System Launch

by M D Siskind

  “I’m told you saved my young apprentice here much strife. I would reward you, but are you certain of the boon you seek? This trial is dangerous. You may not survive, and we mere mortals do not survive physical death.”

  Ben paused as a warning from the system came across his vision.

  Warning Failure to Complete the Final Challenge will require Restarting the Tutorial. Are You Sure? YES/NO

  Ben felt his grin grow as he all but punched the confirmation command. He’d finish this tutorial and save more time to invest in the actual game. Every second counted this early, and who knew how much time he’d save if he succeeded.

  “What’s the trial require?” Ben asked as he followed after the elderly Priest into a side room that sloped down to a central depression. The old man’s laugh was rough, and it wasn’t exactly friendly.

  “Survive gathering a bouquet.”

  Chapter Four

  Ben felt his eyebrows furrow. “What?”

  Another harsh laugh and a sweeping hand gesture towards the central depression. “You’ll see traveler. In you get now.”

  Ben followed the instructions. He had no other choice at this point. Following further instructions, he sat cross-legged in the depression, and prepared himself while he waited. This was the last trial between him and officially bringing Open Contract Adventuring into Seeds of Lysium.

  A moment later, the space wavered, shifted, and Ben found he wasn’t in the temple anymore. Jumping to his feet, Ben saw that he sat on a rock in the midst of an open pasture. Boulders ranging from stones suited for seating to impromptu watch towers were scattered across the area. Knee-height grasses danced back and forth in the spaces between. Turning a full circle where he stood, Ben saw not a single patch of flowers. A second circle showed him something more ominous. Several sections of grass were moving independent of each other and the wind. Something was using the grass as cover.

  Ben cursed. He didn’t need fetch quests and mobs. He needed better height to find the flowers. He also needed to identify these enemies. He needed to stop wasting time and resources on this tutorial and get to the actual business of starting up his business.

  Considering, Ben turned in a circle for a third time. Then, nodding, came to a decision.

  “That rock.”

  It wasn’t the tallest, but it had a small formation nearby that made climbing it much more reliable than the others he could see from his current location. It also had the advantage of quiet. He saw only one patch of moving grass between himself and that rock, while the patches became denser in number the other direction. Ben fully suspected he’d need to go that direction, but charging in there was too risky right now. The last thing he needed was to get this far only to have to restart the whole damned tutorial because he got impatient.

  Course set, Ben hopped off the rock. Freezing for a long moment, he watched the patch of grass he’d spotted moving independently earlier.

  It stilled for a moment, Rustled. Moved towards him for a moment. Then stopped. Rustled. Moved in another direction. Another.

  Ben let the tension slip from his shoulders slightly, then activated Stealth. Slowly creeping forward, Ben reached attack range without the rustling patch of whatever it was realizing there was a threat.

  Ben struck.

  A sharp squealing sound, a thump. Ben looked down and saw what looked like a lizard of some sort. It looked like photos he’d seen of chameleons, but chameleons if someone had grafted wings to their back right around the hump in the center. A quick glance at his combat log showed it was a Least Drake Pup. Ben nodded as though confirming a suspicion. And indeed he was. It was the Dragon Emblem, he didn’t find it surprising that dragons were involved somehow. He wondered if that would be a continuing thing.

  Shaking his head and putting the matter aside, Ben moved for the rock he’d set his sights on to begin with. Reaching it, he began to climb. The rock provided no real challenge and Ben shortly found himself with a much better vantage point. That didn’t mean the view was great.

  Ben cursed when he saw that his suspicion was right. There were flowers scattered throughout and between the rocks. The largest visible patch, and indeed the first one Ben spotted, was also at the center of the Least Drake Pups. To get to that patch and harvest a bouquet from it he’d have to deal with the pups. One way or another.

  Easiest way to do that, Ben acknowledged, would be collecting the bouquet using the Stealth skill.

