Chapter 1

After placing the dishes in the sink, I returned outside to turn off the grill. Feeling down, I walked to my computer and hooked up the VR set. Hero World Online announced today that service was ending in thirty days after seven years of mostly flawless and enjoyable service.

Regretfully, only a few of my online friends remained until the end, and even I only played after work one hour a night before bed. Mostly, my online time was spent talking to friends from around the world with the occasional mission or raid thrown in for spice. My avatar had been pretty famous at its height and I still received daily requests to join random teams.

When I initially started playing, I had no idea that a Dark Fighter was a class that wasn’t well received. The concept was good, but the mechanics were a little difficult in VR, and what was worse was that the build was low damage for a fighter class. Even with its fast attack speed, it wasn’t the fastest of the frontline builds. Dark Melee came in second to the Ninja build when it came to attack speed. The accuracy debuff wasn’t high enough to be useful; even though that debuff stacked with successive attacks, the debuff became useful only against bosses who were the only ones that lasted long enough for it to count. But of those bosses, in the later stages of the game, some had skills to counter debuffs or remove them in their entirety as we progressed past level 40.

All other fighter types gained good defensive power sets. Even the next weakest fighter gained a passive that was good for a guaranteed dodge, or complete damage avoidance 10 to 20 percent of the time, depending on level, on a regular basis, or even a hundred percent for the highest levels against a planned single attack.

Dark Fighters only had increased regeneration, Regen. But they enjoyed the strongest status resistance of all classes, the sole saving grace of the Dark Fighter. Holds, immobilizations, slows, and petrifications were mostly ignored unless a Boss or greater was the one behind the attack. We didn’t have damage mitigation or avoidance at all, which is why 95% of the players that tried the class never lasted past level 21.

Because of the lack of damage mitigation or natural avoidance, I learned how to move in VR better than all my friends and associates, who tended to let their toon do all of the work. Even with the pain receptors set at a minimum, there was still some feedback, encouraging me to improve. Through sheer determination, ability, and skill, I was able to surpass my friends and Guildies, even though I played the worst class in the game.

All other classes received their ultimate attack at level 35: such as sniper shot for archers, high damage area of effect spells for mages, Thunder strikes for tanks, and alpha strikes for fighters and assassins. Dependent on the class, all of those attacks boosted the base damage of those skills between six to ten times. Even the healers received Overheal at 35. Unfortunately, the Dark fighters only received a fourth strong attack: Dark Crush.

Despite all the jeering for the lack of Alpha Strike, I was thrilled with it. An attack that did both physical and darkness element damage, which included a two second full Hold with a successful hit. It was a half-step Alpha, doing little more than quadruple base damage, plus the attack was combined with hold, the rarest player skill in the game. What was even more amazing was that the hold worked on everything and everyone every time.

Within a week of me getting that skill, the Hold duration was nerfed to a single second for Bosses and half second duration on Overbosses. Still, plenty of time to disrupt their actions.

What no one realized was that level 38 unlocked Dark Fighter’s lifeblood. A strong level, point blank area of effect (PbAoE) attack centered on the toon. Since I was the number one ranked Dark Fighter at that time, by over eight levels, though I wasn’t even ranked in the top 10000 server-wide, I, and I alone, unlocked the skill of Quickened Embrace. Dumb name, awesome skill. Quickened Embrace was a fifteen-foot-radius attack, centered on me, that stole health and transferred that health to me from each and every enemy the dark sphere touched. The skill damaged everyone not in my party and transferring the full amount of damage dealt in the form of health to myself.

A vampiric point blank AoE.

When I revealed my new skill to my Guild, they were outraged. It was the first and only true AoE skill that did real damage from a fighter class even if it was only a point-blank area of effect. The rest had short range cones or spot area AoE’s, such as the Ninja’s Poison Grenade, depending on the specific class.

What was even worse to my Guildies, on top of being a regeneration defensive set, if three or more foes were caught in the blast, which was a given unless I was fighting a Boss, that skill could instantly heal me completely regardless of the level of my health. Even then, almost all Bosses and every single Overboss spawned mobs when fighting them.

When the time came, I never added points to damage on that skill, just one to accuracy, and the rest went into recharge. As with all my other Dark Skills, the accuracy debuff was included. Thus, making it easier to survive masses of higher-level attackers at once, especially with my reckless playing style.

At level 41, my ultimate defensive skill was unlocked. I chose Godlike Regen, or SuperRegen, and never looked back. Once per five minutes, my regeneration rate skyrocketed by 1000%. I could be near invincible from that skill alone. The downside of that skill was immunity to all outside heals and buffs during its activation until thirty seconds after the skill ended. I had to be careful during Overboss fights, since my status effect resistance would completely disappear along with the buff immunity for fifteen seconds after the skill ended.

A small price to pay for being unkillable for thirty seconds.

SuperRegen had a short active duration of thirty seconds, which in long boss fights was minuscule. Some Overbosses could take up to twenty minutes to defeat with a full team of six players. By adding points at later levels, I brought the recharge rate down to three minutes by the time I was level forty-five. Precision timing and activation was necessary only for certain Overbosses by the time I became level fifty.

