‘I feel like a trainwreck.’ Connor said as he opened up his eyes. He looked around slowly while getting up. ‘I must’ve fallen asleep then.’ he looked out the window to find out that it was very early in the morning and the sun was barely up.

‘I need to wash my face.’ Connor thought just before realizing. ‘Wait, would there be any running water at all?’ he sighed. Got up and started working out his body, flexing his muscles and getting ready for the day, not that he had anything to do other than wandering around.

‘Odd. It just feels odd sleeping and waking up in a game. Though it all feels so real.’ This was Connor’s first time ever sleeping in a VRMMO game. As usually if people did not go to sleep or disconnect for very long periods the games would disconnect them automatically from the game to prevent any health hazards. This was also one of the reasons why people could not sleep in-game. It was basically unheard of a game not forcibly logging you out, as it has been basically turned into law after people started to lose their lives many years ago when VR was just starting the gain popularity. All games were obliged to put some restrictions on the amount of gameplay or get risked being fined by the government.

After flexing his muscles for a bit, Connor moved in front of the window and opened it. Looking out, he could see the people bustling around in the streets, hawker shops starting to operate and people carrying the things they need to their stores. ‘It all feels and looks so real.’ Connor commented.

The gentle breeze of the wind touching his body, the way people moved and talked and even the horrible smell of a medieval town. It all felt so real.

Suddenly Connor noticed a group, clad in some light-medium armour walking on the street. It was a group of five. Talking and discussing something amongst each other while laughing. Two men and three girls, it was safe to say that they seemed like young adults, if not teenagers. From the outside, it looked like they were really close friends. Close friends who were armoured and donned swords, spears and bows.

Connor observed the group walking for a bit, noticing that every time they passed closeby to a shop, the shopowner would come out and give them some stuff, for free, thanking them for their help.

‘Huh? Adventurers then?’ Connor guessed. Yesterday, Jeanne had given him a rundown on the basic structure of the town and the overall continent. Adventurers were basically hired for any job. Guarding a shop, escorting a caravan, subjugation, bandit hunting… ‘I wonder how much they get paid?’ Connor thought the system was a scammer. A scammer who destroyed the wallets of its users. Connor knew that if he had an internet connection and was able to login to the game’s forums, he would see a ton of people complaining about it. It was basically impossible not to complain.

‘Costs too much, no tutorial on how to start earning credits, or gold in this case. Dropped into a random area in the game. Well, hopefully, that is.’ he thought before starting his usual checks. He checked every feature of the system, was able to open his inventory, character sheet and shop while help page and logout were still not available. ‘At least tell me what the other options are… There is nothing on the HUD…’ he begrudgingly thought to himself. Because he could not open the help page, he did not know what other menu options there were, there was nothing on his peripheral that could help him with that.

He sighed before leaning on the open window and continued watching the adventurers.

“Hey Garvik, there is someone watching us.” one of the girls Connor had observed before spoke out to a young man.

“Everyone is watching us, Lola, we are adventurers. They want to be like us.” Garvik responded to the girl whose name was apparently Lola.

“It’s not like that. Look at him. Careful, don’t let him notice you.” Lola told Garvik. Before touching his arm and roughly telling him where he is. Garvik, following Lola’s words, carefully looked up and noticed a young, blonde man leaning on a window. Watching the streets, occasionally watching their group. Understanding what Lola meant, he frowned.

“Let’s move, don’t stand out too much.” Garvik told Lola and the rest of the group.

‘Did one of them just look at me?’ Connor thought for a second, it did really feel like one of the group members just gazed at him for a mere few seconds. He looked back at the group but everything seemed normal, the group though, hastened their steps and turned around the corner after walking a bit more.

Connor shook his head and turned around, stretching his arms out and shaking his body before opening the door of his room, heading out to the hallway. Looking around in the hallway, he found out that some rooms’ doors were mostly open with no one inside. Instinctively, he looked for a sign that said “Men’s Toilet” sighing to himself when he was not able to find it. He moved downstairs to the restaurant part of the inn, it was pretty surprising in comparison to yesterday as it was bustling with activity. Jeanne was serving the customers when she noticed Connor coming downstairs, stopped whatever she was doing and moved in front of him. Curtsying.

“Good morning my lord.” Jeanne said, making the people around the restaurant suddenly turn their heads towards Connor, noticing his eyes and hair specifically.

Connor was surprised at the sudden attention, he scratched the back of his hair while letting out a flustered smile towards Jeanne.

“Uh… Thank you, good morning.” Connor said before asking “What is with the number of people today? It is not even daytime yet.”

Jeanne smiled. “Adventurers wake up early my lord.” she answered before moving her finger to her lips, assuming a thoughtful position. “Though there was an animal subjugation for a whole week, a lot of adventurers are returning from that quest issued by the Adventurer’s Guild.” Jeanne answered his question.

Just last week, the Adventurer’s Guild had issued a quest, there was a village to the north of Sethra where wolves attacked. Killing several children and several adult men who were trying to fight them off. The village chief sent a messenger to Sethra, asking for the Adventurer’s Guild to issue a quest to the adventurers to save the village and get rid of the wolves.

“Their teeth was at least this big!” one of the adventurers yelled out, attempting to convey his friend the teeth of the wolf he had fought in the village with his hands.

“I saw one of the rookies’ leg get bitten off. It was so gruesome, the damned wolves were huge.” another adventurer added.

“Fackin’ guild only gav’ us 25 silvers for the quest.” one bearded and burly adventurer complained which got nods of approval from the rest.

‘Seems like 25 silver is worthless for adventurers… or was it the risk factor?’ Connor mused.

‘I need to find a way to earn some coins. The 5 gold I received from the system won’t last long.’ he was already down 5 silver and had only 4 gold and 95 silvers remaining. In total, it was 495 silvers. Suddenly, he remembered that he wanted to ask Jeanne about the prices of the meal and stay.

“I forgot to ask yesterday, how much does a breakfast, dinner and stay cost in total per day?” Connor asked.

“That depends, my lord. You ate a plate of meat, soup and bread yesterday. Including the water my lordship initially asked me to bring you, that would be 3 silvers. And as I have mentioned to my lordship yesterday, a night of stay costs 1 silver. Any special requests such as preparing the bath would cost extra.” she answered.

‘Oh so, they do have baths. Nice to know. However… what the hell are those prices?! Just one little steak, soup and some bread costs 3 silver? That is 3 days of stay!’ Connor thought, considering he had paid 5 silvers, the 3 silver alone was for the meal, that meant he only paid for two nights of sleep at the inn. ‘At this rate, I will be running out of money sooner than I think.’ Connor thought to himself.

“Where is the Adventurer’s Guild located?” he asked Jeanne.

“Ah, at the end of the street in front of our inn, turn right my lord. You’ll see a four-story building. Usually bustling with activity so you will find it easily.” she answered Connor’s question.

“Thank you, can I get some breakfast please?” Connor smiled towards Jeanne.

‘So handsome…. So polite…’ Jeanne thought as she was blushing.

“Please, sit wherever you want my lord! I will bring you the best breakfast set we have immediately!” she replied.

Connor went to one of the tables on the side and sat. He was looking forward to visiting the Adventurer’s Guild to earn some coins… but food came first.