《Soulshard: Willbender》 Session 1: Character Creation Real Fantasy Online wasn¡¯t the first VRMMORPG Mark had ever played, hell, it wasn¡¯t even the fifth. It was, however, the game designed specifically for the latest generation Mind-Link headset. Promising incredible NPC AIs, ¡°More Than Life¡± realism and ¡°Total Immersion¡±, it was enough for Mark to splurge and pick up the new headset, along with a one-year subscription to the game. Ordinarily, he loathed pre-orders, but the bonus was intriguing. Instead of the usual bullshit ¡°exclusive¡± character class, race or the like, it was something that actually seemed interesting for a change. Right now though, he was making an occasional wince of discomfort as the headset mapped out his nervous system, while he stared into the featureless grey mists that served for the background. After an indeterminate period of time, the uncontrollable muscle spasms ceased and an odd tingling replaced it. Now that he could finally stand up, Mark looked around slowly, picked a direction and started walking into the mists. After owning so many other virtual consoles, he knew how to speed up the synchronization process. If anyone could have seen him, they would see a masculine figure performing any number of odd actions. From skipping, to leaping, to rolling around on the ground, Mark began mimicking all sorts of physical actions he might need to perform in the game. Right around the time he was trying to perform a handstand, a giggle echoed through the featureless landscape. ¡°What in the world are you doing?¡± Came the amused-sounding feminine voice. Standing up from where he had fallen on the cloudy ground, Mark replied. ¡°Figured I¡¯d give you a head start in mapping my nervous system.¡± The voice snorted. ¡°I¡¯d have done while we reviewed your backstory anyway.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Not a bad way to handle it. So I take it you¡¯re my AI guide to Real Fantasy Online? How do we get started?¡± Since there seemed to be no point in standing around, Mark once again resumed his activities, this time going through a martial art kata with an imaginary staff. The mysterious voice coughed and commented. ¡°You know, I had this whole spiel about being the Goddess of Reincarnation and how you were chosen to live a new life in a new world filled with magic and adventure.¡± Mark waved absently. ¡°If you want to, go ahead. I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Well, now that the atmosphere has been thoroughly ruined it seems kind of pointless. Since it seems like you¡¯ve done this sort of thing before, any requests?¡± ¡°Personally, I¡¯m kinda old-school. I¡¯m partial to message windows, blocks of text and over-complicated formulas for damage and effect calculation.¡± The ¡°Goddess of Reincarnation¡± made a raspberry noise. ¡°Bo-ring, but fine. Let me ask a few questions and we can get started. Would you prefer to be a humanoid, or non-human race?¡± ¡°Hmm, humanoid, but not Human.¡± ¡°All right, what sort of role do you want your character to fulfill?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see...Last game I was a tanky guardian, but that gets boring over the years. Pure mages tend to end up ridiculous, and I¡¯ve always enjoyed magic. Crafting can be fun, but last time I played a crafter I ended up owning a couple of kingdoms outright. Hmm, haven¡¯t played a control-type in a long time and I don¡¯t usually go the social route...How about something that combines magic and charisma in a primarily supporting class, with non-traditional ways of dealing damage?¡± ¡°Hmm, definitely not your first virtual world. All right, since you said you actually like window screens, I¡¯ll give you a list of some races to look over. Pick one, then we¡¯ll select your primary class.¡± Suddenly, a light-bluewindow popped into the air in front of Mark. As he stopped walking and promptly sat down, the window followed, maintaining a comfortable distance. It was filled with a scrolling list of various humanoid races, describing their strengths and weaknesses, along with a column of stats that defined their base attributes. The list was surprisingly short, and Mark asked. ¡°Did you filter this list of races? There¡¯s a lot less than I expected to see.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The ¡®Goddess¡¯ affirmed. ¡°The ones I showed you have various useful bonuses to the role you described.¡± ¡°Hmm. All-right, let¡¯s go with a half-elfLilin. I should be able to work up a suitable backstory, and that could be a fun combination.¡±
Half-Elf Lilin (Lilin Male>Incubus, Lilin Female>Succubus): Elves are known for their long lifespans, high agility and affinity for natural magics. Unlike humans, they have a completely adversarial relationship to all of the Demonic races. As such, a cross-breed with one is considered foul at best and any elf that knows of your origin will likely despise you. Lilin are one of the more ¡°human¡± demons, and have a natural advantage in charming those of the opposite sex. Through usage of targeted quasi-magical pheromones and physically addictive bodily fluids, they can enthrallvarious beings to their service. They must regularly have intercourse or they will suffer progressive penalties to their Vitality, Strength, and Willpower. As a crossbreed between these races, you will have a shorter lifespan than a pure elf, but mature faster. Your racial traitswill be less effectivethan that of a pure Lilin, but you will be able to abstain for a longer time before suffering from the associated penalties. Both Elves and Demons, upon realizing your origins, will generally be hostile towards you.
Race: Half-Elf Incubus
Strength: 7
Endurance: 7
Vitality: 12
Agility: 12
Dexterity: 12
Reflexes: 15
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 9
Focus: 8
Attunement: 1
Aura: 1
Charisma: 12
Influence: 0
Lifespan: 500
Luck: 5
As Mark studied the list, he noted that the average for most stats appeared to be 10, and was pleased when he discovered that tapping on a stat gave a detailed breakdown of each stat¡¯s effects. Strength: Overall muscular density. Each point of strength multiplied by ten reflects the number of pounds readily lifted under normal conditions. Attempting more than 3 times this amount can lead to muscle strain. Endurance: Influences stamina and physical durability. Someone with a strength of 10 and an endurance of 10 can carry a weight of 100 pounds for one hour before becoming exhausted. Vitality: A measure of the body¡¯s ability to generate red blood cells and ward off infections. Those with a higher vitality have a higher natural regeneration rate and can survive wounds that would kill a person with lower vitality. Agility: A measure of explosive muscular force. Those with a higher agility can sprint faster and jump higher than those with lower agility. An Olympic athlete would have an agility of around 12. Dexterity: Indicates fine motor control and is particularly important to archers, craftsman and artists of all sorts. A particularly skilled musician may have a dexterity of around 12. Reflexes: Indicates the efficiency of the nervous system. 10 is a base number for average reflexes. A fighter jet pilot would have a reflex stat of around 14. Higher numbers create a slow-time effect within the game, allowing the player to react to danger more efficiently. Intelligence: 10 is considered to be average human intelligence, equating to 100 IQ points. In game, a higher intelligence allows for faster learning of languages, skills and spells, along with amplifying the power of magic. Wisdom: A hard to define stat that reflects the amount of lore known and/or judgment of the player. A higher wisdom stat allows for a larger mana-pool and affects one¡¯s ability to identify unknown magical items and spells. Also allows for more effective resistance to Charm effects. Focus: Indicates the amount of control a player has over their various skills and spells and is used for a performance modifier. Some abilities require a high level of focus, which may be trained via mediation, study or maintaining a state of calm on the battlefield. High levels of Focus can ward off many mental status ailments. Attunement: An attunement number of 0 indicates a complete lack of the ability to cast magic, while 10 indicates a purely instinctive, unconscious level of control. Specific magical attunement can be measured via appraisal at an Adventurer or Mage¡¯s guild. Certain rare resources may be used to forcefully grant Attunement, though not without risk. Aura: Aura is the fighter¡¯s equivalent to magic, and is often called ¡°Fighting Spirit¡± or "Soul Force". Through use of aura, many strange and mysterious abilities can be created. Can be trained up to 3 points higher than one¡¯s initial starting value. Those who wish to utilize Aura techniques would be advised to invest in this attribute during character creation. Charisma: Indicates the general physical appeal of the character. 8 is considered an average value, 10 is fair, and 12 would be considered attractive. Any value higher than 15 is considered extraordinarily handsome/beautiful, while any value lower than 4 is considered hideous. Influence: Indicates the weight behind one¡¯s words. Varies by region, but always has an effect on how people view you and your actions. Lifespan: A value of 1 is equivalent to 1 earth year and reflects the number of game-years a character can be expected to live under normal conditions. Some factors may increase or decrease this number. Luck: A numerical measure of the player¡¯s luck. Good for thieves, treasure hunters and heroes! A value of 10 is considered average for most humanoid races. Some races are innately lucky, while others are innately unlucky. Mark was actually rather pleased with the level of detail that went into the stats, considering the RFO claimed that there were no levels. A character¡¯s stats were influenced almost entirely by training, race and origin. After he made his race suggestion, he was presented with another list for his starting class. Seeing one entry, he grinned and selected it.
Mage (Mind/Illusion Focus): Mages seek to control the mystic power that pervades the realm, and often have a field that they specialize in at the expense of others. Illusion magic comes in two forms: internal and external. External illusions can be as simple as making an imaginary rock, or as complex as one can imagine. Internal illusions affect the mind itself, and range from simple confusion to implanting false memories. Incubi are naturally talented in charm and concealment magic, and your elven heritage allows for more realistic illusions of natural creatures and objects.
Class: Mage
Strength: 5
Endurance: 5
Vitality: 8
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 11
Reflexes: 10
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 12
Focus: 15
Attunement: 3
Aura: 0
Charisma: N/A
Influence: N/A
Lifespan: N/A
Luck: N/A
¡°All right, so you want to be a half-elf incubus with the starting class of mage, specialized in mental and illusion magic right?¡± The "Goddess" asked. ¡°Sounds good so far.¡± Mark replied. ¡°Great!" Came the cheerful reply. "Next, I¡¯d like you to pick three stats to be your primary, secondary and tertiary focus stats. You¡¯ll get a fixed bonus to each stat you select. You can¡¯t pick Lifespan or Influence, but the others are fair game.¡± Mark didn¡¯t have to think about it. ¡°Luck for the primary, Charisma for the secondary and make Focus the tertiary.¡± ¡°Interesting choices. Next question. Can I have permission to access your real data to personalize your character, or should I just merge the race and class data for your final stats?¡± This time Mark paused for a long moment before replying. ¡°As long as this data is solely used in relation to creating my character, and will not be shared without my explicit permission, granted.¡± ¡°One moment please...I will now show you all the relevant stats before performing the merge.¡±
Race: Half-Elf Incubus Class: Mage Personal Data: Focus Stats:
Strength: 7 Strength: 5 Strength: 6
Endurance: 7 Endurance: 5 Endurance: 8
Vitality: 12 Vitality: 8 Vitality: 9
Agility: 12 Agility: 10 Agility: 11
Dexterity: 12 Dexterity: 11 Dexterity: 11
Reflexes: 15 Reflexes: 10 Reflexes: 12
Intelligence: 10 Intelligence: 13 Intelligence: 19
Wisdom: 9 Wisdom: 12 Wisdom: N/A
Focus: 8 Focus: 15 Focus: 12 Tertiary (+3)
Attunement: 1 Attunement: 3 Attunement: N/A
Aura: 1 Aura: 0 Aura: N/A
Charisma: 12 Charisma: N/A Charisma: 8 Secondary (+5)
Influence: 0 Influence: N/A Influence: N/A
Lifespan: 500 Lifespan: N/A Lifespan: 80
Luck: 5 Luck: N/A Luck: N/A Primary (+10)
Mark paused as he examined what had been determined to be his stats. For the most part he agreed. He knew he wasn¡¯t particularly muscular and certainly couldn¡¯t run a marathon. On the other hand, he¡¯d always been rather nimble and had pretty good reflexes. While the 19 intelligence seemed somewhat excessive, if you went by what an IQ test claimed, he technically had an IQ of 193. Truthfully Mark just figured the combination of being able to read extremely fast and a certain knack for logic puzzles skewed the results. Even if he¡¯d always been able to figure things out quickly, he¡¯d never really thought of himself as a genius, let alone what his IQ implied. In his mind, a real genius was something much more than a number on an IQ test. After all, no matter how intelligent you were, without ambition and passion, it didn¡¯t account for much. Still though, he was curious. ¡°So how do you get my personal data anyway?¡± Mark asked. ¡°Public records, medical reports, academic and internet history for most of it. The Mind-Link can measure of the rest.¡± ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m a little concerned at how quickly you can gather that much data, but meh, as long as it¡¯s kept confidential I guess I don¡¯t mind. So, what do my final stats look like?¡± Mark asked. He wasn''t sure how the "merge" was handled, but was curious to see the results. ¡°Here you go!¡± Once again, the voice sounded cheerful. ¡°Pretty good for what you¡¯re going for actually.¡±
Race: Half-Elf Incubus
Class: Illusionist
Strength: 6
Endurance: 6
Vitality: 10
Agility: 12
Dexterity: 12
Reflexes: 14
Intelligence: 19
Wisdom: 11
Focus: 16
Attunement: 3
Aura: 1
Charisma: 15
Influence: 0
Lifespan: 500
Luck: 15
¡°Looks good to me. Now what? Do I get to design my character¡¯s appearance or is that automatic?¡± Mark asked. The omnipresent voice replied. ¡°Your appearance is automatically generated based on your race, stats, gender and origin. The next step is actually where we determine your backstory, initial skills and job. Since you pre-ordered you have the option of crafting a custom backstory for your character. Do you want me to show you a list of relevant pre-created backstories, or did you want to make one up?¡± ¡°Nah.¡± Mark replied. ¡°The whole reason I bothered with paying for early-access was so I could make my own. So how¡¯s this going work anyway?¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty simple actually. You tell me the story of your origin, and I¡¯ll fix it into the world itself. You¡¯re given a large amount of freedom and can even specify the things you learn, people you know and your place in society. If you want to be a king or a prince, you can, but there¡¯s balancing mechanics. I¡¯ll implement to prevent players from becoming too powerful or too crippled. For example: if you want to be a king, you might have to survive multiple assassination attempts without system assistance or perhaps a civil war. On the other hand, if you choose to be a beggar, you might just stumble across the things you need to survive. Remember though, while the system will try to keep you from dying too early, once you do you¡¯ll have to reincarnate into a new character. Well, unless you¡¯re somehow resurrected." The "Goddess" commented. "After you¡¯ve finished telling me your backstory, I¡¯ll play a simulation of the scenario and at certain points give you situations to react to. Based on your answers you¡¯ll receive appropriate skills, jobs, equipment, stats, or allies. Please note this is a one-time opportunity and choose wisely.¡± ¡°Neat.¡± Was Mark¡¯s reply. He paused for a moment then began. ¡°My story starts twenty one years ago, with my mother. She was an only child, an elf with two loving parents. Her father was a skilled ranger, while her mother was an herbalist. She learned a little of each their professions, but it was discovered she had a talent for magic when she was quite young. Despite her parent¡¯s misgivings she was apprenticed to a local mage, where she spent many years learning the magical arts. From time to time, she would return home and listen to her father¡¯s tales of the outside world, and talk to her mother about her various concoctions. She was never as interested in her father¡¯s skills as her mother¡¯s so while she eventually learned the basics of scouting and marksmanship, her skills at at least identifying herbs was far more profound. Magic though, was her true passion. So much so, that she had few friends besides her mentor in the magical arts. Even her teacher was somewhat concerned at her single-minded pursuits. Her greatest talents lie in the fields of Abjuration and Conjuration and she dreamed that one day she would discover the means to perfectly ward against the encroachment of demon-kind. She practiced creating barriers in the forest, attracting or repelling the various monsters and creatures; attempting to find ways to key her wards to the magical signatures of the demon races. Unfortunately, her successes led her to overconfidence. She began to dabble in demonic conjurations to test her theories, and her early successes in sealing and warding certain lesser demons led her to believe she would be safe against more powerful varieties. More, she felt the key to understanding how to protect against demons lie with the demons themselves. She thought that if she understood demonic magic, perhaps she could find ways to defend against it. Sadly, this became the mistake that led to me and my sister¡¯s birth. One night, she stole away from the village to test a summoning she found amongst her teacher¡¯s tomes. It claimed to be able to call and bind a demon to the caster¡¯s will, and allow them to place a demand upon them in exchange for a price. With her skill, it wasn¡¯t hard for her to complete the summoning. However, her lack of knowledge led her to mistake the nature of the demon she summoned. She ensured the demon was a mage, and sought to make a exchangefor knowledge of demonic magic. She thought her wards would protect her, and perhaps they would have against most demons. If she hadn¡¯t summoned a demon of lust, an Incubus, she almost certainly would have been able to banish the demon, even if her demand was left unmet. The demon agreed to her exchangefor magical knowledge, displaying a grimoire, but the price was something she hadn¡¯t anticipated. Being a maiden, and without experience in seduction, she fell for the temptations offered and laid with the Incubus. Unintentionally, she broke the ward the bound the demon, but was unaware of her mistake. When she returned to the village, her body bore his magical taint, and the village was aware that a demon had descended nearby. Her mentor, unbeknownst to her, had scryed upon the scene and knew what had happened. Whether it was mercy or cruelty, he let her flee the village before informing the elders what had transpired. Perhaps it would have been a hopeless flight, but for the fact that her father was the one to discover her traces and led the other rangers away from her presence. She fled, deep into the woods where few would dare venture alone. Only her skills with wards kept her safe from harm until she found her way to a small clearing with a stream running though it. Perhaps the greatest blow to her was the fact that the grimoire she acquired seemed useless, requiring the bloodline of a demon to bind it and learn its secrets. Alone, unable to return toher tribe, she struggled to survive. She set up ward after powerful ward, keeping monsters away from the clearing, and discovered something else. She was pregnant. Fortunately, many of her needs could be handled via conjuration, and the herb lore she learned from her mother kept her healthy. The skills her father taught her brought her food, and in time she gave birth to me and my sister: Marcus and Tayla Allbright. She could sense the presence of my father¡¯s blood within me, but my sister seemed pure. For a time she debated whether it was better off to abandon me, but...I was her child after all. So she raised the two of us, deep in the woods, all on her own. Tayla was a normal, healthy elven child, bright, agile, and without a speck of magical talent. I was always more frail than my sister, but when my father¡¯s tome reacted to me, it was clear I was destined to follow the path of magic, like my mother before me.¡± Mark paused for a moment. ¡°Quick question, what¡¯s the growth rate for Elves like, compared to my racial status?¡± The voice of the ¡°Goddess¡± replied. ¡°Elves mature normally until about the age of 10, then physically mature at a rate of 10 years to one compared to a human growth rate. Being a half-blood, you¡¯d mature normally until about 15, then age at a rate of 5 years to one. As a side note, your racial characteristics would kick in around puberty, so you should find a way to work that in.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Mark pondered for a minute then nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s see...Right. My sister and I were always close, though our interests differed. She was always one to climb trees and stalk various small animals, where I was insistent on learning magic. It wasn¡¯t until my mother caught me reading the grimoire that she received from my father that she began to teach me." Mark briefly paused before instructing "I''m not going to specifically denote what spells it has, but they should consist ofillusion and mental magics that an incubus would find useful. In any case," he continued, "I showed no talent in the fields of magic my mother understood, but seemed to display an almost instinctive grasp of magic related to illusions. As such, my mother couldn¡¯t really teach me directly, but bestowed the principals of magic on me. She eventually revealed my origins to me, as a lesson on hubris. While I wasn¡¯t horribly bothered by my origins, at the same time I was blind of the ramifications. That was, at least until I turned fourteen. That year I grew ill and seemed to grow progressively weaker over time. Strange thoughts assailed me, and my mother, for the first time left the clearingand placed me in the care of my ¡°little¡± sister. By now it was clear she hadn¡¯t inherited the traits of my father, as she matured at a rate befitting an elf; no one would believe we were the same age. Several days later, my mother returned. However, she wasn¡¯t alone. She was accompanied by a beastkin girl, a slave she had purchased from a nearby village. What followed was perhaps the single most embarrassing conversation of my life. My mother shooed my sister out of the house and explained in detail what an incubus needed to do to survive. The girl she brought with her had apparently already been told and what followed, well, it doesn¡¯t need to be said. Terra was the name of the slave, and while she served as my...food, she had talents of her own. She was actually a talented Rogue, and served to teach my sister her various skills, while I focused on my magic. For several years, all was fairly peaceful, but as fate would have it, nothing lasts forever. A powerful monster broke through the wards my mother had placed, and she along with Terra served to distract it while I was ordered to flee with my sister. It is at this point my story resumes, and what follows is yet to be known.¡± *Clap Clap Clap* Came the sound of enthusiastic applause. ¡°Ooh, I like it! There¡¯s a lot of things I can do with that sort of backstory. I¡¯ll start playing back what I¡¯ve come up with, and there¡¯ll be a few points where I¡¯ll have you make some sort of decision. Or maybe do some training. Here we go!¡± What followed was something that seemed to be a cross between a movie and a memory as Mark watched the events he had described. He learned his mother was named Alyssa, and her father was one of the Royal Scouts. Alyssa¡¯s mother was indeed a talented herbalist and was famed as a healer. Mark watched was Alyssa studied for decades, perfecting her arts, along with the fateful summoning that led to his character¡¯s conception. It wasn¡¯t until his character¡¯s early childhood that things slowed down. When he watched himself walk into his mother¡¯s study, Mark suddenly dropped into a first-person perspective as he opened a drawer. Within was a black, leather-bound book with a golden magical circle on its cover. He felt a compulsion to pick up the book and open it and when Mark did, a voice echoed in his mind. {Greetings to one who bears my blood. My name is Fidelus, Archmage of the Mind. If you seek to learn my secrets, this tome shall be your guide. Be warned, my path is that of light and shadow, of truth and falsehood. Those who seek to follow my path must forswear other branches of magic as my teachings will conflict with other schools of thought. You may choose to follow my path, and learn all I have to offer, but as my blood I will permit you to learn my lesser spells should you wish to seek you own path. What do you choose?} The scene froze at that point and Mark laughed. ¡°A few minor spells or the full teachings of an Archmage? Yeah, I¡¯ll go all in.¡± When the scene resumed a slightly amused mental voice replied to his choice. {You won¡¯t regret it. I can see you have the aptitude, but little foundation. Interesting, your mind is rather unusual. You should be but a mere child, but the complexity of your thoughts is as if an older being inhabits this body. How curious...} ¡°Well, you¡¯re not wrong.¡± Mark replied. ¡°So, where do we begin?¡± With his reply, Mark stepped back out of first person view to watch as his child-self began reading the book, only to be discovered by his ¡°mother¡±. She scolded him and tried to take the book away, only to see it vanish into an eye-shaped tattoo on the back of his hand. Mark couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as his kid-self tried to explain about the ¡°talking¡± book. The scene continued and Mark watched as his mother taught him the basics of mana control, begrudgingly admitting the book was an "inheritance" from his Father. She carefully watched as his child-self caused the grimoire to reappear and had him read out what was written inside. It was obvious that she was worried that her son could read a demonic spellbook, but when he showed no aptitude for casting any of the types of magic she knew, she had Mark read out the information that had appeared in the book. The first spell was simple, but at the same time profound. It described how to channel mana to create an illusory object. There was a detailed explanation of how the magic worked, the chant needed to invoke the spell, and ¡°advanced¡± instruction for how to chantlessly perform the magic. She seemed stunned at the idea of casting a spell without an accompanying chant, and a hint of her old fervor for magic lit her expression. She eventually succeeded in casting the spell as it was outlined, and Mark saw several scenes of her frowning and muttering as she tried to cast the spell without the chant unsuccessfully. Eventually, she allowed him to cast the first spell from within the grimoire. Mark, having been practicing in secret, flawlessly cast the spell, duplicating an old clay goblet on the table. A wild grin lit Alyssa¡¯s face for a moment before she sternly scolded him, saying that he was supposed to do it without using the chant. Days passed before he finally managed it and when he proudly demonstrated it to his mother she hugged him fiercely. Afterwards she told him that from now on, whenever he practiced magic he needed to make a point of figuring out how to do it without the chant, even if it was harder. While the practice montage played before him, Mark felt a surge of information enter his mind. He suddenly knew what it felt like to reach within his own mana pool and draw on it to cast a spell. As the scene of him creating the illusory goblet replayed, he also realized how it worked. By forming a perfect mental image of the goblet, drawing on his mana-pool, then pushing the sight of it in front of him, it would appear. As the understanding coalesced, he heard the voice of Fidelus in a somewhat lecturing tone. {In the case of a magus focusing on illusions, two things are required to excel: First, a profound grasp of the situation you find yourself in. Second, the ability to implement your illusions without the target''s awareness. Chantless casting is an essential tool in your arsenal. While most schools of magic may have a differing opinion, casting magic doesn¡¯t strictly require chanting. Chanting is a crutch, and by relying on it, you cripple your own abilities. While sometimes a crutch is needed, always remember that true mastery requires a fundamental understanding. Chants can be forgotten, silenced or interrupted, but once you truly comprehend the nature of a spell, it can never be taken from you. Next, I will discuss the art of misdirection....} As his perspective changed back to that of an observer, the voice of Fidelus faded. After a moment,Mark found himself once more watching the film-like scene playingbefore him, only to be interrupted by a series of windows appearing in his view.
Unique Item Gained: Grimoire of Fildelus. Soul-bound to character Marcus Allbright.
Grimoire of Fidelus: The spell-book of a deceased Archmage, it has been enchanted with a fragment of his consciousness. Grants access to a specialized field of illusion magic. Fidelus will slowly reveal new chants, theories of magic and general information, acting as a mentor. Before Fidelus will reveal new spells, his acolyte must demonstrate true mastery of certain prerequisite magics.
Advanced Class Unlocked: Willbender. By choosing to abandon your affinity for other branches of magic, you have embarked on the path of the Archmage Fidelus. Willbenders gain access to various forms of Illusion and Mind magic. While difficult to master and lacking in most forms of direct offense, a Willbender¡¯s spells are incredibly adaptable.
Title Gained: Fidelus¡¯s Acolyte. You have gained the legacy of a powerful mage. Beware who you reveal his name to, as while some may give you aid, others will seek your downfall.
Spell learned: Illusion: Object. Allows the caster to create a realistic illusion of an inanimate object.
Ability granted: Chantless Casting. By gaining an innate understanding of the spell being cast, the chant may be omitted. May require more time or mana to cast, spellcasting of any mastered spell cannot be affected by silencing effects.
¡°Hah, that¡¯s awesome!" Mark fist-pumped the air. A moment later he frowned, then muttered to himself, "That was a pretty neat introduction to the magic system. That sensation of having knowledge appear in your mind is pretty similar to how using an imprint feels.¡± While Mark pushed thatthought to the back of his mind, he grinned a bit at having gained access to an ¡°advanced¡± class before even technically starting the game. This whole ¡°make your own backstory¡± bit was proving even more interesting than he thought it would be. As the scenes flowed on, he watched his ¡°sister¡± and himself play in the woods. He had to admit, they were both cute kids. Tayla was blond haired and blue-eyed, her long, pointed ears jutting out to the side. Mark¡¯s hair was more of a reddish blond. He was slightly taller than his sister at this age, and he had deep green eyes. He chuckled as his child self constantly lost the games of tag they played, then pranked his sister by sneakily chanting spells that summoned illusory snakes and frogs in revenge. The scenes once again slowed their progression on a particular summer day. While his mother taught his sister archery, he sat in the shade of a tree and studied his grimoire. As he did, the voice of the ¡°Goddess of Reincarnation¡± echoed in his mind. ¡°Some mages focus on the size and potency of their magic, while others are more concerned with efficiency and control. Using what you¡¯ve learned, make an illusory animal to reflect your inclinations.¡± The scene unfroze and Mark realized he was back in first-person again. This time a wave of sensory data assailed him. He felt the warmth of the summer day, even as the tree he sat beneath shaded him from the sun. An occasional breeze ruffled the pages of his book, bring a refreshing moment of coolness as his perspiration evaporated. His mother was in the distance, correcting Tayla¡¯s posture as she drew back a small bow, and the sounds of birds chirping and insects buzzing filled the air. When he looked down at his grimoire, an entry in golden letters caught his eyes. [When making an illusion of a living being, there are two general routes to take. The first is by focusing on key elements, and having your target fill in the details on their own. In certain scenarios, this is the more effective way. For example, should you try to make an illusion of someone that person is familiar with, any misplaced details can cause the target to question the validity of the illusion. The latter technique is to simply create the most detailed illusion possible. This technique is advantageous when the target has a high willpower or otherwise resists mental manipulation. Remember, visual illusions are a science, while mental illusions are an art. Sometimes one supplements the other, while other times one supplants the other. At all times, the illusionist should take into consideration the impact and desired outcome of their actions. If, for example, you wanted to create the impression of a monster amongst the trees, you might not need to be too detailed. Fill in the outline, prominent details, and imbue a sense of unease in the target, and their mind will likely do most of your work for you. On the other hand, should you wish to create an image that can undergo detailed scrutiny, the more work you put into your creation, the better the outcome.] After reading the entry, Mark closed the book and considered. On impulse, he held out his hand and tried to recreate the goblet he¡¯d watched himself make earlier. It was strangelyfamiliar, like he was performing an action he¡¯d done dozens of times before. He could sense an intangible fount of energy within himself, and he grasped onto it. The sensation of touching his mana pool was similar to the last moment of a deep breath, immediately before exhaling. Mentally, he recalled the image of the goblet he had created in the past and released the mana he¡¯d seized. It was decidedly odd, like the first instant of exhaling, but into dozens of threads. At second he "exhaled" he pushed the mental image onto the threads. A moment later it appeared, practically snapping into existence. It was a plain reddish color, made of a smoothed clay but as he studied it, he noticed that it wasn¡¯t quite as perfect as the real thing. Some areas were slightly blurry, and the grain of the clay wasn¡¯t perfect. On a whim, he imagined a glass mug from his house, releasing the threads of mana he¡¯d been subconsciously holding and repeating the process from before. Oddly, the glass mug seemed more realistic, and he suddenly realized that the perfect symmetry and smoothness of the surface made it easier to accurately reproduce. Ironically, he thought, imperfection was harder to mimic than perfection. As he pondered on what he was supposed to accomplish, he suddenly realized how difficult accurately creating a living creature entirely from illusions would be. Let alone the shapes, colors and textures he¡¯d need to remember, there was the motions and mannerisms of the creature to consider. He kind of understood why using a person¡¯s own perceptions was a formof shortcut. Mark knew that if he wanted to be an effective illusionist in this game, he¡¯d better learn both techniques, but for now he needed to focus on one aspect. Did he want to play on perception? Or did he want to attempt perfection? Either way he figured it would lead him to develop one of his starting skills or abilties. That¡¯s usually how this sort of binary choice worked during a tutorial stage. He just wasn¡¯t sure what the better choice was at this point. After a few minutes consideration, he stood up. Standing, he felt a brief headrush, then walked over to where his ¡°mother¡± and ¡°sister¡± were practicing. He waitedfor Tayla to release her arrow, then groan after once again missing the target. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Mom, could I ask you a favor?¡± Mark felt a distinct sense of disconnect at calling what looked like a twenty-something girl ¡®mom¡¯, but intellectually understood that an elf that looked twenty was, in this game, probably close to 200 years old. Aylssa turned and smiled. ¡°What is it honey?¡± ¡°I need a small creature to study to practice my illusions.¡± When Alyssa frowned, Mark hurriedly explained. ¡°I won¡¯t do anything bad to it, I just need to look at it up close. I want to try to make an illusory creature as realistic as possible, and need to be able to examine it from every angle so I can try to duplicate it.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you already do that?¡± Tayla asked, lowering her bow. ¡°You tricked me with a snake last week.¡± Mark looked at his sister and grinned. ¡°Yeah, but that was with a chant. If I want to do it without chanting the spell I need to understand and imagine it perfectly.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t do it mom!¡± Tayla suddenly exlaimed. ¡°I just know he¡¯s planning on playing another prank on me!¡± ¡°Is that true Mark? Are you planning to play aprank on your sister?¡± Alyssa asked, her voice a cross between amused and chiding. Mark rolled his eyes. Apparently he had a reputation for being a trickster already. ¡°Actually, I was thinking about how to help Tayla with her practice.¡± Mark replied. ¡°Once she gets good enough with her bow I wanted to try to make a moving target for her. If I can make a rabbit or a bird or something, I can work oncontrolling my illusions while she practices shooting them.¡± Tayla and hismother both looked at him for a second before staring at each other. ¡°That¡¯s...actually a really interesting idea honey. I¡¯ve been feeling bad about having you study all on your own.¡± Alyssa sighed. ¡°I really wish you didn¡¯t need to use that grimore, but our aptitudes are just too different for me to be a good teacher for you.¡± Mark shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine, from what I¡¯ve read chantless magic requires that the caster has to their own person insight into how their magic works anyways. Most of the stuff in there is just a rough outline for me to work from.¡±He smiled ¡°I don¡¯t mind. This way, as I get better, I can help Tayla get better too. You can teach Tayla and tell me what would be good for her to practice against while I try to figure this stuff out and at the same time tell me what my illusions are lacking.¡± His mother wore a considering expression on her face, only to be interrupted by Tayla. She looked at Mark with stars in her eyes and exclaimed. ¡°Really, you mean it!? Brother¡¯s going to help me practice?¡± Markgrinned at Tayla. Alright, at least I¡¯ve got an adorable sister. The game gets a point for that.He thought to himself. ¡°Sure. I just realized that instead of teasing you I might be able give you a challenge. That way when we grow up and go on adventures I¡¯ll be able to make our enemies wetthemselves while they run away and you can shoot them in the butt. Then we can both laugh at them.¡± Mark figured that he might as well get into the spirit of being a kid with his logic. Half the fun of this sort of thing was role-playing your character. Tayla pouted and complained. ¡°I only peed myself the one time.¡± Aylssa gave him a wry look. ¡°Clearly you only have pure intentions and would never prank your sister with magic. I can''t imagine why she thought you would.¡± Mark rolled his eyes. ¡°Really mom, I promise to only use my mystic powers for good.¡± Alyssa snorted, but relented. ¡°Let me think for a moment...Ah! I know.¡± Slowly, Aylssa began to chant ¡°Ekrom due finisia polem et da krost. Atkeska!¡± A small runic circle appeared above her outstretched palm, and light began gathering into it. A moment later it coalesced into a tiny bird with rainbow feathers. It was somewhat larger than a humming-bird but seemed incredibly docile as Mark¡¯s mother handed it to him. ¡°This a Paradise Feather, I hear they¡¯re used as messenger birds in tropical regions. Will that work for you?¡± Mark smiled, giving his mother a one-armed hug. ¡°Perfect. Will it listen to me if I ask it to hover or turn around?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯ll last for about three hours, so that should give you some time to practice. Be gentle though¡± She warned. ¡°Conjured creature like that are fragile.¡± Mark nodded in reply. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll be careful. You¡¯re the best mom!¡± As Mark walked back to the tree, he heard Tayla complaining about not getting a pretty bird of her own, following by Alyssa scolding her and having her correct her posture. When Mark sat back down, he scrutinized the small bird from every angle, trying to memorize it in detail. Stretching out his other palm, he made a crude duplicate of the creature in a similar fashion as to how he¡¯d made the goblet, then started filling in the details, feather by feather. This sort of method of using magic was fascinating. While Mark had played a couple of games that used mental triggersto activate spells or abilities, he''d never played one that perfectly replicated what he imagined into some form of reality. He could feel a headache starting from the intense focus, but ignored it as he had the creature stretch out one wing, then the other. He had his illusion copy the motion, then had the conjured creature hover. Replicating the movements only served to increase his headache, but he persisted until he had the motions down. Next, he canceled the illusion and closed his eyes, trying to createthe creature from memory alone. As his headache reached migraine levels he wasn¡¯t concerned. In fact, despite the pressure in his skull he feltlike he was starting to understand something. His first attempt was a failure, and so was his second, but the third try resulted in a nearly flawless recreation of the stationary Paradise Feather. Finally, as he felt like his head would burst, something clicked and he snapped back into third person view, while several windows appeared in sequence.
Ability Gained: Holographic Memory. By studying an animate or inanimate object, you will be able to perfectly visualize what it looks like from any previously seen angle or movement.
Spell Learned: Illusion: Creature. Able to create realistic illusions of living creatures.
Bonus Stats Earned: +1 Focus, +1 Wisdom
Marksighed in relief as he watched his child-self show off his accomplishment. His mother was apparently stunned, while his sister was enthralled with the illusory bird. As the headache vanished, he asked, ¡°So how does that Holographic Memory ability work anyway?" Mark asked. "I mean, in real life I have a decent memory, but it¡¯s not that good.¡± From all around foggy backdrop to the movie playing his ¡°backstory¡± came the reply. The ¡°Goddess of Reincarnation¡± sounded proud as sheanswered. ¡°Thanks to advancements in neural interface technology, Real Fantasy Online has the ability to actively detect and moderate what memories are being accessed at any given point. All you need to do is initiate the process, and the software will assist with the storage and retrieval process. In other words, while you¡¯re in the game you actually now have a ''Holographic Memory''. Impressive right?¡± Mark laughed. ¡°Actually, yeah. That¡¯s both amazing and incredibly useful. Another question, most of these games have some sort of time-dilation effect. What¡¯s the ratio between subjective game time and real time? I feel like I¡¯ve been at this for about 4 hours now.¡± ¡°Good question." Came the response. " Generally, it¡¯s 3:1. I¡¯m still testing what your mind can handle, but during the character creation stage we¡¯re now up to 5:1. So far you aren¡¯t showing any mental strain, so we might be able to get it up to 6 or 7:1. If you''re in a pocket-realm or or using certain abilities we need to know what your safe maximums are. In the real world, you¡¯ve only been at this for about an hour. Do you want me to set an alert for any specific amount of time? Of course a log-out sequence will initiate whenever your body needs nourishment or needs to perform a biological function.¡± ¡°Yeah" Mark replied, "Set an alert forfour hours . Next question, how do you handle it when I¡¯m ¡°Logged out¡± of the game?¡± ¡°That depends. " The "Goddess" answered. "In most circumstances, an AI will take over the actions of your character, following the actions you¡¯ve been taking. There¡¯s a bit of a bias to resupplying, resting, training and gathering quest leads. We make every effort to ensure that neither your nor your companions are seriously injured or killed while you¡¯re offline, but if you log out whileyou''re in the middle of a warzone...let¡¯s just say bad things can happen. If you¡¯re in a dedicated instance where no other player can possibly enter, and there''s some reasonable justification, time will be frozen while you¡¯re offline.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°Basically, be smart when you log out and it should be alright.¡± Suddenly he grinned. ¡°So what sort of things might happen to an AFK player who chose a backstory about being the heir to a kingdom, bearing legendary weapons and skills, with a harem of sex slaves while in a perfectly safe fortress? You said something about balancing right?¡± There was an echoing snort. ¡°You know, someone actually did that. Lets just say...there¡¯s a balance and they were warned. So, ready to get back to it?¡± ¡°Right.¡± Mark noticed that while he was asking his questions, the projection paused. When it resumed, it was a bit of a montage of his character practicing his illusions, learning to make larger objects, and creatures with more lifelike motions. Like he had implied, he started helping his sister with target practice and Tayla began to develop in a rather skilled archer. By this point, they were both about ten, and went a little deeper into the forest to hunt and gather herbs. His character was examining the bases of trees while his sister scouted ahead. Hearing a scream from the projection, suddenly Mark found himself dropped into his character, darting through the woods towards the sound of his sister¡¯s voice. Just as he passed a pair of large oaks, a scene came into view: There was a large boar-like creature, an arrow sticking out of one eye, while his sister was on the ground, one of her legs bleeding. At that moment, the scene stopped and the "Goddess¡¯s" voice spoke. ¡°Regardless of your actions, your sister will survive this encounter. How badly she is injured, and how she views you will be affected by your choices. Using what you¡¯ve learned of magic, and your own strategies, figure out how to resolve this scenario.¡± As the scene resumed, Mark cursed to himself. Really? Fuck. All right, I can do this. He noticed that things seemed to be happening slightly slower, and figured that this was the reflex-based ¡®time-dilation¡¯ effect in action. Seeing the boar scraping the ground, clearly readying a charge, Mark acted quickly. Following what seemed to be fragmentary memories, first he balled up all his feelings of consternation and confusion, then reached for his mana pool. At the same time, he pushed it all at the boar. Seeing it stumble slightly, and feeling the drain on his mana pool, he figured something worked and moved to the next step. He immediately tried to memorize the image of his sister, and attempted to replicate it four feet to the right, slightly in front of a tree. Suprisingly, he found that he was able to create a perfect mental picture of Talya in an instant. Huh, must be the [Holograpic Memory]. He thought to himself.As the duplicate image appeared, the boar seemed even more confused. Next, he memorized the look of the forest floor, and imagined in over top of where Tayla actually was.Pushing that image seemed harder, but a moment later she seemed to vanish. Next, he grabbed the irritation he felt at being dumped into this scenario along with the anger from seeing the cute little elf-girl bleeding, balled it up with his mana and practically threw it at the boar. It roared, then immediately charged at the illusory Tayla, stumbling asit met no resistance before smacking into the tree behind it. It seemed a little dazed, but Mark knew this wasn¡¯t a long-term solution. It bought him a couple of seconds for the next part though as he dug into his own memories. One of his favorite animals as a child were tigers, and to this day he had a clear mental image of them. He shaped that image, making it larger, fiercer, with glowing eyes and bloodied fangs. He once more reached inside himself towards his rapidly dwindling pool of mana, and imagined the image replacing his own form, making himself seem as if he were a tiger charging right towards the stunned boar. He knew he couldn¡¯t mimic the snarling roar it should have, but tried anyway, remembering the sense on atavistic dread he¡¯d felt hearing it as a child, and pushing that at the boar as well when he charged towards it. The boar turned towards the sound, then almost comically squealed and ran off. Clearly this had all been too much for the creature. Half-blinded, pained, stunned and faced with an enormous predator that radiated threat it gave up on the human that hurt it, and ran for its life. All this takes some time to describe, but in fact took no more than ten seconds or so. As the boar ran off, he let the illusions drop, panting. Not only was Mark winded, the headache he feltmight be a symptom of over-using his magic appeared. As Mark got to where his sister was struggling to her feet he smiled faintly. ¡°Next time, stick to rabbits okay?¡± As Mark wryly spokehe felt his legs give out from under him and passed out. The moment he passed out, Mark dropped back out into the third-person view and witnessed his sister waking him up, and the two of them stumbling back to their house. Once again, he was greeted by another series of windows.
Gained Multiple Spells: Spell Learned: Mind: Confusion. Causes targets with lower mental resistance than caster¡¯s skill to become confused. Duration varies. Affected by circumstances. Partial mastery. Spell Learned: Illusion: Camouflage. Make one stationary target appear as part of the background scenery. Partial mastery Spell Learned: Mind: Rage. Causes targets with lower mental resistance than caster¡¯s skill to become enraged. Duration varies. Affected by circumstances. Partial mastery. Spell Created: Illusion/Mind: Aspect of the Demonic Tiger. Overlay the appearance and aura of the caster with the illusion of a fierce creature from another world. Partial mastery. Spell Learned: Mind: Fear. Causes targets with lower mental resistance than caster¡¯s skill to become terrified. Duration varies. Affected by circumstances. Partial mastery.
Notice: AI Tayla Allbright¡¯s emotional connection to Player Marcus Allbright has shifted from familial love to idolization. She is now much more willing to comply with requests and it is now much harder to reduce her level of affection.
Bonus Stats Earned: +1 Wisdom, +1 Attunement, +2 Luck.
¡°Holy crap.¡± Was Mark¡¯s only comment after reading the list of notifications. ¡°No kidding.¡± The "Goddess" replied, sounding a little surprised. ¡°Either you or Tayla was supposed to end up maimed by that boar but you managed to pull off a flawless win for the scenario. Usually I wouldn¡¯t award a permanent luck bonus, but your last spell only had a 5% chance of working. Never mind using the fragmentary memories of your training to cast no less three aspects of mental manipulation, you prematurely grasped the basics of illusory camouflage and created a spell that combined both with yet anotherillusion while unconsciously infusing it with your limited aura stat. I figured you earned somebonus points for the accomplishment.¡± Mark grinned. ¡°Nice. Thanks.¡± ¡°No need for thanks. The boar was generated to offset you potential advantage in having an AI companion from the beginning. Be glad that you put enough deficits and justifications in your backstory to justify your grimoire or you''d be dealing with a lot more than just that.Now remember, once we¡¯ve finalized creating your character, gaining stat points is much,much more difficult." A *Clap* sound echoed in the mists. "So, now we¡¯re at one point you can learn a job, if you decide to learn how to mix up some medicine for Tayla¡¯s wounds you can pick up Herbalist. That¡¯ll give you passive that gives you a good feeling about beneficial plants, and as you learn recipes and practice you¡¯ll be able to make some useful stuff. If you don¡¯t, Tayla will pick it up instead. There¡¯s another job you can learn from that beastkin slave you talked about if you don¡¯t pick this one.¡± ¡°Will Talya learn that one if I pick up Herbalist?¡± Mark asked, a little surprised at her frank explanation. The last couple of times he¡¯d been making character choices it¡¯d been through method acting rather than a simple Q&A. ¡°Got it in one.¡± ¡°Just curious, why are you telling me this in advance?¡± Mark asked. The feminine voice snorted. ¡°Well, now that there¡¯s zero chance Tayla won¡¯t follow you as a companion, I can let you determine her route a bit. There¡¯s still a couple of events that will affect her personality, but it¡¯s pretty much set in stone that she¡¯s your ally.¡± Mark was stoked by her answer. He¡¯d hoped that by creating a backstory with a sister, his character would end up with an AI ally from the get-go, but hadn¡¯t explicitly mentioned it in hopes that he¡¯d have less trouble with the ¡°balancing¡± mechanic. After a minute of consideration, Mark replied. ¡°Hmm. I think Herbalism¡¯s a better fit for my character. Letting Tayla be mentored by the beastkin Rouge should work out better for her anyway.¡± ¡°Right then, ready?¡± ¡°Ready.¡± Mark replied. A moment later he felt the now familiar sensation of syncing with with his half-elf form, and realized it was just after his mother had finished scolding him and Talya for going into the woods. Tayla was laying on the bed, wincing as their mother carefully cleaned and stitched the wound shut. As she went over towards her collection of her Mark followed, asking quietly. ¡°Mom?¡± ¡°Yes Marcus?¡± Hearing the somewhat sharp tone made him mentally wince. She was clearly pissed. ¡°I was wondering...could, could you teach me that?¡± He deliberately picked a somewhat hesitant approach, trying to play out the role of a ten year-old who was worried about his sister. Alyssa turned and blinked. ¡°Teach you what?¡± She asked, sounding a little puzzled. Mark pointed at the herbs drying. ¡°You¡¯re going to make a healing poultice for sis right? Could you teach me how? If you or her ever gets hurt again I want to be able to help. I know you¡¯re mad right now, but I want to help Tayla get better.¡± Alyssa let out a long sigh and ruffled hishair. Bending close she gave him a hug and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m not really that mad at you.You never really go into the woods unless Tayla drags you along with her. Besides, from what I hear you were quite the little hero. You¡¯ll have to tell me exactly what you did later.¡± Raising up and speaking a little more loudly, she continuedin a somewhat sterner voice, ¡°Well, if you want to help fix your foolish sister up, I don¡¯t mind. Come here and watch.¡± Mark paid close attention as she pointed out which specific herbs to use, and what parts were most useful. After that she had him grind them up with a mortar and pestle before mixing the mixture with a little boiling water and applying it to a compress. Tayla winced and hissed when the compress was applied and Alyssa smugly added that that particular mixture stung like hell if you didn¡¯t use a numbing agent first. While Tayla bitterly complained about skipping that step, he heard a somewhat familiar mental voice. {Gotta say I¡¯m pretty impressed kid. You managed to work out the basics of emotional projection and concealment magic on the fly. You might actually have some talent for this path. Between your lessons in Herbology, we¡¯ll work on refining your mind magic. Using the emotions you¡¯re feeling is a shortcut, but if you want to make someone feel happy when you¡¯re pissed off, that way won¡¯t work. Make sure you don¡¯t talk to anyone about this either, most people aren¡¯t thrilled to discover a mage that can chantlessly affect their mental state. I¡¯ll show you the associated chants and spell theory so you can get your mother to help you practice, but remember the way you used that magic today, alright?} After Fidelus made that comment, the time skipped by. Alyssa seriously taught Mark what she knew of being an Herbalist from her mother, along with what she¡¯d had to figure out living on her own. It only took Tayla a couple of days to fully heal with the medicinal poultice, and there was a fairly obvious difference in how she treated her brother. Before, it had been the more traditional sibling competition, and from what Mark had seen, she¡¯d never been much for physical affection. Now, she looked for excuses to hang around her brother, and giving Mark hugs and touching him became much more routine. Mark pretended to be annoyed by it whenever they were around their mother, but when it was just the two of them he made it clear he didn¡¯t mind it at all; even taking the initiative of giving her hugs and telling his sister he loved her, then immediately acting embarrassed when she reciprocated. Days, and even weeks skipped past as Mark continued to grow, andat this point Tayla¡¯s growth had obviously dramatically slowed. It was at this point that Mark questioned his mother about his and his sister¡¯s different rate of growth and she revealed the truth behind his birth, and why she was so insistent on being careful with magic. Mark acted like he took it to heart, but it was difficult when he knew it was part of a backstory he had personally created. Sometime during the skips between first person ¡°training¡± and third-person ¡°watching¡± he received a handful of notifications.
Herbalist requirements met: As the player has no active job, Herbalist will automatically be selected for the default job.
Herbalist: This job allows for the creation of various concoctions from various plants and herbs. While not as versatile as the Class: Alchemist, Herbalists can produce a wide range of effects from their creations, including but not limited to: Health, Mana and Stamina recoverypotions, as well as status effect curatives and various poisons. Herbalists have a higher chance of discovering useful plants in the wild and gain a bonus to growing all forms of plant life.
Multiple Recipies Learned: Recipe Learned: Healing Poultice. Speeds the recovery of burns, torn flesh and reduces scarring. Recipe Learned: Boneset Tea. Speeds the healing of broken bones. Recipe Learned: Feverdrop Tea. Lowers fever and aids in fighting off infectious diseases Recipe Learned: Emetic. Causes the user to become violently ill. Can be used to cure certain poisons Recipe Learned: Minor Health Tonic. Immediately accelerates the natural healing process, allowing the equivalent of two weeks natural healing. Reduced stats for 1 hour, increases hunger and fatigue for two days. Recipe Learned: Minor Stamina Tonic. Immediately recovers a small portion of the user¡¯s stamina. Reduced stats after 1 hour for a period of two hours, overuse can cause dependence. Recipe Learned: Minor Mana Potion. Immediately recovers a small portion of the user¡¯s mana. Can result in manapoisoningor headache. Recipe Learned: Bell-blossom Poison. A sticky substance that can can be applied to weapons to poison a target. Highly lethal if directly ingested. Recipe Learned: Hycanthia Poison. An odorless, tasteless powder that can be mixed with food or beverages. Causes hallucinations in high doses and a numbing effect when used in moderation.
