by Jakob Tanner
She disentangled herself from me and held my shoulders, taking me in. “You’re Aeri, huh? Most people go Haeren, you know.”
“I wonder why,” I said, half-attempting a joke. Serena shrugged at my lame attempt at humour. Call me Mr. Smooth.
“Have you unlocked your class yet? I can’t tell. I was half-expecting you to be a Thief or Rogue character,” she laughed. I guess dropping out of college and travelling around had left an impression of what kind of person I was.
“It’s funny you say that. I never liked playing thief. Too much waiting around in the shadows. I liked the stealthy bits, but I found I got too impatient,” I explained. “But yeah I’m working towards becoming an apprentice mage. This world is so incredible. It feels like I’m being offered a second chance, you know. Becoming a mage is a chance to be the student I had never been.”
Serena let go of my shoulders and rubbed her earlobe with her right hand. It was so strange. A gesture she’d done all the time back in the real world. Here she was a whole new person in appearance, but underneath it all was still the girl I once knew.
“I know what you mean,” she said. “I'm sorry for saying you’d be a thief. I’d have been annoyed if you’d assumed I was going to be a spell caster or something…”
“I’d never presume.”
“...So I chose blade soldier as my class. Long story about the quest chain to unlock it. I’ll tell you another time. But, exactly as you were saying, I wanted a second chance. I didn’t want to be a mousy bookworm anymore. I wanted to be more outgoing, more forthright. I wanted to be someone who stands up for what they believe in. As soon as I arrived in Laergard: I knew. I felt it in me. I’d be a warrior, a fighter.”
There was fire in her voice as she spoke.
“If you need my help achieving your goals Serena, I’m here to help,” I said. “Plus, as a squishy glass cannon who can be killed in a hit or two, I really need to party up with a tank. I think we’d make a good team.”
Serena smiled. “Good. I’m glad you feel that way. I was thinking the same thing. But I need to talk to you about something. Something big and—” Serena broke into tears.
I put my arm on her shoulder and said, “Tell me everything.”
22
We sat down at the edge of the stone fountain and Serena told me everything she’d been holding back.
“I think there’s something wrong with the game,” she said. “I don’t know what, but things are happening that aren’t supposed to be happening. Mutations. Glitches. This world isn’t as stable as TriCorp made it out to be.”
“Serena—did anything happen to you?”
She shook her head. “No. But when I entered the game a few days ago, I spawned in a small village in the middle of the continent and something happened.” She took a breath. “I watched a bunch of beginner players get rampaged by this pterodactyl monster. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it but the creature’s design didn’t make any sense. There were arms festering out of it and parts of the body were fragmented and inverted. The creature was suffering from serious glitches. Next thing I knew it completely obliterated the players fighting it. They disappeared. I went around asking about them and no had seen them since. I don’t think they ever respawned.” Serena took a deep sigh and planted her hands on her knees. “Clay—I don’t think you understand how scary it was. I’d been in the game less than a couple of hours—I was still getting used to this new reality—and when I saw that thing, I instantly knew it wasn’t right. It was a mutation. The game’s internal A.I. isn’t working properly. It’s horrible.”
“Serena,” I said. “I think I understand better than you realize.” I pulled the gloves off and showed her the dark swirling mark on my wrist.
“What are you showing me?”
I told her the whole story. From spawning in the Skren caravan to fighting through the bandits to finally the fight with the mutated bandit leader.
“When I returned after death, I had this mark,” I said. “I thought a quest prompt would appear but nothing of the sort has happened. The NPC innkeeper recognized it though. She’s the one who gave me these gloves. Still, no one has told me what it means.”
“That’s awful Clay. As soon as I witnessed the mutated monster, I knew I had a purpose here in A.K.O. I was going to figure out what those things are and how to stop them. Seriously, if these glitches don’t get put under control, NPCs and players alike will find ways to exploit them. Someone with such a level of power would be able to completely rewrite the rules of the game. We have to stop the spread of this problem before it goes any further.”
“Have you contacted the TriCorp Dev team?”
“I wrote them last night and still haven’t heard back. I feel like we have to deal with this problem from the inside.”
I took a deep breath. Last night’s dream came back to me. The face of the girl with pigtails. She had asked for help.
“Do you know anything about how dreaming works in the game?”
“So far I can’t say I’ve had any. I don’t want to say the sleep is instantaneous from one night to the next morning—but when I wake up, I can’t recall any dreams. Could just be me though.”
“Well listen to this: I had a dream last night. This girl was begging me for help. What if she’s part of the game’s A.I. as well? What if she’s reaching out to me because she thinks I can help with the mutations?”
Serena shook her head. “There’s too much we still don’t understand. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“I have a quest about to start and I think it will lead us to more answers,” I said. “The Knights of Laergard and—” I wasn’t sure how to describe Shade. “This other guy are going on a search party for the mutated Skren leader. Do you want to party up?”
