《One Undead Man Armada》 One . One 1.1 Hit the ground running. For most veterans of the MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) world, this method had always been proven the most effective. The strategy was simple; get ahead of everyone else right from the starting line, rack up some crazy levels in the shortest amount of time and then leave all the puny stragglers behind the cloud of level-gap dust. It was the oldest method in the book. And for many generations, gamers had this strategy down to a tee. It was a standard practice that as early as the character creation stage, one could already create the gap to pull away from the pack. The less time one spends on creating ones avatar, the more time one would have for farming gold.A smart veteran would always reserve a handful of uniquely crafted IGN''s (in-game names) weeks before the game would even start. If Ladiesman217 was already taken, then perhaps Parzival wasn''t.What about Art3mis? So on and so forth. A seasoned player would always come prepared to the point where one would even reserve as many as fifty on their list. That¡¯s how tedious and competitive naming an avatar could get. The name shouldn''t alone be just one of its kind, but it had to also invoke power and greatness at the same time. If you invision yourself to be on the leaders board, then make sure you had an awesome name to go with it. Bragging when at the top was a huge part of the MMO culture. As for character customization, it was common for ''speeders'' to just choose the generic character mold prepared for them by the game itself. By doing so, this would allow the player to start grinding for experience right away, therefore skipping all the unnecessary customization bits and enter the game immediately well ahead of everyone else. After all, the developers would always offer ''visual customization'' later on inside the game. So, there was still a good chance to change one''s appearance whenever; say maybe dye the hair pink or even get a scar or two on the face, etcetera. At least that was the general assumption. The early bird catches the worm. And for the most part, in real life or otherwise, this proverb always held true. It was only until the introduction of Grum''s Labyrinth that all of these well-known and even age-old proven strategies had been rendered completely obselete. Aesa had been wearing the same perplexed look for many hours now. When he first entered the game, he had this pre-conceived idea that he would be first taken to an avatar customization screen to enable the character creation process. However, that wasn¡¯t the case. Merely ten seconds after logging in into the virtual realm, he had opened his eyes to an extremely dark yet quiet place. Is it supposed to be this dark? When he awoke, he appeared to be lying on the ground right above a thick earthy cushion. Are these graminoids? Where am I? Am I in a forest? Aesa guessed. Sitting up, he ran both of his hands through the soft textured shrubbery in front of him. Definitely grass. He thought. It was highly likely that he had spawned right smack in the middle of the forest. But without any kind of illumination, that possibility would remain an assumption. Certainly, there was a greater chance that Aesa''s speculation could be wrong altogether, but based on how the entire surrounding would rustle every time a breeze would come scurrying through, then he indeed must be inside of a living breathing forest. Those are leaves. Im sure of it. Aesa speculated as the symphonic clapping of the earthen blades continue to overwhelm his every sense''s from every direction possible. "Hoot!" Cooed the owl from a distance. A third of an hour had gone by and yet the sight of even a single blue screen continue to elude him. Having realized that, Aesa had finally come to accept the bitter truth that this game may have no such concept as character creation nor customization. He realized that the system had only copied his exact measurements and features from the real world when he probably first registered a few days back. A major letdown since he missed the crucial part of creating an avatar for himself. To mold a body that he would have liked. He didnt want to be ''ordinary'' here. But all was done now. There was nothing he could do about it. It was evident when he examined himself through touch. The system seamlessly copied the thinness of his arms, the slumpness of his shoulders, his short stature and even his long messy hair down to its every curls and tangles. It felt rather strange to him; to be inside a virtual setting and yet have the exact body weight and measurements the way that he would in the real. It was kind of hard to accept the reality that anonimity was not possible here. Or that having an alternate identity was not permissiblenor was gender swap. The LGBTQ community wouldnt like this even one bit. Now that he thought of it, it didn¡¯t feel like he wasnavigating inside of a game at all. This world wasn''t binary nor was it pure pixel. In fact, it felt very life-like, natural and realistic. What astonished at the moment was how he could feel every fiber of his lung expand and even contract too every time he ingest and expel air. There was weight into his every action and gravity was there to enforce all of that. The virtual wind caressed his face the way the real wind would behave outside. What Aesa was experiencing was simply unreal. But what of the tutorial? Surely, that should be a staple. It should exist here, right?Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Tutorial. Guide. Help. System screen. Aesa must have uttered each word no fewer than twenty times already and yet with each invocationresulted to nothing. It only fell on deaf ears. He even tried invoking Inventoryjust for kicks, and that too rendered no response from the system either. Pathetic! What kind of sick joke is this? As a player, Aesa understood the marketing strategy behind a game shrouded in total secrecy. When it was first advertised Marswide, the developers promised a revolutionary, ground-breaking and a one of a kind virtual reality game experience. Not to mention the once in a lifetime chance of becoming the first 100 inhabitants of Earth after its 2000 years of rehabilitation. All of that in the event that a player would beat Grum''s Labyrinth. It sounded very exciting to say the least. Everyone on the face of Mars got drawn into it. A life changing game. A chance to start over on a clean and green planet. That was its promise. The only problem was that there was no other hint about the game itself. No promotional exploration videos. No beta-testing. There was absolutely nothing. Through the Mars Federations intervention, hacking was next to impossible. Leaking an information could slap you with a death penalty by the government. It was like guarding Area51''s secret all over again. Totally stupid, Aesa murmured to himself. How are we players supposed to play this game when were given nothing to work on? Like a blind rat, Aesa fumbled his way through the dark forest. He had lost count as to how many times he''d tripped on his own two feet. Thick curses echoed through the dense forest as he cried in agony every time he stumbled and fall. Amidst the loud bitching and the swearing, Aesa finally saw something that resembled a light. Was that a tiki torch? And like a moth to a flame, Aesa got himself drawn to the yellow flickering light. He didnt even consider for a second if it would be dangerous to approach the source or not. All he knew was that if theres light then theres life. With hurried footsteps, he dashed like a mad salamander towards the general direction of the burning tiki. The torch could be marker to a village nearby. And if his hunch was true, it would mean salvation for him. He was actually parched from all the walking and he could really use some water right about now. Aesa couldn''t help but curse the game for creating such a near perfect satiety system. Barely a few meters away from the torch, Aesa noticed something strange. The tiki wasn''t stationary. It was somehow swaying. Like someone was holding it. Instinctively, he lessened his pace. He switched to a slower creep style instead. Minutes later, just when he was about seven arms length away from the source, Aesa confirmed that the torch was not lodged into any stationary outpost. It was in fact being carried by a tall burly man who appeared to be wearing a thick grey fur. A hoodie? A sort of camouflage perhaps? Aesa hypothesizedwhile he observed the mans back.''Is he an NPC (non-playable character) on a border patrol duty?'' He could be. He could be not. And although with great reluctance, Aesa steeled his courage and greeted the man in front of him. "Thank goodness you''re here. Hey there, I''m Aesa. A traveller. I got lost in the forest and I was just wondering if you could guide me to the nearest village around here if that''s okay with you?" He pleaded. Aesa had hope that the man would turn around and greet him in the same manner but there was zero response. Instead,he heard a low growl emmanating from somewhere behind the man. Dont panic. Hold your ground. You''ll be fine. Aesa convinced himself to stay inspite his instincts. The hairs raising at the back of his neck was clearly warning him to belly up and leave. Slowly, as the man turned around, the flickering tiki revealed the true identity of what Aesa believed to be a human. Despite the dancing light and shadow, Aesa recognized the creature that was in front of him. He now know that this creature wasn''thuman afterall. It looked human, but it was bearing the face of a wolf''s. ''Fuck me. A Kobold!'' And fuck the Kobold did. As soon as the humanoid realized to what Aesa was, the wolfman immediately revealed its long wooden spear. Swiftly and without any warning, with its bulging left arm, the Kobold threw the spear right at Aesa''s. He didn''t know how to react. Shock engulfed him whole as Aesa''s entire body froze in fear. He couldn''t move. Not even an inch. Swoooft!The shot was strong and hard. The spear flew effortlessly like a guided javelin. And although Aesa could see the sharpened stick flying towards him in slow motion, he could do nothing but watch. "Gwark!" Aesa coughed a mouthful of blood upon the spears impact. It punctured a hole right into the middle of his chest. The pain was no less than excruciating. And Aesa had no words to even describe it. "Holy fuck! This thing felt real! This pain felt real! I like it. Hahahaha." Impaled and delirious, Aesa was screaming like a deranged man. He was obviously not himself. "Shit! Look at this. I''m a mess. Hahahaha." A few seconds later, between the laughing and the coughing, Aesa''s case turned for the worse. He knew it. He felt his entire life force slowly leaving him. Pity. He watched himself in helplessness as the thick supply of hot red blood streamed non-stop from across his chest, trickling down the shaft of the rigid spear like a makeshift pipe. Aesa''s suffering and humiliation didn''t drag for long. Three minutes later, the short and sickly looking Aesa drew his last breath. And just like that, his journey within Grum''s Labyrinth had come to a screeching end. To be taken out in such a fashion was very anti-climactic. He existed barely four hours inside the game and now he just got himself eliminated. And news was, unlike the other generic MMO''s, Grum''s has no respawn feature. In short, there was no second chance. He was out of the competition forever. Aesa''s kneeling corpse remained there at the center of a stone slab for almost five minutes before it started decomposing rapidly. After ten whole minutes, what was left of him on the murder scene were just his bare bones alongside the pool of his own red blood. The Kobold that stabbed him had already left the area well before Aesa turned into a corpse. "Hooot!" Cooed the owl from a distance. "Hooot!" Echoed another. The wind suddenly shifted. The familiar rustling of the leaves could be heard yet again. And once more, the forest went back to its normal state. Back to being dark. Back to being silent. But it wasn''t asleep. No. It was actually listening. It was wide awake that whole entire time. There, under the blanket of the night, the forest seemed to have embraced the corpse in its midst. ''Awaken~'' it whispered. One . Two 1.2 He died in the game. Aesa was certain of it. But to be standing alive with his life intact was nothing short of a miracle. Even