It wasn't until the bite, that thankful blackness enveloped my body.
Chapter 6
Odd as it was, I wasn't scared. I found myself looking down over my body. I was sad, but yet not sad. I was in some kind of in-between world. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing or where I should be headed.
Should I try to climb back into my body? Where was the spirit healer? Funny, I had never thought of these things before.
Just as I was about to try to jump back into my body, a bright white light enveloped me and whisked me to a graveyard I vaguely recalled seeing on the way over.
You have died and been rezzed at the nearest graveyard. Your health and/or mana is set at half. Use potions or rest to raise them. A waypoint has been marked on your map indicating your backpack. Good luck!
Special warning: As you are under level 10, you did not lose any xp. After 10 you will lose 10% of your current level for each death.
The words flashed across my vision. I pulled up my map, set the marker as active and set off - naked but for a loincloth - back to my body. Welp, that's one for the bucket list.
Even though I had kicked the proverbial bucket near the road, I still had to be careful. I didn't want to get killed again - especially not before grabbing my pack and bow.
Ten tense minutes later, I had gathered my belongings. The bear must've gotten tired of eating my face as he was nowhere near - thank the devs.
Quickly and quietly, I grabbed my pack and set off back to the barbarian camp - or what was left of it. Dusk was settling over the game world and I didn't have much time to spend sacking and looting the place. Well, I'd already done the sacking, now came the looting.
As I drew closer, my step became lighter and quicker. What would I find? I'd glanced at a few things that caught my interest, but I wanted to study them further.
Strutting into camp, I set about methodically cataloging everything of value. Over here on the right I laid out all the weapons and armor - of which there was a few pieces. Nothing I particularly wanted, but they'd fetch a few silver each. On one table I set all the potions I found. I wasn't desperate enough to drink them to find out what they were, so I'd pay to have them identified.
I found a couple of unidentified scrolls and what looked like a warlock's spell book with half the pages torn out. A couple sackcloths of trinkets and baubles that they'd apparently looted from somewhere.
Basically nothing much of interest, but stuff I could sell for a decent coin.
Just as I turned and was about to leave, I saw a piece of torn paper fluttering in the corner of the half-burned hut. Just out of curiosity, I snatched it up and read it.
Ivanhoe Darkwolf
Was all it said. A shiver raced through my spine as I read my name on that random piece of paper. I didn't know what it meant, but I shoved it in my pack and decided to ask Orge about it later.
"She knows..." The half-elf paced the room, never stopping and never looking at me.
"By she, you mean the AI." I said, wondering exactly what that meant. Was I now being watched?
"Exactly!" He snapped his fingers. "I didn't expect this..." He paced the room some more as I was left scratching my head. I took a swig of my ale and was about to ask him another question, when he interrupted me.
"We've got to hurry this along. No telling what she might do now." He explained.
"So, you want to get them down faster?"
He shook his head. "No, still too risky. I need you to level faster." Orge rummaged around in a pile of electronics and handed me a small data chip. "Here. This will double your xp gain. It normally wouldn't be necessary, but this is a bit of an emergency."
I reached out for the chip. "Isn't this...cheating?" I looked into Orge's eyes.
He nodded grimly. "Normally, yes. But with potentially thousands of lives on the line? It's a necessity."
I took the tiny, easily-hid chip from him and studied it. It was so small. But it thrummed with a power that vibrated in my hands. I felt very uneasy just having this on my person.
"Will this draw attention to me?"
Orge shook his head. He took it from me and placed it at the back of my neck. "Close your eyes." He instructed and pressed it hard against my skin.
It felt both at once alive and foreign and I slapped my hand against my neck when he was finished, but I could feel nothing.
"That's incredible!" I said. There wasn't a mark or rash or anything there. It was like it never existed.
"Get some rest. We're going to bring our next survivor down tomorrow. How's Esmerelda?" Orge jumped up on his make-shift throne.
