The Hatred Towards Linxx
Everything blackened out. It was darker than dark, blacker than black. If someone would drop a pin, the sound that would be heard, would be clearer than a good singer's acoustic voice. For almost 10 seconds, there was complete emptiness. Then a dim light appeared in front of him. The dim light started getting brighter gradually. The process continued until no darkness remained. And from nowhere, suddenly there were 4 avatars in front of him. Then, he heard a charming, young voice of a lady.
"Mr. Worm, please choose your avatar."
All the avatars had face like him. There was an elf, a human, a dwarf, a beast. The dwarf had a long beard that looked funny on Worm’s face.
"Human."
"Would you like to change your appearance?"
"No."
"How would you like to be dressed? Keep in mind you can't begin with an expensive clothing. Your imagination would be used for creating the clothes."
"Umm... normal human clothing from the 1800's with pants, not one piece. And a hood jacket. Can that be done?"
"Yes. Where would you like to start? There are 511 places where you can start.."
"Nahur city, Kura kingdom."
"It is advised to hunt weak monsters in the vicinity of the city at start. Grow yourself strong before heading out. Enjoy your adventure."
Worm was suddenly standing in the city square. There were people everywhere around him. In the square itself, there were probably more than 7k people that were not in any shop, pub, residences or alliance's building. The number didn't shock him that much. He quickly did the math. 50.3 million people in 511 cities. 98.5k people per city on an average. And as per him, Nahur city should have had the most number of starters due to its being in centre of all other cities and kingdoms.
'And they say Mumbai is crowded!'
He could have sworn that more than thousands of people looked at him when he dropped in the middle of the square out of nowhere. But they quickly looked away. He guessed that being the last starter, people were thinking he is nothing. Then suddenly 2 middle aged guys came running towards him. The taller one spoke.
"Hey kid, you just entered The Sphere? You know that you are probably the last guy to enter out of 50 million right? It will be hard for you to catch up to the general mid level users. Do you want some help?"
Worm was confused and the look was clearly shown on his face.
"..."
"Ohh you are probably worried why we would help you for free. Let me explain. Nothing in this world is free. We will help you hunt low level monsters to make you comfortable enough to do low level quests and I am guessing that you would probably earn 1 gold in a week's time."
Worm acted as if he knew nothing.
"Gold?"
"Ohh right, you just entered The Sphere. But haven't you played such kingdom type games before on your computer? Anyway, The Sphere is a world like any other world so obviously money is also there for everything. You should have 20 coppers, a dagger, a wooden piece, 20 brown breads."
Now, it was the shorter guy's turn to speak.
"So, we are here to invite you to join our Alliance - Fierce Warriors. We have already procured 20.5k people in the alliance and we all help each other to grow faster by hunting more fierce monsters to gain more experience and level up quickly. We will even provide you with items until you are level 10. If you convert your account money into silvers and pay us now, the joining fee would be 50 silvers. However, you can have 1 week to pay. But the fee would be 1 gold by then. You in?"
"20.5k people already in the alliance? You kidding? It has been like what, 7 hours or 21 game hours and you have 20.5k people in your alliance already?"
"Ohh, our leader is smart and rich. People started making alliances very soon but our leader started hunting and he added 15,000$ in his account and converted all 25,000$ in his account to get 1000 gold. He being lesser than level 15 at that time, the Department of Land offered him a dungeon at just 1015 gold with up to level 40 monsters in the topmost floor. To level up quickly, people joined the guild as the dungeon is now free to alliance members."
"Who is this great leader?"
"Ohh he is a player who has played these type of games since his childhood, his name here is Linxx. Perhaps you have heard of him?"
"Yeah, I have. He is the 1st ranker, right?"
"Yup, he started in this very city. So, now do you wanna join? He is a good leader."
Worm thought for a while.
"I am sure that I can't be at top if I join your alliance. Thank you for the information though."
They looked surprised by his reply. They checked him out from head to toe two times.
"The top? You mean you wanna become 1st ranker? You think you can beat Linxx? His level is already...Rank Window."
The window was only visible to him. He checked it out for a while.
"16. And the second ranked is still at level 13. You are the only one at level 0. So your name is Worm?! Looks like we approached the wrong person. All the best. Like you'll ever manage to cross the top half with your physical appearance. "
They left with a look on their faces that said they had wasted their time.
'Cocky bastards!'
*
2 a.m.
