Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink.

Thane now remembered why the Miner profession was most often given to NPCs. This was boring, laborious, noisy work just like on Earth. And this cramped space wasn’t helping. Claustrophobia seized his neck tighter after every swing of his Pickaxe, bringing back a shiver-inducing childhood memory of that time had accidentally locked himself into a closet in the house basement. His parents and siblings hadn’t heard his screams, and a police canine had found him in the end.

Thank mother nature for canines—loyal, fun-loving, the perfect familiar. Dragons too, perhaps better than canines. But no one had tamed a dragon yet.

A translucent golden-brown interface box interrupted Thane’s pining.

New Profession: Miner (Novice 0)

Your magic resonates with your soul’s yearning to dig deeper than anyone has dared before

400% increased effectiveness when mining with an equipped pickaxe

50% reduced stamina drain while mining

He wouldn’t go so far to say this was his soul’s yearning. He was doing this because he loved this game, because he didn’t want to make a fool of himself or let his brother down. All he had to do was climb over this tedious hurdle, and then he would make war against that Human settlement. All-out warfare was his favorite part of the game by far.

His vigor renewed, he clinked off a lump of Gold Ore not larger than a fist. It fell into the half-full sack at his feet while the cavity in the wall regenerated in the Mine’s magic. He resumed swinging at the node, the only node in this small Gold Mine, much smaller than the one at the Human settlement. And with each passing moment, those walking blood bags stole more of Thane’s Gold.

With a brutish snarl, he swung harder. The Pickaxe’s handle vibrated in the impact, and another fist-sized lump dislodged, his profession’s increased effectiveness making an astonishing difference. He swung again, then again and again, as fast as 104 Dexterity allowed, for continuous, frenzied minutes of maddening clinks. When his stamina bar flashed at 5/104, he palmed his knee and saw his sack was more or less full.

He examined the criss-cross weave, wondering what cloth it was.

Burlap Sack

Durability: 53/100

Quality: 297 (Good)

Contents: 78 Gold Ore

Burlap. What else would these be made of? Jute was easily cultivatable even here in the desert.

Thane kept heaving breaths until his stamina recuperated to 50/104, then began hauling the sack to the Homestead Hall, a hundred yards away, a hundred yards that he was thankful for. There had been a time when settlement halls and Warehouses had to be built at least three hundred yards away from Gold Mines. And back then, the average Mine was as small as the one here. Insanity, right?

Thane shook his head, chuckling, emptying the sack into a wooden chest inside the Hall. Ore lumps disappeared into the chest’s inner void, and embedded crystals shone gold for five seconds. Smelting complete. He examined. Two boxes popped.

Homestead Hall Storage Contents

148 Gold

Skill Rank Up: Examine (Novice 1)

Changes: 2 maximum targets (up from 1)

Rank-ups were always welcome. And with 25 Gold in his inventory, he at last could afford two Fiend Workers—after what felt like several hours of mining. Four sacks.

Thousands of clinks.

And thousands more to come.

He lay on his back, his forearm on his eyes. Rope burns throbbed on his palms and fingers, quickly healing, a slice of his health bar filling in. Some extra Strength and Dexterity points would be good. But he was undecided on his build. Spellblades could build either magic or physical or a balance of the two. His Orcish character was a physical Spellblade; Orcs were naturally suited. And Vampires? Less so. When he had been a low-level Orc, he had climbed mountains twice the height, ran twice the distance, and hauled twice the weight.

So what are the advantages of Vampires? Sleepless nights? Not needing to eat to stay alive? Is that all?

He scowled at a crystal lamp on the dome ceiling.

Suddenly the chatbox buzzed into view

GM_Cade: Hey, I’m back. How are you doing?

It took almost no brainpower to compose a response, less effort than before.

Unknown NPC: I caught the Kobolds really early. Only four workers and a lvl 2 Ranger. Got their Hall, Gold Mine, and Spring. It’s in a massive hollow mountain cavern.

GM_Cade: Very nice! I knew the overworld AI would pull through for you!

Muscles in Thane’s neck tightened as he remembered to ask something important.

Unknown NPC: Can you trade items from my Orc character? You can login to my account as a GM, yeah?

The chatbox was frozen for five minutes, Thane unblinkingly staring at it.

GM_Cade: Ah, sorry, our security system AI will instantly suspend the account. If I unsuspend it and login again, it will be a month suspension. Then three months. Then permanent.

It looked as though Thane had exhausted his share of good luck for the month. And in a way, he was glad he was leaving his old character behind. This was like starting over, starting fresh. A new season. A rebirth. A chance to get things right on the first try. Anyway, ferrying high-level items over felt kind of cheaty.

The chatbox buzzed.

GM_Cade: Though I’ve got some good and bad news. Which do you want first?

GM_Cade: Thane?

Unknown NPC: Good.

GM_Cade: I can change your name now. What do you want?

Unknown NPC: Just Thane.

GM_Cade: Are you sure? You won’t be allowed to change it after someone sees you.

Unknown NPC: 100% sure.

GM_Cade: But aren’t you supposed to be acting as, you know, a horrible villainous World Elite?

Unknown NPC: Hey, it’s not going to take much acting when I’m literally drinking blood from someone’s neck. This world is my reality now, but I’m still Thane. So my name is still Thane.

Two minutes passed.

GM_Cade: Okay, then. Done.

Thane glossed over his character sheet.

