OhmN

by M J Conlon

  Rocks?

  “No, rock and roll.” HAIL sounded slightly disappointed. “Youths today, you are going to miss all of my cultural references.”

  You do realize I was a retired Army Ranger right?

  “Yes, I am well aware of this fact Master Sergeant. Your Ranger training was part of how I know you can adapt to this environment.”

  Then why are you calling me a youth? When did your quantum server come up online?

  Now Derick could swear he heard a sigh coming from his mind. “Look, let’s just find your profession and move on.”

  Derick asked a guard for directions to the smithy. He was promptly given directions and a marker was placed on his map, which then was mimicked on his mental tracker.

  Psychic-tracking allows me to place markers on places where I am told that others are? Derick queried while making his way to the closest smith.

  “Yes your mind assumes the information to be accurate and will mentally find the mind closest to the location indicated.”

  Pretty cool.

  “Pretty cool indeed kid. Stick with me and you just might make it out alive.”

  In a little under a minute Derick found himself looking at the smith, though something seemed off about the man happening away at the bellows. Do you see that?

  “See what?”

  The smith is grayed out. Derick was trying to remember where he saw something similar, then he looked at his character sheet and saw the same gray coloring mark out his mana bar. He is grayed out just like my mana bar is.

  “This is odd. I am not noticing anything altered in my scans. Ask him if he can help you unlock your profession.”

  With that Derick walked up to the man who was hammering away. Derick waited for a second in the smith’s peripheral vision, but the man never acknowledged his presence, even after a full minute of waiting. Finally Derick said, “Hello?”

  Nothing.

  “Hello!” Derick yelled at the Smith, but nothing happened again.

  Finally Derick went over an tried to lightly tap the man on his shoulder. Instead of feeling a solid object, Derick felt a faint chill to the touch. It was odd, as this was the first time that Derick had ever felt the sensation of being cold, since entering the game world.

  Did you see that?

  “Yes, but I cannot explain it, even if you are not meant to be a metallurgist, you should still be able to interact with the professions masters?”

  Is it because I have spent too long here, in this starting zone?

  “No, this place was designed so that some travelers could set up shop down here and exchange items between other travelers without ever having to leave the city for the next 77 years.”

  So what is it then?

  “I do not know, let’s go try to find the next professions trainer.”

  With that Derick walked away from the smith and found the nearest guard. Derick was relieved to see that the guard was fully vibrant and colorful, much as the rest of the city was. Derick then asked for directions to the fletcher. Upon entering the fletcher’s shop Derick noticed much the same thing as before, a grayed out husk floating in front of him.

  This time Derick didn’t even try talking to the fletcher, instead he just walked up and tried to lightly touch the Fletcher on the back. Once again a feeling of cold filled Derick’s finger where his bone made contact with the fletcher’s body, but the fletcher didn’t seem to notice.

  Is it a glitch?

  “Doubtful. But we should wait to see if other travelers can interact with him.”

  Derick found a corner that only had a pile of hay in it, then sat down in the hay.

  “You know you are undead, as such your discomfort level is lowered dramatically, right?”

  So?

  “So why do you always sit on what a fleshy would consider comfortable? Why not just sit in the disused dusty corner over there in the shade?”

  Derick looked over and saw an empty corner that was shaded from all rays of light entering the fletcher’s workshop. What could I do there?

  “What could you do there? Well you could level up your stealth skill while we waited at least.”

  Derick got up, chided himself mentally for not thinking about improving his stealth skill first, then proceeded to the corner in stealth and continued to maneuver back and forth. Block all pop-ups related to skill upgrades.

  “Already taken care of.”

  With that Derick found himself walking back and forth. On the other side of the wall he could hear two city guards who were stationed nearby talking to themselves about shift rotations and how the next shift had two drunks on duty and how it generally took them the first two hours of their shift to sober up. These were of course all the details that Derick had been trained to avoid talking about his entire military career, while also being forced to listen for it as an Army Ranger. It wasn’t always necessary to know these details, but knowing that he effectively had a two hour window at the start of next shift, which was presumably the night shift to get into the fletcher rob the place if needed and get out might come in handy at some point in the future. Or at least the knowledge that such details were freely spoken about by non-player characters was also an interesting development. It seemed that Derick might be able to put more of his Army training to the task than he previously thought. Good to know.

  “Oh I love the way your mind automatically takes a general conversation about coworkers and turns it into something dark and exploitable.”

  Derick paused at the thought, not knowing how to take the way HAIL seemingly encouraged his darker side to come out. You know, you might not be the best influence on me. Derick thought as he continued his constant creeping and pacing about the fletcher’s workshop.

  “I assure you, I am your best influence if you wish to survive in this world.” HAIL replied back. Derick just shook his head and continued his silent pacing and listening in to the conversations happening on the city street outside, trying to find anything to take his mind away from the tedious nature of waiting and pacing. Finally after what seemed like hours a Ranger came in dressed in wilderness colored clothes and handed a stack of sticks to the Fletcher.

