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Dom got out of bed and followed his usual morning routine, just a couple hours ahead of schedule. He first brushed his teeth and emptied his bladder, before jumping in the shower. He looked at himself and felt he had a slightly more toned stomach than usual, whilst scrubbing himself for a while as he felt an extra layer of grime had covered him in his sleep. He tried to keep the noise down so as to not awaken Andrew whose room was next door.

It was nearly six in the morning when Dom left his room and Dom decided to read the most recent blog post from Golden Sun VI before Andrew joined him.

[Welcome readers, I have been researching and gathering information and have much to share!

So let's begin with my favourite update is from our good friend DragonKnight123 again, unfortunately I do not believe he will be fighting against the worlds guilds anytime soon. This time, he has spawned on a deserted island, in a small town full of a tribe of naked people who are very tanned from the sun. DragonKnight123 obviously stood out from the rest with his paler skin and was captured and tied up on the spot.

DragonKnight123 noticed the skeletons and body parts of many other humans had been pilled up on the side and decided he wasn't going to play this out how they wanted. He broke free from his bindings and fought his way free, noticing that he wasn't the only one who had been tied up. He initially planned to help, but was soon chased by naked men wielding wooden spears. Normally he would have fought against them, but he then realised he was also naked and decided that he wasn't fighting naked against naked men.

He soon reached the shore, but noticed that he was surrounded by beach on all sides. He was soon knocked unconscious by a slingshot that hit him heavily on the back of the head. When he awoke it was to his flesh being burnt over an open fire pit and the sounds of screaming from some other people nearby.

As you can imagine, this was a pretty painful death and DragonKnight123 has died again in game. He has stated that he is visibly shaken and is going to put a complaint in about the realism. He has physically felt weak since this.

Personally, I think DragonKnight123 isn't having much luck with his spawn points, but I haven't experienced similar situations myself. If any other readers have had similar experiences, please get in touch!]

"Wow." Dom exclaimed to himself, he had struggled with the heat of the sun and that was real enough, but being burnt alive sounded horrible. He started to feel a bit for the NPC's that he had killed so far, but then was happy that they had been NPC's and not players. He wondered what would happen if he got in to a fight and lost. He should ask Game Support about realism settings.

[My second story of the day is from RisingMoonQueen. RisingMoonQueen has become a key member of her cities internal management. She spawned in to a city based on the western coast, called Kaifeng. The city is very much a historical copy of the city that still survives the troubles of the last couple hundred years in the current Southern Royal Tang Dynasty. After initially spawning in to the city, she found herself amongst a city of thought and thinking. After logging out of the game and doing some research, she decided to enter the Royal exams and passed with flying colours, using some of our modern techniques to resolve some of the ancient questions. Having succeeded she has now been given a key ministerial role.

Now this is the first I have heard of someone getting involved with a major settlements running and it would be interesting to see if anyone else has had a similar experience!]

Dom was impressed to hear how someone had used historical research to advance themselves in the game, feeling he definitely needed to do some more research on the members of Riverside such as Shang Yang and Subutai. He felt he had a good understanding of Lucius, Gan Ning and Tomyris and as they were of a lower grade than the other two he felt there was less to worry about. Shang Yang and Subutai were both S Grade Heroes though, and he felt he needed to investigate them better.

Dom decided to continue reading, realising that time was slowly catching up to him and hopefully Andrew would be waking up soon to the surprise of Dom being awake first.

[My final story for the day is from UglyHermit2465. UglyHermit2465 is a new person to the scene, but the story he has submitted has made me have to share it. He has completed his tutorial as an E Grade Lord, this alone is impressive and takes him above most of us gamers, but his journey has had an interesting start.

He has spawned the most southern of anyone else I have spoken to, just north of the equator. He has explained that the heat is unbearable and he has been given a desert style tribe with more of flexible starting style than some of the other Lords I have spoken to. Whilst he has started his little Nomadic Desert Tribe, he was also supported by a low grade Hero who had extensive exploration experience.

Now this is the reason I had to share UglyHermit2465's story, due to their location being central and not near any oceans, they decided to head south to see if there were any rivers that they could base themselves near to as a starting point. What he has recently discovered and shared is that as he got more and more south, on the horizon he noticed a huge wall, towering high above. It went on for miles in both directions with no obvious entrance points.

He has shared that he will update us if he finds a gate, but for now he has found a small oasis that he will set his Tribe up at.

Now we mentioned previously that we have had no information from the Southern Continent, and this is still the same, with UglyHermit2465 being the closest. Please get in touch if you have seen the huge wall or are on the southern side. It would be great to learn more!

