8

Branching Paths

“Cobalt” has joined the game!

Rian jolted awake. The room around him was a blur, gently swaying back and forth. As his vision cleared, the wooden planks of the walls came into focus. He was lying on a bed in a cramped room, and daylight shone upon him from a tiny window above his headrest. A door the exact width of the room stood at his feet.

He noticed almost right away that his clothes were different. There was even a sword at his hip, with a scabbard attached to his belt. When he focused upon them, nothing changed, so he navigated to his equipment page by tapping the icon on his HUD.

There were four armor slots—helm, torso, pants, and shoes—and one weapon slot and one accessory slot. He reviewed the items that had apparently equipped themselves to him between now and Corvis’s “tutorial.”

Beginner’s Cotton Tunic (Level 1)

Grade: D (Common)

Armor +1

Beginner’s Cotton Pants (Level 1)

Grade: D (Common)

Armor +1

Beginner’s Short Sword (Level 1)

Grade: D (Common)

Weapon ATK +4

Not much to them, but about what he expected for starting gear.

The room was still swaying. It would’ve been enough for him to become nauseated, but it was lessened, somehow, as if he could only remember the feeling and not experience the feeling itself. A bit odd, but he appreciated the sensory-dampening effect Mirage was having on him. He supposed he wouldn’t have appreciated getting sea sick.

Confirming his suspicion that he was actually at sea, he sat up and peered through the window behind him. Ocean sprawled to the horizon. The ship creaked with each swaying of the hull.

When he stood, putting his feet down over the end of the bed, there was just enough room to stand. He opened the door, and all throughout the hallway of the ship, dozens of rows of doors alike were opening in a clamor.

Laughter, shouts, gasps all crowded the hall as dozens of people—all dressed in the same plain tunic and pants as him—emerged with glee in their eyes.

“We made it!”

“This is really it, huh?”

“What?” Rian said, holding a hand to his head. It felt like he’d been asleep an entire day since he’d entered the game. Corvis hadn’t mentioned anything like this. “Where are we?”

Standing in the doorway of the room across from Rian’s, a blond guy with spiky hair answered, “We’re finally in the Overworld, dude! We’re about to land in Miracia.”

A red-haired girl, her face half covered by her bangs, leaned against the doorway with her elbows. “You’re still level one?” she said to Rian. “You didn’t skip the tutorial, did you?”

“I don’t think I did,” he said, uncertain. Everyone had “Lv. 2” floating above their heads, and when he opened their stat pages, he could see their classes but not their names. All level two Beginners. He was the only level one.

“Huh,” the girl said. “Usually you fight a random mob before it kicks you out. Did the NPC at least show you how to allocate stats?” Rian shook his head, and she peered at him. “Weird.”

As the others began to head toward an end of the hall, the girl said, “Come on, let’s get above deck,” and joined the flow of other players leaving. Rian started to follow, but not before glancing back into his room.

Still wearing the same suit and tie, Corvis was sitting on the bed with his legs crossed. He smiled, lifted a finger, and pressed it to his lips.

***

As Rian emerged onto the deck with the other two dozen players, he could hear amid the waves someone giving a speech. Standing above the crowd was a stout and burly man, smoking a pipe and wearing a captain’s hat, the wind rustling his white beard. On either side of him were two priests clad in thick gray robes with their hoods down and hands folded into their sleeves.

“Welcome, off-worlders,” the captain said, “to the land of Miracia and the world of Miriad.” He gestured to the landscape sprawling across the horizon behind him. Directly ahead of them, a city stood at a port.

The captain was standing on a stool. Even with the rocking of the ship against the waves, he balanced himself perfectly, leaning to-and-fro without effort. “I see that you’re all accounted for,” he said. “The Invocation of the Otherworld was successful, then.”

Murmurs of confusion spread through the crowd. Someone beside Rian said, “Invocation? What’s he talking about?”

The red-haired girl from before crossed her arms. “Give him a second,” she muttered.

“I hope that your Vessels are to your liking,” the captain said, then gestured aside at the two robed figures standing beside him. “These Altirian priests with me have channeled your souls into the bodies aboard this ship. You are here to help turn the tide of battle in the great war.”

“Wow,” a player whispered beside Rian, “Reflect-Sys really went out of their way for world-building this time.”

“First character, huh?” someone replied.

“As you step upon the mainland at Thile Harbor,” the captain continued, “you will be greeted by more Altirian priests and priestesses. They will supply you with rudimentary equipment to begin your journey across Miracia. You shall then face your first choice: your alignment, which will eventually determine your class.”

