The Vagabonds

[Clan announcement]

Lucien Cavalier has joined The Vagabonds.

The clan notifications system blasted the arrival of their new member in the Clan Chat Channel.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Champion: Oh, wow. Hello there! We haven't had a new member for ages!

The first person to greet him warmly was a player by the name of Champion.

"Champion…what a name. Sounds like a confident guy," Lucas muttered to himself upon seeing his name. He scrutinized his profile to see that he was a level 98 player who had joined the server since the launch of the game. Most active players would've attained at least level 100 by now. so he guessed that Champion probably didn't log in as often or wasn't someone who was keen on progressing. But it was too early to make any conclusions. And he was terrible at judging people…

Accessing the [Clan Members List], he saw that were only about 50 players in the clan. Almost half of them were last seen a week ago or longer. The majority of the members were around level 80, with the inactive ones being level 60 or below - probably smurf accounts that were dumped here. These weren't the best players who could help him conquer the more challenging dungeons…nonetheless, at least he now had a place to call home!

The only person who was above level 100 was the clan leader, Aeryn Faith. Even so, she only managed to climb to level 101. If leveling up was an exam, Aeryn barely scraped through. He wondered if this Aeryn was a lady or a guy using the female avatar as most of the clan leaders in DOJ were guys. He wasn't biased towards women, but he hadn't encountered any female clan leaders on this server.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Lucien Cavalier: Hi there, everyone! Thanks for accepting me into your clan!

It was safer if he pretended to be a polite newbie instead of acting like a veteran or they might kick him away thinking he was some spy sent by one of the higher ranking clans. He was still curious who accepted him into the clan. There were only about 5 members online. Eliminating Champion, there were 4 other possibilities…

[Clan Chat Channel]

Champion: Nice to meet you! Are you a friend of one of the members here?

Lucien Cavalier: Err…no.

Champion: So you're a stranger who found his way here by chance!

Lucien Cavalier: Kind of…wondering which kind soul admitted me? I'd really want to thank the person.

Champion: It wasn't me but let me try to find out for you! We have a separate group chat outside the game.

Champion was rather chatty towards a stranger he had just met and didn't judge him for being a level 20 newbie. He was reminded about his jovial buddy, PandaHero.

A short while later, a new face greeted him on the chat channel

[Clan Chat Channel]

Aeryn Faith: Hello! Sorry I wasn't checking the game and didn't see that you've joined us already! Welcome!

Champion: Yo, meet our clan leader. She's the one who admitted you!

Aeryn Faith - the name didn't ring a bell. But from now on, he'll remember her name.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Lucien Cavalier: Clan leader, thank you for accepting me!

Aeryn Faith: Have fun here and if you need any help, just shout into the channel, alright?

[Champion has sent you a friend request.]

[Aeryn Faith has sent you a friend request.]

His new 'family' was unexpectedly…nice. Lucas didn't have a much of real conversation with average players in the past. He had randomly helped some of them before but he merely instructed them. His friend list used to consist of members from Knights of Freedom or other high level players who'd occasionally chat him up and exchange tips.

Champion and Aeryn Faith were the first two average players' who became his friends.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Lucien Cavalier: I've added you guys, thanks again! Erm, I wonder if there are any clan rules to follow?

Some clans had rules to obey, like how RavenX demanded that members scolded Ash Knight every day. He'd better find out if The Vagabonds had any.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Champion: Rules…we don't actually like them so we don't have any. We're pretty chill here, you don't have to log in every day if you don't want to.

Aeryn Faith: That's why we're called The Vagabonds. If you're asking about whether you need to participate in the clan activities, that's totally up to you. We believe that gaming isn't about conquering one dungeon after the next or leveling up to become the strongest…that's not on our agenda.

Champion: Yeah, we don't stand a chance against those higher level clans anyway. We just do our own stuff here. If a dungeon's too difficult for us, we'll just forget about it. As for clan activities…we sometimes don't participate at all, haha.

Aeryn Faith: In short, we're just a group of people who're trying to make the best of our time while we're still playing this game!

Lucas hadn't met 'carefree players' like them who didn't care about getting rewards from clan activities or conquering dungeons. They were unlike the players he knew.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Champion: It's not like we're lazy. Some parts of the game are just not meant for average players like us who don't throw any money into making our avatars stronger.

…

That statement sounded like an insult reprimanding Ash Knight, the top spender of the DOJ.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Lucien Cavalier: You mean none of the members here had spent a single cent on purchasing equipment, etc?

Champion: Not that I know of…some of them might have bought a few items here and there but I doubt they spent more than 10 bucks.

Lucien Cavalier: Not even our clan leader?

Aeryn Faith: I don't believe in spending money on games.

Champion: We're ordinary folks. We don't have deep pockets like the top players! Though I do envy them…

Lucas felt another stab in his heart. His new friends belonged to a different league. He'd better adopt a different tone when speaking to them.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Lucien Cavalier: This is such an awesome clan! I've finally found a family now, so many others have rejected me. Sob sob.

Aeryn Faith: Don't worry, we were just like you! We knew how it felt like being the rejected folks in the game so we never reject anybody.

Fate had a way of turning things around. To think that he was now one of the "rejected folks" saddened him a little. He wondered what his new friends would think he they ever found out about his real identity, if he ever had the chance to prove to them who he really was.

[Clan Chat Channel]

Aeryn Faith: Speaking of which…did you choose this server by mistake? You're welcome to stay though you'll have an easier life in one of the newer servers. You've just started playing, right? It's not too late to change now.

Champion: No! It's been so long since we welcomed a new friend, don't chase him away!

Aeryn Faith: I'm just trying to guide our newbie friend. We were once lost sheep too so he might need some help.

Champion: Who's better to guide a newbie than me? Little Lucien dear, would you like to be my disciple? You can't see the sincere look on my face now but I'm sure you can sense it! I'll teach you everything you need to know about this game!

Aeryn Faith: There he goes again…

Be his…disciple?

Champion had no idea who he was asking to be his disciple!