Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure)

by Derrick Burke

  Eventually, the fire burning low from not being tended to, we decide to move inside. It’s already 23:05 and we should pack up and get ready for midnight, when we can finally check out the new game. Exciting much? Hell yeah!

  We pack everything up and throw out the trash in record time, each of us showering to wash the smoke out of our hair and the others changing into the spare clothes they brought.

  Long ago we worked out a system for sleepovers. Fuzzy and Blake get the couches, simply because Anya’s and Lockie’s feet would be hanging off the ends. So they get the two spare beds in the spare room. The last spare room Rosie and I had turned into an office of sorts, where she does some of her work from home.

  I put the washing machine and dryer combo on with all our smoky clothes. I heard once that they used to make them separately so that companies could get more cash.

  I also long ago bought the wireless charging pads for all the rooms in the house. A really cool feature of the headgear console is that I can support up to ten people on the single unit. So all we have to do when sleeping over is bring our headgear.

  “Let’s get this show on the road,” I say to everyone as we are sitting around waiting in the lounge for the clock to tick down. It’s currently 23:45, so we may as well get moving.

  “I’ll send out invites when I log into the lobby,” I call over my shoulder at them as I make my way down the hall to my bedroom at the back of the house. Just before lying down, I remember my waking up in a cold sweat earlier that day.

  Making a snap decision, I whip off all the sheets and pillowcases and put them in the laundry. Then on the way back I pull out some clean linen and remake the bed. It takes me all of three minutes.

  I lie down, butterflies in my stomach, and slip on the headgear.

  Closing my eyes, I see the familiar ‘Log in’ button and mentally click it. My vision turns light grey again, and slowly my lobby comes into focus. I walk over and sit on the sofa as I bring up the interface. I open my friends list and select my four teammates, sending them a party invite, which they promptly all accept.

  Four icons of my friends’ real faces appear in a vertical line below my own icon in the top left-hand side corner of my vision. I keep all of my interface semitransparent so I don’t get distracted and can see where I’m going in game.

  Immediately I’m inundated with messages.

  Douglas: Dude! Where have you been? I was about to log off and come slap you to sleep.

  Lockie: Took your time, lol. Did you get nervous and jerk one out before logging in?

  Blake: Guys, guys, he probably just had to squeeze a log off before he could log in. Bahaha.

  Donald: Ok, fellas, get a handle on yourselves, will ya? I’m here now.

  Anya: Phrasing! Ha!

  Lockie: Lol.

  Blake: Not long left. I’m so excited, damn it! I’m literally bouncing off the walls in my lobby.

  Douglas: Calm your farm, lol. It’s only 5 minutes till we get to log in.

  A new window pops open of its own accord in front of me.

  System Administration Message:

  To all Beta testers. Below this message is the special ‘Log in’ button that you will be using. By clicking this ‘Log in’ button, you agree to the terms and conditions, which can be accessed by clicking on this link. If you do not wish to participate in the Beta, you may open your DSR2 game from your interface. This decision is not reversible. A stipulation in the terms and conditions is that you must register at your nearest DSR Headquarters within one week from your first login.

  Above the button, your party participants’ names will be displayed. If there are any issues, please don’t hesitate to contact Administration by opening a ticket.

  Remember, there are a limited number of each race available.

  Click the button when ready. You will log in automatically.

  Enjoy your game!

  Party Leader: Donald Patterson.

  Party Member: Douglas Myers.

  Party Member: Anya Sokolov.

  Party Member: Lockie Rayne.

  Party Member: Blake Edwards.

  ‘LOG IN’

  Damn, this is really happening.

  Donald: You guys get that message?

  Douglas: Just click the blasted button. There’s an auto countdown timer that pops up.

  Donald: Ok then.

  I mentally click the ‘Log in’ button on the system message, and the message disappears, replaced with a huge timer counting down from fifty-five seconds.

  Donald: I know it’s probably a silly time, but reckon we should start a new guild? Seeing as how we will be out in butt-fuck nowhere, we won’t be able to join up with the rest of our old guildies.

  Anya: I like this idea. Your timing is extremely poor though.

  Lockie: What should we call it, then?

  Blake: I don’t care what it’s called. Being in a guild has some good perks, so sounds good to me.

  Douglas: Yeah, sounds good. Any ideas on the name?

  Donald: I’d rather keep it simple, not like some of the long-ass names we’ve seen.

  Blake: Adventure Hunters? You know, we are treasure hunters and adventure hunters?

  Lockie: Hmm, Donald wants to keep it simple, so probably a single word. Hunters is Venatores in Latin and was also the name of our old guild pub. I kind of want to keep something from the old game. Nostalgia reasons, you know?

  Blake: Sounds good, 10 seconds, yippy!

  Douglas: I’m agreeable. Side note, you know Latin?

