Chapter 5

After reaching the smithy and purchasing a small iron knife for 8 coppers, Gareth found his way back to the main street, where he had seen an inn called the Wild Wabbit. Entering he saw a half dozen tables full of players, being served food and drink, while a lone musician played in a corner. Walking between the tables and rowdy players Gareth greeted the bartender behind an oak bar

“Hey, Is there a room available?”

“Yeah, 10 copper a night”

“Alright”

Frowning. Gareth slid 10 copper over the counter, receiving a dull bronze key.

“Up the stairs third door on the left”

“Thanks”

Turning to the stairs, Gareth almost ran into a barmaid carrying several pitchers of some blue fizzing drink, walking up the well worn stairs into the corridor dimly lit by torches of blue flame. Turning left he quickly found his room and opened it with the key.

*Resting area - Normal logoff available - +100% stamina and health regeneration

Logout successful

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Light slowly appeared, several clunks, and whirring noises, helped wake John from the game, his sight was blurry,and it took several seconds for the remaining machinery and pool of liquid to be taken back into the Chrysalis. Stepping out, he stumbled and caught the edge of a nearby chair, preventing himself from falling. The Chrysalis, was an oval shaped chrome egg, slightly larger than a bathtub, slowly closing the opening that John had exited from. Checking the clock fastened above the door, John realized it had been only four hours or so since he had entered the game. Still dressed in his robe, John walked to the bathroom to take care of business.

Once he was out, he ordered dinner from the computer by his bed, feeling surprisingly well rested, realizing that the Chrysalis did boast of being able to replace sleep, though some real sleep was needed. Receiving his dinner from an advanced dumbwaiter system John took out his computer while eating, hoping to find some information on the game.

A web search for Forever Online brought up a website to order a Chrysalis and the game, as well as an official forum. Opening the forum revealed several hundred threads, the top recommended one was titled ‘A basic introduction to Forever Online’, clicking on it, several large paragraphs of text were revealed.

‘A Basic Introduction to Forever Online

First off, the beginner quest is triggered when you turn around and walk to the library/ talk to an npc/ or somehow level up. This quest should be completed as quickly as possible to move on to leveling up and getting a class. Now, all new players are put into new ‘Frontier towns’ on the outskirts on kingdoms, generally low level areas, from there players either move further out into the wilderness or closer to the center of the kingdom. In ‘Frontier towns’ there are 3 basic classes available for level 5 players, archers, magicians, warriors, which of course lead to more advanced class later on.

Having finished dinner by this point, John took a break and thought about how he had managed to mess up. Then what he was going to do from now on, first find some more information, take a nap, and get back into the game.

Checking back to the forum, John found some guides for leveling up and for various class upgrades, but deciding to just enjoy and play the game how he wanted he ignored those and clicked on a thread titled ‘LeaderBoard’

1st - Darkwing - lvl 138

2nd - Newmoon - 137

3rd - Swampgass - 137

With hundreds of other contestants, no prize was offered for the highest level player, but with the near monopoly Forever Corp had on the virtual reality gaming sector, and the increasing value of ingame currency, large guilds and strong players were money making machines large corporations wanted at least a small part in.

While scrolling through other threads, the screen suddenly refreshed and a new thread decorated with gold and purple appeared at the top, it was from Forever Corp and explained that a new expansion was scheduled to come out in the year 3000 to celebrate the new millenia, only 6 months away, and that the top hundred players, not only those who chose to leave their names on the leaderboard, would receive massive prizes in game and in real life. The top players would be measured on several factors, such as level and skill proficiency, with others hidden.

Finding several videos from famous internet personalities who had entered the game several days before, having found out from sponsors or through other channels. John watched as they were able to quickly level up and receive skills and items, within the same time frame as he had but much quicker.

Seeing the competition for the top one hundred, and those celebrities who had advanced faster than him, rankled his gamer pride. A small desire to compete for the top one hundred ignited in his chest, unaware of this John called his parents explaining he would be unavailable for the next week, playing the game, and as work it seemed had gotten much more busy, they were amenable to this.

Quickly putting away the mess he made, as well as his computer, John walked over to the Chrysalis, and selecting options on the screen tried something he had read about online, a week long immersion mode, that would allow him to stay in the game for a full week. Several warning labels appeared informing him that while safe if used long term, there were definite side effects. Selecting agree on all terms and conditions blankly, John ordered more of the proprietary nutrient gel that was required for the operation of the immersion mode. Stepping into the Chrysalis, John felt heat surround him and pull away his consciousness.

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Awakening as Gareth, once again inside the plain room at the inn. Gareth smiled confident he would catch up to those on the leaderboard quickly, after all it was only a hundred or so levels. So whistling terribly Gareth set off to find some basic beginner quests, shown in the several videos he watched.