Free time=Gone

Even now, I only finished this chapter because there was nothing to do at work and no one was around to look over my shoulder. Why can’t hobbies be full time jobs? Because I’m not good enough at it you say?

Touché.

Sigh. Please Enjoy.

Chapter 17: Smoke and Mirrors

Kimmie Ren sat across from James Caulfield, the usual public face of Undertones Incorporated, trying not to frown. The two sat in GAEM’s main broadcasting room, where they conducted interviews with guests. The last two interviews with people from Undertones had left her with a sour taste in her mouth afterwards. She forced a smile as she introduced him to the audience.

“Let’s welcome James Caulfield who came to speak on behalf of Undertones Incorporated.”

“Thank you. First off, I’d like to apologize for what happened with the last two meetings with our company’s people.”

“Oh please, don’t worry about it. Speaking of, James Hark said some amazing things about DWO that left a lot of people worried.”

“I suppose I had better explain what that was all about.” He said it with a convincing smile as he scratched the back of his head.

“Tell us more about the artificial intelligence that Hark managed to create.”

James sighed. “It’s not such a happy story actually, and I think you’ll be disappointed with the truth, but I’ll tell you the story from the beginning. It’s public knowledge that Dr. Hark’s daughter, her husband, and their child were killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver.” He paused, letting everyone absorb the information. The studio’s background noise quieted down to near silence as the listeners and passersby were drawn in by James’s somber expression.

“After that happened, he holed himself up in his lab, beginning his work on the supercomputer. It was something to keep him occupied, something to keep his mind off the tragedy of losing his family. Eventually, he did create a virtual intelligence as he said, and that was an amazing achievement, but it was still a limited one. He taught the V.I. creations to display certain personality traits, but they were only mimicking human emotion.”

“Hark didn’t see it that way. He saw that they were able to learn and display emotion, so he saw more in them than anyone else. They were his children, and he loved them. He still loves them so much that he sees things in his programs that aren’t really there, because he wants them to be alive, and because he needs to fill that hole in his heart that never healed.”

“The truth is that artificial intelligence isn’t possible. If he had truly created an artificial intelligence, it certainly wouldn’t be helping to make a game as its primary function.” He forced a sad smile as he tried to change the subject. “Sorry to bring down the mood like that. Perhaps we should talk about something else?”

“Of course. Tell us about the plans for the game’s tournament. How will it be organized?” Kimmie genuinely felt sorry for Dr. Hark and she knew that most people hadn’t known about the tragedy of Hark’s family, including herself. She felt bad that she had led the conversation in that direction, forcing poor Mr. Caulfield to reveal Hark’s sad story.

“Well, there’s not much to say about the tournament except that it isn’t based solely on level. It’s based on a great number of factors such as the number of deaths, total number of stats, and just about everything the player has done in the game so far. Normally, it would be impossible to choose players based on such a wide variety of statistics, but Dr. Hark’s ingenious programs do a significant portion of the analysis work.

“It sounds like the computer is going to take away your jobs.”

“Hahaha, not quite yet. The computer still lacks the imagination and knowledge required to judge certain events and develop quests. Now, a great number of simple, early level quests are computer generated, but the main story and the larger quests are all human ideas.

“I was hoping I’d get a chance to talk about the main story of Dead World Online with you.” Kimmie no longer had to force her smile. James’s friendly attitude made her feel at ease and he was very polite. “Many players are concerned that the game is heavily based on player versus player interactions. Tell us about this main story that we know nothing about. We’re all dying to know.”

“Well, I can’t say too much about it, but I’ll tell you what I can say. For now, the tournament is a major focus of the game, and as a result, PvP is a main concern for players. However, the main story has begun for the lucky few able to pick up the trail. There are signs here and there, as well as quests for the lucky and the worthy. For now, the main story won’t have much of an effect on the game world, but soon enough, everyone will know what is happening, and everyone will have the chance to take part.

“It sounds as if you are trying to get the DWO players to form a community and work together to solve problems. Is that the intention?” She was fishing for information, but she could tell that he wouldn’t be caught so easily.

“Dead World Online is a game with limitless options. Players can choose whatever side they want, or they can choose no side at all. The fate of the world rests in the hands of the players and their actions.”

