“Are you sure?” asked Anders who held his arms behind his head and scratched.
Eros gave a three quick nods.
“But why would it be in this area? This is a low-level zone. I swear this game gets buggier every week.”
“And you wonder why they are shutting down? Crappy developer man. Even you could code something better than this.”
“Easy.”
“Are you sure?” asked Anders who held his arms behind his head and scratched.
Eros gave a three quick nods.
“But why would it be in this area? This is a low-level zone. I swear this game gets buggier every week.”
“And you wonder why they are shutting down? Crappy developer man. Even you could code something better than this.”
“Easy.” Anders grunted.
The pair continued to stalk across the field of long-stemmed reeds. As they moved, the reeds parted way leaving a wake just like a boat that had skimmed across a lake. The felled reeds underfoot were rough and strong, crunching gently as they moved.
Anders wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he surveyed the area. The smell of burning straw and freshly cut grass wafted along the breeze. In the distance, a sullen sun clenched to the last rays of light in the mauve sky that crashed behind the gentle hills.
Whilst the crescent of the hills was lush and full of plant life, the foot of the hill looked as if all the life had ebbed away into nothing but a dusty road. Anders eyes followed the road which led to a dilapidated straw roofed stone building.
Eros raised a hand and the pair both crouched. Ahead of them stood a bipedal mech that stood as tall as the building itself.
Several exhaust pipes spurting black smoke arose from the rear of the machine. Two large muzzles - each the size of a head - extended from the end of each arm where if it were human the hands would be.
The tan coloured armour swayed as the mech took a few cumbersome steps with a series of thuds. In the centre, a murky container seemed to encapsulate the pilot.
“Appraise.”
[Imperial Mech MkII – Level 30]
A titan class armoured reconnaissance vehicle.
Dual Small Calibre Cannons
Blaster Cannon
Anders turned to Eros. “It’s level thirty. There is no way we can take that thing on. Why the hell is it over here?”
“No idea. I tried the appraise skill, but it just gives me unknown. That’s useful. Thanks game.”
“You mean like when you appraise me?”
“No. That’s different. Appraise.”
[Anders ??? – Level ???]
???
“I just get question marks when I appraise you. Like I said, it’s a buggy piece of junk. Who mixes fantasy and robots anyway? It was never going to work.”
Anders nodded and Eros took it as agreement. It wasn’t though.
Eros was right, the game was buggy. Anyone with a reasonable knowledge of code could manipulate it to their advantage.
Anders preferred to think of the many bugs he had discovered as opportunities. Opportunities that could be exploited. The reason Eros couldn’t appraise Anders was because he had purposefully manipulated the code to mask his details.
What you knew about an opponent in this game was half the battle. Being able to remain an unknown entity made it easy to avoid unwanted player kills. Whilst his level was fairly low, no player wanted to risk attacking a player who could be much higher than them.
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Eros yawned. “Whatever, I’m logging off in a few minutes anyway. It must be an event they added in for the closing. I’m going to give it a go. You in?”
“I’m not sure we can take that thing.”
With that, Eros the dark-skinned elf stood. His long-pointed ears bounced as he muttered incantations.
“Summon pet. Aura of the Hawk. Flaming Shot.”
“I guess you’re going to anyway.”
Powerful green runic circles emanated from Eros’ body before dissolving away into nothingness. As the magic briefly flew around his body his long grassy cloak fluttered. Loose leaves floated around on the sudden breeze. He reached a slender arm back, the sunlight glistened where his dark skin was exposed between his bracers.
Then, in an instant, an ornately decorated wooden bow manifested into his hand. It looked both new and ancient in equal measure. An albino tiger purred and brushed its muscular body against his muddy leather boots.
Anders remained crouched, unimpressed by this basic skill. He extended out an arm and a black stiletto dagger appeared. He raised his royal blue hood which was edged with silver thread. Across his chest a leather belt held a further three smaller daggers and a glass vial filled with a bright yellow viscus.
“Stealth activate.”
A dark blue rune appeared around his cloaked form before he faded out of sight. His subtle movements seemed to bend the light and you could just about make out his form if you looked hard enough.
“How do you want to play this?” Anders tinny voice asked across the group chat.
“I’ll send in the cat, stun it and then let’s throw everything we’ve got at it.”
“Okay. Let me try something first.”
