Skylar turned to look beside him at a ragged man coming towards them.
What does this guy want?
Skylar squeezed his face underneath the mask.
["Big bro, I think he is one of the emotion miners you talked about."]
["Nah.. This guy really has real issues..."] Skylar replied Starboy voice transmission in the same manner.
Soon the ragged man reached them. He bowed deeply.
"Good afternoon sirs. Please sirs, I need your financial assistance, anything you can spare me. My wife had a still birth two days ago and the hospital bills I was asked to pay before they can release her is five thousand gold. All I have been able to gather for the past two days is four hundred and seventy Gold and sixty five silver."
"As I stand before you sirs, I have not eaten for the past two days sirs. Please I beg you two sirs... I pray the creator of the simulation will bless and reward you two sirs if you have mercy on my wife and the spirit of my dead child..."
Is the last part needed...
Skylar chuckled. To the ragged man, the chuckle felt like an indication of rejection. So because of it, tears starts to come out of his eyes and he starts to shake violently on the spot as he sobs, looking pitiful.
Skylar, although he saw the ragged man response, ignored him and turned to face Starboy.
"What do you think we should?"
"Eh!" At Skylar's unexpected question, Starboy stood puzzled. He squeezed his face and looked at the ragged man that instantly toned down his sobbing when he heard Skylar's question and is looking at the two of them hopefully, before looking back at Skylar.
He responded, "Big brother, have you forgotten our grandma, grandpa, mother and father had a big accident, and we were told to bring two million dollars for thier treatment?"
"I remember too sob... they are all in ICU. sob" Skylar responded, sobbing. "And we've not eaten anything for the past eight days, all we have been doing is trying to gather the money here and there *sob* who will help us two poor brothers *sob*"
"*sob* I thought you were going to abandon mom and the rest, big brother. *sob*" Starboy followed up, he also starts sobbing, wiping real tears from the corner of his eyes. "Unless we give him the little we've gather so far, we can't help him big brother?"
Starboy looked at Skylar whilst still sobbing and sniffing, with snorts and tears sticking to his face, awaiting his response.
Skylar nodded his head, "Yes, you are right. For his wife and spirit of his dead child, We might have to sacrifice mom and everyone."
Skylar and Starboy stop looking at one another and simultaneously turn to look at the ragged man who has a clear stunned expression on his face as he stood watching them.
The ragged man coughed, clearing his throat. "Benefactors, I am happy for the kind gestures. Please keep the money for their treatment, I wish them quick recovery."
Saying this, the ragged man quickly turned around and left like he came; back a bit hunched, atmosphere totally gloomy and steps quick and unsteady. Then a moment later; after making sure the ragged man was far away, Skylar turned to Starboy who looked like he never cried in the first place.
"Bad man. You are not bad." Skylar grinned at him.
Starboy grinned back, flashing his pearly teeth.
"Big bro, its the regulars. Just the regular, you know?" He shrugged, smiling contentedly.
Skylar after responding with an acknowledging nod, returned his focus to the tall vertical wall of the dock length side in front of them.
He looked to his left and right. He saw people like them—who stand in front of the wall—interact with it, and then a short moment later, appear to enter into openings that appeared on it.
He turned to Starboy.
"Abbas, what do we do here?"
"Big bro, just put your palm on the wall, you have a free ride and I already bought a flight ticket, all we need to do is ride the flying crib and enter the ship."
"Okay." Skylar responded, and as Starboy instructed; he put his palm on the glass wall which resulted in a part of it outlined in a square—50meters by 50 meters—lit up and display an unfamiliar UI.
After what seems to be a scanning of his palm, the outlined part furrowed slightly, leaving a gap between his hand, and slowly starts splitting open like a door, revealing a fairly big space behind it.
A moment later; after the door fully opened, Skylar and Starboy, both entered into the space that was revealed and that lit up on the first step on it. However, Inside the square space of fifty meters in length, width and height, was nothing.
