The arena was styled in gold and steel, lit from above, massive windows gleaming with reflected light against the darkness outside. Clear barriers separated the audience from the fighting area to protect them from stray attacks or spells.

The slowly-arriving audience consisted almost entirely of NPCs, judging by their commoner outfits and movement speed, but Maya did see a few players. None of them seemed particularly invested in the outcome of the fight, but there was a general air of excitement anyway. She wouldn't say the arena was anywhere near full, but there were a decent number of attendees.

Maya herself was beginning to doubt the wisdom of the idea. She had yet to die in the game and had no idea what it would be like. She wasn't sure, the closer it came, that she actually wanted to know. She was fine with never learning what death was like in this world.

But it was too late to back out now. She couldn't challenge someone and then not bother showing up. That would not be a good start to her new life here, nor her reputation. And she'd already spent all her money on this, so it would be a waste to give up without trying.

She paced her waiting area, checking on the audience occasionally, but mostly trying not to think about it. She had a dozen knives to throw and one spell.

All too soon the gate rumbled open. Maya froze. Why hadn't she at least improved her equipment? This was a terrible idea! Did it really matter at all what The Trickster thought of her? No, she shouldn't think about reasons to give up.

After already failing one quest, she didn't want to lose out on the chance to gain a bonus. Besides, this way, if she lost she'd succeed in her quest, and use that bonus 20 luck to negotiate for better deals on equipment. She could almost convince herself that was her plan all along.

She strode into the arena with the closest thing to dignity that she could muster. She didn't feel dignified, but hopefully the audience wouldn't be able to tell how terrified she was.

"Just a game, just a game, no matter how real it feels, get a grip Maya!" she whispered. It didn't help much.

Her opponent wore a set of vibrant blue half-plate armor which didn't cover any of his joints, with a darker material underneath. She couldn't tell from this distance if it was cloth or leather or chain mail or something else.

Jaydu bowed to her as the announcer boomed out the details of their matchup. She barely managed a nod of acknowledgment in reply. Her heart was racing and her hands trembling.

Jaydu, level 17, verses Maya Starborn, level 3.

Not that she wouldn’t try her best to win, but she got the distinct feeling that she'd be completing her trickster quest on the first try no matter what she did now.

She hated PVP. She really did.

And then the announcer shouted "Begin!" and Maya had no more time to prepare. Jaydu moved fast, much faster than Maya could. His bow came up, a glimmering bolt of blue-white light appearing as he drew back the string.

Apparently he used the bow to fire spells. Yikes yikes yikes yikes.

Maya began charging and overcharging her own Wind Whisper as Jaydu's light bolt grew larger and brighter, hoping she'd be able to cast before he fired.

She wasn't.

She had just started to overcharge when the bolt of light blazed off the bow and slammed into her in nearly the same moment, moving unbelievably swiftly.

-22 health.

Maya threw her basic Wind Whisper as she fell at where Jaydu had been standing, only for her attack to blow uselessly across the arena, sending up a small puff of dust in its wake. He'd moved somehow, seemingly disappeared between his attack and her own.

She scrambled to her feet and turned, trying to find where he'd gone to.There shouldn't be anywhere to hide in the wide open arena.

Something flickered in her peripheral vision, and she instinctively jumped aside. A ball of shadow, flowing and shifting like dense smoke, flew past her and splashed into the arena wall.

"Not bad."

Maya spun, and there he was, bow raised, already charging another bolt of light. Hissing with frustration, she began charging another Wind Whisper.

Jaydu grinned at her as his light arrow grew brighter and more solid. "I told you, there's no question who's going to walk out of here and who'll be respawning."

She desperately pushed out her spell at him before it could be disrupted, overcharged only once. It should have done 7 damage, but her opponent’s health bar barely shrank at all while her own already sat below three-fourths just from his one attack.

Then his light arrow speared into her, and she went flying.

-26 health. That left her with less than half, while Jaydu's health bar was still nearly full.

She landed hard on her back, dust puffing around her in a cloud. Jaydu began firing arrows in a rapid flurry. Maya tried to roll out of the way, but it was futile.

-3 health

-3 health

-3 health

-3 health

She had to take him down, there was no other way. She couldn't dodge fast enough, had no way to block. Offense was her only recourse. The moment his barrage ended, Maya began charging another Wind Whisper.

