by Brian Simons
Flames from inside the dragon burned through its outer flesh. The ceiling was invisible above the thick haze of smoke that filled the room. Slabs of rotten flesh sloughed off the dragon’s bones and then it fell forward. Its thrashing halted. The burning died down and its body began to vanish.
Somehow, throwing a burning wooden bow down the dragon’s throat counted as ranged damage. Maybe next time she had a bow in hand it wouldn’t be totally useless to carry around a few arrows.
>> Congratulations! You have improved your Ranged combat ability to 4. Total Dexterity bonuses: +8% at close range, +1% at medium range, +0% at long range.
Killing that monster had netted Coral 40,000 XP which leveled her up. A lot.
>> Congratulations! You have reached Level 18. To apply your 17 skill points now, open your Skills and Attributes screen.
She might ask Sal or Sybil how to invest those points so she didn’t waste them, but now didn’t seem like the best time for that. She looked down to where Daniel’s corpse had been. He had completely disappeared from view.
“How do we get Daniel back?” she asked.
“We don’t,” Sybil said. “He’s got to start over now. He’s gonna be pissed. He spent over a year leveling his Fighter. Collecting gear. And the gold he saved up. It’s all gone, and before he could exchange it for IRL cash. That would decimate me. I wouldn’t know where my next meal would even come from.”
“But,” Coral said, “that’s not fair. He saved me. And we killed this thing together. We should be able to bring him back.”
“No can do,” Sal said. “And while we fought this dragon together, it looks like you finished it off. You got all the XP.” Sal shrugged but didn’t look too upset.
“I’m really sorry, I didn’t know,” Coral said.
“That dragon was tougher than any Level 60 we’ve been up against,” Sybil said, turning to Sal, “it would have killed all of us if she hadn’t set that thing on fire. She saved our hides, even if Daniel didn’t make it out alive.”
Coral walked over to the treasure chest. It was three feet wide and only as high as a coffee table. Bands of silver held the dark wooden frame together. The chest had no lock, but she hesitated to touch it. “What do we do now?” she asked, hoping they had an answer for her. Something other than “go our separate ways.” She wanted to thank Daniel, and make this right.
“Now we open it and split the loot. Go on,” Sal said. “Whatever it is, I’ll probably just eat my share of it.”
Coral swung the lid open and a message popped up.
New Quest: Hemming and Hawing
You slew the zombie dragon! News of your accomplishment has reached the Regent of Havenstock. He has an urgent task that only you can complete. Head to Havenstock Castle to learn more.
Requirements: Cunning. Guile. And a sewing kit.
Reward: New Tailoring skill.
“Well?” Sybil asked.
“It’s empty. I got a new quest, but that’s all.”
“You got all the XP and all of our loot?” Sybil said. “Unbelievable. We went through all that just to get one person a new quest? One of us should have opened it, Sal. The raid reward was tailored to the person who got there first.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe it was tailored to the person who got the kill.” Sal turned to Coral. “Don’t worry, we’ll come on your quest with you.”
“No, Sal, we won’t. We’re going to see if we can find Daniel,” Sybil said. “As long as he comes back as a human he’ll show up near Havenstock soon enough. Then we go back on the hunt. We haven’t earned our daily bread yet.”
“But Coral is our friend now, we can’t just let her go off on her own. It could be dangerous.”
“‘Dangerous’ is not having enough gold at the end of the day to buy groceries for me and Farah. You tag along with her if you want. I’m out.” Sybil vanished with a short puff of smoke.
“She logged off,” Sal explained. “Don’t take it personally, she just does that sometimes. She looks after her younger sister, who’s probably getting home from school soon anyway.”
“Home from school?” Coral asked. “I logged into this game in the morning, how long have we been in this dungeon?”
“Hard to tell. But it’s almost 3pm now. There’s a clock in your main menu.”
“Sal, thank you for everything. I think I need a break. How can I find you when I log back in?”
“Add me to your friend list!”
“How do I do that?” Coral asked.
“If you think about your friend list, it will show up toward the bottom of your vision, half see-through, right where all of your other system messages show up. Like when you level up. There’s also a silent chat option down there somewhere that types your thoughts out so they appear above your head. It’s a real throwback, but no one uses that in the age of virtual reality.”
“Ok, done. I added you, and I added the others too. I hope they don’t mind. I’ll see you later.” And with that, Coral logged off.
9
Travail Server 215 Automated Intelligence Log.
