I got stuck in ArcheAge, so it's okay to rage at an MMO, right?

On the ports of Austera in the desert-like Solis Headlands—

"Wow, thanks a lot guys. My friend was going to help me deliver the packs, but he had to work overtime today."

"No problem. Us players have to stick together, you know? Besides, it's pretty dangerous out in the seas. It's better to travel as a group so you don't get ambushed by Pirates."

"Oh man. Pirates, huh? So this game has something like that too? Are they like NPCs or something?"

"Nah. They're other players that wait in the ocean and kill people so they can take all their stuff."

"W-Wow...that sounds pretty scary. No wonder it takes so long to make your own clipper...I guess you'd be a sitting duck out there if you could ship off from level 1."

"This game's really group-orientated after all. It's tough getting anywhere on your own, especially if you're playing as a free player."

"Yeah...that's why I need to turn in these packs. My friend said I can buy Patron easy if I just do trade routes across the ocean."

"Don't worry, buddy. We've got you covered. Alright, now let's get these packs loaded up and head out."

A fresh level 30 rookie in the MMORPG called ArcheAge. He had only heard bad things about the game, like how it was full of hackers and exploiters, how the publisher didn't seem to give a crap about the players and the community. But so far, his experience had been quite good. The leveling wasn't too bad and the game had some interesting features like planting crops and sailing.

And now here he was, boarding a large merchant ship with a group of high-leveled players, being treated like he was one of them! There was no reward or obligation at stake here. It was just genuine goodwill and generosity, the kind of support you'd see between a senior and his junior at work.

Ah...this is the spirit of a good gaming community. I guess spending all that time choosing the right server paid off! Maybe this game isn't so bad after all.

"Ok! Everything's packed. Come on board, buddy. We're taking off."

The rookie's chest swelled with emotion. His first adventure out on the open seas. This was something he'd never done in other MMOs. What would await him out there, in the vast unknown?

"Yeah! I'm coming!"

Smiling from ear-to-ear, the fresh level 30 rookie hopped down onto the merchant ship, ready to embark on his first voyage. With a rush of wind and waves, the merchant ship departed from the port, its skull and crossbone sails flapping boldly against the clear blue skies.

In 2014, a new age dawned on the PC gamers of North America.

Developed by XLGames and released by Trion Worlds, the game called ArcheAge took the Internet by storm, with over 2 million registered players by the time of its official launch.

Deemed a "sandpark" game, the world of ArcheAge boasted of unique sandbox features, open world PvP, and an overflowing amount of content captured into a meaningful multiplayer experience. And so, the players embarked into the land of Erenor, eager to become the heroes of this new age.

However, waiting for these new heroes were despicable terrors.

The new age became filled with trolls, hackers, QQers, liars, backstabbers, game-breaking patches, unscheduled server maintenance, and money-grubbing corporate fiends that preyed on the lifeblood of innocents.

Try as they might, the heroes found their efforts futile and retreated in droves, their salty tears filling the rivers of blood that were shed.

And it wasn't long before the new age slowly sank into oblivion, its moment of glory having been as bright and short as a candle flame just before being extinguished...

On an island somewhere in the Arcadian Sea—

The aimless footsteps of a level 55 on a beach of white sand—

Came to a stop next to the lifeless figure of a fresh level 30 rookie, clinging to the last few pixels of his HP.

"S-Sniff...all my packs got stolen...and then they killed me so they could take my clipper. But when I swam back, they blew up my clipper and all the Seabugs attacked me..."

A bunch of incoherent whimpering. But the gist of it was pretty clear, even without knowing the story. After all, the seas were an open PvP zone.

"So...you were PK'd?"

"D-Damn it...how could they do that? This must be what people were talking about. I mean, there's no way this sort of thing is allowed, right? I just need to report them for scamming me and I'll get all my stuff back, right?"

"No...since those people were probably Pirates..."

"Huh!? Pirates!? No way, they didn't look like Pirates at all! I mean, if they were Pirates, they'd be wearing eyepatches and have parrots on their shoulders or something!"

