A smell of salt air hits Jack’s nose as he stands in an open field with the distant sounds of the waves crashing on the beach, he takes a deep breath and looks in the direction of the noise and spots a giant rainbow coloured barrier not too far away. His eyes gaze below that and spot a small village with a few buildings that look recently made, he looks around him and spots nothing immediately obvious apart from this little village next to the regional barrier blocking off access to the beach and ocean beyond it.
“White, where are we?,” Jack asks as he nears the village.
‘Master, you are 18 regions away from the last.’
“These region patterns make no sense, you telling me I’m so many regions away doesn’t tell me anything, where are we?”
‘Verdant Leaf Coast, located in the north western section of the central continent, your home region Plains of Sorrows is in the middle of the continent.’
“Will I be able to travel back anytime soon?”
‘Master simply needs to keep trying, this unit is unable to influence the teleportation more than it is.’
“So you are manipulating it, why?”
‘This unit can detect items with elevated heavenly qi, this unit can help redirect Master towards those items. If this unit did not assist then you would teleport to a random point anywhere inside this sealed world. This way you are taken to the nearest high level heavenly qi signal instead of the underworld or worse.’
“Uh-huh,” Jack murmurs as he nears the village unsure of the words he’s hearing, “so where is the necklace? I’m not wearing it right now.”
‘Master, are you sure?’
“Yes—
Jack says with confidence before looking down, his words cut short as he now feels the necklace on his neck banging against it as he’s walking. He holds it up from his neck inspecting the incredible handiwork of Maurice and the dwarves, the inlaid gemstones offsetting the giant one creating a symmetry of mechanical and natural beauty. He tries to take it off his neck but finds that it doesn’t budge from its location no matter how hard he tries to move it.
“Why isn’t it moving? If I can take it off then I’ll be able to return once I reach this village.”
‘Master, it’s bound to you. You will be able to unbind it to your spirit when you get stronger.’
“Is there any benefit to having it if I’m being forced? So far it seems to just be a giant hindrance.”
‘Yes Master, some of its functions won’t be apparent yet but this unit does not know the full extent, there is a reason why the space dwarves were considered special.’
“Great,” Jack suppresses himself from letting out a big sigh, “are there ways to avoid its effects?”
‘Perhaps if Master were to travel with a companion.’
“Right, let’s see if there’s a player in this village,” Jack says as they near the entrance of the village, a man standing near the entrance hears them talking and walks out from behind a corner and greets them.
“Welcome to the Beachshack Zone, are you looking to invest early?,” the man says rubbing his hands and bowing towards Jack.
“I’ve just kind of stumbled upon this place, what is it? Beachshack Zone?”
“Yes, Beachshack Zone, it’s technically classed as a town.”
“What how?,” Jack asks showing some emotion, he has been looking for the key to turn his village to a town for some time.
“The little shrimp found some special food, I’m not sure about the story but you’ll be able to meet him if you invest so are you going to?”
“Invest in what?,” Jack says while looking ahead at the empty tiny beach houses.
“A business or house, this will be prime real estate when the regional barrier comes down. It will sell hot because it’s the only spot between here and Red Fern System City and the Verdant Leaf Beach. You can be the first person today to take advantage of the new lots that have been newly released for sale.”
“There’s a system city nearby?”
“Yep, it’s back the way you came it’d take you about 6 hours on horseback. Isn’t that where you came from?”
“Sure is, so can I meet the owner of this city without buying property?”
“I could ask but why should I if you’re not going to spend any money?”
“Fine, what if I want to just spend a few hours then rent a horse?”
“We got no horses, you can have something to eat but then you gotta leave. We don’t need no poor people dirtying the place up before buyers come along.”
“Right, so where?,” Jack asks looking at the man who seems almost barbaric in his behaviour now, he spits on the floor and looks at Jack with a squinted crooked eye in a threatening manner.
“Head down this road and turn right once you reach the central market square. You’ll find it in the first row there,” the man says then disappears back into the shadow.
