The Alchemist of Aetheria: A LitRPG Adventure

by Jared Mandani

  Cindy2007 was CRITICALLY hit by Roxxor and lost 37 hit points

  Roxxor reveals Backstab!

  Roxxor was hit by Cindy2007 and lost 7 hit points

  Roxxor was hit by Cindy2007 and lost 13 hit points

  Roxxor was hit by Cindy2007 and lost 8 hit points

  Roxxor shouted in irritation, trying to finish the nimble Ranger spraying him with arrows, but his Dragonscale armor, as sturdy as it was, slowed his movements down just enough so Cindy was able to dodge every incoming blow. She kept nocking one arrow after another, and her shots, even though not too powerful, kept connecting, draining the Rogue of his health.

  “Hey buddy!” Roxxor called. “Do something! I could use some help in here, okay?”

  “Coming,” Zack responded, quickly assessing the situation. There was little to assess in fact. He was out of Potions of Dizziness, so all that was left was to dash forward and to try and hit the little Elf with his Steel Dagger.

  Cindy2007 was hit by Zack and lost 6 hit points

  “You!” Cindy shouted, dodging another crushing blow of Roxxor’s Tainted scimitar. She tried to flank the Rogue to have both of her enemies facing her, but this wasn’t easy – not because Roxxor was fast enough to intercept her but because Zack was. Wherever she went, he was there to stop her with another weak stab of his low-level dagger.

  Cindy2007 was hit by Zack and lost 3 hit points

  Cindy2007 was hit by Zack and lost 6 hit points

  Cindy2007 was hit by Zack and lost 4 hit points

  “Just stop!” Zack said, trying his own kind of psychological warfare. “Quit it! You can’t escape. Your party is dead! Stop it!”

  She tried to ignore him, and even managed to hit Zack with one of her arrows, making his vision flash red and causing another wave of dizziness in him. Zack didn’t let the feeling slow him down any. His teeth clenched; Zack kept fighting and blocking her path.

  “Your arrows are nothing,” he kept pestering her. “No, you won’t escape. You’re dead!”

  Zack was CRITICALLY hit by Cindy2007 and lost 18 hit points

  Cindy2007 was hit by Zack and lost 5 hit points

  Cindy2007 was hit by Zack and lost 3 hit points

  Finally she broke and stopped her escape attempts, turning to face Zack, her freshly nocked arrow pointed straight at his chest.

  “You’re dead yourself!” the Elven Ranger shrieked. “Hear me? You’re dead yourself!”

  Zack only smirked at her. This pause was just enough for Roxxor to catch up with her. Worse still, she turned her back on the Rogue. After a momentary stalemate, as Zack was getting ready to dash aside, the Tainted Scimitar went through her, delivering the final backstabbing blow, and Cindy’s character became a limp ragdoll. She stood prone for a moment, the Rogue’s blade still piercing her little frame, and then collapsed at Zack’s feet.

  Cindy2007 was CRITICALLY hit by Roxxor, lost 45 hit points, and was killed!

  For defeating your opponents in PvP combat, you receive 55 XP!

  LEVEL UP!

  Congratulations!

  Your Alchemist is now Level 3!

  +1 to Endurance

  +1 to one of the skills:

  Short Blades >Dash< Acrobatics

  “Did you see that?” Roxxor asked, bending over to loot her Composite Bow before Cindy’s ragdoll corpse even collapsed completely. “Three instakill combo. I’d say that’s an achievement, but I collected that one already. A while ago.”

  “Wait, what’s that?” Zack asked.

  A huge green plant, spiral-shaped, was now curled in the middle of their battlefield, shimmering with magic and slowly furling, then unfurling its leaves.

  Beanstalk Lvl 14. Replenishing Aura

  “Ah, that’s some passive Elven healing mob,” Roxxor said. “Wait, wait, let me hack it down before it despawns, maybe it’ll drop some stuff as well!”

  “Are you sure…” Zack started, but it was too late – Roxxor rushed towards the plant, his Orkish Scimitar gleaming and ready. Just as he was in range…

  Beanstalk Lvl 14 reveals Let Fly!

  The fat green spiral uncoiled like a primed spring, and tossed Roxxor high into the air, straight up, like a black spike-armored rocket.

