Ascension

by B F Rockriver

  Eli stood and tried to approach his companion, but his body became unresponsive after only two steps. Unable to move his body, he panicked, struggling against his hidden bonds. A moment later, a pale golden light erupted from his chest, like the flames of a roaring fire. Energy pulsed from his body as torrents of power and warmth flooded his entire being. Hundreds of bells and chimes tinkled gently throughout his mind as if being played by a shifting wind. As the symphony came to a crescendo, a sense of elation eased his mounting stress, the mounting fear being replaced by the most intense pleasure he had ever felt.

  Eli’s skin tingled and glowed as his wounds began closing. Every cut and bruise vanished as if being wiped away, like nothing more than smudges of dirt being brushed off of his pristine skin. Muscle shifted slightly, making room for his once broken clavicle to move back into place. He looked down in astonishment, watching the unnatural regeneration take place. Expecting pain, he braced himself. Instead, the euphoria redoubled as every fiber of his being renewed itself, growing stronger. He was being improved.

  His jaw lowered slightly, and a look of confusion overtook him. Suddenly a nearly translucent golden sun flashed in his vision, with horizontal solar flares stretching as far as he could see. In its center was the number two surrounded by a dark orange circle. While startling, it was not intrusive, and the sight of it made him feel excited. Above the symbol, strings of text flew in from the left and halted, centering itself directly above the glowing orb. Eli read the white text, with its sky blue shadow, and a grin appeared on his face.

  *LEVEL UP!

  The text and the glowing sun below it hovered in his view no matter where he looked. A breath later, they burst into a scene of gold and white stars. Somehow he could still see and feel what was going on around him, but knew that if anything were to attack him then, it would have no effect. Then notifications flashed onto his screen in waves. Everything that he ignored for the last several moments came in a flood. Finally, the tsunami of text stopped, on a very telling string of text.

  *Congratulations, you have leveled up! Welcome to Level 2.

  You have two new attribute points to allocate. Your health points have increased by 10.

  Eli looked at his health and stamina bars as they flashed, then refilled to full in an instant. His already large grin ached as it grew wider, stretching nearly from ear to ear before quickly disappearing. His Blighted debuff was still active. While scanning the changes to his status, Eli noticed that Don was undergoing the same transformation. Able to move, he turned and watched as his teammate experienced the same process that he just had. The Turta’s muscles were tense, and his feet dangled inches from the ground. Focusing on him, he brought up his level and statistics.

  Don Nutello:

  Level: 3

  Class: None

  Health: 170/170

  Stamina: 130/130

  Mana: 90/90

  Eli’s face scrunched in confusion as he peered at the man, trying to gain further insight into his character sheet. He was trying to understand why his new companions' statistics were nearly identical to his own, even though he had an entire level on him. Narrowing his eyes in an attempt to force more information to appear, proved useless. No matter how hard he tried, Eli could not gather any more information. As the green-skinned man finished his transformation, his feet landed softly on the floor, and he stared at Eli.

  “Uh, do you have to take a shit?” Don’s asked, startling Eli, bringing him out of his intense focus, “I mean, you’re staring at me, and your face is all scrunched up. That’s the, I got to shit real bad face, or the, I’m up to something face.”

  “No, no, no,” Eli said, laughing. “I’m fine. I was trying to bring up your character sheet. I've got the ability to analyze and wanted to find out why our base stats are basically the same.”

  Laughter rang out through the woods, scaring off a few nearby birds, “Ha. Man, you really don’t know shit, do you? Unless you have mastered the skill in the last three hours, you can’t see shit.” With a grin on his face, he continued, “You can’t just pull up someone’s private info without their permission. That’s like giving someone the password to your phone or browser history. You don’t want every random stranger to know all the weird shit you’re up to.” Don’s eyes flickered as if opening a new tab on his HUD. “Now, I won’t tell you everything, but I will tell you why our stats are similar. My build is a Dex and Spirit build. Those don’t have any points, like HP or MP, associated with them. So, my health points, stamina, and mana are a little lower than they should be, but I’m fast as hell, and what mana I use regenerates quickly. I just can’t take too many hits, or engage in a long drawn out combat.” The Turta threw some quick practice strikes with his fist, as if shadowboxing, “Get in, do some damage or cripple the enemy, then get out and heal the back lines. That’s my job, or it will be once I get better at it.”