  Ben frowned while considering the problem. His goal remained to clear this task as quickly as he could. Less time invested in this tutorial was more time into the core Seeds of Lysium system. To that end, he considered hunting around for smaller patches. There’d be less fighting for his prizes. But he’d also have to spend longer to even find the patches.

  So the bigger patch was the better option. He’d need a plan to deal with these enemies. Dying here would require restarting the entire tutorial sequence.

  Ben considered the terrain around the patch he had set his sights on, and slowly a plan began to form. The rocks surrounding the patch were climbable. But that was for a human. Ben decided that a test was in order - could the drakes climb the rocks? If not, he had a plan to complete this tutorial and get on with the business of, well, business.

  Heading back over to the angled side where ridges and crags made for usable, if tricky, handholds. He managed the climb back down to the smaller rocks with only slightly more difficulty than he’d managed the climb up. Ben chose his targets and crept over, step by step.

  At 10 meters, a shifting patch of grass stilled, then began rustling Ben’s direction. Ben engaged Stealth. A second passed, two, then the patch of grass turned its attention elsewhere. Ben continued to the flower patch he had in mind.

  Reaching the small patch, Ben knelt down and analyzed the plant. He wasn’t sure how to collect this particular plant, and most VRMMOs required a level of skill when attempting to harvest materials. Simply plucking a flower would, often as not, spoil the flower

  Finally, after 8 seconds and more than 20 percent of his MP spent on the Stealth skill, Ben saw the faint shimmering at the base. Reaching down, he carefully grasped the location. A prompt came up, instructing him to pinch. He did so. A gauge popped up and ticked off one second. Ben blinked as he saw his MP drop by one as the gauge did so, and only then did he receive 1 “Dragon Nip Bulb.”

  Ben heard a hiss from behind himself. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the patch of grass he’d bypassed earlier making a beeline for his location.

  Ben bolted to the rock he’d chosen for his escape. Not as hard to climb as the one he’d used for a vantage point, and closer to several patches of flowers, it would serve as a good staging point. Ben clambored to the top of the rock and took his feet, turning to face the Least Drake Pup he’d agitated.

  It was trying to climb the rock. Slowly but surely it was succeeding. Good enough. Ben strode over and struck at the Least Drake Pup. By the third strike the mob was dead.

  Ben sat down to consider the information he’d gained. First, the plants would draw the pups when picked. Second, it cost extra MP to maintain stealth while doing things like harvesting resources. Third, the Least Drake Pups could climb these rocks, but not well or quickly.

  The pieces of a plan aligned in Ben’s mind. It would be a bit riskier than simply stealthing in and out, taking a bulb at a time. It would also get him out of the tutorial space and into the main system much faster. Since time was the most valuable asset he had right now, Ben couldn’t exactly afford to waste it here.

  Waiting only for his MP to regenerate completely, Ben set out for a rock bordering the largest patch. He didn’t bother to use Stealth. Instead he lured any Least Drake Pups whose attention he drew into following him up the sides of rocks before dispatching them. Along the way he was able to collect five more bulbs, bringing his total to half a dozen. Ben was curious how man
y he’d need, but as he had no way to determine, decided to let the issue go for now. He’d find out one way or another.

  Finally, Ben stood on a rock overlooking the large patch of bulbs he’d spotted from his initial vantage point. Calculating quickly, Ben suspected he could more than double his current count of bulbs from this one patch. He nodded slowly, then looked around.

  “Like I thought,” he muttered under his breath. “Too many to clear out. Guess I’ll have to kite them.”

  Waiting for his MP to regenerate, Ben carried out his plan. Slipping down to the ground, he engaged his Stealth skill, and slunk to the edge of the large patch. Then, finding the first bulb, Ben knelt down, disabled the skill, pinched the bulb off it’s root, and reactivated Stealth as he stood.

  It worked, and as Ben moved towards the next bulb, he could see the shuffling patch of grass that denoted a Least Drake Pup stop in confusion at the vanished target.