Mr. Johnson was still in the amphitheatre like room of his. He knows that he has work tomorrow but this excitement made him unable to sleep. So he came back to the amphitheatre that had gained the nicknamed 'The Source' since the start.
'The Source' had more than 200 highly configured desktops. There were 20 56" LED Screens that were on the front wall. These displayed the different scenes that were currently happening in The Sphere.
It had been courtesy of Mr. 87 to bring the happenings in 'The Sphere' to computerise the game as much as possible for other members of black magicians. This was so that they each could contribute in some way and help in seeing the progress of the game.
The procurement of Mr. 87 was one of the best thing that had ever happened to Johnson. Until now, Johnson had been the most powerful black magician amongst all and though Mr. 87 had been recently recruited, Johnson knew from the moment he met him, that Mr. 87 is much much more powerful and smarter than he ever was.
It was Mr. 87 who had developed the game with all his powers. Even though he had help from the other members, without him, making the game a reality would have been impossible. The most surprising thing he had given life to each and every NPC in the game, including the animals, monsters and even the trees. Each and every living thing in the game had a mind of their own. The monsters have 'Attack Everyone except monsters' mentality. The quests aren't uploaded, rather they are generated depending upon the mood and the need of the NPCs. This shocked Johnson the most.
When Mr. 87 mentioned about a second life where everyone could play a game and every thing could have a mind of its own, all the other black magicians considered it absurd, including Johnson who is known for lot of his inventions concerning high tech gadgets. Then, Mr. 87 said something that made the entire room quiet.
'You all have utilised your powers to gain extra knowledge than the others. I mean some of you gained knowledge about computers,others went for research studies and some even utilised their powers to gain strength. But none of you have used their power to make yourself happy. That's why you people have weaker power now as compared to me. Let me show you something.'
He left the room. After 10 mins, he came back with a spoon in his hand. He gave that to Mr. Johnson and told him that 'Enter' and 'Exit' are commands. Mr. Johnson said 'Enter' and he was suddenly in an open grassy field. It was totally real. Then a rabbit came and curled up beside him. After a while, he came back to his real position with the 'exit' command. He didn't say anything and passed the spoon to others. Others didn't have to say anything to acknowledge Mr. 87's work.
Johnson asked Mr. 87 what help does he need.
"I am fine. Just give me a room to work upon and I swear on my black magician blood that the world which I will make will be as real as this world but 10 times bigger. I swear that the game will be fair. Everyone will have equal chances of winning provided they work hard. I just need 2 years to finish this but I have some other demands."
He continued without waiting for Johnson's reply.
"None of us will get to play this game. It could affect the game as a whole. I will become a part of the game by making a being that would be linked with my mind. Like a game master but no one would know it. I won't participate in the game. Is that ok?"
Johnson nodded.
"If you are swearing on your blood that you won't participate then I don't have any reason to doubt a moody bastard like you. But two years? Giving life would to that many creatures would be tough. You could die."
"Who said anything about giving life? I will just be giving them minds. Its a game. They just need to have a mind of their own to make it interesting. Besides I will die if I gave life to even a single ant out of nothing. We can't do too great things, remember? I will tell all of you how to give minds to objects in the game. It will be easy since its not actual life."
They worked on this for a year. It was over. Didn't even need couple of years to do it. With Johnson's abilities and help from other black magicians, it was done within a year, but distribution of 50 million books took two long years.
Now, sitting on his chair and looking at the happenings of the 'The Sphere' on the screens, Johnson couldn't help smiling and taking pride at the work of his brothers.
*
Worm sighed after finally being alone. He took a while to check his surroundings and see Nahur city. There indeed was a building that had 'Fierce Warriors Alliance' name at the top. There was a pub, food shops, smithy, tailor shop, general store, pet shop, various profession schools, Department of Land, an arrow pointing towards residences and a big map in the centre of the square that showed various shops, outside areas and other important buildings of the city.
His jaw fell after seeing the map.
'Is this a city or a country? Damn!'
After wasting about 30mins, he found an alley that was less crowded than others. He went in and as if afraid that someone is watching him, he carefully studied his surroundings. Confirming no one was paying any attention to him, he did what he was waiting to do since a while.
"Character Window."
A table appeared in front of him and even though he was the only one to whom it was visible, he still looked here and there consciously.
