As soon as I logged out of the game, I noticed a message on my pers-com and pulled the AR screen up as soon as I was able to. President Willcot had sent me a message about setting up our first meeting within the next couple days. I wasn’t quite sure how much longer I was going to be farting around in those ruins, so I sent a reply saying to meet for breakfast and coffee Thursday morning.

That done, I stretched my sore body and enjoyed a hot soothing shower to loosen my muscles up a bit. The micro impulses from the immersion device were still making me a bit uncomfortable, but the overall stiffness was decreasing with every log out. Hopefully in a few more days it wouldn’t be a bother at all.

Once I was out of the shower, I dressed and sat down at my AR display to check up on the commentary on my feed. My bonus depended on good results from this stream, so I needed to make sure I was getting some good feedback.

The bulk of the comments looked average. Nice job on a fight, do it this way instead of how you did it, don’t build your stats like that. Common drivel. Most people had an opinion on everything and using the internet they were able to say it without repercussions. Hell, I would like to see them solo an entire town like I was doing. Plebs.

I closed out the display and headed down to the kitchen for some food. It was starting to get to be late afternoon, and I wanted a good meal so I could play well into dark to get as much done as I could.

Sitting in the kitchen was Archie, happily munching away on a large hamburger that he looked to have made himself. I waved to him and grinned. “Yo! I see you got a good Fairy. What does it have power over?” Wandering over to the fridge, I opened the doors to check out what was available. Some precooked pasta, no sauce, and a few various ingredients to whip up some chicken alfredo came out of the chiller and I got to work.

“Hey Dale. Yeah, Unique quality with the power over moonlight.” He spoke in a chipper voice, adjusting his glasses with his free hand while the other set down his burger.

“Moonlight? Seriously? That is cool and all, but does it still work during the daytime? I know that in the real world the moon is visible for a good portion of the daytime too, but how does that work in the game?”

“Easy enough actually. See, the game world actually has five moons, two of which are in the sky during the day, three at night. I had to do a bit of Q and A with Fallon, my Fairy, to figure it all out, but his abilities really are quite good.” He seemed quite pleased with himself and went back to eating his burger as I prepared my own supper.

“Glad to hear it Archie. Give any thought to meeting up with me in my providence? I am out of the main city for now, but will be heading back in a day or so hopefully.” With my quick and easy dinner complete, I sat down across from my friend at the table and dug in.

He nodded his head to me and smiled. “Yeah, I am actually heading out tonight to go to Tyrith City. There is a caravan departing later that I can join and then log out. Travel can happen while I am asleep and then tomorrow I can make the rest of the journey while working on my skills.” Archie took another bite of his burger and waved his hand up. “I am not sure if Kayla was going or not as well, but I doubt she will want to play alone if she can help it. Who knows, maybe she found a group in her own providence.”

I shrugged as I swallowed a mouthful of food. “No idea, but it will be good to have you along when you show up. If you aren’t there already, try and make level ten before you get to Tyrith City. I can probably get you into the faction easily if you come in ready to go.”

“Yeah, not a problem. I am level nine at the moment, the quest to get my Fairy really put me through the ringer and I even had help from some other players.” He chuckled and finished the last of his meal. “Getting the last level won’t be a problem at all by the time I get there.” Standing, Archie took his dishes to the sink and loaded them into the dishwasher. “Anyway, for now I am going to go log back in for a bit. Caravan will be leaving soon, and I will try to get some hunting in while on the road.”

“Good luck man!” A quick wave good-bye and I was alone in the kitchen to enjoy my simplistic, but tasty, meal. As I ate, I thought about Archie and all of the shit he went through as a kid and what lead him into high level gaming. When he was younger, Archie was in an accident while his mother was driving, and unfortunately, she didn’t make it out of there.

Raised by his father, who was a military man, he spent a lot of time playing games to entertain himself while alone at home. His dad was an officer of significant rank and was almost never home, so that left Archie to keep himself busy.

