Perma-Death Online: Book 2
By
A. J. Chaudhury
Copyright © 2018 Akhoy Jyoti Chaudhury
All rights reserved
SPECIAL THANKS
To Executive Producer: Annie Wang;
To Neil, Amanda and James for help with the editing;
To the awesome folks over at Royalroadl who provided me feedback on the early drafts. While I couldn’t include all the suggestions in the final draft, the constructive criticism that I received nevertheless helped me a lot.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to real people or events is entirely coincidental.
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Just a quick recap of book one in case you read it a long while ago
Rohan gets a chance to play Prithvi Online for free.
He explores the town of Kapilpura. He kills Raks, gains loot, levels up and makes friends. He even gets to taste dinosaur.
He gets into a little quarrel with another player called Daddy1 and lands in the prison.
A trip to another town goes horribly wrong and Rohan ends up meeting Death13.
Daddy1 persuades Rohan and Grimguy to go searching for Death13. They are caught by Raks.
Rohan finds himself in a universe of ones and zeroes.
Rohan and Grimguy meet Mastermind, the creator of Death13.
Chapter 1
It was like a blow to the face.
“You created Death13?” I said, while Grimguy gaped wide.
Mastermind nodded, looking away from us.
“It was the biggest mistake of my life.”
“But why did you create him? Death13 is deleting those perma players!”
“I fell into greed, but at the same time I had never anticipated that Death13 would actually delete players. Death13 is a junk code I created. I thought it would kill players and then the players would respawn or wake up in their capsules. But Death13 seems to have taken a life of his own. I designed the junk codesuch that it could absorb Karma from players and be able to get stronger. Karma is the most powerful entity in this world, though few players try to acquire more of it since it is so complicated.
“Death13 doesn’t do any good deed to acquire Karma and is an NPC on top of that, but he can absorb Karma from others and store it within himself to become more powerful. You see, the makers of Prithvi already had plans to install Death into this world, since the world governments had told them to do so. A few weeks ago they installed a prototype version of Death into the game world without telling anyone. The junk code I created had already been installed from before, and it was designed such that the moment Death was installed, it would merge with the code for Death and give birth to Death13, which was what happened. The game developers had designed the prototype version of Death such that it would only affect NPCs. They wanted Death in the game world simply to mean that the code for an NPC rearranges itself and leads to the creation of a new NPC. You know, like the concept of rebirth.
“But the junk code I had created messed up everything. The Kartoshi gang even paid me a big sum for that. However, it was only after I had installed the junk code successfully into the game system after weeks of relentless effort that they told me of their true plans. Their plan is to loot the game world of all its wealth and they don’t care if players are deleted. Going by current rules, a player can open a bank account in the game world after level 30.Any gold that a player stores into that account can be converted intoreal world money. They want to exploit this. They have already looted the accounts of many perma players after deleting them from the game world using Death13.”
“But why does Rohan have the tattoo? And he says he never knew it existed until today,” Grimguy said.
“It’s because of the free capsule through which he entered the game world,” Mastermind said. “The free capsulesautomatically createthe tattoo onthe back of anyone whouse them.”
“So you are also using a free capsule?” I asked Mastermind, who nodded.
“I am an important person to the Kartoshis after all.”
I thought about all that Mastermind had said. I suddenly realised why Serena had kissed me the other day: To distract me. I reckon she had thought I was better off thinking about the kiss than Death13.
“Why haven’t you told the real world police about this?” I asked Mastermind. It was easily the most rational way todeal with the problem.
Mastermind let out a vacant laugh.
“Firstly, I will be killed before I reach the premises of a police station. Secondly, do you really think the police can help? The Kartoshi gang is one of the biggest criminal organisations in the world, yet few have ever heard of it. Half the gang members—like you— don’t even know they belong to the gang. The gang operates in many countries, including the superpowers, and many members of the gang hold political powers and influences. I am pretty darn sure that with aid from some loopholes in the law, the Kartoshi gang asked the governments to pressurize the game developers to install Death. NowI have a question for you: In what kind of a place is your game capsule located?”
“In an underground facility, which can only be accessed through a blacksmith’s shop.”
Mastermind looked amused.
“You never doubted that something could be fishy with the ‘facility’?”
I shook my head. Despite the bizarre location of the facility I had never doubted anything.
“The money made me blind, I guess.”
“Yeah, the money,” Mastermind said with a nod, “the one reason why most of the periphery gang members are spending ninety percent of their lives in the game. The Kartoshi gang is rich. It’s investing in the players and wants to reap a huge reward later on.”
I suddenly decided what I was going to do. I felt too guilty now.
“I am going to log out,” I said. Grimguy gasped, while Mastermind grabbed my hand, as though he could stop me that way. The log out button was inside my mind, I didn’t need my hands to access it.
“Do not do that!” Mastermind barked. “You only logged in yesterday. They will smell something is not right. They even have a system that keeps records of what a player does in the game world. Anytime a player quits, they go through these records to see the reason behind the player doing so. If they check yourrecords and find the reason, they will dispose you. And I will be in problem too.”
