A few hours later, Markus and Edward sat on the rooftop of their office building for lunch. Both of them had bought delivered fast food, though neither of them seemed to enjoy it, much. Ikarus rested on the ground in front of them as he slept in the warm light of the sun.
"I swear," Markus cried as he took a slow bite of his burger, "Now that I know how good the food in Pathe is, the real-life equivalent tastes like garbage."
Edward nodded in agreement as he put his burger back into his bag— unfinished but not untouched. Unfortunately, a few bites had already made their way into his mouth. He ignored his fries— they were completely disgusting— and turned to his coffee.
"At least Avalon doesn't have coffee," Edward slowly sighed. He took a sip of his drink, "There's nothing to compare it to, so the taste hasn't been affected."
'This is too cold,' Edward thought to himself. He put his two first fingers into his coffee and used his abilities to heat it. Bubbles began to rise from the surface— surprising Markus. He turned away from his meal and looked at Edward with a confused and shocked expression.
"How did you do that?" Markus asked. Edward smiled, then quickly snapped his fingers and summoned a small ember above his thumb. He let it hover for a moment before he snapped his fingers once more to extinguish the flame. Markus dropped his burger into his bag in surprise and gazed at Edward— a thousand questions on his mind.
"My abilities have been transferred, as well," Edward answered. He took a sip of his coffee and sighed— satisfied with its temperature, "That's why I want to level up so quickly. Soon enough, the news about this will become public and everybody will try to ascend. Can you imagine? A world filled with super-powered individuals with nobody to stop them."
"It'll be a nightmare," Markus nodded. He returned to his meal, "How did you do it, anyways?"
"My Origin is stronger than yours. You and Brandon have a Profession Origin while Leila and I have a Blood Origin. I'm not sure how the second Origin type affects the real body, but I'd suspect it's just a lesser version of ascension," Edward answered.
"So, I just have to equip an Origin as strong as yours?" Markus asked with stars in his eyes, "I've always wanted to be a natural blonde but the superpowers are a welcome bonus."
"Sure, but it reset Leila's level when she equipped hers," Edward chuckled, "If you get unlucky, though, your Origin might not even ascend you until you complete a certain requirement. Leila wasn't ascended until after she copied my Origin, yet she owned a Blood Origin for almost an hour before that."
"What else can you do?" Markus asked.
"Any skills and all stats are transferred over, so I can speak Draconic even outside the game," Edward answered. He put down his coffee, then leaned back and stared at the sky, "Before I reset my Power stat, I was able to lift a fridge with one hand— that's a little more difficult now. I can also run much faster than I was capable of before. Now, I think I might be able to run a mile in under four minutes, now— maybe even faster."
"Incredible," Markus smiled. He took his last bite of his burger before turning to his fries, "So, what are we doing tonight?"
"No idea. Leila won't be on, so I'm thinking of exploring the city," Edward answered. He caught a glimpse of Markus's curious expression, "I think her roommates saw her new appearance and grew curious, so she's taking a day to explain the situation to them. Either that or she's searching for a new apartment. We won't find out until tomorrow, anyways."
As Edward logged back into the game, he was met with Markus and Brandon waiting for him. Both of them were sitting on an old log, Markus having started doodling with a branch he found nearby. A crude drawing of Ikarus was halfway finished by the time Edward arrived.
"Ah, you're here," Markus said, tossing the stick aside. He and Brandon stood up from the log, "You said we'll investigate the city today?"
"Yes. I wanted to be sure we didn't miss anything important," Edward nodded, "After a few hours, if we come up empty-handed, we'll go back to leveling."
"Sounds like a plan, let's go," Brandon nodded.
"But what exactly are we looking for?" Markus asked as the group began walking to the city.
"Anything important. I mainly want information about Avalon itself— maps or lore documents. If we can find more information on Origins, that would be very useful," Edward told them, "But honestly, I'm hoping we'll come across information that could point us to more dragons. Hell, even information about dragons would be useful— I still don't know when Ikarus will be large enough to ride."
They began their search near the center of the city— near the large castle. From what players had managed to gather so far, this is where the King and his family lived. From there, they ruled the entire country of Pathia— a nation about the size of Texas. Unfortunately, no player had managed to get through the front gates nor gained any clues on how they might do so.
Surrounding the castle was the noble district— a portion of ringed land dedicated to the estates of nobility and wealthy merchants. Strictly speaking, anybody with enough wealth could purchase a home in this district— but only nobles usually had that much wealth. A few players had managed to get inside the noble district, but none of them had revealed their secrets.
Edward and the others only managed to reach the next district— also shaped as a ring. This ring was the gray district. Anybody who didn't live in the noble district lived in this area. Commoners, adventurers, small business owners, and even travelers took up rest here. What few business establishments built their foundations here were mostly high-end restaurants and inns, though Edward's destination was found on the north side of this district.
The Pathe city library. Other than some of the private libraries the nobles owned, the library was the best place to search for any information about Avalon. As such, it was almost always filled with lore-seeking players and curious NPCs.