  Lockie: Lol, maybe…

  Anya: It fits what we do, and I can’t wait to have some fun in our new guild hall, whenever we get the chance to build or buy it.

  Donald: Ok, Venatores it is.

  The timer keeps ticking away.

  3…

  2…

  1…

  My vision goes black all of a sudden and my HUD disappears as well. A single window opens up in front of me, taking up most of my view. It has the title ‘Character Selection’, and beneath it is a very detailed three-dimensional view of a naked male Ogre. Above the picture is a tab of ‘Male’ and ‘Female’. The ‘Female’ tab is greyed out, so it looks like people are forced to play their original gender. Interesting.

  Below the picture is a spreadsheet of the Ogre’s base stats and racial abilities. Under the spreadsheet is a button ‘Choose this Character?’ and under the button is a tab with the title ‘Number of this race left: 100’.

  That’s a really small amount. With a max of twenty-five thousand players in the beta, that’s a heck of a small amount.

  There has to be a way to search through the listings faster than one at a time. As soon as I think of search, a search window appears with a selection of different settings.

  Ok.

  Search parameters: Rare to Common. Go.

  A list of races appears beneath the search bar, no pictures of them, just text. They all align themselves with the rarest at the top, with only one available, to the most common, which has four hundred left. The top three have only one of that character available.

  Dragonkin, Demi Angel, Demi Demon.

  Before I can even select any of them to see their stats, both the Demi Angel and the Demi Demon disappear from the listing.

  Dammit!

  Not wanting to lose out on a character that must be awesome if there is only one of them available, I mentally click the ‘Choose this Character’ button beside the Dragonkin as fast as I can.

  A new window pops up in front of me.

  Do you wish to choose Dragonkin as your Character?

  Yes/No

  Again, I mentally click ‘Yes’ as quickly as I can. There are at least two other people who have the same idea I have, so I don’t want to have this character stolen out from under me.

  Congratulations! You have chosen Dragonkin as your Character.

  Congratulations! You have earned the Title ‘Lone Hunter’ since you are the only player with this character.

&nb
sp; Title Effect: +5% damage when not in a party or when party members are not within 100 feet of you.

  Racial Ability:

  Heritage: When activated, you transform into your true form, a humanoid dragon. While in combat, this form increases all damage you do by 200% and allies within 50 yards by 50%. Reduces all incoming damage by 25%. If in combat for 30 seconds, you will automatically revert to your normal form. When out of combat, you can keep this form for up to a total of 5 minutes. Instant cast. 10-minute cool down.

  Passive Ability:

  Night Vision: Able to see in the darkest depths of the earth.

  I stare at the screen for a moment, not believing what I am seeing. An extra five percent damage is huge in the later stages of the game. I just hope I don’t look like a scaly lizard, as I didn’t get to see what it looks like. I really don’t want to be like a Saurian, which is basically a talking velociraptor with longer arms and thumbs.

  A new window pops up with the title of ‘Classes’, and under the heading is ‘Please choose your first class’.

  I remember the message yesterday said I would be allowed to take as long as I want in this section. A list of the different classes goes vertically down the window, and I don’t actually see any new ones in the game from DSR1.

  Well, that makes it easy, I suppose. I click on the ‘Warrior’ class. A vertical list of the abilities that are available to level 1s appear. There are only three. At the bottom of the list is a button labelled ‘Accept Class’.

  Dual wield: The warrior gains no penalty for having a weapon in their offhand. This is a passive ability.

  Sweeping Strike: When you strike an opponent, 100% damage is applied to two other unfriendly targets within a 4-yard radius of the original target. 30 second cool down.

  Furious Strike: Add 300% damage to your next attack. 60 second cool down.

  Those are pretty sweet. I suppose we will have to go to trainers to learn more skills later on. Looks like they have changed the abilities up from what I am used to. I’m going to have to remember what they are so I can use them instead of trying to use my old abilities. Ugh.

  Well, our party has been through some of the toughest places in DSR1 with the class make-up that we had. So I’ll keep it that way. Not to mention they have removed the debuff for the offhand, which is going to increase my damage output tremendously.

  I go ahead and click ‘Accept Class’.

  Congratulations! You have chosen your first class. As a Beta tester you must choose a second class as well. The second class will have no penalties incurred for being the second class.

  The ‘Classes’ window is still open, so I guess now I actually have to choose my second one.

  Sifting through the rest of the classes, I debate with myself the merits of each one. I wish they would have given us more information on how the levelling up is done in this version, whether it is a min-max point system or an automatically chosen one based on your class. After tossing it up, I eventually decide to choose the ‘Mage’ class.

  I open it up one last time and take a look at the abilities.

  Mage Armour: Increases mana regeneration rate and all elemental resistances by 25%. This is a passive ability.

  Fire Ball: Hurls a ball of fire dealing 150% spell power as fire damage with a 40% chance to burn the target for an additional 30% spell power damage over 10 seconds. Instant cast. Costs 8 mana.

