Magical After: Dark World Book 1 Part 1

by David Gunter

  David lowered himself into the hole and then proceeded to enter through the smaller hole the men had added to the wall of the first basement floor. He stood up on the other side of the hole and shook off some of the mud and water which he’d acquired in the act. He then made his way deeper into the basement and followed the voices in the distance. He was casually approaching when he heard the three travelers arguing about something, and he slowed his steps and proceeded quietly. Then he started to pick up the heated conversation.

  “Look sweet-n-sour; I’m telling ya that whatever is going on here, this David guy is going to be the key to a motherload of progression in this game.” Then another responded.

  “Damn man! If we stick it out with one project after the next, we are just going to waste a bunch of time, and nothing’s going to come of it”. That last statement sounded like RamenBaby, and David couldn’t help but feel upset that the man was devaluing his person and his proposal.

  Another man answered, which David recognized as WhoDadi5O. “You idiots need to listen to me. I’m telling you that a friend of mine found a powerful item and after that happened he suddenly found that he had the ability to hand out quests to others in his party. I’m telling you that this David character may very well be a player just like us that found a powerful item.”

  The other man that David assumed must be TwerkinJerkin said, “Dude, what I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t this or that. Whatever he is, he’s got something that could launch us to a whole other level, and we should find out what it is and see about taking the lion’s share. If that means we need to keep everybody away so we can collect all the rep for ourselves, or if we need to take it from him and collect the lion’s share instead, we should do what it takes.”

  “Na man, “WhoDadi5O interrupted, “I don’t think that’s how this thing works. My buddy said that when he got the dagger from that other player, nothing happened, and it only performed for the player that had found it. He had to find a dagger of his own before it did anything for him. I promise you guys that if we stick it out, the rewards are only going to get better. I’m not sure that keeping his questline secret is going to work like you think since each task is just going to get harder and harder until we have to face some impossibly hard monster and get creamed cuz we didn’t bring in the right group.”

  The other men stayed quiet as if thinking through the prospect of bringing in others. David thought it might be a good time to make his presence known, but then one of the group spoke. It was RamenBaby. “OK, if we bring in others from the guild, let’s bring in one of the rogues and one of the casters. With that, it makes you as the main tank, Twerky as the second tank, a long-range, a decent crit toon, and myself as heals.”

  David heard the assent from all the three and then put in some louder footsteps as he made towards the room he’d heard the voices coming from. One of the three shushed the others, and then RamenBaby appeared in the doorway and, at seeing David approaching so near, gave out a small cough and spoke a little too quickly.

  “Oh hey boss, [cough], I mean David sir! We were just checking out the spot where all the water is coming from for ya?”.

  “Oh ya?” David responded and then walked past RamenBaby into the room the other two men were standing in.

  “Yes, sir!” Added TwerkinJerkin, and he pointed at the obviously broken pipe which was spewing out water without an end in sight.

  “Well, guys, we’re in luck. It so happens that two of the pipes I created earlier, and which Sir Francis is now looking over, are a perfect fit for the job at hand. I’m going to ask Twerky and sweet-n-sour to head over to Sir Francis and collect the pipes and any tools I provided him earlier.”

  The three men stayed quiet for a moment, and when David saw that the two men he’d called out for the task weren’t moving, he turned to them and said, “Y’all just going to stand their jerkin each other off or are we going to get this shitty work done so we can move on to bigger and badder monsters?” TwerkinJerkin and RamenBaby realized he was expecting a little more action, and they headed out of the room quickly and on the way to what, David hoped, was the city planner’s desk to collect the items he’d asked for.

  Once the two were no longer within range, WhoDadi5O broke the silence. “Awe shit! Man, you heard that whole conversation?”

  David, let out a sigh and fixed the other man with his best and most disappointed look. “Well, at least killing me and trying to take whatever item you think I have is off the table, I hope?”

  “Oh damn, well, you have to understand there are a lot of players coming over from all kinds of shitty MMOs, and low-level shit like this job isn’t going to inspire a lot of trusts or stimulate a lot of long-term thinking.” WhoDadi5O offered as an explanation.

  David shook his head and addressed the man with his most serious voice. “5O I spent the entire afternoon making connections with the blacksmith shop and then with the entire Imperial Court including the Emperor himself. I wasn’t kidding when I said that if you guys take the tasks, I’m offering seriously, it’s going to take us places. If you think five travelers is all we need to rebuild this kingdom’s infrastructure and build it up to a kingdom to be reckoned with, you are gravely mistaken. But I tell you what, if you want, I’ll give you the especially rewarding jobs if you bring the numbers when we need them. Does that sound good to you?”

  WhoDadi5O looked surprised and saw the opportunity he’d just been offered. Then suddenly, the man straightened, and his gaze went into the familiar blank stare David was now comfortably associating with the quest screen time.

  Then the man exclaimed, “Holy smokes! Dude, you’ve made me a fellow quest giver! This is crazy!”

  David didn’t know what the other man was talking about as he’d never seen any of the screens the player was referring to. “What did you get?” David asked the other.