  Zack watched his tight parabolic trajectory with little surprise. He grasped the rules by now. Every passive mob in Aetheria, no matter how harmless-looking, even a dead Wolf – seemed to have a dirty close-range trick up its sleeve.

  Roxxor was hit by the fall! Roxxor lost 48 hit points

  The Beanstalk fumed with a cloud of yellow pollen and despawned as the Rogue hit the ground right next to it.

  “Dammit!” Roxxor shouted on landing. “Did you see that? I think I saw the entire global map from up there!”

  “Are you okay?” Zack asked. “That was some heavy fall damage.”

  “Hell no,” Roxxor said. “I’m twelve HP away from being dead in fact. My Acrobatics is not good, and this armor weighs a lot. Bad for falling. You got that Healing Salve ready? Hit me up, quick.”

  “Okay,” Zack said. “You want me to collect the loot?”

  “Nah,” Roxxor said. “I only need you to carry heavy stuff. These bows, they weigh next to nothing, and they cost a lot.”

  “You think I’ll just what, run away then?” Zack asked.

  “Who the hell knows, man? We only did this one job. You want me to trust you straight off? We’re still in a safe zone, I won’t be able to stop you, so thanks, please leave this part to me for now.”

  He took several steps towards the corpse of Arwen, the nearest to him, then stopped and slowly turned around.

  Roxxor lost 1 hit point to Poison damage!

  “Hey,” Roxxor said. “What’s happening to my HP? It’s depleting! I’m dying! Did you use that salve on me?”

  Roxxor lost 1 hit point to Poison damage!

  “Sorry, man,” Zack said. “I double-bound it to another slot. I hit you with a Poison Dart instead.”

  Zack stepped aside to reveal a small pile of Healing Salves he left on the ground. He quickly collected the stash before the Rogue could retrieve it and compensate for the health loss.

  “How… oh you little bastard!” Roxxor pulled out the sword and dashed straight at him.

  “You know, it’s fun how their PvP works,” Zack said, calmly watching Roxxor’s scimitar slashing the air all around him, clipping through his chest every now and then but causing zero harm. “It seems like direct damage doesn’t apply in this area unless we duel. But poison still works.”

  Roxxor lost 1 hit point to Poison damage!

  “You!” Roxxor screamed. “You stole my idea! This was my exploit, MINE. I thought you’re a good kid, I trusted you!”

  “I think they wanted this,” Zack replied. “You know, the game designers. Same as with your Backstab. They left this loophole on purpose. They wanted us to exploit it. To make it easy for us to betray and kill each other.”

  “Please heal me,” Roxxor said, breaking his useless combo. “Please. I worked so hard for this blade and armor. I swear I will never say anything to you about this. You can have their loot, dammit. It’s yours. Please.”

  Roxxor lost 1 hit point to Poison damage

  Zack looked around and shook his head.

  “And then what, we go around Backstab some more unsuspecting people? No thanks,” he said. “You know, when you were killing these girls, I realized something. It’s not me. I don’t want to play like that, progression or not. I just want to explore first. Go places. Kill me some mobs instead. And your blade and armor, I mean they could reveal a whole new world to me. I’m just doing what they intended me to do. You may call me a crab, but then what are you? Just a griefer, little else. People like you don’t really play, they just spoil the fun for the others.”

  Roxxor lost 1 hit point to Poison damage

  “You…” Roxxor said. “You little bastard. I’ll remember you!”

  Roxxor lost
1 hit points to Poison damage and was killed!

  His health finally depleted, the Rogue collapsed theatrically at his feet, a dead ragdoll full of loot. Zack picked his corpse clean. At first, he thought of leaving the three Elf corpses alone, then changed his mind and moved on to loot them as well.

  I’m rich, Zack thought. I’m so rich.

  Chapter 5: The Boss

  “Zack!” his mom called from the hall. She must have been calling him for some time now: the VR rig’s headphones were soundproof, and her voice could barely be heard in them.

  “Coming!” Zack said. He had just sold all the stuff he brought in, except for Roxxor’s cool blade and armor. First thing Zack got rid of was his own puny Copper Dagger, only good for killing low-level Wolves and Wasps. He thought of keeping the battered Leather Cap, but it looked ridiculous when combined with his new ubercool Dragonscale Armor +225; so he sold it and spent half his new riches on a badass-looking Blackthorn Helmet +15, not nearly as good as the armor and utterly expensive at that, but at least of a matching color and style.

