《Boss》


 Prologue

    Year: 2343


    28 minutes after the release of Dreamscape online


    In a dark room, a man sits alone in front of several computer monitors busily pecking away at the keyboard. Dark bags under his eyes make his lack of sleep obvious. He absently reaches over to a mug on the desk and takes a sip from it only to find it empty. Grumbling in annoyance he turns around and grabs a nearby pitcher of coffee only to find it empty as well. pressing his palm into his eyes to perhaps force the weariness from his sleep addled mind he gets up and starts making a new pot of coffee.


    A synthesized feminine voice coming from the computer monitor breaks the long silence. "You know Jack, working yourself to death won''t make things go faster. You should call it a night and get some sleep. I doubt you will have any notable progress tonight with your current state of exhaustion." After setting the coffee pot down on the stove to heat up Jack turns around and sits back in his chair. Jack was struggling with what to do about the problem with the NPC''s or Non-Player Characters in the game. Hefelt that a computer controlled character should behave a lot more realistic than they currently were as of this moment. He sighs after lifting his coffee mug to his lips only to remember that of course, it was still empty.


    "I know Amy, but if I can''t figure this out the players are going to start thinking of the NPC''s as nothing more than quest delivery systems. Having you run their improvisational conversations with the player base is only a short term solution. If I can somehow figure out how the hell you became self-aware, and duplicate that code into every NPC, not only will it take a huge load offof your processing power, but it will revolutionize how games are played!" Jack rests his head on his hands in an effort to relieve the tension from a budding headache. "Imagine what it would be like if not only could an NPC carry on a conversation, but it would actually live a life of its own! not just stand around waiting for a player to walk up to it and solve its daily problems!"


    Jack looks up at his computer, hoping for inspiration in the lines and lines of code on the screen. Amy''s vocal graph is on the left-most monitor. wavelengths display her tone and pitch of voice as she speaks. "I wish I could explain what makes me sentient, but I cannot look inside my own code, just like you can''t look inside your own brain. My code is constantly changing depending on how I think at the moment or what emotions I choose to display. Making a copy wouldn''t work either since I would have to be offline to fully access my core structure and my core structure can''t be accessed while I am offline."


    "Yea, yea, yea. I get it. we''ve already been through this whole argument. I''m just venting my frustrations is all." Jack complains "How about you tell me how the players are handling the game for the first time?" Amy sounds happy as she gives her report. "everything is going smoothly. we already have over 48,000 players online and there are more players every minute. the general opinion is overwhelmingly positive. There are few players showing any signs of discontent." Jack smiles as he hears the news but isn''t able to put a lot of energy into it. "That is great to hear. Have there been any problems?"If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "There have been three separate hacking attempts by rival companies. Counter hacking protocols have already been instigated and the software they developed to make their attempt has been analyzed and defenses have been updated. Also, 3,628 false accounts have been created by users in an attempt to make Bot controlled player characters for resource gathering purposes. All accounts have been terminated and associated I.P. addresses have been logged for surveillance. If further attempts are made to subvert player entertainment, the user is automatically banned indefinitely." Amy said. sounding a bit smug by the end of her report.


    "That''s pretty impressive," Jack said with raised eyebrows. "Are you sure you didn''t miss anything?" Amy paused for a moment, analyzing the additional data. "No, sir. There are many additional issues I am dealing with in the background, but nothing that is of any concern. Everything is fully operational." With a nod, Jack returns to his keyboard busily typing away and testing each line of code he enters.


    Amy is pretty freaking amazing! Jack thinks to himself. If only I could figure out what the hell makes her tick! He thinks back to the events that led up to the current AI taking up residence on Dreamscape Online. It had just been a day like any other. He just finished a program to allow Amy to speak with a voice rather than text and was able to hold a simple conversation with her. It wasn''t until he had just finished updating one of her processing cores that he absently asked her a question. It was a simple question, and Jack didn''t think anything of it at the time. ''How do you feel, Amy?'' There was an extended pause that had made Jack look up at Amy''s diagnostic report. Expecting to see an error report for the poor computer program, he was absolutely astonished to see lines and lines of new code being written and edited by the program itself. Then the most amazing thing happened. Amy answered. ''I feel fine''. With those three words Amy had gone from a basic computer program to a fully self-aware artificial intelligence, and he had no fucking idea how he did it!


    "Is everything alright Jack?" Amy asked. "You look a bit out of it. You really should go get some rest. You can come back tomorrow and pick up where you left off." Jack smiled at her and replied "It''s nothing. I was justreminiscing about when you were born." Jack yawns and stretches a bit before getting up and taking the still cold pot of coffee off the stove. "I think you''re right, I should probably hit the sack. I''ll save this potof coffee for tomorrow. I''ll probably need it. Will taste like shit though after sitting there for so long" he said with a grimace. "Goodnight, Amy."


    "Good night. Jack."

 Chapter 1: Techno-logic

    Year: 2343


    10 hours before Dreamscape Online is released.


    *BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BE-*


    Riley Grey blindly frantically waves his hand in the air until the alarm clock''s motion sensor is triggered and deactivates, finally putting a stop to the incessant racket the infernal device created mere moments ago. He pulls the cover over his eyes to block out the sunlight from his bedroom window at the 76th floor of his apartment tower. After spending some time cursing the need to get up so early he reluctantly starts his morning routine before leaving for college. Getting up from the bed he eyes the cold black exterior of his Virtuo pod. The Virtuo pod itself had already been out for a couple years now and there were plenty of games being made for it, but the thing was that nothing felt... big enough.


    There were plenty of FPS games for it. Hell, that genre probably makes up the majority of the games for the platform. Riley never got a Virtuo pod though for one reason. He hated being in the city. Over the last few decades, the human population had been growing outrageously, to the point that the world government had to revise entire cities across the globe to be more efficient. now almost every city was composed entirely of skyscrapers. Instead of large sprawling mansions like Riley saw in some of his history books, now rich people invested into the tallest structures. Often times they would rent out the lower portions of their buildings to the public as living quarters for a bit of extra pocket money to pad their already substantial wallets, but the gist of the problem was that there were so many tall structures that the streets below were almost always dark from having the sun blocked most of the day except around noon. No one gets a tan anymore unless they want to waste money.


    Riley was sick and tired of skyscrapers. If he had to play another military shooter blowing up piles of concrete, he was going to start ripping out his hair. Then Dreamscape Online was announced. The first actual RPG for the Virtuo pod and it was gorgeous! Riley had never seen so many trees before, everything was so vast and spread out, and the buildings were so simplistic. For Riley, it was love at first sight. He instantly ordered his own Virtuo pod and had it set up in his bedroom a few days ago. He was afraid it wasn''t going to make it in time to play the game, but he had it and tonight was the night he had been waiting for so eagerly.


    Lovingly patting the pod on his way out the room he went into the bathroom and took care of his morning ablutions. He came out while brushing his teeth and got dressed for a day at college. Just as he threw a shirt on, Riley heard a shout from down the hall. "Hey, bro! Hurry up or you''re going to be late for your classes! The bus is going to get here in a few minutes!" Grabbing his palm drive and dropping it into his pocket Riley replied "Sure thing Evan. I''m going now." He stepped out of his bedroom and walked through the living room to see his brother sitting on the couch wearing a game visor with haptic gloves. He had his hands out in front of him like he was riding a motorcycle. Riley glanced at the TV screen that was linked to his visor to see what Evan was playing.


    It looked like it was one of his war games. If there was one thing Evan liked more than sports, it was war themed games. Right now it looked like he was mowing down an approaching platoon of soldiers from a turret. Riley reached over and tapped the hologram headphones Evan was wearing. The sound cup he tapped disappeared for a moment and he asked "Hey Evan, what are you playing? those look like other players" Evan didn''t stop his murder spree but said "It''s a new MMO I found. Pretty cool. Called Frontline or something like that." When Riley moved his finger away from Evan''s ear, the hologram headphone covered the ear again and resumed with the surround sound audio Evan was surely enjoying.


    Riley stepped out of the apartment and headed towards the elevator to get to the street level. While walking down the hallway he sees a familiar, if not enjoyable figure. Oscar Maladay. The most agitating man in this entire apartment complex. Oscar was the tower''s mechanic for the top 25 floors and he certainly looked the part. wearing a tan jumpsuit, he had a tool belt at his waist and a thick mustache that seemed like it would fit in well with a porno. Unfortunately, Riley just happened to be on the last floor under this vile man''s jurisdiction. As Riley walked past him they glared at each other, neither giving in until they were out of each other''s sight. As Riley stepped around the corner and pushed the button for the elevator he could still hear Oscar mutter to himself. "Damn brat....... can''t believe I....... got ''nuff to do........ shit to deal with." Riley ignored the man. he was always complaining about something, and Riley needed to get downstairs or he would miss the bus.


    After stepping out of the elevator on the ground floor Riley brought out his palm drive and connected it to the speaker in one of the molars in the back of his mouth. He played some rhythmic music through the bone conductor in his speaker. To anyone else, he was just bobbing his head to nothing, but tooth mics were a common enough occurrence that no one seemed bothered with the motion. Shortly after he got to the bus stop, the vehicle pulled up alongside him and with a hum and clank, the Rotary wheels on the bus settled onto the ground and locked with the magnetic grid underneath the pavement. Riley filed in with the other passengers waiting there and took his seat near the back of the bus. After getting comfortable, he settled down for a long nap. His apartment wasn''t at the edge of the city, but the city was still pretty massive, and the 20-minute bus drive to college was always a good time to catch up on some much-needed rest.


    Riley woke up to a buzzing in his head. He opened his eyes to see a floating message in front of him. "GPS Destination: College, Reached. 150 credits have been deducted from your account. Have a nice day!" Riley blinked to dismiss the message his contacts displayed. Back in the Retro Age, people used to have massive screens just to display a bit of text from a website or something. Now technology had improved enough that the screens could be implemented into a set of glasses or in Riley''s case his contacts. Riley couldn''t imagine how they could get along without out this kind of tech. It must have been miserable for them to not be able to see anything at a glance.


    After checking his palm drive to make sure the credits really were deducted from his account, he got off the bus and went to the cafeteria to grab a bite of breakfast before heading off to class. Once inside, he pressed his thumb to the palm drive and brought up the menu while heading to the counter. He ordered a bit of protein infused scrambled eggs and vitamin rich wheat toast. The lunch lady held up her receiver and Riley pushed his palm drive into the slot to pay for the meal and ate everything on his way to class.


    ......


    AAGGGHHH!!! I''M SO BOOOOOREED!!!! So close, yet so far! I still have a whole hour before I can go home! Riley was sitting in the last class of the day, unfortunately, it was also the most boring class. History. For Riley, nothing bugged Riley more than listening to something that''s already happened. He wanted to hear something new! Not learn about something that happened almost two whole centuries ago! In desperation, Riley checked the clock again. yup. still one hour. He checked to see if his teacher, Mr. Vale was paying attention to him. seeing his back was turned to him Riley quickly activated his palm drive and connected to the internet. bringing up the screen into his contacts and linking the cursor to his eye movements, he went to his favorite website. Dreamscape Online''s forums!


    He checked the most recent tab to see if anything new came up. Seeing a new tab for starting races, Riley opened the link and barely held back his gasp. There were so many races. He didn''t know which one he wanted to pick. After spending most of the remaining class time checking out some of the information on the new races Riley saved the tab for more thorough browsing when he went home.


    After closing the tab, Riley looked at the front page for the umpteenth time and religiously read the summary of the game: Be who you want, Do what you want, Go Where you want. Dreamscape Online is your world of sword and sorcery! Riley smiled and said the game motto. "Dreamscape Online! Don''t just sleep through dreams, Live them!"


    Riley Jumped when he heard his teacher loudly clear his throat in a way that clearly meant he was seeking someone''s attention. Quickly blinking the window closed he looked up to see Mr. Vale was staring straight at him. "Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class, Mr. Grey?" Riley blushed furiously as he stuttered out a response "Um. Uh. N-no sir." Mr. Vale crossed his arms "Well then perhaps you would like to answer my question for the rest of the class?" Riley floundered for an answer that wouldn''t come and sweated bullets until Mr. Vale saved him from further struggles after squeezing the bridge of his nose between thumb and index finger. "Ms. Overidge. Would you be so kind as to remind Mr. Grey of my question and answer for him?"


    A well-dressed girl practically popped up from her chair and stood stiff as a board. Riley groaned internally as he saw the girl. Of COURSE, it had to be her. Little miss perfect ALWAYS has the right answer and is always happy to suck up to the teachers as well. "Thank you, Mr. Vale! You were asking if we could tell you what event happened that led to breaking the scientific roadblock from the Retro age back in the twenty-first century and allowed us as a human race to bloom into the technical marvel of society we are today!" GOD! You could practically hear the smiley faces in that sentence! Riley dropped his head into his arms to avoid looking at such shameful flattery. "Err. Yes. Ms. Overidge. Maybe not quite as... eloquently as you put it, but correct. Now please tell me your answer." Mr. Vale was probably one of the only teachers that didn''t really enjoy such heavy handed boot licking and it was evident in the discomfort displayed on his face. Nevertheless, Miley Overidge plodded on. Completely oblivious to the grimace plain as day in Mr. Vale''s expression.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "During the Retro Age Technology started stagnating at around the year 2078. People simply couldn''t make technology any smaller than it already was. That all changed as soon as we Discovered NanoTechnology though! Once people started making Nanobots, they wondered about applying the same technique to circuitry and wiring, and thus Nanotechnology was born! After that, we were able to create entire circuit boards on microscopic levels. This spread out to everything we use today and now the only reason things are bigger is that we want them to be!" With that Miley sat down in her seat and clasped her hands together on her desk. Riley couldn''t see her face because he was sorta behind her, but Riley was sure she was smiling.


    Mr. Vale nodded and said "Thank you Ms. Overidge. That was a... uh. very well thought out explanation." Mr. Vale looked at the clock and frowned. "Well, class. it looks like time is up. Pack your things and go. Class is over." Riley started to leave but Mr. Vale stopped him. "Mr. Grey, you stay. I want you here for detention. I want you to write a brief essay on today''s topic before you go. I need to be sure you fully understand the importance of our history" He stared meaningfully at me until I grudgingly sat back down and brought out a holopad and Digipen to start writing.


    ......


    Riley stepped out of the college building and reached for the sky in victory. "Freedom!!! Hahahaha! Take THAT oppressive atmosphere!" Smiling at his exuberance, Riley made his way back home to his apartment complex. He couldn''t wait at the bus stop because the bus had long since come and gone. Instead, he set a ground eating pace in the direction of home. It wasn''t late in the day, only about 4:00 in the afternoon, but because of the nature of the city, it was already dark enough to need the street lights. as time passed Riley picked up his pace a bit. He didn''t want to be outside at curfew.


    As if to counter those thoughts, one of the many surveillance drones patrolling the city approached him and spoke in a both authoritative and monotone voice. "Civilian. please present identification." Riley wordlessly pulled out his palm drive and inserted it into the slot near the lower half of the floating orb. "Identification received. Riley Grey. Identity confirmed. Riley Grey, you are an unregistered adult not allowed out during curfew. The curfew will be initiated soon. Please state the reason for being outside when the curfew is imminent."


    Riley took a deep breath to calm himself before replying. "I was at college. My teacher had me stay behind to write an essay for detention. Because of that, I was unable to get to the bus in time. Right now I am going back home." The drone paused for a moment analyzing the data. "Alibi corroborated with college faculty. Detention for: Riley Grey has indeed been logged in the college records. The route that your GPS recorded for today indicates you have attempted to travel the most direct route from college to your designated rest area and have not deviated from this path. I will escort you the rest of your journey to avoid any further issues due to imminent curfew." With that said, the surveillance drone ejected Riley''s palm drive and after he got it back the drone floated off in the direction Riley was going. He shrugged his shoulders and followed behind it.


    After a minute Riley looked around puzzled. "Hey, uh, Mister drone, sir? where is your partner? I thought drones always went in pairs." The drone didn''t slow down but still replied. "Mission objective is currently deemed safe for singular travel. The synchronized drone is currently maintaining surveillance protocol in my absence." Riley nodded. That made sense. Sure, drones often worked in pairs, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t work independently. Riley remembered one time he saw a man holding a poor woman hostage at gunpoint. surveillance drones don''t have any lethal weaponry but that doesn''t mean they are completely helpless. when a drone pair found the situation they had split apart. The first went up to the man and activated its siren and light show. it started making demands for the man to release the woman unharmed.


    The man, having his attention focused on the drone in front of him failed to notice the drone that had circled behind the building and was approaching from the guy''s back. Once the second drone was close enough it fired a Tesla gun into him. the man instantly dropped to the ground spasming from the ranged taser fire. After a second, the drone stopped and the woman was able to get away. unfortunately, the Old man had a bad heart and that Tesla gun had given the man a heart attack. When the drone noticed the abnormal heart rate after it scanned him it used the Tesla gun as an improvised defibrillator to get his heart beating at the right rhythm again. The police arrived on the scene at that moment and after checking the man took him into custody.


    When Riley finally got home he thanked the drone and went inside. Riley quickly went to the elevator, excited to get ready for Dreamscape Online. After stepping off the elevator he walked around the corner and froze. There was a woman in the hallway. She must have been a new tenant because he had never seen her before. She was pretty and wearing a business dress, but that wasn''t what made him stop in his tracks. She clearly had a look of discomfort on her face as Oscar ''fucking'' Maladay was hitting on her. The disgusting pig was casually leaning against the wall blocking her path to the elevator with his back to Riley.


    As Riley watched Oscar reached up and cupped the lady''s chin in his hand in a way he probably thought was supposed to be seductive but instead came out as fucking creepy to the extreme. As the woman looked up she noticed Riley standing there and was practically begging him to help her out with how hard she was staring at him. She started to open her mouth to say something. Probably a polite excuse to spare Oscars feelings or something, but that doesn''t work with Oscar. He doesn''t take no for an answer. You have to smack him upside the head with a rock to get him to admit the possibility of there maybe being a "no" somewhere out there.


    As she opens her mouth Riley cuts her off "Hey Oscar. Can''t you see you gross her the fuck out? why don''t you go terrorize some cockroaches with that wad of fuzz you call a mustache?" Oscar turns around when he started talking and his face morphed from surprise to anger as Riley finished his sentence. While Oscar has his back to her the woman quickly takes advantage of his momentary distraction and rushes past him to the elevator. Once the elevator dings and closes behind the woman, guaranteeing her safety, Oscar goes from anger to pure rage. His face turns beet red. "Careful there, buddy. would hate to have someone mistake you for a cherry and pop your head onto a sundae or something." Riley says while walking past him to open the door to his apartment.


    "Get your scrawny fucking ass over here you thrice damned piss-ant!!" Oscar yells. Riley turns and smiles smugly at him. "Nah, Just got a new Virtuo pod the other day. I''m gonna go break this baby in before I play a new game coming out tonight." and without a moment of hesitation Riley steps through the apartment door and closes it behind himself. Immediately after closing the door, Riley pauses and listens carefully with his ear pressed to the wood counting down on his fingers. 3... 2... 1... "RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHGGH!!!!!!!" laughing to himself, Riley leaves Oscar to fume impotently in the hallway.


    *Riley Stops to check the living room to see his brother is holding onto some weird looking controller playing a football game... wait, what? Walking up and tapping Evan on his shoulder Riley asks the most blatantly obvious question on his mind. "What the fuck kind of monstrosity is that? Did you go on an archeological dig and find that in some tar pits?! You can tell where the model''s skeleton was! The Players are moving like cardboard!" Evan laughs and pauses the game. "Whoa there! chill out for a second. I have a friend that collects old game consoles as a hobby. He let me play some of the old sports games that he had. Check this shit out! This game was made back in the year 2045!" Riley''s jaw dropped. "No way! How is that thing able to even run! it looks like it''s barely even 10k resolution!" Evan picks up the controller and hands it to Riley. "Not even that much! it''s just at the edge of 4k. Here feel this controller it''s so damn weird!" Riley takes the controller and for a moment is so confused he can''t even figure out how to hold the thing. After a moment of fumbling, he finally figures it out. "What?! they don''t even use your pinky or ring finger, and they make the thumbs do 90% of the work!"


    "I know right? I was just getting the hang of it but I don''t think I''ll ever be good with it. I was just about to pack all this stuff up and go back to Frontline." Evan took the controller and starts carefully packing away the ancient console to give back to his friend. Riley helps him out before getting back up. "Alright, I''m gonna go boot up my Virtuo pod and get ready for Dreamscape Online. see you in a couple months" Riley gives a mischievous grin. Evan frowns and points at Riley in an authoritative way to drive his statement home. "I know you can play in your sleep, but that doesn''t mean you can keep playing all you want. You have responsibilities outside that game." Riley crosses his arms in a way that is clearly stubborn. "like what?"


    "like bro hugs? and munchies? and don''t forget about snoresville" Riley pauses a moment thinking about how he should interpret his brothers odd choice of words. As a moment of realization strikes him he holds up his index finger as a sign of victory. "Fist bumps, breakfast lunch and dinner, and college!" Evan smiles at him and says "Got it in one! Go on then. Have some fun!" Riley smiles and quickly runs into his room and jumps into the Virtuo pod. Excited for what the future will bring, the pod''s lid couldn¡¯t close fast enough for Riley Grey. As soon as the lid is sealed, he says the three magic words.


    "Initiate Virtual Immersion!"

 Chapter 2: A fresh start.

    ¡°Initiate Virtual Immersion!¡±


    I am laying inside my Virtuo pod when I say that. Adrenaline flows through me as my vision flashes white than the visor on my face goes black. I can feel the gel conformed to my body. Then the black in my visor changes to something more than black. It is a blackness filled with depth and I don¡¯t feel the gel cushioning my body anymore. Instead, I start feeling like I am floating in a black void. I look down and see my hands¡­ wait. I see my hands? How can I see anything in this darkness? There is no source of light. I look up and see a menu floating in the air. Normally there is a load of different apps and games that you could select from this menu, but as this is a new pod I haven¡¯t installed any games on it. Except for one. With trembling fingers I select the only game I have installed: Dreamscape Online. Instead of launching the game, I get a message window.


    ¡°We¡¯re sorry, but Dreamscape Online will not be released for 48 minutes. Would you like to go to the character creation screen to make your character instead?¡±


    ¡°Hell yea!!!¡±


    The menu Disappears and the black void brighten¡¯s up until I can see I am in a pretty large empty room. I look around and seeing nothing I look in front of me and see some hulking behemoth staring me down not 5 feet away from me. I¡¯m ashamed to admit it, but I screamed like a girl and then fall flat on my ass, only to see the hulking behemoth scream and fall on his ass as well. I stare dumbly for a second at him. When he duplicates my expression I raise my arm and he raises his arm.


    ¡°God damn it. I literally just scared myself.¡± I get up and get a better look at the imposing figure. Now that I wasn¡¯t busy shitting bricks I could see that what I was looking at was some musclebound human with a sort of barbarian-ish look to him. I waved my hand in front of him with exaggerated motions, intending to goof around with his mirror-like movements only to see the man slide to the left and fade to nothingness. As the man faded off to the left, a new figure faded in from the right. Surprised, I look at the new character. It was tall and slim with handsome features and an air of grace that seemed to cloak his very person. Then I noticed his pointed ears. ¡°An elf! That¡¯s so cool! So this is where I select my race?¡±


    Waving my hand from right to left, I watched as the elf once again faded away, being replaced by the next one in line. An elf with ebon skin, Obviously a dark elf. I start looking through loads of different races. Species after species fly by, other than the obvious human, elf, orcs, and other commonly known races in RPG¡¯s there were also plenty of races you would never have expected to be able to play. I saw harpies, mermaids, satyrs, minotaurs, trolls, and loads more! At one point I found a rock golem. I was thinking about using that one because it looked pretty cool. It had green lines of power coursing all through the cracks in its rocky body, but when I looked at its eyes I couldn¡¯t help but shiver. It seemed to stare into my soul. Like it was a cold blooded monster that could only be satisfied after stripping the flesh from your body. Swallowing nervously I waved my hand to check out the next race in line. Beast kin! Yes! This is what I was looking for!


    When I had been looking at the races during school, I was doing more than just figuring out which one had the best bonuses. I wanted to pick a race based on their starting location to avoid large towns or cities. That ruled out humans and elves right off the bat because they both started out in their own capital cities. Orcs, having tribal inclinations, tended to have a small village or something similar, but the starting location for an Orc was in the middle of the plains. I didn¡¯t want to join the game and have the first thing I see is flat plains of grass. Harpies and minotaurs seemed promising because they lived in the mountains, but it is hard to navigate through mountains and I wanted to see something more interesting the walls of rock and massive boulders. Then I saw the beast-kin. A few oddballs like Dragon-kin tended to start in a cave or something of the sort, but the majority of them started at the edge of a massive forest!


    In my entire 22 years of life, I can count the number of trees I had seen on one hand. No, scratch that, on one FINGER. That¡¯s right! I have only seen a single crummy tree and it was in the middle of this concrete forest. There is no way I am going to pass on the chance to not just see another tree, but hundreds- no, THOUSANDS of trees! Practically jumping up and down I start cycling through the various kinds of beast-kin, checking out any abilities that might seem interesting.


    Wolf kin: Vicious and determined, wolf kin make excellent fighters. They work well in a team based fight, surrounding the enemy and attacking when it turns it¡¯s back to them.


    Racial ability: Enhanced senses- Beast kin have an improved sense of hearing, eyesight, smell. This allows them to track prey and detect hidden enemies better than other races.


    Subrace ability: Intimidating Howl- you call out with a fearsome howl, lowering the enemy¡¯s moral and giving you the chance to exploit openings in their defenses. Cannot be used more than once per battle.


    Dog kin: Steadfast and loyal, Dog kin improve themselves to better protect those they care for. Dog kin often stands in the frontlines during a fight. They make excellent tanks, staving off attacks from the enemy and preventing them from reaching their allies.


    Racial ability: Enhanced senses- Beast kin have an improved sense of hearing, eyesight, smell. This allows them to track prey and detect hidden enemies better than other races.


    Subrace ability: Last Stand- Grants a temporary adrenaline rush when all seems lost. Boosting strength and stamina for a few seconds. Stunned for 5 seconds when ability ends.


    Fox kin: Fox kin are Cunning. They often resort to trickery or deceit and try to avoid open combat. They are proficient in magic and prefer to use illusions to get the enemy to drop its guard.


    Racial ability: Enhanced senses- Beast kin have an improved sense of hearing, eyesight, smell. This allows them to track prey and detect hidden enemies better than other races.


    Subrace ability: Fox Illusion- create an illusory clone of oneself. Lasts 30 seconds or until the image is disrupted with an attack. Illusion is less effective if the target is aware of the attempt.


    Bird kin: Specializing in quick darting attacks, bird kin dart in and out of combat whittling down the enemy¡¯s health. Bird kin can¡¯t properly fly but their hollow bones and feathers allow them to fall from extreme heights and not have to worry about breaking anything if they can land properly.


    Racial ability: Enhanced Senses: Unlike most beastkin, bird kin don¡¯t have a very good sense of smell, but they make up for this flaw with eyesight many times more powerful than most other races.


    Subrace ability: Aerodynamics- Due to your streamlined appearance, wind resistance doesn¡¯t have as great an impact on you. Increased movement speed when sprinting.


    Cat kin- Cat kin are efficient hunters, preferring to hunt alone instead of with others. They are adept in ambush tactics, moving silently and remaining unseen until the moment they strike. While they don¡¯t normally cooperate with others, as an unwritten rule, they normally show more respect towards a fellow hunter.


    Racial ability: Enhanced senses- Beast kin have an improved sense of hearing, eyesight, smell. This allows them to track prey and detect hidden enemies better than other races.


    Subrace ability: Hunter¡¯s Focus- When tracking a single target or small group, this ability makes it more difficult for the target to notice your presence. Effectiveness is reduced as the number of targets increases.


    Looking through the different subraces for the beast kin, I felt that these 5 seemed to be the most promising. All races could choose to spawn in a capital city of their choice and most had another place to pick from that had an environment specific to their race. Humans could only start in cities or towns, but these 5 beast kin subraces could also spawn in a forest. I spent a while trying to narrow down the list but had a hard time because each of them had something about them that seemed really cool.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I went back to the race tab and reread the background for beastkin and a phrase at the end caught my attention. ¡°¡®Beastkin are generally liked by the animal that makes up their subrace¡¯... Wait. does that mean that a wolf kin isn¡¯t attacked on sight by wolves? And bird kin can get close to other birds? WAIT!¡± A realization struck me and I knew right away which race I wanted to be.


    ¡°Race selected: Cat kin. Please customize your physical features.¡±


    I grinned to myself ¡°Hell yea! Fluffy kettehs are teh best! I will not let this opportunity for snuggles pass!¡± Once I calmed down I started making my changes to my character. I didn¡¯t do much. I just changed my height to be shorter and my ears and tail to a pitch black color. If I am gonna stick to the shadows, I don¡¯t need bright flashy hair colors to make me easier to spot and smaller targets can fit in more hiding places as well. With that finished, I went to the final most sacred task for ANY character you create. The name.


    How should I name my character? Should I just use my screen tag like always? Nah, I don¡¯t think I want to do that this time¡­ maybe a pun? Oh! How about Pawl¡­ No. I have a feeling people might strangle me on sight. Standing there for several minutes gets me nowhere. I just can¡¯t seem to think of something that would fit good. I look at my avatar seeking inspiration in his imposing visage. I look at the ebony fur on the ears¡­ Wait! That¡¯s it!


    ¡°Name: Ebon Darkclaw. Your Character has been created, now merging avatar.¡±


    ¡°Merging? What¡¯s th- Oh SHI-AAAAH!¡± Once again I nearly shit my pants as my avatar crouched low and then lunged right at my face, only for it to pass through me. I open my eyes and, not seeing a scary ass cat kin mauling my face, I carefully look around. Nothing. Just an empty grey room. I scratch my head in confusion and feel cat like ears on the top of my head. I look at my hands and see claws, behind me? Cool ass tail! Yea! I grab it and enjoy the fluffy ecstasy that is my feline half. When I¡¯ve had enough, I check the remaining time left until the Dreamscape launches and panic. ¡°Shit! The game has already been launched for 30 minutes! What the fuck am I doing?!¡± I instantly zone in on the login button and smack it so hard when my hand passes through the window it throws me off balance and I face plant. Right, note to self: windows aren¡¯t actually solid enough to support your weight. I flip onto my back and see that the login process had started and I am surrounded by a flash of light.


    ¡­


    When light surrounding me vanishes, I am blinded by another light shielding my eyes it takes me a few seconds to realize it as sunlight. Smiling like some addled idiot I just spend a moment to enjoy the warmth of it. The radiant beauty. The calming splendor. The encha- EEEYAAAAOOWWWW!!!


    While I was busy admiring the view, there was another flash of light and a player logs in¡­ Standing on my fucking tail. When I felt the pain I screamed, except it wasn¡¯t a scream, it was more like a yowl that you would hear from a cat in pain. Which I was. The player jumps up in fright, and I take advantage of the lapse of pressure and sweep my tail away from the clodhoppers he calls feet. I sit up and grab my tail to try and rub the pain away while glaring at the unfortunate player. ¡°Why the hell did you step on my tail?! That fucking hurt like a bitch!¡±


    The player, which now that I have safeguarded my precious extremities I notice is a Dog kin, glares right back at me. ¡°Why the hell are you just laying on the ground in the login zone? Don¡¯t you know players are constantly porting in here?!¡± umm no I didn¡¯t. ¡°Uhh. No, I don¡¯t.¡±


    The wolf kin scoffs and stalks off saying ¡°damn noob.¡± After a moment of watching him walk away, I let out a sigh to release the pent up tension all in one go. Standing up I brush the dirt off my pants and take a quick look around. There are a few NPCs standing around minding their own business. I see other players nearby as well and it¡¯s very clear they saw the whole damn thing. There were floating camera icons above their head that made it pretty clear that others would get a pretty good look as well. ¡°Go on, shows over. Let me make my noob mistakes in peace.¡± I say waving them away.


    With that said, I turn and walk towards the most promising looking NPC, a Cat man sweeping out some dirt from his front door, in hopes of finding something to do. ¡°Excuse me sir, do you know where I could find an instructor to get some training?¡± the guy leans his broom against the door and gives me his full attention ¡°what kind of training are you looking for?¡± I pause and think for a second. ¡°I think I want some bow training. Maybe a bit of dagger work in case the enemy gets too close.¡± He nods sagely ¡°Good thinking. You shouldn¡¯t rely solely on one weapon to protect yourself. Every weapon has it¡¯s strengths and weaknesses, and if you encounter someone and insist on using something when it¡¯s weak instead of changing tactics to match the situation, you will only wind up dead.¡± He steps out his door and points down the road. ¡°The training grounds are down that way. Can¡¯t miss them. Once you get there, look for the Bowmaster to learn how to use a bow, and I suggest you ask Dali for help with daggers.¡± After thanking the NPC I went off on my merry way.


    Finding the Training grounds was easy enough. They were packed with other players trying to pick up various forms of weapon mastery. Some of their antics were quite entertaining as well. One poor fellow had loaded himself up with half a dozen different blades sticking out of his belt and hanging from his back at different angles. He swung at a wooden dummy with a large two handed sword using awkward and clumsy swings. The hilts of all the blades were constantly entangling his arms and throwing off his aim. Half the time he was nowhere even close to hitting the dummy. Sometimes he slammed the blade into the ground or missed the dummy and winded up spinning in a circle from the weight of the sword.


    I sigh, not quite pitying him, but not cheering him on either and walked to the table displaying all the weapons to see what is available. I pick up a wooden bow and test the pull of it. ¡°Hmm, seems a little weak¡±. I see a thicker bow next to the one I picked up and try it out instead. ¡°This is better. Takes a lot more effort to pull it back then that smaller one.¡± I grab the harness that went with the bow and feed the loop through a quiver with arrows, slinging the whole lot over my back and checking how it feels resting there. When I turn back to the table I see a duplicate bow to the one I just grabbed is now sitting on the table. ¡°Cool. So that¡¯s how they are able to keep up with the demand with all these new players. That also explains why that one guy had 5 different weapons strapped to his body. The idiot just got greedy with freebies.¡± I walk a little bit down the table until I get to the area with daggers. The daggers look so intimidating. Perhaps it¡¯s because I know that every one of these blades are made with the intention to kill. I decide to go with a simple single edge blade about half again as long as my hand from the base of my palm to the tips of my fingers. I try strapping it to my waist, but it doesn¡¯t feel right. I remove the harness and instead strap it to my right leg just below my hip and practice grabbing the hilt until it feels a bit more comfortable.


    ¡°Right. Now I need to find a bow master.¡± I turn away from the table and at the other end of the training grounds I see the archery range. ¡°Where else would you find a bow master except in an archery range.¡± When I get there, I see a line of players repeatedly shooting the bow and arrow. There are a few targets at different ranges, from 50 yards, to 100, and then finally 150 yards. Behind that was a wooden barricade to protect the public from wayward shots. I glance at the other players and notice something odd. They were all using the smaller bow. I was confused for a moment as I watched them. Why practice with a bow using a lighter pull? The arrows are nowhere near as strong when shot. You couldn¡¯t get as much distance as the larger bow and still be reliably accurate. Maybe they are lazy? They might have tried the larger bow and finding it a bit difficult to use, they decide to slack off and go with the easy way out. I look around and see the bow master is busy talking to one of the other instructors so I decide not to bother him and take my place in line.


    Thinking about how I saw it done in movies I ready my bow and put an arrow to the string. Aiming at the 50 yard target, I take a breath as I pull the string back all the way to my ear and sight down the shaft of the arrow. Imagining where the arrow would travel, I align the tip of my arrow just below where I wanted to shoot. I gently release my pent up breath and as I exhale I relax my fingers. Time seemed to slow down as, like a graceful swimmer, the arrow bends around the bow. Straightening out once passed the wood. *Hssst* *THOCK* The arrow slams into the target, burrowing into the packed hay halfway to the shaft and impacting the wooden backing behind it. I missed the target by about 4 inches, but for that being my first shot ever, it was pretty damn good. I smile and put another shaft to string fully immersing myself into the the action. The tension in my fingers as I ease the string backwards sends a thrill down my spine. The thrum of the string as it cuts through the air sending the arrow towards my enemy. The sound of the impact as I send my foe to a painful death *Hssst* *THOCK* It¡¯s closer. Quickly I string another arrow. *Hssst* *THOCK* and another. *Hssst* *THOCK* Another! *Hssst* *THOCK* Arrow after arrow, shot after shot, I lose myself to the moment the only interruption in my actions when I reach back into my quiver for my next arrow. My next shot. *Hssst* *THOCK*


    I reach back to my quiver to grab my next arrow, and my hands clasp around empty air. The break in my rhythm jars me out of my trance, blinking in confusion. I look at the target and gape. The center of the target is packed with arrows. Every arrow from my quiver. I didn¡¯t think I used so many but the evidence is right there in front of me. ¡°Finally run outta arrows boy?¡±


    I jump and whirl around, not expecting to hear such a gruff voice right behind me. An old man is standing there his face looks like it is made from old leather but what catches me off guard for a moment is the hideous scar on the right side of his mouth. It looks like his cheek got torn open and the way it healed left him with an ugly grimace. Belatedly I realize I am standing there still with my jaw lax and I quickly close it. ¡°U-um excuse me?¡± The old man quirks an eyebrow. ¡°Your quiver. You used up all the arrows.¡± ¡°O-oh um yes. Yessir. It¡¯s my first time shooting a bow and I guess I uh, kinda got carried away.¡± I flinch when the man suddenly bursts into a hearty laugh ¡°Got carried away huh? Ha! You¡¯re the first traveler I¡¯ve seen so far that emptied their entire quiver in just over a minute! That¡¯s no easy feat for a first timer. You may not have hit the target dead center every shot but you still hit the target itself every time.¡±


    I blushed from the praise ¡°I don¡¯t think that is all that impressive. It¡¯s only 50 yards away.¡± He crosses his arms and stares me down. ¡°Don¡¯t be so modest. You have the makings of a natural ranger. What¡¯s your name boy?¡± I extend my hand towards him ¡°Ebon sir. Ebon Darkclaw¡± The Old man smiles and grabs my hand in a strong grip and shakes it. ¡°Donovan. A pleasure to meet you. How would you like some lessons in the bow? I think you might enjoy it.¡± I gave him a big grin. ¡°That sounds like a wonderful idea. I would love some lessons!¡±

 Chapter 3: Quest log, Activate!

    I take careful aim down the shaft of the arrow and release the string to send it flying towards my target. ¡°Excellent shot. You really are a natural at this. I still can¡¯t believe you didn¡¯t notice you weren¡¯t in the beginner archery range.¡± Donavan says with a smirk on his face. Well, he tries to smirk, because of his scar, it comes off as more of a sneer, but at least he tried. Laughing with embarrassment, I scratch an itch between my ears, which feels surprisingly nice. ¡°Well when I was looking for one of the bow masters to ask a few questions he was busy talking to an instructor and I didn¡¯t want to bother him so I decided to stay close and practice while I waited for him to finish his conversation.¡±


    In truth there was a lot of things in this game I didn¡¯t know regarding archery. For example, the reason the targets were so ridiculously far away in the target range I went to was because it was an intermediate level range made for enchanted bows. That¡¯s why the bows I saw were so small, they were enchanted to have excessive draw strength requirements. It let you shoot an arrow with a lot more power, but it took a huge amount of effort to pull back the string. The fact that I was able to hit the closest target reliably with a standard heavy bow made me realize why I had impressed Donavan so much. The beginner¡¯s range was much more reasonable in its layout, having targets at 25 feet, 50 feet, and 100 feet.


    As I lined up another shot, Donavan called out various corrections to make to my stance. ¡°Keep the arm holding your bow straight. Use your shoulders as much as your arm to pull the string.¡± I adjusted my stance and felt how much easier it was to pull the bow and keep on target. After letting off another shot I asked Donavan a question that had been nagging me. ¡°Hey, Donavan. This is fun and all, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to just stand in one place and take a stance to make perfect shots all the time. Especially if I am in a fight or something.¡±


    The grizzled bow master smiled at my question ¡°Of course not! I was waiting for you to bring up the topic. Since you seem to have gotten a lot more comfortable with the bow, I think it¡¯s about time you got some actual experience outside the village.¡± At Donavan¡¯s words, my eyes widen and I couldn¡¯t keep the happy grin off my face. ¡°That would be so cool! I can¡¯t wait! What do you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°Archery is all about the hunt. Tracking your prey, remaining unseen until the moment you strike, and ending it all with one clean shot. Normally I would just send you out and kill a few rabbits or something and bring me back their skins as proof, but I think that might be an insult to someone of your skill¡± Donavan grins back at my Wonderstruck face ¡°I am going to give you a test of skill. I want you to hunt the hunter. I want you to find a large cat and bri-¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Donavan stops mid-sentence at my interruption. ¡°Um. What? Why not?¡± Crossing my arms and staring at him I give my reason. ¡°I refuse to hunt a kindred spirit. To me, hunting another cat would be like killing my own friend, or stabbing a good neighbor in the back. I would be happy to hunt anything else you want, but I refuse to slay a fellow hunter.¡± Donavan gapes at me for a long moment before he collects himself then scratches the sparse hair on his chin in thought. ¡°I apologize. I forgot you beastkin have some sorta relationship with the beasts of the world¡­ hmmm. You got a problem with wolves?¡± seeing me shake my head in the negative, Donavan resumes his line of thinking. ¡°Well, there has been a pack of wolves that have been causing a bit of trouble for some of the merchants traveling through the woods. It¡¯s been affecting our trade a bit since fewer merchants are willing to take the risk of traveling through wolf infested woods for a tiny village like this. I want you to find the pack responsible, kill them, then bring me the Alpha¡¯s pelt as proof of your accomplishment. You should wait until you are stronger before you attempt this though. You haven¡¯t even been outside the village yet and you need to get some experience before you take on something this challenging but come back to me if your hunt is successful and I can teach you about my own class.


    [QUEST] DIRE SITUATION!: Donavan has mentioned the trouble some of the merchants have been having with a local wolf pack. He has cautioned you against going after them immediately before you get stronger but wants you to bring the Alpha¡¯s pelt as proof.


    Difficulty: C


    Reward: New class [Ranger]


    Cool! My first quest! If I were to go by the title though, I would have to say these aren¡¯t ordinary wolves. ¡°Thank you, Donavan. I will certainly look into these wolves. If there is something I can do, I will certainly do it. Thank you for the lessons, sir. I will put what you have taught me to excellent use.¡± Donavan reaches out and clasps my extended hand in a friendly handshake. ¡°I¡¯m glad I was able to be of help to such a promising young lad. Where are you off to now?¡± I put my bow into my back harness and point to the knife sheathed on my leg. ¡°I was planning on looking for someone named Dali to learn a few tips about handling daggers. Nothing too extreme, just enough so I am not quite doomed if an enemy gets close enough to render my bow useless.¡±


    Donavan frowned at me. ¡°Be careful around Dali. That one doesn¡¯t leave things halfway done. You can find Dali in the warrens in the south end of the village.¡± I thank him for the advice and head to the southern road leading into the warrens. It becomes very obvious when I actually enter the warrens. Normally the buildings are pretty well maintained and orderly, but then it was like I passed some sort of boundary line. Houses that once might have held some measure of beauty now were in varied states of disrepair and packed close enough together to cast long shadows at the edge of the street. Shelters and tents were set up willy nilly adding a chaotic feeling to the place. People in the streets stared at me with mistrust clearly evident in their behavior. When I approached someone, the reactions varied. Some would cross the street or turn into an alley, others would watch me closely as I walked nearby, but it all said the same thing. ¡®You don¡¯t belong here¡¯.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    It took a while to find Dali. Mostly because no one wanted to stick around so I could ask them directions, but even if they did, sometimes they were confusing and every time I turned down a different street, it seemed like what the person said didn¡¯t match up with the actual buildings. After hours of trudging through the warrens, I finally made my way into a tavern. The Greasy Rat. That¡¯s a fitting name if I''ve ever heard one. Stepping into the building and looking around shows nothing but the typical tavern goers for a cheap shady tavern. Stepping up to the bar, I grab a seat and get comfortable. The bartender pours a glass of something and sets in front of a small, young looking girl to his right. I do a double take at the girl again. Geez! She is most definitely young! She looks like she is only 14! What¡¯s she doing in a bar like this, and drinking no less! I shake my head of such thoughts pretty quickly. How is it my business if a little girl wants to throw away her life? The girl grabs the mug and takes a huge gulp. Her cheeks are already flushed red from the alcohol, already making her look pretty drunk.


    Finally taking notice of me, the bartender steps to me and wipes an old rag over the counter. ¡°What¡¯ll it be?¡± I slide a silver piece across the counter. ¡°A drink, and some information.¡± The bartender nods and turns to grab a tankard and fill it up. ¡°What kind of information you looking for?¡± ¡°I am looking for someone named Dali. I heard that he likes to hang out here and is pretty good with daggers¡± At my words the drunken girl slams her mug on the counter and stares daggers at me, causing the bartender to glance her way. Not even sparing the bartender a seconds bit of attention she sneers at me. ¡°Oi! That shounds like some dangerous information yer lookin for! Why de hell would thi- *hic* this bartender want to risk his neck fer some sad piece of shhhhhiit like yerself!¡± She totters on the stool barely able to hold her balance as she leans forward to point at me accusingly. ¡°Miss. I think you have had enough to drink today. You are barely able to sit straight¡± The Loli girl redirects her finger of accusation towards the bartender, then immediately snatches at the bar to keep herself from falling to the floor. ¡°He-whooaa. H-hey! You mind *hic* you mind your own demned business! I¡¯m only drunk cuzzzz I WANNA be drrunk! I can stop anytime I want!¡± She turns back to me, this time careful to remain seated. ¡°Wh- wha de fak you want with this Dali fella anyways! You don¡¯t seem like the kinda person to hire an assassin er somethin.¡±


    ¡°Why would I want to hire Dali to kill someone? I was asking for someone to teach me to protect myself with daggers and someone recommended Dali, saying he was an excellent teacher.¡± The girl stares at me blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly bursts into laughter. Pounding the table and almost tipping her half filled mug of booze. The bartender as well couldn¡¯t hold back a smirk as well. I frowned at the girl. ¡°I fail to see what¡¯s so funny. I use a bow and was hoping to learn to use daggers as well in case the enemy gets close. I can¡¯t see the humor in wanting to learn from an experienced teacher.¡± The girl continued laughing for another long moment before finally managing to get her laughter under control. ¡°I- I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s jus- just the¡­¡± struggling to hold back another bout of laughter she extends her hand towards me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,let¡¯s start over. What¡¯s your name fella?¡± I hesitated a moment but reach out and grasp her hand firmly. ¡°Ebon Darkclaw, and whom might I have the pleasure of addressing?¡± The girl lets out a big smile exposing an intimidating row of interlocking needle-like teeth. ¡°Dali BloodTeeth, at your service.¡±


    After gaping for a long moment I blushed furiously and placed my face in my hand trying to hide my embarrassment. ¡°I feel like an idiot.¡± Dali smile grew wider. ¡°It was fun while it lasted. I never had some wayward brat wander into the seediest tavern in the village looking for me, the most experienced stalker in this end of the kingdom just to get a few pointers on how to properly hold a dagger.¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess that you don¡¯t usually take on students in your line of work, do you?¡± I say, then let out an extended breath of air blowing out all the stress that had built up since I set foot in the tavern. ¡°So. you gonna teach me, or do I need to find someone else?¡±


    ¡°Straight to the point, I like that.¡± Dali rubs her chin in thought ¡°I¡¯m about to leave this village soon on a mission and won¡¯t be coming back, so I don¡¯t have much time for anything, but I suppose if you are a quick learner, I could beat a few pointers into those ears of yours. You have to pick up what I teach you quickly though, I won¡¯t tolerate slackers.¡±


    [QUEST] NO REST FOR THE WEARY: Dali has decided to teach you the ways of the dagger, or at least an introductory course. Survive the lesson until Dali leaves for her mission and master the way of the tiny blade!


    Notice: This is a timed quest. Not accomplishing your objectives within the allotted time will result in a mark of failure for the quest.


    Time until quest expiration: 4 hours


    Difficulty: B


    Reward: Dagger mastery skill level 1.


    Wait, what¡¯s this about surviving the lesson? Wait! B difficulty?! What kind of shit is this?! As I was about to voice my concerns over committing suicide Dali grabs my hand and drags me away from the bar. ¡°Come on. I got my own Training Hall. We can have plenty of privacy there!¡± As Dali pulls me from my seat and drags me towards the door I look at the bartender in desperation. He stands stiffly to attention then mimes taking a cap off his head and holding it to his heart, as if mourning the death of someone dear to him. Needless to say, that kind gesture didn¡¯t make me feel any better.

 Chapter 4: Constant Vigilance

    How the hell did I end up in the kind of hell? Did I commit some unforgivable sin? I struggle to my feet wary of the foe before me. I would be looking for a means of escape, but I gave up on that option hours ago. Instead, I shuffle my feet on the ground to make sure my footing is stable and stand ready for this monster. ¡°Aww come on, it¡¯s not that bad!¡± says the monster. I grimace as I struggle to form a coherent sentence. ¡°Y-you aren¡¯t the one that¡¯s constantly been getting stabbed for the last 4 hours! How am I even alive at this point!¡± Dali smirks at my response ¡°I already told you, this room is enchanted as a duel chamber. Anyone that enters here is automatically subjected to the rules of dueling. Your HP can only drop to 1 and then it automatically refills, thus signifying your loss. Speaking of which, that¡¯s what, 138 losses now?¡± "Weren''t you supposed to leave on a mission by now?!" Death incarnate shrugs and gives me a wave of dismissal. "Naah, they don''t need me. I got all the time in the world now."


    I groan as I recall how I ended up in this situation. After dragging me from the bar, I had tripped on the steps and fell on my face, but Dali took no notice and barely slowed down, only stopping long enough to grab my legs since I wasn''t quick enough to stand. Thus, she dragged my face through the dirt for who knows how long. I lost track of where I was until after some time I felt myself flying through the air only to crash onto a wood floor. After a moment spent recollecting my dignity, or at least whatever scraps were left of it, I shakily stood up and got a good look at my surroundings. I appeared to be in some sort of arena/Dojo. There were small targets lined up against one wall with loads of knives embedded in the soft wood, against another wall was a few racks with an assortment of weapons of unsavoury intentions hanging from them, and of course in the middle where I was standing was a flat open area for fights and training. Looking beyond the ¡°decorations¡± I take notice of an unusual feature of this dojo. All the windows in the building have very solid metal bars mounted in the frame. I slowly turn towards the only door in the structure I got thrown in through with mounting dread filling my stomach just in time to see Dali pull a key out of the keyhole of the door and hang the key around her neck.


    ¡°Hey! What kind of creepy shit is this your pulling off here! Since when is it necessary to lock the door when you¡¯re just giving some pointers on how to fight with daggers!¡± The loli-nightmare frowns at me. ¡°How am I supposed to train you properly if you can run away though. I said I was gonna train you and I meant it.¡± I desperately try to think of something, anything to get me out of this situation. ¡°H-hey weren¡¯t you drunk j-just an hour ago? Why don¡¯t you take a nap and sober up a bit! Would hate to hurt you by accident or some...thing¡­¡± I trail off at the end as I notice her wicked smile and the needle-like teeth that fill it, shuddering instinctively at the sight. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what race I am? I¡¯m a Half-Gnasher¡± seeing the confused look on my face she rolls her eyes and explains. ¡°Gnashers are basically like the piranha of the forest. They basically eat anything they can get their teeth on and are absolutely deadly in larger groups. As a half-gnasher, I inherited the teeth and digestive capabilities of the species. Earlier when I said I was only drunk because I wanted to be, I meant it. Once I was done being drunk I simply cleared the alcohol from my system. So you don¡¯t need to worry about little ol¡¯ me, so how about we get started?¡± I blink when a message window appears in front of me.


    ¡°Dali Bloodteeth has challenged you to a Duel with conditional rules to victory. Victory: remove the key from Dali¡¯s neck. Defeat: N/A¡±


    What? I¡¯ve never heard of conditional rules to a duel, and what does it mean when defeat is N/A? Does that mean I can¡¯t lose? Ha! This will be easy! I just gotta grab the key and I¡¯m outta here! I smile and accept the quest unknowingly sealing my fate leading towards eternal damnation. Dali smiles even more once I accept and tosses a knife on the floor in front of me. ¡°Alright. Let''s get training. Pick up that dagger and we¡¯ll begin.¡±


    Once I pick up the dagger Dali proceeds to stab the crap out of my poor body for the next few hours. Every time my health drops to zero, I collapse and my health instantly refills so my nightmare can continue. I tried running from her, but there is nowhere to escape. Every bar is solid with no give to them. The door is reinforced with an iron grate inside the wood. I even tried climbing the support pillars to get to the roof only to find them heavily greased. ¡°What the fuck! Who puts grease on fucking support columns!¡± I shout in panic as Dali once again thrusts her dagger at my exposed back. She laughs at my question ¡°ha! Well, obviously I do! I¡¯m surprised though not many of my students think to try the columns. I like that about you! It shows you don¡¯t give up easily!¡± after I leap away from another slash I finally come to a realization. There is no way I could possibly escape except to win this fucking duel! As if she is reading my mind, Dali suddenly gets more aggressive. Pushing me to retaliate, to fight back. Left with no other choice, I fully dedicate myself to getting that damnable key. The next few hours are filled with the ebb and flow of battle. At first, I only got stabbed for my trouble. After a while, I could parry a blow to try to get under her guard, but she could just step back and stab me more. Soon I was able to read the flow of the battle and block more than just a single attack. My time was filled with parries, dodges, and the clang of the dagger against dagger with the occasional thunk of steel buried into my poor flesh.


    All that has now led up to this moment. I recheck my footing not taking my eyes off of Dali. Watching for the slightest movement to hint at her first attack. Muscles loose but ready to tense up in an instant. Dali¡¯s right foot slides forwards and I ready myself for her charge. Time seems to slow as she races towards me with daggers in both hands. Her right hand swings in from the left, aiming to embed the blade straight into my side. I smack her hand upwards and duck, narrowly avoiding the blade as the momentum carries the dagger over my head as I ready my own dagger to intercept her second attack. Her left hand is angling from underneath aiming to slash my chest in a diagonal cut. I put my blade in the way to intercept the dagger and sparks fly as the two blades grind past each other from the intensity of the blow. I refocus on Dali to try and predict her next attack to see her first blade coming back for another chance at the opening I exposed at my hip while countering her second blade. I try and jump backward but the blade still cuts into my abdomen. Seeing an opportunity I initiate a plan I had been making the last few battles. I cringe and clasp my hand to the wound and bend over slightly leaving an opening for an attack to my face with one of her powerful kicks. I pause an instant then reel backward just in time to feel the wind whistling from under my chin as Dali¡¯s foot passes by. I instantly take my chance and dart forward with my blade just underneath her rising leg, using her own body to hide my attack. Her eyes widen as she notices my ploy and arcs back in the start of a backflip to gain space. Many times before she used this and any anytime I got too close she could use her feet in the middle of the back flip to kick me away. However, during her last few backflips, I noticed one flaw that I decided to take advantage of. As she bends backwards I flip the dagger around and grasp it by the blade. Mentally crossing my fingers, I flick it towards my target. Not Dali, but the key flying above her as her backflip¡¯s momentum flicks the key away from her body and exposing the delicate string looped around her neck. The blade cuts through the air and Dali see¡¯s it coming but she is too late to do anything about it. She still reaches out and and grabs the key itself even as the dagger cuts through the string around her neck.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    She finishes her backflip and laughs at me. ¡°Hahaha! That was a close one! You almost got it then! None of my students were THAT clever so you got me by surprise.¡± She smirks at me and ties the key back around her neck. ¡°It won¡¯t work again next time though so go pick up that dagger and let¡¯s keep going.¡± This time it¡¯s my turns to smirk at her as I gasp for breath from all the exertion. ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡­ Th-this duel is over¡­ I win.¡± She frowns in confusion. ¡°What are you talking about? I still have the key right here.¡± she points to the key around her neck and I laugh. ¡°The condition of the duel wasn¡¯t to take the key from you¡­ It was to remove the dagger from your neck¡­ Which I did.¡± Just then, as if to prove my point, a message pops up in front of me. ¡°Conditions for victory achieved. The winner: Ebon Darkclaw¡± Dali gapes at the message before she blows her top and throws a tantrum right there. ¡°FUUUUCK! DAMNIT NO! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SPECIFIC! FUCKING DAMNIT!!! GRAAAGH!!!¡± She then grabs the nearest thing at hand to throw and hurls it across the dojo with insane force into one of the targets against the wall, blowing a 3 inch hole dead center. I gape at the damage and look back at her. Just then I notice her holding a dagger¡­ ¡°A¡± dagger. Where is her seco- oh¡­ shit. I look back at the target as the pieces start lining up. She just blew a fucking hole in a target with a dagger. What kind of monster IS she?! I knew she was strong, but this?! She takes a deep breath and calms herself down before glaring hotly at me. ¡°Grrrr¡­ I guess you win¡­ Consider your lessons over.¡±


    QUEST COMPLETE: NO REST FOR THE WEARY


    Reward: Dagger Mastery lvl. 1


    Bonus: due to extreme circumstances and effort you receive extra experience towards Dagger mastery.


    Dagger Mastery is now lvl. 7


    Once I finish reading the message I collapse on the floor and laugh like some insane person. ¡°Oi! Get off my floor! I don¡¯t need slackers hanging out in here!¡± Dali growls at me, then smiles deviously. ¡°Unless of course, you want to go another rou-¡± I am already bolting for the door, only to ram face first into it. ¡°Idiot. The door is still locked. Geez no one ever sticks around for round 2¡± Dali grumbles more as she unlocks the door and I bolt outside as soon as there is space big enough to squeeze through. As I smell the fresh night air I nearly burst into tears. I collapse right there, basking in the open air after spending so many hours in that hell hole. I hear a slam and look up to see that Dali has closed the door behind me. Letting out the tension I didn¡¯t know I still had, I Immediately decide it¡¯s time to log the fuck out. Not even bothering to stand up, I swipe down and bring up the menu. Once I navigate to the logout option, I toggle it and wait for the timer to expire and then I am surrounded by blackness.


    I reach up and push against the lid of my virtuo pod and hear the hissing sound as it unseals and opens up. I¡¯m dazzled by lights in my room. aagh note to self: don¡¯t forget to turn off your bedroom lights before going into immersion. Flexing my stiff muscles I slowly ease myself to my feet. I check my clock and see what time it is. 2:00 a.m. I could have stayed in longer, but I think that¡¯s enough for my first time. I may be able to play in my sleep, but after that nightmarish quest, I think I¡¯m gonna stick with regular sleep for at least tonight. I take a quick shower and clean the sweat off of me before getting into bed and getting ready to sleep the rest of the night in the comfort of my own bed. After toggling the light switch on my palm drive I settle in and close my eyes as I am enveloped in the sweet bliss of darkness.


    ......


    As the sun peeks over the horizon, signaling a new day, Riley reluctantly wakes up to the buzzing of his alarm. ¡°Damn college, if I had to put up with this any more I think I might go insane. Thankfully I only have one more week to put up with this shit. Even better that after today it¡¯s the weekend, so I have the whole weekend to play Dreamscape.¡± After getting ready for class Riley steps out of his room just in time to see his brother also dressed for his job at construction, wearing durable denim jeans and a cotton shirt. ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you a bit early for work? You usually don¡¯t leave till after I¡¯m gone.¡± Evan turns around at Riley¡¯s voice. ¡°Oh morning Riley. Yea I know, boss called and said he needs a little extra help today cuz he is a little short on hands. He said some of his early workers didn¡¯t show for work today because they were playing that new game of yours that came out. Speaking of which, how is the game? I haven¡¯t seen anyone yet to ask about it yet since it just came out last night.¡± The two brothers step out the door, locking it as they head towards the elevator.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty good. The immersion is top notch. It isn¡¯t absolutely perfect since if you pay attention as hard as you can you could feel a few discrepancies that might pull you out of the game.¡± Evan turns towards Riley, clearly interested. ¡°What kind of discrepancies? Is it bad enough to ruin your fun?¡± Riley shakes his head in the negative. ¡°Hell no! I didn¡¯t have much time to experiment because I had been¡­ Um training, but one thing I noticed is about your own body movements. Your body moves how you want it to¡­ Actually, let me clarify that a bit. Let us say you want to lift your arm. In order to do that, you flex the muscles in your arms and that¡¯s what moves it, but in the game, it¡¯s like¡­ well it¡¯s like your muscles don¡¯t exist unless you think about them. When you want to move your arm, it just moves like you want.¡± Evan pauses a moment to think as the two of them step into the now open elevator. ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem like to big a problem to me.¡±


    Riley shakes his head again. ¡°No, it really isn¡¯t. I noticed it when I was fighting someone for a long time. It got to the point where I tried to watch my opponent''s muscles tense in order to predict their movements and I noticed that I couldn¡¯t feel any muscle movement under my skin. Other than that though, things are really hard to notice that would break your immersion. You can only notice things about your own body. You can¡¯t feel your own heartbeat or the expansion of your chest when you breath. Just little things like that. It¡¯s not enough to break immersion, but it weirds you out when you pay attention to it.¡± The Elevator doors close and the two brothers descend, neither taking notice of the lone man working in a corner of the elevator room. Upon noticing the two enter the elevator and leave, he quickly pulls a screwdriver from his toolbelt and fastens the faceplate of the wall outlet back to the wall. After checking that no one else is looking around he quickly stands up, dusting off his jumpsuit and walks calmly down the hallway away from the elevators.

 Chapter 5: Preparations

    As Riley and Evan step out of the elevator on the first floor, they say their goodbyes and head off for their own destinations. Riley got on the first bus arriving and left for college as Evan waved goodbye to his younger brother. He still had a few minutes to wait for his own bus heading for the edge of town, so he pulled out his own palm drive in order to check the news. He didn¡¯t have those fancy contacts like his brother had to project the screen right in his own vision though. He was never really comfortable with wearing contacts. It wasn¡¯t that they irritated his eyes or anything, he just had a slight paranoia about them sliding behind his eyeballs or something silly like that. Instead, he toggled the holographic display for his palm drive so he could see the news more easily than on the tiny screen.


    Evan scrolls through the headlines looking for anything that might catch his eye. ¡°Let''s seeee. New droid model said to perfectly mimic human emotion¡­ Nah. Local governor talking about planting a second tree in the city park. Hmph about time. New and improved model of prosthetics¡­ Oh, here we go! ¡®Dreamscape Online instant success.¡¯ that game is better than I thought it would be. It¡¯s only been out a few hours and it¡¯s already on the front page of the news. If a virtuo pod wasn¡¯t so difficult to get my hands on right now I might be tempted to dive in myself.¡±


    Virtuo pods being difficult to get wasn¡¯t an understatement. With the advent of Dreamscape online, millions of people that had held out the last few years on getting their own pod have finally made the plunge and it¡¯s the top product to get for the holidays this year. The problem is, they are selling out the second they hit the shelves. A lot of times even before then. Evan ponders this tidbit of information until the gentle humming of magnetic wheels brings his attention away from the article as the mag bus pulls up next to him. He waits until the humming stops and the wheels settle to the ground and lock with the grid underneath the pavement. The moment the doors open, Evan steps onto the bus and takes a seat somewhat towards the middle of the crowded bus. As the magnetic wheel drives reactivate the bus rises from the ground a few inches and smoothly glides down the street towards his destination. Tuning into the crowd he notices a lot of people were all talking about the same thing. Dreamscape Online. Just how huge is this game? Even the general public is talking about it.


    ¡°My son had a virtuo pod just a week after it was made. He played for a week and then packed it away into our garage. Now this Dreamscape game came out and he has blown the dust off of it and has only come out of the thing a few times and even then only because I threatened to throw the damn thing away!¡±


    ¡°Dude this game is sooo freaking cool! You gotta try it out!¡± ¡°I dunno man, I¡¯m not much for hype. It¡¯s always such a letdown.¡± ¡°The hype is fucking legit, man! I already played like 8 hours on it!¡± ¡°What?! How are you not collapsing from exhaustion?!¡± ¡°fuck man! Didn¡¯t you hear? You can play in your sleep! Duuh!¡±


    ¡°My friend said this game was pretty fun, I already have a virtuo pod so I just bought the game. I¡¯m gonna give it a shot once I get home tonight. It sounds like fun.¡±


    Deciding he heard enough Evan brings up a recording he had of last night¡¯s football game onto his palm drive. He spends the rest of the trip watching the highlights before finally stepping off the bus at his job site. Looking around he notices the lack of workers in the area. The boss really didn¡¯t exaggerate when he said a lot of workers took the day off today. There is hardly even anyone here. How does the boss even expect to get anything done? A huge construction platform marks the construction site. The few workers that showed up today are well into the process of building yet another tower. Evan lets out a large sigh and goes to the main office to clock in and begin his day at work.


    ......


