Dreamscape: Infinity (Book 1)

by L. R. Wolf

  Aya quickly thought about each stat in order to bring up more detailed information for each one.

  Stats:Intelligence- (Spell power and mana is increased by 10 per 1 point of Int. Cast spells to raise this stat. (+1 Int per level of offensive Spells +2 Int every 5 levels +5 Int every 10 levels)

  Strength- (Melee attacks power is increased by 10 per 1 point of Str. Wield medium blades (Short swords and larger) and shields, lift heavy objects to raise this stat. Also allows one to carry more-10lbs of weight per 1 str. (+1 Str per level of strength based skills, +2 Str every 5 levels, +5 Str every 10 levels.)

  Agility- (Chance to dodge increased by 10 per 1 point of Agi. Running, tumbling and dodging raise this stat. +1 Agi per level of Agi based skills +2 Agi every 5 levels, +5 Agi every 10 levels)

  Dexterity- (Ranged attack power is increased by 10 per 1 point of Dex. Melee attack power is increased by 10 per 1 point of Dex. Increase to skills requiring the use of fingers (lockpick/trap disarm) Use ranged weapons, small bladed weapons (twin blades/daggers), or lock pick and trap disarm to raise this stat. +1 Dex per level of Dex based skills, +2 Dex every 5 levels, +5 every 10 levels.)

  Endurance- (Stamina is increased by 10 per 1 point of End. Ability to run farther and faster before becoming winded. Increased by 5 seconds per 1 End. Run, walk and swim to raise this stat. +1 End per level of End based skills, +2 End every 5 levels, +5 every 10 levels.)

  Constitution- (Hit points increased by 20 per point of Con. Ability to withstand damage/resist spells increased by .25% per point in Con. Take damage to raise this stat. +1 Con per level of Con based skills, +2 per 5 levels, +5 per 10 levels.)

  Willpower- (Mana regeneration increased by 10/min per 1 will. Allows one to resist crowd control spells like Charm. Allows one to be able to easily enslave another creature if the caster’s willpower is equal to or higher than the target. Creating new spells and recovering mana will raise this skill. +1 Will per level of Will based skills, +2 Will per 5 levels, +5 Will per 10 levels.)

  Charisma- (The more people like you the more they are willing to tell you things. Able to sell items for more or receive a discount on buying. Talking to people, buying/selling, playing musical instruments will raise this skill. +1 Cha per level of Cha based skills, +2 per 5 levels, +5 per 10 levels.)

  Luck- (Do you feel lucky? Well do you?? Luck begets luck! Good Luck!)

  She closed out of her status page and checked her equipment screen. Considering that she had only just started, she was only wearing the most basic clothing. A shoddy green cloth shirt with string laces at the neck, brown cloth plants, a cloth sash, shoddy white underclothes beneath everything and a pair of shoddy leather shoes. She was actually surprised that underclothes were included since most games didn’t bother, but considering physics were real here she was grateful for the extra support in some areas. She walked around a bit testing out the shoes. They might have been called shoddy, but they were actually quite comfortable. A small bag about the size of a large apple hung on a rope belt tied around her waist. The bag was made of light brown cloth and held closed with a simple string. The rest of the equipment slots were empty. She would have to find gear to equip in order to fill in those slots. She opened the weapons cache in her inventory and closely examined some of the weapons.

  Rusty dagger Damage 1-2 The previous owner didn’t take very good care of their weapons. It’s old, worn and rusty. Don’t worry though, if nothing else you can strike down your enemies with a nasty case of tetanus!

  All of the rusty weapons had the same damage per second except for the two handed weapons which were slightly better, but weighed much more. While these initial starting weapons remained in the cache their weight was fairly negligible, but once they were removed from the crate they had more weight. Since they couldn’t be placed back into the cache, every weapon she removed would keep adding up, thereby making it more and more difficult to haul around various other loot unless one wanted to work on their strength stat. Besides the rusty weapons there were a few other weapons made of wood, leather or a combination of both. She focused on a wooden baton.