Serena smiled and then hesitated.
“What is it?”
“Yeah I want to party up,” she said. “But, as you were telling your story, I noticed you said you’d only been in the game for a day. Does that mean—?”
There was still a looming possibility my mind would explode from sensory overload and I’d die, disappearing from this world and our old one altogether?
“Yes,” I said. “Yes it does.”
23
Serena and I partied up and I got a quick glimpse at her stats.
Serena Wharton
Level: 15
Race: Haeren (Laergardian)
Class: Blade Soldier
HP: 291
MP: 19
ATKP: 51
MTKP: 3
TGH: 32
SPIRIT: 3
LUCK: 3
She had a potent mix of melee attack strength plus toughness, making her a good damage dealer as well as tank. Wicked.
“Hey—it’s rude to ogle over someone’s stats,” Serena said, knocking me out of my HUD trance. “Didn’t you say we had a quest to do.”
“Right,” I said, spinning around and heading into the throng of the market place towards the Royal Knights of Laergard’s guild hall.
We hurried past the vendors and over the canal bridge and through the posh district, until we arrived in front of the guild outpost. Shade and Edward Silver stood outside, waiting for us. They made an odd pair: the loyal knight and the mischievous thief. I hoped no rumors tarnished Silver’s reputation.
“You sure took your sweet time,” said Shade, his tail wagging behind him. “Who’s this?”
“This is my friend Serena,” I said, introducing her to the others. “She’s joining us for the quest.”
Edward grunted. “A blade soldier? Really?”
Serena whispered in my ear. “This is a bad time to tell you but blade soldiers and royal knights don’t get along very much. There’s a strong rivalry between them. Two different military disciplines.”
“I’m sure it will be fine so long as you don’t kill us all with your ridiculous sword,” said Edward.
“Alright enough bickering about who wields their sword better,” said
Shade. “Knight-man, tell them what you told me.”
Edward’s posture changed, signaling he had important information to tell us. “A band of travelling merchants arrived in town earlier and spoke of a foul creature heading in the direction of Golpe Swamplands. It sounds like the creature you described earlier. We should head there and investigate.”
Quest Update: Mysterious Creature in the Woods
Sightings of a deadly creature have been reported in the Golpe Swamplands. Head there and see what you can find.
Quest Type: Unique
Quest Difficulty: Hard
Reward: 100 EXP + ?
“Are you ready?” the knight asked. He regarded my rusty rapier with a grimace. “You might want to exchange your garden tool of a weapon for something more substantial. Head to the courtyard and take one of the extra swords on the weapon rack.”
I shrugged off the captain’s snide remarks. He was offering gear for free. Great deal in my book. I ran to the courtyard where there were still soldiers practicing their bayonet and shield work. A wooden rack of weapons stood off to the side against the cold walls of the courtyard. I scanned the items and saw the swords were all relatively the same.
New Item Alert! Basic Short Sword (ATKP: 20-25)
Do you wish to equip (Yes/No)?
I equipped the the new sword, letting the old rusty one dematerialize back into my inventory. I ran back to the group waiting outside and asked Serena, “How are you doing for potions?”
Serena shrugged. “I got a few and don’t really have the gold coins to spare.”
“Fair, fair,” I said and then lifted my finger to tell the group, give me one more second please. I hurried down the road to the western gate and found the potion vendor was still standing there with her wheelbarrow full of potions. I sold her my rusty rapier for 13 gold coins and my baby dino bone for 4. I was up to 22 gold coins. I used almost everything I had buy an HP potion and MP potion each. I thanked the vendor and returned to the group.
“I’m ready,” I said.
“Good,” said Edward, appearing under my party icon along with Shade and Serena. “Let’s head to the southern gate.”
As we walked briskly through the afternoon streets of Arondale, I perused our new party member’s stats.
Edward Silver
Level: 30
Race: Haeren (Laergardian)
Class: Royal Knight
HP: 550
MP: 39
ATKP: 47
MTKP: 3
TGH: 66
SPIRIT: 8
LUCK: 3
Holy shit! Level 30. Edward Silver was super strong. There were also all of his unseen stats and buffs on his gear. I bet it only doubled his strength and defenses. He was an incredibly tough tank. Exactly what we needed. I moved on from his stats and took in Shade’s.
Shade
Level 4
Race: Lirana
Class: Thief
HP: 137
MP: 11
ATKP: 21
MTKP: 3
TGH: 14
SPIRIT: 4
LUCK: 36
Hmm. Shade hadn’t leveled since our battle in the Skren encampment from the evening before. Why? How come some NPCs leveled up while others stayed on the lower end of the spectrum? It must come down to fighting monsters. Edward was a soldier so he fought in wars and gained loads of experience points. Meanwhile, Shade—a thief—wasn’t necessarily going out and killing monsters, so his base stats wouldn’t rise much. I bet, however, his stealth and thieving stats were phenomenally high as he practiced those skills. I guess it made sense in its own way. Most NPCs—villagers, merchants, every day folk living their lives—they didn’t run around killing mobs all day like players did. No wonder their levels were low. They didn’t even think in those terms.
