The next morning was much the same as before. Arm ringing at 6’o clock sharp across the dorms and people getting slowly on their feet to start the day.
But this time was different.
An announcement came after the arm, informing people that, going forward, they would have to manage their own waking schedule.
This was met with mixed reactions. Some were relieved that they can sleep in for a few more hours. Others were already used to getting up so early, so nothing changed for them. However, the consensus was that a message delivered like that could have been conveyed through an email.
Still, this didn’t stop Annie from making Kol log into The Gateway with her, even with the extra time on their hand and made him log into The Gateway with her. Lucky for her, Mervin too had the same idea.
***
The three of them were sitting near the town square like the day before, waiting for time to pass for Broil and Abaka to arrive.
“You’d think, with the stakes that high, they’d be a bit more punctual,” Annie muttered, stretching with the kind of energy only morning people possessed.
“To be fair,” Mervin said. “Not everyone has the energy you do.”
“Broil said he worked at construction before, so I kind of expected him to not have a problem with waking early.”
“Good point. Still, the time limit of the session is more than 6 hours. We have time.”
Annie sighed dramatically. “Oh, Mervin,” she said, pcing a hand to her forehead. “That is exactly why we need to log on at the same time!”
“What do you mean?” He asked.
“Imagine that they will only log on in 3 hours. We can’t do anything without them, so we waste 3 hours doing nothing. Then, when they are finally log in, we only have a little over 2 and a half hours to do the actual quest before the system forces us to log out. So now, they can’t progress further and waste the remaining of their session!”
Mervin blinked, then slowly turned to Kol, who was sitting hunched over at the edge of the fountain, starring absently in front of him at the menu panel only he could see.
“Has she always been like this?”
“No,” Kol replied. “She used to be much worse.”
Annie gave Kol a sideways gre, but it was more performative than serious. “Excuse you, I am being proactive. Strategic, even.”
She turned her full attention back to Mervin, eyes sparkling, and with a smile that was almost seductive. “Don’t worry, my poor Mervin. I’m gonna to take that gentle, short-sighted spirit of yours... your sweet, clumsy optimism... and I’m gonna chisel it, polish it, shape it—until one day, you’ll stand tall as a radiant monument of foresight and efficiency.”
Mervin ughed awkwardly, not sure himself if he was more scared or fttered.
The town around them was slowly coming alive as the NPCs began their daily routines—shopkeepers setting out wares, guards starting patrols, and pyers popped up more frequently.
At that moment, two figures came into view just outside the square—Broil and Abaka.
Annie lit up the second she spotted them. “Finally!” she excimed as she jumped to her feet like a coiled spring let loose.
“Not our fault the sun doesn’t bribe us with coffee and a paycheck.” Broil said, stretching his shoulders like he’d just finished a run.
“Yeah,” Abaka agreed. “Morning people are mythical creatures I cannot hope reach. “He said, rubbing his eyes and yawning behind one hand. “Anyways, what’s the agenda for today?”
“I was hopin’ you’d ask,” Annie replied cheerily. “Today...” She paused for a dramatic effect. “We gear up!”
The group exchanged a few gnces.
“What?”
“It occurred to me yesterday that we haven’t checked our abilities and stats after Dalia gave us the system tutorial, so I thought it would be wise to get a handle on our capabilities before we stumble into the quest unprepared,” Annie continued, hands on her hips and an expectant look on her face.
“You just want an excuse to go shopping,” Abaka smirked.
“And you don’t?” she shot back, raising her voice.
“Fair.”
“Besides,” Annie added, “knowing your loadout is basic adventuring sense. You wouldn’t head into a dungeon without checking your inventory first, would you?”
“Alright, alright. Yeah, we get it.”
Annie grinned. “Okay. Now that we’re on the same page, let’s check it out now! In theory; the party is still active, so we can see each other’s profiles.”
The party menu popped into existence before each of them.
