Open - The Scouter

After weeks of deliberating, Zaendal's creation had finally been completed. After all, if he was going to invest time in a new MMO, why not spend some time to make sure he would enjoy the character he created? Louis was the type that hated to make a bunch of extra characters until he had one that could take on the strongest challenges available. That said, it was time to start things up.

He hadn't read much on how the game works; the seasoned gamer preferred to learn on the fly. Most modern games had an unskippable tutorial of some kind anyway, so dropping right into that felt like the more appropriate option. As his vision faded from the character creation and into the game world, however, he realized something about this game was different. He only had a moment to look down before the physics kicked in and dropped him like a rock. He'd been hovering about a foot in the air when he spawned. Falling to his hands and knees, Zaen's long green hair draped over the top of his head. He felt each strand fall over his shoulders, the feeling of dirt on his hands, the rug burn on his knees from the rough landing... This was definitely not your usual VR experience.

As he got his feet, Zaen noticed the world looked very... green. "...Oh, right." He tied his hair into a rough knot to keep it out of his face; he'd need to get some kind of accessory to keep it up so it didn't get in the way of movement during combat. He looked over the field he'd landed in, feeling the wind brushing against his skin, the warmth of the sun beaming down. There was a faint smell of pollen, plenty of grass, and... a whistling sound? The new player turned around slowly, expecting something very unpleasant.

Instead, he saw only a cave, and a couple of people standing around staring at their hands or grabbing at the air. There was even one who looked like he was reading an invisible scanner like you see in fighting-based anime. It certainly looked like a starter area, but... no tutorial? How odd. Maybe it was the copied client he got from iceshok, the game file was already flagged as past the tutorial, or the settings carried over. He shrugged. No point in worrying about it, he'd simply have to ask for some help.

"Hey, new here, can someone help me figure out how to trigger the tutorial?" He was speaking to no one in particular, hoping there would be someone in the area who at least knew how to access a menu.

 

The first order of business, after unceremoniously plopping into existence and landing face-first in the clearing, was picking errant blades of grass out of her teeth.

The second thing Madison Freebird did was squeeze her right hand quickly and open it back up. Her porcelain skin quickly changed to shades of cyan and orange as the translucent menu popped up, hovering in the air before her. Twisting around awkwardly, she slid her left arm out from underneath her and quickly tapped away at several options. Her irritation only grew until she finally found what she was looking for--

"Options", she hissed to herself, her jaw protesting with each pronounced syllable as she flipped through countless sub-menus. "Pain and Injuries."

A small click filled her ears as she pressed a finger to a floating checkbox. "Simulated, thank you very friggin' much."

Madison heard about the dangers that surrounded Terrasphere. Plenty of message boards she lurked on during her lunch breaks were dedicated to the rather unique experiences that users had that led to the game's banning. She always thought it was a curious feature to add, and secretly enjoyed reading these cautionary tales. But to witness it first-hand?

Hell of a way to let you know that the programmers took the "reality" part of VR a little too seriously.

The bookseller--no, she quickly corrected herself, noting that she wasn't a peddler of literature in this world and would have to find a new adjective with which to describe herself--rose to her feet and gave her surroundings a cursory glance. Several other people populated the area, looking nearly as clueless as she felt. One fumbled with a long mop of green hair, desperately trying to tie it in a knot to keep it from falling into his eyes.

Madison's lip involuntarily curled. Please don't tell me that hair ties cost money here, she mused sourly. Unless they have an absurd armor rating. Because I'm gonna' need two.

She--what was she going to be in this brand new world?--found herself in what looked like your standard grassy/forest-style beginner's area. You had your sprawling, untouched landscape, your clumps of towering trees, and a cave.

Madison didn't need a quest marker to know that's exactly where the game intended her to go.

One of the others, the one who was messing with his hair, spoke up about a tutorial. Yeah, one of those would be nice, she considered. Would have beat being dropped into the game's world without so much as a pat on the back and a "best of luck, young adventurer".

