Ingame: Virtual reality enabled

by Kieron Uchee

  Ingame

  Virtual reality enabled

  Kieron Uchee

  ASIN: B01EIQA00G

  This is a work of fiction that contains mature themes and ideas. It has some sex, violence, and food all mixed in together. I hope you enjoy it.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter one: Summer camp

  Chapter two: Preparations

  Chapter three: Arrival

  Chapter four: Changes

  Chapter five: The park

  Chapter six: The city

  Chapter seven: Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind

  Chapter eight: Getting information

  Chapter nine: Dishes

  Chapter ten: Night time stroll

  Chapter eleven: Shopping

  Chapter twelve: The fight

  Chapter thirteen: Lunch

  Chapter fourteen: The meeting

  Chapter fifteen: My daughter

  Chapter sixteen: Women

  Chapter seventeen: Hidden temple

  Chapter eighteen: Sex

  Chapter nineteen: News

  Chapter twenty: Smokes and rep

  Chapter twenty one: Mountain tops and messengers

  Chapter twenty two: Torture

  Chapter twenty three: Lost within

  Chapter twenty four: Family

  Chapter twenty five: Grandmother

  Chapter twenty six: Desert

  Chapter twenty seven: Imp

  Chapter twenty eight: The chef

  Chapter twenty nine: Down the stairs

  Chapter thirty: Marriage

  Chapter thirty one: Spells

  Chapter thirty two: Pride

  Chapter thirty three: Art

  Chapter thirty four: Reflections

  Chapter thirty five: Diets

  Chapter thirty six: Kritiqs

  Chapter thirty seven: Home is Hell

  Chapter thirty eight: Arena

  Chapter thirty nine: Going home

  Chapter forty: Innkeeper

  Chapter forty two: An Diadan

  Chapter forty three: Deals

  Chapter forty four: Hat trick

  Chapter forty five: Death

  Chapter forty six: Sex and the city

  Chapter one: Summer camp

  "Hey Tor, I have great news, the orphanage has been awarded one free spot at the summer camp." "Nice" I replied. "But why are you telling me, Rebecca?" I waited for her reply and for a second heard her laugh. "I am telling you because you are the lucky guy who gets to go."

  I was stunned, really at a loss for words. "Rebecca I am truly grateful for the chance to go but do you think that one of the younger kids should go?" "No I do not," said Rebecca. "Listen, buddy, you have been here since you were eight years old and you have been more than helpful to both the staff and the other kids. You deserve this.”

  I thought for a minute, what she said was true but I honestly do not think that I can get any credit for what I have done. It was just the right thing to do for the youngsters. I knew what it was like to lose all that matters to you when you are young. Rebecca's voice continued to speak about the summer camp so I listened closely. I would need all the info I could find to do my research if I was going to be Ingame.

  The summer camps had been around for a long time in N.A. It had probably started with the boy scouts and spread out to in compass any group that could buy some land and build some crappy shacks on it. When the advent of the virtual reality pods or VRP arrived and the price point dropped low enough to readily purchase a few of them one smart guy realized what he had. With the time dilation effect, two month in a vrp was like a year in real life.

  He quickly hired a programmer and created the first online total immersion Bible camp. It was an adventure set during Christ's last 6 month before the crucifixion. The experience was apparently life changing for the kids who attended. So life changing that they had to shut it down after two years as it turned out that God online was just too much for most people or so the story went. But the rumors persisted, something had happened to a few of the players.

  The rumors if anything only fueled the success of the VRP which in turn opened the doorway for the rapid expansion of VRP into all segments of life. Schools were all done inside VRP. Sports were now played in VRP; it seems the government thought everyone should be as talented as a Gretzky to make it a fair sport. In my opinion, it was a crop of kaka, no one had to train or develop skill sets anymore. It was all awarded for being Ingame. These days there are rules about the VRP online worlds, the schools, all the entertainment available, and online games.

  The big rule was no direct intervention by any higher powers, no God's or demons to seduce or beguile players. Only the government and Gnet could change stuff. It meant a lot of adventure in many different worlds’ but with no direct divine influence.

  A ton of sublimation hypnosis was speculated but no one could prove the government or marketing of putting it in the game. One blogger I followed was big on conspiracy theory and as he pointed out many people thought Kennedy and 9/11 were both inside jobs but no one could prove them either.

  Rebecca finally stopped and asked if I had any questions. I had a few but the first was "which camp was I going to?” “Sleepy Hollow," Rebecca replied. "When I asked?" "In four days." That would give me enough time to do some research. Thanking Rebecca I went to my room and lit a smoke and then pulled on my one piece of wearable technology.

  It was a 25-year-old pair of beta version 4 updated Google glasses. Found them on an antique technology auction site. Upgraded the mini-OS with my own simple AI and patched the hardware to connect a fiber wire to the dorm computer. Really, I was surprised when the darn thing worked. What was unexpected was the connection that I had with Gnet.