  Eli nodded, new questions building in his mind, “What should I invest my points into then? It looks like I get two.”

  “Well, that depends. What class do you want to be?”

  Without hesitation, Eli shouted, “I want to learn magic. I want to be a wizard or a sorcerer.”

  Don slapped his palm to his face and shook his head. “Well, no shit. Everyone wants to cast magic. The question is what kind and what role you want to play. Nearly every class gets some magic-like abilities, if not straight-up magic.” He walked closer to Eli, placing his hand on his shoulder. “I, uh, think this is a conversation you should have with your guide. But first, we loot.”

  Aida, a little help here, Eli asked, before turning to watch his friend.

  While Eli was petitioning his guide for help, Don knelt, then placed his hand on the corpse of a wolf. A moment later, Eli did the same with the headless corpse next to him. As his hand met fur, he focused on the body, and a box, similar to his inventory, appeared with three icons nestled in the tiny boxes. One looked like a tattered pelt, another looked like miniature teeth, and the third looked like a toxic green piece of meat.

  You have found Ragged Wolf Pelt (1), Wolf Fang (4), and Diseased Meat (3).

  Quickloot: Yes / No

  Eli clicked yes. Before his eyes, the items disappeared, and a new weight settled in his pockets. Then the body disintegrated. In an instant, the once decapitated wolf burst into fine particles of ash that floated into an eerie swirling breeze. The creature vanished, leaving no traces behind. There was no blood, fur, or flesh, only ash.

  What just happened, Eli asked his mental assistant.

  “After looting, or thirty minutes have passed, the corpses of NPCs and monsters will vanish. This sends a notification to the system to spawn more creatures in the area after a certain amount of time.” Aida’s calm voice sounded off in response.

  So, wait, more blighted wolves will show up here, so close to Dawnport? Eli responded, his fear growing.

  “I don’t think so. I do not have access to spawn timers, local quest logs, or spawn locations. What I know is that the blight should not even be on this island yet. The public should not have access to this content for another six months to a year. Something is wrong.”

  Then how do you explain this? Eli asked, nudging a second corpse with his foot.

  “I can’t, other than to assume that something must have shifted the timeline. This would only happen as a method of preserving continuity or balancing the game. The system adjusts to fit the story being created by player interaction. Timelines and content are always changing. Nothing is permanent.” The guide said, with no hint of emotion.

  Eli stayed silent, repeating the process with a second corpse while going over her words. After finding two more teeth, another hide, and three more pieces of meat, he stood and looked to his still present diseased icon, before turning to Don.

  With the gravity of their situation setting in, Eli spoke, “This is bad. We have a problem. The Blight has reached Scorn.”

  Chapter 10

  Silence gripped the two adventure
rs like a vice, as they looked over the now empty battlefield. With the final wolf vanishing into fine dust, Eli went over Aida’s words. The Blight should still be in the unexplored territories, and it should not have made it past the Beastlands. Yet here it was, only miles away from Dawnport, and somehow it had changed. After several long moments, Don spoke, wanting to know exactly why the Blight was such a problem. Eli tried to explain how serious of an issue it was, how it changed people, but Don thought through the situation like any other adventurer.

  “What do you mean this isn’t normal? To me, they seemed like any other low-level mobs. Sick wolves are attacking some poor village, putting its citizens in danger,” Don chuckled, walking towards one of the fallen trees. “It’s a fantasy RPG classic. There’s probably something in the water, or some evil wizard poisoning them. He’s here to get his revenge on Dawnport for calling him a nerd or something. Who knows?”

