“...Mind if I sit here?” asked a robed stranger.
Dantes did not respond.
The city streets below were bustling again with life. A river. Humans were the cockroaches of the animal kingdom… or the human kingdom? Anyhow, they were durable and resistant. Extremely adaptable. There exists no corner of the world which remains vacant of human activity. In the year 2033, even the deepest depths of the oceans had been explored, and our world was mapped entirely in 3 dimensions, with the lowest resolution areas being one-meter cubed cubes. The future was great.
The current situation, however… not so much.
Atop a roof, Dantes was surprised she was even able to find him there. In the last few days, he had remained a solo traveller. Completing small fetch quests and avoiding combat-required ones. He kept a close eye on his health points, though it did not change at all since the game began. If the dreaded HP bar dropped to zero, it would be game over.
Therefore, his answer was clear — he needed to grind.
As an experienced gamer, finding loopholes in the system was not too difficult. For example, if he began a quest, prepared the item to submit to the quest, posted the quest item to the market, then submitted the item to receive the gold and XP, then by un-posting the quest item from the market, he was returned a brand new, identical quest item. In the end, he was left with gold, XP, and the quest item altogether.
However, this was just the beginning of the exploit. By posting any item on the market with a ridiculously high price so no one would buy it, then using the said item in crafting for XP or destroying it for gold, and then un-posting it from the market, it would also duplicate the item.
Dantes knew that such an overpowered glitch would be patched swiftly, so he spent every waking moment spamming mostly XP, and sometimes gold duplication. In the end, he was already up to Lvl 53 before the glitch was patched against the server average of Lvl 27. Such feat attracted many unwanted attention and many unanswered party invites. They wanted him to join them on their combat quests, but he did not wish to see anyone die ever again.
“...Did you hear about the boss of the first floor?”
“...They finally found it, huh?”
“Indeed they did. It was only an hour-long quest, but safety was our first priority, so it took a few days, relaying back and forth.” said the stranger, “Too bad our healer was far too underleveled…”
“Anyways, what about it?”
“...The boss is the Lvl 99 Aldrian Beast.”
“Lvl 99…”
A careful balancing act atop a tight rope. Rush and die needlessly, act too slow and… be socially humiliated? Suddenly, staying on the first floor did not seem so bad.
“‘Only the insane will ever attempt to leave this cage’ — I suppose was the mindset when designing the boss. It’s obviously over-levelled for the first floor.”
“So are you here to ask me to join your party?”
“My party? No, I have no party. I suppose that’s the side effect of meeting the boss too early.”
The stranger pulled her hood. She had blonde hair — orange-ish blonde — and sharp eyes. Was she a she? Or he? Appearances meant nothing in Everybody’s Tower, and Dantes feared the 999th days as others did. While not completing the 999th floor meant death, reaching the 999th day meant social death. That was one of the reasons why Dantes wished to stay alone.
“I’m just here to give you a choice. You can stay here and rot,” said the stranger as she stood up, “Or you can join our guild.”
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A sudden notification. Dantes was sent an invite to a guild called ARK 8. He was unable to decline it yet, as it had the special feature of marinating for four hours before being able to accept or decline.
“Think about it!”
“...Wait, what’s your name?”
“...It’s Svirit!”
What a strange name.
Dantes followed suit and stretched his legs. The day was still young, and his level and wallet would not grind themselves. Choices after choices… He wondered how much they mattered in the grand scheme of things. He was playing the developer’s game after all. If they willed it, he would die. If they willed it, he would live. What was the point then, if fate was determined not by action, but by inaction? Why do anything? The river will flow whether Dantes stands in it or not. What good would one more player do?
He pondered the question as he returned to the daily tasks.
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Work. Work work work work work work wokro wkr owr owkr okw rowr owrkkorwokrwkwr rowrko wrkorwkorwko rwko rwk rwko rkwrwkorkokrwoWRWRRKWKWRWRWRRWRWP.
Dantes hated work.
Fucking shit fuck.
So mind-numbingly boring. Dantes was able to tolerate it before thanks to the adrenaline rush, and fear of death, but as his position in time began to distance those events into memories, Dantes began to realize the pathetic state of his life.
Work. Work. Work.
Games are supposed to be fun, but many games, especially live-service MMORPGs are notorious for their labour. Days upon days, weeks upon weeks spent grinding levels, gear and skills, all for what? To play more. To work more. It seemed that we worked to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to earn the right to play to earn the right to work to…
What?
But it was better than dying. Probably. Dantes still remembered vividly the eruption of blood, the chaos, the loud noises, the disorientation. Suddenly he was not so hungry anymore.
Hungry. When was the last time he ate again? Though the ramen he ate days before was mediocre, it would be a blessing right about now…
He was most likely in a hospital, given an IV injection or something. Dantes wondered how big of a deal it was outside in the real world. Millions upon millions of players were suddenly trapped in a virtual world, casualties already piling sky high. It could even be the beginning of WWIII.
The culprits must be doing a good job evading the authorities. Obviously, they must be someone within Toosoft as they had the artists and programmers to enact the entire event in the first place. Fucking fucks.
But nonetheless very impressive. Dantes wondered if they were fans of BAO, which in itself would partially explain the state of their mental health.
…
Maybe he should head outside, and meet some people. He was about to go insane, working left, working right, working up, working down. Work. Work. Work.
Lvl 54.
All that for just one level.
Dantes paused the millionth generic quest and decided to finally meet the ones who called themselves the ARK. He had heard of them before — it would be impossible not to have them. As the biggest guild in the server, they had the unifying goal of protection and liberation. So many players joined that they had to bypass the guild limit (at 250 players per guild) by creating subsidiary guilds to work under a central leadership. What number were they on again? 10? 11?
The invitation he had was for ARK 8. It must’ve been one of the newer ones. If he were too late, he would need to join another ARK. However, there was also the option to not join any guild at all, instead staying in the city of Cadra, a safe zone, and praying that other people would save his soul.
It was safe, but it was slowly damaging his psyche with paranoia and a monotone ring. If he stopped working, he would become nothing. Keeper of the bathtub. If he continued working, he would become nothing. NPC farming XP. The only way he could become somebody was through others, through interaction and joining a party.
Party.
Anyhow, it’d be best to scout the options early. And so, Dantes arrived at the headquarters of ARK 8. He did not accept the invitation yet, but he was still open to being convinced.
The colossal wooden doors loomed ominously over him. Almost like a judge. In many Buddhist temples, statues of mythical warrior gods exist in order to expel all evil. Usually donning a menacing expression, ancient weapons and the fury of a thousand suns, simply looking at these statues is to strike fear into evil hearts, and for some reason, Dantes felt fear at the sight of these doors.
So this was what being a coward in a palace was like.
Suddenly, the door opened.