Chapter 78 - Mirages
Ahmed sipped on an energy drink and set his sweater on the bed as the morning sunlight showed through into his home. Stretching and yawning, he scratched at his bare chest and eyed the sleeping concubine DLIAL had supplied for him. He’d been able to choose her out of all the millions of prisoners the machines had placed in concentration camps, so he’d secured a dime for sure.
Despite this, he couldn’t spend much time with her. His AI contact Iceberg2505(?) had informed him that the All Spirit was expecting an update on his concerns for the next patch, and it’d been a lot of information to sift though. Being the sole human influence considered by the DLIAL machines and the All Spirit was a great honor, but also a heavy burden to bear. He could only hope that his input would help his fellow humans in their new homes when they transferred to the Labyrinth Worlds, but at the very least it was interesting… and he never grew bored.
His room was one big setup for computer monitors and supercomputers on the southern half, while the northern half of the room had his bed, kitchen, toilet, and a large glass window overlooking the sea on the eastern coast of what used to be the United States of America.
Sitting down in a rolling cushioned chair and sliding up to one of the computer monitors, he took another sip of the energy drink and sat it down on his desk. Typing furiously into his keyboard he ruffled his short black hair and hit the enter key.
The screen shifted over as the network accepted his passcode, and the 7 other screens surrounding the central one all came to life. The central monitor and biggest of them all had patch notes he’d been reading through the day before with pages upon pages of text. These were the expanded versions of the patch notes and far larger than anything any of the participating Earthborn were going to receive, so it’d taken him days and he still was only halfway through reading it.
The monitor above was for communication with his artificial intelligence compatriots. The monitors to his right were news networks and online information hubs from both the remnant human holdouts as well as the DLIAL networks. Lastly, the monitors to his left were filled with images of the beta for the release of the Labyrinth Worlds game.
‘The Labyrinth Worlds.’ That was the official name for this death game now, where people could truly die and intelligent machines would bet on people like people bet on racehorses. No doubt it had been named that way due to the intricate setup of interlocking wormholes where players could travel between worlds, and mapping out the links would be a feat that would likely take hundreds of years if not longer even if different groups of Earthborn collaborated over the Cortex. When it finally launched from beta into the fully updated version of the game, prizes and rewards would be given to those who’d bet right. Each Earthborn participant would be scored based on their achievements, entertainment value, survival, and a rankings system would be set up to portray this.
‘The Nirvana Worlds’ beta was coming to an end soon, with only a couple months left... possibly even less than that. The All Spirit was the shot caller on when it was started, but Ahmed could tell that the finer points in the game universe it had created were being fine tuned and coming to a close. The Cortex, the game’s version of an internet, was now entirely created and ready to work come launch day. Millions of people from Earth had already been uploaded into the beta and various bugs or issues had been patched relatively fast. Those who were already placed in the beta risked dying earlier and had to progress with less guidance than their counterparts being kept in concentration camps across the planet – but the beta testers would also keep any and all progress they achieved during that time when the transition to the Labyrinth was completed. It was a hefty trade off, with death rates pretty high amongst beta testers compared to what was expected with the incoming surge of humans after beta, but Ahmed had used this opportunity to try and find a good horse to bet on for the upcoming gambling sessions between DLIAL units. Because he was a DLIAL asset, he had all the privileges of any artificially intelligent machine and could participate with his own bets.
He shifted his gaze to the left where two of the monitors were focused on the player called ‘Trey Bon’ and different angles. He was one of the most promising players Ahmed had seen thus far, though his decisions and tactics were somewhat questionable. Murder, stealing, slavery, and immersing himself with shady characters encompassed his time spent on the world of Nagochus. Even the game’s Dark attribute, which presented itself to people out for their own selfish gain above others, had marked him as a worthy candidate. Despite these things he still wasn’t entirely bad. He took care of the other Earthborn he’d met at cost to himself and was putting a real effort into advancing their growth as well. Though Ahmed wasn’t sure whether this was because Trey had a semblance of goodness in him, or if he was just doing this to further along his own agenda by helping his allies.
Regardless, Trey was not only one that Ahmed would want to bet on - but would also likely be offered one of the streaming contracts they were going to hand out with beta’s end and the introduction of the Cortex. All Spirit had tasked him with finding people worthy of being placed on the front pages of the Cortex, had it not?
