Vera and Adrien locked eyes with the man approaching them. His bright orange hair practically glowed against his light, functional armour, and a heavy spear was strapped securely to his back.
"My name is FireStarter," he said, stopping a polite distance away. "Can I have a moment of your time, fellow players?"
A mischievous spark flared in Adrien's mind. 'Let's pretend to be NPCs,' he thought, suppressing a grin. 'It'll be hilarious to screw with him.'
Unfortunately, Vera beat him to the punch.
"Of course," she replied smoothly. "How can we help you?"
FireStarter dipped his head. "All the players currently in Ironsworth are gathering for a meeting shortly. We're hoping you two can join us."
"Sure," Vera said, stepping forward. "Lead the way."
Adrien shot Vera a heavy, exaggerated pout, and sensing his sudden shift in mood, she glanced back at him, bewildered. "What?"
"I was about to prank him!" he hissed.
Vera rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with mock exhaustion. "What are you, a child?"
"Duh. I am literally a minor."
"Right, I forgot," Vera shot back, a smirk tugging at her lips. "Maybe I should file a complaint with the devs. Clearly, they need to implement some heavy censorship to protect sensitive children from all this unnecessary game violence."
"Oi, oi, take it easy! Where is this even coming from?" Adrien spluttered, crossing his arms. "This game is perfectly safe."
Escorted by FireStarter, the duo soon arrived at a clearing that served as the makeshift meeting spot. A crowd had already formed. Adrien's eyes swept across the clearing, instinctively counting heads; exactly twenty players had gathered. It didn't take a genius to read the room; from the rigid posture and tense distances between the various factions, it was glaringly obvious that these people did not get along.
Vera scanned the crowd, her eyes lingering on the kaleidoscope of mismatched, high-tier armour sets.
A sudden realisation settled heavily in her chest: among the entire assembly, not a single player was carrying a gun.
"Welcome, friends," FireStarter announced to the crowd, his voice carrying over the low murmur of the gathering. "Instead of just standing around speculating, I decided to go ahead and approach our mysterious newcomers."
Adrien raised an eyebrow at the overly formal introduction, but before he could comment, FireStarter turned his attention back to them."You see, the rest of us all spawned over in Ebonsworth," FireStarter explained, gesturing toward the crowd. "Since the player count there wasn't massive, we all pretty much know each other. Naturally, we were curious about who you two were, and which village you managed to spawn in."
Vera took a step forward, smoothly taking the lead. "My name is Vera, and this is my companion, Adrien. As for our starting location... we actually spawned directly inside the forest, with no village or other players in sight."
A ripple of murmurs broke out."What?" a player near the front blurted out, looking genuinely shocked. "There are bugs like that in this game?"
"According to the developers, it's a 'unique, tailored experience' meant for a select few lucky players," Vera replied, her tone dripping with just enough sarcasm to convey her true thoughts on the matter. "So, technically not a bug."
"Typical dev excuse," someone else scoffed from the crowd.FireStarter nodded slowly, absorbing the information. "So, what brings you all the way out here? And I apologise if this sounds intrusive, but a few of our guys overheard you talking to the local militia. You mentioned the Mercenary Guild sent you. Does that mean you came from Ashfall Frontier Town?"
"Yes, we did," Vera confirmed.
"Awesome!" An indigo-haired girl with bouncy twin-tails practically vibrated with excitement. "We're actually planning to head out to Ashfall in a couple of days. As soon as we all hit level ten, we can finally get our 'Baptism' done and choose our official classes."
Adrien stared at her. Her enthusiasm was genuinely infectious, which meant it was his divine duty as a gamer to completely crush it with a reality check.
"That sounds like a great plan," Adrien chimed in, offering a sympathetic smile. "We'd love to do that too, but, uh... unfortunately, the entry barrier is brutally high. We're currently slaving away just to get by."
His comment instantly shifted the mood. The casual chatter died down, and twenty pairs of eyes locked onto him.
FireStarter frowned, his easygoing demeanour vanishing. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, for starters, just stepping foot inside Ashfall will cost you one Velar per person, per day, and that's the absolute bare minimum," Adrien said, ticking the points off on his fingers. "And as for the Baptism at the local church? Do any of you actually know how much that costs?"
"Five Velars?" someone called out from the back, sounding incredibly unsure of themselves.
Vera couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at the guess.
