by A P Gore
“Mr. Jonathan. We meet again, mate. Welcome back.” Baltazar pushed his glasses up his nose, eyes blinking rapidly.
Jon walked over and grabbed a chair to sit across from Baltazar. It was odd, but somehow Jon knew what this was about. His classes. They had created a problem.
Leaning back in the chair, he let himself relax a bit. It would have been perfect if Baltazar had put recliners here. It had been so long since he enjoyed one. “Mr. Baltazar. Why am I here?”
“We have a problem.” Baltazar narrowed his eyes. Waving his hand, he conjured a water glass in front of Jon, on the table.
Leaning forward, Jon placed his hands on the table and stared into Baltazar’s eyes. What was he thinking? “What kind of problem?” Picking up the glass, he sipped the clear, cold water.
Baltazar again pushed his glasses up, even though they were almost touching his eyes. Where was he trying to push them? Into his skull?
Baltazar waved his hand, and a paper appeared on the table. “Mr. Jonathan. Look at clause thirty-one of the contract. As per this clause, you can’t get a class in the game as long as you are working for us. You’ve breached the contract.”
Jon glanced at the paper, and its contents floated in his vision. Damn, it was there, and the punishment was to send the player back to the real world to serve out their remaining prison term. His brain went into overdrive, devising his options. Going back wasn’t something he wanted to do. “Well, Mr. Baltazar. I didn’t take the class it by choice. I stumbled upon a transformation ritual, and I had no choice to not participate in it.” It was the truth. He hadn’t known that would happen. All he’d wanted was Mana Manipulation, nothing more.
“Mr. Jonathan,” Baltazar said. “Mate, my hands are tied here. All I know is that you breached our contract. So, I only have two choices: put you back in the prison and increase your prison term by five years, or move you to isolated in-game mining and let you reflect upon your mistake.”
Jon shook his head. No, this wasn’t happening. “Why don’t you just take the class back?” It would be bad to lose his class, but it had to be better than going into mining. Kron had told him about other professions and in-game mining was the worst, and isolated mining was two times worse. He wouldn’t have anyone to talk with. Not even a ghost.
“I can’t...” Baltazar paused. “Sorry, Mr. Jonathan. I have to put you in the mines for the next six hundred years. It’s in the contract.”
“Six hundred years? Are you kidding me?”
Baltazar shook his head. Pity surfaced in his eyes.
“Then put me back in the real world, please. I’ll go with the first choice.” Rather than spending six hundred years alone and going crazy, he would mine in the real world. At least there he could call his daughter, Kiara, once a month. “Yes, put me back in my real body.” Jon swallowed a lot of water. He needed the calmness. Mining in real life was worse, and death was common, but it was still better than going crazy. After his wife died and Kiara went to mage school, he had spent a major chunk of his life living alone in a small house, and it was miserable. He didn’t want that again. At least in the real life mines, there were people around him to talk to.
“That...” Baltazar’s clean-shaven face darkened, like Jon had stepped on a deep, agonizing wound. “That can’t be done.”
“Why not? The contract says I have the choice to go back anytime. I’ll complete my prison term.” That was the best choice right now.
Baltazar took a deep breath. “Let’s cut to the chase. A mistake from an AI destroyed your real body.”
Jon nearly choked on the water, and it took great control to avoid spitting it on Baltazar. “What did you say?” He frowned. Had he misheard that?
“I’m sorry, but because of an AI mistake, we have accidently destroyed your body.”
Jon rubbed his chest. “My physical body? The one I was supposed to wake up in after spending 343 years in a game?” Was Baltazar kidding? If he was, then it was a cruelest joke he could play with someone.
“Yes, but don’t panic. We’ve started the process to regenerate it. You’ll get a brand new body. Unaged and undamaged,” Baltazar said, coolly, like it didn’t matter.
It f-ing mattered to Jon.
