The bag was lifted off his head and the murderer recoiled at the light. The lamp was put directly in front of him to ensure this. The prisoners hands were cuffed to the table restricting his ability to look away. Before his eyes could adjust the interrogator gave him a hard punch to the cheek. It was intended as more of a threat, however that didn’t stop it from knocking a tooth from his gum. He stared straight forward where he assumed his assailant to be, he still couldn’t see anything, and spit a mouthful of blood. It missed its mark, but succeeded in getting the prisoner another hit to the jaw. With reloaded blood he took another try at his interrogator. This time he managed to hit the chest area. Before his imprisoner could get revenge a voice resounded through the room.
“That’ll be enough Major. We need him with his blood inside his body please.” Surprisingly the next punch never came. Astounded by his own victory the prisoner burst into laughter. Flashes of red could be seen when he attempted to smile with a swelling face.
Over the course of a minute his vision slowly returned, although he was slightly seeing red. The Major, as the voice had called him, came into view and he could see that the man was wearing a military uniform. His uniform was entirely black. On one shoulder were the flags of several different countries. America, Mexico, Japan, and several others he didn’t recognize were sewn on. He had a blacked out assault rifle in his hands and various other equipment in pockets and around his belt. Near his left shoulder there was a red stain that stood out from his black apparel.
The room was your typical interrogation room: One table, 2 chairs, one blacked out window. There was a door behind him that swung open as 3 more military men and another man in a labcoat entered. The guards all had the same assault rifle with the same flags on their shoulders. The man in the labcoat was clean shaven and looked to be in his 30s. His head lacked hair and ended up reflecting the lamp light as he went to sit at the other end of the table. Once he sat down he took a pen from his chest pocket and wrote a few words on a clipboard before switching his gaze to his new lab rat. Right before he went to speak he was interrupted by the prisoner.
“Shouldn’t I be dead already? I don’t really know how this whole lethal injection thing is supposed to go down, but I know they said I’d be dead by 11, so can u just hurry it up?”
“I’m sorry, but you’re not dying today Mr. Yeager. Although I’m sure you’ll wish you were after the next couple days. Now if you could please verify the following information we can proceed. Name, Daniel Yeager. Nickname, Baron. Age, 28. Born in East Chicago, IL. 3 charges of petty theft, 1 charge of assault, and 3 charges of drug possession with intent to distribute. Known gang affiliate. Convicted of triple homicide at the age of 18. Executed at 28 for his crimes.”
“Sorry but your information is a little ahead of the present.”
“No I assure you it is quite accurate. I just listed information of Daniel Yeager. The man who was executed this morning for killing 3 minors. He is dead. You are dead, and because you are dead I can use you for whatever I want. Fortunately for you I am under contract, well not a legal one of course. So I have to make sure not to kill you by accident. Since you’ve been behind bars for the past 10 years I’m sure you haven’t heard but Virtual Reality is the newest trend in technology. There have been many studies done on its effects of the human body and mind, however, all of those had to abide by ‘ethics.’ Here we don’t have that issue, and Unicorn Corporation along with several other governments are offering a hefty price for more… realistic information. You will be participating in a study to determine what prolonged exposure to virtual reality does. The 2 pieces of information we will be trying to acquire is if VR is a suitable substitute for natural sleep, and how the body reacts when the mind ages at a 4 times pace. In VR time goes by at a slowed pace. For every one hour in VR, 15 minutes will have passed in real life. Since the body and mind are linked we need to determine if the body will age at the same pace as the mind. There are also several psychological conditions that could arise, which we will monitoring you mental state throughout. Shortly you will be put into a VR capsule to play the game Royal Road. In one week you will be automatically logged out and undergo an exam. While in the game you will be nourished by an IV. You will be monitored in the game so don’t bother trying to send any information to an outside source. Per the games rules if you die you will be banned from the game for 1 day. Since we have a deal with the game’s company this ban will only last for 5 minutes, and you wont be logged out. Now that you have a rudimentary idea of what is going on the Major here will escort you to the experiment room.” He motioned to the man with the blood stain and he began to unlock Daniels cuffs. As he was taking the prisoner out of the room, Daniel turned around and looked the man in the labcoat right in the eyes.