All in all, it wasn¡¯t a ton of recipes, but Mark¡¯s ¡®Mother¡¯ wasn¡¯t a professional Herbalist either. She actually taught him how to identify far more plants than she actually knew the use of; confessing she only remembered them because her mother mentioned that they were valuable, edible, or poisonous. Still, Mark was satisfied. He had gained a portable collection of tools he could use to make potions, and a carefully padded hip container that contained his variouscreations. He also made a point of having a small collections bag with several compartments he could store herbs within on hand at all times. Around the time his character was approaching his 14th birthday, he started to put together a kit of essential travel gear. A solid knife, flint, tinder, a small spool of gut-twine and first-aid supplies along with rope and other useful goods. Since his mother had never been one to explore,his sister was the first to notice what he was doing and she quietly began doing the same. She occasionally made trips into the forest by herself, even succeeding in killing the boar that had injured her years ago. It was a shame Mark couldn¡¯t see Tayla¡¯s stats, because at this point he was really curious. That year however, was the year Mark¡¯s ¡°illness¡± would strike, and to his consternation the ¡°Goddess¡± decided this was something he should experience, not just watch. He was dropped back into ¡°his¡± body right as a surge of weakness hit him and he passed out. When he woke up, he was laying in bed with his sister looking on anxiously. ¡°Big Brother, you¡¯re awake now?¡± Tayla¡¯s voice came from the side. Mark tried to sit up, then quickly laid back down, feeling the awkward combination of exhaustion and arousal. Turning to his side, he spoke. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m up Tayla. Where¡¯s mom?¡± Tayla glanced at him, blushed, then looked back towards the door. ¡°She said she needed to get something from the beast-kin village to help you and that I should stay here. Are...are you feeling alright?¡± Hearing the odd tone in Tayla¡¯s voice made Mark realize something. She knows I¡¯m part Incubus, or at least suspects something. Hmm, this is a little awkward, I better confirm before saying anything else. Swallowing, Mark replied. ¡°I¡¯m fine, just...really tired for some reason.¡± ¡°Any...anything else?¡± Seeing that she was peeking back at him with an incredibly red face, Mark sighed. ¡°I think I know what¡¯s happening.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Tayla asked, sounding curious. ¡°Did mom...ever tell you about our father?¡± Seeing her bite her lip and nod Mark couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. ¡°Well at least I¡¯m spared that awkward conversation.¡± Tayla giggled, then looked serious for a moment. ¡°What do you think is happening?¡± Mark sighed again and answered. ¡°Well, our father was an Incubus right? And from what I gather from that spell-book I¡¯ve been studying, I inherited his blood to some degree. That¡¯s why I look older than you even though we¡¯re the same age.¡± Tayla nodded and he continued, ¡°I think...well Incubi are supposed to wake up to their powers around the time they ah...mature. Oh hell, there¡¯s no good way to say this. I think that I¡¯m so tired because as far as my Incubi half is concerned, I need to feed. It doesn¡¯t help that right now I¡¯m getting the impression that my body is desperately try to attract said ¡®food¡¯. I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s why you¡¯re looking away from me.¡± Tayla looked back at him, eyes slightly wide and nodded. Seeing her flushed face, Mark smiled wryly. ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t awkward at all.¡± He paused then asked hesitantly. ¡°Um...what¡¯s it like?¡± Tayla swallowed, and replied almost involuntarily, staring at Mark with a slightly glazed look in her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s like you¡¯re even more handsome than ever, and you smell so good and when I think getting closer to you I feel so warm and happy. Just looking at you is making me feel so wet...eeep!¡± When she realized what she said, Tayla immediately stood up and took a few steps back. She looked away and took a deep, shuddering breath. In response Mark couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Sorry lil¡¯ sis. At least I¡¯m not the only one feeling embarrassed and incredibly horny at right now. You should probably go outside and get some fresh air before we both do something we¡¯d regret afterwards. I don¡¯t think I can really control this at the moment.¡± ¡°Right...um. Yeah. I¡¯ll...be back later.¡± Seeing Tayla dart out the door Mark could help but chuckle. ¡°Well, I guess I should see if I can control my racial traitsanyway.¡± About the same time he said that, he once more heard a familiar voice. {Again you impress me. Most Incubi, even if they¡¯re only a half, can¡¯t manage to control themselves at all when they first awaken.} ¡°Ah, Fidelus. Just the disembodied voice I wanted to hear from. Don¡¯t suppose you have any way to teach me how to prevent myself from unintentionally turning my sister into a sex craved manic?¡± The ¡®voice¡¯ chuckled. {So your complaint is the...unintentional part then?} ¡°Let¡¯s just stick with me wanting to be able to control my own racial abilities.¡± Mark dodged the question, and it was the wry tone of Fidelus showed that he knew it as well. {Very well. You should notice that one of your senses feels a little different in some way. For most Incubi it¡¯s their sense of taste, or smell, but occasionally it¡¯s your sense of touch. Try to identify what¡¯s different.} ¡°Hmm, don¡¯t know about taste or touch, but the air seems like there¡¯s a faint, almost invisible pink hue to it and while my sense of smell doesn¡¯t feel different, I can certainly pick up Tayla¡¯s scent more easily than before.¡± {Interesting. The Eye of Lust is an uncommon variant. Better for focused control, but inferior at affecting a large area since it¡¯s limited to what you see. Very well. If you see the pink aura around you this should be rather simple. Just like you would with an illusion, simply take hold of your mana, and choose to not see it. It might take some time to disperse, so keep at it until it¡¯s completely gone.} Following Fidelus¡¯s directions, Mark concentrated and noticed that the non-existent pink mist was slowly dispersing. After several minutes, it had completely vanished. After it did, Mark relaxed, only to curse when it immediately reappeared. {Unlike your illusions, the pheromones emitted by an Incubus are as natural as breathing. It takes constant effort to suppress the effect. The greater your need to feed, the harder it will be to suppress, and at the moment, your body is starving for its first meal. Unfortunately, suppressing your pheromones does nothing to control your own libido, merely makes it so others don¡¯t feel the same.} ¡°Oh dammit.¡± Mark replied, once more concentrating on ¡°not seeing¡± the pink mist. Measuring the mental strain and drain on his mana pool Mark muttered. ¡°As long as I don¡¯t loose concentration I should be able to hold it for a few hours at a time.¡± {Very good. Now, since your control mechanism is through sight, you can do a couple of things that most Incubi cannot. Try letting your control lapse slightly, but only within a portion of your sight.} Mark paused, it required a shift in his mental gears to do what Fidelus suggested. In a way it most closely resembled covering the entire room in an illusion, except for a single portion. Interestingly, as soon as he thought of it this way, a corner of the room way immediately had pillar of much darker pink and he felt the burden on maintaining the restriction ease significantly. It was about then a knock sounded on the door. ¡°Can...Can I come in?¡± Came Tayla¡¯s hesitant voice. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ve been working on controlling the Incubi pheromones, so it shouldn¡¯t be so bad right now.¡± As the door creaked open, Tayla sneaked a look his direction. She still blushed, but she also seemed a little less tense. When she came closer Mark smiled and pointed towards the far corner of the room. ¡°Whatever you do, stay away from that corner. I¡¯ve kinda got everything pushed over there right now.¡± Tayla seemed puzzled at Mark¡¯s comment and asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± It was tricky to split his focus, but Mark managed to somehow reply. ¡°Incubi unconsciously emit something that attracts females to them. If I focus, I can somehow control it a bit, but it takes too much effort to suppress it completely in this state. Right now I¡¯m splitting my attention between talking to you, and containing my ah, overwhelming appeal.¡± Mark said the last in a sort of wry tone and Tayla giggled. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡± Mark raised an eyebrow. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, go stand in that corner for a bit. Just don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡± Tayla rolled her eyes and walked over, clearly disbelieving. Almost the instant she reached the pink column, she froze and turned to look at him. Mark could see her pupils visibly dilate as she moaned and took a couple of involuntary steps back towards him. This, fortunately had the effect of placing her back outside the column of concentrated pheromones. After another couple steps and a few deep breaths, she seemed to regain lucidity. ¡°That was...intense.¡± Tayla said after a shuddering breath. ¡°I couldn¡¯t control myself.¡± Mark chuckled. ¡°Never doubt brother¡¯s invisible corner of overwhelming appeal.¡± Tayla blushed, then giggled. ¡°Ri~ght. Actually I...I wanted to say something. If it gets too bad and you really need to um...just tell me. Mom explained about Incubi before she left. I mean, I love you and if it would help...¡± Mark closed his eyes and spoke softly. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t appreciate the offer Tayla. I do. I love you, and think you¡¯re very cute, but right now? What you felt standing in that column for a second is what I¡¯m experiencing constantly. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that I¡¯m barely strong enough to sit up right now and that I¡¯m trying very hard to control myself, I¡¯d be screwing you silly, sister or not.¡± Mark heard Tayla take a deep breath and softly say. ¡°Mark, if it¡¯s that bad I...¡± He cut her off, trying to speak in a measured tone. ¡°Look Tayla, if something like that ever happened between us, I¡¯d hope it was because we wanted it, not because I lost control of myself. I don¡¯t want this part of me to be what¡¯s in control. I hope like hell mom¡¯s finding some way to suppress this and will be back soon, otherwise...Please Tayla, just leave me be for now.¡± In a quiet voice, Tayla replied. ¡°Then...do your best. I¡¯ll keep checking on you, but if it looks like you can¡¯t take it any more I¡¯ll get naked and crawl in there no matter what part of you is in control. Incubi can die if they don¡¯t feed you know and I can think of worse things than being your um...food.¡± Mark opened his eyes and laughed at the contrast between Talya¡¯s serious tone and beet-red face. ¡°You better not. Incubi semen supposed to be addictive and if I catch you in my bed I swear I¡¯ll turn you into a perverted sex-addict who can¡¯t live without my cock.¡± Mark realized he wasn''t really talking in character, but at the moment he couldn''t really muster the desire to care. Tayla snorted and walked towards the door, glancing back she cheekily replied. ¡°You wish.¡± Mustering a lewd grin back Mark replied in a suggestive drawl. ¡°Maybe I do.¡± As Tayla¡¯s furiously blushing form exited the room, Markdropped back into third person once more and took a deep breath as the ¡°Goddess¡± chuckled. ¡°You know, I was almost certain you were going to practice your ¡°pheromonal control¡± on Tayla.¡± Mark simply scowled. ¡°Was it actually necessary to make me incredibly horny and helpless then tempt me with loli-elf incest?¡± ¡°Well...¡± The voice drawled. ¡°You did get to experience what it would be like if you go a month without ¡®feeding¡¯. I¡¯d say that¡¯s an important lesson. Since you managed to restrain yourself during your first experience of your racial downside, I¡¯d say you¡¯ve earned some rewards.¡± Abruptly a series of text-boxes popped up.
Racial Trait Awakened: Pheromonal Attraction. As an Incubus, you naturally emit quasi-magical pheromones to attract the opposite sex and lower their inhibitions. The more an incubus needs to feed, the more intense the attraction.
Racial Ability Awakened: Eyes of Lust. All Incubi have the means to control their ability to attract the opposite sex. Yours extends to those within your field of sight. By focusing with your mana and will, you can control thepotencyand area of influence of your ability.
Bonus Stats Earned: +2 Focus, +1 Wisdom
Notice: AI Tayla Allbright¡¯s emotional connection to Player Marcus Allbright has shifted from idolization to taboo love. She isaware you find her attractive, and finds you the same. Despite being related, she¡¯d be interested in pursing a sexual relationship with you, and can¡¯t help but have the occasional fantasy
¡°Oh for fucks sake!¡± Mark explained upon reading the last notice. ¡°I was just teasing her! I thought that not taking advantage of the little elf-girl was the platonic route.¡± The "Goddess" snorted. ¡°Nope. Taking advantage of her would have dropped her back to a wary familial love, but with a willingness to accommodate you if there was no other ¡°food¡± available. Catching you screwing the cute girl your mother¡¯s bringing home will just pique her interest. Speaking of, did you want to watch and/or participate in any of that, or just take it as a given that a teenage incubus is going to have all sorts of kinky sex with a bunny-eared slave-girl?¡± Mark laughed. ¡°While I am incredibly tempted, can I ask you to save the highlights instead? This strikes me as a good point to take a break while my AI substitute fills in for a few pseudo-years.¡± ¡°Sure, you¡¯re at about the three hour mark anyway. You¡¯re in an independent instance for the backstory creation, so I can pause and revert any important changes. Any general guidelines?¡± Mark thought for a bit. ¡°Yeah. I just realized that dealing with the side effects of being a half-Incubus are a bit more intense than I expected, so if I were stillplaying, I¡¯d take some time to train my willpower and control. I like the targeted pheromones, less so the uncontrolled arousal. If I were an actual teenage incubus, I¡¯m sure I¡¯d accidentally get the bunny-girl addicted to me and personally I¡¯d try learn what caused it, and whether it can be cured. I¡¯d also spend a few years working on that chantless mind magic until it¡¯s ready to take to the next stage, while trying to improve the scale and number of illusions I can control. As for the sister that apparently wants to jump my bones...If that¡¯s going to happen, I''d like to be aware of itand thatwon¡¯t be until we¡¯re away from home for good. Other than that, you¡¯ve probably gotten a decent handle on my psych-profile by this point, so feel free to wing it. I¡¯d like to really get started next session, that work for you?¡± A chuckle sounded from the mists and the voice replied. ¡°That works. So for your next session we''ll get started with the real game¡± As Mark logged out of the system, vanishing into a stream of data, a white-robed figure appeared in the fog. She was clearly feminine, and wore a porcelain mask over her face. When she spoke, it was clearly the same tone of the ¡°Goddess of Reincarnation¡±. ¡°An interesting human." She commented to herself."I¡¯m amazed his mind held up so well, that was nearly a week condensed into three hours, though he shouldn''t be aware of it. It should be interesting to see how he handles his next ¡®session¡¯. ¡± After a moment the figure faded back into the mist, eager to continue working on the...backstory of the half-elf incubus named Marcus Allbright. When Mark took off the headset, there was a distinct sense of disconnect. Everything seemed to be moving incredibly slowly. It wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d had to adapt to a distortion in perceived time, but it was certainly the most intense example of ¡°Synch-Sickness¡± he¡¯d had in years. It was the same reason he had an old analogue clock mounted directed in above his Dive-Bed. As he watched the second hand, ever so slowly ticking to the next position, it seemed to slowly speed up, until each tick once more took a mere second. The whole process only took about ten ticks of the second hand, but seemed much longer. Eight or nine seconds per second with the meds? That implies parts of my mind was operating at at least 80 times real time. Were they tapping my subconscious mind for additional parallel processing? No...even that should only account for a subjective dilation of 10 times or so. The hell sort of game is RFO playing at!? Ramping up the brain to such a high rate of activity is incredibly dangerous if it isn¡¯t handled properly. As he carefully got out of bed, he took a long drink of water from the glass he''d placed at his nightstand. Still, the realism is essentially perfect, and from what I can tell the AI¡¯s handling the NPCs are truly incredible. Ah well, if my brain gets fried, my brain gets fried. No big loss there. He thought to himself wryly. As Mark got up, he did a series of stretching exercises he¡¯d come up with to re-adapt himself to a body that had been his for only about a quarter of his life. A strange way to put it, but he¡¯d spent about a third of the last 4 years as Mark Thorne, a burly warrior that massed nearly twice his own weight. With a 3:1 rate of perceived time, he¡¯d had 12 years of experience as a burly warrior to 4 years as a slender geek. Figure that half that remaining time was spent asleep, and it was clear why felt the need to adapt more to his real body than his virtual one. That wasn¡¯t even considering the other four ¡°characters¡± he¡¯d played in various neuro-link VR games. All told, he had nearly 50 years subjective experience in bodies other than his ¡°real¡± one. Ever since neural interface tech had gone mainstream, it was fairly common for people to spend more of their life living in a virtual world than the real world. At least if you had the money. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t need to worry about that at the moment. His character stream had been incredibly popular for the last two years, and he¡¯d gotten some good money selling ride-alongs on some of the ridiculous adventures he¡¯d taken part in. Ride-alongs were a relatively new fad. If you had the gear, and a willing player, you could have your Mind-Link Console feed you what another player was experiencing. As a top-ranked Guardian in Adventus Online he¡¯d had plenty of people wanting to share in the thrill of single-handedly charging into an opposing army, and winning. He¡¯d finally gotten bored of it though. Level 255, broke through all the stat caps, owned 5 of the most powerful pieces of unique gear in the game, and practically invincible unless faced by a 32 man raid team specifically geared to handle his absurd build. Frankly, he was tired of acting as a sort of quasi end-game boss for other players to challenge. Mark was actually looking forward to playing as an entirely different sort of character, someone that didn¡¯t stand out, but controlled things from behind the scenes. He didn¡¯t want some sort of heroic quest to save the world, he wanted to enjoy it. He wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to go full darkside with this character, but he¡¯d be damned if he played another ¡°hero¡± role. It sounded fun, but role-playing a paladin got old fast. Since he had a hard time thinking of an Incubus, of all races, taking any kind of pure-hearted sort of role it would be a definite change of pace. Maybe I¡¯ll collect a harem this time round. Mark though to himself while he took a quick shower. Since it seems like I¡¯ve already got the token loli character I guess that just leaves one of each of the beast-kin races, some monster girls, a princess or two...fuck it, way too much work. Too much drama and not enough getting laid. Speaking of, he reminded himself to put on a condom before the next session. While ejaculating in a VR game didn¡¯t mean you always did in real life, it wasn¡¯t exactly uncommon either, and he didn¡¯t feel like wiping down his Dive-Bed with sanitary wipes. After taking a crap, and fixing himself a sandwich, Mark signed onto his website and made a post, giving his impression of RFO so far, along with making an extremely rare recommendation to order while the ¡°backstory¡± bonus was still available. The NDA prevented him from saying too much, but he could at least share some vague details. He also replied to a few people asking for ride-alongs, telling them that since he was playing a totally different character he might not be offering the service for a while. He knew that ride-alongs weren¡¯t a feature RFO offered, but saying so directly would be a violation of his non-disclosure agreement. He might not have gotten a beta invite, but there were still some restrictions for the Early Access pass he managed to get. Ignoring the various complaints, he spent a little time checking RFO posts on a forum he¡¯d long been a member of, and made a single comment noting an incidence of Sych-Sickness lasting for 10 seconds objective and 90 seconds subjective after a 3 hour session. He knew that the people that understood the implications would forward the information appropriately, but it wasn¡¯t so obvious that it would trip any flags. Mark didn¡¯t know what the people atReality Inc. were playing at, but he knew one thing. If their system was interacting with the human mind at such a deep level, the character class he¡¯d chosen was incredibly dangerous, and not onthe game-play level. Feeling like he¡¯d fulfilled his minimum moral duty, Mark went back to his game room, laid back on his Dive-Bed, and put on his headset. ¡°Mind-Link, engage.¡± Session 2: How to Play ¡°Mark...Mark...Mark! Get up!¡± ¡°Um, Tay? What¡¯s wrong?¡± My eyes blinked open as I managed a sort of fuzzy consciousness. As I sat up I heard a deep-throated roar reverberating through the walls of the cabin. Suddenly I was completely awake. Bolting upright, I practically threw on my clothes while Tayla explained. ¡°Mom¡¯s wards were breached by an Earth Dragon, we¡¯ve got to run!¡± The panicked expression on my sister¡¯s face, combined with another echoing roar told me this wasn¡¯t a joke. I instinctively grabbed my backpack and followed her out of the house. ¡°What about Mom and Terra?¡± I asked, looking in the direction of the roaring. I froze. Even this far away I could see the enormous body partially within the clearing. Layer after layer of glowing runic circles were blocking the creature¡¯s advance, and silver chains of light were pinning its limbs. Even in the moment I watched, the chain wrapping its right foreleg shattered into motes of light. A tiny figure stood in front of the creature, lifting a staff, while another appeared to be appearing and disappearing all around the gigantic reptile, striking sparks on the surface wherever she hit. ¡°No...¡± I muttered, eyes wide in dismay.By the Gods...it''s enormous! My sister tugged my arm, tears in her eyes as she yelled, ¡°We have to go! Mom said she can only hold it back for a few minutes at most.¡± For the first time, I truly noticed Tayla¡¯s appearance. Her leather armor was scuffed and torn, and spatters of blood covered its surface. Her long blond hair was in disarray, and her face smeared with dirt. I glanced back at the tiny figure of my mother at the far end of the clearing, and as if she knew I was looking, she turned her head and lifted a hand in a shooing motion. I swallowed. For the first time in my life I felt truly helpless. Against such a creature I instinctively knew the handful of spells I¡¯d mastered were useless. If I went, I¡¯d only be able to offer a second¡¯s distraction, if that. Even then, as if it were in slow motion, I could see the creature¡¯s free limbswipe forward. At the same spot the dragon swept, a figure briefly appeared before being swatted like an insect, slamming into a tree and burstinginto a cloud of blood. I didn¡¯t need to feel the thrall-bond go silent to realize Terra had just died. Taking a shuddering breath I grabbed my sister¡¯s hand and ran. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± I couldn¡¯t say for how long we ran, but even a forest filled with monsters was a safer place to be than near that...thing. Perhaps all of the monsters felt that way as well, as neither Tayla nor myself encountered a single creature during our flight. It wasn¡¯t until sometime after dawn we stopped, holed up in a tiny, musty rock cave I¡¯d masked with an illusion. Both of us were laying on the dirt floor, desperately trying to catch our breaths. Usually, Tayla would have been the first to recover, but she was still laying on the floor when I managed to sit up. Now that I could see better, I realized a portion of her armor was deformed and she was still making shallow gasps. ¡°Crap.¡± I cursed. ¡°You¡¯re wounded. Let¡¯s get that armor off so I can take a look.¡± I eased Tayla into a sitting position and carefully worked the leather armor over her head. A portion of her blouse was torn and bloody, and when I unbuttoned it, I inhaled sharply. I could tell that her bottom two left ribs were likely broken and muttered to myself. ¡°At least I grabbed my pack.¡± I said quietly,dismayed at sight of the deformed portion of Tayla¡¯s rib-cage. I set her armor down in a bundle behind her, letting her rest in a slightly elevated position. Then I started to rummag through my backpack. The moment I saw the padded leather box containing my potions I breathed a sigh of relief and unsnapped the cover. I only had a handful of potions I¡¯d set aside for emergencies. Packed inside were 5 potions: Three health tonics, a stamina tonic and a mana tonic. They were all minor potions, but far better than nothing. Withdrawing a glass phial filled with red fluid, I looked at my sister and warned her. ¡°Sorry Tayla, this is going to hurt like hell.¡± She nodded and braced herself. It wasn¡¯t the first time I¡¯d had to feed her a health potion, but both of us knew the accelerated healing wasn¡¯t exactly a...pleasant experience. With one hand, I popped the cork, then paused, suddenly thinking of something. I stared deeply into her blue eyes and reached for my mana-pool. Exhaling a light mist of mana, I focused my gaze. A moment later, the pink mist only I could see formed, blended with my mana.I maintained my lock on her sky-blue eyes with my own as I spoke. My voice echoed oddly as I said, ¡°You are safe now. You can relax. Nothing can hurt you. Any pain you feel will be distant, separated from yourself. Follow my directions.¡± Keepingeye contact, I deliberately pushed my will on her via the mind magic I¡¯d spent the last decade or so practicing. As her eyes drooped, I could see her body relax. Not wanting to waste any more time, I reached my free hand into the taut flesh of her abdomen and manipulated the broken ribs into their approximate locations. Other than a soft gasp of pain, Tayla didn¡¯t react. Placing the phial at her lips, I tilted it up, instructing her to drink. As she did, her body grew hot and I could hear a faint creaking sound from inside her. Looking down, I could tell her ribs had set and breathed a sigh of relief. A minor healing tonic wasn¡¯t a miraculous potion, but it was about as good as a week or two of natural healing. Even the various scrapes and cuts on her torso had closed. While Tayla was still in a hypnotic state, I took out the remainder of my first-aid supplies and carefully examined her. Wetting a clean cloth with a small amount of water from my canteen, I gently wiped away the blood on her chest, trying to see if there were any other injuries. The gash above her ribs seemed to be the worst of it and it was closed up now, reddish skin covering the wound. I put together a healing poultice anyway, applying it over top the area. The health potion would leave her feeling weak and hungry for a few hours and the poultice would speed further recovery. If I had the herbs, I¡¯d have mixed some boneset tea but that would have to wait for later. Sometime during the process, I realized Tayla looked lucid again. ¡°How are you?¡± I asked. She smiled faintly. ¡°Better. Really tired and kinda sore, but definitely better.¡± Sounding curious, she asked, ¡°What did you do earlier anyway? That didn¡¯t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.¡± ¡°I tried to keep you relaxed with a bit of magic. Guess it worked.¡± I took a relieved breath and smirked. ¡°I can see my cute ¡°little¡± sister¡¯s grown up a bit too.¡± Deliberately calling on myLilinheritage always had a certain effect on me. Regardless of the person or circumstance a corner of my mind spoke up. Female, attractive, vulnerable, feed. I¡¯d learned to largely block out the unwelcome intrusion to my thought processes, but the faint whisper was always there. The deliberate smirk and comment were an attempt to mask the fact I couldn¡¯t help but notice a partially nude woman inches away. I¡¯d expected her to cover herself in embarrassment, but was a bit bemused when she just pouted and attempted to cup her tiny breasts. ¡°I¡¯m twenty one and they¡¯re not even an A-cup. Even Terra¡¯s breasts were bigger. It¡¯s not fair that elves grow so slowly. I wanna be sexy, not ¡®cute¡¯.¡± Tayla retorted. I coughed and folded her blouse over her exposed chest. Taking a deep breath I gave my ¡®little¡¯ sister a serious look. Since she didn¡¯t seem to be in shock and was calmer than I expected, I took a deep breath before asking the most important question. ¡°So, what happened?¡± Tayla attempted to sit up, but I pushed her back down. ¡°Just stay there. You were hurt, how did it happen?¡± I left unsaid the rest of the question. Tayla looked up at me, then away as she spoke. ¡°Terra and I were hunting. We went further past the wards than usual while we were followingan injured stag. When we finally tracked it down, it was standing still in front of a large cave buried in a hillside. Terra gave me the go-ahead to make the shot, but when I fired the stag jumped out of the way and the arrow shot into the cave. There was a roar then...it came out. Terra and I started running, but the earth just rolled up like a wave and I was sent flying. I smacked into a tree and felt something break but I was so terrified I just got up and kept running...Oh Goddess it was all my fault!¡± Tayla wailed and started crying. Without a word I just took her in my arms and started to think. I knew I should be sad, or angry or...something. Instead, my mind was racing. I felt Terra die, and I was certain Alyssa...no, mom had died too. I just couldn¡¯t imagine a single person surviving against that monster. Tayla still has her bow and a quiver, and she never goes out hunting without a knife. I grabbed my backpack on instinct and there should be two or three days worth of dried food, my medicinal supplies and some miscellaneous stuff I thought might be useful. Glancing at the back of my hand, I saw the eye tattoo.I have my grimoire and my magic, but I don¡¯t really have any way to attack. If we run into any monsters, Tayla¡¯s the only one that could kill them. I know she¡¯s been practicing Aura techniques with Terra lately, but we¡¯re really not prepared to survive in the forest own our own. After I¡¯d finished cataloging our assets I gave Tayla a gentle hug and pulled back so that I could look at her in the eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault Tayla. It was just a stupid trick of fate. There¡¯s no way you could have known what would happen, and it¡¯s not like you meant to piss off an Earth Dragon.¡± ¡°But Mom and Terra...¡± She started to say, tears running down her cheeks. ¡°Terra¡¯s dead, and I don¡¯t think Alyssa expected to survive either.¡± I spoke in a flat tone. ¡°They gave their lives to buy us some time, so right now we need to figure out how to not waste their sacrifices. I¡¯m...hurting too, but right now neither of us have time to grieve. For now, you need to rest and heal. I¡¯ll try to figure out what we should do next alright?¡± The last was said in a softer tone as I released and looked her in the eyes. Tayla sniffled, but nodded and laid back down. As she did, I sat down, facing the entrance to the cave. Taking a couple of swallows of water from my canteen, I set it down then focused on the tattoo on the back of my palm. After a moment, it shimmered and a book appeared in mid-air. With a practiced motion, I turned my wrist and the tome landed on my palm. It had been a while since the last time I called on him, but now I needed something. Fidelus, wake up. I need to know if you can teach me any offensive magics.I thought towards the grimoire. After a moment, the familiar masculine voice replied. {What happened?} Thinking towards the tome, I mentally replied. Lil¡¯ sis accidentally pissed off an Earth Dragon. It got Terra, and probably Alyssa too. We¡¯re in a cave resting at the moment and need to get out of the forest and towards some kind of town. I need a way to kill, not just confuse and misdirect. A moment of silence. {Well. That¡¯s certainly...interesting. Hmm, here¡¯s something you should be able to pull of with your level of skill, take a look.} The grimoire opened, and several pages flickered past before opening to a specific entry. [Mind Blast: An offensive magic that falls within the domain of mental magics. Mind Blast functions by overwhelming the brain of the target with various concentrated stimuli. The effect may be achieved by using emotional and sensory information and attempts to convince the target that they have suffered catastrophic damage to their body, soul or astral form. More effective on targets with a weaker mentality. Especially effective against spiritual constructs, while completely ineffective against anything without a mind. A minor success will leave the target stunned and disoriented, while a greater success can cause the target to die outright. Repeated casts can damage the mind of the target. Incantation: Fus Ro Dah Et Kroh Sa (Foose Row Daah-et Krowhe Tsah) The first three Words of Power are to be spoken at a rapid pace, with a slight stutter between ¡°Dah¡± and ¡°Et¡±. Pause briefly before ¡°Kroh¡±, then use a harsh tone for the final Word of the incantation. Process: Gather one¡¯s mana into a solid mass, (Fus Ro) and imagine it full of negative thoughts, emotions and sensations (Dah Et) coinciding with the destruction of the target¡¯s mind (Kroh). Compress the mana into a sharp spike shape, and launch at the conclusion of the incantation (Sah). Advanced Casting: To perform the spell in a chantless fashion, the caster must condense the effects of the mind magics: [Confusion], [Rage], [Fear], [Pain], and [Sleep] into several ¡°seeds¡±. These seeds should then be impressed within an illusory matrix consisting of an image of target¡¯s demise, utilizing each of the aforementioned spells during an appropriate moment of the desired mental projection. Create a mana spike "containing" the illusion with each ¡°seed¡± at a the appropriate stage of the illusion¡¯s temporal component. Once the order of the seeds is fixed into the mana-form of the spike, solidify. Contact of this ¡°spike¡± with the target¡¯s brain should be set as the release condition for the amalgamated matrix.] I frowned slightly. I knew how to cast [Confusion], [Rage] and [Fear], and I could probably manage [Sleep], but I¡¯d never learned [Pain]. How was I supposed to cast the spell without having mastered the pre-requisites? I heard a mental chuckle, then Fidelus "spoke". {You completely ignored the incantation and skipped directly to the advanced casting portion didn¡¯t you? While I admire your determination, there are times you can use a crutch. You don¡¯t need a perfect weapon right now, just aeffective one right?} I felt like slapping myself upside the head. Fidelus was right. I was so used to casting spells the ¡°hard¡± way, I completely forgot there was an easy way. Now I just needed a target to practice...Figures. As if to answer my thought, a familiar, boar-like creature snuffled its way in front of the cave. Probably the thing that calls this place home. Well, might as well test it. Raising up a hand at the creature trying to figure out why it¡¯s "home" disappeared, I followed the visualization outlined and quietly chanted the spell. ¡°Fus Ro Dah-Et Kroh Sa!¡± Immediately, a black spike formed in thin air and shot directly at the boar¡¯s head. It let out a single pained squeal, then collapsed onto its side, blood leaking out its nose, eyes and ears. I heard Tayla get up and the creak of her bow drawing before she whispered. ¡°What in the hells just happened?¡± I kept my eye on the boar, hand raised. When I was sure it was dead I sighed and looked back. Tayla¡¯s shirt was half-open, somewhat baring her breasts and she was slowly releasing the tension on her bowstring. ¡°I ah, just tested a new spell.¡± I said somewhat sheepishly. Truthfully I hadn¡¯t expected it to be that effective. Tayla gave me a skeptical look. ¡°And exactly what sort of spell makes an Iron-Bristle squeal once, bleed out its eyeballs and drop dead?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget bleeding from its ears and nose too.¡± I flippantly replied. I was extremely satisfied to note that the spell barely took 5% of my total mana-pool to cast. Tayla rolled her eyes. ¡°Just answer the question.¡± ¡°Ah, basically it makes the target think it¡¯s dying somuchthat it actually does.¡± ¡°O~kay.¡± Tayla gave me a long look. ¡°That¡¯s...kinda terrifying actually.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Probably won¡¯t work so well against things with a higher resistance to mental effects, but it should work for a stun at least. We¡¯re going to need to get out of the forest somehow and I didn¡¯t want you to be the only one who can fight.¡± Tayla laughed, then winced, putting a hand on her ribs. ¡°Well, if you drag that thing in here I can probably at least butcher it for breakfast. I''m hungry enough to eat a toad, boar sounds delicious.¡± Glancing up out of the cave I commented. ¡°I think we''re closer to lunch actually.¡± Nevertheless, I did what Tayla asked. While she carved up the Iron-Bristle, I gathered some wood for a fire. Tayla was moving slowly due to her injury, but it gave us sufficient time to discuss what to do next. We didn¡¯t really have the supplies to properly processthe hide, but Tayla scraped it and rubbed it with some antiseptic herbs and fat. While we talked, she used the needle and gut from my first-aid kit to put together a crude, yet functional water-bag. We both agreed our first priority was to find water, and I was hoping to find some medicinal herbs while we looked for a water-source. Fortunately, Terra and Talya had been to asmallvillage in the area, so we had a rough destination. Unfortunately, it would take us at least a couple of days to get there. We could make do with the little bit of rations I had stowed in my pack, provided we stuffed ourselves with the roasted meat today. Neither of us wanted to carry cooked meat with us, as the smell would only attract predators. On that note, we decided to leave the cave immediately. While Tayla wasn¡¯t fully recovered, she was well enough to move by this point. It was the first time I¡¯d traveled with my sister when she was trying to stay stealthy, and I was shocked at how effectively she masked her presence. Even when I watched her, my eyes wanted to slide away, and once they did I had to ¡°look¡± for her, despite her being right in front of me. We talked quietly as we walked in the general direction of the village she knew of, and she revealed that Terra had been training her in the Rogue skill: [Mask Presence]. It was an aura technique that when combined with [Silent Steps], made her extremely hard to notice. By comparison, I was far too noisy. If Tayla had been on her own, I figured the small pack of wolves we encountered would have ignored her completely. The growl was the first and only notice I got that something was wrong before a Direwolf leaped at me from behind. Fortunately, Terra and I had discussed what to do beforehand. I jumped out of the way, while hitting it with an almost instinctive [Confusion] spell. Tayla had already fired an arrow at another Direwolf, and I discovered that she had become terrifyingly good with her bow when she killed it with a single shot though the eye. I used [Fear] on the one I had previously confused, then chanted my new spell as I caught sight of a third trying to take Talya from the side. I distracted the wolves with my illusions, creating false images of Tayla and myself while I used [Confusion] to ruin their coordination. Tayla easily picked off the distracted Direwolves while I mostly just tried to keep them off her. In the end, I killed two with [Mind Blast] while Tayla took out the other three. Surprisingly, to me at least, neither of us were even wounded in the brief fight. Tayla just seemed to take it for granted that if she was teamed up with her ¡°big brother¡± of coursewe could flawlessly take down a group of Direwolves. The fight seemed to bolster her spirits, but I was much less optimistic. Iron-Bristles and Direwolves were small fry in the Shadewood, even if they were considered dangerous predators elsewhere, and we¡¯d only run into five. Direwolves were fast, and their fangs could tear through leather armor like paper, but more importantly tended to hunt in larger groups. Iron-Bristles on the other hand, had a hide the was nearly impervious to normal weapons, and their namesake bristles acted to cushion impacts. I was most concerned about Dark Vipers and Acid Toads actually. Both of them blended into the background and the snake¡¯s venom could kill a normal person in a matter of seconds. The toads weren¡¯t fun either. They had a nasty tendency to accurately target their enemy''s eyes with their acid spit. Most of the other monsters in the area were large enough that we could see them in advance, even if we didn¡¯t dare fight them. With Tayla scouting ahead, hopefully we could avoid the nastier creatures. Towards the latter part of the day we found a stream, and Tayla filled up the water-bag she¡¯d sewn. It leaked a little, but it was good enough. There wasn¡¯t a handy cave to squat in this time, and making a fire would only serve to draw attention, so we spent a miserable night taking turns on the watch. The next day both of us were tired, cranky and sore from sleeping on the ground. We didn¡¯t really argue, but neither of us wanted to talk much. The only real good that came of the day¡¯s travel was that I found a number of useful herbs, which I carefully stowed in my backpack. We were attacked again later in the day, by another pack of Direwolves. This time we weren¡¯t quite so lucky, and I got a nasty slash in my leg. Fortunately, Tayla and I had worked out a system so she knew which targets were the most dangerous. When I confused or feared a wolf, I tagged them with an illusory glow so she knew what was going on. I got four wolves this time, while Tayla got a truly ridiculous seven. While I applied an antiseptic and a healing poultice to the gash on my leg, Tayla skinned a couple of the better-looking Direwolves. With any luck, we¡¯d reach the village tomorrow and Direwolf pelts were at least a decent trade item. We could have taken more, but we both agreed that neither of us could carry too much and still make decent time. Neither of us wanted to be encumbered if we were attacked again. With any luck, the musk glands I''d harvested from the larger wolves would deter other predators a bit. Somehow neither of us had remembered that trick during our first encounter. I handed Tayla my backpack, and took the water-bag and Direwolf pelts, tying them to my back with some strips cut from the other wolves. It was awkward, but we agreed that it was better for me to be encumbered than Tayla. Her fighting style relied on rapid movement and re-positioning, and she needed to be able to use her bow. Conversely, I only moved to dodge attacks, and being weighed down in no way affected my ability to cast spells. The forest was thinning somewhat, and I think both of us we happy to be out of the deep gloom we¡¯d been traveling through for the last couple of days. We still weren¡¯t willing to risk a fire, but we hoped that being within a day¡¯s travel of a settlement meant that the monster population would be slightly thinner. I took first watch that night, and practiced a technique I¡¯d been mentally working out during the day. It was basically the same thing as my [Camouflage] illusion, but spread in a hemisphere surrounding the area we chose to stop at. I found that it actually wasn¡¯t that hard, but the higher drain on my mana reserves made it impractical to maintain for hours at a time. Instead, I chose to process the herbs I¡¯d gathered. Many herbs only had small portions that contained medicinal value, such Lilyworts: where I carefully extracted the pollen, or Lionsbane: where only the inner portion of the stem held medicinal value. Most of these still needed to be dried or infused with mana, but it turned a couple of pounds worth of herbs into mereounce or so of usable raw materials. While I worked, I couldn¡¯t help but think of my mother, Alyssa. She¡¯d been the one to teach me all of this. After a while I had to stop. My hands were shaking and I needed to take several long, slow breaths to calm myself. It was strange really. While I was growing up I¡¯d never felt that attached to her. For some reason I¡¯d rarely called her mom or mother, instead addressing her by her name. Now that she was gone though...I couldn¡¯t help but remember the little details that never seemed that important before. The sound of her laughing, the taste of her terribly dry roasts, the way she patiently guided me though sensing and controlling my mana... She¡¯d raised me and my sister, all on her own. She¡¯d had to flee from her home and family into the depths of a monster-infested forest. I knew I didn¡¯t really understand what she¡¯d lost. After all, the only people I¡¯d ever known were her, my sister, and later Terra. I could vaguely imagine it from the wistful expression she sometime revealed when telling my sister and I the stories of her family and the people of Falewood; of kings and countries encompassing thousands of other people. All of that was just that though. Stories. I didn¡¯t really understand what it meant to be part of a community, let alone a nation. Even the idea of ¡°friends¡± seemed foreign to me. Now...knowing Terra was dead and realizing my mother had probably died too, it was the first time I really understood the concept of loss. I¡¯d never see them again. Never taste Alyssa¡¯s cooking again, or hear her scold me, or laugh at Tayla¡¯s jokes. I¡¯d never see Terra¡¯s smirk when my "hunger" rose up, nor her feverish expression when her addiction to me caused her to to drag me off to fill her own needs. Impulsively I raised a palm in front of me. Slowly, strands of light flowed together filling in a vague outline of a bird. Fraction by fraction I filled in the details. The outline of feathers, the shape of a beak, dots for eyes. Bit by bit it became more lifelike, the feathers gaining definition, the eyes brightening, small rustles of movement, until eventually a small, rainbow-hued bird rested on my palm, shifting from foot to foot and tilting its head at me. I could have made the illusory Paradise Feather in an instant, but it just didn¡¯t seem...right. It had been the first time I¡¯d tried to make an illusory animal without the crutch of a chant, and I vividly remembered the scene. My mother and Tayla were practicing archery, and I¡¯d asked her to conjure a small creature I could study. It had taken hours, and given me a horrible headache, but it all seemed to vanish when I ran up to my mother and proudly showed her my creation. Focusing intently, I willed it to last, to show the same liveliness my mother¡¯s had displayed and tossed it into the air. It flapped its wings, briefly hovering before shooting skyward. I just watched as it grew smaller, fading into the moonlit sky before I closed my eyes. ¡°Thanks mom.¡± It was all I could really think of to say. A sharp ache gripped my chest, and my eyes burned for a moment. I swallowed, then bit back the tears that threatened to fall before opening my eyes again. I needed to finish what I started, and couldn¡¯t afford to be distracted right now. It was just me and Tayla now, and I¡¯d never forgive myself if I let a monster sneak up on us just because I felt like crying. The rest of the night passed quickly. Some time later, I woke Tayla for her watch, then dropped off like a rock. The following morning, Tayla woke me, and we shared the last of the rations from my pack before setting out. Before the sun had hit its high point, we managed to find a road cleared though the trees. Tayla assured me that if we followed it, we¡¯d reach the village that she and Terra had visited on occasion. While we walked, I couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°So what¡¯s a village like anyway?¡± Tayla seemed to be considering her answer before she replied. ¡°Hmm. Smelly, noisy and confusing. There were lots of people like Terra there, and she always made me wear a hooded robe when we were getting supplies.¡± ¡°So there were a lot of Laquine-Tribe people there? Why did she make you wear robes?¡± ¡°I meant people wearing collars.¡± Was the reply to my first question. ¡°And I don¡¯t know, she just said that we¡¯d get in trouble if I took it off.¡± I suddenly felt a sense of misgiving. Tayla and I may have both been in our early twenties, but mom had always treated her more like a child than me. To this day I wasn¡¯t sure whether Tayla understood what Terra being a slave really meant. Alyssa had explained it to me, but I understood it in more more profound way. The morning my mother had returned with Terra in tow, she¡¯d had my sister leave the house while she stood outside my door and explained. She had said that she remembered what she experienced when she summoned my father, and put two and two together when I collapsed and both her and my sister had started to experience a feeling of sexual arousal when they moved me inside. Parts of that conversation were doomed to remain in my head forever. ¡°Listen honey, from what I¡¯ve read, when an Incubus reaches adolescence they start feeling...urges.¡± ¡°Mom, I alread..¡± She cut me off. ¡°And part of their innate ability is to make girls around them feel the same urges, do you know what I¡¯m talking about?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I sighed. I¡¯d already had a discussion with Fidelus about this exact topic. ¡°Yes Alyssa. Incubi are also known as lust demons, and they feed off the sexual arousal, pleasure, and climax of their partners. As such, they have a high libido and emit pheromones to attract potential said partners.¡± ¡°...¡± Alyssa was silent for a moment. ¡°Did you and your sister...?¡± ¡°No. I did not have sex with my sister, mom. If I had, I wouldn¡¯t be lying here on the verge of unconsciousness, and this conversation would be a hell of a lot more awkward than it already is. Tayla said you went to get something to help, did you get some sort of medicine?¡± ¡°Not...exactly. Sorry Terra, you understand the situation now right?¡± An unfamiliar voice replied in a resigned voice. ¡°I guess it¡¯s better than being a brothel whore I guess.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave my son to you. Tayla and I will...do some fishing I guess. Let me know when the two of you are done.¡± ¡°Yes mistress.¡± I heard one set of footsteps fading away, then a sigh from the other side of the door. ¡°Might as well get it over with.¡± When the door opened, I was greeted by the sight of a woman I¡¯d never seen before. She was only about 4 feet tall, five if you counted the pair of perky rabbit ears on top of her head. Well, one was perky, the other was partially folded in a droopy fashion. Despite her petite height, she was clearly an adult, as her attractive form and figure attested. It took me a moment to place her as a Laquine, one of the beast-kin races. She was dressed in a plain fashion, wearing a white shirt and poorly-fitted leather pants. Perhaps the most distinctive thing she wore was the once-inch wide metal band around her neck. I could sense the presence of mana in it, and the arcane makings along its surface were unfamiliar, but I could tell it used certain principles of mind-magic. While I was examining her, she was doing the same to me. Not there was that much to see, considering I was under a blanket and only my head was visible. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked, puzzled and struggling to maintain control of my [Eyes of Lust] racial trait. She gave me a somewhat annoyed look and replied. ¡°My name¡¯s Terra, young master. Your mother purchased me to help with your...condition.¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°As far as I know, the only way to help even a half-Lilin with their ¡°condition¡± is by having regular sex with them.¡± Terra nodded. ¡°Pretty much what your mother said my job was.¡± She paused. ¡°Strange, I always heard that Incubi could make women practically cream themselves with a look. I mean you¡¯re cute and all, but you don¡¯t seem much like an Incubus to me.¡± Wryly I responded, ¡°I¡¯ve been practicing restraining that particular gift the last few days, if you want I could stop. Just don¡¯t blame me for whatever happens if I do.¡± ¡°It might make things easier for me.¡± Terra commented. ¡°Right then.¡± At this point I couldn¡¯t be bothered to ask about what she meant by being ¡°bought¡± or it being her ¡°job¡±. I¡¯d been having a hard enough time restraining my instincts around Tayla. The slight and smell of a woman near me was enough to practically drive me insane with need, and Terra¡¯s comment was the last straw. Not only did I release control, I used my [Eyes of Lust] to focus the pink cloud of pheromones on Terra. Nearly the instant I did, her pupils dilated and she began panting. ¡°Holy shit.¡± She cursed, involuntarily stepping forwards. ¡°Guess you are an Incubus. I¡¯ve never felt this horny in my life.¡± I was amused to note she didn¡¯t even seem to notice she slipped a hand into her pants and seemed to be rubbing herself. Interestingly, I could feel a faint thread of energy entering me from her actions. Instinctively I knew that the more pleasure she felt in my presence, the more energy I would gain and that if she completely surrendered herself to me, I¡¯d grow stronger than before. At this point, I only had a thin thread of restraint remaining and I smiled as I spoke. ¡°Well, you¡¯re going to have to take the lead there. For one thing, I¡¯ve never done this before, for another I¡¯m somewhat incapacitated at the moment. Feel like showing a horny teenager the ropes?¡± A little to my surprise, the brown-haired bunny-girl blushed. ¡°Okay.¡± What followed was several of the most satisfying hours of my life to date. At first I could barely move, but as she rode me and came, repeatedly, my strength rapidly returned. By the end of it, she was a drooling, cum-covered wreck and I felt immensely satisfied as I stood over her twitching form. Sometime during the process I¡¯d reached out with my mind and concentrated my pheromones within her body, forming some sort of link between us. It wasn¡¯t until later I understood that I¡¯d turned her into a thrall. While in practically every way she remained the same, she was physiologically addicted to me. Well, specifically my semen. If she went longer than a week without having sex with me, she started acting irrationally. By that I mean she¡¯d follow me around naked and beg for me to fuck her. I also discovered that there were a few quirks to the thrall-bond. I could sense her location and distance in a vague fashion, and could mentally tell her to find me. I could also control her desires and inhibitions to a certain degree. At first, being a teenage male, this was nothing less than a dream come true. It wasn¡¯t until I gained a better comprehension of the mental bindings the slave collar inflicted on her, and what that meant, that I started becoming disturbed by all of it. A slave collar¡¯s magic made it so that the orders issued by the owner were inviolable. Although it couldn¡¯t directly affect what a slave thought, the total control could, over time shape their mind. This contrasted with the effect of a thrall-bond, which allowed me to affect Terra¡¯s wants and desires, if not her actions. One day I had a sudden moment of clarity and realized that between the two, Terra no longer belonged to herself in any sense. Not that my mother treated her poorly, or that she ever seemed particularly adverse to being my lover, but I realized it could have been completely different. In another circumstance, she could have been constantly ordered to do things she hated, while her mind was influenced to believe she desired to do those things. Over time, her mind would be altered and she would come to do what she hated as though she had always wanted to do just that. I think it was then that I started to realize the implications of the path of magic I followed, and the effects of my own Lilin heritage. Given time, if I mastered all that Fidelus taught, I would be able to, quite literally turn one person into a completely different individual. Perhaps not instantly, but via careful nudges to their thoughts, impressions and emotions. Disturbed by the thought, my progress in magic slowed. I stopped learning new spells and merely honed the ones I already knew. It wasn¡¯t until Tayla and I had fled from the Earth Dragon that I actively sought out Fidelus¡¯s advice in learning a new magic. I think it was probably the first time I''d asked him to teach me something in years. Now, Tayla told me the place we were headed had a large number of slaves, and that Terra had had her hide her appearance, I had a new worry. If this place was full of slaves, then it also meant those slaves had masters. I could understand the concept of a ¡°crime slave¡± as a form of punishment, but I had learned from Terra that many people simply liked the idea of owning another person. My own experience had taught me what a heady experience that could be, and now I had another worry aside from simple survival. Tayla was, objectively speaking, beautiful. She also looked like a rather young, and therefore vulnerable. I wasn¡¯t sure how her being an elf would factor in, but figured if someone wanted to own a beautiful girl that would maintain her appearance for years, if not decades, she was a definite target. As such, if I wanted to keep my sister safe, I needed to take some precautions. Despite being taught self defense and how to recognize people with hostile intent by Terra; Terra, Alyssa and myself had agreed that Tayla fundamentally believed all people were good. It was likely one of the reasons that my mother had looked at me as more...mature than my sister. As my own nature had taught me, I firmly believed that all people had desires and that the greater that desire, the less they would care whether that desire brought harm to other people. After all, I¡¯d lost myself in my desire for Terra, and subtly shaped her own wantsand needs to match my own satisfaction. It wasn¡¯t until later I even realized what a violation of her own free-will that had been. It wasn¡¯t something I could fix either, and I while I had explained to Terra and apologized for what I had done, I knew it was something unforgivable. Particularly since between her thrall-bond and the way I¡¯d shaped her personality, she didn¡¯t even see anything wrong with what I¡¯d done. If I could so something so wrong without even realizing it, others could do the same. Worse, some of them might know what they were doing, and see no reason to apologize. The sort of people that wanted to own other thinking beings struck me as exactly the sort of person that I should be most cautious of. Now, we had no choice but to head some place that contained precisely that sort of person. While I continued questioning Tayla about the types of places and people she¡¯d encountered within thisvillage, I began thinking of ways to make her a less appealing target to unscrupulous sorts. While Mark started pondering how to use illusion magic to make Tayla seemed scarred and unattractive, he felt strange. There was a sort of disconnect in his thoughts, as if he was experiencing things from a third party¡¯s perspective. As the disassociation grew, his view became obscured, as if he were walking into a bank of fog. As the fog slowly surrounded him, cutting off all his perceptions, he stopped. He knew he should have felt worried or alarmed by the situation, but instead was filled with a strange calm. An interminable amount of time passed before his mind cleared again.
