The Cheater's Return

by Brian McGoldrick

  Patrick's snort might have passed for a sound that could be called a half-laugh. "We have more than sixty years of history between us in Primacy V , and it's not all good. That might not be much to a cryogenic immortal like you, but for me, it's enough to have given me tenth and twentieth thoughts."

  Morgan's faint smile did not change, but in her eyes, for a moment, soul-deep sadness and loneliness could be seen. "Being a cryogenic immortal that roams through the worlds of Primacy Online for millennia after millennia is not quite what you think it is. After the first few hundred years, your life becomes an eternal present, and the past…the past becomes a fading dream that you barely manage to cling to. I have many followers, but there have been few capable of standing at my side or as my enemy. Though it has only been sixty years since you left the game, I have missed you, Crom Cruach."

  For each day in the real world, 12.7 days passed within worlds of Primacy Online . People like Morgan Danan, who kept their bodies in cryogenic suspension and uploaded their minds into game sheathes were few in relation to the huge number of players, and those that did so had little in the way of family and friends to tie them to the real world. Most of the cryogenic immortals were a part of the clergy of the Church of the Resurrection, members of the security forces of the governments of the city-states, or employed by large corporations.

  As Patrick held up his hands and stared at them, his vicious smile revealed the bitter anger and frustration that was kept locked within his heart. "It's only been five years for me, but even if it is only five years trapped in this degenerating body, it feels more like an eternity."

  Morgan rose to her feet and clasped both of Patrick's hands with her own. "Can you no longer feel the slightest warmth from my touch?"

  "Other than my chest and head, I no longer have any feeling in my body, but when you can't feel pain, it's possible to achieve superhuman feats of strength and speed."

  Morgan smiled warmly. "Soon. Very soon. You will be a whole man again."

  Patrick laughed without bitterness. "Even though it's just for the duration of World War IX, I'm going to enjoy having a body that can feel, an entirely functional body. I'm going to push it to the limits. I'm going to live life on the edge. I'm going to be like a God."

  Morgan returned to her seat on the couch and patted the cushion next to herself. "Come, sit."

  Patrick sat down gingerly, and when the frame of the couch did not give beneath his weight, he smiled. "Good couch."

  An amused light entered Morgan's eyes. "Did you watch the trailer for Primacy Online VI ?"

  Patrick's smile faded, and his expression turned somber. "Yeah. That's one huge ass continent, and those light curtains look like wards of some kind. This world looks seriously screwed up compared to the previous versions of Primacy Online ."

  Morgan nodded. "They are wards, and the quests to open them are tied to rank advancement within the game. From Rank 1 to Rank 9, each time the first sheathe advances to the new rank, a new storyline quest will open up to bring down one of the wards. Once all nine wards are down, the Tower of Balor will become accessible. The armistice condition for World War IX is to claim the Eye of Balor from the top of the tower."

  Patrick's eyes opened wide. "That's insane. Assuming the mechanics of the game are the same as the previous Primacy Online games, no one has ever reached Rank 9. Hell, no one has ever gotten past Rank 6. This war could last forever."

  Morgan smiled. "You were on the verge of being able to advance to Rank 7. That is the real reason that you were perma-banned."

  With a mixture of confusion and anger churning within him, Patrick narrowed his eyes. "Those fucks in the Church banned me for doing what you're supposed to do in the game?"

  With a wry expression, Morgan touched Patrick's fat cheek with the tips of her fingers. "You are too good at the game, and you are not one of the true believers. The Church feared you. The most advanced players in the game have always been part of the Church, and anyone that threatened their preeminence has always been banned. Because none of the Church knights or clergy could rise past Rank 6, you having that ability was the greatest threat possible.

  "Most of the other perma-banned cheaters are similar to you. They either advanced too quickly, or they rose too high."

  Patrick's anger gave way to complete confusion. "That doesn't make any fucking sense. I don't understand."

