Old Comrades on a Different Battlefield

The next day, Jose woke up to the sound of someone ringing his doorbell. His groaned loudly and shouted off his balcony. "I'm here! One moment!" His shout echoed outside and reached the ears of those ringing the doorbell.

They turned their gaze to the door as it swung open, a rather old but stylish man stood in front of them with a long-sleeved shirt, it was tightly fitted, showing of Jose's still slightly lean body. Granted, if this was years ago, the people at the door would be stunned at his ripped body.

"Oh, you didn't order more by accident, did you?" It was Caleb again, he too, was slightly stunned by how many trucks were currently parked outside the house. There were 7 trucks parked on the side of the road, all of which had the gaming capsule onboard. He was curious as to whether or not Jose accidentally ordered more, after all, in Caleb's eyes, Jose was an old-timer.

"Nope, bring them all in," Jose shook his head with a bright smile. Caleb's eyes widened before he turned back and gestured for them all to come in. It took a little bit, but they managed to bring all the capsules inside and placed them in the back-living room alongside Jose's capsule.

"Oh right, please sign this," Caleb swiftly remembered something and brought out the little signature machine. Jose nodded before taking off the pen attached to it and signed his name. "Thanks, remember if you have any difficulties with the capsules just call our number and we'll be here to help in an hour."

"Okay," Jose nodded before escorting the group of delivery men out. Once outside, they all looked towards each other and gave each other some odd looks. Their mind just couldn't process what Jose was doing. After all, if it was just one capsule, they could assume it was for a family member or even himself. But 8 capsules, that's not something someone buys on impulse.

"Come on, let's hurry up and go, we have a couple more capsules to deliver," Caleb ordered as he hopped into the truck at the front of the pack. Everyone shrugged their shoulders and tossed their thoughts to the back of their minds. They swiftly left Jose's house and continued their work.

Jose looked towards the capsules and deeply exhaled, now, he just had to wait for the others to arrive. Once they're here, he'll begin his first mission with them, power level the hell out of them.

Along with his research, he learnt a few other methods of levelling up, one of which is called power levelling. Where a high levelled player brings low levelled players into a high-level zone and attacks monsters until they're on a sliver of health. Then, by allowing the low-level player to get the last hit in, they get the exp. Granted, this works most effective when they aren't in a party, otherwise, they'll be sharing exp with each other.

Jose didn't mind wasting a bit of time getting the rest of his groups' levels up. After all, once they're high enough level they'll be able to tear through monsters. Maybe even visit a dungeon nearby the town, located at the centre of the Forest of Spiders.

Amongst his research, Jose discovered that each beginner town has a dungeon located nearby. A dungeon is a place where a boss mob is located, the dungeon naturally spawns in weaker mobs which hinder a party's progress and maybe even kill a couple of players.

As it turns out, the high danger Town of Beginnings isn't that high due to their surroundings as Jose initially thought. It's entirely based on the difficulty of the dungeon near it, since beating the dungeon was the only method to gain access to other parts of the map, AKA, the cities and major cities.

Obviously, it was due to this reason that some guilds would spend a lot of time back in the Town of Beginnings because they aren't able to defeat the dungeon boss. That was also the reason why high difficulty towns are both highly sought after as well as feared.

Similar to the Town of Beginnings, Cities are only accessible to the ones that travelled there from the connected Town of Beginnings. Each city, as well as Town of Beginnings, is actually separated from each other and the only method of getting between them is through the use of World Teleportation Scrolls, something only available from defeating the dungeon boss of a high difficulty dungeon. However, the chance of a boss dropping it is merely a fraction of a per cent.

However, it's due to this that high difficulty dungeons are sought to be defeated by large scale guilds. If they're able to defeat the boss and gain access to the city, they'll be free sailing without any competition. Granted, that's only a method done by highly ranked guilds, a guild run by Ryley is more prone to go by this method.

Also, from Jose's research, the cities connected to high difficulty Town of Beginnings usually have much better quests as well as loot drops. Not to mention that the overall facilities for the subclasses are far better, giving players much better chances of ranking up their subclasses.

*Knock!*Knock!*Knock!* Jose had just finished his breakfast of a vegemite sandwich before someone began vigorously knocking on his door. There could only be a select few individuals that are meeting him today, all of which were his old comrades and friends.

Walking up and opening to door Jose was greeted by Luke's and Harrison's bulky figures. Luke waved his hand, "Yo Jose, we're here to move in. Fortunately, we didn't have all that much back at home so moving is incredibly easy. Also, went ahead and picked up Harrison along the way."

"Well welcome, come on in, I just finished having breakfast, I suppose you two haven't eaten yet?" Jose asked in a questioning tone. The two shook their heads in response, as it turns out, they had already stopped by a café along the way and got themselves some breakfast muffins.

