by Tom Larcombe
A plethora of messages that baby bunnies were killed followed, but the last one seemed to do the trick.
Enemy slain: Warren Mother (baby) (level 1)
You have earned 25 (+3 well-rested, +6 blessing) exp.
A moment later another notification popped up for him, then another.
Success:
You have completed the quest: Save the Farm
Experience awarded: 2000 (+200 well-rested, +500 blessing)
2 Gold Pieces awarded.
Success:
You have obtained enough experience to advance to Level 1
Do you wish to advance?
(Y/N)
Eddied grinned and thought Yes.
You have advanced to Level 1.
You may choose a class
You have 3 stat points to distribute.
You may choose a skill.
You have received one stat point in: Wisdom
Your Health has increased.
Your Mana has increased.
Your Stamina has increased.
Success:
You have obtained the hidden achievement: Out of Nothing
For being the first player to start at Level 0 and advance to Level 1 without dying you are awarded the achievement: Out of Nothing.
Rewards:
Permanent +1 to Luck stat.
100 Gold Pieces.
One class-based item of your choice (reward delayed until class selected).
Congratulations.
Another message flashed across his screen immediately after that.
Global Broadcast:
Congratulations to player Eddie Hunter for being the first to complete the hidden achievement:
Out of Nothing
Well shit, Eddie thought. It's nice to get the rewards, but I think I would've rather not had my name broadcast throughout the entire game world.
“Dude, did I just see that?” Karl asked.
“Yeah,” Eddie said. “I got an achievement for starting at level 0 and making level 1 without dying.”
“The forums say the rewards for hidden achievements are pretty cool, what did you get?”
“One point to luck, a hundred gold, and an item that they won't give me until I choose a class.”
“Doesn't sound that great, but then again for a first level character? I guess it's sweet for a low level.”
“Are you kidding? That's two thousand bucks if I sell the gold. That's more than I was going to make on my first contract as a farmer. I'm loving it, and that's before I find out what the item is.”
“Point,” Karl said. “I hadn't even considered what that would be in real money.”
“The way this game feels, I'm not sure what's more real, the gold here or the dollars outside the pod.”
“Another good point. Here's Lucky though, so let's get out of here.”
“Yeah, I'll be a bit distracted on the way back. I've got a class to choose and stats to assign.”
Lucky had a slight limp, but looked happy. Eddie thought she might've paused for a snack before coming back up the corridor since it had taken her so long. The two men made their way out of the tunnel, happy to stretch their backs once they made it outside. As they turned to the field and started walking back to the bunkhouse, Eddie started making his selections.
Okay, Karl had a good point. I want Ranger for my class.
Class selected: Ranger
You do not qualify for this class.
Required stats for class:
Str: 10+
Agi: 12+
Wis: 12+
You must add one stat point to strength to select this class.
Add one stat point to strength, he thought.
Strength +1 (Y/N)
Yes, he thought.
Strength score now: 10
Class selected: Ranger
Are you sure? (Y/N)
Yes, Eddie thought.
Class added: Ranger
Ranger abilities:
Bonuses to combat or any skill check made outside.
Tracking Skill +1
Bowyer/Fletcher Skill +1
Animal Friendship Skill awarded
Weapon Proficiency Bow added (specialization in longbow or shortbow may be selected at skill level 5)
Rangers gain access to Nature type spells at level 5.
Cool, that works, he thought. Now the other stat points. I want more health and since my agility is high already I probably ought to get it even higher so it stays exceptional. So add one stat point to Heartiness and one stat point to Agility.
Heartiness +1 and Agility +1 (Y/N)
Yes.
Eddie paused in adjusting his character and noticed the notification light flashing. He pulled up the message.
You are awarded one class-based item of your choice. Choose one of the following:
Shortbow (excellent quality)
Studded Leather Armor (magical, +3 to armor rating)
Elven Rope (+10 to climbing, +50% to climbing speed)
“Shit!” Eddie cursed. “I hate it when they do that.”
“Do what?” Karl asked, stopping and turning to face him.
“Remember I said I get an item? They want me to choose from a list of three. I'm torn between two of them.”
“Well, what are they?”
“I can get an excellent quality shortbow, a suit of studded leather with a magical bonus, or an elven rope. I can't decide between the shortbow and the armor.”
“Easy call, go for the armor. You can make yourself a bow and until you have some arrows, that shortbow wouldn't do you any good. The armor you can use immediately.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right. No clue what these things are worth though.”
“You can always check the price if you can find similar things in the auction.”
“The auction? Wait, let me guess, I just need to think the word auction?”
Karl nodded.
“Yeah, but it's full screen like the browser, make sure you're comfortable and in a safe place before you do it.”
