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

by Derrick Burke

  “And the proceeds for the channel? I hope that by having this extra source of income coming in, we wouldn't be hijacked by the corporation?” asked Lockie with a raised eyebrow and a glint in his eye.

  Here I am just sitting quietly watching the exchange go back and forth between Lockie and Polly about percentages and ratings and such. All the stuff that I really don't pay much attention to at the best of times and really only save this specific processing power of my brain for in-game activities.

  It honestly sounds like two litigation lawyers are hacking and spitting at each other. Now cross that with someone trying to barter at an Asian hundred-yen store over a packet of two-minute noodles for less than cost and that's what it pretty much looks like.

  Thank god Lockie is here to take care of it. Each of us has some particular skills that we bring to the table. Lockie just happens to be able to sell ice to Eskimos. Apparently, his bartering escapades began when he was a kid. He even has the Boy Scout badge to prove it.

  He told us a story once about when he was younger. Some travelling Eskimos had gone a bit further south during summer, and there was quite a bit more heat than they were used to. Lockie just happened to be a Boy Scout at the time, selling shaved ice for some fundraiser or another. However, since there was a heat wave on, he had jacked up the prices like a good little moneymaker.

  Those travelling Eskimos bought the melting thirty seconds of cold for three times the price. One of them had laughed and remarked to another that they had actually bought ice when they could have as much as they wanted up north. The scout leader overheard this and worked out where they were from. He then created a new badge just for Lockie to make him feel special, as he wasn't a very popular kid and was left out a lot.

  Anyway, the general consensus of the overall agreement pretty much ended with each of us keeping 15 percent of the proceeds. The other 25 percent goes to the corporation to cover the added workload of the techies.

  I think Lockie outdid himself this time. He even made it so that Polly would take care of all the details.

  “Alright, enough, I do actually have work to do and people to see,” Polly says with a smile to take the bite out of her words. She gets up and smooths her skirt down.

  “Thank you for your time, Polly,” I say with a calmness that I don't feel as I hold my hand out. “It's been a pleasure.”

  She grips it with a surprisingly firm handshake. “The pleasure was all mine, I assure you.”

  Releasing my hand, she then shoos us out the door, and I can see that all the lounges are full of people waiting to see the director.

  How long were we in there for?

  “Thank you for coming so quickly. You were able to beat the rush,” the assistant behind the counter says with a smile as we walk past him.

  Lockie goes weak at the knees, and we literally have to hold him up as we walk towards the elevator. It's not till we are back in our apartment that he finally snaps out of it.

  “Goddamn,” Lockie exclaims. “The next time I go in there, I'm going to need to be blindfolded or something. Otherwise I'm going to be a bumbling mess every time.”

  “How about we go do a gym session to help you clear your head a bit?” suggests Fuzzy.

  “Done. Let me throw on something else and let's go,” agrees Lockie with enthusiasm as he heads to his room.

  Heading into my room, I change into my workout attire and we all head out to the gym. We all head to our usual stations to get started. Blake and Anya head to the machines and weights. Lockie and Fuzzy start a warm-up game of tag on the jungle of parkour courses, while I find an empty spot and begin my katas.

  Once I'm finished and sufficiently warmed up, we all gather around the weights and resistance machines for quite a while. We finish off with some medium to heavy pad and bag work with the fighting gloves we found next to the punching bags, all the while laughing and joking around about our experiences in game to date.

  We all definitely don't hear the distinctive sound of a bag being split open from Anya's well-placed kick. Definitely not.

  We do, however, decide to hang up the gloves for the day at that point and leave with some protein smoothies from the cafeteria on the way out.

  Grace thankfully ordered us food, which is laid out on the table, unlike our usual positioning on the lounges.

  “I thought it might be a little bit difficult to eat steak and the best barbeque meats we have to offer on a lounge,” Grace informs us.

  Good decision indeed. Our normal banter pretty much stops completely as we savour the tastiest steaks we have ever had.

  Now exceedingly full and content, I start our conversation back up with where we will be going from here. “Okay, let's just rehash a little before we head back in. All in favour of having Eloise, Knax, Kendak, Lurra and Halvard making up the rest of the ten-man raid group?”

  A chorus of affirmatives follows and I nod. “Right, that's sorted. Next, we have the map with multiple places highlighted from that explorer's book we found. Are we going to decide to go check out places from it along the way, or will we just go straight to the nearest town marked on it?”

  “Ohh, tough one, that.” Fuzzy grimaces. “I hate bypassing loot.”

  “Whilst I don't like it either, I believe our top priority right now is to gain ourselves some mounts. As it stands, we will be lagging behind everyone from now on, seeing as how we will be walking everywhere,” says Anya with a thoughtful expression on her face.

  “I'm with Anya. Plus, I would like to get our relics from the bank.” Lockie nods.

  “Meh, I don't mind much either way. Although, with a mount, I won't have to physically walk as much, so let’s do that.” Blake shrugs.

  “Sorted, then. Well, if that's the case, should we get the higher-levelled guildies to explore the ones near the fortress and surrounding areas? This way we can hopefully find some dungeons and such to help level everyone else,” I suggest, looking at the others.

