Brent Roth - The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream (24 page)

Chapter 35: Bad Motivation

(Tuesday, May 11th Game Day / Saturday, February 13th Real Day)

I was in a persistent bad mood and moved about with general anger floating through my mind. The fact that the same presenter that had given the crowd my name while saying I was experienced in the North, had now showcased my territory as being exceptionally advanced compared to the rest....

I couldn't understand what she was thinking, if she was even thinking at all.

She painted a gigantic bulls-eye on my back and through the discussions everyone in that room was well aware that the territory was mine. That I was one of the few users in the whole damn region and the only one in the freaking far North. 

Initiating the login sequence only moments after I had returned home, having finished wolfing down a burrito mid-drive, I was ready to put things into motion. The lights dimmed and with myself strapped in nice and secure, I closed my eyes.

Opening my eyes to the darkness of the night, I quietly grabbed my gear and made my way out into the forest. Far out of earshot from the sleeping NPCs I drew my axe and started to take out my aggression on the trees.

Smashing, chopping, hacking, slashing… I did it all.

Furiously felling tree after tree, I was pacing at damn near two trees a minute. Picking up my pace I was able to get it down to three trees a minute until I collapsed to the floor from exhaustion.

With only the moon at my back, I had felled 446 trees in the three hours of darkness. That was enough to start working with, but not enough to finish everything that I had in mind.

Looking up at the slowly vanishing moon, I soon found myself staring at the sun.

The day had finally turned over.

Jogging back to the village where the NPCs had started to shuffle about, I rounded everyone up and decided to give another on-the-fly speech. Making sure everyone was awake and at attention, I then started, "Good morning everyone, I hope you all enjoyed the festivities the day before and were able to adequately rest.

"I had made mention of wanting to develop this village into a place where everyone would be comfortable and would have ample opportunity to succeed. But in order for any of that to come to fruition we need to work together to build up the infrastructure first.

"We need buildings for the crafters to perform their work: a blacksmith, tanning station, spindle house for the weaver, trade post, and a shipyard. There also needs to be a barracks for the warriors, along with a palisade around the border to provide protection from monsters. These aren't easy tasks, but for now I will need everyone's assistance."

Finishing my lousy mini-speech, I quickly ushered everyone forth.

First, I directed the warriors to pull trees, with the idea of having them work in teams of ten to haul logs back on their shoulders. Next were the woodworkers, who were immediately set to working the logs I had already prepped.

Without delay I also instructed all of the able-bodied men to assist in clearing the excess branches to the side. Selene and Katherine were in charge of providing food, while those who could not physically work were left to gathering fresh drinkable water for those who could.

The children were free to play at being fishermen along the river bank, with some supervision of course.

In the meantime, I started digging once more.

I had a lot of buildings to dig for …and a lot of digging to create a proper palisade. There were also the two parcels of land I had cleared for farming along the other side of the river bank; that would need to get started immediately.

There was simply a lot of work to be done.

As the hours passed and the day began to wind down, I stopped to look at what had been accomplished. Along the riverbank the kids continued to play, having managed to catch a few fish they were all beaming with pride.

Down the way, the shipyard had started to take shape with a basic outline to mark the land. Across from the lodge, the craft workshops had already been erected and would be finished by the next day. Behind, the beginnings of the makeshift barracks was starting to come together, essentially three 30'x30' small log cabins similar to my own.

The digging had progressed incredibly quickly once I conspired with the woodworkers to fashion forty wooden spades, no longer would I be the sole digger in this village.

The palisade had even begun to take shape, as the ditch had been partially dug out around the two-thirds of the village that would require it. With the mountain behind, there was a natural wall already.

Having in excess of sixty hands to help move things along was a huge bonus.

My anger had dissipated as I no longer felt that I would be in such dire straits if someone were to attack, 44 Combat NPCs sufficiently developed would be a force to be reckoned with.

Heading into the cabin to call it a night, I saw Selene off in the distance sitting by the river. I could see through the small cut-outs that Katherine was inside the cabin with Barkley.

Hesitating to go inside, I turned back and went to sit next to Selene along the riverbank. Selene didn't bother to turn her head as she continued to watch the aurora while listening to the soothing sound of the running river beside her.

I felt bad.

Leaning my head onto her shoulder I decided to apologize, "I'm sorry, I've done something terrible." She continued to sit there motionless and silent, so I decided to rotate and placed my head in her lap instead.

Looking up at the aurora, I soon found her staring back down into my eyes.

Meeting her gaze and locking eyes, I gently wrapped my hand around her shoulder and pulled her down into me.

As we kissed in the moonlight along the riverbank and under the red and green aurora, I slowly brought her into me.

Words no longer needed to be said.

She knew what I wanted, and I knew what she wanted.

I was only sorry for Katherine at this point; she would be the odd girl out.

Chapter 36: Call to Arms

(Monday, May 17th Game Day / Monday, February 15th Real Day)

Logging on just before the sunrise, I was able to sneak a glance at the sleeping Selene and Katherine. The two of them curled up to their respective sides of the large wooden bed, fashioned of multiple planks used as slats along with a large collection of the softest furs around. A bed fit for a king, or queens.

Quite comfortable too, though I have yet to actually sleep on it.

