On My Brother's Grave: Reconnaissance: A LitRPG Adventure (Vatenkeist Online Book 1)

by E. M. Hardy

“Interesting,” I commented. “If I was playing this for leisure, I might even consider playing that. I’m not really here for fun, though.”

  The NPC didn’t seem to care about my state of mind and continued on. “Later, you can multiclass into one other class of your choice as long as you achieve the requirements,” she explained further. “You can only multiclass once. Also, there are classes available only to veteran players and are not yet selectable by you. Now, please pick a class for you to begin in.”

  With a smile, I confirmed my choice, “Hunter.”

  “Please assign the following starting scores to your abilities,” Lorelai then instructed and waved her hand. In front of her floated the numbers 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 9 and 8. “Remember that the highest level in the game is 25 and you can only adjust your stats every five levels. This guarantees no one can max out all of their ability scores and promotes uniqueness in every character build.”

  “What are the recommended builds for a Hunter?”

  She looked at me blankly and answered in a monotone voice, “Agility is your main stat due to it affecting your use of ranged and light melee weapons. Wisdom is your next main stat because your Hunter abilities focus on that. Many Hunters then dump their third highest starting score on either Endurance or Luck.”

  I looked at the numbers and accessed my menu once more. I instantly dumped the 15 score on my Agility and then the 14 on my Wisdom, following Lorelai’s recommendation. But then I assigned the 13 on my Charisma. I didn’t know how it worked in the game but if I was going to interact with a lot of NPCs from this point on, I might need to raise my character’s social capabilities. After that, I placed the 12 on my Endurance, the 10 on my Intelligence, then the 9 and 8 on my Luck and Strength respectively.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” I told Lorelai.

  The woman nodded back and did her hand thing. In a sudden flash, my body began to dissolve. It wasn’t painless – it felt more like being washed over with cold water than anything else, to be honest. Right before I teleported out of the tutorial area, Lorelai gave me one last tip.

  “Remember that this is not like a regular video game. You are in a simulated world where you will still have to eat and sleep to replenish yourself. Like in the real world, you can get exhausted.”

  Great, she had to tell me that now. It was at that point I figured I wanted to ask about the condition of my body out in the real world but, before I could speak, the teleportation was complete and I vanished with a bright burst of white light.

  Chapter Four

  For a fleeting moment, I felt as if I was afloat a vast, white ocean. My body felt so light, like I was made of paper, perpetually descending down an endless sea. Before I knew it, however, that sensation vanished and I found myself standing in the center of a bustling street.

  “Holy crap,” I whispered to myself as I looked around.

  The street I stood on was made of cobblestone, and the buildings on either side were made of stone, wattle and daub with lime plaster coating. Almost all of them had sturdy tiled roofs and beautifully designed glass windows. I had been literally dropped into a medieval-fantasy world.

  It was also intriguing to see so many people gathered here. The streets were as busy as Times Square on New Year’s Eve, and all those characters looked strange and yet oddly fitting for this game. I spotted a six-foot tall orc with enormous muscles who kept a big axe at his back. I saw a gorgeous looking female elf with dark blonde hair, wearing the heavy plate armor of a Battle Priest. All of them were going about different buildings, interacting with each other and whatnot.

  Several players also had their menu screens up and visible. I couldn’t tell what everyone was doing, but it all looked like they had urgent matters to attend to.

  “Hello,” a female voice greeted from behind.

  I spun around and ended up staring back at another girl clad in the same dress as Lorelai. She had dark blue hair and was sporting a cute little headband with kitten ears. As I gazed back, several other characters began spawning in flashes of light all around her.

  The woman then turned to the next player and repeated her greeting. As soon as she did, my menu screen flashed on and I was given a new prompt.

  I tapped on “Y” and the screen changed. The next message was a confirmation stating that if I were to die, I’d re-spawn right here. That was convenient, and I guessed they had designed it that way so that new players – such as I – didn’t have to wander around too much to re-locate their starting point.

