by Rick Scott
“Like using War Cry?”
“Yes, that’s the main skill, but you also need other ways to make sure it keeps seeing you as a threat.”
“Like how?”
“Doing more damage, magic attacks.”
“Magic?”
“Yeah, I’m surprised you weren’t using any Shadow Magic. That made it even more impressive, really.”
I’ve got no clue what she’s talking about. But then I remember my boss fight to unlock Ninja. “Oh, wait! Like that purple mist that Ninja frog-guy used to poison and paralyze me?”
“Yes, exactly. Ninja has a lot of debuff magic like that to help with both tanking and keeping threat.”
“Geez, so I could have been using that? Man, the fight would have been a lot easier if I could have paralyzed it every now and then.”
“Yup. So, again, your ignorance has been the best schoolmaster for you, Reece.”
She cracks a laugh, and I chuckle along with her. “I guess so. She also mentioned multiple AOEs. How am I supposed to handle those?”
“I dunno.” She shrugs. “I’m no Ninja, but maybe upping your Intelligence to reduce the recast time?”
I’d never thought of that.
“I don’t know if it’s worth wasting points on, though. You need like 50 in a stat to see any decent reduction.”
“Yeah, I’ll really need to think about that.”
“Okay, let’s get back to the party.” Val Helena stands. “We’re being too antisocial over here.”
I check the time. I’ve spent well over an hour in here already. “Actually, I probably need to get going.”
“Hey, I know you’re on a timeline, but you gained what? 14 levels today? You can work on it tomorrow. Come have some fun.”
Instantly, I’m reminded of my new deadline, and the fact that I can’t share any details of why I need to progress to 85 in just a couple days with Val Helena. At least I can share it with Gilly when I meet her offline. Oh, crap! That’s only a few hours away. And I still haven’t given any thought of what to wear.
“Um, actually, I’ve got to go for another reason.”
“Oh. Real life stuff?”
“Kinda,” I say, then look up at Val Helena sheepishly. “Hey, Val? Do you kinda know what’s appropriate to wear on a date?”
Her eyes go wide for a second. “What?”
I let out a sigh. “I’m going to meet Gilly for the first time in a few hours, and I have no idea what to wear.”
She lets out a laugh. “No kidding! Wow, you two really are special.”
“I know it’s stupid to have asked you. I’m sorry.”
She looks over her shoulder and yells, “Guys! Keep the party going! I’ll be right back.”
Val Helena then shoots me a party request. “Come with me.”
Chapter 27: Shopping at Bloomingdales
Val Helena and I head to the center of Swifttide, where the main spawn point is located.
“Check your map,” she says. “You should see another spawn point option here that says Nexus.”
I do, and when I focus on it, I fast-travel along with Val Helena.
I materialize in a white, marble-tiled hallway that’s filled with glowing blue portals on either side. It bends in a curve, and above each portal, I can see the name for various Shards inside the game world.
[You have entered the Nexus]
[All game attributes and abilities are now disabled.]
[When entering a new Shard, some abilities may be restricted.]
“What is this place?”
“A shortcut,” Val Helena says. “You can cut between Shards without having to logout and back in again. I’m surprised how many people don’t know about it, though.”
“Oh,” I say. “Cool. So, where are we going?”
“A place where you can try on some real clothes.”
We walk around the bend of the vacant corridor and wonder if it isn’t more of a ring with how tight the curvature is. We pass by portals labeled Steamwerks, Galaxia, and Apocalypse-Z. I don’t know the game genres for certain, but the names seem pretty obvious. We stop at one marked Urbania and enter.
We rematerialize on a street corner of what looks like a major city in pre-war America—New York, I think. It’s nighttime, and honking traffic moves steadily on well-paved streets lined with flashing signals flanked by high-rise buildings. People bustle past us on the sidewalk, and I can’t tell if they’re NPCs or players.
[Welcome to the True Life Shard of Urbania.]
