AEO

 AltEarthOnline

Chapter 1

My vision flared from white to dark and suddenly I could open my eyes.  Swinging my legs over the bed I stood and stretched, old habits die hard.  I was now in the VR world of AEO, AltEarthOnline.  I opened up my stats with a thought and had a brief look,

Stats

Class Paladin

Strength 9

Agility 5

Intelligence 7

Spirit 4

Toughness 8

Life 200

Mana 100

Spells

Holy Hammer instant single enemy attack spell, toss a hammer of light at an enemy.

Cost 10 mana

Damage = strength +agility* number of levels *2

9+5*5*2 unmodified=140 DPS

HolyHealth

A single instant healing spell that uses 2 Mana to increase 5 health, unlimited use until Mana is empty.

Both spells are usable while moving.

Gear

A mixture of white leather and cloth items, no information available on items that are less than Green quality.

Weapon

The club, white item, no information available.

Yep not so good, but I was not here to play the game, I was here under contract as a miner for the EVRAZ corporation out of Russia.  Being born in Canada had greatly limited my life, both the US and Canada no longer had a middle class, that was now in India and China.  Over here it was the large mass of poor people and the small mass of the rich.  The Government guaranteed free education, but the fact was with Europe self-destructing under Sharia law with armed conflicts between the Muslims and the Governments the borders were closed, and really, they were no better off than North America and the best education in the world would not open up a job over there.

It was into this bleak world that VR had finally been perfected, but not in the way that anyone had thought.  There were no cocoons or game pods, instead, surgery was required which inserted a bio ware AI interface directly into an individual’s brain.  Once activated the AI would control the human host's body, while the consciousness of the host would be inserted into the game.  The cost was high, and only the rich could afford it. 

Once the gaming economy took over the world’s economy, things changed as big business always was looking to make more money and this was a golden opportunity.  Corporations were eager to sign up people to play as long as they signed a contract, 20 years in game time for the implant, and once you were done your daily quota you were free to play the game.  That 20 years in game time worked out to 5 years real time and it was a small price to pay.   Millions flocked to enter the game, believing that for a few hours of gathering or creating they would then be able to play and have fun in a world that was in every way better than the real world.

It did not work out that way, the competition was too numerous, and the mining nodes and flowers would have hundreds of people waiting, sure you could move out from the starting zone which was level 1 to 5 but the chance of dying dramatically increased.  Death was not permanent, but it did have consequences, a person had to run back to their body and hope that no one had looted it.  Your personal gear was safe but anything in your bag could be looted.  Many people had lost all that they had worked for.

The Age of corpse camping had begun, if a player could hit level 10 they would get a faction bag that could not be looted but that was almost impossible unless you were friends with a rich player.  There were stories of Elven boys and girls agreeing to be “Friends” with players if they helped them get out of the starting zones.  I do not judge but that route was not for me. 

The starting zone was huge and I had explored most of it when I got lucky.  I had discovered a hidden valley with a ruined Inn and some abandoned farms and at the back of this valley was a closed down mine.  It was now inhabited by Goblins, little green bastards that would kill you without a thought.  Fortunately, I had also found several mining nodes scattered throughout the valley, they were all copper at this level but without anyone to mine them I could make my rounds of the valley and by the time I finished the last one the new one would have respawned.

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My luck had continued when I had looked the ruined Inn over, it turned out that the mailbox out front was still active.  Magic is beautiful I thought when I realized what this meant.  I would mine all day and then I would mail myself the copper, then hearth out to my home Inn in the city.  There I had opened a bank account and would deposit my ore. I would drop off my daily quota to the EVRAZ office then head back to the Valley where I would slowly work at killing some of the few mobs that roamed the area.

Today as I dropped off my ore at the EVRAZ office the clerk, a level 10 Rat BeastMan NPC looked at me and then with an oily leer asked, “Lightborne, you always make your quota don’t you, what is your secret I wonder?”

I looked at him and nodded then said, “Hard work and healthy living.”  Once I heard the ding that my account had been credited I turned around and I left the office with a twitchy feeling between my shoulder blades.  I did not like the “Rat” as we miners called him, he was always trying to scam people out of what they turned in.  Making my way to the Inn I stopped at the nearest store and sold all the grey items I had collected from the occasional roaming wolf I had killed, the sounds of coins clinking together showed my account had just received another 2 silver and 3 copper.  I called up the total and smiled, 2 gold 7 silver and some copper.  I was rich as far as most low-level noobs were concerned.  I could go to the Auction House and try my hand at playing the market but I knew I did not have the brains for that.  Also, If I bought a better weapon or gear it would attract attention.  Best to continue to save.  Leaving the store, I made my way out towards my Inn.  As I turned the corner I glanced to my left and was not surprised to see the Rat before he ducked out of sight.

I knew that he wanted to know how I had managed to make my quota every day, most of us Noobs didn’t.  That was alright with the corporations, for every day that the quota was missed you had to work another day.  It was self-induced indenture, a modern form of slavery.  Entering my Inn, I walked over to the bar and sat down, the only good thing about being a noob was the Inn was free, this was important as rest gave a small XP bonus and food and drink gave a small buff.

Grabbing the Stout Ale that the barkeep sent my way, I took a drink as my mind thought about the Rat.  A level 10 BeastMan, he had no class as an NPC but he did have a racial attack called Swarm, this spell called forth about 10 rats who would attack the nearest target with the highest aggro rating.  It started getting busy in the Inn when the cook came out and started talking to the barkeep. 