I shrugged. "Haven't talked to her since..."
"You banged her, didn't you?" He smiled and folded his feet under him.
"What? How did you -- oh, right, you're a hacker." I sighed. Can't a man have any privacy? "Yes. I did bang her."
Orge crunched a carrot and thought for a moment. "Tomorrow's survivor is a man named Clint. I think he'll be our first warrior. We need more of those."
I nodded, bid Orge a good night and walked back through the gnoll and rat-infested sewer. Red eyes peered at me cautiously, but none dared make a move. They knew I was with their leader.
The first thing I did when I got back was turn in the barbarian quest. The severed head was starting to stink up my backpack. I had to look on my map as I had no idea where the quest giver was. Finally found her just outside town.
"Wow! That quest has been sitting there for months. I was starting to think it would never get completed." Armana, the quest giver said. She was a tall, high elf with long, flowing red hair, deep green eyes and, if I say so myself, a very nice body.
She noticed me looking her over and smiled. "Aren't you that rabbit slayer I've been hearing about?"
I smiled sheepishly when I had seen that I had been caught. "Yes, I’m the fucking rabbit slayer. Is that going to follow me around throughout my entire life here?" I chuckled.
She gave me a sympathetic smile and shook her head. "Likely not. That rabbit only terrorized the locals. The other towns won't know a thing about it. So eat it up while you can as you're going to be paying full price when you leave. Here, catch!" She said as she threw me a large bag of coin.
I glanced through it and saw that it did indeed have the agreed-upon amount inside. 5 gp, 15 sp, 27 cp. "What about the chest piece?"
"One moment." She said as she slowly walked in the back room. I watched her ass sway seductively and realized that I was starting to get horny again. What would it be like to shag an NPC? By the looks of her, she was hot hot hot! Goddamn if I didn't want to jump her bones.
Keep hold yourself, Ivan. You've got work to do. I reminded myself.
A moment later the hot elf lady walked back out carrying a large, leather chest piece and struggling a bit with it.
"Here you go! Just as promised." She eyed my muscular body up and down. "I'll bet you did all that without even breaking a sweat, huh big boy?"
I smiled broadly, knowing that she was coming on to me. If I wanted to, I could have her in the sack in five minutes. But I had other things to do. However, I was definitely going to keep her in mind for the future.
"Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but it wasn't all that difficult either."
She leaned closer to me and I could suddenly smell her perfume. Her lips were inches away from mine and when she pressed them to me, I found myself melting under her embrace.
"How about I take a rain check on that. I've got a few things I need to do. Maybe I'll come back in a few days and we can talk some more about the barbarians. If you know what I mean." I smiled devilishly and she stepped back and nodded.
"The only barbarian I want to discuss is you." She said in a very sultry, deep voice that left absolutely no doubt as to her intentions. My cock tugged again.
"Aw, what the hell!" I said and wrapped my arms around her slender body. Within moments, our clothes were on the floor and she stood naked before me.
She to
ok my hands and pressed them to her small, pert breasts. I groaned as I felt her tit flesh under my fingers. She was so soft and small. She reached down to my hardening cock and grabbed it with her slender fingers and began stroking up and down.
I wrapped my arms around her and she took my cock, slicked it up with her juices and slipped it inside of her steamy pussy.
"Now that's a barbarian!" She whispered into my ear as my cock slid deep inside of her aching flesh.
I groaned as I felt her tight pussy muscles clench around my greedy cock as she immediately began milking me for all I was worth.
"Tell me, Armana, why are you fucking me?" I asked sheepishly as I plunged in and out of her tight hotbox.
"Does a woman reveal her secrets?" She smiled and licked her lips as she pressed them to mine.
"Of course they do. To the right man. Now why are you fucking me?" I asked again as our bodies slapped together and the sounds of our fucking filled the air.
She took a deep breath and smiled coquettishly. "Well, if you really want to know…" She leaned close and whispered in my ear. "It's because you're a big, bad bunny slayer and that really turns me on."
