Jake opened his eyes slowly as the bright light around him faded, the familiar smell of the forest wafting into his nose as he looked around the small clearing that he was standing in.
“What?” he said, looking around again, the confusion clear on his face, “Where am I?”
Looking up, Jake could only see the clear blue sky above him, a few wispy clouds drifting lazily across it as he tried to figure out where he was and what was happening. The way Andy had explained it, Jake was supposed to appear in or near a small town that would allow him to get used to the game and gain some Skills and levels before he could venture further into the world. But this was no town, and there wasn’t even another person around to ask what had happened. Was the game broken? Did he do something wrong? Did this have something to do with that screen that had appeared just before he entered the door. What did “custom spawn point” even mean?
Shaking his head, Jake took a deep breath to calm himself, taking stock of his surroundings. He was standing in a small clearing in the middle of some kind of forest, large deciduous trees surrounding him on all sides and soft grass beneath his feet. Looking down, he inspected himself, looking at the cream long sleeve shirt, brown pants, and soft leather shoes he was now wearing, all matching the description Andy had given him of the starting gear he would receive. The only difference was the forest green pouch on his hip, held in place by a small belt. Reaching down, he touched it, jumping as the screen appeared in front of him.
The ten squares hovered just off to the side of his vision, allowing him to look at them without obstructing his line of sight too much. Each square was occupied by a symbol, Jake reaching out to the one shaped like a book and touching it gingerly. A small flash of light saw the book appear in his hand, Jake reading the title out loud.
“Basic Survivalist’s Guide,” he said, “Okay…so do I read this or…”
He was cut off when the screen appeared in front of him, making him stumble back and drop the book.
Error Detected:
No viable Quest Givers in range.
Calculating solution…
Error Detected:
Player location outside of predicted area.
Calculating Solution…
Error Detected:
No suitable targets in immediate area.
Calculating Solution…
…
Solution found.
Thank you for finding an error in the System.
The error will be rectified as soon as possible.
Calculating reward…
You have been rewarded [200 000 Gold Coins] deposited into your Bank Account.
Have a pleasant day.
“What?” Jake blinked, staring at the screen in confusion, “What’s going on? Is the game really broken? Is that a lot of money?”
His questions were simply answered by a new screen appearing in front of him.
Quest: First Kill
Kill the [Giant Shadow Rat] 0/1.
Rewards:
Relevant Weapon Skill
“Giant Shadow Rat?” Jake muttered as he looked around the clearing, jumping when he heard the loud squeak from behind him.
Scrambling to his feet, Jake spun around to see the largest rat he’d ever laid eyes on standing opposite him in the clearing. The creature was easily the size of a medium dog, its tail more than doubling its body length. Obsidian fur covered its body, glinting in the sunlight as it looked around, seemingly just as confused as Jake by its sudden appearance. Still in shock, Jake could only stare at the rodent intently, his Ranger training taking over as he tried to learn all he could about it.
Learned Skill: [Observe]
“What?” Jake said, dismissing the screen quickly as he looked back at the rat, amazed when a small screen appeared above its head.
Giant Shadow Rat
Beast
Level: ??
“Okay,” Jake muttered quietly, furrowing his brow as he read over the information on the small screen again, “According to what Andy said, level is an indicator of how strong something is, and if you can’t see something’s level, that usually means it’s too strong for you. Which means that this rat is… very strong, right?”
No one answered Jake as he continued to watch the rat look around, blinking its eyes like it was getting used to the light. A moment later it froze, before its head twitched to look directly at him, the creature letting out a shrill hiss as its fur raised on end. Jake blinked in surprise at the sudden aggression, yelping as the rat suddenly leapt towards him. He jumped back on instinct, barely avoiding being tackled by the massive creature, which hit the ground with a loud thump, before immediately turning to face him again.
“What is going on?!” Jake shouted as he ducked to the side, the rat sailing past him as it jumped again, “What am I supposed to do?”
