The scene changed, and Ozzy appeared in the middle of a small village along with the two-dozen people in his group.

He quickly found Rolly, Ben, and Suzette.

All of them had elected to look like their younger selves, with Rolly turning back the years to twenty or less.

Being only 5’6” tall made him look even younger, helped by short, sandy hair that defied any comb and a casual way of going through life that disguised a sharp brain.

Ben and Suzette looked like they had at twenty-five.

Ben was tall and lean, with long black hair in a ponytail, a thin mustache, and a pointed beard.

He looked like a gentleman pirate and had played the part of one often.

Seeing Suzette like this brought back a lot of memories for Ozzy.

They’d had an on-again, off-again relationship for decades that was always a little more than friends and had never quite become permanent.

She stood an inch shorter than Rolly, with long, black curls rolling down her back and hazel eyes.

Like him, everyone was wearing burlap tunics and pants and straw sandals, but he couldn’t help but notice they looked better on her.Suzette looked at Ozzy and smiled.

“An apron? Are you helping me in the kitchen or cutting up meat? I’m starting as a baker.

Not my first choice, for sure, but at least Rolly and Ben got closer to what they wanted.”Rolly smiled happily.

“I’m a shepherd and hopefully have some dogs and a flock of sheep around here somewhere.”Ben also looked happy.

“They gave me the job of Courier.

I get to roam the countryside, delivering important messages while looking dashing.

It’s a start.

Although the skills seem a little on the light side.

I wonder if there is someplace in town to get more training? Maybe a guild hall?”“Who knows? I’m starting out as a Butcher.” Ozzy noticed that Billy Horvacs had appeared.

“The bossman is here; let’s hear what he has to say and then talk later, after dinner.

I want to go over skills and brainstorm how we get started.” The others nodded and watched as Billy came over to the group and stood on the large table in the center area.“Well, all twenty-five of you figured out how to adjust your looks and learn to walk without falling over, so that’s a good start.

I’d tell you about the management training session, but you’d be laughing too hard to get any work out of you for the rest of the day.

Take a look around you.

This is an example of the small villages ACME is starting with.

We’ll all be living in these quaint, rustic huts until we can make something better.”The workers were looking at the huts.

Rustic was a good word to use, but no one considered them quaint.“Feel free to look around a little.

While we’re still in part of the orientation program, this is pretty close to what our village looks like, and a few hundred other villages scattered around the Empire.

I’m told this is one of the better ones, believe it or not, courtesy of the Legion outpost ten miles up the road.

We’ve got the basics here, but no fancy shops.

That big building over there is the local tavern.

There’s also an Inn with much better, and much more expensive, food and drink.

There’s a general store somewhere, a dressmaker, a potion shop, a mage’s guild.

We’ll be building a lumber mill, smokehouse, blacksmith, and a lot of farms.

A year from now, this place will be a thriving metropolis and a center of trade.”The workers shrugged or nodded.

Billy continued his monologue.“I cut a deal with the Tavernkeeper, Derek, to cook our meals and save you folks a lot of work.

You get three meals a day, as much as you want to eat, and a half-pint of ale after work is over.

If you want better food or more beer, see me about working some overtime.

Extra hours will get you credit at the tavern.”That brought up a question.

“What’s the schedule?”Billy smiled.

“Great question! The sun comes up, and the rooster crows at six in the morning.

You should use the next half-hour to get breakfast and anything else you need to do.

We start work at 6:30 and quit at 7:00 in the evening.

There’s a half-hour off for lunch, and dinner is after your work is done.

We work six days a week, and you have one day a week off.

There will be times when we have extra work to do and mandatory overtime.

You might have to work longer hours or skip a day off now and then, but don’t worry, we’ll give you credit vouchers that you can use at the tavern.”He looked around at the faces of his crew, making a note of who smiled and who was unhappy.

“And you’ll be thanking me on those long days for those perks we negotiated for you.

You won’t be tired, and you’ll have more free time in the evenings.

Any other questions?”Delbert walked to the front.

He was only 5’4” in real life and had chosen to remain short and small in the game.

“I got a heritage option, and I took it.

What’s all that about? My hair turned white, but I sort of like it like this.”Billy’s eyes narrowed slightly.

This wasn’t something he knew about.

“Good job, Delbert.