“Alex, my helper did not show up and there is no way to keep up with the demand tonight, what do you want me to do?”  The cook was a Troll lady named Greenleaf, who while stern looking had a gentle heart, often sneaking us noobs a little extra in our lunches.  Alex looked pissed but simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “Do the best you can, it is all we can do.”

A quest window suddenly opened and I read,

Help the Inn

Volunteer to assist the cook

Rewards

XP 2000

Cooking skills level one

I immediately accepted, the XP bonus alone would move me to level 6 plus to gain the cooking skill for free was unheard of.  Most players took it at level 20 as the need for the bonus buffs it would give began to outweigh the cost of the recipes.

Waving at Alex I said, “Hey man I heard that you guys need some help tonight, I would like to help.”  Alex looked at me and grunted then nodding he turned to Greenleaf and asked, “Can you use this guy?”

Greenleaf stared at me for a moment then nodded then said, “It can’t make it worse and might help.”  She then stretched her hand over to my head and said, “Do you accept the cooking skill level 1 from me?”

I nodded and suddenly I received the message,

Cooking level 1 learned

Recipes

Baked bread, tastes even better with Peanut Butter

Wolf steak, if it ain’t red in the middle you ruined it

Wild Potato, even the Irish love em

Greens Salad, momma said to eat your greens

Lizard Breast, that ain’t chicken you been eating

“Come with me, we going to get you started on making bread and then a big salad.”  I followed her into the kitchen and then we got busy, I was amazed that I just knew how to do stuff, it was as if I had been cooking for years.  I made 25 small loaves of bread and 2 large bowls of salad, by the time I was done the evening had fled and it was now late at least 11 pm. 

Greenleaf finally called for a break and I sat back.  Seeing her gesture, I followed her out back to a small enclosed space.  At one time it might have been a private garden but now it was used to store some boxes of beer.  We sat down on a bench and I watched as Greenleaf rolled a joint.  She offered to share a toke but I declined, smoking in the game was harmless but still, it was nothing I wanted to do.

Giving me a smile Greenleaf said, “You did well helping me Lightborne, and I thank you, it would have been difficult to manage without you.  If you want I will put in a word with Alex and we can make this a permanent part-time thing?  I am willing to pay you through both XP and a wee bit of coin, what do you say?’

Damn tooting Pappy I thought as I said, “Yes Maam, I would like that, what are my hours?”

“Greenleaf thought for a moment as she took another toke and then said, “How about Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, from 8 to 12.  I know you visitors sometimes are called away to your homeland but can you do that.”

I nodded and said, “Yes Maam, not a problem.”  We finished off the night and then I left the kitchen to go up to my room.  I had been pleasantly surprised to see another chunk of 100 XP had been added to my total.  These situations were rare, in fact, players had a better chance of finding an Epic item drop then a permanent quest from an NPC.  As I crossed the Inn I glanced down at the booth at the far end and there he was, the Rat, the chump must have followed me home.

Then and there I decided that I would get rid of him.  As an NPC he could die and there would no respawn, so I had no worries about him coming back for revenge.  Still, he was level 10 and I was only at level 6.  Upon entering my room, I shut the door with a sigh, this was a safe place within the game, no one could enter a room but the owner.  At the higher levels players could purchase or build their own homes but you had to be rich and achieve a certain reputation in your home city or town.

I laid down and then logged out, many players preferred to just sleep in the game and never logged out but I made it a point to always log out.  I opened my eyes and then slowly stood and stretched. Glancing at the mirror I saw myself I stood at 5 feet and 6 inches, my body looked like that of a competing weightlifter.  My AI who took over while I was in the game and worked my body hard, I had started out as a flabby couch potato and now I looked great.  I noted that my small bachelor apartment was also sparkling clean, with everything in its place.  The AI kept my body busy while I was in the game.

One of the benefits of having the wetware AI was the ability to connect to the internet without a computer.  You could also watch movies in the most realistic 3D or attend rock concerts.  It was pretty amazing but it got boring quick.  I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water then ordered up my supper.  The food was free for people in the real world but it was not the quality that you had from the game world.  I had a ginger beef with fried rice with a side of udon noodles.  It was not that food tasted bad but compared to the in-game taste everything but the spiced food tasted lame.

Finishing my meal, I sat down and began to go through the forums, this was something I had never done before in any great detail.  I downloaded all the information on Beastmen that I could find, it was interesting, not much was available about the Rat race, they were sneaky bullies who would try to steal or cheat and generally could not be trusted.

I then looked up the history of the starting zone I was at trying to find some information about my hidden valley.  All I could come up with was there were several locations like this scattered around the world, they were very hard to find but if a player played his cards right they could be very lucrative.  Apparently, they had been part of an expansion that the developers had decided to not implement.  Instead of deleting the millions of lines of code that was needed to remove them they were hidden.

I was getting tired and had decided to go to bed when I received a message from my AI.  Opening the message, I read, Hello player, you have been randomly selected to participate in the update to your AI.  This new update will enable greater synchronization within the World of AEO.  There is no cost to you but be aware that this update cannot be rolled back.  If there are any issues your AI will be regulated to the Standard user interface.  If you choose not to participate click the no link.

Sitting back on the couch I stared at the message hanging in front of my eyes and thought about what it meant, I had not known there was anything else but the basic AI.  It was a no-brainer for me, added functionality compared to what I had now, I clicked yes and then after reading that the download would happen overnight, I went to bed.