  “Well, man, you just gave me three quests. The first quest is called ‘Keep it secret, keep it safe.’ That quest says that I need to keep the secret of your larger plan from others. Then I got another guest called ‘Bring the numbers.’ This quest says that I need to find the required number of players for tasks that require the numbers. The final quest is called ‘Bring the heat, and this one just says I need to bring the right group for the most challenging tasks and ensure you remain safe through whatever comes. The rewards are massive, man!”

  “Oh ya?” David added, only a little interested. The enthusiasm in the other man, though, made him interested enough to know.

  “Ya! The first quest will give me over 150K XP and 2000 reputation with you. The second quest will give me 100K XP and 1200 rep with you. The last one will give me a whopping 1Mill XP and 5K rep with you. That’s incredible, and the XP alone will likely bring me into the upper twenties without counting any XP we get from monsters and other side quests. Then the reputation you’re offering may lead to better gear and other quests down the road since, as you’ve mentioned, you’ve gotten into the cities good favor or soon will. The crazy thing is that I can now hand out quests to other players.”

  David really wasn’t that interested in much of it, but he decided to feed the other man’s flame just a little more and simply said, “Oh ya?” With just enough simulated interest.

  The other man barely waited for the go-ahead to explain further. “So get this! I can give other players a quest called ‘Join the party’ for 100 XP per hour to a maximum of 1000 XP per day. It’s repeatable, so I just need to ensure we have the right numbers and we can get an entire day’s worth of work done as effectively as possible. Then I have another quest called ‘Bring your knife to the gunfight,’ which is also repeatable and which is available for up to six other players. The guest rewards players who join with 5K XP and will increase with the difficulty of the challenge.”

  “Dude! I told those other idiots you were worth our time. But how the hell are you able to offer these ki
nds of rewards! Oh, maybe you shouldn’t tell me as that’s just one more thing I’d have to keep secret, but screw it, I just have to know.” WhoDadi5O just stared expectantly and with such open admiration that he seemed to hardly breathe from the anticipation.

  “Well,” David began, “I’m not exactly sure how this is happening except that I’ve run into a few strange things on my way here, and perhaps any number of them could be the cause. The most plausible reason behind all this is probably not even related to any of these occurrences, though. Well, here goes, what I’m going to tell you should probably remain a secret, OK?” David fixed WhoDadi5O with his most serious expression to date. The other man, however, didn’t waver and simply stared at him.

  “Oh boy! Here goes, my wife, Hellen, created this whole game, and even though she died a few years ago, in the real world, we believe she may have copied herself into the game, and I believe she may be more involved with the system than anyone suspected.”

  If the other man had been impressed before, the shock and stunned look the other man offered was now what some might call ‘legendary.’

  “Wait!.. What..! Did you just say your wife created this whole game, like in the real world! I mean, I know you just said that, but what the…” the man just took a few steps back and leaned up against the damp, wet wall and stared down at his feet, which were under half a foot of water.

  Then he spoke again, and when he did so, this time, it was in a completely calm and calculating tone. “So I go and accept a quest that states that I must keep all your secrets, and then you reveal the biggest secret since game launch? Well done, Sir, well done.”

  With that, the man seemed to space out for a bit and looked to be searching for something that had eluded him thus far. Then he awoke from the trance and asked. “Now, hold on! Is your wife Hellen Gosling? There was a special last week that featured the people behind the game, and they mentioned her name in a special spot of the credits. I didn’t watch the whole thing, but my buddy said one of the engineers started rambling on and on about her during the interview part of the cast. I guess I’ll have to watch the whole thing the next chance I get. So she’s alive in the game?”

  David saw that if he didn’t steer the conversation at this point, the man was simply going to ramble on indefinitely. “Well, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much. I was told this as more of a possibility than a certainty. That said, I have experienced a few things that make me think it could be true. I think she tried to speak to me as I entered the VR world, and I can’t explain it, but things have just been going a bit too well for me. I have started to feel like she could show up at any time.”

  “Anyway,” David changed the subject, “whatever happens with that, there is still lots to do while I wait for a miracle. If this quest-giving thing is such a big deal, I am going to suggest that we both keep it among people we can trust, at least until we can surround ourselves with enough like-minded people. We wouldn’t want a mutiny showing up while we’re trying to do all this work.”

  David fixed the other man with a look which also conveyed a question. The question he tried to convey was, ‘Can I trust you now that you’re on the other side, or do I need to watch my back?’ It took the other man a bit to catch the look and realize how bad things had been before, but he offered a decent response when he spoke next.

  “Oh, man! Ya, we’re good. Don’t worry about the other guys. We’re always trying to figure out the best angle to beat anything that comes up, and we really were just looking at how to win against these game mechanics, well, what we thought were the game mechanics. I think I still need to bring in a few of the leaders of the guild and see what they would suggest for handling all the reputation and available XP that working with you represents, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they decided to make you a part of our guild and give you all the support you needed. At least that’s what I would do.”

