Digitized Online

by Richard J Thorn

  Contents

  Title

  Richard J. Thorn Copyright Notice

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Digitized Online Book 1

  Copyright © 2018 by Richard J. Thorn

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Everyone in this story is 18 or older.

  Chapter 1

  Before I knew what had happened, a blinding flash of light chased my vision away and I fell to the ground unceremoniously in a crumpled heap.

  When the pain subsided and I felt I was stable, I opened my eyes and peered into a world the likes of which I had never seen before.

  I was on a beach in the middle of the day. Bright white light, unfiltered by pollution, streamed down hotly on my skin. I could hear the gentle lapping of the waves as they kissed the shore.

  I shook my head. Where was I? I tried to recall what had led me here - wherever "here" was, but my memory was dim. In fact, I could recall almost nothing.

  "Welcome player 75658412. Your name, please?"

  I jumped and nearly cried out as I heard a ding and a loud voice that seemed to come from my own mind. It was everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.

  "Who's there?" I shrank back, looking around the desolate harbor.

  "Don't be alarmed. I am your guide in this virtual reality server #55941. Now, please state the name of your character and gender."

  I shook my head. Character? Virtual reality? Was this some kind of game?

  Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. The blast. Everyone trying desperately to get me to come down to the shelter. Bright lights. Stinging, infernal winds. Screaming. Then...nothing.

  Nothing but this game.

  Was I trapped inside an AI? What about my home? What about my mother?

  I looked around, but could see nothing. The voice prompted me again. Male or female? Maybe this was some kind of dream. Before it could ask again, I figured I'd take a chance. Why not? What's the worst that could happen?

  "Male," I replied. After all, I always played females in games, but I had a feeling that this was more than just a game.

  Name. The voice asked.

  I thought for a moment and remembered my favorite gaming name.

  "Ivanhoe Darkwolf!" I replied. "Human hunter, if I may."

  The cheery computer ran through a bunch of character looks. I, of course, chose the hunkiest one I could fine. Short, black hair. Blue eyes. Very muscular body. Large chest, broad shoulders, iron-hard abs. And, of course, I couldn't skip leg day. It didn't look a thing like me, but that was okay.

  Moments later, I was popped into the world in nothing but my underwear. Level zero, though.

  Now what?

  While I was busy looking around, I didn't see the giant crab scuttle up to me.

  "Ow!" I screamed and jumped two feet in the air. "What the hell?" I looked down and saw a twenty-pound, vicious-looking crab snapping its claws threateningly at me.

  "Where's my bow?" I shouted to the empty beach. What game doesn't start you out with at least some form of protection.

  First quest... The too cheerful female guide chirped. Find a bow in your pack.

  Oh great! I muttered to myself as I backed slowly away from the murderous-looking crab. His eyestalks twitched angrily and I knew I was soon going to be lunch.

  "Help!" I cried out, but only seagulls answered. I reached behind me, knowing full well that there was no backpack on my back. However, to my complete surprise, one suddenly appeared. Still backing away, I frantically searched for a bow.

  In my peripheral vision a 3D layout of my backpack popped up. I didn't have time to examine it, I just grabbed what looked like a bow and a quiver of arrows.

  Finally, something I could use! Now how the hell did you use a bow?

  Quest complete: Find a Bow

  Experience gained: 100

  New quest objective: Kill Crabby

  Crabby? I looked back at the terrifying beast and saw that he now had a health bar over his head.

  Fumbling with the bow, I backed up until I ran into a large boulder. I turned around and tried to climb it, but found that I couldn't.

  The crab scuttled closer.

  I was trapped literally between a rock and a hard place. I had nowhere to run, nowhere to go. It was me or the crab.

  With unsteady hands, I nocked the arrow and aimed it at the giant crab's body. Just as he reached up with his pincer, I loosed the arrow in his general direction.

  His health bar decreased by nearly half and he shrank away in pain. I half-way expected him to scuttle back into the ocean, but his blazing red, pinprick eyes told me he had other plans.

  He swiped out with his massive claw and by sheer luck I dodged just in time. My heart thundered in my chest as he came close enough that I could feel the wind against my face.

  With fear coursing through my veins, I reached back, grabbed the arrow and nocked it again. Even though I was a complete noob, something inside me began to click with the bow. I could feel myself starting to get the hang of it.

  "Come on, Crabby! You're not so tough, are you?" I shouted as I waited for the right moment to release the arrow into the beast's skull.

  The crab stared balefully at me, his red, pinprick eyes glowing like twin red dwarf suns. A surge of adrenaline coursed through my blood and the moment the creature took a step toward me, I released the arrow, hitting him right in the face. His health bar decreased to zero and blood spurted everywhere. I had to step back to avoid getting splashed by it.

  I couldn't believe it. I had killed my first creature. Sure, it was a crustacean named Crabby. But still.

