“What should we toast to?” I asked.
“Beating the Warlock,” said Trinity.
“Alright then, to beating the warlock, and many more adventures to come,” I said, and we all clanged glasses.
It took Trinity about fifteen minutes to conjure up dinner, and we all sat down to eat by the fire. The vegetables had been boiled in a big pot, and the meat had been skewered and roasted above the flames. As I ate, I had to fight the urge to chuckle to myself about my epic luck.
A few days ago, I was paralyzed, now I was kicking ass in a fantasy world with two beautiful women. On top of that, three glasses of the elderberry wine had me feeling pretty lucky.
“So, where are you from, Trin?” I asked with a warm-cheeked smile.
“Did he give you a nickname as well?” Trinity asked Anna.
“No, I just like Anna better than Anastasia.”
“What’s your full name,” Sam?”
“Samson.”
“Strong name. Sounds more like a warrior name than a mage,” Trinity noted. “Anyway, I’m originally from Boston. It was either pay off my college loans or try to become rich with Rebirth Online, I chose the game. What about you?”
“I’m from Petaluma, California,” I said. “I used the money I got from my accident settlement to buy the gear myself. If I can win enough money, I’ll be able to afford the spinal surgery that I need.”
Trinity sipped her wine and glanced at Anna, then back to me. “Spinal surgery?”
“Yeah, my paralyzed body is sitting in Horizon’s underground rooms as we speak.”
“Damn,” she said. “So, you’re…”
“Hardwired into the game, yeah,” I said with a weak laugh.
“How much is the surgery?”
“About a million dollars.”
“Shit, you’d have to become king of one of the realms to make that kind of coin,” said Trinity.
“Yup,” I said. “That’s why I want you in my guild. I’m going to fight, loot, and kill my way to the top.”
“You never told me that you were trying to become a king,” said Anna as she refilled her glass.
“We’ve only really just met,” I said with a shrug. “You know way more about me than I know about you.”
Anna focused on her food, completely ignoring the bait. I glanced at Trinity and we both shrugged. We crushed a bottle of elderberry wine and refilled our glasses as the afternoon gave way to evening. There was still a lot of daylight left for grinding, but it was much more fun hanging out with the women and getting to know them better. Besides, I’d been up for a long time, and despite the healing potions and Anna’s spells, fatigue was beginning to set in.
“So why don’t you already belong to a guild?” I asked Trinity as Anna cleared the table.
“I was in one, but the leader is a douchebag, and insisted on first dibs on loot from all bosses. He dolled it out as he saw fit, and he had some favorites. Most guilds are made up of people who already know each other in the real world, or they’re corporate teams.”
“How many were in your old guild?”
“Nine,” she said. “We did some cool shit, cleared a couple level 10 dungeons when we were only level 7s, but in the end I decided that I’d be better off on my own.”
“Sounds like you, Anna,” I noted.
“Yeah,” she said, offering Trinity a friendly smile for the first time. “The guild I was in had a dickweed for a leader as well. But so far Sam has been a real sweetheart.”
“I bet,” said Trinity as she slowly brought her glass to her lips. “So... about this power of yours. Is this just a lame attempt to have a threesome, or are you telling the honest to god truth?”
“I’m telling the truth,” I assured her. “And I hadn’t thought of having a threesome.”
“You haven’t?” said Trinity, sounding surprised as she glanced at Anna with an arched brow. “Why not? Ohhh, are you gay? I mean, it’s totally cool if you are.”
“What? No, I prefer women. I just didn’t come here to get laid, and I have enough respect for you both to not have those kinds of thoughts.”
“Alright,” said Anna with a slow roll of her eyes. “Now you’re full of shit.”
“Maybe a little,” I laughed.
Trinity refilled our glasses, and I noticed that we had gone through another bottle.
“Well, if your special power is real, we’re going to level very, very fast,” said Trinity, eyeing me like I was desert.
I glanced at Anna, wondering if she was jealous, but she was half asleep with her chin resting on her propped-up palms, smiling drunkenly.
“Only one way to find out,” Anna suddenly blurted. “I should try first, I was the one that found him after all.”
“Found him?” said Trinity.
“Yeah,” I perked up. “I was kind of killed by Mad Morgan. Anna here nursed me back to health.”
“And I cleaned your wounds and mended your clothes. I gotta admit,” she said with a hiccup. “You’ve got a hell of a body.”
“He does?” said Trinity with intrigue.
“Mnnn,” Anna hummed. “And he’s got a really nice—”
Before she could finish she fell right off the stool and hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.
“Whoa!” I said, moving quickly to help her. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
“So strong and handsome,” she said as she pet my arm. Then she grabbed my neck, pulled me forward, and planted a big kiss on my lips.
She was out by the time I laid her on the bed. Trinity helped me get Anna’s boots and robe off, and we covered her up with a thick blanket.
“How about we take this party outside?” Trinity whispered and held up a bottle of wine.
I offered her a nod, and we snuck out of the cottage like thieves in the night. The sun was just setting, and a hill about two hundred feet away looked like it would offer a good view.
