“Why do you think the cat triggered your first flashback? Why the cat specifically? Do you compare that specific non-player character to the young girl you met overseas?”
“I don’t know,” Viktor admitted. “I guess I just felt the same helplessness. I couldn’t help either of them.”
The therapist raised her head slightly and pondered her next question while tapping a pen to a notepad. “Do you feel alone?”
“Not really.”
“But you live alone, yes?”
“I meet people in the game.”
“Do you travel with them though? Have you joined a guild yet?”
Viktor shook his head to both questions.
“Have you even added anyone on your friends list?”
Viktor thought of the only other player he’d really spoken to for an extended period: Fooly. He had promised to add the merchant to his friend’s list the next time they met.
“Yet you invited a non-player character to join you on your adventures. Not a real person.”
“I guess it’s different,” he shrugged.
“Tell me more about her,” the therapist said.
“I think she’s a little older than me. She went on a quest to avenge her grandmother when she was 20. She was trapped for 10 years and served as his maid, outfit and everything.”
“I meant tell me more about how she helps you.”
“She carries things around for me, which is nice. There’s a specific carry weight for a player’s avatar that can’t be changed, so I can travel further distances without having to go back to town so often. She cooks too.”
“Do you practice cooking?”
“I enjoy it, but lately I haven’t been doing it much at all.”
“Are you trying to rely on her more? Perhaps subconsciously.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re followed around by a character who isn’t a real person. To me it looks like you’re trying to make a connection with someone, but subconsciously you are contradicting yourself.”
Viktor’s attention traveled out the window into the clouds. He understood what she was getting at, more or less, but it was still confusing and hurt his head to comprehend it.
“Do you like… um…”
“Jenovine,” he said.
“Yes, Jenovine. Do you like her? Are you attracted to her?”
“She’s quite attractive, yes, and she’s nice. But I wouldn’t say I’m interested in her.”
“Why not?”
“She’s not real. Besides, I don’t feel connected to anyone nor do I have any desire to pursue connection.”
“But she can hold a conversation, can’t she? The artificial intelligence in the game is programmed at a sophisticated level: non-player characters can die. If you ask them a question, they can respond intelligently. They feel things, at least according to them. Does that not make them real?”
Viktor found himself shaking his head slightly as he thought of an answer until finally shrugging the question to the side.
“I’d like to set a goal for you, if I may. The next time you play the game, create a connection with someone. Whether it’s with Jenovine or anyone else. Even if all you end up doing is adding their character to your friends list.”
“I’ll do my best,” he said honestly.
…………………………………………………..
One of the more mind-blowing things about Genesis, at least in Orion’s eyes, was the graphics. He stood at a dock, watching the glistening waves gently rock the enormous wooden ship. The dock sounded of creeks from the wooden planks and the occasional seagull.
As he approached one of the guards standing by the boarding plank that led customers to the ship, the guard sized Orion up.
“I’d like two passes to Ravenhook, please.”
“Doubt you have enough gold, kid,” the man replied.
Once again, Orion was judged by his tattered leather armor. Perhaps he should finally travel to a blacksmith and buy new armor. After all, he had grinded more monsters while traveling a week to the coast after defeating Chazo the Sabertooth.
“How much is it?”
“300 gold apiece.”
‘600 gold!’ Orion cursed in his head. He’d been playing the game for a little over three months now and in the time, he had achieved level 78 and accumulated 735 gold. Quests gave little gold just like mobs, so they best way to get gold was to sell items or beat bosses. Solo players, like Orion, typically took longer to level up and get gold.
But Orion played every day, only leaving to take care of shopping or cooking and visiting his therapist weekly. Because of that, his level and gold amount was just as high as a guild player or someone who played with friends.
And now he was about to lose almost all of his gold!
For a moment, he reconsidered. But something in the back of his mind pushed him to pay the fee. Other than adventure, there was one more reason he wanted to go to Ravenhook.
Last week, he and Jenovine stumbled on a traveling merchant. The woman was completely surrounded by guard NPCs in steel plate armor, which had told Orion they were all at least level 250.
They chatted with the merchant who told them of a secret ingredient, hidden in the mountains north of Ravenhook.
The herb only spawned at a random hour once every half a year, and the timescale in Genesis was the same as the real world. That meant a player could only find the herb twice a year in real time, so it was one of the rarest items in the game.
It also only spawned during a full moon, so Orion would have to deal with level 90 werewolves infested within the mountain.
It was only a legend and most players didn’t even know about it, plus he would have to camp the area and continue looking every night for 3 days in a row.
