Book 1: Chapter 8: Patch 3.0: To the City of Pirates!

The dynamic duo comes over to Fenrir and Serra once they’re done eating, each one of them patting their full bellies. One would normally never think it from how often they fight, but they act similarly enough to look like a husband and wife – well, a husband and much-less-manlier husband. Maybe "look" isn't the right word to use seeing as how one of them is a giant orc and the other is a petite deer-trap-boy. Either way, they are similar in more ways than one would think.

“You guys ready to go?” Fenrir asks, picking up his rock and spear. Actually, carrying around the rock on its own all the time is getting to be a bit annoying. He can’t carry anything else when he’s holding it as his spear is already taking up one hand. Looking to those red stems, he snaps a couple of them in half to get their liquid onto the spear’s shaft for him to glue the rock to it. A bright smile crosses his lips when it works.

“You sure do love playing with poles and thick, sticky stuff, Fenny,” Oleander teases from behind Fenrir. The teasing boy looks back at Serra to see her reaction. She’s looking away and trying to contain her laughter. Yeah, they’re definitely going to be getting along.

Oleander picks up the unused stems to carry them. He doesn't have anything else to be carrying.

“Is impossible for you to talk normal,” Bonekraka says, smacking Oleander on the back of his head.

“Is impossible for you to talk not sound like Russian gangster!” Oleander snips back, mimicking Bonekraka’s accent.

“Gangsters are cool,” the orc replies, giving two thumbs-up and nodding his head.

“Yeah, and I think dicks are cool, so deal with it,” Oleander says with his tongue stuck out.

“Alright, alright,” Fenrir steps in, “what’s the plan other than killing each other? We’re down for whatever you guys want,” he says, looking back at Serra to confirm. She nods.

Oleander looks to the sky. The sun falls lower and lower as the shades coloring the sky grow darker. “I think I heard it’s more dangerous at night. Think we should try finding a village, or maybe we should put up a camp? We can get nice and snuggled up together in a tent, Fenny,” he coos.

“I have no idea if there’s even a village anywhere near us. I just know that we’re in the Augus Empire’s territory,” Fenrir replies.

“Oh, yeah,” Oleander sounds disappointed, “I forgot we spawned on the land they claim. I’d really rather not stay in a land full of stuck-up roleplayers pretending they’re the best there are. I swear, I always see them making the news and everybody kisses their asses. Why do there have to be wannabe Romans in every single fantasy game?” It's the first time in weeks Fenrir has heard Oleander sound so bothered. Prudes really get under his skin, and the faction that claims this land is supposedly full of prudes.

“Well, I figured it’d be best if we spawned on the larger continent that has more people on it. Easier than spawning between warring factions or in zones where we’re going to get wrecked immediately. Plus we have a bunch of stuff around us.”

“Oh! Aren’t those pirate guys to the south? We should totally go to the pirate place! Big, burly pirates; debauchery and plundering booty – it sounds like heaven! Plus there’s the famous Blackstache! What if we get to meet him? He’s the stuff of legends!”

Fenrir thinks about it. Going there might be the best option for all of their needs. It would most likely be an amazing place to go for fishing, Oleander would get to surround himself with a bunch of rough men, Bonekraka would surely find plenty of fights and games to bet money on – the only one to worry about is Serra. She’s so small and innocent looking, and she’s already expressed a disinterest in fighting, so how would she handle being around a bunch of pirates?

He looks at her and sees her smiling. Alright, apparently, she’s interested in meeting some pirates as well. This should be interesting.

“Got any objections, Bone?” Fenrir asks.

“Do not let wife know,” Bonekraka says. He knows full well what’s going to happen if he goes to a city built for pirates. There is going to be tons of drinking and even more gambling. Both of these are things that his wife has a strong hatred for and prohibits him from doing in reality.

“Alright, then to… what was it called again?”

Everybody shrugs.

“Wait, I have an idea. Instead of trying to get there over land, why don’t we follow the coast south? I bet we’ll come across a village at some point that might be able to take us there by boat,” Fenrir proposes.

This sort of thinking is why Oleander and Bonekraka usually listen to him even if they believe his plans are boring most of the time. They might be more boring, but they work.

There aren’t any objections. “Let’s head back to where I spawned then. Plus you guys will get to see the ocean, and trust me when I say it's awesome to see.”

With that being said, they head back in the direction that they originally came from. “So, Boney, about those ships in Eternal Space…”

Fenrir realizes something halfway to the coast. He knows of Blackstache and the legends surrounding him, but can’t remember the name of his faction, city, nor where the exact location of the city is. Gaming news websites and channels will often cover the events happening in-game and have the ability to show everybody everything that happens within the world. He knows that he has seen exactly where all of the major cities are, where massive battles have happened, and so forth. However, when he actually tries to visualize their positions on a map in his head, he comes up blank. He asks Saya about it.

