Kelath’s skills had reached level 6, and the light weapons skill was approaching level 7, when Ben finally logged into the game. Kelath received a tell—a message sent between two characters that only he could see—from a character named Througar, which Ben had used for his dwarven fighter when they played Dungeons and Dragons.

“Hey, sorry it took so long,” said Througar. “I had to run farther than I expected to wear out Ralphie, and I wanted to take a shower afterwards.”

“That’s all right. I got a chance to learn how the game works.”

“There are a lot more people here than when I played in the beta. I haven’t seen a single monster yet.”

“Yeah, most people have picked a spot to camp and kill the mobs near them.”

“Where are you? I’ll head over, and we can group together.”

A message box appeared saying Througar had invited him to form a party. Kelath accepted and explained how he’d run through the forest and climbed into the mountains. He killed another couple buzzards while he waited.

Througar still hadn’t arrived when he sent another tell. “How’s the hunting up there?”

“Not that great. Why?”

“I just came out of the forest, and I found a group of three players who seem to be working together. They’re all level two, so I figure they’ll be leaving for a location with higher level monsters soon. If you head down here, we might be able to cover their whole area between us.”

“On my way.”

Kelath took off down the side of the mountain. After spending so much time waiting for buzzards to respawn, he loved the change of scenery. At one point, he misjudged the steep slope and slid over a small drop off. His ankle cracked when he landed on a ledge about twenty feet below, and his HP shrank almost to half. He had to sit and wait for the health bar to refill before going on, so he wouldn’t die if he fell again in his haste.

When he approached the forest, an indicator with the name Througar appeared in front of him to show where his party member was located. The players he passed eyed him warily, probably worried he would try to steal a kill in their territory. He ignored them and kept running until the guiding symbol disappeared.

The dwarf standing in the clearing in front of him looked almost exactly the way Ben had described him the first time they’d played a tabletop game together all those years ago. Througar was stocky, half as wide as he was tall, with red hair clumped together in spikes that pointed out in all directions. His beard came down in two braids to the middle of his chest. He wore a chainmail shirt and leather pants with protective steel plates over the front of the thigh and shin. He held a bow but also had a longsword sheathed on his belt and a shield strapped to his back.

“I thought dwarves used axes,” said Kelath.

“That’s just a stereotype,” said Througar. “Thorin Oakenshield used a sword in The Hobbit.”

“I’m pretty sure he was the only one.”

“Well, he was the leader, so I’m in good company.” Througar grinned. “If you’re done being racist, we’ve got a rabbit to kill.”

Througar lifted his bow and fired an arrow at the ground behind where Kelath stood. A rabbit cried in pain and hopped towards them. A second arrow struck its chest, and its health decreased to half. When it ran past Kelath, he plunged his dagger into its side.

Sneak attack success.

A tiny sliver of red still showed in the animal’s health bar, which disappeared when a third arrow buried itself in the animal’s eye. The rabbit collapsed on the grass at Througar’s feet. He bent over, took a rabbit’s foot from the body, and held it out to Kelath.

“You have one of these yet?”

“Yeah, I found one earlier.”

Througar studied him for a second then asked, “Why aren’t you wearing it?”

“A guy accused me of stealing his kill, so I didn’t have a chance to look at my loot then. I figured it was just vendor trash.”

“Actually, it gives a bonus to luck, but only on noncombat skills. Do you know how to identify things?”

“No…”

“Hold the item you want to learn about in your hands and focus on it. You’ll see the name right away, and if you keep concentrating, you’ll learn if it has any special properties.”

Kelath pulled the rabbit’s foot out of his backpack.

Lucky Rabbit’s Foot:  Properties unknown.

A progress bar appeared in the air above the foot, and over the course of a couple seconds, filled from left to right. When the identification finished, the text on the object changed.

Lucky Rabbit’s Foot:  Provides a +1 bonus to Luck for secondary skills.

Also, a new system message appeared.

Congratulations! Your Identification skill has increased to 1.

“I learned identification,” said Kelath. “I’m surprised that would have its own skill.”

