《Karma - The Game》


 Chapter 1 – What is this?

    ¡°Uuuaaaahhhgghh¡­¡±


    Yep, a hearty yawn could be considered my typical start into a new day. For months now I felt tired, always, anytime, anywhere. My therapist told me that I had too much stress in my life. It wasn¡¯t in me to object. But not because I felt she was right. I hated confrontation or needless discussions. And when you have problems to say ¡°No¡±, well I got to say; you have to sail in fragile and dangerous waters throughout the day.


    Did I feel stressed? Nope! Everything just tired me out. That¡¯s it.


    I know I am weak. There are no excuses. An Opossum would show more courage. My way of living with the least confrontations and commitment lead to my marriage as well. I¡¯m not going to bitch about it, maybe a bit.


    Marriage felt like going to work or paying bills. You had to do it sooner or later. The only difference: you had to show up with a happy face at the altar or would get into big trouble.


    It was over after 9 years, we stayed friends¡­


    We never talked again. No big deal.


    I turned around in bed again. Oh yeah, I had enough space for myself. Snow angels in bed are terrific! Are those considered bed angels?


    It was my 10th day of freedom. So, what¡¯s with the thought of a typical day in the life of Martin Cline? Was I wrong? Did I feel a hint of motivation, a whiff of a fresh breeze?


    I stretched my arms above my head and smelled my right armpit, unconsciously.


    Brrr, that wasn¡¯t nice and the breeze felt more like a poisonous mist. I should jump into the shower. I didn¡¯t care too much. It was Sunday and I had time. What a great life!


    But, I had a schedule at this last day of the week. I was totally excited and felt somehow like a curious child and was going to sing in my shower as off-key as I wanted to. There wasn¡¯t anybody anymore who could kill the mood with nasty cynicism. Divorce was fucking great!


    So why did I seem that motivated? At 10 a.m. a new game would be launched. No, no, no, not any game. I was a revolution, a unique masterpiece. To call it just a computer game would be almost sacrilegious.


    ¡°Karma¡± was a software module developed by Unicode. It was a fantasy world in a complete virtual reality environment. The hardware, a kind of oversized helmet, was part of the retail package.


    The full immersion set wasn¡¯t just one of those crappy headsets with integrated display and sound. It was the first mainstream central processing unit that could connect to the brain. It was only known by Unicode, how that thing even worked. You couldn¡¯t find even valid theories for that piece of hardware in the Net. The rumors felt more like conspiracies.


    The what, where or why held no interest or deeper meaning for me. The only thing that counted; it would begin soon!


    ***


    It started two months ago. I was browsing the Net without aim and was captured by a big add on some porn site. I mean, it was quite the coincidence that I saw that some gamer network portal would have a hot story and interview about virtual reality. It seemed to be exclusive as well. That didn¡¯t mean jack, but I had to give it try with all the time at my disposal. So GON, Games Online Network, was on! No pun intended!


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    And there she was. What a woman! It felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head. That cupcake with extra cream was introduced as CEO of Unicode? She wasn¡¯t simply out of my league; she was out of my universe. I guess I was ok looking. But when I saw her I got an instant complex. It was worth visiting this web site just for a glimpse on the goddess!


    How crazy when you really thought about it. A supermodel ran a giant multinational software corp, with their Apps usually in all the Top10 download charts.


    My now more relaxed savoring of this highlight was just interrupted by some different pictures of the second channel I ran in the background. I instantly switched this to full screen.


    ¡°Wowee, wowee, wow!¡± I started drooling, figuratively. I was absolutely speechless und overwhelmed by the shown scenery and the huge walls that seemed to belong to some medieval city. A monstrous white dragon was the next blow to my brain. That was part of a game, no real life footage with CG? It seemed totally real!


    ¡°Fucking awesome!¡± I already jumped to the chat and asked for some elves in case there would be some around and there was still enough time.


    I raised the volume to not miss even a minor detail.


    Lilith Anihcam, said CEO supermodel cupcake babe, didn¡¯t say that much about the game. Karma, as the name implied to some extent, should be an important part of the experience. Over all there were no fixed regulations and you could almost do what you wanted to. The environment itself and the societies the world carried would generate rules.


    The world you would play in and could be discovered was already five times as big as Earth.


    ¡°Fantastic!¡±


    Because of my excitement and all the gorgeous input I felt like peeing my pants.


    The immersion system from Unicode and software was said to be available at a reasonable price.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    I felt like you could ask for several grant when all the stuff I was seeing so far was real. ¡®It better be true!¡¯, was what I thought.


    All the additional information and the rest of the video was just icing on the cake. I was convinced. The new religion with Unicode as tin god could start anytime.


    By the way: I would marry again if Lilith Anihcam would be the bride! Was that love at first sight? Or had I just experienced a hormonal disorder?


    What was going in the last days and weeks? Yeah right, I was working and paid the bills. Beside the obvious I was plowing through the Net for information and news about Karma. Nothing!


    Only Unicode¡¯s separate Karma web site had some info, but no too much. What was wrong with all the insider blogs and important shitheads who knew usually weeks in advance which coffee were cold first and which fart caused a setback in the development of the newest game?


    Time was ticking! Was it 10, yet?

 Chapter 2 – Let’s get started

    One thing Karma had in common with your run of the mill mmorpg was a widely used race system. Just the selection and the choices you could make in the beginning seem lacking.


    There were Humans, Dwarfs and Halflings. That¡¯s it!


    All three races had their strengths and weaknesses, naturally. You received various benefits and handicaps according to the traits.


    The differences were negligible after your character creation. But with Karmas none existing level cap starting choices would eventually reveal huge consequences later in the game.


    That was one of the main reasons Martin took his time for his character. Thinking things through was advisable due to the fact that every player was only allowed one. It still felt not completely right for him without all the information game designers usually make open to the public.


    Other races either known or hidden were only available after unique or rare quests or by reincarnation. There were no clues from Unicode how the last one should work out in game.


    But that wasn¡¯t too much of a stick and there were a lot of carrots dangling around. Some races you could play where shown with screenshots on Karmas web site. There were some Elves, Orcs, Goblins and even a freaking huge Dragon on display.


    ¡°A Dragon? For real? Somebody wants to be a 30-ton lizard? Hilarious!¡±


    Browsing through that sparse information it felt like that there could easily be 50 plus hidden races.


    Karma was a game without regular classes. So, there was neither ¡°You reached level 20. Please choose your new class.¡± nor ¡°Go to your class specific trainer when you reach level 10.¡±


    Still, every occupation was possible and every profession could be learned if not for racial restrictions. A Dwarf for example wasn¡¯t blessed with much charm or charisma. Being a bard would be disproportionate harder.


    ***


    I was decided to tread a certain path already. There wasn¡¯t much thought to invest anymore.


    That did mean I only had to wait for another hour, sixty-something nail biting minutes.


    It was the perfect time for a shower and a relaxed breakfast. At least I tried to be relaxed without looking at the clock every few seconds. But I didn¡¯t want to start with an empty stomach. Who knows how long I was going stay in game.


    Good thing I ordered my FIVR set in advance one day after watching GON¡¯s stream. Since Friday last week it stayed beside my bed on a small desk, ready to be worshipped and used.


    999 bucks for the hardware was no freebie but totally reasonable from my perspective. The monthly fee of 49 USD wasn¡¯t that cheap either. But I easily could live with it when Karma was as good as the previews promising.


    It was a good thing that the delivery was on time. Otherwise I had to plug out the toenails of my employers controller to relieve my frustration. Well, it didn¡¯t come to this. Not that he wouldn¡¯t have deserved it from time to time.


    Ok, all preparations are done. I was fed, cleaned and ready for bed. Why bed? One of the conditions to use the Unicode FIVR set was to lie down. The helmet would even show an error when not in certain positions.


    ¡°What the heck? Not now!¡± Due to my excitement I had to use the bathroom again. Positive expectation often had a direct correlation to my innards and their activities. Maybe I should mention that in my next session with the therapist as well.


    Back on my mattress I took the helmet in my hands and was intensely looking at the holy grail of future gaming. Did I hear sacral sounds in the background? Must have been my imagination.


    I powered the device on and placed on my head. With slightly sweaty fingers I was waiting what would happen next.


    The first time I tried the helmet for fun and because I was curious I almost ripped my eyes out. There were a thousand warnings in the manual stating to be carful as a first time user and to handle the process by the book.


    Despite this I was totally surprised when the full immersion virtual reality set, FIVR in short, got attached to my eyeballs. Idiot me tried to strip-off the helmet immediately nonetheless.


    Big mistake!


    There was only a short pungent pain because the emergency cutout worked instantly to avoid physical damage. I guess I wasn¡¯t the only one with problems to implement something I read seconds before. The developers were doing a good job. Thumps up!


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    The good thing about that incident was; it was prepared now and the personal authentication and calibration done. The first time it took several minutes and was now just a matter of seconds.


    ***


    Woah, you could now see something. You couldn¡¯t call it picture or animation or something else you would for the standard graphics. This was the virtual world, at least a virtual room.


    What was that interesting looking thingy, a three dimensional counter? There were still 11 minutes and 24 seconds left until Karma would go officially online.


    No problem. There was already an option shown to create a new character. I ¡°clicked¡± it with my hand. There was no pointer.


    ¡°Oh, I have a virtual body. Interesting.¡±


    The overview made it very easy for me to choose on of the three races. With every change my body was changing too. A big mirror was reflecting my image. As Dwarf I felt ugly and fragile as Halfling. Both races weren¡¯t something I was looking forward to. A Dwarf¡¯s strength would really help when I would forge glorious armors and blades. While I did not want to look like some hairy bodybuilder midget a Human was the only way for me.


    I could almost see glimpses of my dream realized.


    Please choose you race.


    ¡°Human.¡±


    Please choose a name for your avatar.


    ¡°CrazyB.¡±


    The name was not registered yet and can be assigned.


    Your character can now be adjusted according to your wishes.


    The option I had a minute ago to change my race was missing now. My facial features in the mirror seemed to match my real self. That was one of the things you could not really mess with during the character creation. I felt no need for it anyway.


    A few modifications were still available, more than enough for me.


    I didn¡¯t change my height. There was nothing to complain about 1.83 m and I was used to it anyway.


    The boring brown hair color was changed into silver white with a mix of blond. My eyes kept their hazel color.


    The best thing for me was the change in age. To get rid off more than 10 years in a blink of an eye was great. Now I was 23 again and my belly shrank with age. Minor details.


    I was still wondering who wanted to have scars or tattoos from the beginning. Sooner or later one, the other or both would come in game more or less automatically. Well, there were always people trying to be more than unique.


    ¡°Finished!¡±


    Yep, I looked good again. I felt good. I probably could even date again. Maybe with different clothes.


    After my preferred player name, CrazyB, was highlighted a short disclaimer became visible.


    You will now log into Karma for the first time. In this game are virtually no boundaries for your opportunities. All stats will be determined after initialization. According to the rules of rebirth every action has its consequence, positive and negative. Those decide the main criteria for a possible reincarnation. We take no liabilities for a displeasing outcome due to your life and play style.


    There is only one account with one character per person available.


    Please make your decisions with utmost care!


    Please choose:


    1. Confirm character and log in


    2. Restart character creation


    3. Log out


    I had no really to think about it to confirm my decision. My adventure could start!


    Finishing primary scan, starting initialization. Please have patience.


    Initialization finished. Character adjustments start; extremities and skin may prickle.


    ¡°Woah, that tickles.¡± I had some uncomfortable thoughts about insects. But it stopped as fast as it began.


    Adjustments finished. Start in 3, 2, 1¡­

 Chapter 3 – The Tutorial Part 1

    ¡°Oho, I see the light.¡± With this kind of program start I felt a trace of religious irony.


    It was a good thing that I didn¡¯t directly land on my butt. There were signs of disorientation. I wasn¡¯t eager to test the pain threshold seconds after arrival. It was mentioned in the manual that it reached a level of about 25 %.


    A fall on my behind or my face would come soon enough.


    But, first things first. I had the feeling just to gawk at my surrounding, standing around like a tourist with beginning dehydration and just gawk, gawk and enjoy.


    That was a game not reality? Someone should probably hit me. Well, it has to be, but I was still flabbergasted.


    The sun was shining down on me while I was standing on a small square. It was decorated with different signs and geometric characters which were perfectly visible on the cobblestone.


    Houses mainly built from wood but partly of quarry stone that probably served as baseplate were arranged around the square.


    I closed my eyes to inhale deeply and listen to the different sounds and noises of this place. A light wind carried different odors to my nose. Awesome!


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t just stand in everyone¡¯s way!¡±


    ¡°Oh sorry, my bad.¡±


    An elderly woman with a basket in her hands was pushing her way through while making a face.


    ¡°Travelers are really strange.¡± I heard a mumble and saw her shacking her head.


    I moved a bit away from the center of the place and started thinking again. My first impressions in Karma seemed to drastically cut down on my IQ for a few minutes.


    Where should I get started? I was expecting some kind of tutorial. There was an itch at the back of my head that didn¡¯t vanish even after some intensive scratching.


    Someone else fortunately supported my phenomenal decision-making.


    ¡°Oi! Oi, you over there!¡±


    I turned around and saw a teenager with a wooden plate or maybe board standing on the other side. She was motioning the plate back and forth and now I was able to read it: ¡®Guided noob tour¡¯ was written on it in yellow letters. Wasn¡¯t that perfect? I really appreciated that kind of approach. Not!