Analyzing player death statistics…
Recent player deaths: 23
Recent player reincarnations: 21
Reincarnation fail rate: 8%.
Reincarnation fail cause: illegal relic item properties.
Analyzing NPC respawn statistics…
Recent NPC deaths: 11
Recent NPC respawns: 10
Respawn fail rate: 9%.
Respawn fail cause: illegal relic item properties.
Running standard item identification algorithm: failed.
Generating new job class to address illegal in-game properties…
10
Daniel’s arms and chest were exhausted. He had been doing pushups to work off his anger at dying and losing all of his progress in Travail, all because of that noob that he saved. How was he supposed to know that that flame was so powerful? It seemed like a glitch, to be honest. How could it be anything other than a fluke that a Level 1 Seamstress could bring down a Level 60 Zombie Dragon, let alone by lighting a starter weapon on fire. She shouldn’t have been able to cause any real damage. And he shouldn’t have tried to save her. He should have let her die like he intended in the first place. Why did he bother protecting her?
His stomach roiled just thinking about all of the hours he had logged in, grinding away at building his levels. All of his skills were gone. All of his gear. All of his gold. Gold that could have been real world cash if he had swapped it out first. He wanted to throw up. He felt like he really had died in that dungeon. There was nothing left of him.
He checked his email again, like he always did between game sessions. He had one email from a headhunter that wouldn’t even pass his resume along to potential employers because he didn’t finish his degree. He had zero emails from the jobs he sent his resume to directly.
He sighed. Would things have been different if he could afford to finish college? Would there have been a real job at the end of all that, with a desk and a consistent paycheck? As things stood, he had half the student loans for a college education, with none of the credentials to prove it. Like so many others, he was qualified only for one thing: gaming.
There was no time for self-pity. He couldn’t afford to wait any longer to start fresh in Travail. As daunting as it was to start from scratch again, it was his job now. His only source of income had been selling loot and winning gold in PvP Arena battles, where gambling his gold in player versus player fights had been lucrative — at least when he was a Level 58 Fighter. As a Level 1… he’d have a lot of work to do before he climbed back up to his old earning capacity.
He put on his flimsy plastic visor and lied down on his bed. He willed himself to log back in.
An old woman, set against a pitch black background, greeted him. “Hello, young citizen, and welcome back to Travail.” He hadn’t seen her since the first time he logged in.
“I need to start over again,” h
e said.
“What life can Travail offer you now?”
“I’ll be a Fighter again,” he said, thinking back to how many rats, cows, and goblins he had to kill to get any real proficiency with his sword.
“You wish to fight, and to protect those you hold dear. You could be a Sentry, a class specialized in identifying danger and defending their team.”
“What? No, I was a Fighter. I’ll just do that again.”
“The Fighter class is driven and strong, but you desire more than brute force.”
“No I don’t. Brute force is good.”
“You desire to protect your kin. To enforce fairness.”
Where is this coming from?, he wondered. She was all too happy to let me play a Fighter last time.
“You could be a Shaman, strong in body and in spirit.”
“Nope. Next?”
“You know the value of sacrifice. You know leadership. You desire to be prepared for the difficult times that face your friends.”
“I do?” What difficult times was she talking about? Daniel started to feel like she was going a little off script here.
“Yes. You could be a great General. Skilled in weaponry, diplomacy, tact, and leadership. But you would need to start as a lowly Scout and earn promotions through perseverance. After all, hard play makes fun work!”
General. That does have a nice ring to it.
“Ok, but I want to keep my name and appearance the same.”
“Very well, young citizen. You will start your new life as a Scout.”
A semi-translucent notice box popped up between Daniel and the old woman.
Class Selected: Scout
Congratulations! As a Level 1 Scout you start the game with [bronze short sword] and [copper buckler] in your inventory. The Scout skill tree is unlocked. View the skill tree to see what skills are available to you at each level. You begin with the Swordfighting ability at 1. You also gain +1 Diplomacy for every two Scout levels.
“Ok,” Daniel said and the box vanished.
***
Daniel materialized in the middle of a grassy meadow. A message box popped up which he summarily dismissed. His bank account was already set up, and he didn’t care about the battle tutorial. He knew how to use a sword and shield. He ran toward Havenstock, aiming to run right through it.
The wind flapped at his tattered clothes. God he missed that plate armor. He’d just have to slay a few goblins, collect some gold, and get to a high enough level to wear something worth buying.
As he ran, he got a message.