Jack quickly laughs to himself at this persons behaviour shift, he would sell you his own mother if he could get your money but once he can’t get anything from you then you’re worse than the shit on the bottom of his shoes, the quiet walk through the empty town is strange yet also informative as he looks at the villa style self contained building, each one in a different style which changes as he proceeds towards the middle where it becomes more like traditional stores with large flat walls and spaces for outdoor displays, much suited to a beach style town in real life.
He arrives at the large open space with stall spots clearly marked, much more organised than the traditional open market space in the cities he has visited in the game previously yet it’s completely barren here. He turns right and walks along the main pathway spotting a building with some life, some people standing out the front of it eating food and drinking something.
Jack noisily walks towards the men who instantly notice him, they don’t stop eating their food as Jack arrives before them, “Hey, I heard there was something here?”
One of the men raises an eyebrow while the other one speaks, “Yep, food. Are you part of the fit out crews?”
“Nope, I just arrived at this village randomly.”
“Right, well we’re part of the crews here and about to head back to our jobs, Mama Rue can serve you if you walk inside though if you’re not part of the crew…”
“It’s fine, don’t worry finish your food,” Jack says as he pushes open the sliding door and steps through basking in the strong smell of deep savoury noodle dishes and meat. Jack’s mouth waters as he steps forward and looks over the counter where an old woman is stirring several pots at a time. Jack closes the door causing the old woman to notice him.
“Young sir, are you here for food?”
“I wasn’t originally but smelling it caused me to suddenly become hungry, so if you don’t mind…,”
“It’s no trouble at all, I’ve been hired by young Master Reuthers so serve you all for the next week so come on, try Mama Rue’s deep-broth ramen,” the old woman says while scooping out the ingredients for the noodles, the broth and the toppings including an egg and meat.
Jack sits at the counter before the old woman as she sets the food down, “It looks incredible,” the young man says as his drool nearly drips into the bowl before him.
“Thank you young man, you make it all worthwhile… it’s good to know us oldies are still useful,” the old woman says with her wrinkles clearly evident.
Jack brings some noodles to his mouth and tastes it, it’s incredible and tastes much more rich than the smell says, he eats a giant fork full then eats another…
The door slides open where a young man walks through flanked by two middle-aged men, the younger man seems to have an annoyed expression on his face as he takes a seat near Jack with the men standing behind him.
One of the standing men begins to speak, “You are now a young Lord, you need to be present as the face and greet everyone.”
“You must be around to ensure everyone knows that you’re here, you’re the strongest person here they will feel safer knowing you.”
“You’re the ones that told me to not see anyone unless they have an appointment, now you’re telling me to greet everyone. Make up your mind,” the young man says through gritted teeth.
“It’s both, you need to learn how to discern the riffraff, the big spenders are who you need to greet right away while shooing away the bums, like the young man beside you. If it weren’t because he’s part of the fitout crew, we would tell him to leave, would you know to do that without learning?”
Jack feels insulted by this sudden inclusion in their topic, he’s about to speak up when the young man does, “I don’t care about that sort of stuff, I simply want to stay on the beach. I brought you guys here so that you could sell all sorts of food yet you’ve only brought Mama Rue, so make yourselves useful and do your jobs instead of pestering me.”
“We strongly insist you think about what we were saying,” one middle aged man says before turning to the other, “let’s go see if we can get some suppliers arranged.”
“We’ll be back soon,” the other man says to the young man before leaving the building, Mama Rue places a bowl filled with noodles before the young man.
“Thanks Mama Rue, if you weren’t here then it would all seem pointless,” the young man says.
“Never you mind young Beau, you’ll find your spirit but I also have to remind you that I’m only here for a few more days.”
“Yes I know, I’ll work something about before then,” the young man says while fishing out some noodles and slurping them finally turning his head towards Jack, “soweri.”
Jack frowns as he finishes his mouthful of egg and noodle goodness, “Huh?,” he snorts out.“
“Sorry for getting you involved with them,” the young man says lowering his head.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m not a worker I just sort of stumbled upon this place while walking around,” Jack says while slurping up some more noodles.
“Ah, really?,” the young man says while leaping up from his chair, “then I have to show you around and greet you.”
