Chapter 9: A diner and the forums.

Eldrian stood up and took off his headset plugging it in to charge. After which he decided to change his clothes into clothes more suited for exercise. Feeling good about his decisive decision, he decided to try and walk for an hour or so, maybe even run a bit.

…

Just a few minutes later a thirsty Eldrian bursts through his own door. Quickly he searched for a glass, filling it with water which he then immediately downed. He continued to do this until he started feeling full.

Wobbly on his feet, Eldrian fell down onto a couch. 'Why did I think it was a good idea to try and run for a bit? And more importantly, why did I not take any water with me?' He questioned himself as he waited for his problems to stop.

Sometime later his problems did indeed stop, making Eldrian feel much relief. Feeling better Eldrian decided to make himself something to eat, since now his stomach was complaining about the food. In the kitchen he made himself some eggs, and threw them onto some slices of bread.

This simple meal satisfied Eldrian very much. The entire process during this morning informed Eldrian of two important points. Don't exercise before having eaten a meal, and take water with you when you do decide to go out.

Next Eldrian decided to take a shower, with the hope that it will make him feel normal again. Luckily this seemed to do the job. Finally free to do his own thing Eldrian decided to watch some anime. The reason why he could be very simple. It was a Saturday, he had no homework and an internet connection.

As Eldrian settled in he also sent a message to his sister to confirm if they were still going to meet up and have lunch together.

She replied saying yes, and that she had found an interesting, small dinner near campus. They talked a bit via messaging before confirming that they will meet each other at around 1.

…

'Where is the place she mentioned, let me give her a call.' Eldrian mumbled to himself as he took out his phone to contact her. When he started calling, he soon heard her ringtone. This was all he needed to find his way.

"So, this is the place you were talking about. Not bad, what food do they serve?" Eldrian asked as he found her standing next to a small diner. The diner was more the size of a fast food place than a restaurant, hence why they called it a diner.

Eldrian had to admit that it certainly was an interesting place. It looked like the diner had a mystical theme or maybe nerdy. There was a bunch of fantasy books being displayed on the walls.

"Well, they don't really specialize in anything. It is just a nice place I wanted to try." His sister replied to his question.

Completely thrown, Eldrian didn't know what to say. 'Normally people decide where to eat, because they feel like eating something specific.' He complained to himself. Seeing his disappointed look his sister quickly added.

"But a friend of mine recommended we should try their eisbein. So why don't you take that, and I will take something else. We can then share and decide which is best." She proposed.

Eldrian had no problem accepting this as he hadn't eaten an eisbein in years. 'I can't even remember how it tasted back when I last ate it. So even if it isn't the best I shouldn't be able to complain.' He thought to himself as they entered the diner.

…

They enjoyed themselves a lot at the diner. They decided they might even make it a regular place to go eat out.

While they were there Eldrian made sure to tell her about how real the game felt. How unique each NPC felt, and how they came off like people in a true sense. Eldrian had even forgotten they were NPCs when he had stayed at Old Sword's home.

In their sibling dynamic, it was never a one-sided conversation. She had told him of the fun she had had with her friends going out. About how she had enjoyed the dancing and the annoying guys who tried to approach their group.

They also both complained about the lecturers they didn't like, praised the ones they did, and teased each other about some other topics.

Eldrian had really enjoyed spending time with her again. He felt it was always good to make time to see her at least once a week. Apart from running into each other at the university that is.

She was a year ahead of him and he often asked her for tips. Unfortunately, she majored in physics, leaving him often with tips he could not apply in his situation.

…

At his apartment, Eldrian decided to check the game forums. To see what the other players have been up to.

Turning on his PC, Eldrian also fetched himself a drink to enjoy while going through the forums. Shortly after he started browsing Eldrian was surprised by the number of people complaining.

The top posts were all people asking the developers to make the starting areas easier. They complained that combat wasn't smooth and skills had too long cooldowns, compared to the damage they dealt. Reading all this Eldrian was left speechless.

'Have these people not realized how true to real life the game is?' Eldrian questioned as he continued to read on. 'Granted it has only been one day. But still, the first time I took one of the training weapons I realized that I wouldn't be able to fight, unless I at least learn the basics first.' He thought when he finished this particular post.

Continuing to go through the forum Eldrian was truly amazed at the mentality most of the players adapted in-game.

One of the most discussed topics was a video posted by a group of players. In this video, they had surrounded a wolf and were trying to kill it. Though they really struggled as they hoped their skills could carry them, naturally this was not something in this game. The ultra-realistic nature also caused some of them to freeze.

The wolf took advantage of all this to dodge the attacks in the beginning, and as the fight continued the wolf found places to counterattack. Killing a player with every attack it successfully delivered. In just 20 seconds, the five players who had surrounded the wolf had died.

After having looked at this video Eldrian was confused. The players had stood still until they used a skill. After which they again stood still, or just moved a little. They certainly acted more like practice targets than fighters. Eldrian even started wondering if they just didn't know how to dodge or run by themselves.

Eldrian finally understood why so many players had died on the first day. Everyone was used to using the system to fight. Some other posts showed more competent players taking on a tiger. In this video, they managed to kill the tiger, but lost 3 players in the fight. With them having had a party of 5 players, you could say the victory was narrow.

Curious about how resurrection worked Eldrian looked to find what the players, who had died, said. He soon stumbled upon a player from the group who killed the tiger. The player complained that he had dropped all his items on death. Luckily his friends could return it to him, but if he had died alone then he would have lost his 12 silver worth of items.

Eldrian was astonished when he read this part and started thinking, 'Seems that when you die you lose all your items. We have no data on how it affects other things, but this one is certainly very harsh.' This one punishment for dying, certainly made it far harsher than in most other games.

Having looked at a few more complaining threads Eldrian grew bored of the same complaints being brought up. So he started looking for a positive post.

Finally, he found a post after about thirty more of the other. This post commented mostly on the NPCs and how lifelike they acted. Eldrian certainly felt that they seemed too humane to just be an AI. This is why he decided to treat them like people when he was in-game.

Other positive posts praised the game's realism, which completely countered the common players' complaints. This post was made by a soldier, or so he claimed to be. He said that tomorrow he and his friends were going to try and level up. The reason for them going at it tomorrow, is that they all wanted to first get used to the weapons they could get and would use.

After reading this post Eldrian was quite impressed. Seems that he wasn't the only person who took the game more seriously.

There were also some other posts commenting on the historical accuracy of stuff in-game. These posts certainly were fun to read, but didn't have much more to them, since the game was set in a fantasy world and not a normal one.

Finally, having satisfied his curiosity Eldrian stopped browsing and watched some series until he could log back into the game.