And elicit emotions I did. The only problem was that they weren’t the emotions I’d been counting on. There was a boom, and the soil above the outer dome, the one holding up the roof, cracked and collapsed. The shield held up for a second before popping like a bubble. And before I could even blink, the whole shattered mass came hurtling down at me. The only thing that saved me was throwing my arms up and crouching.
A shadow flew past, and I felt the blow land home. It was like nothing I’d yet experienced in the game. I saw stars, it struck me that my arms were gone, and I thought I sensed my shoulders down somewhere around where my feet were. And on that delightful note, I lost consciousness.
Nice work, Mark. You were looking to respawn — here's your chance.
The familiar darkness settled in, only that time there wasn’t a message. And that was odd. I’d already died twice, and both times there’d been a message dangling in front of me no matter where I looked. But in that moment, I saw nothing, and that worried me.
Seeing as how I was a bodiless spirit in the nothingness, I decided to look around. Turning, I grunted. Okay, turning isn't an option. My body was pinned, and it took me a while to realize what was going on. I’d survived.
Still, that wasn’t great news, as I really couldn’t move. Ulbaron had turned into a steel coffin for whatever reason. I'd already found myself in a situation like that, so I was able to replace the power block with just a few mental commands. A loading bar popped up. Suddenly, the usual interface appeared in the space around me, and I cursed when I read the report. I’d be better off over in nothingness.
The owner hadn't just brought the roof crashing down; it had brought some kind of superweapon to bear and knocked out all my game equipment. Instead of Ulbaron saving me, I’d been the one who saved it from being pancaked. My steel bones had held up under the collapsed ceiling, driving me into the ground like an oversized nail. And there I sat. While I’d been unconscious, my regeneration had healed my wounds, which was why I’d thought I'd been sent back to respawn — everything was whole, nothing hurt. I tried to move my armor once it was active but
to no avail. It wouldn’t budge so much as a millimeter.
That’s when the panic set in, and I had a hard time quelling it. There were explosions above me, almost as though someone was bombing the zone. Of course, the owner could presumably see that I was still alive. That wasn’t optimal, so it kept up the barrage. At least, it isn’t going to show up itself. I wasn’t sure I would have been able to stand up to its fury.
It occurred to me that the first thing I needed to do was restore my equipment. Valkyrie, Shulma, Zelda, Raptor... Only Fang was shipshape and ready to go.
Raptor loaded in, and the screen lit up with messages. The poor device was doing its best to let me know what had happened in my absence, one that had lasted a wiiole five hours.
Hunter or hunted: 0/471.
I wTas taken aback. Wait, so the game credited me with all the kills? That was great, of course, but I had no idea wThy it was happening that way. Operating on autopilot, I pulled up the list of players in the hexagon and found to my enormous surprise that I was at the top of the list. Elhar Gee was right behind me, unfortunately, though there were plenty of other high-level players wiio’d broken into the storage and found it turned into their last resting place. Borlie Felatt, the player I’d taken the dragon’s tears from, was gone. An entire army of players was buried in earth and stone. There’s a whole treasure up therefor anyone willing to dig it up — the phones belonging to 471 high-level players... It was a fortune.
But once again, I was letting myself get distracted.
How the hell am I going to get out of here?
Time ticked by, three timers dropped inexorably down toward their logical conclusion, and all I could do was watch them sadly. The one for Hunter or hunted was just about up — it only had a couple hours left. The second, the one for my death, gave me a bit more than a day. And the third, which was for my noa ration, told me I had another twelve hours to go. It was a good thing it had counted the noa I’d eaten to get my qualities.
But I really just couldn't move. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how I jerked, it was pointless. So, what can I do? Am I just going to die here?
More time passed. I still couldn't move. My limbs were all asleep, my nose had started itching a few times, and Td been able to do nothing more than suffer and yell. I even tried calling Grust. I wasn't sure why, but I did. It didn't work.
All calls are being blocked in this area.
I cursed and cursed, but that didn't solve my problem, either. A couple times, I even fell asleep. Finally, I woke up to the next gift the game was ready to hand me.
Hunter or hunted complete.
Level +471 (1435)-
You’re the first natural player to reach level 1000.
100 free attribute points received.
***
The creator is impressed.
Reward received: The time you have to absorb noa was increased by 24. From now on, you need to absorb noa once every 48 hours to survive.
If I’d been above ground, I would have jumped for joy. But no, I was pinned under it without the faintest clue of what to do next.
Time kept going. I didn't. At some point, it got to where the whole thing started to feel like a horrible nightmare. I had the sense that I was asleep and about to wake up somewhere the sun could beat down on my face, though it was right then that the unconsciousness always settled in. I woke up. I still couldn’t move... Then, it hit me that I was going to lose my mind, and that told me what I needed to do.
With the exception of Ulbaron, all my named items found a new home in my virtual inventory. If anyone was going to dig down to my body, they were going to come away emptyhanded. No dragon’s blood, no tears, no inventory with dragon armor. All of it was coining with me into nothingness. Ulbaron was a little harder to handle, if not impossible — it dissolved right on top of me. The lumps of earth crashed down, and I was flattened in the process, but I still had the last laugh. I’d had time to smash my phone.