Still facing the crowd, he extended his right arm to the side. In that direction, upon the continent were vast forests. “To the west lies Elmguard, the land of strength and solidity.” He lowered his arm and brought up his other, gesturing in the other direction. “To the east you may venture to the outskirts of Aetheria, the land of magic and flux.” Again he lowered his arm, but didn’t raise either. “Or you may remain in Thile Harbor, to begin the pilgrimage to the Temple of Altir, where you shall take up their studies of arcane secrets, and apply that knowledge to assist and mend your fellow kin in battle.”

“Ew,” a boy whispered, “who wants to be a healer?”

Someone elbowed him hard enough to knock off a hit-point. An orange number drifted away before fading.

“Journey to one of these three locations—” the captain said, “Elmguard, Aetheria, or the Temple of Altir—to select your alignment. Choose wisely, as each alignment will drastically change the path of your ascension and cannot be undone unless you so choose to occupy another Vessel and thus form another incarnation. In which case, well…I suppose I’ll be seeing you again!” His suddenly cheerful demeanor seemed to disarm the crowd, who were listening with mostly grim expressions. “The great war requires more of us each day. I wish you luck in the battles to come.”

The captain stepped down from his stool, and the two Altirian priests beside him moved forward. “If you have any questions about choosing your alignment,” one of them said, “you may ask us now.” The whites of their eyes began to glow a radiant blue, and a text box with an arrow appeared before Rian.

Tell me more about:

→Elmguard.

Aetheria.

The Temple of Altir.

The arrow shifted between each option as Rian considered them. When he glanced up at the Altirian priests, their faces were blurry and indistinct.

An afterimage trailed the movements of their heads and their jaws as they somehow turned and spoke silently in multiple directions at once. It was horribly disorienting, but Rian couldn’t help but stare as he watched.

Most of the new players around him were blinking and nodding as if listening to something, but no one was speaking. Rian faced one of the priests and whispered, “Can you tell me anything about Yindra?”

Some of the other players who heard him gave worried looks. A single afterimage of the priest’s face stared down at him.

I speak these words only to you, Vessel of the Otherworld. Such knowledge is beyond my ability to give. What you seek endangers us all.

It was a bit harrowing to see this towering man give him such a look of disdain, but even more so when Rian realized that the priest was communicating with a form of telepathy: his voice was sounding in Rian’s mind, and the words were appearing in front of him as system text, of all things.

He got the message, though. He’d known it wasn’t going to be that easy to find Yindra, but all he could really do right now was flail around in search for answers. The best approach would be through joining a guild and asking other players rather than gambling on NPCs to cough up information. That much was clear.

Beside him, the red-haired girl turned away and headed back under the deck. Considering she was the only one breaking away from the crowd, Rian figured she was at least experienced with the game.

He started to follow after her, then stopped when he realized what he was about to do. He cleared his throat, dusted off his tunic. All right. We can do this. Just keep it real smooth.

***

In the hallway of doors where each player had woken up, Rian found the girl rummaging inside one of the rooms. She was on her knees, reaching for something underneath a bed. The floor creaked with each step as Rian approached.

“Hey, uh—” He raised an elbow and leaned it against door. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. This isn’t your first character, is it?”

Sitting back to look up at him, she raised an eyebrow. “It’s my third.”

“I thought so. You wouldn’t happen to be part of a guild, would you?”

She went forward on her knees again, ducking down and reaching under the bed. “I don’t just let anyone into my guild, dude. And you would’ve known I was in a guild if you’d inspected my stats.”

Her guild?

So she was a guild leader…

Out of nowhere Corvis said, “Wow, I had no idea you were this charming with the ladies.”

Rian winced, but it seemed the girl hadn’t heard him. Rian turned and glared at Corvis, who was lying sideways in the room across from him, hand propping up his head with his elbow against the bed.

Corvis shrugged and said, “Sorry if I left this out, but no one else can see or hear me. Just you, Rian.” He grinned, fangs showing. “Just you.”

Feeling rather intimidated, Rian stiffly turned away, then took the moment to bring up the girl’s page.

???

[Moonlight]

Level 2 Beginner

…

She sighed victoriously. “There it is.” Wood scraped against the floor as she pulled something out from under the bed. It was a box, a small chest without a lock. She undid the clasp and opened it. Inside was a sheathed dagger and two vials, one red and one blue. She pocketed them and hooked the dagger to the belt of her tunic.

When Rian glanced aside, there were similar boxes lying open in the rooms she’d already been to. “Are you…stealing? Those were for each of us, weren’t they?”

“Technically, yeah,” she said. “Gotta level-up that thievery stat before I can advance, anyway. The game thinks it counts, but I’m not sure if it’s really stealing if nobody knows it’s here in the first place.” She stood up, then nodded at something down the hall. “Well, except all the other Thieves-to-be.” Rian hadn’t even noticed: there were two other players ransacking the rooms ahead of her.