[quart=Name,Fame]Worm,0[/quart][quart=Level,To Next Level]0,0/625[/quart][quart=Profession,Title]-,-[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]100,100[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]20,20[/quart][quart=Stamina,Intelligence]20,20[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Willpower]0,0[/quart]
Luck
0
'So, the basic stats are these,eh. Some games allow formation of other stats as per experience. I think this will allow too, considering the reality content. And willpower stat? What the hell is wrong with this game? It would have been better to give Observe stat. Anyway...'
"Inventory"
Weapons
Food
Others
'So its like menu inside of menu? Hmm..'
He tapped on Weapon and saw that he had a dagger in the inventory. The image of dagger hovered in front of him. He didn't know what to do so he tried to grap the hilt of the dagger. He could feel the image of dagger in his hands.
'Wait a second...'
He then grabbed the dagger tightly and pulled it out. As he thought, the dagger was now actually in his hand. He needed to see the characteristics of the weapon in his hand. He looked at the dagger.
"Information."
[quart=Damage,Durability]1~2,40/40[/quart]
A low quality dagger.
Next, he checked his Food Inventory and noticed that he had 20 brown breads and 2 water bottles. He checked Others Inventory next and was surprised by a piece of wood. He checked its information and it said that he could use it to make some kind of weapon, sculpture, stick, etc.
He went outside to the hunting areas. The huge grounds surprised him. He was standing in awe and his eyes looked like they had taken the shape of sparkling stars. Yes, he was that amazed. It was then that he heard the sound of running footsteps approaching him from behind. Before he could turn to see what was approaching him, the world around him turned black.
*
Johnson was watching the screens when he noticed a figure in the doorway. He wondered how a beggar came to this hidden place. Then he saw the face of the man who was standing there and couldn't help his lips getting wide with a beaming smile.
"So, you didn't make enough money while begging and you had to cut short of your 3 weeks begging to just a single day?"
Mr. 87 had expected this sarcastic comment. Johnson and he were more than a leader and a follower. He is his friend.
"Cut it out, will ya? I just came to see how our game is doing. Couldn't handle the excitement so came ASAP."
"Couldn't you just use that NPC that has your mind connected to it to observe the happenings?"
"I could but it would only know about the place where the NPC is. Not the whole picture, you know. Besides, he is hidden well enough to make sure he wouldn't be found in even 10 years. You know, in this two years, I didn't play much but with proper training and hunting, his level is already 358. I think even with the experience of quests, these new users would take 3 years to cross 300."
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
"Why are you hunting? Didn't you say that you wouldn't involve yourself with the game progress?"
"I am not gonna involve myself. Its just to pass time. And i am hidden. That region is solely mine. It doesn't affect the game in any way."
"Yeah yeah, I was just pulling your legs. Do what you wanna do. Enjoy it."
"I will. I am...."
At that moment, Mr. 87 felt something. He knew what it was but he couldn't believe it. He asked for a seat from Johnson and went and relaxed himself. To Johnson, he looked like he fell asleep. But Mr. 87 was back in the game. As an NPC and the creator of the game and because of his black magician power, he didn't a book to go inside.
He was back in his yard in the game. He knew he felt something but that couldn't be right. Then he saw something that left him speechless.
*
"Boss, we have recruited around 20.5k members."
"So, around 10k gold. That's nice. Anyway, I better get back to levelling. Stupid users are catching up."
"What are you talking about? You are still a solid 2 levels in front of everyone. And with your Kung Fu and Taekwondo experience, you gain advantage of 5 more levels at the very least."
Linxx had taken a break from hunting and levelling up to start his alliance. He found it very boring to run an alliance but he knew from experience that its a must to be in an alliance. It wouldn't help much now but when everyone levels up a considerable amount, they start fighting and the money brought by alliances are huge. Being the leader, he would get much more profits than any other guild member and seeing how he is the strongest in the game at the moment, he knew that he would remain at the top position because of his experience. He also had figured out how to play this super fun game.
The person talking to him was none other than the tall guy who had just talked to Worm about joining the alliance. They were heading back to the hunting area. No sooner did they enter the area, the tall guy saw Worm who was looking amazed by the size of the hunting ground.
'What a Noob!'
"Hey boss, you see that noob? He just logged in the Sphere for the first time and when we invited him to join the alliance, he refused saying that he wouldn't be able to topple you from your position if he joins the alliance."
After hearing that, Linxx felt anger from within his body. He tried not to show it but he was very angry.
"Who? That newbie. He doesn't even have a leather armor. Just by looking at his face I can tell he is at level 0. By the way, do you think I can inflict 100 damage from a single blow?"
