When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back at the entrance of the cave, his body restored to its previous state. The wounds that had taken his life were gone, replaced by a dull ache that lingered in his muscles.
Eddie sat up slowly, his mind reeling from the experience. He had died, he was sure of it. But somehow, he was still here, still alive. He glanced down at his status screen, half expecting to see some indication of what had happened, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. There was no penalty, nothing taken from his inventory. Other than the dull ache, there was nothing that indicated he had just died. Eddie was still thrown by his unexpected death so he decided to log off and check on the world, and his real job as a student.
Eddie blinked a few times, still disoriented from his death and unexpected resurrection. The entrance of the cave loomed behind him, the shadows within seeming to taunt him with the memory of his failure. But right now, he needed to step away from the game, clear his mind, and focus on his real-life responsibilities.
Logging out, Eddie felt the familiar sensation of detachment as the game world faded away, replaced by the sterile, comforting environment of his bedroom. He removed his VR headset and rubbed his eyes, trying to shake off the residual dizziness.
The room was dimly lit, the soft hum of his computer the only sound breaking the silence. Eddie took a deep breath, grounding himself in the present. The transition from the intense, immersive world of Ascendant Online to the quiet reality of his room was disorienting.
He glanced at the clock on his desk. It was late, but not so late that he couldn't squeeze in a bit of work before he went to bed. His textbooks and notes were strewn across his desk, a testament to the hours he had spent preparing for his upcoming oral defense of his dissertation. With a sigh, he sat down and opened his laptop, pulling up his study schedule. He pushed everything back six months since it didn’t seem like he would graduate anytime soon. If only his advisor would just drop dead and he could graduate.
As he turned back to the list of suggested experiments that his professor had sent, his mind kept drifting back to the game. The encounter with Varnithra, the scrolls, and the strange thing that had bought his fate all swirled in his mind. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was on the brink of something significant in Ascendant Online. But he hadn’t played any games before and didn’t intend for it to become his escape. He had a PhD to get after all.
He logged into his email to see a message from his PhD advisor.
“Hey bud. A. Online is blowing up. I got a solid character and I don’t have many experiments to run. I attached what I’d like for you to do in the lab for me, when you get a chance. Thanks 😊”
“Are you fucking kidding me,” Eddie exclaimed. “Not only did he make me do more experiments for myself, he fucking unloaded all of his shit onto me.”
Eddie knew that Ascendant Online was a hit, but he hadn’t expected it get to the point where even his advisor blew off work. Eddie opened up the list of experiments and saw that most of them were long term studies. He wasn’t thrilled to have to take on even more work, especially given the looming pressure of his own dissertation. Frustrated, Eddie rubbed his temples, trying to stave off the growing headache. He couldn't believe the audacity of his advisor, who seemed literally more interested in playing games than doing his actual job.
Eddie decided to head into the lab despite it being almost 11:00 PM, but lab work waited for no one. As he trudged into the lab, Eddie was surprised by how quiet the streets were. The AIs had most jobs, and people had just enough to survive on, but usually the streets would be packed with people too lazy or unqualified to have jobs. The emptiness was unusual. As Eddie passed by the giant illuminated sign that overhang the McDavids’, he saw a news clip playing.
“Ascendant Online just reached 5 trillion users. The fastest growth ever for a game. It hit that number within less than a day,” the man on the screen said.
“Well, Tom, it helps that a full day in the real world is two weeks in the game. The highest time ratio that has ever been done in a game – and may I say – it even managed to increase the realism. Really impressive stuff.”
“I know, Annie, the AI that Tyrese let run wild really outdid itself. The rumors are that the efficiency really increased without human input. Apparently the AI developed the world from before any life existed and guided it to where it is in the game. That really makes a difference.”
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“It definitely does. But the biggest story of the day is that World Announcement and the Main Quest. No one knows who unleashed that World Announcement and while most are speculating it is related to the Main Quest, it is tough to know. For everyone scared that the Main Quest would be limited to elite players, up to 1 in 10 players have reported receiving it.”
“That is absolutely right,” Tom said. “But everyone who died, lost the quest. It isn’t known if any of them will be able to regain the quest, but not getting it in the first place, should not be a concern.”