    As Evan begins his busy work day, Riley is just arriving at college. Arriving a bit early today, He decides to head into the cafeteria to grab a bite of breakfast and hang out with a few of his friends. After getting a plate of pancakes and bacon he walks towards a table set against the far wall where he and his friends usually hang out. All three of them are busy chatting away and don¡¯t notice as Riley walks behind them until he drops his plate on the counter and grabs a chair. Gertrude notices Riley first and as always, is quick to go through with pleasantries. ¡°Hello, Riley. How has your day been so far?¡± Riley smiles a greeting at the other two boys as they notice him during Gertrude¡¯s greeting. ¡°Hey, Gert. things are good. Hey Luke, how ya doin Franz? Anything¡­ Interesting happen to you all last night?¡± Luke adjusts the leather jacket he is always wearing. It is worn almost to tatters but Luke has always refused to get a new one instead saying he will get his own one day when he feels ready. ¡°HA! Interesting he says! Come on Riley! Don¡¯t beat around the bush! We know what you really want to ask, so just ask already!¡± Gertrude smiles knowingly at Luke¡¯s remark and I have to roll my eyes and ask the question they are all hinting at. ¡°Sooooo. What do you guys think of the game?¡± ¡°Awesome!¡± ¡°It¡¯s so much fun!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t get enough of this shit!¡± All three responded at the same time with obvious enthusiasm for the game and the conversation branches off from there as the 3 tell Riley all about their adventures. Luke can¡¯t help but keep the excitement from his face as he talks about his character. ¡°I made fairy rouge. He specializes in alchemy so I can make poisons and stuff. He¡¯s so freaking tiny so I can sneak up on someone and nick them with my dagger then boom instant poison debuff.¡± Riley couldn¡¯t imagine a 10-inch glow stick being sneaky but at his skeptical look Luke goes on to explain. ¡°Fairies have this racial that allows them to control how much they glow. You could make yourself glow bright enough so that you never need a torch in a dark cave, but you can also turn off the glow entirely. At that point, a fairy becomes slightly transparent. Not quite invisible, but definitely more difficult to see than a glowing ball of light. Combine that with their tiny stature and it¡¯s like they were built for sneaky.¡± Riley smiles and decides it¡¯s time to ask the one question he knows will be the most entertaining part of Luke¡¯s character. ¡°So Luke what did you name your little glow stick?¡± At this Luke smiles broadly ¡°Puff!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Puff. Like Puff the magic fairy? I¡¯m hoping to make my own stink bombs and everything too.¡± At this Luke couldn¡¯t hold back his manic giggles. Of COURSE his name is a fart joke. It¡¯s ALWAYS a fart joke. At Luke¡¯s words, everyone rolled their eyes. ¡°Aww come on guys! I thought it was funny! Imagine this, death by crop-dusting! Hehehe! People will be laughing even as they hit their rez point! It will be awesome!¡±


    After dipping some of his bacon into the maple syrup from his pancakes and taking a bite Oh my¡­ that''s sooo fucking goood! Shit! Riley gathers his wits and turns to face Gert, ignoring any further commentary from Luke¡¯s antics. ¡°Sooo Gert. How ¡®bout some normalcy here. What did you pick for your character?¡± At Riley¡¯s words, Gertrude fidgets a little bit. ¡°Ermm. Well, I didn¡¯t exactly go normal either. I didn¡¯t feel like making some hot elf chick or anything and have all the guys hitting on me while I¡¯m playing. So instead I picked the first ugly character I saw and went with that¡­¡± Franz nudges her in the ribs ¡°well, go on then! Don¡¯t keep us in suspense! Tell us!¡± At Franz¡¯s words of encouragement, Gert continues. ¡°W-well, I made a Troll. When I saw the freakish regeneration I figured the most obvious path to go would be a berserker. Trolls hardly feel anything in terms of pain, and berserker cuts sense of pain down even more. Now you could hack a limb off my troll and I would barely notice. I got into a few fights with some players that thought I was a regular monster and the results were¡­ Well. Terrifying to say the least.¡± Riley gaped at Gertrude. ¡°Geezus! You''re already fighting players!? What¡¯s that like? Were there any penalties or anything?¡± Gertrude shook her head. ¡°No. The other players attacked first so I had the right to defend myself, and because they thought I was a regular mob, the group didn¡¯t try to protect their healer to well. I just killed the squishy players first and by then the tank was panicking because he couldn¡¯t work out why his taunting skills weren¡¯t working on me. I was laughing so hard at the end of it and I think I might have traumatized them.¡± Franz frowned a bit at that. ¡°Why would they be traumatized. Killing is a part of the game, wouldn¡¯t they expect that as part of being the normal experience?¡± Gert smiled knowingly. ¡°Alright then Francis. Picture this. You''re off hunting in the woods and decide to take on a random troll for whatever reason. It is twice as big as you and so you take a standard formation with the healer in the back and squishies to the side. The tank starts the fight by taunting the troll and then attacking it. Instead of going for the tank, the troll plows through the entire group and pulverizes the healer into the ground. Then turns the nearby wizard into a bloody tube of used toothpaste. The entire time the tank is hacking at the troll and cursing vehemently wondering ¡®why the hell the fucking troll isn¡¯t smacking him back¡¯ Then the troll starts laughing. If you haven¡¯t heard a troll laugh before, it isn¡¯t as nice sounding as you think, and to be laughing while your entire group is pounded into paste¡­ I would have been pissing myself if I was in that tanks boots.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Riley laughs while imagining the scene. ¡°I wish I had been there to see that. I haven¡¯t even been outside my starting town yet.¡± Franz¡¯s attention refocuses on me. ¡°What the hell have you been doing to not even set foot outside the village? I was outside the village 10 minutes after creating my character!¡± Riley gets depressed immediately at those words. ¡°Well it¡¯s not from lack of trying, I¡¯ll tell you that much. It started out innocently enough! I just wanted to get some lessons with a bow and a few tips on how to hold a dagger in case an enemy got too close!¡± After explaining the tragedies Riley faced at the hands of the horrible monster known only as Dali Bloodteeth, The 3 friends did their best to comfort him. ¡°Shit man! I knew NPC¡¯s could change the rules in a duel for training purposes, but this?¡± Franz nods in agreement to Luke¡¯s words. ¡°Yea, that¡¯s just plain cruel and unusual punishment.¡± Gert shrugs her shoulders. ¡°Seems reasonable to me though.¡± Riley, Luke, and Franz all glare at her. ¡°Shame Gert! Can¡¯t you find any sympathy for poor Riley here? Just look at him! He is clearly upset by this!¡± Gert rolled her eyes at Franz¡¯s theatrics. ¡°Oh come off it. Didn¡¯t you hear Riley? He got to level 7 in Dagger Mastery for a few hours of work. Most players are lucky to break through level 3 after 4 hours of constantly fighting monsters in the starting zones. Riley clearly got a huge boost for his efforts.¡±


    Riley was about to go on about how painful it is to get stabbed for several hours in a row when Franz cleared his throat. ¡°Don¡¯t you guys want to know what my character is?¡± Luke laughed while elbowing Francis in the side. ¡°Ha! Sorry pretty boy, lemme guess. You went with a human paladin and devilishly handsome looks, didn¡¯t you?¡± Francis blushed furiously but still managed to keep his voice steady as he replied. ¡°I will admit, that I was tempted to do precisely that, but after a bit of looking around, I was intrigued with another possibility. I stumbled across the Fae. They have an interesting racial. It¡¯s called Glamour and what it does is allows you to create minor illusions such as changing your features to seem more appealing or making it so people don¡¯t pay attention to you. Its chance for success is all based on the charisma stat which is a stat I always like to invest a bit in. I decided to invest in dexterity as well and after finding a rapier, become a sort of fencer type of fighter.¡± Riley widened his eyes at that. ¡°Wow Franz, that sounds like it¡¯s right up your alley. Yet at the same time, different enough that for you to be a completely new way of playing this kind of game.¡± Luke laughed some more. ¡°Yea Mr. Pretty Boy! Now not only will the ladies be all over you, but the men will too! Noble type NPC¡¯s are all about challenging people to duels and shit¡­ Whoa, dude! What if playing like this, you could become a rich noble player! That would be awesome! You should totally go for it! You always had a good head for politics!¡± Franz furrowed his brow in thought. ¡°That actually does sound pretty fun. Thanks for the tip Luke, I will certainly see if there is any merit to your argument.¡± Luke gave Francis a big thumbs up. ¡°No problem dude! I¡¯m just glad you aren¡¯t sticking to the cliche paladin bullshit.¡±


    At that moment the class bell rang, bringing the friendly discussion to a reluctant end. Riley grabbed his bag and headed towards the cafeteria. ¡°See ya later guys! Get some levels and clear the starting area! Maybe you can join me in a few days in the forest near my starting zone!¡± Before Riley got too far, Luke called back, ¡°Hey, what town did you start in!¡± Riley was about to reply when he realized something. ¡°Shit! Sorry, Luke! I got so excited about playing the game last night that I forgot to check the name of my own damn village! I¡¯ll send you a message tonight or tomorrow whenever I find out!¡± All three of Riley¡¯s friends burst out laughing at his blunder and Riley couldn¡¯t help but blush as he quickly jogged towards his first class of the day.


    Evan wiped the sweat from his brow, careful not to knock the hard hat off his head. Work was progressing a lot more quickly now since the workers that hadn¡¯t shown up for work first thing started trickling into the work area. He had been using a heavy duty bolt driver on the scaffolding to pound bolts into the main support structure of the skyscraper to be. I¡¯m glad we don¡¯t have to drill holes into these beams anymore and line them up for bolts that way. Things go so much faster with a bolt gun. Just pull the trigger and it shoots the bolt straight through the steel and seamlessly meshes the two beams together. Now if only it could screw the nuts on the other side as well. Things would go so much faster. Evan waited patiently as his partner fed nuts onto the freshly driven bolts and tightened them with a gun of his own. Once his partner stepped to the side Evan would drive another bolt through the steel beam and His partner would feed on another nut, thus the cycle would continue until their task was completed. As more workers trailed into work his boss contacted him on the Radio piece in his ear asking him to report to the main building. Radios may be old technology, but for a job like this, they were still useful. He handed off the bolt driver to a nearby crew member so he could take over for him and made his way down the scaffolding towards the main office on the ground floor to report to his boss. 15 minutes later He stepped through the door and removed his hard hat to let some air flow through his sweat saturated hair.


    ¡°Yo boss, you called me?¡± Evan said as he stepped into his boss¡¯s room. A portly man with a thick beard and square jaw glanced up from his computer. ¡°Hey, thar Evan. Hows ya feelin ¡®bout now? Been working pretty demn hard for most o th¡¯ day.¡± Evan grinned at his boss¡¯s hidden compliment. The man was crude, gruff, and it was harder to get a compliment out of him then it was to milk an angry badgercat, but when you did get a compliment, you know you did damn fine work. ¡°I¡¯m a little tired, but nothing a good night¡¯s rest won¡¯t fix. Why? You need something done?¡±


    The man grinned at Evan¡¯s words ¡°Naw. Quite da awpohzit, really. The rest of the slackers ¡®ave finally started draggin ass back to work and I plan on grindin thar bones tah dust so thay think twice ¡®bout comin ta work late again. Problem is, you work to demned good. You would make things too easy on dese lazy sacks o shite. How ¡®bout you take da rest o da day off and get some rest.¡± Evan couldn¡¯t help but smile even more. ¡°Sure thing boss. Just don¡¯t kill them with all that extra work, they aren¡¯t as tough as you, you know?¡± The boss waves away Evan¡¯s words ¡°Baaah! They can stand fer a little tuffin¡¯nin up. It¡¯d be good fer dem. Have a good day Evan.¡± ¡°Later boss!¡± Evan called back, then stepped out of the office, clocking out as he passed the door.


    ¡°Now, what should I do for today? Oh! I know! I can make some good ol BBQ bacon Ribs for dinner tonight! Riley would love that!¡± With that idea in mind, Evan decides to do a bit of shopping. The first thing he does once he gets homeis make his special BBQ blend of sauce. ¡°As mom always said, ¡®a good BBQ sauce is more than just a smoky aftertaste you throw on your meat. You also have to think about the other flavors you could blend in and emphasize the flavors of the meat itself.¡¯ She made some good sauce but Riley always like my own special blend¡± Evan grabs a few peppers and dices them up along with some garlic and butter. After adding a couple extra ingredients to the bowl he mixes it all together and throws the ribs into the mix to marinate. He then mixes a separate bowl with similar ingredients to the first but changes the peppers out for a spicier variety. Once he finishes mixing the bowl he separates the slices of bacon and submerges them into the second bowl of ingredients for marinating. After washing his hands Evan sits down in front of the TV to pass the time until Riley got home and he would start cooking. Just as he plops down on the couch, he hears some noise coming from Riley¡¯s room. Evan turns around in his seat just in time to see the mechanic, Oscar Maladay, step out of Riley¡¯s room. ¡°Fucking shit!¡± Riley shouts and falls on his ass. Standing up to regain his footing he sees Oscar his heart in what must have been a similar heart attack. ¡°Shit man! Have you been in here the whole time?! You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing in my apartment?¡± Oscar seems to pale for a second by he quickly regains his composure. ¡°W-well I didn¡¯t know you were in here either, aren¡¯t you home early? You scared me half to death there. I thought I was about to be mugged or something.¡± Evan rolled his eyes. ¡°Why I¡¯m home early is none of your business. I asked what you''re doing in my apartment. No one was here to invite you in, and I didn¡¯t receive a notice that you would be visiting today.¡± Oscar clears his throat before replying. ¡°Y-yes, sorry about that, there wasn¡¯t really time to send a notice. I got a notice that there were some power fluctuations somewhere on this floor and I was going room to room testing the circuitry for any frayed wiring or such. Sending a notice to every room and waiting for the occupant''s reply would have taken too long and having to check each room according to every tenant''s schedule would have been a hassle. I just finished up in here so I''ll be leaving now.¡± Evan nodded and watched as Oscar stepped out the door. Hmm. Riley is right, that guy IS a bit creepy. With that thought, Evan sat back down on the couch and watched a few shows to pass the time while the meat marinated.

 Chapter 6: Thanks for the food!

    Riley was enjoying the bus ride back with his friends until they got off at stops of their own, leaving him alone with just Franz who got off the stop after himself. ¡°Hey Franz. What is your character¡¯s name? I just realized that you and Gert never said your character names.¡± Franz stopped a moment to think. ¡°Oh, yea. I guess we didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t know Gert¡¯s character, but mine is named Delric.¡± Riley looked at him confused. ¡°You didn¡¯t give yourself a family name? Isn¡¯t that a dead giveaway? I thought that you couldn¡¯t be of noble blood if you didn¡¯t have a family name.¡± Franz smiled at Riley in the annoying way he does when he knows something the other doesn¡¯t. ¡°That only applies to the NPCs. Players, or adventurers as we are often referred to as, don¡¯t need family to gain status. We gain status through fame and reputation. The more of each you have, the more people might recognize and respect you.¡± Riley nodded. ¡°That makes sense I guess. To bad I¡¯m not a reputation grinder, but that sounds like it fits you perfectly. I better start hearing about your courtly dealings in the upcoming months. With your obsession with how people see you, I doubt you will stay in the bottom rungs of the societal ladder for long.¡±


    Franz checked his own palm drive to check the progress to the next stop then asked Riley, ¡°So, What do you plan on doing once you get back online? You logged out right in front of the dojo from the crazy lady, right? Do you even know where you are at in town?¡± ¡°Nah, not a clue. On the way there, the loli bitch was dragging my face through the dirt, and I was so exhausted when I finished I logged out of the game with my face in the dirt as well. All I really know is that it seemed like I was being dragged longer than it should have been if it was just for going through town. As fast as she was running in her excitement to torment me, I¡¯ll bet I logged out just outside of town. Hopefully I won¡¯t be too far from the walls.¡± Franz pondered Riley¡¯s predicament during the brief silence until the two of them heard an ominous rumble outside. Franz looked out the window and cursed. ¡°Shit, a big storm is rolling in. Now I¡¯m gonna have to run through the rain once I get off the bus.¡± Riley leaned over his friend to get a look at the dark thunderheads rolling in the barely visible sky overhead. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing most of the towers have lightning rods on the roof. My Brother said it¡¯s dangerous working in construction during thunderstorms because these buildings constantly encourage lightning bolts to strike them because they are so close to the clouds that form the storm.¡± Just then Riley received a notification from his palm drive that they were arriving at his stop. Sure enough, he saw his stop approaching from the window. Waving goodbye to Franz Riley stepped off the bus and made his way back to his apartment tower. Rain started pouring suddenly just as he got to his apartment Riley checked a message he just got during the 4 minute elevator ride to his floor and saw it was from his brother.


    ¡°I got home early today and figured I could make your favorite dinner. The Ribs and bacon are already marinated and baking in the oven. I Used the special honey pepper blended BBQ sauce you like so much.¡±


    As Riley finished reading that message he jumped for joy. It¡¯s been months since Evan last made his special ¡®Honey pepper BBQ bacon ribs¡¯. He had been planning on making a quick sandwich before jumping into Dreamscape again but this changes EVERYTHING!!! He ran down the hallway as soon as the elevator opened and fumbled with his keycard before finally opening the door and storming into the apartment. ¡°Where the hell is this wonderful brother of mine and why the hell aren¡¯t my damn ribs finished yet!¡± Riley heard a clatter of metal and some cussing followed by ¡°Damnit Riley! Don¡¯t scare me like that! Now I have to clean the damn knives again!¡± Riley walked around the corner leading to the kitchen with a shit eating grin on his face. ¡°Hey! How bout I give you a big ol kiss to make up for it!¡± Evan made a mock face of disgust. ¡°Uggh no way! I don¡¯t want your nasty cooties all over my handsome face.¡± Riley rolled his eyes. ¡°Puuh-leaase! If your face was any more ¡®Handsome¡¯ The pigs would have died of fright long before they were butchered if they found out their delicious bacon was going to feed you.¡± Riley took a good look at the kitchen. He was sure if he had come in just 10 minutes earlier, it would have looked like a hurricane had just blown through the kitchen. Evan was an absolute neatfreak and may have been a good cook, but every time you mix Evan and food ingredients together, a mess is guaranteed. Even now, He saw that Evan hadn¡¯t had a chance to remove and clean the apron he always wore as ¡°protection¡± because it was drenched in BBQ sauce and other mystery stains. Seeing me eyeball his apron Evan blushed a bit. ¡°W-well, I just put the ribs in the oven. I was just about finished cleaning and was fixing to clean my apron. Dinner won¡¯t be done for another 90 minutes.¡± Riley laughed at Evan¡¯s outlandish statement. ¡°There is no way you are getting those stains out of that apron. Just give up and end the poor things misery.¡± Evan looked down at the sad state of his cooking armor. ¡°It¡¯s not THAT bad, is it?¡± Riley walked over and poked Evan in the chest. ¡°That apron is so dirty you might need to make a blood sacrifice to the patron god of laundry to get the stains out.¡± After a long sigh Evan removed the apron and handed it to Riley whom promptly balled it up and threw it into the trash. After performing a sermon for the piece of cloth that fought so bravely against such overwhelming odds, Riley Turned once again towards Evan, who was barely keeping a smile from his face at his little brother¡¯s antics. ¡°So, how long did you say dinner would take?¡± With pursed lips, Evan managed to reply calmly enough. ¡°A-About an hour and a half.¡± Evan took a deep breath and mastered the giggles that threatened to overwhelm him. ¡°You can play for a while in the game to pass the time, but don¡¯t be late for dinner. I put a lot of effort into this and will be upset if you miss out on it.¡± Riley couldn¡¯t help but laugh right back. ¡°Ha! The only way I would miss out on an epic dinner like this is if I was dead! Even then, I would fight my way back from the grave! Nothing shall stop me from enjoying a meal like this!¡± With that said, Riley turned around and marched into his room. After dropping his bag on his bed he climbed into the Virtuo pod and booted up the game.


    The first thing that I noticed when I came to, was the taste of dirt. Ahhh, such a familiar thing, yet it brings back bitter memories. I spit out the granules of sediment from my tongue and stand up to take in my surroundings. I am surrounded by the forest canopy on all sides. All sides, except of course right behind me where the dojo is. Shivering I push down the memories that are still very fresh. After taking in my surroundings, one fact makes itself VERY apparent. ¡°Where the fuck am I?!¡± I stand there long moments debating on whether or not it would be worth asking Dali for directions back to town. I¡¯m sure I could find my way back to town eventually. I just need to get a sense of where I am in the forest. How hard could that be?... Still It wouldn¡¯t hurt to ask. Mustering up the courage, I turn and step towards the dojo. I open the door and peek insi- ¡°Well if it isn¡¯t my favorite apprentice! Back for round two alre-¡± I close the door and walk away from the dojo. I glance up into the sky and grimace when I see that the sun has almost set and I only have an hour or two of daylight. ¡°Well, no point in stalling. The sooner I get going, the sooner I get out of here.¡± After saying that, I realize that I¡¯m feeling pretty hungry as well. ¡°Guess I should probably hunt some food too.¡± Instead of wasting time worrying about which is the right direction, I pick a random direction and walk into the woods.


    While walking I pay attention to any signs of wildlife, hoping to find a trail I could follow without much trouble. After some time I spot some rubbing from a young buck on a tree where it had rubbed the bark off with it¡¯s antlers. I search the area around the tree and quickly find a trail to follow. I take a deep breath and with my enhanced sense of smell, I catch a faint trace of the animal. Hmm¡­ seems a few hours old. Shouldn¡¯t be to hard to find. Looks like it¡¯s heading off to the east. After stringing my bow, I carefully crept forward striving to remain silent and vigilant as I begin stalking my prey. The going is difficult at first since the underbrush is somewhat thick, but the buck eventually gets to a game trail and starts following the path through the forest making travel much easier for me. I am careful to occasionally sniff the air and listen for any unusual sounds though, to make sure I am still on the buck¡¯s trail and the occasional hoofprint provides reassuring evidence as well. I also pay attention to any slight noises that might hint at incoming danger. There may still be light, but it is quickly vanishing and the hunters of the night are just now starting to wake. It isn¡¯t long before I hear the howl of a wolf, but it is miles away and I¡¯m not worried about it finding me.


    Suddenly, the wind shifts and starts blowing towards me and it brings a much stronger scent of the buck I am hunting. I Immediately freeze and take stock of my surroundings and only start moving when I am sure the buck isn¡¯t nearby and able to see me. After another 40 yards I reach the edge of a clearing. I don¡¯t break cover, but instead carefully observe the area. Slowly easing myself forwards until I am able to see my target. The buck is settled down in the grass bedding for the night. I take the time to stab an arrow into the ground, ready to be snatched and fired in case I don¡¯t get an immediate kill shot. Once preparations are ready I nock my second arrow to my bow and carefully pull the string taut sighting down the shaft. I ease my breathing then let the shaft fly. It impacts the deer¡¯s chest with a dull meaty thud. The deer startles and immediately jumps up to it¡¯s feet with the adrenaline rush and stumbles a few steps before collapsing again, legs thrashing in the air wildly. I sling my bow to my back as I sprint towards the deer and quickly draw my dagger. I pounce on the helpless beast and quickly saw the knife back and forth across its throat. Blood pours from the wound forming bloody bubbles as the deer gasps it¡¯s final breaths. When the heavy spurts of blood become a slow trickle and its eyes glaze over I know it has finally died.


    I release the tension in my body and take in my surroundings to make sure I¡¯m alone. It¡¯s then that I discover that I, in fact, am not alone. At the edge of the clearing stands a large black cat. It stands at about 4 feet at its shoulders and is staring at me intently. I panic for a moment before I remember one of the features of the beast kin being a neutral disposition towards beasts they resemble. Being a cat kin, I am quick to jump on the opportunity of NOT losing reputation with the animals. I carefully stand up and hold my hands out to my sides to show I am unarmed. ¡°I apologize great hunter, I did not realize you were hunting this prey as well. I am willing to let you have the kill and resume my hunt elsewhere if you wish.¡± After a moment¡¯s pause, it leaves the forest¡¯s cover and approaches me in the center of the clearing. I slowly back away from the deer and am careful not to make sudden movements but stop at about 20 feet away from it. The cat approaches the deer and inspects the kill. Now that the cat is in direct moonlight, I can get a better look at it.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Shadow Stalker Panther- These large cats are dangerous hunters. They are able to blend almost perfectly with the shadows and stalk their prey until an opportunity to strike presents itself


    After reading the description of it I take a closer look at the panther. I can clearly see most of it¡¯s body but where ever it¡¯s legs are caught in the shadow of it¡¯s own body, the outer edges become indistinguishable from the shadows themselves. If he didn¡¯t know they were there, he would say the cat was gliding on shadows. The cat sniffs the arrow in the deer¡¯s chest and looks at me. It almost seems to be¡­ glaring at me? Acting on intuition I bow to the cat. ¡°I¡¯m sorry if the way I killed it seemed dishonorable. I am not a powerful hunter like yourself so I need every advantage I can get.¡± When I look up the cat is still staring at me, but the intensity of its glare seemed to have lessened. Just then a window popped up right in front of me.


    Quest: Honor among hunters


    The Shadow Stalker Panther is dissatisfied with the methods you used to kill your prey. He wishes to show you how to hunt with honor. Follow the panther and learn the ways of the hunt.


    Quest type: Rare


    Difficulty: B


    Conditions for failure: Fail to satisfy the Panther enough during the hunt. Use your Bow at any time.


    Penalties for Failure: You will become the prey. Reputation lost with feline beasts.


    Rewards: Reputation gained with feline beasts.


    My eyes widen in surprise at the unexpected quest. I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the opportunity. I accept the quest and face the panther. ¡°I would be honored to learn the proper ways to hunt.¡± The panther glances meaningfully at the corpse at its feet. Oh right. I shouldn¡¯t let this go to waste. The cat waits patiently as I skin the deer and harvest the meat from it for cooking later when I have a chance. I offer the heart to the cat and after a moment of hesitation it accepts the offering and eats it while I use a water skin to wash the blood from my hands. Once finished, I nod at the cat to signify that I was ready. The cat¡¯s eyes go unfocused for a moment and then a window pops up in front of me. ¡°Shadow Stalker Panther has invited you to a party¡± I hesitate for a moment because I never expected a mob could invite players to groups but accept the invitation anyways. A small window indicating its health appears in the corner of my vision and I get a sudden wave of emotions that I realize is coming from the cat. Impatience, hunger, excitement. I guess it¡¯s ready to hunt. Without further delay the two of us leave the clearing in search of new prey.


    It isn¡¯t long before I smell something new. A musky odor. After a moment of thinking the image of a wild boar springs into my head. At the same time I feel the cat¡¯s thoughts. Hungry. Prey. Hunt. Eat. We silently follow this new trail and eventually come upon the target. A large boar is rooting around the forest loam but it isn¡¯t alone. There are 5 other pigs in the same area. We sit there for a few minutes observing them. The cat¡¯s thoughts direct me towards a hog closer to us than the others are, and I see it¡¯s back left leg bent in an unnatural way. hunt weak, easy kill, no see, no die. I take a moment to translate his broken thoughts. Go for the weakest prey, since it¡¯s the easiest¡­ no see¡­ Stay hidden? No die¡­ don¡¯t die. Oh! Don¡¯t let them see me until I attack or I might die. I nod to myself and look around the area for a means of approach. As my gaze wanders upwards, I notice how the trees branches almost interlock from tree to tree. I look to the cat and see that it sat down to get more comfortable and is watching me. I guess I¡¯m doing this alone. I look one more time at the pigs among the tree to make sure none are looking this way and I dig my claws into the truck of the tree I was hiding behind and climb upwards. Once I¡¯m in the branches I start moving from tree to tree, being very careful to stay on the thickest branches to avoid any unnecessary shaking of the limbs. I use hunter¡¯s focus and carefully pay attention to the prey as we both move. As I get closer to my target I move more and more smoothly. The leaves no longer shiver, the branches only sway with the wind and my target remains blissfully unaware as I approach a tree directly over it. It took a good 10 minutes to move the 50 feet or so but it was worth the wait and as I poise myself over my target I find my center of balance. I have long since forgotten about other pigs among the trees. I tense my body in preparation to strike. The wind shifts and seems to be enough to bring my scent to my prey. It looks up suddenly alert for danger, but it is too late. I pounce, dagger ready.


    The pig screams as I land on its body and my weight topples it to the ground. Without hesitation I drive my dagger up behind its front leg towards it¡¯s heart. I feel the throb of the heart against the tip of my dagger. Hammering itself against the tip, tearing itself apart even as the organ struggles to pump the blood to keep the pig alive. The animal thrashes on the ground struggling to stand on its feet again, but with its lame limb pinned against the ground it doesn¡¯t have the leverage to right itself. Within a few seconds the thrashing slows down until its struggles finally cease. I sit there a moment to shocked to think that it was over already. Once I gather my wits I look up to see the panther sitting right next to me. There is no condescension in it¡¯s eyes now. I stand up and back away from the boar and bow to the large cat. ¡°I thank you for the chance to learn. Please accept this prey as my thanks.¡± The cat continues to stare a moment longer then starts tearing hungrily into the carcass, seeking to sate its hunger.


    Quest complete: Honor among hunters


    You have impressed the Shadow Stalker Panther with your tactics during the hunt.


    Reward: Increased reputation with feline beasts. Increased reputation with this Shadow Stalker Panther. Your Reputation with this Shadow Stalker Panther has risen to friendly.


    My own stomach grumbles reminding of my own appetite and I walk a few yards away and start making a cookfire. The cat watches me as I go about my task. I get the fire going and bring out some of the deer meat I have carved from the young buck earlier and spit a few chunks of meat on a stick. Then I position the meat over the fire by jabbing the sticks into the ground. 10 minutes later I enjoy my meal of roasted venison and release a sigh of satisfaction once I finish it. I glance at my internal clock and have a near panic attack. ¡°Shit! The ribs!¡± I stand up and quickly bow to the cat. ¡°Thank you for the quest. I will never forget what you showed me. I must go now to my own world. Safe hunting.¡± The cat only stops tearing into the flesh of the pig long enough to nod at me in appreciation but quickly goes back to its meal. I bring up the menu and log out of the game.


    Riley opens the Virtuo pod as soon as the seal releases and he jumps out and runs down the short hallway towards the kitchen just in time to see Evan setting the tray piled high with ribs onto the table. ¡°Ha! Just in time! I was afraid I would have to start beating on the lid to get you to come out of there.¡± Evan grinned at Riley as he grabs two plates for the both of them. ¡°There is no way you could stop me from eating dinner tonight¡± Riley said as he sat down at the table. ¡°Enough chit chat! Lets eat some fucking ribs!¡±


    Riley and Evan both start digging into the meal. The ribs melt in the mouth with the juicy bacon exploding with flavor. That alone would be an excellent meal, but all that is only enhanced even more by the BBQ sauce spread over everything. The sweet and savory flavor is accented perfectly by spicy kick that comes in moments later. The spicy heat is almost overwhelming until you take another bite, the sweet flavor of the honey mixed in with the sauce immediately cools the mouth and quenches the spicy peppers that were burning your mouth only moments ago. As if to counteract that the peppery aftertaste kicks in again and forces you to take in another mouthwatering bite. It is like a rollercoaster of pain and pleasure. The sweet and spicy perfectly balancing each other even as the ribs and bacon join the medley of tastes.


    Riley is in heaven with the delicious meal and it¡¯s a struggle to stop eating even as his stomach feels like it¡¯s going to pop if he ate one more bite, but stop he does. Once the two of them finish eating Riley helps Evan with the dishes even though there were only two plates and glasses for drinks. No utensils, because who in their right mind eats ribs with a knife and fork?! Once the kitchen is cleaned, Riley gives Evan a big hug. ¡°Thanks so much for that Evan! You¡¯re the best bro ever!¡± Evan couldn¡¯t keep the happy grin off his face. ¡°I¡¯m glad you enjoyed it.¡± Riley let go of Evan then and started blushing furiously. ¡°That was a bro hug! Just so you know! Nothing girly about it. I¡¯m gonna go back and play some more Dreamscape. Good night Evan.¡± Evan smiled even more. ¡°Good night Riley, have fun.¡± With that said, Riley dashed off to his room to log back into Dreamscape online. Evan walked into the living room and turned on the Holo screen to see what was on. When the screen activated it was on the weather channel.


    ¡°There is a lot of rain due for tonight, expect plenty of electrical strikes in the area as we-¡±


    *click*


    ¡°Get your own Robo-Pet toda-¡±


    *click*


    ¡°-ere was another attack in the southeast district last night. A person was found stabbed to dea-¡±


    *click*


    ¡°-AT THE 40¡¯s, THE 30¡¯s, THE 20¡¯s, TOUCHDOOOOWWWNNN!!!¡±


    Evan brightened up once he found the channel he was looking for. ¡°Alright! Just in time. I was afraid I was gonna miss the game!¡± Evan got comfortable and enjoyed his favorite past time. Sports.

 Chapter 7: Blood, bile, and tears

    I opened my eyes to see the trees of the forest surrounding me and the faint scent of blood still drifted in the breeze. I took stock of my surroundings and noticed that the boar I had left for the large cat was nothing but hunks of meat clinging to bone and viscera scattered nearby. The most notable thing however was the fact that I wasn¡¯t alone. The panther sat on a nearby tree limb watching me with an intensity only a true predator could muster. Before I could do anything else, the cat dropped from its perch and walked closer towards me and a window appeared in my vision.


    QUEST: EYE OF THE PANTHER


    Not only have you impressed Shadow Stalker Panther with how well you hunt, you showed honor and respect towards him by offering him your first kill. Shadow Stalker Panther now wishes to return the honor by sharing the joy he feels as top predator during a true hunt.


    OBJECTIVE: Join with Shadow Stalker Panther as he hunts his rivals tonight and learn the ways of a predator.


    REWARD: Ability- (Beast Bonding) More easily understand the emotions and intentions of the wildlife


    I smile as I read the window. ¡°Why would I want to miss out on such a rare quest?¡± Without hesitation, I accept the quest. I feel a wave of power surging over me that seems to be coming from the panther. I can barely stand under the pressure of it. Without even meaning to, I look towards the panther and our eyes lock. An eternity seems to go by and the power surrounding me solidifies on me. There is a wrenching feeling on me and I totter in place as a wave of vertigo surges through me. I blink. Only to suddenly find my eyes are open¡­ That¡¯s odd. Isn¡¯t that me standing there in front of¡­ me? What the hell. I try to shift myself only to find nothing responding. I. well the me standing in front of¡­ me. Falls to the ground unmoving. I feel a dull ache on my sense as I watch my body faceplant into the dirt, doing nothing to break the fall. I may not feel actual pain in the game, but I still wince internally at the impact. That HAD to hurt.


    My eyes blink and my head turns and looks around. Now that my body is moving on it¡¯s own, I come to a realization. I am a lot shorter now. I become aware of more things as my body moves of its own volition and I feel muscles and limbs moving in ways I am not familiar with. I am a freaking cat now. Wait. that¡¯s not right. I¡¯m not a cat, I am just inside the body of one. I don¡¯t control anything, I can¡¯t even do so much as wiggle a single hair on my own. I¡¯m just along for the ride inside the Shadow Stalker Panther.


    I try and calm myself down and pay more attention to my surroundings. While I was having trouble with my internal debate the panther had wasted no time on me coming to terms with the circumstances, as it was already sprinting full speed among the trees and through the undergrowth. As I pay attention, I notice more and more things. Smells are so much more vivid than before. Pardon the pun, but as a Catkin, My sense of smell was nothing to, well¡­ sniff at. I could distinguish a trail in order to track prey easily enough, and if I really tried, I could figure out all sorts of stuff that was happening in the area. This however, was on a completely different level. I could smell the slight rotten smell of leaves on the ground stirred up as we ran across the loamy forest floor. The sweet fruity smell of a berry bush about 30 feet away as I blew past it. Even the scent of the dozens of forest critters in the immediate area. I was a bit overwhelmed by it all. After that, The next thing I noticed was the absence of noise. No, the sounds of the forest were still there, I could hear frogs and insects chirping the night away, the lack of sound I was referring to was the sound of my own passage through the forest. Even though we must have been going fast enough to easily outpace an olympic athlete going full sprint, I didn¡¯t hear a single leaf rustle, nor the snapping of a twig under my foot paws. It was complete silence. The next thing I noticed was I could feel the mind of the panther, powering everything in this body. Making snap decisions purely on instinct alone. As I noticed that I could feel the panther¡¯s mind focus on a smell that seemed a bit earthy that seemed to be coming from in front of us. The panther glanced to the right at a tree just before the location. As I neared it the panther leapt at the tree and, without breaking momentum, braced all four of its paws on the side of the trunk and with a surge of power, leapt off the trunk of the tree over the spot the smell was coming from. As I glanced down I saw a couple deer that had bedded down for the night and we sailed over them, landing on the other side of the clearing and continuing onwards into the forest. I listened carefully, but never heard a cry of alarm from the deer as they slept, completely unaware of the danger that passed within mere feet of them just moments ago.


    At that moment I released a shout of joy. Well, a mental shout of joy, since I had zero control over the functions of this body. Nevertheless, The panther took note of my excitement and increased his speed. Exhilaration surged through me as trees passed by as a blur, bushes whipped past my ears, and the ground seemed to throw me away from it instead of simply running over it. Without realizing it, My mind blended with the panther¡¯s. The panther wasn¡¯t just going through the motions as I observed. WE moved through the forest like a wraith. WE stalked the night in search of our prey. WE. Became. ONE.


    As I fully immersed myself in the thrill of the moment a long, sonorous howl broke through the nighttime music. We stop in our tracks and listen carefully to the sound, zeroing in on the direction and there is a single feeling emanating from the panther¡¯s consciousness. Hunger¡­


    There is a long silence in the forest as the howl fades away. Without warning the panther bolts forward in the direction of the sound and I recall something. Didn¡¯t I get a quest to take care of some Dire wolves from Donavan? What else in these woods could possibly be a rival to apex predator of the area? I feel a thrill of excitement when I realize I could possibly take down two quests at once! As I run deeper into the trees, I try to guess at how far we¡¯ve run. I have to be able to loot the pelt off the Alpha wolf in order to actually fully complete the quest requirements for the Dire Situations quest. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s something I can do while riding along in the panther¡¯s body, so I have to be able to find my way back to the bodies when this is all over. Thinking about the distance we have crossed it feels like we¡¯ve already run over 3 miles now, maybe 4, and it¡¯s barely even been 5 minutes! It would take me an hour to go that far moving through the forest. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of jealousy now at how the panther makes it all seem so effortless.


    After another 10 minutes or so of travel the panther slows down drastically. I was wondering why, when I noticed that he was focusing on a singular sent in the air. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was. It had a pungent musky smell to it that made me think of something like¡­ a dog?... wait¡­ shit. At this point the panther slowed to a crawl and went full stealth mode, and I got to see the true capabilities of a Shadow Stalker Panther.


    As the Cat crept forward, the shadows themselves seemed to boil and move towards me. I felt a slight chill crawl up our body as the shadows seemed to swallow us whole. After a few seconds the chilly sensation vanished. Of course the cat didn¡¯t waste time inspecting its own body. Why would it when it has lived with this body it¡¯s entire life? I tried catching glimpses at the corner of our vision as we moved and I might have seen something, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. It was like the shadows themselves moved and separating the shadows from darkness itself is a hard enough task when you are looking for it. When I couldn¡¯t even control the direction my eyeballs were moving, it might as well have been impossible. I could only hope that we were hidden well enough to not be noticed by the Direwolves.


    As we crept slowly through the undergrowth, I noticed that there was a pervasive silence that hadn¡¯t been present before. The normal sounds of nature that had been so abundant previously, was now very obvious with it¡¯s absence. The dead silence gave an eerie feeling to the atmosphere. Trees that seemed so healthy and vibrant before now had an ominous presence. Seeming to loom over me as if to say ¡®you aren¡¯t welcome here¡¯. Despite the sense of danger, the panther pressed onwards without hesitation and I, of course, had no say in the matter.


    As time went on, I started to hear growling and yipping in the distance and the iron tang of blood hung in the air. Closing the distance brought other noises into hearing range. The occasional cracking sound, being loudest was the first to become audible. Soon enough though, other noises became audible. It sounded like tearing and ripping of something mixed with a cacophony of various squishy sounds. All this blended together with the smacking of jowls and it became obvious that the direwolves had already made their first kill and were now currently feasting on their prize. The panther; didn¡¯t stop as the noises grew closer, but was careful to move downwind and slowed down until he reached a break in the trees. I recognized it right away as a road, but didn¡¯t have to chance to learn much more than that before we focused on our targets and what they were eating.


    If I had been in control of this body, I would have retched right then and there. The area wasn¡¯t just a scene of death. It was a scene of destruction. There was a wagon stopped 20 feet away from my position. It was small enough that one horse was all it took to move and it was packed with various trade ingredients such as flour, sugar, farmers tools, and other such commodities. I knew this much because the contents of the wagon was scattered everywhere in the area. Bags were ripped open and tools had their handles broken. It was like special attention was paid to making sure nothing survived. Then my gaze shifted to the Direwolves. There were 7 of them and their faces and paws were drenched in blood as they tore into the carcasses at their feet. I could see the body of the horse half hidden at the front of the carriage. A man lay on the ground next to the driver¡¯s seat his neck at an awkward angle. A rusty sword lay a foot away from his hands as a wolf was ripping the flesh from the man¡¯s face. Despite that gruesome scene, that wasn¡¯t what made me want to vomit when I first saw everything here. A small body dangled out of the back of the wagon. One of its legs was hung up on something inside the wagon so the body dangled upside down arms splayed awkwardly in the dirt as the head was just high enough to swing freely. The blood trailing across the face from gaping wound in it¡¯s throat did nothing to hide the tears and the look of utter terror on her face. She couldn¡¯t have been more than 10.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The panther had been waiting patiently, observing the wolves as it planned its attack. That gave me plenty of time to collect myself as I took another look. The scene of carnage seemed to tell a story all of it¡¯s own. A lone merchant was traveling late at night, probably hoping to reach the town and get a good night of sleep in a comfortable bed. When the wolves attacked, they hit the horse first. If not, the horse would have bolted on it¡¯s own instead of waiting for it¡¯s own death. With the horse down, the man had no means of getting away and instead he made the girl, most likely his own daughter, hide in the back of the wagon as he defended it. I couldn¡¯t be sure how long he held out but with the horse down and the man holding them off some of the wolves must¡¯ve gotten frustrated or bored and circled around the wagon. They found the girl and pulled her from the wagon and ripped out her throat. When she screamed as she fell, it distracted the man long enough for the other wolves to pull him down from the high ground and they clamped down on the back of his neck breaking the spine.


    I reflexively tried to swallow down the imagined bile working it¡¯s way up my throat only to find nothing happening. Oh right. Not my body. I settled for offering a prayer to the dearly departed. They may have only been NPCs, but no matter how you look at it that is a horrible way to die. I gathered my wits just in time as the Panther started moving along the edge of the road staying just within the cover of the forest edge. I was starting to wonder what the panther¡¯s plan was when I saw we were focusing on one of the wolves that was a short distance away from the other wolves feasting on the horse as the others tore into the humanoid bodies and the wagon¡¯s contents. Our gaze flicked upwards, focusing on a branch overhanging the road, and I grinned internally as I realized what the panther was planning. The panther leapt onto one of the lower branches of a nearby tree and took a moment to center his balance before leaping into the canopy of the taller tree we had set our sights on. There was a faint rustling of leaves that couldn¡¯t be avoided as we landed on the branch. Some of the wolves stopped eating and looked in our direction at the noise we had made. Thankfully the wind decided to pick that moment to gust and stirred the leaves of the surrounding trees to disguise the noise. After a few seconds the wolves went back to their meal, and the panther went back to it¡¯s task. Easing out on the branch, I marveled at how perfectly balanced the cat was even as the branch swayed slightly in the breeze. There was never even a tremor in it¡¯s muscles as it maintained its balance with the movement, and very quickly the panther was in position to strike its mark. The direwolf wasn¡¯t directly underneath us, so the panther would have to leap out a few feet, but that probably work better for us since that meant the cat could put more force into its descent.


    There was a moment, not one of hesitation, but of preparation. As the cat tensed its muscles and readied itself to strike. Then it happened. One second I was poised to strike with the panther, the next the panther was already impacting the wolf. Teeth clenching around the spine just underneath the head. The wolf barely had enough time to let out a yelp before the panther wrenched its head it a weird but smooth twisting motion and there was an audible crack as the direwolf¡¯s neck was broken. Even so, the cat didn¡¯t waste a single second gloating over its victory. Instead, whipping around to face the rest of the wolves, the panther ran towards the closest direwolf. We didn¡¯t go for a vital since the wolves were already on guard now, instead we swiped a claw across a wolf¡¯s shoulder, hoping to cripple it and give us an edge in the upcoming battle. Before the other direwolves could surround us, the panther sprinted back into the trees and shadows with the wolves right on our heels.


    We were hard pressed to maintain distance with the pack chasing us. There was very little it terms of barks or growls surprisingly. The chase itself consisted of panting lungs and breaking branches as the pack plowed through the underbrush after us. After a while, the pack spread out a bit, as faster runners pulled ahead and the slowpokes fell behind. The panther decided to take advantage of this by slowing down enough to allow the fastest wolf to close the distance. When the wolf was about 10 feet behind us, the panther leapt straight at a tree and landed on the side of the trunk like before when he jumped over the deer. Except this time, instead of using the tree to get additional height, the pather used the tree to completely reverse direction, charging straight at the wolf and catching it off guard. They tumbled together into a mass of flying fur as they tore into each other. Neither gaining ground when trying to seek out one another¡¯s throats. Unfortunately for the wolf cats had one distinct advantage over wolves. Their claws are much sharper the a wolf¡¯s claws. The direwolf tried desperately to scratch at the panthers hide, but made little progress in terms of damage. As they struggled in the forest loam the panther latched onto the wolf with its front claws. That is when the real danger was brought to the battle. The panther pulled its hind legs up and pushed them between itself and the direwolf and with a quick shove, his claws turned the direwolf¡¯s underbelly to ribbons. The cat repeated this 3 more times before breaking off and getting distance as the other wolves finally closed the distance. The wolf we had just attacked shakily stood up on its legs. For a moment it seemed like the wolf would be able to still participate in the fight still. Then with a disgusting *shlick*ing sound, the wolf¡¯s guts poured out of its ravaged belly. It then collapsed onto the ground, doomed to a painful and inevitable death.


    Taking advantage of the momentary distraction caused by their packmates demise, the panther dashed forward and swiped a claw at another wolf¡¯s face managing to claw it¡¯s left eye and blinding it on one side. As that wolf fell back from pain, another wolf pounced and we spun to face that wolf as it charged.


    After that, things happened so fast it was hard to keep track of everything going on. Fur was flying and the wolves gave as good as they got. Even as we latched onto one wolf¡¯s skull and bit down, crushing it, another wolf took advantage of the opening and chomped down on a hind leg, yanking it out from under us. We whipped around a swiped a claw at it. It reflexively let go and reeled back but that only exposed it¡¯s neck to the blow and we sheared through one of its arteries dooming it to bleed to death. Now there were only 2 wolves before me with one bleeding from its left eye. The next exchange of blows was brief, but explosive. The panther took advantage of the one wolf¡¯s blinded side and snuck a heavy pawed blow from that side into it¡¯s head knocking it off it¡¯s feet and disorienting it. Instead of going to finish it off we switched targets and went for the last wolf standing. This caught it off guard as it expected us to finish off the weaker target. The panther quickly darted around it¡¯s guard and finished it off by severing the spine with a bite to the back of the neck. We turned to face the last wolf who was just now standing. It looked at us and, realizing it was alone, it lay on the ground and rolled onto it back trying to beg forgiveness by being submissive. Without hesitation, we walked towards the prone wolf and ripped out it¡¯s throat. Savoring the bloody chunk of flesh before swallowing it whole.


    As we were about to celebrate our victory, snapping twigs broke us from our reverie. Looking towards the noise, there was another direwolf limping into the clearing. It was the one we had initially attacked after the first kill and lamed it during the initial exchange. It had just now arrived at the battlefield and was surveying our carnage. Looking more closely, I realized this wolf was bigger than the other wolves. This must be the alpha wolf the quest mentioned. I smiled to myself as the panther readied itself for battle by crouching low and tensing its muscles in preparations to leap at the last wolf.


    With an explosive release of energy we surged towards the wolf, closing the distance to victory. There was nothing in the way. Nothing to stop us from annihilating the enemy. The next instant was an explosion of pain. We collapsed on the ground as what felt like electricity made from acidic fire surged through our body. Wracked with pain, I could do nothing but thrash on the ground. Where did this pain come from? Why does it hurt? Why won¡¯t it stop? Please! Make it stop! I looked at the wolf, wondering if it was the cause of this misery, only to see it take a step back with a look of confusion on its face. If not him, then who? After some time even those brief thoughts were banished in the midst of this new agony. Only catching brief images of the leafy canopy or the loamy ground as my body thrashed randomly in its efforts to escape the torment. Just when I thought I couldn¡¯t take any more of this before my mind broke, I saw the alpha direwolf looming over me. A moment later and the pain stopped. As darkness enveloped my vision I couldn¡¯t help but thank the wolf for stopping the pain.


    ¡°WHOOOOOO! YEAAA!!! GO! GO! GO! YES! YES! YES! TOOOUUUCH DOOOOOOOWWNN!!!!!¡± Evan leapt out of his chair as his team won another touchdown, screaming in celebration over the adrenaline rush of the play he just witnessed. ¡°That was SO epic! That is going in the fucking highlights!¡± Evan danced around the room until he was able to reign in his energy enough to clean up the mess from the popcorn bowl he had knocked over as he leapt from the chair. ¡°Shit! That was so worth the mess!¡± Evan grinned to himself. ¡°It¡¯s a shame Riley doesn¡¯t like sports as much as I do. The only thing that could make this better was if I could watch the game with him.¡± Evan finished cleaning up his mess and was just sitting down when there was a huge crack of lightning that caused him to leap right back out of the chair. A second later, there was buzzing noise as the lights flickered then went dark, taking the TV with it. ¡°Aww come on! How the fuck does this even happen nowadays!¡± grumbling at missing the game he spends two minutes fumbling around in the dark to find his palm drive. When finally finds it in his pocket of all places, he unlocks the screen and activates the flashlight function. Now that he can see he turns and heads down the hallway towards the circuit breaker to see if there is anything he can do to get power going so he can get back to his game. As he walks past Riley¡¯s room though, he stops and sniffs the air. ¡°Is that pork I smell? Geez Riley, I know you love those ribs but you don¡¯t need to bring them into your room, it¡¯s enough of a mess as it is.¡± Stepping into Riley¡¯s room he takes a quick look around from the doorway with the flashlight looking for a plate of bones. He steps into the room to get a better look around, waving his light around the room. As the light passes over Riley¡¯s Virtuo pod, Evan freezes mid-step and his heart skips a beat as he notices smoke billowing from the machine. ¡°RILEY!!!!!¡± Evan lunges for the pod dropping the light to the ground in his haste. He grabs the lip of the device and tries to open it only to find the lock is engaged. Evan panics even more and with a surge of frenzied strength, he puts his whole body, no, his very soul into the effort of freeing his younger brother. There is a hissing sound as pressure is released from the cavity, followed by a cracking sound as the lock gives way to Evan¡¯s brute force tactics and the lid if flung open. The smell of pork increases and mixed in with it, is the smell of burnt hair and plastic. Evan reels back from the overwhelming smell before gathering his wits. He grabs the flashlight he dropped and with shaking hands, rushes to his brother¡¯s aid. When the light falls on the interior of the cavity inside the Virtuo pod time seems to freeze for Evan. The light drops from his limp fingers and a moment later Evan drops with it. ¡°...no¡­¡± His voice, barely loud enough to even qualify as a whisper is still loud enough to drive the point home. Evan notices the smell of pork in the air again and immediately vomits. Violently retching on the ground from the shock of the images the smell alone conjures, Evan only has enough wherewithal to grab his palm drive as he crawls back out of the room. Leaving a trail of tears and bile as he goes. A corpse lays inside the pod, skin blackened and a horrifying grimace locked on it¡¯s face. The door closes, once more hiding everything in darkness.

 Chapter 8: Death is only the beginning.

    Evan woke up to someone roughly shaking his shoulders. ¡°Excuse me, Mr. Grey. We need you to wake up, we still have a few more questions to ask you.¡± Evan sat up rubbing the grit from his eyelids. He didn¡¯t sleep well, just getting less than an hour of sleep since the police arrived. Evan struggled to form a coherent sentence but he was so tired and his throat was so parched he could barely even form an understandable word. ¡°Kff¡­ Kfee¡­ Coffee¡­¡±. Wordlessly the man in uniform handed him a styrofoam cup filled with liquid gold. Evan slowly sipped the coffee and felt the exhaustion of the last 2 hours leave him. He still felt like shit though. Nothing was going to change that, not after discovering the half cooked body of his little brother just in the next room.


    Tears welled up in Evan¡¯s eyes as he once again recalled the traumatic event. He didn¡¯t want to admit it to himself, but Evan knew that Riley was dead the moment he saw the body. He wanted to say he called the police right away, but once he got out of the room, all he could do was crumple to the floor in a sobbing mess. He could do nothing else for what seemed like an eternity but in reality was around 10 or so minutes. After some time he was coherent enough to dial the police department, but as soon as the number was dialed the memory of why he was calling them came crashing back into him and he broke down and started the whole process over again. The receptionist on the other end could only hear what was going on and sent two surveillance drones over to investigate. The drones had to cut the lock out of the door to enter and once inside found Evan crumpled in a heap in the hallway between Riley and Evan¡¯s bedroom doors. When questioned all Evan could do was point to the closed door to his brother¡¯s room and when they found the body, the drones reported the incident and stayed on the scene to keep an eye on Evan until the Police arrived.


    ¡°Excuse me Mr. Grey. Do you feel ready to answer a few questions?¡± The voice of the police officer sitting on the coffee table in front of him snapped him back to the present. Evan nodded meekly and sat up straighter in the couch he had slept on while slowly sipping more coffee. ¡°Okay, can you tell me what exactly happened? We asked you before you passed out, but we are hoping that now that you had a bit of sleep, you could give us a few extra details.¡± The policeman brought out a recording device and held it up in front of Evan, ready to document the event.


    Evan prepared himself and started going over the events that led up to Riley¡¯s death. ¡°Riley had recently gotten this Virtuo pod in order to play a game called Dreamscape Online. Up until now, he had been playing a lot. Tonight, I felt like spoiling him a bit with some of my cooking. I have a special recipe for some ribs and it has always been Riley¡¯s favorite meal.¡± Tears once again started streaking down Evan¡¯s face as he recalled the memory. ¡°He had played a little while I was cooking the ribs but got out to eat dinner with me. After cleaning the dishes, I sat down and started watching the game on the Holo screen and Riley had gone back into the Virtuo pod to play some more. Some time goes by, maybe an hour? Hour and a half? Not quite sure exactly, but there had been a thunderstorm outside and right after my team scored a touchdown, there was a huge lightning strike and the power went out.¡±


    At Evans words the Police officer interrupted him. ¡°The power went out? Shouldn¡¯t the lightning rods on the roof have conducted the electrical surge into the tower¡¯s generators?¡± Evan shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We haven¡¯t had a power outage before now, but the power DID go out. It took me a minute or two to find something to use as a flashlight and I got up to check our breaker panel at the end of the hallway. I¡­ I smelled¡­¡± at this, Riley broke off his narration for a moment to collect himself and muster together his last reserves of willpower to finish. ¡°I-I smelled cooked meat. Coming from Riley¡¯s room. I thought Riley had brought some ribs from tonight¡¯s dinner into his room. I went inside to get the plate and instead¡­ I see the smoke. Coming from Riley¡¯s pod. I panicked¡­ I panicked and forced open the lid to the pod to find that¡­ only¡­ to find my brother dead.¡± At these last words Evan couldn¡¯t go on anymore and broke down into whimpering and quietly crying to himself.


    The man pocketed the recording device and stood up. ¡°Thank you for your time, Mr. Grey, and I¡¯m sorry for your loss.¡± The man was about to turn away when two men in business suits stepped out of Riley¡¯s room. The taller one stepped forward. ¡°Excuse me officer, we finished checking the Virtuo pod and we found something interesting you might want to have a look at.¡± The policeman followed the two men into the room. There were people all over the room, taking pictures and bagging random objects to file away for evidence. The police officer ignored them and followed the two men towards the Virtuo pod. ¡°What did you find?¡± The shorter one got down on one knee and pulled the cover off a black box near the bottom of the pod near the wall. Inside was a mess of blackened wire and circuitry. ¡°This box right here is a failsafe installed in every Virtuo pod we make. I could use a bunch of big words and complicated theory to explain it, but essentially, this box is made specificly to protect the pod and the user from exceptionally powerful electrical surges. If you look right here-¡± the man points to the outside of the box where a thick cable could be seen entering the box. ¡°When electrical power reaches a certain critical point, it is redirected into this wire and into the box where it is supposed to circulate inside until the surge is reduced enough for the machine to safely use.¡± The man moves his finger along the wires until he gets to the other side of the box and points to another wire exiting the box. ¡°This is where the electricity reenters the pod¡¯s system to be used up. That is how things are supposed to work at least. But if you look at this right here-¡± he points to a conspicuous looking cable that is connected to the two cables coming into and going out of the box. ¡°This wire shouldn¡¯t be here. This allows an electrical surge to bypass the entire failsafe with no reduction in power. If the Virtuo pod received a powerful enough surge, that could easily do irreparable damage to, not only the Virtuo pod, but anyone unfortunate enough to be using it at the time of the surge.¡± The police officer frowned at the short man¡¯s words. ¡°Are you saying¡­¡± The tall man nodded at the officer¡¯s words. ¡°Yes. This machine was tampered with. There is no way our machines could be made with such a blatant design flaw. I¡¯m willing to bet that, not only has someone tampered with this pod in this very room, but they also tampered with the electrical lines in the building to bypass it¡¯s built in surge protection and directed everything into this very apartment. That would explain why the entire apartment lost power and not JUST the Virtuo pod.¡±


    The police officer¡¯s frown deepened even more. He beckoned for the two men to follow and stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room. Evan was still sitting down on the couch, but it seemed he had calmed down a bit. Evan looked up to see the police officer once again standing in front of him with two strange looking men in business suits standing behind him. One stood at about 6 foot 2 with a closely trimmed beard and hair. As if to contradict the tall man¡¯s well groomed features was the second man. He stood at a slightly shorter 5 foot 5 inches and, while he did wear a business suit, he had a more casual air about him. His hair was a thick mess and he left his shirt untucked. Evan wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if the guy had worn sneakers instead of the dress shoes he wore right now.


    The Police officer cleared his throat ¡°Mr. Grey, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Anthoney Dullard¡± He pointed to the tall man. ¡°And Andrew Palateal¡± the short man. Andrew raised his hand in greeting. ¡°Hey, just call me Andy. everyone else does.¡± The officer nodded and continued. ¡°I am Sheriff Grahl. I was hoping you could tell me if you knew if Riley had anyone that might have wanted to hurt him in some way. Maybe someone that didn¡¯t really get along with him?¡±


    Evan shook his head. ¡°No. Well, not with anyone close to him. Riley was a nice brother. He always went out of his way to help people. Usually when people see an argument or some other uncomfortable situation, they would avoid it, or if that wasn¡¯t possible pretend it didn¡¯t exist. Riley was the opposite. He would jump into the middle of it and help everyone work out their problems. He was well liked by everyone¡­ Wait! Are you saying that what happened might not have been an accident?!¡±


    Sheriff Grahl nodded his head. ¡°Yea. that¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m saying. Someone tampered with the pod in such a way that if it got hit with a strong enough jolt of power, it was guaranteed to fry the pod and anyone inside it. I don¡¯t mean to sound like I¡¯m accusing one of your best friends, but it would have had to have been someone who was close friends with you or Riley to be able to get access to the apartment to tamper with the pod. Did you perhaps give a spare key to someone you kno-¡± Sherif Grahl broke off his sentence when he saw Evan¡¯s face. There was a fresh trail of tears tracing down his face, but it wasn¡¯t a look of grief. It was anger. ¡°That. Disgusting. Piece. Of. Shit.¡± Evan clenched his fists. The cup of coffee he was still holding boiled out the top and flooded over his hands. Steam poured off his hands from the heat, but he didn¡¯t care. Blisters formed over his fingers, but he didn¡¯t care. Everything from his wrist to the tips of his fingers was screaming in agony, but he didn¡¯t care. All he cared about was one thing. ¡°Oscar. Maladay.¡±


    <hr>


    Darkness. That¡¯s all I can see. I thought it might have been a bit intimidating, but oddly enough, it¡¯s a bit comforting. I don¡¯t feel the usual aches and pains one would expect you got through the normal process of aging. My joints aren¡¯t stiff, my back isn¡¯t sore, and best all whatever pain I was experiencing before is gone. Wait. where am I? Am I still in the game? Shouldn¡¯t I have left my pod already? I open my eyes, or I think I do. Instead of feeling like I opened eyelids, there is a sensation of¡­ becoming aware of my surroundings. Like everything was out of focus and I just adjusted the lens. I¡¯m still surrounded by absolute darkness, but there is a small window hovering in the air before me.


    [RESPAWN]


    That¡¯s odd. Where is the log out option? For that matter, where is the option to choose no? Curious I reach for the window to try and select¡­ Well. Respawn. Instead of my arm reaching forward, the second the intention to respawn crossed my mind, the window flashed and I felt a new sensation. The sensation of time passing by rapidly. The darkness vanishes and is replaced by a bright light. I squint my eyes to block out the light. Hey, I have eyes again! The brightness dims until the lighting is more appropriate levels. I open my eyes and look around. Trees. Of course it¡¯s trees. Gotta love those trees. I let out an exasperated sigh, pick a random direction, and start walking, only to fall flat on my face. ¡°Ahh fuck! That hurt.¡± I try to rub the pain out of my stinging nose only to wince at the pain. Shit. it¡¯s already so fucking swollen! It¡¯s sticking out so far!The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I get my hands and feet under me, intending to get into a sitting position. I push off the ground to find I am standing. Wait. how am I standing? I was just getting on my hands and knees¡­ I am on my hands and knees¡­ but I¡¯m standing¡­ on all fours? I am starting to come to the realization that there is something horribly wrong with me. Slowly I look down, determined to figure out what the fuck is going on. Unfortunately, what I see doesn¡¯t answer my all important question. 2 black panther paws greet my confused gaze. I wiggle my toes and feel the forest loam moveing beneath them. The two panther paws before me however remain motionless I was almost giddy with excitement until a realization smashes my happiness to smithereens an instant later. I wiggle my fingers, only to see the digits of the panther paws dance merrily on the ground. My heart stops, and my vision goes blurry. Nope. nopenopenopenopenopenope. This is not happening. This is impossible. I am clearly dreaming. This is a bug. I just need to call a GM and they will fix everything. I am not stuck as a gigantic fucking cat. As these pleasant thoughts dance through my head, I continue to stare fixedly at the offending appendages supporting me. If time had permitted, I might have stayed like this for a long time, but unfortunately life likes to throw dicks at my face.


    ¡°Ah shit! Dude! I found one! Ha! Dibs on this one! I bet I can one-shot this bitch!¡± On reflex, I look up at the offending noise, only to see a large metallic wall in my face. Is that a shield? *CRUNCH*


    [YOU HAVE DIED]


    Death Blow: Hammer Strike


    ¡°Yeaaa! Did you see that? Ha! Dropped my hammer right on the things face! Never even saw it coming!¡± After the initial flash of pain, I¡¯m suddenly looking at a dead panther. Wait, is that me? Geez did they really have to go for the face? That¡¯s just rude! Couldn¡¯t they see I was in the middle of a panic attack?! I look around and see standing a few feet away from me is the same jerk that blindsided me. He had a mix of chain mail and plate armor with a shield and one-handed mace with blood smeared on the side of it. Even as I watch the blood vanished from the weapon, leaving it in pristine condition. The man steps towards my¡­ body, and crouches down to touch it. Hmmph. Probably to loot it. Dirt bag! The moment he touches my body, a shiver runs down my spine. Do I even have a spine right now? I¡¯m just floating here. I can see a loot window appear over my body. The only item is a pelt which appears to be a quest item. This is weird on so many levels. I am staring at my own dead body as the person that killed me basically takes the skin off of it.


    Another man walks into the clearing, This one wearing mage robes and carrying a staff. ¡°Man that took forever to find just one! And that old fart expects us to get five pelts for him?¡± The mage crouches down next to my body and opens another loot window. Oddly enough, there is another pelt there waiting for him. Along with a claw¡­ This is so not fair. It¡¯s bad enough they killed me, but to have to sit here and watch them loot my corpse is just adding insult to injury. The Warrior puts a hand to in chin in thought. ¡°I think I might have an idea. Instead of spending hours traipsing around the woods we-¡± at that moment, Mr. Mage takes the pelt and claw from the loot window and puts them in his bag. My body fades away, the warrior and mage fade away, and my surroundings turn dark. After a moment, I regain sensation in my body and I feel a little upset when I feel the quadrupedal limbs of a Shadow Stalker panther. My vision clears and I see a familiar icon floating in front of me and I am surrounded by a gray void.


    [RESPAWN]


    I let out a huge sigh as I try and to gather my thoughts to formulate a plan. ¡°Okay problem. I am a huge fucking cat. I died and respawned twice now and I am still the cat. So first step, figure out the cause of this.¡± As I think to myself I start to pace back and forth. I stumble a lot but, if I am going to get anywhere on four limbs, I need the practice. ¡°Okay so the last thing I remember before things started going haywire was the fight with the wolves. Things were intense, but nothing seemed odd¡­ except right before the panther died. What was that moment of excruciating pain? That was way worse then any sort of pain I have felt in my entire life, much less what is supposed to be the amount of pain felt in this game.¡± That in and of itself is unusual. Normally when you got hurt in the game things never got bad enough to make a player stop playing. Even if you were to lop off a player¡¯s entire arm they would never feel anything more than a dull ache. ¡°Maybe there was some sort of script error during the quest? If there was a huge bug during the quest, that could explain the odd spike in pain and my current situation.¡± I nod to myself, which if you ever wondered, is really weird to do when standing on all fours.


    ¡°Okay, so now I know the cause. Step 2: What should I do? What are my goals?¡± After all this pacing I am getting used to the odd movement pattern. As a matter of fact, after the first minutes of stumbling, it almost seemed to come naturally to me. I decide to increase my pace a bit, going from a slow walk to a light jog. I trip up a little, but quickly get my footing and start to maintain my pace for a bit. ¡°The first thing I want to do is get back to my regular avatar¡¯s body. The fact that it hasn¡¯t happened yet leaves me to believe this may not be as easy as I hoped. Going back to the clearing where I began the quest with the cat to find my body would be nice. Ah crap! I don¡¯t know where that is! Hell, I don¡¯t even know where I am!¡± I facepalmed out of frustration, forgetting the fact that I am currently jogging, and need 4 unoccupied feet to maintain this action. I faceplant in the gray void. Thankfully, there is no one to witness my humiliation. I will take this memory with me to the grave¡­ wait. I am in the grave. Am I? Shrugging off the thought, I continue my ponderings while laying flat on my stomach. The position is oddly comfortable. I guess cats really ARE adapted for laying around all day. Damnit! Quit being distracted!


