Miles found himself staring a stone ceiling. He instinctively felt around for his bearings, gripping each side of the grey slab upon which he laid. Propping himself up, he saw that a priest was kneeling only a few feet away from him.

Revived at an altar, just like what the Amalgamate told me.

“Ah!” The priest snapped up after registering that Miles was shuffling around. “Thank goodness! I had almost taken you for a dead man! You were left in dire straights, my child! I know not of what circumstances you were in, but suffice to say that whoever did it had it out for you! O, Astra, I thank you for your blessings that you have bestowed upon this boy! O, for all life is precious, is it not? O joy, O, bountiful joy...”

This room is probably instanced. Otherwise I’d have five people spawned on top of me right now. And I can’t see past the shrine’s entrance...

“...O precious joy, O sacred joy, O sweet merciful splendor!!! My child, my dear blessed child, will you not tell me your name? I will commit it to memory, so long as I live, for no one graced by Astra’s love is not worth remembering...”

From what it mentioned, there’s no such thing as a main questline. So even if this guy gives me a quest, it won’t really be important. Alright, let’s get going.

“...Eh, is something the matter, young one? My name is Mathias, please do tell me if you’re in need of something. Perhaps I should fetch a jug of water? Are you too parched to speak? Mother always told me that water cleanses the body of wicked spirits. Yes, dear mother, though she passed eight summers ago I can still feel her watchful presence o’er me...”

Yikes, how many lines of code did they sink into this nutjob?

Miles slowly rose up and sauntered over to the stone columns adjacent to the slab he had been sitting on. A soft wall of light coated the exit to the shrine. He walked slowly forward, piercing the veil’s gentle embrace...

“Could-could it be?! Goddess above, this boy is a mute! Astra, bless his deformed vocal cords! Exact divine prominence o’er his wilted throat, crushed by malicious demons! O, cruel silence! O, disability! O...”

The town of Cantor, located within the Free State of Hiramis. Although quite modest in size, it served two very distinct purposes. The first was as a stopping point between the coastal town Pharros and the fortress-city Risend. The second was as one of the more bountiful sources of knowledge within all of Ta’Locriel. Kos Library, named after the God of Wisdom, housed tomes ranging from cookbooks to timeworn esoterica. Walled off by the coast to the east and Risend to the southwest, the town naturally found itself enjoying relative peace. It had become a respite for scholars for quite some time, even beckoning the occasional traveler from outside kingdoms.

Or something like that, anyway...

Miles held his hand up to his forehead to block a bit of sunlight. He was on a grassy knoll that overlooked the majority of the town. It was a breathtaking sight, with almost too much greenery to take in.

Did the world really used to be like this?

A gust of wind swept up and brushed his chest, and that was when he realized.

The feeling.

The tactile sensations in this game were unlike any other he had experienced. They were so lifelike that he hadn’t even registered this fact until now. He felt that he had gotten his money’s worth, then and there. He tried to let the feeling sit with him, but it only made him all the more anxious to make his way down to the library and start reading. He noticed a dozen or so people were scattered around the shrine, all wearing the same basic starting clothes. Some were talking amongst themselves and others looked like they were checking their menus. This realization prompted his quick menu to come up, which told him that he had a notification.

That can wait, though.

Miles made a beeline for the market block. From what he could see, the library was situated at its end. None of the players were paying him any mind as he briskly walked down the trodden path. He passed a few pitiful looking houses before arriving at the front end of the produce section. Miles looked around to get his bearings. It wasn’t terribly active, so he wouldn’t have to push his way past throngs of people to get where he was going. His gaze stopped at one of the stands to his left, which had a player leaning against it, much to the chagrin of the stand owner. The dude had removed his shirt for some reason. Miles accidentally locked eyes with him for a second and, as if waiting for that signal, he started walking over.

Fuck.

“Yo, dawg, you finna party up? Some mad shit’s goin on in the forest-“

Yeah, no. Mute.

