Plat felt himself falling through the blackness, a small light in front of him. He yelled with excitement and fear at the experience. A blue box pooped up in front of him:

Check InYou are on your way to the world of Everlife. As a human, you have 3 cities to choose from to start your adventure:

RostwoodClevenheimNilcoon

As you most likely cannot click the button with your hand while you are falling, please say clearly one of the following words: Frontier, Capital, or Port.

"What the frack!!!" He screamed as the light drew closer and closer.

Incorrect. Please say clearly one of the following words: Frontier, Capital, or Port. If you do not choose quickly, you will be deposited randomly.

"Ahhh, okay, okay. Frontier!" Plat shouted at the top of his lungs.

Confirmed, Frontier town, Rostwood chosen. Enjoy your game.

Plat entered the light and was blinded by it, so he quickly shut his eyes. For a few moments, he felt weightless, then he felt the ground beneath his feet. Opening his eyes, he looked around and was shocked by what he saw.

Plat stood in the middle of a plaza, a water fountain beside him. Every once and awhile, a flash would occur, and a new player would appear in the plaza. Glancing around, Plat noted the various stalls with merchants calling out their wares to the players.

"New Player discount, only for the next two sun cycles! Best weapons in all of Rosewood!"

"Armor! Get fine leather armor right here, made from local animals!"

"Meat Pies! Everyone loves Meat Pies!"

Ignoring the sharks, Plat made his way down the street toward the gate. A large wooden wall stretched around the town, with a single stone gate opening it to the outside world. A Plat approached, he notice construction of a stone wall behind the wooden one. It was clear that it had just been started, and would be a long time til it would be complete.

As he approached the gate, he noted a high number of guards going and coming from the gate. One of them noticed him as he neared and walked up to him.

"Hold their traveler, what is your business at the Rostwood Gate?"

"I seek to travel outside these walls good sir, I mean to test my strength." Plat felt a little silly saying these things, but he felt it was best to play along and act like a part of the world.

Status UpdateFor your polite actions, you have earned +1 Charm.

The soldier looked Plat up and down with careful eyes, then barked out a laugh.

"Young traveler, while I respect your desire to prove your strength, you are far to weak right now to leave this town. At the very least, you should visit the training hall, the library, the mage tower, and the guard post here at the wall. Once you have done that, go to the Adventurer guild and have them study you for your ideal job."

Quest AddedNew town Part 1You need experience, knowledge, and a job class to safely leave Rostwood. Travel to the Training Hall, the Library, the Mage Tower, and the Guard Post to learn about job possibilities.

Plat looked at the job notification and smiled. Now he had a goal and the instructions on how to reach it. He checked the time table. It was Sunday night, and he had school tomorrow. Game time ran 4 times faster than real life, so he had 16 hours in game to play before he would have to sleep.

Plat turned back to the soldier in front of him.

"Can I look into the guard house as my first stop to becoming stronger?"

The guard smiled down at him and nodded. "You may indeed young traveler. Go around to the side building connected to the gate. Enter there and talk to some of the guards off duty, they will be glad to share a tale or too of their profession. A word of warning though, do not distract on-duty guards or the guard captain. They are quite busy and may not be patient with an inexperienced warrior like yourself."

Thanking the guard, Plat wandered around to the stone building next to the gate. It stood long, with a second story and many windows. As he walked in, he was overcome with noises of laughter and talking.

The lower level of the guard house held the same atmosphere as a tavern, without the beer and serving wenches. Tables and chairs lined the floor, with many being used by guards who were eating their fill of a meal. A look to the left brought a serving line into view, where some cooks were giving the guards their meals. To the right, a notice board was set up. Upon inspection, it seemed to give guard work times, duties, dates, and other important information.

Plat looked around until he saw a table with an open chair. He walked over to it and sat down, looking at the other occupants. 3 soldiers were already at the table. They all had short hair, two looking like brothers and the other an older man with a scar on his face. The older one raised an eyebrow as Plat sat down with them.

"And who young man are you? Too weak to be a guard, to bright eyed to be a servant boy, hmm?"

"Good day sir, my name is Plat and I was wondering if I could get you to share some wondrous stories on your profession." Plat said earnestly.

