by Jakob Tanner
In the center of the courtyard was one particular knight, barking orders at the others. He wore a suit of silver armor with no helmet: it was beautifully polished, sun bouncing off the smoothness, giving him a light glow. He had long black hair tucked behind his ears and the faded remains of a scar over his left eye. Soldiers came up to him with scrolls and he quickly signed them.
Captain Edward Silver.
Shade and I walked towards him.
All the guards in the courtyard spun on their boots. The wind swooshed in our direction. Every blade and rifle in the vicinity was pointed directly at our necks.
“Whoah,” I said.
The knight we’d been approaching, lifted his hand with a closed fist. He’d make the decision as to whether or not we’d be harmed.
“Speak trespassers. What do you wish with the Royal Knights of Laergard?”
I gulped and waited for Shade to say something. He didn’t. The blades at our throat made him nervous and hindered his charisma.
“We come to pass on information,” I said, my voice cracking. “We believe there is a powerful monster lurking in the woods. It threatens the greater good of Arondale and the surrounding area.”
The grizzled knight looked me straight in the face. His stare sought to separate me from my words, finding the truth somewhere between them. His wearied faded eyes glinted with the sad recognition of someone who has witnessed their own share of unspeakable horrors.
Shade nudged me and whispered in my ear. “Mention the reward.”
Edward Silver lowered his hands and the soldiers did the same with their weapons.
“Everyone, back to your drills,” shouted the knight. “You two, come with me.”
The knight turned his back to us and walked towards the western edge of the courtyard where he entered a stone arcade. He led us to a burgundy door. He opened it and gestured with his gauntleted hand for us to enter.
The room was dark but for a window in the corner letting in a ray of natural light and a small mana lamp on the oak desk, tingeing the room with its soft purple glow. Behind the desk was a large map with five floating continents. Illyria. It was an awe-inspiring image. I’d seen a tiny speck of what this world had to offer. Every moment—but especially this one—reminded me of the amazing feat TriCorp had achieved in creating this game. They really had created another world. The knight closed the door and moved passed us to his desk. He turned away from us, watching his practicing soldiers from the window.
“Explain to me from the beginning what happened.”
I retold the whole story, leaving out the part where I had died and come back. I wasn’t sure how safe it was to tell people I was one of the Chosen.
“The creature, you say, came back to life, reincarnated with the soul of a demon?”
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
The knight shook his head. He spoke softly, “The Royal Knights of Laergard are sworn to protect the realm. But the current tensions simmering between ourselves and Arethkar have the Royal family paranoid and suspicious. All of our men are training and preparing for an attack on Land’s Shield or Claren’s Crossing. We don’t have the resources to be protecting the interior as we have in the past.” He turned from the window. “The problem you speak of, though, deeply concerns me. If we can’t defend our own land from the inside, how will we ever protect it from those coming from beyond? Give me time to gather a small group to scour the nearby woods for later this afternoon. Your continued assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.”
A prompt appeared in my HUD.
Quest Update: Mysterious Creature in the Wood
Join Captain Edward Silver and the Royal Knights of Laergard in a hunting expedition of S^%AD”@@@@@ later this afternoon.
Quest Type: Unique
Quest Difficulty: Hard
Reward: 100 EXP + ?
I shivered as I read over the update. I noticed the quest difficulty had now changed from moderate to hard. More frightening was the fact the game engine still hasn’t been able to define the mutated Skren bandit leader. The game was propelling us towards fighting this glitch. Or was the virus orchestrating our own downfall? We’d have to go face this thing to learn more about it and—the dark mark underneath my gloves ached—whatever it had done to me.
I nodded my head to Captain Edward Silver. “We’ll gladly join you on your expedition. We’ll return here later this afternoon.”
The knight crossed his arms and grunted approvingly. He was impressed.
I hoped by the afternoon he would have actual reason to be.
15
When we passed through the entrance and returned to the street, Shade turned his head back and forth suspiciously.
“Is everything okay?”
He blinked and said, “Listen—I have errands I need to run, people I need to speak to, coins I need to gamble, drinks I need drink, you know the drill—so I’ll leave you on your own for the next little while, okay? I’d invite you along but you don’t strike me as someone eager for the thieving life. So I’ll see you later alright.” He threw his furry hand out to be shaken and I grabbed it with mine. “Good call not asking for a reward, it will definitely show up at the end of this whole thing. Or at least I hope so.”
The thief spun around and ran off down the street, his tail wagging behind him.
I took a long sigh. I was on my own again. Shade’s company would be missed. But I’ll see him later this afternoon.
I checked the time on my HUD. It was only 9:30 a.m. I still had hours before my meeting with Serena and even longer till my quest with Captain Edward Silver. Above the walls of the city, cutting across the bright blue sky was the large windmill tower and the bright airship with the red balloon. The home of Theobold Longstaff. It was calling out to me, beckoning me towards it. I had to get my class unlocked and the place to do it was right there.
