Level Zero

by Jaron Lee Knuth

  “Of course I would!” Xen says and hits the YES button.

  I'm more hesitant, but the situation feels awkward enough. I'm not sure what would happen if I pushed the NO button. I try to imagine Xen's reaction, but the betrayal I picture in his eyes makes me uneasy. I lift my hand and touch the green YES button. A bright outline forms around Xen's monk avatar, and a tiny dot appears on my map, signifying his location.

  “Good,” Xen says, “I am glad I get to work with you. I would not want to play this game alone. Omniversalism has not taught me much about how to kill people.”

  He laughs, and I try to ignore him, staying serious. I don't want to be friendly. I want to focus on the game.

  “You need to be careful,” I say. “We're going to be splitting Koins now. Your actions will affect my ratings.”

  The smile drifts from his face. “Okay. Sorry.”

  I ignore his change in attitude and say, “I'm trying to get to an equipment shop. It's the first quest, so you should have it too.”

  Xen stares at me with a confused look on his face.

  “Open your game windows,” I say.

  Xen gestures in the air. I hear music start to play, a piano melody mixed with a saxophone. “Neat,” he says. “I even have access to my music library.”

  “Shut it off,” I say. “We need to focus on the game.”

  The music stops, and he continues to gesture.

  “I was not aware that these menus were here. I have just been wandering around, killing players.”

  I cringe as I ask, “How many players have you killed?”

  He thinks for a moment and says, “Five. I am only Level 2.”

  I keep my own statistics to myself. No need to give Xen a big head. “We're going to have more players on us if we don't keep moving.” I hold up my guns. “These things are powerful, but I wouldn't mind buying some upgrades.”

  His eyes bug out when he sees my weapon. “You are using pistols? Why did you choose them?”

  I squint my eyes. “You'd be surprised.”

  He holds up his hand and green flames erupt from his palm. “I chose magic user. I never run out of ammo, but I throw fire sort of slowly.”

  “Sounds familiar.”

  “I had my choice of elements to wield, but I thought fire would be the best. I figured I could do the most damage with that. Damage is important, right?”

  I roll my eyes and pretend to know what I'm talking about. “Magic is like any other weapon. It's all about the person wielding it. If you're not a good player, it doesn't matter what element you choose.”

  “Oh,” he says, trying to break past the awkwardness of my snippy comment. He smiles again and says, “I have to admit, Kade, this is pretty fun. I can see how you could get lost in something like this. It is a great way to... express pent up aggression.”

  “The players that get too wrapped up in having fun are the ones that get killed. Stay focused.”

  His smile drifts away again. I feel bad, but I'm not here to entertain him. This is important to me. I can't worry about his feelings. I look at my map and reorient myself. I point toward the northeast.

  “Let's get moving. I'll lead, but I need you to watch my back.”

  Xen hesitates for a moment, and I can tell he wants to say something, but I try not to make eye contact. He nods, and we try to sneak out the front door of the building, crouching behind parked cars. The NPCs are still walking about, as if there isn't a war happening all around them.

  We sprint across the street and duck behind a mailbox. Xen's hands are flaming as he looks both ways, keeping his eye out for anyone that looks suspicious. I tap his shoulder to let him know we should move—the entrance to the store is only a block away—just as something huge passes overhead. I notice the shadow before I look up and see a fighter jet streak between the buildings. The roar of the engine follows behind it, shattering the windows it passes. NPCs run for cover as the shards of glass sprinkle across the pavement.

  “Is someone flying that jet? How did they get a vehicle already?” Xen asks, as if I should have an answer.

  “Not sure,” I say. “Earlier I saw a player that was already Level 72. It doesn't make any sense, unless there was an earlier wave of players than us.”

  Xen thinks for a second and says, “Maybe they are players who have already graduated from DotEdu, and they were able to play while we were in class.”

  I consider the theory, but finally rebuke it. “That still wouldn't give anyone enough time to reach Level 72.”

  Xen shrugs his shoulders. “Either way, I really want an airplane.”

  I want to smile, but I keep myself cold inside. “Let's go.” I give him a nudge down the street.

