by Cate Ryan
“Hello!” Isaac called loudly hurrying through the area. After the initial shock of seeing so many Stone Soldiers on the way back, Isaac had assured Taysia that even if the Stone Soldiers attacked Rolling Wave it wouldn’t matter. Everybody would be perfectly safe, they’d die and be back before they noticed they’d left. Taysia wondered, why that hadn’t happened. Where had everyone disappeared to? They’d been walking for ages since they saw the soldiers. The regeneration should have only taken a few minutes. Maybe it was taking longer with so many, but the servers should have been able to handle that with so many people playing. Plus, it would have brought some back by now. In a distant paddock the goats bleated happily, they had no idea of human troubles. A stark contrast to the noisy Headquarters of their breakfast that morning.
“Plato? Racquel?” They traipsed through the area waiting for any sign of movement.
It was Mack who finally found some, running for the bathroom he returned a few moments later with a very shocked looking Racquel in tow.
“Racquel?” Taysia questioned. The intimidating woman from the morning had shrunk back leaving only a scared looking shell behind. Her hair hung around her shoulders in damp waves that were littered with plant debris, her eyes pleading rather than stern.
“There were so many of them.” Racquel sank to the ground leaning against the side of the building.
“I was down in the gardens when I heard them get here. By the time I made it up to the main area most of us were dead. I figured everyone would start coming back soon but they haven’t yet. I tried to stay out of trouble. There were just too many of them. It would’ve been suicide.”
Isaac nodded. “We saw them on our way back. We hid in the forest.”
“But nobody has come back, it’s literally just you?”
Taysia was confused, terrified even, if she died in the game and didn’t come back it would be just like real life, only people here were way more likely to try to kill you than the ones in real life. With no consequences for bad behavior, Pantheon VR constituted a lawless world.
“We should get to tidying this place up. I’m sure it’s just a slight issue with the servers.”
Taysia nodded, secretly eyeing Racquel, wondering if the woman could handle much tidying at all.
A new quest popped up on her display.
[New Quest – Rebuild the Rolling Wave Headquarters (Hellas)
Reward – 100 XP]
[0/125 wood
0/130 stone
0/50 bone dust
0/12 weapons]
“Woah, that’s a lot of XP,” she couldn’t stop herself from saying it out loud.
“Haha, for you it might be.” Racquel seemed to have gotten the same message.
“Peanuts for the rest of us.” Isaac nodded his agreement.
That kind of XP would bump her up a bit for sure. She supposed like with many games it meant much more at lower levels. At higher levels the grind to the next one could take ages.
“Well, I suppose we best get started.” She sighed, the quest log cycled through.
It was going to be a long night.
I’ll grab a couple of axes. We’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way.
“If you’ve got somewhere you need to be Racquel, feel free to log out. We can handle this.”
Racquel shook her head. “Nah, I can help.”
Chapter 10
“Over here.” Racquel ushered the three of them into one of the training rooms.
“There’s a lot of blood in here.” She was pointing out the obvious with that one Taysia thought. The training room which had been painted a bright white when she’d been in there earlier had dark stains covering most of the surface.
Mack tugged at her arm. “This is where that thing that I saw them with came from. This is where I saw it.”
Taysia nodded. “Thanks Mack.”
“What do you think it means?”
Mack continued, “Why would they take something?”
Isaac had been wondering the same thing. “So, the real question is, did they come here to take the artifact, or did they come here to wipe us out and that was just a bonus thing?”
Taysia was about to answer then realized she had nothing useful to add and closed her mouth again.
“Well, I remember someone bringing that artifact thing in, but nobody could figure out what it was for, so we just left it there. The guy who found it stopped playing ages ago.”
Racquel looked impressed. “You really have been here since the beginning, haven’t you?”
“Day one, baby.”
Racquel laughed as Isaac made some kind of hand signal that would not have looked out of place in a museum.
“So, the Stone Soldiers came here, killed all our players, stole an artifact. We have no idea what the artifact does and none of our players have come back from the dead.”
“That about sums it up," Isaac agreed.
“Let’s finish tidying up tonight, then I think we need to head back to Athens tomorrow and see if we can find anything out about the artifact. I know a few people who have been around as long as I have, lots of them hang out in town. So maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Taysia nodded.
“Seems like a plan at least.”
They continued working, collecting wood, food and scrubbing at the blood stains until the headquarters looked new again. It was easier work than Taysia expected, the collecting took more time than anything else. Almost as if once they’d collected what they needed the system realized they were ready and helped the along a bit.
[Quest Complete – Rebuild the Rolling Wave Headquarters (Hellas)
Reward – 100 XP]
[125/125 wood
130/130 stone
50/50 bone dust
12/12 weapons]
[Congratulations – You have reached Level 08
You have unlocked FIREBALL
45 XP until next level]
Sweet, a new level. The sight of that message felt like the bell at the end of a long work day signaling it was finally time to jump into bed.
