invayne

21 + advanced chapters on https://www.patreon.com/invayne

As soon as I logged into game, I was met with a string of messages from the pink-haired thing. I told her to just concentrate on leveling while I went to finish a certain quest. I would power-level her after I finished this quest since having a partner along for the ride on the other chain quests was a good thing. While she would not get completion experience, that did not mean I was going to let her fall behind in levels.

As my first friend, I guess you could call her; I had to ensure I helped her along as much as possible. We worked well together, so if we could solo a few dungeons later, it would be quite good. Not only could we keep all the drops we would not need to fight with others for the gear upgrades. While we would need to be slightly over-leveled for the dungeon, we could easily do multiple runs if we wanted to and get all the gear sets each dungeon produced. This would help out a lot when we began running real world dungeons.

Real-world dungeons dropped different loot compared to in-game; while in-game was still the main source of experience in my dreams; the real world offered new materials and other upgrades you could not get in-game. At least as far as I knew. I do not even know the max level of this game or what is considered an endgame for this game at all.

As far as I knew, leveling was only possible in game. I was not sure about out of game since it was not possible in my dreams. If it did become possible later on, it must have been after that boss monster was killed. I call it a boss monster since it was more like a million-man raid just to kill it. So many people died fighting it, but there was no choice. It was either to give up our homes or die trying to protect them. Most decided to protect what we had since there was not much left of the world outside certain areas, from what I know.

Right now I was currently headed to the town barracks. It was where I was to meet this sword master. Mary did not state his name, so I do not know who exactly I was looking for, but I guess I will find out when I get there.

The streets of Erune were abuzz with players running back and forth. None of them seemed to pay me any mind now that I was wearing my mask. This made me feel more at ease. I disliked being stared at since it made me feel more self-conscious than normal. I was already a bundle of nerves around others, so it was not very easy for me to deal with the extra stares.

It took a while, but I soon arrived at my destination. The town barracks were not very big, nor were they surrounded by tall walls. It had a short waist-high log fence surrounding the training yard and a building no bigger than a house. The building was kept in good condition and, like the other houses, took on the same intermixed with nature and man-made as the rest of the town. This was one of the things I liked about this town. It was all very naturesque and soothed my soul a little. It was much different than the tall buildings and concrete I saw every day in the real world.

There were no guards standing at the entrance of this place. I walked straight in and into the training yard, where I saw a burly older man with reddish greying hair who held a sword in his hand, resting it on his shoulder. He had only one leg. The other was propped up with a wooden peg. It seemed he had been through rough times.

But his eyes showed no hint of sorrow as he looked at the guards in the yard while they trained. Every so often, he would stop and give a few pointers to one of them. He seemed like a stern man, but his meticulous method of training was proof of his experience and care for his men.

As I walked over, he finally noticed me. I was not walking fast since I was watching him from the side. If I recall correctly, this man was once a high-ranking general. He had won many wars and was highly regarded. I only know this because there was another unique quest linked to this man that showed a screenshot of him. His name was Sir Cliene. The mirage sword unique quest line never stated his name nor did it share any screen shots. I only knew him as the sword master.

“You are here. I am glad you were willing to come see me.” Sir Cliene smiled at me as he walked over. Even with his wooden peg, he walked upright without any signs of being disabled.

“Mary told me about you. Sorry, it took me an extra day before I could come. You wished to speak with me?” I did not waver in front of his discerning eyes. Unlike real people, NPCs did not make me feel as if they were judging me, even though I knew he was right now. You would think I would see these people as real people since they acted like any other person in the real world. But I think the idea that this is a game and that, to me, they are nothing but NPCs is what allows me to speak normally and not shrink back as I would in the real world.

“Yes…. I did. Your skills from before when you took care of those thugs caught my eye. Care to spar a round with me? I wish to check something.”