“Whew.” Zeke slapped a cardboard box of cartridges and disks on the floor and wiped his forehead. He plugged a cord into the wall and swiped dust off the top of his terminal.

“Now which of these… ah.” He threw a book or two into the air. “It’s gotta work this time.” After installing more RAM and a new graphics driver into his PC, Zeke crossed his fingers and closed his eyes as he waited for the monitor to turn on.

Bright lights flashed over his eyelids as he burst out in joy. “Now that’s what I’m talking about, Grandma!”

“SeraphStar,” the big stylized letters on the screen read. “Oh I’m so ready for this!” Zeke exclaimed as he rushed into his chair and over to his Gmail for a verification email.

What Zeke was about to enter was monumental. A VRMMO of endless fun and character possibilities. Be anyone, do anything. All of this was finally at Zeke’s fingertips. “Thanks again grandma.” He whispered as he dashed through the character creation process.

“Hmmm, make the skin color darker, and give me dreads! Oh…” Like a lisping child, his voice echoed in his empty apartment. “I’ve gotta go with this outfit! It makes me look sick as hell!”

Finally the moment Zeke had been waiting for, selecting his class. Being the world's second most popular VRMMO, SeraphStar offers many different opportunities and play styles with its fifteen unique base classes. Yet with all these options, there was only one real choice for Zeke.

“Is this even a question!? Of course I’m playing Warrior! At level 260 I can class upgrade into general!” His face lit up. “Huge axes! Commanding multiple summons! Dual wielding! Who would even play any of these other classes?”

Zeke's hand danced to the mouse and tapped across the table. The cursor bounced to the “Warrior” button and in less than an instant the button pulsed in blue light as he selected it. Click!

“Oh yeah! I can’t wait…. wait…” Zeke’s reflection stared back at him from the loading screen on the monitor. “I selected warrior right?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I know you’re leaving to GSU soon, but I wanted to get you something.” A gentle and kind woman, Zeke’s grandmother held a wrapped box in her hand. Trotting through the door, with four boxes stacked in his arms, Zeke slammed his cargo into the Uhaul truck.

“What is it grandma?” He asked.

“I’m so proud of you my boy.” She pulled him in and hugged him tight. “I just had to get something. Just so you don’t get bored in that new apartment of yours.”

“Yeah, yeah thanks grandma, but I gotta go!” Zeke threw the present into the back of the truck and began heading towards his new life in college.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little did Zeke know that his grandmother had gotten him exactly what he had been waiting for all these years. SeraphStar was a cognitive based VRMMO that blended together sci-fi elements and fantasy elements to create a unique world of exploration and adventure. It jacked directly into the brain and reworked nerve stimuli. Health concerns over comas and loss of consciousness aside, it created an experience that is significantly more engaging than anything on the market, and more pricey.

As the headset covered Zeke’s eyes and a brand new world rendered around him, Zeke could barely believe his senses. The air felt cool and crisp, and sounds surrounded him in eight different directions. A faint smell of grease, oil and body odor wafted through the bustling starting town of Mindel. Yet more importantly, something strange was in Zeke’s hands. “A guitar?!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Mindel was a busy, working district of the larger bandit country on the coast of the Primsa sea. It was a place where folk of all kind could find duty, money and solace, and the start to any great adventure in SeraphStar. Overpopulated, with low level players, Zeke fit in well to the eccentric community, yet he couldn’t stand being here.

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!” Zeke yelled to the alarm of no one. “A guitar? Sheet music? This isn’t the warrior class! I just picked fucking bard!” Unfortunately for Zeke, SeraphStar used a pay to play format, yet each account must be individually bought. Once a character had been created they can not be deleted or changed.

A cry of dismay and a sigh of disappointment out of the way, Zeke was determined to continue on. “This isn’t the end of the world. This is just fine. Sure I won’t be able to play general, but it’s still SeraphStar! I’ve been wanting to play this game for years! I’ll find a way to kick ass with song and dance if I have too!”

