《Carving a Path》 Chapter 0: Prologue Eriq stared at the email on his screen. "Pathway...online?" ''Why do I keep getting this email?'' he thought to himself. Eriq had never signed up to receive any emails for this game. He opened a new tab and searched for the company that created the game. He looked at the first result. ''Nightfall Game Company... looks like this is their first game.'' he exited out of the tab and proceeded to read the email. "We select you, ERIQ HOLLOWAY, to join us at Nightfall Game Company!" ''What...? Are they trying to recruit me?'' he pondered. Eriq had some experience with working for game companies but he always got terminated in the end. He had terrible social skills and angered his coworkers on a daily basis. "As you may know, Nightfall was once known as Toothless Games. Creators of games including Telezap, Super Sorcerers, and our most popular game Clashers." This piqued Eriq''s interest. He had worked for Toothless Games before and had a better experience there than anywhere else. He was layed off when they shut down but quickly moved on to a different company. "We kept files on everyone who had been layed off by Toothless, and formally apologise and wish to have you join us once more." Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Eriq wasn''t going to take the job. He had enough on his plate already with college. He wasn''t going to start up again. Besides, how good could the game be anyways? Toothless games only made decent retro games and horrible FPS. The job that was being offered was a bit different than usual, however. They were calling it expander. Eriq thought this was just some sort of deluded way to trick people into taking some terrible job. But then he read what came after. "Being an expander is quite simple. Each day you must play our new game, Pathway Online, for a certain amount of time. Afterwards, you send us either a video or a report on what you accomplished, anything that needs fixing, anything that would require the assistance of an administrator and so on. You will be paid for every significant quest or activity you complete and will be paid for the time spent playing the game" Eriq was interested now. ''This sounds pretty easy. Maybe I coul-'' Eriq''s train of thought was interrupted by a phone call. Chapter 1: Game I am having so much trouble trying to figure out how to use the tables so just bear with that thing. :( --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq leaned over and looked at his phone.
Incoming Call -Wyatt-
"Wyatt? How did he get my number? Wait, why is he in my contacts?" Wyatt was Eriq''s only friend, they had been friends since high school, where they met at a part-time job. Wyatt was a very popular person and was known for trying to be helpful and friendly, and the ladies just loved him. Wyatt always tried to push Eriq to be more social but never worked out. Eriq picked up the phone. "Hello?" "HEY! HOW''S IT GOING BUDDY!?" Wyatt yelled with screeching music in the background. "Too Loud! What''s with all the noise!? Do you know how late it is!?" Eriq cried trying to speak louder than the music. "SORRY! I''ll TURN IT OFF!" "Phew, anyways what''s up buddy" continued Wyatt. "What was that?" questioned Eriq "Sorry was listening to music cause I''m hyped." "What is it this time? Trying to force me to go to some crowded place with your friends?" "Haha! Not this time! You received the email from nightfall didn''t you?" inquired Wyatt "Oh... yeah. I don''t think I''m up for it." "What?! This is a great opportunity! Look, you need this. You have been really pale lately and seem super stressed. I think this will be good for you." "I don''t know man, I''m really busy lately." "You can do it in your free time! What are you so busy with anyway? Art classes? We both know that''s gonna get you nowhere." "S-shut up. I''m doing it for myself." Eriq said angrily "Come on! We can do it together!" pleaded Wyatt. "FINE! I''ll do it." Eriq finally gave in. "YES! Okay let''s meet up in the morning, and we''ll go out to buy everything we need." "What time?" "Let''s say... 8:30?" "Fine. I''m going to sleep." "Okay, bye" Click --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun struck Eriq in the face. He had just woke up and did not appreciate the sun in the slightest. He shuffled out of bed and made his way into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. Eriq had a very tired look on his delinquent looking face. He had very brown eyes and had black hair that went down to his chin. He was also very tall. This combination led many to mistake him for some kind of monster in a scary movie especially with his hair covering his face like it is. Eriq brushed his hair back behind his ears so he could see. ''Damn. I don''t want to be doing this.'' Eriq complained. Eriq wasn''t social in the slightest and in many ways was more vampire than human. He hated the sun with a passion and was incredibly pale. However, with the help of Wyatt, he convinced Eriq to go to the gym with him twice a week, so he was in better shape than the average shut-in. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ''Well, guess I should get ready.'' Eriq thought. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq stepped out of the shower and dried off, he picked out a pair of jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt. He put in his earrings and put on a black beanie with a small symbol of a Raven on the edge of it. BANG BANG BANG Eriq jumped into an incredibly fake karate stance, ready to flail wildly to anyone who attacked him. "Eriq!? I''m a bit early but I was just too excited." Wyatt pronounced Eriq, glad no one saw him, angrily opened the door. "For chrissake, Wyatt you don''t have to knock that loud." complained Eriq Wyatt was a bit shorter than Eriq. He was quite handsome with his brownish-gold hair and blue eyes. he was wearing a yellow and white checkered shirt and a black shirt underneath with blue jeans. "Sorry... You ready?" "I guess." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wyatt and Eriq both stared at the price for the game. "$1,200?!" they shouted in unison. That was far too much money. And that wasn''t even everything they needed. They still needed to buy a VRMindset. "Well. I guess I can afford that. But you owe me, big time." Wyatt said dejectedly "Yeah, I''ll definitely pay you back." said Eriq. Eriq had no intention of paying him back. Wyatt would definitely forget about it sooner or later. An employee walked up to the screaming college students. "You''re here for Pathway Online right?" he said boringly. "Yeah." said Wyatt. "May I have your names, please? There is a chance you could win a discount if you get chosen." said the employee. "Sounds good. Name is Wyatt Cowen, This is my friend Eriq Holloway." "Okay I''ll be right back" mumbled the employee, already walking away. "Doubt we will win anything." said Eriq "Worth a shot" Eriq picked up the Pathway Online? box and flipped it around to see the description
WELCOME TO PATHWAY ONLINE?. An entire planet to explore, From the sky to the sea. Everything is permanent. No going back now. Carve your path through this world, and become a legend.
''Sounds a bit cliche if you ask me.'' thought Eriq. The employee walked back. "Seems like you guys work with Nightfall, correct?" "Uhh... yeah I guess we do." said Wyatt with a confused work on his face. "Nightfall has informed us that the game and any other game related necessities will be payed for by Nightfall." Wyatt looked directly at Eriq. "Sweet." Chapter 2: Life Sorry about any grammatical errors I make or do make. Like using the word "work" instead of "look". I should really proofread. I''m lazy. Wyatt placed two Pathway Online boxes, two VRMindset Boxes, and two neck pillows onto the counter. "Uhh. These neck pillows won''t be paid for by Nightfall..." muttered the employee. "Oh. That''s cool. I can afford it." said Wyatt. Wyatt was incredibly excited. Not only did he get the game and set for free, but Eriq did as well, and they would be able to play it with each other. "Ok. here you go, sir..." "Why did you say sir like that?" questioned Eriq "What are you talking about? I didn''t say it like anything?" "Just leave it, it''s fine." said Wyatt. The two walked out of the store. Eriq made direct eye contact the entire time, almost walking into a customer. "Brats." mumbled the depressed employee who obviously had no purpose in life. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq walked into his room and set the boxes down onto his bed, Wyatt doing the same. "So, we gonna set this up or what?" exclaimed Wyatt excitedly. At this point, Wyatt was already ripping open the boxes. Eriq calmly opened the boxes with care as Wyatt just crushed and tore everything like it was Christmas. Eriq read the VRMindset manual,which was surprisingly only one paragraph and the rest was in different languages.