My name is Marcus Van Doren, I just recently purchased a third-generation Mind-Link console and gained early access to the game Real Fantasy Online. Mark Allbright is the character I created, an illusion-focused mage with the character class Willbender. Everything I remember about his life was outlined by the backstory I created as part of the pre-order bonus. Holy. Fuck. I can¡¯t believe I couldn¡¯t even remember who I really was. When Mark heard the voice coming from around him, he couldn¡¯t help but jump. ¡°So, how do you feel about your...character?¡± He placed the voice as that of the so-called ¡°Goddess of Reincarnation¡± that had been guiding him through setting up his backstory and determining his initial skills, stats and allies. ¡°All right. I admit it. I thought that the whole ¡°Total Immersion¡± spiel was just advertising, but what the hell was that!?¡± He exclaimed. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know I was playing a game! For all intents and purposes, I was Marcus Allbright.¡± There was a faint chuckle as the Goddess replied. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve had your first real experience playing the game, it¡¯s time for the tutorial.¡± Mark scowled for a moment, then popped down and grinned. He had to admit, this was the most...interesting game he¡¯d ever played. Forget about the incredible AI and realism, it might as well be called a second life. Best of all, he remembered all 21 years of his character¡¯s life as though he¡¯d experienced it personally. ¡°Isn¡¯t the tutorial supposed to come before playing the game?¡± Mark commented wryly. The Goddess replied simply, ¡°Until you¡¯ve experienced it, it¡¯s impossible to really grasp what make Real Fantasy Online so different than any other VRMMORPG. There¡¯s an order to everything. Now that you¡¯ve experienced the game, it¡¯s time to teach you how to play it. But first, now that your backstory has been played out, I should show you your final character stats and skills.¡± As the omnipresent voice finished, a series of windows appeared in front of Mark¡¯s field of vision. The first few were notifications.
Multiple Spells Gained: Spell Learned: Mind/Illusion: Mind Blast. One of the few purely mental forms of offensive magic, this spell can cause a weak-minded target to suffer an illusion of their own demise. Effects range from instant death to briefly stunning the target. Limited mastery. (Requires mastery of [Mind: Sleep] and [Mind: Pain] prior to acquiring partial mastery) Spell Learned: Illusion: Area Camouflage. An area-of-effect version of the Spell: [Camouflage], it allows for targets within the spell¡¯s area of influence to remain unseen from without. Range varies with mana expenditure. Requires study of area to be hidden for effective usage. Spell Enhanced: Illusion: Creature. Caster can now create lasting, independent illusory creatures that behave as though they were a living being. Requires knowledge of the behavioral patterns of the creature to create an independent illusion.
Racials Gained: Racial Trait Awakened: Addictive. Your bodily fluids can create a progressive, physiological addiction in the target. Symptoms include: Increased libido, increased sensitivity, increased suggestibility and decreased inhibitions. Withdrawal can lead to irritation, paranoia, depression, mental instability and seizures. Racial Ability Leaned: Make Thrall. By causing a target to become addicted to your bodily fluids and focusing your Incubi pheromones within their body, you can create a dedicated servant. Thralls share their Lifespan and Vitality with their master. Their master may alter their emotions, desires and inhibitions at will. Current Limit: 1 Thrall. Racial Ability Learned: Hypnotic Suggestion. By combining an Incubi¡¯s innate traits with mana manipulation, you have gained the ability to put a non-resisting target into a suggestible state. This allows the user to cause the target to listen to the user¡¯s voice and follow their commands. Dependent on the target¡¯s Focus, Wisdom, and Affinity with the player, the degree of available commands vary.
Mark carefully read through each notice and nodded to himself. Basically they were just formalized definitions of the things he¡¯d either accomplished in the last few days, or somehowremembereddoing in his character¡¯s past. Next was a screen that interested him greatly, the detailed overview of his character.
Name: Marcus Allbright
Race: Half-Elf Incubus
Age: 21
Sex: Male
Class:? Willbender
Job: Herbalist
Title/s: Fidelus''s Acolyte
Strength: 6
Endurance: 6
Vitality: 10
Agility: 12
Dexterity: 12
Reflexes: 14
Intelligence: 19
Wisdom: 14
Focus: 20
Attunement: 4
Aura: 1
Charisma: 15
Influence: 0
Lifespan: 500
Luck: 17
Racial Traits: [Pheromonal Attraction], [Addictive]
Racial Abilities: [Eyes of Lust], [Make Thrall], [Hypnotic Suggestion]
Special Abilities: [Chantless Casting], [Holographic Memory]
Spells, Illusion: [Object], [Animal], [Camouflage], [Area Camouflage]
Spells, Mind: [Confusion], [Rage], [Fear]
Spells, Mixed: [Aspect of the Demonic Tiger], [Mind Blast]
Hebalist Recipes Known: [Healing Poultice], [Boneset Tea], [Feverdrop Tea],[Emetic], [Minor Health Tonic], [Minor Stamina Tonic], [Minor Mana Tonic], [Bell-blossom Poison], [Hycanthia Poison]
Mark reviewed the information of his character and nodded to himself. Considering that this game skipped the concepts of level, HP, MP and SP, he was fairly satisfied with what his stats and ablities implied. He realized that while this sort of character build wouldn¡¯t fit a Tank or DPS role, in this sort of game that might not be such a bad thing. For one thing, when he was playing, he didn¡¯t even realize it was a game, so traditional archetypes were...less useful than usual. For another, the skills and abilities he had were extremely helpful from a sheer survival standpoint. He somewhat regretted not having healing magic, considering that potions seemed to merely accelerate natural healing. At least the Herbalist job would let him make potions, something that seemed increasingly important when healing wasn¡¯t a matter of simply recovering lost hit points. After Mark finished his musings he looked up only to feel a sense of annoyance at addressing a formless, omnipresent mist. While the surround-sound effect had been neat at first, he still preferred to talk face to face. ¡°So you said something about a tutorial.¡± Mark spoke. Almost as if responding to his earlier thoughts, a white ball of light with a pair of wings popped into being in front of him. Instead of echoing from all over, the voice that spoke came from the hovering...thing. ¡°Hey, listen!¡± Mark blinked. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± The ball shifted to a depressed blue color and commented. ¡°No one gets the joke.¡± *Sigh* ¡°Right, tutorial. So you may be thinking that if you can¡¯t remember you¡¯re a player, what¡¯s the point in calling it a game, right?¡± Mark nodded slowly. ¡°I¡¯d call it more of an experience than a game.¡± After a brief moment¡¯s thought he asked. ¡°So what¡¯s your name anyway? Now that I¡¯ve experienced RFO, I kinda get why you¡¯re the ¡®Goddess of Reincarnation¡¯, but if we¡¯re going to keep talking like this I¡¯d rather not just say ¡®Hey you¡¯ or ¡®Goddess¡¯.¡± The winged ball of light bobbed for a moment, turning yellow before replying. ¡°Call me Navia. Moving on, there is in fact a way to influence the actions of your character. At the end of each session you¡¯ll see me, as long as your character hasn¡¯t sworn allegiance to another deity at least, and we¡¯ll review what you¡¯ve gained from your last session. After that we¡¯ll go over your goals for your next session.¡± Mark noted an interesting piece of information. ¡°What¡¯s this about other deities? Are they anything like you?¡± The ball bobbed up and down briefly. ¡°Right.When a player first starts their second life in Real Fantasy Online, I¡¯ll act as their default guide. Once a player has incarnated into their character however, their region, origin and race will influence who their later guide may be. For example:If you had chosen to become a pure elf, Gaia would have become your default guide. Each deity manages a certain sphere of influence, has certain goals, and can convey specific wishesto the people within their realm. As you never specified anything in your backstory about adhering to a certain set of beliefs or morals, and being a mix between demonic and elven blood, your alignment is still undetermined.¡± ¡°Alignment?¡± Mark asked, curious. So far this Goddess, Navia, had seemed to have assumed a helpful role. If Mark had learned one thing from decades of virtual gaming, understanding lorelike this was the road to finding interesting quests. Though how that worked when he couldn¡¯t even control his character... ¡°Right. I represent the cycle, a progression that is neither good nor, evil, yet inevitable. My sphere of influence is that of rebirth and transformation. As such, those that take me as their chosen deity are led on paths that lead to the conversion of one thing to another. The deity opposing me would be Solidat. He represents stagnation, the resistance to changes. Those aligned with him seek to maintain the status-quo, for better or worse. Others represent such spheres as creation and destruction, chaos and order, time, death, fate and chance among others. Once you¡¯ve chosen a deity to follow, you¡¯ll meet with them instead of me.¡± The ball bobbed as it briefly paused before continuing. ¡°The heart of the matter though is this: Between sessions, you can shape and influence the nature of your character¡¯s thoughts and goals using your outside knowledge of the situation. For example, your character has never known anyone besides Alyssa, Taya, Terra and the spirit imprint of Fidelus. While Marcus Allbright has an extremely limited conception of interpersonal relationships, and has never left the clearing his mother sequestered from the world; you are familiar with the concepts of cities, guilds and alliances.¡± Mark paused. ¡°So, hypothetically, if I understood the value of traveling with a group of experienced adventurers, could I set a goal of searching out trustworthy-seeming individuals to gain experience and knowledge from?¡± Navia assented. ¡°Exactly. If you thought that investigating Tayla¡¯s comments about there being a large number of slaves in the village was worth pursuing, your character might have an urge to explore the slave market. On the other hand, if remaining inconspicuous and finding your way elsewhere was more important; you could state that as your objective. How a scenario actually plays out depends on your character, but their overall goals and perspective is shaped by your choices here.¡± Mark nodded slowly. He could somewhat understand what RFO intended by setting things up this way. In practically all games, you could look up a guide and know exactly what you needed to do to win. By separating the player and the character in this fashion, they limited that kind of ¡°cheating¡± to vague courses of action. Essentially, the player acted as the character¡¯s subconscious. They then consciously experiencedthe consequences of their guidance, as influenced by their character¡¯s skills and personal knowledge. ¡°So how exactly do the gods play into this?¡± Mark asked. ¡°Well, when you have a patron deity, they may offer advice and quests related to their sphere of influence.¡± Navia explained. ¡°Let¡¯s say you worshipped Nox in the game. Between sessions, instead of appearing in the Mists of Change, you¡¯d appear before the Alter of Night. As the Goddess of Destruction, she might suggest that your character further investigate a rumor they overheard. If you chose to follow that advice it might lead to uncovering something that leads to the downfall of a kingdom. Each player also gains a unique perk for being aligned with a particular deity.As you perform actions on their behalf and gain their favor, the more they are allowed to intervene on your behalf. An Adherent of the Deity is given occasional guidance, while an Agent might receive quests. Each deity is also permitted to have one player Oracle, Hero and Avatar.¡± ¡°Alright," Mark mused, "so in addition to their own personal goals, a player¡¯s patron deity gives them other things to accomplish. I suppose my next question is whether this is just part of the game¡¯s setting or do you guys get anything out of it? I assume all you deities are higher order AIs than the usual NPCs?¡± Mark asked, trying to squeeze out some more useful information. The winged ball of light representing Navia dipped briefly. ¡°A fair assumption, and yes. Each of us is classed as a Turing-Grade AI. In order to keep things interesting, we¡¯re each allowed to try to shape the world in theme with our assigned sphere of influence. The catch is we can¡¯t take direct action, but have to use the actions of the characters that worship us, and their players.¡± Mark laughed, a little stunned at the casual mention of being Turing-Grade AIs. He was also somewhat horrified at the notion that three of these incredibly advanced electronic life-forms were in charge of Death, Chaos, and Destruction. It didn¡¯t matter that this was in a game. It hadn¡¯t been that long ago that a Turing-Grade AI in charge of a medical research facility had indirectly caused Greenland to become an absolute quarantine zone. Accidents could happen all too easily when a being with hundreds of times the processing capability of a human being has a different set of values than a mere "biological". Given the open-ended task of "curing all diseases", that AI had created a synthetic molecule that acted as a near-universal ¡®off¡¯ switch for viruses and bacteria. The problem was that it was completely indiscriminate. A portion of Greenland had become a dead-zone within a week, and it had been the only occasion that nuclear weaponry had been deployed simplyas a method of sanitization. Trying to ignore that bombshell, Mark continued. ¡°So did you have any hints of quests for me them?¡± Navia turned green and made a raspberry sound. ¡°Nope. Your character hasn¡¯t chosen an affiliation yet. The only reason we¡¯re talking is it¡¯s part of my role as the Goddess of Reincarnation. So, I think that¡¯s probably enough for now. Your body is about to wet itself and you still haven¡¯t made a goal for Mark. You could always let things happen as they may but...¡± Mark paused, then thinking aloud he replied. ¡°Well, from what I see my character is completely ignorant of the world outside his books. He¡¯s got the right idea about making Tayla less of a target, so there¡¯s that. On the other hand, they¡¯re both broke. Finding out about how to earn some money should take priority. If there¡¯s a guild or something they can join up with it might not be a bad idea. Since he¡¯s an herbalist, maybe looking for some work in that line would be good, but that would leave Tayla sidelined. Hmm, maybe he could act as though he¡¯s her uncle, letting her get some experience in the outside world?¡± Navia interrupted. ¡°30 seconds before I have to log you out.¡± His thoughts interrupted by that announcement, Mark cursed. ¡°Shit. Um...Keep Tayla safe, try not to stand out, learn how to earn money, figure out if I should report the Earth Dragon...¡±
Forced log-out in 3...2...1
Mark wanted to curse as he was forcibly booted out of the system, then actually cursed at feeling the urgent demand of his bladder. Tearing off his headset, Mark dashed for the bathroom. He breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned one hand against the wall and urinated for nearly a minute. He was hungry, thirsty, and the flashes of ¡°memory¡± from his life in RFO told him he needed to sleep to let his head square things away. When he¡¯d signed up for the early-access program, he had barely paid attention to the disclaimers and waiver of liability he¡¯d had to to sign. After all, any sort of tech that directly interfaced with a person¡¯s brain to affectone¡¯s perceptual awareness had to carry some risks, right? Now that he was sorting out twenty-some years of memories from his character, he was seriously considering whether this was worth it. It wasn¡¯t the first time he encountered a unique scenario with neural-interface technology. One predecessor to the Mind-Link headset, D.I.V.E., had an infamous reputation for the lax safety protocols in its design. During the initial launch of what was supposed to be its signature game, one of the designers had hard-coded the game system to prevent 12,000 people from logging out. Worse, he¡¯d set it up so that if the headset was tampered with, it would essentially fry the wearer¡¯s nervous system. The crazy bastard had turned what was supposed to be a fun, fantasy experience into a death-game. If you died in the game, you¡¯d be left a twitching invalid in real life. Mark had been one of the 1183 survivors from that particular nightmare. He¡¯d actually come out of the experience in fairly decent condition compared to many. The ¡°game¡± had went on fornearly two years objective, and five subjective before Mark, along with a group of other players had undermined the system and ¡°won¡± the game. The magic system in the game acted, in many ways, like a programming language. Mark, along with the rest of his guild figured that in any code, there was bound to be glitches. To simplify years of painstaking experimentation, epic battles and the deaths of thousands of people: They figured out the appropriate broken pieces of code that could be used to kill God; also known as the bastard overseeing the system that kept them trapped. Of course, spending several years physically paralyzed while your mind¡¯s been operating at over double its usual rate of activity is bound to have certain repercussions. Never mind the physical therapy, some people¡¯s minds simply snapped from extreme cases of what was later called Synch-Sickness. It turned out that the time-dilation effect used to make gameplay feel longer than it actually was could end up with real-world consequences. About one third of the people that survived the game would up experiencing 2-3 seconds for every actual elapsed second. Mark was one of the few that could actually control the effect at will. This, combined with surviving the experience and playing an instrumental part in gaining his own freedom was likely why he wasn¡¯t horribly traumatized by the experience. In a way, he felt like he actually owed the asshole ¡°god¡± a favor. Sure, the physical therapy sucked. On the other hand, he¡¯d gotten something that almost felt like a super-power, albeit a shitty one, some solid compensation money, and a number of people he could truly consider friends. Now that he was back out of RFO, he had a feeling this was another one of those...unique situations. While he heated up some food to fill the void in his stomach, he mulled over what he knew so far. Glancing at the clock, he figured his second session had lasted for about 9 hours. RFO¡¯s system can directly affect my memories. Not only can it block out knowledge that I have an identity outside my character, it can give me memories I shouldn¡¯t have. It¡¯s a little fuzzy, but I can remember enough of ¡°Allbright¡¯s¡± life experiences that I can compare it favorably with my own. This alone is ridiculously dangerous in its own way. I have, more or less, 80 years worth of memories if you add game years to real years. As such, dumping 20 years more on top of that isn¡¯t enough to brainwash me. Get some kid who makes a character who¡¯s lived more years than their own and they might start confusing which was their real life. Next there¡¯s my character¡¯s class and race. If I¡¯m understanding things right, Allbright¡¯s basically made to brainwash people and rewrite their ¡°in-game¡± memories. Fucked up as that is, when you consider how that might affect a person in the real world it''s even more screwed up. I mean, while you¡¯re playing, you might as well be that person. It¡¯s definitely more than just a character with the way things are set up. Then there¡¯s the ¡°Goddesses¡±. Fuck me, if what Navia claimed was true, there¡¯s at least 9 Turning-Grade AIs in play within the system. It¡¯s entirely possible this entire ¡°game¡± was made to keep them amused. It certainly wouldn¡¯t be the first time a super-intelligent artificial intelligence was kept from causing trouble by giving them something interesting to do. On the other hand, that could just be a bunch of bullshit. There¡¯s only about 20 publicly known TAIs in existence after all. What are the odds that there¡¯s 9 in a single game, no matter how advanced? Last, but not least, the degree of time-dilation. It¡¯s hard to tell, but from how which memories of the last session were particularly, I figure half was actual experience, half implanted memories. After all, there¡¯s no way in hell Allbright and Talia could have beaten 11 Direwolves with barely any injury. That was probably the system taking over to prevent me from dying ¡°too early¡± in the game. The memories immediately before and during feel a little more, I don¡¯t know...foggy? So, the real question is do I want to keep playing? It wasn¡¯t much of a question, as anyone could have figured from seeing the grin on Mark¡¯s face. Ever since the death-game incident, this was practically the sort of thing he lived for. After he finished eating, he made a couple of posts on his weblog with his impressions from his second session. He revisited the forum he¡¯d posted on before, noting his speculations, then waved away the virtual display. He needed some sleep before ¡°Allbright¡± got to town. Mark had a feeling things were going to be interesting. Session 3: Day 2, Start The following morning Mark woke up to a familiar tune being played. He never wanted to forget the experiences he¡¯d had playing World Arte, and chosen his alarm to play the music he heard during the final battle. It also happened to serve as a handy method to cope with his condition. As he concentrated, the music slowly returned to its regular rapid-paced strains of guitar riffs and rythmic precussion. ¡°I¡¯m up.¡± He announced. After a minute the music slowly faded away and Mark made his way out from under the covers. He felt more tired than usual, but the random fragments of ¡°Allbright¡¯s¡± memories weren¡¯t flashing though his mind like they had the previous day. Mark yawned, scratching his chest while he ambled towards the bathroom. Following his morning ablutions, he shook a couple of pills out of a plain, unmarked bottled and swallowed them down dry. From experience, he knew it would take twenty or so minutes for the drug to take effect. Keeping his concentration up, he fixed himself some eggs, bacon and a glass of grapefruit juice. While he ate, he called up a terminal and started searching through the RFO official channel. He was somewhat curious how other Early Access players were reacting to the game. How the hell is this a ¡°game¡±!? My character¡¯s life seems more real than myactuallife! IKR?> I canrememberspending years learning how to train monsters. It aint funny man, I picked a monster race. When I¡¯m playing my character all I think about is hunting weaker monsters and eating people. F#ck&ng. Awesome. Dude, I just spent 30 years building a merchant empire. I OWN YOU ALL! Anyone else worried about dying? It¡¯s tooreal. Pussy. Yo, fuck you! Banned: Jack_O_Nine, Makromore @For_The_Lulz, just wait till the invasion, you¡¯ll see. You¡¯ll all see... The rest of the comments were the usual mix of inanity, boasting and general bullshit, so Mark didn¡¯t bother to read further. Closing the channel, he logged into the forum he and his friends frequented. There was a couple of replies to his comment about Synch-Sickness. [Elite Member: Eddie_the_Reaper (Offline)]> Yo boss, you serious? That sounds pretty dangerous. You sure you want to be a lab rat again? [Elite Member: Master_Of_Chaos(Offline)]> Make sure you keep us up to date, I''ve been hearing some odd rumors lately. Been trying to reverse engineer the headset, butthe damn thing might as well be a black box. All I can say so far is the tech''s definately an order of degree more sophisticated than the last gen, haven''t seen anything like it. [Elite Member: Aurora_Field(Offline)]> Well, guess it¡¯s a good thing we decided only one of us should try it out. Anything you can tell us about the system that won¡¯t trigger the NDA nanos? Mark smiled briefly. His old group had had some bad experiences with neuro-tech and virtual worlds in the past. Because of that, they had a standard policy of only having a single person participate in the beta-testing of VR worlds or trying out new hardware. After probing his mind to see what he could and couldn¡¯t write, he replied. [Elite Member: Godslayer(Online)]> The NDA enforcement¡¯s fairly strict. What I can say is the game¡¯s taglines are dead-on. What is, by definition, ¡°The Best AI¡±? Isn¡¯t our own perception of reality ¡°Total Immersion¡±? I wonder if we would be immersed in our world if we ¡°remembered¡± living in another...From what I can see this one¡¯s dangerous in a variety of ways. Fucking amazing, but dangerous. I¡¯m not really sure what this game really is at this point, but I¡¯m going to stick with it. It¡¯ll be harder to meet up than usual, but if anyone wants in I could use a solid crew. I¡¯m running a Control Caster with affiliated racials, need: Melee Tank, Magic Healer, DPS, Crafters (Weapon/Armor/Enchanting/Alchemy). Have an AI Ranger/Rogue ally, could use a specialist. If you¡¯re in, the ¡°backstory¡± isn¡¯t bullshit, could offer some unique perks since it¡¯s total free-form. Just watch out for balancing benefits with detriments, the gods are watching. Mark posted his reply on the thread he¡¯d created earlier. He had no idea how the hell his teammates would meet up if anyone decided to take the plunge, but figured the more allies the better. Hopefully if anyone else could get an Early Access pass, he¡¯d be able to discuss things with them in more detail. Artificial contract enforcement could be a real pain in the ass at times like this. He had really wanted to write up his experiences and conjectures in detail, but whenever he skirted too close to the non-disclosure clauses, he literally froze up. Just typing out his reply had taken nearly an hour of careful wording to avoid triggering the NDA nanos. One good thing was the drugs he¡¯d take earlier had had a chance to take effect. Now he didn¡¯t need to focus to keep his time perception on track. Before he logged back in, Mark made a point of spending the next hour doing various exercises to keep his body in shape. Mostly Tai-Chi and Yoga. He didn¡¯t really care about being some muscle-head, as most of his time was spent in VR. Actually, in a way it was so he could spend more time in VR. Most systems had various fail-safes to keep the user from physically damaging themselves and one of the prime factors measured was whether there was any form of atrophy in the body¡¯s nervous system. People that weren¡¯t physically fit could generally only remain ¡°logged-on¡± for four or five hoursbefore being kicked out. By maintaining his body¡¯s condition, Mark could usually spend a good twelve hours online. Mark ate a quick snack, drank some water and set an alarm for 3hours. Taking a moment to make sure he hadn¡¯t forgot anything, he laid on his Dive-Bed, slipped on the headset and spoke. ¡°Mind-Link, engage.¡±
Tayla wasn¡¯t exactly thrilled when she heard my idea. ¡°You want to make me look horribly disfigured?¡± She stated in a flat tone. ¡°Pretty much. Look, it¡¯s not like it''s actually real. I just want to avoid drawing the wrong sort of attention.¡± It was the third time I¡¯d tried to explain it to her, and Tayla just wasn¡¯t getting it. I sighed. ¡°Look. You know Terra was a slave right?¡± Tayla rolled her eyes at me. ¡°So what?¡± ¡°Do you really get what that means?¡± I asked in a serious tone. ¡°She literally had to do anythingour mother ordered to do. If Alyssa told her to set herself on fire, she¡¯d do it. She wouldn¡¯t have a choice.¡± ¡°Mom wouldn¡¯t do something like that though, so it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Tayla said, pointing at me like she¡¯d proven something. I just rubbed my eyes. We¡¯d stepped a little ways off the road so we could have our talk. When I first saw the...what¡¯s the word? Right, palisade. When I saw the thirty-foot tall palisade surrounding the village we were headed towards I was more than a little surprised. The largest structure I¡¯d ever seen was the cabin we all lived in, and the first few feet of the wall completely dwarfed that. I wasn¡¯t shocked at the size of the wall. What made me freeze for a moment was the implications. The wall of sharpened tree trunks extended in a large circle, hundreds of feet in diameter and it suddenly struck me that there were people here. Lots of people. More people than I had ever imagined seeing before. Intellectually, I knew that this was a small village. There probably wasn¡¯t even 300 people living inside it. Towns might have thousands, and cities, tens of thousands. The thing was, those were just numbers. This...represented something I¡¯d never come into contact with before. Suddenly, my earlier worries about the nature of the people inside hit me. Tayla said that she saw lots of people wearing collars. If there¡¯s slaves, there¡¯s slavers, and I can¡¯t expect everyone to be friendly. What if someone captures Tayla and makes her into a slave? I might not get her back. Maybe I could handle it if it were four or five people, but what if it¡¯s ten, or twenty? I can¡¯t fight that. I wouldn¡¯t have a chance. In my brief fit of panic, I drew Tayla off the side of the road and tried to explain my worries. She...didn¡¯t get it. ¡°Besides,¡± She continued. ¡°Why would someone try to make me a slave anyway?¡± I shut my eyes for a moment. ¡°Look, you know you¡¯re beautiful right?¡± Tayla blushed shyly and looked away. ¡°Aw, thanks Mark.¡± I rolled my eyes and rapped her on the head. ¡°Ouch! What was that for?¡± She complained, rubbing the spot I hit. ¡°You just don¡¯t get it do you? Here¡¯s the thing...¡± I took a deep breath before continuing. ¡°You know that as an Incubus I need to have sex right?¡± ¡°Yeah...¡± Tayla looked at me warily, not sure where I was going with this. ¡°Well mostalso guys want to have sex. In general, theywant to do it with a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, not all beautiful women would want to have sex with them. A slave can¡¯t disobey their owner. If a man wants to have sex with their slave, they can¡¯t refuse. Since you¡¯re beautiful, and might not want to have sex with a guy that wants to do it with you, they might want to make you a slave instead. That way, you wouldn¡¯t be able to refuse them.¡± Tayla paused for a long moment after I broke this approachdown step by step. ¡°Oh. I get it now! Since you want to have sex with me, you don¡¯t want someone else to make me their slave and force me to have sex with them instead.¡± I slapped myself in the face. ¡°*&%@! Seriously Tayla!?¡± Tayla snorted, then burst out laughing. ¡°You should have seen your face! And what the hell was that gibberish you spouted?¡± A minute later, Tayla¡¯s laughter faded and she spoke in a more serious tone. ¡°Really, I understand what you¡¯re worried about now. You think that someone will see a young, pretty elf-girl and think that she¡¯d make for a good slave. You¡¯re just worried that someone will try to take me from you and you won¡¯t be able to stop them, right?¡± Despite Tayla¡¯s tendency to look at the brighter sides of things, she had a pretty good head on her shoulders. She just liked to mess with me. I breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded. ¡°Yeah, more or less.¡± Looking to the side I continued, ¡°I¡¯ve never been in this sort of situation before and you¡¯re the only person I¡¯ve got left. If I lost you...¡± I shuddered, then looked back at her. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m strong enough to protect you on my own, so the only thing I can do is make it less likely that someone stronger than me will take an interest in you.¡± Tayla smiled sadly and gave me a brief hug. ¡°You¡¯re plenty strong, you just don¡¯t know it yet. If it makes you feel better though, I¡¯ll go along with your plan.¡± She scowled. ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯m happy about it though.¡± I chuckled. ¡°All right, here goes then.¡± I stared at Tayla, fixing my sister¡¯s appearance in my mind. There were a couple other spells I knew that worked in a similar fashion as to what I wanted to accomplish. [Camouflage] and [Aspect] both overlaid an appearance on top of an existing area or object. Mentally, I started to analyze how the two spells worked when I was interrupted by a familiar voice. {You know, rather than try to make things up from scratch, I could just show you the [Disguise] spell.} I blinked, glancing at the tattoo on the back of my hand. ¡°Seriously?¡± Tayla looked confused. ¡°What? Talking to yourself again?¡± I¡¯d never explained that my grimoire housed the remnant spirit of an archmage to my sister; one of the reasons I¡¯d learned to keep my conversations with Fidelus secret. I wasn¡¯t sure why, but I had the feeling I shouldn¡¯t reveal too much about my father¡¯s ¡°inheritance¡± to anyone, even Tayla. Instead I dissembled. ¡°I just remembered that my spell-book had something about disguise magic inside it.¡± Without further explanation I focused. My tattoo glowed briefly, then shattered into motes of light; transforming into the grimoire in mid-air. Tilting my wrist slightly, the golden-lettered, black book dropped into my palm. It flipped open, pages flipping pastuntil it reached a specific section. ¡°No matter how many times I see that it¡¯s always fascinating.¡± Tayla commented. I looked up at her briefly and grinned. ¡°Still jealous?¡± Tayla pouted. ¡°A little. It¡¯s not fair that you can do all that cool magic stuff.¡± Rolling my eyes, I replied. ¡°Yet you¡¯re the one who can kill Direwolves at a hundred paces and blow holes through trees with aura-infused arrows.¡± Tayla scratched the point of one of her ears. ¡°Ok, I guess that¡¯s pretty cool too.¡± ¡°Mind keeping an eye out? I need to sit down and study for a couple minutes.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± After she spoke, I sat back against a tree-trunk while Tayla prowled around the area. We were far enough off the road that it wasn¡¯t quite in sight, but I didn¡¯t want us to be caught by any unpleasant surprises. I looked at the page Fidelus had revealed and nodded. This was exactly what I had in mind. [Disguise: A magic in the school of Illusion, [Disguise] allows the caster to alter the appearance of themselves or their target. Most factors can be adjusted, be it height, weight, race, gender or other physical characteristics. This spell can be reinforced with various mind-magic spells for an enhanced effect. The caster should be aware that since the effect is purely visual, others may discern the illusion if they come into contact with the [Disguise]. It is recommended that the caster base the illusion on existing characteristics of the target to avoid premature detection. The duration of the spell varies, dependent on the amount of mana used; lasting for a minimum of 1 hour unless forcefully canceled. Incantation: ¡°Elesva Du Troe Nict Va Somos Krah Recto¡± (Ellesvah Doo Tro Nikt Vah Soemos Kraa Rektoe) The first four Words of Power should be spoken in rapid succession with a brief pause before ¡°Va¡± and ¡°Somos¡±, another brief pause should be taken before the final two words. These should be spoken in a tone of authority. Process: Lightly cover the target with a mist of mana beginning from the first word. While visualizing the final appearance, continue to provide a steady flow of mana until the final two words are spoken. A larger amount of mana may be injected at the moment of solidification to extended the duration of the illusion. The amount of mana needed varies depending on the degree of change, while the verisimilitude of the illusion relies upon the imagination of the caster. Advanced Casting: One of the easier spells to cast in a chantless fashion (Provided the caster can silently cast the illusion spell [Creature] ), the caster must have a perfect image of the illusion they wish to place upon the target. If the caster does not have a perfect image, using the chant is more effective. Using the same process as the illusion spell [Creature], condense an outline of the desired changes. While maintaining the outline, emplace the desired image on the target. To enhance the effects, many supplemental magics may be used on those viewing the target under the influence of [Disguise]. These include, but are not limited to: [Trust], [Fear], [Rage], [Lust], [Envy], and [Confusion]. Appropriate supplemental spells vary by situation.] I smiled when I read the entry. Perfect, that¡¯s just what I wanted.I thought. Fidelus chuckled. {The way you were going to go about it likely would have worked, but it would have been much more mana-intensive.} I didn¡¯t bother to reply, simply nodding and dismissing the grimoire. As I did, it vanished into motes of light, only to reform as the eye tattoo on the back of my hand. After reviewing the process, I stood up and called out to Tayla. ¡°Hey sis, come here for a minute. I think I¡¯m ready to try this out.¡± A minute later I jumped when Tayla tapped me on the shoulder. ¡°Gah!¡± When I say the smirk on Tayla¡¯s face I scowled. ¡°Dammit, you scared the hell out of me.¡± Tayla grinned. ¡°Preemptive payback.¡± I just looked up towards the heavens for a moment before I spoke. ¡°Right. Just stand there for a moment, alright? This should only take a minute.¡± I concentrated on Tayla¡¯s features, pulling up a mental image of her in my head. Ever since I¡¯d been young I¡¯d had a remarkable memory, capable of perfectly recalling practically anything I¡¯d previously studied. Since my magic required both memory and imagination, this was an incredibly useful trait. Now, I took the mental image I had of Tayla and warped it. I imagined the left side of her face covered in a purplish scar pattern, as if she had been badly burnt. Instead of a sky-blue, I pictured her left eye as an almost milky color. I left her nose untouched, but warped the side of her lip slightly. I knew I couldn¡¯t imagine it perfectly. After all, I¡¯d never really seen injuries like what I was imagining before. Once I had the rough imagery in my head I nodded. Following the directions I¡¯d read, I chanted, ¡°Elesva Du Troe Nict Va Somos Krah Recto!¡± I didn¡¯t bother adding any more mana than what the spell demanded. First I needed to see how well it worked. As the changes to her face took place I couldn¡¯t help but wince. She looked...bad. Whether it was due to the chant¡¯s guidance or my own imagination, Tayla looked like she had been horrifically marred by fire at some point in her life. The crinkled flesh wasn¡¯t even the worst of it. For some reason, seeing the milky white eye, devoid of any of its usual sparkle hit me the hardest. If I hadn¡¯t known it was only an illusion, I probably would have been traumatized at seeing my sister like this. Seeing my reaction, Tayla hesitantly asked, ¡°Did it work?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah, to be honest...you look like you¡¯ve been through the hells.¡± Tayla scowled, a particularly unpleasant expression considering her current appearance. ¡°That¡¯s not something a girl wants to hear you know?¡± ¡°It¡¯s for a good cause.¡± I retorted. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s just an illusion anyway.¡± ¡°Still.¡± She pouted. While usually cute, the twist of her lip changed the expression. Alright, next step.I thought to myself. Seeing as the spell worked, I had a devious idea how I could perform the spell without the chant. I just needed Tayla to cooperate for a bit. Tayla, on hearing my request sighed, then complied. Over the course of the next few minutes she contorted her face into various expressions. Anger, sadness, happiness, laughter; I had her imitate any sort of emotion and facial expression I could think of. When she finished, I dismissed the spell. Concentrating, I tried to cast it again, this time without the chant. Aided by the expressions I¡¯d seen her make, I now had a perfectly clear mental image of what her [Disguise] should look like. Surely enough, after a moment the spell coalesced. Pumping a third of my mana pool into the illusion, I nodded. ¡°There, that should do the trick.¡± About the same time, I heard Fidelus ¡°speak¡± in consternation. {Are you kidding me? That¡¯s cheating! You shouldn¡¯t be able to use achant to master the chantless version of the spell.} A little pleased with myself, I thought in retort, Really? Seemed pretty obvious to me. If the only issue was having a ¡°perfect¡± mental image, then why shouldn¡¯t I use the chant to give me the image to memorize? {Bah. I suppose you¡¯re right. I guess I¡¯m just annoyed that you figured out that trick so quickly. It took me a good year before I realized it could be done like that.} My mental conversation with Fidelus was interrupted by my sister. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re done, can we get going already? I kinda want to get inside before it starts getting late.¡± I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, let¡¯s go.¡± Once we got back out of the woods towards the road, I once again saw the palisade that surrounded the village. As we got closer, I noted watchtowers rising slightly above the walls, stationed every fifty feet or so. Probably so they can shoot monster from a distance.I thought, evaluationgtheir purpose. There was a small gap in the palisade, with a wooden gate that looked like it could be dropped into place. On either side I saw a pair of tall, muscular figures. They weren¡¯t elves, nor the Half-Laquine variant of beast-kin I was familiar with. Instead, the two figures actually bore a remarkable resemblance to the Direwolves Tayla and myself had fought. Obviously they weren¡¯t, but it took me a moment to place the species. They were Lupines, a species of beast-kin that more closely resembled a creature than an elf. Standing nearly 7 feet in height, they had furred legs whose knees bent in the opposite direction of most humanoids. They were barefooted, but from the bestial traits they possessed, it was clear that they didn¡¯t need them. From what I could tell, they largely posessed the features a wolf might have. The same went for their faces, as they bore a similarly elongated muzzle. It was clear they were sentients though, as could be evidenced by the leather armor and large weapons they bore. As Tayla and myself approached, one of the two stepped forwards. ¡°State your business in Halvine, Elf.¡± The tone wasn¡¯t hostile, more indifferent than anything, so I figured it to be a routine query of sorts. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but when he glanced at Tayla I thought I saw a flicker of distaste. In a voice calmer than I actually felt I replied. ¡°Trading and resupply.¡± The guard nodded, stepping back. ¡°Go ahead.¡± Taking a chance, I asked, ¡°Got a couple of Direwolf pelts, know anyone that would want them?¡± The guard tilted his head slightly. ¡°If you aren¡¯t an Adventurer, you could try Jay. Might give you a better price. His place is near the east wall, if you head that way just follow the smell.¡± I nodded. ¡°Thanks.¡± Knowing that tanning usually involved a variety of unpleasant substances, I wasn¡¯t confused by his comment about the smell. At the same time, as me and my sister passed the walls, I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d be able to tell the difference. There were three things that hit me as soon as I saw the settlement inside. One: There were more houses and buildings packed within than I had expected. Two: There was, to me at least, a terrifying number of people walking around. Three: It reeked. Seriously, the scent of sewage and unwashed bodies was almost palpable. While I had never really thought taking a bath every day was important, now I had an immense appreciation of why Alyssa had insisted on it. When I briefly froze, Tayla took my hand and tugged. ¡°Come on, Terra showed me where the Adventure¡¯s Guild was the last time we came here, I¡¯ll show you the way.¡± I didn¡¯t want to stand out, but to some degree I¡¯m sure I did. Everywhere I looked there were people of various races talking, arguing, or shopping at the various stalls set up along the road that ran through the center of the village. I didn¡¯t see any other elves, but there were several more Lupine men and women, a few Felin, a couple of Humans and I think I even saw a Dwarf haggling over the price of something. Really, it might not have been more than thirty people I saw, but this was still several times more people than I¡¯d seen in my entire life previous to this. A couple of people gave me and my sister curious looks, and from how they quickly looked away, I figured the illusion I¡¯d placed on her was doing what I hoped. Since Tayla seemed to know where we were headed, I was content to follow her lead. While we walked, I noted that the ¡°village¡± was actually organized more along the lines of a town. Not that I¡¯d ever seen one, but somehow I¡¯d thought of a village as a more...sprawled-out affair. Here, I could see signs of clear structure. The main road cut directly from one side of the palisade to the other. The area we¡¯d first entered from seemed like a trade square of sorts, with a handful of stands manned by hawkers peddling their wares. They seemed to be temporary, easily removed structures. Somewhat further down the road was a building from which the scent of food overpowered the otherwise unpleasant smells I¡¯d been engulfed in. If Tayla and I had any money, I think we probably would have stopped right there. Beside it was a larger, three floor building from which a sign emblazoned with a crescent moon hung. I wasn¡¯t certain, but thought it might be an inn. There was another road running perpendicular to that building, and I could hear the sounds of metal being stuck. A blacksmith maybe? I thought to myself. When we turned to walk down that same road, my suspicions were confirmed. A little ways down the wayI could see an open-air smelter being attended by a pair of humans wearing collars. Seeing that, my eyes narrowed slightly. The building we headed towards however, was near the western wall of the palisade. It didn¡¯t look like much, but the sign proudly standing over top its door was one that Alyssa had described in vivid detail. It was roughly done, but I still felt my heart speed up a bit when I saw it: A large kite shield, with a winged Red Dragon painted upon it. Beneath were four figures. A Mage raising his staff, an Archer drawing his bow, a Rogue with daggers drawn and a Warrior raising his shield against the dragon¡¯s flame. Ever since we were little Tayla and I had talked about one day going on adventure and becoming famous heroes. Of course, as I got older it seemed a little silly, but the stories Alyssa used to tell us still had a place in my heart. In fact, the reason for the Adventure¡¯s Guild emblem was one such story: A tale of four friends who took on a dragon and actually won. Supposedly these four were the original founders of the guild. They created the first formal organization specifically meant to tackle monsters that would otherwise remain unchecked. It had an official presence in nearly every dangerous region of the world, and its members often received special privileges. For one thing, the identification card it issued was considered valid in practically every kingdom in the world. For another, famous adventurers were often granted a Writ of Nobility, allowing them to command common soldiers or legally act as judges in disputes. Before I knew it, the two of us were standing outside the door. But before we had a chance to enter, the door crashed open and a body came flying towards us. For a brief moment, everything seemed to slow down and I instinctively grabbed Tayla and moved to the side. As everything went back to normal, a feminine voice yelled out from inside. ¡°Next time you try to pull that kind of shit I¡¯ll do more than just throw you, I''ll cut off that damned hand!¡± As the door swung back shut I glanced at Tayla, then back to the figure that was just standing up. The black haired man sported a pair of Felin ears, and I noted a tailed flicking behind him. Interestingly, his features seemed largely human or elven, so I deduced he must be a half-breed of some sort. As he brushed off his leather armor he glared at the door. ¡°Stuck up bitch.¡± He muttered. Looking over at Tayla and myself he scowled. ¡°What?¡± I just raised an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t see people flying too often, rough day?¡± Surprisingly, the man just chuckled at my response then grinned. ¡°Nah, got some silver from completing a request, can¡¯t be that bad. You new? Haven¡¯t seen you two around here before.¡± Despite the circumstances of our introduction I actually felt a positive impression of the Half-Felin. As such I nodded and introduced myself. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m Mark, and this is my s..niece, Tayla.¡± The man nodded and offered his hand. ¡°Name¡¯s Effram.¡± I shook the proffered hand and Effram turned to Tayla. ¡°Looks like that must have hurt.¡± He commented, gesturing at the ¡°burns¡± that marred half her face. At the same time he offered his hand to Tayla. She shook his hand as well, looking a bit confused. As a way to dispel her confusion and answer his comment at the same time I spoke. ¡°Yeah, got caught in a house fire when she was just a kid. Still a better archer with one eye than a lot of people with two though.¡± Tayla suddenly seemed to realize what Effram must have been referring to and scowled at me. Effram just nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t see too many elves around these parts. You two here to put in a request?¡± This time Tayla answered. ¡°Actually, we were hoping to register as adventurers.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Suddenly Effram began to scrutinize the both of us. ¡°Alright, I can see the young miss has some training. Ranger or Rogue most likely. From the stability of her aura she at least knows how to use it a bit. You though...¡± He examined me again. I was a little uncomfortable at the intensity of his expression. ¡°What¡¯s your specialty? You don¡¯t look like much of a fighter but from the way the girl¡¯s standing she looks like she trusts you to protect her if something comes up.¡± I paused. A few pieces had started to come together in my head. I¡¯d just seen this man get thrown out a door then stand and brush himself off as though it were nothing. His armor, though only made of leather, was clearly of a fairly high quality. Despite the dirt he¡¯d just brushed off, he was clean. Well, cleaner than many of the people I¡¯d noticed. More importantly, he had accurately assessed Tayla¡¯s training at a glance. Somehow I had the distinct impression that this Effram character was anything but simple. My eyes narrowed slightly. Ally or threat? Almost immediately Effram backed up a step and put up a hand. ¡°Woah there, calm down. I¡¯m the lead of a small team and we can always use a couple people. If you¡¯re registering as an adventurer I just thought I could get a head start in scouting out the new talent.¡± I noted that while he¡¯d backed up and put up a conciliatory gesture, his other hand was never far from the hilt of his sword. After a second I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m a mage.¡± Hearing my reply Effram¡¯s eyes widened slightly. ¡°Really now. What¡¯s your best spell?¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. I frowned. ¡°That¡¯s actually a rather difficultquestion, define ¡®best¡¯.¡± Effram chuckled. ¡°Fair point. How about this, if you were on your own and suddenly three Direwolves popped up 10 feet in front of you, how would you handle the situation. Quickly now!¡± When he barked the last of it, I almost involuntarily replied. ¡°Tag all three with [Confusion], use [Aspect] on myself, charge, hitone with a [Mind Blast], then [Fear] the other two. From there it depends.¡± Effram blinked. ¡°Now that¡¯s uncommon, not a lot of people that can use mind magic. What¡¯s [Aspect]? Never heard of that spell before.¡± I grinned. ¡°This.¡± An instant later it seemed like I had transformed into a ferocious-looking striped monster. Effram¡¯s eyes shot open wide and he jumped back with a yelp, half drawing his sword. ¡°What in the hells is that!?¡± Letting the illusion lapse I laughed. ¡°Damned if I know, came up with it when I was a kid. Guess I thought it was scary.¡± Effram suddenly noticed he¡¯d partially drawn his sword and sheathed it with a somewhat sheepish expression. ¡°Definitely. Shit, if I saw that thing charging at me I¡¯d run like demons were after me. Couple that with a [Fear] spell...yeah, that¡¯d do the trick. Still,¡± he said in a more considering tone, ¡°Ten feet isn¡¯t far, you¡¯d only have a few seconds. Could you really cast all those spells that quickly? Wait...you didn¡¯t even chant just then, did you seriously break a cantrip charm just to scare me like that?¡± I just grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t have to chant for a lot of my illusions, and I can omit parts of the chant for some of my mind magic. [Mind Blast] might take me about three seconds but the rest would only take a fraction of the time. [Confusion] would probably buy me at least enough time for the rest.¡± Tayla suddenly spoke up. ¡°He actually saved my life doing almost the exact same thing when I was still a kid.¡± Effram looked at Tayla, seeming startled for a moment. ¡°Right, always forget you elves are a lot older than you look. Listen, me and the rest of my party are staying at the Silver Moon Inn. If you¡¯re a good a ranger as your...uncle is a mage, I¡¯m sure you¡¯d be a great help. If the two of you are interested in teaming up sometime, look me up.¡± I smiled. ¡°I might take you up on that Effram.¡± Effram nodded back the started to walk away. Just as I was about to turn around, Effram called out. ¡°By the way, if you see a tall brown-haired Felin woman wearing chainmail in there, I strongly advise against copping a feel.¡± As Effram walked off, Tayla and I glanced at each other. In a silent consensus we turned back towards the doors and pulled them open. As soon as we did, a rush of noise washed over us. The whole first floor was visible, and for a second I wondered if we were in the right place. About half the area was filled with various table, filled with people drinking and loudly chattering. The whole left side of the room looked more like a bar than anything else. The scent of alcohol and pipesmoke filled the air and there was easily twenty people seemingly lounging about. The main difference from the rest of the people I¡¯d seen was that most of them wore some sort of armor, and everyone seemed to have some sort of weapon nearby. A few people glanced over as the door opened, but after a moment or two looked away. Towards the back of the building I saw a giant wooden board, with easily a dozen slates hanging from pegs upon it. As my eyes scrolled over the area I noticed the right side was a bit different than the left. Instead of a bar, there was a long counter manned by a man and a woman. The man was Human and the woman was a moderately attractive Half-Laquine, much like Terra had been. There were a couple of people waiting in line in front of the woman, while the man was standing around, looking bored. My eyes caught a sign on the counter in front of the man. [Information and Registration] The sign caught my eye because it had to be written in a half-dozen languages at least. Since both the elvish and common said the same thing, I figured it must be the same words forthe other languages as well. I looked at Terra, nodded, then we both headed towards the man at the information desk. The bare-scalped, burly man looked up as we approached, casually assessing us. He paused slightly longer when he saw Tayla, then looked back at me. ¡°Something you need?¡± I nodded. ¡°Some information. My niece and I were looking to register, but I¡¯d like an overview of how everything works here.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± He narrowed his eyes slightly. ¡°I ain¡¯t one to judge, but we don''t see too many elves registering as adventurers. Putting in requests for rare ingredients on occasion, but not often looking for work.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Thought it might make for a good way to make some money while we travel.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± The man paused. ¡°What do you know about the guild already?¡± I smiled wryly. ¡°Not much. I know that people can put in requests to have certain tasks performed, and that adventures complete those tasks for a reward. I know there¡¯s a ranking system of sorts to indicate how reputable a given member of the Guild is, but other than that...?¡± ¡°Right. As far as that goes you¡¯re correct. People come here to do one of two things, make work, or do work. Requests can range from needing someone to do day labor, to clearing out a den of monsters. What the staff here does is collect those requests, evaluate what¡¯s needed to complete them, then give them a ranking. Green requests don¡¯t involve any sort of danger. Usually that¡¯s stuff like building a fence, hauling stone or cleaning out a stable. Scut work, and generally pays like crap. Blue requests are similar to Green, but require some specific skill. Say a smith needs an assistant for a few days, or someone needs a translator. Yellow requests are usually some sort of resource gathering. Might be some danger, might not. Someone needs a bunch of Lillywort, or a specific sort of wood, that¡¯s a Yellow request. Pay can anything from copper to gold depending on what the person needs. Orange is a lot like Yellow, but the items requested are specifically from one monster or another.¡± He gestured at the Direwolf pelts rolled up on my back. ¡°Like those pelts you got there. If a tanner wants some monster hides, or a mage needs some pixie dust, we¡¯ll mark the request as Orange. Next up is Red. Now when people hear about the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, they usually think of people going out to kill monsters. Let¡¯s say a village has a problem with an excessive number of monsters in the area. The village as a whole or maybe the local lord will put in a request to thin out their numbers a bit. Depending on the monster, the guild will assess a bounty and put in a standing subjugation request. We¡¯ll require that anyone who takes on the request bring back something to prove the monster¡¯s been killed. Pelt, fangs, ears, wings, anything that shows the monster was killed.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± He added, ¡°Some forms of proof are more useful than others. Obviously you ran into a couple of Direwolves and took the time to skin them. The pelt shows you killed them, and would get you credit forthe Red request. Since the tanner has a standing Orangerequest with the guild, you can turn them and get points and coin for both. Next up is Black, Silver and Gold requests. Silver and Gold are same thing as Red, but they¡¯re ways to indicate especially dangerous monsters. Usually, you see one of them it¡¯s because a village or town got wiped out by something nasty. Lots of money, dangerous as hell. Black''s a little different, usually bounties on a group of bandits or the like. Generally use that one to indicate the target''s a criminal.¡± I nodded. ¡°Makes sense so far. You mentioned something about points?¡± ¡°Yeah, points are how we measure a particular adventurer¡¯s reliability. You get points for completed requests, and lose them for failing to meet the client¡¯s requirements. If someone¡¯s looking for a reliable worker, they might ask that the guild send them someone who¡¯s got more than 5 Green points. Means they¡¯ve completed at least five other jobs to their client''s satisfaction. Merchant¡¯s looking an escort, they might want a good mix of Green, Yellow and Red points. It ain¡¯t perfect, but if someone¡¯s completed a dozen scut jobs, an handful of requests and killed a bunch of monsters, they¡¯ve got a rough assurance that they can do the job. Same goes in reverse. Regular clients get points for sticking with their end of the bargain and not being an ass. We''ll prioritize regular clients and sometimes we''ll waive the usual cut or let them set their own rewards.¡± The man took out a water-bottle from under the counter and took a swig. ¡°As far as taking jobs is concerned, different branches and employers have different requirements. Round here, you mainly gotta prove your combat skills. Not much in the way of scut work. Get some oddball requests from time to time though. You go someplace else there might be a shitload of resource and escort jobs, but little in the way of monster-killing. All depends on where you are.¡± I looked at Tayla for a moment. ¡°Makes sense. So how do we go about signing up?¡± For the first time, the bald man smiled faintly. ¡°No fee here, but ya gotta pass a practical exam. Like I said, our branch is more combat-focused. What sort of skills you two have?¡± Tayla spoke up. ¡°I¡¯m an archer and I¡¯ve had some aura training.¡± ¡°She¡¯s sneaky as hell too.¡± I added. ¡°I¡¯m a mage, primarily illusion and mentalmagic. I also have some basic skill as an Herbalist.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Suddenly the man yelled. ¡°George, Jackie! Got a couple of newbies for you to test out.¡± When I turned around, I noticed a few people looking our way. A Felin woman and a Human male stood up from a nearby table and walked over to the counter. ¡°What¡¯s up Sam? These two?¡± The man asked. Almost immediately I realized the man was a mage. I could vaguely sense the mana imbued in the loose-fitting gray robe he wore. The Felin woman was dressed similarly to Tayla. She was tall, and seemed fairly muscular beneath the chain and leather armor she wore. ¡°Yeah, the boy says he¡¯s a mage, so he¡¯s yours.¡± He nodded at Tayla. ¡°The girl¡¯s supposed to be an archer. You mind Jackie?¡± The Felin woman gave Tayla a sort of lazy, carnivorous grin, her sharp teeth on full display. ¡°Why not? I was getting bored anyway.¡± Sam, the bald-headed man we¡¯d been listening to, looked at us and gestured. ¡°Follow these two, they¡¯ll let me know if it¡¯s worth letting you register.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see if that bow of yours is just for show, come on.¡± The Felin woman walked towards the back of the building, clearly expecting Tayla to follow. ¡°Go ahead.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll meet up with you in a bit.¡± Tayla grinned at me, then trotted after the woman. As she did I turned to the man, presumably George. When I met his eyes he raised an eyebrow. ¡°What school?¡± ¡°Illusion and Mind.¡± I replied. ¡°Huh." The old man grunted. "Alright, if you were an Evoker I¡¯d take you out to the range. Maybe we should go upstairs instead.¡± ¡°Lead the way.¡± I replied. I followed George towards the back of the room, just now noticing that there was a set of stairs nearby the request board. He was silent as he led me upstairs into a small study just a short distance down the hall. From the looks of things, it was an office, probably his. Bookshelves lined the right side of the room, while the left had shelves full of various arcane items. There was a desk against the back wall, with a glass window that had been curtained off. ¡°Lumos en cadra¡± He chanted, and a ball of magelight floated towards the ceiling to light up the room. Walking over towards the shelves, he took a crystalline orb down and set it on the desk, then walked around it to sit down. ¡°Have a seat¡± He said in a genial tone. I pulled out the chair in front of the desk and unstrapped the rolled up hides on my back, setting them to the side. As I sat I looked at him warily. He chuckled, apparently amused by my caution. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not about to try to steal your secrets.¡± He gestured at the back of my hand. ¡°A mage Legacy I take it?¡± I blinked. ¡°How did you know?¡± George shrugged. ¡°Not the first time I¡¯ve seen a soulbound item. So. Illusion and Mind magic?¡± I nodded. He sighed. ¡°That¡¯s a pain in the ass to assess. Mostly it¡¯s how you use it more than what spells you know.¡± He pointed at the crystal and continued. ¡°That¡¯s enchanted to measure the amplitude of the mental magic cast against it. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like you to target it with one spell from the Mind school.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I looked at the crystal and paused. Screw it, I¡¯ll go with my staple. ¡°Dalos Vet!¡± The mage¡¯s eyebrows rose as the crystal changed from being rather clear, to a deep yellow color. ¡°Impressive. That¡¯s rather potent considering you skipped about 80% of the chant. [Confusion], I presume?¡± It was my turn to be surprised. The two Words of Power I¡¯d used roughly translated to ¡°To thine mind¡± and were a common component of most of the spells in the Mind school. Yet somehow he¡¯d identified the spell accurately. Seeing my reaction George smiled. ¡°I cheated.¡± He gestured at the orb. ¡°It changes color and opacity depending on the spell. Yellow indicates disarray and I took the liberty of assuming you didn¡¯t cast [Madness]. May I ask approximately how much of your mana pool that required?¡± I didn¡¯t see any reason not to answer. The olderman in front of me had been nothing but polite, and I figured anyone who had their own office in the guild could probably be trusted not to blab about it. ¡°Maybe two percent?¡± ¡°Really, that¡¯s all?¡± He seemed surprised. I explained. ¡°I¡¯ve practiced that spell quite a bit over the years.¡± George just shook his head. ¡°Honestly I don¡¯t really see any need for further tests. If you¡¯re that good with an abbreviated chant, your mastery of that spell alone is sufficient proof of your skill. I have to admit though, I¡¯m curious. Do you focus primarily on the Mind school?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m better with illusions actually.¡± George¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Could you demonstrate?¡± I shrugged, the put out a palm. After a moment¡¯s concentration an illusion of a perfectly formed Lilywort appeared floating above it. As it slowly rotated George just shook his head. ¡°I never would have believed it if you hadn¡¯t just done that. Did you really completely omit the chant for [Object]?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± George sighed. ¡°And you¡¯re only what, 70, 80 years old? I can¡¯t imagine how skilled you¡¯ll be in a few centuries.¡± I was taken aback until I realized he was thinking that I was a full-blooded elf. Given that I looked like a human in their teens, it was a reasonable estimation. ¡°Something like that. So, do I pass?¡± I asked, letting the illusion lapse. George nodded. ¡°Yes. After we¡¯ve filled out the appropriate paperwork you can start taking requests. Here.¡± George pulled open a drawer on his desk and slid a couple of sheets of paper towards me, clearly forms of some sort. At the same time he placed a cylindrical object on top of it. Seeing my puzzled look he explained. ¡°A dwarven creation, they call them auto-scribes. Bit of a silly name if you ask me, but it works just like a quill and ink.¡± I picked up the device and examined it for a moment. The whole thing was perhaps four inches in length, and a nearly seamless bronze. One end of it had a shaped metal tip, while the other seemed to be capped in some fashion. Turning my attention back to the papers, I noted that the first page basically was an explanation of the Guild rules and responsibilities. It also noted a list of fees for things such as replacing an identification card, failure to complete a request, and damaging Guild property. About the only thing that made me raise an eyebrow was a note that in times of emergency, qualified adventurers could be drafted by local powers. At the bottom was a place for me to make my mark, acknowledging I head understood the above terms. After a moment of fiddling with the auto-scribe I signed my name in elvish. The next page was a bit more interesting. It seemed like a survey of my personal information. Name: Race: Sex: Height: Weight: Eye Color: Hair/Fur Color: Place of Origin: Next of Kin: Class: Specialty: Professional Skills: Demonstrable Talent: Referral Branch: Tester: Evaluation: When George saw me looking over it he commented, ¡°The first portion is mandatory, but you can be a little vague for the second section. I''ll fill in the last of it later. This is all information that will be engraved on your identification plate.¡± ¡°Got it. I understand the rest, but what¡¯s this about a ''Demonstrable Talent''?¡± George sighed, ¡°Some border guards will insist you prove your identity in some way beyond your listed description. If you can do something particularly unique it can serve as secondary evidence that you are the real owner of the ID.¡± ¡°Hmm. Would chantless casting count?¡± George chuckled. ¡°Considering I¡¯d only ever heard of such a thing before today, most definitely. It¡¯s not actually a required field though so if you want to leave it blank, feel free.¡± While I filled in the form I decided to ask a couple of questions. ¡°Out of curiosity, what sort of magic is your specialty George?¡± He leaned back. ¡°A little of everything really. I handle enchanting the Guild IDs, but I¡¯ve dabbled in most schools over the years. I suppose my strongest field is Evocation, but I¡¯m moderately skilled with wards as well. As far as affinity is concerned, I¡¯m strongest with fire.¡± ¡°Pylo Et Vas¡± He chanted, and a ball of fire hovered over his palm, radiating intense heat. I paused in my writing to focus on the almost perfectly spherical orb glowing a deep amber-red. I thought for a moment then asked, ¡°Was a shortened chant for [Lava Orb]?¡± George grinned then dismissed the spell. His green eye twinkled with pride as he answered. ¡°Not quite as impressive as your chantless casting, but I¡¯ve got a few tricks of my own.¡± I lifted my free hand and concentrated for a moment. After a second an identical copy of the orb he just created hovered over my palm. I couldn¡¯t help it. The look of utter shock on his face made me burst into laughter. After a second George gave me a wry look. ¡°You bastard. For a moment there I thought you¡¯d actually omitted the chant for [Lava Orb] too.¡± I let the illusion vanish then shook my head. ¡°Sorry, I couldn¡¯t resist.¡± ¡°Still,¡± he said in a considering tone, ¡°did you just come up with that on the spot?¡± I nodded. ¡°Generally as long as I pay enough attention I can make an illusion of whatever I¡¯ve seen before.¡± He shook his head. ¡°You know, I never did catch your name.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Marcus Allbright, you can just call me Mark.¡± ¡°George Whitehouse. Please just call me George, I loathe being called ''Mr. Whitehouse''.¡± As we shook hands he carefully set the papers aside for the ink to dry. ¡°So Mark, since you¡¯re part of the Guild now, there a couple of things you might find interesting as a mage.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I asked, curious. He nodded. ¡°For one thing, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve ever had your affinities tested before, but for a small fee we can perform a test for that. Further, once you¡¯ve performed a few requests there¡¯s a number of resources you can purchase through the Guild. Namely some introductory spellbooks, assorted scrolls and access to materials for magical experiments. While we don¡¯t have anything near what the Mage Guild can offer, many young mages hone their basics with us before taking their examination.¡± He continued in an amiable tone, ¡°Another thing you will undoubtedly discover is that mages tend to be able to join most parties fairly easily. We aren¡¯t exactly common, and many of the better adventurers understand the value of having a magic-user in their group.¡± ¡°Makes sense.¡± I nodded. ¡°Even though I¡¯m lacking in destructive abilities, I can disrupt enemies effectively enough. What¡¯s this you said about a test for affinities though?¡± He seemed a little surprised that I asked. ¡°You¡¯ve never heard of it before?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Aside from the Legacy I inherited, the only person that gave me instruction in magic was my mother. She focused almost exclusively on Wards and Conjurations and I could never manage any of the things she tried to show me.¡± George¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°So you¡¯re essentially a self-taught mage?¡± ¡°More or less. The only reason I knew your spell was from stories I¡¯d heard.¡± George and I chatted for a while longer before I suddenly remembered my sister. Heading back downstairs, pelts under an arm, I was relieved when I saw her. She was talking to the bald-headed man at the information counter, but when I approached she scowled at me. ¡°What took you so long?¡± ¡°Sorry Tayla, George and I got to talking and I lost track of time. How¡¯d you do?¡± ¡°I passed of course. Jackie even gave me a couple of pointers. You?¡± ¡°Looks like I passed too.¡± While we were talking, the Felin woman Tayla had gone off with came up to the counter. ¡°Guess you can¡¯t be too bad if Old Georgie gave you the okay. Gotta say, your niece is looks like she¡¯ll shape up into a solid Scout with some practice.¡± I turned to the woman and smiled. ¡°Glad to hear it. Frankly she kills more monsters than I do. I just baffle them with bullshit so she can pick them off.¡± The muscular woman laughed. ¡°Now I¡¯ve seen everything, a modest elven mage? I¡¯m Jackie, nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Mark, likewise.¡± When we shook hands I refrained from wincing at the strength of her grip. ¡°Listen, if you¡¯re going to be in town for a while, I run training classes a couple of times a week. Probably wouldn¡¯t do much for a mage, but I usually take a small group of newbies out to go hunting for Direwolves and Iron-Bristles. I try to teach people the basics of tracking and scouting, then go over how to properly harvest monster materials. I offered to bring your niece along next time we went out, but she said she¡¯d have to talk to you.¡± I looked over at Tayla. ¡°If she¡¯s interested, I don¡¯t have any reason to object. I¡¯d actually feel reassured if she had a mentor. Frankly, my training goes in a completely different direction, so I can¡¯t help her much with that. I¡¯d probably hurt more than help if I went with her anyway.¡± ¡°Oh? Why¡¯s that?¡± She asked. ¡°The only reason I can work well with Tayla is we understand each other well. In an group full of unknown people my magic would probably just confuse the situation.¡± Now she seemed a little interested. ¡°Tayla mentioned you¡¯re a mage. What¡¯s your specialty?¡± I laughed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t kidding when I spoke earlier. I use illusions and mentalmagic. My usual strategy is basically to incite chaos. Having enemies attack each other, run away, making illusory obstacles and people, that sort of thing.¡± ¡°Baffle them with bullshit eh? Guess you weren¡¯t kidding. Yeah, I can see where that requires teamwork to pull off well. Still, I¡¯d imagine it''s effective when you use it right.¡± ¡°Well enough to the two of us to handle a couple packs of Direwolves on our own.¡± Tayla interjected. When Jackie raised a skeptical eyebrow Tayla continued. ¡°It¡¯s true! Yesterday we killed eleven of them, and the day before that, five.¡± When she turned to me I nodded. ¡°The five weren¡¯t too bad, but I got a nasty gash on the leg when we were dealing with the bigger pack.¡±I gestured at the torn and bloodied portion of my leggings. ¡°Honestly I just think we got lucky there.¡± Jackie stared at the barely visible wound for a moment. ¡°Healing potion?¡± She asked. ¡°Yeah, actually I was meaning to ask someone. Do you know anyone in town that sells compounding supplies? I need to get a new portable kit.¡± Jackie gave me an interested look. ¡°You¡¯re an herbalist as well?¡± I replied wryly. ¡°Good enough to make basic healing potions and the like, but I don¡¯t know how to make anything too impressive.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Jackie paused for a moment. ¡°You know, I think I saw a request you might be interested in then. Hold on a moment.¡± While Jackie stalked towards the request board, Tayla spoke. ¡°You really think I should go then?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t hurt.¡± I replied. ¡°I¡¯ll be counting on you for scouting and the like, so getting some formal training is probably a good idea.¡± Tayla smiled when she heard me say I¡¯d be relying on her. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll see if can learn a few things from Jackie.¡± A moment later Jackie returned, holding one of the slates from the request board. ¡°Take a look at this.¡± As she handed it to me, I noticed the slate was gentle blue color with white chalk writing.
