The walk down into the cove was slow and dark, she had to keep a hand out to steady herself against the wall as she made her way down carefully towards the room. For a moment she considered just tumbling down the stairs. Would fall damage take effect? What if failure in this world rejected her form the VR and her trial was cut short? Best not to test the limits of the game in a way that might end her time in it prematurely. So she followed the instructions to ‘Find her weapon.’ Again the whole premise seemed absurd to call reality as it literally sounded like the first fetch quest in an MMO that was proceeded with ‘How to Move.’ When she finally got the bottom of the stairs she found herself in a small square room. Dark except for one flickering torch behind her and walls simply covered in strange tablets.

For a moment she heard a chiming sound, like the wind blowing through a set of wind chimes. The soft ringing causing her to spin in a circle trying to detect where it came from. It was impossible though, no chimes hung from the ceiling, and the air in the room felt stale and still barely disturbed at all.

“Well, at least they don’t do glowing quest markers or full on hand holding,” she mused aloud as she strode towards the wall. “But none of this looks like a-” she paused noticing the tablets on closer inspection had faintly carved runes, the shapes of weapons cut into them. Her hands brushed over a few, tracing the form of a gun, a strange bow, a sword that looked right out of World of Warcraft, and a staff that felt like it was from Final Fantasy. She reached out for a staff, a mage's weapon for someone intelligent seemed like a proper choice.

Yet she felt nothing when she ran her hand over the runes surface.

She frowned, “Activate,” she said it with conviction, “Summon!” she said it louder, “I choose you?” There was something like laughter now. This time it seemed to be coming from another wall in the room. Turning to her right she moved along the wall tracing her hand over the runes till she almost felt like she was being tugged. There was a low hum, a sound of wind chimes again. Her gaze drifted slightly up and right, she wasn’t sure what pulled it there but she reached up a bit higher.

<< That’s better. >>

The voice dripped with an air of lofty delight, the chimes blowing and suddenly a heavy gold and red chakram with burning runes appeared in Lunar’s hand causing her to yelp and stumble backwards, scrambling with her empty hand to adjust her glasses as she swung the weapon out at arm length by a grip in the middle. “I er, well… this is a weapon… I guess.”

There was a scoff, a sense of irritation, << You guess? This. Is elegance in battle. A dance that you will learn. In time of course. >> The voice seemed to trail off as if thinking or lost in its own thoughts. “Well? Are you going to tell me your name?” There was another pause, << Hung Lei, Thundering Hero. >> Again he drifted away from her. It was hard to describe, but voice ringing in her head seemed to fade after every comment, the sound of chimes also seeming to be missing.

The girl scowled waving her weapon above her head, “Hey, HEY! Lei! You’re my guide right? My wise old sage? Or just some floating tutorial?” There was a stirring again, a sigh, << I am your mentor. Yes. Clear your mind. Don’t focus on the weapon. >> The instructions came as a distraction as she tried to maul over what he was saying. The next thing she knew on her other wrist a thick gold band appeared with red runs running around the gold bracelet. << If you have need of me, focus, remember the weapon you just held and I will return. For now. I will rest. >>

She rolled her eyes a bit, a lazy old man for a mentor and he was inside her head apparently. Never mind the fact she had to play a Pugilist class…. At around the same time her phone buzzed. It was an ugly simple thing they had given her for ‘work’ and seemed to be calling her to a general meeting for new ‘Hunters.’ With a shrug she closed the device and made her way out of the cove.