In the center of a townsquare a large signboard stood casting a foreboding shadow over the cobblestone bricks along the ground. In the shadow a man stood gazing up at the glowing letters displayed upon the surface of the board.

  The notification faded away into the darkness of his mind, but with the disappearance of the notification, large quantities of foreign information invaded his mind causing a sharp pain behind his eyes. The information was filled with instructions about the system on how to access certain screens. The pain lasted for what seemed like hours but in reality, only couple minutes passed by. With his new knowledge, he opened the menu.

  ‘Only 2 options besides the closing option,’ the man thought looking at the menu, ‘Open Status.’

  “My name is Brand King, but who am I?” thought as he closed the status window. He realized his name was Brand King but, he had no memory of anything before viewing the signboard. He opened the inventory screen next.

  A 3D projection of his body appeared below which showed his other goods. He appeared to be 5 foot 10 inches tall, brown hair, a slight roundness could be seen to his figure. “I don’t look too bad I guess,” He examined the Wooden Sword.

  “Wooden Sword: A sword made of wood. Attack 1-3”

  “Equip Wooden Sword”

  ‘OK I’m starting to get the hang of this, I just don’t know if I’m weaker than normal. I need to find out where I am first,’ He closed the Status window and looked around. Besides the welcome board, he appeared to be in the center of a small town. Beyond the many buildings and people filling his sight, in the distance, he saw many giant trees and a few mountains. A few passersby glanced at him as he stood there, but no one came up to him until a large man in a brown leather tank top with a large double sided axe approached him.

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  “Hello Newbie, My name is Ray Tial and I invite you to Turtle Shield Faction.”

  “Hello Ray, My name is Brand how do you know I’m new?”

  “I’ve been stationed here by the Faction to scout for new people, I saw you appear here.”

  “Oh really? Makes sense could you tell me a little about your faction?”

  “Sure, We help the new arrivals adapt while giving them basic skills to survive. If they decide to stay in the faction after the training period we will give them more benefits.”

  “So what you saying is that we can leave later if we want? What else should I know?”

  “Yes, later when you complete our training you can leave freely. We do require members of the faction to pay a tribute, trainees are only required to pay half of the loot they get while full members have a better treatment. Do you want to join?”

  “Doesn’t seem so bad, they will help me learn the basics while keeping me alive worse case I’ll figure it out later,” Brand pondered.

  “Ok, I’ll join what do I have to do?”

  “Great! Here I’ll send you an invite, you should get a notification from the system just accept it.”

  “Yes”

  “Good, wait here while another member comes and gets you. A notification has been sent to all the officers upon you joining, it should take about 10 minutes for them to arrive.” Ray said while guiding Brand to the side of townsquare. Standing beside Ray he looked around the town square noticing how much activity there was. The layout wasn’t in that of a square but a circle the signboard dominating the middle. He saw different shops lining the edge, all facing the board. Some of the shops brand saw had emblems hanging from their entrance with pictures of swords, shields, hammers, needles, and even potions. A sound of footsteps on cobblestone filled the square along with the smells of freshly baked bread with a hint of roasted meat. Brand’s mouth started to water thinking about the food, looking over at Ray he noticed that he just stared at the signboard waiting for more people to appear.

  Ray didn’t say anything else as they waited, Brand a little bit hungry and a little bored decided to see if his menu options changed because he joined a faction.

  ‘It appears something really did change,’ He opened the Faction screen.

  ‘Pretty stable foundation,’ Brand thought closing the window after noticing a man getting closer.

  “What’s up Ray, this must be the new guy huh?” The man said while giving Ray a fist bump.

  “Same shit different day Don. Yeah his name's Brand, seems better than the other ones that have should up recently.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Hello Brand, my name is Don and I’m here to take you to the Hall,” Don said while reaching out for a handshake.

  Shaking his hand “Hello, I guess I’ll be in your care.”