BladeDust Online: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 1) Read online

  Copyright©2016 by C.J. Thompson

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  When I saw the ad, I almost didn't believe it. I hated working, but this was different. This was a way to earn money, and actually have fun. And nothing was more fun than playing a MMORPG. This was even better though. This was the most realistic virtual reality experience known to man kind. Honestly, it almost seemed too good to be true. I had heard about BladeDust Online and knew that many players used it as a job replacement. The problem was, there was a start up cost involved. But according to the ad I was reading, that was no longer the case. The company was actually allowing players a chance to try a free 30 day trial. The only catch was, you needed to earn a minimum amount of in game currency to continue into the next gaming month.

  I continued reading the finer details of the ad before getting my roommate's opinion. I held my laptop into the air. “BladeDust Online is offering a free 30 day trial. It says they have a location in our area, but the offer is only valid for the next 3 days. Do you think this is legit?” I asked with a half smile.

  I looked at Tommy and pointed at the ad on the screen. He didn't say anything. Instead, he just wore the same blank look on his face as usual. “Really? But how is that possible?” he asked. “How can they offer a free trial?”

  My finger tapped the screen with excitement. “I think they are doing it to attract more players. Basically, you just gotta earn a monthly fee inside of the game. As long as you earn the fee during your 30 day trial, they let you keep playing. At least, that's how I think it works.”

  Tommy blinked a few times and displayed a skeptical look on his face. Then, I pointed at him and grinned. “I'm going to call them and find out the details. This could be the best job opportunity ever.”

  “You're just wasting your time,” Tommy replied with irritation. “Let's just sale all of our stuff. That's the quickest way to pay our rent.”

  “Sale all of our stuff? Even your robot dinosaur?”

  Tommy glanced down at the green robot not far from him. He had taken out a credit card nearly a year ago and wasted his money on a robot dinosaur. He thought it was cool because it's skin was rubber and it could walk all by itself. The truth was, it was a ripoff. But still, he cherished the little trinket as if it was some sort of advanced technology. His blue eyes got bigger while he licked his lips. “Well, everything except for my robot. I invested way too much money into it. Besides, it could take weeks to sale it for the full retail value.”

  “I think you mean it could take weeks to give it away,” I replied with a laugh.

  Tommy stared at the ground. I always wondered why he took out a credit card just to buy a crummy little robot. To make matters worse, he never paid off the credit card he used. And because of the robot dinosaur, his credit score sucked. And because his credit score sucked, he had to move in with me. It was impossible for him to find a place that would rent to him because of his crummy credit.

  I put my finger into the air and spoke with a firm voice. “I'm not selling any of my stuff if you won't even sell your robot. Besides, what's the point of having an apartment if it's going to be empty?”

  “I don't mind having an empty apartment. It gives me more room to run around.”

  I stood up and looked at Tommy sitting on our brown worn out couch. Pointing at the couch, I rolled my eyes. “Why would you need more room to run around? All you do is sit on that couch. We found that on the side of the road. Remember?”

  Tommy slouched down as the couch nearly swallowed him. “I'm sure somebody would want to buy this. It's a pretty good couch isn't it?”

  My head went back and forth. “It sucks. I think the brown leather leached into my new white shirt I bought. Remember how my shirt started looking brownish all of a sudden?”

  Tommy looked like he didn't believe me. “Are you sure? I've never noticed my shirt changing colors.”

  I tilted my head down with irritation. “That's because you wear the same brown shirt every day. You do know that don't you?”

  He cracked a small smile. “You really think the couch turned your shirt brown? I always figured you rolled around in some dirt.”

  I turned away from Tommy. There was no need to reply. An argument like this could drag on for hours between us if I let it. Letting out a sigh, I turned back towards him. “We don't own anything that's even worth selling,” I replied.

  He became quiet. He knew I was right. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my cell phone and began to punch in the number displayed on the ad. The phone rang once before a well spoken man picked up. “Thanks for calling Emerson Entertainment. How may I help you?”

  My eyes rolled over to Tommy as it seemed he was eager to hear my first words. “I'm calling about the free trial for BladeDust Online,” I replied.

  “Yes, are you interested in signing up?”

  My head went up and down. “Yes sir.”

  “Okay. What is your name?”

  “Cody. My name is Cody.”

  “Nice to meet you Cody. Can you come in tomorrow at nine?”

  Tomorrow at nine? Shit. That was awesome, but I wasn't used to getting up so early in the morning. I cleared my throat. “Nine in the morning?”

  “Yes. I will text you the address,” the man replied with quick words.

  “Sounds good. If you don't mind me asking, how does this work exactly? How are you guys giving players a free trial?”

