Reternity Online : Rescue Quest : DIRECTOR'S CUT : a LitRPG Epic

by Baron Sord

Yup.

  Beside me, Jason was grinning.

  KingFarthurT:> What?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> King Fart Hurt?

  KingFarthurT:> It seemed genius at the time.

  Jason shook his head, snickering.

  KingFarthurT:> Hey, something’s been bugging me. How come you didn’t use the Divination Guild to contact me? I mean, they contacted you, so why not me?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Two reasons. One, I know Pollotine personally. She works for the Div Guild in the Floating City. I see her around town all the time. Once that guy Novax called her, she was able to pass messages back and forth to me. Two, I couldn’t use the guild to find you because you’re a noobie nobody. No one in RO knows who you are. The Div Guild seers are powerful, but they’re not all-seeing. If they don’t know where you are, there’s no way for them to find you in the world until you build up some fame or infamy. You have 2 points of Fame. That’s nothing.

  KingFarthurT:> Ah. Makes sense.

  Layna was busy laughing and joking with Ty and Q, so I hit up Jason again.

  KingFarthurT:> Hey. What do you think of Layna?

  Jason looked over at her.

  KingFarthurT:> Don’t stare too long,

  He smiled at me, flashing his movie star smile.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> I was examining her again. I hate to break it to you, Low, but your girlfriend is an ape.

  KingFarthurT:> Fuck you, man! She’s not an ape! She’s gorgeous! Who the fuck do you—

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Whoa, relax. Stop manstruating for a second. I meant AIPC. An ape.

  KingFarthurT:> A what?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Artificial Intelligence Player Character.

  KingFarthurT:> Huh?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> She’s not real. Well, not like you and me. She’s not a human being wearing a NeuraLink while she’s logged onto Reternity. She’s a system AI. An artificial intelligence. A program.

  KingFarthurT:> I know what an AI is. She’s not an AI. AIs aren’t this believable.

  Jason arched an eyebrow at me.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> You sure, bro?

  KingFarthurT:> Yeah, I’m sure.

  Jason shrugged confidently. It was obvious he didn’t agree.

  KingFarthurT:> How do you know she’s an AI?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> I’m not 100% sure. Call it a 6th sense. I’ve been playing this game a long time. And I’ve known a lot of apes.

  Man, that term ape was bugging me.

  KingFarthurT:> So, wait. She might be a real person?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Could be. But I’m leaning toward not.

  Layna was busy laughing at something Qoorie just said. To me, Layna looked completely real. Definitely more real than SuperUber Candice or a talking tiger like Q or Ty. Admittedly, the two of them looked completely realistic. But real tigers didn’t really talk. In contrast, everything about Layna was perfectly believable. Her looks, her behavior, everything. To me, Layna was basically the perfect woman of my dreams.

  “Shit,” I muttered out loud.

  Just like with SuperUber Candice, the good folks at Reternity Online had probably tapped into my internet habits and determined exactly what I liked. From looks to personality, Layna was calculated to be a perfect match for me.

  KingFarthurT:> I’m a fucking idiot.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Why?

  KingFarthurT:> Because Layna may as well be a fucking robot!

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Dude, AIPCs aren’t “just robots.” Inside RO she’s just as real as you are. She has feelings and you can hurt them if you’re a dick to her.

  KingFarthurT:> I’m not buying it. Sure, she might act hurt or sad or mad, but she’s just software. Computer code doesn’t have feelings. Especially not in here. It’s not connected to anything real. It’s just 1s and 0s.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> If you boil the brain down to the molecular level, it’s nothing but on and off switches too. And your brain isn’t connected directly to the world either. It senses the world, like with your eyes. Light photons never come in direct contact with your brain’s neurons. Your brain pieces together information about the world to make sense of it. That’s exactly what AI software does.

  KingFarthurT:> It’s not the same. People’s feelings matter because they don’t live forever. They aren’t robots or cars you can replace and repair for an eternity.