I headed down the road. I was already close to the walls of the city. It was a matter of finding an exit point. At the end of the street, I found two guards standing by an open gate. No mana shield until sun down. Standing near the guard was a woman with a straw hat on. She had a wheelbarrow full of glass bottles. Half were filled with red liquid while the rest had blue colored water.
“Off to go adventuring,” asked the woman. “Fancy a potion?”
Crap, potions! They were my top priority to buy yesterday and I ended up spending all my money on new gear.
“How much are they?”
“I got small health potions and small mana potions. Both cost 10 gold coins each.”
I scanned the red potion bottle to get more information.
Small Health Potion (Restores 50 HP)
I placed the bottle down and picked up the mana potion.
Small Mana Potion (Restores 50 MP)
I went with one of each. One would save me from being killed and one would help me kill something faster. Both were important to have. I bartered with the merchant but she wouldn’t budge and eventually I relented to her price. Each potion appeared in a slot in my inventory page while 20 gold coins disappeared, leaving me with only 5 gold for the time being.
I thanked the merchant and turned towards the open gate. I nodded my head at the guards and passed through the opening in the wall, discovering a gorgeous meadow outside. The grass was bright green and full of yellow flowers. Bumblebees the size of my fist floated about, landing on flower petals. Similar sized-mosquitoes buzzed in the air, not moving much, hovering in the open field. A couple of rabbits hopped over the tall grass. Wind gently brushed everything to the side. In the distance, a few players hacked away with their rusty swords at the bumblebees. The monsters’ red bar of hit points lowered beneath their captions. I smiled. Finally. A beginner zone.
I pulled out my rusty sword and stretched the fingers of my energy ball hand. The windmill was just up the hill but the temptation of low level grinding was too much to resist. I approached the nearest bumblebee.
Bumblebee
Level 1
/>
All the information I got. No HP or MP stats because I no longer had Shade, with his analyze ability, in my party. The bee was freaky; I’d never seen one so big. It’s smooth jet black eyeballs stared out at me, waiting for me to make the first move. It hovered there with its six spindly legs, hanging from its furry black and yellow body. I had distance on it, so I would shoot it from range first. I gathered the energy inside me and let it course through to the palm of my hand. I angled my arm so my palm was pointing right at the bee like a rifle. Next I let my fingers stretch out, releasing the energy ball and letting it fly at the bee. The blast knocked it right in the eyes, draining its health bar of a third of its HP.
The bee fluttered manically in the air. It regained its balance and shot towards me. Uh oh. I summoned another energy ball but it flew at me faster than I expected and I lost my concentration. It spun right up to my face, its antennae poking against my face, its long clear tongue hanging out of its mouth. Ick! I swiped the air with my sword. But the bee buzzed around me avoiding my hits. I had to get away from it and attack it at a distance again.
But when I moved away, my feet wobbled and I didn’t go in the direction I wanted. Meanwhile the bee was still zooming in and out of my face. I swatted at it with my sword to no avail. My sword wasn’t even close to hitting the bee; every time I swung downward, my arm would go to the side or do the opposite. My body wasn’t listening to me.
Confusion (Debuff): You have been confused. Up is down, right is left—what is even happening? Movement speed -5%, muddled motions (duration: 30 seconds)
So I was helpless for thirty seconds, basically. I tried to get the hang of maneuvering my body differently but it was too difficult. Next the bee dug its stinger into my forehead, creating a burst of pain in my head. Through tears of frustration, my HUD let me know the attack only did about 3 HP. Pittance. But if the bee kept me confused, it had a good chance of slowly killing me. I had to get away from it.
I waddled backwards and forwards like a madman until eventually I willed myself to step forward—and relief and sanity returning to me—I did so. Instantly I ran from the bee, hoping to gain space between us. I turned towards the bee—now a few meters behind. I powered up an energy ball and let out a blast taking out another third of its HP. The blast also screwed up the insect’s momentum. It floated in its own confused stasis as I charged up another energy ball and finished the monster off.
+35 EXP!
I approached the dead shell of the bee as I breathed heavily in and out. You had to be careful with every creature in this world; they all had a strategy or pattern of attack they would kill you with. I scanned the dead bee for loot:
New Item(s) Alert!
Bee Needle (x1)
Jar of Honey (x1)
I ripped the stinger off the bug to add it to my inventory. The other loot item confused me. I didn’t see a jar of honey anywhere. How was it possible a bumblebee carried around a glass jar of honey anyways? I crouched down and lifted my sword to its hard insect stomach and drew a long incision through it. I split the bee carcass into two and—closing my eyes—slipped my hand into its slimy and chitinous insides. My fingers wrapped around something cold. I pulled my hand out of the bee carcass and discovered a small glass jar of beautiful honey in my palm. It dematerialized as I added it to my inventory. I grinned as I stood up off the ground. I was happy with the loot, laughing to myself at the sheer craziness of living in a world dictated by video game logic.
