Rebirth: Rise of the Slave Master

Chapter 2: Giving Up is Hard to Do.

Chet… Rick bit his lip.

This was some seriously spooky shit...

The fact that all of this had now happened made so many previously silly ideas seem suddenly plausible. It was like when you never thought you could hurt yourself by smoking, and then someone close to you died because of it... It was a new kind of awareness.

After sitting and staring at the PC screen for nearly an hour, Rick finally had to stop himself and accept that all of this was actually real. No matter how much he wracked his brain for an answer, there just wasn’t any information to go on. It would be something to keep an eye on in the future, but at the moment, sudden-death time-travel syndrome was the only explanation he had. Everything was just too… real.

Even the food in the fridge was still good… GRRRR

Rick’s stomach grumbled. Breakfast would have to come before his existential crisis.

After getting used to living in a much nicer place, it was a little uncomfortable navigating the the tiny counter space he had to call a kitchen in his shabby studio apartment. It was enough to make himself some eggs, at least, and Rick spent his breakfast going over various articles on the internet to refresh his memory of current events.

“It’s a little different than I remember,” he mumbled to himself over a cup of coffee.

Although his memory wasn’t perfect or anything, he wasn’t forgetful either. It seemed as if there were slight differences between this timeline and his previous one. Most of the events were the same, but the timing was all slightly off.

This showed up properly on his pay stub from work. He worked regular hours at a mini-mart during the night shift, so he received pretty much the same amount every couple of weeks. The number had long since been burned into his head, but when he looked it over in this timeline, the amount he earned was slightly more. It was only a difference of twenty or so dollars, but that was consistent across all of his check deposits.

Rick didn’t have any way of knowing what had caused these differences, but he hypothesized that whatever sent him back in time had inflicted minor damage to the original sequence of events. It was like adding a drop of water to an already filled bucket. No matter how small the drop was, it was bound to make some ripples.

If science fiction books had taught him anything, it was that this would definitely cause serious changes later on. Not to mention his own ability to fuss with the course of time, even if he did everything identically to last time, he still might be looking at a totally different world six years down the road.

“Well, it’s not like I’ve ever watched the lottery before, so there’s no way to abuse that. And playing around with the stock market... I have no clue how that even works… I’m not good at anything but games...”

Rick let out a sigh as he ruled out one “time-traveler’s money stealing strategy” after another. The only thing he would retain any real advantage over was the game, Dream World Online, and of course he had already thought of that. If he could make a fortune stumbling his way through it last time, what was there to say about the him who had a head start and years of advanced knowledge? If his last attempt was a grueling journey through the desert, would this time be considered a pleasant hike in the mountains?

“But so what?”

Rick had already conquered the game world once, and look at how that had turned out for him! Rick had been trying hard not to think about it all this time, but as the memories of his friends turning on him surfaced, his body started shaking almost uncontrollably.

Too much time playing? Too much attention on the game? Even if he now had the chance to go back and mend his ways, he wouldn’t do it! The crazed gamer, Rick Nelson, was who he was at heart! If those bastards had turned on him because of something like that, it would only happen again and again no matter how often he went back in time! The dark truth of this world had reared its ugly backside and left a steaming pile all over his heart!

Even without his help in the past life, Adrian and Elizabeth were still top-level players with nearly unrivaled skill. They would certainly be in the game again and crawl their way back up to the top! The whole guild, Alabaster Alliance, was always Adrian’s idea anyway! Rick had just been a figurehead… a puppet king…

It might have seemed petty, and even Rick had that thought in his head. He could just as easily let this grudge go, but another mentality quickly crushed that idea. What purpose was there in going back in time aside from doing exactly what you wanted to do!? Getting rich, helping the world, changing the course of fate… these were all fine as long as you had the drive to get them done.

But…

It would all ring hollow if the person in question didn’t have the proper desire, and right now the only thing Rick wanted was…

“Revenge!” Rick cracked a hollow smile, “I’ll use this opportunity to get my revenge!”

From this point on, the only thing Rick Nelson would live for is seeing those bastards rolling on the ground at his feet! In six years time, he would tear down everything they’d work to build up and watch them beg for mercy!