“I think you're right though, I should go for the armor. It's actually magical, the shortbow is just well made.”
Eddie focused on his panel and thought, armor.
He didn't notice anything, but he checked his inventory and found that one slot of it was taken up with a suit of studded leather armor.
Good, I'll pull it out as soon as we're back. Try it on and see how much protection it'll give me.
~ ~ ~
Eddie was pulling on his armor in the bunkhouse, meanwhile Karl was outside working on cleaning the Elder Nubby and the Warren Mother.
“Damn it! The Mother won't fit on this table,” Karl called.
“Neither would a deer, so we'll need to work something else out since I'm getting tired of rabbit meat,” Eddie replied.
He stepped outside in his new armor and cleared his throat. Karl turned and chuckled.
“Well hot damn, now you actually look like an adventurer.”
“How about you? How close did you get to leveling?”
Karl growled.
“Twenty-three freakin' experience away. I almost beat you to that achievement.”
“Well, finish cleaning those and we'll go track the experience points down for you to level also,” Eddie said. “Meanwhile I want to see what my character sheet looks like now that I'm finally level one.”
Character sheet, he thought.
His panel brightened with the information and there was a satisfied smile on his face as he scanned it.
Edward Hunter
Human Male
Level: 1
Class:Warrior (Ranger)
Strength:10
Intelligence: 9
Agility: 17
Wisdom: 13
Heartiness: 11
Charisma: 8
Willpower: 11
Health: 23
Endurance: 11
Mana: 26
Luck: 14 (15)
Stamina: 54
/>
Experience:
2237/2500
Base Attack: 10
Base Armor: 10 (32)
+1 attack melee (str)
+18 armor (studded leather)
+4 attack ranged (agi)
+4 armor (agility)
Skills:
General:
Animal Friendship: 1
Animal Handling: 1
Animal Husbandry: 1
Bowyer/Fletcher: 2 (+1 to checks)
Carpentry: 1
Cooking: 1
Evaluate: 3
Farming: 2
Fire Building: 1
Herbalism: 2
Hunting: 1
Tracking: 2
Weather Sense: 1
Weaving: 3
Combat:
Bows: 1
Staves: 1
Magical:
N/A
~ ~ ~
Chapter Twelve
Aaron had just finished taking care of the requests of the four experimental subjects that were being kept in the lap of luxury when the message came through.
Those idiots wanted some really stupid stuff, Aaron thought, but it came in well under budget at least. Not that any of their requests are going to do anything for them in the long run, they'll just waste it all, but at least I got them to sign the non-liability papers. I wonder what those other two are going to want. If they're adventuring, they'll probably want gear. I'd bet on it even. Now to see what Greenshaw wanted me for.
Aaron removed his gear. Unlike the others he wasn't using a pod, he was using a full body suit. It created a similar experience to the pod, but wasn't designed for long term usage, only up to about sixteen hours at a time.
A minute later he was knocking on the door of the office where he was told to report. A gruff voice answered.
“Come in.”
“Mr. Greenshaw, sir. What can I do for you?” Aaron asked after entering.
“You can tell me you've taken care of those players.”
“Most of them. I still have to talk to the two that didn't want pampering. I have the signed releases for the other four already.”
“Good, get those last two. First, tell me we've found that server you were talking about.”
“No sir, they must've had a really good hacker make it untraceable.”
“Nothing's impossible. Track me down an even better hacker that we can hire to find it if that's what you have to do. That's top priority right now.”
“Yes, sir,” Aaron said.
~ ~ ~
“I was thinking,” Eddie said. “We can take a walk to that trading post, but kill any bunnies we see on the way. All we need is two to get you your level, right?”
“How about we just look around here for a few minutes first, where we know there are bunnies? Then I can take a few minutes to level up and then we go to the trading post,” Karl replied.
“Alright, what did the bosses have anyhow, I was kind of distracted by getting my level.”
“The Mother had a massive pelt, I mean it's like bearskin sized almost, and I got a second one of those by skinning her. We'll need to treat the one I skinned, but we have two of those if we do that. The Elder Nubby just had a horn that was about three times the size of the others. They both dropped meat though.”
“Roast Warren Mother for dinner then?” Eddie asked.
“Sounds tasty to me. You ready to help me get my level?”
“Not like you really need my help for bunnies, but sure.”
The two of them headed back out into the field, but ten minutes later Eddie was confused.
“I'm not finding any sign of the bunnies.”
Karl groaned.
“Of course you aren't, we just finished a quest to get rid of all the bunnies on the farm. We'll have to go somewhere else,” he said.
“There are some birds to the south, a few of those might do it. I saw bunnies in the fields to the north too if you want to stick with those.”
