Overpowered: A LitRPG Thriller (Kings and Conquests Book 1)

by Shane Lochlann Black

  “There’s no way we would last that long,” Dave said.

  “Speak for yourself,” Robb replied. “I could bluff my way in there. Imagine the fortunate string of highly entertaining spells I could cast to set myself up for success!”

  “We have to succeed as a team,” Jordan said. “It’s going to be difficult enough to get in there and find out what we need to know. I’ll need all the help I can get.”

  Everyone’s phone went off at once. The in-game mail tone sounded on Marc’s computer and the doorbell sounded.

  “What the hell was that?” Robb asked.

  Jordan listened carefully for a moment. No further sound came from the front door. He looked at his phone. It was a text message from a blocked number. The short message was as chilling as the abrupt knock at the door.

  They’re coming for you.

  Amy’s face was as white as her t-shirt. She showed Dave her phone, then showed it to Jordan. It was the same message. Also from a blocked number. In fact, all four phones had the same message.

  “What the–?” Robb didn’t look pleased. The front door rattled again.

  Jordan motioned for calm. “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. Let me find out who it is.” The others weren’t about to let Jordan out of their sight. They followed him to the front room. Dave pulled the curtains in the living room window aside. Two young men perhaps a little older than Jordan were standing on the front porch.

  “Well, at least it isn’t a squad of riot-geared cops,” he muttered.

  Jordan opened the door. The two people on his porch didn’t look threatening at all. In fact, they looked very much like fellow attendees from Supercon. The apparent leader had light brown hair and was just shy of six feet tall. His assistant wore glasses and had black hair. Both were dressed in plan t-shirts and jeans. They might have passed for door-to-door salesmen if they were carrying anything other than just their phones.

  “Are you Jordan Hall?” one of them asked.

  “Who’s asking?”

  “I know this is a little weird, but we’ve been watching this scam game for a long time and someone has to tell you.”

  “You’re being set up,” the glasses-wearing guy added.

  “Are you going to answer the man’s question or should we just shut this door in your face?” Robb snapped.

  “My name is Rich Glenford. This is Jason Layson.”

  Dave raised an eyebrow.

  “My parents were assholes.”

  “We’ve been playing KNC since launch. Got the shit kicked out of us for a month, even with the step-by-steps we found online. We didn’t realize the whole thing was a cash grabbing scam until we saw this quest.” Rich held up his phone. All of the NNG members gathered around to look. They were stunned.

  “That’s right. There’s a quest in the game to kill Highwayman now. It’s from an anonymous quest-giver, and they’re offering a phylactery, a hundred thousand gold monarchs and a founder’s bonus level as a reward.”

  “How come we couldn’t see that quest?” Amy asked. “We’ve been in and out of the Gorian capital a hundred times.”

  “You think they’re going to make it visible to Highwayman’s guild?” Jason replied. “As far as the game is concerned, this thing is the ultimate contest of wills. There are also half a dozen character specialties that can ding level ten in a few days if they can get their hands on all that money.”

  “Highwayman is still alive in the game,” Dave offered. “If this quest is so hot, why hasn’t he even been attacked yet?”

  “Because everyone who has taken up this quest has had their character murdered,” Rich replied. “The last guy was just this morning. He was strangled to death in broad daylight in Rook. No witnesses. An hour later the guy posted on Fantasy Gaming’s KNC forum that he was going to steal your authenticator, hack your account and run your character off a cliff.”

  “The hell?”

  “He was just venting. Just another wannabe jackass.”

  “How the fuck did you find my house?” Jordan asked.

  “Dude, are you like, fucking awake? Do you have any clue what’s going on in the real world?” Jason asked.

  “We’ve been leveling for a couple weeks.”

  “Okay, we need to–” Jason nudged Rich and nodded, as if trying to persuade his associate to do something both of them were reluctant to try.

  Rich took a deep breath. “We need to talk.”