So why exactly would he want to?
The merchant went on to tell him what the herb, known as Wolfsbain, did. First, a player had to crush the herb. Then, they had to incorporate the powder in whatever they were crafting.
For example, if a player was blacksmithing a weapon they would sprinkle the powder over the material as it cooled. Since Orion often tried to cook for Jenovine instead of the other way around, it gave him a chance to repay all the meals she made him.
Using the item resulted in the player gaining 1 mastery level for whatever craft they used it in. Any effects it gave tripled, the item (or meal, in Orion’s case) automatically received a “very good” quality, and would gain twice as much experience for their craft for one week.
There were other hidden items in the game that provided similar benefits, but the Wolfsbain was perfect for Orion.
Werewolves had tough skin and often hunted in packs. Because of that, solo players didn’t typically go into the mountains.
The werewolves also gave less experience for every member of a party. Because of that, players that fought with friends opted for other areas in the world where EXP opportunities were simply better.
Not only were the mountains almost completely untouched by players, but Orion was never afraid of a challenge.
The merchant assured him the herb would spawn was sometime between two and three weeks. His plan was to get there as soon as he could and kill werewolves every night as he searched the mountains.
That’s why when the guard impatiently reached a hand out, Orion sighed and plopped a coin purse filled with 600 gold into his palm.
Jenovine pat Orion on the shoulder and gave him a smile with a nod. He could tell she was trying to say “everything’s going to be okay”.
Once they boarded the ship, Orion spotted a familiar face. Underneath the deck, players gathered to wait for their departure. Sitting by himself at one of the dozen tables and staring out the window was Fooly. As soon as Orion entered, Fooly simultaneously looked towards the entrance and their eyes met.
A big grin crossed Fooly’s face as he waved. “Orion, hey!”
From the looks of it, Fooly joined a guild.
A player can usually tell if another person is in a guild based on a guild item. Every guild has a symbol and players can craft items that bare said symbol. He wore a black robe with a sigil on the right shoulder.
The robe went as low as his mid-thigh, so Orion could see black leather that Fooly wore as pants, boots, and gloves. Usually players stick to one type of armor: clothing like robes, light like leather, medium like chainmail, or heavy like plates. However Fooly wore a robe with light armor, which was not often seen.
Orion assumed it must be because of his job.
As a merchant, he needs the swiftness that clothing gives. However, he’s not a primary source for damage and would probably tank a few hits during a fight, so the leather would give him some help there.
Unlike Fooly, Orion was a solo player and was often directly in the fight. As such, he wore leather armor with a medium armor chainmail vest.
He would have to part with it soon, though, for when he finds new gear. Well, he didn’t necessarily have to change, but they were beginning to lose their durability.
Plus, they didn’t provide him with any extra stats like magic resistance or extra agility. Since he was beginning to reach level 100, he would need to start finding items like that to fight mobs effectively.
Orion realized his mind had wandered off and snapped out of it by joining Fooly at the table.
“It’s been a while,” Fooly noted. “What’ve you been up to?”
“A little of this and a little of that,” Orion replied.
“I see you’re not rolling solo anymore,” he said. Then he nodded towards the woman sitting next to Orion. “Who’s the lucky lady?”
“Jenovine,” she said, joining the conversation.
Fooly waved a hand towards Orion and they both leaned in a bit and whispered, “Why’s she in a maid’s outfit?”
However, the whisper turned out to be louder than Fooly expected.
“Because it’s comfortable and I’m used to it,” Jenovine said.
“She’s an NPC,” Orion added. “So she doesn’t have to worry about armor.”
“An NPC!? Why are you traveling with an NPC?”
Orion shrugged. “She was being held captive and offered me a quest to set her free. When I did, I just asked her if she wanted to tag along. I mean, it’s not like she had anywhere to go and she helps with selling my loot or cooking.”
“You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not here…”
“Sorry. What about you, Fooly? Where’ve you been?”
“I joined a guild,” he said, pointing to the sigil Orion had noticed earlier. “We’re called The White Hand.”
Orion had heard of the guild before due to their social fame. A lot of guilds are casual, but there are plenty that are around a general theme: warriors only, crafters only, etc. The White Hand was full of players with positive fame that focused on large scale quests and raids. Never guild wars, though.
“You should check it out! Most of the players are hardcore, but there are a lot of casuals too.”
“No thanks.”
“Alright, no worries. We should get together and hunt sometime soon, like old times.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Orion’s attention was pulled to the entrance where a woman wearing a cloak climbed down the steps. On her chest was a symbol of a roaring lion.
