Sanctum

by Matthew Powell

  Searching for random safe area…

  Random safe area found!

  Respawning…

  There was a flash of light, and Joshua appeared in what looked like a half-destroyed video game store. There were racks of rotted cases lining the walls, posters that were either in tatters or too faded to make out and a counter with a register and a cashier standing behind it.

  Wait, a cashier?

  You have been respawned at an item shop! Item shops are universal safe areas that can only be changed or destroyed in special circumstances. Attempting combat in universal safe areas carries no punishment but all attacks will deal no damage. Item shops will carry goods appropriate for the level of the surrounding area and use either the local currency or credits.

  Joshua was starting to get a headache at the amount of information being presented to him. It had only been a few hours, but Macrocosm already had so many systems to explore. The item shop clerk was staring at him with wide eyes, clearly not expecting someone to respawn in the middle of his store.

  Shopkeeper

  Tier: N/A

  Level: N/A

  HP: N/A

  So, not only was the shop a safe area, but the shopkeeper himself was also immune from harm. It was a little immersion breaking, but Joshua understood the need for such things, especially on a world as underpopulated and desolate as this one. Despite the staring, it looked like the shopkeeper wouldn’t talk unless spoken to. Not having any money and preferring not to spend his credits, Joshua headed out the front doors into the parking lot.

  Joshua was greeted with the sight of a massive parking lot, half-filled with broken-down cars. The item shop was in the middle of an abandoned strip-mall, reminiscent of those he had seen in history books. Walking down to the next store, he looked in through the windows. It was some kind of shoe store, big enough for zombies to hide in the aisles. Just because the item shop was a safe zone didn’t mean that the mall surrounding it would be too, and he wasn’t going to assume it was.

  The door at the front was jammed shut, but it was nothing that a bit of struggling didn’t fix. Walking inside, Joshua’s suspicions were immediately confirmed. A zombie walker rose up from behind one of the checkout desks near the entrance and immediately lunged towards him. Unfortunately for the zombie, Joshua had already dealt with plenty of its kind.

  It went down with a single swing of Joshua’s knife, its head flying. These small fries simply weren’t a threat anymore, and they didn’t give enough EXP to be worth killing. At least, not unless there were enough of them. The zombie’s body had hit the ground with a wet smack, and the sound was already drawing others from around the store. Joshua could already spot six zombies shuffling towards him, two crawling on the ground, and he could hear more in the back. It wasn’t ideal, but it was exactly what he needed.

  Rather than try and come up with a plan or some battle tactic, Joshua jumped right into the fight. He ran up to the first zombie and took its head with a single slash, decapitating it just like the first one. The process repeated over and over, Joshua never taking more than two hits to kill any single zombie. A few of them managed to scratch or bite him, but nothing dealt more than single-digit damage.

  There were nearly 13 zombies in the store and killing all of them had only taken a few minutes. The EXP from them had been meager, not even a quarter of a level, but if killing them like this was more efficient than taking the time to hunt down more Defaced. The Defaced may give more than a dozen times as much EXP, but that didn’t matter when he could kill several dozen zombies in the time it took to find one. They were also great for increasing his Pestilence amount, with his total rising to 25.

  Total Pestilence has crossed the first threshold!

  For reaching 25 total Pestilence, Filth has granted you a minor blessing of your choice. You may choose one permanent bonus, only changeable by dropping your maximum Pestilence back below the threshold and re-earning it.

  -Efficiency: Requires slightly less Pestilence for all abilities.

  -Power: Slightly increases the effectiveness of all combat-related abilities.

  -Growth: Slightly increases the amount of Pestilence absorbed from slain enemies, slightly increases the learning rate of all Pestilence skills.

  Joshua had almost forgotten about the blessings he could gain for increasing his Pestilence. Choosing power seemed rather worthless, given that his only two Pestilence abilities were not combat-related. Efficiency could prove useful if it increased the exchange rate of Pestilence Sacrifice, but probably wouldn’t be enough to make it useful anytime soon.

  Regardless of the other choices, Joshua had already decided on Growth the moment he had seen it. Everything he had chosen, from his race to his class to his gear, was all built around growing as powerful as possible in the long-term, in exchange for being weaker right now. Growth fit that mindset perfectly, and he was determined to go all-in on long term strength.

  Minor Blessing of Growth received!

  Next Blessing: 100 Maximum Pestilence

  With the store cleared, blessing received, and still not a single piece of loot in sight, Joshua headed back out into the parking lot to make his way towards the next store. When he stepped outside, he noticed something shuffling out in the parking lot between the cars. Getting an idea, he took the handle of his knife and bashed it against one of the shoe store windows.

  It shattered, and the sound of breaking glass filled the parking lot. Almost instantly, dark shapes started rising to see what had disturbed them. Dozens of zombies, more than he had killed before now in total, started making their way towards him. Rather than be worried or afraid, an ear-splitting grin broke out on Joshua’s face

  Finding this many zombies was, with his current strength, like walking into an all-you-can-eat buffet.

