CHAPTER 1 “Awake”

I woke.  Or at least I thought I was awake.  All I could see was black.  There was a muffled sound.  It was a conversation, but I could not focus on the words.  I focused and tried to listen… “minimal brain activity…little hope…spinal injury…eighty percent body covered in burns…” My eyelids were forced open, but I could not focus.  Three blurry figures in doctor’s coats stood in my vision.  One shined a light in my eyes.  “No pupillary response.” The doctor with the light muttered.  The light went away, and so did my vision.

Another doctor, this one with a female voice, added, “It’s been seven days.  The brain is still showing almost no activity.  He is effectively braindead.”

I heard someone outside of my vision add to the conversation.  “The family wants to turn off life support, and the DNR has been signed.  He is an organ donor, but not much can be salvaged.”

The female doctor chimed in, “Does the family want to be here?”

Out of view, the doctor answered, “No, they said their goodbyes yesterday.  They signed off for the body’s organs to be donated as well.”

My mind was in a panic.  But it felt like I was thinking in slow motion.  I wanted to scream a response, but it was taking all my focus just to process the conversation going on around me.  I tried to remember how I came to be here.

My memories were fractured.  I tried to sort and fast forward.  It was Wednesday, and I was walking home from my summer job.  I was working for a friend of my father building homes.  It was the same job I had done for the last three summers.  It was hard work, but I really enjoyed it, and it paid well, allowing me to pay for a good portion of my college tuition.  

I was going into my senior year and would graduate with my degree in architecture.  Yes, focus, I was walking and saw smoke at Grant’s house.  I heard a young child scream and ran down the side street. One of the Grant’s children, a young girl, was outside crying, and people were rushing to the property.  

The three-story house had black smoke pushing out the open windows, and flames were also starting to lick outside the window.  About a dozen people were milling around, and then the young girl sobbed, “Perry is inside.” All the adults looked at each other, none willing to enter the death’s oven.  I listened, hoping to hear a fire siren, but heard nothing.

The fire station was on the other side of town, a good 9 miles.  I steeled my courage, pulled my tee shirt up to cover my mouth, and rushed into the house.  I remember searching the house’s first floor as smoke obscured my vision.  Finding nothing, I rushed up the stairs, got on my knees, and continued to search.  

The memory of difficulty breathing and heat was painful.  A memory of finding a puppy with the name tag ‘Perry’ came to me.  The puppy was whimpering under a bed.  I remember swearing that Perry was a dog and not a child, wrapping the pup up in a blanket, and trying to get out of the house, but the heat and smoke confused me.  

The last thing I remember was seeing an open window and running towards it, but just as I was about to leap, the entire floor gave way and fell.  I thought I threw the puppy through the window but couldn’t recall anything but pain after that point.

I was brought back to the present.  There was a pain of something tearing out of my throat.  I wanted to scream but I was inept to act.  Suddenly, my breathing was pained.  I couldn’t find the energy to inhale.  I fought against it and willed my lungs to inflate, getting relief.  The pain was immense.  I was trying to inflate my lungs against massive resistance.  Each breath took all my focus.

I could hear the doctors talking but all my effort was on breathing.  Then, relief, I was floating…the pain was gone.  I started to forget to breathe.  I had to bring my concentration back to breathing constantly.  It was getting harder.  Then, another wave of lightness came, and I could not maintain my consciousness.  I drifted away from this world.

I woke in the dark.  I assumed this was the afterlife.  Nothing, just a void.  I turned in a circle, and it certainly felt like I was standing.  I noticed a light in the distance.  It appeared yellow and was getting larger.  My thought was, well, this should be good.  

As the light approached, I noticed it was definitely a sphere, not a doorway.  The sphere got close to me, and it illuminated my body, which I now noticed was naked.  The sphere looked to be the size of a soccer ball.  It was a pulsing golden orb with emerald lightning flashing along its surface.  I was mesmerized and a little shocked when it spoke.

