Melia let herself wake up naturally and found the morning sun streaming through her window. She realized with a sigh that she never actually confirmed with Jessica and Alastair, the two adventurers she met yesterday, what time to meet them so she could tag along. Or where. Or what they would actually be doing. Shaking her head, she stretched and flung her legs over the edge of the bed, only catching herself in the nick of time before falling off and faceplanting into the floor.

  She never had to “get out of bed” in the game and she genuinely couldn’t remember what it felt like the last time she left her hospital bed, years ago. Her legs dangled over the edge, swaying uselessly, before she eventually hopped down.

  Her knees didn’t hurt. Her feet didn’t sting. She had both feet and knees.

  Several more minutes ticked by as she simply appreciated what most people take for granted every day of their lives.

  But Melia couldn’t distract herself from the fact that there was very little inside this spartan room. It didn’t even have a mirror to see her reflection.

  Not bad for free, she thought. She couldn’t complain.

  Melia retrieved the scale she stuffed into her inventory the day before and watched as it materialized in front of her, making her sweat as it made the floorboards groan and scraped against the ceiling. It was nearly as big as her room itself.

  She frowned. She was still wearing the same [Reverie of the Midnight Queen] set, looking all dolled up to host a Halloween party. Somehow it hit differently in the morning light and she wished she had at least some other options. It was miraculously clean, despite all the work and sweat she powered through yesterday, but she didn't know how long that would last. She brushed off some nonexistent dust before stowing her “mirror” and walking to the abbey’s main hall.

  “Good morning!” a cheerful, calm voice called out to Melia as soon as she stepped foot into the large hall that served as a resting area between the cloister and orphanage sides of the abbey. She looked up and smiled. Alastair was waving at her while Jessica was suppressing a yawn.

  “Oohhh good, you actually showed up,” Jessica said, immediately adding some words while her mouth was already occupied. “Wasn’t sure you’d actually show up. Didn’t realize until after we parted ways that we never actually made any plans. Does this mean you want to join us today?”

  “I think I do,” Melia answered honestly. “I suppose it all depends on what we’re doing.”

  She was prepared to join them in just about anything shy of legitimate criminal activity, but she didn’t plan on telling them that. If whatever happened turned out to be dangerous…Melia was pretty sure she could survive it. She wasn’t sure she could even get hurt. Or killed.

  “That’s what I like to hear,” Jessica beamed, tossing Melia a small paper wrapped loaf of bread. It was freshly baked and retained the faintest amount of heat. Melia quickly stuffed it into her face and chewed it with her cheeks ballooned out.

  “Yeah,” Jessica grimaced, “I think we need to have a talk. I’ve heard of bards being starving artists, but this is too much.”

  “‘M not a [Bard],” Melia managed between chomps. Jessica gave her a flat stare and Alastair chuckled.

  “So, two things,” he stated, holding up two fingers. “The sisters let us eat here for free because we help out. I bet they did the same for you because of all the work you did on the wall yesterday, and then you went and disappeared on them before anyone could actually pay you.”

  “Not a dragon,” Jessica muttered, Alastair rolled his eyes.

  “That brings us to point two. Yesterday we asked if you want to party up with us, see how we fit as a team, and we still mean that. But, we were hasty, excited after listening to your stories, and now, I’m ashamed to admit I might have been a bit reckless.”

  Melia felt her smile falter, so she hurried to finish chewing so she could swallow. Alastair seemed to notice her mood drop and quickly put up his hands.

  “Woah! I just meant that we never got any more information on you, other than you tell great stories, and Jess and I were talking and it came up that we don’t know your level. You might be a lot higher than us, given your work on the wall and the fact that everybody listening to you last night got a [Rested Bonus]. So, teaming up with us might not actually benefit you at all. We’d still love to have you join us this morning, even if you don’t want to make it any more permanent than a one time thing.”

  “Consider it payment for last night’s dinner,” Jessica added with a snort. “You would have eaten them out of house and home. Don’t think I didn’t see how you stopped eating after you noticed the stares, but kept staring at everybody’s food after that. You were still hungry, weren’t you?”