“Uh, hold on,” I said as I rushed back to the cabin and retrieved a blanket from the foot of the bed. Anna was snoring softly, so I closed the door quietly and escorted Trinity up to the top of the earthen mound.
The view from the hill was impressive, but I didn’t have much time to enjoy it before Trinity pushed me down on the blanket and offered me a much better vista. She pulled her bra up in the front slowly, and my anticipation grew as her areola peeked into view. The tension became too much for the fabric to hold back, and her perky breasts bounced into view. She cupped her giant melons, turned coyly around to offer me a better glimpse of her perfect ass, and slowly peeled off her lace panties. I gulped, waiting to catch sight of her womanhood, but the setting sun suddenly shone from between her thighs, temporarily blinding me.
Then I was on my back, and Trinity’s skilled hands snaked between my robes, down the front of my trousers, and squeezed me tight.
“Ohhh,” she said happily. “Well you’re full of surprises, aren’t you, Samson?”
“You betcha,” I said with a sly grin, and Trinity surprised me further by taking me in her mouth.
A half hour later we both lay there on the blanket basking in the afterglow of our rigorous lovemaking, and a big LEVEL 10 appeared in the air in front of me.
“Holy F-ing shit,” Trinity suddenly yelled. “It worked!”
“Holy F-ing shit is right,” I said, and we both laughed our asses off.
Trinity kissed me about a hundred times on the lips and face and laughed giddily.
“This is amazing,” she said as she straddled me. “This means that if we screw a few dozen more times we’ll be the highest level players in the game!”
A big smile spread across my face as I imagined literally grinding my way to the top.
“Can we do it again right now?” Trinity asked as she took me in her hand and bit her bottom lip.
I was about to say yes, and tapped my interface to make sure, but then the three most terrible words I have ever read flashed across my field of view.
Twelve-hour cooldow
n.
“Oh, shit,” I said aloud.
“What’s wrong?” Trinity asked.
“My special skill has a friggin twelve hour cooldown.”
“Shit, no way,” she complained.
“Yup, looks that way,” I said, glancing down at my flaccid piece.
“Well,” Trinity said with a wink. “There’s always tomorrow.”
When we returned to the cottage, Trinity slept in the bed with a snoring Anna, and I took the floor by the fire. I’d had a hell of a long day, and I fell asleep about 10 seconds after my head hit the pillow...
“How was your first day?” came the voice of Dr. Marks into my dreams.
I found myself in the middle of a white room, and the good doctor was standing in front of me in his hospital whites, which made his head and clasped hands look like they were floating in nothingness.
“It was pretty awesome,” I said. “Uh, Doc, is this real?”
He tapped something on his tablet and glanced up at me with a smile.
“Yup, it’s real. I figured accessing your dreams would be less jarring than showing up in the game world and ruining the illusion. I see that you have used your special power,” he said with a smirk.
“Uhhh,” I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah, but how did you...can you guys watch the game? Shit, of course you can.”
“Yes, we can, and we do, but not during such intimate times as the one you shared with Trinity on the hill at sunset.” My face must have dropped, because he laughed affably. “Maybe next time find somewhere more private. I mean, we weren’t trying to spy, you two were just, like, out there.”
“Yeah, alright, I get it.”
“Don’t worry Sam. Your privacy is important to us,” Dr. Marks tried to assure me. “I see that you have also already died, and the gold that you bought as part of your extra package was stolen?” He glanced up from his tablet with a concerned look.
“Yeah, that. Just a little screw up. Hey doc, why are you so interested in my gaming experience?”
“We just want to make sure you are having a good time.”
“Right,” I said, but something else was nagging at me. “Doc, did you, uh, give me that special ability on purpose?”
He shrugged, and the white room began to fade to black.
“Talk to you soon, Sam,” said the doctor with a wave. “Have fun.”
The last thing I saw was him winking at me, then the smell of bacon roused me from sleep.
I jerked awake and sat up, confused.
“Morning sleepyhead,” said Trinity from the kitchen. “You hungry?”
“Yeah, thanks.” I glanced around. “Where’s Anna?”
I was worried that she had found out about me and Trinity having sex. Of course, it wasn’t like we were a thing, I just didn’t want to do anything to risk losing a guild member. We had done so well together.
“She’s out picking apothecary supplies. What skills did you chose?”
“I haven’t picked any professions,” I admitted. “This is only my second day.”
Trinity turned and gave me a confused look.
“I paid to enter at level 10,” I elaborated as I tapped on the level 10 robes in my inventory.
“Why?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’m starting to think it was a waste of money.”
“Especially given your special ability,” she said alluringly.
Just then Anna returned with a basket of herbs and a bright smile on her face. She glanced at me as she entered and offered a knowing smirk.
“So,” she said as she closed the door behind her. “Trin here tells me that your special skill is no bullshit.”
“Yup,” I said with a faux-cocky nod. “It works.”
“But there’s a twelve hour cooldown?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s the downside I guess.”
“Hmm,” she said as she entered the room and put her basket down on the table. “What time would you say you will be...up for it again?”
“That’s a good question,” I said, and tapped on the special ability icon on my interface. “Forty minutes to go.”
“Good, I want the next go at you.”