Jaydu began drawing back his bowstring slowly as darkness gathered around his hand, pointing directly at Maya. For seconds they didn't move, each charging an attack, each confident of the outcome.

Maya knew she'd die, but she was going to go out fighting.

Her ability reached full charge, then overcharged once, twice, four times, six times. She began to wonder if Jaydu was ever going to attack, but with her 2 second cooldown on Wind Whisper the overcharge made it far more dps efficient at the cost of energy inefficiency. At this point, she doubted she'd have time to get off another attack. She only had 35 health left.

Then her spell reached max, all her energy fed into the overcharge, and she fired. It should do 25 damage. She watched as Jaydu failed to even attempt dodging, allowing the blow and dropping his health bar by about a tenth.

If she had ten times as much energy, if she could hold out longer or deal damage faster, she might have a chance. But now she was out of energy.

Well, she could always punch him. She started running toward him, but before she closed the distance Jaydu fired, the ball of shadows flying toward Maya. She tried to dodge the relatively slow-moving shadow bolt, but it was too close and she wasn't moving the right direction.

She wasn't fast enough.

-40 health

Well, that was that. It seemed the gap between level 3 and level 17 was just too big.

“Good fight, newbie. This lasted longer than I’d expected.”

As darkness faded in, Maya couldn't help but ask herself why anyone ever found this fun. If it weren't for her class quest, she'd never have come here. And she had little intention of ever coming back.

Then she stood back in the waiting area, all her depleted bars zipping back up to full. Except that stubborn energy bar, which would only recover until it reached three points short of full. She'd have to investigate that at some point, it was really bothering her. Especially now that it tied up a whole extra overcharge level. If she’d had access to all 61 of her energy points instead of 58, she could have. . . done a tiny bit more damage to her opponent before losing anyway.

Maya sighed and turned her attention to the system messages.

You have lost a duel to Jaydu. You've lost your wager amount of 0 gold 0 silver 0 copper. There are no prizes awarded for a loss.

Challenge Jaydu to a rematch?

"Absolutely not." She flicked the message away and waited, but the expected pop-up about the completion of her trickster quest did not appear.

She brought up her mission log, and there it sat. Lose a fight to another player in PVP. No notification of completion. Maya frowned. She had definitely lost the fight. What was going on here? Was Jaydu an NPC or something? Was the level difference too much for it to count? What was she missing?

"Want to go again?” Jaydu asked, grinning as he strode out of the arena. “I could handicap myself to only using a single ability during our fight, if you want to try again. You were so eager, after all."

"No thank you." Maya said coldly. "I'm really not into PVP."

"Oh, this isn’t PVP. It's just dueling. I mean, it is a fight between players, but it is so much better than the unregulated brawling that passes for entertainment. Seriously, risking losing everything you own just to say you've beaten someone else? No thanks. Give me a duel any day."

Maya sighed and thumped her forehead against the nearest wall. Of course. Typical. She'd spent all her silver on the wrong thing.

"What's the matter?"

"I have a quest to engage in PVP. That's why I wanted to fight you."

"PVP quests? As a level 3 mage? That's outrageous. I don't think I've ever heard of that before." His grin widened. "I know I said it's barbaric, but if you're that eager to fight me, I'd be willing to give it a go. I mean, I'm sure to beat you, but does the quest specify that you have to win?"

"No. Winning isn't part of the quest." She didn't want to admit that the quest was specifically to lose. It was just so embarrassing. Not that she would fail deliberately. She'd try her very best to win, even if it was impossible.

"Well then. Just turn off your PvE flag and let's do this."

Maya thought, PvE flag, and a simple toggle came into focus in her interface. It had two settings, PVE and PVP. She flipped it to PVP.

You are now flagged as available for PVP and are no longer immune to other players' damaging attacks. You have 30 seconds to undo this change before it takes effect.

Maya waited. At the end of 30 seconds, Jaydu began glowing very faintly red. None of the other players in the area did.

"Ready?" he asked.

She nodded, and Jaydu began very slowly running his hand down his bowstring, blue-black power gathering where an arrow’s tip would rest.

Maya blew into her cupped hands, overcharging it with every bit of energy she had, then push the Wind Whisper out at her opponent in a sharp slash which struck Jaydu across the chest.