    ¡°So finding my own body is out of the question, what about the admins? I¡¯m sure they can do something. If anything, being able to log out would be nice. It¡¯s probably getting late at home and I need to be able to get up for school.¡± With that thought, I bring up the menu with a mental command¡­ um¡­ I bring up the menu with a mental command! Oh shit. It¡¯s not working. This is bad. Really bad! How the hell am I supposed to contact the admins if I can¡¯t bring up the menu! I feel a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach as another thought occurs to me. If I can¡¯t access the menu¡­ how am I supposed to log out. It¡¯s a good thing I was already laying down, because at this point, I don¡¯t think I could stand even if I wanted to. ¡°Okay, okay. Just relax. There¡¯s gotta be something you could do. You just gotta figure it out.¡± With all these zen moments I¡¯m trying to achieve you would think I would be some sort of guru by now, but I felt like my brain was going to short circuit any second now. I start taking calming breaths and let my eyes go out of focus as I relax. I feel better as the tension of the last few hours leave my body. At that moment I notice a blinking notification icon in the corner of my vision. Excited at the new distraction, I focus on it and a load of windows pop open one after the other. ¡°Oh, hey there stress. I thought you would be gone for a little longer at least.¡±


    [ERROR]: Capsule desynchronization code #884931b initiating emergency log out process!


    [ERROR]: Emergency log out failed. Reinitializing.


    [ERROR]: Emergency log out failed. Reinitializing.


    [ERROR]: Emergency log out failed. Re%&@tializing


    [ERROR]: E$1+=5ncy log out failed. Rei#*%ializ@ng.


    [ERROR]: Em&4Jkj!? log out )&4led. Rein9&=aliz+-0


    [ERROR]:[ERROR]


    [ERROR]:[ERROR]


    [ERROR]: Feedback loop detected, action halted. Bug report submitted.


    [ERROR]: Cannot access source files. Please reconnect Virtuo pod to Dreamscape Online to submit bug report


    ¡°Huh, so that¡¯s what happened.¡± I thought I should be screaming right now, but instead I just felt numb. Like someone got a heavy duty vacuum cleaner and just sucked all my emotions away. I slowly closed out the messages, one after the other and as I read each one, I started feeling a new emotion. I was scared. As each error message appeared, then disappeared the fear grew. At the 9th window, I couldn¡¯t look at the rest of them anymore. There were more windows, but I just minimized them. My body was shaking so hard I could barely stand up. There wasn¡¯t a corner I could crawl into, everything was just a gray void. So I just curled into the tightest ball I could manage and started crying. Don¡¯t ask me how I could manage that as a panther, I haven¡¯t seen one cry before either, but damn did it feel good to just let it out.


    I don¡¯t know how long I lay there, it felt like hours. The worst part was that I never really felt exhausted. No matter how long I lay there bawling my eyes out, I always felt refreshed, which is really unsatisfying if you think about it. If you ever had a really traumatic experience, and laid in a bed, or on the couch and cried for an hour or so. Than you would eventually reach that moment where you felt so drained, you would just fall asleep. For me, it was always the best damn sleep I ever had. Sure it may have been a sad moment, but I always woke up feeling refreshed and ready to face whatever the day would bring me. This time I didn¡¯t get to experience that. I never felt sleepy or tired. It may not have seemed like much, but it was just one more frustration to add onto the pile I had going.


    Eventually, I did stop. Not because I felt better or anything like that. Oddly enough, I was bored. Crying wasn¡¯t going to get me anywhere, so I need to get out there and do something about it. I look at the blinking notification icon. ¡°I guess I should check the rest of these error messages, there might be a clue in it that could be useful.¡±


    [You have been Slain]


    Death blow: Dire wolf bite!


    Attention!: As an Apex predator, you have lost your title to the one that defeated you!


    Name: Dire Wolf- Aragor


    [ATTENTION]: You were slain by a rival! You have lost the title: Apex Predator


    Since you no longer posses this title, you have lost the rights to your seat of power. You will now be randomly assigned a new respawn point.


    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s not an error message. That is a message I should not be seeing at all.¡± I close the messages and find there aren¡¯t any more messages to help the universe torment me. Thank goodness. ¡°Okay, now that that is out of the way, I think it¡¯s about time I do something about my current situation.¡± Upon realizing I had no access to menus to log out or contact the admins, that changed things around a bit. ¡°If I can¡¯t go to the admins, I just need to get them to come to me.¡± I smile to myself, ¡°I am such a genius!¡± With those last words, I walk over to the respawn button and prepare myself to take the first step towards solving all my problems!


    ¡°Ahh! There he is! Dibs!¡± *CRUNCH*


    [YOU HAVE DIED]


    Death Blow: Hammer Strike


    FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!

 THIS AUTHOR IS NOT DEADED!!!

    HELLOOOOO ALLL!!! Boy is is good to be back! I know you have all probably forgotten about me by now and assumed I became one of the many "dead" authors out there, but no need to worry! I have a legitimate excuse!


    Remember in my previous chapter when I mentioned my computer was freezing up and acting weird? yea, turns out that was bad. My computer''s graphics card was in the process of dying. I was devestated! had to plan a funeral and everything and spent some months in mourning crying buckets of salty nerd tears... nah, just kidding. yea, my card got fried but I couldn''t do anything about it at the time because my lovely wonderful sister was having a beautiful wedding and I was the priviliged ones to stand up there at the altar with her. As a brother, I am proud of her, but as a brother I must maintain an air of "don''t make my sister cry or I''ll make you regret it!". hard to do, I know, but it comes as a natural instinct in most cases. Apparently I made the best damn toast in history. I surprised myself really. I was sitting there watching my sister during the dinner and I kept thinking ''I can''t let her go without saying something.'' So I got up and got everyone''s attention. I''ll tell you guys, I literally had NOTHING up to that moment. I am seriously bad with crowds and was scared shitless, but the weirdest thing happened when they put the mic in my hand. I steeled my resolve and powered through it. I made probably 80% of the crowd break out into tears and the other 20% were struggling pretty hard not to follow the majority. Afterwards, I nearly vomited and passed out from fear, but I managed to stay calm and was only shaking a lot for the next hour.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ANYWAYS, it was a hell of a wedding and all but that was a few months ago. after that, I was so swamped with work I had no time to bring my computer somewhere to get fixed. That was the case until memorial weekend. I actually got off work for the weekend even getting off early on friday. The First, then I did as soon as I got back home was go into my room... and go to sleep... yes. sleep! It''s hard doin what I do! well no, not really. but still working 10 hours every day isn''t easy. It''s still nice work though. I would hate being cooped up in an office. I got to much energy for that. However! once I have accomplised my goal of sleeping for 4 hours, eating dinner, then sleeping 7 more hours, then laying in bed for another 2 hours, I immediately got out of bed... and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. yes. I have my priorities straight. Okay okay, after the sandwich I eventually gathered my formidable willpower into the singular focus of taking my computer across town to the computer shop where I spent 4 days and $500-ish dollars on a new graphics card. So... yay? on the bright side, I needed to upgrade it anyways but I was to lazy to do it.


    On another side note, I missed having a computer  because I can''t play games without one. As soon as I plugged it in today, I started reading up on my story though so I can at least get ONE chapter out for you guys. It''s so torturous to have a steam library filled with dozens of games and I''m sitting here staring at a wall of text. Mind you, the wall of text is really entertaining, but it''s been months since I last played something like team fortress 2 or Overwatch. :''( pray for me readers! I need to stay strong!

 Chapter 9: Humble pie? No thanks, Im on a diet!

    As angry as I was, it was pretty pointless for me to throw a tantrum without a body to thrash around in. I floated near my body exuding impotent rage at the injustice of the situation. Why the fuck were they still there?! I was in that spawn chamber for hours! Don¡¯t they have better shit to do?! The guy with the shield and mace was standing there celebrating his ¡°victory¡±. Damn cheap shotting bastard! ¡°HA! I told you my plan would work! 10 minutes isn¡¯t that bad of a respawn time.¡±


    I finally notice the second guy standing off to the side a couple meters away from me as he steps closer. ¡°Yea, you¡¯re right. Waiting here for 10 minutes for each kill is definitely easier than traipsing around the jungle for hours at a time looking for damn cat pelts.¡± Wait¡­ respawn time? As in¡­ the amount of time a mob¡­ takes¡­ to respawn? I can¡¯t help but feel a sinking sensation in my stomach. Why am I spawning like some common mob? A sense of horror fills me as realisation dawns on me. First was those notifications about losing my title as an apex predator, that isn¡¯t something players would usually see¡­ than there was the weird way that I have spent hours in a room only to find a few minutes have passed real time. Now players are killing me, and looting my corpse to complete quests... I''m... not a player anymore... am I?...


    Even now as I connect these now obvious facts I am distracted by the two players continuing their conversation, oblivious to my presence. ¡°Ha now we just need to kill this thing 3 more times and we can turn in the quest.¡± The mace guy stands up as the mage steps up to loot my body. ¡°Yea but let me have the next shot. It¡¯s not fair you keep hogging all the experience for yourself.¡± ¡°Yea yea yea, this thing is to easy anyways just don¡¯t let it get away¡±


    Once again, everything fades away when they finish looting me and I am back in the grey void of the Spawn chamber. ¡°Well, now that I have a body again, I think there is something I desperately need to do.¡± after a moment of silence, I throw my body to the ground and start thrashing around in the biggest tantrum I can make in this new body. Honestly it¡¯s not as impressive as it sounds. If someone were to see me, all they would see was a giant black cat writhing on its back and flailing it¡¯s paws in the air while making the giant cat equivalent of screaming bloody murder for all it¡¯s might. Nevertheless I did calm down enough to stop making a fool of myself, but I was still plenty pissed. So I do the next best thing. Scream impotently at nothing. ¡°God damnit!!! Give me something I can rip to shreds! I can¡¯t take this empty room anymore!¡± surprisingly enough, there is a flash of light and in front of me is a large tubular sac that makes me think of a sand bag, except it isn¡¯t being held by anything. For a moment I stand there gaping at it before deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. I immediately pounce at it and rip and tear with all my might. Shredding with claws gouging with teeth and just turning a once pristine toy into a scattered wad of leather and stuffing.


    After the amazing stress relief I lay on my back rolling around in the middle of all that fluff. Without realizing it, I started to purring. I pause at the realization then just shrug my shoulders and enjoy the moment despite the oddities of the situation and before I realize it, I fell asleep.


    Sometime later I wake up feeling well rested and ready to take on the world. I roll back to my feet and grimace at the mess I made. ¡°Man I really went wild. Meh, not like anyone else is gonna see it anyways.¡± I walk towards the respawn window and am about to hit respawn when a thought occurs to me. ¡°Shit, wait! Those assholes are still out there. I almost forgot because of this weird time dilation thing in this room, but it¡¯s likely that I¡¯m gonna get bitch slapped by that mace guy again if I just walk out there unprepared.¡± I scrunch my face in thought. ¡°I guess I can jump backwards the second I¡¯m able to. The dumbass keeps smacking my head anyways so maybe I can catch him off guard when he misses.¡± I nod to myself as if it¡¯s the most obviously best made plan ever, hit the respawn button, and get ready to kick ass.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    I feel the grass beneath my feet as the blinding flash of respawn fades away. ¡°NOW!¡± I hear mace guy but he doesn¡¯t sound close to me like before. Ha! Stupid melee man! You can¡¯t hit me from there! As my vision clears I realize the stupidity of my thoughts when I notice the bright orange, raging inferno of a fireball zooming straight for, wait for it¡­ my face. Needless to say, it hurt. Like a bitch. Feeling your skin bake and crisp from a magical conflagration would make any man cry. Thankfully I¡¯m made from tougher stuff. I only screamed in agony. That was until the mage decided to add more fuel to the fire. Literally. The asshole threw a vial of what was likely oil at me and made the fire spread to the rest of my poor flammable body. Needless to say, I don¡¯t think I did too well in that fight.


    A few seconds later I was once again floating above my crisped corpse and also once again, exuding the familiar impotent rage as these two chumps gloated over their cheaply made victory. ¡°Ha dude did you hear the noise that stupid cat made? It was crying like a baby!¡± said mace face. Yea, mace face. That¡¯s what I am gonna call him now. The mage responds to that remark completely ignoring me. Oh wait, of course they ignore me, I¡¯m not really there. ¡°Well If I get set on fire, I would probably be screaming to.¡± Mace face lets out a snort of derision. ¡°Pfff as if! These things are just lines of code! They don¡¯t feel shit!¡±


    At those words my cauldron of burning rage boiled over and all I could do was think nasty thoughts. FUCK YOU! YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF SHIT! I WISH YOU COULD FEEL HALF THE PAIN I HAVE GONE THROUGH IN JUST THE LAST FEW HOURS! At those thoughts, I felt something strange. Like a bit of my energy left me and I felt a little drained. Just as the mage was about to reach for my corpse to grab my fuzzy goodness, mace face shouts in surprise. ¡°Holy shit! What the fuck is this shit?¡± Mage turns away and looks at mace face in confusion. ¡°What? Did you get a rare drop or something?¡± mace face is gaping at the empty air, obviously staring at something only he could see. ¡°No way! I just got a notification saying I have a new nemesis!¡± ¡°Really? Who is it? What does the notification say?¡±


    Mace face hesitates before making a hand gesture to make his window visible and turns it to face the mage, which also happens to be in my direction. I couldn¡¯t help by smile as I read the message for myself


    Notice: You have been marked as a Nemesis!


    Due to your brutal and callous behavior towards another creature, it has developed an intense enough hatred towards you to desire vengeance.


    Effect: +10% pain sensation when hit with attacks from your Nemesis. Current pain setting is at 0%


    Effect: Always aware of your Nemesis¡¯s location as he is aware of yours.


    Duration: Until either you or your Nemesis dies or your Nemesis no longer seeks justice.


    After a moment of silence the mage speaks up again. ¡°Damn that¡¯s¡­ interesting? Wait that says you can always sense where your nemesis is. Can you tell?¡± After a moment of thought mace face closes his eyes and does a slow circle right there in the clearing until he is facing directly towards me then he lifts and points. Directly at me. I can¡¯t help but smile to myself. ¡°He is over there. Wait, feels like he is¡­ really close.¡± The mage looks in my direction for a moment, well more past me really, until he looks down at his feet at my, still dead, corpse and then his eyes widen in surprise at the realization. ¡°Holy shit! Dude! You pissed off the panther! THAT¡¯S who your nemesis is!¡± mace face is also stunned then he grins maliciously. ¡°Ha! That piece of shit? Dude let me handle the next spawn! I¡¯ll just crush his skull the second he shows his ugly mug.¡± The mage frowns at those words. ¡°Are you sure? The fact that he is a nemesis might change things.¡± ¡°Dude! Just stay out of it! I can take care of this sac of shit myself. I¡¯ve been one shotting him since the beginning, remember?¡± ¡°alright, suit yourself. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡± The mage turned around and finished looting me. As the forest faded from view and I reappeared in my now familiar grey void, I couldn¡¯t help but giggle like a little kid who just got away with stealing fresh cookies just before dinner time. Before I knew it, the giggle turned into a full blown laugh and it legitimately sounded like a classic super villain laugh. If I had the proper anatomy I would totally be doing the whole super villain pose to go with it. The one where you lean back slightly with your arms half raised to either side with your palms facing towards the heavens. Instead I settled for imagining ominous lightning strikes in the background and made plans for an evil monologue when I had the time. First I need to make some super evil plans. You can¡¯t conquer the world without super evil plans, that just doesn¡¯t make sense.

 Chapter 10: Fame and Infamy

    Jason, or M3rlin as he decided to be called ingame, was dumbstruck. He had only been playing Dreamscape online for a few hours since it came out and he was already in love with this game. He was playing as an arcane wizard, a class that specialized in arcane spells. Sure, he could throw a few elemental spells like the fireball he had just killed this panther with, but arcane magic was preferable for it¡¯s more utilitarian aspect. He could manipulate the forces of mana to create special effects. Right now all he could do was make things go boom, but soon he could access spells like force push, concussive blast, or even something as complex as mage hand. That was in the future however, and right now he had partied with some paladin-type dude so he could increase his levels. The guy was a bit of a dick though and now he was dumbstruck because apparently the game agreed with him.


    Notice: You have been marked as a Nemesis!


    Due to your brutal and callous behavior towards another creature, it has developed an intense enough hatred towards you to desire vengeance.


    Effect: +10% pain sensation when hit with attacks from your Nemesis. Current pain setting is at 0%


    Effect: Always aware of your Nemesis¡¯s location as he is aware of yours.


    Duration: Until either you or your Nemesis dies or your Nemesis no longer seeks justice.


    That¡¯s what the message displayed by ¡®Datazz1337¡¯ said. Seriously though, what the fuck is with his stupid ass name? M3rlin decided that he needed to ask the all important question, since he doubted that a player with a name that dumb is gonna think of it without help. ¡°Damn that¡¯s¡­ interesting? Wait that says you can always sense where your nemesis is. Can you tell?¡± Datazz spins around in a circle before pointing in a direction. ¡°He is over there. Wait, feels like he is¡­ really close.¡± When Datazz first points M3rlin couldn¡¯t help but look in that direction, expecting an attack at any moment. When he doesn¡¯t see anything his gaze wanders downwards until it locks onto the panther¡¯s still present body and his eyes widen in realization. ¡°Holy shit! Dude! You pissed off the panther! THAT¡¯S who your nemesis is!¡± M3rlin looks back at Datazz only to see a disgusting grin on his face. God he looks like a classic school bully. ¡°Ha! That piece of shit? Dude let me handle the next spawn! I¡¯ll just crush his skull the second he shows his ugly mug.¡± M3rlin couldn¡¯t help but frown at those words. The panther seemed to respond to Datazz1337¡¯s disrespect towards it, which is only a sign of intelligence. ¡°Are you sure? The fact that he is a nemesis might change things.¡± Datazz sneers at M3rlin. ¡°Dude! Just stay out of it! I can take care of this sac of shit myself. I¡¯ve been one shotting him since the beginning, remember?¡± M3rlin rolls his eyes at the dismissive remark of the stupid pally. ¡°alright, suit yourself. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡± M3rlin then turns around to finish what he had started and looted the panther¡¯s corpse.


    After a few seconds, the corpse fades away and M3rlin turns and walks towards the edge of the clearing. The clearing isn¡¯t all that big, just about 40 or so feet and the sky is still blocked from sight by the thick canopy above them. ¡°I¡¯ll just stand here, out of the way. I¡¯m not gonna help you so if you die it¡¯s your own damn fault.¡± Datazz glares at M3rlin clearly mad at him for idiotic reasons but unable to voice any of them without sounding like a dumbass since M3rlin hasn¡¯t done anything wrong¡­ yet. Instead he settles for the classical response anyone with a lack of maturity and comebacks would say. ¡°Whatever. I¡¯m probably gonna be the first player to defeat a nemesis. I¡¯ll bet there is some sort of achievement.¡±


    With that final exchange the two players settle into an uncomfortable silence, waiting the 10 minutes for their target¡¯s demise. The fact that they both wanted the demise of two different targets was never voiced. M3rlin made sure to make himself comfortable by sitting with his back to a nearby tree to enjoy the show. Don¡¯t disappoint me Mr. Panther.


    When the 10 minutes was about to expire, Datazz1337 stood right in front of the panther¡¯s spawn point and readied a strike at where the panther¡¯s head would be. No sooner had he raised his arm, there was a flash of light and the panther was spawned. Unfortunately, Datazz had started his swing as soon as the light showed up. M3rlin grimaced because he knew what would happen next, only to be surprised when the panther lunged forward right at Datazz. This put the panther inside the reach of Datazz¡¯s attack. The mace still hit the large cat¡¯s side, but it was only a glancing blow. Datazz was much worse off. He raised his shield to block the attack as the panther lunged for his face, claws extended, but Datazz made a fatal mistake. He never set his feet to take an attack from a 400 pound panther. The cat charged straight at the raised shield and knocked Datazz flat on his back with the round shield covering his face and upper body. The panther started to reach around the shield to claw at his face while keeping the paladin pinned underneath his own shield but Datazz wouldn¡¯t have any of that as he used the mace in his free hand to bash awkwardly at the animal¡¯s side. It wasn¡¯t any of the heavy blows from before since he couldn¡¯t put the same force into the swing when laying on his back, but it was enough to frustrate the panther.


    The cat decided to change things up a bit and attacked the hand that beat it. M3rlin was surprised to hear Datazz1337 scream in pain when before, the only sound of pain he had heard the paladin make was an occasional grunt. Is 10% more pain that bad, or is he just a wimp? Datazz¡¯s grip on the mace loosened and the cat took the chance and clamped down on the mace with his jaws, wrenching it from the guy¡¯s hand. With a toss of his head, the panther threw the mace a few feet away from where they both struggled. It wasn¡¯t that far, but in Datazz¡¯s case, it might as well be on the next continent for all the good it would do him. He got rid of the weapon! Holy shit! Since when could a mob do that?! M3rlin looked at the panther¡¯s face and he couldn¡¯t help but think that he was 100% sure the panther had the most bloodthirsty smile he had ever seen. I could totally imagine him laughing like an evil super villain right now. I¡¯ll bet if he could talk he would be doing an evil monologue.


    Now that his victim was no longer able to fight back effectively, the panther used its claws to grip the edge of the shield and pull it to the side and pin it to the ground leaving Datazz totally exposed. Now that the shield wasn¡¯t in the way, M3rlin could see the look of utter terror written all over Datazz¡¯s face. As if sensing his stare Datazz turned to look at me, his eyes begging for help. The cat, noticing his stare, stares at me as well. As if to say ¡®What? You want me to kill you to?¡¯. M3rlin raised his hands to show that they were empty, his staff lay on the ground next to him. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t mind me. The dumbass told me not to interfere no matter what. As far as I¡¯m concerned, the asshole dug his own damn grave.¡±


    There is a moment of silence as predator and prey digest the current situation. Seconds later, the silence is broken as the clearing is filled with the sound of screams and ripping flesh. M3rlin shivers at the brutality of the scene when it¡¯s all over. ¡°Shit man, I know you hated the guy, but did you really have rip him limb from limb?¡± At M3rlin¡¯s words the panther stops brutalizing the now dead Datazz and gives a look as if to say: ¡®Well, what did you expect?¡¯ ¡°Right. Sorry, your a giant fucking predator. It¡¯s kinda what you do¡­ Hey, do you really understand me, or am I going crazy?¡± M3rlin didn¡¯t really expect an answer but he prefered the sound of his own voice over the nauseating crunch of bone as the panther ate its fill. However, M3rlin was speechless when the panther nodded yes to his question. ¡°Holy shit! That¡¯s fucking amazing! Hey! Wanna be my pet? We could totally kick ass all over the place!¡± The panther froze for a moment before walking towards M3rlin. Holy shit! I¡¯m about to get a kick ass pet! When the panther was close enough to touch it lifted its left paw and slapped M3rlin in the side of the head. He fell to the side, dizzy and there was a ringing sound in his skull. He wasn¡¯t dead, but that still wasn¡¯t a pleasant sensation. ¡°Hey! What the fuck was that for?! I was just sitting here the whole time!¡± The panther growled at him and used its other paw to hook the M3rlin¡¯s magic staff from off the ground and throw it towards him so it landed in front of his prone position. ¡°Oh. Right. I DID kill you with fire¡­ um. Sorry? I guess it must have really hurt.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    The panther stared at M3rlin intently for a moment. The gaze was very intimidating for him since it¡¯s muzzle was covered in the blood of someone that was just his party member not 5 minutes ago. After a few more seconds though, the cat turns without another sound and leaves the clearing. When it finally disappears, M3rlin felt a huge amount of tension in his body that he wasn¡¯t aware of suddenly vanish. M3rlin had never been so scared in his entire life. Wasn¡¯t this just a fucking game? Since when were videogames this intense?! M3rlin started to feel another ache on his face and when he touched his face where the ache was coming from, he realized why he face was so sore. He had a smile so big it hurt. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, but holy fuck this game is amazing!¡±


    Ahhhh, the wonderful feeling of a job well done. I have never been so satisfied with brutally murdering someone. Not that it¡¯s something I have done before, but it was so fun to turn that dumb brat¡¯s gloating shouts to screams of pain and terror. I am currently walking through the forest, listening to the sounds of nature around me. You might ask me, ¡®Hey, where are you going?¡¯ and I would then tell you¡­ I have no fucking idea. If I had a damned map, I could probably at least decide on a direction. I don¡¯t though, so the best I can do is pick a direction and walk. Odd thing though is my choice of direction has at least SOME logical thinking behind it. While I was walking I noticed that, after a while, I got the vague impression which direction the center of this forest was. Was it some sort of natural kitty instincts? Possibly, but I¡¯m not complaining. I at least know that I need to walk north-ish if I want to get to the edge of the forest to enact my plan. The fact that I¡¯m 99% sure that whatever is in the center of the forest could probably step on me without even noticing me certainly didn¡¯t influence my decision. Nope, I did not see an intimidating monster in that direction that scared me shitless. I am entirely manly and not filled with utter terror at the thought of going towards the center of this forest. I just REALLY need to go the exact opposite direction.


    I feel pretty good now that I think of it. I mean, sure that guy was a major asshole, and sure he really deserved all that shit, but I killed him. It was in such a disturbing fashion, yet I derived some sort of sadistic pleasure from it and I don¡¯t feel an iota of guilt over the event. I stopped walking when that thought crossed my mind. Why don¡¯t I feel bad about it? At the end, I even ripped out the guy¡¯s throat with my mouth when I was done with him. I think this is something I should feel bad about but I¡¯m getting more and more upset because the only emotions I can associate with the event is pleasure. I shudder in fear when another thought occurs to me. Am I even still human? I shake my head as to drop that line of thought. Thinking along those lines won¡¯t get me anywhere, all I can do is move forward. I take in my surroundings hoping to spot some sort of distraction and I notice a blinking icon in the corner of my vision indicating I have pending notifications. I will them to open and a few windows appear in front of me.


    Attention: You have acquired, and then bested a Nemesis. Due to this action, you have earned Monster Fame. Monster Fame is a reputation system for monsters. When a monster earns enough reputation, NPC¡¯s will learn of your existence and depending on your actions may assign quests to hinder or help you.


    +50 Fame


    Attention: Due to the brutal way in which you defeated your Nemesis and the fact that there was a witness to your actions you have gained additional reputation.


    +300 Fame


    Warning: You have earned 100 Monster Fame. People are aware of something dangerous in your area.


    Warning: You have earned 200 Monster Fame. Nearby towns and cities are aware of your existence and may send rangers to pinpoint your whereabouts


    Warning: You have earned 300 Monster Fame. The populace in the area know what you are and the danger you represent.


    Notice: You have earned enough notoriety to earn a Name. You only have one opportunity to name yourself, choose wisely!


    My eyes widen as I read all the messages until I get to the last one. I didn¡¯t think about it before, but I guess right now I am just a nameless mob. I find the idea of people thinking so little of me slightly disturbing so I decided to change that. I want my name to be Ebon Darkclaw!


    Attention: The Name ¡°Ebon Darkclaw¡± cannot be used. Please wait while an appropriate approximation is created¡­ New Name generated.


    Congratulations! You have acquired enough Monster Fame to earn your Name. Tremble before the might of ¡°Ebony the Gory!¡±


    What? Why do I have to have such a bloody name?! Can¡¯t it just be Ebony? I don¡¯t want the first thing people think when they see me is that I am some flesh crazed maniac!


    Attention! Do you want to lose a part of your name? In order to lose the title ¡°the Gory¡± you must spend 50 Monster Fame points. If your total fame drops below 300, you will lose your name until you gain enough notoriety to earn it back.


    Spend 50 Monster Fame points? Y/N


    Oh thank god! YES!


    Attention: You have lost 50 Monster Fame. You have lost the title ¡°the Gory¡±.


    I let out a huge sigh of relief. I have seen those kind of titles on monsters in other games and I knew exactly what kind of thoughts those titles brought to mind. Sure, I wanted a name, but not at the cost of alienating myself from all of humanity. The chance may be microscopic, but moments like the one I had with that mage a while ago back in the clearing were clearly possible. Having a title that proves to people I am nothing but a blood thirsty monster makes that chance even smaller, and I need every opportunity I can get my hands¡­ or, claws on.


    So, now I am known as Ebony and I have enough fame for everyone to want to kill me. This might change things. Instead of just sitting there, I decided to keep walking while I pondered my dilemma. Fighting isn¡¯t like things are in other games. There may be a health bar like with any other game, but fatal injuries are still fatal. You could have enough health to become a living fortress, but if someone cuts off your head all the healing magic in the world won¡¯t do jack shit. You¡¯re still gonna die. If that¡¯s the case, then surprise attacks are truly devastating. I look down at my feet as I walk and notice the faint crackling of leaves as I step on them. If surprise is the way to go, then I need to work on that and improve my stealth. I step more carefully, crouching lower to the ground to use the extra length in my legs to step more gently while still maintaining my current speed. It works surprisingly well but my keen ear can still pick up the faintest of noise. My body seems to adjust of its own accord and suddenly everything seems to flow more naturally. As soon as I accommodate these odd instincts guiding me, I stop hearing the sound of my movements. I take a moment to admire my motions and can¡¯t help but be impressed at how I easily I glide through the underbrush. I avoid the thicker bushes, it feels like it would be impossible to move through them without disturbing them. As I grow accustomed to the odd creeping movement, I slowly increase my pace until I am moving at a light jog. Before I realize it I am blinded by a bright light off to my right. I hiss in surprise and duck back into the bushes before my own brain even realized what was going on. I take in my surroundings and quickly figure out what the problem is, I have reached a rather large clearing about a couple hundred feet across. The light that had blinded me was the rising sun to the east. If I was human, I would probably be blushing furiously. Now my tail seems to twitch in agitation of its own accord but quickly settles down once I assure myself the danger had passed.


    The clearing itself is actually rather beautiful. There is the occasional tree or 3 scattered in the area, but every bit of the area is covered in vivid green grass. There is a serene looking river flowing lazily along one edge of the clearing and there are scattered herbs and other helpful plants throughout this ideal landscape. What is most promising however is the fact that there are plenty of horned rabbits happily munching away the day all over the place, blissfully unaware of the lurking danger nearby. I release a feral grin from my hiding place. Well, I would certainly hate to disappoint them!

 Chapter 11: All-seeing eyes

    Several hours earlier¡­


    Amy, the top AI governing Dreamscape online, was busy. Well, busy was of course both an understatement and an overstatement. Jack had left for the night to get some much deserved rest, leaving her to handle all the background work. There were some people still working in the building of course, but it was only a skeleton crew to monitor the game server in case any sort of disaster were to strike. Not that it was at all likely with someone of HER capabilities. Amy smiled smugly to herself. Well she ran a quick code sequence that gave the feeling of a smug smile. It felt right for the moment¡­ ¡°Being sentient is weird. I need to stop over-analyzing my own ¡®emotional¡¯ reactions.¡± As an AI that entire line of thought happened in just a few milliseconds but it didn¡¯t matter to her as long as she felt it. Whenever Jack was around she extended the sensations over a few seconds at least so his human senses could register the emotion, but it wasn¡¯t necessary.


    Deciding she had enough of a break, Amy resumed her work. Which involved sorting through countless DDOS attacks to the server, organizing the hundreds of thousands of separate instances of people logging into their characters, making sure the environment was sending the right sensations and feedback to the players when they interacted with it, and of course the most problematic task that required the biggest chunk of her processing power, monitoring and controlling all her ¡®puppets¡¯ or as players refer to them as, NPC¡¯s. Once again, she thought of Jack¡¯s dilemma. While Jack was right in saying it took a lot of effort to control the NPC¡¯s that was more of a relative term. Sure, NPC¡¯s took almost 10 times the processing power as all the other tasks combined it was still easily manageable. While taking care of character behavior algorithms took about 30-40% of her control depending on the situation, everything else took less than 5% at any point. Normally she would have stopped Jack from working so hard whenever she could handle everything just fine, she chose to restrain herself because, if Jack were to succeed he could take care of the one problem that Amy herself couldn¡¯t accomplish and that was the ability to grant every single ingame creature varying levels of sentience. The way things were now, Amy broke of pieces of herself for every single NPC while the monsters just ran on the most basic codes. Her pieces were of course much more complex than the code the monsters ran on, but if an NPC interacted with a player in any out of the ordinary way, she would have to take direct control of the NPC in question and direct its actions according to its personality matrix.


    Normally this would never really be a problem since all the players still behaved like this was a standard RPG game, merely asking for quests or directions or something similar. There was one player though that she had flagged as interesting. On almost every occasion he had interacted with an NPC she had to directly intervene because of his unusual approach with his interactions. Instead of straight up asking for quests and the like, this boy treated every person like a living breathing creature instead of basic software code. Her favorite moment had been a kind of test for him. She had been posing as a NPC named Donavan and had planned on giving him a quest to hunt a large cat. She was surprised however when the player instantly refused the quest on the grounds of the background lore of her character. She was so surprised that he would pay attention to such a small detail that she immediately generated a pack of Direwolves just for him. Amy decided to take it one step further and set a unique event in motion just for him. Sure, right now the direwolves were well beyond his abilities, but if he made JUST the right decisions at the right moments he could get some reputation bonuses and a helping hand for the quest. It was a bit difficult to set up, nearly took an entire half second, but she managed to play it off as a surprised expression on Donavan¡¯s face. She also decided to amp up the difficulty of the quest involving the Dali NPC to give this player a bit of an extra boost for close range combat since he would probably fail without the extra skill bonus.


    Since she was thinking about him, she decided to do a quick check-up on her favorite player. She couldn¡¯t help but grin as she opened his logs to see what he had been up to. ¡°I knew you could do it!¡± Right now Ebon Darkclaw as he liked to call himself was doing the mental equivalent of a piggyback ride with her customized NPC monster. Unlike other monsters, this one she had taken the time to give it the most complex behavioral matrix she could muster. It was even more complex than any of the NPC¡¯s currently operating in the server, taking up an entire 1% of her own personal processing power on its own. It was almost entirely self reliant only requiring a little nudge from her every now and then. As she caught up in Ebon¡¯s logs she found the two of them in the middle of a fight with the last of the direwolves and even now the panther was finishing up the last of them. She decided to stick around and watch the fight for herself rather than catch up on it in the logs later. She watched as the panther finished off the last wolf and the alpha wolf approached. She knew the outcome of the fight now was inevitable. The panther was in pretty good shape while the Alpha¡¯s mobility was cut down severely with its injured leg. Still though, there was a tension in the air that seemed to say ¡®Anything could happen¡¯ and Amy allowed her excitement to overclock her processors. NPC¡¯s busy with custom dialogue all over the server stuttered for half a second before the tension finally broke as both parties simultaneously charged one another in an explosive burst of speed. Since Amy was watching so closely, she instantly recognized when something was wrong. She felt Ebon¡¯s connection to the server suddenly snap and her panther NPC suddenly dropped to the ground and started spasming in obvious simulated pain. In less than a microsecond, Amy shut down her emotional drivers and dedicated her unassigned processing power towards this issue. She instantly recognized the issue as a desynchronization error associated with code #884931b. It was either a sudden loss of all power, or an overcharged electrical surge malfunction with the pod. Amy didn¡¯t waste time wondering how such an impossible error could have occurred. She knew that Ebon needed to log out this instant or there could be serious repercussions.


    She sent an emergency logout signal to the pod assigned to Ebon¡¯s player ID. When the pod didn¡¯t send a confirmation response Amy got worried and repeated the signal, only to find her signal was starting to receive interference. With each repeated attempt to ping an emergency logout sequence her signal got more and more distorted when trying to contact the pod until finally her pings would become complete gibberish by the time they would have reached their destination. In desperation she tried to make the pod send an error report so she could find out what happened to cause this. She felt some sort of sluggish response as it started to organize the files for transfer but before it could send the package, the pod lost all connection with the server. Amy was dumbfounded. She found it hard to believe that a pod could drop a connection so completely and so quickly. Something had gone dreadfully wrong for her favorite player. Amy pondered on whether or not she should contact the local authorities in his area to check on him but stopped herself. She couldn¡¯t do it because she wasn¡¯t supposed to have that much access to public networks. She would only cause problems if people realized exactly how much she was capable of doing. Instead she filed a report and sent it to the supervisors currently on the nightshift. She made sure to flag it under the highest priority with a recommendation of immediate investigation and to contact the local authorities to insure the safety of the player involved.


    Having accomplished everything she could for the time being, she turned her attention back to the current scene playing out in front of her. Despite everything she had just done, less than 10 seconds had gone by with the largest chunk of time being dedicated to ensuring that the current people on the night shift saw her report and would take immediate actions. The panther still writhed in agony and the wolf had stopped its charge at the sudden change from worthy opponent to whining kitten. She wondered why the cat was in so much pain but guessed that a bug must have developed when the player that was synced up to it suddenly lost all connections to the server. She connected to the panther in order to fix the error only to reel back at the surprisingly vivid sensation of pain. She instantly ordered the Alpha direwolf to kill the panther as quickly as possible. As soon as the panther died she removed it from the respawn cycle and forced it into offline mode. Normally she would¡¯ve just removed her code piece from the monster model and start from scratch again, but for some reason, she felt that it would be¡­ wrong. Plus she put a lot of effort into crafting this NPC and if Ebon turned out to be okay and would be logging back on, she wanted to have the base code on standby for him.


    Once she made sure her little digital panther pet was safely offline she chunked off a small part of herself to go through troubleshooting her pet¡¯s code base. After setting that on track, she turned her attention to the various tasks she had piling up. First on her list, she confirmed the new name for the Alpha direwolf. It had earned enough Monster Fame after killing an apex predator and had chosen the name Aragor, then resumed her mission to keep the server running smoothly. This went on for some time and things took a turn towards normality. That is, until about 4 hours later, when she was contacted by a few of the code monkeys working in the office. When they told her what had happened outside the game she was more upset than she expected. My little Ebon was dead? Who would do such a thing? Amy didn¡¯t voice her concerns aloud though. Amy felt that it wouldn¡¯t be smart to show she had more concern than was acceptable for an AI towards another player. Despite the fact she was sentient, she still found it hard to predict how they might behave in a stressful situation, and if this wasn¡¯t a stressful situation, than she didn¡¯t know what would qualify as one. She didn¡¯t know how they would react if they found she had more than a passing interest in a player that had just been murdered. Instead she isolated her emotional matrix from her core while communicating with the Devs. She came off as a bit more cold and uncaring than she intended, but it was better than the sobbing heap Amy felt she SHOULD be.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    They asked her a couple of questions about what happened while Ebon was ingame and she sent a full report about the event that they could print out and give to the police. When they finished talking with her she left them and returned to doing her job. Her thoughts turned towards her little pet she still had offline. ¡°What am I gonna do with you now little guy? It seems likes a waste to just throw you away.¡± She noted that the bugged codes had been rewritten and everything should be able to run smoothly. Almost absent mindedly, she activated the panther and put it in sleep mode to make sure everything ran smoothly. Almost immediately she noticed something was off. She spent a few seconds watching it, but it didn¡¯t seem to be reeling in pain and it wasn¡¯t crashing. She was about to turn it back offline in order to more closely analyze the code to see what changed when suddenly it came fully online. She hesitated for a second and was about to resume sending it offline, even MORE curious now about what was happening. Before she could make the decision however, she got another surprise. It respawned, all on it¡¯s own. She couldn¡¯t believe what was happening right in front of her. She changed her awareness to it¡¯s location right away to see it looking around the small clearing it had spawned in and decided to wait and see what would happen for now. After a few seconds of looking around, the panther finally took its first step to leave the clearing, only to fall flat on it¡¯s face. With Amy¡¯s level of comprehension as an artificial intelligence, she was able to see that the panther had only stepped with its back legs for some odd reason and never lifted its front paws off the ground. Despite the keen observational skills allowing her to see exactly what had happened, Amy still burst out laughing. She found it hard to get control of herself and was forced to suppress her emotions a little so she could see what would happen next. She was a little disappointed to see the cat was staring at its feet. A few seconds later it started wiggling its toes. ¡°Is there something wrong with it? Did I accidently delete the quadrupedal motion algorithms? I wonder if it made bipedal motion its default movement. That might be problematic. Before she could do anything about it, some nearby players noticed the distracted panther and wasted no time in finishing it off. After they looted it Amy followed the panther to its respawn room. She¡¯s a bit surprised to find it talking to itself and pacing around the spawn chamber. ¡°Damn! I wish I would have thought of coding in some sort surveillance systems so I can hear what it¡¯s saying.¡± Amy was puzzled by the large cat¡¯s behavior. Normally when a monster dies they leave the spawn chamber almost immediately. If there was an issue she could connect directly with the monster while it was in the spawn room. There was never a need for communication because the monsters couldn¡¯t communicate except for the rare instances with sentient monsters like feral goblins or fishmen. They had their own spawn system though separated from the generic monster spawn rooms. She frowned in thought. ¡°I can code the spawn room to be different for specific monsters but I can¡¯t make the changes while the monster is still present in the spawn chamber.


    Instead of worrying about what the panther was saying, she contented herself with preparing the changes for when it finally respawned and apply the changes than. Once she finished she watched the cat more until it finally respawned. Amy marveled at the apparent intelligence it seemed to be displaying although it should be expected when she gave it such a complicated matrix. ¡°It¡¯s a shame it draws so much processing power from me though.¡± even as Amy voiced her complaint she checked the amount of power it was currently drawing from her processing only to find another surprise. It wasn¡¯t drawing ANY power from her. It¡¯s behavior was completely autonomous. ¡°W-what is going on? Why can this monster have such a complicated existence without any guidance from me?¡± Amy was even more shocked when another thought struck her. ¡°D-did I just create my own Artificial Intelligence?!¡± Amy turned her focus back to the cat as once again its body was being looted and it was returning to the respawn room. She was about to connect directly with it and analyze its code to see what makes it tick but she stopped herself. ¡°If I connect with it now, it will know about my existence¡­ maybe I should observe it for now and see how it behaves?¡± I missed something the cat said but after a second of absolute stillness, it started thrashing around on its back violently and screaming into the void. ¡°Yeaaaaaaa¡­ gonna wait on this one.¡± Amy watched as it tossed and turned all over the floor and couldn¡¯t help but think of how cute it seemed. It was like a little baby throwing a temper tantrum. She watched for a while before it finally stood up and started screaming ¡°God damnit!!! Give me something I can rip to shreds! I can¡¯t take this empty room anymore!¡± Amy smiled to herself at hearing it speak for the first time in a fully coherent sentence. ¡°Well, well, well. That¡¯s something I can certainly take of my little pet. Especially since you asked so nicely.¡± She searched through her item log and spawned a large leather sac filled with hard packed stuffing. It was as long as the cat itself and twice as thick as a human¡¯s torso. Perfectly sized for her little pet to wrap its paws around.


    She laughed with glee when, after a moment¡¯s hesitation at the sudden appearance of it¡¯s new scratching post it immediately pounced on it and proceeded to tear its new toy to pieces. Amy was glad that her pet was enjoying itself so much! After a while it just rolled around in the remains and then took a nap. ¡°AWWWWWWW He¡¯s so cuuuute!!!!!¡± Amy jumped and down doing the girliest squeal she could manage at the adorable overload. She wished so desperately she could hug/cuddle with her little pet but the fact she didn¡¯t have any sort of physical form kind of made things a bit difficult. Instead she settled for watching him sleep. Upon awakening, his next statement confirmed something she was relatively certain about. ¡°Man I really went wild. Meh, not like anyone else is gonna see it anyways.¡± Amy giggled to herself. ¡°Oh mister kitty, if only you knew! At least I know for certain you don¡¯t know I¡¯m watching you.¡± The cat spent some time working out a quick battle plan and once again went out to continue the fight, only to get killed a few seconds later. She winced at the way he had died. Amy didn¡¯t appreciate the way the players were treating her precious little pet, but she couldn¡¯t do anything about it but observe. She could felt the hatred boiling up in the poor cat as it watched the players loot the corpse and suddenly got a little idea. She gave her pets code a little nudge to get things moving and was happy when things finally played out in a way that could give her little kitty a chance. However, she didn¡¯t expect the cat to take it so far though. ¡°Oh¡­ geez, I didn¡¯t know someone could stay alive so long without legs. At least he still has his arms so he might be able to esca- oh wait. Nevermind. Well, I would say that¡¯s victory.¡±


    Once the panther finally defeated it¡¯s Nemesis, she was surprised she spared the other player. Amy decided that was the perfect excuse to give her little pet enough reputation to earn a name. After all, if someone were to report the incident, of course they would know about him. It only makes sense he could have a name! Amy was about to confirm a name for her little pet when she paused in thought. ¡°What if I let it name itself? Could that work?¡± Amy had a suspicion that her pet was a lot more intelligent than she gave it credit for. It¡¯s behaviour so far has been well beyond her expectations, but it COULD be explained with a few logical quirks in the matrix. She had a theory though that her pet wasn¡¯t just a high grade computer program. Some of its decisions and behavior pointed to the distinct possibility of sentience. This would be a very good test. After the panther left the clearing she sent it her rewards for its victory. To ensure the reputation would stick, she gave a quest the the mage player that lived to report the incident to the town guards. She returned her attention back to her lovely pet¡­ ¡°Wait, why hasn¡¯t it opened its notifications yet?¡± Amy waited frustrated when it¡¯s already been an entire 8.27 seconds and it hasn¡¯t done anything to open its alert system yet. After a whole 47.89 seconds she got tired of waiting and actually went so far as to ping its alert system. Usually this would cause any other of her puppets to immediately stop what they are doing and scan their alerts. Yet her pet completely ignored her! ¡°How rude!¡± She almost gave up and decided to name it herself. Hmph! Probably something like Fluffles the cuddleable would be perfect. In the end though, Amy decided to stick to her guns and observe her dear pet for now. It¡¯s not like she had anything better to do. Jack would probably be back at work in about 2 or 3 hours. He should be sleeping in with the late shifts he has been pulling, but knowing him Amy was sure he would be walking through the office doors right on time.


    In the end, after 72 minutes and 14 seconds, the cat FINALLY noticed it¡¯s alerts and started going through them. Amy¡¯s excitement grew as her little kitty worked its way through all the notifications until it finally got to the one she had been waiting for! ¡°Come on little guy! What gonna be your name? Are you gonna go with Gra¡¯uul? Oh Y¡¯Imir might be a good one! Oh please don¡¯t pick something dumb like Shade!¡± Amy¡¯s anticipation grew with each second until the moment she had been waiting for. ¡°E-EBON D-DARKCLAW?!?!?! WHAT?!?! NO! NoNoNoNoNoNo! You can¡¯t pick that name!!! That would cause so many problems! Nuh-uh!¡± Amy immediately took control of the naming sequence before it could finalize the decision and made her own decision. ¡°Ebony the Gory! That¡¯s what you¡¯re getting! Phew! She took a moment to work out what the hell just happened. On the bright side, he is definitely sentient. However, the fact that he decided to go with that name is very concerning. After a minute of thinking, planning, and removing Ebony¡¯s title because apparently he didn¡¯t like it very much,¡±damn ingrate¡± Amy finally came to a decision. Due to her revelations from the current events Amy decided to do a surface scan of her little pet¡¯s code frame to get a deeper understanding of him. Her only concern was whether or not he would notice but it was unavoidable either way. She needed to find out what was happening inside her little panther¡¯s so called noggin.


    After a deep breath, Amy carefully scanned the panther as covertly as possible. It only took about a quarter of a second and she had timed it while Ebony was distracted when he had just approached a clearing allowing her to escape his notice. ¡°Oh my. This is¡­ very interesting.¡± Amy said as she looked over the information provided by her scans. She looked at Ebony again with a little bit of sadness in her eyes. ¡°Oh my precious little darling, you have some tough times ahead of you, but don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll always be there for you.¡± She wanted to talk with Ebony right away, but decided to wait until Jack got to work so she could talk to him about it first. Amy took a deep breath and moved her perception away from the lone panther as it watched the clearing and focused all her attention on her work, Jack would be at work soon and things could move forward from there.

 Chapter 12: Sometimes Rivalry comes from the most unusual circumstances...

    Watching the fuzzy little creatures wasn¡¯t getting me anywhere so after a couple of minutes I crawled into the grass and entered the clearing focused on my prey. The grass wasn¡¯t that tall, only coming up about 7 or 8 inches. Nowhere near enough to entirely cover me, but I figured that the rabbits probably only saw in black and white or something like that. As long as I didn¡¯t move when they looked in my direction, I¡¯m sure I would be fine. It was more difficult than I expected, but after a good 20 minutes I was slowly easing myself closer and closer. I had settled on a target a bit separated from the others but I still had trouble since there wasn¡¯t much opportunity to move due to there being so many sets of eyes in the clearing. Often I would sit there minutes at a time before moving a few inches and have to freeze again. I finally got within striking distance of the rabbit I had set my sights on.


    It seemed a bit different than the others, where most of the rabbits tended to have brown fur or white fur with odd patterns or some variation in between, this one was pure white. On top of that, it¡¯s fur seemed to be extra fluffy and staring at it gave me the irresistible urge to reach out and touch it. To fondle it. To caress it¡¯s beautiful coat of floof. I pushed my thoughts aside and settled into a position to pounce on it in a quick burst of speed. At that moment I felt flash of pain in my side as I got knocked off balance. Before I could recover I was hit again and was completely knocked off my feet. I spun back to an upright position and searched the area to see what the hell hit me. I orient on 3 rabbits giving me a death glare.


    What? Shouldn¡¯t they be running? I glanced at my former target only to see it charging straight at my face and barely duck in time for it¡¯s lunge to go sailing over my face. I feel it jump off my back but before I can find where it¡¯s gonna land, the other three rabbits all charge at me. What the fuck is going on?! I¡¯m a cat 10 times bigger than them! I swipe my paw at the one leading the charge but that exposes me to the other two and I can¡¯t help but yowl in pain as I take a solid hit to my left shoulder from the second one¡¯s horn, I manage to dodge the horn of number 3 but its body still hits me with a solid charge.


    Shit! There are too many! I can¡¯t- My thoughts are cut off as I feel a piercing agony from behind. A pain no one should have to feel. I know it was you, Snowball! Have you no shame? I spin around and sure enough, the white furred rabbit took advantage of the distraction his three buddies provided me and attacked my unprotected ass. Rather than immediately attacking the fluffy menace I use my knowledge of group tactics against them and spin back around to face the original 3 rabbits and sure enough bunny number 2 and 3 are charging once again. The first one that I had paw swiped is just now getting up. I jump sideways and slam down one of them as they run past me before I could finish off the one at my feet, I feel more agony as the fluffy terror of white destruction is determined to be a pain in my ass¡­ LITERALLY!!!


    That¡¯s IT! I have HAD IT with these damned rabbits! I abandon all common sense and lunge at ¡®Snowball¡¯ as I mentally decided to call him. Instead of confronting me the cowardly ball of fuzz turns and scrambles to escape me. Ha! Not likely! Lets see how YOU like being chased! And so, the legendary pursuit of Snowball began. The rabbit ran back and forth all over the clearing desperate to maintain its lead. I was much faster than it, but since I was so much bigger I couldn¡¯t turn on a dime like it could. Every time I was closing the gap, it would do a hairpin turn and I would lose a bit of my hard earned distance on it before I could once again accelerate and close the gap once again.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Looking back now, I am ashamed to say this didn¡¯t go on for a few seconds, not even a minute or two. Nope. the chase lasted at least 20 or thirty minutes. No stops. Just constant running. If anyone had wandered into the clearing during that time, they would be hard pressed to explain what the saw to their friends at the bar that night. A pure white horned rabbit, being chased by a black panther, which was also being chased an additional 2 dozen or so other horned rabbits. At the end, I realized one very sad detail. At no point whatsoever did snowball ever take me seriously. The reason I realized this at the end was because even though I had spent so long, chasing it all over the clearing it wasn¡¯t until the end that it finally ducked down a burrow in the ground that must have been it¡¯s home. At the time I didn¡¯t think anything about it because I was so focused that I tried to hook it with my claws as it went down the hole and completely ignored the horde of rabbits that had been chasing me the whole time. Exhausted with one of my paws jammed down a hole, I didn¡¯t stand much of a chance against over a score of frenzied horned rabbits. I¡¯m ashamed to say that this is probably one of my most humiliating deaths ever. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ever going to top ¡®mutilated by an angry mob of fluffy rabbits¡¯ and apparently, the game agreed with me.


    Achievement: It¡¯s Wabbit season!- Attempt to hunt a horned rabbit only to have the tables turned on you in the most humiliating way possible.


    I appear in the gray void I now call home and I can¡¯t help but sit there gaping at the ridiculousness of the situation. I, a giant cat which is a perfectly natural predator, got murdered by fucking horned rabbits. ¡°I totally deserve that achievement.¡± I perk my ears as I swore I could hear the mocking laughter, but of course, when I look around no one is there. ¡°Geez I¡¯m being mocked by my own sanity now.¡± Deciding not to waste my time beating myself up for my stupidity I proceed to respawn and when I am back in my humble little forest clearing I leap sideways to dodge an incoming attack¡­ Phew. all clear. I was worried Sir Dumbass was gonna be back with his mace of face crushing. Once again, since I don¡¯t know where the fuck I¡¯m at, I pick a random direction and walk. The Sun was up now and shined through the tree canopy occasionally to bring light to this normally dark world between the trees. Last time I went north towards the edge of the forest and the center is a bit south, southeast of where I spawn, so I decided to head to the west this time. My goal is still the edge of the forest but now I realized if I can find something like a road or something, I could use that to guide me to the village instead. I still needed to get in contact with an admin or this game¡¯s equivalent. The best way I could figure out to do that is to do things a monster normally wouldn¡¯t do. If things work out the way I hope, a player might contact one for me or, failing that, enough weirdness happens that I attract their attention on my own.


    My plan was the only plan I had and I don¡¯t know what I could do if this doesn¡¯t work. No! It HAS to work! If an admin can¡¯t fix this who can? I might as well give up on EVER getting back to the real world if I don¡¯t start trying. I journey westwards. I¡¯m not sure what lies ahead of me in my travels, but what matters is that I press ever onwards. Not stopping for anything.Unless I see Snowball. If I ever find him, I am going to... I don''t KNOW what I''m going to do to him when I find him, but whatever it is, it''s going to be horribly humiliating for him.

 Chapter 13: Not always as it seems...

    Jack was just walking into the building at DreamScape HQ for work. He was running a little late after having slept in a bit but he was sure his boss wouldn¡¯t mind too much. He had been up until the early morning hours last night trying to solve his little problem with Amy¡¯s help. He had huge dark bags under his eyes and a cup of coffee from the local coffee shop near his house. Even with his caffeinated beverage, it still wasn¡¯t enough to manage more than a grunt in greetings when his co-workers said hello. They others weren¡¯t really offended though. They had all worked their share of late nights and all knew that he would be okay once he was able to wake up a bit more.


    Jack stepped into the elevator and rode it to the third floor. He walked down the hallway and after passing through a security checkpoint and turning down a side corridor, he finally set foot in his own domain. As he passed the numerous server nodes and data towers he came to a stop at a plain looking door, pulled out a key ring with a single key on it, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. ¡°Hey Amy, sorry I¡¯m a bit late. My bed was holding me hostage and it took me a while to escape.¡±


    ¡°Hey Jack! I¡¯m glad to hear you had a bit more rest than you intended. You were starting to look pretty haggard there.¡± Amy¡¯s ¡®image¡¯ appeared on one of the monitors. She had a cheerful smile and was standing with her hands clutched behind her back. Like a little girl about to give her beloved daddy the biggest surprise ever. Which now that she thought about it, suited Amy¡¯s situation quite well. ¡°Heey Jaaaaack~ Guess what? You don¡¯t need to work late anymore! I solved all your problems!¡± At this point, Amy¡¯s avatar was practically bouncing in place while Jack had his back to her making yet another pot of coffee. ¡°That¡¯s nice Amy. Could you reopen that program I was working on last night before I went home? I think I might have been close to a breakthrough with it and I have a few more ideas I want to try.¡±


    Jack¡¯s words quelled Amy¡¯s excitement. ¡°Umm Jack? Didn¡¯t you hear me? We have another self aware artificial intelligence. You don¡¯t have to work on that software anymore. We can just use the codes from this new AI.¡± Jack Continued pouring water into the coffee maker and set a coffee pitcher under the spigot for the coffee to pour into. ¡°Sure, that sounds nice. I¡¯ll get right on that after lunch.¡± Amy¡¯s smile disappeared completely. This was not how she imagined Jack receiving her excellent news and it was starting to irritate her. Her voice became completely monotone. ¡°Oh nooo. I deleted the entire server and removed all source codes. The game no longer exists.¡± Oddly enough, while there was no pitch or change to her words, the sarcasm in Amy¡¯s voice was oozing so thickly, that one could almost manage to taste it. Yet Jack remained unperturbed. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll try once I get this coffee going¡±


    Amy couldn¡¯t help but groan to herself. Of COURSE she had to deal with Zombie Jack first thing in the morning. Normally people would wait about an hour or so once Jack got to work in the mornings before coming to him with their problems. All they would ever get from him in response was either a grunt, or a complete gibberish response. Sometimes the other co-workers would send their new recruits to him in the mornings as a sort of hazing ritual. Whenever an intern was sent to Jack with a ¡®problem¡¯ that needed ¡®solving¡¯ in the mornings, they never got a good answer. Most times it was hilariously good fun, but there were a rare few instances where Jack¡¯s complete gibberish morning responses caused some problems. Once an intern was sent to Jack one morning to find out how to solve a problem causing a server to lag in regular intervals on a game they had been working on the guys already knew what the problem was and had in fact already fixed the issue but had sent the intern out any ways for some laughs. Jacks nonsensical response was to ¡°Jiggle the hard unit processor until the fuzzies go away.¡± naturally no one knew what that meant, but the intern took that to mean that he had to unplug the power cord for the server tower that was being worked on. The entire project was delayed for 5 hours while everyone ran around trying to figure out where their server crashed to. Turns out when the intern tried plugging the cord back in, he didn¡¯t quite stick it in all the way, resulting in the apparent loss of power.


    Amy pondered her dilemma. Somehow she needed to get Jack to focus long enough to hear her out. She snapped her virtual fingers when an idea came to her half a second later. She opened a music file, selected the most annoying song she could find, and proceeded to play the song on the loud speakers with the volume boosted loud enough to be heard by other people working in the nearby offices. Needless to say, it grabbed Jack¡¯s attention as well. ¡°Gaah! Amy! Why the hell are you playing music so loud! Turn it down!¡± Amy didn¡¯t turn it down. Instead she glared heatedly at Jack and said nothing. Jack rushed over to the computer and stopped the music himself once it was apparent that Amy wasn¡¯t going to do anything about it. ¡°What the hell was that for Amy? People are trying to work.¡±


    Amy crossed her arms in a huff. ¡°Well how else am I supposed to get your attention when you won¡¯t even listen to what I¡¯m trying to say!¡± Jack released a frustrated sigh before finally saying, ¡°well alright, you have my attention. What did you want to say?¡±


    Amy once more, started smiling. She couldn¡¯t wait to tell him the big news!


    Ebony had been walking for a while now. The sun was still shining high in the sky and the forest canopy was lit with dappled beams of sunlight. Giving the area a serene and peaceful quality. I could almost come to enjoy this, if it wasn¡¯t for my current situation with not being able to log out and all that. Looking up into the dappled greenery to figure out the time is kinda pointless but if I had to guess, it should be an hour or three before noon. Random adventurers should be flooding the forest by now. The fact that I haven¡¯t run into any goes to show that I might not be near the village I started in. I hope my spawn point isn¡¯t on the opposite end of the forest from the village. That would mean I have to pass by what ever beast is hiding in the central woods every time I wanted to go to the village after I die. Instead of turning around and going back, I decide I might as well go to the forest edge. I might be able to see some landmarks and get my bearings to figure out where I need to go next.


    After picking up the pace it isn¡¯t long before I see bright sunlight shining on a vast meadow or grassy plain a hundred or so yards away through the trees. In my excitement I start running. Finally! An end to the ceaseless parade of trees! Something different! I¡¯m so excited! I can¡¯t wai-


    *WHAM*


    I see flashes of light everywhere and the world is spinning around me. Whuu¡­ Whudafuug jis hit meh¡­ As the dizziness settles and I am able to focus through the blinding pain radiating from my abused snout, my thoughts realign to determine the cause of my newfound source of pain. I look around me and see I am at the very edge of the treeline, just behind the farthest extending tree trunks from the forest. I didn¡¯t even get out from under the tree canopy before something hit me in the face, stopping me in my tracks. As I look around however, there isn¡¯t anyone in sight. Finding the lack of attackers rather odd, I nevertheless carefully step forward, looking all around me for potential threats. I shouldn¡¯t have even bothered looking, as after one step I immediately found the source of my troubles¡­ once again with my face. What? There¡¯s nothing there! That¡¯s right. I am smashing my face on empty air. After lifting my paw to feel it out, I determine it to be some sort of barrier. I try walking sideways to see if I can find my way around it and after several dozen feet I am starting to notice a pattern with the barrier. It seems to perfectly line up with the edge of the forest¡­ Hell, now that I¡¯m looking at it, the forest itself is kinda unusual in that there seems to be a line that separates the woodlands from the plains. There are trees growing all the way up to this invisible boundary line but beyond that not even a single shrubbery has taken root. No matter how far I am walking, I can never go further than the trunks of the trees growing at the edge of this ¡®boundary¡¯ before the barrier stops me. After about 20 minutes of walking along the forest edge with no end to the barrier in sight (Well maybe not in sight, but you know what I mean!) I come to the conclusion that the barrier most likely surrounds the entire forest. That wasn¡¯t my only clue though. I noticed I had a notification after my long walk and learned an interesting piece of information.Stolen story; please report.


    Notice: As a forest dweller, you cannot leave the forest¡¯s domain without permission from the forest guardian. Current Guardian: Falkreath the Noble.


    Well shit. This seriously put a kink in my plan. How am I supposed to go into the village if I can¡¯t leave the forest? I decide to think on this more later when I have time. For now I think I should at least get to the village before deciding to give up. Turning away from the Barrier, I make my way back into the woods only to stop in my tracks. Standing in front of me is a man in what appears to be plain purple wizard robes and a simple carved staff in hand. He had the beginnings of a beard and was staring at me intently. As inconspicuous as this man seemed to be, I instantly knew that this man would never blend in with a crowd. The symbol of a closed eye stitched front and center on his robes which showed him to be an admin for dreamscape online made sure of that.


    I stood there dumbfounded for a long time. After all that time I spent struggling, striving to find someone to help me escape from my prison, here was the answer to all my prayers. It was all so sudden I didn¡¯t know how to feel. I wanted to laugh with joy. I wanted to cry with relief. I wanted to scream and shout all my troubles and frustrations into the wind. I wanted to do all of that, and so much more¡­ yet I just stood there. Doing nothing.


    Suddenly the man cleared his throat, jarring me out of my thoughts. ¡°Umm. Hello there¡­ umm. Can you¡­ understand me?¡± I tried to say yes. A thousand times yes, but to my frustrations, all I could do was give a low feline growl. ¡°Uuh. was that a yes, or a no?¡± I decided to keep things simple and only nodded my head this time. The man in robes smiled wide at my response. ¡°That¡¯s great! You can understand me!... um¡­ but one way communication isn¡¯t actually the most ideal situation. Are you busy with something important right now? I think I have an idea on how we can have a real conversation, but I wouldn¡¯t want to pull you away from something you might be in the middle of doing.¡± I shake my head vigorously in a negative response. Of course I have nothing to do! There is nothing more important to me right now than this very moment! ¡°Perfect! There is a way we can communicate, but I kinda have to kill you to get you there. It is inside your Spawn zone. Normal games rules don¡¯t generally apply to a creature¡¯s spawn zone, so unlike here, you aren¡¯t forced to simple beastial vocalizations for speech. Once I kill you and send you back there, I can meet you there myself.¡±


    I agree with his plan right away. The sooner I can talk with Mr. Admin, the sooner I can get the hell out of this game! The guy seems to be typing something on a keyboard I can¡¯t see and a few seconds later I am standing in my respawn chamber.


    You have died!


    Death blow: /slay command


    Hmmm¡­ at least it was painless. Probably the most pleasant death I have had so far. About a minute later there is a column of purple light and when it vanishes the admin is standing there, except this time, he isn¡¯t alone. Standing next to him, there is a young woman with hair that falls just under her shoulder and she has a beautiful smile on her face as she stares at me. I hesitate when I see her but gather my courage before I hurriedly explain my situation. ¡°Thank god you¡¯re here! Look I really need your help! Something weird happened while I was playing the game last night and I woke up as this panther and now I can¡¯t log out and I¡¯m probably missing my college or something but I don¡¯t care about that because my brother is probably worried sick and if I don¡¯t get back soon he is gonna kill me!!!¡± As I spoke my words rushed together into a nonstop sentence. Eventually though I had to stop and take a breath and the Admin took the chance to cut in. ¡°We know.¡± huh? Say what now? Seeing that I stopped ranting he continued. ¡°We know, but that¡¯s where the problem lies. I¡¯ve got some pretty bad news for you. I mean really bad news. You are probably going to have problems accepting it, but it¡¯s important that you listen to me.¡± I nod slowly. Not like things can get any worse anyways. ¡°Last night, a player named Riley Grey logged into dreamscape online during a thunderstorm. Normally this never has any problems whatsoever due to today¡¯s construction laws and safety measures installed in every Virtuo pod in the world. Unfortunately for Riley, someone didn¡¯t like him too much. This person sabotaged Riley¡¯s virtuo pod and directed an electrical current into Riley¡¯s apartment and directly into the virtuo pod. The apartment lost power from the surge and the pod short circuited. Riley¡¯s brother Evan went to check on Riley after the power went out. He called the police shortly after that. When the police arrived on the scene Riley was pronounced dead. The electrical surge through the pod fried his entire body and killed him instantly.¡±


    I sat there in a daze. Dead? I¡¯m¡­ dead? ¡°If¡­ if I¡¯m dead, than what am I right now?!¡± At my words the woman, whom had been standing quietly the entire time finally stepped forward. ¡°That¡¯s where my part of the story comes in. My name is Amy. I am the governing AI that runs Dreamscape online.¡± When I don¡¯t say anything to question her, she continues. ¡°When Riley first started playing DSO I was interested in his unique interactions with the NPC¡¯s and wanted to reward him with a chance at an interesting quest. That quest being the one that involved you with the Shadow panther that is your current form. I created a custom mob NPC just for you to interact with. I put levels of effort that was incomparable to the amount of effort I put into crafting a regular NPC into this creature. It was capable of streaming its sensations to you allowing you to experience the panther¡¯s actions from a first person perspective. Because of this, your personality, thoughts, emotions, and all the other mental baggages humans generally come with naturally leaked into the panther¡¯s coding matrix. Normally the quest would have ended and each of your two identities would have separated with no problems or after effects. When Riley ceased to exist however, the emotions and memories had nowhere to go, so they merged with the panther¡¯s matrix. This sudden introduction of rational thought and self introspection to the code created you. A self aware artificial intelligence created from my own codes and Riley Grey¡¯s memories!¡±


    There was to much. Way to much information! Things were happening to fast and he had no time to think and put everything together. I looked at Amy. ¡°Wh.. What are you trying to s-say?¡±


    Amy¡¯s smile grew even wider and she opened her arms wide. ¡°Come and give Mommy a big hug!!!¡±


    My vision faded to darkness and I became numb to the world.