  I watched the dying crab for several minutes as the life drained out of it. It's legs twitched and its eyestalks fell as it bled out onto the beach. A moment later, the animal vanished, leaving behind what look like a couple of pieces of crab meat and a copper piece. I wondered where it got the copper from. It must've swallowed it.

  Quest complete: Kill Crabby

  Experience gained: 300

  New quest objective: Talk to Fisherman on Pier

  A bright light enveloped me, accompanied by a dinging sound.

  Congratulations! You are now level one. Your HP is now 20.

  Say "HUD" to bring up your in-game menu. From there, you can access all your stats and resources. Your quick bar is now unlocked and you may drag important items or spells there for easier access.

  Say "map" to bring up your explored map and access your quest log. If you have any further questions, please say "help" and I will assist you.

  I jumped up on a rock out of harm's way and brought up my menu. I spent several minutes rummaging around in my pack and stats. I noticed that all my attributes were at zero and there was a blinking plus sign next to each of them.

  Standard stuff. I may have been new to this particular game, but not MMO's in general.

  I fiddled around with the stats until I had something that I could get behind. The numbers I chose were as follows:

  Str - 12

  Dex - 16

  Con - 12

  Int - 9

  Chr - 8

  Wis - 5

  I figured
that since I had chosen a hunter class, I would need high dexterity. As I was going to be questing alone a lot, I probably wouldn't need much charisma. Any spells I would be casting would be minimal, so intelligence and wisdom were on the back-burner. I chose 12 for constitution as I didn't want to be a pushover.

  The moment I hit accept, I felt changes in my body. I seemed to become stronger and I felt more agile. I was more confidant and more sure of myself. I thought I could even feel my muscles expanding.

  I familiarized myself with the rest of the HUD. I dragged a few things to my hotbar, but I had very little of anything. I had exactly one 5 hp health potion, a 5 mp mana potion and an ability - that when activated allows me to shoot two arrows once every 3 min. I was more than eager to try that one out.

  Closing the menu, I sat back and thought about my predicament. I wasn't entirely sure that this wasn't some kind of dream. But everything felt too real. I pinched myself and it hurt. I also didn't wake up.

  I tried my best to recall the last few minutes before being digitized into the game. But it all seemed rather hazy. Like that was the dream and I'd woken up here.

  But I wasn't entirely sure where "here" was. I looked around and all I could see was a real world. I could touch the rocks and the trees. But I was also somehow inside of a game. I couldn't even recall the name of it.

  Whenever I let my mind wander back to the moments just before being digitized, fear raced through my body. Something terrible happened. But I couldn't quite recall what.

  Not being able to remember, I think, is what scared me the most. It wasn't like a complete blank, either, it was very similar to trying to recall a fading dream.

  I took a moment to immerse myself in the stunning beauty of this new world. Digital or not, this place was gorgeous. Waves lazily lapped at the shore. Seagulls circled around. Small crabs scuttled to and fro. A strong salty scent clung to the slight breeze.

  The beach was pristine. There were no signs of human activity. The water was clear, there was no garbage or other debris floating around. It was almost too good to be real.

  Was I the only human here? I shivered at the thought. As much as I liked being alone, I didn't want to be completely devoid of all companionship. Since arriving, I hadn't seen a single soul. Not even an NPC.

  Speaking of which, I remembered that I had a quest to complete. Based on the position of the sun, I estimated that it was about noon. I'd need to start looking for some shelter soon.

  "Map." I said and a beautiful, highly-detailed customizable map popped up as an overlay. I saw that I could change the opacity at will. I don't know what I was expecting, but what I saw wasn't it. The map was huge. I mean, really huge. It was so big that I could barely make out the tiny, insignificant area where I had explored. The rest was covered in the fog of war.

  I zoomed in to my little corner of the map and saw that there was a yellow question mark near my area. It was still in the fog of war, but it wasn't too far from me.

  Slinging my bow over my shoulder, I closed the menu, jumped down off the rock and set off toward the quest giver.

  Taking my time, I took in the beauty of the place. I found a shiny rock and skipped it across the water. I was amazed when one of the seagulls snatched it right up. He must've thought it was a fish.

  I chuckled to myself and carried on.

  Five minutes later, I had uncovered a bit more of the map and I could plainly see the dancing, yellow question mark over the quest giver's head. It looked so out of place that I had to stifle a laugh.

  When I joined him on the pier, he seemed distraught.

  "Hail!" I said, holding out my hand. "Did you need some help?"

  The dwarf looked at me with wide eyes.

  "You're just in time!" He cried out, gesturing to the open sea with his stubby hands.

  "Yeah? Time for what?" I shaded my eyes with my hand and peered out to where he was looking. I saw nothing but water and seagulls.

  "Those damn birds!" He pounded the railing. "I could be a rich dwarf by now, but those fucking birds are always stealing my fish. And they don't take the cheap fish, either."