    ¡°Are you coming, or what?¡± She yelled across the square. Now she additionally started to bounce, with her chest not completely in synch. Was she for real? There were some people standing around her who might belong to this tour. Just by seeing their clothes they had to be beginners like me.


    ¡°Me?¡± I guess I was still working on recovering my IQ in this moment. Retrospective: Totally embarrassing!


    ¡°Yeah! Do I have a lazy eye?¡±


    How rude! Well, as corporate working drone I was used to much worse. Something like that would always roll off. Call me a lotus leaf!


    Maybe I just didn¡¯t want to start an argument with the first NPC I met in the first minutes of the game. That could end quite badly. With that thought I just ambled over.


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s here? Great!¡± Her face started to glow and her smile revealed picture perfect teeth.


    Cute!


    Damn! I was walking the dark side again and was easily wrapped up by her good looks.


    ¡°I am Jay, your guide for today.¡± She threw her board in the air, which was spinning a few times before disappearing with a soft Bing sound.


    ¡°So, dear beginners, amateurs, newbies and noobs. Welcome to Kalesh! This beautiful town is your starting area.¡± I wasn¡¯t the only to feel annoyed by the word ¡°noob¡±. Some were coughing and one of the other six players made a remark.


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    ¡°I am not playing for the first time, kiddo!¡±


    ¡°What? You are not pleased with my choice of words, noobs? Noobs! Noobs! Noobs!...¡± Jay almost tried to compose some kind of song for her own funeral. The atmosphere did not improve.


    ¡°Hahahaha. I¡¯m just kidding and it is all in good fun. Don¡¯t take it to heart. The truth is: Every new player is a beginner. That is the reality and no insult.¡± She showed her broad smile and wasn¡¯t faced by death stares.


    ¡°Karma isn¡¯t one of your common role-playing games. Nobody should forget that. Even the best keyboard jock and self proclaimed RPG professional starts from scratch. Some little advise: Arrogance can be lethal and a quarter of insane pain still hurts a lot!¡±


    While she held her little speech it was a bit disconcerting to see that she moved the thump of her right hand across her throat, with a grin plastered on her face.


    ¡°There is nothing to fear for you in Kalesh, as far as I can remember. Now back to our tour. Where did I stop? Oh right, the starting area. In this town only comparably few new players spawn. We are at the southern border of the Human domain. Unregulated territories are not far away. So just do not run off in any direction without plan. You are dead meat!


    Players are called travelers in Karma. You should get used to it and also call yourself as such to avoid misunderstandings.¡± She started to touch her neck slightly.


    ¡°Ugh, dry¡­¡± With another Bing a bottle filled with clear liquid was materialized. She grabbed it and took a big mouthful.  It was probably water. I really hoped it was only water and not some disguised stash of booze.


    ¡°Kyaa, that was great!¡± She sounded like an old woman. Only some idiotic additional gesture was missing.


    ¡°First lesson today: Food and beverages are an essential part in Karma. You will loose strength, concentration and your overall condition will drop if you are not eating and drinking on a regular basis. Without food you will die sooner or later. Easy, isn¡¯t it? Just like in real life.¡± She took a sip from the still open bottle.


    ¡°On the plus side while dealing with basic urges, you will be able to discover so delicious things out there. You even will not gain weight as fast. That¡¯s gourmet heaven! Just thinking about grilled Pantak¡­¡± She was reverently rolling her eyes. What the heck is Pantak? I was waiting for her to start drooling.


    ¡°Does that mean we need to use the restroom?¡± A man in his mid thirties was asking from behind me.


    ¡°Have to.¡± Jay seemed to back in reality and her usual smile was back on her face.


    ¡°But it¡¯s a tad easier. You need to do your business only once a day and it is, well I would call it a bit cleaner. There is no need to carry tons of paper or to search for leafs without barbs in the woods. But that is not part of my tour. You¡¯ll see later on or will experience it one way or another. I don¡¯t poop for demonstration purposes!¡± A real teenager should at least blush a bit or was that the generation gap?


    She now put her hands on her hips and looked a bit serious. ¡°Who by the way do not feel like taking the tour anymore, can walk his way anytime. However, the most important elements of a successful start are explained. There are also practical exercises.¡±


    The slightly diabolical glint in her eyes was maybe only my imagination. It still felt like I had an air conditioner directly on my back. Goose bumps!

 Chapter 4 – The Tutorial Part 2

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s still with me? Goodie good! Please follow me. I will show you important points of interest in Kalesh. So, don¡¯t get lost or hang behind! You won¡¯t loose time because you get so much more impressions on your own adventure.¡±


    Jay was spinning around once in a fast motion for everyone to catch a great view on her long blonde hair swirling through the air and was heading straight for the next alley. She made good speed with her long strides. We were following shortly behind. I was still wondering that no one was bitching or complaining in our small group or had to be in the center of attention. It was kinda nice.


    We happened to pass various merchants and stores, some of them I tried to keep in mind; general store, tailor and most important the blacksmith. We saw a lot of small stalls selling all kinds of food and we really worked our taste buds. Most things were great and delicious and Jay was always paying, her first brownie point besides her being easy on the eyes.


    We learned that food or beverages could have strengthening effects or be lethal at worst. Well most of the standard stuff you bought was in neither category. Learning common sense in a virtual world was less irritating than I thought.


    We were standing around a bigger place in front of a church. I hadn¡¯t recognized that with just a glance. It really was a big building and was a Temple of Devotion. Funny enough it wasn¡¯t devoted to a specific deity. Jay shrugged it away and just said that every religion or god can be worshipped, but most locals weren¡¯t much into it. It still could be helpful to suck up to one or the other god for a nice blessing or buff.


    ¡°Why is nobody asking me questions?¡± Jay stopped in her tracks and seemed to try to end her talk in monologue.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should feel blessed or unlucky that no one of you guys is a smartass.¡± She was looking at us with one raised eyebrow.


    ¡°I guess we are the lucky ones.¡± I wasn¡¯t able to keep my mouth shut and the comment for myself.


    ¡°Haha, there really is one! Now I feel relieved. You are the first, take care of me!¡± She threw a giggling kiss at me and was back to her normal self in a second.


    ¡°Hah?¡± What? Did I miss something?


    Ding


    ¡°All places you visited are marked on your map. You got a status menu as well. Why nobody does ask for crucial things?¡± Jay rolled her eyes but stayed in lecture mode.


    ¡°There are two ways to access menus. You can speak it out loud or use a focused thought. Speaking may be embarrassing but it works in almost every situation. The shown menu can be handled with gestures, still embarrassing and creepy, or controlled by thought. Give it a try! Like I said: Speak out loud or think.¡± Jay held her bottle in her hand again and slowly emptied it while observing us.


    I started to concentrate on the map. Yes! I did it in my first try without getting a red face like some of the others.


    In front of me was now a semi transparent map of Kalesh. I could make out the city wall and was even able to zoom in without problems.


    Jay was right. Two guys spoke ¡°map¡± and ¡°status¡± out loud and were waving their hands somehow manically through thin air. You could believe they broke out an asylum.


    I really was glad not to have made a donkey out of me. I kept browsing the map with my new earned mental superiority. The visible part was so tiny compared blackened out surrounding of Kalesh.


    ¡°Jay, there is not much to see on the map. How do we get to other towns or cities or when we are looking for a certain place for a quest?¡± I asked her while looking through my map.


    ¡°There are some obvious and some roundabout ways. First: Ask someone. Sounds simple, but the quality of the answer is directly related to the visual response on your map. That means, the place can directly show up on your map or you just see a general direction or you¡¯ll end up in the desert.¡± Her chuckling was sometimes a bit creepy.


    ¡°But there are also caravans and coaches going from city to city, sometimes even to smaller towns or villages. Some locations have branches of the mage guild. Those people have portals that are very expensive if you are not a member of their club.¡±


    She blew a strand of her hair out of her face. I was pretty sure by now that Jay couldn¡¯t be a NPC. If she was my great opinion of this game and its developers was raised to another height.


    ¡°More questions on this topic or status?¡± I shook my head and devoted myself to my status. The map wasn¡¯t too interesting right now. When I opened the new menu I was a bit disappointed.


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    ¡°Not much to see, right?¡± Jay watched me the whole time and could read my facial expression.


    Status


    Name: CrazyB


    Race: Human


    Level: 1


    Title: 1st Smartass


    Profession(s): None


    Skills: None


    Attributes: None


    There wasn¡¯t really much to see. I expected something like numeric values for strength, wisdom and the likes.


    ¡°What the hell is with this title?¡± How did I get this ridiculous title?


    ¡°What title? This cannot be!¡± Jay frowned and moved closer. ¡°What is the name of your title?¡± Her curiosity had free reign.


    ¡° I don¡¯t want to say.¡±


    ¡°What? Why not?¡± Now even the other participants of our tour seemed interested.


    ¡°It is embarrassing and not really important.¡± Was there a way for me to wiggle out of this situation?


    ¡°It is! Titles are quite hard to receive. Even later in game and a level way above 100 you just get them by chance and can brag about it. Well, sometimes it seems to happen at random. The impacts are nevertheless severe in most cases. You should at least look at the title details.¡± She was now standing right in front of me and grabbed my shoulders with both hands. Why was she that excited? Everyone got titles in the dozens in other games.


    Jay smelled like flowers¡­


    Title: 1st Smartass


    There is a chance in negotiations or even longer conversations to generate a random positive or negative effect. With friendly parties this is mostly positive, with neutral or hostile parties generally negative.


    The title can not be discarded by the character.


    This looked a bit vague but could really backfire in some situations.


    While I was still thinking about the consequences Jay had realized that she was standing pretty close to me. She hadn¡¯t stop to tug at my clothes. There was a hint of blushing in her face. She let go of my shoulders and wiped some non-existent dust away.


    ¡°What is going on with your title? Do you have to keep it a secret and leave a bad impression?¡± I got manipulated to an answer with a wink of her eyes.


    ¡°Sm¡­rt¡­ss.¡±, I mumbled.


    ¡°Hah? I didn¡¯t understand you.¡± She looked at me full of expectation.


    ¡°Smartass!¡± I was yelling now and felt absolutely embarrassed.


    I heard the others snicker.


    ¡°Smartass? Ok, right. Very interesting.¡± Her face was unmoving. But without knowing the exact cause at this moment, she got tears in her eyes, which started flowing. A split second later I lastly realized the reason.


    She let loose guffaws of laughter.


    ¡°Muhahaha! Waaaaahhhh¡­ Smartass! Pfffffftttt!¡± I was not sure if I¡¯ve ever seen someone laughing this hard. I couldn¡¯t quite remember. She even had to support herself on me while rhythmically slapping on my chest.


    She had problems breathing and got on her knees, still guffawing.


    The other guys couldn¡¯t hold back anymore and joined her.


    I crossed my arms in front of me with a mixture of indignation and surrender.


    ¡°Are you done? Can we keep going? Some people may have a schedule.¡±


    Jay wiped her tears while gasping for air.


    ¡°Exquisite! What was your name again? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get famous, on way or another.¡± She chuckled again. It got boring.


    ¡°Next important lesson. There are only a handful ways to learn of other travelers and NPCs status. You can only use very rare scrolls or one spell that wouldn¡¯t work in most situations. So, you never know automatically who or what is in front of you. That should dictate your habits particularly with strangers and monsters. At least the name can be shown the same way as you use ¡°status¡± on yourself.¡±


    After she was watching the group pretty intense she was looking at me again.


    ¡°CrazyB, I will be pleased to hear of your future achievements.¡±


    ¡°Jaywina Silverstar, likewise.¡± With my transfixed gaze I was able to let a donkey without eyelids blink, at least in real life. But I wouldn¡¯t provoke a dangerous blinking contest on my first day. Jay still felt a bit eerie with her unnatural cheerfulness.


    ¡°You are right, well spoken!¡± I had? What did I say?

 Chapter 5 – The Tutorial Part 3

    ¡°Now we move to our last stop on our little tour.¡± We kept going.


    On our way Jay mentioned things we all probably did know already. There were no classes in the classic sense, but professions more than made up for it. You could learn from a master, guilds and some institutions or academies. It usually cost money und if you don¡¯t use professions regularly, the same was true for skills, you would lose slowly some of the proficiency. I never heard of the last point.


    The more complicated part was the character level.


    The level itself was just a relative measurement of the players¡¯ skills, profession proficiency and partly attributes. It held no instantly comparable, absolute value. A higher level wasn¡¯t automatically stronger.


    A combat oriented player could often easily deal with a Priest or Healer 10 or 20 levels higher while said Priest or Healer would give every Black Magician a headache. The Black Magician on the other hand would most likely turn every tank to dust within seconds.


    It sounded less than easy. But it was just a reminder from Jay. We wouldn¡¯t know the level of opponents most of the time anyway. Blind rushers would even die faster in Karma than in other games.


    There was another advice Jay emphasized. Don¡¯t break the law if you might get caught. Better, never break the law. Depending on the region and continent punishment could be draconic. If you die by execution the same penalties as in a regular death would apply, losing of minimum one level and you could not login again for 12 hours. It could be worse depending on the crime.


    That sounded harsh, but maybe there would be less player killers around.


    We reached the city gates and were ready to see the world. That was my feeling when walking out of town.


    ¡°Here we are. This is the last station of your tour.¡± Jay made a sweeping gesture.


