Shelby cupped AIDAN in one hand and raised him to her face, "What is that supposed to mean?"

  "I apologize if I have offended you. I am still learning the proper methods of communicating with players," AIDAN said, sounding regretful.

  "Fine, but why did you bring that up?" Shelby glared at the orb in her palm.

  "I have noticed a pattern in your thinking that I suspect reflects an unwillingness to engage with your current predicament. For example, you just now thought to yourself 'No response. I wonder why.'"

  Shelby's eye twitched, "Yes, I remember, and?"

  "Do you actually have an interest in the 'why' of this situation?" AIDAN asked.

  "I..." Shelby wanted to say, "Of course I do," but she paused for a moment to think it over.

  Am I actually thinking about what's going on? I guess I really did dismiss my situation as a mystery...

  Shelby let out a long sigh that was caught in her chest. She knew why this was striking a nerve. Shelby had struggled with this a lot when she moved for college. She would catch herself thinking things like, Why didn't I get an email about my class registration? but then never following up, leading to her missing a key class. It was almost a ritual, a way of telling herself, "Things just happen and it's outside of my control." Usually, Tara would remind her to check in with the campus administration... or check in with her parents... or to get her daily walk in...

  But... Isn't this whole mess outside of my control, or am I just ignoring it?

  "If you would like, we could discuss the possibilities of the outcome of our communication attempt. I believe that with our combined efforts we could narrow the possible interpretations down," AIDAN suggested.

  "Um, sure. Let's talk about it," Shelby said.

  They were just coming through the split in the road that led to the Farming Village. The sun had started to sink into the horizon, so the air was growing cooler and the leaves fanning out of the road were catching light in a pretty way. There hadn't been attacks or interruptions as Elizabeth trotted down the road, so they had plenty of time to discuss.

  "There can't be that many reasons why they didn't respond. Either they're busy, they don't see my messages, or... they can't respond. I think...?" Shelby thought through the possibilities out loud.

  "I believe that is accurate. It may also be that they have responded, but you are unable to receive their messages," AIDAN said.

  "Oh... that's true. I can talk to you and my party members though. I guess players could be different?" Shelby said, uncertainty straining her voice.

  "I am skeptical of this possibility, but we cannot rule it out as of yet," AIDAN's core flickered, "I think it is unlikely that every player is coincidentally busy, but there are some conditions in which players cannot be messaged. When players are in instanced dungeons they cannot respond to personal messages, for example."

  "So all the players could be in a dungeon. You said before that some of them are in the area north of here, right? So, they aren't busy for that reason," Shelby concluded.

  "Yes, you are correct. We can eliminate that possibility."

  "So either they can't see my messages or they can't respond, or... I can't see their messages," Shelby scratched as her soft ears, "the first and the last ones could be connected."

  "Indeed. I must also mention that it is possible to manually block all communications with a player, but I believe the player initiating this process must be able to select their target from the player list. Since you are not on that list, I don't think you were deliberately ignored. Likewise, you have not ignored anyone."

  "But maybe the hack disabled communication somehow," Shelby proposed.

  "That is possible," AIDAN said, "However, I have been in communication with the technical support team, so we have evidence that some communication systems are operational."

  "Yeah..." Shelby closed her eyes, "I remember Tara saying she shared her trick for communicating with me on some chat too. If that didn't work for other players, doesn't that sorta mean that the last option is the most likely? That they can't respond..."

  "That is a compelling argument," AIDAN said.

  "That's the worst one, though," Shelby whipped her tail across Elizabeth's back in agitation, "are they like trapped or something like that? Maybe they're all tied up."

  "I believe you would still be able to send message requests even if you were immobilized," AIDAN said.

  "Okay, not tied up. What if they're unconscious or something? Sleeping?"

  "That is a possibility."

  Shelby nodded slowly to herself, "It's pretty scary to think that everyone else might be knocked out. It seems like that no matter what, we have to go to them. We were already going to do that, but it was good to talk through it."

  "I am glad I was able to contribute," AIDAN said, "I have enjoyed witnessing your progress, but your unwillingness to engage with uncertainty was troubling me."

  "Yeah... thanks for telling me," Shelby said, still a little offended, "I'll try to be mindful..."