As the door of the space starts to close behind them, Skylar and Starboy find a place on its glass floor and sit down next to each other.
A moment later; after the door close shut, Skylar noticed a very faint change in the gravitational pull.
His masked face looked around. "We are going up, right?"
"Yes, big bro." Starboy replied. From his messenger bag on his lap, he brought out a glyph tablet. He taps on it and it displayed accordingly. Sensing this, Skylar turned his face to the side and starts looking at the screen.
Starboy with head lowered sensed Skylar action. He asked, "Big bro, have you switched to Y2 network?"
"Y2 network? What's that?" Skylar responded. His eyes revealed by his mask, express his curiosity.
"Big bro, did you know player didn't have access to the tower networks in the past—we couldn't communicate with each other inside a safe zone, unless we use our player interface..." Starboy replied. He taps on the screen of his G tablet.
"Oh... You mean the G mobiles were pretty much useless for players?" Skylar's eyes expressed his realization.
"Yes, big bro." Starboy replied. "They were all network disabled for players, until we were allowed on the Z1 network a year ago."
His head still lowered and face focus on his G tablet screen, he tapped on it before continuing. "And big bro, the Z1 network is the first network released by the tower, and unlike the Y2 network they released a year ago, its range is limited to a safe zone... if we leave our safe zone and go to another safe zone, the Z1 network there will be limited to that safe zone only—we would lose all connection to the Z1 connection of the safe zone we are coming from."
"You mean, different safe zones different Z1 connections, and they can't connect."
Starboy nodded. "Yes, big bro, but..."
"Wait..." Skylar interrupted.
He continued, "What about outside a safe zone?"
Starboy turned his face to look at Skylar briefly. "Big bro, you mean the wild?"
"Wild? The one beyond farlands and the inner region?" Skylar asked, suprised and intrigued as he awaits an answer.
However after a momentary pause, during which Starboy big round eyes narrowed very briefly; Starboy shook his head. "Big bro, wild is a word we players use... and it refers to any place outside a safe zone."
"Oh, I see." Skylar's eyes brightened in realization. I thought it was that wild...
"So, what about it... does the Z1 network work there?" He asked.
Meanwhile, the flying crib they are inside—made entirely of chameleon glass, that is set to be only transparent from the inside and not from the outside, making it impossible for anyone outside to see them—exit from the top edge of the dork and continue flying up, towards the wide entrance of the purple wooden ship at its starboard.
Starboy shook his head fervently. "Absolutely not, big bro. No network setup function in the wild, except our player interface that has a maximum range of 3 kilometers."
"Maximum range? What do you mean?" Skylar questioned. Meanwhile he starts looking at the sight outside the flying crib.
"Big bro, have you ever used your player interface to send a message in the wild before?" Starboy tapped on the display of the G tablet, shutting it off.
"Maybe, kind of." Skylar replied. He saw Starboy put the G tablet in his bag.
"Then big bro, if a person you want to message in the wild is more than 3 km away from where you are, your player interface will not connect to that person..."
Skylar interjected, "You mean we can only communicate with our player interface outside a safe zone, and the distance is limited to three kilometers.?"
At the same time Starboy sat back, leaning his back on the glass wall of the flying crib, he replied, "Yes big bro... anything more than that, the player interface will not connect. But inside a safe zone... as long as the person we are trying to reach is inside... range doesn't matter... we can easily connect to one another."
Skylar nodded in realization. He questioned, "Can we connect to another player in another safe zone?"
"No." Starboy shook his head. "Our player interface function like a Z1 network; its reach is limited to a particular safe zone. As we are inside Lavender right now, our player interface can't connect to another player in Celestial, and a player in Celestial can't connect to us."
Meanwhile, the flying crib they are inside, like another one that is about a hundred and fifty meter from it, rose completely above the height level of the edge of the eight hundred meter wide opened drawbridge door at the middle of its starboard.