“Right then,” Annie said, looking over at her own stat sheet. “Let’s see what the lot of us are workin’ with.”
Name: Annie Hoover [Lv. 5] Css: --- Trait: Unknown
Health: 80 / 80 (+0) Stamina: 200 / 200 (+0) Mana: 0 / 0 (+0) Affinity: N/A
VIT: 8 END: 20 ARC: 0 STR: 10 DEX: 26 INT: 0
Equipped Gear:
Streetwear (Common)Skills:
Accelerated Recovery (Passive) – Regenerate 1 Mana and Stamina point every 5 seconds. Amount can be increased through INT.
“No mana, no magic, all stamina.” She furrowed her brows. “Suppose that means I’m built for sprintin’, and not much else...”
Name: Mervin Dee [Lv. 4] Css: --- Trait: Unknown
Health: 100 / 100 (+0) Stamina: 40 / 40 (+0) Mana: 0 / 0 (+0) Affinity: N/A
VIT: 10 END: 4 ARC: 0 STR: 12 DEX: 5 INT: 0
Equipped Gear:
Streetwear (Common)Skills:
Charismatic (Passive) – NPCs are more likely to reveal secrets to you.Mervin was staring hard at his own profile. “Is... is forty stamina low?”
Annie peered over. “Oh... yes. Yes, it is.”
“And what is this skill; Charismatic?” He muttered, squinting suspiciously at his passive skill. “What am I, a bard?”
“Why are you compinin’? That’s the perfect skill for what you want to do, no?”
Name: Mitch Edwards (Broil) [Lv. 5] Css: --- Trait: Unknown
Health: 140 / 140 (+0) Stamina: 100 / 100 (+0) Mana: 20 / 20 (+0) Affinity: N/A
VIT: 14 END: 10 ARC: 2 STR: 18 DEX: 4 INT: 0
Equipped Gear:
Streetwear (Common)Skills:
Heart of Gold (Passive) – Regenerate 1% Health every 5 seconds based on the number of people in the party.Thick Skin (Active) – Temporarily increase damage reduction by 15% and all stats by 1%. Amount can be increased through VIT.
“Could be worse,” Broil said. “I’ve got a skill called ‘Heart of Gold.’ The game thinks I’m a Boy Scout.”
“Are you not?” Annie chimed in, grinning. “Too wholesome. The algorithm couldn’t resist.”
Broil rolled his eyes.
Name: Abaka Nergui [Lv. 4] Css: --- Trait: Unknown
Health: 100 / 100 (+0) Stamina: 80 / 80 (+0) Mana: 0 / 0 (+0) Affinity: N/A
VIT: 10 END: 8 ARC: 0 STR: 18 DEX: 14 INT: 1
Equipped Gear:
Streetwear (Common)Skills:
Tracker (Passive) – Highlights tracks based on 2% on max INT, capping at 65%.
Abaka whistled low as he looked over his stats.
“Not bad, eh? Strength and dex both stacked. Guess I’m the muscle and the movement.”
“You also have that tracking ability,” Annie added, arms crossed as she leaned in to squint at his menu. “So you’re basically our walking bloodhound.”
“Oh wow,” he deadpanned. “Did you really compare me to a dog just now?”
He snorted, clearly amused despite himself. “I'll take it.”
They all turned instinctively toward Kol, who was still seated silently at the edge of the fountain, his screen flickering faintly in front of him. He hadn’t said a word during the stat rundown, only gnced up briefly when Annie cracked a joke.
They looked at his profile.
Name: Kol Campbell Hoover [Lv. 9] Css: --- Trait: Unknown
Health: 120 / 120 (+0) Stamina: 100 / 100 (+0) Mana: 180 / 180 (+0) Affinity: Elementalist (Fire)
VIT: 12 END: 10 ARC: 18 STR: 20 DEX: 17 INT: 9
Equipped Gear:
Streetwear (Common)Skills:
---
“Thats quite a lot of mana,” said Mervin, scrolling through his own window again. “And your strength stat is through the roof. You’re probably some kind of... I don’t know, war wizard?”