now, as he re-examined himself, he still could not believe how he had managed to escape death with a spear buried right in the middle of his chest. What the actual fuck just happened back then? PLEASE WAIT. WE ARE TRYING TO RECONNECT YOU. That announcement happened. During a press conference some time ago, Aesa clearly remembered from that one panel interview where the developers explicitly pronounced the alpha rule of Grum''s Labyrinth: You die, You''re out. And with over 3.6 billion competing players all over the red planet, the developers thought that it was only fair to separate the chaff from the wheat this way. Their vision for the game was to mirror reality in a sense. Survival of the fittest. Life in the real had the kind of dog eats dog rule. So, why should the virtual world be any different? Sure. Point taken. The developers did present a valid argument there. However, from Aesa''s perspective, it was simply too brutal to kill off defenseless players upon spawning. It seemed too unfair. There was a merit to this method--- to weed out the fodders right from the get go. That a player should adapt fast or else they''d be left behind. But what if you were slow to adapt? So, it''s goodbye then? See you outside? Should a game necessarily had to mirror what reality should be when there were tons of other good alternatives out there which were less unfair? Will this be the kind of game that would rely heavily on luck henceforth? Good thing that I''m a lucky freak. That¡¯s how he had described himself after barely surviving his first ordeal. Lucky because he stumbled upon a free token of second chance. Then freak because... well... he was sort of a reanimated skeleton now. An undead. And Aesa couldn''t get more literal than that. Aesa was now fleshless. Like an exposed walking calcium deposit from head to toe. And despite being all bones, he was still alive (although in a different sense). Albeit much lighter, he was able to move the same exact way he did back when he was still human. Aesa noticed too that he was more agile than usual. Plus, he felt terrific. Freedom from the flesh, I guess? Come to think of it, their Sunday School pastor was right after all. Although this was much more on the literal kind of sense than spiritual. Aesa couldn''t help but laugh internally. The only major concern that had been bothering Aesa since his resurrection was the question of whether his transformation was in fact legal or wasn''t. For all he knew, this uncanny mutation could be a game anomaly. A bug. He had a feeling that the GM''s (Game Master''s) might hunt him down soon and then exterminate him like a vermin. Or it could be that this was all part of the games grand scheme. Maybe he was not the only one who had undergone this kind of special transformation. That there were others like him too out there. Puzzled just as he is. But for now, the question will remain unanswered. Wrapped in a thick rickety gray blanket, the wool was big enough to cover all of Aesa''s peculiar appearance. This''ll do for now. He was sheltering from the heavy rain inside of what looked to be an abandoned shallow cave. There were signs of creatures previously inhabiting the space. Whether they''re human or otherwise, Aesa wasn''t sure. It was a mystery as to why the previous tenants abandoned the place. Regardless, Aesa didn¡¯t care. What was only important to him was that the shelter afforded him safe refuge against the deluge. Plus, it didn¡¯t hurt that he was able to secure some improvised reaper mantle for him to try on. He somewhat resembled Death, so might as well look the part too. If only he had a scythe to complete the ensemble, the cosplay would have appeared more impactful. What was funny though was that even as an undead, Aesa could actually feel the cold creep in. What a weak ass Grim Reaper he''d turn out to be. Weird. Morning broke. The rain had stopped. And yet he was still there. Existing. Undeleted. So, I guess the GM''s are not coming to execute me afterall? Aesa assumed. With an ultra-sophisticated super computer backing the game, it would be laughable if Grum''s Security Team wouldn''t be able to catch a tiny insignificant bug (granted that he was) like him. It would be detrimental to their reputation to say the least if they couldn''t. That would show their incompetence. And Cirrus Games wouldn''t dare put themselves in such a predicament. While taking the GM''s indifference as a cue, Aesa figured that he may still be able to steal that one coveted spot out of the one hundred seats being offered. ''I guess turning into an undead is legal? If they''re not after me, then maybe they''re giving me a pass?'' But first things first, he needed to find the safe zone. He needed to figure out where the others were. The only question was¡ª how? A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Wandering around the forest weaponless was like asking for your enemy to come and kill you with your own knife. Aesa knew, that in order to find the safe zone, he needed a weapon to protect himself first. It was unfortunate though that this cave didn¡¯t have any. So, Aesa had to grab the next closest thing--- the kobold spear! Since the game didn¡¯t provide them any provision for food nor any beginner weapon for that matter, he needed to step up and be resourceful. Where did I drop that thing again? Stealthily and steadily Aesa retraced his steps from last night. One could get easily lost around these parts of the expanded labyrinth, but Aesa was confident with his navigation. All he needed to do was follow the parted grass that he created from the time when he was fleeing. That path should lead him to where he needed to be. And after trekking for almost an hour--- There you are! Aesa had finally came face to face with his bane yet again. Yes. It was the same spear that offered him to the Reaper last night. And yet here he was today, fetching the very weapon that spelled his demise. To be honest, he had no other choice on the matter. If it was only up to his feelings, he would choose not to pick up this thing ever again. The mental trauma was reason enough not to. However, he needed to succeed. Thus, Aesa chose survivability over ''phobia''. Picking up the spear where he