Prologue
It was the year 2023, a company by the name of Remtech had made its way into the gaming community. Boasting a new MMO by the name of “Hunters Dream Online”, Remtech introduced a new level of immersion allowing new players to play the game while they slept, bringing all waking senses into the game as the player rested.
Utilizing a combination of tech and the creators own dreams as a basis, the game boasted flexibility that no MMO’s before it possessed. There were few true basic starting classes, but rather, the game itself took in the players own mindset when choosing a starting class.presenting them with the option to stick to toe beaten path or strike out on their own. At the same time, the game focused more on equipment and skill utilization than to simply make levels equal in game power. You had to think in this game, predict, and prepare for each new challenge.
Due to this and the trade rate for in game currency to real world cash, the game quickly grew in popularity. The term “Hunter” coined as a title for those whose living was earned via selling in game crafting and armor components won from hunted monsters and beasts. To be successful in that, a hunter had to be prepared in every sense. If the hunter used a blade, he needed keep it sharp, used magic, they had to manage their mana. They needed to be ready for any terrain and weather as well. To not be prepared meant certain death and it was not only the monsters that needed to be worried about.
Save for the 5 man party max, there were no true rules of engagement. As such, there were pkers and individuals who would swoop in to take kills and steal loot if the opportunity were presented. Due to this, the teams needed to be prepared, act fast, and be ready for even other players to interfere. In Hunters Dream Online, you were either ready, or you were dead.
Chapter 1: Lord of the weaklings
After scrounging up for nearly a year, I finally had enough money to get this damn Remtech visor for the release. It ain’t always easy being a broke college student but I have my ways. The thing was damn near twice the price of the other systems out, but this kind of immersion is worth it. Ever since high school, I've wanted to really experience that whole fantasy world deal. The fighting giant monsters, versing other players, hell, just being in another world seemed like a dream. When I found out about Hunters Dream Online, it drew me in like moths to a flame. Fortunately, the release date lined up with my schools fall break, so I got that goin for me, which is nice.
After a quick trip to our local gaming store ( you know the one), I was back home, setting up, and ready to rock. While it was doing its initial booting up I skimmed the information packet that came with it. The last thing I needed was to be trapped in some damn virtual world or have my brain fried. Apparently, The visor actually induced rem sleep even if you aren’t tired. Which is good, because my sleep schedule was all kinds of fucked. So, no scrambled egg brains and good sleep, well shit, sign me up.
Once everything was together, I laid in my bed. The visor properly fixed on my face, I hit the power button. The screen lit up with a click and the wrrrr of electronics as the Remtech logo blurred into view. After some rudimentary account forming and agreeing to the terms that I definitely read, the game started up. It led me through a tutorial on how the game worked, syncing with the mind to induce a sort of false sense of tiredness and formed a link with the game as the individual fell asleep.
By the time the tutorial was finishing up, a prompt appeared on the screen, “ would you like to begin playing Hunters Dream Online?”, to which I hastily affirmed verbally. It was at that point that visor’s humm intensified as my body grew heavy. It was if an unknown force was ushering me into unconsciousness. Closing my eyes became the only available option as I drifted off. Seconds later my consciousness snapping back to awareness as I found myself floating amongst a vast sea of white. My incorporeal body floated weightlessly in place as my mind still swam from the boot up.
It was then that a voiced echoed throughout that white abyss “no character data found, create new character?”. As if out of thin air, two large buttons appeared in front of me, beckoning me to affirm or deny that request. “Hell yeah create a new character!” I thought to myself as I motioned my hand to select the yes button. After affirming, the game moved forward with yet another option for free choice character select for my base class or a mental scan to potentially unlock a rarer classes. Notifying me that I had to apparently pick one or the other. Once I did so, I could not go back and create a new character, which sucked a bit but hey, the risk reward difference made for an obvious choice, I went ahead with the scan.
It was at that point when I felt a slight ping in the back of my mind as various small balls of light spilling out of me, each housing small images from my youth. Clips of my first bike ride, my friends, family, my lovers, everything was brought in front of me. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished and my whole world went black. After a few seconds, 3 lights from above shined down revealing 3 individuals , 3 classes the scan brought up. Moving closer, I went to the first one.
