by Rick Scar
This was where it struck him. He could get skill books via the in-game mail system! Since it could be used to communicate between the Floors, Will could make arrangements with Pak and get stuff from him on the cheap.
“Hey, Terror =D. Thanks for the invitation, but I was going to play solo, if you recall. I’ll let you know if I’m up to something big. My nickname is White RAVen. Which Floor is your clan on, by the way?”
Will hit send and looked at the clock. It was nine in the evening, and he thought it was early enough to play a little more. In the following three hours, he made ten silver coins, after which he logged off and went to bed. The regimen was important, and he didn’t want to go too hard on himself.
“Tomorrow is another day, maybe it won’t seem so bad tomorrow,” thought Will.
He could not be more wrong…
Getting paid in peanuts for cleaning backyards, working the land, delivering mail, searching for lost cats (or dogs, or hares, or bears), keeping an eye on someone’s cattle, picking fruits, helping an old lady (or a boy, or a blacksmith, or every single one of them) was insanely difficult! This adaptive virtual reality was full of those small quests. It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it, and that someone was keeping his eyes on the prize.
Will was in the middle of yet another moral strength test—helping a hunter to skin animal carcasses—when he got a message,
“Player Light Terror sent you a friend request.”
Confirm.
Another message followed, “Wow! Is this name super cool or what! I love it!
We are based on the second Floor right now, but we have branches on the first and third Floors. Which one are you on?”
Will was hesitant to reveal the whole truth regarding his whereabouts,
“Glad you liked it. I’m on the third right now. Listen, I have a favor to ask. Do you guys have any skill books for the Rogue I could buy? I need Stealth and some other active skills. I’d be grateful if you could send me a couple. I’m really low on cash though, but I’ll pay you back as soon as I can. I always pay my debts, you can rely on that.”
He sent the message and continued his work. Twenty minutes later, three books came in the mail: one for Stealth, one for another active skill, and the third for a passive skill.
“Well, that was fast!”
“Skill Book: Underhand Blow.
Active skill (Apprentice).
Damage dealt to the target off-guard is increased by 20%.
Energy required: 30
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Class requirements: Rogue.”
“Skill Book: Gunman.
Passive skill (Apprentice).
Increased firearm mastery level.
+2 Fire rate
+2 Fire range
+1 Level neglect when using firearms
Class requirements: none.”
Will learned the skills and read the message that came with the books,
“Here, these set me back two silver. It ain’t cheap, but consider it a gift. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Two silver?! For crying out loud, what Floor am I on?” thought Will, “I can get everything I need at reasonable prices from Pak now, can’t I?”
He wrote Pak right back asking him to get a crossbow, a dagger, and some other goods under thirty silver. Having sent the money (including what he owed for the books), Will had ten more coins left.
“I thought you said you were low on cash, and that you were playing solo. Where did you get this money? Did you find buried treasure or something? I made only six silver and forty three copper coins in the last thirty six hours! What the hell?! Our dudes on the third are going all out trying to make some coin too. Either way, can’t say anything about the weapons, the clan doesn’t have that, we’re just starting out, but I’ll see what they have in stores. What exactly are you looking for?”
“Preferably, something without class limitations. I really need that crossbow and a couple dozen quivers with bolts, magic enhanced, if possible. As for the rest, I need class specific stuff with good damage dealing capacity. If you can find cheap potions, that’d be great too. Thanks!”
Somehow, Will felt better—everything seemed not as bad. All that was left to do was to find a way to kill that monster rat. Considering the level difference, he was bound to get handsomely rewarded.
The young man was almost done with his last assignment, when a message popped up.
“Level Up!”
This was very gratifying. Only one thing was clear to Will from doing all this hard work—you couldn’t get a lot of XP for it. The most what he got for a single quest was 21XP, and he had to have 300XP to get level 2.
“You worked hard for the good of Skiavra villagers. Their attitude toward you has improved.
Current attitude status: 32/100 (Neutral)”
Leveling up was automatically upgrading a class specific Attribute—+1 Agility for Rogues, +1 Wisdom for Mages, +1 Strength for Warriors, and so on.
Having distributed the points, Will looked at the skills he could learn.
“You learned a new skill.
Picklock. Passive skill (Apprentice).
You can pick simple locks.”
He logged off to grab a bite. Ten minutes later, he was back in the game doing menial work quest. In an hour or so, a message came,
“This is all I could find. See if it works for you, and if it does, I’ll buy it. Oh, and you can forget about the potions—the cheapest ones are, like, two gold a vial.”
“Dreadnought’s Crossbow (Bronze).
Damage: 12-16
Attack range: 108 feet
-9% Chance to miss
+4% Chance to stun the target with the last bolt, when burst shooting (4 bolts at once)
Class requirements: none
Other requirements: none.”
It came with six quivers with standard bolts (thousand pieces each), five with +2 holy magic extra damage, three with +2 fire damage, and one with +1 light damage, all for the price of three silver and six copper; nine silver and eighteen copper together with the crossbow.
