A young man, twenty years old, rushed up the stairs, taking two steps at once. His face brimmed with confidence. He slammed the door open, storming into his father’s office.
“Dad! No, Gino! I challenge you to a duel!”
The father’s real name was George, but online, he went by Gino. George sat comfortably in his favorite chair, specially designed for his body shape. He read one of those uncommon non-digital newspapers, enjoying the rare peace and quiet, while listening to some soothing classical music. Of course, the son's disruptive appearance ruined any peaceful mood.
George disliked being called Gino by his son in real life, but did not complain about such small matters. After all, his son had heard people call him Gino countless times, but rarely did anyone say George. His son had the guts to challenge him again, so how could he ruin the mood by nagging about irrelevant things?
George lowered the newspaper, looking his son straight in the eyes. “Valeriano? Oh, again? What now? You lost so badly last time…in fact, you lose badly every single time! Heh heh.” George said, amused by his son’s competition spirit.
Valeriano, the son, swallowed his anger, and continued to explain the new challenge. “This time, we won’t play against each other directly, nor alone. We will play a Virtual Reality MMO! Best player in a year’s time, will win!”
George frowned slightly. MMO… there are endless variables that can determine your success. Simply getting a random lucky drop, means you will shoot ahead of the competition, even though you did nothing special to deserve it. “First things first… What game?”
“Well, I have a few in mind...” Valeriano fished out a small paper note from a chest pocket. “Evolution Online! Have been delayed for over two years, but now they promise they will release it in a month. Probably just running out of cash though, heh.”
George nodded. “Read about it, sounds interesting. Their never-ending struggles to make that game have been fun to follow. What else?”
“Right, next is World of Conquest! Ancient Civs fighting each other. Comes out in five days. Seems pretty good, my personal favorite.”
George searched his memory, but nothing special came up. Then he looked at his newspaper, and a huge ad covered the whole page. World of Conquest... George smiled, and read some of the info on the ad out loud, but translated it from Market Speech, into normal english. “Some historical accuracy, but many non-historical things, and alt-history as well, to make it more fun to play. Factions are Rome, China and Egypt.” George chuckled to himself. “Can’t imagine being a female soldier would be much fun back then. Good thing they made some changes.”
Valeriano looked up, making a ‘not bad’ expression, like the old president Obama was known for. “Good, so you’ve heard of it, no need for me to explain that one then. Moving on!”
George mentally slapped himself. Ah, damn! Now I gotta do some proper research on my own…
“Then there are some more unusual games… They have been going the rounds underground, merely rumors… but their potentials are said to be unprecedented.” Valeriano took a dramatic pause, hyping the new games up.
“The Swarm, an amazing insect game. A video leaked, but it quickly got taken down. However, many downloaded it, and spread it around. Offline only, though. Every time it appeared online, the video got deleted. Not much is known about it, but maybe it will release within the year. Looked very finished in the video.” Valeriano said.
“Hmm. Well, we can’t really play a game that isn’t out yet. Saw that video too, looked amazing, but the maker is unknown. Perhaps, it was just a fake vid.” George said, his voice carrying a hint of disappointment.
Making a gameplay vid, or even a cinematic vid would always be a lot easier than making the actual game. Such videos were common online, though, most did not claim to be real.
“Yeah, true.” Valeriano nodded, taking another dramatic pause. “However, this rumored game is even more mysterious.” Valeriano said with a smile. “It is said, the military, all of them, worked together to make this thing. Makes sense, given that they scrapped almost all their equipment, but didn’t fire people. Perhaps they use them to fight wars in VR?”
“Hm… all wars becoming virtual? While that would be a good thing, though, I fear gaming would no longer be about entertainment anymore. Only profit for the country. Maybe we would be recruited, or rather, forced into service, as well. Hope you are wrong about that game.” George said with a heavy sigh.
George was getting old, almost fifty now, and he had no interest in shortsighted politicians wars for glory. To transform his lifelong hobby-turned-work-turned-hobby into something so evil... he wanted no part of that.
“Ah! Didn’t think about that… Hm… anyway, which one do you choose?”
“Well, only one is coming out soon, and it will have plenty of wars for us to compete in. Let’s go with World of Conquest!” George got back to his paper, wanting to, at least, finish his current article before doing some research about the game.
“You sure? The challenge can wait for some other game? Playing a MMO is a long-term project, if you really want, we can play something else. A new triple A game comes out every day, and several smaller indies, as well. Heh heh, we truly have too many games these days.”
“Tell me about it…” George said from behind the newspaper. “I get literally thousands of emails a day, from people asking me to play their games, and so on. I said that the World of Conquest thing was fine, just go with that.”
“Hope you didn't take it because I said it’s my favorite, it’s quite different from most VRMMOs, heh heh. But, you made your choice, I will order the games right now.” Valeriano ran down the stairs again, towards his room, and ordered two copies.
