Ascend Online

by Luke Chmilenko

  “Rah!” I threw my newly learned spell in the [Fire Beetle]’s face and quickly followed up with a stab to finish the creature off. I’d been exploring the area for roughly two hours, tracing a small circle around Aldford. I found it difficult to move further than twenty feet without tripping over a snake, fox or beetle, but it let me train the skills I was already behind due to my earlier level gain.

  I had another odd moment when my “Swords” skill rose to level 2; I immediately felt like I knew more about the art of swordplay. It was hard to explain. In an instant I knew I was gripping the hilt wrong, and I could now envision different attacks or parries, the same happened when the skill reached level 3. If FIVR can replace everything we see and feel with this virtual reality, can it not implant skills and knowledge in our head?

  My consistent use of Flare had unlocked the Evocation skill as well which provided a similar influx of knowledge, I could concentrate just a little better, and I felt like I was scratching at the rules of magic within the game. Even the blinding pain I had originally felt when I was first stabbed by the goblins was somehow easier to bear. All this was both a strange and addicting feeling.

  You have run out of food and drink!

  You are Hungry and Thirsty!

  Regeneration of Health and Mana has stopped.

  Regeneration of Stamina reduced by 50%.

  Oh shit! I cursed mentally, snapping out of my daydream as my stomach rumbled. I had forgotten about food! Here I sat at 50% health, in an area where creatures were ready to take a bite out of me and my health stopped regenerating.

  Wait, I learned cooking didn’t I?

  I opened my recipe book; only a single recipe was listed:

  Charred meat - Food - Meal

  Benefit: Satiate Hunger for 2 hours.

  Requirements: Meat (any), Fire.

  It was a basic meal, but I had plenty of snake meat on me, or heavens forbid - beetle meat. I just needed fire. I frowned, wishing I had thought to buy a tinderbox from Ritt before I left town, then it hit me. I’m a magical lighter.

  I quickly gathered some deadfall from a nearby tree – thankfully without attracting the attention of a nearby creature and threw it into a pile. I tossed my tiny orange fireball into the pile of sticks and was rewarded with a small glowing fire.

  “Ha! There we go!” I started skewering bits of snake and beetle meat onto a stick and held it over my makeshift campfire. I’m sure I would remember this day with fond nostalgia a year from now, hopefully, while chewing down a finely cooked dragon meat steak. My first day in Ascend, cooking snake and beetle meat in front of a fire.

  I carefully watched the meat as I cooked it, trying not to cook the meat any longer than necessary. After a few minutes of cooking, the juicy aroma of the meat made its way to my nose, and I began salivating. It didn’t taste half bad, to be honest, both the meats tasted oddly close to chicken.

  “RAWR!” Something heavy slammed into me from behind, knocking me forward and my shoulder exploded in pain as I took a vicious bite to the shoulder.

  I saw my health bar take a dive, as I reacted out of instinct, grabbing the biting creature and rolling my body forward as I threw it over my now bloody shoulder into the makeshift fire I’d started.

  “Shit!” I cursed while I scrambling to get my footing, drawing my sword as I watched the [Young Puma] – Level 5, whirl from my throw and snarl in rage. This is just like the trailer, except with a big fucking cat!

  Reacting desperately, I slammed my fist into the puma’s nose stunning it for a moment. I had enough time to scorch it once with a hasty flare before it was on me again. I could barely keep ahead of the puma as it mauled my thigh with a swipe of its paw, and knocked me onto my knees. I threw another flare at the creature as it coiled to spring – scorching a patch of fur.

  Undeterred the animal leaped at me and knocked me off my feet, and we both landed in a heap on the ground, my sword falling from my grasp. I pummeled the angry cat with my fists – managing to knock a single tooth out of its maw.

  Enraged, a paw slapped down on my chest and claws dug through my armor as the puma struggled for leverage to put an end to me. The first person view of the feral cat definitely trumped the mangy wolf in the trailer! I tried reaching behind me to find my sword lying on the ground. So close! I could just feel the edge of the hilt.

  Gritting my teeth at the pain in my chest I pushed against the cat, moving me enough to reach my sword while its claws tore at my flesh. Grabbing my blade I stabbed out and into the creature’s ribs, landing three solid thrusts before the fourth found something important and the puma collapsed on me, all fight going out of it in an instant.

  “Phew. That was close.” The battle had taken a great deal out of me, my health flashed red at a measly 6%, and I could hear my heart thundering in my ears. A stiff breeze could do me in at this point, and while I had managed to make food for myself, I was still thirsty, which mean I wasn’t about to regenerate anytime soon.

  Pushing the puma’s corpse off of me, I stood up and out of habit grabbed the loot on the creature as it faded away, finding a [Normal Quality Puma Pelt] and a [Chunk of Meat] on the creature.

  With a sigh I began looking around for the food I had dropped in the scuffle, I was still a little hungry, and my health wasn’t about to regenerate itself.

