“Can I at least get your name?” Kal asked.

They kept a brisk pace throughout the streets. They’d been walking a good 20 minutes with barely a word. Several times they’d taken a left only to go right a couple more times. Kal was sure they’d been taking the long route to wherever.

“Frederick," he spoke in his hurry. A nameplate appeared above his head.

Frederick Howarth

They passed through the crowds of a market. Scents filled the air as merchants peddled baked goods alongside dozens of delicacies Kal couldn’t recognise. As they moved, Kal could barely make out the difference between NPCs and players. He imagined given more time to gawk he’d know just by their actions, but he didn’t have time to stop at this moment.

Kal was mostly sure nobody was following, but he allowed Frederick to lead them through the streets of the city. There were probably rogue types with adequate stealth skills to trick his virtual eyesight. If the shadows had moulded to his form with his basic stealth skill, who knows what more advanced tricks were available.

Each face they passed Kal treated with suspicion. He could be in combat any moment if he didn’t keep himself wary. Though not scared of the prospect of a fight, Kal was well aware that the beginnings of a questline could rely on Frederick’s wellbeing.

Eventually, the older man led Kal to a narrow alley. They passed through several tight archways, daylight barely making it way into the claustrophobia-inducing path. Ahead of them, a small inconspicuous wooden door stood. It had no handle or discernible locking mechanism.

Kal expected Frederick to knock on the door and wait for someone from the inside to let them in. But instead of rapping his fist against the wood, Frederick touched his palm to it. There was a soft glow as the man fed mana into the doorway. Several heartbeats later there was a semi-audible click, and the door swung inward.

“In.” He instructed.

Frederick waited for the walls to seal before feeding magic into another hidden mechanism. It seemed the merchant was taking no chances with people sneaking in, even if it meant he was stuck in a sealed room with them. The next door opened into a well-lit atrium.

Now in the building proper, the decor became luxurious. Kal followed into some kind of meeting room. A rectangular table was the centrepiece surrounded by eight wooden chairs, each padded by a red leather back. Behind the table, a painting hung on the wall. It depicted what must have been the city, the characteristic spires of the castle stretched out towards a sunlit sky. It was an impressive piece of art, Kal could make out individual brush strokes.

Frederick sat at the table and motioned for Kal to do the same across from him. He picked up a crystal decanter half-filled with a copper coloured liquid. Without asking, Frederick poured two generous glasses of the stuff and slid one across the polished table to Kal.

“Welcome to my home.” He raised his glass “to convenient coincidences.”

“To that.” Kal agreed, taking a sip of the liquor. It was a stunning spirit, punchy and full of complex flavour. He was no connoisseur, but he could detect some honey and vanilla tones.

“Now that’s out of the way,” Frederick gave a knowing look. “Tell me how a traveller like yourself, of such pitiful low level, also happens to be an Oathkeeper?”

Kal almost spat out the second sip of his drink. How does he know? Even my enhanced perception skill said nothing of level or class for Frederick.

“Yes, I can discern more than meets the eye about yourself from a mere look. Though I must admit, I didn’t realise until after your altercation in the alley.” The older man smiled as if remembering a fond memory, “which I never thanked you for. So I appear to be in your debt.”

Kal wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth but had no idea what to expect from the man. He appeared to be no stranger to money, but would that be any use so early into the game? Frederick seemed to read the internal struggle that Kal was undergoing, “I’ll pay you back in time, don’t worry for now. Unless there’s something you had in mind?”

“No, for now, we’re good. But I think you owe me at least some information. Who are you?”

“As I’m sure you already know I’m Frederick Howarth. I’m a merchant, well mostly, I deal in artefacts and rarities. My buyers tend to have particular items in mind, and I try my best to procure such things to satisfy their needs.”

“So you’re an antique dealer?”

“That would be a simple way of putting it, yes.” Frederick conceded.

“And who was the guy and what did he want these gems for?”

“I’m not certain who the man was. He could have been part of any number of groups. As for the gems I had. They’re not really gems. They can be used to track down one of the ancient relics.”

“The same relics that were scattered by the old King of Alterion because his son went mad with power?”

“You know of their story?”

