《Subconscious Ghost》 Prologue - Mourning It''s just not right, not right at all. I''ve always thought it silly how it always rains on funerals on movies, how that was not right and the weather would not merely seem bad because the characters felt bad. It''s ironic, really, I''ve always complained it was unrealistic for the world to look sad and ugly on those occasions, and now that it isn''t, I feel like the world should actually be. I waked up sad, with the salty smell of dried tears on my face, and then I find out the world is like this. It should be raining. It would be more appropriate. I walked along with the rest of them. Of us. I still couldn''t believe it would end like this. The past two months were the happiest of my life, after meeting him I was almost another person. If he was still here, he would probably have managed to make me smile again... he always managed. Anywhere, anytime, I couldn''t not smile when he was with me. But then again, he was here, just a few steps away from me, on the wood box that would seal his body away from me for the rest of my life. I don''t believe I would be able to smile. Not now. Not in a long time. The sun mocked me as I walked, reminding me how I always thought the weather shouldn''t mourn the death of someone. It sure as hell should. Walking in black, among a crowd of black-suited individuals, this day was not a good day for a funeral. Heck, there were even butterflies flying at our right, this is not how it should be. Then again, this whole event should not be. We kept walking, a beautiful day all around us, as if trying to say the world simply didn¡¯t care for him, that the world was the same and nothing would change in the big scenario, that his death was meaningless. Well, that it could be, there was no meaning, no reason for his death. I still couldn¡¯t believe in it, a heart attack in his bath... And he wasn¡¯t even thirty yet! As I mourned, the procession walked. Although he was the love of my life, I didn¡¯t know anyone here, which made it only worse. I was a stranger on my love¡¯s own funeral. I didn¡¯t know the family nor the friends. I was seemingly out of place, and no one would give me a shoulder to cry on, no one would hold my hand, embrace me in my sorrow. At least it was enough to know I was not alone in that sorrow; there were dozens of people here, who, just as me, mourned his passing. I was only the girl who found the body. Nothing but that. We walked, and I wept. ______________________________________________________________________________ This situation was troublesome. He thought they had managed to fix the problem, but here it was, once again, and it was too late now. They couldn¡¯t let the public know of the truth. Well, what would the truth be, in fact? Sure, every single evidence pointed for the same thing, that the problem repeated itself, but that could be natural causes, right? Well, they had managed to cover everything perfectly, but if it happened again¡­ there was no telling how long they would be able to cover. The problem seemed to be fixed, they had made several tests, and even had some casualties in order to perfect the system¡­ it had been three years of research and testing after the first time it happened. On the last year, every test and every experiment ended in a complete success. After all that, they still waited a full year on further tests with a reduced group, and for the last two years everything had been fine, perfect, not a single problem. Well, there was one or another problem here or there, but it wasn¡¯t exactly their fault, and they made sure those small things were fixed, but THIS? Damn, if that has come to happen once again, they would be shut down. The whole world would accuse them, the whole world would refuse them, the whole world would crucify them. Hell, what if someone started to investigate it? What if the world learned of what they did, how they managed it? This problem had to be dealt with, right now, and that is why he called for the meeting. They were all in the room already, except for one man, the one they were waiting for. It was secure, or at least it should be, as it was totally kept apart from the main world. At a single flash of light, the a blonde man was there, seated, and they began. ¡°Well, it seems we are all here.¡± The blonde man, who had just arrived, later than anyone else, was visibly late, but the eight other figures just nodded their heads without a single complaint as he spoke. All the small talk and the noise of before were gone. ¡°I believe we all know why I called for this meeting. I¡¯ve sent all of you the details of yesterday¡¯s incident, and all the records we found. I think there is no mistake of the problem we¡¯re facing¡­¡± ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s happening again? It could very well be just a coincidence¡­¡± The man talking was the youngest of them all, and he seemed to be asking that with only a small, dim slice of hope. He knew it already, but he had to try grasping that slim hope¡­ Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We both know it¡¯s too much similar to be a coincidence. It¡¯s no coincidence, or at least we should assume that. Too young, too healthy, his death had no place there.