  “That makes sense,” agrees Anya.

  “As long as they are careful, they are still NPCs that can die, after all,” says Fuzzy.

  “Agreed,” I say. “Alright, is there anything I'm missing?”

  “We still haven't received the actual items of our materials hand-in quest reward from the crafters,” Blake says after a moment. “Should we ask them to send it via mail when it's ready?”

  “Ah yes, that'll fit nicely. We won't have to trek all the way back there before we head out. Everyone else fine with that?” Lockie asks.

  Nodding, there is a moment of silence as we think of anything we could be missing.

  “Well, back to the grind, then, eh?” I grin, standing up when nothing comes to mind.

  Everyone else gets up as well, with Fuzzy slapping his full stomach and belching loudly. His moustache is actually blown outwards from the force like something you would see in a cartoon. I never knew that happened in real life.

  “Ahh, that's so much better. Wolfed it down a bit quick, I did.” he grins at the rest of us while we quickly vacate the area.

  That shit travels like nothing else.

  Disappearing into my room, I have a shower and take care of my necessities before lying down and logging in. Damn, it's already 16:55. Imagine that.

  8

  Feeling a heavy weight on my chest and legs, I open my eyes to see that Grace has somehow climbed half onto the bed, squishing me by default. I'm going to need a bigger bed if I stay here. Ugh, she's so heavy.

  And that is something I should never repeat ever again, especially out loud.

  Before I have a chance to move, however, what looks like a game-wide message that won't be swiped away without a proper look covers my vision.

  Attention all adventurers! The Guild Wars has been unlocked by the Venatores Guild, who now hold the rank of #1 in the world. Want a chance for the top slot with your guild? Well, there are some rules that you will need to know!

  The Guild Wars is a massive monthly tournament.

&nb
sp; All battles must have a minimum of 30 guild members per side. When challenging another guild, the maximum number of guild members for one side can't exceed that of the challenged guild as a whole.

  Guilds can only challenge another guild that is within three guild levels.

  Challengers must be within five tournament ranks of the guild being challenged.

  If there are multiple challenges for the same rank, then those guilds must battle it out between themselves in a battle royal first. The winner of this battle royal will then be able to challenge the guild whose rank they want to move up to.

  The only ways for a guild to lose their spot are to lose a challenge or if they do not accept at least one challenge per monthly tournament. Not accepting will make that guild automatically concede defeat and take the spot of the guild who challenged. If there are no challengers, the guild keeps its position.

  Guild leaders who hold a rank within the top 100 must attend the tournament opening ceremony. Nonattendance will lose the guild a single rank.

  Challenges must be made in person by the guild leader and can be given to any of the opposing guild's members. This can be done at the tournament itself.

  To obtain a portal scroll to the tournament grounds, you may obtain one from the Guild Wars registration office in any major city. They are soul bound when bought.

  Initial rankings will be determined by guild level, with all guilds of the same level entering a battle royal. The rankings will be determined by how long each guild survives until wiped out. Naturally, the last guild standing will take the top rank of that section.

  Don't forget! The next tournament begins in seven days. You can find out what perks and rewards you can receive for your final placement from the registration office. Have fun out there!

  Holy shit. They just opened a massive can of whoop-ass.

  This is almost completely different to how guilds were ranked in the previous game. I can definitely see the appeal of this way though. Competition always makes people strive to be better than everyone else. It also weeds out the ones who leech off others.

  Thankfully we are in the number one spot and only have to contend with a single challenger per month. That's a bonus, I guess. We really do need to go to a major city and check out the rewards this will give us in the future. Although, if our guild is at least six levels higher than anyone else, we shouldn't be able to ever be challenged, even if we rock up.

  But that's something to think about later. Right now, it's time to get up and moving.

  “Grace, why are you crushing me to the bed?” I grunt, trying unsuccessfully to shift her head.

  Opening an eye lazily, Grace snorts warm air into my face. “Maybe I was enjoying just lying here and relaxing for a change.”

  “And you aren't anymore?” I ask, scratching behind her eyes.

  She rolls her eyes at me before closing them again. “No, you opened your mouth and called me fat. Shh, go back to sleep.”

  “Grace! Come on, we have stuff to do today. Let's go!”

  Huffing with all my might trying to move her now, I really need a couple more points into Strength if I'm this weak. Suddenly Grace lifts herself off me. Maybe she was using her own strength to stay still? Yeah, let’s go with that.

  Sybaal: Hey, guys, where is everyone?

  Kazzrak: You going to be a princess and powder your nose forever every time we log in now?

  Dosan: Ha!

  Ifalna: We are in the main hall where we took down Lord Varim. Everyone is here ready and waiting.

  Ezekial: We have already shared the traveller's book we found with Han and the rest here. He says he has something he wants to show you as well. Not sure what.

  Sybaal: Righteo then. Be right there.

  We leave the room and I follow Grace through all the twists and turns as well as down different flights of stairs. Some of this is familiar from before, but there is just too much too quick for me to pick it all up properly. We make it to the main hall within a few minutes.