  Jason shrugged and sighed audibly.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Don’t be too hard on her, Low. I’m telling you, she has feelings. So even if you don’t date her—

  KingFarthurT:> I would never date her.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Fine. Be her friend. She’s yours. And she likes you.

  I grimaced. Why did that disgust me?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Be nice to her, Low. She’s a good person.

  KingFarthurT:> She’s not a person.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> That’s not the point. Have you tried scanning her?

  KingFarthurT:> Yeah, so?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> She’s an angel. Did you not notice her Goodness rating? You don’t get to Level 28 with 471 Good points without being a total sweetheart. Does that make any sense?

  KingFarthurT:> Yeah, whatever. I guess. I don’t know.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Just be nice to her. Pretend she’s one of your customers at the club.

  KingFarthurT:> Yeah, yeah.

  Yes, I was nice to the people I poured drinks for at Opal every night, but they weren’t my friends. They were at best my acquaintances. But I could be nice to Layna. Nice and fake. Just like she was.

  Fake fucking fake.

  This game was fucking stupid.

  —: o o o :—

  “Is that the floating city?” I asked. “It looks more like a floating island. With a city on top.”

  “That’s it,” Jason smiled contently. “The official name is the Skyland Isles. Most people call it Skyland. I call it home.”

  “You live there?” Ty asked.

  “I do,” Jason said with pride.

  “Wow, this place is incredible!” Qoorie said. “The images online don’t do it justice.”

  Jason said, “3D goggles still have nothing on the real thing.”

  He wasn’t kidding.

  The terrain beneath the city was different from the jungle where I’d started my adventure here in Reternity. More alpine. A deep forest valley cut through the surrounding mountains. It reminded me of Yosemite Valley in California. I’d never been there, but I’d seen pictures. Even done a VR tour, which included 3D walkthroughs filmed on the trails and flying drone footage to give you a bird’s eye view. All in 16K SUHD-3D at 1200 frames per second. If there was any place on Earth that could truly be called magical, it was Yosemite. I’d promised myself if I ever saved up enough cash, I’d go there and climb Half Dome. Now I felt like I was flying over the real thing.

  No matter how much I tried to tell myself this was fake, the force of it was undeniable.

  The other aspect that blew my mind was the literal floating city 2000 feet above the mountain valley. I too had seen pictures of the city in the Reternity Online commercials, but here it was. A huge chunk of mountain, miles in diameter, floating in the air. Covered with structures and buildings of every shape and size arranged in concentric circles. In the center was a 1500 foot spire. Floating like satellites around the main city were smaller islands, each with uniquely different architecture. They were attached to the main city by long bridges and massive link chains.

  Circling specks floated between all the islands. At this distance, my guess was they were all various flying beasts going about their business. This place was a sprawling metropolis floating in the fricking air.

  “What are all those little islands?” I asked Jason.

  “One of the islands is a public gladiator arena, but the rest are each a different district controlled by a different race. Elves, Dwarves, Doggen, Gnomes, Fay, and all the rest of the unified races. This place is literally the United Na
tions of RO.”

  It was truly incredible. I was speechless.

  Until I looked upward.

  High above the floating city, blurred blue by the sky, was a second floating city.

  An upside down floating city.

  “Holy what the fuuuuuuuck?” I gasped, my voice going high. “What is that?”

  “The Falling City,” Jason said.

  “I’ve never seen it in the VR commercials.”

  “It’s a bit of a mystery.”

  Layna and Qoorie stared at it, jaws slack and eyes wide.

  “They have gravity?” Ty asked, captivated. “Or they live upside down?”

  I said, “Do you know anything about it, Jay? Have you ever been there?”

  Jason arched an eyebrow and smiled a Mona Lisa smile but said nothing.

  The closer we approached to Skyland, the bigger the city became, until we too were just specks in comparison. Showing off, Jason circled the chariot around the central spire. The white and black dragons soared on outstretched wings as they took the chariot within 100 yards of the top of the tower.

  “Hey!” Qoorie waved at the armored guards on the spire. One of the guards, who was the size of an ant at this distance, waved back. Qoorie giggled to Ty, “I can’t believe we made it to the Floating City this soon!”

