Rough Start
#1 of Aspire
The Lazarus Project was quite noble, invented by a man who shared the namesake. Technology had advanced to the point where you could essentially "upload" a mind into a computer, but this was only utilized in the military. Wounded soldiers who wanted to keep fighting could be placed, temporarily, into robotic devices, and if they survived their mind could be returned to their bodies.
This project was for the everyday person. Well, not exactly. It was for the people who still had plenty of life in them, but suffered from a condition that would cause a painful, slow death. These people were given the option to participate, and then they would be placed into a world much like a game, where they could live on for as long as they wished. Unfortunately, it was only a one-way street, as many of the real world bodies soon perished due to existing illness and the natural degradation of the body without a functioning mind.
Calder was a participant, victim of a rare degenerative disorder that was slowly eating away at his body. His doctors told him about the project just after his latest meeting, where he was informed that he had maybe three weeks to live before his heart and lungs could no longer function. Naturally, a young man had quite a bit of life left in him, so Calder signed up.
Calder opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room with a single illuminated pathway, and a voice narrated at the bottom of his sight that said, "Follow the line."
He did so as cautiously as he could, still wary of the area and the fact that his body was still synchronizing with his mind, leading to numbness and a lack of response on occasion, "Stop."
Calder looked around at the end of the path, "You will now be scanned and an appropriate Class, or Job, will be assigned." A bright light engulfed the young man for several seconds, "Complete. Class: Heavy Dragoon. Combat based. Skilled against armored enemies. Good luck." The floor gave way, and Calder shouted as he fell.
Luckily, he landed without any pain, and found himself equipped in light metal armor, a small round shield, and a spear. More messages popped up in his vision, along with red and blue bars in the top right, "Movement and Combat: Move as you would normally, attack as you would normally. Call out names of special abilities to use."
Some wooden dummies appeared, and Calder didn't need to read the message to figure out what to do next. He ran forward and found that he wasn't as fast as he was before the armor was equipped. It made some sense, he was a heavy fighting class. He was impressed that all he needed to do was thrust the spear forward to attack, "Maybe this won't be so bad..." He finished off the rest of the wooden objects, and walked through the door at the far end of the blank room.
Two treasure chests were just lying there, so naturally Calder opened them. One contained 100 gold pieces (very easy to carry in the digital inventory) and the other held two health potions. A simple starting gift, but good enough. He remembered from the project coordinator that you needed to eat and drink in this world, so he didn't want to spend much on anything but food.
He left this last room, only to find himself in another blank, empty room, "Why hello there! New to the game?"
A man in tight black clothing and a white mask was sitting on an invisible ledge, "Uh, yes?"
"I thought as much. Here, take this. I do like helping my fellow man after all." He extended his arm and a brown sack dropped to the ground. When Calder looked up, the man was gone. What else could he do? Look in the bag of course, and the bag's inventory screen nearly blinded him. It was a full set of enchanted heavy armor, something no low-level character in any game should even touch. Still, Calder didn't mind the early boost from the bizarre man.
There was even a shield, a larger kite shield, but this was not enchanted. Calder shook his head and left the final room.
Bright lights were commonplace in this world, and the artificial sun was no exception. When the glare subsided, he found himself in a lush forest complete with an obvious dirt path. A woman was shouting nearby, nothing but grunts and a scream or two. Being a person known for standing up for others, Calder couldn't help but run to the distressed woman.
A crack of a whip echoed through the air, "Come on! I'm not afraid of you!" Calder saw the woman, dressed in what seemed to be a dominatrix-type fashion. It was low level armor, and she didn't have a hood or helmet, but it was clear that she was in trouble. Two more goblins emerged from the forest, both were five levels above Calder, "Come on!" The woman faltered, reminding Calder a bit of the manual he was forced to read before entering the world.
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"When injured slightly, you will feel some pain. Moderate injury will blur your vision and make it more difficult to move. Extreme injury will render you nearly blind and unable to stand on your own. Avoid damage when possible, especially when you are on your own."
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"Hold on!" Calder ran as fast as he could in the bulky armor and threw a single health potion in front of the woman, "Use it! I'll cover you!" He raised his shield just in time to block the goblin's attack, though he could see that he still took a sliver of damage. He countered fast with two jabs before retreating back to protect the woman.
She picked it up and instantly looked better, "Thanks! Why are they such a high level?" Both goblins approached from the front, while Calder kept his shield up and the woman stood behind him, "Nothing close to the town should be over level 3!"
"'The game is more about skill, wit, and practice than level.' Isn't that what the manual said? Do you have any abilities yet?"
