"A warrior?" Clover repeated.

"No- I mean, yeah! Yes, a warrior," Kaneki blurted out. Was that a bad choice? Why wasn't Clover saying anything? Or Circe?

Actually, where was Circe? She wasn't in her chair anymore. Glancing around the room, Kaneki couldn't see a trace of her anywhere. Wait, was that the tip of a red tail behind that table?

"Ah ha! Got it!" Circe emerged triumphantly from under that table, waving a book in one hand.

Clover sighed. "Why was that even over there?" she asked.

"Who knows?" Circe shrugged as she returned to her seat, dustier than before.

"Um, what is that?" Kaneki gestured at the book. It looked like an ordinary book. A little bit worn, sure, but a regular book. It was a very deep blue, with what seemed to be its title scrawled across the cover. Was it really worth crawling on her hands and knees for? Glancing at the ground, Kaneki concluded no, nothing was worth crawling for. Traces of mud and gravel were strewn across the floor, pounded flat by the passage of feet, and was that a mouse that he just saw?

"This," Circe said, "Is the warrior's guidebook."

"What?"

"I said-"

Clover cut in. "Somehow, I don't think he's asking for you to repeat it, Circe. Just explain it, please," she requested, flashing a quick smile at Kaneki.

"Alright, fine," Circe sighed dramatically, before schooling her features into a marginally more serious expression. "It's a book with basic information on the warrior class, and some easy skills."

Kaneki screwed up his face. "I thought… you said that skills vary from person to person, right? How can there be a guidebook for a unique path?"

"Oh, there are the most basic of the basic. The basic-est," Circe waved his question off. "It's not a skill book, if that's what you're asking. It's like a manual. Full of tips and tricks for the beginner warrior! You have to figure out the actual skills for yourself." She held out the book towards him.

"Oh… Thank you," Kaneki reached for the book, only to have it dangled out of his reach.

"Nuh-uh. No freebies, remember?" Circe's lips slipped into a sly smile. "The book cost some time and money to make, you know!"

"Circe, don't bully him!" Clover, once again, leapt to Kaneki's rescue. It was getting a little weird to have a teenage girl defend him time and time again. He needed get his act together. "Besides," she continued, "Kafka doesn't have any money, remember?"

"Ugh, fine. This wasn't really worth that much anyway." She tossed the book at Kaneki, pouting at Clover.

Kaneki nearly fumbled and dropped the book. Maybe he really should increase his dexterity. He was clumsy in real life, but in Gaiasphere, too? This was getting out of hand. Flipping the book over, he traced the title with his fingertips. "Beginner's handbook," he read aloud. "Warrior edition."

"Good, you can read," Circe teased. "Anyway, it's high time you started on your epic journey. If you intend on finishing your first quest, that is."

"She's right," Clover said. "You have to log off soon, right? Quick, go talk to the NPC!"

Nodding, Kaneki stood up. Making his way to the bored looking NPC, he stepped carefully around the various pieces of equipment and stacks of miscellaneous objects scattered around the room. It was a lot messier than he'd realized. It seemed that this Barracks was typically livelier than he'd originally thought. Nearly tripping over a hidden step stool, he managed to make it over to the NPC without falling flat on his face.

Wasn't it sad that he considered that an accomplishment?

After a brief conversation with the NPC, Kaneki found himself in possession of a rusty dagger, a title, and the first in a series of quests. Choosing a class was surprisingly simple: a selection, a note in the NPC's worn book, and a slight change in his character page, and Kafka's stats window now had a shiny new 'Warrior' next to the [CLASS] category.

Making his way back to Clover, he glanced around. No, his eyes weren't deceiving him: Circe had disappeared.

Clover seemed to read his mind. "Oh, Circe left. Something came up at the bar, or something? Anyway, what's your first quest?"

"I'm supposed to kill 10 slimes outside the town," Kaneki answered. "I also got this dagger…" He pulled up the quest window, gesturing for Clover to look over.

[Class Quest – Warrior (1/5)]

[NPC: Brock]

[Details: Defeat 10 slimes in the fields outside Reedtown. 0/10 slimes defeated.]

[Reward: 20 Basic Health Potions, 300 EXP]

"Oh, that's easy. You'll easily finish it before you have to log off." Clover looked at his dagger. "It's not bad for a first weapon. It's a little rusty, but we'll get you a better one soon. You should try equipping it first."