Madison clenched her fist again and scrolled through the glowing sea of buttons and icons once more, but came up empty. Even though she was loathe to party up with someone who looked to be just as empty and hopeless as she was, it looked like she had no choice.

"Yeah," she echoed. "Could use some help over here too."

 

Today was a busy day it seemed. Young blood popped into existence here and there, finding themselves in this brand new world that Emerath had come to call home over the past few months. He couldn't help but laugh openly as another one popped in and fell to his knees. Then another. From up in his tree top perch, just outside of the small town of Honeyhome, he watched. Reactions ranged from confusion, to anger, to simple depression, as they all came to realize that, well, this game had no direction. Just like real life. It was a sandbox, and an extremely open one. The best way Emerath could think of it was like that old game Minecraft that he used to play when he was younger. It had taken him a good few hours just to figure out how to make a pickaxe in that game. Those were the days.

But as some of the players started to call out for help, Emerath figured it was time for him to stop being a jerk, and actually offer a bit of a hand. Emerath slid from the branch he was sitting on, before landing in the clearing with a good thud, dirt spraying lightly from around his landing spot. He smiled, adjusting his goggles and pulling on his coat's lapels to straighten it from his fall. "A tutorial you say?" Emerath asked the new players, "I'm sorry to say, or maybe proud to announce, that you're looking at him. The only tutorial you're going to get in this world is from experienced players like me."

Emerath walked over to the green haired man, putting a hand on his shoulder and then closing his fist and opening up his hand in front of the man. Of course, this motion brought up his menu for Emerath, but the green haired man would see nothing but the opening and closing of his hand. "This motion brings up your menu. Then you just poke at it, looking like you're playing an awkward game of invisible telephone in your hand to everyone else. Kinda like she's doing!"

With his last statement, Emerath pointed to a woman who was poking at her menu on the ground. "Give it a shot, sport," Emerath said, patting the green haired man on the arm, and stepping into the clearing a bit more to get anyone else's attention. "My name is Emerath Katou, I'm an engineer, and an explorer of our lovely world of Terrasphere. Welcome." Emerath's arms were outstretched in greeting to those in attendance to this new login meeting that they seemed to be having here. "We're near the town of Honeyhome. A quaint little town that always has friendly faces and a quest or two for us adventuring types. A good beginner place to play."

Emerath smiled and asked, "Any questions so far?"

 

Kingoda had, after agreeing to help a little gremlin protect a maiden (?), finally lost his little itty bitty tail in the woods. Though that task had taken him some time since the gremlin was surprisingly exceptional at following something, she seemed to have disappeared at some point, much to his relief. It was this very relief that caused him to exclaim, while breaking through the trees into this clearing, a hearty:

"Do not fear, King is here!"

He looked around the clearing with a smile, hands on his hips as he took in every detail at the speed of light. A goggled, soulless ginger, a woman with large, supple boo… personalities, and a long-haired maiden with a chest as flat as Kingoda's current expression stood among countless other new players at the mouth of a cave. While it could very well be the beginning of a bad joke, if they'd found themselves in front of a bar, Kingoda managed to muffle his giggle into a handsome smile.

Thankfully, in spite of his belated entrance, Kingoda had managed to catch the end of the redheaded folk's words, which he quickly addressed. "Yeah!" he pointed at the man, "I do have a question!" Kingoda closed the distance between them, chest puffed up and cape valiantly attempting to flutter behind him. He stopped before the other man, frowning, and…

… looked to the green-haired person, reached for their hand, and then dropped to one knee.

"What," he purred, voice husky with allure and sex, "is your name, fair one?" His head eased forward to press a wet kiss to the back of their palm, face twisted just right to offer a sly wink.

If only the other woman had deigned to stand together in an easily-accessible group, Kingoda would change directions and attempt to woo her with his manly charms as well. Alas, she was still out of reach, and the only other hand in sight was a greasy, yucky, man paw.