“Settle down, you don’t need to do anything if you don’t want to do it. They’re meant to serve you, you’re not meant to serve them,” Jack says while raising his hand signalling the young man to take his seat.
The young man sits down again, Jack takes another slurp of noodles that are incredibly delicious, “what’s your name?,” the young man asks.
“Jack.”
“Well welcome to my village Jack, you’re the first visitor I haven’t invited here.”
“Your village huh?,” Jack says.
“Yea, Seashack Village,” the young man says with a proud expression.
“I heard Beachshack Zone,” Jack says while slurping up some noodles,“also you should introduce yourself.”
“Right, Beachshack Zone is what they call it now, that’s fine too,” the young man says while sitting down, “I’m Beau Reuthers.”
“So Beau, I heard that this place is technically a town?,” Jack asks looking at the young man with an inquisitive gaze.
“Yes, it was when I found my pet colossal shrimp,” the young man says slurping up some noodles.
“What happened?,” Jack asks.
“Well it went like this…
The young man begins to tell the tale of when he was walking along the border and came across a stranded large sea creature, he didn’t know what to do and decided to try pushing it cutting himself on the rough shell of the large underwater creature, the blood forced some sort of energy to flow between them creating a bond and allowing the shrimp to survive through the young man, they were going to return back to their friends who were on a day trip trying to reach the beach from the system city yet got stuck at this spot. He climbs up a bank and finds a stone that combines with his blood that is still attached to the shrimp causing it to combine together with the stone causing a reaction.
Jack nods listening to this, it all makes sense so far, he acquired a beast and then a city creation stone, the two were linked and became the village beast which can also be used as a weapon, his own village has a sword.
“My friends didn’t believe me about the heart, but shrimpy sensed something one of them picked up and ate it and grew even larger, he changed colour even. They were blaming me for taking away their valuable first but shrimpy protected me…”
“Wow, sounds like a loyal creature, what sort of weapon did you get?”
“Weapon?”
“Didn’t you get a city lord weapon?,” Jack asks.
Beau shakes his head, “Just shrimpy.”
“Ah,” Jack says picking up the bowl to drink some of the delicious soup, his eyes watch the young man who is eating his food slowly.
Jack puts the bowl down feeling full, “You don’t remember anything about the item?”
Beau shakes his head again, “Nope, shrimpy ate it before anyone could get a good look at it, they just said it was orange.”
“Ah well that’s not important, so those guys that were blaming you are now doing what?”
“They’re helping drive business here from the system city, I’m not really sure but they certainly have lots of friends… not so much business, but lots of their friends have arrived in the village to talk about it.”
“Like those people with you when you came in the door?”
“That’s right, there’s probably several of them waiting out the door now for me to talk to them.”
“What about soldiers? Advisors, you have anyone like that?”
Beau shakes his head rapidly causing his black hair to flicker about, “No one like that.”
“What about the city heart spawns? You should be getting new villagers every day if this place is a town,” Jack says remembering that his own rates are over 150 people spawning in his various villages every day. His situation is far more complicated than this young man’s giving him insight to some of the processes working behind the scenes.
“All of those people are being used as workers in the various stores, I don’t even get to speak to them.”
Jack quietly sighs, “You’re the village owner, you need to be the one telling those people what to do. You not using those people for your village properly will only slow your progress.”
“It’s fine, I don’t want to run the village and those guys seem to be doing things fine, I’ll just stay on the beach once the barrier comes down. I’ll be fine as long as I have shrimpy with me,” the young man says while eating a large spoonful of noodle and extras.
“You’re in a really good position for your future, you should think about it more. This world isn’t safe and you shouldn’t rely on other people for your power,” Jack says while standing up and walks towards the door.
“What you’re going already?,” the young man says, “I wanted to talk to you more as you’re the first guest.”
“There’s nothing for me here and I need to go to the system city.”
“Do you need to go right now?”
Jack pauses a moment looking at the eager young man’s face, there’s many things that Jack could tell him yet he doesn’t seem to be one to listen, “I’ll stay for a few more hours,” Jack says.
