Ascension

by B F Rockriver

  “Okay, man, I think you need to sit down.”

  Ignoring his friend, Eli continued, “We need to beat the system. It’s designed to be balanced, to create quests that solve problems. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, right? If it wasn’t, the game could just stop. No more quests, no more game.”

  “Yeah, if it creates an imbalance, it will restart itself, back to day one. We put it in to ensure automated content generation through procedurally generated quests. It also serves as a constant hotfix to errors in gameplay. But how does that help us? There’s no quest to save two million people from a corrupted AI body-snatcher.”

  “We need to stop the Blight. Defeat it entirely. If we stop the spread of the Blight, we stop its ability to take over peoples’ avatars. How was this supposed to play out? What’s the timeline?” Eli asked his friend, understanding where he was headed.

  “Let me think,” James paused, joining Eli in his pacing. “Well, the Blight starts in the Beastlands, it’s why the Beastkin fled to Scorn and Ommuria. Then it’s supposed to spread to Scorn and take over a few altars. But, that’s not supposed to happen for months, which is not the case. I saw at least a dozen blighted NPCs on my way here.”

  Eli nodded, “Yeah, it’s already made its way into the forest, and it infected Don and me. But what’s supposed to happen next.”

  James grimaced at Eli’s words, “So, that’s a problem. We need to get you patched up.”

  Eli waved his hands at the issue, “That’s why the shrine is so important. What happens next?”

  “Well, if the blighted NPC, or player at this point, gets ahold of an altar, it unlocks a World Boss. Then it should generate an Open World Quest to defend Entarra from the Blight. From there, it’s only goal is to expand and take over the continent, but the larger it grows, the less control it’s supposed to have, making it easier to fight. It’s how we wrote around a processing power issue. Blockchain servers are great, but they don’t have infinite processing power.”

  “Then we need to prevent it from taking over an Altar. If we can stop its growth now, then we’ll have a better chance of keeping people safe until we can find a more permanent solution. To do that,” As Eli’s hope built, his words were cut off by a massive flashing notification, with a bile and puss colored border.

  *World Event! The Blighted Ones have captured a stronghold!

  Adventurer Demonteous Maximus has captured a place of power! He now defends The Plague Altar.

  Adventurer Demonteous Maximus transferred ownership of the Plague Altar and its stronghold to The Decaying One - Archpriest of Blight.

  *World Event! Global Quest - The Blighted Isle!

  The scourge known as the Blight has seized control of a place of power. Corruption and Disease now spread from the Northern Wastelands of Scorn with each passing moment. Hive minded monstrosities and demonic creatures have infected the land. While those who succumb to Blight gain immense power, they do so at the cost of their mind. Succumb or resist, there is nowhere to hide.

  Effects, creatures, and spells with the disease, virus, or plague qualities have been empowered. The strength of creatures with the Blighted, Disease, Plague, or Infected properties has grown by 25%, with those in the Northern Wastelands increasing by an additional 25%. All monsters with the Blighted or Plague property now offer a 25% bonus experience. Those on Scorn offer an additional 25%.

  Open Quest: The Blighted Isle.

  Options:

  Resist: Rid the world of Blight.

  Bonus Quest: Be the one to retake The Plague Alter and force the Blight back to the Beastlands.

  Succumb: Become one with the hive mind.

  Bonus Quest: Capture a stronghold and transfer ownership to Blight.

  Difficulty: Hard | Time Limit: N/A | Rewards: Variable (Resist - Bonus experience and loot from all listed creature types) / (Succumb* - Subrace changed to Blighted, +25 to two attributes (Increases attribute cap to 125 for selected attributes), Special skills.) | Bonus Rewards: (Resist - Control of a place of power, +100,000 Renown, +10,000 Reputation with all Neutral and Good aligned factions.) / (Succumb* - +10,000 Reputation with the Blight, Renown locked at -100,000, A boon from an evil-aligned god) | Failure: (Resist - blight controls all twelve altars of power.) (Succumb - The Blight is eradicated)

  Do you accept: N/A (Automatic)

  *Only those who accept the Blight will receive rewards.

  **Warning: Accepting or being forced to succumb to the Blight will lead to permanent changes to the functionality of a player's Avatar. This may include temporary loss of direct control over Avatars' functions.

  *World Event! A World Boss Has Appeared!