Golden Sun VI Signing off!]

Dom felt that he must be a good few thousand miles north of the equator, but was still close enough to take an interest in it, especially after Horacio had mentioned avoiding the Southern Continent. Dom put his phone down and checked the time, expecting to see Andrew or Kai join him shortly.

It was only a few minutes before a door opened, and Andrew appeared, his hair wet after taking a shower himself.

"What are you doing awake?" Andrew exclaimed, "I even left the game a bit earlier to do some reading before you got up."

"I needed to time an attack." Dom lamented, "If I didn't leave the game early, I wouldn't have been able to log back in and would have missed the key timings. I'm aiming to be back online straight after lunch."

"That is actually a good point." Andrew replied, "This maximum game time is great, but also a massive pain! I have a ship ready to leave with a small group I have formed, we will be guards and also working on the ship as well, but it can't depart until I log back in. We have timed it so that all of the players have logged out and the NPC's will do some preparation."

"It is a frustration, but at least we can time it do our advantages as well." Dom commented, "What type of ship are you using?"

"It's a Trireme, a ship with three banks of oars and sail. It's not meant to be used in the ocean's but should be fine traveling down the shores and the shallower seas." Andrew replied, "The Trierarch, which is like the captain, is a nice man called Carthalo. The majority of the rowers are slaves, whilst there are goods stored below. We are acting as guards across his small fleet of four ships alongside his Carthaginian NPC's that already worked for him."

"That's exciting!" Dom exclaimed, "You are getting to travel and explore the sea and see all of the towns along the coast as you do."

"We have an empire to build!" Andrew grinned, before pulling out his phone to read the online blogs himself.

Soon Kai had joined them and they headed for breakfast. They all ate a large amount of food as they had aimed to get back on to the game as fast as they could, all having plans and quests they wanted to complete. The game was slowly taking over their lives whilst the studies were on hold.

However today was a key day and they should be receiving the first set of results from their exams. They finished their food before then heading towards the Auditorium, meeting up with Alice on the way, who seemed happy with her night of gaming.

"How's the adventuring?" She grinned.

"It's good!" Andrew replied happily, "I'm about to depart on a ship and start to explore the coast!"

"That is exciting!" Alice exclaimed, "I am now training with the nobles and have learnt some new skills if anyone wants to join me later?"

"I will need to pass." Dom said quickly, "I have some quests that are time sensitive, but maybe next time."

"Dom, I feel I am seeing you less and less." She lamented, "We all need to team up soon and complete some quests together, this game is so fun but I miss having my friends around."

"I believe that there will be new in game features soon." Kai commented as they walked, "Such as in game chat and trade. It may not solve everything but it's a step in the right direction."

"Are you nervous?" Andrew asked Alice.

"Me?" She replied, "A little, but I am sure my grades will be good enough for what I want to do, what about yourselves?"

"I just hope Dom doesn't let us down." He joked, looking at Dom who gave him a dirty stare.

"I should have done ok." Dom replied, "It all comes down to the tactical exam's result and if they will accept what I wrote or not."

"It depends on who is marking it." Kai said.

They entered the Auditorium, Gargoyle sat behind her desk watching them, they saw that all of their names were written on the blackboards at the front, each having a collection of numbers and letters against their names, Dom ignored Alice, Andrew and Kai as they all searched for themselves as he looked down the list for his name.

[Dominic Lazarus:

Physical - Grade A 81%

Martial - Grade A - 88%

Maths - Grade A - 82%

Language - Grade A - 86%

History - Grade A - 87%

Tactical - Grade S - 95%]

"How did you do Dom?" Dom heard from behind him, as he re-read through his grades again.

[Tactical - Grade S - 95%]

"Dom!" He heard again, as someone patted him on the back, "how did you do?"

[Tactical - Grade S - 95%]

He turned and saw it was Andrew with a smile on his face. Andrew looked at Dom's shocked face and decided to look at Dom's score as he wasn't replying to him.

"Dom, you have done great !Straight A's will get you in! We might actually have done it!"" Andrew replied, before exclaiming, "Wait, is that a Grade S for Tactical?"

"Did you said Grade S?" Kai commented, before also looking at the grades, "Your mother would be proud!"

"She would." Dom heard Gargoyle say from her desk. "It seems that Mr Lazarus is more like his Mother than his Father after all."

A tear reached Dom's eye, and slowly trickled down his cheek. The game aside, he had achieved some good grades and set himself up to get in to the destination himself and Andrew had dreamed of. He had done this by sticking with his belief's and trusting in what his Mother had done at the Fall of Riverside in the year 2470.