rest of the morning was uneventful as Alex headed out to meet up with the group for lunch. As Alex arrived at the pizza parlor, the rest of the group was already there sitting at a table. It felt like a dream. The last time they had all been together in the real world was a year from now when Dan and Sam had announced they were going to focus on school, and only play when asleep like most normal people did. By the following year, Alex would be the only one still playing full time. Dan was the first to notice Alex.

“Happy birthday man. So how does it feel to finally catch up to the rest of us and be an adult?” quipped Dan smiling.

Dan had dark brown hair and brown eyes and was just short of six-foot-tall, wearing blue jeans and a black tee shirt with a white store logo design on it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, as there is no way you’re an adult,” Joked Alex.

“Ha, ha very funny. Anyway, let’s go ahead and order. I’m starving,” returned Dan.

As Alex sat down, a waiter came over and gave Alex a water and took the group’s order. Following which, Dan started speaking.

“So, just to make sure, we all agree that we should start in the same kingdom but different towns, and meet up in the capital at level 40, right?” confirmed Dan.

Everyone started to nod when Alex spoke up.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking it would be better to work together from the start. I’m sure that there are many things that will require a group effort to achieve early on.”

“Where’s this coming from? I thought we agreed on this weeks ago?” inquired Dan with confusion.

“We did, but I was doing some reading last night on the forums and I read that leveling speed might be extremely slow in game, and it could take a few weeks, or even a month, before we reach level 40 and are able to enter the capital.”

“That’s just speculation. Trust me, it will just be a few days and this way we will have intel on a much broader area when we meet up,” countered Dan.

As Alex was about to respond, Nicole cut in.

“You know no one really knows and I think I would have more fun, at least if we were together.”

Nicole stood just a few inches over five-foot-tall with brown eyes and long straight black hair that went halfway down her back. She was wearing a blue skirt and a modest blue blouse keeping her figure ambiguous while still looking quite attractive.

“You too now… ok, let’s just put it to a vote. The tie goes to splitting up as we originally planned. Sound good?” proposed Dan.

“Hold on, let me finish my pitch and then we can decide.” Interrupted Alex.

“Ok, the floor is all yours Alex,” acquiesced Dan.

“So, my thoughts go a bit farther than just being together from the start, but I was also thinking we should try to earn enough money to get a house and VR cabins ASAP. Also, I want to set up a day one guild and begin a gaming corporation here in the real world as well.”

The table was looking at Alex like he was dreaming. Finally, Fred spoke up.

“Hello, earth to Alex. We’re a bunch of broke teenagers. How in the world are we supposed to afford any of that? In order to make money we need to find a sponsor, and usually that requires us to join their guild and gaming corporation,” countered Fred.

Fred was a few inches past six-foot-tall with short brown hair that looked like his mom had simply used a trimmer with the longest guard to cut it. He was dressed in blue jeans and a plain blue tee shirt.

“I understand that, but trust me. Even if all we accomplish is merging into another guild and corporation, at the very least it will help us up our visibility on day one. I’ll even put up the funds and take ownership. The risk will be on me. Just please join if I do.”

Sam responded, “I kind of like the idea, and if Alex is willing to take the risk and bet on us, I think it would be wrong to turn him down.”

Sam had blue eyes and long wavy red hair which she wore in a ponytail that she pulled in front of her shoulder. She was around five foot five and wore a pair of mid-thigh shorts with a slightly tight green shirt that let you notice her nice figure while still being mostly modest.

Amanda cut in with, “I’m sold as well.”

Amanda had brown eyes and golden-brown hair that she wore in a bob cut that went to her shoulders. She stood at five foot four and was dressed the same as Sam, but her shirt was black.

Alex looked around the table. It looked like Dan and Fred were really thinking hard, Sam and Amanda had a smile on their faces, while Nicole looked a little unsure. Finally, Dan cut in.

“Alright, let’s just get this vote over with. All in favor of going along with Alex’s idea raise your hand.”

Sam and Amanda both raised their hands, with Alex’s a short moment later. Just as Dan was about to say sorry man, Nicole’s hand joined the other three and the vote carried. Alex felt a sense of relief as his friends agreed. His quickly devised plan required them to work together if he wanted to take the game by storm. It was really quite simple. He would use his in-game knowledge to quickly make all six of them top players and take advantage of the whale (rich players who spend freely) population to secure a quick source of revenue to fund their operation costs.

“Ok Alex, looks like you’ve convinced enough of us. What party name should we look for to join when we login for prelaunch?” grumbled Dan.

“Hmmm, let’s go with FAE 86,” decided Alex.

“FAE 86? What does that even mean?” asked Fred.

“Simple. Free Art Expo, and I just like the number 86 and I hope it’s unique enough that it’s not taken,” replied Alex.

The whole table was looking at him like, where in the world did that come from, but they all agreed it wasn’t completely terrible, and would work as at least a place holder while they developed their identity in game.

“Ok, so where should we start now? I assume we will still start in the kingdom of Nium right, but what town?” questioned Dan.

“Hmm” Alex thought of his options. He knew plenty about Nium and what it offered the players as they leveled up, as well as several early ways to really get ahead that took months to find before. However, there was still the question of, which starting point would yield the greatest returns both long and short term?

“Let’s go with Quickwind town. Sound good everyone?”

The group all nodded and started chatting amongst themselves for the rest of lunch. As everyone was leaving Dan hung back.

“I hope you’re ready to take responsibility if this turns out badly Alex.”

“I am, and don’t worry about it. Everything is going to be great.”

“I hope you’re right.”

ED, year 1, day 1.

At 5:30 PM that night Alex logged into his VR helmet to get his preregistration complete. As he logged in, he was reminded why he needed to make sure the group would be able to upgrade to a VR chamber. The delay and clunkiness, while not significant compared to a manual controller, was still enough that he had to get used to it again, but first he needed to create his character. The system required each player to use their own physiological state for their character as it would allow better control over your character, and as such, regular calibrations were required to keep this accurate. Then you were able to change cosmetic features such as hair and skin color, and add tattoos or makeup. After a short bit of customizing his character, Alex had changed his hair to black and his eyes to a fiery blue, and adjusted his facial features just enough that if someone from outside of the game were to look at him, they wouldn’t be sure it was him. With that out of the way it was now time to select which class he was going to play as. At the start of the game you could only select basic options like divine, arcane (study or natural), stealth, defense and melee. In his previous history Alex had chosen stealth and ended up between a melee and stealth class called slayer, and had specialized in short swords and bows. He went ahead and selected stealth again and input his character name as Xeal Bluefire, then continued into the launch waiting room. It was now about 5:40 PM.

“Do you have a group you will be starting with? Yes or No?”

Alex instantly selected yes.

“Are you the group leader? Yes or No?”

Once again, he selected yes.

“Please in put your group name and preferred starting location.”

Alex quickly input FAE 86 and the town of Quickwind in the kingdom of Nium.

“Thank you. Please understand that we cannot guarantee your starting point but will do our best. Please feel free to use this time to familiarize with controlling your character.”

Xeal found himself alone in an empty white room wearing basic gear consisting of some padded armor and a short sword, all of which was basically worthless in game other than being better than nothing. Shortly after he had appeared in the room, he was joined by Sam’s character Gale Rosekeeper and Amanda’s character Clara Holyscar. Gale had long dark red hair and sharp blue eyes while Clara had golden blond hair and bright blue eyes. Both were wearing a hooded robe and holding a plain staff. They each had chosen divine, but Amanda planned to build towards a holy tank while Sam was just going straight healer. They all exchanged pleasantries and went about getting used to the controls. Then next to join the group was Dan’s character Ignis Stormthorn, also wearing a robe, but without the hood, and his staff had some basic runes on it. Ignis had fiery orange hair and fiery red eyes. Next was Nicole’s character Aalin Oceanwind, wearing robes like Dan’s, but she had a wand instead of a staff, with deep blue hair and eyes. Last was Fred’s character Amet Highaxe. He was wearing light leather armor with an axe in hand, with short reddish-brown hair and ice blue eyes.

It was now 5:50 PM and with just ten minutes till launch, everyone was together and ready to start this adventure together, as Xeal brought them together.

“Ok, everyone, are you ready to hit the ground running?”

“Sure” “Absolutely” “Doesn’t matter” “This should be interesting” “Let’s do this”

“Ok, let’s go over the plan one more time. Our goal is to level faster than the rest and reach a city first. To do this my plan is simple. Find a high level but slow foe and farm them for XP.”

“You make it sound so easy, but won’t we lose valuable time just trying to find a suitable target?” questioned Ignis.

“Yes, it is a gamble, but just how crowded do you think the safe maps will be for the first few days? Even if we lose a full day, with how much other players are tripping over each other we should be fine,” answered Xeal.

It was true. When the game had launched in Alex’s previous time line, the early leveling areas had been so over crowded that after a few hours, large guilds had taken to PK any players who ventured into “their” grinding locations, making small guilds and independent players like Alex and his friends have to wait days just to even really start playing.

“Fine, but if this goes sour don’t blame me for going solo for a while,” complained Ignis.

“If it goes bad any of you are free to do what you want. I just ask that you give it a try first,” Xeal pacified.

As time passed, they all used the remaining time to continue to get used to the game’s environment. Then they all received a notification.

“Eternal Dominion will be launching in 30 seconds; all party formations have been closed. Please stand by for adventure.”

As the scene shifted around them, they quickly found themselves standing next to each other in a very crowded field outside of a small town. There were easily over 30,000 players present and it looked like the town could barely fit them all.

“Good, we got Quickwind. Remember the plan. Start collecting rocks. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The group nodded and passed Xeal (Alex) their measly one silver each worth of funds they got to start with, and he took off into the town. Xeal was one of the few players running at first, but soon thousands had started the race into town hoping to be first in line for a shop of any kind. As Xeal made it into town he took off towards his goal. It was a small but prominent weapons shop, and luckily with his knowledge he was the first to get past its doors.

“Welcome young adventure to my shop. As you are our first customer, please take this membership card as a reward. Now, how can I help you?”

The shop keeper had only just finished talking when several more players came through the door. All of them looked at Xeal slightly disappointed as it was advertised that the first player to reach each shop would get a membership card giving them a 10% discount on goods there.

“Thank you, good sir.”

A menu popped up for Xeal to look through as the shop keeper moved on to the now forming line. Each player would only have to wait for about five seconds before they could open the shop’s menu after the player in front of them could, making the next part as much of a race as it was to get there. When a lot of an item sold, the price of that item would go up for a while to control its spread in the game. Xeal quickly found the sling and purchased six of them for two silver and 70 copper after his discount. As he did, he could see the prices of several items start to rise. The slings he had just bought were already up from 50 copper to 60. Several other items, like whetstones, which he also bought three of, had jumped from five copper to ten. The short sword he bought for Clara (Amanda) was still sitting at one silver, but the wooden shield for Amet (Fred) was already up from 50 copper to 75 by the time he got to it. When he was done, of the six silver he had started with, Xeal only had one silver and 46 copper left, which was fine. He had what he needed. It may have been all level 0 equipment, but it would be just fine until level 20 as not much changed the quality of equipment before that threshold. In the 20 minutes that Xeal had been gone, the rest of the group had managed to collect around 2,300 rocks about the size of a walnut from the stream near the town as ammo. This is why Xeal had gone straight for the slings. At the start of the game, they would be the only feasible ranged weapon as a bow and arrow cost too much to use without the proper skills, and no player started with them by default.

Once Xeal returned, he gave everyone the thumbs up and handed each of them a sling, Amet his shield, Clara her sword, and a whetstone to Clara and Amet as well. He then found a tree that was around 15 feet tall and two feet wide, cut a line in it a little above his head, and had everyone stand about 50 feet away and slightly spread out.

“Ok, now let’s all start to familiarize ourselves with this weapon.”

In Eternal Dominion players could select a weapon and go through a tutorial on it the first time they used it for free. It was watching a video and the system letting you go through some preprogramed motions by following an outline of yourself. For the slings it was especially helpful as it showed at what point to release for different ranges. That being said, the sling wasn’t a powerful or accurate weapon. Very few players used it after the first month of the game except for a few crazy players who went all out, eventually mastering it in the late game. They ended up replacing rocks with different kinds of bombs and chemical mixtures, stunning everyone with its effectiveness.

As the group went about familiarizing themselves with the sling, they quickly realized it was not going to be easy. At first only Xeal was getting even the distance right, but after a few hours and much frustration, everyone was hitting above the line on every throw, and half of them were hitting the tree as well.

“Good. I think we are good to start looking for our target,” praised Xeal.

“And just what might that target be?” inquired Ignis

“We will know when we see it. Trust me,” Xeal said grinning.

“Ok, but seriously, it’s already almost three hours into launch and we haven’t even left the safe zone,” protested Ignis.

“It’s only been one hour in real time Ignis. Remember Eternal Dominion’s (ED) time dilation,” reminded Aalin.

“Relax everyone, it’s going to be fine. Hey Gale, can you check the forums and see what’s been going on while I look at the area map?” suggested Xeal with a knowing smile.

“Sure thing.”

As Xeal pulled up the map and started to plot their course to his target, which was a map meant for level 5 players in which Hill Giants roamed, Gale was reading the forums and shaking her head. She read all the complaints from independent and small guild players who were being forced out of most of the early maps by larger guilds, making it almost impossible to level, especially because if a player died at level 0 they would be better off making a new character as finding a way to fight without a piece of their starting gear was extremely difficult. Each player only started with two pieces of gear; a basic weapon and a piece of armor. Lose either before you get some loot to replace them with and you might as well start from scratch.

“Ok, I think I know where we want to go. How do things on the forums look Gale?” inquired Xeal.

“Bad. We really haven’t lost anything by practicing here for the last few hours. Most of the good grinding locations are currently swamped with large guilds that are keeping other players from even being able to enter them.”

“That’s crazy. How is anyone supposed to even play like this?!” exclaimed Ignis.

“Do you think they care? To them their guilds’ growth is all that matters. It’s part of the perks they offer. Want to be able to level, then join our guild, but you better pass our test first.”

“That’s just wrong,” complained Amet.

“Welcome to ED, where might makes right. If we want to do as we please, we have to be better than everyone else, otherwise the best we can hope for is to join a guild and do what they want us to,” proclaimed Xeal.

“Ok, so why are we still standing here? Let’s go,” commented Ignis.

With that Xeal began to lead the group through the low-level areas, passing by several areas where large guilds were farming, drawing looks that clearly said keep moving if you know what’s good for you several times. Then they found themselves in open areas where very few players were present, trying to go up against stronger foes. Most of these players weren’t faring very well and Xeal and his group passed by more than one dead player. Then they were in an area where no players were even trying their skills and luck. Finally, after two hours of avoiding monsters left and right, they were where Xeal wanted to be. It was an area consisting of several large hills and the group could already see several large figures moving in the distance.

“Hill Giants. Perfect. They should be a great target if we do this right,” informed Xeal.

“Xeal, are you sure about this? Those things are meant for level 6 players to take on, not level 0’s like us. Will we even do any damage to them?” questioned Ignis.

“Relax. All you and the rest need to do is keep hitting it with rocks as I keep it’s agro. If I can’t dodge it, just use one of the return scrolls the game gave us, and meet me back in town,” explained Xeal.

“Ok, let’s give it a try then,” Ignis said getting ready to act.

Xeal lead them over to a single hill giant who was taking a nap, before slowly approaching it. Once he was right behind it, he thrust his sword into the back of its neck, only to have it bounce off, leaving little more than a paper cut and dealing all of three damage to its 500 HP. As Xeal went in for the second strike, five rocks came flying in. Three hit, each dealing one damage, and the Giant gave out a loud roar. When Xeal’s sword hit the second time it only did two damage, and so the fight began. Xeal was doing his best dodging as he was sure his measly 20 HP wouldn’t even last one hit. Occasionally he would get a strike in here or there to maintain his agro, but as each sling attack took five seconds to pull off and he was only dealing about three hits in the same time, it was slow going. In every ten seconds they were dealing 11 damage on average, but the giant was recovering 5 HP during that time as well. They were only netting 36 damage a minute, but slowly they were making progress. After about 11 minutes, the giant was down to around 25% of its HP and its attack pattern changed. Whereas before it was predictable with wide swings with a club, now its swings became erratic, almost desperate, as it cried out, “puny human, how dare you hurt me. You be nice snack when I hit you.” After 30 seconds the giant seemed out of steam as its breath became ragged and the rocks were now doing two damage each, and Xeal sword was doing four. Finally, after almost 17 minutes of fighting, the Giant fell and Xeal and his group watched their XP bars go up a full level.

““Awesome””

When a player started the game, each of their six main stats, being strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma, would start out at ten, except for whichever stat you chose to improve. For Alex this was dexterity, and it started at 12. Each level, a player gained more points to put into each of these as they saw fit. For the first ten levels a player would only earn two free points. For a level 0 player it would take around two hours to hit level 1 grinding the normal way, but thanks to the boost from the level difference, one level 6 Hill Giant was enough to get the entire group to level up. However, Alex knew that each level became increasingly difficult to achieve. Level 1 only required 100 XP, but each level would require double the previous until you reached level 10, after which each level became around one and a quarter more than the one before it. If they wanted to reach level 10 just by hunting Hill Giants, they would need to hunt 6,216 more to do so. Alex knew this would be a bad idea, so his plan was to just hunt 24 to get to level 4 and move on to his next target, level 8 Cyclopes.

As the group assigned their points as they saw fit, they also noticed under sling they had earned a few mastery points which could be used to improve one’s efficiency with the weapon, as well as buying skills for it. While the group still had a way to go before they could earn even the most basic skill, the first level of mastery was only five points, and each had at least six, with Amet having a full ten. They each upgraded their mastery and Xeal did the same with his short sword. Then they moved on to find more giants to grind. After another six hours they reached level 4, during which time they had earned six silver and picked up four pieces of iron ore, two hard stones which could be turned into whet stones, and a piece of level 5 light leather bracers which could be used once a player reached level 5. Earning money from slaying monsters was difficult, especially since Xeal was targeting Giants and Cyclopes which only dropped a few materials and a little money. In the past it was decided that since they were easy to grind for XP, the game lowered the value of their drops substantially, but that was ok as what Xeal was after was XP, not cash right now.

“Ok guys, I think we should find a new target. It took two point five times more giants to level up this time than last and I think it will be worse next level,” advised Xeal.

“What are you talking about? We are still the only ones out here. I’m sure we are still out pacing other players by a lot. I’ve even started to be able to cast more than one spell per fight,” commented Ignis.

It was true he and Aalin were each able to use an attack spell every five minutes now, and Gale and Clara could use buff magic once every seven minutes now.

“Look, I’ve run the numbers. We would need about 48 to hit level 5, and another 192 for level 6. I would rather find a level 8 target and grind it,” countered Xeal.

The group looked at each other before agreeing, and Alex began leading them to their next grinding spot. After about three hours, they had found it. Before them stood what looked like a ruined city from a millennium ago. In the streets wandered several Cyclopes. Each had a large club in hand and a small horn on their head.

“Ok, everyone. We have to be careful this time. I don’t think we can take two at once and it would be really easy to attract a second one if we don’t do this right.”

“Ok, so what’s the plan to avoid that Xeal?” inquired Aalin.

“Easy. See that entrance over there? Well, I will go in and lure each target out of the city while you wait for me. Once it’s in range, we do just like the giants,” assured Xeal.

“Is this game really this monotone?” questioned Amet.

“Oh, no. We are just doing everything we can to find specific situations that let us level up fast. Once we hit level 6, we will head back to town for a rest and see how affective our expedition has been. Just make sure that we don’t tell anyone our strategy, or where our targets were. Last thing we need is other groups catching up to us and losing our advantage,” cautioned Xeal.

With that Xeal went into the ruin and started luring their targets out. It took a full 15 hours of Xeal luring targets out and the group killing them, until they finally reached level 6. During which time they had picked up another 22 silver, 12 iron ores, five hard stones and a level 5 leather chest piece, which Xeal now wore with the level 5 bracers. This gave him enough defense to survive three hits from the Cyclopes, which had saved him more than once during the last 15 hours of grinding. Thankfully, Gale and Clara could now efficiently heal him.

“Ok, looks like we just made it. We have a little over an hour before the game makes us take a two-hour break. Let’s go ahead and head back to the city.”

The group nodded and pulled out their return scrolls, of which each player started with 10 that could not be sold or traded, and replacements cost 10 copper. It had almost been 10 hours since ED had launched in the real world, and in 20 minutes all players who had been online since launch were going to be forcibly logged out to take a two-hour break. This was a safety feature in the game that was required by law to ensure no one ignored food and water, as well as physical exercise. The only exception was those with full-service game cabins that provided nutrition and muscle stimulation, which only had to log out after 22 hours, for two hours.

As Xeal and the others returned to Quickwind, they noticed just how many players were walking around who were level 1 and 0. While Xeal expected to see this, the rest of the group was shocked by the fact that almost no players had reached even Level 2, let alone level 6 like themselves. As they walked, several players noticed their levels. It wasn’t long before they were surrounded by players asking how they were already so high of a level. Xeal quickly put his hands out and began to speak.

“Everyone, calm down. I’m sorry, but I need to speak with my friends really quick. Give us a minute.”

In private chat Xeal sent the group a single question. “Should we do some recruiting?”

The other five looked at each other and Ignis replied, “How would that work?”

“Easy. Each of you take on nine players who sign a contract committing them to our guild and agreeing not to share our methods out and power level them like we just did. While you all do that, I will look for a good spot to reach level 10 at.”

“That would only let 45 players join us, but there are over a thousand crowding around us. What are we going to do about the rest?”

“That’s easy. After the first 45 are done, all 50 of you take on nine more giving us 501 members. Still not everyone in the crowd, but more than enough to start a small guild. Try and start with players who are in groups. If we get really lucky, we might even be able to pull off three cycles before others catch on and have around 5,000 members, giving us enough members to not stall out before guild level 19. But even if we can only get the 501 it still gets us to level 9 before we need to worry.”

In Eternal Dominion, guilds had to level by increasing their renown up in order to add more players and could only start with 100 members. Just to establish an official in game guild, players had to reach level 10 and the guild leader needed to have 100 renown points. This didn’t stop unofficial guilds from forming earlier but only official guilds could gain access to guild halls and quests. If he was remembering correctly, the first official guild happened on day 20 in his past life. This time Alex would shoot for day 10 as he knew a spy would pass on his method before the third group finished grinding and others would catch on by the end of day two, so it was safe to assume others would hit level 10 by day 14 this time at the latest.

“You want us to spend the next day and a half just leveling these other players? Xeal won’t we fall behind if we do that?” objected Ignis.

“No, you will all still get at least one level and you have seen it yourself. We are all way ahead of everyone already, but if it’s just the six of us we won’t even have a chance when other guilds get serious about setting up guilds. We need more members and it will probably take more like two and a half before you are done with group three,” Countered Xeal.

“You think it will take that long to find a spot to grind to level 10 at?” grumbled Ignis.

“No but I don’t think any of you have really gotten used to playing the game yet and you should spend this time to truly get used to playing, during which I plan to grind the renown needed to establish our official guild while looking for a good spot. When I am done with that, I will contact you and hopefully we will all be at level 7 by then and can work to hit level 10 together by day ten,” offered Xeal.

Everyone nodded and agreed and Xeal turned to face the crowd once more.

“Everyone please, my friends and I are sorry, but we can’t just share our methods with everyone as it would hurt us in the long run as we are just starting our guild. That being said, as a guild needs members which we currently lack we are willing to help you power level. However, we can only accommodate 45 players in this first round. That being said, each of those 45 will need to sign a contract and be willing to level another 18 players once they reach level 6. Our method will take around 29 hours in game, meaning it will be awhile if you all wish to participate. Now my friends and I are about to have to log out so we will quickly select the 45. We will pick 11 players who are focused on dex, ten melee, 12 support and 12 magic attack. If you are already in a party, please come forward first.”

Quickly around 150 players who were in parties ranging from three to six were in front of their group. Xeal selected two, six player parties who fit his needs. As well as three, five player parties and three, three player parties. He told them all when and where to be, told his friends which players were in their groups and to log out after finding an inn to get the well-rested stat bonus, giving all 45 players ten copper to do so. After which with about ten in game minutes left, he turned back to the crowd.

“For the rest of you I am sorry but if you return here at the start of day two, we will be looking for another 450 players. I hope to see many of you then. Now if you will excuse me, I have to do a little shopping before I log out.”

Xeal quickly made his way to the weapons shop to purchase slings for the new members that had joined up. When he entered, the shop’s owner greeted him again and he went about looking through the menu and bought the 25 needed slings which were currently sitting at 60 copper each. After his discount it was 24 silver and 30 copper, leaving his guild fund at two silver and eight copper once he found his inn and logged out.

Morning, July 17, 2266.

Alex opened his eyes as he removed the VR helmet from his head. It was 4:00 in the morning and he was very hungry. Alex quickly went to the kitchen to get some food; it would be a few weeks before the general public would become aware of how many calories were burned just by the mental strain from playing ED, but Alex was fully aware. When he got to the kitchen his dad was in there about to cook up some eggs and sausage before going into work.

“Good morning, Alex. What has you up at this time son?”

“Just hit the ten-hour limit on the game before it’s mandatory break.”

Alex’s father looked a little unhappy at the mention of the game.

“You really are focused on that game, aren’t you son. I wish you could have at least waited for me to get home and wish you a happy birthday last night.”

“Sorry, Dad, but if I want to establish myself in game, I needed to be sure not to waste any time getting started. Look at the bright side. We will probably see each other a lot in the morning as I will be logging out around this time for the next few weeks.”

“Are you really just going to play that game nonstop? What about other aspects of life?”

“Relax, Dad. After this initial phase of the game, I plan to take more time off between logins. Sometimes I might only play while I would normally be asleep.”

“And how long will this phase last?”

Alex’s dad had a stern look on his face at this point.

“After the first month things should really start easing up, but the next two weeks are really when I need to be 100% in the game as much as possible.”

Alex knew his dad would increasingly be disappointed in him as time went on. He had never approved of him choosing to play ED for a living until he had started to play recreationally three years after the game had launched, and realized why Alex enjoyed life in game so much like so many others did. By the time ED had been out for five years it was looked at by many as a second world, and around half of the world’s population would spend at least their sleep time playing.

Alex and his father continued to chat over breakfast until he left for work at 5:00 AM. With an hour left before he could log back in, Alex went about doing his chores, before leaving a note to his mom and sister saying good morning and that he would be logging out around 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM that night.

ED, year 1, day 2.

Once back in ED, it was early evening in game and Xeal found the first groups of players getting ready to start grinding. Ignis (Dan) came up to him.

“Were you able to get enough slings for everyone?”

“Yep. Luckily, they haven’t gone up too much yet, but it might be too much next time. Make sure everyone knows that most of the coins earned need to go towards getting as many slings as possible for the next group. Also make sure you are not followed for too long before having everyone turn their slings on your pursuers.”

“Will do. We better be off then.”

With that Xeal sent Ignis the slings and he started distributing them among the players gathered. As Xeal left the group and was just back in town, he was approached and stopped by a group of players.

“Halt. I would like to speak to you as a representative of Eternal Valhalla. I am Geitir Hakonsson.”

Geitir had red hair, blue eyes and was a level 2 player. Next to him were five other players, all at level 1. Each had large beards and war paint on their faces. Xeal knew he was bound to be cornered by several organizations before too long due to his level, but he had hoped that it would have been at least on day two or three, not day one.

“Good day Geitir, I am Xeal of FAE. I am sorry, but I am in a bit of a hurry right now, so if you could please be brief.”

Geitir looked slightly surprised to hear that Xeal claimed to be a part of an organization and that it was one he had never heard of before. Xeal noticed a few other groups seemed to be eavesdropping on the exchange as well. Likely other organizations looking to establish themselves in ED.

“I understand as we all are busy working to improve as fast as possible, which brings me to my point. We would like to purchase your power leveling secret, and if possible, recruit you and your friend into Eternal Valhalla.”

“I am sorry, but both are not something I can do as doing so would be a negative impact on my plans. Now, if you would excuse me, I have several things I need to attend to.”

“Surely you know that your secret won’t last very long and by this time tomorrow almost everyone will know about it.”

“Of course I know that, but I will still have at least a day’s head start at that point. Now good day to you.”

With that Xeal walked past Geitir’s group and noticed several other groups leaving the area, likely to report their finding back to their organizations. As Xeal made his way to his destination which was an old broken-down shop that looked like it had been ransacked recently, he could only chuckle as what seemed to be at least 20 players trying to discreetly follow him and failing miserably due to each running into the other. Inside the shop an old man sat with his head in his hands looking like all was lost.

“Excuse me good sir, what happened here?”

The old man looked at Xeal and spoke.

“Young adventurer, do not waste your time on me. I have nothing left to give. Now that that knight has set his eyes on my ruin, nothing but trouble will come from helping me.”

“Why would a knight do something like this to you, good sir?”

“I would not hand my daughter over to be his plaything, and now he has come and taken her by force and left me only these broken remains of my shop.”

The man looked somewhere between uncontrollable rage and grief when he finished talking.

(Do you wish to accept the quest, “Expose Knight.” Rewards unknown. Warning: failing the quest will have negative repercussions on your account. Yes or No)

Xeal quickly selected yes and responded to the shop keeper.

“Good sir, while I may just be a lonely adventurer, I cannot sit back and allow such debauchery to occur while I do nothing to stop it. I will attempt to rectify the situation. Can you please tell me more to help me resolve this once and for all?”

“Young adventurer, I appreciate your willingness to assist me but, think of what will happen if you find yourself wanted by our lord Knight, Sir Terrowin.”

“Thank you for your concerns good sir but, I will take my chances.”

“If you are really sure, then Sir Terrowin is known to be a womanizer here locally, but keeps it quiet from Baron Ulric through fear. Even now I dare not seek out the Baron for what he might do to my daughter.”

“I understand good sir and I will be sure to be discreet.”

“Thank you. I only wish we knew where he kept the girls once he takes them because other than a letter once a month proving they still live, no family has ever seen their daughters again.”

“How many girls has he taken?”

“Hard to know for sure, but at least five.”

“I should be off. I will let you know what I find.”

“I wish you luck, and thank you.”

Xeal knew what this quest entailed before he had started it, but still needed to fulfill the dialog requirements before starting. He would need to find the hidden facility where the girls were being kept and travel to the watch post at Dragons Eye to report to the local sheriff that he had found something dastardly, but be vague as it couldn’t be known that it was connected to Sir Terrowin beforehand. If successful, he would get the 100-renown needed to found his guild and a few NPC’s who would gladly work for his guild. He also knew if he critically failed the quest he might as well start the game over as he would be an outlaw in the whole kingdom.

As Xeal walked away he chuckled to himself at the other players who were now approaching the old man. They would not be able to accept the quest as he did simply because they were not level 5 yet, and could not unlock anything. All they got was an irate man who shouted at them to leave him be. Xeal headed into an alley he knew and gave his followers the slip by using a hidden tunnel, which was used by the very knight he was working to expose, for his various corrupt dealings. Once he emerged, Xeal found himself about a mile outside of town, around where the hidden underground facility he would need to expose to complete the quest, was located. With night having already fallen, he noticed a small house, with what at first glance looked to be a young couple, until you noticed how both were far too observant and carried weapons. They seemed far too militaristic. Here was the entrance he needed to find. Luckily, he didn’t need to actually enter the underground portion, just observe a transaction. This had caused endless problems in Xeal’s previous life as many had failed this quest by trying to sneak, or force their way in. He knew if he waited hidden for a few hours he would see what he needed.

Quickly Xeal headed away from the house toward a few trees that were both easy to climb and out of the way, and climbed about halfway up a tree in the second row back. There he sat waiting for several hours, when finally, out in the distance, he could see a few large wagons. They were each pulled by two horses and guarded by several shady looking individuals. They approached the house, stopping once in front of it to unload too many crates to comfortably fit in the house, before turning around and leaving. Xeal was too far away to hear anything or make out too much detail, but he had enough information to alert the sheriff of the building. Once the wagons were out of sight, Xeal dropped from the tree and started the really hard part of this quest, reaching Dragons Eye. It took almost a full in-game day to reach the outpost from his current location on foot and required him to safely navigate through a level 20 area, which if a monster found him, he was likely to die. If he had the ten silver and waited until morning, a wagon would take him in about six in game hours and if attacked, he would have level 30 NPCs to help him fight, but he had no coin to spare and he didn’t think this quest would give him any. So, he pulled up his in-game map and began to plot his course.

Xeal had been cautiously walking for about 12 in-game hours, stopping only to fight the occasional monster and harvest a few rare medical herbs along the way that could be sold, or turned into potions by an alchemist with enough skill. The sun was high and the tired de-buff was starting to get annoying without anyone to cast a refresh spell on him. He was about three quarters of the way to the outpost, at least distance wise, but he knew that as he entered the level 15 area it was only going to get harder and slower for him. This area was actually the second most dangerous on his route as it had ambush monsters called shadow cats. Luckily it was high noon, limiting the amount of shadows for the cats to hide in. Xeal knew he was going to have to at least fight one of them. He looked at his condition. He was now level 7 after fighting six level 9 wild bear cubs and two level 12 jumping badgers. The last fight had almost ended Xeal and took way too much time, costing him two and a half hours between each. Xeal had been able to use some of the herbs he was gathering to cure some of his HP, but he was still sitting at 73 of 140 HP. he had put his last free points into charisma due to needing at least a 14 to convince the sheriff to investigate the house. Right now, he only had 12 points in it and needed to level up one more time before reaching his goal.

“This is going to be close,” Xeal said to himself. He knew the attack patterns of the shadow cat, and once it was in the sun, he would be able to outmaneuver it, but he knew he was going to take a hit when it ambushed him, dealing at least 50 points of damage, if he was lucky. If not, he was going to die. Xeal made his way through the forest which now was sparsely populated with trees, and under each tree was its shadow where the cat hid, waiting for someone to venture too close. About halfway through the area he found a tree he liked as it was far enough away from others that he could easily conduct his fight without worrying about a second cat joining. Xeal stood about five feet away from the edge of the shadow, took a deep breath, and stepped forward and thrust his sword forward as a pitch-black cat seemingly emerged from the shadows and Xeal’s heart sank. It wasn’t a level 15 shadow cat, but a level 17 shadow panther. He had stumbled across this area’s boss and now it was going to take everything he knew just to keep up.