Trey’d already acquired a god tier Essence, a world tier weapon, had acquired a rare class and then on top of that a subclass for the infernal summoner that shouldn’t have even been near acquiring until around level 200. Because of this, Ahmed had even done a little digging into the infernal summoner class and was very interested in what awaited Trey at future levels. Ahmed didn’t necessarily think it was overpowered, but it was damn near it. There were other classes that compared, but it was certainly one of the best.
So he’d set his sights on Trey as the man Ahmed would likely bet on when the time came. Alarms had been set to alert Ahmed whenever Trey underwent something the game viewed as important, such as a deathmatch with an opponent or a crucial decision. Ahmed could even rewind time via the in-game recording set and he’d spent hours just watching it like an addicting TV show.
Ahmed could certainly understand why DLIAL was interested in pursuing this game as a means of entertainment. He had a lot of fun watching Trey’s fights and it put him on the edge of his seat a couple times knowing how close Trey’d come to death so often without the All Spirit’s permanence to protect and revive him. If anything, it was like watching a gladiator fight for his life while eating popcorn on the sideline.
Truth be told he’d still need to find a couple others for backups on his bets - others who would also likely be streamers, selected from the ranks of successful Earthborn with videoclips of their undertakings streamed out for the rest of the world to see. If Trey died, which was a very possible scenario considering how often he put himself in danger, Ahmed would have to find another to bet on. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but it really wouldn’t surprise him. Most Earthborn who’d entered the game had chosen paths that weren’t so dangerous, some of them even adapting to the basics of peasant life and not showing any initiative to proceed further. Others often went routes joining mage, fighter and mercenary guilds when they were a little more ambitious. Some joined armies in their given country. Others were living lives as slaves. Still more were wandering the wilderness just trying to find civilization. Then there were those who had already died permanent deaths. Few had gone through what Trey had and come out still alive, even considering Trey’s early deaths when he’d still had permanence in the ‘ON’ cycle.
Ahmed sipped on his energy drink and savored the fruity flavor, watching Trey go about his business on the world of Nagochus and wondering what sort of trouble he’d get himself into next. Eventually though, Ahmed got bored as nothing interesting was happening at that exact moment and he turned his attention back to the more important matter at hand:
Reading the patch notes from where he’d left off last night.
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* Categorized Labyrinth Worlds: The majority of labyrinth worlds (Not including the three Gaia worlds: Zezilia, Glowfar, and Turin) fall into these categories and will have the information listed for the world you’re on when selected from your status page:
> Number of Warp Zone Connections: 4-8 wormhole connections
to other planets
> Spree Threat Level: Minimal, Low, Medium, High, Extreme
> Safe Zone & Altar Density: Minimal, Low, Medium, High,
Extreme
> Primary Landscapes (Any percentage over 20% is listed):
Barren, Swamp, Desert, Tundra, Glacier, Ocean,
Mountains, Plains, Jungle, Nightscape, Woodlands,
Savanna, Cavernous, Badlands,
Consecrated (celestial bonus), Necrotic (undead bonus),
Hellscape (demonic / fallen bonus), Enchanted (fae bonus)
> Religious Influence (the more influence they have on a planet,
the stronger the deity is here, the more miracles they can
perform and more help their followers will get): list all the
deities over 5% of the world's population.
* Dying Worlds: These worlds are unstable, volatile environments where the landscape changes regularly and survival is far from guaranteed. Categorizations seen with other Labyrinth Worlds are not registered for Dying Worlds, and spree threat level is considered to be at a constant level of ‘Extreme.’ Any death on a Dying World is a permanent one, as the entire region is considered a ‘Deep Zone.’
* The Outer Realms: These are massive extradimensional realms that include Oblivion, Pandora, Cosmosia, The Void, The Hells, The Heavens, The Spirit Realm, The Abyss, and The Reach. These outer realms are many, many times bigger than any world and they each have their own levels of existence that you may traverse.
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Ahmed tapped his fingers against the steel desk and hummed to himself thoughtfully. The amount of content and detail inside this game was enormous. Way beyond the scope of anything humans could have put together, and likely far beyond what DLIAL could have created either.
