Chapter 1: Weigh In

March 18th, Infinite Dendrogram Character Creation - Solomon Zafar

In an old timey but very beautiful study, a white cat in a vest patiently awaited Solomon’s arrival.

“Welcome back againnn.” Cheshire, the 13th AI greeted, his words rolling with a strange but unique drawl.

“Hey Cheshire!” Solomon said with a wide grin to what had almost become an old friend at this point. “Today’s the day we get started!”

“I’m glad to hearrrr.” Cheshire said with a playful smile. “Just as I was when I heard it the last four timesss.”

Solomon rubbed the back of his head bashfully.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I just had to plan things out with my buddy, make sure things are perfect.”

◊◊◊

March 15th Video Chat – Solomon Zafar

“You want to play me in a video game for the belt?” Chula’s face was super imposed on the TV screen in front of Solomon Kane. “My connection must be buggy. How is me kicking your butt at Animal Crossing going to prove anything?”

“First of all,” Solomon leaned back on his bed, grateful that the doctors had vetted him to go home albeit with intense bed rest. It was a lot easier on the eyes to video chat on the digital TV instead of a small phone. “You can’t win at Animal Crossing.”

“You can’t win at Animal Crossing.” Chula muttered.

“Second Infinite Dendrogram is a VRMMO.” Solomon continued. “That’s Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer-”

“I know what MMOs are!” Chula shouted back. “I was in a Forever Alpha Quest guild, back in the day. Titanium Quantum Coyotes helped me pay for college.”

“Whoa, that’s pretty cool.” Solomon said surprised. “You’re an old hand at MMOs then!”

“Stop calling me old.” Chula groaned. “And I haven’t touched an MMO since college.” For good reason. Chula privately remembered. “And just because you’ve got a lot of time on your hand to lose to a game, doesn’t mean I do.”

“Look it’s not just a game.” Solomon said firmly. “It’s a chance to make the possibility we spoke about before real! When you go into the game, it feels real. You have a virtual body that can be just like ours, but not…broken.” Solomon looked downward at that point, staring at his broken hand. He still couldn’t feel anything, the nerves had been wrecked.

“Or ol-weathered?” Chula questioned.

“Or chunky.” Solomon laughed.

“Wow. Me in my prime. And you want to fight me like that?” Chula said in wonder. “How badly did you want to lose?”

“How badly do I want to win!” Solomon retorted with a wild grin.

“Fine, but I don’t really want people to find out I’m playing a game.” Chula said quickly. “Fans bothering me aside, I don’t want my competitors or my manager to think I’m wasting training time, or not taking my belt challenges seriously.”

“We’ll record the actual fight between us,” Solomon noted. “But we can have fake names and appearances for the game.”

◊◊◊

March 18th, Infinite Dendrogram Character Creation – Chula Suparat

Chula was stunned by the realistic surroundings in front of him. The entire office looked real, even the cat-man was beyond any CGI or uncanny valley effect. Unlike Solomon, who had been in the character creator multiple times to learn as much as he could, this was Chula’s first time in the game.

“Welcome to Infinite Dendgrogram!” Cheshire greeted. “My name is Cheshire, the 13th Control AI.”

“You speak Thai?” Chula responded back in surprise. “I thought this game was in English!” Especieally since Solomon couldn’t speak Thai to save his life.

“Infinite Dendrogram has an automatic translation feature to your native languageee. Would you prefer to set default translation to Englishhh?” Cheshire offered.

“Uh, no this is fine.” Chula noted. While his English was fluent, it was a rare treat to hear things in his mother tongue, especially as his wife only spoke English and Spanish.

“If you change your mind, you can switch the language in your settingsss.”

“Understood.” Chula felt a very odd vibe from this strange very knowledgeable cat. Not that it was pretending to be nice, but that it was…holding back? Like every interaction felt like the cat was a rhino walking on eggshells, while balancing a teacup on their horn.

So uh, I can pick my name and face here?” He asked.

“Absolutelyyy.” Cheshire said with a smile. “Did you have one in minddd?”

