Present Day
His fingers skipped across the virtual keys, seeking the right credentials to let him into the correct subsystems. The man floated in a dark void, static echoing his keystrokes softly, with a series of blue panels glowing softly floating around him in a wide circle. The intrepid hacker sat in the Character Creation section of the popular new game, Riviana, recently published by Jargen Inc. Having just been released a few short months before, the surging popularity of more-than-real-life technology left every other major competing franchise struggling. Users stepping into the game world for the first time universally reported better sensations and sharper senses than anything reality had to offer. As such, the toughest competition to Jargen turned to one of their employees with a more checkered background with a mission to break into the source code of the game from the waiting room. He’d been given the imprint of a poor former Beta tester for the same gaming world who’d fallen on the wrong side of debt and had been saved by the benevolent Winter Storm Inc. Lacking the unfortunate’s password had left a former soldier turned hacker to break into his account manually.
The bold typist in question sat in a large tube-shaped canister of a room surrounded by moving lights in the curved wall, giving the impression of floating upwards through space. Between the center and dark edge hung an array of glowing blue panels to select and decide the Player Class that each gamer would choose among before joining the world of Riviana. Each panel displayed the various classes to pick from, with each Class modeled after his own image. Hunter, Cleric, Paladin, Druid… Jargen sure didn’t break the mold here. He was careful not to announce every stray thought that passed during the long hours he’d been sitting still and typing away, as his boss had ordered a careful recording of every keystroke and sound as the programmer poked around his competition’s game. Each panel’s selection belonged to one of fifteen Character Classes which dictated their abilities and gear, as well as their starting characteristics. Eyeing the colorful patterns indicating each type of character, he was left impressed with the opposition’s work. Though Jargen Inc. was the competition and he’d worked for a company which had held the top rank of gaming for years, Jargen beat them to full-immersive Virtual Reality anyways and launched themselves to the top. I think I last touched this game back before 2020, when we still had computer screens… Remembering his days just after the war when he’d last played an earlier version of Riviana made the hacker nostalgic for his college days. The distracted programmer nearly missed his moment when a few select keystrokes later something interesting finally happened.
The panels so far had been slowly rotating, showing him a variation of himself as each character. Now, his circle of existence expanded, slightly brightening to show a room approximately cylindrical, with the inside walls covered in writing in English - the very numbers and letters he’d been working towards. Where he’d been previously gazing at an approximation of stars and space the massive room’s border greyed itself into a chalkboard mimicry covered in dense code that spelled out the game’s lower functions. “Finally,” he spoke aloud for the first time in hours. “Only took about a day - billed by the hour thanks - but I’ve finally broken into the first layer. Thanks to mister-” he glanced down at his virtual keyboard to check the display name once more, “-Killer o’ Death and his unfortunate gambling habits I can now see how stats get calculated.” He pushed his keyboard aside, and shifted his weight to hop off his levitation cushion and walked closer to the panels to see between them.
Gamers from all backgrounds had been drawn into the first true VR game ever made, and took Jargen Inc. to the top overnight. Their game, Riviana, boasted sensations that were supposedly so real nobody could tell the difference between being in the game, and reality as we know it. The game has ten main Statistics among which players distributed ten points per level. “Looks like they took the normal batch, and split them up some. Instead of the classic six stats they have stuff to make the pools and regens depend on multiple stat investments. Smart.” Most games with the option to freely assign stats per level stayed with the tried-and-true six Stat options, but adding more made each stat have a distinct use. Every character made had three bars on the top left of their vision. The red Health bar, green Stamina bar, and Blue mana bar grew and shrank as their levels changed, and their values depended on how the Statistic Points were allocated.
“Slows the game growth later, too. Once you’re past level ten in the scores, it's double the cost to invest a point. Something they call ‘Scaling Growth’ in their notes here,” he narrated as he examined the wall. “Apparently it really matters every ten levels in-game as you level up, too. Hang on, here’s something,” dutifully recording his stream of consciousness for his boss, he knelt past the panels to examine letters towards the bottom. Trying to pass between the panels hit a sort of resistance in his chest at first, then suddenly he was past it, like a bubble popping. His breath caught as the pressure behind his sternum increased, then suddenly was gone.
