I pushed open the VR pod and stretched with a groan as I climbed out. No matter how comfortable they make the chair, sitting in one place for hours at a time will result in some rather rough stiffness. And my rather sedentary lifestyle definitely isn’t helping that, either.
Making my way to the kitchen, I spent a few minutes making a decent breakfast, and sat down at the table with my laptop out. While eating, I went about checking a few standard news sites and my email before browsing various websites looking for information about SWO. Just because I’m not in the game right now doesn’t mean I’m going to stop thinking about it, after all.
Most people were just discussing their experiences starting out. Apparently even among the same race, people started out differently. Some people’s starts were difficult like mine, while others were considerably easier to get through.
There were also details about the various regions people were in. In relation to the Kingdom of Astoenn where I was currently, to the west was large nameless forest while to the east was the Great Central Desert. Beyond the desert was the Kederassan Empire, a generally Asian themed empire. North of the desert is a mountain range, and beyond that was a vast Tundra.
Another thing people were discussing quite frequently was the races they ended up with due to the randomization, and how they intended to grow their characters. A few people were trying to compile a list of all the known rare races. Skimming the list, there were many interesting ones, but Succubi weren’t listed yet. Either there weren’t any others aside from me, or the others have opted to take the same route I did and avoid exposing themselves publicly. Either way, I don’t intend to announce my race just yet. I’m not really sure I want to intentionally bring attention to myself when my very existence is considered a capital offense by the NPCs.
As I continued browsing and eating, my phone buzzed next to me suddenly. Glancing at it, I saw it was a text message from my sister, Sarah. There is quite a large age gap between us, so she’s still living with our parents while attending a community college in town. Perhaps because of the age gap, she’s always been very attached to me, so we’re very close for siblings even now.
Hey, are you playing Sundered World Online yet?
Ah, I should go ahead and mention that just like just about everyone else I know, she had been looking forward to the game as well. Last I had heard she wasn’t sure if she would be able to play right at launch or not, but judging by this text, she probably wasn’t able to yet, and wanted to hear about it.
In general, yes. Right this moment, no I’m taking a break to eat.
I set the phone down close by, and just as expected about 20 seconds later it started ringing. Knowing this was coming, I immediately picked it up, shoved another spoonful of food into my mouth, then answered.
“MmMmph. Hmm mM mmph.”
“One, don’t answer the phone with food in your mouth. Two, I know you have caller ID so you know darn well who it is, so there’s really no need to ask.”
I swallowed the last of my meal with a chuckle before continuing.
“There, better? I have a guess what this is about already, but what’s up?”
“Tell me about SWO. What’s the game like? What are you doing? Is it fun? What strange things have you encountered and done so far? How much have you levelled already? What strange people have you met so far?”
Geh, it’s like a machine gun of questions. I slightly regreted answering the phone.
“Alright, alright. Calm down, I’ll tell you about the game. But first, why are you so certain that I’m going to do strange things and meet strange people?”
“You always do. It’s basically a given at this point that you’ll end up with at least one.”
“That’s not true. There was… um… that one time… I… huh, actually now that I think about it, I can’t remember any instances where that wasn’t true. Maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right. I doubt anyone is as familiar with your misadventures as me at this point.”
When she was too young to play with me, Sarah always enjoyed listening to the stories of what I was doing in games. Originally, that might have been part of the reason I was always doing such strange things, to keep the fun stories flowing for her. Once she was old enough, she started playing with me so she could witness the stories first hand, and influence them herself for better or worse. Often worse. I may be a trouble magnet, but she actively seeks it out.
“Anyway, tell me about the game already. I won’t be able to get started until this afternoon, so I want to hear all about it to help me bide the time.”
“Oh, so you’ll be able to get in this afternoon?”
“Yeah, Dad is setting up the new pods, but he probably won’t be finished until lunchtime.”
“Ah, I see. Wait, ‘pods’, as in plural?”