“Ignore that—” Abaka cut in. “—He’s level nine already! What gives?”
Kol gave a faint shrug, not meeting anyone’s gaze.
“I do not know.” he said quietly, then he went still again.
Annie didn’t push. She watched him for a moment, her expression unreadable, before pivoting on her heel and cpping her hands once. “Right! Enough gawkin’ at numbers. Let’s go try some things out.”
She marched ahead with a spring in her step, already scanning the street for the nearest vendor stall.
“C’mon, we’re burnin’ daylight,” she called, tossing a look over her shoulder. “Let’s see what kind of gear we can get in this pce, yeah?”
The others hesitated only briefly, the mood slightly dampened by Kol’s distant response before following Annie.
***
Stores lined the streets, everything under the sun from vials of potions to jewelry, tools, and weapons and armor shined neatly behind their dispys. The town’s atmosphere had a light festival vibe, and for a moment, the group was caught in the novelty of it all.
They wandered through the streets, for quite a while before something caught their eye. It was a store at the corner of an intersection positioned between a bakery and a bookstore, with a cog wheel shaped sign hanging overhead that had a wrench inside a shield on it.
“Now that’s a logo if I’ve ever seen one,” Annie murmured, stopping in her tracks.
“Think it’s a bcksmith?” Broil asked, eyeing the sturdy wooden door of its entrance.
“No clue,” Annie replied, already reaching for the handle. “Only one way to find out.”
Inside, the shop was cozy and cluttered. Tools of all kinds hung from the walls—shelves packed with weapon components, gadgets, and curious trinkets that looked cobbled together from mismatched materials. At the back stood a rge workbench littered with metal scraps and open blueprints.
A loud bang echoed through the store, followed by cursing. After a few seconds, a tall figure rose from under the workbench. He was chubby, dark goggles pushed up into a messy tangle of red curls, and wearing a thick leather apron that barely clung around his waist.
When he saw the group was a mix of surprise and barely contained excitement appeared on his face, repcing the sour expression from moments before.
“Oh, visitors!” he squealed, voice crackling with energy.
The group exchanged gnces and looked up.
“You’re a pyer?” Annie asked.
“Yes, I am!” he replied. “Well, an employee, to be precise. Name’s Bill Bough,” he waved. “Nice to meet y’all!”
“Pleasure, Bill. Annie Hoover. This lot’s with me.” She stepped forward, giving him a polite nod.
Bill beamed, wiping his hands on a stained bck rag that looked like it wasn't washed in a while. “Are you here to browse? Admire the absolute genius of my handywork perhaps? Or... are you customers...?”
Abaka raised a brow. “Bit of the two, I think,” He looked around. “What is all this, exactly?”
“A bit of everything.” Bill answered proudly and gestured to the walls. “Weapons, armor, clothes, tools, accessories, and all kinds of gizmos—though I have to warn you those are still experimental!”
“How are we going to pay for stuff anyways?” Asked Broil.
“Oh, we can just charge everything to the company.” Mervin answered.
Bill’s eyes lit up.
“What’s this I hear? Did you just say what I though you just said?” He asked, leaning eagerly over his workbench, knocking some items down.
“U-uh, yes? I think so?”
Bill cpped his hands excitedly. “Oh, finally, some interns at st! How wonderful! Are you on your secrety secret mission yet?” He whispered.
“Yes...” Mervin answered uncomfortably.
Bill squealed again, then wobbly got up from his seat and shuffled over to a door on his side that was half covered with a rug. He motioned them to follow. “Come, come!”
The group hesitantly trailed after Bill through the cluttered side doorway.
The room they entered was somehow more chaotic than the main store. It looked like part workshop, part inventory room, part man-cave that was barely spacious enough to fit all of them.
Blueprints pinned on all four walls—some even on the ceiling. There was even what looked like a half-built automaton slumped in the corner, one eye glowing weakly, the other flickering.