Able to breathe normally again, the thief looked back to the wall and did some quick math against the charts in front of him. “Holy shit is everything checked against Willpower? Looks like most state checks and magic cast rolls have a ten upper limit against something called ‘Will(a)’, and a lower limit of ‘Will(p)’. Some kind of sub-types of Willpower? Whatever. So the devs left an exploit, just crank Will to ten and cruise, easy.”
He reached over and blindly tapped one of the rotating panels. It flared slightly, and his dark cylinder faded to gray as the panel’s edges grew until it resized to a blackboard - with his head through it. He backed away, seeing his own image as a Mage turning slowly in the center - taller than most and with a large frame to match, topped with a shock of dark hair and patchy beard. His brown hair stood in matted stacks around his head and colored more light brown to red through his untended face mat. His years away from serious physical activity had taken their toll and left him sagging and punchy even in the altered reflection. The Mage version of himself was wrapped in a blue robe, decked with belts and pouches, bearing ornate metal buckles and a bright green and gold sigil on his shoulder that matched his eyes. A large and heavy book dangled from leather straps over the Mage’s shoulder opposite the decorative sign. “Okay, Mage,” he started reading the list of Stats on the left of the picture, “Base Intellect eight, base Stamina two, base Willpower four. Wait, what?” He stopped reading the list of starter Stats with a frown.
“Okay Boss, pay attention. They made it so you can’t up your Willpower. It’s the one cheaty stat, and according to this,” he trailed off in his report as he pressed the word “Willpower” listed before him. Scrolling down the left of his modified picture was a list of beginning Character Statistics, and the means to improve them. Gifted with ten Free Stat Points to distribute, the base stats each had a small ‘plus’ sign to show it could be improved - yet Willpower had only a question mark. Upon pressing the word, its question mark lit up and a new translucent window filled his vision.
*Willpower is the manifestation of the mind and self within every person. As you rise to new tiers of existence, your Will to live will rise with you!*
Dismissing the pop-up with a wave, he reviewed the Mage Class panel again. To the right of his picture was the list of Class Skills, for the Mage was a list of spells in different elements. Fireball, Fire Lance, Fire Spit? Lightning Charge, Earth Wall, Oil Slick… Under a short scrollable list of Skills, another section highlighted Abilities. Fire Magic, Water Magic, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Meditation, Mana Shield. Four classes of magic isn’t bad, but clearly I can’t use this. No Will. He waved away the expanded Mage Class panel, and looked over his options. All fifteen Class selection panels rotated around him in the now gray room, pictures of his face in different outfits gave no detail to the individual Classes until he picked one.
These things are barely crawling, I’m not waiting for each one. Where’s my keys? He reached blindly behind him for the virtual keyboard he left hovering near the middle of the room only to swipe at empty air. Not only was his hovering intra-system interface missing, but the text on the wall showing him the calculations had faded, too. Great. I reset something. I’ll just have to get in, then pop back out to start again. Time to just pick one. He cleared his throat before announcing to the recording software, “Hey Boss, don’t know if this stopped too. Lost my keys, lost the notes. Gotta step through the Character Creation section and log out to try again. Back in a jiff.” The next panel to pass before him showed a younger version of himself in rather nondescript clothing, lacking sword, staff, bow, or anything medieval at all.
Touching the new panel, it expanded into a Class not listed in the brochure; Custom. Hello, paydirt, he gloated. Looks like they added a hidden class for their Beta Testers or some such jackpot. The right of his boring picture simply listed “Any” for his skills, and the left held a long column of zeros with one hundred points to spend. At the very bottom sat Willpower, with a happily shining ‘plus’ next to its value. With a smirk he pressed up to one, but a red message flashed before him: [2PTSPST1] Oh-kay, ‘cause that makes sense. He pressed again, only to see [3PTSPST2] appear. A quick glance at his balance showed three points spent, and the bulb clicked on. Got it. Well, there’s no minus button, so let’s just go one at a time.