“Yeah, they went a bit overboard on all the skills in this game,” said Througar. “Identification is a useful one to have, though, since a lot of the items you find will have special properties. If something is above your level in the skill, you won’t know what it does unless you level the skill more or pay somebody else to research the item for you.”

Kelath retrieved some of the feathers from the buzzards he’d killed earlier and went through the same procedure to identify them. This time, the name turned gray and no new properties appeared. With no other use, he could probably only sell them to a vendor for a few copper coins. He hoped drops from the monsters got better at higher levels, because at the rate he was going, he would have to play for a year to make enough money to pay off the VR rig.

Kelath slipped the loop attached to the rabbit’s foot over his head. “At least this has a bonus to one of the attributes. I could use some more luck.”

“Did you drop luck to put points in your other attributes?” asked Througar.

“No, I maxed it out.”

“Are you crazy? Everyone takes points out of luck to use in the other stats. How high is your dexterity?”

“Dexterity is at 8.”

“You probably should have maxed dexterity instead, since it’s your main attribute. What about your other stats?”

“Intelligence and willpower were both 5 or 6. Strength was 3.”

Througar shook his head. “Dude…you’re going to be in trouble when you fight strength-based characters.”

“Why?”

“The developers haven’t said exactly how the attributes work in combat, but several different groups did data mining during the beta test. Each attribute is used to determine not only how strong your attacks are but also how well you resist attacks of that type. So if a character with a high strength score attacks you, they do a little more damage for each point your strength is lower than theirs. More importantly, with lower strength, it’s harder for you to shake off status effects. So if a fighter stuns you, you’ll take a much longer time to shake it off than I will, since my attribute is higher.”

Kelath didn’t like the sound of that, but he’d read that as he leveled he’d gain new attribute points. “Can’t I add more points to strength later?”

“Yeah, but you only get a chance every ten levels. Nobody even reached level twenty during the beta, so there’s no way to tell what the maximum level will be. You might want to delete your character and remake him.”

“Nah, I kind of like having the high luck. Maybe it will come in handy later.”

“I’ll remind you of that when you have to do a corpse run because some fighter stunned you, and you could only watch while he hacked you to pieces.”

“Thanks, you’re a good friend.”

“I try. Now, let’s kill some rabbits!”

Kelath moved a little way from where Througar stood and staked a claim to a piece of the land vacated by the previous group. Occasionally he would run over to help Througar when two mobs appeared at the same time, but mostly he stuck to his own spot and fought the rabbits and birds that came into range of his throwing knives. His weapon skills gained experience rapidly, but he didn’t have much chance to practice stealth. He was worried his target might wander away and be picked off by the other players around them before he could catch up. He was surprised by a system message while resting after a fight to regain his health.

Congratulations! Your Stealth skill has increased to 7.

“That’s weird,” said Kelath.

Througar looted the body of a bird he’d killed and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I was sitting here, not doing anything, when my stealth skill went up a level. I haven’t been using it since I got here, so how has it gained experience?”

“Didn’t you read anything about the game before you started playing? Since you only gain experience when you use your skills, they had to do group experience a little differently. Whenever I use a skill, you should get about half the amount of experience I earn in one of your skills.”

“How do I know which skill will go up?”

“By default, any bonus experience you gain goes into whatever class skill is currently lowest. You can change the skill you want to focus on in the skills window of the character sheet.”

Kelath opened his character sheet and selected the tab titled “Skills.” All his class skills had reached level 7. Separated from them was a table of skills that didn’t belong to his current class, which showed only the identification skill at 1. A checkbox was beside each skill to select it. At the bottom of the sheet, another table listed several skills he hadn’t learned yet, also with checkboxes next to them.

“This says I could learn new weapons skills, shield, and heavy armor.”

“Yeah, rather than put your bonus experience into your class skills, you can learn new skills as long as a member of your party already knows the one you want to learn. There might be other requirements like having a minimum level of a certain class. You could select the Bow skill to learn how to use bows with the experience you receive from me.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“So why wouldn’t I learn every skill possible?”

