Level Up
Page 24
MK: I’m waiting for the but…
PJ: But I get to pick the virtual, and you can’t make any alterations to them.
MK: No way. Never going to happen. You’ll pick a guy in a coma, or a baby, or some other nonsense. Give me my bitcoin.
PJ: Ok fine, I’ll make a list of everyone that is exactly average. Average height, build, looks, intelligence, the whole package. Then I’ll let you pick one, so you know I’m not cheating.
MK: Speaking of cheating, how do I know you aren’t trying to pull a fast one. This whole thing could be rigged.
PJ: You can check the code yourself. I ported it over exactly, bugs and all. So are we on?
MK: How many chances do I get? To win?
PJ: One!
MK: One hundred.
PJ: Fine, ten.
MK: Two hundred.
PJ: That’s not how negotiating works.
MK: Sure it is. Three hundred.
PJ: Ok fine, you can have one hundred tries, but the sim gets reset each time so there is no cross contamination between runs. You can’t alter any physical properties or the backstory of your virtual, they have to be exactly as they were when you pick them. I can’t have you making them a super ninja. Deal?
MK: Ok. You’re on!
***
PJ: Man, your guy nearly had it that time.
MK: Shut up!
PJ: Seriously, getting killed by the initial mugger is a new low. How many attempts is that anyway?
MK: You know full well it is seven. Still plenty to go.
***
MK: I found your little secret…
PJ: ?
MK: Professor Jasper?
PJ: Oh right, him.
MK: You put a virtual version of yourself in the game! What is the matter with you?
PJ: It was just a bit of fun, I was practising migrating a backup of my personality.
MK: Yeah, I was just going to say how realistic he is.
PJ: Thanks!
MK: He’s a smug arsehole. Very authentic.
***
PJ: Are you breaking the rules?
MK: Whatever do you mean?
PJ: What happened to Shen?
MK: Who?
PJ: Shen Mue. The nerdy Asian kid that invites them to play the game.
MK: Oh him? Yeah, he won the lottery. I gave my guy an upgrade.
PJ: You replaced him with this Sarah chick. Who is she anyway?
MK: She’s an old crush of my guy. You said I couldn’t alter his backstory, you didn’t say anything about changing anyone else. She had a sudden desire to move back to their home town.
PJ: You sneaky bugger! I’ll allow it, it’s not going to help. Your guy would need a million attempts to even get close.
***
PJ: AHAHAHAHAHAHA
MK: It’s not funny.
PJ: I think it is hilarious! Who could have possibly known that your guy would find a way to woo his long lost sweetheart and spend the last few days of his life in bed with her.
MK: It just needs more tweaking.
PJ: You’d better hurry up, only 82 tries left.
***
PJ: You gave her a fake fiancee?
MK: Turns out he was a real dick. Now she’s too sad to jump into bed with my guy.
PJ: I worry about you sometimes.
***
PJ: You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way you’re not helping him out.
MK: Check the logs.
PJ: We both know the logs can be changed.
MK: I swear I’m not. It is no fun if I cheat.
PJ: Urgh, I see why you like this virtual.
MK: His fears are what are holding him back. I need to find a way to get him to conquer them. Am I allowed to add quests?
PJ: I don’t see why not, as long as they don’t break any of the rules of the game. The time limit still applies though. I can’t have this taking too long.
***
PJ: I’m impressed. Your guy genuinely nearly had it that time.
MK: If only he would stop sacrificing himself to save Sarah.
PJ: Yeah, it’s a real shame. Oh well.
MK: If only I could convince him that saving her would have wider consequences, like ending the world or something. If only there was a shallow exposition NPC that could randomly blurt that out to him…
PJ: Not a chance!
***
PJ: I hate to admit this, but I am rooting for your guy.
MK: I know right? It is hard to watch him dying in all these horrid ways. Are you sure we have to stop at 100? I want to see him finish this.
PJ: A bet’s a bet.
***
PJ: Are you nervous? Last chance before my debt is resolved.
MK: Nah, my guy has got this.
PJ: He’s going to destroy the world for some ridiculous reason, just you watch.
MK: No chance.
***
PJ: A vampire squirrel? Now I’ve seen everything!