“This time… heh heh!” Valeriano spun around in his computer chair. He slammed his feet down, got up, and looked at the large digital blackboard hanging on his wall. “For far too long, I have suffered defeat after defeat… this time, I will win!”
A series of numbers glowed brightly on the digital blackboard:
42,841 Losses! 0 Draws! 0 Wins!
“I need to prepare my strategy…” Valeriano sat down on his chair again, thinking deeply. “Need to get a village going quickly, become the top dog in my area, and from there… I will dominate!” Valeriano finished his flawless plan and went to bed, tired after sitting up all night, researching games he could ‘maybe’ beat his father in.
Over ten thousand games released every year, so Valeriano had an enormous backlog to slog through. Luckily, so did George.
Valeriano only spent a few minutes on most games, before quickly realizing his dad would crush him in a duel if he picked that game. So, he went with MMOs with little to no details available, so at least, they would both start with a clean slate. If George got his infamous snowball rolling, he would be unstoppable, but what if Valeriano got lucky instead? Maybe he could at least get a draw…
---
Five days passed quickly. Valeriano read some historical books about the factions, but he debated internally on how much of that would apply in the game. After all, China and Rome were quite some distance away from each other, and never fought any official battles! How would that logic apply in the game?
But, perhaps the most worrying thing was the Egypt faction. For example, the Egypt Octavian, later known as Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, conquered for Rome, was not the same as the one in the game. It was a much older version, more around the period of the New Kingdom.
All Valeriano could do was to wait. After all, it was only a game. Who knows what kind of balance changes the Developers made?
Finally, the alarm clock rang, and Valeriano jolted out from the bed. Eight in the morning, a good time to start playing games!
He got dressed in the usual gaming clothes; underwear and a tank top. Nothing worse than getting sweaty while gaming!
Valeriano walked into the kitchen, but stopped when he saw someone already eating there. “Dad, see you’re ready for our duel. Eating breakfast already, heh heh. You look a bit tired? Did you forget about it, staying up all night?” Internally, Valeriano screamed with joy. Even if George claimed he forgot about the launch, the deadline could not be stopped. Asking for an extension at this stage, would be the same as surrendering.
“Uh, yeah, kinda.” George slurped some milk straight from the bowl, almost finished with his cereals.
“Well, don’t blame me for your lack of preparations. Today, our duel start! Hope you studied somewhat, at least.” Valeriano filled his bowl with his favorite cereals; a kind of Choco puffs. For serious gaming, he needed serious sugar, Rule number 7 and all... that was his excuse, and he was sticking to it!
“Yep, always do my homework when it comes to games. Hell would freeze over before I slacked with my preparations. Gamer Rule number 16: Always do your preparations! You don’t become the World Champion ten years in a row, if you are a slacker! Remember that, son. Why don’t you pick faction first.” With that, George finished his breakfast, and got up to get some water to drink.
“Okay then…I will take Rome.”
“Oh, good choice. Think our Italian blood will help you? Heh, I’ll take China then.”
“Why not Egypt?”
“Well, can’t play games when it’s hot! Rule number 2. Heh heh! ”
“Uh, but…-” Valeriano raised a finger to point out…
George waved his comment off. “Relax son, it’s a joke!”
Valeriano felt a bit stupid, of course, George would know that. “Fine, we will start at the same time. You ready otherwise? Just let me finish eating.” Valeriano poured in the milk, finally starting to eat at a rapid pace.
“Uh, the game actually came out at twelve last night. I already picked the China faction and made my village.” George scratched his head and said, feeling a bit guilty.
“Huh?! What?! Why didn’t you tell me?!” Valeriano knocked the bowl over in his anger, spilling it all out. The white, fancy tablecloth got stained with brown chocolate milk, obviously created from the cereal and milk mix.
“This is a competition, son. I can’t hold your hand. Rule number 25!” George said with a stern face, trying hard to control his emotions from watching the ruined tablecloth. That thing costed a thousand dollars! Royalty use those during big events!
Valeriano took one look at the tablecloth, shrugging. The maid would clean that up. “What if I picked China then?”
“Oh, I knew you would pick Rome. You love Rome. You always pick Rome. You are predictable. Rule number 3.”
“But, but…” Valeriano’s triumph got ruined once again. Not only did he fail to get online on time, George even managed to squeeze in another lecture!
“Tik tok, son. I only came out to get something to eat. The game is great, by the way.” George said, walking out from the kitchen, heading back upstairs.
“Arrrgh!” Valeriano grunted out in anger.
Valeriano still needed to eat, so he refilled his bowl. “Damn, milk package ran out.” Shaking his head, he went to the fridge… “No milk?!” He checked the trash, and two empty and folded packages were neatly placed on top.
“Dad! You bastard! How much milk did you drink?!” Valeriano shouted out.
“Oh, sorry about that, heh heh!” A muffled voice shouted back, from upstairs. “Rule number 8!”
