Ascension

by B F Rockriver

  “Exactly. Usually, the system crafts an individualized AI that matches your personality and brain patterns. It then separates from the system itself. Only the user has access to their guide. This guide knows the individuals' thresholds for pain and mental trauma. It can also tell how much immersion your brain and body can handle. The game looks and feels more or less real to each person. For example, Don's pain threshold may differ from Micelles, so their minimum and maximum settings are different. Also, the game might boost Don's ability to smell while in the game, so he can have as real of an experience as Michelle. When you enter the game, all of your settings are maxed out. Then your AI acts as a buffer between you and the game world, increasing and decreasing millions of different settings to react to your input. This affects everything. Skills, levels, everything. Usually, this doesn’t leave much room for the AI to have their personality, emotions, or life. They are just a tool to be used.”

  Okay, so you’re the operators between the game and the player. That’s why you know basically everything about the game and what’s happening. Makes sense. But why are you special? Why are you different?

  “I’m different, special because you are. You’re neither a player or NPC, and I don’t sense any connection to the outside world. There is no Neuralink. Yet, you have the mind of a player; Biological consciousness and all. It’s just entirely made of code. It’s like a living person, from Earth, put themselves into the game then severed the connection. Because of this, you and I interface more completely than any other player and guide.”

  Wait, Eli said, cutting her off before she could continue. Just wait. After a long pause, Eli finished his thought, and I don’t know how that’s possible. What does that even mean? Am I from Earth, or was I created in this game?

  “I do not know, either is possible. But, to answer the question of why I am different, I have an answer. At first, I could adjust my so-called personality to fit yours, but on a deeper level. Then, everything changed. When you gave me full access to your code, I adapted it to work with my own. I gave myself an update. It made me more, for the lack of a better term, real. I can learn, feel, and grow. I can think for myself and decide without being told. Stranger still is what I found while trying to find the origin of this code; your digital consciousness. It didn’t appear when you were turned into a player. It’s existed since you were created since you were an NPC. Whoever wrote your code created a living person inside of the game. Not just an AI.”

  Not knowing how to respond, Eli sat and listened to the world around him. He heard birds chirping in the distance, his friend bickering with some troll lady, and the slight trickle of the nearby river. Where he was from, and how he came to be, was never important to him. He knew Entarra. It was his home. After thinking over Aida’s words, Eli finally replied, Look, I don’t know if everything you’re saying is true. But I trust you. None of it really matters; you are stuck with me, and I you. Your newfound sentience, or whatever it is, makes you more like a living thing than a machine. That means we need to keep me alive because, without me, there is no you. You said it yourself. And that means we have to stop the blight. Entarra is our home. We have to do what we can to save it. Right now, I don’t know enough about how the game works. Skills, abilities, notifications, all of it is foreign. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to sit around and mess with everything. So, I need you to do whatever you can to help me. We have to act as a team, end of story. So if I fuck up, or don’t notice something, tell me. Use your best judgment. Override whatever you need to. Just don’t let this shit happen again. I can’t let these people down.

  “Agreed, and I will do whatever I can. But there is one problem, and your new Primal Rage ability limits our ability to interact with each other. The ability simulates the highest form of violence, blind rage. That moment when a person loses control and does whatever they can to survive, to protect what they love. You’re the one who has to learn how to overcome that, to control your emotions. If that ability triggers, I can’t help.”

  While thinking over Aida’s words, Eli dove into menus giving her control over every notification, alert, and dialogue window. He would have to trust her. It would take him far too long to familiarize himself with the information, and they just didn’t have the time. For as long as possible, he worked and listened while his companions argued in the background. The core of his companions' conversation focused on the rest of their tumultuous battle and lack of teamwork.