  After successfully taking control of the Plague Altar, The Decaying One - Archpriest of Blight has summoned Nyxuss, God of Plagues. Hordes of mutated creatures are now under his command, spreading death and disease across the Island of Scorn. Stop him before he corrupts the land itself, or join him and become his thrall.

  *System Message: Due to a system error, the following menu options have been removed. Log Out, Internet, and Player to Player messaging. All players without Neuralink capabilities will be temporarily logged out of the system and blocked from logging in to prevent any further issues. We are sorry for any inconvenience. Your time is important to us, and customer safety is paramount. Please remember to remain calm and enjoy your time on Entarra, as the diligent staff of Entarra Online work around the clock to resolve the issue.

  Our World is Yours,

  Chief Design Officer - James Conrad, Jr.

  “James?” Eli asked knowingly, his fingers digging into his knees.

  “Wasn’t me, man,” His friend responded through clenched teeth.

  For the first time since being reborn, Eli knew exactly what he had to do. As he stood a sense of determination overtook him. He felt alive.

  “Get ready. We have a god to kill.”

  ~ The Saga Continues ~

  Epilogue

  Joint Base Myer - Arlington, Virginia - Undegroud

  Silence gripped a team of military engineers in a small, dimly lit room. Their commanding officer stood staring at a flashing holo-screen, as an entire squad vanished. The beeping of life support systems vanished, and the quiet hum of pumps came to an eventual stop. A moment later one of the specially designed military pods kicked to life, but the accompanying screen was still dark. While the whirring of motors and sounds of stasis gel flowing through tubes started, the Sergeant’s shoulders sagged. She could no longer see the stream of code that represented consciousness. Her screen was still blank. The Corporal was dead or in a coma.

  Two squads were taking part in the operation. One, a specialized comm unit with attached infantry, would enter to retrieve the other trapped squads. Another comm unit would monitor their progress and attempt to pull them out if things got dicey. At least that was the plan.

  The thing about plans is that they always look good on paper. When working with an ever-evolving sentient AI, they might as well not have bothered. From the moment the first squad entered their military training server, the proving grounds, shit went wrong.

  The first team to go in was still trapped in the server, their bodies alive in their pods. The second was dead, kind of. Somehow the first team to enter had been taken over by the system itself and turned against them. When they died in virtual space, their brains just stopped working. Their bodies were alive, being sustained by the pods, but there was no signal from their brains at all. As if the system had erased them.

  Her team, the third and final, were to go in, grab some information and leave. No interactions, and minimal sync. They were connected to the system via proxies and clones, there was no direct connection. Everything should have been fine. Everything was fine. Until it was not. At first, they were successful. Sending strings of data back to the quarantined server bank in Nevada. They extracted player information, a map of the training server, and confirmed that both previous squads were still logged in. How the secon
d was still in virtual space, she did not know, but it was not her mission. She needed to find a way to shut down the system down from her end. Where Entarra failed, she would succeed. At least she thought she would.

  As soon as her team tried to access system information, her connection was severed, and her squad went dark. All nine pods shut down; their connections lost. A moment later, they were starting up again. This is new, Sergeant Miera thought, as the pod holding Corporal Hill open slowly. Maybe they found a way out?

  A moment later, the man stood, as the strange life-sustaining jelly slid down his wetsuit, slapping to the floor. His smile was the same as he hugged Carlos, the technician sent over from Forged Entertainment. It was his eyes that were different.

  Quest Complete!

  Congratulations! You finished the quest, A Scholar’s Duty: Read one of the Guildmasters’ Books. (Repeatable)

  Though you have finished reading this epic tale, more challenges and awesome books await! The LitRPG Guildmasters (a group of dedicated LitRPG authors) are offering Unique Quests to bold Adventures like you. More quests equal more XP, and the greater your reward! Earn Awesome Loot: Level up to earn books, discounted merch, access to hidden lore and guild exclusives. Quests are available to any who are bold enough to stand with us.

  Make your way to the LitRPG Adventurer’s Guild, a Facebook group of dedicated readers, and Sign Up to our Newsletter.

  Quest Rewards: +100 Guild XP | One free printable, 11x17 poster-sized, map of Scorn.

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  Visit my Website, or Sign Up Now. By signing up you get early access to content, giveaways, discounts on merch, and exclusive loot.