  "Primacy Online is far more important to the Church than you would ever imagine. Once we are back in the game, I will be able to show you things that will allow you to understand. Will you trust me that much?"

  Patrick's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and he stared into Morgan's pale grey eyes. "You always have more schemes than I can count. I'll go along with you for now, but if you try to fuck me, I'll make you wish you had never met me."

  Morgan smiled, but she could not hide the bitterness in her eyes. "I cannot simply live how I would wish. I am the Speaker of Mann. I am responsible for more than just myself."

  For a time, neither Patrick nor Morgan spoke. Both were lost in their own thoughts, and neither knew what the other was thinking.

  When Morgan looked toward a clock in the front wall of the compartment, Patrick's eyes followed her gaze and saw a time of 23:51.

  Morgan sighed. "It is almost time. Do you understand the rules of World War IX?"

  Patrick shrugged. "More or less. Most things have weighted achievement point values attached to them, and the city-state with the most cumulative achievement points at the time of the armistice wins."

  As an amused smile lit up her face, Morgan laughed. "That is probably the most simplistic way to describe it, but only the achievement points accumulated by War Mode players while they are in War Mode are converted to Victory Points. Anyone, who volunteers at a later date, will only earn Victory Points after they volunteer. There are several victory conditions. The cumulative rankings are the most important to the city-states, but the individual players will be after the individual rankings and the overall winner's achievement. The rewards from those will allow them to lives of luxury."

  "I couldn't care less. There is no after for me."

  Morgan's smile disappeared. "No. There is no after for you. The backlash when you exit the cryogenic capsule will most likely kill you, and if by some miracle it does not, your Thompson's Syndrome will be severely aggravated. You will advance to Stage VI in a very short time, a matter of days at most."

  "Since I'm fighting under the banner of the City of Mann, does that mean you want me to top the individual rankings?"

  Morgan shook her head. "No. I want you to win the game and claim the Eye of Balor."

  Patrick grinned. "Kicking everyone's ass and proving I'm the best, I like that idea."

  Morgan smiled, sadly. "I would expect nothing less from Crom Cruach.

  Patrick's grin faded. "What about my mother and sister?"

  "Everything is moving smoothly. We manipulated the genetic records to make Kelly's father a Citizen of Mann and used that as an excuse for researching her academic capabilities. She is willing to grasp any straw that will take her and her mother out of a life of poverty."

  Dark anger filled the depths of Patrick's eyes. "When the Church banned me, they confiscated everything, including the trust funds I set up for Kelly and mom."

  Morgan's eyes revealed a cold anger of their own. "You may not be able to get to the Patriarch, but you can take your anger out on the Holy Crusaders. They will be forced to play in War Mode to accumulate Victory Points for World War IX."

  The anger in Patrick's eyes was replaced with a burning malice that would have chilled the soul of almost anyone that saw him. "I like that. I'll make them suffer."

  "Have you already created your new sheathe?"

  Patrick shook his head. "No."

  Morgan rose her feet. "Come, your capsule awaits."

  As Morgan opened the door in the back wall of the cabin, two quantum connection capsules were revealed. One had standard dimension, but the other was near
ly twice as wide and 50cm longer than the first.

  "Ha! One size extra-fat capsule. You sure know how to take care of a fat-ass like me." As he opened the larger capsule, Patrick chuckled happily.

  "You should have never let yourself get so fat."

  "If I work out, I put on muscle and fat. If I go on a starvation, 1000 calorie a day diet, I still put on fat. I don't get it, and my doctor can't understand it any better than me. Besides being a fat pig has its advantages. Since I've always been fat, almost everyone underestimated me." Patrick shrugged and slapped his huge gut with both hands.

  An amused smile turned up the corners Morgan's mouth. "No one at the underground fight club seemed to underestimate you. You were a hero to them."

  "If I lost even one fight, it would have all changed."

  Patrick climbed into the capsule and lay down. "So nice and comfy."

