More Than A Game (Epic LitRPG adventure)

Chapter 5: Clan volunteer part 4

"We're here. What's with the long face?"

"I'm trying to figure out how I'll find my way out of here. You're about to take off, and I have no idea where the exit is. I'll wander around until I die of starvation."

"Don't worry, someone will show you where to go. Sergeant, are you here?"

"Come in," rang out a deep bass voice. The echo boomed around and across the room.

Once we walked in, I saw that the owner of the voice was a bearded (as if there's any other kind) dwarf with powerfully built arms and a potato of a nose. From the label above his head, I saw that his name was, in fact, Sergeant.

"Huh, so Sergeant is your name," I said, voicing my surprise. "I thought that was just your rank."

"It's both, and it's a way of life," bellowed Sergeant. "Gerv, you've got to be kidding me. What, are we going to be like that Armedakil and start recruiting right in front of Noobland? Why not? We have plenty of leaders, we have so much money to spend on training that we don't know what to do with it, and we have good players coming out our ears..."

"Okay, okay, I hear you," the scout responded, waving his arms in a conciliatory gesture. "This is a one-time thing. Don't worry about the details, but it's true. Elina invited him herself, actually."

"And what now?" the dwarf muttered. "Level 6! We only take Level 25 and higher. We decided that at the council, and Elina agreed. And now you bring me this Level 6 loser."

"How am I a loser?" I was rightly outraged. "Yes, I'm a noob. Yes, I'm dressed like an idiot. But how the hell am I a loser?"

"Volunteer! Nobody said you could talk!" The dwarf turned on me. "Your job is to stand there and shut up!"

"Oh, screw you!" I quickly responded. "What is this, the army? And who are you to tell me to shut up? My parent? My boss? You think I signed a contract to come here so I could have a bunch of beards start telling me off?"

"Wha-a-a-at?" The gnome's hand started toward his belt, obviously going for his battle axe.

"Ye-e-e-es?" I mocked him. "You can't kill clanmates, that's one of the main rules of the game. And if you do, you'll be kicked out of the clan in disgrace."

"He's right," interrupted Gerv, who obviously watched the conflict with interest. "You can't kill him. I mean, you can, but then..."

"I won't train him," the dwarf said in a completely calm voice. "I won't, and that's final."

"It's your job," Gerv replied very quietly and, I thought, with a hint of a threat. "You've been stepping out of line quite a bit recently. Not happy with this, frustrated with that. And twice this month, you disobeyed direct orders from the council. Maybe you're starting to think a bit much of yourself?"

"If you think I'm out of line, why don't I just leave the clan?" The dwarf was getting himself worked up again. "You can train these puppies yourself."

"You think we couldn't find another trainer? Of course, we could. But do you think you'll find another clan that's been as loyal to you as we've been? I'm not so sure. Really, we need to have a serious conversation, and Elina shares that sentiment. We'll revisit this topic when she gets to the fortress. In the meantime, put this volunteer through basic training, so he isn't just standing there doing nothing."

"Though let's stay away from all that military nonsense. I had just about enough of that in the army. Did you serve, by the way?" I asked the dwarf.

"No," he answered shortly.

"I thought so. Paid your way out of it, and now you go around throwing commands at everyone else."

"Nope, didn't pay a thing. I just wasn't right for it, and that's all you need to know. Have a seat."

I sat down in a chair in front of the table while he settled into the one behind it. Gerv looked at us.

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone's killing anybody today, so I'm going to head off."

He pulled out a scroll, I heard a "psh-sh-sh" sound, and he disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

"All right, so the basics," the dwarf began in a slow droning voice.

Covering those basics ended up taking two hours. I heard what I was allowed to do, what I wasn't allowed to do, what I was required to do, and what I had the right to do. To be fair, what I was required to do turned out to be a bit longer list than what I had the right to do. The dwarf went through his spiel confidently, as this obviously wasn't his first rodeo, but without feeling or interest—and obviously thinking about something else.

Honestly, I didn't accept Elina's proposal just because I didn't have a choice. You always have a choice in life. For example, I could have hit the log-out button. Thank God, that was still an option. It's just that I always thought life in a clan was easier, and Fat Willie confirmed that. But life as a Thunderbird was ridiculously complex. Things were simpler back when I played games; a bunch of people got together to make it easier to get through raids or dungeons. Having proven players that you could trust with your back was way better than just going with whoever and whatever you came across. That also gave you resources you could check with when you were in the middle of a quest, saving you the time it takes to get out of the game and crawl through forums. In some situations, you could even borrow in-game money. And, again, clans gave you pretty good attribute bonuses in a bunch of games.

This was much stricter. I mean, sure, all of that was still true, but at the same time, everyone now had their job to do. Every member, for example, gave the clan 5 percent of the money they earned. Once a week, all members Level 180 and above had to take the clan's newest members through some dungeon or cave, help them beat it, and protect them throughout the process. And there was a strict rule about spending time online—anyone who didn't log into the game for two weeks in a row without letting the game masters know ahead of time was summarily kicked out with no chance of appeal. Everything that happened in the clan had to stay in the clan. The punishment for leaking any secret information was also getting kicked out, and the leak could be named an enemy of the clan if that information was used against it. The reverse was also true: all members were required to report any interesting or useful information they came across.

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