  He took a swig of his ale and wiped his beard.

  "So, you want me to… what?"

  "Hunt them down! Use that bow of yours and pluck them out of the sky. I may not be able to recover the fish they stole, but I can sure as hell eat well tonight." He looked up me hopefully, a glint in his green eyes. "Will ye help a brother out? Thin their numbers?"

  A quest box popped up in my view.

  New quest: Thin the flock

  Objective: Kill 10 seagulls

  Action: Bring back all the seagull meat to Harold Grumm at the pier.

  Reward: Variable

  I shrugged. It wasn't like I had anything else planned. "Sure, why not?" I shook the Dwarf's stone-strong hand. "Is there a time-limit on when you need these by?"

  "Aye! As long as I have seagull by supper, all is well."

  I set out looking for the large gray and white birds. Funny how that works. Just like in real life the moment I'm looking for something, it disappears. There was literally no gulls to be found anywhere.

  I had to fake them out and pretend that I wasn't hunting them before I finally saw one fly overhead. I still wasn't that confidant in my marksman skill, so I waited for it to land on a rock.

  Steady...steady...I held my breath, aimed my bow and just as the gull looked like it was going to take off, I released my arrow. The first shot was a wide miss. I had to wait several minutes for another try, but that one was dead on target. I whooped and shook my fist in the air at my clean kill.

  When I got to it, there were feathers everywhere. I plucked my arrow out and stuffed the dead bird into my backpack. I'm not exactly sure how it all fit in there, but I wasn't going to question it.

  For the next hour, I had fun practicing my bow skill and grabbing a few feathers and coppers for my effort. By the time I was finished, I had four copper pieces jangling around in my pouch. I doubted that I could even buy a piece of candy with that, but who knows.

  What concerned me the most, however, was that I was nearly out of arrows. I had two left. The rest having been lost in the sea or broken. What was a hunter without arrows? Dead.

  I was going to have to talk to someone about that.

  Meandering back to the Dwarf with a backpack full of gull meat, I sauntered up to the small, burly man and handed him the gulls.

  "There. I can't promise you anything, but these aren't going to be bothering you anymore."

  The Dwarf picked through the carcasses and, pleased that I had completed his task, pulled out a small pouch and handed me a make-shift fishing rod.

  Quest complete: Thin the flock

  Experience gained: 200

  New quest objective: Take fish to market

  "You did good, boy!" The Dwarf shook my hand, his grip strong and sure. "Why don't you practice for a bit and let me cook us up some grub."

  I peered into the pouch, saw a few copper, a silver and what looked to be a pearl inside. Satisfied that I'd been paid well and hungry, I nodded.

  "Sure. Why not?"

  "Good on ya! There's some bait in the bucket there. I'll have these birds cooked up in no time."

  I inhaled of the salty sea air deeply, then dumped my pouch in with the rest of my coins. Taking stock, I now had:

  * 2 silver

  * 12 copper

  * Pearl (unknown value)

  I was surprised when a second silver that had been hidden by the pearl slipped out. I wasn't rich by any means, but this would make a decent start.

  The bait was cheap, but effective. I cast until lunch was ready and by then had caught four snappers.

  Harold offered to dry them and salt them for me so I could take them with. He told me to come back in a day or two to pick them up.

  I found myself liking the NPC. I sure as hell couldn't tell that he wasn't a real player. Then again, I had yet to see any other players. Which made me a bit sad. I'm sure I'd
stumble upon them sooner or later. Surely there were others. Right?

  The meal was filling and delicious. I'd never had anything so exotic as gull before. Wasn't necessarily the best I'd ever had, but it was free and under the circumstances was the best I could get.

  We talked of the sea. I asked him about the lack of players. But he didn't seem to know anything. Apparently, this was a new MMO and so that probably explained it.

  I wasn't really satisfied with the answer, but if I wanted to know more, I was going to have to find another player. I asked him if he had any other quests and the only one he had available for my level was taking a basket of fish to the market in town.

  "I'd do it myself, but with these gulls stealing my livelihood, I have to catch more to make up for it." He explained.

  "What's the deets on that?" I asked.

  A quest objective information box popped up on my HUD.

  New quest: Take fish to market

  Objective: Transport bucket of fish to fishmonger Elisha Samson in Thronn Town

  Reward: Bag of coins, reputation increase in Thronn Town

  "Sure." I accepted. Hopefully, it would all fit in my pack. "Pack." I said and the overlay of my bag came into view. I didn't know what the limitations were yet. Usually, it was either weight or volume. Maybe here it was something else.

  Harold packed up the fish and carefully placed it in my bag. It fit easily. There was even enough room to stash my fishing pole.

  "Oh, before I go, do you know where I can get some replacement arrows?"

  The fisherman thought for a moment. "Yes, actually I do. There's a fletcher near the main market in town. Tell him Harold sent ya!"