 

The station was probably going to kill Emma if they knew what she was up to on her free day—she herself certainly had little idea what she was getting herself into, and yet that made setting everything up all the more appealing. Oddly enough, modeling a character she could live with wasn’t too difficult for her. Perhaps she was just too excited for what would lie in wait once character creation was finished and she was thrust into this new, and foreign world.

The forest of Brisshal could become so vast and similar-looking that a new player could quickly lose track of where they were. Snow had long left the woods, preparing to give way to spring, but a cool draft from a cave could be felt still.

So, how would Emma, a new player on her first day, thrust into this new environment, react mere seconds after spawning amidst the group? What thoughts could she have, once the neural processes of Terrasphere fully synchronized themselves to her VR headset, and transferred to her brain, so overwhelmed, so suddenly, by the senses of sight, of sound, of smell and, yes, the cold draft of the cave, and forced to register it all?

“This. Is. SO. COOOOL!!!” She let out a shriek that echoed deep into the cave before the group. A flock of screaming bats popped out of its mouth. The latter was quick to bring her back to reality—such as it was—and even then, she cackled mischievously. Again, her mind wandered back to her coworkers and their certain ire if the knew her newly-kept secret, but now it wasn’t just them; her neighbors weren’t going to appreciate the prospect of her squealing throughout the day as she most likely would. But then, until she could find soundproofing for her room later, they’d just have to bear with it on her days off. Curfew wasn’t for another several hours and she could do as she damn well pleased until then.

Excitement couldn’t begin to describe how Emma felt; it was euphoria, and it threatened to drive her dizzyingly mad. Thankfully, the chatter of other people—other players, people, actual people, she subconsciously reminded herself—was enough of a thought to calm her down.

And it also reminded her that, in this setting, she technically wasn’t “Emma” anymore, but someone else entirely.

She took a deep breath, raised her head to the group. “Whoops! I guess the secret’s out that I’m a newbie too, huh?” Even though she had spawned midway into the conversation, she had some idea of the context behind it. It didn’t seem so much like this particular spot of the forest was any sort of tutorial area so much as everyone gathering here was one of those weird coincidences of life, which suited her just fine. Still, just based on composure alone only the man wearing goggles seemed to have any previous experience with the game. Thankfully, as her eyes darted with suddenly-piqued interest to one of the men making advances on another, she obviously wasn’t the only class clown, as it were. Then, she looked back at the goggled man, and grinned.

“Anyway, if we’re giving out names, you can call me Freja. Nice to meet someone who’s been around the block so quickly.” She leaned closer to the four, however, and muttered, “You don’t think I woke up any bears or wolves living in that cave, do you?” Her voice sounded concerned, but her face clearly told a different story, like a kid sticking a firecracker down a toilet or some other obnoxious prank.

 

He almost cried tears of joy. All of these beautiful waifus women, coming out of the woodwork, for him? "Freja!" he repeated. "Beautiful name for a beautiful lady!"

Oh no. Was he going to have to choose only one of them? That couldn't be... No...

He'd do this properly. The right way.

He'd have a harem.

 

More people phasing into existence with every passing moment. Zaen swore he heard a short yelp just before another player blinked into the world and almost literally ate dirt. At least he'd managed to be luckier than that. He brushed his hair into a more presentable state with his fingers, watching as a few people seemed to be grasping with their hands as though they had wrist problems. Too many classic gamers here if they've all got carpal tunnel problems; Zaen was raised in a virtual reality era, and didn't have time for those ancient console or Steam games thank you very much. He watched as the girl, who was angrily mumbling to herself as she got her arms out from underneath her body, started poking awkwardly at things as well.

Strange. I wonder if there is a need for actual doctors in this game. Zaen gathered himself to approach the woman as another being entered the scene, falling from the sky almost as if they'd been scripted to be here and answer their exact call for help. The man introduced himself as an "experienced player..." but was this just a ruse by the programmers to make the game feel more alive than it really was? He wouldn't be surprised to see a very advanced AI tutorial with the reputation this game had, and the timing of it all seemed just too perfect. Still, the emerald haired newbie would play along, listening closely, as this was exactly what he'd asked for anyway.