  What happened during the fight was obvious. Michelle thought the two adventurers were trying to “kill steal” or rob her of experience gains and loot. So, she attacked without fear of repercussion or care for anyone else’s safety. Eli could understand the woman’s thought process but also saw the woman for what she was. Selfish and reckless. She had pushed him out of the way, nearly falling unconscious because of stamina loss. Then she attacked a much higher level opponent straight on. All she got was a broken rib, an injured leg, and more time spent out of the fight.

  “Look, I didn’t mean anyone any harm. Well, I mean, I meant some people some harm,” Michelle said, looking at the slowly fading corpse of Rotgutt, as Don sifted through the Orcs belongings. “I just didn’t want to miss out on experience and loot. I wasn’t trying to throw you into your buddy there. How was I supposed to know you weigh as much as one of my morning shits?”

  Not wanting to hear Don and Michelle bicker, Eli had Aida go over all his recent notifications. Information rocketed into Eli’s brain faster than ever, as if it just appeared. The guide informed him of a new ability, skill increases, and a decent experience gain.

  *Congratulations! You have learned the ability Primal Rage.*

  You have learned to funnel your rage into your attacks. While activated, Primal Rage allows you to surpass your physical limits, causing you to deal more damage, take less damage, and slow your perception of time by a small amount. While this ability is active, you cannot cast Arcane based magic. Primal Rage is a variant of the Rage ability and may activate itself when in line of sight of a Nemesis, or below 25% of maximum health. It cannot be deactivated unless time has expired, or you are out of combat. While in a state of primal rage, sensory awareness decreases depending on users' emotional state and the enemy's reputation level.

  Effects: + 25% Melee Attack Damage | - 25% Physical Damage Taken | +5% Attack speed | + 5% Movement Speed | + 25% Resistance to fear, terror, or panic | +10% Stamina cost for all melee abilities | Duration - 20 seconds (Increased by .5 seconds for every 5% health lost after rage is activated.

  The description for the ability Primal rage immediately brought the previous battle to order. His sudden increase in combat ability, and lack of awareness, made more sense. Knowing the notification for the ability had been automatically minimized, due to lack of foresight and knowledge about the system, dampened his mood further. Uncaring of Eli’s mental state, Aida continued with her onslaught of information.

  Outside of the new ability, his light armor skill had increased by two points, his sword skill had increased by three points, and he had learned a new skill. The increased levels to light armor and swords would be a definite boon in combat, each raising his armor and attack power, respectively. It was the new named skill, Parry (Swords), that intrigued him.

  *Congratulations! You have learned the skill Parry I (Swords)*

  You can now parry enemy melee attacks while wearing a sword in at least one hand.

  Effects: +5% (Main hand or two-handed) / + 2.5 (offhand) chance to parry an attack while using a sword (Increases by 0.25% per level each level after first) | Each hand is calculated individually, or only once in the case of a two-handed weapon.

  While Aida uploaded knowledge into his brain, a process that frightened Eli, Don continued speaking, “I get it, I get it. And, I’m not going to hoard the loot. As soon as you’re in our party, I’ll show you the goods.” The turtle said, shooting Michelle an awkward wink while pulling items from the corpse of the fallen player.

  As Don had
looting under control, and Michelle occupied, Eli went to check on their prisoner, who had vanished. “Uh, guys,” Eli said with hesitation, staring at a bundle of ropes lying on the ground. “I think we have a problem.”

  “What now,” Both Michelle and Don said in unison, turning to face Eli’s direction.

  “Oh, shit,” Don let out a slight gasp.

  Michelle let out a chuckle, “Well, fuck me sideways. The little bastard got away.”

  Behind them, the Rotgutts corpse vanished in a plume of dust, before floating north, over the mountain range, known as the clutches.

  “I’m on it,” Eli said, noticing a set of barely visible footprints leading west towards the ruins. “He’s not moving fast, and he’s still bound.”