The character springed to life. “I am a Spellsword, I wield both sword and magic to take down my enemies. Should you master my class, you may become well rounded and proficient in all things”. A tempting offer really, but for the sake of argument I pressed on.
Moving to the second figure, I reached out once more. “I am necromancer! I summon minions from the other world, deal damage and blight my enemies with dark magics and resurrect the dead!”. This guy definitely looked the part too. Black robes adorned with various designs and flourishes as well as that demonic looking staff? Yeah, I’m pretty sure this guy would win a game of spot the antag. Still, I do like me some minions. I should probably see the last option though, you know, for good measure. Approaching the last figure, there stood a man in brown robes with a long thick beard and thick unkempt hair. He had no weapon I could see, but he seemed to exude strength.
He too spoke, “ I am Druid, protector of nature. I possess the ability to shape-shift into various animals and wield the power of runes. While my feet are planted on clear soil, my strength does not wane and I know no fatigue”. Now that idea was appealing, being able to keep fighting without stopping sounds great, even if just on soil. I was, however, not the biggest fan of becoming animals to fight. I mean, hell, yeah a bear or owl would be cool, but how long would it be before I started hearing bear puns all day? Yeah, no, let’s stay away from that one.
I took a moment to consider, spellsword or necromancer? I did like being able to be well rounded, but that also meant I wouldn’t necessarily excel at anything. On the other hand, minions. Oh do I want those, give me an army, that I may lay waste to the lands! A dramatic cackle then bursting out from my incorporeal lips. Ok, so apparently this is going to happen. I chose necromancer, and with that, I began to set my own avatars appearance. Going with something close to my usual self, albet with black hair and ice blue eyes. My character would be about 5’11 and with a fit build, not too skinny yet not too muscular. There were racial options such as elfs, orcs and the like as well, but I wanted to start this one out slow and went with human. That, and whereas the elfs had Sharp Shooter for arrow accuracy and the orcs had Blood Of The Clan for strength as racial perks, humans got the Jack Of All skill. This skill basically meaning I could build myself any way I pleased. Humans being the race that could essentially do any task despite not being able to fully master them as well as the perked races.
After such, one last promt came into my field of vision reading, “names hold power, adventurer, which will you take with you into the dream?”. I had nearly forgotten about a name. There were two slots present, presumably for a first and last name. I suppose I couldn’t just go with my usual handle of “DatBoi420”.I thought for a moment, I’m a necromancer, a tactician of sorts given the minion option. After a few moments of consideration, it hit me. I would go by Robin, based off of a tactician from one of my favorite strategy titles. As for the last, I went with Graves. Because that was basically the plan, after all. I chuckled to myself for a moment at my own shitty humor. After looking it over for a few moments, I selected confirm, and the world once more faded from view.
When I regained consciousness, I was standing in what appeared to be a city plaza. A large digital banner in the middle of my vision reading Nocturne: City of Dreams. It was and old city, clearly medieval esk, with worn stone floors and buildings styles you would expect in this sort of time period. Nearby vendors had various shops open, selling everything from potions to swords. People were actively buying, selling, and doing the usual haggling you’d expect. After a moment of surveying the landscape, something came to my attention. It was odd, I felt completely normal, as if I were in my actual body. Moving came easy and the only thing out of the ordinary was a small blinking box in the corner of my vision. I tried focusing on it and it enlarged.
The message read, “ Hello adventurer and welcome to The Hunters Dream. In your inventory, you will notice a novice box containing a set of beginner gear for your assigned class as well as some gold to start your journey. To assist in your navigation, there will also be a map of the city you can call upon to help you get around. If you need help finding specifics, try asking an NPC at the adventurers guild for assistance in getting started.
Well, that was interesting, I suppose I should be grateful I don’t need to fight monsters in my present attire, which resembled something a peasant would wear. Linen shirt and shorts hardly screamed “adventurer” to me. Trying what worked with the notification, I focused on inventory, it just popped right up. That's pretty handy, I thought as I looked it over. Naturally, it was basically empty. After coming to the novice box, I motioned it to open.