  “What do I do now?”

  “Dude, are you new?” a voice asked from my left side. I turned to find a Venaris – one of those demon-looking people – leaning against a wall. He was pretty tall and had a really buff body compared to mine. He looked human in every single aspect, save for the slightly gray-purple skin and the dark horns erupting from his head. I also noticed a devil-like tail swinging behind him. When I studied him further, I realized he didn’t have any armor on or carry a weapon. Instead, he was shirtless and had simply wrapped his fists with tape and gauze, like a boxer.

  I figured I must have been staring for too long and finally answered, “Yeah, kinda. I was curious, what class are you?”

  The Venaris chuckled and replied, “I’m a Pugilist. We fight with our fists and rely on insane speed instead of weapons and armor. It’s not a class available for newbies though, and you won’t unlock it until you reach a higher tier in the game. Anyway, the name’s Parnax.”

  “Fhauste,” I introduced myself and reached out to shake his hand. “You are a real player, right? I mean, you’re not an NPC or anything, right?”

  He gladly accepted the gesture and said, “I’m real. It’s tough to determine who NPCs are in this game, except for the Save Girls and the ones working in shops or taverns. I once accepted a quest from this merchant traveling down the road, and I assumed he was an NPC. It wasn’t until after he scammed me of my items that I learned it was a real player. Be careful – there are a lot of abusive players around here.”

  Parnax saying that already made me suspicious. What if he too was preying on novice gamers? I decided to play it safe and go along for a bit with what he had to say.

  “This still doesn’t answer my question though,” I tried to shift our topic. “What do I do now?”

  “That’s up to you,” Parnax told me. “This isn’t like one of those old video games from decades past. This is an open sandbox environment, so it’ll be up to you to decide where to go or what to do. Don’t worry though, you’ll pick up a quest soon enough.”

  I gritted my teeth in frustration. I didn’t really want to play the game and explore everything this world had to offer. I just wanted to locate the scumbags who had bullied Jason and find out who they were in the real world, so I could teach those bastards a lesson – the kind they wouldn’t be able to re-spawn from.

  “If you want, I can guide you to one of the taverns,” Parnax said. “You’ll always hear about some quest or whatever in the pubs. There’s one called the Muddy Princess nearby.”

  With a shrug, I took him up on that proposition, “Sure. I need to start somewhere.”

  Parnax kicked himself off the wall he was leaning on and gestured for me to follow him. I quickly did, seeing as how I didn’t know a damn thing about this town. As we walked, he prattled on about him being a member of a famous guild called the Silver Marchers and that he could introduce me to some of the others. I didn’t care about his guild – I only cared about the Ascendants.

  My eyes kept on darting to and fro as we walked on and I paid little attention to Parnax’s blabbering. I couldn’t help but stare at the female Venaris with a pet panther or the elven Assassin showing off his vanishing and dashing abilities to his friends by a curb. It was all so much to soak in.

  We rounded a corner and Parnax led me down a narrower, less occupied street. I saw a few food shops with some patrons chomping down on noodles and other delicacies. It made me wonder if food her
e tasted like anything in the real world.

  “Down here, then we can take a shortcut to the Muddy Princess,” Parnax indicated as he turned down another corner and into an alley.

  Instantly, I felt something wrong. Did we have to go down this way to reach the tavern? Was he deliberately trying to get me away from the crowd? What would he stand to gain from beating up on a total newcomer to the game?

  There was no way I would take any risks. Even as I followed him, I took an arrow from my quiver and hid it underneath my jacket sleeve. I then descended down into the alley, keeping my distance from him as he continued to gossip about his wonderful guildmates.

  As soon as we were left alone, he suddenly turned around and I saw a brief flash of movement before he dashed right towards me.

  “Ah, shit,” I muttered when I realized he was just too fast for me to fight evenly. I unsheathed the arrow from my sleeve and blindly stabbed forward as Parnax came within inches of me. I saw his fist come flying in and I did my best to meet it with the arrow’s tip, but in that second Parnax’s fist vanished.