“Very mysterious. I suppose people will just have to play the game to find out. Thank you for your time, Mr. Caulfield.” Kimmie turned to the camera. “That’s all the time we have for today. Stay tuned for some game clips showing what some of our favorite players have been up to this past week.”

Star and Nala

Nala trekked up the enormous mountain with Star at her side, panting from the high elevation and the exhaustion from combat. The drakes they had fought further down the mountain disappeared, only to be replaced by more demons. They hadn’t faced the monkey-like demons before and the wild creatures were tough to handle. They moved around quickly and noisily, as annoying as they were hard to hit.

Earlier in the week, they had come across the city in the mountains, only to have their expectations dashed. The city that was built into the mountainside was only the size of a village, with crumbling walls and buildings making up the majority of structures. The only defense the city had was four guards lazing about and drinking ale by the gate to the city. Nala had to wonder how people lived there when everything was so neglected and falling down. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see the place deserted, considering that it all looked like ruins.

Walking through the town, everyone in it seemed to be destitute and many of the people looked sickly. Star tried to help some of those who looked a little worse off by casting healing spells to cure diseases and fix injuries. She quickly ran out of mana and the two moved on in uncomfortable silence. They wanted to help, but their solutions were temporary relief at best.

They passed through the collection of buildings, reaching the side of the mountain and a sight that brought them great confusion. Before them stood a large gateway built into the mountainside, decorated with polished oak and gold. The eight guards stationed there looked intimidating and tough, standing at attention along the tunnel into the mountain. One of the guards turned to them as they approached, his movements calculated and precise.

“State your business.” His tone was borderline threatening, as if he wasn’t very welcoming of visitors.

Star stepped forward and scowled at the man, refusing to back down. “We’re here to meet the guard captain of the city.”

“What about?”

“We’re here for a demon hunting quest somewhere further in the mountains,” Nala chimed in before the guard’s attitude provoked Star into starting a fight with the authorities. “We just need him to tell us where to go and we need some information from him as well.”

He grunted as he moved back to his position against the wall. “First building on the left.”

“Thanks.” Nala dragged Star away from giving dirty looks to the guard, leading her through the tunnel. It wasn’t long before they passed into an enormous cavern occupied by a forest of buildings. Giant pillars held up the ceiling over a hundred feet above them. Before them was a city in ruins, held together by shoddy repairs and piles of dust filling the cracks. It looked as if many of the buildings would crumble if a stiff breeze were to blow through the area.

The two decided to resupply before seeing the captain. They explored the town and found that the people had no expectation of the roof falling on their heads. In fact, whenever they asked about it, the people just smiled and told them not to worry about it. They bought what they needed and headed to the barracks to find the guard captain who gave them some information on where they needed to go

“Let me warn you now, if you continue with this mission, you’ll be heading straight into the chaos zone of the tower.”

Nala tilted her head, confused about what the man was saying. “What do you mean by that? Is there some tower we’re heading to? What’s the chaos zone?”

He chuckled and shook his head, “You’re in the tower, ladies. Don’t you think this mountain looks a little out of place? That’s because it’s not really a mountain. It’s a tower that was partially torn apart and mostly buried during the Great War hundreds of years ago, when magic was much stronger.”

He went on to explain how the tower’s main walls and supports were made from glastone, a manmade material that was stronger than steel. They had long lost the ability to make the material so people only lived in the structurally sound areas of the tower. Even if another area of the tower were to collapse, the ceilings would still be able to hold the extra weight. The chaos zone was an area of the tower where extreme magics had twisted the very laws of the space.

In the past, they had sent some explorers into the area to find out how dangerous the location was. They had found out that some being had shaped the magic so as to reduce the danger of the place. No longer a swirling mass of dangerous energy, the chaos zone’s magics were separated so that each doorway led to a different dimension or location. Some of the areas were dangerous, but most of them were relatively harmless. It was still a maze, full of deadly environments and life threatening traps.

Even if they had wanted to delve into that place, it was too dangerous for them to send an exploration party. The chaos zone was deep within the unclaimed zone, the larger part of the tower that was occupied by monsters and wild creatures. Most of those areas were structurally sound; they just didn’t have enough people to occupy more than a few levels of the tower. It was still one of the most populous cities left in the world, but there was once room for millions of people who lived in the tower.