“Red Eye Ring (Bronze).
+3% Accuracy
+1 Dodge
Class requirements: Hunter, Rogue, Stalker.
Other requirements: none.”
- One silver and twenty one copper.
“Gale Greaves (Bronze).
+2 Speed
+3% Chance to dodge unexpected attack.
Class requirements: none
Other requirements: none.”
- Two silver.
“Vagrant Jacket (Bronze).
+5% Stealth
+3 Dodge
+1% Chance to find rare item when looting chests.
Enter Ambush Mode faster when in the shadows.
Class requirements: Rogue.
Other requirements: none.”
- Ten silver and fifty copper.
“Not bad for my level. These would cost a fortune in this location. I’d have to buy the same crossbow for at least three gold coins here!”
Will gave Pak the go-ahead and sent two more coins for his trouble. He also asked to keep him posted in case more skill books he might be interested in would turn up.
The answer (with the items attached) came when Will was about to log off,
“I gotcha. Thanks for the tips. I don’t know what that hustle deal you got going is, but it’s not normal. Yeah, I’ll keep you posted.”
Equip all. Log off.
Chapter 6. Try this for a vantage point
Will had a good night sleep. Healthy breakfast and a quick morning workout—a habit, he picked up in the army—to start a new day. Then, he stood for a while before the capsule, and went out for a walk, to think over the warehouse problem. Clear sky and fresh air did not make him feel any better about it,
“Kill the rat, kill the rat. How do I kill the damn rat?”
Fallen leaves were dancing in the wind; the rising sun was painting people and the ne
arby buildings bright. He passed by neat, mowed lawns and the kids playing in the street in front of a two storey house with quirky roofing and a car parked outside. Will made a couple more steps, and stopped dead in his tracks. Something clicked in his mind, and he looked over his shoulder at the house.
“That’s it! Why didn’t I think of that sooner?! I’ve got to get back!”
He rushed back home and jumped straight into the capsule. Moments later he was trying to catch his breath, as he was pacing back and forth around the warehouse.
“Come on, where are you?” he kept repeating. He was looking for an attic window of some sort, much like the one he saw under the roof of that house. It could be closed, which is why he didn’t notice it the first time. RAVen was staring at the back wall of the warehouse, but couldn’t see anything. Then, he grabbed the ladder and climbed up to look closer. Just like he suspected, it was right there! No wonder he couldn’t see it from the ground—it was sealed tight.
“Your keen eye for details let you find the way.
+5% Luck.”
Luck was one of those things that could not be upgraded with points. Finding stashes, discovering secret places and such was needed to improve it. The more Luck you had, the more chances there were to find unique or epic items. Will read about this on the game’s web site. The developers commented on this simply, “…keep your eyes out.”
RAVen stuck the blade of his sword into a small gap between what looked like some sort of shutters. Then he stopped for a moment, as if he remembered something. A little effort… and voila, it gave in. He crawled in through the window and found himself in a small dark room.
“Congratulations! You discovered a hideout!
+5 Influence Points
+0.5% Luck.”
“Finally! My persistence pays off.”
When his eyes adapted, he looked around. It was an empty thirty foot square room with a lonely chest standing in the corner.
“There better be something good in it,” said Will and stepped closer to it. A whiff of decay blew in his face, “What the…”
That turned out to be the rotten clothes covering someone’s remains he didn’t notice at first. Will didn’t freak out, he knew it was just a game. Poor guy’s empty eye sockets were staring at Will.
“Dead men tell no tales, I guess.”
RAVen examined the body thoroughly. There was a simple looking ring hanging loosely on the skeleton’s left hand phalanx bone. The other hand was clutching a piece of paper. Nothing else was to be found. He took off the ring carefully.
“Twilight Ring (Diamond).
Only the true light dispels the darkness.
Worn by the adepts of the Shadow Order.
+14 Physical resistance
+9 Strength
+23 Agility
Skills: Twilight Walker (Active).
Allows a player to stay invisible and undetected when in the shadows. When the skill is activated a player is invulnerable to physical attacks.
Duration: 2 minutes
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Class requirements: none
Other requirements: none.”
This ring was a unique item, and could be easily sold at an auction for fifty gold, at least. But Will was no fool to sell such rarity.
Every character was allowed to wear three rings on each hand (in addition to the inventory ring), various necklaces and amulets, and had seven inventory slots for accessories.
RAVen tried the ring on, and felt he made the right choice staying on this Floor. Then, he unclenched the skeleton’s fist and took out the note it was holding, trying not to tear it. The text was written in blood and partly smudged. RAVen moved closer to the window to see if he could read it, but it was written in a language he didn’t know.
“Last Will.
You’ve located the remains of a shadow adept. His last wishes remained unheard. Find someone who can help you read the note, and return his remains to the head of the Shadow Order.