“Yeah.” Chula said with a nod. The kid wanted to have matching names, but I thought it would look weird on the recording if we seemed related. So we planned on names that went together.

“Naresuan.” Chula went for the name of a Thai king who challenged a prince to one on one combat, and then won. It seemed like a good omen, even if Solomon didn’t want to duel on elephants. The coward.

“Do you want a last name?” Cheshire enquired.

“Cross.” He said. The last name would tie with Solomon’s character.

“Naresuan Cross. A very royal name if I said so myself.” Cheshire noted, impressing Chula with his knowledge of history.

Must have been some Thai designers on staff. Chula thought. Which is a surprise, because I thought this game was Japanese?

“Now you can change your appearance.” A series of sliders appeared. Using them, Chula saw he could change everything from skin color, to age, to muscle tone to even nationality.

“Is there an option for things like scars and tattoos?” Chula asked.

“Of course. Did you have something in mind?” Cheshire wandered over to help.

“Yeah a-”

◊◊◊

Solomon Zafar

“-nd right there! Done!” Solomon was holding a quill over a 3d Rendering of his face. Turns out there was more than just sliders if you thought to ask for unique designs, and Cheshire had been very helpful in that regard.

“Want to see how you lookkk?” Cheshire held up an ornate palm mirror, with a handle of pearl.

“Thank you very much!” Solomon took the mirror and looked at his real face. Just like his rendering, there was now a scar on his left cheek. Three curved blades whose ends connected in the middle, similar to a spinning top or a three bladed chakram.

It could pass for just a cool looking scar, but the symbol meant something to Solomon and Chula. When Solomon was just starting out as a student competitor, Chula said in an interview that only three students that year were ‘sharp enough blades to cut me’. He hadn’t spoken so highly of a student since Mukudori Shuichi (who’d long disappeared into anonymity after apparently getting rich from the lottery) so the news had quickly assigned the title ‘Three Blades’ to the student athletes. Each of them made a promise that one of them would be the one to dethrone Chula.

“And now I’m the only one left.” Solomon whispered.

“Reverend is everything alrighttt?” Cheshire asked.

“Reverend?” Solomon said surprised, turning from his thoughts to the small catman.

“That’s what the name means doesn’t it.” He points at the name floating above Solomon’s head. It had been there since he selected it. Solomon laughed.

His name was Rev Counter, named after the instrument that measured the ‘Revolutions Per Minute’ or RPM of an engine. It’s supposed to be a note on how fast I am. Well, was.

Wait no! Am! Solomon-or Rev now, had kept his body more or less the same, changing only his facial features to make his nose and cheekbones more pronounced. I look a lot like my dad. Rev had thought at the time. I wonder if I can get him and mom to play?

But the biggest change that he was most excited about was that his left arm was as good as new. He was throwing fists as quickly as before and grinned at how real it felt.

“Rev, aka Reverend Counter?” Rev thought aloud. “A fighter who is also a holy man? I think I saw a movie about that once. Guacamole Liberty? No that doesn’t sound right.” Putting it out of his mind he turned to the cat. “What kind of gear do we start out with?”

“We have a variety of starting equipment and attireee.” He showed holograms of various outfits from different cultures, history and even some that looked sci-fi.

“Stop!” The hologram stopped on a singular outfit. Rev grinned. “Perfect.”

Oh, goody a weird one! Cheshire cheerfully thought. Those are always the most surprising to watch.

“Chula’s gonna hate this.”

◊◊◊

Naresuan Cross

“Solomon would hate this.” Naresuan thought aloud. However his voice was much more high pitched than before. And it wasn’t exactly a ‘his’ voice anymore.

The form Naresuan was wearing was a younger Thai body, muscular and fit. However, it was also female, with long black locks. Naresuan had to admit, even though he had used the gender slider as a joke (surprisingly respectful of them to make gender choice a spectrum rather than binary he had thought) he looked good as a girl.

“Does it count as cheating on my wife if it’s with myself?” Naresuan wondered aloud.

“Legally I believe you are in the clear, especially in your current residence of Argentinaaa.” Cheshire noted. At Naresuan’s look it added, “We can identify your location via your IP addresss.”

