The world outside Rydelin was nothing Beast ever seen. Lush plains and farmland surround the frontier city while critters scurry through the countryside. A few newbies were attempting to hunt rats with their puny knives, looking comical when the tinier rodents slammed into them and incited a panicked shout in return. By all logic Beast should be among them right now trying to eradicate these pests from the farmlands and yet he is currently following two strangers across the fields and towards the woods. As they neared, stray wolves became visible just outside the edge of the forest.

In any other game, Beast would have stopped to observe; how many there are and what patterns they follow, though it seems that the leading warrior have no intention of doing that. Without a care for any danger, Lortan dashed straight towards a wolf and began hacking away at it with his great sword. A typical warrior, Beast thought. But it could also be due to him being at a much higher level than the wolves. In any case, both he and Kiki started attacking as well.

The wolf is a level eight monster, normally eight times more difficult to kill for Beast right now, but with Lortan taking the attention of the wolf he was technically safe from any harm. Beast was careful not to wield his sword too forcefully in light of its poor durability, so he managed a poke here and there. It might not be much damage, but every little thing counts in the end. Kiki too was slashing with her dagger, an ornate one that could have been a rare reward from a quest. What ended the life of this particular wolf however was not the rusted sword or the ornate dagger, but the crushing blow of a greatsword on the skull of the animal. As soon as the wolf fell, Lortan charged straight at another and the whole process began anew.

The ferocity of a warrior is not to be underestimated. In no time at all, they had cleared the outlying wolves and with a grand total of five wolves providing 14 experience each, Beast leveled up to two.

“Congratulations.” Kiki chirped, skinning the pelts and the meat from carcasses. Beast politely nodded back in acknowledgement. She too, had leveled within the course of the battle. Right now, they are taking a rest since there is no cleric in the party and Lortan had taken a huge chunk of damage due to his recklessness.

“So,” Beast started, thinking he should get some small talk going. “Lortan is your friend huh?”

“Nope.”

Beast did a double take.

“I met him at the gates just like you.”

Beast has always been a pessimist who does not believe in altruism. When he heard that Kiki too had been picked up at the city gates of Rydelin, warning bells sounded in his analytical mind. There is something fishy regarding Lortan’s behavior and he did not wish to find out what if he would be on the receiving end. As the warrior rest nearby, Beast carried on the conversation in a whisper to the girl.

“Hey, do you think Lortan might be up to something?”

There was a slight pause before a reply came. “Hmm… I don’t think so.”

“Really? I think he have an ulterior motive.”

“I think you might just be thinking too much.”

“But-“

Before the conversation could be carried on any further, Lortan woke up from his warrior ability Meditate. “Alright, let’s go into the forest.”

Beast’s fears were affirmed. “Are you sure? There must be stronger mobs inside. ”

“Don’t worry I am here. Besides that is where all the experience and loot is.”

Without a way to refute the warrior, all Beast could do was to follow. He could leave of course, but there was no telling what Lortan might do. Besides, naïve as she might be, he could not just abandon Kiki to her own devices. And thus, the three of them entered the forest.

It was not the forest in the memory nor was it as eerie but the thought that they are entering the territory of savage wolves without any plan or preparation still gave Beast a shiver down his spine. For five minutes or so they met no resistance, until a slight rustle broke the silence. Out of the blue, a wolf abruptly dashed out of the undergrowth in an ambush while another appeared from behind, surrounding them. The battle immediately started.

Lortan, who had been leading the way, headed straight for the wolf in front. The one behind was left up to Beast and Kiki much to their panic.

“I will distract him.” Despite the fact that Kiki is of a level higher than him, he had his inflated stats from the job-change. If one were to say who is the tougher of the two, it is a no-brainer that Beast would come up top. Yet, to the girl, what Beast was doing was a gentlemanly action that left her touched.

With Lortan uncaring about their safety, Beast had no time to worry about weapon durability anymore. Beast lunged at the wolf with his sword only for the animal to leap out of the weapon’s path. As he missed, the wolf took a big bite out of him, taking away two hundred health in one go.

Weapon durability -1

“Damn.” The pain though toned down was still very much real but there was no time to marvel at the power of science. The wolf had struck again and it took a lucky guard from Beast to parry its sharp teeth.

Two more of that and his only weapon would be destroyed. Beast quickly activated the sword’s effect to regain some of his lost health before trying to strike the wolf again. A slash and thrust both missed, rewarding Beast with yet another bite on his arm.

Think Beast, think. These monsters are smart. Every time he attacked, the wolf would dodge and counter. Even right now, the beady eyes of the animal are staring at him in anticipation of an attack. Beast eyes flashed; if it wants to do it that way, then there is only one way to do it.

He charged, swinging his sword horizontally at the beast’s head. As expected, the wolf ducked and opened its mouth to deal Beast the finishing blow. However before it could do that, a solid foot impacted upon the side of its head. Wolf fangs flew all over the place as the dazed animal was propelled to the side. Without letting it recover, Beast went on to run his entire blade through the animal.

This time, he scored. A long bloody gash appeared down the wolf’s body which was then rapidly punctured by the waiting Kiki’s dagger. Having sustained grievous wounds, it crumpled onto the ground motionless.

You have gained 32 experience

You have gained the skill: Sword Mastery

Sword Mastery (Basic 1) 0%

The experience was a good deal more than the previous encounters, which lead Beast to wonder what would have caused the disparity. Is it because the higher level Lortan did not participate in the killing of this wolf? Or is it due to him winning against impossible odds?

