"Really nice getting to know you, Sawyer," said Eclairs. She gave us a wave as we were leaving Vanguard Gaming.

"I'll try to visit again before I leave Egret," my sister replied as she followed me out the door. “And I'll add you on Missive!"

“Do try out that coffee,” I said with a smile.

Eclairs gave me a look that was a mix between a suspicious frown and a politely grateful smile. She had the same reaction as I did when I first got the coffee bag. She might be half-assuming it was a prank when I kept calling it cat's butt coffee instead of kopi luwak, its actual name.

"I'll surely try it," she said with a conflicted grin, her eyes still narrowed at me as I closed the door of Vanguard Gaming. I stopped myself from instinctively flinching at her eyes which were both uncanny and mesmerizing. “You’ll have to treat me to coffee sometime if this sucks.”

“What?” I asked as I was about to close the store’s door.

She just shook her head and waved at me to go already.

Eclairs and Sawyer's first encounter was magnitudes different from mine. They immediately hit it off nicely as if they were long-time friends. There was no trace of the brashness of Eclairs. Perhaps it was because Sawyer looked quite timid, even if she wasn't. Or it could be that Eclairs woke up on the wrong side of the bed the day we first met.

While the two of them reminisced about the old days of Egret, especially when our little corner of the city was...not as pleasant as it was now, and also about Boady’s literal massive transformation, I spied on my sister's reaction. It was only for a brief moment, but she noticeably balked upon meeting Eclairs' eyes.

I wasn't crazy when I thought something was wrong with her eyes—not physically wrong, but there was a chilling aspect about their look.

"She's nice, isn't she," Sawyer said, giving me a sidelong glance. I knew she was going to bring this up to ruin our peaceful car ride back to their hotel. My sister turned to me with a mischievous smirk. "And pretty too. I can't believe Boady—or Derrick. My gosh, I can't believe I didn't know Boady's real name all this time."

"I didn't know it was Boady's real name either," I said, trying to derail the conversation. "And I was always with—"

"Anyway," Sawyer loudly interjected, "it's settled that we both can't believe not knowing Boady's real name. What I can't believe more was that he has a very pretty cousin. And I also can't believe you haven't made a move on her."

"Move?" I played dumb. "What move?"

"Oh, come on, you know," Sawyer said, grinning at me. She didn't push it further because it would violate the unspoken treaty between us siblings not to pry into each other's personal life. She settled with, "Just saying that you have free time now...so use that free time."

I nodded. My sister was right. I should use my time correctly.

Bill, the little boy wearing the Mardukryon T-shirt, was relying on me to free the Mardukryons from the mountains and show everyone how cool they were. I was certain he wasn't the only kid in this world who yearned for the same. The younger generation was looking up to me, Herald Stone, not to fail them.

And I'm not going to.

"Alrighty then! This is a dead end for now." I sighed as I stepped out of Healer Gula's shop. As soon as I dived into MCO and returned to the virtual world of Hierakon, I tried again to convince her to let me meet her sister.

Gula wouldn't budge; Bawu shouldn't meet someone like me who knew of the 'lost arts' was what she insisted. I gave up after several more minutes of repeated rejection.

It reminded me of when Mehubanarath kicked me out of his tiny little hidden base in the Golden Forest, and I tried to break back inside. However, a quest popped up to tell me how to get into the Big M's good graces. In contrast, there was none here. Did it mean that there was no way for me to meet Potion Brewer Bawu, that the game hadn't provided a path for it?

I refused to accept that. There had to be a way!

Persuading Mehubanarath to let me enter Kurghal Village likewise didn't have a quest attached to it. The quest prompt only appeared after convincing him that I could keep my Ancestral Flame pure even if I mingled with other Mardukryons.

It might be the same situation here.

But with no clue how to proceed, I shifted to my other pending side quests to continue leveling up. Perhaps the mundanity of collecting this or that item or doing this or that task for the NPCs could inspire a new idea inside me.

I had progressed to doing quests for the various Lodges in the village.

The Merchants' Lodge asked me to help them with deliveries, securing supplies, and even collecting past-due debts from their customers. Thankfully, the NPC customers paid up when I asked them. I wasn't sure what would happen if they refused. Was I obligated to beat them up? Herald Stone the Loan Shark?

The Weavers wanted me to help them harvest flowers to use in dyeing the clothes they made. It wasn't a collection quest but an escort assignment—a welcome change. Four apprentice Weavers plucked clean the bushes near the western gate of the village while a smattering of [Lvl 11 Baby Frost Macaques] bothered them.