I met him on accident one day while playing a four player game of a RTS and we ended up going toe to toe for a long time after wiping the other two players off the map rather quickly. After almost an hour into a game that normally only took twenty minutes to play, I sent him a voice chat to shoot the breeze while we played. He had accepted it and was happy to find another person who was capable at the game like he was. Just like that, as kids tend to do, we became friends.

Competitive and quick to anger, Archie usually ended up on the opposite side of the field from me when it came to the multiplayer games. He had this need to beat me at every chance he could, and he was good enough at gaming to manage it as often as he lost. Quickly enough, we became rivals of sorts, even if it was by his choice in the matter. We would team up when needed to wipe out anyone who was getting good enough to challenge us, but when it came down to it, Archie wanted a good challenge and I was the best one he could find.

Throughout or school career, Archie and I remained close frenemies – as the saying goes – and even decided to go to the same college after graduating high school. By that time, we had entered the professional level of gaming and were making some decent money to pay our way through school with the tournaments.

Kayla had come into the picture around then as well, with her boyfriend of the time being a member of the lacrosse team and not into gaming at all. She found both Archie and I one day chatting over one game or another, and instantly recognized the two of us from the competition streams.

She had joined us that day and got to talking over the various tournaments and how she was a gamer herself, but couldn’t find anyone to shoot her up into the pro levels. It was a time when if you didn’t have any backing, you weren’t invited to the big stages in the gaming world. There were no amateur tournaments or anything like that, and players had to fight tooth and nail in order to make it into the pros.

Quickly enough, Archie and I found out Kayla was just as good at gaming as we were and we started a new team of three people and began breaking world records across the board with Alex as our coach and manager. He even joined in on the game play once in a while when we needed an extra player, and he always managed to hold his own on the gaming scene.

Thus, our college years went by rather quickly with me crushing hard on the taken Kayla, who despite having a boyfriend still managed to flirt back at me occasionally, and Alex and Archie both getting involved with women of their own. After graduating, we all went our separate ways and barely kept in touch after getting regular jobs. Well, Alex and I got regular jobs… Archie and Kayla spent a few more years mooching off the pro gaming scene and making some good bank in the process.

Lost in thought, I finished up my meal and took care of the dishes in a mechanical way before heading back upstairs to my room. I glanced at Kayla’s door as I passed it, curious about how she had really spent the last few years, but shrugged it off and entered my own apartment to get back to work. And indeed that was what this game was to me… Work. Granted, it was fun as all hell, but I still had expectations to meet in order to keep up my end of the contract. I splashed some cold water on my face to clear my head of all thoughts about the past, and then moved into the gaming room to log back into my avatar.

It was a little past six when I made it back into the game rested, fed, and rearing to go. Aly appeared with a flash of light before settling down on my shoulder in her customary position while I readied my scythe and double checked my potion slots to ensure everything was in order. What can I say… I am a stickler for making sure I am ready before doing something potentially stupid.

One thing caught me off guard, however. I could only hear one or two horns coming from the edge of the ruins now. Feeling like I missed my opportunity to really see what was going on, I checked the road and headed out to thread my way through the chaotic design of streets towards the last remaining sounds I could hear.

There were no enemies about on the roads for the most part. I saw one or two packs of goblins running towards the horns, but didn’t engage them as I wanted to make all haste to the site of whatever it was that was happening.

Drawing closer, the sounds of battle began echoing between the crumbling buildings, alerting me that I was nearing the edge of the ruins where all the activity had been going on. I kept Aly close to me for now, not wanting anything to happen should she be spotted, and climbed up the side of a pitted stone wall to get a look at what was happening.

Once up on the roof, I was able to see over the few buildings to where a large battle was still going on. The goblins were charging against a veritable army of humans in matching armor of unfamiliar design, and the mobs were dying by the handfuls every few minutes. This army was a well oiled machine that knew how to hold back the tide of rushing green monsters.

Something wasn’t right though, and I couldn’t put my finger on it right away. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I realized what it was. Their armor and tabards were all of a different color scheme that what I had seen in Tyrith City. Were these guys from another providence looking to encroach onto our territory? Or was it some other detachment of the faction soldiers I just hadn’t seen yet? Too many questions that had no obvious answers at the time.

