by Rick Scar
Will was lying nested in the capsule. The headrest with sensors felt soft to the touch. The young man closed his eyes and sank into the dark. In a moment, a beam of light started moving in, sucking Will into it. An incredible panoramic bird's eye view laid out before his eyes. Beautiful mountains with snow-capped peaks were stretching to the valleys in the north, where miniature towns with castle towers and cathedral spires sprawled. Deep blue seas and oceans rested peacefully in their shores. In the distance, you could see a giant tree with its crown above the clouds, and either giant birds looking like dragons, or dragon-like birds soaring around it. The entire scenery was filled with glorious magnificence and splendor.
A gravelly, raspy voice, like that of an old man, started the narrative. It was carrying Will away into the story of how it all began,
“Thousands of years ago, in the times of ancient Gods, a great Evil brought chaos and destruction into this world; countless deaths, suffering and despair to its habitants. A portal from the Netherworld had been opened. The disciples of Darkness ruled the continents for hundreds of years in blood and murder, until Gods decided to put an end to this. They sacrificed their flesh to perform a ritual and seal the portal. So the world was divided in a hundred Floors, and each was locked with a fraction of their souls. As centuries passed, the memories of that horror slowly faded into oblivion, and people were seeking to unlock the gates to put the fractured world back together again. Prophesy has it, that, when the last seal shall be opened, Gods will return to reunite with men… Are you willing to fulfill the prophecy and become the one true hero who opens the gates? Many have tried and failed. Remember, what was once locked may best remain that way…”
“Wow!” the story gave Will chills. He watched the world changing right before his eyes: forests turning into barren deserts, huge oceans drying out and refilling with water again. He saw entire races getting extinct and new ones being born; great empires ravaged by war turning into ruins. He saw Gods fighting forces of Evil, and epic battle scenes made his heart skip a beat. He watched the world being torn apart.
The developers did a superb job—it appeared as something more than just a game to Will. It was very realistic and thrilling, and made him want to start playing already. He was still very much dazzled when a menu popped up. A beautiful female voice made him pull it together,
“Would you like to create an account?”
“Yes!”
“Scanning your physical parameters, please, wait. This may take a moment…
Synching complete.
Would you like to customize your appearance now or leave your current parameters?
Note: to protect your real life identity, a security protocol will be applied to your character (see par. 24.2 Safety measures.).”
“Leave current parameters.”
“Done!
To optimize your gaming experience you can adjust your sensitivity settings. Higher settings will make your adventure more realistic. Use this option with caution—sensation of pain may feel very real. When playing in high sensitivity mode, you will get more reward in the game. Whether it’s real adventure you seek or just an amazing experience, you can always change these settings in the menu. Resetting sensitivity from higher to lower will make all your rewards and bonuses unavailable to you until you go back to your previous settings. Choose wisely.”
Will had read about it, but he didn’t remember rewards being mentioned.
“What are the optimal settings?”
“Optimal is 50% and below. If you want to expand your perception, 60% and above is recommended.”
Considering the pros and possible cons, Will wanted to make sure he got it all right,
“If set to 100%, can that hurt my physical body?”
“No, this is impossible. You will only feel the so called phantom pain. The game interacts solely with your mind.”
“Fine. Set to max.”
“Done!
To change these settings, you will have to restart the game.
Choose your race from the list below.”
This was a long list—Undead, Goblin, Half-Demon, Suldar, Dwarf, Reptiloid, and many more. Will had seen it on the website before, so he wasn’t going to peruse it. He knew exactly what he was looking for,
“Human.”
“Choose your class.”
“Rogue.”
“You have chosen your race and class successfully.
Enter your name.”
“White RAVen.”
“Congratulations, this name is not taken.
Would you like to select the Floor? You can skip this step to have it selected for you randomly. Only the first three Floors are available to you now. The higher the Floor, the higher the level of its habitants…”
“Select for me.”
“You selected random Floor.
Loading…
Player character created successfully.
Appearance created successfully.
Loading…
Loading compl… #Error/#…
Have a great adventure and good luck, White RAVen!”
“Wait, what?”
Everything went dark again, and then a flash took Will to the starting location.
Chapter 4. First steps toward a dream
“Congratulations! You are the first visitor to Skiavra village.
+25 Influence Points.
You can exchange Influence Points for valuable skills or information to help you navigate around the world of Ascension. You can also spend it on building property or purchase land with it, but spend it wisely—you never know when you may need it.
Awarded the title: Pathfinder.
Description You’ve discovered opened the unexplored territory for the first time.
+2% XP in the territory of Skiavra.
+1% Speed.”
Having read the message, Will closed it and looked around. He found himself in the middle of what seemed to be the central square of Skiavra. A statue of a short woman in a dress, in the center of a fountain, was raising her hands up like she was begging from Heavens. There were small wooden houses around, and a few shops that belonged to local artisans. The young man looked up. The sun was shining bright and it was warm; gentle wind was softly touching Will’s skin. It was hard to believe a game could be like this. Skydome Corp. really did make a masterpiece of a game.
