Dodge Tank Page 8

  Her life??

  And with that she fast travels away, leaving me alone in the mines.

  With only my thoughts.

  And 600,000 credits.

  Chapter 11 Decisions

  I use a couple of sneak potions and leave the mines, entering the safety of the Steppes of Andor and then logout so that I can have a hard think about what I’m going to decide.

  Before I log however, I’m careful to uncheck the auto deposit feature that I have set up on my Crystal Shards Online account. Normally it would automatically send all the cash I have on my character to the joint family account.

  But no way could I have 600,000 credits popping up there out of the blue.

  I send it to my personal account instead and then spend a few minutes to put my ores up for sale. It’s incredible how money changes the perspective of things. Just a few minutes ago, those ‘fake’ rocks were all that was standing between my family and poverty.

  Now they looked like chump change.

  I log out of the game and remove my rig so I can focus without any distractions.

  I need to think this through.

  Carefully.

  Val Helena’s parting words has my mind spinning. I still don’t understand what she meant by placing her life in my hands. Although she did say this was almost all the money she had, so maybe that’s what she meant. Either way, she’s just given me an opportunity of a lifetime. As big as finding the scroll itself.

  Bigger even.

  I could save my mom. I could save her right now!

  But was that the best thing to do?

  Not according to Val Helena it wasn’t. But my heart is still screaming yes.

  I need to slow down. Think.

  I almost feel like I’m mining again.

  Should I play it safe? Buy my mom that artificial lung and a guaranteed 50/50 shot? Or should I roll Gambler’s Boon and risk that opportunity for the chance to affording a better option?

  The nano surgery itself.

  I’d never really thought about the artificial lung option in depth before. It had always been such an unachievable goal that I never considered it past being able to afford it. But now that I can, I’m starting to see the holes in it. 50/50. Those were the chances. And the cancer could still spread and show up somewhere else too. Both thoughts horrify me. That I could blow all this money and mom still dies from cancer or even on the operating table.

  But what would be the true cost of the other option be?

  Becoming a Dodge Tank and taking on a world boss.

  First I’d probably have to lie about getting my own treatment done and then joining some stranger on a virtual quest across Crystal Shards. No way could I reveal all that to mom or Mike. Well maybe to mom, she’d probably understand, but definitely not Mike. And if I told mom she’d eventually tell Mike. And he’d kill me on general principle if he knew I’d gotten 600k and then decided to spend it on myself, to play a game, instead of buying mom the new lung. Even if it did only gave her a 50/50 chance of survival. But in his eyes, it was probably a better chance than betting on me.

  Next, I’d probably have to lie about what I was doing to keep Mike off my back. No way can I have him yanking me out of my rig when I’m in the middle of tanking the world boss. I’d have to tell him I got a job doing customer service and it has long hours. Frankly, I don’t mind lying to him so much. In fact, I probably should have thought of doing it much sooner. But then, that also means lying to mom too.

  That makes my heart sink a bit. She’s always so enthusiastic about my adventures in game. But this is something that would just have to be done. Still, it’s not pretty to think about. Then I’d also have to keep my crutches and fake being lame around her.

  Man, how lame was that going to be?

  But then there’s the actual hard part. Pulling this all off. I’ve never even played a combat class before. And if what Val Helena says is true, I got a whole lot of learning and researching to do. Which I hate! But hey… maybe Gilly could help with that.

  Which reminds me. I still haven’t thought about how much I can even share with her about any of this, since I haven’t told her my real predicament yet. And I also sent her that nasty message earlier. Depending on what I decide, maybe I can retract it.

  Okay, so there’s a steep learning curve. What else?

  Probably the worst part. The unknown.

  There’s the ‘favor’ Val Helena wants in return after we defeat the world boss. Still not sure what that’s even about. It sounded ominous and she never actually said what it was, which makes me nervous as heck. And then there was that weird cryptic stuff she was talking about too. About the game changing and me needing to make a choice.

  “Heh,” I laugh to myself. “Another choice?”

  I can barely make this one!

  But perhaps the biggest con to all of this...is that I can fail.

  I don’t really want to think about it, but I got to. If I’m going to make the right choice, I need to look at the good, the bad and the ugly. Just like Val Helena said, I need to go into this eyes wide open.

  There are going to be hundreds of ways I can fail at doing this and not all of them within my control. I can overcome reaching level 85 and learning how to tank by working hard, but how do I counter something like Aiko and her team claiming the world boss first? Or some other team for that matter. What if the team Val Helena puts together are all those level 40 guys I met? They’re barely more experienced than I am. Well, they’re probably a lot more experienced them I am, but not at fighting world bosses.

  And while I’m busy doing all this, there’s always the chance my mom could suddenly take ill…get worse…

  And die.

  There are no stats and timers in the real world. No way of knowing just how many days or weeks or hours she has left.

  If I don’t succeed. If I don’t pull this all off by the time the world boss spawns in a month’s time, there won’t likely be a second chance. There’s a lot of risk riding on this and I can’t see what the success rate is going to be.