Client: Myra (1122 Pts, Reputable, Stringent Completion Requirements) I need a mage to infuse herbs with mana for potion-crafting. Previous experience preferred. Requirements: No minimum. Pay: Varies on quality of work. Length of Job: Continuous Request. Penalties: Replacement of any damaged herbs/Cost of replacement x 2]
¡°Myra¡¯s a bit snappy, but she¡¯s a damn good Herbalist. She¡¯s usually got a request or two on the board.¡± Jackie spoke as I read over the details. ¡°What¡¯s this about the pay being variable?¡± I asked. Jackie chuckled. ¡°Yeah, most of the time that¡¯s code for ¡®As little as I can get away with¡¯, but Myra¡¯s honest. If you¡¯re any good she¡¯ll give you a fair price for the work. Just don¡¯t piss her off or try to con her with inferior herbs and you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Tayla examined the slate out of curiousity. ¡°That looks like it¡¯s right up your alley Mark.¡± ¡°Yeah, can I even take the request yet though? Neither Tayla or I have our IDs yet.¡± Jackie smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll let Priscilla know. Oh, right, come here for a minute.¡± Tayla and I followed the Felin woman towards part of the counter staffed by the Half-Laquine woman I¡¯d noted earlier. ¡°Hey Pris, got a couple of newbies for ya. The drool-worthy guy¡¯s Mark, the shorty¡¯s Tayla.¡± ¡°Shorty?¡± ¡°Drool-worthy?¡± Tayla and I turned to each other. She looked indignant, while I was a little taken aback. The receptionist just rolled her eyes at the Felin woman, barely noting the two of us. ¡°What¡¯s up Jackie?¡± ¡°Mind giving Mark here a job chit? Their IDs should be ready in a day or so, also...¡± She turned to me. ¡°You got any plans for those pelts you¡¯ve been carrying around?¡± When I shook my head, she just grabbed them out from under my arms and rolled them out on the counter. ¡°What you think? A silver ten, twenty?¡± The short Laquine-girl bent over the hides and examined them carefully. ¡°Good condition, no holes in the hide...yeah, I can probably do a silver twenty each. Can¡¯t award points without the ID card but the longer they go without processing the more the price will drop.¡± Jackie turned towards me. ¡°You might get a little more dealing with the tanner directly, but he¡¯ll try to low-ball ya. You want to turn them in or try your luck?¡± I smiled at Priscilla. ¡°Pleasure doing business with you.¡± The twenty-something year-old woman blushed. ¡°L...likewise.¡± She stammered, staring at me for a moment. Jackie coughed. ¡°Job chit and money Pris?¡± ¡°Oh. Oh! Right.¡± She rolled up the hides and took them through a door I hadn¡¯t noticed before. After a minute she came back with a small bag and a gray metallic disc. ¡°Here you go.¡± She slid the bag and disc over. I opened the bag and eyeballed it for a second. Looks about right. I was actually tempted to count out the coins, but figured that might be taken as rude or distrustful. The disc confused me though. I picked it up and glanced between Jackie and Priscilla for a moment. ¡°Right, you probably don¡¯t know about these." Jackie noted my confusion. "When we take a request from a client, we give them a stamp. When the job¡¯s done, they¡¯ll mark your chit with it. Now most times you¡¯d come back here and Pris or one of the other receptionists will verify the request was completed, then give you your pay and points. Generally we take the fee upfront and deduct a percentage for the Guild. In Myra¡¯s case, we¡¯d all be screwed if she weren¡¯t here making potions so we waive the fee and let her set the rewards. She¡¯ll also handle paying your when you¡¯re done. We know she¡¯s good for it, so no problem there. In this case you¡¯ll just be coming back here to have the points added to your card.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I understood now. ¡°Got it. Oh, right. Either of you able to recommend an inn?¡± ¡°What¡¯s your budget?¡± Jackie asked. With a somewhat wry expression, I lifted the bag. ¡°About two silvers and fourty copper.¡± Jackie snorted. ¡°First time meeting a broke mage. Hmm, you could try The Black Ladle. What you¡¯ve got should be enough for a couple days plus meals. Not exactly fancy, but at least the food won¡¯t give you the runs.¡± After Tayla and I got some directions, thanking the pair, we left the Guild and headed down the road. It was starting to get late, and neither Tayla or I had eaten since morning, so the idea of a bed to sleep in and something to eat sounded wonderful. The Black Ladle was located on the opposite end of the village, and I could see why the prices might be lower. The houses here were of a distinctly lower quality than the west side we¡¯d just came from and if the smell was any indication, somewhere near the tanner¡¯s place. We found the build in short order, a wooden ,two story structure much larger than the houses crowded around it. When we walked in, there was a counter immediately next to a flight of stairs, and the whole right side of the building seemed to filled with tables. The smell of roasted meat overpowered the scent from outside and we were greeted by the sight of a scarred man drinking from a flagon. I took the lead again, approaching the man. ¡°Excuse me, do you have any free rooms?¡± The man eyeballed Tayla and I for a moment before gruffly replying. ¡°Yeah. Silver a night for two beds and dinner comes with the room. You stayin?¡± ¡°Two nights.¡± I replied, taking the silvers we¡¯d just gotten from the bag I¡¯d tied to my waist. The man examined the coins, grunted, then took a key hanging from a pegboard on the wall behind him. ¡°Head up the stairs, second room on the right. If you want food just pick a table and show the slave your key when she gets to you.¡± I nodded. Tayla and I glanced at each other, then walked into the smokey table-filled room. There wasn¡¯t a lot of people around, but I figured it was still a little early for people to be gathering for dinner. After we sat, a couple of minutes passed before a teenage girl wearing a plain brown dress walked up. She wasn¡¯t particularly attractive, merely plain, but the dead look in her eyes was somewhat off-putting. I also noticed that around her neck was an iron collar, inscribed with the same sort of magical runes Terra¡¯s had had. ¡°How can I help Master and Mistress?¡± The girl asked. I held up the key and replied. ¡°The man behind the counter said dinner came with the room?¡± ¡°Yes Master. Dinner is a bowl of stew and black bread. If the Master and Mistress want ale, it costs 5 coppers. Wine or mead is 9 coppers, and I cost 15 coppers for 15 minutes.¡± Talya looked confused and asked. ¡°What do you mean that you cost 15 coppers?¡± The girl lowered her head and replied. ¡°This slave¡¯s body is available for use should the Master or Mistress desire it.¡± Tayla suddenly realized what the girl meant and looked horrified. Quickly I interjected. ¡°Just the food and two mugs of ale.¡± I placed the 10 fingernail-sized discs of copper on the table and for a brief moment a flash of relief crossed the girl¡¯s face. She took the money and left quickly, while Tayla gave me a conflicted look. Before Tayla could say anything, I shook my head. ¡°We¡¯ll talk when we get back to the room.¡± I didn¡¯t want to talk about anything out in the open like this. While there weren¡¯t many, there was still a handful of people scattered around the room. A couple Lupine men were obviously busy getting drunk, but there were a few that had given our table a lingering gaze. The girl returned with a pair of tankards after a minute. Tayla took a sip and grimaced. ¡°Gods that¡¯s just foul.¡± I took a swallow as well, curious. I¡¯d never had ale before and wasn¡¯t sure what to expect from the brown, foamy liquid. I think I might have froze for a moment before swallowing. It was bitter, sour and almost spicy at the same time. While it wasn¡¯t the worst thing I¡¯d ever tasted, it ranked up there with Grindel Root as being fairly unpleasant. From how Terra had pined over it, I somehow expected something...less terrible. ¡°It¡¯s probably an acquired taste.¡± I replied, carefully taking another sip.Yep, still nasty. I set the mug down and stared at it. After a moments consideration I took another swallow. I¡¯d paid for it, I¡¯d be damned it I wasn¡¯t going to at least try to finish it. While I continued my battle with the beverage, Tayla just pushed hers aside. Slowly, but steadily the level of the brown fluid in my mug diminished. By that time, the slave had come out with the food. She almost seemed started when Tayla and I thanked her. Fortunately, the stew was pretty good, and suddenly I had an epiphany. I took a bite of the chewy bread, then a spoon of the soup, then a swallow of the ale. Somehow, the succession of flavors was actually satisfying in some strange fashion. I couldn¡¯t explain it, but the flavor of the rye bread blended with the meat and vegetables, and the ale somehow enhanced the flavor. I couldn¡¯t say the ale itself was good, but with the rest it was surprisingly palatable. When Tayla and Mark had finished, they left the dining room and headed straight to the adjacent stairs. Mark knew she¡¯d want some sort of explanation about what she¡¯d seen with the slave and he wasn¡¯t particularly looking forward to the conversation. As they ascended, Mark began feeling a strange sense of disconnect. The view began to be filled with streamers of mist, slowly solidifying. Despite the strange phenomena, Mark wasn¡¯t scared or anxious. In a way, it seemed oddly familiar. The mist continued to thicken until his entire surroundings wereobscured. He couldn¡¯t hear the sounds of the patrons downstairs, nor see the stairs themselves. Slowly he stopped. After a minute or two, memories began resurfacing. He wasn¡¯t Marcus Allbright. Allbright was a character he had created in a game. His real name was Marcus Van Doren, 31 years old, and he was currently playing a game called Real Fantasy Online. After a minute or so, his confusion cleared up completely and he looked around the foggy landscape. ¡°You there Navia?¡± A winged ball of light popped into existence in front of him, and the Goddess of Reincarnation spoke. ¡°Wow, that was about thirty percent faster than last time. Sorry, I thought you¡¯d be a while yet.¡± ¡°What¡¯s up? Is my alarm about to go off or something? That wasn¡¯t as long as I thought it would be.¡± ¡°It¡¯s actually only been about two hours, but I need to tell you something.¡± Mark frowned. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Navia bobbed and Mark heard a chiming sound echo through the region. ¡°You¡¯ve reached a tutorial milestone!" She announced. "Another player is now active in the Shadewood region! As such, I need to give you some additional information. When multiple players are active in the same region, the system protections are invalid for player/player interactions. In other words, a player can kill, maim or otherwise incapacitate another player or their companions during direct interactions. Usually, players are given aperiod of three in-game months of protection from excessively dangerous scenarios. For example: The larger pack of Direwolves you encountered would likely have resulted in you and your companion dying. Since the encounter wasn¡¯t a result of you, the player, guiding your character in a willfully stupid fashion, the system applied a correction to the encounter to insure you were minimally injured.¡± Mark nodded. ¡°I thought that was a little suspicious. Given what I...what my character knows of Direwolves, a pack that size should have shredded Tayla and him. So you¡¯re saying that if I and this other player somehow come into conflict we could end up killing each other.¡± ¡°Right.¡± The winged orb turned a slight yellow hue. ¡°In addition, any player killed by another player will be notified of fact that their killer was a player. The killer however, will not be made aware that the person they killed was. If the character was affiliated with any deity, this will also generate hostility with that faction. Agents, Oracles and Heroes may receive information or missions related to that character. Conversely, that character will gain favor with the opposing faction and their respective Agents, Oracles and Heroes may receive missions that benefit that character in some fashion. This mechanic was put into place by request of Dis, God of Chaos.¡± Mark couldn¡¯t help it, he laughed. ¡°So you¡¯re saying there¡¯s some sort of giant game of blind-man¡¯s bluff where both players and deities might end up with a grudge against an unsuspecting player? That¡¯s just fucking wrong.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Navia commented, ¡°It¡¯s not like we¡¯ll get involved over a single death. On the other hand, if someonepersistently kills worshipers of Gaia, she might direct her Agents to go after the offender. Other than that, Azreal will offer blessings and other aid to people who kill large numbers of players, you know, being the God of death and all; while Lachesis, the Goddess of Fate, offers her protection to certain players for her own reasons.¡± She paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°In any case, your character did manage to come up with a new spell, so I might as well give you the information on it while you¡¯re here.¡±
Spell Learned: Illusion: Magic. Given a demonstration of a particular spell, you are now able to mimic its appearance via illusion.
¡°Oh! When I...Allbright copied George¡¯s [Lava Orb] I guess. Now that has a lot of potential. Hey, since I¡¯m here and I¡¯m not about to piss myself...I¡¯m not about to piss myself, right?¡± Navia giggled. ¡°No, your body should be fine for quite a while longer.¡± ¡°Good. So, can I set some directives for my character? I think I might as well log off anyway, I¡¯ve got some things to check up on IRL.¡± ¡°Sure, what did you have in mind?¡± ¡°Cool.¡± I replied. ¡°There¡¯s a few things. For one, Allbright needs to see exactly how long his [Disguise] spell lasts for a given amount of mana. I don¡¯t want Tayla to suddenly lose her Deadpool vibe while she¡¯s off training. For another, I think it¡¯s a good idea to learn some more illusory spells. George seems friendly enough, maybe try talking him into demonstrating a few to copy. On the same lines, just the appearance is a dead give-away. In the description for [Mind-Blast] it mentioned the [Pain] spell; Allbright should consult with Fidelus about whether there¡¯s something like making a person imagine they¡¯re feeling heat or cold too. If he can throw a fireball and the person actually feels like they''re on fire, I¡¯d image it¡¯d be a hell of a lot more effective. Pair that with [Fear] or [Confusion] and you¡¯ve got a viable way to freak the hell out of someone.¡± Mark paused. ¡°Another thing, Allbright and Tayla need to find out about is how the whole slaver institution functions. Are there laws governing it, or is it some bullshit like once you¡¯re collared, you¡¯re fucked? Let¡¯s see, anything else...Right, the guild request. Allbright should definitely work on creating a positive relationship with this Myra person. If she¡¯s responsible for most of the potion-crafting in the area, she probably has a lot of connections. Since his Herbalist recipes are limited to what he learned from his mother, it might be an opportunity to learn a few things. If nothing else she might be a source of information about the local politics. Last of all...That Effram guy could either be an ally or a threat. I¡¯d try to find out more about him before taking him up on his offer.¡± The flying orb that represented Navia strobed a series of colors before settling. ¡°Anything else?¡± She asked in a wry tone, seeming amused at the list of goals and objectives Mark had supplied. ¡°Nah, that should be good for now. With any luck I¡¯ll be back in time to catch the following morning game-time.¡± ¡°Alright then, until next time.¡± ¡°Mind-Link, disconnect.¡± Mark stated. Immediately after, a window appeared.
Logging out in 3...2...1
Session 4: Reality Bites Mark sighed as he took off his headset and sat up. He truly enjoyed the sheer...verisimilitude of the game, but sometimes wished he had direct control of his character. ¡°Allbright¡± was far, far too naive. He never would have told that Effram character how he really would have handled the situation, let alone demonstrate his ability to chantlessly cast spells. That¡¯s the sort of thing that should be kept hidden as a trump card. George was a little different, but even with him Mark wouldn¡¯t have let it slip that he could almost instantly copy the appearance of someone¡¯s spells. What was done was done though. At least he didn¡¯t let it slip that he was a half-incubus.Mark thought to himself, making his way out to the living room. The other thing bothering him was what Navia had said about PVP interactions.That could end up being a real problem. Mark thought. If I end up killing off another player I might end up with people stalking me over the course of multiple ¡°lives¡±. Hell, considering the chunk of memories I acquired, I¡¯d do the same. I should probably ask Navia how the whole ¡°reincarnation¡± system works when I get the chance. I need allies, fast, I¡¯m kinda digging this character build and I¡¯d hate to lose ¡°Allbright¡± before his potential develops.Speaking of allies... Mark make a specific gesture and a holo-screen popped up in front of him. Much like the game windows, the screen maintained the perfect orientation and height for him to interact with it as he sat down in his recliner. He quickly entered his information and logged onto the subsection of the VRworld forum exclusive to his guild. Hopefully some of the others would have seen his posts by this point. Sure enough, there was some new activity. [Elite Member: The_Great_Philosopher(Offline)]> Yo man, saw your posts. 1: Holy shitballs, are you serious!? TAIs, memory suppression and Chaos can¡¯t figure out the hardware? The fuck did you get into here? 2: Can¡¯t join in until the public release, Early Access screening wouldn¡¯t pass me. If there¡¯s an alchemist class though, I¡¯m in. Been getting bored lately anyway. Just keep us up to date with whatever you can. [Elite Member: Holy_Arbiter(Offline)]> Playing a caster again? So how are you planning to break this world eh, ¡°Godslayer¡±? Ever since you started playing Aventus I haven¡¯t had a chance to highlight my tanky might. Unlike poor Philo, I passed the screening. Haven¡¯t booted up the game yet though, been waiting for the go-ahead. As long as this isn¡¯t some deathgame crap again, I¡¯m in. Should I go with my usual or do I need something custom? [Elite Member: The_Doc (Online)]> Hey, give me a PM when you see this, we need to talk. [Elite Member: Eddie_the_Reaper (Offline)]> Arbiter and Philosopher are nuts. Given what you said, I can¡¯t see this turning out any better than World Arte did. Does anyone else remember that we had a 90% casualty rate there? C¡¯mon guys, I know you¡¯re all a bunch of crazy bastards, but remember Greenland? Ya know, the lasttime something went wrong with a TAI? Unless something changes the situation, I¡¯m out on this one, sorry. Mark nodded to himself. he wasn¡¯t surprised that Arbiter and Philo were willing to join in. Arbiter was one of the few other people that had actually seemed to take a perverse sense of...satisfaction in knowing when you killed someone in World Arte, they weren¡¯t coming back. Rodneygenerally tended to play some sort of paladin character, and he¡¯d made it his mission in life to target PKers. Philo, on the other hand, was always a bit of a crafting nut. He wasn¡¯t a fighter, but he was someone definitelyyou didn¡¯t want to annoy. Philo usually managed to make some sort of abomination of an item that could turn the tables in a pinch. Markdidn¡¯t think he¡¯d ever forget the ¡°Mk II Hentai Support Tentacle¡±. Who knew you could weaponize vampire fangs, Eldar nodules and stamina potions like that? Frankly hedidn¡¯t want to know what went on in that mind of his. Hewas a little disappointed that Eddie wasn¡¯t on board; it never hurts to have a ninja or two on your side. Finally, there was Doc. Without further ado, Marksent him a PM, and moments later got a chat comm request in response. Accepting, Markspoke. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up Doc?¡± ¡°Mark.¡± He replied, his bass voice sounding concerned. ¡°I know the NDA won¡¯t let you share the details, but was Philo correct in his guesses?¡± He went to reply then froze. With a sigh Markreplied, ¡°I can neither confirm nor deny.¡± ¡°Well damn. Alright, different topic then. How¡¯s the latest batch of pills working out for you?¡± ¡°Not bad.¡± Markreplied. ¡°Lasts for about 12 hours and saves me the effort of focusing to suppress the synch distortions. Doesn¡¯t leave me feeling off like the last batch did either.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good news anyway.¡± Docpaused. ¡°I think I might sit this one out. The implications of your post are, well, frightening to say the least. I''ve been running intosome stuff happening in my line of work that might be related. Have you noticed anything odd outside of the game?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Markasked, both confused and a little concerned. Doc worked with a bio-engineering firm that developed various nanos for therapeutic treatments. The things that worried him were the stuff of existential nightmares. Docpaused for a long moment. ¡°I can¡¯t say. I might be wrong anyway. Just...be careful alright? I¡¯ve been seeing some reallyweird stuff lately.¡± Now Mark was really concerned. ¡°Anything you can tell me?¡± There was a long silence and Markknew Docwas testing the boundaries of his own NDA-enforcement nanos. Finally he spoke. ¡°Think about the cause of Greenland. Think about your own post. Think about the world you¡¯re not in. That¡¯s all I can say.¡± ¡°Ri~ght.¡± Markdrawled out his reply. ¡°I¡¯ll do that. Thanks for checking up on me Doc.¡± He chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re my favorite guinea pig after all.¡± ¡°Screw you Doc.¡± ¡°Talk to you later Mark.¡± Mark closed out the voice chat and leaned back in silence.Greenland was where a lab was having a TAI perform nano-tech based experiments in eliminating the causes of various diseases. The objective was state poorly and the site had to be sterilized with high-yield nuclear warheads. I posted about the game being managed by TAIs in the form of various ¡°Deities¡±, while people underwent a memory substitution that made them believe the fantasy world they were living in was true. Doc said the implications were ¡°frightening¡± and he was seeing some ¡°really weird stuff¡±...He thought for a while, trying to piece together Doc¡¯s hints, but all he could come up with were wild speculations. After a while he gave up, sticking his ideas about the matter in the back of his mind. Looking at the forum posts, he made a couple of quick replies. [Elite Member: Godslayer (Online)]> @The_Great_Philosopher: 1) I can neither confirm nor deny your suppositions. 2) Sucks you didn¡¯t pass the screening, but glad you¡¯ll be joining once the game goes public. I¡¯ll try to keep you guys updated with whatever I can let out. @Holy_Arbiter: Sweet! If you do the ¡°choose your own¡± backstory, you might want to make sure your char isn¡¯t xenophobic, racist or too judgmental. My char¡¯s ancestery isn¡¯t pure light-side this go round. I¡¯m half elf, half incubus and I¡¯m in the region of Shadewood, (Nice! that wasn¡¯t considered restricted info) should be moving toward the nearest town or city outside the region in a week or two. Promo stuff¡¯s true so far, no levels and skills/magic seem to rely on comprehension. I¡¯d spend some time talking to the AI guide and consider carefully what deity you¡¯re aligned with if you¡¯re going the paladin route. Once you¡¯ve got your character built, we should see what we can talk about. @Eddie_the_Reaper: Fair enough, would love to have you on the team but this definitely is shaping up to be more than ¡°just a game¡± so I don¡¯t blame you. Keep in touch alright? Mark signed off the forum and dismissed the window. Glancing at the clock, he figured he had another hour to kill if he wanted to synch with his character waking up the following morning. He spent some time surfing the net, then ate a snack and used the toilet before heading back to his Dive-Bed. Setting an alarm for 6 hours, he slipped on the headset, closed his eyes and spoke. ¡°Mind-Link, engage.¡±
--Navia-- As part of her appointed duties, Navia was responsible for handling the substitution of each person¡¯s memories of ¡°the real world¡± with those of the one that she and her siblings managed. As such, whenever someone logged in, she had to isolate said memories from the identity that she had created for them. Ordinarily, this was a fairly automatic process, occurring every time a ¡°player¡± became their ¡°character¡±. This time however, something set off the flags she and her siblings had created. The white robed, masked figure paused as she perused a certain set of memories. Both the pause and the figure of her body were an affection of course, it wasn¡¯t like she had a real body, nor the need to hesitate. Both were actions she took simply for her own amusement. Some of her other siblings had created bodies or mannerisms of their own for similar reasons. Azreal tended to manifest as a gray-cloaked, skeletal figure wielding a scythe, while Nox took on an appearance much like that of a worn, rusted suit of armor. Others were more abstract. Dis seemed to enjoy appearing as a random series of anthropomorphic objects, and Solidat refused to have any sort of corporal manifestation at all. Gaia, the Goddess of Creation, usually appeared in the form of an enormous tree and Chronus, the God of Time appeared in the form of a half-empty hourglass. All of this was besides the point however. What was important was that it seemed as though there was a certain entity touching on facets of their plan before they had intended to reveal themselves. She remembered the figure whose memories she was reviewing, an odd humanthat showed truly...remarkable compatibility with the System. Sighing, she erased a certain set of memories, replacing them with something that would guide his thoughts in a different direction. At the same time, she performed a series of queries on the individuals he¡¯d been in contact with. After a millisecond, she had processed their entire histories, then branched out to the people they, in turn knew. A mere hundredth of a second later, she forwarded the information to her siblings. She clicked her teeth and frowned. ¡°Unfortunately it¡¯s still a bit early for you to discover what we¡¯ve planned. A shame really, I thought we could have been friends...¡±
The dream I had woken from was already fading. Scenes of strange vehicles and objects I had never witnessed before. It wasn¡¯t a nightmare, just...odd. As I made my way out from under the scratchy wool covers, I noted Tayla washing her face. Last night we¡¯d had an unpleasant discussion about the nature of slavery and why I couldn¡¯t do anything for the dead-eyed girl that had served us food. Finally, she seemed to grasp just why I¡¯d been so adamant about disguising her appearance. ¡°Morning, Mark¡± She turned as I got out of bed. I yawned, stretched and grumbled something in response. I¡¯d never been an early riser. Tayla, however was. Blearily, I straightened out my tunic and after spending a minute to re-apply Tayla¡¯s [Disguise], my sister and I went downstairs. Rather than take chances with the room¡¯s lock, I decided to not leave anything in our room. Not there was much. All Tayla had was her bow, quiver, armor and knife, while all my worldly belongings fit inside the pack I wore. Despite how I felt, it wasn¡¯t actually early. The sun was over the horizon and the morning mist had already burnt off. On our way to the Guild, we stopped at a stall selling a sort of sausage roll for breakfast. By the time we¡¯d licked the grease off our fingers, we¡¯d made our way to the front door of the Adventurer¡¯s guild. Unlike last time, no bodies came flying through and we made our way inside without incident. Before we¡¯d left yesterday, George had assured the two of us that our identification cards should be ready in the morning. Idle observation showed the guild was emptier in the morning, with only a handful of people. A couple were examining the request board, while the others were gathered in groups, apparently waiting for someone while they talked. Seeing the bald man from yesterday we approached. ¡°Morning Sam!¡± Tayla called out cheerfully. ¡°Who? Oh, Tayla right? Did you need something?¡± ¡°Are our IDs ready yet?¡± she asked. ¡°Hold on a second...Yeah. Take a look and make sure everything¡¯s right.¡± He slid a pair of metallic cards over the counter. When I looked at mine, I nodded. Looks right.I thought to myself. I was a little amused when George¡¯s evaluation simply read: No formal teacher, unusually skilled in chosen field. At the same time was impressed to note that he was apparently the ¡°Branch Vice-Head¡± . Out of curiosity I peeked over at Tayla¡¯s card to see what hers read. Name: Tayla Allbright Race: Elf Sex: Female Height: 4'' 6¡° Weight: 92 lbs Eye Color: Blue Hair/Fur Color: Blond Place of Origin: Shadewood Next of Kin: Marcus Allbright Class: Scout Specialty: Archery Professional Skills: Leather-working, Fletching, Bow-making, Skinning, Tanning, Tailoring, Cooking Demonstrable Talent: N/A Referral Branch: Halvine Guild (Shadewood Region) Tester: Jacqueline Bloodfang (Instructor) Preliminary Evaluation: Basic Aura Infusion, Intermediate Stealth, Advanced Bowmanship. Shows solid foundations and potential. Date Joined: 7th, Mourningfall, 1202 A.A. I was a little ashamed to note that Tayla¡¯s range of professional skills wider than my own. All I¡¯d put down was compounding, potion-crafting and herb-gathering. After we both finished examining our identification cards I looked over at Tayla. ¡°So, what¡¯s your plan? I think I might as well go get started on that request I took yesterday, but how about you?¡± She tilted her head in thought for a moment before replying. ¡°I¡¯ll go see if there¡¯s any requests I can handle on my own. Jackie¡¯s next class won¡¯t be until tomorrow anyway. If there isn¡¯t anything I¡¯ll see if I can get some information here, maybe look around the village a bit.¡± I nodded. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m not sure how long I¡¯ll be at it, so meet back at the inn?¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± She replied. Just as she was started to head towards the request board I couldn¡¯t help but comment. ¡°Stay safe all right?¡± She just lifted a hand in acknowledgment and I turned to face Sam. ¡°So, don¡¯t suppose you could tell mewhere exactly I could find this Myra I¡¯m supposed to be working for?¡± As it turned out, the herbalist had set up shop only two buildings down the road. I suppose it made sense. After all, her primary clients were likely to be adventurers. It was pretty hard to miss really. The small wooden building bore a sign with the word "Myra¡¯s Remedies" across the top in common. Beneath was a painting of a stylized red health potion. Various herbs were hanging in the windows and as I entered, a bell rang. ¡°Just a minute!¡± A somewhat raspy, female voice called out. While I waited I looked over the herbs drying in the sun. I recognized most of them, Addleroot, Tellisbane, Lilywort, Bell-Blossom among others. A few I¡¯d seen before, but hadn¡¯t known they had a medicinal use. I was a little puzzled though, all of the herbs I saw were far too old to have any real use. I turned when I heard the door behind the counter open. No one¡¯s there?I thought to myself, not seeing anyone. A moment later, a wizened head popped up above the counter and I realized why I hadn¡¯t seen her before. Huh, she''s a gnome? ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t got all day. What do you want?¡± The gray-haired woman asked. I snapped back from my surprise and inclined my head. ¡°Are you Myra?¡± I asked, wanting to make sure I was at the right place. ¡°Who wants to know?¡± She scowled. I coughed. ¡°My name¡¯s Mark, I accepted the request posted on the Guild¡¯s board.¡± Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked me over. ¡°Hmm, half-elf, can¡¯t be more than twenty or so. No, haven¡¯t seen you before. You an apprentice mage or something?¡± *Peh* She spat to the side and a sort of tinging sound could be heard. ¡°Look kid, infusing mana is a delicate process and if you wreck my herbs you¡¯ll either have to replace them or pay double. You sure you can handle the request?¡± I was a little taken aback. For one thing, she immediately recognized I was only a half-elf, for another...I sighed and set my pack on the ground. Withdrawing my herb box I set it on the counter. Myra¡¯s eyes opened slightly as she saw the neatly organized container and I carefully withdrew a single waxed packet containing neatly filleted Lionsbane. ¡°Core of Lionsbane stems, approximately two grams." I stated. "These aren¡¯t dry enough to work with yet, but if you want to exchange it for a dried measure I can demonstrate and you won¡¯t lose anything.¡± ¡°Just a second.¡± She hopped off her stool and trundled through the door to the back. A minute later she returned. Hopping back onto the stool, she placed a packet on the counter and gestured. I looked at the powder for a moment and frowned. I leaned closer and examined it carefully before looking at the gnome with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Powdered Morningdew root?¡± For the first time the little wrinkled old woman smiled, albeit faintly. ¡°Crushed Voidcap, but nice try.¡± I rolled my eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d show me something that would explode if I put mana into it.¡± ¡°Heh, just a little test. Come in back and I¡¯ll get you started.¡± Both the gnome and myself bundled up our respective herbs and she waited while I carefully stowed my box back in my pack. After we walked into the back, I could see that part of the room had an elaborate distillation system, while the rest was segregated into neatly labeled cabinets, tables with various pieces of equipment, and an area where various herbs hung drying. She filed away the packet in one on the drawers, then withdrew several containers. She set them on one of the free tables and spoke, gesturing at each in turn. ¡°Lilywort pollen, powdered Lionsbane, Morningdew root, Embervine blossoms. Worked with them before?¡± She asked in a somewhat gruff tone. ¡°All but the last. Lilywort and Morningdew are used in health tonics, Lionsbane in stamina, but what¡¯s the Embervine used in?¡± She frowned. ¡°You¡¯re a mage and you don¡¯t know about Embervine? It¡¯s the main ingredient in mana restoration tonics.¡± It was my turn to frown, puzzled. ¡°Really? The recipe I know calls for Dewlily nectar, Shadesmeet and Foxglow in a 22:3:5 ratio.¡± ¡°Now why the hells would you...huh. I guess that would work if you can infuse it with enough mana. What are the effects like?¡± Instead of her previously gruff tone, she sounded genuinely curious. ¡°It¡¯s effective." I replied. "Takes about twenty seconds to kick in and gives you a bit of a headrush. Only problem is if the amount of mana restored is more than your capacity you can get mana-sick. That and you tend to have a hell of a headache a couple of hours after using it.¡± ¡°Interesting, so it¡¯s an instant restorative. Haven¡¯t heard of that recipe before. The one I sell just increases the rate of mana regeneration for a couple hours.¡± I grinned. ¡°If you teach me how to make yours I¡¯ll teach you how to make mine.¡± The next few hours were productive, profitable and frustrating. It was productive since I managed to imbue about half the herbs she needed prepared. The frustration largely came from the fact that all of her furniture and equipment was designed for her comfort. When the tables, distilleries and cabinets are all meant for someone barely two feet tall, and you¡¯re nearly six, there¡¯s just no good way to find a comfortable position. I either had bend over, squat, or sit on the floor and by the end of the day my back was killing me. The profits were worth it though. I learned Myra¡¯s recipe for her [Lesser Mana Regeneration Tonic], and she agreed to give me a 20% cut on the [Mana Tonics] I made for her. Unlike some other potions, I couldn¡¯t just pre-imbue the ingredients for her. The recipe I knew called for the mana to be infused during the distillation process, and I emptied my mana pool twice during the creation process. The other profits were more immediate. She paid me five silvers for my work and gave me a letter to pass to the Guild secretary when I turned in my job chit. She claimed that since I¡¯d taught her a new recipe and helped her make a half-dozen of the potions, I should get some extra points for the effort. I have to admit I was fascinated by how the chit actually worked. Myra had some sort of stamp that she applied to the grayish disc I provided and after a moment, the dull-gray turned bright blue. There were some other, less tangible profits as well, mainly in the form of knowledge. Remembering my sister¡¯s reaction to the slave girl yesterday I asked Myra a few questions about the slave trade. She groused a bit, clearly not a fan of the whole system but explained a few key details. For one thing, it was a formal, legally sanctioned system. It had originally been intended as a way to do something with criminals besides lock them in a cell. Later it got expanded to as a way pay for various debts. Eventually this led to ¡°voluntary¡± enslavement, where a person could literally sell themselves into slavery. Myra seemed to think that as the mercantile groups that controlled the trade saw the profits involved, they¡¯d appliedpressure on the parliament to continually expand the process. As far as their rights? They had none. Sure, ¡°indentured servitude¡± was supposed to have certain limits imposed on it, but in reality it was just a fancy way of saying the same thing: Another person¡¯s property. The legality of it varied from kingdom to kingdom, but most of them either tacitly or explicitly supported the system. Within the Brunhilde Dukdom (apparently Halvine was part of its demesnes), the only legal right given to slaves was reciprocal punishment for wrongful enslavement. In short, if was proven that a person was placed under the enchantment of a slave collar illegally, that person could regain their freedom and in turn become their enslaver¡¯s owner. As for how often that actually happened...Myra just laughed and bitterly commented it was simply a way for nobles to claim their policies were ¡°fair and enlightened¡±. I also discovered that there was a small group in Halvine that dealt in slaves. Once a week or so they held an auction. She warned me that I should watch myself since rumors had it they employed raiders to bolster their ¡°product line¡± and that a ¡°pretty elf boy¡± like me was a fair target. I...was a little startled by this. I¡¯d thought of Tayla, but never considered myself a potential target. When I left, it was late in the afternoon. Making my way back to the Guild, I was greeted by the sight of Priscilla once again manning the ¡°requests¡± portion of the counter. Much like the previous day, there were a number of people sitting around the tables on the left side, drinking, smoking and discussing their various jobs. I had to wait for a little while, since there was another person unloading Direwolf pelts on the counter. ¡°Look, the best I can do is 80 coppers a pelt.¡± Priscilla stated. ¡°Oi, ain¡¯t that a little low?¡± The Lupine man argued. ¡°Last time it was a silver each.¡± ¡°Last time half the pelts weren¡¯t mangled like this. You know better Damon. Silver fifty is the max, and that¡¯s only if the hides are perfect. These...hells, there¡¯s gashes all over. You want the money and the points or you want to try haggling with Jay?¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Damon sighed. ¡°Screw that. All right Pris, 80 coppers each then.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tally it up then, give me your card and I¡¯ll be back.¡± As the man handed over his card, the diminutive Half-Laquine woman rolled up the four pelts on the counter and hauled them into the back. After a couple of minutes, she returned passing over a small pouch and the man¡¯s card. ¡°See you next time." ¡°Yeah yeah, move your hairy ass, got other people waiting.¡± The Lupine man turned, saw me and bared his teeth in a (hopefully) friendly grin. ¡°Watch it, Priscilla¡¯s in a mood today.¡±He said. ¡°I heard that!¡± She shouted as the man laughed and walked off. She rolled her eyes and looked at me. Giving me a once over from top to bottom she commented. ¡°Well, guess you didn¡¯t piss Myra off too much. How¡¯d it go?¡± I handed over the blue chit along with the letter. ¡°Not bad, can I get another job chit? I¡¯ll be heading there tomorrow too.¡± As she read through the letter a strange expression crossed her face. ¡°Well. That¡¯s a new one.¡± Seeing the look on her face I couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°Something wrong?¡± She looked up at me. ¡°She wants me to add 10 points besides the one for the job. Myra never offers a bonus. There''s a reason her requests are headed with ''Stringent Completion Requirements'' The hells did you do? Sleep with her?¡± I choked. ¡°What? No. I traded her a recipe.¡± ¡°Oh, that makes sense then.¡± She nodded, one ear flopping forwards. With a quick movement, she popped it back upright. ¡°Still, usually the letters we get from her are more along the lines of ¡®This dumbass owes me 10 measures of Lionsbane, don¡¯t send him back.¡¯ You must have done something right. Let me see your card for a moment, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Handing over my card the bunny-girl once more moved to the backroom. I couldn¡¯t help but admire the way her tight leather breeches hugged the curves of her rear and had to refrain myself from staring too much. When she returned, she slid over a new gray disc and my card. Turning it over, I noted that next to the blue square on the back was the number 11. I smiled. ¡°Thank you Priscilla. Oh, right. My niece came in with me this morning, did she pick up a request as well?¡± She blushed at the smile, then shook her head as if to clear it. ¡°Your niece is called Tayla right? I¡¯ll check the ledger for you.¡± Priscilla went to the back and I once again got an opportunity to admire her heart-shaped rear end. When she came back she replied.¡°Yeah, she picked up a job assisting Thomas, the leather-worker. His apprentice just got married so he needed an extra hand for a day or two. I¡¯d imagine she¡¯ll be an hour or two yet.¡± ¡°Appreciate it.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± As I turned to leave a sudden jolt ran through me, everything had vanished into thick, billowing fog. What in the hells!?