The game was illegal, after all. Maybe there were hackers taking over experienced players for... No! No. Mind back on track. Focus.

It was a strange feeling to have a hand placed on his shoulder and really feel it, however. They didn't skimp on the realism, that's for sure. As Zaen was directed to open and close his hand to open a menu, he looked around, realizing that what he thought was people with wrist problems was instead players doing what they needed to. I really should have read the manual on the title screen, he mused as he clenched his fist, looking up only to see the goggled individual pointing to the same female that Zaen had been curiously observing just moments before. He watched as she finished poking around her menu before looking down at his open hand, now covered in glowing gauges and fancy buttons. The goggled one stepped away and began his introduction, which seemingly drew every new players attention; almost everyone turned in his direction as he stated his name, which Zaen would forget almost immediately, and internalizing the information about the nearby town, Honeyhome. That would stay with him, cities were the most important part of an MMO. Without finding a town, one would not be able to purchase gear, or safely build a team of players without random encounter interference.

More players seemed to materialize out of thin air, one woman who could not contain her excitement for the experience, which Zaen definitely couldn't blame her for, and a man who must have had some idea what he was doing as well, with the confidence he was almost literally oozing. Wasn't bad looking either. As the bare-chested man stepped forward, our fair-maned nubcake wondered if maybe this was another part of a scripted tutorial.

Knowing he could peruse the contents of the menu later when things calmed down a bit, he instinctively gripped his hand again to close the menu... right as the man took that same hand and kissed it. Zaen blushed, and realized he could actually feel his cheeks getting warmer. Maybe people weren't so concerned about societal norms here! Things were certainly getting interesting.

"Za-" he began, before the ADHD playboy turned and addressed the other new arrival. He waited for him to finish before starting again. "Greetings to you all." Zaen turned his gaze back at the man propositioning him and held his hand tighter. "My name is Zaendal Towersworn," he purred back, improvising a last name, "and it's a pleasure to meet you." He winked back, attempting to pull his hand up so that they might meet eye to eye.

 

Ugh. So many new people, so many fresh faces. So many other clueless newbies who needed their hands held...

...as if she was one to talk.

Madison awkwardly straightened up her outfit out of habit, dusting off sleeves that were already in pristine condition. Everyone else was already introducing themselves to one another, from Creepy Abs Guy to Grasshead, Probably A Middle-Schooler to Goggles.

Goggles went around the group, showing everyone else how to access their UIs and boasting about his experience in Terrasphere, and how there was a city nearby called Honeyhome in which they could all find some quests to undertake.

Madison's mind immediately clicked. Quests meant experience and gold. Experience and gold meant upgrades and stuff. Upgrades and stuff meant she could get out of this starter zone with the quickness and start exploring the truly fun (read: dangerous) parts of the game world.

It looked like that this group was pretty close to calling their roster good for the day, so she decided to swallow her inhibitions and throw herself into their numbers.

The aspiring adventurer took a tentative step closer to the others, keeping an eye out for any sudden advances from Creepy Abs Guy. "I'm--ah, I'm Madison," she croaked, the words fumbling out of her mouth.

She immediately felt the impulse to log out and try again the following week. Madison hated nothing more than introducing herself to strangers. Oh, the joys of introversion.

 

A sigh escaped the blonde's lips, uncertain of what to make of her current situation while she quietly observed her mirror image sitting in a blank room a few feet away from her current position. It was a process she came back to now and then, a single event that made her question what kind of situation she'd be getting into. Each day she logged into the Character Creation screen, she'd pace around her virtual twin and make the changes that needed to be done, molding the young woman's appearance into someone else's. Change the hair color, the eyes, the height, the weight, save whatever little progress she had achieved and then log out. Create someone new, that was it, and yet it took her far longer than a single afternoon to get done with her alter ego's appearance.