VRMindset? The VRMindset? will automatically scan for any nearby and up-to-date versions of certain game. Each game has code on back of cartridge. [ex. XXXX-XX] You will input the code via thought and will connect with the game cartridge. after that, set a password for the game via thought Once done, close your eyes and use the voice command "Start!" ENJOY
The Mindset looked like a very slim football helmet without the face mask. It had a super tinted visor and the helmet itself was black. "Put it on." Said Wyatt, already laying down on Eriq''s couch getting ready to play. Eriq put the Mindset on to find it was extremely comfortable. The visor lit up and asked for the code. Eriq read the code. The Mindset asked for the launch code. "Ready?" asked Eriq. "Of course!" "Wait- how are we gonna'' find each other if we end up in different places?" "How about this, I''ve done some research, There is a big city called Rhousol. We can meet up there. Shouldn''t take too long." informed Wyatt "Okay but like... where?" queried Eriq "Uhh. Well, I''m sure there will be like, a tavern or inn or something." "Whatever, Let''s go." "START!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq found himself in an all-white room, he couldn''t tell how big the room is as it seemed endless. A black humanoid figure approached him. Eriq at first was startled but they gave off a very pure and friendly aura. The figure stopped in front of him and held out their hand. A voice could be heard in Eriq''s head. "Hello, Please select a name." Eriq pondered. ''We should have discussed this as well, dammit Wyatt.'' he thought. He went over a plethora of names in his head but in the end, decided just to go with "Eriq" "You have selected Eriq as your name. Continue?" "Yes." "A last name can be added at any time at any city hall." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Please select a race." A list of races appeared on a thin white box. There were many but Eriq decided to go simple and be human. "Human." "You have selected Human. This can not be changed. Continue?" "Yes" "Please alter appearance as you desire." The humanoid figure became an exact replica of him. After thinking about it Eriq decided to add just a tad bit of muscle to him and divided it out evenly. For the most part, he looked the same, he added muscle mass in case it helped once in the game. "Continue?" "Uhh. Yep." "Entering game now. Starting Village: Clavengel." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq blinked and when he opened his eyes he was in the starting village. He looked around to see many people. Most were inside walking inside buildings or talking to people, some were standing around a water fountain shouting things about groups and guilds, but Eriq wasn''t listening to that, he was taking in the scenery. It was a thick forest, the trees were unbelievably tall, the night sky was beautiful and the two moons he saw in the sky looked more than real. A message pops up in front of him. "I can''t leave the forest for a two weeks?" "What am I supposed to do?" Eriq didn''t want to just go around talking to random people. What if they turned hostile for some reason? Eriq didn''t exactly know how to fight. He sat down on a bench far away from the center of the village and began to scan what was going on. ''Okay, I would assume that those people near the water fountain are players, however, there is nothing that differentiates them from the NPC''s.'' Eriq had many questions, he didn''t know how to bring up any menu''s or even know how to logout. He would either have to experiment or just ask someone. He began saying random words and doing random poses trying to get something to appear, but to no avail. He was getting strange looks from passerby''s and decided to sit back down and think. ''Hmmm, well maybe it''s done via thought as well.'' ''Uhh. Menu?'' Nothing. ''How about if I was more specific. Uhh, Stats?''
Name:EriqHealth:100
Class:NoneMana:100
Guild:NoneStamina:100
Strength:1Intelligence:1Agility:1
Accuracy:1Charisma:1Faith:0
Defense:1Focus:1Empty +
Eriq looked over the stats. ''Shouldn''t of I had picked a class?'' thought Eriq. Some time passed by and all Eriq accomplished was reading his stats and tried to open other menu''s. DING DONG, DING DONG "Ah shit, it''s already so late?" Eriq looked at the clocktower. ''Log-out.'' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wyatt sat on the couch scrolling through his phone. He saw Eriq take his helmet off and sit up. "What are you doing?" asked Eriq. "Ah, I wanted to know about classes and stuff." replied Wyatt. "Yeah, I probably should do that too. Why are you still here though? It''s late." "What''re you talking about? It''s been like, 15 minutes." Eriq turned and looked at his clock. He guessed that time probably worked differently in-game and probably should have realized that sooner. "Well, research time." Chapter 3: Knowledge Eriq opened up his laptop and started searched for the games website. Instead of being led to search results he clicked ''I''m feeling lucky'' and exactly what he needed appeared. "Let''s see..." sighed Eriq. Wyatt pulled up a chair next to him. "How do you get a class?" Eriq clicked around and landed himself upon a tutorial made by a player. The post was divided into different segments.
