by Daniel Annan
ivory Online:
The Dragon Knight - A litRPG saga
Daniel Annan
Dedication "I would like to dedicate this book to my family; My sweet mother (who we call Mumzy), my father (who is notoriously known as 'Pap') and my brother (whose nickname inspires fear into the hearts of women). I would also like to dedicate it to my partner in crime, Eben, who has been there for me since day one."
THis is a work of fiction. Similarties to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental unless used as a parody.
IVORY ONLINE
First Edition. June 18, 2018.
Copyright © Daniel Annan
Prologue
Robodroid The Great
“Vena,” the serene voice of my father echoed throughout our small pocket dimension. “How fares Metis?”
He shifted his glasses over the bridge of his nose ever so slightly. Honestly, for the Overlord of the Gods, he could look less… unimpressive. White hair, grey eyes ringed with blue and a simple white robe.
“It could be better,” I sniffed haughtily, which won a smile from him. “It’s so boring watching over the mortals. I want to do something… more.”
My father caught the meaning of my words easily enough, as we’ve had this back and forth countless times over the millennia. At this point, I just did it to create conversation.
“Vena my dear, you must not. When your sister involved herself too much with the humans, she ended up destroying half of her universe. Gaea lays in partial ruin up till now,” He sighed with exasperation.
I huffed angrily. Always the same story. Throwing my older sister’s mistake into my face as if I would do the same! Why did he continue to think that all of us were identical?
“Do not also forget your brother, who foolishly locked himself into mortality. Never forget,” He added quietly.
My ire started to wane as he brought up my eldest brother again. The problem was that while my father felt anger towards him for his decision, the rest of us respected and admired him for his power and his resolve. We also knew our father felt same, despite his outward disappointment.
Five Gods, five universes. Each universe with its own God. Each universe with its own rules, multiverses and timeline. Although, each universe borrowed the template of the first; my elder brother’s universe. No one, not even my father could match his ability at creation – and destruction – and he was the one that gave us life!
Then, there was the source of it all. The universe of Origin. Origo. My father’s universe which existed on a separate plane from the five.
I was the Goddess of the fourth universe, and as such, my siblings and my father treated me like a child, though admittedly, in our flow of time I’d certainly be considered one.
“I haven’t forgotten…” I replied in a small voice.
If he was going to see me as a child, I’d act like one to get my way. He would expect no less.
“Good. While mingling with mortals may be forbidden, I will agree that you should find some way to amuse yourself,” He relented with a smile.
Yes! Finally! A somewhat positive response!
“But, if I can’t directly mingle, how do I accomplish this, Father?”
To that, he smiled. “Follow your nature,” was all he said before winking out of existence. Hmph, he always loved making flashy exits.
Follow my nature? My nature? Do Gods even have a nature? I didn’t think so. Although, we did have attributes that are inherent to us. My attribute was Games and Recreation. I wondered if by ‘nature’, he actually meant ‘attribute’?
Hmm… I felt an idea start to form in my mind. One that caused my lip to curl upwards the more I developed upon it until I could think of no else.
‘Follow my nature.’
He may just live to regret saying that.
◆◆◆
“We are going live in five minutes sir. Are you ready?” asked the harried voice of my Personal Assistant, Rama. Her head was poked into my dressing room, the beads of sweat visible on her forehead from her desperate last minute preparations for the conference. I couldn’t help but chuckle. With red braids and a light skin, Rama was the definition of attractive. It was also helped by the fact that she wore glasses that displayed her dark eyes in a sensual way. Sadly, she wasn’t my type.
“Give me 3 minutes and I’m there,” I replied her. She gave me a dark look before slamming the door on me. I’d have to make sure to buy her lots of chocolate after this. I didn’t deserve someone like Rama at all.
Looking in the mirror, I could see the visage that had defined me my whole life. A caramel skinned young man with almost silky black hair forming bangs along my forehead. Light brown eyes and an impressively handsome face, if your standards were medium to high. Slim build – more lean than stocky – not much in the way of muscles, but still enough to classify me as ‘fit’. Not a bad look overall, minus the obvious loss of innocence in my gaze.
You see, while my visage may have been above-average at best, it was my intellect that had set me apart. As one with great knowledge in robotics and applied sciences, my contributions to the African society had been more than welcome, shifting most countries from hopelessly third world, to moderately developing. My home country alone honored me greatly in many ways, with awards and huge grants. I loved Ghana.
But at the same time, such… intelligence came at a price. I’d lost many a friend and lover to jealousy and betrayal. My family hardly talked to me anymore due to superstition. Neither the Christians nor Tradionalists here took kindly to ‘playing God’ in the way of creating life through machinery.
Of course, the entrepreneurs and the ‘forward thinkers’ - those who followed popular American celebrities and what not on twitter and adopted their practices – had no problem with what I was doing. The burgeoning politicians vied for my attention because in the elite circles, my donations, contributions and wealth had made my word carry a lot of power, regardless of opposition.
