2.1

“Good thing these rebels only form into groups of five or I might actually have a problem.” - The Revenant King, known for getting his empire upended by bands of plucky adolescents.

 

My surroundings disappeared in a flash of light, before I knew it, I found myself standing beside a large blue crystal.

 

Taking a quick glance around, it seems like I was still in the mall, at the centre of a food court, thankfully still with a roof. The crystal was embedded on an elevated platform, in what used to be a water fountain.

 

Looking around, I could see several other people loitering around the food court chatting in somewhat hushed tones. There was one person who had set up a blanket with several items on display. A seller so soon? Though I have no idea when Gaia actually started, for all I know Eve has been grabbing people for a while.

 

I turned around, placing a hand on the large crystal. “Log out,” I muttered before a light engulfed me.

---

My hand froze midway, dropping the chip I was going to eat. There was an odd feeling in my head… My other ‘self’ was coming back.

 

I leaned down from my seat and picked up the dropped chip and plopped it into my mouth. Five-second rule. Mentally juggling two separate sets of memories.

 

‘I’ had just gone through the Gaia tutorial, but ‘I’ also couldn’t sleep, and opened up my PC to research Giles Cooper.

 

The tutorial was hard. A hundred goblins, tracking magic and an intelligent goblin mage.

 

Finding information on Giles Cooper was harder, well it wasn’t like I couldn’t find anything, the dude’s famous after all. Life stories, biographies, achievements, prizes, etc etc, everything was there but almost nothing of his personal life. If anything I suffered an excess of information. Quantity but not quality. And…

 

HitZaDec: Yo

 

I sent to Matt. Even if it was three AM right now Matt was probably still awake. His sleeping schedule was almost as bad as mine. Sure enough, the trusty typing indicator showed up.

 

Mattmanfoo is typing…

 

Mattmanfoo: Yo

 

I opened up the Gaia program in a spare window, a pixelated scroll was on the top right.

 

I grabbed the virtual object in my hand before pausing. Should I really send this to Matt? I still wasn’t sure if the me that went through Gaia was the real me, or even if the me in real life was real. Could this be an elaborate trick by Eve?

 

No, very unlikely. Whether or not my memories of going through the tutorial in Gaia or even my research in real life are ‘real’, she has proven capable of at the very least altering my memories almost instantaneously. Frankly speaking, I shouldn’t worry about this because there was no point in worrying. There was nothing I could do or think of that can really counteract it.

 

I sighed and began typing my message to Matt.

 

HitZaDec: I need backup.

 

His reply was immediate.

 

Mattmanfoo: Aight, who we jumping?

 

Smiling slightly now, I continued.

 

HitZaDec: Nah not jumping anyone, it’s hard to explain… best if you experienced it yourself

 

And with that, I sent him the Referral Letter.

 

A flash of light later and I was back in Gaia. If I could be doing two things at once I might as well take advantage of it. IRL me was a bit tired so he was probably going to head to sleep after a bit more net surfing. Meanwhile, I’ll figure out more about Gaia as I waited for Matt.

 

Checking around, nothing much had changed, though the players seem to have clustered into a single group now, somewhat loudly arguing amongst themselves. Well, not my problem.

 

“Menu,” I muttered and an array of screens appeared around me.

 

According to Hendrix I can call this up whenever I was in a Gaia safe zone or near a large Way Shard. Navigating the screens, I found the usual game stuff. Friends List, Character Sheet and an Impact Point Store with a selection of races and classes. I skimmed the store, most of the usual suspects for a high fantasy world, nothing too surprising.

 

My friends list already had one person on it,

 

Mattmanfoo

 

Seems like Matt was automatically added.

 

I closed the menus with a flick of my wrist, I should get exploring. If my tutorial was any indication then Matt will at least take a few hours.

 

“Hello?” Someone called out, I glanced around, looking for the source. “Over here!” He yelled, waving at me. By the looks of it, he was a human warrior, and he was near the group of people that were arguing. A bit confused, I pointed at myself, “Yeah you!” he confirmed, “And the dude next to you too, mind if we asked you some questions?”

 

Turning around, I found a tree-like person. Bit lanky and skinny looking, like a literal stick figure. No discernable class from his gear since he didn’t seem to have any. Not even clothes either, instead just slightly different shades of bark, darker browns towards the end of his limbs and lighter towards his centre. Looking up, I realised he was pretty tall, at least 1.8 or 1.9 meters, with a large afro like haircut that merged with a Santa Claus style beard, both made completely out of green leaves.