  Melia let out a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of her head. Jessica got her good. She was surprised to hear about everybody getting a [Rested Bonus] for listening to her ramble on about her game buddies. If it was what she was thinking of and worked anything like it did in the game, a [Rested Bonus] doubled experience gains for a specified amount or time. It was generally accrued by players that logged out inside of an inn or applied by certain performance classes when they plied their trades inside of large cities. At least that helped explain why the duo was insistent that she was a [Bard].

  “So,” continued Alastair, slightly nervously, “Should we chat?”

  “Yes,” Melia smiled up at them both. “Let's.”

  Once they were seated somewhere Melia didn’t have to strain her neck just to see their bellies, Alastair started his sales pitch in earnest.

  “I think Jess mentioned it last night, but we’re a team. Er, she’s Jessica, I’m Alastair, and two of our members are staying in Hammerfall right now, getting us lodging for the Midsummer Festival.”

  “Melia,” she said in reintroduction, pausing to smile and add, “Dragon.”

  That got a chuckle and a snort, but was ignored.

  “Jess is a rank 2 [Hunter], and I’m a rank 2 [Paladin]. I generally act as shield and tank, but I also have two small heals I can use in a pinch. Obviously, Jess is damage and our scout. We also have a rank 3 Arcane [Mage], Ellesea, also damage, and Y’cennia, a rank 1 [Alchemist]. She’s the source of most of our healing right now, but that gets expensive if we’re constantly using our materials and rewards to replenish potions.”

  “Ah,” Melia nodded in understanding. Strangely enough, she was used to these sort of party negotiations, which happened often in game chat before the developers came out with an automatic party finder built in. It was a huge quality of life upgrade, but something of the personality of the game died when it was released. People didn’t need to interact as much, so they talked less.

  “Hence why we wanted a [Bard], hoping to fill out our healing roles.”

  “Sorry to disappoint," Melia said bluntly. She liked these people, she really did. That’s why she wasn’t going to string them on. “But I’m not a [Bard].”

  For emphasis, she retrieved her daggers from storage and whirled them around before slotting them into two discreet holders somehow hidden on her shorts. Alastair merely quirked an eyebrow while Jessica’s both flew to her hairline.

  “That explains some of the ‘powerful’ comments yesterday,” Alastair shrugged, coming to the conclusion that this new party wasn’t meant to be. His smile fell, becoming more professional and perfunctory, but it was still there.

  “Damn,” Jessica openly gawked, raking her eyes over Melia’s outfit. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. You do have the look of cloak and dagger. Some sort of advanced [Assassin] type?”

  “[Rogue],” Melia admitted. In the game, certain classes could unlock advanced classes, but those had to be leveled as a separate character…at least until the dragon came out. “But I’ve got some levels.”

  “Ah, well, thanks for-” Alastiar was already accepting rejection and was looking to exit gracefully, but Melia held up a hand.

  “Hey, wait, I never said I don’t want to join you.”

  Jessica and Alastair both blinked and Melia crossed her arms.

  “Actually, I think this could really work out for the both of us. How about this: we go out today, do whatever it is you already planned to do, since, you know, I ate too much, and then we go from there?”

  “Really?” Jessica’s eyes brightened.

  “Really. I’ve got…questions. And I think it would be easier to ask you than somebody else.”

  Not that she couldn’t find information anywhere else, but if she was already on friendly terms with these two, why not use them?

  “Ok?” Jessica looked amused.

  “First: what do you mean, rank 2?”

  Both of them stared at Melia blankly. Melia schooled her expression to neutrality, but she made a mental note that this was one of those things that everybody should know.

  “Pardon?” Alastair rebooted quicker, while Jessica still looked stunned.

  “Rank 2. You said you’re both rank 2. What’s that mean?”

  “Rank…2?” Jessica replied unhelpfully, and the tone really made it seem like Melia should already know. “I’m level 243? Al is level 287? Shorthand for the Guild? Aren’t you an adventurer?”

  “Erm, maybe?” Melia replied. “I’m not sure.”

