01

Manuals

Day 4 Default 5

KillPrinsX had just defaulted, dreadfully. A dirty handshake by a Death Night she had helped save from a Forest Mage. And what made it worse is that the guy had apparently been another player.  She had defaulted back to the suburbs, on the edge of tears, contemplating whether or not she really feels pain. 

Well, after a while, sitting and moping, she thought, what better way to get over it than hitting Nap Time, that mysterious special skill that all Psychics have. Usually, the only thing it does is give one another default after watching someone play for some time. 

She carelessly watched one player roam through an ice storm, find a cave, cross the underground lake, just to get inches away from grasping the ledge, just falling short, and sliding into the freezing waters where a Leviathan awaited. 

Second shot, she watched some double-crossing dweeb hiding from a handful of ex-teammates, from whom he had stolen all the loot and the Boss kill XP. They left to camp out somewhere, and when he though he had his chance to take revenge while they where all sleeping, he got himself slain, and defaulted. 

The third try, she watched a Sprinter fight her way through a mountain of lava, loosing teammates along the way, until she was the last one standing. She had a choice to go back, but she took the bait, a few attribute enhancements, and she was on her way to finish the quest solo. Using her cunning and a lucky Tome, she summoned a portal in front of the Jinn and sucked him into the Depths. Just afterwards a Phoenix had soared down and respectfully gifted her the skill set of the Phoenix. 

And that was about the time she woke up, a successful nap time, and, from that, all the XP, Gold, and Skills!

Now she could play again, Level 9, a new set of worthy skills, and 1508 gold, enough to start her going somewhere. 

But, first things first, there were a few books on the bookshelf that caught her attention. User guides and rule books to the game Default. Ok, ok, cheating? No. Those books are there for everyone, and if you don’t know the rules, and how to play… then how can you play?

And now, after going through all the guide books she was beginning to get a grasp on this game…and that was, there is no beating this game. The whole point is having fun! … Not!

In all actuality, the point was was leveling up, learning skills and becoming a badass. You win each quest and get XP and skills. Then using those, you battle and do more quests, rinse and repeat. If you die, you default, and start all over again. And when you’ve had enough and maybe feel that going back home might be a good idea, back to the real world, you simply head off to the Dungeon and kill the beast guarding the portal. 

So now, looking at her options she had learned from the handy guide books, school looks like the way to go. 

She’ll have to pack her bags and move out. 

She carefully placed the guide books back on the shelf and headed off to the garage. There were other players in the living room, but she payed no heed. She had to get to school!

She went to where she knew she could find the only thing that would take her there. And… the  garage was empty…

The garage was empty! No car, no ammo, nothing but a screw gun. Last time there had been a car, guns, and ammo waiting to be picked up and used. Especially helpful when you’ve defaulted and have no other means of gaining skills and levels. 

So that’s great news, now she has to go out and confront those dweebs, ask them what they did with the car. 

She went back inside and greeted the other players in the living room. She analyzed them quickly. 

Lancelot99 - Knight - Level 16

EatM.Up - Commoner - Level 10

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

GreenRaeioush - Sprinter - Level 19

Mr.Clean - Olympian - Level 26

They looked like an experienced crew, so she talked to them. 

“Which one of you dweebs took the car?”

“I did,” Mr.Clean said. 

“And where is it?”

“The desert. Well it was.”

They all laughed a little. 

KillPrinsX raised her questioning eyebrows. 

“Kaboom! It went bye bye.”

Now she was confused. 

Lancelot99 spoke up, “We got ambushed, the car was totaled and we ate ‘em up.”

EatM.up gave a nod and winked at her. 

“Oh great!” KillPrinsX dramatically rolled her eyes with a toss of her arms. 

“What’s the problem girl?” EatM.up asked. 

“I need to get to school, and I’d like a weapon. Looks like you took all of them from the garage as well.”

“Sure did. Did you try next door?”

“What? The other house?”

“Yeah. Just open the garage and take their car and whatever else you like.”

“What— what if they’re home?”

“Run.”

They all laughed. But she wasn’t in the mood. 

