Chapter 2

By the time a servant arrived with a tray of food and drinks I had spent at least five minutes trying every way I could think of to open my status sheet. As I smelled the pastries on the tray I decided it could wait until later. I was really curious about how the game would handle eating and drinking. Would I be able to taste what I was eating?

As I looked at the servant I realized that it was a young woman in her early twenties. She was beautiful but not so beautiful that I felt intimidated. Unfortunately she was wearing the same grey robes everyone else was wearing. Still I could see a hint of her figure and I definitely approved. It helped that she was a redhead. I had always had a thing for women with red hair.

“Is there anything else you desire, my lord?” The servant asked as she set down the tray. I looked up at her in a bit of shock. From the tone of voice it sounded like she was trying to seduce me.

Normally I was terrible with women. Reminding myself that this was just a game helped though. I mentally shrugged and decided a bit of flirting wouldn’t hurt. “I can think of many things I desire. What were you thinking of?” I said and barely kept myself from grimacing. I sounded like an idiot.

Apparently the AI didn’t care. The woman licked her lips and leaned forward. “I’ve been trained to provide anything you may desire. No reason you can’t have some fun while you wait for the assembly master.” She said in a sultry voice.

I jumped up and scrambled backwards as she reached a hand towards my groin. “W- wa- wait a second. I’m not sure this is such a good idea.” I managed to stammer as she stalked towards me.

She frowned a bit. “Is there a problem with my looks, my lord? Perhaps you would like a different servant?” She said in a disappointed voice.

Shit she was pretty upset. “No. You look great. It’s just that we don’t know each other at all. I don’t even know your name. Why would you want to sleep with someone you don’t know?” I tried to explain. Although it was kind of hard to explain my feelings when I didn’t even understand them. A lot had to do with this being a game. The sudden adult content was throwing me off. None of the information I read about Ravarok talked about adult content. Also it kind of felt wrong having sex with an NPC.

She seemed a bit confused about what I was saying. “My name is Faye. We can get to know each other later. As for why I’m doing this, isn't it obvious? Once the test is completed there are going to be tons of women throwing themselves at you. Even if you fail.” I gave her a very confused look.

“You don’t know what it means to be a swarm knight do you? Perhaps an explanation is in order. What do you know so far?” She said and then sat down in one of the free chairs.

“I would appreciate that. I started the game and it asked if I wanted to be tested to become a swarm knight. I’m assuming it’s a rare class so I said yes. Then I ended up here.” I explained.

“How do you know so little about the swarm knights? And what is this about a game?” She said looking as confused as I had been earlier. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the NPC’s didn’t know they were in a video game. I was actually a bit surprised that the AI had even asked that question instead of disregarding anything I said that hinted at this being a game.

“This is all part of a video game. And swarm knight wasn’t in any of the guides or reviews I’ve read about the game.” I wondered if the AI would acknowledge me saying it was a game or not.

“Just my luck. I finally met a prospective swarm knight. And it turns out he’s insane.” Faye said, shaking her head.

Seemed like the AI acknowledged that I said this was a game. However, it was acting like the game was real life. In the future I’d have to remember to stay quiet about this being a game. For now I was curious about what would happen if I pushed the subject.

“I’m not insane. You are obviously an NPC controlled by one of the AI’s that run Ravarok. I’ve been studying the game for the past week. Finally got my VR helmet today and downloaded the game. I pressed play….” I frowned. I didn’t actually remember pressing play on the game.

Faye took advantage of my lapse in conversation. “I may not know what you are talking about but I do know that this is real life. You put on the testing helmet and it determined you have the talent to control the swarm. Therefore you were transported here in order to test how much control you have.”

I thought about what she was saying. I didn’t remember pressing play. In fact from what I remembered there should have still been a few minutes left before the game actually launched. This world was far more real than I had been expecting. And earlier I hadn’t been able to pull up any menus. I started to panic a bit.

“Okay this isn’t funny. How do I pull up the menu and logout? There has to be an exit button somewhere.” I said frantically. I couldn’t even pull the VR helmet off since in the real world my body wasn’t reacting to my thoughts.

“Yep, totally insane. You can’t exit life.” Faye said, shaking her head. I ignored her and tried to think of how I could get out of the game.

“I bet dying would put me back to the main menu though.” I said.

“I wouldn’t suggest that.” Faye said in a shocked voice.

I looked around and hesitated. With as real as everything looked I couldn’t be sure what effect dying would have on my mind. Weren’t there some books and shows where people who died in a game ended up dying in real life?

Faye looked like she was about to panic. “Let’s consider the possibility that you are right. What would happen if you don’t kill yourself?” She asked me.

I considered the scenario. “I plugged the VR helmet in so it won’t run out of battery. After a day or two one of my family members or roommates would check on me and take the VR helmet off. So it’s not like I’ll die or anything. On the other hand if you are right, killing myself would be a terrible idea.” Faye seemed to calm down. Talking through the issue had calmed me down also.

“Then in two or three days when they don’t remove the VR helmet you will realize I’m right. Meanwhile you shouldn’t mention thinking this is a game to anybody else. Also you should do your best on the test and become a swarm knight. Trust me, you will regret it if you back out of the test.” Faye said eagerly.

I nodded as I considered what she said. I still couldn’t quite accept that this was real life though. In order for this to be real, I’d have to acknowledge that something transported me from my bed to the courtyard. It would be far more likely that I was insane and hallucinating. Considering that everything felt far too real to be VR, that seemed far more likely.

If it was a game somebody would find me. If I was hallucinating eventually I was sure it would stop or someone would get me to a hospital. However, if this was real life and I acted like it wasn’t, there was the potential for a lot of terrible things to happen. I was glad this world didn’t look as violent as Ravarok.