  Technically, there was no real term for what players were in the game. Most NPCs called players “adventurer” in script where their names weren’t called for, but it wasn’t like there was a huge adventurer’s guild that every player belonged to, unlike how it sounded here.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “What do you mean you’re not sure?”

  “Eh, the last time I went out and really did anything was a hundred years ago, you know?” Melia admitted sheepishly. “By the looks on your faces, I guess nobody mentioned that to you.”

  Alastair and Jessica stared owlishly at Melia, as if seeing her for the first time.

  “Gnomes,” Alastiar groaned. “You live several centuries, right? Like 300 to 400 years?”

  “Oh, I thought you were our age,” Jessica grimaced. Melia nearly panicked. This body might be that old…somehow…but she wasn’t a grandma.

  “Well, kind of? I’m 24. 5. 25. I was…asleep for a long time? I got really hurt and maybe died, but I guess not, because here I am?” she added lamely, but she didn’t want to lie and that was the honest, if short, truth. Jessica, for her part, looked stricken.

  “Imagine losing so much of your life,” she whispered, reaching a hand out without thinking and placing it over Melia’s. She let it sit there, touched. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Eh, don’t be!” Melia said brightly. “I’m fine now, better than fine! So I actually want to travel with you, see how things work nowadays! At least for today.”

  “For today,” both agreed.

  “Today” turned out to be very amusing for everyone: Melia, Jessica, and Alastair.

  For Melia, that happened whenever she overheard the now familiar game of “dragon, not a dragon”.

  For the other two…it was almost every time Melia opened her mouth.

  “So, the Guild gives you ranks per every hundred levels you get,” Melia repeated, filing away tons of useful information about the Adventurer’s Guild, which had branches pretty much everywhere and was headquartered in Horizon. Jessica took to explaining most things, displaying a level of patience she previously lacked.

  “Yes, and the higher your rank, the more info they give you on dungeons and the better quests you’re allowed to take.”

  “Not to mention, at rank 8, you’re granted peerage in the nobility,” Alastair added.

  Melia didn’t know how she felt about somebody becoming a noble just because they were high level. At level 800, were they just given a title and slapped with some land? How did that work? And what would that make her?

  She could appreciate that something was given to them for their achievement, because from how things sounded, level 800 was a lot. Over the known kingdoms, there were only a few thousand. Over 900? A few hundred. There were only a handful of people level 1000 or higher.

  And yet, Melia herself was level 3700.

  When she connected the dots, she froze.

  She almost fell over and Jessica had to catch her. Alastair used his greater heal, [Lay on Hands], which woke her up.

  She really was the strongest being in existence, wasn’t she?

  Melia focused on that being possible instead of the alternative, if all the endgame raid bosses were still higher than her.

  But she couldn’t just tell her new friends that she was rank 37. They’d believe her now just as much as they would when she said she was a dragon.

  Speaking of which…

  “You aren’t going to tell us your level, are you?” Jessica finally let out a frustrated groan after trying to wheedle it out of her for over an hour.

  “Nope!” Melia chirped brightly.

  “Totally a dragon,” Alastair mumbled with mirth.

  So far, to Melia’s count, the things she was accused of being a dragon for included “eating a mountain of food like a glutton”, telling “outlandish, clearly made up stories” when she was talking about how life was 100 years ago (in the game), and whenever she either gave an answer the others refused to believe or else refused to answer something they thought was simple.

  Her accusations of “not being a dragon” were equally amusing, such as simply being a gnome, telling “outlandish, clearly made up stories,” giving answers the others refused to believe…yeah. The criteria was very hit or miss, obviously depending on Jessica or Alastair’s mood.

  Then something changed. The group of three had been walking toward their destination for today, a small hunting ground inside Abbyton’s walls where monsters spawned. Melia learned that monsters in this world actually worked mostly like they had in the game. As designed by one of this world’s gods, Chaos, monsters spawned nearly everywhere in the world, bodies formed by ambient mana. There were known rules and phenomena, such that Humanity settling in an area and culling monsters in huge quantities, sustained over long periods of time, would drop the average level of the monsters that spawned. Melia likened it to how the game had various leveled zones where people would go to quest and level up.

