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

  As the tall man pushed the wheelchair, I wondered what was wrong with the younger person sitting in it. As they passed by, the young man gave me an odd look. It was a look of fear. But why? Why was he giving me such a look? Suddenly, Tommy tapped my shoulder. “Where are we going?”

  My head turned towards him. “To the right.”

  We walked to the right and saw the second door. I examined the neatly printed logo on front of it. “Emerson Entertainment. This is it,” I said.

  My hand pushed the cold metal door open and we entered the room. Everything was white and was in perfect order. At the back of the room, was a large clear window. Behind the window, was a room full of players inside of capsules. “Are those people in the virtual world?” Tommy asked with some excitement.

  “Yea,” I replied while walking to the window. Behind the window, were hundreds of capsules. It seemed so odd to watch these people as it looked like they were dead or something. But, I knew that wasn't the case. They were actually having the time of their life. Still, it seemed odd to think that my body would just be sitting there while I played the game.

  Suddenly, something grabbed my shoulder. “Welcome,” a voice said.

  I turned around and saw a thin man with gray hair who was dressed in all white. He was an older man and wore glasses with a thick frame. “Cody?”

  “Yes sir,” I eagerly replied.

  “Great. You are right on time. That's always a good sign,” he said with a quick laugh.

  He looked at me and then at Tommy. “And you are?”

  Tommy straightened up and tried to look confident. “I want to play too,” he replied with a stutter. “I mean, if you guys need any more players. You do need some more players right?”

  “Yes. We are accepting new sign ups for the next two days. You are welcome to try the trial as well.”

  Tommy's eyes grew wide. “Thank you, sir.”

  The man walked ahead of us and we followed him into his office. “Take a seat,” he suggested with open arms.

  We both took a seat as the man handed us some paper work. “Just read over this and sign where indicated.”

  I flipped through the pages. How many were there? There had to be at least 50 pages. “Should I read this all?” I asked.

  The man straightened his glasses. “It's just standard information. You can read it all, or just breeze through it. It's really up to you.”

  I looked at Tommy and he shrugged his shoulders. “Just fill it out. That's what I do whenever there's a lot of paperwork.”

  Maybe he was right. Reading all of the paperwork would be a major pain. Besides, I needed money and really wanted to play BladeDust. I scratched my head and asked the most important question I could think of. “How exactly does the free trial work?”

  “That's a good question,” the man replied. “There is a pool of money that is updated monthly. When players pay their monthly subscriptions, the money is put into the game. This combined with advertisement money has allowed us to try out a free trial option. This is an attractive way to gain new players because they can start with no investment.”

  “But what's the catch?”

  “There is no catch really. You just need to make a certain amount of gold in the game. Once you have this amount, your subscription will carry over to the next month. After that, any gold you make in the game will be pure profit for either the game world, or the real world. That is your own choice.”

  “So the monthly fee covers the cost of keeping players in the capsule too?”

  “Indeed it does,” the man replied. “We now have a program that allows players to rent a capsule. Pay the rent, and you continue to play. This is all included in the monthly fee.”

  “Okay. But how do we actually earn real money? We want to earn money that can actually work in this world.”

  “You are required to earn 35 gold coins per month to stay in the game. Those 35 coins will pay off your monthly fee. After that, you can convert any remaining gold to real currency.”

  “What if we don't earn 35 gold coins? What happens then?”

  “You will be woken up and told to leave. You can come back, but only after you pay your outstanding balance. It's really that simple.”

  “That sounds fair,” I replied. “Is it fairly easy to earn 35 gold coins?”

  “It can be challenging during the first month. But we will work with you if you are fairly close. We allow new players a little more wiggle room during the first month.”

  I smiled. “Hell yea. I am pumped up for this. How soon can I start?”

  “You can start right away if you wish,” the man replied.

  “What about me?” Tommy asked.

  “You can both start at the same location. How does that sound?”

  “That sounds pretty cool,” Tommy replied.

  The man laughed as he began to pace back and forth. Then, he came to a stop and pointed at my paper work. “Just sign the papers and we can begin.”

  “Where are my papers?” Tommy asked with a tense voice.

  The man walked over to his desk and pulled out another stack of papers. He quickly walked over to Tommy and handed them to him. “Just sign these and you are ready to go.”

  The man stood over us and waited for us to begin signing. Silence followed before I heard Tommy scribble his first signature.

  Chapter Four

  The first few pages seemed like pretty basic information. It asked for my name, height, age, birth date and where I lived. Pretty standard stuff. As I continued flipping through the pages, I noticed a health warning. “What's this all about?” I asked.