  Did the five-second rule apply in virtual reality? I laughed mentally at the thought as I traced around the area.

  “Ah! There!” I saw the stick lying half under a bush.

  Bending down I grabbed the stick to pick it up, only to have a paw reach out from the bush and slap it back to the ground with a growl. Blinking, I saw an even larger puma’s face poke itself from out of the bush, in its mouth it held a piece of meat I had previously skewered on the stick.

  “Nice… kitty…” The puma scowled around the chunk of meat in its mouth and growled even louder as it began shoving itself through the bush.

  My meager health bar had yet to recover beyond 6%; there was no way I would stand up to a second fight so soon. Swallowing any shame I had, I spun on my heel and sprinted off into the woods, raw digital adrenaline fueling my flight. The sound of claws and growling as the puma extracted itself from the bush and gave chase only sped me along.

  Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Where am I going?!

  I dodged branches and ankle sized pitfalls, as I sprinted out of the plains and into a small forest, in a straight sprint the puma would catch me quickly. I had to keep it twisting and turning to have a chance. The puma already found one free meal today; I wasn’t ready to give it a second! The small forest was starting to clear as I made it towards the other side. Just a little further to go!

  You have run out of Stamina.

  On second thought, it looked like I was going to end up as a meal after all! My pace dropped drastically as my stamina hit zero. I could barely move faster than walking speed as my lungs began to wheeze and cough, I could hear the sounds of the cat closing in on me.

  “Whelp. I guess that’s that.” I wheezed to myself as I continued pushing through the woods, trying to stay ahead of the puma.

  I pushed my way through the last few branches and bushes blocking my way out of the forest, and my heart fell. Ten paces away the land simply ended. I was overlooking the edge of a cliff; I had nowhere to go other than back into the forest, or down.

  “Well, shit.” I peered over the edge. Was that water?

  It looked like something had taken a massive bite out of the land here ages ago, forming a crater lake with a forest surrounding it. It was at least a hundred feet straight down to the water.

  “RAWR!” the puma finally caught up to me, I turned to see it rush out of the forest, claws helping it skid to a stop as its yellow eyes fixated on me. Going back into the woods wasn’t an option anymore. That only left one way.

  I looked behind me, over the edge of the cliff and came to a decision.

  “Not today you little fucker,” I said as I flipped the puma off with both hands
.

  Satisfied with my act of petty defiance, I fell backward off the cliff.

  Chapter 7

  I had little over two seconds to watch the cliff blur away from me as I fell before I hit the water with a thunderous splash. Thankfully falling into the water had led to no falling damage. Had I fallen on land… I would have splattered everywhere, making my reckless escape of the puma pointless.

  Nemesis Added

  Your actions have marked a [Young Puma] – level 6, as a personal enemy!

  Your Nemesis will continue to gain strength and hunt you until it is defeated! Beware!

  “Nemesis?” I gasped still trying to catch my breath. “Well… I guess that’s a problem for the future.”

  There is so much we don’t know about this game. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite me later. Literally!

  Either way, I was happy to still be alive as I tread water. The cliff I had jumped off of was to my right, large and imposing. There wasn’t really anywhere to scramble ashore there. Looking forward, I could see the distant shore. It would be a long swim, but I would be able to make it eventually. To my left, I saw an island of some sort, not too far away.

  With nothing of interest behind me but another distant shoreline. I swam my way towards the island; I wanted to have a chance to sit and recover before more trouble found me. Seeing that I was likely the first person to ever swim in this lake, I drank as I swam. It finally got rid of the annoying ‘Thirst’ notification in the corner of my vision and boosted my regeneration to a measly 2% every few seconds.

  As I made my way closer to the island I could see that it was small, barely more than thirty feet across, covered solely in grass. I kept a sharp eye out for danger the closer I swam, the Nemesis warning already making me paranoid.

  After watching the island for a few minutes, I didn’t see any creatures and deemed it looked safe enough to swim closer. Interestingly, the island didn’t have a shore and didn’t get any shallower as I approached, forcing me to drag my wet self onto the island. Happy to have a few minutes to finally catch my breath and breathe, I lay on my back while I watched my health and stamina recover.

  Isolated away from the shore the island felt serene, peaceful even. All I could hear was the gentle sound of the water around me. Yawning, I felt the mental stress of my flight fade away. How long had it been already since I started playing Ascend Online? Six or seven hours? Time flew by fast.

  I allowed myself a few minutes of rest before I started to move again, back to full health and feeling re-energized for the swim back to shore. My biggest challenge now would be finding a way to higher ground. From what I could see in the distance, I would either need to scale the cliff somehow or take a dogleg path once I found a way to a higher elevation.

  “Might as well get moving,” I grunted to myself as I slipped back into the water and began the swim to shore.