  Kneeling down next to another bulb less than 2 seconds later, Ben did it again. It was on the third attempt that his luck ran out, and the Stealth skill failed.

  Ben didn’t bother with finesse. Choosing the rock with the nearest climbable face, he ran. By the time he reached the rock face and began to climb, three Least Drake Pups were closing in fast.

  Still, Ben climbed with confidence. The Least Drake Pups wouldn’t climb half as quickly as he could, meaning he’d have all the time in the world once he reached the top. As had happened on his way to this patch, Ben reached the top of the rock and dispatched his pursuers. However that was where the similarities ended. This time he immediately scampered back down the rock, engaged his Stealth skill, and slunk to the edge of the patch of bulbs.

  He repeated the process he’d used previously. As he collected the third bulb, and the dozenth he’d collected overall, the stack in his inventory changed. Simultaneously, the world around him began to shudder.

  All at once, Ben was sitting once again in the depression in the Dragon Temple. This time, he was holding a bouquet of Dragon Bulbs in his arms.

  The elder Priest’s eyes widened even as he clapped his hands together and bowed in reverence. “Congratulations, traveler.”

  “I take it I passed, then?”

  The elder Priest’s smile held a warmth that surprised Ben. “Indeed you have, young traveler. Even the Eldest Wyrms could not find true fault in such a performance.”

  Ben nodded as though he understood, and suspected he did understand. If that answer wasn’t a stock answer, then he’d just done exceedingly well at whatever grading system the game used. Seeing as his character sheet had a Grade section, Ben was willing to bet on the second option.

  “What should I do with these?” Ben offered up the bouquet. The elder Priest made a gesture, and the youthful Priest walked forward. Bowing low, the youth extended a tray of polished metal. Ben got the idea, and put the bouquet on the tray. Either the Priest wasn’t allowed to touch the bulbs, or they were somehow dangerous to the Non-Player Characters and not to Player Characters. Whatever the in-system logic, Ben watched as the youthful Priest carried the bulbs to a brazier. Once there the youth dumped the bulbs into the flames.

  All at once, the world around Ben dulled. Simultaneously, a text window appeared, with a glowing symbol filling the rightmost third of its space. The symbol was, appropriately enough, a stylized Western dragon seen head-on. Its horns curled inward to form the topmost portion of the emblem, with stylized wings forming the remaining border. Underneath it were two words. Dragon Emblem.

  Chapter Five

  Glancing over the text, Ben sighed in pleasure. The tutorial was finished, and he could stop wasting resources here. Then Ben scanned over the text more thoroughly, and couldn’t help his gaping surprise.

  Seeds of Lysium Tutorial - Becoming Blood-kin to Dragons: Complete

  Congratulations Last Falcon! You have completed the Seeds of Lysium Tutorial Mission - Becoming Blood-kin to Dragons. According to your performance, you have received Completion Rank of: Epic.

  Congratulations Last Falcon! You are the first Player in the Southeastern U.S. Server to receive an Epic Completion Rank on Mission - Becoming Blood-kin to Dragons. Chest Reward Rank Up.

  Congratulations Last Falcon! You are the first Player in the Southeastern U.S. Server to receive an Epic Reward Chest. Contents Enhanced.

  Ben hadn’t expected his impatience to pay off, but apparently it had. Glancing into his inventory, he saw the Reward Chest. Before he could do anything with it, the world wavered out of sight once again. As color was returning and details were sharpening, Ben realized he was somewhere quite different.

  For one thing, it was a town square rather than the back room of a temple. For another, it was the middle of the in-game day rather than the night it had been in the tutorial space. And finally, there were words in the upper corner of his vision. They politely informed Ben that he was now in Azure Bloom Town. The tutorial town hadn’t even been given the courtesy of a name.

  Ben immediately opened up his chat window. No one else was in yet. Nodding to himself, Ben set up three group chats. The first involving himself and his siblings.

