The landscape rendered as the VR loading screen faded. I was suddenly standing at the edge of a village and couldn’t move. Welcome to Carrick Village: A_Combative_Potato43, said a message window. This is where your adventure starts. This is where you will respawn upon your death, minus the items in your inventory, armor, and weapons.

I closed the window and looked around. Shawn was supposed to be here already. I took a quick look at my stats page.

LvL: 1

Exp: 0/100

HP: 10/10

Atk: 1

Def: 1

Stl: 1

End: 1

Mgk: 1

Standard as far as base stats go.

With my movement no longer restricted, I walked around, testing my new VR Deep Dive rig. I saved up for months to afford one specifically for the launch of Eternity Blade. The VRDD2 from Omnicroft Games was the top of the line, second generation deep dive system that allowed your mind to be downloaded into a game to create a fully immersive gaming experience for all your senses.

I’d used various friend’s rigs before this newest one came out but this one, this game...if I hadn’t known for sure I was in a virtual reality game, I might be fooled into thinking it was real. The sunlight warmed my skin, which made me feel slightly sweaty. I closed my eyes and smelled the fresh air blowing by. It reminded me of that Matrix movie from thirty-some years ago.

All I needed now was to meet up with my friend, Shawn. He’d gotten early access to the game last night, having pre-ordered it. Getting impatient, I was about to open a new message window when a new one came in.

Born_again_Faptist: Be online in a sec, had to take a shit.

No point in just standing around. I strolled into Carrick’s village center and found a blacksmith. I checked my inventory and found that I started with fifty gold, not bad at all. Before the NPC could react, I selected the browse option. A screen came up displaying the NPC’s wares. Most of the arms and armor were for higher levels and out of my price range. I selected the first Lvl 1 weapon I could find.

Rusty sword: +1 Atk -20 gold

I made the purchase. Scrolling to armor, I found something suitably cheap.

Cracked Leather Jerkin: +1 Def -20 gold

With 10 gold remaining, I browsed the helmets. The only thing in my price range was…confusing.

Eyepatch: +1 Def -10 gold

How an eyepatch offered any protection was beyond me. With no gold left, I exited the blacksmith, equipped my new gear and opened my stats.

LvL: 1

Exp: 0/100

HP: 10/10

Atk: 2

Def: 3

Stl: 1

End: 1

Mgk: 1

It was a start. To my surprise, somehow the eyepatch didn’t obscure my vision. “Tyler!” I looked around. Running up to me was a Ranger character that looked like they had Frankenstein-ed a suit of leather armor together, like someone who dressed for work in the dark. Above them was a green gamer-tag: Born_again_Faptist, LvL 5. “Aren’t you glad you got that new deep dive rig now?” he asked.

“Hell yeah,” I said. “Best looking game I’ve ever logged in to.”

“I fuckin’ told you, man! Eternity Blade’s supposed to be the best Medieval Fantasy game to date!” said Shawn. “I downloaded it last night and played it till I couldn’t keep my eyes open.” This didn’t surprise me. Like his older brother, Shawn was an avid gamer and always seemed naturally gifted at VR games, especially first-person shooters.

“How difficult was it to level up?” I asked.

“Not easy,” he replied. “This game has a steep learning curve. Certain stats and functions of your HUD don’t even appear until you level up or if they’re activated.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Um,” he paused. “Classes. Once you hit level five, you can pick a class: Warrior, Ranger, or Mage. You’ll see. I chose ranger, figured it’d be nice to have a ranged option instead of pure melee. I’ve got eighteen hours logged already, and I’m still figuring shit out.”

“It might just be the hardest game I’ve played,” Shawn continued. “It’s been a fuckin’ grind just getting to level five. I’ve actually died twice so far.” Made sense to me, high risk and high reward. “I found a co-op quest we can start on,” he said. “I played through it solo, so I know what to expect.” He motioned for me to follow and we took off, running straight into the forest outside the village.

At the top of my display was a compass bar which showed which direction north was and a few waypoints marked as question marks, with the distance to them displayed underneath. Cutting out onto a forest path, I followed Shawn to one of the question marks which unlocked into a symbol.

Location Discovered: Saxa’s Hunting Camp + 10 Exp.

The new location was just off the road, amongst the trees. Next to the small, wooden hut was a crouched woman with long blonde hair. With one hand, she held a bow and with the other, she pet a dog. Straightening up as we approached, I saw she wore clothing that was stitched together from animal hides. A huntress.

“Hey Saxa, need any help?” Shawn asked casually, like they were neighbors.

“A pack of goblins attacked my sister while she was out checking traps earlier,” said the huntress. “I need someone to find her. ” A window appeared:

Quest: It’s a Trap, recommended LvL 3.

“Hey, Shawn…I’m only level-”

“We’ll do it,” agreed Shawn, cutting me off.

“Thank you!” exclaimed Saxa. “Come back here for your reward.”

A waypoint updated on my compass bar and Shawn turned away. “Let’s do this!”

“Wait!” I called, running after my friend. “I’m not level 3!”

“You’ll be fine,” he said. Fantastic, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. If I wasn’t, I’d respawn at Carrick with no weapons, armor, or gold. Leveling up with bare fists would be tons of fun. Why not?