"No way, even though you are the strongest at the moment but still your long sword has only 20-30 damage right?"
"Yup, but this game is good. Strike a critical point and the damage is multiplied by 1.5. Run and strike will result in 2 times the damage. And you get extra damage points by combining both of them. My taekwondo and kung fu are helping me a lot here. I have yet to see what Player Killing does in this game. Hmm.."
At that moment, he started running towards Worm with supernatural speed and even before Worm could turn around, he was stabbed at his neck by Linxx. Worm turned to dust as Linxx's single strike did a damage of 118. He then looked at the tall guy.
"Well, no stat reduction after PK. I get a red 'PK' hovering over my head but it says that it would disappear within 72 hours and I could donate gold equal to my level to reduce the time by 1/3rd."
The tall guy swallowed his spit after watching the 5 seconds drama that unfurled in front of him.
'I won't ever cross Linxx in this lifetime or the next.'
*
Rohit woke up with a startled expression. He knew he was killed with a single strike. Because of quick death, he didn't even feel the slight pain that a death is supposed to give in the game.
'Weren't the monsters supposed to be easy near the city? What kind of monster can deal more than 100 damage in a single strike? I need to go in again and see what killed me.'
He held the book.
"Enter the sphere."
But he couldn't log in. Instead the book opened and there was something written on the page.
You cannot log in immediately since you died. However, you were killed from a back stab from a player at much higher level than you. Hence, the penalty is minimum. No stat reduction. You will be able to log in after an hour. You didn't drop anything when you died./[td]
'High level player? Who would kill a total stranger?'
He suddenly got an idea, he had a USB wire with him somewhere. He found it and then connected the book with his computer. As he suspected, whole video as available in it named Session 1. He opened it and he changed the camera to third person. He forwarded to the ending. He saw himself standing on the ground. Then he saw someone run towards him with unbelievable speed. One single strike at his neck was enough to kill Worm. Rohit couldn't understand why would the man kill him.
Then out of curiosity, he clicked on the killer's image. What happened next was unbelievable.
The player's name and level started floating above his avatar.
'Linxx - level 16. That bastard, but why did you kill me?'
Then he noticed a play button underneath the level. He clicked it and an dialog box appeared that told him this is available as he was killed from behind. He clicked ok and saw Linxx having conversation with the tall guy. Just because he was told that someone would compete for the top spot, he killed that guy.
'You bastard. I will get you. I swear on my life that one day I will kill you. And I will kill you like a man. And then I will keep killing you again and again and yet again. You are dead. Just you wait. I will get stronger in no time and...'
After a while, he noticed that he wasn't sleepy at all even though it was 2:30 am in the morning. He then understood the real body is in fact actually sleeping when he is inside the game. He thought that's a good idea and players could play without any weakness and restllessness worry. The only thing that he worried about is the hate feeling that he started having towards Linxx. Even against Rupesh, who had bullied him his entire high school, he didn't have this type of feeling. The hatred towards Linxx was 100 times more than the hatred he has towards Rupesh and he had hated Rupesh since a long, long time.
He went on The Sphere's website and checked the ranking again. He kept refreshing the page. When there were just 5 minutes left before Rohit could log in again, Linxx's level went up by one and he was now at level 17. Instead of being irritated, he felt good.
'The stronger you are, the harder I will work, the greater the fun will be in teaching you a lesson.'
He kept ranting that he would exact his revenge until it was finally time to log in again.
"Enter the sphere."
Worm was resurrected at the square. He ran towards the hunting ground but Linxx was no longer there. 3 hours had passed in the game time. Of course he wouldn't still be there. Worm sat on the ground silently. He sat there for 15 minutes, deep in thought and then stood up.
'It's better that he is not here. I wouldn't have been able to do anything with that high level of his and me being a noob. Furthermore, I would have got penalised more this time as I would have started the confrontation. All I can do now is wait and get stronger gradually. Time to start hunting.'
As he stood up, he noticed a rabbit approaching him with cute hopping. He approached the rabbit and bent down to caress the rabbit. The rabbit, in turn, jumped and gave him a headbutt. A window popped out.
5 damage received.
'What the hell?'
'As he was wondering, he got another message.
5 damage received.
'Why the hell this cute rabbit is a monster?'