  The second between himself and his adventure group. Unlike most groups, the members of Open Contract Adventuring were all quite capable of becoming professional VRMMO gamers. He’d set the group up as a group of free agent gamers. The group would routinely have dozens of streams of the same dungeon running, and plenty of members had been hired on by full time gaming organizations over the past three years.

  Ben was okay with all of that. He’d cultivated the group to bring together high potential players. Seeds of Lysium had been his long-term goal.

  Three months ago, Ben had informed the team he would be transferring to Seeds of Lysium full-time. Once there, he fully intended to set up a full Guild. He’d offered each member a position on the Guild’s payroll.

  Normally players would be offered a paid position in one of two eventualities. The first was what happened to many Open Contract Adventure members of the years - a player being scouted for a Guild’s professional teams. The second was much more common and involved months of time in the Guild, significant skill or talent, and at least one or two attention-getting achievements. Every member of Open Contract had, to Ben’s mind, met the purpose of those requirements. Loyalty, demonstrated ability, a fit with the overall culture of the group, and the willingness to take a calculated risk that so often separated successes and failures.

  Not every member of Open Contract had accepted. Several had quit in disgust over the entire idea of Guilds. The majority of their strength had eagerly accepted and followed Ben into Seeds of Lysium. Overall he had around 30 professional-grade VR gamers working for him, and a system that was ripe for the taking.

  Importantly the Adventure Group’s core leadership chose to remain. While Ben had founded Open Contract Adventuring, it had taken Smiling Sun, Chains of Gold, and Debtor Dreamer to bring the group to the next level. Together the four of them constituted the group’s leadership team. He put the four of them into a final chat for the leadership team in addition to the main chat.

  The system wouldn’t put them all in one location, however. Thus he had to establish contact and organize the group via group chats and the messaging system.

  Once he was done arranging group chats, Ben decided he should find someplace quiet and open this chest. He didn’t have a clue what opening chests would be like in Seeds of Lysium. The last thing Ben needed right now was for it to be some big attention-getting event that would encourage people to steal his hard-won loot.

  Finding an out of the way alcove wasn’t too difficult. Checking around to ensure he was alone, Ben opened his inventory and activated the Reward Chest. It appeared in front of him, and a gauge appeared in his field of vision. It began to fill as a count down ticked away twenty five seconds.

  With each passing second, the light emitte
d by the chest became brighter. By the end, Ben could barely look at it directly, and he was very glad not to be on the main street. Finally, it finished.

  “Might as well just send a notification to all Azure Bloom Town.” Ben said. Cursing whichever designer thought that light show was a good idea, he opened the lid. Then he stared at the contents.

  For a wild moment he wasn’t sure whether the system was messing with him or not. It had said the contents were enhanced . And if these were enhanced, he really didn’t want to know what the basic contents were.

  Inside were a grand total of three items. A sword, a book, and a small satchel. Picking up the satchel, Ben confirmed that it was in-game currency. From the looks of it, approximately 2 silver.

  Ben froze, then double checked. Yep. Still 2 silver.

  Which was, experience told him, an absurd amount for the start of a game. Most games used copper, then silver, then gold in base-ten values. Then, possibly, more esoteric higher-value materials as trade goods and alternative hard currencies. Ben knew Seeds of Lysium had such hard currency trade goods. Indeed a cornerstone of his long-term plans involved controlling and providing at least one such trade good.

  For the game to have given him 2 silver right out the gate? It made Ben reconsider his assessment of this initial reward. A quick check confirmed that, as was standard in VR games, Ben’s Datanet access was limited to the game’s forums, wikia, streaming services, and a small selection of other sites. But for this all he needed was the wikia, and he quickly confirmed that the game currency was valued at rates of 100 to 1.

  He’d received the equivalent of 200 copper from his performance in the tutorial. This at a time when earning 20 copper was a standard fee. If the sword and book followed that same pattern, then Ben had made out like, well, a thief.

  Chuckling, he picked up the sword. And again froze, this time when he saw the prompt it generated.