Exiting the capsule he couldn’t help but wonder why he had gone so far. The whole thing had been a huge risk. He hadn’t know how things would turn out, and he still didn’t. The potions were a big unknown. How strong an explosion did they make? Was it strong enough kill a player who was level one hundred or over? Maybe the explosion is only able to hurt the person who drank the potion. Maybe the explosion is so large it would destroy the surrounding buildings. No way to know what happened until he logged back into the game. He had been planning to test the potions out before he used them, but he ended up using one out of desperation.
Still, the question remained why did he go so far? In real life he generally avoided risks so he couldn’t help but wonder. Well, it didn’t really matter since it was just a game.
Actually that probably was the reason. It was a game and while he was playing it he wasn’t Brian, instead he was the character Skylar. Skylar the bold adventure seeking to explore new frontiers, have adventures and leave his mark on the world. Wasn’t that why he worked so hard to get the capsule in the first place?
Feeling better after his confusion had been cleared up he went to his sister’s room and knocked on her door.
“The capsule is yours for the next day.” he said after she answered.
“Oh, what happened?”
“I died in a valiant struggle against evil.”
She arched an eyebrow at him.
“Ok, I died acting like a fool trying to complete a quest that was to hard for me.”
She patted his arm giving him a sympathetic look.
“Don’t worry brother. You’re not a fool. You’re just significantly less than wise sometimes.”
He could help but laugh.
“Significantly less than wise. I like that. Have I ever mentioned that you’re the best sister ever.”
“All the time.”
“Well add one more.”
“Duly noted. So what you going to do now?”
“Going to the library. I need to research non exploding ways of fighting.”
“Ok, have fun. Tell me how it went sometime.”
“How what went?”
“Your valiant struggle against evil.”
“Ok, will do.” He said smiling.
**********************************************************************************************
Sitting at a library desk Brian was sorting through a variety of books about weapons trying to figure out what his primary weapons would be. He wanted to be a warrior so something heavy would be a good choice. Swords were nice, and they were popular so he would have plenty of choices. Axes might also be good. They had good damage, but they generally had a slow rate of attack. Spear were interesting because of the range advantage, but he wanted to use a shield and most spears were two handed weapons. Maybe a mace or a war hammer?
“So you’ve finally snapped. *Sigh* I knew this day would come eventually.”
“Mackenzie?”
She was a girl from his class. He didn’t know her very well. They’d talked a few times before for the sake of groups projects. The thing that stood out the most about her in his mind were her eyes. An interesting combination of green and brown.
“So you finally remember my name.”
“I only forgot it once or twice.”
His memory was often times weirdly selective. Sometimes he would hear seemingly unimportant fact and remember them for years while other times he would forget importants details few seconds after he hear them. Names tended to be a problem for him. When he met someone new he was more likely to remember things like their favorite color then their name. This caused him trouble on a number of occasions.
“Only once or twice? Forgetting a cute girl’s name even one time is an unforgivable sin. Besides it wasn’t once or twice. It was three times."
“Sorry about that. So what are you doing here?”
“What do you think I’m doing here? It’s a library so obviously I’m studying.”
“I see.”
It never even occurred to him to ask her what she was studying.
“So what’s with all the books about weapons.”
“I’m doing research for a game.”
“Really, what game?”
“Unbound.”
“You play Unbound. How come you never join any of the discussions about it in class.”
“There’s discussions about it in class?”
“*sigh* Don’t you pay attention to anything that happens at school?”
“I pay attention to the lectures.”
Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to get passing grades with the amount of studying he did. The rest of the time he just tuned out reading his favorite novels.
“You really are hopeless. So what are you trying to learn from all these books?”
“I want to be a warrior so I’m trying to pick out what weapon I should use.”
“You know most warriors use more than one type of weapon. Unbound is a very realistic game. What works best varies a lot based on the situation, and a character's fighting style. You should try out a variety of weapons in the game and see what works best for you."
“That sound kind of expensive.”
“Have you tried the training hall.”
“I thought that they only had swords.”
“No, if you ask for them they have a variety of common melee weapons.”
“That’s a good idea. Thanks!”
“Eerg… Why am I helping the likes of you!” She said and stormed of.