    ¡°Fighting is naturally on of Karmas central points, too. Open your inventory guys, just in case you weren¡¯t aware by now that such convenient thing exist here as well. Don¡¯t be surprised. There isn¡¯t much space in the beginning. It grows with you. So work hard! It will take some time, but there are special items or standard bags available for all the loot hunters out there.¡± Jay was grinning from ear to ear, watching our inventory handling.


    There was no real disappointment in me when I opened it. I had never seen a rich beginner. There were also body slots for clothes and accessories visible, only filled with trouser, shoes and a shirt. There was a lot of room for improvement.


    ¡°The slots in your inventory show you an optimized position. Sounds weird? Well, you can wear stuff like you want to. But the efficiency will drop tremendously. A necklace around your wrist may still show some effect, a ring on a cord around your neck or shoes on your hands will have no effect whatsoever.¡±


    Besides the slots for clothes and other wearable things I had 9 panels for items. In the first was a rusty dagger, 10 coppers in the next and in the third were four sandwiches. My possessions couldn¡¯t cause envy.


    ¡°Now take your weapons in your hand. The fun will soon begin!¡± Jay signaled the guards who ushered some peasants inside and closed the gates. That wasn¡¯t a good sign.


    ¡°Why are they closing the gates? What¡¯s the reason for this?¡±, asked someone with a frightened high pitched voice. Oho, someone else besides me was asking a question this time. It was a shy woman in her mid twenties.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s just the regular procedure, direction of the city council. Stuff like that¡­¡± After her dismissive gesture Jay fetched some kind of flute out of her pocket. She moved it to her lips but I didn¡¯t hear a sound.


    ¡°The council had some issues with the tour ending for new travelers. The old geezers felt I was a bit rough.¡±


    ¡°Rough?¡± You could hear that question from all of us at the same time.


    Jay¡¯s eyes had that glint again and her smile showed even more teeth, what I thought impossible.


    ¡°Pain and death let some players freeze up. I like the jump-into-cold-water-method best! You feel that you can endure, even though it¡¯s far from convenient. Hardcore masochists may love it.¡±


    This explanation confirmed my hunch and was bad news. Maybe I just should break Jay¡¯s neck, for good measurement, hypothetically spoken¡­.


    ¡°Oh, here they come.¡± A smaller dust cloud was now visible behind Jay. Someone or something was coming.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Upsy-daisy, I almost forgot something to explain. Hold tight on your weapons. It is easy enough to lose them. The higher the level gap the more nasty monsters look. Good luck and have fun!¡± Jay stepped back a few meters and crossed her in arms in front of her chest.


    I groaned and felt terrible. Cold sweat was flooding down my spine. Was that even possible? Ok, shaking worked pretty well.


    The others were all yelling or mumbling ¡°friendly¡± words in Jay¡¯s direction who just stood there and was still smiling.


    ¡°Shit!¡±


    ¡°Bitch!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die!¡±


    ¡°Why do I have to fight?¡±


    The cloud was almost here. Different animals were visible. I could see hares, foxes, some wolfs, dears, dozens of birds and tons of other critters. Everything was far from cute. That looked more like Disney on a really bad LSD trip. That did mean obviously: much higher level.


    I was clutching my dagger in insane hope of an easier way out. That was really bad looking and no one would go to survive. That should be that last lesson? Sucks!


    But now I had a very clever idea. It wasn¡¯t very creative. I would hide behind Jay and hoped to be overlooked. Great plan!


    I was running, jumping behind Jay and getting into a crouching position. Jay was laughing her ass off.


    ¡°You are so funny, hahaha. Nothing is going to happen to me. Even behind me you¡¯ll receive aggro and get shredded. Please let the drama take place in front of me, so I can better see?!¡±


    ¡°Freaking sadist!¡± I was so angry. It wasn¡¯t really hate. I could understand her logic, from a rational point of view. I still couldn¡¯t get a grip and was scared for two. Now I was doing what everyone in my situation would have done as well: I screwed up even more in a panic reaction!


    I tightly embraced Jay and tried to get a grip. I was grabbing a lot, breast flesh! Even hours later I wasn¡¯t sure why I have done that. Instinct?


    For a split second it felt just unbelievable good and I wasn¡¯t too scarred either. It was supple, soft and yet firm.


    And than my fingers broke with a noisy crack. It hurt but was bearable, maybe like a sprain.


    The next thing I heard was: ¡°You little prick!¡± After Jay bent my fingers less than subtle in the wrong direction, she grabbed my wrists and pulled so hard that I was flying just over her head and landed in front of her. Both arms were dislocated, what hurt less than my fingers.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± I tried to tell her that it hurt.


    Now she was doing something my jumbled mind couldn¡¯t really grasp.


    ¡°There is special lesson for little perverts!¡± She was still holding my wrists. Now she put on foot on my back and was tearing at my arms. That not only hurt but also caused some serious pain. I was screaming at this point.


    It seemed there was no concept of shock in Karma or there was room for more pain. But Jay really did a number on me and had ripped off both arms. I was a standing blood fountain! I wanted to faint.


    There were warnings all over me stating rapid blood loss and loss of limps. If I had to compare the pain it was like permanent drilling on a nerve at the dentist, without anesthetization. That was 25% pain level? Crap!


    Everything felt quite unreal. Maybe I could have logged off. I wasn¡¯t thinking straight in this moment. The realism caused me to think that my life would end. I was groaning now unconsciously.


    Jay still seemed to have a grudge. She was grabbing my clothes was throwing me like some dwarf toss champ through the air, only much further. Target: aggressive critters!


    I was playing cannon ball and flew right into the center. On my landing my hard head hit a fox in a perfect angle and I knocked it out. I couldn¡¯t register the following system message:


    You are the first player to slay an opponent at least 10 levels above you. You will receive a new attribute: Fame.


    You receive Fame: 10 points


    The little monsters wasted no time to get me. Wasn¡¯t there some predator-prey concept in Karma? Dears ate grass, didn¡¯t they? Fuck!


    A good thing the pain wasn¡¯t as awful as what Jay caused me. Or the blood loss numbed me already. I was somehow glad when the torture was over, all the blinking stopped and I felt nothing anymore.

 Chapter 6 – The first profession

    You died. Deaths in tutorials have no negative effect. Reincarnation options not met. You may resurrect at your starting point.


    ¡°What the tits?! Am I dead? Oh yeah, looks like it.¡± It was a bit like floating in water, only with a dim view on my mutilated body.


    ¡°Resurrect me!¡±


    Without further ado I was standing again at the small square. This time I directly moved a bit away from the center.


    I was still in turmoil and emotionally exhausted. I felt like doing something against my frustration.


    ¡°Argh. This fucking bitch. FUUCK!¡± My therapist told me to not keep things for myself too long. Yelling seemed just mandatory and proper.


    ¡°Umph¡­¡± Someone shoved an apple right into my face.


    ¡°Language, boy!¡± It was that old woman again. ¡°Ah, you again. You should really work on your manners. It¡¯s good to let out penned up anger, but not when everyone else has to listen. Be more considerate!¡± She was now pulling my ear.


    ¡°Soo¡­wy¡­¡± It was not easy to answer with a jaw-breaking apple in my mouth.


    ¡°Hmph.¡± She was walking away after wiggling her index finger at me. Now I felt like 10 again. But at least I could enjoy a tasty and juicy apple for free.


    I still was angry and thought about some kind of revenge on Jay. But I wasn¡¯t sure how. Whatever. There would be a time and a place. Now that I knew how a few things worked in this world I had a rough idea where to start.


    While I munched on my apple I saw another, much bigger tour group on the other side of the square. Maybe I could warn those new victims and make it harder for that scheming blonde.


    But I didn¡¯t saw her and instead there was just some bearded man with a ¡°Tutorial¡± board in his hands.


    ¡°Hello, isn¡¯t Jay with you and the tour?¡± I asked cautious.


    ¡°Jay? Who is that?¡± He squinted his eyes.


    ¡°Jay, Jaywina Silverstar?¡±


    ¡°Ah, Miss Silverstar. No, she isn¡¯t with us. It is rare for her to do such fieldwork. She isn¡¯t always in the mood.¡± He cleared his throat.


    ¡°Just between us: It is saver for all parties if she takes no interest in guiding beginners. She can be quite rough. But I didn¡¯t say anything¡­¡± It was more of a whisper now.


    ¡°Rough? Yeah, something like this. Do you know where I can find her usually? I need to talk to her.¡±


    ¡°Well, you could look at the guildhall or with some luck at some food stalls. If someone sells Pantak, which is quite rare, that would be a guaranteed hit. But most of the time she is away on some missions. Before you ask, I have no details about such things.¡±


    ¡°What the heck is Pantak?¡±


    ¡°You must be a new traveller as well. At least your choice of clothes says so. Pantak are deep fried buttocks of the Mountain Silverboar and a famous delicacy of our region. Other parts of that monster are tasty as well, but it¡¯s not the same. Silverboar buttocks can fetch a high price at the market.¡±


    ¡°Appetizing. Thank you for the information. I¡¯m on my way.¡± Now I had a clue and some ideas but was even less motivated to exact revenge. I could wait.


    ¡°Take care.¡± Beardy was starting to move with his group.


    ***


    I selected my map and was looking for my real goal, the blacksmith¡¯s shop. Besides the adventure I really wanted to do one thing, swing a hammer at an anvil. This trade wasn¡¯t hot during my youth and was even less today. But I felt a connection to metalwork. I had my own little forge at my parent¡¯s house, which I almost burned down in my enthusiasm. I wasn¡¯t chasing my dream and instead got my business major at a city college.


    While I walked to the smithy I felt excited. What would I do first, how would it feel to create a weapon or a tool? I was ready to give my all. To hell with Jay, but I would keep the feeling of her chest in my heart.


    I entered the store and was looking around. The interior was quite generous and many polished items like weapons and armor were on display. At lot of noise and hammering could be heard from the background. A young guy was standing behind the counter. With no other customers in sight, he greeted me.


    ¡°Good day sir, how can I help you?¡±


    ¡°Hi, my name is CrazyB. I¡¯m looking for your master.¡±


    ¡°Interesting name. You must be a traveller. I am Lent. Was one of our merchandize not to your liking?¡±


    ¡°Oh no, there is nothing wrong. I am here to learn you trade. I¡¯m looking for an apprenticeship.¡±


    ¡°You do? That could be¡­ Oh wait I call the master.¡± He was turning around and yelling ¡°BOOOSSSS!¡±


    After a few seconds some of the hammering stopped and was replaced by some rumbling. A burly Dwarf opened the backdoor and walked to the counter.


    ¡°Was is it, Lent? Is there a complaint? And don¡¯t call me Boss blockhead. I am the master! Remember? Master! Why are there not more young Dwarfs around¡­¡± He had some fast mood swings and was sighing at the end.


    ¡°Yes master. You are right master. This traveller over there wanted to talk to you.¡± He pointed at me.


    ¡°Ok, talk!¡± He was looking at me with piercing eyes.


    ¡°Good day, master. My name is CrazyB and I want to learn your trade and be a blacksmith one day.¡± I smiled and was fidgeting a bit.


    ¡°Go home.¡± He wasn¡¯t even thinking about it and turned around.


    ¡°Please wait. Do you accept no apprentices? Can you at least tell me the reason?¡± I was begging now. It felt humiliating.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.¡°Humans¡­ Do I deserve this?¡± He was mumbling to himself.


    ¡°Come with me, I¡¯ll show you.¡± He waved his arm and I followed him. Lent just shrugged and said nothing.


    We arrived in his workshop. There were about 10 other men and women at work. It was really hot inside and I started to sweat.


    ¡°With just one look at your hands I saw that you never worked in your life. Am I wrong? You feel no purpose, no tenacity to reach a goal.¡± He wasn¡¯t even looking at me while saying these annoying things.


    ¡°You may be right. But that¡¯s the past. I am here, because I want to change. All I need is a chance.¡± I felt a kind of stubborn hope.


    ¡°Haha, big words without deeds are worth nothing and I give a shit!¡± He was looking at me now and examined me.


    ¡°Just look at you. You are weak. You couldn¡¯t even lift the big hammer for a proper swing. Watch theses guys. They sweat for years now to reach their level. But the will still need years to become experts.¡± He scratched his beard.


    ¡°Could you do that? No, I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    ¡°I can and I will. I just need a chance. Do you have something to lose?¡±


    ¡°Hmh, maybe I am too soft hearted.¡± Someone snickered in the back.


    ¡°Keep working nogoodnik!¡± He yelled at no one in particular.


    ¡°So, you are a polite one. That helps. There is a chance, not with us yet. You would brake tools and equipment and injure someone.¡±, he said with another round of scratching.


    ¡°And there is no way I¡¯ll teach a weakling. But, I¡¯ll give you a recommendation for Christa. That old hag needs every worker she can get. She¡¯ll train even you if you don¡¯t run your mouth.¡± He seemed pleased with his idea, which I did not understand.


    ¡°What has she to do with blacksmithing? I¡¯m not sure I can follow.¡±


    ¡°Tch, Christa is a miner and sells raw materials not only to our smithy. If you can hang on with this job, you are ready to learn my trade as well. Got it?¡± Impatience was easy to hear from his tone.


    ¡°Yes!¡± I smiled and felt like an opportunity was right around the corner.


    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± He took a hammer and placed some scrap metal below a template. He was finished with one ridiculous fast swing.


    ¡°Here, take this. That¡¯s my seal. She will recognize this. You will find Christa and her camp outside the eastern gate.¡± He handed me the finished metal piece.


