Dom awoke in his room at the Manor at Central University. He climbed out of his bed and headed to his en-suite shower, where he quickly washed himself. He felt exhausted, even though he had slept during the game, however the long days of travel and campaigning in The Kingdom of Lazarus must have had a mental impact on him as well.
After getting out of the shower, he quickly changed in to some comfortable clothes and opened his bedroom door. Opposite the same thing happened as Andrew opened his door, with the two of them laughing at the sight of each other.
"Are you going to show me some good spots around campus this morning?" Andrew asked with a yawn as he headed to the top of the stairs, as Dom also walked towards them, their rooms opposite each other.
"There is a great little restaurant a few minutes down the lake, but I haven't overly explored much." Dom replied, "It will be nice to not be sat alone for once!"
"How was your evening with your Egyptian Princess?" Andrew teased as they began walking down the stairs, as Dom shook his head in response, regretting telling Andrew the story about his pregnant in game wife.
"I spent it with my Warrior Wife instead." Dom replied, deciding to tease Andrew back, as he laughed and ran down the stairs. Andrew stopped and looked at Dom in shock, not expecting that from his sensible friend.
"Two Wives?" Andrew shouted after him as he ran down, before hitting the back of Dom who was stood stationary at the bottom of the stairs, he peaked around to see why Dom had stopped, before laughing loudly.
"Who has two wives?" Kai asked from the table, as he sat and ate some food that he had taken from the cupboard.
"This idiot here does!" Andrew laughed as he pointed at Dom. Dom laughed in response and headed towards Kai and gave his friend a hug. Kai was surprised by Dom's reaction, but for Dom, he had spent so many days travelling and being in the game world, that it felt a long time since he had last seen him.
"How have you been?" Dom asked, ignoring Andrew behind him.
"I've been good Dominic, I've missed you as well. The house is great isn't it!" Kai grinned, "I had a look around whilst you were both still logged in, I arrived about an hour ago."
"It's amazing!" Andrew replied, "Now we are all together, we can have some great evenings partying!"
"I expect we'll just play World Conquest Online together, We should be reunited in game as well in a couple of days!" Kai stated, knowing that the three enjoyed gaming too much to do anything else.
"How far away are you?" Dom asked, as he looked towards Andrew who hadn't told him yet.
"We should be with you in four days, which will be the day that we log out." Andrew explained, "Kai didn't tell me how close he was when he finally logged in for a short while, but we have made good pace and have met the outer scouts of the Trade Town you mentioned."
"Helike." Kai added, "That's what the scouts explained to us anyway. However I did some research an City that was destroyed by an earthquake in three hundred and seventy three BC. So I am looking forward to seeing a bronze age Greek city and the trading opportunities."
"You sound more interested in Helike than visiting one of your best friends!" Andrew teased as he pulled a chair out and sat down.
"Well, I want to see Dominic's town, but developing friendly relations with Helike could help us grow it." Kai explained, his mind thinking on how to help his friend grow the town, rather than anything else. "My brother explained that trade networks are an extremely important part of the game, NPC's seem quite keen to help Player Lord's in most cases."
"It is a good idea." Dom agreed as he sat down, "As well as the Trade City Helike to the north, there is also another City to the south of us that seems to be ruled on fear called Papaver."
"Named after the Poppy flower?" Kai asked with interest as Dom opened up about the wider geography of his small Town.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Dom replied, "They use the flowers as an opioid to control their armed forces, we have had some clashes with them."
"Papaver Somniferum them, the Opium Poppy." Kai explained as he nodded his head. "A beautiful flower when bloomed. When still in it's capsule before it blooms, it excretes a powerful opioid that is used in many medical fields. I believe Florence's family have some of these crops for the medical centres of the Western Kingdom's. It's interesting that they are in game, if the resource was controlled effectively it could be used to support the medical field."
"Kai, I can't wait for you to arrive." Dom laughed in response, whilst Andrew just shrugged his shoulders as the conversation went over his head.
"I'm looking forward to it, my father had asked me to travel to my brothers Kingdom, but it seems to be much further away. It's strange for him to invest so much time in to a game, but if we can monetise it, then he will always looked to invest." Kai said with a shake of his head, "I can't complain though, that's why we can afford this manor."
"It's definitely an upgrade from our old home!" Andrew agreed, before changing the conversation. "Can we go and eat now?"
"Kai has already eaten." Dom countered teasingly.
"I can eat again." Kai stated seriously.
Dom took his two friends to the nearby restaurant on the coast of the Lake at Central University. He smiled at some of the familiar faces from the last few days, whilst also showing them some of the sights. The weather was warm again today with a clear sky, unlike the heavy rain from the day earlier.
