Shou and Len walked into the town market. It was bustling with a bunch of different classes as they tried on their armor or tested out their new weapons. Some of the players were even dejectedly waiting in line with broken weapons in hand.

“Alright,” Len scouted the area, using his hand as a temporary visor. “Let’s see if we can find the weapon merchant.”

Shou scanned around the area for the weapon merchant as well. “Yo Len,” he elbowed his friend lightly in the side and pointed to the west of the market. “There’s our guy.”

“Sweetness, that’s my young protege for ya,” Len grinned while ruffling Shou’s hair around.

“The hell are you talking about? If anything you’re my protege.” Shou grinned back at Len as he gave him sharp punch to the gut.

“Oof,” Len grunted as he bent over from the pain Shou caused him. “Hey, chill man. You’re gonna make my HP dip down into the yellow with a fist like yours.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, your HP won’t go down in a town.”

“Oh, is that right?” Len rubbed his chin in thought at this. “Neat.”

“Don’t act like you made it this far without even knowing that much…”

“Well, ya got me there,” Len chuckled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“Oh and just FYI, your HP would’ve went down into the red, not the yellow.”

“As if, my defense if OP if you didn’t know.”

“Don’t kid yourself.”

The two glared at each other so intensely one might’ve been able to make out a blue spark of lightning connecting their eyes. Then…”

“Hahahahaha!” they both burst out into laughter.

“You’re a pretty cool dude, you know that Shou?”

“I know,” Shou winked at Len. “Wish I could say the same about you though.”

“Man, that’s cold…”

“Kidding. You’re a pretty decent guy too.”

“That’s only a little less cold!” Len smiled warmly at Shou and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks bud. Now come on, let’s go get us some armor.”

Shou and Len walked up to the weapon shop section of the market and waited in the long line. After several hours, they were finally up front. The sun had now begun to set and orange tinted the sky. Len yawned as he stretched his hand behind his head, “Friggin’ finally, I thought that line was never going to end.”

“Me either…” Shou nodded, agreeing with Len’s sentiments. “But at least it’s our turn now.” Shou waved to the weapon merchant, “Excuse me, sir. We’d like to buy some armor.”

“Glad to hear it! What would you like to buy?”

“Geez, you’d think they’d make at least some of these NPCs more lifelike since this is a VRMMO and all…” Shou mulled over that thought before scrolling through the list of armor. “Alright Len, it’s your money so you get first pick.”

“But of course,” Len smirked with satisfaction.

After viewing the list, Len pointed to the armor of his desire. “This one looks pretty nifty. Think I’ll roll with that.”

Shou looked at where Len’s finger was pointing and read the name aloud, “Galvanian Armor.”

“Wow, that’s freaking awesome! I want it!”

“No can do, little man,” Len waved his finger at Shou while making a tsk tsk sound. That belongs to yours truly, it’s already set in stone.”

“Aw man,” Shou sighed as he hung his shoulders down. “But I guess it’s only fair…” He scanned over the list himself until he found another armor he liked. “Then I’ll take this one.”

“Battle Cloak, huh? Not a bad choice, especially for someone like you.” Len gave Shou a thumbs up.

“Yeah, this raises my speed by quite a bit, so it’s perfect for my play style.”

“It also causes your defense to go down pretty sharply though,” Len admitted with concern. “Kinda defeats the whole purpose of wearing armor in my opinion.”

Shou just shrugged his shoulders at that, “Meh, defense is second worst stat anyway.”

Len walked up to the Armor Merchant and took out the required amount of coins to pay for his and Shou’s armor. “One Galvanian Armor and one Battle Cloak please.”

The bald merchant nodded, “That’ll be 70,000 Gold.”

“Here you are kind sir.” Len handed him the gold.

“Sweet, looks like we’re all set Shou.”

Shou cocked an eyebrow at Len’s words, “Huh? What about Kazumi and that little brat?”

“There was hardly any armor for their classes. We are in the city of warriors after all. That’s why I figured it’d be better if we travelled to the city of clerics and the city of archers for them.”

“I guess you’re right, but do you think they’d be able to hold out that long? Like I said before, it’s dangerous to stay in the starting clothes for too long.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Len folded his arms and though tit over for a minute. “They do have us with them though, so we can make sure they’re safe until they get their upgraded armor too!”

“That’s right! You’re a genius Len!”

“I know right?! Aren’t I the best?”

Shou and Len hooked their arms over each other’s shoulders as they merrily walked out of the market.

It was thereupon where they came across a young girl with long lavender hair that reached down to her waist. She turned around to face Shou and Len, her sky blue eyes glittering with hope as they approached her.

“Hello there, Miss,” Len spoke in a much deeper and smoother voice than usual. “Who might you be?”

“My name is Aquaine. Might I ask of your assistance?”

“Sure thing, cutie. Name’s Len by the way.”

“Dude, why are you flirting with an NPC?” Shou asked with a slight sigh. “Also shouldn’t you be telling her your avatar name instead of your real one.”

“Quiet peanut gallery!”

“I’ve been reduced to a mere peanut…”

“So, what do you need help with Aquaine? Also, can I just say, that is quite a lovely name.”

“I need help reaching the Guardian Valley. Could you please take me there? I promise to reward you.”

QUEST To Guardian Valley I'd appriate if you could escort me to Gurdian Valley. I kow there are some tough monsters along the way, but you will be compensated. Would you be willing to help me out? Accept Quest Reject Quest

“Just accept the quest already man!”“Is that reward a kiss, perhaps?” Len winked at Aquaine a few more times than necessary.

“Alright alright, yeesh…no need to get so uptight all of a sudden…” Len clicked the accept pop-up.

Aquamine walked in between Len and Shou. “Whenever you’re ready to leave, please come speak to me.”

“Guess we should go get Kazumi and Sequillia, huh?” Shou started walking off but then Len grabbed his hand. “Whoa whoa, hold on there soldier.”

“What?” Shou looked back at Len with a perplexed face. “What’s wrong?”

“Let’s not get the girls for this one, kay?”

Len let go of Shou’s hand and Shou turned around to face him. “Why not?”

“I mean, it’s already getting pretty late and looking at the map, Guardian Valley doesn’t seem to be to far from here. It’s a pretty simple escort quest, so I think we can handle it on our own.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on…” Len got closer to Shou to whisper in his hair. “You’re the Gaming Lord man. A quest like this should be walk in the park for you alone.”

Shou mused over this for a little but, but eventually he decided that Len had a point. “Alright, you win. Let’s go.”