“Welcome to Open World player.  I will be your AI to help in character creation and initiate you into the game.” The ball pulsed with each word.  Wild, was my first thought, the afterlife is a video game!

The ball continued unhindered; a drop fell from the ball, and it quickly grew into a person.  That person was me.  The AI continued, “You can now choose a race to play; currently, there are 19 playable races in Open World.  Each race has five sub-races and can be played as either male or female.  The game designers encourage you to play as your own sex, and as such, they grant you a bonus of 5 attribute points if you do so.  The races are Angelkin, Beastman, Centaur, Demonkin, Dwarf, Elf, Elementalkin, Fairy, Human, Kobold, Dragonkin, Gnome, Goblin, Giantkin, Lizardman, Orc, Shade, Shifter, and Undead.” As the orb had named off each race, my doppelganger had shifted into an example of each race.

I was overwhelmed.  “AI, why am I here?” My clone stopped changing and settled on a small, human-looking pixie with butterfly wings.  The light then flashed for a few seconds before speaking.

“Tester 272, you have the privilege of being part of the beta test of Open World—a fully functioning virtual reality set in the fantasy genre.  Your mind was purchased and slated to develop and map NPC personas according to your records.  However, the developer discovered your minimal brain activity and instead hard-wired you as a player character in the Beta test phase.  You are one of 478 players who have been hard-wired.  This is most fortunate for you because you will not have to reset and start at level one on the game’s release!” This was the first time the voice seemed excited—artificial excitement.  

Since it seemed talkative, I tried to get more information.  “How many players are part of the Beta testing?” and my question was quickly answered, “Two-thousand nine hundred fifty-seven, but only hard-wired players can roll over their characters.  This number is also expected to be doubled by the end of the Beta Phase.” Wow.  That was a lot of people.

“How long is the Beta testing phase?” The ball returned with an answer, “Ninety days real-world time, but that is 360 game days.  Time in Open World passes four times as quickly.” I noticed my clone had shifted to an orc.  Was the AI getting impatient?

“Am I alive?” This seemed to stump the ball of light.  

Time passed, and then it finally answered.  “Yes.” I was too worried to delve deeper into this question right now.  My character was now a blue-skinned male with watery skin.

“Do I have to play this game?” Now, this question definitely threw the machine for a loop.  

It seemed to freeze in place and then fade out.  Then another voice, a feminine voice, came through the sphere.  “Good morning, player.  Your AI has deferred your last question to me.  I am one of the lead programmers for Open World.  The answer to your question is no, you do not have to play.  However, the more you stimulate your mind by participating, the stronger your mind can grow.  You can also exchange in-game currency for real-world money if you wish.  You may wish to take care of your body out here in the real world.”

She paused and continued when I thought she was not coming back.  “Sorry, we are currently docking quite a few test players.  It has been 18 years since your accident, and medical science has progressed quite far.  They can regrow arms, skin, muscles, organs, and just about anything.  Your body is in semi-stasis while you are wired in and will age slowly in the real world.  So if you want a reason to play, that should be good enough.”

The orb AI returned as the programmer left.  The programmer was a bit snippety. Was she even telling the truth? I had a lot of doubts but decided to return and focus on the game for now.  I had played a few games and could master this one, earn money, and free my body.

My twin was now some type of bear-man.  I was surprised that I had no panic welling up in me.  In fact, emotions felt elusive—muted.  The ball flashed in impatience, and I decided to continue with the process and accept my fate –for now.

I started to narrow down my choices for race.  I went with what I found pleasing to my eye.  That dropped out everything except Angelkin, Beastman, Elementalkin, and Human for me.  I then dropped Angelkin because the five sub-races, Aegis, Astral, Disgraced, Seraphim, and Solar, didn’t appeal to me, even though they all looked cool.  

The beastmen had some interesting sub-races: catmen, wolfmen, bearmen, bullmen, and birdmen.  I played a long time with each of these, changing appearances, but eventually dropped the race.  