 

Round amber eyes met mine, “Hello!” he practically yelled with excitement, “Nice…” he cocked his head in thought, “Hat?”

 

“Currently going with cap for the moment, and thanks. You have cool looking hair too,” I replied, awkwardly returning his compliment.

 

He grinned as he ruffled his afro, “Oh I’m sure it’ll get a lot harder to maintain than yours,” he replied whimsically.

 

How would a myconid haircut work?

 

“Anyways,” he turned to the warrior, “you wanted to speak with us good sir?” he said as he started strolling down the platform.

 

I followed him, tapping my staff as I went. Several eyes turned to him. Damn, he was tall, was this how Matt felt around me?

 

“So what’s going on here?” Afro tree asked, gesturing to the crowd.

 

“We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on,” Warrior dude explained, “So we’ve been talking about how we got here and discussing whether or not we should contact the authorities or not.”

 

I mentally considered it. Sure what Eve was doing was no doubt so illegal a court lawyer would rather have a seizure than try to defend her, but the achievements of she made was well… literally all around him. 

 

Calling the coppers would be the easiest way to antagonise her, and I wasn’t doing that until I explored more of the world first.  

 

“How did most people get here?” I asked.

 

“Most of us got a message randomly when we were doing other stuff. I was in the middle of dinner when I got mine,” warrior dude replied.

 

I slightly lowered my eyelids and placed my thumb to my chin, a universal expression of thought, “Huh, I was doing some chores when I got mine,” I said.

 

Afro tree imitated my gesture, “I got mine when I was on the way to the hospital,”

 

The hospital? Could it have been the same one I was in? My location in Gaia was the same as when I was in the mall earlier with Matt. So it makes sense if other players were brought to a place close to their IRL location. Given the Wayshards seemed to work, it was most likely operating on a ‘Starter Town’ based start rather than directly translating your location IRL to Gaia. But then it depends on how many starter towns there were, if there’s only one in this country or one for every state or city. If it was the latter then everyone here lives nearby.

 

Looking around, it was clear that Afro tree and I were the weirdest races here. Were our premade races dependant on location? No, far too random, unlikely.

 

“Did you see anyone come by but leave?” I asked the warrior dude.

 

“Hmm…” he thought for a moment, “I only got here pretty recently, so I didn’t catch much, but other than you two, there was a gnome that appeared who left almost immediately, and an elf, fox girl, skeleton, a lizard, a few demon looking dudes and a raccoon.”

 

“A raccoon?”

 

“Yeah, it just appeared next to the crystal and ran off immediately.”

 

I bit my thumb, there was a pattern here somewhere. Weird races who all left the spawn location as opposed to the group here who were just chatting amongst themselves.

 

“Are you sure it was a raccoon and not a cat or something?” Afro tree asked.

 

A cat?

 

“Nah it was definitely a raccoon,” warrior dude replied.

 

“Why a cat?” I asked Afro tree.

 

Afro tree shrugged, “Oh I thought since... well, I accidentally went to Indiri first and met a weird cat.”

 

I raised an eyebrow, “Really? What was it like? How was the spawn location?”

 

Warrior dude leaned in, apparently curious as well.

 

“Well, I came into a city, but not next to the crystal. It was some dark alleyway without anybody nearby. I got lost and this cat helped me around to the crystal,” he looked up absentmindedly, “Wonder how she’s doing…”

 

So I probably won’t be attacked the moment I entered Indiri, “Did you need to go to the Wayshard to come back?”

 

Afro tree nodded, “Yeah, I had to touch it.”

 

“Was it guarded?”

 

“There were a group of mages,”

 

Hmm, magic users. If a goblin mage was that difficult to deal with how hard will a group be?

 

Coming to a decision, I said, “Well, thanks for the information. I’ll be going off on my own now.”

 

“You sure? I’m pretty sure our group will move out together once we get stuff sorted.” Warrior dude replied.

 

Higher numbers are safer but annoying to manage, and the crowd didn’t look like it’ll move on anytime soon. I could handle myself pretty well. If I had a bit more info and some help I could’ve probably gotten two-thirds of the goblins as opposed to a little over a half.

 

“Nah,” I replied.

 

“Mind if I come along?” Afro tree cheerfully added in.

 

I shrugged, “Sure, why not.” I could ask him more about Indiri on the way. “Bye then,” I told the warrior, before turning away.

