The car made its way into the city. The fact that pacifist mode was no longer an option annoyed the heck out of him. It explained several complaints that surrounded the game, about how the game became more hostile. It was a recent change, only applied a few weeks ago. He was busy back then, thus he didn’t notice the cause.
It made the game harder, especially for lower-level players. Level wasn’t necessarily the issue, per se, but most lower-level players lack the money required to buy advanced weapons, which made them an easy target for higher-level, PvP players. It resulted in an increased gap between low-level players and high-level or paying ones.
“... What’s wrong?” Kayla asked, her eyes on the road. Now that they approached the city, more and more buildings appeared before them, occupying the surrounding area. He watched the buildings, wary of snipers and mages hiding among them. With their run-down sedan not suited for engagements, he half-regretted not choosing something else.
“Still, that was some good driving,” Anton complimented. It was a surprise, as while Kayla usually drove him around, he never saw her drive like that.
As an AI companion, she had the capability to learn new things. When the player went offline, the game used to allow companions to be set on a quest to learn new skills or improve the skills they already had. Anton had set her to learn transportation skills, which allowed her to operate any vehicle, a skill essential for his mission. He didn’t remember her being this good, however.
“Aww, that’s nothing,” it was the farthest thing from nothing, considering that she drove an old good-for-nothing sedan. Well, it is good for one thing, getting its passenger from point A to point B. Fighting an attack helicopter wasn’t on its list of features, however, and no amount of slapping would increase its defense stats. The fact that the car remained intact was nothing short of a miracle.
Once they passed the city’s outskirts, they would soon enter Oakport’s peace zone. The peace zone, as its name suggests, banned all fighting between players. Back then, players could still remain safe outside the peace zone by activating pacifist mode. Pacifist mode stops the player from being affected by all player attacks, although the player could still be attacked by NPCs or mobs. It also banned pacifist players from attacking others. A warning would be sent to nearby players when a pacifist player turned off the mode, and the player wouldn’t be able to enter the mode a few seconds after turning off or after attacking another player. It made the game safe for those who didn’t want to fight.
Ethan felt exhausted from the brief fight he had. He rested on the seat, pushing all the energy remaining in him to continue focusing on his surroundings. He wasn’t safe just yet, after all. The game didn’t actually simulate physical fatigue or pain, but it couldn’t do anything about mental fatigue. Kayla looked toward him and pushed lightly on the gas, increasing the car’s speed.
Finally, a notification appeared in Anton’s vision, telling him that he had passed the border and entered the peace zone. With no more enemies to worry about, he felt the energy returning to his body. He returned his weapon to his inventory, but he didn’t change his position. Instead, he continued leaning back on his seat.
“... So, where are we going?” Kayla asked after she parked the car near the sidewalk. They still had some time in their car, around twenty minutes. The sun shone brightly in the sky, not obstructed by any clouds, nor moving an inch since they last left Alvandor.
“You said you’re going to take me to see the new updates?” Anton asked, finally pulling himself off the seat. They didn’t need to worry about daylight, as depending on the location, the place was engulfed either in eternal daylight or an eternal night. The world in this game took the form of a half circle, with the sun stuck in a position at the center of the world.
Anton thought about taking Kayla toward the Marrow Peaks, but they would need a proper vehicle before that, and since they still have some time in this car, might as well go and explore the city.
“Oh, right, my bad,” Kayla turned the steering wheel and got back on the road. She returned to the road, heading west. In the distance, between the office buildings that reached into the skies, Anton noticed a thin line extending from the ground.
“That?” he asked, pointing his finger toward the thin line. He never saw that line before. Kayla nodded to his words.
“Luna Space Station,” the second she finished her words, Anton noticed a rectangular vehicle floating in the sky, making its way toward the station. It approached the station’s side and stopped.
“The Advanced Future update? I heard about those things, saw a video about them once,” Advanced Future was the most recent in-game update. Anton remembered that it added several space-related things to the game including space itself. It added space, the moon, and several futuristic vehicles, starships among them.
