Ascension

by B F Rockriver

  The silence went on for what seemed like hours before Eli explained the void and what would happen to players who got infected. About what probably happened to whoever controlled Grogg. As he did, his emotions fluctuated between loss, anger, and self-loathing. Before long, he just rambled about anything. He was speaking to fill the silence. If he just kept talking, the pain might go away. Then Don stopped him.

  “I’m so sorry, man. I’m so sorry,” Don whispered. “I had no idea,” he continued, “I don’t know if there will ever be a way to fix how you feel, to repair that hole in you, but I know that the people you lost aren’t really gone. They live on in you. In your actions, thoughts, and memories,” Don eventually spoke, the pain of his loss a backdrop for his every word. “I lost my mother when I was seventeen,” he sighed, “cancer.” His expression went blank as if watching the moment pass in real-time. “It’s why I joined the Navy as a corpsman. I didn’t know where else to turn, and I thought saving other people would help fill that hole. But it didn’t. All it did was show me more pain. More suffering.” The Turta’s face hardened as he slammed his fists into his legs, “My friend Carlos. He just wouldn’t listen. The fucker wanted to follow me everywhere. He joined on the same day I did. I lost him too.”

  Eli had never asked his friend’s story, how he ended up in a long-term capsule. He had known that he was struggling with something, but he never asked. He was so focused on his problems that it blinded him to others. Not wanting his friend to stop talking, knowing that he too had to shed the weight of grief, Eli placed his hand on Don’s shoulder.

  “But, man, I know this shit can’t last forever. It may never get better, but we have to keep moving forward. If we don’t, then what else is there, giving up? Fuck that; I tried that. It’s how I got stuck here. It’s why we’re both here.” Don looked Eli in the eyes, “We can’t run away from this shit anymore. It’s not fair to them, to the people we’ve lost. It’s not fair to the people out there who are going to find themselves unable to log out of this game. And it sure as hell isn’t fair to us. We deserve a little happiness too, man. Besides, you’re the only one who can fix this, and I’m going to help.” Don finished, a look of resolve overtaking him.

  “Wait, what do you mean? I’m not sure when that’s going to happen.” Eli said, worried.

  “What you said about people not being able to log out is true. I know that for a fact. When I woke up this morning, my internet access and log-out options were greyed-out. I couldn’t leave if I tried. So, if we sit here and lose ourselves to this shit, sink into some pit, a lot of other people will suffer. They probably already are.” Don’s words filled Eli with dread as a scream filled the hallways of the Temple.

  After rushing to find the source of the screams, dreading another attack, they found Michelle standing in the hallway, nearly nude, screaming. Seeing the two seemed to confuse her even more, which led to her screaming incoherent obscenities at them. Eventually, the two calmed her down enough to explain why she was screaming.

  While her avatar had been sleeping, she had logged out to eat. The time dilation was roughly two to one, where one hour out of the game was two in-game, so she had just enough time to make herself some breakfast. While she had the highest level capsule and had no reason to leave the game, she still loved to eat in the real world. That morning, after eating a mound of bacon and eggs, she logged back in. Finding her friends still asleep, she tried to log out, rather than explore the stronghold alone. When she did, she found herself in the void, followed by an error message.

  The troll woman sat in limbo for over two hours, panicking, before she was eventually sent back to the game. Upon finding herself in Entarra, Michelle opened up her menu. The option to quit the game had vanished, along with her ability to send and receive mail, and pull up the internet. She had been cut off from the outside world entirely. Trying to get a hold of a moderator or customer service also proved impossible, as the system had also removed the options. So she did the next best thing, scream.

  Doing their best to consol the frantic woman, Eli and Don tried to explain the situation. Michelle stood screaming, not wanting to hear it. “How is this possible? The game is going rogue, hold players hostage? I’m fucking stuck. You’re telling me I’m fucking stuck here. Oh, and what? So is every other player in the game?” The woman's bullet train of thoughts led her to ask something that Eli and Don had not thought of. “What about everyone who doesn’t have a long-term capsule? Doesn’t the game just kick them out after a few real-time hours?” She asked, hoping that there was some workaround. “If we get the word out quick enough, can’t they just pull our plugs or something?”