Get anything good from it?”“Yeah, my INT went up by +1, and it says I’m Winter Aspected.

Plus, I got some cool spells.

I have cantrips that Lower Temperature, Preserve Food, and Destroy Vermin.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.My class is Contract Worker: Temperature Mage.”“Way to go, Delbert, you're our first Wizard.

You’ll be working in the storehouses when we get them set up.

Say, how many other people have a Heritage option and took it?”Delbert was telling anyone who would listen, “I’m a wizard!” All of the other workers raised their hands.

A few had minor cantrips or abilities, and everyone had at least a +1 bonus to their stats.

Billy was mulling this over.

ACME and the other corporations had carefully devised the Contract Worker class, and nothing had been said about Heritage.

ACME’s newest department, Game Development, had a lot of young employees in it, anxious to make a name for themselves and move up the ladder.

He wondered if one of them had slid this into the contract somehow.

Billy didn’t like surprises, but this one seemed beneficial to him.“Well, I’m glad to see you all took those options.

Anything that makes you a better worker is a good thing.

More work equals more profit from our village and that will turn into benefits for you down the line.

Now, you have a little time.

Feel free to walk around and get used to the game world.

Supposedly, it will feel more and more real until you can’t tell the difference.

Ben suggested they move away from the town and take the opportunity to share notes and make some plans.

Ozzy went over what he’d learned and showed them his heritage bonus and skills.

The other three had taken their Heritage options as well.Suzette had gained +2 CHA and +2 DEX.

“It felt odd when I accepted.

There were little changes like my hair grew longer and curlier, something I’d always wanted.

But I think I feel better, more confident.”Ben was memorizing the different bonuses.

“Hmm, not sure if I felt the confidence part.

I got +1 CHR, +1 DEX, and +2 AGI.

What did you get, Rolly?”“These are Perfect stats for a Shepherd or monster tamer: +2 WIS and +2 CON.

The WIS gives me extra mana, and the CON gives me health and stamina.”Ben added that to his notes.

“So STR gives some stamina and health, and CON does the same.

WIS, CHA, and INT all give extra mana.

Maybe different types of magic? This is going to be difficult without a regular tutorial and skills.

And players aren’t going to enter the world for a month, so we can’t get info from them.”Rolly had more to add.

“When we were heading to the room with the pods, I sort of walked close behind some of the managers.

There were lots of gripes about stuff, but one did mention something about groups of Beta Testers coming into the game at some point.

We might see some players pretty soon and be able to get some info from them on how the game works.”As they compared their meager skills, Ozzy realized something he should have asked the system.

“What’s the difference between Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Skills? Does anyone know?Ben answered quickly.

“First question I asked.

I noticed that ‘the system’ seemed to warm up over time, but it really hates to give out information.

This one is simple, though, and sucks for us.

When you do something that gives experience, a Primary skill gets 100%, Secondary only 30%, and Tertiary gets a measly 10%.

Supposedly, regular players get six of each to start and can trade off skills for little perks.

I think ACME traded off almost all of our skills.”Rolly shrugged.

“Players probably have all their spiffy fighting and magic skills as Primary and Secondary skills and their trade skills down at the bottom.

Our bosses traded all our good starting skills away for perks that let us work longer and get more done.

That makes sense from a corporate viewpoint that only cares about getting as much work out of us as possible.”“We need to keep a list of skills, stats, and other data to see how we can make the system work for us.” As Ben said this, he saw all of his friends pointing to him.

Ben liked collecting data, and the job usually fell to him.

“I should have expected that.

Luckily, I have a skill that helps with it.

Keep me updated on anything you learn.

And now the big question: What’s our goal?”Rolly grinned at him.

“Other than have fun? This is great! Everything seems real.”Suzette turned to Ozzy, “You put this deal together; what was your plan?”Ozzy considered for a moment, then shrugged and spread his hands, “Truthfully, I jumped at the chance at full-time employment and healthcare.

We all needed both and didn’t have another way to get them.

But one thing about this deal intrigues me, and that’s the competition between corporations to build up their little kingdoms.

I bet that leaves a lot of openings for other people to do the same.

We work hard, take advantage of those days off to earn some extra coin, and be ready for whatever deal we can pull off.”Ben chuckled.

“So, think quick and make things up as we go.

Our usual plan in these situations.”They talked for a few more minutes until the world faded away, and the tutorial ended.