The panther’s claws raked across Xeal’s chest, destroying his leather chest piece as his sword impaled the panther under one of its arms. Somehow Xeal was still alive with just 5 HP left. He had landed a crippling blow to the panther as it was now hopping around on one leg, as the struggle continued. For a full three hours Xeal put everything he could into maneuvering around the panther while whittling down its HP to the critical levels. It had just entered its frenzied state, which while only lasting 30 seconds, would be Xeal’s greatest threat. He would have already died at the start of this fight had it not been for its left front leg being crippled, giving him the better mobility. Now it was taking everything he had just to dodge it. Even if one scratch were to land, Xeal was dead. He couldn’t even imagine if the panther had both of its front paws available, how many extra attacks he would need to evade. At last the frenzy ended and the panther slumped to the ground, unable to stand in its weekend state and Xeal cautiously moved in to finish it off.

(Title Behemoth Slayer awarded, effects when activated gives player a plus 10 to strength, endurance and agility when fighting a monster at least five levels higher than the player. Requirements are to defeat a monster solo that is at least double your level, minimum level 16 monster. Awarding a bonus 10000 XP as the first player in the kingdom to receive this title.)

Xeal looked at the notification and while he knew about the title and the bonus XP, it surprised him as there had never been anything public about how to receive any title. Just receiving a title in this game was very hard. Even after 20 years his only one had been guild master, which just gave any guild members in his party a 1% buff. The few other members with titles in the guild had gone through hell to receive them and it was hard even to set up the scenarios that allowed them to get their titles. Xeal thought about having his friends work to pick up the Behemoth Slayer title, but quickly decided against it, as were it not for the lucky hit at the start he would have never won.

With that decided, Xeal was now level 8 and put two points into charisma and headed to Dragons Eye using every bit of stealth he could, arriving with one hour to go in game time before he had to log out. He looked at his stats with 5 HP and the exhausted condition giving him a minus eight to everything. He quickly sold his loot from the trip, earning him 50 silver, and found an inn to rest at during his log out time. With 15 minutes to go he got a message from Ignis (Dan) informing him that the second group just finished, and they needed him to buy the slings. Xeal told him he wasn’t available to do so right now and just to pay the full price as it would cost more when he was available after he logged back in.

“Where are you?”

“Dragons Eye.”

“WTF, how? That’s a level 20 area!”

“I know, but I have a quest to complete which should give me enough renown to start our guild. And don’t worry, I made it by sneaking… for the most part. Call me when you log out if you want more details. Better yet, see if everyone wants to meet up for 30 minutes after we log out.”

….

“Just checked and they all said yes. See you at the café by the mall at 4:15.”

“See you there.”

Evening, July 17, 2266.

Alex removed his VR helmet and opened his eyes. He felt almost as tired as he felt in game before logging out, reaffirming once again how much the game took out of people mentally, and why in game sleeping was so important. In the next few weeks, multiple groups would come out all complaining about this and seeking for the developers to fix the issue, only to be told that it was a side effect of the time dilation and that it was important to get rest in game to avoid the worst of the symptoms, leading many to sleep the last six to eight hours of their in game time to feel rested when they logged out. Alex knew he needed to get some sleep pretty much first thing when he logged back in.

Alex quickly went downstairs to find his mom cooking dinner. As she spotted Alex, she stopped him.

“Where are you heading? I am even fixing dinner so you will eat before you disappear again.”

“Thanks, Mom and don’t worry, I’m just going to get a quick drink with the gang and talk about our plan some more. I’ll be back by 5:00 PM.”

“Alex, didn’t you just spend all day with them in your game?”

“No, we are off doing separate things right now so we can only use the in-game chat. I promise I’ll be back. We just need to touch bases really quick.”

“Just make sure you are here at 5:00 PM for dinner, love you.”

“Thanks, Mom, love you too.”

With that Alex hurried to the café to meet up with his friends. When he arrived, Fred blurted out, “What is Dan talking about when he says you’re in Dragons Eye?”

Alex was the fourth to arrive. They were still waiting on Nicole and Sam.

“Calm down, Fred. I’m sure our fearless leader here will explain himself shortly,” stated Dan.

“Let’s wait for everyone before I go into that. Anyhow, how do the recruits look?” responded Alex.

“They are looking about as good as we could hope, but I still can’t believe you were able to be the tank like that. If I was level 0 and trying to dodge like that, no way I would have survived. Several even asked if we really did this at level 0,” explained Dan

“It was about the same for all of us,” offered Fred.

“Yah,” added Amanda.

Just then Nicole and Sam came in.

“Sorry guys, our moms didn’t want us disappearing right away, so we only have a few minutes,” remarked Sam.

After everyone had ordered their drinks, they sat down while they waited for the barista to make them, and Alex told everyone about accepting the quest and needing to go to Dragons Eye. Dan and Fred almost lost it when he said he was level 8 now. Nicole just had a blank expression when he talked about the shadow panther, while Dan and Fred chuckled nervously. After the story was over, with drinks in hand, Amanda broke the silence.

“So, what now? It sounds like you will hit level 10 and be able to found a guild by the time you get back to Quickwind?”

“Just keep doing what you’re doing. You can pass on that I’m at level 8 to the players you just helped to level, but tell them to keep quiet about it to the next batch until they finish leveling to level 6. Also, expect for the spy to be imbedded in the next group.”

“What are we supposed to do if someone breaks the contract?”

“The game will take care of that as per the terms I put in. They are barred from joining any guild other than the one established by me until day ninety in game, or a month real time. Also, if found to have passed the info in game, it will bar them from joining any guild for a full year in game time and cut all XP gained by 50%.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yah, make sure you read what you are signing before you do so in game, because the system will enforce the penalties without any work from anyone to discover the breach.”

“How did you learn this, and how is that even allowed by the system?”

“The system will not let any buffs be a result of a contract, but debuffs are fair game. As for how I know this, while you were all finishing practicing the sling, I was looking into the contract system in game. We can release someone from the contract, but both sides are bound by its terms.”

“What does it have as our terms?”

“Easy, help them to reach level 6, as long as they follow directions. Failure on our part to do so will just release them from their obligations in the contract.”

“The ones who have it hard are the 45 you just leveled, as they have to find 18 more players to sign and the ones who sign that time will need to find nine more.”

“Ouch. That’s 5,000 players total! What happens if they fall short?”

“Well, as long as they get the required number of players to join the guild, they are in the clear and I don’t plan to hold anyone accountable who is doing their best for the guild. It will all work out for anyone who is not a spy.”

“Well it’s time to go,” Nicole cut in and so everyone said their goodbyes and headed out to return home.

When Alex returned home at 4:55 PM, he found his mom putting the finishing touches on dinner, spaghetti and meatballs. Dinner passed relatively uneventfully. His mom seemed to try to avoid talking about ED to the point that he could have guessed she was trying to make her disapproval known about how much time he was spending in the game without starting an argument. It looked like Anna had been told to ignore the game as well, so dinner talk focused around his mom’s and Anna’s day, which Alex had little interest in. Finally, 5:55 PM rolled around and Alex excused himself from the table. His mom looked a little disappointed in him, but he ignored her and raced to his room to resume his adventure in ED.

ED, year 1, day 4.

Once logged back in, Xeal brought up the in-game clock to see it was around midnight game time, meaning he would have to wait eight hours to see the sheriff, and quickly decided to set a timer and sleep. As he drifted off to sleep in game, he remembered how this feature had changed the world when people realized its benefits. Companies had begun having employees who worked excessive hours, like nurses and doctors, take three-hour naps in game. Average citizens who were working several jobs quickly went from seeing a VR helmet as a luxury they could not afford, to a life saver that brought back enjoyment in life, as instead of six hours to sleep each day, they now had 18 hours to sleep and play each day. From the individual just barely scraping by, to the CEO of a major company, Eternal Dominion had become a way to stretch the limited free time one had and still get great sleep. This would be known as the casual’s economy rush when it happened and would make it so even those who only played while they slept could earn some supplemental income from selling their coin for real world money.

Once Xeal awoke, he checked his HP and was happy to see it was back up at 105. In the game, sleeping would slowly restore your health at 10 HP per hour if in a bed, 5 HP per hour if not, and Xeal was sitting at 105/160. Less than he would like, but far better than before. Xeal quickly left the inn, found the sheriff’s post and approached the guards standing in front.

“Halt. Who goes there?”

“I am Xeal Bluefire, an adventurer from Quickwind. I have come to report suspicious activity in the area to the sheriff.”

“Understood. Please approach and have your identity confirmed.”

This was one of the games features that made being an outlaw so hard. Unless your disguise skill was high enough to fool the guards, you could never do any quest that required their help. In ED, quests fell into many different categories, from simple fetch quests to the epic adventure to save a princess. But the most common quest that increased renown always involved interacting with the guards at some point. There were exceptions, but they were far harder to find and complete.

Once his identity was confirmed, he could enter the post. Inside sat a brown eyed middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair behind one of the three simple desks, with several posters on the walls all displaying individuals with numbers at the bottom and the words wanted for murder or other crimes at the top. Behind the sheriff was a short hallway blocked by iron bars leading to a set of stairs. Players wouldn’t know it yet, but the capacity underneath was truly staggering as it was built to house players who broke the laws, to include assaulting or stealing from other players. You really had freedom to choose how you played, but the game chose how to punish you. Sometimes it was so bad you would be better off starting over. Xeal made his way to the desk and stood there waiting to be acknowledged by the sheriff. This was another mistake made early on in ED, where many players treated NPCs like they were just there to facilitate a quest or help the players in some way. In actuality NPCs were closer to humans than one would initially expect and didn’t like to be interrupted when they were in the middle of something. Finally, after a few minutes, the sheriff looked up from his papers and spoke.

“What can we do for you today?”

“I am here to inform you of a suspicious activity that I believe is involved with the smuggling of goods in Quickwind.”

“And what evidence do you have.”

At that Xeal informed the sheriff of what he had seen, leaving out the possible involvement of Sir Terrowin as it would cause him to delay and possibly tip off the knight.

“Hmm, and you are sure that this is happening?”

“Yes, sheriff, I am.”

“Sure enough to accept the consequences if it’s a false accusation?”

“I am sheriff. If it is false, I will pay the fine, or rot in jail.”

“Very good. Now wait here while I assemble the guards for this raid.”

With that the sheriff left and Xeal waited for about an hour before the sheriff returned with ten guards, all level 25 and himself a level 40, all mounted on horseback with an extra horse for Xeal. They set off back down the same path Xeal had taken to the outpost at a much quicker pace then Xeal could muster on foot, as the guards quickly dealt with any monster that came close. Xeal found himself wishing he could form a party with these NPC’s to farm the XP, but alas, the system prevented it and even if he dealt some damage to the monster, it would only award him a tiny amount, as it would take the XP that is given to the highest level NPC and give him a portion equal to what percent of the total damage dealt was his. In this case, even with a level 20 monster giving 2,200 base XP, the guards’ level turned that to 440 being five levels higher and he would be lucky to deal even 1% of the total damage for 4 XP, making it a waste to even try to grind here. This was done to keep players from exploiting NPCs to power level.

Around 5:00 PM game time, they had finally reached the house that acted as the entrance to the underground facility and the sheriff turned to Xeal.

“Is this the correct location?”

“Yes. As you can see, there seems to be a young couple out in front, but they are too well-armed.”

With that, the sheriff had the guards dismount, and approach the house. As Xeal and the guards drew close, the man in front stepped forward and shouted.

“Halt! Who goes there! Identify yourself.”

“I am Sheriff Sanford Colee. I am here to perform a routine search of the area and that includes your house. Please step aside and call to the lady behind you to come over as well, to be supervised by one of my men during the search.”

With that the man flew into a rage and began shouting, as the woman disappeared inside.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, THIS IS AN…”

Before the man could even finish his statement, two guards had him on the ground and the rest were charging the house as the sheriff spoke to the man.

“Well. I don’t know what you have inside, but I’m sure it’s going to be interesting for you to be this stupid.”

The man struggled fiercely against the guards who had him gagged and were in the process of tying him up. He was only level 18 and no match for two level 25 guards. Once inside, they found the woman tied and gagged as well, with two guards standing over her as she struggled. The other guards were going over the rather small house, which had a small fireplace with a pot for cooking hung in it, a small table with two chairs, and a single bed just big enough for two people. As a guard lifted up the bed and the rug under it, they found a trap door that was only slightly smaller than the bed. The sheriff turned to Xeal as the guards brought in the man, who they had now thoroughly restrained, and spoke.

“Stay up here with the prisoners. Myself and eight of my men will find out what’s below. If we aren’t back in an hour, take this to the Baron.”

With that the sheriff handed Xeal an envelope and turned to walk down the now revealed staircase. Time seemed to stand still as the minutes slowly ticked by. The guards seemed bored, and other than an occasional kick to tell the prisoners to stop struggling, the next 45 minutes passed quietly. Finally, the sheriff appeared at the top of the stairs with a look of utter disgust on his face, followed by 15 young women, all covered in blankets, all on the verge of tears with expressions that said, “Is this real, is it really over?” Next came six of the guards manhandling three now bound and gagged men, who were added to the two prisoners from before, and returned down the stairs.

“Well, Xeal was it? This certainly is not a false alarm. There are enough illegal goods down there to open a very lucrative black market and…”

The sheriff looked at the young women who looked to range from their late teens to early thirties and shook his head.

“I understand. I just wish I knew who was responsible for this so we could bring them to justice.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. I have enough information to know that and will be off to take care of that shortly. I just hope it hasn’t infected too much of this area already.”

The sheriff then motioned to the guards standing watch over the prisoners, handing them a sealed letter and telling them to take it to the Baron at once. He also took back the letter he had handed Xeal as the two guards disappeared and could be heard galloping away on their horses. By this time the other eight guards had returned with three more restrained men in tow.

“Xeal, I wonder if you could discreetly go into town and buy 15 sets of clothing for these ladies. Here is some coin. Please hurry.”

“Certainly, I will leave at once.”

With that the sheriff handed Xeal a pouch containing 15 silver, which should be plenty to buy some standard street clothes, and he headed off to town. It was only a short 20-minute ride by horse to town, but once he entered, he quickly became the focus of far too many players attention.

“Level 8?” “How did he get a horse?” “Look how battered that gear is!”

As Xeal slowly made his way to the clothing store, he was silently cursing how much he stood out right now. He needed to make his purchase and get out of town without being followed, and he couldn’t use the tunnel with a horse. He quickly got off his horse and entered the shop and spent all 15 silver to buy slightly different sets of gender-neutral clothing and a cloak for each of the girls, before turning around and exiting the shop.

“Halt, I wish to speak with you on behalf of the soon to be overlords of this area, Abysses End.”

“Not interested. Bug off!”

Xeal could barely contain his annoyance. He knew Abysses End had small groups all over the place and most guilds avoided confrontation from day one from just how much backing they built up prior to the launch of ED. But he also knew that they were going to have some growing pains for the next few years thanks to them being so decentralized at the start, and Tenbris Amplexus, a level 4 player with black short black hair and golden eyes, seemed out of place with what Xeal knew.

“How rude, do you know who I am?!”

“Nope and don’t care. I don’t have time to waste on every player who wants to know how I leveled so fast. Now goodbye.”

Before Tenbris could even get another word in, Xeal was mounted and headed out of town in the opposite direction that he entered, leaving Tenbris there standing fuming at his insolence. As Xeal got out of town, he rode just enough to be out of sight and looped around to head back and thought to himself.

“Man, what the hell. Did Abysses End have a large presence here last time? I never really paid any attention early on last time, because it took me ‘til around this time to finally hit level 1, with all the guilds finally leaving the level 1 monster areas around town. Well, let’s just get this quest over so I can get back to leveling up and founding my guild”

Finally, after about an hour of riding, Xeal made it back to the house and was able to hand over the clothes to the sheriff.

“What took you so long?”

“I had to take a roundabout way to avoid being followed by some nosy adventurers who wanted to know what I was up to.”

“You really aren’t one to talk considering your nosiness led to all this.”

“Hey, adventurers are nosy by nature, but we don’t need the extra attention right now sheriff.”

“True. Here you are ladies. I’m sorry we can’t give you more privacy, but as our friend here just said, right now we need to keep a low profile. Please just go behind the overturned bed and change. My men will be back with reinforcements for what comes next.”

Xeal knew that between now and when the guards returned would take him through his next mandatory log out, and other than growing his favorability with NPCs, he couldn’t accomplish much with the 11 hours he had left in game before he had to log out, only this log out would require him to do an unprotected log out as he was mid quest right now. So, he went about doing just that, as this itself would become valuable once his guild was established, either through extra guild quests, or even gaining NPC admin staff, which became increasingly important as guilds grew. He spoke with some guards, learning why they became guards and what they were looking for in life. While most joined to protect the people, or out of duty, one of the eight guards still here named Aldway Adaire had joined when he was rescued from a monster raid on his small village, losing his family and everyone else he knew. His dream was a world where the monsters were extinct, and villagers could live in peace. To this end he was hopeful about the recent surge of adventurers. Xeal avoided bugging the sheriff who looked to be getting angrier as time went on at the horrors these poor ladies suffered, and not in the mood for small talk, as well as the ladies themselves who sat together quietly talking, sending worried glances at their former captors. Things continued on this way until Xeal had three hours left in game before his forced log out and he decided to catch a quick nap before logging out.

Morning, July 18, 2266.

Once awake, Alex went about checking his messages to find that while the second groups’ grinding had gone well, a few guilds had started to show up in the hill giant area right at the end of this training. Dan was worried what would happen when they showed up with 5,000 players to do the last grind. All five of them were now level 7 and were constantly being approached by guilds trying to get them to join them and several of the players they had just trained looked torn about the contract they had signed. Alex sighed before responding.

“Don’t worry about it. I am almost done with my quest. I’m sure we will lose some once they have fulfilled the contract in 90 in-game days, but even those players will still end up helping our guild attract far more members over all by that time, so it was to be expected. Keep up the good work and I will let you know when I’m done on my end.”

Alex knew that most serious players early on in ED’s creation were looking for a well-established guild that could provide them with stability and even an avenue for a small income. He also knew that they were making a mistake as large established guilds focused on their core members and made it extremely difficult for new members to become one of those core players, stunting some of the most promising players growths for years. He knew that 15 billion players would eventually be active in ED and he was going to find those diamonds in the rough to build his guild. To do this he knew he needed a way to provide incentives to join that enhanced the in-game experience, as well as provided a way to earn an income in the real world (IRL). To do this Alex would need to basically exploit everything he knew to ensure he was at least two steps ahead of all other guilds.

After responding to the group chat, Alex changed into his old school gym uniform and went for a run to ensure he kept his physical body in shape as so many players would fail to do, costing some of them drastically. Alex himself had a close call two years after playing which caused him to only be able to log in while he would normally be asleep for a whole three months, after which he, like so many others, learned to take care of his bodies. He laughed at what the experience had taught him about the benefits of practicing dance or martial arts had in game, and wondered what Fred and Dan were going to do when he practically forced them into ball room dancing. Thankfully, he knew Sam, Nicole and Amanda would all jump at the opportunity, sealing the two guys fate, but that was still a ways off. He needed to secure a revenue stream in the next few days and for that he knew there was only one quick solution.

Once home from his run, Alex found his dad staring at him like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Alex couldn’t blame him. He had never been one to exercise by choice and if it hadn’t been for school forcing him to do so, his mom’s healthy home cooking and good genetics, he would likely have been more than the 210 lb. he found his six foot self, sitting at today. Luckily, he had time to fix this before walking was the most he could muster.

“Who are you and what have you done with my son?”

“Relax, Dad, even I know spending all day still will cause serious problems for me down the road. If I want to earn a living playing games, I need to put in some work to make sure I can enjoy it.”

“Are you sure you’re my son?”

“Yes, Dad. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get a shower in and get some breakfast before 6:00 AM hits and I log back in.”

Alex’s dad’s expression turned sour as he left, and by the time he sat down at 5:30 for breakfast, his dad had already left for work having to beat traffic for his two plus hour commute that turned a nine-hour work day into a 14 to 15-hour day. This was one of the many reasons Alex had been so set on a professional career in gaming, as like him, most of his friend’s parents made similar commutes each day to the city for work and he didn’t much like the idea of spending his free time behind the wheel of a car.

ED, year 1, day 5.

Xeal opened his eyes to find that the two guards who had been sent off had returned and it seemed like everyone was making preparations. It was noon in game as the sheriff turned to Xeal.

“Well adventurer, it’s the moment of truth. We have word that reinforcements will arrive in town shortly. Hopefully they won’t be needed, but better to be safe than sorry.”

With that Xeal noticed that the eight prisoners had grown to 12 and there were two wagons outside that hadn’t been there before. They must have shown up right after he had started to sleep. Even then, the guards hadn’t even tried to wake him.

“So, what do you need from me.”

“Just for you to accompany myself and four of my men as we go to turn in these prisoners to the local guards.”

“Alright let’s get going then.”

With that six of the guards went about binding two prisoners per horse on four of the horses, leaving the four new prisoners, the ladies and four guards behind as they made their way into town. If Xeal thought he was drawing attention last time he was in town, he could only laugh this time as he, the sheriff, and six guards led the four horses carrying the eight prisoners into town. They were turning every head as whispers spread. When they finally made it to the local guard post, the forums were going crazy on what was going on. Once there the sheriff motioned for Xeal to enter with him as the guards began unloading the prisoners. As they stepped inside, the local guards seemed lost. Some even were sweating slightly, but the sheriff paid them no mind and approached the head guard, a level 15 NPC, and began to speak.

“We are dropping off some scum that this adventurer has alerted us to. Please prepare the cells for them and hand me your keys.”

“Wait just a moment sheriff. You can’t just take the keys I have been charged with. You may be my superior, but Sir Terrowin is the local lord and he dictates who holds the keys to this jail.”

“Oh, you don’t want to comply. Very well. Send for Sir Terrowin and we will see if he takes issue with my command.”

“Sir Terrowin is a very busy man. There is no reason to involve him in any of this. Yo-You are just being unreasonable sheriff. I will prepare the cells and process the reward for this adventurer and await the transport from Dragon’s Eye, but you will not be taking my keys!”

“Aldway, go fetch Sir Terrowin since this idiot wants to waste our time.”

“Yes sheriff!”

“Wait just a moment, I told you-.”

The head guard didn’t finish his stammer before the sheriff knocked him unconscious with a sucker punch as he tried to step past him to stop Aldway. Inside, the remaining four local guards, all around level 12, seemed at a loss for what to do. But the sheriff didn’t give them time to think before turning on the nearest to him with a well-aimed punch. While that guard went down quick, the other three all went for their weapons and charged. Xeal found himself crossing blades with one, barely keeping up as he deflected and dodged like his life depended on it. However, it was a short exchange as the sheriff subdued the other two in under 20 seconds and brought the guard Xeal was engaged with down as well. Now that there were five unconscious men added to the eight prisoners they came with, the jail no longer had room for all of them. Unlike the prisons at the outpost, this local jail was little more than a holding facility while prisoners awaited transportation to Dragon’s Eye, having only ten cells in its cellar. Just as the last guard fell, two of the sheriff’s men entered with the second prisoner and the sheriff tossed them a key ring.

“One of you get the cells ready. We’ll put these five in one and the other eight in four others. Leave five unoccupied.”

“Yes sheriff!”

With that, it once again became a waiting game once the five cells were occupied. Four of the guards stayed in the cellar to watch the prisoners while the sheriff sat atop the desk that the head guard would normally be behind. He was looking like he was ready to kill whoever crossed him next. Finally, after two hours, a level 20 man wearing light armor burst in followed by ten well-armed men, all level 12 to 17, with Aldway bringing up the rear.

“What is the meaning of this sheriff?! How dare you assert your authority with no regard to my will!”

“Ah, Sir Terrowin, how good of you to come. Now I don’t have to drag you out of your tower. You are under arrest under suspicion of running illegal enterprises in your territory and failing to uphold the standards expected as a noble of the kingdom of Nium.”

“You’ve gone mad sheriff. You come into my town and act like you own the place. Just wait until the Baron hears about this!”

“He has already been informed. Here, read for yourself.”

The sheriff tossed a letter to Sir Terrowin, who’s face turned paler and paler as he read the letter, until it looked like he might be a ghost by the end of it.

“Y-y-yo-you ca-ca-can’t.”

“It’s already over. You can either come quietly, or we can get physical.”

At the sheriff’s words, Sir Terrowin looked around him, and at the sheriff who looked ready to kill him if given the chance, and slowly began to step backwards to the open door where Aldway stood. Seeing this Xeal shouted out.

“Watch him! He’s going to try for the door!”

At that, Sir Terrowin turned only to find Aldway’s fist in his face and the sheriff’s boot up his ass. While the other men who came with the knight looked panicked and unsure what to do, the sheriff’s next words took all the fight from the poor men.

“Drop your weapons and cooperate, and you might just see the sun again.”

Xeal knew what was going through the men’s minds. The Dragon’s Eye prison, which was a truly massive facility where the cells holding players lay, was a vast mine where prisoners worked off their sentence, not by how long they spent down there, but by how much ore they extracted. Most men who went down there were never the same again. Even players could shorten their stay by mining, but after a few did and posted what it was like, most chose to just accept a month or two ban from the game. One of the men dropped to his knees and started begging.

“Please, anything but the mine! Anything! I’ll tell you whatever you want to know or who would know. Please, just not the mine! I have a wife who’s with child! PLEASE!”

The other men just looked at the poor man with disgust and one went to raise his sword to the man, but the guards were quicker, and a short scuffle started. Once again, he found himself doing all he could to just keep one of the men occupied while the sheriff and his men took care of the situation. When the dust settled the room was full of injured men. One of the sheriff’s men was among those who seemed to have been guarding the pleading man who was now in the fetal position as he rocked back and forth. Two guards who had entered from the cellar began to collect the prisoners while the remaining five and the sheriff began to tend to their wounds.

“Aldway, send out the signal.”

“Yes Sheriff!”

With that, Aldway stepped out of the building, took out a small device and held it to the sky as a light shot out of it like a flare gun. It was then after devoting a full three plus days in-game to this quest that Xeal finally got the notification he was waiting for.

(Quest, Expose Knight: Complete, calculating completion rate… 97% completion, rank S. Reward 10,000 XP, 400 renown points, 5 gold, and sheriff’s trust. Leveled up to level 9)

Xeal was ecstatic at his reward, especially the sheriff’s trust as it would increase the number of guild quests posted by the guards. Now he just had to grind level 10 and he would be good. He was way ahead of schedule compared to most players who would be doing great to be level 5 right now. Most were still struggling to even have room to grow past level 2 due to the overcrowding of the relatively small area that low-level monsters inhabited. Still, Xeal knew that with 500 million day one players, he couldn’t say for sure how far ahead he was, but he was almost positive he had at least one level on anyone else right now. Still, Xeal knew this lead could disappear far too quickly if he didn’t work to keep it. Even with the message saying the final round of recruitment had succeeded and right now 5,000 players were signed up for FAE, it would mean nothing if he didn’t reach level 10 fast.

Once the room was clear of everyone but the Sheriff and his men, Xeal bid his farewell to the sheriff and went to make his way to the ruined shop. Only, as soon as he stepped out of the guard house, he found himself face to face with a now level 5 Tenbris Amplexus and about 30 other players, all level 4.

“Stop right there, Xeal of FAE. Yes, I did a little homework. Abysses End demands you speak with me or be labeled a threat!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, oh man that’s a good one. Look, I’ve told you once already leave me alone and go mind your own business!”

“Very well. Men, prepare to teach this fool a lesson.”

As the players around Tenbris started to draw their weapons Xeal wanted to jump for joy. He had thought it would take him years to start messing with Abysses End, but right now he was going to get to send 31 players either to a cell, or a forced 24 hour log out and a level. Either way it would stunt their growth drastically. Even if it cost him a 24 log out and a level as well, he could make it up, hopefully, but just as things were about to get serious the sheriff and Aldway stepped out.

“What seems to be the problem out here?”

“Oh, nothing just some adventurers who aren’t happy I won’t join them and want to teach me a lesson.”

“Right here in front of the guard post. Do they even have a brain?”

“Not sure.”

Just then, as the crowd looked mortified at the appearance of a level 40 NPC who seemed to be friendly with Xeal, more guards came in from all directions and suddenly, the crowd was surrounded by around 100 level 20 to 25 NPCs. The players who looked smug just a moment prior, were all now sweating bullets. As the newly arriving guards looked at the crowd with confusion, bystander players had begun recording what was happening.

“Well, Xeal would you like to press charges? I can clearly see they have threatened you.”

This line caused Tenbris’s mouth to drop as normally the players were good until they actually attacked, but unknown to him, thanks to the sheriff trusting Xeal, he could press charges on any normal player who didn’t have over 1,000 personal renown, so long as the system recognized it as a crime and he named the right culprit on his first try.

“What type of punishment will they get?”

“As long as they don’t struggle, a day in jail to cool off would be all I could do. But, if they resist, well a week in a cell at Dragon’s Eye sounds about right.”

“Oh, yes. I would like to press charges, and I hope they struggle.”

At this point Tenbris looked like a fish out of water, gasping for breath as his mouth was opening and closing, but no words were coming out. Xeal almost laughed as a few players tried to log out, only to see that only an unprotected log out was available. The best part was that Xeal knew that those 24 hours in the jail house were different from the prison in that only time spent in game counted towards it. Just as Xeal thought a few of the players were going to do something stupid and try to resist, Tenbris regained his composure.

“Men, stand down. We have been out played this time and don’t need to worsen the punishment. Xeal, Abysses End will remember this.”

“Hey, sheriff, any chance I can get you to up the charges on that one, as he is the instigator of all this?”

“What exactly are you hoping for?”

“Not much. Just a week in Dragons Eye. Even just two days there would be awesome.”

“Hmm, I can only give him a day under the law, but I could have him serve it there.”

“That works for me.”

“You heard him men. Go ahead and round up this lot and add that one to the group being transported to Dragon’s Eye.”

“““Yes sheriff!”””

As Xeal watched Tenbris get loaded for transport, he was ecstatic as it would be extremely difficult for him to make it back after he was released. Even with all of Xeal’s knowledge and higher level, he just barely made it there. Furthermore, all of his return scrolls would be reset to Dragon’s Eye, trapping him until he either paid for the escort, or other players were able to go and get him. Either way, it would be a few days in game before he had to deal with Tenbris directly again and Xeal would use it to cross the first major hurdle in the game, level 10.

Normally this would be hard, but thanks to the Behemoth Slayer title it would be almost too easy, as the title made him closer to a level 19 than a level 9 stat wise when facing a monster at least five levels higher than him. Even when he was over level 200, it would give him better than a three base level stat boost. Xeal thought to himself, if his friends took the chance and got the title as well, how much it could help them grow, but he knew how hard it would be. Level 16 to 30 monsters were always known as some of the hardest to take on when under level. His friends would need to be able to go one on one with at least a level 16 monster to gain the title. Plus, it only got more unrealistic as time went on, to the point where Xeal almost thought it was put in the game to help skilled players who, for one reason or another, had to restart from scratch. Xeal also thought about leaking the information to other guilds just to watch their players growth get stunted, but that risked a few gaining the title as well. As Xeal was pondering this, a group of passing players caught his eye and he smiled as Geitir Hakonsson, now level 4, and a few other members of Eternal Valhalla walked by.

“Geitir! Geitir! Hey, got a moment to talk?”

Geitir turned to Xeal a surprised look on his face.

“What can I do for you, Xeal of FAE?”

“Not much. It is more what I can do for you and your guild.”

With that Xeal broke one of a seasoned players rules, and revealed his title’s buffs to Geitir. When Geitir saw it, he was astonished.

“Please, you have to tell me how you got that title. It would help our guild immensely!”

“Relax. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. While I can’t just give this info away, unlike the leveling strategy, sharing this won’t slow me down too much, but it will cost you.”

“How much? I am sure we can afford it.”

Xeal had to laugh. He remembered how many pay to win players were out there and how they drove the in game marketplace prices to insane levels in the early game as they paid to get even the slightest boost. Since only what other players sold was available, the supply took forever before reaching demand. This was only compounded once the world took notice of ED more thoroughly.

“I’m sure you can. First though, do you want to gain exclusive rights, or just buy the info?”

“What? I am the first to be offered such info? You have honored me. As such, I would like to take you up on the exclusive rights option. My offer is 1,000,000 credits.”

Xeal almost couldn’t believe his ears. 1,000,000 credits was more than his dad made in two years. Had he truly forgotten how crazy the market had been these first few days?

“Before I accept that offer, understand that even with this info, very few of your members will be able to gain this title. It is just that difficult.”

“Thank you for your concern, but I have faith in my guild and our leader will be ecstatic to gain this info.”

With that, Xeal wrote a quick contract, stating in exchange for 1,000,000 credits, he would not spread this info to anyone other than core members of FAE who signed an NDA, and Geitir would gain sole rights to this information.

“Ok, here is its conditions. I would recommend agility builds try their luck at level 8 as it will only get harder the higher level you are.”

As Geitir looked over the info he was looking at Xeal like he was staring at a monster.

“How in the world did you manage to pull this off!? I can tell you have a step on most of us by your level, but this is just crazy.”

With that Xeal went into his encounter with the shadow panther and how even he felt it was pure luck and hesitated to have his members try it. Geitir seemed to calm down slightly when he heard how Xeal had accomplished it, but still showed a look of reverence at his story.

“A whole battle with only 5 HP, that’s just crazy. It truly saddens me not to be able to acquire such a talent, but at least I know other guilds won’t either. Thank you Xeal and if you ever have any more items or info to sell, please contact me.”

With that the two exchanged contact info and said their farewells. Xeal walked away, hardly believing his luck. He had thought that maybe he could get a quarter of what he had after selling the information to several sources, before it was leaked online by someone he sold it to. However, now not only did he walk away 950,000 credits richer thanks to the systems 5% handlers fee, but he also knew at least one viable market for any more info he wanted to share. If only taxes didn’t exist, he would have enough for a down payment on a house, but alas, not only did they exist, but he hadn’t officially opened his business and didn’t have the licenses that would make it easy to avoid the taxes by buying business related items. With this, Xeal decided to log out and take care of getting his business license before anything else. Losing over 300,000 credits has a way of changing the order in which one does things.

Afternoon, July 18, 2266.