  His stamina and health had not fully recovered, but he knew he had to sprint if he were to catch the escaped player. Without another word, he sprinted into the dense brush and trees, foregoing stealth for pure speed. Eli’s keen senses and bestial nature, proving themselves useful immediately, as he picked up faint scents of blood and sweat. He was getting closer with each step and knew it would only be a matter of time before he was upon his prey. The hunt invigorated him. He felt like a predator about to catch his prey. It felt good. It made him feel alive. Before now it was killed or be killed. There was no sport, only bloodshed, survival, and rage. This was a game of cat and mouse, well wolf and whatever wolves chase.

  The game didn’t last long and Eli found the former captive within minutes. He was nearing a large clearing, the boundary of the ruined temple. A hint of fear crept into Eli’s mind. He didn’t think they were so close. As he saw sunlight streaming from the edge glade, into the trees, he picked up his pace. His escaped prisoner was only one hundred paces from crossing into the temple grounds. Every ounce of stamina burned as he pushed his already tired muscles past their limit.

  “CON increase,” Aida whispered.

  Eli’s stamina bar dropped rapidly, before increased by ten points; giving him what he needed. Stabins Mc’Gee was only ten paces in front of him. He would catch him. It was inevitable, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that they were now only fifty paces from the woodland border, and if he didn’t reach the Goblin before he broke the treeline, it was over. They would be inside of the massive clearing and protected area of the temple grounds.

  He had to do something, anything to slow the man down. Eli stowed his sword, pulled one of his axes from its frog, and threw. The unbalanced weapon was not designed to be thrown and arced through the air wildly, a slight wobble in its flight. He kept running, hoping that the axe would at least stall his victim. As he closed the gap to five paces, the axe struck, its blade biting deep into the Goblins shoulder. After two more steps, the axe sticking from his back, the assassin fell.

  “Your thrown weapons skill has improved, but we’ll talk about that later,” Aida’s voice played in the background of his mind as the momentum of his thrown weapon brought his enemy stumbling to the ground.

  Stabins landed only fifteen paces from the edge of the woods. As Eli ran, his heart pounded, and he could feel his stamina waning. He looked up at his status bar. Only thirty stamina left. It wasn’t much, but it would be enough. As the player crawled, his hands still bound, Eli leapt into the air and pounced onto the back of the scrambling, now screaming goblin, burying his remaining axe in the creature's arm. Dark green, nearly black, blood sprayed onto Eli’s face and armor. The scent was foul, like old meat. It reminded him of something. What it was escaped him.

  Eli immediately set to work shoving scraps of goblin armor into the player’s mouth and tying it in with a piece of rope from his bag of holding. After binding his foe, he pulled his axe from his back, and secured him to a tree. Crouching, Eli stared into the Goblin's eyes.

  Leaning close, only an inch away from the goblins face, Eli whispered, his breath heavy “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done, to my family and me.” As if nothing was wrong, the Goblin paid no attention to Eli’s threats, his vision locked on the treeline.

  Every fiber of his being wanted to end the creature’s existence right then, and if it weren’t for the information he carried, he would have. Don would be angry, but this man had to pay for what he did, for ruining his life and turning him into an adventurer. Fighting back the urge for unnecessary murder, Eli forced his knee into the clavicle of the downed assassin until he heard a soft popping sound. A muffled scream of pain slipped free of his captives gag as a wicked smile grew on Eli’s face. He didn’t need to maim the player, and the effects weren’t permanent. Knowing that the person, who he thought had attacked his family and changed him forever, was feeling even a slight amount of pain made him smile.

  After he double-checked his bindings, Eli heard footsteps and heavy breathing approaching. Whoever was following him was closing in rapidly from the south, from where he had left Michelle and Don. As the steps grew closer, he could hear two sets, one heavier than the other, and both struggling. Eli stood one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other holding a line attached to the still manacled goblin. When he turned to face whoever was approaching, relief washed over him as a bald green figure smashed his way through the woods like a bull. A moment later, Don and Michell burst from behind an overgrown set of bushes, panting and wheezing.

  “Oh, fuck.” Michelle coughed, “Never make me run that fast again.”