  Now his character did look like some mysterious and dangerous travelling assassin – not so much of an Alchemist maybe, but Zack only cared about crafting cool potions anyway, not about looking as one. In this armor, he felt safe like never before. He even thought of going into the woods and letting some Wolves latch onto him, and watch them snap their low-level jaws to no avail, their damage fully negated. Then he would kick them lazily to death, laughing at their fruitless efforts.

  Zack could do so much now in this game. He could do just about anything. With this pleasant thought, he reached the nearest bonfire and logged out, his character safe from attacks with the player being offline. Was he also safe from thieves this way? Zack wasn’t completely sure. The game designers of Aetheria seemed to be bent on bringing out the worst in their players. Still, Zack’s inventory was more or less empty, and he doubted someone could steal the armor and weapon straight off his character’s body. It seemed a bit too much even by the local moral standards.

  “I saw you didn’t like the carbonara much,” his mom said while he logged out and carefully removed his VR paraphernalia. “I don’t blame you really, what kind of celebration is that? So I went on and ordered us a huge pizza. Seafood, just the way you like!”

  It actually was the way she liked it, not him. It was his mom’s concept of eating right. Zack wasn’t much into fast food at all; he mostly lived off chocolate bars and fizzy drinks, like most of the gamers he knew. And still, pizza was cool, and he felt really hungry, both for adventures and a hearty snack.

  “I’m rich, mom! I’m so rich!” Zack said at the table, his mouth full. He just finished telling her about his first experience. She listened and nodded, even though Zack suspected she couldn’t understand half the fun. He went on, “Just imagine! I could do anything now! Go anywhere!”

  “Harassing more little girls?” his mom asked, smirking at him. “I wish you’d join them instead. Play with them some, make friends.”

  “To watch their portals while they go shopping? No thanks,” Zack said, gobbling up another slice of pizza. “In fact, you cannot be sure they were little girls. It’s a game I mean. Could have been old men. Could have been my math teacher, one of them.”

  “You’d want it, don’t you?” His mom laughed and picked on her teeth with a fingernail. “So what’s the plan? You go and kill more people, or what?”

  Zack shook his head.

  “I’m not into that anymore,” he said. “I mean I could steal someone’s loot maybe, but that’s it. I’m not playing to be a griefer. I’m playing to get rich, and I can do that by exploration. Maybe I’ll go someplace hard. Like, real hard. Sneak in, lure some high-level mob away from its spawn point, kill it, then harvest something cool. I mean, if I’m to grind to get rich, it would be cool to hunt something that drops cool stuff.”

  “Like a dragon?”

  “Well, that’s too much maybe. A dragon is a boss. Or at least a mini-boss. A fantasy boss helicopter, you know. Airborne most of the time. Really hard to get when you’re Melee. You’d need a party to take down a boss, they’re not meant for single player. But something like that, yeah. Something big and scary-looking but killable all the same.”

  “So why not join a party?” she asked. “Find some decent people to play with? Who won’t backstab you and steal from you?”

  “Mom, stop it. I’m not playing videogames to make friends with people,” Zack said. “I’m playing them to take some rest from people. Don’t you dig escapism at all?”

  “I dig it fine. I just don’t want my son to grow up an escapist,” his mother said.

  “That’s just a game.” Zack said, getting up. “It’s what makes it fun. No real world. No real people involved. Just some fantasy lands to explore, and monsters to kill.”

  “But there are real people everywhere! Isn’t it a game millions of folks play online? How will you manage to stay away from them all, all the time?”

  “Oh,” Zack said as a new idea struck him. “You know what? I just might go to Pandemonia. It’s the hardest region. Super-cool monsters and as little real people as possible. Too hardcore.”

  “But you’ve only started playing.” His mom raised her eyebrows. “Won’t you get killed?”

  “Not in this armor. Well, I dunno. Maybe I could sneak in, grab some stuff, and just run off with it,” Zack said. “It will be high-level loot anyway. Ooookay. Aetheria, here I come!”

  He wiped his hands clean with a paper napkin and went straight back for the rig.

  Zack’s room was dark. The first thunderstorm of summer was brewing behind the window, and through the faraway skies above the city skyline, jagged bolts of purple lightning played once in a while, their flashes painting the room in sinister bluish tones. Distant thunder followed them, its rumblings loud enough to intrude on the quiet of his room. The VR rig remained where he had left it, its neon contours glowing and pulsating in the congealing dusk like something out of this world.

