Brent Roth - The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream (9 page)

Yeah, this guy was a douchebag through and through.

I had no interest in continuing the conversation so I simply smiled and gave him a wink.

To continue would mean exposing me and my territory to unnecessary risk. No short amount of fame here was worth it to me.

A few people got a laugh when I winked at him, he believed himself the victor and I had no problem conceding that to him if he so wished.

The others could come up with their own opinion and I left it as a matter of intelligence for them to decipher which side was the correct one. I mainly just wanted the mystery girl to know she wasn't alone in her opinion and to stop the mocking laughs of the men with inferiority complexes.

My job was done.

The presenter decided to end the subject and the discussion there, much to my pleasure, but before it was over she said something rather unnecessary, "I believe Brent is the most qualified here to speak on the matter, actually. I would not dare spill any personal information but, he is certainly experienced in the region and what he says should merit some consideration. With that I would like to close our topics for discussion and encourage everyone to share their opinions in the survey. And if you will, please enjoy the food that has been prepared in the banquet hall, I believe you will all find it to your liking. Thank you everyone for coming, and from everyone at
AIcorps
, we hope you continue to enjoy your adventures in Dragon's Wrath."

And with that Emily turned around and walked off stage.

Except, Emily contradicted herself before she left… and to my dismay it happened to be my name and that I was experienced in the North. I was trying to help you lady and I understand you were trying to help me here, but come on.

Why did she even know my name, anyways?

Why does everyone always seem to know my name?

As people had started funneling out, some had glanced at me as they walked pass. I simply gave them a faint smile and a nod of recognition; I had no desire to be the focus of attention here today, nor any day.

As the room cleared out the mystery girl had started to get up, I kind of wanted to talk to her a bit more but felt a little bad. It would have been easier if I wasn't attracted to her. I always fall apart when I'm interested, but then I'm a damn maestro when I'm not.

After she stood up she turned to me and spoke softly, "Thank you for today, Brent."

I was caught a little off-guard but saw the opportunity flash before my eyes, I had to take it.

I quietly stood up as well and replied in kind, "Anytime, miss… sorry I didn't catch your name." I trailed off on purpose, hoping to get her name in return.

Taking the bait, she replied, "Ah, I'm sorry. It's Valerie."

With a smile she couldn't see and a hand extended that she wouldn't notice to take, I laughed at myself while following up, "Nice to meet you Valerie, I'm Brent… as you so heard earlier ha."

As she nodded in my general direction, she excused herself, "It was nice to meet you as well; perhaps we'll run into each other again sometime."

With that she turned towards the door and started to leave, I was at a critical situation and my mind said no! Don't go! But it also knew I shouldn't push where I'm not welcome.

It was worth the risk this time, I decided.

"Oh, are you not having lunch here? Care to join me?"

"Ah, as you can see, I cannot see. So banquets and buffets like these are a little hard for me as I am unfamiliar with the layout. I typically just go home afterwards."

"Oh. If you don't mind, I could serve as a guide. Although I admit I'm a bit inexperienced in guiding, I can at least attest to the quality of the food provided."

I said the last half with a bit of a laugh to lighten the mood, but her face seemed to show a look of pity and I kind of had a feeling for what was coming next.

On cue, she frowned while answering, "Mm. I believe you would make a very capable guide, but I already have prior arrangements. Thank you for the offer."

I was shot down.

Damn.

Well, I knew when to cut my losses and this was certainly the time to do so, "Well, I can at least hold the door open for you."

I did as I said, and after she passed through I came up with some parting words but decided against it as I watched her walk away. Operation invite-a-girl to lunch was a complete failure.

Mission aborted and returning to base, well… after I eat some free food that is.

Chapter 10: Planning for the Future

(Thursday, January 28nd Game Day / Sunday, January 10th Real Day)

When I had finally completed my Log Cabin I was presented with a System Prompt:

[You have created a Personal Home, do you wish to lay claim to this land?]

[Yes / No]

That was an easy one.

I quickly selected [Yes] and was shown a new tab in the Character Menu, [Land Management]. But before I could continue any further I received two more system event messages:

[The First Settler: As the first person to settle land you receive a +200 Reputation bonus.]

[This bonus is granted to the first one-hundred settlers.]

Not only did I gain a title of [The First Settler] that I could display above my head with my name if I so choose, but I received a huge Reputation bonus as well.

Taking the initiative has led to some rather sizeable bonuses.

With my curiosity piqued, I went to click on the [Land Management] tab and soon after found myself staring at a completely new menu with dozens of sub-menus. Most of them were grayed out, so I could only guess at what was contained within them but one tab caught my eye, [NPC-Recruiter].

