“So, basics, basics,” Lara trills as we slowly work our way down the road, moving toward the city's outer wall. “You've got your stats allocated?” I nod. “Special attacks set up?” Another nod. Though I did make them for unarmed attacks now that I think about it, so I raise a hand and she holds on. I take a minute to rework them for my bow, including swapping my counter attack for power shot. “Ok.”

“What else... Do you know about callouts yet?” I shake my head this time, so she explains. “If you call your attacks, they get way stronger. It works for specials and basically any active ability. You just say the name with the intention of activating it, you'll feel it happen.”

“Really?” I ask, skeptical. I doubt she'd trick me, but it sounds so silly, like something from a cheesy anime, it makes me wonder. She isn't messing with me, to make me shout attack names a couple times so she can get a laugh out of it, right?

“Yes, really.” She chuckles, probably reading my train of thought right off my face. “It's really useful against monsters, especially for your big attacks. It does have downsides though. Obviously, it slows you down getting the attack out. The other big thing is you can't use it too much. You have to take a second after a called attack to recover, or other attacks right after will cost more stamina. It's even worse if you try calling the same attack repeatedly. It'll lose power and keep costing more.”

Lara holds a finger up. “Besides that, it adds a whole layer to PVP. Choosing to call an attack or not, responding when the other guy calls theirs, naming attacks ridiculous names, or calling something but actually using a different attack... It's a whole mess. The devs have been cracking down on dumb attack names though, they're generally considered unfair.”

“Huh...” That does sound like it complicates things.

“Right, so anyway, callouts. They exist. Moving on.” She quips with a playful grin when the gate comes into sight ahead. “Next would be gear. You'll want to equip your bow.” She pauses and blinks. “That's right, you didn't go through the tutorial, did you? Here, I'll show you how.” It takes her a couple minutes to explain her way through the details of equipping gear. By the end, we're standing just before the gate.

Lara mentions that it's dangerous outside, gesturing around to how everyone else equips their combat gear before leaving, and she does too. For Lara, she has her weird monk armor already, so she only has to equip her weapons. A pair of short swords appear on one hip and a large tome on the other. One sword is in an ordinary dark leather sheath, but the other sits in a silver sheath with magical glowing runes on it. Does she play some sort of melee mage? With that done, she returns to her mini-lesson.

Apparently they decided on an equipment system that rides the line between ease of use and realism. First, I have to pull my gear from my inventory and physically put it on. For the quiver, that just means tossing the strap around me and tightening it around my chest. The bow goes on next, sort of hanging off of the quiver in a way that probably isn't really secure. Lara shows me how if I hold it in that spot, it will lock into place. Now when I turn, it kind of just magically sticks in place around the quiver. Not realistic, but it is functional.

With that done, I can equip and unequip them from my menu without changing their position. Lastly are my arrows. The stack of two hundred, which while it sounds like a lot, will vanish before I know it according to Lara.

It turns out there's a whole ammunition section in the menu where I select my quiver and the arrows to load. Seems like overkill to me... When I tap on them, I catch a faint glow behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, the quiver is packed full of the shoddy wooden arrows. It's a start.

“Equipment's done.” Lara silently counts off on her fingers, and we ever so slowly begin to move forward again, through the gate. When she gets to one finger, she looks at me for a long moment. I think she's checking my name? “Alright, next you should equip your Guardian Title. It's a good start until you unlock better titles.

“Guardian?” I double check the menu to be sure. “I don't have that one.”

Lara stops and looks at me weird. “That doesn't make any sense, you have to have it. You get it for like, starting the game.” I can only ruffle a hand through my hair and shrug, the crowd splitting to flow around either side of us. We're kind of in the way here, but no one seems to mind...

Lara taps at her menu briefly, pushing closer so we aren't quite as in the way, standing in the middle of the gateway like this. Then she quietly recites, “'Guardian, given to all those who come to this world to defend Nirvalla.' So, it's like a lore thing. Players here are called Guardians. Guardians like... transferred their minds into magical, reincarnating bodies to help defend this world from the Oblivion. I mean, that's pretty much literally how the whole VR thing works, so it's not even a stretch.”

“Huhh...” I mumble, only sort of following.

“Right, sorry, I should explain that better.” Lara shakes her head, grabbing my arm to both move us forward again, and so she can speak into my ear from close, like she doesn't want to be overheard.

“So, the NPCs are the people who live here; they're called Nirvallans. You know, people from Nirvalla. We're Guardians, special magic people from wherever. Technically, the Nirvallans understand that we treat this like a game since it isn't really our problem, so we don't exactly have to roleplay super hard, but they also don't appreciate when we talk about their entire world as a game in front of them either.”

“That... makes sense,” I agree. From their perspective, relying on otherworldly protectors who see your whole world as nothing but a game must really suck. Now I understand why she's keeping her voice down. With all these people around, I have no idea who among the crowd are players and NPCs – Guardians and Nirvallans. There aren't any indicators to tell.

Then, “Wait, but none of this is helping,” I cut back to the original topic. “How could I not have the Guardian Title if everyone is a Guardian automatically?”

“I have no idea.”

I don't really want to, but Lara has absolutely nothing to offer here, so I turn to my stream camera and slide it in close so they can hear. Don't tell me this is another stupid bug... “So, would any of you care to explain?” I direct my question at the game staff I know are watching. It only takes a moment's pause to receive the answer. They must have been waiting for the question.

' All I can say is, if you haven't unlocked a title, it means you haven't met the requirements for it.'

I facepalm. “They say I haven't met the requirements.”

She doesn't seem to get it, but doesn't question me, instead shaking her head. “That doesn't make any sense.”

“Yup.” With one more sigh, I just move on. “Ahh, whatever. I have other Titles I can use instead.”

Lara blinks. “You do?”

“Yeah, here.” Just as we're passing the outer edge of the gate, I give a tap to show her my Title selection menu. “So, there's definitely weird stuff going on with my character. I swear I got notifications saying I unlocked Titles that aren't listed here, and one of them was Cursed One, meaning I should have a Curse as one of my Affinities, but I already have three normal ones and haven't noticed anything super weird – no stat or Skill issues at least – so I don't know what's going on there.”

“That's... huh. Yeah, that's really weird,” she agrees, eyes scanning the window. “I don't even recognize some of these. And why is Outsider available? You shouldn't be able to use it in your home region.”

“I thought the exact same thing!” I throw my hands up. “Plane Walker is from when I was on Hexos, I guess they counted that.” I tap on it so she can read the description as I speak. “Then there's this one.” I tap Dissonant again to show her the utterly blank information window.

“It's just so suspicious, don't you think?” I ask. “It's gold, so I think it relates to an Affinity, but I don't have one for anything like this. My best guess is this relates to my Curse. But can Curses even give you Titles? Aren't they earned? No, maybe it messes with my whole Title system, it would explain why so many Titles are messed up...” I keep thinking aloud as I work my way through it all. It would explain why I haven't noticed anything about a Curse so far.

“It's definitely a possibility,” Lara agrees. “Curses can do anything to your character. Still, why are you guessing? Didn't you... Oh.” I think she's already figured out the reason, but I lean in close to whisper in her ear anyway.

“It wasn't exactly me that logged in the first time.”

Lara grumbles, rubbing the bridge of her nose for a moment. “Well, fine. We'll just have to work on that. For now, you should equip that special Title to see what it actually does. If it is cursed, switch to another one instead. You're pretty lucky to unlock so many so early, you know.”

“Really?” But the game threw so many at me all at once, it gave the impression they weren't that rare.

“I mean, they're not that hard to get, but you've been playing for like, a day,” she laughs.

“...” I tilt my head. “Fair.”

“Well, go on and equip that Title, let's see what it does,” she suggests.

I'm nervous, knowing it might be related to some sort of Curse, but I push on and equip it. Nothing changes with me which is good, but I don't know if I'd really expected anything to.

What does happen is way more terrifying. Lara flinches, dropping her stance and hand going for her sword. All around us, the other players leaving the city do the exact same thing, staring straight at me, suddenly hostile.

I freeze on the spot.

What. The. Fuck.

Seconds pass, no one moving. A few eyes start to wander. Lara drops the aggressive stance, but still looks wary. “Ok, what the fuck,” she mirrors my own response. “That Title makes you give off some sort of super hostile aura. Like, the game's marking you as highly dangerous for some reason – like it would for a high level Oblivion monster. And I got a buff...”

She reaches out to a little golden light that's joined her other colorful buff indicators around her. When she taps it, her mouth falls open slightly. “You're giving me a buff to my Personal Affinities. I've never heard of anything with an effect like that before. That's a really strong Title. But why does it mark you as so dangerous?”

“I have no idea, but I'm kind of freaking out,” I mutter, still staring around with big eyes, at the wary people completely encircling me. They have the same golden indicators...

Even if it has a great buff attached, this is way too nerve-wracking. I glance back to the Title list. I want to change to something else, but isn't there a five minute lockout?

I do a double take when I see it. This is definitely a Curse. It has to be. I frantically tap the window to show Lara. She stares, mouth falling open fully this time, as dumbfounded as I am.

At the top of the window, it shows my current title, Dissonant, with small text beneath that says it is locked permanently. Next to it is space to equip a second title. Not that I care.

I CAN'T TAKE OFF THE CURSED TITLE.

