Chapter 63: Reset

  Danny, my hard-wired ally in the game, and I used the chat feature as she raced to her town. Fortunately, we had added each other to our friend list before the soft reset of the hard-wired players. At first, it turned into a major bitch session for both of us to bond over. We had both lost a substantial amount of gear and resources. I had been more fortunate since I didn’t have a large inventory of elite gear like Danny. I had lost tens of thousands of gold in all the plans I had drafted. Eventually, Danny had to stop communicating and focus on getting herself and her elf companion to her struggling village.

  I went to prepare for their return. I was sitting at my drafting table now and sending infrequent messages back and forth with Danny, who was making her way on foot back to her town. Once there, she would gather her NPCs and return to Malcum. Since all her waypoints had been erased from the portal stone network, it was going to take about a week for her to get her townsfolk to a skyship and bring them to Malcum. I planned to have all her building plans ready for her.

  She sent me the list of buildings she wanted: a town hall, five shops, two defensive structures, a refinery, a blacksmith, a leather worker, a portal stone, and a manor. I planned to draft my version of an archer’s tower for the defensive structures. It was going to be partially a barracks and partially a defense tower.

  The first two floors would have facilities to support twenty NPCs. The third floor would be the lookout, and the roof would have a ballista. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the engineering skill to create plans for the ballista, so I would have to add it later after I purchased one. If the tower was a segment in a wall, then there would be doors on the third floor so the soldiers could exit and patrol the walls. The final result after half a day working on it didn’t quite meet expectations.

  Rare Stone Round Wall Tower, 250,000 Health, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry Structures 43, Enchanting Ritual 23, Spawns one Elite Commander Archer Level 50 (respawn 72 hours) Generates two epic ballista bolts daily, Special Effect: Structure recovers 1% health/day

  I soured at the effort. Had the reset affected my drafting skills? One archer, even an elite archer, was not what I had been hoping for. I put the plans aside and tried again, this time removing the ballista and focusing just on accommodation for archers. I spent time focusing on a more luxurious suite in the tower for the commander as well

  Very Rare Stone Archer’s Tower, 250,000 Health, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry Structures 43, Enchanting: Ritual 23, Spawns one Elite Commander Archer Level 70 (respawn 72 hours), Spawns Six Archers Level 35 (respawn 1/day), Special Effects: Effective Archer Range +25%, Structure recovers 1% health/day

  I was relieved, and Danny should be happy; this tower could help protect her town when she is re-established at the iron mine. The self-repair feature would save her hundreds of gold in maintenance fees, and she would only have to supply the wages of the seven archers, which is one silver per level according to the plans. If we could get a 50% bonus on the build to get the archers up to level 105 for the elite commander and 50 for the regulars then three such towers should be capable of defending her town.

  I sent the plan details in chat to her and she sent back happy emojis. I would use copies of these towers for Malcum as well and sell my first attempt on the player market. I had been trying to get the tower to spawn all twenty archer units, but seven archers were still a blessing, as hiring NPCs in the auction would be extremely difficult. At least with my profession bonus, the tower would never need maintenance. If it hadn’t had that bonus, maintaining just this one tower could have cost upwards of 100 gold a month.

  I checked and frowned as structure maintenance had skyrocketed across all of my buildings. Instead of paying the high cost, Breda directed my lower-level workers with novice building skills to do the maintenance work. It would slow our building progress but would be required since I didn’t have a large treasury to both pay the NPCs and maintain buildings. Buildings lost 1% durability a day, and their functionality dropped at the same rate. So a building at 23% health only received 23% of its bonuses.

  Also, Breda said the skill level of novice builders would go up quickly while working on maintaining the buildings. I had numerous advantages in skill advancement for NPCs between my high morale, my lord’s manor, and now my Temple of the Sullen god. This trifecta was already starting a wave of migrating NPCs. Zion, my dwarf spymaster, was reporting the start of organized criminal activity as well. We had built a small prison, and thieves were being assigned to work details to help build the outer walls of Malcum.

  I paused in my plans for Danny to try something out. It only took me a few minutes, but the product was amazing and had Breda complimenting my own brilliance. Since the plans only took about five minutes to draft, I made two dozen more before returning to my work for Danny.

  Uncommon Stone Wall 20’ Section (Height 35’, Depth 15’, Footing 15’) 250,000 Health, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry Structure 7, Enchanting Ritual 7 (Bonus: +20% to accuracy, defense, and perception when defending) Special Effect: Structure recovers 1% health/day

  I had only made the plans so the walls wouldn’t need to be maintained in the future. The added bonus for the defense was a nice touch, even if it required a dozen stone essences and the enchanter’s help to finish a section. It took about six minutes to draft each set of plans so I could draft 200 feet of a stone wall section in an hour. Once we added archers to our city defense, I thought it would be a formidable deterrent.

  My largest concern was the first Incursion Event, where the large portals opened up outside the cities, and monsters arrived through them. The test event where the insectoid races entered had decimated a city and killed hundreds of thousands of NPCs. When Malcum’s population reached 7,500 and obtained small city status, we would have our own rift to defend against.