I stood up, wiped the dirt off my pants, and noticed while I had dissected the dead bumblebee my HP and MP had fully restored to maximum. They must regenerate faster when not in battle. This was useful information. Something to be exploited here in this beginner zone. I grinned as I eyed another nearby bee and powered up an energy ball. I stretched out my arm and intuitively it locked into the perfect position to shoot. It was like an in-game auto-accuracy. It wasn’t perfect but it nudged you in the right direction. I’d noticed it when fighting the Skren bandits. How else had I been able to swing a sword properly?
I stayed a good distance from the bee. I launched the blast and hit the bee, stunning it into confusion. I powered up another blast. It snapped out of its muddled state and rushed me. I unleashed the energy ball.
+35 EXP
The kill was less satisfying than the last one. I knew how to kill these things now. They were super susceptible to magic attacks and if you hit them from range, they had zero chance of hurting you because they would die before even getting close. I rushed over to its body and picked up the bee needle and—cutting it open and reaching inside—the jar of honey as well.
I would try something different next. Off in the distance was a mosquito, floating in the air. It stretched out to a larger size than the bumblebee, but its thin scraggly legs made it less intimidating. The clear wings flapped so rapidly they were a buzzing blur behind the insect. I would try the same strategy I used on the bee. I waited for my MP to fully restore and then charged up an energy ball and shot it at him. I briefly hoped for a one-shot instakill but I was sorely disappointed.
Missed!
Are you kidding me? The mosquito didn’t even attack me. It moved around and then fell back into it waiting position again. Fluke. I manipulated the mana inside of me, forming a ball in my palm again and shot the ball of energy at the mosquito. I closed my eyes, waiting for the rush of experience points. I opened them only to see the same annoying prompt on my HUD as last time.
Missed!
I gripped my sword. It was time to change strategy. I headed towards the mosquito slowly. I took one soft step, then another. When I got close enough to stare at the mosquitos beady eyes and squiggly legs I lifted my sword high in the air and swung down, crashing into the mosquito’s skull. I knocked off a quarter of its HP. I swung down again but the mosquito had now ducked beyond my sword’s hit box.
Despite the melee attack’s success, I didn’t want to stay in the vicinity of the mobile bug in fear of it confusing me like the bee so I jumped and ran backwards. The bug zipped and glided through the air towards me. I charged up an energy ball. It hadn’t worked earlier but the bug was no longer in its zen like state and was now after my blood. Enraged it wouldn’t be able to dodge as effectively. I shot the energy ball at the bug and the hit landed, stunning it into immobility. I ran towards it and swung my sword, dealing the final death blow.
+35 EXP!
The mosquito’s crinkled body fell to the ground and I scanned it for loot.
New Item Alert! Mosquito Wing (x2)
Do you wish to add to your inventory (Yes/No)?
I didn’t know what use the mosquito wings were, but I’d thought the same way about the Skren rat tails and they were what paid for all my new gear. I bent over and pulled the clear and delicate wings off the mosquito’s shriveled corpse.
A rabbit hopped through the grass nearby. My next target. The potential loot drops made my mouth water. Rabbit meat stew. Rabbit fur gloves. The bunny was a treasure trove of crafting materials. I took one step towards it and it darted into a large patch of grass and disappeared. Damn it.
Over the course of my grinding, the field had changed. The bumblebee mobs were no longer floating about by themselves. They were now roaming together in packs of two or three. They recognized the danger I posed and so the respawned bees had smarted up to my behavior. Interesting. So the creatures or the algorithms behind them weren’t simply mindless patterns on repetition. There was serious A.I. working behind the scenes of these bumblebee mobs. This was an important piece of information I’d have to keep in the back of my head. The fact the mobs changed their behavior and pattern of attack meant it would be immensely difficult to exploit their movement as they continuously changed and adapted to their environment. This was life or death information.
So screw you bees. I wasn’t going to fall for your trap. I slid my sword back into its sheath and headed towards the windmill house at the top of the hill. It was time to unlock my class.
16
>
I walked away from the beginner leveling zone and up the hill of the meadow. As I approached the top of the hill, I passed through a small dirt road, lined with apple trees. The red apples glowed out to me and the thought of more crafting materials made me swerve in their direction. My mind raced with all the potential recipes available with apples in my inventory. But what if these apples were grown by the mysterious Theobold? Would he reprimand me for stealing his fruit? Chill. I was overthinking it. Under the shade of the gnarled fruit tree, I reached up to a branch and pulled off an apple.
New Item Alert! Apple (x1)
Do you wish to add to your inventory (Yes/No)?
The apple disappeared out of the palm of my hand and into my backpack. There were still a dozen more apples hanging in the tree. What was the harm in taking a few more?
I grabbed the tree with both hands and gave it a good shake. A few more apples fell from the tree, one even knocked me on the head. As I bent over to pick the first one up, something else fell onto my head. It didn’t have the hard thump of the apple. It had landed gently. Legs ruffled through my hair. Uh oh—what the hell was on me? I dropped the apple in my hand and waved my hands through my hair, knocking away the bug on my head.