Cursing his Italian blood, making him always gesture too much when emotional, Valeriano instead ate some bread. Having finished eating, he pushed a bell-shaped button on the wall, and went to his room. Fuck! Lost so much time!
---
A while later, an attractive female maid, in her early twenties, walked into the kitchen. She sighed heavily, seeing the mess. “How two people can cause such a mess everyday is beyond me. Oh well…” She began the clean up. Bread crumbles covered the floor, as did an alarmingly high amount of cereals. Milk stained the super expensive tablecloth. Five different types of bread, and eight kinds of topping sat on the kitchen table. Some even soaked in a bit of milk. “Throw the milky stuff away, I guess? Maybe… I can eat it?”
She made herself a luxurious sandwich, putting it aside until she finished cleaning.
She put the milkless items back into the fridge, before they rotted or melted. The bread got packaged into bags, to prevent them from drying. Not that it mattered much, every day, ten types of freshly baked bread got delivered to the house. Worst part? They usually only ate shitty cereals!
She threw away the soggy bread and toppings. With the table now cleared, the tablecloth could be removed. After a brief inspection, she sighed heavily. “This thing… can’t be machine washed.”
She brought a basin, and put the tablecloth inside. Then she mopped the floor. Finally, the kitchen looked normal again.
“Let’s see… need to do laundry, thankfully they wear little clothing when gaming, so that is nice and easy. Then I gotta repaint the house...eh, do it another day. Lawn needs to get mown and bushes trimmed. Why oh why, did they insist on having such a gigantic lawn, when they NEVER go outside!?”
She sighed, continuing with her list of chores. Saying it out loud helped her remember, and perhaps more importantly, it gave her someone to talk to. “Hand wash the tablecloth. Sort the mail, over three hundred letters arrive each day. Vacuum the house when they are both playing to avoid disturbing them. Cleaning all the rooms, but maybe I can skip the forty empty rooms… after all, they are empty.”
She pondered for a bit. “Hmm, what else. Order new milk… actually, order a full restock might be better. Some items in the fridge are nearing a week old. For dinner, I can cook some lobster rolled in gold leaf, with white truffle… maybe I should order it from a restaurant first? Check their recipe.”
She took out her smartphone, making some quick searches. “George might like this one, The Samundari Khazana from the Bombay Brasserie in London. A fine lobster dish. Maybe this one for dessert? The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate from Serendipity 3, in New York. We get some gifts included for the price.”
She put the smartphone back in her pocket. “George ate a whole kilo of Beluga Caviar three days ago, which he threw up later, so need to refill that. Other than that, we are good for a few days. Oh, need to refill the dishwasher too. Hm, Valeriano made no specific requests, he will just eat whatever George eats, I assume.”
With that, she got back to work, humming a song to herself. Busy, busy everyday!
---
Valeriano got into his custom-made, full-immersion capsule. Instead of lying or sitting on some kind of chair, like a peasant, he instead used the deluxe version, a Gaming Gel™ capsule.
“Using a Gaming Gel™ best selling capsule, means the body does not get so worn from playing. One of the main reasons why George Santini can still compete with the young is precisely that. In fact, he gains more and more experience in all kinds of games, making him the most knowledgeable gamer in the world, he only gets better as he age! Gaming Gel™ are proud supporters of George Santini! The ten years in a row World Champion of Strategy! Tactic! And FPS!
Back in the days, gaming only used mouse and keyboard, or occasionally a controller, which meant endless clicking and sitting uncomfortably in a chair. The Gaming Gel™ supports the whole body, feels like floating in vacuum, meaning no worn body parts or bad posture. The slightly more expensive versions, available now for ONLY one hundred thousand dollars, even have muscle stimulants, meaning the body can keep up an average build without really exercising. There is a limit on those automatic stimulants, of course, it mainly avoids the deterioration that happens during long periods with little exercise. Thank you for choosing Gaming Gel™.”
“Ugh, even after paying a hundred grand for this capsule, they still show you this stupid ad every time you log in.” Valeriano grumbled to himself. They just had to throw in that part about his dad. But still, Rule number 6 applied heavily here.
The ad also showed the repeated victories of George, how he won game after game, match after match, in the three main categories he competed in. He competed in others too, but just casually, but he still reached the top hundred in every category.
To become the World Champion, one needs to finish first in the hundred man tournament, in which only the top hundred have permission to join. The amount of competitors gets halved every round. Each round is a best of ten matches in ten different games. Since he just defends his title now, he can skip the grueling slug through the ranks, and wait for the second person at the top. If number two declines, it goes to number three, and so on.
“Please select your game!” A computer voice from the capsule said.
“World of Conquest!”
The capsule lit up with a bright light, and Valeriano closed his eyes, allowing himself to become fully emerged into the Gaming Gel™.