"Alright, your capsules are in the back-living room, familiarise yourself with the capsule and remember the instructions. Wait for the others to arrive before diving in, I want you all to go in together," Jose explained as he gestured for them to follow him. He led them to the room of capsules and gave them instruction manuals, "Read through that and you'll be fine."

The two nodded.

Unlike what most would assume, Luke and Harrison were both incredibly smart. Just about everyone in their group was a genius in their own right, Luke was a genius of explosives while Harrison was a genius in cars. They were able to read through the manual and understand it right away. They then took a closer look at the suits they would be wearing as well as the gel they'll be getting into.

"Ha, do you think these suits will fit us?" Harrison asked in a joking manner as he held his suit up to his body.

"Of course not, your muscles might burst the suit on accident," Luke replied as then two began to flex their muscles.

The two obviously knew that the suits would fit them, they were meant to be a tight fit. Not to mention they can just about stretch to any size. The suits don't have a specific size to them due to this reason.

Out in the front lounge, Jose was talking to the others who had finally arrived. Outside was a couple of small vans, carrying all their stuff which only really consisted of a tv, a chair and a couch along with their bed and clothes. They didn't see the point in buying anything else, so their houses were rather bland with their little decoration.

Finally, once everyone was sorted, they all prepared themselves. Reading through the manuals before putting on the suits and hopping into their capsules. They all looked to one another through the capsule's clear top and gave each other a thumbs up.

Once all their thumbs were up, they rest back and calmed their minds, their control over their bodies slowly disappearing from them. Finally, they were brought to the starting screen where they'll create their name along with choosing the class they'll be playing.

Jose entered the game and appeared by the town centre, where you respawn and spawn into the game. They couldn't exactly just pop Jose back where he was when he was forced to log off. After all, he was outside the city which can cause some serious problems. Some of which can be easily abused by players with certain motives if that was the case.

Jose waited another 5 minutes before hearing someone shout from behind him. "Hey Jose, seems you also went with a younger look!"

Turning around Jose noticed it was the entire group, they were currently all in rags as they haven't opened up their beginner kit. They all looked like younger versions of themselves, with Luke and Harrison towering over just about everyone with their height of 6'5 – 6'7.

Hayley and Maddy stood next to each other as their heights were basically the same, being at 5'6 and 5'7 respectively. Maddy being just the slightest bit taller.

Dylan and Blake looked somewhat identical. However, judging from their appearance Jose guessed that Blake decided to with an older appearance as his hair was slightly greyed. Dylan, on the other hand, went with his much younger look from back when they started their special squad.

Adam brought back his long and luscious blonde hair from when he was much younger, even before his military days. His hand was constantly brushed through it as a bright smile was plastered across his face. The group chuckled at the sight.

"Alright, in your inventory there should be a beginner set of armour, put that on and go search for your trainers," Jose explained with his hands by his hips. "Then once you've finished and got yourself the skill of your choice, message me and we'll all meet up."

Jose quickly sent a friend request to all of them. They accepted before sending each other a friend request as well. Finally, the nodded towards each other before heading off in their own directions. Unlike magicians, all other classes first mission actually told them where to find their instructor.

Hayley and Maddy were both archers, Adam was an assassin while Blake and Dylan decided to be swordsmen. And if it wasn't obvious enough with their large physiques, Luke and Harrison both chose to be tanks. However, while some of them had the same class, their choice of skill will be the thing that differentiates them from each other.

Jose went through the town and outside into the Forest of Spiders. He immediately noticed the large lack of players in comparison to yesterday. He was wondering if that was due to a lot of them dying to the horde; however, even if they died, the death penalty at this stage of the game wasn't too bad so it shouldn't matter that much.

Jose shrugged it off. 'Maybe some of the players left due to the difficulty being too high for them' Jose thought to himself. It made sense, some players only came to this Town of beginnings to try their luck, however, once they realised the difference in requirements, they likely restarted their character and returned to much lower difficulty Town of Beginnings.

It didn't take long, roughly 30 minutes of Jose killing off spiders before he heard a sharp *Ding!* sound. Looking at his menu, he noticed that by the friend icon there was a small number 1 in the corner. Clicking that, he noticed he received a message from Adam.

"Already finished my task, I'm currently heading back to where we spawned, meet you all there," Adam message. He was a step ahead of Jose and created a group chat amongst them all, Jose didn't even know there was the option but was glad Adam managed to find it.

'Alright," Finishing off one last spider Jose began his return to the town. Fortunately, he hadn't used up much mana, however, he didn't receive much exp either from defeating such low-level monsters. It seems he's grown too strong for the entrance of the Forest of Spiders and is now being forced to go in further to progress his levelling.

A few more messages showed up, indicating that the rest of the group have finally got their first skill. They're all returning to the centre of town. Jose was heading there as well. 'Suppose it's time to power level some noobs' Jose thought.