My heart sank. The log out button had appeared in my vision and I now dismissed it. I squatted down on the floor. It wasn’t easy to quit after all. What had I signed up for? I was so glad now that Dev’s wife had been upset when he said he wanted to play the game. I wished now I had married and had a caring wife, who would have prevented me from entering the game world.
I grabbed my hair.
“So no logging out?” I said.
“No logging out,” Mastermind repeated. I nodded.
“So what do I do now? I don’t want to be a contributing factor in getting people deleted from the game world. I don’t want to give any Karma to Death13.”
“Keep playing,” Mastermind said. “Do things normally. Just as you were doing them before you knew about all this. This is ultimately a problem of my creation and I will fix it.”
“Oh boy,” I said as I suddenly remembered. “There had been a malfunction with my capsule and they repaired it. I used a spell on Death13. Do you think they might have checked my records while fixing my capsule?”
“They might have,” Mastermind said, “and it’s unlikely that they will be very happy to know that you tried to use a sp
ell on Death13. However, since they have allowed you to play instead of putting a bullet into your head, I thinking you shouldn’t be too worried. They are a powerful gang but they will try to avoid murder and unnecessary attention whenever possible. But at the same time, it is another reason why you shouldn’t immediately log out.”
“So it’s ‘the end’ for perma players like me, isn’t it?” Grimguy said. He looked quite grim, like a patient of an incurable disease who had been told he had only a week to live.
“I have a feeling it’s not so,” Grimguy said, and there was a small smile of hope playing on his lips. “But a feeling it is, not something I can be too sure about.”
“You know any way Death13 can be removed from the system,andcouldthe Kartoshi gang can be stopped?” I asked.
“I am not saying I exactly know but there is a small ray of hope. You see, all the quests that you come across are generated by the AI of the game world. The AI can no longer be manipulated by the game developers as far as creating quests is concerned. It will create any quest it wants to. And perhaps, just perhaps, it will come up with a quest to destroy Death13 once it sees how powerful Death13 has become by absorbing all the Karma. And the reward for that quest will be very big. Perhaps such a quest exists already, and we just have to find it.”
“But won’t such a big quest be out in the daily newspaper?” Grimguy asked, his grimness partly gone with Mastermind’s hopeful words.
Mastermind dismissed the question with a flick of his hand.
“The newspaper quests are listed by lazy NPC journalists. On the rare occasion that such a journalist happens upon Death13, Death13 would probably delete the NPC. There is a reason you never see the really big quests in the newspaper. The players happen to be harder working than NPCs, so they find the quests anyway.”
“Does Death13go about meetingallthe members of the Kartoshi gang, sending them friend requests?” I asked.
Mastermind nodded with some sorrow.
“He does unfortunately. I designed the junk code to be so myself. Whenever he meets a member he will send them a friend request. You see Death13’s attracted to the tattoo on our backs. It is important to keep the members of the Kartoshi gang safe after all. Death13 is a ‘friend’ of mine as well. But one thing I must say is that once a member of the Kartoshi gang goes perma, the tattoo disappears. After that, Death13 won’t regard them as a friend anymore.”
“Are there other members of the Kartoshi gang with you who want to stop Death13?”
“Unfortunately none that I know of,” Mastermind said. “There is a small possibility that one of the main members of the gang is against Death13 because his twin was killed in a family quarrel of the Kartoshis. But I do not know what his game world avatar is.
"Anyway,I was just hopingthat you and I could team up. You don’t want to support Death13do you? I first suspected you were a member of the gang when I saw you the other day. Death13 wasn’t doing anything to harm you, and when the other guy grabbed Death13’s neck you used your spell, and all three of you disappeared.”
“I am never supporting Death13,” I said. After all that I had heard of the Kartoshi gang and Death13, I would do my best to not support them.
“Then would you like to help me?” Mastermind asked.
“I don’t know about him,” Grimguy broke in, “but I sure would. I don’t want to be forever deleted from Prithvi.”
Mastermind looked at Grimguy.
“Any encounter with Death13 will be much more dangerous to you than to us, which is one of the reasons why I never tried to group together with a bunch of perma players to stop Death13since it would be dangerous for them, even though they would be more motivated for the cause than the non-perma players. But a helping hand is always useful.”
“I am in too,” I said.
“Great,” Mastermind said with a small clap of his hands.
“So what do we do now?” Grimguy asked.
“For now, you can keep playing as before. I must go now in search of the theoretical quest for bringing Death13’s downfall. In the scenario that I actually find such a quest, I shall contact you.”
Mastermind picked up his bag from the bed. He smiled at us.
“Thanks for joining me. It’ll be wiser to not tell about what you have learnt today to others, least someone who is a core member of the Kartoshi gang comes to know. Goodbye.”
And just like that he disappeared.
Grimguy and I remained staring for a while at the vacant space where Mastermind had been only a moment back.
