When I woke up in my bed at the inn the next day, I immediately made my way downstairs and had a quick breakfast with the others before we went our separate ways. I was going to pick up Julian and Sarah when they finished the tutorial and the others were going to go and buy them some potions before heading to the gates to meet Jameson and the guards that he had chosen to join us.

I had logged out while sleeping last night to give Julian and Sarah advance notice about them being thrown in the deep end immediately after they completed the tutorial. Needless to say, Julian was excited by the prospect. As it turned out that they had already done some research on the different types of weapons and magic that were available in the game and had chosen what they were going to pick.

They had however chosen not to tell me what weapons or magic they were going to pick out. Apparently, they wanted it to be a surprise which was honestly a little nerve wracking. Usually when they said something like that, they picked something completely out of left field which could throw all of my plans into disarray.

However as soon as they walked out of the room where new players arrived, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was pretty easy to recognise my two friends because they had basically used their real life appearances with a couple of changes to make their avatars a little bit more convincing in a fantasy setting and make it a bit more difficult for people who didn’t know them very well to identify them.

Julian’s eyes lit up as he spotted me. My friend looked like the epitome of a tank with his wooden shield hanging from his broad shoulders and the strange weapon that looked like some sort of cross between a wand and a mace hanging from his left hip. He was a little more buff than he was in real life and he’d gone for what looked like a buzz cut instead of the mane of light brown hair that he had in real life. Other than that, he looked pretty much identical to the way that he did in real life with the same square jaw and brown eyes that shone with a cheerful light.

“I’d recognise those eyes anywhere,” my large friend laughed as he gave me a bear hug. “It’s been too long. What are you calling yourself these days?”

“Zeke,” I gasped as he forced the air from my lungs before letting go when a melodic laugh came from the beautiful woman that was beside him.

“Warren stop crushing him,” she laughed.

“Hah!” Julian or rather Warren chuckled as he released me. “You’re right Kelly.”

“How are you doing dear,” she asked ignoring her boisterous husband as she have me a quick peck on the cheek.

“I’m good ‘Kelly’,” I chuckled. Unlike Julian and I who changed our names every time we created a new character to keep things interesting Sarah always called herself Kelly.

This version of Kelly had long honey coloured hair that was tied up in a long braid that fell most of the way down her back instead of the shorter dark hair that Sarah had in real life. She was also a bit taller and more slender than she was in real life and carried an ordinary looking staff. Her avatar gave of this sense of gentleness and grace that caught the attention of everyone else that was in the room with us.

“Well, let us grab our money and get going,” Kelly said before heading over to the desk where Kimble was waiting for them. Once the moustachioed old man handed over two sacks of coins which told me that my two friends had beaten their doppelganger in the tutorial, we made our way towards the gates where the others were waiting for us.

My friends looked around in amazement as we walked down the street which made me smile as I remembered how I had reacted to the sights and smells on my first day.

“Impressive isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s almost perfect,” Kelly agreed as she smiled at the sight of a small group of kids running around playing tag.

“Anyway, what can you two tell me about the weapons and stuff that you chose?” I asked. “Other than Warren’s shield of course.”

“Well my weapon is a sceptre,” Warren replied giving me a smile. “It’s basically a mace that scales more with Intelligence instead of Strength and has a single Magic Core slot.”

“So, you’re planning on going for a paladin build, are you?” I asked.

“Something like that,” my friend chuckled mysteriously before turning to his wife.

“And as you can see, I chose a staff,” Kelly told me. “I also have an Earth Magic Core.”

“Cool. As for me I have a spellglove which can create a defensive shield that absorbs a small amount of damage and also allows me to use magic,” I told my friends who nodded interestedly. “I also have a Lightning Magic Core slotted in my spellglove. But my main weapon is a naginata.”

“Well that seems like it would suit you quite well,” Kelly replied s her eyes danced with interest. Whenever we played together she basically worked as our party leader and tactician so it wasn’t too surprising to me that she was interested in the build that I had chosen as well as how much freedom there was to pick and choose different weapons, magic and Skills in this game. “What else can you tell me about your party?”

So, as we continued along, I told them about the different fighting styles and Skills that the other three had and by the time we arrived at the gates Kelly was looking very pleased with what I had been telling her.

“Well, we’re a bit unbalanced in terms of the split between ranged and melee fighters. I’d prefer to have even just one more melee fighter who can take a bit of damage to take some of the pressure off of Warren and round us out but other than that it sounds like we should have quite a good party set up,” she said happily as I waved at the other three who were waiting for us with Jameson, Tylie and one other guard who had a rather ugly look on his face. “Of course, if we got another party member then things might get a bit crowded in smaller areas so maybe one of us should get a melee weapon to use when we unlock our second weapon set.”

“Yeah that’s pretty much what I thought,” I replied with a nod as we continued over to the others.

“Hey Zeke,” Katy said once we reached them. “So, these are your friends?”

“Indeed,” Kelly replied with a smile. “I’m Kelly and this big lump is Warren.”

“Well now,” my big friend laughed as he smirked at me. “I didn’t realise that all your party members were so cute Zeke!”

