Sitting at my desk writing the final entries into my guide, I was surprised to hear a knock at the door. My mind blurring over what sort of reason people might have for knocking on our door, after all it was only Ethan and I that lived here, we didn’t have any friends outside of the games we played and nobody really knew where we lived.
Stepping, dread soon began to fill my heart as through the various windows the blue flashing lights of police cars filled Ethan’s bedroom along with the hallway.
“Mr Joel Cunnings?” A woman asked firmly one I had opened the door fully to reveal the two officers in my doorway.
“That’s me, can I help you?” I asked curiously
“I’m afraid that your brother Ethan has been in an accident, can we come in” The woman asked though I was stunned. This never happened before, Ethan was never in an accident in my previous life, why was in an accident this time. Though the more I questioned it the more I realised just how much I had deviated from the previous path we walked, I had pushed him to train harder, to have a competition between us, both of us were far different to our past selves and now it seems I’m paying the price for my interference.
“What happened?” I asked firmly, tears beginning to roll down my cheeks but I wasn’t sad or grieving, I was angry. This was my fault, my interference.
“Officers were in pursuit of a stolen vehicle. The thief went the wrong way down a one way system and after going round a sharp bend, ended up in a head on collision with your brother’s car. Paramedics did their best and Ethan certainly was a fighter but unfortunately he succumb to his injuries on route to hospital”
“Right… I… errr… What do I do now?” I asked her, not even sure what his next step should be.
“This must be a lot to take in, we do need you to come to the hospital to verify the identity of your brother, we’ve found his wallet and numerous letters in his car which led us here”.
“Of course… Can I ask what happened to the other driver… The thief?” I asked curiously.
“He was badly injured during the collision, he was also taken to hospital but I don’t currently know his condition” She said though a rather horrifying thought burst into my mind as I remembered one of the updates Infinity went through.
Around 6 months after Infinity’s launch, the world was quickly realising the benefit of having 48 hours sleep, the work of countless real world companies turned digital and as such many people were put to work. In the past, many super guilds, backed by governments and major corporations had personal legions of criminal players, their affinity to violence and fighting made them excellent Combat Experts and they often struck terror in game as these people would terrorise normal players at the bidding of the super guilds.
*What if this thief gets to play Infinity… How dare the world let such a person play and refuse to let my brother live*
There were still a few days before Infinity’s release and both gaming headsets were already delivered but as I now left with the police officers to go to the Hospital, all I could think about was how my plan would change. Although I had no intention of ever telling Ethan this, I had already from day 1 decided that I would let him win to become Guild Leader. After all, I had to save humanity, I needed to dedicate my time to empowering my character and whilst running a guild would be interesting, it would slow me down. Too much paperwork and bureaucracy. As a Vice-Guild Leader, I could run around collecting items and materials as I went to help promote the guild without taking too much responsibility. But now, with no Ethan, I thought about whether I should build my own guild, following in his footsteps.
Sitting in the back of the police car, my thoughts ran away with me, distracting me from the painful reality as I thought about players that were famous in my previous life, people who he could potentially recruit into his new guild if he chose to make one. Infinity, however, wasn’t a simple game. Combat was difficult, challenging but still fell victim to the laws of the system. In real life, one person couldn’t fight off thousands, but in a game one person could defeat millions, it was all a matter of strength. Higher levels, better weapons, better techniques and skills. The stronger you were the less impact weaker players had, at level 50 you could be considered immortal to an army of level 1’s everything was relative and with his guide he could leap ahead of the bumbling population who had no insight into what Infinity had to offer.
*But a guild might only hold me back, it will take considerable time and effort to promote and train so many other players and they would be my weakness, I alone could be untouchable but a guild would fall victim to other players, other guilds and if I was here to save humanity, no doubt I’ll be going against major countries and companies to stop them from twisting the games rules*
By the time I had arrived at the hospital, I had reached my decision. I had no time or patience to be a guild leader, I was going to instead, gradually build an Adventurer Team.
Unlike guilds which had hundreds of thousands if not millions of members all adhering to a strict set of rules and code of conduct. Adventurer Teams were the creation for independent players. They had significantly less wealth, influence and power than a guild but they had far more freedom, they hunted, trained and moved through various maps whilst guilds would prioritise gathering materials, building guild towns and settlements to secure an income of in-game coin. It was incredibly tempting to be a part of a guild, certainly if you performed well and joined the core membership teams or management teams since they would provide you not only with resources in game but outside too, a regular income to cover living expenses so that more time could be spent in-game.
“Mr Cunnings, we’re here” the officer called out, clearly having said my name a few times but only just snapping me away from my thoughts.
