Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure)

by Derrick Burke

  His body flops to the floor like a wet noodle with a thump. Then, just for a kick in the pants, he disintegrates into thousands of motes of light, as do all of his minions and Jena. They follow what must have been his soul into the portal.

  We are all standing around, stunned by what just happened.

  “What the fuck?!” Ifalna explodes, hand outstretched and glowing. “I couldn't put a shield on him that entire time! And I couldn't heal him either. And now he's dead?! Was that the curse?”

  It's true, Dosan's health bar in the raid window is now greyed out, which I assume indicates death. How the hell did that happen?

  “Ah, well, I guess that is the end for him, then. Once Morrigan takes someone, she doesn't tend to give them back,” Marcus states with authority. “I hope you will remember him well.”

  “Remember him well? No, I think we will be taking a merry old jaunt over to Iustitia's temple altar,” I say while looking at the others, who are nodding their heads.

  “We had best be there before he respawns. I want to know what just happened, and hopefully he can give us some answers.” Ifalna grimaces.

  “Thank you for your hospitality, Marcus. We shall endeavour to find the descriptions of as many relics as we can for you, for a price,” Ezekial says with a wink as we move towards the door.

  “Very well, what is your price?” replies Marcus with a small smile.

  Tapping a finger on his chin with nonchalance, as if nothing of importance had just happened, Ezekial says, “Well, how about you message me with what you think would be appropriate, and we can go from there? Unfortunately, we have somewhere to be presently.”

  “I see.” Marcus's smile slips as he unlocks the door for us. “I suppose there is no helping it. I shall send you a letter later today.”

  “Cheers, talk to you soon,” Ezekial says as he follows us out the door and down the corridor.

  We make our way out of the bank, and I look at my mini map. Finding the location where I respawned last night, I ping it for everyone else as well, and we all head in that direction.

  It only takes us a few minutes to get there, where I see everything looks quite different during the day. Heading over to the room with the altar in it, I sit outside the closed door on a bench I didn't notice yesterday. Kazzrak joins me while Ifalna and Ezekial sprawl out on the grass under the tree while we wait.

  What I thought would have only been a few minutes wait, actually turns out to be a couple hours of rest of relaxation. Kinda nice not having Dosan’s quips and such interrupting a nice, quiet nap in the sun. We all unanimously decide to chill out here, as I am also waiting for some kind of priest or something to come say hi to us.

  Unfortunately for me, no priest appears that I can ask about how I would go about reviving Knax. I do poke my head into the temple at one point, but it seems like no one is home. I guess I’ll need to wait until I get to a bigger city or some such to find out more.

  After a few minutes of waiting, a cute young elf girl wearing a blue sundress comes skipping into the courtyard with a basket in her hands. She looks like she couldn't be more than sixteen years old. Seeing us, her face brightens with a smile as she skips over to where Kazzrak and I are seated.

  “Hello there! Would you like to buy some of our freshly baked bread? We just pulled them out of the oven,” the girl says, taking the cover off her basket. She shows us the contents, and out wafts the delicious smell of fresh-baked bread.

  Just at that moment, the door of the altar room opens and out comes a very shaky, but also very naked Dosan, using the edge of the door frame to hold himself up. “Ugh, I feel like shit.”

  The girl looks over at Dosan's words and gasps, dropping the basket as her hands fly to her mouth. Her eyes go exceptionally wide and she turns beet red before abruptly fainting and collapsing to the ground next to her spilled basket of buns.

  Kazzrak bursts out laughing while Ifalna shouts at Dosan, “Dude! Put some bloody pants on! Are you trying to scare the children?”

  Bright flashes of light shower the girl, along with some white feathers. When she opens her eyes, Dosan is clothed, although sitting in a heap and resting his head against the side of the bench.

  “Sorry, kid, just died and came back to life. Apparently, I forgot to put pants on first. My bad,” Dosan says to the girl, who blushes beet red again, but thankfully doesn't faint this time. “I'll buy your basket of buns there.”

