Horses pulled a driver-less carriage down a long dirt road under a canopy of thick trees. The dark woods blocked the sunlight with dark green leaves and yellow, bulbous flowers, yet the scene was somehow lit with an air of optimism and the glow of adventure. The party had been travelling throughout the night and had made it into the forest known as Spongewood.

　　Bing!

　　"You have just left the first region of Fanswald." Fairy informed the party cheerfully. "You have just completed the tutorial."

　　The group sat around a long table in the hall of the magical carriage. Spread out before them was a large leather map. Looks were exchanged, and the fairy continued.

　　"Successful completion of the tutorial level awards bonus EXP depending on the amount of participation."

　　"Clemiticus had been awarded a B rank."

　　"Derrick has been awarded a B minus."

　　"Melly has been awarded A."

　　"Nuecus has been awarded, with E minus."

　　Melly couldn`t help but feel a rush of pride. She looked around and noticed nods of approval from all the others.

　　"Skittles has been awarded the highest rank, S."

　　"Really?" Melly spat, flinging her arms into the air. "What did he even do?"

　　Fairy eyed the frustrated ranger. "Skittles has been awarded with completion of the tutorial rank S. Requirements for grade, quest, one. Be a parrot. Success rate, one hundred percent."

　　"Way to go buddy!" Clemiticus encouraged.

　　Melly crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

　　Fairy cleared its throat and continued. "Successful tutorial completion awards EXP based on grade."

　　"Clemiticus has reached level 12."

　　"Derrick has reached level 10."

　　"Melly has reached level 11."

　　"Nuecus has reached level 10."

　　"Skittles has reached level 10."

　　Fairy did a little flip in the air and continued.

　　"Now will be the last chance you get to edit your character. After this moment, your character will be completed, and no further changes can be applied."

　　The party members looked at one another, confused. Suddenly, a large blue sign flashed into existence before each of them.

　　Clemiticus laughed as he viewed his character page.

　　"What the hell is all this amazing garbage?" Nuecus asked.

　　Melly itched to know as well. Before her was a miniature picture of herself posing like she was trying to garner the attention of a rather handsome and wealthy man. To the side of her miniature counterpart was a list of character descriptions such as strength and stamina with numbers attached to each.

　　"This is our character sheet. We can customise our body and assign stats as well." Clemiticus informed them. "It looks like we gain a passive stat point per level!"

　　Melly looked at her stats sheet:

　　Melly the furious. Ranger. Level 11.

　　Strength 14.

　　Agility 24.

　　Stamina 4.

　　Luck 5.

　　Intelligence 18.

　　Wisdom 15.

　　Charm 15.

　　Melly observed a flashing number on the bottom right corner.

　　Assignable stat points, 10.

　　Her stamina seemed to be comparably low to the other numbers. Melly then remembered all the times she had followed Clemiticus, only to be exhausted within moments while he was always fresh and ready for more. She peeked over at the loon`s character sheet and spotted his stamina stat. It was twenty-two.

　　Her finger fell on the plus sign next to stamina and she mashed the button ten times.

　　The others all poked and prodded their character stats in deep concentration. Skittles head butted his own glowing screen with an audible thud and a squawk.

　　Melly held her finger over a button labelled the customise character body button and turned to the glowing helper above.

　　"Fairy, when we complete our character what will happen?" she asked.

　　"Your character will be permanently locked into the current customisation. You may receive additional cosmetics and stat points later, but your base looks will be set forever."

　　"Forever?" Nuecus asked.

　　Fairy nodded, "forever."

　　They all gasped, except for Clemiticus who looked like he had already finished.

　　Melly pressed the button to edit her body and was bombarded with a complete list of customisations. Large bars that slid up and down changed her miniature avatar before her eyes. There were sliders for her height, weight, muscle tone and many, many more. Melly`s fingers trailed over the options editing her body and moved the bars in countless slight variations. Parts of her body became firmer and slimmer, while others became more curvaceous and pronounced. Her fingers quickly adjusted her physique, making her slightly taller and thinner, with an overall leaner yet more feminine and toned.

　　Her thoughts drifted to the spiteful words her mother had spoken to her so long ago. Melly was never good enough to live up to her mother`s standards of beauty. She clenched her teeth and pressed accept.

　　Bing.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

　　Melly looked over to see the boys were too busy with their own customisations to notice her instantaneous self-improvement. Her eyes danced over her improved form and a smile fell on her lips. Although she would never admit it out loud, but she was extremely pleased with the results.

　　Bing. Bing. Bing. Bing.

　　"All party members` stats and characters have been finalised," Fairy sang.

　　"Awesome." Clem clapped. "What do you all put your stats into?"