I was only 21 years, yet I felt like 60 and ready to move to a quiet area to die in peace. I shook my head and cleared the malevolent thoughts. They were too extreme, even for me. I had many things to be thankful for in this life, and I should cling to them.
Making sure my tuxedo was properly worn, I admired myself a bit more, making finger gun poses in the mirror. It was during one of my particular flashy poses that Rama opened the door again, catching me in the middle of it. Wordlessly, I followed her out of the dressing room with my head held low, shame roiling through my gut as she directed looks of chagrin my way.
Despite being delayed by having to greet almost every ‘somebody’ on my way to the stage, we arrived just as they were counting down to begin the presentation. Putting some pep in my step, I arrived at my allotted position during the final stages of the count.
“Five… four… three … TWO… ONE!!!!”
The sudden eruption of cheers and music almost knocked me out of ‘charisma’ mode, but I managed to stay wrapped up in a bubble of confidence and strength. This wasn’t my first rodeo in the public limelight and it probably wouldn’t be my last unless those ‘dark web’ assassins finally got their act together. Waving to the crowds, they eventually calmed enough to hear my words after a few moments.
“Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, to the National Ghanaian science expo of 2020!” – Another helping of cheers and clapping – “As you all know, my team and I, Jax Dwams, have been working on a little project to help the less fortunate members of society through our LendAid program. Today, we see the results of our team’s efforts.”
I took a step back from the curtain, giving the cue for the
spotlights to focus on the slit. With a florid bow and a subdued smirk, I said what they all wanted to hear.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together… for the Robodroid 2.0!!!”
The applaud begun to crescendo rapidly as the droid walked onto the stage. Its clunky metallic steps reverberated in the wood, but were thankfully not powerful enough to break it. It was a thing you’d expect to see in any decent B-list robot movie, all gears and shiny steel, with vaguely humanoid features. It could have passed for the younger brother of The Iron Giant.
“While he may not look like much, the Robodroid isn’t meant to be pretty. Being pretty costs too much. My girlfriend reminds me of that all the time, trust me” – A short eruption of laughter from the audience – “He’s meant to be functional. This ugly fella has every tool that those who do not have the basic essentials need. With a distillation feature, any liquid, whether muddy, toxic or even urine can be filtered to purity, allowing the owner to drink life itself as they please. Robodroid is equipped with a special osmosis feature, where he can absorb nutrients from ambient surroundings and turn them into basic food pills or block that can satisfy any hungry mouth for a day. Thankfully, it tastes like chicken” – Another laugh from the spectators – “What really stands out about Robodroid is that he can also function as a bed and a protector. With his super-alloyed steel body, a punch from him would feel like getting hit by the hulk. By manipulating his joints, he can extend himself into a makeshift bed for those who are forced to sleep on the hard ground.”
“In other words, Robodroid is the first level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs given form! All for the price of… nothing!! Nothing at all for our brothers and sisters who can count how many meals they’ve eaten a year!!”
The cheer was so powerful that I used that short pause to drink some water quickly, getting ready for the real announcement. As soon as the excited crowd calms down, I continued my presentation.
“Unfortunately, Robodroid does not have genitals, so he can’t satisfy another ah… essential need. I tried finding a way to put one there, but the droid’s AI almost choked me. He does however have one function that I believe is most important to an individual in the digital age. He has full, permanent and free access to the internet for his owners!!”
The cheer at this point told me I had hit climax. Any professional who had hosted these sort of events knew that this was the time to stop unless you had something bigger. Leave while the crowd is still ecstatic and buzzing over your performance.
Waving, I took my leave as music and lights danced across the stage, some singer or another beginning an interlude performance on the stage as I walked off. As part of the arrangement, Robodroid stayed on stage, boogying the Robot dance to mounting cheer. That’s one hip robot.
“You must’ve sucked a lot of dicks to have such a clear voice today,” came the voice of my eternal best friend and hated rival, Keith. With similar coloring, the difference between us was that he was leaner than I, with more angular features. Unfortunately, that meant he was hotter than I was.
“Yeah, number one was your girl’s,” I replied with a grin. He snorts and pats me on the back as we walk towards Rama, who was now handling the packing and post-performance arrangements.
“Rama, from today I’m giving you 3% shares in the company for your excellent service,” I announced to my assistant.
She turned and instead of a gratified look, she gave me an even stare. “Your shares are not what I want. I want something else for all this shit you’ve put me through… Sir.”
I winced. “What would it be? If I can give it, you’ll have it.”
She smirked and walked up to me, smacking my ass and squeezing it real good. For my part, I gave my best soyboy squeal, which made my snarky companion burst out laughing.
“This,” was all Rama said, a ravenous look in her eye. Terrified, I slowly backed away, turning to walk briskly out of the conference center, with my still snickering companion in tow.
“God, you’re such a freak,” He chuckled.