“Well fuck you too.” Too much had happened in Daniel's life already him to get upset. Since he was 18 his life had been unjustly stolen. He had no control over anything in life, so nothing about this was new. He was by no means a model citizen. He had been in and out of Juvenile Hall his entire teenage life, but he knew he wasn’t a murderer. For his 18th birthday him and 3 other gang members went out partying to celebrate. They ended up scoring some X at an over 18 club, and going home with some trashy women. When he woke up the next morning and couldn’t remember anything that happened. Since he was 18 he didn’t go to Juvenile Hall. Instead he was to be tried as an adult and found himself in a maximum security penitentiary. He was taken to court and charge with triple homicide of his 3 friends. The story was that his loyalties had switched to a rival gang and the killings were his initiation. The detectives found video evidence of the crime so there was no disputing the charges. After a lengthy 10 year trial Daniel was finally set to be executed. He had suffered enough from the disowning of his family to the death threats from his former gang. He was starting to look forward to death, but it didn’t go as planned. While on the way to his death bed a bag was placed on his head and he was smuggled out of the prison. Finally ending up in the interrogation room.
The Major dragged him along several hallways until finally coming to an open door. Inside were various medical equipment and computers that lined the walls. In the center of the room was a giant capsule 8 feet long that looked to be straight out of a Sci-fi movie. There were a few more scientist-like people inside the room working on the equipment. One of them directed the Major to put him into the capsule. The door opened at the push of a button and Daniel was placed inside. An IV was stuck into his arm and several chords were connected on various places around his body. The capsule closed and surrounded him in darkness. There were no lights inside. No screen like a normal video game would have, just nothing. Seconds later that nothing started to warp and twist as he was dragged from this reality. He lost feeling with his body and it felt like it was just his mind in the capsule. Another couple of seconds later he found himself in a blue and white space that could be described as the default background for a computer. He realised he could feel his body again as a female voice spoke to him.
-Now connecting to Royal Road-
-Welcome to Royal Road. What would you like your avatar name to be?-
"Daniel" He wasn’t really sure of what was happening, so just like if he was making an email he gave his real name.
-Avatar name has been accepted. Welcome Baron. What gender would you like: Male, Female, or neutral?-
"I said Daniel, not Baron." The name Baron had been his nickname in the gang. It wasn’t a name he used now since the only people to call him that were the gang members that had been trying to kill him. It was somewhat of a sore subject for him.
-Gender has been selected as male. Please choose your race. Royal Road has 49 different races. You may choose from the 29 currently available.-
“Are you fucking listening to me?”
-Invalid response. Please choose from one of the human subspecies as per individual system parameters.-
Baron was beginning to get annoyed until he realised his options were already decided for him. Everything else had been pre-programmed by the people who ran the experiment. Since he didn’t know anything about the game or the different races he decided to ask.
“Show me my options.”
Seconds later he could see a mirror image of himself standing a few feet away. It represented humans. Standing inline with himself were 3 other people who also looked exactly like him. The first was a little over 4 feet tall and had the name hobbit written above it. Next in line was a more muscular version of himself. It stood over 7 feet tall and made the hobbit look childish. Above its head was the name barbarian. The last in line was the tallest and fattest. It was around 8 foot tall and was likely pushing 400 pounds. Although it had the same face as Baron it looked some what uglier. This time its name was giant.
“Barbarian.” Looking at the 4, including the standard human, he had to choose the barbarian. It looked like the cliche image every guy wants to look like.
-Would you like to alter your appearance?-
"No."
-Which city would you like to start in? You may choose any major city or capital.-
Instead of responding he decided to just wait. His decision was likely programmed in already.
