by Rick Scott
A chill runs up my spine. “How do you mean?”
She pauses, looking away from me for a moment. “I can’t really say. Or explain. It’s something you’ll have to experience for yourself. But just know that, when the time comes, you’ll have a choice to make. And what you choose will affect everything, both in-game and out.”
Now she really has my hairs standing on end.
“Knowing that, is this still something you want to do?”
“I didn’t even know that was a factor. But what choice do I have, right?”
“You’ve always got a choice.”
It doesn’t really feel like it at the moment. “So, I’m guessing you’ve beaten a world boss before?”
“A long time ago, yes. And I need to do it again.”
I raise my brow at that one.
“Which brings me to my offer.” She gets down on one knee to look me in the eye, like I’m a little kid. “I’ll help you get to 85 Ninja and become a Dodge Tank. But in return, you join me instead of Aiko. And when we defeat the world boss, I’ll need one more favor from you.”
“What?”
“I’m only offering this once. Will you join me?”
“But how will you help—?”
A trade request pops up.
Val Helena wishes to trade with you.
Val Helena offers you 600,000 Cr.
Do you accept the trade? (Y/N)
My eyes nearly pop out of my head. I’ve never seen so much money before in my life!
“You’re giving this to me?”
“Consider it a loan. But if you take it, I expect you to honor what I want from you in return.”
I’m still not fully clear on what that is, but here’s 600k sitting right in front of me.
I could fix myself.
Be able to level a combat class.
Be able to use the scroll and tank a world boss!
Earn enough for not just the lung, but maybe even the real fix!
“What will it be, Reece?”
I hesitate a moment more. Do I really want to do this?
Once I hit that button, I won’t just “be able” to become a Dodge Tank.
I would have to become one.
For her.
And who knows what that really means in the end?
“I’m not going to kid you,” Val Helena says, her tone suddenly serious. “As much as I would like to give you the opportunity to save your mom, it’s not my real reason for doing this. But it’s yours, so . . .”
She trails off, her eyes adrift in thought.
“Tell you what,” she says, focusing on me again. I fear she’s about to cancel the trade and take the deal off the table. “It’s a lot for you to consider. And I need to be sure you got the stones for this. So take the money.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“Go ahead. I mean it. Hit trade.”
I pause a moment more, and then hit the button like I’m in a dream.
You receive 600,000 credits.
I still don’t believe it.
“You’re facing a tough situation right now,” Val Helena says. “Knowing that your mom is that sick, I wouldn’t feel right if I forced you to make the deal under that kind of duress. Take the money. And if you really want to use it for your mom’s transplant, go ahead.”
What? “I don’t understand . . . why are you doing this?”
“Because I can’t stop you if that’s what you really want to do anyway. And if it is, I don’t want you to make the decision to join me for that reason alone. Because, when the time comes, you’ll feel like I was holding a hatchet over your head. And I don’t want that on my conscience. You’ve always got a choice, Reece, but the time for you to make yours is now.”
I still don’t understand any of this.
“Honestly, with that scroll, you’ll be able to make millions. Easily. Same as Aiko. Even pay for that 3 mil nano-treatment your mom needs. In my opinion, it’s a much better option for her in the long run. And you may be able to afford it much sooner than you think, but it’ll mean taking on the world boss. And that’s what I really need you for. It won’t be a picnic. I need to be sure you’ll be down for it no matter how hard it gets, or whatever we have to face. Understand?”
I swallow a bit, still unsure.
“If all you want to do is help your mom, I understand that, too. So use the money and buy that lung if you want. I can’t stop you. A 50/50 shot is better than nothing, I suppose. But if you really want to help me—and her, in the long run—use it to fix yourself and meet me tomorrow morning in the starting city of Timberdale at 9 a.m.”
I’m dumbfounded. I don’t know what to say.
“Whether you show up or not will let me know which decision you’ve made.” She stands. “Either way, I’ll understand. But if you decide to join me, I’d appreciate it, because I just gave you nearly every credit I’ve got. But if you don’t have the stomach for it, I’d rather you not show up at all. Because I couldn’t place my life in the hands of a person like that.”
Her life?
With no more explanation than that, she fast-travels away, leaving me alone in the mines.
With only my thoughts.
And 600,000 credits.
Chapter 11: Decisions
I use a couple of Sneak Potions and leave the mines, entering the safety of the Steppe of Andor, and then log out so I can have a hard think about what I’m going to do.
Before I exit the game, however, I’m careful to uncheck the auto-deposit feature I set up on my Crystal Shards Online account. Normally, it would automatically send whatever cash I have on my character to the joint family account.
But there’s no way I could have 600,000 credits pop up in there out of the blue.
I send it to my personal account instead, and then spend a few minutes putting my ores up for sale. It’s incredible how money changes the perspective of things. Just a few minutes ago, these “fake” rocks were all that stood between my family and poverty.
Now, they look like chump change.
I log out of the game and remove my rig so I can focus without distraction.
I need to think this through.
Carefully.