I looked at her with shock. "Bunny?"
"Oh, did I say bunny? I meant barbarian. Yes, barbarian. You're a big, strong, barbarian slayer and that just makes my pussy so fucking wet. I just love a big, strong man who can take on a horde of barbarians all by himself." She ran her hands all over my chest and back, scraping me with her nails.
Her pussy was so tight and wet and the heat enveloped me and pulled the cum from my balls. I pressed my lips to hers and kissed her hotly as we banged in her living room like long-lost lovers and not strangers who had just met a few minutes before.
"Cum in me, barbarian slayer!" She whispered in my ear as she snaked her tongue deep down in a my canal and pressed her small breasts to my hard chest.
With an invitation like that, how could I refuse? I leaned forward and kissed my way down her neck to her small breasts, taking one nipple into my mouth. She threw her head back and moaned as she pressed her chest further into my lips.
Her hips gyrated against my cock and the next thing I knew I was erupting deep inside of her unprotected pussy. I didn't know if NPC's could get pregnant, but it thrilled me to think that it might be possible.
"Oh yes! Drain that cock deep inside of my pulsing pussy!" She became manic as she rubbed her hands and fingers all over my body, pulling me closer and deeper into her. I could get used to this kind of thing. Maybe I would go back and pay a visit to Penelope in a few days. Why not?
Shot after ropey shot erupted from my cock-head and sprayed deep in her belly. We stayed locked together in an embrace for several minutes before she finally pulled me out, got down on her knees and sucked my cum off of my cock.
She looked up at me and made eye contact the entire time, draining every last droplet of semen from my shaft.
Wordlessly, we dressed. I grabbed my gear, fitting the leather chest piece on me and left.
"Come back soon… Barbarian Slayer!" She giggled as she shut the door behind me.
Several things popped up on my HUD at once. I had to scroll back through to see what they were.
You have been conferred a new title: Barbarian Slayer. From now on, you will be able to choose to display your title above your nameplate. When you are conferred other titles, you will be able to choose between them.
Barbarian slayer, huh? That sounded a hell of a lot better than bunny slayer. Fear me, for lo, I am the mighty bunny slayer! It just doesn't have the same ring to it.
I laughed and scrolled to the other messages that had passed by.
Quest complete: Bring chieftain's head to Armana
Experience gained: 1000 (x2 from chip implant)
New quest objective: None
Perfect! That put me about 600 xp away from level 6. It took me another hour, but I went around to all the shops and sold as much worthless crap as I could from the barbarian encampment. Most of it wasn't worth much, but I ended up with another 20 GP from it.
I stopped in at Patch's Inn and ordered up a nice steak sandwich. I dumped all my coins on the table and counted it all out as I waited for my meal.
"Wow, that's a big haul!" Patch said as he brought out the largest steak sandwich that I had ever seen. To go along with it, there were steak fries as big and thick as my finger along with a thick chocolate milkshake.
I was in heaven.
"Cleared out a barbarian encampment." I said, grinning from ear to ear. "Look…" I pointed to my new title – Barbarian Slayer.
"Holy shit! I never even noticed that." He stuck out his hand and I shook it. "Congratulations." Then he leaned closer. "Is that the one from Armana?"
I nodded.
"You sly little devil. She's a crafty fox. You gotta watch her. Horniest woman I've ever seen."
Patch left me to my food and coins and I lazily counted everything up as I indulged in the tasty meat sandwich. With as much as I had, I felt like a king. Of course, I knew I wasn't – and I knew that if I was going to keep up this lifestyle, I was going to have to keep the money flowing. But it felt good to have it."
Not including the pouches from the barbarians themselves, I stood at 27 gp, 30 sp and 64 cp.
Not bad! I still had the 5 pouches from the barbars and the fat one from the chieftain. The barbars had a combined total of 3 gp and 20 sp, while the chieftain had 7 gp, 50 sp and 17 cp.