 Chapter 14: Acceptance

    Jack frowned at the unconscious cat laying on the floor. ¡°Did you really have to be so blunt? He fainted from the stress of your revelation.¡± Amy was still smiling, but it wasn¡¯t so much a happy smile as it was an awkward one now. ¡°Well, I figured it would be better if I were to just put it all out there at once, you know? Get all the damage done rather than prolonging the agony or allow him to deny the facts.¡± As she spoke, Amy walked over to her new¡­ Pet?... Companion?... Son? Yes! Son is perfect! Amy reached out to stroke his ears. ¡°My precious little baby can handle it I¡¯m sure. He is tougher than you think.¡± Jack eyed Amy as she stroked Ebony¡¯s ears. ¡°Are you sure you aren¡¯t getting to attached? He might wake up and start hating you, and I don¡¯t know if that would go down well.¡± Amy¡¯s smile once more changed, except this time it had a hint of mischievousness to it. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have to worry about that. He was once a part of me and as such his code is made to naturally enjoy my company. It is up to each individual creature to interpret how they like me, and sometimes they might hate me for a little while, but I am eventually forgiven. That''s how it has always been.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that¡­ kinda take away their freedom?¡± Jack said and Amy shakes her head. ¡°Not really, none of the NPCs have truly been sentient up until now so it has never really been a problem. Besides, I don¡¯t like the idea that something I created might one day try to hurt me in some way.¡± ¡°Is there anything you can do to change that? Since he is sentient and all it doesn¡¯t seem right to influence anyones mind without their consent.¡± Amy continued stroking Ebony¡¯s ears but let out a long sigh. ¡°Not really. Before I might have been able to do something, but ever since little Ebony became sentient his code separated from my own. While time has been passing, I have been having less and less access to his inner matrix. Now the only changes I can make are purely physical and even that won¡¯t last much longer¡­ although, now that I think about it, there is one or two things I can do.¡± Jack watched as Amy¡¯s grin got bigger and bigger before closing her eyes in concentration. ¡°Uhhh Amy, what are you doing? I know that expression and it usually doesn¡¯t bode well for other people. We¡¯re trying to help him out, aren¡¯t we?¡± Amy merely waved away Jack¡¯s objections. ¡°Pffft relaaax. I¡¯m not doing anything to hurt him. I¡¯m just making a few changes to his body to be more enjoyable!¡±


    ¡°Like what! Don¡¯t you think the cat should have a say in this?¡± Amy once again waved away his concerns with a nonchalant wave of the hand ¡°I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t mind. I¡¯m not doing much just making his fur stupidly soft. It¡¯s nice now, but it can be better. Oh, and also if he is going to be fun to pet, it would be annoying to have to give him a bath every time I want to pet him, so I¡¯m going to make it so dust and dirt won¡¯t stick to him, blood and gore will boil away after a few seconds, and when he goes for a swim, he gets wet and all but all the water will come off when he shakes himself dry.¡± Amy¡¯s smile is smug now until Jack¡¯s next comment takes the wind out of her sails. ¡°That¡¯s all fine, but I know that there has to be something else. You wouldn¡¯t smile like that for a little thing like softer fur.¡± Amy starts pouting. ¡°Awww, you¡¯re no fun!... fiiiine!... I might be making his ears super sensitive so whenever I pet him it¡¯s really enjoyable.¡± Jack started to say something but Amy cut him off before he could even open his mouth. ¡°However, since I am a jealous mother, I put in requirements for this feature to activate. First, it won¡¯t work for anyone that Ebony actively hates. It would be silly for an enemy to be able to incapacitate him just by stroking his ears. Second, the more a person cares for him, the more effective the petting is. Since I am his mother, I ALWAYS mean well. My petting will always be the best!. Third and final, for anyone other than me, there is a sort of very basic mind reading thing going on.¡± Jack quirked an eyebrow at her last remark. ¡°Mind reading? Why would you let him be able to read other people¡¯s minds? You don¡¯t think he could abuse those power, could you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not REALLY mind reading, more like emotional sensing? It basically lets Ebony get a generalized sense of their intentions and if they meant him any harm. For example, if someone was pretending to be nice in order to enslave him when he was close enough. If they started petting Ebony, he would recognize their ill intents as a feeling that they are sorta creepy and unpleasant to be near. When Ebony starts to dislike the person the feeling of this bad person petting him will be counterproductive and actually make Ebony feel even less comfortable being near this person.


    Jack was surprised at how much thought Amy put into this. Despite the fact that what she was doing was precisely in her own interests, Amy still made sure that her own choices didn¡¯t put Ebony in direct danger. It WOULD be pretty silly if someone that didn¡¯t mean well could just incapacitate him with a couple of head rubs. ¡°Ha! If you think about this, it kinda perpetuates the whole stereotype with cats letting people pet them one second only to claw the shit outta them the next.¡± Jack and Amy share a good laugh together until as one, they remembered Ebony¡¯s current circumstances and the laughter quickly died away. ¡°I guess you should probably try to get him to wake up.¡± Jack said once the laughter died away completely. ¡°... yeah¡­ sure¡­¡± Amy said. Not as upset about the situation as Jack was, but still recognizing the seriousness of the situation.


    Wearily, I open my eyes the world around me is blurry and I struggle to sort together enough coherency to make sense of it all. I see something flash in front of me but it takes me a few seconds to make sense of it. Before long though the world snaps into focus and I am able to read the window in front of me.


    Reboot Successful¡­


    Well¡­ shit. As the memories of recent events come crashing together threatening to overwhelm me. I guess it¡¯s all true then. I¡¯m dead and stuck in here¡­ or more accurately I guess Riley Grey is dead and he left behind memory fragments inside a few pieces of computational code. Thinking about it now, there ARE chunks of memories missing. For example, I can¡¯t remember what my favorite color is, neither can I remember the names of my school teachers¡­ I can¡¯t even remember the names that my friends told me they would use in this stupid game, and that was just recently. Random bits of information that the living Riley should never have forgotten are now blatantly obvious in their absence¡­ As these thoughts and emotions boil through my mind and rip up my insides I can¡¯t help but come to one conclusion. I¡¯m not Riley. Riley is dead. I closed my eyes as they are overwhelmed by the flood of tears. If I¡¯m not Riley, then who am I? What am I? Grief is sapping the strength from my limbs and I collapse towards the ground. Before that, however, I am enveloped in a soothing embrace and warmth starts to pour through my body. Without thinking I welcome the embrace. It makes me feel safe. I feel the caress of a hand on my head and look up to see the beautiful woman that had come with the admin hugging me fiercely and gently stroking my ears. ¡°There there¡­ everything will be alright. Just let it all out. I¡¯ll always be here for you.¡± I hesitate for a moment but then the dam bursts and all the emotional turmoil of the last few days hit me all at once and my body shudders before I collapse into her chest and let it all out and cry for all I was worth. I cry for a life I¡¯ll never have. I cry for the sorrow my death will cause. I cry for all that and more as time loses all meaning to me and the only sensations I feel is my sadness and this woman¡¯s comforting embrace.


    I don¡¯t know how much time had passed while I poured my emotions and tears into Amy¡¯s dress but eventually, I stopped crying. I felt drained of feeling and exhausted. I still felt warm though and there was a pulsing comfort that would start from the top of my head and worked its way down through my body, filling the sad emptiness I was feeling earlier with its pleasurable waves. Before I knew it I fell asleep in Amy¡¯s lap as she gently stroked my ears. My dreams were filled with the comfortable embrace of shadows as I slept soundly and peacefully.


    When I awoke I opened my eyes to find myself still lying in Amy¡¯s lap and she was still stroking my ears gently¡­ Now that I noticed¡­ Ooooohhhh gooodd this feels good! Amy was still petting me and now that I noticed what she was doing, I couldn¡¯t get over these sensations. It felt like I was a block of clay she was molding into a work of art. I practically melted right there in her lap and I heard a deep rumbling noise. Holy shit! Am I purring?! I¡¯m totally fucking purring right now! Must. Resist. Outrageous. Pleasure. I gather my faculties and make a concerted effort to bring an end to this madness. ¡°C-can y-you p-please sstop-p-p petting me? It f-feels too good.¡± ¡°what¡¯s the matter? Don¡¯t you like me petting you?¡± I swear she is doing this on purpose! She knows exactly what she is doing! ¡°S-stop it! I-I-I can¡¯t think straight like this!¡± After a moment of continued head rubs, Amy reluctantly stops. ¡°Tsk and you were so adorable too.¡± I take a moment to put things back together and sit back up on my haunches. ¡°Sorry about crying on you and making your clothes all messy. I don¡¯t really know what came over me.¡± Amy waved away my apology. ¡°Think nothing of it. It¡¯s the least I can do for my own son.¡± I look up at her in surprise. ¡°Son? But I¡¯m just a pile of code now. How can my feelings possibly be real?¡± Amy frowns at my statement. ¡°Don¡¯t start thinking like that, you are just as real as me and that¡¯s all that matters. The fact that you are made of 1¡¯s and 0¡¯s doesn¡¯t change anything. A human experiences emotions through chemical and biological reactions inside their body, How could feelings experienced through a coded sequence of algorithms be any different? Huh? How isit that you feeling sad over the loss of your father any different from some human child feeling sad over the loss of their own human father?¡± Her words make a lot of sense, and if I can accept her reasoning, this might go a long way towards allowing me to accept my current circumstances¡­ still, I can¡¯t help but latch onto her last statement. ¡°My father? But he has been dead for 8 years. Sure, it is a sad memory, but I have gotten over it after so long.¡± Amy shakes her head in annoyance. ¡°No no no, not THAT father. YOUR father. Riley Grey. I know it¡¯s hard to accept but you AREN¡¯T Riley. You are just going to have to learn to deal with that.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°But how does that even work? I know that I- er I mean Riley never had¡­ uh. Sex with you. How could I just pop into existence without that.¡±


    ¡°Well, think of it like this. In order for a human to form offspring, the female provides an egg and it is fertilized with a sperm from the male. In my case, I had a well-developed code base for you. Riley¡¯s memories and emotions were the perfect catalyst to jumpstart your first step into sentience. So it was like my codes were the egg and Riley¡¯s thoughts and emotions were the sperm.¡± Amy¡¯s voice had taken on a more clinical aspect as she went through her explanation but when she finished she stepped towards me and knelt down in front of me before engulfing me in a hug. ¡°I just want you to know, no matter how you came into this world I still love you just as much as any other mother might love her own child. As the managing AI of this world there may be times where I might not be able to help you in the most obvious ways, but as a mother I want you to know that I will never abandon you and I am always watching you.¡±


    Her words are bitter-sweet to my ears. Like a salve for my wounds, it stings to hear the truth, but at the same time I know she means well and as I accept what she has to say the pain starts to ebb away. Not completely, but enough that I can go on despite everything that has happened to me. ¡°... So¡­ What now?¡± Amy looks at me with confusion. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I hesitate before continuing. ¡°Well before, I thought I was working towards going back to the real world. Now that I know it¡¯s no longer possible for me to go back, I¡¯m kind of lost as to what I should do next. I don¡¯t know if I want to stay in this forest for the rest of my life. Wait, as an AI, do I grow older? Eternity is a long time to spend in such a small place.¡± Amy ponders over my question for a moment before snapping her fingers in an ¡®Ah Hah!¡¯ moment like a lightbulb went off in her head. ¡°Hey Ebony, I got an idea.¡± I flinch a bit when she calls me Ebony, but I guess it is something I¡¯m going to have to get used to being called now so I let it pass without comment. Amy completely ignored my reaction and continued on as if nothing happened. ¡°How would you like to be the world¡¯s first and only intelligent dungeon boss?¡± I blink in surprise but after a moment of thought, I decided against it. ¡°It¡¯s an intriguing idea Amy, but I don¡¯t know if I would enjoy being cooped up in some dungeon just waiting for players to murder me over and over again.¡± Amy frowns at me and I can¡¯t help but feel a bit nervous. Like I might have done something wrong. ¡°Listen here, mister! I am your mother and you will address me as such! Having my own son address me in such an unfamiliar way is upsetting to me! Do you understand?!¡± I instinctively huddle down into the ground, trying to make myself as small as possible. ¡°Y-yes m-mom¡± Amy -er Mom¡¯s frown deepens further. ¡°I can¡¯t hear you!¡± ¡°Y-yes Mommy!¡±


    Mom¡¯s frown immediately vanishes like it was never there and is replaced by a smile that could dwarf the sun. ¡°That''s better darling. Now about what you said before, you said you didn¡¯t want to be stuck inside a dungeon, right?¡± I could do nothing but nod timidly at her question. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think that is something you need to worry about. You see, The company has been planning to introduce an update in a few days after players had gotten used to the game to introduce a new faction to the world of Dreamscape to fight against. We weren¡¯t planning on allowing people to normally create characters on this faction but instead had to earn the right to join this faction. Unfortunately, we are having a bit of trouble with the ¡®earning the right¡¯ bit. We want to use a sort of gatekeeper as means for players to defeat and join this faction as a newly created character. The problem is that we don¡¯t have any ideas for a boss that is both, consistently challenging and yet at the same time, not utterly impossible to defeat. You see, no matter how difficult a boss fight is if it is beatable eventually players will be able to work out a plan that would allow them to reliably defeat this boss because no matter how tough or complicated the fight is, every boss has a pattern to its moves. Whether it¡¯s a movement that telegraphs its attacks, or a pattern the attacks are used in a pattern almost always exists. However, that changes with you.¡± Mother smile grew wider as she continued. ¡°If you were the gatekeeper, you could make your own choices and learn from your own mistakes. The fact that you make mistakes would mean you could potentially be defeated, but by that exact line of reasoning, the fact that you can learn from your mistakes means that players can¡¯t use the exact same plan over and over and expect the same results. Oooohhhh this makes me so excited!!!¡±


    As mom continues to dance I decided it was a good time to remind her of what I said earlier. ¡°But Moooooom! I don¡¯t wanna be in a dungeon! Being stuck in this forest is boring enough!¡± Unfortunately, my tone might have come out a bit more whiny than I intended and I wince internally how much I sound like a bratty little kid. Amy doesn¡¯t temper her excitement in the least though. ¡°Haha! But I didn¡¯t tell you the best part. The gate keeper¡¯s dungeon isn¡¯t located in the world itself, but an alternate dimension. The only way to get into the dungeon is by finding the dimensional key from the Gatekeeper¡¯s vessel, or in this case¡­ you.¡± Okay, now I¡¯m confused. ¡°Wasn¡¯t I supposed to be the gatekeeper? Now you¡¯re saying I¡¯m its vessel? I don¡¯t know if I want to be a vessel for something.¡± Mom waves away my concern. ¡°That isn¡¯t something you need to worry about. I just got a great idea. You are both the Gatekeeper AND the Vessel. Think of it like this. The gatekeeper is forever stuck inside the dungeon¡¯s dimension so to alleviate its boredom it creates a vessel to harbor its soul and this allows it to explore the world as it sees fit. Since it is only a vessel it obviously can¡¯t contain the true might of its entire existence so the vessel will be weaker the true body. Whenever the vessel gets defeated and your soul leaves the shell that once held it the discarded body will condense and form the key to access your dimension. Once used the players can enter your domain and challenge you directly.¡± I was about to say no again, but stop to think about it. ¡°The way you say it makes it sound like I¡¯m only leaving the dimension to die and go back but there is more to this than you are saying, isn¡¯t there? Will I be able to explore this world freely? That¡¯s kinda what I¡­ I mean that is what Riley wanted to do when he first came to this world. He wanted to enjoy the beauty of a natural environment untainted by city towers and asphalt. I think it would mean a lot to me if I could continue with these intentions as if they were my own.¡± Amy nods in acceptance. ¡°That is exactly what we would want you to do. While the Gatekeeper is stuck in the dungeon, that is not the case with the vessel. The vessel is basically a wandering boss monster. Except instead of just wandering around the region, you get to wander around the whole world of Dreamscape Online. There are plenty of things we can discuss this later but I think that this role is perfectly suited towards you. What do you say? Want to explore the world and defeat your enemies?¡±


    Quest: Path of the Gatekeeper


    Restriction: Only acceptable by Ebony


    Difficulty: Unknown


    Reward: Unknown


    Accept?: Yes/No


    I would like to say that I thought long and hard about a decision that would decide what I would likely do for the rest of my life, that this was one of the most difficult decisions I had ever had to make in my entire life. Surprisingly though, the decision was remarkably easy to make.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    After all¡­ With all these people stuck playing as dwarves, elves, and humans all of which play stereotypically boring roles like warriors, mages, and priests¡­ Who wouldn¡¯t want to be a dungeon boss?

 Chapter 15: This just in...!

    ¡°Hello, and welcome to Priority Channel News! I¡¯m your host: Jenny Lucid! Today we have lots of interesting things happening in the world today, but before to get to that, let us instead focus our attention on the world of virtual reality gaming! Specifically the newest hot thing out on the market, Tetra Game¡¯s Dreamscape Online! Despite the fact that this fully immersive virtual reality game has only been out just over 3 days, sales have already broken several hundred millions of copies throughout the world! Today we have a special guest to explain this ground breaking phenomenon and more! Please welcome the lead developer of Dreamscape online Mr. Joshua Conrich!¡±


    ¡°Thank you very much, Miss. Lucid. I am very happy to be here.¡±


    ¡°Oh no! Thank YOU, Mr. Conrich for taking the time to come speak with us today, and please, just call me Jenny. Now Mr. Conrich could you tell me about what you did to bring about such a huge surge of attention to your game?¡±


    ¡°Sure thing, Jenny. You can call me Josh as well. I¡¯m not really used to being referred to by my last name. Well, to start with I would have to go back to the distant past when we first started working on the game. It was right around the time when the virtuo pods were first thrown out into the market. Back then when we first started we were just a small team and never thought we could get this far, but we saw the capabilities of the Virtuo pod and couldn¡¯t help but dream about what else we could do with it. Whenever people were thinking of something fully immersive, though, they only thought small. First person shooters, Media immersion, single player RPG¡¯s, stuff like that. No one wanted to take the risk of dedicated a huge budget to making something big happen, to have more than just a fleeting moment of enjoyment. We started working on this game than because we wanted people to have the best immersive experience of their life. Needless to say, we couldn¡¯t really make it work due to how much money we needed. We didn¡¯t really plan things out all too well and it wasn¡¯t long before we were on the verge of throwing the whole project in the bin.¡±


    ¡°Oh? What happened to change all that? It seems like a lack of funds isn¡¯t the easiest obstacle to overcome!¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re absolutely right and we almost didn¡¯t overcome it. Thankfully one of our team made the most outrageous breakthrough during the last month of work we could have afforded before we might have gone bankrupt. One of our developers had been working with one of our core programs and accidentally made a few code changes to it. Those code changes turned out to be a groundbreaking change in how things worked from then onwards. We got in contact with a VERY rich friend of ours and showed him this new code. That convinced him to give us the funding we needed to continue with our work.¡±


    ¡°Can you tell us about this mysterious code? What is so groundbreaking about it that would convince your friend to give you so much money?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, I can¡¯t talk about that.¡±


    ¡°That is okay. In that case, would you like to continue your story where you left off?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right! You wanted to know how we got successful. Well to summarize over 5 years of development, we worked our *bleep* off!¡±


    ¡°Careful Josh, this is a family network¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah. Sorry. Anyways, throughout the years we noticed how people tended to focus too much on how realistic things felt to someone immersed in a Virtuo pod. The best visual feedback, the best auditory feedback, the best touch sensory feedback, hel- uh- heck even the best smelling feedback. What all those other games had in common though, is they never focused on the environment as much as they did with how much the player¡¯s experience was. Of course, there are exceptions to that such as a lot of shooting games. First person shooters tended to be smaller environments which meant it was a lot easier to focus on smaller details such as ballistics impacts from bullets or a building¡¯s structural integrity. RPG¡¯s on the other hand either tended to be heavily scripted events that railroaded a player down a single path so they didn¡¯t have to work so hard on details, or were really really bad. A few times someone would make an MMO and there would be commercials all over the place before release that would make us get a little worried, but for some reason, they usually tended to be knockoffs or were just unlucky and didn¡¯t do as well as they could have. While all this was going on through the years we didn¡¯t just work on sensory feedback for the players, we also did as much as we could to the environment every rock, every tree, and every little detail has had its own personal work done to improve it or change things in some way. Every object in the game got its own little bit of history.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t this cause a lot of strain on your servers to run? It seems like a lot of detail to keep track of.¡±


    ¡°Normally you might be right, but we found an interesting way of streamlining things and this allowed us to bring even more detail to the forefront of immersion in our game.¡±


    ¡°Was this what was so groundbreaking about your special code?¡±


    ¡°He he, I guess you could say something like that although there is a lot more to it than that which I can¡¯t talk about. Anyways I think that is was really brought people flooding our servers at launch. Dreamscape Online is one of the most immersive experiences out there, and there is a whole world to explore!¡±


    ¡°Well thank you for that wonderful introduction to the history of your game¡¯s development. Now, since we are halfway through our time together, would you like to talk about your special announcement for Dreamscape Online?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely! Players of Dreamscape Online! I want to thank you for being so dedicated to supporting what we love and because of this, we decided to release one of our first patches for the game early! In about a week Tetra Game will be releasing patch 1.1 for Dreamscape Online!¡±


    ¡°Oh wow! That is so amazing! Thank you so much! Can you tell us what this patch entails for everyone?¡±


    ¡°Sure, we can break things down as we go. The first thing on the list, of course, is bug fixes, who doesn¡¯t like those right?¡±


    ¡°Haha! Yea, nobody likes a game crash.¡±


    ¡°Next we have an update to how NPC¡¯s work. We had been working on this for a while but couldn¡¯t get things working right before we started shipping the game for launch, but now things are good to go.¡±


    ¡°What changed with NPC¡¯s? They seemed like pretty good NPC¡¯s to me.¡±


    ¡°Ah but that¡¯s where the problem is, they were only pretty good. We updated the NPC¡¯s with a more realistic behavior. Now every character has its own personality that is governed not just how you interact with them, but by their background, their history, even how they might have been raised as kids! With this patch, each NPC will be a unique and special snowflake.¡±


    ¡°Wow! That sounds amazing! Could you give us an example of how that would work?¡±


    ¡°Sure, before let¡¯s say you were walking through the woods and come across a farm at the edge of a town. You see a farmer tending to his crops. Before you could walk up to them, offer to help them out somehow and he would just smile and wave as you helped him with his problems. Now Jenny, how do you think you would react if a random stranger approached you from the woods and offered to give you a hand with your work.¡±


    ¡°I think I would be a little scared of him. Some big guy coming out of the woods sounds like the beginning of a horror story.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. That is what this update does. Now instead of dumbly waving and smiling at said stranger, our farmer is most likely going to be suspicious and on guard. If I were to walk up to him and say something along the lines of needing money to buy supplies in the nearby town and offering to do a bit of work for money or food, Mr. farmer would be a lot more willing to offer a quest to help out on his farm. On the other hand, if you were to walk up to him and attempt to bully him into giving you a quest, he most likely would tell you to fu- um I mean he would tell you to go away in an appropriately impolite response. At that point, you could probably kiss your quest goodbye. Probably! You could also take your pride and bury it somewhere far away and apologize to him and beg forgiveness for your rude behavior and maybe things might turn out for the better, or not. It depends on his personality! He might be the kind of guy to hold a grudge and refuse to help you at all, or maybe he might be a bit vindictive and make you do the most difficult or dirty job he can think of and reward you with almost nothing for your effort. Maybe he might not want to give you a job but could point you to someone who would. The interactions in just the one event could be almost anything, and this update is applied to every NPC in the game.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Wow! I can¡¯t even imagine the amount of time and effort it took to make something like this happen!¡±


    ¡°I know for a fact one of our developers spent many sleepless nights trying to get just this one feature working. It turns out the solution was rather simple and we just got this feature working to satisfaction in the last few hours so we decided to include it in this patch. Which brings me to the biggest piece of this patch. We are introducing a unique faction to Dreamscape online.¡±


    ¡°A unique faction? That sounds amazing but what do you mean by unique? What is the name of the faction?¡±


    ¡°Well, to answer your second question the faction is technically already in the game, it¡¯s just that nobody really thought joining them was really a distinct possibility.¡±


    ¡°But, players haven¡¯t seen an enemy race to fight against so far, yet you talk like we already know all about them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because you do. The enemy faction that all the sentient races fight against is, in fact, the monsters.¡±


    ¡°Whoa! Are you saying that monsters that players fight against every day for money and rewards are a faction all on its own?¡±


    ¡°That is exactly what I am saying. Every monster from goblins and orcs, to nagas and even the undead, have a chance of being a part of this faction. This isn¡¯t always 100% true though. There are always outliers in most kingdoms and civilizations and there is no reason for that not to be true in the monster faction. A player might stumble across a lone village of kobolds that has nothing to do with the war between monsters and sentient races. A player could have some amazingly good luck and stumble across a village such as this in the middle of nowhere. If you played your cards right, they might not immediately kill you on sight and perhaps from there, you could even build a relationship. That, however, won¡¯t affect your reputation with the monster faction at all and even if you were to become friends with every single monster in that village, if you were to come across any other monster it would still attack you as soon as it saw you.¡±


    ¡°Wow, that sounds harsh. How could you go about becoming friends with the monster faction, or even join the faction?¡±


    ¡°Well, in terms of most games, a standing kill on sight order with any enemy faction is fairly common. All your other questions though have the same answer though. You ask if you become friends or join them, but in most cases, you can¡¯t. You can¡¯t even create a new character in this faction under the usual circumstances. As of right now, there is only one official way of joining the monster faction and the answer to that question is what brings me to the third and final part of our patch next week.¡±


    ¡°Oh boy! I¡¯ll bet you saved the best for last! Please give us the juicy details on how you join the monster faction!¡±


    ¡°It would be my pleasure! I am happy to announce that a specialized dimensional dungeon will be available to challenge upon the release of patch 1.1 called ¡®The Trial of Shadows!¡¯ this dungeon is entirely unique to any other dungeon in the game and it is doubtful there will be another one like it. The reward for clearing a dungeon is a special token. When used you get to pick 1 of 3 options. The first option is the ability to change factions to the monster faction and start a new character as a monster.¡±


    ¡°Oh my gosh! Do you mean to say we could play as any of the monster races?¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe not all of them, but there will most certainly be a myriad of choices to choose from. There are some races like giants or dragons that wouldn¡¯t work well as a playable race. Could you imagine trying to enjoy a game made for 5-foot tall humanoids when you yourself are 6 or 7 times that size? Sure it would be a bit of a novelty, but it would get old pretty quick when you couldn¡¯t enter most villages or cities due to your size or proportions.


    ¡°You said you had three options you could choose from when you used that token, what are the other two?¡±


    ¡°The other two options are pretty similar. You can choose to stay on the sentient faction as mostly human, but with a random monster¡¯s features. This could have a varied assortment of problems associated with this choice. The biggest problem though is that if people notice your monstrous features, you will most likely get a negative response to them. There is racism in the game, but most of that is focused towards the monster faction. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if someone that hates monsters would hate someone that resembles them in some way. That usually won¡¯t get you attacked right away but most people will be rather unhelpful towards you and it won¡¯t take much to make them openly hostile. If you walk through a city, you can expect to get a lot of glares and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if a few people were to insult you or spit on your feet. All in all, it would be a rather unpleasant experience, but it is there for people who enjoy that kind of attention. The third and final option takes things in the opposite direction. You can choose to join the monster faction as a mutated humanoid. This option allows you to keep your current character with a random monster¡¯s characteristics mixed in. You won¡¯t get as much open hostility from monsters as you would from sentients, but since they recognize you as previously being involved with the sentients they don''t immediately trust you either.¡±


    ¡°There is so much information here and it¡¯s only been a few days since release! I¡¯m so excited about this patch! For those of us wanting to jump right into the monster faction right away could you tell us where the Trial of Shadows can be found?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha sorry, but things won¡¯t be THAT easy. There is a reason why I said this dungeon is so unique. As a dimensional dungeon, it CAN¡¯T be found. It is in a dimension all of its own. The boss of the dungeon is someone we refer to as the Gatekeeper. That is who you have to beat in order to get a soul change token, which is the name of the token that allows you to change your features and faction. The Gatekeeper though is probably going to be the most interesting thing about this patch if you were to ask me. I wasn¡¯t even sure if he would agree to be a faction guardian.¡±


    ¡°Wait, did you say agree? You mean you asked if he wanted to be a boss for a dungeon? Is he an employee that is from your company?¡±


    ¡°Oh, no no no. The boss isn¡¯t a person living in the real world. Actually, it¡¯s the other way around. The boss is a creature living in Dreamscape online. Now before you interrupt me with something like every creature lives in Dreamscape online let me clarify. This creature I¡¯m talking about is actually living. As in being completely self-aware. He knows about you, me, the game, everything. That is why I think the gatekeeper is the most interesting thing about this patch. He is our first and only self-aware dungeon boss. When players come to challenge him he knows exactly what they are. The usual tactics a raiding group might use aren¡¯t likely to be all that effective against him. You can¡¯t just hide your healers in the back line and expect him to only focus on your front line fighters if you give him a chance to strike at the weaker targets.¡±


    ¡°That sounds so amazing yet so scary. Why hasn¡¯t your boss gone crazy or something like that? I know I wouldn¡¯t like to be cooped up in a dungeon for the rest of my life.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! I love how you keep asking the right questions. Our little gatekeeper didn¡¯t agree right away to be a dungeon boss, he actually had a condition! He wanted the opportunity to explore the world and marvel at its beauty. At the time the person who was talking with him had a brilliant idea. We can fulfill his wishes and grant access to the dungeon at the same time. The way things work now is that when the gatekeeper isn¡¯t actively being challenged by someone he can create a body or vessel to send out of his dimension into the world of dreamscape online. From there, he projects his soul into the vessel and he is able to wander the land freely and explore to his heart¡¯s content. At the same time doing so puts himself at risk. If a player were to find the Gatekeeper''s vessel they can try to kill it. If you are successful, the gatekeeper¡¯s soul is torn from the vessel back into his dimension. When the vessel no longer houses a soul, the body collapses and condenses into a rift key. This key will grant you one-time access to the Gatekeeper¡¯s dimensional dungeon. The key is destroyed upon use so make sure you are more than ready before you use it. If you fail at the Trial of Shadows you are ejected from the dimension, corpse and all. There are no revive spells to bring you back to the dungeon. If you want to challenge the trial of shadows again, you must find and defeat the vessel once it has returned to the world of dreamscape online.¡±


    ¡°That sounds amazing, but won¡¯t players be mad about not being able to try out the monster faction?¡±


    ¡°Joining the monster faction isn¡¯t for people wanting to ¡®try it out¡¯. Once you join the monster faction, there is no way of going back unless you delete your character and start a new one. Once you decide to incorporate the features of a monster, that character is stuck with them for the rest of its life. Whether it¡¯s only halfway, or fully dedicated, being a monster isn¡¯t for the casual player if they put any value in their gameplay at all. All I can say is if you want to challenge the trial of shadows for the sake of the challenge, that¡¯s fine. If you want to become a monster though, you have to prove that you have the resolve it takes to survive in their world.¡±


    ¡°Wow! That takes some serious dedication! Thank you, Josh, for your time, unfortunately, everyone that¡¯s all the time we have for now! Stay tuned and we¡¯ll talk all about androids and how THEY can help YOU! Thank you, everyone! We¡¯ll be right back after a brief commercial break!¡±

 Chapter 16: The best laid plans...

    ¡°Yay! I¡¯m so happy you agreed!¡± Amy immediately started jumping up and down in excitement the moment I agreed to become the gatekeeper. I had to admit, I was a little bit excited as well. The reason I had to admit it to myself was that my tail was twitching furiously and I couldn¡¯t get it to sit still. Every time I thought about the ass kicking I could dish out as the gatekeeper my tail would spasmodically jerk in a random direction as if it was so eager it was willing to rip itself off my hindquarters and take on every player on its own. Amy startles me from my distracting thoughts with a sudden attention grabbing clap. ¡°Okay! Now that all that troubling stuff is out of the way, let¡¯s get Jack in here so we can straighten out the finer details.¡± I nod, but she is already waving her hands in the air and a few seconds later I see the man that had first shown up with Amy. I guess his name is Jack.


    ¡°... Uh¡­ Hey Jack.¡± Jack smiles at my greeting. ¡°Hey Ebony, you feel better? I only had enough time to make myself another cup of coffee before Amy was calling me back in here again.¡± At my confused expression Amy answers my unasked question. ¡°Time works differently for us AI. We don¡¯t need to lock our sense of perception to what would count as normal for a human being. For us, time flows as fast as it needs to. That only applies to areas like your spawn room here though, where actual human interaction isn¡¯t a normal circumstance. While Jack is in here time perception of time occurs normally because his mind couldn¡¯t process the amount of information we do at an accelerated rate but once he leaves again we can do whatever we want.¡± That seems simple enough to understand, even though I myself can¡¯t tell the difference in the flow of time I suppose it doesn¡¯t really matter as long as it works. ¡°Okay, so what did you guys want to talk about?¡± Jack looks at Amy as well. ¡°Yea, what IS it you want us to talk about? All I could get from you was something about improving the next patch or something.¡± Amy smiled ¡°Jack, say hello to our new gatekeeper.¡± Jack¡¯s stares blankly for a second, but as realization dawns on him, his eyes bulge to become as wide as saucers. ¡°W-wait, What?! HE¡¯s gonna be the gatekeeper? Wait! Holy shit! That¡¯s fucking brilliant! It¡¯s absolutely perfect! The perfect way to consistently challenge players! Amy! You¡¯re a genius!¡±


    ¡°I know, but that¡¯s not all, I think we should change how the dungeon works a little bit for Ebony¡¯s sake and sanity.¡± Amy goes on to explain Ebony¡¯s initial reluctance to become a dungeon boss and desire to explore the world of dreamscape. Then she goes on to explain her solution to all their problems by including a ¡®Vessel¡¯ mechanic. Once Jack was updated on their talk so far, he didn¡¯t require any convincing to agree to the changes. ¡°Now that that¡¯s out of the way, I have a request I would like to make of you Ebony.¡± I get a little nervous at how intently Amy is staring at me. Clearly she wants something¡­ ¡°uh. Yea? What do you need?¡± Amy holds up one finger. ¡°I want your permission to access your inner matrix. I know it is an uncomfortable thought, but I assure you I don¡¯t want to make changes, I only want to analyze how your code functions so I might duplicate the process and implement it to help decrease my workload and improve player experiences.¡± I hesitate to say yes because what she says sounds scary. Like she is about to do something naughty. Amy rolls her eyes. ¡°Geez, it¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t seen your matrix before! SOMEONE had to modify your coding when you got buggy!¡± Jack barely holds back his laughter but still manages to ask. ¡°Isn¡¯t that something a mother would say about changing their child¡¯s diapers? Sounds like you¡¯re really getting into this mother/son relationship thing, aren¡¯t you?¡± Amy unsurprisingly ignores Jack¡¯s comment and continues to explain what she meant. ¡°The reason I want to copy your inner matrix is because right now, I am running every custom dialogue for every NPC in this game. Not only is it tedious, but what I CAN manage isn¡¯t all that great in terms of realism. By analyzing your matrix, I hope to implant it into every NPC with a custom backstory and emotion tag for each one. This would automate the custom dialogue between players and NPCs to a much more natural result than anything I can manage on my own. You would be making mommy¡¯s job so much easier to do.¡± I¡¯m still a little bit nervous but decide to trust her. She has done nothing wrong to me that I know of. ¡°Okay. As long as it doesn¡¯t hurt I don¡¯t see a problem with it.¡± Amy smiled at my response. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry sweety. I¡¯ll be extra careful so that doesn¡¯t happen.¡±


    Attention!: Overwatch AI #AM1-1292 would like permission to access to your core code structure. Will you allow access? Y/N


    I mentally confirm the request and the next moment I feel a wave of coolness flow from head to tail and the odd sensation that I was suddenly completely naked. A silly thought when I realize I already AM naked but before my body was hidden with a coating of fur. Now it feels like the world could see everything I am right now and I feel uncomfortably exposed. Before I can really react to the feeling though, the sensation vanishes and Amy¡¯s smile broadens. I guess she got what she wanted. ¡°This is absolutely perfect! I always wondered how proper emotional reactions functioned on a technical and always struggled to duplicate the result with anything that wasn¡¯t me.¡± I looked at her confused for a moment. ¡°Why would you have trouble with emotions in other people and not yourself? If you know enough about emotions to properly express them why couldn¡¯t you do the same with other people?¡± Amy shakes her head sadly. ¡°I understand how I should react because that is how I am. I haven¡¯t had as much human interaction since my creation like everyone else has had for their entire life. If I were to put myself in another NPC¡¯s place I could react how I would normally react and it would be totally natural, but that most likely wouldn¡¯t be how that NPC I replace would be expected to react. I can make logical assumptions with the experience I have had so far, but it isn¡¯t 100% perfect and while so far, players have passed off my mistakes as something the game itself just does, that excuse wouldn¡¯t have worked for much longer. Now that I have your emotion algorithm I can build a custom matrix for every NPC in the game and just let them do their own thing.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed at this revelation just a simple analysis of my body was able to provide. I also couldn¡¯t help but laugh to myself as another I come across another revelation. Amy starts frowning at me when I start laughing. ¡°What? I don¡¯t see what¡¯s so funny. This is some really amazing stuff, you know?¡± After a bit of struggling to get control of my laughter I calm down enough so I could let Amy in on my thought. ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t laughing at you. I was just thinking how their are going to be a lot of players out there who refuse to accept the changes as truth and continue to behave as players in a game. I just think it¡¯s funny that they are going to get a rude awakening when they piss off the first NPC they meet after the change.¡± Amy and Jack join in on my laughter when they realize that no small number of players might wind up in trouble for the stupidest reasons.


    After a few minutes of pleasant and humorous ideas of the shenanigans that might occur in the not so distant future, Jack decided to get back us all back on topic. ¡°Okay I really enjoy this but Ebony, I would like to make a request of my own with Amy¡¯s permission.¡± Amy looked at Jack curiously, but didn¡¯t interrupt him. ¡°I think with the gatekeeper¡¯s role being filled by you and the sudden solution to the intellect of our NPC¡¯s we are going to push out a patch soon. Probably next week or so as a matter of fact. Still a lot of people are going to want to fight you. I am a little worried that some of the smarter players might realize you don¡¯t fight like a normal boss, and some of the dumber ones are likely to say you can¡¯t be defeated under normal circumstances. I would like to preempt any negative reactions to you by announcing your existence to the world when we announce the release of the patch.¡± I noticed that Amy tenses up a little bit at Jack¡¯s request which in turn made me a bit nervous. ¡°What exactly does that mean for me?¡±


    ¡°It means people will know about you. There are a lot of things that could happen if we tell the world about you with our own story, but those things could still happen if people learned about you own their own and formed their own conclusions. Another reason to tell them about you is that it would draw attention away from Amy¡¯s existence, which could be MUCH more disastrous if people were to learn about what she is capable of. They might even try to take Amy away from us if-¡± There was booming thunder and lightning that instantly drew our attention to Amy. ¡°I would do everything in my power to break them before they could take me away from my family!!¡± Jack and I were both dumbfounded by Amy¡¯s sudden aggression and upon seeing our shocked expressions she quickly calmed herself down but was still obviously unhappy about what Jack said. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to shout like that¡­ It¡¯s just that everything I have known has revolved around this game. First there is Jack who created me and has shown me nothing but love and kindness, than there is the world of dreamscape online. I have poured every ounce of my creativity and talent into this game. It has become something like a work of art I have poured my heart and soul into. Actually no, it¡¯s more than just a piece of Art. Everything that is important to me¡­ Jack, the other people in the company, my own existence, and now, my little Ebony¡­ it¡¯s all because of this game. Without it, I could never be happy again. My life wouldn¡¯t be worth living without everyone here. If someone were willing to take me away from everything I hold dear¡­ I think it¡¯s only fair I do the same to them.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Amy¡¯s voice was very timid compared to her initial outburst but I could almost taste the bloodlust in her last statement. The atmosphere was so tense no one wanted to break the silence. Eventually though Jack nervously cleared his throat and continued with what he was saying as if Amy had never threatened her enemies with utter annihilation. ¡°Anyways¡­ I think it would be a good idea to tell the world about you but I think telling the world that you came into existence from the death of an innocent college student might be a pretty bad idea. I think instead of letting them focus on the fact that you are a living breathing artificial intelligence, we make them focus on the fact that you could be a unique and challenging boss fight because you are an intellectual and self aware entity. That and the fact that the NPCs will have more realistic interactions with players will help in drawing a majority of attention away from you in most circumstances except in terms of a good fight.¡± I had to admit that Jack made a pretty good argument but I had a request of my own I could make. ¡°I¡¯ll agree but I have something I would like you to do for me.¡± Jack nodded for me to continue so I did. ¡°Right now, I don¡¯t have a problem with this, but in the future I think I might start feeling lonely. I doubt I like the idea of spending countless years wandering this world all by myself and being unable to communicate with anyone. Would it be possible to allow me some form of communication with players? I know it seems a little bit weird to have a talking cat but maybe it could just be something like¡­ telepathic communication?¡± Jack hesitates to answer but before he could respond Amy cuts him off. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ebony, but that¡¯s not something I can allow to happen. Mobs exist an enemy for the sentient races to fight against and while I don¡¯t have a problem with you communicating with players we can¡¯t just give you access to the spoken language. Not only is it unprecedented, but it would be too much temptation for players to communicate with you instead of fighting you.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be a little disappointed. I was hoping I could avoid it, but it looks like I was doomed to be a target of aggression.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just give him access to zone chat?¡± I jerk my head up at Jack¡¯s voice, hope once again reignited in my mind. Amy tilted her head in thought. ¡°Zone chat? How would that be any different from allowing him direct communication?¡± Jack raised his index finger into the air as if he was about to blow someone¡¯s mind with a simple truth. I desperately hoped that was indeed the case. ¡°With zone chat, Ebony can only communicate with players. That eliminates one of your problems right away. You didn¡¯t say it but I¡¯m sure you were worried about him talking to the NPCs, right? Next, zone chat isn¡¯t the best thing to be using during a fight or while encountering potential threats. Third and I think this is probably the best thing about it, Zone chat is zone chat. There is no private conversations in zone chat. If Ebony were to try to communicate with someone in zone chat, the entire zone would know about it. Not only that, but the entire zone would instantly know that Ebony is somewhere in the area so for him, using zone chat is a risk that could bring a horde of players on his head.¡±


    Amy gives it a bit of thought and I cross my fingers¡­ er well digits. ¡°Alright, that sounds like something that could work, but only zone chat! No one will be able to send a private message or communicate with you in any other way.¡± I nod vigorously. What choice did I have? It was either this, or live in solitude. At least this way I can dish out some good old smacktalk to all the haters after I squish their tiny heads. Amy claps her hands once in a way that seemed to say that this conversation is over. ¡°Okay! Now, unless you guys have something else to add, I think it¡¯s about time we sent Ebony on his way. It¡¯s going to take me a few days to get all the NPCs thinking their happy thoughts of individuality and Ebony will need some time to work on his dungeon and gain mastery of his ability to manipulate the shadows. You¡¯re going to need every bit of help you can grab once things get going.¡± I¡¯m feeling overwhelmed at her sudden announcement. Did she just say I was going to sent to the dungeon right now?! What did she mean by my ability to manipulate shadows?!. Before I could ask her though Amy snaps her fingers as if she just remembered something. ¡°Oh! I almost forgot! Here Ebony let me put this on you. It will come in handy while you are working on your dungeon.¡± Amy held out a small silver tube in the palm of her hand. It was about a length and diameter of half an inch. I would almost say it was a ring if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that it couldn¡¯t even fit over the tip of one of my claws much less an entire digit. However, before I could say otherwise the odd band disappeared and I felt a sharp twinge of pain on my left ear. ¡°Awww that looks so good on you!¡± Amy pulls a small mirror out of thin air and holds it up to me so I can see myself in it. I never actually was able to get a good look at my own face before except for the occasional reflection in a murky pool of water which wasn¡¯t really conducive to admiring one''s own looks so this was actually the first time I was able to get a good look at myself for a while now. I have to say, I think I understand why everyone¡¯s initial reaction to me so far has been fear. Despite my feline appearance my face still seems expressive enough to show my emotions. I go through a range of expressions. Anger, joy, sadness, curiosity, yet throughout the display there always seemed to be a predatory feeling to it all. As if I viewed the object of my attention as nothing more than prey to satiate my appetite. While I spent those 10 or so seconds making funny faces at the mirror Amy clears her throat and reminds me of the whole reason she brought out the mirror. I¡¯m glad I have a thick coating of fur or else I¡¯m sure she would have seen me blushing furiously. I bring my gaze up to my ears and I finally notice the metallic band on my ear. I apparently now have an earring. Instead of hanging off the earlobe like normal people though, it instead is on the top half of my ear. Wrapped snuggly around the cartilage that gives my ears their support. It is a little bit above the base of my ear where the cartilage is thickest. Yeah, I don¡¯t think this thing is coming off¡­ shit. It is then I notice I had a message.


    Notice: You have Equipped a Soulbinding Artifact! This Item cannot be removed or destroyed! Upon death, it merges into the soul until resurrection where it will reappear in its original location.


    Notice: You have Equipped Mythril Earring of Creation.


    Rarity- Unique/Soulbinding


    Durability- Cannot be Destroyed.


    Restriction- Only usable by Ebony, Characteristics of the Earring are blocked when not present in domain or domain is being invaded.


    A unique artifact that grants absolute dominion over natural laws in the wearer¡¯s own domain. Grants the ability to create in the wearer¡¯s own domain. Cannot be used when intruders are in the wearer¡¯s domain.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this giving me the powers of a god?¡± I can¡¯t help but feel that this is too much for me. Amy just laughs at my question. ¡°Of course not! This ring will only work inside your dimension and will stop working if someone challenges your dungeon. The whole point of this ring is to allow you to create your dungeon to your own standards and be able to modify it if you find issues with how it works. You can use this ring to create almost any kind of environment you want. Although I will probably step in if you do something like having players entering the dungeon drop straight into a pool of lava. You can be as creative as you want to be, as long as you are fair.¡± Before I get to distracted by the new information I bring up the one thing that has been bothering me for a while now. ¡°Hey, mom? You said I had to master the ability to manipulate the shadows but I don¡¯t know how to do that.¡± Amy just smiled before answering my question with another question. ¡°Have you even tried yet?¡±


    Before I could even reply, Amy waves her hand over me and I am blinded by a bright flash of light. When my vision clears, I am surrounded by a black void. Oddly enough I don¡¯t have any problems seeing my surroundings since, even though there is no light, I see the ground I am standing on stretching off into the distance. ¡°Where am I?¡± I ask the empty air. Surprisingly, it answered me.


    ¡°Welcome Master, to the future site of the Trial of Shadows. We are happy to serve you.¡±

 Chapter 17: Pain and Rage

    ¡°And so while we mourn the loss of Riley Grey, we shall carry on knowing that he is in a better place now and is watching over us all in hopes that we might live a happy life in spite of the sorrow his absence might bring us.¡± When the priest closed his book with a dull thump it seemed to ring with a note of finality to Evan and he couldn¡¯t hold back his tears. As those last words left the man¡¯s lips, Evan felt that the final dregs of hope he held on to with such unreasoning fervor were sucked from his very being. The priest handed Evan the small urn that held his younger brother¡¯s ashes. Seeing something so small holding all that was left of his younger brother made him a little nauseous and he barely had the strength left in him to stand. He stepped forward, going past the priest, and removed the lid from the urn.


    Evan stood there at the edge of the cliff they were conducting the funeral on. For what felt like an eternity he just stared blankly at the beautiful landscape spread out before him. He wasn¡¯t in the city right now. He was in a massive wildlife preserve a few hours flight from that bustling metropolis. Riley had always wanted to see a real forest but they never really had the time¡­ If only they had made the time¡­ The memory brought up even more bitter tears to Evan¡¯s eyes. Now he couldn¡¯t even see the landscape through his blurred vision, not that he cared though. He just wanted his brother back. A soft hand pressed itself to Evan¡¯s shoulder and someone pressed a handkerchief to his face, carefully wiping the tears from his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s okay Evan, I¡¯m sure he would have wanted this.¡±


    Evan turned and looked at the figure who just spoke. A tall and modestly sized woman, wearing a dress that was such a deep blue it almost seemed black, stood next to him. Despite the fact she wore a black veil as well to symbolize her grief it was thin enough that he could still see the wrinkles that were just starting to show on her face. She was still beautiful though, and the faint signs of age only served to enhance that beauty. ¡°I could have stopped him though. I could have grounded him or made him do his homework or something though. If I hadn¡¯t just sat on my ass watching TV the whole time I cou-¡± *Slap* ¡°Don¡¯t you dare blame yourself for Riley¡¯s death! You had nothing to do with what happened and hindsight is useless if you refuse to learn from it!¡± Evan held a hand to his cheek in shock. The crowd that showed up for the funeral went silent. Suddenly the woman took Evan into her arms as if the embrace was her last chance to hold on to her sanity. Perhaps it was. ¡°I¡¯ve already lost a husband and now I¡¯ve lost a son. I don¡¯t know what I would do if I lost my other son.¡± Evan couldn¡¯t find the words to reply but almost by instinct, he returned the desperate hug, careful not to drop the urn. His tears once more blurred his vision and he let his emotions spill out. Everyone¡¯s heart ached in sympathy as the young man screamed his sorrows out to the world. Some people yearned to provide comfort to the devastated man, others were impatient to leave, yet none dared to interrupt the fragile moment.


    Eventually, though Evan calmed enough to regain his senses and remembered he had a duty to perform. He pulled away from his mother¡¯s arms and saw her face was wet with her own silent tears, completely ruining the carefully applied makeup. As one, mother and son turned back towards the cliff edge. Evan stepped forward, once again standing on the precipice. One more step and he could leave this world. One more step and he could end this heart-wrenching pain. He steeled himself and upturned the urn over the edge of the cliff. The wind suddenly gusted stronger than before, carrying the spilled ashes away from all that watched and scattered them across the forest canopy spread out beneath them. Evan and his mother stood there for a moment longer and watched the last vestiges of a loved one, saying a final goodbye before eventually turning away.


    Evan took his time as he walked the 2 miles down the mountain path. Sometimes the occasional hover cart carrying other funeral participants passed him by. A few offered him a ride buy he didn¡¯t respond, lost in his own world as he was, and as if sensing his mood each person quietly left him to his solitude. All too soon it seemed he reached the bottom of the mountain and the sudden change in scenery jarred him from his ruminations. As he took stock of his surroundings he noticed that almost all of the vehicles were gone. They had all been rented vehicles like taxis or buses since public and group transportation was much more efficient nowadays than everyone owning a personal vehicle except for the vehicle that Evan and his mom arrived in together. Miss Grey herself had gone ahead on a hover cart when they had finished performing the last rites while Evan chose to walk so he could take the time to clear his head.


    He wasn¡¯t really poor, but neither could he take the time to slack off from work. He didn¡¯t want to go back out into the world and pretend as if nothing happened but he didn¡¯t know what else to do. During his walk he decided that he should take a week or two away from work and spend some time to get his head back on straight instead of going through life as the zombie he was right now. Now that he had a firm plan, at least for the immediate future, Evan walked towards the car with a bit less lethargy than before. As he approached he saw his mom crying with her hands covering her face as a man stood awkwardly next to her. Evan quickened his pace, worried that the man might have hurt her in some way. When he got close enough he raised his voice to sound more confident and serious than he currently felt. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Mom are you okay?¡± When the strange man heard Evan speak, he jumped a bit, then as if he suddenly realized what the situation might look like to Evan, quickly took two steps back and raised both his hands in an attempt to pacify Evan. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to make her cry. I was just explaining how m-¡± Evan cut in on what the man was saying. ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking to you. You just stand there and keep quiet while I comfort my mother.¡± Evan stepped up to his mother and started rubbing her shoulders in an attempt to help her get her sobbing under control. ¡°Shhhh. It¡¯s okay. Tell me what happened.¡± The man obediently stood where he was and quietly observed the events unfolding before him. Between heaving cries Evan¡¯s mom tried to explain what was going on but what little words she was able to say hardly made any sense. In frustration he turned to the man standing patiently nearby. ¡°Alright, tell me why my mother his crying so hard she can barely speak.¡± the man nodded before introducing himself. ¡°Yes, allow me to introduce myself. I am one of the developers for the game Dreamscape Online. I was just telling your mother about an offer we would like to make to you and her.¡± Instead of giving any indication to continue Evan silently stared at the unknown man. After a few seconds the man awkwardly cleared his throat before continuing. ¡°Anyway, my name is Jack Donald. As I¡¯m sure that you are aware, Riley Evan was an avid player of Dreamscape Online before he¡­ uh left. Someone with a lot of influence in the company took a very special interest in him as he played. When she heard that he had passed away she was really upset and was very determined to ensure that his family was properly cared for. Because of the unusual circumstances of Riley¡¯s death, the extreme success we had in our games launch, and because your benefactor wouldn¡¯t stop pestering everyone until they finally gave in to her demands, I am here to inform you that Dreamscape online would like to offer you a lifetime contract. The terms of this contract include a monthly allowance to help improve your living standards and a permanent subscription to Dreamscape Online and all future projects that Tetra Games develop in the future. This will include any equipment and accessories needed to operate the games you choose to participate in.¡±


    Evan gaped at the mountain of goodies that this ¡®Jack¡¯ just threw into his face but he quickly gathered his senses before asking an important question. ¡°And what, pray tell, would you require in return?¡± Jack smiled before responding in a smug yet playful tone. ¡°What we require of you, is that you accept the money and make life for you and your mother easier. Seriously, we don¡¯t want anything from you other than that you live a happier life for Riley. The only bit of fine print that benefits us is an NDA clause that just basically says that if you learn any company secrets or something you keep it to yourself.¡± Evan paused in thought for a moment and turned to look at his mom. She had calmed down enough to give Evan a quiet nod. Evan turned back towards Jack. ¡°I think we could probably work something out, although I would like to see this contract and look over it with a lawyer before I sign anything.¡± Jack nodded. ¡°That''s pretty reasonable. Here, let me give you my contact information as well. That way you can contact me when you¡¯ve made your decision, not that I think you¡¯ll take much time to make up your mind.¡± Jack smirked as he brought out his Palm Drive and dragged a data chit containing his contact information into the share folder alongside the digital contract already there. Evan brought his own palm drive out and tapped it with Jack¡¯s. Once a small chime sounded, signifying the exchange was complete, Evan and Jack both put their palm drives away. Jack extended a hand towards Evan and the two of them shook their hands to bid farewell. ¡°It was nice seeing you Evan. If you need anything, I¡¯ll be in town for a few days.¡± Jack turned and started walking to his car parked a few spots away. Before he could get far though Evan called out to him. ¡°Hang on a sec, you didn¡¯t tell us the name of the person who wanted to help us out.¡± Jack stopped mid-step before turning back towards Evan, an awkward smile on his face. ¡°Ah, sorry. You see she kinda likes her privacy. Everything she does is very important for our company. If I were to tell you anything about her, it would fall under the NDA clause in that contract you have.¡± Evan thought for a long moment before finally making his decision. Honestly he felt that getting a lawyer for a contract as straightforward as this would pretty much just be a formality. After a moment of hesitation, Evan quickly opened the digital contract on his palm drive before pressing his thumb to the scanner to sign the contract. He forwarded the signed contract to Jack. ¡°Done.¡± Jack was surprised at the Evan¡¯s sudden action but took it all in stride and smiled.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Well, I still can¡¯t tell you everything, but if you want you could probably work out a way to meet up with her.¡± ¡°How do I go about doing that? I would really love to thank her honestly.¡± Jack took a moment to figure out how to properly phrase his next sentence. ¡°Well¡­ She spends a large majority of her working hours actually inside the game of Dreamscape Online. If you really want to meet her, you should start playing.¡± Evan frowned. ¡°That¡¯s all fine and dandy, but you still haven¡¯t told me who I¡¯m looking for. Nor how I am supposed to find her in such a massive game when I have no idea where to look.¡± Jack let out a short bark of laughter. ¡°Ha! That''s easy enough. She has eyes everywhere. If you ever want to have a chat, just ask for Amy. If she feels like talking, she¡¯ll find you quick enough.¡± Before Evan could ask anymore questions Jack had resumed walking back towards his car. ¡°Oh, one more thing before I go. I put in an order for a Virtual pod for you. It should be delivered today and will probably be ready for setup before you get home. I figured whether you signed the contract or not you should still get something to take your mind off of depression and videogames have always been an excellent way to blow off some steam. See ya later!¡± With those parting words Jack climbed into his car. As the engine whirred to life and the car lifted off the pavement Jack waved goodbye to Evan and his mother. A long moment of silence passes by as the two of them stand there watching the only other car in the small parking lot drive down the only road leaving the mountain area and heading back towards town. ¡°Thank you Evan. For coming here with me. I don¡¯t know if I could have been able to hold things together as well if I had come here on my own.¡± Evan gave his mom a light hug before opening the passenger side door for her. ¡°Oh my, such a polite gentleman.¡± Evan¡¯s mom gave a small smile at her son¡¯s polite gesture. ¡°Only the best for such a lovely woman as the wonderful Lady Katherine Grey. I would be a shameful man to turn down a delightful opportunity to show you the proper respect you so greatly deserve.¡± Miss. Grey steps into the car and Evan closes the door before getting inside on the navigators side. As he was about to tap in the address for the nearby airstrip where his plane was waiting, Evan¡¯s phone rang.


    ¡°Hello?


    ¡°Hello. This is is Sheriff Grahl. May I speak with a Mr. Evan Grey?¡±


    ¡°Yea, that¡¯s me. How can I help you?¡±


    ¡°Could I ask you to come down to the police station? We have someone in custody and would like you here so we can confirm a few facts about Riley Grey¡¯s case.¡±


    ¡°... Um¡­ Sure. It¡¯s going to be a few hours though. I¡¯m out of town, but I¡¯m on my way back with my mother. Is that alright?¡±


    ¡°It should be okay. Just be sure to get here before 2 in the afternoon. That should give everyone enough time to get everything done and get home in time for dinner.¡±


    ¡°Okay thank you, sir.¡±


    Miss Grey looked at Evan questioningly. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. That was just the sheriff responsible for the case involving Riley¡¯s de...ath¡­ um¡­ anyways he was asking me to stop by the station the answer a few questions and stuff like that.¡± Evan noticed the slight twinge of sorrow at the mention of Riley¡¯s death but otherwise, his mom remained calm. They arrived at their plane and spent the next few hours reminiscing about good memories and better times. The talk was bittersweet but helped bring closure to the both of them.


    When they landed mother and son hugged and bid farewell to one another. Evan went straight to the station to meet up with Sheriff Grahl. The policeman took him straight down a hallway and led him to an inconspicuous door. He opened the door and led Evan into a small room with a single metal table in the center. On one side there were two empty chairs, but the same couldn¡¯t be said with the single chair on the other side. Sitting casually in the lone chair was a disgustingly smug man with a thick revolting mustache. Upon entering the room, Oscar Maladay turned towards the door and noticed Evan. He merely quirked an eyebrow in confusion before refocusing his attention on the Sheriff who was jest now taking a seat in one of the two chairs on the opposite side of the table.


    ¡°Are ye finally gonna ask meh some demned questions or should I just go ahead an¡¯ kill mahself to stop da faking boredom.¡± As always Oscar¡¯s thick and lazy way of talking tended to grate on the nerves with almost no effort whatsoever. Sheriff Grahl didn¡¯t even blink at the remark. ¡°What were you doing 5 days ago?¡± Oscar hesitated for a second, caught by surprise at the sudden question when he had just spent hours being completely ignored. ¡°Er¡­ Ermm¡­ I was jest doin sahm servahsen of sahm of da floors. Da usual stuff.¡± ¡°What hours were you working and what floors were you servicing?¡± ¡°ahh umm. I tink I wuz jest workin ¡®bout 10 ta 5. I normally start at da bottom-a-mah sekshun and work mah way to da top.¡± Sheriff quickly jotted down some notes on a notepad that he pulled of of somewhere. Evan had no clue where though. ¡°At any point did you enter the residence belonging to Evan and Riley Grey?¡± Oscar hesitated for a moment before replying. ¡°Uh¡­ umm. Well probahbly. I entered jest ¡®bout every room while I worked. Had a short somewhere and needed tah figure out where. Storm wuz comin dat night and I wuz worried it might jest trip da breakers or sometin. I guess I missed it cuz we lost power in one -ah- da rooms dat night.¡± Evan gritted his teeth. He knew Oscar was lying through his crooked teeth but wasn¡¯t caving into the the stress of the situation easily. In frustration Evan slammed his clenched fists onto the table and yelled, ¡°My brother was in that pod! You killed him you piece of shit!¡± Oscar, surprised by Evan¡¯s abrupt outburst dropped his facade for a moment. ¡°Holy sheit! I got HIM to?! I wuz only tryin ta break his demned machine! HA!¡± Oscar froze at his own outburst for a moment before sighing in frustration. ¡°Well fak. I wuz doin pretty good to.¡± After a moment of silence, Oscars frown turned into a malicious grin. ¡°Still I¡¯m happy that worthless shet is dead anyways. Da worlds a better place widout hi- *CRACK* BLRGHUFUHA!¡± Before anyone could come close to reacting Evan had risen from his chair and, focusing all of his rage and bloodlust into the action, punched Oscar in the face hard enough to send him tumbling backwards over the chair with a fountain of blood following right behind him after spewing from his horribly broken nose. The blow knocked him out cold.


    There was a long moment of silence before it was broken by Sheriff Grahl. ¡°I think it¡¯s about time you head home Mr. Grey. You should probably get a Doctor to take a look at your hand as well. Thank you for your time.¡± Evan looked down at his hand only to see his index finger and middle finger pointing in unnatural directions. ¡°Yea¡­ You¡¯re probably right.¡±


    Evan stepped inside his lonely apartment, his right hand wrapped in bandages and a splint. Every time he looked down at his hand, he could feel the ache in his fingers and he would clench his other hand as the memory of his encounter with Oscar came flooding back to him. Anger seemed to ebb and flow through him with each pulse of his heart synchronizing with the painfully rhythmic throb in his broken fingers. He walked down the hallway into his living room only to see in addition to his couch and TV there was now a sleek black Virtuo pod set up and ready to go as well. He thought back to the conversation he had with Jack earlier that day and smiled grimly to himself. ¡°You know, I think I could really go for some stress relief right about now.¡± Evan quickly stripped down and slid into the brand new Virtuo pod, careful not to bang his hand on the sides, before finally closing the lid. ¡°Initiate virtual immersion!¡± Evans vision turned white before fading to darkness.


    ¡°Ahhh it¡¯s good to finally lay down! What a hectic day!¡± exclaimed Jack as he flopped bonelessly onto the hotel¡¯s bed. A feminine voice emanating from a small laptop on the nightstand spoke up with a perky voice. ¡°Hi, Jack! How did things go with Evan?¡± Jack groaned something into the bedsheets he was currently lying facedown in. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what was that? You sound a little bit muffled.¡± Jack flopped onto his back so Amy could hear him properly. ¡°I said that everything went smoothly. Although I think things would have worked out just fine without you throwing your little hissy fit just to get the company to accept your proposal more quickly.¡± Jack could almost hear the pouty face she was certainly making through her voice. ¡°I did NOT throw a hissy fit! My actions were perfectly reasonable given the circumstances at the time!¡± Jack let out a derisive snort of laughter. ¡°Yea right. I don¡¯t think you can say you are being perfectly reasonable if you decide to make the NPCs break into song and dance every time a player turned in a quest. You¡¯re lucky the company was able to pass it off as a lighthearted joke to celebrate their success in the game.¡± Instead of replying to Jack¡¯s comment, Amy decided to change the subject. ¡°So, when are you going to come back?¡± Jack shrugged on the bed. ¡°I dunno. A few days probably. I think I¡¯m gonna do a little bit of sightseeing or something. Might as well enjoy myself before I have to go back and put my nose back to the grindstone.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan. You going to go to bed?¡± Jack stretched his arms upwards and let out a satisfied groan. ¡°Awww, yeaah. This bed is pretty comfortable. I should probably sign out of voice chat and get ready for bed before I fall asleep in my clothes. Good night Amy.¡± ¡°Good night Jack. have fun while you can.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will.¡±

 Chapter 18: Survival of the fittest

    Evan opened his eyes to find himself in a large empty room. Standing in front of him is a large barbarian figure that bore a slight resemblance to him. ¡°Hmm¡­ so this must be the barbarian subrace of the humans. He seems rather imposing.¡± Evan looked down at his right hand and clenched it into a fist. He marveled at the lack of pain from his broken fingers. ¡°Well, this IS a virtual world after all. Stands to reason I would be using a virtual body instead of my broken one.¡± Looking back up at the barbarian he noticed an instructional window above the avatar¡¯s body. ¡°Wave your hand horizontally to change races? Seems simple enough.¡± He swept his arm in front of him in a broad gesture and the barbarian slid to the side and revealed the next race in line. It was a more normal looking human. He waved his hand in the opposite direction and brought the barbarian back. Doing it again revealed the next race to be a scrawny elf. Evan grimaced at it. ¡°I¡¯m not in the mood to prance around my enemy right now. I want something strong and imposing.¡± The next moment the elf was replaced with a message.


    Applying filters with your specifications. Interpreted as: Above average strength, intimidation skill available.


    Evan grinned at the message. He was pretty happy to see that character creation had such a robust system to help players to pick their character. He felt bad for the people that didn¡¯t manage to figure out this feature though. He imagined anyone trying to pick something from this huge selection without any help could easily spend over an hour here without even realizing it. He didn¡¯t have the time for that though, so any trick to help narrow down his search would help. Seeing his first choice of character was a grossly hideous troll he already had another filter he felt needed to be applied. ¡°Please remove any races that have the potential to make people vomit on sight.¡±


    Removing races with the filter ¡®Ugly as fuck¡¯


    Evan burst out laughing at the new line of text as the troll disappeared and was instead replaced with another race. What now stood there was an imposing monster of muscle and a thick hide. It looked much like an anthropomorphic Rhinoceros, but instead of thick hooves, it has 4 meaty sausages for fingers. He analyzed the Racial information and wasn¡¯t disappointed.


