32 || The Moondew Cafe And The Sunrock Tavern

"Really? That's fascinating! I wonder why the system set it up like that? Here, hold on--" Pakeeja pulls up a screen and fiddles with it for a moment before swerving it over to Tara:

[Dream Connect: Your Story is now interconnected with several others]

<Active: Shares snippets of Stories with the main user through Dreams. Some [Events] are aligned>

<Connected Players: Viridian Swift | Lightning Dancer | Lavender Artificer | Honor's Blade | Ocean's Song>

Tara hadn't expected Dream Connect with so many people! It was then that she recalled several dreams while resting within the game. Most of them had been related to different animals: a bird which was Pakeeja, a deer, a sheep, and a wolf. Then the dreams about the different gates and other girls! That was her peeking into their Stories.

"Have you found a gate?" Tara asks as she returns the screen back to Pakeeja.

"Big with ancient writings and have flowers placed within them?"

"Yes!"

"No, I haven't."

"Wait, then how do you know about it?"

"The list of connected Stories kind of acts like a friends list. We actually rented this cafe room so we can share and bond with each other. You were the only piece missing but like I said you were hard to find." Pakeeja admits.

From what Tara knew, chat rooms could be rented or bought. The protections on an owned chat room were infinitely greater than a game's Guild Hall that many organizations turned them into virtual reality headquarters. Tara thinks for a moment before pulling up a screen and shooting a message to her mother Karuna as Pakeeja continues.

"Two of the others said they found their gates at the same time you did. They've got questions, so it didn't make sense not to invite you in the first place. I hope it was okay for me to reach out?"

"I'm glad you want to include me, it means a lot. It's always nice to have more friends." Tara smiles and Pakeeja visibly relaxes. The group likely sent Pakeeka because they had made contact with Tara previously. "I can't wait to meet everyone, but let's do it later?"

"Sure that's fine, I'll see you then." Pakeeja rose, giving a wave over their shoulder, as they left to start their own session. Tara eagerly follows behind as this week she'd be training Leiana and Yaoyang. Tara knew that Karuna would show her request to her grandmother in the material world but had no idea how big of an impact it would have.

Starshine Industries not only invested and created some of the tech needed for the virtual reality space. They also run a successful chain of General Stores within every game, with Renovel being no exception.

Starshine General hires all sorts of Trade players, such as Alchemists and Builders, each given a lucrative contract. Thanks to allying with Blueriver and various other powerful organizations, such players never lacked material or work. Even Renovel being in its infancy, these players still benefited. The shift is the sudden addition of Starshine promoted cafes and taverns both within the games and virtual space, the Moondew Cafe and the Sunrock Tavern. They are attached to the General Stores, cafes for the more pristine players and the tavern for the rowdy ones.

It's a lucky player who discovers a secret: eating at certain times of the day gives a player benefits throughout the day! Many players are curious about the claim and it's soon revealed to be true. The breakfast meals from Moondew and Sunrock were more defensive and offensive respectively, whereas the lunch time benefits boosted magical and physical strength! The news quickly spread causing players to investigate other restaurants. It was clear that the quality affects the benefits but to balance that out, many quest giving NPCs and even hidden NPCs are spread throughout.

Tara, who is sitting before Leiana and Yaoyang at the latter of that virtual week, won't learn any of this till later. Both are still discussing how to best handle this training. Leiana wishes to go step by step while Yaoyang simply wants to imprint the lesson on her through sparring.

"Why don't we do both? First Leiana and then Yaoyang?" Tara eventually pipes up. They stopped their bickering before considering the proposal. Leiana steps forward after finally agreeing.

"Tell me what you know about the elements?" She asks Tara.

"According to legend, Light and Darkness were the first elements. From Light came Fire, Wind, and Lightning. From Darkness came Water, Earth, and Metal. Together they're called the lesser elements." Tara recites, knowing that Light and Dark were not the strongest elements.

"Correct. The basic understanding is that Fire is considered the opposite of Water, with Wind opposing Earth and Lightning opposing Metal." Leiana opens her right palm and a cyan ball floats in her hand. In her left hand a green ball appears before they lift up and combine almost effortlessly.

"When someone has an affinity for two elements our comprehension towards them is higher from the start. Just wielding both at once takes an enormous amount of focus and training. Combining them is an even harder task."

Tara's ears then perk up and she jumps out of the way. An orange ball of energy hits the spot where she had been sitting. It explodes in a surge of lightning and fire. "Maybe it's time for a demonstration? Actions over words and all that." Yaoyang laughs, orange energy swirling over his hands. Leiana sighs, the energy washing over her figure a thin film of glacial blue energy.