    ¡°Now go and stop stealing my time. Shoo, shoo¡­¡±


    I left the shop and waved Lent goodbye. I looked at my map and saw that I had a new entry just outside of Kalesh, Christa¡¯s camp behind the eastern gate, how convenient. It took me only 10 minutes to reach my destination. I was still very careful when I left the city. Thoughts of dears and bunnies chewing on my entrails were still fresh.


    ***


    ¡°Hello? Somebody there?¡± I was right in front of the camp, but could not see someone.


    ¡°Coming!¡± A quite deep and somehow raspy voice of a woman answered. There was movement in one of the bigger tents.


    ¡°How are you? What can I do for such a good looking young man?¡± She was huge. I guess she was human. She still looked close to 2 meters, with broad shoulders. I wasn¡¯t sure about her age though. But old wasn¡¯t the right description, more like worked and chiseled came to mind.


    ¡°Hello, nice to meet you. I¡¯m looking for Christa. The master smith¡­ oh damn, I didn¡¯t ask his name. Ah yeah, the master from Kaleshs blacksmith store sent me?¡± What a blunder. I showed her the seal.


    ¡°Hahaha. Yes I am Christa. Don¡¯t worry about that midget¡¯s name. I¡¯m pretty sure he forget it himself at times.¡± Was that their usual banter or did they hate each other?


    ¡°So, you found me. Are you just here to flirt with me? Fire away if you want to ask something. I was in for a nap.¡± I had to be careful if she confused a normal conversation with flirting.


    ¡°Ahem. I am not here exactly to just socialize. I¡¯m looking for a job.¡± I hoped I was subtle enough.


    ¡°Work is it? Good enough for me. You don¡¯t look like an idiot. I accept.¡±


    Ding


    I guess I had to adjust the message system. Sometimes I got full text information and sometimes only a muted acoustic signal.


    ¡°You have to work for at least on week, on probation. If you are doing a good job I promote you to novice miner, raise your salary and you can choose to extend our arrangement. I¡¯ll show you the ropes on the first two days and than it¡¯s up to you.¡± She cracked every single finger while talking to me.


    ¡°That sounds good to me Mrs. Christa.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Miss and just call me Christa. When can you start? Today would be great.¡±


    ¡°Today is fine. I¡¯m CrazyB by the way.¡±


    ¡°Pfft. What a name. Your parents must really hate you. I guess I¡¯ll call you CB¡± She was grinning. ¡°Anyway, come back in the afternoon, in about two hours. I can take a nap and prepare for our short trip to the mountains.


    She started walking back to her tent.


    ¡°Ok boss, see you later.¡±


    Christa raised her right arm shortly and disappeared in her tent.


    That was better than expected. Crap, I forgot to ask about my salary. I was such an airhead sometimes. She was not running away. There shouldn¡¯t be a problem.


    I felt it was time to log out for a bit. Maybe there were some new information from other players and more hints how to survive and earn a living.


    ¡®Log Out.¡¯

 Chapter 7 – Into the wild

    It was a bit like awaking from a slumber with a vivid dream. The only difference was the FIVR set on my head. Man, I felt old with all my muscles sore. Maybe the entire running around and sightseeing was my new virtual fitness center. The manual said something about nerve and muscle stimulation. A six-pack from gaming would be perfect. Some lobbyists should probably warm up their buddies in congress for an outcry against healthy gamer hardware.


    I wasn¡¯t hungry and just needed to pee. Only slightly more than two hours did I spent in Karma. The time compression was neat. Two hours in game was only one hour in real life.


    ¡°Moogle! Set alarm: 1pm.¡± Better not be late for the meeting with Christa.


    ¡°Alarm set.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s take a look if I can find something interesting.¡± I wasn¡¯t expecting too much. But there were only scraps of new information in the Net and most things I was more or less aware of. Complaints about the NPCs being too lifelike were simply retarded.


    The fanatics were probably still playing and would pull an all-nighter to get an assumed head start.


    Damn, real life felt now so boring. I had to login again and was so glad that I took two weeks leave from work starting tomorrow.


    ¡°Moogle! Reset alarm.¡±


    ¡°Alarm disabled.¡±


    ***


    "Oh boy, it is so unbelievable fantastic and great." I was back in Karma and felt totally excited again. There was still more than enough time to go over to Christa¡¯s camp. That¡¯s why I sat down besides the next tree.


    ¡®Main Menu.¡¯ Various things weren¡¯t to my liking and I used the next minutes to browse through the settings. The message priority was odd. It should be fine now after my fiddling.


    The date and time was now visible as well and I integrated a standard health and mana bar instead of this epileptic seizure causing info pop-ups. The messenger was interesting but not useful. Who should I talk to or write without friends in Karma? I planed to spend a lot of time in this game. Sooner or later interesting people would inevitably pop up.


    Through my menus I could see Christa moving stuff in her camp. I guess I could help her to relieve my upcoming boredom.


    ¡°Hey Christa, need a hand?¡± She was twice my size so I hoped she wasn¡¯t expecting a giant¡¯s strength right from the get-go.


    ¡°CB, you are early. Wasn¡¯t expecting you to be that eager. I like your attitude. There is nothing more to prepare. While I get our ride ready you check if all the tents are closed.¡± She went to the city gate.


    I finished my check within 5 minutes. With nothing else to do I enjoyed the sun and waited for Christa to return.


    It didn¡¯t take to long and I saw her with two animals, huge birds. An ostrich would probably look small in comparison.


    ¡°Are you ready CB?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­? Christa, what are those?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, those? Jess and Less are our mounts. Minker birds are perfect as a fast transport? Never seen one?¡± She was now in front of me.


    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t. I thought we¡¯d take a cart or horses.¡±


    ¡°Way to slow, CB. And horses are expensive and useless in the south. Those two darlings are not as easily scared by monsters, are faster and they are very intelligent. Aren¡¯t those two cuties?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ Maybe¡­¡± I was more than hesitant to trust a terror bird in disguise.


    ¡°Down ladies!¡± Both sat down obediently. The birds seemed to be well trained.


    ¡°Jess will be yours for today. She is easy to handle even without much skill.¡±


    I have seen living ostriches in zoos but compared to these giant of a bird it was like seeing a skinny chicken next to your thanksgiving turkey. The Minker bird was not fat, but massive and felt muscular below their gray and brown plumage. The legs were impressive and seemed to be made for speed. I didn¡¯t want to get hit either by one of those or the gigantic beak, whose form reminded me of a vulture. Jess and Less weren¡¯t vegans.


    ¡°Hey birdy, birdy. You are a nice girl aren¡¯t you?¡± I wasn¡¯t always great with animals and this bird scared me a bit. I had nothing to lose and it was only a game. That¡¯s what I thought when I went to Jess.


    My ride cocked her head and looked me in the eyes. I tried to pet her but she was faster. With a quick movement she took my whole head in her beak. I was fucked and I felt my second death was near. My hands weren¡¯t strong enough to free me from these clamps.


    ¡°Jess, do you like CB?¡±


    ¡°Coo!¡± My potential killer seemed to answer and was running her big, raspy tongue across my face and other parts of my head. The hammering with my fists was still ignored.


    ¡°Get off him, Jess. You both can play in the evening.¡± My head was free and I started breathing again. My sleeve was used as towel to wipe my face. I was panting and looked accusing at Christa. This woman just snickered and mounted Less. Both birds were fully saddled.


    ¡°You must be kidding me, don¡¯t you? If she does that when she likes someone, am I going to be dinner?¡± I was still stunned by my mounts action.


    ¡°Calm down and grow a pair. Jess would spit out your clothes and other indigestible parts by now if she wouldn¡¯t like you. It is actually quite rare that a Minker bird likes someone on first sight. Those guys are tamed but are predators nevertheless.¡± She grabbed Less¡¯ reins.


    ¡°Less, up!¡±


    ¡°CB, man up and jump on. I didn¡¯t think you are a total wimp. You are alive and not hurt, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that. Jess was still eyeing me but did not move. With a sigh I climbed on Jess¡¯ saddle.


    ¡°Jess, up!¡± She almost jumped up when I gave the command.


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    ¡°Fluffy.¡± Her feathers felt great and were really soft. The saddle was also very comfortable.


    ¡°Coo! Coo!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know. You are a clever girl.¡± Now my petting did not end with me eyes starring down a throat.


    ¡°See, nothing happened. Like I said, it¡¯s easy to move with those two. ¡°Up¡± and ¡°Down¡± should be clear by now. Besides this there is ¡°Yiep¡± for forward and ¡°Hoo¡± for slowing down. ¡°Stop¡± means stop. So don¡¯t try it during full speed. You¡¯re going to fly without the need for magic!¡±


    ¡°Yes, understood. Seems easy enough.¡± It seemed like child¡¯s play.


    ¡°We¡¯ll start slow for the next minutes and pick up speed when you got a better feeling for Jess. The trip will take almost two hours. Follow my lead and hold tight!¡±


    ¡°Less, yiep!¡±


    ¡°Jess, yiep!¡±


    Christa said that we would start slow. We had a different definition of the word. That¡¯s what I thought when we started of with easily 20 km/h. Compared to the next level it was not fast.


    ¡°Are you ok, CB?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m all right. It¡¯s swaying less than I thought it would. Jess is really a cool mount!¡±


    ¡°Coo!¡± Was the bird some attention grabber?


    ¡°Very good. We¡¯ll speed up now to the usual traveling pace. The gait will not change too much, but the length and the frequency of the steps will. Use the reins carefully for steering if you have to. Otherwise leave it alone; Jess will follow Less anyway.¡±


    ¡°Less, yiep yiep!¡±


    ¡°Jess, yiep yiep!¡±


    ¡°Wohoo!¡± That was fast. I automatically leaned forward. The wind stung my eyes. It was bearable and I could still see the road and Christa. I wasn¡¯t sure how fast we were going, but between 50 km/h to 60 km/h seemed realistic.


    Without anything to do I opened the map to see what I would uncover on our trip. It wasn¡¯t much. The road and nothing else was visible. We were heading east in a pretty much straight line. I didn¡¯t see animals or monsters on the way. In the MMORPG I remembered mobs were running around simply everywhere, aside from safety zones like cities. Christa should know the reason.


    Ding


    You have obtained the skill Riding.


    After more than one hour of our bird cruise I received a system message. My ass hurt. I had to check my new skill.


    Riding Lvl 1 (Novice)


    You won¡¯t fall off your mount instantly. Your rear and thighs may hurt mildly less after hours off riding.


    Agility and Stamina are slightly raised by Riding.


    Was the system bullying me? My thoughts were part of the skill information. That was unsettling.


    We were riding through hills and I could see snow covered mountains in the distance. I was more than glad that our destination was soon in sight. The changing scenery swept part of my boredom away as well.


    ¡°Hoo!¡±


    Christa was slowing down Less and Jess followed suit. At a fork we left the main road and followed an expanded trail.


    ¡°How are your legs doing? We are almost there. Too bad the last part of the way to the mining camp isn¡¯t warded and protected anymore. We should be fine, but sometimes a Great Beast leaves its territory. The small fry are no issue for a Minker bird. The big mountain bruisers are.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m good. My butt feels a bit battered but not too bad.¡± Just in this moment I saw a shadow and something big was jumping from a tree in our direction. Once again the reaction time of the birds was astonishing. With an elegant sidestep to the left and right respectively Jess and Less evaded the ambush.


    I turned my head and saw a striped wolf with metallic looking spikes on its back.


    Needle Wolf


    ¡°Jess, stay put. Less, attack!¡±


    Christa was now clad in armor with a tower shield on her left arm and a war hammer in her right hand. Less picked up speed and changed directions at random. After I saw the first spike fly in their direction I knew why. Christa deflected that attack apparently without much effort.


    Less was running now at full speed and it seemed a collision was unavoidable. If I had to guess the weight of our almost 4 meter tall mounts, I would say about half a ton. The wolf was huge but more compact. That monster looked heavier. Physics would devastate both on impact.


    Yet again I forgot about the unnatural nimbleness of the birds. In the last second the wolf tried to jump Less, but she evaded to the left again. Christa hammered down on the beast at full speed. There was not much left of the head of the monster.


    ¡°Those little fucks still haven¡¯t learned their lesson. CB, come over. Less, down.¡± Christa jumped down and was slightly kicking the remains of the Needle Wolf.  She removed armor and weaponry and was back in her leather working outfit.


    ¡°Jess, down.¡± I climbed down as well and was studying the big wolf.


    ¡°Looks nasty.¡±


    ¡°The spikes are poisonous. The wolf is not really strong but can be a real pain if you¡¯re surprised by its ability.¡±


    Christa pulled the corpse away from the trail, cut a branch of a tree and nailed the wolf on it.


    ¡°Why are you doing this? Isn¡¯t it heavy?¡± It seemed odd.


    ¡°It¡¯s for the idiots of its pack and no, for me it¡¯s not heavy. Maybe they will now look for another territory. Who knows? A Needle Wolf is only a threat for someone as weak as you, CB. Even Less and Jess can handle one. It¡¯s still a nuisance.¡±


    We were going back to our birds.


    ¡°Come on, CB. There are only about 10 minutes left. Than you can rest your behind when we work the mines. Haha.¡±

 Chapter 8 – The Silver Mountains

    ¡°Here we are!¡± The trail ended at a big clearing. The surrounding undergrowth that gave the forest an almost jungle like feel was also cut down. The giant trees were left unharmed.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look much different to your city camp. I was expecting something different.¡±


    ¡°You did? Why should it be different? Makes no sense. It¡¯s a place to sleep and eat, nothing more. Or were you referring to the mining?¡±


    ¡°I guess. Isn¡¯t mining dirty, with rubble, chips and rubbish? Well, I like it better this way.¡± I grinned now.


