[You have discovered: Baldor’s Loft]

[You have gained 75 EXP]

Baldor’s Loft was less of a starting town, and more an inn with a shop, a simple square building with red clay shingles and arched windows situated in a valley between two large hills with a gravel road running down the center. A bulky man with scruffy grey hair stood behind a long bar, cleaning glasses with a rag. In yellow floating above his head, a sign read, [Baldor]. A few generic NPCs (non-player-characters), dressed as farmers, sat at a table together sipping from empty cups. Edge saw no other players, other than Daphne, who quietly followed him inside, having finally given up on her crying.

Edge marched up to the bar. “Baldor.”

“Howdy stranger, what brings you to Baldor’s Loft?” His voice sounded human enough, but it was obviously a recording. How else could an NPC talk?

“Baldor, how do I log off?” Eugene never thought he’d hear himself ask that question. But this was serious. He’d gone through every menu option, repeatedly, and hadn’t found any means to logout of Levia Online. At one point, he’d even stood around the ziggurat looking for an exit, uttering all sorts of random voice commands. Embarrassing! None of which worked, except to make an already flustered Daphne enter into hysterics.

“Howdy stranger, what brings you to Baldor’s Loft?”

“Why does he keep saying that?” Daphne asked.

“Haven’t you ever played an RPG? It’s common in lots of games for the NPCs to repeat the same stuff.”

“Oh, I knew that . . . ”

How did a newbie come across a rare and expensive crowdfunding project? Even Eugene had to admit, the long-shot VR-01 project was mostly for hardcore gamer otakus. For the first time, Eugene wondered what class Daphne had chosen. Her starting clothes really weren’t meant to offer any clues.

“Baldor, I’m new here.” If this was a starting town, there had to be some kind of simple command to make the main NPC cough up information or a quest or something.

“Is there something old Baldor can do for you?” A window popped up in front of a nearby bar stool. Apparently, all the innkeeper was good for was food and rooms.

It occurred to him that maybe renting a room was equivalent to logging out, after all, the developers couldn’t expect people to actually sleep in their game.

“A room for you and your girl huh? You sure you can afford it?”

[A room for the night: 5R]

What was an R, anyway?

[Confirm] [Cancel] [Not Enough Money]

Maybe he’d underestimated the NPCs.

“I’m not his girl!” Daphne blurted, turning red.

Edge tapped the [Not Enough Money] option. His inventory was completely empty.

“Oh that’s too bad, stranger. Let it never be said Baldor turned away a man in need. Would you mind giving me a hand?”

A big golden icon appeared over Baldor’s head, [F].

“Can you see that?”

“See what?”

Apparently quest unlocks were hidden from other players. “I’ll give you a hand, Baldor.”

[New Quest Accepted]

Another window popped with the heading, [Codex]. It had various tabs, but was opened to one labelled [Quest]. There was only one item in the tab, [Baldor’s Revenge]. But when he tried to select it, it just said ‘the quest details are hidden.’

“Follow me, stranger.” Baldor walked out a backdoor.

“Where are we going?”

Edge wanted to answer, but Eugene was getting sick of all the stupid questions, so he ignored her, and followed Baldor. They crossed through a fenced vegetable garden with neat rows of sprouting crops, before climbing the tiny hill behind the loft. “See that there pond. Geckos have been raiding my garden, and stealing all my hard work. You take care of them geckos and I’ll let you stay the night, and give you a meal to boot.”

[Quest Updated]

“I thought you said this place would help us log off,” Daphne complained.

Here he was, trying to be a stand-up guy when he could have left her (or ganked her), and now she was already criticizing him. “Yeah, about that . . . maybe this’ll work and we can rent a room for the night and wake up back home.”

“You don’t sound very sure.”

Edge didn’t want to tell Daphne that this could be more than a system bug. Everyone in the gaming world had heard of the legendary ‘death game’. It was a myth, a fantasy meant for comic books, or television. Yet here they were, trapped in virtual reality. Wait. He shouldn’t get ahead of himself. They hadn’t been in the game for very long. This could all be some kind of mistake, like they both missed something really obvious in the menu. Even as the thoughts raced in his head, Eugene knew better; his luck never fell that way.

Eugene thought of his unconscious form laying on the living room floor. No one was home to miss him.

(Author Note: So many short chapters! Who wrote this nonsense? lul Don't worry, it's a bit slow to start, but is so much fun as it builds)