Alex removed His VR helmet and made his way over to his laptop and went about finding and filling out all the necessary paperwork. Luckily, the process for establishing an online gaming business was extremely stream lined, as most governments just wanted the quick easy 200 credits. Thanks to the holding period on the funds he just earned, he would have to get his mom to lend him the credits. So, after about two hours of finding and filling out the needed paperwork, Alex was ready to head out to turn in his application, and hopefully open a new business account.

“Mom, do you have a moment?”

“Oh, Alex your up. Why aren’t you playing your game?”

“I realized there was something more pressing right now.”

With that, Alex went on to explain how he needed to start his business, so he didn’t have to worry about losing valuable startup capital to taxes when it could go to buy equipment and a facility to have guild members work out of. His mom looked at her son like he was over thinking things and would be just fine as a private contractor of sorts until he realized it was a dead end.

“What am I looking at son?”

“The current pending transaction that I just made in game.”

“But it’s so much, how, what, why?”

“As I told you, Mom, I realized I need to have a business now, not tomorrow like I had thought. As a private contractor, I can’t buy gear for others and write it off as a business expense.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Look. Right now, the market is super inflated by pay to win players and guilds. It’s how I plan to make my living, and while not all transactions will be this large, I have confidence that I will earn far more than this over the next few months.”

“Huh, ok. I still don’t understand how, but I suppose I don’t have to worry about you paying me back at least.”

“Thanks, Mom!”

With that, Alex headed out to complete his application and open his new account. The business administration’s office was relatively empty, but it still took forever, due to Alex being insistent on a same day approval with paperwork in hand. Consequently he ended up leaving and returning after lunch to pick up his approval and headed over to the bank to open his new account. At first, the banker looked at Alex cross-eyed, but that quickly changed when he showed him his current pending transaction. Suddenly, the banker couldn’t be happier and more willing to help, and so Alex finally made it back home around three that afternoon with business license in hand, and a guaranty that the pending transaction would be routed to the business account and treated as its revenue. Much to Alex’s surprise, he had avoided losing 300k by his quick action.

Alex did a quick check on his group chat, to find that the last batch wasn’t going as well as before. Between the fact that they were trying to squeeze 5,000 players into a single area that had just barely enough monsters to go around, some guilds had started to show up in mass in the Hill giant area, and shortly after they showed up, had started demanding that they clear the area. Apparently, it had almost turned into a fight, but Eternal Valhalla had been one of the guilds and Geitir stepped in to arbitrate once he had realized they were Xeal’s guild. In the end each side occupied half the map, which was killing the speed for both, especially Geitir’s group of around 10k. So, as most of the new players had only just made level 4, they were going to have to work for level 6 after the next log out period ended. Alex could only smile bitterly. He was running out of time. The guilds were moving to higher level areas already. While grabbing 5% of the area’s population made him a major player, it was nothing compared to the first month cooperation agreements most major gaming companies had, in which they agreed to help each other secure grinding areas. They did this so they could establish bases across the map without worrying about suppression from each other, while each agreeing not to start in the others’ chosen main area. This was the start of many of the games longest and best lived alliances. This was another reason why starting in Quickwind was such a boon, as the Kingdom of Nium didn’t start as a home base for any major guilds last time due to its relatively small size and its location on one of the smaller continents out of the way for most players. This would be a mistake many guilds would regret as the late game allowed for players to play a very active role in politics, sometimes even joining hands with a kingdom, or empire, in the rule of a territory. The biggest boons from this came when a whole continent was controlled by one kingdom, or empire, but it would be years before that came into play. Right now, Alex was focused on making sure he established FAE’s foothold securely so when the second wave of players hit, he wouldn’t miss his chance. With that, Alex decided to log on and spend some time to get ready for his push to level 10. He had already lost too much time as it was today.

ED, year 1, day 6.

Xeal wasted no time heading straight for the weapons shop and began looking through the inventory, quickly finding what he needed. A level 5 rapier with a slight agility enhancement for attacking.

(Rapier: +2 to agility when attacking. Cost 1 gold)

While it would be worthless in a few days, right now it was one more advantage for him, and thanks to his discount, it only cost 90 silver, leaving him with plenty of funds left over for a few potions, just in case.

With his new weapon safe in hand, Xeal made his way to a nearby general store and bought two light health potions at an outrageously priced one gold a piece, but still, as each was good for 200 health, they would let him grind by himself without having to return to town. As he walked through town, Xeal could only grimly smile at how many level 3 and 4 players walked around, with even the occasional level 5 being spotted here or there. It was going to be close. The last group of players really was a gamble. If they only reached level 6 slightly ahead of other guilds, it would cast doubt on their view of the guild, and the players stuck helping them level up would be bitter at the time they wasted. He needed to have a plan to help them jump to level 10 as fast as possible, but they were all behind on gear thanks to the poor drop quality of the giants and cyclopes. There were no good options that a normal player could use to grind from three plus levels down until you reached level 30. Xeal knew that founding a guild fast was crucial for their continued growth, but even then, it would take weeks before the member cap would allow everyone in. Xeal only had another hour before his normal break started. He could skip it, but that would desync his schedule with the rest, and while he could fix it on the other end, he knew his mom would be upset if he missed dinner. So, with his prep done, he found an inn to get the rest boost from. He sent out a group message asking for everyone to come over to his house for a planning meeting, making sure to emphasize it was important and logged out.

Evening, July 18, 2266.

Once conscious, Alex went to the living room to make sure it was presentable and let his mom know that everyone was coming over to discuss things before dinner. Although she seemed to wish she had more warning, she understood, considering everything Alex had done that day. Sam and Nicole were the first to arrive as they lived the closest.

“What’s up, Alex? Why were you offline most of the day?”

“Sam, I was taking care of our foundations outside of the game. Before I get into the details, everyone needs to be here.”

“How goes the grinding?”

“Ugh, I wish those other guilds hadn’t shown up. They cost us a whole lot of time. I was hoping to be done by now.”

“You can say that again,” chimed in Dan who had just walked in.

“Sorry guys, but I promise it will be worth it.”

“Hey, it’s not all bad. Sometimes it can be really fun to meet new people, but man, it’s getting hard to focus,” chipped in Nicole

“Yah, it’s like my brain hasn’t had a break in a week,” supplied Dan.

Fred and Amanda arrived during this exchange, and with everyone present, Alex decided to start the meeting in earnest. He started talking about how the recruits were looking, but all he got was while it looked like a few had potential, it was hard to tell when all they were doing was throwing rocks, or dodging a monster. That being said, the group figured they would have everyone leveled with another 20 hours of work, to which Alex was pleased, and told everyone to get a room at an inn after and just sleep in game and be ready when they logged back in for the next phase of the game. Then he told everyone about why he had been offline most of the day, and it got really quiet when he showed them the pending transaction. Dan broke the silence.

“So that’s why that guy was so adamant that we split the leveling area. He mentioned he knew you and wanted to avoid trouble, but this is just crazy.”

“Yah, I know you really were serious about this, but I never thought for a second you would pull off something like this.” Fred added.

“Look, this is just the start. Even if we wanted it to, it couldn’t do much more than pay some rent and feed us for a couple years. But, if we can find a way to keep funds coming in, we could easily grow far bigger than just a small guild.”

“I don’t know Alex. This really feels like a onetime deal. How do we reproduce this regularly?” Nicole questioned.

“Good point, Nicole. So, Alex, what’s your plan? Discover a secret every few days and sell it to the highest bidder? That might work for a bit, but how long could you keep finding new things before everyone else, and won’t us sharing the secret hurt our guild in the long run?” Sam pushed.

“Look, I am not saying we become an info broker guild. I am simply stating that the pay-to-win guild and the casual player with money to burn will always be around. We simply need to stay ahead of the curve. For instance, if I reach the city before any other player, or explore an area of the map and can pass on info, that would save time, but not much else. At ten credits, with thousands of players buying it regularly, it would be a nice side income, but nothing compared to what I’m going for. However, if we can establish ourselves as a guild and provide resources to those groups like Eternal Valhalla who have plenty of money to spend, we can both earn plenty of cash and build important alliances at the same time.”

“Speaking of guilds like Eternal Valhalla, how do they afford to spend that kind of money?” Amanda chimed in.

“To them it’s an investment. They are playing the long game. They will be doing guidebooks and the like as well, but what will really pay their bills are major events like the arena that was advertised. Not only will players in game be paying to watch, but the betting market can be extremely lucrative when the winning team takes a cut. That’s also why so many guilds are after you all right now. You are two levels higher than you should be, so they are hoping that translates into a huge asset down the line.”

“But still, with how many players they have, it can’t go that far, can it?”

“Amanda, you are thinking that everyone in the guild is being paid. The vast majority are paid only at a per item rate, while trying their best to make an arena team. So, they spend their days grinding and leveling, living off barely anything, hoping they can break through. It’s what we would all be doing right now if we had joined one of the major players. There will be exceptions, like quality lifestyle players who can produce top tier equipment for a guild, but that is even harder to do. Most lifestyle players won’t be able to turn a profit until they have increased their skill related to their craft to gold. Which, without a guild dumping a ton of resources into you, looks like it will take a year, or more, and gold is not even the top.”

Alex thought about the crafting ranks that started at untrained, and how just to be able to start, you had to complete a quest that taught you the basics of how the system worked. After that, you had to have actual skill in the task itself to work from Iron up to Adamantium. Sure, a higher strength score would help you work stronger metals, and high endurance would let you work with hotter fires, but the finesse needed could only be gained by repetition, and the lower your skill rank, the closer to perfect you needed to be. Be that as it may, Alex intended to poach as many of those players as he possibly could. They would be invaluable once trained, and he knew a few ways to speed up the process.

“Ok, so what’s the plan for the credits you have so far?” Dan asked.

“It’s going to be a down payment for our headquarters once we secure a steady revenue stream. Until then, I will be using a little here and there for expenses, like purchasing in-game material for training our players. We need to invest in our future if we want to succeed, and as I said before, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Now, it’s after five. We need to get ready to log back in and complete our tasks. If all goes well, the guild will be founded by this time tomorrow. And don’t forget to sleep at an inn after you finish training everyone. Pass it along as well.”

With that, the group all headed home to get some food and return to ED. Alex found his mom looking at him like she could hardly recognize him, as he joined Anna and her for dinner. Dinner was nice. His mom hand prepared a chicken salad with all the fixings, and a homemade Italian dressing to go with it. After dinner, Alex returned to his room and logged back in.

ED, year 1, day 7.

As Xeal opened his eyes in ED, he went over what he needed to do. First, he needed to complete a class quest to gain a class for level 10. This was relatively straight forward and involved going to a guild, or post, for different types of classes, ranging from a back alley for a rogue, to a church for a cleric, but all any player would get was a mark of apprenticeship for that class. You could even get more than one. Each would give you some task, like steal a coin from someone for the rogue class or show your devotion by donating one gold for a cleric. The tasks could vary widely in difficulty, but the general rule was the harder the task, the better the class was in the long run. And this included how hard it was to find the task in the first place. With this in mind, Xeal headed back to the guard post where the sheriff was still working to figure out just how bad the corruption was in the town as a whole. Xeal was about to attempt the class quest very few ever even knew about, knighthood. To even get the right to access it, you had to have done a great service to the kingdom you were in and be able to get at least a baron to accept you to advance past the apprentice phase. Xeal had checked the first box already. Now he just needed to hope that the sheriff, who was a knight without land, had calmed down enough and would be willing to accept him. As Xeal entered the guard post, he could see the sheriff behind the main desk just shaking his head with papers in a mess all over it.

“Ah, Xeal. To what do I owe this visit to. You didn’t go out and find more trouble for me, did you?”

“No sheriff. I was wondering if you would be willing to sponsor me for knighthood?”

“Hmm, why do you wish to become a knight?”

Xeal thought to himself about all the corny answers like “to protect the people,” or “truth, justice, and the American way of life,” but he knew now wasn’t the time for such clichés.

“I simply wish for a good working relationship between the guild I intend to found and the kingdom.”

“Ah, you intend to be a leader to the adventurers and wish for the privileges that come with knighthood.”

These privileges would include things like increased guild renown, and even access to quests that the kingdom deemed too sensitive to publicly advertise. It would even make founding a guild town easier, but it also had a cost. As a knight, you were obligated to come to the kingdom’s defense in time of war and if your side lost, you would go from preferential treatment to a scourge, and all boosts would be turned into negatives. This had been the downfall of many guilds that had wielded great power before the war. During a war, you could find your guild’s access to resources restricted by the other side, denying entry for your entire guild. Even with these risks, Xeal knew it was the best option for him and would ensure his guild got off the ground running as fast as possible.

“Yes, but I truly believe the kingdom will benefit greatly from the partnership in the long run as well.”

“Hmm, alright. I will test to see if you can meet my standards. Your goal will be to still be standing after three attacks.”

With that, the sheriff stood up and stepped around the desk, and without even saying anything, he lunged at Xeal. Seeing this coming, Xeal was able to sidestep the attack, but quickly got caught in the gut when the sheriff swept his arm to the side in his second attack. Before Xeal had any chance to recover, the sheriff was already bringing down his third attack on him. Winded and staggered, Xeal forced himself not to roll out of the way, as that would cause him to fail this test, and then he would have to wait three days for another attempt. He had to stay standing. So, instead he brought his arms up in an X and braced his legs to catch the hammer fist bearing down at him. When the blow landed, it felt like his arms might break as his body slid backward, but he remained standing and the sheriff smiled.

“Well, you’re certainly better than the knight who used to rule this town, at least. So, I guess I can give you the recommendation when you’re ready for the test.”

“Thank you, sheriff.”

“Now get out of here and come see me once your guild is up and running. I’m sure I can find plenty of work for them to do.”

With that, Xeal left the guard post and made his way to the level 15 shadow cat area to grind for level 10, which thanks to his title, would be easier to take down than the level 12 jumping badgers he had originally planned to farm. It would also save him almost a full day in game. 20 hours and seven dead shadow cats later, Xeal was locked in the final fight he needed to win to level up to level 10. Tired, injured and wishing it was already over, Xeal dodged attack after attack from his foe while doing his best to land hits regularly. He knew this fight would either set him back immensely, or propel him forward. He was out of health potions and only had half his health left. Without his title, he would have been lucky to survive two fights with these cats who loved jumping from shadow to shadow, attacking as they did. The only real strategy that worked was to counterattack each time. The problem with that was, even when you were successful, it still caused you a small amount of damage and it was piling up fast. For Xeal at this point, he could only manage three fights before his health was in the critical and he was ready to have this fight over. Finally, his rapier pierced the cat through its chest and the last of its HP disappeared, leaving behind some drops and leveling Xeal up. As he applied his points both to his stats and his mastery of the rapier, Xeal looked over the drops from his eight fights. He had gotten four cat eyes, which were valuable for alchemy, and eight pelts that could be sold for ten silver each, or used by a tailor to create a light natural armor. Xeal had a grim smile as he thought how hard it was to earn gold before level 20 and how even a silver would sell for 100 credits right now. He then looked at the two gold, 62 silver and 60 copper pieces he had right now and the 160 silver pieces he would earn from his current drops, and thought of the 42,260 credits he could earn by liquidating them right now like so many other short-sighted players did. Right now, Xeal needed all the gold he could get. Just then he received a message letting him know that the last group was leveled up and about to head back to town. To which, Xeal told them he would be in town in a few as well and to meet him by the adventurer’s guild and have the members standing by. After which, he took out a return scroll and was back in town to meet up with Ignis (Dan), Aalin (Nicole), Amet (Fred), Gale (Sam), and Clara (Amanda).

Once in front of the guild, Gale was the first to call out to Xeal.

“Level 10! I thought we were going to grind that level together.”

“Sorry, I had to get this done as fast as possible. Still, I am ahead of schedule, thanks to my title.”

“You sure you don’t want us to try to get it as well?” questioned Ignis.

“I really would love it if you all got it as well, but if you fail it will set you all way back and I doubt that one in 10,000 can get lucky enough to cripple their foe like I did. I would have died without that in the first 30 seconds of that fight. Anyhow, how is the guild fund looking?”

At that, the group smiled as Ignis opened an exchange window with Xeal. In it was the equivalent to five platinum, 15 gold, 65 silver and 78 copper pieces, once the player converted it all at a money exchanger. This made Xeal ecstatic as the requirements to register a guild were: first be level 10, second, pay the five platinum pieces to the adventurer’s guild. Once registered, you would have to design your emblem, and sadly Xeal was not much of an artist, so he had Aalin draw a shield like what you would find on a coat of arms with a demon’s head on a pike and F.A.E. underneath it. He figured it would be enough for right now and he could find an artist to create something better eventually if needed, as while it cost gold to do so, both the guild name and emblem could be changed once every 90 days. With everything in order, Xeal headed inside to register with his friends as vice GM’s, allowing them to add, or remove members. Once the registration was complete, Xeal and his friends got a system notification. (Congratulations. The guild F.A.E. has been created. As the first guild to be created in the game, a 1.5 multiplier will be applied to its member cap!) At the same time, a system notification went out to the entire game. (Congratulations to Xeal the guild master of FAE for founding the first guild in Eternal Dominion, awarding 10,000 bonus renown.) Xeal was ecstatic, as these boosts brought his guild just short of level 6 and he already had a cap of 366. With less than 100 renown needed for level 7, simply adding players would push his guild to level 6 ,as each new player would add one renown, putting his guilds member cap at 458.

“Guys, go add contract numbers one through 452 and tell them to focus solely on quests that increase guild renown. They can find them posted in the guild here, the guard post and occasionally at other notice boards around the town. Right now, they will be the fastest way for us to grow as a guild, and for our members to level up and to ensure we gain an absolute foothold here. As for you guys, be ready to grind for level 10 when you log back in, so find your class quest before you go to the inn. I’ll check in with you after the next log out window closes.”

As Xeal parted ways with his friends, he was ecstatic. He had done it. He had ensured that Abysses End would not have the member cap boost that they had managed to gain last time around, so long as he did not give it to them. This would greatly change how everything would play out this time. With nine hours left, Xeal made his way to an inn to get some much-needed rest and prep for the following day’s work to bring his friends up to level 10.

While Xeal had been out fighting the shadow cats, a rather irate level 5 had finally returned from Dragon’s Eye, having served his sentence and spent the ten silver to be transported back to Quickwind. He now was pissed as his level 5 status was commonplace now, and even the occasional level 6 could be seen walking around. He had lost a full 40 hours of time due to that damn player who dared to ignore him. His superiors had been furious with him for not only getting himself detained, but for stunting the entire Abysses End seed group in this area after they had gotten a slight lead over the rest. Now they were behind. Tenbris Amplexus swore he would make Xeal and FAE pay, but first he had to lead his men and reestablish their lead in the area, or he was going to find himself pushed out of leadership before he got the chance to show his worth. With that, he quickly met up with his grinding team and got to work. It was during this grinding that the system notification came. Fury was the only word to describe what Tenbris was feeling now. That upstart dared to make his name known clear across the game and claim the coveted first guild title so many were racing for. Surely this will make him many enemies. After that thought, Tenbris smiled. He could use this. With a smile now eerily on his face, he continued to grind, treating each monster like it was Xeal. Surely now his superiors would see he was not wrong to try and hinder Xeal. Even if he failed, they would recognize his ability to identify a threat. Tenbris only had one thought going through his mind now, end Xeal’s and FAE’s short time in the spotlight.

Morning, July 19, 2266.

Alex awoke feeling refreshed, but hungry. His body wasn’t used to his new schedule and routine yet, even if his mind was. He sighed as he thought about what he needed to do before, putting on his gym clothes and making his way outside for another jog. As he kept forcing himself to put one foot in front of the other, he kept reminding himself that this too would become easier each time and he couldn’t afford to neglect his health. As he passed in front of Nicole’s house, he found her and Sam, who lived next-door to her, sitting out front drinking what looked like coffee. Both girls looked at Alex like they had seen a ghost as their minds tried to compute the lazy video game obsessed friend willingly exercising around 4:00 AM in the morning. Alex could only chuckle to himself as he waved to them and continued on his way, while they waved back, still looking like they were seeing a UFO. Once home, he found his dad eating breakfast and reading the news on his tablet.

“Mom tells me you just came into some money son.”

“Yah, I was able to find and learn a secret in game that was worth a lot to one of the gaming companies and turned it into my startup fund for my guild.”

“Mom also told me you got a business license and opened an account for it.”

“Yah, I need to be legit if I want to write-off things like rent for our HQ and any other expenses that come up.”

“Honestly, I think you are moving too fast. That cash could have kept you off the streets for at least two years, if not more, but now you are talking like it is more than a onetime deal where you got lucky. Look, I’m not saying that I’m not proud of you for taking the first step in proving me wrong, but I think you need to be more cautious of over extending yourself and making so many jumps into areas that you don’t know enough about. Slow down and make sure you know your legal obligations and rules, before you find yourself being audited by the IRS and owing them more money than you can afford to even start to pay.”

Alex could only smile bitterly at his dad’s advice as it was similar to what happened last time when he had finally gone from a minor player to a higher up of a major gaming firm. Alex had only half listened to him that time, and in the long run it had come back to bite him. Not financially, as the firm handled all of that, but he had been locked into a contract. When the merge with Abysses End went down, he was unable to even keep his character that he built for two decades of real world time, 60 years of the game time. Alex wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He needed to hire someone to take care of the administration side of his business that he could trust. The hard part would be convincing the person he had in mind from his last life to help him, as they hadn’t even met this time around yet.

“Thanks, Dad. You’re right. I do need to make sure I have the legal side taken care of. I promise before I spend any significant amount of the funds, that I will have a lawyer look over everything.”

“Thank you, son. Now when are you going to start paying rent?”

“What are you talking about, Dad?”

“Well, you obviously have the credits, so why wouldn’t you?”

“Dad, that money is needed for my business.”

“What happened to that is just the start? Are you saying you don’t think you can afford rent yet?”

“Ugh, you just want me to say that so I can’t claim that I’ve already fulfilled our deal.”

“Yep. So, are you moving out, or paying me rent yet?”

“Nope, but I still have 362 days to free load and play my game if I want to.”

He and his dad just smiled at each other as they both ate their breakfast, before starting the new day in earnest. Once his morning routine was done, Alex logged back into ED, ready to help his friends grind to level 9 by the end of that session. They would need to reach level 10 on their own. Xeal couldn’t afford to stand still that long.

ED, year 1, day 8.

Xeal awoke and quickly met up with Ignis (Dan), Aalin (Nicole), Amet (Fred), Gale (Sam), and Clara (Amanda) to prepare to grind. All five of them had replaced their starting equipment. Amet now wielded a larger double headed ax and wore mismatching pieces of armor. Clara had a large wooden shield and a broad sword and was also in mismatched armor. Ignis had a new red robe and a new staff with a small red gem at the top. Gale wore a white robe and carried a white pole for a staff. Lastly, Aalin wore a blue cloak and carried a new wand with a tiny light blue gem at its base.

“You all look like you enjoyed some shopping. How are the new members working out?”

“Great. Everyone was excited to be able to find quests without having to jump through hoops, but there were a lot of players disappointed that you based everything off the number on the contract, not the skill of the player. Especially those whose contracts were higher and would have to wait the longest,” informed Ignis.

“Yah, it can’t be helped. Hopefully by the time we are done today, the guild will have leveled again.”

“Yah, so what’s the plan Xeal?” asked Amet.

“Troll hunting. Level 16 trolls to be precise. I’m hoping to kill at least 22 of them today and get you all to level 9. After that, you will be on your own for a while as I push for level 20.”

“What. You’re not going to take us to level 10?” questioned Amet.

“Sorry man, but it’s for your own good. Everyone needs to be focusing on learning how to play, and if I just keep power leveling you all, you will find yourself handicapped in the long run. You should take and find good tests of your abilities instead of just grinding for level 10, because trust me, once you reach level 10, while it will only be slight, the game changes and if you haven’t taken the time to improve your skills, it will be harder to maximize your effectiveness.”

Xeal knew that each time you rose tiers at levels 10, 20, 40, 80, 130, 200 and 280, you would experience a boost in your abilities, and if you didn’t hone your skill in each tier at least a little, mastering the skills in the next tier became harder. At first, most didn’t realize this as it was negligible between one or two tiers, but after players hitting tier 7 at level 200, around six years of game time, and had realized that not taking some time to get used to the system by level 10 had kept them from grasping the systems mechanics to its fullest. They became even more disheartened when they learned that they needed to experience the changes over every tier to exploit some of the hardest maneuvers in the game efficiently. All of the guilds who focused only on grinding until level 20 suddenly realized why most of their early members had become second tier players at that point. While some cursed the game for being so heartless and making them waste over two whole real-world years, most would later realize that the game had been merciful in making them aware of the issue that quickly. It took the most dedicated players almost six years in the real world to reach the level cap at 300, and the tier 8 quests were insanely difficult. With that, even Xeal had been capped at tier 7, with most casual players only ever managing tier 6, stunting them at level 199 forever. For players like Xeal level 200 was where ED really started. Tier 8 was reserved for only a handful of the best players in the game. Out of over 15 billion players, only 186 known tier 8 players existed. Everyone knew many more hid their status, but even then, estimates only put the true number around 1,000 at the highest. Xeal didn’t think his friends would be able to make tier 8, but hoped tier 7 wouldn’t be beyond their reach. For himself, it was tier 8 or bust. He knew what he needed to do and knew that by the time his friends hit level 10, they should have enough experience as a tier 1 to succeed in the long run if they took their time on the last level before tier 2.

“You’re kidding, right? Why get used to moving around at tier 1 when it’s supposed to be easier to at tier 2?” questioned Ignis in confusion.

“Hmm, think of it like this. Right now, our brains are processing at three times normal speed and I’m sure you all have felt that drain, right?”

Everyone answered in the affirmative with a nod, or verbal “Yah.”

“Well, when you move up a tier the system ups the speed for you in combat, or when performing tasks that require concentration. At first, it will go from around three to three point five, which will be easy to adjust to, but like weightlifting, or math, if you don’t have a sturdy base to build on you won’t be able to handle it as it ramps up to ten or 14 times speed.”

“Come on. There’s no way the game is going to do that much of a ramp. I doubt it will go past six times speed. I don’t think a human brain could handle much more,” speculated Ignis.

“Yah, that would be like superhuman stuff. Could you imagine moving twice as fast as normal while fighting? It would be too OP.” quipped Amet.

“You’re right Amet. It’s not just the stats and skills that separate player in different tiers. They would be superhuman to anyone more than one tier below them. Even one tier probably makes a huge difference later in the game. I’m betting we only gain a half second at tiers 2 and tier 3, but then a full second at tier 4, then two at tier 5, three at tier 6, four at tier 7, and five at tier 8, making it 19 times what we experience outside the game. Could you imagine trying to just jump to that with a shaky base?”

Xeal knew this was close to exactly what happened by all the experiments that were carried out years from now to try and better understand what changed between tiers, but he also was trying to convince his friends with no proof, when Gale came to his rescue.

“Look guys. We all know Xeal has basically been carrying us this entire time and yah, he has left us in the dust now, but he hasn’t been wrong yet. I say we just trust him. He is offering us two whole levels in half the time it took to gain our last one. Stop being impatient. We still out level everyone else around. Let’s just try to have some fun after this and explore the world.”

“I’m with Gale,” agreed Clara.

“Me to” chipped in Aalin.

Ignis and Amet yielded after the girls all teamed up on them. Xeal could only laugh, as he knew the two each held a crush on separate girls, but both were in the three that had just sided with him.

“Ok, now let’s go over the plan. Ignis, you will be crucial for this plan, as your fire spells will kill the troll’s regeneration speed boost that makes fighting it such a pain. Amet and Clara, the two of you will take turns being the tank. Don’t try to attack too much. Just keep it focused on you while you defend yourself. Gale and Aalin, make sure you are buffing and healing the tanks as they take turns, and I’ll be the main striker taking some of the pressure off Amet and Clara. But to pull this off, we will need everyone. I don’t think I could even take on a troll by myself yet. Its damage regeneration would probably outpace the damage I could deal.”

With that, the party set off for a level 16 area, avoiding monsters along the way, until four hours later, they came upon the area that Xeal had in mind. It was a system of caves that had several entrances. At the mouth of each, trolls lurked. The party took up position just far enough away to not attract any trolls from three nearby cave openings. Once in position, Xeal went about luring individual trolls away from the cave entrances back to where Amet and Clara stood waiting with the rest of the party. At first, the party could barely cope with the troll’s movements, and Amet and Clara had to switch out every 30 seconds, while Gale tried her best to keep both of their HP’s out of the red. Clara was able to do a little self-healing which helped, but the group was still struggling to keep up and they were averaging one troll every hour and a half when you accounted for recovery time. Finally, after nine hours of work and six dead trolls, the five level 7 members heard the notification that they have reached level 8.

“Alright, that’s what I’m talking about!” cheered Amet.

“Yah, maybe now we will be able to double our DPS once you take into consideration these damn things regeneration speed!” exclaimed Ignis.

Ignis wasn’t wrong, as even with Xeal’s support and his fire, the Trolls still regenerated twice as often as a normal monster.

“I know, right. Could you imagine trying to take them on without the burnt debuff, and they had their normal five times regen speed? Are these really easier than the other options?” inquired Clara.

“Yah, each fight is taking forever Xeal. Are you sure we have time to take care of another 16 before we log out?” questioned Ignis.

“Definitely, and while it might be time consuming, they are the only monster level 15 plus in this region whose speed is low enough for lower-level players to keep up and there is a method to beating them. Even a solo player with enough alchemist fire and experience could do it.”

“Is that what you expect Eternal Valhalla to do?” asked Aalin.

“Can’t say for sure. They have members in other regions, and some might find suitable targets other than trolls, but if they do, it will get expensive fast. It would take around 100 bottles of the stuff to take care of one troll, and at two gold per bottle, that is two platinum a player.”

“Couldn’t we have afforded that if we had held off on founding the Guild?” inquired Ignis.

“Nah, the guild is a bigger deal, as the one and half multiplier to its cap will ensure that we will always out pace even the largest gaming federations. Once they catch on, they will do everything possible to get us to sell to them.”

“Why is that?” asked Aalin.

“Because it’s broken. It’s only the cap that increases, not the renown needed for each guild level, meaning it takes less renown per member to level up. Over time, this will lead to us having twice as many members as any other guild, if we are able to keep our members active.”

“Just how big are you talking?” questioned Ignis.

“It will take time, but four years from now, game time that is, I could see us getting close to two million, while other guilds haven’t even reach one million.”

“No way. How would we even manage that many players?! And why wouldn’t the major game federations just build multiple guilds if they need the space,” said Ignis in disbelief.

“Some will, but higher-level guilds always gain extra perks, so they will always want to maximize their main guilds growth. This will lead to dissatisfaction among the branch guilds, and each time the main guild levels, there will be contention over who joins, as it will only further slow those guilds’ growth. I’m sure it will work for some, but others will watch as it rips apart their comradery.”

There was also the cost associated with building extra guild halls, as most branch guilds would share a city with the main, and if they didn’t, the main guild would have to acquire a guild hall once the branch guild was assimilated, as guild halls were nontransferable and could not be sold back to the system once purchased. Only once a guild was disbanded would the system retake possession of a guild hall and sell it to the players again for what it originally cost, plus the value of any upgrades the prior guild did. Not even training guilds, where their only purpose was to find and develop new talents before sending them to the main guild, were able to be practical after the first two years in the real world. When most major guilds could house over a million players, and it was extremely important to have your best players focusing on the guild’s growth, as each new level required more renown per member than the prior.

“Still, how can a guild manage more than ten or so thousand? Just dealing with the 5,000 we just trained was insane, let alone 400 times that,” stated Aalin.

“Like how you manage anything else. You break it into smaller groups. Like if I have ten players reporting directly to me who have ten players reporting to them and so on. At the eighth rank down, you get ten million players. Yah, the game of telephone becomes an issue, so some tend to tweak the ratios, but for the most part, if you send out goals and rules most members will fall in line.”

“I still think we would be in way over our heads, but that is a problem for another day,” sighed Aalin.

With their post leveling rest complete, the party reset and got ready for the next wave of grinding. Which went about how Xeal expected. Now that they had an extra level, it was only taking an hour per fight, and after 16 trolls in 16 hours, the party, other than Xeal all reached level 9. Along the way, Amet and Ignis had insisted on seeing if they could manage to keep pace with a troll by themselves to gain the behemoth slayer title, only to confirm that they could only last about a minute each before being completely overwhelmed. As the group prepared to return to town and log out, Xeal looked at the guild’s stats and smiled. The guild had hit level 8, meaning that contract numbers 459 to 572 could now join the guild.

“Guys, send out the notice that contracts 459 to 572 need to meet up with you before you log out. The five of you can decide where, but it needs to be the first thing you do when you log back in. Also, with what I’m about to do I will be very busy for about six days in game, so I need you all to make sure when the guild levels, we keep adding our members.”

“Don’t worry Xeal, we will keep up with the guild members until the current group is all in, but what are you going to be doing? You still haven’t told us what you’re up to,” inquired Ignis.

“Well, first I’m going to hit level 11, then I have a few things in Dragon’s Eye to take care of for my class build and to set up our guild’s foundations once everyone starts to reach level 20.”

“At the pace others are going, I feel that’s a month or so off still,” commented Amet.

“Yah, we would still all be off doing our own thing, probably struggling to reach level 4 like most players right now, if you hadn’t convinced us to change our plan Xeal. Thanks for that,” admitted Ignis.

“No problem. I’m just glad everyone agreed, and now we can build a great guild and hopefully keep it going for years to come.”

With that the party all headed back to town before logging out.

Evening, July 19, 2266.

Once logged out, Alex went to his computer and started to look at listings for large buildings for sale that he could turn into his guild headquarters. Looking at the building that looked acceptable, Alex could only smile bitterly at just how little 950,000 credits really was. Just to get a building that would be able to function halfway decently, it would cost 200 million credits. After deciding that he would be better off skipping the temporary state and going the Disney World route and founding his own municipality after buying up all the surrounding land like most of the major guilds ended up doing eventually. Problem was, just to start this Alex was going to need around 500 million credits, and that was just to secure the land needed in an unpopulated area without any major amenities. He would have to get everything from sewers to the internet routed out there and it would take years of development before the first building was even standing, and five years and 50 billion credits before it was ready for full operation. Still, this had become the norm for most guilds around ten years after ED had launched, as it ended up saving them a ton and often easily paid for itself within five years when the guild survived. That was the other side of the coin. Some guilds made this move only to find themselves being dissolved a few years after, with a half-finished city. After looking around for an hour Alex, made his way downstairs for dinner. His sister Anna, who would be turning 16 next month and be legally old enough to use full dive VR equipment, was sitting at the table looking bored.

