First Login (The World Book 1)

by Jason Cheek

  Grunting painfully, I carefully lowered myself to the ground now looking like a living pincushion. At least I’d won. I had no doubt I could have done a better job with a little more prep. Part of the reason I’d taken so many arrows was that I needed to experiment on taking the archers out. Again I was happy I’d chosen Frost Blast as my first ranged attack. Checking my blinking pop-up window, I was pleasantly surprised at the skill-ups.

  You have reached One-hand edge Level 2.

  You have reached Frost Magic Level 4.

  You have reached Shield Block Level 2.

  Shield Block: Level 1 (Requires shield to be equipped) – 0.1% Increase in the chance to block an incoming attack and 0.4% reduction to blocked damage.

  You have learned a new ability Shield Block.

  “You did good, now let me give you a hand.” Feeling Miya’s gentle touch on my shoulder, I met her emerald green eyes. With an encouraging grin, she went to work.

  “Don’t you think we should have started with something basic like dodging or basic movements?” I ask somewhat annoyed as Miya began yanking out the numerous arrows sticking out of my body. Grimacing with each, I heard her snort in response to my question.

  “I’m sorry,” Miya’s voice rang in my ears laced with sarcasm. “I thought that was what we were just doing here.”

  My mouth wordlessly flapped open and closed for a second as I tried to come back with an appropriate response as the Elf woman tittered softly behind me. Hearing my heavy sigh, she took pity on me and began explaining some of the in-game combat mechanics as she worked. Once finished, we sat around and talked about the different classes and some of the finer points of casting and fighting as she shared some of her own combat experiences with me. While a part of me still viewed her as a sadistic bitch, another part appreciated the time we spend together talking. My Nightmare start was going to be tough as hell, so any help I could get was greatly appreciated. And besides, when she wasn’t trying to kill me, she was pretty nice.

  We didn’t sit around for too long. Miya got me moving again, running through some sword drills, showing me different techniques for dealing with some of the various weapons I’d be running into within the world. Mostly, she worked on getting me to keep my legs moving as we fought. While I was familiar with running sword forms from my in real life training in martial arts, actually fighting with a blade required a lot more footwork than I’d ever truly realized. Surprisingly enough, the time went by fast, and before I knew it, there was a flashing icon popping up in my HUD.

  Warning, you have been playing for fourteen hours straight. It is recommended you log out to take care of your biological needs.

  Reading the message window, I realized the first warning had popped up at eight hours of continuous gameplay. I must not have seen it at the time due to all of the action. Thankfully the legislation to restrict the amount of continuous gameplay hadn’t gone through, or I’d have been forcibly logged off at eight hours. As if aware of my distracted thoughts, Miya stopped talking as she waited in front of me expectantly.

  “Please excuse me, Miya. I need to go.”

  “I understand. You have been with me a long time. I probably should have said something to you sooner, but I wanted to impart as much knowledge as I could within the limited time we have together. We have less than two days left to train.”

  “Less than two days?” For a confused second I didn’t understand what she meant, but as soon as I thought about it, the time and date appeared at the top edge of my vision. April 19th 02:17. Where in the hell had the last fourteen hours had gone?

  “I’m sorry, Miya but I need to go.”

  “I hope my training methods won’t scare you away for next time, Startum,” Miya said with a playful smirk.

  “No worries there. I’ll be back for some more abuse in a few hours.” I hadn’t realized it, but sometime during our after-action discussion, my simmering anger at the sexy Elf had disappeared entirely. Don’t get me wrong, she was still a pain in the ass, but at least I felt like I’d learned a lot from the short time we’d been together. Standing up, I gave her a small bow. “Until next time, m’lady.”

  My vision darkened as I called up the logout function. It took about a minute before the door of the Egg hissed open to my dark computer room. Taking off my helmet, I chugged a glass of water and staggered to the bathroom. Relieving myself and removing the suit, I made my way to the kitchen and started wolfing down some left-over, cold pasta. Grabbing a German beer from the fridge, I took everything to my breakfast bar and perched on top of a barstool, eating and drinking deep in thought.

  The freaking game hadn’t even officially started yet, and I was already hooked. The software AI was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. During the entire time I’d spent talking with Miya, I hadn’t once thought of her as being just an NPC. It wasn’t just the sexy, form-fitted leather either. Just sitting and talking to her was awesome.

  While I had read about the software AI technology, I truly hadn’t been prepared for the reality of it at all. And don’t even get me started on the 75% ultra-realism mode. On one level the pain had really sucked, but being able to be a part of the fantasy world was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. You didn’t just trigger your on-screen avatar to attack with a mouse click; you literally battled against the enemy using your wits and skills.

  Even my movements felt totally natural. I didn’t have to think about running or dodging with the interface. It just happened. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn that I’d been physically transported into another world. Like the Alpha testers had said, if not for the HUD in my vision that would pop-up windows on occasion, I’d have never believed it was just a game.

  Now that I was back in the real world and had a chance to think through the game’s combat system, I was better able to reflect on some of the arguments being bantered about on social media about The World’s violence being too graphic. I’m sure some commenter would be shocked at my lack of remorse at slaughtering the Goblins Raiders. If I remembered correctly, one critic referred to the game as being a ‘virtual hack and slash that was turning gamers into a new generation of psychotic killers.’

  Freaking morons. Attitudes like that never ceased to amaze me, since these same critics had no problem with the current horror films or violent TV shows that were regularly being produced, which, if anything, were a lot more violent and cruel than anything I’d seen in-game. Not that I ever worried about slaughtering digital evil. What bugged me more was the constant media bombardment The Game was receiving. Not that any of the hubbub was decreasing its popularity. If anything, I suspected the moral arguments that I’d seen recently on Twitter was more of a case of people denouncing what they were paid to denounce.

  Yawning uncontrollably, I staggered to the bedroom. My smartphone had a bunch of missed calls from my friends which, I decided, could wait until morning. Collapsing into bed, my last thoughts were of my aching muscles as I instantly fell asleep.

  Chapter Four

  (Saturday, April 19th/Pre-Game Combat Training)

  ‘I really need to remember to close my blinds before sacking out.’ That was the first thought that crossed my semi-comatose brain Saturday morning as the sun shined into my eyes from the sliding glass doors of my patio. It was still morning if you considered 11:30 to still be morning. I was lying in bed trying to figure out why I was awake when my cell started ringing.

  “This is Jason.”

  “Where in the hell have you been?” Domenic’s shout made me hold the phone away from my ear as I forced my sore body up into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. Finding my super-big gulp plastic cup I used for water next to my bed, I gulped it down putting my cell on speakerphone. “What the hell man?”

  “Chill the fuck out man. I just woke up!”

  “Jay, you were supposed to call Wednesday night after you’d finished the exam. I couldn’t get a hold of you Thursday or Friday, and you haven’t returned anyone’s call
s. Serious man, what the hell?”

  “Sorry, Dom.” I sighed, rubbing my eyes tiredly. “Wednesday and Thursday were a bust. I would’ve called but my cell died around 5 pm on Wednesday, and I wasn’t about to step out of line to find a phone. I didn’t end up getting out of the testing facility until Thursday night just before midnight. Figured you wouldn’t want me calling that late and either way my phone was still dead. By the time I woke up on Friday, I wasn’t going to call anyone until I had a chance to set up my character and check out the virtual training simulator.” Stifling a yawn, I made my way to the bathroom to take care of business and wash my face giving Domenic time to bitch his heart out.

  Domenic hadn’t been able to wait all day to take the exam. He had a meeting with a client around 7 PM, so he rescheduled the exam for Thursday and met up with Hefe, AJ, Jill, and Krystal. They’d all just got out about thirty minutes ago, and Domenic was still heading home. The entire process had taken the five of them about fifty-two hours in total.