Miles tried his best to continue on and ignore the player, who was now pantomiming a lumbering beast. He made a few more vague and exaggerated motions before giving the perfectly understandable gesture of flipping the bird and returning to leaning against his stand. Now throwing more cautious glances at his surroundings, Miles saw that there were several buildings that served as shops in addition to the stands that had been set up. There were also some empty stands, as well as a fair amount of space left wide open. He had heard that RedSoft wanted to allow players to adopt playstyles that had little to do with combat if they so chose. Although even he couldn’t see himself being something like a full-time librarian in this game. And, speak of the devil, there it was. The Kos Library.

It was only one story tall, but its width usurped that of the street behind him. It wasn’t much longer than it was wide. Though this meant that many real life libraries easily dwarfed it, the amount of information inside had to be a landmark in gaming.

Surely it wasn’t all written from scratch by the devs? Was some of it generated by an algorithm? Or written by NPCs? Wait, would those two even be different?

Miles’ head was swimming as he stiffly shuffled inside. The smell of old parchment hit him like a truck - the smells, too, were of a class all their own in this game - and he breathed a sigh of relief. He saw more than enough bookshelves to satisfy his doubts. Even if they were all pitifully short, he would be here for a while. He began walking up to the help desk but halted just as quickly. Curiously enough, the librarian wasn’t there. Maybe they were out? Or maybe this place didn’t even have one? He imagined a library that was maintained by magic. Stocked via magic. Organized via magic. Wringing people of their late fees via magic.

Putting that aside, he observed that the interior currently had little patrons to speak of. There were no players whatsoever and four or so NPCs from what he could tell. Wasn’t this a crossroads of the academics? Well, it was a game after all, and perhaps this was a slow day. Miles walked over to a shelf and thumbed through a few spines before settling on his pick. He trudged over to a chair and sheepishly looked around.

Well, the game hasn’t told me that I can’t do it yet. At worst I’ll get scolded by the librarian when they come back.

He opened to the first page of A Brief History of Ta’Locriel.

Miles fought the urge to slam the book shut once he finished. He instead set it gingerly in front of him. How could he describe it? This was...this was...

Fucking sick!

It wasn’t as lengthy as an actual book. It was akin to a novella, and that was perfectly fine by him. He was sure that most other writings wouldn’t have quite the word count, but there was more than enough here to satisfy his world building itch. He quickly gathered a small pile and returned to his desk. This was his fortress now; the covers his walls, and the chapters his garrison. As he was dismantling the first few pages of Druidic Orders of Southern Vriyus, a girl approached him from the side.

“Ah, excuse me. I was wondering if you’ve seen someone lately?”

Huh? Seems like an NPC.

“Well, the thing is...I’m an aide, and - goodness, I must be a terrible bother.”

She looks bookish. Oh, shit, write that down for later.

“...I can see that you’re busy. Please excuse me, terribly sorry.”

Miles, live at the Apollo.

The young girl scampered off around the corner as Miles continued to pat himself on the back to a disgusting degree. Following a few more seconds of wankery, he resumed his studies. One book turned into several, which in turn birthed several more, as each one brought up a subject for which the library housed more information. How long had he been at it? He was several steps past keeping track. Thanks to the time dilation of being in a semi-conscious state when using advanced VR equipment, an hour spent in-game was only worth 20 minutes in the outside world. Time pressed on and folded into itself. Long, longer, and longer still. Although eye strain wasn’t really a thing here, Miles could feel weariness beginning to set in. He briefly considered that it may be good to stop here - and then the girl approached him again.

“I-I’m very sorry, but you see, I can’t find Miss Dromond anywhere! I’m her aide and she hasn’t shown up for quite some time! It’s really perplexing! She would never neglect her duties to maintain the library! And what if she’s in trouble and what if I’m in trouble for not knowing what to do if she’s in trouble or what if there’s no trouble at all and this is a test and I failed but if it isn’t then something might be wrong andIdon’tknowwhattodoand aaaahhh!!!”

The girl covered her mouth in a flash and turned red hot. An elderly man in the distance coughed. She managed to barely squeak out a “sorry” before power walking away.

Miles blinked a few times and then realized that he now had two notifications.

Common Quest: Merciful Mother

Mathias would like for you to meet him at the Shrine of Astra.

Common Shared Quest: The Absent Librarian

A noble custodian has gone missing. What could be the cause?

Eh, it can wait.

Miles logged off.