After a quick flash of pain, the usual message popped up.
You were killed.
Wait for the game to end.
And that was it. Mark Derwin had come to the end of the road. And that time, it looked like it was final. None of the people I knew had the noa they would have needed to resurrect me, and so I was going to have to stare at that message forever. Or at least, until the end of the release.
Chapter 13
Returning to the game in 3... 2... 1...
Go through the personification rules.
IF IT HAD BEEN POSSIBLE to express surprise off in the great nothingness, I would have done just that. But spending a veritable eternity in the darkness with nothing to keep you company but that you were killed message has a way of suppressing emotions. I was being resurrected. Apparently, the release is over. It was time for the Last Judgement.
The previous two times I’d been dead, the time I’d spent in the “waiting area” had flown by. But that time, it stretched on forever. There was no way to sleep, daydream, or do anything else. All you could do was stare at that depressing message. That was it. The only good thing was that I wasn’t going through any emotions — no rage, no happiness, no indifference. All of that had died away not long after my demise.
But I was being resurrected. And that was odd.
Light appeared the way it always did when you were coming back to life. The indescribable sensations of having your own body began to slowly appear. Once I was able to clench my fists and turn my head, it occurred to me that I could finally empathize with the spirits you see in the movies trying to settle into someone’s body. I’d never thought my own flesh and blood could give me so much joy. No, that’s something wre take for granted, with very few people taking care of their earthly vessel. It’s just there to hold the soul, right? Oh, that elusive, bodiless substance off soaring through the ether. Only I’d just spent an eter
nity in that very ether, and it really wrasn’t all it wras cracked up to be. The body is no less important than the soul. Maybe, even more so. In most cases, it leaves its imprint on the soul, and not the other way around.
Finally, the space around me took on shape and form. And happy again to be using my body, my brows shot up in bewilderment. I knew where I was. It wasn’t even my first time respawning there. But again? As if in confirmation, I heard Verloven’s voice, the self-styled defender. The head of the safe zone.
“He’s back, Grust Kilvan, Milady, and Little. You now belong — Wait, what?!”
The exclamations of surprise told me something unusual was going on. I still hadn't finished the process of taking on flesh, so I couldn’t take a good look at myself, but I did have another option. With a mental command, I tensed my hand to summon my phone, and the game took just a few moments to respond. The device printed out. Notifications began popping up in my head to tell me wThat was going on.
The soul of the owner’s sons’ living incarnation of fire was
integrated successfully. Your body was modified.
Congratulations! You’re the first natural player in this release to integrate with an object.
Level +10 (1445).
***
New quality: Fire incarnate. Description: Your body cibsoi'bed the soul of personified dragon's fire and was modified accoi'dingly. From now on, it will be capable of withstanding thermal heat up to 5000 degrees Celsius (the temperature of dragon's fire).
My body finally finished the process, and I realized I was glowing. The earth around me was scorched, heating up as I wratched, to the point that it began bubbling like dirty glass. Verloven and the three players ran off. All four had thrown up their arms to protect them from the unbearable heat.
Calibrating.
Would you like to reduce your temperature?
Of course! What a dumb question. Hurry! I had no desire to go around in a pool of melted earth like Ragnaros.
Note that reducing your temperature will also reduce your
protection against ray guns.
Enough with the warnings — just get mg temperature down! I can handle rag guns on mg own.
Your temperature was reduced to what it was for player Mark Derwin when the game was initiated.
Note that you can always go back to your original temperature using the settings.
I stepped out onto solid ground and glanced down worriedly at my legs. Standing in a pool of melted glass apparently hadn’t bothered them in the least. Making sure I was flesh and blood once again, I stepped back into the pool, my heart skipping a beat as I did. Again, nothing. It was like dipping your toe into room-temperature water. Even kind ofchillg.
“Mark, is that you?” I heard Grust ask in a nervous voice. Turning, I saw the quartet. They’d put some distance between us, which made sense. The area around me was billowing smoke, with leaves faded, grass charred, and the gazebo in flames. None of it had been able to withstand the primordial fire. But there I was in the middle of it all, none the worse for wear.
This is amazing, damn it!
But I did need to reply — Swallow had already appeared in the hands of my erstwhile partner.
“Yes, yes, it’s me. What are you so worried about?” My brain established a connection with Drone, and I gave it orders to immediately fly over to where I was. The last thing I wanted was for the rainbow pearl to go missing. It can stay nearby. Plus, it was of more use to me where I was than hovering over the crater. Judging by the video feed, Li-Ho-Dun’s lair had been turned into an enormous pothole that players and machines were digging through. They were presumably trying to find my body. Or maybe, my phone. How naive of them.
“But why were you red and glowing?” Little asked. Milady shushed him, though it was a perfectly reasonable question.
“A reward for killing a dragon. I don’t have to worry about fire, anymore, or at least regular fire. What you saw were some side effects.”
Suddenly, something dawned on me, and I quickly asked a clarifying question.
“Wait a second. You what, sold yourselves to resurrect me?”