-The Citadel of Sai, Gradian Kingdom has been chosen.-
After a pause the women’s voice continued.
-Your avatar has been created. Welcome to Royal Road.-
The space he was in faded away as Baron was transported to the heart of a busy city. Thousands of people could be seen shopping at stands or filling canteens in the fountain. For a second he just looked around at the picturesque medieval city he was standing in. Other people paid no attention to him as he began stretching and testing out the VR system. It was a common sight for them.
'Is this really virtual reality? I had no idea it would be so realistic.' As he stretched he could feel his muscles burn like they would in real life. 'Holy shit!'
The experience of VR left him stricken. For the next 3 hours he just wandered around the market. Aside from it being his first time in VR it was also the first time in 10 years he had been in a public place. He watched people who were doing everything from forming parties to making and selling weapons. The market was full of people at stands trying to earn a few coppers. Users and NPCs both were shouting out product names and stating they had the best prices.
"No restriction swords! cheapest you'll find! 30 coppers!"
"Custom made leather boots! 3 defense, 17 coppers! You won't find boots so cheap in all of Versailles!"
" I repair weapons and armor cheap!"
"beginner copper sword! 29 coppers!"
After sitting there awhile it was easy to tell who was getting ripped off, and who were the better con artists. It didn’t take that much common sense to see it. Merchants would sell the same item as the person next to them at double the price. The players buying them still thought they were getting a deal. The scams around him further strengthened Baron's belief that people were naturally stupid. At first he thought the stands around him selling food were also scams. ‘What use is food in a game?’ After a few hours of walking his satiety had dropped and he came to a realization about the food stands.
'They can't just make you hungry without giving you food or money for it. Can they?' He had almost no experience with video games. Now that he was thinking about it he had overheard some people talking about selling their starter bread. After a minute of experiments he found out how to open his inventory. He had 10 pieces of barley bread and a small canteen. He quickly took out the bread and began eating to quell his hunger. The first bite revealed the flavor of the bread: old, stale, and tasteless. He quickly spat out the bite and emptied his inventory of bread onto the ground. 'Like I would ever eat tasteless shit like that.' The canteen was useful in rinsing the stale taste from his mouth, although he would have prefered pepsi. He put it back into his inventory and started to walk away. The people around him started laughing and whispering to each other.
"The fuck you looking at?" At the threat people stopped laughing and seemed slightly taken aback. They could all tell he was a beginner, his actions proved that, however his presence as a barbarian coupled with his menacing attitude gave him the image of someone not to be messed with. All of the higher level users put their hands on their weapons in anticipation. There were a few combat profession users around level 6 in the crowd. Royal Road or RR had just came out 10 days ago in real life so this was a decent level. The highest leveled players at the time were all tied at 9. Baron decided to ignore them and just walk away. In the process he glanced back at the pile of bread he had dumped. Several beginners were fighting over it. 'Pathetic.'
The sky began to turn dark as night was getting close. The market was still as loud as ever with thousands of people doing business. He had spent the entire day doing nothing and never bothered to talk to anyone. Even the NPCs that reached out to him offering quests were ignored. He was never much of a people person. Life had taught him to never trust anyone, especially those you love. Every couple of hours a system message would pop up saying his satiety levels were dropping. He couldn't care less about his stats that were falling, but his hunger was becoming unbearable. Without anything to do he had found a spot to sit and wallow in his starvation. He had been sitting there for over an hour just watching the people around him. At what must have been 10 or 11 pm a man in line for one of the nearby food stalls caught his attention. The man in line looked to be in his early teens, a boy really. What caught Baron’s attention was the bag of coins in the boy’s back pocket. Unlike most sensible users the boy didn't leave his money in his inventory. It was a noob mistake that most users would pay dearly for. Baron hurried and got in line behind the boy. In the process he tripped and stumbled into the unsuspecting user. After a quick apology he quietly stood his place in line and waited for his food. The aroma was intoxicating, especially for someone who hadn't eaten in a day, and Baron hadn’t had anything good to eat in 10 years. Prison food sucked and he never got his last meal before the execution. After 3 minutes it was the boys turn to order.