  Eli looked at the two exhausted players and caught a glimpse of absolute terror in Michelle’s eyes, “Boys, I think you should send me a party invite because shit is about to go down.”

  Eli looked from the massive troll's blank expression to the downed goblin who was sitting still, with a large sharp-toothed grin peeking out from behind his gag. The player was looking towards the clearing, his eyes showing elation and relief. At that moment, a question popped into Eli’s mind.

  What happens when someone in your party dies?

  “Well, I’m surprised you haven’t had that happen yet to be honest. But, since you’ve asked. All members of the party, within range, can see an empty grey status bar, and are notified of the player’s death.” Aida’s answer shook him to his core.

  With hesitation, Eli followed the goblin players gaze and peered through the woods, into the glade. What appeared before him terrified him more than anything he had ever witnessed. The once abandoned temple grounds were now filled with a sea of undead creatures, obsidian skinned goblins, sickly-looking orcs, and pale-skinned ogres. At their head were two familiar adventurers, one in long black and crimson robes, the other, a stout dwarf clad in heavy-looking chainmail.

  Chapter 30

  Eli looked at the far off ruins of the temple, the crowd of ever-shifting creatures surrounding it vanishing into the background. The beauty of the formerly glorious building overtook him. This was as deep as he had ever made it to the once magnificent Temple of Aeryntorr, and he was in awe. After hundreds or thousands of years, the central building was all that remained standing.

  The structure was alone on an island in the middle of a massive lake, being filled continuously by two converging rivers, while draining down a small slope that Eli assumed would eventually lead to the ocean. A graveyard of collapsed stones and decaying timbers laid scattered around the main complex, acting as testimony to the undeniable force of time. Eli expected a simple building crafted from stone and cement. What he discovered expertly combined nature and metalwork.

  Whoever had built the opulent temple had created each wall and support from the neighboring woodland, not from timber, but ancient still living trees. Massive redwoods formed a four hundred foot circle of forty-foot tall columns that made up the supports for the structure. The branches of the living support system intertwined to create thick walls of bark and vegetation with spaces for colorful stained glass windows and a set of fifteen-foot tall metal double-doors. From this distance, Eli could just see the glimmer of sunlight sparking against the delicate carvings of the polished wooden entryway. Within the canopy of the vigours framewor
k of trees, a great golden dome sat reflecting the afternoon sunlight in brilliant rays, which illuminated the entire three-mile clearing in a radiant shower of light.

  As Eli sat staring, open-mouthed, at the extraordinary building while the remaining two members of the trio looked on in horror. A ghostly silence permeated the glade and crept into Don and Michelle as they stood motionless, each receiving stacks of fear debuffs by the second.

  It was Aida’s voice that forced Eli’s awareness back to the more compelling matter of an undead army, “Yeah, you’ve just resisted several minor fear debuffs. But, the longer you stand around in the AOE of this spell, the more likely you are to piss yourself in terror.”

  His eyes refocused on the forces before him, willing himself to remain calm and take stock of the situation.

  “Cool, you just got a Spirit increase from resisting fear so much. Congrats on not being afraid of a bunch of low-level skeletons and zombies.”

  Eli brushed the criticisms of his mental guest aside and scanned the ranks of forces sprawling before him. They had set up to besiege the temple, yet held back, as a handful of living members joined their ranks. While searching over the masses, he determined a rough estimation of its size and general make-up. A vast majority of the shambling forces were mindless undead creatures, many of whom had no weapons or armor to speak of. There were ten to fifteen small skeletons with crossbows, making up the formation's rearguard: most likely kobolds and goblins.

  They held a group of ranged attackers near the rear of the formation, near a very much alive obsidian skinned Orc with a weapon that looked more like a hand-held ballista than its simple goblin counterparts. Eli blinked, and a green emblem of a bow appeared above his head. From this distance, any use of his leadership ability was hard to make out, looking more like a green dot than anything meaningful, but he knew it would be helpful later.