It wasn't nervousness nor fear. The accounts regarding the game's unusual qualities, once rare enough she would have dismissed them without a single opportunity, had become commonplace comments on every forum left without the proper supervision. A part of Lucille, the part that felt compelled to follow the government's instructions, kept her away from Terrasphere for many months. Perhaps it was a precautionary method, perhaps it wasn't. However, some small parts of the girl thought there might something good, even great, to get out of this experience.

And that became the reason she was now finishing with the creation of her virtual world's persona. Because the glitchy email she received from one of her friend's with the game's client had curved her lips into a smile, because the thrill of new experiences was a wonderful sensation, because she needed a place to be herself. As she beheld the pale features of the albino girl who sat unconscious on the screen, she felt satisfied for the first time after all the time spent hesitating about this one choice. Her index fingered hovered over the start button for an instant, after which she pressed it, only for her vision to fade to black.

Opening her eyes again revealed nothing but the considerable difference this setting offered in contrast to the creation screen. Mesmerized by the rustling of branches, the breeze laced with the scent of flowers, and the vibrant hues which filled her vision, she failed to notice she was floating above the ground. For a time, at least. Any attempts to prevent her body from colliding with the grass once the effect wore off were futile. ''Great... So much for a graceful landing,'' she murmured under her breath, pushing herself off the ground and settling for a kneeling position.

Lucille, no, Portia sat on her legs as she discerned the first signals of this game's unique features. The dull ache of her body upon falling into the clearing wasn't anything noteworthy, the fact that it existed was. Unable to believe it herself, she drew her hands in front of herself, closing them into fists and then opening them in one swift motion. Unluckily unaware of Terrasphere's commands and how did they work, the sudden menu screen that appeared atop her hand, and the light that flashed as it was brought to life made the girl flinch in surprise, sucking in a breath as she did so. A slight tap against the exit button of the menu and it was gone.

A half smile played on her lips, ready to admit there weren't any possible ways for this to go wrong, other than she certainly had no tutorial to guide her through her first steps into a bright new world. The girl, bringing her fingers up to her face to wipe away the dirt clinging to her porcelain features, occasionally shot glances over her shoulders in order to scan her surroundings. What caught her eyes, on top of the large number of players who seemed to be as confused as she, was a certain group who attracted everyone's attention.

Steadying herself against the truth behind the famous virtual reality game that everyone had been talking about, the white-haired maiden willed strength back into her legs, just as another sigh left her. ''Excuse me?'' The words clumsily rolled off her tongue as she made her way towards the gathering of strangers, walking with the same practiced posture she had been taught in real life. Portia had only kept that much of Lucille in her. ''I'm pretty much at a loss here. Anyone mind giving me a clue as to where should I head off? Seems like the designers went all the way out as to leave us to our own devices...''​

 

Emerath hadn't expected the first question posed to come from a man outside of the conversation. And before Emerath knew it, the man had walked up to him, puffed up his chest, and... completely ignored him. Emerath gave a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose as the man hit on someone that was clearly also a man. Unless that was intentional. More power to them then, he supposed.

But instead of focusing on this man, he tried his best to keep his focus on the newbies, one of which fractured his thoughts once again by shouting directly into the cave they were nearby. Emerath frowned, and raised an eyebrow at the girl, and he very quickly started to try to assess just what he had gotten himself into. What had started as two newbies was devolving into a mess. But she quickly realized what she had done, as she came to introduce herself and speak to the group as a whole. Though, Emerath couldn't help but note something to her after her comments, "Been around the block quickly? I'm not new to this game. I've been playing for a few months now. I just like to come To Honeyhome because it's a quiet little forest town that always feels warm and welcoming. And sometimes it's fun to come stare at newbies. Sometimes it's also fun to help them. So here I am."

Emerath didn't know what was in the cave though, so he left that to the girl's imagination, as he continued to ignore the topless man and his strange outbursts. Instead, Emerath gave light bows to each of the other two he had originally started with, accepting their introductions and making it a point to remember their names. Although something seemed wrong with Madison, as Emerath said, "It's fine, I don't like being around a ton of people either. Just avoid the 'king' as he calls himself and you should be fine."