Eddie passed out of the range of sound for the ad but couldn’t help dwelling on the words. It seemed he wasn’t special for getting the Main Quest notification after all. He was intrigued by everyone losing the Main Quest though. From what he had seen after he died; he hadn’t lost it. But, then again, he only briefly looked at his status before he logged out.
As Eddie approached his lab building, he pulled out his keycard. The rest of the world had gone biometric but his advisor had refused the upgrade. Something about not liking the intrusion of technology, which made his joining into Ascendant Online even more surprising.
Eddie was greeted by the sterile scent of chemicals and the hum of machinery as he entered. The long-term fatigue testing of the adhesive was a meticulous and time-consuming process, one that demanded both precision and patience.
The adhesive in question was a new polymer-based material designed to withstand extreme conditions, potentially revolutionizing industries from aerospace to construction. Eddie's prof had told him to run the standard fatigue testing procedure.
The first step was to prepare the samples. Eddie donned his lab coat and gloves, that shit could burn the skin if he wasn’t careful. He carefully measured out the adhesive, applying it between standardized metal plates that would serve as the substrates. Each sample had to be identical to ensure consistency in the results, so he meticulously applied a uniform layer of adhesive, checking the thickness with a micrometer.
Once the samples were prepared, they were placed into the fatigue testing machine. It’d subject the samples to cyclic loading, applying and releasing pressure to mimic the stresses the adhesive would face in practical applications. Eddie programmed the machine to apply a specific load at regular intervals, ensuring that the cycles would continue around the clock before setting up a monitoring system to track the progress. Sensors were attached to each sample to measure any changes in the adhesive's properties, such as strain and displacement. These sensors were connected to a computer that logged the data in real time, providing a continuous record of the adhesive's performance.
Eddie knew that this was just the beginning. The fatigue testing would take weeks, if not months, to complete. Each week, he would need to check the machine, ensuring it was operating correctly and that the samples were intact. He would also analyze the data regularly, looking for any signs of degradation or failure in the adhesive. By the time that he finished, the clock already was past midnight. Eddie was exhausted but glad that he was done with his advisors work, at least for the day.
As Eddie walked out of the lab, he pulled out his phone and searched for Ascendant Online on Feddit. With five trillion players, the message boards were exploding in popularity. The top posts were predictably about the Main Quest and the surprising World Announcement. But surprisingly, one of the most popular was called, “The Real World in the Game.”
When Eddie opened it up, he saw it wasn’t anything about the game entering the world or vice versa. No, there wasn’t any of that silly apocalypse type thing happening. Instead, he just saw that real world skills seemed to work well in the game. People who worked on historical farms could blacksmith system recognized items.
But it didn’t look like anyone had skills or abilities beyond the racial traits. What Eddie saw seemed to indicate that you only got skills through your class, rare skill books, or training by a master. Apparently, your personal ability would increase the level of the skill, but until you got the skill, your ability didn’t do anything.
Eddie immediately began thinking about how he could use his own knowledge in the game. He definitely didn’t have any real world fighting skills or blacksmithing knowledge. But he did know about adhesives. Well, adhesives and explosives. Turns out, when an AI handles ordering, it’s really fucking hard to get your hands on illegal stuff. So a lot of recipes and how to tips could be found online. Of course, Eddie had no practical experience, but it was only a game. Worst case, he just respawned.
When Eddie passed by the sign, he saw the same news show on. They had moved off of the mechanics Ascendant Online and were talking about the trillions of dollars at stake for the winner of the first quest.
“I mean, Tom, it just doesn’t seem fair that the lottery winners get to be a week ahead. The highest of their levels is supposed to already be Level 20. They already have a class and a gigantic advantage over everyone else.”
“You know what the rumors say though,” Tom said. “Levels don’t matter that much. It’s all about the quest and then the rest of the metrics for determining the winner is just unknown.”
As Eddie passed by it, he considered if he had any chance at winning. After all, he was the cause for the World Announcement. He snorted before he started laughing out loud at his own arrogance. He didn’t have a chance in the world at winning the Main Quest. But when Eddie got home, he still put on his VR helmet and prepared to log back into the game.