[All combat abilities are disabled.]
“No combat?” I say. “What kind of game is this?”
“It’s a life sim,” Val Helena says, and I notice her clothing has changed. Gone is the Paladin armor, replaced by a knee-length gray skirt, low heels, and a white silk blouse. Her eight-foot-tall figure looks even more stunning in regular clothes than she does her battle armor!
“Most of the population spends their time in here,” she says. “Some people never leave.”
“What?”
“Never mind. This way.”
Val Helena leads me through the crowded streets, and we pass a couple of people who wrinkle their noses at us. They must be players, because I overhear one of them mutter something derogatory about gamers as she eyeballs me.
“You come here a lot?” I ask Val Helena, still a bit awestruck by her transformation from towering half-giant Paladin, to supersized hot soccer mom.
“Not if I can help it. It’s not really my thing.” She grins down at me. “But I do try to look the part when I’m here. As much as a half-giant can, anyway.”
“Why half-giant, by the way? Not a lot of people go for them.”
She shrugs. “Occupational hazard. When you’re a guild leader, it helps to be the biggest thing in the room. Especially when you’re a tank.”
I can’t argue with the logic, and hope my puny size doesn’t cause issues later.
We pass a few more players who are dressed like prostitutes, and I get a sick feeling in my stomach. Is this where Mom spends most of her time, as well? The idea has me praying that I don’t somehow run into her in here.
We finally enter a clothing store, and Val Helena starts browsing through the racks.
“How old are you, anyway?”
“17,” I say.
“And where’s the date?”
“Her house. I’m coming over for dinner.”
“Hmmm,” she says, still flipping through the rack, which spins to reveal a never-ending assortment of clothes. “Parents will be involved, then. Good to know.”
She motions to a raised, circular platform that is partially enclosed by a set of three mirrors. “Go stand in the preview booth.”
I do so, and my Ninja outfit vanishes to be replaced by a set of well-cut jeans, a polo shirt, and a nice-looking belt with brown shoes. “Wow. Nice.”
Val Helena gives an approving nod. “I think that looks good on you.”
“You think so?” I say, checking myself out in the mirrors.
“Very much.”
“Thanks.” I turn back to her. “How is this supposed to help me, exactly? I need clothes in real life. Am I supposed to try to match this in the retail stores, or something?”
“You don’t need to,” Val Helena says. “It’s all the same code. Just save your preview and you can send it to your nano-processor to print.”
“What?” I had no idea that was even possible. “So, I could make my Ninja outfit if I wanted to?”
She shrugs. “I wouldn’t recommend going on your date in it, but yeah.”
I laugh at that. “Wow. Thanks so much for this, Val. I would’ve had to ask my mom for help without you.”
That gets me a goddess laugh. “Hey, I’m probably not that far in age from her, so don’t go thinking you got a better deal.”
“What? How old are you?”
She gives me an eye roll. “Never ask a woman that question, Reece. Never.”
She saunters over to me
and inspects me with another approving smile. “You look good, though. If you’re half this good-looking in real life, Gilly’s a lucky girl indeed.”
I laugh and blush at that. It hadn’t crossed my mind yet, but I wonder what Gilly will look like in real life. The default avatar is basically a copy of you, but you can alter it. The fact that I hadn’t really altered mine, save for my body, gives me a bit of hope that Gilly might think I’m attractive the way Val Helena does.
“Thanks, Val,” I say, and give her a great big hug. “You’re the best!”
She ruffles my hair. “Knock ‘em dead, tiger.”
* * *
After a couple hours of well-needed sleep, I put my Sheeba’s Fang up for auction. It sells almost immediately. I net 237,500 after the 5% fee, and the credits drop into my personal account. Part of me wonders if I could have sold it for even higher, but 250k was 50k above all the offers I’d already gotten, so I’m satisfied that I got a pretty good deal. To think I just made so much money blows my mind a bit. But now I have to spend some, as well.