“What’s up, Anna?”

“Oh. Alex your finally back in reality.”

“Yep. What have you been up to?”

“Nothing. It seems since turning 16, all of my friends are playing those dumb full dive games. A few are even playing the same dumb one as you.”

“Don’t sound so bitter. I’m sure once you turn 16 you will be able to join right up with them.”

“Who says I’m going to even start playing one of those dumb games. Why would I waste the credits on the equipment? Besides, with our internet I doubt we could handle both of us online at the same time.”

Alex winced at that statement as he had forgotten how, in his last life, there was a three-month period after his sister had started to play, but before he had moved out, that he had to split time with her. If they both tried to play, they would get a message saying that the data rate was too slow to play ED. This had been part of the reason it had taken years before ED’s player base reached past five billion, as many parts of the world relied on LEO satellites for internet and could not reach high enough data and low enough lag rates to play. Even after 20 years, only two thirds of the world could play ED, and that was after Guild cities that people often moved to just so they could play were commonplace. ED’s time dilation affects were patented and so closely guarded, that by the time it had been reproduced, they held such a monopoly on the full dive game worldwide that other developers had stopped even trying to compete with them, and instead focused on the one third who still lacked internet speeds to play ED, or those who weren’t old enough yet. Still, while Anna had never been a full-time player, she had enjoyed the crafting aspect of the game and been talented enough at alchemy to reach Mithril rank, which not even one in ten players who reached gold could obtain, but still two steps from reaching Adamantium level. As he thought about it, his dad had ended up being a great weapon smith, reaching Platinum rank just doing it as something to relieve the stress of his work life. And if he had actually focused on it, he could have made a good living just from his smithing. His mom too had started playing eventually and found that she enjoyed the game’s cooking system and had made some of the best meals in game you could, with her chef rank reaching all the way to Adamantium. Had she not waited five years before starting to play, she would have been one of the first chefs to do so and could have easily supported herself and Alex’s dad with the credits she earned from selling the food. In the end, everyone who could wanted to play ED, if for nothing else but the fact that you could feel like you live for three times as long by doing so, and immortality was something that most would seek.

“Hey, Mom. Any chance you could see about upgrading our internet from the 250 Mbps to the 1 Tbps option?”

“Alex, you know how expensive that would be. It would double our monthly bill.”

“I can pay the extra 200 credits a month.”

“And what about when you move out?”

“How about I pay for the first two years mandated by the contract up front, and if you want to keep it after that, you can.”

“I know you just got a lot of credits, but 4,800 is still a lot to drop just like that.”

“It will be worth it. In fact, if you promise to join my guild, I’ll even buy you a VR helmet. And before you say you’re not interested; you should know that fighting monsters is only one aspect of the game and it has a whole world of crafting to explore.”

“Fine. If you’re sure, I’ll call the internet company, but I’m not about to start playing.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Anna just sat there looking at her brother who had worked for a whole month just to earn the 1,000 credits needed for his full dive equipment, who was now dropping credits like it was nothing. Her brain couldn’t compute it.

“Is that game really that important to you?”

“Yah, sis it is. I plan to make more than just a living off it. I plan to rise up in the world through my exploits in it.”

“It’s just a game. How can it make you rise in the real world? Other than within the E-sports community, gamers don’t rise that far.”

“Yah, but I have a feeling ED is going to do more than just revolutionize E-sport. I think it will change the whole world.”

With that, Alex enjoyed the wonderful stir-fry over rice his mom had prepared, before returning to his room and logging back into ED.

ED, year 1, days 10-11.

Xeal quickly made his way out of town and headed back to the level 15 shadow cat area with two minor health potions in tow. He needed to take down ten of them, then make his way to Dragon’s Eye before this login period ended. Then he could begin to build the foundations of success. The journey through the forest was quiet, but once Xeal made it past the level 10 area, he was surprised to see several level 7 players grinding in the area. While he was tempted to approach closer to see who they were, he had a tight schedule to keep and didn’t want to risk a confrontation. So, he made his way toward the shadow cats and began his grind. Ten shadow cats, two minor health potions and 22 hours after his log in later, Xeal could only smile bitterly at reaching level 11. He had gained a level, but now not only would shadow cats offer less experience, but his stats would be worse, and they would be harder to deal with. With that, Xeal made his way to Dragon’s Eye, arriving with three hours to spare before his next log out. Quickly, he made his way to a shop to sell his loot and replenish his supplies before going to the Inn to get a nap in.

Once he had completed his daily routine, Xeal was back in ED. Now was the time to start the process of raiding Dragon’s Eye’s challenge prizes. Usually players didn’t start making it here until well after they made level 10. Completing what would become to be known as the intro, where levels 10 to 20 became known as the tutorial levels, in which the game had several challenges that pushed players to learn how to control their characters better. You would pick up your first skills that required activation movements, and once mastered, they would be far more effective than the simple ones that you could get before level 10. Even Xeal could dump a few points into MP and pick up a staff meant for healing and perform basic healing, but it would be a mistake to waste the points as he didn’t plan on using magic in the late game. Instead, he would be focused on SP and the execution of combat skills. This path required far more skill, as you had to be able to get your skills off mid combat and couldn’t just sit in the pack chanting a spell while the tanks protected you. However, when it came to being able to solo monsters, or other players, a mage would be at a huge disadvantage. This was due to combat skills taking between one and five seconds to pull off, depending on the situation and the skill, but chants, with few exceptions, taking at least five seconds to complete.

The first challenge Xeal approached was basically an obstacle course. One that would have made the ones people use to challenge to claim to be a ninja, or something, look easy. It was enormous, starting with a basic platform hop, before leading to a section of hanging ropes that you had to swing from one to the other. Next was what would become known as the noob killer, a sheer wall which you had to grab hold of after leaping off the last rope and climb while water poured down on you. Once at the top of the wall, a tightrope waited for you with a jump in the middle of it, and then finally at the other end, were hanging hand holds in the shape of palm sized balls that sloped downward to the finish line. While only five events, it had become known as the reality breaker in Xeal’s last life, as it had shown just how much you could do in ED that would be impossible in real life. It cost one silver per challenge, and after completing it, you could get anywhere from one silver to ten gold, depending on your time, with an exception the first gold completion rate would receiver a full one platinum piece. The first platinum rank would get five platinum pieces. This increased with mithril, orichalcum, and adamantium ranked finishes, to the point that if you could get adamantium rank. Which took years before anyone achieved it in his last life, and the others below it were still unclaimed, you would receive 631 gold pieces. Which, if Xeal just turned that into straight credits, would be 6,310,000 credits right now. This would probably hurt the market though, so he wouldn’t make that much, but he didn’t plan to cash this prize or any of the other prizes he was going to get in the next few days.

Xeal paid the one silver to enter the course and smiled as it showed the following goals.

Rank

time

prize

bonus prize

Copper

10 minutes

1 silver

NA

Bronze

9 minutes

2 silver

NA

Iron

8 minutes

5 silver

NA

Steel

7 minutes

10 silver

NA

Silver

6 minutes

20 silver

NA

Gold

5 minutes

50 silver

1 gold

Platinum

4 minutes

1 gold

5 gold

Mithril

3 minutes

2 gold

25 gold

Orichalcum

2 minutes

5 gold

100 gold

Adamantium

1 minute

10 gold

500 gold

As Xeal watched the countdown, he could only smile at himself. Once it hit zero, he was off, leaping across the platforms in five seconds. Then he skipped every other rope as he exploited a timing feature that had taken months to perfect in his past life, and was past them at the ten second mark. Now came the wall, which he landed halfway up after the swing of the rope, but it still ate time like nothing else on this course. By the time he reached the top of the 20-foot wall, he was at the 35 second mark. If he had watched this in his last life at this point of the game, he would think he was watching an NPC programmed to show how it was possible to beat the course in under a minute. Next, he ran across the tightrope at a pace that to an onlooker would seem like reckless abandon, before landing the jump and doing a literal roll on the last section of the rope, leaping into the air, skipping half of the hand holds for his descent at the 40 second mark, and working his way down the rest of the way, finishing at the 55 second mark. A long way off from the course record of 25 seconds in his previous life, but for a tier 2 player, it was an astounding feat.

(Congratulations on Adamantium rank, reward 10 gold! Congratulations on 1st Gold rank clear, reward 1 gold! Congratulations on 1st Platinum rank clear, reward 5 gold! Congratulations on 1st Mithril rank clear, reward 25 gold! Congratulations on 1st Orichalcum rank clear, reward 100 gold! Congratulations on 1st Adamantium rank clear, reward 500 gold! Congratulations on 1st Adamantium rank clear in the kingdom of Nium, rewards doubled, 1,000 renown added! Congratulations on 1st Adamantium rank clear in ED, rewards tripled, and 10,000 renown added!)

Xeal looked at the system notifications, the last two of which he hadn’t know anything about and smiled at his fortune. 3,786 gold was added to his pocket, and thanks to the fact that he was the guild leader, all of his personal renown was added directly to the guilds total. The guild had reached level 9 yesterday, and with this they had just reached level 10. He then looked at the obstacle course again and could only smile bitterly at the fact that he couldn’t just farm it for gold, as once you complete it, you could not receive any rewards for a week that were equal, or less, when compared to the prior rank achieved. However, Xeal now had far more coin then he had expected, and the other challenges in Dragon’s Eye held a certain amount of chance in them, and Xeal at best could expect a mithril rank. So, he decided to leave them alone for now and jump to the next step on his plan, blacksmithing. To start with, he needed an NPC smith to accept him as a trainee, and the easiest way was simply to pay them enough coin that they were happy to teach you. But for the best results, who you had teaching you mattered. Xeal knew who he wanted to get his initial instruction from. While the best smith in Dragon’s Eye was only Gold level, there was a hidden Mithril smith that worked about a six-hour journey out of town. However, to get him to instruct you required not coin, but materials, and you wouldn’t even know his rank until you interacted with him enough that he accepted you as a student. With gold in hand, Xeal made his way to an apothecary and spent 286 gold on potions for health, stamina and antidotes. He then made his way over to an armor and weapon store, spending 500 gold on a set of level 10 light armor that allowed him free movement with his vitals covered, giving a plus four constitution boost, and a new level 10 rapier that added six dexterity and two strength when attacking. Xeal was just about to leave town when he got a message from Ignis.

“What did you do man?! How did our guild’s cap jump a whole level today already?”

“Ignis, I told you that I was going to be busy with building our foundations. Well, one of the things I completed had a great first to clear bonus. Let’s just say that once players start to reach Dragon’s Eye, it will find its way onto the forums, but until then, I think it’s better left unsaid. Just focus on keeping our member cap filled.”

“Will do, but next time you make us jump like that, please message me so I can coordinate the meet up sooner. Not having a guild hall sucks. When do you think we will have one?”

“By the time our members start reaching Dragon’s Eye we should have a small outpost bought, but that will be little more than a shack with access to the guild storehouse once it’s built. Really, it won’t be until we reach a city that our guild hall will exist. Quickwind will likely be nothing more than a quiet place where new players occasionally start after a few months, so no real point in spending the coin there.”

“Ok, talk to you later.”

What Xeal failed to mention is that while building a guild post of any kind in Quickwind, or any of the 5,000 other starting points was a waste, gaining dominion over them and smaller villages could bring nice bonuses to a guild that successfully did so, as they would have an easier time recruiting the new players who would be constantly joining ED over the next several years. But that was more about kingdom politics then a guild HQ. Plus, the regions always had some resources that would be worth farming, so it’s not like the towns would become completely abandoned, especially once the system dropped the amount of starting points due to wars and other changes brought about by the players’ actions. Whole areas designed for beginning players could become overrun by daemons, or just be wiped off the map by war. The system didn’t care one way or another. It would just make some adjustments to the NPC population and generate new quests for the players to take accordingly.

With that, Xeal set off to find the level 200 warrior smith Darefret Anvilborn and his dwarven forge, hidden in a cave where he spent his life in exile after a plague weakened his people enough that the kobolds that lived deep within the mines started to spread rapidly, until he was the only one left. Knowing this, he sealed the mine and set up his forge at the only remaining entrance to keep the kobolds in check, should they try to break through to the surface. Finally, after avoiding monsters for six hours, Xeal was at the right cave and made his way in to find a long descending curving cave that led to an open area about the size of a village, or small town. It was on a scale that made you wonder how it was created. At the far end of the opening was a red glow, and the sound of a hammer striking metal could be heard echoing off the walls. Xeal slowly made his way to the glow, stopping around ten feet from an elderly dwarf who looked like he was focused solely on the blade before him as he shaped it into a masterpiece. Xeal just sat and waited for a full hour until the smith finally acknowledged his presence.

“Who goes there? What do ye want from an old, forgotten dwarf like myself?”

“I am but a young adventurer who was captivated by the masterful work you perform. Surely, you could put any smith in Dragon’s Eye to shame.”

“I thank you for your compliment, and aye, I probably could. However, ye didn’t answer my questions.”

“The name is Xeal Bluefire. What I would truly appreciate is any knowledge of smithing you would be willing to pass on to me.”

“Xeal is it. Darefret Anvilborn at your service. I would be happy to teach you a thing or two, that is if ye can pass a wee little test.”

“What task do you have for me?”

“Ye see that door there. Behind it is an old mine that’s become overrun by kobolds. I can’t venture in out of fear that they would escape while I was away. I would like for you to enter the mine and find an old forge in the mine, retrieve anything that’s still usable from within and bring it back to me. Do this, and I will see about showing ye how to properly use a hammer.”

(Do you wish to accept the quest, “forgotten forge?” Rewards unknown. Warning! Failing the quest will have negative repercussions on your account. Yes or No)

Xeal selected yes, smiling to himself as he was sure that this was an exclusive task for the first player to reach here as he had heard nothing about it in his last life. He was sure that the reward would be excellent, and he was pretty sure he knew where he needed to go. It would require him to get to the early level 20 area, but he had come prepared to get around the same area for some ore, so he was ready. The kobolds in the mine ranged from level 10 to level 150, and was one of the main reasons that this area would still be active for years to come, as the deeper you went the stronger the kobolds you found were, and the more resources the mine yielded. If Xeal could somehow secure this cavern for FAE, it would be extremely profitable, but he wasn’t even sure if it was possible. Last time around, about 10 years from now in game time, some players who decided to join with the dark forces ventured into the mine and freed the kobolds, ending Darefret and his forge. Several players had been outraged at the loss of the NPC, and a war had followed to push the kobolds back into the mine. The result was a reduction in the total number of kobolds on the surface, but with no guard to keep them at bay, no matter how hard they tried, the players couldn’t keep the kobolds in the mine.

“I will gladly accept this task and I will return once I have completed it.”

“Good. Before ye leave, let me teach ye a skill that will help you down there. Take out yer blade and watch closely.”

Darefret pulled out a sword, held it back before thrusting forward, activating a skill as he did, he called out “Piercing Thrust.” It was one of the basic sword combat skills, but it would still be an excellent weapon in Xeal’s hand, as it would improve his efficiency greatly, especially once he added more points to his stat, giving him more than just ten per level. Once Darefret had finished demonstrating, Xeal drew his rapier and emulated the movements, and smiled at the astonishment on Darefret’s face when he got a 93% completion rate on his first strike, thus completing the requirements to learn the skill, and doing so at a level where the skill would be extremely affective. Most skills required at least a 75% completion rank in order to activate, but at 75%, it dealt only half of its possible damage, going up by 2% for each percent gained from there, meaning at 93% Xeal would be doing 86% of the maximum damage. Each strike would cost five skill points and it took Xeal a full minute to recover a single skill point currently, and that only recharged outside of battle, meaning right now, Xeal only had the ability to use this strike 22 times, more than enough for a few encounters, but not nearly enough for this whole exploration.

“Well done. Ye show great potential as a warrior. May yer journey be successful.”

With that, Xeal followed Darefret to the locked door keeping the kobolds in check. It was made of pure steel. Darefret told him to call out when he returned and he would come open the door for him. With the door closed behind him, Xeal made his way into the mine. Typically, you would want a small party when exploring this area as kobolds often moved in small groups, but Xeal knew where choke points were that would allow him to control how many kobolds he would have to fight at once, and Piercing Thrust would be invaluable as it had an increased chance to cripple an enemy if aimed at a joint. Xeal thought this journey would likely take him most of the remaining 22 hours before his log out to complete. 22 hours later, Xeal was exhausted and frustrated after far too many battles with the humanoid canines, having only just made it through the level 14 area. This mine was far more populated than he remembered, and with no other adventurers to compete with, Xeal found it harder than normal to avoid fights. Luckily, each area’s kobold population was going down, and Xeal knew of a safe point on the map where he could log out near his current location. Carefully he made his way to a wall with a weird rune on it that when pressed, opened a hidden door in the wall. Once inside, he closed the door and took in the room. It looked like a barracks room lined with around 400 bunkbeds. In his last life, players had often gone days without leaving the mines, relying on these safe rooms located in each area to log out regularly. With only a few minutes to spare, Xeal found himself a third of the way through the supplies he had bought as he settled down on a bunk and logged out.

Evening, July 20, 2266.

Pulling off the VR head set Alex looked exhausted once again. He really needed to get a good rest in after this quest was complete. Looking at the group chat, he could see that the guild had reached level 11 while he was in the mine and everyone was doing good. While other guilds were starting to close the gap, FAE’s members still enjoyed a slight advantage and most players who couldn’t join due to the member cap issue had been partying with those who were already in to quest together. With just under 1,400 slots available, more than 3,600 players were still waiting to join FAE and Xeal was excited to see how things developed. When they grew past that point, hopefully he could make it to level 20 and Dragon’s View city before the guild started to stagnate and establish a guild hall there. Once he completed that, he could start traveling all over the region to recruit new members, hopefully finding several diamonds in the rough as he did.

After reading the group chat to stay on top of matters in his guild, Alex made his way downstairs for dinner. Tonight was Friday night, or leftover night as they liked to call it in his house. His mom and dad would go on a date, and his sister Anna often times would be hanging out with friends. Tonight, Anna was just sitting there looking absolutely peeved and Alex entering the room seemed to set her off.

“Why is that dumb game of yours taking over everything. None of my friends want to take a night off, even on the weekend to hang out. Why is it that everyone is so obsessed with it!?”

“In three weeks, I’m sure you won’t be much different than them. I just worry about all of you balancing school life with it once school starts back up.”

“I thought I already said I wasn’t planning to play that dumb game.”

“Oh, well, you should at least give it a try before you completely reject it. Who knows, you might start to understand why everyone is enjoying it so much?”

“Hmph, I don’t think so.”

Alex remembered how she had resisted playing even after she got a VR headset for her birthday, until winter break came around. She was so bored from the lack of people doing anything other than playing ED that she finally gave in and tried playing, only to be sucked in worse than her friends. It got so bad, mom and dad had to lock her helmet up every morning until she completed her schoolwork for the day. Alex hadn’t really cared back then, as he was enjoying the freed-up internet connection.

“Suit yourself. It’s your life, but if you want to do stuff with your friends and they are all in game, it sounds to me like you are setting yourself up for more issues.”

“Oh, how so?”

“Alright, school starts back up and you’re eating lunch with your friends, trying to have a conversation with them, but all they want to talk about is the dungeon raid they either went on the last night, or their plans for the next night. Either way, you will just be stuck there with no interest in the topic and no way to participate. Look, I’m not telling you to become some warrior princess who fights monsters nonstop, but you may find you like other aspects, like crafting, or simply sightseeing. The options are endless. You don’t need to be a top tier player like I’m aiming for to enjoy the game. Heck, I’m sure even if all you did was crafting, once you were good enough you could earn some real-world credits. At least try it before you label it the devil.”

“Hmph, I can’t even if I wanted to, now can I?”

“In 15 days, you’ll be 16. Try and be patient. If you want, I could even have someone help you level up when you get there.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Now with arms crossed and a tone that said she was just saying that Alex smiled.

“I’ll make a bet with you.”

“Oh, and what’s the terms?”

“Not much. Just agree to start playing, join my guild and keep at it until the end of winter break, at least while you’re sleeping, and if you want to quit after that, I’ll give you 10,000 credits. But, if you decide you want to keep playing, you have to stay in my guild until you graduate high school.”

“Wait. You would really risk 10,000 credits just to get me to try it?”

“That’s how confident I am you’ll love it.”

“Hmm, I will really have to think about this… and it’s just while I sleep right?”

“Yep, but you would be more then welcome to play more if you wanted.”

“Ok, I will think it over. 10,000 credits would be a nice mall fund after all.”

With that, Alex and Anna ate their dinner while their mom got ready to see a movie with their father when he got home. After which, Alex went back upstairs and logged back into ED.

ED, year 1, day 12

Xeal awoke in the saferoom ready to continue his journey to the mine’s forge. He needed to pick up the pace as it looked like he had already lost the time he gained. With that, he left the safe room and headed deeper into the mine. The kobolds had thinned out to the point where Xeal only had to fight the few that were standing at choke points he needed to get past. However, in addition to being higher level and having access to better stats and better technique, they also started wearing better equipment overall. Sadly, it was all a size too small for any human player, and while it was possible to change your race through completing different quest lines, very few combat orientated players ever chose a small sized race. And even if they did, level 40 and under armor would have little value to them. Still, the loot from this trip would pad his guild fund nicely. With these thoughts, Xeal continued to carefully make his way for six hours before finally arriving at the last choke point, where a level 19 kobold stood, wielding a spear and wearing piecemeal armor. Quietly, Xeal snuck as close as he could while prepping his piercing thrust skill, ready to strike as soon as he was in range. Closer, closer, now he thought as he lunged forward and executed his skill. 95% completion rate and a lucky hit on the back of the kobold’s left knee made the rest of the fight routine and easy. This was the strategy Xeal used whenever possible. Once he finally succeeded in crippling his foe, all he needed to do was just keep behind them and strike over and over until their HP reached zero. This was one of the few times it worked from the first hit. Usually it took him ten to 12 piercing thrusts to succeed.

After finishing off his last foe, before he could enter the forge area, Xeal quietly took stock of his situation. He could explore the forge and use a return scroll to avoid having to climb all the way out of the mine, but he was hesitant from doing so as he knew Darefret expected him to make the return journey as well. He currently had about 23 hours left in this log in period, so he knew he wouldn’t make it back before another log out was needed. So, if he planned at least seven hours to get back to the safe room he had used and an eight-hour rest, that left him with eight hours to explore the forge, which if it was just your normal blacksmith forge it would be far more time than ever could be needed. But this was the main forge area for an ancient dwarven settlement, a race that prized themselves in their ability to work metal. Its sheer size made the cavern above look small. Then you had to add that many of the individual forges had been taken over by the kobolds, who while not as skilled as dwarves, still prided themselves as smiths in their own little twisted way, as they tended to use far more merging of metal and materials, like bone, in their works. Slowly, Xeal made his way around exploring the forge, focusing on any that were abandoned, but as could be expected, it looked like the kobolds had cleared most of anything useful out and all Xeal found were a few random tools, some molds and a few pieces of scrap metal. Bitterly, after spending two hours avoiding any forge with activity in it, Xeal made his way to the one nearest him, finding a lone kobold focused solely on the piece of armor he was shaping. Quietly, and sticking to the shadows as much as possible, Xeal looked around for anything he might be able to snatch without being noticed. As he looked around, he noticed that unlike the other forges, this one’s walls were lined with tools and racks for holding finished pieces of work, but nothing stood out to him that was worth the risk, and so quietly he slipped out, leaving the kobold to his work. He spent the next four hours carefully making rounds doing the same thing over and over, occasionally swiping some ore or other goods, until Xeal entered a specific forge. Inside, you could tell everything was a higher quality than the others, and the reason for this was instantly apparent to Xeal. Held by this kobold was a hammer that radiated with dwarven magic, and a fire that looked just as magical. Realizing that both were items that increased smithing aptitude immensely, Xeal knew they were what the quest required immediately. The problem was, how in the world was he to snatch them from the smith who wielded them? Quietly, Xeal climbed up to a ledge that overlooked the whole workspace and waited and watched as the kobold finished working on a breastplate.

Setting the hammer next to the flame, Xeal knew this was his chance. Quietly, he made his way to the pair. The hammer was easy enough to swipe, but to store the flame, someone needed a proper vessel. Luckily said vessel was right next to the forge. With the vessel in hand, Xeal quickly scooped up the fire and made a mad dash out of the forge, hearing the kobold yelling “thief, thief, thief in the forges!” Quickly, the sound of banging metal went quiet and Xeal raced into one of the abandoned forges to try and use a return scroll, only to read (Currently being actively hunted, unable to use item while being hunted.) So that was how ED planned to make sure any player who made it this far earned his reward. Deciding there was nothing left to do but try and escape, Xeal made his way through the back exit of the forge. He found himself in one of the now dead mega forges used by the dwarfs to build large items like support beams, rails or even full walls where extra reinforcement was needed. Keeping to the shadows, Xeal quickly made his way to the far end of the work area and back into one of the active forges. A half-finished blade sat on the work bench untended as the smith had clearly rushed out of the room when the alarm had been sounded. Quickly, Xeal made for the exit of this forge, pocketing some ingots of what looked to be mithril as he passed them, and looked out of the room to see a crowd of kobolds all heading to the forge he had slipped into to escape.

Xeal could only smile as he knew this area well from the many days he had spent down here in his last life and he now had several empty forges between him and his way out. How could he not take advantage of the situation and loot a little more along his way. Quickly, he made his way through two more forges that contained a plethora of goods and grabbed anything that looked worth his time that didn’t require an excessive amount of time to take, and was shocked to find the second one had a complete set of master’s tools all inlayed with dwarven runes. While not magical in nature, they were so well-crafted that they might as well have been. Xeal quickly decided to grab them and cut his luck while he was ahead and made his way out of the forges still full of pissed off kobolds looking for him. Quietly, Xeal made his way back to the choke point and his path to freedom, only to find that the guard had already been replaced and once again he would have to fight his way out.

Xeal wanted to take no chances of the furious kobolds behind him. With that in mind, Xeal quickly entered combat and instead of carefully selecting and conserving his uses of piercing thrust, Xeal used all 22 on as his first wave of attacks, after which the kobold guard was little more than a bloody mess and Xeal finished him off. The whole fight only took five minutes, but as the system informed him of his level up, he could already hear the kobolds approaching from behind. Quickly, not even looking at the drops from his last kill, Xeal made his way deeper and deeper into the maze of tunnels that would lead him to safety, stopping only after a full 30 minutes had passed and he was at his next choke point where a level 18 kobold awaited. With only enough skill points for eight piercing thrusts, Xeal was worried what would happen if he failed to succeed. He had put some distance between him and his pursuers, but he knew he couldn’t just sit and wait, so once again not thinking about the other seven choke points between him and his designated safe house, he led this engagement with a full barrage of piercing thrusts, and luckily one of them disabled the kobolds knee, allowing him to clean up the fight and continue on. Xeal continued like this until he finally reached his destination and slipped into the safe room to rest and recuperate. Before he went to sleep, he checked to see if he could use the return scroll yet, only to find that it was still no use. He would have to climb his way all the way to the mine’s exit if he wanted to complete this quest. Once settled in, Xeal appreciated the rest he felt as he drifted off to sleep.

Morning, July 21, 2266.

Alex awoke, pulled opened his group chat, and after catching up on the situation in ED, sent a message letting everyone know that his task was taking longer than planned and it would probably still be another three days in ED before he had it complete. After which, he went about his morning routine. First came his run, which took him a good 30 minutes for the three-mile loop. He was still way too out of shape and needed to build up to at least eight-minute miles. He decided to add sit ups and pushups to his routine, alternating between them each day. Right now, it was only 20 of each, but he planned to ramp up to at least 100 of each as time went on. Once again, Sam and Nicole waved at him as he passed. Once home, Alex ate his breakfast quietly as it was Saturday, and everyone would be sleeping in, at least until 7:00 am normally. As he ate, he looked at the news and found a story about ED. In it they talked about how it felt to experience a full dive into the game, and how crazy it was to spend over a day in the game to have only hours pass in reality. His guild even got a mention, though the reporter had yet to find a single member to interview and didn’t know where it was based out of. It was articles like these that fueled the next wave of 500 million plus players who would be jumping into the game over the next month. Right now, it was mainly teenagers, but that would shift quickly as time went on, until you couldn’t define the main player base by any age group. Finally, 6:00 AM rolled around and Alex was able to return to his quest.

ED, year 1, day 14.

Xeal climbed out of the bunk he had been using, and once again checked if he was able to use his return scroll, to no avail. With no other choice, he made his way back into the mine and carefully made his way back to the exit, only to find that what he had thought was crowded with kobolds before, now had even more, and he even had to take on two at a time at some points, which luckily wasn’t too terrible with the lowered intelligence, compared to the level 15 plus kobolds. Even so, Xeal was burning through his supplies far quicker than planned, and he only had two health potions and one antidote left once he reached the level 10 area 26 hours later. He only had four hours to make it through this area and knew that he would have to fight far too many enemies with the few potions he had left. He decided to take his time and allow his skill points to recover better between each fight, and it was working out, until with only 30 minutes before his forced log out, the exit came in view, only instead of maybe one, or two level 10 kobolds in front of it, there were more than Xeal cared to count, ranging from level 10 to 20, all waiting for him. The system had set him up. His rest had cost him, and now to escape, he had to break through this pack of kobolds, or die. He had no other options as time was all but up.

Looking at his last remaining health potion and his skill points which were enough for eight thrusts, Xeal surveyed the pack and decided on his path. It looked like the levels got higher the closer to the door he got. Gritting his teeth and hoping that his plan would work, Xeal used all his strength to yell.

“Darefret! Darefret! I’m at the Exit, but the kobolds have blocked the way! Darefret!”

As he started to yell, several kobolds made their way to his position and he readied to receive them, still calling out for help to Darefret the whole time. As the first group of kobolds was just about to reach Xeal, the door to the mine violently swung open, and standing there was a dwarf holding an ax that seemed far too big for him. With speed a tier 2 player could hardly fathom, the dwarf went to work cleaving even level 20 kobolds in half with a single swing. Xeal contended with the two level 10 kobolds who had managed to reach him, as the others who weren’t engaged with him ran for their lives. Within 30 seconds, the only kobolds left in the area were the two crippled level 10’s that Xeal was in the process of finishing off. As the two kobolds HP reached zero Xeal was greeted by a smiling Darefret standing at the entrance of the exit tunnel, having stopped there to prevent any kobolds from finding their way to the surface.

“Well now Xeal, I had almost thought those kobolds had gotten the better of ye with how long ye were gone.”

“Ha, yah there were a few close calls, and man, were they pissed after I raided the forges, but all’s well that ends well. Let’s get back to your forge so I can show you what I managed to extract.”

With that, Xeal and Darefret made their way back to the forge with only ten minutes before he would have to log out. In that time, Xeal pulled out everything he was able to grab from the forges, from the pieces of scraps to the enchanted hammer and blue flame. Darefret was ecstatic to see it all, laughing at how pissed the kobolds had to be over the losses, especially the master’s tools, the hammer and flame, which Darefret identified as the apprentice’s hammer and a spirit flame level 2. The hammer would allow you to make checks related to smithing at one level higher up to mithril rank, and the flame increased the success rate for those same checks. Together, that could make a gold smith better than a platinum smith. Darefret took the flame and handed the rest back to Xeal.

“Thank ye, friend. I feel fine leaving these other items in yer care and will be happy to help ye learn the art of smithing. Now get some rest, yer going to need it. Once we start, there will be no stopping until ye have the basics down.”

(Quest, forgotten forge: Complete, calculating completion rate… 98% completion, rank S. Reward 15,000 XP, 100 renown points, and Darefret’s respect.)

Xeal had gained the apprentice’s hammer, master’s tools, 15 ingots of mithril, three ingots of gold, four ingots of steel, 20 ingots of iron, and a whole lot of miscellanies scraps of metal, tools and kobold gear that he sold to Darefret for 15 gold.

With that, Xeal found his way to the side of the forge and got as comfortable as he could before logging out.

Evening, July 21, 2266.

Alex once again felt absolutely mentally out of it as he pulled the VR helmet off. It was Saturday afternoon and while only five days had gone by out here in reality, a full 15 had passed in ED and Alex’s internal clock would have been all over the place except that he was already used to this. The same could not be said for the rest of ED’s players who were just getting used to the system. As Alex looked over the forums he found many different posts talking about how many, who hadn’t even thought about sleeping while logged in, complained about how exhausted they were, and that if this was how they were going to feel all the time after playing they didn’t think they could handle it. In response to many such posts were suggestions to try sleeping while logged in. It had taken much longer in the past for this technique to be spread like this and under the suggestions were many players thanking the player for the idea after they had tried it for themselves. Alex went downstairs around 4:45 to find his mom in the middle of dinner prep as his dad sat at the table talking to her. It was Saturday night, one of the two times a week his dad was home around dinner time, the other being Sunday.

“Good evening son. How goes your quest to make a steady living?”

“Great. I think I just got a key piece of the equation and now just need to take the time to actually solve it.”

“Oh, really and what would that be?”

“Just some tools. It’s how you use them that matters. Oh, are you thinking about joining the dark side with me?”

“Oh no, just was curious as I have a few coworkers who are playing ED as well and they were really hurting for a few days, looking a lot like you do half the time, physically fine but mentally absent. However, apparently, they are doing great after spending some time sleeping in ED. Any thoughts on that?”

“Yah, that’s common sense. Your brain needs a break as well. I’ve done that multiple times as well, but sometimes things just don’t work out like that. Now, don’t think you can log in for three hours a day to sleep and think that it will work to replace the six to eight hours you currently get, as your body will have still only gotten a few hours at that point.”

“Still it’s interesting. I wonder what kind of applications this tech could have on individuals with sleep disorders.”

“Who knows? It should at least let their body get some rest.”

“Yah.”

Alex was well aware of the benefits ED would bring to not only those who had sleep issues, but all sorts of disabled individuals, save for those with brain damage, unfortunately. It would bring happiness and meaning back into many lives as they enjoyed exploring ED and regaining the use of limbs that were lost, or never there. The elderly enjoyed being able to move around like they were young again. It even reversed a certain amount of mental decline in some and held it off for years in others. The ways ED changed the quality of life for the better were too numerous to count for most people.

