Arcadia Unlocked: A LitRPG Novel (Arcadia LitRPG Book 1)

by Alyssa Archer

  The tram clacks to a stop and I get off with the other passengers. We file through a line where our credentials are checked yet again. I notice, however, that the line to get out of Arcadia is much longer than the line to get in. People—no, elves, dwarves, gnomes and the like—are actually camped out, living in the line. I guess they’re people too? Does people only refer to humans? These are things I don’t have the answers to, and don’t really care to, at least not now. Some of the people in line look like they’ve been there for weeks or months. “What’s going on with that?” I turn to ask Granny, who’s been beside me for most of the time I’ve been in line, but she’s gone.

  When I get to the front of the line, the guard scans my papers and says, “First timer?”

  “Yeah.” I nod.

  “Recommend you do a stint at the village over yonder,” he says and points over my shoulder to a road that leads over a rise on a hill. “’Bout a mile thataway. You’ll need a pass from there before you’ll be cleared for transit.”

  “Okay,” I say and move out of the line. I look around. Everything is as I expect for a minor outpost in Arcadia, and I get another little thrill from that. It’s like being in a real life version of my fantasy game dreamscape. It’s euphoric.

  There are a few makeshift huts with vendors and there’s a transport station. I see the words “Long Live Fidelius” scrawled on a wall in some kind of medieval graffiti. There’s a blacksmith here, so this place is growing. I might even find an inn.

  But I doubt this is where the famous Catriona is. I tell myself I have to get to Silverkeep City. It’s a warm day, and I’m already hot in my leathers. Then I remember my bag doesn’t even have water in it. I look around for a vendor I can buy from to make the journey easier, and I pick up a water skin and some apples. Is it crazy that even this simple act makes me unbelievably happy?

  Chapter 5

  Focus, Trent, focus. I need to get to Catriona in Silverkeep City, and in order to do that, I have to get to level twenty. I guess I’d better get my ass to the village. I doubt there’s a ride between here and there, so I start to hoof it.

  As I’m walking, rain sweeps in from over the rolling green hills surrounding the depot. Everything smells fresh and muddy and dirty at the same time. Trees line the dirt path I’m walking on, and they seem somewhat greener for the water falling on them. I feel somehow rejuvenated, and not even worried, because I know my leathers will repel the water.

  I wonder what the starting area will be like, and this makes me think of the starting area for my class way back when I started Arcadia MMORPG, back in the early days of goggles and gloves.

  Everything was threatening then, and I took every quest giver’s word for it when they said they needed me to do something quickly. I thought I was on a timer. I thought I’d get penalized if I took too long to do something. Several character rolls later, I figured out that they were just using the simple quest structure to teach the mechanics and progression of the game. There’s no one hanging out, watching you with a clock. If it takes you two years to kill twenty hogs, so be it.

  Now I wonder if that clock isn’t actually ticking. What will happen if I don’t get to Catriona in time? Well, there’s nothing I can do about it, so there’s no sense worrying about it.

  I come up to the village. It’s actually a rather substantial collection of buildings, some two story even. There are maybe twenty buildings altogether, and cobblestone streets run through the large thoroughfare that must be the main street, and also on a few of the cross streets. So, this is more than just a few huts thrown together for show. There’s definitely an inn here.

  Several of the larger buildings are built facing the town’s prominent courtyard. There’s a large fountain in the center of town, and in front of it stands a man wringing his hat in his hands in consternation. I pull up his ident card and see that he is indeed my friend the quest giver. He’s a small little guy, dwarven. His name is shown as Ignatius Plunderpotts. Hm. I walk up to him and tap him on the shoulder.

  “Oh Leeroy,” he says. “I’m so glad you’re here. We’re having a problem with hedgehogs. They’re not sticking to their hedge and they’re ruining the town. Little buggers are everywhere and they’re prickly. Take care of them for us, will you please?” Suddenly, quest language fills my vision.