  The monsters themselves would just simply…appear. It was very hard to actually witness the spawning of a monster, as if some higher power, Chaos herself perhaps, made a person’s eyes slip off a monster when it spawned. But, from the few recorded observations, monsters were known to simply “phase in” as if an invisibility spell had been cast and ran out, fully grown and already obtaining their personalities…or what passed as personalities for monsters. Killed monsters could be looted, butchered, skinned, or whatever like any normal animal, but their bodies would disintegrate after a while, usually longer for higher level monsters, dispersing back to mana. The loot would remain, real and tangible.

  They also followed behaviors that were under great scrutiny and study by scholars. Who they would attack, why they would attack, why they wouldn’t attack, where they roamed, where they wouldn’t roam…all those things Melia understood to be game mechanics but couldn’t explain to the real, living people of this world. How would they react if they knew a lower level monster wouldn’t attack a person too high level because it would be seen as too annoying to have to fight off endless amounts of fleas that gave nothing of value to somebody who just wanted to explore a game map? If that was even relatable to how it actually worked in this world?

  Jessica and Alastair were just explaining their targets for the day when they reached their destination. A very ordinary and unassuming section of the woods they had been walking through for a while was suddenly filled with sheep. And wolves. Too many. Of both. But the wolves weren’t hunting the sheep, just wandering around aimlessly. Occasionally a wolf would break its imaginary routing and leap at a sheep, killing it. Sometimes it would devour it, something not possible for a real wolf to do so fast, and other times the sheep would just…vanish.

  “Wololols,” Jessica grinned, enjoying Melia’s slack jawed face at the sight of the “sheep”. They, too, were monsters. Only up to level 10, which a literal child could kill, but they were adorable. And huge. Each sheep was nearly spherical, having a massive wooly coat surrounding a hidden body, supported by two tiny, spindly stubs for legs and a head poking out, looking lazy and vacant. The average Wololol came up to Jessica’s chest, making it much taller than Melia. More than once she thought about trying to jump atop one to ride.

  Alastair motioned to the side and made them stop.

  “Alright,” he pointed at several trees marked by ribbons. “There’s the theorized boundary for the monsters. Neither the wolves or sheep cross the boundary, but we’ll hang back a little just so we know we won’t get attacked. Now, Sister Grace wants the wolves culled a bit so they don’t start climbing levels and killing off more Wololols, dragging their spawns down. We want to kill at least 50 wolves today if we can. If not, we’ll come back tomorrow to kill some more.”

  “Our usual number is in the 30s,” Jessica added, looking down at Melia. “We were thinking with a healer we could bring that up. Well, we still might be able to if you’re good with those daggers? What do you say? Want to join our [Party] real quick?”

  Melia had learned that something like the party system in the game existed here too. There was no minimap, no locator marks, no message system, and for the most part no heads up display, though certain classes unlocked skills that functioned as replacements for certain parts of those. None of the three had any of those, not even Melia, who was starting to suspect that most of the skills she had were ones she used and unlocked in the game, rather than ones people native to this world picked up over time. She was incredibly jealous of Alastair’s [Cleanse] spell, which not only removed very minor diseases, but small stains on clothes.

  But there were things forming a [Party] did do. If members were close enough, about 50 to 100 feet, they felt a vague spatial awareness of party members. It wouldn't give them specific directions, only a general feeling that somebody was “over there”. It also bypassed any camouflage a person applied to their stats and levels. While most people couldn’t view a person’s stats, anybody could cast [Identify] on a person, getting basic information.

  If used on an unknown person, their name would appear as question marks, their class would be obscured, and their level would only be displayed if it was close to their own. Too much higher and it would be vague, before becoming question marks. If it was far greater, it would be a skull. So, if a level 100 cast the spell on a level 105, they would see the target’s level as 105. If they cast it on a level 274, it might say 200s, or 200+. If they cast it on somebody level 500, it would display a wicked looking skull, telling them if they messed with that person, it would end poorly for them.

  None of that applied to people in a party.

  If that level 100 cast [Identify] again on the 500, it would tell them their name, any titles displayed, and their exact level.