As the crib slowly starts moving downward at an angle after peaking—descending towards the drawbridge door flat surface—Skylar briefly looked at the wide open entrance that is filled with minimal activities before resuming their conversation.
"So? What's Y2 network?" He asked.
"Big bro, you know Braveland is divided into four halfs?" Starboy replied. He stood up and starts grooming his newsie outfit.
"What's Braveland? Brave?" Skylar responded as he noticed another flying crib caught up with them, making him think maybe the speed of the cribs can be adjusted.
Starboy readjust his newboy cap. He replied, "Yes, big bro. The original name is Braveland, the short form is Brave."
"Okay, I get it. I know the four halfs... west, north, east and south, right?" Skylar questioned, he turned his face to look at Starboy standing beside him, before looking down at the floor of the 4km long and 4km wide dock through the transparent glass floor of the crib.
"Yes, big bro." Starboy nodded. He continued, "So big bro, the Y2 network like an upgrade of the Z1 network, connects all one hundred and eight safe zones in a half."
"The Y2 network of our half allows people within all its active safe zones to communicate with one another, and its the same for the other halfs; they also have their own Y2 network."
"But big bro, all the networks are not free. We have to pay a 30 day subscription fee to connect with one network. And by one network, I mean if we go to another safe zone, we will have to first subscribe to their Z1 network before we can use it... and it won't matter if we already have a subscription for our home safe zone Z1 network or not..."
"You mean, different Z1 networks, different subscriptions." Skylar chimed in.
"Yes big bro..." Starboy replied. He paced towards the side of the square crib facing the ship entrance as the flying crib nears the floor of the lowered drawbridge door of the ship.
Skylar remembered a particular word Starboy used earlier, so curious about it, he return his focus to Starboy as he followed behind him.
"Abbas, what is the active safe zone thing you mentioned earlier?"
"Ah, big bro you do not know?" Starboy exclaimed, Skylar's questioned surprised him.
"Know what?" Skylar replied. He tilts his head.
"Big bro, what do you think is bravers total population?" Starboy responded as he reached the transparent glass wall of the crib.
"Bravers? What's that one?" Skylar asked. In confusion, his eyes behind the mask holes narrowed. And just like Starboy before him, he also reached the transparent glass wall of the crib at where it face the drawbridge door.
Starboy sighed, "Big bro, players and users are called bravers in the real world. We also use the word sometimes in the simulation, but 'player-user base' is more common..."
"I see..." Skylar nodded his head. Meanwhile, the crib landed on the glass floor of the lowered draw bridge door, and then its wall they are facing starts opening automatically, sliding apart from the middle.
Skylar continued, "So, what's bravers population? I don't know."
Starboy smiled. "Big bro, our population as of 15 days ago, when the tower release the last year report was nine billion..."
"So many!" Skylar exclaimed, his eyes widening.
Meanwhile, exiting the crib, the two stepped feet on the glass floor of the drawbridge door and starts moving towards the entrance of the ship in front, which is about a hundred meter away.
Starboy smiled faintly. He continued. "Big bro, have you ever thought about how many people a block in a safe zone can contain?"
"How many?" Skylar asked. He glanced at Starboy who is smiling as he walk beside him.
Starboy grinned. "Its about four billion regular humans."
"Hmm, I think so too." Skylar nodded.
"So, big bro. If we are nine billion, and in the first ring alone, there is more than a thousand block, how do you think lavender was able to have its big population?" Starboy asked, smiling faintly.
"I don't know." Skylar shook his head. "How?" He glanced at Starboy.
"Big bro, you know about spawning right?" Starboy replied.
Meanwhile, the two got closer to the entrance, where there are eight—fifty meter long counter with hostesses behind them—lined side by side with a distance of fifty meters between them that serves as passages through the eighty meter high entrance, into the ship.
"Of course... our spawn point is where we begin our journey, and the difficulty level we choose determines how far it is to a safe zone and how dangerous the place is?" Skylar glanced at Starboy, seeking his confirmation.