My eyes quickly adjusted. A large wood-framed window was a friendly welcome. I stood in the middle of a small room surrounded by a bed, a single wooden desk, a chair, and the entrance. There was no decoration, not even paint.
Outside the window, I had a good view from the second floor of a large village. Buildings were made of weathered wood without any unnatural color. It reminded me of an old western frontier town, but the people carried swords instead of rifles. The road was packed dirt and filled with dozens of people pushing carts. Men wore pants tucked into their boots, with long-sleeved tunics. A few women wore long flower-patterned dresses over tall boots, others blouses with trousers and boots for more manual work. Some of these villagers were non-player characters or NPCs. Each had their own AI loaded with a lifetime of false human memories to drive their motivation. Others were people hired to run the village and work as merchants. It was supposed to be nearly impossible to tell them apart.
Even with the revelation of 100% pain, my mind was racing about what I should do first. The higher the pain % the more people would be watching. I could use this to my advantage. That meant more opportunity to gain followers!
Turning to the door, an abrasively modern popup window of polished silver stopped me in my tracks. I read its message.
Dearest Earthling,
On behalf of the American Armed Forces, I welcome you!
The reasons you have been brought to this world have mostly been hidden from you. Legally there was a certain amount of information we were required to tell you, but we provided no information beyond that requirement. Hidden in this land are clues as to the real purpose of Codename: Freedom. Although we will be collecting data to study how humans respond in such an environment, such efforts are a shadow, the excuse behind our real purpose.
Do I have your attention?
This world is filled with danger, but strength is available to all of those who seek it diligently. Besides the world itself, there are many tools at your disposal. It is highly recommended that you take advantage of the mentor system that will give you access to some of the most accomplished martial artists and combat trainers available from the real world. Few of you have the real combat training that will be needed to survive. All you have to do is survive to the end of the first week and these trainers will be available to you. In other words, if you don’t quit before the first week is out you will gain access to the trainers.
You will not find any direct information from the people of this land about our purpose. Only recently have they come to these shores aboard massive ships to settle here. Regardless, do not underestimate their worth.
As an alien to this world, you will find many of the creatures here foreign to you. They are the real people of this land with thousands of years of history. Beware of the danger even the weakest of them possesses. Strength is often hidden.
For now, the only direction you will be given is to go. Go out into the land and discover what has been hidden from you.
The first clue?
War is coming.
That is all.
Oh. And try not to die, but entertain us if you do.
It gave me pause. I read the last line again. Obnoxious, aren’t they?
I didn’t know if I was more surprised about the direction of the quest, or the fact that there was a quest at all. There had been a lot of speculation about what the game’s lore and history would be like. This was… unexpected.
At least the NPCs shouldn’t give us too much trouble if they were new here as well.
So the government wanted to play games and hide their secrets from us? Some kind of war was coming? I didn’t even care what they threw at me at this point. I smelled the aroma of new followers and was determined to get their attention.
A separate popup, in parchment styling, populated on top of the modern one.
You have unlocked Lore in your Access Hub!
That was quick. So it seemed some systems would unlock if the conditions were right. Bringing up the hub, the lore tab just gave me a list of things I had discovered.
Quest Type: (World Wide Event)
War!?
What could this possibly mean?
Reward: ?!?!
Quest Type: (Regional Event)
Survive the week!
You will be tested! How? Figure that out yourself. Giving you a warning is more than fair!
Reward: 10,000 Experience, Access to trainers, Ability to form a guild.
Failure: You only fail if you quit and leave Freedom.
After examining the quests, the first event was certainly vague, but would likely have amazing rewards. The quest type of World Wide Event was impossible to miss. The time sensitivity of the second event was pretty interesting. It seemed the first week in Freedom was going to be good.
I took some snapshots of both the Quest and Lore windows, once again scoring a few thousand more viewers.
Shaking my head at how effortless it was, if only gaining followers could always be this easy all the time. Going pro was only a matter of time now if things kept going the way they were.
Once again unsheathing my sword, I gripped it, the blade pointing down. I snapped another picture. Small gestures like this one went a long way. Vent, my channel manager, had ingrained such things into my brain.
Outside my little room, I headed down a long hall following the music. It got me where I needed to go. Finding the stairs down to the first floor the upbeat woodwind grew louder.
I ignored a large group of new players standing at the salon-style front counter trying to speak with the inn’s staff. I knew they were new players because they were all dressed in familiar dirt colored outfits, with the rare exception of some players that had leather. A few of the players had even purchased the ridiculous hats. I was not a fan of money sinks.
If the raised voices were any indication, the 100% pain thing wasn’t being taken very well.
I was through the village, which was much larger than it had seemed from my window and out the front gate in a few minutes. I had left quickly enough that the first wave of players hadn’t overwhelmed the streets.
The breeze on my face, gravel underfoot, and weight of my pack left me in wonder. It was hard to believe where my body was and what I was really doing in the real world.
Chewme and I had agreed we should spend the first few days gearing up and getting a hang of the basics before we sought one another out. Of course, there was the hidden challenge to try to see who would get the best gear between now and then. Challenge accepted!
There was no time to worry about Chewme now. It was a race for resources like most first days in new massive multiplayer online games. The people we were competing against were among the greatest gamers and athletes in the world.
Suddenly I felt small just thinking about it. I would show everyone I deserved to be here.
The wall around the village was nearly two stories tall stretching the full perimeter. It was probably more appropriate to call it a small city. The gate was little more than a bunch of smoothed out trees held together with nails and rope. They were tall enough to do the job.
Two towers made of the same wood held an archer in either perch under gray clay shingles, matching the rest of the homes in the area.
A field of about 200 meters stretched out between me and a forest. The landscape wasn’t quite plains, rather it was made up of low rolling hills. The forest was a mix of old oak, maple and pine, not leaving a lot of room for new trees. This open field was teaming with life of the most basic variety: rabbits, squirrels, and boar.