10: First Stat Window

We sold the Hollowsteel Sabre on the Tianyu official auction at six-fifteen in the morning, IRL Hangzhou time, with the dawn light coming flat through the dorm window across my keyboard and Fatty Chen still snoring on the upper bunk and Wanqing on the other end of a voice-DM eating yogurt out of a small plastic cup with her own dorm window open behind her.

The auction house took a four percent platform fee. The remainder hit my Tianyu wallet in three minutes.

> *Tianyu Auction — Sale Confirmed: Hollowsteel Sabre (Blue), Sold to Buyer ID #8742. Sale price: 1,920 RMB. Platform fee: 76.80 RMB. Net to seller: 1,843.20 RMB. Funds released to wallet.*

I split the wallet credit fifty-fifty by the bonded-duo's automatic split clause that the Founder's Pact had registered last night without our needing to set it up. Wanqing's half hit her own Tianyu wallet at the same instant mine landed in mine.

She made a small sound through the voice-DM. The sound was the sound of a person who has, at eighteen years old, just received nine hundred and twenty-one RMB and sixty fen for an hour of work in her dorm bed and has not yet decided whether to laugh or to be solemn.

"Cangtian."

"Mn."

"This is more than my rent."

"It is."

"My monthly rent."

"It is."

She did not say anything for a long moment. I let her have the moment. Outside her open dorm window I could hear the faint regular *thump-thump* of a freshman jogger going past on the path between the dorms, and the metallic clang of someone setting down a metal bucket at the dorm's water tap, and the small distant sound of a campus speaker beginning the morning broadcast a hundred meters away.

She said, "I am going to put nine hundred RMB into a savings account."

"Good."

"I am going to put twenty-one RMB and sixty fen into the canteen breakfast machine."

"Good."

"I am going to take a long shower."

"Good."

"And then I am going to go to my eight-thirty class and I am going to think about what we just did. Cangtian."

"Mn."

"Open your stat window."

"All right."

***

I logged back into the helmet at seven IRL, six-thirty in-game by the in-game dilation, with a small wedge of dawn light coming through the visor's edge that the system smoothed into a soft launch-day haze around my avatar's shoulders. Wanqing was logging in at the same moment. We met at the temple steps in the upper city of Jianghai — the broad pale stone steps that led up to the Temple of the Dawning Crane, a low elegant structure I had always liked the architecture of in old timeline, if only because the Temple's NPC priestess gave a small reputation bonus to any player who climbed the steps in silence at sunrise and bowed once at the top. The Temple was an excellent place to check a sheet.

We climbed the steps without speaking. At the top we bowed.

> *Ding!* [Hidden Achievement Unlocked — *Dawn Pilgrim.* Reward: +5 to Temple Reputation, +2 to MP regeneration permanently.]

Wanqing said, very low, "*Dawn Pilgrim?* You made me bow."

"I did."

"You knew it would unlock something."

"I did."

"You are setting a tempo I am not going to be able to keep up with for very long."

"You will."

She turned her head sideways toward me. The sun was coming up over Jianghai in a slow bright wash; the avatar's face caught the light along the freckled ridge of one cheek and the line of her ear. The Withered Quiver across her back glowed faintly along its rim where the Wither enchant traced its shape in pale green. The pale silver-grey tunic was clean again — the dungeon dust had reset on logout — and the line of the shoulder, where the Beggar's Tunic strap crossed the collarbone, was the cleanest line the avatar's morning silhouette had had since launch.

I let myself look. One full breath. Then I looked away.

"Treat used," she murmured.

"Treat used," I agreed.

We sat down on the temple's upper bench. The bench overlooked a small interior courtyard with a stone fountain and a single pre-rendered cherry tree in a small mossy enclosure. The pass-through gave the air a faint trace of cherry — a launch-week environmental mod I did not remember from old timeline. The Tianyu artists must have pushed it for atmosphere.