　　"Wisdom!" announced a slightly younger, revitalised Nuecus.

　　"Intelligence," replied a shorter yet stronger Derrick with a beard much silkier, richer and redder than before.

　　"Stamina." added Melly. The others then marvelled at her transformation, causing her to cross her arms and retreat into her seat.

　　Clemiticus nodded and flicked two thumbs up.

　　"All Luck, baby!"

　　Melly caught a flash of feathers above as skittles flew to a top shelf.

　　Damn bird. Melly thought. It had an odd gleam in its eye as it nested above the party. Melly clenched her jaw and squinted. She couldn`t help but mistrust the feathered fiend.

　　"Well anyway, let`s get back to it," Clemiticus indicated the map on the table.

　　The extent of the Spongewood forest was outlined roughly on the map. To the far south-east was Lobee Village and further south was Bluehill town. Two places they had left in ruins. The large map also illustrated the expanse of ocean and the landmasses they needed to circumnavigate to get to their destination on the other side. It was a great deal further than what they had travelled so far.

　　Their next stop was a town called Anchorside. A port town with ample room to dock or launch a vessel. The flickering blue light of the fairy flashed as the tiny creature landed on the map.

　　"Fairy!" Clemiticus smiled.

　　"Yes? My most wise and handsome master."

　　"Please give us the full description of the Queen`s quest thingy."

　　The fairy bowed low. "Certainly, master. The quest `Queen of the Ashenstone City is in the land far to the East. To complete the quest, Clemiticus` party must confront and defeat the evil witch. The story description is as follows. A most devious and powerful entity known as the Queen Witch of Ashenstone has discovered the existence of Clemiticus and his party. Sensing a minor threat, she sent dark and mysterious zealot mages to destroy the party. This plan backfired. Instead of vanquishing her minor foe she managed to amplify the threat tenfold. She will stop at nothing until Clemiticus, and everyone in his party has met a disturbingly gruesome end."

　　Melly gasped, Derrick grumbled, Nuecus sighed, and Clemiticus cheered.

　　Three concerned faces stared at their fearless and optimistic party leader.

　　"Clem my boy, you have issues," Derrick said dryly.

　　"Ahem. I have not finished." The Fairy spoke sharply. "If you defeat the Queen here, she will simply be revived and teleported to the Ashenstone City. However, if you travel to her tower and confront her there you shall be indefinitely victorious."

　　Nuecuses` countenance brightened and a broad smile appeared on his face.

　　"Rewards include ownership of Ashenstone City. The quest chain reward also includes: A million EXP, one million gold and a legendary item for each of you!"

　　Clemiticus whistled.

　　Melly stared at Derrick. She couldn`t believe her ears. The two of them had lived in poverty their entire lives. This was a chance at a future she had always dreamt about.

　　"So, we need to get over this ocean?" Melly pointed at the map.

　　Clemiticus chuckled. "Luckily, one of us is a swashbuckling pirate!" He polished his nails on his tunic and flicked something non-existent off his shoulder.

　　Melly ignored the man and eyed the splotch on the map labelled the stone tower.

　　"Melly?" Derrick questioned his daughter and examined her poker face.

　　"Ah, yes." She turned red. "I ah." She looked over at Clemiticus. "Let`s do it."

　　"Huzzah!" Nuecus cheered.

　　"Huzzah indeed. But first, don`t we need some sort of crew?" Derrick asked. "Like this thing may turn into a ship like you said Nuecus. But don`t we need people to help us run this thing?"

　　Nuecus looked around and sighed. "You`re right. It gets big. And with this evil Queen looking for us, we`ll need all the help we can get. We also needed proper supplies."

　　"How far till Anchorside?" asked Clemiticus.

　　"Not too much longer," Derrick answered. He pointed at the map. "Over an hour to the town to the north and then a few days to get to Pirate Bay."

　　"We still need to talk about that," Melly interjected. "How are we going to get to the docks without being spotted?"

　　"Oh, that`s easy," Clemiticus answered confidently. "We don`t."

　　"We what?" Melly asked.

　　At that exact moment, the horses ploughed into something solid, and the carriage jolted to a complete stop.

　　"WTF?" Clemiticus shouted as he smacked his head on the table.

　　"Yoo hoo!?" A cheerful sing-song voice echoed outside. It was distinctly male and far too optimistic.

　　Oh, no. Not another Clemiticus. Melly thought in dismay.

　　They all poked their heads out of the carriage and saw that a large, felled tree had blocked their way and the horses had stupidly walked right into it.

　　"Seriously?" Melly spat.

　　"I say once more. Yoo hoo!?" the voice rang out once more.

