Rinse, Repeat, Fluffles

"You getting a better feel for the game?" Detrix asked, the last vampire body dissipating after being slain.

"Yea, still more useless junk. Vampire teeth for a quest, scraps of armour, and a cape for a different class. What is the point of these worthless drops? The only good stuff is the quest completion rewards, which is better equipment used to repeat the same process, again and again." Fluffles complained. She couldn't understand how people could spend months in this repetitive cycle and still find the same enjoyment as when they started.

There was still enjoyment in learning new skills, like the back strike skill she recently acquired. When behind an opponent back strike could be activated to launch a devastating attack that causes a temporary paralysis effect. Adding this with the poison blade skill made her realize that her class causes status effects to opponents to gain an advantage.

"There are better things in the future, like crafting your own gear, winning gear in PVP tournaments, and getting rare drops through secret quests like you did." Detrix eagerly explained.

They started to head back as Fluffles sighed, "it's been nothing but vampires and werewolves since we started, sure different name and skills, but that's all we've been fighting. I don't know much about Urban fantasy, but is it nothing but walking dogs and pale people?"

"Once we hit level twenty, I promise things will become better. We won't have to fight the werewolves and vampires if we don't want to." Detrix didn't want Fluffles to stop playing. It was fun playing with the cat and hilarious watching her attack the help system every time it showed up.

"Why wouldn't they make the beginning part fun as well?" Fluffles asked as they headed back to the quest NPC. "Our neutral faction has expanded its influence after driving back the werewolves. However, with the werewolf influence decreased, the vampires have expanded their influence and must be driven back."

"You've been reading the quests?" Detrix was surprised. She found it boring and always skipped the dialogue.

"No, I've just been reading it between missions during our walk back, not like there is anything else to do." Fluffles snipped.

As they approached the town, the crowd of players only got bigger and maneuvering through them to reach the NPC was becoming annoying. You can't pass through them, and nothing that is considered harmful was allowed, so they could only wait until they reached their designated NPC.

After handing in the quest and receiving more equipment, Fluffles sighed as she switched her equipment out, but instead of following Detrix to the shop, she decided to head off and think. Seeing a skyscraper in the distance, Fluffles walked over to it, wanting to relax on the roof.

As she approached the entrance, a man in a leather suit and sunglasses stopped her. "Sorry, I can't let you in," the guard announced with a text over his head. She wasn't a high enough level, and she needed to be level twenty. So, instead of taking the front entrance, Fluffles started to climb the fire escape. There wasn't anything of value on the outside, so the system allowed it.

Reaching the roof, Fluffles looked up at the eternal night, the clouds rolled by with the game's time, but the full moon never changed. It allowed many of the starting urban races to receive bonuses during their initial play and helped the story centred around the urban vampire versus werewolf the game had.

Laying down on the edge of the roof overlooking the slums, Fluffles looked down at all the players and NPCs, watching everything go by like she did at home. She had one of her tails in her mouth, with her other one drooped over the side of the building. She heard clanking as someone else was climbing up the fire escape. She already knew it was Detrix, having found her thanks to the map showing party member locations.

"Came up here to find me?" Fluffles asked. She had been glancing at the map herself, watching Detrix's movements.

"You disappeared after the last mission," Detrix stated, looking at Fluffles' name tag. They both reached level twelve, eight more, and they'll be able to go world-hopping.

World-hopping was one of the most exciting features of the game. The ability to have fantasy characters enter a more technological world or vice versa attracted many people, with many wondering what direction such a game will take.

Fluffles stretched on the ledge as she turned to face Detrix, "I don't have the motivation." She snuggled her head into her arms, looking up at her party member. Sleeping wasn't an option in this game, or she would've enjoyed a little cat nap.

Detrix scratched her head. The early parts of any MMO were always the hardest to get through. Everything felt the same, go to NPC to accept a quest, go to quest area and fight monsters, return after defeating monsters for quest rewards. "Would creating a guild motivate you?" she asked, bringing her hand down to pet Fluffles.

Fluffles instinctively raised her head from her arms, pushing it towards Detrix's hand, "what's a guild like?" She asked, allowing Detrix to pet her for a few moments before pulling away and shaking her head.

"A guild is-" As the white orb appeared to answer the question, Fluffles had already swung her hand at it. She expected its annoying appearance but lacked the energy to play with it.

"I wasn't asking you," Fluffles laid back down, not making any serious attempts at swatting the orb as it floated over the edge out of reach.

"Why do you keep attacking the help system? The white orb asked as multiple people tried to attack it.

Fluffles lazily had her hand over the edge, pawing at the air, "cause you look fun to smack around."

"How about you tell me about guilds," Fluffles suggested to Detrix, ignoring the help system. The white orb turned a light shade of gray, almost like it seemed sad despite being an emotionless system.

"Well, a selling point to this game, besides the multiple worlds, was guild conquering." As Detrix explained, her mouth scrunched up as Fluffles stared blankly at her, having no idea what she was talking about.

The white orb inched closer, awaiting the opportunity to be used. "Alright, what are guilds," Fluffles relented as the system regained its white shine.

"When five people gather together, you can create a guild. One person will act as the leader, and the other four become sub-leaders. Of course, you can change the terms from leader to king, boss, or any other terms you'd prefer."

"Uh-huh," Fluffles replied dismissively. Her interest kept disappearing as she started to yawn during the system's explanation.

The white orb floated around as if wanting to keep her attention. The system was designed to be the best possible experience for each individual and altered itself to fit each person. However, Fluffles was a unique case as the system had never encountered someone like her. It treated her as a unique person, never realizing it was a cat. "Once you create a guild, you can conquer other guilds and obtain land, or even the world."

Fluffles' ears perked up as she lifted her head and looked at the white floating ball. "Conquer the world?"

The system realizing it regained Fluffles' interest, continued. "Yes, every road, city, even this starting zone can be claimed by guilds. When you have enough presence in one world, you can try to conquer others, utilize guild alliances, sub guilds, and a variety of other methods to expand your territory," The system explained.

Fluffles had sat up, her legs dangling over the edge as she thought about the guilds. Territory was a word that she enjoyed the sound of, as something that she could have control over was a thrilling thought. Maybe it was her instincts of territorial control that made her so invested in the idea.

"Need five people," Fluffles glanced behind her back and looked at Detrix.

"I'm up for guild creation," Detrix assured her.

Fluffles smiled and looked up at the orb, "we'll need three more. How're we going to get three more?"

"Well, as I was saying about other worlds, one of my friends got sent to a steampunk world, so I'm going to meet up with them once I hit level twenty." Detrix explained, sitting beside Fluffles, "so we'll just need two more people. Then we'll build a guild."

"If there are other worlds, should we jump to another world once she joins?" Fluffles asked.

"We can, or you can take in the sights of steampunk first. It'll be quite an experience for you." Detrix suggested. Thinking about how interesting it'll be having Fluffles experience all these new worlds.

Fluffles, on the other hand, could only think about guilds and territory. "What shall we call our guild? Fluffles' great team, Cat and the Crew, Claws and Fangs?" Fluffles wondered out loud.