---Real World---

“ ‘Ello Michael, long time no see.” Nicole said this while stretching to shake off the stiffness that accompanies the Gate.

“Hey, how are ya?” Michael responded while following Nicole’s example of stretching.

“I’m doing well, things have been pretty exciting in game. Sarah and I have been hunting around the city and earned a few levels. How about you?”

“I haven’t done any fighting yet, but I did find a job in a brothel.” Michael said this without thinking of his surroundings, and the rest of the group was left speechless for a few moments.

“Umm, Michael, we know that you’ve been in a bit of a slump ever since your last girlfriend, but to join a brothel is a bit…” Jacob tentatively approached the subject while inching his way towards the kitchen.

“Shit! That’s not what I meant! I got a job working at a brothel as a handler. I take care of a couple girls as well as try to get more girls to join. I’m not a fucking prostitute ya prick.” Vehemently denying the accusations Michael yelled while his face was dyed red from embarrassment.

“Hahaha, don’t worry Michael, we never thought you’d be a prostitute, no one's that desperate to pay for you.” Sarah seemed to be in pain from laughing so hard as she wiped away tears from the corner of her eyes.

“Hardee-har-har.” Michael said this while moving towards the bathroom, no doubt to deal with a natural calling.

Jordan seemed to then be getting up from his Gate, just when Jacob was returning with bowls and behind him Dawson carried a pot of soup.

“Figured you guys would be hungry. Grab a bowl and serve yourselves.” Jacob presented his food to the group while grabbing some for himself.

“Perfect, I finish eating in-game, to now be rewarded with a meal in real life. Ahh, could life be any better!” Jordan hastily removed his Gate at the mention of food and pounced onto the pot as if he was starved for days.

“Why don’t you ask Michael, he seems to be living a rather fine virtual life.” Sarah said this when she noticed Michael returning from his business.

“Fuck off.” Michael curtly replied in a polite manner.

Jordan, instead of prying any further, was too busy stuffing his face with soup.

“So then, now that everyone is back in the realm of the living, why don’t we discuss what we’ve all been up to?” Nicole proposed this while sitting onto the couch with her own bowl.

“Well I told you that I got that new job, but I also joined a criminal syndicate and was given a tattoo to ensure I would stay in.” Michael quickly summarised his adventures in a very, very well thought out manner.

“Pardon. Did you say you joined a criminal syndicate?” Nicole seemed to be staring daggers at Michael as she paused bringing her food to her mouth.

“Yep, the Dancing Daggers is their name. We do drugs, brothels, and hitman.” Michael still spoke in a manner that would be elegant enough to charm even the Queen of England.

“Come over here you little shit while I teach you a thing or two about manners!” Nicole set down her bowl and started to walk over towards Michael. Meanwhile, the rest of the group decided to unanimously stay out of the impending slaughter.

A few minutes later, everyone once more was seated. the exception being Michael, whose ass was too sore to sit.

“Anyways, since we heard of Michael’s exploits, how about yours Jordan?” Nicole continued on as if she hadn’t laid out a beating worthy of a WWE championship belt.

“Well Morgan and I were exploring the city together for a bit, but we decided to do things separately. After we separated I went to a restaurant and picked up a job as a waiter. I thought it would be easy at first, but after joining there was an increase in customers. Atleast I get fed though.” Jordan detailed his exploits while simply, and it seemed his stomach guided his journey.

The rest of the group though sighed mentally. Jordan was a rather good looking guy. Standing at 6’2 (1.9m), with blonde hair, blue eyes and a fairly nice body, if not for his hunger and airheadedness he might of been Lust instead of Nicole.

“While Jordan was stuffing his face, I had a much more difficult experience.” Morgan began to speak and everyone focused onto her. “The first thing I did was go outside onto one of the branches and see what monsters were around. That was the plan until one of the monsters swooped down from above and pushed me off the damn branch!”

Everyone chuckled at that until Jacob spoke up,”You didn't die though did you? Otherwise you would of been kicked out for the day.”

“Nope, I didn’t die, instead though I landed in a pool of water a couple branches down. After recovering I looked around for a bit to find out there was no way up besides one vine that came close to the branch. Issue is though, any time I try to climb the thing those monsters attack me and I end up too tired to continue.”

“Well that is a bit of a predicament, why didn’t you message Jordan?” Sarah asked this while trying to figure out a way for Morgan to get out of her issue.

“I did try, but his messages are apparently off!” Morgan glared at Jordan while saying this, and in turn Jordan continued to eat more soup.

“Sorry about that, there were too many friend requests and that coming in so I decided to turn them off.” Jordan apologized while pouring the last of the soup into his bowl.