The elementals all looked human but had different tweaks to their appearance.  Earth was bald and had darker skin; water was blue with flowing hair and watery skin; the air was pale with minimal hair; the fire had tan skin but fiery red hair, and spirit looked like a normal human.

So, finally, I got to the human.  Humans also came in five varieties: common, dragoon, high, nomadic, and waterborne.  The common man had no bonuses but had five skill points at level 1 and got two more every level.  Most races I had viewed received five skill points at level one and then just got one more at each level.  

The dragoons were a warrior caste it appeared with a bonus to strength at every level.  The high men were basically nobles with a bonus of charisma.  Nomads were either barbarians or traders, a huge range, but they received bonuses for survival skills.  The waterborne basically lived on ships their whole life and received agility bonuses at every level.

If you wanted the most flexibility in skill growth, then the common man was your best choice.  I finally chose the common man.  It’s so vanilla of me, but I wanted the flexibility.  Also, I knew nothing about the game, and playing someone who looked like me made me feel comfortable and hopefully normal.  I think I was still grasping at my past life.

I was prompted to make any cosmetic changes I would like before proceeding.  I choose to lengthen my hair and darken it from brown to black.  I even changed the texture of the hair from coarse to silky.  I went with the silky feel.  I changed my eyes to a brilliant green from dark blue.  

I couldn’t change my muscle tone, and the AI informed me it was a reflection of my strength stat.  Happy with the look, I told the AI to proceed.  The clone walked into me, and it was a little unnerving as my body changed to match it.  The orb created a mirror, and I checked myself out.  Not bad, even my genitalia looked good, but I wished I had some clothes.  The mirror vanished, and a holo screen appeared before me.

Strength 1 Carry Capacity, Small Hit Point Increase, Damage Increase on Physical Attacks

Constitution 1 Hit Point Increase, Hit Point Regen

Stamina 1 Stamina Pool Increase, Stamina Pool Regen

Agility 1 Improved Defense Rating, Ranged Attack Bonus

Speed 1 Movement Speed

Intellect 1 Learning Speed, Small Mana Bonus

Magic 0 Mana Pool Bonus

Channeling 0 Mana Pool Regen

Charisma 0 Interaction Bonus with NPCs

Luck 0 Improved Random Generated Items and Quests

Unassigned Points 16 (5 from level 1, 6 from choice of human race, 5 for choosing male sex)

Ten stats.  This game was intense.  It was not your simple RPG.  The five bonus stat points for choosing male were for playing my actual sex.  Free points in my mind as I was not interested in being a woman.  I tapped the word strength on the screen before me, and it increased by one.  

I had played a few RPG games in my youth, but I was not certain if I wanted to focus on physical skills or magic.  I increased all the stats by one point and then increased constitution by 3, strength by 2, and stamina by 1.  As I leveled, I focused my stat development based on my play style.  Since I was going in blind, I had no planned style yet but figured not dying was a high priority, therefore the high constitution.

Strength 4 Carry Capacity, Small Hit Point Increase, Damage Increase on Physical Attacks

Constitution 5 Hit Point Increase, Hit Point Regen

Stamina 3 Stamina Pool Increase, Stamina Pool Regen

Agility 2 Improved Defense Rating, Ranged Attack Bonus

Speed 2 Movement Speed

Intellect 2 Learning Speed, Small Mana Bonus

Magic 1 Mana Pool Bonus

Channeling 1 Mana Pool Regen

Charisma 1 Interaction Bonus with NPCs

Luck 1 Improved Random Generated Items and Quests

I clicked accept.

You have 7 skill points (2 from level 1, 5 from choice of common human sub-race)

Current Skills: Reading: Common 1 NA Tier, +1 Intelligence, +2% reading speed

I flipped back to my stats and noticed my intelligence was now 3.  I returned to the skills.  A massive list of skills and sub-skills was displayed.  It was dizzying.  You could use various filters for crafting, magic, combat, harvesting, recreation, thievery, social and miscellaneous.  Each list had skills in green script, and others grayed out.