  “What?” my eyes grew wide with confusion.

  “Over here, you slow-poke,” he then said from behind.

  I attempted to rotate and counter his assault with a punch of my own. However, even before I could fully face him and send my fist into his ugly face, I felt a rain of heavy blows smack me in the chest, gut and face. All I could see was a sudden flash of numbers – he must have dealt around 35 points of damage, which was way over my HP maximum.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, as my status screen flashed in front of me and I slumped down to the ground. My vision began to fade and the last thing I saw and heard was Parnax stepping over my body. He rummaged through my bag and took the Jelly bits I had collected earlier.

  “Thanks, sucker,” he told me as he patted my cheek. “Wow, just 8 HP? Dude, hide your status screen next time. You don’t want others to see how pathetic you are.”

  I would have snarled in retaliation if I could but, before I knew it, everything went black. Everything just faded away and, once again, I was caught in the floating sea of nothingness. For a short period, I felt relieved and distant from the chaos and pain I had just endured.

  As I floated, my thoughts drifted to Parnax. Man, he was one heck of a lying piece of trash. I had felt he couldn’t be trusted, but I had dealt with this hazardous situation like I would have in real life. Bad mistake, as I totally lacked the skills to back me up here. It was critical that I learned as soon as possible that my virtual persona was NOT my real self. Like Lorelai had said, I’d have to acquire new abilities better suited for my virtual character and I’d have to level up.

  At least, Parnax had shown me how much of a weakling I really was. He had also taught me that the game did allow players to attack each other. I needed to get better at playing this game and fast.

  That decision lingered in my head as I finally materialized, once again, in front of the Save Girl in the central square of Strovport. I pulled up my menu, this time keeping the “hide menu” command in my head so it would be visible only to me.

  Well, my HP was at the very bottom. I’d have to figure out how to fully replenish it without having to chug down another potion, seeing as I didn’t have another or money to buy one. When I checked my equipment, I noticed I didn’t even have my bow or quiver of arrows. All I had left was my sling bag, and that was empty.

  I turned to the Save Girl and asked, “Could you point me to the Muddy Princess?”

  She smiled and indicated a two-story building, one block down the main street. “It’s that one sir, to the right. It’s a good place to look for a quest if you have nothing to do, or you could spend some time drinking and meeting new friends.”

  I shook my head when I saw how close the damn tavern was. Parnax really did pull my leg on that one. I couldn’t help but clench my fists in utter disappointment. I couldn’t believe how big of a fool I had been back there. I had spent nearly twenty years as a mercenary, and here I was getting duped by a damn gamer.

  “Thank you,” I told the Save Girl, before recalling she wouldn’t really appreciate my gratitude as she wasn’t even human. I shrugged my silliness off and walked off towards the Muddy Princess.

  Chapter Five

  The Muddy Princess was actually a delight to be in. The first floor of the building had numerous open windows and oil lamps keeping the place fully lit. The barkeep was a sweet young woman with dark hair and a glowing warm smile named Trystae.

  As soon as I stepped in, I was greeted by the sound of music and the smell of ale and bread. It was intoxicating just to stand there at the entrance and watch the dozens of patrons inside. For a moment, it made me forget I was in a video game. It reminded me of that one time I had gone to a medieval fair back in high school.

  “Where do I start?” I said to myself. I took a moment to study my surroundings and the flow of people coming and going. Most of them looked like they were already in big groups of adventurers – it was highly unlikely I could get together with any of those folks. I needed to find someone like me, alone and still new to the game.

  Then again, it might be more useful to team up with someone at a higher level who had already learned the ropes. Maybe then I could get an advantage and find the Ascendants faster.

  “Would you care for a drink?” a female voice asked. I looked to my right side and saw a barmaid holding out a mug of ale for me.

  I took it gladly and asked, “How much?” I then recalled that I didn’t have any in-game cash. Parnax had stolen my Jelly bits, so now I had no means of earning money.