Alex enjoyed dinner with the family as they recounted the activities of the week. Anna complained about how bored she had been, his mom talked about how she had enjoyed a new web series she had found, and his dad talked about how his work was going. Once it was getting close to 6:00 PM, Alex excused himself to return to ED and made his way back into the world where he would build his fortune.

ED, year 1, days 15-18.

Xeal opened his eyes as his senses returned to ED, where Darefret was busy performing maintenance on his ax that had been used to clear out the Kobolds earlier. As Xeal stretched and started to move, Darefret smiled.

“Ah, ye are awake. Now let’s get to yer training. I hope ye are used to not getting much rest because the next day will be long.”

“Ready when you are.”

“Alright, now while it’s great that ye found so many superior metals, we won’t be wasting those right now. Over there ye’ll find a nice pile of iron ore. We will start with how to refine ore into ingots and then move onto making those ingots into daggers. Once you learn the basics you can start to build on them to smith other items, and even possibly creating a few of yer own unique designs eventually. Those molds ye brought up will help ye immensely as ye gain enough skill to work them.”

With that, Darefret showed Xeal how to grind the ore down into a powder, then mix it into a water-based solution to separate the metal from the rock. They ground over a ton of raw ore into the vast trough which had a magnetic bottom that could be slanted using a series of levers and gears to remove the waste materials into another trough that allowed the water to be strained and pumped back into the first trough for reuse. They had roughly 750 lbs. of iron which was held in a box about one point five feet wide and three feet tall. The current iron was only about eight inches up from the bottom. It was then time to start heating the furnace to mix the iron with coke (purified charcoal) that will add the carbon needed to turn the iron ore to steel. They then turned half of the ore into steel while the other half became plain old iron ingots. When it was all done, they had 65 ingots (one inch by two inches by ten inches) of each ready for them to work. This whole process took 12 hours to complete.

“Most of those so-called smiths ye would find in Dragon’s Eye wouldn’t even be able to teach you this as they lack the skills for it and have to buy premade ingots. Waste if you ask me, especially when it comes to making different mixes of steel, but that’s an advanced lesson for much later. Now for your lesson, you will be turning those 65 ingots of iron into daggers using this mold right here, and don’t disgrace those tools you found in the mine with those untrained hands. Use these tools I have here.”

Xeal looked at the pile of ingots, knowing full well that this task would take him the next 18 hours to complete. Even with the game speeding the process up, it still required around 15 minutes to successfully forge anything at a skill level of Iron, and that was for simple tasks with high success rates. The more complex the item was, the more time it took to forge. He could have at least sped things up if he was allowed to use the hammer or master tools, but he also understood that Darefret was ensuring he learned to walk without crutches, as relying on them would only hinder his own growth. So Xeal began to make daggers one after the other with Darefret instructing him along the way. After the 30th dagger, Darefret was looking happy as Xeal could now complete the task with enough precision to no longer need a constant eye on him. This was due to the fact that Xeal had smithed before. While he had only ever reached steel rank in his last life due to the lack of time to devote to crafting, treating it like more of a hobby to kill some down time here and there. The smelting that had come earlier was a whole new experience for him though.

“Well, it looks like yer getting the hang of it. I’m going to go ahead and take a nap. Wake me once ye are finished with all of those.”

With that, Xeal went about working to complete all 65 level 0 daggers until finally, with less than 30 minutes to go, he had completed his task. After waking Darefret and showing him the finished products, the dwarf was pleased with the results and told Xeal to get some rest, after which a system announcement followed.

(Task: learn basic smithing complete, awarding rank of copper and 1,000 XP.)

Xeal had also earned 10 XP for each knife he finished, giving him 7,500 total XP. This was not a complete waste of the time, but certainly slower than normal questing and monster hunting would produce. This was another challenge smiths faced. While they could definitely gain levels by smithing, they would fall behind quickly, especially since they needed to be able to procure their materials on top of everything else, which could cost more than the actual goods they made at early levels. With that, Xeal spent the last bit of time before his log out taking a nap, and once he completed his daily routine, awoke once more, still in the cavern with Darefret back to working metal.

Xeal waved to the dwarf and bid him farewell, before pulling out a return scroll and returning to Dragon’s Eye, where he quickly bought up all the iron ingots he could get his hands on, spending all but 2,500 gold to clean out the outpost stock of 25,000 ingots. He took out two of the molds he had found. One was for a simple level 5 longsword and the other was for a level 5 war ax. Both were Iron ranked designs and normally would have been far outside his skill range, but with the apprentice’s hammer and master’s tools he was able to easily complete either. Both required five of the iron ingots for the iron version of the design. This was another way to increase the value of something by simply making it with a better metal, since the durability and other stats would change accordingly. Making something out of a better metal also required more skill which was dictated not just by your actual rank, but also how well you could use the system in the game. The system which simplified and shortened the process immensely, still required skills similar to those used by an actual traditional black smith. There had even been some players who were smiths in real life who had been able to produce gear as if they were a full rank higher.

As Xeal prepared to start his day of grinding to, hopefully, Iron rank, he looked at his guild stats that he had been ignoring while in the mine. The guild was sitting at level 14 with over 2,700 members, and all his friends had made level 10 already. Smiling, Xeal sent the group a message, saying, once the guild members started to reach level 10 in mass, to send 60 of them in parties of five to Dragon’s Eye for a task he had in mind for them. After getting an affirmative reply from Ignis, Xeal turned his attention to producing as many axes and swords as he could that day.

Xeal had enough material to make 5,000 of either design. He would be spending a lot of time locked in one of the deluxe smithing rooms you could rent for ten gold per 24 hours. The rooms provided two things that made it an absolute steal for him. One was a spirit flame level 1, and the other was a time boost to the time dilation while smithing, making each attempt slightly easier and allowing for more attempts in a day. A player should be able to complete a full 250 items before their time was up. Xeal would then just rent a room at the inn and sleep there for the remaining time he had in each day. So long as nothing important came up in the next 30 days in game, or ten days in real life, this would be how Xeal would spend his days. He of course knew this would be impossible, but none the less he started working towards his goal. He could not remember just how many items it took to level up smithing, but at least at 100 XP per item he could make steady leveling progress.

Xeal took the first set of ingots out and went about working, letting time fall away as he just focused solely on shaping the metal into a sword, or ax. He alternated between the two to take advantage of an exploit that had been discovered after years of play. Smiths learned that the game lowered the hidden experience gained towards the next level in smithing for each consecutive item you made from the same design, meaning to effectively increase your rank, alternating designs was more efficient then just pumping out one design over and over. When his time in the forge was over for the day, Xeal was surprised to see he had completed 313 items, with 205 of them being of a high enough quality to earn half his investment back, while the rest could make back a quarter of it. After liquidating the 313 items for 64 gold and 75 silver,  he took into account the cost of the forge, he knew he would be burning through a lot of gold while he worked to rank up, but such was the life of any craftsman in ED. Only after suffering through the early ranks could you start to earn a profit. It was also why very few craftsmen were ever freelance players, as just financing a day like what Xeal just did would take a week of dedicated playing, let alone the 20 he had planned.

Evening July 22, 2266.

As Alex went downstairs for dinner that Sunday, his father commented on how he looked better rested, and Alex explained that it was because he had been able to get some great rest at the end of his last log in. He also told him about learning to forge, which he knew would spark some interest from him and Alex planned to fan those flames.

“You say that you actually are making weapons and equipment right now, and you were able to even refine your own ore?”

“Yah, it was a new experience. A ton of work even when the game simplifies it for you, but still, it can be nice just to lose yourself to the craft.”

“Hmm, I see. And what level do you have to reach to start smithing?”

“There is no level requirement, but if you want to learn smelting from the dwarf who taught me, you’ll need to be at least able to cross paths with a level 19 enemy. If it wasn’t for my title, I doubt I would have been able to get past the level 16 area.”

“And how did you get that title?”

“Pure luck. I wouldn’t suggest trying for it. If I hadn’t landed a one in a thousand hit that crippled my foe right at the start of the fight, I would have been dead and titleless.”

“Then why did you enter the fight?”

“I thought it was going to be a lower level monster, but instead I got one of the few irregulars. Not technically a boss monster, but a higher-level monster than the area is meant to house. I would have never willingly looked for it at the point I was at the time. Now I might be ok, but not then.”

“Still, it sounds like you are having fun.”

“Yah, and hopefully once I improve my skills enough, I should be able to make gear the others want to buy for real world credits.”

“Is that your plan for sustainable income?”

“On an individual level yes, but it’s just a small part of a bigger plan to make my guild as a whole sustainable.”

“Well, I hope you’re successful.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

ED, year 1, days 18-33.

Xeal spent the following four logins continuing to work nonstop on his smithing, and sleeping. He achieved Bronze rank in the middle of his third session, which allowed him to increase his speed and success rate slightly. After all four sessions, he had made another 1,315 units, with 1,023 that sold for half of the material cost and the rest sold for a fourth. This created a loss but still earned back 292 gold and 25 silver. His guild had reached level 15. He had reached level 13 and the 60 players he had requested would be in Dragon’s Eye, waiting for him when he logged back in. The upgrade to his home internet was finished, and he had continued to talk with his dad about smithing. He could tell his dad was starting to want to try it out more and more, but Xeal knew that what he really needed to do was show his dad a profit from it, and he might just take the plunge. Xeal was looking forward to escorting the players to the mine where he planned to have them grind while they collected materials. With that in mind, he stopped by a general store and picked up 12 tents, 60 pickaxes and 60 bedrolls, before making his way to an inn to get some rest.

When Xeal logged in after his rest, he went to meet up where the 60 players were in front of the inn, with the 12 party leaders standing in front. As Xeal approached, he could hear the team leaders having a discussion.

“Looks like we finally get to meet our guild leader.” Commented Leaena Asellio, a female warrior with short brown hair and green eyes, who stood confidently.

“Oh, hush already. He’s going to think we don’t respect him.” Cautioned Asa Fumika, a female rogue with black hair done up in a bun and brown eyes, who looked ready to slip away.

“Who says we should?” shot back Leaena.

“We out leveled every other guild in the area. I say we give him a chance,” interrupted Ryū Kenshi, a male warrior with green hair and yellow eyes.

“There are still too many unknowns. He may be an excellent player, but his leadership will be shown soon, I hope,” commented Felicius Simplex, a male rogue who’s hair and eyes were brown, who looked relaxed.

“Exactly. We can’t respect what we don’t know.” Agreed Leaena.

“Do we know what the weather will be tomorrow? Should we disrespect the storm yet to come?” posed Vento Tempestas, a male mage with green hair and eyes.

“Ugh, please no more of your half-baked metaphors Vento,” grumbled Lux Lucet, a male cleric with blond hair and golden eyes, looking annoyed.

“Lighten up Lux. I’m sure he is just trying to enjoy a good roleplay” smiled Lucy Aurora, a female cleric with blond hair and green eyes.

“Please don’t encourage him, Lucy. He will give all of us magic users a bad name.” chided Pillan Deseronto, a female mage with red hair and blue eyes.

“No, he won’t. The only one who has to deal with others avoiding them due to his role play are those who roleplay as well. I say that letting it see the light is the fastest way for it to die,” returned Lucy.

“And here I thought you were being nice to the guy. That’s just harsh Lucy,” commented Amund Erling, a male warrior with red hair and blue eyes.

“What, it’s for his own good in the long run,” Shrugged Lucy.

“You all talk too much. As long as he knows how to lead his team and they are good with it, who cares how he speaks” countered Vita Xantara, a female champion(holy warrior) with teal hair and golden brown eyes.

“I agree. We should be more focused on our tasks. The stronger we grow, the better off our guild will be,” agreed Tokori Outacite, a male mage with black hair and purple eyes,

“Vita and Tokori are right. You all have been so absorbed with your conversations you didn’t even notice he’s here,” stated Tharin Chronis, a bearded male ranger with brown hair and green eyes.

Xeal chuckled to himself as the group quieted down, as Lucy and Leaena both started to blush. One of the things about ED was how it would always allow emotions to show naturally, just like in real life, with the exception of those who chose a skill precisely to counter act it.

“For those of you who don’t know me yet, I am Xeal Bluefire, your guild leader. To many of you I may have seemed absent, but let me assure you that every action I take is to ensure the success of the guild as a whole. Ok, now I’m sure you and your teams were each chosen because you have shown the ability to be effective, not because you’re all a pain to deal with and my friends wanted to ship you off to me. As to the task I have for you all, it will help each and every one of you to grow stronger while also helping to stabilize our guild’s foundations. You will all be exploring and excavating a regional dungeon of sorts. It is not a raid dungeon, so if you die in it, expect the normal penalties. You will not completely explore this dungeon as I don’t think any of you want to spend your next 140 levels in one place. Some of you might be asked to regularly spend time there in the future, but for now, if you all can simply map and explore it until you hit level 20, that will be enough. Any questions so far?”

At first the group was quiet, but then the questions started with Leaena speaking up.

“Won’t our levels be slowed down by the constant back tracking needed in the dungeon?”

“Excellent question. Short answer is no. Long answer is there are safe rooms marked with dwarven runes throughout the dungeon which will let you log out safely. There is also the alternating log out strategy where two parties stick together, and one guards the other while they log out, but you all should be able to avoid that at this stage.”

“What type of dungeon is it, and what monsters should we expect to fight?” inquired Tharin.

“You will be going into a dwarven mine that has been overrun by kobolds ranging between levels 10 and 150, depending on how deep you go. That brings me to another important thing. At the entrance we will meet up with a dwarf who guards the mine from letting kobolds escape. Don’t under any circumstances disrespect or try to pick a fight with him. He is a valuable NPC and I will deal personally with anyone who pisses him off.”

“How are you already level 13?” blurted out Lucy.

“Lucy, you shouldn’t ask him such a question,” sighed Pillan.

“Why not? I’m sure everyone wants to know, but no one has asked yet,” retorted Lucy.

“It’s fine Pillan. I’m sure my level comes as a surprise to most as you all know how long it takes just to reach level 10. The short answer is that I routinely fight higher level enemies solo. I would not recommend this to anyone, as if you pick the wrong targets, just their HP regeneration can screw you over and the support items required can add up fast. But, if you think you want to try it out, start with trying to go one on one with some kobolds and see how you fare. They are one of the easier fights to go up a few levels in. Now, if that’s it, let’s be off.”

With that, Xeal led the parties through the wilderness towards the mine. Unfortunately, they couldn’t avoid every battle along the way, but he just used it as a way to learn more about the teams he had bent sent. What he found made him happy for the most part. Each team seemed to work well together with certain other teams, but some combos were like oil and water and couldn’t mesh at all. Finally, after 12 hours they were at the entrance to the mine. Xeal told the group to wait until after he introduced the group to Darefret before speaking, as it would help them have a favorable impression with him. As they walked in, Darefret was hard at work on another blade, so just like before Xeal sat and waited for him to acknowledge him. This caused a few whispers from behind him.

“What is he waiting for.?

“Shh. Can’t you see the NPC is busy?”

“It’s probably a test to see if the players can be courteous.”

Darefret’s mouth started to turn to a frown and Xeal turned around and gave the whispering players a stern warning glance. Luckily, that is all it took, and the rest shut their lips and waited, and waited, and waited, until finally two hours later, the dwarf set down the blade and turned to Xeal.

“Greetings Xeal. What can I do for ye today?”

“Good day Darefret. I am just here to introduce some of my guild members who I wish to have explore the mines for a while. They should stay out of your way for the most part, but if any of them give you problems, feel free to kick them out.”

“Ye want them to explore the mines? What for?”

“While I didn’t mine any myself, I noticed several rich veins of ore throughout and figured a strong group could easily fend off the kobolds while mining the ore. That said, they will also be working to map the area to help future explorers as well.”

“Hmm, it would be better than just letting the mutts have it, and they would be killing those mutts as well, aye?”

“Of course, they would be killing as many as they can.”

“Ok, it’s all good with me on one condition. This lot sells me all the ore they mine and helps me process it. Of course, I’ll be giving them a premium rate for it.”

“Ha, you drive a hard bargain, but I think a little smelting would be good for them once in a while. Just realize, it may be weeks between return visits as they go deeper into the mine. If it’s ok with you, I’ll introduce the team leaders.”

“It’s fine. I’m sure they will be helpful in the future.”

Xeal would have been disappointed in the loss of the ore, except he knew this was how this mine would work. Darefret would take all the ore and process it into ingots. Then he would sell the ingots and finished products to only the players who brought him ore and helped him process it. Once you accounted for everything, an iron ingot that normally cost ten silver would cost two silver, and there would be similar discounts on other ingots when you brought him the corresponding ores from the mine. Sadly, the system prevented players from bringing any ore they found outside the mine to him as it was too good of a deal if you could get your hands on a large quantity of ore, as Darefret’s had the set up to process around four tons of ore at a time. With that, Xeal called up the team leaders, and once they had finished their introductions, he turned to each one and distributed the tents, pickaxes, and bedrolls. He then led a short six-hour familiarization expedition, after which he bid them and Darefret farewell, and returned to Dragon’s Eye to sleep in an inn before logging out.

Once Xeal was logged back in he returned to his daily grind to raise his smithing level. He spent his next five log ins repeating the same process as before. In the seventh session, he reached Iron rank, and once again his speed and success rate increased. After all five sessions, he had 1,726 more pieces done, 1,258 of which made three-fourths the price back thanks to his increased skill, 403 that made half and 65 that made a fourth back, returning 580 gold, 52 silver and 50 copper to his funds. He still had enough iron for 1,646 more units, but he had achieved his goal for this round, reaching level 14. He had a message informing him that the guild had just reached level 16, and over 4,200 players were now in the guild. For the next step they would need to start looking for new members. His guild was approaching level 17. This more than anything told Xeal it was time to focus on things other than smithing. Looking over his guild’s rolls, he could see that along with his friends, several other members were now level 13. Soon it would make more sense to use Dragon’s Eye as their main operation area. Even now, other players and guilds were starting to arrive to scope out the location. Xeal would need to move quickly if he wanted to secure the best location for his guild post. While the guild fund had been completely redirected back to its members so far, due to the lack of anything else to use as incentives, Xeal currently had over the necessary 1,000 gold to secure a spot.

A guild post was like a guild hall in that it acted as a hub for members where they could pick up quests and interact with a guild storehouse, if it had one. It lacked any of the other features that a guild hall in a city would have, such as a free built-in store front, and it could not be modified with addons, like a forge, or stable. The guild post brought a key benefit in allowing your guild to accept quests in the outlying villages and towns that the outpost serviced for the city it was connected to. While a guild hall would get a few of these quest as well, only guilds with a guild post in an outpost would receive the majority of them from that region. The guild post would also help early on with the recruiting of players who started in one of the other starting areas in the region into your guild. Xeal planned to build a thorough network across the world of ED to ensure his guild had access to enough quests to continually grow, but that was a long way off, and he needed to focus on the here and now. With that in mind, he made a detour to the outpost’s HQ where all the administrative tasks were handled. Once there, he walked up to a counter with a young female NPC behind it.

“Good day, sir. How can I be of service to you?”

“I would like to acquire a guild post.”

“Certainly. Can you please verify your identity as a guild leader and select a location within the outpost that is available?”

Xeal took out his player card, which every player got when they started the game. On it was his character name, level, class, any titles he held and his current guild, with his level in the guild to accompany it. Once the clerk looked it over, she opened a book containing available real estate in the outpost. Unlike its equivalent in the city, it didn’t have any shops for sale. There were a few tracks of land that could be bought, but most players wouldn’t even know what to use them for at this stage in the game. Xeal knew they could be used to build structures like warehouses, or production facilities, but that wouldn’t be for a good while as a guild would need established engineering and architect players, both of which would be difficult to develop in the early stages of the game. With that being said, in a few years plots of land like these were highly prized as they came with the protection of NPC’s, where most open land only appeared in guild towns and cities, and they were far less stable. After turning a few pages, the clerk finally turned the book towards Xeal, showing him a page with the available guild posts. Xeal selected one that was near the center of town, next to the teleportation gate that would be used once players reached level 20, to travel between the city and the outpost, and handed over the 1,000 gold to complete his purchase. Once he left the outpost’s HQ, he made his way over to the guild post to open it to guild members and sent a message to Ignis and the rest. He let them know about the guild post and told them to start having a few players make their way over soon, and to move everyone over once the guild reached level 17.

Evening, July 27, 2266.

It was Friday night again, and Alex went downstairs to find Anna eating some leftover meatloaf, looking bored, as per her new usual. Xeal grabbed some leftover curry and rice and popped them into the microwave, before turning to his sister.

“So, have you made up your mind yet, sis?”

“Ugh, you’re still on me about that dumb game.”

“Hey, you never gave me a straight answer. My offer still stands.”

“Yah, I know. It’s bad enough that you and all my friends are being sucked into that game, but now even Mom and Dad are thinking about it.”

“Really, I knew I had Dad interested from our conversations about smithing, but Mom too? I would have thought she would only try it after Dad had played it for a while and really bugged her.”

“Yah, well, from the sounds of it, he is having a hard time justifying spending the credits and thinks that if he can get Mom to see it as extra time to spend together, she might let him splurge.”

“Really now, ha-ha. I will have to see how this turns out.”

“Your insane, you know. Why would you want Mom and Dad to play the same game as you?”

“Anna, it won’t just be Mom and Dad. Over the next few years almost everyone will be playing ED, if what I see is correct. Think about it. I lay down for ten hours here in reality and get to explore a whole new world for 30 hours. Think of someone working two jobs and barely making ends meet who could log in in the six hours they normally have for sleep, and spend 12 hours exploring the world, before spending six hours in game sleeping and feel just as rested as if they had slept for their normal six hours. It will be a game changer, to the point that someone will scrimp and save just to be able to afford to play and regain a bit of enjoyment in life.”

“You are thinking way too deep for me, but fine, I’ll give it a try. Just to be clear, we are only talking about when I would normally be asleep, right?”

“Yep, but I expect you to be getting a full eight hours each night.”

“Your lucky everyone is already playing the game, or I’d tell you you’re crazy to expect a junior in high school to sleep at night.”

ED, year 1, day 33-36.

Xeal left the inn he had been staying at and decided to head out to the mine and check on how things were progressing there. Also, he needed to do a little grinding to focus on reaching one of the major turning points in the game, level 20. It would later be known as the mountain that needed to be climbed before actually starting ED. Besides being locked down to one region of the map and being unable to easily travel the world, you also had yet to even reach and learn what a city offered you, or even have a fully realized class. To make things even harder, last time it was realized that it took longer to level from 16 to 20 than any other five level group before level 225. Xeal would need to get serious if he wanted to reach level 20 and make it to the city any time soon. It was the start of day 37 in ED, but most players wouldn’t reach a city until after day 155, and that was considered fast. Xeal was hoping to reach it around day 120. With that in mind, he headed out to the apothecary and spent 400 gold on health potions and antidotes. He wouldn’t need any stamina potions with what he had planned for this trip. On his way out of town, Xeal ran into a now level 13 Tenbris Amplexus and several of his guild members.

“Ha, ha, ha, look guys, it’s that up start who didn’t listen to reason! What happened to his level lead? He is barely even ahead of anyone now!”

Xeal just ignored the piece of trash on the side of the road.

“Hey, you, I hope you enjoyed your little time in the sun, because Abysses End is going to rule this world and you won’t even be able to join unless you get on your knees and beg me right now! Hey, are you listening to me? I’m talking to you!”

Xeal smiled and just kept walking. He would enjoy what came next in his plan to screw over Abysses End, and he planned to ensure this chapter, at the very least, didn’t exist when players started to reach the cities. In fact, if he moved fast enough, he could probably have any Guild post in every outpost in Nium before Abysses End even reached the capital. At this thought, Xeal couldn’t help but chuckle.

“How dare you laugh at me! Just you wait. You’ll be sorry.”

Had it not been for the implicant instructions not to take any more actions involving FAE without consulting the council ahead of them, Tenbris would have been following Xeal with his lackeys to ambush him once they were clear of the outpost. Even the taunting he had just done would get him in trouble if the council knew of it, but he couldn’t stand what Xeal had done to him, and as soon as the guild had enough players at level 20 and up, the subjugation order was going to come down. Surely they would be able to outpace this upstart’s guild and flood this area with its members to crush them and force them to sell their guild to them. Xeal on the other hand just kept chuckling as he determined it was time to really break expectations. He was looking forward to his plan. He was going to spend the next month or so in ED stripping the forges in the mine bare. It was that massive of an area, and if he did it right, he would gain enough materials to smith for a very long time and reach level 18, or 19 while he did it. Then it was just a matter of completing the knight’s class quest and the experience needed for level 20 that would keep him from reaching his first city and in turn the rest of ED. Six hours later, Xeal was entering the cavern before the mine. Darefret was just finishing a blade, so he decided to check in with the dwarf.

“Ah Xeal, good to see ye. That lot you left here last time has really been helpful. Although they told me this morning it would probably be a week or so before I see them again, something about finding a safe room in the level 14 area.”

“Ah, then they have been making good progress. Would you be upset if it got more crowded in here?”

“Just how crowded ye talking?”

“Hmm, another 600 people for now, at least from my guild. Can’t say for sure how many will show up once word about this place gets out.”

“They’d be doing the same thing this lot has been, right?”

“Yah, unless you have anything else you need.”

“Aye, I could use more hands to help at the forge regularly, with all the ore yer lot keep bringing me. Problem is, I’d have to train them first and that would take even more ore. However, if yer talking about sending even more of yer people here to mine, I think I would have enough ore to take on. Oh, one apprentice for every 100 miners, assuming they are bringing me at least six tons of ore a day. The issue will become that my gear can only get through about seven tons of ore in a day and I don’t have the work area for that many apprentices.”

“What would it take to solve that issue?”

“None of it is very expensive to buy by itself. It’s just that I have one merchant that comes every other month to here. He’s due in a few weeks, but I’d have to order it and that would take another two months for delivery, and once you add transportation and assembly, it can get out of hand.”

“Enough said. Do you happen to have what would be needed per extra apprentice?”

“Oh, yer misunderstanding. This isn’t a per apprentice change, it’s a change from a forge for one, to a full-size production area, kind of like what the forges below used to be like.”

With that, Darefret handed Xeal a blueprint for what he had in mind. When Xeal looked at it, he noticed that other than a path down the center, the entire cavern would be set up with a smithing complex large enough to house over 10,000 smiths, with four enormous smelting setups that by the specs would be able to process up to 22,000 tons of ore a day. Xeal could only think of one word for what he was looking at, insane. It was obviously the dwarf’s dream, but it would take an insane amount of coin to set this up and it would be largely unguarded, unlike the similar facilities built in guild towns and cities. If this opportunity had come up for a player in his last life, they hadn’t taken it as the dwarf’s smith had never grown, but in all the insanity, Xeal also was seeing a great opportunity.

“Darefret, you are aware at how much work this plan is, even if we only did a quarter of it right?”

“Yah, but I have more than enough coin for the materials, it’s just getting it here and putting it together that are going to cause the issues.”

“You’ve been wanting this for a while, haven’t you?”

“It’s what every dwarven smith dreams of. While I know I’ll never have the grand forge deep in them mines, or even that minor one ye raided for me last time, I still dream of having an army of smiths beside me as I lead them to the perfection of our craft.”

“I understand. You’ve stocked up every coin you could for this. Hmm. How about this. I have my guild provide the manpower needed to realize this dream of yours, and in return, you allow my guild exclusive rights to this area.”

“What exactly do ye mean by exclusive rights?”

“Simply, that all your apprentices will be members of my guild, and my guild will handle all the mining as well. Mind you, that will also mean that you would become our guild’s smithing master. Also, as I can’t just have every smith in my guild tied up smithing gear for your profit, we also need to talk how that would work.”

“Yer serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Of course, I am. It’s just such a massive undertaking that I have to make sure it’s in the interest of my guild to undertake it.”

“Just how big is this guild of yours?”

“We currently have over 4,200 members, but we are always growing, and in the time I see this project taking, I’m sure we will be able to fill this cavern and supply enough ore from not just this mine, but all over to supply your operations.”

“Hmm, I can’t give you exclusive rights if there is a chance that would mean stunting the forges growth.”

“How about this. It will take time to develop the area in here. We sign an agreement, let’s say we have two years of exclusive rights, and if we fail to develop and fill half the slots over the next two years, we lose them and we have five years to complete the entire project.”

“Ye want me to train 5,000 apprentices in two years? That’s around seven a day. No, I can only do four at a time if I want them to be properly instructed. So, let’s go with four years for the first half, and seven for the entire project.”

This put Xeal in a bind. He was sure he would be able to support the growth at that speed, but would it be fast enough to keep up on the demand in the game?

“Are you against taking on any smiths who have already gained some mastery of the craft?”

“Oh, I will take them, but they will still be trained by me. I have to take pride as the master of my forge.”

“Ok, sounds like we have an understanding, save for how the coin will be split.”

“Hmm, how about I take 20% and yer guild can have the rest.”

“20% seems a bit much considering that my guild will be providing all the resources.”

“Ah, but I’m supplying the expertise and space. Once ye take into account the coin I’m fronting for it, 20% is more than fair.”

“The coin your fronting will be canceled out by the labor my guild will be supplying to build the forge. Plus, you’re forgetting the smiths themselves. I think that they should keep 80% once they hit gold rank after deducting fair market rate for the materials used, with the remaining 20% being split 15% to my guild and 5% to you.”

“Won’t yer guild be making a killing off the materials like that?”

“Not at all. We will have to be compensating our members at least at market rate for their efforts to secure the materials. Really, we will be losing some as we will have to also transport them here after stockpiling them. Besides, how much gold do you really need?”

“Hah, I suppose you could say after our love of smithing, we dwarves tend to want to create a magnificent hoard like dragons.”

“Hmm, the smiths need to be paid once they become productive, or they will quit. The undertaking needs to be worth both my guild’s time, and yours. How to rectify all these points?”

Xeal was at an impasse. He didn’t have the negotiation skill the system required to get Darefret to lower his percent directly, but at the rate he was demanding, the smiths wouldn’t even be adequately compensated, let alone those grinding for the materials. Only one avenue was left open for Xeal.

“Darefret, what if instead of coin we made a point to find rare materials for you to work with? Wouldn’t you like to be able to become a true Adamantium rank master?”

“You think ye would be able to find such materials for me?”

“Oh, of that I’m certain. It will take time, but if at the end of the seven years you’re not at least Orichalcum level from our supplied materials and Adamantium rank after 14, we renegotiate the terms then. However, if we go that route, then outside of what you forge yourself, you will only take 1% of the total revenues.”

“Do you really think you could find them?”

“It will take some time, probably three years before we can, but once they start to come in, it will be a steady stream. So, let’s add that to the list for at the four-year mark of things that have to be met in our contract.”

“I doubt you can live up to all of that, but hey, if you fail to reach any of the points listed, I get to get out of our deal and keep the nice forge you will have built by then.”

With that, Xeal signed a contract with Darefret. He would have to provide a team of ten architects and two engineers to work continually on upgrading the forge area. Once they were present, Darefret would hand over the funds to buy the necessary materials for each project as they completed the previous one. Xeal could start sending smiths to be trained immediately at a rate of four a day. That said, if FAE failed to meet any of the agreed upon terms, they lost exclusive rights and it would become a situation where each smith would have to negotiate with Darefret directly. The negotiations in all took an hour, once the contract had been written and signed, after which, he contacted his friends. Sending them a copy of the contract and asked them to find the players who were needed as architects and engineers from any interested, and send them to Dragon’s Eye to complete their apprenticeships. Sending them and 600 players, as well as any who wanted to learn smithing, to the mine with implicit instructions on how they were to handle themselves towards Darefret. He also made them aware that he was planning to do a long-term dive into the mine for over a month in game, as well. Ignis and Amet seemed annoyed at this until Xeal told them that once the guild hit level 17 and everyone shifted focus to Dragon’s Eye, they could come out to the mine and he would help them grind for a few days, to which he got a see you in a few days.

Xeal set off towards the safe point where he expected to find the teams based out of, enjoying the noticeable decrease in lower leveled enemies that had slowed him down the last time he had come down here. Xeal was happy that it only took 12 hours to reach the safe house’s general area, and was able to run into Felicius’s party. He spent the following half hour with the party getting an updated picture of how the exploration was going, as well as instructing Felicius that each party should rotate going back to Darefret’s forge each day, and to help the new groups who would be showing up soon. With that, Xeal continued on his way to the safe houses at the end of the level 19 area that would act as his base of operations for the next month, if the situation allowed it. With that, Xeal settled down for a nap before logging out for his daily morning routine.

Once back in ED, Xeal spent his next log in exploring the forges and challenging level 20 kobolds whenever he could get them one on one, being careful not to draw in a group. He was planning to tackle the main forge area once his friends arrived. After a day of moving from area to area, Xeal was able to reach level 15, and after returning to his safe house and sleeping, he logged out for his break.

Evening, July 28, 2266.

Alex made his way downstairs before dinner. It was Saturday night and his dad was in the dining room talking to his mom who was working on dinner.

“I promise I won’t let it take over my life honey. It’s just talking to the guys who have started to play at work, they are loving the extra free time.”

“You said yourself that most of them seemed unfocused, or tired lately.”

“They were, but-”

“No buts. Even if it won’t cause issues, that’s still 1,000 credits we don’t need to spend. After that, there will be some nice item or deal you just can’t seem to pass up and before you know it you’ve spent thousands of credits on in game items that are worth nothing here in reality.”

“Honey, this is a different game-“

“Darling it’s still a no.”

Alex felt like he just walked into something awkward as his mom noticed him and gave him a “this is all your fault look” and his dad turned to him with a look that said, “throw me a bone will yah.” Sighing, Alex spoke to his mom.

“You know Mom I want you to play just as much as Dad.”

“That’s nice Alex, but I’m not interested in killing monsters, or whatever it is you do in that game.”

“I know that, and I think it still is a bit early for you if you wanted to truly enjoy your experience. But I’m certain once I reach a city, I’ll find something to interest you as well. ED isn’t just a fighting game. Heck, I just recently opened an opportunity for thousands of players who just want to be smiths to be able to focus just on that. I was hoping to get Dad into one of the slots, but it looks like that’s not happening.”

“That’s right, your father needs to keep his focus here in reality where he can provide for this family. I love you Alex, but this whole lock yourself in your room for 20 hours a day only coming out for food and thankfully exercise from what your father says, has me worried about your health.”