It wasn't selectable but it was fairly self-explanatory, it seems at some point I can recruit my own NPCs. This wasn't available in the Alpha or the Beta and there was currently no information available when I tried to do a quick search on the internet.

Just by going off the theme, [Land Management] lead to a menu filled with the following tabs: [General Information], [Player Population], [NPC Population], [Creature Population], [Quest Creator], [Bounty List], [Pacts, Treaties & Terms], [Hostile Territories], [Future Development], and [NPC-Recruiter].

The amount of possibilities that opened up before me was so astounding that I couldn't help but mutter, "Wow, just wow." A Bounty List and a Quest Creator… did that mean I could eventually pay people to do my work for me?

There were a lot of possibilities running through my mind.

I could only access [General Information] and [Player Population] at the moment, so I clicked the first one like a giddy schoolboy expecting some ice-cream. [General Information] opened up and showed some very basic numbers, it was kind of a letdown really.

It showed the number of buildings, which was currently one, the amount of territory that I had claimed and controlled, which was roughly one-mile due to my reputation, and some other inconsequential things.

[Player Population] had categories to separate players by highest class proficiency or level or whatever you wanted, but currently it was nice and simple, population of one, highest class proficiency was Archer, highest profession Lumberjack. It wasn't of any use to me now, but someday it would come in handy.

This got me thinking though; I had only planned on starting up a small village that I could use as a home-base of sorts, but no one had any real idea on how to recruit or grow villages.

The assumption was that if you built buildings then NPCs would come, they would migrate or spawn or something. We figured it was like a field of dreams. There was some limited information put out that you could purchase the services of NPCs and recruit them, but it was all speculation up until now. And now that I had a better idea of the system, I decided to make a change of plans.

When it came to answering or thinking about any question, I always took my time to think it through. But when it came time to make a decision, I was incredibly quick.

Yeah, it was time I started working towards that.

I only had eleven real-world days before the "Event" and I would need at least seven of those days to climb, but I could at least start working to expand my new territory.

The first thing I wanted to do was get a large stockpile of wood going, a really large stockpile. After I finished the current 900 square-feet cabin that's half underground, I found it was only large enough for a few people to live comfortably when you factored in furniture and storage.

If I wanted to get some NPCs from that NPC-Recruiter thing, I would need somewhere for them to live, I would need buildings for them to work, and I would need storage buildings for goods.

From what was loosely explained on the Dragon's Wrath Game Info page online, trees grew back within a week in-game if the land was left undisturbed and grew at a rate of one-foot per game-week after... it was time I capitalized on that.

The next four days of my life were spent cutting down, stripping, and piling roughly five-hundred logs. I basically spent the better part of thirty-two hours in those four days working like a man possessed.

I wouldn't be able to use them for a while, but they were at least available. I would need at least three-hundred logs to complete the lodge I had designed roughly in my head.

I ended up going with a plan for a 60'x60' two-story lodge that would be primarily underground, while the basement level would be 12-feet below the surface, interlocking four times at the 30'x30' dimensions with the center left open for a large dining area.

The ground level would be 4-feet underground much like my cabin, with roughly 4-feet visible on the surface with a low-hanging roofline. The ground level would only lap the edges, sort of like a terrace, leaving open floor in the center for the stairs.

The excess wood would go into the NPC buildings, but that can all come later though, for it was now to time climb to the peak of the mountain.

Chapter 11: Scaling the Mountain

(Tuesday, February 9th Game Day / Thursday, January 14th Real Day)

As the sun woke from its slumber and decided to grace me with its presence I had found myself nearly five-hundred feet up from the base of the mountain, with nearly two-thousand and eight-hundred feet left to go.

Though that sounded great, in reality I had just finished the only easy part of the climb. I was scaling the southwesterly-aspect of the mountain and had now reached the end of the gradual incline.

In front of me was the start of the vertical climb that would continue until I reached the top.

This side of the slope was actually the easier face, with the next two-thousand feet averaging between 70-degrees to 80-degrees above horizontal. The northwesterly and northerly slopes were much harsher at 75-90 degree inclines. The easterly aspect was the easiest at only 40-70 degrees but would take far too long to go around… so in the end, I was stuck with the vertical climb in front of me.

Carrying a small bag packed with enough rabbit jerky to last me a few weeks, two spare ropes, a rope with an attached hook, two small ice axes, and the clothes on my back I was ready to climb.

I began the vertical ascent with a free climb as there was currently no need for my gear and there was certainly nowhere to attach any of it anyhow. There were no carabineers, rings, ice screws, or bolts here. No one had scaled this mountain in the game yet, and even after I scale it I doubt anyone else would anytime soon.

