"You... got.... my goat." As the monster dies, it gasps out its last pun.

Afira covers his face with his hand, uhhhg these puns.

~Congratulations Level Up~

"Guess that's enough today. It's already been two hours of grinding. If I stay much longer the townies will start coming around."

The goats responded with an increase in puns. "Goat to run?"

"Goat to get moving."

"The one that goat away."

I shouldn't have thought out loud. Better grab the loot quickly and head back to starter village.

As soon as I enter the town the friendly greetings begin. Those curious about my training start to gather. It might seem like I have a lot of in-game friends, but actually, starter town is pretty deserted. New players come and go so fast I don't always see them. All these 'friends' are the AI NPC's.

It's nice for the most part since I don't meet that many other players. Even when I do meet them they quickly leave me behind because I'm such a noob. Dawn of Reason is the first virtual reality game I've played. I haven't played any regular games much before either. I'm slow, incompetent and make a ton of mistakes which annoys everyone except the NPCs.

"Afi, my boy. Good day at the goats? Any special drops today?" The mayor is almost always here to greet me whenever I return.

"I did get some new rares today, Mayor Ray." I nodded happily. "A new pun too." I groaned.

"Ah is that so?" Ray laughed but noticeably did not ask me to tell him the pun. "You could train at the rabbit hordes. They are quiet and give more experience."

I grimaced. He's made this suggestion before. He's right but I just can't bring myself to fight those adorable buns. The goats are ugly, smug and spew puns nonstop. I have no problem training against them.

"Gramma, Gramma. Afi's here can I go see him?"

"Hi, Gramma Nina. Hi Erica." I call out as a small girl runs over to me.

"Afi!" The girl grabs my hand and smiles up at me. "Can I have a present?"

"Erica! That's not right," Gramma Nina scolds.

I patted around at my pockets, pretending to search. "I did find something. Where did I put that? Did I drop it?" I tried to look deep in thought and worried to build up the kid's anticipation. It seemed to work. She was looking ready to jump over and help me search at any moment.

"Oh! Found it." I pull a small round pebble from my inventory. It's blue and purple swirled with a star in the center. Erica loves to collect these smooth pebbles.

Her eyes shine as I hand it over. She carefully follows the swirl pattern with her finger as she stares intently at the stone.

"Silly boy. You're always spoiling the girl." Gramma Nina says it like she is annoyed but her face and eyes show how delighted she is for her granddaughter. She waves goodbye as she leads the engrossed child away.

~~~

After visiting with the townies and taking care of his drops, Afira logged off. He took a shower, made himself dinner then went online to research information about Dawn of Reason. He noticed his game experience seems different than the few other players he has been able to talk with. He didn't find much that he didn't already know. Just that the game is meant to be the most realistic virtual reality game and the AI system is very advanced.

There was one thing he found that caused him confusion.

He should be getting goat hide and some meat as drops from the goats. This information only increased his curiosity about why his experience is different. Since he couldn't find out anything more from the forums he decided to ask in game.

Afira headed for the goat's area first thing when he logged in the next day. Instead of attacking them, he tried to ask them questions. That went about as well as you would expect. The goats just tried to attack and provoke Afira to fight.

"Come on. I haven't goat all day," one impatiently called out to him.

"Can you explain something to me? I just wanna ask a question." Afira tried asking again.

"You've goat to be kidding me."

"Come and goat it!"

Eventually, he gave up and headed back to starter village to ask an NPC instead of asking the mob monsters.

He spotted the town's mayor entering the tavern soon after returning to the village. Afira went in a moment later.

"Hi, mayor Ray. Can I ask you about something?"

The mayor turned at the familiar voice, "Sure, sure. What's on your mind, my boy?" He motioned toward a table.

They both sat at a corner table and Afira got right to the point. "It's about the goats. I found out most players get goat hide and meat drops from them. I can't figure out why I get other stuff." This was really bothering him since finding out yesterday.

"I don't know for sure, but I'd guess the goats are happy to have someone other than each other to tell their puns to. I think they are so entertained by you they reward you with better drops. Have you noticed that you're the only player that consistently trains there?"

Afira was surprised at the fairly reasonable explanation. It seemed possible so he decided to accept it. He'd rather not to dwell on whether the goats can be happy or not.

I guess it's worth the pain of the puns to get super rares. It's still pretty weird though.

He often felt doubtful that everything was how it should be with this game. He pushed his slightly unsettled feelings aside though.

It's great. Yeah..... Great. He told himself repeatedly like a mantra. Not at all weird...probably. Right? It's just the programming. Must be just how it is for someone with a high reputation with NPCs.