Fearing that it would be too long before he could equip his dagger, he started running. He should have ran towards the city but perhaps, in confusion, he started running deep in the hunting grounds. Now, the foxes were chasing him and there were no rabbits behind him. Because of foxes, rabbits gave up in order to keep themselves safe. He noticed a forest in front of him that was filled with big trees. Not having any option, he entered the forest at full speed. The foxes didn't enter the forest. As he looked behind, he saw that he was alone. Taking a sigh of relief, he drank some water.
Then he noticed a pair of eyes approaching him cautiously from his left. He squinted to see that the eyes were yellow. And a large figured appeared in front of him. Now he knew, why the foxes didn't enter the forest.
'A wolf!'
Worm threw the water bottle at the wolf that didn't even reach the wolf because of his low strength. He started running in the opposite direction. But a wolf is fast, much faster than he expected. The wolf was about to catch up with him when Worm lost his balance. Still at his top speed, everything looked a slow motion video to him. He could feel his body falling gradually in a slow motion. Then he noticed a big tree in front of him. He was going to crash with the tree if he didn't do something quick. He wasn't afraid of the tree but of the wolf behind him and there wasn't anything he could do anyway. He had already lost his balance. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact, waited for death second time within 2 hours.
He felt the impact, but not on his head, rather on his whole body. The impact he felt was the one that you get when you fall down totally, not the one when you bump your head against something. Shocked, he opened his eyes and saw that he was lying down in a recently cut grassy field and not in some forest.
He was teleported here. The wolf couldn't. He had no idea about what just happened to him. He was still alive at the very least. With all the fatigue from running and the near death experience, he just wanted a rest. The grass was comfortable. He pulled the hood over his head and slowly
went to sleep on the windy, grassy field.
*
Mr. 87's NPC name was Sanderp. He was in his humongous now. The Secret entrance that opens up in his yard had opened in the near past. The air around the entrance told him that it had recently opened. Then he saw a figure laying down in his yard.
He went there and pulled off the hood from the head. Then, he saw the kid who had purchased the last book from the roadside book stall. Sanderp's lips curved to reveal a smile. Somehow, the exhausted, sleeping face of the kid warmed him up.
'Lets see how you found the entrance.'
He put his hand on Worm's head and started seeing the past of Worm. He could also see the real life Rohit's memory as Sanderp wasn't restricted by 'The Sphere'. And to see real life's memory was no big task for a black magician.
He saw how simple things like the city, the hunting ground amazed Worm. Then he felt that Worm's feeling of being approached by running footsteps and was dead instantly. He then saw real life's memory when Rohit attached the book with a computer wire to his computer.
'Already figured that out, eh? Not a lot of people can figure it out this fast.'
Then he saw that a player killed him with a single strike. Then he saw Rohit's amazing intuition of clicking the killer's character to know the reason why he was killed.
'Just how smart are you weakling?'
Perhaps because Rohit was the one who bought the only unit that Mr. 87 distributed or perhaps because Rohit was killed even though he was just enjoying the game or perhaps because Rohit had dared to be at the top even with his weak stature and starting last, Sanderp felt anger surge up inside him. He got attached to this weakling even though Worm is, well, a weakling. But there was no doubt in it, Sanderp wanted to kill this guy who had killed his beloved weakling customer(referring to how Rohit bought the only unit that Mr. 87 distributed.)
He continued to watch the memories of Rohit. Even though he was angry to the core, the anger disappeared completely when he saw that Rohit smiled after he saw Linxx levelling up. This very Rohit, whom he had hated for purchasing his unit, now made him proud.
'I am glad that you bought my unit, kid.'
Then he saw Rohit's return to The Sphere as Worm. Going to caress the rabbit, he was attacked by it.
'Just how stupid are you? I don't know now whether you are smart or stupid.'
Then he saw him running and against all odds, he was running deeper in the hunting ground. Then he saw the wolf and Worm's futile attempt of throwing the water bottle at it and then running, losing his balance and entering here.
'That's how you discovered this yard? Hahahha, only the bravest people who would run at the tree without any fear can get in. You were scared not of the tree but of the wolf. You sure are a weakling for running away from a weak wolf. Its level is only between 50-60 after all. Weak Weak Weak! Kid, you are too weak.'
Sanderp didn't know when or how or why he started liking this weakling but he was sure that he liked him as his little brother. He used black magic making Worm's sleeping body float in the air and follow him as he headed toward his fort.
'I can't kill the guy who killed the kid as I have my promise to keep and seeing as how you found me...'
"I can train you a little, can't I?"
----- To be continued...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------