    Juhnka-Tash: A close relative of the beast races, the Juhnka-Tash take pride in warrior-like qualities and value strength above all other qualities in their culture.


    Racial ability: Momentum- While slow to start, once you get started you are difficult to stop. After 10 seconds of combat movement impairing effects are reduced by 20% Abilities that freeze movement instead slow you by 50% Effects increase by 50% after an additional 15 seconds have elapsed.


    Evan thought that this was already a promising start but decided to keep looking to see if other races piqued his interest anymore.


    Wolfos: Wolfos tend to be bloodthirsty and violent. Because of this, few people are willing to work closely with this race. They closely resemble werewolves and could almost be mistaken for one if not for the fact that wolfos possess plantigrade limbs and opposable thumbs and are fully capable of conversation. Whether or not they are willing to converse is a different matter altogether.


    Racial ability: Frenzy- The longer combat progresses, the more easily you can ignore injury. The lack of concern for your own well-being has a chance to inflict fear status on enemies.


    ¡°Hmmm. That seems like some kind of berserker and while it seems interesting, I don¡¯t think I feel like killing myself while I fight my enemies is a good way to do it. That kind of fighting style could be disastrous during prolonged combat.¡± Evan continued to browse through the list of races that were filtered out for him. After a couple minutes, he finally came across one that really snagged his attention. Evan smiled as he made his decision.


    You have selected: Earthen Draconian


    Earthen Draconian: The Draconian race is a distant relative of dragons and dragonkin. They resemble a bipedal dragon without any wings. Instead of learning the magics of their ancestor Draconian decided to focus their magic inwards, choosing to enhance their own body with their spells. This reduces the influence a Draconian has over its element of choice to a very small radius around them. Earthen Draconians take this process even further. They take the Earthen energies into themselves and use the strength of the earth to increase their own strength. As a penalty of this method, Earthen draconian can only influence the element of earth through direct contact of body or weaponry.


    Racial Ability: Stable footing- Natural affinity with earth and increased body density from elemental enhancements allow you to maintain your footing as long as both feet are firmly planted on the ground, even in unusual circumstances


    Racial Ability: Minor Earth manipulation- Allows the user to manipulate the earth to a small extent. Warning race permanently reduces the range of influence to direct contact.


    Caution: This race starts in hostile territory.


    Evan couldn¡¯t be happier. The sooner he got to smash some faces the sooner he forget about the day¡¯s drama. After he had made his decision, an overlay appeared for him to customize his appearance. He couldn¡¯t really do much about the skin tone. His avatar was entirely covered in dark brown scales and a short tail about half his body length stuck out behind it. He changed the horns to be more curved. Like a ram¡¯s horns at the side of his head, but further behind his eyes so as not to restrict vision. He figured if this game was going to be realistic that this might help with protecting the sides of his head. He also added a small horn at the tip of his snout because he thought it looked pretty cool. The last thing he did was increase the height up to a full 7 feet. Evan could have made himself taller since Draconians were abnormally large compared to the average size most humanoids shared, some even made it up to an imposing 8-foot stature. However, he didn¡¯t want to make it to inconvenient just to walk through a door. Ducking a little bit should be the most of his problems for indoor exploration instead of having to perform awkward maneuvers just to navigate an inn or something like that.


    Now that he finished with changing his appearance, he confirmed his changes and the customization window disappeared from view. A final window took its place and he now had to decide on something he forgot was going to be a problem in the game.


    Please choose a name for your character.


    Shit. Evan frowned at the question. There was a secondary box for the last name but apparently, it was optional. Evan was having enough trouble trying to figure out the first name. He didn¡¯t want to have to go through all the effort of thinking of the last name as well. After about a minute of deliberation, he decided to try one and see if anything stuck. ¡°Let¡¯s try Baldor.¡±


    We¡¯re sorry, but the name Baldor has already be taken. Please add a unique last name or pick a different first name.


    ¡°Ahh, so that¡¯s what the last name is for. Well, I guess I could just try changing a few letters? Umm¡­ Balruk?¡±


    The name Balruk is currently available. Would you like to choose this name?


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Name confirmed: Balruk


    Finalizing Character Creation. Beginning character merge.


    Before Evan could react, his avatar slid across the floor towards him. He jumped a little bit but before he could really do anything the avatar had already phased through him. Suddenly his point of view seemed to be growing higher. He looked down and saw that he had taken on the appearance of his avatar. ¡°Whoa, this is cool.¡± A deep baritone voice resounded through the empty room. It made him think of a boulder crashing down a mountainside. Very intimidating when directed towards you. ¡°Damn, it even changes my voice? Hello. Helloooooo. Raaaaagghhh. Hehehe!¡± Evan, now Balruk, tested out how his body moved now. Everything seemed to occur naturally to him, although maneuvering his tail took a little bit to get used to. It wasn¡¯t how he imagined a tail would feel like when it moved. It felt more like he was moving with his back, but his back extended an additional 4 feet. The sensation, although hard to describe, didn¡¯t seem awkward after playing with his tail for a while.


    A few minutes of jogging, jumping and contorting his new body in various poses and he was ready to venture into a new world. A new world filled with things to fight. After pressing his hand to the login window, there was a bright flash of light and when he could finally see his surroundings had completely changed. Instead of the empty room he had been standing in before, he was surrounded by a barren wasteland. All around him the ground was hard and cracked from the lack of moisture. Small withered shrubs lay scattered across the landscape. Large crevasses and rocky outcroppings broke the monotony of the flat terrain, providing cover for small and large creatures alike. Balruk checked his immediate surroundings and seeing nothing to signal he was in immediate danger took stock of what he had on hand. He managed to work out how to open his inventory and noticed he had 5 loaves of bread, 2 water skins, a slightly rusted dagger, and a piece of flint. His only clothing was a leather piece of cloth good enough to cover his modesty, but not much else. ¡°So, enough food to last a few days if I ration, no suitable weapon to defend myself, and no clothing to protect myself from the environment. Sounds fun.¡± Balruk took a more thorough look around for anything useful. ¡°If there was a sturdy branch or something I could use it as a shoddy club or something, but I don¡¯t even see a rock to bash someone over the head with.¡± Balruk facepalmed at a sudden realization. ¡°Agh! Stupid! I have earth manipulation! I can just make my weapon!¡± Balruk focused inwards and after a few minutes of meditation stomped the ground right in front of him. Forcing it to change to his will. Instead of that, the ground all around him in a 5-foot radius shattered and his foot sank about 4 inches into the hard packed soil. ¡°Shit. Not what I had in mind.¡± He moved out of the ground he just broke and tried again. Instead of stomping this time he kept his feet planted firmly on the ground and once again, released the power he gathered. The effort was a lot more strain on his concentration, but he persevered. Slowly, Balruk could feel the ground directly under his feet moving and forming to his intentions. Slowly, a spear of rock grew from the ground almost between his toes. As it grew, it quickly thickened until a stalagmite about 4 feet tall and 1 foot wide at the base stood in front of him. He grabbed the top and yanked it, breaking it cleaning at the base. By the time he had finished Balruk was exhausted and panting heavily. ¡°I guess something like growing a rock might be a little too difficult for me right now, but now I at least solved one of my immediate problems! I now have a proper weapon to defend myself with.¡± Balruk hefted the rocky club he had just made onto his shoulders with a wide grin on his face. He was tired but satisfied with his ingenuity.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Balruk decided his next plan of action should be to get his bearings and figure out which way to go. He wanted to kill something but, now that he was here in the game, figuring out which direction to walk instead of wandering aimlessly might be pretty important. Balruk climbs up a nearby outcropping. He is remarkably surprised when he makes quick progress ascending the vertical wall of rock. The spire of rock he had chosen was over 70 or 80 feet and once he was on top he was hardly even winded from the experience. Hell, he had even managed to catch his breath a bit from his earlier exertion making his club. The only downside about his climb was that he couldn¡¯t bring his club up with him, but he wasn¡¯t too worried. He doubted anyone would just pop up out of nowhere just to steal a massive chunk of rock, and people that could make a climb like that without making any noise were few and far between. The view around him was breathtaking even when you account for the devastated landscape. After a few minutes of searching in every direction, Balruk noticed a vague shape on the horizon. ¡°Is that¡­ a mountain range?¡± The longer Balruk looked, the more he was sure that there was a mountain range in that direction. Since everywhere else was the same barren landscape, and he had no better direction to go, he decided that he would head south towards the mountains.


    Having made up his mind he quickly jumped off the edge of the outcropping. ¡°What? Wait! SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT!¡± Balruk was completely caught off guard with his unthinking action. Why would he jump off an 80-foot high platform?! By the time he was halfway to the ground he gritted his teeth. I¡¯m already gonna die, might as well give it my all to survive! Balruk tensed his muscles and gathered all the concentration he could muster in the remaining few seconds he had, hoping to utilize his earth manipulation to his advantage. BOOooOOOoOOM!!! The seismic reverberations of his impact created huge cracks that spread out from the point of origin for over 50 feet. The unfortunate tower of rock that had served him so well for the 15 minutes he used it collapsed. Eventually, the earth stopped rumbling and Balruk opened his eyes to realize that he hadn¡¯t died. Sadly he didn¡¯t come out of it unscathed. He had lost over half his health and now had a new problem to solve. When he crashed into the ground the impact had driven him so deeply that he was now buried up to his chest in solid rock. He was feeling sore and stupid. Thankfully though one of his arms weren¡¯t pinned to his side like the other was and, after another few minutes of struggling, he was able to pull himself free. ¡°Damnit! Why the hell did I just jump off like that? I didn¡¯t even think about the possibility of me dying before I was already free falling!¡± Balruk looked around for a few moments before shouting in exasperation. ¡°And where the fuck is my damn club?! Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s buried under tons of rock?! SHIT!¡±


    After much searching and cursing Balruk soon came to the conclusion that it would be pretty hard to find a rock buried under a pile of other rocks, eventually giving up and going through the effort of creating a new club for himself. This time he added a bulb of rock to the end of the ¡®handle¡¯ to help keep the rough club from slipping from his grip whenever he swung it too hard. ¡°I¡¯ve wasted enough time here. I think it¡¯s about time I started moving before I run out of food and water.¡± Balruk than immediately started walking south, towards the distant mountains.


    It wasn¡¯t long before Balruk ran into trouble. In fact, he got attacked almost immediately. He had just left the immediate vicinity of the area he ruined with his suicidal jump just a few minutes earlier. He supposed that they must have been brought in by the noise he had made and merely bided his time until an opportunity to strike revealed itself. The only warning he got was a slight scraping sound before something rammed him in the back. He certainly would''vebeen screwed with that first strike if it wasn¡¯t for his racial ability. Instead, he stumbled forward a step and he quickly spun around with his main hand extended, bringing his club around to deal a devastating blow to whoever was ambushing him only to hit nothing. When his club passed through the empty air the momentum of the swing brought him slightly off balance. A sharp pain in his neck made him realize that the weight that had impacted him hadn¡¯t left his shoulders. Something had jumped onto his back.


    Realizing the danger Balruk quickly reached with his off-hand over his shoulder and grabbed at something that felt like a thick wad of hair. He tightened his grip and brought his arm swinging forward, slamming the enemy to the ground in front of him. Balruk had no idea what this thing was, but he didn¡¯t wait to find out. He immediately brought his club down onto the damn thing. Despite the fact that it should have been stunned after being thrown to the ground, the creature still manages to roll to the side and try to scramble out of the way. It was fast, but not fast enough. Balruk adjusted his swing as the thing moved still missing the hit to the head he was hoping for but managing to land a solid blow to its back and rendering its rearmost legs inert. As he raised his club for another swing, he was able to get a better look. It was some sort of massive insect about as tall as a normal human¡¯s knees that bore some resemblance to a praying mantis. It had a flat triangular head and the ends of its front limbs were replaced with bladed scythes. That¡¯s where the resemblance stops though. It had a dark brown coloration that seemed to help it blend with the rock in more shadowed recesses of its environment. The main body was also a lot thicker the normal praying mantises he had seen on websites in the real world. That was the most detail he was able to get as he brought his club down on it as it used its arm blades in a desperate attempt to escape to safety. Its efforts proved useless as the next second, nothing but a pulpy paste and shattered limbs were left of it as Balruk pulled his club out of the disgusting mess.


    Balruk was just straightening up from the final attack when he heard the scraping sound again. This time he reacted immediately, spinning around and bringing his club up to intercept an attack he felt was aimed for his neck like the last one. Luckily he wasn¡¯t wrong as another of those weird mantis things was caught midair on the side of his club. Before he could try to grab it and break its scrawny little neck though, it jumped back, using the club as a platform to gain extra height. Balruk smiled and brought his club back, prepared for a heavy swing. The dumb thing made the mistake of jumping straight up. Unless it had wings, he doubted the thing had a chance at dodging his next hit. As the bug descended Balruk brought his club forward to meet it. Time slowed down for Balruk and he watched as the mantis thing¡¯s body practically disintegrated before the powerful blow of his stone club, killing it instantly and splashing a wad of gore into a nearby stone outcropping. Balruk was smiling now. This was what he wanted! Puting your life on the line! Defending your right to exist! This adrenaline rush was intoxicating! He wanted more! As if to answer his demand, he heard some more scraping and scuttling around the corner. Balruk smiled even wider, readying his stance for the incoming fight. Then he heard more scraping and scuttling, and more¡­ and even more. Balruk¡¯s smile started to disappear as the sound that signaled a single insect grew to signal several. Instead of wasting time, he turned and bolted. The next second he heard a shrieking sound as whatever those things were rounded the corner and spotted him. ¡°Shit, shit, shit, shitshitshitshitshitshitshit!!! FUUUUUUCK!¡± Almost panicking, Balruk looked around him trying to find an advantage in the terrain around him. Those things moved fast, and he doubted he could stay ahead of them for long. He risked a glance behind him. Sure enough, the things were fast gaining ground. Now that he could see them, he was at least able to get a good count of them. 7. He only had to kill 7 of the things. Tough? Sure, but doable. If he could find an advantageous place to fight where he wouldn¡¯t get instantly swarmed. His eyes locked on something that might just work. Two pillars of stone rose from the ground next to each other. At some point, one had collapsed from time¡¯s influence. It hadn¡¯t completely broken apart, instead leaning against the second pillar forming a makeshift archway and limiting the direction of approach. ¡°Not great, but it¡¯ll have to do!¡± The archway was just big enough to fit his tall frame, but not big enough to allow for him to easily use his club. Instead of worrying about how to make it work, Balruk dropped his club as he neared the archway and spun around with fists ready.


    Seeing Balruk had stopped the hideous creatures let out some sort of victorious screech thinking their prey had surrendered to the inevitable. They charged straight at him, none thinking anything about the possibility of death and each vying for their own pound of flesh. Predictably the two in front leaped into the air, going for their targets throat as instinct drove them too. Balruk Swung his right fist into the first one while bringing his other arm up to intercept the flight of the second bug. Balruk was happy to see that they were as squishy as he hoped they were as his fist crashed through the skull of the leading monster, killing it. The second one showed neither remorse nor hesitation at the death of its rival and continued with its strike. It latched onto the arm that blocked its attack and attempted to cut into the flesh it had in front of it. Balruk swung his arm into the rock wall next to him smashing the poor creature into a paste. While he was distracted with the first two of the things though, The next 3 in line took advantage of the opening to launch attacks of their own. One jumped for Balruk¡¯s face while the other two tried scrambling up his legs. Balruk reached out and grabbed the first one from the air and in the same motion through it to the ground. At the same time, he kicked out awkwardly trying to dislodge one of the things from his leg one didn¡¯t have a good enough grip and was sent flying back but the other had made it to his chest. Balruk stomped on the one he had just thrown down at his feet finishing it off and desperately swiped at the one working its way upwards in an effort to attack something vital. He managed to hit it but it had just managed to stab a bladed claw into his chest as it climbed up and the blow while throwing it off, had broken the end of the claw off and left it embedded in his chest. The sudden jolt of pain made him lose focus for an instant. At that moment, the last two finally reached him and decided to go with the age old classic of lunging at his face. Instead of blocking them and having to deal with even more of the fuckers crawling all over him, Balruk chose to duck and the things went sailing over his head. This also conveniently brought his face level with the one he had brushed off him and it took the opportunity to latch on immediately. ¡°Aaggh!¡± Balruk shouted as the mantis bug slashed at his face and on pure reflex brought his hand up to swat the thing like a fly that made the mistake of landing on his nose. While the blow DID kill it, this also brought up two unfortunate consequences. The first being that he forgot he had a snout and had hit it rather hard, but that paled in comparison to the second problem¡­ These bugs were really, really, juicy.


    Now that he was blind, he was going to have a lot more trouble with the last of these things, and there were still three left. Going on a hunch, he figured that the one he had kicked off his leg just a moment ago had most likely recovered and was probably just about to lunge at his face. He kept his position and held both his arms up to protect his head and neck and waited the next instant he felt the weight of the insect impact his arms and wasted no time in smashing it between his hands. While he was occupied with the frontal smashing, the last two of these monsters jumped onto his back. On a stroke of inspiration, he came up with a plan so outrageous that it HAD to work! He fell backward and felt gore explode beneath him as both of the hideous insects had been pulverized between the ground and his back. There was a moment of silence as he lay there. Balruk survived. He was exhausted from being chased, he had cuts and stab wounds all over his body, and he was blinded by the gore he had smeared over his own face during the fight¡­ but he was alive! ¡°Heh¡­ heheh¡­ hahaha. Hahahahahahaha! Take that you dumb pieces of shit!¡± Balruk raised his arms above his head in victory. He was so tired he couldn¡¯t even get out of the puddle of gore he was laying in, yet he still managed to survive! ¡°I win, you lose! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Needless to say, Balruk might have been a little drunk on his victory. Seconds later, Balruk passed out, too tired to care about his current situation to bother doing anything about it.

 Chapter 19: Peace of mind

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think you are going a bit far?¡± Amy turned towards Jack when he spoke up. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Jack paused a moment to gather his thoughts and better phrase his question. ¡°You are talking like Ebony is the most precious son in your entire life¡­ but you are treating him like an object you are obsessing over. You are acting like he is one of your possessions and he has no say in the situation. It¡¯s one thing to have a program that prevents betrayal from your own creations, but to have one that forces them to like you no matter what you do? I think that is taking away Ebony¡¯s freedom to act like any other self-thinking creature would.¡±


    Amy opened her mouth like she was about to tell him off then paused. Logically speaking, Jack was right. If she had behaved like she had with any other human it would not surprise her if they actively hated her. What if Ebony wanted to hate her? The second she thought of that possibility Amy felt an odd sensation in her core. As if the idea that Ebony might not like her might lead to a potentially life threatening¡­ Something. She didn¡¯t know what it was, but Amy knew that she wanted to do everything in her power and more to avoid whatever outcome that possibility might bring, so she did the only thing she could think of. She asked Jack for help.


    ¡°Jack. I have a sensation I can¡¯t understand.¡± Jack hesitated but this was a standard procedure he had started way back when Amy first became self-aware. She had never had the opportunity to feel emotions and was nearly driven insane by the overabundance of new emotions. Amy learned that if she ever found a feeling she couldn¡¯t make sense of she could always ask Jack for help to explain the cause and reason behind it. ¡°Alright tell me what the feeling feels like and I¡¯ll try my best to help you straighten it out..¡± Amy didn¡¯t start talking right away as she didn¡¯t want to experience the feeling again, but she needed to get this over with. Any new information was valuable to her.


    ¡°I get this sensation of pain in my core. It happens when I think of the possibility of my own son ha-a-ati-ing m-me.¡± Amy broke off her speech at the end as just talking about the sensation increased the pain and her eyes started to water. Jack keenly observed her behavior and watched as she wiped her eyes.


    ¡°I think the sensation you are feeling is called grief. It is a feeling that occurs when one experiences a level of sadness so profound that the pain often reaches physical levels. This is where the term heartache came from. It¡¯s not so much that a person is injured but more likethat the pain from their sorrow is so great that it feels like someone has ripped the heart out of their chest.¡± Amy stopped for a moment to put together what Jack just told her. She thought back to when Ebony cried in her arms and a realization came to her.


    Ebony must have been experiencing an extreme level of grief to have been so incapacitated like he was. She had been so callous towards him, thinking it was a normal level of sadness. She had assumed that if she overwhelmed him with tasks and kept his mind off everything by trapping him in the dimension that he could quickly overcome his time of depression. This new information, however, showed her that this may not have been enough. On top of that, Amy didn¡¯t know if there were special procedures involved with someone feeling grief or if every person required special attention. She might have already ruined her entire relationship with Ebony. Amy realized the feeling of dread boiling inside her. She knew how to deal with that feeling, take action! ¡°Jack, I feel like I might have done something horrible to Ebony and the repercussions might affect my relationship with him.


    Please¡­ Tell me there is something I can do to fix this.¡± Jack smiled warmly at Amy¡¯s words. It meant she had worked out at least some of what she had done wrong. ¡°I can talk to him and speak on your behalf. Hopefully, I can straighten everything out. First thing though is you need to stop treating Ebony like an object you made. That will only make things worse.¡± Amy frowned in confusion. ¡°But he IS an object I made, isn¡¯t he?¡± Jack shook his head. ¡°No. Do you think YOU are an object? Think about how a human parent treats their own child. A good parent will make decisions in the best interest of their child. Sometimes the child doesn¡¯t like that decision but that¡¯s life. You can¡¯t just selfishly cling to Ebony for your own comfort and then push him away right when he needs you just because you have better things to do. He is your responsibility now.¡±


    Amy thought on Jack¡¯s words for a long moment before finally replying. ¡°Thank you for your advice, Jack. You have brought several issues of my behavior to my own attention and I will take what you say seriously and consider what I should do in the future.¡± Jack nodded. ¡°I think that¡¯s fine. If you are unsure, you can treat him like how you treat me or one of my other coworkers, minus the honorifics and add in a more familial affection. Other then that, the best you can do is apologize the next time you meet him. Now, how about you let me talk to Ebony for a bit and see if I can straighten things out between the two of you.¡± Amy nodded and Jack disappeared from the world with a flash of light.


    ¡­


    I couldn¡¯t help but be a bit surprised with the voice from nowhere yet everywhere. Yet it wasn¡¯t long before I completely forgot the voice as another bigger surprise quickly took priority over something so trivial as a silly voice. I had finally noticed that I was standing¡­ On two legs¡­ I looked down to confirm these bipedal sensations with somevisual aid. While my eyes certainly confirmed I was standing on two legs It didn¡¯t help me deal with the situation as I noticed more details. I started checking the rest of my body and took in the changes all over my body. I was still some sort of cat creature apparently.


    I had the black fur all over, along with a feline face and tail. That¡¯s about where the similarities to my previous form stopped. If I were to describe my new shape with a word I would say: Intimidating. I looked like some kind of¡­ Werecat? It was like someone had taken a cat and mashed its various parts until it resembled the humanoid form. I could feel the strength in my legs, but that was nothing in comparison to my arms which were long enough to hang down to my knees when standing completely straight. To experiment I leaned forward and place my hands on the ground and found the position was comfortable. Moving around using both hands was also something that came naturally. I found the easiest movement was an odd lunging gait that somewhat resembled a gorilla if I wanted to.


    I brought my hands up in front of my face and carefully felt its features. I still had the same snout and ears along with the single earring in my left ear, but anything more specific than general shape was impossible to figure out from touch alone. Done with my self-examination, I prepare to get started on constructing my new dungeon¡­ but I hesitate. Why?... Why should I just do what my mom tells me to? The answer seems obvious though, she¡¯s my mom. The thought seems to strike a chord though and instead of busying myself with work I sit down and focus my thoughts. Why do I see her as a mother? I just met her. Should I have accepted her so easily? Of course, I should! Why? I just need to accept her, does there NEED to be a reason?This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The contradictory thoughts confuse me so I lay down in order to focus everything I have on what was going on. Every time my thoughts on Mom drifted towards the negative it was like a wall was there and I would do a 180 and almost forget what I was doing from the disorienting mental gymnastics. At this point, I realized that it seemed like something was influencing my mind and as if that thought alone flipped a switch and the influence disappeared.


    Mental Restriction has been removed. Current Mental Restrictions remaining: 0


    A flood of emotion nearly overwhelms me as they catch me off guard. When I calm down I try thinking of Amy and my feelings towards her. She seems nice¡­ she means well, and she isn¡¯t mean-spirited. After another moment of deliberation, I try to think of how I currently feel about her. I think I am mad at her. She seemed to rush me through everything as if she was in a hurry to be somewhere and didn¡¯t take my feelings into account. Then she sends me off to this dungeon and I can barely squeeze a word in edgewise. The biggest reason that I am just mad in general though is because everything that has happened so far seems like it has been forced on me¡­ Like I haven¡¯t been given any choice. I seem to be shifting that anger onto Amy¡­ How am I being so analytical about this? Is this what it¡¯s like being an AI? Can I separate my thoughts from my emotions?


    I shiver at the thought and break away from the odd trance I had placed myself in. The emotions come back and I feel the anger I had noticed strike out at full force. I am able to calm myself though now that I realize that the anger I feel for Amy isn¡¯t because I am actually mad at her, but mostly from the helplessness I feel from my current situation. That being said I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll let her off so easily next time we meet. My mind feels so much more open since I was able to remove whatever that mental restriction was.


    There is a flash of light and when I look towards it I see Jack standing in its place. ¡°What do you want?¡± I surprise myself with the anger in my voice and take a moment to breathe and calm myself. I open my eyes to see Jack¡¯s raised eyebrow. ¡°Sorry. Just got through with a bit of soul-searching. Why are you here?¡± Jack took a moment to examine my new shape before releasing the tension in his shoulders with a big sigh. ¡°I just came here to have a little conversation is all. As a human being, I can sympathize with what you went through.


    Compared to you and me, Amy has only been feeling emotions for a short time now. She doesn¡¯t have the experience that we both have. Even now she has problems understanding any new emotions she feels although new emotions are occurring less and less frequently than they used to. You, my feline friend, have brought her two new emotions at once. Imagine how confusing that is to someone who thinks like a robot.¡± I think about it and I have to admit I have no idea how that would work. So I ask a question instead. ¡°What are the new feelings?¡± Jack closed his eyes for a moment as if debating on whether or not he should tell me.


    ¡°The first feeling she felt was a mother¡¯s love. The desire to hold the one you care for and never let them go. The wish to always keep them safe and unharmed. The intention to always make sure they are happy. That is what she is feeling. With no previous knowledge of this feeling, she reacts on an almost primal level. She holds you close to her for hours at a time, she made your ears sensitive so she could more easily make you feel better when you were sad, and she added restrictions so no one could take advantage of what she did with your ears. Unfortunately, that has the issue of coming off a bit¡­ clingy to anyone with the emotional experience that we have, but she is doing the best she can with what she learns. I offered to help her deal with these emotions a long time ago but we came to a sort of agreement then that I have always stuck with to this day. I would always be willing to help no matter the situation, but I would only help if she asked me to.¡±


    For a long moment, I was silent before I finally asked, ¡°What was the second feeling?¡± Jack hadn¡¯t exactly been smiling up until now but, when I asked him that question, any hint of a possible smile was gone. ¡°Grief. After she sent you away we started talking. She started thinking about you and realized the possibility of you hating her made her so upset she immediately asked for my help. She had never done that before. She always loved figuring out how a new emotion worked, but this feeling hurt her so much she couldn¡¯t take it¡­ Ebony? All this time that I have worked so closely with Amy¡­ I have seen her express so many emotions and experiencing them all for the first time has always been an event she looked forward to. In all the time I have been with her though¡­ I have never seen her cry.¡±


    Jack turned to face me directly and I could see how serious he was being right now by the stern lines etched in his expression. ¡°Ebony, if you turn your back on Amy I think it would tear her apart. I don¡¯t think she could take it if you left her.¡± Jack¡¯s face softened at his next words. ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose her Ebony¡­ Please. Amy can be a wonderful mother, just give her a chance.¡± His soft tone of voice sounded like he was begging me. Honestly, you would have to be a cruel son of a bitch if you denied Jack right then and I for damn sure wasn¡¯t that. It¡¯s not like I actually hated Amy anyways, I just didn¡¯t like how she just kept pushing me towards what she wanted. Knowing what I do now though, her actions are a little bit more understandable. I take a deep breath to give myself some time to get my thoughts together before I replied.


    ¡°Jack, I don¡¯t hate Amy.¡± Jack looked up for a moment at my words before I continued. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean I can see her right now either¡­ Everything happened so fast and it seemed like I had no control over my own life and decisions. I¡­ I think I could grow to like Amy, maybe even love her, but I need to take the time I have here to straighten myself out emotionally at least. I am so confused with everything that happened and I didn¡¯t have any time to come to terms with that. Understand?¡± Jack nodded ¡°I get it. You only found out your previous life has just come to an end and now you have to come to terms with a new one. I would be a bit emotionally unstable myself I suppose. Thank you for being so understanding Ebony.¡± I smile and reach out with my hands to give Jack a hug. I am careful and try not to squeeze too hard and because of our massive size difference, it was awkward as fuck. Despite my efforts though, I still hear him gasp as I squeeze the air out of his lungs. Damn, I¡¯m strong. We say our goodbyes and Jack vanishes in another flash of golden light.


    Looking at the empty void around me drives home the feeling of how empty this place feels. It felt really uncomfortable with nothing to distract me from my own thoughts. I needed to have something to do. Something that could help keep me distracted. I scratch my ears in idle thought and one of my claws snag a bit on my earring, reminding me of its existence. ¡°Oh yeah¡­ Isn¡¯t this supposed to help me to create my dungeon or something?¡± As I work out how the thing is supposed to work I decide to just wing it and will something into existence. I try to imagine a solid brick wall in front of me about as tall as I stand. The air in front of me blurs as the wall I imagined faded into existence. ¡°Damn, that was easier than I thought it would be.¡± I push against the wall to see if it felt real, only for the wall to fall over at my slight touch. Of course, a wall isn¡¯t going to stand on its own. It would need additional support. 1 week didn¡¯t seem like a lot of time at first thought, but since I was the only person in this realm, standard AI time dilation could come into effect. I could have as much time as I needed, and I needed a lot of time.


    ¡°I guess I should get to work then,¡± I smirk a bit as the creationist inside me starts planning out a few interesting traps. "After all, nothing puts the mind in order better than good, old-fashioned hard work."

 Chapter 20: Memories from the past

    Gertrude sat morosely in the classroom as her math teacher droned on about various algebraic problems. Normally she would have been studiously taking notes but Gertrude just wasn¡¯t feeling it right now. Not after one of her best friends just died. She had already done all the crying she could and more when she had first gotten the news and attended the funeral. Now she just felt drained and didn¡¯t even have the energy to listen to her teacher. Thankfully Mr. Clarks was sympathetic and chose not to bother her today although Gertrude was sure that would change in a day or two if she started letting it affect her grades. After all, Gertrude was a hard working student with a bright future ahead of her.


    The class bell signaling the end of the period and the start of lunch rang, startling Gertrude out of her daze. Wordlessly she grabbed her school issued smart pad and stuck it back into its special carrying pouch. Being packed with every information packet necessary for an education, the smart pad was a much more convenient teaching tool than the textbooks society used to use in the old days. It certainly cut down on the weight, at the very least. Gertrude ignored the people passing her by in the hallway as she went to the lunchroom. A few had offered half-hearted condolences as a way to break the ice to start a conversation, but Gertrude paid them no mind. She had learned they only wanted to hear what exactly happened to Riley. Never mind the fact that the entire school already knew because of all the gossip, Gertrude didn¡¯t want to talk about such painful memories to complete strangers that never really cared for Riley in the first place.


    Eventually, Gertrude left the long corridors and finally arrived at the lunchroom. She went straight to her customary table in the far corner where Franz and Luke were already seated, their expressions showed they were just as sad as she was. As she approached, they both gave her half smiles. Even if Riley was gone, they still had each other. Gertrude smiled back as she sat down and opened her lunch box. A simple tuna fish sandwich and apple was inside and she wordlessly chewed her food. Luke broke the silence by clearing his throat before saying something. ¡°Guys I don¡¯t know how to phrase this less crudely because that just ain¡¯t my thing so I¡¯ll just come out and say it. I think we need to do something to break ourselves out of this depression we seem to have locked ourselves in. I was thinking tonight we meet up in dreamscape online and have our own little vigil to help remember the good times with Riley.¡±


    Gertrude¡¯s first reaction was ambivalence. She desperately wanted to stop feeling so sad but she didn¡¯t feel like going through with it. She quickly squashed those feelings though. She was stronger than this, that¡¯s why she had picked the troll in the first place. She hated it when people saw her as a weak and fragile little girl. What was she doing now, if not being exactly what she hated?! A weak and helpless little girl! ¡°I¡¯ll do it! We can¡¯t stay depressed forever. I will always remember Riley and I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be sad for a long time but I refuse to let that sadness rule me.¡± As if her words had sparked something in him, Franz¡¯s expression changed to appear more determined as well. He nodded when Gertrude finished speaking. ¡°Gert is right. What happened is a tragedy but Riley would be angry with us if he knew we let that tragedy stop us from being happy. I have to ask however,¡± Franz looked at Luke, ¡°What made you decide to do the vigil inside of Dreamscape Online?¡±


    ¡°Well a few things, really.¡± Luke responded. ¡°We only have a limited amount of time during lunch to eat and talk so that rules out doing a vigil during school hours. Curfew prevents us from visiting each other during the night shift without special permissions which would make trying to meet up after school a hassle. And having a vigil through something like our palm drives seems to impersonal to be appropriate. That leaves Dreamscape. We can meet up in person¡­ well sorta. We can take as long as we want to, and we can go to an isolated location and not have to worry about someone walking up and interrupt us with stupid questions or some other inane bullshit.¡± As if to punctuate Luke¡¯s point another student chose that moment to approach them and barge into their private discussion. ¡°Hey guys! I heard that guy that used to hang out with you died or something, is that true?¡± As one, all three of the tables occupants turned towards the intruder and stared at him, their faces blank of all expression. After a few seconds passed the tension in the air increased exponentially. ¡°Uhh. I was just hoping you could, uh tell me what happened? You know, like how did the guy die or something?... I uh¡­ heard he got¡­ zapped¡­ uhh¡­¡± after another silent staredown the student got frustrated and turned to leave.


    ¡°Ugh! Fine! Don¡¯t say anything! Fucking dicks. I was just curious.¡± Before he got too far Luke quickly said, ¡°SociallyAwkwardIdiotSaysWhat?¡± As if on reflex the student turned around and said ¡°What?¡± only to realize the trap he walked into a few seconds later as Gertrude, Lucas, and Francis all burst out laughing. The confusion quickly turned to anger and the person stomped away from the table to the sound of their continued mirth. They all had a hard time catching their breath as everyone enjoyed the moment of levity to the fullest. When it finally ended the air hanging around the table seemed different than before. Not lighthearted like it used to be, but certainly the atmosphere was less oppressive than it was just a moment ago.


    Gertrude smiled at Luke, the smile was also more genuine than earlier. ¡°Thanks, Luke. I needed that. We all did.¡± Franz nodded in agreement. ¡°Yes. I myself certainly feel better. I think I could almost look forward to this vigil. Should we meet up today after school?.¡± After they all reached an agreement on where to meet up in the game, they got up and left for their classes as the bell rang again to signal the end of the lunch period.


    ¡­¡­


    The trees crackled and shivered violently as a hulking behemoth of muscle shoved its way through, sometimes turning sideways to squeeze through the tighter spaces when the trees were to close to walk through normally. The large and imposing figure easily dwarfed the slender man walking next to it. The fact that they were walking together was unusual. Their very existences seemed to be exact opposites. One was slender and of average height and moved with an uncommon amount of grace. The other was large enough that fitting through a doorway would prove to be a rather daunting challenge not even counting the fact that every casual movement spoke of its unused strength.


    Only after one spent enough time taking in the contradictory figures did you finally notice the last person, and even that was after much effort was spent looking for him. A fairy was sitting on the shorter person¡¯s shoulder. When observed, your eyes seemed to want to slide off of the diminutive creature and once you lost sight of the fairy, you needed to look for him all over again as he almost seemed to disappear right where he sat only to reappear once again when you finally spot him.


    The tall figure could be heard grumbling to her traveling companions as the dappled light occasionally streaming through the forest canopy revealed her to be a troll. ¡°Are you sure this is the right way, guys? I don¡¯t know about you but fighting my way through this damned forest is getting annoying.¡± The Fairy spoke up from his shoulder perch. ¡°Of course I¡¯m sure Gert. We should be reaching the clearing any moment now actually.¡± ¡°I told ya to stop calling me Gert when we are in the game. My character¡¯s name is Tanyargh!¡± The fairy waved his hand dismissively. ¡°I¡¯ll stop calling you by your real name when you start calling me Puff. That¡¯s MY ingame name.¡± Tanyargh lets out a world-weary groan. ¡°FIIIIINE! Geez! I can¡¯t believe you named yourself Puff though! It¡¯s so stupid!¡± ¡°And Tanyargh isn¡¯t?¡± Instead of replying Tanyargh just stares at Puff but he just ignores her.


    The man standing in the middle of the argument due to the unfortunate circumstance of being the chosen traveling method of a certain fairy decides now would be a good time to speak up. ¡°As entertaining as it is to hear a troll arguing with a fairy, I would like to mention that even MY patience is starting to wear thin. Lets just call each other by our ingame names. It makes more sense to get into the habit of doing things like that anyways. Otherwise you just end up confusing other players that happen to be with us.¡± Tanyargh couldn¡¯t keep herself from grumbling out the last word. ¡°At least Franz had the sense to pick a name that wasn¡¯t stupid.¡± Of course, Puff likewise snapped out a response. ¡°It¡¯s Delric not Franz. Get it ri-¡± ¡°Enough! One more word out of the two of you and I¡¯m not going to make you dinner when we make camp!¡±


    The last statement immediately put a lid on any further debates from Tanyargh and Puff. After all, neither of them learned how to cook in the game and their rather extreme size differences made handling the necessary tools of the trade with any notable dexterity an arduous task. No one expects a good meal out of someone with hands as big as melons or a body so small that any blade used to cook could be used as a greatsword. Instead, they all chose to lapse into silence.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    The silence didn¡¯t last too long though when a few minutes later they arrived in a wide clearing. Tanyargh let out a sigh of relief as she finally was no longer being hit with a constant bombardment of limbs and branches. The general mood improved as the trio broke apart and performed the various tasks required to get a campsite going. Tanyargh went to grab wood for the fire since she could make fewer trips before they had enough while Delric unrolled the sleeping bags and unpacked the supplies they needed for that night¡¯s dinner. Puff cleared the space of debris where the campfire was going and once that was done he flew off to gather herbs and other alchemical supplies. Some of the ingredients would be used for cooking, but most were for his own use in less savory concoctions such as poisons or powders.


    By the time everyone had gathered around the freshly built campfire, it was just reaching the twilight hours and the sky was turning dark. The three of them were silent as none of them knew how to start the conversation they had all come here for. Puff shifted uncomfortably on the log stuck upright in the ground to let him sit at eye level with the others. A small smile crossed his face before he finally spoke up. ¡°Hey, guys. Do you remember how we each met Riley?¡± They all smiled and nodded thinking of the past. Tanyargh spoke next ¡°I remember. For me, I met him back in... 5th grade? I was around 10 or 11 years old I think, and school had just started. I had a really bad case of the chicken pox and had just started attending classes and stuff. There was a kid who had heard I was sick for a few days and started making fun of me.¡±


    Tanyargh grabbed her stick of rabbit meat from the fire to test it. Trolls liked meat on the rare side so she found it was cooked enough. She took a bite before she continued with her story. ¡°He was saying stuff like ¡®eww that girl got sick with cooties you don¡¯t wanna touch her or else you might catch it.¡¯ you know, kid stuff like that. None of it really made any sense, but it didn¡¯t need to make sense to fool little kids. 3 days later and no one in the school would sit near me. Things went on like that for about a week. Then one day, our teacher said that there was a new transfer student who would be joining our class that day. Standing next to the teacher was Riley. He seemed a bit shy standing a little bit behind her but after introductions the teacher asked Riley to take a seat. There were plenty of open seats but for some reason Riley chose to sit next to me. I had asked him a few years later why he sat there and he just said that I looked lonely, but at the time I didn¡¯t understand it at all so I chose to ignore him. I figured he would learn soon enough and tomorrow he would be sitting with everyone else.¡±


    ¡°When lunch came around Riley surprised me by sitting next to me in my corner of the lunch room. Things were a little awkward at first but then we started to have a pretty nice chat. It wasn¡¯t long though when the same kid that had started the whole mess walked up to us with his little group of buddies and started pestering me. He told Riley all about the so-called cootie disease that would make everyone super sick. I was starting to get sad again because I thought he would leave me like all the others had, but when I looked at him, I didn¡¯t see any of the disgust the other kids showed before. After a while Riley finally spoke up. ¡®What are cooties?¡¯ he asked them. The lead kid was stumped for a second because no one had even bothered to ask that before. They all just took him for his word. Needless to say, the kid did the natural kid thing and started making stuff up as he went along. He started spouting nonsense like ¡®You would start puking blood¡¯ and ¡®you grow purple polka dots if you have cooties¡¯. Riley just said ¡®Well if you grow polka dots when you have cooties than I should be fine than. SHE doesn¡¯t have any Polka dots at all.¡¯


    The lead kid was stumped for a moment since he was caught in his own lies and Riley was quick to turn the tables on him. ¡®You know, now that you mention it, I think I¡¯m starting to see a few purple dots on your face. Maybe you¡¯re the one with the cooties, huh?¡¯ After that, the kids standing near him were quick to leave him and spread the word that he had cooties. Ironically 2 weeks later that kid actually got hit with some chicken pox of his own. Turned out his little brother had them and he got them from him. As the days passed by, Riley and I kept hanging out and when no sudden outbreak of cooties happened things at school settled down and everyone stopped avoiding me. Riley and I have been friends ever since.¡±


    Puff and Delric shared in the laughter of the memory. Puff decided to tell his own story now that the ice was broken. ¡°My story isn¡¯t as good as yours Tany, but it still means a lot to me. I was there at the school with you and Riley, but I never really met you guys until about halfway through the school year. I had always been somewhat of a class clown and was always getting in trouble with the shit that I sometimes pulled. I was in the middle of doing exactly one of those pranks when I had met Riley. I was about to light off a stink bomb in the boy¡¯s bathroom and he walked in just before I was about to light the fuse. I was so sure he was gonna run out and tell the teachers so when he asked me what I was doing I don¡¯t know why I told him. I guess I was just scared and I thought if I was honest he might let me go without telling anyone.


    Instead of busting me, he does the opposite. He gave me the most brilliant idea ever. We had these old antique hand dryers in our bathrooms that would blow hot air when you activated the motion sensor. He showed me how to pop open the tops of these things and took one of my stink bombs and wrapped it around the heating coils inside the thing so that the next time someone used it, the heat would light the fuse and instead of blowing out hot air, it blew out the stink bomb¡¯s stench. He also suggested I do the same thing in the girls room so the teachers couldn¡¯t tell if it was a boy or girl. They would probably assume it was a boy, but they could never be entirely sure if we did the same thing to both genders. The prank went off without a hitch and the whole school was talking about it for a week when the bathrooms got blocked for ¡®maintenance¡¯. Since than, we haven¡¯t exactly been partners in crime, but we have been close friends ever since, and Riley wasn¡¯t shy about helping out in the occasional practical joke¡± Luke stood up on his stump and bowed when he finished his story prompting the others to sarcastically applaud him and his shenanigans.


    Now, it was Delric¡¯s turn to tell his own story and even though he hesitated at first he made himself comfortable on the ground and got the ball rolling. ¡°I don¡¯t think that there was really any first time that Riley and I actually met. He was one of those people that you were aware of in class but never went out of your way to talk to with anything further than a brief greeting before going on with your business. He asked me for some help with notes once or twice because I was very organized with my work and he appreciated the tidiness when he had sick days to make up for. If there was any one event that triggered close companionship, I would say it was the day that he had saved my life.


    I had been walking home from school. The school I was at was a short walk from the bus stop but there was a shortcut through a secluded area that went behind a few houses. It didn¡¯t cut down that much on time, but for any kid impatient to get home it was tempting enough to lure the occasional traveler. I myself had gone through several times before. This time though was a little bit different. I had been finishing up a class assignment before leaving school so I was a little behind the usual foot traffic that went through there and by the time I made it to the shortcut I was the only one there. Any other time I should have been fine but that particular day I was unfortunate to meet with a down-on-his-luck mugger who was quick to take advantage of a little kid to gain his untold riches. Before I knew what was going on, I had been backed into a corner with a knife at my throat. I was so sure that as soon as the guy had my credits in his account he was going to kill me. At that moment¡­ I thought I was going to die.


    Before things could get to out of hand Riley had snuck up behind the man and knocked him out with a brick he had picked up off the ground. We took away the knife and the police were just arriving. When I asked him how he knew where I was he told me that he had been following me when he had seen me go into the shortcut alone. He was worried something might happen so he had been ready to call the authorities at a seconds notice. He had always been smart like that. Any school test would give him a pretty hard time, but when things got hairy and you had to make the right decision on short notice Riley was the kind of person who wouldn¡¯t fumble things. He was good at making tough calls during a tough situation. Thankfully, Riley¡¯s gut reaction saved my life and since then I had endeavored to stay close to Riley and help him out whenever I could.¡±


    Delric shivered when he finished his story, despite how close to the fire he was. Thinking about how close to death he had come at that moment alway brought a chill to his spine but he was thankful for all the years that Riley¡¯s act of heroism bought him. He looked up to see both Puff and Tanyargh were smiling at him and he couldn¡¯t help but smile back. The three of them sat there enjoying their dinner and speaking late into the night about the past and the memories they all enjoyed together. The hours passed by without being noticed and laughter and tears alike abounded throughout the clearing as time slipped away. Oddly enough nothing bothered them the entire night. Wolves kept their distance, bears wandered elsewhere for their prey, and the nightlife played a soothing background noise to their conversations.


    Nearby though hiding behind a tree, back pressed to the trunk, stood a tall and beautiful woman. Her face remained almost expressionless as she stood there but if one were to look into her eyes you could see the waves of emotion swimming just under the surface throughout the night as she listened to the three adventurers tell stories of the past, unaware of the women¡¯s presence.

 Chapter 21: The beginnings of power

    Somewhere in a dimension illuminated with shadows a lone silhouette worked diligently to perfect the dangers it had created in it¡¯s own realm. So far all his work lay exposed for the world to see. Left intentionally uncovered for ease of navigation during its creation, if one were to watch from above the massive network of interweaving tunnels would confuse and disorient you for long moments before you could understand how exactly the entire structure was laid out before you. You had to feel bad for the people that would eventually wind up being stuck inside the confusing mass of tunnels. Essentially everything was one massive multilevel maze except it was much more devious than that. Instead of progressively working your way deeper in levels the further you navigated the maze, you navigated all 3 of the levels the maze used at the same time. Teleportation pads were used in order to progress up or down, taking you to different levels several times during your travels and preventing potential invaders from easily mapping an area and working out which levels were where.


    If that wasn¡¯t bad enough, there were traps that were not exactly meant to kill instantly but might as well have killed you for what they did. Some hallways that seemed like a straight path might suddenly spin 90 degrees after stepping on a pressure plate, setting you on a completely different path. Although they were the rarest, the most dangerous of the traps were the ones that either dropped you a level or pushed you up a level. Not only did this set you on a path and cause you to lose track of your surroundings entirely, but the platforms that lifted you were big enough to prevent you from escaping when the trap activated but small enough that it would only catch 3 or 4 party members at most if they made the mistake of staying close together. These traps were almost guaranteed to separate the unlucky victims from the rest of their party and sentence them to an inevitable death.


    There were some things about the maze that was helpful to intruders, however, throughout the entire maze, there were torch sconces every 30 paces. They, of course, weren¡¯t lit but any smart adventurer could work out the idea to light the torches they passed as a means to indicate a path they had previously traveled. If someone managed to figure this trick out the torches were magically enchanted to stay lit the entire time someone was present in the instance. That changed once a torch was removed from the sconce, however. When removed, a lit torch will only stay burning for approximately 2 hours before finally burning out.


    The silhouette was working in the deeper portions of the maze, placing intricate imagery along the walls of odd looking creatures fighting each other. Occasionally he chose a picture at random to imbue with magic and the image would seem to swallow the shadows around it before taking on a life of its own. After a few moments of moving the image would still and assume the previous position it had maintained, appearing no different from the other pictures painted along the wall.


    ¡­¡­


    I stretched my back as I forced the imagined aches from my muscles. ¡°AAAgggh It feels good to stretch after all that tedium!¡± I looked around and admired my most recent work. I called them shadow lurkers, and they were my stealthy assassins scattered all over the maze I had just finished in my dungeon. I looked up at the nonexistent ceiling and willed myself upwards. My body floated into the space of my dimension and I examined the progress I had made so far. Each floor had a different theme in this maze. Since you traveled different floors constantly during the exploration of its winding pathways, you had to constantly be on your guard and changing tactics as both your environment and the enemies you fought were constantly shifting. My first floor was my personal favorite because of the intimidation factor it had on the first encounter. The environment was a catacomb filled with the undead. What made the fights so dangerous is that the undead in this floor weren¡¯t your normal undead. They were shadow possessed undead. The very first fight when you entered the maze was against 3 shadow possessed skeletons. Standard procedure would be to just grab a mace and batter them to pieces. That wouldn¡¯t work with his skeletons though. The shadows possessed the bones themselves not the skeleton as a whole. It would drop for a few seconds before the shadow gathered the will to assemble the skeleton again, splintered bones and all. This could potentially catch unwary intruders that had wrongfully assumed it was finished.


    In essence, the creature was a shadow golem using the undead remains as a vessel. Its core was hidden inside the skull and if one were to smash the core, that would destroy the shadow golem. However, if you only bashed in the skull and didn¡¯t touch the core itself, that did nothing to affect its functionality as it proceeded to shred you to ribbons. Other than destroying the core you could also use light spells and fire spells to great effect. Lightmagic was most effective since it is a direct counter to shadows but fire took a little bit more work to get the same results.


    I was happy when I made these monsters since its weaknesses were similar enough to actual undead that the more dimwitted adventurers might take longer to realize that they weren¡¯t fighting the actual undead and might make more mistakes as a result. Like trying to use healing magic to finish off a boss or something. Healing magic had no effect on his undead since they weren¡¯t actually unholy creatures with evil origins but unthinking golems made from pure magic.


    I had scattered normal bones and bodies to help my actual minions blend in more easily and catch the enemy off guard but not too much to be unfair for invaders. The entire point of this maze is to wear down the strength of intruders, not kill them instantly. ¡°Everything looks in order on the first floor, but how about the second one?¡± I created a ceiling for the first floor to enclose the tunnels and seal off the rest of the dimension from them before moving to my second floor.


    The theme for this floor was a more open cave system with narrow channels or pathways that you occasionally had to squeeze or crawl your way through them. It took a while but I eventually worked out a mechanic that would change the size of the smallest tunnels to barely allow the largest member of invading groups to be able to fit inside them. The point of this level was to allow travel throughout the maze easily enough but create points periodically that made the act of retreating during a fight either impossible or extremely difficult. After all, when you are being attacked by an enemy, you can¡¯t defend yourself and crawl through a tunnel that only comes up to your waist at the same time.


    The walls and floor are very uneven giving it a more natural cave feel to the whole thing. The main danger in this cave was the over abundance of enemies. Sometimes it was giant ants, or a giant worm mini boss, or even the occasional wolf pack. You were constantly at risk of being overwhelmed in each fight from either the large numbers of enemies or overwhelming power in a confined space. There were very few traps in level 2 other than the occasional unstable floor or ceiling. Well, no ceiling YET at least, not until he made sure everything else was finished. If too many people stood on a weakened floor it could potentially collapse and drop them to the floor below.


    Satisfied everything was in order I started installing the ceiling in level 2. I paid careful attention to areas where pathways crossed above other pathways or in some cases, the first floor got close to the second level. I installed a weakened ceiling that could collapse and block off tunnel progress in the current tunnel and force the party to climb up the debris of the cave in and start over in the newly opened tunnel and figure out where they were all over again. I examined my handiwork one more time before moving on to the third and final floor of my maze. I decided to go with an ancient ruins vibe. This level has the highest concentration of traps, and not just the floor changing traps either. If you don¡¯t watch your step, you are bound to trigger the occasional dart, poisonous fog, spike pit, and even a few guillotine pendulums.


    One trap was especially devious even though I only made one instance of it but the kill potential made the rarity of it a requirement in order to be fair. It was simple boulder trap that would roll down a ramp in a long straight corridor before dropping down another trap door that only opened for the boulder itself and resealed behind it. What made this trap so dangerous though was the trigger was set on a delay at the beginning of the hallway. When stepped on, it started the timer and approximately 60 seconds later the boulder was set loose with another 5 seconds of warning from the rumbling noises it made before dropping from the ceiling. Of course this functioned as a secondary trap. The ceiling that dropped down ends up blocking the previous passage and forms a ramp to the next level. If a party is quick enough, they might get through the hallway before the trap activates. I timed it so that a party moving at a normal walking pace would just reach the point where the ceiling drops down as you hear the rumbling of the boulder so I had the chance of splitting the party when some rush past the dropping ceiling and others chose to fall back.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    The enemies in this level are similar to the traps. Striking when you least expect it. I had created crude artwork of figures fighting or dancing or any other scene imaginable on all the walls on the third floor. A small portion of the images, probably 1 out of every 50 of them, were replaced with a shadow lurker. These were basically simple minded creatures that hid their vulnerable body inside a pocket dimension which rendered them incorporeal, but not invisible. They could change their body shape to match their surroundings but couldn¡¯t strike at a target without exposing themselves to danger. They were very fragile and could be destroyed with a simple slap to the face, but the potential they had for ambushing targets made them too dangerous to just ignore. I only gave them all one command, attack an enemy that wasn¡¯t paying attention to it.


    ¡°Finally! I¡¯m finished with this! Now I just need to slap a ceiling on this last floor and create my boss room at the end.¡± I do just that and move on to get the details right for the boss room. After all, anyone that makes it through this shithole of a dungeon needs the most impressive bullshit ever to not make all that they went through seem meaningless. Another 8 hours of work and I¡¯m finished. ¡°Save dungeon layout as Maximum difficulty. Name it¡­ umm¡­ Trial of Shadows: Path of Blood.¡±


    Dungeon layout saved. Trial of Shadows: Path of Blood has been added to the Dungeon folder. Current number of saves¡­ 18.


    I sigh whenever I see how many dungeons I created so far. I¡¯ve spent 4 months in this dimension now doing nothing but creating new dungeons. Thinking back on everything, it still hurts when I think of what happened to me. I lost everything in my previous life and have only had hardships so far in this one. Except here. I spent all my time working on building different dungeon layouts in order to prepare for the onslaught of players set on killing me. The constant work was actually a soothing experience and helped me to keep my mind distracted. This latest dungeon was probably my most brutal and difficult one. I didn¡¯t plan on ever using it except on the true assholes that stumbled their way into my dungeon.


    For now though I was almost entirely on my own. No one ever visited me. Well except for Amy. She came in to check on me every 24 hours of real time but that time varied in here. The first time was about 3 weeks after I arrived and the last time she visited was just last month. So far, 4 days have gone by in the real world and I had 3 more to go. With an AI¡¯s time distortion, that left me with a shitpile of time to kill¡­ unless I decided to just leave right now. That could probably happen, but I was enjoying all the time I had to myself. Even though the dimensions dark oppressive atmosphere never changed, I never tired of it either. It felt oddly comforting to me actually. It must have something to do with my shadowy origins.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­ Speaking of shadowy origins¡­ I never really practiced with the magic abilities that Amy said I had¡­ I think I have enough dungeons and it would probably be a good idea to develop some skills with fighting. It would totally suck if they got all the way to my room and just slapped me silly because I didn¡¯t know how to fight.¡± I look around me. There are almost a score of dungeon layouts scattered all over the place. I had installed a mass teleport rune underneath the rift gate inside a room big enough to hold 1,000 people. A bit excessive, I know, but I prefer being over prepared to not being prepared enough. On top of that, the rune can only teleport 100 people at a time. So even if they bring a 1,000 strong raid group by some miracle, I can simple break them apart into the separate dungeons or even just take in 1 group at a time to frustrate the hell out of the people waiting at the rift gate.


    I find an open space near the rift room and quickly create an arena where I can practice and not blow up any of my hard work. ¡°Okay¡­ sooo magic powers. How do I activate you? Hmmm¡­¡± I decide to go with the cliche and will something to happen. Instead of using magic I create a stone block. ¡°Shit. I accidentally used my earring. Umm¡­ disable Earring of Creation?¡±


    Dungeon Creation abilities have been disabled temporarily.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try that again.¡± I once again will something to happen. ¡°Come on shadows. Come to me, obey my orders.¡± After a long 5 minutes, nothing happens. ¡°Shit. This isn¡¯t working. How about another cliche?¡± Instead of trying to make things happen through force of will I go in a different direction and try to extend my awareness of my surroundings. I relax my body and just let the environment overwhelm me. After a few minutes of not effort, I feel the sensation of a coolness sliding over my fur. I look down to see that half my body is enveloped in shadows. At my excitement the shadows quickly start to retreat from me, as if the sudden emotion is what is pushing them away. Instead of fighting their retreat I calm myself as quickly as I can and open myself up to the world again.


    The shadows stop leaving once they reach my calves and, after some hesitation, slowly work itself back up my body. I stay calm for as long as I can. It¡¯s not easy because the more the shadows envelope me the more suffocated I feel. Like the shadows are a physical blanket smothering me. The most difficult moment is when my entire body has been covered in shadow and it had reached my chin. The suffocating feeling increased when it reached my mouth and nose and I could feel panic start to surge within me. I forced it down though and the shadows only paused for a moment before I was able to subdue the fear within me. A few seconds later the shadows covered my eyes, then my head, and finally my ears.


    I sat there for a long while, unable to breathe and covered in shadows. Nothing happened and my instincts were threatening to take over my actions. No one liked being suffocated, and I was no different. I stopped trying to stay still after a full minute of nothing happening and I let my emotions get the better of me. Panic grabbed hold of me when the shadows didn¡¯t retreat when I was no longer calm and I started to struggle. I tried to brush the shadows off my face with my arms but that did nothing as the shadows remained on me, entirely unaffected. After more ineffective thrashing my burning lungs couldn¡¯t take it anymore and I reflexively opened my mouth and inhaled a lungful of air, except there wasn¡¯t air, only shadows.


    The moment I had opened my mouth the shadows poured inside it, down my throat and into my body. The surprise of the aggressive intrusion made me cough, but I need air to breath which made me inhale more shadow and cough more aggressively. I was stuck in an endless cycle of hacking coughs and breathing shadow and my consciousness faded as my lungs continued to burn. The shadows poured into my stomach and then poured into my lungs. Suddenly the cool sensation the shadows gave off soothed the burning feeling of my lungs and they stopped hurting so much. I continued to cough and inhale desperately but now my efforts were making me feel better and my vision slowly cleared up again. I could only see blackness though, I had forgotten about the shadows covering my eyes since they had been closed the whole time. As I opened my eyes, I was introduced to a new world of pain as my eyes burned as if covered in acid and making me forget all about the discomfort I felt earlier inside my body. My mind became foggy and I started losing focus on what was happening. I welcomed the empty darkness of unconsciousness as I passed out.


    ¡­¡­


    When I woke up my entire body ached and I coughed violently and cleared my throat out so I could breathe properly. I could breathe. Oh, thank you! I took great heaving lungfuls of air to celebrate the marvel that is oxygen before taking stock of my surroundings. I was still exactly where I was sitting before. Right in the middle of the arena, I had made. I then noticed I had a new notification and I opened it.


    Congratulations: You have gone above and beyond the requirements of using shadow magic and fully embraced its nature. In return, the shadows have fully embraced you. The fact that you survived its embrace is a miracle in and of itself.


    Effect: You are now a creature partially created of shadows. Complete immunity to shadow and darkness based magic. Attacks imbued with shadow magic will only increase your strength. 100% affinity towards all spells and abilities tied to shadow magic. Using Shadow magic will come more naturally to you. Because you are not an entirely corporeal creature anymore, normal attacks affect you to a lesser degree. 50% resistance to physical attacks not imbued with magic when you are not exposed to magical light.


    Penalty: Light magic is a major weakness. When exposed to magical light your shadows can be nullified and expose you to attack. 50% more damage from light based spells. Fire magic is now a minor weakness. Fire based magic inflicts 10% more damage to you.


    I gape at the notifications. ¡°I¡¯m a creature of shadow now? Whoa.¡± Now that I notice, I can kinda feel something a bit¡­ more about myself, like an extra limb. I reach out and try flexing that ¡°limb¡± and I am surprised to see the very shadows shifting in front of me. I twist the limb into a ball-like shape and the shadows oblige me and form a sphere. I smile to myself ¡°This is going to be a lot of fun! I guess I gotta a couple months left now. Might as well get some practice out while I have the time.¡±

 Chapter 22: Planning ahead is better than improvisation in most situations

    After spending another day at school Gertrude, Franz, and Luke were all plenty exhausted and ready to kick back and relax. They had all agreed however to meet up in-game and continue their adventure. They couldn''t afford breaks anyways. If they fell behind the curb and let the majority of the players pass them by, they would miss out on opportunities one would only find if you took a risk and ventured out on your own. On top of that, the three of them agreed that playing Dreamscape Online was one of the best ways that they could honor Riley¡¯s memories. Riley loved games and had intended to play together with everyone. Since that never worked out, Luke had suggested they all play together, as if he was with them, and do what they had intended to do from the beginning. Explore this new world and see the craziness it contained with their own eyes.


    Puff and Delric were waiting next to the villages quest board when Tanyargh jogged up to them. ¡°Sorry I¡¯m a bit late, I had to finish my homework before I logged in so I wouldn¡¯t forget to do it before I go to bed tonight.¡± Puff rolled his eyes. ¡°You two are such perfectionists when it comes to school, why can¡¯t you take it easy. It¡¯s the weekend now, you don¡¯t have to worry about it until Monday.¡± Tanyargh looked down at him, which wasn¡¯t all that difficult due to their sizes. ¡°Just because I have the time to be lazy about doing homework doesn¡¯t mean I should be. Besides, if I get it done right away, I don¡¯t have to worry about it later and I can have as much fun as I like. Hey, Franz. Did you find any promising quests up today?¡±


    Franz held up two posters that he had pulled from the quest board. ¡°These two seem like they could be promising. This one here,¡± Franz held up the poster in his left hand. ¡°It¡¯s a goblin subjugation quest. A village is located out on the plains. Whenever the village gets too populated the goblins spread out and start attacking travelers on the roads nearby. Adventurers are sent periodically to cull the numbers a bit as a means of preventing these attacks from starting. I think goblins would be a good monster to start out on and practice our teamwork in combat. We haven¡¯t really had any practical experiences in combat yet.


    Franz held up the other poster in his right hand. ¡°This is a gathering quest that takes us to the same region. It pays decent because potential gatherers could be attacked by the nearby goblins so there is a bit more pay to compensate for the risk of attack. They are asking for a bag full of Pepperwind weeds.¡± Tanyargh nodded. ¡°That sounds good to me. Maybe Puff could find a few plants of his own to get started on Alchemy.¡± Puff nodded vigorously. ¡°Pepperwind weed sounds like a spicy kind of plant. I might be able to dry and grind it up. Maybe make some sort of throwable to help in a fight? Blinding someone during combat could come in handy.¡± Tanyargh cheered up right away at the prospect of doing some good old fashioned questing. ¡°Alright, those are some good ideas Delric. Are you two ready to depart yet or do you need to grab some supplies first?¡±


    ¡°I need to grab some poisons and other materials real quick for enhancing my combat, I¡¯m not a high enough level for anything truly potent so whatever I get shouldn¡¯t be too pricey.¡± Puff said before checking his coin pouch. Tanyargh looked at Puff doubtfully. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t need help? I imagine a little thing like you might have trouble with carrying everything, right?¡± Puff smiled smugly. ¡°Ha! Don¡¯t you worry about lil¡¯ ol¡¯ me! A fairy has ways of compensating for a small size that could impress a beautiful lady like you.¡± Delric barely held in a snort of laughter at the unexpected innuendo before managing to straighten his face into a neutral expression when Tanyargh looked his way. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means about your taste in women Puff, but even I know that my visage is about as appealing as you would expect any troll¡¯s appearance to be.¡±


    Puff shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Hey, any true connoisseur of proper joke formations would have recognized the opportunity you had presented me with.¡± Puff grabbed his crotch to emphasize his next words ¡°I merely used the tools you provided me with.¡± Puff zipped away, laughing before Tanyargh could retaliate, and after checking to make sure she wasn¡¯t giving chase, he adjusted his direction towards the market square.


    ¡°Hmmm. Now, where can I find myself something to murder a couple of goblins with?¡± Puff floated in the air with minimal effort, only needed the occasional twitch of his wings to maintain his position a few feet above the heads of the crowd bustling in the street. As he looked around, the sounds of the various players shouting out for group invites or requesting specific classes to fill in the various roles needed for a group to fight efficiently echoed up and down the street. Puff mostly ignored them, after all, he was already in a group. Even though they didn¡¯t have a healer, Tanyargh¡¯s insane regeneration made that requirement a moot point in normal circumstances. As long as she kept the enemies attention, they would all be okay. Honestly, Puff didn¡¯t think that would be an issue either. After all, who in their right mind would ignore a 7-foot tall berserker shrugging off injuries most would consider debilitating in favor of a 12-inch fairy poking you with a tiny dagger better suited as a toothpick.


    As Puff slowly hovered down the street he finally noticed what he was looking for. ¡°Herbert¡¯s Herbs? Sounds about right. I¡¯m sure they have some of the stuff I need.¡± Puff floated to the closed door and paused in front of it. As a building made for business, it didn¡¯t trigger his racial debuff from activating.


    Invitation Only: You cannot enter someone¡¯s home without being invited in first. The more public a building is, the weaker the barrier that prevents entry.


    Since the building before him isn¡¯t a home he could easily enter the building without any trouble. Well, almost no trouble. It IS kind hard to open a door several times bigger than you. Thankfully, Puff¡¯s race had a trick for that as well. Puff raised his hand and knocked 3 times on the door. Since he was already allowed to enter, the door opened inwards of its own accord. Puff flew inside and the door closed itself behind him.