  "These capsules have the same connectivity levels as high-grade fluffing capsules, but they will connect to normal sheathes. There will be very limited consciousness connectivity degradation from using one." Morgan climbed into her own capsule.

  "Once you create your sheathe, choose the Dead Islands as your starting point. I will find you there."

  After the lid on Morgan's capsule closed, Patrick closed his own, and an array of status displays appeared on the inside of the lid. Centered in his view, a white 'READY' glowed brightly inside a slightly dimmer green box.

  "Initiate connection."

  Quantum connection initiated. The words formed directly inside of Patrick's mind, and his vision went black.

  Over what felt to Patrick like a twenty to thirty second time span, a starry expanse slowly replaced the blackness, and a roughly hundred-meter diameter island of bare stone appeared. A circle of upright stones with lintels on top formed a border on the edge of the island.

  "Do you wish to create a sheathe?" The words seemed to have a hollow echo, as though the sound was rebounding from the walls of a huge cavern.

  Despite not being able to feel any semblance of a physical body, Patrick could clearly hear the voice of what he assumed was a computer program and the susurrus of a wind that he could not feel.

  "Yes."

  "Examining controller consciousness to determine base physical and mental specifications."

  After a few seconds pause, the voice changed to a more mechanical sounding tone. "Name. Locked to Crom Cruach."

  "Race. Locked to Half-Giant."

  What the fuck? Anger flooded Patrick's consciousness. He did not understand what was happening. The character creation region looked the same as Primacy Online V , but even in the few accounts of earlier World Wars that he had read, there had never been any reports of someone having their name and race preset.

  "Please choose base sheathe Archetype. Choices are: Fighter, Arcane Caster, Divine Caster, Rogue, and Specialist."

  "Fighter."

  "Final adjustments to the sheathe are currently being enacted."

  After what felt like almost a minute with no further information from the program, Patrick grew angry. "Hey? Computer? Computer? Are you there? What the hell is going on?"

  While Patrick continued to shout louder and louder, there was no response for what seemed to be several minutes, then a massive naked male form appeared in the center of the island. Like Patrick's real body this one was grossly overweight.

  "Adjustments complete. Do you wish to modify the sheathe's appearance?"

  "Yes." The poorly enunciated word sounded more like a growl than anything.

  A translucent menu with a variety of sliders appeared in front of Patrick's point of view. All but one of the sliders had the image of a closed gold lock over it. Even though Patrick could not perceive any form of a body, he tried to touch the sliders, and a ding sounded for each one that was locked.

  The only unlocked slider had no label and was three-quarters of the way to the right side. The left side of the slider had a value of 0%, and the right had a value of 100%. Patrick tried moving the slider, and the amount of fat on the body on the island changed. After setting the slider to 2%, he examined the sheathe.

  From what Patrick could remember, the face was almost an exact duplicate of his sheathe from Primacy Online V , but the body was a fair bit different. It was heavily built, but the proportions of height to the breadth of the shoulders and waist were off for a human. Overall, the body was too wide in proportion to its height, and the waist was definitely too thick, being nearly as wide as the shoulders. Patrick was still angry that he was unable to customize the sheathe further, but he still liked the thick, heavy build, and the overdeveloped musculature. It appealed to him on a primal level.

  "I'm finished."

  "Do you wish to examine your character sheet?"

  "Yes."

  A translucent character sheet replaced the mostly locked customization menu.

  Crom Cruach

  Half-Giant : Neophyte

  Fighter : Level 1

  HP: 121/121

  MP: 67/67

  Basic Attributes

  » Strength: 42

  » Agility: 11

  » Toughness: 42

  » Reason: 12

  » Perception: 12

  » Willpower: 20

  Hidden Attributes

  » ???

  Derived Attributes

  » Physical Attack Bonus: 4

  » Magic Attack Bonus: 2

  » Physical Damage Bonus: 11

  » Magical Damage Bonus: 2

  Talents:

  ???