Ah like Dis-Flix. Naresuan thought of the online video streaming service. I wonder if I will see different parts of the game if I use a VPN to change my country?

“Just so you know, we do not advise a VPN as necessary.” Cheshire noted, having guessed the man’s train of thoughts. “Infinite Dendrogram has some of the highest cyber security imaginable, and has never been hacked. Additionally, the entire game is on one server, so wherever you log in from you will be able to interact with other players from around the world.”

“Ah good, I was worried a bit about picking the right server.” Naresuan turned to the mirror, looking over ‘her’ body.

“Would you like to confirm your appearance?” Cheshire asked.

Naresuan tried modelling in front of the mirror, hands at the waist, on chin, etc. She looked good, but you could tell that Naresuan couldn’t quite copy a woman’s mannerism. More to the point, her balance was completely different from the male form despite having comparable muscles.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I have no idea how people in these games can pretend to even be a different gender, let alone something as drastic as a different species. Naresuan had firmly decided against trying that one out.

“Eh fun experience, but I’ll switch back to male please.” Naresuan noted, touching the slider in question. He turned into a male form and admired what he saw.

Naresuan was the spitting image of Chula in his youth, when he was 21 and won his first championship match in Thailand, aside from a copy of the three blades on his cheek like Rev. His body felt like he’d been wearing weights on every muscle for the last 10 years and was now free to move. Ever punch sent endorphins running to his brain.

I can see this being addictive. Naresuan thought as he confirmed his appearance. Thankfully I only have the one match with the punk in here, so doubt I’ll be stuck in here long enough for that to be an issue.

“Appearance confirmed.” Cheshire noted. “What kind of equipment would you like?” He summoned up the variety of gear.

“Uh, something that suits a martial artist, or boxer I guess?” Naresuan asked. “I’m not too picky, just nothing too old fashioned. Or weird.”

“Absolutely.” With a click of his finger paws, which seemed biologically impossible for a cat, Naresuan was decked out in a dark blue Gi and a rope belt, very much like a famous red haireds villain from a fighting video game.

“Heh, I get that reference.” Naresuan nodded. “Anything else?”

“I’ll just begin installing your Embryo.” Cheshire waved a hand at Neresuan, whose left hand started to glow. “Would you like an explanationnn?”

“Some unique power up each player gets at the start of the game right?” The punk had told Naresuan a little about it before they started. “Seems a bit random to me.”

“An Embryo’s exact powers and forma are based on the Master, hence why they’re each uniqueee.” Cheshire explained.

“I’d still rather not have something that gave people an excuse to cry about me having an unfair advantage.” Naresuan noted.

“You have the freedom to use or not use your Embryo as you pleaseeee.” Cheshire explained. “Infinite Dendrogram is all about the infinite freedom to do as you wishhh.” Despite his words, Naresuan got a sense that Cheshire wasn’t too happy about someone not using the Embryo.

I guess it is supposed to be a big feature for the game. Naresuan noted. Well I’m not going to be here long anyway.

“Nowww please select where you will start in Infinite Dendrogram.” Cheshire noted, as he unfolded a map scroll on the desk.

“Don’t worry kitty,” Naresuan noted. “My pal and I agreed we’d just meet in the same starting location as all the noobs.”

“I seeeee.” Cheshire noted with a nod. “And which one is thattt?”

“…there’s more than one?” Naresuan questioned.

“All seven nations have their own starting locationnn.” Cheshire explained. “So, where did you two agree to meettt?”

Naresuan just stared incredulously at the cat.

“MOTHER-”

◊◊◊

Cheshire, Control Ai No. 13

Infinite Dendrogram has dozens of players creating characters for the first time every hour, and each of them was to be greeted by an AI who would personally aid them in the first step. Cheshire, as the AI with the least amount of ‘work’ to do, was used to being assigned multiple Masters to guide at once, and was very capable of having simultaneous conversations through his multiple bodies.

What was less common was when two of the Masters were having the exact same problem as each other at the exact same time. Even less common was that the Masters would know about the other Master with the same problem.