That was really confusing. Is she hostile or friendly towards me? The conversation contained elements of both. People are so hard to understand. If people just said exactly what they meant in detail life would be so much easier. Instead people people make ambiguous statements, they make mistakes, they leave things out, they lie and sometimes don’t really seem to know themselves what they are trying to say. Then when you add in nonverbal communication and it becomes even more confusing. Things like facial expressions, how you hold yourself, what you do with your hands and even things like the cloth you wear all add complexity to communication.
There is so much ambiguity so much room for misunderstandings, and misunderstandings can have such huge effects. They can cause relationships end or never begin at all. They can affect how people view you, and what opportunities you get in life. Yet most people don’t seem worried. They walk around with their friends laughing and having fun confident in their relationships and confident in themselves.
It’s like they’re all fish swimming around taking to their environment naturally while I’m a stone slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake.
That’s probably why I like stories so much. In stories there is little ambiguity, and no real risks. I can experience life through the characters, and if things don’t turn out to my liking I can always just open up another book.
*****************************************************************************************************
The first thing he did upon respawning in the city was find an out-of-the-way corner where he could check his stats and skills.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Statue Window”
*Ting*
Status Window NameSkylarTypeHuman Level11Fame0 TitleNone ClassNone Health120Mana110 Health Regen/sec0.04Mana Regen/sec0.13 Strength10Agility10 Vitality10Intelligence10 Wisdom10Justice1
“Skill Window”
*Ting*
Active SkillsDeath's Embrace: Level 1 — 0%
Mana Cost: 1
Passive skillsCooking: Level 2 — 22%Axe Mastery: Level 2 — 56%Cleaning Skill: Level 3 — 9%Illustration Skill: Level 3 — 9%Painting skill: Level 1 — 0%Carving Skill: Level 1 — 0%
Two things were immediately apparent. One, At least one person other than him died in explosions. Two, he’d developed some weird stuff. He’d never heard about a stat called justice before or a skill called Death's Embrace.
He checked on the Justice stat.
*Ting*
Justice
An apparition for fairness, equality and the rule of law. Those with a sense of justice work to insure that people get what they deserve by protecting the innocent and punishing the wicked.
That seems completely useless. A character can have a maximum of fifteen stats so it was a shame to waste one, but it wasn’t like he was in danger of running out any time soon.
Next he checked on the skill Death's Embrace.
*Ting*
Death's Embrace: Level 1 — 0%
When player hugs someone and says “I love you” they explode dealing damage equal to 200% of their current HP to all creatures within a 5 meter radius.
Is this some kind of joke? What kind of messed up skill is that.
“Delete the skill Death's Embrace!”
*Ting*
Skill cannot be deleted.
Well, I guess the gods of this world have spoken. Whoever said A.I.s don’t have a sense of humor. Really it was probably for the best that he couldn’t delete it. It would be a shame to waste something potentially useful just because he found it embarrassing.
Taking out his knife he used it’s reflective surface to check one final thing. As he expected on his forehead he saw a red diamond and his name written out.
Darn it! Player killer status. In the middle of town like this there was a good chance someone would kill him in order to increase their reputation. He was lucky he hadn’t been caught already.
Using his knife he tore astrip of cloth of his clothing making a crude bandana.
*Ting*
Maximum durability of clothing decreased by 10
It didn’t matter much. His clothes were ruined anyway. They were tattered from the explosion and covered in red paint. Luckily he didn’t have to worry about modesty because all the character in the game had indestructible undergarments.
Tying the bandana around his head he realized that he looked very suspicious so he avoided all major streets and other populated areas. Slowly and cautiously he made his way towards Maria’s house to find out the outcome of his quest. When he finally saw it he was relieved to find in intact although it wasn’t completely unmarked. There was a human shaped silhouette burnt into the side of the building, and a small crater in the ground. What a powerful potion. He’d really have to compliment Ostanes the next time he saw him.
Hearing someone in armor approaching loudly he quickly moved into an alley between two building just in time to avoid encountering Grage. When Grage reached Maria’s house he started to looking around furiously.
Lucky Skylar hadn’t been seen yet. The way he was dressed right now at the scene of the crime, being seen would be the same as being caught red handed. He should have considered this possibility. If they both died at the same time then the time they could log back in would be the same as well. Coming here right away dressed like this was significantly less than wise. If he was caught Grage could kill him without penalty, and he could keep killing him all the way back to level one. If he was really determined Skylar might even have to delete his character and start all over from scratch.
He backed into the alley until he was stopped where the two building met at an angle. He was trapped, and he could hear Grage getting closer.