Since the game lacked a proper space setting, while these vehicles could be used to leave the atmosphere, they could only go to a single destination, making them more of a status symbol than an actually functioning vehicle. Anton then pulled out the in-game market. A virtual screen appeared in front of him. He browsed through the listings, choosing the vehicle market. Two sports cars made a quick pass beside them, racing each other. The sudden appearance caused Kayla to weave to the left. They barely clipped them before making a turn at the intersection.
“Aren’t we in a peace zone?” Anton asked. The peace zone shouldn’t allow harmful contact between players.
“Don’t say they change that as well?”
“Yeah… that,” unable to hold his curiosity, Anton switched the market for the changelogs. He started reading through the game’s changelog. It would still take them a while to reach the station. Oakport was significantly quieter compared to when it first came into the game. Even walking around posed a challenge.
Now, however, the number of players on this street could be counted by hand. Granted, the game’s world had expanded since then. Most of them were probably on the moon right now. Some NPCs made their way around the area, evidenced by the marking on their left arm in the form of a yellow armband, sometimes exposed on the arm, other times integrated into the NPC’s clothing.
AI companions were an exception to this rule. They could be dressed however the players wanted, thus their arm bands could be removed.
I wonder how many players left because of these changes.
Anton wondered to himself, his finger scrolling down the list. Some of them were related to bugs, others related to new features, but some of them concerned him. He knew that they lost players after some poorly received changes. The effects stacked up, and within the year, they had lost a significant portion of their player base.
“Traffic,” Kayla called out. The car slowed down at an intersection. Lots of cars lined up in front of them, waiting for the lights to turn green. Beyond that intersection, more cars lined up behind each other, lining up toward the toll gates.
“We have fifteen minutes left. Should we break some laws?”
“I don’t remember programming that into you.”
“But my programming told me that my job is to get you to your goal.”
My goal…
“Fine, then.”
“Let’s see what this car can do,” the sedan, being an automatic, had a simple shifter, displaying controls similar to a real car. Driving in the game felt more arcadey than realistic. So while the car may look like a real, old automatic sedan, it had different handling. Kayla gripped the shifter, her foot on the brakes. Once the light hit green, she pulled the shifter back, setting it to ‘D’. She moved forward before cutting to the right.
“Just making sure, we’re in a peace zone, so we still can’t die, right?”
“No worries, worst case scenario we’ll pay for damaging the car,” with those words, Kayla slammed on the gas, and the car jumped. It cut the lane, driving straight toward the oncoming lane. A truck that was making a turn from the right side of the intersection halted to a stop as Kayla cut in front of it, honking its horn in fury. Kayla ignored it, however, and weaved through traffic. She cut the countless NPC cars that lined up at the toll gate, managing to secure a place.
The NPC that they cut off honked their horn. It took them a while before they let them off. Being an NPC, Anton knew that the person wasn’t real. The long honk did make him half curious and half annoyed, so he looked behind. The black SUV had its window tinted, making it hard for him to see the design of that NPC. He soon felt his entire body thrown back as the car sped away from the toll gate. Kayla planted her foot on the gas, the red line in the speedometer rotating to the right.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“This is what you people say about paying for the entire speedometer, right?”
“I really didn’t remember mentioning that to you,” as an AI companion, Kayla got most of her information from the game’s database as well as what the player said. She, being Anton’s companion, could follow only Anton’s words. Anton recalled his memories, the outside world blurring as they hit the car’s top speed of one hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. The engine roared in the front, pushing all the juices it had left in after its long life.
As the car sped through the highway, weaving in between traffic, the station grew larger in front of them, its tip reaching for the heavens. Anton looked up. He remembered that place being mentioned on the internet, photos from inside the game spreading around after its grand opening.
“Is the station inside a peace zone?” Anton asked while pointing toward the station.
“Yep, it is.”
“How about the moon?”
“As long as you stay inside the cities,” Anton then looked toward Kayla, who glued her eyes on the road, her hand gripping the steering wheel.
“Alright. Mind if we do a quick visit?”
