Immersion Online: The Noob: A LitRPG Novel

by Evan Klein

  For one quest, we went in search of a rare plant for the Freehold alchemist, something call Darkreed that could only be harvested once a month during the full moon from the banks of a swampy region north of the village. Of course, a monster boss and her offspring lived in the area and attacked us as soon as we entered their territory. The monsters, scallers, stood well over seven feet. Green scales tough as steel covered their bodies. They had claws and teeth sharp as knives, and a jaw stronger than a vice. They could breathe under water for a limited duration, pulling their prey down into the murky water, drowning them. I can attest to the teeth and jaws as one of the creatures latched onto my shoulder which exploded in sudden pain and agony. The pain was so extreme I saw stars for a moment. That bite took off a quarter of my damage points and dissipated the Earth Armor buff, which had absorbed most of the damage. I didn’t ever want to feel that agony again so I said to myself this beast has to die. Luckily the beast had come in close to strike me; this allowed me to pull my dagger and stab into its guts repeatedly until it finally collapsed to the muddy loam below. I had been injured earlier in the fight so I didn’t have many damage points left. Fortunately, Flora now had a spell, Sphere of Healing, which was essentially a ball of light that would latch onto your essence and heal you if you were injured. It could follow you around the battlefield, which was very helpful. It only healed about thirty damage points per minutes (and lasted five minutes), but Flora assured us that as the spell gained power it would heal a good deal more and much quicker.

  The sphere began to do its work and my damage bar begin to refill. I pulled out my crossbow and picked my targets for the next minute while I slowly healed. Jarrell could withstand a ton of damage and held four of the monsters at bay while Flora and I attacked from a distance: she with her lightning bolts and me with my crossbow bolts. I was becoming a proficient shot with the crossbow, which had increased in size and damage as I had gained levels and skill with the weapon. Called Shot, my newest crossbow skill, allowed me to target a specific body part, such as an eye, or the gap between pieces of armor. If successful, the hit resulted in a minimum of double normal damage all the way to an instakill. The scallers had a few soft spots and the Called Shot allowed me to strike them twice. Scalable weapons were definitely the way to go – better than constantly purchasing new weapons as you grew in power.

  The swamp seemed made for Cali as the reeds would entangle the creatures or slow them down, giving us an extra shot or two with our distance weapons. When there were just a few of the monsters left, the ground in front of us exploded and the Mother scaller, the boss, shot out of the murky bog in front of us like a crossbow bolt. She saw her dead child and let out a wail of grief. The wail was infused with magic and power because sadness and primal anger struck us like a sonic boom. I was able to shrug off the affect due to my Intimidation Perk. Jarrell also seemed able to shrug it off due to the hardiness and fortitude of the dwarven race. The debuff hit Cali and Flora like a sledgehammer ripping through sheetrock, and they crumbled to their knees overcome with grief at the loss of the mother scaller’s children. Flora seemed especially impacted, like the emotions the mother scaller emanated were anathema – a fire burning the synapses of her mind. She was someone closed off to strong emotion and now it threatened to overwhelm her.

  “Leave my sisters alone!” Jarrell raged as he ran towards the beast, his axe glowing, coursing with electricity – Sizzling Death as he dubbed it. The beast swiped a long clawed hand at him as he closed in, its claws scraping and ripping along Jarrell’s armor. The teen had intended to be struck thus allowing him to get inside the beast’s reach. His axe struck the beast’s torso and a moment later the scaller writhed in pain as electricity exploded through. Parts of the beast crackled, as inky black blood seeped from the gash. An odor emanated from the wound, a gagging, sulfurous smell that brought bile to my throat. A few moments later the effect was gone. Jarrell had definitely injured the creature. Nevertheless, it was a boss monster and could take a beating and keep on coming at you.

  The Mother was strong and she sliced through my armor with one of her claws, taking off half my damage points, leaving me with less than twenty total damage points. One more strike and I would find myself miles from here at the respawn site. I needed to remember to set new locations on my map in the future, I thought.

  “Would you like to set the Scaller Bog as a new location?” Angelica chimed in. Her calm voice in the midst of the battle was disconcerting.

  “Yes!” I screamed even though I knew it wasn’t necessary. I really had to tell her not to distract me in the middle of a battle.

  And of course, Flora’s healing spell faded away just at that same moment. If I believed in the gods, I would think they were toying with me. I backed away from the battle hoping Jarrell could hold out long enough for me to swig down a health potion.

  A savage and primeval scream pierced the air like a biting arctic wind. The fear spell that had downed Cali and Flora faded and the girl screamed ‘AHHHHHHHHHHHH!’ at the top of her lungs. She lifted her new wand and a beam of energy flew from it impacting into the boss. Flora usually only held the spell for a few seconds as it drained the wand…but now a new emotion – rage – filled her – water exploding from the dam a giant might smash to dust. She held that spell and the boss howled back its own defiant scream as the energy consumed it. Seconds later all that remained of the beast was a smoldering, pile of ash. Notifications whirled past my eyes like locusts. I pushed them aside and looked towards Flora whose countenance once more had returned to one of inward contemplation. The demon that had possessed her was hidden away once again in the mind and soul of the young girl. Jarrell started towards her but Cali shook him off.