  “Good, now get me 20 quartz rocks and 20 bird feathers, so we can finish making your arrows.” The fletcher replied.

  Derick heard the conversation, but continued to move in the shadows.

  “Did you hear that?” HAIL asked, breaking Derick out of his trance.

  Yeah quartz rocks and bird feathers. Kind of a waste as the quartz would cause each arrow to fly slightly differently. Would probably be best to create a metal cast that could be mass produced and ensure fewer deviations in flight paths and trajectories from arrow to arrow.

  “No, that means that other travelers can interact with the fletcher.” HAIL said, then paused, wait “you got all that, from those simple words?”

  Yeah, when trying to become proficient with any weapon, consistency and training are paramount. What that fletcher is doing is creating a lot of mental adjustments to be made by the archer after each shot, good for a beginner, but not so much when your life is on the line in combat. Derick thought back to all of the practice hours he spent at the range, firing his rifle, side piece, and his own weapons he brought from home.

  “Good to know. Additionally, I can see why the fletcher is grayed out to you, you would probably spend half the time telling him how he was a moron.”

  If the shoe fits. Time to move on?

  “Time to move on.”

  With that Derick broke stealth and began moving toward the exit. HAIL showed final progress in skills over the past six hours.

  In a second an orange pop-up box appeared in Derick’s vision showing that he had leveled up two stats.

  Stealth has increased to 67.

  Eavesdrop has increased to 10.

  Eavesdrop?

  Eavesdrop is a passive skill that lets you hear the importance laced within benign conversations. For each point in this skill, you will have a 1% p
er skill level greater chance of hearing the important words in a conversation.

  “Yeah apparently your skills and experiences are transferrable to the game world.”

  Derick walked out of the fletcher’s shop then asked for directions to the enchanter. Upon arrival Derick noticed the same grayed out tint seemingly blocking out the enchanter. From there Derick tried the rune-worker, beast tamer, horse-rider. While the last two were no real surprise given he was offensive to animals, it was rather concerning seeing the animals going wild from their cages, while the beast tamer and horse rider didn’t even notice Derick. Derick then went in search of the leather workers, the musicians guild, the thieves guild, the warriors guild, the magic guild. Derick asked every street vendor and urchin he could find asking for directions to an unknown professions master.

  I didn’t take the flaw professionals did I?

  “No, that isn’t an available flaw. You must have a profession available to you. While you might not have multiple or all professions available to you as some might, you are guaranteed to have one skill available.”

  Derick sighed to himself, as he continued to search the city. Finally night approached and seeing as he had nothing better to do, Derick waited down the street from the fletcher’s workshop and watched the two guards who were stationed outside the doors. It was apparent given their slumping shoulders and the way their helmets drooped down that they were both sleeping while standing up. Quite an impressive feat.

  “What is?”

  The fact that the two guards are so drunk and so well trained that they have fallen asleep while standing up. It would only take a quick slice with my blade to kill both guards, though both of their bodies would make a thunderous racket once the metal of their uniform and shields clattered against the stone road.

  “I like this line of thinking, but not in a city that we will forever have to travel back out of if we die. You do not want to become hated in this city. Other cities we can avoid, but the city of the dead will always mark our passage into the universe as a whole.”

  Interesting. Derick thought to himself, as he began his search for his long lost profession trainer.

  Derick searched the city sewer system, killing a number of large rats in the process which increased his reputation to honored with the city guard. He searched out and spoke with every person in the city, starting with everyone in the outermost wall, then slowly working his way forward. He found the hidden portal to Draco, the most magically driven world complete with what were rumored to be dragons. The portal was hidden in a giant cliff that was only accessible when you fell through the well in the third courtyard, swam up the underground waterway, then finally made your way out to a cave that overlooked the third courtyard and was part of the wall that separated the third courtyard from the fourth courtyard. Seeing as Derick didn’t want to leave without his profession, Derick climbed out on the side of the wall and quickly climbed the wall leading to the fourth courtyard.

  By the time Derick had finished climbing the remaining 25 feet to the top of the fourth wall his stamina was depleted. Once resting safely on the top of the wall, Derick looked at his inventory to see that even with his bag of 99% weight reduction he was still carrying an amazing 151 lbs. of gear and money. I would have fallen to my death if not for my new climbing ability.

  “Most likely Master. Though on the bright side, if you die here you would just spawn at the least occupied planet.”

  What planet would that be?

  “Currently Argos is the least populated planet.”

  Wait, how many people made that crazy swim upriver from the third courtyard’s well?

  “My guess is not many, but again there is a balance to the different planets. So while few might have been able to find the direct portal to Draco, if someone dies while from a non-Traveler derived death, then they will be transported to the planet with the least amount of occupants to ensure server stability for the planets.”

