Cries echoed through the plains.

Not the peaceful shouts of small children playing, but the terrified screams of injured people. Hectic steps, metallic clangs, and curt commands would cut through them from time to time, always followed by more animalistic howls. A battle was unfolding. And given the never-ending cacophony, it wouldn’t end soon.

Following the sounds, one would find a small valley with a shaking pile of rags right in the middle. And only a small group of adventurers stood between the pile and a horde of monsters. Two archers, a spearman, and a shield maiden tried their best to guard the cowering peasants. Their desperate fight for survival was worth its own song, but no bard would tell this story in a smoke-filled alley bar.

Because between them and their foes stood a heroic ax warrior and weathered the storm alone.

One glance was enough to identify him as their leader. Though it wasn’t his bearing or commands, but the quality of his gear. Armor engraved with complicated runes, weapons made of the finest materials, flashy skills and a health bar three times the normal size above his head. This radiant warrior was an elite who towered above everyone else in the valley.

I was this warrior.

Their protector.

Their savior.

“Aki! Don’t daydream and fall back!”

Surprisingly, one of the archers led the small group from the back, admonishing the struggling warrior.

So here’s an interesting fact I learned after a few months inside this game. Levels and gear amount to nothing when you can’t control your character. Therefore even a max level warrior would struggle in the beginner areas, getting all beat up by small fries and holding his teammates back. There stood a radiant warrior, overpowering and mighty, with his health in the critical area below five percent.

And - sadly - that failure of a player was me.

One glance to see the shining exterior. But a second to spot the wooden movements, the scratches, the small wounds and the distance between the lone fighter and the remaining group in the back.

Failure.

This time for sure. I had told myself that when I entered this group. But the result?

Another failure.

Would they believe me if I told them my strengths lie in fights against bigger monsters? Only those small and fast ones are too much for my reaction, slipping through my swings and attacking my weak points. Should I take them to the ogres and show off a little? Or tackle the recent Minotaur event?

Another wasted moment. The next impact. A fresh wound. And my health bar emptied itself.

Death.

Or so one would think.

But high-level skills prevail!

A small timer in the top-left corner gave me all the information I needed. Passive defender class skill Fortress activated. Two minutes complete damage resistance, freezing your health at one hit point, and accelerated stamina recovery. A new lease of life for the slain warrior.

I loved this skill. Not only would I survive more battles thanks to its effects, but it also looked great. No camera rotation needed to imagine the red glowing eyes under my helmet. Epic, if I say so myself. And another chance to impress those unknown players behind me.

“Ugh! Did he just use Fortress against some low level mobs?”

“I can’t! Why would a high-level player even use a defensive skill with a DPS character?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. He probably didn’t read the warnings in the forum and activated the polished stone gem by accident?”

“Maybe he was one of the early players and didn't know better when he was level five?”

“Urgh! I would have started a new character. You get those levels back up in no time. Instead he wastes our time with this.”

“Great. Just great. And I wanted to finish the new quest-line.”

Hey. I can hear you talking, you know? If you want to talk behind my back at least use a private channel. I will stomp your whole stupid group into the ground. Let’s see who laughs when your characters will eat dirt after half an hour. And afterwards I’ll go and do your precious quest-line on my own. No Exp for you!

Of course, I didn’t say any of that. Gear and level mean nothing if you can’t use it. And two minutes of invincibility was nothing in front of other players who could dodge and counterattack with ease. Even the defensive oriented Tanks avoided the Fortress skill like a plague and picked the more effective active skills.

It’s not like I wanted to use all these passive skills, you know. But some of us have no other choice, I complained inside my head, starting my slaughter inside the enemy group. Fortress might be useless against players, but low-level mobs with no AI to speak of became easy cannon fodder. No more dodging, no more priority on appearances. Just simple slaughter.

What were those mobs named again? I’m sure it was something with “gob” in it. Some stupid variation of goblin just to differ from all the other games. They still look the same with their child-like bodies and their green skin. They are still the same weak mobs, only attacking in vast groups. But at least they have fur now. Hurray for the designer - a job well done, a paycheck well earned!

Green blood to the left, green blood to the right, another dead enemy in front. It’s easy. I’ve done it so many times it feels like I can anticipate all their attacks. They always attack the same few weak-points. There goes another one. And another one. Feels more like a job than a video game, but it still fills my heart with some ease. Hey! Here I am. And I’m achieving something, no matter how small.

My high came and went by, leaving only some pocket change experience for the other players. And some low-level gear for me. What would I do without the copper coins from the sales? Starve to death? That would be a funny game feature. Would pay the designer double for that.

Anyway. Another failure it is. And so I could only steel myself for the worst part.

“So. Um… thank your for your help with the quest.” The archer approached me. “It was… fun… teaming with you. But you know. We… um… we already have another DPS waiting for us. He’s coming online soon and we can’t leave him waiting.”

Yeah. Not awkward at all. Why not come out clean and say >Hey! You suck! We don’t want to play with you because we want to have fun with this game.

“Oh. That’s fine. I also have another party I wanted to hunt ogres with later,” I answered. “It was fun hunting those… um… goblins… with you guys. Just write me later when you need someone to cover again.”

“Yeah… We’ll do that for sure. So… um… have a good evening.”

Using some weird wave emote they vanished from the valley one after another. Friend list - 0 of 83 online. So they went offline right before tackling the other quest-line? I sighed. It was just too obvious. Hence I returned their hospitality with a click on my own block button. No need to flaunt how I’m online all the time in front of them.

So what now? The next attempt? Perhaps some casual players would log in after dinner and appear in the city? Last week I met a pleasant girl and played tutorial NPC for her. Fun times. And she even told me all those weird stories from her school life. Maybe she will be online again tonight? Should I wait for her?

“Thank you, glorious hero, for saving us in our time of need. We would like to reward you, but all we have are the rags on our bodies.”

Um… NPCs? I’m planning my evening here. Interrupting is rude.

“We know your time is valuable and you have already done so much for us, but we hope you can find some pity in your heart and help us reach the city. We lost our protection and the wilderness is full of danger. But we still have a long…”

Yeah. Skip.

“Our tribe had an ancient agreement with…”

Skip!

“So if you can escort us…”

Skip! Skip! Skip! Skip! Silence.

So it is an escort mission? Babysitting NPCs alone? And with their bugged AI to boot? No, thank you!

“But hero, if you leave us alone, we’ll die and…”

Yeah, don’t care. We all die someday. And some peasant’s reward won’t be worth all the trouble. Nobody in their right minds does these, anyway.

So. Fast travel - the main hub.

I sighed as my view turned black. An escort mission sounds like fun. A few battles in a chain quest and a nice group reward afterwards. Sounds like fun. With your friends.

Another sigh.

>Every time you sigh, you let out a piece of Happiness

Weird thought. I should stop playing. No more failures today.

Opening my eyes in the city’s main square, my face noticeably slackened. Right in front of me was the memorial to the sword maiden. A beautiful woman, tall and slender, with silver-blonde hair. And with a face full of righteous anger, she was pointing her sword to the sky. The glorious defender of the past. And a revered ruler to her subjects.

That’s an NPC I would like to meet one day. Not some peasants in rags, but a loving woman with a compassionate smile. A handful months into the game and she was the best part. By far.

Not that someone like her would ever look at me. Although… the savior and the ax warrior, who couldn’t hit his enemies. Sounds like Beauty and the Beast. They could make a full DLC worth of content just with this. I would buy it for sure.

I chuckled to myself.

Let another sigh escape.

And logged off.