 

Afro tree waved goodbye to warrior dude, before following me.

 

“I never caught your name,” Afro tree said.

 

“Dustin,” I casually answered, “yours?”

 

“I usually go by Pa Pe Roni-” I smirked a bit, “-but with how personal everything feels going by that is a bit awkward,” he nervously laughed, “So just call me Peps.”

 

I raised an eyebrow, the first one was better but… “Sure then Peps,”

 

“So what do you plan on doing?” Peps leisurely asked.

 

I thought about it for a moment, “For now, checking the market,” I replied, gesturing to a hooded figure watching us intently.

 

Walking up to him, I cheerfully said, “Yo,” to the seller. He nodded but didn’t say a word.

 

I gestured to the wares laid on the blanket, “How much is all this?” Mostly consumables, few knives here and there.

 

“Rations go for a gold per five portions, two gold for a mana potion, one for health,” He rasped out, voice sounding unhealthily dry.

 

“Your throat sounds rather sore, perhaps you should take some lozenges?” Peps said, sounding genuinely worried.

 

The hooded seller only gave him a withering glare. “A mana potion please,” I interjected before Peps genre blindness got us banned from the only player merchant currently available.

 

The seller grunted as he took the money, I pocketed the potion and grabbed Peps' arm, “Let’s go,” and dragged him off.

 

“You’ve never met an RP’er have you?” I asked him once we were out of earshot.

 

He shook his head, “No, I usually don’t play RPGs,”

 

“What do you play then?” I asked as I checked over the mana potion. Same glowing colour and size as the last two I had, probably works.

 

“Mainly trading card games now,” Peps answered.

 

TCGs? “Like Arcanum?”

 

He clapped his hands, “Exactly like Arcanum!” he replied in an excited tone, “Do you play as well?”

 

“On and off,” I replied, storing the potion in my belt, “I tend to spend too much money on packs if I invest in one,”

 

Peps nodded, “I know the feeling, my kids keep telling me to stop but I have nothing to do around the house,”

 

“Ehh loot boxes,” I replied.

 

“Yeah…” he petered off, “Where are we going by the way?” he asked, gesturing to the corridor we entered.

 

“Grinding,” I simply replied, “What else could we be doing? It’s not like there's-”

 

A blurred brown dot appeared in my sight. My hours with the goblins caused me to instinctively sway to the right. Peps was a bit slower and the arrow struck his shoulder with a loud thunk.

 

Mana flowed into my hand as I raised it, “Grow Sporage Poison Spores-”

 

“WAIT!” a loud voice interrupted. A comically small looking head popped up from behind a bench. “TIS BUT A MISUNDERSTANDING! THEY ARE FELLOW TRAVELERS!” He yelled to someone out of sight.

 

From the distance, two glowing eyes fell from the ceiling, a figure landing lithely on the floor. That was almost fifty meters away, I didn’t even notice him until I saw his glowing eyes. Dangerous, just because this was a fantasy I shouldn’t disregard the possibility of getting sniped.

 

“SORRY!” I heard a high pitched voice yell in the distance. ‘Her,’ I mentally corrected. I let my arm relax and fall to my side, hand concealing the Sporage just in case.

 

“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry…” she repeatedly said as she stumbled to us, “I’m SO SORRY! YOU GUYS JUST LOOKED A LOT LIKE MONSTERS FROM A DISTANCE!”

 

Hmm… Fair, I did have a jack o 'lantern for a face, and Peps did have a weird head shape. Speaking of Peps, I quickly checked on him, he fell when the arrow got him, but overall he looked fine if a bit dazed. I swapped the staff to the hand where the Sporage was, then offered my recently freed hand. “You alright?” I asked.

 

He gratefully took it, wincing slightly as his shoulder made a weird grinding noise.

 

“Ah...” Peps replied, eyes unfocused, “I have a healing spell.”

 

Ehh, he seems fine for a dude that just got shot. Nodding, I turned to the two who attacked us. The first was a dwarf? No, he wasn’t wide enough, and no beard. He was hairy though, long curly hair falling to his shoulders, probably just a buff gnome actually. He looked like a miniature of every gym buff, except shrunk down to about a meter tall. He was clad in a chainmail vest, with what seemed to be leather armour underneath, a short sword hung from his hip.

 

The second was a black-haired girl clad in leather gear. A quiver hung on her back and she was still tearfully holding the bow she shot us with. Were those cat ears on her head?

