Chapter 4
"Here we are."
After regaining her balance from the sudden rush of spontaneity, Amaryll tore her eyes away from the ground below her, straightened up and exhaled loudly . She had just managed to keep up with Saddream's quick pace… whilst balancing the half of her body attached to her arm she hijacked without permission. She had better have a good reason for dragging me out here…
Amaryll scanned the area and locked her vision onto three huge, treasure chests. They sat upon a mound of damp dirt before her, with their wooden exterior rotting away on top of one another. The chest closest to her was open and full of armour that she had never seen before in her life, and a beautiful, polished sword lodged upright into the bottom of the trunk. She couldn't believe that these treasures even existed, let alone out in the open for all to see! To the right of them, stood a man slightly shorter than herself, covered from head to toe in what she believed to be noblemen armour from the Middle Ages. Saddreams approached the stranger and put her arm around his shoulders.
"Amaryll, I'd like you to meet Baz… aka, the Safety Guardian," she introduced gleefully.
He bowed deeply to both of them, as if to acknowledge their presence. The young Elf thought him very noble with his polished full bodied armour, low bow and dignified silence, but found it extremely odd that he did not lift the visor of his helmet to them. She didn't like the idea of staring at a piece of metal where his face should have been; it unnerved her.
"Hi?" Amaryll greeted cautiously.
The Safety Guardian bowed graciously to the both of them as he had before. Then he bowed again. And again.
"Uh… Why does he keep bowing?" Amaryll asked her companion, backing away slightly.
"Ahh," Saddreams took her to one side and whispered in her ear, "He does a good job, but you see… he's not all there."
"Wha…"Amaryll trailed off as Saddreams touched her head, "Oh, not there. Ok… you mean in the head right?"
"Obviously!" she exclaimed under her breath, "Stop being so noob!"
"Noob? What is a noob?" Amaryll demanded to know.
"It's - uh… no… forget I said anything," the winged Elf retracted, knowing all too well that she should have kept her mouth shut.
"No, I want to know what it means Saddreams!" she pressed on, "I've been called a noob before and I didn't like it back then. And I certainly don't like being called one right now."
"Honestly, I was just joking - it really doesn't mean anything-"
"Well it might not mean anything to you but it means something to me!"
Saddreams laughed nervously and hugged herself. She backed away from Baz, not wanting him to hear what she was about to say. The young Elf stepped after her and braced herself, for she knew that it wasn't going to be a nice thing to hear.
"Alright… I'll tell you, but you can't be mad with me, ok?" she begged.
"Just tell me Saddreams!"
"Ok," the Energy Elf took a deep breath and then mumbled, "A noob… is someone who is new to a concept or an idea… or in your instance Amaryll, a new place. It's just a way that… more experienced MUitizens… try to…. insult newcomers due to their lack of knowledge. But I didn't mean to insult you-"
Of all the things she thought Saddreams would say, this was the last thing she expected to hear. And she was offended. Unspeakably offended. Amaryll crossed her arms viciously and stormed off. She could hear her so called 'friend' calling after her, but ignored her completely. How dare she call me a noob! No wonder everyone leaves her -
"Please come back!"
How could she? I'd never say something like that to someone I was helping -
"I didn't mean it!"
She's a two-faced backstabber! I'm never going to talk to her again -
"Amaryll wait, please!"
I should get Chilakill to PK her -
A hand appeared on her shoulder and spun her around on the spot. She came face to face with Saddreams. The young Elf stared her down and her 'friend' let her go.
"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have called you noob," she apologised sincerely, "I was just joking around; it wasn't meant to insult you per se. Really. I mean, if I do or say something noobish in the future, I give you permission to call me a noob, ok?"
Amaryll stared harder.
"Oh come on, please trust me on this one ok?" Saddreams pleaded, "Why would I insult you when… when you're the only one that I have left? I was just joking…"
She started to cry. Amaryll rolled her eyes in her mind and softened her stance. The winged Elf was right. Why would she insult the only person she didn't want to leave her side? It just didn't make sense… perhaps she was telling the truth and said it in passing, not meaning to offend her on purpose… Have I overreacted? She was beginning to feel bad.