“Yeah, in addition to mine, he got one for himself and one for Lily as well. She saw the commercials and wanted to play too.”
Lily is our elementary aged cousin. Due to some complicated family circumstances, my parents are raising her now. Not that they mind. With both of us now into our adult years but no signs of grandchildren anytime soon, they were quite happy to have a new little child to play with, and as one would expect, they spoil her a bit. If she wanted to play, it makes sense that Dad would find a way to make it happen. The reason he’s going to play as well is probably to use the parental account linkage options to keep an eye on her. They may spoil her, but they're also quite protective.
SWO offers an option to link a parent’s account to their child's, imposing some restrictions on the child’s account to help the parents keep an eye on them. These restrictions can be adjusted or removed by the parent as the child gets older, allowing their freedom to grow as they mature. It also changes the character creation, limiting the available races to a region so that the parent and child can start together rather than needing to find each other later like everyone else.
“So, stop changing the subject. What’s the game like?”
After that, I spent some time telling her about my experiences so far. Or at least tried to. We only got into character creation before she was laughing so hard she struggled to breath.
“...You’re a what?!? ...Pfft… Have… have you told Joseph… eheh... He’s not gonna be happy… about this...”
“Na, I’ve talked to him in game, but I’m keeping that as a surprise when we meet up. I have warned him my flirting is going to get even worse, though.”
“Oh geez… I hope he doesn’t strangle you…”
Her sentences are becoming a bit more complete, so I guess she’s calming down finally.
“He probably will, but it’ll be worth it. Besides, he can’t get too upset and leave me. That guy would never find a party on his own, and he knows it.”
“Haha, that’s probably true. Just make sure to save me a space in that party.”
“Sure, sure. So far it’s just him, Ashley, and me, so there’s plenty of room. I’m supposed to try try to find us some others at some point before he meets up with me, especially a healer.”
“Hmm, I don’t really think I’m suited for that role, so you’ll need someone else there. I’ll probably end up going with the usual, though it does depend on what race I get I suppose.”
Sarah has a strange love for playing the roguish characters. Thieves, assassins, bards, and the like. She always seems to have peculiar skill sets making her very useful to have around both in and out of combat. I sort of hoped she would end up rolling a barbarian or giant or something like that, just to see how she would work that out. The picture of a giant trying to sneak up on an enemy with a tiny dagger in hand would be pretty funny to see.
After that, we chatted a while and I told her about my summoning, the fight for my freedom, and how I kept busy after that for a while.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“Hmm, so you’re only level 3. I might be able to catch up with you then.”
“Do your best. I’m hoping to get to level 5 soon so I can get a class.”
“I suppose I should let you get to that then. It wouldn’t do for Joseph to reach you and you not be ready to go.”
“Sure. Add me to your friends list when you get into the game.”
“Yep, will do. I guess I’ll talk to you then.”
---
Finally off the phone, I proceeded to clean up my dishes and kitchen. As much as I would like to jump right back into the game, I do have to at least pretend to be a responsible adult. And if I put off cleaning up now, I’ll continue to make up excuses to put it off indefinitely. Or, at least until the smell becomes unbearable. Either way, it’s best if I just take care of this now.
That done, I could finally get back to the game. Logging in, I returned to the central square where I had been when I left. With the time it took me to eat and have my conversation with Sarah, it was very early in the morning. Several players were milling around the square, waiting for the shops to open.
The major roads in the city were lit with magical lanterns, so even without my night vision ability, I could see just fine as I headed to the billboard to try to find a job to do while I levelling. As I entered the southern district, I saw a NPC staggering down the other side of the street. I glanced between him and my satiety for a bit, then decided I should try to get a “meal” in before heading out of town.
I moved across the street toward him and helped him back to his feet. He absolutely reeked of alcohol, and in his current state he would probably not remember our encounter even without me using my skills. Not that I would risk it, but this guy was very, VERY drunk. It wasn’t until I was supporting him on my shoulder that he realized someone else was even there with him.