It was a nightmare to deal with not just the hospital but everybody afterwards, the police, insurance, funeral arrangements. But it got worse when I got home, to deal with an empty apartment, all of Ethan’s belongings. Unfortunately, I was mentally strong enough to deal with that just yet and I could only cope with each day by focusing on the upcoming release of Infinity. My guide grew a few extra chapters in the last few days as I noted various areas that could be used to train up an Adventuring Team as well as ways to gather better items than what I knew these powerhouses had used previously.
As the afternoon sun was beginning to set, I was laying on my bed, my headset already on and loaded up. The time was 19:49 and there was only 11 minutes now before Infinity would be launched and I knew that every second counted. Luckily for me, unlike every other player, I knew exactly where to go, what quests I needed and how to complete them.
Counting the seconds down, I looked up at my ceiling, waiting patiently as when the time hit 20:00 instantly I felt my mind fade away as all vision, sound and smell vanished and I could see the beautiful endless void of space appear around me. Instantly my first thought was that I was back inside the ‘Life Binders’ cage but I knew that wasn’t the case.
Seeing a giant angle with 6 wings float in front of me, it confirmed that I wasn’t back inside the cage, the Angel of Life was a well known deity within Infinity and the first NPC players will meet when logging in for the first time.
[ Welcome Player to Infinity ]
[ Do you wish to use your own appearance or adjust a virtual one? ]
“My own appearance” I replied confidently, knowing full well that this was the game’s first trap, right off the bat. Combat within Infinity was incredibly realistic, not that anybody really knew that just yet and with new more powerful headsets, training within Infinity would begin to have real world benefits, muscle memory, mental conditioning, acute senses. For those using their own appearance this would blend seamlessly, however for those with altered virtual ones, would soon notice the difference. Especially when people change things such as height, weight. Of course, millions of people would always be tempted to make themselves better looking and for them facial changes weren’t a massive impact though for the women, increasing one’s bust size did impact them. Although once people figured out this issue, most deleted their characters and started again but that was a lot of time wasted and in a nice sort of karma based way the number of men pretending to be women with their characters sharply dropped.
[ Consciousness scanned ]
[ Body saved ]
[ Consciousness recognised. Welcome, Saviour of Humanity ]
“Eh!… How the fuck did the game recognise me” I blurted out to myself in shock, not sure how I was going to process this.
[ Saviour of Humanity recognised ]
[ Please choose a Class ]
Seeing a list of names and symbols materialise before me, I stared at this list and then up at the Angel of Life in surprise and annoyance.
“Excuse me… Why can I only choose between the three healer classes?” I asked, shocked to see the list of all Classes greyed out with only three being visible to choose from.
“Saviour, you have been recognised to have touched the [Key of Olympus]. As the saviour you are unable to choose damage based classes” The Angel surprisingly answered back, stunning me into silence as there was no memory that I could recall of the Angel of Life every responding to a question during character creation, though instantly I realised how much time I was wasting by being here.
“Okay. I choose Druid” I said firmly, making my choice. Clerics used mainly holy based magic which whilst powerful against dark forces would be rather limiting, Oracles used mainly water based magic which again wasn’t overly helpful yet Druid commanded Nature magic, it wasn’t overpower but rather well rounded and with an affinity for nature, a druid could use animal companions. They weren’t as powerful as a player but with a big enough lead over the general player base, its power would trump anything that opposed him.
[ Druid Class chosen ]
[ Title of ‘Saviour’ Granted ]
‘Saviour’: Increases reputation in all NPC cities to the rank of ‘Influential’
[ Please choose a Character Name ]
“A name?” I thought to myself, though whilst I was tempted to go with the name ‘Kite’ which was my previous name, I decided that I wanted something different, especially since I was planning to become a major powerhouse in Infinity in order to save humanity.
“I chose the name ‘Silent Oak’” I called out, wanting to have something both mysterious and druidic.
[ Confirming ]
[ Accepted ]
[ Please pick a starting city ]
Looking at the giant list of cities, I was relieved that none of these were grayed out.
“I chose ‘Lunar Bridge’” I said aloud, watching the city get highlighted as the list then vanished.
[ Welcoming ‘Silent Oak’ In 3… ]
[ 2… ]
[ 1… ]
Watching the stars of heaven fade into the background, whilst floating in space I felt like I was falling, gravity appearing from nowhere and dragging me down though within a second I hit a floor, my eyes instinctively falling from what felt like a three foot drop as when I opened my eyes again, the sight of space and stars had vanished and I was now on the floor of a nearby road, the brightness of day illuminating everything there was to see as I quickly sat dozens of other players getting up from the ground as they arrived in the game.
“Time to get started then”…
Seeing people logging in for the first time, I realised how much of a rush I was in. Darting forward, people were still confused and amazed at the detail of the game, their movements feeling far more fluid than any game they’d ever experienced before but I was already fully accustomed to this since this world and frankly, there were still a dozen updates to go before it reached the level I was truly familiar with.
