Chapter 2 Reaver

I had been transported to a long chamber, wispy light penetrating from narrow portholes aligned across the upper wall. There were tables, chairs; it looked like at one time this might have been an orientation area. Now a layer of dust several inches thick lay across everything. My only company was the dead.

I took a step to one side, as the skeleton beneath me stared out of empty socket eyes, with an eerie grin.

‘Welcome to the tutorial zone. Please find the guild master, and the tutorial will begin.’

‘This is a joke, right? This place looks like it’s been hit by a carpet bomb and left to rot.’

‘The guild master cannot leave the tutorial zone.’

I stared glumly at the scene. ‘I mean, I don’t want to call you a liar, but…’ I gestured.

‘Following avatar feedback, the guild master has been tied to the tutorial zone as of patch 1.1.7.’

Patch. What did that mean? That this…game had a developer? Patches, updates?

‘Alpha…when was…this last updated?’

‘The Doomsday Trials are updated regularly to ensure maximum efficiency and compliance.’ Alpha’s eyes flashed for a moment, and I guessed it was searching through its own data. ‘Ah, yes, I see. There is a patch pending, it was due fifty-two cycles ago.’

‘Right. So, how long is a cycle?’

‘Using the units of your native Earth, it has been two hundred and sixty years.’

I said nothing, walking forth. Alpha quietly floating beside me. Suddenly it felt as though I were in a funeral march.

‘Would you like-‘

‘That will be all, Alpha. I will undertake the tutorial alone.’

I was feeling better, and though my wounds hadn’t healed completely, the bleeding had ebbed almost to a stop. Likewise, I was no longer hobbling, my broken leg stabilising with every step. I guessed that as this was the tutorial zone it allowed healing. Wasn’t much, but at least it didn’t feel like raw mutton anymore.

Gear was a priority, and there was no shortage of that. I moved to the first skeleton, garbed in some simple fabric that had the protection and texture of a burlap sack. As soon as I attempted to dislodge it from the skeleton, however, a pop-up window appeared in mid-air.

[Primitive armour – Little more than cloth tied together with string, this is armour in name only. Tier 1. You do not meet the requirements to equip this.]

‘Well shit,’ I muttered. If I couldn’t even equip what seemed like the Stone Age equivalent of a garbage sack, then what the hell were my options? Lack of data, that was my problem. Alpha had said this thing hadn’t updated in over two hundred years, so I doubted the lack of HUD was intentional.

The HUD was busted. If I wanted a working one, I’d need to either craft or find one.

I went from room to room, each one filled with skeletons, in various states, some clumped together, and others looked as though they’d taken their last gasps trying to shelter. A battle had broken out here, but why and between whom, only the ghosts knew.

I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, or even whether there was anything to look for. The HUD was directly in my vision, rather than through a computer monitor like I was used to. I went from skeleton to skeleton.

Then I felt it. An energy, a breeze in an enclosed room. Something was calling to me.

The tutorial area was shaped like a funnel, with each room leading off the main corridor designed to teach something – combat, looting, levels, crafting, judging from the debris. At the end was presumably where the tutorial combat would take place, and it was here that it seemed like a single avatar had taken dozens of others.

‘Holy shit,’ I said, ‘you must’ve been some guy, huh?’ I said to the figure at the centre of it all. ‘What level were you?’ I knelt down, dislodging a tiny triangle that was located where the skeleton’s ear would’ve been. It felt gently warm in my hands. I glanced at it, then back at the fallen warrior before placing it in the same spot behind my own ear.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

My vision exploded into a kaleidoscope of colour for a moment before settling. Now I could see it, my health, stamina, and mana in the top left-hand corner. I saw the menu and through mental clicking was able to open it.

‘So many options,’ I muttered, but saw the tab that I needed. Technology. I mentally clicked it open and saw that I had acquired twelve technology points. In neat rows were different gear and items, the first row was labelled primitive, showing armour and spears of different kinds. I clicked on them all, and then tested my theory.

‘Fuck yes,’ I said, as I was now able to slip on the primitive armour. I took a note of the next tier, fur armour. I’d have to make that a priority, as this was already starting to itch in all the wrong places.

I opened the menu again and saw a blinking icon at the very bottom. I clicked it.