“Oh, thank ya miss…”
Ew, stop talking. The smell on his breath was almost bad enough to make me lose my appetite, and that’s the only reason I helped in the first place. And his drunken smile shows he was clearly very happy to have an attractive young lady holding him up. Well, if he knew what was coming, he would probably be a bit less excited.
“Oh, no problem. Let me help you get away from here.”
Thankfully, he was far too drunk to question why I was pulling him toward an unlit alley, and at this time of day there weren’t any other people around to take notice.
Once safely out of sight of the main road, I brought my eyes to meet his and activated Seduce. With that, his face went completely blank and he stood staring at me as I reached out both my hands to the sides of his face, much like I did with the cultist yesterday. I opted not to bring our foreheads together like I had that time, mostly because this guy stunk and I didn’t really want to bring my face any closer than I had to. Instead, I activated the drain, and watched both my satiety and his health closely. I had already decided I would only drain a friendly NPC to about half their health at most, and there was no need to overfeed.
After a short while, my satiety was full so I removed my hands from the drunk. He was still staring at me, as though awaiting an order. I pointed to a pile of wooden crates nearby.
“Sit over there and do not leave this place. You can go to sleep there if you would like.”
He nodded and sat down as I turned and casually left the alley. If he goes to sleep, he’ll just figure he blacked out and won’t even question what he was doing in this alley. Sure, he wouldn’t remember our encounter anyway, but it’s best to try to fill the gap in his memory somehow. Well, in this particular case he was so drunk there was probably going to be a gap anyway.
Now with a full satiety bar, I returned to my original objective. I reached the billboard around dawn, and began looking through the various postings for a job I could do. Looking them over, most of them would require either more combat capability than I have, or a team. I suppose I could buy a simple mage weapon that allowed me to use a basic combat spell, but right now shops were all closed limiting me to my dagger and mind magic spells.
“Um… Are you looking for a job? You should come with us!”
Woah, I hadn’t heard someone approach behind me. I turned around to see two young girls looking at me. The first impression would be ‘twins’. They had made their characters to look the same, other than hair style. They looked like they were around 16. The girl who had spoken to me had her blond hair cut short, while the others was braided in a long ponytail. The short haired girl carried a spear and had a small buckler strapped to her arm. She was dressed in simple leather armor, with a simple iron chestplate. The other had a white staff in her hands and a robe similar to the ones I looted off the cultists before.
“You want me to come with you?”
“Yeah, we need some help. We want to try to hunt some wild dogs, but with just the two of us we get overwhelmed pretty fast. So we were looking for someone else to fight them with.”
“I see, well, that works out well. I wasn’t sure I could handle them on my own, so hunting with someone makes things easier. Sure, I’ll come with you.”
“Yay, now we can hunt the small packs at least. I’m Celeste, and this is Aurora. As you can see, we decided to play together as twins. I use a spear and shield to fight, while Aurora is a healer.”
“I’m Lilith. I specialize in magic that controls enemies. Right now, my spells don’t do any damage, but can keep an enemy from fighting back for a bit. I’ve been using a dagger until I can get a better way to do some damage.”
The twins, Celeste and Aurora, added me to their party, and we headed to the fields to hunt some wild dogs. Along the way, I chatted with my companions a bit. Apparently, they were friends who had decided to play the game together. They were both new to MMOs in general, so they didn’t understand a lot of standard terms and tactics. I decided to educate them on online gaming as much as I could while we were together.
“Well, you see a tank is supposed to draw enemies attention so the rest of the party can hit them with impunity. They intentionally maximize their damage reduction so they can survive pretty much anything, then try to make the enemy hit them exclusively. It also makes the healer’s job easier as they only have one person to focus their healing abilities on.”
“And your friend likes to play that way?”
“Yeah, I’ve often suspected he might secretly be a masochist. Anyway, there is usually a main tank, then the off tank who does a mix of tanking and damage. They take some pressure off the tank when needed, but usually focus on damage. I’m guessing that’s more where you want to go.”