The girl was already heading for the next room when, in the corner of his vision, she tossed him one of the vials. It was about to land a bit short. Rian straightened up and reached for it, catching the vial at its apex. The moment it landed in his hands, a message appeared.

Kat has offered you (1) Lesser Health Potion. To accept ownership of this item, place it into your pocket.

Kat, huh? So that was one way the system could give away names. He held the vial up, a small glass container with a cork. Red liquid sloshed inside. A halo of light surrounded the vial, and a text box appeared.

Lesser Health Potion (Consumable)

Grade: D (Common)

Recovers 75 HP.

A diluted essence of vitality. Tastes of earth and iron.

He placed it into his pocket, only to sense that it never reached the bottom. Understanding, he opened his inventory and the potion was there, hovering inside a grid. By the number of slots at a glance, space was rather limited.

When he closed his inventory, Kat was staring at him.

“Is…something wrong?” he said.

“Nothing, just—”

Kat drew her dagger from its sheath, flipped it around, and thrust it toward his arm. Nearly stumbling, he leaned out of the way and caught her by the wrist.

Neither of them moved for a second.

She looked rather amused with herself. “Huh. So it wasn’t a fluke.”

She hadn’t moved particularly fast, but Rian found that his movement was slightly more sluggish than normal. It was sheer luck that his reflexes, unaccustomed to the restraints of the game, had come through for him.

He tried not to stutter. “Did you just try to kill me?”

“It would’ve been a glancing hit at best, and you have a health potion on you.” She shrugged. “You can let go now, by the way.”

He released her wrist and took a step back, just to be safe.

“Well,” she said, returning the dagger to the scabbard on her hip, “you’re way more coordinated than most newbies, at least. It usually takes people a while to get used to the feedback system.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Rian said, flexing his hand as if it hurt.

Kat sighed. “Tell you what, there’s an open spot in Moonlight. One of ours just quit, the other day. You seem competent enough.”

“What, because I didn’t get stabbed just now?”

She waved her hands in dismissal. “There’s more to it than that. You haven’t seen what the endgame looks like, have you?”

He shook his head.

“It’s all movement-based,” she said, and moved on to the next room, working as she spoke. “It gets kind of insane. Takes a lot of coordination to move faster than your real-life body was meant to. And all that hand-eye coordination doesn’t translate as directly, either. It’s why Reflect Systems hasn’t rolled out anything other than human character-creation so far—they’re still working out how to sync up the human mind with non-human bodies.”

Putting two-and-two together, Rian said, “It’s because of the stat system, isn’t it?”

“Right.” Standing up, Kat faced him, drew her dagger again and adeptly spun it around her hand. “But it only affects complex movement. It’s not like people are going to have trouble learning how to walk because their stats are too low.”

She fumbled and dropped the dagger. Picking it back up, she said, “Even then, coordination can only take you so far. There’s some honest talent in you, if you’re really a newbie.” Sheathing the dagger again, she peered at him. “You…are a newbie, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, not quite convincingly. “In Mirage, at least. It’s not my first VR game, but I’ve never played anything one-to-one like this.”

“You’d probably make a decent Monk. We could definitely use one.”

“A Monk?” He hadn’t even begun to consider which class to choose, what with Corvis throwing him into the game like this, but he liked the thought of it: relying on evasive tactics, not having to worry about a weapon. If his skills from speedrunning Shadow Spirits didn’t translate, it would at least be similar…in spirit.

He almost smacked himself for thinking of that pun.

“That wouldn’t be an easy class to play,” he said, considering it. If Mirage was like most RPGs, a Monk would be a sort of close combat off-tank, a speedy utility class, jack-of-all-trades but master of none. Except here, the amount of bodily coordination required would probably be off the charts.

He would’ve preferred starting with an easier class in a game he wasn’t terribly familiar with, especially since he was—by the look of things—limited to one character. But if he really was stuck in the game, choosing a class with a higher skill cap was absolutely the right move.

“Just something to consider,” Kat said, and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a folded pair of sunglasses and tossed them to him. “Here.”

Kat has offered you (1) Aviator Shades. To accept ownership of this item, equip it or place it into your pocket.

He cradled the item as if it were delicate. “What’s this for?”

“Nothing, really.” She smiled, and he unfolded the sunglasses and put them on. “Just needed to up your companionship level so I can do this.”

Kat has traded you (1) Aviator Shades.

Companionship Level Up! (Lv. 0→1)

“Kat” is now your Acquaintance!

[!] The Companionship System: Acquaintances

While partying together, companions of this level (Acquaintance) will receive +2% EXP and +1 to all stats.

“So what do you say?” Kat said, crossing her arms. Somewhere above them, a bell clanged repeatedly as the ship arrived at the port.

Kat has invited you to [Moonlight].

Accept? (Yes / No)