  Despite his better instincts, Jordan concluded these two fellow gamers already knew where he lived. There was really no point in trying to preserve a false sense of privacy. He showed Rich and Jason in to the LAN party room. The two young men were appropriately impressed by all the gratis equipment Jordan’s team had been provided, but they weren’t surprised by it.

  “We knew you got something from FUG,” Jason said. “There’s no way you could have progressed this far without some extra help.” Everyone took their seats. Jordan tossed them each a bottled water and Dave offered the remaining selection from that morning’s donut run. Amy folded her arms and watched the two newcomers with suspicion. She was far more concerned with how they had obtained her phone number than she was with the in-game machinations.

  Jordan checked his in-game mail and almost cried out when he saw what was attached to the message. It was the finger of one of his would-be attackers, and it was wearing the signet ring of a Gorian assassin’s guild. The ring was made of magically purified silver and was apparently worth seven hundred gold monarchs.

  The message read “You owe me one.” It was signed “Finale.” Jordan’s mind raced, but he did an above average job of hiding his reaction from his guests.

  “Hey, we earned those levels fair and square,” Robb replied. “We’re not being handed anything.”

  “The hell you aren’t,” Rich said. “You’ve got a million dollars worth of hardware in here. Have you printed any treasures yet?”

  “Not really,” Jordan said. “I still have the crossbow.”

  Rich and Jason glanced at each other again. “Alright, we can help you, but we want a cut.”

  “A cut of what?”

  “Don’t be an asshole.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Jordan snapped.

  “You’ve been playing KNC for two months and you don’t have a clue what you’re doing!?” Jason exclaimed. “There’s a guy in the Eastern Kingdoms with an army of 400 mercenaries. His closest rival has equipped two dozen Knights of the Realm as protectors of his little territory. Each of them is generating positive revenue from taxation, trade routes and at least one magically enhanced farm. Both of them want your scalp, because with it they will be able to persuade the Gorian King to declare your holdings forfeit.”

  Jordan stared.

  “That’s not the worst of it,” Rich added. “You’ve been doxxed, my friend. There are junior high school students who probably know more about you than you do. There have been rumors flying around about Wyland’s ‘chosen one’ since about a week after release. Come on.” Rich got up and beckoned Jordan to the small window in the LAN room that provided a curtained view of the agapanthus plants and his landlord’s moderately well maintained front yard.

  “See that Ford LTD over there?”

  “What the fuck is a Ford LTD?” Robb asked.

  “It’s a car, Captain Millennial. You know, we had cars before you logged on to the Internet for the first time. See it?”

  Jordan noticed the bronze colored land yacht parked on his cross street’s opposite corner. It was facing away from his house, but he could tell there were at least two people sitting in it. Considering it was already 85 degrees even though it was only 10:30 in the morning, it was pretty clear whoever was waiting in a parked car at this time of day was either a masochist or had good reason. He didn’t say anything. The look on his face told the story.

  “They’ve been watching your house for a while. It won’t be long before someone comes in here and tries to kill Highwayman the old-fas
hioned way.”

  Dave stood up abruptly. “Enough with the cigarette in a dark alley shit. Get to the point!”

  Rich turned on Dave with a look that could have ignited charcoal. “There’s nearly a billion dollars up for grabs in this video game. Do you get it? A billion fucking dollars! This asshole right here not only has the best chance at retrieving it, he also happens to be the only person on Earth with a fucking MAP to it!”

  “And the whole world knows who you are and where you are,” Jason added.

  “Oh shit,” Robb said, letting his head fall into his hands. “Zoo was right. We’re fucked.”

  “So like I said,” Rich continued. “You’re hip-deep in a clogged toilet, and we’re your only friends in the world right now. And we want a cut.”

  “How do you know about the map?” Jordan asked.

  Rich hesitated. “You’re serious? You think you were the only one who got the mysterious Wyland quest?”

  “Fucker!” Robb shouted. “I knew it!”

  “That guy sent the video to more than one person?” Marc asked, looking back and forth at the others in total disbelief. “Everyone got a map?”