  Jarrell did as Cali wished and Jarrell being Jarrell said, “Let’s look for loot.” The only thing of value on the scallers was their hard skin and their sharp claws the former of which could be fashioned into a very durable and pliable soft armor and the latter into deathly daggers. None of us had the desire to skin the creatures so we didn’t touch the corpses. Some players (like Bondi) would have skinned, declawed and defanged the beasts, unloading the body parts to a smithy or leather worker in one of the major cities, like Grandview.

  A minute later Cali called us over. “Look at this,” she said. We found the remains of three corpses tangled in the reeds. Their flesh was gone and gleaming white bones shone in the moonlight. The remnants of tattered clothing hung from the now masticated bodies. A message popped up, “You have found the missing hunting party from Treehold. Bring the necklaces that adorn their necks back to the mayor of Treehold as proof you found them and you will be rewarded experience for this retro quest. Be warned! Don’t let the mayor’s robustness and happy demeanor fool you. He is a sneaky fellow and might offer you a quest beyond your abilities”

  “What a strange message,” Cali mused. “I never heard of an award notification also giving a warning. The writers come up with some funny stuff. I can’t wait to meet this mayor.”

  “Oohh wee!” shouted Jarrell. “I like getting experience for doing nothing.”

  “And Treehold is the next town on our list to use as a home base. When we get there we will visit the jolly mayor.” Cali removed the three necklaces and dropped them into a pouch. As soon as the last one was removed, the corpses disappeared and all that remained was the loot to be divvied up.

  Loot drops were a new world to me. At first, I wasn’t sure as an employee of the corporation if I was even allowed to accept the loot. I had checked with Haggerty one night and he laughed, amused. When I asked him what was so funny he said, “I never thought I would hear you talk about loot drops, that’s all. But hell yeah, you can accept loot drops. Anything you earn while playing the game is yours to keep. Think of it as a constant bonus.”

  Several cracked bows and bent swords littered the reeds where the corpses had been. A silver ring and a copper amulet were lodged in a tangle of the reeds. I decided I would take items that I really felt woul
d make me tougher, especially when fighting more powerful opponents. Some of the highest-level players and leagues were found in Grandview, and I needed a way to even some of the odds. As a mage Flora had a class perk that allowed her to identify magical items—and not just basic ones.

  The ring gave the wearer plus three attribute points to their overall strength. While the amulet enhanced the wearer with fifty additional damage points. Jarrell and I went back and forth about the two items. I ultimately decided on the ring as it would help me more – my philosophy of hit them hard so they can’t back up. And while Jarrell’s axe certainly dealt damage, his main roles was to take damage and engage as many opponents as possible. The amulet just made more sense for him. Fifty damage points might be enough to keep him alive for a few more seconds allowing the damage dealers to do their job.

  Looting bodies somehow seemed wrong. Like robbing a grave. Part of me thought that we should return the amulet and the ring to the next of kin. But the rules of the game were quite simple, “Finders Keepers!” I needed to drive real world morality from my mind if I were to thrive here.

  “Darkreed.” Flora whispered.

  “What’s that Flora?” Cali asked her younger sibling

  “The darkreed. We still need to harvest it.”

  “You are right as usual,” Cali responded. “We were sent here to harvest darkreed not to get distracted killing scallers.” A few moments later we found the darkreed and a few minutes after that we had harvested enough to fulfill the terms of the quest.

  “That’s it for us today,” Cali said. “Maybe tomorrow we can head over to Treehold and gather our reward.”

  “Do you mind staying behind for a few minutes?” I asked Cali.

  Cali just shook her head and nodded towards Jarrell and Flora. “I will see you in a few minutes. Flora, put away the laundry. And Jarrell you were supposed to vacuum the house this morning. I didn’t forget. With a sour look on Jarrell’s face and a quizzical one on Flora’s, the two siblings disappeared.

  Epilogue 2: Questions Answered

  “What’s up Mace?” Cali asked, curiosity etched upon her face and crooked smile.

  “Just want to make sure that Flora is okay. That scream was something else. Like a floodgate that opened up.”

  Cali didn’t answer me but just stared coldly at me. I had never really asked any of the siblings a personal questions before, so she didn’t know where I was coming from.

  “I know that it is taboo to ask in game characters personal questions about the real world …but I have one that I think you might be able to assist me with.” I knew I was about to break one of the unbroken rules of a game by asking another character a question about their lives outside the game, but something from my personal life had been gnawing at me and thought Cali might be help.

  I paused for a moment, choosing my words carefully. “I have a sister on the low end of the autism spectrum. She has been in either a residential setting or group home since she was thirteen. For almost fifty years.” I paused again not wanting to say this wrong. “It seems to me that Flora is possibly on the high end of the spectrum.”

  “Is that a question or a statement?” she said tersely.