Like the crazed gamer he was, Rick immediately started formulating his plan. Right now, all he needed was an internet connection to get started!

Dream World Online might have been the first virtual reality MMORPG, achieving the terrifying accomplishment of crafting an entire autonomous virtual world, but that didn’t mean it was the first virtual reality game on the market. The Lucid Lock technology had been around for plenty of time already, allowing anyone to turn a restful night’s sleep into a fantastical adventure or harrowing drama!

It only made sense that the game developers would have to work around the available technology, they weren’t hardware engineers after all! The company that created the game was originally South Korean, if Rick remembered correctly, but the amount of money required for such an undertaking was beyond difficult to obtain. Investors from all over the world were involved in the creation of Dream World Online, and that meant the game had to be ready for international release on the day it launched.

Although the game itself had a steep price point and a modest subscription fee, it was still ultimately affordable by the average consumer. Those running the show would end up making most of their money on the future currency and item trading fees, taking 2% of every transaction made. That was 2% of trillions of dollars changing hands every month! The profits were so staggering that if only one company had received that much, it might have caused the population to turn on them. Luckily, the investors were professionals who knew how to manage that much money with the help of the various world governments.

It really was too much for a game-obsessed guy like Rick to wrap his head around. All he needed to worry about was playing the game and enacting his diabolical plans in the realm of Dream World Online.

Thankfully he didn’t need to do something silly like stand in line all day to get the game. Rick could just download the necessary data right to his Lucid Lock helmet in the online shop. He could even get the pre-order bonus that he had originally missed out on, though it was only a bunch of cosmetic options that unlocked some additional character customizations and a worthless title for bragging rights.

Rick worked at night, but that didn’t mean he wasted his morning. Well, if you considered playing video games as anything other than a waste. The Lucid Lock was as good for your body as a real night’s sleep, but it would lead to mental exhaustion if you were constantly using it. Not everybody could take the stress of living another life in their sleep 24/7. This was already a well known problem with the technology, and sleep experts suggested at least two hours of traditional rest before switching over to the Lucid Lock.

This number had a tendancy to change radically over time, though...

Since he usually got home around 6 in the morning, Rick would sleep two hours, and then get some food and coffee before logging into the Lucid Lock at 9. At first he would usually play games for only six hours or so before stopping, but that number began to rise rapidly as he got more involved in Dream World Online.

Eventually, he would be able to leave the mini-mart and turn Dream World Online into his full time job, only stopping to take care of essentials and gather news from the forums. In a year’s time, after Dream World Online began to suck in more and more of the world’s population, the creators of the Lucid Lock would release a new model which would fix the mental exhaustion problem.

After that, Rick would become so absorbed in the game that he ignored everything else. A year of this would pass, and his health would rapidly decline. He got sick and weak. He even had to spend a great deal of time in between the hospital and the rehab clinic in order to recuperate. Although it affected his gaming time and really set him back, after that, he began a strict training regimen to keep himself healthy while he played. It was a huge part of his eventual success.

“Might as well start early…” Rick cringed at the thought, adding the diet and exercise requirements to his mental planner.

His mind might have traveled back in time, but his body was still the same out-of-shape skinny guy that he had been six years ago.

Right now, it was a battle of the bank accounts. Rick was never stingy with his money when it came to games, and as a college drop-out, he didn’t really have a high-paying job. His savings were enough to get him through a month if he quit his job, and after checking the net, he found out that Dream World Online would release in a week’s time. It was a little bit earlier than when it released in his past life, but that was ultimately a good thing for Rick.

The currency exchange wouldn’t be available until one surpassed level 10 and completed their class-change quest. True to Korean game design, the grind in Dream World Online was brutal. Not only did leveling require an absurdly high amount of experience even at lower levels, but the penalties for death were absolutely devastating.

The algorithm had to do with the player’s level, but it would usually cause a drop in level for every hundred levels the player had. A level 100 player would drop at least one level, while a level 200 player would drop 2 and so on. It required more and more experience for each level, so at 300, losing 3 levels was like losing a chunk of your own soul!

He had been level 319 in his past life, just one away from the current level cap when he died. His agony was really understandable. The maximum level would only be 200 at launch, but new content releases had steadily driven it up, eventually introducing the God Archetypes and the Story Quest to slay the God of Slaughter Achilles.