Enjoying the angelic face of Katherine as she slept was somewhat of a guilty pleasure, one that I would need to end sooner rather than later. Selene on the other hand, continued to sleep with a face full of serenity, seemingly content with everything in her life.

As the two slept I could only help but wonder how I could manage things going forward. I had taken… a significant leap a few nights ago with Selene, and had yet to do anything truly physical with Katherine.

By all intents and purposes, my relations with Selene had progressed to the highest level while Katherine's was simple flirtation.

Yeah, I wasn't a great man nor was I a nice one, but I always tried to do the right thing. It was decided; I would cut things off with Katherine after talking to Selene.

Before I could think any further, I was presented with a system message:

[A Regional Call to Arms has been issued!]

[A horde of Goblins have been discovered in an abandoned mine-shaft.]

[Assistance is required.]

[Details of the Location have been added to your Map.]

What… is this? Was this a global quest? It says regional… does that mean this is specific to the North? Without any further hesitation, I quickly opened the in-game browser and searched out the term "Call to Arms TDW" online.

There were only two other examples of such a Regional Quest, and both led to what was termed a Static Dungeon. These Static Dungeons were dungeons that could be repeated infinitely by parties and came with specific quests attached to them.

All one would have to do is gather a group, head through a barrier erected by the NPCs at the entrance, and then upon completing or abandoning the dungeon for a certain period of time, it would reset. Once the dungeon reset it would be free to enter once more, freshly restocked with creatures to kill again.

These were the perfect tools for grinding levels.

And grinding levels was exactly what I needed as well.

Opening my Character Menu, I was woefully behind in the leaderboards. In nearly a month since hitting level 26, I was only at level 29. All of my time had been spent doing manual labor while the girls hunted in my stead… I was honestly regressing.

Looking through the threads on the Regional Quest, I realized something interesting. The first group to clear the dungeon received huge bonuses in Reputation and Experience, along with a Title to display if you so choose.

Those types of rewards were excellent motivation. Guilds would have the advantage but in the North, I would only have to compete with a few humans, a few dwarves, and the elves. Only the elves would pose a real threat as far as organized guilds go.

Opening my map to see where the Static Dungeon was located, I was a bit dismayed. Nearly a one-hundred mile journey to the southeast… by foot no less.

The location was just twenty miles north of the dwarven mountain range and around thirty miles southwest from the elven territories.

It wasn't a bad location.

Quite fair actually when considering it is smack dab in the middle of the lower North, the North-central, and the North-east region.

Stepping outside to take a look at my village that had already started to take shape, there was now a functional wooden wall that surrounded the accessible areas of the village. There were no gates, just simple openings for now but that would suffice.

The blacksmith hut, the weaver's spindle & loom house, the tanning station, the trade post, the shipyard, and a farmhouse across the river had all been completed. The three 30'x30' log cabins along the base of the mountain had been completed as well and with the warriors now occupying that, the log lodge was considerably spacious.

Rather than create a separate tavern, some furniture was being created to fill out the lodge to serve as both the tavern and the housing for the Non-Combat NPCs. There was a small shack created for the chickens as well, and in due time I would have a massive chicken farm to go with the barley and oats I was currently growing. Yeah, in no time at all this small village of mine will become something special.

The only thing that bothered me going forward was if I left for the Call to Arms, how would I know if my territory is safe? Being a hundred miles away would be disastrous if some guild came and attacked. It would take me far too long to return in any reasonable amount of time.

As if reading my mind at that very moment, Selene spoke out to me, "Sir, can you hear me?"

…What kind of question is that? Turning around, I could not see Selene anywhere and thought to myself, this must be a trick. Confused by the practical joke that was being pulled I decided to reply, "I can hear you, where are you hiding?"

"I'm inside the cabin with Katherine still…."

"Wait, what?"

How could that be, I was walking along the riverbank nearly half a mile from the cabin.

And then she spoke again, "When I woke, I felt something different and noticed that we had performed the Soul Link…."

"Soul Link, so… we can now converse without being near each other?"

"Yes."

Well.

That's convenient.

Browsing through my Menu to find the Companion Tab, I soon found my answer. I had reached a sufficient enough level of Loyalty through a high amount of Affection & Trust with Selene to activate the Soul Link. The Soul Link essentially allowed me to message or converse with her across any distance, just as if she was a real player. It was exactly the same as if I were to contact someone on my friend's list.

Does this mean, if I do the same with Katherine… that I could have constant contact with both of them no matter where I am on the continent? That I can actually leave this village to their management and still stay updated? That I can make adjustments on the fly from anywhere in the world… well, that was just fantastic.

What a stupidly convenient system these developers decided to put in.

All I needed to do was roll around in the hay with Katherine and I would be good to go. Ah, but wait… I was going to keep things monogamous.

Sigh, these developers really are forcing me into a harem.

I don't know if I should be thanking them or disparaging them.

Well, it wasn't like Katherine was unattractive.

Cough
.

"Selene, I'm going to be leaving on a trip for a few weeks, do you think you can manage the place?"

"We can't come with you?"

"I think the villagers need your presence, and the place I'm headed to is going to be extremely dangerous."

"I see. We'll be fine."

Yeah, they would be fine.

They had forty-four troops that would shield them.

It was about that time anyways, for me to start leveling again.