    ¡°Haha, I will work you soon enough.¡±


    We rode to the center with no other soul in sight. Christa wasn¡¯t even waiting for Less to sit and jumped down. I used the save way.


    ¡°CB, unfasten the saddles and the harnesses from Jess and Less and store it over there at the empty stables. I have to check something first.¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡±


    While Christa was away I tried to take care of our mounts.


    ¡°Be a good girl Jess. And no head munching!¡±


    ¡°Coo?¡± The monster bird was feigning ignorance.


    She was behaving all right. Less was even easier to unbuckle. That went better than expected. The saddles were sturdy and heavy. I could only carry one after another to the barn.


    ¡°A snack for the ladies.¡±


    Christa was back with rabbits in one hand and a big bucket full of water in the other. Each Minker bird got tossed one ¡°snack¡±. They snatched it out of the air and downed it in one gulp. The bucket was placed in front of them and wouldn¡¯t last long.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go and grab something to eat. I will explain the details and plan for today.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s with Jess and Less? Shouldn¡¯t we tie them to the barn or something?¡±


    ¡°No need. They won¡¯t run off and shouldn¡¯t be hungry either. In case they are, both can easily hunt on their own in this area. In contrast to a horse a Minker bird can mostly take care of itself, even with a few predators around.¡±


    We went inside one of the tents. Christa had fired up a stove, on it a pot filled with some kind of stew. She was filling two bowels and put bread on the table.


    ¡°Eat up boy. You look like you¡¯ll need some extra.¡±


    We dug in and Christa told me what would happen next. I couldn¡¯t identify the ingredients. Some vegetables tasted like carrots or eggplant. The meat was a bit chewy but very tasty. I guess it was another you-really-don¡¯t-want-to-know soup.


    ¡°The crew work shaft C this week. It¡¯s almost 6 pm now and they should be finished for today within the next minutes. We still have more than three hours of sunlight and will head over to the mine. It¡¯s more than enough for us to show you around and let you hit rocks for some time. Haha.¡± Christa kept eating.


    I felt a bit strange all of a sudden. My stomach was rumbling.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You are fidgeting like a five year old!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Maybe it is something with the food.¡±


    ¡°I think it is more like your bowels yell for attention. Boy, I feel somehow like your mother. The outhouse is next to the stable.¡±


    Oh, now I remembered. Once a day the call of nature was inevitable. I started to run. The latrine did not smell too bad and wasn¡¯t too shabby. But I still had the urge to look for monster spiders. I dropped my pants.


    ¡°Thank god, everything is like I remember.¡± I was no Ken and some testing showed the usual reactions.


    The business itself was quite unspectacular. I thought that chickens must feel about the same when laying eggs, plop and go. It was a matter of seconds.


    ¡°I can live with that one. Now men poop roses too.¡± Well I couldn¡¯t wash hands. Maybe the game developers left out germs.


    Relieved I went back to Christa. I just hoped that there was no feedback to my real body. I did no want to wake in a stinky mess with shat pants.


    ¡°Are you ready to go? Or do you want a refill?¡±


    ¡°Nope, I¡¯m fine. Do we need tools or something?¡±


    ¡°I have all the things we¡¯ll need in my pouch. Grab yourself a water bag if you have none already.¡±


    We took a track in the northern part of the clearing, which took us slow but steady uphill. Christa walked quite fast and we didn¡¯t talk. She slowed down a bit to ask me something.


    ¡°CB, can you fight? I mean, do you have some skill or know your combat? You look weak, but maybe I¡¯m assuming wrong.¡±


    ¡°I learned some weaponless hand to hand combat style when I was young. Some moves should still be possible but I have a feeling that is mostly useless. Just your tossing of that big monster was something else. You¡¯d probably beat me with your pinky even without your impressive gear.¡±


    ¡°Haha. It¡¯s good that you know what you lack. Kick me! Kick me with all you¡¯ve got!¡± She stopped and turned around.


    ¡°Yeah right. You¡¯ll hit me back and beat me to a pulp.¡± I walked past her.


    ¡°Wait. I just want to get a feel for your strength. That¡¯s not an intricate way to torture you.¡±


    ¡°I really don¡¯t like to hit a woman.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you suckled on your mommies tits for too long?!¡±


    ¡°How childish.¡± I rolled my eyes and took a stance.


    I started with a low kick to her right thigh. My health bar was indicating minor damage on my side. Hitting a log couldn¡¯t be worse. Christa didn¡¯t flinch and moved not even a millimeter.


    The next low kick aimed at her right lower leg with a follow up on the left side. It had the same result, only with less damage to myself.


    I didn¡¯t want to go for the vitals and decided to move in, throw a left hook to her liver and tried to bring in my right elbow. Her left eye twitched and she stopped me with her hand, right before I could hit her nose.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°It looks like an interesting fighting style. But it is completely useless against monsters and only efficient against some low level adventurers or in bar fights without weapons. Your speed and strength are not sufficient to survive alone.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s only one reason why I travel the world. I just want to be a blacksmith in the end.¡±


    ¡°Oh, like the midget. That¡¯s not the worst trade out there. To learn mining makes sense. Nevertheless you cannot mine alone right now. Someone from my crew will have to supervise you.¡±


    We started walking again. I could now see the opening of a tunnel or cave.


    ¡°That¡¯s mine shaft A. We will walk to C.¡±


    We passed the next shaft after a couple of minutes.


    ¡°You should learn combat from a buddy of mine. He is proficient in even the most exotic weapons and will figure out, what suits you and your, lets say, personality best.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if she had a good or a bad impression of me.


    ***


    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± We arrived at another cave. Four men and one woman were standing in front of it and were chatting.


    ¡°Hey guys! Hit your quota? Haha.¡±


    ¡°Evening Boss.¡±


    ¡°Hey Boss.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up Boss?¡±


    ¡°Hi Christa.¡±


    ¡°Oh no!¡±


    Christa seemed well liked.


    ¡°Folks, meet our newest member, CB. CB, the crew.¡±


    Ding


    You received a new nickname.


    It could have been worse.


    I shook hands with everyone but had problems to remember each name. Who was who? That was one of my worst traits. I couldn¡¯t even remember most of my schoolmates¡¯ names anymore. It should be better tomorrow, I hoped.


    ¡°Today and tomorrow I¡¯ll show CB the ropes and Sinan, you will take over afterwards.¡±


    ¡°I saw that one coming.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why you are my right hand man at the site. Haha. We¡¯ll head now into the mine and will see you later.¡±


    ***


    We entered the mine.


    Ding


    You entered a dungeon.


    Name: Mine Shaft C


    Threat Level: Low to Medium


    This mine counted as a dungeon? That¡¯s why I would need a supervisor. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could handle a spawning monster in this area. My new boss seemed sure that I could not.


    Christa raised her left hand. A light ball rose from her hand and was following us.


    ¡°That¡¯s neat. Do you know a lot magic?¡±


    ¡°Some minor hocus-pocus, but nothing fancy or combat related. Light is one of the most basic spells and essential for every miner or adventurer. Just try it out on our way. But don¡¯t start chanting ¡°Light¡± out loud. That sucks and would break my nerves.¡±


    I tried it the same like I did with the menus. So far only some sparks were visible for a split seconds.


    ¡°Are you an adventurer, Christa?¡±


    ¡°I used to be one. Midget, Erestran, the instructor, and me were part of a bigger party. We settled down in Kalesh about 15 years ago. Fun times, fun times.¡±


    She looked sad for a second, so I did not poke further.


    The tunnels were now almost labyrinth like. I wasn¡¯t sure if I would find my way back alone. We were going left, right, right, left. Or was it left, right, left, left?


    ¡°Take that.¡± Christa had a pick in her hand and gave it to me. A set of leather gloves changed the owner as well.


    ¡°You can use the pick for your work or as weapon. Do you have a weapon with you?


    ¡°No¡­ I lost my Dagger in a fight.¡± Now I really felt like an idiot.


    ¡°CB, you are piece of work!¡± She was grinning again.


    ¡°Anyway, you can swing the pick at rocks or opponents. So point the sharp end away from me.¡± Was that a joke now? I wasn¡¯t sure.


    ¡°With every new tunnel we try to follow a vein through this mountains. It¡¯s mostly iron ore, sometimes silver and if you are really lucky enclaves with mithril are found. That¡¯s why it was called the Silver Mountains first. Now that mithril isn¡¯t found in abundance for more than 500 years, it is still called that. The reason today is the different monsters with a silver fur.¡±


    ¡°So the monsters weren¡¯t silver in the past?¡±


    ¡°They were. But the glimmer of greed isn¡¯t mithril anymore but the juicy ass of a Silverboar. Haha.¡±


    We walked to the end of the tunnel and stopped in front of a wall.


    ¡°An untrained eye cannot really see the difference between rubble and ore. Even silver isn¡¯t often shiny in this form. You¡¯ll get the hang of it over time. The first step is to swing the pick and break bits and pieces out of the wall. Sinan or I will determine the direction of the digging. We collect the ore in special bags. The magic reduces the weight by factor 10 and the space is enough for a lot of ore. That¡¯s why we don¡¯t have to use carts out here. I will hand you your own bag tomorrow.¡±


    During her explanation I studied the items I received.


    Leather Gloves


    Class: Common


    Material: Leather


    Defense: 3


    Sturdy working gloves with some defense added.


    Pick


    Class: Common


    Material: Iron


    Attack: 3- 10


    A pick often used by Novice Miners and hobby geologists.


    I was raising the pick.


    ¡°Ready? Hack away!¡±

 Chapter 9 – Learning, the dirty way

    One hour after I started to swing my pick for the first time I sweat like a pig. I drained my water bag steadily. Christa moved around inspecting the tunnel walls. There wasn¡¯t too much rubble building up behind me. The wall seemed made of granite. I still had the feeling to get better just a little. Without visible changes in stats or a system message it was just a subjective feeling.


    ¡°Short break.¡± That was more than welcome. My arms reached a jelly like state.


    ¡°It could be worse¡­¡± Christa was checking the rubble.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never guessed that it would that exhausting.¡± I was leaning on my pick.


    ¡°Right, it is. Especially beginners have a hard time to cope with the exertion. But strength and stamina will rise dramatically with higher proficiency. That¡¯s why Novice Miners only work 4 hours a shift at max.¡±


    ¡°Is that the reason why I don¡¯t see any travelers working with you?¡±


    ¡°Haha. Maybe. Some guys were just asking me for quests and others if they could help me somehow. I sent the first to the adventurer¡¯s guild and offered the others work. They seemed put off by my offer. The wage of only 50 copper for the week and no instant promotion to Novice Miner was not enough of an incentive.¡± She grinned and looked at my pile of dirt closer.


    ¡°So¡­ 50 coppers¡­¡± That really was nothing.


    ¡°Did I forget to tell you? I know it¡¯s nothing, but you¡¯ll receive 5 % of your finds on top and the experience for the miner skill will stack. If you pass the probation and work hard you shouldn¡¯t be just a Level 1 Miner.¡±


    ¡°Ok, now I don¡¯t feel cheated anymore.¡± I had no more complaints.


    ¡°Anyway, take a closer look at the rubble. See any differences?¡± I knelt down and grabbed a few stones.


    ¡°The color may be a bit different and the weight differs.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Also the appearance, inclusions and cracks in stones tell a lot.¡±


    She picked a bigger stone, with red streaks and put it to the side. Christa added two more with a similar color and a smaller black on.


    ¡°That should be iron. The smaller, black stone is silver ore, always a nice find.¡± She put the stones in her bag.


    ¡°Where will we put the rest of the rubble? I haven¡¯t seen any outside the cave.¡±


    ¡°The Silver Mountains house an interesting monster. It¡¯s every miners dream. The Rock Mole is blind and digs through the earth. But it¡¯s easier for that monster to just run through caves or our tunnels. It eats rock and cleans out the rubble for us over time.¡±


    ¡°What? Really, such convenient monster exists?¡±


    ¡°It takes some time for Rock Moles to claim a new territory. But it¡¯s mostly peaceful if you stay out of its direct way. If you encounter one, just walk away and mine in another tunnel. In case it is aggressive, don¡¯t fight it and ran away. Your pick wouldn¡¯t even leave a scratch. They not only eat rock, but are hard as one.¡±


    ¡°Good to know.¡± I was yawning now. The exhaustion from just one hours work was quite severe.


    ¡°Bored already?¡± Christa was looking at me.


    ¡°Not at all, just tired. I¡¯m not used to this work, yet.¡± She seemed mollified.


    ¡°Take this.¡± She was throwing me a small yellow potion.


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    ¡°A recharge for you. That should be plenty for another hour of your manly excavating.¡± I didn¡¯t feel offended and just downed the bottle.


    Ding


    Your stamina has recovered.


    ***


    Christa kept running around in the tunnels and came to pick me up after the hour was up. Two more rocks with iron ore were within my new pile. We headed back to the camp. On our way we encountered three bigger birds that looked like a smaller version of Jess and Less.


    They spread out a bit and fluffed their plumage. I held my pick in both hands, ready for hopefully everything.


    ¡°Kumas. They are kin to Minker birds, but are lot less agile and strong. You should be able to hold your own against them.¡± Christa was relaxed.


    ¡°Means what?¡± Was she expecting me to fight alone?