“Be quick, I’ve already sent Fluffykins in.”
Fluffykins was Eros’ albino tiger who was already stalking towards the target. It was a rare and graceful creature that was difficult to tame. The pair had had to camp an infamous player kill area for days to find the creature. The feline had all but vanished, only the movement of the reeds gave away its progress.
“Scan.” Anders called, staring at the mech in the distance.
[Scan Skill Activated]
Scanning Target...
Fifteen vulnerabilities found.
[Scan Skill Increased – Level 2]
Anders smirked. His changes had worked. Scan was not a skill from the Age of Evalgon, it was a modification of the Appraise skill.
Anders had theorised that this game used magic in the same way as electricity or perhaps Wi-Fi signals worked in real life. Despite the lack of electricity in this fantasy game, modern technology existed in strange forms. There were special stones the locals called ‘enlightened stones’ that operated in the same way as tablets. Then there were mechs, monstrous pieces of engineering that resembled robotic humans. Who knows what powered those beasts.
The Appraise skill was a way of establishing which class and magic skills a target possessed. By tweaking this skill Anders had been able to scan for any open magical receptors. Much in the same way he would scan for open ports against a computer in real life.
“Charge Fluffykins!” Eros screamed as a large flaming bolt materialised from his readied bow.
The elf smiled as he released the blazing bolt. It screamed across the field leaving a trail of wilted crops in its wake.
The top half of the mech snapped ninety degrees in an instant to face the incoming burning arrow and unleashed a single shot. It struck with pinpoint accuracy and engulfed the arrow in explosive power.
“Son of a-“ Before Eros could finish his sentence his character disappeared in the crimson mist that now occupied his spot.
Eros ripped off his headset and launched it across the room. The black plastic headset crashed against the wall, landing in a graveyard of beer bottles. Red light pulsated along the white lightning bolt logo that adorned the headset.
Luckily the VR headset was sturdy enough that it would take a lot more than a strop to break it. When the first generation of these headsets were introduced, several users had broken them in similar gamer rage. That, and the poor-quality games on offer had caused the launch to be labelled a failure.
To rectify this, the Bolt company had been quick to introduce a near indestructible composite for the headset in the second generation. A new slew of flag ship games was also launched at this time to entice gamers to stay. This was a few years ago now though and the software updates had been few and far between.
Anders could feel his eyes rolling before a distant ringing pulled his focus. He removed his headset, which ripped him from the world of Age of Evalgon, and placed it onto his desk.
He glanced at a photo frame sat on the corner of the wooden desk. In the photograph a tall man with a mop of brown hair and a red-haired woman stood smiling. They seemed very much in love. Between them a young mischievous looking boy grinned up at them. His pale complexion made his dark hair and blue eyes pop.
Another buzz from the phone and the slight movement of the vibration pulled him back from his daze.
“Oi! That game is the worst. Are you coming to Weavers party?” It was Eros again.
“Is that tonight?”
“Yeah man, I’ve been telling you every day. You can’t duck out of this one because you didn’t know about it.”
“Hmm.” Anders said as he threw himself down onto his single bed, which he thought would be more comfortable than it turned out to be.
“Come on man, it will be good for you. We can hang out in real life, meet some chicks. I know Tammy is easy once she’s had a few shots in her and a little birdy told me she’s got a thing for the silent, weedy, nerdy type.”
Anders stared up towards the poster of a grumpy old man with the text ‘Charles Babbage’ below that was stuck to his ceiling and brushed a hand across his face.
“Wow, thanks.”
“I’ve got your back my main man! So, are you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll meet you there. Let me just grab a shower.”
“Alright man. Bring your I.D too.”
“Why?”
“We need to pick up some booze for the party, why else?”
“Wait, do you want me to come because you feel the need to get me a pity lay or because you need my I.D?”
“Man, the distrust.”
“Answer the question.”
“Can’t it be both? My dad is away for the weekend, and I’ve drank this place dry.”
“I’m going Stu.”
“See you in thirty.” Stu laughed.
Anders raised an arm and sniffed before recoiling. He decided he needed a shower and quickly removed his clothes. He was about to head to the ensuite before a thought struck him.
“I’ve got to try it.” He said to himself.
So, with his balls flapping in the breeze, Anders reached for the headset on his desk and went back into Age of Evalgon.