“Shut up!”
Chapter 1
The Arena
*Riiinngnnngg- Thunk!!*
I relished the sound my alarm made as my hand collided with it in what I felt was more than needed force, definitely putting it out of commission for a while. A hated enemy that I wished I could get rid of, but direly need at the same time.
Nevertheless, I beat back the grogginess and sleepily shift myself from the bed, rolling noisily onto the floor. From there, I begun the all too normal sequence of crawling on the floor like an insect until I reached my bathroom, where I mustered the strength of the Gods to move into an upstanding position. Armed with a toothbrush and some toothpaste, I combat the germs and bacteria that set up shop in my mouth overnight. Must be terrible being them right now.
With that done, I proceeded to take a quick, hot and much needed shower that was aimed towards removing any lingering odor, rather than to soothe my skin.
A quick trek to the kitchen in my house to fetch some coffee to truly wake up my brain – as I’d been mostly moving on autopilot so far – and I savored the familiar yet distinct taste of it.
I think I might be addicted.
With my mug in hand, I moved to my final stop for the morning – and depending on how I felt, the whole day – my custom built desktop. No point in being rich and smart if you couldn’t build yourself something nice. With a del-grade Pentium 5 CPU, 64 GB ram and a custom Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z, my war machine could function as a heater and fan with the amount of power running through it. Sometimes, I expected to wake up and see myself bathed in flames. So far, so good as nothing has happened…yet.
Booting the machine and running through the BIOS brought me to the sign-in page in under thirty seconds. While it might be a ticking time bomb, it certainly was fast enough to warrant an explosive end. The speed on this thing was legendary.
Once I logged in and arrived at my desktop – with my amazing Bragon Dall Z poster blessing my eyes – I wasted no time in opening what truly kept me going day by day. An anchor for my weary soul after years of torment, expectations, betrayals and hard truths that weathered my positive outlook on life outside this small living space of mine.
Ivory Online.
A simple MMORPG/RTS hybrid that allowed you to play as a fledgling Lord in a federal style kingdom with a class based RPG as well. While the RTS – Real time strategy – side was the only one with a story mode, the RPG – Role playing game – side was just as fulfilling, as it was more of an open world style, allowing you to operate outside of your town with the only downside being that apart from select situations and scenarios, actions on either side of the spectrum did not affect interactions and progress in the other.
But still.
Ivory Online was a game like no other. The amazing graphics, the sheer volume of content, the fluidity of animations and the freshness of the gameplay loop were all it took to make it the number 1 trending game of 2020.
And as someone seeking an escape from the harshness of reality, it was easy enough to take the dive. But I didn’t expect to become as hooked to the game as a junkie to their fix. I would be hard pressed to remain sane without playing the game at least once a day. My level of addiction has hit maximum levels and is still climbing day by day.
I enjoyed the game. It’s hard not to with the way it’s been designed to make the most of a good system and satisfy any player’s need to immerse themselves into the world they are embracing.
I loaded up my primary character and stroked my ego with the amount of accolades and accomplishments I’d made with him. Sitting comfortably at number one the global leaderboard, my maxed out character and town needed very little in the way of management at this point, except partaking in the weekly DLC and update content. And it was a massive ego boost seeing how far I’d come from being a level one noob.
Seeing that the RTS section didn’t need any cajoling as I’d queued many different actions fo
r the week, I shifted to the RPG section of the game. A short animation of my character exiting the Kingdom – which started out as a simple town – I teleported right away to the most dangerous area in the game – and frankly – the most exciting; The Arena.
The only PVP zone in the game, the arena was the place you went when you wanted to put your name on the map, after all recognition from the NPCs – Non-player characters – wasn’t as satisfactory as showing your hard earned power to fellow gamers worldwide.
Another great feature of Ivory Online was the cross-platform system, meaning anyone with a PayStation 4, a Qbox one and a PC could interact freely as long as you knew each other’s ID.
So yes. Being number one globally didn’t mean that I was the top dog of just the PC network. I was the Master Hand of the whole world. Limited to Ivory Online of course, but then, Ivory Online was my whole world.
“Hey, if it isn’t the main man himself!” a gruff voice echoed through my headsets, bringing an involuntary smile to my face.
“What’s up, Jax?” a sweeter feminine voice followed up, making my smile extend even further.
“Ah, if it isn’t the chad dick sucker,” the smooth final voice wiped the smile off my face instantly.
Alan was in his usual in-game garb, a redhead dwarf with a battle axe strapped to his back, his attire consisting of emerald armor with a slightly dark tinge. Legendary armor he forged for himself from the bones of a lich.
Kathy played as an blonde elven cleric, with a clean, white robe marked with red at the edges, a staff of pure gold with a creamy heaven’s stone connected to the top.
Keith and I both played as humans, though he opted to choose the path of a warrior whereas I took the path of mage. Our outfits pointed to our professions, but masked our specializations.