    ¡°Go for it. They can be our late dinner.¡± She was.


    I wanted to say goodbye to being a coward. Here was a chance to improve.


    The pick wouldn¡¯t be lost like the dagger. I started with a careful approach, because I didn¡¯t know how intelligent they were. There teamwork was another important factor.


    With a sudden lunge I tried to shorten the distance to the bird in the center. All three spread their wings, a typical move to intimidate an opponent. I was hoping for something like that. With the next step I was in range.


    Woosh!


    I aimed for the head and was only able to graze the Kuma. It was still enough to stun the bird and I crouched down, used the momentum of my swing and landed a spinning heal kick that knocked the bird over and seemed to cause a good amount of damage. The monster was out cold.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    While I tried to get away I still took some damage from the beaks of the other Kumas. My health bar looked all right so far. The birds tried to circle me and I used these seconds to stomp with a jump on the neck of their fallen comrade. A nasty cracking sound announced its demise.


    With one opponent in front and another at my back my defense was almost non-existent. I tried to push them. With a short forward movement the bird behind me should feel compelled to attack. But I did no push forward further but turned around instead.


    My next swing with my pick was aimed at the body. Bull¡¯s-eye! I gut lucky and my pick killed the next Kuma almost instantly.


    But now I had a problem. My pick was kind of stuck.


    ¡°Fuckety fuck! Fuuuck!¡± Did I hear Christa snicker?


    The last bird was running at full speed and rammed me down. The Kuma now tried to trample me to death and my health dropped fast with every hit. I rolled from left to right, grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it at the bird¡¯s head. My luck held and I hit. That was my sign to get on my feed again and push against the body of the Kuma from below. The disoriented bird was down and I followed up with a knee to its head.


    I laid down on my back and was gasping for air.


    Ding


    You have obtained the skill Melee.


    ¡°Entertaining. You¡¯ve done well.¡± Christa was slowly clapping her hands.


    ¡°Give me a minute to recover.¡± This two-minute fight drained me completely.


    ¡°Hmh, looks like one of the Kumas isn¡¯t very usable anymore with the pick in its intestines. We¡¯ll see.¡± She removed the pick and placed it beside me.


    ¡°It looks like you learned more than one lesson today. You need to get better, fast. What you also should do in the not too distant future is to carry different types of weapons. At last it¡¯s up to you how to cover the disadvantages of each type.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Or do you need more rest? You look much better now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m good. Am ready for some roasted birdy and a good nights sleep.¡± I got up and stashed the bloodied pick in my inventory.


    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡±


    I was glad that the last part of the way was uneventful and used it to look at the new skill.


    Melee Lvl 1 (Novice)


    You will use every means necessary in close-quarters fighting to win. Melee raises the chance for a critical hit and improves spatial awareness in a fight.


    Strength and Dexterity are slightly raised by Melee.


    When we arrived at the camp Christa showed me how to gut the birds. I really liked to eat poultry, but the gory scene was new to me. There were no blood splatters at the display fridge of my mall.


    I was not that squeamish and enjoyed a roasted leg. It was juicy and tasted a bit like beef. After the late dinner I went to my assigned tent and climbed into the hammock.


    ***


    Back in reality I felt a muscle ache built up in my arms. Now I was convinced that you could work your muscles while playing. Awesome!


    It was just a quarter past 5 now, but my body seemed to have problems to adapt. I should keep an eye on it, to not get sleepy the same time in real life as in game.


    A TV dinner was ready in minutes. It tasted bland compared to the stuff in Karma. Maybe I should try some real cooking for a change. I zapped the TV stations and was instantly bored. Adds, flashy news and ridiculous shows were enough for me to switch off fast.


    At least the Net showed some interesting news now.


    Karma Forum


    Guest 35924: ¡®v seen a crazy scene at my town.


    Guest 12795: What? You, not falling on your face?


    Guest 24087: Maybe he has seen his mother?! :D


    Guest 35924. Funny. No, there was a guy, a player, in the pillory!


    Guest 24087: Really? In public?


    Guest 12795: Woah! Prove?


    Guest 35924: Made a screenshot. He was on display for sexual harassment of a young barmaid. He got one hand broken with a hammer as well.


    Guest 24087: ¡­


    Guest 12795: Guess he earned it. Sounds tough still¡­


    There were also some player lists online to compare skills and professions. Big gaming sites like GON also made a dedicated player ranking. How they got the information was above me. Maybe the outgoing players sent their info directly to these web sites.


    A few guys were almost level 10 already. I was still level 1. Whatever, my satisfaction with Karma was not dependent on some figures.


    Still mentally tired I thought about sleeping a bit. It made not much sense to log in now anyway.


    ¡°Moogle! Set alarm: 10.30 pm.¡±


    ¡°Alarm set.¡±


    Before I fell to sleep I chuckled. I spent more time in bed than ever and was more active than ever at the same time.

 Chapter 10 – Progress, in tiny steps

    The staged sleep was finished faster than I felt comfortable with. There was no ne need to change position. Maybe Unicode was scheming that no one would ever want to leave the house again. Would work for me.


    Back in Karma and the hammock I left my avatar in, I felt like a filthy crackhead. Without paying attention to the blood on my clothes and the dust from the mining my smell and look was probably enough to scare away monsters. At least my health bar was completely filled again.


    I walked out of the tent and looked around for the others. The sun was just up and I was ready for my next round of mining 101.


    With nobody in sight I was looking for something resembling a washing facility, the luxury of a shower would be more than welcome.


    ¡°Hey CB, tumbling around early?¡± Christa just walked out of the tent with the makeshift forge. She looked spotless. I had to ask for her secret.


    ¡°Good morning Christa. You look good today.¡± To late, I realized the problem with my greeting after the words were out of my mouth.


    ¡°Why thank you! Oh, look who is in a flirty mood again.¡± Christa put a hand on her cheek.


    ¡°Right. I meant your clothes and skin look immaculate despite yesterday. How are you doing that?¡± I dug my grave even deeper, didn¡¯t I?


    ¡°So much flattery for old me, hehe.¡± Now she was pretending to be cute. I didn¡¯t work on me.


    ¡°Christa, serious. I look like a mud diver, your clothes look brand new and you like freshly scrubbed. Where can I wash all the dirty clothes and myself?¡± I rolled my eyes.


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a spell.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s more than nice. Do you think I can learn this one, too?¡± Instant cleaning sounded like a great invention.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± She scratched her neck.


    ¡°Maybe. The spell combines two elements. Independently it would be considered basic and only slightly harder than ¡°Light¡±. In combination we are facing intermediate level. That is almost impossible without instruction of a full-fledged mage.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like an option now. I¡¯m still struggling with the first spell.¡± I was disappointed.


    ¡°Poor baby!¡± She pointed her hand in my direction and I was engulfed in twirling colors.


    After about 5 seconds the light show was over. I looked down on me and was pleasantly surprised. That was a spell I had to learn, no matter what!


    ¡°Clean, as can be.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Christa. I feel much better now. What¡¯s the plan for today, besides me sweating in the mine for some time?¡±


    ¡°Breakfast, Mine, Town¡­ Something like this. It¡¯s hard to think on empty stomach¡­¡±


    There was a lot of cold meat left from yesterday and somehow Christa brought fresh bread as well. Together with some milk, which suspiciously tasted nothing like whole milk from my fridge, it was more than enough.


    ***


    The mining itself was uneventful. I only needed two breaks this time, a decent improvement. Christa showed me more effective ways to hold my pickaxe and to get a better leverage while breaking walls. Two mighty swings with her pick were on a totally different level compared to my meager efforts. She almost broke the same amount out of the wall as I, only without taking one and half hours. I had a long way to go.


    During the time in the mine Christa wasn¡¯t helping me with the darkness. Sparks marked my work. After the first break I was able to hold onto a weak light and still could swing the pickaxe. The side effect of using magic beside the use of mana from my body, it was draining my stamina, too. It still was a great accomplishment. I felt proud and gained the skills Light and Nature Magic. I thought that ¡°Light¡± would be more of a fire element. Didn¡¯t really matter, the spell was handy either way.


    What others often would call menial labor had one big plus: Time flew by! Christa did her clean spell thingy again and back at the camp Jess and Less were expecting us. I got a headbutt as greeting and her raspy tongue to wake me up from my concussion. To be liked by a Minker bird is tough.


    It was a totally uneventful day so far; Jess did not count. That made me cautious and a bit paranoid.  On the ride back was also nothing to see. The main difference was the amount of people near the city. There were lots of players now running around. I got my share of envious glances and shouts. Someone on a mount wasn¡¯t a common sight, yet.


    ¡°Back again in good old Kalesh.¡± Christa grabbed the reins of Less and Jess.


    ¡°I will be back tomorrow morning.¡±


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.¡°Hope so, CB. Jess will be ready. She¡¯ll find you when you¡¯re not coming. Haha.¡± With Jess everything seemed possible.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±


    ¡°Before you leave CB... Pay Erestran a visit. Tell him I sent you. He is an instructor for high-level practitioners, mostly because he cannot or maybe will not hold back. Erestran owes me a few favors and shouldn¡¯t have many customers right now anyway.¡±


    ¡°I can do that, even though it sounds somehow fishy. Him not holding back means, he¡¯s going to shred me to pieces every minute?¡±


    ¡°To call it a walk in a park would be a blatant lie. But you will learn more from him in a week than from others in a month. Combat is not about fun, but survival.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s quite generous to use a favor for me.¡± There seemed to be an ulterior motive.


    ¡°Yeah sure, I have to protect you, my investment. The new employee dying in the first week is bad for my business and reputation.¡± She told me that with a straight face.


    ¡°Got it. Like you, too.¡± I was a bit miffed, but Christa just grinned back at me.


    ¡°See you tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow!¡±


    I headed back into town. Without loot to sell or money at hand there was nothing new to buy for me. But farming mobs was a thing I really loathed in the old MMORPG¡¯s. That was hardly fun.


    On my stroll thru the alleys I ate one of my sandwiches and decided to pay the instructor a visit. Just a look should be enough for today, because it was early Monday morning in real life.


    The map function was great. Did I mention that? Christa¡¯s words were enough for pinpoint accuracy. Erestran was located in the big training hall on the fifth floor.


    ***


    ¡°Good day, sir.¡± I always wanted to play it save with the NPC¡¯s.


    ¡°Yes?¡± He stopped swinging his sword around.


    ¡°Are you by chance master Erestran?¡± Sometimes even I didn¡¯t know why my tongue was that sugar coated.


    ¡°So what if I¡¯m him?¡± He turned away and concentrated again on his sword stance.


    ¡°If you are Erestran und not some imposter, I like to talk to you.¡± This guy was pissing me of.


    ¡°You are talking to me for a minute now and wasting me time. Just state your business or get lost.¡± What an asshat.


    ¡°I guess Christa was totally wrong to send me to you. The little respect you gained 20 years ago was obviously some fluke.¡± I was ready to leave and almost out of the door.


    A sword flew into the wall, missing my nose by a hair¡¯s breadth. My eyes got huge.


    ¡°Thanks for the gift dipshit!¡±


    I was pulling the posh looking blade out of the wall and was running for my life. Flying down the stairs there was no plan in my head. The streets, crowded by now, should provide some cover. My skin prickled and I could feel killing intent, for the first time in my life.


    ¡®Think! Think! Think!¡¯ There was no place to hide, no opening to the sewers.


    My feet didn¡¯t touch the ground anymore. He got me by my neck, holding me in the air with only one arm.


    ¡°Help¡­. Chchrr¡­ lp!¡± I struggled with my voice. ¡°¡­molester!¡±


    He didn¡¯t usher a word and just carried me back into the building, the way my mom used to with my worn socks in high school. So, no one came to my rescue and I lost my faith in Kalesh citizen¡¯s moral standards.


    This guy wasn¡¯t even breathing hard when we were back on the 5th floor. I still dangled from his arm like an oversized ragdoll. Overpowered NPC¡¯s were just everywhere.


    ¡°Sword.¡± He stretched his other arm out and was waiting for me to hand it over. The man had no real patience. His hand was squeezing tighter around my throat. My health bar shrank.


    ¡°¡­grgl¡­¡± This meant: Take it, please.


    Sword in hand we walked ¨C well, only he was using his feet ¨C to the training area. He dropped me into the sand.


    ¡°Christa sent you, little thief?¡± He was staring.


    ¡°You threw it at me. Finders, keepers!¡±


    ¡°Did Christa sent you, or not?¡±


    ¡°She did. But I don¡¯t care. Who wants some asshole trainer?¡± I struggled a bit to get up and tried to leave, again.


    ¡°I accept!¡± He stood in my way.


    ¡°Hah? Are you deaf man? I¡¯m leaving.¡± I tried to pass him, but he blogged me again.


    ¡°No, you will stay and I will train you. A debt is binding for me.¡±


    I was at a total loss for words. What was wrong with his head? There had to be a way to get rid of this mad dog.


    Not to calmly think it through could be a mistake. I ran for now and logged out.

 Chapter 11 – Welcome to hell

    Home sweet home. Well, it felt sour right now. The musclebrain Erestran agitated me way too much. I hoped that some grocery shopping would distract me, but realized that it¡¯s not afternoon in real life. An open Walmart at wee hours was a thing of the past. I wasn¡¯t that hungry right now anyway.


    With the alarm set for a 4-hour sleep, I was thinking about this trainer again and had a hard time not to stay awake.


    When I woke up I wasn¡¯t too tired and felt quite good. A turkey sandwich was breakfast, washed down with a bottle of water. After a shower I was ready for my next session.


