Is this really a Game?!

"Ah, it's you guys," Tord said with some slight surprise as he opened the door of his room, only to see Reign, Wolf, and Greenie standing in front of him.

"You busy?" Reign asked Tord who stared at him in confusion before shaking his head with revelation.

"Ah, no, no, please, come in," Tord said hurriedly before stepping to the side and allowing the three to get in his room.

"Not that you really need my permission since this is your place but, yeah." Tord closed the door before sitting down on a chair and looking at Reign.

"So, what's up?" Tord asked nervously as he clearly did not expect the three to arrive.

"Well, we gave you a couple of days to gather yourself, to calm yourself down from, you know, getting the memories back." Reign started talking while looking at Tord before getting a bit serious.

"What I want to ask you is simple, what are your plans for the future?"

"Ah, my plans?"

"Yup."

"Honestly?" Tord asked Reign with a sad face.

"I have no idea."

"My entire life, well, at least from what the fake memories showed me, has been only for working for the organization, becoming stronger so that I can be useful to them, gaining more power in hopes that I will reach my master's level and not be a burden anymore."

"I thought I was the one that was supposed to take on the burden of keeping the organization safe, letting it expand and grow more powerful, but that all turned out to be fake."

"The worst thing about that is the fact that I don't know what I want anymore, I mean, I want revenge, but that has already been taken care of by you guys," Tord said as he smiled at Reign and Wolf before looking down at the floor.

"I … I don't know what to do next, I can continue getting stronger, but what's the point, there's nothing waiting for me, all of the people I thought were my friends and comrades were either members of the organization that took everything for me or they were victims of the organization who had the same thing done to them."

"All of them are gone, there's nobody left, only me."

"So you're simply going to continue like this, sulking, being depressed, having no will to live, even though you are merely 16 years old?" Wolf asked Tord in a serious voice, prompting the latter to smile at him sadly.

"I know it must seem pathetic, but I simply don't have the will to do anything, I walked around the town and have talked to some people, everyone here is nice, they go along well, and even some minor fights and arguments seem to get resolved quickly and amiably, which is quite different from how it was in the base."

"You probably feel as if I'm making things difficult for myself, not trying to move on, make new friends here, and continue living, but … it's hard, I don't know how to make friends, I don't know how to truly cherish them, and the worst thing is that even if I was to do that, what if they disappear in the end, get killed by some monster or other people?"

"Huuuuh." Reign exhaled deeply as he stared into Tord's eyes.

"Your worries are not meager, what you are feeling and thinking about is natural, your entire world has suddenly changed after gaining your memories back, and even though I don't know how exactly you are feeling right now, I know that it must suck, you don't know whether to cry or be angry, you have no idea what to do next, whether you can continue living normally or not." Reign said with a sad glint in his eyes.

"I wanted to let you know that you are welcome here, not just as a combatant, but as a resident."

"You have probably seen already that there are many people here that do not fight, they contribute differently, some are craftsmen, some are cooks, some help out others for a fee, like helping them find suitable and inexpensive stuff in the auction house, helping them tame monster…"

"So feel free to live here, but I don't want to see you destroy yourself by locking yourself in the room and not doing anything, trust me, even though things might seem bleak now, you never know what lies ahead." Reign smiled at Tord before getting up.

"Once you make your mind up, look for me or the others, I'm sure we can find something for you to do."

And with that final sentence, Reign and the others left the room, leaving Tord alone. He was quiet and simply stared out of the window before clenching his teeth and showing determination on his face, but that only lasted for a brief moment before his face regained its calmness and he sat down on the bed, thinking of what to do.

"You didn't ask him about his powers yet," Wolf told Reign who nodded at him.

"I know, it just doesn't feel right to ask about that now, you saw what state he is in, the poor guy has no idea what to do, if I were to ask him to show his powers and explain them, it could lead to him just growing a bit resentful and thinking we want to exploit him."

"I don't want to do that, even if the kid was an enemy at one point, it wasn't truly him, just a persona that the enemy had carefully crafted for him so that he could be useful for them."

"Let him think things over, who knows, he might surprise us in a couple of days."

Tord was a peak Tier III combatant, which would place him at the very top in Doncaster, a talent that was not that easy to be found. Reign did hope that the young man would decide to continue fighting and become a powerful member of the town, but he wasn't going to try and force or manipulate him.

He felt sad for the kid. He lost everything when he was young, similar to Reign but even worse since Reign still had his uncle, Shadow, and his parents.

This talk reminded him of his uncle, who he had managed to get in touch with since he was luckily close to Shadow's parents when the game started and had managed to reach and join them.

Reign and the others continued walking to the portal that would lead them to the first mountain. They were going with M'azgara and her 5 elites today. The areas they were going to visit shouldn't be a problem for any of them, but the real reason why M'azgara was here was so that she could give them her opinion about the area they would go to.

They wanted to know just what she needed and what kind of area would be good for her creatures. Of course, this was so that she could make her main army, the one that could move around and visit most places.

For areas that were different like the swamp, she could always create new monsters from the bodies of those killed there, thus making a smaller army that was hand-crafted for the battlefield, giving her an edge over the opponent.

M'azgara's ability was fearsome not only because she could create many monsters, some of which were very powerful for the realm they were in, but also because she could adapt them, create new ones that were made for the sole purpose of taking over that one specific area or base, or for killing specific types of monsters.

With enough preparation, M'azgara could create an entire army that could act as a kryptonite for the enemy, which was one of the reasons the Brood Mother race was feared by many.

Reign and the others didn't waste any time and immediately left the first mountain. Their goal was to go to the other side and explore the areas they had not been to, and neither have the players.

After all, not all players had the luxury of walking around and exploring, especially not those that were of a high level and needed to fight enemies of their own level in order to progress. Exploring a new area only to find that it had enemies that were too weak or too strong would simply be a waste of time, valuable time that they could not waste.

The reason the players had gone to the area right before the swamp in which the enemy organization was located was simply that it was relatively close to the first mountain, while the other side was far away, and going there would take a lot of time.

Reign and the others only needed a short period of time to cross the distance and enter the new area. They were all Tier IV and their speed was incredible, allowing them to easily pass through the mountains that stood between them and the territory next to the mountain range.