Rioneed: VRMMORPG

Oya didn't delay as she moved fast towards the next building. It was a huge one, with many smaller buildings attached to the main 20 stories building. Once she reached there, she was stopped by two NPCs guards.

"Stop right there, who are you?" one of the guards said with a harsh tone.

"I'm Oya, a player, and I want to ask about the conditions for establishing a guild."

The two guards looked in doubt towards her as the one who spoke previously said:

"You need to have a guild establishment stone before going to see the esteemed guild administrator."

"I already have a guild establishing stone, can I see the esteemed guild administrator?"

The two guards looked more suspicious as the other one said:

"Beware if you don't own it, you will be punished by detention. So, are you sure you want to meet him?"

Oya felt surprised from all this secrecy regarding establishing a guild, as she never met such a thing before at any game she played.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Good, then follow me."

Oya walked behind one of the guards heading into the building. Away from the few NPCs she met, the place was nearly empty and quiet. 

The building was like a maze from inside, without the help of this guard, she would have lost her way in it. The office of the guild administrator was on the 7th floor, where she found the place quieter than usual.

"The office is right here, good luck."

The guard said that and then moved back to the bottom leaving her alone in front of one big dark door.

'This is the first time I feel this anxious when meeting a normal NPC, I don't know why the game was designed that way, but it must be for a reason.'

She told this to herself while she knocked gently on the door three times. After a few moments of silence, she heard the sound of an old man from inside.

"Come in, the door is open."

Oya pushed the door open and entered the room, where she was met by an unusual fragrant in the air. The room was very spacious, with only one desk and few chairs in front of it. 

There was one fatty old NPC with short, short hair over his head. She looked at him, while he looked back at her with surprise.

"Are you lost here, my child? I know that my building can be confusing sometimes, especially for those new ones like yourself," he said with these words with a calm parental tone which made Oya feel the disparity between his attitude and the one she met down there.

"No sir, I'm here to ask about the conditions of establishing a guild."

The face of the old man changed with an expression of shock appearing on it.

"Are you sure? You know the rules, right? You can't know the conditions unless you have a guild establishment stone. If you don't have it, then I will forgive you this time, but next time you need to come here with a stone," he tried to be nice with her, as he thought she came here out of curiosity. 

Players were always driven by their desire to know more, but Oya wasn't one of those, as she already had a stone.

"I have one in my possession; do you want to see it?"

The NPC wasn't able to comment for a few moments before saying:

"Sure, where is it? Is it with you right now?"

Oya took out one stone from her inventory as she gave it to the old NPC while saying:

"Here it is, you can see for yourself."

The man took the stone and began to examine it. suddenly he stopped as he muttered with disbelief:

"It's a dark gold grade stone!" Then he looked towards Oya as he asked, "Tell me child, how did you get such a precious gem?"

Oya felt surprised by the tone and the impression she got from this NPC. She didn't think the stone Ibro got was this precious.

"I got it from a friend of mine."

"A friend? May I know his name? Can I meet him?"

Oya felt surprised by these questions from this NPC, so she asked:

"Is there something wrong with this stone?"

"No, child, this stone is perfectly fine, but it's rare to meet such a gem, very rare, so I wanted to know from where the friend of yours got this one."

Oya didn't remember when Ibro or from where did he got this stone, so she replied briefly trying to cover this topic up:

"He got it as a reward from the game."

"A game reward? That's interesting, he must have achieved some great quest then," the man said with the same curious look on his face.

"Yes, he won it by completing a legendary quest," Oya used the previous success of Ibro at his legendary quest as an excuse. She didn't know if he got this stone from there or not, but if this stone was this precious then the reason for having it would be logical if it was from a legendary quest.

"Legendary quest, hmmm, and in the first days of the game, that's interesting. Can I know the name of your friend? I want to be lucky and meet him one day," The NPC said.

Oya sighed when she recalled Ibro, which didn't miss the keen eyes of this old man in front of her.

"Did he die?" he asked with sympathy.

"No, he… he just isn't playing the game anymore," she replied.

"Oh, that's unfortunate, a player with his luck should have been in the top echelon of the game already. Anyway, do you want to use this stone and establish a guild here?" he asked while glancing at the stone in his hand.

"Yes, but I don't want to establish it now."

"Hahaha, my child you can't establish any guild anytime you want, there are some restrictions regarding guild establishment stone, including this stone of yours."

Oya looked in disbelief to him while he added:

"It seems you are an experienced player, so I will give you a bit of advice first. This game isn't like any other game you have ever played."

'I bet so,' Oya said that to herself, as she knew exactly how dark the secrets behind this game were.