Root Towns are non-combat areas of "The World" where the player may restock items, buy equipment, or chat and trade with other players of "The World". In many towns, the player may also raise a sentient, pig-like creature called a Grunty, which can be ridden in fields and in later games raced for prizes. A blue portal called the Chaos Gate is used to travel between towns (called "servers") and to access the fields and dungeons where battles occur. A three-word password system controls the characteristics of each area; attributes such as the prevalence of monsters or items change depending on the properties of each word in the password phrase. Certain plot-related areas have restricted access, but the player character has an ability called "Gate Hacking" which allows him to access these areas using "Virus Cores" obtained through Data Drain.