Now, most of the buried tower was similar to a large dungeon, though there were safe areas where some races and groups had made homes. The reason they had been called to go on a quest was because there were reports of demons heading towards the chaos zone. They theorized that the demons were going after the being holding that area together. If they succeeded, they had no idea what the resulting release of magic would do to the tower as a whole.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He sent them on their way after paying them for the first part of the demon-hunting quest. They started on their way down into the mountain, not knowing what trials they would face.

Meanwhile…

Frost opened his eyes in the dark, wondering why he hadn’t died from a fall that should absolutely have killed him. He swiped away windows one by one detailing different broken bones and injuries that resulted in enough debuffs to leave him useless in a fight. He struggled to lift himself off the floor and looked around as his body continued to slowly heal. He had been knocked unconscious for a while and now he had no idea where he was.

Having no knowledge of where he would return to if he were killed, Frost wasn’t sure if surviving that fall was actually a good thing. There could easily be something inside the mountain that could kill him, meaning that surviving the fall could have just been a waste of his time.

Frost suddenly remembered what he had been doing before he had been knocked unconscious and the reason he had fallen off the cliff. He looked around for the goat but there was no trace of it or any of its drops. He cursed under his breath as he saw something much more concerning than a bit of missing loot. There was a terribly ugly demon the size of a small elephant standing in a shining pool of water less than fifteen feet away.

 It let out a breath, spewing hot, putrid breath all around Frost, making him nauseous and causing him to stumble backwards. It slowly picked up a clawed hand, reaching for him as it leaned in his direction. Frost knew he had to escape because he was still in no condition to fight. His health was still around thirty percent and regenerating much slower than usual. All of his physical stats were greatly reduced temporarily, and he was slightly dizzy.

Even if it hadn’t killed him, that fall had messed him up badly. There were probably some methods he could have used to save himself, such as shadow hook, but he had been panicking as he fell. He was afraid of very high drops, not that he would admit that to anyone. If he had been able to keep a clear head, he wouldn’t have been in the unfortunate situation he was in. From the looks of it, he had fallen directly into the boss room of a dungeon.

Frost started to limp backwards, away from the beast in the water as he scanned the room with his eyes, searching for an exit. Instead of locating an exit, he found that he was surrounded by mobs. He couldn’t see what they were, but the wall was lined with holes and there were yellow eyes peering out of almost every one. Resigning himself to death, he drew his sword with one hand while cradling his ribs with the other. He could feel the pain, even though it was only a fraction of what reality would feel like, but even so, it made him wince whenever he moved.

The creatures moved out of the caves at the same time, as if they were communicating with each other. They walked slowly towards him, their grotesque bodies revealed by the light of the pool of water. They had no weapons other than the claws on their hands and the jagged teeth they used to grin evilly at him. They looked like goblins, twisted by some demonic energy. A wall of curved horns and dark green and grey flesh advanced on him from every side while the large demon in the pool stood still, it’s beastly hand still raised in his direction as if reaching for his very soul.

The closer they were to him, the more frightening they looked, and the more menacing the look in their eyes was. There was an army of them, far too many for him to have any chance of escaping, so he’d have to kill as many as possible and get what experience he could from them. He tried to focus on one of them to gauge its strength when he realized that they didn’t have any level.

Recently, they had tweaked the game slightly so that you had to focus a little bit harder to look at an enemy’s level and health bar. He tried to focus on a different one of them and it too didn’t show anything for the level. He tried it on a few others and the result was the same. Even the boss had no level that he could see, which meant that something was wrong with the area. Frost started to think that the area was glitching because too many strange instances were occurring in the area.

He decided against alerting the system because he would be vulnerable to attacks while he was saying the message. Then again, the game was extremely well designed, checked by both humans and the virtual intelligence systems created by Dr. Hark. The last time he thought there was an error in the game, it turned out to be something strange, but intentional.

Trusting that there were reasons for the things that were happening, he looked closer at the enemies surrounding him, sneering at him. He tried to study them to find something that would tell him exactly what was happening. Their advance was extremely slow, almost as if…as if they were afraid of him.

He looked at the frightening boss demon and realization hit him. It looked like a big, bulky beast that couldn’t move quickly, so it was almost guaranteed to have some long range attacks, but it hadn’t even tried to do anything. It just stood there with a hand raised. Stop. Wait. That’s what it meant by raising its hand towards him. It was trying to tell him to not attack.