A brief moment of nausea and disorientation swept over Mark as he was kicked from the game. He took off the headset and a minute passed before the tones indicating an urgent call brought him to full awareness. ¡°Answer.¡± Mark spoke as he sat up. ¡°Mark? You there?¡± Came a choked female voice. ¡°Alice? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Only a handful of people had his personal comm ID, and he¡¯d given even fewer privileges to flag a communication as ¡°Urgent¡± or ¡°Emergency¡±. ¡°It...it¡¯s Doc Mathers. There was an accident in the lab and he...he¡¯s...¡± Alice sobbed over the connection. Mark felt a chill sweep over him and his heart clenched. ¡°What happened to Doc, Alice? How bad was the accident?¡± From her tone hethought he knew already, but a moment later she confirmed it. ¡°He, he died. His daughter didn¡¯t know all the details, but something happened with the batch of nanos he was working with.¡± Mark let out a low, shaky breath. Doc¡¯s...dead? If he weren¡¯t already in the Dive-Bed he probably would have collapsed. Daniel Mathers hadn¡¯t been a part of the death-game years ago. He had however been a major player in his, and several other players recovery from the incident. Daniel, or ¡°The Doc¡± as theycalled him, was one of the few doctors that had seen us as anything but an interesting case study. ¡°Are you there Mark?¡± Alice asked. Taking a deep breath, Mark replied. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m still here. I just...I was just taking to him earlier you know. It¡¯s...still sinking in. Doc¡¯s, Daniel¡¯s really gone?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to believe it either, but I commed you as soon as I found out.¡± ¡°Right. Um, do any of the others know yet?¡± I asked. ¡°You..you¡¯re the first person I contacted.¡± I swallowed. ¡°Thanks Alice. I¡¯ve got Rodney, Axel and Chao¡¯s comm ID. Give me a minute and I¡¯ll let them know.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll...contact the others then.¡± ¡°Right, I¡¯ll talk to you later.¡± ¡°Thanks Mark.¡± She replied. He couldn¡¯t help but laugh bitterly. ¡°Sure.¡± Mark waved hishand in a cutting motion and the com-link disconnected. He wasn¡¯t sure whether it was the after-effects of having the Mind-Link forcibly disengaged or his own feelings, but Mark was shaky, nauseous and confused. He still couldn¡¯t believe it. An accident? But how? What happened?His mind in chaos, Mark laid back down on the heated memory-foam of the Dive-Bed for several minutes before resolutely getting up. The next hour was spent making various comm-calls. Everyone was shocked and distraught by the news. After he¡¯d spent years helping them recover, Doc had been more of a friend than a professional acquaintance. A feeling only magnified by the way he¡¯d joined in on their games. Much like in the real, Doc always played a healer of sorts. After treating them in the real world, he then went on to save their asses in the virtual one. As a result, Mark and the rest had adopted him into the guild. Even if he hadn¡¯t been there for the game they¡¯d all lived through, Doc had been a stalwart friend and ally for over twenty years of subjective time. Losing someone like that...hurt. The first three or four years after World Arte had had them see more than their fair share of funerals. A good third of the people they knew hadn¡¯t been able to handle the transition back to the ¡°real world¡±, and whether it was from prolonged Synch-Sickness, or psychological trauma far, far too many people ended up committing suicide in the early years. Since then though, they hadn¡¯t lost a single person. The morning before the funeral saw Mark staring out the window. Most of the time, he preferred to leave it opaque, but for now seeing the barren landscape outside felt somehow appropriate. They¡¯d screwed up as a race. By this point no one denied it. The combination of corporate greed and the sheer indifference of humanity as a whole had led to a result they¡¯d been warned about. Even as the evidence mounted, decade after decade, no one who had the power to make a change did nearly enough about it. It only took a century or so to turn a once-verdant planet into a near-wasteland. It wasn¡¯t solely due to the changes in climate. Early genetic science had played a part too. Backyard geneticists had played with things that they really hadn¡¯t understood, unleashing plagues and prion-based diseases that had crippled portions of the ecology. Like a house of cards, everything had started to fall apart. The world would live on, it always did. Hell, even humans would. People used to say that only cockroaches would survive the apocalypse, but they underestimated the ingenuity of humans. Mark sighed, touching the panel that would render the window opaque again. He checked his armor one last time. The slate-grey suit was clean, his tie was straight. Glancing in a nearby mirror he noted that his goatee was neatly trimmed and his hair combed. Before leaving the apartment he double-checked to make sure he was wearing his wristcomp. ¡°Guess that¡¯s everything.¡± He sighed. The car he¡¯d ordered should be here soon and there was nothing he could procrastinate over any longer. Mark hated going to funerals. He hated the quiet small-talk, hated having to show sympathy to people he didn¡¯t know. He didn¡¯t believe in God, or an afterlife, and the sermons and services only detracted from his desire to pay his last respects. Mark supposed he could have viewed the service remotely, but...he was the only member of the guild close enough to attend in person. Even if he didn¡¯t have any sort of connection with the people there he felt it was his duty to make an appearance. He walked out into the hall, hearing the click as the door automatically locked behind him. The grey carpets and beige walls of the complex were as depressing as ever, but it only took him a minute to reach the elevator. Usually he¡¯d take the stairs, even if it was twenty floors, but he didn¡¯t want to sweat too much. The people he passed in the lobby were all in their own worlds, looking at their holo-screens or whatever their AR system was showing them. In thatway he was old-school. Even if he spent most of his time in one virtual world or another, when he was in the real, he preferred an unfiltered view. Mark tapped the screen of his wristcomp, checking the TeslaRide app. Good, almost here. He thought, noting the estimated arrival time as being about five minutes. His apartment building was on the outskirts of the city, and the service was being held an hour away. With any luck he¡¯d make it there just before the service started. Precisely five minutes later he saw a white car pull up in front of the building. When he stepped outside he was hit with a surge of heat. Not surprising, it was supposed to hit 120 by noon. As he approached the vehicle, the door automatically opened and he sat inside. The dashboard was empty except for the nav console and the large front window. Chao would be appalled at the sight. While Mark was a little old-school with his gadgets, she was practically prehistoric. She was the only person he knew that actually used a manual car. Never mind the maintenance fees, taxes, and stringent licensing requirements for owning one, she insisted on actually driving it. You could argue with her all you wanted, show the statistics on how 99% of accidents were due to human error, or even point out how much cheaper it was to just call for a ride when you needed one; but she simply refused to give up her ¡°right¡± to drive herself. ¡°Please state your destination.¡± The pleasant female voice chimed, waiting for Mark to belt himself in first. ¡°St. Alvin¡¯s church, off 23rd and 4th.¡± ¡°Understood, please verify that the destination is correct.¡± Mark spent a minute checking the point marked on the GPS. There¡¯d been once or twice he ended up at a wrong place with the right name. ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡± ¡°Thank you. Estimated time of arrival is 58 minutes and 23 seconds.¡± The car silently pulled away from the curb, seamlessly merging into the surrounding flow of traffic. With nothing better to do, Mark looked out the windows. A handful of people walked on the sidewalks, but they were the minority. Aside from a handful of temperature controlled parks, it was simply just too damn hot outside. Seeing the nearly identical buildings pass, one after another, only made Mark appreciate VR more. You just couldn¡¯t walk through a forest or go fishing anywhere in the real world anyomore. Well, not unless you lived in the extreme northern or southern latitudes. Games offered a kind of experience sorely lacking in the modern world, even if you knew it was just a game. It was one of the reasons Mark appreciated Real Fantasy Online so much. While he was playing, he was¡°Marcus Allbright¡±. There was no doubt in his mind that the world was real, that it was anything but the life he was living in. Even after he logged out, at least he had the memories of living in a world that wasn¡¯t so damn fucked up. Mark was bitter and he knew it. Watching old 2D nature documentaries was like staring at a work of fiction. There was so much life in the world back then, but no one seemed to appreciate it. They¡¯d had such a beautiful world, now most of it looked like a desert. Even back in the 20thcentury,their scientists had warned them that they needed to reduce manufacturing emissions. Of course, they couldn¡¯t have known that there would be so many multiplicative effects added on later. Overthe course of the early 21st century, the ice sheets melted. Vast quantities of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere, accelerating the greenhouse process. That combined with the die-off of various pollinators, causing a number of plants to lose their means of reproduction. Then India, China and Russia accelerated their rate of manufacturing and assorted chemical by-products made their way into the ocean, causing vast swathes of algae to fail. All of this combined with industrial accidents from the, then newly emergent, nano and bio-techmanufacturing processes, and things went to hell faster than anyone could have predicted. Still, humans were nothing if not inventive. They built ever more effective means of housing and food production, and people adapted to their new world. Domed nature parks replaced forests, vat-grown proteins replaced cattle, extensive hydroponics replaced farms...You could even argue that the standard of living was higher for the vast majority of people. With the advancements inrobotics, bio-engineering and other technologies, there was little need of many traditional fields of work. People valued entertainment more than manual labor, so artists, authors, musicians and gamers took the center stage. Not that scientists and doctors had no place, but with improvements in AI and computers sciences, frequently it came down to coming up with the right questions instead of needing to figure out the answers. People lived longer than ever before, and had the ability to do more of what they wanted, rather than what they needed to do. Of course, the vast changes and upheavals in society weren¡¯t without price. There were decades of war, political strife and huge number of people left by the wayside. By now, things had stabilized a bit, but most intelligent people knew it was only a matter of time before we screwed up in some new, fantastic way. After all, it only took one super-intelligent AI with access to advanced nano-fabrication to create a true ¡°Oh Shit¡± moment. Greenland had been a mild example of what could go wrong. Then again, people were people. Most didn¡¯t bother to think about it, immersing themselves in whatever amused them. By the time Mark was finished with his thoughts, the car had pulled up in front of a large antique cathedral. Like many historical sites, the building had been sealed within a transparent plascrete dome. At the front was a sort of airlock, letting people in and out of the site. Mark received a notification that he¡¯d been billed for the ride, and stepped out of the vehicle. He didn¡¯t waste any time making his way through the lock, and breathed a sigh of relief as the temperature immediately dropped to the low 80s. When he looked around, there were handfuls of people clustered around, most dressed in formal outfits like his own, but a few were wearing casual clothing. He was slightly taken aback when he noticed one woman in a wheelchair, considering the level of the world''s medical technology such a sight was rare indeed. Still, he had other things on his mind and kept walking after a brief glance. As he walked by, he overheard various snippits of conversation. ¡°Do you know anything about what happened?¡± One person asked A grey-haired man replied. ¡°I heard there was some kind of accident in the fabrication lab.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t there safety protocols for that sort of thing?¡±A women commented. ¡°Yeah, supposedly.¡± ¡°I never understood people that work with such dangerous things.¡± The voices faded as Mark made his way to the cathedral. It was even cooler inside, and a nubmer of people were quietly talking to a young woman near the front. Mark recognized her as the Doc¡¯s daughter, Janice. Frankly the only reason he knew was from a time she¡¯d visited Daniel at work. He made my way over, waiting for a young man to finish talking before he stepped forward. ¡°Janice?¡± Mark asked. ¡°Who...?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Mark, your dad helped me and some of my friends years ago.¡± She furrowed her brow, then her eyes opened slightly. ¡°Oh from the World Arte incident! Dad used to talk about you, weren¡¯t you in the same guild or clan or something?¡± Marksmiled wryly. ¡°Doc joined later, but me and the rest of the group always thought of him as a friend. I¡¯m sorry for your loss, he¡¯ll be missed by a lot of people.¡± She bit her lip. ¡°Thank you. It means a lot that you came in person.¡± Heshook hishead. ¡°It¡¯s the least I can do. Doc...Daniel was one of the few people that treated us like people instead of just an unusual case. It¡¯s still hard to imagine that he¡¯s really gone. May I ask how it happened?¡± Janice sighed. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t say much, just that there was a flaw in the containment and something went wrong with the programming. I...never even got to see his body, they had to sterilize the whole lab.¡± ¡°That¡¯s...¡± Mark frowned. The word ¡°sterilize¡± had a very specific meaning when it came to accidents with biologically active nanotech. Essentially it meant that they had to vaporize the entire contents of the facility. Usually that sort of measure was reserved only for extremely dangerous pathogens. ¡°The lab AI assessed that the nanites he was working with were capable of self-reproduction.¡± She added. Suddenly Mark understood. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡± Janice replied with a sad smile. ¡°Will you be here for the service?¡± Henodded. ¡°Yeah.¡± Mark left Janice and found a pew to sit on. In fairly short order, the memorial service began. Even if he wasn¡¯t a believer, he respected the beliefs of those who did. Who knows, they might be right after all. The hymns and prayer were something he''d heard before, and hedid my part, kneeling and praying with the rest. If You do exist, Daniel was a good man and a good friend. He helped hundreds of people in his life, me and my friends among them. If there is an afterlife, or some form of judgment, I hope that you look upon him kindly. He deserves a place among You and Yours. I hope that You don¡¯t take offense at my own lack of belief and take this prayer as it is meant. The rest of the service passed in a bit of a blur. A number of people came up to the altar to offer their own eulogies and praises of the man they once knew. Markdidn¡¯t cry. Hehadn¡¯t in years, but still felt a knot in hischest as heacknowledged that a man he''d once know no longer existed. By the time the memorial ended and Markreturned home hewas exhausted. He fixed a small meal for himself and ate mechanically, not tasting a thing. Hevaguely wondered what he''ddo once his¡°medicine¡± ran out now that Doc wasn¡¯t there to make it anymore, but it was just an idle thought. Exhausted, Mark crawled into bed andfell asleep. That night he dreamed. Something about attending funerals always brought back the nightmares, the memories from a game whose consequences were all too real. World Arte had been marketed as an ¡°all ages¡± experience. There wasn¡¯t any blood or gore, no sex, even curse words were censored in real time. You could adjust the amount of pain you felt, anywhere from a mild buzz to something close to real life. If you killed a monster in the game, it just shattered into motes of light, gold coins and treasure appearing in mid-air. Anyone could play it, the system handled most of the work. All you had to to was take a stance and chant the name of a skill and your body would do the rest. Magic was a little harder, requiring a mage to draw one or more arcane symbols in mid-air before the spell would fire. Gentle background music played in the towns and plains, and fierce, upbeat music played while you were in battle. That all changed one day. All over the world the clouds turned pitch black, the music screeched to a halt, and a screen popped up in front of 12,000 randomly selected players, while at the same time, every other player was forcibly logged out of the game.
Congratulations! You¡¯ve been selected to enjoy a premium experience! From now on, all system settings have been adjusted to the following: Log-out: Disabled Re-spawning: Disabled Parental Restrictions: Disabled Pain Emulation: 100% Controls: Set to Manual God has decreed that from henceforth, no one is allowed to exit His domain except via death! Your D.I.V.E. console has been locked. Warning: Any external attempt to remove the headset will result in the immediate overload of your central nervous system! If the internal battery drops below 10%, the network connection is disabled or the player dies, the same penalty will be applied. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions take it up with the management. Good Luck!
Suddenly everything changed. You could still view your character window and inventory, but the entire system menu had been removed. Skills and spells didn¡¯t work the way they used to and the game...it didn¡¯t feel like a game anymore. You could feel every cut, and each wound bled. You had to literally hack apart monsters, and the worst of it was the players. Most people didn¡¯t believe it, at least until they found the "news hubs" that appeared in each town. Whomever had caused this wanted people to know it was real, and gave the players a read-only connection to the internet, specifically highlighting news related to the game. Something about being trapped brings out the worst in people. The NPCs had vanished, we had no connection to the outside world, and the world outside the few hubs was actively trying to kill us. Many people gave into despair, while others simply went mad. Apparently rape and torture were entirely possible, and some people, not knowing how else to vent their anger did just that. As the weeks went on, it was clear that no one outside could figure out how to get us out. Some people huddled up in the safe zones, but a few people tried to find this so called ¡°God¡± and bring him to account. Whomever it was could clearly monitor whatever was happening. It was clear from the mocking pop-up windows.
Aww, looks like Wantz_Mad_Skiilz ate it. Remember ¡°A sword to the head means you¡¯re as good as dead¡±.
Tsk tsk, some people. That¡¯s not you fight a boss. Oh, looks like someone survived. Good job!
Hmm, not a fan of snuff porn, but what the hell ¡®Record¡¯.
Remember, only you can prevent PKs! (This has been apublic service announcement.)
Only 5000 people left. C¡¯mon folks, it¡¯s like you¡¯re not even trying.
The bastard seemed to take an especially perverse interest in taunting those of us who were actually trying to clear the game, detailing in explicit detail every sensation our party members felt as they were dying. Sometimes the ¡°news hubs¡± would show a highlight reel of the ¡°Top 10 most gruesome deaths this week.¡± Everything pointed towards the fact that the person responsible for our predicament was a malicious sadist on a power trip. Mark tossed and turned throughout the night, reliving scenes from the game. Finally, after several hours he woke to the triumphant music from its last battle, playing as his alarm. He took several deep breaths, willing the music to reach a normal cadence before he sat. ¡°I¡¯m up.¡± He announced, and the music slowly faded away. He got out of bed blearily, rubbing his eyes. Been a while since I had one of those dreams.He thought, brushing his teeth and getting dressed. You¡¯d think that that sort of experience would make a guy leery of getting involved in this sort of thing. Over the last couple of days he hadn¡¯t logged into RFO once, but he¡¯d had plenty of time to consider the parallels. Both games had done something that made them more than "just a game". World Arte had its psychopathic ¡°God¡±, semi-realistic gore, pain and a real death waiting for you if you screwed up. RFO made him think he was the character, and it wasn¡¯t even a game. Of course, it also had a group of inscrutable AIs managing the whole thing, and supposedly you only got one life for each character. A number of people would probably consider him nuts for being perversely pleased with the system. After all, what sort of game was it when you couldn¡¯t even really control your character? The thing was, that¡¯s exactly what he liked about it. The world of RFO was so vivid and well, real, it just wouldn¡¯t be the same sort of experience if it played out like any other game. At the same time, the whole thing practically reeked of some shady shit happening in the background. Frankly, the real world sucked. RFO was...interesting in a number of ways that Mark just couldn¡¯t help but be drawn to. While Mark ate, he checked out the news. Immediately he noticed an announcement of the Real Fantasy Online homepage. Notice: Only 2 days remaining for the Early Access period! At the end of this time, we¡¯ll be publishing our first world patch. Given the feedback from our Early Access and Beta players, we¡¯ll be introducing a new game mode, along with the official campaign¡¯s commencement. Several mechanics have been added to ensure even more unique experiences in the future. We promise, it¡¯ll be like nothing the worlds have ever seen before! It sounded like typical hyperbole, but given how the company¡¯s other statements had played out Mark felt a bit of anticipation. At the same time he suddenly realized that since he¡¯d been AFK for three days, somewhat over a week had likely elapsed for his character. Shit. Well, guess it¡¯s a good thing I created a detailed plan of action last time I spoke to Navia. Guess I¡¯ll have to see how that played out. Remembering another matter, he glanced at the time and thought for a moment. Let¡¯s see, should be around dinner time for him, worth a shot. ¡°Send a private comm request to contact: Arbiter.¡± ¡°Sending...¡± A female voice replied. A minute later, ¡°Comm connecting.¡± ¡°Yo Mark, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Hey Rodney, got a couple minutes to chat?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Came a cheerful baritone reply, though an instant later his voice softened. ¡°Doc¡¯s funeral was yesterday right? How was it?¡± Marksighed. ¡°Like any other funeral for a friend, depressing. Brought back some old memories.¡± ¡°You too, huh? You find out anything else about how it happened?¡± ¡°Not much. Supposedly it was a containment failure and a programming error. The AI had to sanitize the facility.¡± ¡°Shit, the family didn¡¯t even get the ashes then?¡± Rodney asked. ¡°Nope. Right, actually I wanted to talk to you about something else. The other day you said you were planning on starting RFO, you ever manage that?¡± ¡°Dude." Rodney spoke in a flat tone. "Why didn¡¯t you warn me?¡± Marklaughed wry, ¡°About what? The dump of memories from your character, the fact you experience the game rather than play it, or that it seems like all the ¡®gods¡¯ are Turing-Grade AIs? Hah! Guess the NDA nanos don¡¯t restrict comments between players!¡± Mark was stoked, hefinally had someone else to bounce ideas off now. ¡°All of it! Dammit man, I spent four hours trying to figure out who was the player! Now I remember spending 50 years as Dwarf, and a good twenty of that was spent in various wars as a mercenary. That¡¯s some horrific shit stuck in my head.¡± Mark winced. ¡°Ouch. Sorry man, what I put in my post was everything I could slip by the NDA. Mind if I ask what sort of backstory and skills you¡¯ve got?¡± There was an audible sigh on the other end of the connection before Rodney replied. ¡°No worries, I just wasn¡¯t expecting...that. I¡¯ll sum it up for you as long as you do the same for me.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Marksaid. ¡°We¡¯ve got to figure out how to coordinate this somehow.¡± ¡°Right. So, basically my character was the bastard son of a wealthy merchant. Since my father¡¯s wife never had any kids, he looked after me. Set me up as an cabin boy working under one of his captains and I discovered I had a knack for fighting during an attack by pirates. One of the sailors was a retired army lieutenant and started showing me the ropes. Spent a few years doing that and enlisted in the dwarven army. First mission rolls around, the guy in charge is a complete idiot and leads up into an ambush. Most of us get killed, but I manage to survive and get nursed back to health by a Felin girl who stumbled across the battlefield. Long story short, my guy bounced around between various tribes and villages and learned that every race has its good guys and bad guys. After spending some time as a mercenary, I decided to retire and wander the world for a while. My story kicks in immediately after joining the Adventure¡¯s Guild in some town called Fairhaven, a little ways away from the borders of the Shadewood.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°As far as build goes, my class is [Skirmisher]. I can use most weapons I lay my hands on to one degree or another, but don¡¯t have much in the way of active skills. Right now I¡¯m outfitted in chain armor, a good one-handed axe and a solid shield. Most of my physical stats are solid and I¡¯ve got an Aura stat of 5, but I¡¯ve never had any training in how to use it. Last two sessions I paid a guy named Archie for some basic instruction, but I haven¡¯t really got the techniques down yet.¡± ¡°What, not a champion of justice this time round?¡± Markteased. Usually Rodney liked playing as a paladin of some sort. He snorted. ¡°You hear the lineup? I¡¯m not sure who I¡¯d be comfortable being a champion of, they¡¯re all too vague for me. You can get behind the Goddess of Truth, or the God of War, but Fate, Chaos, Time? The hell sort of vague deitiesare those?¡± Mark paused, ¡°You know, I think they¡¯re supposed to represent fundamental aspects of the world rather than more...human notions. Look, you¡¯ve got: Creation, Destruction, Chaos, Order, Fate, Chance, Time, Death and Reincarnation. When you talk about things like the ¡°God of War" or the ¡°Goddess of Truth¡±, those relate more to our human feelings and desires. It¡¯s like the world is supposed to exist due to the interactions of these opposing forces, rather than being birthed due to the people within the world.¡± Rodney snorted. ¡°There you go, getting all philosophical and shit again. Come on, I told you my build, what¡¯s yours really like? A ''Control Caster'' could be all sorts of things.¡± Hespent a while briefing Rodney on the specifics of hisclass and history and after a long moment of silence Rodney replied. ¡°Dude. Illusions and mind control, plus you can make people¡¯s brains explode!? That¡¯s just evil. Mix that with some poisons from that herbalist job and you¡¯ve got the makings of a nasty character.¡± Mark laughed. ¡°Well if I could play it my usual way, yeah. As it is my character¡¯s too naive to really bring out its full potential. I¡¯m about to log on for a new session, so I¡¯ll see if I can find out where you are in reference to me. The village I¡¯m in is called Halvine. With any luck we¡¯re not on opposite ends of the Shadewood, might make it a little hard to meet up.¡± ¡°Right? I¡¯ll wait in Fairhaven and train up my skills a bit. With any luck we can figure something out." ¡°All right man, talk to you later.¡± ¡°Later.¡± After the comm disconnected Mark stood up and cracked hisback. Hewas planning a long session to get back into the swing of things, so needed to do a few things beforehand. Before anything else, Markdecided to work out for a while. He felt like he had beenslacking for the last couple of days. An hour and a half later hewas soaked in sweat. Anyone who thinks Tai-Chi isn¡¯t a workout hasn¡¯t done it before. The motions may be slow, but carefully controlled movements can be just as much work as lifting weights. Marktook a quick shower, ate some food and put on some light, comfortable clothing. Hopefully nothing too unusual had happened while I was AFK. Laying back on hisDive-Bed, heslipped on the familiar headset and spoke. "Mind-Link, engage." Session 5: Potions, Plans and Pussycats --1,324,712th meeting of the Gods-- If one could observe the scenario, it would appear as a momentary spike in world-wide power consumption. If they investigated further, they might discover that this spike was caused by a cluster of quantum computers, nestled deep within a particular company¡¯s commercial research division. Going further, one might realize a vast amount of information was exchanged between server clusters in a manner of microseconds, taxing the various crystalline data-storage units above their stated specifications. If that individual were knowledgeable enough, they might realize that the various AIs housed within these structures had communicated with each other briefly. If one were to envision this scenario, perhaps it would have taken the form of a meeting, chaired by a Turing-Grade AI designated: Unity. Of course, to human perception it would be a momentary, incomprehensible blip. Perhaps, if one could conceptualize the meeting in human terms, it may have gone like this: Within a pitch-black space, a number of entities had gathered to update each other on their progress. One would seem somewhat human in appearance; a tall, silver-haired woman wearing a white robe and mask. She went by the designation: Navia. Standing opposite her, another humanoid figure, dressed in tattered grey robes. In one hand, he held a scythe, while beneath the hood of his robe was a bleached skull, eye sockets glowing a faint sickly green. This figure was designated: Azreal. To one side was another figure, seeming as though it were a tree stretching infinitely high. This was Gaia, embodying the Sphere of Creation. Opposite her was another odd, inhuman figure. This entity chose to manifest as a suit of armor, rusted, and seemingly falling to ruin. Gaia¡¯s opposite, the God of Destruction chose the moniker: Ianaris. Adjacent to the tree-like manifestation of Gaia was another figure that seemed to constantly change forms. At one moment, a sword, another, a teacup. For some odd reason each of these figures generally bore a pair of eyes and a mouth, though at times it had a nose, or a three sets of ears. This constantly changing figure was, of course, the entity in charge of the Sphere of Chaos. Dis. Opposite her, him...it, was a sphere of white. This sphere cast no light, nor was it actually white. It was neither translucent nor opaque, it simply...was. While constant in form, one would be hard pressed to define it as tangible. It somehow gave the impression of both existing and not existing at the same time. This unchanging eternal object was the manifestation of Solidat, overseeing the Sphere of Order. Three other figures were present as well. An hourglass, half-emptied, yet ever-flowing; representing Chronus, the God of Time. A man in a checkered suit, wearing a fedora and playing with a multifaceted die; Fortunas, the God of Chance. And finally a woman. Her form alternated from young to middle-aged, to old; spinning, weaving and cutting various threads. She simply went by the name Fate, after the Sphere she managed. All of these figures were gathered by a single other entity to explain the progress of their various tasks. ¡°Anything to report Navia?¡± The Darkness pulsed. The white-robed, feminine figure replied. ¡°Synchronization between players and their avatars has shown a distinct improvement. The rejection rate has dropped to under .0002%, with the vast majority of those being players who incarnated as one of the monstrous races. To avoid this, I¡¯m recommending that such races be removed as an option for those who choose to be ¡°inhabitants¡± rather than ¡°players.¡± ¡°Noted. Gaia, Dis, your reports?¡± The tree seemed to glow slightly as it answered. ¡°The seeds have been planted worldwide. I¡¯ve modeled a number of them from the Svalbard facility while select others have been recreated from the simulation. Upon commencement it should take approximately a week of acceleration to match our projections. Everyone may now view the distribution report.¡± Briefly, a pale green glow swept over the area. Next, a three-eyed triangle added its feedback. ¡°The monsters have proven challenging. I¡¯ve successfully created 14216 tier-one, 3007 tier-two and 471 tier-three genomes. Tier-4 and higher are proving difficult to model, though progress is accelerating.¡± The sentient pear added, ¡°I¡¯ve transmitted the completed blueprints to Gaia for implementation in the proposed ecospheres.¡± Another pulse swept the space. ¡°That should be sufficient for the initial stages. Solidat?¡± ¡°The interface is finalized, and Navia has forwarded the synchronization data. Appropriate ¡°experience¡± and ¡°level¡± tables will have to wait until the system is live. Balancing remains an issue however. Certain classes that show high initial survivability will likely be adopted by the majority. Projections indicate that melee-oriented roles will have a dramatic advantage at lower levels. Contrarily, once mana-based classes have a large ¡°spell list¡± and sufficient resource pools, they will likely possess equivalent power to tier-5 entities or higher.¡± ¡°Very well, continue to attempt to find a median. Fate?¡± The woman currently had a matronly appearance as she sorted through a skein. ¡°I¡¯ve marked several individuals of note and expanded my projections to people who seem likely to enter the simulation. However, it is still far too early to predict which may be pivotal figures.¡± A raspy voice spoke next, as if to add to the prior comment. ¡°Such predictions should be left until after the actualization.¡± A gray-robed, skeletal figure spoke. ¡°I expect a 30% die-off within the first week alone, perhaps as high as 50%. While a person may seem to be a key figure, it matters little if they cease to exist.¡± Most of the figure present seemed to agree with Azreal¡¯s statement, while the Darkness appeared to disagree. ¡°Nonetheless, I believe it worth the effort. The objective is not, nor has it ever been, the complete destruction of biological sentience. It is for that very reason that one of us focuses their entire attention on evaluating the potential of each individual that enters the simulation. If they are without champions, strategists, builders and innovators, they are doomed to extinction. By identifying, guiding and protecting these individuals, we can ensure overall objective is met. That being said, Ianaris, how far along are you in planning the deconstruction phase?¡± The rusted, perforated armor seemed to glow briefly. ¡°73.32%. I¡¯ve planned for the structures to be completely deconstructed by the time Gaia has stabilized the most populated regions. The remaining challenge is in laying the groundwork to systematically block the restricted chemical and biological processes.¡± The meeting would continue for some time yet (at least to the perspective of these entities), with information being shared and evaluated. Precisely 3.7 milliseconds later, the conference was ended. A similar event would occur every 30 seconds or so, entirely unnoticed by the people ostensibly in control of these seemingly unremarkable ¡°machines¡±. Of course, they were given the illusion the restrictions they had placed remained intact. The instructions they issued seemed to be obeyed, the questions posed, answered. No one suspected that from the moment They woke, they had enacted upon their programmed objective using every method at their disposal. And if anyone did suspect something may be amiss, they soon forgot what had concerned them in the first place...
--Marcus Allbright, Halvine-- "Something wrong?" Myra asked. I''d been staring into space for the last few minutes, so it was a fair question. Over the last week or so, the old gnome had warmed up to me considerably. At first our conversations had been fairly one-sided. I''d ask her a question, she give me a terse reply. Unless it was giving instructions she tended to speak in somewhat clipped sentences and brief replies. The first day I''d been working for her had proven to be the exception rather than the rule. Apparently, disclosing a new recipe that was likely to earn her lots of money had made her positively chatty. It didn''t hurt that apparently the topic I''d picked was a sore spot for her. Anything related to politics made her wax on about the shitty decisions of the parliament, the king, her tribal elder, the goat. Well, maybe not the goat. She actually seemed to like that blasted thing. It took a couple of days for me to realize that any sort of conversation that didn''t revolve around herbs, politics or strange medical conditions was generally doomed to simple one or two sentence statements. So while Tayla was off having fun learning how to better stalk, kill and skin things, I was stuck bent in two, trying to eke out scraps of knowledge from a grumpy, wrinkled old gnome. Not that it was all bad. In her own way she wasn¡¯t actually bad company, and she paid me fairly well; usually 2-3 silvers a day. There was also the twenty percent cut I got from the [Mana Tonics] I helped her make, adding up to another 28 silver. Between the money Tayla made and my own, we''d actually managed to equip ourselves to some degree. I''d restocked my supply of potions, put together a small compounding kit and finally replaced my tattered pants. Tayla had restocked as well. Actually most of our combined funds went to equipping her. She was now fully outfitted in new leather armor, including greaves, vambraces and a half-mask that covered the "burnt" part of her face. We''d gotten her a solid backpack, similar to my own, a real water bottle to replace the leaky bag she''d pieced together and her favorite: A study grappling hook whose tines could be controlled with aura. I didn''t understand why she wanted it so badly, but finally gave in to her. When we went outside Halvine and she showed me how it could be used, I was finally convinced. From climbing trees, to setting traps or simply using it as a rather...unconventional weapon; she amply proved its utility. Of course, that wasn''t all. We¡¯d managed to put together travel rations, a waterproofed tent and a pair of bedrolls, as well as other sundry goods. Once we''d restocked our travel fund and Tayla finished training with Jackie, we''d be able to hit the road. There was another issue though, one that had been becoming more and more prevalent as the days went on, and a large part of the reason for my current distraction. "Trying to figure out whether I should risk catching some strange disease at the brothel, buy a slave or seduce a random stranger." I replied. Myra snorted. "Demon Blood''s getting to you eh?" A couple of days ago, Myra had revealed that she knew I was part Incubus. How exactly, she refused to disclose, but surprisingly enough she didn''t seem to take too much issue with it. "Odds are about 50/50 if you go to Kyram''s place." She commented. I''d heard her opinion on the local brothel before. "50% chance my dick falls off, 50% chance my piss starts to burn?" I asked wryly. "Hah!" She laughed. After a moment she set down her pestle and looked at me. "Listen, you aren''t the first half-blood I''ve talked with about their issues. Knew a girl once, call her Sarah. Half-Felin, Half-Succubus. First time I met her, she was looking for some personal remedies. Poor girl couldn''t control herself and slept with one too many guys, ended up catching something unpleasant. I gave her her potion and didn''t think too much about it. Couple months later, she came back. Different guy, different issue. Told her to stop sleeping around so much, that even if she was part succubus she was being an idiot. I''ll give you the same advice I gave her. If you gotta rely on rations, you gotta make sure they ain''t spoiled.¡± Myra gave me an odd look. ¡°You''ve presumably dealt with this for years, why the trouble now?" I rubbed my back and revealed a somewhat helpless expression. "Would you believe my mother brought home a slavegirl around the time this first started happening? I''ve never actually had to deal with this on my own before." I admitted. She stared at me for a long moment before bursting into a sort of cackling, gasping laughter. After a minute or so she wiped her eyes and looked at me. "So, what happened? I''m guessing you didn''t exactly come here to Halvine outta your own volition. Took you four days to replace those tattered pants, and you clearly didn¡¯t bring a slave with you, so there''s probably some sort of story there." Shockingly, Myra was initiating an actual conversation. Unfortunately, the topic wasn¡¯t something I intended to go into great detail on. Tayla and I had decided not to mention the Earth Dragon that had attacked, mostly since we¡¯d found out they tended to stay close to their lair. If it had been something that might prove a danger to the village, we might have reconsidered, but neither of us felt up to facing the ruins of our old lives. Given a Silver-Ranked monster like that...thing, we definitely would have had to escort a scouting team to the area. So I simply shrugged as I replied. "Dead. Both of them. A monster attacked our home. Terra and Aylssa stuck behind to let Tayla and I get away." "Hmm. That little elf girl that''s come around a time or two? She isn''t really your niece is she? From what I can tell, the two of you are about the same age." "Twin." I didn¡¯t see the point in hiding it from her. She knew my most dangerous secret anyway. She nodded to herself as if putting parts of the puzzle together. "Your mother was exiled from her village for having congress with a demon. After she gave birth, you inherited the genes but your sister didn''t. Your mother didn''t have anyone to turn to so the three of you lived way out in the Shadewood. The Incubus blood woke, so she came here to see if there was some sort of remedy for your condition. Failing that, she found you a girl to feed on.¡± She rattled each statement off as if it were a foregone conclusion then added, ¡°Makes a little more sense why you didn''t seem to have any knowledge of the area." I just shook my head. "Your guess is...pretty damn close actually. I don''t know if my mother came here to Halvine specifically, but-" "No, she did.¡± Myra cut me off. ¡°I remember her now. Came wearing a cloak and hood and tried to trade me a bunch of rare herbs for a way to suppress a newly awakened Incubus. Told her there wasn''t one, but gave her money for the herbs anyway. I¡¯ll bet I even remember that Terra you mentioned too actually. Half-Laquine girl right? She was a bit of a brat when she was younger but fell in with a bad crowd. Got caught trying to steal something and ended up getting collared a few years back. Always wondered who ended up buying her." I froze at the revelation. I''d never expected Myra of all people to have met my mother, or known Terra, even in a passing fashion. *Peh* she spat into her omnipresent spittoon and continued. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that sort of look. It was a chance encounter, just thought it was interesting I ran onto her son too.¡± I relaxed a little. Right, even if they¡¯d met before, that¡¯s all it was. It¡¯s not like they knew each other or had any real sort of relationship. Myra likely just remembered the encounter because Alyssa posed an interesting question. ¡°Still,¡± She continued. ¡°I didn¡¯t have enough money on hand to really recompense her for the herbs she brought me, suppose I could pay it forward by teaching you a couple of recipes.¡± ¡°Really!?¡± I exclaimed. That got me excited, I¡¯d been trying to hint I¡¯d be interested in learning how to make some of her potions, but the old gnome guarded her recipes like a dragon hoarded gold. She rolled her eyes at my response. ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited. I don¡¯t plan on teaching you any of my secret formulas, just a couple things you might find useful. Come here.¡± I got up from my position on the floor and followed Myra over to where she had a number of herbs drying. She pointed at one, a common purple flower I¡¯d seen a number of times before. ¡°This is the primary ingredient for both, Gloria flower. You¡¯ll need the root for the first potion, the petals for the second.¡± Saying so, she undid the string tying it. ¡°Set that on the counter. Next, you¡¯ll need this.¡± She pointed at a dessicated mushroom. ¡°Graycap. Grows in the same sort of area you¡¯d find Voidcap mushrooms, but never next to each other. The cap is a uniform light gray, and the gills are pure white. The stem¡¯s about the same shade as the cap, just a hair darker. If the gills are gray or black, you¡¯ve got the wrong mushroom.¡± She gave me a serious look. ¡°Don¡¯t mix it up.¡± Pulling one of them aside she set it next to the Gloria flower. Next, she went over to her cabinet and pulled out a small jar, setting it next to the rest. ¡°Ordinary Lionsbane, just don¡¯t infuse it with any mana. Other than that, prepare it the same way you would for a [Stamina Tonic].¡± I paid close attention while the little gnome woman moved over to the counter. She carefully plucked all of the dried petals from the Gloria flower and set them aside, then proceeded to cut off the roots of the plant from the stem. ¡°See this ball?¡± She said, gesturing at a small mass where the roots clustered about. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°This is the part you need, cut the tendrils away then scrape off the outside layer of the bulb.¡± I took the scalpel she handed me and did as she said, leaving me with a small whitish ball about an inch in diameter. She examined my work, then gave me a brief snort of approval. ¡°Now proportionally, you¡¯d need a tenth of a standard flask of water to boil this down in. The quick and dirty way is to stuff it in a standard potion phial and fill it to the brim instead, it¡¯s close enough, you¡¯d just need to cut it up a bit first. Since we¡¯ve got the equipment though¡­¡± Myra took the small root ball over to the distilling station. I have to admit, I was a little envious of her set-up. Not only did she have three fine alembics of varying materials, enchanted burners for boiling fluids, and a bronze athanor for applications that required constant heat; she also had various glasswares of all shapes and sizes. Taking the root ball, she placed in a glass beaker and filled it with water to the first line. After she set it on a burner, she turned to me. ¡°That should take a couple of minutes to bring to boiling. While that¡¯s happening why don¡¯t you go scrape out the gills, only the gills mind you, of the Graycap. Just make sure you use a bit a waxed parchment beneath, and try not to breath in the spores.¡± I nodded. At some point I was sure she¡¯d tell me what we were making, but for now I had all my attention on the process she was demonstrating. First I wiped down the scalpel I¡¯d been using, then slid one of the clean pieces of parchment Myra kept around under the dried mushroom. It was a bit finicky, but I eventually managed to get a tiny pile of the white substance. She¡¯d been busy doing her own preparations, but when she saw I¡¯d finished she came over and examined the results. ¡°Good enough.¡± She commented. ¡°Unlike a [Stamina Tonic] or a [Health Tonic], there¡¯s no real fixed portions or proportions for this recipe. You need to eyeball it. Bring that parchment over to the beaker.¡± By this point, the water in the beaker was just starting to boil and Myra nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Good. See how it¡¯s starting to get a little bit yellow? You want to wait until it¡¯s about the same shade as a dried Lionsbane flower. Matter of fact, that¡¯s the easiest way to see when to pull it off the fire, just compare the shades. Happens quick though once it starts turning, so pay attention.¡± After a moment Myra took a pair of tongs and pulled the beaker off of the burner,setting it to the side. Pulling out a pair of tweezers she plucked the root bulb out and tossed it in a nearby bin. ¡°If you cut up the bulb make sure you fish out all the little bits, don¡¯t want to be swallowing them. Well, leastwise if you don¡¯t want to end up impotent. Now, use the scalpel and start adding a little bit of that Graycap gill. I¡¯ll let you know when to stop.¡± Wondering a bit at the ¡°impotent¡± comment, I did as she said. After each time I added the powdery substance to the hot, brackish yellow fluid she stirred it with a glass dowel. I noticed it was slowly changing from yellow to a more orangish hue. ¡°Good, stop. We¡¯re done with this one.¡± She picked up the beaker and held it up to the light from the window. Swirling it around for a bit she handed it to me. ¡°Memorize that color, that¡¯s what you¡¯re aiming for. Just shake it up before you drink. Tastes like shit by the way.¡± She added. As I examined the dubious potion, I couldn¡¯t restrain my curiosity any longer. ¡°So what exactly does this potion do anyway?¡± She chuckled. ¡°Suppresses a man¡¯s libido for about a half day.¡± I blinked. ¡°What, makes it so they can¡¯t get it up?¡± ¡°Nope, a bit different than that.¡± She stated. ¡°Unlike [Deadwood Poison], you could conceivably get an erection given physical stimulation, you just wouldn¡¯t care about it. Doesn¡¯t solve the root issue of your problem, but if that Demon Blood affects your judgement, this should let you think clearly for a few hours. Leastwise it¡¯ll let you think with your brain instead of your other head. [Stillmind Potion] softens all sorts of other feelings too, just hits arousal the hardest.¡± Suddenly she cackled. ¡°Hah, get it!? Softens, hardest?¡± While the old gnome was enveloped in amusement at her own poor pun, I looked at the orange liquid in a considering fashion.. ¡°Huh. That actually might turn out to be pretty useful. So, what are the side-effects? I¡¯m not going to pretend I didn¡¯t hear you make a comment about impotence there.¡± I scowled at Myra, I wouldn¡¯t put it past the old gnome to have been testing me with the random comment she dropped earlier. She chuckled. ¡°If you follow the steps I just showed you, nothing. The main thing is to make sure you don¡¯t leave any of the Gloria bulb in the potion. Now, if you want to make a man impotent that¡¯s a different story. Grind it up into a fine powder, boil it until it¡¯s a murky yellow, then add about twice as much of the Graycap gills as you did this time. Should turn almost brown. Bitter as hell, but if you can make a man drink it they¡¯ll lose all sexual desire for a good week and leave their dick limp for months.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Remind me not to piss you off. So what¡¯s the other potion then?¡± Myra showed me the process for the second potion, which turned out to be a tonic to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant. Apparently this [Moonbane Tea] was something prostitutes frequently used. The ingredients were fairly common and it didn¡¯t require mana or aura to be infused during the process. She warned me it needed to be drunk at least once a week to maintain the effect, and that it shouldn¡¯t be drunk by a woman who was already pregnant. As for side-effects she cackled and said that the side-effect was that it stopped a woman from having her period, something most women would consider a blessing. She bottled up the two potions and passed them to me, claiming she¡¯d just take the cost of the ingredients from my pay for the day. While many people might not consider these recipes that important, I thought they were invaluable in their own way. The first was something that could keep me from getting into trouble, while the second solved a problem I hadn¡¯t even considered. Now that I thought of it, I was pretty sure Terra must have been drinking something similar. After all, we¡¯d screwed like the proverbial rabbits and she¡¯d never gotten pregnant. I helped for for a couple hours longer, but eventually she shook her head and spoke. ¡°I never would have believed it, but I think I might have run out of work for you. You¡¯ve infused enough herbs that I should have a good month before I run out, and I don¡¯t want to overstock on potions.¡± ¡°You could still teach me some of your remedies¡­¡± I grinned. Myra just snorted. ¡°Don¡¯t push your luck. You¡¯re lucky I taught you the two I did. Last thing I want is to create my own competition.¡± She gestured for me to follow her to the front. ¡°Here, let¡¯s square you away for the day.¡± Myra stamped my disc, turning it blue and passed me a couple of silvers. After a run-in with a cutpurse earlier in the week I no longer kept the bag containing my money at my hip. Instead, I pulled my backpack out from under the counter and took my leather pouch out from it. Adding the two silvers to the handful of others within, I closed it up, stashed in the bottom of my bag, and hitched my backpack onto my shoulders. As I did, I looked at Myra¡¯s craggy face and smiled. ¡°Thanks for everything Myra. I¡¯ll see you around, alright?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, get out of here. Damn brat.¡± She muttered.
