Making his way to the village square where he'd first arrived after taking the portal from the tutorial island, Eric checked the time, swearing as he desperately increased his speed.

"How could I lose track of time that badly while practicing the mana technique?" Eric groaned helplessly, pelting across the rough cobblestone roads of the village. Skidding into the square, he looked around quickly, seeing no one waiting for him, only a few surprised villagers and players walking by, he let out a small sigh of relief.

"You owe me ten bucks," said a voice from behind him.

"d.a.m.nit. I didn't think even Eric could manage to be late when his message said he would be waiting inside the village for us," a second voice chimed in dryly.

With a sigh Eric turned around to confront the two speakers, "Hey Griffin, hey Mark, sor-"

"Sorry your late. Yeah yeah we've heard it all before," Griffin said with a laugh, "At least this time you earned me ten bucks."

"How did you manage to be five minutes late? Your message said that you would be waiting inside the village for us," Mark added, wearing an amused grin as he jumped off the low stone wall he and Griffin had been seated upon. Mark had chosen to be an elf, standing a bit shorter than Eric, Mark was wearing a long flowing blue robe that stopped just above the knee, with a pair of cloth pants on underneath and a wand at his waist. A small mace was also visible behind his back, tucked into his belt like a Tanto sword.

"I was having a lesson with my teacher. Nice dress by the way," Eric replied.

"Thanks. I got it as a quest reward. It upgrades my mana recovery."

"Nice. I should see if I can find one of those, although I do like my leathers."

"You have a teacher?" Griffin asked, hopping off the wall as well to join them.

"As of about an hour ago yeah."

"What does she teach?"

"Magic."

"Oh nice. Does she teach healing spells? I'm still looking to learn some," Mark interjected.

"I don't think so? Plus she's really expensive. Five Sricks a lesson and she's not even teaching me personally right now," said Eric, making a face. Griffin winced at this. "Five silver a lesson? That's insane. Most of my gear isn't even worth that much. Is she teaching you powerful spells?"

Looking at Griffin's gear, Eric let out a low whistle in appreciation. Standing more than six feet tall Griffin had chosen a burly half-orc as his character. Wearing a leather chestpiece with leather chaps similar to Eric's own, a chain mail hauberk provided him with a strong defense against the slashing sabers of goblins. Small metal plates embedded in a pair of bracers on his wrists hinted at his status as a tank along with a shield that hung from his back. A shortsword at his waist completed the intimidating look that was drawing quite a few stares from the players and villagers nearby.

"Nope. She refuses to teach me any new runes or spells until I learn the basics of magic," Eric explained.

"I think I'll pa.s.s. I'd prefer to upgrade my gear."

"Fair enough, want me to introduce you to her Mark?"

Mark shook his head, "Nah I really want to learn healing magic. Supposedly you can learn it from clerics, but I didn't have time to grind the reputation needed with the priest in the village we started in so I didn't bother stopping by."

"Makes sense, I think the church in Tonbura is over by the Southern part of the village," said Eric, "I can take you there later if you want."

"Sounds good. We can do that now actually, Rob messaged me to say that he and that tank he found won't be arriving for a while. They got a pretty sweet quest that they want to complete back in their village," Mark explained.

Eric nodded, "Speaking of which. Why is there no whisper function? It's a pain in the a.s.s having to log out to use Strife every time. I was just together with two others in a party before you guys arrived. But we died and now I have no way of contacting them."

"You died?" Griffin asked with surprise.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later," Eric said dismissively.

Mark grinned, "Oh Jun's going to love that."

Eric sighed, "Whatever, it was for what seems to be the main quest. And we were totally outmatched. Anyways, the whisper thing?"

"Right. The forums have been talking about that too. Now that we know why players got teleported based on their region in real life the forums have latched on to whispers and death penalties as the big topics to complain about. A few hours ago there was a post from someone who claimed to have unlocked the whisper system. He didn't give too many details, but a few other people have confirmed that there is indeed a whisper system in game. No proof though and Hurricane is staying quiet on this topic," Mark explained.

"As long as one exists and can be unlocked without too much ha.s.sle. It really sucks not being able to communicate. They could at least allow Strife chat while players unlock the whisper system," Eric groused. Griffin laughed, "You just love to complain."

"Like you're any different," Eric replied, rolling his eyes in response.

"Yeah yeah. You're both a pair of equally whiny little princesses. Anyways, where's the forge? I need to get my mace repaired and Griffins shield took a bruising on our way here," asked Mark.

"It's just over there," Eric replied, ignoring Mark's comment as he pointed to the column of smoke that could be seen rising from Tom's forge in the distance, "Here, follow me, I"ll lead the way."

Leading the way through the village, Eric lead Mark and Griffin towards the forge, chatting about the recent forum topics and sharing their complaints.

"I'm just saying, if Hurricane shared their timeline for when players would unlock certain features there would be less complaints," said Griffin, shooting a nod at a player who danced around the trio.

"It's partly a marketing thing right? The game sites pick up on these complaints and talk about the game. Then Hurricane gets to look good when they address them," said Mark after a second.

"Sounds about right. Why pay for just one round of marketing before the game launches when you can get a second round completely free and extend the time that people talk about the game. Even my parents have been talking about the game, and it's not like either of them are gamers," Eric added, "They're basically just making sure that Fate stays in the news for as long as possible."

Griffin nodded, "Makes sense. I just wish it wasn't at the expense of the players."

"It's pretty fun though isn't it? When was the last time you got to play a game without knowing anything going in? It's like we're actual explorers, discovering things for the first time," Eric said with a slightly dreamy expression on his face. Mark grinned, "You just wanna be an explorer like Leif Erikson or James Cook."

"Only without the scurvy, plagues, or lack of air conditioning and wi-fi," Eric replied, "Oh right. Speaking of history I've been meaning to ask. Did you guys get your acceptance letters yet?"

"I got mine. We're rooming together after all," said Griffin.

"Right on!" Eric laughed, giving Griffin a fist b.u.mp, "What about you Mark?"

"I got accepted to a few placed. But I'm not going to University. I've decided to take a gap year."

"Oh yeah?" Griffin reacted with a surprised look.

"Yeah why's that?" Eric asked curiously.

"I just wanna have fun for a bit without having to go to school. Me and Blake are planning on travelling across Canada sometime this year. I might go back to school after. Or I could go grab a job at the wood mill. My cousin's a foreman there," Mark explained.

Eric and Griffin nodded at this.

"Honestly it kind of suits you," said Griffin, "I just couldn't see you in a University cla.s.sroom."

Mark laughed, "We'll see. Who knows maybe I will go. I still have time to accept."

Chatting about their future plans, the trio made their way through the streets of Tonbura village.