It simply wasn't a very friendly mountain.

As I continued the climb I eventually found myself at one of the vertical points where my life was in serious jeopardy. I stopped to rest my forearms by leaning tightly against the rock wall while standing on the small crag that allowed me a short rest.

I was only six-hundred feet up give or take but it was still taxing on the body. Gathering my strength, I tied my bag to one end of the rope and the other around my waist. I wouldn’t be able to climb the over 80-degree rock face with it hanging off my back.

I had no interest in falling backwards to my death.

The first edge was only three feet higher than the ledge I was currently on and served as my first foothold, but then the second edge was nearly three feet up as well as being two feet over to the left.

Splitting my legs in order to brace my weight I did what I could to balance myself while hugging the cold gray rock wall. If I fell now, I would most likely die.

Looking down, the six-hundred feet seemed like it was a mile and all of the jagged tips of the rocks below did not look very forgiving, or welcoming for that matter. Exhaling while trying to calm my nerves, I was constantly reminded of the saying, "Don't look down."

It was a bit late for that though.

Turning back to look for my next edge or crack I was able to spot a nice little overhang that would provide for an excellent grip… only it was almost five feet away from my second foothold and nearly eight feet straight up from my first.

I fully extended my right arm, barely able to hook my fingers over the small ledge while now stretched in three different directions and in no position to fully utilize my strength or leverage. At least I had longer than normal arms or I would have been at an impasse already.              

Taking a moment to make sure I was confident in my grip, I then looked for the next edge that was another two feet up and a good one and a-half feet to the left.

I hesitated for a second; looking back down at the small edge I had placed my left foot on, I wondered if I could fit both feet. No matter how long I stared at the edge though, it wasn't getting any bigger and there was definitely no way I could get both of my feet to rest on it.

A little dejected, I tried lifting my right leg while locking out my left leg as much as I could; hoping with the slight elevation of my body I could reach the next edge.

After a few seconds of struggling to reach, I lowered myself back into the awkward position I had been in moments before …only now my right forearm was starting to fatigue from being outstretched and holding the majority of my weight.

My footholds simply weren't good enough to support my bodyweight and the longer I stayed in the same position the more dangerous it became. Taking a deep breathe, I tried to release a little of the tension that had been building.

I could barely see that there was a ledge about six feet above me and knew if I could get there I would be able to rest temporarily. It became a moment of do or don't. I knew I could reach the edge to my left if I could manage to pull myself up with my right arm, but it was akin to a one-armed pull-up and muscle-up without an easy to grip bar.

In addition I was nearly perfectly vertical, so if I leaned back just a tad bit too much, my center of gravity would change and I could quite easily lose my grip and plummet to the ground. That ground that was so slanted, I would probably roll the entire six-hundred feet down to the floor.

I gave it a slight test, trying to see how far I could pull myself up but found it simply scared me more than it encouraged me.

Yeah, it was scary.

But even if it was scary I still had a calm mind and believed in my body, even if it was only a virtual representation of my body.

It certainly felt like my own.

Adrenaline started to build as I anticipated the quick outburst of strength, thinking to myself that I would just get it over with as my forearm had started to burn.

Doing something just to get it over with is generally a terrible decision, but thankfully a death in-game wasn't a permanent one.

The game was more forgiving of bad decisions in that way.

I liked it that way. 

Within a split second I had relaxed my legs and pulled with all of my might.

Using all of the strength in my right forearm, biceps, shoulder, and back muscles as they quickly contracted and propelled me up with my left arm outstretched to its maximum and my eyes completely fixated on the edge that I had to grab for dear life.

Holding my breath, it was my moment of truth.

Nearly instantly soaring up, my eyes opened wide with fear as I gasped in the split second between a deathless death and salvation.

The edge was right there, it was right there.

Stretching my left arm out to its utmost and beyond, I was reaching, grasping for anything. With my body starting to lose momentum but still moving ever so slightly closer, I could feel contact.

I made contact.

Hooking the slight edge with only the three fingers on my left hand, with only the fingertips just barely over, I pulled.

Gripping the slight edge with my fingers, giving it all that I had, I held on for dear life as I instantly swung my right arm up and held the edge with both hands.

My legs swayed in the air from side to side as I attempted to still myself.

I had almost lost myself and I knew it, I had just barely made it.

I had gasped in that split second of fear where I wasn't sure I would make it.

I nearly didn’t.

Breathing heavily, I was now hanging on one edge with both hands and no foothold to speak of but I knew there was another edge to my left and it was only a foot above the one I held now. If I slipped, if I lost my grip, if I grew too tired to pull myself onto the next edge, I would fall to my death.