He quickly looked around him for anything to use as a weapon to help fend off the giant rat, but the clearing was strangely clear of any branches or stones. His eyes passed over his inventory, still open from his earlier investigations, darting to the symbol of a knife in the first slot. Reaching out, he touched it, a blade appearing in his hand a moment later as the rat charged at him again. Not sparing a moment, Jake closed his inventory to get rid of any distraction, giving the rat his full attention as he dove to the side to avoid it, a screen appearing in his vision a moment later.
Learned Skill: [Dodge]
“Not the time,” he growled as he dismissed the screen, rolling forwards and jumping to his feet just in time to avoid a sharp snap from the rat’s fangs, “Leave me alone!”
He spun around, stabbing the knife down and into the side of the rat’s neck, blinking as the blade itself barely penetrated the hide, only going a few centimetres in. The rat, on the other hand, seemed enraged by his retaliation, letting out a shrill scream and thrashing its body around. The tail lashed against Jake’s chest, the surprising force behind it throwing his backwards as more screens appeared in his vision.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Warning!
Health Below 50%
Warning!
Health Below 25%
“Still not helping,” Jake groaned as he staggered to his feet, looking at the rat as it tried to get at the wound on its neck to lick it, “This game is a lot tougher than I expected. Maybe I need to do the thing Andy was doing in his other game?”
The rat quickly gave up trying to tend the wound, instead turning its attention back onto the source of the pain, Jake. It rushed him again, though this time Jake was ready, dodging to the side and rolling alongside the rat as it shot past. He popped back to his feet, immediately rolling again to get behind the creature as it tried to turn, rolling a third time to bring himself right behind it. Hopping to his feet, he ignored the slightly dizzy feeling, bringing his knife down on the rat as hard as he could, aiming for the spine.
Once again, the blade barely penetrated the thick hide, but the attack struck true, miraculously piercing between the vertebrae of the rat, and digging into its spinal cord. The beast let out a shrill scream of pain again, immediately trying to turn on Jake as it lashed its tail behind it, forcing Jake to jump onto its back to avoid the painful blows.
Desperate to end the fight, Jake hooked his legs around the rat’s waist, putting his full upper body weight onto the knife as it slid a little deeper, the rat freezing beneath him, before the blade suddenly dropped, sliding in right up to the handle. The rat shuddered under Jake as it slowly dropped to the ground, the life leaving its eyes. Jake could only gasp for breath as he staggered off the creature’s back, looking at it in shock.
Quest Complete: First Kill
Kill the [Giant Shadow Rat] 1/1.
Rewards:
Relevant Weapon Skill
Skill Learned: [Small Blades]
Jake stared at the screens in confusion for a moment, before falling back and letting out a loud laugh, which was quickly cut off as a stream of notifications flooded his sight.
Achievement: Giant Slayer I
You have slain an enemy at least 5 levels stronger than you!
Rewards:
Title: [Giant Slayer I]
1 Fate Point
+Bonus Experience (once off)
Achievement: Giant Slayer II
You have slain an enemy at least 10 levels stronger than you!
Rewards:
Title: [Giant Slayer II]
1 Fate Point
+Bonus Experience (once off)
Achievement: Giant Slayer III
You have slain an enemy at least 15 levels stronger than you!
Rewards:
Title: [Giant Slayer III]
1 Fate Point
+Bonus Experience (once off)
Achievement: Giant Slayer IV
You have slain an enemy at least 20 levels stronger than you!
Rewards:
Title: [Giant Slayer IV]
1 Fate Point
+Bonus Experience (once off)
Achievement: Giant Slayer V
You have slain an enemy at least 25 levels stronger than you!
Rewards:
Title: [Giant Slayer V]
1 Fate Point
+Bonus Experience (once off)
You have gained a large amount of Experience.
Achievement Bonuses detected.
Calculating…
Experience modifier detected.
Calculating…
You have gained a huge amount of Experience.
You have Levelled Up!
You have levelled up to level 2, 3, 4…11!
You have received 1 Fate Point for reaching level 5.