"Right," Kaneki said. Opening his menu, he placed the dagger into his inventory, before selecting equip. The dagger reappeared, the sheath attached to his belt. "Do I have to put everything into my inventory before I equip it? That seems inefficient."

"No, you don't have to. If you open your equipment window, you can choose to equip whatever you're holding in your hands, too. And, like the rest of the commands, you can set shortcuts, but you don't have to worry about that for now," Clover explained. "It makes it less time-consuming on the field."

As they strolled towards the outskirts of town, Kaneki began to notice the shadows gradually lengthening. Looking up, he could see that the sun, which had been nearly directly overhead when he entered, had shifted slightly in the sky.

"Clover," he gestured at the sky, "Is there a day-night cycle in this game?"

Surprised at his sudden question, Clover missed a beat before answering. "You noticed? You're pretty observant! Most people don't notice until it's nearly night time. But yes, there's about a four hour day and a three hour night."

"So you'd log on for a little over a complete cycle a night," Kaneki mused. "I'm guessing there're different monsters during the night?"

"Mhm. Or just more of them. In beginner areas the difference really isn't that noticeable, though. Oh! We're here!"

The southern gate of Reedtown was almost completely deserted. It seemed to be a residential area for NPCs. There were one or two players talking to quest NPCs, but that was it.

Stepping outside of the town was a strange sensation. The ambiance of the air changed; though still not precisely threatening, Kaneki felt like he had stepped outside of a protective bubble that the town had been enveloped in. Which was accurate, he guessed.

Clover cleared her throat. "Um, this part, I can't really help you with. I'm a magic-based class, so I don't really have that much experience with close-combat fighting. It's not hard to beat slimes, don't worry! And I'll be right here." She looked down at her feet. "I just didn't think this far ahead. I mean, I'm your guide, right? I'm supposed to teach you the basics, but I don't really know what I can even teach you."

Kaneki patted her head gently. "Hey, if you're a beginner guide, and I'm a beginner player, we can just figure stuff out together, right?" He smiled at her fondly. "Besides, you managed to get Circe to tell me so much! You've already been a great help."

Clover seemed to perk up. "Thanks, Kafka. I'm really glad that you were the player that I got to guide." She scrunched up her face determinedly. "Alright! You should at least skim through the book before we head towards the slimes."

"You're probably right," Kaneki agreed. "Besides, how could I waste the book that you managed to get me for free? We're running a bit low on time, though, is that alright?"

"You have about twenty minutes, right? Killing the slimes shouldn't take more than ten minutes, even if it's your first time. I hope you're a fast reader, though!"

Laughing quietly, Kaneki took the book out from his inventory. Flipping it open, he found a table of contents on the first page.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword Boring, skip this

Quick Start - Read this

Lore

Basic Skills

Skills – Actives I've already explained this!

Skills – Passives And this! (Were you listening?)

Grinding

Shortcuts

Compatibility Pretty important

Combos

Freestyling DON'T TRY THIS UNTIL YOU'RE LVL 30, I'M SERIOUS!

Go get 'em tiger! d(･∀･○)

It looked like someone (Circe) had taken the liberty of scribbling over annotating his book. (It was Circe) He wondered who this mystery book-defacer was. (It was definitely Circe.) Well, best get to it. Kaneki thumbed past the foreword – wow, it really was long, what the heck was in it? – stopping at chapter two, 'Quick Start'.

Feeling pressed for time, Kaneki skimmed the text quickly. Equipping? He had his trusty dagger, sheathed at his hip, ready to go. Potions? He checked his inventory, and as expected, his potions sat there, untouched. Equipment? He had nothing but the clothes on his back. Rather sad, now that he thought about it.

All in-game poverty aside, he was ready. The book offered very little in terms of actual combat advice (unless you counted 'Stab the monster, step back and dodge. Repeat.' as legitimate advice), but he imagined that no game developer would put a hard-to-beat monster in the first map. Last time he checked, the creators weren't sadistic, and the players weren't closet masochists. Not most of them, anyway.

With a good luck cheer from Clover, Kaneki strode cautiously into the high grasses of the meadow. He tensed, waiting for something to jump out at him, startle him, make him fall over – anything. When five seconds had passed, and nothing of note occurred, he let out a shaky breath. He could do this. He, Kaneki Ken, could do this. He took another step forward.

Was the ground supposed to make a squelching sound?

A bright number flashed in front of him. Two? What did that mean? Kaneki gaped at the number dumbly, thrown off by its sudden appearance. He stood there for exactly four seconds before the ground began to ripple beneath his feet. Predictably losing his balance, he toppled to the ground.