“Why are we here exactly?” Broil asked cautiously.
“Patience my good man!” Bill answered, shuffling around in the mess.
Eventually, he pulled out a rge box from under a pile of papers. He dusted it off and opened it. Inside was an orb, smooths as crystal and blue as deep sea. Bill held it up with reverence, like it was a precious gem from a treasure hoard.
“This,” he decred dramatically, “is a Loadout Core!”
The group exchanged looks.
“A what now?” Abaka asked, crossing his arms.
“A Loadout Core!” Bill repeated, almost offended by the ck of recognition.
“What does it do?”
“It reads your profile and modifies things to suit your needs! Let’s say I—you know what, it’s easier showing than expining. I need a willing candidate... You!” He looked past the group and spotted Kol.
He pulled Kol to the center of the room.
“The orb is currently instructed to modify a set of armor. Pce your hand on it, go on!”
Kol did just that. The next second, the inside of the orb began to twist and curl, changing its color to red, bck and turquoise. A low hum filled the room. Then, it was over just as quick, and the orb’s color returned to blue.
“...”
“...”
“... Was that it?” Kol asked, breaking the silence.
Bill facepalmed.
“Oh, right. You can’t see it! Yes, sorry!”
Bill picked up the orb’s box, then reached deep into it, sinking his whole arm into it and rummaged a bit. Then, pulled a set of armor piece and put it on a desk. “Tada~”
A chestpte, gauntlets, boots and under-armor, all clearly crafted with Kol’s lean frame in mind.
“Whoa…” Annie breathed. “That’s… awesome.”
Kol stepped closer and lifted the chestpte. It was surprisingly light.
“How does it know what I need?” He asked.
Bill puffed out his chest. “That’s the magic of the Core! Well, not magic magic, more like adaptive code interfacing with your neural imprint through the game’s profile link. It reads your fighting style, preference, subconscious inclinations—yes, even those—then, voi! Armor tuned to your exact needs.”
That was an expnation they didn’t expect from someone so... all over the pce, they thought.
Annie tapped a finger on her chin. “So, this thing basically makes personalized gear for each of us?”
“In simple terms, yes! So, who’s next?”
One by one, the group stepped up to the orb.
Annie came next. A flicker of silver and white to the orb, which shimmered brightly before producing a sleek set of lightweight leathers reinforced with bark-like pting. “Archer-rogue hybrid with a fir for mobility and style,” Bill narrated with delight. “Sy, girl!”
Up next was Abaka. The orb whirled violently before exploding in a burst of violet light. When it calmed, a dark, almost ceremonial set of gear appeared. It was decorated with all kinds of detailed engravings and fshy parts—exactly looking like a ‘fantasy armor’, if that made sense.
After him came Broil. The orb again pulsed with a white glow, releasing a thick set of leather clothes, completed with fur coating and built-in bracers. “Kind of surprised about this one. I’d expect a ‘tank’ to wear the heaviest armor, but what do know.”
Lastly, there was Mervin. His interaction was oddly silent. The orb dimmed briefly, then emitted a cool, soft blue, and produced a yered, robe-like ensemble.
“Oh, you all look fabulous!” Bill cried in excitement. “It is truly a shame that these armors are low quality...”
“Wait, what?” Annie said, halfway through buckling a shoulder strap.
Bill winced. “Sorry, sorry, I should’ve led with that. These are just temptes. Prototypes. Unoptimized versions, really. Good enough to wear, sure, but nowhere near the Core’s full potential.”
“I knew there was a catch!” Abaka said, arms crossed over his new ceremonial set.
Bill started to backtrack.
“No, no—none of that! What I meant is the armor that the Core modified was low tier stuff.”
“Which means?”
“You gotta ‘feed’ the Core high quality materials for it to make the good stuff.”
“Why?” Kol asked ftly.
“Why what?”