“Of course. I’ll follow you wherever you go,” Kayla said.
They made their way down the long stretch. Anton turned the in-game radio on, founding a station that played one of his favorite songs from the game. The two hummed to the tune. From the mirror, Anton noticed a yellow sedan chasing them. A luxurious sedan, having speed much greater compared to their own. It swerved left and right, cutting through traffic like a knife through butter.
It made its way from the rightmost lane and entered the center, its sudden cut forcing another driver to brake and honk their horn. The sedan didn’t care and went by Anton’s left, overtaking them and speeding away. A silver hatchback made its way from the leftmost lane to the center lane, causing the yellow sedan to swerve to the right. Probably wanting to take revenge, it sped away and cut through the gap between the hatchback and a white Kei pickup truck in front of it. The sedan’s front bumper got too close and clipped into the pickup’s back.
The pickup was thrown to the right. Its driver tried to regain control of it, but the sudden nudge was too much. It lost control and slammed into the barrier on the right. The violent crash sent the pickup’s main body into the sky, spinning while throwing debris all over the highway before slamming back onto the highway upside down. Kayla slammed the brakes, the car’s brakes screamed as it pulled the vehicle to a sudden stop. Kayla turned the steering wheel right, dodging the debris, before turning back left and stopping in front of the pickup. The yellow sedan, meanwhile, escaped the crime scene, leaving nothing but its front bumper behind. Anton watched as the sedan sped away into the distance.
Upon stopping, Kayla let go of her seatbelt and opened the door, running outside.
“Kayla!?” Anton called out, but she didn’t hear him. From the mirror, Anton watched as Kayla approached the flipped pickup, kneeling down beside its door. She then pulled the door open and assisted a girl that tried to crawl out of the wreckage. She pulled the dark-skinned girl from inside the pickup, laying her down on the road. Anton noticed the lack of an armband on her arm. Another person crawled from outside the other side of the pickup and rushed to help.
Anton let out a sigh and checked his clock. Time continued ticking, ignoring their current situation. Anton expected Kayla to return after helping the pickup’s occupant out, but she continued kneeling there. She pulled an item out of her inventory, a health potion, one he gave her to heal herself. Anton then let go of the seatbelt and stepped outside. As if to insult him, he saw the black SUV that they previously cut off speeding past him. He then approached Kayla. The girl that Kayla rescued now sat on the road, her back resting on the pickup’s window frame, despite the window itself shattered into a thousand pieces. A young man kneeled beside her while drinking a potion himself. He could hear the girl cursing the person that crashed into them.
“Kayla-” Anton called out, but noticed the girl’s eyes heading toward him.
“Anton?” she asked. Anton turned his eyes toward the girl.
“... Who are you?”
A frown escaped the girl’s lips.
“I’ve been gone for, what, one, two… three months? And you’ve already forgotten about me?” she complained. Anton looked toward her, his mind searching for any possible names. Realizing that Anton still didn’t recognize her, she opened her menu and scrolled down. Her hands selected an option, and her previously short black hair changed length.
“Oh, Mana.”
“I literally changed my hair length, and you didn’t recognize me? Really? Urgh.” Anton extended his hand and helped her up.
“You know her?” Kayla asked.
“She’s my senior at work.”
“Lead programmer, to be exact,” Mana corrected Anton.
“Ex-lead programmer, to be exact,” Anton continued. Hearing him, Mana approached him and pinched his cheeks.
“I’m still a lead programmer, just not for this game.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Anton pulled himself away.
“Oh, I’m Kayla, Anton’s companion.”
“companion? As in AI?”
“Correct,” Kayla responded. Mana looked back toward the man. The man extended his hand toward Kayla and Anton.
“The name’s Jerrico, Duke Mana’s AI companion,” Anton and Kayla shook hands with Jerrico.
“I assume I can return my hair length to the length of my choice now,” Mana said before switching her appearance back. It made little difference, now that Anton thought about it.
“By the way, Mr. Junior, mind helping your boss a bit?”