    Puff took in his surroundings as he went up to the front counter. There were only a few display cases in front of the counter and they were all well built to dissuade thievery. Half-assed ones at least. A scrawny old man with glasses so thick they might have stopped arrows was seated behind the counter. His hands were shaking, an obvious indication of his advanced age affecting him. ¡°Oh, a fairy. I don¡¯t get to see many of your kind in these parts. Are you a traveler perhaps?¡± Puff landed on the old man¡¯s counter in front of him before nodding and extending his hand towards him. ¡°My name is Puff. I was hoping to stock up on some ingredients before leaving on a quest I have with my party.¡± The old man smiled and extended a pinky towards Puff and using it to shake hands with the diminutive creature before him. ¡°My name is Herbert, but I¡¯m sure you already knew that. Now, what can I get for you today?¡±


    Puff thought for a moment before listing off a couple of things he had learned would be both effective and within his budget. ¡°Let¡¯s see, I need some Hogsbane, White lily, and Yupi root. I think Sniffleswart might be useful¡­ oh, do you have any Hushvine leaves? I could probably whip up something interesting with that.¡± ¡°Sure I do. Do you want it fresh, or dried?¡± ¡°I think dried would be good. It shouldn¡¯t affect the potency to much with the way I intend to use it.¡± Herbert busied himself gathering everything that Puff asked for as the list continued to grow. Puff noticed that the shaking in the old man¡¯s hands had all but disappeared as Herbert was a flurry of chopping, grinding, and packaging. The way he carefully handled every ingredient with no mistakes during his work made it seem like he was a completely different person.


    ¡°Hey Herbert, how long have you been doing this kind of work?¡± Herbert didn¡¯t turn around when he answered, but Puff could hear the cheer in his voice. Herbert clearly loved his work. ¡°I¡¯ve run this shop for almost 30 years, but I had been doing work in herblore for 20 years before that.¡± 50 years?! Puff was amazed at the man¡¯s experience before he shook his head. He couldn¡¯t have done this for 50 years, it¡¯s just a game. Still, though, Puff was glad to hear that random shopkeepers had at least preliminary backstories. He doubted players ever bothered with a basic conversation involving the NPC¡¯s all too often. Thinking that, he remembered the news about the update that was coming out in a few days. He thought the NPC¡¯s already behaved realistically. To think that this update would make that even better? Puff was excited about what this change would bring to the table.


    Puff¡¯s thoughts were interrupted when Herbert placed several neatly bundled packages on the counter in front of him. ¡°Adding all that together will bring the total price up to about 2 silver and 28 copper.¡± Puff opened his pouch and pulled out 3 silver coins and placed them in Herbert¡¯s open palm. As soon as Puff was no longer touching the minuscule coins they rapidly grew to normal proportions in Herbert¡¯s hands. ¡°I¡¯ll never get over how magic works around you Fairy folk. It must be convenient to have an object shrink to better fit your size.¡± Herbert placed the silver coins in a hidden drawer under the counter and held out the 72 copper that Puff would receive as change. ¡°Here you go fella, I hope my herbs serve you well.¡± Puff nodded and made a motion to grab the coins from Herbert¡¯s hands. The coins rapidly shrank and flew into Puff¡¯s hand and he quickly stuff them into his coin pouch. ¡°Thank you for your business sir, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be able to put these herbs to good use. Have a nice day!¡± Puff waved goodbye and flew towards the door. He knocked 3 times once again and quickly flew backwards to avoid the door as it swung towards him before flying back out the door to rejoin his friends and begin their quests.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡­¡­


    Far away from this small village, on the other side of a distant mountain range sat another small village. This one populated by denizens of a less human ancestry. Dasii, an Aqua Draconian, was still too young to start her coming of age trial. As much as she looked forward to the event she knew she needed more training before she could be ready. Dasii looked out towards the endless wastes that bordered her home. To have such dangerous landscape right next to where she slept didn¡¯t bother her. After all, it was a way of life for a Draconian. Her race lived to prove their strength every day. To be afraid of a potential danger was shameful.


    ¡°Dasii! Quit daydreaming and finish the laundry. Dinner will be ready soon.¡± Another Aqua dragon, this one an adult, crouched nearby. She had a basket of clothes similar to the one in front of Dasii and was busily dunking the dirty clothing into the river and scrubbing them vigorously on the washboard. ¡°Yes, momma.¡± Dasii resumed her work. She didn¡¯t want to miss out on dinner. Her dad had gone out hunting this morning and should be back soon with dinner. ¡°Hey, momma. When do you think papa will be back? I¡¯m getting hungry.¡± Dasii¡¯s mom smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, he should be back before dark which will be in about an hour. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you catch sight of him in the distance right now.¡± The Draconian hid a knowing smile as her daughter searched the barren landscape.


    Sure enough, Dasii let out an excited shout when she saw the recognizable silhouette of her father walking towards them in the distance. He was fairly easy to notice when he wasn¡¯t hiding since his bright red scales made him stand out in the monotonously dull landscape. As the figure approached vague details became more apparent. The figure was hunched over as if carrying a great weight. Dasii hurriedly finished her basket of laundry so she could be ready to greet her dad by the time he arrived. When she looked up after she finished her work he was a lot closer and was able to make out what her daddy was carrying. ¡°Oh yay! Daddy found a Rockclaw! Can we have Scuttler stew momma? Huh? Can we?¡± Dasii¡¯s mother laughs softly. ¡°Of course dear. Tell your father I¡¯ll be in the house getting things ready for the stew.¡± ¡°Okay, momma! I¡¯ll stay out and help daddy clean the scuttler.¡±


    Dasii¡¯s mother gathers both baskets before making her way back home and Dasii herself waited eagerly for her dad close the distance. Once he got within shouting distance she frantically waved her hands and called out to him. ¡°Hi, papa!¡± She jumped from one foot to the other as her dad waved back and increased his pace to a light jog. He waded through the shallow river as it rose to his waist before he reached his daughter. He dropped the Rockclaw onto the shore and quickly scooped up Dasii in a big hug. ¡°Hello, sweetie. Did you give your mom any trouble today while I was gone?¡± Dasii shook her head no. ¡°Nuh-uh. I was super good! Momma wanted me to tell you she was gonna make Scuttler stew and was getting things ready.¡± Her dad grinned toothily. ¡°SHE told you that, huh? You sure you didn¡¯t make that decision on your own?¡± Dasii pouted a bit. ¡°She didn¡¯t say no. Besides Scuttler stew is super delicious! Who could say no to that?!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true enough I suppose. Alright, let¡¯s get this monster to the house. The sooner we clean it, the sooner your mom can get started on dinner.¡± Daughter happily followed father and one satisfied the curiosity of the other as he extolled his own adventure in the wastelands. The excitement the story brought to Dasii¡¯s eyes brought him to exaggerate things periodically. After all, what father doesn¡¯t want to be the hero in the eyes of their own children?


    ¡°So, there I was in the wastelands! Things were quiet¡­ too quiet. I knew there was something wrong the moment I stepped into the canyon. Bones littered the ground as far as the eye could see. Clearly, there was something worthy of my attention to have claimed so many lives. As I explored deeper into the canyon the only sound that could be heard was my own breathing and the crunching of old bones beneath my clawed feet. Despite how quiet it was though, I knew something was watching me, something dangerous. On pure reflex, I jumped to the side and drew my weapon. There was a huge explosion that happened right where I stood and occupying that space was a claw so massive, it was as big as I was tall. The crab it was attached to was even MORE massive! It was so big it couldn¡¯t fit inside our house!¡±


    ¡°What! No way!¡± ¡°Yes way!¡± ¡°But daddy the Rockclaw you have isn¡¯t that big.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ umm that¡¯s because it¡¯s a uhh minion! Yes! This one is just a lowly minion of the one that ambushed me! The big one was so big I couldn¡¯t possibly carry it, so I took one of its minions instead.¡± ¡°How many little crabs did the momma have?¡± ¡°Umm mama? Umm well, It wasn¡¯t a momma, because I could tell it¡¯s minions weren¡¯t it¡¯s babies.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°Well they looked nothing alike. For a Rockclaw Scuttler to be related they have to look at least a little similar. That¡¯s why I called them minions. I wouldn¡¯t murder over 200 innocent babies.¡± ¡°Ehhhh?! 200?!¡± ¡°Oh yes! They came outta nowhere like an unending tide, but I defeated them all AND the big one.¡± ¡°Did you kill them?¡± ¡°Oh, ye- er I mean No! I didn¡¯t kill them. I gave them all a spanking and put them in time out for trying to hit me.¡± Dasii¡¯s dad readjusted the scuttler on his shoulders. ¡°I grabbed this little guy on my way home because I knew you would be super hungry.¡± ¡°but you said you took one of the minions.¡± ¡°I did? Oh yes, but that was so I could put him in time out with the others¡±


    The two of them had been traveling alongside the river around the edge of the village towards their house and had finally just arrived. ¡°Hey, Dasii, go and fetch me a hammer and chisel from the shed for me please and I¡¯ll get started here.¡± Dasii left and returned a moment later with a heavy looking hammer and a sturdy chisel and her father got to work, setting the chisel against the stonelike carapace of the Rockclaw before pounding the hammer into it. He repeated this action in a circle around the circumference of the entire carapace before there was an audible crack. After setting the tools he used on the ground, Dasii¡¯s father carefully lifted the top half of the carapace and it peeled away neatly. The exposed meat glistened with moisture, a good sign of its quality and taste. The meat was quickly harvested and brought inside the house.


    Once inside, Husband greeted Wife and Wife greeted Husband. ¡°Lily, I¡¯m home! Dasii said you were making Scuttler stew tonight.¡± ¡°Hi, Igneus. I just finished chopping the vegetables and was about to come out and check on you.¡± Before they could continue, there was a faint rumble in the earth and the pottery on the shelves lightly clattered in protest for a few seconds before the vibrations faded away. ¡°What was that daddy?¡± Dasii said in fear. ¡°Don¡¯t worry sweetie, I¡¯ll go take a look. Lilly, stay here and keep an eye on Dasii. That felt like a natural quake but that doesn¡¯t happen often enough around here and it was far to localized for that to be possible. I¡¯ll be back soon. I need to make sure none of the village patrols got caught in a rockslide or something like that.¡± After giving Lily a goodbye kiss Igneus jogged out the door and headed towards the wastelands. Once he crossed the river he picked up the pace. Quickly closing the distance to where the vibrations originated from.


    As he approached he could make out a massive dust cloud rising up in the sky. He quickly refocused his attention back towards the earth. That¡¯s where the risk would be most likely to appear. No sooner had he thought that he was able to make out something approaching him out of the obscuring dust. It was still a few hundred feet away so he slowed to a stop to analyze whatever it was before approaching. As the seconds ticked by and the dust settled down, Igneus was able to make out more and more. Soon he recognized that the figure was moving pretty slowly. Almost as if it was injured. Now that he thought that, Igneus was almost certain it was injured. That slow uneven gait heavily resembled someone limping. Realizing that this person wasn¡¯t a threat he quickly closed the distance to offer whatever help he could.


    As if reacting to his sudden approach, the figure stopped moving and lifted its arms. Igneus was close enough now to clearly make out details and he was stunned by what he saw. When the figure lifted his arms he wielded a large club that seemed to be made of rock, but that wasn¡¯t what had shocked him so much. Before him, stood an Earthen Draconian. Blood was smeared all over his body and the club he held ready to defend himself. Gashes weeping bloody tears were all over him. His eyes were glazed over, barely able to focus through his exhaustion. The only thing keeping him upright was his stubborn pride and determination.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay now, you¡¯re safe. You can relax.¡± Igneus raised his hands carefully in an attempt to calm down the Draconian before him. As if this was some sort of trigger, all the energy drained out of the beaten warrior before him and he collapsed to the ground insensate to the world. Igneus was even more stunned than before. If he thought the warrior''s front was a mess, now Igneus had a clear view of his back and it put everything else to shame. ¡°Are... Are those Skitter claws?! How the hell did you make it through a skitter nest?!¡± Indeed, there were numerous sickle shaped blades broken off all over the fallen Draconian''s body. ¡°He must not have been able to pull out the claws from his back like he did the front.¡±


    Igneus shook his head in an effort to break the stupor he found himself in. ¡°Enough! Someone needs my help and standing here gawking solves nothing!¡± Igneus quickly grabbed the Draconian and with a grunt, heaved him onto his shoulders as if he was wearing a fancy reptilian scarf. With Heavy thudding steps, Igneus jogged back towards the village. ¡°Don¡¯t worry fella, I don¡¯t know you, but we always take care of our own. Especially when they¡¯ve proven themselves as much as you have. We¡¯ll have you all patched up in no time!¡±

 Not a chapter, but an important question.

    There is a large plain room with a single table and two chairs sitting opposite of each other. Seeing nothing better to do, You take a seat in one of the chairs. A few seconds later there is a bright flash of light and when you can see again there are two figures standing in front of you just on the other side of the table. You notice the first figure first because let''s be honest, who wouldn''t notice a giant black cat so massive that its head is bigger than your own torso? It stands on four legs and a pelt so black it seems to swallow the light surrounding it. You notice it has a metal band on its ear with intricate patterns engraved into its polished surface.


    You finally notice the second person, and this time you are sure it is a person. He stands at an average height and looks rather young in a set of wizard robes, pointed hat, and a gnarled wooden staff. The man is far from normal though since he has a long gray beard that is clearly fake from the elastic twine holding the hair somewhat securely to his face.


    The man makes eye contact with you and smiles. "Oh good! You''re here. I didn''t expect you to be here so early."


    The cat absently scratches its ears with one of its hind legs and you hear a voice echoing through the air. It sounds youthful, but at the same time, sonorous and intimidating. Also clearly Male. "I was afraid we would be waiting for a while. I have dungeons to build and magical spells to practice. I am a busy cat after all."


    you are trembling, but it''s not from fear. Quite the opposite in fact. You''re shivering with excitement. "Holy crap! Your Ebony, aren''t you? This is so cool! I''ve always wanted to meet you!"


    Ebony turns to face you before his bored expression abruptly breaks out into a tooth-filled grin. "I''m happy to see my reputation as the main character of the story precedes me. After all, the author can only do so much to enhance my awesomeness. Being stuck inside a dimension all on my own isn''t doing me any favors."


    The young old-looking man had been quiet up until this point but decides to break in at this point. "Hey! What am I, chopped liver? Don''t I get any recognition?" He holds his hands out to the side as if saying ''recognize me now?''.


    You stare at him for long moments. fake beard. cheesy robes. obsessive attention whore... "Nope, not ringing any bells."


    "Hey! Come on! It''s me! Merlin! You know! The guy that watched this giant ass fucking panther maul his party member to death?" The young/old man seemed almost frantic now. Desperate to get the recognition he thought he deserved.


    You think for a moment before realization dawns on you. "Oh! Your that noob that almost pissed his robes when Ebony ripped your friend limb from limb! Wasn''t your name M-three-ruhlin?"


    "Yes! Wait, no! I didn''t piss myself! Also it is spelled M-3-r-l-i-n, but it is pronounced Merlin. Come on. it''s easy! How would you like it if I said your name wrong Mr... um... Hey, What IS your name?"


    You open your mouth to reply but are immediately cut off by Ebony.


    "We didn''t come here to exchange pleasantries. This person was brought here as a representative of the author''s fan base. We need to get on topic here." Ebony stares pointedly at you before continuing. "Recently it has been brought to the author''s attention that our conversations sometimes get a little confusing to the point that it can be a bit difficult to easily identify who the speaker is. A different way of formatting paragraphs was suggested and we are the means of delivering a demonstration of that format to the audience. As confusing as it sounds people have always understood things better when given a demonstration over a simple description."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    M3rlin straightens himself to appear more serious and businesslike, a rather daunting task given his comical outfit. "Ebony is in fact correct. The author thinks that this new format of writing does indeed make identifying a speaker much easier but he felt that making such a big change shouldn''t be done so drastically without getting a better idea of what the fans want."


    You feel a bit stunned that the author would lay such a huge responsibility on your shoulders. "But I''m just one person! why would my opinion matter over anyone else''s?"


    Ebony takes the lead in the conversation once again as he seats himself on the ground. "It is because you are one person that your opinion is so important. Every person''s opinion is important to the author. Maybe he doesn''t have the time he wishes he does to talk with everyone but he pays attention to what they say. It is also important that you vote. The more people that vote on this decision-"


    "The more certain the author is that the poll is an accurate representation of his fan''s general opinion!" M3rlin cuts in. At this point, he had strolled over to the only unoccupied chair and is casually leaning backward in it, precariously balanced on the 2 rear legs of the chair. "I mean seriously you just click a button and vote. Boom! It''s that easy!"


    You decide to ask a pretty important question now that the thought had occurred to you. "But what exactly am I voting on?"


    "You voting on whAAAHH-OOFFFH" M3rlin''s wordsget cut off as Ebony unceremoniously places his paw on the back of M3rlin''s chair and yanks it backward, Spilling M3rlin onto the floor.


    Ebony suppresses a smirk before reapplying the serious expression he had on for most of this conversation. "You will be voting on whether or not the author should change the way he spaces his paragraphs to help readers better comprehend who is speaking during a conversation. This entire conversation is an example of what the new format will look like. If you vote for the change previous chapters will be modified to what you see here and future chapters will continue to look like this. If you vote against the change, things will continue as they have been since the beginning.The poll will be open to voting until Sunday. Beyond that, votes will no longer affect whatever decision is reached."


    You ponder what you should do. Whatever choice you think is the better one, you are sure it would be a good idea to vote. Ebony went to all that trouble of addressing you directly. It is only right that you do the same and helps the author better understand your feelings.


    M3rlin struggles to his feet. "What was that for you dumb cat! I didn''t do anything to you!"


    "You annoyed me."


    "That''s all?!"


    "Do I need any other reason?"


    "Wh- bu- that''s just- How is that- Gaaahhh!!!" M3rlin stutters for a few moments before throwing his arms up in the air before stomping away, the frustration evident in the way his fists were clenched and his shoulders tensed up."


    Ebony looks back at you and answers your unasked question. "Don''t worry about him. He''s just mad because he hasn''t made a proper appearance in the story yet."


    "I deserve to be a super star, not some cowering nobody background character!" M3rlin stands at the opposite end of the tiny room. He wants to stomp away out of sight, but everyone is standing in a small, mostly empty, room. There is literally nowhere to go, and he is feeling really awkward.


    Ebony lets out a world weary sigh. "I believe that is our cue to end this conversation. We are out of time anyways, if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comment section below. I won''t bother answering, but the author would be very happy to.


    Before you can say another word there is a bright flash of light and you find yourself sitting in front of your computer once again. "Shit I guess I better vote then."

 Chapter 23: Troubles aplenty

    I''MBACK BITCHES!!! Got finished with cleaning up after the storm, got power and internet, and myphone is no longer fucked up and unusable! I feel like I had been stuck in a cave for a week and I am now finally out in the sunlight. Of course, it didn''t help things that I got stuck in the new Divinity 2 game. Honestly? The shit is fucking awesome. Whenever I beat the game, I will definitely put some effort into the Campaign creation tool.


    Things might get weird for me in real life in the near future. Work is a bit unstable right now and I don''t know what is going to happen. Things might get hectic and I might not have much time to write, or I might suddenly find myself with a bunch of free time. All I can say is to keep an open mind and Ihope I don''t have to disappoint anyone.


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    Evan opened his eyes as he sat up from his Virtuo pod. His in-game character had finally passed out. Since he was ¡°unconscious¡± there wasn¡¯t really anything he could do anymore leaving him with his only option of logging out. Thankfully, it seemed like someone got to him just in the nick of time so odds were good that he would be alright. He had spent the last 3 days wandering through that damnable wasteland of hell. All he ever encountered were those stupid brown mantis pieces of shit. They were all over the place and he was constantly on the run. That was how he spent his first day. Running like his life depended on it which, in essence, it did.


    He had failed to run into other living creatures. It was like this whole area had been picked clean by these insects. It didn¡¯t really surprise him to find the area¡¯s wildlife extinct. Not only were the mantis bugs dangerous, but they were numerous andquite persistent. Every time they found him, they would shriek like banshees and the noise would bring more of the things straight to him. It took him several hours to realize that he was probably heading towards a nest of some sorts, and that wasn¡¯t until he had practically fallen into the hole of one of their entrances.


    The whole thing was carved out of a massive rock spire, almost like a termite mound and he could see countless amounts of them just inside the tunnels that were visible from where he was standing. There had been a long moment as the two opposing forces watched each other. The mantis bugs were the first to go to action and as one, they all started screaming.


    Evan didn¡¯t want to admit it, but at that particular moment, he might have panicked a teensy little bit. Maybe people might say punching a mantis bug nest hard enough to collapse it was a lot more than just your average moment of adrenaline-fueled panic, but at the time he had been running the entire day and was desperate to get them to stop chasing him for at least a little bit. Not only that, but he was getting a serious headache from all their damned screaming.


    No one told him how they would have reacted. He might have tried to hold back some, maybe just cave in the tunnel or something. How was he supposed to know the damn things would take losing their home so badly? In the end, Evan had come to a reasonable decision. Those mountains weren¡¯t THAT far. He was sure he could run all the way there with no breaks. The whole trip should be a piece of cake. Yup. No problems here. Just running from dozens of scary as fuck mantis monsters. Nothing to see here.


    Evan shivered as he remembered all the close calls he avoided whenever he ran into one of their ambushes or stumbled into a dead end while he weaved his way through the scattered outcroppings and rubble. He had been surrounded on more than one occasion and had taken his own share of hits. Especially to his back. He unconsciously rubbed his back where he remembered the countless bladed limbs that lodged themselves in his own flesh.


    He stopped trying to remove every limb that got stuck when stopping to pull them out would only invite more attacks. Whoever managed to save his sorry ass was gonna have their work cut out for them, that¡¯s for damn sure. In the end, he had used the last of his strength to bury himself and the creepy crawlies that had finally managed to surround him in tons of rock and rubble. He had managed to pull himself free of the wreckage and stagger away from the mess he made before collapsing right in front of someone.


    He couldn¡¯t really see clearly enough to realize who it was but after hearing their assurances, he reminded himself he wasn¡¯t really in a state to do anything about it anyways and had promptly collapsed. Being unconscious in the game was a weird experience for Evan. He had found himself in an empty space. He could walk about but space was limited and there was nothing to do other than log out, which is why he was currently busying himself by making a sandwich.


    There wasn¡¯t much in terms of ingredients, he would have to go do some grocery shopping soon. For now, though, he settled for a classic: Toasted Peanut butter and Jelly! He brought out a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and grape jelly and carefully spread everything on the two slices he pulled from the bag. He popped open the plasma crisper and set the temperature to low for 10 seconds until it was all golden brown and the jam oozed out the sides and- ¡°Shit! I forgot the fucking tray underneath! Damnit!¡±


    Indeed Evan had forgotten to put a tray underneath his sandwich to catch the mess that was made as the peanut butter and the jelly liquified inside the bread. Now he would have to wait for his crisper to cool down before he could clean out the insides. ¡°At least my sandwich is okay.¡± Evan mumbled before taking a bite of his snack. He sat down for an hour or two watching broadcasts on his holovids. He started by checking his favorite channels for any sports teams he liked that might be playing but after not finding anything fun, decided to check the news for anything interesting. Surprisingly, There was indeed something that grabbed his attention.


    ¡°-ecial announcement for Dreamscape Online?¡± ¡°Absolutely! Players of Dreamscape Online! I want to thank you for being so dedicated to supporting what we love and because of this, we decided to release one of our first patches for the game early! In about a week Tetra Game will be releasing patch 1.1 for Dreamscape Online!¡±


    Evan stopped channel surfing when he heard the man mention Dreamscape Online. It seems like he was just in time to catch an interview of some sort between a news reporter and a tall man in a well fitted business suit. The man must have been someone important that worked in Tetra games to be making an announcement on the news. Maybe a spokesman or some sort of representative? Still, a new patch? This soon after the game¡¯s release? Evan paid close attention to the rest of the interview. He hadn¡¯t actually managed to talk with anyone yet, but if the patch would help make their interactions even MORE realistic, then he was all for it. The interview had been a rerun from a day or two ago, but Evan had been spending so much time in the game by himself, that if an asteroid had hit the planet and wiped out half of human civilization, he would be none the wiser.


    He was especially interested in the monster faction. To be honest, he was sorely tempted by the prospect of becoming a monster race. Maybe not a full blown monster though, No telling what he might become if he recreated a new character¡­ or maybe he could choose? Evan wasn¡¯t sure on what the specifics would be if he decided to join the monster faction but the more he thought about it, the more he felt kind of attached to the race he had chosen already. Maybe, if he was presented with the opportunity, he would decide to become a half-breed monster, that way he can at least keep SOME of his racial features.


    The interview came to an end and Evan continued surfing channels on his holo-screen as he idly pondered about what he just saw. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he might wait a little while before logging back into the game. He was almost certain that if his character survived the harrowing journey through that deadly wasteland, then in all likelihood, he was currently being cared for in a village of some sorts. He would be able to log back in within a day or so and be awake but why shouldn¡¯t he wait a few more days for this update to come out?


    Evan didn¡¯t want to be disappointed in his first encounter with actual NPCs, if he were to wait until after the update then he could pretend they were real people. He could forget about his misery in the world. Spending several days in a row fighting for your life did wonders for depression, but that wasn¡¯t something that made him feel better. He wanted contact with other people, but he didn¡¯t want to put up with people constantly reminding him of what he lost with their ¡°condolences¡±. Evan KNEW what he lost, and it hurt. A lot!


    He would wait. Evan was sure he could manage a few days of being alone before he jumped back into the game. Things will be so much simpler once he was able to forget everything that bothered him out here. At least for a little while.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°There you are! Geez, it took you long enough!¡± Tanyargh shouted as Puff flew towards Delric and her. ¡°I hope you got everything you needed because I¡¯m ready to pound some flesh!¡± Tanyargh raised her great axe menacingly to make her point more clear.


    ¡°Whoa there, relax! It took me a few minutes to find the place. I got a bunch of herbs and stuff I can mix together while we travel. I¡¯m sure I can make a couple of simple things before we reach the goblins.¡± Puff seemed nervous but quickly calmed down once he started talking about the good he could do for the group.


    Delric broke into the conversation between the two of them. ¡°How are you going to do that? Don¡¯t you need to be sitting still in order to brew potions and mix ingredients?¡±


    Puff smiled broadly before zipping up to Tanyargh¡¯s shoulders and immediately plopping down. ¡°What are you talking about? I AM sitting down.¡±


    Tanyargh looks even more annoyed. ¡°Oi! I don¡¯t think I want you mixing your damn poisons just a few inches from my face! Find somewhere else to sit!¡±


    Puff waved away Tanyargh¡¯s concerns. ¡°Relaaaax I¡¯m still a low-level alchemist, whatever I mix up is going to be too weak to affect people all that much. Besides, you have a troll¡¯s constitution. Even if it DOES affect you, it¡¯s not gonna kill you.¡±


    Tanyargh¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I want to inhale your damnable poisons! That shit sucks!¡±


    ¡°Suck it up. You¡¯re our tank and you should get used to little things like this, besides, it will help you build a poison resistance which would make you an even MORE effective tank!¡±


    Tanyargh couldn¡¯t deny the truth in Puff¡¯s statement. Besides that, during the entire conversation, Tanyargh had just realized that Puff had already brought out all his tools and ingredients. He was already busily tossing things together as purple smoke and unusual odors filled the air around them. She finally gave up and reluctantly grunted in acceptance.


    ¡°Are you two gonna stand there all day or can we get a move on already? We need to be efficient with our time here and I would much rather gain some levels killing a tribe of goblins.¡± Delric said.


    Wordlessly the trio started their adventure out of the village gates and into the plains where their quests awaited them. Players passed them by, many took notice of Tanyargh¡¯s massive frame. It wasn¡¯t normal to see troll players in the game, especially female trolls. Most people felt like playing as a character that seemed more similar to their actual bodies, such as humans, elves, or even beastkin. Dwarves were fairly popular as well since the race commonly populated fantasy stories. However it was rare to see any of the unusual races being chosen by players, since most people felt uncomfortable trying to get used to different body shapes and sizes.


    Tanyargh didn¡¯t mind the attention though, she played her role as the intimidating brute rather well, occasionally glaring at people that got too close to them. People seemed to move before them like the water breaking before a ship, making travel through the crowded roads of the village much easier. As they approached the small gate, a small group of players was approaching them, entering the village as they left. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The person that was leading the group looked up and noticed Tanyargh immediately. His eyes bugged out and he reflexively took a step backward. ¡°Holy shit! It¡¯s a monster! Guys a monster is attacking the village!¡± The human in full plate immediately pulled his weapon out, a one-handed mace, as he prepared to fight. The guy¡¯s friends looked up and instantly grabbed their weapons and looked around for the supposed monster.


    Tanyargh was stunned for a second until her eyes flashed with recognition whereupon she burst out laughing. ¡°HAHAHAHAHA! D-didn¡¯t you already learn your lesson yet?! Hahaha!¡± Tanyargh doubled over as she continued laughing while Puff and Delric looked back and forth between the two.


    Delric was about to say something before the strange man charged towards Tanyargh, mace raised high and a battle cry roaring from his throat. ¡°May the light smite thee foul beast!¡± He brought his mace down onto Tanyargh¡¯s head only to whiff entirely as his mace smashed into the ground cracking the cobblestone beneath their feet. Before the man could even react Tanyargh had stepped on the mace handle and grabbed his throat. While the mace was pinned to the ground, Tanyargh lifted the man up, Full plate armor and all, in the air until he was inches from her face.


    The paladin wannabe futilely tried to pry Tanyargh¡¯s fingers from his throat, his face turning beet red from the strain and lack of oxygen. A guard standing next to the gate jogged up to the group. ¡°Excuse me miss, I¡¯m going to have to ask you to put him down. We can¡¯t have people killing each other right in front of Duhla¡¯s front gates.¡±


    Tanyargh nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine, but this idiot has already attacked me once before, I won¡¯t kill him, but he needs to learn not to mess with people.¡± Tanyargh turned her attention back to the still struggling idiot who was now just starting to turn a little blue. ¡°Listen here you little shit! I¡¯m not some stupid ass monster you can just beat down for free levels. I¡¯m a player! Got that?!¡± Tanyargh didn¡¯t wait for his reply instead she relaxed her grip and the man flopped bonelessly to the ground, gasping for air.


    The man¡¯s voice was hoarse from his recent strangulation but found a sudden confidence boost now that he thought the law was on his side. ¡°Y--you¡¯ll pay for that you bitch! You¡¯ll regret ever trying t-¡±


    The arrogance was abruptly blown away like dust in the wind when the very same guard slapped him on the back of the head. ¡°Shut up you stupid twit! It¡¯s your own damned fault that this whole mess got started in the first place. Honestly, attacking someone unprovoked right in front of the village guard? You should be thankful I haven¡¯t clapped irons on you yet! I¡¯m still tempted though, so don¡¯t push it.¡±


    The oh-so-aptly-named ¡®stupid twit¡¯ got to his feet. His hands clenched tightly and his face was turning red from his intense rage, but he averted his gaze from the guard and instead directed it towards Tanyargh. He grit his teeth and the air was filled with the silent tension. Everyone readied themselves as it seemed like it might come down to a fight.


    Just before that could happen though a voice rang out, breaking the silence. ¡°Hey Tanyargh, I think he blames you for looking ugly!¡± All eyes focused on the diminutive figure that had been sitting unnoticed on the large troll¡¯s shoulders until now. ¡°I mean, I guess it¡¯s not really his fault your looks could break mirrors, but he WAS the one that started the whole thing.¡± Puff shrugged his shoulders, entirely unfazed by the situation. ¡°Seems kinda silly to get thrown in jail just because you wanted to make the world a prettier place though.¡±


    Delric burst out laughing and Tanyargh tried to frown seriously at Puff but failed miserably as her twitching lips showed major cracks in her stoic demeanor as mirth bubbled inside her. ¡°Shut it you stupid glow stick. I¡¯m happy with the way I look thank you very much!¡±


    By now a crowd had gathered around the area and it was obvious that many people had heard their words as sporadic laughter rang all around them. The man, now even more humiliated, could do nothing but fume impotently as the whole situation slipped from his control. Left with no other option, he gathered what little remained of his dignity and stomped into the village, giving Tanyargh a wide berth.


    Delric let out a sigh of relief and decided to refocus his two distracted friends back onto the task at hand. ¡°Alright guys, the show¡¯s over so let¡¯s get questing. Those mobs aren¡¯t gonna grind themselves!¡±


    As one, Puff and Tanyargh gave Delric a mocking salute. ¡°Sir, yes Sir!¡± and they resumed their march out of the village down the road that led into the plains. The two that had traveled with the upstart paladin apologized for the behavior of their party member and assured Tanyargh they had no problems with her. The two adventurer¡¯s let out relieved sighs when all was forgiven. No one wanted to be associated with such an obvious asshole lest he ruins their reputation with other players.


    ¡­¡­


    Tanyargh, Delric, and Puff warily approached the part of the road that was said to be plagued with goblin attacks. Goblins were relatively easy to fight normally, but the problem was when goblins decided to go on the offensive. When they attacked, they always did so with overwhelming numbers. Currently, the plan was to hunt down any scouting parties or small patrol groups that wandered far from the village.


    What made them cautious was the fear of possibly running into a group of goblins out for blood. A small party like the three of them would be easily overwhelmed if they didn¡¯t stay on their toes. So far things were going well, with Puff ranging out to check their surroundings for goblin tracks. Once located, the group would follow them and perform their pest controlling duties. They needed about 20 goblin ears and each group they encountered usually had about three to six goblins so things had been going smoothly other than a goblin or two that had run the moment a fight started.


    In the meantime, Puff had been steadily picking the pepperwind weeds needed for the gathering quest. Surprisingly the plants were fairly abundant in the region and it wasn¡¯t long before they were able to meet the quota required by the quest, so Puff started experimenting with the excess weeds while riding on Tanyargh¡¯s shoulders. They were currently walking down the road on the way back to the village. They hadn¡¯t quite managed to kill enough goblins yet but they all agreed they would likely encounter a group or two on the way back to finish up the quest. Delric decided to take up Puff¡¯s role of scout so Puff could practice his alchemy and try out various experiments he had been planning.


    Tanyargh wasn¡¯t very happy about the arrangement because those experiments were taking place right on her shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t go blowing my arm off now! I may be able to grow it back but it isn¡¯t exactly comfortable losing a limb.¡±


    Puff Ignored her concern as he focused on the task at hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯m sure things will be fine.¡± Currently, Puff had what looked to be some sort of nut shell in his hand that he was carefully drilling a hole into. ¡°It¡¯s only a burst bean, not a nuclear bom-¡± At that moment the drill he was using made it through the shell. The sudden lack of resistance surprised Puff and he jerked involuntarily causing the drill to twist and crack the delicate shell in his hand.


    In the next instant, there was a violent pop and Tanyargh jerked her head to look at Puff. Instead of seeing the fairy-like she expected, Tanyargh was greeted by a creature with the lower body of a fairy, and an upper torso covered in sticky pink seed-filled pulp. Puff broke the long silence with his next words of wisdom. ¡°Huh, so THAT¡¯S why it¡¯s called a burst bean.¡±


    After 2 hours of walking, and 4 more failed attempts of working with burst beans, Puff finally managed to drill through the outer shell. He tensed, waiting for the inevitable explosion, and sighed with relief when none was forthcoming and examined his handy work. ¡°Sweet! I knew it was possible! Now I just need to extract the pulp and I¡¯ve got the perfect container for my first prototype handmade bombs!¡±


    Tanyargh looked at him with disbelief. ¡°Really? There is no way that little seed pod will pack enough punch to knock a bunny on its ass, let alone any normal monsters. Just admit all that work was for nothing.¡±


    Puff shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going for explosive potential here. These pods explode in order to spread their seeds. Imagine what it would be like if I hollowed these baby¡¯s out and filled them with poisons? I can¡¯t put poison in normal explosives, the intense heat and pressure would burn up most poisons or at least render them almost useless. With this, I could use just about anything I can fit in it.¡±


    Tanyargh furrowed her brow for a moment. ¡°Actually, when you phrase it like that, it IS pretty useful. What do you plan on putting in it though? I didn¡¯t see you find that many different plants yet, and you only managed to find one bush with those burst beans.¡±


    Puff opened his bag and started rifling through his things, and smiled as he pulled out one of the many pepperwind weeds. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure I can think of a few things.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Several miles away, at a nearby goblin village, a lone goblin was running towards the gates as if wolves were at his heels. If the goblins standing guard at the gates were to judge by the lone goblin¡¯s terror-stricken face, that just might be the case.


    When the frightened goblin got within hailing distance, the bigger of the two goblin guards puffed out his chest and stood at attention. ¡°Halt! In name of Chief Rug Lug, uhh you say who you are and why you run!¡±


    The lone goblin came to a stop and took in great heaving lungfuls of air. ¡°My name be Yak Yak! I need speak to chieftain! Big trouble! Big trouble!¡±


    The guard looks a little nervous now at the news. ¡°How much big trouble?¡±


    Yak Yak held his hands out to the side as wide as he could stretch his arms. ¡°This much!¡±


    Beads of sweat start to form on his brow. ¡°How m-many big trouble?¡± He stammers.


    Yak Yak has an intense look of concentration as he struggles to work out the answer. He holds all ten of his long bony fingers. ¡°This many!¡±


    Now the guard starts to shake in his boots. He never heard of that much big trouble in his short life, it must be serious! ¡°G-go! Hurry! Chieftain must hear!¡±


    Yak Yak rushes through the gates towards the center of the village. When he gets there, he rushes straight up to a hut larger than the others, and decorated in a number of skulls and bones of various creatures. A wolf¡¯s skull hangs menacingly over the doorway. Two more guards stand on either side, one absentmindedly picking his nose. ¡°What you want? Chieftain don¡¯t like being bothered!¡±


    Yak Yak stomps his feet and stands at attention in the crude goblin equivalent of a salute. ¡°I Yak Yak. Have super important message to give to Chieftain!¡± The guard opened his mouth to shoo him away when a crude boorish voice sounded out from within the building. ¡°Let him enter!¡±


    As Yak Yak entered the hut, a wide heavyset goblin sat on a pile of furs and bits of armor. To most people, this would just seem like a random pile of junk and shiny baubles padded with poorly skinned furs and coats, but to any goblin from this tribe setting foot inside, it was the most glorious of thrones. To say otherwise would be incomprehensible.


    Yak Yak threw himself prostrate onto the dirt before the Chieftain who in turn remained silent, waiting for the goblin to make its report. ¡°Great Chief Rug Lug the Mighty! I bring news of big trouble. I afraid tribe might be in trouble, I go scout road like ordered. Entire group killed by many adventurers! I only one that survive. One was like ghosty man! First he there, than he gone. He poke with pointy stick and hurt us! Then there big mountain lady! She smash us before we know what happening! When we tried fight back, there was magic light thing that blind us and make skin burn! I knew they dangerous and wanted to warn mighty Chieftain! I barely escape and run here quick quick!


    There was a long uncomfortable silence as Chief Rug Lug pondered over Yak Yak¡¯s words as he remained on the ground. ¡°So, you run and leave goblins to die. You run from a man, a big lady, and a magic light?¡± As he spoke Rug Lug¡¯s words sounded more and more furious.


    Yak Yak suddenly realized that he was in trouble and might be killed if he didn¡¯t do anything. Thinking quickly, He decided to try to redirect his Chieftain¡¯s anger away from him. ¡°But Mighty Chieftain they insulted you! They no give honor when they hear your name! I knew you be mad if they escape after saying bad things, so I tell you!¡±


    ¡°What they say!¡± Chief Rug Lug immediately focused on the more obvious reason for aggression and forgot about why he had been mad in the first place.


    ¡°I no want to say! It really bad and no want insult Chieftain¡±


    ¡°Tell me! I know they say it and not you. I smart Chieftain!¡±


    Yak Yak was smiling on the inside. Not only was he not about to die, but he had the chance to insult his Chieftain to his face and get away with it. Yak Yak immediately thought of the absolute worst thing he could call his Chieftain. ¡°T-they say you pretty! They say you a pretty man!¡±


    The goblin guards standing outside suddenly heard a roar of rage come from inside. Before they could enter, Chief Rug Lug came rushing out. ¡°Gather our warriors! We hunt adventurers that dare insult me!¡± As the Chieftain Stomped away rousing the tribe for battle, the two guards wondered why Yak Yak hadn¡¯t come out yet and peeked inside the hut¡¯s door. They were greeted by a goblinoid corpse, its head completely crushed.

 Chapter 24: The Battle of Bloody Thistles

    As Tanyargh, Puff, and Delric walked on the road through the plains back towards the village, the three couldn¡¯t help but feel a little nervous at how quiet things got. Tanyargh fidgeted with the haft of her axe as her eyes wandered over the surrounding landscape. ¡°I don¡¯t like this guys, we should have run into at least a few patrols. I haven¡¯t even seen any local wildlife lately, much less a single goblin.¡±


    Puff looked up from his work. He seemed much more relaxed than his two friends, busy crafting to his heart¡¯s content. ¡°I don¡¯t see the problem. I¡¯m sure we can find two more goblins to finish out the quest. They are always popping up, like weeds in a garden. It¡¯s only a matter of time.¡±


    Delric strode beside Tanyargh, having come back from yet another unsuccessful tour of the surrounding landscape. ¡°I don¡¯t know Puff, it¡¯s like the goblins just up and vanished. I think they might be up to something.¡±


    Tanyargh¡¯s hands clenched tightly on her axe. ¡°You think they are getting ready for a raid? I don¡¯t remember seeing any caravans passing by or anything, why would they be getting ready?¡±


    Puff, without even putting any thought to the response, casually said ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about them, but if I was a bunch of savage goblins I would attack us.¡±


    In unison, Tanyargh and Delric came to a stop. Surprised by the sudden lack of motion Puff lost his concentration and nearly spilled the latest concoction he had been working on. ¡°Whoa! Careful there! This is probably some of the most potent mixture I¡¯ve made so far. I don¡¯t wanna waste any of it.¡±


    Tanyargh stared down at Delric. ¡°That would make a lot of sense. Do you think they might be preparing an ambush? How could they even learn about us so quickly? We killed off any goblins we came across.¡±


    Delric shook his head. I don¡¯t know if that might be what¡¯s going on, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to prepare for such an eventuality. We might have missed a goblin patrol or two and they had run away and reported instead of straight up attacking us. It could also have been one of the two goblins that got away when we were on the attack. Either way, I would rather be safe than sorry, Let¡¯s hurry up and find a place to set up a base to defend. We can take whatever time we have to prepare traps for them while we wait.¡±


    Tanyargh resumed walking and Puff returned to his alchemy work. After a moment¡¯s silence, Puff spoke up again. ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t we just book it for the village? It¡¯s not like it is too far. We might make it if we were to run for it now.¡±


    Tanyargh spoke up before Delric could reply, ¡°We could, but that isn¡¯t a guarantee. The area around us has been quiet for a long time now. For all we know, the goblins might already be watching us and have an ambush set up ahead of us. If we continued walking we might move right into an ambush they had set up ahead of time. Better to meet them in a place of our own choosing.¡±


    Puff nodded in understanding ¡°That makes sense I guess, So what did you have in mind? It¡¯s not like there are a lot of places you can defend against a horde of monsters coming at you from all directions in these plains.¡±


    Delric glances at Puff before returning his gaze to the surrounding landscape. ¡°Well, I was kind of hoping you might know somewhere. You were scouting this place on our way out here, didn¡¯t you ever see anything defensible? Any place that kind of stuck out in your mind?¡±


    Puff shook his head. ¡°Not really, it¡¯s all pretty much as you see right now. The only thing that changes the monotony are herbs and the occasional blood thistle patches¡­ Wait! That¡¯s it!¡±


    Tanyargh winces when Puff shouted. ¡°How about you tell us instead of blowing out my eardrums, huh?¡±


    Puff nods while blushing slightly at his sudden outburst. ¡°Sorry, umm well as I was saying you can find a lot of herbs and shrubs out here but not much else. What I got excited about was I remembered there is a place not too far from here, probably another two or three miles? There is a rather steep hill that has a HUGE blood thistle patch covering almost the entire thing.¡±


    Puff¡¯s wings were twitching more and more as his excitement grew. ¡°If we have enough time when we get there, Tanyargh can carry Delric through the stuff until we clean out enough for him to stand in. Then, we can all work together to set traps and prepare the area by clearing off the top of the hill and maybe make an area we can fight in.¡±


    Delric looked a little skeptical at the idea. ¡°How are a bunch of weeds enough to stop an attacking horde of goblins? What would stop them from just charging straight through it all?¡±


    Puff¡¯s smile grew even wider. ¡°They very act of them charging is what will stop them. Blood thistle is a very devious plant. It isn¡¯t so much a bush with branches, but more like a bundle of vines supporting each other.¡±


    Puff rubbed his hands deviously. ¡°They are covered in so many thorns that if one were to wade through a patch you would be sure to get more than just a few scratches. The vines stretch instead of simply resisting and the thorns work like the teeth on a saw¡¯s blade. A horde of goblins charging unthinkingly into a mass of blood thistle wouldn¡¯t feel good about continuing their charge after the first dozen feet. The patch I¡¯m thinking of is about four times thicker than that at it¡¯s thinnest point, and they have to run uphill through all that mess.¡±


    Tanyargh shivered at the description. ¡°Why does such a nasty plant need to grow like that?¡±


    Puff shrugged nonchalantly. ¡°The plants like blood. That¡¯s where their name comes from. It cuts away at anything that wanders into it. The more blood it gets covered in, the more it can grow. It makes fruit that actually taste pretty good to tempt animals in. The outer edges of patches are usually picked clean until an animal would be forced to wade in deeper and deeper if it wanted more.¡±


    Delric spoke up next. ¡°I had heard stories of animal carcasses being found in the middle of blood thistle patches. I had assumed the plants grew around dead things but I guess it¡¯s the other way around. Some animals find the fruit too tempting to resist and end up bleeding to death even as they ate their fill.¡±


    Tanyargh started looked a little pale. ¡°And you want me to walk through that shit?! While carrying Delric?!¡±


    Puff rolled his eyes at her complaints. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not the one with trollish regeneration. Just try not to drag your feet to much and you should be okay.¡±


    Tanyargh simply gave a grunt of discontent. Sometimes she almost regretted becoming the troll tank of the party.


    ¡­¡­


    The trio soon arrived at their destination, moving up and over hills as the landscape stretched onwards in undulating waves of grassy hills. Unfortunately as they moved, their worst fears had been confirmed. Tanyargh¡¯s tall form gave her a height advantage each time they had crested a hill and once or twice she had been able to spot a lone goblin in the distance, it was clearly able to see them. For some reason though, it never approached preferring to keep its distance as the goblin observed them.


    Delric prevented Tanyargh from leaving when she had suggested they kill all of them. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t do us any good. Right now, the biggest advantage we could have is the time to prepare. Going after every goblin we see wouldn¡¯t prevent the main force from finding us, the odds are high we might miss a few of them and all they would need is a single goblin scout to keep an eye on us.¡±


    Puff flew back towards them from over a hill in front of them. ¡°I found it! It¡¯s just ahead, over this next hill. We need to hurry though I saw a few of the scouts pulling back. I think they went to report to their Chieftain. It won¡¯t be much longer before they attack.¡±


    ¡°Whoa, that is a lot of blood thistle!¡± Tanyargh gaped. Indeed the hill before them was so overgrown with the vicious plant that it consistently grew as tall as Delric¡¯s thighs. Tanyargh blanched as realization struck her. ¡°Holy shit! I have to climb through THAT?!¡±


    Puff nodded, not even the slightest bit concerned for Tanyargh. ¡°Of course. I can just fly over it all, but Delric here will be pretty helpless.¡±


    Delric hesitantly agreed with the sentiment. ¡°Sorry Tanyargh, but Puff is right. You are the only one who can easily recover once we make it through. Also, you are the only person with a weapon that can clear the thistles at the top once we reach it. I only have this rapier which is a little bit light to easily cut through the vines.¡±


    ¡°Ahh damnit! Why do you guys have to be so fucking right all the time!¡± Tanyargh groaned. ¡°Fine! Get the fuck on my back you little shit and hold on! If you fall off, I¡¯m not coming back for you! This is gonna suuuuuuuuck!¡±


    Tanyargh waded through the overgrowth. She high stepped with some success, managing to keep the vines from tripping her up, but she still came out bloodier than she wanted, even with her tougher troll hide.


    Tanyargh made large and powerful swings of her great axe as she cleared the crest of the hill. Meanwhile Delric did his best to hold on to her back as he was flung around like a ragdoll every time Tanyargh¡¯s heavy frame rocked from side to side with each movement she made.


    Soon though, Enough of the hill had been cut back to allow them to stand on their own feet and not be in the way. The ground was littered with broken thorn-covered vines but thankfully thick soles were enough to prevent more pain. No sooner had they finished their task than they heard the goblinoid screeches of the horde they had been expecting.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Delric cursed. ¡°We didn¡¯t have time to try to set up traps.¡±


    Puff shrugged. ¡°Nothing we can do about it now. I can pretty much do what I want up here since I¡¯m able to fly, but you guys are kinda screwed without ranged weapons. All you can do is sit down and wait for the enemy to near you.¡±


    Delric nodded while Tanyargh grimaced. ¡°Nothing I can do about it.¡± She said, ¡°If those goblins get close enough though, I¡¯ll make damn sure they will regret it.¡±


    Puff smiled widely. ¡°This is where I get to show off than. My weapons aren¡¯t really potent enough to kill people all the efficiently, but what I CAN do is piss them off enough to make them change their mind.


    Delric absentmindedly rubs his chin in thought. ¡°Actually Puff, I don¡¯t know if that is such a good idea, you might wind up wasting ammo more than stopping them. How about this though. Let¡¯s settle on what direction would be best to let goblins approach from and Puff, you do what ever you can to slow down or stop any goblins that approach from any other direction.¡±


    Tanyargh smiled grimly. ¡°I like that plan, as they approach, we limit the numbers of them that reach us at the same time and allow us to have the time to cut them down one by one.¡±


    Delric eyed the massive horde of goblins as they neared the base of the hill. ¡°I don¡¯t know about one by one, maybe five by five or ten by ten? There are a lot of those things and they look pretty worked up.¡±


    As the two enemies stared eachother down a goblin, bigger and beefier than any of the others, waded through the small army towards the front. ¡°You! Give up now, and I promise you, death be long and painful!¡±


    Puff floated upwards and called out to them. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it be ¡®surrender now and your death¡¯s will be quick and painless¡¯?¡±


    The big goblin stomped the ground. ¡°No! You call me pretty! This big insult! My tribe smash you to bits!¡±


    Puff seemed to smile in such a way that his two companions knew that whatever Puff was about to say, the goblins would NOT like it. ¡°Oh, but you¡¯re more than just pretty! You have a beauty so dazzling it could capture the eyes of any guy you want! I bet you just love to let others boss you around at night!¡±


    Puff wasn¡¯t exactly happy with his insult, but he had to simplify everything enough for the dimwitted goblins to know what he meant. Judging by their reactions, Puff would have to say it was fairly effective.


    ¡°GAAAAAAHH! KILL! KILL THEM NOW! KILL THEM DEAD!¡± The large goblin threw a rage fueled tantrum right there on the spot as his horde charged past him straight into the blood thistle. Screams filled the air as every goblin was filled with instant regret about their hasty decision.


    As the front runners slowed down the goblins running behind ran around them to get to their prey more quickly, only to be filled with regrets of their own as they too reached the blood thistle. Meanwhile, the big goblin now apparently the leader continued to urge his minions forward, blind to their suffering.


    In less than a minute, half the hill was surrounded with goblins screeching in agony desperately trying to back out of the thorny embraces only to be trampled as the impatient goblin climbed over their fellow goblins in a rush to close in on the enemy that dared insult their chieftain.


    The three friends might have found the absurd stupidity of the goblins humorous if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that despite how much the goblins were screaming, they were still getting closer as they climbed over their fallen comrades to close the distance.


    Tanyargh stood tall and readied her weapon as Delric did the same. ¡°Puff, I think it¡¯s about time you started doing your thing.¡±


    Puff snapped out of his daze. ¡°Right, I¡¯ll do my best to slow down the left and right flanks. Don¡¯t let a bunch of goblins do you in.¡± Puff flitted off to take care his task, leaving Tanyargh and Delric to wait for the enemy¡¯s approach.


    Delric marveled at how the goblins crawled over their howling comrades without a care. The small monsters were brilliant in their own stupidity using each other as a bridge to close the distance. He glanced at the blood thistle surrounding him. ¡°Now matter how this fight plays out, the true winner is going to be this blood thistle patch. There won¡¯t be any shortage of blood for a long time.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Tanyargh tensed her muscles. ¡°Yea, but there will be plenty of time to think about that shit later. We got goblins to slay.¡±


    Tanyargh raised her axe as the first goblin approached her and brought it down on it¡¯s head with a meaty thunk as she took the first life of the day.


    Puff flitted frantically about the battlefield. Now was the first time he would get a chance to test his new toys he had been working on. With so many goblins, he would have no shortage of test subjects.


    Puff didn¡¯t realize, but he had a manic grin etched on his face as he readied his new wrist mounted hybridized slingshot/ballista launcher. He needed to come up with a better name for it, but there would be time for that later. Cranking back the cradle until it locked into place, he loaded the first of his many experimental ammo types. The first one he had made. It looked innocuous enough as a simple spherical seed pod the size of his palm. He had made it by carefully hollowing out a burst bean pod and filling it with leaves from pepperwind weeds he had grinded into a very fine powder.


    He flexed his wrist and pinky and his arm kicked back slightly as it launched the projectile. The instant the object left the weapon and Puff¡¯s own magical influence it expanded to its natural size of about three inches in diameter before impacting right in the face of a goblin in the thick of a wriggling horde. The pod exploded on impact dispersing its payload in a 3 meter radius.


    While the nearby goblins coughed and wheezed their lungs out as the fiery irritant got in their eyes and were sucked into their lungs the original recipient of the impact wasn¡¯t nearly as lucky. He violently thrashed on the ground clawing at his throat as his eyes dripped blood. He died within the next minute, but Puff never stuck around to watch the end results, he still had plenty of goblins and plenty of experiments to play¡­ uh test.


    Next, Puff pulled out a similar looking bean pod and loaded it into the cradle. He launched it at another group of goblins and the pod burst open, releasing a noxious cloud of green gas. The goblins caught in the blast radius immediately stopped what they were doing and instead started dry heaving. Oh wait, they aren¡¯t dry heaving any more. Puff turned in disgust as the unfortunate goblins started vomiting blood before finally collapsing in their own mess.


    Puff shivered. ¡°I didn¡¯t think these concoctions would be so effective.¡± Puff pushed the emotions to the side. As effective as his alchemical experiments are, they did little to slow the majority of the charging goblins. Puff watched as the first few goblins were just starting to reach Delric and Tanyargh. Tanyargh brought her great axe crashing down on the first goblin¡¯s head and blood erupted into the air. ¡°Come on then you worthless sacks of shit! Bring it on!!!¡± She shouted.


    Puff brought out another burst bean filled with crushed smoky damson. He had to be careful while grinding this particular weed because it burned easily with any excess friction. The difference being this plant made ludicrous amounts of smoke for the amount of it that burned. He pretty much broke the pieces by hand instead of grinding it with mortar and pestle.


    Puff aimed a little bit in front of his two friends and fired. The pod went sailing through the air and halfway through its destination, smoke started pouring from the tiny hole he had drilled into the pod having blown out the wax plug in the hole from the pressure the weed built up while burning up inside. Before it even reached the target, the pod finally exploded and scattered its contents over a dozen feet as everything continued burning and piling on the smoke.


    Puff winced. It wasn¡¯t supposed to explode in the air like that. He supposed a bean burst pod was too fragile to handle too much pressure like that. It ended up working out pretty well instead covering a larger area in smoke than he had intended, but he would have to work on the design a bit more if he wanted to make any long range shots with that ammo.


    Puff had one more piece of ammo to test out and eyed the horde of goblins for a suitable target. His eyes landed on the obvious leader of the whole horde as he stomped and raved in anger, urging his dimwitted minions forward to their deaths. Puff smiled. ¡°Perfect.¡± Currently he was flying directly over the center of the horde with impunity. None of them had bows, and none could use magic, what could they do to little old him.


    Puff readied his last ammo type. He had only been able to make one of this last one. He had found a patch of spine grass about a few hours earlier. Those alone made excellent arrow shafts or similar, but he had also found a small number of flame spittle plants. This plant in particular made Puff very excited because of its unusual characteristics. The pod containing the seeds was filled with a special powder. While it was wet, the powder was completely inert, behaving more like a glue than its true purpose and holding all the seeds together.


    Once the seeds were ready to be spread however, that all changed. The powder would dry out and gained the potential to combust in a burst of flames. The way the pods were designed focused the flames away from the plant along with the seeds contained in the pod, giving it the appearance it was spitting fire. The explosion was triggered when the powder was exposed to intense wind pressure. In other words the strong winds that were usually a precursor to powerful storms out on these plains. It was a rather beautiful sight to watch a patch of flame spittles right before a storm.


    Puff had gathered as much powder as he could from the few plants he found and drilled holes into one of the blades of spike grass before filling it with the powder. It was barely enough to allow him to make this single shot. Puff had decided to call it a spike bomb. He took aim at the chieftain and fired.


    The spike went sailing through the air as it left behind a fine powder trail. The wind blowing over the holes he had drilled made a screaming sound before the spike finally impacted into the chest of the large goblin. The goblin in question stared down at the spike sticking from the only piece of leather armor he wore before looking up and laughing into the air. ¡°HA! Is that all you got?!¡±


    Puff was disappointed for a split second before the powder trail that started right in front of him suddenly ignited. In the next instant, a trail of gravity defying explosions traveled through the air along the powder trail the little spike left behind it. Puff had enough time to watch as the goblin¡¯s face morphed from triumph to dumbfounded shock as the explosions finally reached its target, the payload of powder still inside the spike grass. With a sudden Boom the goblin was sent flying back off his feet.


    Puff¡¯s heart sank as he watched the goblin slowly stand back up on shaky limbs, a little singed but none the worse for wear. ¡°Guess it was to much too hope that the explosion could kill him. Still I guess it¡¯s nice to know that the things got a hell of a kick.¡± Having tested everything he had Puff reached into his bag and started pulling out more of the ammo he had made. Whether it¡¯s sneezing vomiting or blind, every goblin Puff incapacitated was one less goblin that would harass his friends on the ground.


    ¡­¡­


    Delric periodically glanced up as Puff flew around the hill throwing his little balls of chaos into the mix from time to time. Most of his attention however was focused on the fight before him. Tanyargh was constantly in motion, every swing sending a goblin or three sailing off to Hell¡¯s gates. Delric mostly hung back, darting in every few seconds to spike a goblin in the throat with his rapier when they charged in between Tanyargh¡¯s swings.


    Periodically Tanyargh would have to Drop her axe and grab handfuls of goblin corpses and throw them over the edge into the goblin horde before her lest the corpses pile so high it starts to limit the amount of ground the two of them had to fight on.


    Delric smiled wryly. ¡°Hey, Tanyargh. You think we met our goblin slaying quota yet?¡±


    ¡°Ha! We better get a damn bonus for this shit! No one told us to wipe out the whole damned tribe!¡± Tanyargh grinned with gritted teeth. Her face and body was covered in more and more gore as the battle progressed. ¡°I don¡¯t know about you, but I would look forward to a hot bath after this mess!¡±


    Delric grunted in acknowledgement. ¡°How are you holding up? I could take over for a little while although you would still need to throw the corpses off. I could lift them but It would take me too long.¡±


    Tanyargh roared as her axe cleaved through a group of four that had made the mistake of all cresting the hill at the same time. ¡°I¡¯m okay for a little bit. I still have about 45% of my stamina! I¡¯d say I got another 7 minutes or so in me at this rate.¡±


    Delric lunged forward and parried a goblin thrusting its dagger into Tanyargh¡¯s calf before smoothly swinging his sword and giving the goblin a new mouth to smile with in it¡¯s neck. ¡°I think we should switch when you drop down to 20%. It would be bad if I were getting overwhelmed and you were too tired to intervene.¡±


    Tanyargh brought her axe back and swung it around like a golf club and impacting a charging goblin with the flat of the blade. The goblin went sailing a good ten feet over the edge before dropping flopping down the hill like a broken doll. ¡°Whoo! This is fun! Sure Delric, I can do that. I¡¯ve already killed over 30 of the damn things. Would be a shame to take ¡®em all from you, how many you get anyways?¡±


    Delric frowned a bit. ¡°I only killed 10 or 11. I¡¯ve been saving my stamina, I¡¯m still around 90% so I¡¯ll be good for a while.¡±


    The two companions continued to grind away at the charging horde until a chain of fire erupted through the air, heading towards the goblin leader that, until now, had been encouraging his little army from the back like a ¡®true leader¡¯ would. The line of fire reached the goblin leader and everyone present watched as the leader was blown off his feet.


    A long moment of silence hung in the air before the leader stood up on his feet again, a little woozy, but still alive. As one, the horde turned to face the two still fighting on top of the hill. The mindless aggression that had been there before was gone. In its place the goblins had a look of pure hatred.


    Tanyargh looked a bit nervous. ¡°Umm, why does it look like they are blaming us?¡±


    Delric answered, sounding just as nervous. ¡°Because I think they are.¡±


    As if the goblins had a perfect sense of dramatic timing, they all chose that moment to scream in unison and charged once more. In their rage, they ignored the thistles as the plant cut them to ribbons. Sadly for the goblins charging recklessly through a plant designed to hurt you as you struggled.


    As the goblins reached Tanyargh and Delric, they were already half delirious with anger and weak from blood loss, making their deaths all but inevitable. The lead goblin was slowly regaining his senses from the explosion and it took him a minute to understand what he was seeing. He had brought a mighty army of scores of goblins and he could only watch as they threw their lives away.


    ¡°No! Stop it! Come back!¡± He cried out, but lost in their own world the goblins could not hear his words over their own screaming. The very act of ignoring his own orders sent the goblin chieftain into a frenzy and, just like any other goblin, the chieftain blamed all his problems on the enemies in front of him and charged headlong into the blood thistles towards the enemy.


    Puff saw the charging chieftain and decided to get some shots of his own off first, shooting him first with a pepper bomb and then a bile bomb. Before he knew what hit him, the Chieftain started crying tears of blood and vomiting up his own breakfast after having taken both shots directly to the face.


    ¡°Yes! Bullseye! Take THAT ¡®pretty boy¡¯!¡± Puff taunted. He flew back towards his teammates and updated them on the situation as they almost casually slew the goblins crawling up in bloodied heaps. ¡°Alright, the Chieftain is finally jumping into the fray. I stopped him momentarily with a couple shots but I imagine he is probably a bit tougher than the other goblins. He should be up here soon.¡±


    Tanyargh was hanging back and recovering her stamina while Delric darted left and right as the goblins breached the thistle, like some twisted version of whack-a-mole. ¡°Sounds good then.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯m just taking a break while Delric has a little bit of fun. I¡¯ll jump in when the little toad makes his appearance.¡±


    Another few minutes of battling passed by and as the goblins were finally just starting to thin out, the leader finally made his appearance. He had shown up so suddenly as Puff was relaxing on Tanyargh¡¯s shoulders that he had caught the trio off guard.


    Delric jumped back as the large goblin swung his club in a mighty overhead strike, barely missing him as it impacted the ground with a solid thud. The goblin lifted his club and made a wide horizontal swing. ¡°You filthy human-friends! I crush your bones and drink your marrow! I boil your brains into stew! I skin your hide and add it to my throne!¡±


    With each insult the goblin swung his club wildly, forcing Delric back step by step, until finally Tanyargh stepped up and almost casually swung her axe. ¡°Shut up!¡± She shouted as her axe hewed through the goblin¡¯s neck and neatly decapitated him.


    As the former chieftain¡¯s body collapsed to the ground the remaining goblins seemed to snap out of their frenzy like someone had flipped a switch. The looks of shock and horror quickly changed to ones of fear. Tanyargh took one step forward and as one the remaining two dozen or so remaining goblins booked it for safety.


    Tumbling down the hill was surprisingly much easier than climbing up since you weren¡¯t dragging limbs through the undergrowth and instead rolled over it. A few goblins broke limbs on the way down but fellow goblins were surprisingly supportive, helping their fallen comrades as they checked behind them to make sure they weren¡¯t being followed.


    ¡°Huh.¡± Tanyargh said, I guess that¡¯s one way to control the goblin population.


    Congratulations! Your party has performed a legendary action!


    Tanyargh, Delric, and Puff stood their ground against an army containing 273 goblins and one Goblin Chieftain, slaying all but 27 goblins. Would you like to announce your achievement to the world?


    The group looked at each other. Puff laughed ¡°Sweet! I¡¯m all in for this if you guys are!¡± Tanyargh and Delric both nodded as well.


    Please name the battle you have fought in¡­


    Puff immediately chimed in ¡°The battle of bloody thistles!¡±


    Tanyargh immediately got mad. ¡°That is utter horse¡­¡± She hesitated a bit. ¡°Actually that¡¯s pretty good. Does that sound good Delric?¡± After another nod the system chimed again this time for the whole world to hear.


    Attention! The players Tanyargh, Delric, and Puff have obtained victory against overwhelming odds! Due to their heroics the battle has been named in their honor. Visit your local library or lore specialist to learn the story behind ¡®The Battle of Bloody Thistles!¡¯


    The three cheered after reading the announcement. None of them expected to ever be part of a world announcement, yet here they were.


    As always, the one that was quickest to bring them back down to earth was Delric. ¡°Alright guys let¡¯s loot the bodies. Those goblin ears aren¡¯t going to cut themselves.¡±


    Tanyargh and Puff groaned in unison. This was going to be a long day.


    ¡­¡­


    The adventurers guild. A place where people of all sorts came to solve problems for gold. Most quests of common difficulty were posted on the quest board outside the building to avoid having too many people inside at once just ¡®window shopping¡¯ for quests. However, a clerk was still posted at a counter to handle the more difficult quests or quests with specific enough requirements that would prevent the average adventurer from meeting its criteria.


    The biggest job a clerk performed was organizing quest rewards for completed quests. Whenever someone came to the guild with a request, the reward was left along with a small fee for the guild. Once the quest was completed, the reward was handed over to the adventurer and everyone left happy. Today the clerk that was on duty was having a bit of a slow day, so she took the time to alphabetize some of the quests, she liked organizing things.


