Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages.

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The class had just ended and Swamy decided to meet the head of the department Prof. D'souza. He needed to find a solution and that too a permanent solution for a simple problem. He wanted time off to attend the quests. The thing was that this would not be the only time such a situation will occur, that a quest is going on the same time as class. On the other hand, he could not suffer because of not attending.

With this in mind he headed towards Prof. D'souza's office. He knocked.

"Come in."

"Hello Professor. I am Swamy."

"Hello Mr. Swamy. What can I do for you?"

"Professor, I actually have a strange problem. I am playing the virtual reality game Long Island. Have you heard of it?"

"Yes. Oh and I am playing that too. Isn't it an interesting and fun game." He smiled.

"It is professor. In fact I actually came to talk to you about it. You see I have this quest, D+ difficulty, but the thing is I will have to take time off if I want to finish it. You see a battle is supposed to occur and it can happen anytime, during the day or night. I thought of skipping school, but I realize that such situations can occur in the future as well. This is why I came to talk to you." Raka said.

"Hmmm.. Yes I understand. You see lots of people had similar kinds of problems even in the past years. A major quest would require their non-stop attention and they would be unable to attend class. And as we encourage playing of such games, we very well cannot ask them to choose. A lot of things people understand as they get stronger."

"Ah so is there a solution to this?"

The prof stayed silent for a bit thinking.

"Mr. Swamy, do you know why there is a hunger meter or a satiety level in virtual reality games?"

"Um...I don't sir. I thought they put it in to make it look and feel real."

"Yes that is there too. But a lot of real things don't apply in virtual reality games. So why shouldn't they remove hunger as well?

"I don't know sir."

"You see Mr. Swamy, it is to remind you of the real world."

"Sir?" said Swamy confused.

"When you are playing, your brain-body connection is interrupted. Temporarily, your brain cannot receive signals from your body such as hunger, thirst, pain, etc. Body functions which are involuntary like excretion and urination can still happen. But voluntary functions like eating cannot."

"Ok."

"Early studies conducted to learn about human behaviour in a virtual reality environment found that, without these bodily inputs, people started getting too engrossed in the virtual world and started neglecting the real world body. All sorts of problems surfaced both psychological and physical because people would play for almost 3 days and then faint from hunger as soon as they stepped out into the real world. Or they would find that they have excreted or urinated in the capsules involuntarily. A famous case, which was never discussed in the public domain, was the story of a man whose house caught fire and he burned alive. His mind, which was still connected to the virtual world realized the signals of burning and pain , too late.

You see companies had to take care of a lot of problems in order to deal with these issues before a virtual reality world for the masses was possible. They instituted measures, like installing fire alarms in capsules. Or detecting capsule movement or proximity sensors which will warn if the capsule is moved or if someone approaches, etc."

"Ah...ok. I understand."

"Yes, hunger or satiety was also one of these measures. It was thought that if people got hungry in the virtual world, they would be reminded of the real world as well."

"But why would people be reminded of the real world when they get hungry in the virtual world? They can eat in the virtual world anyway right?" Swamy asked.

"Ah now that is one of the mysteries isn't it. But it does. Studies show that after introducing this hunger or satiety, the number of people who started caring about their real world needs actually increased. Looking at this, virtual reality developers also put in 'tiredness'. The fact that virtual worlds have a day and night system is also to remind you of the real world. So when the local population in the game sleeps, you can log out. Remind you, it did not eliminate all problems but it did reduce them immensely. Did you know that the Long Island capsule will automatically log you out after 24 hours of continuous play? Or if you fall asleep for more than 4 hours in the game? It does allow you to immediately log back in though."

Swamy nodded. He did not know that.

"You see Mr. Swamy, the reason I tell this is to remind you that it is in your best interest to pay attention to the real world also. You may think you want to stay all the time in the game in the anticipation of something. But it will be more harmful than useful."

"I understand sir. I will take care."

"Alright. Now I have no need to tell you that even though there is no attendance requirement for the courses, if you miss your coursework it will affect you adversely."

"Yes professor."

"Good. However the department is responsible if you indulge in continued absences. So here is the deal. You will submit in a short video of your activities of each day in the game, only for the days you do not attend college. You may edit it if it contains information you do not wish to divulge. Please understand that the department reserves the right to notify close relatives or try to check up on you if you continue missing classes or if you fail to submit the video."

"Thank you professor. I understand. Thank you for your consideration."

"Its ok. Remember to take care of yourself. Do you live with someone?"

"No sir, but my Aunt lives next door and she usually checks up on me."

"That's good. Oh you will need to fill up this form here, just your current address, etc. Oh by the way, what is your in game name?"

"Is that necessary?"

"No. Its just that if we ever meet in the game, I will know its you. My game name is Souzan."

"Oh...ah my name would be Raka." Not that there was any point hiding it. The videos would reveal his name anyway.

