Player Reached the Top. LitRPG Series. Book II

by Scar, Rick

  Ascension enabled sharing your personal info with your clan or group mates if you wished. For example, you could get a small icon to show whether your character was based on a real person, albeit slightly modified by you, or by the system encoder. Most players preferred not to get this icon, but this girl had one next to her name.

  “As if his first place was not enough. Why the hell did he have to disclose this information?”

  Her real name was Cindy, but in the game she was known as Fair Charis. She hadn’t really had much of a choice back when selecting her character’s race; there had only been a few good-looking ones available. The Elves; the Tiflings—whose female characters were rumored to be able to specialize as Succubus—the Warriors of Chaos; and the Wind Speakers—a support class with half-transparent bodies covered in magic symbols of Nature. Presented with this choice, Cindy had picked a half-demon.

  “I’ll kill him when I meet him. More than once. Many, many times,” replied a guy with an exposed six-pack and a rough-looking animal skin on his back. The plain appearance of this item was deceptive. In truth, it was of diamond rank, obtained by their group when accidentally completing a quest in a non-standard way. That was when they realized Ascension was like no other game. When told to kill or destroy here, you did not actually have to kill or destroy to complete the quest.

  With this new knowledge, they started to prepare for their missions more thoroughly, and they never regretted that. The awards were splendid. The new skills they got were often unique—more of those were granted for more complicated tasks where a creative solution was extremely difficult to find.

  Like most other players, they also knew about the 100% sensitivity level increasing the reward, but they had little wish to use it since they’d tried it once and died by a lava lion’s claws. No one but a few could endure a death at 100% sensitivity—those few that could, leveled up and earned influence points with incredible speed.

  The group assumed there were others taking advantage of non-standard quest completion just as they did, but no one ever leaked this knowledge. No one until this idiot…

  “White Raven! What a fucking stupid name,” Charis swore, scrolling down the comments.

  “Did you see the forums?” said the player with an icy staff.

  “Why would we want him dead if we didn’t?” The guy in animal skin winced. His class was Wild Hunter—one of the three hunter types you could select when starting the game. Wild Hunter was the only type that had bonuses when attacking large enemies, and almost all of its skills were designed for fighting the biggest monsters.

  “This secret was sure to come out, anyway. Sooner or later,” said yet another member of their party, a rogue, before shrugging. Skinny and outrageously agile, he, just like Charis, had modeled his character on his real-world appearance: a short black guy with a shaven head.

  Unlike the rest of the company, he actually liked the video and White Raven’s fast reaction. His gaming style was rather clumsy, but he still was a step ahead of everyone else. The most amazing thing was his convincing the dungeon boss to give up that many items at once, by pure improvisation! He couldn’t possibly have been aware what awaited their party in the end; that dungeon had never been explored by anyone before.

  Even the black guy’s own group had never supposed a non-trivial approach could work in dungeons just as well.

  The guy’s game name was Malissar, and now he really wanted to meet White Raven—not to kill him, like the rest of the group, but to play by his side if even for a short while. But that was hardly possible. No one knew what floor this TOP player was on.

  “Hey!” The wizard snorted. “Later is better. Just look at this.”

  In the chat, the whole group saw a link added by their friend and opened it.

  Subject: Let Me Tell You a Story

  (Expand)

  Hi, human beings! That’s me, Unidentified Body (my game name). Let me tell you a short story. We’ve all seen the video where Raven shows his mind-blowing approach to dungeon completion. I’m sure other TOP players have thought of something like that. They just didn’t believe it would work in an instance.

  And who would? Who would ever think of completing a dungeon by just talking to the boss who drops some fancy rags and gear when dead? Why chat with him then? Just kill him! And we all rush to kill like a stupid mob. We’re just too used to doing that. We forget that’s no plain game but the one starting the new virtual age.

  Well, back to matters at hand. Everyone on Floor 2 has probably raided the chieftain of those proverbial goblins threatening the small village by Darika Lake. You come, shoot, wave your sword, kill the chieftain, and bring them his head. That’s all. Raid completed. Quest completed. Reward obtained. The next day you come back to the same mission: Destroy the Goblin Tribe.

  I’m no TOP, but after watching the vid, I decided to try a non-standard solution myself with those goblins. Just as an experiment. You’ve seen those messages about me if you were in that area. Haven’t you? =)

  Yeah. That’s me who convinced the goblin chieftain (at the fifth attempt) to start trading with that village instead of plundering it. That was hard. But the rewards… Oh, the rewards. They were REALLY good!

  So, human beings, you now know the way. White Raven was an eye-opener to us regular players. If not for him, the TOPs and guilds would have still been keeping this secret from everyone.

  “Shit!” Clenching her teeth, the girl kicked a rabbit, sending it flying and screaming into the shrubs.

  “This can’t be made undone, anyway,” said the group leader who’d been silent before. He was a tank, playing an Earth Elemental character. The human-like stone monster had great physical damage; the player’s skills boosted its endurance, speed, and strength, serving as self-buffs. “We’ll just keep doing what we did before. The mission generation here is still insanely high. No reason to be alarmed.