"I'll take a half loaf of barley bread and a bowl of that stew." The boy was clearly excited by the tone of his voice. He went to grab his money only to find an empty pocket.
"That'll be 5 coppers: 1 for the bread, 2 for the stew, and 2 for the bowl." The stall worker began pouring the stew into a fresh bowl. If he tried to wash the bowls after customers ate then he wouldn't get the bowls back, so instead he sold a bowl to each new customer. Users that frequented his stall would reuse the bowls and save the 2 coppers. This wasn't only practical but it gave customers a reason to come back if his cooking skills didn't. After pouring the stew and cutting the bread he looked up only to find his customer in tears. The boy frantically searched every pocket for the missing money. 'Typical.' The vendor thought.
"Look kid if you don't have any money you don't get any food. I ain’t running no pity service." It may have been cruel but that's what it takes to stay in business. The boy went through and rechecked each pocket for the missing money. He had just sold all of the loot he got from hunting rabbits. The hunt had taken nearly 6 hours and his profit from all the loot earned him over 50 coppers. He had planned to use the money to buy decent leather armor for his level. All of his efforts were fruitless and on top of that he was starving and had no money for food.
"Here's 5 coppers." Baron took a step forward. He opened his inventory and took out the money. There was 57 coppers in his inventory, so he thought the least he could do is buy the kid his food. The boy surprisingly had manners and referred to his savior as sir when he thanked him, all with tears in his eyes. The stall worker grabbed the 5 coppers and handed the boy his food.
"That's a nice thing you did." Said the cook as the boy walked away with his food.
"It was nothing. Can I get 2 bowls of that stew?" When Baron got the food and ate he was disappointed. The food could be called a downgrade from what they served in prison. Still, he was starving and compared to the bread it was delicious.
For the next 4 weeks Baron did nothing but sleep, pickpocket and eat. It wasn't the most exciting lifestyle but it worked. He found a local inn that had rooms for 2 coppers. He went to the tavern once, but cursed his luck that they didn’t serve alcohol. The profits from pick-pocketing were decent, but not enough to afford liquor. Since he usually targeted beginners it didn’t always have the best payout. Most of the time it was around 5 coppers. 3 of those a day and food was paid for, however he usually stole from upwards of 20. The most he was able to get was from a merchant. The middle aged man had just spent the day selling goods and was on his way to buy his next stock. He had over 250 coppers in his purse. The money could have been exchanged for silvers, but since the game was new most trades didn't surpass 100 coppers, so there was no need to switch. The third day after he arrived the amount of guards increased. Pick-pocketing was always a problem, however the amount of incidents had tripled. Most users didn't have high pick-pocketing skill so they would never risk it in a major city. Since guards were so vigilant it would be better to train the skill somewhere without the chance of getting caught. Because of the amount of guards crime was low even in the ghettos. When they decided to increase the already large amount of guards it didn’t matter much to Baron. In real life he had learned that crime really does pay. When he was 12 years old one of the high schoolers he would hang with taught him how to pickpocket. They would go into Chicago and use Baron’s boyish charm to their advantage. He had gotten so good that by the time he was 15 he could walk down a street and clean multiple people’s pockets. He got caught a couple times but that hadn’t been his fault. For Baron pick-pocketing in the game was ten times easier than in real life. There were no security cameras, and people were generally less observant. After a couple of days he got the skill. It was a surprise to him that the game would support something illegal by making it a skill.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Pick-PocketingBeginner713%Stealing less than 20 coppers is now nearly a guarantee. Large or valuable items are now easier to steal. Beware, users will be hostile if stolen from. Guards may attempt to arrest you. Guards may look the other way if you have increased familiarity or fame. Experience is gained 2.5x faster because of the users natural talent.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