“I understand, Mom. Sorry Dad. Looks like even if I bought you the gear, Mom would still not want you playing.”

“See, even Alex can understand when it’s a lost cause, why can’t you?”

“He just gives up too easily if it’s not for himself.”

“Dad, it’s not that I have given up. I can just see that, Mom is dug in right now and all I will accomplish is getting her entrenched more. Just let her think it over for another week. Once Anna starts to play, she might open her mind a bit more.”

“Anna is going to be playing?”

“Yep. I was planning to get her the gear for her birthday, unless you and Mom were planning on that as well.”

“Um, well.”

Alex’s dad was looking at his mom who was currently chopping vegetables with a little more force than necessary.

“I think we should just change the subject for now.”

“Ok. Dad how has work been going?”

ED, year 1, days 36-45.

Xeal awoke, ready to continue his grinding to level 19 after his break. He continued on in his strategy to find and kill solo Kobolds he came across as he worked to complete the map in and around the forge area, to ensure he was prepared for when his friends arrived. After two more sessions, he was at level 16 and his guild had reached level 17 with most of the players moved over to Dragon’s Eye. His friends were at the mine’s entrance, waiting for Leaena’s party to escort them to the level 14 area safe house where Xeal would meet up with them. Once everyone was in the safe house in the level 14 area, Xeal and his friends went over their collective exploits over the past month of game time. Xeal was surprised to learn that Amet had convinced several guild members to pool their resources to help five of the guilds tanks to attain the behemoth slayer title through the alchemist fire technique he had told them about. He himself, just before hitting level 10, had taken on a level 18 frost troll which was that areas mini  boss. Xeal also learned that Geitir had continued to be cordial with FAE and had even gained the behemoth slayer title as well, along with four other Eternal Valhalla members in the area.

Xeal was beginning to worry about how much his actions would affect events in this timeline as he hadn’t expected for any of his guild mates, let alone who knows how many players related to Eternal Valhalla, would now have the title that they didn’t have last time. This could drastically affect leveling speeds, as Xeal would have been changing his main targets to level 19 monsters, instead of level 21 monsters after hitting level 16 normally. However, due to his bonus that made fighting monsters five levels higher than him about as easy as a three-level gap would normally, meaning he could fight stronger monsters. If another guild had whole parties that were like that, it could really affect their abilities to control higher level maps. The problem was, all his current members were past level 10, and overcoming the level gap just became harder as time went on. He would just have to wait for the next batch of players to start up and hope his guild could finance a large group of them gaining the title, or Eternal Valhalla would quickly dominate all the higher leveled maps. He would need to touch bases with Geitir soon to see about increasing the two guilds cooperation in the future. Once the group had finished catching up, they made their way to the safe house between the level 19 and 20 area, with Xeal assisting them in taking out any kobolds that they met along the way.

Xeal and his friends spent the next four of their log ins just focused on grinding the Kobolds in the level 20 area, and preparing to hit the central forge area where most of the loot and challenge would be. By the end of their fourth log in session, Xeal had reached level 17 and his friends were all level 16. Everyone was ecstatic for the planned raid on the main forge area that was planned for their next two log ins. The group was back in sync, Clara focused on rear protection and Amet took care of tanking while Xeal moved between the two of them, depending on where he was needed. Ignis and Aalin were a great boost to the DPS (Damage per second) and Gale’s support kept everyone’s health full and ready. Together, they were able to make it through more than six times as many foes than when Xeal was by himself, improving even his own leveling speed.

“Man, this is what I’m talking about. Three whole levels in under ten ED days. Do we really need to split up again once we’re done with raiding the forge?” Asked Amet.

“I know what you mean. We probably have at least one level on everyone but Xeal in this game right now,” agreed Ignis.

“Guys, Dragon’s Eye is continuing to fill up and our guild just hit level 18, but none of us have been around to add more players, so we are still sitting around 5,000. We should have already left to take care of that,” interjected Gale.

“Gale, don’t sweat that too much. Yah, we lost some speed, but we are still ahead of the other guilds. But even then, what we need more then members right now are coins. We need to start having our members earn the guild at least ten silver a day each if we want to be able to truly excel in the next phase,” informed Xeal.

“Xeal, isn’t that asking a bit much? We don’t all pump out coin the way you do,” commented Clara.

“It’s not like they will be getting nothing in return. Put simply, we institute the guild GC (guild coin) system. If you look closely in the menu under the guild tab you will see it grayed out right now, but we can set it up so that for every Y renowned added they will receive X GC, and for every Y silver contributed they can gain X GC. We just need to decide what those values should be, and it will even let us apply it retroactively if we want,” advised Xeal.

“But don’t we need something for them to exchange those points for?” inquired Clara.

“Normally you would be right Clara, but thanks to the contract we have with Darefret, we are gaining four new smiths a day that you all lined up before joining me here. The guild knows we will have a great source to fill our guild warehouse once the time comes. That being said, they also know there will always be a risk of something happening before we reach that point, so with that in mind, you announce that all GCs purchased now are half the price they will be after the guild opens the warehouse for exchange.”

“Hmm, that could work. Kind of like playing the stock market. There is risk involved, but a nice profit to be made as well. But how much do we charge per GC?” pondered Clara.

“I say we set each GC as worth ten silver. This can’t be changed once we do so and we don’t want it too high, or low, as we don’t want it to be seen as worthless, and we don’t want it to be unattainable by our members. We also should award one GC for every 100-renown brought to the guild.”

Xeal knew all too well how so many guilds had made the mistake of either making their GC too valuable, or not valuable enough. At first, those who made each point worth ten to one copper seemed to be doing well, but as time went on, they realized their mistake as their members stopped feeling accomplished by earning, and as even the simplest gear they would want was costing at least one gold. When it took 1,000 to 10,000 GC to buy even the simplest of items, you ended up not seeing the point. Then you had those who had set them to be worth one gold, or more. Then the issue became it was so hard to earn enough renown to stockpile enough for the items you would want from the guild warehouse, and too expensive to buy more. They would become too much like a savings account that you just started to ignore, only occasionally picking something up until much later in the game when earning coin and renown became easier.

“Wouldn’t it be better to set it lower?” asked Clara.

“No way. It should be higher!” countered Ignis.

“What, but then it would be impossible for anyone to get GC right now.” returned Clara.

“You want them to feel like they are getting something special,” responded Ignis.

“You’re both right, which is why I suggested ten silver. It’s not an unreachable amount, but still enough to feel like they are earning something,” offered Xeal.

“Won’t those players who are grinding materials and gear for us feel left behind by this?” questioned Gale.

“No, as we will be buying those items from them for GC at a slightly above market rate even after the guild warehouse opens, to ensure that we continue to be their preferred exchange location.”

“But won’t that cause us to start to have less GC worth of items to exchange than GC in the guild as time goes on?” countered Gale.

“That’s what raid auctions are for,” informed Xeal.

“Raid what!?” questioned Ignis.

“Raid auctions. Look, after we hit level 20 and can explore the areas around the cities, there are supposed to be several level-based raid dungeons. These dungeons are a great source for gear and materials. Simply put, we will be organizing parties to challenge these dungeons, and it will be guild policy that all loot gained while in these dungeons be auctioned off between the members who took part in the raid in the form of GC.”

“Won’t that just make them not want to take part in official raids?” enquired Ignis.

“That’s why we will be awarding GC for completing the dungeon as well, and anything no player bids on will end up being exchanged for GC to be split among the members who took part in the raid. However, even without those moves, you will have members who want a specific drop and are willing to dump GC to ensure they get it, instead of raiding the dungeon with a group of other players that they have to convince into letting them have it.”

“I don’t know, it sounds complicated. Are you sure that’s how you want to run it?” skeptically asked Gale.

“Trust me, it will be very efficient,” stated Xeal confidently.

“Ok, but while we are on the topic of guild management, what is the plan to actually fill our guild’s warehouse? How are we going to attract and develop our members? Do we have any long-term goals, and what is your plan for us to earn money playing?” inquired Gale.

“Filling our guild warehouse will be accomplished through our internal artisan players. It’s why the forge deal is so important. We are going to attract members by being the best. Right now, our levels will help with that. As for developing them, well, it really depends on where they intend to focus. For battle focused members, we will ensure they are guided to areas that will both help them level and gain relevant techniques as they do so. Really, right now they should just be focused on getting used to playing the game. The real work starts after level 20. For artisan players, we will use the raw materials that our members acquire to help them grow into productive crafters that can produce top tier gear for our guild at a reduced rate. Our long-term goal is to be recognized as the top guild and stay there. Yah, it’s going to be a long road, but I think we can do it. As for the money side of the game, once the guild’s artisans start selling gear at a profit, the guild will take a portion, agreed upon when they started their development. This is where the long-term sustainable income that should allow us to each have a nice salary will come from, as well as several more core members. Everything else we earn will be used to develop our guild in the real world. Are those good enough answers Gale?”

“It sounds like artisan players will be more important than battle players,” questioned Gale in confusion.

“Hold on. What’s this about us developing the guild in the real world?” interjected Ignis.

“Gale, no. Both support the other. Without enough players bringing in materials, the artisan’s development will dry up. We need to ensure that balance is met, which we will figure out as time goes on and we see where the balance lays. As for developing the guild in the real world, Ignis, I mean things like a HQ and perks for our members to use outside the game, like a gym.”

“Why would we have a gym?” asked Amet.

“It’s just an example but think about how much you have been sitting still since ED opened. I know a few of you have seen me out running in the morning because I see the need to keep my body healthy.”

“Is that what that is about?” inquired Gale.

“Wait. Xeal has been exercising in RL?” asked Amet dumbfounded to hear that his friend was willingly running.

“Yes, and yes. Haven’t any of you been taking time to make sure your muscles don’t atrophy?”

The group all got quiet as they looked between one another.

“Well, I guess I need to be the adult here. You all need to be getting at least 30 minutes of strenuous exercise each day. If you don’t, your bodies will deteriorate to the point where you might not even be able to play the game at some point.”

“What? Come on man, it won’t get that bad.” Countered Ignis.

“I don’t know. I went for a run with Gale after we noticed Xeal was exercising, and both of us agreed that it was harder than before we graduated last year. We thought it was because of not having gym class for a few months, but Xeal is making some sense,” admitted Aalin.

“Aalin, we agreed not to talk about that,” grumbled Gale.

“Sorry Gale, but Xeal has a point and the rest of us are just being lazy,” apologized Aalin.

“Sounds like we should all just meet up every morning in front of Aalin’s and Gale’s houses to do a 30-minute run every morning at 4:30 AM,” proposed Xeal.

“What!? No way. Why do we all have to do that?” groaned Amet.

“Simple. In a few days, we are going to tell all of our members that they should do the same thing. If we aren’t doing it already, it will be hypocrisy. Leadership will be required to exercise, while it will be only a strong suggestion to our members,” declared Xeal.

With that, although somewhat begrudgingly, everyone agreed to at least try this out for a while, and they agreed it would be easier together, and nice to see everyone in real life a bit more.

Evening July 31, 2266.

Alex pulled off his VR helmet and made his way to his PC. Amanda’s stock market comment had reminded Xeal of something he had forgotten about. ED would have drastic effects on the many stock prices as many entertainment companies would see their business hit hard as more people made the jump into ED. At the same time, a few key players in ED’s rise would benefit immensely. One was a small company that made a nutritional fluid that could be used with the VR chamber to maintain one’s health while in game, as well as the developer of both the chamber and VR helmet. Both were publicly traded companies that would see a 2,000% plus increase over the next few years. Now that the funds had cleared Xeal, quickly invested 800,000 credits, split evenly between both. If things played out the same as last time, that 800,000 credits would become around 17,000,000 credits in the next few years. He would have liked to put the rest of the credits in stocks as well, but he needed some operating income for now. With the purchase order complete, Alex made his way around the forums to check how things were progressing elsewhere in ED.

He read about how guilds seemed to be disbanding as fast as they were forming at this point, and complaints from players who wanted to focus on a craft about how expensive it was to even start to grind ranks. Alex could only smile as he read how guilds weren’t snatching up these players yet, and how his guild had gained somewhat of a mythical status from the way it was the first guild, and by the leader boards had the most members officially in the guild, but no one could seem to find any members waiting to join outside of the Dragon’s Eye outpost that it was currently based out of. Most figured it would fizzle out once other guilds started connecting the rest of their players that were in other regions after portals were usable at level 20, while others seemed to think after level 20 it would start to spread across the whole of ED. Both were wrong of course. Alex knew he was years from having players everywhere in ED, but once he hit level 20, he planned on speeding to every corner of Nium before expanding outward to the rest of ED.

After reading the forums, Alex made his way on to several news sites to see how ED was being covered in this timeline. ED had been out for two weeks and it had already caused a major stir, from articles calling it the liberator of the working class, to the evil that is going to ruin the world unless stopped. Alex chuckled at the articles as he knew that both points of view were right. ED would liberate the individual while causing a major disruption to the current economy and destroyed whole industries that fought for people’s hard-earned credits for recreational uses. Tourism was especially hard hit as you could experience many of the thrills and attractions within ED. Major businesses who needed an army of workers had started to install areas for employees to play ED during their break time. Still more had tried to work with the developers of ED to virtualize their entire offices with ED’s time dilation tech, only for ED to turn them down over the mismatch in core values. ED’s developers believed their tech was for giving people more free time, not increasing the time spent in an office building. It would be 15 years before another company was able to steal ED’s tech and put out a virtual office, only for a group of hackers to infiltrate the system and ruin the project two years after its launch, costing billions of credits to the companies who had completed the transition to the virtual office empire that was being built. After that, companies had started to only sparingly use any kind of virtual office as hackers kept taking it down. Many thought it was ED’s own staff doing the hacks, out of revenge for the theft, but nothing was ever proven and unfortunately the court systems didn’t have the ability to handle it being that the conflict crossed so many international borders.

ED, year 1, days 45-46.

Xeal and his friends all returned to ED ready to raid the forge. They knew that it would pose a challenge as they wanted to avoid a full-on mob in an open area where they would be surrounded. The plan was simple, yet dangerous, even by Xeal’s standards, but if they wanted to be able to loot the forge, they needed to do it. Simply put, Xeal would cause a commotion that would generate a mob, then lead the mob from the forges to a narrow dead end, where the rest of the party would be waiting. They would repeat this three times a session, with Xeal looting the cleared area between each fight. Xeal knew that the forge took around a month to fully restock after being raided by players, and it even had items that only showed up occasionally, and they became rarer as time went on. Eventually, this area became so overcrowded that the forges never got a chance to restock at all until the area became forgotten about, before the kobolds broke to the surface the last time around. Xeal intended to prevent that this time around by not just keeping his exclusive rights intact, but also building a guild town right at the entrance to ensure the area stayed protected from other guilds who would want to hurt FAE’s growth and profits once they could survive Darefret himself.

With the plan in place, the party set off to secure the dead end and wait while Xeal brought the first group of around 30 kobolds to the trap. When he arrived, Amet stepped forward and started to take on the onslaught of kobolds, as Ignis and Aalin used AOE spells to attack the crowd of kobolds, before Clara switched in to relieve Amet after about 30 seconds as he was healed by Gale, before Xeal stepped in himself after another 30 seconds to relieve her. They kept this cycle going, as they slowly were being pushed back as Ignis and Aalin focused on DPS to the whole mob. Finally, after four hours of this constant rotation, and all skill and magic points being emptied, the last kobold fell and the group could relax.

“Holy crap, Xeal. Are you sure we can do that three times a log in for the next three days? I’m beat after just once, and look at everyone’s HP. It’s going to take hours to recover from this fight,” panted Gale.

“Relax, will you. We did it, didn’t we?” commented Ignis.

“Easy for you to say. You weren’t on the front lines taking those hits for four hours,” huffed Clara.

“What? Was it really that bad?” asked Ignis.

“Sorry man, but yah, I don’t know how we held it together. If I had to last more than 30 seconds at a time, I don’t think my stamina would have lasted, and my HP would be gone without Gale’s support,” groaned Amet.

“Look I know it’s tough guys, but it’s a great way to improve your play. Testing your limits each fight will help you grow faster, and trust me, you will grow more than just in levels from these fights,” encouraged Xeal.

“So, I guess you still plan to ransack the forge?” confirmed Aalin.

“Yep. Hopefully it will give us some items that we can use to develop our guild’s smiths, and maybe some gear to turn into some quick credits.”

“Oh, so are we finally going to get our first payday to get our parents off our backs?” inquired Ignis.

“Yah, hopefully you all will make at least 200,000 credits this year, but remember I plan to build us up in RL as well. So, right now, capital is paramount.”

“What happened to the 950,000 you already made?” asked Ignis.

“Still have around 140,000 in my bank, the rest has been invested so it can spend some time growing before we really start to have regular expenses.”

“What? That would be enough to at least rent a halfway decent HQ for a year. Why not use it for that?” responded Ignis.

“Simple. If we build our HQ before we have a steady stream of credits coming in, we will only see our account drain until there is nothing left. It’s going to be at least a few months before I am ready to even look at suitable locations to use as our temporary HQ while we continue to grow. In the meantime, maximizing our available funds will allow us to ensure we have a stable foundation when the time comes.”

“Guys, you’re thinking too much. I’m sure it will work out,” commented Amet.

“Xeal is right. If we don’t plan out how to use the funds efficiently, they will disappear. That being said, it would be nice to get a pay day” added Aalin.

“Don’t worry. We should be able to earn some good coin at the Dragon’s Eye auction house when we put them up for sale,” placated Xeal.

“Man, I wish we could just sell them directly for credits,” complained Amet.

“Yah, or at least be able to auction them off at a better location,” added Ignis.

Xeal knew it would be a while before it made sense as to why the system had limited the sale of items to an individual auction house, but right now it did hurt. Instead of over 500 million potential customers, they only had around 300 thousand. Still, within that group he was sure he could find several high spenders who would overpay by buying coins from the exchange system that was system wide. The only way to exchange items directly for credits was by doing an in-person transaction, which was part of why guild stores were so popular. This included auction houses in guild towns and cities, as they could be used for the direct sale of goods for credits, as well as other commodities in ED.

With that, Xeal went to the forge after his HP had been restored by Gale to begin searching the cleared-out area. He was ecstatic to find one of the forges had an apprentice’s hammer, as well as another set of master’s tools, along with the hundreds of miscellaneous pieces of weapons, armor, tools and raw materials. Mithril ingots were still the best quality he could get, but it was still a great haul that would help the smiths who were starting to grow each day. The build team had completed the first few work areas and were working to expand the refinement equipment to support the increased volume of ore coming in from the mines, now that his guild had almost 700 players grinding in the areas with kobolds between level 18 and 13. It wouldn’t be long before some ventured to the safe house his party was currently using, and Xeal wanted to make sure he had cleaned out the forge before others discovered its wealth. With that in mind, he continued to loot until he received a message letting him know the party was ready for the next wave. After another two waves had been completed and the first day of exploring the forge was done, Xeal and his friends made their way back to the safe house for the session to look over the loot. Amet was holding the bottle with the spirit flame Xeal had found while looting the forge.

“Wow, check this out!” exclaimed Amet.

“What do you think it is?” wondered Ignis.

“It’s called a spirit flame, and it’s main use is to improve the quality of gear made when using it over a normal flame,” informed Xeal.

As the group looked over what they had found, Xeal started to separate the loot into three different piles; items to sell to the NPC’s, materials to help develop smiths, and gear to liquidate for credits. Once that was complete, Xeal and his friends went to turn in before being logged out.

“Remember everyone, be in front of Aalin’s and Gale’s houses at 4:30 ready to run,” reminded Xeal.

“Yes, Dad,” quipped Ignis.

“Shoot, I was hoping he forgot,” winced Amet.

“Nope, no such luck,” chuckled Xeal.

Morning August 1, 2266.

Alex arrived around 4:20 AM for the run and met up with Sam and Nicole as they waited for everyone else to arrive. Both were dressed like Alex in their old school gym clothes, which consisted of a tee shirt and a pair of shorts that went down to just above the knee.

“Good morning ladies.”

“You know we’re not ladies before noon,” groaned Sam.

“This isn’t high school Sam, and unless you shift your schedule, you better get used to being a lady from 4:00 to 6:00, whether that is AM or PM,” joked Alex.

“Ugh, nope. I will only accept the PM half. I still feel weird that being awake at this hour has started to feel normal.”

“Get used to it. We aren’t in school anymore, and with the profession we are pursuing, time of day means little to us. How are you handling the shift Nicole?”

“It’s not as weird for me, as I would always be up around now, thanks to my parents believing in going to bed at 7:30 PM and being awake by 4:00 AM. Something to do with early to bed early to rise will make you smarter. Early morning homework was my norm,” shrugged Nicole.

“Ah yah, sounds like a blast. How are they taking the whole making money from gaming thing?” injured Alex.

“They don’t know yet. They think I’ll be headed off to college next month, but really, I didn’t send the paperwork in, so yah, we’re going to need a new place to meet up soon,” answered Nicole, looking guilty.

“Ouch, well looks like I will need to accelerate my plans slightly. What do you two think about the Colorado Springs area?” Alex casually asked.

“What are you talking about?” asked Nicole looking baffled.

“I’m talking about buying a house up there big enough for us all to move into by the end of the year.”

“What happened to using our funds wisely?” countered Nicole.

As the three were talking Fred and Amanda had shown up just in time to hear Alex talking about buying a house.

“What’s this about a house now?” interjected Fred.

“Good morning to you as well, Fred. Morning Amanda. Looks like we just need Dan and we can get started,” deflected Alex.

“Hey now, no changing the subject. What was this talk about getting a house?” pressed Fred.

“Let’s just wait for Dan. At this point he should be here soon. I know he will have some input on any plans we make. Before that, Fred, Amanda, and Sam, what have you all worked out with your parents as far as our goal to earn a living by gaming?” responded Alex.

“Ha, my parents aren’t happy, but they said, “at least I’m trying something.” They never had high hopes for me, but you’re going to help me show them, right?” smiled Fred.

“You bet. They are going to wish they jumped in on day one like all of us. Sam, Amanda?”

“I’m set to start at the local community college mid-august if I don’t make some real cash before that,” shrugged Amanda.

“Same here. It’s the only way my mom and dad agreed. They don’t have as high of standards as Nicole’s parents do, so we were able to come to an agreement,” sighed Sam.

“Not good. It sounds like unless we make some quick credits, my guild will lose most of its leadership before we get off the ground. Morning Dan. Quick question. What is the deal you made with your parents?”

Dan had just arrived, also wearing his school’s gym uniform. Alex thought to himself that they really needed some branded merchandise.

“Morning to you and everyone to. Deal? Nah I just got told I’m being kicked out at 20 so I’m good,” stated Dan.

“Ok, now can you tell us what you are talking about with getting a house, Alex?” insisted Fred.

“It’s simple. I think it would be in our best interest to buy a house, and I was thinking the area outside of Colorado Springs would be a good place to set up.”

“Wait, what? I thought we were here for a run, not a major discussion on our future!” exclaimed Dan.

“Yah, that’s right. Let’s go ahead and talk more after the run.” declared Alex.

“No way man, don’t dodge again. Tell us what you’re thinking,” pressed Fred.

“Fine, but before we have a full discussion about it, we go ahead and get this run out of the way. That means that after I say my bit, we start running.”

“Fine,” relented Fred.

“Ok, well, I always intended for us to get a place of our own once we started to make some money in game, but now I’m thinking it is more of a priority as I need you all to be able to focus on ED, not our deals with our parents. For now, it sounds like we have less than a month before Nicole’s parents find out she isn’t going away to college. So, before that, we need a plan for where she will stay, as I doubt her parents will be as willing to let her play games all day as they are now. Next, we need a plan for all of us to find a more permanent housing situation, and I was thinking of us all moving together to the Colorado Springs area. It still has some nice rural areas and it’s more affordable than anything around here, not to mention the state taxes we will be saving. Now, let’s get running. We have three miles to cover and I’m sure you all will love it.”

With that, Alex cut off all conversation by turning around to run, as his friends followed him. As he ran, Alex thought about his plan. To pull off what he wanted, they needed 140 million credits yesterday and he could only think of one way to secure enough funding, but it was risky as it would really mess with the timeline he remembered. One major sporting upset that was due to play out over the next few months that would see the Angels go from being counted out of the playoff race to winning the World Series. He could make the bet that they make the playoffs and get a pay out early October, but the real pay out was going for the whole pie and betting on the championship right now and getting paid early November, the time when only the best baseball was played. Alex wasn’t too much of a sports fan, but he always had a rule that when the MLB made it to November, he would watch. It only happened once every five years, or so, but this had been one of those years, and it had been a wild one. It came out in March of 2267 that the Angels had started trying out ED to see if it could improve their game in any way as a desperate hope to salvaging their season. What they found is it improved their batting average from a .249 to a .290 in a slow progression the longer they played. It had changed sports forever and caused the first major rush to ED after the opening months, taking the player base from around one billion to two and a half billion over a six-month period. It would have been faster, but there weren’t enough VR cabins and helmets to keep up with demand. Alex needed at least odds of 1,500 to 1 if he wanted to have enough credits left over once the tax man was done with him, but he thought it would do the trick.

As they ran, Alex slowed himself down to not lose his friends who were all panting hard after the first half mile. They were trying to stick together, but it was quickly spreading apart, with Fred and Dan forming one group, and the girls another about 20 feet behind. It would take some time for everyone to get used to this run. Even Alex was still winded after it. Alex stopped, and once he was between the two groups called out.

“Everyone don’t worry about going fast. We should focus on staying together on this run and worry about pace on the next one,” advised Alex.

With that, everyone slowed to a pace everyone could easily keep and completed the run around 5:15. There wasn’t enough time to get into all of the nitty gritty of the moving idea, so Alex told them all to table it for now, and everyone went home to get a quick shower and some food before they logged back in to ED. Once home, Alex did a quick check on the betting odds for the Angels to win the World Series and was happy to see they were sitting at 1,600 to 1. With that, Alex made a transfer of 100,000 credits from his business account to his personal, with it earmarked as his wages for the month of July. It would take two days for it to clear, but once it did, he would make the bet.

ED, year 1, days 47-49.

Xeal and his party made their way to a new dead-end position that would work better for the area of the forge he intended to clear out in this session. Once in position, Xeal repeated the same pattern as the last session, and by the end of the session they had more loot in their possession and took their normal break. They logged back in and repeated the same pattern once again, this time however, after the last group of Kobolds everyone had leveled up to level 17.

“Oh yah, now that’s what I’m talking about!” cheered Ignis.

“Yah, today was awesome. It seemed like the kobolds were easier this time as well. I can’t wait to see how much this extra level helps us against them!” exclaimed Amet.

“Hey, we all just caught Xeal!” bellowed Ignis.

“Oh, come on, it’s more like he brought us up to his level. Really, he is still way more help on the front line than either Amet, or myself,” commented Clara.

“What? You just wait. Now that we are the same level, I’m sure we’ll be just as affective,” declared Amet.

“Don’t kid yourself man. Xeal’s skills are crazy. Don’t use him to measure yourself against. I figured out what he did that earned so much renown last log off,” advised Ignis.

“Oh, really? What was it?” asked Aalin with curiosity.

“He achieved Adamantium rank on that obstacle course back in Dragon’s Eye. It’s all over the forum dealing with the outpost challenges. No one else has even hit Gold yet and his name is sitting next to the Adamantium time record,” informed Ignis.

“Hold on. What? How?” stuttered Amet.

“As I said, his skills are crazy. I don’t think we would be able to grind here with a party twice our size without him,” Ignis stated shaking his head.

“Crazy,” remarked Amet.

“Ha, you found out. Yah, I may have a secret to my time, but it’s not something I’ll be sharing as discovering it is a great test in and of itself. Anyhow, we should be focused on the task in front of us. We only have three more sessions of this left before we end our grind here.”

“Do we really need to end our grinding together?” protested Amet.

“Unfortunately, yah. I think I’ll start on my Tier 3 quest. Reaching the city as soon as possible needs to be my focus. You all should do the same after finding more members. Send out a general recruitment looking for lifestyle players, focusing on smiths right now. Just make sure they can at least complete the systems aptitude test with gold, or better results.”

“What. I thought you were going to grind here until you hit level 19?” questioned Gale.

“I was, but now I feel like I need to push our guild to the next level first and for that I need to become an official noble of the kingdom.”

“I understand why you are choosing this route, but won’t it hurt our growth in other kingdoms?” inquired Gale.

“Yah, there will be some minor drawbacks, but I’m sure things will work out in the long run. And if the worst should happen, I can step down and let one of you assume the guild leader position.”

“No you don’t. None of us could handle being the symbol of the guild. You have no idea how much of a myth you are to our members when they look at your level and wonder what you are doing to achieve it. Heck, we have been with you for the last ten days in ED and I still think it’s insane what we have been able to do,” rebuked Gale.

“Yah man, however you go, the guild goes. None of us can pull off half of the stunts you pull off,” agreed Amet.

“Thanks guys, and don’t worry I plan to make this work to our advantage. See you all in RL at 4:15 AM for our run,” reminded Xeal.

“Don’t forget the other topic, Xeal. I think we all have some questions about what you have in mind,” added Ignis.

“Don’t worry. I’ll stay until 5:00 AM to answer as many of them as I can.”

With that, everyone settled in for their pre log out rest, halfway through looting the forge.

Morning, August 2, 2266.

It was 4:50 AM and everyone had finished running and were catching their breath, when the group began talking about Alex’s plan for buying a house and moving to Colorado Springs.

“So, I’ll start off. What exactly do you picture our living situation to be if we go for your plan?” asked Amanda.

“Well, that will depend on how much we can afford. I would like to have a room for each of us, but that might take two houses and I don’t see that being affordable. So, in all likelihood, unless we earn a ton of credits, we are looking at most likely a three-bedroom, using one room for the girls one for the boys and the last room as a makeshift gym.”

“Before I can agree to even consider this idea, you need to promise that there will be at least two full bathrooms and the girls get the master bedroom,” demanded Sam.

“What? No way. If we do this, it will be with Alex’s funds so he should get the master, which means it should be the guys room,” complained Fred.

“I’m good with the girls getting the master bedroom, so long as if it has an attached bathroom with a bigger bathtub, they let me use it once a week. Also, two and a half bathrooms is a must if all of us are going to share one place,” responded Alex.

“I’m good with that. Nicole, Amanda?” nodded Sam.

“Sounds fair,” agreed Nicole.

“Should be fine as long as it’s scheduled ahead of time. Now back to the real question. Why Colorado Springs?” inquired Amanda.

“Cost and benefits of the area. You can find affordable living and good internet. I also like it as a place to build a guild HQ one day for the same reasons.”

“I could list at least a dozen places that fit that bill, but none around here, so you win that argument. I guess it just feels scary to leave this area. Is there any way we can stay around here?” questioned Amanda.

“Nah, the taxes alone would eat us alive over time. We need to leave California if we want to have our best chance to excel. As for other areas, Las Vegas has too much of an underground and nothing once you leave the area. I don’t want to deal with Arizona’s heat, Utah just doesn’t fit the bill, Oregon and Washington don’t get enough sun, and that brings me to Colorado. It will be a great location, I’m sure of it.”

“Ok, so what is our timetable? I need a plan before my parents realize I’m not heading off to college,” asked Nicole in a worried tone.

“And that brings us to our true dilemma. Even looking at our situation from the best-case scenario, it will be December before we can move out there, more likely January. I’m thinking we need to find a place for you to lay low. Hmm, Sam, Amanda. If I get the funds together, do you think your parents would go for you splitting a place with Nicole? Mind you it would be a small place with good internet.”

“I think they would be fine with that. They’d probably think it would be a good life experience for me, but won’t that set us back of moving out of state?” asked Amanda.

“Same here,” agreed Sam.

“Not nearly as much as you three being out of commission, or only occasionally online would. It’s normal for the rank and file of guilds to only log in for one session a day, but leadership needs to be online as much as possible, especially once we expand.”

“Ok let’s do it. Just don’t put us up in a bad neighborhood. I don’t know if I could play ED if I was worried about someone breaking in while we are incapacitated,” asserted Sam.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that to you, and you know that the helmets come with a danger notification. Its AI will alert you if it hears broken glass, or if someone opens your door, right?”

“It will? Awesome. I didn’t know. That’s a huge relief,” breathed Sam.

“No problem. You good with that Nicole?”

“Yah, my parents might freak out, but I’m an adult and it’s my life. They are just going to have to deal with it,” stated Nicole resolutely.

“Ok, then. I will start looking for a suitable place, but for now we should all get home and get ready for another session in ED.”

It was 5:06 AM when everyone went their separate ways to clean up before logging back into ED.

ED, year 1, days 50-51

Xeal and his party spent the next three sessions finishing looting the forge, and on the last session, Xeal finally leveled up to level 18. Once he had applied his stats, he had the needed 20 charisma to help him pass his knighthood quest. They made their way out of the mine, passing many more players than when they had entered. All of them were his guild members. It was surprising to see them staring at his party of level 17+ adventurers with awe and excitement. Several shouted their greetings as they passed by, until finally, with just one hour before they needed to log out, they made it to Darefret’s forge, which had already changed a good bit since Xeal had last seen it. The build team had made great progress and there were now an additional 20 work areas, and the first upgraded refinement apparatus was almost complete. Xeal made it over to Darefret to exchange the forging materials gained in the mine with the dwarf.

During Xeal’s time, both before, and especially after his friends had joined him, he had gathered a staggering amount of materials. Once he turned them over to Darefret for coin, it came to a total of 600 gold, and that didn’t include all the other items, like the three spirit flames, four apprentice’s hammer and five master’s tools that were being used to improve the forge. Xeal kept one spirit flame for his personal use as well. They had also come across 12 minor stat boost rings that would likely sell for a ton at this stage of the game, and over 1,000 weapons that varied in quality, that would definitely find some happy buyers at auction. Then they had the ton of undersized armor they had gotten. Sadly, this would just be sold in bulk at the outpost for a few hundred gold as it was not usable by any players yet, but Xeal was still pleased with the increase in funds his guild would have to work with. Once his transaction with Darefret was complete, Xeal pulled out his return scroll and teleported back to Dragon’s Eye to place the rings and the weapons on the market for sale. While they were undersized like the armor, they made excellent throwing weapons that could be retrieved after the fight. Many players would carry a weapon to throw for an initial hit before the distance closed between them and their targets. The system kept them as a recoverable item for the user for an hour after they were thrown, after which any player could take them, if found. This was usually plenty of time, as long as a player didn’t die in the fight. As Xeal was about to enter the auction house, he ran into a now level 17 Geitir.

