Civilization

Rebecca came back after an hour, and we had some sandwiches from the local convenience store. Sitting on the couch, I tell her about the information on the 'Generals' and told her to be careful about the pink-haired female since she was situated in the South.

"Will I even see her? I have barely seen any undead. I'm usually fighting against beast-type monsters or goblins and orcs." - Rebecca

"Not sure, but I want you to still be careful. It looks like she usually commands the army of undead, which means you would see them coming and have time to escape, but at the same time, it will be hard to escape from the undead." - Ian

"Why? Don't I just leave?" - Rebecca

"Undead doesn't need to rest, but humans and demi-humans do. Eventually, you will tire and once that happens they will catch up to you." - Ian

"Hmm, I see. By the way, have you been sleeping alright?" - Rebecca

Rebecca leans closer to me, looking at me with her clear blue eyes. She places her hand on my forehead and looks at me with a worrying expression.

"I-I'm fine. Why do you ask?" - Ian

I gently pull away from her as she approached me.

"This morning what happened? You still haven't told me anything about that." - Rebecca

"Oh, umm, I guess I was just tired?" - Ian

"Don't. Bullshit me, there was obviously something wrong." - Rebecca

I try to calm my rapid heartbeat and slowly take a deep breath.

"I died in the game protecting my NPCs from a heatwave. I felt my back burn and then my skin melting before I died. When I woke up, I had a splitting headache and my bed was drenched in sweat. Then I fell asleep again until you woke me up." - Ian

"Was that it?" - Rebecca

"Yea. Nothing else." - Ian

"Hmm, maybe you should rest up during the day and sleep more. The both of us aren't working at the convenience store anymore, so you can use that time to relax." - Rebecca

"I can for a bit, but eventually I'll need to find a job and get back to work. I need money for food, rent, and bills too." - Ian

"I can help with money for a bit. After all, I am staying here." - Rebecca

"Right, how come you are staying here? I understood for a while after your incident but why are you still here?" - Ian

"Do you not like me here? Isn't it fun having a beautiful girl like me living under your roof?" - Rebecca

Rebecca smiles, leaning forward again and climbing on top of me slowly. Her oversized white shirt hung low enough that I could see her black lace bra. I back off slightly, as she gets on top of me, and places her hand on my cheek.

"I-I-It's not like, I don't like you here. I just didn't know why." - Ian

She leans forward and whispers in my ear before getting off me and sitting back on the couch, normally.

"Just because~" - Rebecca.

Smiling at my flushed face, she giggles and continues on her reason.

"And because I don't like home. Don't worry, I have savings as well, so we won't be broke." - Rebecca

"Alright…" - Ian

"By the way, what's for dinner?" - Rebecca

"You just had lunch, and you are already thinking about dinner?" - Ian

"A girl can get hungry, you know." - Rebecca

"Well, what do you want?" - Ian

"Spaghetti?" - Rebecca

"Sure. We can make some spaghetti." - Ian

.........…

"Rebecca, do you want to sleep together tonight?" - Ian

"WHAT?" - Rebecca

Dropping her fork on the table and spilling some spaghetti sauce everywhere, Rebecca surprisingly jumps up from her chair. Her face is red as a tomato as she looks at me.

"Wow, wow, wow, waitttttt. I don't mean it like that." - Ian

Noticing the way I spoke, I blush as well, slapping my forehead at the way I approached the situation.

"I mean, sleeping in the same room when we go into the game. In case something happens, we can at least be there for the other person as soon as possible." - Ian

"Oh, umm, yeah, okay." - Rebecca

Rebecca slowly sits back down on her chair, holding her cheeks in embarrassment. I avoid eye contact with her as I finish up my food and go wash up the plate. Rebecca finishes her food soon after, cleaning up her mess and retreating to the bathroom. I hear the shower water running and attempt to clear my mind by looking at the game forum page.

The previous post about the 'Generals' is still the top post, with subsequent smaller posts about potential 'Generals' popping up right under it. The big 3 guilds were still advertising on the forum, but I could see smaller guilds trying their best to advertise as well, since there are a lot of gaming companies out there. The only problem is that the game doesn't have a monetary system yet, so there is no way for guilds to earn money from the game.

Thinking about it now, why hasn't there been some sort of gold system? What do the guilds get out of hiring players and making them work for them? Other VR games always used a gold system, where trading real money for in-game cash was always the method guilds used in hiring players. However, this game doesn't do that.

Player interaction is still relatively new, with only small groups of players finding each other. Posts of players saying they are just a team of 3 or 4 are the biggest I have seen, and even some Leaders only have seen one other player while they have been building their village.

Travelers in the forum have stated that it was hard finding methods to get stronger with the increase of monsters, but others have said the opposite. More monsters meant more chances to grow stronger from the loot, but stats were stagnated since the game doesn't have a level system. Instead, Travelers have found items that increased their stats in the game. Some foods have also been found that increase stats as well, but those were rare, and it was more common to find an item with gives an increase in stats.

Ancient ruins were also rare, but the players that have found them were always cheering. Big stats increases or rare weapons or armor have been found and for Leaders the occasional special building has been found, increasing the village's strength.

As I was scrolling through the forum, Rebecca finishes her shower, coming out with a towel wrapped around her head, holding her hair up. The steam emitting off her slightly wet body as well as the slightly transparent white shirt made me look away.