By the end of the 4 weeks Baron had gotten to pick-pocketing beginner level 7. Unknown to him it was the highest level of any skill anyone had in the game. It was extremely rare for someone to get an experience multiplier because of natural talent. To get it you had to show skill befitting someone with advanced level in the skill or higher. Raising his skill level gave him something to relieve the boredom of life. Every so often he would get a notification saying his dexterity or fame had increased. When that happened he noticed his fingers would become more nimble. This allowed him to more easily take things from pockets. In the end he gained 42 points of dexterity and 104 points of fame. 'Fame? More like infamy.' He thought as he checked his stat window. Due to his rising skill in pickpocketing he also managed to reach level 3. After several hundred people had their money stolen users began to put up their guard. It became much harder when users started protecting their goods. Baron would often hear people discussing the recent pick-pocketing epidemic. Much to his dismay they would encourage each other to hold their coins close, often times including bystanders in the conversation. The result was an area that was unworkable for several hours. Even still he was able to make 1500 copper (15 silver) by the end of the 4 weeks. Since he spent a fraction of what he stole the money just kept piling up. Although he hadn’t earned the most money in the game, he was at the time one of the top 10 richest players in the game. Most other rich users had found some rare, high paying job the facilitated their increase in wealth. A few players were already making a name for themselves as artisans. Blacksmiths and tailors are always needed in games like this.
Baron was contemplating whether or not to leave the city. A notification had just popped up declaring the end of his 1 month restriction to the city. He had no desire to hunt and get stronger, so he figured there was no need. Plus, it was about time for him to be logged out for his exam. He couldn’t tell that anything had changed in his mental or physical condition in the past VR month. He was most surprised that he wasn’t tired. He slept in the game but it was more out of habit than need. He never got tired in the game and sleeping never made him feel better.
He was sitting near the fountain at the heart of the market. As usual there was a sea of people around. He had been sitting their for about an hour when a man walked up and sat next to him. The man could only be described as shady. He was wearing light leather armor all dyed black. A black hood covered his face to complete the look of a thief or assassin. Several knives and daggers of all sizes were sheathed in various places around his body. On his chest was a small crest of the thieves guild. The crest consisted of two crossed daggers behind a coin purse. The man spoke soft so that only Baron could hear him
"To your right, 50 feet away there is a guy in light knights armor and a red shirt. He's talking to 5 others.”
Baron could find the guy easy enough. The guy was a user that looked to be around level 10. He had a decent broad sword on his back, that combined with the fact that he was in a group meant he was the worst possible mark.
"Fuck off!" Unlike the guy from the thieves guild Baron made no attempt to speak softly.
"That guy has a document I want. None of my men have the skill to pull of an advanced pickpocket like this. That's why I came here looking for a little outside help." The thief retained his composure after Baron’s outburst. After he said that a window popped up in Baron’s view.
STEAL THE DOCUMENT
A representative of the thieves guild has approached you asking for your help stealing a document. The document are the guild verification papers for the PK guild Blue Blood Brothers. The guild has made an enemy of the thieves guild and without the papers their guild will be disbanded.
Difficulty: D
Rewards: 2 Gold, Increased familiarity with the thieves guild
Requirements: Recognized by the thieves guild as a good pickpocket
The quest fails if you fail to steal the document in 1 hour, are caught stealing it, or die in the process. If the quest fails you will lose reputation as a good thief. The thieves guild will be less likely to hire your services in the future.
After reading the quest window Baron started to consider it. The reward was huge. 2 gold was several times more than what he earned in 4 weeks of pick-pocketing. In the end his greed clouded his better judgement.
The mark was the leader of a notorious PK guild that had over 20 members. Being new to video games Baron had no idea what the definition of PK was and just brushed it off. He also had no concept of what a D level quest involved. No one had ever completed above a rank F quest in RR thus far. D rank quests are often given to players around level 75, not players like Baron at level 3. The reason he was offered it was because his pickpocketing skill would be considered average for a thief that level. Even still he had no hope in completing it.
