“So…Balasi. What are you in for?” I said to another Mardukryon that was in the cell across mine. He was a level fifteen NPC. My day in the jail was nearly up so might as well mess with the NPCs.

“How do you know my name?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. He was a young Mardukryon based on his size. Not much older than me probably, following my in-game age.

“I have spoken with your God,” I said. I waved my hands like I was casting a spell. “I am not who I seem to be. I work for the company that created all of you.”

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “I don’t understand. Stop talking to me!” He furiously scratched his head and tried to dig out his horns beneath the skin of his temples.

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you!” I exclaimed. This was not the reaction I expected.

Then he reared on his hind legs while thumping his chests and roaring. He charged the walls of his cell, continuously head butting it. He went back to the grills of his cell and started to shake them, but the grills held strong.

“What the fuck…” I said.

“Don’t mind him too much. It could happen to the best of us,” a deep voice said.

I saw a large shadow crossed the floor. The warden’s back. He peeked into my cell and said, “Balasi here has bouts of rage. We have to keep him here for his own safety and the safety of others around him. His Trial of Fire did not go well.” He sighed and looked at the crazy Mardukryon while shaking his head.

Trial of Fire? That had probably something to do with the gold fire in the middle of the village. “Zaido, I’m supposed to go out now right?” I said to the warden, reading his name on top of his head.

“Yes, yes. I do hope you behave from now on. If you help our people, Marduk will guide you in your own Trial of Fire. May good fortune shine on you and may you not end up like Balasi.”

“You’re not surprised I know your name?”

He stared at me in surprise. “Of course you know my name. I took care of you after…what happened...back then.”

Now it’s my turn to stare at him in surprise. I have a backstory here? “I’m just kidding. I was pretending that I also went crazy like Balasi over there.” Zaido opened the door of my cell and I followed him. The corridor leading out of the underground prison was wide enough to accommodate his large frame. The way Zaido walked was slightly off, I wasn’t sure but there was something wrong with the timing of his hooves. I couldn't exactly point it out but somehow I knew that he was walking awkwardly. Was I getting adapted to thinking like a four-legged animal? “So. Um. Could you tell me again what happened back then? I hope it will inspire me when I take my own Trial of Fire.”

“Hoho, you’re nearly ready for your own Trial, right? It has been a hundred journeys of the moon across the sky since you lived in my house after your parents, good friends of mine died.”

“What? I’m Batman?”

“My wife also perished that night,” Zaido said as he stopped walking. “I still miss her.” He grunted and rubbed his nose. “I was injured that time as well and have been guarding this jail since then. Bad hind legs. Healer Gula did everything she could to reattach them.”

“Hey, Zaido! How’s it going?” A Mardukryon called out from another cell. He was a large one, more than level twenty.

“Is it time to let us out too?” Another said.

Zaido laughed and said to me in a loud voice so that the other Mardukryons would hear, “Don’t follow these people. They found some precious materials while mining and spent an entire night drinking to celebrate. They ended up causing a raucous and we had to punish them. Good thing they only destroyed the supplies of the miners rather than hurt other people.”

“They shouldn’t get angry with us. We found a new vein. A reason to celebrate,” one of the prisoners said with a sniff.

“Rules are rules,” Zaido said. “We only have ourselves here in this damn cold and isolated mountain. Always excercise restraint and help each other.”

“Go and be an upright Marukdryon, youngling,” the one inside the cell to my right said.

“Keep your hooves together! And don’t point your horns in the air while drinking,” his fellow said.

“What’s the punishment if another Mardukryon hurts another?” I asked Zaido.

“Notches will be cut into his horn so that he will never forget what he did, and he will be flogged before the Fire. His Solar Spirit will be restricted for some time using a ritual. We help each other here. Don’t forget that. We only have ourselves. No one hurts another Mardukryon.”

“What if a Mardukryon kills another?”

“He will be executed. If he escapes he will be hunted,” Zaido said simply.

