When Sword woke up he realized that he wasn’t in the game anymore but in his bedroom. He quickly got out of his bed and flopped down onto his chair by his computer. It was still warm. He wiggled his hands back and forth and logged back into the game. As soon as he woke up in the game he saw that he was still in bed at the inn. He looked around as he got out of bed but no one was there. He looked out of the window and saw that the sun was still out. “Must still be morning,” he thought. He turned around and made up the bed and then went straight for the door. When he opened the door, there was Plus standing there surprised. “You’re up?” she said. “Can’t stay asleep forever,” he said, “Where’s Cast and Magic?”
“They’re downstairs having breakfast,” she said as he stepped out of the room. “Good then it’s still morning,” he said as he closed the door behind him, “We need to start going on quests.” “We’re still looking for some,” said Plus as she started heading downstairs. Sword quickly followed her and wondered if they’d come up with anything while he’d been asleep. “So what’d you find?” he asked her. “Well there are plenty of jobs,” she said, “but we don’t have enough members for the big ones yet.” “Doesn’t matter,” said Sword, “we need the ones that we can do now.” “Don’t you want to know how many members we need for the big quests?” she asked. “How many?” he asked. “We need 10,” she said. “Wait a minute,” he said stopping on the stairs, “that’s not right. You just need a party of 4.” “This is a new game plus remember?” she said. “Right,” said Sword as it all came back to him, “I need you to tell me everything that’s different before we go any further. Because first it was combat and now it’s this.” “I can’t tell you everything right now,” she said irritated, “it would take too long.” “How long?” he asked her. “Weeks from now,” she said. “It’s that much?” he asked. “You said yourself that you haven’t been playing the game like that for a while,” she said as she continued down the stairs, “but other people have.”
“That’s another thing,” said Sword as he started down the stairs after her. “How come I’m the only one that’s playing this? I don’t see any other players here.” He took a quick look around the lobby as they reached the bottom of the stairs and saw that the inn keepers were surprisingly absent. Before this inn would be crowded with other players. He could never get a room here because it was always full. “Because you are a part of a test,” said Plus, “if you play this and like this then the developers will go ahead with this version.” She started tapping her fingers against her hips. Sword saw her wince as she did this. “What’s wrong?” he asked her. “I was doing my exercises while you were out and I may have strained my fingers a little.” “You’re warming them up?” he asked with a smile. “That’s not funny,” she said as she shook her hands about. “Sorry,” he said as he glanced inside the dining room nearby, then suddenly he thought of something to ask her. “Wait a minute Plus,” he said, “You mean I won’t see other players unless I finish the game?” “Exactly,” she said with a smile. “That’s perfect!” shouted Sword as he walked inside of the dining room with her, “The first time I started playing this other people kept killing me and it was extremely hard to level up. It’ll be a breeze now.”
“Well I like your enthusiasm,” said Magic as he walked up to him and gave him a pat on the back, “I thought for a second that you were going to be a little miffed when you woke up.” “No I’m alright,” said Sword glancing at Cast who was completely ignoring him. She was reading a small book filled with tiny script that he couldn’t make out. “Right now we have 4 quests that we can do,” said Magic, “we’ll split them up and meet up with each other when we’re done.” “What are the quests?” asked Sword taking a seat down at the table. “2 of them are fetch quests,” said Plus seating herself beside him, “the other 2 require a bit of magic to lure out the targets.”
“Why can’t we do them all together?” asked Sword. “What?” asked Cast looking at him, “you want to do them all together?” “We have to do them all together,” said Sword, “now which ones do you guys want to do first?” “We’re doing the special quests first,” said Cast closing her book, “the rewards are 30 grindstones and 500 silver stars.” Sword whistled. “That’s a lot,” he said, “what do we have to do?” “Defeat 10 Manics and obliterate 20 Spews,” she said. “I haven’t fought those types in a while,” said Sword. “That’s why—” she started to say but then Sword interrupted her saying, “But I’ll give it a try.”
“Where are they?” he asked. “Battlefield Field,” said Plus. “That’s not too far from here,” said Sword, “we’d be there in about a ten-minute walk.” “Then let’s go,” said Plus getting up from the table. “You guys are really serious about this huh?” asked Cast as she pocketed her book and started to massage her right arm. “Yes,” said Plus and Sword. “Well what are you going to do?” asked Cast as she got up from the table. “What do you mean?” asked Sword, “I’m going to help complete these quests.” “What I mean is with what are you going to do that with? Your fists?” She pointed at him to emphasize that he was unarmed. “Oh that’s right,” he said, “I gave it back to Lucas.” “Who’s Lucas?” asked Magic, “Is he going to join the party too?” “No,” said Plus, “he’s a farmer here that helped us on a previous quest.” “Wait,” said Cast, “so you don’t even have a sword, Sword Fighter?”
“I—” said Sword, “Well . . .” “He does have a sword,” said Plus reaching within her robes and pulling out Lucas’ rusty blade. “Here you go,” she said as she handed it to Sword. “You have to have a better sword than that,” said Cast, “it’s going to break if we come up against a Spew.” “I agree,” said Magic, “but I know how to help you.” “How?” asked Sword, “you wouldn’t happen to have enough stars to buy another one would you?” “Oh no,” said Magic with a laugh, “I know where to find bladegrass here.” “Bladegrass?” asked Plus, “I’ve never heard of that.” “You haven’t?” asked Sword surprised, “Well Magic what’s bladegrass?”
Magic decided that it was better to show and tell them, so she went to the lobby and finding that the innkeepers had returned, paid them for their breakfast and then took the party out near Battlefield Field to a small clearing nearby that was mostly packed dirt with a few patches of very fine green grass. The blades of the grass looked as sharp as daggers and when the wind blew the grass didn’t move. “That’s strange,” said Sword as he studied it, “I’ve never seen this before. What does it do?” “Bladegrass is good for sharpening tools and removing rust,” said Magic as she snapped her fingers and a handful of grass shot up from the ground and floated above her hand in suspended animation. “How can it do that?” asked Plus.
“Watch,” she said as she twirled her fingers around and the bladegrass started spinning wildly about her hand. “Magic,” said Cast, “please be careful.” “Don’t worry,” said Magic smiling, “I’ve done this before.” She closed her hand and formed a fist and the grass quickly formed into a tight small ball. It looked as if she was squeezing down on it. When she motioned for Sword to give her his sword he did it quickly as she took hold of it with her other hand. A few seconds later a strange blue grey liquid poured out of the small ball and dripped onto the sword. Magic moved the blade around so that every drip would cover the blade and when the bladegrass was empty she shot the small ball back into the ground. A small thud could be heard and the ground trembled as the bladegrass was replanted.
Magic admired her handiwork as the sword’s rust slowly fell off of it and fell onto the ground. The rust fell down into the dirt, sinking deeper into the earth until it was gone from sight. She handed the now shining sword back to Sword and gave him a thumbs up. “Thank you,” he said looking at her and the sword. “What happened to the rust?” asked Plus staring at the ground. “Bladegrass uses it up in their soil,” said Magic, “Believe it or not, it helps it grow faster. Think of it as their fertilizer.” “Wow,” said Sword turning the sword around in his hand, “I mean wow. This is amazing.” “Thank you,” said Magic, “now we can get to work.” “Yes ma’am,” said Sword as he slashed the sword in the air, gauging the new weight of the blade. It felt lighter now as if it was an extension of his arm. “You’re ready?” asked Cast looking at him. “I’m so ready,” said Sword jumping up and down, warming himself up for battle. “Great,” said Plus walking out ahead, “because we’re taking the Manics first.”
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