Yet as Zeke wandered the steampunk corridors of Mindel and looked around at the glamorous and fierce designs of other players, he finally realized something. “Every class in SeraphStar features multiple class upgrade routes. That means no matter what class you’re playing you can still become powerful as hell!” He exclaimed. “I’m about to have the strongest bard in all of SeraphStar.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Immediately these dreams seemed a lot harder to obtain for Zeke. As he entered the first combat area of the game, the level one crystal forest outskirts of Mindel, he found it hard to kill any of the surrounding monsters, let alone find any. Instead most of the few hours he stayed there was spent looking at the scenery. Beautiful dark oak trees grew tall into the sky and luminescent blue crystals matched their height. Rolling hills and forests stretched on for miles, yet not a single monster could be found. The place was just too populated. Any of the orange or blue slimes that spawned were eradicated within seconds.

Even when Zeke managed to find a slime all alone, he struggled to kill it. It turns out that a guitar isn’t a particularly strong weapon. In fact none of Zeke’s skills were of use for monster killing. Furthermore Zeke’s stats, except charisma, were all abysmally low. With three and a half hours wasted, two deaths and three kills under his belt, Zeke leaned up against a picket fence outlining Mindel and sighed.

“I mean, this is fun and all, but I expected it to be a little more, I don’t know, exhilarating?” He complained as he watched the other players around him fight. A magician threw a fireball spell and torched an orange slime within seconds. A ranger nocked three arrows and nailed each one. Finally a warrior charged and swung his sword in a sweeping spin, tearing up two blue slimes in his wake. Zeke couldn’t kill anything nearly that fast.

“It’s this damn class isn’t it! I can’t kill anything because this class sucks ass! How the hell am I supposed to class upgrade, if grinding takes a century? This fucking sucks!” Zeke yelled into the air above.

“Hey, no offense, but could you shut up?” A voice leaning on the same fence as Zeke called from his right.

“Huh?”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Some of us are actually trying to enjoy our time out here and not just yell into the public chat constantly.” This spunky, black haired girl wearing red white and black light armor retorted. “Like, I understand you suck and all, but chill out alright?” She remarked.

“What the hell did you just say to me?”

“I’m just..” She signed. “Sorry if I came off as rude, I’m just asking you to calm down in the public chat.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair.” Zeke had to admit she was right. All VRMMOs are an escape for people. They can feel like they have a purpose in their life in these virtual worlds. Some don’t want this experience disturbed.

“So if you hate bard so much, why did you pick it?” She asked.

“I didn’t mean too, I actually wanted to play warrior, but my hand slipped and I selected bard.”

“Ouch. I know how that feels. I had a friend who did just about the same thing.” She sighed.

“Yeah, and now I’m struggling to kill a damn thing.” Zeke knew that he couldn’t spend another three hours grinding and that this was his chance. “So, I was just, uh, was wondering if you could help me out a bit? Just until I’m level ten or something?” Zeke shyly asked, anticipating denial.

“You know what? Sure, just this once, I’ll help you out.” She responded.

“Oh it’s alright I expected that… huh? Really? You’ll help me grind to level ten?” Zeke exclaimed.

“Don’t get so worked up about it, I’m only helping you kill some slimes to pass the time. And my name’s Astral, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Astral was a level eighty seven fighter who had been playing SeraphStar for a few months now. She wielded a powerful dark longsword.

Together with Zeke, they hacked and slashed an hour away and massacred common slime after common slime. It felt like no time had passed yet then both had gained a considerable amount of experience.

Highly experienced, Astral breezed through slaughtering enough slimes to get Zeke up to level ten.

“I just wanted to thank you for everything you did for me today. I really appreciate it.” Zeke said.

“Sure thing, I’m happy to help.”

“Oh and now that I’m level ten, how many more levels am I gonna have to grind for my first class upgrade?” Zeke asked.

“Wait what now?” Astral turned back to Zeke, a look of confusion on her face.

“My class upgrade, when do I get it?”

“Oh, there is no class upgrade for bards.” Astral replied.