“Great to see you, Sarah!” Twinkle spun in the air the moment I went online. “Missed you!”

“I missed you too, silly cat.” I smiled and rubbed his chin. He purred and floated onto my shoulder. After the last firmware update, he felt like a ball of rubber cotton.

“You're beaming today!” my companion cheered. “Did something good happen?”

“Yes, Twinkle,” I patted him on the head. At this point I didn't even care that Claire was spying on me through my AI. “Let's do this quest.” I logged on.

The virtual space around me whirled with triangles, forming Vesperia's splash zone. Three dimensional statues and billboards of the the game's sponsors and top clients filled the area up to the horizon. A large notification window popped up in front of me.

Quote:

Vesperia Worldwide Upgrade!

Thank you for being a loyal player and supporter of the wonderful world of Vesperia!

Vesperia has been offering magical and unique experiences to audiences for over three decades. Now it is time for us to amaze you again with our two completely new world zones, complete with NPCs, quests, items, buildings, and a new set of playable races!

By buying a premium upgrade pack now, you can experience all these new features at competitively low prices before deciding which new character pack suits you best.

Rekindle the magic within you!

-The Vesperia Team

In typical Vesperia fashion, there were no details about the expected zones or races. The trickle of “accidental” leaks would probably start tomorrow, painting a bigger picture until the final update. The current update was just modifying the code architecture, preparing for the change. Interesting that it coincided with the end of the hundred-level quest.

After twenty seconds of infinite waiting, the world around me warmed again, bringing me into the standard game. Immediately, I equipped my invisibility cloak.

“Is Firestarter online?” I asked, checking my inbox for messages. Other than a few paid promotions, there were a stack of system messages telling me of the upcoming changes. One that caught my eye was an invite for triple experience for characters up to level twenty.

Always with the hooks, I thought. It was such a mail that had pulled me in Vesperia and the hundred-level quest to begin with. If I had ignored it back then, my life would have been much calmer and more boring. There would have been no threats or weird things happening, although I wouldn't have received twenty thousand either.

“There's no indication she is,” Twinkle said from my shoulder. Almost instantly, I received a mail from Claire. The message was blank, with a single word in the subject line: Yes. “Do you want me to perform a paid search?”

“No.” I equipped my special weapons. “That's all I needed to know.”

So Claire was still in the game. It was difficult to tell if he was on my side, or if I was on his. However, the fact of the matter was that I was going to have to face Firestarter. I had feared this since the day I saw her playing in the same zones I did. Funny to imagine it had happened only a few days ago. In my mind, months had gone by.

I opened the world map. A large G clef glowed on it, connecting the five locations at which I'd found the clues. Three more matched areas Firestarter was recorded to have been. None of these were the location of the Domain Gateway. If my music knowledge was correct, the location had to be the point where the clef intersected with the line of the G note. The spot was in the middle of an area known as Ruin Valley.

The place had been famous when I was a child, with the promise of a new series of quest lines. My parents would often talk about it. Unfortunately, that was also the time when the company behind Vesperia went into serious financial difficulties. All new development was halted in a last ditch attempt to diminish costs. Game and community managers focused on existing storylines, trying to squeeze more money from their current player base, or use it to gain a loan. The attempts failed, forcing the sale of the game to other parties. The Ruin Valley remained nothing but eye candy. That didn't stop the constant flow of rumors about hidden quests and forgotten exploits. Up to now, I had put them in the same category as web gossip and online trash that was available for any game. Knowing what I knew, it seemed the perfect place to link a parasite portal.

“What do you say?” I scratched Twinkie behind the ear. “Is it safe to go there?”

“I'll do a scan and find out!” the cat purred. Moments later, I got Claire's next mail. The subject line was Maybe.

'Maybe' wasn't a word for such circumstances. It might as well be an outright 'no'. There was no telling if a game death was enough to fail the quest, but I thought it likely. In any event, Firtestarter wasn't going to stop at one death. She was the type of player that would systematically hunt me down and kill me, spawn after spawn, until it was time for her to pass through the domain gate. Did she know the location, though? In my dream, she had used me to find it. Her actions at Crystal Spires said otherwise, but there was still a chance, which gave me an idea.

“You're a real scumbag, Claire,” I whispered. Thinking about it, I had suspected as much. I just never though it might actually happen, or that I'd even find out. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss. “But we want the same thing. So here's what we'll do. I've seen your collection of NPCs, so I know you can make one of me.”

Legally, my appearance online was owned by the Vesperia and a few online providers. Any copies, with the exception of 3D fan art, were subject to copyright claims. That never stopped the booming avatar black market. With a bit of money, anyone could buy any appearance, and as long as it was for personal use, most people never got caught, not if they copied standard players. With a little bit more, people could mod a standard game avatar to have the appearance of their choice. The mods would only function for five minutes—an hour if someone didn't mind paying extra—until the game system inevitably caught on and deleted it. Five minutes, though, was enough for what I had in mind.

“You'll make three of me,” I went on. There was no time to be afraid I might piss him off. It was all or nothing time. “Send one to Bent Cliffs, the other two anywhere you want. Think you can do that?”

Yes A third message came.

“Thanks.” At least we were on the same page, like my father would say. I hated the phrase with unreal passion, which made it perfect right now. “Tell me when you launch them.”