  Eli thrust out his hand, grabbing the Turta on the shoulder, squeezing it tight. “I don’t think you understand just how serious this is. The blight isn’t just some disease that makes things sick. Look at your debuff.”

  Don stopped laughing, then glanced at his status bar. After letting out a long sigh, he replied, “Yeah, I saw it. It kills you after a few days, and if you die from it, you become a zombie. I get it. Again, that’s pretty standard. I doubt that it will affect the players. I mean, if players started turning into zombies, no one would play. No one wants to lose their character.”

  “Yeah, you may be right. But, what about the thousands of NPCs in the city and all of those people in the slums? Do you really want the only city nearby to turn into a horde of mutants and undead? And, what if you’re wrong? What if it affects players?” Eli said, his face serious. “This stuff doesn’t just change people into mindless shambling undead. It mutates them, and it controls them. Do you want to turn into an abomination or lose control over your character? We need to tell Alyssa, and we need to get cured.”

  “That’s not what I’m-”

  Don’s words trailed off as a new quest appeared in his vision, mirroring Eli’s.

  *New Quest: The Blighted Isles.

  Your party has slain three blighted wolves near the borders of the Wildwood. While in combat, one of the diseased wolves bit you, spreading its affliction. You and your party member, Don Nutello, have both contracted the magical disease known as The Blight. If you die within the next three days, you will return as an undead creature. If the timer expires, your avatar will change into a blighted demon and carrier of the disease. Find a cure for the Blight and warn the population of Dawnport of the danger. If you fail, you will become a monster, and the city of Dawnport may fall.

  Quest Conditions:

  Find a cure: Find medicine, magic, or any other means to cure your blight.

  Warn the Citizens: Warn Alyssa, the leader of the Wolffen settlement | Warn a high-ranking official of Dawnport, or give evidence to a city guard.

  Optional: Notify the Lord of Dawnport himself.

  Difficulty: Medium | Time Limit: 71h:30m:9s | Reward: Exp, Reputation increase with Slums of Dawnport, Dawnport, Shadowstalker Pack, and Unknown Faction. Reputation decrease with Unknown Faction. - Cure for blight or more information - Unknown Item/s. *Bonus reward: Unknown*

  Failure: Time expires- Loss of reputation with slums of Dawnport, Shadowstalker Pack, and Dawnport. Death, loss of exp, and modified character abilities, statistics, and race. Automatic faction change to Blighted Ones. Character options and abilities limited.

  Death: Character’s race changed to undead—permanent loss of control over character.

  Do you accept: N/A*

  The two scanned through the notification, motionless and silent.

  After a few seconds, Don spoke his head drooping, and his shoulders slumped, “Well, shit. There goes that idea.”

  “I told you that we couldn’t take this lightly. We need to head back and warn Alyssa.” Eli said as Don started toward the slums. “Wait,” he called after the slowly moving Turta. “We have some time. The quest timer has nearly three days before it ends. We should take an hour or two to finish gathering this lumber and get it back to the city.”

  Don’s mood grew apathetic, the thought of staying in the woods weighing on him, “I guess. We’re already out here.” As he spoke, his hand drifted into his belt pouch, and his eyes lit up. “Oh yeah, I found all the berries we need! They were outside of some cave, tucked into one of the northeastern hills, about twenty minutes from here. There were a ton of these suckers growing all over the place.” Bringing a handful of the berries from his pocket, he showed them to Eli, crushing one on accident. “My survival and herbalism skills went up by a few points each,” Staring at the exploded berry, Don’s face soured as he continued, “I would have gathered more, but those damn wolves jumped me. I took one down, but then the other three showed up, and I had to run. Sorry for leading them to you.” Turning his head away, Don paused before speaking under his breath. “I din’t know what else to do.”