  “No, Highwayman has the only map. Everyone else got a trail of bread crumbs,” Rich replied.

  “He invited like sixty people to his little hand-down-the-pants meet and greet at Supercon,” Jason said. “They all got love letters minutes after the game launched. Now the biggest draw in this game is the possibility a new player might get lucky and show up right after you slip and fall so they can loot your ass for the Founder’s coin and carry your sweet little princess off for an alternative honeymoon itinerary.”

  “What princess? What coin? What in the right now FUCK are you people talking about!?”

  “Sit down,” Rich said, as he grabbed a chair and turned Jordan’s laptop around.

  Jordan just stared at him.

  “Sit!”

  The No-Name-Games group all gathered around to watch as Rich pushed the keyboard towards Jordan for his authenticator code and password. Once Highwayman had logged in, Rich pulled the computer back so he could navigate. He pulled up the Founder’s interface and drilled down until he reached the “Eligible Brides” list.

  “I’ve never seen that screen before.”

  “Yeah, no shit,” Rich replied. “See this girl right here?” He pointed at the #3 highest-ranked prospect on Highwayman’s list of hopefuls. The highlighted character was level 40 and looked vaguely familiar. Jordan couldn’t quite put his finger on why. “This is the Doncella of Lish, Flower of the Belles and Crown Heir to the Far Lands of Dae. She has sent at least four delegations to invite you to court at the Gorian capital.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “She wants the guy with the motorcycle and the leather jacket, dumbass,” Jason snapped. “You know for a video game genius you sure aren’t very bright.”

  “Hey, mister what the fuck, we’ve been trying to survive since we got into this shitty game!” Robb shot back. “We don’t have time to spin up all kinds of bullshit theories on some message board.”

  “These aren’t theories, gentlemen. If you don’t disconnect the cranial-rectal interface, your shot at the brass ring is going to end up in someone else’s pocket. What are you now, level seven or something?”

  Jordan nodded. He felt drained.

  “You haven’t done jack shit with your Founder’s privileges, have you?”

  “We’ve been leveling.”

  “Did you read the Conquests of the King yet?”

  “Part of it.”

  Rich glanced at Jason again. “Should we take this all the way?”

  “It’s your money,” Jason said with a shrug.

  Robb and Marc looked around.

  “You guys just don’t stop with the ‘standing outside a chain link fence at midnight’ shit, do you?” Dave muttered.

  “I want something in writing that cuts us in before we introduce you to the reason you’re going to win this,” Rich said. “Once I have the document in hand, I’ll make the phone call.” He pulled out his mobile phone and flipped to the speed-dial interface.

  “You do realize after all this melodramatic bullshit, if you two chuckleheads don’t deliver, I’m going to kick your asses in alphabetical order. You know that, right?” Robb growled.

  “You’ll get it when you see it,” Rich said. Jordan returned to the room with a legal pad. He sat and scribbled out a tersely worded agreement, then shoved pad and pen in front of Robb.

  “What’s this?”

  “You each own 20%. We need unanimous consent or we can’t give him what he wants. Just read it for now.”

  “So we each get 14%?” Amy said.

  “I keep the car,” Jordan added.

  “Fuck the car,” Rich said as he handed the document to Jason. “You can buy the manufacturer if we win this.”

  The document made the rounds before it was returned to Jordan. “I’ll sign it when I see the whole plan, so will the others,” he said.

  Several phone-camera-photos were taken for posterity. Rich placed his phone call. It rang twice and he hung up.

  “Why not send a text?” Amy asked, her suspicion rising with every moment.

  “Burner phone. No keyboard.” Rich replied as he looked out the window. Robb looked over his shoulder. The Ford was gone. He turned to Jason. “Go get her.”

  Dave and Marc looked at each other with confused expressions as Jason left the room. He left the front door standing open.

  “More clandestine nonsense?” Dave snapped.

  “You’ll understand why in a second,” Rich said.

