by Byron Kings
Contents
Title Page
LitRPG
Copyright
Battle Empire: Sword
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
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SWORD: BATTLE EMPIRE BOOK ONE
Sword: Battle Empire Book One
By Byron Kings
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SWORD
Battle Empire Book 1
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Prologue
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I felt the all seeing eye of Sauron all around me as I walked down the litter-free sidewalk in, the largest corporate run nation-state on the east coast of North America. A quick glance at my social credit score to the top right of my AR vision calmed my nerves somewhat as I passed drones and fixed cameras everywhere. Even the damn sidewalks tracked my movement with smart shoes on my feet. The hacked SCS app appeared to be working, but I still had my doubts about its effectiveness.
A robotic dog barked as it passed. I kept following the floating arrows in the air toward my destination, Snooki Sandwich Shop. Triple S had the worst food, but their WiFi security couldn’t be topped. I needed a highspeed 7G connection to make contact with the The Hacker Crew and let them know I had finished my mission. Well, as much of it as possible. The rest was up to my human Trojan Horse. Is he up for the job? Him not knowing about the code I had carefully hidden in his brain would make it easier on him. I still worried he might be found out before he got in.
The Hacker Crew had specified they wanted to know everything, every step of the plan. With the leverage they held over me, I couldn’t disobey. They basically owned me if I valued my sister’s life, and I did. Piper was a smart kid who had done for herself. I wasn’t about to ruin her life for my mistakes as a sloppy fucking hacker. Don’t panic! I repeated my mantra in my mind as I neared the shitty restaurant. Another glance at the phony SCS number, and I snapped back to reality.
When I reached the restaurant, I ordered a coffee with a smile. After the drone whizzed away to fetch my order, I called up a secure comms app. I zoomed my vision in on the tiny black screen in the bottom left of my vision and thought out a message.
0x:>> pkg on its way
THC:>> nice. eta?
0x:>> negs. Hold on.
I glanced up as the waitress drone sloppily deposited a half-full cup of brown liquid on the table in front of me.
“Would you care to leave a tip? Good citizens tip.”
If I declined, my SCS number would go down, so I tipped the average. Any less or more would flag me in the system. I had to be smart. As the drone flew away to a group of tourists, yapping in loud and obnoxious voices, I zoomed back to my illicit and encrypted chat screen.
0x:>> lvng city
THC:>> not staying?
0x:>> stuff to do
They didn’t need to know I didn’t trust them. After they blackmailed me with threats of attacking my sister, I had laughed at them initially. They accused me of hacking on their digital turf and demanded I deliver my sister to them. After I refused, they offered a solution. They needed to get code into Battle Empire, the biggest and most successful virtual world, and I had found a way.
THC:>> contact us when you have a link
0x:>> will do. Oxout.
I closed the screen, hoping nothing on the system had seen the short bits we’d discretely tossed back and forth. The app’s small size meant it was a bit easier to stay off radar, but the AI overlords were always improving the technology. If we didn’t do something, they would have total control over the human race. More than two-thirds of the population had willingly given up freedom for their brand of safety, but the rest of us weren’t about to give up without a fight. Fuck the machines.
On my way outside, a drone stopped a man and scanned him. I glanced at my SCS hack, hoping it held up. The drone would scan me passively as I passed. I took a deep breath and opened the door before walking out into the crisp night air. The drone’s aggressive voice echoed in the street as I walked toward Bon Jovi Station. I needed to catch the day’s last high-speed train out of the city and back to Shedtown. The ramshackle settlement’s name belied its size. Millions of people called it home.
Back in the relative safety and anonymity offered by Shedtown, I could log onto Battle Empire and see if my plan was working. All I wanted was to get the THC crew off my sister. Okay, I’m lying. The thought of wrecking the world’s largest virtual world sounded fun too. So many people had died to let a select few live out their lives carefree, playing games to pass the time. Real life meant so much more, but nobody cared with safe and exciting worlds to explore. I needed to remind them all.
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CHAPTER 1
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Permanent Game State
I sat on a hard, plastic chair in the overly white waiting room of the local Lancraft Labs. At thirty-five years of age, I’d earned enough to retire and spend the rest of my life playing games. Fully immersive virtual reality wasn’t cheap, but it was the way I wanted to spend the money I’d saved up over the years. My game of choice? Battle Empire.
