Long Island

Chapter 28: Fellon

Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages. 

***************************************************************************************************

Swamy looked at the rising sun and stretched. He had a lot of time in the holidays so he decided to get some exercise. He did little jumps and then started jogging slowly.

Bangluru was a nice city. If you could manage to avoid the traffic which was mindbogglingly annoying and loud, you would find that the weather never goes too cold or too hot. Early in the morning, when there are few people on the streets and the gentle breeze is flowing, was considered the best time to enjoy this city.

Swamy enjoyed the cool air as he jogged past constructs of man and nature. Buildings, houses, bus stops, parks. There were gentle stirrings as a few people did their surya-namaskar (rising sun prayer). Some brushing sounds as people used their brooms to clean in front of their shops. It was considered auspicious to do this before opening. Something to do with brushing away the filth and bringing in good fortune.

Swamy wasn't much of a religious person even though he had been taught how to pray. He liked to keep his house clean but that had nothing to do with good fortune. Not like he would refuse good fortune if it did come.

Back home, he cleaned his place and showered. He switched on the tv and watched the news.

"Yesterday night, a person was found murdered in the London suburbs. The police think that it may be a grudge related crime. The police has also said that it could be related to the vr game he or she was playing. No details have been issued as to what game the person played and all details regarding his/her identity is being kept classified. Though there are unconfirmed reports that the dead person is supposedly male. This is yet another report of players taking their aggression outside of the games..."

Virtual reality games were supposed to bring about an era of peace. Giving a chance for directing aggression to useful things. Kill as many goblins as you like, lawmakers would be very happy. Even PK or player killing was ok as long as you kill in the game only. Supposedly.

Some people, however, couldn't become happy even with that. It was rare but there were still instances of people killed due to grudges or as part of revenge because of their actions in some game. It was a shuddering thought.

Swamy checked the game forums. Things had heated up since the currency exchange system. Oh and he was at the top of the Hall of Fame. Also, someone had found the procedure for establishing a guild. The basic procedure was the same in the four islands with some differences. Mainly, it required buying/renting an office or registering a ship to make a guild. Furthermore there was a registering charge. And then an annual fee. For Ilmentia the registering charge was 300 gold. And the yearly fee was 50 gold. The cheapest was Dalmund with a charge of 250 gold and yearly fee of 45 gold.

'Making and maintaining a guild will be expensive in the beginning. But players will be able to exchange money. It would still be a little difficult for smaller size guilds.' Not by that much though. Once you started sailing, even measly jobs paid a lot. Ofcourse, buying a ship was still expensive requiring thousands of gold. Renting an office was cheaper but it required you to have a steady income. Buying an office space was the most feasible choice, but space was limited. There would be too much competition for a few measly spaces.

'Enough to guarantee PK.' As he had recently realized, there were no safe areas in Long Island. NPCs had the right to designate safe areas, so their homes, work places and even ships could be considered safe. But the rest was not a safe area. There might be penalties and guards might punish you if you turn a player killer inside a village or city, but the killing itself was not prohibited. Also npc's could change their safe zones to unsafe zones.