  “Just the standard health warning. No different than the seizure warnings you saw on the old console games in the past. Just like those, we must list them too.”

  As I read the print, it talked about seizures, mental defects and some other issues. “So this is nothing to worry about?”

  “Those type of things are possible with nearly any game you play,” the man calmly replied.

  “Yea. I remember I got scared when I read that on an RPG I was playing,” Tommy said. “Some people get sick playing games. But, I've never known anyone that it's happened to. So, I wouldn't worry about it if I was you.”

  I turned towards Tommy and saw that he was busy signing every spot that required his signature. He flipped from page to page and scribbled his signature over and over. The man watched patiently. “You are very quick,” he said with a soft voice. “Your friend could take a lesson from you.”

  Tommy laughed as he continued signing away. There was a small part of myself that wondered why I felt so uneasy about the whole situation. What was the big deal? I was going to be paid to play one of the biggest online games in the world. I should have been happy, but for some reason, I was worried. “So we are just going to stay in one of those capsules while we play?” I asked.

  “Indeed you are,” the man replied. “It is perfectly safe. We make sure your vitals are normal and everything else. Food, water and breathing are all taken care of. We even make sure to stimulate your muscles while you are playing. Our technology is top of the line.”

  “What about parking? Can I just leave my car here when I play?”

  He put his hand into the air. “Of course. You are worrying about nothing,” he replied. “Just relax and enjoy the game. That is all you need to do.”

  I squinted my eyes and took a moment to think. “Alright,” I replied with a laugh. “Sometimes I just worry too much. I'm sorry for asking so many questions. I hope you are not offended by it.”

  The man waved his hand into the air. “Not at all. I would be more worried if you didn't have any questions to ask. It is a great deal and I understand why you would ask such questions. Now, are you ready to finish up the paper work?”

  “Yes sir,” I replied with a strong nod. “I will fill this out right away.”

  My pen moved down to the next signature spot. Without thinking, I signed it. Then again, I moved to the next spot and signed.
Within ten minutes, I was done. I looked up at the man and smiled. “I'm finished.”

  “Excellent,” he replied while taking my papers.

  “So when do we start?” Tommy asked.

  “Everything is ready. You can start right away.”

  Tommy rubbed both hands together with excitement. “This is going to be fun. I can't wait to start playing.”

  I smiled. He was right. This was going to be fun. “I guess we will spawn together?”

  “Yes. Like I said earlier, I will arrange that,” the man replied.

  “I can't believe this is actually about to happen,” I said with excitement. “What do you wanna do when we get there?”

  Tommy's forehead wrinkled up. “I want to ride a horse. I have always thought I would look good riding a horse.”

  “Dude. You could ride a horse in real life.”

  The man stood between us. “You can do as you like. There are some basic rules to the game though. But, we like to let players learn them naturally. If you have any questions, ask other players in the game. Letting players learn as they go keeps the game fresh and exciting. And we have found that this is a much more rewarding experience for the players.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I replied.

  “Sounds good to me too,” Tommy echoed.

  “Excellent,” the man replied while pointing towards a door. “If you will step this way, we can get you plugged in.”

  My heart began to beat faster. Plugged in? Was that what they called it? It was all so exciting! I almost felt like I was going to ride the biggest roller coaster in the world or something. But, I knew this was going to be much better than that. My footsteps were heavy as I followed the man into the room. “This is it,” he said with both arms wide open.

  Around us, were capsules with people inside of them. I took a close look at one of the capsules and examined it. It was white and had only a small window that revealed the players face. The capsules almost looked like cocoons that were waiting to hatch. “So how long do these people play?”

  “As long as they like,” the man replied.

  “Is there a time limit?”

  “Not at all. We do recommend that players log out at least once per month. But, that's only to stay in touch with reality. I don't want to spoil anything for you. Just talk to the other players and they will tell you everything. Why let me take all of the excitement away before you even begin to play?”

  The man walked over to an empty capsule and pressed a small silver button. There was a clap as the capsule peeled open. “Who's first?”

  Tommy ran to the capsule. “Me! Me first,” he yelled.

  “How do we exit the game?” I asked.

  “It's very simple. Our technology is state of the art. Your actions are controlled by your thoughts. Just pull up the inventory and find the exit button. It is no harder than raising your hand. Once you get a feel for the world, it will all become second nature to you. If you need to find the exit button, it is located at the bottom of the inventory.”

  “So you are sure we will spawn in the same location?” Tommy asked while climbing into the capsule.

  “Yes. This is the last time I will answer that question,” he mumbled. “You will be within a few feet of each other. I will make certain of it.”