  When Google finally took over the internet it offered a free non-advertising internet for all. That was pretty nice seeing how it had been so swamped with pop-ups and spam for forty years most people did not browse a lot anymore. Having no spam was nice but losing a large percent of net access was tough.

  Gnet cleaned up the internet, but as a business unless you paid them you lost the net. It was tough on the Porn sites until they made their deals with Gnet. Another side to Gnet taking over meant no more access to the dark web, or any other unapproved site if Google or Gnet as it was renamed did not approve. Gnet made sure your website did not get visitors by not allowing it to hook up to the World Wide Web.

  Once online I was amazed at how such old tech still worked. The google glasses I purchased were beta and had been meant for someone on the senior admin team. Everything was coded in ROM at a system level with full admin rights. This was cool but what made it interesting was the fact it was all still active.

  When I first logged in, I am sure a dusty server whirred to life and acknowledged system admin credentials and there I was, at the backdoor to Gnet. That had been fricking unbelievable. I immediately set up several admin accounts with different logins, because who knows how long the pot of honey is going to be out in the open.

  In fact, this back door was my hope to get rich in six months. I would have to leave the orphanage at eighteen and that is when I would turn in the Google glasses with the system admin rights to Gnet. A few years ago when Gnet had amalgamated with MS they had released MS OS 40. They had basically taken UNIX and gutted and reshaped it. Apple had done the same thing many years earlier with their OS; I think their latest OS software was titled Tabby was now out on the market.

  What I needed to do was enter the hack attack contest Gnet had sponsored. The rules were simple if anyone could get into Gnet and do a few simple tasks and then log out and announce it to Gnet without getting caught or being part of a business or Go
vernment that individual would receive 5 million credits. I had already met all the objectives but was waiting until I turned legal age. Otherwise, the state-run orphanage would claim my winnings.

  It turns out that Sleepy Hollow was a brand new summer camp and it only had one game so far. Gods and Man developed by Mirage Studios. It was a fantasy realm with distant God's that kingdoms would align with and then the players would basically go out and kick the crap out of other kingdoms/players. It was not that clear in the write-up but that is what I got from reading the brochure.

  Heck, you could even start your own kingdom if you found some land and had serfs and gold. It had all sorts of cool stuff with the online market and auction house, the gold, silver and bronze accounts, real world money exchange at ten to one. In short this was one of the newest games that catered to the rich kids. That could be problematic.

  Chapter two: Preparations

  The problem was rich bored kids in an environment that were made to cater to them. I would be in this world, not bored, not rich, and not part of the group. I did some research online; after all, being a secret Gnet admin had its perks. This research allowed me to access blogs and informational forums that normal players could not access. I would be in the game a year subjective time and two-month real-world time. One year to survive, I could not afford to buy the best gear that would level with me from level one. I would not have the advantages of joining one of the four guilds and then being invited to join one of the lesser houses within the guild.

  These houses were owned by Donators as no one Ingame had earned enough money to purchase a city house yet. My best bet was to join a guild and stay at a guild hall within the starting zone for the year. I could level up and master a couple of skills. All starting zones were supposed to be a PVP free area to level ten and then the Player Killers would come out. I had no desire to spend a year being teabagged by some rich brat.

  This was not looking good this “year” of fun was going to be less fun and more a struggle to survive. I began to watch videos of the PVP players and of the general questing. The questing and leveling up were interesting. All players started with three basic abilities. One was a dps physical attack, the second a simple healing spell and the last arcane dps spell.

  Everyone received these three spells and then as they leveled they would find more spells and abilities within the game. At level, ten players were given the option to choose which class they would slow grow into. In order to develop more skills and abilities players had to find rare items, complete quests or advance in rank. The purchase of commissions was the most common way to advance in rank if one had the money.

  The upshot of it was that a rich little snot could buy his way up to a captain’s commission and then use his rank to make life unpleasant for any lower ranked player. After watching a video of some punk officer ordering a player to go count the flowers in the castle gardens I resolved not to join the Kings Guards or the City Watch.

  Too bad, they both had an excellent storyline progression and the ability to advance quickly with a little luck. The other two options were not my preference but beggars could not be choosers. They were the four Guilds and the Freeman option.

  The guilds were next on my review list and while interesting I did not think I could be happy playing within the story line of the guild. There are four main guilds and each guild allowed the purchase of houses within the guild.

  The first guild was called Mars and its crest was a red war hammer over a sinking sun. It was the guild for warriors and physical DPS types rogues, paladins, and necro knights. The second guild was called Lunaria and was the preferred choice for healers, anointed priests, holy paladins’ healer shamans and druidic healers. Its sign was a full moon over a darkened world.

  The third of the great guilds was called Asphestos and was the home of warlocks, shades which are a type of shadow priest as far as I could tell, along with dark mages and shadow shamans. It had a fork of lightning hitting a war-torn field as its sign.