  Eli thought, sifting through what little knowledge he had, before coming to an answer, “I mean, from what I know, maybe? My guide said something about headsets. The same goes for anyone without a top tier capsule, I think. Aida?”

  At his question, the pink wisp appeared, buzzing about the room. “You’re pretty much spot on. Only the capsules hooked up to a city’s infrastructure can maintain indefinite use. Everyone else logs out if the person using it has a medical emergency, or after prolonged use that might be dangerous. The problem is that there is no plug to pull on the full immersion capsules that allow for permanent gameplay. The level of immersion doesn’t allow for it. There’s a buffer between the game and the real world, that’s the void. If you skip that step, you could mess up people’s motor functions as they transition from one body and speed of time to the next. Imagine pulling the plug on your computer while it’s updating your operating system. Now, imagine doing that to your brain. In extreme situations, it might put them in a coma. The very worst and most rare scenario is brain damage or death. People with severe neurological issues are the most susceptible to brain injury.”

  “Uh, what the fuck, dude.” Don gasped, I don’t remember reading any of that stuff in the safety manual.”

  “It’s in the End User License Agreement and Consent Forms.” Aida responded, “Everyone who uses a long-term pod has to sign a medical waiver, including the parents of minors who use the system. It’s not required for anyone else, as the dangers are negligible.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t read the waiver. It was this or medical separation. I signed the fucking waiver, real quick.”

  “So, what do we do?” Michelle asked. “I can’t stay here forever. I have shit to do. There’s food to eat and movies to watch.”

  “Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Eli answered in frustration at his lack of an answer.

  “Wait, how do you know all of this, and what’s that orb that flew out of your chest?” Michelle asked with anger and confusion on her face.

  Eli spent the next hour explaining who he was to an infuriated Michelle, skipping his personal reasons for locking himself inside the game. After several outbursts and physical attacks, the Troll woman calmed down. Realizing that getting mad would do nothing to help their current situation and that killing Eli could cost them their only hope of getting out of the game, Michelle started pacing.

  “So, what’s the plan?” She asked in resignation, “What do we do?”

  “Well, the first step is to get Don and myself cured, along with any NPCs and players we can. If the blight takes over, everyone will be stuck here, possibly indefinitely.”

  “Yeah, that can’t happen,” Don said with a nod. “We need to stop that shit before it even starts. That’s priority number one.”

  “Then we focus on getting the game back to normal somehow,” Eli responded with as much confidence he could muster. “But right now, we have to prepare this place to receive up to four hundred citizens and build a shrine so we can get cured. The slums are moving to Aeryntorr.” Eli finished, his two friends looking at each other with confusion.

  For the rest of the morning, Eli went through his new stronghold menu and spoke with Aida. His AI companion had learned to manifest herself into the game world, making herself visible and able to be heard by everyone. While Eli did not un
derstand how this was possible, he decided that it was a low priority problem. She was useful and much more capable than most normal guides. Having the ability to speak to everyone might help.

  The AI had grown in intelligence to where she could comprehend human emotion and assist Eli with the formation of his plan. As Eli walked through his ruined stronghold, Aida suggested that Eli form an adventurer's guild. They could then act as owners of the city, without having to govern it. They would control the stronghold itself and elect people to run anything they did not want under their direct supervision. When he had first taken over leadership of the area, there was an option to form a monarchy with Eli as sole ruler. He dismissed that idea entirely. Not wanting to be directly responsible for the growth of an entire city, let alone a kingdom.

  His first action was to spend ten gold to form a new guild, which he named The Order of Voyagers. After doing this, a prompt appeared to select at least two founding members. He chose Don and Michelle, which brought up another prompt to select their roles. The listed roles were Guild Leader, Assistant Guild Leader, Emissary, Steward, and Warlord. Eli selected himself as the leader, Don as his assistant, and Michelle as the guilds Warlord, leaving all other roles unoccupied. With this done, yet another prompt appeared, allowing him to select the guilds focus.