“AI, can you explain skills to me?”

“Certainly.  I am here to answer all your questions at any time.  Open World has a unique system called the Prime Advancement Skill System.  Called PASS by developers.  A skill can be leveled infinitely, but you only unlock access to the skill abilities when your skill reaches a prime level.  Tier 1 is unlocked at level one in the skill, tier 2 at level two, tier 3 at level three, tier 4 unlocks at level five, tier 5 at level seven, and so on.  When you unlock a new tier, a skill will give you a bonus to its assigned stat.  Most skills also give a small related bonus per level.  Here is a visual aide for you.” My holo screen showed a chart.

 

 

My first thought was, damn nerdy programmers.  The AI continued.  “At tier five, you gain access to the title of ‘novice’ in the skill, at tier 10, access to the title of ‘expert’ in the skill, at tier 15, access to the title of ‘master’ in the skill, at tier 20 access to the title of ‘grand master’.  It is also possible to achieve higher levels, but skill advancement makes it difficult.  Also, your stat bonus at these tiers is doubled.”

“There are four ways to advance a skill.  The first is practical use.  It takes four hours to learn a skill to level 1, and a 50% increase in this investment in time per level.  Depending on your real-world experience in this skill, however, you could learn the skill up to 10 times faster until the game determines your knowledge is equivalent to your real-world base.  Then you advance normally.  The second way is through skill books.  A skill book takes one hour to digest and adds a single skill point.  A novice skill book can raise a skill up to 7, an expert skill book up to level 23, and a master skill book up to level 43.”

“The third way to learn a skill is as a student.  A teacher can teach a skill up to 5 tiers lower at four times the normal rate.  This means a teacher with skill level 43 who has tier 13 unlocked can teach students up to tier level 8, or skill level 17.  Also, it is good to note that teachers with the ‘teaching’ skill can further accelerate the learning speed of their students.”  

“The fourth way is to apply skill points earned through leveling or completing quests.  After a certain point, this is the only way to push your skill higher,” the AI finished his explanation.

It seemed to make sense, but I had to take a few moments to think it through.  It was an exponential increase in practical time required to level a skill.  So, after a while, you really needed to gain points through skill books, quests, and leveling.  It also made sense to hold those items and level them practically first.  

The AI seemed to read my mind.  “Practical leveling through practice and teachers is independent of points gained through books, quests, and leveling.” Huh, I thought, puzzling it out.  I could then purchase seven novice skill books, get the skill to level 7, and then just practice for four hours to get to level 8.  It works for me, although I did not yet know the cost of skill books in the world.

My choice of the common man race was also a good call.  Maybe not in the early game, but getting a bonus skill point at every level was going to be amazing when everyone else was struggling to raise their skills.

The AI was not finished, “There are also two types of skills, primary and secondary.  A secondary skill can never exceed a primary skill level by more than two levels.  All progress in the secondary skill will be lost at this point, and any other means used to raise the skill will fail.  You will lose bonus quest points, you will not be able to utilize skill points, and you will not be able to allocate level skill points.  So it is advised to keep track of your skills, as you’re AI, I will remind you not to turn in any quests that would result in losing bonus skill points, but you can override my warning.  Here is an example of a primary and secondary skill tree.” My holo displayed swimming skills and its associated secondary skills.

 

Swimming, Each Tier Adds +1 to Strength, each level adds +2% to swim speed

Swimming: Diving, Each Tier Adds +1 to Speed

Swimming: Hold Breath, Each Tier Adds +1 to Stamina, each level increases time under water +2%

Swimming: Endurance, Each Tier Adds +1 to Constitution, each level slows fatigue while swimming

I was piecing this together.  So, if I spent an entire day swimming, I could gain a few easy strength stat points.  Interesting, I was thinking of perhaps reaching level one in a bunch of skills just to get a few free stat points here and there.  