  “And, Charis. Leave the rabbits be. That’s the fifth one dying a stupid death because of you. Enough rest, guys. We need to move on.”

  ***

  Pure Mind — 95/100%;

  Pure Soul — 91/100%

  Will stood facing the table, lots of newly-invented swear words on the tip of his tongue—and even some too bleak to express the full extent of his shock and fury mixed with confusion and grief.

  The stats showed he’d lost almost four levels. FOUR DAMN LEVELS! Just because of his going the whole hog. No new messages arrived after the one congratulating him on passing the challenge.

  Some three minutes later, once he’d slowly regained his senses after the loss he’d suffered, he remembered he’d got nothing after the first challenge either. Nothing but info about its uniqueness and the hidden specialization. It must be Will’s affect making him expect a lavish reward this time.

  So, I will not know what my shuddering loss pays until I complete all three? Raven would rather not think of what would happen if he failed the third one, driving those guesses away to the deepest corners of his subconscious.

  He exited the game to get some rest before the third challenge and spent a while on the forum, reading the articles, playing the videos, and skimming through a few curious third-floor guides.

  Going to resume the game, he got a new message and, checking the sender’s name, he postponed his re-immersion for a while. It was his sister’s friend now editing his videos. The first one was ready. Somewhat exited, he clicked to play it.

  ***

  Spreading across the web like a raging forest fire, starting from a tiny spark, was a video titled: White Raven: Conquering the Top. Part 1.

  This four-hour video depicted some battles in a forest known to no one, with an ally race known to no one, against monsters known to no one. The video was well-made, with impressive-looking transitions between battles.

  Now everyone could witness the success story of Player Number One, albeit not from the very start.

  And it was totally stunning.

  White Raven trained by NPCs? N
ot ordinary ones as the monsters they fought were Level 60+.

  The battle in the comments thread lasted for the whole day. Everyone wondered about the exact location of Raven’s adventures. Many started to downplay Raven’s skills, badly disappointed with his being just dragged along by the NPCs.

  But smarter players knew that getting an NPC to train you was anything but easy. You had to get them interested in helping you. To find a common goal. To achieve the attitude status of Friendliness or higher. And one more thing—known but to a few—was that you had to hook them, displaying anything that would make them willing to help.

  This last part was the most difficult. No one knew for sure what affected the NPCs’ attitude towards players. Your character traits? The words you said? The things you did? Your worldview? Anything else?

  The only way to get an NPC to help you was to sense their personality and expectations intuitively.

  Watching Raven, these few smart players realized he had a real gift of intuition. Many clans started to seek and recruit players like him. Later, those players were dubbed the Ravens.

  Chapter 114. A Demon-Releasing Shadow

  T hat cursed door again. What else but cursed would you call the place where you were not only tortured, but you also levelled down? To Will, it felt like being treated by a crazy doctor who severed his healthy arm instead of operating on his leg—and then they demanded payment for the surgery performed!

  The last challenge must be harder than the rest. It was this one that decided whether you would be admitted into the Order.

  Time for another jump into the unknown. This time, the jump was not only metaphorical but real… or rather it was a fall.

  Opening his eyes, Raven saw he stood on a thin plank like those used by pirates to feed their prisoners to sharks, but there was no water below. No, it was the ground. Very, very far below. The height at which planes would be flying if this world had any. A vast continent sprawled in dozens of miles beneath Will.

  Stunned by this sight, Will did not immediately realize his hands were chained behind his back. His heart missed a beat as he heard the voices behind. Voices that made him itch to get an iron pipe to smash their shitty heads in.

  Stop. Who’s thinking that? That’s not me. Not me! Will grew cold. He’d been through a lot in this game: travelling with a crazy companion, being tortured and even sliced as meat, but never, never before he’d heard any voices in his head. Hearing it now was scary. So scary that Will was about to exit the game to make sure he wasn’t losing his sanity.

  The hinting voice in his head vanished, but the loathsome ones behind his back kept talking and laughing at him…

  …a boy of seven.

  “Hey, ragamuffin!”

  “Will this nobody go to school with us?”

  “This pig’s place is in a muddy pool. Not with us normal kids. Ha, ha!”

  “As a parent, I’d rather not have children like him attend classes with my daughter.”

  “Ahahaha!”

  “Ahahaha!”

  These kids from affluent families were laughing at him. Their parents watched him with contempt, only a few of them with any compassion. The rest of the kids were silent aside.

  He’s eight.

  “Ahahaha… Nobody here!”

  “Get out of here, you bastard!”

  “Gosh, he looked at me! I might get infected and become just as bad a loser!”

  “Ahahaha!”

  He’s nine… ten… twelve…

  He now gives it back to these little monsters, using words and fists alike. They complain to their parents, teachers, and the principal. His father gets called to school, again and again, once he’s back from another business trip, to hear all those ill-supported claims and threats to get Will expelled.

  This scum… these bastards… how dare they stand here and laugh at me? I’ll kill you all, fucking freaks!

  Will’s eyes opened wide as fear chilled him to the bone. Was it that voice in his head again? Or… was it an old, deep-buried desire of his own?