Getting in ahead of the other players, I rushed towards the Town Hall. The main place to pick up quests in the city though as I weaved through the crowds of wandering players and bustling NPCs I realised how lucky I was to have picked Lunar Bridge, as a Druid magic was now my new focus rather than archery, my physical training mainly wasted but at least I had good control over my own body when it came to fighting. However in an Elven city known for it’s magic, this was the best place to improve quickly.
Arriving at the Town Hall, I instantly walked up to the front desk, several other players panting from exhaustion as they had rushed around trying to find the place. *They’ve clearly got the right idea to get a head start* I thought as I noticed an NPC motioning me up to counter once it was my turn.
“Welcome Saviour. How may we be of help to you today?” She said politely.
“Saviour… That guy has a title already, it’s only been a few minutes”…
“Incredible”…
“To think this game has a bug in it already”…
“I wish to see your list of available quests” I said confidently as the NPC only nodded and presented a large book, duplicates to what the others along the counter were also flicking through. As a city, there were thousands of quests ready for the approaching masses but there were only a few that I was interested in.
“I’d like to pick these three quests since they are in the same area” I said firmly, the NPC only nodding as three quests was the limit one player could assign themselves at one time, though most quests had a time limit and if you failed they would reappear for others to pick up.
“Of course, good luck to you” The NPC said before motioning to the next player behind him, though I didn’t wait around, quickly rushing over to the trade area for the other quests I needed. It will only take a few hours for people to realise this but quests could be picked up from a number of places, the Town Hall was just the ones in which NPC’s had assign to the Town Hall to deal with, many players could pick up quests by speaking with NPC directly or by collecting items.
“Good morning, kind sir, I overheard that you’re having some trouble collecting an item?” I asked politely, looking to the Elven merchant who looked rather annoyed to be approached by a human, though by placing a cupped hand over my heart as I spoke, the Elven man’s face turned from annoyance to surprise.
“You know about our culture?” He asked curiously, whilst I kept my hand over my heart, the gesture symbolising respect especially if accompanied with a bow to which I did give a small one, nothing overly noticeable to passers by, just a little lean forward to make clear my gesture of respect.
“A little, I am new to the city and keen to embroil myself deeper. I know I am only human, but I am a Druid, as have a great deal of respect to those who favour mana” I replied, thinking up a decent response since Elves were well adept at magic and since mana was the source of all magic, it a worthwhile card to play as a magic based class.
“I had thought you humans were too uncultured but perhaps there is hope for some of you still. Alright, a caravan full of my stock was ransacked in the forests to the east, recover my items and I’ll reward you handsomely” The man said as I thanked him with a deeper bow before rushing off to pick up the next quest.
Racing through the forests, I could see thousands of players already making their way into the city though now that I was looking to be ahead of the game, with a total of seven quests for one area the experience alone would see me already reaching level 2.
“I really should have thought this through more” I chuckled to myself as I came across the first monster inside Infinity.
[ Wild Boar ]
[ Level 2 ]
[ HP: 100 ]
Looking at the wooden staff in my hand, it really wasn’t a weapon in the slightest but like most magic classes, their weapons were merely attribute buffers.
[ Wooden Staff ]
[ + 5 Attack ]
[ Durability: 50/50 ]
“I better take a quick look at my stats before I get killed off by a boar… Status” I muttered to myself watching the holographic screen appear before me.
*** STATUS ***
NAME: Silent Oak – TIER: 0 – LEVEL: 1
EXPERIENCE: 0//100
** ATTRIBUTES **
STRENGTH: 9 – AGILITY: 9 – INTELLIGENCE: 10
STAMINA: 6 – SPIRIT: 8 – COURAGE: 7
LUCK: 4 – PROWESS: 7 – PERCEPTION: 8
** SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES **
TRANSLATING: 0 – READING:5 – LEARNING: 9
PERSUASION: 7 – LEADING: 5 – INTIMIDATION: 5
BOLSTERING: 4 – CALMING: 2 – SEDUCING: 4
TRACKING: 4 – SPYING: 5 – THIEVING: 2
“What high stats!” I thought to myself as I looked at what I was starting off with. Each one being nearly twice the amount it had been when I previously started playing Infinity. But whilst these stats were truly pitiful in the grand scheme of things, it just went to show just how much his training in the real world had improved his body.
Annoying, unlike previous games there were no starting skills or spells, they could only be gained from either quests, trainers or as loot from creatures.
Gripping the wooden staff firmly, I had no experience fighting with this sort of weapon but I was hopefully athletic enough that I could carry myself with it until I obtained a few spells.