¡± Turning his head to another man on the round table, the blonde man asked what that which everyone was afraid of. ¡°Has anyone had any suspicions? Was it completely covered for?¡± ¡°Yes, our guys made sure to get in and out without anyone¡¯s knowledge. He was found by his girlfriend, it seems. Any records of his death were erased, everything points out to a heart attack while he was showering.¡± ¡°Good, then we have nothing to fear, there¡¯s no cha-¡° ¡°Nothing to fear? What do you mean? If this happened once, it will sure as hell happen again, we have to shut it down, we can¡¯t have anyo-¡° ¡°Nothing. To. Fear. You know I don¡¯t like to be interrupted, and you should mind your place. The problem will be cared for just like last time, you will all look into it, find out how the protections were overrun and fix it. Put more restrictions, change it. While you do that, we¡¯ll need to make sure to pick up any other instance of it. If that happens again before we fix it, we must make sure to have someone ready to pick them up and cover things.¡± The man who had interrupted the blonde now waited to be sure he was finishing talking. Everyone here knew not to get on his bad side, especially when he was already angry. ¡°Right, but what do we do about the rest of the public? People got angry yesterday, because we cut them out. We said it was temporary, and even got a good explanation saying we were fixing some things, but that hasn¡¯t happened for a long time, and they will require some explaining¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s easy. It¡¯s hidden stuff, something we had to do but can¡¯t simply open up for the public, it will just pique their interest there. In a few days we actually do add something and then say it was that. Use one of the ideas for next semester¡­¡± The man was done talking, but then just raised his arm and dismissed the idea with his hand. ¡°No, cross that, we¡¯ll need more time than just this, we need teams ready to deal with this situation, so just get one of our best ideas for the next year, a big one, and work hard to get it done as fast as possible, something we can somehow make seem like was actually started now. Get teams ready in case it repeats again, and get everything back to normal as fast as possible, we¡¯ve lost too much already in a single day, we must haste things or else risk to jeopardy all we¡¯ve accomplished in the past two years.¡± With that said, the man nodded, and disappeared again, in a single flash of light. The rest of the man sighed and disappeared, one by one, until only one figure remained. He couldn¡¯t leave that place like that, and although only the blonde one knew of that. As he was left there, alone, he mused about what was happening, the only one there who knew the truth of things. He couldn¡¯t have the others knowing the truth, and had managed to hide it everything up to this very moment, but if things continued like this, innocent people would die, not just those animals, conscienceless bodies and vile beings like before. Sighing, he looked at the table and saw his own image reflected there, as well as the whole world that caused that problem in the first place. He couldn¡¯t let them knowing, and truth be told, if they knew it, that wouldn¡¯t stop them from their evil deeds. He was needed among them, as if not him, there wouldn¡¯t be a single person in both worlds able to control their power. It was sad that, with all the power he had there, he still couldn¡¯t fix the situation, nor could he actually change things. Not a single one of the other eight would side with him ¨C he had tried many scenarios, but there was no way they would help him. Sighing again, the man went over the file he had received yesterday. There wasn¡¯t much information on the man¡¯s death, more proof that no one on the room but him cared for the guy¡¯s death. Sam Brookwise, 26, male, perfect health records, found dead by his girlfriend on his bathroom. His funeral had happened today. He felt sorry for the lad, he seemed like a good kid, although he probably wasn¡¯t, given the circumstances. His mouth was dry and a single tear crossed his face nonetheless. If for the boy or for himself, one could only guess. He looked down at the table, at the reflections. There was absolutely nothing he could do but provide cover for the problem itself. As long as the problem remained there, he should be fine. Chapter 1 - Master of Negotiations Chapter 1 - And upon the stage, enters the Master of Negotiations __________ In a sudden and blinding flash of light, a man dressed in simple black clothes appeared. It was his first time in this world, and he couldn''t believe his eyes. It was perfect. He had played many VR games before, but none were as realistic as this one. He moved his arms, then his legs, and it seemed he could perform absolutely any movement. Around him, dozens of people walked about. The place he was in was a simple square, and he could see stands where merchants sold goods, screaming for the crowd their wares and prices. It was an incredible sight. Other VR games had focused on different things, there were some VR games with amazing graphics, but low freedom of movement. You moved, but only on specific scripts of movement, so that you couldn''t really control your body like real life, just controlling it as you would a normal game character. You wished to walk forward? You could, but you didn''t really lift your legs and moved in the way you desired, you just moved in the way the system had it scripted. You wanted to punch someone? You used a skill that did that for you, aiming with the skill, never with your real body. Of course there were games where you were free, but in those, the graphics sucked, and the physics of the game was usually broken, so that things simply didn''t felt really realistic: you moved freely, but the world around you was just crap. For a VR game to have both detail and freedom was something new, he had read about it, but didn''t really believe it... Would the physics here really be as realistic as he had read? As he mused about that, he noticed a fountain right in the center of the square... and ran to it, jumping into the fountain head first.
Damage: -10 HPFame +1
Of course, the fountain wasn''t really deep, and he crushed head first in the stone floor of it. Well, the pain was minimum, and his health should probably recover. The fame part was what he couldn''t understand, but that could only be a good thing, anyway. He couldn''t really see the splash of water, but it felt exactly how it would feel in real life. Even his vision underwater was the same. He got to his feet inside the fountain, noticing the movement of the water, and it really did seem exactly like what he would have expected it to be, if he was in the real world, that is. Here, he just couldn''t believe in what he saw, it was too much. He had studied a lot about VR, and he couldn''t even begin to imagine how a computer would be able to process all the data needed for that, it was simply impossible. Hell, they had a whole fucking world for that! And according to what he read, it was huge! Still amazed, the man finally noticed the stares he was getting from the other people in the square, that just saw a young man jumping head first in a fountain, and then moving about and slapping the water giving a look of awe at the splashes it made. Great, that was why he got a Fame bonus, they thought he was crazy. Understanding that what he did would probably be abnormal, he shrugged, getting out of the fountain. He couldn''t really wait to see the ultra-realistic world everyone was talking about, as he didn''t believe something like that was possible, so he had skipped the tutorial, wanting to dive into that world as soon as possible. Well, if this world was really as realistic as it seemed, he would have a lot of fun here anyway. Remembering he had lost 10 HP just then, he decided to have a look in his maximum HP, and tried to call his Status Window, as one would usually do in other VR games, saying ''Status''... Surprisingly, just as he thought of that, the window appeared. [/tr][/tr]
Status Window
Basic Information
Name:Undefined
Character TypeNoviceGender:MaleLevel:1Experience:0
Recognized Titles
None
Recognized around for:Crazy man that jumped inside a fountainMostly recognized forCrazy man that jumped inside a fountain
Local Fame:1Total fame:1
Attributes
Health:100/100Mana:100/100
Strength:10Agility:10
Vitality:10Dexterity:10
Intelligence:10Charisma:10
Perception:10Willpower:10
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Wow! That was strange... he didn''t say anything, did he? And what was that gap on his status, after his supposed name? Seriously, the hell? Every game he played asked his name in character creation, this one simply had not. Was this a bug? And more important than everything else, why was he being recognized as ''crazy''? Ok, it was abnormal, but crazy, seriously? For a moment he forgot the fact he called the window only by thinking, but then he decided to call his inventory... And it appeared with only a thought. Well, if the game was doing mind-reading, then that was really, but really strange. That was another thing pnly very few games had, and usually those were centered around that, having that as