Thane

Level: 2 (147/2000 EXP)

Elite Tier: 1

Class: Mage

Race: Vampire

Spawnpoints: Granite Coffin

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 4

Vitality: 2

Mysticism: 7

Unallocated Points: 15

Health: 102/102

Stamina: 104/104

Mana: 41/107

Hunger: 21%

His eyes hitched on his Elite tier. He typed a sentence within a third of a second.

Thane: Can you implement some textual interfaces on the Elite Rites? I got Elite 1, but it didn’t tell me what I need to do to complete the Second Rite of Combat and another First Rite.

GM_Cade: One moment.

One moment turned out to be ten minutes. Thane didn’t mind. He needed a reprieve after two deaths and all that damned mining.

GM_Cade: Ok, you need to kill three Elite 2s or one Elite 3 or above. I suggest you do the First Rite of Gathering as you’re a Miner. You’ll get it after mining a thousand of anything. My team lead says I can work on interface fixes for the rest of the day.

Thane: How long is the rest of the day?

GM_Cade: It’s three in the afternoon here, but I’ll work late into the night, unless something comes up, ofc.

A mellow smile settled onto Thane’s cheeks.

Thane: Great, thanks. What’s the bad news?

An uneasy half minute passed.

GM_Cade: Synaptic’s stock took another hit last night. The execs decided announce the Vampire expansion early. The press releases just went out.

Thane: Am I mentioned?

He sprang to his feet and frantically scooped gold coins from the storage chest into his inventory. He then sprinted out the door toward the Vampiric Altar. Final touches were being carved into the sacrificial table while the three obelisks were still being raised. Progress was at 58/65. He had grossly overestimated his time in the Gold Mine.

GM_Cade: Yeap…

Thane: Fuck! Why?! Half the playerbase will be looking for me! Do they want me to fail?

It had been over an Earth month since the last major content patch. Half the playerbase was bored repeating the same raid dungeons. The other half was logging in simply to escape the pandemic.

GM_Cade: One of the big investment bankers who is funding this project, Andre Kellner, is getting impatient. He wants you to start interacting with others players to stress test the artificial brain server. I said it’ll take you a week to build up a town. Andre didn’t like that, so he personally pressured Synaptic into mentioning you.

Thane: What were the exact words in the press release?

A gut-wrenching minute squeezed the life out of Thane.

GM_Cade: “…and rumors have circulated throughout the Seidrac Desert of an awoken ancient presence.” It was the best we could do while placating him. He doesn’t know how huge the desert is, lol.

Well, that was something.

GM_Cade: Don’t worry, some troll made a fake anonymous leak on an image board saying it’s a nothingburger easter egg. They seem to buy it.

And that was something totally insignificant.

Thane: Do you know where I am exactly? Is anyone close?

GM_Cade: We’ve found you, and players all think it’s high level content.

Thane: Okay, tell me the instant someone gets near.

GM_Cade: I can’t.

Thane: Then implement it!

GM_Cade: I mean I’m not allowed to. The higher ups called me into a meeting just then. They specifically said if I warn you about incoming attacks, I will be sent home without pay. I begged them to tell you about this at all. I promised I would convince you to stay and fight players. Do this for me, bro.

Thane: What the fuck?! That makes sense! If I stay and fight, then that’s all the more reason to tell me of incoming attacks!

GM_Cade: Another dev on the team told them you’re a Mage and can pick off attackers from a long distance. That won’t really stress the brain server, sorry. This was an executive decision that the board voted on.

Hatred for rich snobs boiled into an echoing lion’s roar. Thane resisted the urge to punch one of the Altar’s obelisks.

GM_Cade: Try to understand. Andre’s grandson has the virus. He has less than a week left. Calm down, man. You’ve got this. Remember, even if you go to limbo, you won't die for real; it'll just be slightly uncomfortable.

Understanding was one thing. Calming down was another. But Thane was an actor, a master over one’s emotions. He sat on the Altar’s bottom step, massaging his temples. He breathed meditatively. A brick wall filled his mind’s eye. The raging fire in his torso and skull dwindled to embers. Then an ignorable smolder. He calmly typed.

Thane: Will his grandson be uploaded here?

GM_Cade: Nah, he’s only seven. He’s going to Farm Valley Online.

Definitely understandable. Thane rolled his neck, imagining if it were his own little brother, if it were Cade or Ericka. He couldn’t deny that he would do the same in Andre’s position.

GM_Cade: And the even better news is there will be another test subject for Eventine. He’s arriving later this evening. The operation and upload will take about five hours Earth time.

Thane: What, did you forget to tell me?

GM_Cade: Just found out! Relax, come on.

Thane: Fine, fair enough. Is he coming here?

GM_Cade: Yes, assuming the overworld AI doesn’t intervene again. You should build a Graveyard. That’ll probably better the odds.

Thane: Okay, thanks. Anything else?

Thirty seconds passed while he mined a stalagmite.

GM_Cade: Not really, but is there a reason why you have 15 unallocated stat points? Is it not working?

To test it was, he put one point into Dexterity.

Thane: I haven’t decided on a Spellblade build. Any suggestions? What are Vampire’s hidden bonuses?

GM_Cade: +25% magical damage when below 50% hunger. Skills cost 25% less mana when below 10% hunger. I’ll put these in the description.

GM_Cade: Talk later. I’ve got code to write.

Then magical Spellblade it was. Thane dumped nine points into Mysticism, three into Vitality, and two into Dexterity.

His foot tapped while he waited for the Altar to finish construction. 64/65 progress.