The Duchess of Hammers
World Tree Online: 2nd Dive Begins
M.A. Carlson
World Tree Online: The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins © 2018 by M.A. Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by B Rose Disignz
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
M.A. Carlson
Visit my website at https://macarlsonauthor.wordpress.com/
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: Nov 2018
M.A. Carlson
ISBN-978-1-5323-9238-2
For my mother, you are missed.
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7 - Heath
Chapter 8 - Micaela
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13 - Rose
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17 - Baby
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22 - Micaela
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25 - Olaf
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
Stats, Equipment, Skills and Spells
Author’s Note
Prologue
I couldn’t stop the grin on my face at hearing the knock on my door followed a moment later by the door chime filling my condo with a simple ringing bell sound.
I didn’t exactly rush to the door, but I did move with purpose. Okay, so I may have rushed a little. I opened the door to be greeted by my brother and his very pregnant wife, both looking healthy and happy.
“Earl,” I greeted my brother eagerly.
“Byron,” he replied, but then froze a little as he took me in. “Byron?” he asked.
I couldn’t help but chuckle even as my smile grew a little wider, I nodded.
“They weren’t kidding about the seedpod diet, were they?” he asked, stepping forward with a hand extended.
I met his hand with a firm shake as we pulled each other into a hug.
“Boys, are we going to stand out here all day or are we going to go inside? Personally, I could use the ladies room followed by a comfortable chair and something to put my feet up on,” complained my sister-in-law.
“Sorry Marilyn, please, both of you, come in,” I stepped back from the doorway and ushered them both inside.
Marilyn kissed me on the cheek and handed me a bottle of wine as she passed and made a beeline for the bathroom.
“I swear, you could set your watch by how frequently she goes to the restroom,” joked my brother.
“Only a month to go, right?” I asked.
“Yep, but the doctor said she could pop any day now so we’re on permanent baby alert,” Earl added. My brother is a good man, married to a good woman and I may be biased but I believe they are going to be great parents.
“I hope she holds out at least a month, I’m set to dive again in a couple days,” I informed him.
“Baby Jacobs will arrive on his or her own timetable,” my brother replied.
“Still with the not knowing the sex?” I asked, only slightly surprised.
“I know, but she said it’s a family tradition. Who am I to argue? I have to admit it’s kind of exciting not knowing.”
I couldn’t help but grin a little, I was excited about becoming an uncle.
“You know, you could forgo this whole game thing for a while, be here when your niece or nephew is born,” he started.
Now, this was an old argument, one we’d been having since I informed him I purchased a Seedpod so many months ago. An argument he reiterated every time we got together. I remember him telling me it was a sign that I wasn’t meant to play when my pod had been delayed three months due to the high demand. The last time we’d had this discussion it had gotten rather heated.
I smiled softly at my brother this time, pausing for a minute before I replied to him. “Remember when we were kids and mom would take us to that park with the big fortress?”
“I remember my bratty little brother tripping me and breaking my arm,” he retorted.
I could only shake my head, it was one of those things brothers tend to hold on to, like when he accidentally shot me with a bow and arrow. He brings up the broken arm and I bring up the arrow incident and then we kind of just move on. “I still contend that I slipped and didn’t mean to trip you.”
“Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, what about it?”
“It’s just that even then, I knew that I wanted a life filled with adventure and excitement. I wanted to explore the world and discover everything it had to offer. It’s why I took archeology courses in college, at least until the program was terminated completely. I don’t know if I ever really talked to you about that, but it was like I’d just been told my dream was not only dead but that I was just too late. To be told, I mean really told with absolute certainty that there was nothing left to discover if I stayed on earth was . . . horribly painful.”
My brother looked at me with an expression I don’t think I’d ever seen before. I certainly didn’t recognize it. “I guess I never thought about that.”
“Anyway, after that, what were my options? Leave you and the old folks to go into space for decades of sleep only to wake to find out I had missed most of not only your life but possibly wake up to find out you or our parents died years before? I decided that if I couldn’t explore this world then I would explore the digital world. Then there is the World Tree and man . . . it is another world, bro. I don’t know if I can ever explain it to you but in that world, I found a purpose. My dream of exploration and adventure came roaring back and before I knew it I was happy, like really happy. I made friends . . . I might have even met a girl . . . at least I think I did . . . she still confuses me more then you could possibly imagine.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” he said, glancing toward the still closed bathroom door. “We’ve been married for three years and I still don’t think I understand her at all.”
