It was only the first day after the release of Seven Kingdoms: Age of Chaos and already Katherine loved it.

Known as Kat to her friends, Katherine was a pro gamer. She was a well known customer at Game-And-Go and was a platinum member of the Off_Filter league, a famous gamer group which battled head to head in live tournaments. She even had her own youtube gamer channel: Katastrophic Rounds. Kat had dyed her hair a dark blue color long ago, to match her blue eyes. Out of all of the video games Kat had ever played, Seven Kingdoms was by far her favorite.

Seven Kingdoms was easy to learn how to play. It was an RPG which connected players from all over the country. Seven Kingdoms were scattered throughout the game world. Players would choose a class and join guilds in their attempts to capture the kingdoms and gain more resources. The game went more in depth than that, with things such as experience points and bounties, but in general it was easy to play. In the previous game, Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Stones, Kat and several of her friends from Off_Filter had formed one of the most powerful guilds in the game and controlled three kingdoms. They had called their guild ProSplosion.

"Hey, CK!" a male voice called, pulling Kat out of her memories. She glanced around the cobblestone marketplace, searching for the speaker.

"CopyKat! I've been looking all over for you!" the voice continued. Kat smiled at the use of her username, even though the speaker was a good friend who knew her in real life.

His name was Daniel, his username Headcase. He was a member of the ProSplosion guild when Kat had still been a member. He had spiky orange hair which he had dyed and chocolate eyes. He was taller than Kat, wearing chain mail and carrying a sword, which only testified to his skill at gaming. Kat could see his stats at the edge of her vision. He was a green player (which meant he hadn't attacked another player yet), was level seven, a fighter, and a member of the ProSpectrum guild.

"You changed the guild name," Kat noted. Headcase shrugged and grinned.

"ProSplosion was Ancient Stones," he said. "ProSpectrum is Age of Chaos. What've you been up to? I see you're a level eight already. You always have to be better than me, don't you?"

Kat shrugged, glancing out at the players around them. All of them were green players. Most were smiling and talking, forming their first guilds. The levels varied, but very few reached past level four. Hillton, the main hub of the game, was a safe zone. All villages and kingdoms were.

In a safe zone, players couldn't harm other players unless a bounty was involved or a Guild Takeover had been activated. When a Guild Takeover initiated, a guild was attempting to gain control of a kingdom or village. That area became a temporary Battle Zone and every player was fair game without fear of their icon becoming purple, which happened when a player attacked or killed another player. If a player was killed, nothing too bad happened. The killed player respawned in Hillton around ten minutes later, minus any money or items which had been stolen by the killer.

"When are you going to join, CopyKat?" Headcase asked, bringing Kat's attention back to the present. "I could send you an invite right now. We could use a player like you."

"Not interested yet," Kat replied. "I want to try solo playing first. Maybe I'll join later."

"Your choice," Headcase told her. He tapped the air in front of him, accessing his menu screen. Kat watched for a moment. When he waved his hand, the menu vanished. An envelope icon flashed at the edge of Kat's vision. She tapped it, opening her inbox.

Headcase had invited you to join ProSpectrum!

Accept
Decline

"Just in case you want it later," Headcase told her. "As soon as you accept, the rest of the guild will be able to see your location on the map. Then we can find you."

"Whatever," Kat said, rolling her eyes and waving a hand to close her inbox. The invitation vanished. "Get lost, loser."

"You know you love me!" Headcase teased as he walked away. Kat walked into a bookshop nearby, hoping to escape the crowded street and all of the eyes which were drawn by her conversation with Headcase.

"What would you like?" an NPC shopkeeper asked. Kat waved aside the shop menu which popped up to obscure her vision and turned instead to examine the bookshelves. She picked up a spell book which would give her the ability to cast Fire Orb.

"You don't want that one," a voice said as someone plucked the book from her hand and replaced it with another. "Fire Orb takes too many spell points. Try Prism Wall."

Kat blinked in stunned surprise at the Prism Wall spell book in her hand before turning to look at the stranger who was so straightforward.

It was a guy with dark hair and deep eyes. He was wearing leather armor and carried a bow. A green cloak covered his shoulders. He looked around Kat's own age, but in virtual reality you could never tell. Some people were real creeps.

"CopyKat, right?" he asked, reading her stats. She shrugged and stuck the Prism Wall book back on the shelves.

"You don't have a guild yet," he continued.

"So?" Kat asked.

"I'm just a bit surprised is all," he replied. "You're a sorcerer class, which means you've got low hitpoints and can't wear a lot of armor. A weak class like that usually sticks with its guild. And besides, sorcerers and wizards are usually in high demand. There aren't many of you."

"I could say the same for you Mr. Ranger," Kate replied, checking his stats. His username was Storm, he was a level six ranger. He didn't have a guild.

"Rangers are few, but we aren't in high demand for guilds," Storm explained. "People only hire us for hunting or tracking missions."

"You've played Seven Kingdoms before?"

"No, but I read the strategy guide."

"Good for you," Kat told him, moving to leave the shop.

"Want to form a guild with me?" Storm called after her.

"I fly solo," was Kat's reply. The door closed behind her, and Storm frowned at his bad luck. He waved his hand, opening his menu. A list popped up.

Inventory
Guild
Friends
Bounties
Quests
Map
Skills
Inbox
Rule Book
Settings

He tapped Friends.

You don't have any friends. How about you send a request?

"Thanks for the reminder," Storm grunted. He tapped send a request and typed in CopyKat. When he found her account, he tapped Send.

"See you around, CopyKat," he said, closing the menu and exiting the shop.