Val Helena’s parting words have my mind spinning. I still don’t understand what she means by placing her life in my hands. Although, she did say that this was almost all the money she had, so maybe that’s what she meant. Either way, she’s just given me the opportunity of a lifetime. As big as finding the scroll itself.
Bigger, even.
I could save my mom. I could save her right now!
But was that the best thing to do?
According to Val Helena, it wasn’t. But my heart still screams yes.
I need to slow down. Think.
I feel almost like I’m mining again.
Should I play it safe? Buy my mom that artificial lung and a guaranteed 50/50 shot? Or should I roll Gambler’s Boon and risk that opportunity for the chance to afford a better option?
The nano-surgery itself.
I’d never really thought about the artificial lung option in depth before. It had always been such an unachievable goal that I never considered it past being able to afford it. But now that I can, I’m starting to see the holes in it. 50/50. Those were the chances. The cancer could still spread, could show up somewhere else, too. Both thoughts horrify me. That I could blow all this money and my mom could still die from cancer, or even on the operating table . . .
But what would be the true cost of the other option?
Becoming a Dodge Tank and taking on a world boss.
First, I’d have to lie about getting my own treatment done, and then join some stranger on a virtual quest across Crystal Shards. No way could I reveal all that to Mom or Mike. Well, maybe to Mom—she’d probably understand—but definitely not Mike. And if I told Mom, she’d eventually tell Mike. And he’d kill me on general principle if he knew I’d gotten 600k and decided to spend it on myself, to play a gam
e, instead of buying Mom the new lung. Even if it did only gave her a 50/50 chance of survival. In his eyes, that was probably a better chance than betting on me.
Next, I’d have to lie about what I was doing to keep Mike off my back. I couldn’t have him yanking me out of my rig when I’m in the middle of tanking the world boss. I’d have to tell him I got a job doing customer service, and it has long hours or something. Frankly, I don’t mind lying to him so much. In fact, I probably should have thought of doing it much sooner. But then again, that means lying to Mom, too.
That makes my heart sink a bit. She’s always been so enthusiastic about my adventures in the game. But this is something that would just have to be done. It’s not pretty to think about, though. I’d also have to keep my crutches and fake being lame around her.
Man, how lame is that going to be?
Then there’s the actual hard part: pulling all of this off. I’ve never even played a combat class. And if what Val Helena says is true, then I’ve got a whole lot of learning and researching to do. Both of which I hate! But hey . . . maybe Gilly could help with that.
Which reminds me—I still haven’t thought about how much I can even share with her about any of this, since I haven’t told her my real predicament yet. I also sent her that nasty message earlier. Depending on what I decide, maybe I can retract it.
Okay, so there’s a steep learning curve. What else?
Probably the worst part. The unknown.
There’s the “favor” Val Helena wants in return after we defeat the world boss. Still not sure what that’s about. It sounded ominous, and she never actually said what it was, which makes me nervous as heck. Then there’s that weird, cryptic stuff she was talking about too. About the game changing and me needing to make a choice.
“Heh,” I laugh to myself. “Another choice?”
I can barely make this one!
But perhaps the biggest con to all of this is that I can fail.
I don’t really want to think about it, but I’ve got to. If I’m going to make the right choice, I need to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. Just like Val Helena said, I need to go into this with eyes wide open.
There are hundreds of ways I can fail at doing this, and not all of them are within my control. I can overcome reaching Level 85 and learning how to tank by working hard, but how do I counter something like Aiko and her team claiming the world boss first? Or some other team, for that matter. What if the team Val Helena puts together are all Level 40 guys, the ones I met before? They’re barely more experienced than I am. Well, they’re probably a lot more experienced than I am, but not at fighting world bosses.
And while I’m busy doing all of this, there’s still a chance my mom could suddenly take ill . . . get worse . . .
And die.
There are no stats and timers in the real world. No way of knowing just how many days, or weeks, or hours she has left.
If I don’t succeed, if I don’t pull this all off by the time the world boss spawns in a month’s time, there won’t likely be a second chance. There’s a lot of risk riding on this, and I can’t see what the success rate is going to be.
If this was all a game, I wouldn’t think twice. I would already be rolling Gambler’s Boon. But am I willing to risk my mom’s life? Even if it means a chance for her to have a better one?
I still can’t decide. Maybe I should just tell my mom. Ask her what she thinks I should do. It is her life, after all. What right do I have to decide for her?
But then, how could I possibly ask her that? I know what she’ll say. She’s so selfless, she’d support me 100%, tell me to fix myself before her. To take the risk and achieve my dreams, even if it means sacrificing her own life.
No, I can’t do that.
I can’t give myself the luxury of her blessing and a free conscience by letting her make the decision for me. I’m not a kid anymore. I need to be an adult about this. I can’t know that it’s okay to fail, because she’ll be happy for me either way. I’m starting to understand what Val Helena means now. About having the stones for this. About being willing to go for the hard option and giving it my all, no matter what it takes.
If I’m going to do this thing, I need to decide it alone.
To bear the responsibility alone.
The consequences.