Speaking of which, the artificial intelligence and system in Ages Online is really nothing to be trifle with. If it could make NPCs think and feel like a real person, it could also make the monsters think and feel. That… is extremely dangerous. However, the inverse is also true. Because the laws of virtual reality presents unbounded possibilities like in reality, a person with combat experience in real life could also bring that experience into the game and utilize it to amazing effects such as inducing critical strikes through skill instead of chance. The feint he had made just now simply would not be possible in any other older games, and certainly not in the obsolete games of twenty years ago.

“Aiyee!” A female scream jolted Beast out of his musings. Warm blood splattered across his face a second after. Kiki, who had been bending down in preparation to skin the dead wolf for its meat and leather, was currently staring at the huge sword sticking out of her abdomen in fear and disbelief. When the blood-stained blade was withdrawn slowly and painfully, the girl slumped down onto the ground like a bag of boneless meat, dead.

Lortan, now baring the distinct red name of a Player Killer, chortled. “Well, there she goes.”

It was fortunate that Beast still had his sword on hand, for it took all his reflexes to block the incoming swipe that would have lopped off his head.

Weapon durability -1

“Not bad.” The sadistic warrior applauded. “I wouldn’t have expected you two to defeat that wolf.”

“Why did you do it?” Beast felt like it was a pointless thing to ask, but anything to buy time. A level two against a level twelve could only mean one thing- He has to escape…. but how?

“Why I did it? And oh,” Lortan must have noticed. “Don’t bother running away. I brought you this far in so that even if you escape you won’t survive long. Just die quietly.”

Swinging back his great sword, the warrior slashed again. In a brief moment of luck and hope, Beast’s rusty sword held. However it could not hold on forever. The next strike of Lortan’s blade sliced through the sword like a hot knife through butter before embedding itself into Beast’s body.

Your weapon has broken.

Right before his screen turn black and the game logged him out for the twenty four hour penalty for dying, Sebast saw the sneering face of a warrior and heard what his mouth spoke.

“I do it because it is fun.”

…………

Sebast Koh quietly sat at the back of the class while waiting for the professor to arrive. Around him, his course mates were all actively chatting about how they had been doing in Ages Online and what the recent new developments were. Nobody bothered to tell or ask him anything, probably due to their first-day impression of him.

“Hey, did you hear? The states of Paverun are in unrest due to an organized attack on their land by a band of rebels. The state of Varya took the brunt of the attack and is now giving out quests for relief efforts.”

“Sorry, I am based in Honduria. We have troll incursions to deal with too so maybe the news did not reach.”

“Isn’t Varya the place where the guild Crown Mercenaries is based in? This must have been unlucky for them.”

In Ages Online, people can form groups via parties. However, there are some who clicked and felt that this temporary grouping is insufficient to promote their common long-term interest. Therefore, they band together to form what people normally term as guilds or clans. These guilds could then fight for the control of a piece of territory, where they will base their operations in with their guild leader in the helm. Of course, as with the real world, alliances and enemies are also commonplace.

There was a flurry of movement as Professor Toh entered. When everyone had been seated in their place, the wizened man started to speak.

“Good morning. Today we shall touch on the ethics regarding virtual gaming. Students have feedback to me that starting off with history and the mechanics of virtual gaming would, as what they said, turn them off” Slight chuckles. “So for a change we shall start off with a more engaging topic.”

“So, ethics. The advent of the virtual gaming era had brought many ethical concerns to the people, both playing and not playing them. As the games became more and more like real life, which you will learn in the topic on how virtual gaming manipulates our senses, it has also become highly debatable if our laws in society should be applied to games as well. So… umm…” The professor’s eyes scanned the name list.

“Beatrice.”

Woe is her who has such an attention grabbing name.

The girl looked stunned as she jerked her head. “Yes?”

“Have you ever been PK’ed in Ages Online before?”

PK is the abbreviation of Player Killer. To be PK’ed is to be killed by one.

The girl looked down. “Yea…”

“Do you think the PKers should be punished?”

“Of course!”

She might have been a little too indignant about it though, for she realized and apologized for her outburst. “No it is alright.” Toh replied. “As you all can see here, Beatrice is clearly affected by the incident. These player killers are also usually known as griefers or trolls, but griefers are not just a recent occurrence. Even twenty years ago and prior when games are limited to handheld consoles and the Internet is at its infancy, there are already such people lurking around whose sole intention is to ‘grief’ another player with their chaotic actions and offensive words because it is fun to do so. Because back then the Internet is not as well-established as the present, you will learn this in the history portion, there are little to no rules governing it. Rather, people thought there is no need for rules – After all, it is only words and pixels on a computer screen.”

“Now, fast forward to today, where the harm and hurt they cause can be felt physically and mentally and even more so in the most recent Ages Online. How many of you here think that these people should be held accountable for their actions and be charged by the law?”

A majority of the students raised their hands. Sebast did not.

“That young man over there.” He was referring to Sebast. “Can you explain why you think these people should not be liable for their actions?”

“Maybe he is a dirty PKer himself.” Came the whispers.

Sebast ignored them. “Sir, they are not bound by the laws of society, but they are bound by the laws of the game they are playing. PKers carry a great penalty. They have a much higher chance of item dropping when they die and are attacked on sight by guards. NPCs will refuse to trade with them. If the victim is feeling vengeful they can also post a bounty on their head, ensuring that people will come after them to kill them. In a way they are being punished for their actions, therefore I think they should not be punished another time by our society laws.”

“Good answer. There is a slight problem with your argument, but it is usually what the anti-regulation side of the freedom-punishment debate use. Now, before we carry on to that, let’s have a look at the basic theories of ethics, of which there are four. Take for example, Beatrice. As a player, she has the rights…”

While the professor continued to speak, the whispers became even stronger. Great, he had cemented his reputation in class as a pro-PKer as well. The only reason why he disagreed was because he did not want to think of it as murder when he finally meets Lortan face to face again.

It would be more appropriate to term it as delightful vengeance.