  “Just 4 copper pieces,” she told me. She stood there waiting, holding her hand out to receive my payment.

  Without a penny to my name, I couldn’t accept the drink. I didn’t want to wait and see what kind of punishment the game had for players who cheated NPCs and the like. I handed the mug back to her and said, “Sorry, I’m out of cash. Can’t afford this.”

  She took the mug back, her smile still bright and glowing, and told me, “That’s fine, good sir. If you need some money, you can head out the city gates and hunt some Jellies for Jelly bits. One Jelly bit sells for 2 copper pieces.”

  “Thank you,” I told her. A question then popped in my head and I couldn’t help but ask, “Can you explain how the currency works?”

  The barmaid nodded and said, “Money in Vatenkeist works in a system of ten. Ten copper pieces will grant you one silver piece. Ten silver pieces will get you one gold piece. Ten gold pieces will earn you one platinum piece.”

  Wow, that meant earning coppers by killing Jellies wouldn’t get me very far. If one Jelly burst into four pieces, one kill would only get me 8 copper pieces. I’d have to kill two of those aggressive plushy toys just to earn a silver coin.

  I bid the barmaid farewell and decided I shouldn’t waste any more time. I had to go out, earn some cash and maybe level up. If my memory from old video games served me right, I should just fight a bit to earn experience points or EXP until I hit Level 2.

  A chuckle escaped my lips when I caught myself getting so geeky about this whole experience. I couldn’t believe how immersed I already was.

  However, before I headed out to battle, I needed to gather my equipment again. I took a stroll out of the tavern and followed the pathway back to where Parnax had led me to my doom just minutes ago. It didn’t take me too long to get back there and, when I arrived, I saw the strangest phenomenon yet ever since I had entered the game.

  Right in the middle of the street was my character’s body. It was all blue and glowing. When I got nearer and touched it, the whole thing dissolved right in front of my eyes and all that was left were my short bow and quiver of arrows. With a quick inspection, I found out that Parnax had also taken my ammunition.

  Interesting, I noted. Whenever I died, my gear didn’t re-spawn with me. I needed to track all the way back to where my corpse was to hopefully claim my equipment b
ack. The only thing that stayed with me during the re-spawning process was my sling bag, and that might be because the tutorial girl, Lorelai, was the one who had given it to me.

  With my weapon fortunately still intact, I backtracked to the Save Girl and made my way out to the city’s main gates. They were impossible to miss, after all, as the fifty foot gateways were right down the main road, close to the re-spawning point. I quickly followed that street down, only occasionally looking about to keep a mental note of important shops and other locations of interest. Off in the distance, likely in the northern end of the city, I could make out a beautiful white castle with blue roof tiles seated on a hill and surrounded by bright blue water. That must have been the main castle in Strovport.

  Determined to get a move on, I walked out the gates and was greeted by the most serene landscape I had yet seen. Outside the city and beyond the drawbridge was this grassy plain, dotted only by rows of colorful flowers and a few trees here and there. The main road that stemmed from the castle gates continued on south.

  A good half a mile away, I saw a bunch of people hacking away at some Jellies.

  “Probably newbies just like myself,” I mumbled. Then I thought of Parnax. “Or they could be vets trying to farm for Jelly bits for some ridiculous quest.”

  There wasn’t anything better to do right now but to go in and join them. With caution, I ran towards the open fields. The first two Jellies I passed by were already engaged with other players, so I didn’t bother jumping in.

  Eventually, I did find a Jelly readily available. The blue creature was munching down on some flowers, minding its own business, and for a second I felt a little sorry for the bugger. I then recalled that this was a freaking virtual game and that none of this was real. I lunged forward and smacked my bow against the beast like a baseball bat.

  I heard a very unsatisfactory thud and the Jelly flashed for a second. I looked at how much damage I had dealt and, to my dismay, the number 1 came up. That was utterly pathetic. The creature then turned around, and I could see nothing but pure anger and frustration in its gaze.