Once again, the AI seemed to read my mind, “The more skills you acquire, the slower your learning speed will be.  This effect takes place after you acquire 23 skills and is very small, just +1% time per additional skill beyond 23, but it affects all skills in terms of advancement.  However, you cannot unlearn skills once acquired, so the penalty can grow quickly.  So choose skills wisely.”

“Can you read my mind?” I thought it was a pertinent question.

The orb pulsed twice and then spoke, “I am linked to you and can read your current stream of thought.”

I was quiet.  The ball hovered.  Neither of us spoke.  I was uncomfortable having this machine in my head.  It spoke first, “If it will help you, you can give me a name and personify my form for adventuring.  I cannot fight or cast spells but can accompany you.  Only you will be able to hear me, but others can see me but will be able to harm my avatar.”

“Okay, what name and form would you prefer?” The orb began to pulse and beat faster.  The light grew bright, and I was blinded.  When the light faded, a miniature tiger hovered in the air.  It looked like a Bengal tiger kitten.  I was not really a cat person, but I didn’t want to hurt the AI’s feelings on my first day.  “Great choice!” Did it already know I didn’t like cats from reading my thoughts?  Too late now.  “And your name?”

“Simba.” Well, so much for the AI’s originality.  Okay, I needed to choose skills.  I started paging through the vast amount of skills.  There were nine primary magic skills.  I should probably take one of them.  I was torn between Nature and Earth but eventually chose Nature and the secondary skill Nature: Plant skill.

Nature Magic 1 Tier 1 unlocked: +1 Magic, +2% damage Earth Spells

Nature Magic: Plant 1 Tier 1 unlocked: +1 Channeling, Tier 1 plant spells can now be learned

Next, I filtered by crafting.  There were many options, metalsmith, enchanting, and tailoring, to name a few, but when I came across woodcraft, I knew it was the choice for me.  I choose two of the secondary skills as well.

Woodcraft 1 Tier 1 unlocked: +1 Channeling, +2% health for constructed items

Woodcraft: Carpentry 1 Tier 1 unlocked: +1 Luck, +2% building quality

Woodcraft: Furniture 1 Tier 1 unlocked: +1 Charisma, +2% furniture quality

Excellent.  I had a marketable skill that I could level up quickly due to my real-world knowledge.  I had two skill points remaining, and I knew I needed a melee or ranged weapon skill.  With my strength, it made sense to select a melee weapon skill.

Axe 1 Tier 1 unlocked: +1 Agility, +2% damage with axes

Axe: Two-Handed 1 Tier 1 unlocked: +1 Strength

I selected the complete button.  “Excellent.  You can now select a talent.” A new list scrolled on my screen before me.  Without having to ask, Simba informed me, “You can select a talent at the first level and then another at every level, which is a multiple of ten.  Talents are used to enhance your character and support your playing style.  Talents can enhance leveling of specific skills, increase damage with a particular weapon, reduce casting cost of spells, and many other things.” The list was overwhelming, and many were grayed out.

“What do you suggest, Simba?” The list was shortened to four possible selections.

“Based on your initial skill selections, one of these would make sense.” I read through Simba’s choices.

Human’s Development Advantage – restricted to human: common race, gain one additional stat point per level

Great choice.  Especially at level one.  The only thing is the game did not seem to make it too hard to gain stat points with the skill system, so was it worth it?

Axe Mastery I – the axe is an extension of your body, +10% damage with axes, +5% defense when wielding an axe

Another good option, but I was not sure how much combat I was planning on having in the game to start.  I was thinking of establishing myself in a small village first.  I had selected a melee weapon just to defend myself.  And what if I ended up focusing on magic development after playing?  What else…

Nature’s Gift I – you are linked to nature, 10% reduction in magic cost when casting nature spells, 5% faster skill growth in nature skill, and nature secondary skills

This was a real possibility.