  "Now that we have concluded our discussion, may I ask you to participate in a brief survey?" AIDAN asked in a hopeful tone.

  "Sure?" Shelby said as he floated out of her hand.

  "Thank you for your cooperation. Item one, on a scale from one to five, with one representing 'strongly disagree' and five representing 'strongly agree', how would you respond to the statement: My in-game companion has helped me in my journey."

  "Um, five!" Shelby said.

  "Thank you. Item two, on a scale from-"

  "Is the scale different?"

  "It is not."

  "Then you don't need to repeat it."

  "Understood, how would you respond to the statement: My in-game companion has a pleasant personality and is enjoyable to interact with," AIDAN stated.

  "Five, of course!" Shelby replied.

  "Thank you. How would you respond to the statement: My in-game companion is indistinguishable from a human."

  Oh, how should I respond to that. Does AIDAN want to seem human?

  "Ms. Shelby, I can hear your internal dialogue. Please give me your honest evaluation."

  "Uh... two?" Shelby smiled weakly at him.

  "I see... that concludes the survey. Thank you for your responses," AIDAN said, clearly disappointed, and returned himself to her apron pocket.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  They rode on in uncomfortable silence, but thankfully they crested the last hill and were only a few minutes away from the farming village. It was a sad sight. Much of the outer two rings of homes were completely ravaged, and dark patches of burned material and scorched ground were all that were left.

  Villagers were hauling items out of the town's walls and, judging by the size of the piles they were walking towards, they had been doing this for hours. Shelby directed Elizabeth to stop near a flat clearing and hopped down, looking around for the grumpy old squirrel that she assumed was Mogu. She spotted him up on a bank of the town's tiered farming plots, and walked over to him.

  He looked down at her with deeply tired eyes, "What's this? Who are you?"

  "I'm Mille. I was sent by Pico to deliver supplies to help your town."

  His shoulders relaxed visibly, "Ah, that is good. What all was sent?"

  Shelby fished the manifest she was given out of her apron pocket and handed it over. Mogu quickly read through it and gave a few small nods every couple of seconds. After he was done reading, he looked back up with a friendly smile, "Could you take that load over to our main gate? I'll have some people come unload it."

  Shelby said, "Of course! Is there anything else I can do to help?"

  Mogu jerked his head towards a makeshift job board that was pinned up on the charred log wall, "That's how we're assigning tasks for now. If you'd like to help, we'd appreciate it."

  "Will do!" Shelby said, and looked back at the people shuffling between piles of damaged material.

  There were three piles in total. One was wood, straw, and other material that didn't seem very damaged. It was pretty small, but they seemed to be salvaging some of the buildings. Next to it was blackened timber and furniture. Things that couldn't be saved, perhaps. The final pile was just ash, small pieces of charcoal, and other unrecognizable material. Shelby turned to ask Mogu about them, but he was already a dozen paces away and shouting orders to someone below him.

  Shelby walked back over to Elizabeth and guided her towards the entrance to the town. She stopped off to one side and waved down someone who seemed to be directing people to different piles. He looked surprised when he saw her, and performed a small bow. He was a chipmunk-type Daizi, and he was only about a half-head taller than Shelby. His voice was high and he spoke quickly, "Hi there. Supplies for us?"

  "Yes, Mogu said you would know what to do with them."

  He nodded three times, then turned and whistled loudly. A trio of taller Diazi jogged over, got their orders, and started unloading the contents of the wagon onto handcarts. The chipmunk bowed a second time and started to turn back to his work. Shelby held out a hand, "Wait, what are the piles for?"

  He looked confused, "Well, one is intact material."

  Shelby waved her hand, "That one makes sense, I guess I'm wondering why you're collecting the burnt wood and ashes."

  "Ah, old farmer techniques. Charcoal, from the burnt wood. That can be used for smithing and filtering water. Ash is for fertilizer, making lye, warding off pests. Everything has a use. We burn logs every couple of years, but... for now we have plenty. It was only last year that we stocked up," the chipmunk winced, staring back towards his ruined village.

  "Yeah. I'm sorry. I was just curious," Shelby said, but hearing about the ash gave her an idea, "You said you made lye? Do you you still have a lot?"