“That damn punk, I’m gonna kick his teeth in.”/“Why didn’t you tell me about the seven continents last time I was here?” Both Masters spoke at the same time, but it was easy enough for Cheshire to follow.

“Sir I don’t think there is a need for violenceee.”/ “You never askeddd. You focused mostly on names and character design questionsss.”Cheshire responded to both at once.

“Where’s the log out button, I need to call that punk.” / “I’ve got to call him, find out if the old fool’s already put himself somewhere.” The two Masters noted, which alarmed Cheshire.

“Please sir,” Cheshire said simultaneously to both masters. “Your embryo is still installing.” He pointed at their left hands which were still glowing. “There may be adverse side effects if you log out early.”

Both Masters looked at their hands and sighed.

“Ugh fine if you insist.”/“Wouldn’t want to mess with this beauty.” Both masters acquiesced. “Is there a ‘message punk’ button at least, or some kind of email thing?”/ “Is there a way to contact other players?”

“Unfortunately, you can only send messages to those on your friends lists.” Cheshire explained. “And the only way to become friends is to meet in the game and send an invitation.” Truthfully, Cheshire was capable of sending messages from one Master to another, given his mind controlled both bodies. However, his programming banned him from sharing knowledge about Masters gained in this manner.

Both Masters went to take a seat at the chair that had instanced in their respective rooms. Naresuan leaned forwards in his chair like a pensive detective, while Rev turned his chair back to front and leaned on it’s back.

“How about I explain the different nationsss?” Cheshire offered. Both Masters nodded at that.

Pillars of light came from the map, showcasing the 7 different nationsss, and Cheshire studied both Masters as they thought through their prisoner’s dilemma of sort.

The first nation shown was Altea, a western fantasy style kingdom known as ‘The Land of Knights’. Both of them immediately shook their heads at it.

“Never been a fan of Lord of the Rings sorta stuff.” Rev noted. “And it all looks a bit too clean for Mr Shady.”

“Sorry Altea, but I made a pact.” Naresuan said solemnly. “I will not start any new western fantasy media until George R finishes his series.”

The next shown a series of mountains dotted around a beautiful valley, with a strong Chinese aesthetic called the Huang He Empire or “The Land of the Hermits.”

“Bet the kid is saying it’s a great place for me to retire.” / “Heh, that’ll be a great place for the old man to retire.” The Masters said simultaneously.

“To spite that kid I’m not gonna go there.” Naresuan said firmly.

“No way he’d go there.” Rev said sadly. “Even though it seems thematically appropriate for martial arts. Man has too much pride.”

Caldina, the commercial city state, an oasis in the desert got a resounding wince from the two of them.

“It’s like Dubai.” They said, shivering at the thought. “Never again…”

The next country, Legendaria was at the base of the might tree called Ygdrissil, where fantastical creatures roamed the forested realm, in ‘The Homeland of Fairies’.

“Still a bit too Ringsy for me, but I might pop for a visit later.” Rev considered. “Doubt the old man would be up for it though.”

“…what are those?” Naresuan pointed at figures on the screen.

“Ah those are demi-humansss.” Cheshire explained. “Part human part other fantastical creatures, including animals such as-”

“NOPE!” Naresuan said firmly. He knew it wasn’t politically correct to think negatively of them, and the US even had a vice president who was one, but he just couldn’t help being old fashioned. I just don’t like furries-I mean beast kin. And that place is full of them.

Next up, Granvaloa was not so much a country, as it was a massive flotilla of ships that travelled together across the ocean, earning it the title ‘The Maritime Nation’.

“Heh the Old Man and the sea.” Rev smirked. “Maybe I can finally figure out what the point of that book was if I can get him on here.”

“Ah that takes me back.” Naresuan said with a smile. “I did my compulsory military service in the Navy. Good times.”

“Unfortunately, I get sea sick.” / “Unfortunately, the boy gets sea sick.” The Masters said as one.

Wow these Masters truly know each other well. Cheshire noted. It’s like they are of one mind.

Then everything changed with the last two.