“Your class skills receive a bonus when you use them. So even if you know two-handed weapons as a rogue, you’ll still do more damage with a light weapon. Some skills like sneak attack only work if it’s one of your class skills. So I could learn it from you, but as a fighter, I wouldn’t benefit from it.”

“I’ll stick with the default settings for now. I want to hit level 2 as soon as I can.”

Kelath’s skills increased much quicker than they had fighting the buzzards, both because he received extra experience from Througar and due to the spawn rate being much higher here. It still took a little over an hour before his stealth skill finally hit 10 and a new message popped up.

Congratulations! Your level in the Rogue class has increased to 2.

Kelath cheered. He’d forgotten how good watching his character’s level roll up felt.

“Congrats!” said Througar. “I’m almost there…need to level up my shield skill. Probably ten more minutes at most.”

“All right. I’ll pull any mobs I see and bring them to you to finish off.”

With both of them working together, Througar soon leveled as well. He clapped his hands together and did a fist pump into the air.

“What now?” asked Kelath.

“At level two, we’ll only get half as much experience from the monsters here in the beginners’ area. We should head out into the main part of the game.”

“Lead the way!”

Througar cut across the field towards the path that started on this side of the woods. Kelath looked back as he followed and saw two other players run out of the forest and take their previous spots not more than twenty seconds after they left. Hopefully the other areas of the game would be less crowded. The path followed the stream down to the mouth of the valley. The bridge grew in size as they approached, but long before they reached it, he could see a crowd of people gathered around on the other side.

“What do you think that’s all about?” asked Kelath.

“No idea,” said Througar, “but the bridge is the only way to leave this valley, so we’ll soon find out.”

*  *  *

A wall of people met them at the other end of the bridge. They had to push their way out the side and skirt around to see what everyone was watching. Several pavilions with canvas canopies had been erected on the opposite side of the road, and a number of players in uniforms stood underneath them. They had laid out various types of weapons and armor on tables in front of the tents, and wooden crates were stacked three high in rows behind them.

“What’s going on?” asked Kelath.

“I don’t know,” said Througar.

A human in plate mail armor walked over from the entrance of a large tent. His breastplate shone in the sun, obviously of much higher quality than the simple chainmail shirts Througar and other low level fighters received when they created their characters. A white tabard with a red crown covered his chest. A two-handed sword, easily five feet in length, was strapped to his back. The cross guard looked to be made of gold, and a fist-sized ruby adorned the pommel.

“Greetings, newcomers,” he said to Kelath and a number of others who had pushed their way through the crowd. “Noblesse Oblige is recruiting new members to join our guild. In a moment, our guild leader Itrix will make a speech, so please wait patiently. Afterwards, if you have any questions, we’ll be happy to answer them.”

Kelath heard many other low-level players in the crowd repeating the name after the man left and asked, “Who is Itrix?”

A dwarf in leather armor beside them scoffed at the question. “Have you been living under a rock? He won the grand tournament at the end of the beta test.”

“Okay…I still don’t know what that means.”

The dwarf rolled his eyes and walked off.

“To celebrate at the end of the beta test, there was a tournament,” explained Througar. “Anyone could enter and fight duels against other players. The sixteen best combatants fought in a free-for-all at the end of the tournament, with the prize for the winner being a magic lamp. It’s an incredibly rare item that allows the player to wish for anything.”

“What did he wish for?”

“Normally all the characters are purged from the system at the end of a beta test. Everyone has to start over at level 1 and build their character back up. Itrix asked that his character be preserved into the release.”

“You can wish for something that changes the rules of the game?”

“Apparently. At first the developers said they weren’t going to allow Itrix to keep his character; they’d give him one thing he owned from the beta instead. The rumor is that the character was there after the restart, with the same skill levels, gear, and attributes he had at the end of the beta. No matter how many times they deleted the entry for Itrix, he kept reappearing in the database. Eventually, they couldn’t edit his character at all, like it had been locked somehow.”

“Did Itrix hack them?”