  Wood Baton Damage 1-2 A baton made of wood. Watch out for splinters!

  Aya bit her lip, pondering what kind of weapon she wanted to use. She didn’t plan on using any of the bulkier two handed weapons as she wasn’t all that strong, but she didn’t exactly relish getting up close and personal with the enemies she was bound to face. Her eyes moved over to the next few weapons. She smiled as she focused on the first of them.

  Wooden Shortbow Damage 2-4 A wooden shortbow able to shoot short distances. Perfect for those who don’t want to get their hands dirty, but beware of splinters.

  It was almost what she wanted, but still not quite right. The next weapon however was perfect.

  Wooden Longbow- Damage 2-4 A wooden Longbow able to shoot over long distances. Perfect for those who would rather snipe targets from considerable distances. Try not to shoot yourself in the foot and beware of splinters.

  She focused on the longbow again, choosing the weapon. The longbow appeared in her hand and a quiver full of arrows appeared at her hip. The bow didn’t weigh all that much, only a few pounds at most. She moved it around a bit to get used to the feel of it. She shifted the quiver a bit so that it was behind her before her eyes moved to the spell book to look at her spells, of which there were only the two that she had gotten from the welcome letter. She was about to cast the tutorial spell when she remembered to readjust her HUD to her liking. She had died more than once in previous games due to an errant message in the middle of combat or a piece of the user interface blocking her vision. With a quick thought she focused on a tiny gear at the top of her vision which brought up the interface options. With a few more thoughts she moved the UI around the way she wanted it and made it to where skill notifications wouldn’t open in combat.

  Once everything was to her liking she decided it was time for the tutorial. She focused on the training spell and began to cast. Before the spell began, a warning flashed in front of her vision.

  Warning-The dungeon you are about to enter can only be entered once. The only way to get out of this dungeon is to find the exit or to perish at the hands of the denizens within.

  Aya dismissed the warning. How difficult could a tutorial dungeon be? Was it even possible for anyone to actually die to the lowly creatures bound to be there? She shrugged her shoulders and cast the spell. Her hands raised themselves of their own accord and made a sigil in the air then her right hand pushed outwards like opening a door. It felt as if the world fell out from under her.

  Chapter 4: Tutorial

  ∆∆∆

  Aya dropped to her knees at the sudden and unexpected lurch. She blinked her eyes a few times trying to bring the world back into focus. When the haze of the spell cleared she found herself in a completely different location. She looked around and rose to her feet. Stone walls surrounded her, a single heavy door broke the monotony of the grey stone. A single torch illuminated the room, barely managing to reach the corners of the room. There didn’t appear to be anything else in the room with her, but as she scanned around she noticed a very slight shimmer out of the corner of her eye. She turned towards where she saw the shimmer, but didn’t see anything there. Turning her head to the side and just using her peripheral vision she once again picked up on the shimmer. Slowly she brought her head around to the area she had seen it, but once again she saw nothing. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated on the corner of the room. Something just seemed a bit off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She approached the wall and ran her hand down the wall. She fully expected her hand to go all the way down to the floor, but instead her hand landed on something smooth about three inches from the floor. A notification appeared at the side of her vision. With a thought she opened the notification.

  Congratulations Dreamer! You have discovered the Perception skill! By using more than just your eyes you have discovered a secret hidden within plain sight! Raising this s
kill will allow you to see higher level secrets and become more adept at finding both treasures and traps in the immediate vicinity!

  Your skill in perception has risen by 1. You now have 1 Perception

  She dismissed the notification with a hand gesture out of habit. As soon as she had closed out of the notification she noticed that the item she had placed her hand on suddenly lost its camouflage revealing a small wooden chest. Her eyes got bigger as a grin spread across her face. She loved finding secrets, but what truly got her really jumping up and down on the inside was the thought of finding new loot. She placed her fingers under the lip of the lid and lifted it up. Inside was what appeared to be a small white orb, a book and a key.

