Cyber

Chaotic Beginnings

There was a lot of yelling and screaming as the realization of what was happening began to sink in. The girl who had spoken to me was totally silent, in shock. The boy in a man's avatar was alternating between silence and soft sobbing. Out if all the chaos that surrounded me, I stood out as a beacon of calm. After all, I had been stuck here a long time anyway.

The girl eventually broke her trance and seemed to latch onto my calmness like a life preserver. She grabbed my shoulders and asked, "how the hell are you so calm?" I could see the desperation in her eyes. It suddenly occurred to me how lifelike the NPC's actually were and how well they had prepared me for dealing with real people.

Instead if telling her the truth I just grabbed her and the boy and yelled out, "follow me if you feel like playing a game!" No one heard me. I dragged the two players with me as they half stumbled half jogged to keep up. I dragged them out of the field, to the north part of town, the merchant district.

Finally out of the crowd and in the relative calm of the City of Birth merchant district, I stopped and turned to my two companions and said, "you have to take a deep breath and remember, this is still a game, even if you are really here." They just stared at me in a silent trance. I opened my inventory, in the form of a leather pouch on my belt, and pulled out a large bucket of water and splashed them both. They gasped and coughed and sputtered as the icy waters chilled the shock away.

The girl recovered first. "WHAT THE HELL?!" She cursed at me then tried to slap me. I dodged last second and waited. She just glared at at me a second before starting to shiver.

The boy was just scowling at me with a mix of anger and respect.

"Do I have your attention now?" My question was answered with a shaky nod and an angry grunt. "Well now that that is taken care of, open your inventories, the pouch on your belt. There will be two items, a single teleport sphere, and a money pouch with 1,000 credits. Take out the pouch." They did as they were told and held the bags gingerly, as if they might explode. I chuckled inwardly, remembering how I had done the same thing.

The boy spoke up, "what can 1,000 credits get us in this...game?" He sounded more like he was questioning whether it was really a game or not than the value of money.

I thought for a second, then said, "that much is just enough to get a basic weapon for whatever class you may want to be, as well as some cheap clothing and armor, and a few cheap health refills. Or maybe a cheep stall in a plaza and an inventory of a few items to start out if you want to try and be a merchant. It really depends on what you want to do."

"How do you know so much about the game?" The girl suddenly seemed suspicious of me. "Are you an NPC?"

I tensed up at the questions. I didn't want people to know how long I had been here. My mind raced to come up with a response. A light popped on in my head, and I said, "I was a beta tester." Then changing the subject, "what do I call you two?"

The boy answered first, "my gamer tag is deathgalexx15 but I guess you can call me Galex."

Then she said, "call me Scalina."

"Call me Beta," I said before opening my menu and sending them both party invites. "Please, accept my invite. Let me help you get started."

Galex gave me a stink eye, and Scalina glared. They both accepted the party invite without a word. Their HP gages popped up on my HUD under my own HP bar.

Then I asked, "what are your base attribute skills; what are your current stats?"

They listed off their skills, Scalina was a fast, smart, and perceptive build. Light armor, light weapons, and a little magic would suit her well. I also suggested she work on her strength in her spare time so she could have a wider arsenal at her disposal. Galex on the other hand was all strength and speed, so he would be best with medium armor, a long sword, and medium shield. I suggested he work on intelegence so that as a front man and tank he could have some tactical knowledge. With that advice I sent them to the best shops for their respective builds.