  The last of the guilds was named Cartage and was the home for those who wished to develop characters that were not out adventuring but would rather play the economics game. These were the players who would open the shops and inns. They would play the auction house and level trades and crafts. The guilds emblem was a gold coin over a treasure box.

  Logically my best bet was to join a guild and stay at a guildhall within the starting zone for the year. I could level up and master a couple of skills. I tried looking at the situation logically, I could also become a Freeman, unattached to any faction, or to join either the city Guards or the Kings Guards. The in game Donators ran the Guilds. These players also purchased the lesser houses within the Guilds. Being rich was nice. The guild thing is just not going to work for me.

  What the heck for something that was supposed to be fun this was turning out to be a bit of a pain. Maybe it would be alright and everyone would just enjoy the game. Maybe I would wake up and be a Prince in the game. Maybe, stranger things happen in life I thought. I guess I am a cynical kind of guy. Thank God for YouTube and forums, at least, I knew what I was getting into.

  Chapter three: Arrival

  The day had finally arrived, grim cloudy and cold. I had seriously thought about declining to go to the camp but I knew that one of the younger kids would be sent in my place. I hoped my preparations were going to enable me to succeed and to have some fun in the game. Rebecca knocked on my door, “are you ready, Tor?” “Yes, guess I am.”

  We loaded up and she drove me to the Greyhound terminal. Once we arrived Rebecca shook my hand and told me to have a great time. I smiled at her and nodded. I liked Rebecca, she truly cared for people. Most of the people who worked in the state orphanages did not. It was just a job for them.

  I had read some back history, at one time most unwanted kids were put into foster care. That had come to an end when some “Americans” of Middle Eastern background had opened up a foster home day care. After three years they had sent out the little Allah ankle biters.

  When kids as young as ten go into food courts at malls and blow them all to hell, the government had a fast, close-up look at the foster care system and then promptly privatized it all. The Same Company that ran most of the prisons now took care of the kids. It is a strange world where greed and stupidity meet and have offspring called politicians.

  The bus slowly trundled out of the city, the smog and dirty streets gave way to dry and parched land. Everywhere you could see the touch of man. There is garbage and waste, abandoned buildings and broken dreams. The world I was born into was a bit of a shithole. Turning on my music player I found the Eagles, Hell freezes over. As the riffs of Get over it pounded into my ears I closed my eyes and relaxed. I would never sleep on a bus but no one was sitting near me so I felt safe enough to listen to music.

  I was always paranoid of bus rides after I had done a paper on crimes done on the road. Turns out some guy who had recently arrived in Canada had boarded a bus and then after riding for a while cut off the head of the kid sitting next to him and ate it. This happened a long time ago but still I was twelve when I read that and it never left me. There were monsters in the world and most of them looked just like me was the impression I had received and it had never fully left me.

  The bus finally arrived and I was greeted by a young woman. She looked at me and I looked at her then she painted on the fake smile that had become the second most common look on her face and waved me into the car. Her name was Stacy and I soon realized her interest in me was surface at best. I would not call her a gold digger but I would guess if I was the son of a senator or a millionaire she would have put a little more wiggle in her walk.

  I did not blame her, the world was a tough place and she was smart enough to know that her best asset is based on the first three letters of the word asset. It’s just another day in paradise. Once we arrived I heard the introductions of the staff and the intro to the game. I kept a quiet and small profile but I could see some of the ot
her guys across the room were eyeballing me. Crap.

  These guys would be a problem if I ran into them. What well be, well be I thought and then left to go to my room. I asked to be shown the hook-up procedure for the VRP but I already could tell that I probably knew more than the “expert” staff that the summer camp had hired. I watched the introductory video and then opened the VRP, lying down I felt the warm nanofluid surrounding me.

  The pods lid closed with a click and then the VRP AI spoke: “Are you ready to enter into the game, player.” I replied, “No initiate code tutor mode a1b.” I waited while trying to hold my breath not sure if this would work or not. Suddenly a small opening appeared and a keyboard extruded out, I let my breath out and grinning like a maniac put on my Google glasses and plugged them into the keyboard.

  I had spent a lot of time helping the other kids with schoolwork and eventually the people who ran the orphanage realized that I was saving them a lot of time so they gave me the tutor code to log in and assist with the schoolwork. I had quickly discovered that having the glasses on made a huge difference allowing me to access info and pull up school records display tests results and grades.

  I could have changed it all but not seen not heard was my motto so I simply helped the kids with schoolwork. My hope was that I would have access to my little helper within the game. It was a gamble but I was willing to take it. I did not have much choice actually. Reaching out I hit the big green button and closed my eyes. Everything went black and I thought no more.

  Chapter four: Changes

  My eyes opened and I was fully aware just like that no lights no lightening. I looked around and saw absolutely nothing. I swallowed and then spoke to the VRP AI to see if I still had contact with it. Nothing, I hope I am not going to spend the next year floating in space. I Hope I do not get thirsty or hungry, and I really hope I do not need to pee.