I nodded. It would seem that being a Player Killer wasn’t the best choice here. You would automatically earn the ire of the whole village. Plus, you couldn’t get your equipment repaired. You won’t have any skills besides the racial tree and you won’t have any quests. Well, you could level up kicking things with your hooves but that would be extremely difficult, not to mention boring. But then again, there were people who would do insane things to prove a point.

Like finish a game with no armor or something. Or use the weakest weapon only. I remembered there were those sorts of people back then.

“Could you tell me about my parents?” I said. If my hunch was correct, I should probably get close to Zaido. He seemed to be someone who would help me.

“They were strong warriors. Spear-bearers both of them. My wife was a shield bearer, also me. I also was an Urus Warrior-Hunter. We were a team, usually go out in the same Hunts, you see. Very close friends of ours. That was why I took you in when they died. After some time, your relatives took care of you.”

I bet I know what killed them. “Um, it was a Lord Mirdabon that killed them, right?”

“Yes,” Zaido said, his face contorting in anger, “it was a Lord Mirdabon. The one we call “Buvalu”, a Lord Mirdabon that doesn’t have any patterns.”

Okay, so many questions. “What do you mean by patterns?”

“You’ll learn that when you join your Hunt. For now, the explanation I can give you is that Lord Mirdabons have set patterns when they move about these mountains. Foragers plant seeds along the way because they grow exceedingly fast. After a while, Hunter-Warriors accompany them to harvest these plants. Where do think we get most of our food in this wilderness of snow? Other animals don’t go near the Lord Mirdabon trails, but they are frequented by the monster offspring of the guardian of the mountain. That's why Hunter-Warriors go out and protect the Foragers.

"Sometimes we also hunt weaker monsters for their meat. The offsprings of the guardian provide more energy than other animals of this mountain.”

When I explored outside the village, I didn't go very far, which was most likely why I haven't seen more dangerous monsters. “Good thing I haven’t seen that divergent Lord Mirdabon yet. And I also haven’t come across a trail of plants,” I said, more to myself than to Zaido.

“Speaking of the Hunt, I heard that you went to the Hunter-Warriors and learned the ways of Urus. Are you choosing to be with them? I heard the current Bearer does not favor the Urus way of fighting.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’m actually going to join them. I just wanted to learn some basic fighting with the shield. That’s why I chose Urus.” Then I stopped. “Could you teach me about the Urus way of fighting?”

“Of course, you only needed to ask. I’m always happy to help you.”

I jerked my head back as his name above his head turned violet. “Oh, there’s a questline or something here.”

“I’m going to teach you what all Urus fighters know and keep inside their hearts.”

Lvl. 1 Defense is the Best Offense- Winning a battle rests on rendering the enemy unable to attack.

Additional Physical Damage: 5% of Armor will be added to Attack.

Duration: 60 Seconds

“Hey, isn't it supposed to be the best defence is offence or something. And that buff is quite the literal interpretation of the name of the skill.” I checked my armor. “Just 25 with my chest piece and the shield, that’s like one point something.” Not that great, for now. I bet this skill would be monstrous if levelled and I had craptons of armor.

Zaido cleared his throat. “Now that I have taught you this skill, maybe you could do something for me?”

“Yeah, sure. I bet you’ll help me more anyway.”

“Remember Beltis? My daughter? You played with her when you stayed with us.”

“Beltis…sure, I remember her. What about her?”

“She’s weaker than most Mardukryon children but she’s a really wonderful child. Always eager to help. She’s alone in my house right now. Usually, she goes over to our neighbor when I’m at work but they’re Foragers and they are seeding a Lord Mirdabon trail right now.”

“Yep, lots of people outta town because of that Hunt,” I muttered.

“Beltis, my girl, I know she’s responsible, I just wanted someone to check on her. I told Eliseph early this morning to play with her, but I don’t think he’s their yet.”