  He nods over his shoulder and continues to sprint behind me, crouched down to make himself a smaller target. His skinny monk avatar is coming in handy. His bright orange wrappings, not so much.

  Across the street from where the store is marked on the map, we crouch behind an abandoned car that sits on cinder blocks. The building that houses the equipment shop looks empty, with the windows boarded up and graffiti sprayed across the front door. I spot a neon sign hanging in the window that reads: OPEN.

  I stand up to walk around the car, but Xen grabs onto my shirt and yanks me back down to the ground. I'm ready to let loose an outburst of anger, but I see him readying a handful of green fire and looking the other direction. I follow his gaze, and see a military-style jeep come rolling around the corner, moving at a crawling pace. The driver looks like a basic, muscle-bound soldier with camouflage paint streaked across his face. The avatar standing in the back of the jeep, manning the mounted gun, has a long lizard face and scaly skin. He's moving the gun back and forth, methodically scanning around them.

  “Do we hide from these guys?” Xen asks, his hands twitching.

  I look at the jeep and smile. “Hiding is boring. But try not to damage the vehicle. We need a ride.”

  I stand up and target the driver. Their slow movement makes it easy to bring him into my sights, and with a single trigger pull, I release one bullet straight through the windshield and into the avatar's head.

  The jeep wheels to the right, crashing into a streetlight. The lizard on the mounted gun braces himself, and as soon as the jeep comes to a harsh stop, he spins the barrel toward me. I duck back behind the hood as the gun pounds the abandoned car, puncturing the metal doors and shattering the windows. Xen leaps out from the back side and tosses one of his fireballs. The blast hits the lizard in the shoulder, knocking him to the side. The player manages to maintain his grip on the gun, but when he's knocked to the side, the barrel goes spinning, and it sprays bullets across the street and away from me. I pop up from my hiding place, gripping one pistol with both hands and bracing my arms on the hood of the car. I give myself a few extra seconds to train my sights on the lizard as Xen continues to hurl fireballs. Just as I'm about the pull the trigger, the front of the car we're hiding behind gets peppered with bullets. I duck back and watch Xen do the same.

  “The driver,” Xen yells. “He's not dead.”

  I grit my teeth. I was sure a head shot would have dropped him. He must have chosen endurance like me.

  “I've got him,” I say. “Throw out some fire to distract him.”

  Xen rolls to the back of the car and summons a ball of flame in his hands. He tosses it over the car without looking, and I hear the gunfire hitting the trunk. I draw my other pistol and spin around the front of the car. I squeeze the triggers before I'm even aiming. The bullets are striking the wall above the driver's head, so I adjust my aim toward his chest and he explodes into pixels. I see the lizard climbing back into the jeep, but before I can fire again, he's struck between the shoulder blades with a ball of green flame.

  “Your group has killed Sadistik: Level 3, and Skael: Level 2. You have earned five-hundred Koins.” My avatar flashes brightly, and I hear the announcer say, “Welcome to Level 2.”

  001100

  The door to the
equipment shop hangs crookedly from one hinge, but when I look inside, I'm shocked at the difference. While the outside appears to be a dilapidated, four-story building, the inside looks like a small, single room. Solid steel walls surround us, with a holographic screen floating in the center. The rest of the room is completely empty.

  When both Xen and I step inside, an armored door seals shut behind us, locking us into the protected room. The holographic screen lights up, showing the same skeletal face that awarded me the two beta keys.

  “Hello,” he says with a booming voice that I recognize as the voice of the announcer. “Thank you for taking place in the Beta test of DangerWar 2. I sincerely hope you have already enjoyed your experience in our brand new game world. We want you to focus on having fun. We do not require you to file any error records or quality control reports. We do not require you to do anything but play the game as you normally would. Our teams are logging your every move, so any bugs that you may come across will be sent directly to them.”