Those crazy monkeys were agile and fast, but I easily caught them by planting my Totems that used [Enraging Taunt] on them. This led to my discovery that my [Superior Replicant Totem] and [Lesser Replicant Totem] could also regenerate. This should've been obvious since they did inherit a fraction of my attributes, but I hadn't seen it in action as they instantly died during our fight with the Living Statue.

Since my Totems were only level one—my Totem Juggling strategy didn't need them to be leveled up—they only copied a tiny fraction of my attributes. The screeching baby monkeys brought them down in a few seconds.

No problem. I resummoned my Totems in front of the Weaver apprentices gathering flowers to draw the monsters away from them. In a way, this was also Totem Juggling. There was no need to kill the mobs. More would take their place, as I found out when I first killed a couple of them.

I also assisted the Masons' Lodge in constructing a new house—not the construction itself, which needed specialized Ocadules to do, but with the collection of rocks and other construction materials. I returned to the quarry to collect rocks and then went to the caves to hunt a special kind of worm that oozed slime that could be used as adhesive.

"And that's twenty," I said after my [Greater Pyro Shell] exploded, killing a couple of [Lvl 12 Borpillars].

More of the hybrid mushroom-caterpillar creatures crawled out of cracks in the walls. They threateningly clicked their scissor-like mandibles at me.

“Ladies and Gentleborpillars,” I said with a flourished bow, waving my torch goodbye before turning around. “Your lives are no longer forfeit. You are free to go, for I have finished collecting your slimes.”

They scuttled across the floor to attack me, but I left a Totem to hold them for a few seconds before running away. At this stage, completing quests was still the better option for leveling up than farming monsters.

[ Quest Completed: One Rock Over Another! ]

[ Increased: Player Level to 15! ]

[ Increased: Ancestral Constitution Level to 4 ]

[ Increased: Healing Touch Level to 3 ]

"Good job, youngling!" said the Mardukryon NPC. "Now we can finish this house."

"You're going to use slime as cement?"

"The Borpillar slime is certainly going to cement the blocks together for a sturdy home."

"No, that's not what I meant. Or maybe it is. Do you not have cement here? The powder with water that turns into a paste—uh, I don't actually know what cement is made of."

"Once the Borpillar slime hardens, these rock blocks will be secured."

"Works well enough, I suppose," I said with a shrug. Please wait a minute...there was something that I hadn't tried yet. The Mardukryons Masons constructing a home reminded me I hadn't been inside one.

Normally, I didn't do this in RPGs because I wasn't one to explore every nook and cranny of the game, talk to every NPC, and complete every quest—that was Mason's thing. But it might be interesting to see what I could find if I explored the homes of the Mardukryons, checking their cabinets, chests, pots, and other containers. There were usually money and items hidden there.

I came upon a burrow home with an unlocked door.

It was quite roomy to accommodate the large bodies of Mardukryons. No chairs, of course, only those square mats where one was supposed to rest. I stepped softly, taking care not to make noise.

Why am I tiptoeing? I could waltz in, loot everything, and go out. That was how it went in RPGs.

And could I even tiptoe with hooves? That was the important question science should answer.

I laughed at myself and walked normally. Clop, clop, my hooves went in the quiet house. “No pots for me to break? Might as well open this cabinet.”

“Who are you?” an angry voice demanded.

Turning around, I saw a female Mardukryon walking from behind a wooden partition. She looked angry, shaking her head at me. The jeweled rings attached to her tusks clinked. raised a frying pan and waved it ominously.

The owner of this house? She did have the right to be angry at me then. I raised my hands and said, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m just an innocent youngling that wandered into your house searching for...something to eat. I’m sure you won’t miss some virtual reality bread.”

“You better get out of this house right now.” She shooed me away with her frying pan. Female Mardukryons were smaller than males, but that was relative to adult males. She was bigger than me and a level thirty-six versus a level fifteen me. No contest here.

Perhaps I needed a stealth skill, or maybe there was a thievery Ocadule available to aid me in looting homes. There was usually a thief occupation in RPGs. “Yes, ma’am. I’m going out of your house now.”

A large shadow blocked the door. I looked up and saw staring down at me. “My darling, who is this person?”

“I was on my way out,” I said. “I’m very sorry if I disturbed Shala here.”

“How do you know my wife’s name?” Apason said with a growl. The sword by his hip looked very menacing.

“It’s written on top…Oh, I get it.” I chuckled. The game developers of MCO probably inserted this as a joke.

Anyway, that was how I ended up in Mardukryon prison.