  Quest offered: Prickly Little Buggers

  Kill ten hedgehogs and return to Ignatius Plunderpotts.

  Reward: 20 copper pieces and 100 experience points

  Do you accept?

  “Yes,” I say. “I can do that.”

  The quest text falls away from my vision once I’ve said those words.

  I wonder if it makes sense to gear up, but no ... I’ve rolled enough toons to know that I can get by for a while with what I have. Granted, it’s not much, but for now it should do. Sounds like maybe an upgrade at level five if they haven’t helped me by then, another at ten and again at fifteen, then go full bore at level twenty before I leave this zone and head out to find Catriona.

  I pull up my map and start walking in the direction marked on it for the quest. The hedgehogs are gathered on the far side of the town, in a field surrounded by hedges.

  When I get there, I see luvs2heal almost overrun with the little buggers. She's on the far side of the field, running for all she’s worth and they’re clinging to her as she’s hoofing it. “Coming in hot!” she screams as she sees me and veers sharply in my direction, and then I’m surrounded by hedgehogs too.

  I have two basic attack moves at this point, stab and stick’em, a slightly advanced form of stab from what I can tell. I mean, everyone has stab, so stick’em, a rogue combat move, should get me a little more love.

  “Goddamn it,” I say to luvs2heal, throwing her words from the train right back at her. Then I get on with sticking ’em for all I’m worth. I’m laughing and she’s laughing and screaming and the little buggers are dying as fast as I can stick’em a few times, and it’s just about the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.

  My vision pops full of little experience messages that flicker and then disappear once I’ve had time to register them.

  +8 EXP

  +13 EXP

  +9 EXP

  +11 EXP

  I wonder if there’s a way I can turn that sucker off. It just keeps going and going. luvs2heal stays by my side and together we’re able to turn the tide. I fill my quota and then some in no time.

  “Oh my gosh, that was the worst,” she says. “I’m so glad you got here when you did.”

  “Yup. Anytime,” I say.

  She sweeps a little blonde hair over her ear. “The little hedgehogs are kind of cute when they die. Is that terrible to say? They make this little groan. Like an errrrr arrrrr. Did you notice it?”

  “I might have,” I say. “Hey, I have to get to the Capital as soon as possible, so I’m gonna like, blow through these now, okay? I mean. Come along if you like, but I got to hurry is what I’m saying.”

  What I’m saying is that I can’t be sitting around talking about how cute the dying hedgehogs are. Okay. I mean, a man’s got limits. I turn to go back to the village and Mr. Plunderpotts.

  Thankfully, she doesn’t take my brusqueness the wrong way and she comes along with me. “Nah, it’s cool. I can go with you,” she says, calling from behind. She catches up in a hurry and in minutes we’re back at the fountain in the center of the town.

  “Oh, good job,” Ignatius says when we return to him.

  Prickly Little Buggers Quest Complete!

  Congratulations! You have received

  20 copper pieces and 100 experience points

  That experience, in addition to the hedgehog killing, puts me over the edge. My field of vision fills with a blinding light and I feel a rush of energy all over, euphoria. It’s like a drug. A very, very good drug.

  Congratulations! You have reached Level Two! pops up in my vision followed by Warning: You have five minutes to distribute two talent points and Congratulations! Yo
u have learned a new combat skill: slash.

  I take the warning to heart and pull up my talent points right away. I think it makes the most sense to maximize my class specialty, so I dump one point into agility. I put the other one into fortitude—I don’t mind being health-point skinny, but ten is just too skinny. Now my character pane looks like this.

  LEVEL 2 CHARACTER STATS

  NAME Leeroy Jenkinz, CLASS Rogue, RACE Human EXPERIENCE (EXP)—230/100

  Next level achieved at 300 experience points.