  Without lips, the skeleton looks as if it's always smiling. “I hope you have already noticed the improvements we have created for you to enjoy. Beyond the obvious changes to the rules system and graphical upgrades, the game world of DangerWar 2 itself has grown immensely. Instead of a series of small maps working independently, we decided to put all of the players into a single game world, connecting our different ideas into a giant, cohesive existence. We feel this will not only create a much more unified experience for all the players, but gives you more opportunities to interact, which brings us to the second major improvement.”

  The image of the skeleton grows larger, as if it's leaning in closer to the camera. “NPCs now play a much bigger role in the game world. Where the original DangerWar treated them as merely decorative pieces of the map, DangerWar 2 has introduced an all new artificial intelligence that encourages them to play a much more significant role in your experience. Our team of programmers have spent years developing code that would replicate the most realistic of human actions. We hope the difference between combat with players and NPCs will be negligible.”

  I hear Xen say, “That sounds beautiful. Omniversalism teaches us the importance of recognizing the soul in every avatar...” and I think about my confusion when I first landed in the street. I couldn't tell them apart, at least not at first.

  “I'm sure you are excited to continue on your adventure, so I won't take up anymore of your time. You have succeeded in finding your first equipment shop, one of the only locations in the entire game world of DangerWar 2 where you are completely safe. No enemies can enter or attack you when you are inside, and this is the only are that is not zoned for PvP. Congratulations. Because of your arrival, you have completed your very first quest.”

  I hear the announcer's voice boom into my ear as it normally does. “Quest completed. You have earned 1,500 Koins.” My body lights up again and the announcer adds, “Welcome to Level 3.”

  The skull continues his toothy smile as it says, “You may use this screen to spend your Koins toward upgrades for your avatar. You may search for quests from your quest window, but don't waste any time. Those same quests are available to all other players, so you want to complete them before anyone else does. There are many more surprises awaiting you in the world of DangerWar 2, and we hope you find them all! So? What are you waiting for? Get out there and play!”

  The skull fades away, leaving a touch menu in its place. I look at Xen and his eyes are lit up with excitement. He looks down at his own hands and clenches his fists.

  “That was a lot of Koins for just finding this equipment shop,” he says. “I'm Level 3 now!”

  “Me too,” I say, feigning boredom with the idea, when in reality I couldn't be more excited. “It looks like quests are the way to earn the most Koins. The players out there are wasting their time fighting each other, but they'll figure it out soon enough. Word gets around fast. Players like to brag when they learn new information.” I feel an urge, a yearning deep inside. I want to get out into the game world as soon as possible. “We should upgrade what we can and get moving,” I say as I stepping up to the holographic screen.

  “Sorry. It's getting late,” Xen says, opening windows around his avatar. “I need to log out and get some sleep. Omniversalism teaches us that a good night's sleep keeps us as close to heaven as possible.”

  “Seriously? But we just started playing...”

  Xen looks defeated and says with an annoyed tone, “We've been playing for hours. You can keep playing if you want, but I need to say goodnight to Raev and go to bed.”

  I groan.

  “I will see you tomorrow night,” Xen says, ignoring the noise I made. “Don't stay up too late. I want you full of energy for the concert.”

  I can see how happy the idea of me going to the concert makes him. His eyes are full of hope, even for something so silly. Why would my existence at this event be so important to him?

  “Okay,” I say, turning away and looking through the menu system, “whatever.”

  There's an awkward pause that I barely notice, then I hear the announcer say, “Group member Xen has left the game.”

  I look over my shoulder and glance at the space he was just standing in. There's an emptiness that I don't recognize. Although the lack of his existence is more apparent than I'm used to, I push the feeling away easily and return to the menu.

  I'm amazed at the amount of upgrades available. Everything from telescopic sights and attachable grenade launchers, to night-vision goggles and jump-enhancing boots. I spend almost two hours scrolling through all the options, looking ahead at the items available to me that I can't yet afford. I choose what my meager sum of Koins will allow and select the “Complete Order” option. A damage-enhancing upgrade connects to the barrel on both of my pistols. An armored trench coat appears on my body, but without the dust-covered details I added to my original. It isn't much, but I already feel more powerful.