  In Melia’s case, Jessica would be able to see, plain as day, “Meliastraza Obsidianheart, level 3700.” She wasn’t sure she wanted to drop that on her new friends just yet.

  “Uh, no thanks,” she remained stubbornly vague, Jessica letting out another resigned sigh.

  “Look, I know you said you don’t want to bring down our experience share, but we wouldn’t be getting much xp from the wolves anyway. They’re only in the 80s and 90s, that’s like, only a handful of xp.”

  “Sorry,” Melia actually did look remorseful. “But with me, you’d be getting zero xp. I guarantee it.”

  She could not, in fact, guarantee it, but she had a very shrewd guess it would be close. Killing low level mobs reduced xp gain exponentially in the game, to reduce the amount of overleveled players grinding in low level zones.

  “But, uh, if you don’t mind,” Melia asked, getting excited, “Would you mind hanging back and just watching? Who knows? You might learn something for your [Rogue] path.”

  “Showoff,” Jessica smirked, but she agreed. She was under the assumption Melia was a [Rogue] and openly stated she wanted to pick up the class to work toward a [Ranger] class.

  “That’s a dragon behavior,” Alastair mumbled, earning him a dig to his ribs.

  Having received permission to go to work, Melia stepped forward confidently, pulling out her daggers and zoning out the world. Back when she was in her pod, she would have put on a “grinding” playlist of fast, upbeat music that droned out the background noise and let her lose herself in her fun.

  While she had no music, she had the newfound benefit that this was real. And despite it being real, she held no fear that she was about to attack a vicious, snarling wolf that would have torn her old body to shreds in a heartbeat. She was small, and she was powerful. She made sure not to let anything she was about to do accidentally spill back towards her new friends, so she chose not to use any flashy area of attack spells, electing to settle for a simple rotation of abilities she relied on while leveling. The rest of the world, that wasn’t gigantic fluffy sheep or wolves, faded away.

  First, she [Stealthed]. She felt her own presence fade from her surroundings, as if she wasn’t there at all. Her own palms looked see-through to her own eyes, like somebody applied a reduced opacity filter to her. She would normally have one of her poisons applied to her daggers, but she didn’t know how that would affect the meat, which was part of the reason they were hunting these wolves. When Melia crept up to the closest wolf, Melia could have reached out and grabbed its tail. Her presence was completely erased.

  The big draw for a lot of [Rogue] playstyles was the fast paced, ability driven, rotation centric gameplay. Stuns, status effects, and lots and lots of combos, usually culminating into big crits with huge numbers, relying on their energy regeneration to keep them gunning. Melia needed an opener, most of which could only be used if she was [Stealthed].

  Melia took a deep breath…and jumped. Her long black ponytails with the pink highlights fluttered in the wind as the world seemed to slow. The wolf, still oblivious below her, moved forward at a snail’s pace. Melia herself seemed to float forward like a feather flowing through molasses. She got within 6 inches of the wolf and would imminently land on its back. She activated [Backstab]. The world rippled around her as she reemerged into reality, the wolf suddenly becoming aware of her, a muffled cry from far behind her reached her ears, which she ignored. As the wolf’s head was turning, Melia brought her arms forward, plunging her daggers deep into its neck. Hot, pungent liquid sprayed from the wounds, but not nearly as much as she thought would. Her daggers were soaked, but the rest of her went untouched, even as she continued to fall, crashing down onto the dead-before-it-knew-it wolf’s back, momentum carrying her toward the earth as it crumpled, her daggers sliding in effortlessly up to the hilt.

  The wolf, extremely dead, skidded forward 5 feet. Nothing else seemed to notice or care, simply content to wolf and Wololol as they were. Melia slowly removed her daggers, the blood and gore slicking off as though physically repelled, and she twirled them around each of her fingers in a rapid display of agility that should have seen her lose a hand at least.

  Melia turned, face shining like the radiant sun, and sought the faces of her companions, her own full of the desire for praise and approval.

  “That was fun!” she cried out in her high, bubbly voice that was so much at odds with the merciless, brutal death she just dealt. Without waiting for a response, she hit [Stealth] and went again.