As I watched, I saw why the horns had been dying down. The bulk of the goblin forces were hiding behind a screen of crumbled walls to gather their forces, only sending in a few batches at a time to keep the group of humans busy while they mustered.

That couldn’t be good, as I saw a huge goblin in the middle of the pack wearing plate mail armor and a huge war axe slung over his back. My inspect skill only gave me a name for the six and a half foot tall monster… Goblin Chieftain. The thing I was supposed to kill for the quest rewards, but was drawn away due to the threat of these humans looking to wipe the tribe out completely.

Even as I watched, a grizzled looking Outrider approached the Chieftain and spoke in their guttural language for a moment before falling into place with the rest of the mounted units. The big goblin then lifted his giant axe over his head and bellowed at the top of his lungs, joined by the deafening tone of three dozen horns sounding as one.

The ground shook with the force of almost one hundred fifty goblins stampeding out from their hiding places in a semi-coordinated charge at the line of professional looking soldiers. The horde of mobs easily outnumbered the humans, but it wasn’t an overwhelming difference. Especially if you brought the quality of gear into account. The goblins only had crude armor, if any at all, while the humans all wore good quality gear and weapons.

Still, the sight of so many monsters charging the human force at once made an obvious impact on the soldiers’ morale. The front line of humans wavered slightly before firming up once more, tower shields moving into tight formation to block the swift advance of the monsters.

I watched the start of the massive battle from my place in hiding, and saw that two groups of Outriders split off, one in each direction, to flank the humans and attack from the sides. The tactic was effective to a degree, but was spotted quick enough and measures were taken to shore up the small army’s defenses. The huge Chieftain himself lead the charge and smashed into the shield wall with devastating force, the slower goblins catching up to harass the humans as they could.

An idea of opportunity unfolded in my head as I watched both armies preoccupied with one another, leaving me free to wreak havoc on the ranks of green skinned bastards. I felt a feral grin spread across my face as I looked to Aly. “I am going in… Fly high enough to avoid getting hit, but stay nearby just in case.”

“Right, avoid dying and make sure you don’t kick the bucket either. Got it.” Smartass Fairy. I had to admit though, that attitude was growing on me slowly but surely.

I shook my head and climbed quickly down the wall before pulling my new weapon from my back. Maybe not the best idea to test my new toy, but damn if this wasn’t going to be fun! Besides, it didn’t look like it would end well for the humans in the long run. Despite being better equipped, the odds were a bit off kilter with the sheer number of goblins.

Before charging off, my new weapon blade got a coat of Basic Poison for good measure. I wasn’t going to be standing still and fighting enemies in turn, so the extra damage that I could inflict from poison may well be enough to finish off any goblins I merely wounded instead of outright killed. Hopefully. Otherwise, I would be taking a bit of a dirt nap till I respawned.

Finally set, I crept around the alley ways and roads to make it to the field where both armies were engaged and took stock of my best angle of approach. Still thinking this was a dumb idea, the possible rewards outweighed the risks.

Temporal step took me right to the trailing edge of the goblin force, the skill allowing me to approach with zero chance of being spotted too soon, and I began to move. Twirling my scythe around me as swiftly as possible, I pushed my attack speed and movement speed to their limits as I moved forward in a whirlwind of death.

The back ranks were the slower goblin sentries, and every sweep of my powerful weapon backed up with the boosting skills killed two of the closely packed enemies, each swing backed by my charging run while I danced through the press of bodies. Staying still would get me killed, so even if I had been leaving living mobs behind me I couldn’t stop.

All around me the world took up a red haze as I became a veritable cyclone tearing a swath of destruction through the back lines of the goblins. The weaker ones had to go first, and after one pass through the group, I immediately turned and mentally marked a path to angle in and join the human lines. Hopefully they would take me killing all of these goblins as a sign of alliance.