“I should be able to reach level 10 in a week, but the exchange won’t kick off until the rest of the players catch up… that should give me enough time to reach level 13 or so… but...”

Without knowing how the experience system in Dream World Online functioned, leveling would be slower than intended for a few days. Rick, on the other hand, knew almost everything about the game! If Rick had intended on following his old path, he could easily leave the rest of the players in the dust! Two weeks was more than enough to sure up his bank account with the secrets he knew.

“This time, I have to go it alone…”

There was no way Rick was going to follow in his past-self’s footsteps and fall into the trap of being a puppet leader again! A lot of the later quests in the game would require a huge power investment from massive groups of players called Guilds. Without a Guild at your back, it would be nearly impossible to accomplish any of the more difficult trials. Pretty much nobody was exempt from this rule, not even the God-tier players.

Theoretically, it was possible to get a God Archetype without the help of a Guild, but the player in question would be quickly hunted down and stripped of their power if they didn’t have a big support network. The problem was, Rick simply wasn’t suited to be in a Guild anymore. Forget about trying to make new friends, he didn’t even know how he had managed it the first time!

Then there was the risk of another betrayal...

“People are the problem… but there are only two classes in the game that can play solo…”

Rick had already solved this issue in his mind, but his heart was a little unwilling to accept it.

The Necromancer was a mage-type class that could summon huge numbers of undead, making them capable of soloing content that was originally reserved for groups. That is, if they were skilled enough. However, the Necromancer had one great flaw. It was terrible in PvP! Though they were the undisputed champions of PvE, a Necromancer would be torn to shreds by skilled players.

Most undead were dumb and could only take simple orders. Only the more advanced undead had a sophisticated AI, like the Vampires and Death Knights, but they were limited in number. What’s more, all of the undead had a severe weakness to Holy Magic! A group of Priests and Knights could easily tear a single Necromancer’s horde to pieces.

“That bastard Adrien even had the White Knight Archetype…”

White Knight was a Hero-tier Archetype, one step below the God-tier archetypes, that specialized in holy magic and defense. Although the power couldn’t match up to his previous War God abilities, if it was against undead type monsters, the White Knight might actually win out.

Necromancer was off the table.

The only other class that might be able to do it was… that one.

Slave Master… the cursed class.

A hidden class that could only be obtained by those who followed a special chain of quests in the game, it was a class that fell somewhere between the Beastmaster and the Necromancer. While the Beastmaster had a single, powerful pet that they could fight with, and the Necromancer could raise large hordes of undead, the Slave Master could make NPCs into their followers. Unfortunately, most people didn’t have the stomach for this class, and even after the quest to obtain it was revealed publicly, few people wanted to partake in it.

Only sleazy types and those sick in the head would pick that class... that was what the general player-base thought. It got so bad that people started hunting down Slave Masters on sight, and they all stopped playing or went into hiding. The game developers eventually removed their class quest from the game entirely and even apologized for adding it.

If the class was powerful, it might have stemmed the backlash, but the player could only control NPCs that were lower level than them, and the process of getting one as a follower was incredibly tiresome. Not to mention, you had to take care of all of their needs. Unlike an animal which only ate the occasional bit of food, or an undead that only needed magic to move, NPCs in Dream World Online were incredibly sophisticated and lifelike. They would quickly die if you didn’t take care of them, and once they did you would have to pay a steep price to resurrect them!

Even after all that, their combat power usually wasn’t anything special compared to players, and they would each take a share of your experience points. NPCs had classes and levels too, after all!

Of course only a weirdo would pick a miserable class like that!

It really was a cursed class… but it was also the only class that could theoretically ignore the limits of being a solo player and still achieve Rick’s goal of revenge! Theoretically was the keyword. Nobody had ever raised a high-level Slave Master before, and most of them quit playing before they ever reached level 40! If he messed this up… well he could always reset and try something else, if he wasn't evicted before then.

Rick brushed his teeth and washed his face. After that, he would give his week’s notice at work. He’d already died once, so his thinking was, why not risk everything? Maybe he would just reset again if he starved to death on the street?