Kol turned the chestpte over in his hands, then set it down on the desk. His expression had shifted—eyes narrowed and cold, posture stiffened. “What do you gain from doing all of this for us?”
The room fell quiet.
Bill’s smile dropped, then returned a second ter with a chuckle.
“I get that question a lot less than I should,” he said after a beat. “And to be honest, most people don’t care enough to ask it.”
Kol didn’t say a word.
“What do I get out of it? Recognition, yes. Exposure, sure. Momma said if I find a job I like, then working is a piece of cherry pie.” He gnced at the armor set made for Kol. “I like helping people. And this job? It gives me a way to do that, even if it’s just a game.”
Kol’s expression softened. Seemed like he was satisfied with that answer.
Bill cpped his hands. “But enough philosophy! You’ve all got your starter sets, and that’s something to celebrate. Come back with materials, and I’ll upgrade them like you wouldn’t believe. Until then…” He waved toward the exit with both hands. “Shoo! The shop needs tidying, and you’ve got pces to be!”
They filed out one by one, armor clinking and creaking as they adjusted to their new gear. As they stepped back into the street, Abaka had one more question to ask.
“Wait, what about weapons?” He asked.
“Ah! Good catch! I knew I was forgetting something.” Bill jogged—well, more waddled quickly—back into his workshop and emerged again after a minute facepalming. “I got caught up in the moment, I don’t yet have a weapon supplier...”
“So where do you recommend we get them?”
“Every weapon shop on this server is either NPC owned or are just starting out. Both mean ‘garbage’ weapons for ck of a better word...” He signed with a sour expression on his face.
Abaka groaned. “So we’re just going to walk around in shiny new armor with sticks and stones?”
Broil rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, we could get a few of those.”
Bill perked up at that. “No, no, no. Don’t settle! These fabulous armors deserve better companions than chipped iron and ‘Rusty Swords of Disappointment.’ You’re better off fighting barehanded until you can commission something proper.”
“On the bright side, we are the drippiest in the whole game!” Annie chimed in cheerfully.
“On that, you are right, little dy! Now, get going. fly strong, little ducklings! And remember—materials! Bring me the good stuff!”
“Bye, Bill,” Annie called, already walking off with the others. “Try not to blow anything up!”
“No promises!”
The door swung shut behind them with a cheerful jingle of the bell overhead.
Back on the street, the sounds of the festival-like bustle returned. The group walked in retive silence for a few moments, still getting used to the feeling of wearing their armor.
“Well, that was the most entertaining shopping session I’ve ever had.” Annie chippered, skipping happily.
“Yes, he was an alright chap,” Broil grunted in agreement. “More importantly, where to now?”
Annie twirled, her new armor fring out like a cape before she nded in a crouch, grinning up at the others. “I vote we finally check out the sewers. You know, the real reason we logged in today?”
Mervin groaned. “You just had to bring that up. Can’t we enjoy the above-ground air a little longer? Heading into the smelly sewers in these new gears...”
“Don’t be soft,” Abaka smirked. “Besides, we’ve been putting it off long enough. Might as well get it over with.”
“Yep, sounds like fun...”
Kol hadn’t said much since they left the shop, but now he pulled up his interface to check the map. “There is a maintenance access near the back alley behind the inn. It is marked.”
“Of course you already checked,” Mervin muttered. “Lead the way, captain.”
They followed Kol as he cut through the crowd, their new armor drawing looks from other pyers and NPCs alike. A few festival-goers even mistook them for part of some event.
The back alley was a sharp contrast—quiet, shaded, and lined with empty crates and barrels. A faint smell of mildew clung to the damp stone walls. At the end of the alley was a heavy, rusted grate.
“Do we need a key or something?” Broil asked.
Without a word, Kol knelt and pulled up his interface again. He rummaged a bit through his inventory before pulling out a weirdly shaped key. He reached toward the grate, and a moment ter, with a loud clunk, the gate creaked open, revealing a dder descending into darkness.
