Perfect. Lucas smiled, savoring the world around him. He pulled the pack off his back and reached inside, retrieving a few of the things that he had prepared before logging out last time: a wheel of cheese, two bottles of wine, and a blanket.

“I see you’re getting started early today,” a sharp female voice said from behind him.

“It takes a great deal of effort to lie around and do nothing all day,” Lucas replied without looking up from the work that he was doing, laying out a blanket. “You have to put in a lot of preparation to do it right.”

The woman who had spoken to him walked up and plopped down on one side of the blanket, not leaving much room for Lucas to lie down. “After almost two years of steady practice, I assume you are the expert on the matter.”

“Are you inviting yourself again today?” Lucas asked.

“Of course. I have to study hard if I want to make it into the upper echelons of apathy and join your ranks, master.”

“Whatever.” Lucas simply shrugged indifferently and lay down next to her on the little bit of blanket she had left for him.

“You’re just letting me use your blanket because you’re too lazy to shoo me off, aren’t you?” she asked, scooting closer to him.

“Your words, not mine.” Lucas reclined back and stared up at the sky. He slowly closed his eyes and then enjoyed the feeling of warm sunlight across his face. He remained that way for a long time, simply enjoying himself until he got hungry, and only then did he take a bite from the wheel of cheese.

“Mine!” the woman declared. She snatched the cheese from his hand, took a bite from it, and then tossed it back to him.

“You should really learn to bring your own if you wa— ” Lucas’s words stopped cold when the sun’s warmth and its light were suddenly cut off from his face. There was no chance it was a passing cloud: the weather in Hesse was perfect. The only thing that could make shade was a person standing over him, yet no other NPCs ever passed by this place. That meant that the individual blocking his light had to be a player, and players always spelled out discomfort. They always either wanted something from him, or they wanted to do something to him.

“Hey, brother,” a gruff voice grunted down from above him. “We’re short one member for the opener quest.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“Come on! You’re the only person here who hasn’t done the class assignment quest. Just help us out so we can get the full-player-party buff that comes from not using NPCs.”