  There were four main options, under which some had different specializations. Adventurer's Guild, Mercantile, Political, and School were listed as the primary roles, while mercantile and school had several more specific options available. As a mercantile guild, there were hundreds of specific trades listed, but only a few were available. Since Eli was the only party member with a crafting or trade skill above twenty, their only option was a Woodsman’s Guild or General Merchants guild.

  A Woodsman’s Guild gave all members bonuses to learning and performing skills associated with skills falling under the woodsman category. This included carpentry, lumberjacking, fletching, and a laundry list of other wood related skills. The General merchants' guild gave a five percent bonus to all trade skills and their rate of growth for everyone in the guild. While Eli could see the benefit of a merchants' guild, he did not see any immediate benefits. So, he looked at the option for schools, hoping to find one in particular.

  Focusing on the list of schools brought up only three options, Arcane College, College, and Research Facility. Excitement grew in Eli’s mind, as he thought of owning a school that taught magic. Then he looked at the arcane option, only to see it greyed out completely. He couldn’t teach people things he didn’t know, and he had no spells to teach. Focusing on the research facility left him with only the mundane research options. While this had interesting opportunities, such as mechanics, weaponry, metallurgy, and other scientific research fields, they could take weeks or months to show any real advancement. He needed something that would help him push the blight off of Scorn.

  Nearly giving up hope on the guild option, he asked Aida why she suggested it, “Hey, what was your idea? These options, while awesome in the long run, don’t seem to help us now. Staying a monarchy could make me super rich and allow me to focus on important issues. Forming a democracy or a commune would allow the people to elect their leaders, but we need to stop the blight. We can’t afford to waste weeks learning new spells, finding out how who should be in charge, or how to create new trinkets.”

  “Adventurer's Guild, you idiot. It gives you the ability to offer quests. You know, like a standing order to kill blighted monsters or clear dungeons. It also lets you set up a guildhall and hire NPCs to run it, who, in turn, do your job for you, while you keep control over general operations.” Aida replied, “But if you want to name yourself King Eli, the idiot lord of the Unnamed Stronghold, go for it. You can spend your time delegating tasks, and you know, being an active monarch. Or you can start a Democracy and let your three members vote on everything. Just don’t be surprised when you let a bunch of Wolffen NPCs and greedy players in, and they vote you out.”

  “Okay, okay, I get it. We control the guild and own the surrounding city. They do what they want, but we have the final say.” Eli responded, selecting Adventurer's Guild as his guilds type.

  With his selections made, he accepted the formation of his new guild. A moment later, he saw a flash in his vision, as friends approved their role, followed by a glowing golden notification. He was the leader of a newly minted Adventurer's guild. A moment later, a prompt to name the guild, the stronghold, and the city appeared. A list of two options appeared in a window. One was to name them himself, the other to take suggestions.

  Staring at the box, the suggestions were obvious. Don had named the guild to Turtle Power, the city to Ninja’s Lair, and the stronghold to Shell of Solitude. Michelle had suggested the guild name of The Rebel Alliance. For the stronghold's name, she recommended Temple of Doom. Her name for the city was rather blunt, The Troll Nation. Having had enough of their jokes, he immediately put down his own suggestions.

  *Congratulations! You have formed a new Guild. Welcome to Quests Inc.

  As Guild Leader, you have chosen Don Nutello as your Assistant Guild Leader, and Michelle Clubsman as your Warlord. For more information on guild roles, please review your guild leadership menu.

  *You have named your stronghold Blight’s End Keep. The surrounding city will be known as Blight’s End.

  A smile crept across Eli’s face, as he watched the name associated with his plot of land change on his world map. Blight’s End appeared where The Lost Temple of Aeryntorr had been, and the temple itself took on the name Blight’s End Keep. When he looked at the temple, he noticed a new option in his view. One that Aida forced into his vision.