I opened the character window.

``` [Character: Bladeless] Class: Swordsman (Lv 10) HP: 720/720 | MP: 220/220 ATK 78 | DEF 42 | STR 28 | AGI 25 | INT 14 | END 22 Equipped: Iron Longsword, Beggar's Tunic, Cloth Pants, Cloth Boots Skills: Basic Slash (Lv 4), Parry (Lv 2), Crescent Moon Slash (Lv 1) Achievements: No Wasted Motion, First-Day Apex, Pioneer of the Path (Stage 2/3), The Off-Tick, Dawn Pilgrim, First-Hour Pioneers (Bonded) Title: First-Hour Pioneers Bonded Duo: WindSpirit (active +1 stats) Gold: 2 silver, 41 copper ```

Wanqing leaned her shoulder lightly against mine to read the panel. The pass-through carried the soft warm pressure across the line of my upper arm. I did not move. She read the lines.

"Crescent Moon Slash Lv 1," she said. "When did you pick that up."

"Yesterday morning before you logged in. NPC outside the south gate, kid named Mu Lan, gives it as a quest reward if you bring her three cherry blossoms from the temple courtyard. I'll show you the spawn."

"Mn." She tilted her head. "ATK 78 at Lv 10 is high."

"Bonded duo bonus. First-Day Apex bonus. Crescent Moon was a tier-two reward."

"Mn." She was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "Open mine."

I opened her panel from the bonded UI. We were registered as a duo; either of us could pull the other's sheet at any time within bond range.

``` [Character: WindSpirit] Class: Archer (Lv 10) HP: 540/540 | MP: 180/180 ATK 62 | DEF 28 | STR 18 | AGI 38 | INT 18 | END 18 Equipped: Withered Quiver, Pale Silver Tunic, Iron-Sole Boots, Cloth Pants Skills: Basic Shot (Lv 4), Aimed Shot (Lv 2), Wind Step (Lv 1) Achievements: First-Day Apex (joint), The Off-Tick, Dawn Pilgrim, First-Hour Pioneers (Bonded) Title: First-Hour Pioneers Bonded Duo: Bladeless (active +1 stats) Gold: 2 silver, 12 copper ```

"You picked up Wind Step," I said. "Yesterday afternoon."

"NPC outside the east gate. Same auntie sells noodles. She's bored. I asked her *bored* twice."

"Of course you did."

The two panels sat side by side in the quiet morning light. The Pioneer of the Path quest line on my panel was at Stage 2 of 3; I could see, on Wanqing's panel, that she did not have it — the quest had triggered for me only because the achievements *No Wasted Motion* and *First-Day Apex* had unlocked together within twenty-four hours, which the system read as a *Pioneer* signature. Stage 3 would be *clear a Lv-12 dungeon as a duo before any other player on the server clears it.* Withered Hollow was a Lv 8-12 dungeon, and the first-clear announcement that had pinged the public chat at dawn had counted; the Stage 3 requirement was therefore already satisfied, and I knew it would unlock the third stage of the Pioneer of the Path quest line on my panel within the next sixty in-game minutes.

I closed the panels. Wanqing was watching me sideways.

"Cangtian."

"Mn."

"What does Pioneer Stage 3 give."

"A title. *Pioneer of the Path.* Plus a small one-time stat boost — +10 to all base stats. Plus a free quest invitation from a hidden NPC who shows up at the south gate of Jianghai for one in-game day to give a chain quest."

"Hidden NPC."

"His name is Beigong Yan. He's a sword-saint NPC. He is — important."

"How important."

"He gives me my class."

She did not say anything for a moment.

"Cangtian."

"Mn."

"Will I be in his quest line."

"No. Only the Pioneer is allowed in. It's a solo chain. It runs for sixty in-game days. You will not be allowed past the first gate."

"Mn." She turned her face away briefly, looking down at the courtyard below, the fountain and the small mossy cherry tree. The freckled cheek caught the morning light. "All right. So I work my own line for sixty days while you are off in his line."

"I will be back at the dorm to eat noodles."

"You will be back to eat noodles. And we will rotate Withered Hollow once a week to keep your weekly first-clear streak alive on the server board." She said it without looking at me. "And we will recruit. We will not stay a duo for two months. You said by the end of the year you would be visible. Visible duos do not survive that. We will pick up Old Wolf in a month and a half. We will pick up the strategist in three. We will found the guild somewhere in week ten. I am working on the names."

I turned my head fully to her.

"Wanqing."