“Anyways, from trying over and over again I at least gained a skill as well as some points in strength, vitality, and agility. The skill I got was danger sensing. It’s apparently a common warrior skill that occasionally warns the user of impending danger. It drains mana pretty quickly though, and isn’t very reliable though.”

“Hmm, well atleast you gained some stuff, are you still stuck there?” Jacob asked this while bringing the pot away from Jordan so as to bring it to the kitchen for cleaning.

“Yeah, I almost got to the top a couple of times, but the monster things have a nest near there, and get aggressive when I come close.” Morgan sighed after saying this and finished off the rest of her soup.

“Well that sucks, now that Jordan knows though, next time we go on he can probably help you at least.” Nicole spoke while taking Morgan’s bowl as well as Sarah’s and her own towards the kitchen.

“Anyways, enough about me, how are things for you Sarah?” Morgan asked Sarah.

“Well Nicole and I have just been levelling outside the city whenever we don't have shifts at the grocer’s. At first it was just myself and Nicole, with me kicking things and Nicole beating them with her stick, but some other new players joined us and Nicole has been leading us as we fight other monsters.” Sarah said this and Nicole, as if waiting for her cure, came back from the kitchen and began to speak.

“Yeah, leading other players raises my leadership stat and earned me a skill called troop coordination. As it sounds it allows me to project plans to those I lead. It works in a way that after thinking up the plan, everyone receives a mental message detailing their job in it. It uses a lot of mana though, so I keep it for large battles.”

“While she was leading us though, I was fighting and earned a proficiency skill in hand to hand combat. We both earned some levels and stats as well, making both of us level 13.” Sarah picked up where Nicole ended and detailed what she had earned as well.

“What was the hardest battle you guys fought then?” Curious, Dawson asked Sarah about their most difficult battle.

“Probably the one with the bear right Nicole?” Sarah stated her opinion, and asked Nicole for hers.

“Yeah, that sure took awhile. We were hunting foxes near the edge of the mountains when a bear came barrelling from the woods and plowed one of the players we were working with. After that it turned into a guerilla style battle, with us hitting it and having it follow us before stabbing at its sides.”

“That fucker took forever to go down, we all gained a level from it though, as well as some nice bear hide.” Sarah summarised the loot from their epic battle while using her nicest words.

“Well, that was us, how about you Dawson, did you quit mining?” Nicole continued the conversation flow and redirected it towards Dawson.

“Yeah, instead though, one of the foremen suggested that I look at the engineering group. They do a lot less manual labour and instead design stuff to make the whole process easier. The skill I got from the job is handy too. It’s called design, and it lets me visualize a structure or object, before projecting it in front of me like a 3D blueprint.” Dawson detailed his position change and revealed his new skill.

“Did you lose anything from switching jobs?” Curious Jacob asked Dawson of any downsides.

“Yeah, I lost some proficiency in the mining skill, but the stats stayed.”

“Hmm, good to know. Guess that leaves me to speak then eh?” Jacob then began to detail his adventure.

“Well, in game I’ve just been doing basic apprenticeship stuff, but just before leaving the game, I was given a job to do my first actual tattoo, which was pretty cool. What was even cooler though, was getting paid. I now have about half of the cost for a weeks course in runes.”

“That’s cool, tattooing must pay well then?” Jordan spoke while thinking about when will he get paid for his work.

“Kind of, apprenticeship pays decently, but what really earned me coin was that I earned all the profit from doing that tattoo. They aren’t cheap after all.” Jacob told his quick way to riches while ignoring the envious eyes around him.

“Well, I think I will hop back in then, how ‘bout you guys?” Morgan said this while stretching once more and picking up her Gate from the couch.

The rest of the group nodded and followed her actions until they were all seated once more.

“By the way guys, how many more days till we have to go back to hell?” Sarah asked this before putting her helmet on.

“You mean college? Our courses start up in about two weeks, you worried about going back or something?” Michael answered her question, and everyone else paused in their movement to hear her answer.

“Just curious is all. Wonder how many others at our school got the game?”

“Dunno, probably a few at least. Sure the game is pricey, but so is our tuition.” Jordan chuckled to himself while finishing putting on his helmet.

And with that, they emerged once more, in the Fractal Lands.

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Hello. I know I said it would be in Jacob’s POV last chapter, but after having them talk for a while it ended up being long enough for a chapter. Anyways though, I was reading through the already posted chapters and noticed some errors in grammar and that, which have now been fixed. Also, I might not have a chapter tomorrow, I will be going into my towns army reserve unit for my physical testing, as well to to finalize some paperwork, and might not have enough energy left in me. Never know though. Like always, post errors and suggestions down below, and thanks for reading!