There was no possibility of survival from this height.

With such dire consequences racing through my mind I continued upwards.

Pulling myself up with both arms I quickly removed my left hand as it darted to the next edge, grabbing hold as a shiver shot down my spine. The previous jump didn't leave any time for a bodily reaction to the fear that struck, even now I was holding back on that fear as I looked to the next edge.

Repeating my previous process, I brought both hands to bear on the edge and pulled myself up just high enough to outstretch my right arm and grab hold of the next edge with my right hand.

With one arm shooting up only to be followed by the other, slowly making my way up the nearly 90-degree vertical rock face.

I felt like a mix of a ninja, a warrior, and a psychopath.

Definitely more of the latter was mixed in though.

I felt I was about 80% crazy for doing this, and would never do this again, but damn it all it was the only way right now. I couldn't be bothered with stupid thoughts and stupid distractions.

This was the last edge before the ledge.

I only needed to grab one more.

I was home free.

I could do it.

With a sudden flood of even more adrenaline, the liquid courage steadied my mind as my heart raced, oblivious to the pounding of my chest I pulled and grabbed, pulled and grabbed.

And then I pulled all the way and pressed myself up high enough to get a leg over, sliding onto the ledge and then lying on my chest; it was then that I realized I was panting quite heavily, like a dog on a hot summer's day.

But I was safe, so it didn't matter.

My heart could pound on my chest all it wanted as my mind knew that all was right.

I was safe here, for now.

As the realization of the fate I just nearly escaped started to settle in I was starting to regret my decision to take the short-route. I was starting to doubt myself. Shaking my head as if to lose the thoughts in the scramble, I yelled out loud, "Shut up you fucking pussy."

A saying came to my mind as I continued to lie on my stomach, that "Courage was fear holding on a minute longer." I didn't feel all that courageous but fear hadn't completely taken over despite the obvious fear in the moment. It wasn't about having fear, but about not giving in to it.

Yeah, I couldn't give up.

I wouldn't give up.

After regaining my composure I looked back down the roughly seventeen feet to where my bag lay. It didn't take long for me to realize that I most likely couldn't return back down the same route.

This was a one-way trip.

Even though that wasn't exactly news to me, there had remained a slight sliver of hope that I could return the way I came in case I got stuck.

That option was long gone now.

I only had enough rope to rappel down twice and then I would probably have to cut it or leave it. That simply wasn't an option.

Looking up at the rock face beside me, I felt an insurmountable feeling of being infinitesimally small. I was but a tiny speck on this mountain and this mountain was but a speck on this world. I didn't even have to think about the solar system, the galaxy, or the universe. I was small enough on this rock, right here.

Lost to my thoughts, I was suddenly snapped back to the present when a large gust of wind hit my face sending a different type of shiver shooting through my body. I was already bundled up with the warmest clothing I could buy or craft but being along the side of a mountain with only the rock wall to one side and the open… space on the other, it was exceptionally cold. As I started to pull my bag up the first of many snowflakes landed on my face.

Yeah, it had started to snow. 

The snow continued to fall for the entire day as I lay curled up in a ball along the ledge some six-hundred feet from the base. My bag was but a pillow for me to cuddle with as I dare not move for fear of rolling off the side of the mountain. The width of the ledge was hardly two feet while the length was at least twenty feet across; I had plenty of room to lay straight but no room to wiggle.

By the time I had recovered my strength the snow fall had picked up, we were in the middle of winter after all. The snow-free weather from before was but a temporary respite and now I found myself at the real crux of the issue. But, it was something that would have to be overcome, and I had no intention of shirking my duty.

Standing up ever so slowly with hands grasping the small cracks in the wall so as not to lose my balance and tip over the side, I took a deep breathe to steady my mind as I looked back up the wall in front of me.

One step at a time; there was no reason to think about the two-thousand and seven-hundred feet remaining in the climb when there were only one or two feet in front of you.

The big goal is undoubtedly a nice thought, but when you're faced with constant struggle and your mind grows weary, that distant goal becomes nothing more than negativity as it fuels self-doubt and insecurity.

The way to combat that was to only think about what you could control in the moment, and to honestly not even think about that.

You simply didn't think about it, as hard as that may be.

I would take one step at a time, and I would only think or concentrate about that one step ahead of me. I would not worry about anything two steps ahead. I would not let myself get to that state of doubt and insecurity where I would question myself.

I continued to climb the rock face in front of me as I slowly maneuvered to the side, in the end the vertical rock wall didn't provide enough edges or cracks for me to climb straight-up and I was forced to zigzag from side to side.