  CORE ATTRIBUTES

  3 + 2 AGILITY (AGI) = +5% to dodge and critical hit

  1 SPELLPOWER (SP) = 10 spell points

  2 FORTITUDE (FORT) = 20 health points

  1 POWER (PWR) = +10 damage

  ARMOR/ENHANCEMENTS

  Chest—black leather vest

  Legs—black leather pants

  Feet—black leather boots

  WEAPONS

  +1 AGI/level Dual Wield Heirloom Daggers

  SKILLS

  Stick’em

  Slash—Basic move to deal damage. Requires two daggers. Rewards two rage points.

  PROFESSIONS

  ACHIEVEMENTS

  You’ve arrived!

  Chapter 6

  Ignatius is still wringing his hands. “You wouldn’t happen to have time to spare, would you?” he says. “Would you be willing to help out again?”

  “Sure,” luvs2heal responds.

  “Oh good. It’s just that one of our scouts, Nelson, was supposed to return yesterday afternoon. He was investigating some strange activity on our western shore. Would you mind going after him and convincing him to come back to deliver his report?”

  The little dwarf’s mustache bristles as he talks. He kind of reminds me of a gopher.

  Quest offered: Scout Nelson is Missing!

  Find Scout Nelson and make sure his report is delivered to Ignatius Plunderpotts.

  Reward: 40 copper pieces and 200 experience points

  Do you accept?

  Twice as much gold and experience as last time. Hopefully this isn’t twice as difficult. “Sounds good,” I say. “I accept.” luvs2heal does too, and we start off on the trail of the missing scout.

  From the maps it looks like it will be about an hour’s walk. luvs2heal picks up the pace and I follow her, jogging. Pretty soon we’re both loping along at a ground-eating pace, and I don’t feel the slightest bit winded. My lungs aren’t burning. This is easy. And yet, we’re running, and I can feel the breeze in my hair and the world opens up before me. Even the way the squirrels hide at the sight of us, and stranger things too, delights me. I fucking love Arcadia.

  I don’t know luvs2heal well enough to hold much of a conversation with her. I think about saying “This your first time here, too?” but that seems stupid and obvious because clearly it is her first time here, and I’m sick of answering that question, so she’s probably sick of answering it too. Even though I’m not out of breath, I fall back on the fact that we’re running as excuse enough not to talk. Not that luvs2heal seems to mind. She’s keeping up a constant chatter as we move.

  “Can you believe how green everything is? And how good everything feels? I can’t even get over it. I’ve been playing for years, of course—otherwise how would someone even justify spending this kind of money on a vacation ...” Her words fill my ears, but I don’t really pay them any mind. I’m pretty happy without the chatter. She doesn’t seem to mind that I’m not talking, so ... all good here.

  She’s right about one thing. Everything is amazing. There’s absolutely nothing to make me doubt in the slightest that I’m actually in Arcadia. The amount of data being fed to my brain is enormous. Any way I look I see such lush depth to the rendering. The trees look and feel real. The grass bends under my step. The breeze rustles my hair.

  After a while I pull up to check my map. We’ve been skirting the coastline for a while and it seems like there’s an outcropping of buildings ahead. My map says we’re just about in the vicinity of where the scout should have been. “Hold up,” I say to luvs2heal. “Let’s slow down and comb the area. This is the spot.”

  We walk through the sandy dunes, looking through tufts of grass for the scout. Could the scout be up in those huts on the shoreline? That doesn’t seem like the way the game I know would operate. Scouts don’t go inside. And if you’re sent to find one, they’ll likely be DOA. I don’t know if I can deal with seeing a dead body in virtual real life. I guess we’re about to find out, though, because I catch a whiff of something nasty, something I’ve never smelled before but that I can pretty easily classify as “dead body smell.”

  “luvs2heal, over here somewhere. I can smell him.”

  The KISA comes within a few yards of me and we narrow our search. Soon enough, we come upon the dead scout. He seems peaceful. Like a doll, almost. Cold. Stiff. I dig inside his vest and find his reporting book. He’s kept copies of his watch reports. Something flickers in my vision, and I look up to see that someone has emerged from the huts and is making good time toward us.

  “Hey, check it out,” I say, nudging luvs2heal. “He sure is in a hurry.”