[4PTSPST3][5PTSPST4] Okay, seriously, enough with the every step updates just let me - he smashed the button rapidly until a now-familiar red alert flashed with a new message, [Maximum value set: 10]. By nine Will, it had cost ten points just to level it once. Fifty-five points poorer, and his Custom character had ten Willpower, the apparent cap for the stat. Now I have less than half the starting points, though. Maybe they call that balance? He sank a single point into each remaining Statistic, and examined what he was working with.
Name :
Unknown
Class:
Custom
Race :
Human
Type :
Player
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Free Stat Points :
35
Free Att Points :
0
Health :
10.7
HP Regen :
7.5/m
Stamina :
10.1
SP Regen :
7.5/m
Mana :
10.7
MP Regen :
52.5/m
Strength :
1 +
Muscular powe...
Melee damag...
Constitution :
1 +
The physical ch...
Total Stamin...
Endurance :
1 +
The ability or st...
Health regener...
Agility :
1 +
The power to m...
Ranged dama...
Dexterity :
1 +
Flexibility an...
Dodge chanc...
Perception :
1 +
The capacity fo...
Ranged accu...
Intellect :
1 +
Capacity for th...
Magic damag...
Spirit :
1 +
The energy of c...
Mana pool...
Charisma :
1 +
The ability to co...
Social fluen...
Luck :
1 +
The force or cir...
Beneficial occ...
Willpower :
10 +
The control of o...
Magic accu...
Okay, holy shit. Willpower affects mana generation. Worth knowing. He pressed Spirit’s button up to nine, watching his mana pool grow. Can’t leave just half of magic at nine, he thought as he brought Intellect up to match. Nineteen left, with eight to spread them between. This would be a lot easier if I didn’t care about this character, he mused as he allocated more points, bringing Strength up to five and Luck to four. Oh wait. I don’t care. Duh. Dropping his remaining twelve points into the six stats at two each, he briefly reviewed his new stat panel before waving it away.
Name :
Unknown
Class:
Custom
Race :
Human
Type :
Player
Free Stat Points :
0
Free Att Points :
0
Health :
33
HP Regen :
23.5/m
Stamina :
32
SP Regen :
22.5/m
Mana :
93.8
MP Regen :
69.8/m
Strength :
5
Muscular powe...
Melee damag...
Constitution :
3
The physical ch...
Total Stamin...
Endurance :
3
The ability or st...
Health regener...
Agility :
3
The power to m...
Ranged dama...
Dexterity :
3
Flexibility an...
Dodge chanc...
Perception :
3
The capacity fo...
Ranged accu...
Intellect :
9
Capacity for th...
Magic damag...
Spirit :
9
The energy of c...
Mana pool...
Charisma :
3
The ability to co...
Social fluen...
Luck :
4
The force or cir...
Beneficial occ...
Willpower :
10
The control of o...
Magic accu...
Much better. Now, a little magic-heavy, but who cares. I just need you long enough to get through this absurd Character Creation and log out. He finalized his character, griping about the options yet pressing forward. “Alright boss, I made a character. Gonna pop in and log out, then send you this data packet. Pay me by Monday.”
He hit the blinking NEXT button under his blank Skills and Abilities section, coming to a new window. NAME? Simple enough, should I use ‘Test1’ or something?
As if in response to his inner dialogue, the prompt changed. *What do you call yourself?* His old moniker jumped to mind, his primary choice for a name since he was a kid. It's gotta be taken by now though, it's been out near six months already…
A soft female voice replaced the static he’d picked for background noise, as the grey cylinder brightened further. “Welcome to Riviana. Welcome, Zahn.”
The words Tutorial Start began blinking on the ceiling. Hey, wait, I didn’t say anything yet. A ripple sprang between the words, distorting them and the ceiling until the motion calmed and revealed an epic view of a white marble castle on a mountainside, sunlight shining on its turrets, seemingly a breath away. Tall glittering towers hung with colorful banners, the busy marketplace in the town visible even from a distance. As the image descended upon him, Zahn had one last thought.
Hey, when did that ceiling get here?