"Pirate gear is worthless, so nobody bothers wearing it."

"They don't bother wearing it...? It almost sounds like you're saying anyone can be a Pirate..."

"Well, it's not a class. If you commit enough crimes, you just automatically become a Pirate."

Upon hearing that, the rookie perked up and jumped to his feet.

"Crimes? You can commit crimes in this game?"

"Yes. Such as stealing crops or attacking other players. If you get caught after committing crimes, you'll be sent to trial."

"Trial, huh? That's great! So that means those assholes won't get away with what they did! The justice system is going to screw them over and give me back my stuff!"

"No. They just go to jail for 10 minutes. And most players can escape in about 5 minutes. Depending on the jury, they may even think you deserved it so the Pirates will be allowed to go free."

Down again. The rookie was on the ground, consumed with depression.

"No way...what the hell is with this game? Is there no justice in this world...?"

"Well, don't brood over it too much. If you think about it, it's actually a good thing that players are allowed to kill each other in this game."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

The rookie's eyes flicked up to the name tag above the level 55's head.

"Your name is Kills...?" confirmed the rookie, backing away cautiously. "Now that I look more closely, you seem pretty suspicious! You've got a 'Wanted' debuff on your status bar. Are you trying to scam me too just because I'm a new player!?"

"Stop with the crazy talk. If I wanted to kill you, I would've already done it and camped out your respawn point."

"You can do that!?"

"I have a 'Wanted' debuff because of my job in this game. And I want to offer you my services in relation to this job."

"Services...? What do you mean?"

"I'm a Pirate Hunter. I sail the seas to find the scum that profit off the misfortune of others and give them what they deserve. It's true that sending them to jail isn't really a serious penalty, but in many cases, my clients are people like you who were robbed by the Pirates. I can track them down, kill them, and retrieve all of your packs for you."

"Really!? You're not just bullshitting, are you!?"

"Hire me and you'll find out. Your ship was destroyed, your packs were taken, and now you're stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Even if I had ill-intent, do you think your situation could get any worse?"

"That's...you're right about that. Ok, I'll hire you! I want you to go get my packs back from those assholes that killed me!"

"I'm not a charity worker, so there will be a fee for my services. Are you fine with that?"

"W...What? A fee? How much are we talking...?"

"You're only level 30, so you probably don't have a lot of gold. In that case, let's say you give me half of your recovered packs in exchange for my help."

"H-Half of my packs!? I knew it, you're just a scammer, aren't you!?"

"I never said that my help would come cheap. In any case, it's better to have half of your packs back than none at all, isn't it?"

"Of course, but that's way too steep! If it's going to be like that, then I'll just—"

"Do what? Ask for help from faction chat? Even if there was someone willing to help you for free, how much time do you think it'd take for you to settle things with that person? That person may also be a scammer. And stolen trade packs are like missing people; the first few hours are the most important. After that, the trail becomes murky, the evidence disappears, and your packs turn into gold for the Pirate's pocket."

"Gh...damn it. You're not being fair..."

"This isn't about what's fair. In the rules of this game, your packs were fairly stolen. But also, in the rules of this game, your revenge is allowed to be fairly carried out. Now, what will you do?"

Did he have a choice? And Kills was right, what was the worst that could happen? The packs had been his only source of income. The items in his inventory were just trash from quests and anything important had been given to his friend for safe-keeping. The only thing that could happen to him now would be getting his account hacked somehow. But he was on the verge of quitting this game anyways.

At the very least, he wanted to get back at those bastards. If it meant risking a gamble on some stupid packs, then he'd take it!

"Ok, ok! Fine! I'll give you half of the packs. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes. We have a deal. For future reference, you may refer to me by my name, Kills, or any abbreviation of Pirate Hunter that you prefer. I will answer to all of those."

This guy's pretty into this...is he roleplaying or something? "I'll just call you Kills. You can just call me by my name too."

"No. I'll refer to you as Rookie."

"Huh!? Why!?"

"I'm sorry, but your weaboo name is too hard for me to type."

"Who the fuck are you calling a weaboo!?"

And so, the contract was made.

