Last Horizon: Beta

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Last Horizon: Beta

  By Daniel Schinhofen

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction and all people and places portrayed in this book are fictional.

  If you think any person in this book is you or is based on you then you are wrong and need to get over yourselves. Except those who are correct. You know who you are*.

  I hope you enjoy this work as I have tried to make it as enjoyable as possible. It came to be from my love of other LitRPG stories. I would like to thank too many authors to mention for inspiring me to try my hand at this. Also a shout out to the people over on the LitRPG Facebook page, you guys are awesome.

  The cover of this book is a picture taken by my friend Kevin Garceau. Thank you for the help my friend.

  *To my friends: I hope I didn't portray a fictional character based roughly on you too badly and if I did I am sorry, the story made me do it.

  PROLOGUE

  Damn, David thought, that looked exciting, an actual virtual reality set with a built in sandbox MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game), set in a fantasy setting. Will had shown him those about twenty something years ago as parts of anime and the LitRPG genre. Finally here was a company on a crowdsourced funding platform giving it a go. He scanned quickly though the bonuses that could be had and jumped to the packages available. FUCK ME! David thought to himself, five grand for the basic package of the game and one VR pod with no bonuses. Well he could afford that, but that would be a huge chunk of this years and next year’s entertainment budget. If he was to do what he wanted to do and get a few sets to make sure he could play with Miriam and Will... David's eyes flew down the page to the expected release date, five years until it would be ready. Sighing he went back to the top of the item and started reading though the entire thing.

  Well okay it makes sense, they only had one prototype up and running with a simple garden experience to prove that they could do it. So the five years were for mass production of the VR equipment and the building of the game world. Seems the price was being split evenly as well the VR pods were going to be close to three thousand once they hit retail. That means the other two thousand was for helping get the world built for the vrmmorpg.

  It was a basic fantasy setting with dwarves, elves and humans as the playable races. Basic Intelligence, Agility, Strength classes to start with. He blinked and read it again, no defined mage, cleric, rogue or warrior type classes. He read though that paragraph a third time. “In keeping with the best idea of sandbox games, you will be able to progress in any way you want, but getting better at anything requires practice.” So you could make a plate wearing mage, or a Rogue that used magic, or a self-healing tank, in theory.

  Player vs Player would be allowed but at high cost. If you or a group mate started the PvP encounter then you would incur the penalties. Penalties were a 5% chance per PvP kill of a piece of your gear dropping, 75% of all money carried dropping, and a 50% reduction in xp (experience) gained for the next twelve hours. It was harsh, then again it would discourage all but the most extreme of asshats. If you had no PvP kills then you dropped nothing but 25% of your money carried. Once killed in PvP then one of your kills would be removed lowering the chance of one of your items dropping.

  Well this would mean canceling the cruise and the trip to Dragoncon for the next few years David thought but it sounded worth it. If the company, VR Unlimited, came through then it would be so much better than those trips in amount of entertainment. The three of them had played World of Warcraft back at its start until Blizzard had finally let the game end. He started to look at all the packages and see what stood out. Basic for five grand which was just the game and VR gear, basic plus for six grand which included beta access, partner package for ten grand just like the basic but with each person getting access to the beta. Small group package three sets, beta access for all three and an in-game non-combat item for each person for fifteen grand. That sounded about right for Miriam, Will, and himself. David scanned though the rest of the packages quickly, basically the other packages were just for companies to have to be able to resell the product before Beta started.

  Nodding to himself, David jumped back to the top to see what the goal was for funding, Five hundred million? Fucking christo guys, he thought, not playing around are you? He refreshed the page to see the funding bar, it had only been up three hours so far and had already been funded to over twenty seven million dollars. That was close to five thousand people already signed up. Fuck it, he thought and bought the small group package. Fifteen grand lighter in savings he sighed and figured he better call Will and let him know, knowing Will he would insist on paying him back. He was also going to have to break the news about the canceled trips to Miriam when she got up. Should probably also call his old gaming buddies and let them know as well.

  BEFORE LAUNCH

  Grumbling and grumping David rubbed his eyes as sleep finally left him. He had always had such a hard time with waking up in the morning, but ever since he retired two years prior he had started to shift away from his night schedule. Nights were what he enjoyed, but it got difficult if doctor’s appointments and such needed to happen, so he had started going to bed in the early morning hours and sleeping until noonish. Which was a radical shift from his go to bed around eight in the morning and wake around four in the afternoon. Even two years later though his body wasn't adjusting as much as he had hoped. Kicking the covers off, he stumbled into the bathroom for the obligatory morning rituals of bodily functions and shower.