“Where did you get that?” Almost all of them asked synonymously.
“Broil’s achievement reward.”
The next second, a prompt appeared next to the key.
The key broke after use.
Received new item: Fragmented key.
They exchanged tense gnces, then prepared to descend into the sewers. The gate cttered shut behind them, and the muffled din of the festival above repced by the low drip of water and putrid smell that tug on their noses.
***
At the bottom, the corridor opened into a vaulted tunnel dimly lit by the light leaking in from the surface and glowing veins of fungus snaked along the walls glowing with eerie green light.
A notification popped up in their party chat.
[New area discovered: Arsuuna Sewers]
Mervin sighed. “Lovely. This whole pce reeks of... I don’t even want to think about it.” He stamped his foot, sending up a small spray of muck. “Why don’t they ever build proper entrances?”
A sudden spsh ahead made everyone freeze.
They turned toward the sound, tensed, only to find it was just a rat scuttling off through the muck. Annie sighed loudly in relief and inhaled, only to immediately regret it as the rancid sewer stench now made her choke.
“You good?” Abaka asked, concerned.
“I’ll live...” She replied in between coughs. “Survived by dad after going to a Mexican restaurant before... Let’s just get going.”
And so, the group proceeded into the damp passageways.
The further they went, the more unnatural the yout felt. The walkway became increasingly narrower and worse, tunnels blocked by rubble, and old, rusted gates, and broken tools scattered on the ground and in the water.
At one point, Mervin slipped off a narrow ledge and nded in rancid water, letting out a shout that echoed for what felt like miles along Annie’s stifled a ugh.
After what felt like an eternity, they reached a colpsed intersection in the sewers.
Mervin opened his interface and drew a cross.
“With that, we’ve explored around...” He checked the map. “a quarter of the whole sewer. Now what?”
“What are our options?” Annie asked.
Mervin muttered as he fiddled with his interface. “We can go back, but that’s gonna take 30 minutes or so, and we don’t have that much time.
Right on cue, a notification popped up before them.
[Notice: The session ends in 30 minutes. Find a safe zone or the nearest exit portal and log out.]
A collective silence fell on them as everyone considered their options. Then, without saying a word, all of them turned and began to retrace their steps.
“I vote we just take the first exit we see,” Broil grumbled, his voice filled with frustration. “I’m not about to spend the rest of my session wading through this mess.”
“Quit whining, man. We’ve only got 30 minutes. Might as well explore a bit more.” Said Abaka.
The more they walked, the more the yout of the sewers frustrated them.
The hallways were narrow, sometimes blocking their path entirely with rubble or overgrown fungus. The sound of dripping water was the only constant, the occasional rat skittering across their path a stark reminder of the grim nature of their surroundings.
Annie, who had been leading the group with her usual cheer, froze.
The group stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
“A... A door!” She finally let out, pointing at the end of another intersection’s corridor.
Everyone turned to look, and sure enough, there it stood.
“That wasn’t there before, was it?”
The door stood out oddly. It was too clean, too well-fitted compared to the rest of the sewer, something they would’ve definitely noticed before.
Abaka stepped closer. “That’s... weird, right? That’s weird?”
“Very,” Broil agreed.
Annie stepped forward, brushing damp curls from her forehead, and gave the handle a once-over. “Looks practically new. Bit suspicious, innit?”
Abaka raised an eyebrow. “Did you always sound like that?”
She shot him a look. “Only when I’m nervous.”
Mervin rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just get it over with.”
Annie slowly turned the handle. The door opened with unexpected smoothness, revealing a staircase leading further underground.
At the bottom, the cramped stairwell opened into a long, spacious balcony. The stonework was cleaner than the sewers, polished even, though still dusty.
From the balcony, they looked out over an enormous chamber. Down on its floor, dozens of NPCs milled about. Not monsters. Not pyers.
Company personnel.
“Look!” Abaka excimed. He pointed to the other end of the chamber.
There it was.
The portalstone.