“Is it possible to do that?” I asked, pointing at the empty space in amazement.
“Well, he just did it,” Grimguy said matter-of-factly, “must be some really cool spell. I wish I had that. It would be easier to flee from Death13 if I came face to face with him.”
“Do you think there is any chance Mastermind is lying?” I asked Grimguy. It was a small doubt. Though I was more or less convinced because ultimately what Mastermind had said made sense.
“I don’t care even if he is lying,” Grimguy said, “I’ll better be with him in his fight against Death13. Heseems like a wise guy filled with knowledge. Daddy1’s birthstone is mere dust now. I don’t wantthesame tohappento my stone.”
Rohan.
Class: Multi-tasker
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Level: 4
Strength: 300
Health: 639/650
Mana: 283
Intelligence: 90
Karma: 0
Chapter 2
I spent the remainder of the day in my room. Grimguy got busy with his impossible-to-solve puzzle once again, which was better than him being grim and brooding. I watched the multitudes of people outside the inn in the streets. There were so many players. Quite a few of them were perma players. Folks who had come to the game world because of some shit going on in their real lives. What was the chance that tomorrow Death13 won’t delete them?
The next day, for the first time in a while, Lovebird became online. I was happy and messaged her instantly.
“Hey,” I said, “it’s been some time since you last logged in.”
“Well, the past few days weren’t easy. We are a bit down on supplies in the real world.”
“That sucks,” I messaged, then thought for a moment. “Want to meet me?”
“Sure. Ladyjane just told me she and Rajahard were going hunting, and she was asking if I would like to go as well. Would youlike to jointhe hunttoo?”
It would be a good change to kill Raks for fun after all that had occurred to me recently.
“Sounds like a good idea,” I told her.
“Okay,” Lovebird said, “I am waiting for you near the tree where I buried my birthstone. You rememberthe place, right?”
“Cool, I do remember. I’m on my way.”
Grimguy was still busy, so I decided to go alone. I had only left the Ravana inn when I received a message from Ladyjane inviting me for the hunt.
“I am already on the way, lol,” I messaged back.
“Cool,” she replied.
After a few minutes, I found myself walking down towards Lovebird. I waved at her and she waved back at me.
“The convict has returned,” she said, studying me with a smile.
The word “convict” started a train of thoughts in my mind, which ended at Daddy1 disappearing forever from the game world. Perhaps my thoughts showed on my face and I acquired a serious look.
“You okay?” Lovebird asked me, “Don’t like being called ‘convict’?”
I shook my head, forcing a smile on my lips. Lovebird needn’t know about all the shit that had happened to me in the past few days. She already had her boatload of problems to take care of in real life. The game world was a means of escape for her. Let it be so.
“Nah, call me ‘convict’ if you want to,” I said with a quick flash of teeth.
“Ladyjane said this one is going to be a really unique quest. Beyond The Line,�
� she said, changing the subject.
“The Line?” I asked. Now what was that?
“It’s some kind ofan imaginary line that lies deep in the land of the Raks. Once you cross it things get harder, or at least that’s what Ladyjane told me.”
“Harder is better, I guess,” I said. “Bigger rewards.”
“I am excited,” Lovebird said. Our eyes met, and the moment seemed to last. For me it was as if only her face existed as I admired her beauty. The wind blew, ruffling her hair, making her all the more gorgeous. I felt a lump in my throat. I didn’t know what I should say to her.
“They have come,” Lovebird suddenly said, blushing as she broke eye contact with me.
I turned to see Rajahard and Ladyjane approaching.
“How’s it going with you two?” Rajahard asked upon reaching.
“Doing good,” I said, “so this new hunt isgoing to beharder?”
“Yes, this hunt willnot be easy,” Rajahard said, “the village that we are going to attack is beyond The Line. Almost all villages situated beyond it have pterodactyls. The Raks sometimes even pick up humans from Kapilpura using pterodactyls.”
I recalled Chandra telling me he had been taken by a pterodactyl while out at night. At the same time, what was the connection between the Raks and the pterodactyls? I had never asked this to Chandra.
“I don’t get it,” I said, “Pterodactyls should be in Dinoland, shouldn’t they?”
“The chieftains of the Rakshasha villages usually have a magical ring that can be used to summon pterodactyls. But the pterodactyls need to be constantly fed. It is for this reason that they capture humans, both players and NPCs. But if the Raks are low on food supplies they won’t hesitate to kill someone of their own kind to feed the pterodactyls.”
“This ring of the Rak chieftains,” said Lovebird, “it can be used by players, right?”
Rajahard shook his head.
“I don’t know any player who has succeeded in doing that. It seems that pterodactyls can be summoned by the Raks alone. Either ways, this hunt is going to be fun, as there will always be other big loot that the bastard Raks will drop. Someday I hope to go perma, but only after I have become filthy rich after destroying dozens of Rakshasha villages.”
Perma-Death Online: A LitRPG adventure: Book 2 Page 1