  “Thank you,” I replied as I walked closer to Tommy's capsule. “Let's do this! I will see you soon.”

  Tommy closed his eyes. “I'm ready.”

  “No need to close your eyes,” the man said with a laugh as he pressed the button to close Tommy's capsule.

  There was a thud as Tommy's capsule closed. Leaning forward, I could see Tommy's breath fogging up his window. He looked so relaxed. “Is he sleeping?” I asked.

  “No. He is probably in the character creation section,” the man replied. “Now, let me show you to your capsule.”

  The man walked forward and pointed at a capsule a few rows down. “That will be yours.”

  I walked over to the capsule and climbed into it. I went to my back and tried to relax. Both of my eyes watched the man's finger as it got closer and closer to the button that would close my capsule. Then, he pressed it. There was a loud boom as the capsule slammed shut. Relaxation took over as I felt sleepy. It was weird, but it felt good. I couldn't help it, I had to sleep. That was the feeling that took over. Soon after, my world became black.

  Chapter Five

  In front of me, was a character creation menu. Yes, this was it! I was about to create my first character. A message popped up in the center of my view:

  Choose Your Race:

  Note to User: Races have different skills and perks that are unlocked throughout the game. However, every race has the potential to reach max levels. Enjoy creating your character!

  The message disappeared and was replaced with a race list. What did I want to be? I scrolled through the options and landed on the face of an elf. Did I really want to be one of these guys? No, I really didn't. I flipped through Orcs, Trolls, and a few other races before I saw the humans. A human? I was already one in real life and it seemed pretty cool. But, did I really want to be one in the game too? I continued going back and forth until I realized I wanted to be a human. It just seemed right. After I chose the human race, a message popped up in front of me.

  Choose Your Class:

  Note to User: Classes urge users to play a certain way. But, a class does not lock you into a certain play style. Users can play any way they wish. Limitations will not be set based on your class alone.

  The message disappeared. So far, the game seemed pretty open. That was good, because I liked open games. I liked games where I could become whoever I wanted, and do whatever I wished.

  A class list popped up. There were many different choices and I didn't know which one to choose. Mages, Knights, Warriors and Templars were the first ones I saw. I stopped and thought about my choice. I wanted to know magic, but I also wanted to be strong. I wanted to sword fight for sure. Magic or sword fighting? I guess it didn't matter that much since the game seemed pretty open. I chose a warrior and another message popped up in front of me:

  Character Appearance:

  How did I want to look? There were so many options. Maybe I should look like a frog man? Or maybe I should become half dragon and half human? I took a few moments to play around with the choices but realized I wasn't sure on anything. Minutes turned into hours as I went back and forth with different looks. This was taking way longer than I expected. The weird thing was, I almost just wanted to look like myself. I had the chance to change the way I looked, yet I didn't want to do it? I guess I liked myself more than I realized.

  The truth was, I think it might actually freak me out to look into the mirror and not see myself. Besides, I always considered myself to be a fairly good looking guy. Yes, that was it! I would just look like myself. I played around with the character creation until my character looked just like me. I cleaned up a few small “problem” areas on my face. My nose looked good in real life, but it was just a little too pointed. Don't get me wrong, It was still a really good nose. But, it was just a little pointed. Within seconds, I had fixed it and had the perfect nose.

  My eyes were brown, and I always thought they would look really cool if they were blue. I fixed that too. I left my hair alone because I always considered it perfect. My brown shaggy hair was something that people had always told me looked cool.

  I played around with the weight scale a bit. You could be muscular, but nothing too huge. That was cool, because I was more into being super cut anyways. I wanted to be thin, quick and have an eight pack. I scaled it all the way down to the bottom. Looked pretty good. I would look skinny until I took my shirt off. I had known people like this in the real world and it was always surprising once they took off their shirt. Yes, that would be a fun way to play. If anyone messed with me they would first think I was a weakling, but then, I would surprise them with my super cut body and extreme speed. And if I got tired of that, surely I could naturall
y gain muscle during the game. I hoped so anyways. Yea, this would work for the time being. Knowing it made a lot of sense, I decided to go with the better looking version of myself.

  After that, I was asked to pick a name. This was what the world was to know me by. It was actually pretty stressful as I mentally fumbled through a bunch of cool recycled names I had used in past MMORPGS. Minutes passed as I debated on all sorts of cool names. George the Great? Teddy The Barbarian? I mentally slapped myself. Those were pretty terrible names actually. What was my name going to be? My mind continued to race as I tried to come up with the perfect name. Bradley! It was simple and I liked it. But, there was an error message that came up: