Quest

The Fountain of Time.

It was a mysterious artifact left behind after a Great War happened. The fountain was a dull gray and was falling apart. The only thing that people noticed was symbol left on it.

A minute hand and hour hand. It was positioned to point at 6:07. No one knew why that symbol was there or why it was set to 6:07.

The fountain was one of many things that came into the real world. But it was the most desirable artifact.

It was an artifact that was at the center of the final quest. The players were given many trials to complete. One of those trials was to find the missing fountain.

Lore wise, not much was known. It was speculated to have time traveling capabilities and even some said it would take you to another time line all together.

Now that I'm seeing the small changes, I believe the fountain really did send me to a different timeline.

I looked back at dad, he was still waiting for me to answer him.

"Ah. Sorry dad. I guess I'm just tired."

"Is that so? Go ahead and get some rest then."

I put my groceries away. Right before I leave, I ask dad a question.

"Dad, do you know anything about a dull gray colored fountain? I was looking to clean one up."

"Huh? No I haven't. I will keep an eye out for one."

He gave me a confused looked. I thank him and leave. Once in my room, I sit down and think about what happened.

"So that confirms it. Dad didn't come to this timeline. If anything, he may have gone to a different timeline."

That's the only explanation. If dad did return with me then he would of reacted to the word fountain. I couldn't help but let out a sad sigh.

Even if this is a different timeline, it doesn't matter. They are still my family. That will never change.

Now, since I dropped out of school, I might as well prepare for tomorrow when the game drops. I need to think of the goals I want to accomplish before PATCH NOTES 1 comes out.

For the rest of the day, I tried my hardest to recall all memories and all rumors I heard in the past about the game.

-

-

The first day of the game was the most important. Everyone spent the first day exploring and looking for quests to do. Some of these quests could only be done by one person at any given moment. Those quests usually had a special reward. Once they were completed, no one would ever be able to do it again. This made those quest rewards highly sought after.

Usually you wouldn't have to worry about losing quest items but this game was different. Most games had the items bind to your character when picked up. This meant that no one would be able to use it, even if they killed you. This would discourage PVPers (player vs player) from camping in PVP areas and killing new players that pass through.

However, Dream Online didn't have this. Most items didn't bind to the players. There was only a few exceptions to this rule. My goal for the first day was to get one of the few items that would actually bind to your character.

When I woke up, I checked my alarm. It was 9 AM, one hour before the game officially opened. Usually I would have taken Clem to school but I spoke to mom last night and she agreed to take her to school today. This gave me time to rest and make sure that my body was ready for the long day ahead.

When an entire day passes in the game, only 4 hours would have passed in the real world. That was the time conversion. So if I spent 6 days inside the game, only 24 hours would have passed in the real world. The real issue is that if anyone would try to get my attention in the real world, I wouldn't feel it at all since I would be inside the game. That is something I need to account for in the future.

I get up and wash myself. For an hour, I just laze around. I felt nervous. This was the first time I was actually playing the game since I couldn't play it in the past. The only reason I knew so much was because I would always read the online forums and the online videos that others posted.

When the time was near, I went ahead and put on my VR set. It was just a helmet, nothing else. I laid out on my bed and when the time came, I booted up the game.

LOADING . . . . . .

I was standing in the complete dark. A emotionless and almost robotic voice welcomes me.

"Welcome to the brand new VR MMORPG: Dream Online. Where anything you want is within your grasps."

"Please stand still as we do a full body scan."

I felt a cold sensation wash over me. It was over within a few seconds.

"Body scan complete. Please state your name."

This was how you named your character. Now it made no sense to use your real name since your character would look just like you. That was a dangerous thing to do. So I had already came up with a different one.

"Zero."

"Please confirm that the name displayed before you is correct."

After a quick glance, I answer back.

"Yes."

There was dead silence. Then the voice came back. More cheerful and less robotic.

"Welcome to your new world! Please enjoy your stay!!"

The dark room was suddenly brighten. It was so bright that it blinded me for a moment. When my vision returned, I was welcomed by an amazing sight.

I was standing in front of a water fountain. It looked like the center piece to a town. I turned around to see where I was. I immediately remember where all players started.

The town was called Grewich. This was the tutorial town for new players. A chance for them to learn the basics.