Lancelot said, “Have you ever played ding-dong ditch?”

KillPrinsX thought over that semi-workable plan. “How do I open the garage?”

“Are you an Engineer?” Mr.Clean asked. 

“No.”

“And I’m guessing your strength wouldn’t be enough to just barge in, or lift up the door.”

“Yeah, no,” she replied, shrugging a little. 

“Fine, I’ll do it for you.” He got up off the couch and led her outside. All six feet of him, hulking, and looking like he could probably just lift the car out of there as well. He went over to the garage door and lifted it up for her. “There you go miss.”

“Thanks.”

“Just get the car fixed up and we’ll join you. There’s always good fun at the schools.”

“What? You’re coming with me?”

“Sure, why not? You want to fight about it?”

She laughed and obviously declined. 

The car was fixed in five minutes and the rest of her household was piling into the car. 

EatM.Up got in the driver’s seat. 

KillPrinsX looked at him funny. “You’re driving?”

“Yeah,” he said, giving her a sideways glance, asking if she was starting something. 

“No worries, he’s a good driver.” Lancelot99 said. 

“Yeah, a really good driver,” said Mr.Clean. 

She couldn’t really force him out of the drivers seat, and instead settled with sitting shotgun. 

EatM.Up hit the accelerator, screaming out of the garage and slamming them back in their seats. 

Off they went, flying through the suburban roads. They made it to the gas station in less than three minutes. It would have been a fifteen minutes drive for anyone else.  

They filled up the tank, KillPrinsX had no gold, but no one complained. 

They had finally made it onto the highway before any conversation started. 

“So what’s your default count?” Lancelot99 asked. 

“I don’t know. I never counted.”

Deadpan, he said, “It’s on your stats screen.”

“Oh right.” She looked, “Four.”

“Four times? That explains the noobishness.”

She tried not to react. 

“And your highest level?”

“Eleven.”

“Not bad,” he said. 

“Class?”

“Psychic.”

“Alright,” he said, calmly nodding. “So what school are you going to?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t really been there before. But I was thinking about some better attack magic. The ones in the Psychic skill set are good, but don’t deal enough damage.”

Lancelot nodded in agreement. “We all have that same problem. The Innate Abilities are good, but are all missing a little something.”

From the highway, KillPrinsX could already see the school district. It was massive. There were arenas everywhere, she could count at least five the size of any football stadium, lights of magic blasting up and out, smoke rising from another, an Olympic stadium with people doing sports… 

There were tons of other smaller buildings and some skyscrapers looking like haunted houses. There was even a giant airport with fighter jets, and all types of spacecraft, taking off and setting down. She saw them battling off in the distance. 

With the school district getting closer, KillPrinsX was getting excited. This is where all the people go. There was hardly anyone out in the forest, at least, less than expected. 

Lancelot told EatM.Up to take her to the magic school. 

“The one were you need a wand?”

No, isn’t there a school that teaches Elemental Magic?”

“Yeah just before the dojos,” Mr.Clean instructed, and told EastEm.Up to take a right.  

Lancelot gave her a suggestion, “By the way, you’ll have to level up before you can get anything good, they’ll probably send you on some quest first.”

“I’m level 9. Thanks.”

“Level 9, already! How’d you do that?”

“Sponsors,” EatM.up said, nodding his head. 

Lancelot spun in his chair, “How’d you get sponsors so early on in the game?”

She wasn’t ready to answer this question, “Uhm… I played a lot of games before.”

“Ahhh.” They all nodded and didn’t ask any further questions. Which was fine with KillPrinsX. She didn’t feel like giving away the secret Psychic special.

She got dropped off in front of a street with some very interesting buildings. They nearly looked cartoonish, with all the garish colors and, roofs slightly askew, and the comical NPCs sitting at the doors and walking around. It took her back to some old console games she had played. 

She thanked EatM.Up and said farewell to the rest of them, asking, “Where will you be going?”

“Probably some karate class. Learn some good unarmed combat.”

“Samurai,” Lancelot said. “I want to be a Samurai.”

They sped off, and KillPrinsX turned around to look at her new school.