>> Congratulations! You have unlocked the Fleet-footed ability. You dart to and fro with ease and speed. +2% to running speed. +5% to stamina regeneration.
Neat. This was the fastest, easiest skill he’d ever picked up. Maybe being a Scout would have some advantages. He pulled up the Scout skill tree to see where he’d eventually spend some skill points. In addition to the Fleet-footed skill he had just unlocked, he had three skills he could use if he spent skill points to open them up:
First Aid. Help allies heal light wounds with your basic medical know-how. At higher levels, heal HP and remove status effects like poison and bleeding.
Quick Hit. Spend stamina points to improve your rate of attack. At higher levels, strike twice between enemy attacks.
Merit Badge. Spend MP to temporarily improve your Diplomacy.
Daniel was not impressed. He just hoped that some other options opened up as his level increased because these skills paled in comparison to his old Fighter skills.
He closed out the status window and ran through Havenstock, right past the battle tutorial. The battle tutor droned on, “…[wooden starter staff] and start spelling some spells at the dummies. Melee combatters benefit from strong strength attributes…”
As Daniel sped past the area, he noticed a battle dummy moving toward him. No thanks! He kept running and found some goblins. There was no telling why these goblins thought it was a good idea to hang around the human beginner town, but that wasn’t his concern. All he cared about was knocking a few dead, leveling up his sword proficiency, and scooping up any gold coins.
After twenty minutes of killing goblins, he leveled up.
The training dummy kept bobbing in front of him though. Daniel refused to attack the training dummy. He was too experienced for that nonsense!
Two and a half hours later, he had made it back up to Level 7, with the battle dummy hopping around in front of him the entire time. He also unlocked a new skill:
>> Congratulations! You have unlocked the Focus ability. You do not permit distractions to take you off task. +5% resistance to mental debuffs like taunts, confusion, and berserk.
The game had never been so generous with new skills before, but Daniel wasn’t going to complain. He needed all the help he could get if he stood a chance of getting back in the Arena one day and earning some serious cash.
Each subsequent level would require more and more XP, which quickly made fighting goblins a losing proposition. He’d need to hunt higher level mobs to get the XP he needed. He dismissed his level up notifications, knowing instinctually that he’d have 6 skill points saved up now. He wouldn’t be spending them on Merit Badge anytime soon. He brought up his character stats to see how he was progressing.
Name:
Daniel_the_Maniel
Gender:
Male
Race:
Human
Class:
Scout
Level:
7
Diplomacy:
13
Constitution:
23
Dexterity:
15
Defense:
21
Intelligence:
15
Strength:
25
Spirit:
18
HP:
460
Stamina:
40
MP:
36
Skill Points Available:
6
XP:
3392
XP to Next Level:
8
Not too bad. Based on his Constitution, Defense, and Strength, he was still shaping up for melee combat. He was surprised his Diplomacy was so high though. He didn’t remember ever improving that attribute as a Fighter. Maybe he had started with it higher as a Scout? He wished he had checked his stats initially so he would know.
Daniel rifled through the loose garments covering the bodies of the goblins he had just slain. None had any gold on them, but a few did drop bread. Daniel picked up the bread and stored it in his bag. Luckily, the bread stacked in his inventory. He had one inventory square with bread in it, with a small number 11 in the corner. This was much more convenient than devoting an entire inventory square to each loaf. He also picked up a bronze buckler, which was a little sturdier than the copper buckler he had been using. Time to sell the old one to Otto and see how much money it was worth.
Speaking of Otto… Daniel noticed a notification in his world chat log that he had missed while he was logged out.
>> Otto has acquired unique relic item Soulkeeper Axe.
Weird. What was that NPC up to?
11
“Hi Mom and Dad!” Coral said to her parents via webcam. Coral had a high-resolution webcam built into her laptop, but she knew her parents had to use an old portable one. It clasped onto the top of the outdated laptop they had taken on their travels. They had been kind enough to leave her with the good laptop in case she found a job that required a decent computer.
“Hi sweetie,” her mom said. Her father’s hand clasped her mother’s shoulder pulling her close to him. They wore wider smiles than Coral had seen on them in a long time.
“We found work!” her father said. He took the webcam from the laptop and stretched the cable to a nearby window. “Look at this, we’re in Belize!”
The webcam showed a pixelated jumble of images before it settled on a view of palm trees against a
beautiful blue sky.
“Your father is tending bar at a resort not far from here, and I work the front desk. Our hours aren’t always the same, and the pay isn’t great, but living is pretty cheap here.”