You have received:
1x Mages Robes, +2 armor,+3 to int
1x Mages Staff, +3% to casting speed
1x Mages shoes, +1 armor
5x Novice Potions, restores 25 hp
Not too shabby,I thought to myself as I equipped my new things and mentally focused on a equipment bar. It brought up an image of myself with different slots for head, arms, etc. My staff was pretty cool, it had a wooden short handle with a dark purple gem on the tip. It resembled something between a magic wand and a old school wizards staff, being about two feet long. My robes were a dark blue, complete with an ominous mages hood. I was never a big fan of the robes but hey, I can always swap out for more style points later.
Getting down to business, I consulted my map, trying to figure out how to get into a field or somewhere I could get a barring on my character. I was always the hands on type so why not get a feel for any skills I have fighting some monsters? It appeared that there was a gate just a 15 minute walk from where I spawned. Manned by two guards, the gate was gigantic, a true entrance to the high walled city I had just passed through.
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As I walked by the two guards, one spoke up. “ I don’t believe I have seen you around here before, you new?”.
“You are correct sir, I just arrived a bit ago” I said while reaching out to shake their hands. I did not want to give out that I had just spawned in from the “real world”, not sure how that would roll over the guy.
“Ah, very good” said the guard, while taking my outstretched hand. “Just make sure you are back by dark”. “At night, we raise the bridge as stronger monsters tend to appear after dark”.
“Thanks for the advice, do people often get caught out?” I asked.
The guard considered for a moment before shrugging and said, “we wouldn’t really know since those who are caught out usually don’t just get to sit outside and wait until morning, if you get my meaning”. Well, that was good to know, there be monsters in the dark, apparently.
“I'll be sure to be careful” I said pleasantly, thank you again for the advice.
Pressing on, I found myself in a large open field, tall grass swaying gently in the wind. This making for easy cover for any potential mobs. Now though, it was time for some light hunting. I just needed something to break in the new gear. I scouted the area in search of potential sport, the first monsters one would usually encounter were your typical low level mobs. The likes of rabbits, slimes, and a few foxes, from what I saw. I figured rabbits would be a good call, so I started making my way over towards their section of the field. Focusing on them, I could see a tag with a name and level, Field Rabbit, lvl 1. There was no real HP bar, but I figured it was not like the fuzzy little critter was a raid boss so I figured I was fine.
It was at that moment that I realized, I had yet to check my skill bar. Bringing it up, I saw that presently I had only one skill at level one, Dark Orb. There were other skills, but none I could use at the moment.
Dark Orb: lvl 1
Casting time: 2 seconds.
Effect: fires a ball of concentrated dark magic at a single target.
A wide grin found its way to my face, this was going to be good. “Time for a little target practice” I said as I pointed my staff at the rabbit and focused on the skill. After a second of channeling, a orb of dark energy shot from the staff towards the rabbit. You hit rabbit for 15 points of dark damage.
Alright, this wasn’t so hard, now to move to the next target. The rabbit started moving toward me. Wait, it's not dead, how much hp could this lil guy have? The rabbit let out a battle cry, in the form of a high pitch squeal and started aggressively hopping towards me, determination in its eyes. After channeling another two Dark Orbs, the lil fella was brought low before he could reach me. The guy couldn’t harm a hare on my head! I frowned for a moment, I need to stop with the bad jokes I thought as I reviewed the battle log. You have killed Field Rabbit, lvl 1. Exp gain, 52, items dropped, rabbit meat x1, rabbit pelt x1.
First kill and the guy didn't even get close to me, this was a piece of cake! What I did not notice however, was that the rabbits battle cry had summoned another 5 rabbits to attack me, and two of them were within melee range, lucky. I immediately rolled to the left as they both jumped, the closer of the two grazing my right leg. Field Rabbit hits you for 17 damage
Damn, the little bugger took a sizable chunk out of my 200 hp pool. It landed and joined its companions as they all slowly hopped towards me, fur bristled in agitation. I began channeling Dark Orb towards the closest one, getting to my feet and backing away as I took potshots at the mass of bunny’s. Issue being that judging by the ever decreasing blue bar in my vision, my mana pool was not meant for me to be constantly casting like this.