She pulled up the new abilities, she could guess what illusory wall did but was pleased to see that twins would create a copy of the person of her choice. It wouldn’t be a good copy, but it could be improved with time. She couldn’t wait to try it out.
“I’m gonna log off now,” Racquel told them. “Grab a few hours of real sleep before I come back. See you guys later.”
“Yeah, we’ll do the same in a minute,” Isaac chimed in with a response before Taysia had registered Racquel’s words. The truth was obviously quite different, they would be heading to the bedrooms that were rarely used for anything except cavorting and use them for their other purpose. Sleep.
The next morning dawned brightly, and far too soon for Taysia’s liking. She rolled to the side, itched her leg where the coarse fabric had caused an allergic reaction leaving an angry red rash. She sighed. Yep, still stuck in a VR game. That part wasn’t a dream.
Best make the most of it.
She pulled herself up and immediately a quest popped up as if she had thought about it and the interface decided to turn it into a quest for her.
[New Quest – Make breakfast for Isaac and Mack
Reward – 10 XP]
It was hardly worth the effort but with no idea what had happened to the rest of the Rolling Wave people she would need all the XP she could get. With a sigh she headed to the kitchen. Noticed that nobody had returned yet. Saw there was nothing to cook and headed down to the back garden as she had done the previous morning.
Olives and fruit it would be.
She was heading back when she caught sight of a chicken coop and decided to try for some eggs. She got lucky and managed to grab 6 before the chickens began pecking at her ankles. She made a note to check what they ate and feed them.
[New Quest – Feed the animals
Reward – 10 XP]
Then she caught sight of goats wandering the next paddock over and decid
ed she’d try for some milk too. The milking seemed easy, despite never having milked anything in her life, or even seen a cow up close as if the system was assisting in some way.
[Congratulations, you have learned a new skill
Farming – Rank 1 (Novice)
This skill is useful for assessing animals and crops common to farming. Don’t forget to work on your animal handling and foraging skills too.]
[New Skill (Farming). 15 XP awarded]
[30 XP until next level]
[Congratulations, you have learned a new skill
Animal Handling – Rank 1 (Novice)
This skill is useful for encouraging pleasant interactions with animals. At higher levels this works with wild animals too.]
[New Skill (Animal Handling). 15 XP awarded]
[15 XP until next level]
She grinned, this would be a breakfast fit for royalty now.
As she walked back to the kitchen a notification popped up
She found suddenly that she knew what goats ate, chickens too. She set to feeding them from the barrel next to their enclosures before heading back to the kitchen. Finally.
She hummed as she worked in the small kitchen, feeling much happier than she had the previous day despite everything that had happened. The shock of being stuck in the game had somewhat worn off.
With fewer people to cook for, and some eggs on hand she could tackle a new dish.
[Eggs with Strata – Food
Value 12 gold
Rarity Uncommon
Properties Serves 1
Description
A breakfast to make all your friends want to visit and all your enemies want to steal your recipe book.
Ingredients 1 egg
1 portion of milk (any animal)
1 flask olive oil]
Three serves were enough, it took a decent amount of her inventory to do it but was well worth it when Mack caught sight of the feast.
“You made breakfast.” Mack leapt into the courtyard looking far more chipper than Taysia felt. Isaac followed soon after, by which time the Minotaur was shoveling food into his mouth happily.
“This is great. You’re the best cook Taysia.”
Taysia grinned at the praise while she’d been cooking, she’d reached cooking level 2, along with a new level.
[Congratulations – You have reached Level 09
You have unlocked IMPROVED BOLT OF ENERGY (you may now target two enemies simultaneously)
85 XP until next level]
“Thanks, little guy.”
“How long do you think we should wait for Racquel to get back?” Taysia and Isaac are much slower and with more grace than Mack.
“Well, I don’t want to leave it too late. It’s a fair trek into town but we can maybe wait another half hour. I’ll help you tidy up then we can do some drills and practice a bit more to get you some XP.”
“Sounds good.”
It turned out they didn’t have to wait that long for Racquel at all. She turned up within 15 minutes. Though Taysia would have preferred a slightly more pleasant greeting.
[-10 HP (Bolt of Lightning - Racquel)]
She turned immediately feeling the tingle on her back.
“Racquel!”
Isaac was quicker this time getting between them.
“Ladies. We do have things to do today in case you’d forgotten.”
“Yeah, so what are we waiting for?” Racquel was already on her way out.
“Well, first things first, I’d like to get Taysia some gear. I wanted to see what was in the armory.”
Racquel nodded. “I’ve still got a couple of low-level things that might work since she’s got nothing right now.” Taysia shivered as Racquel’s eyes traveled slowly the full length of her body as if she was devouring Taysia whole.