At level forty-six, I unlocked some odd skill choices, but since I felt pretty complete, I chose a fun one. Horror Touch. Extreme status strength and a very slow recharge rate. I felt it could be fun in the few PvP matches I played around in. By then, I mostly played against friends while killing time, waiting for someone to show when we ran team missions or boss hunts. Little did I realize that it was a cheat skill. For five full seconds the target was unable to activate any attack skill The target was restricted to passive defenses only. This usually ended up with the target trying to run away. Horror Touch even worked against Bosses for two seconds and Overbosses for one second.

At level fifty, I had a choice between increasing damage output or boosting my Regen. I chose a twenty percent passive bonus to all healing skills, along with a twenty percent bonus to stamina, both active and passive. I became nearly unkillable, outlasting all but the most skilled tanks in Overboss battles.

The day I hit level fifty, I jumped from unlisted in ranking to 100 in PvP server rankings. Not that I really cared about PvP, but I was goaded by my Guildmaster into destroying an unsuspecting rival Guildmaster. The forfeit was a server announcement stating that the other Guildmaster was ‘the best’, and paid for by the loosing GM. The server announcements weren’t that expensive with in-game currency. But bragging rights were golden.

Even knowing the final strength of the Dark Fighter, few followed my path. Hero World was mostly a pure fun game. There were no money warriors that played our game, just a standard monthly fee to play. Characters were even locked to the creator’s bio-signatures so the players were unable to give away their toons to someone else when they quit.

There was no real equipment in the game either, just drops to aid the functionality of the Guild or cosmetics, usually clothing. Both were extremely rare. In-game money, WorldBux, which could only be earned by doing quests, was used for food, clothes, informants, admission to special events, and other miscellaneous items like gifts or seasonal admission to activities. The format was explicitly stated to attract players with a mindset of cooperation in a less stressful environment compared to high intensity competitive VR games where professional leagues spawned.

Hero World was built for the casual gamer. Serious gamers never stayed long.

The in game atmosphere, while slightly competitive in some aspects, became more and more friendly as time passed. As long as one tried, everything other than quick leveling was available. When I first was introduced to HW, it was the best type of game at the time. I was a freshman in college and needed a diversion while my broken leg healed from an auto accident. Since my mobility was limited, I eagerly accepted a friend’s suggestion on joining for a pure fun distraction.

My parents didn’t object to the expenditure since I promised to deliver good grades. I kept my promises and they continued paying both my tuition and game fees. Even gifting me with a better VR console at Christmas in my junior year, when I made the Dean’s list.

...

After graduation I landed a job at Saussies, a manufacturer of generic candy. My job was to oversee production lines and regulate the ingredients of the end products. Candy. Since it was all monitored by computer anyway, I ended up monitoring the monitors. That, and mediate between the hotheads of the plant managerial staff and the sticks in the mud. I wasn’t considered management since I had no one under me, even with a dotted line, nor was I considered labor.

In no time at all, both blue and white collars used me unscrupulously to settle their disputes. Not that I minded since the added duties gave me something to do besides Solitaire. We all recognized that HR was comprised of a Shrew and her nepotism cronies. Miss Sauss, being the founder’s Great Granddaughter, made herself feel entitled to lording her relationship to the founder over everyone else.

Because of my unique position of having only one real boss, which was the plant manager, and no real underlings, the Shrew ignored me. The vacuum she created from lack of care for anyone outside of her HR department fell to me as the only acknowledged impartial person in the plant.

Last month, when the plant manager, a twenty-year member of the Saussies ‘team’, tried to ‘rearrange’ some extraneous personnel, half the plant took a sick day. My office with its bank of monitors became the impromptu meeting room for the two sides. A week later, three old-timers decided to take the offered buyout, and a floor supervisor, his nephew, and four of the kid’s buddies with now ‘un-fabricated’ attendance issues were released from employment. Not that it showed on their records, it was just the wording that made people happier.

The Saturday morning before the event, I received a large reinforced package at home. A new, top of the line comp/VR unit arrived on my porch with a simple card attached, “Thanks for your hard work.” No signature. It wasn’t cash, so not taxable either. I enjoyed the appreciation and thought that went into the gift from the old man who everyone knew still had his pulse on the plant.

I calibrated the headset, gloves, booties, throat mic, and heart stickers, which monitored all the user’s vitals, and then logged into Hero World Online for the last time, even if I didn’t know it.

The feedback jolt was a great deal stronger than I was used to on the old system. When my eyes, still stinging from the sudden attack, refocused, I witnessed rows of trees before me instead of my quarters in the Ely Guild, my default spawn point and home away from home these last years in the Hero World. Turning three-hundred-and-sixty degrees, I viewed my surroundings. Forest to the east with the rising sun cresting the distant trees and wheat fields to the west as far as the eye could see.

