New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Alex and Kary spent the day watching shows on the television, cuddling up under a summer blanket. They ordered food for their meals, since neither of them had the energy or will to get up and cook.

When the sun started setting outside the windows, Alex resolved to log into New Eden. He hadn't been on in a few days and he had missed the award ceremony.

He was hoping someone had grabbed his item for him, since losing a free item like that sucked. But Kary told him no one could have taken his item.

Apparently, a special person had been there during the distribution of rewards, and they had put aside a certain item for him. Alex was slightly sad that he couldn't choose for himself, but at least he would not come out empty-handed.

When he asked her who it was, Kary shrugged.

"I didn't recognize him. It was a tall, well-built man with blonde hair and golden eyes. He had no aura that I could read to recognize him, either."

"Great… Now, how am I supposed to find him?"

He did not know who that man could be. Alexander could think of one blonde man, but his eyes weren't golden.

"Well, he was with the old man you were sitting next to, at the table, the other day."

"The guild master of the adventurer's guild?"

"Wait… That was the guild master?! How did you meet him? No player has met him yet, even when they asked for an appointment."

'Lucky bastards…' he thought.

"I had little choice in the matter. Violette met him, too. He told us he was an old friend of our master. That's all I could pull out of him. That and the adventurer's card."

It was Kary's turn to think they were lucky bastards. Many players could still only wish to meet figures with actual power in the game.

And yet, he and Violette had met more than one already. By her reaction, Alex knew he shouldn't tell her he had also met the king of the Ash Elves and a Semi-divine Kingdom Spirit.

She would thoroughly freak out. Then again, he guessed she also met some of her own, since she wasn't reacting too strongly.

They brushed aside the matter, getting ready to log in. Kary lay down on the bed, grabbing Alex's helmet.

Alexander looked at her with a frown.

"It's stupid that I can't let you play in the pod instead of me. They should at least put in a function to allow the main user to allow second access…"

"If they did that, it would mean there is a risk for people to threaten other players into allowing them access to their pods. It's safer this way."

"I understand that. But it means I can't let you take the pod, instead of my helmet."

"The other solution would be for me to have my pod moved here, but then I would be back to the same problem when I'm home. Also, my mother would think I'm moving out, and she would freak out."

"Does your mother not want you to move out?"

"That's not the issue. She would absolutely want to meet you first. And she can get very… overprotective."

"Ahh. I see. Well, I don't mind meeting her, as long as she doesn't try to kill me. I've had enough of those people lately, ahah."

Kary looked at him with a deadpan stare.

"You're so dumb," she said, before giggling and dropping the gaming helmet on her head.

"Log in."

Kary went still as soon as she said the words, meaning she was already plunging into New Eden.

Alex didn't wait any longer, laying down inside the gaming pod, before closing the lid.

"Log in."

*Launching 'New Eden'*

*Logging in*

*Welcome back player Astaroth*

Opening his eyes, he saw the familiar ceiling of his inn room. Next to him, Phoenix was already re-equipping her armour.

Astaroth enjoyed looking at her dress up for a second, before doing the same. After they left the room, Astaroth went downstairs to go pay for the extra days he had been in the room.

The innkeeper was grumpy about him not paying in advance, but Astaroth slipped a little extra in for him, in the form of a gold coin, and his displeasure vanished.

"Thank you for your continued patronage, good sir!"

Astaroth chuckled at the instant change in demeanour before exiting the establishment.

Phoenix soon joined him, followed by Violette. They had told her when they were connecting, so she had hurried online too.

She jumped into Astaroth's arms.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I thought Alfred would have roughed you up more, and that you couldn't play for a little while."

"Well, let's just say I got pretty roughed up. But I didn't go down without a fight, hehe."

Phoenix shook her head disapprovingly.

"My dad told me to tell you something."

"Hmm?"

"He wants you to come to our house as soon as possible. He said he has something he wants to discuss with you."

"Your father."

"Yes."

"He wants to talk to me."

"Yes."

"That's strange. I thought after the punch to the face and your mother's slap, he would never want to see me again. Do you know what he wants to discuss?"

"Nope!"

*Sigh*

"Fine. I'll try to make time soon, when I'm fully recovered from Alfred's brief visit."

"Okay! I'll tell him you said that later."

"So! What do we do now?"

Phoenix looked at him with a giggle.

"You have something to do. Violette and I can grab a quest from the adventurer's guild with you, but you need to speak with the guild master while we do it."

"Urgh… More talking. I feel like I'm wasting all my time in New Eden in meetings lately. I barely get to fight anymore."

"Stop grumbling. You get to meet power figures and gather some reputation more than any other player."

"That's fine and all. But we still don't know what we use the reputation for, yet. What's the point of having so much of it?"

"I guess you'll be the one to find out first, aren't you?"

Phoenix giggled at Astaroth's discomfited face, as did Violette. They then left for the adventurer's guild.