“Great. Thanks, Racquel.” Taysia wasn’t sure why the girl was suddenly so much kinder to her today but there it was.
“So, empty slots. Armor obviously, guess we’re looking for something light, a cloak maybe, or some leather armor. Then there are bracers, that shouldn’t be too hard, leather again if possible. Boots, anything will do there. An orb of some kind would be helpful. Racquel? You got anything that would do?” Isaac didn’t wait for an answer but continued on “Let’s see, you should have a couple of jewelry slots open already, maybe some kind of necklace and some kind of ring, or a bracelet that will boost your health, or your damage. That would probably be best. Stamina would be okay too I suppose. We should get you a helm of some kind as well.”
Taysia trailed after Isaac as did the other two heading through the maze of tiny buildings all made from the same white stone on the floor of the courtyard.
Finally, they came to a room Taysia hadn’t been in yet, the armory she assumed.
When Isaac opened the door, the entire room was filled with nearly identical backpacks. Taysia opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She shut it again.
Isaac crossed to a shelf on the left ‘Mage starter pack’.
He pulled one of the backpacks down and tossed it to Taysia.
A list of notifications began to pop up on the screen as everything was added to her inventory.
[Backpack has been added to your inventory]
[Basic Crystal Ball has been added to your inventory]
[5 Instant Meal has been added to your inventory]
[Water Flask has been added to your inventory]
[Hat (Wizard) has been added to your inventory]
[10 Empty Vial has been added to your inventory]
Isaac led her to a second room which she reasoned had to be the armory since the first one hadn’t been.
She wasn’t prepared for what she saw when Isaac opened the door though. The place was filled with all manner of weapons and clothes as well as basic items.
Most of it looked fairly low quality from Taysia’s untrained eye but it was way better than what she had right now so she would be very grateful for it.
“Obviously, anything you take from here now you should replace later with the same thing or something better.”
Taysia nodded, made sense. It was more of a loan than anything while she leveled herself up.
He wandered the room pulling out various items and handing them to her. She watched her stats jump up and down as he swapped out one item for another too quickly to read the numbers or names of the items.
Finally, he stopped and the items that he’d handed her equipped leaving her body feeling much heavier than previously
[Bracers (leather) has been added to your inventory]
[Armor (leather) has been added to your inventory]
[Ring (gold) has been added to your inventory]
[Hat (wizard) has been added to your inventory]
[Cloak (black) has been added to your inventory]
[Boots (leather) has been added to your inventory]
[Gloves (black) has been added to your inventory]
She checked the second wizard hat next to the first.
[Hat (Wizard) – Equippable
Value 5 gold
Rarity Common
Properties None
Description
This basic wizard hat is great for the novice mage. It will protect your head and will tell people that you’re here to cast spells. But you’ll want to upgrade if you’re serious about spell casting.]
[Hat Wizard – Equippable
Value 150 gold
Rarity Uncommon
Properties +2 Intelligence
Description
A great wizard’s hat. It boosts your intelligence and won’t fall off your head like the basic wizard’s hat, thanks to special magic.]
Taysia pulled up her character screen +3 agility from the gloves, boots and bracers, +1 constitution from the armor, +2 to intelligence from the wizard hat,10% buff to total mana from the ring. Plus temporary ranks to her block skill (+1) and stealth (+5) from the armor and cloak respectively. What she wasn’t so fond of was the -5% the ar
mor gave her stamina. Not perfect but definitely better than before.
She glanced at her stats page checking the totals.
[9 unspent attribute points.]
Strength 10
Agility 13
Constitution 21
Intelligence 24
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
[Take care all choices are final.]
She had 9 unspent points already. Without putting much thought into it she placed an extra point into constitution to bring it up to 22, an extra in intelligence to bring it to 25 and 2 extra in agility to bring it to 15. Which left her with 5 points to spend later.
Taysia flexed feeling her body changed to match the new stats. It felt heavier and she felt she’d be a little slower carrying so much but she took a few steps and noted that she didn’t feel much different now that she’d gotten used to the feel.
Mack, Isaac and Racquel stepped back to check out her new specs.
“Check that, your health is still regenerating”
Indeed it was, she checked the bar and it was now about two thirds full, she must have gotten quite the bump to health without realizing.
Chapter 11
“Rufus has been playing since day one. And he’s been everywhere. If anyone will know I think it’ll be him. He’s done pretty well for himself in the game. Got a few NPC’s who help him out. Even got his own little house. Doesn’t play into the faction stuff though so I think we can trust him.”
Isaac told them all of this on the way back into Athens.
“Do you think it’s safe for us to go back? After yesterday?” She gestured vaguely at Mack who was examining a bird fluttering above them in a nearby tree.
“We’ll stay away from the tavern. I think it’ll be okay.”
“Hopefully they’ve moved on to bigger and better quests by now.” While the XP seemed like a lot to her, she assumed it would mean little to those of higher levels.