“I was at the last battle. I don’t know if all the travellers had the same experience. But my initial entry to this world was during this battle.” Kal explained how he’d fought alongside Alex and Arron of the kingsguard, he left out the whole, saving the king and perhaps the world part. He doubted he’d be believed and was unsure it was a unique experience.

“Arron Crealt and Alex Storm, legendary kings guards of King Balenie?”

“Yes.”

“You’re him?” Frederick asked incredulously. “You’re that Kalir? Who aided Balenie in combat?”

“I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I’m sure my contribution to that fight has been vastly overstated.” Kal didn’t want to bring any high expectations upon himself just yet, he was in no disagreement about his pitiful level

“Perhaps. But I’ve read about your actions. You caused ripples throughout this world. Perhaps changed the course of our history.”

Kal wasn’t so sure about that. Surely there was little chance his actions in a tutorial could have much difference to the world. He’d watched countless developers interviews talking of a robust and dynamic system which adapted on the fly, but these implications were a bit too far. Or perhaps not, Kal had spent very little time in the game and so had nothing really to base his knowledge off except what these NPCs told him.

“Look, from my point of view, the battle took place yesterday. I was then summoned here into the city with the other travellers.”

Frederick looked down at his glass, brows furrowed. “There’s still much we don’t know about you travellers. The first of you began arriving about a year ago, but that was only a few people. The main bulk of you have arrived in the last month.”

That made sense, there were a few leaks of information during the closed beta period. The NPCs were probably created around that time, or earlier. Kal imagined the game engine had filled the world with NPCs and their backstories, using the alpha and beta periods to flesh them out into the realistic characters that existed ready for launch.

“You do realise I can’t allow you to sell the crystal.” Kal wasn’t sure what would happen if he failed an oath, but he wasn’t willing to find out so soon. Extrapolating from his short encounter with the rogue from earlier, he could guess that the black market had no philanthropic plans.

“You think I’d just sell it to just anybody?” Frederick’s blue eyes glared at Kal, he huffed loudly at the offence. He finished the rest of his glass in one large gulp.

“To be honest, I don’t know. All you’ve told me is that you’re a dealer of rare items.” Kal reeled back, he’d expected a disagreement, but more along the lines of monetary value. “I’m sorry to cause offence, but I made an oath to the old king himself. He personally made me an Oathkeeper, and though I’m not too sure what being one entails I’m a man of my word. I’m to keep the relics out of unfavourable hands by whatever means necessary.”

Kal wasn’t sure why he felt such a compulsion to protect the game world. He’d been here not even a day, but he knew he felt right by his words. Every NPC he’d met so far had been so real, more than just some lines of code and scripted dialogue.

After listening to Kal’s outburst, Frederick appeared to calm, “You are right, I’ve done little to convince you that I’m not in this for personal gain.” He paused, eyeing up Kal who felt that he was having his very being inspected. “I’m going to take a leap of faith here. If King Balenie really made you an Oathkeeper, then I’m willing to trust you too.” Frederick reached into his robe, pulling out a silk pouch. He pulled at the drawstring and dumped the contents on the table. Out fell a pair of violet crystals. They landed on the table with a soft thump, an invisible barrier preventing their surfaces from actually colliding with the wood. “I’m giving these to you Kal, I couldn’t manage to work them anyway. Perhaps your links to the king will be of use.”

Kal instinctively reached out for the crystals. Gripping them, they moulded to match the shape of his palms as he gripped them. His hands cooled as the crystals extracted energy from his skin.

Would you like to absorb data from this waypoint crystal?

Yes / No

“Apparently it's a waypoint crystal. I somehow can absorb something from within it.”

“You can access it?” Frederick his voice increased in pitch, his eyes sparkled like an excited child. “Do it!”

Kal chose ‘yes’ and felt a tingling sensation course up from his hands. When the feeling stopped, Kal had a mental tugging which he could dismiss at will. When active, Kal knew which direction he’d find his prize.

“I know where I need to go.”

“When you leave, perhaps I’ll join you. It's time I left Firsthaven. But first, you need to get some levels. You can have our guest room for tonight if you wish.”

Kal took up his offer, he’d log out while his character slept. He wanted to find out what people were saying on the forums, get a bite of real food to eat. He would need to be up early to grind.