Chapter 007: The Day
First thing on the 'To Buy' list was proper equipment. Aura was like eastern martial arts from pop culture, including the (brrr) cultivations levels. They were named Aura Conductivity and it meant how good you where at storing aura in your body. 1-10 was average person (I had 5).
It could be used to strengthen skin into supernatural levels of resilience. However, getting decent armour was still a superb idea since it could be reinforced with aura to even more supernatural levels. Making Leria fight in a cultist robe was... well, like having me fight in plate armour. Stupid.
We bought her chainmail, a nasal helmet, pauldrons, gauntlets, boots and greaves. All from rather poor quality steel. Plus a proper kite shield. Cost us three hundred and fifty ambries, but it made her look like a warrior at least.
Then we found an adventurer training center. Together with trainers. Players (and their followers) could learn one new spell/hex/technique per Mana Manipulation/Aura Manipulation skills level. Another limitation was one new spell/hex per two levels of the Magic School/Old Magic skills, and one new magic school/subschool per five levels of Mana Manipulation.
I had Mana Manipulation level six, which allowed me to get six new spells or hexes and one new magic school. Arcane Magic, Doom Magic and Life Magic all had level six, which allowed me three new spells/hexes for each. I wondered for a while about getting Death Magic (it was a much stronger version of Life Magic that annihilated lifeforce rather than manipulate it). Then I decided to concentrate more on Doom Magic.
I took Destruction Magic. Which was a subschool of Doom Magic that packed a lot of punch - low sanity damage, high physical damage. Together with it I got two new hexes: Destroyer Bolt and Hex of Devastation. The first was a basic projectile that cost A LOT of mana but was much more powerful than Arcane Bolt. Second was a buff I could use on any weaponry to make it cause Destruction Magic damage on contact.
If DFI made it work like in the last game... the effects would be gruesome. Also, it didn't cost me a single slot for spells/hexes, because they were a gratis for a new Magic School. I had to train it somehow after all.
The exact number of new hexes and spells I could learn for the schools I already knew was... astounding. DFI went all out. Six slots, huh... let's scrap the Arcane Magic, it covered basic skills of a sorcerer... that I didn't need. I planned to level it up just to get Summon Familiar ritual and then stop using it altogether. This leaves us with Life Magic and Doom Magic.
I started from Doom Magic and picked Lesser Bend Reality, Tentacle Push and Eldritch Incantation. The first was a Doom Magic version of Magic Shield - a regional disturbance of reality that could swallow projectiles, spells and attacks until it run out of power and collapsed. It was, however, rather eldritch and looking too long into it could cause sanity damage. Tentacle Push was a variant of Summon Tentacle that summoned several from thin air. Less of an all encompassing hex, more something to push back a foe that was charging at you.
Finally, Eldritch Incantation was a long and barely comprehensible incantation that damaged the sanity of those who heard it (while sucking heat and light from the surrounding and producing a foul stench) that also gave 15% buff to damage from hexes of Doom Magic and its subschools. Destroyer Bolt and Eldritch Incantation would be a painful mix. To enemies, of course.
Then, Life Magic. After long consideration I took Life Transfer, Life Drain and Draining Curse. The first hex was a variant of Lifetap that instead drained this minuscule amount of lifeforce to convert it into mana and replenish the caster's manapool. Life Drain was a much stronger Lifetap while Draining Curse was a curse that sapped lifeforce from the cursed target until the hex run out of mana or was dispelled.
Leria in the meantime chose Charge, Wide Slash, Improve Reflexes, Adrenaline Rush, Blink and Piercing Lance. Charge made her move few metres forward in a short dash while supercharging her defensive aura to make her (almost) unstoppable. Wide Slash covered her sword with an aura and then used for a single slash that was made much 'wider' that the sword was, to hit several enemies at once. Improve Reflexes was self buff to reflexes that made them truly supernatural for a short while. Adrenaline Rush was a Limit Break type technique that gave her massive buffs to pretty much everything when in the corner... but only for a short while after which she was incapacitated. Blink was a movement technique close to short range teleportation. Piercing Lance focused the aura on the tip of the sword for a single strike. Useful against armored opponents.
... and these all were Lower Arts. There were 100 'cultivation' levels and Lower Arts get completely useless after about level 39. Leria would already cut a small squad of non-aura user combatants into pieces within ten seconds top. And she had Aura Conductivity 13. The definition of being overpowered gets blurry when you are already almost a godlike combatant but there are a million of several players around you, plus several millions of NPCs and uncountable numbers of murderous daemons. Many of them capable of single-handedly slaughtering whole cities.