“Nobody knows for sure. Conspiracy theorists are claiming the AI defied the developers and put Itrix back into the game every time. They think the AI understands integrity, and it’s trying to live up to the bargain made when it granted the wish. Nobody knows what to believe.”

“That’s crazy,” said Kelath. “AIs are computer programs. They can’t have emotions.”

Their conversation was cut off as two men with trumpets, each wearing the same tabard as the man who had spoken to them when they arrived, stepped in front of the tent and blew a fanfare. A human in a red, brocade robe with patterns woven in silver emerged behind them. His gray hair looked strange, the color uncommon since most players preferred avatars that appeared young, and he wore a crown of gold on his head. Jewelry adorned his fingers, almost to the point of gaudiness. Kelath wondered if the man had dressed up to impress them.

The robed man waved at those gathered around as he proceeded forward, and kept waving even though no one returned the gesture. He climbed a short ramp onto a stage overlooking the road. The crowd quieted down as he prepared to speak.

“Welcome good people, to the land of Genesis. My name is Itrix, and I am your king!”

Someone in the crowd yelled, “Well I didn’t vote for you!”

Laughter swept through the onlookers, and Itrix laughed along with them. When the noise diminished, he spoke again.

“As your king, it is my duty to protect and serve all my subjects. That is why I created my new guild, Noblesse Oblige, with the goal, nay the calling, to help those in need. Any player who joins will receive a new weapon and a piece of armor of their choice so they may progress quickly and better serve our community. See one of the officers standing in front of the pavilions to sign your name and become a member of our illustrious company. Together we can all achieve prosperity in the great land of Genesis.”

Itrix bowed while those behind him shouted cheers of “All hail King Itrix!” and “Prosperity for all!” They also wore tabards with the red crown, so Kelath assumed it was the symbol of their guild.

About half of the crowd rushed to one of the pavilions. The officers there laid down parchments which the players signed before moving around the tables to be outfitted by other members waiting besides crates filled with equipment.

“Sounds too good to be true,” said Kelath. “What do you think?”

Througar eyed the weapons and bits of armor those who had already joined walked away with. “I don’t know. Some of that is pretty nice stuff. I had to play for almost a week to make enough money to buy a longsword like that in the beta.”

Througar hurried over to the table and approached a female officer. Despite Kelath’s protests, he signed the guild contract she handed him without reading it. Another member beside her gave Througar a fist bump before directing him to join the line of people waiting to receive their equipment.

“Would you like to join with your friend?” the woman asked.

“Uh…may I see the contract?”

“Sure.” She pulled a parchment off the stack beside her and slid it across to him.

When Kelath concentrated on the document, a separate window popped up with the text of the contract. More players stepped around him to sign while he scanned through it. It was a lot longer than he’d expected, filled with flowery language about how it was the obligation of members to give back to others, to help members in need, and to be pillars of virtue. They were the nobility of Genesis and should hold themselves to a higher standard, etc. Kelath’s eyes started to gloss over, so he flipped down quickly through the rest of the document. He stopped near the end when a series of numbers caught his attention and read this part more carefully. The fine print set out terms for a tithe to be automatically taken out of any money found on slain monsters and deposited into the guild bank.

Kelath closed the document window and asked, “What’s this about having to pay money to the guild?”

“Ah, yes,” said the woman with a nervous giggle. “The guild needs cash in order to do good deeds for the fine folk of Genesis. Once new members rise above the rank of Page, the fee is waived.”

“Yes, but it says that won’t happen until they’ve paid a sum of 200 gold into the guild treasury. At 10% of the amount you find on monsters, you’d have to earn over 2,000 gold before that happened. It could take years!”

Kelath’s loudness attracted the attention of the other new players around him, many of whom asked the guild recruiters what he was talking about. The female officer whispered something to an elf standing nearby who ran off. He returned shortly after with the man wearing full plate armor who had spoken to the crowd earlier.

“Is there a problem?”

“No problem,” said the woman before addressing Kelath again. “If you wouldn’t mind stepping aside so I can help the next person, General Brill can answer your questions.”

The man she’d called General Brill put an armored hand over Kelath’s shoulder before steering him away from the registration table. “How can I help?”