 

“You two are?” I cautiously asked, they were both in my range now. I could chain Sporage with an Acid Spit and theoretically get them both, however, I have no idea how much damage they’ll do to players, who presumably had higher Constitutions than tutorial goblins.

 

“Ah, I am Valhorn Hillblight!” The gnome theatrically yelled, “But more importantly! Are thee alright?”

 

Oh god, another RP’er.

 

Next to me, I heard Peps trying to pull out the arrow, “No no!” Valhorn yelled, “The arrowhead shape will prevent you from pulling it out, you must break the shaft and push it out, here let me help.” He said as he walked in closer.

 

Peps gratefully smiled as he shifted positions to facilitate the short gnome. Seeing no current threat, I plucked the Sporage and pocketed it.

 

“And you?” I directed to the ranger who was still wiping away tears.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head.

 

“I assume you weren’t talking about your name with that one,” I said as I turned to the gnome standing on one of Peps legs. “Ok, I’m gonna push it now,” Valhorn said. Peps grit his teeth and nodded, before taking a sharp intake of breath as Valhorn pushed the arrow through his shoulder.

 

“That wasn’t… too bad,” Peps said with a slightly forced looking smile. Hmm, I didn’t know what race Peps was but afro tree probably meant he had a high constitution. He was barely bleeding too, only a sticky looking sap flowed from the hole, and it looked like it was clotting. “Cure Light Wounds,” Peps said with a grimace, and the wood began growing inwards at a rapid pace, quickly closing the hole and leaving a spot of slightly lighter-looking bark.

 

Peps flexed his shoulder experimentally, then poked the lighter spot and grimaced. “It’s a bit tender it seems,”

 

“Let me help,” I said as I touched his shoulder, “Balm Spores,” and white mycelium grew on him, covering the lighter spot. “It’s better than nothing,” I added as I did the other side.

 

“I was going to offer a potion…” The gnome said.

 

“Ehh, best to save stuff like that for when you really need it,” I replied.

 

Valhorn nodded, “Wise advice,”

 

“Oh don’t get me wrong, we’re still taking that potion,” I added. They did shoot us after all.

 

“Tis only fair-” He started before the other girl shoved him to the side and pushed a glowing red potion into Peps’ hand.

 

“Oh, it’s fine!” Peps said as he pushed it back.

 

“No no, I insist,” The girl replied with grim determination as she pushed it back.

 

“Oh no I’m really fine,” Peps pushed it back.

 

“But I shot you!” She protested as she pushed it back.

 

“It’s only a scratch…”

 

Ignoring the Canadian standoff behind me, I turned to the gnome. “You two were planning on an ambush?” I asked.

 

He nodded, “Yes, we had begun hunting but it was hard pickings. Most of the beasts here would run on sight, they rarely stood and fought unless cornered.”

 

Ah shit, that makes things more annoying. “Have you tried scouting further? We’re not that far from the spawn zone so the stuff here might be more passive. Perhaps outside the mall?”

 

He shook his head, “Though we are confident in our abilities, the night holds many dangers, without a proper source of light I am cautious to advance outside, where we lack the cover of this structure.” He said as he gestured around us.

 

“I can create something similar to a light source?” I suggested, raising a hand palm up, “Grow Sporage, Light Spores.”

 

Valhorn’s eyes lit up, “That would indeed do! Perhaps we should band together?”

 

“That would create a fairly balanced party,” I replied. “What’s your class?”

 

“I am a warrior, and you?”

 

“Fungalmancer, which is basically a mage but with a mushroom theme slapped on it. Mostly an all-rounder with a focus for AOE damage.”

 

“Hmm, and your tree friend can act as the healer,” he said thoughtfully.

 

I gestured to the standoff happening next to us, “And her the DPS?”

 

“Indeed,”

 

“I look forward to working with you then,” I said as I offered my hand.

 

He smiled as he shook my it, “And I do too with you,”

 

I smiled back, “We should probably break up those two...” I added.

 

He peeked behind me, “Yes… they have been going on for a while already,”

 

Myconid and gnome turned to the scene of carnage. Not that you would notice at first glance, they were still politely pushing the potion into each other. I was almost tempted to let them play this out for a few more moments, see how long it’ll last. Unfortunately, that notion was destroyed when the gnome loudly declared, “We’re partying up!”

 

Two pairs of confused eyes turned to us at the same time.

 

“Ehh?”