Valeriano slowly opened his eyes, and saw himself standing up. He did a quick body movements check, and it was just like real life.
“Mm, a good game. Some games a clunky to move in. Hello? Computer?”
A fierce voice began to speak. Sounded like some ancient badass General, but he spoke oddly politely. An odd mix. “Welcome to World of Conquest! Please pick your faction! You may choose between Rome, Egyp-”
“Rome!” Valeriano did not feel like sitting through that long speech, since he read it all online.
“You have chosen Rome. Your choice will influence your culture, city design and citizens.”
“Yes, yes!” Valeriano rolled with his hand, gesturing it to hurry up.
The badass General paid him little heed, continuing with his speech. Allowing users to skip the explanation would be a bad idea, unless they wanted their ‘Help’ section to get swamped.
“Once you have advanced enough, you may design your own buildings or purchase user made designs from other users. However, if your citizens are still loyal to your starting faction, they might become upset with the foreign culture. You may not build or buy the other starting faction’s buildings and units.”
“Hmm, can I change later? And can I make my own kingdom or something?” Valeriano asked, a bit happy the tutorial continued.
“Yes. You may change at any time, by visiting the other faction’s Capitals and learning about their culture in the library. This comes with a heavy price, and your former faction will not stand idle by. You can also create your own culture when you hold enough territory. Creating your own culture does not have as big penalty on your current holdings, as changing to an existing one.”
“Got it. Is that all?”
“Roman culture selected. Starting area: Rome. What will you be known as?”
“Maximus!”
“Taken.”
“Nero!”
“Taken.”
“Brutus!”
“Available, do you wish you take this name?”
“Yes, please.”
“Error! Name taken.”
“What the?!”
“Arrgh, picking a name is always the hardest part of any online game. Why are the names unique?!”
“Valerian!”
“Available, do you wish you take this name?”
“Yes, yes quickly!”
“Name reserved. Please select your avatar’s appearance.”
“Phew, should have gone with my usual online name right away. That’s what I get for trying to hide my identity. Though, not sure if I should laugh or cry no one stole it…”
A box fell down from the sky, landing with a thud. Or rather than calling it a box, it was more like a mirror, except Valeriano could spin his figure around without moving himself.
The figure looked exactly like him, in every single way.
“Heh heh! Swoosh! Swish!” Valeriano amused himself by changing the appearance to the extreme with some sliders. Super long legs, big neck, no neck, huge nose, no ears, fat, thin, short and tall. The choices were a bit limited, though. He could not make too extreme changes.
“Um, please reset this for me.” Valeriano said, not wanting to deal with the trouble of doing it himself. He did not want to look like that either.
“Reset.”
“Yep, that is good. Leave it at default. Gotta remember Rule number 13.”
“Creation complete. Welcome to World of Conquest! Step through the portal to begin your adventure.”
A tear in space appeared, like shattering a mirror. The black void stared back at Valeriano, but he just took a calm step towards it, and got sucked in.
Other games had used the ‘cool’ tear in space effect before. A surprisingly quick and painless way to travel. Just like stepping through an open door. Maybe not so painless, if his body was not made of data.
Valeriano found himself in a small room. The only light in the room, came from the tiny keyhole on the door. Valeriano, or rather, Valerian now, tapped his foot on the floor.
“Wood. Walls are wood too.” Valerian felt his way around the room, hoping to maybe find something useful. Sometimes, the starting area had hidden secrets. Rule number 18.
“No such luck, heh heh. Oh well, would be bad balance to have hidden secrets at the spawn. Or maybe… I missed them because I came late? Damn, won’t be able to stop thinking about that now...”
Valerian touched the handle. “Not locked. Guess that is as expected...” With that, he flung the door open, immediately getting blinded by the bright lights from the outside.
“Ugh, didn’t think that through.”
With his eyes closed, the sounds and smells hit him much harder. It was truly different from modern times, to put it nicely.
“Great, how much effort was put into making the nose work the same?” Valerian said, pinching his nose.
Valerian took a step out, looking around, but failed to see any landmarks or something to help him figure out his location. He only saw beggars at every street corner, and could not help but notice just how poor the general state of the area was. Buildings could use some serious repairs, as could the roads. Some buildings only had half a door left, after someone presumably, kicked the door in. The people looked hopeless and just...tired of everything.
“The slums?” Valerian did not jump with joy. “This is one of those start from the bottom games? Kinda hoped I would start from the top, for once.”
“What the hell am I wearing?” Valerian pinched the white clothing on his body, pulling it out to get a better look. “Is this a dress or what? Did I get my gender right? Ah, wait. This is a tunic, and on my feet are those ‘Caligae’ shoes, the romans always wear. Pretty nifty, I guess.”
The tunic went down to his knees, with short sleeves on the arms. The shoes were heavy soled hobnailed military boots. Open aired to reduce the risk of all those nasty things like trench foot. Made from three leather layers and laced up the center of the foot and the ankle.