Verloven had announced that the three were his slaves, and that meant he’d traded one stone for three personified units of noa. Hardly fair.
“Don’t look at me,” Grust mumbled, nodding at Milady. “It was her
idea.”
It was my turn to be surprised. Milady had never harbored the warmest of feelings for me, especially after I’d cut off her legs. She’d pushed Grust to settle down, shot me all kinds of glares, and then... Why?
Apparently, I’d asked that last question out loud. Milady explained.
“Two weeks ago, you killed the owner’s son. Nobody I know has been able to get even close to what you’ve accomplished, which means you’ll be able to get to the top dog. You may be a bastard, but you’re lucky. Humankind is worth more than the three of us.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” Grust could only throw up his hands. “Women, right? For two weeks, she wouldn't leave me alone, and then...”
“Not in front of Little!” Milady hissed, though Verloven stopped them all. Once it was sure it didn’t have anything to be afraid of, it decided to show everyone who was in charge.
“Enough talk. You three are coming with me — the general will be happy to get its hands on you.”
“Leave them,” I said. The old man just grinned.
“You want to challenge me, Mark Derwin? Right here, in the middle of my function? That’ll be interesting.”
The space around the old man began to darken. Grust and the other two were carried away by the thickened air, and sparks flew. For whatever reason, I was sure it would have taken just one shot from the defender to finish me off right then and there.
“No, I’m not challenging you, Verloven. I want to buy you. With
this.”
One of the cores appeared in my hand, a blue mist immediately enshrouding it. Noa loved dragon’s blood. Verloven froze for a second, its eyes fixed on the item I was holding. But I had to give the function credit — it quickly regained its composure.
“What are you doing? It’s going to spoil! Put it away!”
The old man was so agitated I decided to follow his advice. Forgetting about all the personified noa in that and perhaps all the other worlds, it began pacing back and forth, muttering to itself as it did. All I heard were a few scattered phrases.
“Unbelievably... Blood... Promotion... I could buyback...”
The function clearly didn’t know how to haggle, otherwise it would have shown much more restraint and much less interest in the item in question. Finally, it appeared next to me with one smooth move. It was a good thing I’d stepped away from the fire.
“Why don't you think about putting some clothes on, Mark Derwin? Flaunting your manhood around someone else’s woman isn’t the politest thing to do, and there’s a child here, too.”
Damn it! My hands flew down to cover myself.
“Bit late for that — we’ve all seen everything there is to see already,” Grust called over mockingly, though Milady one-upped him.
“What’s there to see? That little stump?”
Grust and Little roared, and that broke the tension. The trio was overcome with emotion as they realized they were going to live to see another day. Damn, they really were willing to die for me.
I pulled some underwear out of my inventory and hurriedly got dressed. Next, it was time for my named items.
“Let’s go. We have some things to discuss.” Verloven was no longer a terrifying monster protecting its turf, having turned into a welcoming host. “You three are free to go, just be expecting my decision. Or maybe, it won’t be mine to make. We’ll see.”
For the first time, I found myself in the defender’s personal quarters. The function called to protect humans lived in a fairly spacious home, a two-story building that looked to have belonged to some local with money. Verloven had added a touch of the g
ame, however. It was much bigger on the inside, with rooms sporting soft furniture, carvings, holograms, something flying around, and different screens. I felt like I was in Star Wars. And not as some slave pulled from a distant planet; no, I was a deputy working for an influential senator. Actually, I liked what the old
man had done with the place.
We stepped into a room that served as the protector’s office.
“Have a seat,” Verloven said, gesturing me toward one of two chairs. “I don’t see how you got the core. There’s nothing about that in the game files, oh, and why can’t I sense it right now? Do you have it?”
“Yes, I do, don’t worry. Before it died, Lin-Ho-Dun gave me a few gifts...”
“I’m sorry, who?”
“Um...the release owner’s son. That’s its name.”
“Incredible. There’s nothing in the database... Sorry, what did you say the owner’s son’s name was?”
Something flashed across Verloven’s face, but that was enough for me. The creator really had erased Li-Ho-Dun from the game’s memory. All that was left was the personal memory the players and its father had. None of the game functions, the old man included, could accept that — the owner had lots of sons, but that wasn't one of them. And as soon as I mentioned the name, a script had been triggered to delete unneeded information. That’s brutal.
“I didn’t say. Anyway, I have a device that keeps noa from getting to dragon’s blood. You presumably have something similar. And like I said, I
want —
“Easy there, Mark Derwin,” Verloven replied. “Before we continue this conversation, I’d like to clarify your status. Are you human?”
I was about to open my mouth and send the old man off to see a psychiatrist with a healthy dose of sarcasm, but I stopped. Suddenly, my brain kicked in. Verloven was looking at me impassively, not a single emotion on its face. Why is it asking that? It had to know the answer. Or does it? And wait, am I still human? After everything the game had done to me, especially that last integration with the soul of incarnate fire, I had to ask myself the same question. Am I something other than human now? A monster? A mutant? An animal they'll hunt as soon as the game is over?
World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh Page 16
