They barely spoke on the way up the stairs back to the city, as Sean considered what he wanted to do. A starter guild to learn the ropes might be nice, but he didn't want to ask about any potential fees , joining or otherwise. Aiden's grind suggested there might be some, but Sean didn't want to pry, and the guy mentioned heading back home – meaning, back to Earth.
For Sean, the latter topic brought up two problems: the inevitability of a conversation with Omega about his nutrition, and that this was supposed to be his one day off from the resistance effort – so he wasn't even sure if he would come back the next day to play. Or at any point in the future. It was fun bickering with Emma about how she kept playing the game that she had seemingly zero interest in – but Sean realized that he also had very little reason to care about it.
And he was getting tired – especially as the adrenaline from combat wore off. This reality-game world was definitely not what he had expected, and part of him wanted to learn more about it. At this point it was basically gamer curiosity rather than any specific need, or maybe he was interested in learning about what he was exploiting with the glitch he had found. He had no idea where he might further investigate his classes or skills, but he had been hearing 'just talk to a priest' about everything and decided to finally give it a try.
He asked Aiden for the nearest temple as they parted ways, then headed there. The building was a couple of minutes down an avenue off the main plaza, and it looked like a generic video-game location from the outside. He was half-expecting the structure to be dedicated to worshiping some random deity – as a stand-in for Omega, perhaps, since it had created this whole world in the first place. But the interior of the temple consisted mostly of a large open hall with four wide naves in the corners, each with four altars.
It was all clearly focused on the player classes. Tall stone figures representing each portrait from the Wheel, illuminated by rows of burning lamps hanging from the ceiling and off the walls. One altar being conspicuously unoccupied – just like the space between the physical and the magic sections being empty in the Wheel.
Sean found it quite hilarious, however weird it also felt. The place was almost empty, and he wondered if players came there to… what, pray? What class should he pray to? He stood in the wide entrance for a while and looked around. It occurred to him that his exploits might get fixed within the sacred space of the classes' temple, or maybe he should have burst into flames – for all the mechanics abuse he had done!
Nothing like that had happened upon his entry, and instead an NPC approached him after a moment. Sean only noticed the young figure in gray robes when the stranger started speaking: "What aid is it that you seek, adventurer?"
Sean was surprised, but quickly asked, "Oh, right – are you a priest?" The local simply nodded – his hands hidden in voluminous sleeves at his chest. The outfit made him look more like a monk than any priest from Earth. Sean followed up, "What deity is this temple for? I don't see any–"
"The gods abandoned us," the priest cut in. "So all that remains is to believe in ourselves."
At first, Sean was confused by this odd answer, but… it kinda made sense. Then again, what else would the game NPCs believe in if not the game mechanics? At least the local wasn't infodumping like some others – but Sean still mocked, "So what, am I supposed to pray to the statue of my class every day?" Only after saying that did he worry that it might be perceived as some kind of blasphemy in this place.
"No need to," the priest calmly responded. "Though you can air your grievances, if you so desire."
"Then what is this place for?" Sean asked.
"For exactly that," the NPC explained, and it made no sense. He added, "And also to aid adventurers in finding themselves in our world – through advice and various services."
"Such as helping with UI and whatnot, right?" Sean asked, and the priest nodded. Sean felt a bit weird about discussing 'User Interface' with a medieval priest or monk, and wondered if the concept was diegetic here – or however this worked. He said, "So you help players– I mean, adventurers – with whatever mechanics issues they may have, is that right?"
"Something like that, yes," the priest replied.
"Can I learn more about my skills?" Sean asked and only in hindsight realized the question had been all wrong – or rather: the skills of which class? He suddenly worried about getting found out, then banished from the temple – or some kind of class police getting called on him… if not worse!
The priest merely nodded and answered, "It's better to study and practice those in the Adventurer Training complex, just that way and on the left." The NPC extended his right arm to indicate the direction back to the plaza.
"Oh, I see…" Sean remarked, relieved that he wouldn't get in trouble. "But wait, so what can I do here? What kind of advice and services?"
The NPC explained, "Anything that goes beyond simple training, such as advice on how to activate skills or certain effects. For instance, new adventurers often request aid with hiding their tags, or with communication gems. We also manage guilds and their memberships. Then there are graft services and class changes, all types of specializations, and all kinds of enchantments and rituals." Sean processed the long list, so the priest added after a moment, "Do you require any of these tonight, adventurer?"
"No-no, I'm just…" Sean started and hesitated. If nothing else, he could learn more about the UI and all the thought-activated actions. It seemed to work for him with regard to melee skills, but he still had no idea how to toggle his player tag or use spells. Emma seemed to have issues with the latter as a Healer, so any hints might be helpful – if he bothered to play some more.
But before he could formulate a question, another player barged into the temple and marched to the left. At first, Sean thought that it might be an NPC, since the guy wore plain clothes – just cloth pants and a tunic. His language suggested otherwise, as he loudly proclaimed toward the stone figure of an armored hero: "Can the Knight finally get a buff? This is ridiculous, there's no point to this class! Tank's got better armor, our solo-buffs are total crap, and Paladin has all the undead bonuses for leveling up! The magic-resist through graphs is worthless, and all we have is that dumb self-shield that's broken by a single minion attack! Come on! At the very least we need Cleric buffs to combo with Knight's, or maybe…" – and so on.