“Xeal, it’s good to see you. I must thank you for that tip. It has proven immensely useful to my guild and has really helped us dominate the level curve.”

“Ah, Geitir, I’m glad to see you didn’t regret the transaction. Care to tell me how many of your guild mates got the title?”

“Sorry Xeal, no can do. Guild secrets and all. Let’s just say we are well on our way to being a dominant force now. Speaking of that, look at you already at level 18. Where have you been hiding? None of my members have even caught a glimpse of you for over a month?”

“Sorry Geitir, guild secrets and all.”

“Fair enough. So, what brings you out of your hole at long last, mister Adamantium ranked obstacle course clearer.”

“Ah, yah I did do that. Just bringing some items to market.”

“I thought I told you to contact me if you had anything to sell?”

“I thought that was just tips and tricks in game.”

“Well, yah that would be my favorite purchase, but I have all 10,000 of our members in the area to supply now that we all met up here in Dragon’s Eye. Some extra gear is always needed. What do you have?”

With that, Xeal opened a trade window and showed Geitir the weapons and rings he intended to sell at auction in batches.

“Where did you find all of these? I have only found a few weapons that would work for throwing, and you even have some here that are better than many of our members’ main weapons. Are you sure you want to sell these? Your guild could use them with great affect, and those rings, we haven’t seen any items like them yet. Are they really for sale?”

Xeal knew what Geitir was thinking, and while the weapons and rings could provide a short-term boost, their value would plummet in a few weeks as more players found them. Right now, Xeal and FAE needed credits far more than the boost to a few players. Besides, his guild was already overloaded with the weapons from looting the drops from the kobolds. Not every kobold supplied a weapon, but when you have over 10% of your guild hunting them, the number tends to add up quickly. The only difference between the gear his guild was keeping, and the gear he was selling was the quality and level requirement.

“Yes, I’m sure they are for sale. I was planning to sell them in batches through the auction house, but if you want to save me some time, I could sell some to you.”

“Are you trying to drive up the cost to buy gold with credits? It’s already way to high. Honestly, I understand the developers not wanting to over saturate the market by players buying a ton of coin on day one, but still. The algorithm they developed is harsh. Every coin you buy makes the next one more expensive, just as every coin you sell drops the price. I feel like they are making a killing off it by simply playing the middleman.”

“True, but it would work out, as I intend to liquidate the funds from this sale into credits anyway, so the price increasing would be nice.”

“Well, care if I just save you that step?”

“I don’t know, can you afford it?”

“Don’t worry about my funds. I assure you, while you might not get as much as you would from auctioning each of them off and selling the gold, at the end my price is fair. Now, let’s see. Hmm, I would say, on average, each of those weapons would be worth two gold, and those rings are around 200 gold each. That would be 4,400 gold for the lot. The cost of a gold coin is sitting around 5,000 credits right now, so 22 million credits would be roughly what you would expect. Hmm divide by 19, times by 20. How about 21,052,632 credits?”

“Um, that’s a strange number. How did you come to that total?”

“Simply, I figured it would be nice for you to receive an even 20 million when the sale was final, so I did the math and that is the number that 95% of rounds to 20 million even.”

“Can you really spend that much so casually? I mean, yah, that is the market rate right now, but still?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I plan on filtering this through the guild, and while I will still take a slight loss, the reputation and self-promotion in the eyes of the guild will make up for that. If you keep giving me such easy opportunities to shine like this, I may actually be thankful you didn’t join us, as it would have been a waste of your talents, or you would have over shadowed me and hurt my climb to the top.”

“Ok, then, I guess we have a deal. Pleasure doing business with you.”

With that, the transaction was complete and Xeal walked away with a new pending transaction in his account, and way more credits than he had expected. Yah, all of Geitir’s calculations were correct, but if Xeal had wanted to get that much, it would have taken around ten days of slowly selling to ensure he didn’t crash the market on those weapons. He could have sold the rings fast enough, but with what Xeal had planned, he would have been lucky to end up with 15 million when it was all said and done. Now, it was time to log out and meet up with the girls to tour the apartment he had found for them. The credits he transferred should have cleared already, so he could place the bet on the Angels to win the world series that now seemed modest in comparison to his latest wind fall. Oh, taxes are going to be fun this year Xeal thought as he logged out.

Evening August 3, 2266.

After making the 100,000-credit bet, with the odds now sitting at just 1,500 to 1, thanks to the Angels winning their last two games. With that out of the way, Alex headed out in his mom’s car. He would need to buy his own soon enough, but for now, his mom was fine letting him borrow hers. He had found them a three bedroom that would cost him 12,000 credits a month, with a 1 Tbps internet speed included, and it was only a five-minute drive from his house. Alex picked up Sam and Nicole before making their way to Amanda’s house and picking her up, and at 4:30 PM they had arrived for the guided tour of the apartment. It was a slightly older building, but it was in a good neighborhood. The manager, an older lady, was waiting inside the main office for their appointment.

“Are you sure about this Alex?” asked Nicole uncertainly.

“Yah, it’s better than the alternative,” confirmed Alex.

“Still, I feel bad,” sighed Nicole.

“If it makes you feel better, I can always dock it from your pay,” joked Alex.

“Would I have anything left if you did that?” inquired Nicole.

“Oh, you would be fine. I managed to find a private buyer, and once the funds clear, I will be writing each of you a 100,000-credit payroll check.” Smiled Alex as he let that bomb shell drop.

“SAY WHAT!?” exclaimed Amanda.

“Holy crap, that’s a lot of chocolate!” Sam joked looking shocked.

“Come again?” blinked Nicole unable to believe it.

“I was able to find a buyer, so we won’t have to wait while the items slowly find their way through the auction house, and instead just have to wait for it to clear the bank.”

“Not that part. That part where we will be making 100,000 credits,” pressed Nicole.

“Oh, what about it?” smiled Alex knowingly.

“Stop playing dumb, Alex. That’s more than most of our parents make in three months. Just how much did we make from that sale?” demanded Amanda.

“This is not the place to talk about that. Besides, most of that is going towards our move to Colorado, which I plan on executing on January 1st as our official move date, to make taxes cleaner.”

“We made over a million?!” concluded Amanda in shock.

Alex could only chuckle to himself at that number. He didn’t know what the girls would do if they found out they had 20 million credits waiting to hit the businesses account, let alone how he planned to send 19 million of that straight into the stock market for the next two years. Even then, he knew he would be a long way off from the 200 billion credits he would need to realize his plan in seven years. Still, they should all enjoy this time as it was, even if the guild crashed and burned. They had already made enough credits to last years before it ran out.

“Yah, but we need a ton more before we can move out to Colorado this winter. Hope you all like snow.”

With that, they entered the office and the manager guided them to the unit. It was small for a three-bedroom unit with no real master bedroom, only one and a half bathrooms and a small kitchen area, with a dual-purpose living/dining room area just big enough for an entertainment center, couch, coffee table and four stools at the bar looking into the kitchen. A family of four could make it work if they had to, but it left no space for much else. However, for their needs it would work great. All it needed was some furniture, which each girl said that they could bring a bed, except Nicole. Beyond that, a microwave, stools for the bar, some pots and pans and dishes, as the unit came with a refrigerator, would make it livable for the most part, and he was sure the girls could handle the rest. Once the tour was over, they made their way back to the office to fill out the paperwork. At first, there was an issue as none of them had a pay stub showing current employment to show that they could afford the apartment, but when Alex agreed to pay the deposit and the first six months’ rent as a lump sum on move in day, the land lady agreed. Move in day was set for August 6th three days after the tour. With their business completed they all piled back into Alex’s mom’s car.

“Wow, we are really moving out of home girls,” declared Amanda.

“Yah, this is going to be great. We need to get a ton done in the next few days if we are going to be ready. Alex, when do you think we will have our pay checks?” asked Sam.

“Ha, on the fourth the funds should clear, but it might be the fifth. Either way, you will be doing most of your shopping post move in day. I don’t expect you all to actually start living there until we get you a car,” replied Alex.

“Wait, we get a car too!? Just how much did you make off that loot you called the leftovers?” questioned Amanda.

“For now, let’s just say north of five million credits. I don’t want you all knowing just how much the guild is making until it is a steady stream, or until we move out to Colorado. It will make it more fun for me.”

“Over five million, Alex that’s crazy. That’s more than enough for a house out here, let alone in Colorado. What are you planning?” pushed Amanda.

“Our gaming empire. A house is just where we will live. What we really need are funds for our HQ I plan to establish, and that will run well over a few million. We need enough funds that we can truly become a force, not just in the game, but here in reality as well. It won’t just be in Colorado Springs either. While that will be our main HQ, I plan on having offices across the globe, brand deals and partnerships with other companies. Over the next two years we will grow from the six of us running the show, to multiple leaders who focus on different areas in ED and the globe.”

“You really think we will get that big?” asked Amanda.

“Yes, I do.”

Sitting in the backseat, Nicole was still in awe of Alex and his newfound confidence. It was like the world was at his fingertips and all he needed to do was reach out and grab it. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he’d been possessed, from the drastic change ED had brought about in him. Gone was the driven, but unsure boy she had known, and here was a successful man who was already a self-made millionaire. She wasn’t sure she had ever really looked so closely at him before. She had always just followed Sam and kind of wound up in the same circle in high school.

As it was already 5:40 PM when they left the apartment complex, Alex decided to just swing by a drive through on the way to dropping the girls off. They each ate a burger as he drove them home. Finally at 6:05 PM, Alex was able to log back into ED and resume his adventure, with his goals for the day complete.

ED, year 1, days 51-56.

Xeal made his way to the guard post in Dragon’s Eye and was pleased to see that the sheriff had returned from Quickwind and was sitting behind a tall stack of paperwork. It seemed that he was still working to get through all of the work that must have piled up while he was in Quickwind. After getting past the guards out front, Xeal made his way into the building and waited for the sheriff to acknowledge his presence.

“Ah, Xeal, it has been a while. How have things been on your end?”

“They have been going well. I assume that things are busy for you sheriff, with all that must be happening.”

“Oh, you can say that again. It’s great that all of you adventurers are out there now, hunting monsters and taking on quests, but how many idiots must we restrain before you all will start obeying the laws?”

“Ouch. Is it that bad sheriff?”

“Yah, though I’m glad to say your FAE guild is usually either not involved, or the ones being targeted.”

Xeal was grateful he had put out in the guild rules to always mind NPCs and the laws of the land. It had been a major mistake of many players in the early days that had cost them many opportunities that they hadn’t even realized were there. As a general rule of thumb, a player should assume that every NPC has a quest to give once certain conditions are met, like Darefret. While he may allow you in the mine and buy any ore you recover, he only trains players who show him the respect he feels he deserves.

“I wish I could solve that for you sheriff, but many adventurers are rebellious by nature. It would be like trying to train an adult wolf to play fetch. Possible, but would likely cost you at least a few fingers in the process.”

“Well said. Anyhow, what brings you here today?”

“I was hoping you would allow me to start the test for knighthood, sheriff.”

“Hmm, you are still only level 18. Normally you would want to be level 19 before you set off on this quest.”

“I understand sheriff, but I believe I can accomplish it as I am now.”

“If you’re sure. You will face three tests, each more daunting than the last. You may take as much time as you like to start any of them, but once you start one, you must see it through before stopping, or you fail that test. Fail two tests and you will never become a knight. Fail one, and your road will be harder, but still possible.”

(Do you wish to accept the class quest, “Knighthood.” Rewards unknown. Warning: failing the quest will have negative repercussions on your account. Yes or No)

“What is the first of the tests sheriff?”

“There is a plant that only grows at the base of the Spine Mountain range north of the outpost. Its flower is white with 13 thin petals. We call it twilight hair as it only blooms at twilight. You will need to gather ten of these to make a tea from them, but not until you reach a cave not far from where the flower grows. I will send one of my men to guide you. You must drink the tea at midnight and enter the cave. Inside the cave you will find something. You will know it when you see it. Once you find it, you will exit the cave before sunrise, and return here to report to complete this test and receive your next test.”

Xeal thought over the quest. He had heard about it on the forums in his prior life, and how what you found changed every time. Sometimes it would be a sword, others would find a ring, or another accessory. Theories had said that what you found had to deal with what the system drew from your brain waves while under the influence of the twilight hair. Many had said its affects were a lot like peyote and your journey in the cave was more of a revelation to yourself, of who you were. Xeal also knew how you fared on the tests could affect exactly what type of knight you became. As classes go, knight was almost more of a title than class, as you could become a dark knight who carried out a lot of dirty work, like an assassin or rogue, a magic knight who was a lot like a magus, a pure knight who focused on martial combat and was like other warrior classes, or a champion knight who served a deity. Most of these were paladins, but some weren’t. There were others as well, but most knights found themselves growing into one of these four groups, and at most 1% would be in a different grouping. Xeal expected to fall into the pure, or dark knight grouping as he didn’t serve any churches in game and didn’t plan on picking up any magic.

“I will depart at once sheriff.”

“Good. I will send Aldway with you.”

With Aldway in tow and a lent horse, Xeal made his way out of town towards Spine Mountain range. As they journeyed, the sun began to dip behind the horizon when they arrived. Xeal was able to quickly find ten twilight hairs. Afterwards he was led to the cave by Aldway. Aldway started a fire and pulled out a small tea kettle before brewing Xeal’s tea and handing him it.

“Remember, once you drink this, your journey will begin. You will only have until sunrise to find what you need, after that it will be lost to you forever.”

“I understand.”

“Good, then drink and enter.”

With that, Xeal consumed his tea and entered the cave, which was now pitch black, except for the light from the fire behind him spilling into the entrance. As Xeal continued forward, he started to be unable to see anything at all, until he found himself in pure darkness. There he stood, as the twilight hair took effect on his body. Suddenly, he was sweating and he felt nauseous, and quickly found himself on the floor of the cave as his body punished him for drinking the tea. He had lost track of time by the time it ended and was replaced with a sense of calm. A white light that hadn’t been there before appeared to him. Xeal found himself reaching for the light as he followed it deeper into the cave, not even knowing why. As he went, flashes of light and movement seemed to pass him by, but the white light was all he had eyes for. Deeper and deeper he went. Had anyone seen him they would have wondered how he hadn’t hit a wall once with how dark it was in the cave, or how he didn’t even seem to hesitate when the path forked ahead of him before choosing his path. It was like he knew where he was going, the maze of pitch-black tunnels meant nothing to him. He walked for what seemed like eternity until finally, he entered a room that to him was filled with pure light. Even if he closed his eyes, the light went nowhere. It was so bad that his head pounded from the exposure, and he found himself on his knees.

“So, you are the one who I will journey with,” an Unknown voice stated

“Who is there?” cried out Xeal.

“Worry not, young one. You have found what you needed,” reassured Unknown 1.

“Father, are you sure he is worthy?” a second Unknown voice called out.

“Did he falter once when you and your siblings tried to push him down another path?” questioned Unknown 1.

“No father, but he clearly lacks the capacity to handle your presence. How can he become your companion if he can’t function near you?” asked Unknown 2.

“Relax my child. He will grow exponentially from here on out. I simply will need to suppress my power to a level he can handle.”

“To think that the first of these newcomers to stumble into our caves would find his way here of all places. Will the next one that comes find me, father?”

“I do not know, but I suspect not. This one seems different. It might be he was just lucky, but I feel there is something more at play here.”

Xeal was barely able to maintain his consciousness at this point and lost his battle as the two voices continued to speak. If he had been able to see their forms, he would have been flabbergasted at what he stood before, two disembodied spectral dragon heads, were speaking with each other. Few players even believed the very few accounts of encounters dealing with these beings known as dragon souls. The only accounts of them were the anonymous posts on the forums which most players found too outrageous to be real. The only thing Xeal remembered was that they were supposedly trapped souls of dragons who were bound to a certain place until freed by a player. Beyond that, he knew nothing else about the entity who claimed that he would become his companion, or the other voice that spoke.

“Ah, it looks like he is at his limit. This is farewell, at least for now. Who knows how long this one will remain of this world.”

“May your journey be prosperous and fulfilling for you father.”

When Xeal next awoke, he found himself back at the cave’s entrance as the sun began to peek above the horizon. The morning had come, and he began to panic as he looked for what he found but couldn’t find anything of the sort. All he could remember was hearing two voices as they discussed something. They had said he found what he needed, but where was it? It didn’t help that his head was still pounding, and his chest felt like someone had branded something right over his heart. Disappointment settled in. Had he failed? He had heard of the items gained from this test and how they would often still be useful late in the game as they scaled with the tier of the player. If only his damn head and chest would shut up, he could think straight. Had he just passed out and never moved from the entrance to the cave? No, that couldn’t be right. Slowly he made his way out of the cave and back to the tent Aldway had set up the night prior.

Once Xeal stepped out of the cave, the sun light seemed brighter than what he remembered. Probably just a side effect from the tea, Xeal thought. He could hear the birds chirping and bugs buzzing in the air. Once again it seemed louder for some reason. The smell of the embers still warm from the night before drifted to his nose, and he found it to be a pleasant smell. It was strange. He shouldn’t have been able to smell it that clearly, yet. Realizing something was going on, Xeal opened his status menu up to check it. The first thing that jumped out to him was that all his stats were ten percent higher. The next thing he found was a status effect called Mark of the Elder Dragon. Its description read “you have been marked by an elder dragon and granted enhanced abilities in this life; 10% boost to all stats and heightened senses while active. Lost upon death. Cannot safely log out while marked. As you increase your tiers, you will unlock more benefits.” Xeal couldn’t believe it. He had somehow gained an insane boost. The only problem was it would disappear if he took a single death penalty and he would have to find a secure location before every log out. Still, they were minor inconveniences when he thought of what a ten percent advantage would do for him. It was already almost like an extra four levels of stats, and this would only grow. As Xeal was examining his new stats, Aldway emerged from his tent.

“Good, you have returned. Did you find what you needed in there?”

“I did. I wish to return to Dragon’s Eye to report back to the sheriff.”

With that, Aldway packed up the small camp and they made their way back to Dragon’s Eye. Most players would have used a return scroll, but Xeal knew that returning with Aldway would affect the completion percentage. When it came to class quests, you always wanted to achieve as high as possible as the results would affect you for the rest of the game. The trip back was just as uneventful as the one to the cave, and Xeal was finding his new senses interesting. He could hear things that should have been drowned out, but at the same time, if he didn’t focus on ignoring it, the sound of the horses galloping would drown it all out. They arrived back in Dragon’s Eye around noon that day. As Xeal entered the guard post, he found it hard to ignore the smells that came with humans living in groups. He was not looking forward to learning what a city would smell like now. Hopefully, he would be able to learn to dampen his sense to avoid the worst of it. The sheriff was still sitting at his desk behind tall stacks of papers as he worked to catch up on work.

“Xeal, welcome back. How did your search fair?”

“It faired wonderful sheriff. I found what I needed to.”

“Very good. Now go rest and return tomorrow morning, or whenever you decide to take on the next test.”

“Thank you, sheriff. I will see you tomorrow.”

With that, Xeal took his leave and made his way to the inn. He was really feeling the drag from not getting enough rest start to pile up on him. Once logged out, he and his friends met up again for their now daily run, during which he let the guys know that they would be getting paid as soon as the funds cleared. Then it was time to return to ED and prepare for the second test. Xeal awoke in the inn. It was midnight in ED. He still had hours before he would be able to start the next test, so he decided to look for the mark that he had received from the first quest. After removing his armor and shirt, he quickly noticed that above his heart where skin would normally be, was a patch of silver scales shaped like a dragon’s claw. As he touched it, he was surprised to find that the scales felt like metal and he could hardly feel it when he touched the area. With that mystery at least partially solved, Xeal decided to rest until it was time to go back to the guard post.

“Good morning Xeal. I hope you are ready for your second test.”

“I am sheriff. Please give me the details.”

“The first test was about finding what you need. The second test is about losing what you don’t need. Aldway will take you to another cave. This one will be different from the last. In it you will find your test.”

“Thank you, sheriff.”

With that, Xeal and Aldway made their way out of town together once more, this time to the east. The trip this time was like the last, lacking any encounters for him to gain experience from. Finally after a few hours of riding, they arrived at their destination. The cave was little more than a hole in the ground that descended at a 50-degree angle. Xeal couldn’t make out anything past the first few feet in before it became pitch black. Xeal didn’t remember much about what was posted on the forums about the second test of knighthood, but he did know it was not the same for each player. For him it looked like a leap of faith. Would it be as simple as sliding down into the darkness or was there more to this test than a simple trust exercise? For once Xeal didn’t know what he was getting himself into and felt something between excitement and worry of the potential of losing his new boost. Either way, there was no turning back. Into the darkness he would go.

“We are here. Down there you will be tested. Unlike the last time, I will not be here waiting for you. Once you have finished you will need to find your own way back to town.”

“Understood. I will see you when I return.”

With that, Xeal began his descent into the darkness. He could feel the wind blow by his head as he sped into the unknown. Finally, the slope started to decrease, and his speed with it, until he came to a stop at the bottom. He was in an area deep below the kingdom. Unlike the mine, where magic lamps lit the tunnels, there was just darkness. Xeal could hear water running so there had to be an underground river of some sort. He thought about pulling out an oil lamp but found it grayed out when he opened his menu. With no other choices left, Xeal began to use his rapier like a blind man would use a cane. It was difficult but beat crawling on the ground. As he tried to find his way, slowly he inched forward, making sure not to move too fast and he tried to use his other senses to their maximum. Finally, he felt a slight breeze that carried on it a fresh scent from the direction of the sound of water and he moved in its direction. As he followed it, the sound of the water grew louder and louder until it was deafening, like he was upon a waterfall. Still he focused on the feeling of the breeze on his skin. After what seemed like hours of moving inch by inch, Xeal began to feel the mist from the water fall as it drowned out his ability to feel the breeze, and strangely his whole body was becoming numb. It was at this time the system gave him a notification.

(You have reached the minimum completion point; you may choose to leave this test now if you wish. If you continue, you will have to make it to another completion point. Yes or No)

Xeal pondered his options at this point. He could end this trial now as it was clearly about learning to not rely on your senses, and as he moved forward, more of them would be taken. He was already down sight, sound and touch. All that was left was smell and taste, and he was sure the next point would be where he lost the next of his senses. Could he really continue without touch? Xeal thought about this for a long time until finally deciding that with the recent boost, he could make it to the next point with smell and taste and selected no. Moving past the completion point, Xeal shuffled his feet as he didn’t dare lift them without his sense of touch. Slowly focusing on the scent and taste of freshness on the air, inch by inch Xeal spent a full two hours making his way closer to his goal, until the scent became mixed with another that smelled like rotten eggs and another system notification came up.

(You have reached the second completion point; you may choose to leave this test now if you wish. If you continue, you will have to make it to the final completion point. Yes or No)

Xeal was at a loss on what to do. How could anyone move forward with just taste? This test was too extreme. He had never heard of any tier 3 class quest pushing players this hard before. Surely this was a cruel joke being played on him by the system. He was just one point from completion. He looked at his menu to check how much time he had before the forced log out would happen and found he only had three hours left in game, meaning he had spent 16 hours since he entered the hole to get to this point. Could he make it to the next point before that time? Xeal finally decided that it didn’t matter. Even if he failed this test by being stupid, he would still be able to gain knighthood, and even when a test was failed, it didn’t affect the completion percentage of the quest as much as one might think. For this quest, it would probably treat it like he took the out at the first completion point. It was a gamble, and a stupid one at that, but Xeal took it and continued the test.

Now with just the taste of something fresh, like a freshly pealed cucumber as you bit into it, Xeal made his way forward. If anyone had watched him over the last 16 hours not knowing what he was experiencing, they would have thought he looked silly as he progressed down the winding path slowly, and wondered why he changed to the shuffle and slowed down the farther he went. If they had known what he was dealing with, they would have just stared at him in awe as slowly but surely, he was approaching the finish line. Once there all his senses would return to him like a tidal wave of sensory overload as his body tries to adjust to regaining what it had lost for so long. At last, after 19 hours of intense concentration, Xeal got the final system notification as the smell of rotten eggs, the numbness in his body, the deafening waterfall all disappeared as a small light shown in front of him.

(Congratulations on reaching the final completion point.)

Xeal was overjoyed as he followed the light as it grew brighter and brighter until he came into a room that contained a tree. The tree was on an island surrounded by raging waters, its fruit glowed. As he inspected it, he realized it was a life fruit that only grew from the fabled tree of life. In his past life, one of these fruits would sell for well over one million gold as the fruit could remove any curse, heal any ailment, and return a player from death to full HP in the middle of battle. It was the only true no penalty instant revive item in the whole game, but beyond that it could also be used to develop NPC’s if you wanted it to. Now Xeal was standing in front of the fabled tree that acted as the source for all of this in ED. As he looked on in awe, a single fruit fell into the water around the tree’s base and floated downstream towards where Xeal stood. Xeal moved quickly, like he had been awoken from a dream, to reach out and grab the fruit before it passed him by. He was barely able to reach out and close his fingers around the fruit as it sped by with the current. Overjoyed at this good fortune, Xeal decided to accept that this was the system’s way of rewarding him for reaching this point. As much as he would have loved to cross the water to harvest the whole crop, he knew it was foolish to be so greedy. Just being allowed to see the tree would have been reward enough, and if he were any greedier than to take the single fruit given, the system would laugh as the fruit he had gained was lost and he was only granted his life. Smiling, Xeal took out a return scroll and activated it to return to Dragon’s Eye.

It was early morning when Xeal returned to Dragon’s Eye and he had to hurry to get to the inn before his forced log out left him on the street defenseless. In ED there were various states of being offline. The most common would be when a player simply logged out once in a town, or city and their avatar vanished. Of course, you had to stand still for 30 seconds without interacting with anything to achieve this to prevent it from being used as an escape route. The next most common was when a player logged out inside of a safe zone inside of a dungeon, or an area outside of town where no monsters would be able to find you, but your avatar was left behind. The main risk in this method was your gear was at risk of a red, or criminal, player looting you. Those who logged out in an inn typically used this method as they were fairly secure and only a truly skilled assassin or rogue could find their way to you. The most secure safe area was usually your guild HQ as other players would be around to guard you most of the time and this was the type of log out Xeal typically used as it gave a few passive bonuses he preferred. It was also his only good option now that he had the elder dragon mark. The last was the unplanned log out. This was where the game forced you out, either due to your time being up, a maintenance window starting that you failed to log out for, or an issue with your connection. In each of these your avatar would enter a safe state for 30 minutes in real world time, so 90 minutes in ED during which monsters would ignore you and players could not interact with you. Guards could still arrest you, but you were safe. Other than that, once that time ended you were open to any player who could loot you without being caught. Needless to say, any player who was discovered would become a red player until they paid for their crimes according to ED law. For murder of NPC’s you were essentially screwed if caught, as the penalty was typically ten years hard labor for a player, so most red players just avoided the normal safe zones and instead founded underground guilds using hideouts in the wilderness as HQ’s and their safe zones.

Xeal was able to make it to the inn and check in with less than ten minutes to spare before his automatic log out would occur. He really needed to come up with some plans for if an auto log out issue occurred. While rare, he had experienced it a few times in his past life. This was another reason guilds built whole cities in his last life. Instead of normal internet that most players relied on, they could set up key members with a dual path connection that ensured they wouldn’t have to deal with forced log outs in the middle of a raid due to a cut fiber line. Most serious gamers also invested in a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) in case of power failures, but these usually lasted only a few hours at most. Guilds typically invested in whole back up power generators paired with a UPS to solve this. Alex enjoyed the leftover night dinner with Anna and made sure that the VR helmet he had purchased online for Anna had been wrapped as her birthday was on Sunday. Alex thought to himself about all the things he needed to complete. Tomorrow the funds would clear and he would need to get their checks ready to give them at the following run, then he needed to send another 19 million into the stock market to grow. He thought about making another bet but decided against it. If he got lucky too often someone would notice it and he didn’t want that kind of attention. One lucky bet would be fine, especially when he made a similar bet each year for a few more years that would fail as it would throw off suspicion of it being anything but a lucky bet. It would cost him 100,000 credits each year but that was nothing compared to the payout his current bet would make him. Next, he had the rent for the apartment, which after you included the deposit, was going to cost 84,000 credits plus whatever it cost for the movers. All the while he needed to complete his class quest and reach level 20, but that was something he knew the last test could help him with that as it was the same for every player.

It would consist of an endless gauntlet where a player would face a challenge starting at whatever level difficulty they selected, with the highest starting with a level 25 monster, followed by two level 24 monsters, then four level 23 monsters. This would continue until the player’s health dropped below ten percent in a fight, doubling each time until the challenger relented or was defeated. The only concession the system made was a forced log out in the test that would pause it completely as it could take days to kill the swarm of enemies. To pass the test you needed to defeat the first enemy, but many players had loved this test for the opportunity for grinding as a similar test was used for several warrior classes. The farthest anyone had completed that Xeal could recall hearing about was ten rounds, which he had found insane. Even if the system only allowed five monsters at most to be present at any time during the challenge, taking down 512 of anything without a rest would take days and by the end of it you would be mentally exhausted. That being said, Xeal planned to start with level 25 monsters and work his way down. If his math was right, he would hit level 19 in the ninth round, if he could make it there, but to reach level 20 would take until the 15th round and even if they would be simple level 11 enemies, he didn’t fancy taking down over 16,000 of them. No, he would be satisfied with getting through the ninth round and happy with the completing the fifth as that was all that was needed to reach max completion on this test.

When Xeal returned to ED he quickly made his way to the guard post to report back to the sheriff and start the last of his tests to complete his class tier quest. Xeal still had a good stock of potions that had been meant for grinding in the mine but would now be used on this test. He wished he could have picked up the dual wielding ability before he started but that was something locked until tier three. He looked at his equipment and lamented the step he was about to take. Before one reached level 20 the system didn’t cause weapons to wear out. This was a handicap given to new players as the cost to maintain even the cheapest of gear would make hunting anything under level 20 a waste of time. This also made the period directly after level 20 very difficult for many players who focused on the one level below strategy. This strategy was common, and players would always face monsters a level beneath them as there was no reduced XP from it. It was usually a safer and easier way to level for solo players and small parties. They would start to bleed money and be basically broke for easily a few months in ED. To Xeal, this was also where guilds would start to realize the value of a guild blacksmith as even an iron ranked smith could do most basic maintenance at a fraction of what an NPC smith would charge. The only issue was that you had to make sure the item’s durability didn’t drop outside of their skill level. For each rank in smithing one had, they could handle ten percent of a loss in durability. Meaning an iron ranked smith could handle anything with 70 percent of its durability intact and only an adamantium could handle gear with less than ten percent left that hadn’t broken. It was with these thoughts that Xeal entered the guard post with.

“Ah, Xeal. I see you have returned safely.”

“Yes sheriff. I am ready to undertake the final test.”

“Very good. I will alert Baron Ulric at once. He will be the one to determine your final results. Follow me”

“Thank you, sheriff.”

Xeal followed the sheriff to the stables where they took two horses and headed to the far western edge of the outpost. There stood the only estate house in the area. It looked like a roman villa with many buildings featuring vertical columns. The grounds were immense, with several fountains featuring carved statues. A cobble stone path made its way to the main house which was a two-story rectangular building with a large opening in its center in which a beautiful courtyard existed. It had a small pool of water in which stood a fountain depicting a knight with a sword pointing forward and up like a commander of a charge might look. At the tip of the sword water came forth. On the walls were several frescos depicting scenes ranging from battles to a crowd at a festival. The sheriff had brought Xeal here to meet Baron Ulric. Now they needed to wait for him to respond to the request for an audience, which was being relayed by a servant who normally guarded the entrance. Finally, after around an hour of waiting, a slightly overweight level 100 knight with brown hair and brown eyes who Xeal knew was the same Baron Ulric he knew from his last life, entered the courtyard. All nobles and aristocrats held classes that showed their role in the court. The title Knight could refer to not just their class but their role in society, and not all lorded knights held the class of knight, but many nobles who focused on leading soldiers or fighting, even if they were the king, could have the knight class.

“Sanford, how good to see you. To what do I owe this visit to?”

“Baron Ulric, thank you for meeting with me on such short notice.”

“Nonsense Sanford. It is a welcomed distraction for me, unless you are bringing me more bad news like you did the other day.”

“My apologies about that. Had I known that wretch Terrowin was involved in that before I departed, you would have been informed before my departure, Baron Ulric.”

“So, what brings you here today, and who is it that you have with you?”

“Baron Ulric, this here is the adventurer who informed us of the black market that Terrowin was running, Xeal. He has taken an interest in becoming a knight himself and I wish to present him to be judged by you as his sponsor.”

“Sanford, you know what our situation is after that incident was reported to the crown is, right?”

“Yes, Baron Ulric.”

“And yet you wish for me to submit a name to them for knighthood?”

“Yes, Baron Ulric. He has undertaken the first two tests and is asking permission to take the last.”

“Sanford, you really want to put me against the wall here don’t you.”

“My apologies Baron Ulric, but I believe he shows too much promise to dismiss without evaluating him.”

“What happened to the days where you would drop by simply to enjoy a drink while we talk about the good old days, Sanford?”

“That wretch Terrowin and many of these new adventurers who don’t seem to care about the rule of law happened. Between those, the paperwork I see has grown out of control. I’m sure you have noticed similar things Baron Ulric.”

“Oh yes, the whole kingdom has. Just yesterday my guards caught several trying to climb my fences in the back by my orchard. Yet now you bring one here who wishes for knighthood?”

“Yes, Baron Ulric, I believe we need to look from within this issue for the answers. Xeal here leads a guild who I have yet to have any major issues with. If we can promote leaders like himself it may help to control the situation better.”

“Hmm, fine Sanford. I will test him, but he better be exceptional or I’m sorry, I can’t see myself sticking my neck out on this one.”

“I understand, Baron Ulric.”

“Now, Xeal is it? Follow me.”

“Of course, Baron Ulric, thank you.”

With that Xeal followed Baron Ulric into another building on his grounds. Unlike the others, this one looked like a small colosseum. It was only around 30 feet tall and had a radius of about 20 feet. The lower level was comprised of rooms for individuals to prep before they entered the arena. Baron Ulric led Xeal into one of these before closing the door and beginning the verification of the first two tests.