  *Would you like to change your stronghold from Temple to Keep: Yes / No

  His grin widened as the notifications faded from view. Hope surged within him as he stared at the massive Temple. A moment later, an illusory keep made of living trees, stone, and packed earth transposed itself over the existing structure. A single circular four-story drum-keep sat in the center of four taller, individual room towers, each placed in the cardinal directions. Focusing on the illusion, Eli’s stronghold menu appeared, showing him the map of his lands. The image of the keep had replaced the Temple, but what surprised him was an entirely new structure that surrounded the entire island, a massive barbican.

  Eli turned to face the twin rivers that acted as a natural moat, unable to believe what he saw. A fifteen-foot curtain wall, crafted in a similar fashion to the keep, surrounded the central island. Branches weaved themselves together, interlocking seamlessly to create a smooth surface. Stairs framed of living trees and stone led up to a rampart that hung slightly over the rest of the wall, making climbing difficult. Eight circular towers ringed the structure, which could support several archers and act as guardhouses. Two of the towers sat on either side of a gatehouse that led to a long drawbridge that spanned the narrowest part of the southeastern river. Focusing on the map, he zoomed out to see the entirety of his guilds property.

  The island looked like an egg, the barbican as the shell, and the keep as a lumpy-looking yolk. Past the island was several acres of unused grassland and continuation of the Wildwood. The entire clearing belonged to the guild, but nothing past the river had been built up at all. If he wanted to stand against the blight, and whatever Dawnport had planned, he would need something more defensible than a temple. He needed this. With a sparkle in his eyes, he selected yes.

  Chapter 38

  Eli’s smile vanished as a red-bordered notification appeared, blocking his vision instead of a glorious castle. Following on the heels of the intrusive box was the sound of failure, two hollow thuds like the sounds of a hammer on a barrel. Letting out a long sigh, Eli read over the text himself, not wanting to hear Aida call him a fool.

  *Unable to complete construction.

  Build points, 10 / 10,000.

  Building Materials:

  Lumber: 1500 / 1500

  Stone: 978 / 1000

  Metal*: 481 / 700
<
br />   Estimated construction time, 2 years 6 months 1 day.

  Would you like to proceed: Yes / No

  With a sigh, Eli selected no and watched the beautiful illusory castle vanish. A temple isn’t so bad, I guess, he thought, staring at the temple named Blight’s End Keep. With a thought, he reached out to Aida, wanting more information about how the city-building aspect of the game worked.

  “There are two major factors in building construction, build points and construction materials. Build points are just a number associated with how fast you can build things. One novice craftsman generates five build points, an apprentice generates ten, a journeyman generates twenty, and a master generates fifty. At the moment, you generate ten build points per day. This is because you have a magical worker, you can boss around. These workers count as an apprentice craftsman in every trade until you upgrade them. Then, you need the actual resources to build the structure. Some, or all of the resources, can be replaced with Faith Points, FP.” Aida said while floating around his head.

  “Okay, so what about FP? How do I get that? Don’t I need those for the shrine and to get my cure.”

  “Simply put, it’s the divine energy accumulated by worshipers. NPCs and PCs can worship the various gods, but only one at a time and each in different ways. NPCs become followers, or acolytes when devoted to a deity. A worshiper is anyone who spends at least four hours a day in service to or directly worshiping, the deity related to the altar. They generate ten FP per day, but only when worshiping within the altars area of influence. Player worshipers are clerics, paladins, priests, and the other classes who involve divine energy. They only generate FP when classified as a citizen, and part of the temple or clergy. The only major differences between NPC and PC worshipers are where they can worship, and how many points they generate. A player usually generates ten to twenty FP per day. Ten if they pray at a shrine or temple, then leave to do player things. Twenty if they spend four hours in service within the city. For players, adventuring in the name of their god is considered an act of service. Staying at the temple to do things for their god is double duty. For strongholds without an altar, shrines can be built to any deity, but FP is generated at half the rate, and there are fewer options for boons. This is why altars of power are so sought after. They give you access to better boons, faster build times, and all kinds of other bonuses, like special classes. However, they require upkeep, and shrines do not. If there are no worshipers to power the altar, you lose ten FP per day to a minimum of ten.”