The two brothers spit out their drinks in the air as they began laughing a riot at Plat's words. One began banging the table with his fists and the other fell out of his chair, so amused were they. The older guard gave them a withering look as they struggled to regain their bearings. He looked back at Plat and locked eyes with him.

"Boy, do you know what you are asking?"

Plat, who had been watching the brother with confusion, returned the look and shook his head. "No sir, I do not think I do. I merely wanted to test my strength outside the walls, and was instructed by a guard to grow stronger first. He told me the guard house would be a good place to start."

The old guard fixed him a hard, even stare, then smiled. "He was correct, you are too weak to leave the safety of Rostwood yet, and I like your fire boy, so sit and let me tell you about what it means to be a guard."

The old guard leaned forward and began to explain the soldier profession to him. Guards, soldiers, cavalry, honor guard, and watchmen all fell within the overall tree of the soldier profession. If Plat chose the job, he would start out as a patrolman, basic infantry, or squire. He would be given ample training time and the occasional job to complete for the crown. As he would gain experience, he would be given better jobs and equipment. Once he had finished certain assignments, he would rank up to a next level job. This was unique to the soldier profession tree, the other professions required personal accomplishments, certain abilities, specific knowledge, and/or permission to acquire a job. Soldier profession required a rank up by a superior, while everyone else merely had to say yes to the game. In other words, besides being a soldier, a player could become any class as long as they met the requirements.

Besides the basics of the soldier profession, the old guard regaled Plat with stories of his youth: fighting monsters and cutthroats, saving caravans from disasters, being present for the commission and creation of Rostwood forty years ago. Plat was enthralled by the old soldier's tales of gallantry and heroism, even if most of it was probably exaggerated for the sake of story-telling. Looking at the time, Plat was shocked to find that 2 hours had passed from listening to the old man talk.

Nervously, Plat thought about how he could end the conversation without insulting the guard or disrupting his quest. His eyes lingered on the two brothers, who had nodded off a while ago with their eye open. From the way they slept, Plat had a feeling that they were used to the old man talking ears off. A devious thought came into his head.

"That's amazing sir, to hear you were apart of all these feats of heroism." Plat crowed to the old guard, "I bet these soldiers next to us do not have nearly as many to tell as you."

Failing to hide his grin, the old soldier barked a laugh, "They may be young, but these two have had their set of tales, don't you lads." Leaning back, the old soldier waited on the brothers to respond. Failing that, he leaned toward them and stared at them with an ever harder face.

Narrowing his eyes, the guard got up and marched over to the food line. There, he retrieved a water jug and marched back over to the table. Pausing a moment, he unceremoniously dumped the water over the two brother's head. Startled into wakefulness, the two fell out of their respective chairs with a sputter and leaped up immediate in a battle ready posture. Noticing the laughs of the other guards, the brothers relaxed and adopted embarrassed faces.

The old guard gave them a glare, "It is polite to listen to your superiors and not fall asleep while he is talking." The brother's faces turned into tomatoes as he continued talking, "I think you too need to remember this while you buy the next round at the Raunchy Wench."

Cheers from all the men erupted at his words, while the two brothers turned into ghosts.

The guard turned back to Plat. "Good lad, listening dutifully to your elders. I'd be glad to welcome you into our ranks anytime." He turned to the men and raised his voice, "Now everyone back to work!"

"Yes Guard Captain!"

Paralyzed with realization, Plat watched the old man walk off to the stairs for the second floor. He'd been listening to the head of the guards the whole time!

Quest updatedNew town Part 2You need experience, knowledge, and a job class to safely leave Rostwood. Travel to the Training Hall, the Library, and the Mage Tower to learn about job possibilities.

Status updateYou have shown remarkable patience listening to the Guard Captain of Rostwood. You have gained the title, The Listener. For your actions, you have gained +1 luck and improved relations with the Guard Faction.

He blinked, reading the update in front of him.

"The listener? What's that even mean?"

He clicked on the title, bringing it up in front of him:

The Listener

Granted to those who show immense patience with listening. When equipped, others will be more relaxed to talk to you about their problems and memories. Women will find you intriguing due to your listening prowess, but ignoring them will lead to severe consequences.