Quest for Justice by Sean Fay Wolfe

She’s not aggravating, obnoxious, and condescending to us guys—whatever would give you that idea?”
    Sally rolled her eyes. “Are you finished?”
    Archie replied, “Well, as I glance at that sword in your hand, I think I’ll say yes?”
    They all laughed.
    â€œSo, you guys starting the program tomorrow?” asked G as Sally went to the chest next to one of the beds and put a sword and some watermelon in it.
    â€œApparently so. Jayden mentioned that you four teach the classes. Is that right?”
    â€œYep,” replied Sally as she sat down on her bed with her legs crossed. “I’m gonna teach you guys everything you need to know about sword fighting and crafting.”
    â€œYes, and when she says everything, that includes the how-to of disemboweling a Spider,” added G, and they all laughed again. “Anyway, I’ll teach you how to fight using a pickaxe, and everything you need to know about mining.”
    â€œI myself,” boomed Archie, “will be instructing you on the precision art and skill of the launched projectile forged from the stone of gravel, the spindle of a tree, and the coat of a bird. In other words, I’m teaching archery. Go figure,” he said, gesturing to his Skeleton costume.
    â€œI’m teaching axe fighting and farming technique,” said Jayden. He reached into the chest next to his bed and pulled out an axe. But this wasn’t just any axe. The blade was created from diamond, and though the wooden handle was worn, the diamond still glinted in the light of the torches, sharp anddeadly. Stan stared at it. It was the most impressive thing he had seen in the game so far.
    â€œThis is my most prized possession,” he said. “My brother gave it to me when I left his farm.”
    â€œStop showing off,” moaned G. “We can’t all have diamond tools,” and he opened his chest to get some food.
    â€œHold up! What’s that?” interjected Charlie, pointing to something in G’s chest.
    â€œWhat, this thing?” he asked, and he pulled out something just as impressive as the diamond axe—a pickaxe, forged from solid gold.
    â€œHow can you say you have bad tools when you have that thing?” asked Kat, and Charlie and Stan nodded in agreement.
    â€œWhat? Oh! That’s right, you don’t know, do you?” G laughed. “Well, it may look cool, but golden tools aren’t very practical at all. They break absurdly fast. They actually break faster than stuff made out of wood. The only upside to them is that they break stuff quickly, and even then a golden pickaxe can only break cobblestone and coal ore. I mostly just carry mine around for show, to go with my image.” G gestured to his golden body. As G snickered at his own whimsy, Stan noticed Kat raise an eyebrow and give an amused chuckle.
    â€œWell, I’m exhausted,” said Jayden, yawning. “That mission was awful, and I’m sure that you guys must be spent after all that you went through to get here.” The three newplayers nodded gratefully. “G, Sal, pull out the extra beds. Charlie, Kat, Stan, you guys should eat something before you go to bed. Try this.”
    Jayden reached into his chest and pulled out two cooked steaks and a cooked pork chop. He handed a steak to Stan and Charlie, and the pork chop to Kat.
    â€œMmm,” said Kat, licking her lips when she’d finished, “that was so much better than the raw one.” Charlie rolled his eyes.
    All fed, the seven players climbed into their beds, and five of them were out cold almost immediately. Stan was just about to fall asleep, too, when he heard a voice from behind him.
    â€œYou asleep, noob?”
    Stan flipped over in his bed to face the one talking. Sally was crouching down next to his bed. “I’ll take that as a no, then,” she said.
    Stan sat up. “Can I help you?” he asked.
    Sally sat down next