Another trigger of Temporal Step brought me to a new starting position and my rapid assault began again. The scythe was light as a feather in my hands, the weapon flashing in the light of the fading sun with every swipe and spin, the kaleidoscope of flashes distracting the goblins nearby enough to allow me to plow through their ranks with ease.

Getting closer to the middle section of the army, my blows lost the one hit kill ability, the mobs’ levels rising and giving them more HP than I could deplete with a single hit. Still, the ones I left behind me were quite injured or crippled, a good deal flashing a poison debuff by their health bars to signal their inevitable death.

I had little time to contemplate the situation as the stronger goblins began to notice me tearing through the hoard of monsters and turned their attention onto me. Weapons finally began to be thrust at me, most missing but some making enough contact to shave off some of my health. What worried me more was my energy bar beginning to slide dangerously low… Stopping in my charge, I gripped the handle of my scythe as low as I could and spun rapidly in a circle with the weapon at full extension. Three times I spun in place, killing a few more goblins and pushing the rest back to give me a second of breathing room.

First an energy potion, then a health potion, and my bars were both in much better shape. Mana was still good, as I had yet to use True Haste at all and only relied on my naturally high agility score this far. A glance around me made it clear I was nearing the front lines of the human army, although my angled path put me more towards the side of the formation than the middle which suited me fine.

Setting a proper grip on my weapon, I let a feral yell out from my throat and charged forward once more before the goblins pressed in on me again. A quick double cross slash of my scythe opened up a hole for me to begin my swirling dance of destruction once more to leave broken and poisoned bodies in my wake.

All of a sudden, I was out of the group of foot soldiers and encountered a pack of Outriders on their lizard mounts. Shit, these guys had long spears and matched my reach with my scythe. I hesitated for a moment, thinking my options over and decided on the best course quickly. I didn’t have the time to deal with the Outriders, but if I removed their mounts from the equation then it would be much better odds for the human forces.

Plan set, I used a short burst of True Haste to weave myself through the group of five lizards while slashing at the legs of every mount I passed. Unlike my first encounter with the beasts, I was dealing a good chunk of damage with every contact of my blade to their hides. Not quite half of their health per blow, but it was pretty close to that.

I circled around without slowing and made a second pass through the Outriders, adding in a second hit to all of the lizards, some even getting a third to finish them off. With the detachment of mounted units in chaos, I triggered Temporal Step and ran away quickly away from the goblins and behind the army of human soldiers. When the skill ended, I was far enough away from the two armies that I felt reasonably safe and collapsed down to the ground with ragged breath. My energy bar was down to almost zero again, and my health had suffered from the spears of the Outriders too. My gambit may have been devastating to the goblins, but they still managed to get their licks in on me too.

My bars all slowly started to fill back up as I kept a close eye on both sides of the battle, minimizing several windows that flashed before me now that the game registered I was out of combat. I was looking forward to reading them, but with two armies arrayed before me I couldn’t spare the distraction.

The sight before me was quite interesting in its own way too. I had seen real battles that had been recorded in real life, but actually having a front row ticket to such a realistic medieval style war with two large forces clashing was another matter entirely! The sounds were deafening, the clash of steel striking either steel or skin, the screams of the dying and wounded, the shouts of orders, and the piecing bellow of horns all mixed together into a cacophony of noise that could only be described as chaotic.

The smell wasn’t much better either, the coppery scent of blood permeating the air with a hint of the acrid scent of burning metal. Every strike of metal on metal sent up sparks which added that layer to the mix of things, which surprised me. I never thought that you could fill an area with that kind of smell, but with the number of strikes and blocks going on it kind of made sense to me that it would. Thousands of small sparks adding up to give the underlay to the mix.

As I watched, the tide of the battle turned. Behind the front row of shield bearers, a line of soldiers were concentrating hard. As one, they thrust their hands forward over the shoulders of the men in front of them. From every extended palm burst forth magic of differing varieties. Fireballs, icebolts, spears of rock, bolts of lightning, even a couple balls of pure darkness which I assumed was infernal magic. Looked like these guys had Fairies too.