keeled over, he noticed the blood that was still there painted on the stone slab. Splashes of red liquid highlighted the carvings written on the slab. The markings looked runic and for whatever purpose it served, Aesa didn''t have the slightest clue. A slight rustle from the bush to his right made Aesa jump. Amonster? He thought. Aesa waited for a few seconds to see if something or someone would come out of the greenery to maul him. He gripped his spear in anticipation. Aesa made his decision. Whatever creature might come out of the thicket, he swore that he was going to fight it with all of his strength! This undead will not take any bullshit starting today. Two minutes became five, yet the ''attacker'' never came. Maybe it got scared? Who knows? What was important at the moment was he could now finally loosen his fighting stance and relax. He then loosen his grip on the spear. I need to get out of here... fast. I''m a sitting duck out here. Aesa was quick to retreat. It didn''t took long before he found himself huddled inside of his unofficial lair yet again. All that walking made him terribly hungry. Wait... just wait a f@/ One absolute advantage of being an undead was to be able to see the entire labyrinth clearly even when in absolute darkness. Unlike the first time he wandered around these parts, it was intensely liberating for Aesa to be able to finally traverse the cursed forest and run around its thicket without the slightest care. All thanks to his new found passive ability, he was not worried about suddenly ramming into another murderous Kobold out of nowhere. These pair of ''eyes'' that he has now were akin to having a twenty by twenty vision but only that it was a thousand times better. Bestowed with an unexpected upgrade, Aesa could practically see everything around him. He sees all without any difficulty. His eyes could see every bird, the tiniest dew on every blade of grass and even the smallest crawling creature there was under the cover of infinite shade. Using his night eyes, every singleobject glowed in glorious bioluminescent green. ''I have matrix eyes.'' He joked. Aesa suddenly relating his experience to acut scene from ''The Matrix'' when the protagonist Neo saw the true matrix world for the very first time.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The labyrinth was one giant maze. And fortunately for Aesa, he had a map to guide him where he needed to be. With his night eyes, losing his way was next to impossible. ''The entrance should be somewhere around here.'' And just as he has suspected, the map that he found at the cave led him straight to the dungeon. It was fairly easy to track the place since the artist who authored the map made sure to leave plenty of crumbs for Aesa to pick up and follow. Every landmark and every marking were described accurately in the map. Like a beautifully hand painted picture, the artisan was able to transform a simple tool of navigation into a gorgeous work of flawless piece of art. The artisan even placed a spell on the map, showing Aesa where he was exactly located in the map at that time. There was even a counter on the top right corner of the map which provided Aesa the information as to how many more steps he needed to take in order for him to get there. A simplified GPS so to speak. And now that the entrance has been found, all that Aesa needed to do was enter the dungeon and take what he came there for. However, not everything was that simple. Aesa had to remind himself for the ''nth'' time that what he was about to dive in to was a legitimate dungeon and not some theme park like Disney. The number of monster inside the dungeon were ten times larger than the ones on the outside field. Aesa would be a dimwit to just carelessly run in without formulating a solid plan. With that in mind, he knew that he couldn¡¯t just waltz in and say hello without being greeted back by a poisonous spear or a deadly serrated sword in response. Expecting the worst to happen around these parts should be commonplace. Speaking of plans, what does he have in mind exactly? He had lost his spear back at the rabbit''s den when Godrick and his thugs showed up. And with only a single arm left, fighting even the lowest of mobs right now would be very difficult to execute. And unless of course Aesa''s wish was to die, then there would be no need for a plan anymore. ''Time to pull an all-nighter.'' Like any good student, the key to Aesa''s success here was to do a thorough research. First, he needed to study the structure of the dungeon. He must gather the most vital of information regarding the traits of the monster''s endemic to the place; what makes them tick, and what were their weaknesses, etc. Second, he needed to know the theme. Dungeons for the most part were designed by most developers to be built around a certain setting. A good example of this would be a common Forest Type dungeon. If he has to follow the common mmorpg trope, a dungeon type like that may only spawn forest type creatures such as Green Slimes, Grass Wolves, Ents and even forest Nymphs. In essence, by being familiar with the dungeons theme and by knowing the types of monsters he''d be encountering down the line, he could basically work within that information and formulate a strategy to win. That''s what Aesa had in mind. "Well this should be easy." Barely thirty-three feet from the entrance, he was able to confirm right away what he needed to confirm. He now knew what this dungeon was meant as. "Ah. I''m with my people." Aesa jokingly commented. A one-armed skeleton like himself should perfectly blend in with the dungeons theme. After all, the place that the map had shown him was the den of the undead. ''Here goes nothing'' The plan was simple. He was to slowly walk towards ''Subject X'' and do some stress test. A standard mmo would place an area of aggression or aggro (in mmo slang) around each of the creature scattered within the different parts of the map. Aesa''s plan was to trigger that aggro to find out how big the coverage was for each monster type. He would know if he stepped on one if he''d suddenly pull the attention of the mob. Subject X was a Skeleton foot soldier patrolling one corner of the dungeon. It was equipped