Lara suddenly snaps out of it and calls into the surrounding crowd. “Sorry everyone, just a Curse thing, no need to worry!” There are a few mumbles of understanding. Even a few of sympathy, as people soon drop their guard. Now that they have an explanation, they're nowhere near as wary. I'm still wearing starter equipment, I can't actually be dangerous. Lara pulls me away from the crowd, and once we're in the clear, turns back to me, suddenly looking ready to cry.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Mei. I... I definitely didn't expect that! There are some PK titles that have longer than normal lockouts, but nothing – nothing is supposed to work like that. Nothing permanent... God, I should've known not to underestimate a Curse-”

“No no!” I wave my hands in a fluster when she starts blaming herself. Even if she encouraged me, I'm sure I would have tested it out myself eventually. It was really just a matter of time before my curiosity got the better of me. “It's fine, if it's nothing like you've ever seen before, there's no way you could know. There's nothing to do about it anyway, so let's just let it go, alright?”

She bites her lip, clearly conflicted, so I move in a little closer and put my hands on her shoulders as reassuringly as I can manage. I'm not used to trying to help other people. “At least it's not all bad, right? You said it gives a support buff, right?”

“I mean, yeah, a Personal Affinity buff is pretty incredible,” she admits, finally easing up a little. “And it's not like it's ruined your Title system, you can still equip another Title.” With that, her gentle smile returns. “For now, choose one of the others, alright?”

“Sure,” I agree immediately. I'm more glad to see her calming down than I even care about the whole Title fiasco. As long as she's happy, nothing else matters that much.

I follow her advice and equip Plane Walker. I'm worried for a moment that something else will happen, like my Curse will lock this Title too or something... but the change goes through fine. I get the normal lockout timer, and nothing else happens.

“Yeah, your tag reads 'Mei, The Dissonant Plane Walker' now,” Lara confirms. I try looking at her to get her name to come up too, and I see it.

Lara – Life Saver

That's an interesting title...

“Moving on, moving on,” Lara mumbles, shaking herself and clearly trying to get past what just happened. We begin walking toward the field with the starter bushy mobs again.

A tremor passes through the air, the fur on my ears and tail immediately standing on end. A big window appears in front of us at that moment and I scan it over.

Alert!

Incoming Oblivion invasion, prepare to defend the city core!

I turn to Lara. “So, I guess the invasion is starting now?” I ask to confirm.

“Yeah.” She scowls. “Sorry, I'm going to have to go help out. I may not look it, but I'm actually a pretty important member of the city council.”

“Wait, really?” I had no idea she was anyone so important!

“Kinda, yeah. I'm really sorry.” Lara presses her hands together as she apologizes. “It'll only take a bit. I promise we'll play together later, alright?”

“Yeah, sure, it's no problem. Really.” I try to show her my sincerity, and give her a hug. “Go on, miss important city person. Go protect the town.” I grin at her. She nods. We take a moment to add each other as friends so she can find me later, then she runs back through the gate into the city.

As I look back, I see a lot of the other players are heading in as well. There's no way I can get involved in a big game event like this at level 1, so I should focus on leveling up some first. Once I have enough income to regularly resupply my own arrows, I can probably start looking into questing. This seems like a pretty sandbox style game, but there should still be quests around...

I head over to the same low-level farming area from the last time I was here, with the strange, spiky monsters that look kind of like little slime mobs with their huge thorn bushes on top.

Glancing around, there are a couple other new players in the area, but that's it. All the experienced players are gone. Have to be careful I don't get hit this time, since it won't be as easy to find a healer. At least I have a weapon now.

“Alright, guess it's time to give this a try,” I say to the camera, pulling it up at my side to look into it. Then it goes back over my shoulder again. I think I like the third person over the shoulder perspective, on a whim, I turn on my steam recording so I can check it out later and see what it actually looks like for the viewers.

I grab my bow. It takes a little fiddling to pull it from my back with the arrows sticking out of my quiver, but once I get a feel for the motion, it's easy enough. Then I draw an arrow and settle it on the bowstring. I pull back experimentally, aiming at one of the monsters. I've used bows in VR before, it feels kind of the same.

Still, the ease of the motions must mean the game is helping me out somewhat. I think Finesse is supposed to help with things like this, like aiming and shooting with ranged weapons. I'll probably want to put more points into it when I start leveling up.

I take up position a little way away from the nearest monster, close enough that I think I can hit it without trouble, but far enough it doesn't notice me. Here goes nothing... I draw my arrow back, aim, and fire. I don't do anything special, but the shot travels way faster than I expect, the arrow burying itself in the blobby base of the monster, before almost immediately dissolving into particles of pale blue light, floating away on the wind.