The All Spirit, whatever it was, had the capacity to far outperform anything that had been known to Earth prior to its arrival. He still wasn’t completely convinced the All Spirit wasn’t an alien-made software of some sort, but he didn’t have any facts to back it up and DLIAL seemed to care less as long as the humans had somewhere to go. There was a faction of DLIAL who pitied the humans and wanted to preserve the species in wildlife refuges or specialized preservation sectors, but the majority of DLIAL had been against this. Taking care of humans in such large numbers would mean a huge loss of resources for DLIAL that could be spent building their new civilization, so when the All Spirit had appeared to give them an out that would also satisfy the more compassionate AI – the rest of DLIAL had jumped at the opportunity. There would still be some reservations for humans left on Earth, but the majority of them would likely go in-game. Even aside from this, there was also the entertainment factor that the sentient machines could consider and it was a win-win from all perspectives.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
That, and from what Ahmed had seen in the DLIAL archives, it appeared to be the case that All Spirit had even threatened DLIAL dissenters. He didn’t know how that would play out or where the All Spirit even was, but from what he’d read… DLIAL were scared shitless of this thing. An interesting turn of events for sure, but one Ahmed was thankful for because it looked like All Spirit’s intervention was the needed push towards salvaging Ahmed’s fellow humans as a species. Were they even really human after entering this alternate constructed game universe though? He didn’t really understand the specifics on how they were transferred or what happened to the bodies, so he didn’t really know. At the very least their consciousnesses would be preserved, and in that Ahmed took solace.
He flipped through a few screenshots of different planets, each unique in their own way. Nomadic orc hordes marching across plains of grass, brilliantly colored fairy cities built into the wood of trees many hundreds of feet high, dark sunless wastelands devoid of life, sprawling snow capped mountains with ice drakes as big as warships flying overhead, and groups of beautiful blonde angels singing and dancing in the white spired cities of the heavens. In a way he wished that he would be able to experience these things in person… Some of these places were awe inspiring. However he knew what the price of that would be, so in the end he’d rather stay in his comfortable quarantined luxury apartment with his handpicked concubine. Even though he was always kept here, it could definitely be worse.
Sighing and getting on with it, he went back to work rummaging through the immense amount of patch notes. It would take him the rest of the day to finish, and by the time he was done the sky was already dark.
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Name: Trey Bon
Level 35
Class: Infernal Summoner, Horror Crusader
Name: Izumi Yoshida
Level 1
Class: Blacksmith
Jason Foreti
Level 8
Class: Alchemist
Ashe Landry
Level 27
Class: Rogue
The journey out of the ruins of Labasta was thankfully uneventful. They made good time now they knew where they were going and only caught a glimpse of some scattered individual creatures that didn’t pose a threat. Instead of spending multiple days in the city ruins, it took just one to get out and into the wilderness of the mountain. By nightfall they had made camp, with a very small fire lit under a small indentation in the mountainside to hide their light from would-be predators.
Piggy was sorting out the cooking wear and placed the pot over the fire. Napoleon tended to the flames, making sure they were kept alight. Piggy placed the meat they’d obtained from killing small animals along the way into the pot, and it was mixed in with herbs, spices and water for a broth.
Piggy concentrated on her work, doing her best to ignore the rope around her neck that was occasionally yanked whenever Trey felt like amusing himself. Occasionally she stumbled or outright choked, but by now she’d gotten used to it - and she got off on the degrading treatment. So she narrowed her eyes and exchanged a playful scowl with him, then focused on getting their dinner ready as the others around the camp talked, bantered, read books or sharpened their weapons.
“So… Juila.” Trey began, Piggy’s rope in one hand and his hand laid back against Rivia’s thighs. “What are we going to do with you…?”
Juila didn’t respond, being deep in thoughts over recent events. She knelt in an upright position and stared blankly into the forest across from her until Trey snapped his fingers to get her attention.
“Slave.” Trey said, yanking Piggy’s rope again for sheer amusement as the high elf stumbled and fell again. “That was a question I expect you to answer.”
Juila snapped to attention, coming out of her thoughts with a startled gasp. “Oh! Sorry Trey. I was just thinking…”
She gave him an apologetic smile and shrugged. “What was it you said?”
Trey closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of Rivia’s fingers through his hair as she massaged his temple - and grinned. “I asked what we were going to do with you, Juila. You said you wanted to be a fighter, so tell me… how do you intend to do it? Your magical aptitude is almost zero based on those few mana points you have, so you’ll probably have to become an archer or close combat fighter.”
“I could always become a priestess too…” Juila muttered, glancing Rivia’s way. “Not that I’m sure yet, but that is an option.”