“Hmm, it’s kind of empty in here. Usually, central squares are crowded with players. Must be some remote location or something… By the way, how do I know which Floor I’m on?”
The developers on the website were not particularly clear on that: “We do not intervene in the gaming process unless we absolutely have to.”
“All right, let’s get busy.”
After all, that is what it was all about—hard work. In Ascension, the inventory was linked to the finger ring with the infinity symbol depicted on it, and twenty slots to start off with. To expand its capacity, you would have to pay a visit to the Magic Academy. There was no overhead visual clutter in this game—instead, to view the information about an NPC or a monster (like name, rank, health bar), one would have to use the Inspection Skill. This basic apprentice-level skill was available to all new players and could be further developed as they leveled up—the higher the level, the more information. If your PC were to die, it would automatically loose all, or most of the items in their possession.
Will opened up the inventory, to see his starter item set. Five slices of bread to replenish health, a pair of pants, a shirt, and some boots—nothing fancy, regular threads, so one didn’t have to play naked. There were also a few copper coins, and a set of low-level lock picks to handle simple locks.
“Well, I’m a rogue, aren’t I?” thought Will. After examining the inventory, he switched to the character details window. There were no surprises there either—standard stats for the given character class. With that, Will’s character got ten Attribute Points and one Skill Point. Every level up meant five Attribute Points and one Ski
ll Point for every fifth level.
Setting goals in the game is vital for any good player, otherwise, the risk of winding up with a gimp character is imminent. Since Will was planning to play solo, mobility and maximum damage were his priorities. Thoughts of what he might need on a raid or in a dungeon were cast aside—his objective was melee skills.
Yes, melee damage dealers are as fragile as glass in the beginning, but, with appropriate gear and tittles, this can be fixed no problem. Keeping that in mind, Will did not hesitate to distribute his Attribute Points as he saw fit: +6 Agility, to increase damage dealt with ranged weapons and damage from daggers; +1 Energy, to use non-magic class skills (+10 Power increase for each Attribute Point spent on it, much like with Stamina); +3 Strength.
Next stop - Skills and Skill Levels, of which there were five: Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, Grandmaster, and Legend. Will looked at the three Skills available, and went for the passive one—At Gunpoint. “Frequent use of this skill helps you level up. Passive skills upgrade over time, depending on how often you use them to your advantage.” read Will out loud.
“You learned a new skill.
At gunpoint. Passive skill (Apprentice).
Increases all ranged weapons mastery level.
+2% Chance to deal critical damage with ranged weapons.”
Will looked around again and headed toward the shops to see what they had in stock and to familiarize himself with the price range. When he walked into the nearest one, no other players were in sight, and the shop keeper was dozing off in the corner. The merchant shuddered, as if he had sensed someone’s presence, and smiled at Will,
“Welcome to my shop. May I interest you in reasonably priced gear, light weapons, or jewelry?”
“Hello,” said RAVen, as he strolled among the shelves with wares. A nice looking dagger drew his attention. He picked it up and applied Inspection. What he saw made his eye twitch,
“Twenty one gold for a dagger?!”
“Needle of Despair (Gold).
Damage: 107-125
+7% Chance to deal Armor damage
+4% Chance to Dodge the incoming attack
+5% Chance to cause the target to bleed over 7 seconds
Requirements: 90 Strength, 104 Agility.
Class requirements: Rogue.”
RAVen wasn’t an experienced gamer, but he knew, this kind of weapon didn’t belong in a starting location for the first to fifth level players. There was a quality gradation to items and weapons: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and, best of all—Epic. With every new rank, one could get a better weapon set of the same level.
“What kind of weapon is this? Who can afford this?”
He decided to keep looking and regretted about it—everything was level 30+.
“That’s odd.”
Will left, without saying goodbye. Outside, he noticed a bulletin board which, he thought, wouldn’t hurt to look at. He had a bad feeling about it.
“Posted by: Milli’s Armory.
Hunt Armored Tigers and bring their skins.
Reward: 4 gold a piece.”
“Posted by: Groggy Dick’s Tavern.
Gather Dawn Brew Flowers in north-eastern part of the Woods.
Reward: If you are lucky to return from there alive, we will pay 7 gold per flower.
Important! Raw flowers are deadly! Do not eat those.”
The board was full of suchlike announcements with incredibly generous rewards.
“What the heck is going on? Let’s see… How are we doing on rodents here? This should be a concern in a village, right?”
“Posted by: Oldak.
Exterminate the rats infesting the local warehouse.
Reward: 2 gold each.”