  “Anything for my Queen,” he chuckled and licked the top of her head. She nuzzled against him, both of them purring.

  Like Cliffside, Skyland had an elevated plateau area on the near edge used for landing. It was called the Landing Ridge. The two dragons brought the chariot down gently but not without a triumphant roar as the wheels touched down.

  “SCREEEE-OOOOOAAAARRRR!”

  Four attendants wearing garb that matched Jason’s white and black armor rushed up and took control of the huge dragons.

  “Do those people work for you?” I asked Jason.

  “Yup.”

  “Shit, li’l bro. I’m impressed.”

  “Thanks,” he grinned.

  Also like Cliffside, there were other flying beasts tied or stabled. Instead of a few, there were hundreds. Skyland was enormous.

  “I’ll give you the walking tour of the city,” Jason said.

  He led us through the maze of city streets, which were filled with all the races I’d seen at Cliffside and then some. The architecture was medieval modern. Rough hewn but also clean lines. The sound of the crowds was raucous and energized. Random exotic scents of cooking food wafted through the air.

  The fragments of conversation I heard were equally diverse.

  “Would you look at the perfect melons on that lass? And those legs! Damn!”

  The guy wasn’t talking about Layna. Just some other woman strolling down the street.

  “You said I wouldn’t get pregnant! You promised it couldn’t happen here in the game!”

  Pregnant? That was news. In a FIVR game? Did that mean the babies were AIPCs? Had to be. The designers at NeuraSoft thought of everything, didn’t they?

  “I have a business opportunity you’ll never believe. A new crafting guild. What do we make? Magic based birth control.”

  Ha ha ha. No surprise there. The last thing I’d want was an AIPC baby.

  “The Orken are tying to sabotage the Unified Council again.”

  “Bah. Those dirty Orken are always trying to sabotage something or other.”

  “Wards? You want to hire an air ward maker? Why hire one when you can build your own windmill and collect air mana yourself?”

  While we walked, Jason played tour guide, pointing out the guilds, banks, merchants, armorers, apothecaries, government buildings, stables, taverns, inns, and brothels. We passed at least a dozen of each, and that was just the ones we saw. Jason knew the city inside out. It seemed like every other person saluted him or bowed. The people who stopped to talk with us were all dressed in the most expensive and colorful silks or armor or whatever it was they wore.

  More surprising were all the girls and women who giggled and squealed when they saw Jason.

  “It’s Sigurd!” Squeal!

  “He’s so handsome!” Giggle!

  “Do you think he’ll ever marry?” Swoon!

  “He’ll never marry you because I’m going to marry him first!”

  Giggle, giggle, giggle!

  I couldn’t believe my ears. Jason didn’t seem to notice. In Skyland, it appeared that my little brother was bigger than the Beatles, Justin Bieber, and every other Chase Heartthrob since the beginning of time.

  But the fact remained, Jason was the shit.

  “Watch out!” Ty shouted, pushing me aside.

  Layna and Qoorie both gasped.

  With my heart in my throat, I spun and saw someone burst from a crowd of people and hurl something directly at us.

  The mystery man shouted, “Chaos reigns!” before disappearing into the crowd.

  It happened so fast, all I had time to do was throw up my arm defensively. Whatever was thrown impacted and exploded only a few feet away from us. A loud boom followed. Impossibly, the blast force curved around an invisible barrier that surrounded our group. Jellied fire clung to the barrier, burning and belching black smoke skyward.

  The people in the streets were screaming.

  Jason didn’t seem to notice. He was in the middle of describing Skyland’s government system. He absently glanced at the flames. The fiery black jelly, which might be some kind of tar or oil, dropped off the invisible shield and pooled in the street in burning circles.

  Townspeople rushed forward with buckets, trying to douse the flames with water. Instead, they managed only to scatter the blaze across a wider area. Worse, one of them was now on fire, flames climbing up the poor man’s arm.

