7: Drastic Measures
Our walk to Ardgour, the capital of Porin, was fairly uneventful. A few goblins, some angry giant rats, and a brief scare with a dragon flying overhead were all we had to deal with. I managed to gain another level from the fighting, and we all got a training point in stamina from the trip.
Training points were the game’s way of letting you work out to gain stats in the game. You could get strength from lifting, or stamina from running. All that stuff. They were essentially a very long term buff that you had to keep refreshing or it would fade. I think it was like three months of disuse and it would begin to fade, but I couldn’t remember. I’d never had it happen.
During our last night in an inn before we reached the city, I went out the back of the place to purchase my first new ability. Right now, I couldn’t hope to figure out any of the abilities on my own, so the options given automatically every so often would be very helpful. Since ability points were accrued at a rate of one per level—alongside the two stat points for each level, of which the latest both went into Athleticism— At level four I actually had five ability points to spend. The extra was a bonus given at level one.
On my old character, I had already unlocked every ability available to me, so every point I spent was just thrown into ability ranks. Now, for the first time in a long time, I had choices, and it was causing a little bit of an issue. Stats were easy, for the most part, but choosing abilities was much more impactful. I guess I could respec, it was a thing, but it was also a hassle.
Actually, speaking of…
Before I could throw them at new abilities while leaving my old ones to be overtaken by enemy difficulty, I spent one each on my currently unlocked abilities.
I had three abilities to choose from. The first was a lunging attack called Pinprick Strike, fairly simple and straightforward, but it had the promise of some pretty interesting upgrades later on. The second was a spell, Mind Flutter, was a hand gesture that caused a flickering illusory attack in my target’s vision to distract them. Scatter Dash was the third and final one—a flickering dash that caused afterimages of me to scatter for a brief microsecond before I arrived at my destination.
It was a tough decision, even the first one giving me some trouble. Something like a simple lunging strike wasn’t particularly interesting on the surface, but mastering it would give a considerable damage boost if I used it.
Still, I think I needed maneuverability more than a hard hitting damage ability right then. All three would be finding their ways into my kit at some point, though. I picked the third ability, Scatter Dash, and began to familiarise myself with the subtle movements needed to cast it.
The ability was designed to confuse my opponents for a moment, giving me an opening to slip my blade past their guard. When I first tested it, I was delighted to feel the rush of the wind around me, my braid momentarily trailing in the air behind me. From the point where I had left, three perfect images of my character had flickered, appearing to dash in different directions. What I hadn’t expected were the pretty pink sakura petals that danced at my old position for a brief moment.
“Oh, that is so cool,” I grinned, watching them fade. Until, like a blow to the gut, I realised how girly I was being. I’d been fine with it before, but suddenly doubt crawled up my spine and seated itself in the back of my mind.
What in the hell was I doing? I wasn’t a girl. I was a fucking fraud, and I was just running around pretending to be one, even going as far as to drink the feminine coolaid.
“God, that looked so pretty!” A voice behind me said, and I turned to find Elena leaning against the wall.
I blinked, watching her for a moment before my gaze dove to the ground. She probably thought I was a fraud too. She could probably see right through me.
“I’m not pretty,” I said to the dying shrubs at my feet.
Elena scoffed and stepped closer to me. “Girl, you’re adorable, and mysterious, and so fucking beautiful it makes me ache.”
Looking up in surprise, I gaped at her. “I mean, you too? You’re really hot, and like, your cheekbones keep distracting me, but you shouldn't be attracted to me! I’m a boy!” I babbled in a confused rush.
Absolute, full body fear gripped me. What the fuck. Why did I say that? What the hell? Why? I was such a fucking moron! A fuckup! This is what got me kicked out of my guild. This is why I should never make—
Elena interrupted the spiral of self hate inside me by stepping close to me, and… and kissing me? What the fuck? Although… She was so much taller than me, so much bigger in every dimension. Her hands tentatively gripped my hips, keeping me in place as she gently, carefully, pressed her lips against mine. My thoughts were fried and broken, but a small part of me pressed forward into her embrace.