“Ex-boss. Like you, I’m no longer with Aripi.”
“Got fired, eh?”
“You know about it?” Unlike Anton, Mana left the company on relatively good terms. She received an offer for a higher position, better-paying job in a different company, and she took it. Anton remembered the parting gift she gave everyone on her last day.
“Where did you get that chocolate anyway? It’s delicious.”
“So you remember the chocolate but not the person that gave them?”
“You look different.”
“My hair looks different,” Mana said, exasperated. Unable to retort, Anton shrugged his shoulders.
“Anyway, we’re busy so…”
“You’re going to leave us?”
“Unless you’re quick about it,” Anton said. Mana then pointed toward the flipped pickup, specifically the open bed behind it.
“Was carrying a wooden bed frame, took a quest to deliver it to the station. I’m assuming you’re heading for the same place, right?”
“... Does that bed even exist anymore?”
“It’s a small one. Great pay, but very strict completion time. Tied it down to the bed,” the four of them then approached the truck bed.
“Still there. Packaging’s broken, though,” A large wooden box dangled from the pickup’s bed, two of the ropes that tied it down had snapped. From the packaging itself, the unbuilt piece of furniture looked to still have some part of it worth rescuing. At the very least, Mana would face less fines. For Anton, what happened to Mana had little to do with his mission, but since she helped him a lot in the past, and not helping wouldn’t cost them that much time, he, with slight reluctance, agreed to help.
“Kayla. You help Mana and Jerrico unload the cargo. I’ll call a replacement vehicle.”
“Roger.”
“Making your girl do all your work, eh?” Mana jokingly asked. Anton wasn’t the one who answered, though. It was Kayla instead.
“I’m strong enough to handle this. I will protect Anton even if it costs me my life, something like this is nothing.”
“That’s some sweet words for an AI. So that’s what Anton taught you, huh?”
“Please don’t tease him too much!” Kayla retorted. Anton, meanwhile, decided to ignore the little squabble in the background. He received a warning, telling him that in three minutes, the car would be stopped and returned to its owner, in this case, the game. The game offered him to extend the rent, but since he would be carrying some cargo with two extra people, he opted to rent a new car instead.
He browsed the rent page. Every place had its own unique selection. He noticed that the quick rent feature didn’t offer some of the higher-end vehicles. He continued scrolling and ordered a large pickup truck with a cab. The game said that it would take around two minutes before the pickup arrived at their location. Anton looked back, finding the cargo loaded safely off the pickup.
The in-game police, bearing the markings of the Oakport Police Department, arrived at the scene of the crash. The in-game police themselves acted more as a decoration, to help with the sense of realism. They lacked any actual presence. One of the officers stood around the pickup, writing down notes of the accident, while another stood further away, directing traffic. Unless a player came up and started a conversation, they were set to not say anything other than some predetermined voice lines.
The four watched as they did their job, no one understood what they were there for.
“... If I punch a police officer in the peace zone, what will happen?” Anton's words caused the other three, Kayla and Jerrico included, to look at him.
“As your AI companion, I have no right to stop you, but I really suggest against doing that.”
“As Duke Mana’s AI companion, I will do whatever is required to protect Duke Mana, even if it means stopping you,” Kayla and Jerrico said at the same time.
Hearing him, Kayla snapped her head toward him.
“I won’t let you.”
“I haven’t even done anything,” Anton continued, but it didn’t do anything to stop the two AIs from staring at each other. The arrival of the pickup stopped their bickering. The pickup truck appeared from the highway, coming in and parking in front of the sedan.
“Come on, let’s go,” Anton said while dragging Kayla away. Kayla growled at Jerrico before looking away and jumping into the driver’s seat. Anton got in the front passenger seat, while Mana and Jerrico loaded the cargo into the pickup’s cargo bed. They secured the load before getting into the truck’s rear cabin. They all pulled their seatbelts and clicked them in place. The sedan then disappeared from behind them, its timer ran out.
After making sure that everything was ready, Kayla changed gears and drove the pickup truck away.