  Congratulations Dreamer! You have discovered a Mysterious Orb. This orb emits light, but it’s true function is unknown.

  Congratulations Dreamer! You have discovered a Spell Book: Fireball. Use this item to learn the spell contained within.

  Congratulations Dreamer! You have discovered a Mysterious Key. This key fits into a lock, but what kind of lock and where I wonder?

  She reached down to pick up the spherical object, her fingers preparing to close around it, but as soon as she touched it the orb flared to life bathing the area in light. She flinched at the brightness. “I wonder if there’s a dimmer on this thing” She was just talking to herself to try and calm her nerves, but as soon as the words left her mouth the orb actually dimmed a bit. She raised an eyebrow as she stared at the ball that was now resting in her hand. She focused on the orb and directed a thought towards it, “brighter please?” The orb responded by getting brighter. Immediately she thought “dimmer” and the light once again receded to a more tolerable level. Aya smiled again. As a human she didn’t have the advantage of some kind of night vision yet. A portable light would definitely come in handy. She suddenly frowned as she realized that if she had to keep hold of the orb then she wouldn’t be able to use her bow as she needed both hands to wield it.

  The orb seemed to sense her hesitation and lifted off her hand, hovering up her arm to take a position just above and behind her head so it could illuminate everything around the area without blinding her when she turned around. She picked up the book next. She ran her fingers across the leather bound cover. A picture of a fireball was emblazoned across the top. As much as she wanted to learn the spell she was actually more interested in the book itself. The fact that it was a real book left her in awe. In the real world they had become a paperless society in the mid 2020’s. There were still a few books, but they were usually in museums or other places she didn’t have access to, and they weren’t allowed to be opened anymore much less read so as to keep the integrity of the pages intact. To have a real book in front of her now was amazing to her. She opened the book gently and caressed the pages. She wondered if this is how paper actually felt. She mentally debated with herself about what to do with the book. She could keep it for nostalgia's sake, but she knew there just had to be other books out there so she put that out of her mind. She could sell it and likely make a bit of gold on it since a spell such as fireball could make a huge difference, especially to someone just beginning. Last but not least, she could use it herself for the same reason she could sell it; it could make an incredible difference in her own skills, especially considering she wasn’t exactly a good archer, or even a mediocre one at that. She decided to put the spellbook away for now and talk to Ray about it later.

  “I wonder if Ray is in game yet; there has to be a way to look him up.” She bit her lip again as she mentally went through the names of all of his previous avatars. When she got to one specific name it lit up meaning that someone had taken the name. She moved to the chat box in the lower half of her vision and sent a quick private message to the person to see if it was her husband.

  Private Message to Voksil- “Hello there, is this Ray by chance?” She didn’t have to wait long for a response as her chat box lit up with a new message.

  Private Message to Aya- “Hey there dear! I wondered where you were lol. Do you know where you started? There are some NPCs back in the starting area that are willing to teleport people to friends and family as long as you know where they started. They are even doing it for free.”

  Private Message to Voksil- “Do I EVER know where I am? Lol I started in a human area. I didn’t wander around much before I cast the tutorial spell. Now I’m just,” she looked around again seeing the same four familiar walls and the heavy door of the room she had ported into “well hell I don’t know where I am lol I’m in a stone room with a door. Oh oh oh” She started bouncing up and down in excitement even though he couldn’t see her, “I found a treasure chest in the starting room of the tutorial area! I found a glowing orb, a key and a book of fireball, an actual, real book” The last was said in reverence.

  Private Message to Aya- “Wait, you found a chest?? I’m in the tutorial area too and I didn’t see anything in that first room, hang on one second let’s do a private chat instead of messages, I think I’m about to end up in a fight here”

  Private chat request received from Voksil- Would you like to accept? With a quick thought she accepted. “Much better!” Suddenly she could actually hear his voice, or what she assumed to be his voice, inside her head. Instead of his usual calm soft voice it was now a deep bass which just seemed to exude confidence and authority.