"Hm...wait. That Raka? The disciple of Lady Altia Raka? the first one to leave the village on Ilmentia Island?"

"Um, I don't know about being the first to leave the village but yes I am that Raka. Did you start in Ilmentia too?"

"Ah no. I started in Khardoum. But you know the forums were ablaze with your name at one time. Nice to meet a celebrity."

Swamy simply made a face.

Swamy now had a free pass. He did understand the point Prof. D'souza was trying to make though. So he set up a schedule for all his activities. A break for 10~15 minutes every 4 hours. And then sleep for atleast 5 hours. Any less and he would start suffering those symptoms again. He would synchronize it with the game time.

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Raka appeared on the ship. The room was empty. Raka walked outside to the galley. It turned out it was evening in the game.

"Hey Raka, you are early? How come?" Cook asked.

"Ah yes. I got permission to come early. In fact for the next few days I might spend more time here."

"Permission? From the Goddess?"

'Oops. Well lets go with that.'

"Yes. Oh she is quite well by the way."

And Raka walked off leaving the Cook confused. 'I better have a reason.'

He found Lady Verina and Lady Altia in the mirror room with the Captain. He knocked and entered.

"Raka, how come you are here?" Lady Altia exclaimed.

"Ah sorry Commander, please give us a few minutes here." Lady Verina spoke to the person in the mirror and waved her hand. The connection was broken.

"Ah it seems that by the grace of the Goddess, I can stay longer now, though I will disappear from time to time in between. Not for long though."

"That's wonderful to hear. The Goddess is kind." Lady Altia said.

"She is indeed." Lady Verina stared and then rolled her eyes. "Well it is nice that you will be around more though." she added smiling.

"So anything new?" Raka asked.

"Nothing. We are still sailing under the assumption that the pirates are heading to that small island. Well anyways lets resume the meeting." Lady Verina said.

And just like that, it was fine. Long live the Goddess.

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It was pretty routine going after that. More work. More training. More practice. More mopping. Raka may be first class in understanding magic, but not so well in actual practice. The soldiers and magic students were much more proficient in their use. That's the difference with having grown with it. What's the word, they had a better feel for magic than Raka. He was improving in his own way though.

Raka understood that their were two types of magic users by observation. One was the power type, who had huge power. The other was the technique type having more control. Lady Altia and Lady Verina were prime examples of the two types, respectively. This was not the difference in actual ability but rather the difference in aptitude. Or simply how one thought about it. For example, Lady Altia would want to produce a large fireball to attack and Lady Verina would like a smaller fireball but control the attack trajectory.

Goddess's children like Raka on the other hand could choose to excel in both. But only if they could figure out how to get those stat points. Raka kept practicing driving the boat, trying to reduce the energy required further. The speed reduced but the boat was still moving. And then,

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Focus increases by 1.

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He still did not understand why Focus increased, just that it did. Maybe it had to do something with trying to reduce the energy required for a task. 'So it does not mean simply using less energy but trying to use the least energy possible for a given task. Even if I did not use the least energy, as long as I tried to use the least and succeed, the Focus would increase. Probably!' Not sure about his thoughts, Raka assumed that there had to be a limit like this. Once you reach that you won't be able to increase your Focus by doing that task anymore. After all each task should have a minimum energy requirement. 'Unless there is this thing that after my mana increases, I will be able to generate more power from the same amount of energy' but that sounds a little far-fetched. He couldn't be sure though.

2 days passed in game time and Raka logged off to sleep.

He logged back in, 15 hours game time later. And it was lucky that he did. Because as he stepped up to the upper deck, the shout was heard.

"Ship spotted on the stern." the guy manning the crow's nest called out.

Dawn had just broken and the first light of the sun appeared on the horizon. People hurried to check. The Captain brought out a telescope and looked closely at the ship which appeared.

"Its the pirates! Sound the alert! Pass on the word to the other ships! Ready for battle!" The Captain snapped commands as the highly trained crew jumped into action.

It seemed that they had overtaken the pirates by going around the low winds area, the Captain had talked about before, whereas the pirates had got stuck in it. In the dark of the night, they could not see them but as dawn broke, the pirates appeared behind them. Still a little far but with their speed they should catch up in some time. Though there was always a possibility that they could try and run.

"Turn to port! Get the boats out!" More commands.

Raka could not believe the speed of the sailors now. He had always thought that opening the hole and lifting out the boats would be a slow operation, like always. But the speed now! They had all the boats lined up on the sides in 10 minutes.

"Alright man the boats!"

Ofcourse Raka was not assigned to the boats. He and the other students were just learning, after all. It was the more experienced soldiers and some of the sailors who boarded the boats. Lady Altia and Lady Verina stayed on the ship too and the ship entered in an interception course with the pirate ship. The other ships in the fleet followed.

