A/N: "Hey guys, the main plot won't come into play just yet as I want to firmly introduce all the characters/ and some more information about the world of Horizon. If you're following Elm's Horizon, just wanted to let you guys know the updates may not come so fast, as I have tons to do this month. Since I've just started out I do appreciate any comments that could help better my writing style, thanks for reading my fantasy so far!"

***

The sound of plates being set down could be heard. The grumbling of tummies, and the flowing of fresh drool could be seen as clear as daylight. The place the trio were currently in was a hive of activity, especially at this particular hour.

Dinner time.

Elm suppressed his grumbling stomach as he looked at the carefully laid food in front of him.

After placing the last dish they ordered, the Elven waitress Braveheart had been secretly eyeing from the tavern gave him a wink, and went off to continue her other duties.

"So.. you can actually eat in this game?" he asked, ignoring the subtle flirt the NPC had just used on Braveheart while also trying to hold himself back from gorging on the food in front of him.

"Gulp, yeah, some of the things the chefs cook in this game can be so good that it actually raises your stats temporarily.." Braveheart replied with his face red. "They can be expensive though, but me and Mae like coming here because it's cheap, and good."

Sitting in a seat just beside them, Mae was impatiently tapping her feet while listening to their conversation. She couldn't wait to eat either.

"I'm getting more impressed every second." Elm said ruefully.

Elm sighed and laid back on his seat. Ignoring the temporary hunger he had, he took in all of the tavern with all his five senses. There were NPC waitresses running around, serving players, shouting out orders. The tavern was dimly lit with old chandeliers lining the ceiling and its interior was framed with wooden walls, yet it seemed to have a relaxing and homey atmosphere. Each table had plates of food and mugs filled with drinks on it. There were players laughing as they jostled each other in good fashion. He then shifted his gaze to the bar. Barrels were stacked carefully on top of each other behind the counter. Most presumably filled with juice. There was alcohol in this game, but those were only available at special bars only allowed for players 18 years and above. Elm smiled, he would be turning 18 in a year, soon he could try that for himself in-game.

Just a while ago, after they had just met up. Elm expressed his desire to his friends to learn more about Horizon since he didn't go through the tutorial. Mae and Braveheart both while laughing, agreed to teach him. They decided that instead of going straight into a monster battle, it was better that they had a briefing session before battles. But just right after deciding that, both of their tummies rumbled. In Horizon, there were satiety levels that you had to keep in check, if it dropped too low, your stats would take a big hit and you would also suffer from abnormal status effects as well. Elm was still a beginner who had just logged into the game so he had a week grace period where his satiety levels wouldn't fall as fast as Mae and Braveheart.

Coming back to reality, he noticed his friends were wolfing down the food they had ordered.

Not wanting to miss out on anything, and also following their example of misconduct at the dinner table, he gorged on the food.

With every bite, he found himself wanting more, it was weird. The dishes were pretty similar to stuff they had in real life, yet it seemed like it tasted fresher, and had a more whole taste. He let loose, going almost berserk at how good the pot roast tasted. It seemingly melted in his mouth with every bite. He knew that by slowly braising the meat, it could easily be somewhat tender and succulent, however, this was clearly on another level.

"Cory, isn't this extremely good?" Elm suddenly asked. He had forgotten to use their in-game names because he wanted to know the answer to his question.

Braveheart grinned. Seeing a bear humanoid smile sure was creepy.

"You know how they said crops and animals used to be grown outside? It's that." he replied nonchalantly. Mae who had begin to slow down from eating so much food nodded in agreement.

"You mean about a hundred years ago, when Earth still grew natural crops?"

"That's right, they're doing the same thing here. All of the food ingredients in this game are natural!"

Elm hung his head in wonder. He hadn't seen the farms in Viajecamino as he hadn't ventured out of the town area just yet, which was why he didn't know about this, or even asked.

Mae laughed at Elm's reaction. She had the exact same look on her face when she found out that food in this game were all naturally grown. You could even find spices, herbs and natural ingredients all growing out in the wild. In the real world, food wasn't like it used to be a hundred years ago. There just wasn't enough space where people could live, so what could they do? They removed the farms, removed the plantations. And moved production of crops and animals into specially created facilities underground that could sustain life. Sure, there were protests on rights of animals and stuff, but the populace that complained were silenced immediately when they were asked this question. "So would you give up your residence area in exchange for the quarters for these helpless animals?" Humanity had come a long way since the prehistoric days, but the main instinct that remained the same had stayed. Self preservation.

"It's amazing how the devs of this game thought of that too though."

"I think there was an interview posted on Facebook that the developer truly wanted this whole world to be different from real life."

"...is that so."

Elm made a mental note to checkout the videos later.

Braveheart, after finishing his food, picked up his cup of juice and while gently turning the cup in his hands stared intently at Elm.

"What is it?" Elm asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about something."

Elm gave him a questioning look, and after awhile, shrugged it off. Then while Braveheart was grinning, he continued. "Now that we're done eating, how about we start your tutorial right now?" Elm nodded in response.

"Okay, so for starters, what time do you think it is in the real world?"

"...We've probably been in-game for about an hour?

Giving it some thought, Elm came to conclusion it had been about an hour since he logged in. He was off the mark.

"Wrong. It's only been about 15 minutes." Braveheart replied with Mae nodding alongside him.

"What?!" Elm exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah. Time.. moves slower here. About 4 times slower than in real life. The mechanics work.. sort of how like when we are dreaming. There's a clock on the top right corner of your vision, can you see it?"

