The Land of Trademark Online

by Nikolai Chekhov

  “Wha—?” The question died on my lips.

  “Your home is one of the few places you can customize however you want, including modern amenities. Defying the theme of whatever realm you are in.”

  “So I could purchase items from the Sci-Fi realm?”

  “You’d need to have an [Auction House] terminal, and you’d need to visit that realm first. The good thing about the bigger genre realms is that it’s easy to get in on a [World Boss] kill, so you could get in and out pretty quickly if you wanted to open that tab on your auction terminal.” Dr. Soulstoner summoned a recliner that had seen better days; however, it looked much more comfortable than my wooden desk chair. “If you kill the [World Boss] here, be very careful which realm you go to next. Remember, to leave you’ll need to kill the boss. I’d go to a larger realm after this and find a [Writer’s Guild] that offers realm runs. They’ll run through a bunch of realms and kill the world bosses. Then you can travel between the ones you’ve opened.

  “This room is the one constant space you own, which is why I expanded it for you. Since you’ll be living in the machine, I suggest you do something more with this place.”

  “I can see the benefit, just lack imagination. The room is already better than anything I’d ever had before. How about we start with you teaching me how to upgrade it, and can I put training equipment in here?”

  Not that I gave a shit because I didn’t plan on spending a lot of time in this room. This life was already better than my previous one, and I never wanted to feel confined again. Psychologically speaking, this room felt constricting, as if my world kept shrinking. I wasn’t about to play little Miss Holly Housewife, but I liked the idea of having a—what did Americans call it? Man-cave?

  “Yes, you can add training devices and dummies. Think or say ‘Edit Home’ to access your control panel. The words can vary; it’s more about the intention than the actual words.

  Edit home. I thought, and time froze. My room came up with a three-dimensional grid. The number of options was overwhelming, and each listing had two types of pricing, [Material] or [SOL Points]. I had to read through several menus to understand how that worked and learned that [SOL] meant ‘Slice of Life.’

  I wanted to see how to expand my living space and initially thought about an open floorplan or a warehouse. I did not want to feel trapped. Balconies were an option, or turning it into an ancient Greek courtyard, but that was beyond my means. Expanding upward or downward also provided the potential for more open space. Ohhh, I could create a wizard’s tower.

  I closed out the windows because it was too much. Right now the room was about forty square meters. Expanding my space increased with each purchase, and in its current iteration, doubling the size again would cost over three thousand [SOL Points]. The exchange rate was one [SOL] point for every three [Tokens of Acclimation]. Adding another floor cost 2,500 SOL, which wasn’t horrible, but the new level started at five square meters initially. Every floor after that doubled in price. It would take a long time to build a wizard tower.

  “Intimidating right?” Dr. Soulstoner was smiling at me. “I’ll give you one more upgrade. What do you want?”

  “Another floor,” I said immediately, but then wondered if I should go the more expensive route and double my space again.

  “Up or down and do you want stairs or a ladder?”

  “Down. And stairs would take too much space—”

  “Stairs only take away from your space if you put them in the middle of your room. Little pro tip for you, create a doorway on one of your walls and attach the stairs to that, then attach the new room to the end of those. Like so…” The doc made several waves and twists with his hands, and the stairs down appeared near the left corner of the north wall. “If you build upward, I’d dedicate a location for a stairwell. At least until you can afford [Portals], which work more like elevators.”

  “Why are you doing this? What is bothering you?” The doc’s behavior was off, but not necessarily in a bad way.

  The doctor looked up and completed the changes before answering me. “My daughter hasn’t talked to me since I uploaded her. Recently, she contacted me because of you. Well—indirectly because of you. It’s complicated. I also feel guilty for how I treated you and realized I might have come off as a dick. You aren’t much younger than my daughter, and I can’t even imagine what kind of parent sells off a child, much less what you are going through.”