It's a miracle someone was still alive here.
After we finished self improvement (which cost us two hundred ambries) we sifted through several bookstores to buy several more books on alchemical ingredients. Another one hundred ambries. Then we bought parts to restore the alchemical lab to working condition. One hundred and fifty ambries. A set of tools to gather aether (liquid form of mana) from slain daemons to store in a bottles and sell - fifty ambries.
Jesus, local prices were painful. Four hundred and thirty-seven ambries left.
"We should get a proper cook." Leria suddenly voiced her suggestion. "All the food we have left is dried meat. How long can we eat it before we go mad?" Oh, yeah, the glutton mode on.
"I'm not sure about hiring anybody. We should keep Tyrant's Hold a secret." I responded.
"Who says anything about hiring? Let's buy a cook." Oh, right. Slavery. Sigh. "Four hundred ambries should be enough for a simple cook. He won't be pretty and he won't be a cook worthy of a royal palace but should be enough for us." Just... now I hate myself for thinking this is a good idea. Uh. Eating dried meat for every meal for many days in a row can mess you up.
On the other hand... said cook will be decently treated - as long as I'm around - and it's not like I'm putting a person in chains, right? All of them are a bunch of zeroes and ones in the code that was created few days ago at best. I can't do anything about the local slave economy either (for now, that is).
"Let's split up." I said, and gave Leria four hundred ambries. "Go with Vaera and find a cook that will... suit your taste. I will go to the adventurer guild and look for more people to join us." I’m certainly NOT going to accompany them.
***
"So... a rogue and a heavy warrior?" The clerk at the adventurer guild wasn't a slave but a citizen. Probably a daughter of a retired adventurer that didn't follow in his footsteps but still relied on connections to get a decently paid job.
The adventurer guild looked like a combination of a standard adventurer guild (notice boards with quests from the locals, the counter with clerks that helped you pick suitable ones and then confirmed that you finished it while handing you reward etc.) with a bar and restaurant. Work on one side, relaxation on the other.
"Yes." I responded. No need to fraternize too much.
"Can't help you with the warrior, most of them got drafted to the Lord's army recently." Lord was the very creative nickname locals had for the elusive person who ruled Ambryxis from the shadows. I wonder what he was trying to pull off. "In fact, we are rather understaffed recently. But there is one rogue that... could suit you." Oh dear, she doesn't look very convinced. This must be an interesting person. "She should be upstairs give me a few minutes and I'll bring her."
There are rooms upstairs that house adventurers. Some of them that is. There was a policy that adventurers could live there as long as they promised to keep the peace in the building, do quests from time to time and pay rent.
Soon she returns. With... Oh. My. God.
Simea Rymarz
PLAYER
Gender: Female
Species: Night Elf
Level: 6
Class: Seducer
Active Effects: N/A
Known Spells and Techniques:
???
She wore rather skimpy clothing. High boots, over knee white socks, a black dress that ended before the socks started (and also showed an upper part of her average size breasts). Long white gloves. Most of her clothing seemed made from silk so it stuck close to her skin, showing the shapes beneath. I could see hilts of two daggers she had on her back. Red eyes, pointy ears and very dark blue hair. Looked like she just escaped from a rather weird fantasy themed hentai.
Night elf. Uh. Amalthian, Mountain Elf and now Night Elf. Woe is me.
***
"So... you search for a rogue." She started the talk after we moved to the bar section and ordered a meal.
"More or less." I shrugged. "It's a broad term. What I search for is a light armoured combatant that can move around on the battlefield, put sharp objects in backs of enemies and, preferably, has crowd control skills."
"I guess I qualify then." She smiled wryly. "My class combines Aura techniques to move fast and suppress my presence with Lust Magic to charm or disorientate enemies if they see me."
Lust Magic. The bad neighbourhood of Life Magic. Life Magic manipulated lifeforce, Death Magic annihilated lifeforce, and Lust Magic manipulated a single 'frequency' of the lifeforce. Libido, to summarize. The lust it could cause was to a normal desire what a firestorm was to a campfire. Charm, disorientate, hypnosis, plain old arousal manipulation, even hexes that mimicked 'healing' magic while adding a lot of... physical contact.
Seriously, where does the DFI take all these ideas for crazy things?! And why do I have to be in a Doomplace when they are a norm instead of 99% of the world where they are almost unheard off?!