  Mike had filled him in on the game when they got a hold of him on Friday night, but everyone was bitching about me being MIA. But then again my friends knew how I was with new games. Saying that I always tried to log in first to get ahead of everyone else before they had a chance to log in and play. Not that any of them were any better. I imagine if it weren’t for Mike’s Krav Maga class, Domenic wouldn’t have gotten ahold of him either.

  For now, the plan was for everyone to meet up Sunday morning for breakfast, but I had my doubts we’d be seeing John or Jimmy since their appointment was for this morning and it sounded like they’d be lucky to get back home by Monday for the 7 o’clock start time. In the interim everyone was trying to get some virtual combat training in before game day.

  I reminded Domenic about finding a Nightmare start when he was making his character and explained to him about my own experiences with the selection process. He said Mike had ended up in the Dark Elf Kingdom of Thayjar, in the House of Tuin’Dyrr. Mike’s race was a Dark Elf instead of a Half-Elf, which meant there had to be multiple different paths to trigger the Nightmare start for the same house. I told Domenic about my House of Kayden and how I found it. I didn’t understand exactly how the Nightmare starts correlated to one another, but it would be awesome if we could start near each other.

  Before we could discuss it more, Domenic was pulling into his driveway and wanted to get logged in instead of talking to my sleepy ass. Not that I could blame him, remembering my own need to log in and train some more. I told him we’d talk Sunday and quickly hung up. Already smiling about the bitching I knew would be coming during brunch after he had a chance to meet up with his personal weapon’s trainer.

  Showering quickly, I grabbed a bite to eat and got moving. I needed to get some groceries for two or three weeks before logging back in and the time was ticking. During my time out, I managed to call everyone back or at least leave messages. I made sure to ask Mike if he’d seen the option for House of Kayden when he was selecting his Nightmare start. I was trying to figure out if these unique house starts were a one-time shot or something multiple players had a chance to complete.

  In the end, the only people who picked up were John and Jimmy still waiting in line for their exam. I gave them a quick update and told them not to worry if they missed Sunday’s breakfast. As their bitching started, I hung up saying I was pulling into my driveway and that the game was waiting. Ten minutes later I had everything packed away and was suited up and sealing my Egg.

  Running Pod Diagnostic – Complete

  Synchronizing controller units - Complete

  Neuro Synchronization - Complete

  Initializing virtual combat training environment …

  Closing my eyes, I felt my heart race as the training grounds formed around me. Once again I stood atop the wide stone in the middle of the same bowl-shaped valley. This time Miya was already there facing away from me as if she’d been waiting for my arrival. Automatically I found my eyes appreciating her leather-encased curves as she turned around giving me a meaningful smirk.

  “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Lady Faelwen.” I felt a blush color my cheeks as I gave the sexy weapon’s master a half-bow.

  “I am no lady.” She said with an arched eyebrow. “Miya will do just fine.”

  “So then Miya, what’s the plan for today’s training session?”

  “Now where would the fun be in that?” Seeing the familiar sadistic smile appear on her lips, I felt myself mentally preparing for battle as she stepped off the rock. “I believe a warm-up is just what you need.”

  I didn’t move as I kept my eyes peeled on the valley around us, but slowly it dawned on me that her skinny little ass wasn’t disappearing on me this time. Seeing the confused look on my face, Miya impatiently nodded to the ground in front of her drawing her sword. “Get down here and stop wasting time, we have blade work to do.”

  “So, it’s like that now?” I asked drawing my short sword; I hopped down only to have my blade easily whacked aside as her sword’s tip stabbing me in the chest a half inch. Springing backward, I brought my blade up to knock her sword away only to find she had dropped her point below my parry. As my blade swooshed through the air hitting nothing, Miya laughed tagging me again.