  “No. No. Nothing like that. Just drop it. I was just curious, thinking maybe this game could help my sister. Maybe open her up. Free her for a few hours from the autism that traps her mind.”

  My avatar began to tear up as a flood of emotions hit me. I hadn’t really ever had a relationship with my sister Nancy. She is ten years older than me and was placed in a residential setting when I just three. All I had were elusive memories visiting her in a big house in a heavily forested and remote housing complex in Sullivan County where she lived and attended school until she was twenty one. Nancy scared me. I was young and never really understood autism or this girl we visited in the woods once in a while. I remember, she was tall and gangly, with long, tangled raven black hair that hung down to her back. One of the biggest regrets of my life is essentially having no relationship with her. I see you and your sibling and I just wonder.”

  The death glare left her countenance and a gentleness came over it.

  “Flora has been diagnosed as having Asperger’s. Though I don’t know. She has had… the three of us, have had – trauma in our lives. Flora was shy as a child, awkward around her peers. She had some telltale signs of autism like not understanding social cues and a distaste for any kind of physical affection. But she could talk and express her wants and needs. And she was smart. Super smart. A real wiz with numbers. And she has a photographic and eidetic memory as well. There is a difference between the two you know.” I actually did know. Photographic allowed someone to remember numbers and words. This was why Flora was able to site passages from the guidebooks verbatim. Eidetic allowed someone to look at a room or a painting – images – and remember every detail – even years later. It was impressive that she had both.

  Cali went on, “Anyway, when she and Jarrell were five, and I was ten, our Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer. That sent Jarrell and Flora into tailspins. She became more introverted and Jarrell became a wild child. He wasn’t malicious or cruel – just took chances and got into a ton of trouble, especially at school. And while Flora excelled at school Jarrell struggled. Jarrell is not dumb. He just doesn’t apply himself.”

  “They are good kids,” I said. “I like the three of you a great deal, especially how you watch out for each other.

  “That is nice of you to say, but unnecessary.” It was her turn to pause and gather her thoughts.

  “I turned eighteen three years ago; the same year that our mother died in a car wreck. I was left raising two thirteen year olds with the help of our grandmother who is in her eighties and sickly. Those were hard years. Jarrell started acting up even worse and getting in constant trouble. I don’t know if he was just a follower or the ringleader but he and his friends were always in trouble. He almost got himself kicked out of school. They even broke into the house of one of their classmates who was away with his family on vacation. They didn’t do much in the house. Just ate some food and started watching a dirty holographic movie. The family had been immediately alerted to intruders in their house and the authorities were there in less than half an hour. My mother had been close friends with Mr. and Mrs. Golden, the owners of the house, so they didn’t press charges. I am so grateful to that kind woman and her husband. And Flora just slid more into herself. She wouldn’t communicate and barely ate. She would just read. Or at times I would just find her sitting on her bed staring at the wall. She would stare at that same goddam wall for hours that I just wanted to get a hammer and knock it down. And I was trying to do the best I could. But I was an eighteen year old girl with my own issues trying to raise two troubled teens.”

  “They seem okay now,” I responded.

  “They are doing better. Immersion Online has really been a savior. Much better than any therapist I will tell you that. I had been playing the game with a friend of mine – Bondi – for a month or so when Jarrell asked me to sign off on an account for him. Because he was just sixteen, he needed the approval of a parent or guardian. His friends had all started to play, and they were pressuring him to do so. I didn’t like his friends. Still don’t. I am going to admit something to you that I haven’t told anyone. I’ve been spying on Jarrell. I’m really afraid he is going to get himself in serious trouble and Child Services will take him away from me. A few months back, I was able to check some of his texts and emails. I followed him on social media. I even found out where and when his friends were going to be online in The Great Realm and followed them. They were thugs and bullies. They would attack lower level characters at popular quest sites outside the protection of Grandview City. They would kill them and take what little they had. Some of them would even wait at the respawn sites and kill them again when they respawned. I definitely didn’t want Jarrell playing the game with them. They would feed the worst instincts in him.”

  I had known and e
ven arrested some teens like Jarrell. Dumb kids who were angry at themselves and the world. I knew what she was talking about. I just nodded my head in acknowledgement and she went on.

  “So I made a deal with him. Told him I would create an account for him but that he had to play the game with me until he was tenth level. After that he could do what he wanted. I figured I could get him to love the game as a traditional player. I did some research and that is how we ended up out here in the middle of nowhere. Characters don’t usually start out in the wilderness. Most start in a major city like Grandview where they are safe and get easy starter quests. I wanted Jarrell to get drawn into a long term quest and try to keep him from trouble best I could. He protested; I can tell you. We had a major fight and he said all that hurtful shit like I’m not Mom and why am I pretending to care about him and I would be happier if they were in foster care.” She said this last part with a trace of anger. “He finally gave in because he really wanted to play. Flora heard most of the fight and simply said, ‘I want to play too.’ It was the most she had said in a week. I was shocked to say the least. And Jarrell, well he was thrilled that Flora wanted to play. You would think that a brother wouldn’t want that, but he was fine with it. They are twins, and he is very protective of her as you have seen.”