  “I’m fine with it because I have another chance at life. My family doesn’t give a shit about me and used dozens of passive techniques to kill me. At some point, I wanted to die, just to make them happy; how messed up is that? However, I’m here, I’m alive, and I’m looking forward to my digital life.”

  “Just because you accept it, doesn’t make it right.” Dr. Soulstoner pushed the words out through grit teeth. “I will help you, no strings attached. If my daughter dies because of the powers in charge that isn’t on you, and I should never have put it on you.”

  “So the evil mad scientist has a heart,” I tried to lighten the mood, but it came out awkward and confused the situation more than defused it. “That came out wrong.”

  “It’s apt. I’ve done a lot of things that aren’t what I’d call ethical.” The doc frowned, and I felt terrible. Should have kept my mouth shut.

  “You know doc; life never gave me ideal circumstances. Sometimes you need to accept the reality you are given and improve upon it when you can.”

  “You sure you are just a kid? Anyway, busy day, need to save a dying kid, you might know him… Anyway, complete the dungeon, maybe even visit the [Infinite Depths] while you are here, it’s Lit Dungeo’s seat of power. Rumor is that all dungeons connect to it somehow, and it exists in all realms. What I can confirm is that it is a dungeon without end. A procedurally generated dungeon system, way too complex for this human to fully understand it.”

  “That sounds like a place worth visiting, but if it is in all realms, how does it account for gear used?”

  “Instanced dungeons populate the areas with different creatures and loot. Anyway, you have four days to do what you like here. Once you reach the Stone Place—”

  “What or where is that?”

  “You are such a newb. The Stone Place is his personal area. I hesitate to call it a castle, but there is a keep. The wall that goes around it connects to the front of the cathedral, so it’s not the most secure place since you could walk through the church to get to the inner courtyard.

  “Near the [Stone Place] is the [Bad Seed Inn] which is where you will stay while you are there. Everyone calls the city the Kongdom Proper, but only because they refuse to call it [Sab]. Before you ask—it’s short for Streets and Buildings, and no, I’m not joking.”

  “Stone Place? Just follow the Dirt Road, and look for the Grassy Knoll, the Stone Place is near the Wet River.”

  “You joke, but his books are just as bad. I think he doesn’t know how to title things. He’s titled his books The Sea, The Sand, The Boulder, The Tree, and my favorite is The Grass.”

  “What does the Father look like? Would I recognize him?”

  “In your country, have you heard of the pro wrestler ‘The Rock’ or Dwayne Johnson?”

  “Sure, he is famous worldwide.”

  “Well imagine we locked the Rock in a Twinkie factory for a year and that’s all he ate. That is what the Father looks like; you can’t miss him. When he isn’t in his robes with cut off sleeves, he also enjoys wearing argyle sweater vests…”

  I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Picturing a fat Rock in an argyle sweater was too much, and Dr. Soulstoner laughed with me.

  “Haven’t laughed in a while. Listen, I might have exaggerated a little, but the guy gets under my skin. So let me emphasize once more—do not trust him. The man’s only loyalty is to power and control, and you have neither. On that note, I have to get back.”

  “What about my body?”

  “You—it’s not good. It’s why you won’t see me
for the next four days. If your body survives another month, I’d be surprised. We had to cut away one of your legs because of your Leprosy.”

  “When did I get that?”

  “New development. No matter what, if your body fails I’ll work on getting you into the system like my daughter. You’ll be safe, and your brain is surprisingly unaffected by the things ravaging your body. Also, the Father did one good thing. Sending all those people into comas gave me a lot of data on how the brain links to the system, and I’m closer than ever on figuring out how to upload you permanently.”

  “Got it.” No emotion escaped me because I refused to acknowledge hope. The letdown of misplaced optimism was much harder to handle than accepting my mortality. You won’t find that nugget of wisdom on a Hallmark card.

  Dr. Soulstoner frowned, and I thought he would say something. Instead, he faded out, and left me alone in my sizeable empty room. The doc left the recliner which was as comfortable as it seemed even if it was beat to hell and ratty looking.

