1 The Will of Kadian

Kadian Tenin threw his leftover motivation in a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game that evening. It wasn't his motivation from the day, nor from the week. It was all of it.

Last month he had saved up his own money out of pure spite just to buy a house in the suburbs that were right next to a vast expanse of grassy plains. He could have used a few hundred million of his mother's down payment or maybe another few hundred million for his father's "begging-him-to-fulfill-his-family-duties money" to get a secluded mansion in the country or a high-end house in the city - but no, he had to get a job at Fexians as a game programmer and move to some boring plains about 17 counties away just to feel at ease.

What he didn't know about tonight was just how much he would invest in his random MMO game impulse-buy. In his mind, it would be a game he played tonight and then never touched again.

He didn't think much of the game. It was called "Xijio Online" and was developed by Raidors and had an average rating of 4.7 stars - which was pretty good, but he didn't have a preference for MMOs. It was one of those games that was still in "beta" but only because they didn't want to be "too sure about their completion" since it was always being updated.

He could create and customize a character. One of the most interesting things about that was not only the interesting combinations of classes he could make based on fighting type plus hobby but also the way he could change the body shape drastically to look like one gender or the other without necessarily having to choose a gender. He shrugged and decided on an underfed, androgynous-looking build. He had grown tired of the incessant demands of dating in his world as mandated by his "ideal male model" body as people often said. Was that bad? Of course it was. Everyone said it was.

He made this character's skin grey, the hair silver, and the class as a "dancing mage" just because he liked the intricate red, black, and gold robe.

He didn't think much about the personality type nor the homeland. He didn't even look over his page-worth of abilities for more than a minute as he had already memorized them.

When he was done, he named the character "Argentiem."

Without a second glance at how his character had turned out, he pressed play.

He started off in a random town, presumably the one he had picked to start off in, which started him on a "dancer" questline, which would make him a bit of money through his hobby while learning the controls. The story seemed off to a good start as well, bringing him through the life of his character as a dancer trying to land gigs in the city. Later he would start actual combat as soon as the quests were done and he had enough money to get weapons and armor. By then, the story would bring him to Argentiem's fate as the unlikely hero.

For several hours he played the game, strangely enjoying how it worked and how the story was going. It beat rereading the very few books he had brought from the mansion or browsing through content on the internet. It certainly beat the feeling that he was obligated to create the next genius invention.

By the time it was 2 in the morning, Argentiem had reached level 30. However, it seemed as though Kadian had made a wrong turn somewhere during the quests.

Another character, like a mysterious sage who looked like he held the secrets of the world, was standing at the entrance of a cave leading to level 60 monsters. He appeared to be of the "writing engineer" class and looked strangely similar to Kadian himself with long, wavy black hair, pale skin, grey eyes, and overall tallness. His name was Haronai. Amused, Kadian led his character over to him to get a closer look.

Surprisingly, unlike most everyone else on the game, Haronai spoke. "You appear to be a low level for this dungeon. Are you trying to do the 'Phage Armor' quest?"

Argeniem emoted by raising their hands and shaking their head. "Oh, no, I wasn't intending on going in this cave. I was doing that quest but somehow got lost. Just admiring your character."

Haronai replied, "Oh is that so." It seemed like something Kadian would type on a regular basis to his dating prospects. Of course, they would all lose interest after a while, not that he really cared.

However, Haronai continued. "So a 'dancing mage,' huh. I heard that's one of the most difficult but most powerful class combos. You might actually be able to pull off this dungeon if you use your abilities well and have a high-level player to help you. If you're confident, would you like me to carry you?"

"Oh, sure. It will get me a bunch of levels, so why not?" It wasn't as though Kadian needed to sleep.

Haronai emoted a faint smile and then a "come here" gesture.

They both headed into the dungeon.

It was a dark, dank dungeon. Strange, echoey noises bounced around the walls of the cave that seemed to be a mix of exaggerated hummingbird buzzing and screeches. Land leeches, which were like bats but with long beaks, hung on the walls and sucked glowing green energy from the earth. They seemed to spot Argentiem right away since Argentiem was such a low-level.

Haronai immediately drew out several blades. They floated around his back. "Arg, stand back. I'll take these ones until they're low on health and then you attack."

When he attacked the creatures, the blades attacked in all directions at incredibly fast and yet such coordinated speeds. Not to mention, the way he moved was as though he was teleporting around randomly, and yet it all seemed to be calculated.

'So this is a high-level writing engineer, huh?' Kadian thought.

Argentiem immediately drew their staff and set up several abilities at once. The abilities seemed random, but Kadian had memorized which abilities could trigger other abilities to work their best. Easy memorization was one of those things he couldn't help. It was why he never really needed to go to school, even though he still did for the sake of his parents wanting him to socialize.

They fought the land leeches, and once in a while some more powerful monsters, one of which killed Argentiem since it took Kadian by surprise for the first time.

After some time fighting off land leeches and other monsters, Haronai said, "I'm really impressed, you're very good at this. I was carried through here on this character at your level and died at least 20 times. You, on the other hand, have only died once. I may not have even needed to carry you."

"So do you wait around in front of the cave for misguided low-levels like me to carry them?" Argentiem asked.

"Well, not on a regular basis, but there is an event going on where I get stuff for helping out other players. It's kind of like a raffle, only high-level players receive that opportunity, but the drops are extremely good. They're even better if you work with a newer player. This is my first time being one of the raffle winners."

"What an interesting mechanic. And grats."

"Yeah. I guess it's a strange excuse for an incentive for people to keep playing, since your chances of winning grow as you play more. Which is pretty unfair to people who have to work and go to school, you know. They counteract this by letting people spend real-life dollars, of course."

"Eh..."

Haronai hit the laugh emote, which took Kadian by surprise since it was a little out of character. In a way, it was a relief that Haronai wasn't so much like him.

Argentiem also hit the laugh emote.

By the time the two of them finished the dungeon and headed to the nearest town to drop off their loot, it was 5 in the morning.

"Oh my... It seems I should go to bef," Haronai said. "I didn't realize the time."

Because these were typed words, Argentiem teased, "Bef? You're definitely sounding like you need bef."

"Oh, you know what I mean."

Argentiem spammed as many silly emotes as possible, then said, "I appreciate you carrying me through this dungeon. Let's do it again sometime."

"Of course," Haronai said. "You're really good at your character. You've played it before, right?"

Kadian paused. His hands were poised over the keyboard. After several seconds, he lied, "yeah."

"Ah, no wonder. Well have a friend request," Haronai said. "My guild is searching for a good dancing mage. We're so desperate that we don't really care what level you are. So I can invite you if you want when I get their permission tomorrow. Er, today later I mean."

For some reason, Kadian couldn't help but smile a bit. He immediately accepted the friend request.

"Thanks, Haro. I would definitely love to join. See you tomorrow!"

"Indeed. Good night."

They both logged off right away.

Kadian's cursor hovered over the uninstall button as soon as he closed the game. He had intended to delete the game right away, but he remembered how much time and effort MMOs took to play. It had been ages since he'd played one. Maybe he should give it more of a chance. The least he could do was play with Haronai again.