“This must be what the developers were bragging about—a unique gaming process. Stronger monsters for the starting locations; what else could such generous rewards mean?” with these thoughts, RAVen tore the announcement off the board.
“Quest accepted: Rat Slayer.
Go see Oldak, to find out more about the rat problem.
Reward: 50 XP.”
The warehouse was on the outskirts of the village. It was huge, and looked condemned. Entering it before learning more about its inhabitants was probably not the best idea.
“Excuse me, where do I find Oldak?” An old lady, RAVen was talking to, looked at him closely,
“Hitting the bottle somewhere. Not a day sober, since those wretched rats took his warehouse.”
“Since when exactly, you say?”
“Three days ago or so.”
“Thank you.”
It took RAVen some wandering about to find the only tavern in the village. It was a bit dark inside, but when the eyes adjusted, the young man located Oldak and walked right up to him.
“Hey there, mister Oldak.”
The man struggled with his drunken eyes that refused to focus on Will for some time and then replied,
“Who might you be, boy? Haven’t seen you in Skiavra before.”
“The name is White RAVen, and I’m here to take care of your rat problem. I was hoping you could help me by telling what I may need to know, like how many are there, their weaknesses, what do they afraid of, where do they come from—anything you can share.”
“Ah, the rats! Finally, someone brave enough to help poor Oldak.” Sobering up a little, he started talking,
“They came three nights ago. I was at home, and I heard some rumbling in the warehouse, so I went to see what the heck it was. I opened the door, and that’s when I saw them. Four or five of those monsters; it looked like they were looking for something, tearing the boxes and barrels with their awful claws. I barely made it out of there, thank Gods they didn’t follow me. I don’t know about their weaknesses, but the unholy must be dealt with using holy magic, I suppose. The problem is, there’s not a single priest in the village.”
“Task complete: Oldak’s Story.
Reward: 50 XP.
Clear the warehouse of the rats. Bring their skulls as a proof.
Reward:
+10000 XP
+2 gold
Additional task: find out what the rats were looking for.
Reward: ???”
“So, you really want to help me get rid of those rats?”
“I think, I do…” said the young man trying to hide the lack of confidence in his voice.
“You don’t look very tough to me,” said Oldak looking at Will from head to toe, “I’ve seen those things, they are strong, they won’t go down easy.”
“Brain’s over brawn, good sir. I’ll figure something out. I don’t mean to be impudent, but can I borrow your sword? My gear was damaged, that’s why I needed the money in the first place. I’ll give it back when I’m finished, I promise.”
“Hmm… Not sure if it’ll be of any help, but, here,” said Oldak and drew the short sword that was dangling around his hip.
“I need my warehouse back, you hear me?”
“I’ll do my best. One more question though. Where can I purchase some skill books?”
“Down that street, there’s a wooded sign in the shape of an open book, you won’t miss it.”
“Thank you, I think I got all I need now.”
“Short Hunting Sword (Bronze).
Damage: 10-13
+2% Chance to cause the target to bleed over 10 seconds
Requirements: 11 Strength, 12 Agility.
Class requirements: Melee class.
“Perfect. Turns out there are lousy weapons in this location…Maybe the books won’t cost that much after all.”
Will found the place no problem. Unlike the tavern, the place was bright and cozy, and it looked like a decent place in general. A raw-boned old man, with the glasses slipping down his nose, showed out of nowhere. His piercing, I-can-see-right-through-you type of look was pointed at Will.
“What can I help you with, messenger of Gods?”
“Good day t- I’m sorry, what did you call me just now?”
/> “Messenger of Gods,” repeated the old man and continued, as confusion was retouching Wills face, “The ring on your finger. The infinity symbol. The sign of that the gates will soon be opened.”
“Um…”
“What? Don’t you know what you are wearing on your own finger?” the old man looked at him suspiciously waiting for an answer.
Indeed, Will never thought of how NPCs perceived the players. To the best of his knowledge, in other games the AI just ignored the difference between PCs and NPCs.
“Well, you see, I just recently woke up in the woods, and I don’t really remember how or why I got there. So, you know… I don’t have any recollections about this ring either.”
“Good heavens! Why do all them messengers have to be slow-witted!”
RAVen’s nostrils flared.
“They told me, I’ll be back to normal soon. How about you tell me what you know about the ring?”
“Everyone on this Floor knows that. I guess, on other Floors too. The old prophecy says that the messengers from Heavens will come to this world, and they will open the gates to undo the harm done to this world; they will be marked with a symbol,” the old man drew the infinity symbol in the air with his finger. “They will be reborn into this world over and over until they fulfill their destiny.”
“Right! Now I remember… Destiny and stuff. But, before I go save the world, I need to get my pump on, if you know what I mean. I was told you had skill books I could buy. I would like to see what you have.”
“You really are slow-witted, aren’t you?” the old man shook his head, making Will want to smack him in his wrinkled face, “Wait here.”