Battle
Classes
Quests
Guilds
Groups
Misc
"Which one first?" asked Eriq. "Wouldn''t it be better just to read from the start?" Eriq clicked on the battle section. "Okay... seems fairly simple. For the most part, basic attacks can be done manually, but skills can be done manually and automatically by shouting the attack command. Automatic is highly recommended for all because if you do a skill manually it has to be done exactly or will fail." "Seems easy enough, go to class." said Wyatt. "Let''s see. Classes can be achieved mostly through quests, most starting quests lead to class related quests. Hidden classes can only be obtained from Hidden quests, which are quests you are given that don''t take up one of the 4 quest slots and won''t show up in the quest menu." Underneath were a list of classes discovered. "So basically you won''t even be told about the quest for hidden classes? Seems impossible." sighed Wyatt. "I already know that quests are ranked in color, white being lowest and red being hardest." continued Wyatt. Eriq skipped groups and guilds since he wasn''t interested in interacting with people he didn''t need too. "Misc. Hmm. Wow, you feel 75% of the pain from battling that you would normally experience in real life. That''s a bit gruesome." "I think that''s kinda'' awesome. Gives it a nice gritty feeling doesn''t it?" replied Wyatt. "I guess." "Hmm. Battle scars are permanent, most can be healed by magic. Scars received by rare encounters with named bosses are permanent." "A week in game is 6 hours in real time. Wow, that''s alot of game time." The rest of the misc section were commands for opening menus. "So, you gonna'' head back in?" asked Wyatt. "Nah, I''m just going to laze around." said Eriq. "Well, wanna'' go out for a bite to eat?" "Uhhh. I guess I am a bit hungry." "Awesome." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq and Wyatt slid into a booth. "You''re paying right?" asked Eriq. "Oh, sure why not?" sighed Wyatt. The waiter approached and Eriq and Wyatt both ordered. A few moments passed and a different waiter came with their food. "Eriq?" said a womanly voice. Eriq turned around to see one person that he really didn''t want to talk too. His stepmom. Eriq didn''t exactly hate his stepmom. He hated how much she tried to make him happy. She spent too much of her money on him. Eriq lived alone in an apartment she paid for, everything but his clothes were gifts from her. If she just acted normal instead of spoiling him. Eriq assumed she was an evil woman who just wanted to pay him off and stay out of her way. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Hi, April." moaned Eriq. "You know you can call me mom you know." She said with a sigh. April had long, curly blonde hair and blue eyes. she wore a pearl necklace and a slim purple dress and high heels, she was here with one of her girlfriends from work. "Whatever, we''re trying to eat here so can you like, not bother us?" Eriq groaned. "Eriq! Don''t be rude." exclaimed Wyatt. "It''s fine. I was just leaving. You''re welcome to the house any time Eriq." April said as she walked away. "Dude, what was that all about?" asked Wyatt. "Nothing. Can we just eat?" "Yeah... okay." They ate their food and Wyatt paid for the food. They walked out and began to walk home. "So.. you gonna play when you get home?" "Yeah, I have enough time." "Cool, so uhh... do you think I could stay the night?" "Ugh, fine." complained Eriq ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq sat down on his bed. "So what did you name yourself?" asked Wyatt. "Just Eriq." "Wow, that''s boring. I named myself ''Wyatt King''. At least I have a last name." "That''s pretty stupid." "Haha, whatever. Let''s get back in the game." "Yep." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eriq looked around. He was sitting in the same place he logged out at. He decided the best idea was to find someone who might provide a quest or at least find something to do in the meantime. He wandered around and walked into an inn. Eriq pulled out a chair and sat down and thought about what he should do. A minute later an elderly man walked into the inn and immediately started arguing with the bartender. The argument lasted about a half hour before Eriq started wondering if he should cut in. ''No, someone else will come and stop them... surely.'' Eriq assured himself. One hour passed. Two hours passed. Eriq had two things he currently was thinking about. He had no idea why he was still listening to these two argue and he didn''t know why they were arguing. ''Am I really gonna have to intervene?'' he asked himself. Suddenly, a big bulky dude barged inside, he was bald and had the angriest look on his face. He had armor on and a sword in his hand so Eriq assumed he was a player. The man slammed his sword on the table. "QUIET!!" Everyone in the inn went silent. The elderly man sat down. The man pointed to the bartender. "GIVE ME FOOD!!" "Don''t talk to my son like that Argus!" shouted the elderly man. "QUIET OLD MAN! This city doesn''t need someone like you who sits around all day painting. We all know artists are useless." exclaimed Argus. The elderly man gestured as if he were about to speak, but sat back down. The bartender hesitantly gave Argus a huge box of food. "That''ll be 50 copper." "HAHA, you silly little punk. I''m not paying for nothing." Argus said. After Argus left, Eriq turned his attention to the now silent elder. ''Artist huh?'' he thought. Eriq got up from his seat and walked over to the old man. "Greetings" he spoke quietly. Chapter 4: Art Sorry, I procrastinate a lot. The old man was completely bald, his face showing pure despair. , wearing green rags and makeshift pants. ''This man doesn''t seem like he is any artist to me.'' The elder glanced at Eriq. "What? You want free food too? Scram!" "Actually, I overheard that you are an artist." replied Eriq anxiously. The old man scanned Eriq from head to toe. "What of it?" "Well, I''m quite... interested in art myself. My name is Eriq," he said "Hmph. I am Fiyas. So what do you expect to get out of me?" "Well, I was hoping you could give me some tips for starting out or show me the ropes." "HAHA, Sorry kid I''m too old to teach you youngin''s... you probably don''t have the patience." "But if I did have patience you might?" questioned Eriq. The old man paused then began to smirk. "Okay kid. I have an idea, follow me." The old man took Eriq through the town to a huge brick wall on the side of a seemingly abandoned house "So now what?" quizzed Eriq. "Alright. So you say you have patience and wish to be an artist, no?" "Uh... correct?" "Haha, well now it''s your time to prove it, you must paint longer than I do without giving up. If you lose you best find another teacher." "But I don''t even have anything to paint with?" "Yes... I guess I''ll allow you to use some of my supplies." said the old man opening a large chest shoved against the wall. "Ok, Begin!" The old man began to paint on the wall at a very slow pace, looking almost like he was about to pass out even though they had just started. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Eriq looked at the wall. He was puzzled. What was he gonna paint? Eriq pushed paint back and forth in one place on the wall as to not lose for not painting. The old man didn''t seem to notice that he was just wasting time, but if he kept at it too long the old bastard would definitely notice. He looked around and saw a beautiful woman sitting on a bench near a fountain. She had long black hair and hazel eyes. Her clothes although dirty only added to her beauty, with a white blouse and skirt. ''Wow... would it be creepy to draw her without her permission?'' he asked himself. The lady looked up and made direct eye contact with Eriq with a confused but angry look on her face. ''Uh-oh.'' thought Eriq. Eriq quickly turned and started painting her. He didn''t care if she thought he was weird he just wanted to get it over with so he can no longer embarrass himself like that. He started to impulsively push the brush across the vast brick canvas. He very quickly started forming a very... interesting looking girl when frowned. Why was it so bad? Eriq pondered for many minutes as he made very small changes here and there. But he was not having it. Eriq was putting in much more effort than the now humming Fiyas, who was truly enjoying painting. Eriq looked to see what Fiyas was painting but he couldn''t make it out. ''Ehhh, The hell is that? Looks like... a boat?'' ''...'' ''You gotta be kidding me.'' Fiyas had indeed been painting a boat to his hearts content but... It was terrible.