Jon raised his hand, dismissing Baltazar. “I don’t get it. You’re saying my physical body is destroyed. How am I alive? What kind of sorcery is this?” It made little sense. “And now you want me to spend six hundred years mining. Are you kidding me?”
Baltazar took a deep breath. “Listen, Mr. Jonathan. I’ll let you in on a secret, but you must keep it a secret. Let’s sign a confidentiality agreement first.”
Jon shook his head. “No. I’m not signing anything. First, tell me what’s going on, and why did you destroy my real body? It wasn’t in the contract or mentioned anywhere.”
“I’m sorry, Mate, but that’s the reality.” Baltazar’s face turned pale.
Everything blurred around Jon, and before he could make sense of it, he passed out.
Chapter 29
When Jon woke, he was still in the same room, and Baltazar was pacing back and forth.
Everything came back to him, crashing on his mind like an avalanche.
“You, f-ing bastard. What did you do with my body? You know what? I don’t care. Get me out of here!” Jon shouted as loud as he could. Was this a joke to them? Destroying a person’s real body? It was like killing him. He didn’t know how he was still in the game, but he wanted his body back. He took a deep breath and continued at a normal volume. “Please tell me this is a joke. Please.” Jon wept. The body he was proud of, the body he’d spent decades in, the body his wife used to love, the body his daughter used to call papa—it was gone. Just like that.
Baltazar shook his head.
How could it be true?
“I don’t care. Get me out of here. Or get me a lawyer.” Jon shouted, unable to contain his rage.
“I know we are in the trenches here,” Baltazar said. “But can’t we negotiate it? I can offer you a constraint-free life in the game for the next six hundred years.” Baltazar took a seat across the table met his eyes.
There it was. Now he was offering a free life in the game. Just a moment before, this bastard was sending him to the mining.
Jon’s insides boiled like a lava lake. “So, you need six hundred game years to regenerate my real body, do you?” He gritted his teeth. All he wanted was to smash that bastard’s face against the table and make him bleed to death. How could he destroy his real body? How could they? He was like a ghost now, without a physical body, wandering the game world.
Baltazar rose and went back to pacing. The podium Jon had seen before had vanished.
“Think about it, Jon. If you go to the court, you won’t go back to the game ever, and you can’t go back to the real world either. Do you want to live in this room for six hundred years?” He raised a brow. “If you want to, then let’s do that. But what would you do for six hundred years? I’m trying to help you here, mate.” His voice was honeyed, like an old friend’s consolation.
Now that was a problem. Though still processing the whole situation, Jon understood the danger in that sentence. While he wasn’t a scholar and didn’t have a high IQ, he knew what would happen if he had to spend six hundred years in the same room. He didn’t know much about the court system, but living in this room for six hundred years wasn’t an option.
“Instead, why don’t you live in the game? Constraint free! I’ll reimburse you with fifty million chips in real world money, and I’ll remove all the constraints on you in the game. Just enjoy the game for six hundred years, and then come back in your new body. Though it’s six hundred years in the game, it's just fifty years in real life. Mate, think about this. It’s like being paid to play the game.”
Jon was speechless. His body was gone, the that bastard was offering him money?
But did he have any other choice? If his body was gone, it was gone. There was no coming back. And fifty million chips. Th
at was a tempting offer. Jon had never seen such money in his whole life. The most he’d gotten from his farm was five thousand chips in a good season. On average, he’d earned two thousand chips every month after taxes. With this money, he could send Kiara to the mage university, where she could focus on her lightning magic development, and not rot in the outside world or face people like Kurush again.
Jon’s face hardened as the thought of Kurush surfaced. Kurush was the bastard he had killed in the real world. In the end, Kurush was responsible for all of his pain and misery.
“Make it a hundred million in the real world and the same in game currency. And release me from your other terms, so I can roam in the game world freely.” With that much money, he would live a lavish life in the game, and Kiara would live a comfortable life in the real world.