Emerath moved on to Portia, after she spawned in and opened herself to the group, saying, "There is no direction except that which you choose for yourself. Although, your best options are at present, make friends here, making sure to avoid the shirtless man in particular, explore that cave, or go to Honeyhome and try to take a quest or just socialize." Emerath's eyes lit up as he thought about it and said, "In fact, that goes for everyone here. Those are basically the best courses of action. And if you're worried about the cave, well, I should be able to keep us alive in case we find something unpleasant." To try to emphasize this, Emerath pulled out some vials that were of various colors and followed it up with, "I'm a healer, as well as a damage dealer. But for the sake of helping you guys learn, I'd probably just watch."

 

_____Morpheus felt like he had been walking for hours, his feet sore and the straps of his sandals digging into his feet as he simply kept walking at his steady pace, every so often tapping the ground with his improvised walking stick, rather the tree branch he broke at some point for it slapping his back when he moved it out of his way. A spoil of battle he would call it if someone asked him, but as the old man seemed content with his peaceful nature walk a loud voice and comottion got his attention.

”You children seen a girl roughly your age in armor, or one older woman with a little cloths and a scar over her nose?”

_____His voice held age, the tone loud to make up for the distance he still had to cover and after a few moments he would be in view should anyone look to the south. His branch-cane tapping against a rock as he approached. He almost looked too old to be a player, but he simply wanted to look close to his own age as he kept his steady pace and stopped at moments. Mostly because he still felt sore from the branch lashing, but it also looked like an NPC lagging out before them, adding onto his error of coding with his next speech. His mind forgetting what was asked a moment ago and simply speaking from the old man book of bad influence.

”If you all are trying for an origy your doing it wrong, reminds me of my first back in Los Vegas in what year was it… fourty-three? No no that was my third… oh right nineteen forty, the day i met my wife god rest her soul, back then she could just go and go and go… who the hell are all of you? What are you doing on my lawn!” If only someone had reminded Morpheus to take is medican the morning before he got onto the game...

 

Zaendal, huh? Odd name – not very feminine. Though King would usually mull over these strange things, he was easily distracted by the response he was getting. She was flirting back! Like a fish on a hook, King followed the motion of the hand, grinning all the way up.

His eyes flicked over to the next. Madison! A much more feminine name, very suiting of her shapely figure. He would've introduced himself were it not for Goggles the Arrogant cutting him off telling people to avoid the 'king'. Excuse? King huffed and crossed his arms under his glorious pecs. "You got a problem with me, man?" he asked. "I don't just call myself King, that's my name you pleb!"

With a flourish worthy of applause, King smoothed back his hair and grinned at all the present ladies, white pearls practically shining. "The name's Hyunivas," he smiled, "Kingoda Hyunivas."

It would've been a great introduction if it weren't for some smelly old fart stumbling into the premises asking around for a little girl and a woman. He frowned at the old man, scoffing inwardly. What was this? Some guy trying to be 'hip and young'? "Look," he tried to start – promptly cut off by the old man's crazy rambling.

King thought back to a peculiar little gremlin. This oldie and that midget would get along, what with their penchant for insane rants!

He took a deep breath. "This ain't your lawn, old man! And how dare you imply any of these fine maidens would be so crass as to be in an orgy!" Obviously there was no orgy attempts here! It was just the beautiful beginning of a budding harem – and Oldie and Goggles were ruining it. His hands shifted from being folded under his armpits to being firmly pressed at either side of his hip.

"Goggles, you been in this cave before?" he pointed to the very cave that Freja had just screamed into not too long ago.