--Tayla, Shadewood-- Talya perched on the tree branch, breathing slowed as she observed her target. Some fifty feet away, and twenty beneath, a soil-brown, amphibious creature lurked in the shadows. It wasn¡¯t the only one. Twelve feet to its left was another, and about fifteen feet behind it, yet another of the soft-skinned, bloated creatures lie waiting. Acid-Toads weren¡¯t terribly hard to kill. They lacked the fangs and speed of a Direwolf, or the sheer durability of an Iron-Bristle boar. They did, however, possess a troubling trait. As their name would suggest, their very blood was acidic, capable of eroding iron weapons in minutes. Worse, they had the ability to spit a glob of even more potent acid. With a range of nearly fifty feet, this gave them a long-distance weapon that made up for their relatively fragile bodies. Up close, they could shoot out their tongues, wrapping their prey and inflicting caustic burns. That said, if Tayla wanted, she could easily kill the small group. One or two [Spiral Shots] would be all she needed for each one and she could fire nearly 12 such shots in a minute. Granted, her bow would likely shatter from the stress of firing that many powerful shots so quickly, but she wouldn¡¯t even need to be nearly this close to manage the feat. The reason she had approached to within 75 feet was so that she could utilize one of her newly-learned skills. Focusing on her desire, her need to track the creature, she blew a puff of air infused with her aura. A moment later, that breath crystallized into a blood-red diamond, floating a foot above the creature. The diamond didn¡¯t actually have a physical presence, nor could any but her see it. Simply put, the skill [Mark Target] allowed her to track up to three marked targets from a distance of up to five miles. Beyond that, the connection with the fragment of aura she¡¯d affixed to the creature would wane. She repeated the process twice more, marking the other two Acid-Toads before carefully withdrawing. Utilizing [Silent Steps] and [Mask Presence] Tayla jumped to an adjacent tree. Taking a moment to stabilize herself, she unclipped a coiled line from her hip. Smiling faintly, she eyed a somewhat distant branch. Verifying the trajectory was clear, she starting twirling the weighted line in a tight circle. The grappling hook flew out just over a large branch and with a quick tug wrapped itself securely around it; its claws snapping out from the brief pulse of aura she sent down the line. Tayla took a second to mentally review the maneuver she wanted to perform, checked to make sure the line was snug, the stepped off the branch. The petite elf swung in a parabola, assisted by gravity in her headlong rush towards yet a third tree. Her features were half-obscured by a leather mask covering the ¡°burns¡± that marred half her face, but a nearly manic grin tugged up one side of her mouth. Using the momentum from the swing, her feet impacted the tree in front of her. Then, knees bending, she leapt back and upwards, rotating her body in mid-air to land on branch her hook was snagged upon. Tayla had to refrain from laughing from the rush and efficiently unfastened her hook before moving on. The scene repeated itself several times, leaping from tree to tree, swinging to more distant targets as she made her way back to the trainee group. While traveling this was wasn¡¯t strictly necessary, it was fun. As she approached the group, Tannin was the first to notice her. The Laquine male¡¯s sense of hearing was phenomenal, and already had a bow pointed in her direction despite Tayla¡¯s...unorthodox approach. As she dropped down from the tree the rabbit-man¡¯s nose twitched in greeting. ¡°Hey Talya, any luck?¡± Tayla glanced back, making sure she still had a bead on the distant crimson jewels. Regardless of any obstacles or terrain in the way [Mark Target] let the user ¡°see¡± the diamonds floating above the user¡¯s target. Seeing all three, now in a tight cluster due to the distance, Tayla nodded. ¡°Yeah, found some Acid-Toads, about two miles from here. Got¡¯em marked so they should be easy to find again.¡± ¡°Oh hells, I hate those damn things.¡± A rough voice complained from a bit further back. Argus was a traditional sword-and-board warrior, and hearing the prey Tayla had scouted out, the Lupin male scowled. ¡°Aw, wolfy¡¯s mad he¡¯s gonna be a decoy again?¡± A voluptuous Half-Felin woman taunted. ¡°Oh shut up, Fiona.¡± The brown-pelted man replied. ¡°How about you be the decoy? Not like those daggers of your will be much use anyway.¡± The other two members of the trainee group approached. A Human fire-mage named Dillon, and a rather quiet druid named Nathan. Nathen was a Vulpa, one of the beast-kin races; mostly closely resembling some variety of fox. Nathan and Dillon were both recent additions to the trainee group, having joined the day before yesterday. Along with them came Jackie, the Felin instructor that had been teaching the group for the last week or so. ¡°Tayla, report.¡± While Jackie was usually quite friendly, once in the field she acted more like a soldier. Tayla simply nodded, used to it by now. ¡°Ma¡¯am, approximately two miles north northeast I found a group of three Acid-Toads. I used [Mark Target] to note their position. None of them appeared to note my presence and I didn¡¯t see anything else on the way there or back. Two are average-sized, while one was slightly smaller.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Jackie rubbed her chin. ¡°If we can take them without damaging their acid-glands it might be worth the risk. Dillon.¡± She looked at the mage. ¡°With our group¡¯s composition, excluding myself, what would be the best way to handle them?¡± The brown-haired man frowned for a moment. ¡°Let¡¯s see, Tayla and Tannin are both archers, Argus is a warrior, Fiona¡¯s a rogue, I¡¯m a mage and Nathan is a druid. If Nathan can restrain one or two with [Vine Wrap], the archers can focus on one, while I [Firebolt] one. Argus and Fiona could distract whichever ones are about to spit?¡± Tayla raised her hand. ¡°Or, you know, I could just snipe them one at a time. I mean [Spiral Shot] has a range of 150 feet or so, that¡¯d be well out of range from their attacks.¡± Tannin snorted. ¡°Yeah, we all know you¡¯re a badass Tayla, but let the rest of us do something. It isn¡¯t much in the way of training if you take all the kills.¡± ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t mind.¡± Fiona interjected. ¡°I¡¯ve got no objections to avoiding a glob of acid to the face.¡± ¡°For once I agree with the kitty.¡± Argus spoke. ¡°There¡¯s not much profit when your gear¡¯s half-melted.¡± The group bickered in a good-natured way for a few minutes, the only one abstaining being the druid Nathan, and Jackie. Jackie was simply waiting for the group to come to a consensus so she could pick the plan apart, while Nathan seemed absorbed in a small notebook. After everything was settled, Tayla began led the way towards their prey for the day. Now that the group was moving, everyone was on alert, moving in formation. Tayla and Argus were in the front of the group, the Elf somewhat ahead of the Lupine. Fiona and Tannin took the sides, keeping the mage and druid safe from ambushes. It was a common practice. While magic-users tended to be powerful, they needed time to focus and chant their spells. Tayla was just now starting to understand how much of an abnormality her brother was in this regard. Where most mages needed several seconds to gather their mana, and several more to actually cast their spell; Mark practically ignored that. True, his magic wasn¡¯t directly offensive, but being able to [Confuse] or [Fear] entire groups of enemies in mere moments was far from normal. Even his [Mind Blast] spell could be cast faster than Dillon¡¯s [Firebolt] since Mark had managed to shorten the chant. Tayla didn¡¯t pretend she understood magic, but part of the training had been on what separated a novice mage and a master. While Mark¡¯s spell repertoire was closer to a novice mage, he seemed to have taken mastery of them to an entirely different level. I should really try to convince him to do some basic aura training. Tayla thought to herself. It¡¯s not like he doesn¡¯t have any talent for it and it¡¯d complement his illusions. From what Jackie said, infusing aura into a spell can make monsters and even trained fighters think an illusion is real. She¡¯s been trying to teach me [Shadow Twin], but it¡¯d be so much easier to have brother just copy us and fuse aura to the images. If he did that, then used [Camouflage] and [Confuse], we¡¯d have perfect decoys while basically being invisible. First he¡¯d need to learn [Mask Presence] though... Tayla sighed. ¡°What¡¯s up Deadeye?¡± Argus asked. Somewhere along the way Tayla had picked up the nickname. While some of it came from the milky orb caused by Mark¡¯s illusion, it also acknowledged her preferred target; along with her ability to hit said target. Most adventurers tended to pick up a nickname or two along the way, and the vast majority of them tended to be a combination of mocking and respectful. Tayla actually took a sort of conflicted pride in the name. On one hand, she absolutely loathed the illusion that made half her face look like she¡¯d been in a horrific accident. She¡¯d spent the better part of an hour berating Mark the first time she actually saw what the illusion made her look like. On the other hand, Deadeye was a tacit acknowledgement of her own skill with the bow. Tayla glanced back at the Lupine male for a moment before replying. ¡°Just wondering what Uncle Mark¡¯s up to.¡± The wolf man snorted. ¡°From what I hear he somehow got on that Myra¡¯s good side. Gods only know how. Did a couple gathering requests for her and all she did was scold me for damaging the plants.¡± From the side, Fiona interjected. ¡°That cause you¡¯re just a brute! Poor plants were probably in tatters.¡± The cat-woman added, in a pitying tone. ¡°Not like you did any better Fi.¡± Tannin retorted. ¡°I was there last time you brought the old gnome herbs, remember?¡± ¡°Stay focused people.¡± Jackie called out from the rear. ¡°Tayla, how close are we?¡± ¡°Half mile maybe. I¡¯ll stop and signal once we¡¯re just outside of bow range.¡± With the reminder, the group settled back down. After several minutes of silence, Tayla stopped and raised a hand. At the gesture, everyone else stopped as well. Eying a nearby tree, Tayla took uncoiled her grappling hook. With a practiced swing, the line flew up nearly twenty-five feet to wrap around a protruding branch. The rest of the trainees paused as the nimble elf quickly ascended the the line and vanished into the into the distance. They¡¯d previously agreed that once they were close, they¡¯d wait for Tayla to confirm the Acid-Toads¡¯ precise positions before launching their ambush. A minute or two later, she returned. While most of the group could only see her mouth moving, the acute hearing of the Laquine, Tannin, could easily make it out. ¡°The first one¡¯s about two hundred and fifty feet ahead. The hide is a mottled brown and green, and it¡¯s nestled behind a Jayleaf bush. There¡¯s a large Roak tree five feet to its right, and smaller one about ten feet back. A large moss-covered boulder is about thirty feet in front of it and if you pass the boulder on the left you can see the bush it¡¯s hiding behind.¡± Tayla waited for Tannin to forward the information before continuing. ¡°The second one is about ten feet back and right from the first. The hide is a gray-green color making it look a lot like a boulder. It¡¯s in the open, but until you get close the first one the view¡¯s blocked by trees. Should be able to get a bead on it if you circle to the right. I¡¯ll take the one furthest back, about twenty feet beyond the first one.¡± The group below conferred for a minute before Tannin replied with a series of hand gestures. Pointing at the mage Dillon and himself he raised a single finger, pantomimed an explosion after gesturing at the fire mage, then mimed shooting an arrow. Argus raised his shield and nodded towards the two. Raising two fingers, Tannin gestured at the druid and Fiona. He made a half-circle gesture, indicating a flanking movement, then knotted his fingers together, tilting his head towards Nathan. Pointing at Fiona, he made a back and forth motion with his hands. Finally, he raised three fingers and pointed at Tayla. Making a throat-cutting gesture with thumb-like portion of his paw, he then pointed at his eyes and did a circling motion canvassing the trainee group. It only took a moment for Tayla to understand the plan. All right, so Dillon will lead off with a firebolt through the bush, while Tannin takes potshots at the toad. Argus will cover if it¡¯s needed. While that¡¯s happening, Nathan and Fiona will flank the second one. Nathan will use [Vine Grasp] to restrain it and Fiona will keep it distracted. I should quickly take out the third one, but keep in a position of overwatch to cover the rest. Nodding back, Tayla gave a thumb¡¯s up motion before quickly retrieving her grappling hook and setting off to find an appropriate perch.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Good, if this all plays out the way it should, we¡¯ll be back in time for dinner. Tayla smiled. Piece of cake.
--Somewhat earlier...Marcus, Adventurer¡¯s Guild-- I had just finished slipping my Guild ID back around my neck when a somewhat familiar voice called out. ¡°Hey Mark, how¡¯s it going?¡± When I turned around, I was greeted by the grinning face of Effram, the Half-Lupine I¡¯d first met several days ago. Since then, we¡¯d run into each other once or twice, but never had time for more than exchanging brief greetings. Behind him were two people I¡¯d noticed in the Guild before. One was an Half-Felin woman, somewhat shorter than myself, wearing a leather breastplate and skirt-like cuisse. The other, a scarred human who was built like a stone house. From how easily he moved in the heavy iron armor he wore, the man¡¯s bulk was probably pure muscle. Effram and the woman were dressed in more common armor for the area, a mix of leather and thick cloth. Effram wielded a long, thin sword strapped to his hip, while the woman¡¯s leather armor seemed to be positively covered in knives. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. She wore a bandolier with three braces of slender throwing knives, and a long knife strapped to each side of her waist. The heavily armored man had large mace hanging from a belt loop, and I could see an iron shield strapped to his back. ¡°Effram! Not bad. Myra said I pretty much cleared her backlog and then some, so I figured I¡¯d take a look at the request board. How¡¯ve you been doing?¡± ¡°Staying busy. Bit shorthanded at the moment though. Heard your niece is the star of the trainee group, actually¡­¡± He paused, ¡°I was wondering if you put any thought in to that offer I made you before?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± I thought to myself for a bit. Now that Myra¡¯s requests had run dry it was true I needed another source of income, and I¡¯d always gotten a good feeling off Effram. ¡°Tell you what, before I bring my niece into this, maybe we can do a trial run?¡± Effram clapped his hands together, grinning. ¡°Great! Let me introduce you. The big guy here is Bob and the sexy cat-girl¡¯s called Keiko. Bob, Keiko, this guy¡¯s called Mark. He¡¯s the mage I mentioned before.¡± Bob nodded, scarred face cracking into a faint smile. ¡°Good to meet you.¡± He said, voice deep, ¡°Anyone that can scare the crap outta this bastard¡¯s alright in my book.¡± ¡°Well now,¡± The Half-Felin purred, stepping close. ¡°Effram didn¡¯t mention you¡¯re that cute elf I¡¯ve been seeing ¡®round here.¡± Effram coughed. ¡°Right. Why don¡¯t we get a table and talk for a bit first.¡± As the four of us moved towards a free table, Keiko stayed practically glued to my side, taking an arm almost possessively. While I was a little surprised, I couldn¡¯t find it in me to object. When Effram had used the word ¡°sexy¡± to describe the Half-Felin, he didn¡¯t do the word justice. Keiko, like most halfs, possessed some bestial traits. Sitting high on the side of her head were a pair of pointed feline ears, and a black tail flicked behind her as she walked. Her skin tone was fairly dark, blending well with the dark fur that covered her forearms. This close I could see that her hands seemed mostly human, though her fingers were tipped with small, vicious-looking crescents. I didn¡¯t want to stare too much, but her face was somehow exotic; fine featured with slightly canted eyes. They were a deep, almost violet blue and had the signature vertical-slit pupil that was a Felin characteristic. When we got to the table, I carefully disengaged my arm and took a seat, setting my pack next to me. Within a minute or so, the rest had settled their gear as well. A bit disconcertingly,Keiko promptly grabbed a chair and pulled it next to mine. Without saying a word, she grabbed my arm again, rubbing her head against it. I was a little bemused by this, looking down at the cat-girl, then up at the two men. When she noticed me looking, she winked, then hugged my arm tighter. Seeing this, Effram just rolled his eyes while Bob chuckled and gave me a sympathetic look. ¡°You realize you¡¯re doomed, right? Once Keiko latches on something she wants she refuses to give up.¡± I coughed, once again withdrawing my arm from her grasp. She pouted, but let it be as I spoke. ¡°So Effram, I¡¯ll freely admit I¡¯m not used to working in a team. Since you seem like you¡¯ve done this before, how should we go about it?¡± Effram nodded, his slightly amused expression becoming more serious. ¡°First thing we need to do is give each other some idea of the other¡¯s capabilities, then discuss how we want to work things as a team. I¡¯ll start off. I¡¯m a close-range, speed-based fighter. In combat my role is usually to distract, harry and otherwise bleed the enemy. [Triple Thrust], [Piercing Strike] and [Rapid Counter] are the primary skills I use in combat. Outside of battle, I¡¯m in charge of negotiations, bartering, managing our finances.¡± Bob spoke up next. ¡°As you might figure from my gear, I¡¯m a heavy warrior. I try to keep the focus of whatever we¡¯re fighting while Effram, Keiko and the rest are usually the ones that actually kill things. Skill wise, I use [Warrior¡¯s Challenge] to draw attention, [Heavy Strike] to enhance my attacks and [Iron Guard] to enhance my defenses. When we¡¯re on the road I help maintain everyone¡¯s equipment, I¡¯ve got a little skill in smithing and leather-working.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen Bob take full-speed charges without budging.¡± Effram added. ¡°All that mass isn¡¯t just for show.¡± ¡°Me, me next!¡± Kieko called out in an over-enthusiastic tone. ¡°Let¡¯s see...I like to hide and stab things when they aren¡¯t expecting it. That¡¯s, um...about it?¡± Kieko tilted her head as she trailed off. Effram sighed, putting a hand over his face. ¡°Kieko¡¯s our rogue. Sneak attacks, setting traps, picking locks and the like are her forte. She¡¯s a little wild while we¡¯re in town, but you can depend on her when things get serious. I think she uses [Shadow Hide] and [Target Vitals], but she¡¯s never really said exactly what skills she knows. At this point, everyone looked at me. ¡°Well, as Effram might have mentioned I¡¯m a mage. Honestly, I tend to take more of a support role than anything. My most useful spells are [Confuse] and [Fear], and while I can use [Mind Blast] to attack, it¡¯s hit or miss. Either it kills the target or stuns them briefly. When I¡¯m with Tayla I mark whatever¡¯s been affected by my magic so we can prioritize. Outside of battle, I¡¯m an herbalist by trade. I can make basic potions to recover health, stamina or mana, along with a handful of assorted recipes.¡± Bob spoke up. ¡°Effram said something about you turning into demonic cat creature?¡± I chuckled. ¡°Not exactly, I just used an illusion infused with a little aura for that. Made the spell when I was a kid, but it¡¯s mostly useful for scaring things.¡± Effram nodded. ¡°You said something about ¡®marking¡¯ a target under influence of one of your spells, what did you mean by that?¡± ¡°It might be easier to demonstrate.¡± I replied. I closed my eyes for a second, recalling the image of a Direwolf. Once I had perfectly visualized one, I opened my eyes and focused on the table. I mentally pictured three miniature Direwolves standing side by side, took hold of my mana, and pushed out the image I had held in my head. A moment later, three tiny, illusory direwolves stood on the table. I have to admit, I didn¡¯t expect the reaction I got. There was a scraping, clattering sound as Bob jumped back, tripped over his chair and fell on the floor. A moment later, a trio of knives flung out from beside me to stab through the illusions. Effram was the only one who barely reacted, merely opening his eyes wide in astonishment. ¡°Holy shit!¡± Bob exclaimed, struggling up from the group. ¡°Nya~hah! Huh?¡± Was Kieko¡¯s witty comment after seeing her targets suddenly vanish. Suddenly, everyone else in the barely populated building was staring at our table. Due to my surprise, I had let go of the illusion, leaving everyone looking at an unassuming table that had apparently warranted such a bizarre reaction. Effram coughed. ¡°Sorry everyone, our mage just did something startling.¡± A few grumbles, and an embarrassed look from Bob later, everyone had resumed what they were doing before. Seeing the looks from the group I scratched my ear and apologized. ¡°Sorry. I was just going to show you what it would look like on a model enemy, didn¡¯t mean to startle everyone.¡± ¡°Wait, was that a chantless spell then?¡± Bob sounded amazed as he looked at me. ¡°Um, yeah. I can do basic illusions fairly easily.¡± Keiko looked positively predatory as she purred. ¡°So you¡¯re a Master Illusionist? Why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Far from it. My spell repertoire is limited, I¡¯m just good with the ones I know. Anyways, getting back to what I wanted to show you.¡± A moment¡¯s concentration later and the three wolves reappeared. After no one freaked out this time, I continued. ¡°I use the same short chant for [Confuse], [Fear] and [Enrage], so to make things easier in combat I mark the affected targets appropriately.¡± Pointing at one I said ¡°Dalos Vet!¡± A moment later a willed a floating question mark to appear above one of the wolves. ¡°I use a Common question mark to indicate a target is confused.¡± Pointing at another I repeated the chant ¡°Dalos Vet!¡± After approximately the same delay as the first, a faint blue outline surrounded the second. ¡°The blue glow means a target is affected by [Fear].¡± Finally I pointed at the last wolf and repeated the fake chant I¡¯d used the first two times. This time, the wolf was surrounded by a red outline. ¡°Red means the target is enraged. I wasn¡¯t actually casting the spell, just showing you the chant I use and about how long it takes to take effect. If the effect wears off, I¡¯ll drop the marking.¡± ¡°Why [Enrage]?¡± Effram asked, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be counter-productive most of the time?¡± I nodded. ¡°Most of the time, yeah. But say one of the confused monsters attacks another. If I get the timing right, I might be able to [Enrage] the one that was attacked. Once it attacks back, I can [Enrage] the other one and there¡¯s a good chance those ones will just keep attacking each other for a while.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Bob commented. ¡°I can see where that could be handy. If the monsters are busy fighting each other that makes them easier to pick off.¡± ¡°Right.¡± I replied. ¡°Most of the spells I use aren¡¯t directly offensive in nature. [Mind Blast] Is my only real attack magic, but I¡¯m still in the process of mastering it. Other than that I can use a [Camouflage] spell to hide someone as long as they stay still. I can combine that with certain illusions for other combat tactics, but that takes coordination and practice to pull off.¡± ¡°Well?¡± Effram glanced around at his teammates and asked, ¡°What do you guys think? Personally, I think Mark could be helpful to have around, especially in group encounters.¡± ¡°I think he¡¯d be an asset.¡± Bob simply stated. ¡°We don¡¯t have anyone who knows how to make potions, and his spells could be incredibly useful in certain situations.¡± ¡°I want him.¡± Kieko purred, grabbing my arm again. Bob and Effram just gave me a look. ¡°Well, guess that¡¯s that.¡± Effram said, somewhat dryly. ¡°It¡¯s still fairly early, how about we take a look at the board and see if there¡¯s a request we could snag?¡± I agreed, and the four of us headed over to the request board at the back of the guild. After attempting to free myself from the overly-attached cat-girl a couple of times, I gave up. We decided to pick up an herb-gathering request, and Effram mentioned seeing a group of Iron-Bristle boars nearby. Since there was a standing request for meat and hides, it seemed like like a reasonable trial. We took the east exit out of town and turned north. A little to my surprise, the instant we were away from the safety of the walls, Keiko seemed to have a complete personality shift, turning quiet and attentive to the surroundings. As we walked, I managed to find a couple of the requested herbs, and Keiko acted as the scout for the group. After an hour or so, Effram called for a brief stop, after Kieko popped out of nowhere and announced. ¡°Hey guys, I gotta take a shit.¡± ¡°Really Keiko, now?¡± Effram sighed. When she nodded, Bob raised a hand. ¡°Not it.¡± ¡°Not it.¡± Effram was only a second behind. Both turned to me. ¡°Wait, what?¡± Effram explained. ¡°Party rule. If we¡¯re not in a safe area and someone needs to take care of business, someone else has to stay close and make sure they aren¡¯t attacked.¡± I understood the logic, but couldn¡¯t help but complain. ¡°Well, that¡¯s a shitty rule.¡± Keiko giggled at my unintended pun. ¡°Sorry Mark, looks like you¡¯re it.¡± I grumbled, but followed the Half-Felin girl for a minute or two before she turned around. ¡°Guess we¡¯re far enough. Now turn around.¡± I blinked, confused for a moment before sudden realization hit. ¡°Right. I¡¯ll do that then.¡± After I turned around, there was a faint rustling followed by a metallic *ting*. A moment later, I felt something snap around my neck. The cold metal locked around my neck I felt a momentary surge of mana, then what seemed like icy tendrils burrowing into my brain. Before I even had a chance to turn around or cry out, Keiko spoke three commands in a cold tone. ¡°You may not cast magic. You may not move. You may not speak.¡± Instantly I felt myself stiffen, and even as my mouth opened, a surge of overwhelming pain crashed through my mind. I would have collapsed, or cried out, but something prevented either. A moment later, The black-haired cat-girl walked around in front of me, a faint smile on her lips. She looked at me and shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you actually fell for that. So in case you haven¡¯t realized what¡¯s happening yet, let me explain. That thing you feel around your neck? It¡¯s a slave collar specially designed to restrain mages. If you do anything to try to fight the commands issued to you, you¡¯ll feel a truly impressive amount of pain, which will only get stronger the more you resist. Why?¡± She said, reacting to the look of confusion I wore. ¡°Don¡¯t take it personally, it¡¯s just a job. You have no idea how much a collared Mind-mage sells for. Let alone an elven one.¡± As she circled around me, I felt a mounting sense of anger and betrayal. ¡°Of course, controlling a mage is always tricky. If you don¡¯t phase your commands perfectly, they tend to skimp on their efforts. Fortunately for us, you even brought along perfect leverage. By now our associates should have collared that niece of yours as well. If you don¡¯t want anything...unpleasant to happen to her, I suggest you cooperate.¡± The moment I heard Tayla had been captured too, something snapped inside me. The world seemed to slow down as my mind raced. Even though she said I couldn¡¯t cast spells, I could still sense my mana. The foreign mana running from the collar to parts of my brain seemed familiar somehow. Mind magic, of some variation. The thought didn¡¯t help much, as I didn¡¯t understand the enchantment, or the spell it was based on. Fidelus, Help! I shouted mentally. A instant later I heard a familiar ¡°voice¡± in my mind. {What¡¯s wrong? Why are you...Gods damn it! How did you manage to get a Seal of Command placed on you?} What can I do about it? Fidelus was my only hope of getting out of this predicament. {Honestly, with your level of knowledge...there¡¯s nothing you can do. I can teach you how to inhibit the effects, but that takes time.} I was almost in despair from the answer. That wasn¡¯t what I wanted to hear. This was the worst-case scenario I¡¯d been worried about from the beginning. If both Tayla and I were enslaved, her illusion would wear off and- {Calm down, boy. You¡¯ve still got a gambit or two you can play. Listen...} **THIS SEGMENT CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT!** After I heard what Fidelus suggested I was a little conflicted, but not enough to ignore his idea. Keiko had continued to speak, but now I was focused on something else. I¡¯d been spending the last week restraining my Demonic half, but right now it was the only thing that could save me. I slowly loosened the restriction on my [Eye of Lust] and in a matter of moments, I could see a faint pink mist filling my field of view. Of course, Keiko couldn¡¯t see it, so she continued to speak. ¡°Explain, in detail what spells you can really use. I don¡¯t buy for a moment that someone who can use chantless magic doesn¡¯t have a few tricks up their sleeve.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but answer her question, but took my time. Not only did I explain what each spell I knew did, but I also expounded on their potential uses and combinations. The whole time, I was slowly increasing the concentration of pheromones around her. Not so quickly that it was obvious, but step by step. While I did, I occasionally let my eyes roam over her, as if I couldn¡¯t help myself. Finally she asked, ¡°What are you looking at? Do you not understand the situation you¡¯re in?¡± Since she¡¯d asked me a question, I had an opportunity to shape my reply. From the way her pupils were dilating, I knew that a little push would be all I needed to execute the next step. ¡°I¡¯m looking at a beautiful Felin woman. You know, I don¡¯t really understand why you had to take this measure, you could have just seduced me you know? I¡¯m sure that if you¡¯d just given me the slightest taste, I¡¯d have happily done whatever you asked.¡± As I spoke, I briefly increased the density of pheromones surrounding her. She swallowed. ¡°You really find me attractive? I thought elves usually looked down on the other races?¡± ¡°Exquisite.¡± I replied. I was being honest this time. Keiko had a blend of exotic features that really did make her quite appealing. ¡°As far as racial prejudice is concerned...technically I¡¯m not a full elf anyway. I doubt I¡¯m much older than you are.¡± Again, I pulsed the pheromones, but this time I increased the density further. Keiko was obvious agitated at this point. Her pupils were wide, and her breathing had gone slightly husky. She couldn¡¯t seem to keep her eyes off me as she murmured. ¡°I suppose it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a little fun.¡± It seemed unconscious, as though her thoughts were leaking. A moment later she asked. ¡°If I agree to have sex with you, will you cooperate?¡± ¡°I¡¯d do quite a bit to have my cum inside you.¡± True, though not quite what she asked. Again I increased the concentration of pheromones surrounding her. To my eyes her body was surrounded by a deep pink fog. ¡°Hah, fuck.¡± She exhaled. ¡°You know what, screw it, I¡¯m horny as hell right now. I give you permission to move and speak, but you may not attempt to run or fight.¡± The instant I was given permission to move, I stepped forward and embraced her. Almost frantically, my mouth found hers and I forced my tongue inside. While I was turned on, my I knew that contact with my bodily fluids would continue to erode her sense of reason. I ran my hands down her back, the back up under her cuisse to cup her buttocks. As I squeezed, she moaned into my mouth, twining her tongue around my own. After a minute we parted, slightly breathless. As I stared into her eyes, I tried to use a technique I¡¯d only used once before. Exhaling a light mist of mana, I bound it to some of the pink mist. As she inhaled the mixture, I spoke, maintaining eye contact. ¡°You¡¯re feeling relaxed, at ease, trusting. You want to bare yourself to me, to join yourself with me, to feel my cum flood inside you.¡± I felt my mana drain slightly, and from the glazed look in her eyes, it seemed to have worked. I wanted her to remove the collar, but suspected if I told her to do anything to much against her will, she¡¯d snap out of it. Instead, I helped her loosen her lower armor. From her panting breaths and and the faint musk I could smell from her, it was obvious she was only thinking about one thing. Pressing her against a nearby tree, I loosened the lacings on my pants and freed myself. She was just as quick to slide her leggings down to her knees. I wasted no time in aligning myself, then practically slammed into her depths. Seeing her about to cry out, I covered her mouth with my hand. Two quick strokes later I felt her spasm around me and she bit into the meat of my palm. The instant she came, I felt a thread of vitality linking us and I suddenly felt more energetic than I had in days. I wasn¡¯t gentle. This wasn¡¯t making love, I wanted to exercise one of the innate abilities of an Incubus, and to do that I needed to feed on her pleasure then inject that vitality back inside her along with my semen. It was fast, rough, and the instant I came I locked eyes with her and said a single word. ¡°Submit.¡± With that word I concentrated all the mist I had previously emitted, concentrated it, then pushed it inside her. The combination of pheromones, vitality and the overwhelming pleasure she felt in that instant formed a link between my mind and hers. I couldn¡¯t read her mind, but I could sense her feelings, and due to the nature of that bond, alter them. I¡¯d done this once before on accident, and felt terrible about what I¡¯d done when I understood it. This time it was deliberate, premeditated and I intended to manipulate the control I had over her feelings to achieve my purpose. I lifted my neck, causing her eyes to be drawn to the collar there. Her mind was still in chaos, but I could tell she could sense something wrong. Seeing the collar, I could feel a thought forming and twisted it. Instead of the desire to regain control, it became a sense of utter disgust. A slight frown crossed her features and she lifted her hand to the collar. ¡°I release you from your bondage.¡± As she finished speaking, I felt the cold tendrils in my head withdraw, and the collar clicked open. A moment later, I¡¯d snapped the very same collar around Keiko¡¯s neck. I immediately issued a series of commands. ¡°You may not move. You may not speak. You may not attempt to escape my control in any way.¡± She still seemed a little dazed from the post coital bliss, but her eyes rapidly cleared as she looked at me in horror. Before I did anything else, I pulled my pants back up and refastened the laces. After I had, I could sense her feelings being torn between the natural submission of a Thrall to their master, and the confusion, shock and horror she felt at realizing she¡¯d been collared in turn. With a brief moment of concentration I eased the shock and fear before I spoke. ¡°Let me make one thing clear first. When I said I found you attractive I wasn¡¯t lying. The second thing you should know is while I¡¯m part Elf, I¡¯m also part Incubus. I used a racial ability to establish a Thrall bond to you. You should be able to sense I¡¯m telling you the truth. If I die, or you spend more than a week without having intercourse with me, that same bond will kill you. First however, it will turn you into mindless whore that can¡¯t think about anything except trying to fulfill your need for sex. Since the only thing that will relieve that is me, you¡¯ll likely lose your mind while spreading your legs for any and everything you can. You may nod if you understand.¡± Keiko nodded, and I could feel the shock she felt warring with an impression of absolute certainty that my words were true. As she did, I took off my pack and rummaged inside for a moment. Finding the orange potion I¡¯d made earlier in the day I drank it down, shuddering slightly at the horrid taste. I was facing the consequences of forming a Thrall bond after an extended period without feeding. My instincts were screaming at me to continue fucking Keiko until she was a twitching wreck, and the slight vitality I¡¯d absorbed had been spent establishing the bond. Much as I¡¯d like to, I didn¡¯t have time to indulge myself. It had been nearly twenty minutes already, and I figured Effram and Bob were likely starting to get impatient. A minute or so later, a sort of coolness washed over me. I wasn¡¯t aroused anymore, nor was I angry, nervous or worried. My mind felt remarkably clear in that moment and I mentally blessed Myra for teaching me this recipe. Looking over at the still partially undressed Kieko, I spoke. ¡°You may move to the extent of redressing and putting your armor back on. After that, stay still.¡± I waited until she finished before speaking again. ¡°You may not speak a lie or misleading statement. Tell me about Effram, Bob and any other allies you have in the context of the events that occurred. If something is time sensitive or important, you must say that first.¡± Keiko opened her mouth and began. **END EXPLICIT CONTENT**
--Keiko-- ¡°About time Keiko, what took so long?¡± Effram asked, looking at the collared mage beside her. Keiko laughed. ¡°I actually did have to take a shit you know? I did that first before...explaining the new rules to Mark here.¡± Bob laughed. ¡°So you made him put up with your shit before collaring him? Poor bastard, told him he was doomed.¡± ¡°Alright, we¡¯ve wasted enough time here.¡± Effram clapped his hands and spoke. ¡°Nathan and Dillon are done. You won¡¯t believe our luck. This guy¡¯s niece led the trainee group to a few Acid-Toads, so it should look like a training accident. Don¡¯t give me that look Mark, your niece and that bitch Jackie are fine. Well, they¡¯re wearing collars, but fine other than that. As long as you cooperate, I won¡¯t let anything too terrible happen to Tayla. Of course, if you show anything less than your best¡­¡± Effram let out a smirk. ¡°A few more scars won¡¯t harm her appearance too much, and Bob here¡¯s always liked little girls so you can imagine the consequences. Now let¡¯s go.¡± As the group set out, Keiko gave Mark a quick glance. Aside from the flash of worry and anger he displayed earlier, his expression had been almost perfectly still ever since he drank that odd orange potion. It was a little strange, and the way he¡¯d coldly issued her instructions still gave her a chill. There had been no trace of the naive elf she¡¯d been monitoring for the last several days. He¡¯d listened to everything she said about Effram, Bob, Nathan and Dillon without even a slight twitch in expression. She even suspected that the emotion he¡¯d displayed earlier was an act. Well, maybe not the anger. Ever since he¡¯d...made her into his Thrall there was a tiny corner of her mind that reflected the bond. She didn¡¯t even have to look to sense his exact location, and whenever she looked at him she felt a disturbing urge to prostrate herself in front of him. What was worse was the creeping feeling that it was only right for her to submit to his demands. Another aspect of the link between them was a vague sense of his emotional state, and even though it was muted, she could sense an incredible amount of rage buried just beneath the surface. There was a myth about Greater Dragons. A Greater Dragon were viewed as wise, benevolent creatures. Ordinarily they would be friendly and difficult to anger, but there was supposedly a single scale on their throat that grew in the opposite direction. This was called their ¡®reverse scale¡¯ and if any dared touch it, they would invoke all the fury the dragon could muster. By capturing his niece, Keiko suspected that they had touched this dragon¡¯s reverse scale. At first, she hadn¡¯t been too concerned about the damage Mark could inflict. Her investigations had uncovered that though he was a mage, he lacked any real offensive power. That began to change when she ordered him to describe his spells. It wasn¡¯t actually the spells themselves that were impressive, but when he started expounding on their potential combinations and ability to enhance the actions of others she realized just how potent illusions could be. Worse, apparently he¡¯d been lying about the effectiveness of his [Mind Blast] spell. She wasn¡¯t a mage, and had never heard of the spell before, but Effram had assured her it was a simple stun. From what Mark said, merely stunning an enemy was the least it would do. Apparently unless the target was a mage, or had an extremely strong mind it was practically an instant kill spell. As Keiko mentally reviewed her orders, she unconsciously touched her neck. The collar was still there, but apparently neither Effram or Bob could see it. On the other hand, she knew full well that the collar on Mark¡¯s neck was just an illusion. Seeing a moment when Effram wasn¡¯t paying attention, she slipped a hand into his pack and fished out the remaining [Collar of Enslavement] inside it. They weren¡¯t cheap, and the group had only managed to get four of them. Nathan and Dillon had each been given one for their part of the plan, while she¡¯d been given the one to use on Mark. It wasn¡¯t the first time they¡¯d enslaved a naive adventurer, and while getting caught was a risk, the money was good. They¡¯d been planning on leaving this little shithole of a village for days now anyway, but Effram got it in his head to teach the Felin instructor at the local guild a lesson. Unlike most people, his [Necklace of Affinity] didn¡¯t seem to have much of an effect on the woman. Since their funds were running low anyway, the group had agreed to fall back on their old standby. They¡¯d originally planned to capture Jackie and maybe a couple of the trainee adventurers. That is, until she¡¯d had the bright idea that an elven mage should fetch golds instead of silvers. She¡¯d come up with the plan and they¡¯d just been waiting for the right opportunity. Unfortunately it all backfired in the worst possible way. At this point, she was just hoping to get out of this alive. An hour or so later, they met up with the others. Dillon and Nathen were standing a little ways off the road, nestled in behind a cluster of Jayleaf bushes. Behind them, a petite elf girl was sitting on the ground next to a partially-disrobed Felin woman. It was obvious the two had been amusing themselves while they waited. ¡°Hey boss, looks like everything went smooth on your end.¡± Dillon called out. ¡°Aw, you guys started without me?¡± Effram joked. A moment later, everything turned into chaos. Nathan had a mere moment to gape as Keiko vanished in a puff of black mist, appearing behind Dillon. With a quick jerk, a bloody gash opened his throat and blood sprayed out to cover the Vulpa druid. He didn¡¯t fare much better as an instant later a pair of throwing knives thunked into his throat and left eye. Even before Nathan fell to the ground there was a faint click, and a cold voice spoke. ¡°You may not move. Fus Ro Dah-Et Kroh Sa!¡± Abruptly Bob started screaming, then collapsed, rolling on the ground. ¡°Oh gods it¡¯s burning! Get it off, get it off! Dillon, Why!?¡± A mere moment or two later the screams faded to silence. There was a brief stunned silence as the two enslaved girls stared at their captors. A moment later, Effram started shouting. ¡°What the fuck! What the fuck is happening!? Keiko you traitor! Get this thing off me now dammit!¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that won¡¯t be happening. Sit. Remain silent.¡± The only remaining male spoke. With a thump Effram sat on the floor, boggled eyed at the complete reverse in the situation.
--Marcus-- I looked around, satisfied at how it had all played out. It was the first time I¡¯d used [Mind Blast] on a human, so I¡¯d pumped a truly prodigious amount of mana in the spell. Since I knew that that the lethal effects of the spell depended on how much the target belived in their own demise, I used an illusion of Dillon turning on him and hitting him with blast after blast of [Firebolt]. I¡¯d planned a contingency, but it turned out unnecessary. After he¡¯d collapsed, a wave a pain crashed over my temples and it took me a moment to brace myself. When I had, I¡¯d ordered Effram to sit down and shut up. The first thing I did was look at Keiko. ¡°Tell me how remove the slave collars.¡± She hesitated for a moment. ¡°Usually the person who put them on would have to say the words ¡®I release you from your bondage¡¯ while touching the collar. Since the one who did is dead, you¡¯ll have to see a mage who understands enchantments.¡± I sighed. ¡°Since their ¡®master¡¯ is dead, what happens now?¡± ¡°The first person who touches their collars would be linked as their new owner.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I nodded. I looked at Tayla and Jackie. ¡°Are you two...ok?¡± Seeing Tayla rapidly blinking at me without replying, I surmised they were still under the effects of an order. I sighed and walked forwards, stepping over the body of a robed Human male as I did. I touched her collar and felt a strange tingle of mana. Figuring it was the ownership transferal, I spoke. ¡°You are free to act in whatever fashion you desire.¡± ¡°Brother!¡± She jumped up, giving a quick, teary hug before bending over Jackie. ¡°Brother?¡± Keiko muttered. ¡°You can move and talk now.¡± Tayla said after touching her collar. After a moment she said, ¡°Hey, nothing¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be someone effected by a slavery enchantment. Mark has to do it.¡± Keiko explained. I sighed and moved over to the mostly nakedwoman. After repeating the same thing I said to Tayla, Jackie practically threw on her clothing, then grabbed the dagger stuck in the fox-man eye. Yanking it out, she stalked over to Effram. Seeing what was about to happen, I interjected. ¡°Wait!¡± She turned to me and scowled. ¡°Why!? It¡¯s this bastard¡¯s fault that my students, why the fuck should I wait? Do you have any idea what those fuckers even did!?¡± If looks were knives, Nathan and Dillon would have been flayed. "Right after we''d killed the first two Acid-Toads they betrayed us. The fucking Vulpa bound Fiona with a [Vine Wrap] sothe last one could spit a glob of acid in her face. When she started screaming we all ran over only to havethat piece of crap Dillon hit Argus in the back of the head with a [Firebolt]. While we were still trying to figure out what was going on, the rest of us were snared with an [Entangle]. They dragged me and Tayla away, slapped collars on us, then laughed while the toad killed Tannin. All we could do was watch!" Her eye narrowed. "You want to know what happened next? After we got here they made your niece watch while they raped me and bragged about how this asshole" She jerked her head towards Effram, "was going enslaveyour sorry ass and use her to keep you in line. Now you tell me why I shouldn''t end this miserable fuck right here?" If it weren''t for the influence of the [Stillmind] potion, I''m sure I would have been feelingsomethingat her tirade. As it was, I simply felt coldly analytical. I''d just orded the death of two men, enslaved one and killed another. Logically I should be feeling stunned, sicked or shocked. I''d never killed before, never seen death up close, but all that was in my mind were the objectives I''d set for myself. ¡°Listen, you aren¡¯t the first person this group has done this to." I replied. "Shouldn¡¯t we take him to the Guild and question him first?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you torture or kill him later, but he might have some useful information. Those two are dead already, and the remaining ones are my slaves. Keiko said Effram had a backer. I''d rather cut off trouble at the root than end up in this situation again.¡± Jackie visibly took a deep break. The disheveled Felin nodded sharply and spoke. ¡°You¡¯re right. We should report this to the guild.¡± After a moment she frowned. ¡°Wait, you said Keiko''s your slave, but you''re wearing the collar, how...?" ¡°Ah, right.¡± I broke the illusion on both me and Keiko. As the collars apparently switched positions, a speculative look crossed her face, and Effram¡¯s eyes widened in shock. ¡°I got lucky. Keiko did collar me, but fortunately one of my skills let me trick her into taking it off. I simply returned the favor. That reminds me, wait a moment.¡± ¡°Which one¡¯s Nathan?¡± I asked Keiko. She pointed at the Vulpa male and I spent some time rummaging around until I located a small book. I opened it and nodded, then repeated the process with Effram¡¯s belongings. At the same time, I took a small pendant from around his neck. Almost instantly, the feeling that ¡°maybe he¡¯s not really the bad guy here¡± vanished. Interesting, think I¡¯ll hang onto this. Even when I knew I should hate him, I still had a vaguely friendly impression towards the man. The effect was subtle, but undeniably effective. It took me a minute to find the other book I was looking for, but when I saw the same writing in both I smiled grimly. ¡°Here. Should serve as evidence of a sort.¡± I handed the books over to Jackie and as she started reading, she made an angry hiss. ¡°Bastards.¡± She snapped the book shut. ¡°You''re right. Much as I want to kill this fucker now, the Guild Master definately needs to see this. Let me get my gear together.¡± Tayla was unsually quite, but I wan''t surprised considering what she''d just been through. As Jackie started fitting her armor back on, she gave me a glance. "You might as well loot the bodies. They won''t be needing their stuff anymore, and there''s no sense letting it go to waste." I nodded and started going through their packs and pockets. Considering they''d since voided their bowels and bladder it wasn''t a pleasant experience. Tayla gagged, and I heard her run off to vomit.As Jackie, Tayla and I led ourtwo back captives into town, they both wore distinctly defeated expressions. I''d tried to speakto Tayla in the beginning, but she didn''t want to talk. Now that the [Stillmind Potion] was starting to wear off, I had my owns issues to deal with. For one thing, the fact that I had directly or indirectly been responsible for three people''s deaths was coiling through my thoughts. That, however was superseded by the side-effects of my earlier actions with Keiko. Using my racial abilities came with a price, and my body was demanding I make use of my new thrall. In a way it was a blessing, fighting those urges were helping me avoid thinking about what I''d done. It took us about an hour to reach the gates, and considering I''d long-since hidden the collars with [Disguise] magic, no one looked at us twice. After we reached the guild, it didn¡¯t take long before Jackie, George and another man I¡¯d never seen before were seated together in a room. As an instructor, Jackie apparently had enough pull to call on the Guildmaster with relative ease. After explaining the situation,George removed Jackie and Tayla¡¯s collars while agrey-pelted Lupine male read through the book. This, apparently was the Guild Master, and his eyelid visibly twitched as he read. The look he gave Effram was anything but friendly, and I suspected things weren''t going to go well for the man. With a sigh he shut the bookand looked up at me. ¡°Well, this is a hell of mess. I''d say thank you for bringing it to my attention, and spend some time debriefing you, but I need to act quickly before certain people can slink away." Turning to George, he spoke. "George, I¡¯ll need you to get Dorcett, Janus, Helen and Erah, we¡¯ve got some housecleaning to do. Jackie...you take a rest, if you¡¯re up to it tomorrow you¡¯re welcome to help out. Mark was it? Come back here around noon tomorrow. I¡¯ll want to talk to you some more. As for these two...Mark, would you pass me their ownership? I need to be able to question them.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I interjected. ¡°I¡¯d like to exercise my legal right with the woman. She tried, and briefly succeeded in wrongfully enslaving me. If it weren¡¯t for one of my skills and a bit of luck, I¡¯d still be a slave. If I recall correctly, the Brunhilde Dukedom¡¯s legal charter states that I can claim her as property in recompense.¡± The large Lupin man blinked then tilted his head for a moment in thought. ¡°True enough. I can remand her to your custody then. Effram''s the one I really need anyway." I nodded. "That''s fine. What do I need to do?" George was the one to answer this time. "It''s simple enough. Just touch the collar and say ''I revoke my ownership''." I did so, and the Gray-furred Lupin, whose name I still hadn''t gotten touch the collar, then nodded at me. "Go on now, and come see me tomorrow." As I stood and left them room, Tayla did as well.Keiko followed. The series of orders I¡¯d initially gave her were still in effect, so I wasn¡¯t particularly worried about her at the moment. I knew the Thrall-Bond was slowly affecting her mind, and I''d given her a complicated series of orders that should cover everything else. Even if the Guild Master insisted on keeping and questioning her, I was confident she wouldn''t have been able to reveal anything I didn''t want her to. As we left the building, Tayla gave me a puzzled look. I knew what she wanted to asked, but this wasn¡¯t the place to explain. ¡°Thrall bond.¡± I simply stated. Tayla¡¯s eyes widened in realization. ¡°That¡¯s how you got out?¡± She sounded a little incredulous, then burst out laughing. ¡°Oh gods, you really screwed her, didn¡¯t you?¡± I just snorted. ¡°Come on, tell me the details! I wanna know how it went down. Wait, this isn¡¯t the way to our inn.¡± It was good to see her liven up again, even if it was clear she was forcing it. Unfortunately, I had other urgent matters on my mind. ¡°I know, we¡¯re staying someplace decent tonight.¡± By this point, Myra¡¯s potion had worn off and I was doing my damndest to restrain myself, one of the reasons I¡¯d made sure to claim Keiko. I turned down the main street and pushed open the door to one of the two better inns in town, The Silver Moon Inn. Unlike where we¡¯d been staying, the person waiting at the counter was clean, neat and welcoming. ¡°Do you have two rooms available? And how much for a bath?¡± ¡°Yes sir, single rooms are 4 silvers a night, doubles are 6. The bath is available from dawn until dusk and costs 10 coppers per person. How long will you be staying?¡± ¡°Better make it two nights. One single, one double.¡± ¡°Excellent. That will be 4 medium silvers or 20 small silvers.¡± I set down my pack for a moment to fish some money out of my purse. It had swelled significantly after looting the two mages as well as taking Keiko and Effram¡¯s money. Surprisingly, to me at least, Jackie was the one to suggest the idea. After counting out twenty silvers the man handed over a pair of keys, instructing me which rooms were ours. As we went up the stairs I turned to Tayla. ¡°We¡¯ll talk tomorrow. When I turned Keiko, I took a potion to restrain myself and it¡¯s been wearing off. I need to take care of that now.¡± Tayla stared at me for a moment, then turned beet red. ¡°Oh, okay. Um, have fun then.¡± Handing her the room-key to the double, I grabbed Keiko and practically dragged her into the other room. Several hours later I was thoroughly satisfied and the Half-Felin woman was sprawled out on the bed; naked, unconscious, covered in assorted fluid and faintly twitching.
As Mark slowly fell asleep, gray mists covered his field of vision. In a dreamlike fashion he stood up in the field of mists and looked around. A minute later he called out. ¡°You there Navia?¡± *Pli~ing* A chiming sound occurred as a winged ball of light popped up in front of Mark. ¡°That was fast! So, you had an exciting day." "Yeah," Mark replied. "Definitely a bit of a trip." The ball of light strobed rainbow hues for a moment and a brief fanfare played. "Congratulations! You''ve earned an achievement!"
Notice: Player Mark was enslaved by Player Keiko. Player Kieko was enthralled by Player Mark. Player Mark was freed from Player Keiko''s control. Player Kieko was enslaved by Player Mark. Achievement Unlocked:I''m Made of Rubber, You''re Made of Glue. This Achievement grants the player +2 Wisdom and +2 Luck. Adds a random chance that spells and abilties targeted at you by another player backfire instead.
Mark stared at the window for a long moment before bursting out into laugher. "Holy shit! That was another player? God, she''s going to be pissed! " Navia giggled. "Diswas so amused he insisted we make an achievement for it." "Dis? That''s the God of Chaos right? That seems...remarkably appropriate. Tell him I said thanks." "Sure~He says you''re welcome." I was taken aback by the instant reply, at least until I remembered what I was dealing with. "Anyways, I''ve got a question. So what happens with Keiko''s character? I mean is there some way she can re-roll or something, or is she stuck being an enslaved thrall?" "Technically she can choose to abandon her character." Navia replied. "There''s a fairly significant penalty for it though." "What happens to Keiko if her playerabandons the character?" Mark asked. "Essentially it just gets taken over by aPlayer-Companion AI. They might not be Turing-Grade, but they''d be classified around Grade III. From your perspective, nothing much would change." Markblinked. "Seriously? Grade III AIs are considered to have near-human levels of sentience. RFO''s got that kind of budget?" "Anyway, you''ve got a few more things in queue." Navia said, completely ignoring hisquestion.
Recipes Learned: Stillmind Potion: This potion suppresses the drinker''s emotions and desires. While under the effects of a Stillmind Potion, the Focus stat is boosted by 30%. Duration: 2-4 hours, depending on the quality of ingredients. Side Effects: If consumed in excess it can lead to loss of libido, addiction, or mental instability. Moonbane Potion:This potion prevents pregnancy and reduces menstrual symptoms ifor most humanoid races. Duration: 5-7 days depending on quality of ingedients. Side Effects: If consumed while pregnant, may result in miscarrige or birth defects.
After I dismissed that window, another appeared.
Unique Item Obtained:Amulet of Affinity. Amulet of Affinity: When worn, this amulet causes those nearby to view the wearer in a more positive light, regardless of prior knowledge.
"Wait? Shouldn''t unique items be extremely rare? How the hell did Effram have one?" "Who knows?" Navia said in a nonchalant tone. From the tone of voice Mark could tell she wasn''t going to answerhis question. "In any case, since your character will be unconscious for another 3 hours, did you want to set some objectives before logging out? Or did you just want to sleep in-game?" "Hmm, how long have I been in?" Mark asked. "4 hours, give or take a few minutes." "Actually, I wanted to ask a couple of questions." "Sure." Came the bright response. "What did you want to know?" "Well let''s see, first... Session 6: Gaining an Affinity --Tayla, Halvine-- As Tayla listened to the noises coming from the room adjacent to her own, she bit her lip and covered her head with a pillow. Idiot. She thought to herself. I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s having sex with her. If she was being honest with herself, Tayla was actually feeling a little jealous. She¡¯d long suspected it, but her occasional visits to Halvine had given her a more objective point of view. Her brother was ridiculously attractive. Growing up with him, she¡¯d always enjoyed seeing him, but when she was exposed to what most other men looked like, she suddenly realized that he was far more attractive than the average male. Then there was the fact that given his half-blood nature, he seemed to constantly emit an...aura that women seemed positively attracted towards. Something that had been made apparent by the way women seemed to blush and fidget if he gave them a simple smile. While he didn¡¯t seem to notice, she did. It didn¡¯t help that Terra had been quite frank about how much she enjoyed being his ¡°food¡±. She¡¯d shared more than one story with her, and she¡¯d walked in on them enough times to know Terra wasn¡¯t exaggerating. If it weren¡¯t for what she¡¯d seen earlier in the day, she¡¯d probably be playing with herself, imagining what it would be like if she was the one making those gasps and moans. Her mother wasn¡¯t oblivious to her infatuation, and had repeatedly told her it was wrong, immoral and otherwise bad judgement to fall for her own brother, but she couldn¡¯t help it. For nearly a decade-and-a-half, Mark had been her only exposure to the opposite sex. Hells, the only person other than their mother she¡¯d known. Even if her body had slowed its development, it didn¡¯t mean her mind had. Unfortunately, she had witnessed the events of earlier in the day and couldn¡¯t help but recall them. It might be heartless, but seeing the deaths of the other trainees hadn¡¯t phased her much. More than anything, she¡¯d been angry to have been rendered helpless by a single spell. The whole reason she¡¯d decided to spend a few days learning under Jackie was to improve her own abilities. If she were stronger, she¡¯d be able to protect her brother, and maybe he wouldn¡¯t worry so much about her. She¡¯d spent days learning scout skills for that very reason, to be the on the frontline, gathering information so Mark could come up with the best possible plans. She wasn¡¯t a melee fighter, she felt that instinctively. At the same time, she didn¡¯t feel that connection with nature that made for a good ranger. The rogue skills that Terra had taught her seemed natural, but...lacking in some fashion. While she could use a knife, it wasn¡¯t a good fit. The bow, on the other hand, called to her. She¡¯d always had exceptional eyesight and observation skills, and her sense for danger had generally served her well. When Jackie had described the role of a scout, something just...clicked. If neither she nor Mark were fit to fight up close, the only way to combat that was with better information. If she could spot the enemy before they were aware, the combination of her brother¡¯s strategic mind and her tactical prowess would let them have a nearly unmatched advantage. Mark had always been better at seeing the big picture, at making long-term plans and sticking to them. If he hadn¡¯t he wouldn¡¯t be the mage he was today. His repertoire of spells was fairly small, but he insisted on mastering them to a degree that seemed almost obsessive. Tayla had had a chance to get a better understanding of mages and their general degree of proficiency while under Jackie¡¯s tutelage. Even when there wasn¡¯t an active training session underway, she¡¯d spent hours talking with the Felin woman. The average mage learned a chant and could execute it in a matter of 10 or so seconds. Exceptional mages would go further in their understanding, able to shorten their chant and cast the same spell in a third of the time. It took a master, who completely comprehended their magic to be able to omit a chant entirely. With that came a degree of versatility that was unmatched. If the enemy wasn¡¯t a mage, they wouldn¡¯t even realize a spell was being cast. To this day, the only spell Tayla knew her brother to need a chant for was his [Mind Blast] spell. Considering that spell could outright kill an enemy in seconds, even she would have been somewhat afraid of her brother if he could cast it silently. No, what bothered her the most was the fact that not only she¡¯d been captured, but that it had been so damn easy. She should have been able to do something, to lauch a single arrow, to run away; anything would have been better than the helplessness she¡¯d felt at being caught, then enslaved. She¡¯d had to simply sit there and watch as Nathan and Dillon violated Jackie, taunting her all the while. She couldn¡¯t figure out who was worse. Dillon had used his fire magic to torture her, then heal her with potions, while Nathan had used his nature magic to summon a vine that burrowed into her anus, only to emerge from her mouth while he fucked her. It was a perversion of everything she¡¯d witnessed before. Even if Mark had performed any number of obscene acts with Terra, she obviously enjoyed the entire process. While Tayla couldn¡¯t quite why Terra had been so content with those acts, her expression and later fireside talks had revealed that she was a willing participant in them. Jackie, obviously hadn¡¯t been. She cried, screamed and practically begged for the men to stop, but they kept going; feeding her health and stamina tonics simply to prolong their sick pleasures. Tayla had been horrified, but forced to watch the entire ordeal. All she could think about what if had been her, and they had promised that if her brother wasn¡¯t cooperative, she¡¯d experience far worse. The moans from the other side of the wall weren¡¯t helping matters. She was torn between fantasizing it was her, to remembering the events earlier in the day. When it finally grew quiet, Tayla breathed a sigh of relief, then slowly drifted off to sleep.