  Chapter 7

  Item shops were a controversial topic among the development team. Of course, Macrocosm has an in-depth crafting system and a player-driven economy, and some of our team like it that way, but others felt that players just starting the game could be pushed out by more experienced players hogging the market. Item shops don’t sell anything high-quality, and they don’t exist at all in high-level areas, so any impact they have on the economy is minimal and short-lasting. – On Macrocosm mechanics, from the Chronicles of The Founder

  ◆◆◆

  They fell like wheat. Joshua could feel his strength grow with every kill as his Pestilence climbed higher and higher. Every time he brought down his knife, another zombie collapsed. For the first time in the hours since he had started, Joshua fell into the rhythm that all professional item sellers inevitably found. Killing weak monsters one after another, quickly and efficiently, to make the most possible profit. The minutes flew by as the zombies fell, and before he knew it the parking lot was empty.

  The EXP he had lost from dying so recently was forgotten, and Joshua started to see his death as a sort of blessing. He was running out of enemies to kill anyway and had no clue if the other buildings near the office complex would have had enough zombies to be worth hunting. This strip mall, on the other hand, was the best hunting ground he could have asked for.

  The massacre pushed him up to level 4, with a good deal extra towards level 5, before the zombie horde ran out of bodies to throw at him. Searching through their remains, Joshua finally found his first real piece of loot. Sitting on top of a corpse, giving off a slight sparkle, was a health potion.

  It was an Extreme Low-Quality potion, the same kind he had gotten from the Moaner, but it was still good to see. This proved that the normal zombies could drop items, although at an extremely low rate. The Defaced probably had a higher drop-rate, being much stronger, but he still hadn’t found enough of them to prove anything.

  Joshua chugged the potion immediately, healing the few scratches and tears that the horde had managed to inflict. He had taken less than the 100 total damage that the potion could feel, and felt a little bad about wasting it, but he couldn’t be bothered to care
. Nothing this weak would be valuable enough to keep, and he was getting strong enough that 100HP didn’t mean much anymore.

  The biggest rewards from the fight, other than the level, was the Pestilence. The Blessing was already starting to show its value, with his total Pestilence shooting all the way up to 40. Joshua had been dumping his excess Pestilence into his knife whenever he got the chance, and the extra point of regeneration meant the knife could advance even faster.

  Moving on from the parking lot, Joshua started clearing out the rest of the strip mall’s stores. There were over a dozen of them, in a long line, with a large supercenter on the far end. The item shop he had spawned at was at the opposite end of the mall, in the very last spot. Joshua started clearing the buildings out one-by-one, happy to have a clear path to follow.

  Joshua cleared out two small shops and a rundown Chinese buffet before finding his first non-zombie enemy. Walking into another generic storefront, too damaged to identify what was sold there, he was surprised to not find a single zombie in sight. Instead, a Defaced walked out from one of the backrooms when it heard him wandering around.

  A jolt of anxiety ran up Joshua’s spine when he saw the Defaced. He knew it was no match for him, being only level 6, but the memory of recent death was still fresh in his mind. Rather than treat the Defaced as a special encounter or dangerous threat, Joshua decided to approach the fight in a more clinical manner.

  The Defaced charged him, screeching loudly. Rather than panic or charge himself, Joshua took up a stance and prepared to meet it. He could take a few hits without losing too much health, and that meant he could take his time and observe the Defaced’s movements. He needed to understand how to kill Defaced quickly and efficiently if he wanted to farm them like zombies.

  The Defaced closed the distance and started taking slashes with its claws. Joshua dodged as well as he could, but the monster was still slightly faster than he was. He was forced to block some of the slashes with his arms, taking long gashes down them as he backed up. Joshua brought his knife up, trying to parry the Defaced’s next swipe, just to have it back off at the last second.

  After a few minutes of this, Joshua started noticing a few patterns in the monster’s movements. It never tried to stab him or bite him, only take slashes. He knew they could stab, he had discovered that the hard way, but it looked like they wouldn’t try to unless it was an ambush. In a similar situation, while he wasn’t willing to confirm it, they probably wouldn’t bite unless their arms were pinned or there was no other way to attack.

  More useful than those two things was the Defaced’s fear. It was afraid of the knife and pulled its claws back every time Joshua tried to block with it. If he held the knife out in front of himself, it would refuse to attack entirely. The moment he tried to stab or slash with it, the monster would either jump out of the way or attack itself.

  It had only taken a few minutes of observation, but Joshua found himself wondering why he had ever had trouble with these monsters. They were fast, and they hurt, but they were stupid. Their movements were easy to track, once he adapted to them. Once Joshua decided to fight back, the Defaced didn’t stand a chance.

  Joshua feinted a slash from the right, and the Defaced reacted exactly as he predicted. It brought its own right claw up, attempting to slash him from the left. Joshua reached out with his left hand, grabbing the Defaced’s arm and holding it in place. With a firm grip on the monster, Joshua started stabbing.

  Once, twice, three times. Three stabs into the collar and neck area brought the monster down, taking barely a few seconds once Joshua decided to start fighting back. He had taken nearly a third of his HP in damage while learning its attack patterns, but at this point, Joshua was confident he could kill any similar Defaced with barely any risk. So long as he avoided ambushes and critical strikes, he would tear through them.

  The kill, along with the other store’s zombies, had given enough EXP to let Joshua reach level 5 and bring his Pestilence up to 50. He had made more progress in the last half hour of clearing out the mall than in all the time spent inside the office building. The gains were meaningless and less, unfortunately, as the EXP requirement kept increasing.

  Reaching level 6 would take another 500EXP, nearly a hundred zombies worth. While he could kill them quickly, the requirement was only going to keep increasing. Eventually, they wouldn’t be worth killing, let alone hunting. Joshua knew that was an inevitability as he began to out-level enemies, but he had hoped that this easy grind would last a bit longer.

  The next few stores posed similar threats, a few more zombies and a small handful of Defaced. Joshua cleared the entire strip mall of all threats before reaching the supercenter at the end, still not reaching level 6 at the end. When he finally reached the entrance to the supercenter, he a more than a little surprised with what he found.

  The glass sliding doors were clean. Looking inside, he could see a few zombies roaming the massive aisles, but nothing too major of a threat. It was the notification that appeared when he tried to enter that surprised him.

  Dungeon: Zombie Mall

  Difficulty Level: Tier 2

  Recommended group size: 3+

  Joshua knew that Macrocosm had some sort of dungeon system. It was one of the few things that had appeared in beta footage. Finding one this early was unexpected and unfortunate. He was the appropriate class tier for it, sure, but it recommended a group of three or more people. What’s more, it was most likely balanced around someone with a normal tier 2 class, not someone who started as a zombie and was weaker as a result.

  Despite his rapid growth, Joshua estimated he was still slightly weaker than a normal player just starting out. His movements, while faster and more coordinated, were still slightly worse than in real life. Of course, he hadn’t found another player to test this theory on, but he wasn’t confident in his ability to solo a dungeon meant for a party.

  Having hit a brick wall and not sure what to do next, Joshua decided it was time to take a short break. He brought up his menu and logged out. The process took a moment to complete, scanning the area for hostiles to make sure it was safe before darkness overtook him. Joshua opened his eyes a second later, laying down on his bed in his apartment.

  Taking a quick look at his digital clock, he saw that it was 3 AM. All the fighting and exploring he had done had taken place in just three hours. Despite the nonstop action, Joshua felt as if he was waking up from a short nap. Either a side-effect or a feature of whatever the brain implant did to let him play Macrocosm, most likely.

  Joshua grabbed a quick meal from his small apartment kitchen. Just a few nutrient bars, nothing too tasty or expensive. The nutrient bars weren’t exactly appetizing, but three of them a day was very cheap and provided exactly what a grown adult needed to function. The cost and nutritional value led to these bars being eaten around the world, completely ending world hunger over a century ago. Joshua had enough money to splurge on something better if he wanted but figured it would be better not to spend more until he had a decent income stream. Plus, it’s not like the bars tasted bad. They were just a little too filling without enough flavor.

  Stomach filled, Joshua laid back down on his bed and prepared to dive back into Macrocosm. He had every intention of spending almost every possible minute growing stronger. With luck and perseverance, even with his weak start, he could probably overtake the average player in just a few days. Until then he couldn’t afford to slow down, but a few minutes here and there wouldn’t be the end of the world.

  Joshua decided to check the Macrocosm forums while he was outside of the game. It had only been a few hours, but there were already tens of thousands of people discussing what they had found. Most of it was close to what Joshua had predicted, but it was nice to have actual numbers to judge.

  The average player started at level 1 with a tier 1 class, just as expected, but even the squishy mage and other caster tier 1 classes started at 1000HP. Being a zombie had been a much bigger disadvantage than he
had anticipated. Classes built around frontline fighting and tanking damage could start at 2000HP or more, and almost all of them came with beginner weapons and armor. He had started with nothing.

  Joshua was tempted to start over from scratch, with a normal race and class. It would hurt, but he was good enough to make up a three-hour handicap. He shrugged off the temptation; he had come this far, and he wasn’t going to turn back now. Besides, they may start stronger, but if he kept this up it was only a matter of time before he caught up and surpassed them. Not seeing much more interesting in the forums, Joshua decided it was time to get back to work. He laid his head back, and everything went dark.

  Entering Macrocosm…

  Alert! Tier 4 monster detected near logoff point!

  Based on your current level and tier, odds of your death within a minute of spawning are determined to be greater than 90%. If you wish, you will instead be spawned at the nearest inhabited location. The nearest inhabited location is a hostile human settlement, but your chances of survival are significantly higher regardless.

  That was…unfortunate, to say the least. For the first time, Joshua was presented with a choice that gave him pause. The town it wanted to spawn him in was most likely Grace, the town that his death notification has said it would spawn him at. Spawning there definitely had some advantages, such as not dying horribly to some powerful monster, but it had some big downsides. Primarily was the threat of other players, which he wanted to avoid until he was stronger.