"Now then. Please tell me everything you remember about the players that stole your packs."

"Well, they were all level 55. I can't really remember their names or what their characters looked like though, but I do remember their guild name. It was AA Trading Co Limited."

"As I suspected...it was that group."

"What? You know them? Are these guys famous or something?"

"No. Those players belong to a small, nobody guild that's merely a front for the real Pirates."

"A front!? Wait, how do you even know that?"

"I have my sources. Because of my job as a Pirate Hunter, I make it my business to know exactly what's going on out here in the seas."

Kills continued on with his explanation after having Rookie open up his world map.

"The guild named AA Trading Co Limited is a dummy guild. Its members are composed of Haranya faction players that have alternate characters in the Pirate faction. They use the dummy guild to lure in unsuspecting players and carry out duties that their Pirate characters are limited from doing."

"Wow...I can't believe they go through all of that pain-in-the-ass work just to grief players in a free-to-play game."

"Well, being a Pirate is more difficult the weaker your character is. It's usually not recommended to become a Pirate until you've gone through most of the endgame content, so most Pirates are players that have nothing better to do in the game."

"Ah...I see," said Rookie, with dead eyes.

"Moving on, normally if players managed to steal packs from an unsuspecting rookie, they wouldn't worry about a guild or a hunting party being sent out for revenge. Since you said that you packed all of your packs onto their merchant ship, they could have easily just sailed the rest of the way and turned them in for gold."

"So, you're saying my packs are probably goners already!?"

"No. Because the group that stole from you was AA Trading Co Limited. Being a real Pirate in this game is expensive and it's difficult to make money as one. So these players will likely transfer the packs to their Pirate characters before turning in for gold."

Kills directed Rookie to look over onto the far left side of his map.

"Right now, we're in the Arcadian Sea. It's not a coincidence that you chased them up here when you were trying to recover your boat. The Pirate faction's home base is on Growlgate Isle, not too far from this area."

There had been no premeditated scheme to scam and rob Rookie. The poor player had just fallen into a trap that had probably been hastily made on the spot. That meant that the guild members likely didn't have their Pirate characters prepared for turning in the packs.

Which meant that unless they had all conveniently logged out precisely at a location near the trade-in spot, the Pirates would probably recall back to Growlgate Isle to save on Hereafter teleport stones. But because it was risky for Haranya faction players to go near Growlgate, the players had probably stored the packs somewhere else, such as on a nearby island.

"That will be our attack point. They'll probably head out alone to pick up your packs so that they don't have to share their spoils with other Pirates. When a player carries a pack, their movement is slowed and they become more vulnerable to attack."

"So that means we should be able to take them on with just the two of us?"

"Sorry, but it'll just be me. A level 30 is pretty much the equivalent of deadweight."

"You can't be serious! I mean, there were at least six of them, you know!? They're all the same level as you too!"

"Don't worry. I have a plan. Now, we're running out of time. By now, they've probably logged into their Pirate characters and recalled to Growlgate. It might be close, but we should be able to catch them at the island..."

"But which island is it? I mean, there are a bunch of islands at sea, aren't there? I saw tons of them while we were coming up—"

"I have a good idea where their property is. What class are you right now? Darkrunner?"

"Yeah. My friend said it's a popular class, so I've been leveling the skill trees..."

"That means you should have Stealth. Good. In that case, here's the plan..."

On an island close to Solzreed Peninsula-

A group of Pirates had congregated on the yard of a one-story wooden cottage.

"That guy still not here yet? Where the fuck is he?"

"I don't know. Let's just turn the packs in without him. It's been twenty minutes already, he's probably not coming—"

"I'm here, I'm here! Jeez, give me a break. There was this derp Primeval asking for help with Pirate daily. I had to kill the guy five times to get him off my back."

"Wow. Is he an idiot?"

"Alright, we're all here then? Let's get the hell out of here. I need to log back in on my alt for Halcy—"

"Hey guys! Guys, get over here. This is freaking hilarious."

Their conversation was interrupted by the Pirate manning the merchant ship. The group left the cottage and headed over to the beach, where the ship was moored.