Valerian spun around, looking in all directions. The building he came out from was a wide two-story building, with over fifty small doors in.
“Hm, I see. That’s how we spawn in. In a house, out of sight.” Valerian said. His theory got confirmed by people constantly streaming out from the building. A few minutes later, someone even came out from the same room he did.
“No point hanging around here. Should find the library and maybe some training area.” Having made up his mind, Valerian was just about to set off, when he got interrupted...
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“Huh? You said something?” A filthy and poor looking person, that just happened to walk by said, a mix of joy and surprise on his face. Finally, someone talked to me!
“Huh?! Who?” Valerian turned around, but took a step back in shock when he saw the person standing so closely to him. “Uh, keep your dirty han- I mean distance, there friend. Sorry, habit of talking to myself. I gotta go!” Valerian ran away, leaving the filthy, poor and now stunned person behind.
“Phew, almost got dirty! Getting new clothes and a bath must be expensive, need to be more careful…”
“Huh? You said something?” Another filthy and poor looking person walked by!
“Ah! Nevermind! Gotta run!” Valerian ran away again! From now on, internal dialogue only!
Need to stop talking with myself…
Valerian finally found the library. An impressive looking building; white pillars at the front, and statues and busts placed every few meters. He started searching for City Management or similar books.
Too big! Too many books! No search computer! How does this system even work? Am I supposed to check them one by one? Jesus, what is this? The stone age?!
“Um, could you help me find some books?” Valerian gave up and asked for help. Should have done this right away! Lost thirty minutes on being stubborn!
“That’s what I’m here for. What do you need?” The elderly lady behind the desk said with a smile.
Not sure how I should put this, but since she is a NPC, she should know what I’m talking about, right?
“I heard the, uh, colonization efforts beyond the portal needs more people, especially talented managers. So, was looking for some books about managing a city, or something like that.” Valerian said with an innocent smile on his face. Rule number 23: A good gamer needs to be a good actor! How else is he going to deny all those invitations, without hurting or pushing away the person asking?
“Yes, since yesterday or so, people have come in here constantly, looking for things like that. I give them these two books: ‘Basic Territory Management’ and ‘Roman Culture and their Ways of War’. Haven’t read them myself, but they seem to do the trick, since they all leave shortly afterwards.” She said, as she handed the two books over. One quite thin book, and one much thicker.
Valerian gladly accepted them. However, Rule number 14: Always ask for more information! “Thanks, but I wonder, do you have any other books on the subject?”
“No, that’s all we have available for the public.” She said with a stern face.
“The public? Does that mean you have others? If so, how can one access them?” Valerian asked, hoping to discover some rare books.
“There are two more books, but they are in the restricted area. Only available to nobles and other high ranking members of society. No offense, but you do not look like one.”
Hmm, almost forgot this was a game. Maybe if I do something for her, my reputation will go up, and I can get access to them? Times goes three times faster, so been more than a day in-game already since the launch. Many have already started building up their villages. Those two books could benefit me greatly. Rule number 17: Always aim for the rare loot!
“Very well, will take these two books for now. By the way, do you need some help around here? I happen to like libraries, and have a feeling you might need an extra hand with all these newcomers.” Valerian put on his best job-searching smile. Not that he ever had a job...besides gaming. But he watched movies and tv-shows...
“Yes, I have been quite busy lately. Even eating my lunch at this desk.” She sighed, lifting some papers, revealing a plate with a half eaten piece of bread on. “Finish those two books for now, and come and talk to me later.”
Valerian nodded and walked over to a table to read them. The first one contained all one would need to know about managing their Territory. It also explained how to access and use the interface. Did not seem very hard. Which is why it’s so thin, I guess.
The second book, however, was more of a history book, explaining what weapons and tactics the Romans used. It also had a bunch of building details, so it was quite an interesting read. The same thing could be found online, but nice to get some confirmation about the Romans tactics in-game.
However, the user had quite a bit of freedom, and could choose to make up their own things, so this was most likely just how the NPCs would act.
Valerian returned to the old lady after reading the books.
The old lady lit up, clearly happy to see Valerian returning. Must have been hard to see all those people coming here, yet no one stayed behind once they got their two books. “Ah, you’re back! Would you like to work here for a while? You will, of course, start out with more simple tasks, like putting back books, cleaning, and so on, until you know your way around a little bit better. The pay isn’t much, but I will provide you with some food.”
Valerian happily accepted her offer, and as his first task, she told him to return a stack of books to their shelves.
After that, he had to clean the shelves. Take out the books, dust off the shelves, put back the books. Repeat a hundred times...or more. The old lady stayed behind the desk, helping the crowds of people who constantly came in.
There were quite a lot of users that had the same idea as Valerian; to come to the library for some tips, but none of them seemed to ask about working there. Did I make a mistake? Perhaps people have already tried this route before?