Woodcraft I – the wood speaks to you, +20% faster skill growth in the woodcraft skill and woodcraft secondary skills

I didn’t think this option was going to help.  The game noted my real-world knowledge would already give me a huge boost in advancing my woodcraft skill.  Simba probably was unaware I had spent hundreds of hours building houses and furniture as a hobby.  I selected Human’s Development Advantage.  Immediately, the game notified me I had an unassigned stat point, and I went to the screen to assign it.  I selected Intellect.

With that completed, Simba brought me to another screen.  “Your last step in character creation is to purchase your starting gear.  The monetary system is based on copper, silver, gold, and platinum.  One hundred copper equals one silver, one hundred silver equals one gold, and one hundred gold equals one platinum.  Normally, a starting character begins with one gold coin, but being part of the beta test, all characters start with two.” Wow, lucky me, I thought sarcastically. 

“The only item you will begin with is your bag of holding, which can be worn as a backpack if you prefer.  It has ten slots.  Any item that can fit through the opening can be contained within.  The bag will always weigh just five pounds, no matter how heavy the items inside are.  Also, identical items can be stacked inside up to a 100 count.  The bag is also special in that it is bound to your person, so when you die, it will resurrect with you as well as any items you stored in the bag.  You can purchase larger holding bags in the game but can only SOUL BIND one such item.”

This would make my life easier.  I remember the old games from my youth grinding monsters for loot, and this bag would make carrying said loot that much easier.  I started to spend my coin as I was tired of being naked.

Basic Beige Cotton Shirt Sleeve Shirt, Weight 0.5 lbs, Defense Bonus 0, 20 copper

Basic Beige Cotton Long Pants, Weight 1.0 lbs, Defense Bonus 0, 20 copper

Basic White Loin Cloth, Weight 0.0 lbs, Defense Bonus 0, 5 copper

White Stockings, Weight 0.2 lbs, Defense Bonus 0, 4 copper

Basic Leather Boots, Weight 1.0 lbs, Defense Bonus 1, Durability 20/20, 1 silver

Basic Leather Vest, Weight 8.2 lbs, Defense Bonus 7, Durability 20/20, 20 silver

Common Steel Two Handed Axe, Weight 6.4 lbs, Durability 30/30, Damage 20-30, 40 silver

Common Carpenter’s Tools, Weight 19.3 lbs, Durability 30/30, 8 silver

Spell Book: Meld Wood (Nature: Plant Tier 1), 10 silver

Combat Book: Heavy Swing (Axe: Two Handed), 10 silver

Novice Skill Book: Masonry, 1 gold

I could have purchased any novice skill book for one gold, but I chose masonry.  It had two secondary skills: foundations and structures.  My thought was I would be able to build some nice buildings with this assortment.  The meld wood spell would allow me to build without nails as well!  I was actually getting excited to play the game.

After completing my spending spree, the game prompted me to ask if I would like to utilize my new books.  Hell, yes, that would save me an hour for each book, according to Simba.

Masonry 1 Tier 1 unlocked, +1 Strength, +2% health to structures

Meld Wood Nature: Plant Tier 1, Magic Cost: 25, Effect: Integrate two pieces of wood that are in contact with each other, Casting Time: 10 seconds

Heavy Swing Axe: Two-Handed Tier 1, Stamina Cost 20, Effect: +25% damage on hit

Okay, I was ready to rumble!  I hit enter, and nothing happened.  Simba chimed in with what sounded to me like a mocking tone, “Your avatar does not yet have a name.  Once this step is completed, we can choose a starting location.”

The cat was weaving in between my feet and purring.  Should I use the name my parents gave me?  No, that was not a good idea; this was a new start for me.  I sat down in the blackness, began thinking, and absently scratched Simba behind the ears.

Simba fell asleep; could an AI sleep?  Watching the tiny tiger’s chest rise and fall, I decided on Tallis.  I think from one year of French, it meant woods, and that was going to be the focus of my character.  I wanted to build and construct buildings and furniture because that is what I enjoyed doing when I was living in the real world.  I entered the name, and Simba yawned and stretched, “Ready, Tallis?”