Reward: ???
Accept? Yes/No.”
“Sure, why not! Perhaps, not today, but I will get out of this village one day. Now, the chest!” Will picked up the remains, and turned to the chest.
“Chest (Silver).
Unlocked.”
“Two for two! I’m on the roll! It’s a little scary.” Inside, RAVen found only two things: a compass, and a piece of map. The map was old, but readable—a bunch of arrows and a circle drawn around a small town in the middle of the Alvian Mountains.
“You’ve found a map leading to the Shadow Order. Be careful not to lose the way, they don’t call it Shadow Order for nothing. Only the chosen few can get there.”
“Compass (Silver): Enchanted.
There is a secret shadow path.
It’s there, alright, but not in sight.
A simple thing holds simple math,
Just look at it through light.”
There was something off about this compass, but he couldn’t pin down what it was.
“Not exactly what I was hoping for, but still great. All of these are pieces of one quest! Ooh, could be a quest chain. Plus, those Shadow Order folks might have skills to share; I’m practically one of their kind. Shadow is my middle name! Ha-ha!”
There was nothing else in the room, except small door with a padlock, opposite the window. While picking the lock, RAVen was thinking how this room was out of place. The door squeaked, and he saw the rat right beneath him.
“Seriously, what would this room be for?”
Chapter 7. David and Goliath
He stopped thinking about it the next moment, when he shouldered his crossbow, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
-1
Miss
Miss
-1
In Ascension, all monsters were ranked: Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, and Duke. The lowest rank monsters had no tag at all.
The first hit made the rat squeal, and then it started sniffing the air above its hideous head, trying to smell the source of hostility.
Miss
-1
Miss
-3
When crit happened, it looked good against those ones and misses. After another round of shooting, the rat figured where the offender was and stared at RAVen with its rage filled eyes. The purple haze around those eyes was getting thicker, and, apparently, the monster didn’t know what to do—it couldn’t think of anything better, than just stand there, taking hit after hit.
Woosh.
Woosh.
Woosh.
The reloading time between shots gave the rat time to think of trying something—it was circling around the warehouse in a hope to evade RAVen’s attacks, but it kept coming right back to its initial position. Three hours later, its health was at 4700. For some reason, the monster didn’t regenerate, to RAVen’s advantage. If it had, he would have given up in the beginning. Will had nerves made of steel; he was shooting at the damn thing again and again without changing his position. First three quivers had quite an effect on the rat—patches of its skin and blood splatters were all over the place. The fifth quiver was almost empty, and the rat looked more like a bleeding porcupine than anything else, but was still above 50%. Six hours later, it was at 17%, and going down steadily, which was the only thing that kept Will from folding under pressure. Two hours more, and the rat fell like a ton of bricks. It spent its last breath on a plangent high-pitched roar, which made the rest of the horde stick their ugly noses out of their holes. There were four of them, but they were not as tough as their dying leader that Will was still shooting at.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” said he with a spiteful smile, knowing he wouldn’t be able to run away if he had to lure them out of the basement. The newly arrived reinforcement got a front row seat for the grand finale of the execution of their fellow rat.
“Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
Congratulations! You’ve made the impossibl
e!
Awarded the title: David and Goliath for killing a monster 10 levels above you.
+4 Strength
+2 Stamina
Awarded the title: David and Goliath II for killing a monster 20 levels above you.
+5 Strength
+4 Stamina
Awarded the title: David and Goliath III for killing a monster 30 levels above you.
+6 Strength
+6 Stamina
Awarded the title: David and Goliath IV for killing a monster 40 levels above you.
+7 Strength
+8 Stamina
Permanent bonus: +10 Level neglect
+45 Influence Points
Congratulations! You are the first player to kill a monster 40+ levels above you.
Awarded the title: Fearless.
Physical resistance is permanently increased by 12%.
+10 Physical damage
+6% Chance to deal critical damage to target 5+ levels above you
Your name will be known in the nearby lands.”
“15300 XP, level 9, and all these sweet bonuses! Sixteen hours of my life well spent. That level neglect is exactly what I need.”
One down, four to go—four more level 40 rats lined up for murder. Will distributed his hard-earned points between Strength and Agility, the remainder was spent on Energy. Then he stepped away from the doorway and logged out.
“What if it respawns? Hmm… Let it!
Chapter 8. A head start
At the age of nineteen, Mollie Houns was one of those hyped top 20 pro gamers. Rollin’ Dice—such was the name of her clan—would always make the top 10 list for any game they were playing, including Gates of Darkness, where they really made a name for themselves. The young lady was a born leader, any clan member could testify to that. She was rolling in sponsorship offers, and her gaming videos were a must-see.
Ascension made a predictable impression on her and worked like a red rag to a bull. Needless to say, the game was a smashing success. In fact, it was so popular, it set a new record of most number of active players in one day. This public frenzy was spurring her competitiveness.