However, no one looked twice at Valerian. They probably thought he was just some unimportant NPC, cleaning the shelves all day, every day.
Valerian worked hard all day, hoping his grinding would pay off. As he immersed himself in the, surprisingly fun, activity of cleaning, the old lady suddenly tapped him on the shoulder, saying it was time to close the library. However, thanks to the 1:3 time difference, Valerian did not need to sleep yet. Not to mention, he could easily go two or even three days without sleep. Rule number 24: A gamer needs to master his sleep! Not the reverse!
“Um, can I stay here for the night? My sleeping patterns are quite irregular, and I’m not tired at all. In fact, I don’t even have any place to sleep! Can’t I finish up the cleaning while you sleep?” Valerian put on a ‘oh woe is me’ act, making himself appear as pitiful as possible.
“What?! Are you serious?” The old lady did not know what to think. This was the first time anyone had wanted to continue working after closing hours, especially doing such a boring task like cleaning.
She gradually calmed down. Valerian's pitiful look was too much for her to resist. “Well, you have worked hard all day, so I guess if you want, you can stay here for the night. There’s some food on my desk, if you're hungry. Take this key, in case, you change your mind and leave.”
Valerian thanked her, waving goodbye with a big smile on his face. After she got out of sight, he quickly locked the door.
Now, should I look up the restricted area first, or finish cleaning? Might not get another chance like this again, but she might be suspicious if I haven’t finished. Or she just thinks I fell asleep. No! Let’s finish cleaning first. Won’t take that long… I hope.
Seven hours later…
Finally done! Holy shit! Why did I keep going?! Guess, I wanted to see, if there was some kind of reward for finishing such a monstrous task. There was not.
Valerian’s hand trembled like a leaf, and his legs acted like perfectly cooked spaghetti. I’m hungry?
Valerian quickly ate the food left on her desk, and his body immediately got better. Ah, the wonders of an in-game body!
Valerian moved towards the restricted section. It’s really dark... and all I have is this small oil lamp. Ah, how I miss just entering a room and light appearing.
Turns out, the entrance door key worked perfectly fine in the restricted area door too! Is this common? One key to unlock multiple doors or are the locks just that primitive? Do I even need a key? Feels like I could lock pick this...
Valerian did not delay, and snuck inside. “Wow…” Valerian slipped out. The restricted area was almost as big as the actual library! Well, the library had multiple floors.
This might take some time…
In the end, Valerian’s search for the two secret books was a complete… failure! He decided to log out to eat in real life, while waiting for the new day to start. He did not meet his dad, but he noticed the kitchen looked better again. Good job, Bell!
He logged back after eating. Just some quick and easy sushi: shrimp rolled in truffles, rice and salmon with a few other ingredients. A normal lunch snack.
The sun slowly rose, and the streets began to look alive. All the normal shops were still closed, so maybe an hour until she came back.
Come to think of it, we never introduced ourselves.
The old lady unlocked the door with her spare key, surprised to see Valerian still awake.
Valerian smiled and waved at her, stretching out his hand when she got close. She looked at the hand in confusion at first, but then she also realized that they did not know each other's names. She gladly shook his hand with a firm grip... Actually, she shook his wrist… which took Valerian with surprise, but he instantly adjusted his grip.
There are no real evidence that Romans used the wrist shake, but plenty for using a ‘normal’ handshake, however, thanks to movies and so on, many think they did. And so, the Developers thought it would fit nicely in, increasing the ‘cool’ factor of the Romans. They did not, however, add in the ‘Salve’ and ‘Ave’ to say hello, or the ‘Vade en pace’, ‘Vale’ and ‘Avate’ to say goodbye. Would just end up confusing for the users, if the NPCs spoke in mixed languages. If the users wanted to say it, however, the NPCs would gladly respond.
“Salve! I’m Valerian. Pleased to meet you.” Valerian said with a gentleman’s smile.
“Hehe, call me Prisca. First time I hired someone without knowing their name.” Prisca returned the smile. She looked around, seeing an unusually low amount of dust. “Did you really finish your work yesterday?” Prisca said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yep, though it got quite dark, so might missed a few spots.” Valerian said with a casual shrug.
Prisca walked around, checking for dust on the shelves by dragging her finger across the surface. She returned shortly afterwards with a satisfied look on her face.
“Very good! It’s within the acceptable levels. So, I’m going to open up in a few minutes. Are you going to bed now, or what?”
“Hmm. No, can still go on for a few more hours, before I need a break. What do you need me for today?” Valerian said, puffing up his chest. Rule number 19: Never say No to a Quest!
Though, could this really be counted as a quest? A quest implied a reward, he was just free labour at this point. Well, in the eyes of a starving man, even some dried bread crusts was a treasure. For Valerian? Not so much.
“Um, don’t feel right working you this long. This is worse than slave labour. How about you take a break for now?” Prisca smiled, trying to signal he was allowed to take breaks.