Damn! I was rolling in it. I threw 5 sp to Patch for the night and a couple extra for the meal. I decided to turn in early as I wanted to heal up for tomorrow. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do yet, however, I thought it might be a good idea to get me some decent pants and maybe start thinking about looking for a nice place to build a house.
As much as I liked Patch and his Inn, I really wanted a place of my own to call home. After all, if Orge was correct – and there was no reason to believe he wasn't – I was going to be here for a long, long time. Perhaps forever. If that was the case, renting a room for the night was going to become prohibitively expensive.
As I trudged my way up the stairs, I passed by a bouncing Esmeralda.
"You look chipper." I pointed out.
She laughed, stopped in front of me and bounced up and down, her breasts jiggling in her shirt. "I am! I just reached level 3 and got a new spell. Would you like to see it?" She grinned.
"No!" I said a little too abruptly. "No, I'll take your word for it."
"Well, that's your loss. What about you? Anything new with you?" She eyed me up and down, no doubt noticing my new chest piece.
I said nothing and just pointed to my new title above my head.
"Ooh!" She squealed. "Barbarian Slayer! Me likey!" She leaned in and whispered in my ear. "I hear all the ladies love barbarian slayers." Then she giggled and skipped off down the stairs. I watched her order something from Patch and I turned back to my room, shaking my head.
Women!
With my new chest piece, for the first time I actually felt protected. And I won't lie, it was a bit of a struggle to take it off. I almost wanted to sleep with it. But I also didn't want to get it dirty – not yet, anyway.
As I laid in bed, drifting off into a blissful sleep, I thought about my perfect house. I also knew that no matter where I put it, I was always going to find a place that would be better. And, maybe as I explored the map, I could set up different bases throughout the lands.
As I didn't know the first thing about building a house, I was going to have to find someone to teach me. At least I could chop my own wood, so that was one less thing I had to worry about.
After buying myself some pants and a shirt, I figured I would go exploring out a ways and see if I could find a nice, scenic location – perhaps not too far – where I could start building my dream house. But probably start with something small, a little log cabin nestled back in the forest – perhaps with the stream or a gurgling brook running nearby for freshwater.
Yes, I co
uld see myself doing just that…
The next thing I knew, I had awoken to the sounds of birds outside. I rubbed my bleary eyes and saw shafts of sunlight streaming in upon my bed.
"Geez, I thought you'd never awaken." Orge said as he sat in the corner chair watching me.
I yawned and stretched. "How long have you been waiting for me to wake up?" I asked.
"Long enough to know that you snore in your sleep." He grinned. "Listen, we've got a busy day. We’re bringing down that new guy today, remember?"
"Oh shit! I forgot. Can we do it later in the day? I've got some things I want to attend to." I slowly pulled myself out of bed and began dressing. "I really want to get some clothes and find a nice spot for a house."
He nodded. "Sure. Just be sure to make it back in one piece."
Speaking of one piece, I checked my health and saw that it was back to full. I was also so close to level 6 that I wanted to ding that today. With that new chip implant, it would be a breeze.
Orge climbed off the chair and exited my room. Before he left, he turned back around. "Come get me in the sewers when you're ready. I'll be making the final preparations." With that, he shut the door and left, leaving me to my thoughts.
I was still adjusting to life in a digital world. It was completely different than in the "real world." Instead of going to work every morning, I went questing or exploring or even dungeon diving – speaking of which, I needed to find a good dungeon soon.
And even though this was an MMO, there were no social obligations to speak of. I could come and go as I pleased. There was no tax or government to be beholden to. I could eat whatever I wanted and not get fat. And I could go anywhere I pleased – assuming I was the correct level.
There were lots of things that I had to deal with that even when playing an MMO I never thought of – for example, resting to get my HP back. Or even having a conversation with an NPC. I never experienced that level of realism in any game I ever played.
Digitized Online Page 10