"Please stop crying," the young Elf said softly, "I think I just misunderstood the context. I think it was wrong of me to walk away."
Saddreams sniffled and smiled slightly. For some reason her simpered, tear stained face made her feel a lot better. Yes, I think that she meant it to be harmless name calling, I can't believe I took it the wrong way… I'm such an idiot! She shook her head in shame.
"So you forgive me?"
"No. You're right. I am a noob," Amaryll reluctantly admitted, "I can't forgive you for telling the truth; only a true noob would act like I did just then!"
Saddreams laughed, "Ok, so there's nothing to forgive. I got you."
Amaryll let out a small chuckle. She made a mental note not to react the same way again… and to learn to distinguish between 'friendly' name calling and a real insult. From out of nowhere, the Energy Elf grabbed her hand and led her towards the Safety Guardian, obviously wanting to pick up where they left off. This made her uneasy, as this Baz character disturbed her but went along with it, not wanting to make her companion burst into tears again.
"Ok, so as I was saying before," Saddreams started, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "This is the Safety Guardian. He's a very important person, as every Muitizen entrusts him with all our valuables. He is the Vault Keeper."
"Vault Keeper?"
"Yup. He looks after every vault on the continent of MU. And he does a really good job of it too."
Amaryll lent into her ear, "Even though he's not all there?"
"Ha ha, it's a very simple job. Even a baby could do it. And besides, he loves it and we respect him for doing such a boring job."
"So how do Vaults work?" the young Elf asked.
"Well, the first thing you do is ask him to open your vault," Saddreams instructed, "Then you put the valuables you'd like to store inside your vault or take out the valuables you want to use or sell."
"That seems really easy," Amaryll said, surprised, "But is it safe?"
"Of course it's safe! But you can choose how secure you want it to be," the winged Elf said simply.
Amaryll couldn't help but ask, "How?"
"You can put a four number password in as a safety measure, so every time you want to withdraw a valuable, you punch in your password and presto! You have your valuables. But extra security does come at a price."
"Do you mean that I have to pay a fee of some sort when I want to take anything out of my Vault?"
"Exactly. Everything single item you withdraw from your vault incurs a fee. Even without the extra security, you still have to pay a fee to withdraw valuables, but not as much," Saddreams explained further, "The fee you pay depends on your level. The higher your level, the more you have to pay. "
"Oh..." she trailed off as confusion set in.
"You know what?" her companion suddenly said, "I think the best way for you to understand all this is if you take a look for yourself!"
"What? You mean you're going to show me your Vault?" asked an alarmed Elf, not wanting to approach the Safety Guardian for a third time.
"Oh hell no! That's another thing you need to know. You can only view your own Vault," Saddreams stated without a hint of negotiation, "There's no way I can show you mine. When your Vault is opened and there are others around you, it becomes invisible to them. Even if you're by yourself it's the same thing. So there's no way you could see mine…even if I let you."
"So, that's another safety measure? Invisibility?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, would you be comfortable with other people looking at your possessions? I-don't-think-so!"
Amaryll nodded enthusiastically in agreement. The very thought of someone looking over her shoulder and ogling her valuables was unsettling. She shuddered uncontrollably. Snap out of it Amaryll! It's never going to happen ok? Stop thinking bad thoughts!
"I think I understand the Vault system now. So what's next?" the young Elf asked, her eyes darting between Saddreams and the Safety Guardian.
"Now, wait a second. You haven't had a look at your own Vault yet!"
She started to panic, "Uh, no. It's ok, I'll have a look another time."
"Not negotiable. You're going to do it right now," Saddreams said, ignorant to her plight, "It's better you get it over and done with while it's still fresh in both our heads."
"Really, I-"
"Stop being such a scaredy-cat and open your Vault!"
"Do I have to?"
"Yes! It's for your own benefit. Just get it over and done with."
