“Just as you wish, MS. Vera…” The old man bowed and clapped his hands. A series of boxes appeared in front of Alfred in various different forms. There was even a huge castle standing above all the other boxes. He assumed that meant someone had made quite a lot of progress leveling up. Vera, on the other hand, pointed him to his little bungalow. It had been numbered 2659, and she made herself at home as Alfred followed her in.
“Don’t worry… I’ll only be here for a few minutes,” Vera tossed off her cardigan, leaving herself in just a tight tee. Alfred looked at her chest before he squinted his eyes. Something about Vera seemed different, and he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Oh, you like my chest now?” Vera laughed, pulling down her shirt and revealing the silver lining at the top of her bra. “It’s not strange for breasts to get bigger when a girl turns twenty… If you keep staring at them, I’m going to attack you with them!”
“No, it’s just the Vera I remembered was a lot more petite… I mean… I don’t mind, but I…. they look a lot different than before.”
“Well, if we weren’t best friends for twenty-one years, or whatever you want to call it, I’d give you a closer look.” Vera winked, letting the elastic of her shirt fly back up as she unknotted her hand. “Now. This is the place where your digital assistant is.” She double tapped on the floor causing a table to rise up. “However, promise me to never do hard missions! If you do hard missions, you could die! Do you hear me?”
“I promise… However, by the way… is anyone else here that we know?” Alfred poked her chest once playfully. “I mean… besides Green…. Did you see Lacy by any chance?”
“Yup… there is more of our cohort here…. From our city… however, come over for dinner later and we can talk about it! Do a few normal missions and stay away from the hard ones okay… The Light Bringers made it so you can die if you choose one of those missions.”
“I’ll be safe…. Always had a condom on me remember?” Alfred winked at her, clicking on the mission table before a small hologram appeared. Vera looked at him staring at the screen, and then shut the door carefully. When the mission window opened, a small voice echoed out into the room.
“Hey… I’m your personal AI… Rexam… Congratulations on entering into Heaven’s Gate… The success chance of a body being successfully downloaded and reconstructed by light were nearly one in twenty thousand… that’s how you were created,” A female’s voice said, sounding a mix of robotic and playful. “I’m assuming you’d like to start leveling up correct?”
“Yup, you already know me so well already…” Alfred said, watching a blue window appear in front of him with a flash of light. There appeared to be five different types of missions, kill, party, story, world, and dungeon missions. Since he was only level 1, he only had access to kill missions. No information was given on when story, party, and world missions were unlocked. However, he didn’t want to waste any more time asking questions.
He hadn’t played many video games in his spare time, but had played enough hours to know that slime quests were the easiest, and the best dungeons were reserved for the higher level players. There was also a leader board he glossed over at the bottom of the mission selection prompt. He clicked open the Kill Mission window and searched through the missions.
[Kill missions available]
[Grass Slimes] lvl 1 (Normal)
[Stone Boars] lvl 1 (Normal)
[Harpy Fairies] lvl 2 (Hard)
[Black Snakes] lvl 3 (Hell)
Warning: Hard and Hell mission are not recommended. However, a special permanent 50% experience boost is given if first hell mission is completed on first attempt.
Average death rate of a Hell mission is 50%.... However, things like fighting experience, and previous life training when taken into account can change the risk level.
“A permanent 50 percent experience boost… That’s absolutely nuts,” Alfred said, clicking on the black snake window with curiosity. Rexam cleared her throat before her sexy voice reappeared from the mission table.
“It’s highly recommended that you don’t take the bait and skip the Black Snake Mission… Unless you were previously in the marines, or had warrior training… the success rate is actually much closer to 1 percent…”
“I’ve trained in martial arts my entire life… My Father spent years sending me to dojos in China, Korea, and Thailand in the summer…. I think I should be fine,” Alfred said, clearing his throat. “I don’t like to brag, but I was one of the best fighters in the United States before I ended up here…”
“How unlikely,” Rexam said, sounding cheerful. “Well, if you are as good as you say, your odds of surviving should be closer to 95 percent… Loading mission window…”
Black Snakes (Hell mission)
Mission Description
Dozens of black snakes have appeared in a farmer’s barn and someone needs to come and exterminate them… Unless you’re brave or an extreme idiot… you should only attempt this at level 3, or with a party…
Mission Difficulty B-
Reward: permanent 50 percent experience boost, one uncommon set of leather beginner's armor.
Warning: if you fail this mission, you will end up dead and back in the pile of dead bodies… Are you sure you want to take this mission?
“Yes…. I’m going to take it, so basically the normal missions are much easier… The grade of the missions goes from F to S right?”
“You have played a game before…” The female voice responded snidely. “However, the maximum difficulty for a quest in this game is SSS… Still, are you sure you want to do this? With your training, you’d surely rise to the top if you tried to find a good guild.”
“I’ve always been more of a solo player,” Alfred said, clicking yes on the prompt window. “Thanks for the tips. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I’ll be wait—” The voice trailed off as Alfred got sucked up in a bright flash of light. When he reappeared, he held at his stomach and tried to stop himself from puking. However, a small trail of bile ended up on the floor as a farmer ran at him with a pitch fork and a strangely murderous look on his face.