"So, how about a little game?" Seeing my face she laughed. "Nothing strange, really. Ask me whatever question you want... but you will have to answer them for yourself."
I guess it's fair. Surprisingly fair.
"Let it be. So, why do you play Infinity?" Her eyebrow rose. "I, for example, am pretty much a roleplay junkie. And DFI, despite the insanity that seems to be rampant amongst its members, is my favourite drug dealer."
"Well, to be honest I play it mostly to have sex." ... come again? "You see, I come from a hyper-wealthy family. High standards and so on." She sighed. "I might not look like it, but I have IQ around 130 and I have top grades at pretty much everything. My parents watch over my every move in the real world, so I went for full dive VR games to vent out. Since Infinity’s start was just around the corner... " She shrugged. "I'm waiting for the modding tools. Modders will probably create all sort of pervy games I will play, but for now I'm getting familiar with the baseline Infinity."
... I didn't expect that. On the other hand... I knew a lot of Fallen. Or at least their backstories. There were several types of people going for such a playthrough and siding with a Doomplace. First - perverts. Which was harmless since they could indulge in their weird fetishes hurting no one in real life. Second - normal people that wanted to vent out a little, though most of them eventually abandoned Glorastia after deciding it was too much for them. Third - genuine psychopaths. Simea seemed like a type two. Made me wonder how far she would go.
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"So... your experience in Infinity? And why do you search for a team?" This time I didn't plan to answer before her.
"Oh, well, I was a part of a team but it kinda went south." She shrugged. "We leveled up around Ambryxis quite proficiently. Our idiot of a leader, however, had a genius idea of a raid into Depraved Pits. A dungeon beneath the city, you heard of it?"
"Say no more. If the locals consider it a depraved place, I wish to know nothing more." Probably REALLY edgy Lust Magic aligned dungeon. Where everything wanted to fuck you and murder you. Or murder you and fuck you. Or murderfuck you.
"Yeah, well, the others went without me because as a night elf I'm weak to Lust Magic." She rolled her eyes. Yeah, that was stupid. She might have been weak to it... but so were locals. She should be taken along and treated as a glass cannon. "The whole team disappeared without the trace, their fate probably infinitely tragic and depraved. The only player from it, our boss, severed all contacts and went to play Long War out of trauma. Now I'm left alone for at least another real world week before the modding tools will be added. And you?"
A week? Oh, I must have lost track of time but I thought the 'great event' DFI announced would happen around today. Huh.
"In short - went for a completely random start and got screwed over by becoming a part of a murderous cult of Beyond-worshippers. One of two survivors. At least I inherited the place after everyone got killed when a summoning went wrong." I chuckled. "I'm not into all this Dragonspine Mountains edginess so I'm trying to be an adventurer. We got partywiped by a murderous boss nymph in a local anomaly and I'm planning to get revenge."
"Murderous boss nymph? Sounds… lovely.” She smiled. ”Well, to be honest this place overwhelmed me a bit. It wasn't what I expected."
Type two definitely. And close to moral shift.
"Yeah, Doomplaces do that to people." She looked at me questioningly. "Well, DFI always puts an evil society in their games. Like... very evil. People call them Doomplaces on the internet."
"I guess my lack of knowledge about the ways of the company behind this game will be painful." She sighed. "I didn't do enough research before diving in, mostly because of my parents."
"DFI has curious ways." Fanboy to the rescue. "Their games aren't just games. Both their founder and current CEO have well defined political and social views, radically conservative ones. Their games are supposed to prove certain philosophical and sociological points. Basically, pieces of propaganda, like the dreaded Social Justice Games." Games made by a developer teams manned by radical Social Justice Warriors were a thing for years now. Despite failing repeatedly. "But, unlike them, they have quality and show their point less aggressively. The founder decided that to sway people over to their side by games you have to make a gameplay that will make them willing to come over and listen to you."
"I... don't see a philosophical point in Ambryxis." She responded.
"Yeah, well Doomplaces are extreme examples of places that enjoyed moral relativism to the point that human lives lost their inherent value." This was a field I was well versed in. There were thousands of scientific articles based on DFI games on the internet. I read a lot. "You see, one of their earliest games included a moment where protagonist had a rather weird dream about fishing newborn children out of a river. This was a reference to Peter Singer's bioethics and a quotation from one of his books where he claims a fish has a bigger right to live than an impaired human fetus. Which was done as an opposition to an older, traditional and Christianity-based bioethical system where humans were seen as inherently superior to animals because of being the only sapient specie and because of being made in God's image. Doomplaces are societies that embraced an extreme version of such an approach. In most cases by a centuries old slippery slope though I'm not sure how it is with the Dragonspine Mountains." I liked the fact that they made the Doomplaces be radically different societies rather than straight edgy EVERYONE IS EVIL AND LOVES IT scenarios.