  Rewards: +25 guild XP | A 10% Discount on all armor, tomes, scrolls, and accessories at BFRockriver.com | Early Access to new books by B.F.Rockriver. (Claim Bonus Rewards)

  Exp to next level: 300

  Visit the Quest List at the Adventurers Guild for more ways to earn EXP, and loot!

  Thank You!

  Thank you for reading Altered Realms - Ascension. This book has taken me over a year to write. Blood, sweat, and tears have been spilled to make this happen. But most importantly, you have made this happen and you help it continue. Your support is the single largest factor in keeping my dream alive. Thank you for following me on Royal Road. Thank you for supporting me on Patreon. Thank you for joining the LitRPG Adventurers Guild, and most of all thank you for reading books, specifically LitRPG. You keep this genre and form of art alive. Without readers, authors would be shouting into the void.

  A special shout out to my supporters on Patreon: You are amazing. Your support drives me to keep doing what I love. Pharan, Sebastian, and Angry. Thank you for being my first three supporters.

  If you want to learn more about Altered Realms or look up info on different characters and places, check out the index for an expanded list of lore.

  About the Author

  I am just a guy who loves video games, has an amazing dog named Harley, who’s 17 at the time of publication. Yes, he’s in the book, and yes his breath is acid. Yes, he does magic. How else can he live forever? He is the most adorable old wizard ever. Other than hanging out with my dog, I play video games, read and listen to every book I can and work as an in-home healthcare worker, writer, and small business owner.

  After a year of rewrites, editing, posting to Royal Road, and a 6-month break, I did it. I wrote a freaking book. You just read it. I hope it was good. This has been a dream of mine. Growing up, I played video games, read books, and watched Monty Python. It kept me out of trouble and most likely saved my life. To me, video games and books aren't just a pastime or something to help me escape. They are what I lean on when times are hard, or the world is too much to handle. Now, I've written my own. It has an awesome cover, my name is on it, and the words are mine. But honestly, I wouldn't have done it if without the LitRPG genre and community. Without the authors that came before me and the fans of these stories, mine would have sat to collect dust on the shelves of my mind.

  I plan to write in the LitRPG, Gamelit, and Cultivation genres, so keep an eye out for my upcoming work. The best way to do that is to subscribe to my mailing list.

  Where to Find Me

  Here is a list of Facebook groups I hang out in, how to contact me, and links to my social media profiles. Pro-tip for Adventurers - Following me on social media gives you EXP and Reputation. So, does following certain Facebook groups. Get that quick EXP bump, and Level Up Your LitRPG Experience.

  Get that +25 EXP! Follow me on Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Imgur, Youtube, Mailing List, Website.

  Facebook Pages:

  B.F.Rockriver: My author page! Come hang out with me, I’m pretty nice most of the time. Also, I just like talking to people. I’m an author, I write in my office a lot. My office is just me and my dog. Send brownies. Running low on Baja blast… When you like my FB page or the page of any member of the LitRPG Guild masters, you get + 25 EXP

  LitRPG Guildmasters: I am a founding member of the LitRPG Guildmasters. We are a small, but growing, group of authors who have plans for world domination… ehem* The LitRPG Guildmasters is a small group of authors who are trying to unite the LitRPG genre and expand it across the globe. We feel that everyone needs a little LitRPG in their life, so we plan to make it happen. There is a TON of awesome info, new releases, updates, and giveaways. Go like the page. You get + 25 EXP.

  LitRPG Groups:

  LitRPG Adventurers Guild: This is where you can find me hanging out. The Adventurer’s Guild is a Facebook group managed by the LitRPG Guildmasters. We give out quests, hold events, and dish out a ton of loot. It’s like joining an author group, but for all of your favorite authors at the same time. If you like scavenger hunts, books, maps, and having fun this is for you. This is also where you will find out how to spend your EXP and about additional quests.

  LitRPG Books: If I’m not at the Guild Hall, I’m hanging out in this group, or with my Guildmaster buddies. It’s a great group filled with lots of awesome people.

  LitRPG Forum: A group by fellow Author Paul Bellow. It is mellow and easygoing. Some of the nicest fans in the genre hang out here. If you like a relaxed environment with its own pace. This is the place for you.

  Gamelit Society: Gamelit Society is a group for everything gamelit. It has sci-fi, fantasy, dungeon-core, everything.

  To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.