  What’s going on? He breathed heavily as his mind was clouded by rage, his eyes filled with blood, and his heart became covered with a sticky darkness that soaked deeper and deeper in, filling his muscle and bones. Turning round abruptly, he growled.

  Facing his enemies now was a dragon-like monster, but they kept pointing at him, shouting insults, and then hiding behind their parents.

  So many people. He’d seen each of these faces before. The passers-by who looked with disgust. The girls who walked away from him, wincing.

  None of them was afraid of him.

  “How dare you! ARRGH!” When he was about to rip them to pieces, his forgotten chains suddenly stretched, and he saw her.

  The girl who was the worst monster in his class. A demon in a kid’s body. As the daughter of the school principal, she could do anything, no matter the consequences.

  Selfish. Arrogant. Conceited. Reveling in whatever little power she had as the principal’s daughter. He gave her back word for word many times. His indifferent, sarcastic tone was driving her mad, as was his calm endurance of her insulting remarks. She invented worse and worse tricks to play on him. Once she even got some high school boys to bash him up after classes, strip him down to his underwear, and leave there in the yard. The whole school knew about this incident the next day. Becoming a laughingstock, he swore to kill her. Although he was just a kid back then, this idea crossing his mind was very bright and vivid.

  Time passed. He learned to seal his feelings in, burying them at the bottom of the deepest pit of his mind. Dropping high school, Will started a new life. But now The Emperor had opened his iron-riveted door to bring out his old, dusty craving for vengeance. Retrieved a rusty blade from the deep cellar, he handed it to Will like a bottle of water to a man dying of thirst. Will seemed to hear him whisper: Take it. Have it. That’s your rage. Your grudge. Your revenge. Have it until you get enough.

  Will wanted to have it. He’d been dreaming of it so much. No matter that it was just a game. He would give much for an opportunity to kill his enemies (or even their virtual copies) with his own hands.

  His lust for blood was blazing. He’d been a victim for his whole childhood. Only upon growing up had he learned to strike back. But those who had humiliated him were never punished. Thinking about it was driving him mad.

  It’s like if a man bashing you up, breaking your arm and a couple of your ribs, and doing all that in public, had got away with only a verbal warning. If he’d been kindly asked not to do that anymore, and that was all.

  The grudge inside Will was very, very strong. Be it a game or not, he had to kill them at least once. He just had to. That must bring him some relief.

  He watched her loathsome face—one that made even Farris seem nice and harmless in comparison. No doubt that was because she’d been hurting him for years in the real world, with his pain and hatred accumulating.

  Now the girl had her hand on the lever that activated the mechanism which dropped the big steel ball his chains were connected to. She pushed.

  With her regular, derisive smile, she flashed her middle finger and waved a hand at Will flying down, his face twisted with rage.

  “Bye, loser. At last we’ve got rid of you. Ahahaha!”

  As she started to laugh, Will, in his fall, seemed to see the twitching mug of a creepy demon hiding behind her innocent, childish face.

  “You fucking vermin! I’ll rip you to pieces!”

  The clean blue sky all around him… and the ground so incredibly far below.

  Hitting it at such speed at 100% sensitivity? The very thought of it pained Will badly. But at least this death would be instant—unlike his past ones.

  The monster-like man was flying down, at some 200 feet per second.

  The sky and the ground. The ground and the sky. And then his tiny figure clutched between them, like between the hammer and the anvil.

  Could he stop this fall? No.

  Did he h
ave to? He was not sure. Having three attempts per challenge, Will was not going to hit the ground at such a speed even once.

  But even his fear of crashing down was dwarfed by his desire to return to that platform he’d been shoved off to kill everyone who was there. His jaws dripped saliva as he thought about wreaking his vengeance.

  Be it a bug or a feature, he could see everything around clearly, his vision not obstructed by tears brought out by the lashing wind. He could feel that wind with his whole body but for his horned head covered in golden scales; it seemed to be covered with a protective mask, obliterating the impact of speed.

  “Wanna come back?”

  That voice in his head again. This time it addressed Will directly, no longer trying to pass its words off as his own.

  “What a ridiculous question. Sure I do!” the dragon-like Will growled.

  “What would you give for it?”

  “I’ll tolerate you in my head while you lift me up there. Do it!”

  “Give me your price!” the voice barked. “Those above… they stand there, laughing at you. They wait for you to be reduced to a bloody spot. No, though. Not even that will remain of you. You’ll be reduced to nothing. To just what they wanted you to be. You’ll make them so, so happy. Most of all that little girl. Kara Lar-r-r-e-e-e-a…” The voice drawled her name, accentuating it.

  “ARRGH! That fucking bitch! I’ll kill her! Destroy her! That vile, stinky smirk of hers! I’ll rip it off the little bitch’s face!”

  “So what will you pay?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Name your price.”

  Name my price? Huh?! The bloodlust enveloping his mind started to subside as if some switch were worked, turning it off. My price? I can’t afford paying any right now. Even less so for such a useless thing as virtual revenge. I’d rather have real.

  Will laughed.

  He couldn’t stop laughing as he kept falling down.