  “I can explain it all when you get here. The paperwork goes over everything you need to know. See you tomorrow at nine. Okay?”

  “Sounds good,” I replied.

  The voice didn't respond while a period of awkward silence took over. “Don't you want the address?”

  “Of course,” I replied with a crack in my voice. “I'll need that. That's something I'll need for sure.”

  I let out an awkward laugh before the man replied. “Very well then. I will send you a text right now with all of the details. See you tomorrow.”

  My head bounced up and down. “I'll be there.”

  I clicked the end button and looked over at Tommy. He threw both hands into the air. “So what did he say?”

  “He wants me there tomorrow. Nine in the morning. That's pretty early.”

  I fell backwards into the couch. There was a loud pop as the cheap leather reacted to the force of my fall. “I hope there isn't some hidden fee or something,” I said while staring at the blank white wall ahead of me.

  “Do you think they will let me join the free trial too? I need to earn some money,” Tommy replied.

  “I'm sure they would. You can call them yourself and ask if you want.”

  “I don't know,” Tommy replied. “My energy level is kinda low right now. I might just need to relax for a few days first. Just to store my energy back up.”

  I rolled my eyes. How could his energy levels be low? Then, Tommy grabbed a bag of instant noodles and opened them. He tossed a few uncooked noodles into his mouth before he asked his next question. “Have you ever played virtual reality before?”

  “Of course,” I replied. “But only the console versions. This is new. I have been dying to play BladeDust Online. The sta
rt up cost was always too expensive for me though. This is the first game that uses sensors and all of that stuff. People say it's so good that it can suck away your life. I am actually really excited to try it out.”

  Tommy continued eating his uncooked noodles and didn't say anything. “You eat noodles without cooking them? Why don't you cook them?” I asked.

  “It's quicker,” Tommy replied with a mouth full. “Besides, they almost taste like chips if you use your imagination.”

  “I can't believe they are offering a free trial. I've read that some players are making a lot of money with the game. Plus, it's supposed to be the most amazing experience ever.”

  Tommy didn't reply. He just continued eating his dry noodles. I rolled my eyes and stood up. “I'm headed to bed,” I said without looking back.

  “Already?”

  “Yes,” I replied while walking towards my room. “I haven't gotten up so early in a long time. My body is gonna need some extra rest if I wanna get up that early.”

  “Okay,” Tommy yelled back. “I'll try to be quiet out here.”

  I opened my door and shut it behind me. Looking down, I saw my deflated air mattress on the floor. Crap, it was already out of air? No matter how hard I tried to patch up the hole, the air always seemed to find a way to escape. Where was my pump? My eyes scanned the room until I saw the edge of the black plastic pump laying under a bunch of pizza boxes. With no time to waste, I grabbed the pump and stuck it into the air mattress. I turned it on and braced myself for the horrible vacuum cleaner sound it produced.

  The air mattress got fuller and fuller until it looked like it was about to pop. I always liked to pump it to it's full capacity so the air would last as long as possible. It sucked, but sometimes my air mattress would go flat in the middle of the night. There was a leak in it and I would sometimes have to pump it up many times throughout the night. The guy who lived in the apartment next to me always seemed to hate it when that happened. Sometimes, he would bang on the wall and demand me to turn off the pump. It sucked, but it was really hard to sleep on a flat air mattress. It just wasn't much fun. I sighed before getting up and tossing the pump to the ground.

  Then, I flipped off the light and fell back into my air mattress. As I tried to sleep, I wondered what tomorrow would bring. How exciting would it be to travel to a real virtual reality world? I had played virtual reality before, but nothing like this. This was the real deal. My heart began to beat faster as excitement flooded into my head. But, I tried to calm myself down. This was no time to get excited. I needed to get my rest or there was no way I was going to be able to get up so early in the morning.

  Chapter Two

  It was the sound of a festive tropical rain forest. That was the alarm sound I had chosen. The alarm continued to go off while I was still dreaming. In my dream, a frog was riding a camel. Wow, how did this frog become so powerful? And why was this camel in a tropical rain forest? Surely the other frogs must look up to this frog and his camel riding ways? It all didn't make sense as the tropical rain forest music continued to play. Suddenly, my eyes opened. I was awake. I reached to my side and shut the alarm off. The truth was, I wasn't used to being awake so early.