"What the fuc—"

"Is that the—"

"Yeah, yeah! It's that noob from Austera!"

"Holy shit. How the fuck did he find us?"

Rookie walked hesitantly in front of the group of Pirates, his silhouette transparent from the Stealth skill. He jumped a few times, did a laugh emote, panicked as the Stealth turned off, then reactivated it and waited. He jumped into their faces again to check if they noticed them, then began scampering off into the water, towards the ship.

"...Does that kid think we can't see him?"

"I'm dying. I can't...keep watching this...haha..."

"He's going to the ship. He can't be thinking that he can—"

Rookie climbed up the side of the merchant ship and slipped onto the deck. He paused to look in the direction of the Pirate at the wheel and jumped. Satisfied with the lack of reaction, Rookie then went over to the crates with trade packs and came to a stop.

"How long do you think it'll take him to realize that he can't take the packs out?"

"I...I can't...breathe..."

The Pirates watched as Rookie stood still for several minutes. Then, he jumped onto the crates and stood still for several more minutes.

"Ok, let's kill him now."

"Wait, wait! I want to see what he does next."

"Just fucking kill him already, Halcy's in thirty minutes!"

"Excuse me. I heard that I could get free packs here."

Five pairs of eyes turned to the player that had appeared behind them.

And in an instant, five Pirates flew into an attack that collided with the roaring clash of metal.

"Shit! Invincibility?"

"Just back up and wait for it to wear off."

The player named Kills had activated the skill "Invincibility," which made him immune to all damage for a duration of time.

"What the hell, I thought you said nobody comes around here!"

"They don't! This guy must've followed us."

"Yeah? And how the hell would he know where we were meeting in the first place? Better yet, how the fuck did that kid figure out where we were?"

"Wait a minute...weren't you streaming League of Legends before you got on? You stupid fuck, did you forget to turn it off!?"

"It doesn't fucking matter, does it? I was streaming League of Legends, so it wouldn't even show ArcheAge-"

"YOU WERE STILL ON TEAMSPEAK, YOU MORON!"

"Shut up! If he dies here, he'll respawn out in the middle of nowhere. So stop your bitching and get ready to kill him! It's 1 vs 5, this is no problem, alright?"

"Oh shit, I'm getting out of here. You guys take care of him, ok?"

"Yeah, we'll meet you at Solz. Hurry up and go!"

Tension filled the Pirates' faces as they waited for Kills' Invincibility to wear off. Most of them had taken Shadowplay-variant classes because of the utility from the skill tree. With gap-closers and skills like Stealth, it was perfect for setting up an ambush or running away with stolen goods.

A fully leveled Shadowplay tree had a good balance of utility, DPS, and CC for a player to make use of. Throw in some mage and tank abilities and there was nothing this guy could do once his Invincibility wore off. They'd lock him down so tightly that he wouldn't be able to get a single hotkey off.

"What class is this guy? Hexblade? Shit, we'll need to coordinate a little for this—"

"Just Stun him and I'll drop a spicy meatball on him—"

"Forget the meteor! Just DPS the fuck out of him, we don't have the time for this—"

"Even now, you people don't feel any shame at what you've done?"

The Pirates froze at the sudden question.

"Huh? Shame? What are you talking about?"

Kills gave a little snort, as if he had heard a bad joke.

"Preying on innocent new players...not just killing them to steal their packs, but also destroying their hard-earned clippers for sport...Do you guys really enjoy it that much?"

"Ah, I see. I get it now. You're with that kid, aren't you? That explains it..."

"That's how it is. Since I'm a Pirate Hunter."

"A Pirate Hunter? Are you serious? What, are you butthurt about getting killed too much or something?"

"I always ask this question when I catch up to Pirates like you. Is it because you're scared of taking on the big fish? Don't want to risk getting KoS when you've got no safe zones in the sea—"

"Is this guy for real? Hey, I think you've got a screw loose or something. We're in the Pirate faction. We're KoS everywhere we go. Those fucking guilds that yap their mouths off on faction chat, you think we give a shit about them? We can take on those plebs anytime. Like it's a challenge to take down a guild that relies on zerg strategies with no-skill classes."