  “You did the right thing. If you had died, you could have come back as a monster.” Eli said, clapping his companion on the shoulder, “Good job, on the berries. Hopefully, we can turn all this stuff in to Alyssa at the same time. Were you able to find out where the wolves came from?”

  “Maybe. I think it was the cave. At least one of them came from that direction. The others, I have no idea.” The Turta’s eyes shifted from the downed logs to where the wolves had been. “What did you get from those wolves?”

  “I have two pelts that I can turn into somewhat usable hides, some teeth, and some diseased meat. What did you get off the other one?”

  At Eli’s words, Don pulled out two pelts from a small satchel on his belt. “Pretty much the same. Two pelts and some teeth, I looted the one by the cave before the others attacked. But I left the meat on the corpses. Shit looked weird.”

  Nodding in response, Eli started walking to one of the fallen trees, voicing his plans. “At least we got some materials out of this mess. Maybe we can get some extra lumber to sell and use the teeth and pelts for something.”

  A moment later, the two adventurers set to work, turning the fallen trees into stacks of usable lumber. While working, Aida explained that his axe skill had improved to level seventeen, and he had gained a new ability, Cleave. The attack he had performed at the start of combat was one of the first fighter class abilities one could learn. The sweeping attack reduced his accuracy and attack speed for a single attack while increasing damage and allowing him to hit multiple targets at once. With a smirk on his face, he focused on gathering the fallen redwood. After several swings of his axe, a notification appeared in Eli’s vision.

  Would you like to work Redwood Tree into Redwood Logs: Yes / No.

  Eli selected, yes.

  Before his eyes, the tree split into three six-foot-long logs, roughly twenty inches in diameter. As the logs shifted on the ground, Eli noticed several new notifications flash at the bottom of his screen. Aida did not mention them, but they seemed to carry valuable information, so he focused on the small red icon.

  Congratulations, you have learned the skill, Carpentry! You gain 100 exp.

  Your Carpentry skill has increased to level 1! You gain 10 exp.

  Well, that was easy, he thought while placing his foot on one of the newly formed logs. Starting to understand how the game worked, he set his mind to finish his task. After several more swings, another message appeared.

  Would you like to work Redwood Log into Redwood Planks: Yes / No

  After selecting yes, the first log fell apart into four long strips of usable timber, about eight feet long, six inches wide, and two inches thick. Staring at them brought on several more notifications.

  You have crafted Rough-hewn Planks (Redwood x 4).

  Your Carpentry skill has increased to level 2; you gain 20 exp.

  Repeating the process two more times yielded two more skill levels and seven more wooden planks. It also led to seve
ral questions. “So, that was easier than it should have been.” Eli said, short of breath, “but it still took a lot out of me.” Each hit with his axe drained him of ten stamina, and the process seemed unnatural. While the job required far less time, the effort required was the same. Not completely understanding the process, he asked, “It usually takes me hours to do one tree. What just happened?”

  “Uh, yeah. It’s a perk of being a player, my friend. We don’t have to sit here for hours doing manual labor. Once the system knows our intention, it fast forwards the process. We get tired as hell, but the system rewards us with the finished product after only a few attempts. But, I think we lose the same amount of stamina that it would take if we did it the hard way.” Don replied.

  After Don finished his explanation, Aida chimed in. “While he is oversimplifying it, he is correct. The system takes your skills and attributes into account. Also, your strength and constitution just went up by one point. Good job, you just learned how skill and attribute training work.”

  Wait; what? My attributes went up from that? It only took a few minutes, Eli replied before starting work on the remaining trees.

  While he finished turning the remaining trees into usable timber, Aida explained the process in more detail. Each skill and attribute had hidden experience bars. After they reached a threshold, they would increase. At first, progress would be fast and easy, but as skills and attributes grew in level, they would become exponentially more difficult to increase. She also explained that most players saved the attributes gained from leveling until they absolutely needed to use them. However, any unused points would vanish once a player hit level ten and every five levels after that. This prevented players from hoarding points until it became impossible to train abilities.