Screams sounded louder as the waves of magic devastated the front ranks of the goblins, and the following three waves of spells thinned out the goblin army enough to make the remaining creatures run away with squeals of terror at the thought of continued battle. The human army must have been holding that back until they were sure it would have a large enough impact on the battle.

Seeing that the fight was done at this point, I figured now would be a good time to scram myself. I didn’t know if these humans would welcome my assistance or kill me off hand just like they did the goblins, and I really wasn’t in the mood to find out.

I was just about to stand up and make my swift escape when the flat of a blade rested against my shoulder, the edge pressed against the side of my neck. Shit… Why didn’t I keep an eye behind me? I should have told Aly to watch my back while I was resting… Dumb mistake and one I was probably going to regret. The realistic sensations of this game were screwing me up more than I liked to admit, making me forget even the simplest of contingency plans.

A hard feminine voice hissed out behind me in a tone that brooked no argument. “Hold, Human. Remove your hand from the weapon slowly, or you will be deprived of your head.” The voice held contempt, and maybe a little bit of uncertainty as well which gave me some slim hope.

Well, I wasn’t one to follow orders well… Especially from someone I didn’t know. My bars were all full now, minus 1% HP from the sword against my neck which apparently drew blood. Triggering Temporal Step, I extracted myself from my vulnerable position and stood up. I had just enough time to see the woman behind me was wearing the same armor as the rest of the army before I exchanged out positions.

The time I had available allowed me to move behind her and slip the curved blade of my scythe against the front of her throat with the pole pressed against the side of her neck before the world moved around me again. Her reaction was instant. A shocked gasp, then recognition of her new position as she froze completely in place.

“Now, I don’t see why you have to be such a bitch about this… I just helped your asses out and this is the thanks I get? What the hell is wrong with you people?” I sighed, and with my point made I withdrew my scythe from her neck. I kept it ready just in case, but didn’t hold it in a threatening manner. “Aly, keep an eye around me for any other ungrateful guests please.”

My fairy floated down and gave me a worried look. “I was looking Calamity! This one just popped up out of nowhere! I swear I was taking my task seriously…” She seemed almost hurt that I would suggest she was slacking in her job and I instantly felt bad.

“Sorry, Aly.” I didn’t have time for more as the woman before me turned around slowly and lowered her sword. “As for you… What is with the pitiful thanks for my help?”

Her face was covered by a full helmet, leaving only her eyes, mouth, and chin exposed. The eyes were a brilliant purple color, lips pressed into a pissed off line. From the features I could see, she was probably quite beautiful. That made me frown slightly, as I wondered what she was doing on a battlefield against a force of goblins. If my history lessons served me right, women didn’t partake in combat in medieval times.

“Why should we offer thanks to a Human for interfering with our war?” She spoke to me, but her eyes seemed to track the movements of Aly. “We were handling our fight quite well without you barging in and stealing our kills.”

I was just about to respond, when Aly suddenly stiffened beside me. “Calamity! Off to the right, more are coming this way!”

“Shit…” I flipped my scythe up into a readied position for combat. I tried to inspect both the woman and the oncoming squad of five soldiers, but only question marks was my reward. Damn inspect skill was being useless…

The soldiers spread out as they approached and stopped in a semi-circle centered on the woman I first encountered. All of them eyed me with the same mixed look of curiosity and contempt, but eventually stared at Aly in the end. A shade of uncertainty tinged their motions, as if they weren’t sure whether to kill me or thank me suddenly, and it put me on my guard. I didn’t like how the AI was spinning this situation in the least.

Finally, one of the soldiers spoke up. “Lady, your father has requested that you return to him.” He didn’t look away from the woman, but when he spoke again it was obviously towards me. “Also, we would request your presence in our camp. We didn’t see your Fairy during the fight, so I am not certain as to how that will change things… But please take a few more minutes to rest after the battle and then report to our commander.”