“How do they do that?” I asked him.
“If I knew, I’d write a book and become the richest man in history,” he replied jokingly.
“Anyway, I found what I was looking for in there. Yeah, I’ll miss some things but I’m still here,” I said finally.
My brother finally sighed. “I guess I can see the appeal . . . so this girl you met?”
I grinned a little more, feeling my heart speed up.
Dinner was a hit and when my brother left that night I felt like we had bridged the gap that had been forming between us for the last few months. It certainly made returning to the game a much more pleasant experience.
Chapter 1
“Welcome back, Bye-bye,” said Maggie as soon as I finished materializing into the login room, as I had come to call it.
“Good to be back, Maggie,” I replied.
“Did you have any questions before you resume your adventure?” she asked, smiling kindly, and still looking far too pretty to be real. “Maybe about the patch?”
“It was all pretty clear,” I replied. Not long before I logged out of the World Tree for the first time, there was a major patch which I only received a small part of, in the form of some tooltip updates. The other part of the patch I had to read about on the internet after logging out of the game. Apparently, they finally implemented video and screenshot posting, but not live streaming, while in-game through a new adventurer tool called the ‘Book of Otherworldly Knowledge’. The book was simply an in-game web browser for players that was restricted to the World Seed website and forums. The patch notes described it as an actual book, like a large tome you had to physically remove from your inventory and open to use. It allowed players to post videos and screenshots as well as comment in the forums though significantly delayed in an effort to stop players from abusing it for things like setting up ambushes and the like. Because it was such a large upgrade and made such a significant change to the game it couldn’t be live patched in. There were also a few modifications to charisma effectiveness and some spells and skills were buffed or nerfed but that was all minor, as they directly affected a character in play, they chose not to live patch those changes into the game either.
“Excellent, are you ready to return?”
I took a second to pop open my stats and inventory tabs to make sure nothing had gone missing.
Level:
7
Experience:
12.49%
Class:
Initiate Warrior Priest of Issara
HP (Health Points):
1,900/1,900
MP (Mana Points):
1,500/1,500
SP (Stamina Points):
1,060/1,060
Strength:
85
- Melee Damage Modifier
+85
Dexterity:
95
- Melee Critical Strike Chance
9.50%
- Hit Chance
64.75%
- Dodge Chance
9.50%
Endurance:
190
Stamina:
106
Intellect:
150
- Spell Critical Strike Chance
15.00%
Wisdom:
90
Charisma:
110
Health Regeneration per minute:
95
Mana Regeneration per minute:
45
Stamina Regeneration per minute:
55
Holy Spell Damage Bonus:
151
Holy Spell Healing Bonus:
117
Carrying Capacity in Lbs.:
425
Equipment Slot
Name
Armor/Damage
Bonus Stats
Helm:
Holy Order Light Helmet
+15 Armor
+10-Intellect, +10-Wisdom, +10-Holy Spell Damage and Healing
Head Accessory:
Empty
Shoulders:
Holy Lion Mane Shoulder-guards
+15 Armor
+5-Strength, +10-Dexterity, +5 Intellect, +10 Holy Spell Damage and Healing
Back:
All-Weather Cloak (White)
Chest Armor:
Holy Order Light Jerkin
+20 Armor
+5-Endurance, +5-Stamina, +10 Intellect, +10 Holy Spell Damage and Healing
Chest Clothing:
White Cotton Shirt
+0 Armor
Wrists:
Guard's Light Leather Bracers
+4 Armor
+5-Endurance, +2-Stamina
Hands:
Holy Order Light Gloves
+10 Armor
+5-Strength, +5-Dexterity, +5-Intellect, +5-Holy Spell Damage and Healing
Arm Accessory 1:
Empty
Arm Accessory 2:
Empty
Finger Accessory 1:
Farmer's Ring of Stamina
+2-Stamina, +4-Stamina Regeneration
Finger Accessory 2:
Holy Order Ring of Justice
+5-Strength, +5-Dexterity, +5-Endurance, +5-Stamina, +5 Intellect, +5 Wisdom, +5-Holy Damage and Healing, Increased experience gains for all Goddess granted skills by 50%
Waist:
Guard's Light Leather Belt
+6 Armor
+5-Endurance, +2-Stamina
Leg Clothing:
Cotton Jeans
+0 Armor
Leg Armor:
Holy Order Light Leg-guards
+20 Armor
+5-Endurance, +10-Intellect, +5-Wisdom, +10 Holy Spell Damage and Healing
Feet Clothing
Silk Socks
+0 Armor
Feet:
Well Tread Boots
+10 Armor
+5-Dexterity, +5-Endurance, +5-Stamina
Weapon:
Hasta
7-8 1h Dmg, 14-16 2h Dmg
Off-Hand:
Guard's Phalanx Shield
+20 Armor
+20-Defense, +10-Endurance, +5-Stamina
Charm:
Empty
Bag:
100 lbs. Traveler's Satchel
Seeing everything was exactly as I had left it, I replied. “Yes, I am,” the words easily left my mouth, which formed a grin as excitement started to bubble up inside me.