“Oh, shut it!” I exclaimed as his wife slapped him on the back of his head which only served to make him laugh even louder. Despite my irritation at him pointing this out I felt a grin slowly creep across my face. I really had missed playing with these two. Both Warren and Kelly were much more confident than I was even in-game which was actually part of what made them so fun to play with.

Both Fern and Evie turned crimson at Warren’s words, but Katy just smiled and shook her head.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m Katy, Zeke’s AI companion.”

“Wait, he called you Katy?” Warren asked in surprise. “As in…”

“Yes, that’s right,” Katy interrupted before my friend could continue. Fern and Evie both frowned at this as they still didn’t know the story behind Katy’s name. I had told both Kelly and Warren about my little sister years ago so it only natural that they were surprised that I had named my AI after her.

“I see,” Warren sighed before shaking his head sadly. “Alright I won’t push any further than that.”

“Okay, that was weird,” Fern said as she looked between us. “Anyway, I’m Fern.”

“Don’t mind us dear,” Kelly said quickly. “I’m sorry that my husband tried to bring that up when Zeke hasn’t explained everything to you.”

“That’s okay, we only met him a few days ago and you’ve known him for years,” Fern shrugged. “It doesn’t surprise me that you know more about him than we do.”

“Still it was rude of me,” Warren sighed as he rubbed the back of his head apologetically.

“No, it’s fine,” Evie said. “Like Fern said you’ve know him a lot longer than either of us.”

“And you are?” Warren asked as he smiled at the petit blonde who blushed again under his gaze.

“Sorry I should’ve introduced myself first,” Evie apologised. “I’m Evie.”

“Ah, yes you’re the mage girl,” Kelly nodded. “It’s nice to meet both of you as well.”

“This is all very well and good,” the angry looking guard interrupted. “But while you lot are wasting time the danger to travellers is only increasing.”

“That’s enough Yarrol!” Jameson snapped angrily. “They have volunteered to help us while we’re shorthanded!”

“As far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t be asking these outsiders for help at all sir,” Yarrol replied. “You know how much trouble they have caused in town!”

Warren mouthed the word ‘outsiders’ at me with a confused look on his face but I waved him off for now. This Yarrol character was pissing me off right now and from the looks on both Jameson and Tylie’s faces they felt the same.

“What do you know about Zeke and his friends Yarrol?” Tylie snarled as she glared at the other guard angrily. “They’ve only been helpful to us. Zeke alone has captured more criminals since the day that the outsiders first appeared than you have since you joined the guards!”

They continued to argue for a while during which time I chose to quickly explain why the NPC’s called players outsiders. Eventually though I decided that I’d had enough of listening to Yarrol talk like I was some sort of monster because of the way that other people had been acting.

“Look Yarrol if you don’t want to be here, you can leave,” I snapped. I could feel a vein pulsing in my forehead after putting up with the stuff that Yarrol had been saying for the past few minutes. I had tried to wait for this idiot to calm down, but it was apparent from the way that he was acting that he wasn’t calming down any time soon. So, I decided that it was time to take things into my own hands. “We obviously can’t convince you that we’re different from the idiots that have decided to treat the locals like garbage, and I don’t want to get stabbed in the back!”

“How dare you suggest that I would act in such a dishonourable way!” Yarrol snarled. “I don’t have to put up with this!”

“Then like Zeke said; you can leave,” rumbled Jameson. “And I will be letting Harmon and the captain know that you refused to follow orders. I’m not sure that you can afford that sort of attention considering your track record.”

“But Sergeant,” Yarrol all but whined which only made me dislike him even more.

“If you don’t like it then shut up and follow orders!” Jameson replied with a furious look on his face that I certainly wouldn’t want to see aimed in my direction. Jameson had actually kept relatively calm up until the last few exchanges, but it was clear that he had reached the end of his rope. From what he had said about Yarrol’s track record I was guessing that this wasn’t the first time that Yarrol and Jameson had bumped heads which only served to raise more questions about why we were bringing him along. “You’re the only one here that is complaining about having to work together.”

“Yeah, I trust Zeke and by extension anyone that he trusts with my life,” Tylie agreed as she gave me a reassuring look.

“Thank you Tylie,” I said. “Hopefully things will go slightly better than the last time that we worked together.”

“That wasn’t your fault and you came back just fine,” Tylie shrugged. “But yeah I can see why you might be a bit worried about being stabbed again after that.”

“Wait what happened?” Warren asked in a tone that suggested that he was interested in what Tylie had to say despite me telling him this story the night before. Despite appearing to be a bit foolish he was actually very intelligent and had both him and his wife had been on their respective schools debating team in real life. In fact, apparently that was how they had met.

“Oh, well I ended up being cornered by some men while we were investigating something together and he saved my life and held out against them until Jameson was able to arrive,” Tylie explained while Yarrol slowly looked more and more unsure of himself. “And when Sergeant Jameson did arrive Zeke saved him from being stabbed and killed by someone who had been waiting in Stealth and ended up dying but allowed Jameson to defeat the guy who killed him before finishing off the last of the men who were attacking me.”

“Well that sounds impressive buddy,” my friend laughed giving me a quick wink. “So, you saved both of their lives. I’m impressed.”