  “Your guild? Is that like a gaming cult or something?” David interjected with an honest question.

  WhoDadi5O just looked at him and suddenly gave David one more in a long line of astonished looks.

  “Now, hold on! Are you about to tell me that you’re not even a gamer? Oh shit! Dude, now it all makes sense. You’ve just been doing all this role-playing so well I just assumed you were a hard-core gamer. That’s not you at all, is it! You’re just here looking for your wife, and all this stuff you’re doing is just who you are in real life.” At this last statement, WhoDadi5O just put his head in his hands and seemed to be working out all the things about their encounter that had been completely misunderstood. After a few moments, he realized David was still waiting for an answer.

  “Man, a guild isn’t a cult or nothin like that. It’s really just a bunch of guys and girls that get together to get through a game. Some games make joining a guild almost a requirement because the challenges are just so hard, and the amount of research time for a single person is so monumental. We do have leadership and scheduled events, but that’s because it takes resources and planning to go into a castle full of monsters and come out alive. A lot of games also reward groups for the effort it takes to get big monsters down by increased rewards and dropping extra powerful items. That said, this game feels a little different than all the others, though. It feels like having individuals like yourself is the key to making it big. Maybe exploring and getting to know NPCs in this world can get individuals quite far. At some point, I suspect, one of your quests is going to lead us to some great big boss fight too. I’d count on it. Can I offer some advice?”

  David was more than eager to get any amount of information he could, so he answered quickly. “Yes! I could really use some or any insights you have!”.

  WhoDadi5O’s visibly relaxed and nodded with approval. “Great! So listen to what is going on around you, oh, and watch for subtle things. There are bound to be hundreds of side quests and alliances among the people that you meet. Don’t commit too strongly to one cause or another without noting any alternate paths.” As WhoDadi5O was still speaking, RamenBaby and TwerkinJerkin showed up at the doorway and, seeing the other two men were talking about something strategy-related, just stayed quiet. WhoDadi5O saw the two travelers but motioned them to wait and continued his discourse. “Since it would seem this world is more complex, it’s likely to have two or more sides to every action. We could also help you check out other options if more alliances are available than one person could reasonably make. If we play more angles, we’ll likely uncover more quests and by proxy more rewards.”

  David quietly thought about some of the conversations he’d had and then realized he hadn’t understood a term WhoDadi5O had said. “You said something I didn’t quite understand a moment ago. What’s an NPC?”

  The two outside the door made some commotion at this, and David saw they exchanged looks with WhoDadi5O, who looked at them and added some context to their conversation. “Hey guys, David and I were just talking through some pretty important things, and it’s been a very enlightening conversation. It turns out David is pretty new to this kind of gaming, and he’s just been going with the flow of things and doing a pretty amazing job of it if I might add. In spite of that, he’s made some astounding discoveries that are going to change the whole way we’ve been approaching this world. Just to bring you guys further along, let me say in front of our new friend and hopefully soon-to-be guildmate that we were all wrong with our earlier conversation.” He paused a bit to let that settle in and then added. “I already apologized for all of us, and he has been extremely gracious and has pretty much just handed us the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. We’re all going to want to ally our entire efforts around the work this guy is putting in. Not only has he impressed the city planner, which we all saw earlier, but he’s even entered into good standing with Emperor and is well on the way to becoming a critical piece in the way this whole city works. If that’s not the biggest stroke of luck we’ve ever had, I don’t know
what is.”

  The other two players looked at each other and at David and exclaimed a duet of “Holy cow!” and “Dang bro!” followed by “How the hells!” and “Ya! How did he…”.

  WhoDadi5O ignored the expletives and simply turned to David and answered his earlier question. “Well, I’m under strict confidence with David, but back to his question. An NPC is what we call characters in a game that doesn’t have a person from the real world behind them. It stands for ‘non-player character.’ In most games, we just refer to each other as players or toons, but NPCs in this game call us travelers. Using the term ‘travelers’ adds a little bit of mystery to what we are but to the NPCs, it’s more or less like calling us foreigners or, in some cases, outsiders. You may have already noticed that term come up a few times already.”

  David nodded and then added. “Well, some started calling me that, and then they switched all of a sudden to calling me David or even Sir David.”

  “Ya, we noticed that!” WhoDadi5O offered. The other two men added their nods and perspectives.

  “Ya, saw that” said RamenBaby.

  “Me first!” said TwerkinJerkin.

  “What do you mean!” said David.

  “Well, you probably haven’t noticed this, but when you see someone, NPC or player, and think of their name, their name appears above their heads, “WhoDadi5O continued. “Well, when we first met, I saw your name as ‘David’ above your head. That was pretty weird, honestly. At first, I thought you might be another NPC, actually. It was only a few hints, small things you said, that finally made me think you were a gamer. Then you showed up later with the name ‘Sir David’ and that totally confused us all over again. Now it makes sense since you made some friends in high places. Still, that’s pretty crazy. Your reputation gains must be insane. When was the last time you looked up your stats?”