the major features of the game, being able to call skills without saying them, or to move objects with your mind, as in telekinesis. This game seemed to have all the selling points of VR games lauched so far. Anyway, that aside, what he found on his inventory was... nothing. His inventory was empty, not a single loaf of bread or flask of water, but that he had 1 Silver and 50 Copper on his Wallet. Games usually gave you some food, water and the like when you started, sometimes even a basic dagger. Of course some o them also gave you some starting money, but for this game to give you only money was another thing he couldn''t really understand. This probably meant he would need to buy his food, which, in a way was good, as he could get better acquainted with the economy of the game. It would probably force players who just wanted to rush outside to actually give a care to their surroundings and interact with NPCs, as in merchants. Well, good for him, maybe he could get a bargaining skill? Heading for a merchant screaming that he had fresh fish to sell, the man felt a sudden cold, but shrugged it off as he continued walking. "Hello there, how much for the fish?" The merchant looked at his client, containing a laugh. "It''s 15 copper." Seeing the merchant was almost laughing at him, he thought the fish was probably much cheaper than the man tried to sell it for. This guy was just the worst merchant he had ever seen, couldn''t even get through with his lie... Again, the game surprised him. To have an NPC tried to scam you right in the starting town, well, it was realistic, although the obvious way it did was just as bad as it could be. "Come on, the fish is not even fresh, I''m sure it''s not worth that much." The merchant finally let out his laughter, laughing at his client''s face. He knew it, the man was trying to scam him in his first day here, what an ass. "Well, they are definitely not as fresh as you are, as I can see you have just got out of the water not even ten minutes ago." The man started to laugh again, finally containing himself. "But no, the price is really 15 copper, although for you, having made me laugh like that, I could give a discount and sell it for 12 copper. My name is Peish, by the way, yours?" Damn. So the game was THIS good, the man had even laughed at a random event that really shouldn''t be expected, I mean, how through were those programmers, to put even that in the script of a single merchant NPC? Hell, he even unlocked a special discount, that would be obtained just with a very specific action like that! If all NPCs had were as complex as that, the fact this game was still running without having crashed yet was even the more surprising! "Well, I-" The man almost spoke his true name, then remembered he wasn''t asked for a name in his character creation, and decided he should create one just then. "I''m Ryaki, and, in that case... what else do you have to sell with this 20% discount? Hmm?" The merchant froze at that, he never said a 20% discount, did he? Just a small discount, only in his fish, but the man was a real scammer, and had quickly calculated the discount and asked for the merchant to apply it for ALL his wares... "Well, if you''re like that, then I can also sell you some other stuff at a discount, if you''re willing to buy a lot, that is..." The merchant grinned, to which the dripping wet man just nodded. "Well, in that case, I have bread, 8 copper for you, as a good and durable type of food that won''t rot away as fast as fish, good for you travelers, and water canteens, which would usually sell for 65 copper, but I can sell for you for 50..." "Well, I was planning on buying a pair of daggers to hunt outside the city too, so how much are some simple daggers worth, do you know? If you can direct me to a merchant that sell them I could easily spend the rest of the money I won''t spend on weapons to buy some food from you, so I can hunt to my hearts content" The man smiled, knowing he would get free information and would still be able to force a deal with the merchant after that, learning a dagger would cost him 15 copper. Damn, it was the same price of a fish, food sure was expensive in here! Ryaki quickly agreed to spend the rest of his money - 1 silver and 20 copper, after deducting the 30 copper for a pair of daggers - on the food , buying a cantel of water and ten loaves of bread, having managed to convince the man to sell him an extra loaf ''just to make it a rounded number, for luck''. The merchant just smiled awkwardly, agreeing after little struggle. Well, he couldn''t be more happy with that broken lucky incident on the fountain, no one would ever guess you could get discounts by approaching a fish merchant while dripping wet. Whistling happily, Ryaki left the merchant, following the directions he were given, to the dagger merchant. As