  I reviewed the city sizes.

  Malcum had reached 2,106 people and was starting to grow at an increased rate. We were getting an average of 35 new residents daily from the portal and arriving on foot. I hoped I wouldn’t lose the experience gained from promoting from town to large town as that was an even one million experience. Since I couldn’t control it, I decided to return to focusing on the plans for Danny.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  I was working on drafting a copy of the lord’s Manor for Danny when the game finally officially launched. My interface flashed, and the sky turned black at midday, and I had to pause my work and watch the animation in the sky. It was a massive battle sequence that lasted minutes. Titans of every race and monster fought a brutal war with fire, lightning, swords, claws, arrows, fists, and spears. It was all a visual spectacle.

  When it finished the game’s opening sequence, I listened to the narration ringing across the sky in a reverse script and a loud voice. I figured out the new players were watching the sequence from the heavens, and we were behind the screen, so to speak. The narration detailed that there were twenty-three realms, each with its own series of twenty-three divine artifacts that needed to be assembled.

  When all the artifacts were assembled from all the realms, a portal could be opened to challenge the creator. The game developers were putting aside a percentage of revenue for the player that succeeded in accomplishing this task. To me, 529 different artifacts seemed impossible, assembled into 23 devices. There would be too many players competing for a single one to succeed. But this ultimate prize was going to be worth tens of billions, so people were going to try.

  The number of people the game would draw would also give it its own economy. There were going to be people making fortunes in this game. The expected run of the game was projected at thirty years. That was how long it was expected before one person would succeed in claiming the ultimate prize. I just wanted to make enough money to take back my body and repair it.

  I was extremely optimistic that once the Silver Linings Playbook guild arrived to help with managing Malcum, I would quickly accumulate all the currency I needed to accomplish my goals.

  With the cinematic opening done, I watched as streaks of light started to descend from the sky. These would be the players arriving. The players who paid a substantial sum to get a four-week in-game head start. I went into my interface screens to see the new player counter. It had the number of players logged in and the number of total subscribers. The player counter quickly rose to 10,889 and kept slowly ticking up. The number of subscribers was 22,345,194, ticking up faster and faster. I remember Mad Dog saying they expected almost 100 million people to be playing the game before the end of the first year.

  Another new tab had opened for me in the interface. It was my video recording function and live streaming function. You had to link to a streaming platform in order to export your live video. I didn’t have any real-world funds currently to buy a platform, so that wasn’t happening. Danny was texting me that she was setting up her stream now. She planned to run a 24-hour stream and get subscribers. She was probably going to make a mint. I could at least record some of my interesting play time and upload it later when I got a platform.

  Although watching me work for hours drafting plans probably didn’t make for the most interesting program. I moved to the in-game wiki tab, and it was already being populated. Players could only update it in the game, and the AIs streamlined it into a singular format. For example, you could add a monster and update the entry with a picture, it’s level, attack and defense, and where to find it. This was quickly going to be a massive database of discovery.

  You got special credits from the game by adding them to the wiki based on the value of the info provided. These credits could only be used on real-world merch. The admins were going all out with collectible foil cards, clothing, miniatures, and several other items that could only be purchased with these special credits. Maybe the only printing of a foil card of one of the game’s iconic bosses would be worthwhile in the real world. I just thought it was a marketing scheme.

  I set my recording function to passive mode. That meant I had 1,000 hours of video that I could record. It would stop recording when I reached my limit until I deleted and freed up space. Of course, if I had money, I could buy more storage. Since the time dilation of the game was in effect 1,000 hours was just 333 hours in the real world, or two real-world weeks. I could at least get some practice with the in-game editing software.

  I turned to watch the sky for any descending lights coming down near Malcum. Mad Dog had said the world had about 5,000 large cities and was still expanding at a constant rate. Malcum was just an insignificant town in such a vast expanse. The columns of light were already slowing, and besides numerous lights far to the north in the dwarven lands, I only saw two descend to the south in the human kingdoms. The game was an open world, and you could start in a city surrounded by high-level monster zones if you wanted. There were no starter cities where beginner quests slowly leveled you up. You could certainly set yourself up in a low-level zone, though.

  My terminal beeped again, and it asked for audio permissions. Danny was calling me instead of texting me. I accepted the call.

  “Tallis, this is crazy. I am in the city of Shallow Point, commissioning a skyship. Twenty players just arrived and already knew each other,” she said. I hadn’t realized there were probably guilds rich enough to get numerous players into the early release. Danny continued, “They went straight into the adventurers guild to register. I think they purchased gold in the rteal world to register their Guild right away. They then left in groups of five to go grinding.”

  I questioned, “Is that a low-level area around the Shallow Point?”

  Danny distractedly responded, “It is like a city at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The north end of the canyon is level 5 to 15 zone, and the south is level 10 to 20, so yeah, it is pretty low level. Hold on, one of the groups is approaching me.”

