Level 5
You have reached Level 5!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 16 meters!
“Now the fun really begins!” I said.
“Oh?”
“So here’s the plan.”
We were now at least forty meters from one another and easily able to keep track of each other’s location through the Local Map. Since it didn’t rely on the Creature Indicator’s range, we now had a large number of new tactics available to us.
I could move the small window to any part of my field of view. It went translucent when I didn’t look directly at it. Choosing the upper right-hand corner, I sized it to where I could comfortable look back and forth at it. It currently had an 80-meter perimeter.
It was late morning when we had first entered Freedom. After a full afternoon of hunting the sun was starting to set. We were probably a couple miles from the village, so we started to head back as we tested our new strategy.
A group of four weak looking goblins huddled together next to a tree about twenty meters out. They didn’t show up on the local map, but a silver dot representing Kline was close by. As agreed, we both stopped when we spotted them. It was his turn to attack first.
The silver dot started toward the goblins. As it picked up speed, I began to move.
With a cry, I called the goblin’s attention to me. The timing couldn’t have been better.
Kline cranked his ax back and unleashed it on the first goblin. He killed a second one while it was still seeking out where my battle cry had come from.
The two remaining goblins turned to meet Kline. Since they were kind enough to give me their backs, I chose that time to attack. My spear completely impaled one through the back and out the chest. The last one joined the others in death.
“Beautiful!” Kline declared.
“You think dead goblins are…”
“Ha! No. That was a good plan. Too bad it’s getting late. These things don’t come with torches or anything right?”
“No. I’m afraid not,” I chuckled.
“Too bad. We were just getting started.”
“Tomorrow then we will make a full day of it.”
“Deal!”
It had been a good hunt. Our inventories were half full with numerous odd pieces of clothing, a number of knives, two or three silver richer. Goblin undies… I was totally exhausted but had no desire to stop. Kline was right. We had really just got to the place where we could really roll through these groups like teeth through stuffed mushrooms.
“I’m getting hungry,” I added.
Now that I thought about it, nearly an hour had passed since we had seen another player. Perhaps we had gone too far out. We had been clearing out every group we saw.
It had come to the point where I could pretty much confirm that there was no respawning of the goblins. This place seemed pretty empty. There was the possible danger of harder enemies coming out at night. It was a game cliche, but still, something to keep an eye out for.
When we finally left the tree line, the stars were starting to outshine the remaining ray of sunlight on the horizon. Eyeing the village, the sight before us was like a punch to the gut.
The entrance to the village had been closed.
Looking to Kline, we ran toward the city gate.
There were over a hundred players already congregated there. A commotion was coming from the crowd.
As we arrived, two arrows flew from either tower, landing in the path of a player who was about to try and scale the gate.
Everyone stepped back slowly. The player was not someone I would have wanted to mess with. He was taller than me with a solid physique, yet he had been halted and was fuming as he stared up at the guards above.
It was then that I realized none of the players had a bow, nor had I seen any ranged weapons at all except in the hands of the guards. How convenient.
After some threats were tossed up at the guards, everyone started to settle it in their minds that we would be here all night.
“Newbs,” I said under my breath. Didn't they realize a gift had just been handed to us?
“What’s that?” Kline asked.
“Newb is a term that means newbie, or new players. What I was referring to is that it's silly to complain. If we are locked out of the city tonight, it is by no accident. Normally it means there is about to be a special event.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“It's a great thing! Events normally give rare or unique items and possibly quests.”
“So what you're saying is we will probably be up all night, but it's going to be worth it.”
“Yeah. That sums it up.”
Day 1 event sweetness! Please just let me have something to eat before everything starts.
Chapter 6 – Ruin
Snacking on biscuits and nuts, I had inventoried my spear and shield, leaving my sword sheathed as the only weapon I had easy access to. Not holding anything was like singing softly to a half-asleep baby.
A few players had run around the village and found no way in. Scaling the wall was nearly impossible because of the smoothness of the twenty-foot wall even away from the sight of the guards. There was only one in each tower. I hadn’t seen many guards walking the streets earlier, so I didn’t think there were many. It didn’t seem like a very smart move for them to give us a hard time. Unless they were hiding big numbers of guards, they might come to regret tonight.
There were large torch lamps showering down light from the gate towers. Everyone set up the best camp they could in the lighted area, despite being close to the trigger happy archers.
Unpacking my bundle, I found a thick tarp-like fabric five feet wide and about seven feet long. I suspected it was to act like a windbreaker or propped up to shelter you from the rain. Instead, I simply laid it out so Kline and I could lie down without getting wet from dew in the morning. It was nice enough out that you really didn't need a blanket. The rest of my pack was actually a sleeping bag. There was no zipper, but it was warm.
Kline and I sat down to fill our bellies the best we could and I showed him the basics of running his channel. He already had over 70,000 followers.
Since there was no way to respond to comments, I got a feel for what people were thinking through the comments. There were a large number of people that were going to monitor my channel all night in anticipation of the event.
I saved the best for last and watched my daily action highlights. Though it was subpar to the superhuman action that other games provided, it didn't seem to dissuade my fans. The sense of realism wasn’t lost on them. Extra squirming with 100% pain must have been entertaining. My shield bashing was also well received.
After I had finished, my exhaustion caught up with me. I quickly drifted to sleep.
***
Stirring in the middle of the night, I found Kline sleeping on the tarp next to me. Most others were also asleep except for a few groups that were still gathered around different campfires. Scanning the mounds of sleeping bodies, I estimated that close to three hundred people had ended up being trapped outside of the gate. Was the same event happening elsewhere?
I was still groggy, but the intense exhaustion I had felt earlier had been replaced with soreness.
Yesterday had been physically intense and considering I was only in fair shape I was regretting not working out more often.
Looking up at the stars in the perfectly clear night sky, the moon was full and nearly directly above us. There really was an awe to this virtual world. Even after feeling the pain from getting bitten by the goblin, I was thoroughly enjoying it.
Since virtual reality began, there had always been the dream of creating a truly realistic virtual world. Looking back at the last couple hundred years of history, it seemed every decade a new technology would come out that promised just that. It would be a breakthrough in comparison to the old, but I knew nothing had ever compared to this.