  In the downstairs section, I ordered a few tables and pulled out all the supplies that were in my [Bag of Holding]. There was a lot of crafting supplies, some standard gear, and a growing pile of gold. I left the zombie cows, the potions, and half the gold in my bag.

  After dumping my inventory into the storage area, I opened the edit window. A few options later, I labeled it as storage. My menus changed and provided more options. Resources were now available to use in place of [SOL Points], which made it easier to decide on upgrades.

  First, I created a door for the stairs with a simple room lock. It required that I set permissions for anyone that wanted to enter it and was better than a bank vault door. Next, I created a bigger bed, and then a wall partition a section as my bedroom. Added a kitchen area—more of a kitchenette—because the game required that I eat. Then on the opposite side of the room, I added a training dummy and some exercise equipment.

  Still feeling caged, I added in large bay windows on three of the walls. Each window aligned with a side of the inn, and I could view the streets below in real time. It was a nice surprise, like having a surveillance system. The windows made it feel less constricting and relieved my growing anxiety. I wanted a balcony cost too much for now. There was a way to add items to a shopping list, which was a feature of the interface. It allowed me to reserve resources for it so I didn’t accidentally spend them.

  Lastly, I ordered a few magically glowing spheres that would adhere to any surface. They were adjustable, so I could create any color lighting and increase or decrease the brightness. The only issue was that these spheres could not leave my living space. It would have been nice to bring them with me into a dungeon.

  The room still felt empty. Sure the walls were bare, and furniture was mostly nonexistent, but I liked it. My upgrades burned through twenty-five percent of the materials on hand. Not to mention the [Tokens of Acclimation] I used.

  It was time to introduce myself to Sonya, the Redd Eden.

  Chapter 28

  Location: Sharmon

  Passing through the inn, I stepped out onto Inner Course lane and paused. A side effect of my secluded life was the inability to know what things like breathtaking meant. I’d read tons of books, but seeing and imaging are not the same. The Cherry Blossom trees had burned themselves into my mind, registering as an impression not soon forgotten. Pink leaves drifted down in the setting sun’s light. The grove felt unreal or ethereal, and I hoped the moment lasted forever.

  It did not last. The sun finished dropping behind the horizon, and the ethereal quality went with it. The grove made it impossible to see to the far side of the horseshoe, and I stepped into the forest not wasting any more time gawking. I scooped up as many of the leaves as I could. The doc said they were good for antidotes and my bag would preserve them indefinitely. Who would pass up a free consumable? I spotted a road that wound through the trees to a walled estate, beyond that I saw nothing else. A mystery for another time.

  I turned back from the grove and felt my face burning with embarrassment. Enraptured by the trees, I noticed nothing else.

  Brothels, opulent houses of ill repute, lined Inner Course lane. Women and men called out to potential customers, luring people in with their siren’s call. All of them were in various stages of undress, exposing things I’d only seen in Penthouse. The magazines were from the 70s, and the women did not groom like these people did. I found it hard not to stare.

  “Clever,” I muttered. “Intercourse lane.”

  “I disagree. It is more of that ignorant drivel you call puns,” Butter said from beside me. I nearly pissed myself because I had not seen him there. “This town has the best red-light district in the realm. Each person is tested, cured, and cleaned. More than that, they have two binding enchantments on them, the first prevents pregnancy, and the second prevents them from discussing a client. That doesn’t mean they won’t stab you to death or rob you blind, so you still need to watch your back. You are on the rich side too, which means they are all required to have a courtesan type class. The west side is wilder; never know what you’ll get.”

  “That’s okay; I don’t—”

  “I know, you have a girlfriend,” Butter grinned at me.

  “That isn’t what I was going to say,” I frowned at the thief. “I have an errand I need to run, so I don’t have time to… uh, partake.”

  “Well I’m off, I will see you in the morning,” Butter said and without waiting for a response approached one of the brothels. “Don’t wait up.”

