Edited 28/11/2023

Ai hesitates in opening the door. 

He’s about to meet another player for the first time since creating his character but facing this hurdle makes him feel more nervous than normal. He can feel the skin of his palms sweating even though virtual characters are unable to do that and there’s a clog in his throat that won’t go away no matter how many times he’s swallowed.

How laughable is it that he didn’t feel this way with predictable programmed NPCs? Pathetic.

[Player Eusyca_ is requesting entry to your room!]

The [Thought System] notifies him once again. With each second that passes the anxious feeling continues to grow and grow like a weed. Finally, he manages to take one big breath before rushing towards the door and choosing ‘yes’ when asked if he wants to let the other player in.

Eusyca_ uses a female character model. An elf just like him with long dark hair, golden brown skin, and sharp yellow eyes. The garb they’re wearing tells Ai that they chose another scholar class, the mage. 

Ai can already tell that this mage is much better equipped than him. The red orb on their staff exudes power with each pulsing glow and the glistening accessories are miles better than the shabby lantern oil Ai has. Though looking at the accessories a bit further, Ai feels like he recognizes these items. He’s seen them somewhere, he just can’t remember where…

“Hey!” Eusyca_ says with a raised brow. “You’re a newbie, right?”

Startled, Ai can only nod quietly in response. His eyes slowly drift away from the glowing equipment to the other player's face. They aren’t smiling but there’s a twinkle of amusement in their eyes.

“I saw you today around town,” Euscya_ walks past Ai and looks around at the Golden Suite with curious eyes. “Wow...how did you get a Golden Suite? The key to this place isn’t even available in the game shop.”

The game shop...speaking of it, Ai realizes that he hasn’t even once peeked at the game shop for [World Symphony]. Simply put, he isn’t interested at all. He knows that there are items that could help players out, especially newbies. The shop sells mid-level armor and weapons that can help new players on their starting adventures.

Ai never liked buying exclusive items to progress a game. He enjoys grinding stuff on his own. Though Ai isn’t one to continue playing games with heavy microtransactions, the [World Symphony] shop is a little different. While it does contain items that can help new players get an early start, the items are almost useless for higher-level players. There are no super-powerful artifacts, mounts, or weapons. Everything has to be earned through manual gaming. Even the beginner items sold there wouldn’t be as useful as the ones earned through manual grinding and quest rewards.

“Anyway, I’m a newbie too.” Eusyca_ looks at him in the eyes after getting a good look at the suite. “Since we both unfortunately got elf as our race, why not work together?”

Ai glances at Eusyca_’s outstretched hand but doesn’t take it. He frowns. “Unfortunately…?”

Eusyca_ tilts their head in confusion and drops their hand. 

“Did you read any third-party forums before playing this game?” Eusyca_ asks with a frown. “Especially about elves?”

Though Ai surfed the hot trending topics in the forums, he didn’t touch unofficial forums since the information there is too easily fabricated and could easily spoil the story, which he doesn't want. He prefers official channels where the forum moderators of the game are more strict on what information can be shared and what can’t. He also didn't read any forum topics about the races in [World Symphony]. He hadn’t cared too much since any race that players picked didn’t affect abilities in any way shape or form and he didn’t care about the aesthetics either.

“I’m guessing from your face that you didn’t.” Eusyca_ sighs and shakes their head. “The game devs don’t want us to talk about these kinds of things in the official forums, so most threads surrounding it are deleted immediately. They consider it too much of a spoiler to be put out. Hmph, I think they just didn’t want players to be turned off.”

Ai thinks back to the post the player, Maestro, made about mediators. How did that post survive as a top-rated thread and not get deleted?

“Since you don’t read third-party forums, I’ll just explain it to you.” Eusyca_ suddenly steps closer, their voice dropping to a whisper as if they’re scared that someone is listening in to the conversation. Ai doesn’t try to ruin their fun by letting them know that the game devs probably know everything a player is saying.

“The elf beginner quest is almost impossible to finish with a ranking above C.”

Oh.

Ranking for a quest is a thing in [World Symphony]. When a player completes a quest, their performance would be given a score from F to S. The score given determines the quality of quest rewards, the amount of EXP, and for mediators, the possibility of unlocking new dialogues and paths which means more rewards. Getting a high score in a beginner quest is even more important since it can give the new players rewards that could make the next few stages of the game easier.

Ai scrolls through the game settings through the [Thought System] and wonders if he could restart the account and pick a different…everything. Even the C ranking seems like a distant goal for a mediator without even a single bit of special skills.

“Wait....are you a mediator?” Eusyca_ suddenly asks, only just then realizing. They frown in confusion and Ai can almost see the bafflement in the other player’s face. “Either you’re stupid or think you’re better than the other players who tried to use this class.”

Ai wants to scream that that isn’t true but keeps his silence for the time being.

“Hmph, well, you might still have some use.” Eusyca_ sighs. “Anyway, if you didn’t notice, there aren’t many players in this city. The elf population has dwindled because of the high beginner quest difficulty. Most people can’t even complete it.”

Ai wants to ask whether or not the C-ranking rewards are that bad, but before he can, Eusyca_ is already marching back to the door. Seems like knowing that their only option for a partner is a weak mediator has killed most of their interest.

They look back at Ai before they leave. “Well, I’ll still partner with you anyway, just don’t hold me back.”

Then they leave, their brown mage cloak swishing around as they did. 

Ai is left stunned and it takes a few more moments before he can let out a relieved exhale. He’s unsure of how to feel. Eusyca_ is not as friendly when they find out that Ai is a mediator. The dislike against this class may have run deeper than Ai first thought. He realizes now that the post that Maestro made in the forum served not only as a warning for newbies to not pick the useless class but also as a warning to them that high-level players will not take mediators for their parties.

Ai sighs dejectedly, he figured it out too late. Not that he had any plans of partying with anyone.

According to the [Thought System], he can reset his character if he wants to as long as he hasn’t reached level 10 and has experienced at least 24 real-time hours of the class he wanted to change.

Ai closes the [Thought System]. Though Eusyca_ had demanded that Ai become their partner, he doesn't really feel like agreeing. He decides that it’s best to just wait out the 24 hours. He would change class and race, hopefully not run into Eusyca_ again, and finally play this game with a bit more joy in it.

For now, he doesn’t want to stay in the Golden Suite and remain too idle. Though it’s nice and it’s a waste not to use it more, 24 real-time hours is too long to be doing nothing. He should familiarize himself with the game. Though he definitely wouldn’t be picking the elf race again, Pymule is still a nice place that he would probably be visiting in the future. It's good to get a layout of the land.

As he passes through the lobby of the inn, he can feel Avra staring at him, their gaze silently burning into his back. Ai stops himself at the door and looks back at the silent NPC. They’re still standing behind the counter, their face blank, but their eyes are staring unblinkingly at Ai.

He bows slightly at them and gives a small wave before leaving immediately after that. 

Is it just him or did Avra's eyes widen ever so slightly at that?