The next morning I awoke to the sound of my headset beeping. 

"Huh?!" I jump out of my bed and put it on.

[Notification: Message from Scarlett]

I open up my messages and check the message. It's from just 10 minutes ago, better check it quickly. Oooh, she even sent me a voice message!

"Nate! Get on quick! The barrier is disappearing!"

Oh crap! I didn't think that it would happen today! I quickly open up Elysia Online.

When my character materializes in the world, Scarlett immediately notices me and runs over, "There you are! I was afraid you didn't get my message, you are almost too late!"

I look up at the wall, it now has a timer that is counting down, it currently has only 7 minutes left. I then look around, there are a couple more players around, excitedly waiting for the wall to fall. It seems like the rumor of player made towns outside of the walls had made its circles around the player base.

I even see a man in pretty decent equipment trying to get some attention, "Join me and create an empire! We assure that only one guild will be allowed to be in our city, so everybody will be on your side to support you if you join us!" Not really that bad of a selling point, a couple of people even agree with my sentiment and go over to join him. Although trade with other civilizations might be difficult if they stick to that rule.

Lucarios and Eric suddenly appear in front of me, "Oh, hey you two!" I walk over to them, "So, how did overnight go?"

Eric responds, "It went pretty well, we managed to get a lot of money, I even bought some more gear for Lucarios, I didn't find any better than my weapons." He then brandishes his powerful swords.

Well, good to know that Eric can interact with NPCs, "So how many levels did you gain?"

Lucarios responds, "We did alright, I'm level 8 and Eric is 7."

"Oh, ok cool that sounds good."

Scarlett interrupts, "Level 8?! The highest person I've seen so far is only 6!"

I smile, "Really? That will be helpful for gaining players to join us! Actually, Scarlett, can you see Lucarios' or Eric's profile?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't they though, they are players right?" She then points in the air with her a finger for a second, "Hmm, that's weird."

I raise an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"I can only see their level and name, nothing about their class or vr user profile. What is up with that?" She then closes all her menus.

I respond, "Uhhhhh, it's just part of their class."

"Whatever."

Ok, but knowing that their status can be seen, it's time to make a move. I stand up in front of the group of people, Lucarios and Eric follow me, "Hello! Can I get everyone's attention!"  A couple people turn and look at me, I continue, "I too, am looking for you to join me! But I am not like those other, I have a reason for you to join me!"

The player who was previously advertising himself spoke up, "Oh yeah? And what's that?!"

I respond with confidence, "I am joined by two experts."

The man laughs, "Mhm, sure! And what exactly makes them strong?" He says with a laugh while looking at other people in the crowd. Nobody else laughs, they all seem interested in me.

I smile, "Well, you see, one of these experts is level 8, and the other is level 7."

The crowd is silent. The man isn't though, "Hahaha! Do you really expect me to believe that?! Let me check their profiles." He starts pointing his hand in the air, many others in the crowd do the same. He continues talking, "Mhm, here we are, profile, level, aha just as I thou-"

I laugh, "I'll take that silence as you seeing what level they are."

The rest of the crowd gasps as they also check. Nobody seems to mention anything about the lack of a class. I continue talking, trying to persuade them, "If anyone wants to be like them, you would want to join us! Come see me over there if you would like to join us!" I say pointing at where Scarlett is standing.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd yells, "Oh! Is the the famous player Scarlett?! I heard she is one of the most powerful players in the server right now!"

Oh wow, seems Scarlett has made quite the name for herself! I speak up, "Yes! Yes! Not only is that the famous player Scarlett, but she is also part of our group!" Scarlett nods and gives a thumbs up to reassure the crowd.

I then return to Scarlett, Lucarios and Eric come with me. I turn around to see a line of people, all waiting to join us. However I don't want just anybody to join us, "I thank you all for coming to join us today! I will say that anyone of any level will be accepted to join us! But I must let you all know, I am not looking for someone who is going to join us to gain a bit of strength, then move on to join a bigger empire!"

Scarlett nods.

I continue, "If you wish to join us, you must stay with us, going through the thick and thin with us, dedicating everything!" 

The crowd is taken aback, and I can understand. Someone asking for you to stick with them for the entire rest of the game seems absolutely absurd, and sure we may have advantage now, but who's to say we will stay 1 step ahead from everyone else. Well, I'm confident that we can stay stronger than everyone, but I doubt the crowd believes in me.

Some people start leaving. I turn back to talk to the others, Lucarios speaks up, "So how many do you think will stay?"

Scarlett shrugs, "Dunno, but the ones who do stay will be the real ones." 

Another minute passes. I turn back around to see 3 more people still in the line. The one in front, a boy my age smiles, "Happy to serve you!" 

I smile at all 3 of them, "Thank you for joining us!"

Before I can say anything else though, someone yells, "Look at that! The barrier is going down!"

I turn around, "Alright guys! Let's get this party started!"