  “Ray is that really you?!” She thought back towards him, usually voice chats let you use your normal voice to communicate, but since this was the dreamscape, you could sound however you wanted to.

  He laughed a deep rich laugh “I figured you’d like this voice! So you found a spell you said? Shame I didn’t find anything,” she could hear the disappointment in his voice.

  “Yes I found a book of fireball, just not sure what to do with it. I’m sure we could sell it for quite a bit since the game just released and I’m sure people will be looking for an edge, but then again I’m quite sure it would also help us out too” While she talked, she put the key in her bag and looked towards the door. Again out of the corner of her eye she picked up on something shimmering in the corner of the chest. She never would have seen it had she not turned her head just so. “What the hell?” While still looking out of the corner of her eye she reached back into the chest and used her fingers to poke at the corner.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Voksil said into her ear.

  “I think I found something else in the same chest I found earlier!” She wasn’t sure what to expect at this point. She kept using the tips of her fingers to feel around the bottom and the corners of the chest. Finally she stuck her pinky finger in the very corner where she had seen the shimmer. She heard a faint click as the bottom of the chest opened up to reveal yet another hidden compartment. “Ok I am seriously loving these developers, they put a hidden compartment within an already hidden chest.”

  Voksil laughed. “Woman, I swear only YOU could find crap like that at the start of a new game.” She could picture him shaking his head.

  She peered into the second compartment, the light from the orb behind her illuminating a thin piece of paper and a small stone. She picked up the paper gently, marvelling at the smooth feel beneath her fingertips. It had multiple rooms etched onto the front and a red X was placed in a room towards the top of the page. The sudden realization of what it was caused her to squeal in excitement. “It’s a map!!”

  “You found a map? In the tutorial area? Damn it woman!” He didn’t sound angry at all over the luck of his wife, just highly amused. They had played together long enough to know that each had their own luck with different things.

  “Didn’t you say you were in the same area? Go back and take another look around, just make sure you look out of the corner of your eye instead of looking straight on.” She reached down to pick up the small stone and a notification popped up in the center of her vision as she touched the stone.

  This item will bind itself to you if you decide to pick it up. Bound items can not be traded, sold o
r lost.

  To be seeing a bound item so soon in a game was incredibly rare if not unheard of. Items that bound to a person were usually only found in the mid to later parts of the game, and yet here she was, a level one nobody, with some kind of soul binding item. She mentally shrugged to herself, she figured she would just look it up later to see if anyone else had come across anything similar. Her husband’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “Unfortunately it seems you can’t backtrack in here. As soon as you go through a door the door shuts itself and disappears. There must be multiple paths out of here though considering there was a room with three doors and you can obviously only choose one. As soon as I opened a door the other doors disappeared” He appeared to be much further ahead in the tutorial area than she was which came as no surprise. While she liked to take her time and look around, he liked to charge headfirst into things.

  She sighed in disappointment. So much for being able to check every room for hidden shiny things. She focused her thoughts back onto the stone. She narrowed her eyes, almost squinting at the stone when an a new notification icon flashed in her UI. She shifted her focus to that and two new windows opened up in front of her.

  Your Skill in perception has increased by 1. Your skill in perception is now 2.

  She had been so focused on the loot she had found from the previous cache that she hadn’t even seen the skill notification blinking at the corner of her vision. She dismissed it with a thought and turned her attention to the second notification.

  Congratulations Dreamer! You are the first in the land to discover the Stone of Secrets! This stone, once bound to the user, will mark areas on your map where hidden treasures can be located. Once you are in an area where a treasure may be hidden, an icon will appear indicating how far or how close you may be to the treasure. Blue indicates you are too far, whereas red indicates you are getting closer. As your perception skill increases you will start to see arrows in the direction of the hidden treasures. This stone can be used to find both hidden treasures, or hidden traps. May it serve you well Dreamer!