The outfit Val Helena picked out for me comes to around 17k when I drag it to the nano-processor for a quote. I verify a couple of options to make sure it’s set to fit my body and not my character’s, and then check to make sure Mom is still online and in her rig before I hit print. Not that I want to hide this from her. After our talk earlier, I actually can’t wait to tell her that I have a date with a real girl. But I want to surprise her with it by dressing up first. I’m about to hit confirm when I remember something else: the Plush Sheeba toy. That would make a great gift for Gilly!
I wonder if it will work the way Val Helena said.
I pull up my character inventory and drag the item along with my clothes to try it. My total jumps to 19k. All right! It works. I hit confirm and the items begin to print. But then an odd message pops up.
[Due to excessive recent hard purchases, this account has been placed on a temporary hard credit limit of 10,000cr per day for security reasons. Virtual transactions remain unrestricted. Thank you.]
What the heck . . . ?
I’ve never seen anything like that before, but then again, I’ve never really shopped much before, either. Maybe buying the hoodie and tech visor last night, along with this outfit today, triggered some kind of anti-fraud mechanism. At least it allowed me to get my outfit for now. I would have been out of luck if that limit had kicked in earlier. It said temporary, so it’s probably just a 24-hour thing. But that’s okay. I’m not planning to buy any more clothes in that time. In-game gear is expensive enough, but real life clothing is astronomical.
I log out and grab my stuff off the printer with help from Mutt and Jeff, just in case Mom decides to log out right when I’m doing it. I then get dressed and send Mom a message that I have something I need to tell her.
I hobble to the living room and wait with butterflies in my stomach as she slowly takes off her rig. When she does, I give her a big, “Ta-dah!”
She looks bewildered. “What’s going on?”
“I got a date, Ma,” I say with a big goofy grin, showing off my new threads.
She stares at me a moment more, and then laughs, still looking confused. “What?”
“A date, Mom,” I say again. “With this girl Gilly that I know from in-game. She invited me over to her parents’ house for dinner tonight. So I bought a new outfit. What do you think?”
She still looks like she can’t believe it. Then she claps both hands over her nose and mouth. I see tears in her eyes, but I can’t tell if she’s happy or sad.
“Mom?”
She wipes her face quickly and laughs again. “Sorry. I just . . . wow. That’s great news, Ryan. And you look so handsome. I’m so happy for you! Tell me more about this girl.”
I give her the short version on Gilly, careful to leave out any parts that might lead to questions about my present circumstances. It probably doesn’t matter, anyway. Mom seems so thrilled that I’ve made a real-life friend—and a girl one, at that—that she’d probably be okay if I told her Gilly was a serial killer.
But then her glow fades a little when she asks, “Does she know about your—?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say quickly. “She knows about Mutt and Jeff.” Technically, anyway.
Her smile returns. “Oh, this is just so great, honey. You’re growing up so fast! Come over here.”
I do, and she gives me the biggest, longest hug ever. So long, I start to wonder if she’s ever going to let me go. “This has been the best surprise ever,” she says finally. “Come on . . . I’ll walk you there. I’d like to meet this young lady.”
Uh oh!
“Come on, Mom,” I tease her. “How’s it going to look? Me showing up to a date with a beautiful woman already on my arm?”
She chuckles. “Okay, I won’t cramp your style, you charmer, you. But maybe Mike could—”
“Mom!”
“All right, all right . . .” she relents. “I get it. You’re 17. I’m sure you can operate the lift by yourself. What’s her address, so I can check up on you in case it gets late?”
I tell her, and she whistles. “Level 322? Sounds like a keeper.”
“Mom!”
“Okay, you have fun.”
“I will.”
“Oh, have you seen Mike, by the way?”
My mood instantly sours as I’m reminded of my dilemma, but I put on a smile. “Yeah, he sent me a message earlier. He’s cool.”
Her smile returns, and I hobble away before she can ask any more questions.