Baltazar stared at him like he was looking at a ghost. “You drive a hard bargain.”
Jon brushed his finger against the rim of the water glass. “I bet your company would face a massive reputation loss when people learn you destroy live bodies by mistake. Wouldn’t you?”
Baltazar hissed, eyes narrowed in hatred. “Okay, fine with the real-world money. I’ll send it in two installments. One now, and one in ten years.”
“Fine with me.”
“But I can’t give you that much in-game currency. The most I can give you is one thousand gold at a time.”
“Not fine with me.” Jon leaned forward, sizing up Baltazar.
Baltazar chuckled. “Do you even know how much one million in-game currency equals to real life money?”
“Why do I care?”
“Are you crazy, mate? I can only offer you fifty million real world chips’ equivalent in game currency, but that too comes with a condition.”
“Shoot.” As long as he would receive money to live a carefree farmer’s life for the next six hundred years, he was good.
“I’ll transfer the outpost area to you, and you’ll receive the full weed crop for the next six hundred years. Given you establish a village in that area.” He waved his hand, and a screen floated in front of Jon. “According to this week’s calculations, forty farmers generate 1000 gold each month. That equals 166000 chips in real world money.”
Jon swallowed, nearly choking on his own breath. Was Baltazar kidding? The gold in game cost that much? He willed up a screen for himself and checked the game forums. Yes, every gold was equivalent to 166 chips in real world money.
Baltazar continued, “So, it’s twice the amount I need to give you. Let’s draw up a contract. I’ll let you manage the village, and you’ll pay me 500 gold each month. Failing to do so twelve consecutive times will invalidate the contract, and I won’t be obligated to provide you any money after that.”
Jon chuckled. “Are you trying to rob me? Do you think I can farm that much money by myself? And who will sell it to the market?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll give you forty farmers for the next six hundred years, and you can just pay me in crops. But you have to manage your own crop. My man won’t sell it outside. You can sell for the same price in the nearby market, and I can hook you up with the merchant. But transportation and all you’ll have to manage.” He paused for a brief second. “Also, one more thing. Once you establish the village, it should stay intact, or else the contract will end, and you will join me back as a miner.”
For a moment Jon thought he spotted a cunning glint behind Baltazar’s glasses, but it swiftly vanished like it’d never existed in the first place.
“No. I won’t go back to mining on any terms.”
“Then rot in this room for the next six hundred years. I’ll start the court procedure. After all, it’s our fault, and we should take responsibility for it.” His lips spread in a devious smile.
Maybe he was reading too much into it. He would need to keep the village going, right? How difficult could it be?
Shaking that thought away, he focused on the calculations in front of him. Forty people meant one hundred and sixty thousand weed crop, and he owed only half of that to the outpost office. That seemed feasible. Not an easy option, but if he had to do it by himself, he would have to form a mechanism to sell his excess crop. With this, he could focus on other things like fruit, grain, and coffee. Weed crop stank like alcohol, and he didn’t like it much. Grimish was with him for the next six months, and with Grimish’s help he could put this system in autopilot and focus on pure farming.
“Deal. Let’s sign the agreement. A real-world agreement.”
Baltazar flashed a smile and tapped on the screen to get the agreement prepared.
Chapter 30
After Baltazar carried out all the required actions, he teleported Jon back to the outpost area. Jon wore a brilliant smile, because he had talked with his daughter after five months and she was ecstatic to receive the money and looking forward to joining the Mage Academy on Spectra 33, a very famous planet for mage training. What else could a father wish for?
Pulling the village creation token from his Bag of Holding, he placed it next to the shrine. Baltazar had given it to him and told him how to use it.
Global System Announcement: Jon is the first player to create a village on the Abomination Continent. As a reward, he received +5000 EXP, 100 Gold, Gold level resource bonuses. Trade routes to this village will open in ten days.