I checked my inventory. The week I'd spent trying to solve the quest had increased my gold amount quite a bit. Since my goal had been to sell my Vesperia account immediately after, my in-game funds remained largely untouched. There wasn't enough to buy any massively expensive items, but more than enough for a few trinkets and buff potions. Manually, I opened a market window and bought all the protections I could. Once I was done, I spent some real cash to get a few vials of the really potent stuff. The chances of my clone trick working were incredibly small: even a script kiddie would see through that after a few seconds. My entire plan relied on me taking advantage of those few seconds to trigger the final phase of the quest.

Ready. A message appeared, this time with an additional Good luck. in the body.

“Yeah, thanks.” I smirked. It sounded rich, coming from him. “Try to make sure Max doesn't mess up things again. It will—”

A new message appeared. This time, the sender was marked as Automated Vesperia Notification system {do not reply). The subject line was Legion

Quote:

You don't have to go on with this. I can give you a new life.

Sure you can. Going into my inventory, I used up all the boost potions in rapid successions. Effect icons appeared in the air, surrounding me like a floating virtual necklace, along with countdown timers. Overall, I had five minutes before the effects started wearing off. Following that, I triggered all my character buffs and specials. Thanks to the potions, that gave me sixty seconds of near total protection.

“You better be real, Saint Jeremy,” I whispered. At this point, I might as well hedge my bets. My heart was pumping like crazy. Taking a deep breath, I counted to three, then activated my teleportation ring, moving to Bent Cliffs.

A deep crimson sky greeted me, along with gleaming spires of obsidian. Apparently, the area had gotten a graphics boost, suggesting one of the new zones would be of similar nature. My NPC copy was standing a few steps away, waiting patiently in a bored animation. As low as my opinion of Claire was, I had to admit he was good at his job. The attention to detail was impressive, going as far as incorporating some my own game movements into the animations.

“Twinkle, start streaming,” I ordered. “Two cameras, one close, one wide. Link both to the NPC.”

“Are you sure, Sarah?” The cat appeared, looking at me with a confused expression. “NPC streaming doesn't attract a lot of viewers.”

“It will.” I equipped my overpowered weapons. “Claire, have her follow me.” I teleported to Ruin Valley.

Cliffs and waves were instantly replaced by a hilly plain of overgrown grey ruins. Most of the ruins were little more than stones and columns covered with moss and vines. A few more impressive structures were visible in the distance.

I opened the area map. The quest point projection was fifty yards ahead. Based on the game map, the stop was supposed to be empty. In reality, I could see what seemed like a stone well. Clever. Of course the gateway would be marked by a physical object outside the game. I had no idea how someone could have added it to Vesperia, and right now, I didn't care.

“Go,” I said, and rushed forward. My clone did the same, running several feed beside me.

For the dozens of clueless viewers joining my stream, it seemed like I was running through a low interest area of Vesperia. Unaware of the quest, they wouldn't see the gate I was heading to, nor would they see me hidden by my invisibility cloak.

Halfway to my target, my clone suddenly flew backwards in a defensive stance. A nymph avatar appeared from nothing, holding a fifty-k fire sword. My heart stopped. It was Firestarter. She had the invisibility cloak I had seen in my dream, as well as a number of new upgrades. The sword, the equipment, even her new outfit were competition grade, costing tens of thousands. Claire had taken the effort to buff my clone, but even so, the NPC was no match for the pro. Without a moment's hesitation, Firestarter lunged forward, starting her lethal combo. I paused. I had seen the combo hundreds of times in tournament feeds. In one-on-one fights, less than twenty people in the pro circuits had managed to withstand it. In two-versus-one, however, it had a huge weakness. The speed and ferocity of the attacks made Firestarter vulnerable from behind. There were frequent cases when she had suffered several surprise attacks before breaking off to assume a more defensive stance. For a pro like her, even a twenty percent life loss wasn't a big deal; she would adapt and take on both opponents easily. With my overpowered swords, though, all I needed was a single strike.

You should kill her, a voice whispered from the back of my mind. You can take her.

If I killed her, I would show the world she could be killed by a non-ranked. That would humiliate her, possibly hurt a few of her sponsorship deals, maybe even fail the quest for her. After what she had attempted to do to me, she deserved it. If I achieved this, neither she nor anyone else would look down at me again. I would have proven my worth.

Adrenalin shot through my body. One single attack. Just one hit. No matter what her armor was, my weapons would slice through it, just as they had destroyed level hundred-and-five creatures. Even if she blocked one sword, the other would be enough to slay her. Just one single hit.

No.

I gripped my hilt and rushed on forward. Firestarter wasn't my target. Despite everything, she was just a competitor in the quest. My goal was to reach the well. Once I did that, I would deal with what followed next.

Time to see what it's all about. I leapt, aiming to land in the well. A powerful force met me head on, ending my progress and swatting me to the ground like a fly. Helpless, I watched a tenth of my life total disappear despite my active protections.

“Hello, Sarah” a second Firestarter avatar appeared a few steps away from me. She was wearing normal clothes, holding her trademarked sword of fire. Somehow, neither my gut nor my dev vision had warned me against her. “Two can play at that game.”