“Are you drooling over stats again,” chided Serena with a smile.
“No,” I said. “I was looking over our party. We’re quite strong but I’m worried about Shade. He’s a much lower level than the rest of us and unlike you or me, he won’t come back to life if he dies.”
“We’ll have to keep an eye on him,” said Serena. “But early leveling is quite quick in this game, so depending on the amount of mobs we fight on the way he will catch up to us fast.”
The mana gate was wide open for easy passage when we got there. This was where Shade and I had first entered Arondale the previous evening. It was different during the day. Busier and friendlier. A closed guarded gate only projected fear and animosity.
We stepped through the passage and into the valley of farmer’s fields and windmills. Edward and Shade walked ahead while Serena and I marched behind them.
“So Shade is the NPC you fought those Skren bandits with?” Serena asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m curious, that’s all. Most NPCs don’t usually stick around after a quest has failed. They definitely don’t break from your party and meet with you later to continue a highly dangerous quest. Impressive, Clay. The fact this guy is returning means he’s bonded to you somehow. Surviving the Skren kidnapping has brought you two together. He respects you now.”
I had never really thought about it. Shade and respect didn't really go hand in hand; at least not with regards to things people usually respected: like authority, the law, other people’s boundaries. Shade never struck me as someone capable of such noble emotions. But maybe I’ve judged him too quickly. Maybe he’s actually my friend. The first one I had made in this world.
We passed the farms and headed up the hill towards the forest, the same one Shade and I had traversed the previous evening. With my new sword sheathed at my waist and my apprentice staff strapped to my back, I was ready to test my new weapons out on enemy mobs, but the forest was all but empty when we arrived. We hurried through the shadows, but nothing was present. A wild doe hurried away from us. It was smart enough to sense a battle would be its death sentence.
I admired the surroundings of the forest as we strolled through it: the gnarled oak trees, the pine needles on the floor, the chirping and pretty birds fluttering between the branches. The soft strands of sunlight poking through the canopy of trees. It was so hard to believe this was all a game. A creation of numbers and code. It hurt my brain to think about it too much.
I caught in the corner of my eye, Serena smiling at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m happy you’re here.”
I smiled back at her. “I’m happy you’re here too.”
Shade interrupted our moment by turning around and saying, “You know I have extra powerful hearing, right? You two are so odd. Don’t you know the way to show affection is by being enigmatic and hard to read? It makes people love you more.”
Serena laughed and I blushed.
The air got hot and humid as we went deeper into the woods. Beads of sweat dampened my cloak. There were less and less trees around us until eventually we arrived at the edge of a murky swamp. A sticky fog hung above the dark green water. Mosquitoes and flies buzzed in the air. This must be the Golpe Swamplands.
A rickety wooden passageway cut across the swamp. I stepped towards it when Edward held out his hand to stop me. “Wait,” he said.
Three shadows grew larger and larger in the water until their long snapping crocodile jaws emerged from the swamp, followed by dark scaled feet. I took in the monsters’ stats, thankful for the return of Shade’s feline vision ability.
Swamp Croc
Level 12
HP: 390
MP: 11
“It’s about time we saw how we fought together,” said Edward, unsheathing a glowing metallic sword. “Everyone get ready.”
A massive splash came from the swamp as one of the crocs leapt out onto the wet beach. It whipped its tail at us, doing significant damage to Shade and I while pittance to Serena and Edward.
“You two stay back,” yelled Serena, gripping her massive sword with two hands. “L
et the soldiers handle this.”
Shade and I let Edward and Serena take all the aggro of the three crocodile mobs while we stood behind the battle. I gripped my new staff and powered up an energy ball. My staff shook in my hands as it drew upon the surrounding natural mana in the area. Even the energy ball in my hand felt significantly more powerful from the overflow of mana nearby. I whipped it out towards the weakest croc, sending its HP bar to under 15%. Serena came crashing down with her blade, finishing it off.
+105 EXP!
A faint glow of light surrounded Shade as his HP and MP bars replenished. Nice. He must’ve leveled up. He snuck to the side of the crocodiles, hoping to help out with critical hits.
Serena and Edward each focused on their own croc. It was amazing to watch them fight. So interesting, too, to see two sword wielders fight with such different styles. Edward was all about the long grueling fight. He had the toughness and armor to survive a bloody back and forth. Serena on the other hand was all about dodging, quick steps, and dealing massive amounts of damage in a single blow. After a minute the crocodiles rolled over in defeat.
+105 EXP!
+105 EXP!
Congratulations you have leveled up!
You gain +4 HP
You gain +1 MP