 

“Aww, how sweet,” Freja answered the King’s compliment nonchalantly. Her smirk only widened—although not because she was instantly falling for him as he was likely to interpret if he saw it. No, she could already see King ogling Madison - again - and at this rate the young blonde that also spawned into their club was liable to be next. Clichéd logic dictated the best way to deal with someone like King was a smack over the head, or pulling him away by the ear, but the fact was this was starting to feel more like a mixer—the sort of setting Freja, or at least the player behind her, knew all too well. People getting rowdy and flirty as they got acquainted with fellow strangers was all too common, and attracted all sorts of characters. And the best way to handle someone like King in these types of situations was . . .

Well, better to see what sort of place Honeyhome was, first. She looked back at their local veteran, swamped as he was, with more mischief in her eyes. “Emerath, right? In your opinion, what’s the strongest—”

Her train of thought was almost broken when yet another stranger popped out of seemingly nowhere, this time an old man who acted the part as much as he looked it. At first Freja looked at him, then the rest of the menagerie, with a bit of concern, only to calm herself with the assurance that there was simply no way the elderly could have a vested interest in modern video games, and this was likely somebody taking an act very, very seriously.

Wait. Did he just ask them if trying to have an orgy? Out in the middle of the woods? This wasn’t some cheesy horror B-flick. No, wait, he was giving them advice on how to do one right?

Freja couldn’t help but let out a hearty chuckle. Yeah, this was basically one of her mixers. Looking at the old man with mirth, she said, “Sorry, Mr. Las Vegas, haven’t seen anybody like that. But stick with us and maybe you’ll meet ‘em! We’re a regular party magnet right now!”

Obviously far less appreciative of being knocked off his throne on cloud nine, King tried to deflect the topic back to the cave Freja spawned in front of. Sure, it didn’t look welcoming, but at the same time, this was the starting area, and the one veteran of the group seemed unconcerned as well, though it may just have been that much difference in strength. Still, they had the advantage in numbers if anything bad decided to show up. Between this and Honeyhome, it was going to be a tough decision on where they should actually go first, even with Emerath’s advice. Maybe it’d even come down to a vote.

Eventually, she admitted, “I guess I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to hear a little about the cave myself. I’m the one who showed up screaming like a bat out of hell, after all. Almost literally!” She laughed.

 

Emerath had been expecting the outburst from King, but not one from a random old man. As the old man stormed into the clearing and started talking about some rather disgusting topics. This was quickly devolving into sheer madness, and Emerath wasn't sure if he could keep up with it.

"There is not an orgy here, and this isn't your lawn," Emerath quickly explained to the old man before being hailed by King, to which Emerath turned with a grin. "What a silly name," Emerath replied as the man explained that King was his name, but Emerath otherwise let it go. The women seemed capable of handling the man on their own, as they threw their own jabs at him. Although King seemed to not be paying attention. The only one Emerath wasn't sure about was Zaendal, who seemed to be returning the favors in full force. Boy would King be in for a surprise. The women had little interest, and the only one who did have interest was a man. Emerath gave a chuckle as he tried to focus on yet the next person to hail Emerath.

Freja, the girl he remembered as screaming got his attention, and Emerath could imagine that she was going to ask him which the strongest mastery or something was, but she got distracted by all the goings on. Emerath sighed, he would have rather loved to answer that question literally by picking up a tree. Or her, with his Heroic Might. But it was not meant to be. Instead the conversation shifted to the cave, and Emerath rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"To be frank guys, I have no idea what's in that cave. But you know, I'll bet with everyone spawning here it must be something interesting. Maybe treasure? Maybe it's a test for newbies? I'll bet it even has an invisible wall to keep veterans like me out. You could get some privacy away from me and learn at your own pace without any guidance," Emerath explained with another chuckle. He was lying of course. Emerath had yet to encounter any such thing in this game. No walls, no loading screens, no MP gates. He mostly said this to see if King would go running off, wishing to be rid of "Goggles".

 

King's eyes lit up. "How about we all check out the cave?" he said, rather enthusiastically. Hell, he even took charge and started strolling towards said cave, unsheathing his sword. "Don't worry, ladies. I'll protect all of you."

Anything to get away from Goggles. Ugh.