[James: Dude, you finally texted me. What took you so long?]
I blinked, staring at the message on the screen. 'What? What's up with this guy?' I thought, wondering if he was being serious.
[David: Dumbass, why didn't you text me first if you wanted to talk so badly?]
[James: I forgot your birthdate and last name, lol.]
I shook my head, muttering under my breath, "Is this guy serious? How did I end up with friends like him?"
[David: You're hopeless. Whatever. Tell me, which map are you on?]
[James: Oh, shut up. I'm in Ferndell!]
[David: I see. I'm in Birchcopse. We can meet in Lymhurst, even though there's no city there yet.]
[James: Sounds good. My group is a mess. We're all scattered. Some people just left, trying to find others, and no one listens when I tell them I know about the game. What's your situation?]
[David: Not too bad. I've got around forty people working together. We've managed to get some good armor and weapons. I'll try to convince them to move to Lymhurst. I'm not sure how long it'll take since this world isn't scaled like the game.]
[James: You've got it way better than me. Get me some armor and a sword, even if it's only Tier 1. It's better than nothing.]
[David: Alright, I'll text you when I get to Lymhurst. You do the same!]
[James: See you there then.]
After the brief chat with James, I returned to the group and explained the plan. Some of them weren't convinced about moving since we were doing okay where we were. I tried to make them see reason, telling them that with James's help, we could establish a safe settlement in Lymhurst. Alone, we wouldn't be able to achieve much.
Eventually, they agreed. By morning, we had everything packed and ready to move. I tried convincing the other group to join us, but they didn't care. I considered demolishing the buildings we'd built to take the materials with us, but my group convinced me to leave them as a gesture of goodwill.
"They're too soft," I sighed, watching them pack up. I couldn't blame them. We were all human, but things were different now. My main goal was to find a way to get to the black zone. That's where the best resources and dungeons were. If we formed a guild, we could establish a settlement there—a small base to claim territory. It wasn't the safest plan, but it was the fastest way to grow.
Two Days Later
It took us two whole days to reach Lymhurst. We had been on the farthest side of the map. James had sent me a message saying he arrived eight hours ago. I replied, letting him know we had just arrived. I opened my map and spotted his location. Since this was a blue zone, everyone could see each other's positions. I noticed we weren't the only ones here.
After a few more hours of walking, I finally spotted him.
"James, my guy! How are you doing?" I said, walking up to him and pulling him into a hug. It felt good to see a familiar face after everything.
"David, man, it's great to see you." He hugged me back. "I see you brought the group you talked about."
"Yes, I did. Everyone, meet James, a good friend of mine and one of the most experienced players of Albion Online." I introduced him, and soon everyone was introducing themselves to James.
We decided to set up camp, knowing we might stay here for a while.
"James, did you manage to contact your family?" I asked him quietly. I didn't have family, having grown up an orphan, but James's situation was different.
"Yeah, they're safe, but they're in the desert near Bridgewatch." His face darkened with worry. "I've been guiding them through messages. They said they're with a small group, and some players are with them, so they should be okay."
"Damn, man, I'm sorry to hear that. I guess everyone got scattered based on how far apart they were on Earth." It was something I had been thinking about. James and I were studying in a different state from his family. Even though we were relatively close, he ended up two maps away from me.
"Yeah. My plan is to get some mounts so I can go to them. The forest is better than the desert."
He was right. In the game, the desert offered plenty of beasts for hide and a decent amount of ores and stone, but it was terrible for wood. And now, in real life, those beasts were dangerous for people unfamiliar with the game mechanics.
"Don't worry, we'll advance quickly. But tell me, what wish did you choose?" I asked, curious.
"Wish? What are you talking about?" he asked, looking genuinely confused.
"You know, being transported to a white room with a computer asking you to make a wish," I explained, feeling a bit thrown off.
He shook his head. "That didn't happen to me. I was just straight-up transported here."
'Was this wish thing only for me?' I wondered. 'No, there must be a select group who had this experience. It doesn't make sense that it's just me.'
I explained everything to James—the white room, the wish, and my minimap abilities. He was surprised but also thrilled, knowing I could pinpoint the best gathering spots and dungeons.
We quickly made plans to tackle our first dungeon. After discussing with the group, we decided that the hunting team would continue to hunt while the others gathered materials to rebuild the essential buildings. Thanks to everyone's efforts and the tools we'd crafted, we managed to make a Tier 2 bow and sword, along with some Tier 2 armor for both me and James. We decided to set out the next morning.
James and I headed to one of the dungeons I had marked on my map. It had a blue chest in the boss room and three floors. The more floors, the better the loot. I'd seen a dungeon with three floors and a gold chest, but that was out of our league for now. Gold chests not only held great loot, but their bosses were much stronger.
This wasn't a game anymore; this was real life. We weren't going to risk dying. Even though the book confirmed we wouldn't truly die, we'd still feel the pain of the attacks. There was a thirty-minute pain resistance potion that reduced pain by ninety percent, but we didn't have the materials to make it. There were items in this world that weren't part of the original game.
"Well, here we are. It took us around three hours of walking, but we made it," James said, looking at the dungeon's entrance, glowing green with a sparkling light.
"Let's rest for fifteen minutes and make sure we have everything," I suggested, and he nodded. We had managed to make some Tier 2 minor healing potions using Arcane Agaric, which we'd found in the wild. Usually, in the game, you could only get these by farming them on a player's island, but this was real life now. Things were different. We needed to be prepared, and potions were essential.
"Ready?" James asked, an excited grin spreading across his face.
I looked at him, feeling the same thrill of anticipation. "Ready!"
With that, we stepped into the dungeon, prepared for whatever lay ahead.
To Be Continued…