  I wasn’t worried about Danny. She was at a much higher level than the new players. I waited for a few minutes, and Danny came back on, “They tried to recruit me to their guild, Demonic Revelations. I think they are German based on the translator program. Are you having trouble using any of your skills? My trade skills are not working. I am paying more than I should for this skyship.”

  I thought for a moment, “I don’t think so. I had more trouble drafting some building plans for your town, but nothing significant.”

  After a pause, Danny said, peeved, “I found it. Our skills have been nerfed. We keep the skill level, but the effectiveness of the skill will grow only as the new players increase their own skill.” Danny was swearing, “Well, at least we get to keep our stats. I wonder why they didn’t have us start back level 1 after all of this. Everything seems patchwork. It is like there were some things the programmers couldn’t change for some reason.”

  I quickly realized that my drafting method meant my skill was less nerfed. I actually went through the process without the quick tools in the creation interface but essentially did all the work myself. “Danny, try not to slave your skills by letting the system do the work. Actually, practice the skills. It helps a lot and means my drafting skill is functioning at a high level.”

  We talked for another half an hour before Danny confirmed my hypothesis. Danny could actuate a closer approximation to the skill level when she put the effort in.

  “Are you going to join their guild?” I asked, containing my worry.

  “No, they seemed more like soldiers than people. I don’t think I do well in a structured environment. Well, once I leave the city, I can only use text chat. Voice chat is only usable when we are both in a safe zone. Thanks again for the platinum. It is just enough to charter this skyship. I should be back in a week. Make sure my plans are ready so we can start on the buildings.”

  After Danny disconnected, I went for a walk through the town. I found Breda near the Central Park. She waved, and I approached, “What are we working on today?” She looked away, not making eye contact. I sighed and went to my town interface as it would tell me. My jaw dropped.

  Breda basically said, “I know you didn’t want to start it, but I had been stockpiling materials and just had Sanso start it while you were gone grinding.”

  I bent down and kissed Breda on the lips, “You marvelous, impatient dwarf! Do you still have the plans? Who is supervising the build?” Breda was wiping her lips in shock at the kiss.

  “That is sexual harassment!” She said jokingly. “We are just clearing the foundations. The plans are right here,” she produced them, and I examined them.

  Epic Grand Library, Health 500,000 Bonus, +100% skill advancement from manuscripts, Requirements to build: Woodcraft: Carpentry 43, Masonry Foundations 43, Masonry Structures 67, Arborist 23

  I could see clearly where I had made mistakes in the plans regarding infusing magical runes in the structure. Could I edit these plans? Maybe improve them? I just wanted to add the recovery aspect to the building so I wouldn’t have to pay a maintenance fee.

  “Breda, we are going to halt progress on this build for now. I am going to see if I can improve the plans,” I told the doubtful-looking dwarf.

  “You know you have a greater chance of destroying the plans than improving them,” she said with seriousness.

  “I can always redraft them then,” I said. I went into my interface to confirm the plans were still there for me to draft. It would take days, but it was possible.

  I returned and found Joy with Kytalia. I asked where Jaesmin was, and she responded, “She is working on the western road with Sanso, so the new residences can be built there.” I took Joy when she reached out her arms to me and went to find Jaesmin.

  I dismissed Kytalia and brought Joy into my drafting room. I would watch her while I finished the plans for Danny and worked on improving the library plans. Maybe I could even get them back to legendary rank with enough effort—probably not, but worth trying just to piss off the administrators.

  Joy kept coming over to the drafting table while I worked, but I was happy to pause and play with her a bit. She had an assortment of toys and was a fast crawler. She could even climb my leg to stand and hold out her arms. Eventually, I just held her in one arm and worked with my free hand. The drafting tools could be manipulated mentally rather than physically, so that is what I did.

  While holding Joy, I felt inspired. It was like being in the zone; all the other times I had felt this, I had produced some of my best work. I cleared all the plans except the library and got to work. Two days passed, and my only interruption was responding to texts from Danny. I don’t know if Jaesmin let me work, and Joy frequently would hop into my lap while I worked. The final result:

  Legendary Grand Library of the Sullen God, Health 750,000 Requirements to build: Woodcraft: Carpentry 43, Masonry Foundations 43, Masonry Structures 67, Arborist 23, City Bonus: +50% learning skill growth of NPC city occupants, Bonus +100% skill advancement from manuscripts, Special Effect: Structure recovers 1% health/day

  I waited for the admins to show up. I wasn’t disappointed. A woman I didn’t recognize appeared in a thin fabric white dress. She had golden hair but wizened features. She walked to my drafting table and took Joy from me while the baby giggled. She turned around and handed Joy to Jaesmin.

  My mind spun, and I figured it out. Maybe Jaesmin’s expression of deference gave it away a little too. Before the woman could talk, I did, “I don’t think we have met. I assume you are the Matriarch.”

  The woman smiled, “I knew you were smart. It is time we talked.”