“Hmm, yeah that sounds about right. I like hitting the enemies, but we found it a lot easier to deal with them once I picked up some armor and a shield. But that said, I’d rather not get hit if I can help it. Even if there’s less pain online, it still hurts.”
Along the way, I talked mostly with Celeste. It wasn’t that I found Aurora disagreeable, it’s just that she doesn’t talk much. I’ve met shy people before, but she really takes it a step further than most. I haven't asked, but I’m willing to bet their friendship was initiated by Celeste, or whatever her name is offline. I just don’t see Aurora approaching someone on her own initiative. That’s not to say she doesn’t speak at all, though. She’ll occasionally ask a question about whatever Celeste and I are talking about. But I have yet to hear her bring up a topic on her own.
“... so as a healer I should be mostly focused on the tank?”
“Yes and no. Usually, the healer has 4 jobs. In order of precedence they are: keep yourself alive, keep the tank alive, keep the rest of the party alive, and buff the rest of the parties abilities. I’ve done a bit of healing in other games, and I can tell you they never really have down time in combat. You’ll be busy, but a healer can really make or break a team. A lot of times a team will have more than one healer as well to help keep the pressure down as well.”
Aurora nodded and went back to listening and thinking or whatever she was doing.
“Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you. How do you have a spell without using equipment already? I thought you had to have a class for that.”
Oh, crap. I hadn’t really thought of an excuse for that. Usually I would need a staff or wand to use magic until I got a class that granted spells. Because of my race, I had some, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to reveal that information just yet.
“Ah, well… I managed to get that and my robe from my starting situation.”
“Wow, I knew the rewards for the starting scenarios were varied, but it sounds like you got a really lucky one.”
“Well, maybe. It was a difficult one too, though. I started unarmed and surrounded by 6 enemies. Maybe the difficulty affects the rewards.”
"Hmm. We started in a wagon on the way into town, so it was easy but all we had was the cloths on our backs and a little money to buy some starter gear."
We continued to talk about starting scenarios, battle strategies, and general MMO knowledge as we reached the plains where the wild dogs were. There was one other party of three already hunting them, but there were enough packs that even if we both stuck to the small packs of 3 or 4 dogs, we should be able to both hunt continuously without bothering each other. We worked out a fairly simple battle plan and went after the first pack of 3 we found.
First, I targeted one of the dogs with my charm spell. It immediately stopped and stared at me blankly.
“Go!”
When I gave the command, both Celeste and I dashed at the other two dogs. Celeste’s dog leapt at her with teeth bared, but she parried with her shield and pushed it back before thrusting with her spear. Unfortunately, Celeste wasn’t an expert with a spear, and only stabbed the dog in the leg. This left it alive but wounded, but the injury slowed it down making it easier for her to finish it off.
At the same time, I rushed forward with my dagger and tried to slash at the dog’s throat. The dog twisted around my attack and bit down on my arm just above the wrist. I grit my teeth to endure the pain and keep myself from dropping the dagger, and grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck with the other, lifting it off the ground slightly. I couldn't fully heft it into the air because of my low strength, but I could raise it enough to prevent it from moving any further. As I pulled back my injured arm to attack again, it was bathed in a soft light and my wounds began closing. Glancing back, I saw Aurora with her staff pointed at me and nodded in thanks, then whipping out with my dagger again, I managed to finish off the dog just as I saw Celeste stab the charmed dog cleanly in the throat defeating it in a single blow. It’s easier to hit a target that isn’t moving, after all.
After the fight, we divided up the loot between us and rested a bit to regenerate my and Aurora’s mana, then repeated the same strategy a few more times. It was effective, but the small groups of dogs meant our experience gains were small as well. We were a bit concerned about our ability to take on any bigger groups safely though, so we continued wiped out small packs of the wild dogs for a while.
About half an hour later, as we finished off another pack of dogs, we were surprised by a loud voice from behind us.
“Hey, you three! Hold up a minute!”