* * *
The ride down to Level 322 takes longer than I expected. The car stops about five times to let people on and off, especially so when it reaches the main hub at Level 100. When I finally exit the elevator some 20 minutes later, I think I’ve been transported to somewhere inside Crystal Shards.
A hologram is projected onto the roof of the tunnel, giving the illusion of a twilit sky. Trees, grass, and a fountain form a park that runs down the center of the tunnel. I’m sure they can’t be real, but they look pretty great to me either way. On either side of the park are walkways that lead to the habs lining the tunnel walls, but the hatches are spaced super far apart here. Where most levels have over a hundred habs per tunnel, this one looks to have maybe twenty, at most.
I stash Mutt and Jeff close to the lift, and then my stomach starts doing flip-flops as I head toward hab number 12. Crazy thoughts enter my mind. Like, what if Gilly looks nothing like her character? What if she’s ugly, and I’m not attracted to her? What if she’s not attracted to me? It’s all superficial, I know, but still. What happens if the sparks don’t fly in real life?
The thought is almost enough to make to contemplate calling it off. Is reality worth shattering the illusion? But then I remember I’m here for a much bigger reason. I need to tell Gilly about what I saw with my brother last night, and explain why my timetable just got moved up to the extreme.
I reach number 12 and steel myself as I press the buzzer for the door.
Nervous seconds go past, until finally, the hatch opens.
Gilly is standing there.
My heart soars with relief when I see she looks almost exactly like her character, right down to the green eyes! She’s a bit shorter maybe, but then, so am I. Her haircut is similar to her avatar’s, and her smile is irrefutably hers.
“Reece?” she says cautiously.
I almost forget how to speak. “Um . . . yes! It’s me. Reece, or Ryan.”
An awkward pause takes hold as we gawk at one another. I notice she’s in an actual dress, and that it looks brilliant on her. She never wears dresses in-game. She has makeup on, too. And her hair is shiny, like she’s just had it styled. Perhaps this is what she’s been doing all day.
“You look even better in person,” she says finally, and I see an all too familiar grin that assures me I’m talking to the same Gilly I’ve spent over a zillion hours with in-game.
It breaks the ice, and I laugh. “I was going to
say the same thing. Wow. You look great!”
“Come on in!” she says, and pulls the hatch wide open.
As I enter, I feel like I’ve been transported to Crystal Shards for a second time. Gilly’s living room must be as big as my whole house! Faux-hardwood floors, synthetic window lighting, and that’s just the room itself. Inside it are a couple of black leather couches, sat around a glass coffee table, and to the back of the room, a fireplace glows with what I assume is another hologram. Then again, with what I’ve seen thus far, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were real, too.
“Wow . . .” I say, unable to contain myself.
It must embarrass Gilly a little, because she shrugs sheepishly. “Yeah . . . my mom likes to shop.”
“Oh,” I say, eager to get off the topic. “That reminds me. I got you something.”
I present her with the Plush Sheeba doll I’ve been hiding behind my back.
Her big green eyes light up, and she squeals. “Awww! It’s so cute! Thank you!”
Gilly throws her arms around me in a hug. We’ve hugged in-game before, but it’s never felt quite like this. I can feel her weight against me, and even her heartbeat, though I’m probably feeling more of my own. She pulls away and hugs the doll. “How did you know I loved cats?”
“What?” I say. “Don’t all girls love cats?”
She snickers.
“It’s a drop, actually. I got it earlier today. I soloed Sheeba!”
“Sheeba?” Her mouth drops open a little. “You mean an LM?”
I nod, grinning like a fool. “I’ll tell you all about—”
“So, is this the young man?” a woman’s voice interrupts me.
I turn to see a middle-aged couple entering the room. Gilly’s mom and dad. Gilly’s mother looks like an older version of her, with a touch of silver to her dark hair. She greets me with a handshake. “So nice to meet you—Reece, was it?”
“Sure, yes, Reece is fine.”