Sean chuckled to himself, suddenly understanding what 'airing one's grievances' meant – and the place must've been quite a shouting match earlier in the day! About which class is the most underpowered, or whatever recent changes are wrong or going too far. The usual game balance complaints. Or maybe it wasn't that loud? He wondered if shouting at stone statues would ever help…
But the guy was being rather loud about his grievances , so they moved to a quiet chamber off to the side. Sean asked a bunch of questions and practiced showing and hiding his player tag, then other things. The priest gave him advice on focusing his thoughts, and forming a party turned out to be more than just a handshake – though that was to help focus the adventurer's attention on inviting the right player. As an NPC, the priest could not join Sean – but he reassured the player that what he was doing should be enough to form a party or invite others, and also described what a successful invitation should feel like.
Managing the embedded mechanics with thoughts seemed a bit creepy at first, but Sean saw the benefit of the extra immersion in the game without having special UI floating around… He did not ask about the magic orb in the lecture hall, and obviously did not mention the hallucinated Jira tickets and all his glitched classes. The priest seemed entirely oblivious to the whole thing, and had not once asked about Sean's class or complained about the questions being silly or strange.
Not even the 'hypothetical' questions about magic spell activation or casting with armor, for a caster friend , that Sean tried to ask to prepare himself. Just in case he decided to keep playing…
It took a while, and Sean had to come up with elaborate excuses as to why an adventurer wearing heavy armor was asking about managing summons or how to aim AOE spells. He mostly explained it away by pretending to consider different classes and trying to find out how difficult playing them would be – though some questions were really specific and convoluted. The priest admitted to being a lowly acolyte, and claimed not to have much specialized knowledge – instead, he referred Sean to the dedicated priests if the player wanted to switch his class. And preferably during the day, as there was only limited staff overnight.
So Sean received some hints about different things, but it seemed that he would need to know what actual issues there were to ask more detailed questions. He also inquired about class changes – he learned that there were fees, quests, and queues for that. Typically shorter waiting times for nearby changes, such as to an adjacent class on the Wheel. There were different priests for each class and their specializations, so popular picks came with longer queues and increased fees – especially the ones suddenly being chased after.
It made perfect sense why everybody wanted a change to Mystic at the lecture.
The priest didn't know the specific times, but when Sean gave his Fighter as an example and asked for rough estimates about some class switches – the NPC explained that changing to Knight or Berserker should be possible the next day. Warrior or Hunter within two or three days of queuing, Paladin or Healer maybe five days to a week – but Mage might take well over a week and Mystic even longer.
"I think I'm happy with my current class, then," Sean finally concluded with a smirk on his face. The priest nodded without a word.
Unable to come up with anything else to ask, Sean thanked the NPC and headed out of the temple. The Knight was still shouting at the statue of his class – now threatening to change to Mystic 'just like everybody else.' Sean snorted loudly, and the guy turned to him but promptly went back to airing his grievances .
Sean wanted to go check out the Adventurer Training, but he was too tired for the day and went to the Portal Travels building. He realized he should've asked the priest about how that whole thing worked, but now figured he would watch the others or ask some NPCs on the spot. The two moons were already low on the horizon and it was getting pretty dark – light from the stars alone seemed insufficient, though it felt like his glitched skills still allowed him to see more than he should be able to.
He found his way to the Portals place and it was pretty straightforward: a large hall and multiple rooms with dark, opaque portals. Various in-world destinations were labeled with hefty fees, ranging from a dozen silvers to several gold coins. Fast travel wasn't cheap, Sean realized. The portal to Earth was unguarded and seemingly free to use, so Sean stepped into it after maybe a moment of hesitation.
It led him to a small room, halfway between medieval and modern in appearance. He was a little confused, but there was another portal labeled 'Earth' on the opposite wall. Inside the room: a bench, some weapon racks, a shower in the back, and two simple wardrobes – the larger one contained his hobo-outfit, still stained all over with pizza. Sean had left it back in the training room, but now figured it must've been Omega's way of haunting him. Or maybe foreshadowing the interesting conversation to come.
Either way, he didn't touch it and decided to just wear his game clothes – the cloth under-armor. It would be a little odd, to put it mildly, but still better than his dirty sweatpants and old shirt. Or maybe on par – he wasn't sure.
The smaller wardrobe was labeled 'Repairs' and there was a note instructing him to leave any damaged gear along with some currency – and it should be tended to overnight, depending on how busy the townsfolk might be. His heavy armor was still in decent condition, but the pant legs were scratched and torn in places, and the whole thing stank of sewers. Sean left it for repairs with three silvers – he contemplated what amount to leave, but figured a tip might be nice for all the future effort. Mostly he just didn't want to deal with the stink again.
And with that, he braced himself for the return to Earth through the other portal – but he had faced deadly killer-rats with little fear, so he would confront Omega too!