“Like I said, Onii-chan, not everything is transferred from reality to the game and vise-versa! The location is in your memories, but I’m not allowed to let you access it. You have to discover things in-game on your own! It wouldn't be as fun otherwise. It would also give you an unfair advantage over players who don’t do the same amount of research,” Saya explains. It’s weird how nobody else can hear her despite Fenrir being able to hear her so clearly in his head.

“So I can remember how to make a spear and fish, but I can’t remember where a city is on a map? Why can I remember that I'm in Augus Empire territory then?” Fenrir thinks his question to her.

“You were only able to vaguely remember how to make the spear. It’s not like you were able to make a super duper awesome spear right from the start, and there were a bunch of things you technically could’ve done better if you could've remembered all of it. You still remember some things, just not everything about them. Just like how you know the general direction of the city you’re heading to, but not its exact location! When it comes to the Augus Empire, you're allowed to keep some of the information related to the area you start in. Wouldn't it be silly if you spawn in the game without knowing anything at all? The easiest way to look at it is to pretend that you're in the shoes of somebody who was born and raised in this area. You know about the area you're in, and you might know some legends and myths about the rest of the world and its people, but you won't know anything more unless you learn it in-game! If you didn't know anything at all then it would be like an adult baby suddenly appearing out of nowhere. You would have been given information regarding the Augus Empire even if you never learned about it out of the game.”

Must be nice to be an AI; AIs never have to stop talking to breathe or take a drink. Though, she still imitates human limitations at times.

Fenrir understands just barely enough to not be totally lost. “Alright, so there’s studies about learning skills and transferring that between real life and the game, but when it comes to general knowledge, that’s something you control. Is that right?”

“Right, Onii-chan!”

“If every player has their own AI assistant, then how can players be sure that everybody is being treated fairly?”

“Geez, Onii-chan! Are you saying that we’re cheating or might be biased? I mean, it’s true that it’s possible since we are heavily influenced by the personalities of our partners, but everything we do is checked by the overseer. If she finds that something is unfair or inappropriate for the world, then she’ll revert it!”

“Alright, so skills may or may not be transferred between in-game and reality to some degree, AI assistants control what knowledge players retain between real life and the game, and the overseer makes sure that everything is fair? Is there really a difference between skills and knowledge?”

“Onii-chan, you’re going to scare away girls if you ask so many questions! I suggest reading about this when you’re outside of the game.”

Fenrir gives up. While the technical aspects regarding how all of this is possible are something that interests him, he doubts he is smart enough to understand all of it even if it gets explained like he’s five. He’ll leave the technical stuff up to the engineers and developers. “Thanks, Saya. That’s all for now.”

The party reaches the coast just after the sun has finished setting. Bonekraka finally has permission to shove Oleander off of his shoulders, and Fenrir gives a disappointed sigh. “I was hoping we’d get to see the sunset. At least we’ll still be in the open. I’d rather be on a beach at night than in a forest,” Fenrir says as Bonekraka rubs his shoulders. Oleander looks full of energy due to not having to walk himself.

Fenrir checks on Serra. He was expecting to see exhaustion or grumpiness from having to walk so far, but instead sees a pair of amazed eyes looking out over the ocean. She looks every bit as inspired as he did when he first saw it. He just wishes that they got here sooner. “If we’re still by the coast tomorrow – in-game tomorrow, then we’ll get to watch the sunset. Sound good?” he asks and gets an excited nod in return. He can't deny that he's a bit disappointed Oleander and Bonekraka aren't as impressed by the sights.

“Small girl, why not speak?” Bonekraka asks, leaning over in front of her. His imposing face is directly in front of her own. This makes her jump back and hide behind Fenrir.

“Hey, Boney! If she wanted to talk then she’d talk. Don’t be rude,” Oleander says before kicking Bonekraka in the back of his leg.

“Is just question! Is asking question rude? Nyet!”

Fenrir is about to break them up when somebody else speaks up.

“Sorry… I’m just – not comfortable talking a lot, I don’t mean to be rude,” Serra says.

Both Oleander and Bonekraka look at her with surprised eyes. Neither of them expected to hear her talking anytime soon. Oleander looks particularly interested.

“There you have it! Now, don’t make her talk anymore, you big dumb brute,” Oleander scolds Bonekraka.

The scolding clearly works given that Bonekraka looks away, feeling ashamed. “Izvinite,” he says under his breath.

Serra looks up at Fenrir with confusion.

“He’s Russian. It means he’s sorry,” Fenrir explains. Bonekraka grumbles and begins walking off when his apology is explained. His tsundere level puts Saya’s to shame.