  ***

  “Oh wow!” I gaped as I saw the pale green outline of what had to be fifteen foot long vein of copper ore running along the cliff. I’d been swimming steadily towards the shore for the last fifteen minutes before the vein highlights appeared in my vision. “Hmm…”

  I might be able to get all of it, if I can balance myself between those two rocks…

  An hour, two skill ups in ‘Mining’, three slips back into the water and a lot of cursing later, my pack was literally overflowing with raw copper ore and a fair amount of tin ore. I was ecstatic, if a bit confused on why the two metals were found in such close proximity to one another.

  Splashing back into the water, I couldn’t wait to get back to Aldford and sit in front of the forge. With how tattered my [Militia Shirt] was getting… it was past time that I found myself a better set of gear!

  I continued my swim back to the shore until finally stumbling my way onto the land. As my feet touched solid ground beneath me, the hunger notification appeared again, much to my annoyance.

  Figures. I hadn’t had a chance to finish my whole meal before the first puma attacked me. After taking a moment to gather some dry wood, I repeated my earlier trick with the fire, this time cooking the chunk of meat I took from the puma.

  While I was eating, I looked through the system menus that were available to me. I saw the familiar options such as ‘Journal,' ‘Character Sheet’, and ‘Map.' When I attempted to open my map, I was given an error:

  You must have a map equipped in order to use this menu. In order to create a map, you must learn the Cartography skill.

  I shrugged. I could try my hand at making a map if I got some parchment, though that didn’t help my being any less lost right now.

  Another problem for the future, I thought wistfully.

  Thankfully I was able to finish my meal and drink my fill from the lake without anything getting the jump on me. After taking some time to mentally retrace my earlier exploring, I figured Aldford was somewhere to the north-east, if at a much higher elevation.

  With a sigh I pushed myself up off the ground and started following the nearby ridge. I had no idea how long it would take me to get back to the village, and I wasn’t eager to be stuck in the wild for the night. I paused for a moment to glance at the sun; it was already making its way to the west and the best I could tell was that it was sometime between early and mid-afternoon. That meant I had anywhere between three to five hours of daylight left.

  With a spring in my step, I set off north, deeper into the forest adjoining the ridge, looking for a way out of the crater-lake I had fallen into.

  ***

  Over the next few hours, I quickly found that the forest was packed with just as many animals and creatures as before. I ran into countless snakes, foxes, beetles, and even a few lone wolves as I made my way through the forest trying to find higher ground.

  Thankfully none proved to be as difficult as the puma I’d fought earlier and my skills quickly improved. I managed to collect quite a few animal pelts, enough that I was sure to fulfill my deal with Ritt, along with enough experience to hit level 5. With barely a glance I dumped my 5 attribute points into strength, bringing it up to a mighty 25 and the now familiar feeling of thickening muscles.

  As I stumbled up the gentle incline of the forest, I was starting to get a little concerned at the state of my gear. My pants were ragged, boots waterlogged, and my Militia shirt, well, it looked like it lost a fight with a puma. Even my Rusty Sword felt off as I swung it.

  As the sun waned it gradually became harder and harder to see in the forest, and I grumbled at not choosing a race that could see in the dark, such as an Elf or a Dwarf. I was starting to have problems seeing anything further than ten feet in front of me.

  “Some adventurer I am,” I muttered to myself as I stumbled over an exposed tree root. “Wandering through the forest using my sword like a blind man’s cane, hoping nothing decides to eat me for a snack. Ugh. Why didn’t I bring a torch?”

  The idiocy of my statement hit me about twenty strides and an unexpected fall later. With my eyes looking up high, trying to make the best of my better peripheral night vision, my foot stepped into nothing causing me to pitch forward as I fell into a hidden fissure in the rocks. My face hit something hard, followed by my knees as I tumbled blindly, landing on my shoulder with a crash against hard stone.

  “Fuck! Ow!” I cursed as debris continued to fall from above, along with my sword – which thankfully fell hilt first nearby. “Ugh, I’m an idiot! This is the tinderbox all over again! I’m a magical torch!”

  I continued to swear as my battered brain finally caught up to the situation. Raising a hand high, I conjured and held my flare spell in my hand. The orange glow of the tiny fireball gradually illuminated the area I had just fallen into as I moved my hand around. Both the walls and floor were made of hewn stone, rough and unfinished.

  “A passageway or maybe a tunnel?” I whispered to myself as I stood up slowly checking my health, this time, the fall had taken a solid 35% off my health! I shook my head as I held my hand up high, trying to make th
e best use of my meager light to get my bearings. “I’d be the one to fall into a hole that you couldn’t climb out of.”

  The little direction sense I had left after my fall, made me think that the passage behind me led south, back towards the lake. I lifted my flare and took a few tenuous steps down the southern path; it only led a short distance before it was filled in with dirt and rubble.

  “Was this here before the crater formed?” I asked aloud. There was no way out this way.

  I turned back to the area where I had fallen in and glanced upward at the ceiling. Climbing out didn’t seem like an option either, as rough at the stone walls were, they proved to have few handholds to climb out. Not to mention I would have to make the climb in the dark, there was just no way I could hold the flare and climb at the same time.