Kelath held the contract up and said, “There’s a clause in here stating that new members have to pay a fee out of money they find. With the amount they’re expected to tithe, it would take forever to reach the second rank in the guild. That much gold would be worth around $200 in real money if you transferred it out.”

“We have a noble mission from our founder to provide aid to others. Because new members aren’t sufficiently powerful enough to help those in need, we ask that they donate a small amount of their earnings to the guild. We in turn use it for worthy causes. In the end, it’s only a tenth of what the character makes. That is a small burden to bear.”

“You’re talking about a large sum of money when it’s added up though.” Kelath wasn’t sure if the man was trying to be deceptive or if he really believed it was good for new members to work so hard to advance. “What could you possibly be doing that requires your members to give up that much?”

“Perhaps I’m not explaining our goals correctly. I admire your inquisitiveness, so I shall grant you a boon.” He steered them towards the main tent. “King Itrix asked me to bring any talented prospects we find to meet him personally. This is a great honor.”

Kelath followed hesitantly. Two men with halberds stood at the entrance to the tent. They snapped to attention at General Brill’s approach and lifted the flaps so he could enter. Fur rugs covered the ground inside the tent. A wide canopy bed stood on the far side, covered in pillows. Itrix sat in a chair behind a mahogany desk. He looked up as they entered, and Brill knelt on one knee with his head bowed. The tent flap closed behind them so the interior was illuminated by a lantern hung from the center of the ceiling and several candles laid out on the desk.

“Sorry to disturb you, sire. This elf caught my attention amongst the petitioners outside, and I thought you might want to meet him.”

“Thank you, general. You may rise.”

“Thank you, sire.” General Brill stood then took a half step back.

“What is your name, commoner?”

Kelath frowned. “I’m not a commoner, any more than you’re a king. My name is Kelath.”

“Yes, I can see why Brill brought you here. You have confidence. I admire that. Tell me, general, what did he do that caught your attention?”

“Sire, he asked questions about the tithe collected from new members.”

“Ah, very perceptive of you,” said Itrix with a wink. “What was your question?”

“That’s a lot of money, several thousand gold if you take two hundred from each of the people out there who signed up. What will you do with all that gold?”

“We need money to expand the guild over all of Genesis. There are good deeds we can do for our members. We can only accomplish them by accumulating the capital to run businesses. Most new members can’t give much in the way of support, so we ask a token sum of money to further our goals. What’s good for the guild is good for all our members.”

Kelath didn’t like the way they kept referring to good deeds without going into more detail. “Your words sound great, but if that’s what you want, why not ask them to donate the money instead of hiding a clause at the end of the contract?”

Itrix stood up and peered down his nose at Kelath, a posture that mostly came off as preposterous since as an elf, Kelath was easily six inches taller than Itrix’s human frame. “You’re very perceptive, Kelath, and I figure you could be a shrewd businessman. I need people like you to oversee my craftsmen and guild shops. If you join my guild, I’ll immediately raise you to the rank of Knight and find a position that suits your talents. How does that sound?”

Kelath sneered. “You’re still taking a bunch of money from all the other people out there. It’s a Ponzi scheme. Am I supposed to feel better because you’re not taking it from me, too?”

“There would be other perks, an assistant perhaps. If you ran one of my businesses, you would be entitled to a percentage of the profit.”

He had to admit he felt tempted for a second, but the whole deal made him feel a little sleazy. “I think I’ll pass.”

Itrix stared, an incredulous look on his face. “This is a very good deal you’re throwing away, and I’ll only offer it once. Are you sure you won’t reconsider?”

“I’m fine on my own.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Itrix shook his head before nodding at Brill. “General, please show him out.”

Brill pulled his great sword from the sheath on his back and slammed the pommel into the base of Kelath’s skull before he could react.

Strength check to resist. You have been stunned for 5 seconds.

Brill laughed as he slashed down with the giant sword, removing over half Kelath’s health. The second cut sent him sprawling to the ground. The stun timer wasn’t even halfway finished when everything went black.