With his speech done, the woman and squad all backed away a few steps before turning and jogging back to the main force of the army. I didn’t even have any time to respond, as I was preoccupied with a quest window that popped up in front of my eyes.

Quest received!

Meet the Commander

After the battle against the goblin horde, you have been asked to report to the army Commander. Due to your participation in the destruction of so many foes, you will not be attacked on sight and have been granted free passage in and out of the encampment.

Rewards: Unknown

Warning! Disregarding this quest will garner you the hatred of this army. Failing to complete the quest will mark you as an enemy and you will be killed on sight by any soldier of this force in the future.

Splendid… If I decided against this I was going to be blacklisted by this group. And I didn’t even know if they were actually a part of my faction! Fucking AI… Oh well, they said I could take my time and rest some more, and I had several messages already waiting for my attention. One thing that had me worried was how the female soldier was able to sneak up on me without Aly noticing… More questions. Lovely. With a sigh, I dropped down to sit on the ground and pulled up the list of messages.

Congratulations!

You have gained an achievement!

Soul Reaper

Like the famous Grim Reaper you have wielded your scythe in battle and slain over 50 enemies without breaking combat. The gods have witnessed your feats and look upon you in favor.

Rewards: Title, +200 fame

Title: Soul Reaper

+5 Str, +5 Agi

+10% damage dealt

+10% lifesteal

Congratulations!

Your skill Combat Tactics has been changed due to your achievements and the results of your battle.

New skill: Blooded Tactician

Skill level: 8 (36%)

Due to your experience in battle, you have learned what it is to fight against overwhelming odds. Your knowledge of battle has granted you benefits in future encounters for yourself and those allied with you.

+8% damage dealt

-8% damage received

This skill affects all members of your party or raid group.

Increase skill level for additional bonuses.

Congratulations!

You have learned the skill: Spoils of War

Skill level: Max

You have neglected the loot of over 50 slain enemies and left the trophies of your victory behind. From now on, you will no longer have to loot your slain foes to gain these rewards and all drops will automatically be transferred to your inventory.

Congratulations!

You have gained 3 levels!

Current level: 9

Faction Bonus:

+1 Will, +1 Str, +1 Int

+1 Two Handed Axe Mastery

+2 Polearm Mastery

+2 Inspect

+1 Advanced Herbalism

You have 15 stat points available to distribute.

Warning! If you die before assigning your points, they will be lost!

I could only stare at the messages in my vision. Damn, that was one hell of a battle to get that kind of reward! Going by the color scheme of things, the title was of Divine quality due to its silver color. Plus, getting some lifesteal out of the mix made me happier than a pig in shit! Going by all previous game mechanics I ever knew of, 10% of all damage I dealt would be returned to me as HP. Hah! That will make my future much more interesting.

Right then, too much to do, not enough time to do it all in. I assigned my stat points into my three main stats to bring them all up. Strength was powering up quite nicely on its own thanks to my gear and titles, and I was never going to turn down the extra damage. After that, I opened Aly’s page and selected the Rapid Revival skill to learn next, Demi Speed having more than finished, and pulled up both my own charts and Aly’s.

Name: Calamity

Player Level: 9

Stat Level: 30

Exp: 18,820

Titles

Nightblade, Soul Reaper

Fame

300

Armor

34

HP

450/450

Energy

400/400

MP

410/410

Str

39

Fort

40

Dex

29

Int

41

Agi

40

Will

23

Skill List:

Polearm Mastery: lvl 11 (0%)

Two Handed Axe Mastery: lvl 3 (0%)

Inspect: lvl 5 (0%)

Advanced Herbalism: lvl 3 (0%)

Blooded Tactician: lvl 8 (36%)

Spoils of War: lvl Max

Alysandaria the Chronomancer

Level: 8

Type: Support

Born in the Grotto of Tranquility, Alysandaria is the Contracted bond partner to Calamity. Upon entering the world, she has chosen dominion over the power of time itself and can grant enhancing effects to others with her abilities.

Skills:

True Haste

Swift Regeneration

Temporal Step

Time Heals All Wounds

Demi Speed