“Now, as you are about to undertake this trial by combat, I must first confirm the results of the first two tests. What did you gain from the first test?”

“The mark of the elder dragon, Baron Ulric.”

Baron Ulric’s eyes went from looking bored and frustrated, to wide open in amazement.

“Show me.”

With that Xeal removed his gear that was covering his chest and showed Baron Ulric the mark.

“Incredible, such a gift, with this you could rise to great prominence. However, those who fear your rise could appear and try to take care of you before that point, so tell no one about this and know that if I feel you would become a threat to our kingdom it may be I who removes you.”

“I understand Baron Ulric and know I wish nothing for the kingdom but prosperity. I am staking my guild’s future on it.”

“Very good, now tell me about what you experienced in your second test.”

Xeal walked Baron Ulric through his experience in the cave of having each of his senses lost as he ventured forward until he came to the end and found himself free from the prison of a world with no senses. He left out the part about the tree of life. As the story had progressed Baron Ulric became further awed with each step of the story. By the time Xeal had finished Baron Ulric seemed more than willing to sponsor his knighthood even without the last test.

“I’ll say… Sanford wasn’t exaggerating when he said you have potential. However, know this. The path of a knight requires more than just passing some tests. Your every action will be scrutinized and they will reflect not just on you, but those who back you as well. Show yourself to be honorable and loyal with a good head on your shoulders and you will be just fine, but prove to be stupid or treacherous and you will be erased as thoroughly as possible by those of us who backed you for our own sakes, like the idiot Terrowin was.”

“Thank you for your counsel, Baron Ulric.”

“Now rest here. Your last test requires time to prepare. It would be best if you faced it with your full ability. We will begin at midnight.”

“Understood, Baron Ulric.”

Xeal had known that the test would force him to wait in a room while observers were gathered. He had expected it to start eight hours after he entered the room, but for some reason it was going to start even later. He was grateful for the extra rest, as it would likely be the last one he enjoyed for a while. But it still made him wonder why before he entered rest mode on the provided cot in the room. At 11:45 Xeal awoke to the sound of a system notification.

(Final test for class quest, “Knighthood” will begin in 15 minutes. Please select difficulty level. Rewards unknown. Warning! Failing the quest will have negative repercussions on your account. Normal, Hard, or Hell?)

Xeal quickly selected Hell and mentally prepared himself for what was about to come his way. After over three days of buildup he was about to start the final test, which would eat up more time than he cared to estimate. With five minutes left, the door opened and the sheriff was there to lead him to the arena. The two nodded to each other and a few minutes later Xeal walked through an archway onto the arena floor. As he looked around, he could see that the arena was circled by a 12-foot wall, then by two rows of seats tiered on the upper level for Baron Ulric and his guests. What he had not expected to see was the man seated in the seat of honor. Normally Baron Ulric would have taken that spot, but instead a young man wearing a dark cloak with short brown hair and cunning green eyes occupied that seat. This man was none other than the crown prince of the kingdom of Nium, Rhory Victor Vidfamne. Though it was just Victor Vidfamne right now, this was one of the most important NPCs in all the kingdom of Nium as he would ascend to the throne in around five years, at the same time war broke out in Xeal’s last life. That war had plunged the new ruler into a bitter conflict which had brought him victory and united the whole continent and earned him the name Rhory, or red king. After the long conflict was over, he had led the nation well and secured its borders, making it one of the most secure bases of operations in all of ED. Xeal remembered the few guilds who had developed good relations with the prince before his ascension, that had aided through the whole of the war, experienced a period of prosperity few other guilds in ED ever did. It had been one of the first major wars to reach its conclusion, and the only one to unite an entire continent, before ED had been out in reality for ten years. Other than the prince and what looked to be his personal guards, only the sheriff, Baron Ulric and his guards were present. Xeal had never heard of such a private test. Normally, even players could pay to watch these tests and he couldn’t believe none would come to gain the intel they provided. Before Xeal could think further on this Baron Ulric stood and spoke.

“Esteemed guests. Tonight, we have the opportunity to watch as a promising candidate attempts his final test of knighthood. Let it be known that the guild leader of FAE, Xeal Bluefire, who is ready to serve the glorious kingdom of Nium, seeks the honor of being recognized as worthy of a meritorious knighthood.”

Once Baron Ulric finished, Xeal bowed and readied for the test as the countdown commenced. Ten, the arena floor was made of clay, nine, it was slightly wet like it had just rained, eight, there were small rocks here and there that prevented the ground from growing too slick, seven, opposite Xeal the clay began to rise, six, it grew bigger, five, and bigger, four, arms started to separate from the mass, three, a head formed, two, a sword and shield were pulled from the ground by those newly formed arms, one, legs split completing the formation of a ten foot tall humanoid creature, zero. The giant went to close the distance between Xeal and itself while Xeal used his skills to move to its left, which was the shield side and attack the legs of the level 25 clay giant he now faced. As Xeal continued to move constantly wearing down his opponents HP, Baron Ulric and Prince Victor talked about what they were seeing.

“Ulric.”

“Yes, my prince.”

“Is a level 25 monster normal for this test?”

“No, my prince. Usually at this stage you would only be seeing a level 20 monster. Xeal must have selected to increase the challenge himself to try to show his worth.”

“Will he really be able to maintain this, and won’t this just make the rest that much more of a hassle?”

“I cannot say, my prince. As I told you, he has great potential. This may be overconfidence on his part, or it may not. The only way to know is to stay and watch how it plays out.”

“I hope he doesn’t regret this. It would be a shame for him to fall before I can see this potential of his you told me about.”

“Yes, it would be, my prince. However, either way this is convenient as it will save you time. If he falls quickly, or succeeds in the first few matches, you will know what his worth is.”

“True, any knight who could take on enemies that much above them can become valuable piece, and you’re sure he could be brought into my faction?”

“I cannot say for certain my prince, but he has shown a level head and Sanford holds him in high regard. I would say as long as you make his guild’s development easier, he would have no reason to refuse.”

As the two were speaking Xeal continued to focus on defeating the foe in front of him. Each attack of his shaved some clay from the giant, causing it to shrink slightly. As it did so, its speed was increasing ever so slightly. After 20 minutes his foe stood only seven feet tall and Xeal was having major issues defending against the onslaught of attacks the clay giant was sending his way. The sole saving grace for this fight was that the HP of his opponent didn’t regenerate like a normal monster would. With the shift in the flow of battle, Xeal switched his approach and started to execute one piercing thrust after another. His current cap was 39 thrusts and thanks to the nature of this challenge, he would regain them all the moment he finished off his foe. A few minutes later the clay lost its shape and fell sinking back into the arena’s floor as if it had never been there and Xeal received a system notification.

(You have reached the minimum completion point; you may choose to leave this test now if you wish. If you continue you will have to make it to another completion point. Continue? Yes or No)

Xeal took a moment to catch his breath before selecting yes as a new count down began. Before him two mounds of clay were beginning to take shape. Once the countdown ended two nine-foot-tall level 24 clay lizardmen wielding a small round shield on their left and a short sword on the right stood ready to fight. Xeal knew he needed to focus on limiting their movements while ensuring only one could actively engage him at a time. Once more he focused on staying to the left to start but would switch between the right and left whenever the second clay lizardman would maneuver around to engage him. In this way, he controlled the flow of battle.

“Interesting, he is able to maneuver like that, isolating his opponent from its ally so effectively. I could understand him making it look so easy if he had a narrow hallway to work with but what will be his answer when he has to face four at once, Ulric?”

“I do not know. Normally by that point the knights have greater stats than needed for the opponents they face. Still, he is doing well, my prince.”

Xeal kept moving and focusing on his main target, dodging a mix of shield bashes, sword slashes and thrusts, with a tail swipe mixed in every so often. After 18 minutes of this he changed his patterns, unleashing 20 piercing thrusts to finish the first foe off before repeating a similar show with the second, completing the second round in just under 40 minutes. Xeal felt refreshed as the system restored his lost HP and SP (skill points). He only wished it would let him regain the lost mental strength he was losing. While it wasn’t significant yet, it was just going to grow in each fight. After a short pause Xeal selected to continue. This time the arena’s clay started to grow into four figures. Each were around eight-foot-tall level 23 bugbears. Each carried a spiked kite shield and morning star flail. Instead of trying to isolate one and focus on just it, Xeal dove right in the middle of the them. This was done due to the nature of flails requiring large exaggerated movements making them unwieldy in groups. For this fight Xeal focused on having the bugbears get in each other’s way when they attacked instead of him actually doing damage to the enemies himself. This tactic would never work in reality, and it was only due to Xeal’s stats being unbalanced towards dexterity that he could pull it off. This caught the Prince Victor’s eye as he was surprised by Xeal’s answer to the issue he faced.

“How decisive! I would call him a fool if he wasn’t moving so well while keeping all four of his foes off balance. He even has them damaging each other for him. At this pace he will complete this round with no issues.”

“Indeed, my prince, his maneuverability is superb.”

“It’s a shame that I must leave after this round. Please convey a message for me Ulric. Tell our new knight I expect much from him and that once he arrives in the capital to hand this mark to the palace guards and ask for an audience with me.”

“Yes, my prince.”

Prince Victor handed Baron Ulric a piece of fabric bearing his seal on it. Meanwhile Xeal kept this up until finally, after a little more than an hour later, only one bugbear remained, and he quickly finished the lone survivor off. Almost two and a half hours had passed since the test had started and thanks to the loss of HP regeneration, the speed at which Xeal was defeating monsters was excellent. He wished he could take this test repeatedly just to grind XP but sadly this was a one-time test, and while there would be other opportunities later in the game that offered similar chances, they were too few to rely on. As Xeal caught his breath he noticed as Prince Victor bid farewell to Barron Ulric and with his guards in tow left the arena, leaving just the sheriff, Baron Ulric and a few guards behind. Xeal smiled at this because he knew how busy the prince must have been and didn’t see him leaving as an insult, instead he was grateful because his hardest fight would be the next one due to the loss of the boost his title Behemoth Slayer gave him. After selecting to continue, five seven-foot-tall level 22 lizardmen formed from the clay. Xeal repeated the same strategy from his prior fight, but the change in his movements were noticeable, and with the added tail attacks, his health wasn’t doing as well as he would have liked.

“Sanford, why have Xeal’s movements degraded so much?”

“I do not know Baron Ulric but, perhaps he was using a skill or item that has reached it’s time limit. Either way it looks like he should be able to pass this stage at least.”

“True, at the current rate all he needs to do is use a few healing potions when an opportunity opens and he should be fine, but still such a drastic change, it must have been a valuable item. Did he perhaps perceive who our guest was and activated to impress him?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him, but even so the performance he is putting on now is still quite impressive, Baron Ulric.”

Xeal maintained this form and after more than two and a half hours the final lizardman fell and he moved on to the fifth round, which were six-foot-tall level 21 orcs. Once more Xeal fought in the arena and triumphed. During this round a few guards entered the bleachers and the sheriff, Baron Ulric and his guards left. The sixth round featured five-foot-tall level 20 hobgoblins and once again Xeal was able to defeat them, however it was time for his forced log out just a few minutes after he completed the round. He was grateful for the break and was looking forward to seeing everyone for a good run.

Morning August 4, 2266.

It was Saturday morning and the funds cleared sometime that day. Alex was excited and he was sure that this pay day would be enough to avoid any of his friends’ parents from being able to call ED just a dumb game that couldn’t be turned into a career. Alex was one of the first to arrive for the run that morning. Sam, Nicole and Amanda were all already there.

“Good morning, ladies Are you all ready for Monday?” asked Alex.

“Hey Alex, yah we were just talking about that,” responded Sam.

“Anything I should be aware of?”

“No, we are just going over how we are going to tell Nicole’s parents about it,” answered Sam.

“Hmm, well my suggestion would be to show them your first paycheck as proof that everything is going well. Speaking of which did you each remember to bring your account information for the transfer?”

“I don’t think my parents will be happy even if I show them a paycheck, but yah here’s mine,” sighed Nicole.

All three girls handed Alex a piece of folded paper with their account and routing numbers on them.

“Yah, I know them well enough that they will still be upset even if she has a great job,” muttered Sam.

“I don’t get it. She is 18. Her parents are just too stuck in their ways. If you ask me, the whole point of going to college is to get a high paying job, right? So, if you already have one, why go to college?” asked Amanda.

“Logic like that would be turned around by them with ‘can you show that you will get a paycheck like this every month from playing games.’ That and they will say ‘what happens if things don’t work out and you have to change fields, what skills from playing ED translate to other fields,’” complained Nicole.

“Hmm, what if you tell them you are going to focus on ED for the next year and if it isn’t producing like this regularly for you, then you will go to college next year, like I did with my parents?” suggested Alex.

“That won’t work on them. They will insist I am wasting my life and throwing away the opportunity in front of me,” retorted Nicole.

“Then there is just one thing for it, rip the band aid clean off and just tell them you are an adult and you have decided this is what you are going to do. Once you move out, they won’t like it and at first it might cause a problem, but I’m sure as time goes on, they will accept it.”

“Only if we actually succeed,” sighed Nicole.

“Don’t worry so much, I’m sure we will be fine. Worst case you just have to admit they were right. That would probably mend any issues,” Alex said knowing it wouldn’t really work, but sure of their success.

“Only if I want to have it used against me for the rest of my life.” responded Nicole.

Fred and Dan chose this point to show up.

“Good morning, everyone. What are we talking about?” asked Fred oblivious to the mood.

“Read the aura man,” muttered Dan to Fred.

“Don’t worry about it. You two bring your banking info?”

“Yah, can’t wait to get paid,” smiled Fred.

The two passed Alex their account info like the others.

“Ok, now, when the funds clear tonight, I will be able to pay everyone.”

“Sweet, I can’t wait to have some credits to spend,” cheered Fred.

“Just make sure you don’t forget to set aside enough to pay taxes,” warned Alex.

“What? Come on man, isn’t this under the table?” complained Fred.

“No, too much of a paper trail for that. If you fail to pay, the IRS will be sure to hit you hard.”

Alex remembered how he had forgot to set aside a portion for tax purposes his first year in his last life. He hadn’t thought much of it until the IRS came knocking. He hadn’t been the only ED player who had forgotten. It had been so bad that the IRS made an example that first year and it had ended up costing Alex and the others like him more than it was worth. It was then that he truly could appreciate the truth about death and taxes. He had to make sure none of his friends paid that price.

“Ok, let’s get this run started.”

With that they all started the run. Everyone was still struggling but at the very least they were able to not stop and walk in the middle of the run now. Once they were done with the run and everyone was getting ready to go their separate ways, Alex pulled Nicole aside.

“Nicole, there are no perfect answers in life. All you or anyone else can do is make the decision that they think is best for them. I won’t tell you how to solve informing your parents that you are moving out and not going to college. It’s a choice that will affect your life far too much for me to do anything but offer advice. That said, I would say facing things straight on with confidence can sometimes be the best option for situations like these. I hope that helps and let me know if you need anything,” comforted Alex.

“Thanks Alex, I’ll keep that in mind,” smiled Nicole shyly.

With that Alex made his way home to eat and shower before returning to ED.

ED, year 1, days 56-60

As Xeal returned to the arena, he found it empty except for two guards and the menu waiting for him to accept the start of the next round. He quickly selected to continue and the seventh round started. It consisted of an enemy Xeal was very familiar with, four-and-a-half-foot tall level 19 kobolds. This round took over 14 hours to complete, and once it was over, Xeal only had 35% of his health left and that was with him using several potions for HP and stamina. He took a few minutes to catch his breath before selecting to continue to the eighth round. This time he was facing four-foot-tall level 18 redcaps. This was a bad draw for this challenge as redcaps were some of the faster humanoid monsters one would face in ED. Luckily, Xeal’s stats allowed him to stay just slightly ahead of them and they lacked the HP to take large amounts of damage. Still, he had to defeat 128 of them, and after 16 hours, with his health around 50% and 74 redcaps defeated, Xeal’s second forced log out happened.

During his log out he took care of transferring 100,000 credits to each of his friends, and invested 19 million into the same two stocks as before. Both had started to see a slight uptick in their value already, but they would still need more time before they truly skyrocketed in value. Hopefully he would be able to get a few more paydays in before that happened. What he failed to realize was that he already had between a 0.25% and 0.5% ownership in both companies, and if he kept this pace going, he may very well become a major owner within each. After dinner it was time to return to ED and resume the arena fight.

As Xeal returned to the arena where the redcaps waited for him, he was grateful the system gave him ten seconds to prep to return to the fight. Once the countdown ended, the battle commenced and Xeal continued his dodging and counter attacking against the scythe wielding foes. Finally, after almost another 11 hours, Xeal finished off the last of his foes. This time his health sat around 25%. He was starting to run low on potions and knew the next round would be the last he would complete, and it was better to just accept that then take the penalty for failing the tenth round. A part of him lamented the fact that he couldn’t keep this up much longer. As it was, his movements were starting to get sloppy but if he could get past round ten, he would beat even the records set from his last life by players who had been lent superb equipment by higher level players and guilds to help them power level. While most gear had a level requirement, some extremely rare ones didn’t. Typically, only players over level 150 would find such gear, but occasionally players who ruined their account would start over and be lent said items to help them power level. Before these two factors combined it was rare for players to even make it through the eight rounds Xeal had just completed, but once this started to happen, it was almost common to see players clear the ninth, and several even managed the tenth as well. With a firm resolve Xeal entered the ninth round as three-and-a-half-foot tall level 17 goblins wielding various weapons formed from the clay, and the struggle continued.

Xeal fought wave after wave of goblins and was happy after the 42nd fell, as he leveled up to level 19. Xeal kept his pace up until, once again, the system forced him to log out after the 115th goblin fell to him. That Sunday morning, he could barely think, so he sent a message letting everyone know he was still in the middle of his class quest and hadn’t been able to sleep in ED for almost two days. He set a 30-minute timer and just let his mind rest for a while before going about his morning routine, other than the run. Once 6:00 AM rolled around he returned to ED to finish his test so he could get some rest before his sister’s birthday dinner that night.

Xeal returned to what could only be called a sloppy slaughter at this point. He struck down goblin after goblin, but his health was continually decreasing as he did so. With 50 goblins still left, he was struggling to keep it above 20 percent. He only had a few potions left, but it was going to be closer than he would have liked, especially as he only had a few piercing thrusts left as well. 40 left, 18%, 30 left, 16%, 20 left 14%, ten left, 12%, five left, 11%. It was coming down to the wire with no potions left and his health right on the brink. The final five goblins were in front of him. He used his last piercing thrust to end one of them, but that also cost him a hit, but now there were just four, then there were two left. He was at 10.3%. It was coming down to this. It was far too close for Xeal to be happy and the sheriff and baron had returned, and it was in the middle of the night once more. Both were looking concerned as to how this fight would end.

“Sanford, to think he would still be fighting after almost five days with no rest.”

“Indeed, Baron Ulric, it is impressive, but it seems even if he takes care of the last few, this will be the end. From what the guards have said he has stopped using potions and the like, so he must be at the end of his supplies. Plus, his movements show how ragged he has become.”

“It is as you say, but still, to think he would defy all common knowledge in these tests, I look forward to what he will achieve in the years to come as he grows stronger.”

“Yes, Baron Ulric, he should bring great glory to the kingdom.”

As these two watched, the last goblin fell and Xeal stood tall at 10.1% health and selected to complete the test. It was just before midnight and in total, with his log outs included, Xeal had spent 119.5 hours in ED time focused solely on this test. Now that it was completed, all he had left to do was await the system to announce his completion percentage, then he could bid the sheriff and baron farewell as he let sleep take his body.

(Congratulations on completing tier 3 class quest “Knighthood” completion percent 105, awarding 1.5 of XP gained in arena, 3,157,917 XP, level 20 reached, first player to pass the ninth-round, awarding 10,000 renown, court rank of knight gained, awarding 25 class skill points)

Xeal could hardly believe the system announcement. He had never heard of anyone exceeding 100 percent completion for a quest before. He had known about getting more XP after the quest depending on how far you progressed in the arena fight and the completion percent, but the highest he had ever heard of was getting an equal amount for getting 100 percent completion. Yet he had earned enough to reach level 20 outright. He could now use the transfer gates within the country, so long as he had the coin to afford it. He could start spreading his guild as soon as he collected the funds to do so. Then there were the class skill points. These points were used to purchase class skills and were only available once a player reached the third tier. At third tier a player would gain only one point per level. Skills could cost anywhere from five points to 100 points, though most of the higher costing ones also had a tier requirement. 25 points would let him learn either a really good skill, or several minor skills. He would need to look at his options when he logged in again, but for now, some rest was all that was on his mind.

Once he had calmed himself Xeal made his way back to the archway he had entered from and was met by the sheriff and Baron Ulric. Both of whom congratulated him before leading him back to the same room he had waited in before the test. Just before Xeal could enter rest mode a system notification appeared.

(An update is needed to the system, during which all players must either be in sleep rest mode or logged out. By your setting this update will occur from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM local. Time in Eternal Dominion will be frozen during the update and all players will be safe regardless of location during the update. If a player does not log back in within 12 hours of the completion of the update, they will be transported to the last settlement they visited. Please make preparations for this update at this time.)

Sapped of his mental strength, Xeal was relieved to enter rest mode before the update happened.

Evening, August 5, 2266

Alex awoke, removing his VR helmet. It was Sunday, Anna’s 16th birthday. As he made his way downstairs, the smell of meat cooking on the stove reached his nose and his stomach growled in anticipation. His mom was fixing one of his and Anna’s favorite meals that night, beef stroganoff. Anna was still out with her friends who she had guilted into taking an afternoon off of ED to hang out, but dinner was set for 4:30 PM and Anna would be bringing over a few friends as well for dinner.

“Hi Mom.”

“Oh, Alex, good you’re awake. Can I get your help with dinner?”

“Sure thing. What do you need?”

“Can you come stir the meat while I get the rice going?”

“Ok.”

As Alex took over minding the meat, his mom pulled out a large pot, filling it with a measured amount of rice and water before placing it on a burner to cook.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, Mom. How have things been going?”

“They have been fine for the most part. I just wish your father would stop trying to find a way into that game of yours.”

“Yah, although I think it would be nice to have both of you start playing, it can become quite a time consumer, and before you say it, I already know I have been little more than a ghost the last three weeks.”

“At least you understand that. Still, as happy as I am that you are succeeding in making credits, I still worry about how much time you spend in that game. If your father became like that, how would we pay our bills?”

“Why not try ED out for yourself first?”

“It just doesn’t interest me. Oh, can you set the table? Remember, Jessica and Lauren will be joining us for dinner tonight.”

As Alex worked on setting the table he continued talking to his mom.

“Hey, Mom, I’ll make the same bet I did with Anna; I’ll get you a VR helmet and if you don’t like it, I’ll pay you 10,000 credits.”

“Alex, just because you got one pay day, don’t go spending it like there’s no tomorrow. Your father and I have accepted that we have lost the argument about you quitting after a year, but stil,l you should make that money last.”

“Mom, I’ve already made over five times that. This isn’t me spending freely. This is me trying to recruit you. While you don’t think that you would enjoy ED, I know enough about the crafting mechanics to know that you may be adept at the cooking mechanics in the game. Haven’t you always wanted to run a restaurant?”

Alex’s mom wasn’t just a good cook. She had spent time in her teenage years cooking with one of her father’s friends, who she later learned was a world-famous chef. In that time, he had taught her much, and even employed her for a few years in one of his restaurants. Had she wanted to, she could have still been cooking today, but she had chosen to be a mother. While she was always happy with that choice, she still wondered what it would have been like to keep rising until she was at the helm of her own restaurant.”

“What? Is something like that really in that game?”

“Yes. While many have not realized it yet, crafting players have great potential to rise as time goes on. The only issue comes from the massive cost to find and develop talented individuals.”

“So, what happens if I start playing, but am no good at cooking?”

“If you don’t find another reason to keep playing, it will end with me giving you the 10,000 credits like promised. Heck, if I keep making credits like I am now, I might even help you start a restaurant here in reality. After all, in two years both Anna and I will be adults. The only reason you haven’t started working in a restaurant around here already is due to us.”

“Alex, I love you and I will think about it However, I fear if I start playing, I won’t be able to keep your father from playing as well.”

“True, but I want Dad as well, and would it really be such a bad way for the two of you to spend your sleep time?”

“No, but what happens when all your dad does is play ED and work? I don’t want to have him become as much of a ghost as you have on me.”

“You could just hide the VR helmet while he is at work.”

“What would you do if I did that to you?”

“Move out.”

“Exactly, once he is hooked, it’s over.”

“You could always use an in-game contract.”

“A what?”

“In ED you can set up contracts and the system would enforce them. Say for example you made him sign a contract that stated your character could force his to log out at will, the system would allow it in most cases.”

“Really, what cases would it not allow it?”

“If a normal log out would not be allowed like mid combat or task, the system would delay it until those conditions were not present. However, you would at least want to give him a ten-minute warning to make it to a safe zone.”

“Hmm, I’ll think about it. For now, let’s finish getting ready for dinner.”

It was 4:20 PM and Anna would be home shortly. The table was set and his mom had just added the sour cream to the beef stroganoff. All that was left was a little more cooking and it would be done. It was at this time Anna came in with Jessica and Lauren. The three girls looked like they were enjoying the day. Jessica was a five foot five, 17-year-old girl with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. She was developing some nice curves. She was about to enter her senior year of high school. Lauren was a five foot four 16-year-old girl with dark brown hair and light brown eyes. She was a bit curvier than Jessica and about to start her junior year like Anna.

“Oh, Alex thank you for convincing Anna to play ED,” called out Jessica.

“Hi Jessica, Lauren, happy birthday Anna, and yes I did, but it’s not for sure if she will keep playing yet.”

“Thank you, I’m sure she will enjoy it, but why does she have to start all the way over in the kingdom of Nium? Why can’t she join us over it the Muthia empire?” complained Jessica.

“She can start wherever she likes if she doesn’t care about the deal we made.”

“Told you Jessica. Still, the guild FAE is said to be in the kingdom of Nium, do you know anything about them Alex?” inquired Lauren.

“What do you want to know?”

“Are the rumors on the message board true that their guild leader is already level 18?”

“No, I just hit 20.”

“Oh…Wait, what?” stammered Lauren.

“Yah, say that again,” asked Jessica as she leaned in.

“FAE is the guild I started, and I just made it to level 20 before logging out today.”

“How!? Most players where we are, are still around level 15, tops. How are you already at level 20!?” questioned Jessica in disbelief.

“Guild secret.”

“Come on, don’t be that way,” whined Jessica.

“I have to be that way; how do you think I make money in ED?”

“Wait, you sell info?” Jessica asked in confusion.

“Yes, but the real money is in getting gear before anyone else so I can be the first to market.”

“Really, how much have you made?” pressed Jessica.

“That’s guild business. We are not a publicly traded company, so I don’t have to disclose that.”

“Come on, please tell us,” pleaded Jessica.

“No, that information is not something I would even tell my parents at this point. The only information I will share is that it’s enough that I could move out and live comfortably with my friends if I keep this pace.”

“Drop it Jessica. I didn’t invite you over to shake down my brother for info about ED,” insisted Anna.

“Fine, but I still want to know, can I get your in-game contact info?” requested Jessica.

“Sorry, but that is also something I keep close. If you meet up with me in ED, we can start a chat as that doesn’t let either of us see the master info.”

“What, why?”

“Ok, let’s say that I pass someone my info and it ends up being leaked online. What do you think would happen if my guild is doing great?”

“Um, people would bug you trying to join.”

“Exactly. Let’s say it’s only 100 a day. Is that really what I want to spend my time on? Then you have those who want to attack my guild. If they send a mass of messages over to flood my inbox, it could lead to me missing important information.”

“I know you are treating ED like a job, but it’s still just a game. Why would anyone go through the trouble of that?”

Alex was shaking his head as he remembered guilds that were decimated when guild leadership had been unable to deal with coordinated message attacks in tandem with actual attacks. He wished it was as easy as just getting her contact information and starting the dialog, but the system required all communications not established face to face in game to have both sides input the correct information. While he could use her info to send a message to her, she could only respond if she input his information as well.

“Right now, not many. Everything is still in flux and guilds will come and go regularly for a while. However, once guilds start to stabilize, those whose areas of influence overlap will start to try and push the others out to monopolize the resources.”

“Jessica, just drop it. We are here to spend time with Anna. We can bug Alex later,” Lauren said slightly annoyed.

“Fine, but still, maybe we should look at moving over to Nium once we can.”

With that everyone moved to the table and Alex’s dad came out to join everyone for dinner. They ate and talked until around 5:30 PM, then it was time for cake and presents. Anna got a gift card to use at one of her favorite clothing stores at the mall from their mom and dad, and of course Alex’s gift to her was a VR helmet. She had already opened her presents from her friends earlier. Alex excused himself around 5:55 PM to return to his room and dive once again into Eternal Dominion.

Preview

Tenbris Amplexus joined the conference call that had been hastily put together after a disturbing report was circulated. Anger welled within him as he thought about the smug Xeal who was the cause of this call and was responsible for most of Tenbris’s problems.

“Tenbris reporting in.”

“Good. Now that we have everyone, on let’s go over the report,” declared Unknown 1.

“Yes, as reported by all team leaders in the Dragon’s Heart city area, the player known as Xeal Bluefire has reached level 20 and has started to establish his guild FAE in each outpost. Furthermore, our reports say that he has already taken anti-spying maneuvers like requiring all recruits to sign a contract that bars them from passing any information they obtain from the guild for 90 days. To include accessing it while logged out, and it specifically bars any of their members from joining any guild put on, or allied, with the list of hostile forces for six years, and that list currently only has our guild listed. This also includes an auto withdraw if the system deems there to be an alliance. We are not sure how the system would judge this, but our members are hesitant to try to infiltrate due to this information, as there are some who think the system can read your thoughts and will know you have violated a contract, even offline,” Reported Unknown 2.

“How have our experiments with this gone?” inquired Unknown 1.

“So far it has been mixed. If the players signing the contract both know that it’s intended to be broken offline, the system only seems to hold the violator accountable one out of ten times, but if the punishment is harsher, it increases. So far, we have only done a moderate punishment, but even that caused two out of five to receive the consequences. Next, we had players who intended to break contracts sign them with unknowing players. That time around 19 out of every 20 were hit regardless of level of consequences. It’s almost like the system knows what we are doing and it is toying with us, and we can’t figure out any common links on avoiding the punishment as all test subjects experienced about an equal amount of failures,” answered Unknown 2.

“So, we can’t send spies in. Hmm well at least this has given us a useful tool to avoid spies as well. Saboteurs would probably fail as well for the same reason. How many other guilds do you think have realized this already?” inquired Unknown 1.

“We are not sure, but if we started to have all of our members, including those who have yet to join, sign a similar contract, the others would quickly realize something and do tests of their own,” cautioned Unknown 2.

“Ok, that’s enough for now. Just have everyone present sign a gag order,” replied Unknown 1.

“We can’t. Only players who are face to face in ED can sign a contract and we have already confirmed that ED ignores contracts not made in game,” informed Unknown 2.

“Shit, okay. Now how should we deal with Xeal and FAE?” grumbled Unknown 1.

“If I may sir, right now the main issue that we face is a lack of manpower in the area, correct?” checked Tenbris.

“That depends on how we want to deal with the situation. While it is inconvenient that FAE has marked us as hostile, the area they occupy would only cause us a small loss in the long run from the reports you and the other team leaders in the area have sent,” replied Unknown 2 ignoring Tenbris.

“Can we really allow such a slight to go unpunished?” pushed Tenbris acting like he hadn’t been ignored.

“Whose fault is it FAE has marked us as an enemy? Did you not try to attack him simply because he would not give you the time of day?” shot Unknown 2 annoyed.

“Look, what is done is done. Now let’s hear what he has to say,” placated Unknown 1.

“Thank you. If I and the other team leaders in the area were allowed to start recruiting, surely we would be able to not only secure several promising members, but also deny FAE more members as well. Then once we have the manpower, we go on the offensive. While Xeal is powerful enough to handle our attacks, FAE’s rank and file would be easy targets,” suggested Tenbris.

“Hmm, I can see how that plan could work and backfire, depending on how things play out. Ok, I will accept it. However, if you fail you, will not only lose your team leader status, but you will be disavowed by us completely,” warned Unknown 1.

“Understood, sir, and thank you.”

“Then all team leaders in the Dragon’s Heart city area go ahead and found your own guilds to act as temporary homes for the members you recruit. When you do so, ensure they know they are auditioning for Abysses End.” Declared Unknown 1.

“““Understood sir””” responded Unknown 3, 4 & 5.

Tenbris couldn’t help but smile. It might take a few weeks, but he was sure that FAE’s days were numbered and he would become the area leader for Dragon’s Heart city. Bringing himself one step closer to becoming the kingdom leader in Nium and a vice guild leader, with the glory and money that came with it. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Xeal’s face when FAE came tumbling down.

.

Afterword

Thank you for reading book one of my Eternal Dominion series. If you enjoyed it, please do me a huge favor and leave a review for me. It really means a lot to me and will help ensure that I can continue to write more. I hope to see you back for book two and many more after that. I try to keep each book around 60,000 words as it helps me to finish each book without being overwhelmed, and keep a schedule for my releases. I would like to thank those who helped me get this done, especially my wife, my mom, and my friends Bob and Savannah. If you want to receive general updates join my Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/berndean

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Thank you again for reading my story and I hope you return for the next instalment of Alex’s tale.

About The Author

Bern Dean

As a child I did not read unless Pokémon cards count. It wasn’t until middle school when my mother played a trick on me, she got me entranced in the Harry Potter books. She read the first few to me before switching to reading me a chapter and leaving the book out for me to read if I wanted more. Thus started my love of reading, at least in part. I still didn’t go out of my way to find books to read and after high school I could count on one hand how many books I would read each year. Life continued like this for over five years before I was hooked on an anime and searched out its light novel. This led to the phase where I was reading at least a couple books a month to now, where I have gone through over 300 books in the last year.

Now I am putting my own work in to the world while following my own mantra. To write for yourself, or you will never love what you write. When I first started to put my ideas into words, I was surprised to find that those I shared it with loved it. This lead me on to the road of putting out my own book for the world to see. Thank you to everyone who has, or will help, and support me in making this dream a reality.