“As soon as someone sees Sivlander, they’re gonna know what’s up,” Van replied.
“Which brings me to my next point,” Neil replied. “You’re going to have to start new characters.”
“Sivlander is a Level 78 beast of a warrior; he’s got the best gear, the strongest weapons, and tons of gold! Why would I ever start a new character?”
“Because it’s undercover work, Van. Draco was all over your account, chatting you up and monitoring your activity. Sivlander is basically dead for the time being. You can play him on your own time later, but for right now, you’re making a new character. And you’re making hers, too. Alright?”
Van frowned, considering the options. He’d been planning on wielding his greatest character yet, Sivlander, but he didn’t particularly mind starting over again. He would power level new characters for rich kids who just wanted a high-level character every now and then, so was this really any different? Besides, he’d get a chance to make his character with a different class, which wasn’t a bad deal.
“Alright, fine. I’ll start a new character. But can you at least buy the starter’s pack for us? Weapons, gold, in-game currency for quick access to things?”
“Free players are ignored by Draco, but they buddy up to anyone who spends as much as a nickel on the micro-transactions in this game,” O’Hara answered, “so we’re going to keep you guys off the radar as long as we can.”
“Well, fine... I’ve done this before and I can do it again,” Van said, grinning confidently. He actually felt a little excited at the fact that he’d be able to show these agents where his skills really were. He would get them both to level 50 in no time flat. Of course, there were 177 levels in the game, but 50 was where a player was generally considered to be good enough to handle the harder parts of the game.
“Great. Well then, the pods await. Lay down, plug in, and by the way, have fun! It’s a game, right?” Neil offered.
“This better be worth it,” Van and Sang said at the exact same time. They glanced at one another then, and Van could have sworn that she cracked a smile at him as she climbed into the tube.
He climbed in, as well, and lay back, taking a deep breath.
”Welcome to Draco’s Haptic Pod Immersion System 2.0. I’m Freida, your artificial intelligence guide,” said a feminine robotic voice. The pod slowly closed around him. Much as he’d been looking forward to it, he felt a bit claustrophobic as he was covered in complete darkness.
“Please remain still and relax. I am booting up Dragon Kings of the New World. Enjoy your time, and remember, with Draco, our games are more than real,” the voice finished, offering Draco’s trademark slogan.
There was a slow build-up of light, starting from the bottom of Van’s feet and going all the way up to the top of his face within the pod. Next, the light flashed, and suddenly he was standing inside of a white room.
“Welcome, Knave, to Dragon Kings of the New World!” said a cheerful voice. “Before we set sail for the New World, tell me a bit about your character!”
Before Van, a display appeared. It was the familiar character creation display that he had used half a dozen times. Seeing it, he grinned. It was nice being back inside of the confines of a gaming world. Of course, this was just an in-between world, since the actual game wouldn’t load until both he and Sang had their characters created, but it was the first step, and it counted for a lot.
Van pulled up the class selection screen. There were the basic fantasy classes of warrior, paladin, ranger, rogue, wizard, and druid. While everyone would jump to be a wizard in most other games, Van knew that this world was a little different. Magic wasn’t all it was cracked up to be in Dragon Kings of the New World; in fact, it was somewhat of a disappointment for those who liked to cast spells, as there were very few spells to actually use and, for the most part, magic was only found in things like weapons or ancient scrolls. Casters weren’t entirely useless, but most people, including Van, avoided playing them. Instead, he settled his eyes on the ranger class. Rangers were fast moving and clever, and above all, they were masters of their environment. They had more skill points than the warrior class and were exceptionally useful in just about any situation. He had seen and played his fair share of classes, and with the travel and guidance that he often had to do, he knew ranger was the right class for this particular situation.
He fiddled around with the stats and the character’s physical features, and finally chose the main weapons of the ranger. Bow and arrow all the way. He grinned at his selection.
This was going to be absolutely perfect for him. He’d named his character Semimodo, after one of his old screen names back from when he’d been some hacker wannabe in his early teens. It fit the circumstances, he thought. After he finished up his own character, it was time to work on Sang’s.
Now, Sang was a grumpy, mean, and somewhat jaded woman who seemed to have no songs in her heart. For a laugh, Van selected the bard class. The bard’s special abilities were to sing cheerful songs, uplift the fighters, and tell riddles and stories in order to motivate people. And it didn’t really matter what Sang played, right? She didn’t seem particularly interested in gaming, and it wasn’t like she’d be doing any of the work. Van chuckled to himself as he fooled around, throwing some random stats in and specializing her character in bagpipes. If they were gonna bully him, antagonize him, and blackmail him, then he was gonna have some fun with their agent. She probably wouldn’t even know better, really. Van snickered as he imagined watching Sang being forced to play the bagpipes in the middle of a heated battle. It was too funny. As he kept playing with his joke of a character, he re-thought it for just a moment—he wasn’t seriously going to give her this character, was he? Wouldn’t that be too cruel? As his hand hovered over the “Reset” button on the character creator, he frowned. Why did he have to make her a serious character? “No!” he said defiantly, “I’m gonna do it! She’s a bard!” And with that, he slammed is hand onto the “Finalize” button.
This would take them to the in-game tutorial and transport him into his own character. With a sly grin on his face, knowing that he had just pulled one over on the CIA, he leapt through the portal and felt the blinding light encompass him.
The burning smell of smoke immediately greeted Van as he felt a familiar warmth surround him. The sounds of the crackling fire, the mumbling of patrons, and the loud exclamations from the barkeep to his staff could only mean one thing: Van was in the Dancing Mule, the tavern where every new player started out. He grinned a little as he remembered the very first time he had stepped into the Mule, wide-eyed and impressionable. It had been in the beta, a long time ago, and at the time it had been one of the most incredible experiences of his life.
Now, he glanced around, taking note of the powerful immersion systems that he was currently plugged into. The pods offered an exceptional difference from his old haptic feedback gear. The scene was vivid, and he was suitably impressed, but he had also been in the VR world for long enough that he wasn’t too overtaken by it. Perhaps the biggest difference was the full-blown sensation of warmth. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to stand up with awareness as he felt the heat all around his body. It was encompassing and, for a moment, he completely forgot that he was lying motionless within a tube. With a system like this, maybe he could finally get rid of that waste of flesh he called a body and just live inside of the game. If only that were possible somehow.