What the f-k! Jon stared at the announcement. Why had the system announced it to the whole game? And what was Abomination Continent? Did it connect somehow to the Abomination Forest? He had that epic quest on his name.
Damn.
System: Congratulations, you have reached level 4. You receive 5 stat points (+2 due to unique class) and 3 skill points (+1 due to unique class).
Congratulations, as the owner of this village please specify a name for the village and select one building for auto-construction (Village settlement bonus).
Congratulations, you have gained access to the Village Management interface. Do you want to access the Village Management interface? Yes/No.
Jon chose the “Yes” option. This was unprecedented. Owning a village was something he’d never imagined.
Village Management Interface: Please specify the name of the village to access the interface:
Jon pondered this, then typed Epic. His village would be epic soon, so the name suited it.
Village Management (Epic Village): Level 0 settlement.
Current Level: 0
Current Border: 5 square miles from the residence/shrine/temple.
Current Population: 41 (Food consumption: 21/day)
Current Deity: N/A (Please build a temple)
Current buildings: Shrine, Outpost office (Owned by Laxania Corporation), 43 Farms, 43 small huts (Upkeep: 87 silver/month)
Current Resources:
BP: 100
Wood blocks: 5000
Stone blocks: 2000
Iron blocks: 500
Food: 2000
Resource Production:
Current BP Production: 10/day (Village buildings:5, Population:5)
Wood blocks: 0 Stone blocks: 0 Iron blocks: 0 Food:0
Next Level requirement:
1 Residence
1 Food building (Complete)
1 Defense building
Population: 40 (Complete)
Next level traits:
Insta-building production available for a few buildings.
Unlocks town management skill tree.
Please choose a building to construct.
Buildings:
Core Buildings:
Residence: The home of the village owner/lord. Allows access to the Village Management skill tree. HP: 1000 Cost: 200 wood blocks, 50 stone blocks. BP: 50.
Entertainment Building:
N/A
Defense Buildings:
Palisade: Small fence around the village. Allows protection from small insects and dogs. HP: 1000 Build. Cost: 500 wood blocks. BP: 200.
Offense Buildings:
N/A
Food
Buildings:
Small Warehouse: A small hall used to store food. Can store and preserve food up to thirty days. HP: 250. Cost: 100 wood blocks. BP: 100.
Farm: An area of land to use for farming. HP: 50. Cost: 10 wood blocks. BP: 20. [Unavailable for building]
Housing Buildings:
Small Hut: A small one-room house to live in. Can accommodate 2 people. HP: 100. Cost: 50 wood. BP: 50.
Religion Buildings:
N/A
What the f-k? Jon’s insides churned from just a glance at the information and lists. What was going on? He didn’t sign up for all of this. He was supposed to just manage the crop and maybe food. Why were all these buildings coming up? And what was BP? HP was self-explanatory, hit points, but what was BP?
Please choose a building to construct. Time remaining 30:00 mins.
Damn, why was it forcing him to choose something? What should he choose?
Glancing at the various buildings available, he chose the most expensive one. Palisade.
A white light shot from the sky and enveloped the whole area. The earth around the farms rolled, and wooden blocks emerged from the air and placed themselves in a precise manner, forming a fence around the farms and the outpost area. What grand magic! But did it take resources from him? Glancing at his resource level, it didn’t. Good for him.
“Master, what did you do?” A shrill voice pulled him from his awestruck staring. Grimish stood next to him, watching the palisade building process curiously.
“I just created a village. Epic village. Isn’t it a nice name?” Jon boasted, though he was scared shitless inside. This seemed like too much to manage. How was he supposed to farm peacefully while managing all this?
Grimish studied him for a moment. “But how did you...?”
System:
Mandatory quest accepted.
Save the Village I: You have established your village near a pack of various beast races, and they are threatened by your presence. The Elites of the various beast races have gathered nearby. In three days’ time, you will face the beast tide. Defend your village from them.