"Shower is free, Ian." - Rebecca

"I know, I can tell." - Ian

"What are you looking at?" - Rebecca

"Just random stuff on the forum." - Ian

"Hmm…" - Rebecca

Rebecca walks over towards me, holding up her hair. She bends down beside me to get a better view of the screen, and I could smell the faint lavender shampoo that she just used.

"What's that post about?" - Rebecca

"Huh? Which one?" - Ian

Following her finger, I see a post that has been buried in between a pile of guild advertisements.

[ Anyone else experienced extreme heat and earthquakes in the game? - ArchWizardo

Just posting here to see if anyone else has experienced something similar. Last night in the game, I was roaming around with a fellow NPC as I am a Traveler, and we experienced a major heatwave as well as multiple earthquakes.

We are currently near a mountainous area with green grassland beside it. Not sure which territory it is in. The monsters we faced were goblins, orcs, and electric zebras. My NPC has been injured from falling on the mountain, luckily she is okay with about 30% of her HP left. However, we have no way of healing, and I'm not sure what will happen while we are trapped on the mountain.

The shaking has stopped a little before sunset, but we haven't been able to move around and are currently stuck in a small cave that outlooks the grassland.

If there are any players nearby, please message me on this forum and I will request a chatroom to discuss the details.

Thank you, ArchWizardo ]

"Isn't that near where you are?" - Rebecca

"It's not just near it, it is exactly at the same place. The problem is I don't know whereabouts she is since the mountain range is extremely long. I also don't know how much the battle affected the surroundings." - Ian

"At least message them and see what you can do. Maybe she will join your village." - Rebecca

"Of course, maybe they can help me as well." - Ian

[ Hello there, ArchWizardo, I am currently situated near the area you have described as I also experienced the same phenomena as you have. Please suggest a chatroom to discuss further details, as it would be more private. ] - Ian

"Okay, just need to wait for-. Oh, they just made a chatroom." - Ian

[ArchWizardo invites you to a private chatroom. Accept/Decline]

[Accept]

[Ian Enters]

[ Hello, Ian. I am ArchWizardo, I didn't expect someone in the top 10 to see my post as well as to be in the same area as I am. ] - ArchWizardo

[ As you know, I am in a cave that is overlooking the green grassland. How far away do you think you are? ] - ArchWizardo

[ Well, it would depend a lot on where you are. I was at the epicenter of the earthquake… I also witness what caused the heatwave and kind of died to it hahaha. ] - Ian

[ Huh? Wait, WHAT? ] - ArchWizardo

[ Yeah, umm not much to it, just some big monsters fighting each other, and I happen to be nearby. ] - Ian

[ Well, I don't think I was too far away? How do I know if I'm close?] - ArchWizardo

"Hmm, do I reveal information about the Himmel Festung?" - Ian

"The floating fortress?" - Rebecca

"Yeah. That would be the easiest way to find out how far away they is." - Ian

[ I did see something in the sky and if you say that you were near the place where there was a lot of commotion, I'm assuming you were near the floating mountain?] - ArchWizardo

"Well, there is your answer." - Rebecca

[ Yes, I was at the location of the floating mountain. How far away do you think you are from there?] - Ian

[ The mountain appeared slightly away from me, but I don't think it was too far. I can move in that direction with my NPC friend.] - ArchWizardo

[ Is the grassland on your right or left? When you go in the direction of the floating mountain?] - Ian

[ The grassland would be on my left. ] - ArchWizardo

[ Okay, once I'm in the game and I make sure all my NPCs are okay, I'll move in your direction, but keeping the grassland on my right. We should meet up eventually. Although, I advise you to not move too much since you said that your NPC is hurt.] - Ian

[ If I don't move, how would you find me? ] - ArchWizardo

[ Stay in the cave and once you notice people coming close, come out. It will be me and my NPCs. ] - Ian

[ Alright. Thank you so much, Ian!. ]  - ArchWizardo

[ No worries. I can assume you will be helping me out for a while as well, since you are a Traveler.] - Ian

[ Of course. I've been wondering about trying to find a place to help my NPC friend settle down. I don't think she is capable of doing long journeys. ] - ArchWizardo

[ I see, I ask that you will tell me more about what has happened to you previously when we meet up instead of over the chatroom. Is that okay?] - Ian

[ Yes, I'll see you soon then. ] - ArchWizardo

[ArchWizardo Exits]

[Ian Exits]

I let out a short breath as I turned toward Rebecca. She had long since straightened her back and was leaning on my chair as she watched me talk to ArchWizardo.

"Well, now you are going to meet a new player." - Rebecca

"Yeah, hopefully, they can stay with me and help my village grow into a city." - Ian

"It will be a long time before I can even reach you. Where I am in the South is probably too far away from you." - Rebecca

"It's fine, Evan has been walking towards me for a month now I think, and he is still nowhere near, or at least that is what we think. Since we don't have a map in the game, we can only go off landmarks and biomes." - Ian

"It would be good to play with other people rather than by myself." - Rebecca

I smile at Rebecca as I look at her pouting face.

"Eventually, we will be together in the game world as well." - Ian

"Yeah, it's just a matter of time." - Rebecca

Rebecca walks away, pulling the towel off and relaxing on the couch. We both wait and relax, talking to each other as we wait for midnight. Once it was, I let Rebecca set up her VR helmet in my bed while I got a separate mattress and set it up next to the bed. I said goodnight to her and have fun before putting on the helmet and diving into the game world.