Chapter 4

***

Another week passed. During this time the spirit of the tower began to consult with me frequently, on how to help the various severe cases. Often there were problems with hysterical candidates who would not stop screaming for help and refusing to eat. I suggested that he offer them, as clearly as possible, the option of simply opting out of participating in the game. As I expected this worked very well. And so, as more of the newly recruited players chose to continue the tower spirit was visibly more satisfied.

"The superiors are happy with my work," he shared with me one day. "It was rumored that I would be promoted and I even got a big bonus. It's all thanks to you."

"Well it's a small job, but I did it." I said. "Speaking of bonuses, I think I'm due one too. How about 15% of what you got?"

"Umm... Well.... Maybe later... If you survive and all that."

"If I survive? That sounded kind of ominous." I thought.

"Well, then - just throw me a little information for now, nothing more. And look what a team you and I are. We're going to accomplish big things in the future, big things!" i said.

"All right, all right. You're right. You're absolutely right. I can see you're a smart boy. Maybe you'll be one of the successful and influential people in this new game and in this new world." said the spirit of the tower sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm influential even now! My name is Meridin Zlodar, son of Marquis Bartalomei Zlodar, of the ancient family of Zlodar."

"I know, I checked your background. However, your two older brothers will look after the family lands and businesses. And in your world, titles aren't all that important anymore."

"Perhaps they aren't, but the traditions and upbringing of the higher nobility are not to be ignored. And the family lands and businesses are what bring the influence."

Normally I was not in a hurry to brag about my parent's titles and achievements, but this spirit was getting on my nerves. And yet he was right, my two older brothers would be the ones running our business.

I was born well after them, and I spent a lot of my time having fun instead of studying. That's why they enrolled me in that annoying private school. But then again, when I turned 27, I was set to inherit a huge amount of money from my aunt, as well as a small percentage of the income from the family business, and then a lot of opportunities would open up for me.

"Ghost, what happens if you die in the game?" queried I, deciding to take advantage of the ghost's good mood.

"Nothing, you just lose."

"But do I really die? Or do I return to our world? If so, do I keep my memories?"

"Ah that... Depends on when, where and how you die in the game. Often you'll be able to simply revive yourself again. And when, for one reason or another, that cannot happen, you simply lose and return to your world. I can't explain the mechanics to you right now, but we're not barbarians. No one is really going to die in the game. Except maybe in extremely rare accidents... But that shouldn't scare you. I believe you will do much better than the other players. Though that increases your chances of... Anyway, don't worry about it. More coffee? And by the way you can stop trying to meditate, there's no mana available here."

***

My name is Garat Breg and I am thirty-two years old. I work at my father's pawn shop. I've been riding motorcycles since I was fourteen and love highway travel. Once I got into this game it took me a while to realize I wasn't on Earth. It helped a lot that the walls weren't made of any material known on Earth.

In reality, the multitude of weapons in the starting hall couldn't even leave a scratch on them. Which was insane. However, I did manage to break, or damage, quite a few of the weapons in the process. Hopefully they won't deduct them from my in-game earnings.

I chose the soldier class, specializing in heavy weapons. When I walked through the door and started the training, I realized that using large weapons required a lot of strength and muscle memory. I had to always try to keep my opponent at a distance, and when one did approach there were a few simple maneuvers I was trained to use.

I practiced them over and over and over again. The instructor was attacking, I was defending. So all week I basically practiced basic movements and defense. Only towards the end did I start attacking.The only good thing was that this place had mana and that mana was slowly soaking into my body. My instructor explained that the time spent in this training place gave considerably better results than on Earth. And when fighting classes learned to use mana to improve our bodies and attacks, we would be capable of true miracles.

Besides using weapons and fighting, I had to learn tactics, survival in the wild, taking care of my weapons and armor, making camp, identifying and gathering food and wood, general anatomy, and first aid. All week we practiced how to clean and dress a wound, splint a broken limb, take care of severe burns and so on.

But the battles were my favorite part. I really liked fighting the little goblins and other scum that appeared in the arena. They were pretty fast and would sometimes try to get close to me and avoid my huge weapon. When they were successful they would avoid my weapon and stick their little knives into me. The pain was completely real. I had to learn how to use my body, for example I had to learn how to kick the small goblins when they approached me. They were flying in the air, it was damn fun!