One of the Pirates walked up to Kills and their eyes locked like two tigers ready to pounce.

"And what else did you say? Do we enjoy killing noobs? Yeah, we do. So what? It's because we can hook in scrubs like him that this game's even worth playing. So, you got a problem with that? Wow, we've got some serious white knighting here, don't we? If it bothers you so much, why don't you go back to the carebears on FFXIV or something?"

"Good idea. Maybe I'll do that in the future. But for now..."

Kills stepped forward, the Invincibility aura breaking away from him in glimmering wisps-

"I'll make sure to enjoy killing scrubs like you first."

The Pirate opened his mouth as he realized what was going to happen.

"He's coming! Get ready!"

Tiger Strike. A skill from the Battlerage tree. A powerful physical damage attack that struck up to 5 nearby enemies one after another. The Pirates staggered back as the slashes ripped through their HP.

"Lock him down! Don't even bother baiting, he can't stop all of us!"

The Hexblade class was powerful and versatile in a fight due to its combination of raw DPS, anti-CC, and sustain. But this didn't change the fact that Kills was outnumbered. No matter how good the skillset, no matter how technically learned the player, it made no difference if his combos were constantly interrupted by stuns and disables.

So even though the Tiger Strike had cleaved through nearly half of their HP, it didn't worry any of the Pirates. It was useless effort, kind of like a free shot given out of pity. For all the crap this White Knight asshole spouted, it didn't change the fact that he'd still be killed and they'd still get away with the packs they'd stolen.

That was how this game worked.

That was what made this game different.

It was unfair. It was frustrating.

But there was no safety line. There was no all-seeing authority that'd interfere and protect the sheeps. It was just between the players. Not a bunch of fluffy puppies nudging and pawing at each other with neatly trimmed claws.

Just wolves that were free to tear each other apart until the ground was stained red.

Flashes of light and bursts of shaking sound. The Pirates went through their rotations, one by one, beating down on Kills mercilessly. The Hexblade class was fairly tanky all-around, so it would take a few go's to take him down. So they continued flowing into combos, the clashes from their skills echoing endlessly as they attacked, attacked, and attacked-

Just a little more-

Just a little more and we'll be rid of this guy—

Just...

A little...

...More?

Lights and sound. Slashes and slams.

But the HP bar hadn't fallen.

It didn't look like it was moving at all.

"W-What...what the hell? Just how much HP does this guy ha-"

A powerful monster that'd require a party to take down could have health in the tens of thousands. As a result, players with similar levels of HP were synonymous to raid bosses.

20,000 HP?

No, it was higher than that.

25,000?

30,000?

Underneath the health bar, there were rows and rows of buffs. It was impossible for all of these buffs to come naturally from skills. They were potions, they were specialty food items, spellbooks, talismans, gear set passives-

All the damage they were doing, just scraping at the hundreds.

Just his health regen was enough to fill up the miniscule gaps in his HP bar.

He was walking towards them. His block rate and parry chance were nullifying all their physical CC.

No way, no way, no way, this is fucking impossible—

No way—

You can't be serious!

A second. No, it had to be less than a second. Because the Pirate's global delay for his skills was still going.

That was how quickly the player named Kills finished off the Pirate in front of him.

No way...

I have full Auroria plate set...

I spent over 5,000 gold regrading the whole thing to Unique...

And he just...

Cut through that like it didn't even exist?

The Pirate's body collapsed to the ground like a rag doll. Kills turned around slowly, the borders of his health bar lighting up red as he targeted another player.

"No way, that damage—!"

"S-Shit! He's got a costume on, but that weapon...that's a Delphinad weapon! And he's got the full Celestial gear buff!"

"You've got to be joking! Does this guy have full Celestial Delphinad!? And all those buffs on his bar...it can't be!? This guy...this guy's a—"

The screen filled with strobing red. Another Pirate, killed in the blink of an eye. The remaining three Pirates leapt back and activated their Stealth skill.