"Mn."

"You are five steps ahead of where I planned to be by the end of this week."

"Yes."

"Did you sleep."

"I slept fifty minutes. I will sleep at noon. Don't change the subject. Cangtian. The plan."

I exhaled. "Old Wolf in a month and a half. Strategist later. Founder's pact already locks our rights. Guild charter when we're ready. I have the names."

"Tell me one."

"Bladeless Hall."

She wrinkled her nose.

"It's a working title."

"It's a *bad* title. We'll fix it."

"You said you were working on the names."

"I said I was working on names. They are not finalized. Do not lock anything in. I will tell you when they are finalized."

"All right."

She leaned her shoulder against mine again, briefly, and did not lift it for a long minute. The pass-through carried the small warm weight along the line of my upper arm and held it there. The cradle band against my IRL ribcage logged the small sustained climb in my heart rate that the system, for reasons of nineteen-year-old user privacy, would aggregate into a daily averaged number and report nothing more revealing than that.

A small chime sounded from the temple's lower courtyard.

> *Ding!* [Quest Updated: Pioneer of the Path — Stage 3 Complete. Reward: Title acquired — Pioneer of the Path. +10 to all base stats. New chain quest available: speak to the wandering swordsman at Jianghai south gate within 24 in-game hours.]

I looked at the message. Wanqing read it from over my shoulder; her cheek brushed the side of my jaw very briefly as she leaned in. The pass-through held the touch for half a heartbeat and let it go.

"Cangtian."

"Mn."

"He's there now."

"He is."

"Then go."

"I will go. We will eat noodles first."

"We will eat noodles first," she agreed.

She stood up. She brushed nothing off her tunic, because the tunic had no dust, but her hand made the small gesture anyway, a small unconscious launch of the body before motion. She offered me her hand. I took it. She pulled me up from the bench with the small easy strength the +1 stats and the bond bonus made just slightly more than her IRL strength, and the small pull tipped me forward a quarter-step too far and we ended up nose to nose for a heartbeat in the morning sun on the temple steps with the cherry tree behind her and the bond icon between our character cards glowing a soft gold above her shoulder.

She tipped her chin up a half-degree.

"Treat," she said. "Last one of the week. Make it count."

"Wanqing."

"Mn."

"You said *of the week*."

"I changed the rules. The rate was unsustainable for both of us. We will revisit the rate next Sunday."

"Understood."

I held her eyes for the heartbeat. I did not lean any closer. I did not move my hand from hers. I let her see, in the half-second she had asked me to make count, that I had been a man five years older than this hand for some time and that this hand had nevertheless not been held by anybody since long before that, and that the small impossibility of it being held now by an eighteen-year-old at a temple gate at sunrise on the third in-game day of a game launch was a thing I had not yet learned how to carry without my chest doing a particular small breaking sound, and that the chest sound was not a problem, only a sound, and that I would not let the sound become a problem.

She watched my face for the half-second. Then she stepped back. The bond icon between us pulsed once.

"Mn," she said. "Counted."

She turned. She walked toward the temple's lower stairs. She did not look back.

I stood for a heartbeat in the dawn light with my hand still slightly curled in the air where hers had been. Then I turned toward the south gate, where, three blocks down through the morning crowd, an NPC swordsman in a faded grey robe with a sword across his back was, at this moment in the in-game day, already standing at the gate in the morning light, waiting for the first player on the Tianlong Server to climb the temple steps in silence at dawn and bow to the priestess and unlock the Pioneer of the Path achievement and collect the third-stage reward and walk down out of the temple within the in-game hour.

I had walked. He was waiting. The sun was climbing.

The chat scroll lit faintly with the small grey ping of a private message. I opened it.

*MoonShadow: First-Hour Pioneers. Server-first announcement. Impressive. — M.*

I did not reply. I closed the message. I started down the steps.

Behind me, the bond icon followed me at the small steady distance that the +1 stats required, the gold double-arc faint against the morning sky.

In front of me, the south gate of Jianghai opened in a long pale arc of stone and light. Beigong Yan was already there. I could see the silhouette of him from the top of the temple steps, three blocks distant, a small gray figure waiting in the dawn.

I walked down to meet him.