I stood there momentarily in silence while staring at Alex and Eri. Alex had a surprised look on her face, while Eri looked apologetic.

 

"I am sorry. I wasn't fast enough to remove your name from that announcement." Eri said while fidgeting.

 

"It's fine. I should get used to crazy things happening around me." I replied. I could hear the other players in the area excitedly talking about the world quest. I did see some other players point at me and start whispering. I took this as my cue to leave.

 

"We should get going. I am starting to draw attention and am not ready for that yet." I said to my traveling companions.

 

"Sounds good. It's getting a bit late anyway. I know you usually make dinner around this time. Let's head to an inn and log out for the day." Alex said while ushering us out of the shrine.

 

We left the shrine and walked through the city. I could see the excitement in the air from everyone as there were now groups of people shouting things like "Looking For Group." The Adventurer's Hall was not much better. I could see swaths of players trying to get into the building.

 

"Yeah, I think logging out now is a good plan. We wouldn't even be able to get into the building and take a quest anyway." Alex said as we looked at the swarm of players. They looked very much like a colony of ants swarming about.

 

We were about to turn around when someone called out to me. I turned around and saw one of the city guardsmen jogging toward me.

 

"You are Lich Slayer Gwyndolyn, right?" The man said in between breaths. I could hear Alex trying to stifle a snort at my supposed title.

 

"I think that's me," I said unsurely.

 

[Title Gained: Lich Slayer]

 

I look at Eri, and she quickly shakes her head as if to let me know she didn't do it.

 

The guard nodded his head as if he knew for a fact it was me. "Please follow me. Mel'Ar would like to talk with you." He then starts to walk towards the Adventurer's Hall.

 

As we got closer to the swarm of people, I could make out Mel'Ar's large body as he towered over most other players. He seemed to sense I was nearby as he immediately looked in my direction. He made a hand motion to some of the city guards.

 

"Make way! Clear a path." Some of the guardsmen were shouting. The other players moved out of the way, except a few who didn't want to move and were forcibly relocated elsewhere. Mel'ar walked down the cleared path to my location.

 

Being singled out by an important NPC has again put me in the spotlight. I could hear several players talking about me. A few players tried to walk up to me, but Mel'Ar foresaw this, and the guards fended them off.

 

"Greetings, friend Gwyndolyn! I am sure you have an idea as to why I called you out. However, this is no place for such conversation. I have a carriage prepared for us over there." The lion man then pointed at a fancy carriage.

 

I looked over at Alex and Eri for their thoughts. Alex just shrugged and mouthed, "why not." I looked at Mel'Ar and responded. "I suppose I have time. Where are we going?"

 

"We are going to the castle to talk to the king and his advisors.' The lion man said.

 

I paled a little bit at that. I wasn't very good in front of people of high standing, despite my experience with them in the past. I could feel Alex put her hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down. "Everything will be all right. This is still just a game for the moment. No need to be nervous." She spoke.

 

I nodded and collected myself. Mel'Ar then led us to the carriage. The inside was just as lavish as the outside, and the seats were comfortable. The ride to the palace was short, and seeing it up close was awe-inspiring. I always wanted to visit a castle.

 

I followed the beastkin inside the castle. The maids inside stopped and bowed in our direction. We finally stopped at a large door, and Mel'Ar knocked on it and announced our arrival. "Enter" was heard from the other side.

 

We entered the room, and I saw it seemed to be a war room. There was a large table with scrolls, maps, and figures. To my surprise, I saw other players in the room. Two of them I recognized. Stockwulf Syndrome and Lloyd from the lich quest we had. The other players I didn't recognize.

 

"Oh! They invited some higher-ranking players and guild leaders for this meeting." Alex said as if she had read my mind. I nodded to my two acquaintances and joined the other players near the table.

 

A man, who I can only assume was the king as he was the only one with a crown, then spoke to us. "Welcome, Ascended Ones. I am sure you know why I called you here, but I will say it. Moments ago, the voice of the gods announced an upcoming calamity. The one to discover this event was an Ascended One named Gwyndolyn." The king motions in my direction.