  Zack sighed and opened the window to a crack. His mom wouldn’t like it, but Zack simply adored the smell of rain and ozone during a thunderstorm, and the air inside his room just seemed too stale and dusty for him to resist the temptation.

  On re-entering the game, Zack respawned at the campfire near the nearest fast travel portal, right where they had massacred the Elf party, and yet the blue swirling vortex leading to the Swamplands was gone – some other player must have used it while Zack was eating his pizza.

  “Oh well,” Zack said. “Seems like the Orks will have to wait.”

  And so he used the Town Portal scroll he had inherited from Roxxor, first by wishing it into his hands, then by thinking to “activate” it. The majority of the fast travel points were still undiscovered by him, but the main locations were always available to anyone who’d like to try PvP on enemy territory or go straight for the highest risk and reward. Just the way he wanted.

  Choose Destination:

  (Verdant Meadows) Hawkspoint

  (Central Square) Sanctuary

  (Enchanted Woods) Skyspire

  (The Green Bog) Swamplands

  (The Gates of Hell) Pandemonia

  “Well then,” Zack muttered to himself, then spoke up loud. “Yes, Pandemonia it is.”

  WHOOSH! The purple light flashed around him. The reality bent and swirled again, and a new vortex opened up in front of him, revealing the distant infernal lands full of red mist and evil-looking black volcanic crags underneath a shimmering dome of magical forcefield. The place seemed barren and extremely inhospitable, but that was pretty much what he expected to find.

  After a moment’s thought, Zack took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.

  The transition was momentary: even though distant objects grew more detailed in a second after he emerged, Zack stepped out on the charred soil of Pandemonia right as he crossed the shimmering threshold. And even the LOD update was done with a visu
al effect, like his vision needed a moment to adjust, adapting to changed surroundings, which seemed murky and blurry at first, then carved out of space all around him in all of their majestic hostility and malice.

  Pandemonia looked exactly like one would expect, bearing striking semblance to Mordor or any inferno-themed fantasy location conceived since Dante and Tolkien: certainly hellish, all burnt-out and barren volcanic land, yet hellish in a friendly heavy-metal way, every twisted rock and crag screaming Check out how evil I am, ain’t it cool!?

  The soil underneath was a cracked carapace of dried-up magma, its cracks glowing ember like they still were open all the way down to the infernal chasm underneath. The dome encompassing the sky above Zack’s head felt immense and incredible, complex fractal curls of aurora borealis playing all over it, purple sparks floating and dancing around it to remind you this forcefield was fantasy-made, and not in any way sci-fi.

  Reddish fog covered the vicinity, not blurring the vision but making it look as if something terrible and demonically beautiful was about to go down at any moment. The effect was backed up by the beautiful background soundscape: both the music and the quiet stirrings and roars of something cosmic and ultimate evil somewhere near, hidden by the fog. Big flakes of grey ash drifted down from somewhere above, painted Zack’s armor in specks and blots and slowly dissolved. Earthquake rumbled underneath, as often as the thunder behind his real-life window, all signs pointing to the fact an active volcano was right nearby.

  Of course it will be, Zack thought. I bet it’s right at the center of this place. And there’s like a super boss hidden somewhere inside. This was the normal order of things in more or less every game, a radial final area with the biggest infernal attraction straight in the middle, equipped with the final boss – too attractive a concept for any level designer to skip.

  Zack carefully moved forward, first crouched and sneaking, then straight but still on high alert. The level designers of Pandemonia deserved some credit: everything in Pandemonia, everything around Zack bore the feel of some terrible imminent danger, the atmosphere both scary and thrilling, just like it should have been given the reputation of the place. As Zack went on, he kept expecting to be attacked – from a side, from behind, from above, right in the face from under the ground, basically from everywhere at once. Worse still, Zack had no idea what local monsters were like, except that they were supposed to be demonic, as the name of the region suggested. Zack tried to imagine the dangers ahead, and all he could come up with was some muscular upright goats or centauroids, maybe something flying, with huge bat-like wings and a snarling mouth full of fangs. Everything he could imagine was too cliché to be actually scary, this he knew for sure. This is what made Zack genuinely afraid to be here, not the fear of demonic, but rather the fear of total unknown, the greatest fear of mankind.