"Damn it, that kind of ridiculous gear along with that scummy White Knight attitude...this guy's the real deal! We have to get the fuck out of here!"

"What the fuck is your problem? It's still 3 vs 1, man! Who cares if he's got Delph gear, we just need to distract him long enough for the ship to get awa—"

"Are you fucking blind!? That's not a normal player! You can't beat someone like that! Do you understand!? That guy...that guy's a fucking—"

WHALE!

Whale...

Whale...

...

PAY.

TO.

WIN.

"Damn it, why did we have to run into someone like him!?"

The Pirates ran back into the island, racing to the cottage where they could lock themselves in and be safe from harm.

"Fuck, why isn't this guy trolling in Arena like the other P2W faggots!?"

"Shut up and run! We're good anyways! We distracted him for like five minutes, there's no way he can catch up to the ship—"

Death. The skill Earthen Grip, a hand made of clinging mud, constricted around the Pirate. His corpse was tossed aside onto the ground as Kills jumped at his next victim.

"INVINCIBILI—"

Too late.

"I'M IN THE HOU—"

Tiger Strike. Kills slipped through the open window, slashing through the Pirate's body and splattering blood onto the floor.

Five minutes.

It had only taken five minutes for an entire team of Pirates to be eradicated by a single person.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

At the moment, the Pirate on the merchant ship was listening to a flood of verbal abuse coming at him from TeamSpeak.

Because he had circled around and come back to the island, expecting them to have killed the player by now.

"No one fucking told me it was a Whale! I left, I left, ok!? There's no way he can catch up to me!"

There was nothing to worry about. It didn't matter how OP this guy was if he couldn't catch up to him. It was true that merchant ships were slower than clippers, but it'd still take him time to get down from the cottage and summon his ship. Besides, Solzreed Peninsula was straight south from here! He'd be going at full-speed the whole way.

I'm fine, I'm fine! Even if he chases me all the way to the turn-in, he can't do a single thing with the guards hanging around—

They were in the clear.

It was going to be all smooth sailing from here.

No problem.

There was no problem at all.

Even if he was slowing down.

Even if the merchant ship had come to a complete stop.

"Wait, what!? What the fuck!? Why'd the ship stop moving!?"

The Pirate jabbed furiously at his keyboard. But it wasn't doing anything. The ship wouldn't move.

But his character did.

"Huh? I'm not on the wheel—"

Then he saw it. The figure that had been hiding behind him all this time in his camera's blind spot—

A level 30 player that had just slipped back into Stealth.

"You...you knocked me off the wheel? You fucking shit, I'm going to fucking kill you—AGHH!"

The Pirate cried out as an enormous boom rocked the ship. Damage points flared up above his head and the merchant ship began to chip off planks of wood and debris.

"No way...how the hell did you...just how many regrades did you do on that clipper!?"

Kills hopped off the clipper and landed on the merchant ship's deck. Stood in front of the Pirate with his Celestial Delphinad sword shining—

"Thanks for sailing up here. But we don't need three people to trade-in these packs."

The trade packs were turned in at Crescent Thrones in Solzreed Peninsula to a Resource Trader. The trader would give you 10 Rock Salt Stabilizers in exchange for one trade pack. The current market value for Rock Salt Stabilizers sold for around 4 gold, which meant that you would get 40 gold for each pack. The merchant ship itself held 20 packs along with the 6 packs that each of the Pirates had been planning to carry on the voyage. These had been stored on Kills' galleon ship, which he had used to escort the merchant ship to Solzreed.

The plan had been for Kills to distract the other Pirates while Rookie stowed away on the merchant ship. As expected, the suddenness of the situation had driven the Pirate on the wheel into a panic and he had forgotten that Rookie was still onboard. Kills had also prolonged the duration of the battle to make sure that the ship had gotten far enough away that the owner couldn't desummon it. And once the owner had been killed, he would have respawned too far away to desummon the ship anyways.

Because of the fee for hiring Kills, the packs would be split in half between them. That meant 13 packs for each at a rough value of 40 gold per. That amounted to around 520 gold for both of them.