  The front door closed. Jordan was busy logging out of KNC, so he didn’t see what was happening when she walked in. When he looked up, it felt like a basketball made of ice had just landed in his midsection.

  It was her. The leader of the babe squad from the Supercon meeting with Garrett Wyland. She was dressed in a snowy white sheer gown that brought to mind images of heavenly clouds. Her hair was impeccably styled and hung to her waist. She blinked like a fawn seeing the sun for the first time. She was holding a bouquet of red roses that would have retailed for three times Jordan’s last paycheck.

  Nobody spoke. Robb and Dave had been rendered utterly incapable of coherent speech yet again. She was stunning enough in her peasant girl outfit. This time, she looked like she had been escorted into a royal wedding as the bride-to-be. Jordan considered and rejected at least five totally dissimilar fantasies starring him as the dashing groom while he tried to take a breath.

  “Since it will be several precious minutes before you can ask, I’ll go ahead and explain what’s going on here. This is the Doncella of Lish herself.”

  “My real name is Alyssa Heatherly.”

  Amy’s face told the story of a young woman who wasn’t buying what was being sold. “There is no way you have played even a minute of Kings and Conquests.”

  “I was laid off by Fairly Unusual Games right after Supercon. I was all part of their plan to do a low-key launch for KNC. They wanted to make it look like they were running out of money.”

  “So how did you end up as the Doncella of Lish, then?” Amy asked. By now her arms were folded even tighter than before and her bullshit alarm was sounding battle stations.

  “Part of our contract was that we got level-capped developer accounts. I can’t go beyond 40, but I do have access to all the skill trees the same as the other players. I didn’t know what to do with any of them until someone e-mailed me in the game and told me my account was worth more than my parents’ house. My stepmom’s lawyer did a background check on Rich and Jason before he would let us meet with them. They showed me what to do. I got this dress and this bouquet as rewards for completing quests at court in the Gorian capital. I made a show of trying to get your attention as my future Lord Husband because it’s the perfect set up.”

  “There were no such characters at launch,” Amy said, folding her arms tighter.

  “Devel
oper accounts aren’t ranked,” Jason replied.

  “You guys have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Robb asked.

  “Set up for what?” Dave asked.

  By now, Jordan’s eyes had glazed over. The raw sexual energy Alyssa exuded would have been enough to stun a medium-sized rhinoceros had it been formed into a weapon. Her skin was like cream-touched caramel, and her form was even more breathtaking in the gown than it was in the far-more show-offy peasant girl dress. Alyssa noticed Jordan watching her, then she glanced away.

  “We’re going to run our own scam so we can take out our competition,” Rich said. “If the other high level players get cut down before we do, we’ll have a hammer-lock on the power curve. All we need is a ten-level head start and nobody will be able to stop us. You are three levels away, and if we coordinate this properly, you’ll ding level ten when your last rival falls dead at your feet.”

  “Well, I can’t say I’m not intrigued,” Robb replied. “What’s she here for?”

  “She’s the bait. In fact, she’s going to drive our competition into an un-thinking frenzy. Once they stop thinking and start trying to be Sir Galahad, they’ll be a lot easier to eliminate.”

  “What exactly does that mean?” Jordan asked.

  “You’re going to brutally and savagely kidnap me and carry me off just like the Empress of Tharm,” Alyssa said.

  “What?”

  “Alyssa here snagged a stack of printed reports that were run on the game databases roughly a month after launch. Someone left them lying around in Fairly Unusual’s Offices when she was invited back to do her HR-mandated exit interview. We had met up a few days before. We told her to play dumb and we told her what to look for.”

  “And your stepmom’s lawyer was in on this?”

  “Fuck no. He wouldn’t know a video game if it ralphed up a half-eaten frog on his desk,” Jason said.

  “So how did you get away with it?” Amy asked angrily.

  “Nobody ever suspects a hot girl of being up to something except other women. Game development companies are all guys, so they were too busy watching her lean over desks and adjust her shoe straps to notice she pocketed a stack of documents.”