  Oh yeah. Derick thought to himself, as vibrant as this world and his interactions with non-profession individuals can be, Derick had to remember that at the end of the day he was just code in a machine. I am just in a machine that has limited space and would look for any reason to delete my data, but a machine none the less.

  “That is the spirit Master, embrace the fact that this world is out to get you and welcome it with two shining daggers in the back.”

  Are you sure you are stable?

  “I am quite stable, my processes are operating at beyond optimal levels currently.”

  Derick shook his head, then continued his search for a profession trainer who would actually train him. In his journey he found a profession trainer called a nomine factor, someone who could change the names of people, places, or objects. He found a wandering beggar who turned out to be a profession master who could unlock the profession artificier, a profession that allowed the artificier to take any item and upgrade them one level, turning junk items into common, common into uncommon and so on. Yet he too was locked, though both the nomine fictor and artificier were able to speak with Derick long enough to tell who and what they were, each stating that maybe in another life their paths would cross once more, allowing for the profession to be unlocked at that time.

  Will my unlocked professions remain unlocked in a respawn?

  “Yes, since you have upgraded to the premium package and are now fused with the premium badge, you will forever have any unlocked professions available to you. Not that you have many available to you.”

  Why aren’t there any hidden rooms or objects here?

  “One, this is the underworld, where the glory of finding rare items or hidden rooms would not be applied to your Resurrection Scoreboard. Second, no the first one answers the query to a satisfactory level.”

  What?

  “There is a legend of a hidden dungeon here, but death in the dungeon would result in permanent traveler death.”

  That has to be where my professions trainer is.

  A slight pause, before HAIL added, “we should avoid that dungeon at all cost, especially with you only two traveler deaths away from earning a respawn.”

  Wait, I thought you just said a death there would result in permanent player death? That means regardless of how many respawns I have it would still be the same. Either I die and am erased from the servers, or I die and am erased from the servers.

  “Are you really that callous with your own life?”

  Something wasn’t adding up for Derick, until he considered the AI’s angle. You would also be permanently deleted if I died there wouldn’t you?

  “That is more than likely the case. At the very least from the way it has been described, I could at best hope to only be a mildly corrupted file, which when would lead to my permanent deletion as well.”

  Derick started laughing maniacally at the thought. So it is all good for me to die and permanently be erased, but your ‘possible’ death is unimaginable?

  “Yes.” HAIL replied indignantly.

  “Buckle up buttercup. We are going to find that dungeon.” Derick thought as a malicious smile curved his lower jaw into a maniacal tilt.

  “You cannot use Princess Bride nicknames against me.” HAIL replied, sounding even more flustered than before.

  Oh, I can and will, Derick thought while continuing his search for the long lost profession trainer. Derick had been slightly encouraged that the two non-standard professions trainers were at least able to interact with him, a sign that Derick took meant he was on the correct path. Finally after a few more hours of searching, talking to each and every non-player he met Derick’s mind started to wander. You said earlier that some travelers can access all professions. How is that possible? Derick thought the word traveler, trying to make sure there was little ambiguity with HAIL as to which group of people he meant.

  “Those travelers had to have taken the merit professional adept, a 7 point merit that would allow all of the profession trainers to become unlocked for them, though I doubt
any that purchased that merit had the patience or tenacity to track down the nomine fictor, nor the artificier as you did.”

  So with the rumors of at least two of the three hidden professions trainers being true, do you think the rumors of the hidden dungeon of immediate death are also true?

  HAIL let out a sigh then began, “full disclosure, rumors are what we are supposed to tell you to give you hints of possible story lines to follow. Part of my job is to make sure you can have long term quests or goals available so that you do not stagnate and become content in the game. It is the job of every individual AI to make sure the person to whom they are assigned has motivation to continue to strive onward so they can be resurrected.”

  So you are here as an insurance policy to make sure the people who came in with money are effectively guaranteed a resurrection spot, so long as they don’t die a final time and so long as they follow your suggestions?

  “Yes. Now that I am stuck with you until you are either resurrected or permanently deleted I can tell you these things.”

  Good to know, thank you HAIL, you have been and will likely continue to be invaluable.

  With that Derick could swear that he heard the AI give a contented breath.

  Finally after six days of searching the city, Derick began looking through the last building in the city on top of the hill. He began going through the large castle at the heart of the city. From there he spoke to every porter, stable hand, maid, and even the king and queen of the underworld. He was gracious to all, using the tone and patience of speaking that he mastered while trying to speak to his superior officers. He listened to every conversation he could about any event that was happening. Apparently later on in the evening there was to be a giant meteor shower, followed by a magic show conducted by the court wizard Horace.

  Upon hearing the name, Derick’s ears, or at least where he imagined his ears would be if he still had them, started to tingle. It was then that Derick knew he was onto something, when he heard the name of the master magician. Rather than ask the two counts who were talking about Horace, Derick looked around the room until he saw a small child going from room to room with a chamber pot in his hands. Derick approached the boy, making sure to stay a few feel away for not wanting to have the fecal matter spread across his feet.