You have received 1 Fate Point for reaching level 10.
Allocating Stat Points…
Stat Points Allocated.
Jake blinked as the screens appeared in rapid succession, a strange tingling running through his body as the pain from the fight slowly faded. Unable to understand exactly what the screens meant, he just sighed as he dismissed them, getting unsteadily to his feet and looking down at the giant rat corpse, the handle of his knife still sticking out of the back of its neck.
Reaching down, he yanked the knife free, groaning as a final screen appeared in front of him, dismissing it after barely a glance.
Achievement: Frontrunner
You are the first Traveller to reach level 10!
Rewards:
Title: [Frontrunner]
1 Fate Point
------
The control room was in chaos when Howard burst into it, grabbing the first passing technician as they rushed by.
“What’s going on? Why was I called down?”
He’d been dozing in his office when the frantic call had come through, startling him awake as the person on the other end of the call had all but ordered him to get down to the main control bay.
“We’re not sure,” the technician replied, his eyes wide in panic, “Someone found an exploit and the System is struggling to process the results!”
“The System is struggling?” Howard blinked, “Who’s in charge here?”
“Abrahms, sir,” the man said, pointing to a woman standing at the main console as she typed away furiously.
“Right, thank you,” Howard nodded as he released the man to continue what he’d been doing earlier, walking up to the main console as the woman worked, “You’re Abrahms?”
“Yes sir,” she replied curtly, “Sorry, a little busy trying to figure out what just happened, will be with you in a moment.”
“Take your time,” Howard nodded, suddenly feeling a little silly for saying that when she was obviously working as fast as she could.
“Hmm, not so much an exploit as an unexpected scenario,” Abrahms muttered under her breath, Howard leaning in slightly to hear, “Damn humans and their unpredictability. Had to find some sort of error in the programming, didn’t they? Well, I’ll figure out how you did it and make sure no one else can replicate it.”
Howard just stood by as the woman continued to work, muttering to herself the entire time, before finally stepping back, letting out a loud sigh.
“Did you fix it?” Howard asked, immediately wanting to smack himself for the stupid question, this Abrahms woman looking at him like he was an idiot.
“Of course not,” she said flatly, “It’ll take a lot more work to fix something like this in a game as big and complex as GNW. I have identified the exploit, though it can hardly be called that. More like an unlikely scenario.”
“What do you mean by that?” Howard asked, Abrahms sighing again as she turned back to the console, pulling up a page of code and data on the holo-screen.
“The player who triggered the event did so by accident, at least as far as I can tell,” she said, Howard starting to ask how she knew that before she cut him off, “I know that because the account used was brand new, never used before, which you’re obviously aware is impossible to fake due to accounts being linked to an individual’s biometric data.”
“Of course,” Howard nodded, knowing this was true. When creating a Full Dive Account, you had to provide access to the Global Health Network’s scans of your brain, both as a safety measure, and to better map the effects using the system had on an individual, “So you’re saying it wasn’t done by a known hacker or exploiter?”
“Yes,” Abrahms replied, “Unfortunately, I can’t pull up the data on the actual user, it’s being blocked by a high-level privacy clause.”
“What?” Howard said, looking at the screen. Those kinds of clauses were usually only used for highly influential individuals who didn’t want people to know what they did in FD. The fact that this person was protected by such a clause yet had only just made an account was almost unprecedented.
“What do you want me to do?” Abrahms asked, pulling Howard out of his shock, “I can’t get access to the account to check who they are, or even access their character data. Is there anything you can do to fix that?”
“I…I don’t know,” Howard finally sighed, stepping away from her as she glowered at him, “Those clauses are in place to ensure the safety of our valued customers. It’s not like I can just let any technician access them on a whim.”
“Well, do what you can,” Abrahms grunted as she turned back to the console, “Let me know when you have something. I’ll fix this fuck up in the meantime.”
“Right,” Howard nodded as he turned away, walking slowly out of the control room as thoughts ran through his head.