"Yaoyao, you're always so impatient," Leiana says sweetly, two needles appearing in her hands from a misty frost. Yaoyang visibly shudders at the smile on her face as she stands up, backtracking a step. "But maybe you're right, a display would be good. Let's go!"

Tara flashes over to a far corner of the training room as the two begin to spar and even then that doesn't seem like she's far enough. The two of them were blurs and if Tara hadn't reached Bone Crystallization recently she was certain she wouldn't be able to follow their movements.

Leiana is as strong as Yaoyang, her strikes are just as powerful but more precise. That was why he seemed nervous a moment ago! It's a wonder as to why she hadn't crossed over into Dark Saber yet. Tara has to admit she enjoys seeing him get bullied for once and knowing his strength could be matched.

Tara watches as Leiana flawlessly shifts between using water, wind, and ice. Yaoyang in turn is ruthless with how he meets water with lightning, matches wind with thunder, and counters ice with fire.

Though it was clear that ice and thunder were stronger, the two built their styles around utilizing all three elements to cover for any weakness.Tara's insights towards how to fight with two elements continues to grow over the next few sessions.

Something tells Tara to check her character page on Friday. Underneath her name is the word Titles. One read [Hidden] while the other one was Riversword Squire. After doing a bit of research, Tara found none of the independent apex experts or former Guild elites had titles yet in Adventure Mode. It apparently took many interactions, quests, and luck to get one.

[Rewards: 2 Silver Coins Monthly

Respectability With NPC: +5%

Proficiency With Weapons: +5%

Riversword Blade Play [Basic] unlocked!]

Tara hadn't expected it to have perks. She wonders how to make the title advance and is even more curious about her Hidden title. Unlike Dream Connect she hadn't a clue on what it could be.

As she entered the virtual space, the chatroom had been replaced with a large building. A large sign read Moondew Cafe on one side and Sunrock Tavern on the other, a crescent moon symbol going into a sun symbol in between the words.

[You have been given partial ownership of a restaurant! Here you can meet with friends, plan meetings, even carry over benefits of a meal to your Story or Adventure! Would you like to add Friends to your Guests?]

Tara's Friends' List consisted of her homeroom classmates. The school system nowadays kept homerooms the same through the years so that way close friendships and bonds could be made. It had first been an experiment at first but rapidly showed wonderful results.

According to Qisma and Renee, the class worked together minus Tara. Like this, together they could run Dungeons, collect materials, even work on Quests together!

And then there were the people on her Dream Connect list. Pakeeja over the past few days had them all send her a friend request. Though she has only just met Pakeeja, Tara hopes they are kind people and that they could be friends.

Happily she adds all of her friends to the Guest list, which apparently offers discounts to items bought from either place. Surely that would be a great surprise!

Saturday morning came quickly. A very nervous Kristen waits by a fountain for Tara. Dressed in a cute light blue dress, she taps her black flats a little impatiently. They had ironed out their first date to be more casual so as not to cause a scene as they were both children of big names. Kristen is also afraid her parents wouldn't agree to their outing so she kept it a secret.

The clicking of strappy sandal heels against the brick catches her attention and she looks up to see Tara in a gorgeous orange and gold salwar kameeze. Tara's parents had helped immensely in preparing for her first date: Karuna had beautifully braided her hair and tucked it into a cute and neat bun while Xia had quickly done both her nail art for her hands and feet.

"Were you waiting long?" Tara asks with a smile to Kristen's wide eyes.

"I-uh-no! I just arrived." Kristen lies distractedly, having arrived fifteen minutes earlier.

"C'mon! We're actually near the place I suggested!" Tara chirps, hooking her arm into Kristen's. They quickly arrived at Ahaana's Palace which was already packed despite it being noon!

"Should we have arrived earlier or made a reservation?" Kristen asks, having never been here before. Tara simply leads her inside and they are greeted by an older woman in her mid twenties. The woman leaning against the counter suddenly straightens her posture at the sight.

"Little Star, are you going to an event? You and Auntie only ever wear that during parties and--oh my gosh are you on a date?" The woman cries out in rapid fire Punjabi before taking in Kristen.

Kristen for the first time in all of their interactions finally gets to see Tara's clearly flustered face. She isn't sure what is being said but if asking her out was all it took then she would have done so sooner.

"Myra, can you please get us a table? Maybe somewhere private?" Tara's question is met with a sly smile.

"Oh no, baby cousin, you're not sneaking in here without my mom seeing you with your first girlfriend. That's going on the wall." Amaris switches for Kristen's sake.