Jaydu grinned and slowly drew back his bowstring, aiming the now-massive black bolt straight at Maya’s chest. "Why didn't you use that attack earlier in our duel? A few more of those and you might've stood a chance."

"I did, it's the same attack as before. I just used all my energy on it this time. I wish I could fire three or four at that strength."

She looked around for his health bar, but couldn’t locate it. Then he released the attack, and it took out nearly half her health in a single hit.

She didn't give him time to draw his bow again. They were pretty close, so she rushed him. She got inside of his range and started punching. Without a health bar indicator, she wasn't sure if any of her attacks were doing anything through his armor, but at least she was too close for him to use his spell bow.

Unfortunately, the bow was not his only weapon. He dropped it into his inventory and in the same movement brought out a pair of gleaming daggers.

"Sorry. Guess I can’t stick to one attack this time."

He slammed both daggers into her chest, startling her into dropping her attack pattern.

-21 health

Before she could resume her attacks, he took a single step forward, somehow, even though she was standing right there, and disappeared.

She whirled, looking everwhere, but once again she couldn't find him. Maybe she should consider putting some points into whatever increased awareness next time she leveled up.

Then his massive black shadow bolt came out of nowhere and she was too slow to dodge it.

There was no fadeout, no arena alert. She didn't even have time to read the damage alert. Everything went red, then black, accompanied by a deep tolling note.

You've been killed by another player.

Item(s) lost: none

Character Maya Starborn has been locked for one minute. You can wait out the duration or log into a different character.

Maya didn't have any other characters yet, so she waited until the time ticked down and Maya Starborn, Level 3 Harpy, World 9352 turned from grey to gold and selectable. She promptly selected it.

Character Maya Starborn is dead. Choose a location to respawn. Available locations:

Sapphire Hall

Duel Arena Entrance

Player Apartment

Arrival Plaza

Maya deliberated for a moment, then selected Sapphire Hall. A moment later she stood in her room. And there, waiting for her, was a system message.

Mission complete: Trickster Day Two! Reward: +5 favor with The Trickster. Item(s) gained: Lesser Bracelet of Control

Maya grinned. Finally!

The item appeared in her inventory and she equipped it at once even though Control was one of the least useful stats to her right now. It increased her stamina from 59 to 68, which was fairly useless, but also added three to her health, bringing the total up to 97. That alone made it the best item she’d ever owned.

And, even better, she saw her energy finally at full. 61/61. Apparently dying had removed whatever lingering debuff she'd somehow obtained which had blocked her energy from ever quite refilling.

Once she'd finished admiring her reward, she sat on the edge of her bed to consider her next move.

Her ultimate goal of learning magic hadn't changed, though it would be more complicated now. But she also couldn't help thinking that Rominian had made some good points. If Domitius wanted to make world 9352 into something truly amazing, she should at least give him a chance before fully committing to Shardlord's faction.

She still wasn't sure she wanted to commit either faction. Could she help both? But she certainly wouldn't decide before learning more about them.

While the question of ultimate loyalty to factions was an interesting conundrum, it did nothing for her current lack of direction. Maya lay back and stared up at the ceiling for a long time. She thought over what she'd seen and done and heard, and tried to figure out what her plan should be for the near future.

Apart from the meta-questions of faction alliances and the fate of the world, her most obvious problem was her low level, and her complete lack of money.

She couldn’t stop thinking about how stupid she’d been, spending every last coin on a duel that wasn’t even a proper PVP. She could have bought at least something useful with that money. But no. She'd thrown it all away on a mistake.

Luck couldn’t prevent her from making bad decisions, apparently, only help or hinder the steps she took along whatever route she’d chosen.

Fortunately, both problems had the same solution. She needed to find some quests ASAP. She was the only level 3 in the game and that made her practically useless even if she did decide to join a faction.

Her first quest had gone badly, but today her luck was good. She had no intention of losing track of that again. If she ever rolled badly enough to be stuck with a luck of -20 or worse, she thought she wouldn't bother leaving her room. Spending the day in bed to escape her misfortune wouldn’t be very interesting, but she hated to imagine what havoc it could wreak on her life if she actually tried to interact with people on a negative luck day.