Chapter 3: Experience
The Farmer stabbed out towards the ribs of Alfred as a snake’s blood burst into the air. A hiss sound ended shortly after as Alfred looked down at a trial of purple mucus that had nearly hit his arm after the Farmer took the snake out. The mucus started to melt the hay on the ground as he looked at the deranged farmer. Another smaller snake had coiled up on his leg and was biting into it. Alfred quickly kicked up a knife that had appeared by his feet, and tossed it down into the snakes head.
The farmer gratefully smiled at him before he fell down onto the floor and let out an exhausted sigh. His eyes glazed purple before he began to shake. Twenty snakes hissed in the side of the barn as Alfred picked up the pitch fork, swinging it in the air a few times to familiarize himself with the weapon.
Spear Art skill has reached level 1 (Simple)
Effect: One percent damage increase when using a weapon on a stick.
“Another boost… That’s great…” Alfred said, flipping the pole in circles as he sent it behind his shoulder. One of the snakes blasted forward before he slashed down in an arch. The snake was split in half as a critical damage message appeared.
Alfred had wanted to be a veterinarian at one point in his life, and he knew exactly where to cut it in order to deal the maximum damage. They had organs just like humans and a downward slash at its tube like structure completely eviscerated it. He swiped down another ten times in quick succession as the snakes flew out like arrows.
It didn’t take him long to get into a groove, and soon all thirty snake carcasses were lying on the floor split in equal halves. If he hadn’t trained with a spear since his childhood, he would’ve never been able to pass the challenge.
The farmer got off the floor as the purple in his eyes cleared. Cracking his shoulders, he laughed before goading Alex to follow him
forward.
“Come with me boy!” The man said, smiling with glee. “If you can beat them! You definitely are going to do fine against the grass slime! Follow me to the garden will you, and you might even be able to get a treasure.”
“No thanks,” Alfred declined, happy already with the additional 50 percent experience boost. “If I got bit by one of those snakes I probably would’ve died right… Let me guess… are you the snake master?”
“Oh hoh! You have good eyes,” The man clapped his hands in excitement, looking at Alfred with envy as all the doors in the room shut. “Well…. Since you’ve figured that out, I suppose I can give you a bottle of my best venom… However, too bad! If you followed me outside, you could’ve gotten a real reward!”
“I’ll take my life over listening to a crazed NPC anyday…” Alfred grabbed a bottle out of the NPCs hand and put it in his side pocket. “Thanks for the reward.”
[Mission Complete!]
You’ve gained a status bonus for completing a hard mission
+2 Agility
+1 Strength
+ 1 Dexterity
You’ve learned a new move, Stealth Walk lvl.1
Effect: Once activated, for one minute no one can see you unless they have a discerning eye!
You’ve gained 300 (+150) experience for completing the quest!
You’ve leveled up and reached level 3 (10 Stat points auto assigned)! You’ve earned a permanent 50 percent experience boost for being a suicidal maniac!
Don’t you feel special for risking your life for such a small reward?
Alfred grimaced as he appeared back inside of his bungalow. He held out his arm noticing a small cut he’d received on the mission. Blood started to drop out of his arm as his Health bar went down by 1.
He guessed the health bar was an approximation of the life force in his body. This was confirmed by Rexam when he asked her that question. She also added that his muscles should feel a little bit stronger after completing the quest. Every level his life force would increase, and so to would the longevity of his body.
He tried to mull over how such a thing was possible before smoke seemed to rise from his ears. Rather than sinking his mind into the gutter, he looked out the window and noticed Vera staring at him through the panels.
She waved at him before looking down and realizing she’d forgot to put on her t-shirt. Laughing at Alfred staring at her cleavage, she flexed her finger to call him over. Alfred sighed trying to hide the blush in his face.
“Don’t let her know that I did a hell mission already… She already seemed upset about Hard missions. I don’t want her to get worried,” He said towards Rexam.
“I know very little about human interactions,” Rexam replied, “However, I’m one hundred percent loyal to my owner… Even if she asked me a question, I’d be unable to answer without your approval.”
“Good to know,” Rex put on a band aid he found in the medicine cabinet above the toilet and walked up to the door. He looked back at his little hole in the wall and mulled over what he could do with it. He figured since it was just the start of the day he’d go and see Vera. As he exited his house, he noticed Vera was already outside waiting for him.
She had on a red jumper with a white striped shirt underneath that did its best to hide her bulging chest. She smiled at him before taking him into her house and sitting him down on a couch.
“It’s nicer than your place right? I’m already level 15, and upgraded it a few times…. If you want, you can stay here instead of next door…”
“You know… this place reminds me of back home…” Alfred said, pointing at the little bunny on her bed. “Remember that time you made me stay over at your house just so your boyfriend thought you were screwing someone else…”
“OH, you’re bringing up the past now?” Vera smiled, tossing a pillow at him. “Yup, he even tried to beat you up before you tripped him and embarrassed him in front of all his friends… Wasn’t that when you and Green got in your hundredth fight…”
“I won that fight… we’re 50 45 last I checked,” Alfred crossed his arms. “That bastard tried to fight with me over everything… I swear, he even had this thing for Lacy… by the way…. Have you seen her?”