Kai had ordered a large breakfast including everything that was on option so he could trial them, whilst Andrew tried some of pancakes and sauces. After eating, they made the slow way back to their Manor.
"So what should we do for the rest of the day?" Andrew asked Dom, whilst Kai had wanted to explore further.
"I heard that their are some extra curricular activities that we can get involved with. I'm planning to join the Voluntary Sword Training Class, I think it could help with the in game fighting, especially with the thought of Papaver to the south of us." Dom replied, remembering the letter he had from Stephen and that it was today when the course would begin.
"That sounds like fun actually, I'd quite enjoy beating you with a sword for a while." Andrew agreed, whilst Kai was more reluctant, especially after the large breakfast he had just had.
"We may as well go and try it, it's free after all." Dom put forwards. He wasn't sure where the course would be, so found a nearby member of the Campus Team to ask them. They explained that it was closer to the forest in the north and would take them over an hour by foot to walk there. Kai had explained where they lived, causing the member of staff to call them some transport.
Soon after, a Campus Taxi arrived, which drove them to the north part of the Campus where the more Martial based students were based. The Central University covered a wide range of specialisations as the students found their personal niche. Dom, Andrew and Kai had all come from a Military funded Academy, however they all had different long term ambitions. Dom and Andrew did plan to follow the Military path, where as Kai was more inclined to join the families farming and trade business.
They drove through the large sections of the Campus, past shopping districts that Kai was excited to explore and some of the larger Lecture Halls. Eventually they broke through to an area with smaller wooden buildings and large cleared fields, surrounded by some woods that were before the outer wall of the Central University. The Campus Taxi drove them towards one of the fields, with the driver politely telling them his information and he would collect them later.
"We still have four hours before we can log back in." Andrew joked as Kai looked ahead of them nervously.
Dom could see a small group of students gathered already, with the recognisable sight of Captain Kelly preparing inspecting some blunt swords that were spread across a long weapons rack. They were all of good quality and Dom could see that the University invested in everything they could. In the group was also Stephen Knight who was trying to not look in Dom's direction. Rosie Cole was also there, who was supposed to be guarding Jessica Moon. Jessica was not there, but there was at least another nine new faces.
"Gather round, we will be starting in five minutes." Captain Kelly announced loudly from where he was. Rosie was talking with a group of girls, whilst Stephen had purposely isolated himself from the group.
"Let's go stand with the lonely guy." Andrew joked, taking the lead and not wanting to see someone alone. Dom knew that Stephen had done this intentionally, but couldn't believe his friend fell for the introduction trap so easily. Andrew smiled at Stephen, who put on an unsure face, however his large frame did make him look less approachable. "Do you not know anyone?"
"I didn't, but now I do." Stephen smiled back, his large grin was welcoming and Andrew felt like he had met a like minded person.
"I'm Andrew, this is Dom and Kai." Andrew explained, as Dom and Kai nodded in welcome to Stephen.
Before they had chance to continue, Captain Kelly began instructing them on specific styles and movements. He paired everyone up, placing Dom with Kai and Andrew with Stephen. Throughout Captain Kelly behaved like he had never met Dom, let alone had been assigned as one of his key protectors and teachers. Dom agreed that it was a good idea for Andrew and Stephen to have been paired up, giving them a natural place to bond. What worried Dom was that Stephen and Captain Kelly had clearly targeted Andrew and his personality.
"The course is on again tomorrow." Andrew explained as they took the Campus Taxi back to the Manor. "That Stephen seems nice, we should go again so he's not alone."
"I'd rather visit the shopping district." Kai countered, not having a dislike to Stephen, but more to physical exercise.
"No, I agree with Andrew, let's do another day as it will be good for us to get prepared for term starting in a couple of days." Dom replied, "We can go shopping when term starts. We haven't seen each other in ages and it will be nice!"
"Stephen plays World Conquest Online as well!" Andrew laughed as they entered their Manor, the agreement to train again tomorrow had been made, even with a reluctant Kai. "He's a Warrior Class and is based in the South like us, he doesn't have many friends so maybe we should adopt him!"
"Let's get to know him a bit more first." Dom replied with a smile, seeing that the plan was working, "But if we do have a dangerous neighbour, as many friends as possible would be great."
"I am going to log back in, hopefully we'll be in Helike when we log back in and then we can travel south to see you." Kai explained, trying to stay out of the conversation before he was pulled in to another training session.
"Look for the ship with the Sabre Tooth Tiger flag!" Dom stated, as Kai looked at him confused and Andrew began laughing in response.
"I am expecting a lot of surprises when we arrive!" Andrew teased, knowing that Dom had kept a lot of secrets from him, especially how he had two wives.