Some people thought the game was too violent with too much sex, but I didn’t care. The rest of my life would be spent in a medically induced coma while hooked up to the greatest video game ever created. Fuck all the casual gamers. I was all in - locked and loaded with full immersion for the rest of my life. That meant becoming powerful in the game.
Over the last ten years, I had spent every waking moment of my life to get a character past level fifty. Not many people in the world had achieved this because the game was so difficult on many different levels. The classless system meant you never knew what you might be up against. As I waited, I called up my character sheet on my tablet.
Name:
Drake
Level:
50/100
Experience Points:
12,300,000
Health Points:
760(760)
Magic Points:
220(220)
Sexual Energy:
69(69)
Armor Rating
74/100
Physical:
98/100
Mental:
79/100
Spiritual:
64/100
Sexual:
85/100
I also checked out my list of skills.
Reading/Writing: Common,
85/100
Reading/Writing: Cuerno
70/100
Combat - One-Handed Blades
87/100
Combat - Short Blades
78/100
Combat - Axes
78/100
Comba
t - Mace
71/100
Combat - Flail
56/100
Combat - Dodge
72/100
Magic - Elemental
32/100
Magic - Conjuration
24/100
Magic - Illusion
0/100
Magic - Necromancy
0/100
Magic - Healing
0/100
Sneak
45/100
Forgery
12/100
Pick Locks
82/100
Disarm Traps
13/100
Detect Traps
24/100
Horse Riding
82/100
Climbing
12/100
Swimming
14/100
Appraise Item
59/100
Identify Magic Item
5/100
Barter
57/100
Intimidate
72/100
Perception
87/100
Tracking
67/100
Knowledge (history)
24/100
Knowledge (geography)
32/100
Knowledge (street smarts)
72/100
I wouldn’t get spells I could cast unless I got a horn sword or passed level fifty. Either way, I had been dumping stats into basic magic since the mid-20s. With a bit of luck and more grinding, I would be casting spells by the time I established my own kingdom within Battle Empire. Only so many positions of power were available. I would have one no matter what it took. Being in the game fulltime, I had a fighting chance.
In addition to spending the rest of my natural born life inside Battle Empire, I was put on a short list of people willing to fully digitize their consciousness after my physical body died. None of the science made sense to me, but I trusted the company that had revolutionized the world in so many ways. Well, kind of. I still had some reservations.
Only around six hundred thousand of the roughly sixty million players in Battle Empire had been allowed to fully digitize themselves in the game world. Doing so gave perks which would help me blaze through levels until I hit one hundred. At that point, I could become an immortal and continue gaining power. It would take a while, but everything in my long-term plan was coming together nicely.
With more hard work and a bit of luck, I would become one of the most powerful people in the game. I planned on living my best life after that point, enough power in the game to do whatever I wanted. The criminal empire I had built in the badlands over the last two years brought me a lot of gold, power, and proxy experience points. My badlands gang had enabled me to hit level fifty-one before I went full time.
“Mr. Thompson?”
I glanced up. A female nurse in white stood across the room, holding open a windowless white door.
“That’s me.” I stood and walked toward her.
She smiled. “Right this way.”
After I joined her in the hallway, I followed her further into the building. Call me crass, but I checked out her shapely ass as it swayed back and forth. While she looked human, Lancraft Labs, a corporation run by a sentient AI, only used the best androids to act out its wishes. She stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall then turned.
“In here,” she said. “We have more questions and paperwork.”
“Thanks.” I opened the clinically white door.
She stayed in the hall as I walked inside a bare room. Yet another fine-looking female synthetic sat behind a desk on the far wall. She smiled as I approached, the door slowly swinging shut behind me.
“Have a seat, Mr. Thompson.” She motioned to a plastic chair.
I sat, hands resting on my thighs. “How close am I to getting inside?”
“Not much longer.”
“Great.” I relaxed in my seat.
“Have you gotten married or formed a significant human relationship since we last talked?”
“Nope,” I said. “Still happily single in the real world and virtual.”
“Why aren’t you married?”
Knowing synthetics could spot a lie, I told the truth.
“I’m waiting for the right woman.”
“Do you think you’ll find her in Battle Empire?”