Again? He needed those dexterity points badly. Muttering underneath his breath, he scrambled back to his feet, knife out. There, where he had been trying to step, a green … blob was bouncing angrily. Kaneki had no idea how he could recognize its ire, considering it had no facial features to speak of, but it was angry, all right. (The rage was probably justified. Kaneki would've been at least a little peeved if someone just stepped on him.)

He had a monster in front of him. He had a rusty blade in his hand. Now what?

The slime lunged at him. Out of sheer instinct, he sidestepped, bringing his knife upward to shield his body. As it so happened, he grazed the slime as it leapt past, slicing open a large gash on its side. Putting some more distance between them, Kaneki watched as the health bar above its head dropped substantially, and another bright number zipped up. He could do this, he chanted mentally. He was a third of the way there already!

A few awkward cycles of circling around the slime and dodging its attacks later, Kaneki was rewarded with the sight of his quest marker's counter ticking from 0 to [1/10 slimes defeated.] One down, nine to go. Hopefully he wouldn't take too long in finishing up. He'd get the hang of this, for sure!

Sure enough, he grew more adept at avoiding the slimes, keeping a watchful eye on their movements. He'd been bold enough to initiate the attack a couple times, but mostly, he just slashed at them as they bounced past. The few times he'd been unlucky enough to be hit, the slimes did barely more than one damage. His HP regen, as low as it was on humans, had patched that up easily.

Triumphant, he returned to Clover. She seemed to be chatting with one of her guildmates, so as he waited for her to finish the conversation, he took the time to examine his drops. Apparently he'd set his pickup to automatic, so his inventory had automatically picked up all the spoils from the slimes he killed, but not the extra equipment that randomly dropped from mobs. He could venture back into the field to gather them, but he'd rather not. (Slimes were everywhere. Everywhere. He could do without the squishy feeling of stepping on them, thank you very much.)

Well, he had ten bottles of questionable green slime, two balls of congealed slime, and a measly 12 gold. Better than what he started out with, at least. He could probably sell the loot to a NPC for a few gold, maybe more, if he managed to barter properly. He glanced at his knife forlornly. Looks like he'd be stuck with it for at least a few more hours. While it wasn't exactly bad, it didn't leave a lot of room to work with. The blade was barely fifteen centimetres long, and though it was serviceable enough, he was eager for a longer – or at least rust-free – blade.

Just as he was considering retrieving the equipment he'd missed, slimes be damned, Clover noticed him waiting and quickly said her good byes. Closing his inventory, Kaneki met her questioning glance with a triumphant smile. Bringing up his quest window, he presented it to her with a flourish.

[Class Quest – Warrior (1/5)]

[NPC: Brock]

[Details: Defeat 10 slimes in the fields outside Reedtown. 10/10 slimes defeated.]

[Reward: 20 Basic Health Potions, 300 EXP]

[Quest complete! Return to starting NPC.]

Clover beamed. "I knew you could do it! Just in time, too," She glanced at her menu. "But only if we start going back now. You might log out in the middle of the street if we don't hurry." She hopped down from her perch on the rock and started off in the direction of the Barracks.

Kaneki fell into step next to Clover. "Log out in the street? Is that a problem?"

"Mhm! You see, when you log out, your avatar doesn't despawn. It basically goes unconscious, but it's still there. If another player finds your logged-out avatar, they can loot you, just like if you die in-game. If you're not careful, the next time you log on, you'll wake up penniless."

"So I'm guessing there are inns, or tents, or something like that?"

"Yup. Every town has an inn, and you can buy single-use tents from NPCs. Obviously, both cost some gold, but it's a small price to pay for safety. Rooms and tents are safe zones. Another player can't go inside unless you invite them in, and they're indestructible."

Kaneki nodded. The creators of Gaiasphere had really put a lot of thought into making the game realistic. It didn't really make sense to have players be invulnerable when they were asleep. They chose to play with that, making players at their weakest when they were logged out, imitating life – well, he could see why the game development took almost a decade. The amount of detail in this game was insane.

Caught up in his thoughts, Kaneki nearly stumbled into Clover, not realizing she'd stopped. Managing to sidestep in the nick of time, he threw a quizzical glance at her, wondering why she'd just stopped in her tracks.