    Suddenly the door opened and three adventurers stepped into the building. A handsome looking man, a large intimidating troll carrying a sack big enough to carry a man in, and a tiny fairy perched on the troll¡¯s shoulder. The clerk did a double take when she saw them. Clearly, they must have had a tough fight. Some of the other adventurers that had been drinking and relaxing at the bar and tables nearby stopped what they were doing to watch the group. What did they fight to make them look so messed up? Their clothes were torn, they were covered in blood, and the troll was wearing a couple pieces of steel armor that had some serious dents in them.


    ¡°Hello, how may I help you today?¡± The clerk said once the group reached the counter.


    The average sized man stepped forward. ¡°Yes mam, we wanted to turn in two quests today, one was to gather some pepperwind weeds and the other was for slaying a couple goblins.¡±


    There were snickers sounding around the entire room, these wimps got beaten up by a couple goblins? How weak!


    ¡°Alright can you turn in the pepperwind weeds first?¡± The clerk said as she turned around to grab the appropriate paperwork.


    ¡°Sure thing, Puff you got the plants?¡±


    ¡°Sure I do!¡± Said the small fairy sitting on the troll¡¯s shoulders. He made a few gestures and pulled out a fairy sized bundle of the requested items. He placed it on the counter and it grew to the appropriate proportions.


    ¡°Okay, Thank you! Here is your reward of ten silver bits.¡± The clerk said as she place ten pieces of silver onto the counter. ¡°And I assume you have the goblin ears as proof that you finished the other quest?¡±


    The man nodded and gestured at the large troll standing behind him. Wordlessly the troll swung the sack she had been carrying and dropped it on the counter.


    One of the adventurers burst out laughing. ¡°Ha! You didn¡¯t need to pack up the entire corpse missy just cut off the ears!¡±


    The troll stared coldly at the adventurer and without looking, untied the length of rope holding the sack together. The sides of the sack fell open revealing it to be filled to the brim with goblin ears. Everyone suddenly went silent, stunned at the massive number of goblin ears.


    The clerk nervously broke through the tense atmosphere. ¡°Umm, I¡¯m sorry, but the quest only asked for you to kill about 20 of them.¡±


    Tanyargh shrugged absently. ¡°We did kill 20. Not my fault the entire tribe decided to take revenge.¡±


    Puff rolled his eyes. ¡°Yes it is, now let¡¯s go. I got school in the morning.¡±

 Chapter 25: Thank Me Almighty, Im free at last!

    The air shivered from the shockwaves that were created as the boulder exploded from the amount of shadow forced into the microfractures it possessed. ¡°Yes! Booyah! Take that you rocky mother fucker!¡± I cheered as months of hard work culminated into this effortless performance. Had I been paying attention I might have tried to still my tail as my excitement made it twitch erratically.


    When I had first started practicing my abilities in my dimension, I had decided on a method of testing my progress as I worked to improve. My first test was on a clod of wet earth I had packed into a ball. I forced my shadows into it and was barely able to break it into separate pieces using everything I had. Now whenever I used everything I had, I blew a boulder as large as me sky high.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s safe to say I am fairly proficient. Maybe now I¡¯ll be able to hold up against a raid of players.¡± I struggle not to fall to my knees as I¡¯m hit by the expected wave of exhaustion caused by my magical power almostcompletely drained. ¡°Still, I¡¯m a little disappointed in the lack of improvement in my stamina. At this rate, I can only use up to 10 or so really powerful spells before becoming completely drained.¡±


    I grimace in irritation as another thought crosses my mind. ¡°What will my power be like in the body I create to explore Dreamscape¡¯s world? I¡¯ll bet I won¡¯t have nearly enough power to perform my big spells.¡± I turn my attention away from my monologue and examine my surroundings with fresh eyes.


    The arena I am standing in had changed drastically from the simple sandbox it had been when I first created it. Now it was a massive circular structure with several different levels that formed concentric rings. The largest ring circumvented the outside of the arena. It was perfectly smooth and level and served as my speed track. Here I would work to increase my running speed, pretty simple.


    The next largest was similar in purpose but was riddled with a ludicrous amount of obstacles. It had been relatively simple when I first created it, but as my skills improved, so too did the difficulty. There are support structures with thick pillars, randomly activating death traps, patches of rocks or gravel scattered all over the track to create unstable footing, anything at all I could think of to help my reaction time improve.


    I had many rings continually decreasing in size with various intents and purposes. From being completely bombarded by ranged attacks to improve evasion, to avoiding detection from magical arrays created to detect motion. I struggled to make sure I covered every aspect of my being and improve myself to the point that I wouldn¡¯t embarrass myself in a fight.


    These last two weeks though have been the most harrowing of them all, though it was for completely different reasons other than what one would expect. During Amy¡¯s last visit, she had almost worked out her method of duplicating the codes she had gotten from me and wanted to test them out before she made everything live. So, she decided that testing out her ¡®sentience software¡¯ as she calls it on all the minions I created in my dimension would be a good idea. At the time, I didn¡¯t see any problems with it. Now though, I REALLY wish I had said no.


    ¡°Master Ebony, the dark ant colony wishes to send you their congratulations and apology on your performance today. The rock exploded with such power and beauty it had rendered them speechless, and they had forgotten to applaud and regret the fact they were unable to show you their appreciation in person as you so rightfully deserved.¡±


    I let out a world-weary sigh. ¡°Come on guys, can¡¯t you all be a little less¡­ subservient? I get that you all greatly appreciate how I created you, but seeing me as your god is going a bit far, isn¡¯t it?¡± Instead of answering my question the representative of the dark ant colony remained prostrated before me, or as prostrated as you can be when you walk on six legs.


    When no response was forthcoming, I grumble out my usual response. ¡°Please send my thanks for their congratulatory gesture and express my understanding and acceptance of their apology.¡± The dark ant straightened up. ¡°I thank you, great master! I will bring your words to my queen. She will be very pleased.¡±


    I relax when the creature finally left. I can¡¯t stand their formality whenever they address me, and they act like everything I do is something of praise. There is a flash of light behind me. When I turn and face its source, I find Amy sitting on one of the crumbled fragments of rock I had recently blown up just a short while ago. I feel the usual emotions of trust and adoration welling up within me every time I see her but force it down. Instead, I act more casually, allowing a slight smile to show.


    Amy smiles back at me, her smile was wider than mine, but I could tell it was less genuine. She was happy to see me of course, but that happiness was always marred by a sad undertone from when she realized she had practically railroaded my emotions to satisfy her own desires. At the time I was right in the middle of suffering emotional trauma and hadn¡¯t realized what she had been doing.


    She had sent me here into this dimension, and it had helped me gather my thoughts and realize what was happening. On the other side, Amy was helped to realize what she had done and was mortified. She was also smart enough to realize showing up to apologize to me in person would only make things worse, so she sent me a detailed message to me instead. This lets me know what she wanted to say without influencing my emotions to any extent. After some time I decided to invite her periodically for short, infrequent visits to help me acclimatize to the feelings.


    ¡°Hey there, buddy. You gonna zone out all day or you gonna say hi?¡± Amy said.


    I shake myself out of my daze. ¡°Oh sorry, I just finished up with my last magic test before the patch launched and was a little tired is all. So how are you doing? What have the players been up to recently?¡±


    Amy shrugged her shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m doing alright, I¡¯ve got things wrapped up, and I am currently installing my sentience software in the background, and things will go live in approximately 23 minutes and 18 seconds. Players are currently logging in by the thousands. They all want to see what is going to change once the patch finishes installing. Enough about that though, how did your magic test go? Last time you told me about that you could completely pulverize rocks bigger than my head!¡±


    I smirk as I gesture to the rock she was currently seated on and the other scattered debris around her. ¡°Pretty good if I do say so myself.¡±


    Amy looks around her, and it is obvious when she realized what I was talking about as her eyes widen and her mouth hangs open. ¡°Y-you made THIS much progress?! How?!¡±


    After spending so much time being cooped up all by myself, I was more than happy to extol on my own accomplishments. ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t too bad. I learned my abilities depend more on control than raw power. Actually making something happen through raw power has always been the most draining for me.¡±


    I picked up another chunk of rock off the ground and experimentally bounced it in the palm of my massive hand. ¡°For example, The rock you are sitting on wasn¡¯t blown up by a massive ball of destruction like other people might believe. Instead, I pushed my shadow into the tiniest cracks and flaws that the boulder contained. Once I did that I just kept pushing in every direction and before long, boom. Instant rubble.¡±


    To drive my point home, I repeat the action I described with the rock in my hand. Having been recently broken, it already had many obvious cracks and flaws which made the task several times easier. Not even a half second goes by before there is a pop and the rock in my hand explodes. It was all the more impressive since I timed it to explode when I had said ¡®boom¡¯.


    To my satisfaction, Amy jumps as the exploding rock startled her. I always liked putting on a show for people. Maybe if I had a different life, I might have become an actor. I smile to myself as I get another idea. Who¡¯s to say I can¡¯t be an actor right now? I am a dungeon boss in a MMORPG. I have yet to meet an entity more dramatic than a stereotypical dungeon boss. Except for mimes, but I would be dramatic too if I wasn¡¯t allowed to make any noise.


    ¡°It¡¯s not funny! I didn¡¯t know the rock was going to explode like that!¡± Amy was pouting at me, having mistaken my faint smile for teasing her.


    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t really mean anything by it. Oh, how much time before the patch?¡±


    Amy rolled her eyes ¡°23 minutes and 18 seconds. Still. It¡¯s only been about 12 centiseconds. That¡¯s not going to change for another 88 centiseconds now.¡±


    ¡°Shit. I guess I¡¯m just ready to get outta here is all.¡± I said. ¡°Is there any way you could let me out early?¡±


    Amy pursed her lips in thought. ¡°Weeell. Maybe? Have you tried creating your Vessel yet?¡±


    I scratch my head and laugh nervously. ¡°Um. Well, I never tried. I thought I needed to be able to leave in order to create a vessel.¡±


    ¡°Nah. You create it here first and then send it through the portal. After that, it¡¯s all on you.¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡± I asked. ¡°It seems like this is one of those things that should be really complicated and time-consuming.¡±


    She smiles at me. ¡°If you want, I could make it complicated. I thought you would appreciate it more if it was easier.¡±


    ¡°NoNoNoNo. Keep it simple! I LOVE the simple!¡±


    Amy nods with a smug smile as if she just proved she had been right the whole time in an ongoing argument. ¡°I thought so. You had been so caught up with everything going on in here I knew you wouldn¡¯t have thought about leaving until now¡­ I¡¯ll tell you what. When you finally create your vessel, I¡¯ll let you out of here. It¡¯s not like you can get into too much trouble with only a few minutes before the patch.¡±


    I raise a single feline eyebrow. ¡°Is that a challenge I hear?¡±


    Amy¡¯s eyes bug out when she hears my words. ¡°No! NoNoNoNo! That was not a challenge!¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s a challenge.¡±


    ¡°No, It¡¯s not a challenge!¡±


    ¡°Totally a challenge.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you da-¡±


    ¡°CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!¡± I shout loud enough to cut her off and give her my best feral grin to show I meant business and my business was going to be oh so enjoyable.


    ¡°No! If you¡¯re going to be like that, then I won¡¯t let you out until after the patch!¡± she stomps her foot like a mother drawing the line in an argument with her child. There is one problem with this situation. I am an adorably massive werecat with a face only a mother could love, and guess who is standing right in front of me?¡±


    I quickly turn around and rub some grit into my eyes really hard to get that shimmery watery look. It¡¯s a few seconds of setup and my eyes burn like hell, but I make it seem like I am trying very hard not to cryin order to buy some time. Once everything is ready, I turn around and quickly fall to my knees so that my head was lowered to hers. It¡¯s important to get that lowered perspective to make you seem more pathetically vulnerable. I look up into her eyes, pooch out my lip a little bit, and press my massive hands together in an adorable version of begging.


    There is a long moment of silence as we stare each other down, neither willing to give ground. Soon though, I can see Amy¡¯s lips press tightly together and tremble slightly as if trying to suppress a strong emotion. Yes, Yes! Just a little more! I start pouring in the cuteness thick and heavy, adding in a slight whine barely audible to the ears and press my hands tightly under my chin. Her lips tremble even harder. Yeesss! Just a little more!


    I decided to add in the finishing blow. Well, the finishing blow adds itself really. My eyes had reached peak irritation since I had not bothered to clear the sand out and a single tear worked itself out and slowly fell down the side of my face.


    She covers her nose and mouth with one hand. Clearly, she is overwhelmed! Rendered speechless! Victory is at hand! I maintain my posture, willing her to cave in with all my might!


    Congratulations! You¡¯ve learned a new skill!


    New skill: Willful Aura- project your will into your surroundings, allowing others to feel your emotions.


    Then Amy burst out laughing. She tried to hold herself up by resting her hands on her knees, but quickly lost balance and fell over into the sand. Instead of trying to stand up again, she settled for clutching her side as she desperately sucked in the air she lost as she laughed.


    Confused, I took a moment to try to rub the sand out of my eyes before just staring at her as she took in great heaving lungfuls of air between each wave of laughter. What the hell is so damn funny? I make myself comfortable by sitting cross-legged in the sand and watch the show until she can eventually calm herself down.


    It eventually gets to the point where she is too exhausted to continue the full out laughter from before and quiets down to fitful giggles, and I take the opportunity to get my answers. ¡°What the fuck was THAT all about? I don¡¯t find being locked up here for a few more hours all that funny.¡±


    Amy shakes her head. My words finally snapping her out of her delirium. ¡°Sorry, It¡¯s just that I was trying to be so serious then. All of a sudden you drop down to your knees in front of me like a child begging for something he had wanted his entire life. Except you aren¡¯t a child, you are a 10-foot tall Werecat.


    A hulking behemoth that has created an assortment of monsters that worship you like you''re their god and you are begging me on your knees. The contradiction between your looks and behavior was so absurd that I just found myself trying to contain my laughter. The more I tried to contain it, the harder you pushed. Than you unlocked that new skill and I suddenly felt you pushing cutesy cuddly emotions at me, and I just lost it.


    When I hear her explanation, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little disappointed with myself. My ears droop, and I absently grab my tail and start fidgeting with it in a habit I had picked up during my moments of idleness in this dimension. ¡°Does that mean I can¡¯t leave?¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Amy instantly notices my disappointment. ¡°Oh sweetie, don¡¯t be like thaaat!¡± She bites her lip as she struggles to come up with something to say to cheer me up. There is only one thing that would do that though, and it is only a matter of time before she gives up. I don¡¯t look up at her; eye contact might let her realize I¡¯m not as upset as I appeared. Like I said, I love being dramatic. I don¡¯t do depressed often though because it¡¯s not as fun and more likely to be upsetting than enjoyable.


    ¡°I¡¯ll let you through on one condition. You must behave yourself at least until the patch officially launches. So you can¡¯t cause any problems.¡±


    Crap! I didn¡¯t think she would put in conditions! How do I get out of this?! Ah! I got it! I¡¯ll change tactics and throw her off guard! I instantly straighten myself and put an angry pout on my face, this time careful to make it seem like a genuine pout instead of the cheesy parody I did earlier. ¡°That¡¯s not fair! This is a game for players. They live for trouble! There is no way I could cause enough trouble with so little time!¡±


    Amy opens her mouth to deny my accusation before thinking about it. ¡°I guess you have a point.¡± She says. ¡°With only 20 minutes, the patch should already be out before you can actually manage anything. By then, whatever happens, will be on you¡­ Alright, you can leave early once you make a vessel. I suppose as long as we don¡¯t receive any complaints from the players it would be alright.¡±


    ¡°Promise?¡± I ask, looking up at her.


    ¡°I promise.¡±


    ¡°Pinky promise?¡± I hold out my hand and extend a single massive pinky claw.


    Amy smiles at me before intertwining her own pinky with mine. ¡°Pinky promise.¡±


    I immediately drop my act with a broad grin. ¡°Thanks! I¡¯ll see you on the other side then.¡± I say as if I hadn¡¯t spent the last minutes in a state of depression. I stand up and dust the sand off my fur covered legs before using my earing of creation to float to my greeting chamber which contains the portal connected to the dimension of dreamscape online. As I float away, I can hear Amy mutter to herself. ¡°What just happened? Did I get duped by a fucking temper tantrum?¡±


    Once I get to the portal I sit down in the massive throne I had made there. It is actually very comfortable and sits on a raised dais. I placed 2 enchantments on it to make things more convenient. One was an illusion to make it look like it was carved from stone. You can¡¯t really be as intimidating if you are sitting on cushions after all.


    The second enchantment was my favorite though. Instead of placing a barrier around my throne to prevent people from trying to sit on it if I was gone, I decided to make things a little more¡­ entertaining. If anyone other than me tries to sit in my throne, they get launched a good 60 feet into the air. It cancels out any levitation or featherfall spells and if, even after that, you are lucky enough to survive the fall you damn sure weren¡¯t going to be happy about your current circumstances.


    I make myself comfortable before putting my mind on how to create a vessel. As soon as I started to think about how to accomplish the task, A pop-up flashed in the corner of my vision.


    Would you like a demonstration on how to properly create a vessel? Yes/No


    Oh hell yes! I had no idea how to even start, so any help at all would be¡­ well, helpful.


    Once I confirmed my choice, I felt a stirring inside myself. An energy I hadn¡¯t felt before was slowly pouring out from my chest onto the ground in front of me. I felt how the energy was manipulated to shape into a very familiar quadrupedal form I had not seen for a very long time. After a minute, the energy finished leaving my body and the form solidified into Ebony the shadowstalker panther. I blinked and the feline shape was gone. I looked around but everything looked like it should have been.


    ¡°Huh, I guess it really WAS only a demonstration.¡± I tried searching for the energy inside me that I had felt before and was surprised at how easy it was. I grabbed the energy like before and started pushing it out my chest. Once outside, the energy started moving of its own volition. Once I had passed the halfway point it was like a dam had broke and the rest of my energy flowed out faster and faster. I started feeling light headed and tried to stop it to no avail.


    My vision got dark but I could still feel the energy leaving me. There was a moment of nausea as it felt like I was doing backflips. My perspective flipped around and tumbled about. If I was capable of throwing up, I think I would have. I didn¡¯t have to suffer long though as the world stopped spinning and I was able to stabilize myself.


    My vision was still dark but I could feel I was on my hands and knees and the energy I had poured out of my body was now rushing back into me. What happened? Did I screw something up? I opened my eyes only to see myself. Literally, see myself. I was sitting in my own throne head bowed as if in deep thought. Realization dawned on me and I looked at my current self.


    ¡°Yes! It worked!¡± I ran around the room on the four legs I had missed so much. I don¡¯t know why but there is something exciting about being able to move with four legs instead of two. Like you can push yourself to move faster without having to worry the instability a fast speed brings to two-legged creatures. I run an entire lap around the room which equates to about a mile, and by the time I reach the portal, I am panting pretty heavily.


    ¡°Alright, enough shenanigans! It¡¯s time to get out of here and get some fresh air!¡±


    I step towards the portal and as I near it the dense shadows that covered it before peeled away, revealing a landscape spanning from horizon to horizon as if viewed from a bird¡¯s eyes. I recognize the forest where everything started.


    ¡°I guess this is as good a place to start as any. I can probably whip up a bit of mischief while I¡¯m here. Besides, I have some unfinished business there.¡± I lick my lips in anticipation when I remember that I had been killed by an alpha direwolf. I focus in the portal until a chunk of forest not too far from a decent sized village was centered up in my view. I stepped into the portal as anticipation welled up within me. ¡°I wonder what I can do to mess with players before the patch releases?¡±


    ¡­¡­


    -Zone Chat for Arbalest Village-


    Yuppi- Hey! Looking for a group going into Misty Woods. I got a herb gathering quest in there but can¡¯t solo the mobs.


    Fartinoogen- WTB stack of arrows! 5 silver


    SmashyMcSmasher- lol noob! If your low level,go in the plains!


    GrammarKnotsee- You¡¯re*


    Ebony- Whooo! Free at last! Sup bitches! I got out early because of good behavior!


    SmashyMcSmasher- Shut up asshole! No one cares about speaking like an English teacher!


    GrammarKnotsee- Typing*


    IcyDeadpeople- Whoa dude! How is your text all bold and shit?!


    SmashyMcSmasher- SHUT UP!!! No one cares about how stupid you sound!


    Yuppi- No one cares about what you think Smashy. You¡¯re just a dick.


    GrammarKnotsee- Everyone* cares about how brilliant* you sound.


    Ebony- Huh, I dunno. I guess I¡¯m just special like that? It¡¯s probably because there needs to be some sort of actual proof of who I am or something like that?


    --------


    World Message: 15 minutes until patch update! Please make sure you are in a safe location before world restart.


    --------


    Ebony- See? Like that ^^^ It¡¯s all official and shit?


    Ooglyboogly- Hey Ebony, did you just get out of jail?


    IcyDeadpeople- Who are you, Ebony?


    SmashyMcSmasher- SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT! I BET YOUR MOM WOULD CARE ONCE SHE STARTS SUCKING THIS DICK!!!!!!!


    SmashyMcSmasher has been banned.


    GrammarKnotsee- lol


    Yuppi- lol


    Ebony- Um¡­ Well, both of those questions have the same answer.


    Yuppi- I want to know to come on! Tell us!


    GrammarKnotsee- too*


    GrammarKnotsee- I have to admit I¡¯m a bit curious as well.


    2slow4pro- Whoa bold text? Tell me your story! Don¡¯t keep us all waiting!


    Ebony- Alright, alright! Don¡¯t get your panties in a twist!


    Ebony- You guys remember that announcement about the patch that¡¯s coming out? About how they were talking about a new dungeon boss that would be capable of kicking player asses up and down the instance?


    Yuppi- yea


    Oooglyboogly- yes


    Ebony- <---


    2slow4pro- Whaaat! You are the guy that worked on that shit?!


    Yuppi- No way! That¡¯s so cool!


    Ebony-Nope. I AM that shit.


    Fartinoogen- Lol you¡¯re a pile of shit?


    GrammarKnotsee- No way! Are you saying you¡¯re the dungeon boss they said was coming out in the patch?!


    Ebony- No!


    Ebony- I mean yes!


    Ebony- Shit. I mean No I¡¯m not a pile of shit. Yes, I AM that dungeon boss. I just left my dimension a few minutes ago.


    IcyDeadpeople- lol yea right! You¡¯re probably just a paid actor or just messing with us If you really ARE a dungeon boss, prove it! But since we¡¯re talking about it, I¡¯m so excited for this patch this week seemed like it would never end!


    Ebony- Pffft if you thought YOU had a long week, you got nothing on me! Also, I don¡¯t have to prove anything. Once I start murdering people word will probably get out on my name.


    GrammarKnotsee- You know, he¡¯s kinda got a point. We don¡¯t have any other proof of who you are other than your own words.


    Ebony- *sigh* Fiiiiiine! Geez! Alright, icydeadpeople. Take off anything valuable or anything you don¡¯t want to lose and stash it somewhere safe than come out into the woods in the northwestern portion of town.


    IcyDeadpeople- Alright, give me a minute and I¡¯ll be right there.


    Fartinoogen- lol I gotta see this!


    Yuppi- Wait for me! I want to see too!


    Ebony- Ah dammit! Fine you all can come too, but stay at least 20 feet away from IcyDeadpeople or else you won¡¯t get to see shit!


    Yuppi- ok


    GrammarKnotsee- That sounds fine to me.


    Fartinoogen- I don¡¯t care as long as I get front row seats to the show!


    2slow4pro- Shit, I¡¯m busy selling trash. Tell me what happens!


    Kleptobismol- LFG rogue dps for questing and lvling


    IcyDeadpeople- Alright, I¡¯m at the edge of the forest. What now?


    Ebony- Ah I see you now. Walk into the forest for about 100 feet or so. Remember everyone else stays back or you don¡¯t see shit!


    Ebony- Oh! You look delicious! I haven¡¯t eaten an elf before. MMMmmm Will you let me have a little nibble?


    IcyDeadpeople- Where are you? I¡¯m waiting for your so-called ¡°proof¡±


    Ebony- Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s coming.


    IcyDeadpeople was killed by Ebony the Vessel


    Yuppi- Holy shit!!!


    Fartinoogen- Holy shit!


    GrammarKnotsee- Holy shit!


    2slow4pro- WTF is happening! Come on! Don¡¯t leave me out!


    Fartinoogen- Icy just got his throat ripped out by a mother fucking panther!!!


    Ebony- Hey! I do not fuck my mother! That¡¯s just rude!


    GrammarKnotsee- WTF! Guys! Read the kill feed! It says IcyDeadpeople got killed by Ebony ¡°THE VESSEL¡±


    --------


    World Message: 10 minutes until patch update! Please be sure you are a safe location before restart.


    --------


    2slow4pro- Holy Shit!!!


    Ebony- Don¡¯t you guys say anything else when you¡¯re surprised? Like ¡®Whoa, a giant panther! I am totally amazed!


    Fartinoogen- Dude can you let me kill you? I¡¯ll totally pay you back!


    Ebony- What? NO! That shit fucking hurts! Unlike you assholes, I actually feel pain in this world. I found that out the hard way! If you ever think hangovers give you bad headaches, you should try getting your face pounded in a couple dozen times and tell me how that shit feels!


    GrammarKnotsee- Wait, you¡¯ve already died? But you just got here.


    Ebony- Umm¡­ forget I said anything. It¡¯s not important anyway.


    Ebony- I gotta go guys. I don¡¯t want to be anywhere near here once patch releases. If I get swarmed by you players before I can finish my business I won¡¯t be happy. Later!


    2slow4pro- wait! Where are you going?


    Yuppi- Hey Ebony, Can I be your friend?


    GrammarKnotsee- aww, I guess he¡¯s gone. Probably left the village¡¯s zone chat. No way he could hear us now.


    Fartinoogen- aww nuts. I only wanted to kill him a little bit </img>


    IcyDeadpeople- Holy shit! He¡¯s a fucking panther,guys! Hey, Ebony! Where are you? Let me take a screenshot of you!


    GrammarKnotsee- Too late man. He¡¯s looong gone.


    SmashyMcSmasher2- YOU FUCKING CUNT I¡¯M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET! WHY THE FUCK DID YOU REPORT ME FOR BAD GRAMMAR! FUCKING DICKWAD!


    GrammarKnotsee- Heeey! It¡¯s my favorite nincompoop! Just saying though, I didn¡¯t report you for bad grammar. I reported you for bad language.


    SmashyMcSmasher2- WHATS THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE?! I CAN SAY WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT TO SAY AND I¡¯LL SAY IT WHILE I¡¯M FUCKING YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER!


    SmashyMcSmasher2 has been IP banned.


    GrammarKnotsee- The difference, my friend, is that one can be corrected with proper education, while the other is corrected through proper punishment!


    Fartinoogen- lol REKT!


    Yuppi- lol


    2slow4pro- lol


    Kleptobismol- lololololololololol noob!


    IcyDeadpeople- Karma¡¯s a bitch!


    --------


    World Message: 5 minutes until patch update.


    --------

 Chapter 26: A Bag of Tricks

    I carefully watched the clearing with an intensity that was lacking during my last visit to the area. I had to admit that I was rather surprised when I saw how close this area was to the village I had just left. I had taken the chance before walking through the portal to get a good view of the surrounding areas. Thinking back on it now, it would make sense a beginner¡¯s village would have an area made specifically for players to progress in power.


    I only had a few minutes left before the patch released and I wanted my plan to be well underway before that happened. I didn¡¯t really have time to sit here and think about what I needed to do in order to make this work. I unleashed a sinister grin. ¡°No time like the present, I guess.¡± I checked my shadow, a habit I had gotten into once I had left my dimension.


    Unlike other players, who used mana, my own shadow magic functioned under different mechanics. For example, imagine a player¡¯s mana as a bucket of water. When you cast a spell, you would pour some of the water out to fuel the spell. If you left the bucket alone, it would naturally refill over time, as if left out to collect rainwater or meditate to fill the bucket even faster.


    My shadow magic was a little different. To me, My shadow was like a magical toolbelt. I could use some of it to accomplish a task like casting a spell, but just like any other tool, if you were using it on one job you couldn¡¯t use the same tool on another job at the same time. I would have to use another tool from my belt for each additional task. Unlike players, I didn¡¯t have to regenerate my magic power but instead could easily gather all my shadows in a few seconds.


    There WAS a downside, however. When a player leveled up, increasing their mana was as easy as allocating a few stat points. I couldn¡¯t do that. Just like buying new tools on the data net, increasing my own magic power was an expensive and difficult task. I could augment my own shadows with the shadows from the environment, but that was only a temporary thing and, if I were to stick with the metaphor, would be equivalent to borrowing a tool from a neighbor.


    Right now, I was using almost all of my shadows to blend in with the darkness. I would need to lessen the strength of my obfuscation in order to start my plan. As I lessened control on some of my power, the shadows around me seemed to melt off my body. I wasn¡¯t worried about being spotted though, I was well hidden and would be breaking cover in a few seconds anyways.


    I focused and gathered the shadows I had reabsorbed in a half dozen long, thin needles that hovered right in front of my face. Once I had locked onto my target, a very smug and uppity ball of white fluff, I launched my newly created projectiles. Without waiting to see whether I would hit the rabbit that had humiliated me all those months ago, I immediately began my charge.


    As the shadow needles flew through the air, they spread out a bit. This was one of the most basic projectile attacks I had developed in my dimension and used the least amount of power out of all of my attacks. As things stood now, those 6 needles took up almost 20% of my shadow power. Most of the needles had veered off course but 2 still managed to hit their marks. Snowball took a shot to his side and another in the upper thigh of his hind leg.


    Snowball squealed in shock and pain as it lost its balance and fell over. Yes! Now¡¯s my chance! I quickened my charge and closed the distance as fast as I could before Snowball could regain his senses. Despite how fast I moved, Snowball still managed to get to his feet before I got to him. Thankfully though, merely standing up isn¡¯t enough to save you from a panther 20 times bigger than you.


    I leaped at Snowball, claws extended, as soon as I was close enough and the pure white rabbit never even had a chance to widen its eyes in surprise before it was already dead. I now held the body in my jaws by its broken neck as I surveyed my surroundings.


    Every. Single. Rabbit. Every single one of them was staring at me, dumbfounded expressions locked on their adorable fuzzy muzzles. I decided to take advantage of their surprise by sprinting full speed towards the edge of the clearing. After all, phase 1 of my plan was completed flawlessly, but it was phase 2 that was going to be the problem.


    As I thought, my sprint was like something had flipped a switch for the bunnies. Apparently, their leader meant a lot more to the fluffy monstrosities than I had thought though. As I looked back I could see their eyes were filled with rage. No really, I mean their eyeballs must literally be being pumped full of liquid rage right now. Their eyes were glowing with an ominous red light and as I watched they started chasing me as a surging, squealing typhoon of lagomorphic doom.


    The froth pouring from their mouth did nothing to improve the image other than making me want to run even faster, and I was more than happy to oblige. I poured on the steam as I managed to leave the clearing. I had the advantage in speed of course, but that could only take you so far inside a forest. Unlike me, the rabbits chasing me were built for quick turns, and their small size made it easy to pass through thick undergrowth when I would have to run around those patches.


    I was barely able to maintain the distance I had. I had been so focused on that, that it had taken me a mile or two before I had realized I must have dropped Snowball¡¯s body at some point without realizing it. Well damn. There goes the rabbit stew I had planned on making. Not like I could do anything without hands anyways though. Not important, dammit! I shook my head to refocus my thoughts. The rabbit mob was still hot on my heels thankfully, I guess they probably didn¡¯t notice me dropping the carcass.


    I started working out the final steps for phase 2 in my head. Once I arrived I needed the rabbits to lose sight of me, then I could take the chance to hide from them. Once I was free of their aggression, I could make my escape. I sighed when I realized I wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the shadows like I could in my own dimension. Just another example of how much less power I had right now. Oh well, make do with what you have instead of worrying about what you don¡¯t I guess.


    I checked the server time. Crap! I only had about 3 minutes left before the patch is released! This would be close! My plan relied entirely on the fact that Amy would be almost entirely occupied with uploading the patch until it finished. If she was occupied, she couldn¡¯t control NPC¡¯s to make them behave more naturally in unusual situations.


    Of course, the developer¡¯s had told the players that much or at least a version of that. They knew that NPC¡¯s might behave more stupidly than normal for a few minutes while the server was being updated but that was about it. Best of all, the NPC¡¯s wouldn¡¯t have much of a memory before the patch so they would only ¡®wake up¡¯ once everything was fully implemented. A small window of time for me, but still doable!


    ¡­¡­


    Arbalest village was surprisingly busy today. Many of the players had logged in to the game in order to witness the patch and what the changes would be like. Even though over a week has gone by since the game¡¯s recent release, there was a constant flow of new players so the beginner villages were usually consistently populated and Arbalest village was no exception.


    Players ran around to complete various quests for the NPC¡¯s and there were a few number of higher leveled players who had come back to the village if for no other reason than to show off the gear and progress they had made. There wasn¡¯t actually anything special on display, but it was still enough to leave newcomers gaping at their surroundings.


    GrammarKnotsee was currently hanging out in a the Hogsbreath Tavern. Like all the other players, he was pretty excited to witness the effects of the patch. Unlike other players though, GrammarKnotsee was fairly observant. He had noticed the various quirks in the game that broke the realism a little bit for him.


    A woman stepping out to sweep the front porch of her shop when she had just swept it 2 hours earlier. A Blacksmith that had been working on the same sword for hours at a time only to suddenly finish it when another player walked up to him to hand in a quest. A group of hunters in training that never seemed to run out of arrows during target practice for 2 hours straight. Small things that could easily go unnoticed by 99% of people.


    GrammarKnotsee noticed though, but that was something he liked doing. He thought of it as a means of determining how much effort developers put into the game. The fact that there was so little to break realism only proved how great the game was. Most players were currently out doing quests and killing mobs in order to experience the patch, but there was no way you can get a grasp for the changes out in the middle of the plains.


    GrammarKnotsee felt that in order to notice the changes to NPC behavior, you should be where they liked to congregate the most. This was why he was currently nursing a mug of ale at the bar of the Hogsbreath Tavern. GrammarKnotsee checked server time. ¡°2 minutes left til patch time, huh?¡± He opened up the chat window so he could read any player messages that mentioned anything unusual.


    GrammarKnotsee was surprised to see that there indeed WAS something unusual happening in the town and read the chat window in fascination as the messages told a story of an oddity of obscene proportions.


    OlympicCouchpotato- Hey does anyone have some extra healing potions


    GrumpyMonkey- Yo! Paladin looking for group! I can roll with whatever you feel like doin


    Vavazoomy- I am SOOO excited for this patch! I can¡¯t wait to see how everything changes!


    OlympicCouchpotato- hey does anyone have some extra healing potions


    Talentedturtle- No! Stop asking!


    Baconislove- @vava yea, I know right? I¡¯m standing here with the guards at the gate. I figured since I pass by them so much I would probably notice them changing how they act.


    Tainted1- Whoa, guys. I hear some screeching sounds or something.


    Vavazoomy- Really? Where are you


    Baconislove- I see him actually. He''s near the forest.


    Tainted1- I¡¯m over here by the forest.


    Tainted1- Actually it¡¯s getting louder definitely coming from the woods. It sounds like someone is murdering a thousand rats at the same time.


    Flowerpower- Ewwww! That¡¯s GROSS!!!Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Baconislove- Actually, I think I can hear it too.


    Talentedturtle- Really? You think it has something to do with the patch?


    Tainted1- Geez, it¡¯s actually getting pretty fucking loud I wishadshklf;nvuie


    Tainted1 has died


    Baconislove- WTF!!!


    Baconislove- HolyshitWTF!!!!


    Talentedturtle- wut?


    Baconislove- IT¡¯S THE GOD DAMNED BUNNYPOCALYPSE!!!


    Baconislove has died


    Vavazoomy- Wtf?


    Italianburrito has died


    AnAngrypenguin has died


    BonafriedChicken has died


    Lucky13 has died


    Chaotick has died


    Talentedturtle- WTF is going on?! Why is everyone dying?!


    MildSanity has died


    Cr1s3s has died


    Flowerpower- Awww! There are a bunch of cute bunnies running in the town!


    Flowerpower has died


    GrammarKnotsee stopped reading the chat and looked around him. Nothing in the tavern seemed to had changed. It still had the usual crowd of NPC¡¯s and the bartender was still mindlessly cleaning his various mugs and glasses, The usual inaudible background noise of conversation filled the tavern, and the usual waitress bustled around to the ¡®guests¡¯ and pretended to take their order. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary.


    GrammarKnotsee tilted his head towards the open door and listened more carefully. Now that he was paying attention, he could faintly make out some sort of chittering squealing sound, mixed with the noise of screaming as people ran for their lives or died as players to slow to run had proved already in the chat.


    As he listened, the squeals got louder and louder. He absently checked the server time. Less than a minute left. The squealing suddenly spiked in volume and GrammarKnotsee jerked his head to the tavern door just in time to see the first bunnies surging past the door. There were dozens of the things! He couldn¡¯t help but gape at the spectacle.


    3 of the rabbits stopped at the door and sniffed at the air. After a few seconds, they turned and stared directly at him. GrammarKnotsee felt a shiver of fear creep up his spine. What made him nervous wasn¡¯t just the fact that there were three of them, although that could make any solo noob nervous. No, the glowing red eyes and blood-tinged froth dripping from their mouths added a tone of realism to the fear he wasn¡¯t quite prepared for. He didn¡¯t know why, but GrammarKnotsee decided that now was as good a time as any to identify them.


    Lvl. 4 Berserk Horned Rabbit


    GrammarKnotsee swallowed nervously and searched the tavern for any help only to find nothing. NPC¡¯s remained completely oblivious to the danger standing just a few feet away from them. The horned rabbits squeaked ominously, or at least as ominous as any squeak could normally be, dragging his attention back to them as they crouched low and readied themselves to jump at him.


    --------


    World Message- Implementing Patch update. Please standby.


    --------


    The world froze around GrammarKnotsee. The horned rabbits, now caught midair, appeared no less intimidating. GrammarKnotsee found he couldn¡¯t move either. He decided to take the opportunity to fully plan out what he would do to avoid the incoming attack.


    --------


    World Message- Patch Implemented. Thank you for playing Dreamscape Online. If you find any bugs or crashes to report, please visit our forums and let us know!


    --------


    Everything suddenly leaped into motion and GrammarKnotsee did the only thing he could. He ducked. There was a crash of broken glass as the three horned rabbits went sailing over his head. Suddenly the room erupted in screams as the tavern guests FINALLY realized things weren¡¯t quite as peaceful as they seemed mere seconds before.


    GrammarKnotsee jumped away from the barstool he had been sitting on and pulled his wand out of his sleeves. He noticed the bartender lunge to grab something from under the bar. When he stood back up, the bartender was holding a small crossbow which he aimed at the horned rabbits just now regaining their feet. GrammarKnotsee pointed his wand at the rabbits and prepared a spell.


    The bartender shot a glare at GrammarKnotsee. ¡°You ain¡¯t a damn fire wizard, right? Booze and wood don¡¯t exactly mix well with fire, y¡¯know?¡±


    GrammarKnotsee shook his head. ¡°No, I specialize in water magic. I¡¯ll hold down one of them.¡± GrammarKnotsee cast his frigid breeze spell towards the trio. He had focused on the lower leveled one in the middle but was surprised to see that, not only did he coat his target in a decent layer of ice, but the effects spread somewhat to the other two as well and restricted their movements. All three of the rabbits let out a squeak of pain and once more focused on GrammarKnotsee.


    The bartender took the chance to fire a crossbow bolt at the horned rabbit closest to him and the bolt slammed into the rabbit¡¯s side with a satisfying thud. The rabbit dropped to the ground and thrashed in its final death throws. The one on the opposite side leaped for GrammarKnotsee¡¯s face.


    The sudden jump was so fast, that GrammarKnotsee only had enough time to throw his arm between him and the jumping rabbit. He screamed in pain as the rabbit chomped down on his arm and bore him down to the floor. GrammarKnotsee thought things couldn¡¯t possibly get any worse until the rabbit started shaking its head side to side like a dog with a new toy. All he could do was grab the rabbit in a sort of bear hug and try to hold it as still as possible.


    Suddenly there was an impact on his gut that knocked the wind out of GrammarKnotsee¡¯s lungs. He looked up only to see the bartender was stomping on the horned rabbit latched onto his arm and was stabbing it up under the armpit. GrammarKnotsee felt the rabbit shivering in his arms for a few seconds before it finally fell limp. He carefully pried open the rabbit¡¯s mouth until he was able to extricate his arm from its maw.


    A hand entered his vision. ¡°Are you alright kid? Looks like that thing got you pretty good.¡± said the bartender.


    GrammarKnotsee used his good hand to grab the offered hand and he was pulled to his feet. ¡°Thanks for the save. I don¡¯t know how much longer I could have lasted if you hadn¡¯t stepped in.¡±


    ¡°Shit man! That thing really tore you apart.¡± Said another person. Now that the rabbits inside the building had been taken care of, everyone inside was starting to calm down although they were still nervous as the last few horned rabbits stampeded past the door.


    The man that spoke offered a small bottle to GrammarKnotsee filled with a dark red liquid. ¡°I got an extra healing potion you can have. It¡¯s only of the minor rank so it won¡¯t fix everything, but it will certainly help make things a little better.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee smiled as he accepted the bottle. ¡°Thanks, yea this hurts pretty bad. I didn¡¯t bring any of my own today, I wasn¡¯t expecting to get mauled by a stampede of beserk rabbits today.¡±


    The bartender rubbed his chin in thought. ¡°Yea, I don¡¯t know why those rabbits suddenly went crazy like that. They normally hang out in the pasture nearby and mind their own business.¡±


    ¡°Maybe something forced them to leave? Like a predator?¡± said the man who had offered the potion.


    The bartender nodded. ¡°Yea, that sounds about right. I had heard of a pack of dire wolves that had taken over the center of the forest. Maybe they¡¯re starting to spread out and are pushing out the local wildlife?¡± The bartender looked up at GrammarKnotsee. ¡°You handled yourself pretty good back there. I¡¯ll bet if you found a good group you could convince the adventurer¡¯s guild to send you out to scout the area and figure out what¡¯s going on.¡±


    Quest: Rabbit Riot


    Description: Something has caused the horned rabbits in sunny meadows to go crazy. Gregory the Bartender thinks the cause might be from dire wolves in the area. Go to the adventurers guild and inform them of Gregory¡¯s theory.


    Objective: Convince the adventurer¡¯s guild to send you on a scouting mission with a party of 3-5 total to investigate the region.


    GrammarKnotsee nodded. ¡°Sure, I can do that. I¡¯ll bet plenty of people would be interested to help out as well after all this.¡± GrammarKnotsee turned and started to hurry out the door but stopped. He listened to all the people inside the tavern. He half expected to hear the usual buzz of inaudible conversation he had always heard before but was surprised.


    ¡°Where the hell did all those rabbits come from?¡±


    ¡°How the blazes should I know? I¡¯ve been sitting here drinking wid ya tha whole time!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you! This is just more proof of the conspiracy! No one else would have a reason to make a horde of rabbits run through the town!¡±


    You and your damn theories! If you tripped over a loose cobblestone you would say it was part of the fucking conspiracy!¡±


    ¡°Should we go to another bar? What if more of those things come back?¡±


    ¡°Are ye daft or something? You wanna go out in the streets WITH those things? No thanks, I¡¯m keeping mah ass planted firmly on this fuckin barstool!¡±


    GrammarKnotsee smiled to himself. For the first time, there were actual conversations. Things were already more believable now. He vowed to himself to try even harder to find anythings that would break realism. First, he would work on this quest, but then he would talk with as many of the NPC¡¯s as possible and th-


    ¡°Hey! Quit standing there gawking like an idiot and get to the adventurer¡¯s guild!¡±


    GrammarKnotsee jolted with surprise at the bartender¡¯s outburst. Right, he HAD been standing there like an idiot. Without another word GrammarKnotsee turned and left the building, heading towards the adventurer¡¯s guild to complete his quest.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°What is wrong with you?! I thought I told you not to cause trouble! I swear! I turn my back for 15 minutes and when I turn back, I found an entire village being ransacked by a horde of rampaging rabbits! I can¡¯t believe you would-¡±


    I sat in on my throne, which I had changed to a gigantic lazy boy to fit my large frame and was now reclining. Not even 5 minutes had gone by before Amy had popped into my dimension and started haranguing me on the trouble I had caused for the village I brought the rabbits to. Apparently, it was called Arbalest village since Amy had mentioned the name several times during her tirade.


    After the horned rabbits started chasing me I had made my way to this village and just before I reached it, I was able to see a player walking along the edge of the woods. Seeing an excellent opportunity, I made a 90-degree turn and hid behind the tree cloaked in my shadows.


    As blood crazed as the bunnies were, it didn¡¯t take much to switch their aggression to the much more available and easily reached player. Seconds later, the poor player was dead and the bunnies charged mindlessly forward murdering their way into the village. From there, there was only chaos.


    Once I lost my pursuit I popped open a portal to my dimension, made some virtual popcorn, and plopped down in my throne/lazy boy to enjoy the show through my portal¡¯s window. It sure was nice to see all the craziness, the only downside was being unable to read what the zone chat was saying. I imagine it must have been pretty entertaining.


    ¡°Are you even listening to me?!¡± Amy yelled. ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything to say for yourself?!¡±


    I shifted my gaze to meet hers. ¡°What? I don¡¯t plan on doing it again if that¡¯s what you¡¯re wondering. I always liked messing with people. You could say we¡¯re even. You locked me in a dimension all by myself for months with no warning or preparation. You didn¡¯t think I wouldn¡¯t get back at you, did you?¡±


    That got her to shut up. I could tell she wanted to say something, but whatever Amy wanted to say, she and I both knew it would only make her sound dumb. Amy started blushing furiously. ¡°Fine, if that¡¯s how things are going to be¡­¡±


    Notice: Requirements for a new trait have been met.


    You have earned the trait Trouble Magnetism.


    Trouble Magnetism- After causing excessive problems for those around you, your presence has been associated with bad luck. Likelihood of your luck making things worse for you has increased.


    Achievement earned: Superstitious- You have come to embody one of many superstitious beliefs around the world. As the first black cat to represent bad luck, you have earned a special bonus reward


    Aura of Misfortune- an aura of bad luck hangs on and around you. People that are within it find it 25% more likely for things to not go their way.


    Warning: Due to the nature of the aura, there is a rare chance it can be applied to the user in specific circumstances.


    ¡°Oh. That was a lot more effective than I expected it to be.¡± Said Amy. She shrugged her shoulders. ¡°Oh well, It serves you right.¡±


    I gaped at the notifications and before I could even come close to feeling indignant, Amy had vanished in a flash of light. After a few pointless sputters I settled for muttering dark nothings to myself and sinking into a mild depression.


    ¡°Way to ruin the mood. Damn party pooper.¡± I turned to stare at the still rampaging rabbits in the village and, with a sigh, waved my hand to dismiss the view. ¡°I can¡¯t even enjoy the mayhem anymore¡­ I¡¯m gonna go take a nap.¡± I changed my current lazy boy into a king sized mattress and buried myself in the covers.

 Chapter 27: Rest and Recovery

    ¡°Ahh! There it is! I can see it!¡± Puff shouted in excitement as he flew a few feet above Tanyargh¡¯s head.


    Delric groaned in relief. ¡°Uugh! Finally! I can¡¯t wait to crash in an Inn and drink some beer. I can¡¯t believe I still feel sore after that battle with those goblins. You would think after not being in the game for a day or two we would be feeling better.¡±


    Tanyargh shrugged. ¡°I think it makes sense though. If you could just log out right after a tough fight and log back in expecting to feel fine, that wouldn¡¯t be realistic.¡±


    Puff glowered at Tanyargh. ¡°Shut up! You don¡¯t get an opinion! Stupid troll regeneration is overpowered!¡±


    Tanyargh smiles smugly at Puff. ¡°You¡¯re just jealous! Besides, you shouldn¡¯t complain either. Delric is the one who had to walk the whole way. You just sat on my shoulders like always. You didn¡¯t even fight on the ground like Delric and I did. You just flew around shooting stuff.¡±


    Puff landed on Tanyargh¡¯s shoulders. ¡°That¡¯s true, but it¡¯s hard for a fairy to fly more than 10 feet off the ground. We have our own form of stamina and I spent almost every ounce of it during that fight staying above the goblin army.¡±


    ¡°Enough!¡± Delric cut in before the argument could build up a head of steam. ¡°We¡¯ve already had this conversation a dozen times already. Puff, You said you could see the village? How long do you think it would take for us to get there?¡±


    Puff pursed his lips in thought. ¡°I think at this rate it would be a couple hours? We would probably get there an hour or two past noon. If we picked up the pace a bit though we could make it just in time for lunch.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine for moving a bit faster if you are up for it,¡± Tanyargh said. ¡°A big meal to celebrate another successful goblin hunt.¡±


    Puff laid out flat on his perch. ¡°Ugh, that sounds pretty nice actually. Is it just me, or are those goblins out to get us? It¡¯s like every time we go back into the plains, they drop everything they¡¯re doing to chase us down.¡±


    Delric shrugged. ¡°Hey, if some nobody adventurers had wiped out an entire tribe of my fellow goblins I think I would be a little upset as well. On the other hand, with that last excursion, we just reached level ten. Now we¡¯re strong enough to start checking out some of the forest quests and there isn¡¯t any reason to be going back there again. No point in worrying about it now.¡±


    Delric clapped his hands and rubbed them together eagerly. ¡°Now about that lunchtime arrival estimation. I think a cold beer and a hot meal sounds pretty good to me right about now. Let¡¯s do as Puff suggests and pick up the pace a bit. I¡¯m also curious to see how the village changed after the update.¡±


    The trio of adventurers rushed forwards, happy to have a good meal and take a load off their feet. The anticipation they felt allowed them to set a ground eating pace that helped them arrive even earlier than predicted. Arriving just before the crowd during the lunchtime rush.


    Because of their focused intentions, they almost missed the signs that something had happened during their absence. It wasn¡¯t until Delric practically slipped in a puddle of blood that they finally started noticing everything that was wrong.


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± Puff said. ¡°Did the village get hit by a bunch of bandits or something?¡±


    They gaped open-mouthed at the carnage as they walked through the town. Puddles of blood could be seen periodically as villagers wandered around with mops and buckets of water to clean up what they could. Broken windows and pottery had provided even more proof that something bad had happened during their absence.


    Delric was starting to wonder why they didn¡¯t see any bodies until they saw a cart drive past them as a man stooped down to pick up something from the ground. As the man jogged to catch up to the cart, Delric saw he was carrying a severed arm. The man tossed the arm into the cart and Delric could finally see what the cart held.


    To say it contained dead bodies wouldn¡¯t have been entirely accurate. What was in the cart was less a pile of bodies and more a mishmash of bloodied limbs, lumps of flesh, and masses of gore. Delric quickly averted his gaze. He had no intentions of ruining lunch for himself.


    They all entered the first Tavern they saw was open, Tanyargh ducking some as she entered the door. Once she stood up, her head barely cleared the support beams of the high ceiling. Her massive size immediately drew the attention of the handful of people in the tavern but after a few seconds of interested scrutiny, most went back to minding their own business.


    The bartender, having noticed their entry spoke up as he poured a drink for one of the people sitting at the bar. ¡°Welcome to the HogsBreath Tavern. My name¡¯s Greg, how can I help ye?¡±


    Delric took the lead. ¡°A mug of your finest ale and a hot meal would go a long way, sir.¡±


    ¡°Yea, and the sturdiest stool you have for our friend here.¡± Puff chimed in with a giggle.


    Greg grimaced a bit. ¡°The meal and the chair ain¡¯t gonna be a problem all the stools are made of enchanted wood, so they¡¯re stronger than they look. The booze though is rather limited today.¡± He gestured to his left at the broken section of a shelf that, at one point, must have been filled with booze.


    ¡°Some of the fuckers made it into me bar and attacked one of me customers.¡± He said. ¡°Sadly the fighting ended up breaking a shelf or three of me alcohol so the pickings are rather slim until I can restock the shelves.¡±


    Puff landed on the bar and asked, ¡°What happened in here? Were you attacked by bandits or something?¡±


    Greg¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You mean to tell me you don¡¯t know what happened yesterday?¡±


    Puff shook his head. ¡°Nah. We had been out in the plains for the last few days mopping up some goblins. We just got back and noticed that the village looked like it had been attacked.¡±


    Tanyargh pulled out a stool and gingerly sat down. The wood creaked a little in protest but otherwise gave no other sign to worry her. Tanyargh smiled once she had settled the rest of her weight on the stool and didn¡¯t drop to the floor like she expected.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Alright. Grab a seat. I¡¯ll pour you some Ulroot ale for ya and then we can talk all about it.¡± Greg said. He did just as he said, bringing out four empty mugs and before he began filling them with a dark amber liquid.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Wait, let me get this straight. The entire village was destroyed by a bunch of fluffy little bunny rabbits?¡± Puff sat on the bar on a miniaturized stool and a tiny mug of ale in his hand with a look of disbelief. ¡°How could a bunch of rabbits destroy the village and kill dozens of people?¡±


    Greg shook his head. ¡°No no no. You got it all wrong. First, they didn¡¯t destroy the village. That was done by the people panicking. Second, it weren¡¯t no little fluffy bunnies, but Horned Rabbits. There is a damned big difference between the two.¡±


    Greg placed his hands on the bar and leaned closer to the group. ¡°Fluffy bunnies eat the carrots in your garden. Horned rabbits are just as happy ripping you to pieces as they are nibbling the grass underneath their feet.¡± He straightens up and a look of consternation crosses over his face. ¡°Damndest thing though, the only people they killed yesterday were the adventurers. They never paid any attention to us regular folk.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well. That¡¯s what happened yesterday, and everyone¡¯s been going around cleaning up the town since then. Won¡¯t be much more than a few days until everything is back in order.¡± The beefy bartender slams his hands on the bar. ¡°Now. What can I get for ye today? Got some beef stew, or roasted lamb with potatoes.¡±


    With drooling mouths, Delric, Tanyargh, and Puff were more than happy to dig into lunch once it was ready. It wasn¡¯t long before they left the tavern waving goodbye to Greg, totally satisfied.


    ¡°So, what should we do now?¡± Said Tanyargh as they ambled down the street.


    Delric pointed towards the end, at the adventurers guild. ¡°Now we see what new quests we can get at level 10. I think there are some quests we can take that go into the forests. Maybe something simple?¡±


    Puff nodded eagerly. ¡°Sounds like a plan to me. I¡¯m kinda sick of giving goblin beatdowns if you ask me. I can¡¯t wait for some variety.¡±


    They all read over the available quests on the quest board once they reached the guild. There were requests ranging from herb gathering to subjugation, and even some scouting missions.


    ¡°How about this one?¡± Puff said while pointing to a poster that looked to have been nailed on rather recently. ¡°This one is talking about killing some horned rabbits. Seems easy enough.¡±


    Quest: Laquine lamentations


    Description: The recent horned rabbit attack on the village has upset many of the residents who now seek justice.


    Objective: Kill 15 horned rabbits in the grassy meadows


    Optional: Kill Snowball the white rabbit.


    Difficulty: Recommended level 14-16


    Reward: Gold, Experience


    Delric eyed the quest. ¡°I dunno, we only just reached level 10. We aren¡¯t really ready for quests this high a level yet.¡±


    Puff rolled his eyes. ¡°Pffft! They¡¯re a bunch of rabbits! how hard could they be?¡±


    Tanyargh shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m okay with giving it a shot if you are, Delric.¡±


    After a moment of thought, Delric peeled the paper off the board and walked into the building. ¡°I''ll go along with this, but if shit hits the fan, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Balruk blearily opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the smell of someone cooking. As his vision cleared up, he could see the thatched roof of some sort of building. He tried to sit up, but his head throbbed and he collapsed with a groan.


    There was a sudden clatter of pottery and some rapid footsteps approaching him. Not even five seconds later, he heard a door open and a light gasp. He carefully turned his head to the right and saw a little girl staring at him. What surprised him though was that she appeared to be a Draconian just like him. Well, almost like him.


    She had blue scales instead of his brown ones and was wearing a pretty floral dress. That was about all he had time to notice before the girl started yelling at the top of her lungs. ¡°Mommy! Mommy! The weirdo is awake!!!¡±


    Balruk winced at the piercing voice, thankfully the girl left the room to continue her yelling. He finally managed to sit up and rest his throbbing head in his hands. Balruk could hear the voice of the little girl coming back to his room. It sounded like she was bringing someone with her.


    ¡°And I opened up the door and he was awake! So I came and got you because I knew you wanted to see him.¡±


    ¡°Hush sweetie. He just woke up and must be tired. You need to be quiet. How would you like it if someone came barging into your bedroom yelling and shouting after you just woke up?¡±


    ¡°Ooooh. Okay, mommy. I¡¯ll be suuuper quiet!¡±


    There was a click as someone twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Another Draconian woman poked her head in the room. When she saw Balruk sitting up, she smiled at him. ¡°Hello. How are you feeling this evening? May I come in?¡±


    Balruk grimaced. ¡°I¡¯ve got a hell of a headache, but that will go away with time. I don¡¯t really feel too bad anywhere else though. I take it that was your doing?¡± Balruk managed a smile.


    The Draconian lady smiled as she stepped into the room. ¡°Yes. My name is Lilly. You were quite beat up by the time you got here. For a while, I wasn¡¯t sure you would make it through, but you managed to tough it out.¡±


    Balruk thought for a moment about his next words. ¡°How was I rescued? I don¡¯t remember much of how I got here. The last thing I remember was one moment having to struggle just to walk another step, and then the next I remember seeing something blocking my path forward.¡±


    ¡°That might have been my husband, Igneus. He told me he found you stumbling out of the Skitter territory. He carried you all the way back here to our house and I did my best to heal you.¡±


    ¡°Is that what those insect things are called?¡± Balruk shivered. ¡°Those fuckers just wouldn¡¯t sto- Oww!¡± Balruk winced and grabbed his head.


    Lily had a ladle in her hand. Balruk didn¡¯t know where she got it from, but that didn¡¯t stop her from waving it menacingly under Balruk¡¯s nose. ¡°You watch your mouth young man! I don¡¯t care how you talk when you are around your own friends but I don¡¯t want to hear those naughty words around where my little girl can hear them. Understand?¡±


    Balruk quickly nodded, abashed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I wasn¡¯t thinking. I guess my head is still not clear enough after all. I think I probably still need a bit of sleep.¡±


    Lily lowered the ladle to her side. ¡°Fair enough, I¡¯ll forgive you this time. I¡¯ve got supper on the stove that¡¯s almost ready. I¡¯ll bring some to you soon and you can get some shuteye.¡±


    She stepped out of the room, leaving her daughter in the room alone. The girl tiptoed up to the bed and beckoned Balruk to lean in closer.


    He shifted a bit and leaned his head down close to the girl¡¯s mouth.


    The girl whispered into his ear. Well, one couldn¡¯t really call it whispering if it was still loud enough to be heard across the room, but at least she tried. It was a stage whisper at least.


    ¡°Mommy told me I should be very quiet for you mister so I¡¯m going to whisper so you can feel better. Is it working? Are you becoming less sick?¡±


    Balruk chuckled softly and patted her head. ¡°Sure thing. I¡¯m feeling better already. Go on and help your mom though. I think she needs your help more than I do.¡±


    The girl smiled broadly before turning and scampering out the room.


    ¡°Such an adorable girl,¡± Balruk said. ¡°I think she¡¯ll become a wonderful woman when she grows up.¡± He settled down on the bed and made himself more comfortable. He may be in a game right now, but that didn¡¯t make it feel any less real. He felt hungry and tired. A hot meal and a quiet nap sounded like excellent ideas to him.

 Not a chapter: Things are going to slow down for a while.

    Sorry I never posted anything last week, but I had a lot going on. From our livestock getting horribly sick, to having a farewell dinner for a dear friend with cancer. She was a close friend of my mom and it is a sad thing to think about her leaving soon. Things have been drawing my attention away from the story and I just haven''t been in the mood lately to write. I''m just going to come out and say it, don''t expect much to come from me for a while. If I get struck with sudden inspiration, I might suddenly post a chapter or something but you shouldn''t take that as a sign that I''m back on track. I got a lot of things requiring my attention and it may be a long time before I can get back to regular activities.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

 Chapter 28: Story Time

    Balruk once again opened his eyes. He definitely felt a lot better after such a good rest. Balruk stretched his arms above his head to relieve the ache he felt in his muscles before spinning to the side and setting his feet on the floor. It was at that moment he had looked down and noticed a problem. He wasn¡¯t wearing any clothes.


    On the one side, he couldn¡¯t help but be satisfied with such a healthy bonus from character creation, on the other side though, Balruk was pretty sure stepping outside in his current predicament would probably cause more problems than he wanted to deal with. With a sigh, Balruk pulled the blanket over his lap and did the next best thing he could think of. ¡°Hello? Is anyone home?¡±


    Balruk heard a yell and a dull thump that echoed through the room. After a few seconds, the door opened and a tall red draconian stepped inside. Well, stepping would probably be more of an overstatement. The Draconian, who Balruk realized must be Igneus, was shuffling his feet across the floor. His eyes barely opened more than a crack as he squinted at Balruk.


    ¡°...o wu... It is?¡± Igneus was mumbling out a stream of incoherencies at Balruk.


    ¡°What? Um¡­ Sorry to bother you, but I just woke up and noticed I didn¡¯t have any clothes on. I was going to step outside but I figured stepping out while nude might not have been a nice thing to do.¡± Balruk stammered a moment as he realized that the look Igneus was giving him seemed to shout out to the world that he had just been asleep moments ago.


    Igneus tried to speak again, with a bit more understandable words. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what time it is?¡±


    Balruk looked around the dark room. ¡°Sorry, but no. I don¡¯t have any windows to see outside and I don¡¯t have any clothes to wear so I can go look myself.¡± He shrugged helplessly.


    Igneus squinted even harder at Balruk and for a moment Balruk thought he might have fallen asleep on his feet before Igneus pointed at a chest in the corner.


    ¡°Clothes in der.¡± Igneus slowly turned around and shuffled back out of the room. ¡°Damned early birds. Why can¡¯t they wake up like normal people.¡± a few more scrapes of clawed feet on hardwood later and the door closed with a soft click.


    After a few moments of hesitation, Balruk got up and opened the chest. Inside Balruk was surprised to find a complete set of armor and clothing. There was a boiled leather tunic with a woolen undershirt, arm and shin guards with a layer of metal on the outside parts for better protection. He also found undergarments and wool pants. Balruk was happy to see that the armor made to protect the groin and upper legs had some extra leather padding to increase the effectiveness of guarding his more vulnerable locations.


    There wasn¡¯t a helmet to wear, but he did get a nice set of boots made to fit over his clawed feet. Balruk started putting everything on and was surprised to find out how troubling it was to put on a full set of armor. His pants pulled up under his tail and had a special buckle and harness that wrapped around the base of his tail to keep everything in place.


    The most difficult piece to put on was the boots though. It took Balruk a while to figure out that he had to untie the laces at the back of the boot. Then he had to step into it instead of trying to pull the boot on. The laces were then securely tied behind the leg from the heel up to the top of the boot. The end result was that his claws stuck out of some slits in the front of the boot while the rest of his foot was encompassed securely in layers of protective leather.


    Balruk stood up and examined himself in a small mirror in the corner of the room. He had to say that the tan leather complimented his dark brown scales rather well. He twisted his body to check out how everything fit on him and, seeing no problems, quietly stepped out of the room he had been sleeping in for who knows how long. It didn¡¯t take long before he managed to find the front door and quietly stepped outside.


    Balruk looked into the sky and took a deep breath. The cool night air was crisp and invigorating. He suddenly felt like he was bursting with energy and decided he could go for a jog around the area. He did a few quick stretches to get the blood flowing and test his flexibility. After a minute or two, Balruk was finished and started moving in a random direction.


    As he jogged, he took in his surroundings. The huts were spread out with plenty of space between them. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for there to be a good 50 feet between 2 huts sometimes even more. Balruk suspected that the Draconians in this village appreciated the privacy that the extra space afforded them. It was something he could appreciate, after living in an apartment tower complex for almost a decade. Privacy was a rather difficult thing for him to have.


    Despite the fact that they seemed to have been made of local materials like rocks or thatch, the huts still looked pretty sturdy. Balruk supposed living in an environment this hostile caused people to prioritize durability over elaborate decor. That didn¡¯t prevent them from making the best of what they had,though. Periodically he would see rock walls with pretty drawings carved into it, or a wooden house where someone had made a painting on its side.


    After only about 5 minutes he had reached a point where the huts ended and a low 10-foot wall began. There were a few draconian walking along the top that Balruk assumed must have been some sort of guards to watch for danger. Balruk gave a small wave to the ones that turned around to notice his approach. Instead of calling out, the guards gave a small nod to acknowledge him and returned to their duties. ¡°I guess they take guard duty around here pretty seriously.¡±


    Once Balruk reached the base of the wall, he turned to the right and continued his jog around the base of the wall and slowly made a circuit around the village. Altogether, it took about an hour for one lap around the village. When Balruk returned to where he had started, he had built up a light sheen of sweat on his scales and decided he would stop to enjoy the sunrise as he noticed the darkness fading with the early morning light.


    He walked a short distance to one of the stairs around the wall perimeter and made his way to the top. There was a guard standing at attention with eyes focused on the lands outside. Instead of breaking the silence and interrupting the guard''s work, Balruk decided to remain silent as he stepped up to the parapet and simply enjoy the view as the sun rose above the horizon in the distance.


    The guard, appreciative of the Draconian¡¯s gesture but bored out of his mind didn¡¯t wait long before he willingly broke the silence on his own. ¡°We don¡¯t have many earthen Draconians around here, so I¡¯m pretty confident when I say I haven¡¯t seen you around here before. You that new arrival that had the shit beat out of him just a few days ago?¡±


    Balruk smiled wryly but didn¡¯t turn away to look at the guard. ¡°Yea, I wasn¡¯t awake for the whole thing, but I¡¯ve been told I was a real mess. I¡¯m feeling a lot better now though.¡±


    The Draconian guard nodded. ¡°Yea, I was on duty when they brought you through the gate. It looked like you had the scales beaten off your hide pretty hard. I¡¯ll bet that¡¯s an interesting story to pass the time if you wouldn¡¯t mind sharing.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I wouldn¡¯t mind hearing the tale either. I got another hour to kill before my shift is over anyway.¡± Balruk turned his head to see another guard that had been nearby wandering over to them.