  “I-It's okay,” she stammers while picking up her basket. “Are you sure you want to buy them all? I have quite a lot here.”

  “It's fine. Here, this should cover it all. Keep the change.” Dosan takes out a gold coin and gives it to the girl while moving to take the basket.

  The girl snatches the coin out of his hand but doesn't give Dosan the basket. Instead, she holds her hand out for more with a frown.

  Blinking slowly, Dosan reaches into his bag and comes out with another gold coin and places it into her hand. Her face brightens again, and she hands Dosan the basket before skipping over to the entrance of the courtyard.

  Turning around at the last second, she flashes us a grin and then disappears around the corner with a laugh.

  We all turn to look at Dosan, laughing at him ourselves.

  “You just got played, dude.” Ezekial grins as he shakes his head.

  Ifalna laughs. “You should have just given her a silver. As soon as you gave her a gold, she knew she could swindle you for more.”

  Grimacing, Dosan holds his head in his hands. “Why me? Why?”

  “So what happened back there with your relic?” Kazzrak asks, not holding back his grin.

  Dosan shudders unexpectedly. “Nope. Not going there. Don't want to talk about it.”

  “Why not? It can't have been that bad. This is just a game, remember. Was that Morrigan who took you? Where did you go?” Ifalna frowns, peppering him with questions.

  With each question Ifalna asks, Dosan shudders more violently until he ends up half frothing on the ground like some epilepsy attack.

  Her frown deepening, Ifalna casts her flashing light spells on Dosan, who eventually subsides and takes in a deep breath. “Guess we can talk about it later. Glad to have you back with us, Dosan.”

  “Alright, seeing as how we apparently aren't going to get any answers right now, let’s get on with what we need to do here so we can get to our mount quest,” I say as I get up and pull Dosan to his feet with me.

  “We should probably drop him off at the inn.” Kazzrak flicks a thumb at Dosan. He grabs Dosan's other arm to help hold him up.

  “Yeah, we can do that.” I nod. “However, let’s not waste any more time than we have to. Ezekial and Ifalna, you guys head to the mailbox and get any mail from Han, as they should have the mailbox up and running. Find out what everyone wants from the auction house and get it. Send back anything in your bags we don't need. We are going to log out with Dosan, if that's cool?”

  “Reduced to a bellboy again, huh?” Ifalna rolls her eyes. “Fine, fine. Ezekial, you can deal with the merchants this time. I'm going to troll through the AH. Let's go.”

  Shrugging, Ezekial leaves with Ifalna at a decent clip, while we make our way to the inn. Dragging Dosan upstairs reminds me about last night, which gives me a slight twinge in my heartstrings. I sigh and keep going, dumping Dosan's ass in his room before closing the door.

  Kazzrak and I then go into our own rooms with our familiars and log out.

  12

  Waking up, as usual, my first reaction is to bolt out of bed and into the bathroom, where I sigh and come out very much relieved. Seeing the time is 21:50, we haven't been in the game all that long. Walking out to the main room, I see it's just Fuzzy and me, even though I know Blake logged out before us.

  Shrugging, Fuzzy orders food while I walk over to Blake's door and open it quietly. Hearing the shower going through the open bathroom door, I close the door again and move over to the couch.

  “He's having a shower. If he doesn't come out be
fore the others log out, then we will go and make sure he's okay,” I tell Fuzzy.

  “Fair enough,” he replies, coming over to sit on his favourite part of the couch while we wait for food.

  Grace turns on the TV, and we sit there watching various people's escapades in the game to date.

  “And now onto our next section, the elusive glitches,” says the female reporter on screen. A box behind her is displaying different scenes from in game as she talks. “The first glitch found by our beta testers has something to do with the restrictions on the NPC interactions. We weren't given any details on this one except that they have had their accounts and pay suspended and have been banned due to breaking the user agreement. Probably should read the agreement, guys. The evidence has also been handed over to police, who I'm told are going through their lives with a fine-tooth comb. We've been warned.