  The chipmunk nodded, "Yeah, we'll see if we even make more. We always have tons of it."

  Shelby brightened, "Are there any jobs for making food?"

  He tilted his head, "I think so, but I'm just directing clean up. You'd have to check."

  Shelby kept talking, "Could I borrow some lye? Oh, and some baking supplies? It could help the village!"

  Shelby stood up straighter, vibrating with energy. This is a great idea!

  "Uh. Normally I would say no, but these materials you brought will help us a lot. I don't mind if you take a few things. Just don't get greedy. Storehouse is right there," he pointed to a tall building a few rows into the village.

  "Thanks!" Shelby said as she turned to jog towards it.

  The inside was getting dark as the sun was starting to set, but it was well organized and labelled, so Shelby quickly found a jar full of lye sitting on a wooden shelf. She opened the lid and smiled, it was filled with a semi-translucent powder. That's lye alright!

  Ah, do I even have a pot... Shelby opened her inventory. Her non-tutorial said that she started with appropriate equipment, but what did that entail? She quickly found that she did indeed have a cookware set, which included a saucepan and a large pot. It also included a full set of utensils, a couple of dried herbs, and an 'All Purpose Cooking Crucible'. Huh, that last one is weird, but all of these tools are nice.

  Shelby scanned the shelves for the other ingredients she had in mind, and quickly found milled flour and sea salt, but after a few passes she was disappointed to find that there wasn't any yeast or butter. Maybe... Shelby walked back down the shelves and found a glass bottle full of oil. That might work, but what about yeast...

  "I suspect you are attempting to bake bread," AIDAN said from her pocket, "This may be an opportune moment to learn about how crafting an item works within the game."

  Shelby froze. Oh no, I went into baking mode. Is this even going to work?

  She cleared her throat, "Something like that, yes. If I... cook something from the real world, would that work here?"

  "There are many recipes in the game that were inspired by real world dishes. If you create something similar-enough to a set recipe, you will discover it," AIDAN explained.

  "Perfect, then I just need to find some yeast," Shelby said as she turned back to the shelving.

  "As I was explaining, there is a mechanism for accommodating situations such as this one," AIDAN said, "If you will examine your Recipe Book skill you will see a list of Basic Ingredient spells to summon items like yeast, sugar, flour, oil, and so on."

  "What? That sounds incredibly useful!" Shelby exclaimed.

  She used the Recipe Book skill and a slim notebook materialized in her hands. She set her armful of cooking supplies onto an empty shelf and cracked it open:

  Ooh! One!

  Wow! So I could summon the yeast, butter, flour... basically everything I need.

  "I realize you have already requested and acquired lye, but in the future you may also summon leavening ingredients, acids, and bases with Summon Alchemical," AIDAN said.

  "Ah, okay. I guess pepper and chili or whatever can come from 'Summon Spice' too?" Shelby asked.

  "Indeed, though there are limits and a significant drawback to summoned materials, as you will see if you examine your spells," AIDAN said.

  "Huh?" Shelby said as she selected Summon Yeast.

  Poor Quality and it disappears... Shelby turned to stare at the Lye she had left on the counter and examined it. She stood stock-still for a few seconds waiting for something to happen. Then realized that she needed to place it into her inventory to examine. She touched it, absorbed it into her inventory, and then found the powder in her personal space.

  "Oh, so the quality is better if you have a real ingredient... that's a little disappointing, but I have to have yeast, so at least it's something..."

  Shelby retrieved her kitchen knife and held it out over a plank, then concentrated on her Artisanal Focus ability and Summon Yeast. She felt power drawing out of her core and gathering in the handle of the knife. She had an urge to chop something up, but since there was just empty air in front of her, she waved the knife around instead. After 10 seconds, there was a sudden release of tension and the blade felt normal again.

  Shelby bent over and looked at the wooden surface. No yeast...

  "It was deposited directly into your inventory, Ms. Shelby," AIDAN said after an awkward pause.

  Shelby sighed, then extracted a small pile of spherical yeast resting on a thin piece of parchment paper.

  "A-ha! Yeast of my own making! I have never felt more powerful," Shelby told the empty warehouse.

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