The woman made for a nearby table and Orion focused back on Fooly who had been talking.
“We should add each other on our friend’s list so we can get together later.”
Orion began to decline, but the words caught in his throat as he pictured his therapist shaking her head. “Sure.”
Fooly’s face lit up and he spoke aloud to no one in particular. “Add Orion to friend’s list.”
A window popped up in front of Orion. It was odd that Fooly used the voice command when he could simply open a window and do it manually. That’s how most people did it, but Orion guessed that Fooly was simply excited.
He decided to use voice command as well. “Accept.”
“Still, it’s amazing getting this far solo. Encouraging, even! I’m a Merchant, if you remember. For you to get this far by yourself gives me some hope since I’m with a guild.”
“You mentioned a goal last time we spoke, during the battle against Diablo. Choosing a profession like merchant over a combat class must have been difficult, but you did it to work on your goal. Very admirable.”
Fooly’s face flushed. “N-no! You’re much more impressive, for sure, definitely. So uh… Jenovine, it was? How do you like traveling with Orion?”
“He’s nice,” she smiled.
“That’s all? Come on! A player and an NPC... no, not just an NPC! A beautiful woman! You two, traveling this world together, all by yourselves. It’s almost like a forbidden lo-”
“Stop,” Orion and Jenovine said in unison.
Orion glanced over to his companion, who looked to the floor to hide the pink in her face. Fooly laughed and took a drink of water.
“Well, where are you two headed then?”
“Ravenhook. You?”
“The same, actually! I’m meeting up with some guild members. That’s so cool, not only do we get on the same ship at the same time but we’re going to the same place! We might be the only ones; I hear nobody tends to go to the continent. A lot of it is unexplored.”
“Guess I’ll have plenty to explore for the first time.”
Orion and Fooly continued their conversation for a long while, with Jenovine joining in every once in a while. Orion was quite surprised by her AI; he didn’t know much about it but it had to have been fairly advanced to be able to think and feel for herself.
The ship stopped five times over the course of two hours, each time most of the passengers left while a handful joined. Long range travel was tedious, but it was necessary due to the enormous world.
The ship they were on wasn’t the only ship; there were hundreds of others all floating around the seas. Thus, the cabin eventually dwindled to Fooly, Orion, Jenovine, and the cloaked woman with the lion on her chest.
“Do you want anything, Orion?” Jenovine asked, motioning to the right wall. Orion followed her direction and saw a long counter with complimentary snacks provided by the ship’s captain. The ship was loaded with just about everything; meat, fruit, Applewood Whiskey, bread, etc.
“I’m good, thanks though.”
Jenovine shrugged and stood to get something herself. As she walked over to the counter, the cloaked woman suddenly sprang up and snatched Jenovine by the neck. Orion shot to his feet, but the woman was too quick and had an iron dagger pressed to Jenovine’s neck before Orion could reach them.
“An NPC, huh?” the woman said. Her hood cast a shadow that covered her face except for the sinister grin. “Tell me, if I slit her throat and make her bleed, will she feel it? Or maybe I should make it quick for her. Make sure to say your goodbyes because you’ll never see her again.”
Orion took a step forward but the woman pushed the tip against Jenovine’s neck, causing a drop of blood to drip down her skin.
“You haven’t done it yet, so you want something right? What do you want?” Orion demanded.
“All of your gold. Both of you.”
Orion glanced to the side. He was ready to tell Fooly that he didn’t have to listen to her and that this had nothing to do with him. However, he was already pulling a hefty gold purse out of his inventory. Orion did the same.
“Toss em to me, but stay where you are!”
They obeyed. The woman kept her eyes locked on Orion and Fooly and her hand around Jenovine’s arm. Then she bent down slowly and picked both purses up.
“Pleasure,” she chuckled and raised her head to let the hood fall onto her shoulders. “However, I’m not just a regular thief.”
Orion’s heart skipped a beat and his eyes grew wide, which peered directly into the woman’s. She had eyes full of red and blood.
“The consequences for killing in a video game are a lot less heavy than in real life. But players respawn… that’s no fun…”
The woman giggled and tilted Jenovine’s head back, ready to plunge the blade into the NPC’s neck.
“Fight me!” Orion said.
The woman stopped, baffled. “Eh?”
“You love killing, right? If you beat me you’d be able to kill all of us on this ship. If you kill Jenovine now, you’ll be next to die because Fooly and I will team up against you.”
“You’ll team up against me anyway,” the woman laughed. “I’m not stupid.”