“Eliseph is the Little Pony. So he’s a he.” It was hard to tell Mardukryon genders apart if they’re not grown up. “Tsk, that Little Pony isn’t doing his job. Sure, I’ll go see Beltis. I’m sure she misses me.” The stupid Quest Update prompt appeared and I waved it away.

“Thank you very much. I’ll reward you when you come back.”

I started to walk to the door and then turned back. “I know I’m supposed to know where your house is but, where—” A glowing arrow appeared on my minimap. “Oh, there we go. One last thing. Was that Lord Mirdabon incident in the past, uh, was the husband of Healer Gula killed there?”

“Yes. He was.” Zaido shook his head. “You take care of yourself, youngling. Be careful when wandering outside the village.”

The Mardukryon jail was located underground. Its entrance was outside the village, so I wasn’t able to visit it when I explored the village. I kept on doing my usual routine, stabbing myself while Charging every time my stamina allowed it. It was tedious and boring to do, but hey, how was I supposed to get strong if I don’t work hard?

I slowed down as I neared Zaido’s house. Maybe I would uncover some questline here. That Zaido character was an interesting NPC. He felt somewhat “human” based on my conversations with him. I think that was to be expected with the advances in AI technology. We have an AI assistant in the law firm, a customized program we bought from SmartEngines, the leading AI developer for various needs of various corporation. Our AI’s pretty smart, it could answer most legal questions if you just phrased your question right. That was why we only have a few lawyers but an army of paralegals in our firm.

What was gnawing in my mind was the Dalkanus. I must have the wrong impression, but I had the feeling it understood my jokes. Which was impossible for machines, jokes being a human thing. Like love and anger…could AIs ever feel those?

“Hello, big brother,” said a voice, snapping me out of my deep philosophical bullshit thoughts.

"Hey you," I said to Eliseph. "You only arrived now? You were supposed to play with Beltis."

"I'm here to play with Beltis. Are you visiting her too?"

This AI was pretty dumb, like he has a limited pool of topics to which he had a reply. But the Dalkanus was nearly human level in holding conversations. Why does Little Pony, and the Elder as well, have dumb AIs? "So you haven't seen her? Let's go look inside the house."

The house was similar to the one I entered before I got sent to jail. The difference was that the utensils, tables and other furnitures were obviously made for different sized Mardukryons.

Little Pony called for Beltis but no one responded. I said, "Oh well, I guess it's not going to be a questline if it was this easily resolved."

Both of us went out. Another Mardukryon approached us, one of the guards patrolling the village. "What were you doing inside? Zaido's guarding the jail right?" the guard said, looking at us suspiciously.

Oh, come on, don't arrest me for trespassing again. Little Pony spoke up before I could explain.

Little Pony said,"We're looking for Beltis, Uncle Zaido's daughter. Have you seen her?"

"Yes, I've seen her when I went around here earlier. She walked out of her house carrying a basket. The one where you place firewood."

Little Pony thanked the guard and then looked at me with a worried face. Don't ask me how I knew it was a worried expression. I simply, automatically knew that it was a concerned face, even though Little Pony looked like a humanoid magma golem with four eyes and slits for a nose. "What's wrong," I said with a sigh.

"Beltis asked me to come by earlier so that we could gather firewood before we play, but I wasn't able to come early because I had to help my grandmother. I guess she went on her own."

"So we follow her then?"

"We should hurry. We have a favorite patch of the forest where it's full of dead wood still standing, perfect dry wood for making fire, I'm sure she would go there."

"And? I'm sensing there's a problem."

"The Pathfinders update said that a group of Feral Frost Macaques moved there."

Then there's the much anticipated Quest Update notification. "Okay fine, lead the way. And this is your fault, Little Pony." Little Pony turned to gallop for the village gate. "Hey, hey," I shouted at him. "I have to say something to you."

"What is it?" he said, turning back. "We should hurry."

"Nothing...it's just that I'm already one level higher than you."