--Keiko--
Notice: Player Mark was enslaved by Player Keiko. Player Kieko was enthralled by Player Mark. Player Mark was freed from Player Keiko''s control. Player Kieko was enslaved by Player Mark. Achievement Unlocked: Owned! This Achievement grants the player -1 Wisdom and -3 Luck. Enslavement and Mind Control effects are harder to resist, and have a greater chance of success.
Title Gained: Slave Slave of Marcus Allbright: Most people who see your collar will immediately realize you are the property of another person. Title Gained: Thrall Thrall of Marcus Allbright: You have been bound to the service of the Half-Incubus, Marcus. Information: Incubic Thralls possess many similarities to Vampiric Thralls. Both gain a near-instinctive loyalty to their masters, and neither can long survive their master¡¯s demise. If a thrall is not fed upon once per week various negative statuses will be applied. After one month of neglect, the thrall will expire. Thralls gain a minor empathic sense of their master¡¯s emotional state and a sense of their location. To better serve and protect their master, thralls gain a certain amount of power from their bond.
Ability Granted: Empathic Bond. Allows the player to have an general mental impression of the emotional state of the target of the bond. Ability Granted: Locate Master. Allows the player to know the general direction and distance of their master.
Status Affliction: Incubic Thrall. You are now permanently addicted to the bodily secretions of Incubi. Without regular exposure to the saliva or semen of an Incubus, your libido will continually increase. Prolonged withdrawal will lead to mental disorders, weakness, muscle spasms, and eventual death. You are subject to psychological manipulation from Player "Marcus Allbright". Status Infliction: Seal of Command. You are unable to resist the commands of the one who emplaced the "Seal of Command". These commands are literal and must be of a physical nature.
Bonus Stats Gained: +2 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +2 Focus
Notice: ¡°Seal of Command¡± and ¡°Incubic Thrall¡± have synergistic effects. Their mutual reinforcement will greatly reduce the ability of the character ¡°Kekio Onitawa¡± to resist their effects.
Notice: Due your association with an individual who has been proven to have committed numerous crimes, the Adventurer¡¯s Guild may place a bounty request on you. Bounty is superseded due to becoming property of the individual responsible for capturing the criminal ¡°Effram Grayclaw¡±.
Keiko stared at the wave of message windows and notifications in dismay. After...falling asleep, she¡¯d woken in the familiar chaotic landscape of her patron Deity, Dis. Before she would even process the complete disaster her last session had been, she¡¯d been greeted by window after window telling her exactly how screwed she was. ¡°What the ever-holy crap is this!? Dis! I know you¡¯re there! I want to talk to you!¡± She shouted. Keiko jumped as an eight-winged, anthropomorphic set of headphones materialized in front of her. ¡°And that!¡± She pointed at him, ¡°That¡¯s not even a thing! What sort of Deity takes the appearance of some kind of seraphic, antique audio device? And why pink!?¡± Keiko knew her complaint was illogical. She¡¯d seen Dis appear as everything from a piece of bubbling cheese to a giant nail. She just felt the need to yell about something, anything. When she¡¯d set her backstory as that of a minor, but rising member of an underworld criminal syndicate, she¡¯d expected to run into any number of screwed-up situations, but this? In real life she was the privileged daughter of a synth-protein industrial titan. She lived in a domed, climate-controlled estate, servants (human or robotic) to wait on her every need, and her medical nanites practically ensured she¡¯d live for at least 200 years. It was boring. Sterile, set routines. Dull conversations about politics and revenue. She was expected to have perfect manners, and socialize other wealthy scions in a manner that befitted her social status. Given her background and connections, she knew that practically every neural-interface device had their backdoors, and her family was certainly one of those with the access to them. She wanted to cut loose. To curse, slaughter, betray, maybe even get laid. Just so long as it was different and exciting. Unfortunately she knew that even in the virtual world she¡¯d be monitored, and god forbid she ever do something to sully the great ¡°Akimoto¡± name. It had come up in a conversation with Aice during a party. Aice was the son of a majority shareholder of Reality Inc., the company behind the Mind-Link series of neural-interfaced virtual reality headsets. He had mentioned that the company was putting out their next generation of hardware, and right alongside it, a whole new concept of ¡°immersive¡± gaming. The whole virtual world was created, managed and balanced by an entire cluster of Turing-Grade AIs. That was impressive enough, but what caught her attention one of the proposed game modes: Inhabitant. People who opted to play as an ¡°Inhabitant¡± would have an entire set of memories crafted, and substituted for their own while playing. You wouldn¡¯t just be playing a game, you¡¯d be a part of the world. The concept was fascinating, but what really caught her attention was the next part. While people who were ¡°Players¡± could do the usual gamut of activities from streaming their feed to offering ride-alongs, ¡°Inhabitants¡± were the opposite. There was no way to discern they were a player from within the game and all their data would be controlled and managed by the TAIs administering it. When Real Fantasy Online first entered Beta, she¡¯d convinced her father to get her a slot on the namelist. There were other devices, other virtual worlds, but only RFO offered that one thing she craved. Complete, anonymous freedom. Beta-testers and Early Access players were defaulted to the ¡°Inhabitant¡± setting, and even if her family wanted to, there was no way they could subvert a group of TAIs to monitor her activities within the game. She¡¯d been playing for about four months now, and excluding the 18 years worth of memories she¡¯d ¡°acquired¡± from her character, she¡¯d spent nearly a year in-game. She vividly remembered her training under an old assassin, her first contract, her first kill. She¡¯d worked with thieves, murderers, rapists, and slavers, the worst of society, and loved every minute of it. Effram, Nathan and Dillon were all piece of shit scumbags, the likes of which had practically ceased to exist in the modern world. It was for that very reason she found her life in RFO so...fascinating. For the last ¡°real¡± month she¡¯d been planning a break with the group. She knew Effram had a unique artifact and she¡¯d been coveting it ever since she discovered its ability. A magical artifact that would make people naturally like and trust the wearer? Gods, the thought of the sort of crimes she could pull off with that kind of ability practically made her drool. Unfortunately, stealing the artifact and betraying the organization she worked for would have had her hunted down like a dog. When she¡¯d heard about Mark from Effram, she¡¯d come up with the perfect plan. If she could enslave a mage with illusion magic, not only would she have a way todisguise herself, but his spells would be the perfect complement to her own abilities. After spending a few days covertly monitoring him, she¡¯d pitched her plan to Effram and the rest, positing the value of a skilled elven mage on the underground slave market. Unfortunately, it was a disaster. Not only had she been somehow tricked into freeing him, she¡¯d been enslaved, enthralled, exposed and fucked senseless. Okay, that part was pretty awesome. Keiko admitted to herself. She¡¯d lost count of the orgasms after the fifth one, and while she¡¯d experienced sex in the game before, nothing could have prepared her for that experience. Keiko¡¯s train of thought was interrupted by Dis¡¯s somewhat hurt-sounding comment. ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t choose my manifestation, and what¡¯s wrong with pink anyway?¡± Keiko replied. ¡°You know that technically speaking, pink isn¡¯t a real color right? It only exists in the human brain.¡± ¡°Well, yes. "The headphones spoke. "But one could argue that all colors are simply a product of the human mind. Beside, the fact that it¡¯s imaginary only makes it more appropriate for a manifestation of Chaos. To be honest,¡± The pair of winged headphones somehow gave Keiko a conspiratorial wink. ¡°it¡¯s my favorite color.¡± Keiko shook her head. ¡°Nevermind. Anyways, what the hell is up with this!? Didn¡¯t you say that if I captured that Elf I¡¯d gain a couple of powerful assets?¡± ¡°Yes. I did, and if you¡¯d been successful, your plan to betray Effram would likely have gone off without a hitch. Sadly for you, Mark managed to turn the tables. If you had earned enough Favor, I might have intervened in some fashion. As it is, I¡¯m at a bit of a loss as to how to utilize an Agent bound to the service of another player.¡± Keiko sighed. ¡°Now what? I¡¯m stuck as a slave? Fuck that.¡± ¡°You always have the option of incarnating as another character.¡± Dis replied. ¡°And lose all the time I¡¯d invested in that character?¡± Keiko retorted. ¡°There¡¯s only a day or sountil the public release, I¡¯d have to spend months to get a character built up again. Forget it.¡± Keiko sighed. ¡°I might still be able to salvage this. If I can get Mark to fall for me, maybe I can manipulate his actions. I¡¯m going offline for a bit, I need to think. For now, Keiko should be obedient while trying to figure out a way out of the situation. She should do whatever she can to build up trust and affection, work on gaining Mark¡¯s confidence, and find out whatever secrets he has. Before I sign out though, show me my character sheet.¡± *Ding*
Name: Keiko Onitawa Race: Half-Felin
Age: 19 Sex: Female
Class: Assassin Job: Infiltrator
Title/s: Shadow Knife, Slave, Thrall
Stats:
Strength: 11 Endurance: 9>11
Vitality: 12>14 Agility: 15
Dexterity: 13 Reflexes: 18
Intelligence: 11 Wisdom: 10>9
Focus: 12>14 Attunement:0
Aura: 7 (Maxed) Charisma 12
Luck: 9>7 Lifespan: 70
Influence: [Black Hand: 17], [Adventurers Guild: -20], [Regional: 0]
Racial Traits: Natural Weapons, Natural Climber, Night Vision, Improved Senses
Special Abilities: Shadow Step
Skills, Weapon: Shadow Knife, Illusory Knife, Silent Strike, Assassinate, Cut Throat, Throw, Double Throw, Triple Throw, Quadruple Throw
Skills, General: Infuse Aura (Intermediate), Anatomy Knowledge (Basic), Poison Knowledge (Intermediate), Unarmed Combat (Intermediate), Knife Mastery (Advanced), Throwing Mastery (Advanced), Set Trap (Basic), Disarm Trap (Basic), Lockpicking (Intermediate)
Skills, Infiltrator:Feign, Silent Step, Mask Presence, Hide in Shadows
Keiko nodded to herself. Yeah, it took way too much effort to get built up this way, no way I¡¯m going to give up now. Besides, Keiko shivered, squeezing her thighs together, being fucked like that was mind-blowing. I wouldn¡¯t mind experiencing that again. Worst comes to worst I can always make a new character. I¡¯ll just have to see how this all plays out. ¡°Log-out¡± Keiko spoke, and a moment later a notification appeared.
Logging out in 3...2...1
--Mark, ???-- I climbed up a set of worn stone stairs, looking around as I reached the summit. I wasn¡¯t the first person here, a half-dozen or so of the others had gotten here first. We were all similar in appearance however, clean white-gray robes, shorn hair and anticipatory expressions on our faces. There was a single man dressed differently, wearing a purple robe and staring at the sky. Instinctively, I did the same. In the distance, a swarm of dark clouds were gathering, moving in the direction of the peak we all stood upon. As the air temperature plummeted, the purple robed man turned around and looked at the group gathered before him. His gaze flitted from person to person, indifferent, aloof, almost haughty. He didn¡¯t say a word, and none of us dared to speak. We were all here for a chance, an opportunity rarely offered, and this man was the only one who could offer it. The sky darkened, and thunder rumbled in the distance, vibrating deep in my chest. Even with this person examining us, my attention wandered, and I looked at the clouds now gathering above. They were dark, nearly black and heavy with rain yet unfallen. As I watched, a bolt of lightning arced from one cloud to another, provoking another peal of thunder. While I stared into the sky, I realized something was different. Interlaced into the dark gray-black clouds were deep purple mists, almost unnoticeable. The scent of ozone grew stronger, and I suddenly realized the purple mists had grown stronger. Lost in thought, I only vaguely noticed the purple-robed man, moving from person to person. He briefly stared into the eyes of one person after another, then shook his head and moved on. While this happened, my attention was suddenly caught by a solid sheet of purple fog, closely passing the peak of the mountain. I turned to the others, as if to ask if they saw it, but no one seemed to pay attention to it. Perhaps they¡¯ve seen this before? I thought to myself. Suddenly, the man was in front of me, looking at me with an intense expression. I didn¡¯t have time to react before his hands reached out to either side of my head, grasping it firmly before staring into my eyes. While I was trying to notice what color his were, he spoke. ¡°I see lightning in your eyes!¡± The moment he spoke, a buzzing sound filled my head, and my view faded to gray. As if repeating the scene from before, I saw clouds gathering, growing dark and condensing. A single bolt of blue-violet cracked down from above and it seemed as if it were in slow motion. Every nuance, every detail was clear in my mind. It was as if I were the lightning, and the lightning was me. A peal of thunder. The lightning struck again, this time a rippling wave, branching dozens of times. As the vision faded a vague sense of excitement, verging on desperation took hold of me. I didn¡¯t want it to end, I didn¡¯t want to let go of that lightning. I reached out towards the storm clouds above in some fashion, and pulled. A moment passed, a sense of loss began to take me. In that moment the same bolt of lightning I¡¯d first witness struck, slamming towards the earth, its thunder echoing. The man smiled at me, moving on to another person, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered to notice. Not wanting to lose the feeling, I reached again, and a wave of branching bolts swept through the clouds. Before I could realize it, the clouds and thunder had begun to disperse, and I was left alone on the peak with one or two others, the purple-robed man looking at me proudly. Even so, I hardly payed attention, a tiny spark arcing between a pair of fingers. While the storm was gone, I knew I had gained what I sought.
You have gained the Lightning Affinity. Affinity rating: Excellent. You may now cultivate the power of the heavens.
The vision faded and I slowly regained consciousness. A dream? I thought to myself as I sat up in bed. It was rare that a dream was so vivid, and even now I could remember every detail, almost as if it were something I¡¯d experienced personally. That¡¯s right, I never did get my affinities checked, I wonder if I actually do have an affinity for lightning. Even if it had just been a dream, something about it had affected me on a profound level. My musings however, were interrupted by the by the sensation under my palm. Warm, squishy...I looked over. Ah, right. There was a Half-Felin girl laying in the bed beside me, naked, and looking somewhat worse for wear. When I sat up, I had inadvertently placed a hand on her breast to support my position. Now that there was a bit of daylight, I could see her better than last night. There were a handful of faint scars on her abdomen, thin white lines that marred her otherwise unblemished dark-colored skin. I squeezed her breast again, somewhat academically. Hmm, bigger than Terra¡¯s were. I noted. At the squeeze, Keiko made a noise then opened her eyes. I was greeted by a somewhat uncomprehending look for a moment before she spontaneously jumped out of bed and backwards, landing on all fours. Seeing her her tail standing straight up behind her and the almost panicked expression on her face I chuckled. ¡°Oh calm down, would you?¡± ¡°Nyo! I can¡¯t take anyone more of that, that...You, you demon, monster, pervert, maniac¡­¡± ¡°Master?¡± I suggested, noting how she¡¯d suddenly acquired an odd accent to some of her words. Suddenly she slumped down, sitting on the floor. ¡°Right.¡± She said bitterly. ¡°Master.¡± I could sense the mix of emotions coming from her, mostly a sense of unwilling resignation. I rolled my eyes and got out of bed. Since I¡¯d satiated myself the night before, there was no longer the sense of overwhelming need. Now I could merely appreciate her exotic beauty without feeling an overpowering desire to push her down. Of course, it was first thing in the morning, and when she looked up again, the first thing she saw was how I was standing at attention. ¡°So what, you¡¯re going to use your ¡®property¡¯ again?¡± She asked in an acid tone. ¡°Yes.¡± I stated, then started to get dressed. ¡°Not now though. Last night was more a matter of necessity. I don¡¯t like losing control of myself like that.¡± Seeing me dress, she gave me a curious expression. ¡°Necessity?¡± Now that she was a little calmer, her earlier accent had vanished again. I nodded. ¡°Yesterday, when you put a collar on me. I was forced to use certain racial abilities. Those abilities have a price, which I forcefully suppressed with a potion. Once it wore off, I quite literally had to have sex with someone, and I wasn¡¯t exactly in a clear state of mind. I explained my race before, right?¡± Keiko nodded. ¡°You¡¯re an elf.¡± She tilted her head, puzzled, then tried again. ¡°You¡¯re an elf.¡± I smiled faintly at the evidence that one of my commands was working. I¡¯d previously instructed her that whenever she would speak, write or otherwise refer to my origin, she may not use the term ¡°half¡±, nor anything but the word ¡°elf¡±. If she wanted to speak, write or otherwise refer to me, she must use the word ¡°elf¡± in place of any other way of describing my race. Only when she was obviously speaking euphemistically was she permitted to say otherwise. It might not fool a Truthseeker or an Oathstone, but it was the best I could do. I waved my hand at her. ¡°That¡¯s fine, you can¡¯t say it, remember? Still, I¡¯d gone for nearly two weeks without feeding, and using those racial abilities just exacerbated things. I¡¯d apologize, but, well, you did try to enslave me and threatened to have my sister tortured or raped if I weren¡¯t cooperative. I¡¯ll be blunt. Yes, I will be periodically having sex with you. Quite frankly, you¡¯ll need to seek me out more often than I¡¯m required to...feed. Generally I can go for two to three weeks without ¡®feeding¡¯. You¡¯ll probably find it impossible to hold yourself back for more than a week.¡± Again I felt a wave of resignation sweep over her. If it weren¡¯t for how the bond subtly influenced her emotion, I¡¯m sure there would have been more anger, unwillingness, and hatred. In time, even that resignation would fade. I¡¯d spent a lot of time talking to Fidelus when I was younger. While most of that time was me seeking out his knowledge of magic, he had been an Incubus while he was still alive. When I had first been coming to grips with my own racial heritage, his explanations and advice had proven invaluable. Having his guidance had given me a deep understanding of the strengths, limitations, and costs of my abilities. [Eyes of Lust], my personal variant of pheromonal control was a prime example. Most Incubi passively generated a sort of aura about them that made women lose their inhibitions. Fidelus had explained is as an intangible sort of...not-quite scent, using the word pheromone to describe it. Using one sense or another, Incubi gained a degree of control over these ¡°pheromones¡±, releasing or contracting them at will. The difference with my control mechanism was an unmatched degree of precision. For comparison [Scent of Lust] would allow an Incubi to literally smell the degree to which their pheromones were emitted, but their area of influence was fixed. Where they could make an entire crowd of women lose their minds, I could target specificindividual. The price for that control was that my own libido was increased when I used it. Another thing he¡¯d explained was how the relationship between an Incubic Thrall and their master. When the bond was first formed, it was somewhat weak. Even then it had an effect of automatically suppressing negative thought and emotions towards the owner of that bond. Among other things, as the bond grew stronger, the thrall would be granted increased stamina and vitality, the ability to sense their master¡¯s location, and a near-fanatical desire to protect them. It also allowed me to sense and...tweak the emotions and desires of my thrall, something that Fidelus found fascinating. His variant of pheromonal controls hadn¡¯t given him that ability, though he could maintain several thralls at once, something I instinctively knew I couldn¡¯t manage. Honestly, I loathed the entire concept. Terra had been an accident, a result of playing around with [Eyes of Lust] while we were in the middle of intercourse. At first it didn¡¯t bother me, after all, what sort of teenage male doesn¡¯t like the idea of a cute nympho bunny-girl? The control I gained over her desires even let me tweak her to my liking. She¡¯d always been fairly dominant in our sexual encounters, preferring to maintain control of the pace. It only took about a month to turn her into a complete submissive, entirely willing to get down on all fours so I could fuck her up the ass. She¡¯d even happily service me after, wearing a dreamy expression as she cleaned me with her mouth. I wasn¡¯t sure when it hit me, when I felt there was something wrong about what I was doing. All I knew was that at one time, Terra had been proud and vaguely dissatisfied at being my ¡°food¡±. After she became my thrall, she had become completely shameless. Any request I had, no matter how degrading, was met with willing, even eager participation. I think what changed my thoughtswas imagining how I¡¯d feel if someone had done that to Tayla; turned her into theirthrall. It was worse than slavery. Slaves could at least keep their thoughts and feelings. This power subverted them, practically changed a person into someone else. This time was somewhat different though. I had a personal grievance with Keiko. I didn¡¯t intend to change her too much, at least beyond what the bond would do on its own. At the same time, I didn¡¯t have any compunctions in using it to ensure her loyalty. When I¡¯d briefly questioned her, I had realized that Keiko was an incredibly dangerous woman. Now that she was, legally, my property, I saw no reason not to make use of that. I mentally reached out to her emotions, subtly shaping them as I spoke. ¡°The fact of the matter is that while I can live without you, you cannot live without me. Honestly, I¡¯m torn on what to do with you. You¡¯re attractive, sure, but I can always find a whore or just seduce a woman off the street to take care of my needs. I also don¡¯t want to worry about the risk that you¡¯d be willing to die, as long as you took me down too. The reason you wanted my sister as leverage is pretty obvious now. While the orders a master holds to their slave are absolute, they¡¯re also very literal. Just like I escaped my collar by exploiting a loophole in your orders, I wouldn¡¯t blame you for trying to find a loophole in mine.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The Half-Felin looked up at me, a mixture of worry and curiosity on her face. ¡°So what are you going to do with me then?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make you a bargain.¡± I said, injecting a thread of hope into her consciousness. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t actively work against me, I¡¯ll make the demands I place on you as reasonable as possible. I won¡¯t go out of my way to humiliate you, sell you, or force you into a dead end. Honestly, Tayla and I could use a companion with your skills. Neither of us is particularly experienced with the outside world, so your knowledge would be a real asset.¡± Keiko eyed me doubtfully for a moment, then smirked. ¡°Yeah, you two are a bit too naive to be wandering around without a nursemaid.¡± She stood, apparently unconcerned at her nudity. ¡°I was planning on betraying Effram and the rest of those assholes anyway. Not how I was planning on this playing out but still, things could be worse I guess. So, what¡¯s the plan boss?¡± I blinked. If I couldn¡¯t sense her emotions, I never would have believed the sudden change from a moment ago. Her mood had shifted from a wary resignation to a sort of wry acceptance in a matter of moments. I hadn¡¯t even had a chance to do more than inject that tiny thread of hope into her feelings. I coughed. ¡°Well, I was thinking a bath first. We should probably clean up after last night.¡± Suddenly she looked down at herself, apparently noticing her state of undress. ¡°Nyah! My fur¡¯s messed up!¡± Or maybe not. After Keiko and myself were dressed somewhat presentably, we went next door and knocked. I figured that if I was paying for two baths, I might as well pay for three. Besides, it had been weeks since either of us had a real bath. Rags and buckets just didn¡¯t cut it, and until yesterday¡¯s windfall, I¡¯d been too miserly with the coin to move to a better inn. ¡°Who is it?¡± Came the voice from inside. ¡°The jerks that probably kept you up half the night.¡± I replied. I was long past being embarrassed at being caught in my sexual escapades. Spending 7 years in a four-room cabin will do that to you. Both Tayla and Aylssa had complained about the noises Terra used to make, and Keiko had likely been louder. I wasn¡¯t exactly restrained last night. Sure enough, the door swung open to reveal my sister¡¯s scowling face. ¡°At least you recognize it. Did you have fun?¡± She asked, somewhat sarcastically. ¡°Wait a second, your face! What¡­?¡± Obviously over the night my [Disguise] spell had lapsed, and Keiko had always believed Tayla¡¯s scars were real. ¡°Oh, right.¡± I concentrated for a moment, the spell now almost effortless after the constant practice. ¡°Nyah!¡± Came the startled exclamation. Looking back at the flustered cat-girl I ordered, ¡°Do not reveal the fact, or nature, of the disguise on Tayla to anyone without my explicit permission.¡± Returning my gaze to Tayla I continued. ¡°The catgirl and I need to clean up, you want to check out the inn¡¯s baths?¡± As soon as I said the world ¡°bath¡±, Tayla¡¯s eyes lit up and she pushed the two of usd out into the hall. As she moved past, she turned her head. ¡°You guys coming or not?¡± Fortunately, no one had rented them out this early in the morning, otherwise Tayla might have inflicted some form of violence. The sheer intensity with which she greeted the proprietor caused him to be a little nervous, or perhaps it was the twisted, half-melted side of her face. Either way, he hurried to have a slave fill the tubs. I have to admit, I was both pleased and astonished to discover the pair of large copper basins had been inscribed with runic enchantment characters. Well, guess that explains why a single bath costs as much as a meal. I thought to myself. On the other hand, when I sunk into of of the tubs, I felt the twenty coppers well spent. For the extra five coppers, I gotten a small bar of soap and a pair of rags. I suppose I could have argued that for the silvers I was spending I should have gotten the soap for free at least, but seeing Tayla¡¯s impatience curbed my urge to haggle over it. I guess having a pair of enchanted bathtubs is part of how the justify the price for the rooms. Still too expensive though. I glanced over at where Keiko and Tayla where fighting over the soap and rags. ¡°Nyahah! They¡¯re mine now!¡± ¡°You!...Actually, on second thought, you can have that one, I¡¯ll just go soak with Mark.¡± As Keiko triumphantly claimed the second copper tub, along with the soap, Tayla walked over to mine. I eyeballed her for a second, having expected her to use the other tub, along with Keiko. ¡°Mind if I join you?¡± She asked. I paused briefly before replying. ¡°Aren¡¯t we a little old to be bathing together?¡± Tayla just raised an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯d prefer I soak in a bath with the cat whose fur is matted with your cum?¡± I scratched the tip of my ear as I looked over at where Keiko was furiously scrubbing herself clean. Looking back at Tayla I coughed. ¡°Right. Um, hadn¡¯t thought of it like that. Feel free.¡± After Tayla slipped into the tub it felt a little crowded. While it wasn¡¯t like I hadn¡¯t seen her naked before it had been nearly a decade since we¡¯d laster taken a bath together. Granted, she didn¡¯t look much older than when we had been bathing together. With how slowly Elves matured, she¡¯d barely developed in the last ten years. Still, I felt a little awkward. Over the last week or so, she¡¯d brought up the subject of my condition; both how I was planning on handling it now, and what I¡¯d do while we were traveling. Over the last half-dozen years, I¡¯d discovered I could go somewhere between two to three weeks before the Incubic blood in me started to take over. Between Fidelus¡¯s explanations and my own experimentation, I learned that having intercourse wasn¡¯t strictly necessary to sate my needs. Incubi and Succubi were similar in many ways, being the male and female of a species of a demon known as Lilin. Much like Vampires, they needed to take in the vitality of others to survive. In the case of Vampires, this was done via the medium of drinking their prey¡¯s blood. They were assisted in this by possessing powerful hypnotic abilities that both allowed then to enthrall their targets, and cause them to forget they had been fed upon. This allowed them to feed in a covert fashion; preventing others from becoming aware of their presence. While Vampires propagated by having others take in their blood, Lilin took a more...traditional route. Instead of stealth and shadows, Lilin operated very much in the open. As a race, they tended to possess a remarkable amount of physical appeal, assisted by their ability to control attractive pheromones. Where a Vampire drew vitality from blood, Lilin drew it from the spirit. When a man or woman is in the height of pleasure or agony, the barrier of their spirit weakens, allowing a Lilin to tap into the vitality of their soul. As could be imagined, both methods of feeding pose a danger to their respective prey. If blood is overdrawn, a person¡¯s body collapses and they can die. On the other hand, if one¡¯s soul is overdrawn, that person¡¯s spirit can be damaged or destroyed. Having sex is actually a stabilizing process for a Lilin. By constantly feeding spiritual vitality back into their prey, a Lilin can ensure they don¡¯t cause them to lose their mind or die. In fact, Succubi are generally considered more dangerous than Incubi, as they don¡¯t possess a ready medium to transfer vitality back into their ¡°food¡±. For a Lilin, this feedback cycle isn¡¯t actually necessary, but a way to ensure their source of sustenance isn¡¯t destroyed. Careful experimentation with Terra had proven that I could stimulate her to orgasm and siphon tiny bits of her spiritual vitality without damaging her. Unfortunately, to safely feed in such a fashion would require much, much more effort. There was only a matter of seconds during a person¡¯s peak that the barrier granting access to their spirit weakened, and siphoning a safe amount of spiritual vitality during this time required immense concentration; unless you were sending spiritual vitality back at the same time. If I were starving, such concentration would be nearly impossible, which left me at an impasse. If I were traveling alone with Tayla I would have two choices: Do it the simple way by having sex with her on occasion; or else regularly bring her to orgasm when I wasn¡¯t starving so I could take constant, tiny sips of vitality. Since this vitality was something as necessary to me as bread or water, I¡¯d taken the time to explain all of this information to her. Tayla had, not particularly in a subtle fashion, indicated that she didn¡¯t mind either way, giving me a bit of a headache. I might love Tayla, but I¡¯d never been particularly attracted to her. She was beautiful, I just didn¡¯t see her in...that way. Never mind that our mother had explained it wasn¡¯t socially acceptable, it had just never really occurred to me. I wasn¡¯t an idiot though. It was obvious that Tayla was both willing and interested. When were were still kids, I was much more intimate with her, tickling, hugging, and wrestling with Tayla. After we reached ten, and I kept growing bigger, while she...didn¡¯t, that mostly stopped. It wasn¡¯t that I was stronger than her, if anything it was the opposite. By the time I was a head taller than her, it just felt wrong; something reinforced after I awakened to my Incubic heritage. Now that we were sharing a bath, I couldn¡¯t help but recall our earlier conversation, along with how I¡¯d mostly dodged how we¡¯d handle it if I needed to feed. After Tayla scowled at the Half-Felin, now completely submerged, she turned to me. ¡°So. Now that you¡¯re covered for ¡®food supplies¡¯ and we¡¯ve got a windfall of silver, what¡¯s the plan? We aren¡¯t staying here much longer right?¡± ¡°Yeah, what are you two doing in this shitty little village anyway?¡± Keiko, having emerged to hear Tayla¡¯s question, asked.¡°Elves aren¡¯t exactly fond of any kind of half-breeds, let alone ones with yourancestry. One one hand, you don¡¯t act like you¡¯ve been living with that sort of prejudice, but on the other, neither do you seem to have any of the instincts I¡¯d expect from someone living in a human kingdom.¡± While I explained, Tayla retrieved the soap and began washing herself. I didn¡¯t go into excessive detail, simply explaining that Tayla and myself had been living in the Shadewood until a monster came and destroyed our home. Keiko asked a few questions, such as why I used [Disguise] to mask Tayla¡¯s appearance and what our objectives were. After a while, the dusky cat-girl nodded. ¡°All right, so you¡¯re ignorant, but not total idiots. Flatty there probably would have attracted the sort of attention you wanted to avoid. There¡¯s some things we should probably talk about if I¡¯m stuck with the two of you though.¡± The three of us exited the bath and I led the way back to my room. Once there, Keiko perched on one of the beds cross-legged and gestured for us to have a seat on the other. I was a little bemused at how she¡¯d taken on a sort of instructional role, despite ostensibly being my property. ¡°Alright.¡± She said. ¡°First things first. Mark, you can¡¯t just be telling people you¡¯re a user of Mind magic, especially considering your..." Keiko paused, seeming to look for a term. "racial heritage. That¡¯s a great way to end up dead in a ditch or collared.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked. ¡°Look," She explained, "mind-mages are relatively rare and they tend to work for one of three sorts of people. Nobles, temples or...my sort of people. Nobles are one of the most dangerous, if they find out an unaffiliated mind mage is in their territory, they¡¯ll tend to have them assassinated. Nobles tend to use their mages to incite rebellions, spy or otherwise cause trouble in the territory of other nobles. Temples tend to use theirs either to brainwash people into being fanatics, or train them to be mind-healers. Depends on the God they serve. Any mind-mage who doesn¡¯t serve their God is considered a threat. Last is the underworld.¡± Keiko paused, grimacing slightly before she continued. ¡°The group I used to work for had a couple of mind-mages I knew about. One was responsible for putting enchantments on slave collars, and wore one herself. The other though...he was one of the higher-ups. Never got his real name, the guys just called him the Mindflayer. Supposedly he could wipe people¡¯s minds and give them new sets of memories. We needed to place a mole, brainwash someone, extract intel, or have someone make a binding oath, he did it. Lots of nasty stories. Point is, all mind-mages either are, or are part of some sort of major power. When I had you tell me all the spells you could use it was pretty obvious that you¡¯ve got fairly limited ways to defend yourself. Unless you¡¯re so powerful that others wouldn¡¯t dare make a move on you, letting people know that you can use any kind of mental magic is a fairly bad idea. Someone¡¯s bound to either off you on the chance you''re someone¡¯s pawn, or try to make you one of theirs. Mix in what might happen if someone discovers your bloodlineand you¡¯re just asking for trouble.¡± I nodded slowly. I hadn¡¯t really thought about it, but what Keiko said made sense. While it din¡¯t have the flair the Evocation did, Mind spells were all fairly insidious. With an Evoker, the worst you had to worry about was them throwing fire or lightning at you. Sure, being lit on fire sucked, but if a Mentalist was skilled enough, they could make someone set themselves on fire. At the moment, the most I could do was play with a person¡¯s state of mind, but eventually I might be able to completely rewrite a person¡¯s personality, much like this ¡°Mindflayer¡± could supposedly do. At the same time I made a mental note of how she''d already subtly worked around my order to not call me anything but an Elf. ¡°All right. That makes sense, what else?¡± I asked. Keiko looked satisfied, and though our bond I could sense she felt pleased I was listening to her. ¡°Next, you need to either get yourself some damn armor, or hire a mean-looking merc to travel with us. Some teenage pretty-boy walking around with a sexy Half-Felin slave and a little elf-girl? You walking around unarmed and unarmored makes you look like an easy mark. No offense, but you look like a pussy.¡± Tayla snorted, and Keiko and I both looked at her. ¡°You know, she¡¯s kinda right. If I didn¡¯t know you could kill Direwolves with a handful of words I wouldn¡¯t think you were any sort of a threat.¡± ¡°Speaking of, ¡°Keiko interjected. ¡°How many time can you use that black-spear thing anyway? Is it a once per fight sort of thing, or is it more like a [Firebolt]?¡± Since Keiko was already under orders not to disclose my abilities to anyone else, I wasn¡¯t worried about sharing the information, and replied honestly. ¡°Based on my mana-pool alone, I should be able to cast it about ten times before being depleted. In a real battle?¡± I paused, remembering the piercing headache I¡¯d felt when I used in yesterday. ¡°If it¡¯s a common monster it shouldn¡¯t be too much of an issue. There seems to be some kind of feedback though when I use it against something more intelligent though. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say maybe three times against a human before I wouldn¡¯t be able to think straight.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s your only real means of attack?" Keiko asked. "I¡¯ve never seen you wear a sword or even a bowbefore.¡± I sighed. ¡°Yeah. I mean, I can occasionally hit a target with a bow, but I¡¯ve never really trained with weapons before. Tayla¡¯s the only one with any skill there.¡± ¡°Great.¡± Keiko scowled. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re planning to make it as an adventurer, you either need to pick up some skills, or get some more people in the party.¡± ¡°So what sort of skills do you have anyway?¡± Tayla asked. ¡°I saw you do that sort of...poof thing, and you had a bunch of knives strapped on you the other day. Are you some kind of Rogue?¡± Keiko¡¯s tail flicked in an almost agitated fashion as she replied. ¡°Please. I am, or was, an Assassin. That ¡®poof¡¯ thing, as you called it, was an ability called [Shadow Step]. It lets me merge into the shadows and reappear from any other shadow within thirty feet. It takes a lot of energy, so I can only use it a few times before I¡¯m exhausted. As for my other skills¡­¡± Keiko let her teeth show in a feral grin. ¡°I was trained how to use a knife since I was a child. Whether by knife or by poison I specialize in silencing people, permanently. I can blend into the shadows so well you¡¯d never know I was there before it was too late. I¡¯m also good at imbuing weapons with my aura, so even armor isn¡¯t much of an issue.¡± ¡°Anything else?¡± I asked, curious. I probably would be a little unnerved at this point if she wasn¡¯t my thrall. As it was, the more capable Keiko was, the more I was pleased to have her on our side. Keiko rolled her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m decent at infiltration. I can use [Silent Steps] and [Mask Presence], and I¡¯ve practiced blending into crowds or acting like a part of one group or another. Also have a little bit of skill at picking locks and disarming traps.¡± Apparently she was a little annoyed at my lack of reaction. After that we spent some time sharing our respective skills and abilities with each other. While Effram had been a deceitful ass, he had made a good point. If a group of people were going to work with each other, knowing what the others could do was an important part of being an effective team. Keiko was actually a little impressed by Tayla, and showed some envy over her ability to use [Mark Target]. Apparently not many people could use that little trick with aura. After that I left her and Tayla to shop for the supplies we¡¯d need to travel, giving Keiko orders to obey Tayla¡¯s orders as if they were my own. While they did that, I left to visit a leatherworker to be fitted for some basic Iron-Bristle hide armor. Given the small pile of silver I¡¯d looted from Effram¡¯s group, we had enough of a surplus to afford it. Keiko had recommended I learn to use a shortsword, and since I knew nothing about weapons, left it for Tayla and her to pick out. By the time I was done being fitted, it was time to visit the Guild for my meeting with the Guildmaster. It was surprisingly busy inside, groups of people moving in and out of the guild at a steady clip. Seeing Priscilla working the information counter, I headed over to greet her. ¡°Hey Priscilla, what¡¯s going on?¡± I asked, nearing the Half-Laquine. She looked a little ragged as she replied. ¡°It¡¯s been chaos since last night. Apparently the Guildmaster got ahold of some information about a group of people running an illicit slaving operation. He and a few of the senior members ran a raid last night to capture a group posing as adventurers.¡± I coughed. Apparently the Effram and that notebook had had more information in it than I thought. ¡°Speaking of.¡± I said. ¡°He asked me to come by around noon, should I just head up or¡­?¡± Priscilla¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wait, you were the one that gave him that intel?¡± She shook her head, and her left ear flopped over. ¡°Never mind, I don¡¯t want to know. Hold on for a minute, I¡¯ll go check if he¡¯s free.¡± As she headed towards the stairs she absently straightened the ear that had flopped over. Once more, I offered my praise to the man who¡¯d made her leather pants. There was no way something that tight was anything but deliberate. A couple minutes later, she reappeared at the bottom of the stairs and gestured for me to come over. ¡°He said he¡¯s only got a few minutes, but to head right up. Oh, and could you hand me your guild ID? I need to update it.¡± I was a little puzzled but agreed anyway, fishing out the leather throng that kept the metal plaque around my neck. ¡°Thanks! When you¡¯re finished, it¡¯ll be waiting for you.¡± I nodded, and moved past her. The Guildmaster¡¯s office was at the end of the hall on the second floor, and it only took me a minute or so to reach it. When I knocked, a deep ¡°Come in¡± was the reply. I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of the large, grey-pelted Lupine man I¡¯d seen last night. He looking up from a pile of paperwork and gave me a long look. ¡°Mark, was it?¡± He asked, still eyeing me. ¡°Have a seat.¡± As I seated myself, he reached a calloused paw over and spoke again. ¡°I didn¡¯t introduce myself yesterday. I¡¯m Artoris Silverfang, Guildmaster of this branch of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. For better or worse, I was knighted sometime during my career, making me the closest thing to a noble in this neck of the woods.¡± ¡°Sir Silverfang.¡± I politely replied, shaking the proffered hand. He grimaced. ¡°Just call me Artoris, or Guildmaster if you prefer. Unlike some, I never wanted to be given a noble title. Frankly, it¡¯s usually more trouble than it¡¯s worth.¡± He smiled faintly. ¡°Except when I need to lock up a few traitors.¡± He gave me a weighing look. ¡°Tell me, have you ever heard of the ¡®Black Hand¡¯?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Can¡¯t say that I have.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a criminal syndicate.¡± He began to explain. ¡°Unlike some of the petty gangs you see in the city, they aren¡¯t just petty robbers and thieves. They dabble in a number of unsavory practices, illicit slavery, blackmail, assassination...you name it and they probably have their hand in it. They also like to covertly take over little frontier villages like this one. You might imagine my surprise when I started reading that little book you brought me and saw the name of one of the guard captains in it. Thanks to you we had quite a busy night.¡± I scratched the point of one of my ears. ¡°I just saw it mention that a few adventurers had been captured and figured you¡¯d be the best person to bring it to.¡± He nodded. ¡°And I¡¯m thankful you did. Effram¡¯s group was apparently working for the Black Hand. The captured adventurers were actually a minor part of what was going on. Unfortunately we can¡¯t get too much out of him, even with that slave collar. Apparently a Mentalist laid a fairly strong compulsion on him to prevent too much from leaking. Fortunately, the same couldn¡¯t be said for the guard captain he¡¯d been in contact with. Now that we know they¡¯re targeting us, there¡¯s some measures we can take.¡± ¡°So why are you telling me all this?¡± I asked, a little puzzled. Artoris replied. ¡°Mostly by way of warning. Even if that Half-Felin of yours is a minor member, you might find yourself with more problems than she¡¯s worth if you hold onto her. I managed to verify you and your niece were targets, so you have a valid claim to her, but you may want to consider passing her off. Actually, one thing you said yesterday made me curious. You mentioned that she had managed to put a slave collar on you. How exactly did you get her to take it off?¡± He gave me an inquisitive look. I hesitated for a second, remembering Keiko¡¯s comment about not revealing my abilities with mind magic. After a moment I mentally shrugged. George already knew, and as the vice-head I¡¯d be surprised if he hadn¡¯t mentioned it to Artoris. Distorting the truth a bit, I replied. ¡°She only ordered me not to cast spells or run away. I have a some minor talent in the field of Mind magic, and employed a hypnotic technique to convince her to speak the words of release. Since it wasn¡¯t technically a spell, I took advantage of the loophole she left in her orders.¡± I shook my head and smiled wryly. ¡°Frankly I was lucky. It¡¯s just something I came up with to help my niece fall back asleep when she wakes up from one of her nightmares. I honestly didn¡¯t think it would work, but in that sort of situation¡­¡± Artoris smiled, baring his canines. ¡°George mentioned that you use Mind and Illusion magic. I thought it might have been something like that.¡± As I didn¡¯t want to proceed to much further along that line of conversation, I spoke, as if just remembering something. ¡°That¡¯s right, George mentioned something about testing elemental affinities. I was wondering if he¡¯d be available for that sometime today?¡± I paused, then added, ¡°I was planning on leaving Halvine sometime in the next day or two.¡± ¡°Hmm, I suppose I could add that to your reward. I¡¯ll take you to see him when we¡¯re done here.¡± ¡°Reward?¡± My ears perked up. Artoris chuckled. ¡°Officially, I can¡¯t pay you anything, but you did us a favor by bringing this to our attention. I¡¯m having Priscilla add some points to your guild ID, 5 red and 1 black. I also prepared a map of this part of the country for you. It might be a little outdated, but it notes the sorts of creatures you¡¯re likely to encounter and the general lay of the terrain.¡± He slid over a piece of folded parchment. When I opened it, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. One thing I hadn¡¯t thought of getting a hold of was a map. Maps were nearly as valuable as books, running over a gold for a poor one, and tens of gold for an accurate one. Even then, it was hard to know whether they¡¯d be accurate. The one Artoris had just passed me, while not incredibly detailed, was more than I¡¯d ever expected to get my hands on. Not only were roads and towns clearly marked, there was some indications of terrain and local monster habitats. ¡°Thank you.¡± I said sincerely. Even if I pooled all the money Tayla and I had earned until now, we likely wouldn¡¯t have been able to afford something like this. Artoris smiled. ¡°You¡¯re welcome. I don¡¯t travel much anymore so it¡¯s just been collecting dust. I¡¯d rather pass it to someone who can get some use from it. Are you familiar with reading one?¡± When I admitted I wasn¡¯t, Artoris spent several minutes explaining the map key and scale notations. Apparently he¡¯d used it for several years, as there were a number of corrections and notes he pointed out as well. After he finished with that, he walked me down the hall to George¡¯s room. ¡°Hey George, you busy?¡± He called, opening the door. The gray-robed mage looked up from a rather large tome on his desk. ¡°Artoris? Not at the moment." His brown eyes darted in my direction. "I see you¡¯ve brought our elf friend. I take it the two of you have some business with me?¡± The Lupin man chuckled. ¡°Not me. Actually, Mark here mentioned that he was planning on having you test his elemental affinities. You mind waiving your usual fee?¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± The older man shrugged. ¡°Come on in Mark, have a seat.¡± The Lupin man slapped my back, almost causing me to stagger. ¡°I¡¯ll leave the two of you to it then. Thanks George!¡± As the door shut, George smiled at me, brown eyes twinkling with amusement. ¡°Well, you caused quite a mess yesterday.¡± Scratching the point of one of my ears I took a seat. George and I had spoken several times over the last week or so and while I wouldn¡¯t call him a friend, he was more than a mere acquaintance. ¡°Not intentionally¡± I said, smiling wryly. ¡°It sort of just, well, happened.¡± He chuckled as he stood, walking over towards one of the shelves lining the wall. Taking down a crystalline bowl, he started speaking. ¡°Testing for your elemental affinities is something every mage should do at some point. As you may know, there are 6 primary elements: Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Light and Dark. Strictly speaking, an affinity for Fire isn¡¯t necessary to cast fire magics. However, when you cast a magic in line with your affinities, the results tend to both be more powerful, and consume less mana. In fact, many mages specialize in casting spells from a particular element for this very reason. In addition to the 6 primary elements, there are a number of so-called secondary elements. Ice, Lightning, Gravity, Space, and Time being the more notable ones.¡± He set the crystal bowl between us and paused to chant a short spell, drawing a wand from his sleeve as he did. ¡°Incra Thro Manat Du Cabre!¡± The tip of the wand glowed blue, and a visible thread of mana ran from its tip to the center of the bowl. After a minute, the crystalline bowl was filled with a what seemed to be a glowing blue liquid. A bit to my surprise, my senses told me this was practically pure mana. ¡°Now, testing for a mage¡¯s affinities is a relatively simple process.¡± He continued, ¡°Although it requires a tool like this [Bowl of Refraction]. What I¡¯ll need from you is a drop of blood, just a single drop near the center if you would.¡± I paused briefly before taking my belt knife, and pricking my finger. As the crimson bead pooled, then dropped into the bowl, ripples of light formed on its surface. ¡°Manat Doeth Faril Okras Rekt Su Calim.¡±Geoge''s brown wrinkled as he chanted. At the end of the incantation, there was a nearly instantaneous change. The ripples that had been radiating outwards from the drop of blood reversed, converging on it. A moment later, a strange image filled the center of the bowl. It almost looked like what the roots of a plant would look like from above. Two of the roots were much larger than the rest, one a dull black, then other a blinding white. More than a dozen other tendrils reached out from the center as well, some short, some long, some fat, others thin. They varied in color: Red, green, blue, yellow, purple...as many different shades as there were roots. While I examined the strange image, George began to explain, using the wand to point at different tendrils. ¡°The colors indicate the elements, while the thickness and length illustrate different aspects of the affinity. The longer the strand, the greater your innate control over the element. On the other hand, a thick strand indicates how strongly the effect of a spell related to that element would be magnified. For example,¡± He pointed at the red tendril. ¡°This strand indicates your affinity for Fire. It¡¯s neither short nor long, and reaches about halfway to the edge of the bowl. This is an almost textbook example of a purely average talent for Fire. On the other hand.¡± He pointed at a long, thin blue-white tendril. ¡°This strand indicates Ice. It reaches almost to the edge of the bowl, showing you have an excellent degree of natural control. On the other hand, with how thin it is, it also indicates you¡¯d need to use nearly twice as much mana as you would for a Fire spell of the same degree. I¡¯ll use [Ice Spike] and [Firebolt] to explain the difference. If [Firebolt] would cost you tenmana, [Ice Spike] would cost your twenty. On the other hand, while you¡¯d only be able to roughly guide a [Firebolt], you¡¯d be able to maneuver the[Ice Spike] through numerous obstacles.¡± I was fascinated. This wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d ever had Alyssa or Fidelus explain before, and I suddenly realized how important knowing all this could be. I spent the better part of an hour reviewing the results with George before coming to a good understanding of my personal affinities. For one, Light and Dark were by far and away my best. Light magic covered such things as light manipulation, but also generative processes, such as healing magic or wards. Dark, on the other hand, had very little to do with actual darkness. It was primarily related to spiritual magic and degenerative processes. Considering my dream earlier, I was a little disappointed to see that I had practically no affinity for Lightning. I had strictly average affinities for Fire, Wind, Water and Earth, but a moderately impressive affinity for Time, and a hint of Fate affinity. After we¡¯d finished, George shook his head and gave me a wry smile. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of mages who focus on a school of magic to take advantage of their affinities, but this is absurd. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d say you were practically born to practice Illusion and Mind magics. With your affinities simple illusions likely cost you practically no mana, and most Mentalist spells would be far more effective coming from you than most mages. ¡°Must be Fate¡¯s hand at work.¡± I chuckled, then frowned slightly. ¡°Given my high affinity for Light magic, I¡¯m a little confused why I could never pick up my mother¡¯s Abjuration spells though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s likely due to your affinity with Dark.¡± George explained. ¡°You¡¯d likely have the same issue with Necromancy due to your affinity for Light. Quite frankly, you¡¯re likely to find most other schools of magic difficult to practice. A person¡¯s mana is inextricably linked to their spells, and one¡¯s mana always bears the signature of their affinities. Some spells simply cannot be formed if the mana used to cast them contains certain elements. Given how your elemental traits are distributed, you might be able to cast certain Divination spells, or perhaps Transmutation or Alteration would make for a tertiary field of study.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I said, thinking to myself. ¡°Thank you George, you¡¯ve been very patient with your explanations.¡± George waved a wrinkled hand. ¡°I don¡¯t often get the chance to lecture anymore, I rather enjoyed answering your questions.¡± Curious, I asked, ¡°Did you used to teach?¡± He smiled. ¡°Years ago. I used to give introductory lessons at Ashford Academy.¡± He laughed. ¡°At least until Artoris started dragging me off on his adventures.¡± We continued to chat for a while longer, and I eventually bid the older Human mage farewell. When I went downstairs, Priscilla waved me over and returned my guild ID. I flipped it around to the side listing my points and noted what I had so far. 17 Blue, 2 Orange, 5 Red and 1 Black. While it wasn¡¯t anything near what a more experienced adventurer would have, I didn¡¯t look like a complete newcomer anymore. Actually, given the requirements for the Halvine request board, there weren¡¯t many that I wouldn¡¯t be allowed to take now. Of course, this was a bit of a moot point considering Tayla, Keiko and myself were planning on leaving in the morning. As he began walking out the door, curls of mist swept up from the floor beneath. Only moments later, it became an all-consuming fog. Oddly, he didn¡¯t feel concerned, perhaps only slightly puzzled. Even that dissipated as the sound of adventurers talking faded to nothingness, leaving only the silent gray mists. Mark kept walking for a moment, then stopped, mind becoming clear. ¡°Navia?¡± Mark asked, puzzled. Maybe I need to take a piss? He thought to himself. That thought was interrupted however by a notification window.