◊◊◊

Rev Counter

“Dryfe Imperium, the land of machines.” The young man said with eyes like saucer plates. Honestly, he was much more of a fan of sci-fi than fantasy, so this seemed like a dream to him. “And it looks pretty modern, they must have some kind of fighting leagues set up.”

As he looked at it he scratched his chin, looking at the black smoke drifting up.

I bet that smog would bother the old man though. He noted. The old guy was fit to fight, but he did have a form of asthma that required an inhaler between fights.

“Can’t have him coughing up his lungs in the middle of the fight.” Rev noted. “Besides, sci-fi is more my thing than his.” So he moved to check out the next nation.

◊◊◊

Naresuan Cross

“Tenchi the land of blades.” Naresuan looked at the small island nation, clearly supposed to represent an era of wartime Japan like the Edo Period, with all kinds of battling going on as the different clans plotted against each other.

“It’s perfect.” Naresuan could feel his old gamer instincts flex. The chance to play politics, to manipulate others and then come out on top-it was a rush only equaled to an Un-kra fight. And this had both!

“I might even change my mind about not sticking around.” Naresuan thought he saw out of the corner of his eye the cat twitch it’s ears with pleasure as he said that.

“…they’ll eat the kid alive.” Naresuan noted. Kid was bright and had a good heart. But if the Tenchi did war like Edo Japan did, Solomon would be destroyed by the betrayals and tricks from the other Masters. Solomon wouldn’t have a good time.

So he went to check the next nation.

◊◊◊

Cheshire, Control Ai No. 13

“Are you certain with the choices you have madeee?” Cheshire asked the two Masters.

“Yes I am.” They said in unison again unknowingly. “It’s where the punk/geezer would want to go.”

“I seeee. In that caseee,” A light blossomed under the two Masters, as the ground gave way underneath them.

“Welcome to Infinite Dendrogram!” He shouted as they fell like sky divers.

If one of them had just been a little selfish, Cheshire thought to himself as he watched them descend. They would have landed in the same place.

Unfortunately, he looked as the two Masters quickly sped farther and farther away from each other.

Their empathy has landed them on opposite sides of the world. Cheshire chortled. Masters are such wonderful surprises.

◊◊◊

Preview A

Vandelheim, Capital of the Dryfe Imperium - Naresuan Cross

Naresuan had made sure to ask the cat ahead of time if the smog of Dryfe would bother his asthma, and it had insisted that the virtual body wouldn’t have any such ailments, so there was no worries. But said virtual lungs still proved vulnerable to the smog when he was falling straight through them!

“*Cough, wheeze* Ugh!” Naresuan was just able to get out as he passed through the cloud of smog from the factories, before he made unfriendly contact with the roads.

“…I am so glad pain is turned off by default.” Naresuan slowly picked himself up. “When I fight the punk I’ll turn it back on, so it’s more realistic.” He looked at his surroundings.

The city looked like it had been ripped from the 19th century, albeit a steam punk vision of one. People in suits and dresses were walking or being drawn in carriages, while frazzled haired scientists kept pulling out strange clockwork gizmos from their labcoats to show their colleagues or even passersby who quickly moved to the other side of the straight.

“Yeah pretty weird.” Naresuan noted, as he picked himself up. “Now where is that punk?”

As he patted himself down he looked down and saw his left hand, which was no longer glowing. There was a black crystal embedded in it, a little bigger than a chicken’s egg.

“Ah this must be the Embryo.” He said, holding it up to admire. “Look pretty fragile-”

“Quick, newbie catch!” A voice called out and then an object came hurtling at high speed to his head.

With well trained reflexes, Naresuan grabbed the item in mid-air. It was a brown leather rucksack, tied closed with a string.

“She’s got accomplices!” A unit of men in Military uniform came running down the street, pointing at Naresuan. “Get them!”

“No, wait I’m not-” Naresuan began before he was interrupted by the voice that called first.

“Hurry up newbie. Those are the bad guys, and they will kill you if they catch you!” Naresuan turned to see a young woman in a red overcoat and head scarf concealing her face, motion to him, while still running. Suddenly a pop up appeared in his face.