with boots and nothing else. No weapons whatsoever. ''This one should be a good test subject.'' Good because if for some reason that Subject X would launch an attack against him, he could simply dodge and bail away. Running away should do the trick since he was weaponless too. The most that Subject X could do would be to place him on a choke hold. But what would a choke do to him? Inch by inch, Aesa approached Subject X, exercising extreme caution. When he was only about two meters away, he stood there frozen. If he''d take one more step forward, then he''d definitely pull the aggro based on his estimate. A few short minute later, he decided to steel his resolve and charged forward towards Subject X. It was strange. Aesa didn¡¯t pull the aggro at all even when he was about inches away from Subject X. Could it be that Subject X recognized him as a creature of the dungeon and not as a user? For one, it acted as if it didn¡¯t saw Aesa at all. Subject X treated Aesa like he was a part of the scenery. Like he was some sort of a boulder, or a pebble or something similar. It was all going well until Aesa decided to take the stress test a little bit further. He suddenly thought of touching the shoulder of Subject X with his right index finger to see how it would react to certain stimulus. For a quick second there, Aesa thought that it wouldn''t do anything to him. Well... He thought wrong. Aesa just realized that he should have not done that move in the first place. When he saw Subject X''s eye sockets steadily glowing fiery red, Aesa realized that the shit was about to hit the fan. One . Seven 1.7 There it was. The classic one-handed choke hold. In one swift execution, Subject X managed to cease Aesa by the neck, squeezing his air pipe nearly to the point of breaking. Not even half a second later, it too had succeeded in pinning him up against the rocky cave wall, affixing him there like a tiny tack on a corkboard. Who would have thought that a lone puny looking skeleton with no weapon and no armor to show for would be that strong? It only had a pair of disheveled boots for fucks sake. ¡®How is this thing so abnormally strong?¡¯ he asked himself out of bewilderment. ''It can''t be because of the alone, right? That''s just absurd! Thats not balanced!'' For once in his gaming life, Aesa kind of wished that an MMO such as Grum¡¯s Labyrinth would take a step back into shelling out one lethal game content after another. Sure, it was a nice change to not be spoon fed by the tutorial for once or to not be led around town by the nose to complete some lousy ¡®fetch me¡¯ quests. He was even thankful that the developers of GL made a tremendous effort to distance itself from the usual MMO recipe. Problem was, this one big guessing game had Aesa completely tired by day two. First, there was the Kobold. And now, this Skeleton. This only goes to prove that the organizers were dead serious in cutting down the competitors to just the worthy one hundred and nothing more. "But can we at least get a little breather around here even just for today? Is that too much to ask? Kukh!" Aesa complained while he choked on his own words. "And where are the overhead labels when you needed one?" He could have avoided being surprised like that and at least from the get go, he had an idea as to how strong this creature was, then he would have not approached it. But then again, it was too late to regret that now. Shit happened already. Before Grum¡¯s, he used to loathe how other MMO¡¯s were so obvious about a lot of things. The developers loved to babysit their players back then that they would label everything from Lvl.1 Normal Brown Poop to Lvl.999 Legendary Impregnable Condom. It was so blatant and shameless at times that Aesa had to customizate his settings and turn off all of the labels plastered across his entire screen. He had to do that so he could stop gagging from all the notifications popping left and right while he was playing. But things do change. And so were his needs. The irony of it all was that Aesa longed for them now; those excruciating gag worthy ''pop-up'' features. He needed them so badly today and he needed them quickly! If he had before hand, this predicament would have not occured in the first place. ¡®Keh. Curse this level gap!¡¯ Aesa could only assume the glaring disparity. Without , it was impossible for him to appraise the exact level or even the overall stats of his opponent like he wanted to. He was merely going with his gut feel at this point, evaluating his enemy¡¯s statistics based on his past experiences and playthrough. If he was to plainly judge by how Subject X reacted against his tirade of kicks and punches (which was a no reaction to say the least), he could clearly say that there was a huge level of disparity between the two of them. Aesa estimated that the Subject X could be about five to ten levels higher than him. It was kind of obvious with the way his attacks against it were not dishing any damage output at all. Even with his hardest right punch hitting the creatures face full on, still, Subject X was unfazed. While being strangled mid air, Aesa observed something very peculiar about Subject X''s behavior. It was somehow strange that it didn¡¯t seem to do anything more other than suspend him on the wall like a portrait. If this was any generic MMO out there, this creature would have torn him to pieces by now. That was the normal expectation. For him, it was simply puzzling as to why that particular scene hasn¡¯t played out yet. It was strange that he limbs are still very much intact at that point.Is this creatures A.I. bugged? I mean, what¡¯s it waiting for? Clak! Clak! Clak! Clak! As if it read his mind,Subject X responded in a sort of weird skeleton speak. If it was jostility or otherwise, whatever message that the creature was trying to convey, Aesa did not understand a thing. From the waist down, the undead evaluated Aesa like a piece of merchandise passing through the conveyor belt. It sniffed him all over like it was performing a sort of odor test. Obviously, the creature was confused about Aesa¡¯s entire existence. It was having a difficult time decifiring as to what he really was. Aesa looked and smelled just like them but only he wasn''t. He was niether friend nor foe. The creature was trying to make sense of the situation but its simplistic binary logic failed itself. And so, after a few minutes of prodding, Subject X finally gave up on Aesa, letting him loose bit by bit in the process. Subject X sniffed him one last time. And no more than a second later, it withdrew its face away from Aesa. It didn''t stop there either. Its grip completely came loose, freeing Aesa completely from the iron noose that has once held his neck. The encounter ended with Subject X finally walking away opposite of Aesa like it was the most natural thing to do in the world. With all of his strength spent, Aesa decided not to move any further and just retired from where Subject X had left him. He melted on the floor like a scoop of dirty ice-cream on a hot mid-summer day; messy and disheveled. And then he blacked out.