  As he finished putting on a comfy pair of sweats he wandered out to find Miriam, who was obviously cooking bacon by the smell. There she was by the stove in comfy sweat pants and top, her long blonde-gray hair pulled back as she cooked. He smiled as he moved over giving her a playful swat on the rump and a kiss on her cheek. After trading terms of endearment David fixed them both cups of coffee and got the plates out for her as she was starting on the scrambled eggs, and breakfast wouldn't be long now. Settling down with his wireless device he began scanning his email, tossing the junk that found its way through the filters, and looking for bills or items of interest. Just as his lovely companion Miriam set breakfast down for them and he was about to set his device aside, it dinged and alerted him to a new piece of mail.

  CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR PODS HAVE SHIPPED! The bold all capped title of the email from VR Unlimited, the company behind the game he had spent so much on five years ago jumped out at him.

  “Woohoo, it’s almost here!” he exclaimed and raised his eyes to see Miriam looking at him in question. “The pods have shipped! In less than a month we’ll be diving into the first vrmmorpg, Last Horizon.”

  “Oh that's great to hear, you should call Will and let him know while I'm out and about running errands today,” Miriam said as she began digging into her wonderful cooking.

  Nodding in agreement with his mouth full of egg and bacon, David paused and swallowed so he could speak. “Actually hun, if you call him while you're out doing the monthly shopping, then you can invite him over for dinner and figure out what we should have. That will let me get as much new info about Last Horizon as I can get. Surely they would have updated the homepage for the game today if they are sending out invites. They've been so stingy with the info, stating they would only give more out once pods shipped.” As soon as he finished speaking he began eating in haste, eager to get into the computer room and use his multi-monitor set up to get as much info as quickly as he could.

  Sighing inwardly to herself, knowing he was going to have one of his obsessive episodes again Miriam just nodded and kept eating. She was already making a list of what stores to hit and deciding what she would make for dinner, knowing full well that Will would agree to come over
. He never missed a chance to eat her cooking, and she was proud of just how skilled she was at it. Most people had gotten used to the quick easy meals that society had adopted, drop it into a crock-pot or microwave it to feed the family. She preferred using basic ingredients and making the meal as much from scratch as possible, and many said her meals were more flavorful than most others.

  She shook her head as David dropped his plate and cup in the sink and hurried off to the computer room. She was used to his traits after twenty years together, close friends before they became a couple then their time together had only made them closer. Almost everyone thought of them as married even though they had gone out of their way to avoid the common law marriage, as neither of them wanted to be married. She ate her food leisurely knowing that he would still be at it when she finally got back. Eventually she finished, and after dropping her dirty dishes in the sink went off for a quick shower before going out. She stopped by to steal a quick kiss from her lover as he seemed to be feverishly browsing three websites at once. At least he paused and give her a good hug and whispered words of love before she left.

  David paused as Miriam walked out the door to do the monthly shopping, noting for the umpteenth time just how lucky he was. She had stood by him through so much and rarely ever complained or asked for anything, he wondered if he did enough for her. Shaking off his wandering thoughts he dove back into the web to see what new information if any was out on Last Horizons now.

  When Miriam finally returned home a few hours later and called for help, she heard a thump and a curse from the computer room. David came around the corner a moment later rubbing at his right knee, which he had obviously hit getting up. Miriam just chuckled and shook her head as she carried bags over to the table.

  “You’d think you'd learn not to do that by now,” she admonished him lightly.

  “Yeah, yeah”, he commented as he walked towards the door to get more bags from the car, “you call for aid and I jump at the chance to help and I get pain for it.” Laughing to himself he shut the door mostly closed.

  “Life is pain, Highness,” She quipped as she came back out to help get the rest of the bags. She gave him a pat on the butt as he went by with his hands full. They did so love throwing a few favorite movie quotes back and forth.

  “Tis but a scratch,” he tried as she followed him in with the last few bags. Laughing he placed his bags on the counter and then began pulling things out and getting them ready for the various cupboards they would be going into.

  “Well at least your arm isn't off,” was the next quip from her as she helped him sort things out for faster storing.

  Together they laughed while they worked as a team to get the job done faster. Once everything was put away she informed him that Will would be coming over and it would be BBQ pulled pork along with mac & cheese for dinner, one of Will's favorites. Smiling and not surprised David wrapped her up for a hug and snuggled her slightly.

  “Anything new up on the forums or main board?”

  David smirked at her and danced her around the kitchen a little, “Maybe”, he teased. “Maybe not, I won't tell until Will gets here so I don't have to repeat myself.”

  “Well poo on you then,” she said disengaging herself from him, “if you won't share then I won't make any cookies for dessert.” She turned to walk towards the computer room, and smirked when she heard him gasp.

  “Wait, maybe I spoke in haste oh lovely one of the delectable baking skills,” he started quickly, “perhaps I was unwise in my previous words, please forgive me for the fool I was.” His tone shifted to pleading, “I will tell you all you wish but do not torment me with no cookies, I can't go on without that sweet ambrosia.”

  Laughing she turned her head and stuck her tongue out at him before replying, “Maybe I will, maybe I won't”, she taunted.