  “The second glitch was found when a level 1 player named Surrender fused two objects to obtain his new relic. He obviously wanted to play on past memes and circumstances throughout comic history. In an exclusive interview, he states that he didn't think anything would actually come of the two items, he just wanted to give it a go.

  “The items used were grey trash items in DSR1. The first is a trash sword called 'The Unstoppable Force', and the second was a trash pebble called 'The Immovable Object'. Apparently Surrender kept them as souvenirs because of their names. We aren't allowed to know the exact details of the relic it made; however, we do know that it actually became two relics. Both a sword and a shield with separate abilities. In a moment, you will see what happens when this player touches the two together, without even activating their abilities.”

  The reporter was replaced with a mountain of a human dressed in rags in a viewing room similar to the one at the Bank of Augustus we went to. The man's name, 'Surrender', is floating above his head, which has an astonished but gleeful look on his face. In one hand is an exquisitely made sword covered in runes, while in the other is an equally exquisite tower shield, also covered in runes.

  Grinning wider than the Joker in that movie with Heath Ledger, he slowly brings them both together until they touch. The screen flares white and is replaced with a panoramic view of the bank from the outside. The entire bank dissolves in a sphere of white energy, crackling with lightning. In seconds, the light dissipates and a giant crater is all that remains. The view returns to the reporter.

  “Holy shit!” Fuzzy and I say at the same time as we exchange bewildered glances before turning back to the TV.

  “Now, I'm told that the glitch is that there was no mention of this happening in the description, and therefore, Surrender couldn't definitively have known what would happen. He killed eight players who were also obtaining their relics at the time, as well as several NPCs.

  “We are told that because Surrender died during the blast and didn't know what would happen, an angel from the goddess of justice's pantheon has decreed him innocent of the NPC deaths. He only has to pay a monetary stipend to their families, though we haven't been told how much it was. The angel also made him keep a red name tag, moving him out into a forest away from civilisation so he can learn to control his abilities, as he won’t be given a second chance.

  “Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we finally know what happens when these two items clash. I highly suggest staying away from this player in the future, as we have been told this minor level of destruction was because Surrender was only level 1 at the time and the relics were also only level 1. I shudder to think what would happen at higher levels.”

  The reporter actually shudders and blinks a few times before coming back to herself. With a smile plastered on her face, she continues, and the screen switches to the five of us when we were standing under the nymph village tree after just coming back from the goblins’ village.

  “The third player to find a glitch is Sybaal, the guild leader of the current top guild Venatores. He found a glitch in a chain of specific gathering quests with no cap on the items received or items given. Apparently, they were able to make a raid group with a total of fifty NPCs and players within it. When they handed the quest in, as there was no experience cap on it, each member of the raid received just shy of one and a half million experience points.

  “Yes, you heard correctly, one and a half million. As you can see, the result crashed each individual AI due to power-levelling them all in one go. Unfortunately, for all those who want to jump on now and do this for themselves, they can't, as it has been restricted. Please look up on the forums for the new rules regarding experience sharing in raid groups with quests. It's pinned to the top of the forum.

  “In closing with this segment, I hear that the second and third group have been able to obtain a special in-game quest as a reward for being one of the first three to find glitches. All other glitches found will be given monetary rewards outside the game depending on the glitch.

  “And that wraps up this segment. We invite you back after this ad break to find out how the investigation is going on why Pierre Devore is still in a deep coma and brain-dead. Maybe DSR will be able to shed some light on this sensitive topic. Also, there will be an update on the recent increase of natural disasters occurring across the globe.”

  Knowing we aren't interested in the ads; Grace turns the volume down to nothing, and the doorbell just happens to ring. Grace opens it as Fuzzy and I look who is coming in.