  Following the directions of Daws, I followed Inner Course to the tip of the northeast arm.

  There was only one surprise on the way. The brothel offered beastkin, but I did not recognize half the animal types among them. One, in particular, caught my attention. Her fur looked softer than cashmere. When I went to touch her, her entire body responded. The hair stood on end, reaching out towards my palm.

  Shit tits, that’s neat.

  “Ten gold, and you can have me for the night.” She practically purred at me, and I could hear myself gulping. The way she did it nearly hypnotized me. I would have handed her all my coin had I not physically felt my brain resist her charm.

  “Don’t know what you did, but stop, please. I’m looking for Sonya, the Redd Eden. Can you tell me where I might find her?” I slipped up and used Sonya’s title.

  The moment Redd Eden came out of my mouth, the beastkin woman pulled her camisole tighter, and I felt more than heard her hissing. But she pointed, and I followed her finger to the house at the end of the road.

  “I—thanks. You really are something special,” I told her and walked away blushing.

  [Flirting +1]

  A few minutes later, I approached the [Chateau d’Lewd].

  Stone pillars with a massive metal gate between them blocked the path to Sonya’s house. Upon closer inspection, I saw the symbol of the [Order of the Dragon] burning deep within the pillars. It would not be visible to normal eyes, but my sensitivity to heat meant that I could see and sense it. The rune was old magic and burned with such intensity I wondered why more people weren’t drawn to it. Was it only meant for the Order to see?

  The stones were warm to the touch, but the heat did not escape the pillar. At that moment, I was glad I didn’t bring Butter or Amard. My eyes locked onto the symbol for a long time trying to figure out if it was something I could replicate.

  “It has been a long time since someone’s seen those markings,” A soft feminine voice said, startling me out of my concentration.

  “It’s beautiful,” I replied without turning. “We live our lives speeding past details and paying little attention to art and wonder why our lives have little meaning. When we find something worth noticing we try to discredit it, invalidate the skill it took to create it. Me? I’d love to leave a history, a legacy, a story worth knowing. I’m tired of living in the shadows.”

  Laughter, clear and melodious, broke my reverie. “I doubt the shadows can keep someone like y
ou hidden for long,” she responded.

  I turned and saw a woman that made my lungs seize and heart stop. A [Troll] with pink hair, ruby red lips, and dark blue skin stood there grinning. My eyes roamed her perfectly curved body. Her hand rested casually on her hip and from her feet to the tips of her ears she was a meter and a half tall. Not nearly as tall as me, but way more beautiful.

  “I shame myself,” I told her, and her smile slipped.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The mark. I called it beautiful but did not know what that meant until now.” The words tumbled past my lips, and the [Troll] turned a darker shade of blue as the blood rushed to her face.

  She leaned forward, her hands pressing against my chest, and kissed my cheek. Giggling, she stepped back and dragged me by my arm towards the estate. I could still feel her warm, soft lips on my cheek, and felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. Thankfully the woman didn’t look back.

  [Flirting +1]

  [Smooth Talking +1]

  “I’m Deuce. Would you be Sonya?” I asked and cut myself off before using her title. Redd Eden sounded way more badass than Sonya.

  “No, my name is Oksuna, but you can call me Sun. Sonya is my madam, and yes this is a brothel.”

  “So you…”

  “I do. Before you ask to know why you need to understand that my kind has few options. At least here I can control my destiny. Our madam does not force us to sleep with any man or woman we do not wish to be with and protects us against those that try to abuse us.”

  “It doesn’t change my view of you. I know what it is like to grow up in a situation without options and I would not dare criticize you for choices you were forced to make. It does not diminish you in my eyes, it elevates you. Tells me you are a survivor.”

  [Smooth Talking +1]

  “You are quite the sweet talker, stranger.” A woman spoke out, standing in the doorway to the brothel. “Now, how about one of you explain what is going on?”