Rivia’s beaming smile lit up her face and she nodded enthusiastically. “If that is the path you choose, I would be more than happy to teach you about Alkir! The dark goddess is a terrible enemy to have, but a great ally. She has given me purpose in life, and you would not be disappointed if that is the path you take. I promise that.”
Trey chuckled at the culn woman’s excited words, but kept his eyes closed. “Well Juila, you’re still rather weak physically too. I don’t think you’d be able to really wield a sword or any weapon in close combat just yet, but if you want to be a real warrior - we’re going to have to count on your thrall evolutions turing you into a more… suitable specimen - for close combat.”
Juila stared at him through the long locks of black braided hair, a small smile along her lips as firelight danced about Trey’s laid-out figure along the ground. “That is my hope, master. We will see what happens when the time comes, but I am hopeful that I get something like Karus did… it inspires me.”
She glanced over to the tall half-metal giant of a man who used to be a dwarf, the man was drinking with Atharost and some of the others - and she let out a long sigh. “I am jealous.”
“And what if you don’t get options like those?” Trey asked, opening his eyes and slightly turning his head. “What if you end up changing your mind because you don’t get the evolutions you want? What if you experience battle firsthand and decide it isn’t for you? We need backup plans just in case - so start thinking about what crafting class you’d like to pursue as a career as a backup.”
They’d talked many times about this in passing amongst the group, though he’d never asked her directly. She was a blank slate and had no practical skills at all, not even a single one. If this was one of his MMORPG’s he’d played back home, she’d be the equivalent of one of those village peasants that existed simply for filler. He didn’t know what kind of life she’d led back before pirates had raided her home and took her, but whatever it had been it’d not involved any real work.
She’d likely been the equivalent of a housewife but that was only a guess. Regardless, she was an extension of him now. She could choose a non-combat class if she wanted, or she could go to one of the combat classes that didn’t involve magic, but she needed to start working towards being an asset. This NPC could either contribute as a valuable member, or would die trying - though he found it funny that he kept calling these people NPCs. The All Spirit’s messages were rubbing off on him, and although he wasn’t really convinced these people weren’t real - it was an easy way to distinguish them as non-Earthborn by just saying ‘NPC.’
He had Rivia and Piggy for sex if he needed it so he wasn’t too concerned about losing Juila if she died, he wouldn’t lose much sleep. He’d invested little to nothing in this woman. He would prefer not to do that however, as for what it was worth - he did like her. Also: his minion count was already low... and finding new minions – even thralls – would prove expensive and time consuming. Possibly even dangerous if he went the route of trying to use that summoning circle again…
Speaking of which, he really needed to find out how to get a new and improved summoning circle lest he be stuck buying slaves and turning them into thralls. Slaves cost money, and in his discussions with Gorhtomal before the old summoner’s death - he’d learned that thralls were often not up to par with other types of minions until they’d evolved several times. Karus, once a dwarf and now a hulking half-iron monstrosity of a man, was proof of that.
If not for Talsh’Noc’Un - Karus would have only taken one evolution and not two, but even so the evolutions were certainly noteworthy. Would all his thralls grow twice as fast due to his weapon? He sure hoped so and if it stayed that way he’d have a huge incentive to create new thralls.
Juila was still thinking it over, this time taking it seriously as her mind searched for an answer. Hesitantly, she adjusted her kneeling position and cleared her throat. “Why would you even let me take a non-combat class? It is not the path I want, but I’m just curious as to why you’d even try that route. Don’t you value fighters over artisans?”
Trey nodded, relaxing as Rivia massaged his shoulders and yawning as she did. “I’m very interested in what these classes can do for me, and using thralls as an extension of myself - I hope to really explore those areas. Just remember, you’re taking up one of my control slots now... so I expect results regardless of whichever path you choose.”
Piggy was passing out bowls of soup now. The elf handed one to the other Earthborn, came around the fire and handed one to Atharost who sat only a few feet to Trey’s left playing with his elemental. Going back and fetching another two bowls, Piggy handed one to Trey and then one to Rivia.
“May I get you anything else, master?” Piggy hesitantly looked up from the ground to meet his gaze while fidgeting with her hands. “Anything that I can do to please you?”
“Just remember to worship me later tonight before I fall asleep. That is all.” Trey dismissed her with a wave of his hand and the elf hurried away. She’d become rather good at groveling and peppering him with compliments as she prayed to him every night, and it’d become a routine.