Evie and Fern who had only heard part of this story from my perspective also nodded with wide eyes. From the way that they were reacting to Tylie’s words they had obviously assumed that I had talked myself up a little which made me smile. If I hadn’t been able to prove to them that I could hold my own, they probably would’ve abandoned me after I had told them the story but now, they knew that I had been telling the truth.

“That’s our Zeke,’ Kelly laughed. “Some things never change.”

I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment at Kelly’s words. I did have a bit of a tendency to end up in situations like that in other games and even in real life (which was part of the reason that I tried to avoid people now) but what Kelly and Warren didn’t know was that this tendency seemed to be a lot more common in this game.

“Great, can we please get going now?” I asked as I squirmed in embarrassment.

“Yes, let’s get going,” Jameson agreed. “Are you coming or not Yarrol?”

“…Fine,” the annoying man agreed eventually. “But I’ll be keeping an eye on you outsiders.”

“Whatever,” Warren shrugged with a mildly amused look on his face. “It’s not like we’re planning on doing anything stupid so all you’ll be doing is wasting your time.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Yarrol sneered.

As we walked out of the city, I did indeed feel Yarrol watching me, but I simply ignored it. Hopefully he wouldn’t be stupid enough to pull anything after Jameson and Tylie had defended us. But if he did decide to try something, I was confident that I would at least be able to hold him off until Jameson or Tylie could help me since from the wand that he was carrying he seemed to be some sort of caster like Evie and Kelly. If he was some sort of warrior, then we could’ve been in trouble. But I suspected he was a healer and as such he probably wasn’t going to be able to deal too much damage.

However, if he was a healer then there was no way he was going to be healing any of my party but that was okay because Evie could still heal us, and the girls had brought enough potions that I wasn’t too worried.

Not long after we left Fern spotted the first group of Terror Chicks. It was a group of three and two of them were currently asleep, so I wasn’t surprised when Warren spoke up.

“Hey, do you mind if we have a go at them first?” Warren asked as he gestured first at his wife and them himself.

“I was actually going to suggest doing just that,” Jameson agreed.

“Cool,” Warren nodded. “Zeke if it looks like we’re going to need help then jump in but other than that I want you to let us deal with these three ourselves.”

“Okay,” I nodded as my two friends prepared to fight. Warren’s fighting style wouldn’t be too different from usual despite the strangeness of his weapon and it wasn’t unusual to see Kelly picking earth magic, but it would be interesting to see how things changed as they got new Skills and spells because of how different things were in this game.

As expected, Warren ran out in front of Kelly and activated his Shield Bash Skill slamming his wooden shield into one of the Terror Chicks as it turned towards him which stunned it long enough for Kelly to conjure a spike of earth under its body which launched it into the air with a surprised squawk.

Warren immediately changed his target and swung his sceptre at the closer of the other two Terror Chicks as they woke up. Upon contact the head of his sceptre flashed with a bright light which pulsed out like a shockwave knocking the Terror Chick tumbling to the ground. Kelly fired bolts of blue energy at the first of the Terror Chicks which seemed to deal more damage than the ones that Evie could fire from her wand. However, it quickly became apparent that while these bolts of energy were more powerful Kelly couldn’t fire them anywhere near as fast as Evie could which meant that they were effectively balanced out.

In the end the only time that I thought that they needed my help was just after they killed one of the Terror Chicks. Deciding that it didn’t like its chances against Warren one of the Terror Chicks decided to attack Kelly while he was distracted by the other one. But even as I prepared to help out a strange glowing glyph appeared under its feet and exploded which allowed Warren to quickly slam his shield into the other Terror Chick that was still alive to stun it before turning around and chasing down the one that had tried to attack his wife with a truly terrifying look on his face.

Before the fight had started, I had been a bit worried that Warren’s sceptre wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective a weapon as it turned out to be. But by the time they had finished off the last of the three Terror Chicks I had completely changed my mind. It probably didn’t do as much damage as a mace would do for example, but Warren was skilled enough as a fighter that they slightly decreased damage output didn’t mean much to him. Now that I had seen the weapon in action, I was really looking forward to seeing what Skills Warren would be able to get when he Levelled Up its Soul Core as well as what he would be capable of when he got a Magic Core for it as well.

“Nicely done you two,” I said once they had finished looting the corpses of the two monsters. As expected, they had actually handled their first fight better than I had although that was admittedly in part due to their teamwork.

“Thanks Zeke,” Kelly nodded. “I’m quite happy with how things went as well.”

“Well I’m impressed,” Jameson rumbled. “I was actually half expecting Zeke to have to help you out there, but you handled those Terror Chicks quite handily. I don’t have any problems with you joining us.”

“Yeah they were a bit tougher than I was expecting,” Warren admitted. “We would’ve been in trouble if it wasn’t for my Shield Slam Skill.”

“This is all very well and good,” Yarrol grumbled. “But those were some of the weakest of the Terror Chicks and there are plenty more that we will have to kill before the end of the day so can we move on already?”

Despite the way that he said it no-one could disagree with the annoying man’s words so once Evie had finished healing Warren up, we moved on.