“Hah,” I said shaking my head. “What do you two think I am, your super leveling love slave?”
Trinity and Anna shared a glance, let a moment pass, then in unison said, “Uh, yeah!”
“We figure that with your special skill, we can both get to level thirty or so by the time you are a 50,” said Trinity. “But that will pose some issues. We need to stay relatively the same level so that we can quest together.”
“Ah, I see,” I said, and began pacing around the cottage and rubbing my chin like Sherlock Holmes about to unravel a mystery for a crowd of anxious onlookers. “So now that you know I’ve got...the magic stick, you want to level with me to the top, is that it?”
“That’s not fair,” said Anna. “I joined you before I knew about your...you know, leveling wand.”
“So did I,” said Trinity.
“You weren’t even going to come with us until you heard about his power,” said Anna.
“Ladies, ladies,” I said, hands up. “No need to fight over me—”
“Oh, GOD!” said Anna, turning from me with disgust. “Don’t get too full of yourself, Loverboy.”
“Hey, that’s my nickname for him,” said Trinity.
We ate a breakfast of bacon and robin eggs that Anna had found in a tree during her herb picking, and when we were done, Trinity said that she had log off for a little bit her body in the real world.
The silence was deafening once she disappeared. Anna was instantly blushing, and I wondered if she had just been joking about wanting “A go.”
“Anna, I don’t expect you to—”
She silenced me by suddenly leaning across the table and kissing me on the lips. Her mouth tasted like bacon, and I must say that it was quite the turn on. The kissing became more urgent with every passing heartbeat, and we ripped each other’s clothes off on the way to the bed.
I emerged from the cabin twenty-five minutes later as a level 11 with a big smile on my face.
It was going to be a good day, I could just feel it.
Chapter 7
“I see you’re now level 11,” Trinity noted as she walked back to the cabin with a sly grin on her face.
“Yup,” I said with a nice stretch. “And I’ve unlocked a new spell, Scorched Earth. We should get to the nearest town. You two must have some new skills too.”
“Yeah, last night you helped me unlock Primal Scream. I can’t wait to use it,” she said happily.
Anna suddenly burst from the cottage. “It worked!” she sang. “This is so cool! Come on, we’ve got to get to town. We need to see our trainers and sell our loot. And you should get a bank vault, Sam. You don’t want to lose all your loot again like you did against Mad Morgan.”
“That’s a good idea,” I admitted.
We locked up the cabin and Anna put an enchantment on the place that she said would keep most NPCs out, but it probably wouldn’t stop human players from finding it. That didn’t matter though, we would soon need to move on to a higher zone, which was just fine by me. I was excited to explore more of the world.
I was even more excited by my special ability, and I was frankly amazed that the teams who created the game would add such a thing. Even with the twelve hour cooldown, I would be able to surpass the highest level player in a few weeks. But of course, there was the problem of staying on the same playing field with my girls.
My girls…
I watched them talking as I trailed behind and I couldn’t help but smile. My first day had started out pretty rough, but it had ended phenomenally. Not only had I had sex with two beautiful women, but I had gained two levels doing so. I had no idea how this whole love triangle was going to pan out, but I was a happy man. I had friends, a rocking little guild, and spells to learn.
What else is there in life?
W
e reached Riverton fifteen minutes later, and I marveled at the amazing little village. Riverton looked like something right out of a Thomas Kinkade painting. There were dozens of cottages gracing the outskirts of the village, and within the tall wooden walls there sat one- and two-story wattle and daub buildings. High up on the tallest hill there sat a small castle, and the steeples of several churches sprang up over the tops of all other buildings. A thick, square building the color of starburst lit the northern edge of town, and from it dragons came and went. Out on the water dozens were dozens of fishing vessels, and others belonging to the nearby NPC king’s navy.
The sight of the boats reminded me of one of the terms of the game that had leaked into the chat circles: Any player who deposes a sitting king can take his place.
Sounds great, right?
The only problem was that all kings were level 100 and higher...much higher.
“Ground control to Major Wood…” said Trinity out of the corner of her mouth.
I snapped out of my daydreams of grandeur and read the sign in front of me.
Welcome to Riverton
Neutral Ground
Levels 10+
“Halt!” said one of the NPC knights standing guard by the wooden gate.
We all stopped a few feet from the gate and waited as the two armed men slowly swaggered over to us.
“You three are over level ten,” said the first knight, a man with a huge red, curling mustache. “You’re welcome in Riverton, as long as you don’t go starting no trouble.”
The other knight’s beady eyes moved over the women from behind a full-faced helmet.
“Do we look like we’re here to start trouble?” I asked.
“It’s just a warning that’s given to all visitors over level 10,” the beady-eyed knight piped in. “Save your heroism for the dungeons.”
“We’ll behave, we promise,” Anna said pleasantly, and pushed me gently past the knights.
I took about five steps past the gates and stopped to admire the medieval village some more. To my surprise, there were way more real-world players than I had thought there would be. Most of them had enchantments that left me blind to their names and their stats, but when I glanced at them, my interface confirmed that they were real players. If not for the interface, I would have had a hard time telling the difference.
Rebirth Online Page 6