"So... they show extreme forms of things to discourage people from more tamed versions?" Wow, she might have not joked about the IQ. She caught it quickly. I'm seriously thinking it might have been a good idea to accept her as a teammate.
"More or less. Central point of Doomplaces can be summed up to: 'Moral relativism is wrong, because you can never be sure where it will lead you.' After all one of the Vortex World superpowers accepted slavery because of long moral slide with the advertising campaign for slavery acceptance being the crowning moment. With the first step of the slippery slope being forced labor for war prisoners after a long and brutal civil war." I shrugged. "What one generation will consider abhorrent the next one might tolerate... and the one after it might glorify. It also has a lot to say about sexual promiscuity being wrong." I looked at her with a smile. "Though I doubt you accept that part."
"Yeah, I guess so." She answered my smile with one of her own. "Though I'm a paragon of virtues in the real world. I'm just in a serious need for a place where I can... express my internal desires."
"... which the DFI would consider a first step on a slippery slope." I paused for a while because of two people that sat by the table near us.
Radakar Varangian
PLAYER
Gender: Male
Species: Human/Larindian
Level: 8
Class: Warlock
Active Effects: N/A
Known Spells and Techniques:
???
Lena Simeon
PLAYER
Gender: Female
Species: Blood Elf
Level: 1
Class: Slave
Property of: Radakar Varangian
Active Effects: N/A
Known Spells and Techniques:
???
He wore a long dark robe decorated with various magical symbols. I could only see his head. Black hair, pretty much average looks... nothing worth mentioning. She… well, she wore little. In fact, nothing beside the slave collar, allowing everyone in the guild to gaze on her naked body.
She was pretty. Pale skin, red eyes and auburn hair, as all blood elves did. She looked like stereotypical redhead, aside from the eyes, to be honest. Her body was also rather pleasing to the eyes. She wasn't too tall, her body being somewhere between being petite and average. Curves were there, of course. C cup (more or less) breasts that seemed pleasantly perky.
Well, she would be beautiful if she wasn't crying and looking around with HELP ME almost written on her face. Despite that, she kept slicing the meat on her... owner's plate into pieces with the knife held in her trembling hands, then using fork to literally feed him in a blatant example of public humiliation.
"DFI went batshit crazy." I spoke, still looking at the spectacle of complete and utter depravity with my eyes open wide. "They made blood elves a playable species and allowed enslavement of players?!" I pulled my eyes off the abhorrent spectacle and looked at Simea. She looked almost as shocked and disgusted as me.
Blood elves were a subspecies of elves literally made to be combat slaves by certain ancient (and evil) empires. They were made to follow orders. Despite their potent natural abilities they were never made playable because that would require either allowing people to enslave other people... or breaking the lore by making a blood elf that wasn't a biologically enforced submissive servant of evil magicians.
"This... is why I was overwhelmed with the Dragonspine Mountains." My companion spoke. "I can accept owning a slave when it's just a computer program made to look like a person... I can even accept using it as a sex slave. There is no difference between this and modern porno films and games. But this?! And to a human?!"
Yeah, welcome to Doomplace. Wait a fucking second... Radakar Varangian?!
"Oh fuck." Simea turned her head to look at me. "I know that guy. He was one of the well known Fallen in World's Requiem. The last DFI game." Then I remembered she didn't know what Fallen was... "He made an astounding career in the Glorastia Empire, which was a Doomplace of this game. Became a provincial governor. I heard theories he was a CEO or a manager in a transnational corporation. Supposedly being a pureblooded psychopath that used the game to go wild anonymously. The things he had done made native Glorastians feel disgusted." The pacification of a Gharothian uprise that he ordered was considered one of the worst and most terrible things to ever happen in the history of VR MMORPGs. I felt like I would vomit remembering it. "He survived the crusade, but was hunted to first level by Decemberists, the members of anti-glorastian coalition, and forced to abandon the game."
That he survived that long despite being on the list of priority targets of the Seventh December Treaty was... notable. He was an insanely intelligent and ruthless madman that kept being a problem for several weeks after Glorastia fell before his guerilla unit was found and slaughtered.
And now he had a real person as a slave. Jesus Christ.
