Chapter 35 - The Queen

The second guard returned, opening the camp gate, ushering Trev, Mari, and Elena inside and leading them towards the central big tent. The encampment housed around thirty light green orcs, who diligently toiled to improve their settlement and gather food. Feeding such a large group of beings must be a daunting task in the city, which will become especially apparent when all the human's manage to catch up to the level of the zone en masse. Trev then had a thought, what made these creatures different to the ones they fought on the street, who didn't seem to need to eat or sleep. In an attempt to investigate further, he scanned the guard guiding them.

[Orc - Sentient Creature]

[Trolkek Orgel]

[Time since last respawn: 4 Earth days]

[Level 10 - Unknown]

Trev was astonished by his findings. Some creatures were programmed to respawn, becoming permanent fixtures of the game world. This revelation aligned with his experience in games, where friendly NPCs usually were untargetable or respawned after a short time. Glancing beyond the camp's boundaries, Trev spotted a typical creature frolicking in the water on the park's other side.

[Spineback - Hostile Creature]

[Loot table gathered: 0%]

[Level 6 - None]

From his scan, Trev deduced that hostile creatures merely served as fodder for players to defeat, while sentient creatures were designed to aid players in their journey. With this newfound knowledge, Trev entered the main tent alongside the guard. Inside, Emilee and a regal figure, presumably the queen, engaged in conversation, which halted as Trev's group joined them.

"Welcome, I am Queen Tallack. Please, have a seat," the queen gestured, indicating to them to form a circle around the sleeping Lacktar in the centre of the tent.

"Trev, did you collect proof of the orc assassin's defeat, the one who attempted to kill Lacktar?" Emilee asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice.

Trev had looted two items from the orc assassin – a dark green bookmark-like ribbon bearing a crest similar to the one on the assassin's clothing, and a small knife nearly identical to the one it had wielded. The knife was only a few inches long and had a symmetrical handle, which made Trev think it likely could be thrown or brandished. Assuming that the queen meant the ribbon, Trev kept the knife a secret and retrieved the ribbon. He handed it to Emilee, who in turn handed it to the queen.

"You speak the truth," Queen Tallack stated, clenching the ribbon with anger. "Those dark green orcs shall pay for trying to assassinate my son. This is an act of war!"

Silence enveloped the group as they processed the queen's words. She flung the ribbon at one of her guards and ordered him to muster the troops, and he promptly complied, rushing off on the mission.

"Now, for your reward," the queen continued, walking over to a weathered wardrobe.

With a wave of her staff and a few words spoken, the wardrobe unlocked, revealing another staff – equally large, but with a smaller black orb atop it.

"Here is a token of my gratitude for saving my son," said Tallack, holding it out in front of her with two hands towards the bewildered Emilee.

"Are you sure?" asked Emilee.

"Yes, please take it," Tallack replied.

Emilee took the staff, and as she did, the quest in Trev's log completed, and he, Elena and Emilee levelled up.

[Level 5!]

[5th pinnacle system unlocked: Crafting]

[Crafting abilities Unlocked]

[Item Augmentation Unlocked]

[1 Item point available]

He had finally made it to level five. Although he was aware of the crafting ability, there were a few more surprises Mari had not touched on. The newfound ability to augment items intrigued him, and he vowed to delve into it later. Additionally, as well as the crafting tab popping up on his HUD, another tab appeared too. The tab had an image of a cog wheel, the standard imagery for an options menu. He navigated to it with his watch and opened it, the options were limited to only one thing at this stage, which read "Item colours". Trev toggled it on and suddenly the colours of items and their rarities came up on an independent window which he had to dismiss. The colours followed the pattern of evolution metal he had encountered so far – beige for common, crocodile green for uncommon, sunset yellow for rare, and burnt orange for mythic. Below this were six other higher rarities which were all redacted, as he had yet to encounter them. As he glanced around the room any item he focused on was outlined with the colour of its rarity.

The queen's voice pulled Trev back to reality.

"I also have something else to offer you. Please follow me."

The queen got up and the group followed. She led them into the adjacent rest stop which was eerily empty.

"I am also the operator of this rest stop! If you wish to stay here, I'll give you rooms at half price!" Tallack announced.

Trev was taken aback; he had assumed only retired players would run rest stops, not sentient creatures. But was she a creature, he hadn't scanned her directly. She spoke differently from the other orcs, seemed a lot more powerful, and was much less robotic in her movements. Trev scanned her to confirm.

[Orc]

[Tallack Surefoot]

[Age: 40 Orgara years]

[Level 65 - Water]

"You're a player?" Inquired Trev.

"Yes, I am retired, but I was assigned to roleplay as the head of the orcs in this area and run this rest stop," Tallack explained.

Trev looked at Tallack in a whole new light, now seeing her as a player rather than a creature. She had long black hair that was ornamentally woven around beads and tied at the end. She had dark black eyes with no whites and her teeth were much smaller than her male counterparts.For a different species, she was quite beautiful, and understanding her age, her wisdom was evident in her face. Real orcs appeared to be quite large compared to humans, as her presence loomed large in the rest stop.

"Wow. I had no idea," marvelled Emilee.

"I must be doing a good job, then," Tallack chuckled.

"Aren't you worried you will be killed by players mistaking you for a creature?" Asked Mari.

"No," she laughed. "Besides, the usual PVP rules apply to me as they do to you. If PVP was allowed in this zone I most definitely would not have accepted this role. But due to it being conditional, I would have to accept a PVP challenge in order for me to die."

"Can't you still be killed in a sort of murder-suicide?" Asked Trev, still trying to learn the PVP rules.

"Any being killed without accepting a PVP challenge will be resurrected on the spot for free, so I am not worried," smiled Tallack.

'Wow, the more you learn, the more amazing and horrible this game becomes," said Emilee in Awe.

"So? Can I interest you in a room?" questioned Tallack.