Over the course of a few minutes, I had drained most of my mana, having to resort to running and punting the rabbits when the opportunity presented itself, which only did about 8 damage per kick, but they deserved the disrespect. The two that ended up surviving my gorilla style attack patterns were following me all over the damn field. My mana just barely recovering enough to use one last another Dark Orb. Just as I was about to cast the spell, the intended target jumped at me for an attack. With Half reflex half sheer panic I yanked my staff to intercept and managed to hit the critter point blank. You have hit Field Rabbit with Dark Orb for 32 Dark magic damage. Field rabbit defeated, you gain 51 experience.
With its other compatriots gone, the last rabbit looked significantly less menacing. Which, for a rodent, looking menacing at all was an accomplishment. I smugly walked up to the rabbit with but a sliver of health left, reared back my leg, and punted the fucker half way across the field, ending the little bastards reign of terror. Over all, the whole experience only got my exp bar up about 40% which was not too bad. The drops of rabbit fur and meat were also welcome. The only issue being that given the chuckling I heard from behind me, someone had apparently witnessed my struggle with the hoppers.
Turning around I took notice of a rather large man with a bemused expression on his face. He was tall, about 6’3 and built like a tank with long red hair braided at the back. He also sported a thick beard, looking like he could have been a viking if not for the bear pelt cowl and what looked like a animal tribal necklace around his neck. Save for that, he was bare chested, a perfect portrait of one of those man's man.
“I’m just surprised the wee ones gave you such trouble” he responded, chuckling.
“Well, if you would like to show this feeble magician how it's done” I trailed of as I gestured to another 3 rabbits, a sly grin clear on my face. If this guy thinks he’s all that, better see what he can do.
“Well, I’d hate to disappoint you” he said then cracked his knuckles, making his way over to the mob.
As he approached, the rabbits took notice of him, fur bristling, readying themselves for battle. It was then that he glanced back at me, winked, and then something odd began to happen. His figure began to change,shifting and becoming larger, furrier. Within seconds a large grizzly bear stood where he just was, a towering figure of intimidation. The bear then inhaled deeply, letting out a ground shaking roar.What was odd though, was that the rabbits didn’t run away, they seemed to all target him and rush in. It must have been a taunt skill, I mused to myself. The bear then proceeded to swipe, bite, and stomp the mobs until they were all wiped out, seemingly taking little to no damage. Afterwards the large bear trotted back towards me and shifted back into the man.
“That, is how its done, he said smugly. Names Ogma O’Sullivan, must have been unBEARable to have them give you the runaround, perhaps you need a tank? I joined the game with a couple buddies of mine, so ur welcome to join if you don’t mind some ballbusting here and there. Judging from the dark magic you use, I’m guessing you are some kind of ranged dark magic class and those are usually pretty handy to have around” he said with a wide grin.
So, this Ogma guy basically scouted me to be pulled into his party. I could always use a meat shield, I mused. Besides, these kind of games are always better with a group for dungeons and stuff. The benefits clearly outweigh the risks.
“Alright” I said as I put out my hand, “names Robin Graves”. A shit eating grin appeared on Ogma’s face as he grabbed my outstretched hand and shook it with a iron grip.
“Pleasure's mine, and uhh..nice choice of name there” he said while chucking. Damn thing was so powerful I got a -1 health notification in the battle log, hell.
“Where are these other members” I asked, glancing around the area and seeing not a single person.
“Oh, bear with me a second, Ogma said, his eyes going distant for a second. Map says they are a bit closer to the town, just outside the gate. Something tells me my sister is messing with the guards”.
“How would she be doing that” I asked, curiosity written on my face as we made our way over.
“Well” Ogma mused “she is our resident edge-lord and thief so I would imagine she is testing out the limits of her sneak skill. Hopefully, Okane can keep her in line”.