 

"I have gathered the strongest ascended ones and the one who discovered this plot against us to build a force to defeat the Demon Lords. We have the upcoming tournament we can use as a means of recruitment as well. For the rewards of this endeavor, I will grant you a title of nobility and some land for your own fiefdom."

 

I could see the other players visibly getting excited about the rewards. I didn't care much about the title or having my own fief. I would have been okay with just a bit of land. It would be fun to build my own house like I have seen other people do in some video games.

 

"I would like you to participate in the upcoming tournament and recruit other ascended ones for our cause. You will each be granted the title of lord or lady and have access to the noble district of the city. Be careful of who you recruit, as your charges represent you. You are all dismissed!"

 

We left the castle, and I could see the other players excitedly tapping away at their virtual keyboards. They were most likely letting their friends know of the event and trying to get things set up.

 

"Sarah, I think we should go ahead and get our guild setup like we were planning," Alex told me as we left the castle.

 

"I forgot about the whole guild thing. Sounds like fun. Are we just going to invite a bunch of people?" I asked Alex.

 

"No, I don't think we should. I think we should just invite the people we know, friends only. Keep it somewhat small." Alex replied.

 

"What should the name for it be?" I asked both Alex and Eri.

 

"How does The Garden of Lillies sound?" Eri said while giving me winky eyes. I didn't know what she was implying, so I just shrugged. Alex seemed to have found it funny as she was laughing.

 

We eventually made it to an inn so we could log off. Alex said she would hop back on after dinner as she wanted to get her rebirth stuff figured out. I thought I might play again some more later too.

 

~|~

 

In the office of Exodus Technologies, shit was again hitting the fan. Jason's sudden departure had put a strain on the company's game division. With the game's first event so close, the game then threw another wrench into the game studio's plans.

 

"What is going on? Who even is this Gwyndolyn person? How did they start the Demon Lord arc so early?" A pudgy, balding man was shouting at a tired-looking man.

 

"I don't know, Craig. I tried to look into the player, but there wasn't much. The only thing I could find was that they encountered a demon earlier, around the game's launch. Maybe it was some hidden thing that one of the VI's introduced? They also had an issue of being stuck in the game. Legal seems to have handled that too." the tired man said.

 

"It doesn't matter. We can use this to our advantage. I will just have to recommend releasing the VR headsets early to capitalize on these two events. Don't know why they wanted to wait until after the first event was done to release anyway." Mike said as he rubbed his eyes.

 

"I heard because there were some things that quality assurance found just before launch, and they needed to fix it. Something about the headset frying the user's mind if their game avatar died." The tired man spoke.

 

 

~|~

 

The online message boards were blowing up.

 

User20410: OMG! We got our first world quest! I haven't even rebirthed yet, and one popped up.

 

User42980: Yeah it was initiated by some player named Gwyndolyn. Name sounds familiar tho.

 

User007: It should. There was a video online about them fighting a goblin horde. I'll attach the video.

User007: gwyndolyn_fight.mp4

 

User20410: Oh! That's right! That's the crazy chick that went all god mode on those goblins. It makes sense now that she started the world quest. She probably killed some demon somewhere and started it.

 

User54001: There is another video of her. Some one got a video of her after her rebirth, just right before the announcement. Judging by her new appearance, I would say #User20410 is correct. She probably did kill a demon somewhere and her rebirth somehow triggered the event.

User54001: gwyn_rebirth.webm

 

User00010: Oh dam! She looks so hot now. I wonder if she still has the penis elves get.

 

User321: Eww. That's disgusting. Dicks are gay. You gay fam?

 

User99008: Not gay, but I'd be on her dick like white on rice.

 

User73401: Not gay, but I'd slob on her knob like corn on the cob.

 

User8821: Not gay, but I want her to vore me.

 

User20410: .......

 

User007: ........

 

User54001: You degenerate. I bet you like hand holding too.

 

User_Modderator04: #User8821 Lets try to keep this thread clean. This is your only warning.

 

User8821: #User_Modderator04 Shut up bot.

 

-User8821 has been removed-