The young Elf took a big breath. I can do this… With reluctance, Amaryll slowly approached the Safety Guardian. She didn't like being pressured into things she didn't want to do, but thinking back to what had happened between them both just before, she thought it was the least she could do after losing her cool. After all, they were friends… right?
"Hi again!" Amaryll greeted a little too cheerfully, "I was, uh, wondering if you could open my Vault… please?"
She looked back to Saddreams, who gave her a thumbs up. I hope she realises that this is way out of my comfort zone right now… The Safety Guardian put his hands on his hips and stared at her for a moment. And then...
Oh. My. God...
She couldn't believe what she was seeing! The Elf jumped back in surprise as a huge dark grey wall with a grid-like pattern appeared right in front of her eyes. The Vault was at least four times bigger than herself and more than three times her width! Even glancing to the top of it gave her a headache; she had never seen anything so unnatural in her life! Towards the bottom of the Vault she saw an icon which looked like a pile of zen etched next to an elongated rectangle with the number '0' inside it. Below this was another indented box displaying a number '1' next to a sign embossed 'Storage Fee'. That must be the fee Saddreams was talking about before… Amaryll scanned the Vault further. She could see three buttons carved into the wall centred at the bottom and in the top right hand corner she could see an orange sphere with an 'X' printed on its surface and… well… that was it. There was nothing else that she could see of any interest.
Her heart sunk. She thought she would be looking at something other than dark grey squares; perhaps a colourful flag or some sort of ancient inscription, but there was nothing of the sort to be seen. The young Elf was extremely disappointed. After all, Saddreams had practically bullied her into exploring her Vault and emphasised how important it was for her to have one. Perhaps her valuables were invisible, but that couldn't be right; Saddreams had said the only extra safety measure was a password. Unless…
"Is it empty?" Amaryl asked uncertainly.
"Of course it's empty! You haven't put anything inside it. You can only take out what you put in!" her companion replied, "And besides, you're new here. It's not as if you'd have anything valuable to put in your Vault in the first place. Give it time and you'll have some stuff to store in your Vault."
She took a moment to process this information and nodded in agreement, "Ok, so what about these buttons down here? What do they do?"
"Huh? You mean Deposit, Withdraw and Warehouse Lock and Unlock, right?" Saddreams asked rhetorically, "The first two relate to depositing and withdrawing zen. Some Muitizens don't like to carry a heap of zen around with them, so the Vault doubles up as a type of banking facility. There's a limit of how much zen you can keep in there though."
"Limit? So you can't put all your zen in there?"
"Well, you can put a fair amount in there, but I doubt either of us will see that much zen in our lifetime. But I could be wrong about that. We might get lucky."
"Oh yes, I hope so!" Amaryll exclaimed as she turned to face Saddreams.
"Yeah… there's another thing I forgot to mention," the winged Elf continued, dismissing the young Elf's excitement, "If you want to withdraw zen, you do have to pay a fee, just like when you withdraw valuables."
"How do I know how much I have to pay?"
"Take a look at the long black box above the three buttons," she instructed, "There should be a number in there. That is the fee that you will pay for withdrawing both zen and valuables."
Amaryll cast her eyes to the 'Storage Fee'. Inside the rectangle was the number '1' that she noticed when she first inspected her Vault. Oh good! I thought the fee would be much higher than that…
"It's very cheap," she said out loud.
"That's because you are a low level right now. It will increase once you get stronger. The Storage Fee will also increase if you decide to lock your Vault with a password, just like I mentioned before with valuables."
"So if I want to deposit zen-"
"You just press the button and a box will pop up. It'll ask you how much you'd like to deposit and you input the amount, press 'OK', hand the zen over to Baz and that's it! Pretty simple isn't it?" Saddreams finished.
"What about when I want to withdraw some zen?"
"Same thing applies; only when Baz hands over your zen, he'll take the fee from your withdrawn amount."
That seems pretty reasonable… In the corner of her eye she could see the Safety Guardian staring in her direction and bowing. She wanted to get away from his presence… and fast.
"I think I'm done here," she said quickly, "How do I close it?"
"You need to press on the 'X' in the top right corner of your Vault."