Elm squinted, he did see something there but he disregarded it as it was really small. Numbers formed in his head as he focused on the lettering.

"...it's 6:20pm?"

"Yup, you got it."

Horizon was a world that operated on its own. It was exactly like the real world but it had its own rules. Players had unlimited freedom, so long as it was within the rulebook of Horizon. Attacking or killing NPCs would constitute as an offense against the system, and you would be placed on the kingdom's wanted list, and your Alignment would turn Evil. However, unlike other games, once an NPC was killed, it would cease to exist. It was as if the NPCs were actual people. You weren't allowed to fight in towns either, unless during a competition or an event that was hosted by the NPCs themselves. In short, this world's rulebook was pretty much written by the NPCs. In games before Horizon appeared, NPCs were known as Non-player characters, which meant they didn't have a conscience. But here, every NPC had their own name, and had their own thinking. Relationships could be built with them, and with a higher level of intimacy, there was a possibility of the player receiving quests from them. Which is why it was usually against a player's desire to kill an NPC as it meant the loss of a potential quest. The same went for the higher level bosses in dungeons or fields, usually they had their own conscience and purpose and the activities and what they did would affect how the game would turn out. If a boss monster was planning an invasion of a town, the town would then call for arms from the players to help out.

"So that's pretty much how this world works."

"I see.."

"HEY! I'm bored! It's my turn to explain, okay?" Mae suddenly spoke up. She had been quiet the whole time, and didn't really say much. Braveheart shrugged and motioned her to continue the conversation.

"Right. So you know that you started in Viajecamino right?"

Mae started to say with her eyes sparkling. Elm nodded. He knew Milly would be too impatient and wouldn't be able to wait, that was how she is. As Mae begun her explanation, she told Elm that there were many other towns just like Viajecamino in this world. Since this game wasn't very new, most of the towns in the game were still developing. However, given time, they would eventually turn out to be a kingdom like Beaupay, like the one they were in.

"There are currently four big kingdoms, which have been around since the game started.

The Human Kingdom of Beaupay,

The Elven Forest of Erynhuine,

The Dwarven Mountain of Casardin,

and lastly, the Orcish Plains of Urucai.

In Horizon, all the races had a mutual relationship, that meant you could begin at any city that you wanted. However, Orcs had it different. Since their race were of the more battle-hungry type, they were alienated by most NPCs, and it was tough to build a relationship with them if you were an Orc. Therefore it would be better to begin in an Orc village instead. There were also certain areas that were bias in allowing a specific race in. To begin with, only Elves could enter into the forest of Erynhuin without the need to improve intimacy with the related NPCs, same went with the Dwarves, who were very secretive with their craftsmanship.

"Why don't the Halflings and Beast people have any of their own kingdoms?"

"According to the tutorial, Halflings were more known to be thieves or shrewd merchants so they don't have a specific town or village where they could gather at to form a kingdom. They might have a town somewhere in this world but no one has actually discovered one yet, and it's almost the same case for the Beast people as they tend to keep to themselves."

"I see."

Elm nodded. So the kingdom he started in was the Human kingdom. He definitely wanted to go visit the other kingdoms if he could. They spent another hour just talking about random things and messing about while laughing. Mae and Elm both teased Braveheart when they saw him still eyeing the waitress from earlier.

"Ah, what do I have to do if I want to change my profession in to the Mage class?"

"You could ask for details at the Mage guild in town, they'll set you up pretty quickly."

"Yeah, how about we go kill some monsters now? We're done eating anyway."

The three of them got up from their seats, and Braveheart left a eight silver coins on the table. Payment was generally done in coins. With gold being the most valuable, and bronze being the cheapest. It took 100 bronze coins to change it into 1 silver, and a 100 silver coins to change it into 1 gold. The meal they just had probably wasn't cheap, even if they said it was. Being a chef seemed like a lucrative business to be in, so Elm definitely wanted to learn the cooking skill if possible. Braveheart winked at the waitress that served them earlier and Elm saw her pocket a silver from what his friend had just left on the table. "So they have tipping in this game too?" he thought.

"Oh crap. I almost forgot!" Mae suddenly screamed as they were just walking out the door of the tavern.

Both Braveheart and Elm turned around and stared absently at her. Mae being all panicky wasn't something new to them.

"I have a dinner with my parents! Yours too Cory!"

"Damn it, you're right. Sorry Evans, we gotta go."

Braveheart grinned sheepishly while scratching his head as he realized it. Elm nodded in response. "Don't worry guys, I'll be fine on my own.." and he made a sad face with a pout.

"C'mon, I just paid for your meal."

"Just kidding, go ahead, I'll explore around on my own." Evans smiled. He didn't really mind, at least he didn't have to hold his friends back in the meantime. Both Cory and Milly's parents pretty much worked together, so they had to spend time together a lot.

"I'll see you online tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, Elm! See you tomorrow!"

Braveheart and Mae said that together, then giving each other another look they said once again.

"Happy Birthday Evans!"

All three of them grinned at the same time, while giving each other a pat on the back.

Then they logged out, leaving Elm behind. Two small windows appeared in front of him.

Player 'Mae' has logged out.

Player 'Braveheart' has logged out.

Now that he was finally alone in this world, Evans sucked in the cool breeze. The sun had already set, and Viajecamino's night life was slowly starting to appear.

"Guess I should go get some grub in real before I continue playing.. eating in this game doesn't make me full in real life, right?"

And with that, while looking for the disconnect option, he found what he was looking for.

Would you like to logout? Y / N

"Yes."

Main PageChapter 3 - Tutorial