  The world felt a little different in the morning. I sat up and looked down at my deflated air mattress. Yep, it was flat again. Jumping up, I flipped on the lights and went to my closet. Business casual? Yes, that would work. I wanted to look very nice for such a special day. Flipping through my wardrobe, I realized I didn't have much of one. My white shirt, a pair of jeans and a few other t-shirts were all I saw. Crumpled up on the ground, was an old worn out business suit that I had gotten from a thrift store. I had bought it because it was dirt cheap, and I figured one day I might actually need it. Well, that day had arrived. I slipped on the wrinkled black suit and realized I didn't have any dress shoes. I did have these solid black running shoes though. They would have to work. After throwing my crummy little suit on, I tried my best to sneak out without making any noise. I entered the living room and noticed Tommy's body lying on the couch face down.

  I didn't want to wake him up because I knew he would have a thousand questions. My footsteps were slow as I tried to avoid any areas that I knew would create a crackling sound. But right before I got to the door, there was a creak as my footstep came down. Turning my head, I noticed Tommy's body wiggling around like a worm. “Can I have a dollar?” he asked without raising his head.

  “A dollar? But, I need all of my dollars,” I replied with a little irritation.

  “But, I'm broke right now and don't have any more food.”

  Broke? Then why wasn't he coming with me to actually earn some money? Tommy's head came up and revealed his messy blonde hair. I put one hand into the air while I spoke with urgency. “You should really be coming with me. Rent is due in less than 3 weeks. Besides, I can't just keep letting you borrow money. Remember we had originally planned to split rent? That was the deal. Did you already forget?”

  A defeated look came to Tommy's face. Even though I was irritated with him, I knew he was a good friend. But sadly, he suffered from being too lazy. Even with his lazy ways, it was hard to get mad at him. The truth was, he just didn't know any better. Tommy itched his head before standing up. “I'm so sleepy. I don't think I can go outside this early. I mean, the moon just disappeared a few minutes ago didn't it?”

  I took in a deep breath. “The sun is out. You need to come with me. We gotta pay rent, dude.”

  Tommy shrugged his shoulders as I could almost see the wheels in his head going into motion. “I guess I could come now. I mean, I'm officially for hire right this very moment.”

  “Okay,” I replied while walking out the door. “I am going to be late. Just throw on your clothes and come with me.”

  “Fine,” Tommy replied with a sharp tone. “Just let me take a bath first.”

  I looked out the door and then back at Tommy. “I don't have time. I'm about to be late.”

  Without saying anything, Tommy reached under the couch and pulled out a clump of wrinkled clothes. With urgency, he shifted through a few different options. “Just let me change,” he yelled while holding up a brown shirt.

  I didn't say anything while looking away. Within moments, he had put the clothing on. “Let's go,” he said with a cheerful tone. “How do I look?”

  As I scanned his body from head to toe, I couldn't help but think he looked like someone who had just crawled out of a dumpster. “Pretty good,” I replied with a forced smile. “I mean, it's a bit wrinkled. Don't you have anything better?”

  “This is it,” he said with a low voice. “Why? What's wrong with it?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I don't know. It's just not that fresh looking.”

  Tommy didn't reply as we made our way out of the apartment and got into my car. Once in the car, I put the directions into the GPS on my phone. Yes! It was less than ten miles away. One of the best things about living in a big city was everything was packed into one area. Tommy didn't say much as we drove to the location. It was obvious he was not used to being up so early.

  Chapter Three

  When we arrived, I was surprised at how high tech the building seemed to be. It was tall, slender and looked to be made of fiberglass. “This is it,” I said as I parked the car.

  “It looks like a good place to work,” Tommy replied. “It's so official looking.”

  “I don't look at this as working. We are playing a game and earning money. That's something I would call fun.”

  We got out of the car and headed towards the entrance door. Without thinking, I put one arm out to block Tommy's path. “Let me do all of the talking. After all, I am the one who called and got this all set up.”

  A moment of silence followed as it seemed he was processing his reply. “But why? Won't they let me play too?”

  “Probably. I don't see why they wouldn't let you join the free trial too. I'm just eager to get into the game world as soon as possible though. They will prob
ably make us fill out a bunch of paperwork and stuff. I wanna go ahead and get mine done. Make sense?”

  “Okay,” he replied as he pushed my hand away. After that, he entered the door ahead of me. Once inside, excitement began to build inside of me. Everyone was dressed in nice business suits and seemed to be in a hurry. Everything was so clean and futuristic looking. White shiny tile floors and walls were all around us. The place was beautiful. We walked to the front desk and I saw an attractive woman behind it. I smiled. “I'm here for the BladeDust Online trial.”

  She nodded. “The fourteenth floor. Take a right and it's the second door on the left.”

  We entered the elevator and had arrived at the fourteenth floor within seconds. The shiny white doors slid open and we exited. Just after putting my first foot out, a wheelchair nearly ran over it. “Excuse me,” a tall slender man said while steering the wheel chair around it.