Clover was staring intently at the crowd of players that were milling about in the main square of Reedtown. She seemed to spot something, and turned quickly to Kaneki. "I'm really sorry, but I have to run. You know the rest of the way to the Barracks, right? I'll meet you there after you log back on!"

Before Kaneki could so much as blink, Clover had taken off, disappearing into the crowd. What just happened? Scanning the faces of the players around him, he confirmed that Clover had, in fact, vanished. What now?

The loud chime of a notification startled Kaneki back into action. He glanced to left, where an alert was flashing urgently.

[Warning: 10 minutes until scheduled alarm.]

Ten minutes? He had to hurry! Kaneki looked around frantically, trying to remember the way back to the Barracks. That road looked familiar, maybe it was that way? Or, wait, no, that one looked like the one he and Clover had taken. But wasn't that tree with the knotted bark the one he had noticed earlier? Why did the paths all look the same all of a sudden? The Barracks were to the north, right? Which way was north again? If only he had a map –

Wait. He did have a map. He flicked open his menu, holding his breath. Character, Stats, Inventory… There! The map! He hurriedly opened it, praying that it recorded buildings, not just roads. The map popped up, and Kaneki quickly panned to the northern side of town, eyes searching for the Barracks. Wait, it wasn't there? He let out an inward wail of anguish. No, wait, he just scrolled too much! It was there!

Kaneki heaved a sigh of relief. Thank god it was there – what would he have done if it wasn't? He tapped on its symbol on the map experimentally, wondering what would happen.

[Location selected: The Barracks (Reedtown). Enable navigation?]

[ Yes / No ]

His eyes widened. There was even a navigation system? That was useful, especially for new players (or people without a sense of direction). He selected yes, watching as his route was input. The ground beneath him was suddenly superimposed with bold white lines, outlining the roads he had to take. Closing his map, he immediately began heading towards the Barracks. There was no time to waste – he had less than ten minutes!

He arrived, slightly out of breath, at the Barracks without much incident, thankfully. Dashing inside, he nodded his way past the dialogue, narrowly avoiding the 'Would you like me to repeat what I just said?' trap. Should he get the next quest while he was here? A quick glance at the countdown to his left answered him: no, no time. He immediately headed towards the main square again, retracing his footsteps.

Three minutes! He sprinted, nearly bowling a few players over. Tossing an apology over his shoulder, he redoubled his efforts. Alright, he was at the main square. Where was the inn? He scanned the buildings around him, looking for any distinctive features. When he spotted the sloping roof of the town inn, he nearly went weak with relief. If the square wasn't as empty as it was, Kaneki had no doubt he would have trampled, or been trampled by, a dozen people.

Two minutes left, and Kaneki ran over to the innkeeper, speeding through the dialogue as fast as he could. One minute! He practically threw five gold at the NPC, before turning on his heel and running up the stairs. Room 216, room 216, where was room 216?

Yanking open the door, he slid the lock home and dove for the bed. Scarcely a second later, Kaneki was blinking awake, back in his silent apartment. The only sound was the quiet humming of the VRC, and even that died down as the console turned off.

Kaneki sucked in a breath, releasing it shakily. He lifted his arm to cover his eyes, having forgotten about the headset he was wearing. He rested his arm against the curved surface of the VRC anyway. The console was slightly warm to the touch, he noticed. Kaneki idly ran his fingers along its ridges, probing around the front visor of the console, feeling it begin to slowly cool down. He sighed. Now that he'd calmed down a little, why did he try so hard to make it to the inn, anyway? He had barely any gold, and even if someone did mess with him, he'd logged barely two hours of game time. He could've earned that back, easily.

Well, death counts were permanent, yes, (he'd heard Hide bemoan that fact far too many times) but Kaneki wasn't one to care about having a perfect record. Well, he just panicked, he supposed. After all, Clover had left so suddenly…

Where did Clover go, anyway? Did she see something? Maybe someone she knew? But couldn't she have just told him, instead of blurting out that she needed to leave? They'd been walking companionably just a few moments prior, but she'd seemed hurried. Kaneki shook his head lightly. In the end, it wasn't really any of his business. Everything had worked out fine in the end, so perhaps it was better not to dwell on it. He'd managed to figure out the map and navigation system, so at least he'd gotten something out of his mindless panic.