But that was a worry for another day. Today she had to focus on leveling. She could seek an audience with Shardlord. Appeal for some magic to be released to her. What was the point in joining a magic Academy if there weren't at least some perks? She would need a lot of gold as well before she could actually buy a few spells in the base game. Beyond that, she'd have to curry favor with Shardlord's faction to gain access to their created spells.

Bitterness threatened to overwhelm her again. She jumped up, unwilling to let it gain a hold on her, and strode to the door. She didn't need to know exactly where she was going to know that she had to move. In what game did you make any progress by sitting around at the spawn point?

The door stuck when she tried to open it. She instinctively glanced at her luck, which had flipped back to -100. It must be midnight.

She grabbed her Trickster’s Dice and rolled it before anything else could go wrong, heart suddenly racing. -29. Nope. She rerolled. -23. Not much better. Again. 35.

Maya smiled. Finally! Even with the -15 from having to roll three times, that would be +20! Her luckiest day yet.

And today’s quest. . .

New Quest: Trickster Day Three - Lose a duel to another player in the arena.

Maya stared at the alert, her hands clenching into fists without conscious thought. The Trickster just couldn’t let it go, could he? Couldn’t just let her have a good day. She could just picture him, giggling madly as he flicked through a database of potential quests, picking just the one to infuriate her the most and remind her of her mistake.

She didn’t care. She didn’t want favour with him anyway.

But. . . she did want the item rewards. She glanced at the Lesser Bracelet of Control on her arm. She’d spent enough time looking at clothing items at Harold’s to get a general feel for the value of items, and it was worth more than 3 silver. And this wasn't even for one of her preferred stats. She was excited to see what gains she could expect with a more mage-appropriate reward.

“Fine! You win. I’ll do your stupid quest.”

Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Level: 3 Affinities: Magical Physical Tier: 1 Class: Trickster Specialization: Path of Life Total Base Items Modifiers Sturdiness: 8 8 0 0 Momentum: 14 11 0 3 Agility: 9 8 0 1 Control: 12 8 4 0 Attunement: 10 9 0 1 Focus: 9 8 0 1 Intelligence: 12 10 0 2 Flexibility: 9 8 0 1 Luck: 40 35 - 5 Unassigned: 0 Health: 95 of 95 Will: 18 of 18 Stamina: 62 of 62 Energy: 62 of 62 Speed: 92% Switch penalty: -48%, 9.8 secs Stealth: 78% Chain bonus: +4% Awareness: 66% Cooldown: 95.5% Max abilities: 3 Abilities Abilities: [3 of 3] Wind Whisper

[5 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a light breeze, a quick gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/duration/dmg] 2.2 sec

5 dmg

(wind) Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 1.1 sec

3 dmg

(physical) Sense Balance Discern if an area is lacking in or has an excess of any materials, creatures, etc. Equipment & Inventory Item Name Slot Stu Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx Newcomer's Tunic Body Newcomer's Leggings Legs Lesser Bracelet of Control Arm 1 4 Trickster's Mask (Mage) Special Money: None Quality Item name Details Soulbound Trickster's Dice Soulbound Trickster's Orb 3/5 uses remaining Flimsy Shary's Orchard Brochure Normal Apple x2 Consumable Special White and Blue Orb 3/3 uses remaining Special Key - Arrival Plaza Apartment Expires in 29 days Normal Basic Throwing Knife x24 3 damage (physical) Special Key - Room 6, Sapphire Hall Missions Mission Description

Time Reward Trickster Day 3 Lose a fight to another player in the arena. 23h 58m Trickster's Reward

??? Trickster Day 2 Lose a fight to another player in PVP. DONE Lesser Bracelet of Control

+5 reputation with The Trickster Windy Creek Reconstruction Locate the missing workers' tools.

Construct a new dam to redirect Windy Creek to the mill run.

Clear the wreckage of the old Windy Creek Dam.

Complete construction of the new Windy Creek bridge. DONE 5 silver, 80 copper

25 reputation with Windy Creek village Trickster Day 1 Side with a person who is losing an argument or disagreement. FAILED -5 reputation with The Trickster Missing Delivery Find the overdue delivery boy. Ensure his safety and the successful delivery of apples to Shary's Produce Stand. DONE 5 copper

3 apples

+10 reputation with Shary and Elaph