"Huh? Oh, right! I'll hit, you finish off the weaker one!" She focused, "You can do this... Damage Crush!" She cracked her whip, making contact with the injured goblin, "Quickly! It can't counter!" Calder rushed forward and attacked the other goblin as quickly as he could. It didn't last more than five attacks, "No! The weak one!"
"You lowered its attack! It couldn't really hurt me, so I took care of the bigger threat!" He turned to finish off the weak and afflicted goblin, and finally took deep breaths, "That wasn't fair at all..."
"You really saved me... I'm Mary, want to be friends?" A message popped up in Calder's vision, he accepted, "Yay! Calder, right? Where did you get that sweet armor?!" She was quite energetic, examining the imposing armor from every angle.
Calder straightened up, "A weird guy... didn't you see him in the tutorial area?" Mary shook her head, "Oh... that's unsettling. Well, what class are you exactly?"
She put her hands onto her hips, "I'm the Punisher class. I eventually learn skills to lower stats, create weaknesses, plus a lot of elemental weapons. I'm more attack-support. You?"
"Heavy Dragoon. A heavy tank with skill against other armor. I haven't really looked at my skills... but since I leveled up..." He opened the menu with his mind, and saw three menus. The passive menu, attack menu, and defense menu. He chose a passive buff for defense and the Triple Stab attack skill, "Wow, two levels without knowing what's happening here."
Mary looked into the distance, then snapped back to reality, "Tell me about it. I've at least been to town and sold some junk, but that was maybe an hour ago? Hey! Let's travel together. You draw attention, I'll soften them up. Deal?"
Calder shrugged, "Sure. Not a good idea to be alone out here. Let's go to the town, we might learn something." The two set off. Mary offered to guide him, but there was only a single dirt path with no branches, so he couldn't really get lost.
The town wasn't too complex, though it was large. Several common buildings lined the streets, selling weapons, potions, armor, ingredients, materials, and food. Down at the very edge of the main street was a circular area, the Guild District. Immediately, two members of the Vindicator guild approached them, "Well hello cutie! I see you aren't in a guild, wanna join?"
"Uh, no. I'm good."
The other one looked at Calder, "What? With him? He probably can't even pull off a finishing move yet. Both of us can though."
Calder sighed and looked around. Vindicators were everywhere, and some players could be heard complaining about the prices for the goods they sold. Mostly the non-combat classes who needed materials to create, "Quite the monopoly here..."
"You'll learn soon enough. Not like you can get far without our help anyway. The Giant Knight in the Dead Chapel will keep you in this little cozy area."
One of the good things about a game is that you don't have to talk publicly, "Dead Chapel is a passage to the north, it should only have level 5-7 monsters. No idea what a Giant Knight is."
Calder pretended not to see the text, "This guild is about as trustworthy as a meth-head. Let's look elsewhere, maybe learn something useful."
It took only a moment for the reply, "I hear the Weaver's Guild, a base game-created guild, has a few defected members from these Vindicators. Let's try there."
Luckily, the game guilds were in this area too, so they stopped inside, "Hello? Anyone here?"
A young lady stepped up onto a stool just to see over a counter, "Hello! Are you interested in joining?"
"Uh, no, I was hoping you knew about this Giant Knight?"
Her smile vanished, "I know too much... why?"
Calder nodded, "I want to help get rid of it, so could you tell me anything?"
"Woah woah woah, get rid of it?!" Mary was shocked.
The young lady nodded, "You'll probably die like the rest, but whatever. It's a monster from very far away. Personally? I think those Vindicators lured it there, trapped it, and use it as a threat. Those bastards are nothing but bullies and thieves! They buy out all of the basic game stores so nobody else can buy! Then they sell that crap for ten times the value! Did you know they expect 1000 gold per week from their members?! If you fail you have to give up all your equipment, items, and gold! Then you can't do anything! I've seen people starve!" Her face was red with rage.
"That big thing on the mountain is the Dead Chapel I bet... Thanks for the information. Mary, you don't have to come with me, but I'm not going right away. I'm going to get some food, maybe a few potions, and see what happens."
"You are something strange Calder... I like it!"
The little girl nodded and cooled off, "Listen. I haven't seen anyone with armor like that. Not this early in the game. Hell, not even late game people can get that. Take this note to Jhoni at the only independent shop left, she'll get you geared up. I hope you can get something done."
"How will I find this shop?"
She scoffed, "Just look for the group of Vindicators shouting at people to walk away. Push through them, she's behind the counter."
Calder's reality hadn't changed much. His body was dying, which was most likely the biggest factor in his risky behavior. He expected to be dead already, and if nobody was going to try to help everyone, why not him?