    ***


    It was dark around me after the login. That was the way it¡¯s supposed to be. Just in case I listened for sounds other than my shallow breathing. I heard nothing.


    Still not sure in which direction I would find the exit I slowly advanced. Nothing seemed out of place, but without my eyes any turtle was faster in this moment. Using Light was the only way now.


    My weak spell illuminated the surrounding.


    ¡°Hiiiieee!¡± I cried out like a little girl.


    Directly below my floating light stood the lunatic, Erestran. The scene was right out of some horror movie.


    ¡°I was waiting for you.¡± He pressed the palms of his hands together. The walls of the hall lit up and made the training area bright as daylight.


    ¡°Aha yeah, thanks for waiting. I have to go.¡± This guy freaked me out.


    ¡°We can do this the hard or the harder way.¡± He was very calm.


    ¡°Listen, I did not hire you or paid you to train me. I¡¯ll tell Christa you¡¯ve done a good job but I was lacking, ok?¡±


    ¡°Christa settled the matter already. She was visiting me in the evening and sent her regards.¡±


    ¡°Shit!¡± Now I really was in deep shit. There was no easy way out.


    ¡°Come with me.¡± I followed with a sigh. There was no way to escape and Christa was involved. I had to grit my teeth and survive for the next days.


    We were now in the center of the hall. There wasn¡¯t much to see. Some training dummies made either from wood or iron stood in the center next to us and at the back was some kind of shooting range for archers. The hall was big enough to allow shots from more than 100 meters away.


    ¡°My basic course takes about 4 weeks.¡± He stated as a matter of fact.


    ¡°Wha? I thought we¡¯re talking days?¡± Did Christa sign me up for a personal hell?


    ¡°I came up with you training schedule while waiting.¡±


    ¡°So, it¡¯s petty revenge?¡±


    ¡°No, not at all. My disciples are usually late advanced level fighters or higher. Your are a blank sheet and I can form you from the beginning.¡±


    ¡°Good for me.¡±


    ¡°You are right. And even better that you are my only disciple right now.¡± He wasn¡¯t getting my sarcasm.


    Ding


    You are now the disciple of Erestran. As sole disciple of a renowned master you gain related experience 50% faster.


    If you not follow orders as disciple or bail out your reputation with the town¡¯s NPC¡¯s will drop.


    Speaking about no way out¡­


    ¡°And where do we start?¡±


    ¡°Master!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°You will call me master as long as I train you.¡±


    ¡°Right. Where do we start, master?¡± I had problems to not roll my eyes. It was even worse than in my old dojo.


    ¡°Christa told me of your working arrangement. We start now. We have three hours left until dawn.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll start right now¡­ master?¡± That was no fun.


    ¡°I have to evaluate you first. Three to four hours should be enough.¡±


    He pulled a big jacked out of a bag that laid next to a dummy and threw it to me. I almost fell down when I caught it.


    ¡°Wear the jacket and start to run.¡±


    Willing or not, my reputation with Christa and other NPC¡¯s was in peril. So I started jogging with my added 30 plus kilogram. In real life I would probably keel over after 5 minutes. The riding skill seemed to help a bit and maybe my mining work had a positive effect on me, too.


    After about 25 minutes it was over and my legs gave up.


    ¡°After your warm up I will check your weapon affinity.¡± I groaned.


    If not for the clock in my field of vision I wouldn¡¯t know how long I struggled with dozens of different weapons. Some were dismissed after seconds and others I had to spar with. Erestran used a simple stick to disarm me all the time.


    Three weapons were left after that intense selection. I was sprawled out on the ground face down.


    ¡°Break is over. Get up.¡±


    ¡°What break?¡± I rolled on my back to be able to speak. There was muscles pain in areas I didn¡¯t know actually muscles existed. I struggled to get on my feet.


    ¡°We have the bow, a battleax and kamas. Your background and prospects considered the battleax should be the first choice, with the bow as option for long-range engagements. That kamas suit you is quite interesting. Sickles are very effective against low-level monsters. After that it gets more challenging. Your decision.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s up to me, really?¡± That was a trap, maybe.


    ¡°That is the only point you are allowed to influence in my training menu.¡±


    This guy really wasn¡¯t human. Ok, with few lines of code he wasn¡¯t. But I had never seen such a narrow minded NPC in Karma.


    ¡°Just the ax is fine with me. If I have to kill or defend myself I will do it up close and personal.¡± Hopefully the time with Erestran would be reduced. There was still magic to learn, which was perfectly suited for long-range combat.


    ¡°Good. With a focus the short time is often more productive.¡± Damn, no cut in training time.


    ¡°I expect you back after you return from your work. Keep the jacket on all the time. You are dismissed.¡±


    ¡°More training today and why the jacket?¡±


    ¡°Why more? We haven¡¯t even started. And stop asking all the useless questions.¡± He left me standing on the sandy ground.


    This kind of obligation wasn¡¯t on top of my list. It was necessary, but it didn¡¯t feel right. At least, it should be done with mining in mind. That was dangerous enough to die a couple of times without some combat skills.


    ***


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    When I left the building it was early morning. Two coppers poorer I had the Karma equivalent of filled dumplings on my way to Christa¡¯s camp. Every day more players filled the streets. They were easily to distinguish from the locals. Players often behaved flamboyant and peculiar. Some were even shouting for parties. I felt annoyed by it without real reason.


    On my way out of Kalesh I greeted the guards. Immersion was essential for a great gaming experience. People in charge knowing you when there was trouble could help as well in the future.


    ¡°Jess, sweetheart. You waiting for me?¡± I somehow liked the overgrown, fluffy terror bird. Christa was nowhere in sight this morning.


    ¡°Coo! Coo!¡± She sashayed in my direction.


    ¡°Jess, stop! No head munching and no headbutts as greeting!¡± The way she gravitated to me foreboded nothing good.


    She stopped, late, but at least not on me. Jess¡¯ head came down and was almost on eye level with me. She was sniffing me once.


    ¡°Coo?¡±


    Jess inhaled deeper. Was my mount a pervert? Suddenly I heard some gurgling sounds.


    ¡°Coochoo¡­¡±


    My face and chest were splattered with slime. I felt sick and used the sleeve of my right arm to at least free my mouth and nose, before I would throw up because I ate bird boogers.


    ¡°Son of a bitch! Jess, you pig! Bad bird!¡± Now I wasn¡¯t only sweaty but was covered with snot as well.


    ¡°You should keep your claws crossed that I find some water to clean up. Otherwise I¡¯ll use your coat.¡±


    The third day in Karma really sucked and it wasn¡¯t even noon. Lucky enough there was a big water barrel with an empty bucket next to it. I took of my shirt and submerged it in water. The jacket, especially the sleeve, was next. After some hand wash action I dowsed my head with more water. It was far from perfect, but I wasn¡¯t feeling filthy anymore.


    ¡°Jess, I hope you are finished with being a disgusting bird. Down!¡± My chest was still naked, but I wasn¡¯t willing to put the damp shirt and Jacket on. The airstream on a inker bird at full speed should easily equal any dryer.


    ¡°Yiep! Yiep!¡±


    Yeah, back on the road like some veteran. Not really, but it felt special for me. After my return from my work in the mountains I was probably labeled the nudist freak from Kalesh. There were quite a few puzzled looks following bare chested me and my snot steed. That I held a shirt flag in both hands high above my head wasn¡¯t helping either.


    Shirt and jacket were dry again after a couple minutes. A bit later I received nice system messages, too.


    Ding


    The skill Riding leveled up!


    Ding


    You leveled up!


    ¡°Top 10, I¡¯m coming! Hahaha.¡±


    So I reached level 2 now. It seemed harder than in other games. But maybe I was just playing wrong.


    No, I didn¡¯t.


    ***


    With the arrival at the mining camp I saw the workers from yesterday. This moment I noticed that Christa didn¡¯t give me the bag for the ore, she couldn¡¯t. I facepalmed.


    Yesterday¡¯s practice helped a lot and Jess was without saddle in seconds and soon had a bucket with fresh water in front of her.


    ¡°No snack for you today, Jess. Face-sneezers have to hunt their own goodies.¡± She seemed disappointed, but spared me another snot attack.


    ¡°Hi all!¡± The thing with the names haunted me again. Only Sinan came to mind.


    ¡°Hey CB!¡±


    ¡°Hi.¡±


    ¡°Hello.¡±


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting you again.¡± Sinan was not the most optimistic person.


    ¡°Surprise. By the way, I didn¡¯t meet Christa this morning. Means, I have no bag for the ore.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the least of our worries. As your caretaker for today we¡¯ll just use mine.¡± That could be a long day in the mine.


    It was better than expected. My Light worked all right and even leveled up. Only nature magic wouldn¡¯t improve at the same time. One hour after starting to break the walls in shaft C I needed a break. The jacket made the work much harder.


    Three more breaks later and 9 pieces of ore richer my work for today was done. I wasn¡¯t staying longer than necessary. Jess wasn¡¯t straying to far off, so the return trip was set in mere minutes.


    The journey itself was boring. It was nice that my butt didn¡¯t hurt anymore, though. My last sandwiches were sacrificed on the altar of hunger. I was running out of everything and had only 8 coppers left.


    ¡°Hoo!¡± With increasing traffic I slowed Jess down. The impressive walls of Kalesh were in sight and I could see the tents from the camp. A huge person was running around a fire. That must be Christa.


    ¡°Jess, stop! Down!¡±


    ¡°Hey CB, come on over!¡± Christa was waving me to her bonfire.


    ¡°Hey Christa, what¡¯s up with the fire?¡±


    ¡°Just a test. When it burned down I try to barbeque with the residual heat. Got the perfect 200 kilogram boar to try it out for a slow roast.¡± She was pleased with herself.


    ¡°How was your day CB?¡±


    ¡°The work was ok and in my rubble was slightly more ore than yesterday. Speaking about ore. Is it possible to get front money?¡±


    ¡°I can do that, but only for your commission.¡± That couldn¡¯t be that much.


    ¡°It¡¯s 75 copper, today not included. The silver ore was a good find.¡± She gave me the coins.


    ¡°Great!¡± What a positive surprise.


    ¡°Nice jacket you¡¯re wearing.¡± Christa grinned at me.


    ¡°Hmh¡­¡±


    ¡°Like your trainer?¡±


    ¡°He is¡­ He has a special personality.¡± Calling one of Christa¡¯s friends a lunatic musclebrain wouldn¡¯t be too wise.


    ¡°Erestran is a combat idiot. But he is one of the best.¡±


    ¡°So, you knew?¡±


    ¡°Sure did. What do you think how long I know this man? There is no success without effort. His methods may be questionable but get things done, fast.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for lending me to his shaping for the next weeks¡­¡±


    ¡°Your welcome! Give it your all.¡± There was her snickering again.


    I groaned and tried to mentally prepare for my new master. Both, brain and body said no.

 Chapter 12 – Training wonderland

    Despite my aversion I was on my way. Christa played with her meat experiment and told me she would save some good parts for me, if it would be a success.


    Now in front of the training hall I felt another wave of dread. I had to push through and survive this guy. Just from the logical perspective there was no better instructor for combat available that early in the game. With the reminder of coming events weighing me down I entered the building.


    ¡°Master.¡±


    ¡°Boy, there you are. Don¡¯t just stand there, picking your nose. We will start each training session with a warm up. 30 minutes will suffice in the first week. If you¡¯ll need water, there is a barrel in the corner over there.¡± He showed in the direction behind the shooting range.


    ¡°Drink all you want. You have to take care of food yourself. Bring a lot, you¡¯ll need it in the future to recover your stamina.¡±


    ¡°Right now I have no food on me.¡± Man, I really forgot to buy all the stuff on my way.


    ¡°That should still be fine for now. The program schedule is only two hours today. Health potions are enough available in case your injuries get to severe.¡± I wasn¡¯t surprised anymore about the last sentence.


    ¡°Now run!¡±


    Something was off. I started my rounds like yesterday, but this time Erestran was running together with me.


    ¡°Your speed is too slow!¡±, he said and hit me with a stick on my arm.


    ¡°Why are you hitting me?¡± I whined and still ran.


    ¡°Master!¡± Yes, I forgot. Jeez!


    ¡°Why are you hitting me, master?¡±


    ¡°Try to dodge my blows. I¡¯ll go slow.¡± Outside Karma this guy would have lawyers of every human rights organization as regulars.


    There was the next hit, this time on my thigh. It stung. The most annoying were the hits on my neck and my fingers. I wasn¡¯t even able to dodge or avoid one of his blows.


    The 30 minutes were up and I was sweating blood, literally. Several shallow cuts were still bleeding, but not enough to allow me a potion. About 10 percent of my health was shaved off. At least water was ok as short break.


    We were standing now in the inner ring again, near the dummies. Erestran held a big ax in his hand.


    ¡°This heavy ax is nothing fancy. But it gets the job done. The first thing I¡¯ll show you are basic stances for defense and attack. When executed correctly you will be able to easily switch from attack to defense and vice versa. To grab that foundation and internalize it is the most important part. There are enough idiots out there doing flashy moves, not knowing their basics and get countered without effort. Fighting can be an art, but can be really ugly at the same time. With your life on the line just the result counts, not the method.¡±


    He handed me the ax. I had to grab it with both hands because of the weight. A look on the stats showed me the following:


    Archaic Battle Ax


    Class: Uncommon


    Material: Steel


    Attack: 20 ¨C 45


    This battle ax has seen many fights and is very durable because handle and blade were forged from steel. It has a hammer design as counterweight, allowing the Archaic Battle Ax to be used as a blunt weapon as well. The high weight makes the ax considerable slower in inexperienced hands.