Val Helena is right. The lung was never a good option. I can see that now. If I spent this 600k on it, I’d be a fool. This isn’t a race to 525k credits anymore. It’s a race to 3.5 million. And I’ve been given a unique opportunity to achieve it.
And if the only way I’m going to do just that is by taking on a world boss . . .
Then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Chapter 12: Rebirth
I try to get a few hours’ sleep, but I toss and turn and wake on every hour. I barely get any rest, but it doesn’t matter. For better or worse, my life is changing today. All of our lives are.
Around 6 a.m. I hear Mike leave the habitat. My mom wakes soon after, and I make us a breakfast of oatmeal and toast. I could afford a much better breakfast, but I don’t want to raise too many suspicions.
Not with what I’m about to do.
I help her into her rig and tell her that I’m off to the mines as usual. But then I’m out the door with Mutt and Jeff, headed for the elevator. I have just over an hour to get down and back to meet up with Val Helena in Timberdale. And I don’t want to be late.
The elevator is more crowded this time, about half full, but no one really interacts with one another. When the doors open, the swarm of vagrants hits the mob of people trying to get out and a small window of pandemonium arises. I hobble through as best I can, trying to stay upright within the jostling bodies. I get in the clear and am about to move away when I think of the whole reason I’m even able to do this. A stranger took a risk, and decided to help me when I was at my lowest.
Surely, I can do the same.
I turn back and touch the disposable credit chip of an old woman to give her 10 credits. Her face lights up with a thank-you and a toothless smile. I can’t help but notice how good it feels to have done that. But then I have twenty people in my face, pushing their credit chips toward me.
“Please, a few credits!”
“Do you have more to spare?”
I do. So I touch a few more chips. But then, more people come, and I find myself getting overwhelmed. I touch more chips, but I can’t keep up! I begin to retreat. I lie, telling them I don’t have any more, until they finally relent and allow me to go on my way.
The encounter has me a bit shaken and feeling somewhat at odds.
Helping one person felt good, but once I started helping the rest, it began to feel like an obligation. An obligation I couldn’t, and almost didn’t want to keep. I shake the thoughts away as I head down the block toward the clinic. I stick to the sides as much as possible and avoid crowds. A stray thought has me fearing that the guy my brother stomped into the ground yesterday will see me and try to exact his revenge.
Thankfully, I make it through the cesspool of human depravity unscathed. I thought that perhaps my crutches would make me a target, but perhaps they did the opposite, making me look all the more worthless and pathetic, not worth the effort to harass.
I enter the clinic and hit the nearest booth to pull up the diagnostic.
Detected: Mild Paraplegia (legs)
Treatment options:
Nano-surgical reconstruction575,000.00 Cr
I almost have the urge to second-guess myself and prepay for my mom’s artificial lung instead. But no. It’s not worth it. Soon, Mom. I promise.
“Soon, you’ll be getting the real deal,” I say as I hit the confirm button. “It will be your turn next.”
A 45-minute timer starts, and the doors close. Some sort of gas fills the coffin-like booth as it tilts back. I get drowsy. Coffin is a fitting word for it, I realize. The old me is dying.
In 45 minutes, a new me will be reborn.
* *
*
I awake to a strange sensation.
Grogginess first, but then a weird tingling in my lower extremities. The timer is one minute from zero, and the booth is spitting all kinds of post-care information at me. I don’t really care, though. I’ve got about 15 minutes to get back to my rig before I need to meet Val Helena on Crystal Shards Online!
The timer dings, and I step out on my new legs.
I nearly fall!
My nervous system might be fixed, but my muscles have never been exercised. They’ll need to gain strength the old-fashioned way, which actually is okay, since I need to keep up the ruse of being lame, anyway.
It takes me ten minutes to hobble-skip back to the elevator as fast as I can, and another five to ride it up. I’m five minutes late for my meeting by the time I sneak back into my habitat, and I’m relieved to see my mom’s still hooked to her rig, undisturbed.
Looks like I pulled it off.
I log in and am immediately hit with a bunch of new messages.
Most of them are from people I don’t even know.
But I do see a common subject line amongst them.
Re: New Dodge Tank on the horizon?
Gratz on finding the scroll, dude! You’re one lucky sob!! Wish it were me. GL! :D
Re: New Dodge Tank on the horizon?
Hey, can you tell me where you mined that? Which node, exactly? PM me please!!
Re: New Dodge Tank on the horizon?
Are you going to be streaming your progression to Level 85? If you are, let me know. I want to watch!
What the heck is all this? How did people even find out about the scroll? I follow the subject link back to a video on Aiko’s user page. What the heck? She has tons of videos, mostly recordings from her live stream. And she had over a hundred thousand subscribers! Holy heck! No wonder I’m being bombarded with messages from people I don’t know.
I play the video entitled, “New Dodge Tank on the horizon?” It’s an instant replay of her making the offer to add me to her team, if I can hit 85 Ninja by the end of the month. Except, it’s from her perspective. The video stops, and then Aiko appears, speaking directly to her subscribers. Her short blue bob and razor-cut bangs look amazing up close, as do her violet eyes.