  Abilities:

  Identify Monster (Active)

  Skills:

  Basic Melee Weapons; Martial Melee Weapons; Basic Ranged Weapons; Martial Ranged Weapons; Armor Proficiency: Cloth, Light, Medium, Heavy

  System Assist Mode: On

  Patrick stared at his character sheet in surprise. The values of nearly all of his basic attributes were above what they should be, or at least, they were above what they should be for Primacy Online V . Even though it had never happened in the past, it was entirely possible that Primacy Online VI had made changes to the basic attributes of the character sheathes.

  There were a number of highlighted words on the character sheet, and each time Patrick tapped one, it would open up a context window with expanded information.

  The '???' under certain entries was not something that Patrick had seen when he created his character sheathe for Primacy Online V . At creation, all of those sections had a clear 'None.' for the entry.

  After checking a few of the highlighted entries, Patrick saw nothing that surprised him, and he tapped the 'System Assist Mode' field.

  System Assist Mode

  » The QCP offers combat and spellcasting assistance to players. Do you wish to disable the System Assist Mode? ( Yes / No )

  Patrick selected the 'Yes' option and checked his character sheet.

  System Assist Mode : Off

  "I'm finished."

  "Please choose a starting zone from the highlighted sections of the map."

  A map of the continent of Toraigh appeared, and the highlighted sections were the thousands of islands surrounding the eastern tip of the continent.

  "Dead Islands."

  "Dead Islands is classified as a Level 1-10 Extermination Zone. Are you sure?"

  Patrick felt a moment of shock. In Primacy Online V , an Extermination Zone contained monsters with attributes that were on average 6x or greater than the standard values for their Level and Rank.

  "Yes."

  "Downloading Controller Consciousness to Character Sheathe, now. Please, enjoy your gaming experience."

  A New Start

  Dead Islands, Toraigh

  First Month 1, 10 RC

  "HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" My wild laughter rings out in the nighttime sky. I can feel the cold wind on my hands. I can feel the coarse cloth of my shirt and pants against my arms and legs. I can feel the ill-fitting boots pinching my feet. I am not trapped in a decaying husk!

  "I CAN F
EEL!" My shout echoes in the darkness.

  Well, it is not exactly dark, for me. It would be more accurate to call it dimness. One of the racial abilities of a Half-Giant is Night Vision , which is pretty much equivalent to a complete darkness vision. With Night Vision , the world around me is only visible in an odd greyscale, but it is still clearly visible.

  I am in the center of a very small and rundown village. With the ramshackle huts and eight cabins having been built in seemingly randomly chosen locations, there is an open area that is sort of the center of the village. Muddy paths wend their way between the huts, but there is nothing that could be called a real road. This is the kind of shithole that really cannot even qualify as a starter village.

  Looking around, I see fearful eyes peeking out at me from most of the dilapidated huts, but none of the owners of those eyes have the courage to come outside.

  Opening up the game map, everything outside of maybe five hundred feet around my current position is nothing but dark grey clouds. The village does not even have a name on the map. The label for it on the map just says 'Village' and nothing else.

  When all else fails, cheat!

  In all honesty, all else has not failed. I have not bothered trying anything else, but I need to know if the ultimate cheat still works.

  After I take a few deep breaths, I empty the air from my lung and close my eyes. While not breathing, I try to impair my thought process. When I tripped across this I had been smacked in the head by an animated suit of armor, while not wearing a helmet, and I was groggy as hell. Luckily, I have been hit in the head enough times to remember the feeling, but actually making myself feel dazed is not easy to do.

  Half-Giant bodies are just too damn tough. It takes me almost three minutes of not breathing to start getting dizzy, but finally, my vision starts to blur. As I start to sway back and forth, a gold-tinged web of black strands becomes visible in the world around me. Yes! Primacy Online VI really does appear to operate by the same rules as Primacy Online V . My cheat still works! I can see the strands of energy that make up the QCP, the Quantum Control Program.