  If this was all a game I wouldn’t think twice. I would already be rolling Gambler’s Boon. But was I willing to risk my mom’s life? Even if it means a chance for her to have a better one?

  I feel like I still can’t decide. Maybe I should just tell my mom. Ask her what she thinks I should do. It is her life, after all. What right did I have to decide for her?

  But then how could I possibly ask her that? Because I know what she’ll say. She’s so selfless, she’d support me 100% to fix myself before her. To take the risk and achieve my dreams, even if it means sacrificing her own life.

  No, I can’t do that.

  I can’t give myself the luxury of her blessing and a free conscience by letting my mom make the decision for me. I’m not a kid anymore. I need to be an adult about this. I can’t know that it’s okay to fail, because she’ll be happy for me either way. I’m starting to understand what Val Helena means now. About having the stones for this. About willing to go for the hard option and give it my all, not matter what it takes.

  If I’m going to do this thing, I need to decide it alone.

  And bear the responsibility alone.

  As well as the consequences.

  Val Helena is right. The lung was never a good option. I can see that now. If I spent this 600k on it, I’d be a fool. This isn’t a race to 525k credits anymore. It’s a race to 3.5 million. And I’ve been given a unique opportunity to achieve it.

  And if the only way I’m going to achieve it, is by taking on a world boss…

  Then that’s what I’m going to do.

  Chapter 12 Rebirth

  I try to get a few hours’ sleep, but I’m tossing and turning and waking on the hour. I barely get any rest, but it doesn’t matter, for better or worse, my life is changing today. All of our lives are.

  Around 6 a.m. I hear Mike leave the habitat. My mom wakes soon after and I make us a breakfast of oatmeal and toast. I could affor
d a much better breakfast, but I don’t want to raise too many suspicions.

  Not with what I’m about to do.

  I help her into her rig and tell her I’m off to the mines as usual. But then I’m out the door with Mutt and Jeff, headed for the elevator. I have just over an hour to get down and back to meet up with Val Helena in Timberdale. And I don’t want to be late.

  The elevator is more crowded when I ride down, about half full, but no one really interacts with one another. When the doors open the swarm of vagrants hits the mob of people trying to get out and a small pandemonium arises. I hobble through as best I can, trying to stay upright within the jostling bodies. I get in the clear and am about to move away when I think on the whole reason I’m even able to do this. A stranger took a risk and decided to help me when I was at my lowest.

  Surely I can do the same.

  I turn back and touch the disposable credit chip of an old woman and give her 10 credits. Her face lights up with a thank you and a toothless smile. And I can’t help but notice how good it feels to actually do it. But then I suddenly have twenty people in my face pushing their credit chips toward me.

  “Please a few credits!”

  “Do you have more to spare?”

  I do. And so I touch a few more chips. But then, more people come and I find myself getting overwhelmed. I touch more chips, but I can’t keep up! I begin to retreat and I have to lie, telling them I don’t have anymore, before they finally relent and allow me to go on my way.

  The encounter has me a bit shaken and feeling somewhat at odds.

  Helping one person felt good, but once I started helping the rest it began to feel like an obligation. An obligation I couldn’t and almost didn’t want to keep. I shake the thoughts away as I head down the block toward the clinic. I stick to the sides a much as possible and avoid crowds. A stray thought has me fearing that the guy my brother stomped into the ground yesterday would see me and try to exact his revenge.

  Thankfully I make it through cesspool of human depravity unscathed. I thought that perhaps my crutches would make me a target. But perhaps they did the opposite, making me look all the more worthless and pathetic and not worth the effort to harass.

  I enter the clinic and hit the nearest booth and pull up the diagnostic.

  Detected: Mild Paraplegia (legs)

  Treatment options:

  Nano surgical reconstruction575,000.00 Cr

  I almost have the urge to second guess myself and prepay for my mom’s artificial lung. But no. It’s not worth it. But soon, Mom. I promise.

  “You’ll be getting the real deal,” I say as I hit the confirm button. “It will be your turn next.”

  A 45 minute timer starts and the doors close. A gas begins to fill the coffin like booth as it tilts back. I begin to get drowsy. Coffin is a fitting word for it. The old me is dying.

  In 45 minutes a new me will be reborn.

  * * *

  I awake to a strange sensation.

  Grogginess first, but then a weird tingling in my lower extremities. The timer is a minute from zero and the booth is spitting all kinds of post care information at me. I don’t really care though. I got about 15 minutes to get back to my rig and meet Val Helena on Crystal Shards Online!

  The timer dings and I step out on my new legs.

  I nearly fall!

  My nervous system might be fixed but my muscles have never been exercised. They’ll need to gain strength the old fashion way. Which actually is okay, since I need to keep up the ruse of being lame anyway.

  It takes me ten minutes to hobble/skip back to the elevator as fast as I can and another five to ride it up. I’m five minutes late for my meeting by the time I sneak back into my hab, and I’m relieved to see my mom still hooked to her rig undisturbed.

  Looks like I pulled it off.

  I log in and am immediately hit with a bunch of new messages.

  Most of them are from people I don’t even know.

  But I do see a common subject line amongst them.

  Re: New Dodge Tank on the horizon?