  “Hm?”

  She looks up at me. “That guy,” I say, pointing to what I can see now is a very large fisherman coming at us full bore, fishing pole in hand. I can tell he’s hell bent on something; it’s got his full and rather angry attention, whatever it is.

  “Jesus, Leeroy, run!” she shouts, launching to her feet. I scan the guy again and see that his name, FISHERMAN, is flashing red, and that his level is so high I can’t even ascertain it. They guy looks hideously strong, and full of fury. I throw the reporting book into my bag and get up to follow luvs2heal.

  “No need for violence here!” I shout as I start to run away. That’s when the first blow lands. The bastard whacks me with his fishing pole!

  Critical strike. You have received 9 points damage. 11 health points remaining.

  Damn! That hurt, too. I barely have time to think this before another blow lands, and another.

  You have received 5 points damage. 6 health points remaining.

  You have received 4 points damage. 2 health points remaining.

  I fall to my knees. The killing blow comes. It hurts, but not as much as I think it could have. Maybe death by fishing pole isn’t such a bad way to go.

  Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement. It was this big!

  Um, really? Possibly the stupidest way to die ever. I’m such a noob.

  You have died. Respawn at the mushroom circle or journey to your body? Warning, respawn will abandon your backpack at the site of your body and open it to looters.

  Well, I can’t very well abandon my shit. I need the book to finish the quest and I need to finish this quest to get the next one. “Journey,” I say. I blink and my spirit shows up as a floating ball. I’m like a ghost in the graveyard, except I’m in a mushroom circle in the forest. I wander until I get my bearings, then make my way back up the coast to where I left my body.

  I pass luvs2heal on the way to my body. She appears to be waiting for me, but she’s a ways off the path and well away from my fisherman friend.

  As soon as I get close enough, my spirit will get sucked back into my body, so I look around first and make sure that buddy is well and truly gone before I dive back in. Then I get up, grab my pack, and start running again. I’m at half health until I can rest and recover a bit.

  I get well away from the hut and run back to where luvs2heal is hanging out. She looks up and she’s smirking and I meet her eye and I’m smirking and before we know it we’re both rolling on the forest floor, consumed with gales of laughter.

  “He just kept whacking you with that fishing pole!”

  “I remember thinking, My, he’s sure in a hurry to get somewhere, then bam!”

  “And I’m all wondering why you don’t see his flashing red tag—”

  “Well, I guess now we know what happened to that poor scout.”

  Before
I know it, my health is back up. It feels good to have laughed so hard. My chest and cheeks are sore. I don’t mind at all.

  I do wonder what that fisherman was all in a tizzy about. No time for that right now.

  I stand up. I’m on a mission, after all. “C’mon,” I say. “We gotta turn this quest in. I got people to see.”

  “All righty then,” she says, rising.

  Chapter 7

  Back with Ignatius, we are each awarded enough experience to gain us level three status and two additional talent points.

  Scout Nelson is Missing Quest Complete!

  Congratulations! You have received

  40 copper pieces and 200 experience points

  Congratulations! You have reached Level Three!

  Warning: You have five minutes to distribute two talent points.

  Congratulations! You have learned a new combat skill: slippery fish.

  The thrill of leveling up runs through me like a shot of very fine whisky.

  Goddamn. I say goddamn. That is a fine, fine rush.

  I spend my talent points and take note of a new skill in my arsenal, slippery fish. I wonder if everyone gets that or if you have to have the fisherman encounter that I did to get it. Of course, it would have been a perfect skill to have during that encounter. My character pane now looks like this.

  LEVEL 3 CHARACTER STATS

  NAME Leeroy Jenkinz, CLASS Rogue, RACE Human EXPERIENCE (EXP)—430/300

  Next level achieved at 600 experience points.

  CORE ATTRIBUTES

  3 + 3 (modifiers) AGILITY (AGI) = +6% to dodge and critical hit

  1 SPELLPOWER (SP) = 10 spell points