“Let's go with your first idea, head for the trading post and see if we find anything to kill on the way.”
“I don't know how far it is though, obviously not too close or we'd have seen or heard it by now,” Eddie replied.
“Let's just go. Even if I can't get my level right now, maybe we can get some half-decent gear for me.”
Lucky trotted along behind them as they headed east on the road. Occasionally she darted off the side of the road only to show up a few minutes later. After a few minutes Lucky disappeared and Eddie saw his notifications flashing.
“There you go,” he said, pulling up the notification. “That's half of it thanks to Lucky. I bet she finds more bunnies on the way too.”
Karl groaned.
“Feels like a hack to just walk along the road and get experience because your pet is catching bunnies, but at this point I'll take it.”
Ten minutes after that, Eddie's notifications flashed again. Karl called out for him to stop and a moment later broke into a huge grin.
“Hot damn,” Karl said, “you got the global announcement, but that quest is still in place for others to get also. I only got ten gold and an item, but at least I still got something for it.”
“What are your item options?”
“I don't know yet, I need to pick a class still. I'm torn between something close to a plain Warrior and a Scout.”
“Don't Scouts get backstab like Thief classes do? You have the skill already, so you'd probably get a bonus to it for already having it when you choose Scout.”
“Yeah, and it's a pretty good class for here or the forest, but just like yours it gets weaker if you're indoors somewhere. It means if we're fighting inside somewhere we both won't be at our best.”
Eddie shrugged.
“Your character, your call.”
Karl grinned and a moment later was pulling a suit of leather armor out of his inventory.
“I went with Scout. It's still got a lot of the Warrior skills, but it has most of the Thief skills as well. Both of our classes are focused on the outdoors at low levels, but I figure we'll run the Forest of Fools after we get to level five and that's still outdoors. Unless we try a dungeon in the forest I think we'll be beyond that limitation before it becomes important.”
“That works. So we've got Warrior and Thief covered. I'll get some nature spells at level five that'll help with buffs and healing. Still missing a lot from a balanced party, but we managed to get to level one this way.”
“Right,” Karl said. “I don't think we'll be doing any serious adventuring for a while still though. Gonna have to grind out a couple more levels and get some decent equipment first.”
I think he forgot that we both just got awarded gold for Out of Nothing. Although, who knows what the trading post will have, we might not be able to equip up very well there.
All in all, the two of them walked for almost a half hour before it became apparent they were approaching some sort of settlement. The first sign was a hint of wood smoke in the air. A minute later a row of tents came into view in an open field alongside the road. People were moving about in the field and Eddie couldn't help overhearing some of them.
There were a pair of what looked like adventurers bitching that they had to eat cold rations, another one complaining about sleeping on the ground, and several conversations about the trading post and its deficiencies.
Eddie couldn't help but feel his mind lurch into gear.
A guy could make a good profit out here, he thought, remembering that his main purpose in the game was to make some money.
The fun was good too, but he couldn't afford to indulge in it at the expense of his original plan. He forced himself to remember that he was pretty much broke in real life and needed to make some money in here before they solved the problem that was keeping them trapped in game.
Run off a little barracks style building with small rooms and simple beds, he thought. Set up a kitchen to provide hot food. Charge an arm and a leg, which it sounds like they'r
e already paying at the trading post. I wonder if there's an inn or something here and why there are so many adventurers out this way anyhow. Are the forest and the mountain zones that good?
~ ~ ~
One of Eddie's questions was answered as he walked into the tiny, not quite a village. There were several houses, one farm visible farther down the road, and the building that must be the trading post. A line of adventurers was standing outside and evidently the owner would only let one group in at a time. Eddie and Karl took their place in line and it was only then that Eddie realized that Lucky had disappeared. He hadn't seen her since about the time they'd first heard the adventurers in the field talking.
“You seen Lucky?” he asked Karl.
“Not for a few minutes, you worried?”
“No, I've got a status screen for her and she's apparently fine, I just wondered where she went. I didn't think she'd wander off with all these people around.”
“Missing pet?” the woman in front of them asked.
Eddie nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Happens a lot around here. There's lots of pelts traded in this place and my guess is it smells like that to them and they don't want to come near it. If it's a wolf or something else that has its pelts traded, that's probably why.”
“Thanks, yeah, I think there is a market for their pelts,” Eddie replied. “Hey, why are there so many players here? I heard people complaining about the place, but there's so many here.”
“Yeah, there are. It kind of sucks. This is the only place to sell drops in the area, and they rip you off, but the only other option when you get full is to head back to a full-sized town. All of the zones back near town have groups or guilds camping them, running their own people through the zone and stopping everyone else. Even if you can't pkill in an under twenty zone you can still make life hard for someone. So everyone else comes out this way.”