“Well, I did see a couple interesting books while cleaning.” Valerian said, looking over his shoulder. “Do you have something I can write on?” Valerian scribbled some words in the air.
“Write on? Sure thing, be right back.” Prisca came back with a box full of writing materials, more than enough for what Valerian planned to do.
“Do you have some quiet place I can be in? Would prefer not to be in the main room, with all the others, you know. Ah! I know, the restricted area should be empty, right? Can I sit there and write down some things?”
Prisca furrowed her brows. Was he planning on reading the books in there? However, he could have done that during the night, but instead he worked hard. Ah, I see! He’s tired and wants a quiet place to sleep. There are private rooms, but other people can access them, disturbing his sleep. No one will enter that area! He’s probably just embarrassed to say he’s tired, which is why he’s pretending to study...
“Very well!” Prisca nodded, smiling to herself, happy that she cracked into the mind of this young and ambitious person. “Ah, here, take this blanket too. Might get cold in there.” She said, acting like a mother sending away her child on a long journey.
That was easy. Guess I impressed her enough, letting me do whatever I want. Even got a blanket, for some reason.
Valerian thanked her for the generous gift. A blanket could be very useful if he needed to travel in the night. Or simply for sleeping. He did not know if this game required the avatar to sleep or not, but would not surprise him.
Valerian walked towards the restricted area, entering with his key. He stopped by the door, waving goodbye to the old lady that stalked him. Prisca returned the wave, smiling widely, but also wished him a good night's sleep. Oh, that’s why I got the blanket… Even better. Now she definitely won’t disturb me.
Valerian searched the shelves for a few hours last time, seeing quite a lot of interesting titles.
For some reason, many of the journals in there revolved around the dark side of Roman politics. Assassinations, slave trades, locations of hidden objects, adultery, buying votes, the list went on and on. Interestingly enough, the updates were monthly, going back around five years, until they suddenly stopped six months ago. Rule number 26: There are no coincidences! Investigate everything!
Someone must have blackmailed the wrong target. However, something like ‘death’ did not stop Valerian. Prison and torture might, but not death. Once again, the wonders of an in-game body!
Need funds to catch up with the other users.
Most just read the first two books, and then immediately went through the portal, setting up their village in a nice spot. Nice spots that were getting fewer and fewer, by each passing minute.
Valerian decided to prioritize the money-making things, especially the buried and hidden treasures. They might be gone by now, but if not, they would immediately level the playing field.
Valerian spent around four hours frantically writing things down, with more and more sloppy handwriting as a result. Still readable...but just barely. Bah, who still writes with pen and paper? Using the mind to paper app is much faster...
Then he decided to resume the search for the two books.
Valerian placed the box of writing materials, blanket and the written papers in his inventory. The inventory was much smaller than normally found in games, but still big enough to squeeze in a few items. He could, of course, simply take the books, but that might be stealing them, and he was not that desperate. Yet.
He was also not sure if such an action could be detected, so copying them saved him from potentially endless trouble. Or maybe he just worried for nothing. However, Rule number 27: Always be cautious! Thankfully, the books were all written in english! What a miracle!
It did not take long to find the two other books. They hid only two shelves away from where he stopped last time. The books were called: ‘Non-Human Cultures’ and ‘Non-Human Diplomacy’.
Interesting. Didn’t know there were any Non-Humans, and not sure how the writer of this book found this information.
That is, until Valerian remembered that he currently played a game, and therefore a simple thing to add in a few books about something that was not public knowledge yet.
Another thing, when he started reading them, he noticed they lacked a writer’s name or signature. Yep, most likely a rare book.
The first one described the three major Non-Human races: Elves, Dwarves and Orcs. It also mentioned three lesser races: Goblins, Trolls, and Beastfolk. Their looks, architecture, and a lines about their warfare and tactics.
Interesting… It didn’t say anything about it ONLY being three lesser races...
The second one was perhaps a bit more important. It described the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of diplomacy. Do not destroy nature in front of an elf! Do not hug a tree in front of a dwarf! Do not be a coward in front of an orc!
Judging by the book, the races are similar to the normal typical fantasy races, so no big surprises there. Or maybe the book is just basic. Rule number 20: Do not assume everything you read is true!
Valerian closed the second book with a poof, pondering about their meaning. Suddenly, both books began to glow, and exploded into tiny light particles! Those tiny glowing particles slowly faded, until they all eventually disappeared.
Valerian sat there, stunned over the sudden firework display. “What was that?” He asked no one in particular. Luckily...he got no reply either, because that would have been creepy.
Valerian internally debated if he should stay in the restricted area any longer, looking for more secret books, or finally leave the library. Hunting those treasures would be a nice change of pace, and maybe do some basic combat training after that.
Valerian decided to leave. It was just too boring, to be honest. Though, his decision broke Rule number 22: Always milk a place dry before leaving!