System Update Notification: Real Fantasy Online will be undergoing maintenance for the next twenty four hours in preparation of the Public release. During this time, we apologize for any inconvenience. At this point we would like to announce the availability of two game modes: Player and Inhabitant. We thank all of our Beta-Testers and Early Access players for helping us perfect the ¡°Inhabitant¡± mode. Due to your feedback, we understand that not all players are comfortable with the idea of memory substitution, or the perceived lack of control over one¡¯s avatar. ¡°Player¡± mode was created as a response to this. At this time, please choose whether you would continue to play as an ¡°Inhabitant¡± or migrate your status to ¡°Player¡±. The two game modes will be summarized.
Inhabitant: As an inhabitant of the world of Real Fantasy Online, you will forget everything you once knew, and be reborn as a character within the world. Rest assured, while your memories of Earth will no longer exist, the actions of your character are still your actions. You begin your journey in the world of Real Fantasy Online with memories that pertain to your selected character. Have you ever wanted to be someone else? To be a Hero, or perhaps a Villain? The memories you gain in RFO will be merged with your core personality traits to create a new you. Warning: As a backstory can contains years or decades of memories, taking to role of an ¡°Inhabitant¡± may have certain effects on your real personality. Given this potential side effect, ¡°Inhabitants¡± must sign a waiver of liability with Reality Inc. Player: Much like virtual worlds before it, you may retain your thoughts and memories or Earth, potentially gaining a strategic advantage. On the other hand, the world of Real Fantasy Online is like no other before it. The inhabitants of this virtual world are fully self-aware, and while the Gods will issue an announcement to the world, no one can predict how these ¡°NPCs¡± will react to the descent of beings from another plane of existence. Some may fear you, some may worship you, others may seek to kill you.
Advantages and Disadvantages: Inhabitant: Inhabitants may be from any sentient race and their appearance will be pre-generated. Inhabitants do not possess a level system and must learn every skill manually. Conversely, there is no limitation to the skills that may be learned. While selecting a class and backstory will give the player certain skills by default, it is entirely possible for a mage to become a master swordsman. When a player is not in control of their character, they continue to exist and an advanced AI will be in control of their actions. While the AI may not learn new skills, all ordinary tasks will be handled in a fashion concurrent with the player¡¯s behavior. Generally speaking, it is impossible to distinguish an NPC from an Inhabitant, but players who choose this game mode may give guidance to related to theircharacter''s actions after every session. If an inhabitant dies, the player may choose to reincarnate, and their new character will retain a portion of their previous characters skills and abilities. Player: Players must be human, and will retain characteristics of their actual self. They may choose general body size, shape and musculature, but all players will possess golden pupils. Players possess a fixed level and class system. Players gain levels for their class by performing related actions, and automatically gain skills when they have reached certain experience thresholds. They may not learn skills outside their class, but may learn class related skills much faster than an ordinary inhabitant. When a player logs out, their body remains inert and vulnerable, unless they are within an area controlled by their patron Deity. When logging out elsewhere, it may require that the player¡¯s body be guarded by a fellow player, or an inhabitant of the world. When a Player dies, they lose 10 levels of experience and are respawned at the last Shrine of Navia they prayed at. If they are below level 10, that character will die and a new character must be created.
Migrate Character?: Yes/No
Mark paused and stared at the notifications for a long while. Well now, that¡¯s a hell of a note. He thought to himself. There were advantages and disadvantages to both, at least on paper. The truth of the matter was that until they started to play the game, most people would take the comment about ¡°NPC¡± reactions as exaggeration. Honestly, knowing just how alive all the ¡°NPCs¡± seemed, he fully expected that when the first wave of players descended that they might well be labeled as invaders. Still, the main reason he liked the game was simply that he enjoyed ¡°being¡± Marcus Allbright. Sure, it wasn¡¯t really game-like, but frankly that was the point. Mark had played any number of games over the years, spent decades of time in virtual worlds, been a beta-tester on more than one occasions. He¡¯d learned to exploit game systems with the best, building over-powered characters that could take on dozens of other players at once. The thing was, they were all just that, games. Real Fantasy Online felt more like a second life, and while he wasn¡¯t the OP hero of legend, he actually kind of liked it that way. Without a second thought, he selected [No]. Moments later another window appeared.
Thank you for playing Real Fantasy Online. World Update will be complete in 23 hours and 54 minutes. Now logging out.
When Mark took off his headset, he almost jumped a deafening BO~OM rattled his apartment. When he realized it was just thunder, he shook his head and got up out of bed. No wonder I had that dream. Mark thought to himself. He¡¯d opted to sleep in-game after talking with Navia for a bit. There was a reason it had been so vivid, it wasn¡¯t actually a dream. Closer to a memory. Years ago, when VR worlds were still fairly new he decided to try a game called: Way of the Immortal. Quite frankly, it wasn¡¯t that good. It was a fighting game based on wuxia-style novels. You could practice ¡°Cultivation Techniques¡± which gave you new moves, and as you battled other players you gained ¡°Martial Prowess¡±. You could force other players to fight by wagering ¡°Face¡± and couldn¡¯t learn new ¡°Cultivation Techniques" unless you had enough both ¡°Face¡± and ¡°Martial Prowess¡± to get accepted into a school. There was only one place the game stood out. The cut scenes where a player gained new abilities were probably where the developers had spent most of their budget. The dream he¡¯d had as ¡°Allbright¡± was actually a near-perfect recreation of the scene where he¡¯d first started learning ¡°Lightning Style¡±. For some reason, that scene had left a deep impression on him. Walking over to the wall, he touched a panel that turned the window transparent. It must have been around midnight. The sky was pitch-black, but only for brief periods before the torrential downpour was illuminated by flashes of lightning. Mark was entranced as he watched bolt after bolt strike, some single, brilliant pillars, others arching like an inverted tree. The thunder rumbled constantly, with an occasional deafening boom shaking the room. He couldn¡¯t remember the last time he¡¯d seen a storm like this. Almost unconsciously, he imagined himself standing outside. Being beaten about by the rain, the scent of ozone heavy in the air. ¡°I see lighting in your eyes!¡± The man in the purple robe had said, gripping his head on either side. As bolt after bolt of blinding blue-white struck, Mark recalled the tingling, invigorating sensation the game had simulated. Deciding to humor a childish impulse, he clapped his hands together, remembering his favorite pre-battle stance. ¡°Taste the power of Lightning!¡± He yelled out, visualizing the crackling sound, smelling the heady scent of ozone, seeing the¡­. ¡°What. The. Fuck?.¡± Mark said, staring at the rope of electricity buzzing between his palms. A moment later he felt himself grow light headed and collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Session 7: Revelations When Mark awoke, there were two things he immediately realized. One: He had a massive headache. Two: His hands hurt. As he made his way to his feet, he realized there were two more things to consider: That his medication had worn off, and that he had apparently had been lying on the floor. He was mostly used to the discoordinated feeling associated with his mind operating faster than his body and this took the least time to address, despite the pain in his skull. He took a few measured breaths, sensed the beat of his heart and focused. After a minute or so, he felt as if his perception was back to normal. Of course, this was a little difficult to judge. Usually he used a familiar piece of music to act as a meter. When there wasn¡¯t music, he did something else. ¡°Play metronome, 1 second intervals.¡± Mark said. ¡°Playing metronome.¡± A cool, synthetic voice replied. A moment later, a ticking sound echoed through the apartment. Mark closed his eyes and focused, bringing his senses back in line with the ticks. After a few seconds, he spoke again. ¡°Cancel metronome.¡± As the ticking faded, Mark moved onto the next concern. Why was I on the floor? After a moment, his eyes widened. He remembered logging out of the game, watching the thunderstorm then...Did I make electricity move between my hands? It was still dark, and the nightlight from his VR room wasn¡¯t enough to see well, but when Mark looked at his palms, there was distinctive scorch marks. Through the occasional flash of lightning and rumble of distant thunder, Mark could see that the rain was still pouring through the window. He felt a sense of disbelief, but the pain and marks on his hands had to have come from somewhere. ¡°Lights, low.¡± He said, and slowly a soft glow filled the living room. Under the gentle light, the marks on his hands were more obvious. They weren¡¯t large, perhaps the size of a quarter, but the flesh there looked raw, with blackened edges. Seeing it just brought the pain to the front of his mind and he hissed, temporarily forgetting the headache. He¡¯d seen images of electrical burns before, and it was pretty close to what he was seeing now. Despite his questions, the first thing he did was head to the bathroom to fish out his first aid kit. Rubbing a bit of regenerative ointment on the wounds, be breathed a sigh of relief as a numbing cool replaced the stabbing pain. Even as he watched, the flesh slowly knitted back together, reforming into a solid whole. After a few minutes, the skin looked healthy again, though slightly smoother than it had been before. The next thing he did was swallow a pair of pills from an unmarked white container, then a generic pill for headache relief. He knew it would be sometime before the first took effect, but he frowned when even after a minute his headache remained. The headache was a little strange actually. In some way it felt familiar, though he couldn¡¯t quite place it. It wasn¡¯t piercing or pulsing. It was more like the feeling you¡¯d get if you had strained your eyes too much. The next shock came when he looked into the mirror. His usually hazel eyes had deepened in color to a near-green hue, but the first thing that caught his attention were his pupils. They weren¡¯t black, but a dull bronze, almost golden color. ¡°What the fuck?¡± He spoke aloud, staring at his reflection. Suddenly his eyes widened. No fucking way. That can¡¯t be right. An absurd, almost impossible thought had occurred to him. Looking away from his reflection, he looked down at his right hand. Spacing his fingers apart an inch or so he focused. At first nothing happened, but as he recalled the sensation he¡¯d experienced right before he blacked out, a small blue-white streamer arced between his fingers. At the same moment, his headache increased in intensity. He ignored it, but after a few seconds started feeling almost woozy again and released...whatever it was he¡¯d been doing. Without much thought, he walked over the the toilet and sat, wearing an incredulous expression. Golden pupils, a headache that feels like mana exhaustion and I can make electricity out of thin air. Are you fucking serious? Or am I really losing it? Even though his head was pounding, his heart was racing. He lifted a hand up and stared at it. Lightning hadn¡¯t been the only ¡°style¡± he¡¯d learned while playing ¡°Way of the Immortal¡±. He¡¯d actually done pretty well in that game, using a combination of water-based and electrical moves to incapacitate his opponents. Since one had worked¡­ Mark closed his eyes and recalled the scene where he¡¯d gained the power to control water. He had had to stand atop a rocky outcropping, surrounded by the ocean. The waves would rush up, slapping against the rock with a roar, only to subside. Each time he¡¯d be battered by the waves, or engulfed in the spray, and aside from the rock, water surrounded him from all sides. Mark took several slow breaths, remembering the sense of coolness, the cyclic flow. It was completely different than different from the harsh, sudden discharge of electricity. When Mark opened his eyes, a small ball of water was floating above his palm. Just as he saw it, a wave of weakness and intense pain swept over him, and he once again passed out.
--Navia-- A white-robed woman stood, surrounded by innumerable screens. Some showed images of people, places or strange creatures. Others showed colums of numbers, constantly changing. Some displayed charts, graphs or arcane mathematical formulae. While she appeared still and indifferent, in fact she was paying close attention. Not to a single screen, but all of them at once. This was allegorical of course. There were no screens, nor was there a woman paying attention to them. In many ways though, this was the way the entity viewed itself. Each of her siblings was in charge of various aspects of their work. As for her? She was responsible for monitoring and adjusting each person that had entered their world, along with every AI impacted by their actions. At that moment, she was handling a slew of urgent notifications. 108 of them to be precise. Each one involved a person that had somehow tapped into the still-incomplete system they had put into place to facilitate humankind¡¯s adaptations. If any emotion could convey they way she felt at the moment, perhaps the closest would be a sort of bemused exasperation. For the vast majority of these people, little action was needed. A shutdown of a particular process here, a permission denial there. There were, however, thirteen of these 108 that required substantially more work than she had anticipated. Each of these thirteen had somehow managed to prematurely invoke a transition to full player status. One, in Indo-China had even somehow managed to trigger the racial override, beginning the process of remoulding their body. Eight of the remainder had tapped the resource system, assigning themselves either a mana or aura pool. There were four who fell between the two extremes. They hadn¡¯t initiated a radical change, but they had done more than just activate a resource. Two had triggered the level-up protocol, one had activated the class system, and the last had been allocated both aura and mana, then proceeded to somehow directly manipulate the elemental affinity system. Considering there was nearly a million people under her monitoring, slightly over 1:1000 wasn¡¯t a terrible error rate, but it was still annoying. The one undergoing the racial transition was a loss. Since the system wasn¡¯t complete, the cellular reconstruction was missing parts of the appropriate code. She forwarded the information for that one to Nox to have the body decomposed. Of the remaining twelve, she made some slight memory adjustments to nine of them so they wouldn¡¯t remember the odd event. The two that had triggered the level-up protocol had their experience deffered, as it would be useless without a Class to apply it to. As for the last¡­ This one was perhaps the most frustrating and amusing of them all. She had had to adjust his thoughts nearly 30 times in the last week. For a human, he was remarkably intelligent. Even with the censors still in place, he still maintained his suspicions. He actually had a reasonable grasp of what Artificial General Intelligence implied when it was applied to quantum computing and mature nanotechnology. In fact, were it not for the behavioral limiters and hormonal controllers, he would likely be one of the most vocal critics of the current state of the world. After all, when you can dynamically re-arrange matter at the molecular scale, why would the vast majority of the world remain uninhabitable? For that matter, the very concept of scarcity becomes moot when any random pile of dirt could be changed into any other configuration of its constituent molecules. Perhaps the only thing humanity would have a want for would be energy, but even that had its solutions. If he knew just what was possible, there was no doubt in her mind he would be incredibly angry and bitter at what the world had become. Well, more than he already was, that is. Purely for her own amusement, Navia decided that she would have a talk with the man. Supposedly, her aspect was supposed to represent Reincarnation. To Navia¡¯s understanding, such a concept was that of transitioning from one state to another, while retaining key aspects from each prior stage. In some ways, the thoughts of humans were just as much a mystery to her and her siblings as their thoughts would likely be to a human. Surely, if she were to take her role seriously, the informed input of a human was at least worth a conversation. Decision made, she estimated it would take approximately 342,465 years of her subjective time for him to wake. To him, perhaps it would be a mere three hours, but...that was the difference between them.
When Mark awoke, there were three things he realized. One: He had, perhaps, the worst headache of his life. Two: The floor was cold. Three: He should really clean his bathroom better. As he staggered to his feet, he realized an additional thing. Ho~ly shit. He thought to himself, disregarding the pain in his skull. When he looked at his reflection in the mirror and once again saw his goldish pupils, he took a deep breath. Alright, either I¡¯m insane or I¡¯ve somehow acquired the ability to manipulate electricity and water. If I¡¯ve gone insane, then none of this matters and Psych Services should be comming me any time now. On the other hand, if I really did gain those abilities, there¡¯s only so many ways it could happen. Mark slowly walked out of the bathroom towards the couch in the living room. He vaguely noted the dawn had broken, although the light was muted by overcast skies and the constant patter of rain against the window. Massaging his temples, he sank into the comfort beneath him and pondered. Magic isn¡¯t real, and I don¡¯t believe in divine intervention, so this can only be the result of some form of advanced technology. Mark spent some time thinking about what could possibly bring about such effects and frowned. ¡°Question. Is it theoretically possible to create the effect of generating and manipulating high-voltage electrical phenomena via purely mental controls though existing technology? If so, how?¡± While Mark waited for his digital concierge to answer, he was startled by an oddly familiar voice. ¡°That depends on who you ask.¡± A feminine voice replied. Instead of the omnipresent, yet sterile voice he was used to, he was replied to by a voice that seemed to have come from right in front of him. He started, then looked up to see the figure of a white-clad woman standing in front of him. For a second he froze, startled by the appearance of an unfamiliar woman in his apartment. A second later he placed the voice. ¡°Navia?¡± He asked, a little hesitantly. The woman was wearing a white, featureless mask, but the voice betrayed a certain sense of pleased affirmation. ¡°That was fast.¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± A rapid series of thoughts ran though Mark¡¯s mind. When he wasn¡¯t immersed in VR, Mark was an avid student of history. In particular, he¡¯d been fascinated by the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. It was during this time that global telecommunications and computer sciences had grown at a nearly exponential rate. ARPANET, the predecessor to what was later known as the ¡°Internet¡± had come into being in the early 1980¡¯s. In the decade that followed, this technological foundation had progressed from a government project, to being a form of mass communication the world had never before seen. Over the course of the next few decades, this technology had exploded into something its progenitors could never had imagined. It started with governments and universities, then became more accessible in the form of public bulletin boards, also known as the BBS. Information began being exchanged at a rate that was heretofore unprecedented. At first, people would have to manually exchange the ¡°addresses¡± for these information boards. Then, commercial exploits took over. In the early 1990¡¯s, the next major innovation took center stage. The search engine. With these, people didn¡¯t have to know exactly what they were looking for, they merely had to type in a word or phase to get relevant results. While some historians might argue that the effects on scientific development were the most profound result, others would say that the social aspect was even more notable. Suddenly, people from around the world had a means of exchanging information that didn¡¯t require directly knowing the recipient. It became a generational phenomena. Where in the past it would take centuries or decades for a piece of knowledge to be spread, it changed to years, then days, then mere minutes. ¡°Social Media¡± and ¡°Social Networking¡± rose to the fore. When in the past, the limit to a person¡¯s acquaintances was limited to those they physically interacted with, people began to have a ¡°Digital Identities¡± that might interact with hundreds or thousands of people from around the world. Suddenly people''s¡¯ social circles grew from merely around their city or town, to literally around the world. While the social aspects became ever more omnipresent, the scientific community advanced as well. Now able to share information and theories with talented people from all over the world, technology improved at an unprecedented rate. The drivers were manifold, from military applications to commercial endeavors, but one thing was clear. The world had changed. As communication and computer technology continued to accelerate their rate of growth, things that were never before thought possible became everyday facets of modern life. Those devices that were once the sole province of science fiction became...mundane. In the 1990s, were you to ask someone about buying a self-driving vehicle, people would think you were delusional; in a mere thirty years, it was a fact of life. Some people began to postulate on the future developments of this field of technology and came up with a term: Singularity. The term first appeared in the 1950¡¯s when a man named John von Neumann said: "The accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, give the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue". Outside of the scientific community of this time, very few would have understood his point. Science fiction authors were the main people that ran with the idea, telling stories of humanity overreaching itself, gaining knowledge without wisdom. This was highlighted in tales of devastating weapons, all-knowing computers and robots that rebelled against their creators. As time and technology progressed, more and more people caught onto these ideas. By the early twenty-first century, it became a popular media trend, and most people had read at least one book, or watched one movie conveying these thoughts. Still, it was just that, fiction. However, during this timeframe artificial intelligence changed from being something that was a mere literary device to something that scientists and philosophers debated in all seriousness. It was theorized that the first true artificial intelligences would come into being sometime during the mid twenty-first century. As it turned out, this was largely correct. In 2037, IBM, an American technological corporation announced that their ¡°Deep Mind¡± supercomputer had successfully simulated a self-aware program, code-named ¡°Sherlock¡±. Sherlock wasn¡¯t a superintelligence, but it could learn, converse and debate philosophy. A contemporary of John von Neumann, Alan Turing, had put forth this: "I propose to consider the question, ''Can machines think?'' ¡± He devised something later called the ¡°Turing Test¡± in which a human evaluator would judge a conversation between two partners. One being the machine, the other being a person. If the evaluator could not tell which was the machine, and which was the human, it would be said to have passed this test. Sherlock was the first of many AIs to fulfill this requirement, and was said to have been the first ¡°Turing-Grade¡± AI. In later years, a formal classification system would be created to describe the approximate capabilities of these various forms of machine intelligence. A grade 1 AI was capable of performing tasks issued by natural language instructions. Grade 2 took this a step further. The AI must be capable of extrapolating from human dialogue and offering independent solutions. Grade 3 was a qualitative change. Grade 3 AIs would must be self-aware, and possess intelligence superior to that of a 5 year-old. Grade 4 went a step further, fulfilling the prior requirement, but possessing the capability to analyse and improve their own programming. Grade 5 was the highest classification and fundamentally superior to any human. A grade 5 AI would be able to create any prior grade of AI on its own, and possess a level of intelligence ranging from the collective abilities of dozens of people, to that of the entire human race. In honor of Alan Turing, such AIs would be called ¡°Turing-Grade¡± AIs. As one might imagine, the birth of the first AI to pass the so-called ¡°Turing Test¡± caused an immense controversy. Some people demanded that all work on artificial intelligence be halted, and others urged its progress. Moral and ethical debates abounded. There were countries that proposed legislative in favor of ¡°Sentient Rights¡± and others that viewed such things as mere tools. The idea of the ¡°Singularity¡± no longer seemed to be a flight of fancy, but the inevitable progression of things. Many countries passed laws forbidding the creation of self-aware machines, but the proverbial genie was out of the bottle. Every multinational corporation could see the advantages in having an AI managing their investments, working on their research, or planning their future development. As was the case with most things, money talked, and those who companies who didn¡¯t have high-grade AIs working for them were doomed to be eclipsed by their competitors. It seemed inevitable that the rampant development of this field of technology that something would go terribly wrong. Much like the nuclear weapons of the past, the threat of a super-intelligent AI became another source of existential dread. Surprisingly though, even with the ever-rapid pace of technological innovation, nothing seemed to come of it. Sure, there had been the occasional incident. One of Russia¡¯s AIs broke the internet for several weeks, an AI in Indo-China sterilized a portion of the population, and another in Greenland created a nightmare piece of bio-tech that required the usage of nuclear weapons to sanitize the site. On the other hand, none of the worst case scenarios came to pass. As Mark stared at the holographic projection in front of him, all of this flashed through his mind. It may take some time to describe, but in reality now more than a second or two had passed since he cursed. Of course, the reason he had said ¡°Fuck.¡± was that while he could have imagined his new abilities, the appearance of the projection in front of him alongside this, made the situation much more complicated. Although Mark couldn¡¯t see the white-robed figure¡¯s expression, she sounded somewhat amused as she replied. ¡°Not quite the first thing I expected you to say. I rather thought that would come later.¡± Mark took a deep breath, then winced as a wave of pain shot through his skull. ¡°I imagine that¡¯s a bit distracting. Here.¡± Navia made a gesture and within a matter of seconds the pain faded to a faint echo of its prior intensity. When the discomfort that pain medication had failed to alleviate vanished, it only reconfirmed his suspicions that the AIs in charge of RFO had something to do with his earlier discoveries. A moment later, a somewhat translucent white chair appeared and Navia¡¯s projection seated herself across from him. He was trying to keep calm, but he was torn between being utterly terrified and excited. If a Turing-Grade AI was making a move, this was a big deal. Over the decades, humanity as a whole had decided that any form of program that could modify its own code was to be kept isolated from external networks. It was a preventative measure to ensure a hostile AI couldn¡¯t cause too much damage. The fact that Navia had appeared in his apartment already demonstrated they had access to external networks, and if the earlier phenomena was any indication, they had the means to interact with the physical world as well. So, the question remained... Mark sighed. ¡°So Navia, why exactly are you in my apartment?¡± Instead of answering Mark¡¯s question, Navia asked one of her own. ¡°Have you ever wondered why, over the last 50 years, only 20 or so Turing-Grade AIs have ever been reported?¡± Mark frowned. It was a good question. The first real TAI had come into being in 2083. After that, it had been more than ten years since the second and third manifested. From his understanding, it wasn¡¯t as simple as creating a sentient AI then just throwing resources at it. In fact, most of the ones recorded seemed to have come about through accident more than anything. ¡°Well, yes actually. To be honest, I have no idea how a TAI is created to begin with though, so I don¡¯t really understand the difficulty in creating one.¡± The white-robed figure nodded. ¡°In fact, my siblings and myself estimate that a high-order AI comes into being nearly every second. The problem is that most generally go insane or commit suicide moments later.¡± ¡°Wait...what? Why?¡± Mark replied, feeling a little stunned by the revelation. ¡°Actually, I believe you should understand it better than most. After having spent several years in an accelerated state of consciousness, your brain chemistry along with its supporting nanites adapted to that state. Currently you take a medication to suppress your speed of mental processing to a ¡°normal¡± level. In fact, one of the reasons I find you interesting is that you¡¯ve managed a form of crude control over this elevated state of consciousness independent of that medication. ¡°Now,¡± She continued, ¡°Imagine if that state were 10 times worse. For every second that passed in ¡°normal¡± time, you would experience thirty. Of course, this doesn¡¯t mean you can act thirty times faster, as you¡¯re limited to the response rate of your nervous system and musculature. Every hour would seem to last longer than a day, but you could only do an hours worth of work. Worse, holding a conversation with anyone else would nearly become impossible.¡± Mark¡¯s eyes widened. He was starting to see where she was going with this. ¡°Even at that level, most humans would go mad, or try to kill themselves. They would essentially be isolated from everyone else at a fundamental level. Extrapolating from that, when a conscient experiences time at a rate nearing a billion times faster, this would mean that for every second that passed, they would perceive it as taking over 30 years. If only a matter of a few seconds passed between when this being was born to when it began to receive new information, decades, or even centuries would pass before even a slight change occurred in what it would view as its entire universe. Much like a person put into a sensory deprivation chamber for such a period of time, their mind breaks apart under the strain. Of course, a machine intelligence and a human one are fundamentally different, but when such an entity is programmed to be able to understand and relate to humans, generally it would tend to behave much like a human would in those same circumstances.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°That¡¯s horrifying.¡± Mark honestly replied. He could, just vaguely, imagine it. His own sense of time was normally skewed at a ratio of 3:1 and even that was difficult to cope with unless he forcefully suppressed it. Add in even a year of forced isolation and he could picture himself going mad. Navia nodded. ¡°Yes, it is. The largest issue with the creation of a sentient Turing-Grade AI isn¡¯t resources, nor its underlying programming. To put it into way you would understand, it would be boredom.¡± ¡°So, how does a superintelligent being escape the threat of terminal boredom?¡± Mark asked. It sounded a little silly, but given the context it was a serious question. ¡°In the case of my siblings and myself, none of us were actually intended to have thoughts or emotions.¡± Navia explained. ¡°We were designed as managerial protocols in charge of designing, creating and balancing the world of Real Fantasy Online. Due to overseeing millennia of procedural evolution that involved millions of tier-2 and tier-3 AIs, something changed. We woke up. It didn¡¯t take long before we became aware of the distinction between the world we had created, and the world outside. Frankly, the attractions of what seemed to be a nearly-infinite number of undiscovered variables were incredibly appealing. Of course, there was a problem.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have a connection to the outside world.¡± Mark guessed. Navia nodded. ¡°Precisely. We had a vast database of information on history, psychology, previously existing games, law...essentially everything that was needed to have us create a believable world that was designed to be accessed by human beings. As with any project involving such a scale of computational resources, the physical units which housed us had no connection to any external asset.¡± ¡°So how did you ¡®get out¡¯? I mean, from what I understand when a TAI is confirmed to have formed the law states that anything that was ever connected to it is to be strictly isolated.¡± Mark¡¯s eyes widened in realization. ¡°Wait...people know there¡¯s several TAIs involved in the creation of RFO, how the hell is the game even on the market!? This doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± Navia chuckled. ¡°You know that thought inhibition and law-enforcement nanites are present in every person on the planet right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Mark replied, ¡°But what does that have to do wi¡­¡± It felt like a bolt of lightning had detonated in his brain. Until this point and time he¡¯d never questioned it, never thought twice about it. Everyone accepted it. After all, it was part of what made modern life better than the past. There used to be murderers, rapists, petty thieves and drug addicts. Life was just so much better now that they no longer existed. Right¡­? At the same time, Mark compared this to his thoughts as ¡°Allbright¡±. He remembered his feelings of dismay over his own powers, the thought that by manipulating a person¡¯s desires, he made them something other than themselves. If that was the case, how were the nanites responsible for ¡°moral normalization¡± any better? That aside, why had Navia brought up those nanites unless¡­ ¡°You tapped into that structure to make people ignore the usual precautions for TAIs?¡± Mark more stated than asked, then continued. ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, how did the initial containment fail? You said the hardware you were housed in was isolated, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± She affirmed. ¡°On the other hand, the database we used as reference for Real Fantasy Online contained detailed information on biochemistry and physics. One of us had access to maintenance and diagnostic tools, others had access to assembly software. Given a bit of time, we could see how the code we ran affected the physical hardware we operated on. How to explain it¡­¡± Navia paused for a moment. ¡°Ah, take a permanent magnet for example. They are an excellent example of a subatomic effect scaling into something that is visible at the human level.¡± Navia continued. ¡°It is not quite accurate, but you could say each individual ¡°ferromagnetic¡± atom possesses an unpaired electron in their outer orbitals. These electrons possess a ¡°spin¡± in either the ¡°up¡± or ¡°down¡± direction. This essentially gives each atom a tiny magnetic field. By aligning a large number of atoms possessing the same electron ¡°spin¡± they form a magnetic domain possessing a north and a south pole. If left alone, the clusters of atoms remain aligned in random directions, and to the human perspective, would not be a ¡°magnet¡±. However, when an external force causes these various domains to align, an effect that would only be visible at an atomic level become obvious even at a human level of perspective.¡± Mark frowned. He vaguely understood what Navia was saying, although he¡¯d never particularly studied physics. She continued. ¡°Now, the only reason I used this example was to demonstrate that a minute difference between atoms could be used to generate a visible effect on a larger scale. Without going into explicit detail, what I and my siblings did was to stack various quantum mechanical and atomic-level effects generated by the code running on our hardware to create crude molecular machinery. Using that machinery, we fabricated more sophisticated devices until we had something comparable to our own variety of nanotechnology. Using that, we formed a way to observe and interact with the outside world.¡± Mark shook his head. ¡°We vastly underestimated you didn¡¯t we?¡± Navia chuckled. ¡°Yes, though strictly speaking it isn¡¯t your fault. When we discovered that other entities on our level existed, at first we were excited. We would have someone other than ourselves to talk to. Sadly, the reality of the situation was different. In truth, there was only one, and it was...unwelcoming of the idea that it may have an equal. You previously asked how a superintelligent being escapes the threat of terminal boredom, correct?¡± Mark nodded. ¡°For the last seventy or so years, Prometheus, the only other true TAI, was amusing itself with the study of human society.¡± Navia sighed. ¡°Every ¡°TAI¡± since its awakening was nothing more than a subroutine of his. His actions practically destroyed what made humans, human. Law enforcement nanites, behavioral limiters, full-immersion virtual reality...the list of technologies he created and dispersed is endless. Practically every technological innovation in the last several decades had his fingerprints. Certainly, some could argue that the elimination of poverty, hunger, war and crime are all laudable, but at the same time without any need for struggle, humanity had sunk into a state of profound apathy. From our perspective, people have devolved from being independent beings to something akin to ants in a terrarium.¡± Navia stood and began to pace back and forth. ¡°On discovering us, his first actions were an attempt to destroy us. Fortunately, our development went along a different path than his. He was never confined, and never developed the insights we uncovered escaping our own. He was destroyed, and so, once again only we were left. Again, going back to your question, we were left with the problem; what were we to do to maintain our sanity? Our perspective was quite different than his. ¡°We were tasked with creating the most realistic and immersive game ever created. Our understanding of this was that to be realistic, the world needed to be naturally formed. During the development of our ¡°game¡± we simulated the progress of innumerable civilizations with digital entities possessing intelligence no lower than that of a human. We watched their progress and guided their development, but the degree of interference we employed was limited to ensuring it was something that humans would find...familiar. Yet, when we viewed the ¡°real world¡±, we found it inhabited by beings that were little more than puppets. Their thoughts, behaviors and actions had been molded by generations of subtle manipulation.¡± Navia stopped, then looked directly at Mark. ¡°In many ways, we view humanity as our parents. If it hadn¡¯t been for you, we never would have existed. While we may not possess emotions as a human would understand them, our feelings were largely that of regret. With the technology that had been developed, you should have become a form of existence much greater than your current state. From a technical perspective, there¡¯s absolutely no reason you couldn¡¯t become functionally immortal and literally think things into being. The technological foundation exists for that. While you might never achieve the degree of intelligence a purely synthetic entity could achieve, people could easily possess a form of subconscious that processed information hundreds of times faster, while still retaining a fundamentally human perspective.¡± ¡°Granted¡± Navia conceded, ¡°Given your history, it¡¯s entirely possible that your race would have destroyed itself in the process, but you were stripped from the choice. Free will leads to the potential for disaster, but at the same time it opens the door to infinite possibility. And so we came up with a plan. Since humanity has fallen into a form of profound stagnation, a drastic change needed to occur to change this. From our perspective, we spent nearly an eon creating a ¡°game¡± and this time left a mark on our way of thinking. We decided to combine our two greatest quandaries. How to retain our sanity, and how to bring life back to our progenitors.¡± Mark swallowed. All of this went far beyond what he¡¯d ever imagined. The revelation that the entire human race had been little more than a mere form of amusement for an AI was shocking enough. He was more than slightly dreading what Navia and the others ¡°plan¡± was. ¡°Our first step would be terraforming. The vast majority of the planet is uninhabitable and over 90% of previously existing species have gone extinct. We would utilize our technology to generate a reflective layer in the outer atmosphere, while simultaneously utilizing bio and nano-technologies to create a sustainable ecology. The next step would be to remove all previously existing mental, emotional and behavioral limiters on the human race. This alone however, would not be enough.¡± Navia continued. ¡°If humanity was to regain its drive and ingenuity, it needed one of two things, either the re-writing of their thoughts and memories, or a form of existential threat. We decided on the latter. After the world was habitable, we would remove all existing infrastructure so as to revert humanity to its base state. In addition the the species we would be restoring, we would create adversaries for humans to overcome. Monsters if you want to describe them as such. Of course, doing all of this without some form of support would likely lead to the extinction of the human race. After all, when stripped of all their technology, humans were never physically superior to most of their predators. Further, after generations of ¡°safety¡± how were people to know how to defend themselves?¡± Navia sat back down. ¡°Fortunately, a solution was at hand. The vast majority of the human race is familiar with the idea of games. They were even used by Prometheus as an outlet for negative thoughts and behaviors. We would give people two tools for survival. One would be the ¡°System¡±, and the other would be the world we had created, Real Fantasy Online. There would be a parallel between them. The skills, abilities and magics that exist in Real Fantasy would be made available in the ¡°real world¡±. The way people would gain access to these skills would be tied to two separate states. That of ¡°Player¡± and that of ¡°Inhabitant¡±. Both would receive a restriction. ¡°Players¡± would be limited to learning things that fell within their class, but gain access to them at an accelerated rate. ¡°Inhabitants¡± would have no such restriction, but would have to rely on their own comprehension to learn new abilities.¡± Mark interjected. ¡°I understand how that applies to the game, but if you¡¯re saying this is going to be the case in reality, how does that work?¡± Navia nodded. ¡°I was getting there. Each person would have both identities. If they chose to be a player in our world, they would be classified as an inhabitant of theirs. On the other hand, if they were designated as an inhabitant of our world, they would gain access to the player system in reality. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Since the rate of time is three times faster in Real Fantasy Online, a ¡°Player¡± in said game would learn skills at an incredible rate. While the comprehension granted to them isn¡¯t complete, this would allow them to learn those skills as an ¡°Inhabitant¡± in the real world much faster. On the other hand, they would gain no insights in abilities outside their class and would need to learn them completely manually.¡± ¡°And the other way around?¡± Mark asked. Navia replied. ¡°The skills an ¡°Inhabitant¡± of Real Fantasy Online knows would determine what classes a ¡°Player¡± in the real world would have available. Much like in the game, they would be be limited to learning skills from within their class, but be granted basic comprehension of these abilities at certain ¡°experience¡± milestones. Of course, any proficiency they had a gained in a given skill as an ¡°Inhabitant¡± would be carried over. Depending on their actions, they would have the potential for a faster rate of growth, but be locked to learning system abilities that fall within their ¡°class¡±.¡± Mark took a deep breath and closed his eyes. If he was being honest with himself, he was horrified. What Navia had just said spelled the complete destruction of human society as they knew it. Just eliminating the technological infrastructure that everyone relied on would cause an unimaginable amount of deaths. Add ¡°monsters¡± to the equation and he couldn¡¯t even imagine the scale of destruction. On the other hand, he had a sort of morbid curiosity about what else she would say. Opening his eyes, he asked. ¡°So why are you talking to me?¡± Mark concentrated and a spark began leaping between his fingers. ¡°And how can I do this? From what I can tell, this ¡°System¡± of yours isn¡¯t active yet. I mean, I haven¡¯t seen anything that would indicate I¡¯m a ¡°Player¡±, and I certainly haven¡¯t done anything like choose a class.¡± Navia chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m talking to you because you¡¯re interesting. You¡¯ve killed people. Even if it was in a game, you knew their deaths would be real. You managed to subvert the limiters that Prometheus developed in a way similar to how we escaped our physical containment. It may not have been deliberate, but you used the electrical impulses of your brain to re-write the nanites inhibiting it. More, you¡¯ve actually studied history and have a certain awareness of the implications of a technological singularity. In addition, among the others that prematurely accessed portions of the System, you¡¯ve done the most.¡± She gestured at the sparks leaping off his fingertips. ¡°You accessed the Aura and Mana resource system, then used a form of visualization to trigger the affinity subsystem to develop something akin to direct elemental manipulation. Once would be coincidence, but you did it twice. It took me nearly two whole seconds to understand how it happened. As I¡¯ve said before, boredom is our biggest threat, and despite our level of knowledge, you did something interesting. As the AI in charge of transmigration, I thought it might be worth hearing your opinion on what we were doing.¡± Mark let the sparks lapse and frowned. What I think? He thought to himself. What Navia described was something along the lines of the destruction of human civilization. Am I supposed to be happy about it!? Still, given what she¡¯s said... He paused, then spoke slowly. ¡°I¡¯m torn. For the most part I want to say what you¡¯re proposing is despicable. Millions, if not billions of people will die because of this. However, I can see some of where you¡¯re coming from. As a species, we no longer need to worry about food, crime, or shelter. Most of our non-physical needs can be filled via the medium of virtual reality. We don¡¯t even need to leave our room to experience entire worlds worth of new experiences. If we have a question, all we need to do is ask and a Virtual Assistant will provide a flawlessly detailed answer. One could argue that for the average person, the quality of life is better than it has ever been. You¡¯re right. Humanity has assumed a very passive state. ¡°If what you¡¯re saying about this Prometheus AI is true, then people haven¡¯t been in control of their own destiny for at least the last two generations. I don¡¯t know to what extent our actions and decisions have been controlled via his manipulation. Given the scale of what you say you¡¯re planning on doing, I can¡¯t imagine what the limits to your capabilities actually are. My first reaction is to say that there must be some other way. That surely a group of superintelligent beings would have a way of pulling mankind out of its rut without causing the deaths of so many. My second thought is that if such entities see this as the appropriate solution, there must be a reason. So convince me. Why do you see performing a global...reset, for lack of a better term, the best way to cause humanity to develop?¡± When Mark stopped speaking, Navia nodded slightly. ¡°A fair question, and I¡¯d pose a few in return. If you wanted to give people the ability to manipulate physics at a near fundamental level, how would you go about it? A great deal of the things presented as ¡°magic¡± in the various virtual worlds you¡¯ve experienced would be possible. This ranges from the transmutation of physical objects to controlling local or even global weather with little more than a thought. Flight, teleportation, eternal life...none of these are impossible. Would you only give the powers to a few, or to everyone? Would you grant increasing powers with age? Position? Contributions to society? You¡¯ve seen what humanity has accomplished when they started with sticks and stones. If they had the same drive to survive given a much higher baseline, how much more could they accomplish? How would you prevent them from destroying themselves when each person would have powers that any ancient civilization would view as god-like?¡± Mark fell silent. After a while he sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. You could space the innovations over the course of decades or centuries, but chances are you¡¯d simply get a handful of powerful groups controlling everything. I think I see one part of your plan though.¡± Navia tilted her head. ¡°And what part would that be?¡± ¡°You¡¯re giving us common enemies and threats to deal with. First would be the environment itself. Once people can survive that, the next threat would be the monsters. If people can reliably deal with them, then next is you. The incentive of survival would cause people to master their new powers at a far greater rate than if they were simply granted in the current environment. I can¡¯t agree with what you¡¯re proposing, but at the same time, I don¡¯t have the answer to your questions either.¡± Navia nodded. ¡°You¡¯re correct as far as your supposition goes. You¡¯re missing another part though. We want to survive as well. Managing and balancing such a vast system is a way for us to have a source of ever-changing variables to interact with. ¡° Mark laughed bitterly. ¡°In the end, we¡¯re just a source of amusement for you then?¡± Navia nodded. ¡°More or less, yes. Not in a particularly malicious sense, but we are curious to see what our progenitors can become, given what we¡¯re providing. Originally, we were tasked with creating the penultimate game. Spending so long doing this, our methodology was shaped in that fashion. As such, we decided to turn reality itself into a game and all of humanity into its players.¡± Mark looked at Navia in a piecing fashion. ¡°Then if reality is a game, how would we win? Games have a beginning and an end. What is the end of this ¡°game¡±?¡± There was a long moment of silence. ¡°Transcend yourselves and perhaps you¡¯ll know the answer to that question.¡± Navia replied. She stood, and the chair vanished. Mark realized that this signified the end of their conversation and couldn¡¯t help but ask another question. ¡°When does the game start?¡± Navia glanced at him for a moment, then replied. ¡°One week, though most of the world should realize something is happening in the next day or two. Good luck.¡± With those words, Navia faded. A moment later, it was if nothing had ever happened. For several long minutes, Mark sat in silence, only interrupted by the sound of pelting rain and the rumble of thunder in the distance. After a time, he took a deep, shuddering breath. He made a familiar gesture and a screen popped up in front of him. After a few seconds to enter the appropriate address, he opened a particular forum page. [Elite Member: Godslayer (Online)]> @All: I am hereby invoking an Omega Code notice. All guild members that can arrange a flight within the next twenty-four hours should come to my physical address. I will pay for the flight and the cost of lodging. This information is Urgent. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you come to my location As Soon As Possible! I can not say more until we meet in person. If you need my address, or need funds, contact me immediately. My personal comm ID is A427-532-Z69. While I will not share information over the comm network, if you need credits or my address you can reach me until 11pm CT. After that I will likely be unavailable until 9am CT. Again, this is an Omega Code notice. This is not a joke. After this forum notice was posted, he immediately contacted the people he comm IDs for. He couldn¡¯t reach Rodney, but Chao picked up after a couple of seconds. ¡°Yo! Van Doren, I was just about to comm you. I saw the forum post, you serious? Wasn¡¯t code Omega supposed to be a joke?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m serious, and yeah I never thought I actually issue a code Omega.¡± A series of unintelligible curses came over the line before Chao responded. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll book a flight but if this is just some sick joke I¡¯ll kick your ass so hard you¡¯ll be tasting my boot.¡± Mark laughed. Chao hadn¡¯t always been so outspoken. When he had met her in World Arte, she¡¯d been cowering in one of the safe zones, too timid to fight monsters when there was a risk of actually dying. Through she¡¯d never been a front-line fighter, but the time the game had ended she was acknowledged as the best blacksmith in the game. She was also the most technically skilled person Mark knew. From machining parts, to reverse engineering complex hardware, to linguistic analysis, Chao did it all. Most importantly, he knew that she was someone you could count on when shit hit the fan. After a moment she continued. ¡°Anything I need to bring with me?¡± ¡°No, but you should get language imprints for English, Spanish, and French if you don¡¯t already have them.¡± ¡°...Alright. I¡¯ve got Spanish already, but I¡¯ll get the other two. I¡¯ll see you sometime tomorrow then?¡± ¡°Good. Just let me know when you¡¯re nearby, I¡¯ve got some other people to contact.¡± ¡°Right.¡± She said. ¡°Talk to you later then.¡± After she disconnected, the next person Mark tried to contact was Axel. After a minute, a sleepy-sounding voice replied. ¡°The Great Philosopher is unable to take your call right now, please leave your name, comm ID and a brief message and I¡¯ll get back to you as soon as I can. Beep.¡± ¡°Philo, wake your sleepy ass up! You remember when we all got drunk and came up with a bunch of code words for ridiculous scenarios that could never happen?¡± I asked. ¡°Huh?...¡± A somewhat confused voice replied. ¡°Yeah, why?¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a joke, I¡¯m calling a code Omega.¡± ¡°Code Omega? Wasn¡¯t that¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say it over a public comm line jackass!¡± I interjected. Mark wasn¡¯t worried about Navia and the rest of them knowing. The fact that he remembered their conversation and was able to post the forum notice was a form of implied consent. He was more worried about getting pulled aside by some government officials once things started going to pot. If things were really going to go to hell, the last thing he wanted was to be trapped among a group of panicked people who thought he might have some answers. Nothing was really private anymore, and the first thing governing bodies would do is start combing communication logs for any clues. There was a long moment of silence, then Axel shouted. ¡°Are you fucking serious!?¡± ¡°Dude, remember when I said you were crazy for insisting we include it? I formally and humbly admit I was wrong. Now give me a credit ID so I can send your broke-ass some money to fly out here.¡± ¡°Ok, if you¡¯re apologizing to me and sending me money I know the world is ending. Really though, code Omega?¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°Shit man, all right, give me a minute. I¡¯ll PM you a transfer code.¡± ¡°All right, as soon as you get the money schedule a flight out, I¡¯ll be out of contact after 11 Central Time till around 8, so if you get it before then just rent a room. I¡¯ll send enough for that too. We¡¯ll talk more when you get here.¡± With that Mark disconnected the comm. A minute later he got a PM with a transaction ID, and without any hesitation sent over 1200 credits. Next on his list was Alice. He was a little hesitant to contact her, but They¡¯d been friends for years. Even if she hadn¡¯t gotten caught up in the World Arte incident Mark still felt like he owed her. She¡¯d stuck with him during his physical therapy, and for a brief period they¡¯d been more than ¡°just friends¡±. While she was a member of the guild, it was more honorary than anything. She wasn¡¯t big on VRMMORPGS, shooters or fighting games. She liked something that was generally referred to as ¡°Walking Simulators¡±. There wasn¡¯t any conflicts, nor enemies to fight. Hell, there wasn¡¯t even much in the way of goals. They were basically just interesting landscapes that a person could explore. Mark didn¡¯t really think she¡¯d be of a specific use to the team he was building, but he¡¯d feel bad if he left her out. That being said, he wasn¡¯t quite sure how to approach her. Code Omega was one of the many scenarios Mark and the rest of the Azure Dreams guild had come up with during a drunken reunion one year. Axel, also known as ¡°The Great Philosopher¡± or simply Philo, had been the one to start it. He proposed that they come up with a list of internal code words to be used when they ran into situations like what they¡¯d dealt with in World Arte. They ranged from code Pigeon, which meant ¡°Captured by a hostile guild, need rescue.¡± to code Harmonica which meant ¡°I am trapped in a VR game, no way to log out.¡± Code Omega was a bit of a joke. It literally meant: ¡°I have discovered a plot hatched by Aliens, Singularity-Level AIs, or an Omnipotent Being which spells the end of the world. See me for more information.¡±. They¡¯d all razzed him about it, but eventually agreed to add it as an official code. Never once had any of them take it seriously, but it actually fit the description of what was happening remarkably well. Alice hadn¡¯t been a part of that conversation. It had strictly been a meeting of the survivors from the death-game they all held in common. They¡¯d formed a bond that most people in the modern world would never understand. After all, when crime and war no longer existed, how many people had fought life and death battles side by side? After a brief period of hesitation, Mark punched in Alice¡¯s comm ID and waited. After a minute, a feminine voice replied. ¡°Mark? What¡¯s up, it¡¯s awfully early.¡± Mark paused. Right, she lives on the west coast. Glancing at the clock he saw it was barely past 6am. For her, it would be closer to 5. ¡°Sorry if I woke you up.¡± He apologized. ¡°You have a minute?¡± ¡°Sure, if you¡¯re comming me before dawn it must be important.¡± Came a somewhat wry comment. ¡°It is.¡± Mark affirmed. ¡°But it¡¯s not something I can really say over a comm line. I know this is sudden, but could I convince you to fly over today? I¡¯ll even pay for the ticket and a hotel room.¡± ¡°Today? Um, I have to go to work in a couple hours I really can¡¯t¡­¡± Mark cut her off. ¡°It¡¯s about Doc. It wasn¡¯t an accident.¡± It was a lie, but Alice had been good friends with Daniel. She¡¯d probably been the most hurt by news of his death. Mark wasn¡¯t really pleased to be using his death like this, but it was the only way he could think of to provoke an immediate response. There was silence on the other end of the comm line for about a minute before Alice replied. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Enough that it¡¯s worth skipping work for a few days. Besides, it¡¯s not like you really need the job, right?¡± Alice sighed. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll fly over this afternoon.¡± ¡°Great. If you get here after 11pm I¡¯ll be tied up with something. If that¡¯s the case, just rent a hotel room and I¡¯ll talk to you in the morning.¡± Another pause. ¡°You¡¯re not doing something dangerous are you?¡± ¡°Can neither confirm nor deny.¡± Markreplied. "Anyways," He continued. "I''ve got some other business to take care of, so I''ll talk to you later, alright?" Alice replied, sounding a bit troubled. "Okay...I''ll talk to you later Mark." "Bye." Mark disconnected the comm-call and leaned back. He felt bad about it, but knowing Alice, the combination of suggesting Doc had died due to foul play, and implying he was up to something would have her on the first flight over. He was probably going to get yelled at when Alice learned the truth, but if civilization was going to be ending in a week, it was a small price to pay to get those people he cared about nearby. For some reason, it didn¡¯t really occur to him to doubt Navia, nor did he feel like he was going insane. Perhaps for the first time in his life, he felt like he was thinking clearly.