  Wanting to do something, I took a step toward the edge of the barrier. Despite being only 2-3 feet from the fire, I couldn’t feel it on my skin. The barrier functioned as a heat shield as well as a physical barrier. My guess was, if I walked through it, the burning black jelly would coat me instantly. I couldn’t move. “Jason, we should help,” I said forcefully.

  He looked amused and removed from the entire situation, but his lips were moving silently, saying who knew what.

  “Come on, Jason! They’re making the fire worse! We need to get an extinguisher or call 911 or—”

  He waved his hand casually and the flames froze into ice. “That oughta do it.”

  I stared at the scene, dumbfounded. All the pools of fire were now abstract ice sculptures that vaguely resembled flames. The arm of the man who’d been on fire was similarly iced. He stared at it, amazed.

  Jason smiled at me, “The ice’ll melt soon enough. Then it’ll evaporate and everything will go back to business as usual.”

  I glared at him.

  He frowned, “What? Chaos Agents abound in the city. This happens to me every day.” He was way too blasé about this.

  “You’ve been watching too much anime, bro.”

  “Perhaps,” he chuckled.

  The man with his arm encased in frozen flames was wincing, obviously in pain. The fire had burned him long enough to do serious damage.

  “That man needs healing,” Layna said. She ducked under the ice chunks that clung to the invisible shield and trotted over to the man, her bamboo tube of Takatcha Elixir in hand. She offered it to the man. He drank a long swallow and relaxation soothed his features. Then she helped him chip away at the ice until his arm was completely free. I considered helping, but Layna had it handled and I didn’t feel like buddying up to her any more than I already had.

  As we continued our casual walk through the city streets, I found myself checking over my shoulder every 10 seconds for another mad bomber.

  “Here we are.” Jason said as we turned down yet another street. At the end of it was a huge castle with Jason’s trademark white and black yin-yang color scheme.

  “Duuuuuuude,” I chuckled. “Is this your house?”

  “My stronghold.”

  “Wow, Jay. Did you go and make s
omething of yourself?” I shoved his arm like I used to when we were teenagers. Long before he’d turned into a toothpick in the real world, I had always been bigger than him and he usually went stumbling, but this Jason was taller than me by quite a bit and he barely budged.

  “Here in Reternity I did.” He was playing it cool, almost like I was the one embarrassing myself.

  Maybe I was. I was proud of him. This place may have been fake, but I knew they didn’t just give you a castle for nothing. You had to earn it.

  The portcullis was up and the gates were open. Guards in white and black armor saluted stiffly as Jason approached, his white-black cape fluttering behind him. He saluted casually, an afterthought. When you were the CEO or a 5-star General, that’s what you did.

  We walked through the courtyard and up the white-black steps. More guards opened heavy doors and let us inside the castle’s keep. The entry hall was large, cool, and quiet. The floors were white and black checkerboard squares of expensive marble. The architecture was reminiscent of European cathedrals, but with Jason’s trademark white-black color scheme.

  “Yo, Jay, what’d you pay for this place?”

  He smirked, “Don’t ask.”

  Staff dressed in white and black came and went, doing who knew what.

  “How many people work here?” I asked.

  “200.”

  “Is that an exact count?” I joked.

  “Yes, it is. Everything in a Stronghold of the Law is precise and ordered.”

  “Are your dumps precise and ordered? Do your turds come out white, black, white, black, in perfect-sized pellets? Pop! Pop! Pop!” I chuckled to myself.

  Ty was busting a gut trying not to laugh too loud.

  Qoorie rolled her eyes.

  Layna was semi-scowling.

  And, three of Jason’s staff, who had just approached us, gasped audibly as their jaws hit the floor, like I’d just given the President of the United States a wedgie in front of Congress and he didn’t do anything to stop me.

  “Ha ha, Low,” Jason said, blushing angrily. “Well played, brother. Well played.”

  I gave him a syrupy smirk, “Just fucking with you, bro.”

  “I deserved that. I supposed I could’ve spared you the mock beheading back at Cliffside.”