At that moment the guild leaders were having a meeting. They had just finished hunting and had come back to the market to sell their loot and enjoy coffee while they discussed the guild financials.
"Give me 10 minutes... And have the gold ready." Baron decided it was worth the risk for 2 gold. He got up from where he was sitting and blended in with the crowd. 2 minutes later he started sprinting towards the mark. He wore an expression of fear as he ran at full speed. To onlookers he appeared to be just another user late for something. He brushed past several people shouting back apologies as he continued to run. As he approached the group containing the mark he continued to keep up the act. Running at full speed he brushed past the guild leader. The impact was enough to send the man to the ground. Baron shouted back an apology and continued running. However, after 2 steps a hand grabbed his shoulder throwing him onto his back.
"Show some manors punk!" One of the other guild members had stopped him.
Being thrown to the ground hurt a lot. It also dropped his HP by 25%.Baron slowly got up off his back. When he was close to his feet the mark came over and punched him in the stomach. After that the 6 users took turns hitting him. None of the blows did as much as the initial impact, but his HP was dropping fast. After about 5 minutes the group got bored and decided leave. ‘Idiots. They didn’t even realise I robbed them.’ They had only gotten a few steps when the guild leader stopped everyone.
"Wait! The guild verification papers are missing!" The group turned around and looked at Baron with renewed hatred.
Quest Failed
Reputation as a thief has declined. Reputation with the thieves guild has declined.
-50 Fame
The 6 guild member took back the document and started the beating again. This time they hit harder and at a faster pace. Baron cursed his luck as his HP hit 0. A message popped up alerting him to the negative effects of dying. He didn't care about the skill progress or level lost. As he was logged out he cursed the world, promising to get revenge on the users who killed him. Growing up in the ghetto had given him a constitution around actions. The moment the Blue Blood Guild killed him, they became the target of his hate. They were the only people he could hate, and he wanted revenge.
In place of the 1 day ban he only had to wait 5 minutes before respawning. He wasn’t even logged out when it happened. He appeared in the exact location he had died. The guild had already left, however a couple of the people who had seen him die had some weird expression. He tried to find the guild members again, although he had no idea what he would be able to do. After about an hour of searching he gave up. He promised himself that he would kill them all if their paths ever crossed again.
Around noon in game he was suddenly logged out and returned back to reality. They had told him he would be logged out in 1 week IRL and it had been a little longer. When his consciousness fully returned he was hit with wave after wave of pain. The light that seeped in as the capsule opened seemed to cause physical pain. Even with his eyes closed he was blinded by the light. He didn’t dare attempt to move a single muscle as his entire body pulsed searing pain. He contemplated whether or not to breath as in intensified the pain several times.
Several seconds went by and a couple people picked him up and placed him on a stretcher. The pain from being moved was worse than anything he had ever experienced before in his life. The people weren’t gentle either. He could feel every bump as the stretcher was wheeled away. The light was still too much for him and he still couldn’t see anything. All he could do is guess where they were going as they traveled farther and farther away. After a couple of minutes he came to a stop. His eyes were beginning to adjust and the faint shapes of several people started to come into focus. There were several more machines hooked up to his body
Baron sat there for over an hour while the scientists ran numerous tests. The whole time he was in agonizing pain. Once he got accustomed to it he realized he was tired. More tired than he had ever been before. Several times he began to lose consciousness until he was awoken by the Major. Baron vowed to put the major onto his revenge list along with the Blue Blood Brothers.
Baron wasn’t the most coherent person, so he couldn’t pay attention to what was being said or done. He did manage to catch a few words here and there, but most of it was gibberish to him. One thing he did manage to catch was something about his body reacting like it hadn’t slept in a month rather than a week. He also caught the word placebo in there somewhere.