    It was the first uncommon item that I ever held in my hands. The damage was very high and would probably kill most of the low tier mobs around Kalesh in one or two hits, without relying on so much luck, like I had with the Kumas.


    ¡°Axes are usually better suited for attack. There is no shield you can wield with the big ones and the weight will slow you down. Still, defense comes first. We¡¯ll start with the two-handed ax. It¡¯s very different from dual wielding or fighting with a shield.¡±


    ¡°Master, I¡¯ve never seen someone using two axes at once.¡± Dual wielding for me was the typical short sword or dagger user with high speed and agility.


    ¡°It is only advantageous with battle or war axes. Otherwise short swords are preferable. A hatchet may be as fast as a sword, but lacks its versatility. Dual wielding a heavy war ax takes it to a whole new height. But you¡¯ll need to be at least near Christas or my level to do that, strength wise. In addition only experts and masters actually have little advantages with this style. Beginners and advanced practitioners should either use a two-handed weapon or a shield.¡±


    The first stance Erestran showed me looked easier than done. As righty my left hand stayed at the grip and my right was placed not far off the blade. My left leg was slightly in front of me, with the right behind my center. The ax was held almost horizontal. Depending on my or the opponents next move I had to put more weight on either the left or the right leg. It confused me quite a bit and the blows to correct me didn¡¯t help much.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Now that you have the stance almost right we¡¯ll work on your leg strength.¡±


    What followed was another workout from hell. By now I was thankful for the reduced pain perception in Karma. I had to do squats, walk slowly with bent legs and my ax always held in the same position. After that I had to jump back and forth only using one leg. We stopped when I wasn¡¯t able to do even one more squat.


    With still shaky legs I¡¯ve done my first swings. It threw me off balance and face first in the sand.


    ¡°No break now. Just 40 minutes left.¡± He must be joking. I spat out sand.


    I was more careful with my next swings, which was obviously too slow for Erestran. He used his stick to motivate me further, much to my chagrin.


    Ding


    You have obtained the skill Weapon Proficiency: Two-Handed Axes


    I had to take look on my new skill.


    Proficiency: Two-Handed Axes Lvl 1 (Novice)


    You are able to wield two-handed axes without demerit. Said weapon will now do slightly more damage.


    Yeah! My weak body dulled my delight. The ax didn¡¯t feel that heavy anymore and my swings were a bit steadier.


    ¡°Ok, we are done for today. Next time don¡¯t forget enough food or you won¡¯t be able to crawl out of the building.¡±


    He was a really funny guy. I was crawling with breaks now and then, just to reach the stairs. Today was only the two-hour session. That spelled doom for tomorrow.


    ***


    Still groaning and on all fours I reached the first stall with food. I really didn¡¯t give a damn how I looked right now.


    ¡°Five servings, three with meat and two with vegetables. Thanks.¡± The skewers were fantastic two days ago and I was so hungry.


    ¡°Are you ok, sir?¡± The man selling the food seemed genuinely concerned.


    ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m fine. I just need some rest and eat your skewers.¡±


    ¡°Please take a seat over there. I bring your order in a minute.¡± He pointed to the benches the customers of the food stalls used to eat.


    ¡°Hehe. Titan, look at the crawling noob.¡± A slim man wearing dark leather spoke to his tall and muscular companion. His black hair looked quite greasy.


    ¡°Why should I care? Scissors, don¡¯t show me every idiot in town.¡± The blonde giant was only wearing a vest on his upper buddy. His bulging muscles couldn¡¯t be missed.


    ¡°Guys like him are perfect underling material, don¡¯t you think?¡± He was rubbing his hands.


    ¡°Haha, our first henchman. Lets kick him around a bit.¡±


    I sat on the bench and less than a minute later I had the big hot skewers in front of me. The smell alone made my mouth water. It was totally worth the 8 coppers.


    I inhaled the first round. For the next skewer with meat I took my time and chewed reverently. Two shadows fell on me and on my left and right two unknown men sat down.


    ¡°Hey buddy, how are ye doin?¡± A blonde bodybuilder asked me and hit my back hard enough to almost let go of my skewer.


    ¡°Yeah buddy, how¡¯s going? Need cool comrades?¡± Mr. greasy hair said on my left and grabbed my shoulder.


    ¡°Do I know you?¡± I kept eating and cursed my luck for letting me met those goons.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t ye rude to your big bros?¡± The blonde guy spouted more nonsense.


    ¡°Yeah, why don¡¯t you treat us as compensation?¡±


    The thin man tried to grab one of my skewers but I swatted his hand away.


    ¡°Could you please leave me alone? I don¡¯t want to be friends or something with you and just want to eat. Thank you.¡± What a nuisance.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± The black haired man grabbed my shoulder even harder. Compared to Jess¡¯ affection it wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning.


    ¡°Do you know who I am, noob?¡± Mr. bodybuilder seemed enraged.


    ¡°Like I care. Piss off now or I call the guards.¡± There were pesky players in every game.


    ¡°Tch, ye will regret that noob!¡±


    ¡°We will see each other outside the city sooner or later!¡±


    They stormed off and kicked my food off the table. Good thing that I had the third meat skewer already in hand. Those morons must have had a good first impression of some city guards, or they wouldn¡¯t run off that soon. Too tired to react to threats I walked to the food stall again.


    ¡°Hey mister, two veggie skewers to go please.¡± My stomach wasn¡¯t empty anymore, but had room for more.


    After I ate I called it a day in Karma and logged out.

 Chapter 13 – The week in review

    I was dying. No, it wasn¡¯t some slaughter in Karma or caused by the musclehead¡¯s training. Even Erestran could be said to be part of my daily routine, although a tough and often frustrating one.


    No, real life sneaked up on me, sneaked up on a lot of gamer out there.


    For a day now I couldn¡¯t log into Karma. There was a system message preceding my plight that more than baffled me:


    Please pay attention player!


    Due to pending government law enforcement accounts from US citizens will be suspended indefinitely.


    You will be disconnected from server in two gaming hours. Please move your avatar to a neutral or friendly zone to avoid death.


    For further information please contact your local congressman or the office of Senator Shawn Davies (Ohio).


    ¡®Who the fuck is Shawn Davies and who gives a damn about Ohio?¡¯, were my thoughts in this moment. It was supposed to be the day I would be accepted as blacksmith apprentice. Shit!


    To vent my anger I powered myself out in the training hall of doom. It was enough to calm me down until I logged out and was looking for the reason within the Net. With hindsight it was a good thing a head finished my coffee when I smashed the cup at my wall.


    There was a reason I and the complete US of A were not able to log into in Karma right now.


    Mentioned senator from Ohio, Shawn Davies, had a son in the early twenties. That¡¯s not really uncommon. The problem was that local law in Karma punished his sonny, heavily. As repeat offender he was brutally executed in public. To make matters worse other gamer recorded the spectacle and put it online.


    Long story short, he ran to his daddy and Mr. Senator was trying to sue Unicode and bring in a new bill to completely over-regulate virtual reality, game or not.


    Unicode on the other hand did not really care and pulled the plug.


    ***


    With another free week right in front of me I didn¡¯t know what to do. Sulking wasn¡¯t an option for me, too boring. After grocery shopping and some healthy cooking tryouts my enthusiasm was almost depleted. I probably had to work on that.


    The Net was another option, but bothered the crap out of me. Asian and European players had a new sport in making fun of us, that there was a new dark continent. While always some random Canadian would pop up and claim that the other half of North America was still alive and kicking.


    I was waiting for the next GON stream with Lilith Anihcam. There were ads everywhere for a big show tonight. With so much free time on my hands I wouldn¡¯t miss this.


    To bridge that gap I decided to write my congressman a flaming hate mail and spam quite a few Facebook and Twitter accounts with my opinion. A lot of people were pissed off either by the senator or Unicode or both.


    With a bowl of chips and crackers on my lap and a beer in hand I was ready for some explaining. The stream was running on my big TV screen.


    ¡°Heya folks! Welcome to today''s exclusive life stream on GON, the number one source for games and entertainment! I am Jason, your host for tonight.


    There will be no need to introduce our guest for the interview. Most will remember our last stream that shattered the game industry and stupefied the gaming world. It was the start to a new era.


    Welcome and hello, Lilith Anihcam, CEO of Unicode. It¡¯s my utmost pleasure to receive you again in our studio.¡±


    ¡°Jason, good to see you.¡±


    ¡°Lilith, the country is in uproar. Millions of enthusiasts lost their purpose in life. That¡¯s not an exaggeration; virtual reality has become a second life for many gamer. Almost two days ago Unicode pulled the plug. We are, I include myself, angry, frustrated, sad and just want to play. Will this issue be solved in the near future?¡±


    ¡°That is a question I cannot answer completely. It¡¯s simply not up to me alone. Unicode is not into politics or cares about local power structures. Karma is one of our babies. If it¡¯s not wanted we do not press the matter. It is pretty simple in the end.¡±


    ¡°Do you not care about the US gaming community? Wouldn¡¯t it be simple to solve this issue?¡±


    ¡°Well, the senator made the personal problem of his son a public one. There was a reason that Karma accepts no minors as players. Virtual reality can be as harsh as reality. We do not employ thousands of lawyers for the concerns of every individual and the moral set that comes along with it. Common sense is the problem of the society and everyone¡¯s parents.¡±


    ¡°Alexander Davies claims that he is mentally crippled for life and everything came without warning.¡±


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°I¡¯m no psychiatrist, but the warning part was visible for your viewers a well. There was at least one screenshot out there that showed him in the pillory.¡±


    ¡°Oh, he was?¡±


    ¡°For a similar offense. That should have been some proper warning. As someone who attends a well-known university I would presume that he is not too intellectually constricted to understand a threat.¡±


    ¡°But, wasn¡¯t it too harsh?¡±


    ¡°Karma is a game of life and death, with its own rules. It is not about being nice and fluffy for a juvenile audience, here everything goes. Rape is a crime severely punished in most parts of the human territory. For Orcs that would be nothing special if it wasn¡¯t the wife of a higher ranked individual.


    For a man it must be very hard to get castrated be the victim, get the rest burned out and than beheaded. The penalties for the death were high as well. That¡¯s karma.¡±


    ¡°I guess many of our viewers watched the videos. It was hard for me to look at. Anyway, that is not really the point anymore. What can we as players do or what is Unicode willing to do to get things back to normal? You must be loosing tons of money soon.¡±


    ¡°Unicode is a company and we like to earn money, but I can tell you in all honesty; that is less important than you may think. We can produce now about half a million units per day. We have something like 15 million players in Karma with a worldwide backlog of 246 million, which is more than 16 month of waiting time. Logically it wouldn¡¯t really matter much. But I think we may have a solution for the US players in sight.¡±


    ¡°Really? Can you give us some details?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s say¡­ there is a pattern.¡±


    ¡°Lilith, that is a hint I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    ¡°We just want to make a point. We oppose blackmailing by governments, politicians or persons with power. If you don¡¯t like it, don¡¯t play it.¡±


    ¡°Blackmailing is a hard word to use.¡±


    ¡°Is it? Well, my time is up Jason. It was my pleasure to be here again.¡±


    ¡°I know your tight schedule is our loss. Thank you very much for taking your time and being here with us, Lilith Anihcam.¡±


    Ah, my future wife looked as splendid as last time. I was angry with the senator from the beginning. After seeing this interview I wasn¡¯t sure if Unicode wasn¡¯t reacting to fast to prove their point. But the solution seemed in sight, hopefully.


    Pregnant from tons of snacks and beer I went to bed and slept 10 hours like a baby.


    ***


    Another day went by with me getting restless. I was even thinking about visiting my family. Nope, I wasn¡¯t that desperate, yet.


    Karma was still down for us. The media was outraged, probably due to lack of substantial news, and declared Unicode as new enemy of the state. Lilith Anihcam was unofficially the leader of the ¡°New Axis of Evil¡± because she refused interviews with all TV stations, tabloids and newspapers.


    What should be a PR disaster was free marketing for Unicode. There was a lot of attention before the incident, but now everyone was taking about it.


    Thing strange thing was, Unicode didn¡¯t bother to use the momentum; they kept quiet.


    The bomb exploded almost exactly 24 hours after Lilith Anihcam¡¯s appearance on GON.


    One after another the news stations of the big networks were showing breaking news:


    ¡°This is Donna Richards, life in front of the Capitol, Washington D.C.


    Senator Shawn Davies handed in his resignation just minutes ago. It seems he just resigned before the Senate would give a vote of expulsion in two days time.


    We received this news directly after getting our hands on explosive material regarding the senator¡¯s son Alexander. The senator used his power and a lot of money to hush and cover up the alleged sexual assault on two college students.


    The victims¡¯ names were not revealed. The prosecutor investigates and federal agents were very interested in that case as well.


    It doesn¡¯t seem to be a coincidence that all the information pop up after the senator tried to sue Unicode for mentally hurting his son, who was tortured for the same reason in the virtual reality game Karma.


    This was Donna Richards, life from the Capitol.¡±


    I received a new message on my smartphone:


    Dear Player,


    the US Server is expected to be online again in three hours. Your account has been reactivated.


    We wish you a great game experience.


    Your Karma team


    Wow, that development was scary! Don¡¯t mess with my bride-to-be!