  Stepping inside, I can see that the room has turned into a makeshift crafters’ hall. Seeing all the major parties standing around chatting with each other up on the raised dais, we make our way towards them.

  “Ah, Sybaal, sleeping in, I see.” Kleemek grins. “Wish I could be doing that, but alas, there's just too much to do.”

  “Not everyone is as carefree as you, though I guess you can do what you want, seeing as how you run the Glade,” Knax remarks snidely, hiding his own grin.

  “Alright, alright, enough with the ribbing.” I sigh, shooting Grace a dirty look. “Are we all ready to go?”

  “Almost,” Han says, moving in front of me and taking a shiny metal sphere out of his bag that is roughly just larger than a tennis ball. He holds it out to me. “This is the only uncategorised item that was found in the treasury. It was hidden behind several nasty traps in the third consecutive hidden room inside the treasury. There was nothing of note in all the extra rooms except for this, so I'm assuming it might be quite important.”

  “Huh, okay then, I trust whoever removed it is fine?” Taking the sphere, I can feel it is quite hefty, and if I were to pick it up in the real world, it would probably be quite heavy. Turning it over in my hand, I notice a small circular indent with a stylised 'M' depression within it. It looks vaguely familiar from somewhere. “That's interesting. Anyone have any ideas?”

  “It looks remarkably like the 'M' from Lord Varim Meldoto's clothes,” says Knax excitedly, pointing at Dosan's minion's outfit and basically bouncing on the spot. “I'll bet you use something of his to open it!”

  “Jeez, Knax, calm down. It is a good suggestion though. I couldn't place the symbol, but it looks like the signet ring we looted off him,” I say as I open up my inventory to find where it went. Ah, it slipped into the Jewelcrafting Bag. Putting it on for the first time, I then press it to the indent.

  At first nothing happens, then a system message pops up.

  Congratulations! You have soul bound an inert Soul Forged Heirloom Artefact.

  That’s it. Nothing else.

  Like, seriously?

  “Aww, it didn't work.” Knax looks crestfallen that his idea didn't make anything happen.

  “Well, I actually got a system message when I touched the ring to it,” I say with a wince as the look turns hopeful.

  Just like when you go in one of those draws for something you really want and the fellow pulls someone else's name out of the barrel. But then the bastard tells everyone that he will really be drawing two names out, and your heart gets that warm hopeful feeling, the first glimpse of it being rekindled.

  Too bad I have to unwillingly crush that rekindled hope with the heel of my boot without mercy. No two ways about it, really.

  “All it said was that I'm now soul bound to an inert Soul Forged Heirloom Artefact. Nothing else at all, unfortunately,” I say with an internal wince at Knax's reaction.

  He still looks like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop, but when I don't disclose any other information, he brightens considerably. “That just means that we need to find a way to power it, seeing as how it is currently inert. Right?”

  “Knax makes a valid point. I wouldn't write it off just yet, especially seeing as how it is now soul bound,” Ifalna says, gesturing to the sphere.

  Shrugging, I make a noncommittal snort and make a show of opening my bag and dropping it in. “Well, it isn't that important right now, so it will keep until later. Now, Han, is everything else all sorted?”

  Han ticks off his fingers one after another. “Yes, we are progressing with everything. The gathering of materials. The fixing of the fortress. The clearing of the forest surrounding the walls. The plans for the town. The mailbox should be fixed shortly as well. Also, the other leaders and I will be heading out with the other higher levels to explore all the locations you've given us that are outside the walls of the Glade but also near them. Initially we won't stray too far, but we will once we have an understanding of how po
werful the monsters out there are.”

  “See, told you we had it sorted,” Kazzrak says smugly, stroking his beard.

  “Fair enough, then.” I turn to the other guildies who will be accompanying us. “You all have been specifically chosen because you are smart, steady, courageous and willing to learn. Are you ready for this task?”

  I get sheepish smiles from Eloise, Halvard and Knax. Lurra and Kendak are smiling with pleasure though.

  “I will always be ready to follow,” Halvard says with a nod.

  Kendak shrugs with a smile. “How can I say no to an adventure that will let me get out of my stuffy village?”

  “Well then, let's get this show on the road!” I say excitedly, clapping my hands together. Without further ado, I kick everyone out of the raid except for the ten of us who will be heading out.

  “Let's blow this joint,” says Dosan, rushing to the exit of the room.

  “Dosan!” calls Lurra with a lilting voice. “Do you even know how to get to the outside gate?”

  Stopping abruptly, Dosan turns around and gives us a cheeky grin. “Ha, right, whoops.”

  We all follow Lurra through the fortress to the gate that will take us out into the big wide world. That's when I remember the spinning globe from the director's office and feel a little daunted in the task.

  But at the same time, I'm brimming with excitement at being able to explore as much of the world as I want to without restrictions. Especially doing it before most of the world as well.

  Exiting the fortress, we enter the courtyard, which spans roughly the size of a couple of basketball courts. Walls reach up tall on all sides of the courtyard as the fortress connects with the main walls surrounding the Glade. In front of me is a massive gate of metal-strapped wood, and almost as an afterthought, a smaller gate is set into the wall off to the side that Halvard will just comfortably fit through.