“No. I’ll be the one to fight you because I want the satisfaction of killing you myself.”
Orion held a stare with the woman in silence for a few moments. What he said was true and she knew it; killing the NPC would only cause the guys to attack her at the same time. Now, he was giving her an out.
She had to take it because of his appearance. With the armor he had, she thought there’d be no way he’s the same level as her.
“Fine,” she said. Then she tossed Jenovine to the side, who stumbled and collapsed. “My names Katrina. What’s yours, kid?”
Orion unsheathed the obsidian sword and dashed forward without replying. Katrina laughed as if she enjoyed the response and whipped out a second dagger. After crossing her blades, she was able to block his first attack.
“Phantom Strike!”
His transparent arm appeared, throwing her off guard. She pushed back his real sword and barely managed to block the phantom sword, but Orion was already moving for the third strike.
His sword sliced through her torso, causing Katrina to fall back.
But the assassin was quick to recover and dashed to the side, quicker than Orion could follow.
“Stun!”
One of her daggers began to spark with electricity and slid into Orion’s side. He felt a prickle and flinched, but couldn’t react further. But it was more than that…
He couldn’t move at all!
She was behind him now.
Katrina wrapped her arm around Orion’s neck in a headlock and stabbed him in the chest. Even though he didn’t feel any pain, Orion couldn’t help but grit his teeth as if it were real.
Orion felt his muscles and limbs loosen as the stun wore off. He grabbed her to keep her still and ran backwards, slamming her into the wall. She loosened her grip and tried to let go to get away, but he gripped her tighter and flung her over his shoulder.
The woman smacked onto the floorboards and Orion thrust his sword into her chest.
He couldn’t help but think if this was real, it would have ended there. However, this was a video game so she rolled on her side and hopped to her knees.
‘I’m a little rusty,’ Orion thought to himself. ‘But I can at least think. In that position, the only thing she can do is lunge forward.’
Katrina flipped her daggers around like an assassin before shooting off the ground. In a second, she reached him just as he predicted.
‘She tried to fight me head on before but I landed a hit on her, so she’ll try to get around me again.’
Katrina stepped to the right before shifting her feet and spinning to the left. Orion let his sword relax to his side and turned to face her in time to see her smirk.
“Cutthroat!”
Another skill! Katrina vanished in thin air and Orion felt a slight breeze from the movement of her appearing behind him.
“Stun!”
Her dagger electrified and she moved for a stab.
“Shrouded!”
A thin barrier surrounded his body as a chunk of his mana depleted. Just before the dagger stuck in his back, Orion managed to block it.
He heard Katrina kiss her teeth behind him as she tried for another attack, but Orion spun around to face her.
The dagger stilled held the spark effect, so he had to be sure to not get hit. Likewise; if he managed to hit her, she would be in trouble.
He stepped to the side, dodging the dagger. Then Orion flipped his sword back around to the correct position and tried for an uppercut.
She stepped to the side, dodging the blade.
“Phantom Strike!”
Since his arm was already raised, Orion swung downwards. At the same time, his phantom strike would swing upwards.
Katrina was forced to retreat back a step and prepared to counter, but she was now where Orion wanted her. This whole time they fought within arm’s reach of each other.
Now, she was within his range but out of her own.
Orion thrust forward with all of his strength. Because Katrina had prepared to counter attack, she didn’t have time to dodge.
The sword went through her gut and she stumbled back.
He was faster now than when the fight began; he was rusty no longer. Before Katrina could react Orion retracted his sword, already on the move.
He spun around and let the sword follow the momentum naturally. The blade sliced through her body, causing her to collapse to her knees. Blood coughed from her mouth.
She was low on health.
Orion’s hand began to tremble and his heart raced. He even felt his face grow a little red from the blood pumping in his veins.
This was what it felt like to kill in Genesis.
It was as if something had seized his soul and ripped it from his body. A sense of chilled chains wrapped themselves around him with no intention of letting go again.
Orion raised the sword and plunged it through her back, even going as far as sticking the sword into the ground.
“I’ll remember you,” she spat. Then, all that remained was the blood which served as evidence of their battle.
You have lost all your fame!
He retrieved his gold purse and tossed Fooly his. Both Fooly and Jenovine stood in shock and silence, unsure of what to say or do.
Orion grabbed a bottle of Applewood Whiskey from the counter and poured a drink.
“Orion…?” Jenovine whispered.
He looked at her but he didn’t really look at her. His eyes simply stared in her direction as if not seeing her physical body at all. A mist shrouded his eyes.
Then he turned back to his drink and took a sip.