Tony flicked through the smattering of notifications that popped up as quickly as he could.

How annoying, he thought.

A majority of them were individual experience gain notifications and then there were all of the reminder notifications about speaking with his Ascendant Trainer:

You have gained Skill Points!

Speak with your Ascendant Trainer to unlock the Skills Tab!

You have unlocked an Achievement: Under-leveled Overachiever - Defeat an opponent 10 or more levels above yours in honorable combat

Tony took a moment to flick through the various tabs in his character menu now that he had some time to do so. He furrowed his brow and scowled; there was a lot to sort through. So annoying, he thought, bypassing the obvious glitch in the achievement.

Under "character," several sub-tabs glistened at him, clamoring for his attention: Overview, Status, Equipment, Attributes, Skills, and Traits. Many of them lacked the emboldening shine of the Overview and Attributes tabs. Tony guessed that this was the system's way of “graying out” options that were unavailable.

Besides the main “Character” tab, the Social, Quests, and Settings tabs gleamed, fully accessible to him. Focusing on a specific notification would bring up the associated menu, at least it had when Tony focused on notifications regarding quests. When Tony focused on “Usurp the Mad King,” the “Current Quests” menu had popped up. He tried focusing on the notification about his skill level-up.

Nothing happened. C'mon, work with me here.

He tried again and instead of nothing, the sound of TV static filled his ears along with a booming, authoritarian system voice:

You do not have access to this Tab. Speak with your Ascendant Trainer immediately.

“Great, now the system is on my back,” he groaned. Tony looked up from his menus, exasperated, and found he was now face-to-helmeted-face with the plate-wearing walking armory. He made the conscious effort not to jump out of his boots. "You ever hear of personal space?" Tony said. He put his hand up to the helmet and pushed, moving away instead of pushing the large man. The desired outcome achieved, Tony was content.

“Are you finished fiddle-fucking around?” the man said, his voice gruffer than a bear with coarse-grade sandpaper for fur, matching the absolute contempt in his piercing eyes. Tony got a feeling and decided to try something. Sometimes, when someone bullies you and you step up to them they can build some form of respect.

“Only if you’re done with being in my face,” Tony answered defiantly. A notification, barely visible, popped up in the corner of his vision:

D liked that

Your Social Link with D has increased to Level 1!

The man’s eyes did not soften so much as shift, like the same sandpaper bear deciding to adopt a human instead of eating them. “Good. Auren is waiting for us in the launch bay. Let’s go.” Tony was glad that he had stepped up to D, fairly certain that the increased Social Link level was significant in some way. He'd explore the social menus later.

Tony was positive that if he paused to focus on the notification he was likely to catch the back of a gauntleted hand across the face. Tolik had been able to send him flying and was sure that "D" would be able to do the same several times over.

He ignored the notification and followed the tank-like man out of the training grounds to the next hangar. “Are we going to another launch bay?” Tony asked.

"Yes," D grunted.

"Why?"

“Because we’re leaving the flagship,” D answered.

“Already?”

“We're going to bring you to another training zone.” Tony was about to say something when D cut him off. “I know that you just leveled and that you do not have access to the majority of your menus. As your Ascendant Trainer, I will unlock those for you.”

“Oh,” Tony muttered. He had hoped that Auren would be his Ascendant Trainer, and D seemed like kind of a jerk.

"Your show in the pits tells me that continuing to train you here would be a waste of my time and of your talent," D explained.

"W-was that a compliment?" Tony asked, flabbergasted.

D rolled his shoulders under the gargantuan gleaming pauldrons and continued down the corridor, refusing to answer. Tony jogged to catch up with a smirk plastered on his face. Soon enough, Tony and D were standing in front of Auren and a midnight starfighter. The craft was sleek and sharp at the same time and seemed to pull the surrounding light into it, blurring its edges. Tony circled the thing; it reminded him of one of the Naboo fighters from the Star Wars prequels.

Auren walked down the plank, his toga replaced by loose-fitting leather pants, banded faulds, and a lamellar breastplate. “Ready to go?” the Lord of Auras asked, a clear note of excitement in his voice.

“Yeah!” said Tony.

The three of them walked up the plank and into the ship. Despite the "stealth fighter" look on the outside, the interior was interestingly arranged. The cockpit was at the front and looked to be a bubble, though the outside showed no such protrusions, upon exiting there was a "deployment" area where seats to strap into were located. Subtle circular grooves on the floor that matched the size of the seats made Tony wonder if they were ejection seats or if the passengers were the intended payload. Beyond deployment was a lounging area, what looked like a couple of soda machines and food processors adorned a section of wall near a corner booth, from there was the cargo hold, which was mostly empty, and the plank. There would be room on this ship for maybe three more people beyond Tony, Auren, and D; unless one of them was another D, then maybe just one more.

After exploring the inside of the ship, Tony sat at the booth and scanned through the Social menus. He found the social link page and what he saw shot one of his eyebrows into his hairline.

Auren: Social Link Level: 3 | Acquaintance

D: Social Link Level: 1 | Begrudged Presence

Tolik: Social Link Level: -10 | Hated Enemy*

*Warning: This individual is likely to be hostile toward you

Tony hadn't done anything to Tolik other than to beat him in an unfair fight, where Tolik had the advantage. Why would he look at Tony as an enemy?

"Something wrong?" Auren asked, noting Tony's expression.

"Just a weird Social Link thing..." Tony half answered. He wondered if Auren would have any idea what he was talking about.

"Want me to take a look?" the god asked.

Auren, Lord of Auras has requested to share your Screen

Accept Deny

Tony focused on the accept option and Auren walked over to look over his shoulder.

"That is a little strange," Auren noted. Tony dragged his Achievement tab into the shared screen and pointed to "Under-leveled Overachiever."

"That one was a little weird too," Tony noted.

"How so?" Auren asked.

"Well, Tolik was only level six when we fought." Auren opened and closed his mouth, looking for the words to say in answer before D walked in.

"Tony, do you want to see something cool?" he asked.

Tony looked at him and quirked his eyebrow. "Uh, sure I guess."

“This will not hurt, much,” D said as he extended his hand out towards Tony and a flash of light erupted from his palm and shot into his eyes, riding the most direct pathway to his brain and then shooting through his entire nervous system.

"What the hell!" Auren shouted at D. Auren's mouth continued moving, but the sound of his heart pounding in his ears and a high-pitched whine drowned out all other sounds. Tony's body burned from the surface of his skin all the way down to the bone. Information seared itself into the fibers of his entire being and brain. His body was locked, roasting in place.

Tony's eyes flicked to his Status bars, his mana bar was at full and flashing chaotically while his health dropped dangerously by the second. Buffs and debuffs appeared sporadically all over his vision. His skin flashed, flickering between scorched meat and translucent blue, purple, and white scrawling code. Layers upon layers of symbols that he'd never seen before formed beneath the surface of his skin, lines intersecting with each other, and forming lattice networks. He felt every character.

Tony's HP hit zero and the bar flashed with the same chaotic rhythm of his mana bar. D had killed him.

Is this what dying in VR feels like?

His status bars shattered in the interface as every other symbol that had mounted in his vision detonated, sending him to a black screen in a shower of glass confetti.

Congratulations! Your menus have been unlocked.

You are unconscious.

Wake Time remaining: Unknown

You have unlocked an Achievement: The First One’s a Doozy