He reached for the VRC, easing it off his head. Placing it on the bed, he made sure there was no way it could fall before sliding off his mattress. After a dizzying few seconds where his blood rushed from his head, Kaneki stretched, working out the stiffness of his limbs. It felt strange; even though intellectually, he knew that he hadn't really been moving around, instinctively, he still felt out of sorts, thrown off the mismatch of his body and mind. Good thing he didn't choose an avatar of a different race – if he was so disorientated now, how would he have reacted to the transition then? He vaguely remembered Hide mentioning something like this months ago, back when he had started playing, but all he'd done at the time was roll his eyes and tell him to stop playing so many games.

Kaneki sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, just to provide some background noise. He stared idly at the moving images on the screen, lost in his thoughts. In about two hours, he'd managed to make a friend, get attacked by a cat, choose a class (after endless deliberation), and fight faceless green blobs. (Sure, slimes were an age-old staple of MMORPGs. Of course, their designs were time-tested and respected. No, that did not mean Kaneki found them appealing. They were just green …things. It was such lazy design! Good thing they were rarely seen outside of beginner areas, or Kaneki wouldn't have played Gaiasphere, Rize or not. There were some things you just couldn't ignore.) It was a lot to process.

Maybe it was because Kaneki had never been one for video games, but Gaiasphere really was an experience nothing like Kaneki had ever experienced. Of course, he hadn't expected to be tripping over his own feet half the time (Seriously, what was with that? Sure, Kaneki fumbled a few catches here and there, dropped a couple things, maybe clipped the odd wall, but actually finding himself sprawled over the ground every fifteen minutes was just outrageous. The taste of dirt got old, real fast.), but the rest of it?

Kaneki couldn't understand what was going through the developers' minds when they decided to make Gaiasphere free. There weren't any 'extra' items you could buy to modify your appearance or give you a boost, no exclusive content available only to VIPs, not even ads. Besides buying the console itself, Gaiasphere was completely, one hundred percent fee. Kaneki just couldn't wrap his head around it. Usually, he'd suspect a scam, or some sort of experiment, but there were fifteen million players, and no one could scam fifteen million people, all in one go. (Not to mention the creators of the VRC – Gaiasphere was in the safety manual. The safety manual.)

Glancing at the clock, he decided it was time to start making dinner, or he'd end up being late meeting Clover. Opening the fridge, he found nothing but juice. He was supposed to go grocery shopping today, wasn't he? He groaned. Looks like it was convenience store food tonight. He had been too caught up in thoughts about the VRC, too excited about maybe gaining a common interest with Rize to remember mundane things like feeding himself.

"Honestly," he muttered to himself. He'd left his aunt's care over a year ago; had been living alone for even longer. How could he forget something as simple as buying food?

Maybe he could invite Hide to Big Girl? He was craving hamburgers, now that he thought about it. He reached for his phone, about to text Hide, before aborting the movement halfway. Right, wasn't Hide in-game right now? He was online when Kaneki was, after all, and Kaneki knew how… obsessed Hide got with something once he got started. No way around it, then. It was going to be a cheap bento for dinner.

If he didn't have to prepare dinner, Kaneki could stay home for a bit longer before heading out. Maybe he should get started with his homework, though it wasn't due for another week. He could read Takatsuki Sen's new novel, but he didn't think he could settle down to read it properly right now. He'd have to reread it later, so it would just be a wasted effort on his part.

That led him back to where he was now, with no clue what to do. Kaneki turned his attention to the television. It was some broadcast about hackers, hackers in games specifically. When the topic turned to Gaiasphere, as it inevitably did when video games were in question, the corners of Kaneki's mouth twitched amusedly. He'd never really noticed just how big Gaiasphere was. He was trying to take a break from playing, yet here it was, on the news. He half-listened to the reporter, noting that he'd heard most of it from Clover earlier. Even the authorities had no more idea than the rumour mill, he thought. Those hackers must be good at covering their tracks.

He may as well give up ignoring Gaiasphere, Kaneki thought. It seemed like some higher power was steering him towards it, even as he tried to turn away. He'd be playing it again in another hour and a half, but he simply couldn't stop thinking about it.

Kaneki ran a hand across his face. Gaiasphere… was not entirely as he'd expected. Yes, he had known what it was about, known about the monsters, the players, the quests. But he hadn't expected the way it drew him in, made him want to play more. He hadn't expected the connection to other people to feel so real. He hadn't expected it to be so fun.

He could hear Hide's teasing 'I told you so'.

(Shut up, Hide.)

Okay so I have no excuse for how late this was.. sorry

Please review so I can remember the existence of my own fanfic (you think I'm joking? I'm really not) plus I'll love you forever