The next day I woke up and went to the higher town. On the canopy of a neighbouring house leaned a man. He had a look of loneliness in his eyes, as he looked towards the glowing gem. I had nothing to do, so I approached him. “SunRa, isn’t it?” he confirmed. Nodding, I came closer. “I am sorry if my gaze saddens you, these green crystal remind me of the ring I once had given my wife. It’s been two years; on that day, she was bitten by a mosquito. I regret the VirtWurld not coming out earlier, but at the same time, I pity our relationship, for I lived to see their diffusion. now, every morning, I find myself staring at an emerald in another world and another body”

Whew, that was heavy, and also a weird way to start a conversation, if any. But I could relate to his sorrow: my own family had died to the same disease. my real body had also caught it, yet I got pushed into a VirtWurld by my father. He never followed.

“My name is Aleks, by the way. I'm a level 79 Bladesman, a class up from warrior. This evening, after you've received your bow, come and knock at my door, and I will finish your training. We will train by night as most monsters in this forest are diurnal, so rest well until then.”

My goal in going to the higher town was to get acquainted with the rest of the villagers, but it seems almost no one else was here. One of the central buildings had their window open, so I approached it. There was a sign with a two knives, a cleaver and a hunting knife, crossed, engraved on it. Cutting boards, pots, pans, spoons, forks, chop sticks, various knives, rope, and snare wire were lined up on the counter. the shopkeeper, a large man, welcomed me. “I don't have money yet, so I'll come back later.” In shame, I turned to leave yet his voice stopped me. “There is no such thing in our society. As there are only seventy five of us, it is much easier to simply keep tabs on each other and remind ourselves not to take what we don't need. This sets us apart from the humans, who have lost most of their sense of order and morals.”

Confused, I looked at the shopkeeper who passed me a curved carving knife. “For your defense. Although a bow is a scout's main weapon, it often helps to bear a knife in case of any surprises.” Graciously, as I felt he wouldn't allow otherwise, I accepted the knife and asked: “what's wrong with the humans?” taking on a serious face the shopkeeper answered “Quickly after the game started, some human players overthrew the NPC rulers and established a rule of the strong. By restricting access to certain hunting zone, they kept their friends in power. There are some really horrible rumours about their lands. If you are human you hope not to spawn in their country, for fear of becoming a slave.”

I thanked him for the explanation and got ready to head over to Vectan's, but noticed a problem: the knife had a sheath, yet I did not have belt, I only had the clothes I spawned in : a dress. Enquiring about it, I got as response that the textile merchant was still organizing his wares, and that his store would open in the afternoon. I knocked at Vectan's top door, Lidia answered. “Oh, hello SunRa! please come in. Your bow is coming along nicely, but I got hungry so I came home to eat.” Home? Lidia pulled my arm and brought me inside, down the stairs to a large conference table. On it was cake. For breakfast? My stomach grumbled, reminding me I had yet to eat since I spawned. Vectan came in the room and noticed the situation. He sighed “Lidia, didn't you already have breakfast? And why cake?” Lidia gave a pitiful gaze to Vectan. As she seemed to really want the cake I interjected “She seems to want to talk to me and I haven't had breakfast yet. Could you please get me anything but cake so that we can talk while eating?” Vectan acquiesced and cooked me an egg and some slices of a mysterious meat. He then shooed us to another table as he needed this one to have a village meeting.

“Just what I was craving” said Lidia as she was happily eating cake. “So how are you an Vectan related?” I dared ask as the cake was disappearing faster than the egg. “Weif Maffeed” she answered with her mouth full, brown crumbs falling down the side of her mouth. “Alright, I need to get back to work or you're not going to go on your excursion tonight.” I only got to say one sentence! By the time I could complain she was already gone.

I went back to the first table to see if Vectan was done his meeting and to thank him for the food, but it was not done. In the room were Vectan, Aleks, and two men that had not been there the day before. “They seem to have amassed five hundred, even with so few, we will probably get stuck in a defensive battle.” Reported a newcomer.
“Hmm, I believe there is a way to stave them off with that number.” Vectan responded. Everyone else bore a slightly confused face, he continued: “We simply have to rout the monsters towards them. Knowing humans, they are probably only level 25 with a few level 75 officers.”

At that point I stepped into the room.

“If you're going to do that, should we postpone my training?” I worried. Vectan assured me that it was not the case, I would be training deeper into the forest which could help push some monsters outwards. The only problem afterwards is how to force the monsters towards the humans. The answer: bagpipes.