While not enough to purchase Patron at its current market price, there was a chance that the cost for Patron would be lowered with the installation of the new servers. New players would be arriving and old players would try to gain footholds in the developing market by undercutting one another's prices. Because Patron could be purchased on any server and apply for all characters on the account, this would force more competitive prices for Patron across the entire game.

Even if the price didn't drop, 520 gold was about 75% of the way to the current market price. It was close enough that Rookie wouldn't have to venture on anymore risky activities like intercontinental trading to make up for the difference.

A merchant ship was a prime target on the seas so there had been several players that tried to attack them once they arrived to port. But like the Pirates, it hadn't taken them long to give up and watch enviously as a fresh level 30 rookie obtained the equivalent of a small fortune.

With the merchant ship emptied out, Kills suggested abandoning it in port. The other players would likely take their frustration out on the ship and drag it out into the ocean to be destroyed.

And so came the end of the contract between the Rookie and the Pirate Hunter.

"Thanks a lot, Kills. I know I complained a lot earlier but...you really helped me out today."

"Well, it's business. I do feel a little sorry for taking such a large cut, but I have to make a living too."

"No, it's fine. I mean, after seeing you take down all those guys by yourself...I think you deserve it."

"Deserve it...heh."

"What?"

"Nothing. Just thinking to myself."

"But you were really amazing out there. Is Pirate Hunter like a faction thing too? Can anyone do it?"

"I call Pirate Hunter my job, but it's really just a self-labeled position. Since this is a game where you can make a name for yourself anyway you want."

"I see. That's cool. Um...one more thing. Sorry if this sounds like I'm getting too personal, but why did you want to be a Pirate Hunter in the game?"

"Well..."

Kills looked out at the sea. The merchant ship had been taken over by a group of players and was sailing away. Seeing its retreating figure sink into the horizon, it felt like a familiar scene. Yes...a scene where other players had taken a ship they didn't own and made off with it for their own purposes...

"I'm not exactly sure why. But I suppose the best answer I can give is that I'm just playing the game."

"...That's a nice line, but it doesn't answer anything."

"I guess you're right. Well then, let's head back. I'd suggest you use Recall to get back to the continent. Since your ship is still destroyed and the portal uses too many Hereafter stones to take you back."

"Wait! One more thing! I promise this is the last one!"

"?"

"Those Pirates...they said something to you earlier, didn't they? What was it...?"

"Ah...nothing. We were just trash talking each other before getting into the figh—"

"No, no! After that! They called you...I can't remember...wait, I got it! They called you a Whale! The guy on the wheel got all freaked out about you being a Whale too. What is that? Is it some special class? How can I become a Whale?"

"..."

Kills began the long spell for Recall.

"Trust me. You don't want to become a Whale. It's true that you can become strong, but...it's like making a deal with the devil. You're trading away your soul for power."

"Dude, that sounds freaking cool. Seriously, how do I become a Whale?"

"Do you have a credit card?"

"Huh? No...why would I need that?"

"Then don't bother. Just keep on going as you are now. It's a better path."

"You just don't want to tell me because you're afraid I'm going to start kicking too much ass, huh!? Well, whatever. In that case, can I just add you as a friend then? You know...in case I need to hire you again or something."

"Ah, about that...sorry. But you can't do that either. The game won't let you add me onto your friend list."

Kills smiled as the cast time for his Recall spell just finished—

"Since I'm in the Pirate faction."

A/N: To celebrate the ArcheAge 2.0 release! I played the game on and off and it's been a lot of fun. I asked my friends to help me with the accuracy (from what I've seen, everything written here can actually happen in-game!) although I did exaggerate some things like market prices and gear gap.

For this fanfiction, I wanted to portray a "player" experience. It's usually boring watching gameplay for MMORPGs because most people just tend to showcase the basics like grinding and questing. For me, ArcheAge was fun because the craziest, most interesting things happened between "players" instead of NPCs or events. For example, I recently saw my friends try to barricade another friend's house with icebergs. One ship nudged an iceberg and then went spinning into the air before exploding into pieces.

Of course, the iceberg was fine.