Quest Received

A Game of Hoods and Daggers

Escape from the guards and the Triangle of Wisdom with the package intact.

Difficulty: 5

Accept? Y/N

I guess this is part of the opening to the game. Naresuan rolled his eyes before clicking yes. He then started running after the girl who got him into this.

Maybe when I find the punk he can tell me what the heck the ‘Triangle of Wisdom are’. He slung the rucksack over his shoulder, to give his arms the freedom to pump his arms.

He was so distracted by the adrenaline coursing through his young body, he didn’t realise the rucksack was wriggling on it’s own.

To be continued…

◊◊◊

Preview B

Edanto Village, Starting location for Tenchi – Rev Counter

As Rev landed on the dirt roads in a heap of dust, only one thought went through his mind.

“I want to do that again!” The young man leapt to his feet, rubbing the dirt off his outfit. He was pretty proud of his look: a black habit with a white cloak on top, while across his neck was a golden cross. “You can call me the good Reverand Cross.” He said, putting on his best attempt at southern US accent.

He looked around his new surroundings, and saw a village with Japanese style houses, with curved roofs giving them all a kind of warrior vibe to them. There were lots of people walking about, most dressed like the poorer folk but Rev noted something surprising.

Every single person was armed. The poorest beggars had a hand axe or on their side, while most seemed to carry some form of sword at their side. All the weapons were sheathed, but he noticed that most people seemed to keep a close hand on their weapon, even as they chatted and laughed.

“An armed country is a polite country I guess.” Rev noted. He then heard the sound of screams from nearby.

“Please sir, I didn’t do anyfing!” A small child, about 5 or 6 with a big straw hat over his face, was being held up against a wall by a green haired man in ornate purple armor. There was a whistling as the boy spoke, which made it clear he probably had lost a front baby tooth.

“You dare foul my armor and call it nothing?” He pointed with his free hand at the shins of his armor. Rev had to wince but there did seem to be a bit of mud on it.

“I divn’t mean to!” The child said. “I just threw the ball and it bounced near you!”

“You dare speak back to me?” The man was infuriated. “I was going to leave you with your life as an act of charity, after making you lick every spot of mud off!”

Rev felt like vomiting at the disgusting man’s words.

“But charity is wasted on cretins like you!” With a swift draw the man pulled out his sword.

“No pwease sir!” The boy cried. The others in the area just averted their eyes to what was occurring.

“Learn better in the next life-” Suddenly the man’s face warped as if in slow motion, as a fist struck it with incredible strength.

The man actually went spinning, dropping the child as he stumbled to the ground. The child just looked up stunned at the figure who had appeared in a flash.

“Picking on kids is pathetic.” Rev said, his body already in fighting stance, his left fist still bloody from striking the man. Surprisingly tough jaw. He admitted.

“You DARE!” The man staggered to his feet, spitting out what sounded like a tooth amidst blood. “I am Taigen Gerlintoge of the Gerlintoge clan-”

“Big talk, big sword,” Rev held up his forefinger and index, keeping them a couple inches apart. “Doesn’t make up for being a ‘small man’.” He grinned.

“I don’t care what kind of priest you are, even your god won’t save you from my wrath.” The man roared.

“Yeah yeah, I bet you’re so tough.” As he said that a status screen appeared.

Taigen Gerlintoge

Job: Noble Swordsman 45

“…well I bet I’m pretty good too.” Rev said confidently. A new status screen appeared for him.

Rev Counter

Job: None 0

“…You know I bet level 45 isn’t even that strong.” Rev muttered to himself. “I mean level’s just a number right?”

“Wow shir,” the little kid noted, now picked up off the ground. “I’ve newer seen nobody challenge Daimyo Guerlintoge’s favorite grandson Taigen before.”

“I’m sorry the Daimyo?” Rev said stunned.

Suddenly 5 other swordsmen stepped out from the alleyways, surrounding Rev, each significantly bigger and better armed than Taigen

“Master Taigen, allow us to destroy the one who dares besmirch the honor of clan Gerlintoge.”

…Old man I hope you’re having a better time than I am right now. Rev thought to himself.

To be continued…