Frost hesitated before he put away his sword and limped slowly in the direction of the water. If he was wrong, then he would be killed quickly and easily, but if he was right, he could avoid a fight altogether and save himself from losing a level and some of the experience he had built training his skills. Some of the horrific little demons were blocking his path to the boss monster, but that didn’t matter because he was trying to test them. When some of the little beasts menacingly growled at him, he almost drew his sword again, but the little goblins hadn’t actually tried to attack him.

He crouched down and put his face close enough that he had to choke down the urge to puke from both the blistered, decaying look of their skin and the smell they emitted. He reached a hand out and it jumped back, crashing into its companions directly behind it. He moved slower, until he was able to put a hand on the creature that started to tremble as it realized it would be unable to escape the approaching hand.

He placed a hand on what looked to be a slimy, wart covered head, but he felt soft, silky hair. Then he knew for sure that all the smells and demonic looks were nothing more than an illusion to make them look evil. It was a cruel curse that would cause even good people to attack them. A moment after he left his hand there, calmly stroking the head of the poor little being hidden beneath the curse, a silvery light engulfed his hand. It spread out, taking the form of a sparkling wave of water that spread out in all directions, growing taller as it moved.

As if washing away all that was false, the wave destroyed the illusion of everything it passed over, revealing a new scene entirely. Where before the only light had been the glowing pool of water, now there were torches lining the walls. There was a doorway where before there had been only more of the walls with holes in them. The holes could now be seen as pathways and dwellings dug into the rock rather than some kind of unholy pits where demons were spawned.

The most surprising change though, was the goblins transforming into small people with insect wings. They looked like perfect little dirty children wearing rags, and he could see that they were earth fairies. They fell to their knees and wept, seeing that Frost was not someone who would hurt and kill them. They turned, as they watched the wave surround the pool of water and block the view of the oversized demon beast. The wave had yet to wash over the monster in the water and seemed frozen in place at the edge of the pool.

Just as he imagined it happening, the waves crashed down into the pool from all sides and were gone in the next moment. Left behind was a tall woman radiating a soft glow so majestic that it demanded the attention of everyone in the room. Frost was struck speechless by the beauty and grace of the woman who stood before him as she glided calmly across the water, not making a single ripple on the surface.

“Warrior so noble and brave, you have put down your sword and sought peace when most others would have struck. You saw through the lie and have broken several links in the chain of curses binding us. You have my thanks, and I give you my blessing. She held up a hand and blew a kiss in his direction.

Guardian’s Blessing +3 to all stats

You have gained a skill: Bravery Level 1Even in the face of death, you challenge yourself to fight fear.

Reduces fear effects and chance of fear debuff

He couldn’t help but grin ear to ear when all of the little people started cheering and smiling joyfully. They grabbed his hands and danced with him, spinning him in circles and trading off partners every few seconds. They seemed determined to have him dance with every single one of them but the lady said something in a language he couldn’t understand and the dancing stopped.

“I hate to put a stop to such a wonderful mood, but the curse has not been completely removed, and it cannot be removed so simply.”

“Then what did I do to deserve your blessing?”

She smiled warmly as she gestured to the fairies. “They can now see each other as they truly are, and they are also able to see me as I am. You too are able to see through the lies that the curse on us would have others see, but others will still see monsters when they come across my friends or myself. That particular chain would not be broken so easily as the others. You have made living much easier for my little children, and they can be happy again. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He didn’t know what to say or if that was the end of it. He could try to leave, or he could ask if they needed any other help, but didn’t think he could come up with the words to ask if they needed more help. ‘Hi, now that I half un-cursed you, would you like to give me a job?’ That didn’t exactly seem to be a good way of getting a quest from them. Thankfully, he was rescued by one of the fairies, a chubby girl who pulled at his pants.

“Will you help us, mister?”

The lady frowned slightly. “I’m sorry, they don’t mean to be rude, they just don’t know any better.”

He waved her off to let her know it was no trouble. “What kind of help?”

Multiple fairies chirped out responses such as fighting monsters, hunting, and scouting. He even thought he heard one of them say something about reaching the top shelf. He laughed and told them he’d help them out, while they dragged him along to show him their problems.