After what felt like an eternity in hell he was carted back to the capsule. The IV and other wires were reconnected as he was placed inside. As the lid closed and all other stimuli were removed the pain started to subside. As his mind was ripped from reality and transferred to VR the pain completely left him. The feeling couldn’t be compared to any drug he had ever taken. The absence of pain gave him a high that put the likes of heroin and ecstasy to shame.
Baron found himself back in the market as he fully logged in. After having become accustomed to his weak body IRL he wasn’t able to stand. Once he fell he didn’t move for a while. It wasn’t that he couldn’t move. It was that he didn’t want to He just layed there in the middle of the street. About 20 minutes later a guard came and checked on him. When he found out Baron wasn’t dead he started yelling at him to get out of the road. Baron reluctantly listened and started roaming the market like he had for the past month.
This time he wasn’t looking for people to rob, but people to pay. In order to get revenge he needed to become stronger, and to do that he would need a weapon. There were plenty of users selling weapons below market price, but he wanted something better. During his 4 weeks in the city he had overheard many conversation and had acquired a lot of information about the game. Among the information were things he never would have thought of such as distributing stat points, monsters dropping loot, and how professions worked. He was also able to figure out what were considered decent swords and what weren’t. He found a NPC stall that was selling one of the best swords he could get with his level. He spent an enormous sum of 95 coppers and bought one long sword and one short sword. He didn’t know which sword would fit him better so he just bought both.
He had once heard some users debating about what the best hunting grounds were. The general consensus had been the northern plains. When Baron arrived he was overwhelmed by the number of users. There were thousands of players in a never ending struggle with rabbits. The rabbit to player ratio was too low making it impossible to find anything to hunt.
Baron started wandering around the plains looking for something to kill. A couple times he found a rabbit, only for it to be killed before he could walk the 20 feet to it. In search of mobs to kill he was forced to walk farther and farther away from the city. Eventually the players thinned out and he was able to find a rabbit. He equipped the long sword and charged. The rabbit looked unimpressed as it hopped out of the way. Before Baron could realize it the rabbit hopped into his stomach. A message telling him his HP hit 0 popped up as he died. ‘Fucking Rabbits!’
5 minutes later he respawned exactly where he had died. The rabbit was still there and it eyed him suspiciously. He went to switch to the short sword when the rabbit suddenly attacked. He was caught off guard with both swords in his hands and was forced to block the deranged animals tackle. Just like with pickpocketing his added dexterity played a huge role as he effortlessly swung the sword. His wrists moved fluidly as he blocked everyone of the rabbits attacks. Several times he would slash instead of block. The rabbit’s attack would be diverted and it would receive damage. After a few minutes of blocking and slashing with both the short and long sword the rabbit finally died. Baron was drenched in sweat from his low stamina being depleted. A messaged popped up alerting to a gain of two levels. Unknowingly Baron had killed a rabbit that was level 7. The reason most users stayed close to the city was because the mobs got stronger the farther out you go. Foxes were seen more frequently and eventually there were wolves in the forest. Being level 1 Baron had gotten an enormous amount of EXP. He distributed the stat points to strength, stamina and vitality. Since he was a barbarian he already had above average health, but it didn’t hurt to raise it.
He continued hunting and killed many more rabbits. Once he hit level 5 it started taking upwards of 20 rabbits to gain a level. He got weird looks from parties as he was the only solo player hunting the higher level mobs. One of the groups likely thought he was a high level and invited him to party up. He declined because the group looked suspicious. The most contact he had with other users so far was the guild that killed him, and he still had the prison mentality of being a loner. He really didn’t feel like associating with people at that moment.
His tactic of using both the short and long sword had developed to the point that he was started to get his own style. The rabbits rarely were able to hit him because of his Dextrous blocking. Twice a rabbit had managed to get around his guard, and twice his HP hit 0. Going from level 5, to level 3 was a huge set back. By the time he decided to go back to the inn and rest he still hadn’t reached level 4 again.