“Enjoy your adventure.”
As expected, my eyes felt heavy closing on their own. Once they closed I felt a kind of rush of wind and everything felt so much different. I heard the sounds of Root City I remembered all too well from when I logged out a week prior. Merchants barking their goods, carts, and wagons rolling past loudly, the clip-clop of hooves on cobblestone and a cascade of smells that made me cringe, I must not have noticed it before but there was a rather pungent stench in this area of the city.
“About time you showed up, Jack, we’ve been waiting almost an hour for you,” started a voice I knew only too well.
I opened my eyes to be greeted by probably the most beautiful and infuriating woman I’d ever met. Her blood red hair and glowing red eyes set against her ash colored skin cut quite the striking figure while her fanged grin gave her an air of danger that I was starting to find rather attractive. “Sorry to make you wait, your highness. How can this lowly servant make up for such a heinous blunder?” I asked sarcastically.
“That’s more like it,” Rose said, ignoring the sarcasm and taking my arm. “The others are waiting for us about a mile up the road at an inn called the Root Cellar. It’s not the cleanest inn but the beer is decent.”
I shook my head in exasperation, this woman would be the death of me. “Did you have a good week off?”
“Not bad, I went to visit my mom, which was nice. She was on me about my future again and then she got on me about getting married and having kids. I’m twenty for God's sake, I’m not even thinking about that kind of stuff. Anyway, it was nice,” she answered. “I did miss this place though . . . might have missed messing with you too . . . but only a little. Anyway, Baby spent the week on a mini vacation with her fiancé.”
“I missed you too,” I replied, ignoring her jab at me before I caught suddenly on that last little detail. Baby had a fiancé? “Woah, back up a second. What’s this about Baby having a fiancé?”
“Oh, yeah, they’ve been engaged forever which honestly drives mom nuts. Who knows when they’ll actually tie the knot.”
“She’s engaged? Like to be married?” I asked again, not fully comprehending it. Babies Breath is Rose’s sister, actually her cousin that was raised as her sister. She played a small childlike fairy that acted as our primary healer and she was really good at it. It probably helped that she was a higher level than all of us. Either way, I was having
difficulty reconciling the cute, childlike fairy with a woman about to be married.
“Yes, she’s engaged, don’t let the childlike appearance fool you, Jack. There’s a grown woman piloting that little lady,” laughed Rose.
“How does that work with her in the game for a month at a time?” I asked.
“He’s in-game too. He was in the game before either of us, part of the first wave so his level is way, way above ours. Baby started a month before me and I started about the same time you did. Anyway, he was a hotshot professional gamer before the World Seed and I’m sure now that he can post videos he will be even more popular. From what Baby has told me, sponsors have been chomping at the bit to sign him,” explained Rose to my great astonishment.
“So why doesn’t Baby play with him?” I asked.
“He is . . . how to put this . . . psychotic. Okay, not really psychotic, but very intense about his gaming. He’s all business all the time when he’s playing the game. Baby and I take this seriously too, but nothing compared to him. But you never answered my question, how was your time off?”
I was still struggling to wrap my head around the fact that Baby was engaged and wondering if anyone else from our group knew about this. “Did anyone else know?”
Rose shrugged as if that would answer all my questions.
Eventually, Rose nudged me with her elbow prompting me to speak. “My week was pretty quiet. I had dinner with my brother and his very pregnant wife a couple days ago. It was nice. My brother has been giving me grief about playing this game, but I think I finally got through to him.”
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