MK: Why won’t he kill it? Oh god, please no!
PJ: Told you! The whole world is ending because he won’t kill a squirrel that is already dead.
MK: I give up. This guy is hopeless.
PJ: Wait, he’s not done yet…
MK: OMG DID YOU SEE THAT!
PJ: WTF! You must have cheated. There’s no way.
MK: Check whatever you need to check. That was legit. My guy for the clutch win. Now pay up! Two bitcoins.
PJ:…….
MK: Are you going to pay me or not?
PJ: Double or nothing?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Did you know only 1% of readers leave a review on Amazon? Who doesn’t want to be in the top 1%!
If you enjoyed the book please consider leaving a review. It really is a huge help to discoverability and lets other readers know about the book. It will only take a couple of minutes. Seriously, I’ll wait…
Ok, you’re back? Let’s keep going!
This was a tremendously fun book to write. As a lifelong gamer I was excited when I heard that there was a new genre of books that was mixing gaming concepts with traditional stories. Finally, I could put the many thousands of hours of my gaming time to good use! Even better, I could tell my wife that my gaming time was now research.
The tricky part was making sure that I had hit the mark in regards to the genre. It feels like LitRPG is ever changing as more and more people release books in the genre. To do a decent market test I turned to Royal Roads Legends (https://royalroadl.com) where there is a bunch of avid readers and a large group of LitRPG fans. I released a chapter every day and got a ton of really useful feedback that has helped make the book so much better. A huge thanks to everyone that took the time to suggest a change. Also, a special thanks to Mikkel, who gave me my very first review on the site after only 5 chapters. It really helped to encourage me that I was on the right path.
When I looked at the other books in the genre the thing that really jumped out at me was just how nice all their covers were. I usually make my own covers (and it shows!) but for this book I really wanted to go all out. While browsing deviant art I stumbled across the amazingly talented Sicarius8 (https://sicarius8.deviantart.com) who had not only drawn beautiful fantasy style settings, but had also drawn a totally badass picture of a squirrel. It was meant to be! I got in touch with three bullet points and a few weeks later I had the finished cover in my hands. It was so much cooler than I could have possibly imagined! I highly recommend her for anyone else looking to get a cover made.
I want to say a special thanks to Laura and Aaron. You guys were my gaming buddies, always there for another game of MK2 or Soul Calibur. Many a sleepless night was spent in front of a Sega console. I have so many happy memories of the three of us huddled around a TV.
As always, a massive thank you to my wife, who suffered more than usual for this book as I wrote the majority of it during National Novel Writing Month. It was my first time doing NaNoWriMo, but when I saw that several fellow Flashdog
s were doing it (including the serial Nano superstar Brian Creek) I decided to bite the bullet. 50k words in a month was quite the challenge and ate up all my free time, which meant my wife spent November wondering if she was ever going to see her husband again. I hope the finished result makes it up to her.
Finally I would like to thank you, dear reader, for reading the acknowledgments section, because lets be honest, almost no-one does.
Looking for an excuse to read through the book again? I’ve hidden the names of my favourite games throughout the story. Some of them are obvious, others are homages or subtle references. Can you find them all?
ALSO BY
To learn more about Craig Anderson or find out about new releases please join the mailing list at www.todayschapter.com - there’s a no spam guarantee!
Other books from Craig Anderson:
- The Lucky Beggar Trilogy (Getting Lucky, Lucky Shot, Lucky Break)
- TROJAN
- The Colony
- The Infernal Clock: Calendark (1 story in this horror anthology)
- TIME (3 stories in this Flashdogs anthology)
- Solstice: Dark (3 stories in this Flashdogs anthology)
- Solstice: Light (3 stories in this Flashdogs anthology)
Find out more about all these books and links to buy at www.todayschapter.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig Anderson is a British and Canadian indie author that is also a lifelong gamer. This is his sixth published book and his first attempt at a LitRPG.
He lives with his wife, two kids under four, and a veritable zoo of pets. His house always looks like a tornado just passed through it.
He really hates writing about himself in the 3rd person.
You can stalk him on twitter here: @todayschapter
You can like him on facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/CraigAndersonAuthor
You can check out his website here: www.todayschapter.com