The best situation according to the plan would be if the pirates attacked. Being on a faster ship, if they tried to run, none of the weighed down ships in the fleet will be able to give chase. On the other hand, the pirates would have to change course for somewhere else and not the small island they were aiming for initially. Apparently in this region of the sea, the other closest land mass belonged to Brittanica main island and Ilmentia island. With them on guard against pirates, they would have to sail the sea for a long time, while the fleet could resupply easily by sending one ship.

All in all the choices were limited for the pirates. Their best case scenario would be to attack, disable a ship or two breaking through the defense line of ships and head to that same small island. Atleast the attack was imminent.

Raka watched as the flurry of chaotic activity slowed down to ready watchfulness. The preparations were done and the pirate ship was still a little distance away. Raka could see the pirate ship landing dinghies of their own. About 4 or 5, compared to the 30 something dinghies the fleet launched in total. After all, the pirate ship was designed for speed not cargo. There is advantage in numbers and right now it was with the fleet.

They say the start of a battle is silent. And then like striking lightning it starts abruptly.

"Fire away!" came loud commands from all ships. Lots of stone projectiles were hurled towards the pirate ship. Lady Verina immediately took control of one of the stones while Lady Altia did the same. And they zoomed towards hull, just below the water line. A hole there would reduce the ship's speed, if not completely disabling it. The other stones were targeted at important locations, sails and masts, some were even targeting people. Try imagining being shot by a shotgun. And then imagine the bullet to be the size of your face. It would have been gruesome.

If it had hit. The stones reached the hull but bounced off and could not damage it. The ones targeting the masts suffered the same fate. Only the ones targeting the sails and the faces of people were intercepted by magic. Some changed the angle of the approaching stones so that it would strike the hull instead. And some started a fight with other magicians who were still in control of those stones.

Distance matters in magic because it matters to us. And being closer to the approaching stones, the pirates had an upper hand in power. It took someone with magic control like Lady Verina to still keep control of the stone and again attack the pirates, even after being deflected many times.

And then the boats collided. The battle dinghies had reached attack range and started by launching attacks against the other dinghies first. Much closer in range, free magic was being used. Fire balls, air slashes, water whips, even the hulls of the boat hardened with earth magic collided. And as they closed in weapons were drawn. Consider a cavalry charge, but with battle dinghies.

The pirates were also experienced in combat. In fact their specialty was naval combat. Armor, weapons....hulls strengthened with magic reduced or diminished the various attacks. Wood did not burn. The armor protected the men. And then from the ship came arrows. They wanted us to come close to them, where they would have the advantage.

A blow of wind is enough to cause an arrow to lose direction or to make it lose power, if it is not supported by magic. But if simply used as a distraction, it worked great. The dinghy attackers had to focus on the arrows targeting them or others, which left them vulnerable to attack for a moment. And some other pirate would strike at that very moment as if anticipating it, which someone else had to handle. The pirates may be fewer in number, but they had the advantage in team work and experience. Knowing they had no way to run, they had committed whole heartedly to this.

Just then,

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(Event Quest) Defeat the Pirates

Pirates have attacked the fleet. Help the fleet defeat the pirates. You will be awarded as per your efforts.

Difficulty level: D+

Reward: Contribution points with the nation of Ilmentia, Fame

Note: The quest cannot be refused and has been accepted. The quest may change depending on the situation.

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'So I have to make sure Lady Altia does not overexert herself and I have to help in defeating the pirates!' Well doing either meant keeping track of the situation anyway.

The pirate ship was getting closer even with all the attacks launched against it. It seemed the strengthening done by dwarves did not only increase durability, it also protected against effects of things like fire. Or maybe they had some other way to make fireproof wood because the hull wasn't burning one bit, even with constant fire attacks.

And then came their attacks.

The dwarves were good at manufacturing. Unlike the shotbows, they built proper trebuchets, though a smaller version as it was on a ship, which launched proper fire projectiles. Some stuff which burned good but held shape while it was launched and then scattered as it hit something else. In this case the hull or deck of the ship. Raka's ship was burning.

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(Event Subquest) Dousing Fires - The ship has caught fire from the pirate's attacks. Act swiftly to douse it and you will have saved your ship from a worse fate. You have 1 minute to douse the fire or it will spread.

Time remaining: 59 seconds.

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Raka had to hurry and grab a bucket, actually his mopping bucket, fill it with sea water and then douse the several small and big fires which had started as that fire projectile broke. It smelled funny.

And for some reason, the standard method of dealing with projectiles, a puff of air hadn't worked. It was under some strong magic control.

"Its made of pitch! " Someone shouted. 'Note to self, check out this pitch thing later.'

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The fire has been doused successfully.

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"There is someone really strong with magic on that ship." Lady Altia shouted. "Verina, find him. Raka help her."

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(Event Subquest) Extra Eyes - Someone really skillful with magic is on the pirate's ship. Help Lady Verina find him. The more time he is unchallenged, the more damage he can cause the ship and the fleet.

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