  My stomach growls in the real world, and I feel it twist. I should log out, just for a moment, so that I can squirt some vitapaste into my mouth and get back into the game without the distraction, but I'm too excited to try out my new gear.

  I open the quest window, and a list of hundreds of different quests pour into my view. Glowing dots blink next to each listing, but they're all different colors. I look at the top of the window and see a description explaining that white dots signify quests for my Level range. I scroll around, searching for the quest that's closest to the equipment shop. I find one that's only a few blocks away, and select it. The brittle parchment rolls out of the window, and the invisible pen starts writing the quest description for me to read.

  “A UFO has crash landed in DangerWar City, infesting an entire park with bloodthirsty aliens. Eradicate the menace! You will be rewarded 3,000 Koins for your efforts.”

  Simple and straight forward. It makes sense for a low Level quest. It's actually designed for a Level 4 player, but I'm not worried. I open the sealed metal door and step back out onto the city street, ready to get back in the game.

  The street outside is silent in the darkness of the night. I can hear traffic and horns honking a few blocks away, but there aren't any NPC civilians wandering around on this side street. I look over at the military-style jeep crashed into the streetlight and jog toward it.

  Without another group member, the mounted machine gun on the back is nearly useless, but I'd rather be traveling with the speed of a vehicle than crossing the downtown area on foot. If the other players are still obsessed with killing each other, I need to stay out of their crossfire as much as possible.

  The streetlight is damaged more than the front bumper. When I climb into the driver's seat and turn the key, the engine starts right up. I put the jeep in reverse and pull away from the lamppost. The metal scrapes loudly as the bumper unlocks from the pole. Without the jeep to brace it, the entire lamp topples over, smashing the glass cover around the bulb when it hits the pavement.

  I turn on t
he headlights and stomp on the gas. The jeep rolls between the abandoned buildings around me, the sound of the engine bouncing off the brick walls. I blow past a stop sign, and turn right onto a more well-used street. I see civilians and hear gunfire come from an alleyway as I slow down to fit between a taxi and a city bus. I step on the gas and pull away, putting the nearly pointless PvP violence behind me.

  It only takes me a few minutes to reach the fenced-in park. It's tempting to burst through the gate with my new jeep, guns blazing, but that's impulsive and stupid. I park the jeep on the side of a business called a “pizza parlor” and creep across the street. With a running jump, I scramble up the fifteen-foot high brick wall surrounding the park and peek over the top.

  Under lamps sporadically set around the paved walkways, I see groups of alien beasts roaming around the smoldering spaceship crashed into the center of the park. The aliens are humanoid looking, albeit hulking in size, with six glowing eyes and pale green skin. Every few moments, one of the beasts stops and howls into the air, exposing the rows of razor sharp teeth it hides inside its mouth.

  I try to count how many of the NPC enemies I'll need to kill, but I lose track around thirty or forty. I suck in a deep breath and swing my legs over the top of the fence. I drop down near a tree, peering out from behind the trunk. I'm not sure what's going to happen when I fire my first shot, but I'm hoping I can take on one enemy at a time.

  I slide my guns from their holsters and take aim on the closest alien. With a single squeeze of the trigger, a bullet slams into the back of the alien's head, launching him forward, forcing its face into the ground. I don't wait to see if it's dead before I take aim on the next alien. As I'm pulling the trigger, I hear the same howl that these creatures have been emitting, but this time it's deafening. The sound is coming from every single alien in the park, and when it stops, they all turn toward me.

  When the creatures charge, I lose my breath for a second and unconsciously back step as I squeeze both triggers, slicing through the alien flesh and cutting them down one at a time. I swing the barrels to the left, using a wall of bullets to stop the creatures charging me from that direction. I don't kill every one that I strike, but I do enough damage to knock them down and stop them from advancing. I'm watching the line, the distance between their gaping maws and my avatar is getting smaller. I keep firing, blasting alien after alien, but the swarm doesn't stop. As I cut down a row of six or seven with one swooping motion of gunfire, I catch a glimpse of the crashed UFO, and I see more of the creatures pouring out from the back of the ship. They're replaced as quickly as I can kill them.