Hello there, Treasure Hunter. I guess I should call you that for finding the box, huh? Kuku. Anyway, my name is Lawa-Lawa. A nomadic blacksmith. I don''t have much time left so I''ll be brief with this recording. Here, inside this box is a trinket. A trinket that I¡¯ve spent my entire life perfecting--- thePocket Furnace. Now, a tad bit of warning--- what I¡¯m leaving in your care is something very important. This thing in my right arm has the potential to create things that are both great and unimaginable. Things that are beautiful. Things that are horrible. Unbelievable but fantastic things. All of those things I mentioned¡­ all of those¡­ could be created by this tiny inconspicuous thing that is wrapped around my wrist. Believe it? Don¡¯t just yet. You have to use it first so you can judge it. Kuku.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. From here on out, whether the things that you¡¯ll conjure will benefit the entire labyrinth or the opposite, depending as to what you fancy, will be purely up to you. I would not tell you how you would use the trinket. No sir. Rather, I¡¯d like for you to build and create things that speaks and connects to you. That is all. *Cough* I wish I had the luxury of witnessing what you would do with it. I wish to see something mind blowing but I guess I wouldn¡¯t be here anymore to witness that. *Cough* *Cough* All right, looks like its time. Congratulations by the way for solving the puzzle. It just goes to show how you know your stars by heart just like I did. I personally prefer beings who look up to the stars. They¡¯re the ones who weave beautiful dreams. And I certainly hope you have some big dreams in you, whoever you are that is watching this recording. Anyway, I have to leave now. They¡¯re here. Blip! The holographic recording was exactly two and half minutes long when he played it. The demi-human on the video who called himself Lawa-Lawa, looked like someone who was in his late sixties. Despite his age though, the old man had a strong bulky body which made him look even younger than he was supposed to. Lawa-lawa wore his salt and pepper hair in a tight long dreadlock which made him appear way more stylish for his age. The old man also sported a quad-spectacle tinted in ruby. What really stood out though amongst all of Lawa-Lawa¡¯s features were his six strong tank-like arms. They¡¯re built like turrets as big as the turrets of an M1A1 Abrams. Four eyes? Six arms? Must be a demi-arachnid, I guess? Two hours ago, after dodging a ton of skellies, hell hounds and everything else undead in-between, Aesa has finally arrived at the place where the map had led him to. His success and safety were all thanks to the data provided by Subject X. The trick that he learned a moment ago was actually very simple-- for as long as he would not make any physical contact with any of the mobs there, regardless if he¡¯d breach their respective agro spheres or not, he¡¯d still be ignored for the most part. The only exception to this rule were the species of . It seems that they were more instinctive than most mobs inside the dungeon. They were five times intuitive than what the normal skeleton soldiers were. What stood out in their A.I. programming was that these were more aware of foreign presences and scents regardless if he touches them or not. For that reason, Aesa avoided them like a plague during his entire journey. He hid whenever he sensed one coming even from afar. There was a point however during his trek when he mistakenly thought that he had lost his way inside. He even panicked slightly when the map purposely led him to a dead end. The corner screamed of trap all over and it was stupid of him to not recognize the glaring warning signs from the get go. The passage that he was currently on were narrow and could only fit one person at a time. It was perfect for culling unsuspecting idiots (like him) who were easily lured by the allure of silver and gold. But since he was half an idiot and a little bit too greedy for his own good, Aesa still pressed on despite the danger. He remembered a time when he gambled his college money for vial of A Grade compressed oxygen solution from Earth. It was recklessly stupid and irresponsible, but he did it anyway. In the end, it was all worth it. The gamble paid off. This was the same exact situation. He was shaking and scared at the same time, but he wanted to be that stupid and irresponsible guy again. He wanted to take that chance. Nothing gambled, nothing gained. As Aesa passed through the narrow pathway, his thoughts were filled with images of dread. Thoughts of deadly traps appearing out of nowhere-- flying spears, rain of poisonous arrows and even collapsing floor amongst all other things. He only felt relieved when it turned out that his morbid thoughts were baseless and he worried himself for nothing. It was his own fault anyway that he exaggerated his fears. Truth was, the map has actually led him to a hidden crack on the cave wall where a two inches thick steel door was waiting for him. The door was craftily disguised by the abundant overgrowth of combined moss and an assortment of other crawling nocturnal plants in the section, making the door entrance appear like a normal cave wall and nothing more. ¡°Hmnn. Now that I¡¯ve found the door, what¡¯s next then?