"My friend, you are entirely too optimistic," Adrien said, pity softening his voice. "Try thirty Velars. And that is strictly for the absolute cheapest, lowest-tier service they offer. On top of that, official guild members get priority service. They will gladly leave you waiting at the back of the line forever unless you fork over even more cash."
"Whoa, hold on, stop!" a player shouted, cutting him off as a wave of panic began to ripple through the crowd. "What do you mean by the cheapest service? And what the hell does being a member of a guild have to do with our class promotions?"
"In Ashfall, there are three primary guilds," Adrien explained, raising three fingers to emphasise his point. "The Mercenary Guild, the Artisan Guild, and the Merchant Guild. If you are a member of any of these factions, you get priority routing at the church. Now, as for the Church itself, they offer three distinct packages."
"Then we'll just put our heads down, grind the currency, and pay for our promotions," the enthusiastic twin-tailed girl cut in. Her jaw was set with determination. "It's going to be a brutal grind, but I know we have the skill to pull it off."
Adrien couldn't contain his chuckle this time.
"My overly optimistic friend, I love the fire," he said, shaking his head. "But the reality of this game is a massive slap in the face."
"What do you mean?" she pressed, her brow furrowing.
"Let me finish explaining the tiers," Adrien said, dropping into a theatrical, dramatic cadence. "For thirty Velars, you get a roll at the Baptism wheel, but whether you unlock a Mage class, a Knight class, or completely fail the promotion entirely? That is purely at the mercy of the game's RNG. For fifty Velars, your success is guaranteed, but the actual class type is still randomised. If you want to actually choose your own build, that'll run you seventy Velars. If there are luxury tiers beyond that, I haven't uncovered them yet."
"That is incredibly predatory," someone spat from the crowd.
Adrien let out a heavy sigh, "It absolutely is, but what choice do we have? We're just low-level players who haven't even hit our first milestone yet."
"How are we supposed to farm that much capital?"
"This is completely rigged."
"What kind of trash design is this? What were the devs thinking?"
As a cacophony of bitter complaints erupted across the clearing, Vera suddenly spoke up, her voice cutting through the noise. "There is a way to fast-track your earnings, but it carries a massive risk."
Adrien's head snapped toward her, his brow furrowing in disbelief. What on earth is she playing at? he thought.
"What's the method, Miss Vera?" FireStarter asked, leaning forward eagerly. "If there's a viable gold farm, we're all ears."
"There's a local bandit faction known as the Snow Wolves," Vera explained calmly. "The authorities in Ashfall have posted a substantial bounty on them. They are incredibly dangerous, though, so I suggest you exercise extreme caution if you pursue them."
Adrien clapped his hands together sharply, the loud crack instantly drawing everyone's attention back to him. "Alright, enough meta-discussion. Let's get down to business. Did you all gather here to investigate the anomalies happening in this village?"
"We did," FireStarter confirmed. "We caught wind of this event and travelled here hoping we could crack the questline and secure some high-tier rewards."
"Understood. So, are we looking at a joint coalition to divide the labour, or...?"
"Hell no," a player from a rival group interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. "Cooperation is a hard pass. Every squad for themselves."
Adrien gave an easy shrug, completely unbothered. "Fair enough. It was good exchanging data with you all. Hopefully, our paths cross under better circumstances down the line. Good luck out there."
Adrien gave a casual nod, while Vera offered a polite, graceful curtsy as the duo turned and walked away from the clearing.
Once they were out of earshot, a player approached FireStarter, keeping his voice low. "What's the play? Do you actually buy the info they just dumped on us?"
"The economic stuff is easy enough to verify once we hit the city," FireStarter murmured, watching their retreating backs. "But one thing is certain—those two are already sitting on a mountain of wealth."
A few streets over, completely separated from the rest of the player hub, Vera glanced sideways at her partner. "What's our next move?"
"We keep hunting for environmental clues," Adrien said, checking his UI. "We'll see if our luck holds out. If we turn up empty-handed, we map out a defensive perimeter and prepare for nightfall, as something tells me tonight is going to be a lively one."
"And the other players?" Vera asked."They made it clear there's no unified front," Adrien said with a cold, sharp smile. "Every man for himself. Honestly, I prefer it that way. It beats forming a fragile alliance just to get a dagger planted firmly in your back the second the boss drops."