  The rude waiter comes in rolling a food cart piled high with different covered foods. For some reason, the fellow is dishevelled and unkempt, with rumpled clothing only half tucked in and his hair a mess. He also seems to have a permanent scowl on his face. As usual, his name badge is missing.

  Well, well, well, I wonder what he was getting up to before getting called to pick up our food? Some hanky-panky in the janitor closet maybe?

  The fellow rolls the cart over to us and just leaves it there, walking straight back out the door in a hurry, without uttering a word. Grace closes the door half a second after he leaves, almost clipping him on the way out.

  Grace must not like the fellow either.

  The smell of amazingly cooked food must have wafted into Blake's room, as he comes out nose first and clothed this time, but still towelling his hair dry.

  “Food!” he exclaims, seeing the cart next to the couches and making his way over.

  “Yes, Blake, it even has your favourite!” Fuzzy grins, getting up and moving covered plates to the coffee tables.

  His eyes widening, Blake whispers, “Meat?”

  With a laugh and a flourish, Fuzzy starts whipping off the lids of the dishes. “Yep! Meat, meat and more meat!”

  A happy sigh escapes Blake as he leaps forward and starts shovelling different dishes onto a plate and into his mouth almost at the same time. He has inhaled a full plate by the time Fuzzy and I fill up our first ones, going back for seconds shortly after.

  Lockie and Anya come out of their own rooms at the same time and fill up their own plates.

  “How did the shopping go?” I ask as they sit down to eat.

  Lockie and Anya look at each other before Anya gestures for Lockie to go ahead.

  Looking back at me, Lockie says slowly, “Well, I contacted Han and told him about Knax. At first, he was sad and shocked. Though he knows we will find a way to bring him back, we just have to find it. So he's not as upset. Also, he sent us a bucketload of gold along with quite an extensive shopping list. They now have all the upgraded profession recipes we could buy, along with one copy of every spell we could find.”

  Sighing softly, I nod for him to continue.

  “Mertle, our scribe trainer in game, is going to have his work cut out for him, as he is going to copy every one of the spells and recipes we bought before they are used. This way, we can have an unlimited supply of them as long as we have the materials for the books or scrolls. I decided to buy as many of the different types of arrows as I could, packing out my quivers. I'll have to show you in game what they do.”

&nb
sp; Anya takes over. “We even managed to find Kleemek’s Sprizzle Sprocket 5000, among the rest of the stuff they wanted. When we get back in, I'll give you the new gear that we bought to upgrade the stuff that came with the bags. Pretty much the only stuff we were able to upgrade was the survival stuff and the food we received from Tanni the innkeeper.”

  Lockie starts talking over Anya while still chewing. “Oh, and Faland has finally finished our gear that was promised us for completing the hand-in quest. I tell you, it looks fantastic. Like, oh my god, I'm drooling all over myself fantastic. And the stats on them are out of this world. Getting gear like this so early has to be a cheat code! He even made enough for the others!”

  “Sweet! On the topic of the hand-in quest, it was plastered all over the news, along with how DSR has fixed it. So we might just have some people calling us cheaters now, come to think of it,” I say, thinking of the forums.

  “Pah! Those haters don't matter. Who cares what everyone else thinks?” Fuzzy scoffs. “We completed those fair and square, busting our arses off getting those materials.”

  “So what else do we need to do before we go and get the mount quest, then?” Anya asks everyone.

  After thinking about it for a while, we can't come up with anything else.

  “Well, when we are finished eating, let's wake up the others and give them a Cleanse so we can get on with the day,” I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. “Grace, would you be so kind as to replay the segment of news we just finished watching for the others. I'm sure they are going to enjoy it as much as we did.”

  “My pleasure,” Grace replies, restarting the segment from the beginning again. Once we have gone through it all over again, the others look as surprised as Fuzzy and I did.

  “That is some serious firepower right there,” Blake says, awed.