"Oh man! I can't believe it! This game looks so real!"

"I know right? I can even feel the pain. It's so realistic!"

"Oh wow! You look exactly the way you do in real life! That's crazy!"

"What should we do first? Maybe a quest? But how do we do start quests?"

As I looked around, there wasn't anything to impressive about this town. It was your standard medieval starting town. The other players were captivated by this though.

In the town center, there were many merchants calling out to the players.

"Over here sir! Fresh meats! Take it with you when you need to rest!"

"Potions! All potions! Healing! Stamina! Mana! All were just created!"

"Armor and weapons! Get you're armor and weapons!!"

As much as I want to see the city in its entirety, I had one thing that I needed to do. I need to find the quest that would give me the item I was looking for.

How the quest system works.

-There are no quest logs or floating question marks above the NPC's heads. To start a quest you must speak to the NPC in hopes that one of them will give you a quest.

-Other ways to obtain a quest would be by being in a certain area at the right time.

-Some quests are given out during a certain time of the day too. Others are only available during events or dungeons.

Once you accept a quest, they could have two time limits. An unlimited time or a limited time. An unlimited one allowed you to work on the quest and turn it in whenever you want. If you receive a limited one, you must complete the quest and turn it in within a certain time frame.

The quest I was looking for was a limited time quest. In my past life, it was a very famous quest. That's how I know that this would be the best one for me to start off with.

"Over here boy! You look like you need some new clothes!"

"These amulets are quite rare! It will add +5 to your strength!"

As I walked pass the merchants, I kept getting tugged and pulled. Random items were dangled in front of me. However, that didn't stop me. I had my eyes set on starting the quest and I knew where I needed to be.

-

-

In the back alleys of Grewich, a group of 6 children were picking on a small child. The child was the son of a noblemen that got lost. The children saw this as a chance to harass the one responsible for their living conditions.

"It's because of you that we live like this!" The oldest of the bunch hurled a brick at the small child, causing him to flinch and try to protect his face.

"Ah!" The child let out a pitiful cry as the brick hit his leg. The other children watching began throwing stones too.

"It's your fault that my mommy died!"

"My big brother worked for a noblemen! My family got back a coffin instead!"

The young children who still didn't really understand the world, blamed everything on the poor small child, even though this small child's family had nothing to do with their heartaches.

The kept throwing rocks at him. The only thing he could do was fall down into a ball and try to protect himself. The relentless rocks kept hitting him for a while. It didn't stop until a grown up's voice stopped them.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" The kids turned to see a tall man with black hair entering the alleyway. It was Roman.

The kids were scared of getting in trouble so they quickly threw the rocks down. They stuttered while trying to answer him.

"Uh… noo… nothing… sir!"

When Roman reached the group of kids, he kneels down to be at the same eye level as them.

"Look, I heard what was said. Do you know how wrong all of you are? You can't just attack someone without a reason."

"But… it's because of him that my mommy died!"

"My brother died because of him! That's what my parents said!"

The group began filing their complaints to Roman. He understood what they were saying but the kids got it all wrong.

"Look at him. Look at the boy. Do you think he could do something like that? You guys are all older than him! You should apologize!"

The group looked at the little noble boy. They all felt a sudden shame overcome them. The boy was bleeding all over. He could barely sit up.

"No sir. We're sorry sir." The kids all hung their heads low.

"Don't apologize to me! Apologize to him!" Roman points to the boy. The group turns and in unison, they apologized.

"We're sorry!" The little boy just nods slowly. It seemed that he forgave them.

"Good, now here." Roman takes out 6 gold coins and hands one to each of them. "Take this and give it to your family okay? Don't talk about what happened here."

The 6 kids nods, they were in a hurry to take the gold coin. Most poor people wouldn't even get the chance to hold a silver coin, let alone a gold one. They took the coins and left.

Roman sighs. He mutters to himself quietly. "First part done." He opens up his player interface. The interface could only be seen by him so he didn't have to worry about looking weird in front of the others or someone trying to peak at his levels.

The interface contained his player name, his mana levels, stamina levels and his current gear. It also showed his current stats. But what he wanted to see was the levels tab. He opened up this tab to see two skills added.

Congratulations! You've leveled up!

Thieving: Level 1 to Level 5

Persuasion: Level 1 to Level 2