  Gratz on finding the scroll, dude! You’re one lucky sob!! Wish it were me. GL! :D

  Re: New Dodge Tank on the horizon?

  Hey can you tell me where you mined that? Which node exactly? PM me please!!

  Re: New Dodge Tank on the horizon?

  Are you going to be streaming your progression to level 85? If you are, let me know. I want to watch!

  What the heck is all this? How did people even find out about the scroll? I follow the subject link back to a video on Aiko’s user page. What the heck? She has tons of videos, mostly recordings from her live stream. And she over a hundred thousand subscribers! Holy heck! No wonder I’m being bombarded with messages from people I don’t know.

  I play the video entitled “New Dodge Tank on the horizon?” and get an instant replay of her making the offer to add me to her team, if I can hit 85 ninja by the end of the month. Except it’s from her perspective. The video stops and then Aiko appears speaking directly to her subscribers. Her short blue bob and razor cut bangs look amazing up close as does her violet eyes.

  “So the mystery miner with the Scroll of Shadow Copy has a spot on my team, if he can do the do. But what do you guys think? Can this noob with the pretty blue eyes become a Dodge Tank in one month and join me to kill Vulnar? Leave me a comment and let me know. Ciao!”

  She blows a kiss to her camera and the video ends.

  I frankly don’t know how to feel. Angry, violated, humiliated? But also kind of flattered that Aiko thinks I have pretty eyes. God, I’m such a retard. The sensible side of my brain kicks in and remembers I already pledged my allegiance to Val Helena.

  And I’m also late to meet her by another 5 minutes now!

  I bookmark Aiko’s page, because I see a ton of videos on there of her dodge tanking, which I know will probably come in handy later. I’m about to leave but can’t resist having a peek at just one.

  I pick one of her soloing some giant yeti in a snowy region I don’t recognize. Her melodic voice is saying stuff about what she’s doing. Half of it I don’t even understand; timings for activating skills and abilities I don’t know. She has her inputs mapped to an overlay on her screen so that viewers can see what skills she is using and how often.

  The thing is going off like a pinball machine!

  How is she doing so many things at once so fast?

  I swallow and feel nausea rise in my stomach as the learning curve just got real.

  A voice chat request comes from Gilly, pulling me out of the video.

  Crap! I’m already late. I don’t have time to talk to her right now.

  I hit the deny button on the call and jump into Nasgar.

  I got a date with an eight foot tall Goddess to keep.

  Chapter 13 Level 1 Warrior

  I switch my class to warrior and log in.

  A system screen pops up that I’ve never seen before.

  [New synapse node detected]

  [New synapse node detected]

  [Recalibrating……………………….. complete!]

  As I materialize on the Steppes on Andor I immediately feel different. If the world was in 3D before, it’s in High Definition now!

  I can feel the light kiss of the wind on my face as it rolls across the steppe, smell the grass. Even as I move it feels differently. Even just walking. Before it felt like I was controlling myself from somewhere externally almost. But now it’s like I’m really here. Like a real person. Wow! Was this how everyone else experienced the game? I had no idea just how much of the world I was not experiencing before.

  I sprint as a test, running across the rocky terrain and can feel every bump. I see my stamina bar drain, but feel it now too, growing tired as it depletes to zero. This was unreal. I hope getting hit doesn’t hurt now too! I check my stats.

  Reece

  Class: Warrior

  Level: 1

  Strength: 6

  Dexterity: 3


  Agility: 4

  Intelligence: 4

  Mind: 6

  Vitality: 8

  HP: 29/29

  Stamina: 24/24

  TP: 13/13

  A grin spreads across my face. 4 agility! I almost can’t believe it. No more -10. I’ve done it. I can level now! I bring up the world map to fast travel to my home city, Timberdale. It’s a fair distance from the level 40 area I’m in now, so it’ll costs almost 30 credits. I check my balance.

  You have 27,247 Cr

  Wow, even more than I expected. I guess a couple of my ore stacks must have sold overnight. The auction board is external to Crystal Shards and accessible even outside the game. I remind myself to check it for warrior gear when I get a chance. Just the thought of being able to do that fills me with excitement. I have so much to do, so much to learn! Right now I got next to nothing on my character. Just my practice sword, plus my starting tunic and pants.

  I equip the sword and take a swing, cutting the air.

  It feels natural, but I need to test it out against a monster to be sure.

  I spy some mountain goats nearby, but they’re Level 30. No way I can test against them! I need to get back to the starting area. I tingle with anticipation as I focus on Timberdale and my senses go black as I dematerialize.

  I respawn a few seconds later in a large cobblestone square. Immediately the sights and sounds of the city hits me like a wall of sensory overload. Murmurs of conversations from hundreds of players mix with the creak of wagon wheels and shouts from merchants. Low level characters in gear, as crappy as mine, dash back and forth doing quests while mid and high level characters stand in groups; chatting while decked out in their awesome gear and advanced classes. And in between them are the NPCs who look like normal citizens with plain dull clothes and forgettable faces. They too mill about; some selling items other doing menial repair tasks or ferrying goods to and fro.