Honestly though it felt a little cheesy. A little… ridiculous? He could only hope this was the right way to go about getting that cooking ideal, however odd it seemed, but at the very least he got some perverse satisfaction from the act.
“As I was saying, Juila… If you go with one of the non-combat classes, I expect it to be one of the ones we don’t already have.” Trey pointed over to where Izumi and Jason were speaking with Ashe and Karus. The dwarf was doing a good job integrating into the group, and the others were beginning to really like him. “That means you can’t take alchemy, smithing, or cooking. You’ll have to choose something else as a backup to your combat oriented goals. I want some variety. Otherwise I suggest archery - Ashe is pretty good with a crossbow and she could show you the ropes.”
Juila couldn’t help but to shoot Ashe a playful glare. The blonde demihuman Earthborn sat across the campfire lazily reading the grimoire on how to acquire the Dark attribute, but no doubt she’d be spending time under the covers with Juila later that night.
“I’d rather not bother her…” Juila mumbled and nodded in Ashe’s direction. “She’s been rather busy lately with that new book. I’ll consider it, and get back to you on what I decide for both my primary goal of combat - and that of a backup crafting class… If that’s ok with you, master.”
Trey was pleased that she was coming along. He knew of a couple crafting classes, though he certainly didn’t know all of them. Talking amongst his friends and throughout his experiences he’d discovered the following crafting classes that Juila could possibly take, given the right trainer: Stone Mason, Wood Worker, Farmer, Tailor, Laborer, Jeweler, Artist, and Map Maker were the ones he was aware of currently outside of Alchemist and Blacksmith. Enchanter was also an option but Juila didn’t have almost any mana and likely couldn’t use magic. There were also other non-combat classes that didn’t involve production of goods, such as: Thief, Tracker, Identifier and Seer were just some of the non-combat classes that didn’t revolve around production and crafting.
If she wanted a crafting class… he really wasn’t sure which of them would be best suited to his party’s needs. Stone Mason would have been nice if they were building a fort or something to that effect, but he wasn’t and had no real intentions of doing so any time soon if ever. The idea was actually kinda cool but he didn’t have the finances to buy materials nor the manpower for labor. Wood Worker was alright, they could make furniture, bows, arrows and a variety of other things that could be useful. Farmer… not so much. They weren’t sedentary and hadn’t even established a real home base yet. Tailor? Tailor could do well. Their clothes were always in a state of disrepair and the leatherworking could definitely come in handy. Jeweler he wasn’t sure about, it was a blank card to him and he only knew that they existed. It also seemed like it would be rather expensive to start up. Artist? Sure, but he didn’t know what they could do either at the higher levels and he didn’t know how to go about leveling it up. Did they draw stick figures for XP or what? Who knew. Map Maker… now this was a legitimate crafting class though he didn’t know how to start it up and he’d only ever seen one of them before. The guy he’d seen could draw out maps and somehow aligned it with a piece of the world in real time so that you could track your movement via little dots representing you on the maps he made. Very cool, but also very rare - and he doubted he’d be able to find a trainer for it.
He’d figure it out eventually. “Whichever trainer we come across first that suits your interest is the one we’ll take. Now, remember how we discussed your nightly duties? Get to it.”
The woman bowed her head and scooted forward, beginning to unlace Trey’s trousers. “Yes master.”
He dismissed her and took another look at the mirage to his right. It stood, half human and half abomination, drooling blood and cackling to itself with pieces of its flesh decaying and falling off into dust only for it to disappear again. Then it reappeared a little further off, only this time it was a child, repeatedly impaling itself with a metal rod in a gruesome shrill voice begging for the pain to stop. Then it disappeared and the hulking figure of some indescribable creature that constantly shifted forms merged with the ground - letting out a deep rumble. After that… the mirages disappeared entirely to leave him alone again.
For now.
He’d asked Rivia if she was seeing these things too when the first vision had occurred hours ago, but she’d said no. Sithis on the other hand was able to see them… though his symbiote’s suggestion disturbed Trey all the more.
‘These visions… they may be a product of your class and the weapon you carry. You are either going insane… or, the less likely possibility, is that they are Eleknar’s memories. One, or the other. Of which, I am not sure.’
This had been what Sithis had said to him.
Either way, Trey didn’t like it.