A red box appeared in my vision, asking if the physical contact I was engaged in was consenting. Saying yes would let her continue, but saying no… it would ban her immediately and lay real world charges against her. I mentally shooed it away with an absent thought. Damn, but Elena was playing with fire, here. So much power over her with a single yes or no prompt…
She needn't have worried, though. The affection, even from someone who was basically a stranger, was so welcome it caused a tear to roll down my cheek. She must have felt it merge into the kiss, because she stepped back and gave me a smile. “Are you so sure about that?”
“Sure about what?” I asked, almost dizzy from the thorough purging of my nasty thoughts.
Her smile was so damned coy. “That you’re a boy. You’re willingly playing as this character, after all. Plus, you mentioned you were in medical storage. This is literally your reality, which means that… well, fuck everything outside of this game. You’re very obviously a girl, and you’ve been fine with feminine pronouns.”
“I… I…” My brain was a mess, gears grinding all over the place, confusion rampant. All I could do was stammer and stare up at her, trying to think past the words she’d said and the feeling of her hands on my hips. Fuck, but I really liked how that felt.
Gently, she let me go, stepping back with a wink. “I’ll leave you to those thoughts. Come find me if you need me. Sorry about the kiss, too. I wanted to knock you out of that spiral of yours, so… yeah. Thanks for not, like… you know… Shit, that was mega stupid on my part, so thanks for telling the system it was okay.”
She walked hastily backwards in the direction of the door back to the inn, but halted for a moment to shake herself and say, “I won’t tell a soul, either. Okay?”
I nodded dumbly, still completely out of it. “It wasn't… unwelcome.”
“Good, because otherwise that would've been... Nevermind, catch you at dinner,” she said, giving me a little finger-wiggling wave before she was gone.
She was just going to kiss me, then explode my brain, give me the option to legally destroy her, and then just… leave?
God, I felt like someone had just shoved a whisk into my head and gone to town. The craziest part was that she made sense. My reality was this virtual one, so… why bother getting hung up on what my mutilated body had once possessed. Shit, I didn’t even have a dick anymore.
Taking a long, uncertain breath, I went back to practicing my forms and abilities. It let my brain wander through all the thoughts I needed to parse, all while creating new muscle memory for this body.
****
Ardgour wasn’t your typical medieval fantasy city. It was ringed by two sets of low, thick walls, almost like something that might have been constructed back in the age of black powder. Except, these walls were ones that had been created in a world where magic existed. Siege magic wasn’t something that players explored much, but it existed both in the game and in the lore.
The city had been built on a massive, low hill that was shaped like a wave, with one side ending in a cliff that had been carved by the river that slaked the thirst of the city. The docks were built into that cliff face, while the rest of the city sprawled out down the hillside.
The buildings were low, their flat roofs topped with grass, while chimneys and stone towers jutted up out of them. Flowers and trees grew atop the various buildings, making the whole city seem like it was half-woodland. The wide roads had been cut into the earth, many of them split by winding rivers and streams.
Ardgour had been built around the hill because of the small magical pond at its peak, which held great religious significance to the Kingdom of Porin. The founding of Porin had come about when a small clan of humans had been driven out of their ancestral home. On their last legs, and harried by the nameless enemy that had hounded them at every turn, they’d sought to make a last stand atop the hill.
Their god, who took the form of a kindly old man at the very precipice of death, had taken pity on his followers. He blessed the spring at the top of the hill, causing it to poison any who formed ranks to attack those who huddled under his protection.
Nowadays, the water was slightly magical and made for good potions, but otherwise didn’t do a whole lot. Still, the whole city flowed with it, making the air smell clean and the mages very happy.
We got into the city with relative ease, players came and went all the time, and from there we headed out to find an inn. Unfortunately for me, the one that Doug coerced us into staying at was way too close to my old guildhouse. I didn’t think I would run into my old friends, but you never knew.
The inn was very similar to most of the architecture of the city. It only had two floors above the street height, while the rest were below the ground. It had two large, round stone towers sticking out of the roof, along with a few chimneys, and a little copse of trees.
I’d actually been to this place before, although only to drink and party with my friends. The rooms were nice enough, but I’d be out looking to rent a place as soon as the next morning rolled around. I just really wanted a space to call my own and settle down. Hopefully it would let me sort through all the shit in my head. Assuming I was brave enough to face that whole mess.
