Staring at his alarm clock with distaste, Eric concentrated, as if hoping he could shut off the blaring tones emanating from the device through sheer force of will.

With a sigh, Eric let his head sink back into the pillow, doing his best to ignore the sounds that continued to emanate from the other side of the room as he attempted to re-enter a state of drowsiness that would allow him to flee once more into the world of dreams.

After a few seconds of this, Eric finally gave in, throwing off the covers and rolling out of bed. Pacing over to the alarm clock, he strongly considered putting his foot through the device. Fighting the temptation, he bent down, silencing the alarm clock and allowing blessed silence to fill the room once more.

"Mrow?"

Jeyna decided to make her presence known, peeking her head into his room and staring at him expectantly.

"I suppose you expect that you're going to be fed now eh? Just because I'm up that means that you get food?" said Eric, looking pointedly at the cat.

"Mrow," Jeyna purred, rolling over on to her back and looking up at him with a pair of big round eyes.

Kneeling down, Eric began to pet the cat's belly, setting off a new round of purrs.

"You're lucky you're so cute. Vicious little cat," Eric told her, picking her up and cradling her in his arms as he made his way downstairs.

Letting Jeyna go on the table, he made his way to the fridge, grabbing the milk and some chicken. Seeing this, Jeyna's ears perked up. Jumping down from the table, she quickly made her way over to him and began rubbing up against his leg.

"Yeah yeah. Greedy kitty," Eric muttered, walking over to her food bowl with cat in tow.

Pouring the chicken into the bowl, he made sure that she had enough water, before setting off to the pantry to grab the cereal so he could make his own breakfast.

Sitting down at the table, Eric watched the cat eat, chowing down on the chicken without a care in the world. Lifting his spoon, he was just about to dig into the cereal when his watch began to vibrate.

'Who calls this early in the morning?' Eric wondered as he accepted the call.

"Yo Eric."

"Ryan? What's up?"

"You been on Fate today?"

"No, I literally just woke up. It's not even 10am yet."

"They're holding a tournament near Tonbura."

"Wait, like a tournament for the world championships? Isn't that supposed to not start until next month?"

"No not for worlds. It's an ingame tournament hosted by the NPCs. To determine who gets to join an elite unit for an upcoming militia expedition. There's apparently prizes for the top contestants as well."

"d.a.m.n really? That sounds awesome."

"Yeah. Get on Strife in five minutes. I need to call Jun and Rob."

"Will do."

Disconnecting the call, Eric began to wolf down his cereal, taking huge bites as he strove to finish the bowl in under five minutes. Shoving the last bite in his mouth, he quickly rinsed the bowl, placing it on the drying towel before pelting upstairs.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Eric hurried through his morning ritual, brushing his teeth in record time before racing back to his room. Checking the time, he saw that he'd just made it, with a minute left before 10.

Breathing out slowly, Eric grabbed the FateGear, reclining back in his bed as he entered the familiar room.

Greeting Eleanor, Eric flashed her an apologetic smile as he opened the Strife client.

Kyp has joined the room

Hey Eric, glad you could make it. Wasn't sure if you'd be awake yet lol

I literally just woke up. Ryan called me while I was eating breakfast.

lol my bad

No worries. We still waiting for anyone?

Gio and Jun aren't here yet. Rob got on like ten seconds before you did.

^

OMGio has joined the room

And Gio apparently got on ten seconds after you did. Hey Gio

Hey. So there's a tournament?

Yeah we're just waiting in Jun.

He said he'd be like five minutes. He just woke up.

Yeah we were playing pretty late last night rofl

How long were you guys up? I didn't go to bed till like 4 and you guys were still up lol

Some say we didn't actually go to sleep lmao

lol really?

…

Yeah we got off like two hours ago. He wanted to take a nap before he took his sister to some event. I was just reading s.h.i.t online

Well we'll try to keep this short I guess.

It's pretty straightforward. Nothing too complicated lol

Shinvincible has joined the room

Hey Jun. Glad you could make it.

Yeah what do you f***ers want?

There's an ingame tournament happening. 1v1.

Prizes?

We get to join an elite unit for an upcoming militia attack force. Not sure about other prizes.

There's a good chance that fame/rep is a prize. Having higher reputation with local NPCs isn't a bad thing.

True.

I haven't logged on yet. When is the tournament?

Tomorrow. The expedition starts the day after.

Cool. Anything we should do to prepare? Is there a registration fee?

I'm not sure how far I'll be able to get as I've been focused on getting healing spells. But I'll ask Maria about damage spells

I've been meaning to upgrade my weapon, I might as well bite the bullet and spend some silver now.

Yeah I need a better sword too.

Craig said he'd finish my new bow by today. So I should be good.

I bought a new shield and armour two days ago so I should be fine.

Lucy still won't teach me new combat magic, so I guess I'll just have to make do >.