he finally found the man, he learned a dagger costed a whooping 50 copper, and heard, just behind him, a man screaming "Fish, 16 copper; cantel, 30 copper; loaves of bread, only 4 copper a piece!" His face went red, knowing all too well his first impression of the merchant couldn''t have been more true... __________ I know I said I would make it serious and not a comedy... but I did say there would be comedy here and there, and I couldn''t really resist the scene as the story came to that... Chapter 2 - Convincing Yeah, we had some comedy last chapter, and there''s also some comedy going on this one... I guess I''ll need some more chapters to actually get to where I''m going, I did say the MC is not what he seems to be, but I''ll need to develop the story a lot more for that (and maybe fast forward a lot too, damn) ________________ Ryaki knew he had been scammed, but there wasn''t much he could do. He did try to find the man who scammed him, but when he finally found the place the man had been, he simply wasn''t here anyome, probably happy after earning a whole silver in a day. Knowing he had been tricked, and that his coin would not be enough to buy a dagger, even if he bargained for it, he started looking for "people appearing out of nowhere in the square"... And finally found a girl who did just that, appearing out of thin air. The girl was dressed in a white robe, but he recognized it as one of the possible starter clothes that he could choose from when starting the game, although he decided on black clothes, more fitting for what he planned on becoming. The girl would probably try to make a cleric or something like that, so she should be a nice person. All the better for him. His clothes had dried already, being under the sun for two hours already, and he casually approached the girl, who looked around 17. Well, not that you could really say her age like that, she could easily be older than that, and just look young, or maybe the opposite. He was 20 himself, and could only guess she was younger than he was. "Hello there, young lady! Is this your first time playing?" The girl was still looking around, as amazed as he had been two hours ago. Cute. "Oh, hi there, yes, I just can''t believe this game is so real!" "Yes, yes, I was also surprised when I started playing yesterday... tell you what, you seem like you''ll be playing a cleric or something like one, with this white robe, is that right? Wanna join my party? We are hunting some low leveled animals outside the city and would like to have someone with healing!" "Sure, although I still have to learn some spells for that, so I won''t be of much use now..." "Oh, no need for that, we have a mage who got a healing spellbook, but he can''t really use it because he got a dark affinity spell as his first spell... opposite elements..." The girl just nodded, as if she knew that already. This was too easy. "Wanna join us? I came here in order to buy some food to continue, but we can just go now, you''ll just need to help with the money we got for the food, and that''s all." "Oh, that''s great, well, I''m really excited to play, but doesn''t the book have any requirements? I just started today, after all..." "No, no requirements whatsoever. Tell you what, I''ll whisper him to get the book, I think he bought it for 1 silver, he should sell it for that amount too... let me see..." Ryaki pressed some random points in the air. "Hey, Sam, I found a priest for our party, how much was the book anyway?.. ... ... Well, I said 1 silver, can''t you sell her for 1 silver?.. ... Sure? I let you out of the food costs. ... Great, I''ll talk to her then!" Turning to the girl again, and dismissing an invisible (inexistent) window with his hand, Ryaki just smiled. "He agreed to sell it for one silver, the costs of the food will be on me this time too." The girl opened a big smile. "Great! How do I get the money then?" "Just say inventory, think about getting the 1 silver out, and hand it to me then." The girl did exactly as Ryaki told her, and then they both headed out of the city, getting to the gates while chatting about how real was the game. "Oh, wait, I forgot to fill up our canteens with water, be right back, wait for me here and I''ll be right back!" Ryaki ran to fill up the canteens, and then just headed to the dagger merchant.
For sucessfully lying and maintaining your lie for a long time, deceiving a target and convincing her with your words, you''ve gained the skill [Lie]. Your lies become more convincing as the skill removes minor signs that could give the fact you''re lying away. [Detect Lies] skill can fail at detecting your lies.
+1 CHA
Due to your newly acquired skill, your character type has been updated from [Novice] to [Liar]. Because of your current character type, your lies are more convincing. NPCs are tricked more easily.