  Frost Spear: Hurls a spear of ice dealing 160% spell power as frost damage with a 40% chance to slow the target by 25%. Instant cast. Costs 8 mana.

  I click the ‘Accept Class’ button.

  Congratulations! You have chosen your second class. These two classes are compatible and have been combined into a single one.

  Congratulations! Your class is now a ‘Spell Sword’. With this class you may use all the Warrior and Mage abilities you can find. This class also has abilities of its own:

  Attribute changes: Your highest Attribute increases your second highest Attribute by 50% rounded down. If there are 2 or more, choose 1.

  Spell Sword: This ability creates a sword that utilises the elemental attacks you know and does the equivalent amount of damage per strike as the original attack and includes their effects. You can also cast this ability on weapons only you are wielding. You currently know: Fire Sword, Frost Sword. Instant cast. Costs 30 mana to summon Spell Sword.

  Current Attribute points available: 20.

  Please invest your Attribute points.

  A new window ups up with my character statistics and attribute points.

  I’m stunned again. This Spell Sword ability is like a hack. The amount of damage I will be able to push out is unbelievable. Especially with dual wield.

  Just how hard is the game going to be if I’m given all these abilities before I’ve even logged in? I just hope my previous years of experience will be able to help me out.

  I’ll definitely have to think well and hard before I dole out any of my attribute points. But it is just so crazy that I take a moment to just let it sink in. I’d better hurry up though, I bet the rest of the party is already inside, running around and waiting for me.

  I take a look at the different attributes that are available and read over what they do, just in case the administrators have changed anything. I hope they haven’t. I notice that I start with a base of ten in each attribute, which is awesome.

  Attributes:

  Strength (Str): Measures muscle, physical power and melee damage. Strength also sets the maximum amount of weight your character can carry.

  Dexterity (Dex): Measures agility, reflexes, balance and accuracy. Also increases small weapon and ranged weapon damage.

  Constitution (Con): Represents your character’s Health and Stamina. Attribute points spent here will increase your Health and Stamina by 10 per 1 point.

  Intelligence (Int): Determines how well your character learns and reasons. Measures spell damage (equal to total Intelligence), spell range and total mana. Increases your mana by 10 per 1 point.

  Wisdom (Wis): Determines how well a character uses abilities or actions that require willpower, common sense, awareness, and intuition. Increases mana regeneration.

  Charisma (Cha): Determines how well liked your character is. A higher Attribute generates a higher goodwill towards you.

  Luck (Lck): Determines how lucky you are in all aspects.

  So they didn’t change anything there, which is good. Even little tweaks can really disrupt the balance of the game if not done very carefully.

  Thinking over all my options and what will be what I hope is the best scenario for the melee casting class I have chosen is excruciatingly painful. Especially since I don’t have any prior experience and I can’t access any outside sources to give me some hints.

  However, there is the attribute buff being a Spell Sword gives me, which increases my second highest attribute by 50% of my highest. Well, it’s only twenty points; I’m sure I will be investing in all of these attributes to a certain degree, as it looks like they cover a variety of in-game applications. I shouldn’t get so caught up and should just go with my gut, I think.

  Distributing my points, my character statistics sheet now looks like this:

  Character Statistics

  Name: Sybaal

  Race: Dragonkin

  Class: Spell Sword

  Level: 1

  Health: 130

  Stamina: 130

  Mana: 220

  Attributes

  Strength: 18

  Dexterity: 12

  Constitution: 13

  Intelligence: 22 (dual class +9)

  Wisdom: 12

  Luck: 11

  Charisma: 10

  Resistances

  Holy: 25%

  Shadow: 25%

  Fire: 25%

  Frost: 25%

  Nature: 25%

  Lightning: 25%

  Poison: 25%

  Disease: 25%

  Accept this purchase?

  Yes/No

&nbs
p; That looks to be about right. If I min-max too much, I’ll end up being a glass cannon. Not really ideal if I’m going to be in the thick of it, and judging by my abilities, I’ll be pulling most of my DPS when I’m in melee range.

  I quickly press ‘Yes’ before I can second-guess myself and be stuck here all day. Playing the actual game, I’ve always found to be way more enjoyable than getting into the nitty-gritty details behind the character.

  You have distributed all available Attribute Points. Are you ready to proceed into the new world of DSR2?

  Yes/No

  I click ‘Yes’ again. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

  As you are a Beta tester, you will be protected for one hour while the game acclimatizes to your new, random location.

  All the open windows close themselves, and I feel like my body is plunged into the depths of a frigid lake. The feeling passes, and light begins to pass through my closed eyelids, just like it would in real life if I was standing outside on a sunny day. My muscles feel like they are cramping, so I reach above my head and give myself a nice stretch before opening my eyes.