　　The blue fairy flashed and announced. "A new event has started."

　　They peered about. The path was covered in dew soaked leaves and the air about them was calm and cool. A flash of movement appeared from the left as a man swung from a rope and landed on the fallen tree.

　　"Ah, ha! Stand and deliver!" The man bellowed in triumph.

　　The cheerful thief wore dusty travelling clothes and had a curved blade by his side. He was handsome in a rugged, rebellious sort of way. Complete with short black hair and a rather impressive, curled moustache.

　　Clemiticus clapped excitedly. "Nice landing."

　　"Why thank you, good sir!" the bandit replied.

　　"Defeat the bandits to complete the event." Fairy, the fairy announced.

　　"Defeat us?" the bandit replied. "What on Fanswald is that sparkly blue git. And why does it think you have a chance to beat us?"

　　Melly scowled. Her fear had come true. Yet another Clemiticus character had arrived. This one was a little shorter and seemed to have even more pep in his step.

　　Clemiticus stepped forward and raised a balled fist theatrically, "Ney villain. We shall be thy ones to vanquish you, sir."

　　The bandits` head cocked to one side. "Villain? You`re one to talk. Aren`t you a pirate?"

　　"Yaarr." Clem cheerfully replied.

　　The bandit shook his head. "Okay. Any-who. I say this once more. Since you seem deaf or stupid..."

　　"I would never limit myself to just one," Clem added.

　　"Shush! Stand and deliver!" the bandit commanded. "All of your valuables now belong to us."

　　"Shall I attack?" Derrick asked as he pulled out his multi-tool.

　　"I`ll help," Melly added and looked for something heavy.

　　The two ambled beside Clemiticus and brandished their weapons.

　　"No, you don`t. You little rascals." The bandit wiggled his finger disapprovingly. "Ready boys?"

　　An entourage of heads poked out of shrubs, trees, bushes and ditches. There were at least twenty of them. All wearing brown travelling tunics, holding curved blades and ready for a fight.

　　Clemiticus paused, and Melly sighed. It was time to plan. Clemiticus may be crazy, but for some strange reason his plans worked out in their own little way. The situation may be grim, but she knew somehow Clemiticus would end up undeservingly victorious. Somehow.

　　Clem looked over the main bandit`s head and gave the man a wide smile. "You`re the only one to have a name above your head. That means you`re the leader."

　　The lead bandit looked confused. "Well, of course, sir. Who else could lead these fine loyal gentlemen?"

　　Clemiticus read out the man`s name. "Rupert Lowbags. Hm..."

　　The bandit froze. "How, how did you know my name?"

　　"Hush!" Clem reprimanded and looked over his shoulder. "Fairy?"

　　"Yes, master?"

　　"Are these mobs hostile?"

　　"To the other party members, yes."

　　"And to me?"

　　"No. They are neutral because of the restrictions and benefits of your current class."

　　"And that means what, exactly?" Melly interjected. "They will kill us and leave you alive to tell the tale?"

　　"Nope. I`m a Pirate, and they are bandits. We`re the same but work in different professions. Fairy, can I inspect Rupert?"

　　"Hey! Listen to me! I`m here to rob you, and I may even let you live." Rupert shouted.

　　Clemiticus ignored him and poked at a blue box that materialised in front of him.

　　"What in the blazing hell is that?"

　　Clemiticus dismissed the confused bandit with a wave and continued his work. "OK, here you are. Rupert Lowbags. Says you are a level thirteen bandit with leadership skills."

　　"Would you like to peruse the reputation options?" Fairy asked.

　　"Yeah, definitely. Oh, look." Another box flashed up, and Clemiticus smirked. "I can contract a bandit as a mercenary, if I wish."

　　"Like hell I would ever work for a man like you! Right, men?"

　　Jeers echoed as every bandit swore and bellowed insults at Clemiticus.

　　"Costs ten percent of total earnings to hire a leader and a further one per cent per follower. We need a crew. Should I hire these guys?"

　　Derrick and Melly could only shrug.

　　"Never!" shouted Rupert.

　　"Never!" His men echoed.

　　Clemiticus echoed the shrug and clicked on the accept button.

　　Rupert`s expression instantly reversed, and the sing-song man shouted. "We shall follow this man into the bowels of hell itself!"

　　Every bandit cheered in excitement.

　　"Seriously?" Melly cried in exasperation.

　　"Clemiticus has formed a temporary contract with the Bandits of Spongewood. Bandits` primary class can evolve into `Piracy` once they have mastered the basics of sailing."

　　Clemiticus turned to his party members and gave them a reassuring smirk. "We`ve got ourselves a crew."

　　Melly shook her head. "Some people never struggle."