Amaryll turned to face the Vault once again and slowly looked up. The orange sphere was way out of her reach! How does she expect me to get all the way up there? Saddreams laughed hard at the expression on her face. She found it extremely amusing to watch as the young Elf attempted to jump and scramble to get to the top of the Vault.
"Another way you can close it is by stepping back from it," Saddreams informed her friend as a way of showing mercy, "You need wings to reach the 'X', which you will get when your level increases."
Amaryll glared at her. Now she tells me? She was half up the side of the Vault and was relieved to hear that she didn't have to climb the rest of the way. The Elf jumped down immediately and took a step backwards. And just as Saddreams said, her Vault completely disappeared. The panic swelling in her stomach suddenly subsided and she made her way towards her friend.
All she did was throw her arms in the air and say, "Sorry, but I could not resist!"
"Yeah… I bet you couldn't… resist," was all Amaryll could come back with.
"Look on the bright side; you know how the Vault System works now!"
"No I don't," she replied shortly, seriously annoyed with her companion, "You didn't tell me what the last button was for."
She paused, "Oh right… I didn't, didn't I? Well, by pressing the Warehouse Lock and Unlock button, you can add the safety measure of a password. You create a four number password by following the prompts. Then you can turn it either on or off by entering your newly created password and walla! It's done."
"Just like that?"
"Yup. Just like that. Also-"
"Hello there ladies," a down-trodden man interrupted from out of nowhere, "Can you spare some zen for this Knight down on his luck?"
Both Elves were caught off guard and backed away from him slowly. It took a moment for Saddreams to realise what he was doing. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and turned away as he cupped his hands before her.
"Get away you beggar!" she barked and pulled Amaryll away from him.
Once they were a good distance from the Dark Knight, Saddreams breathed a sigh of relief. She clenched her fists tightly and made a growling sound. The young Elf had no idea what was going on.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I hate scammers," she said under her breath.
"What are scammers?"
"Scammers will either trick you into giving them things or they may give you things which they say are very valuable but really, they're worthless. There are many other scams, but those two are the main ones used on this continent. Unfortunately, you'll still lose out regardless of which one you fall for."
"But you called him a beggar…"
After a deep breath, Saddreams began to explain, "You haven't been here as long as have, so you haven't really seen it… yet. But scammers and beggars are essentially same thing – well, sort of – but what I mean to say is that it's difficult to distinguish between the two."
Amaryll quickly glanced over her shoulder and met with a pair of empty, sorrowful eyes. She couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy when she saw his dirty and tattered clothes. He attempted to smile at her, but stopped halfway, as if suddenly remembering something horrible. She closed her eyes and frowned.
"Beggars and scammers are alike because they both ask for things," Saddreams said loudly, trying to distract Amaryll from the half-naked man, "And you don't know whether or not they are going to play you for a fool. Beggars are just too lazy to do things for themselves and expect everyone will give them things… that's why I hate them so much."
Amaryll watched as he started to kick the toadstool table, "But surely that man can't be a scammer. I mean, look at him-"
"Don't be fooled by appearances Amaryll," Saddreams said sternly, "He might look like a beggar, but he's probably got a stash of goods locked up in his Vault."
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the man walking aimlessly towards the Elf Soldier. Her gut was telling her to ignore the winged Elf's last comment; for the way he had asked for zen and the glint of sadness in his eyes seemed so genuine that turning a blind eye to him would go against her morals and ultimately eat her up inside. The sound of his voice played on her mind. There was just something about it that was so distinguished, but yet broken. I need to find out the truth….
"I think you're wrong," Amaryll told her companion and hurried off in the direction of the Dark Knight.
All Saddreams could do was let out a gasp mixed with shock and offence as she watched the young Elf - in her opinion - make a fool of herself. She knew better than to associate with 'low-life's' and started to walk away, embarrassed by her friends' actions. But then she stopped. She realised that if she left her, she would be doing the exact same thing that everyone else had done to her in the past. Leave without a word. Her shoulders slumped as she knew she had to watch with inner humiliation as Amaryll attempted to prove her wrong…