Huh, did the authentication server send me to the wrong game? I was amazed by the difference in settings.

I had to admit that the graphics and tactile input were astonishingly realistic. I couldn’t even discern any pixilation nor image degradation at the furthest distances.

Was this CNGames new beta that everyone was talking about?

I even caught myself breathing and feeling the gentle breeze from the north.

Since I was here, I decided to wander around and experience the new game for a while. Both super speed and hovering were not listed on my skill bar when I brought it up. All of my other skills and abilities were there, though. Not really caring about the differences in the games, I activated all my passive and active defenses before jogging towards a small regular spot in the distance. Another difference in this game was that the slight greenish glow from my defensive powerset was not present. Something that had always accompanied the activation of my active defenses in Hero World.

Did I get ported to a test server accidentally? I don’t see anyone here.

My nose started tickling while I jogged to the slowly increasing dark square shape in the distance. Stopping, I smelled the flowers, dirt and wheat.

I had never realized that VR had progressed this much in the newer games and that the senses were so significantly improved. More than just scent, touch and sight. The moist ground, the tickling of the nose, the horizon quality, all of it was too outstanding compared to HW. I hated to admit to myself that HW was ending for reasons other than declining sales. Even the bugs and birds looked and seemed real.

Bugs flew by and one landed on my arm. I reflexively brushed it off and Felt it! Both the insect landing on my arm and me brushing the annoying creature off.

This new game had a much higher sensory quality, I privately admitted to myself. Worriedly, I thought it was too high.

Way too high.

Disengaging first person view, I was curious to see the changes in my toon ... Hmm, that option seemed to be not available in this game. The point of view remained in the first person. I could only look at the world through my toon’s eyes.

Looking my toon overly tight, burgundy leather pants, tucked into my buckled knee-high boots with a sleeveless ripped V-neck, black T, and black fingerless fighting gloves were all still equipped. My clothing choices were all the same as when I logged off, though the resolution did seem better. Too much better. Even the light hairs on my arms felt real when I brushed them, so too was the snug yet comfortable soft leather insides my boots and pants.

Lightly biting my arm, I felt the normal sensations of my teeth and lips, even the dampness of saliva that was never present in HW. A disturbing thought increased my consciousness. The fractal formation of a small group of birds at the tree line were overdone in my opinion. That a game needed single birds out of formation for extra realism, I thought, was a waste of processor power. The distinct bees, grasshoppers and other noisy insects were a great addition to the background noise, but again, excessively overboard.

The scenery was too perfect. Too realistic. Skin, touch, taste, smell, hairs, sights, and sounds, all were too perfect. A shiver of stark fear overcame me for a second or so at the thought that I was not in a VR.

Without an icon that could exit me from the simulation, or a help button, I headed out toward the square shadows in the distance.

Nearing the farmstead while lost in thought about the all too real game, IF it were even that, I made out three side buildings, possibly barns of some type, near a small house. Approaching the farmstead, I heard a strange barking in chorus. Hyenas?

Carefully peeking around the rear of the barn, I saw ten lion-sized, wolf-lion-hybrid creatures tearing apart something on the steps of the farmhouse. Pieces of entrails ... I bent over, covering my mouth to hold back my vomit. The aftertaste of the acid remained while I silently choked.

Impossible ... Bile?

After steeling myself, I braved another look. A person, maybe people, were was mostly ripped apart, there were even bits and pieces scattered in all directions. Two dark reddish-brown animals seemed to take turns guarding the area while the rest ate the shredded bodies. Bits of bloody brown cloth and viscera scattered the area.

Choking back another mouthful of bile, I checked the bottom left corner of my sight. My health and stamina indicators were absent, I guessed that I would have to rely on my own senses to determine my state of wellbeing. My skill tree was still available when I glanced at it, yet when all of my skill icons suddenly disappeared, I KNEW that the skills were all still with me and how to activate them.

I didn’t believe a few overlarge hyenas would be an issue.

No, I knew that the hyena-like beasts would be simple kills.

The two guardian hyenas crouched and growled warnings at my approach. Since I didn’t plan on stopping, a controlled sprint was the best option. The closest guardian hyena-hybrid met me half way, lunging at my head for the sure kill. A practiced twist to the left, followed by a Dark Jab, which was my weakest skill, but with an insanely fast recharge rate, turned the creature’s head into bloody mist. The rest of its body kept flying past without experiencing any of the kinetic force.

Dancing back, I gagged in disgust at the gore coating my arm. Two drops of blood even splashed on my face.

Eww... I had never been a fan of horror games or movies.

The rest of the overlarge hyenas stopped eating and singly started stalking and lunging at me, similar to wolves from the movies. Five more of the hyenas quickly died, each with pieces missing or gaps in their body’s showing for their failed efforts. The last four beasts fled at top speed when their leader with a silver striped mane fell as easily as the others to a single blow to the head.

As for myself, I was thoroughly disgusted by the smell, the blood, and pieces of flesh coating my gloves, arms and clothes.

The level of realism on this game was way too high!