“That game has ate up all my spare time for the last ten years. You can check the game logs to verify. I’ve only made it halfway to level cap, and I plan on making it all the way.”
“But why go into the game full time?”
I had practiced my answers many times.
“Because I want the best chance of winning. I’m still young. A few years or even a decade asleep and in my mind will allow my body to rest. That’s what your own scientific studies have found, right?”
The synthetic smiled and nodded. “Yes. That’s true. I just need your signature here.”
She pointed to the top of her desk. I leaned forward and signed my name with my finger on the smart glass. The digital file blipped out of existence after I tapped it twice with my index finger.
“I thought there would be more forms,” I said.
“We’re anxious to get you into the system,” she replied.
I stood, stretching my arms. “Can’t wait to get out of this body.”
“The assistant outside will take you where you need to go.”
I raised a hand in farewell then left the room. Memories of Gift Day morning filtered up out of the dark recesses of my mind as I anticipated going into Battle Empire full time. All my hard work would finally pay off. I thought for sure they would deny me for one reason or another.
The identical woman in the hallway led me to a bank of elevators.
“You’re on floor one-thirteen,” she said. “Enjoy your stay.”
I returned her smile as I reached out to press the elevator call-button. She turned and walked away. I couldn’t help checking out her ass as it sashayed down the hallway. My whole life I’d gone without any serious relationships because I didn’t want to be encumbered when I went into Battle Empire full time. Better to be single and have fun on the inside.
The elevator arrived, the door sliding open then closed after I stepped into the car. I hit the button for my floor then took a deep breath as I shot toward the sky. After so many double and even triple shifts, I was about to enjoy my reward, possibly for all time.
Even if they didn’t find a way to digitize me before I died, I’d enjoy a few decades of never getting old in the virtual world. The elevator stopped, and the door slid open. I stepped outside and walked to a nearby door. After putting my hand on the panel next to it, the white, metal door swung open. Inside my private room, I saw a bed with a bank of machines sitting next to it.
“Hello, Drake,” a female voice from the ceiling said. “Please lay down.”
As I walked over to the bed, a section of white wall slid open.
“Should I undress?” I asked.
Another syn-woman stepped out from her charging station.
“Yes, please,” she said. “It’s recommended.”
She stared straight at me as I got out of my clothes. Once naked, I got on the bed and rested my hands behind my head. The nameless syn-woman stepped forward then put a cap over my head. Was that the interface? So small?
“When’s the doctor coming?” I asked.
I didn’t want to stay in my mundane reality any longer than necessary. Time to go fully primal. “This is routine,” the syn-woman nurse said. “I’ll be taking care of you. Lay back and relax.”
She smiled as I took her advice. All my research had shown Lancraft Labs to be a legitimate company run by specially segregated artificial general intelligence called Lana. She also ran the entire Battle Empire game world I’d played through normal VR gear for years.
“Are you ready?” the nurse asked.
I glanced over at her and nodded, not saying a word. She stuck me in the arm for one of m
any IV drips they would use to keep me healthy while my mind played in virtual reality. The company promised I’d be able to feel everything in the game - even the sex.
Other digital game worlds existed in 2038, but I’d become addicted to the harsh realities and sexual adventures in Battle Empire. Going full-time, I’d be able to max out my character and become a leader. Unlike the so-called real-world, I had a chance for real power in the game.
“Nighty-night,” the nurse said in a soft, sweet voice.
The tiles on the ceiling scrambled. I closed my eyes to rest them for a moment. When I opened them again, I saw the familiar brick walls of my home in the city of Yusgood, one of many cities in the game. Everything felt different this time.
I stepped forward and felt the wall, sliding my right hand over the rough texture. Even with the best haptic hardware couldn’t compare with the sensation of fully immersive VR. I pulled my hand away then turned to survey my living room.
The massive bookshelves on the opposite wall were full of books and magic items. Located in the southern lands of the continent of Gardonia, Yusgood had been my home since I started playing Battle Empire, but it might not be my home for the rest of my life in the game.
Finally, after so many years. My new life is happening, I thought as I walked over to the bookshelves. Robots had taken nearly eighty percent of jobs over the last decade, so going totally digital wasn’t too uncommon, but not everyone could afford full immersion.