“Thank you Jack, so what brought you over here?,” the young man asks with enthusiasm.
“Well I didn’t mean to come over here, I was just directed over here because of the free travel event.”
“Free travel event? The thing they’ve been advertising on the tv?”
“It’s the free travel within the game, each person gets a single token to travel to a different region but they’re able to teleport to any system city for free.”
“Oh, that’s what the rules are, everyone I talked to couldn’t explain it….
The two young men speak to each other slowly getting to know each other over a few hours, Mama Rue standing by listening to their conversation and providing her input at times, Jack shares some of his knowledge behind the village systems while Beau listens to Jack as though he’s an elder instead of just some random person sharing his rambling thoughts. Beau proves himself not much smarter than the average person, he knows what he wants to do and it doesn’t involve the village at all yet Jack cannot instil the seriousness of what’s coming up to him.
As the conversation continues, Jack finds himself unable to get through to the young man and becoming tired of the conversation so redirects it, “Well I should go so I arrive at the city tonight,” Jack says while stretching his back.
“Oh, I wanted you to meet someone I know and tell me if you think his idea is any good but if you have to go,” the young man says while looking down at his cup.
“When is your friend meant to be here? I do have to check on something for dinner.”
“He’ll login in about an hour, but if you’d like I could let you try one of the villas out. They’re designed for players body to be safe during the log out time.”
Jack thinks it over for a moment before nodding his head, “Alright I’ll meet you friend then head back to the system city.”
“Alright,” Beau says with a smile standing up, “follow me to our luxury villas,” he says while walking towards the door and opening it where he bumps into men standing by the door.
“Master Reuthers, if you’re done eating then we have much to discuss. We have a supply issue with bananas, we aren’t able to get them…”
“Master Reuthers, you cannot slack about for hours at a time when there’s much about the village to be decided.”
Beau looks towards Jack with an apologetic face, “I have to sort this stuff out, I’ll get one of the workers to show you to the villa,” the young man says while being led away.
Jack is left standing somewhat confused, he’s about to begin walking in a direction when a man walks up to him, “Jack?”
Jack nods his head.
“Master Reuthers sent me to bring you to Villa D-1, we just finished it yesterday. I’ll show you to the door,” the man says while walking towards the village centre and then continuing straight on arriving on the other side of the street with standalone small double still double story villas, he walks up to the door and jingles about with a rough looking iron key opening the door.
It opens revealing a dark yet brightly coloured space, it suits the beach vibe yet it looks more like a dungeon.
“Here you are, Villa D’Luxe 1,” the man hands over the key to Jack, “now it’s your responsibility,” he says while walking away.
Jack walks into the room and quickly makes himself comfortable, the room might be dark and dreary but the furnishings are rather comfortable, luxurious thread counts and pre-packaged food ready to eat unlike the usual quality around here, in modern day quality. He’s not hungry after eating the food earlier so he ignores it and lays down on the bed where he brings up the menu to log out instantly finding himself back in the luxurious underground room prepared for him in the hotel.
He lays on the bed for a moment wondering what he was doing before he sits up and looks over at the tv screen, two messages left for him, he rolls over and picks up the in-room smart phone and reads the messages.
‘A private function will be held in the restaurant tomorrow night, please plan your dinner arrangements around this. We are sorry for the inconvenience…’
‘Oy Loser, I have to meet with someone in game so I won’t make dinner tonight but we’ll have lunch. I will make sure to have that Russian dish ready for you.’
Jack feels his stomach turn as he thinks about the organ-rich stew that is coming for him, he places the phone back down and heads over to the computer terminal where information about Mikhail Surgot pops up but nothing except press releases.
Several more messages pop up from his logging into the online platforms, Jack begins to respond to them one by one as he also checks on the internal space where his thread of consciousness is concentrating on training Bridging-the-Stars in the environment that the World Tree sapling is creating, unable to sustain life as evidenced by the dead expansive space of black dirt yet it creates a perfect training environment as the tree continues to fight.
A young woman’s figure stands next to Jack with his eyes opening and closing rapidly, her smiling figure unmoving and unchanging no matter what goes on.