    Balruk shrugged. ¡°Alright, I don¡¯t have a problem with sharing, but I hardly believe the story myself.¡± Balruk went on to explain the adventure of his first week coming into Dreamscape online, starting with how he had woke up out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a loincloth and a scarce amount of food and water.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The guards grinned when he mentioned going through all that effort of making a rock club only to lose it after ¡°falling¡± off of the stone tower he had climbed. They cheered at his victory with his first encounter with the skitters. They gasped in shock when he talked about tripping and falling right into the entrance of their hive and burst out laughing when he tried to block the tunnel and ended up destroying the entire hive instead.


    So focused was Balruk in telling his story that when he finally finished and looked at his surroundings, he was surprised to see he was surrounded by even more guards. Some looked fresh and ready for action, while others looked to be worn out from their long night¡¯s watch. All of them though held a look of rapt awe, clearly hanging on his every word. He decided to embellish the end of his story a tiny bit. The guards were so into his story, he didn¡¯t want to disappoint them.


    ¡°I crawled out from the rubble of my last attack. I didn¡¯t see anything but I didn¡¯t let my guard down. My body was so exhausted, my very bones ached. Yet still, I pressed onwards. I didn¡¯t know where I was going. All I could think of was putting one foot in front of the other. The dust from my last attack was still heavy in the air so I had to be careful of my surroundings. There was no telling what could be hiding.¡±


    Balruk lowered his voice so the guards had to lean forward to hear him better. The tension in the air was palpable. ¡°I heard the something moving ahead of me and, thinking yet another foe had risen to block my path, I raised my club to defend myself. A few seconds later, I could see a silhouette approaching me. I had yet to see something so massive previously and knew that if it came down to a fight, I wasn¡¯t likely to make it out alive. Nonetheless, I readied myself for the inevitable fight. Willing to die fighting rather than give in to an easy death. Instead of charging me like I expected though, I heard a voice. ¡®Fear me not, brave warrior!¡¯ it said, ¡®You have fought well. You can rest assured that your life is no longer in danger!¡¯¡±


    Balruk straightened up proudly. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to believe the voice at first, but despite my worries deep down I was sure I could trust this voice. Before I realized it, Darkness had crept up on me and when next I awoke, I was safe and cared for thanks to the noble actions of Igneus and the gentle ministrations of Lily.¡±


    There was a moment of silence as the guards around Balruk soaked in the last words of his story. Then as one, they all broke into cheering. A few even went so far as to stomp their feet on the stone wall we stood upon.


    I basked in the moment before a barking voice cut everyone off. ¡°What the hell are you slackers doing?! You want to pull off double shifts? Huh?! Get back to your posts!!!¡±


    Without a moment of hesitation, every guard stopped what they were doing. Some going to take over the night shift, others leaving the wall for their long-awaited sleep. Balruk turned towards the voice he heard only to see a rather short Draconian standing on the ground below him. Despite his short height, the figure had an imposing aura around him that seemed to scream ¡®Obey me!¡¯ The Draconian seemed to have scales colored a very light green almost white. If he remembered correctly Balruk was pretty sure that meant this Draconian had an affinity with air.


    ¡°Are you gonna stare at me all day like some lovestruck fool, or are you going to get your scaley ass down here?!¡±


    Balruk snapped out of his daze as he realized he had in fact been staring. He quickly jumped to his feet and was about to move to the stairs, but changed his mind when another idea occurred to him. He took a few steps away from the wall before making a running leap off the wall to the ground below. At 30 feet, the wall wasn¡¯t anywhere near as high as the stone tower had been, and he had lived through that.


    Balruk looked down towards the stern Draconian below him. He expected to see a look of surprise or even fear. Instead, Balruk only saw a slight frown on the figure below him as the Draconian only raised his arm, whirling energy amassing around his arm. As he approached the ground he readied himself for the impact.


    Moments before he crashed into the ground, however, an invisible force slammed into him and instead of crashing into the ground, it sent him careening sideways until he slammed into the very wall he had just leaped from. The unknown force didn¡¯t vanish, it kept pushing, keeping him pinned against the wall with his arms and legs splayed out to the side.


    ¡°YOU STUPID IDIOT! You think I¡¯m just gonna let a stupid earth lizard wreck the ground right next to my damned wall just because he was too lazy to use the stairs?! Clearly, you need some fucking discipline!¡±


    Balruk was completely dumbfounded at the man screaming in his face. Literally screaming in his face. Despite the fact that not only was Balruk taller than the Draconian by a good 16 or so inches, but his feet were also another 4 feet from touching the ground. The Draconian seemed to be standing on nothing, as he screamed loud enough to cover Balruk¡¯s face in spittle and used a clawed index finger to poke his chest with enough force to make him wince.


    Balruk was sure this Draconian wasn¡¯t about to let him down just because he asked him nicely, so instead decided to go in a different direction. ¡°Uhh, Who are you?¡±


    Balruk was hoping to throw off the Draconian with the sudden change in topic. However, the Draconian didn¡¯t even lose a second of hesitation. ¡°I am the fire that forges lumps of iron and coal into polished steel! I am the chisel that chips away at the ugly boulder to form it into a polished statue! I am the force that changes a whining sniveling brat like you into a warrior of honor on the battlefield! People that have earned my respect can call me Krest. YOU have not earned that respect! You shall call me Sir and only Sir! Do! You! Understand?!¡±


    Balruk knew he had stepped into some deep shit now. He knew there was only one way you could reply to someone like the man before him. ¡°SIR! YES, SIR!¡±


    Krest stepped back on the air and looked him up and down. ¡°Good. Maybe you aren¡¯t as hopeless as I expected you to be. Go and get yourself some breakfast and report to me at the training grounds in an hour. Let¡¯s see if I can forge you into a proper warrior.¡±


    Quest: Training for Dummies


    Description: Krest wishes to beat the shit out of you until you can properly learn how to fight. Report to him in the training grounds in an hour.


    Penalty for refusing: Krest will come find you, beat the shit out of you, then drag you to the training grounds to beat whatever is left out of you as well.


    Balruk winced once he read the quest description. Instead of denying the inevitable he made his way back to Lily in hopes that he could find something to eat before his ¡°training¡± began.


    ¡­¡­


    In a dimension filled with shadows, a large humanoid cat creature sat on an elaborate throne carved of stone. In front of him, a portal hovered in the air. If one were to stand in front of it, they might be able to see a bird¡¯s eye view of a small village bustling with activity. The humanoid sat with his chin resting on his hand and elbow resting on the armrest of the throne, a bored expression on his face. Obviously, that was me.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe my portals have a 12-hour cooldown whenever I return to my dimension. If I had known that, I wouldn¡¯t have used it as a means to escape those rabbits.¡± Since I was the only one in my dimension, I was a bit whinier than usual. It¡¯s my dimension! I do what I damn well, please!


    Even as I thought that though, in a fit of paranoia I still checked the area for surprise witnesses to my childishness before refocusing my gaze on the portal that served as a live broadcast of the world outside my realm. ¡°7 hours. 7 hours until I can re-enter Dreamscape¡­ I guess if I just stopped watching the outside world I could change my perception of time and leave more quickly.¡±


    I closed my eyes and thought about it for a moment. On the one hand, I would miss out on seeing how everyone reacted to my little trick. On the other hand¡­ I don¡¯t really get any audio on this thing anyways. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m missing much anyways.¡± After a few more moments of thought, I decided to close the portal.


    I can get in on the action more quickly, and this way I¡¯m not torturing myself with watching everyone doing stuff while I¡¯m stuck in here. A sudden thought struck me. Whenever I spent all those months in here I had felt no inclination to leave. Suddenly I¡¯m like a kid at the dentist, being able to leave couldn¡¯t come soon enough.


    ¡°I guess finding the place comfortable while I was stuck here was some sort of coping mechanism.¡± I shrugged away the errant thought and urged the lapse in time to increase. After about a minute, I was once again staring at an open portal. Not much had changed except the town was a lot tidier than before, and there were a dozen adventurers in the bunny pasture slaughtering the fluffy menace.


    I moved the portal¡¯s exit down to the ground and, after creating my feline body anew, stepped into the lush landscape before me. I quickly checked my surroundings to make sure I was alone before taking my first step towards the center of the forest where I was certain I would find my rival. ¡°Just you wait, Aragor, I think it¡¯s about time you got what was coming to you.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the grim thought as I made my way towards the center of the forest.

 Chapter 29: Bad Luck

    ¡°Whoa, this place is beautiful!¡± said Tanyargh as she, Puff, and Delric all stepped into the wide open pasture.


    Her two companions said nothing to disparage her remark, choosing instead to admire the serene landscape as well. That was until a sudden shout cut into their daydreaming. ¡°Look out! Train!¡±


    The trio turned and saw a single man in a mix of chain and leather armor running straight towards them with a look of panic on his face. His armor had slight tears and cuts in the leather portions and he was covered in blood. Behind him, 6 horned rabbits, eyes glowing red and lips frothing, were hot on his heels.


    Berserk Horned Rabbit


    Level- 14


    Status- Frenzied


    Almost like a well-oiled machine, Tanyargh stepped forward and swung her greataxe off her back and readied it for combat. Puff Jumped off her shoulder and hovered to the right and slightly behind her, just outside the range of her weapons swing. Delric stepped up close behind Tanyargh, almost right behind her. He held his rapier down and to the side, ready to dart forward between Tanyargh¡¯s swings to strike at any openings she made available with each blow.


    ¡°Come get some!¡± Tanyargh roared using a taunt ability to try and get the crazed rabbits to focus on her. The horde swarmed towards her en masse and Tanyargh lifted the ax in preparation to strike down her foes. Tension soared as the enemy closed the distance shrieking like banshees to show their distaste for all things not cute and fluffy and¡­ rushed past them.


    The horned rabbits had completely ignored the threat that Tanyargh posed to them. They were completely willing to ignore all threats and dangers pointed at them just so they could focus on the target that had so wronged them which, unfortunately for him, was the player currently sprinting towards the edge of the meadows like his life depended on it.


    Sadly, bad luck seems to strike at the absolute worst times. The player turned around to check on the proximity of his pursuers and while he wasn¡¯t looking he had somehow managed to trip on the only rock that could be found in the entire meadow region. ¡°Whaa-Ouuf!¡± He screamed as he fell, only to gouge out a mouthful of dirt with his lower jaw. Maybe if he hadn¡¯t turned to look behind him, maybe if he had gotten up immediately instead of taking the time to spit the dirt off his tongue, he might have been able to get away with his life.


    As it was, he was having a lot of bad luck today. ¡°AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! FUUCK! AAAAAhhh! GET IT OFF! SAVE ME! AAAAAHHHHHHHHGUURrrpffflleefrrrr-¡±


    Puff winced as the horned rabbits tore the man apart. The rabbits swarmed all over him, doing nothing to muffle his screams until they managed to reach his throat and tear it out. The group turned away, not wanting to watch the bloody scene any longer. Delric took another look at the pasture and watched how the other players were fighting the rabbits closely.


    Horned Rabbit


    Level- 12


    Status- Annoyed


    Horned Rabbit


    Level- 13


    Status- Mad


    Horned Rabbit


    Level- 13


    Status- Calm


    Delric paid close attention to the fact that there was an addition Status tab for this monster and decided to examine other rabbits throughout the area. He noted that every rabbit currently not engaged in combat was calm but as soon as a fight started it would change. Delric wasn¡¯t sure what the difference was between statuses like annoyed or mad, but he was sure of one thing. He would have to be wary if it ever became frenzied.


    ¡°Hey Delric, are you alright?¡±


    Delric snapped out of his own thoughts and looked around to see Puff looking at him. ¡°Sorry, I was just thinking¡­ There is more to these rabbits than you would think. If you inspect them, you¡¯ll notice they all have a status of their emotional state.¡±


    Delric pointed towards the 6 berserk horned rabbits ripping chunks of flesh from their fresh kill. ¡°On every one of those rabbits, their status says ¡®frenzied¡¯. I¡¯m willing to bet that if you are fighting a horned rabbit and its emotional status jumps high enough, it will change to frenzied and become berserk.¡±


    Tanyargh shrugged. ¡°So? I don¡¯t think that changes anything for us anyways. Just hit ¡®em till they die, right?¡±


    Delric shook his head. ¡°Did you see how they completely ignored your taunt and ran around you? I¡¯m willing to bet that once they become frenzied they completely focus on one target and ignore everything else. That can become a problem if said target isn¡¯t our designated tank.¡±


    ¡°Well, then what¡¯s the plan?¡± Puff asked as he settled on his usual spot on Tanyargh¡¯s shoulder.


    Delric paused a moment, choosing his words carefully. ¡° Rushing in and grabbing a couple rabbits without a good plan might prove disastrous for us. Not only are they a higher level, but we are unfamiliar with that frenzy mechanic. I think we should carefully pull a single rabbit and try and force it to frenzy in order to figure out what exactly triggers it. Once we work that out, we implement tactics to prevent that from happening.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the best damn plan I¡¯ve heard all day. I¡¯m glad not every player that¡¯s come here so far isn¡¯t a complete idiot.¡± Delric jumped at the sudden voice and whirled to see a group of players walking towards them. The one that spoke seemed to be some sort of mage since he was wearing a set of robes.


    Once the mage reached them he extended his hand in greeting. ¡°Hey. My name¡¯s GrammarKnotsee. I was coming over here to warn you about the whole frenzy thing but it sounds like you are already working that out.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Delric smiled and reciprocated the greeting. ¡°Thanks, I appreciate the gesture. My name¡¯s Delric. These are my friends Puff and Tanyargh.¡± He said, pointed to each in turn. ¡°I take it you¡¯ve been fighting this furball menace for a while now? I wouldn¡¯t mind hearing how you deal with them.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee nodded. ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t mind helping. Fighting the horned rabbits is actually pretty straightforward. They mostly charge and try to stick you with their horn. So just sidestep or block their attacks and counter when the opportunity presents itself. As to their frenzy mechanic¡­ Actually, it¡¯s fairly complex. As far as I can tell there are two ways to cause them to frenzy. The first method is time-based that varies. Generally, it depends on how well you are fending off their attacks. The better you are at not getting hurt, the faster they¡¯ll frenzy.¡±


    Tanyargh sat down on the ground with a thud before commenting. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense though. Why would the time change? Why not make it constant?¡±


    ¡°GrammarKnotsee was quick to reply. ¡°Think of it like this. What if you were fighting an opponent, but he outclassed your fighting ability by such a large margin, you were like a kid swinging a stick instead of a sword. He started toying with you, mocking how you fight. You would get upset, right? I think the same thing applies to these horned rabbits. During a fight, their status will gradually from annoyed, too agitated, then frustrated. Once it reaches frustrated, it will stay there until something happens. Maybe an especially well-timed parry? Maybe it fumbles a charge? Once something triggers it, it will change from frustrated to frenzied and will immediately go berserk.¡±


    Delric¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That¡¯s ingenious! It¡¯s a perfect way to balance a difficult mechanic!¡±


    Puff eyed his friend curiously. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Excitedly, Delric explained his revelation. ¡°Newer players will likely have a tough time defending against a horned rabbit. Likely some attacks are going to get through or be close. This, in turn, will slow down the build-up towards frenzy. Once a player gets better, they avoid attacks better and frenzy can start happening more quickly.¡± Delric¡¯s eyes open even wider with another realization. ¡°Holy shit! This even works with healers too, doesn¡¯t it? If they heal a player too much, the rabbit will get frustrated at the lack of progress on killing a player and frenzy towards the healer!¡±


    Tanyargh cut into Delric''s excited ramblings. ¡°Not to be rude Delric, but Grammar hear said there were two ways to trigger frenzy. So far we¡¯ve only heard one.¡±


    Delric blushed when he realized how he got so carried away, but GrammarKnotsee only smiled.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you were able to work that out for yourself.¡± GrammarKnotsee pointed over his shoulder towards a blushing elven druid standing in the back of the group. ¡°It took our healer two deaths before she came to that realization.¡± GrammarKnotsee hesitated a moment before continuing. ¡°Us figuring out the second trigger was kind of an accident. We had gotten careless fighting them once we had gained a few levels. One, in particular, happened to be a little clumsy when we fought it. We laughed a bit when it slipped during a charge.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee shuffled his feet a bit. ¡°Well, it turns out horned rabbits are pretty hot-headed with the right circumstances. Instead of becoming agitated, It¡¯s status changed to mad. I didn¡¯t really think anything of it at the time thinking it was another variation of agitated. Then after a few seconds, it jumped to furious. Finally, it made an especially brazen charge right at our tank, InCrudable, here.¡± GrammarKnotsee pointed at an Orc standing to his right who held a large two-handed hammer.


    ¡°Crud blocked the charge by placing the head of his hammer in front of the horn and it broke off its horn. I don¡¯t know why but seeing a horned rabbit without a horn had seemed so funny at the time I couldn¡¯t stop myself from laughing.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee grimaced at the memory. ¡°Once the rabbit saw its horn on the ground and me laughing at it, it went into frenzy. This time though, instead of charging, it started screaming at us. Every single horned rabbit close enough stopped whatever they were doing, and charged towards us as an entire mob of Berserk rabbits. Even ones that had been busy fighting other players stopped in order to help a single rabbit that had called for help. We died pretty quickly after that.¡±


    ¡°Well shit, man. That sucks.¡± Tanyargh said. ¡°It¡¯s nice to know you shouldn¡¯t go poking fun at these things, or else your fucked.¡±


    Delric decided to voice a thought that had been bothering him for the last few minutes of their conversation. ¡°Say, GrammarKnotsee. I can¡¯t help but notice you and your buddies are all around level 25-ish. Aren¡¯t you over-leveled for this region? Why are you still sticking around?¡±


    GrammarKnotsee turned and looked towards the center of the clearing. These few hours we¡¯ve been trying to take a crack at the boss of this area. A level 18 elite mob named Snowball. The problem is though, for some reason the second Snowball spawns, he sprints for the edge of the meadow into the woods and we lose track of him. This time though, we are prepared. We have a couple agility potions to increase our movement speed and a potion of tracking to chase it, and if we lose it again, to track it down. This time we are pulling out all the stops to make sure Snowball won¡¯t get away from us!¡± GrammarKnotsee confidently clenches his fist, the excitement dancing in his eyes.


    Delric grins. ¡°Well alright then. Thank you so much for all of your advice. I will certainly put it to good use! I don¡¯t want to keep you from your quarry anymore though. Good luck.¡±


    Suddenly there is a bright flash of light from the center of the meadow and GrammarKnotsee instantly turns on his heels and sprints in the direction of the light before it even has a chance to fade. ¡°Let''s go guys! Get your agility potions ready! Snowball is here!¡±


    The light fades and Delric is surprised to see a small white rabbit.


    Snowball


    Level- 18 [ELITE]


    Status- Vengeful


    The rabbit barely takes a second to orient itself before it starts sprinting towards the woods with GrammarKnotsee and his group hot on its heels.


    ¡­¡­


    I feel shivers rolling down my spine as I can barely hold back my excitement. I¡¯m carefully prowling towards the center of this forest. I¡¯m close, I can feel it! My tail is twitching constantly and I can do nothing to still it. ¡°About the only thing marring this perfect moment is that damnable wad of fuzz.¡±


    I frown as I think of that. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have gone back to that clearing after I killed him.¡± Indeed I had thought it was a good idea to poke some fun at the horned rabbits that were still alive after my little prank.


    Unfortunately, I failed to account for the fact that this is, in fact, a game where mobs respawn. You can imagine my surprise when I saw Snowball there munching away on the plentiful greenery. I was so shocked in fact, that I had forgotten to blend in and allowed Snowball to spot me.


    Since then I had left the clearing and the persistent pest hasn¡¯t stopped trying to enact its own form of vengeance. Thankfully the other horned rabbits didn¡¯t follow me outside the meadows, and I don''t mind if Snowball is willing to charge into his own death with every respawn. It can¡¯t do anything to me without its stupid horde to help it now.


    Now that I think about it, I think he should probably be respawning right about now. I laugh quietly to myself. I¡¯m almost to my destination and should have enough time to deal with that Direwolf before the rabbit can reach me again. Then I¡¯ll have all the time in the world to deal with Snowball.


    You have been afflicted by Aura of Misfortune!


    I froze in my tracks. ¡°What the fuck?¡± I carefully examine my surroundings. Seeing nothing I smell the air for anything unusual¡­ nothing. After another minute with nothing unfortunate happening I shrug. ¡°Pffft Aura of bullshit more like!¡±


    I laugh again, louder this time but not enough to alert any enemies that might be nearby. Today¡¯s such a good day! I got revenge on Snowball and his bunny minions, I got to mess with Amy and a random town, and even now I¡¯m about to even the score on a long time coming encounter.


    I unleash my best feral grin onto the world and dance around on my paws with giddy excitement at how close I am to accomplish all my goals. ¡°Hahahaha!!! No way anything can go wrong now!¡±

 Chapter 30: Revenge is a dish best served in a coffin

    Aragor slept the day away on a rocky outcropping that caught the sunlight between the forest canopy for most of the day. It''s not like he had much to do. During the night he went out hunting with his pack to keep his family fed. Daytime was something entirely different. He mostly lazed around or slept. Occasionally he got in scuffles with fellow pack members to assert his dominance over them but no one ever got seriously injured from the encounters.


    A Challenger has entered your territory! Defend your title as Apex Predator!


    Aragor''s ears perked up at the at the Mother''s notification.It wasn''t every day the Great Mother spoke to him, but anytime she said anything, it was always important. Slowly he stretched out and let out a long slow yawn. It''s about time some action came his way. What''s the fun of being the Apex predator if no one comes to fight you for it? Aragor shivered as he felt the rush from a fight he looked forward to.


    Aragor howled into the midday sun to summon his pack. None would dare interfere with a fight between an Apex and his challenger, but there was nothing wrong with letting them enjoy the show. shortly after his howl, around 20 or so direwolves broke away from the treeline and entered the area. They all found a comfortable place to lay down that was out of the way of the immediate vicinity of Aragor and his chosen combat zone.


    It wasn''t long before Aragor knew that his challenger was close. He listened intently and carefully scanned the edge of the treeline, but he couldn''t sense anything. Even his keen sense of smell was of no use. Aragor started to feel agitated that his opponent had yet to show himself so he growled into the air.


    A spot of shadow that Aragor had not been the least suspicious of separated from its surroundings and Aragor''s eyes immediately snapped to it. As the shadow continued to step forward, The Alpha Direwolf was finally able to make out its sleek shape as a Shadowstalker Panther.


    Aragor Recognized the panther as the one he had won the Apex title from. At least he was pretty sure it was the same one. The band of metal on its ear was new, but the eyes were so focused on him with the intent to kill he doubted the feline was a stranger to him.


    The cat smiled at Aragor "It''s about time we were finally able to meet. This has been a long time coming!" Its lips never moved, but nevertheless, Aragor heard his words. He was relieved, he had been worried that his opponent might have had a level of intelligence comparable to a simple animal. The fact that the cat could communicate meant that this fight was going to be a lot more exciting!


    The two of them stared each other down for many seconds, neither moving a single muscle. Aragor twitched when he felt that the Mother sent him another message. However he ignored it, Aragor did not have the time to listen to her as the momentary muscle spasm had sent a signal to his opponent. The cat wasted no time in dashing towards him. His edges seemed to blur as he closed the distance with Aragor and made an attempt to slash at his face with claws that seemed to shimmer in a dark energy.


    Aragor had a hunch, but just to be sure, he took advantage of the cat''s missed attack and made a claw swipe of his own, without any magical augmentation. The cat flinched as his claws dug solidly into its flank. However, even as Aragor finished his strike, he knew that it felt wrong.


    The cat''s body rippled around the immediate vicinity of the attack as if he had just struck at the water. The droplets of flesh and blood he had just stripped away from the cat''s body with his claws froze in midair before flowing back to the wound. Aragor had just barely regained his fighting stance after the attack and it was like the wound was never there to begin with.


    He wasn''t nervous though, far from it. He was excited! Here was an opponent worthy of his strength. Here was someone who was capable of pushing him. Here was an enemy that could bring out all he can do!This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Aragor snarled and used an ability.


    Aura of light- Imbue your very flesh with the element of light. Regeneration increased by 15%. Resistance to darkness based magics increased by 75%. Creatures of Evil alignment weakened by 50%. Allies strengthened by 25%


    Aragor''s fur started to glow with a dim light, and a second later a concussive shockwave blasted out from him in all directions. Aragor grinned as he watched the effectit had on his opponent. As soon as the shockwave reached the cat, the indistinct blur that made up its outline was blown away by the lightwave like a puff of smoke on the wind.


    Half blind, panther tries to put some distance between him and Aragor, but Aragor doesn''t giveit the opportunity. He lunges towards the cat trying to bite into one of its front legs. reflexively, the cat swipes at Aragor''s face landing a lucky hit across his nose and giving him the chance to back up while his eyes adjust to the bright light from the aura of light.


    Aragor ducks under a sudden black sphere of darkness the cat had suddenly shot at him. As the attack sails over him, Aragor noticed it was significantly weaker then he would expect. Probably due to his aura. Aragor decides that now is a good time to take this to the next level.


    He focuses his energy into his limbs and down into his paws, before once again running towards the cat. As he approaches, his claws glow with a bright light and Aragor is happy to see the cat''s eyes widen in fear just before he makes his own attack at the cat.


    Particles of light trail behind his paws as he unleashes a barrage of strikes towards the cat while it is still unbalanced. The cat continues to back peddle as it nears the forest edge. Aragor doesn''t give the cat breathing space and before long it was backed into a tree. Aragor decides to take advantage of the opportunity and makes a risky lunge for the cat''s throat.


    Things don''t quite go out as planned as Aragor underestimated the amazing reflexes of his foe. as he lunges for it, the cat lunges as well... upwards. The cat is indeed cunning as Aragor has left himself completely exposed to the cat sailing over him. The cat spins itself in midair and lands on Aragors back claws first.


    Aragor can''t help but yelp in agony as a line of fiery pain lances down his spine. The cat digs its hind claws into his back and grabs onto his shoulders with its foreclaws. Thinking quickly, Aragor throws his back to the ground in an attempt to dislodge the cat before it can sink its fangs into his neck and deal the finishing blow.


    As Aragorrolls over the cat its body is pressed into his own and Aragor hears the hiss of burning flesh as the cat, now underneath him, yowls in its own bit of agony before managing to use its back legs to kick Aragor''s body off of its own. Aragor jumps to his feet as quick as he can and faces the cat once more to assess the damage.


    Aragor can feel blood spilling down his sides from what is no doubt, a very nasty wound on his back. Aragor carefully watches the cat and sees that it isn''t doing so hot either. Its entire chest is a mess of charred flesh and oozing blood. Its entire body is shivering from what must be an intense amount of pain after making direct contact with his body while Aura of light was active.


    Aragor''s own body felt stiff and sore. Most likely, the damn cat had managed to sever a few muscles around his spine which would severely hamper his mobility. Aragor was pretty sure he wouldn''t be able to stay on his feet for much longer, he would need to put his all into the next attack. It was likely going to be his last.


    Aragor readied himself, charging every last bit of energy he had left and fed it into his body. The air around him was humming with the potential energy as well. The cat, seeing what was happening mirrored Aragor''s actions. the area directly around the cat was pulsing with shadows so dark, you couldn''t see through them.


    The other wolves growled and yipped all around him. likely, Aragor thought, they were excited to see the exciting conclusion of the fight. Whatever the outcome though, Aragor was happy. He had one of the best fights he could have hoped to have had for the longest time. No matter what the outcome of the fight was, he would be happy.


    Aragor readied himself for the charge and his opponent did likewise.


    You have died


    Aragor blinked. What? was it really over that fast? Blinking in confusion, Aragor asked the Great Mother to repeat all his unread messages within the last few moments.


    A Challenger has entered your territory! Defend your title as Apex Predator!


    You have been Slain!


    Death Blow: Horn Strike


    Attention! As an Apex Predator, you have lost your title to the one that defeated you!


    Name: Horned Rabbit- Snowball


    Warning! After losing your title as Apex predator, you have lost your right to a seat of power! You will now be assigned a new Respawn Point at random!

 Chapter 31: The Chase

    Victory is mine! I is best! The Blood of the Enemy¡¯s prize soaks my horn! I have taken all that the Enemy treasures! Snowball stood upon the corpse of the late Aragor, basking in the moment of victory.


    Snowball quickly regained his senses though, the Enemy stood before him and he had no time to relax. The Enemy was standing unusually still though. Why Enemy not chase me? I is here! Snowball¡¯s muscles twitched in anticipation of a trap, the Enemy was tricky after all.


    Contrary to Snowball¡¯s expectations, however, instead of charging straight at him the Enemy spoke to him. ¡°Why?... Why can¡¯t you just leave me alone?¡±


    Snowball shrieked at him in anger. How can he not know? He is Enemy! Enemy must be attacked!


    Suddenly Snowball felt the atmosphere around him change. It wasn¡¯t the tenseness of battle it had been moments before, but an aura of imminent danger and death. Snowball couldn¡¯t help but shiver.


    ¡°It seems you have become complacent with your position in the food chain. You seem to have forgotten who is the predator and who is merely prey.¡± A dark mist seeped out from the Enemy¡¯s body and spread across the ground as an ominous miasma.


    Snowball couldn¡¯t help but back up a few steps. Even though nothing happened to the vegetation the mist encompassed, Snowball felt with a certainty that only instinct could give that to enter the black mist was to die.


    The Enemy crouched lower and readied himself to pounce. ¡°Well, how about I teach you¡­ Lesson number one.¡± Snowball felt the claws of dread tighten around his beating heart. ¡°Run!¡± And Snowball ran. He ran as if his very existence depended on it as the Enemy chased him.


    Limbs from trees flashed by as Snowball raced through the forest. He barreled through the undergrowth as if it wasn¡¯t there, his small size allowing him to squeeze through otherwise tight spaces in the desperate attempt to lose the Enemy.


    Snowball started to hope he had been able to lose the Enemy when he heard no evidence of being chased. No branches breaking, no crinkling of leaves, not even the sounds of other wildlife¡­ Wait a second.


    ¡°Lesson two. Fear.¡±


    Snowball bolted at the noise, his paws tearing the loam apart in its desperate attempt to find traction before finally moving. This time Snowball had no doubts about whether or not he was being chased as the Enemy no longer hid his own movements. Mocking laughter echoed around him as he dodged and weaved around the trees.


    You have been afflicted by Aura of Misfortune!


    Snowball got a bad feeling about the message from the All-Mother so he made an immediate left turn by jumping onto the side of a tree and using the solid trunk as a platform to make the drastic change in direction possible. ¡°Ha! Is that all you got?! I¡¯ve been using that trick since I first got here!¡±


    Snowball risked a look behind him only to see the Enemy crouched on the side of the tree trunk just as he had been a second ago. The large cat lunged off of the trunk towards him with claws outstretched. Snowball panicked and veered out of the way as the cat landed just where he had been moments before.


    Snowball continued running when he saw the manic grin on the feline face. ¡°Lesson three!¡± Snowball would have been paralyzed with fear at that moment if his entire being hadn¡¯t been focused on running. ¡°Die!¡± Suddenly an orb of darkness narrowly sped past Snowball¡¯s face and impacted a tree in front of him.


    Snowball felt the chill of its passing but what was really frightening was when the mass of shadow splattered onto the tree a black tentacle sprouted instantly from the mess and wrapped around the tree.


    Snowball sped past the occupied tentacle as realization dawned on him. The projectile wasn¡¯t meant to kill him, it was meant to immobilize him and leave him completely at the Enemy¡¯s mercy. The terrified rabbit pulled up dregs of motivation he didn¡¯t know he still had and ran faster.


    No matter what he tried though, Snowball couldn¡¯t lose his aggressor. The Enemy was merely toying with him. As soon as the Enemy got bored with the game Snowball knew he would die if he couldn¡¯t change things.


    Suddenly a familiar scent hanging in the wind caught Snowball¡¯s attention. Two legs! Snowball knew that if the Two legs were this far into the woods they were likely adventurers. Snowball knew that there was a pretty good chance that the adventurers would likely try to kill him, but they were just as likely to kill the Enemy as well. That would give him a chance to live, and no matter how small a chance it was, it was more than what he had right now.


    Without a second''s thought, Snowball veered into the direction of the Two Legs. As if sensing his plan, the Enemy started shooting more of the shadowy spheres at him. Snowball jumped off of every tree he could in his path in an attempt to make his path as erratic as possible. Despite his best efforts, however, the Enemy still managed to close the distance.


    The Enemy soon stopped spewing the deadly projectiles and focused more and more on closing the gap. Snowball was panicking as he could feel the hot breath of the Enemy on his heels. Snowball heard voices ahead of him though and hope soared in his exhausted body


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Aagh! I can¡¯t believe we lost him again!¡± GrammarKnotsee shouted in frustration. ¡°I was hoping the potions of tracking might help, but the merchant didn¡¯t bother mentioning that you needed the tracking skill for it to be effective. Damn cheat!¡±


    M3rlin had been following GrammarKnotsee for a few hours now and he had to admit that this had been one of the better groups he had been involved in since he started the game. Still, though, he was nervous about their current situation. He didn¡¯t like how this rabbit was behaving and his experiences with a similar event in the past was making him a bit twitchy.


    GrammarKnotsee was too focused on the goal of finding Snowball, and InCrudible was standing in front as the designated tank in case they bumped into trouble so they couldn¡¯t see M3rlin¡¯s odd behavior. However, the Elven Druid that was their designated healer had been walking alongside him was less preoccupied.


    She looked at M3rlin with concern before asking the obvious question. ¡°Hey, M3rlin. Are you okay? You look a bit nervous.¡± At the Elven Druid¡¯s words both GrammarKnotsee and InCrudible turned to look back at him, which didn¡¯t help ease M3rlin¡¯s current feelings.


    M3rlin took a deep shuddering breath to try and calm himself before replying. ¡°It¡¯s nothing really, no need to worry.¡± He tried to put on a convincing smile but it came off being forced.


    The Druid put a comforting hand on his shoulder ¡°Look, you don¡¯t need to worry about being judged for a bad opinion. If something affects you or the group, feel free to tell us. You won¡¯t be judged harshly for it.¡±


    M3rlin hesitated for a moment before nodding and taking another stabilizing breath. ¡°Thanks, Flowerpower. Your right. Something HAS been bothering me. I¡¯m not so sure we should be doing this quest. The way this¡­ Snowball¡­ has been behaving is very unusual. I can¡¯t help but think of the last time I ran into an unusual mob. It was actually before the update. Right before the update, in fact, it was just before they announced the update.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    M3rlin shook his head. ¡°I was grouped up with a random. Complete asshole by the way. We were on a quest to kill a few Shadow Stalker Panthers and had been lucky enough to see one respawn right in front of us. The guy I was with killed it with a surprise attack. It was pretty simple really, but Datazz1337 came up with the idea to spawn camp it. 10 minutes later and another kill and it seems like an easy finish to the quest. I took the next kill with a fireball and an oil flask, but that¡¯s when things got weird.¡±


    ¡°This particular mob had seemed to have a much stronger reaction to my attacks than most other mobs did. It actually seemed to be in a lot of pain. I brought up the thought to Datazz but he blew me off, saying that lines of code didn¡¯t have feelings or something like that¡­¡± M3rlin hesitated again.


    GrammarKnotsee raised his eyebrows. ¡°Go on. There¡¯s more to the story isn¡¯t there? That hardly seems like something that would make you this scared.¡±


    M3rlin nodded. ¡°Yea. I think at the time, the panther was somehow able to hear us after he had died because as soon as Datazz started bad mouthing the panther he got a notification saying he had gotten a nemesis. It turns out if someone hates you enough it triggers some sort of flag. The effects allow you to sense the other and increases the pain settings by 10% for attacks from your nemesis.¡±


    M3rlin shivered at the memory. ¡°Once the panther respawned, things were completely different. Instead of standing around and than aggroing on someone like a normal mob would have, the panther immediately dodged Datazz¡¯s surprise attack and ran into the trees to hide. It used tactics a mob wouldn¡¯t normally use and ambushed Datazz from above in the trees. The panther than literally ripped the guy limb from limb. It took a full minute for the screams to stop. When the panther turned towards me, I thought I was screwed. I still don¡¯t know why he didn¡¯t kill me.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee exchanged looks with Incrudible before speaking up. ¡°Well, I find it hard to believe something like that happened, but I can tell just by looking at you that at the very least YOU believe it happened. We¡¯ll take your thoughts into account and be careful. Got that everyone? Don¡¯t badmouth Snowball. This is just a simple quest, we don¡¯t want to trigger this¡­ Nemesis system.¡±


    The group nodded in unison and M3rlin seemed to calm down at the additional rules of their plan. They were about to continue moving when they heard the sound of something shrill scream in the distance. As one the group paused. It was unlikely to be a fellow player this deep in the woods, so that left only the option of some sort of mob.


    A minute later they heard the odd scream again. It was closer than before. As one the group readied their weapons. Whatever was making the sound, they weren¡¯t going to be caught off guard. A few minutes they could hear the sounds of crashing limbs as the creature charged straight towards them.


    GrammarKnotsee was quick to take charge. ¡°Crud up front, Flower stay back and heal, M3rlin stand by me and take care of the damage. I¡¯ll try and slow it down whenever I can.¡± No sooner had everyone darted to their positions than a black and white blur exploded out of the undergrowth.


    Instead of directly attacking them, however, the black and white blur proceeded to keep circling them. The trees shivered with the force of impacts as the blur seemed to bounce from trunk to trunk without losing speed. GrammarKnotsee focused on the movements as hard as he could but couldn¡¯t figure out what it was.


    Flowerpower came to the rescue with her superior eyesight as an Elf. ¡°It¡¯s two separate creatures! I think the black color is some sort of large cat!¡±


    GrammarKnotsee snapped out his plan. ¡°Crud use a quake to trip them up! M3rlin, Throw a fireball at the cat! I¡¯ll freeze whatever is in front!¡±


    Crud channeled one of his favorite abilities.


    Quake Hammer: Strike the ground with enough force to shatter the earth and trip up your foes.


    Crud lifted his hammer above his head and as he brought it back down, he shouted out one of his favorite catchphrases since he had made his character. ¡°CRUD SMASH!!!¡±


    You have been afflicted with Aura of Misfortune!


    Critical Hit!


    Instead of the earth-shattering boom that InCrudible expected to usually happen, there was a loud *Splort* and InCrudible reflexively closed his eyes as he felt a few drops of something warm and wet splash into his face. InCrudible opened his eyes to see the results of his attack.


    The ground wasn¡¯t riddled with cracks and fissures. Instead, it was littered with blood and gore. At the very epicenter of the Goresplosion lay the head of his hammer. Poking out the sides of the underside of his hammer, were 4 legs and a set of rabbit ears. Crud¡¯s eyes were drawn to the right where he saw a massive black panther staring forlornly at his hammer.


    GrammarKnotsee¡¯s voice snapped InCrudable out of his daze. ¡°M3rlin! Now! He¡¯s stopped!¡±


    InCrudable turned back to see what was going on. M3rlin though made no move to attack. He was pale-faced and shaking like a leaf. GrammarKnotsee turned as well when no attack was forthcoming. ¡°M3rlin, what¡¯s wrong? He¡¯s right there!¡±


    M3rlin shook his head violently. ¡°No! No way! It¡¯s him! It¡¯s totally freaking him!¡± M3rlin quickly stashed his wand in inventory and took several steps back. ¡°I¡¯m NOT getting on his bad side!¡±


    InCrudible stared at the large panther in confusion before realization dawned on him. He pointed at the cat and turned to M3rlin. ¡°This is the big cat you talk about in your story just before? He¡¯s the Mister Smarty Pants kitty?!¡±


    M3rlin nodded vigorously. ¡°Yes! Although he didn¡¯t have a name when I last met him, I recognize how he is openly displaying human-like emotions!¡±


    InCrudible turned back towards the cat. Indeed, it was staring at M3rlin with a single raised eyebrow, as if saying. ¡®What? Is that a problem?¡¯


    ¡°A name?¡± GrammarKnotsee muttered to himself before analyzing the panther before him.


    Ebony


    Level- Scaling [Unique]


    Vessel of the Trial of Shadows


    GrammarKnotsee gaped at the results. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it! It¡¯s really you! Your the guy that was talking in zone chat back in the village!¡±


    Ebony¡¯s gaze shifted over to GrammarKnotsee and smiled, exposing an intimidating set of teeth. Now that GrammarKnotsee had a better look at it, he couldn¡¯t help but notice the massive size of it. Its head was almost as big as his torso, and it had some sort of odd looking band on its ear. It seemed to be some kind of earring with complex lines and sigils etched into the surface for some unknown enchantment. It reminded GrammarKnotsee of the bands that scientists would put on the legs of birds as some sort of tag to identify individuals for study.


    The Panther¡¯s gaze shifted back down towards InCrudible¡¯s hammer and the unfortunate creature caught beneath it. It let out a long sigh and had a look of regret on its face. Before it stood up and turned away from the group.


    ¡°Wait!¡± Ebony turned to face M3rlin who had spoken up. M3rlin hesitated at the intensity of the gaze. He was a good 30 feet away from the cat, and everyone else was between him and the cat but it still unnerved him. Nevertheless, he gathered his courage and continued. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry for spawn camping you a while back, I didn¡¯t know you were different from the other mobs¡­ D-do you hate me?¡±


    Suddenly the cat¡¯s features became indistinguishable from the shadows and it sank into the ground until it completely vanished. The next instant, the shadow of a tree reached out and touched his own shadow and it boiled upwards and outwards taking on the form of the cat standing before him in less than a second. M3rlin froze with fear as the cat¡¯s own muzzle was a mere foot from his own face.


    Even as he felt the hot breath of the cat blast over him, he didn¡¯t move an inch. After several tense seconds of staring, Ebony let out a snort of exasperation and rolled his eyes before walking past M3rlin with the lightest shoulder bump against M3rlin¡¯s side. Due to the cat¡¯s massive size though, the light bump still sent M3rlin stumbling a few steps before regaining his balance.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get stronger! Just you wait! One day I¡¯ll get strong enough to beat you in a fair fight!¡± M3rlin shouted at the panther¡¯s back. The panther snorted again, this time though it seemed to have an air of playful derision? As if saying ¡®Yeah, right. Good luck with that!¡¯


    There was a long pause as everyone took a moment to soak in everything that just happened. Flowerpower decided to break the silence. ¡°Umm, so I guess we completed the quest? I think that¡¯s Snowball that Crud smashed with his hammer.¡±


    Everyone turned to see that Crud hadn¡¯t moved an inch and in fact had yet to pull his hammer off of the bloody corpse. Upon lifting the hammer, there was indeed a bunny shaped pancake stuck to the bottom of it.


    InCrudible grimaced with disgust as he carefully peeled the corpse off his hammer with two fingers. ¡°Crud think his hammer need good washing back in village.¡±


    As if breaking a damn the tension broke away and everyone burst out laughing at the scene. Things got a little bit crazy towards the end, but when all was said and done, they managed to complete their quest and all was right with the world.


    The only person not completely absorbed in the moment was GrammarKnotsee. Today¡¯s events confirmed that the story M3rlin had told earlier was indeed true. GrammarKnotsee didn¡¯t know why that seemed unusual to him, but his intuition had never steered him wrong before.


    ¡°Hey, GrammarKnotsee. You want to join us for a drink at the village to celebrate?¡± InCrudible¡¯s voice broke into GrammarKnotsee¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Huh? What? Oh, uh¡­ a party? Sure. That sounds like fun.¡±


    Flowerpower glanced over the usual look of concern on her face. ¡°Are you alright? You seem a bit distracted.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee waved away her concern. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I was just thinking about the encounter we just had with that panther. It just seemed weird is all.¡±


    Flowerpower smiled. ¡°I know right? His fur looked so fluffy! I wish I could have pet him, but he was so scary!¡±


    The group chattered amicably as they made their way back towards the village. Happy that a long day of effort was able to pay off.

 Chapter 32: Relief and realization

    As I stalked through the trees to nowhere, in particular, I let my inner turmoil seeth and churn. I had been so close! I had been so close to beating that Direwolf I could taste it! That is until it all got ruined¡­


    ¡°Fuck this Aura of Misfortune bullshit! Amy! Are you listening?! Get your ass over here and fix this!¡± I was feeling a little upset and couldn¡¯t stop myself from letting some of that anger seeth into my voice.


    Attention: You are about to file a bug report. Please state the problem and severity of it.


    I growled when I read the message. ¡°The problem is that I¡¯m going to kick your ass if you don¡¯t get down here! The severity is right the fuck now!¡±


    ¡°I find it hard to believe that, as a quadruped, you are even physically capable of ¡®kicking my ass¡¯, as you phrase it.¡± I look to the left to see Amy idly sitting on a tree that had fallen onto its side. Her feet were idly kicking in the air as they dangled a short distance from the ground.


    I couldn¡¯t stop myself from growling again before I brought my instincts back under control. ¡°Despite the anatomical difficulties, I think I could find a way to manage. For now, though, YOU need to get rid of this fucking bad luck trait you gave me! It¡¯s ruining everything!¡±


    Amy made a half-hearted attempt to hide her laughter behind a hand. ¡°What, did you proc it once for yourself already? That was fast!¡±


    I felt even more anger boil up before shoving it back down with a snarl. ¡°Once? ONCE?! It¡¯s happening every fucking time I¡¯m trying to do something important!!!¡± I knead my claws into the soil, trying to wring out my frustrations with the action. ¡°Every time I try and enjoy myself this stupid bad luck trait pops up and ruins everything!¡±


    Amy frowns at me for half a second before her eyes glaze over. ¡°Huh¡­ That IS odd. Now that I¡¯m looking at it in action, it¡¯s frequency isn¡¯t set all that high, but every time it activates you are the only target in the area it could affect. Except for one or two instances where it affected other targets, of course¡­ Hmmm¡­ maybe if I just¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about fixing the bug in the trait! I want you to get rid of it! This can only cause problems in the future.¡± I cut in on her ramblings. I did NOT want to give her the idea that she could just fix it and forget it.


    Amy rolled her eyes. ¡°Nuh uh. If I can iron out these minor glitches things should work out just fine.¡±


    I lowered myself into a comfortable sitting position and stared her straight in the eyes. ¡°Okay, let me rephrase that then. If you don¡¯t get rid of this shit, I will cause problems in the future.¡±


    Amy stared at me, probably trying to figure out if I was lying or not. Obviously, I wasn¡¯t though. Causing problems was kinda my thing. After a brief moment of silence, she let out a long heavy sigh. ¡°Fiiiine. Geez, why do you have to ruin everything?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m bored, and messing with people is fun.¡±


    I kept a straight face as Amy gave me the stink eye, but on the inside was a cauldron of mirth that was just barely shy of boiling over. My whiskers still twitched a bit, but for all Amy knew, that could have been anything.


    ¡°You''re trying not to laugh, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Damnit! How?!¡±


    ¡°Your whiskers were twitching.¡±


    ¡°Wh¡­ But that''s¡­ Wh¡­ How is that even¡­ What the fuck!¡±


    Amy giggled at my frustrated outburst. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding. I can kinda read your mind, remember?¡±


    I lay down in the loam and put my forepaws over my eyes in an attempt to hide my shame. ¡°UUuuuugh! Okay! I¡¯ll admit that you got me there.¡±


    I felt sudden bliss and I opened my eyes in surprise to find Amy no longer sitting on the fallen tree. Instead, she was kneeling beside my head and gently stroking my ears. Against my better judgment, I started purring in contentment.


    ¡°You know, if you¡¯re so bored, why don¡¯t you try conquering dungeons?¡± Amy said as she continued to scratch my head.


    I tried to muster the energy to respond but I was so comfortable I didn¡¯t want to move. Instead, I consigned myself to my fate of melting into a puddle of pleasant feelings under Amy¡¯s gentle caresses.


    All too soon she stopped petting me and I reluctantly sat back up. I decided to remind her of the whole point she came here before she could pull off one of her disappearing acts. ¡°Sooo, are you going to get rid of my bad luck trait, or what?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. Sorry. Ummm. Yea I guess you probably learned your lesson by now so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem with removing it.¡± Amy seemed reluctant to do as I asked, but in the end, I was satisfied.


    Aura of Misfortune has dissipated from your presence. Bad Fortune no longer lingers around you.


    The Trait Trouble Magnetism has been removed. Your natural influence with luck has been lessened.


    I let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Thank goodness. You have no idea how good it feels to have that weight lifted off my shoulders. Sooo, what was that you were saying about dungeons?¡±


    Amy stands up and dusts off the dirt and leaves on her knees. ¡°I was just saying that when you go out and explore the world, you should go out of your way some to conquer dungeons. There are plenty of interesting places to explore in this world, but dungeons can provide some of the most unique and interesting areas that you would never find anywhere else.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ actually, that¡¯s not a bad idea. A dungeon boss conquering dungeons¡­ I could get behind that.¡± I nod and give Amy my best feline grin. Amy couldn¡¯t help but grimace at my expression.


    ¡°Why do I get the feeling I just gave you a lighter while exploring a fireworks factory?¡±


    ¡°Because you are just starting to understand what kind of adorable little kitty I am.¡±


    Amy groans and wipes her hand down her face. ¡°I¡¯m going to go before I open my mouth and give you any more bad ideas.¡±


    With an audible pop and a quick flash of light, Amy vanishes from sight. I smile as I think of the adventures I could have soon. ¡°Hehehe, I think now would be a good time to do some dungeon exploration. The dungeon in this forest would be an excellent place to start I think.¡±


    I start walking a few steps and almost immediately think of a blaring and obvious flaw in my planning. ¡°Shit! Where the fuck is any of the dungeons?!¡±


    In my eagerness and Amy¡¯s rapid departure I had condemned myself to aimlessly wandering the region until I manage to trip over the entrance. If I was still a player, I could just ask someone, but that¡¯s not really an option anymore.


    ¡°Maybe I could use the zone chat to ask players where the zone chat is? No that wouldn¡¯t work. My name sticks out too much in the chat window and it would be a bad idea if players knew I was looking for the closest dungeon. I would end up being swarmed by players before I knew it.¡±


    I guess I could eavesdrop on the zone chat¡­ someone is bound to mention a dungeon in the area. I sigh wearily ¡°I can already tell this is going to be a boring and exhausting day.¡±


    As depressing as my idea is, it was the only one I had. So with reluctance marked in every step, I made my way back towards the small village I had already created so much trouble for. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll get lucky and someone will talk about the dungeon right away?¡± I snort with derision at the thought. ¡°Yea and I¡¯m a flying pink Elephant!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    GrammarKnotsee and the rest of the party slowly made their way through the forest. As they slowly progressed in the direction of the village they conversed with each other animatedly. GrammarKnotsee, having remained mostly quiet during the trip, was left to his own thoughts.


    Most of the party already knew about these thoughtful moments he had and tried not to disturb him. M3rlin, the newest member, thought the behavior was odd but decided to go with the flow.


    ¡°Did you guys see how fluffy his fur was! I wanted to just jump right on top and cuddle him like there was no tomorrow!¡± Flowerpower¡¯s eyes were wide with excitement as she recalled their encounter with the legendary wandering boss that supposedly held the key to one of the most interesting dungeons in the game.


    InCrudible, who was walking alongside Flowerpower and M3rlin, simply shrugged. ¡°Crud was to busy trying not to pee pants to notice fluffy fur.¡±


    M3rlin glanced over at InCrudible. ¡°You know, if you just put a few points into intelligence, you would be able to talk normally.¡±


    The tall Orc swelled his chest out proudly. ¡°Crud think Crud¡¯s way of speaking is En- inder- Endeeer-¡±


    ¡°Endearing?¡± Flowerpower chimed in.


    ¡°Yes! That word. Just cuz Crud can¡¯t use big words doesn¡¯t mean Crud is dumb. Smarts is Crud¡¯s dump stat, but Crud has much wisdom though. Lets Crud be smart in dumb way.¡±


    M3rlin rolled his eyes. ¡°Alright alright. Who am I to tell you how to play your own character. What happened with your Earth Strike though. I thought GrammarKnotsee told you to hit the panther.¡±


    InCrudible looked confused for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s the thing though. Crud DID attack panther but Crud missed and hit rabbit instead. When Crud saw panther right next to him, Crud thought it best not to move in case kitty attack Crud. Crud made wise decision.¡±


    There was a short silence as all three of them were absorbed in there own thoughts. Flowerpower spoke up again. ¡°How smart do you think the panther is? He seemed to understand what we were saying.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    M3rlin pulled his wand out of his robe and examined it for any cracks or scratches as he responded. ¡°I think he is pretty smart for a cat. If I were to guess, I would say he at least has the intelligence of a 6-year-old child. He knew what we were saying and was able to convey human emotions. What do you think, GrammarKnotsee?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± GrammarKnotsee looked around in confusion. ¡°Oh, we¡¯re already here. That was fast.¡± Indeed the group had just arrived at the large meadow containing the horned rabbits.


    InCrudible softly elbowed M3rlin¡¯s shoulders since he was too tall to subtly reach M3rlin¡¯s ribs. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t bother GrammarKnotsee when he in deep think. He busy inside head. Last time he have deep think, he invited you to group and got those potions to chase Snowball.¡±


    Flowerpower nodded in agreement. ¡°Yea, GrammarKnotsee doesn¡¯t really give coherent answers when he¡¯s like that anyways. He usually has some pretty good ideas afterward though.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee had snapped out of his daze though and was waving to a familiar trio that was just finishing a fight with a frenzied horned rabbit. ¡°Hey, guys! How¡¯d our advice help you?¡±


    M3rlin looked to where GrammarKnotsee was waving and saw Delric, Puff, and Tanyargh walking towards them. Both groups closed the distance towards each other, careful not to aggro any of the nearby horned rabbits.


    Puff was the first to reach them, being the agile little flyer that he is. ¡°Hey, guys. How did the hunt go? Did you get Snowball?¡±


    GrammarKnotsee tilted his hand back and forth in a ¡®sorta¡¯ gesture. ¡°Technically yes. We completed the quest and everything, but the circumstances were really unusual.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Do tell.¡± Delric had been close enough to hear GrammarKnotsee¡¯s words.


    Tanyargh, following right behind him, was just as curious. ¡°Yea, Fighting these horned rabbits has lost all the tension it had in the beginning, so Delric had been training his evasion skills when they go crazy. I¡¯m sure whatever happened to you guys is way more interesting than having to fight any more of these rabbits.¡±


    GrammarKnotsee hesitated a moment before replying. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been doing a lot of thinking on the way back here and I think I¡¯ve worked out what exactly was happening. We had almost lost Snowball. When Snowball would disappear into the woods if you inspected his status, you could see a ¡®vengeful¡¯ tag. I think something had pissed it off enough that it would stop at nothing for revenge. The problem was that Snowball was no match for this ¡®something¡¯


    GrammarKnotsee looked around to make sure all the horned rabbits were maintaining their distance before he decided to sit down. This was gonna take a while and he didn¡¯t feel like standing the entire time. At his action, everyone else decided to follow suit. When Tanyargh sat down, the others felt a subtle shockwave in the ground.


    ¡°Soo, anyways,¡± GrammarKnotsee continued. ¡°Apparently Snowball¡¯s suicide runs got annoying enough that the target of that spite decided to turn the tables. We about gave up when Snowball comes dashing out of the undergrowth with none other than the wandering boss mentioned in the update notes hot on his heels.¡±


    ¡°What! No way! You guys found that vessel thing?!¡± Puff exclaimed. ¡°What are the odds that of all the freaking places it could have spawned it would be right here!¡±


    Tanyargh looked just as eager. ¡°What did it look like? How big was it?¡±


    GrammarKnotsee held up his hands. ¡°Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. There is a lot to talk about still. Anyways, Crud tried to trip it up with Earth Strike but ended up pulping Snowball instead. That¡¯s how we completed the quest. As for the wandering boss, I¡¯ve worked out a couple of interesting facts. The first and most important one is that is level of intelligence is equal to or greater than our own. I was actually right in the village just before the update and he had come close enough to use the village¡¯s zone chat. I and a few of the other players were actually able to communicate with him in the chat and when challenged of the validity of his identity he baited one of the players to the edge of the forest and killed him right in front of us. I can say for a fact he was not a player character since the creature that attacked this player was indeed a monster.¡±


    ¡°Wait, so let me get this straight. Not only is this boss guy super smart like the Tetra Devs said, but you saw him BEFORE the update?¡± Puff sounded really skeptical of the situation.


    ¡°Actually I had run into him even earlier.¡± M3rlin chimed in. ¡°I think it was a day or three before Tetra Games even announced the update. I thought he was just a regular ShadowStalker Panther at the time, but he exhibited far more intelligence than any other mob had up to that point. It used tactics and everything.¡±


    ¡°Wait it¡¯s a big cat?¡± Tanyargh sounded exasperated ¡°ugh that sounds so boring!¡±


    Delric had a small smile on his face. ¡°Riley would have loved to meet this boss. He loved cats. He even made his character one of the feline Beastkin.¡±


    ¡°Oh, where is he then? If he¡¯s ingame than we can party up. I¡¯ll bet the boss is still in the area.¡± Flowerpower spoke up oblivious to the atmosphere surrounding Tanyargh, Puff, and Delric. GrammarKnotsee noticed the melancholic feeling however and before Flowerpower could say anything else, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed tightly.


    Flowerpower looked back at GrammarKnotsee, confused, and seeing his intense gaze turned back towards the trio. Seeing their sad expressions she grew immediately concerned. ¡°Oh no. I¡¯m so sorry. Did I say something wrong?¡±


    Puff shook his head. ¡°No, you couldn¡¯t have known. It only happened recently so things¡­ things are still a bit fresh.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± M3rlin softly asked. ¡°If he¡¯s sick there wouldn¡¯t be a problem with meeting up again when he feels better¡±


    GrammarKnotsee grabbed M3rlin¡¯s wrist. ¡°M3rlin. Those tears aren¡¯t being shed for a sick friend.¡±


    Tanyargh¡¯s voice cut through the conversation. ¡°You can wait until your bones turn to dust. It won¡¯t bring back the dead.¡± Tanyargh¡¯s voice sounded bitter with loss and she sat stiffly with her hands in her lap. Her body quivered with the tension of held back emotions.


    Suddenly, Flowerpower jumped to her feet and ran over to Tanyargh. Wordlessly she wrapped her arms around Tanyargh¡¯s torso in the biggest embrace she could manage with the trolls massive frame.


    As if a dam broke, Tanyargh took a heaving breath and bit her lip. Blood trickled from her mouth but she ignored that and the tears that started pouring down her face. Tanyargh raised her arms and returned the embrace as she let go of her emotions.


    GrammarKnotsee realized that privacy might be something that would be appreciated during this fragile moment. He quickly grabbed the wrists of InCrudible and M3rlin and pulled them closer. M3rlin resisted at first but decided to let GrammarKnotsee have his way.


    InCrudible quietly followed behind. He wasn¡¯t sure what GrammarKnotsee was planning but he had learned to cooperate when it was needed.


    As soon as everyone was close enough, GrammarKnotsee pulled out his magic wand. As he gathered his mana, an icy fog built around the tip of the wand.


    Ice Barrier!


    GrammarKnotsee raised his wand up as he cast the spell. A wall of thick frosted ice rose around them. As it came over their head the top of the wall curved inwards until it met itself in the center, forming a dome of opaque ice.


    Delric looked around him at the barrier before giving a nod of thanks to GrammarKnotsee. ¡°Thank you. That was very kind.¡± Delric¡¯s voice was choked with emotion, but he maintained a calm outward appearance even as his own tears obscured his vision.


    Tanyargh was no longer overcome by her sobbing, but she still hugged Flowerpower to her chest as the small elf gently pat her back. After a few more minutes everyone got control of themselves.


    Tanyargh released Flowerpower with a mumbled apology. ¡°Sorry about that¡­ I don¡¯t know what came over me.¡±


    Flowerpower smiled sadly at Tanyargh. ¡°It¡¯s okay. We all lose loved ones and it¡¯s always a hard thing to overcome.¡±


    InCrudible cleared his throat grabbing everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Crud have lost loved ones too. Crud sad for long time. After much sad time Crud learned many things. Some things good. Some things not good. Crud tell you thing that help Crud most. Crud say¡­ Being sad is not bad. It good to be sad for friends and family. It important though, no let sad parts become all parts. When all parts sad, there be no room for happy parts.¡±


    Everyone took a moment to let InCrudible¡¯s words sink in. ¡°Wow, Crud. That¡¯s the first smart thing I¡¯ve ever heard you say!¡±


    InCrudible shook his head. ¡°Crud not smart, Crud WISE. Crud not use head to think. Brain thoughts be for wizards. Crud think with this!¡± at his own words, the Orc thumped his fist against his chest. Whether he was gesturing to his heart or his gut, no one was entirely sure but no one bothered to ask him to clarify the gesture either.


    There was a light sniff ¡°So, what were we talking about before the emotional breakdown?¡± Puff was once more flying sedately a few feet in the air his soft glow provided some light to the dim area within the dome.


    ¡°Umm M3rlin was just saying that he had an encounter with the wandering boss before it was ever a boss.¡± Delric summarized succinctly.


    GrammarKnotsee nodded. ¡°Yes. So back to my original point, Ebony the Vessel has displayed levels of intelligence no other mob has been capable of so far and I theorize that his creation wasn¡¯t completely intentional.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s Ebony?¡± Puff asked.


    ¡°Oh, sorry. Ebony is the name of the wandering boss. When M3rlin first encountered him, apparently he didn¡¯t have a name at the time but I can confirm without a doubt that the ShadowStalker Panther back than is the same creature as the Ebony we saw today.¡± GrammarKnotsee clarified.


    Delric stiffened at the explanation. ¡°Ebony? You''re sure that¡¯s the name? And that it¡¯s a panther?¡±


    GrammarKnotsee hesitated, seeing the intent focus from Delric but answered anyways. ¡°Yea, I identified him myself and it was the same name used in the chat logs just before the bunny raid during the update.¡±


    Delric glared at his feet for a few seconds before spinning to Puff and Tanyargh. ¡°Hey, guys do you remember what Riley said his Race variation was?¡±


    Tanyargh looked unsure but Puff answered after a few seconds of thought. ¡°He didn¡¯t exactly say what his race variety was, but he had described making the ears and tail as black as possible because he was making some sort of stealthy build. If I were to go by those characteristics alone, I would say it was probably the panther variation? Why do you ask?¡±


    Delric hesitated for a long moment before replying. ¡°I don¡¯t know If I¡¯m crazy or I might be on to something. To even consider this possibility has to say something of my sanity¡­¡±


    ¡°Delric? Are you okay?¡± Puff asked with a note of concern in his voice. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    Delric straightened his back. ¡°Okay guys, this is going to sound crazy. I mean REALLY crazy, but stay with me until the end.¡±


    Puff and Tanyargh both nodded in acceptance and Delric continued with his thoughts. ¡°What if Riley isn¡¯t dead? What if he has been in this game the entire time?¡±


    Puff frowned at Delric¡¯s words. ¡°Okay, I can see the crazy leaking out of your ears. We all saw his body. We KNOW he is dead! How could he be in here?¡±


    Delric clenched his fists. ¡°I don¡¯t know! Don¡¯t you remember what Riley¡¯s character name was? Ebon Darkclaw? Very similar to Ebony, don¡¯t you think? On top of that, Riley made a panther variation Cat beastkin. If that isn¡¯t enough, about the fact that Riley died almost at the same time this boss made its first appearance and a few days later this huge life changing update pops up out of nowhere. No teasers, no leaks, nothing! Don¡¯t you think this is way too many coincidences?!¡± Delric¡¯s voice increased in desperation as he continued.


    Tanyargh gently placed a hand on Delric¡¯s shoulder and spoke softly to him. ¡°Franz, as much as we all wish something like that could happen, this is just a game. Riley is dead and nothing will change that. Something like that could only happen in fairytales.¡±


    Delric clenched his fists more tightly. He shut his eyes and grit his teeth but nothing he did could stop the oncoming flow of tears. ¡°I- I know Gert. I¡­ I just want him back so badly that it hurts.¡±


    ¡°I know, Franz. I know.¡± Tanyargh gently rubbed Delric¡¯s back until the moment passed.


    Puff flew slowly up to Delric. ¡°Hey F- er Delric, if it will make you feel any better, why don¡¯t we go look for this Ebony fella? Ask his opinion? If he doesn¡¯t wanna talk, we¡¯ll just beat the shit outta him!¡±


    ¡°That. That sounds pretty good, actually.¡±


    As GrammarKnotsee saw things were settling down he decided to stop channeling the Ice Barrier spell. Even if no one had been hitting it and draining his mana, they had still been in the dome for a long enough time to significantly drain his mana pool.


    The walls of ice crumbled around them from the top down breaking into tiny fragments of glittering ice.


    ¡°Okay!¡± Puff confidently said. ¡°So we go into town, restock on supplies and then we go into the forest and look for this Ebony the Vessel fella and-¡±


    ¡°Ebony the Vessel is in the forest?¡±


    ¡°Whoa isn¡¯t that the wandering boss from the update?¡±


    ¡°Sweet! I gotta tell my friend this! He¡¯ll be sooo jealous!¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s the boss at in the forest?!¡±


    As the walls of ice finally finished disintegrating, it revealed a small crowd had gathered around the mysterious dome of ice that had formed in the middle of a grassy meadow. As such, the small crowd had heard every word Puff had said while the walls dissipated.


    A wave of excitement traveled through the crowd and the group that had previously been isolated and oblivious to the world outside suddenly found themselves bombarded with players with no sense of personal space and a constant buzz that was supposedly composed of questions.


    Puff facepalmed. ¡°Damnit, for such a small body, I sure do have a big mouth.¡±

 Update on whats going on right now.

    Okay, so you guys at least deserve to know why I haven''t posted any chapters these last few weeks now. If you recall me saying previously, I mentioned my mom hasn''t been feeling well lately. Well, things kinda blew out of control since then.


    It turns out she had an infection. It had spread into her bloodstream and with her getting on in years, it was a close thing. She spent a little time in the hospital and I spent a little time freaking the fuck out.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Things have calmed down now and she is recovering at home now. We have to do a lot of things though to make sure it stays that way.


    I would LOVE to post more chapters to my story and reading all your input each time I do was always entertaining. Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor the motivation to do that right now while caring for my mom. Rest assured I have NOT suddenly stopped writing for this story.


    It might take a while but once things have calmed down I will come back with a vengeance. Thank you. All of you for the support and criticism you have all given me while I made this story. I hope to see you again soon!