When he reached his bed he was surprised to find he didn’t want to sleep. When IRL he couldn’t stay conscious he was so tired, however in RR he had no fatigue. Even if he tried to sleep he would probably just end up lying there. Dismayed by the task in front of him he decided to skip sleeping and go hunt some more. Unlike in the real world where you needed to rest to regain strength. Here in RR all you needed to do was wait for your stamina to regenerate.
Before he went to hunt he decided to sell his loot. He found a convenience store that would buy all 37 of his rabbit pelts for a copper a piece. He used the money to buy some food to take along with. He figured it would be tiring if he had to walk back everytime he got hungry. The food wasn’t the best tasting but it would suffice.
With renewed vigor he started Slaughtering innocent bunnies. He knew it was only a game and felt no remorse for his actions. The rabbits that had once looked at him with disinterest now gazed upon the barbarian with fear. As the night went on, 10s of rabbits died and Baron grew to level 4. His pace for hunting was much faster than any party around so he dominated the area. When a couple mobs would spawn they would be dead before any party could reach them. Monopolizing of an area was usually the work of a guild, however here was a solo player doing just that. Some of the parties in the area were started to get annoyed. They had finally leveled up enough to move towards better, less crowded game only for it to be stolen. One such party decided to confront Baron after witnessing him kill 2 rabbits that had just spawned. The party consisted of 3 member. 1 archer, and 2 warriors. Each of them had made it to level 6 before moving farther away from the city to hunt. They exerted caution as they approached Baron. From what they saw of him fighting they figured he was level 9 or 10. They were also slightly intimidated by his appearance.
“Hey What the hell are you doing? You think you own these hunting grounds or something?” One of the warriors decide to initiate conversation with Baron. Baron turned around to face the 3. They had only just started talking and he was already annoyed. Apparently his emotions were visible because the party was overcome with momentary fear. In an attempt not to look intimidated the warrior continued talking, only proving to annoy Baron more.
“If you’re going to steal all the mobs the least you could do is give us the loot. I mean we could always make you give them to us, but wouldn’t it just be simpler if you handed them over?”
‘I really hate little people who think they’re big.’ Baron didn’t say anything but he shifted his stance. The warrior took that as his cue and swung his sword at Baron. Compared to a rabbit’s speed the sword seemed to be stationary. Baron was able to effortlessly knock it away, and hack at the player neck with his short sword. A message popped up telling him it was a critical hit and that his opponent was in a state of bleed. The other 2 players were too shocked to react as Baron added a few more strikes and their comrade’s corpse faded away. Without pause Baron Continued to rain down damage on the remaining two. The warrior didn’t have any idea of the concept of blocking so every one of Baron’s strikes hit with full force. The archer attempted to fire an arrow, but in his stupidity he never created distance when the fight started. As the second warrior fell the archer was left in close quarters combat with nothing but a bow. Baron ruthlessly executed him as he knelt and begged for mercy. ‘Pathetic!’
It was a moment of ecstasy for Baron as he stood in the middle of the carnage. The bodies had faded, but their blood remained and it stained the ground around him. He was finally beginning to realize the thrills of virtual reality. Adrenaline had his heart beating faster than he could ever remember. How good it felt to kill these players made him wonder whether or not he actually did kill his friends 10 years ago.
He contemplated just hunting people from now on. They were easy to kill and gave much more EXP than rabbits. The loot was also on a different level. One of the players had dropped leather boots. Since Baron hadn’t bothered to buy armor he didn’t have any foot wear. The only thing stopping him from hunting players was the warning message he got about its negative effects. Since the players had attacked him first he didn’t get the murderers mark, but he had to be careful in the future.
Because of the openness of the plains several parties had witnessed the event. Most of them were annoyed by Baron, however after what they saw none of them dared speak up. As far as they knew the person in front of them was one of the highest leveled players in the game. It wouldn’t be worth it to lose their lives over something trivial. Party members discussed amongst themselves and decided to stay out of the way of the ruthless barbarian.