  “My word and I called you pathetic yesterday. This-“ Miya said stepping back into an enguard position from her lunge as my blade whizzed back again hitting nothing but air, “is just embarrassing.”

  Feeling my anger rise to the surface, everything around me slow down as I focused completely on Miya. I was aware of her grinning face and flashing sword, but my eyes watched her body, the position of her feet and the movement of her shoulders when she next moved I was ready. Metal clanged as I beat aside her lunge with a parry and blocked the follow-up riposte with a weak disengage as I stepped back to enguard. With a nod as if she’d expected nothing less, Miya give me a savage grin before attacking again in earnest.

  Sword fighting in the virtual training module was like nothing I’d ever experienced before in real life. I’d spent a year learning the basics of fencing, spent another two years messing around with the Society of Creative Anachronisms various fighting styles and had taken about six months of Kendo before being a professional gamer took over my life. While I was quick with a blade and decent on my feet, I was not a good swordsman. Somehow training with Miya changed all of that.

  Unlike using the Foil, we fought with naked steel and without protection. A touch was when you bled, and a lunge was a strike that went right through you. Without the fear of death or being permanently maimed, pain itself became the defining motivator and the teacher. With the in-game endurance, we fought non-stop for hours without feeling exhausted. As our sparring practice wore on, my course, canvas clothing hung off my shoulders in shreds as blood ran in rivulets down my body, but I didn’t care as I threw myself against Miya’s blade again and again.

  It didn’t matter how many times she cut me; it didn’t matter how many times she drove my blade away. Miya would respect me one way or another. Just as it felt like I was making some headway against her blade, Miya threw a shield at me laughing coldly.

  “Maybe if you use two hands you won’t bleed out so much.” I caught the shield smoothly, slipping my forearm through the loops in midair and lunged screeching in rage.

  You’d have thought the shield would have given me enough of an edge to finally strike back at the slim Elf pounding the shit out of me, but that was not going to happen. I quickly learned not to lose sight of her sword as I batted her blade aside.

  Every time I blindly blocked one of her incoming attacks, she’d ring my head with the flat of her blade. Unfortunately, shields didn’t magically block by themselves. It was up to the fighter to anticipate the incoming attack and effectively use their shield to counter the blow ... if they were lucky.

  Just as I thought I was getting a hand on using the shield, Miya would once again prove I still didn’t know what the hell I was doing. She had this
fun technique she’d use to beat my shield aside and lunge in one smooth motion. I don’t know how many times she skewered me through the chest, but eventually, I learned how to block the attack. Every time her blade cut me, it would deepen my focus driving me to be faster, to be smarter and to be better, learning to use both my shield and sword as a single weapon. Still, just as I learned to block the worst of her strikes, the sadistic bitch would step it up a notch again.

  Much later when I looked back on this time with Miya, I would find myself wondering about the software AI and its neuro connection to my brain. Unlike most of my friends who had received a man as their weapons trainer, I had received a leather-clad hottie. I believe the AI understood me on a level that even I barely understood myself.

  A hard as nails macho man would have just pissed me off. A weak-willed woman wouldn’t have had my respect. While I enjoyed the overall style of form-fitting leather, it was the combination of sexy-intelligence, hard as nails attitude and pure skill that made me respect Miya and drove me to do better. Somehow she seemed to know just the right balance of carrot and stick to use. Of knowing how far she could push me so that I didn’t lose respect for her attitude, but instead fought to earn her personal respect. Part of that earned respect came from how she could hang out and talk during our in-between training sessions.

  We fought with shields and without; we fought with long thin blades and even massive two-handed monsters. Through it all that focus I’d always held during my First Person Shooters games was constantly with me. It didn’t matter how much better or faster she was compared to me; I would do whatever it took to win. It wasn’t until Miya raised up a hand to stop our latest bout and asked me if it was getting too late that I realized just how much time had actually gone by as I saw the familiar exclamation point flashing in the corner of my vision.