¡± The steel door didn¡¯t seem to have a handle nor a keyhole to begin with. Opening it seemed to be a mystery. But a door will always be a door. There has to be a way to open it, otherwise, the contraption should have not been built at all. A spark of idea suddenly came to Aesa. Maybe I should use that? It was then that he remembered an item that he picked up along with the map. A sort of crystal slate, three inches in length, two inches in width and about half an inch thick. The moment he took the slate out in the open, a sort of bwoong bwoong sound resonated from behind the seven foot tall steel door. Following that, a fan of soft yellow laser light suddenly beamed out from the top center of the door, bathing Aesa with its sweeping radiance from head to toe. He wasn¡¯t sure as to what exactly was the light was for, but he believed that it was scanning for something. Hopefully the crystal slate would provide a clue as to what the scanner was searching for. A few sweeps after, the fan of light eventually converged into one thin line. It looked more like a pen laser now than when it first started. Little by little, it zeroed in on the crystal slate that he held out, changing its laser light color from yellow to green. Authorization confirmed. Welcome back Professor. ¡®Pfft! So unoriginal¡¯. He realized that one of the developers that was assigned to this segment must have been a fan of the classic X-Men: Days of Future Past. That ¡®welcome¡¯ line was practically a direct reference to the movie when Cerebro greeted Professor X back after a long hiatus. Going in, Aesa was greeted by a small well-lit workshop. An array of tools and materials riddled the entire messy 10x10 room. Right smack in the middle of it was an islet where a small tool box was placed. Double checking his map, the green arrow was pointing exactly where the box was. Obviously that¡¯s the treasure! He screamed in delight inside. The tool box didn¡¯t have any lock on it, so Aesa just swooped right in andrummage through it. Inside the box were two things--- a tin colored rubix cube and a tin colored arm band. The rubix cube looked interesting but Aesa got drawn to the arm band more. He picked it up and examined the trinket closely. There was nothing extraordinary about it. It was sleek, plain, but very solid. The materials appears to be of tin but it''s not. Running his index finger and his thumb through the bracelet, he somehowdetected a tinyhumphalf way through the circumference. What was that? He didn¡¯t know what he has triggered exactly but suddenly, bursts of golden light exploded from where the bracelet was. With it came three giant floating spheres-- one big sphere in the middle and two basketball sized mini-spheres on each side of the biggest one. All three were made of interweaving holographic solidified energy that formed both the grids and entire structure of all three spheres. They glowed in colors of radiant gold and somehow pulses too for no apparent reason. Pocket Furnace Initialization Complete. New user detected. Initiating registration process, would you like to proceed? ¡°Oh, wow!¡± Warning: Low battery. Please charge. ¡°Wait¡­ what?¡± One . Eight 1.8 Other than the short holographic clip, Lawa-Lawa¡¯s rubix did not contain any other helpful data related to the Pocket Furnace. Not a single tutorial on how to use it. Not even a tiny hint on to how to operate it. More importantly, how to charge it. A real shame considering that the cube was basically a hard drive with petabytes worth of storage in it. The old man must have been really pressed for time to not be able to leave anything other than a short clip. ¡®What a waste of space.¡¯ Aesa thought after scrolling through the non-existent content of the rubix drive. He just went hopping from tab to tab to see if there was anything, but there really was none. There, at the center of the workshop, Aesa laid bare on his back against the table top, eyes fixed on the Pocket Furnace, while dangling the trinket directly in front of the bleeding LED light. A pin size red button was flashing every two seconds, most probably indicating that the armbands battery was low. An assumption on his part because for all he knew, the armband could be counting down to zero and blow everything up in the room with him included. It has been three hours since he first found the trinket and until now, the problem still persisted. Aesa still hasn¡¯t figured out a definitive way to provide auxiliary power to the armband and that fact frustrated him the most. He wanted to start exploring the Pocket Furnace as soon as he laid his eyes on it the very first time. The only problem was, was that he couldn¡¯t. The A.I. wouldn¡¯tallow him to tinker on any of its functions until he charges the armband first to a certain extent. There were a number of things that fueled his frustration. For starters, the trinket didn¡¯t have any USB port or anything remotely close to a power cord for a plug in. Second, there were no signs of battery compartment anywhere either. And even if there was one, how would he replace such a battery? He¡¯d be very lucky enough if he¡¯d find some spare just lying around the workshop. Other than that, there was practically nothing for him to work on to charge it basically. Aesa thought of all the conventional ways of charging a normal device and every method that he had thought of were obviously an ill fit for this Pocket Furnace. While Aesa procrastinated endlessly into finding ways on how he could siphon power into the armband, the word ¡®conventional¡¯ occupied his thoughts for the most part. Conventional. Conventional. Conventional. For the last three hours now, Aesa just realized how he had unknowingly limited his options on the conventional ways of charging the device. He had limited his solution and methods to what an ordinary person would do in the real. He had boxed his thinking entirelyunder the rules of normality that he had completely forgotten that he was inside the world of virtual reality. That a lot of things here defy normal logic. That there are things here that could be permitted and be created under the structure of impossibility. Click! Aesa suddenly had a spark of idea. It immediately became clear to him as to what he needed to do at that point. He got up on his feet and readied himself. To fail or otherwise, there was no harm if he¡¯d give it a try. It has been three hours. He had enough of just staying idle. Here goes~. He psyched himself. ¡°Computer. Scan for any available power source within the vicinity, find it and immediately begin charging once found.