Alfred remembered the last thing he was doing on Earth before he ended up on top of a pile of dead bodies. He had just gotten out of prom and a girl he liked forever named Lacy had been with him. They accidentally bumped heads when he tried to put on her corset… and they’d had such a good prom they done it in the forest on the way home. He blushed seeing her face from that night before Vera sighed and shoved him in the shoulder.
“Still can’t go a day without talking about Lacy… huh,” Vera scolded him… “Yup, she’s here, but she’s not the Lacy you remember… She’s two years younger than you now… I think she hates you again.”
“At least she’s alive! That’s great!” Alfred said, pulling Vera in and giving her a hug. “Where is she? I mean… maybe tomorrow we can go see her tomorro—”
“No, you can’t see her because she’s on a different side of the world,” Vera laughed light heartedly. “You can’t see her until you’re at least level 10. The teleportation array doesn’t work until you’re level 10. She started doing missions in Hermia Kingdom, and we’re In Larimar Kingdom. However, if you send her a friend request, she can probably dm you.”
“I’ll just try and get to level 10 as quick as possible… Has Green found out about her yet?”
“He has, but he’s more preoccupied with being number one on the leader board.” Vera said, shrugging her shoulders. “However, don’t do anything stupid to get to level 10 quickly… If I find out you’re doing hard missions, I’m going to burn down your house!”
“Not my greatest fear,” Alfred patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll be back for dinner Vera. Thanks for the info!”
Chapter 4: Rexam
Alfred opened up the mission table and browsed to the rankings section. He wanted to keep leveling up in order to get in the running for the rewards he heard so much about. In the ranking window, which he accessed on the screen, players had already reached level 35 with Green at 8th on the rankings. He got new found motivation seeing his nemesis ahead of him and millions of other players.
So… according to the rankings database… there are 5,000,000 players from Earth that are in Heaven’s Gate. However, it looks like a majority of them are staying level 1.
“Rexam,” Alfred said, raising his voice as he mulled over the rankings. “How many players are actively trying to level up?”
“1,500,000…. A large majority have decided to do LifeStyle Missions to get experience, which requires people to take on basic jobs to earn experience… For instance, if you chose to be a cook, you could reach level 2 in 20 days. For many people, this was the much safer option.”
“So, even though they wouldn’t die doing normal missions, they still chose not to level up?” Alfred didn’t understand. “I thought you could only die in hell missions?”
“You can still get hurt though,” Rexam retorted, her voice raising in pitch as she explained. “Plus… some people don’t want to swing swords at slimes. 20 days to get to level 2 is very similar to a 9 am – 5 pm. Not everyone is trained in combat like you.”
“So… at least that means the competition is narrowed…” Alfred opened up the kill mission window and waited for the missions to load. “Thanks for the information Rexam… Any chance I get to see your real body soon?”
“I’m just an AI… If you’d like stimulation, there is other markets for that?”
“No! Not that! Anyways, please load the kill mission prompts…”
[Kill Missions Available]
Grass slimes lvl 3 (normal)
Stone Boars lvl 3 (Normal)
Pruning the Willow lvl 4 (Hard)
Shadow Maze lvl 5 (Hell)
You’ve already done a Hell mission once… Can’t believe you’re actually alive!
“Yup, and I probabl
y shouldn’t do another one any time soon. However, Rexam, is there any bonus for completing two hell missions in a row?” Alfred hesitated about doing a normal mission with people already at level 35. He’d also conjectured that the dungeons had special rewards from what he’d overheard so far. If he wanted to catch up to the first players that arrived in Heaven's Gate, he’d have to take a few risks.
With his martial arts training, he figured he stood a much better chance completing the hell missions than a normal player. Rexam seemed to crack a slight smile. he could hear It from the rising tone in her voice.
“Ah, well there is a minor reward for people with a death wish,” she replied, “if you complete 2 hell missions in a row, you get a 100% percent experience boost. However, you aren’t that crazy, are you?”
“I’m not crazy… Just curious…” Alfred looked at the Shadow Maze prompt. “What about any items… How do you buy new equipment?”
“You can use the shops in town or purchase directly from me… The trading system for the market is based on experience… You should see total experience and current experience, right? The total experience Is used to calculate your level, and the current experience is how much you have to purchase items.”
“Open up the shop then…” Alfred started to lean towards doing a few hell missions at the earlier levels. The more risks he took earlier the more it would pay off. The shop loaded in front of him and he opened up the armor menu. A basic complete set of leather armor that could be worn by assassins and shadow walkers cost him 150 experience. He spent 300 experience on two lvl 3 shadow daggers, and immediately equipped them.
Heaven's Gate: Volume 1 (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 2