The next morning Carter woke up early to prepare for his test. Not having focussed on his work with all the influence from TSD the last while has really put a damper on his studies. After studying for 3 hours he felt ready for the test and waited for the online class to start. In the kitchen he got himself a glass of water and made himself a sandwich. “You can’t write a test on an empty stomach”, his mom always told him. The urgency to be earning money dawned on him the previous night and he was determined to help his parents. Many kids in this new world never finish school and work as apprentice mechanics as soon as possible, hoping for a job in one of the factories.

  He was privileged to have access to an education and a chance at going to an Elite-owned university because of his fathers connections. The call for the test started and he accepted, opening a window where he could see the teacher face-to-face.

  He finished his test in record-time, finding it easy and asked his teacher to be dismissed. He glanced at the clock, 10:30am. Good, it’s still early. He opened the green carbon case and put the glasses on. His world swayed around him as he was transported to The Shadow Domain. Spawning in, he checked his friends list and saw no-one was online.

  He was strolling around Breau trying to find something to do when Hrenian saw him and yelled out to him.

  Voice?

  He entered the call on his phone and walked over to where he was standing with others who he didn’t recognize. “Hello?” The familiar voice replied, “Hi friend! How are you? How is your adventures in TSD going?” Everyone in the circle looked at him, and he realized they were all in the call as well. Suddenly filled with performance anxiety he just mumbled, “Fine thanks.” Great. That's a good impression. He thought to himself. “Great! We are just on our way to do a dungeon, do you want to join?” Carter remembered he had to sell all his loot an quickly used it as his way out of the conversation.

  Saying his goodbyes and logging off the call he made his way to the market. He greeted the old NPC in the middle at the auction table and opened the market interface.

  You sold 24x snake hides. You received 1200 gold.

  You sold 2x venom sacs. You received 600 gold.

  Ah great, still not enough for a mount. Outside the, market players were all busy with their own missions and he decided maybe a solo job was on the cards today. He pondered on where to go when he remembered he still had to distribute his attribute points. He quickly sorted it out.

  Afterwards he contacted the two players from the advertisement, but only Itereo responded.

  Hey! Thank you for enquiring. Yes, we are indeed still in business and you have chosen a FANTASTIC time to join. Tell me, what is your gameplay style? Trade, PvPer, dungeon runner or townie? Let me know and I will respond as soon as possible.

  Best regards

  Itereo.

  After milling the message around in his head he decided it would be best to wait to contact Itereo. Afterall, he has not decided which part of the game he wants to specialize in. Making his way to the tavern to find a solo job he passed the Governor again who was parading around the town with his entourage. The Governor was wearing armor and a dark red blade on his back. His mount, a large stocky beast with forward bent horns, was also kitted out with an armor set sporting Breau’s emblem. He was probably on his way to do his own dungeons, Carter thought.

  A group of players were gathering around the job board when he enter the tavern, all searching for their next shot at a few gold pieces and when he opened the interface he could see the rewards has increased with his level respectively. Scouring the board for a job, he eventually settled on one.

  Medium job: Fish me 30 fish of any type and cook them for me. Thanks.

  Reward: 450 gold.

  He focused on the green accept button and saw the task move to his objectives tab. Fishing from the docks, he looked at all the surrounding features of the game. It was like his own little piece in heaven, sitting on a dock surrounded by mountains and serenity filling his soul. He quickly completed his task at hand and found a range in the nearest house as marked on his minimap.

  Congratulations you have advanced 3 fishing levels and 4 cooking levels.

  In the tavern he handed in his fish and accepted his RPs. Leaving the tavern, Alora logged in and shortly thereafter Hrenian. He invited both to a voice call and caught up on all their IRL activities. “Oh by the way guys, have any of you made any real money from this game? I'm talking dollars.” There was a silence, followed by Hrenians voice, “Generally it is frowned upon doing activities for money because it is thought to ruin the games economy. But since you asked nicely, yes I have sold my gold to some shady guy on the internet because he offered more than the cashout price offered by The Shadow Domain themselves.” Before Carter could stop himself he blurted out, “How much did you get?” He could sense that Alora was reluctant to speak about the topic, “I sold it at $5 per 5k gold.” Alora burst out laughing, “That little? How could you spend so much time grinding and then sell it for so little?” Hrenian stammered, “Well when you don’t have food on the table anything is better than nothing.” Caught off-guard, Alora quickly changed the subject. “Well, the monsters ain't going to loot themselves. Let’s gear up and go slay some monsters.”