But he did not care that much. Aren't rules made to be broken? It would be another thing if I gained stat ups for reading, but… just reading for reading’s sake? No time for that!
The library would not go anywhere, but the treasures might. And if Valerian did not get through the portal soon enough, he would find it impossible to secure any nice place for his village.
Valerian left the room, heading towards Prisca to say goodbye.
She sat behind the desk as usual, and lots of people, obviously users, hung around, waiting for their turn.
Valerian decided to logout, no point in waiting for the crowd to thin out. He hesitated to have their conversation in public. It would just alert the users that they could work for her, and perhaps get access to the restricted area as well.
---
Valeriano got out of the capsule, and started doing some stretches. His body felt fine, not stiff at all, thanks to the Gaming Gel™.
Wonder if there’s anything new online? Valeriano sat down by the computer. Even though he spent a few hours in-game, he did not need to use the bathroom… another handy feature of the Gaming Gel™. Yep, it handled that too...please refrain from asking about the specifics.
A few sites dedicated solely to World of Conquest had plopped up, but one was clearly superior: Forum of Conquest!
Valeriano checked the hottest posts in the Rome section. The top thread was about people posting a video of their village.
Valeriano wore a special headset, using his eyes as a pointer. So, he focused his vision on the video, and it started playing.
“Look at my beautiful village! A small lake, with a small hill and a small forest. Perfect farming lands and…”
The guy in the video went on and on about how perfect the village was. Valeriano had to admit, it was quite nice, but it only had about a hundred people living there. Better than Valeriano’s grand total of zero people, but still. The guy in the video had no defenses either. He even told the coordinates to his village, so others could come and see for themselves.
That might be a bad idea.
Valeriano scrolled down through the thread, watching a few more villages, but no one as nice as in the first video. Guess he had a reason to brag! However, Valeriano could not help but feel the perfect looking village would look better...on fire!
Valeriano soon discovered others shared his justified opinion. Another user posted a video a few hours later, showing a brutal raid on the perfect village. The raiders only had around thirty soldiers, but that was enough to cause serious damage.
It looked like five users and twenty-five NPC soldiers had teamed up. The users simply wore the starter clothes, wielding a gladius sword, but the NPCs were fully geared Roman Legionaries.
The raid party carefully snuck closer, moving through the nearby forest. As they reached the edge of the forest, they were only a stone's throw away from the closest building.
They spread out, picking their targets and the NPCs threw their pila, a throwing javelin designed to bend on impact, on the stronger looking men. While the other villagers panicked, the raiders charged in, killing, no, slaughtering in melee combat.
With the help of their big rectangular shields, called scutum, the simple villagers could not even fight back. While the NPC soldiers were having a field day, killing as much as they wanted, the users hiding in the back, suddenly lit torches, rushing up to the buildings, setting them on fire. After their horrible deed, the users quickly retreated back into the forest, leaving all the fighting to the heavily armored Legionaries.
Valeriano watched with an open mouth. The game did not spare on the visual details, and absolutely no censoring of the gore. Valeriano skipped the bloody details, the executions and other acts of cruelty, going straight to the end for the results. The video came with time stamps, in case, someone wanted to do just that.
One of the users in the video began to talk. “All villagers are dead! All houses burning! And only two soldiers died in the raid! Hahaha...!” He laughed like a maniac.
Another user came, talking directly into the camera, which meant into the eyes of the person filming. “That’ll teach you! Haha! Next, we are coming for you!” The user said, pointing directly into the camera.
The last moments of the video was them stealing a few horses to help carry the loot. The loot mainly contained metal tools, food, clothes, nails and some money. They did not bother with the heavier building materials like timber, even though it would be very useful for them. Just too heavy to grab in a small raid.
“Wow...” Valeriano leaned back in his chair, impressed by the video. Their tactic could use some work, but considering they only had a day to figure the game out, that was a very successful raid.
Valeriano had practically forgotten that the term ‘Conquest’ was in the title. Conquest implied war. War implied brutality. He kept thinking about how to manage his village, but now he felt most of his time would be spent fighting.
If war was unavoidable, then the only choice remaining was: Offensive or Defensive? Rush or Turtle? Economy or Military? Or a Balance? Late Game, a Balance would probably be the best, maybe a bit more focus on Military. Well, in the end, one has to change his plans according to reality. If there are no enemies, the military would be a waste of money.
The video Valeriano just watched was about a Military Rusher and a Full Economic. Though, it is important to mention that the Rushers had five users, while the single Full Economic user had disarmed his soldiers to help with the normal work.
Rushing is always strong at the start, but the more time the Economic or Turtles gets to build up, the more they will catch up, and eventually pass the Rusher. Of course, if the Rusher simply raids a few villages, then calms down, using the increased amount of resources to build up, he would be hard to stop. But, he will gather countless enemies in return. In short, there exists no sure win strategy.