"It must be a bug." Simea said. "There is no way DFI would be insane enough to allow people become slaves. Especially against their will. They would end up sued if ANYTHING happened to them." It didn't look like anything 'physical' happened. He was getting high on her humiliation by forcing her to serve him naked in public. It was a little too much even for Doomplace, at least considering the looks he was getting.
I stood up.
"I will try to do something." I walked over to the... spectacle. Earning an inquisitive gaze of Radakar. And a look of at least some hope from the slave. I could hear Simea walking behind me, which was... surprising but reassuring.
"You know this is a horrible idea?" I spoke. Time to use my charisma. "She is a real person. She will sue you the second she leaves the game." He probably forbad her to logout, which could have worked depending on how the slavery for players was introduced. Probably only temporarily before some sort of failsafe fires and she will get logged out automatically.
Radakar looked at me like he just saw a nasty cockroach.
"DFI allowed people to own other people. That it would end that way was obvious from the start." He answered. "Rather than me, they would be the one to take the blame. In the meantime..." he looked at the slave with a smile. "...I will enjoy every second of this."
"Probably. But now I'm going to logout and then do everything I can to alert DFI and pretty much every other person I can of what you are doing right now." I could just attack him, but he was level 8... and I could end up beaten by locals. What he did was just surprising here - what I would do would be a crime.
I open my status, and...
"Wait a second, why is there no logout button?" I could see everyone - Simea, Radakar and even Lena - checking their own statuses.
Then suddenly I see a face of Edgar Robinson, CEO of DFI, in the window that just opened in front of me. The special event? Did they disallow logging out for the duration of it? What a terrible timing.
"Welcome, my dear players. In the name of the entire Demiurge Forge I wish to extend our gratitude for choosing to spend your money on our product. The time has come for us to introduce the greatest thing in the history of computer games. The Hyperrealism Addon."... what are they trying to pull off now? Hyperrealism from Robinson's mouth sounds terrifying.
He pauses for a while, straightening up in his seat.
"It introduces many important changes to the game. I can tell you about four. First is that from now one NPCs can be informed of your supernatural status. You can even tell them that this is all a computer game and see their reaction. For those who didn't try it - until now it wouldn't work, as they were programmed to not be able to hear such words. They would act as if you moved your mouth without making a voice. I suggest introducing yourself as entities from another world that made a crossing into this reality by inhabiting unfortunate natives’ minds. But I leave details for you. Now, on to the second change."
Suddenly his face is... filled with sadness. Genuine looking sadness. I'm surprised. He was always either cheerful or serious in his interviews.
“Due to circumstances I cannot divulge here, that I genuinely wish weren't a thing... logging out of Infinity is no longer possible." SAY WHAT. "Some of you might recognize it as a rather generic start for an 'imprisoned in the VR game' setting. Well, it is both true and false." He shrugged." There is no way for you to leave the game. There will never be a way for you to leave the game. You cannot free yourself by finishing it. You cannot free yourself by finding and killing me in the game. You cannot hope to be freed by people on the outside. This is now your world. I hope you are satisfied with your new selves since you will spend the rest of your life as them."
The players I could see - the three people near me, a few more in the rest of the building - look shocked. I couldn't blame them. I just... I don't even know what I'm thinking about it. I'm too shocked to even try to comprehend what I just heard.
"Respawn mechanisms naturally remain, but… eternal life without possibility for death would be a terrible idea. Hence the third addon - a Self Terminate button that right now replaced the Logout button. You will be asked for a clarification and it will not work when you aren't doing this willingly. Feel free to end your existence when you decide it is enough. In the meantime there is another button beside it that lets you access to Nexus, the ingame communicator and community center that should replace the ability to surf the internet in the free time. “
He looked straight at the camera.
"Good luck, players. May you enjoy the world we created." He disappeared. Leaving us all completely shocked.
“What a stupid joke.” Radakar regained semblances of consciousness as the first one. "They probably renamed the logout button as some sick joke." I could see him clicking something on his status. "I will leave the game, just to prove it. Before I return to continue our little game." Finally, another click.
Then he screamed. I jumped back as a flood of some dark liquid gushed from his mouth, eyes and ears. I could see... something in the liquid. Was it... wait, are those numbers?! Zeroes and ones, like in a computer code?!
The liquid sprayed around, hitting me, Simea, the naked slave and a few other people unfortunate to stand too close. I could see Radakar collapsing. He looked like a balloon that someone stabbed with a needle. Within several seconds he devolved into a black puddle on the ground. Soon it disappeared completely, not leaving even a single trace of him.