¡± Please work. Please work.Please work. He repeated it in his head like a broken mantra. Seconds later... Ding Dong! Computing¡­ Voice command acknowledged Scanning¡­ The last line uttered by the A.I. was everything to Aesa. It made him wore the craziest grin that no one could ever translate on canvas.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The move was a total shot in the dark. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was going to work but it did. He simply played around the idea that since the Pocket Furnace¡¯s A.I. recognized him as new user in the first place, then maybe he could somehow connect to its other functions via voice command. Lo and behold, the A.I. responded. Immediately after that, multiple fans of red laser lights suddenly exploded from the armband. Criss-crossing beams of lights instantly began sweeping the entire place up, starting from where he was standing from up until the very far end corners of the room. He wasn¡¯t even done being amazed yet but no more than five seconds later, all of the red lights retracted and a new single beam of green light emerged from the armband. Aside from the color, the quality of the beam was different too; it was thicker and was lasso like. From the armband, the green string shot itself directly towards his ragged satchel. It latched itself onto his bag like an octopus¡¯s tentacle, piercing its only cord onto whatever it was that it found as a power source. Did it find something? Initiating power extraction sequence. Commencing in 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ The armband suddenly hummed and vibrated crazily the moment when the countdown ended. Right after that, a small holographic screen of what looked like a power bar appeared directly above the armband. The power bar was in red and had a 7.5% figure plastered on the right corner of the bar. The numbers were flashing in red and it seemed like it was escalating too. It was 7.6% now considering that it only got plugged in a few seconds ago. The armband seemed to be charging in a turbo-like fashion. Now that it was charging, Aesa has decided to leave the trinket on top of the workstation for a bit. He wanted to see for himself where the green lasso had attached itself to. And more importantly, why his bag of all things? About five steps later, Aesa found out where the other end of the green rope was. The moment he peeked into the satchel, he realized that the lasso had latched itself onto the rabbit crystal a.k.a. his satiety dampener. It was unintentional, but if he was to put things into perspective, the Pocket Furnace basically robbed him of his food ration for the day. Tier 1 fully consumed. Previous battery life: 7.5 percent. Current battery life: 8.7 percent. Overall battery status: low. A fifteen percent minimum battery life is needed to access the . Recommendation: add more. Drawing from the information provided by the Pocket¡¯s A.I., Aesa immediately understood what was needed to be done. He had to gather a minimum of seven more Cayu¡¯s for him to at least access a functional furnace. ¡°Off to farming then.¡± Aesa commented as he picked up the biggest and the heaviest wrench in the room that he could find. He¡¯d do this caveman style.
The Pocket Furnace or simply Pocket, had a rather simplistic system. In fact, the furnace only has two parts--- the Oculus and the Callus. The Oculus was the main sphere out of the three total spheres of the Pocket. It was lodged at the very center of the other two smaller spheres and had two revolving rings etched with some unreadable runic symbols circumventing it. It also served as the anvil of the Pocket where the mixing, shaping and molding of any material took place. On the other hand, the Callus, or the two smaller spheres on either sides of the Oculus, served as both the hammer and the tong of the Pocket. The two mini-spheres were responsible for all the rigorous fine tuning and detailing made on any article subjected to the Oculus. It was also where the user could insert their hands and control the Oculus¡¯s every movement similar to how a hand-held computer mouse detects two-dimensional motion when swerved on a certain surface. Some three hours ago, when he had filled up the battery to 38%, Aesa finally gained access to some of the features of the Pocket. He also learned just now that the Pocket Furnace¡¯s A.I. was actually female in orientation. She called herself Tingkal which meant ¡®thread¡¯ in the simple Arachnian tongue explained by the A.I. herself. Anything that Tingkal knew, she would willingly share it with Aesa. He¡¯d ask, she¡¯d tell. For as long as the information was not restricted, Tingkal would willingly provide them. Aesa was also able to acquaint himself with the names of the parts and even some basic knowledge regarding its system navigation. He learned from Tingkal that the Pocket was in fact a super advanced 3D printer rather than just a smith¡¯s furnace. Everything and anything could be created using it basically. The problem was, he needed two functional hands to be able to operate the Callus. Something that a disable like him would not be able to accomplish. And although an auto-create feature existed, Tingkal explained that a blueprint was needed first in order to activate such a system quirk, He had none at the moment. I know of a way. Tingkal started. ¡°A way to what?¡± Aesa responded. Puzzled by the A.I.¡¯s sudden interjection. Fix your arm. ¡°How did you---?¡° That¡¯s not important. What is important are the ingredients. Tingkal suggested. I will be needing a few of these---the A.I. then quickly enumerated every single ingredients that she required of him to pick up. She projected them all directly into the Oculus¡¯s screen. ¡°What the?---¡° A quest has been created. Details are as follows: Quest Grade: C Mission: Fabricate A Functional Skeletal Arm Status:In-progress Would you like to accept this quest? Yes or No?