Getting closer to the main gate, I saw what looked to be someone in dark brown clothing with a hood trying to shoot rocks at the guards without them noticing. The guards themselves visibly restraining themselves as who I could only assume was Okane, tried to placate them. Wait, was he trying to bribe the guards? I wonder how effective that would be here. The man was decently tall, from what I could tell, short brown hair, wearing what I could understand to be some light leather armor around his torso. He seemed to be trying to offer them money or something to look the other way. Pretty ballsy for what I could only presume was still a low level character, so what he could even have to offer is beyond me.
As we approached the new party members, it seemed as if Okane had succeeded in placating the guards. “So, What did you offer them” I asked. “Couldn’t help but notice your little wheeling and dealing there” I said, mouth angled at a smirk. Okane let out a smug grin.
“Well, it costed me little outside of some pretty words If you play the fool, the NPC’s will usually overlook this kind of stuff. I told them that she was simply testing out her new skills against a strong opponent and that being a traveller takes some time to adjust to our new bodies here and that Morrigan meant no real harm” he said while gesturing to the thief to our left. “Speaking of which, who might you be?”.
“ I'm Robin” I replied in a casual tone “your resident necromancer and future dark lord”.
* Okane chuckled, “Well the robe and staff do give off that ominous vibe, man”. Ogma then put his arms around the three of us, grinning widely.
“I figure we could use us some dps and rabbit slayer over here seemed to fit the bill” he said and chuckled. “You have met Okane, our resident merchant, and Morrigan here, is my sister. I would say don’t try anything funny with her but, frankly I’d find it entertaining if you tried”.
I glanced over at Morrigan, who simply smirked and pulled back her thief’s coat revealing twin daggers.
“Try me” she said in a coy voice.
“Well, introductions aside, why don’t we test out this party comp eh” I said rhetorically. “So, we got a tank, two dps between myself and daggers over here, and we have a merchant. What exactly does a merchant do, I asked, looking a bit skeptical”.
Okane smiled, “Well, better to ask what I can’t do. As a Merchant, I do have the wheeling and dealing you would imagine, but the class also has other perks in combat. I have attacks that scale with my amount of money and depending on my carts weight”.
“What do you mean carts weight, I don't see anything.” I asked.
“Give me a second”, Okane said as his eyes went distant like Ogma’s had. A second or two later, a small pull car appeared behind him. Okane then proceeded to walk around as the cart followed behind him in close proximity. Okane grinned and slapped the cart, “this baby can fit so much stuff in it!”
“Ok, but what else can it do?” I asked, mild annoyance in my tone. I was a bit skeptical about what some pull along cart could do in battle.
“Well, since you asked so nicely” Okane said as he took a very ominous pause. He then proceeded to grab the personal cart by its handles and swing it almost effortlessly in my direction.
The cart came to me at dizzying speeds full on smacking me and knocking me back a few feet. The system log showing what had happened in the lower left corner of my vision. You have been hit by Cart Destruction for 15 Damage, you are now dazed for 5 seconds.
My head was spinning, and after a few stumbling attempts I saw that I couldn’t get up. The world shaking in my vision. In the upper left corner of that vision was a small icon of a head with a dizzy symbol above it. Huh, so that's how status effects work in this game. It feels so real, not that I have been smacked with carts frequently in my childhood. After the counter for the status effect blinked out, I slowly got back up.
“Sorry there guy, I made sure to lessen the weight in the cart, so the damage should have been minimal” said Okane, slight abashed.
“Damn, if that was a light tap, I’d hate to see you hit with a full cart “ I said as I rubbed my arm. My HP was recovering slowly, which was pretty good. Not that I was a fan of being on for less than a few hours and having already gotten smacked by players and monsters alike. I hadn’t even gotten the chance to get some of the sweet sweet necromancy skills to back up my orb game yet.
“I take it you don’t doubt my clearly elevated fighting prowess then?” asked Okane, clearly enjoying himself.
“Yeah, yeah, you got me there, but lets stop with the smash the necromancer thing while we are ahead, already dealt with that enough with the rabbits” I said and we both chuckled. “Speaking of rabbits, why don’t we strut our stuff and go tackle some mobs?”.