No blood spills from the wound and it doesn't have a mouth to make sound, but it does shake in anger and start bouncing itself toward me aggressively. It's faster than I expected too. I backpedal, drawing another arrow. With just a thought, I activate Power Shot this time, loosing the second shot.

There's a deep thrum in the air and I shudder a little, feeling slightly tired all of a sudden. But the arrow practically teleports from my bowstring into the monster, the entire thing thrown backward from the force. When it lands, it stops moving, and moments later, its dark body fizzles away, little dark speckles floating up and away.

Wow, special attacks are really strong. I choose another isolated monster and start taking shots at it while backing up. I want to find how many normal attacks it takes to kill, but I can't. It bounces quickly in its pursuit and one of my shots deflects through its thorns without finding its mark. I can't back up that fast while shooting without disrupting my aim. This is difficult...

When it almost reaches me, I know I can't take a hit, so I finish it with another Power Shot. Based on the number of arrows, it's four times stronger at the very least. Likely more. Even though the monsters don't have health bars, the one I was shooting didn't look weakened by the normal arrows at all.

Next, I try calling my attack like Lara said. “Power Shot.” When I say the words aloud, I can feel the attack activating, and release my bow string.

Boom

I take a step back, feeling the force of the shot across the whole front of my body, the rumble resounding in my chest. The arrow sends the monster I hit skittering across the grassy field, the corpse dissipating while it's still tumbling. “O...kay then,” I mumble. With a twitch of my ears, I look into my camera and grin. “Can't say I expected that, but I'm impressed. Special attacks in this game really pack a punch.”

There are a few agreeing comments, some even coming from staff members, and it sounds like the praise is mostly being directed toward Fraggar and Malafesto. I guess they work in whichever departments are related to attacks like that.

I spend some more time picking off mobs. My build is geared toward one-shotting things, and it certainly works at this level. Though it requires me to use a special for every shot, which tires me out surprisingly quickly. I do figure out that using my Sneak Attack instead of Power Shot works better. It isn't as tiring, but still wipes out the monsters instantly. The downside is it only works on my first attack before they notice me, obviously.

When I look back into my menu, I see how the special uses a smaller amount of my points. Five Empower Points instead of ten, which explains the difference in stamina usage.

I only try out the Assassinate attack I made once. It's a combination of Power Shot, Stunning Strike, Sneak Attack, and Dark Curse. The instant I use it, I feel a big chunk of my energy vanish, along with another different sort of drain. That must be my mana, used for the spell portion of the attack.

I sit down for a couple minutes afterward to recover. It has a cost of thirty Empower Points, but feels like way more than three times the effort of Power Shot. So, high cost attacks will put me on my ass. Noted.

While I wait and my breathing slows, I take the time to go through my inventory. I have noticed the little info popups with each monster, appearing over them after they die to tell me about whatever they drop. In my menu, I find a handful of things that sound like vendor trash. Dark blobs, pokey spikes, and so on. I also have a little more money. Only twenty or so gold, but it's enough to cover more arrows at least. How did I earn two thousand gold so fast before anyway...?

When I'm feeling a bit better, I stand up again. I want to try something else. I know that calling attacks makes them stronger, but does it matter how I call them? Running on rule of cool that the game devs probably enjoy as much as anyone, I'm betting it does.

I pick out another random monster and take up position.

My vision fades out. It's sudden, and I find myself wondering if I'm getting force-logged out again. But no, I still have a sense of my stream camera running, though it's locked with my own gaze now. A fact which is weird, considering I don't have any body at the moment. The void only lasts for a bit though. My body doesn't make a return, but my senses do.

My vision fills with a new scene. A... not so new scene, I realize. Dark clouds, booming lightning, smoke coiling over the ground, and an encircling ring of monsters. Evil tower behind. Oh, the invasion cutscene. I guess I already killed the fifteen minutes from the announcement to the event's start. I settle in to watch it play out the way it's supposed to appear.

The inhuman thing goes through its rallying speech, and it's not as bad since I'm not physically sharing the field with the creature and it's broken glass voice this time. Still, way up there in creep factor. With the leader's wave, the monsters start to charge through the magical swirling gate, and the camera making up my view pulls back and up overhead.

Ok, seeing a pink catgirl flail around in the middle of a scene like this must have been ridiculous. I wonder if I can find the footage online...?

The cutscene finishes up, and my sense of self returns, the world around me fizzling back into existence. I wobble a bit. That is kind of disorienting. I shake it off though. Right, I was farming.

I giggle a little at the thought. Ooh ahh big scary world invasion cutscene. Alright, back to shooting spiky bush slimes. I shake my head at myself, repeating the thought aloud for my viewers, sure they'll get a laugh out of it too. Judging by the chat, they do.