  Knowing she had won this round of their silliness he followed her into the computer room and wrapped her in a hug from behind. He leaned over her chair as he gently placed his head on top of hers. “Okay love you win, as you so frequently do”, he said and placed a kiss on her head.

  “I'll wait until later though just the same”, she began, “I wanted to try a new recipe for dessert tonight, a caramel brownie thing that I found the other day, if I can find the recipe again.” She began scrolling through bookmarked web sites, trying to remember which one it had been.

  “I shall just have to suffer with that then,” he kissed her again on the head and went to sit in his own chair and resumed scanning for any other tidbits that he could find about Last Horizons.

  A few hours later they abandoned their browsing of various websites and got the kitchen cleaned up. Miriam turned on some of her classic Nine Inch Nails, and began the preparation for the new dessert. David just shook his head when she turned on the music, of course she turned on her favorite stuff when cooking. He went back to his computer and placed his headphones on, letting his song list randomize itself for play.

  As the sun was setting Miriam pulled the dessert out of the oven and checked the water on the stove. As she added the noodles the crunch of a car pulling into the driveway let her know that Will had arrived. She stuck her head into the computer room and informed David in a loud voice to cut over his headset. Nodding and turning off his music David got up and let his computer hit rest mode.

  They made it to the door just as Will was knocking on it, opening it they greeted their old friend. Will smiled and stepped inside as they stepped back for him.

  “Hey Miriam, how is the trained ape doing?” Will started, smirking at David.

  “I think I finally got him to stop flinging shit everywhere but he still tries to check my hair for nits,” she laughed.

  “Ugh, Ape no like funny man. Maybe Ape break funny man jaw and feed him poop,” David said smiling and shaking his head while making a small grab at Will's arm.

  “Holy fuck, he learned to speak! Quick call the press,” Laughing Will grabbed his friend in a brief hug. “How ya been man? It's been a few weeks since we got together for anything.”

  “Yeah been back and forth to the doctors, they're still trying to figure out what's wrong with me.” David shrugged. “They keep checking different things but no luck so far, it seems to be hard to pin down, not like your arthritis from all those years as a mechanic.”

  Will smiled slightly and flexed his fingers a few inches, about all the movement he had left in them now. Thirty somethings years as a mechanic and many broken fingers later his movement with them was severely diminished, making it near impossible to play video games with controllers.

  “Yeah, they want me to trial a new test drug for it. Told them I would consider it, but they don't know the full side effects and I really don't want to be the guinea pig.” Will sighed slightly as he finished speaking and followed his hosts into the living room until dinner was ready.

  Miriam gave Will a hug then retreated to the kitchen to finish dinner, leaving the boys to chat with each other.

  “So what's the latest from Last Horizon?”

  David shook his head before answering, “As I told Miriam, after dinner I'll rehash everything. This way we can all discuss it.”

  Will shrugged and they chatted about the old MMORPG's they used to play. Remembering the good old days twenty plus years back when their old guild the Bananas had made many a good adventure. David had kept in touch with lots of their old guild mates and brought Will up to date on what their old friends were up to now.

  “Mike and Amy also funded the game and will be in the beta,” David began, “No idea about Bill, but probably not. He's really been living up the grandfather thing the last year or two.” Chuckling he continued, “He has been so happy to get the chance to spoil his new granddaughter.”

  “That's grand,” Will replied, “I remember when Katie had her first and made me a grandfather ten years ago.” Eyes glazing over slightly he smiled softly, “Luckily for me she chose a good man to marry and he's been there like he should be.”


  Miriam called them to dinner as she set the plates out on the table along with the dishes. They got up and made their way to the table as Miriam set out Coke for them. Serving up decent helpings, they began digging in. For a while munching and the clink of cutlery were the only sounds, which was, Miriam thought, about the best compliment a cook could get.

  After the main course they turned to the caramel brownies and coffee as David retrieved his wireless device and brought up the notes he'd made earlier. He shifted his seat to have the wall at his back and motioned for the others to sit across from him. David then engaged the projector on the device to bring his notes up on the blank wall behind him.

  “So let's hit these points one by one and see what we can think of,” David said smiling while the others nodded.

  Bringing up the first point he cleared his throat and began. “So there are of course no classes per se, only starting points from which to build. Strength, Agility, and Intellect are the starting points, this of course points towards the obvious way people should build up. Sneaky types will probably want to be an agility base, casters intellect, and melee strength. However the way you build your character is totally up to you. They gave an example of a monk type, which was an agility template with a lot of melee attacks and high avoidance abilities. A paladin type with an intellect template that also took melee focus and block, with some healing thrown in. Useful hybrid ideas are filling the forums as I speak. However if we go into this as a solid three person team then we can build to the strengths of each, the Intellect caster for healing and damage, the agility rogue backstabby type, and the strength based tank.”