Ryaki was a little surprised at the windows that appeared. He read that skills were generated according to the players actions on the game, and that there wasn''t a class system on the game, so that their ''character type'' would be constantly updated according to their skillset and attributes, but he didn''t expect this. So he was a [Liar] now, wonder what he could get from that. From what he read, the bonuses his character type would give him would be changed when he changed to another type, so if he got the thief character type, for example, the lie buff he had now would probably disappear. Maybe he could get something from this [Liar] thing while he still had it... The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Grinning, the man returned to the square, looking for the sudden flash of light that indicated a player appearing... He used different tactics to trick two other players, selling a cantel of water for a full silver for one of them, and tricking the other into buying five loaves of bread for 20 copper a piece. With hiw newly acquired money, the [Liar] went on to buy a new set of clothes, different from the beginner black attire, as well as two canteen of water, getting back to his scams. While in his inventory, the canteen full of fountain water were listed as "Cantel of Pure Fountain Water", so he managed to convince some players that the fountain water was not pure, and they had to purify the water before drinking it, and that''s why the price was so big, otherwise they would get a chance of contracting diseases from the unpurified water. When he finally managed to trick his fifth player, he got a new window.
For sucessfully scamming five people for your own benefits, profiting from it, you''ve gained the skill [Scam]. Your scams are more likely to work, and lies you make while trying to get money from people become more convincing. [Detect Lies] skill can fail at detecting lies you use for your scams.
+1 CHA +1 INT +1 PER
Skill quest avaiable: Requirement: Sucessfully trick two people into giving you all of their money and items, except for their basic clothing, and trick a group of at least three individuals. If you''re discovered and caught on your lies before getting profits, this Skill quest automatically fails. Rewards: Skill
A skill quest? That was new... Ryaki accepted the quest without a second thought, and then just went back to his scams. He bought a dagger, and then managed to trick a player into paying 1 silver and 50 copper on it, then selling a "flask of pure water, that granted bonuses against undead" to another innocent looking boy, who looked to be no more than 12. Well, extorting all money out of those two had been easy, but finding a group of three people to trick should be harder. A group of three meant a party, which probably meant they would already know each other and have played for a little bit longer than those noobs he just tricked. As he thought that, he saw the girl in the white robe he had tricked before just to get a silver for a pair of daggers, and contained his laugh, as she had shown him the way to get that money... until he saw the guard at her side. And the third noob he had tricked. Damn, they should probably be after him. He wasn''t dressed on his black clothes as he was then, but still, he had tricked a lot more people, eventually they could recognize him... Calling for his status window, he noticed there was nothing saying he was recognized as a scammer, nor anything of the sort. The recognition for him jumping into the fountain some seven hours ago had also disappeared. He was surprised seeing seven hours had passed, but then again, time here passed three times faster than in real life, another perk exclusive to a single VR game, as far as he knew it, that was integrated on this game. They surely took every major aspect of the big VR games out there. Knowing the guard was looking for him, Ryaki went on to buy a new set of clothes, a brown robe similar to that of a catholic priest. He knew that there would be no such faith in here, but players could still think he looked like a priest, which would be far from what he looked in his previous adventurer''s clothes. After buying his new attire, he had exactly 6 silver and 50 copper on his wallet. He then decided it was time for him to lay low a little bit, and, as such, decided to log out. No one would ever be able to find him after he logged out, and if he waited just an hour in real life, it would have been 3 hours here, and the guards would probably be tired of that hassle already and forget about the scammer. __________ Well, next chapter will have more information on this world, and Ryaki''s group scamming. It will also have a bit of fast forwarding, as this story won''t really be focused on the how the characters got powerful, but how they used their power later on... Yeah, I''m spending some time on this initial chapters with a simple novice character, but for me to actually get to the actual story I have planned it would take some ingame years. I had to talk about how the character started though, it would be awkward to start it with him as a level 200 player or such, no background and all that, right? Well, I wonder...