Prologue

  Stepping through the massive, city gate sized door, Eric felt abuzz with energy. This was gonna be a whole lot of fun. Both feet left stone, stepping onto the grass covered ground of the emerald forest in the first tier of the tower.

  Before following the path that led North, Eric paused to breathe in the scent of oak and pine that mingled its way along the breeze.

  The air was so much more crisp here than the smog filled air that choked his Los Angeles apartment. It was incredible the way that the sunlight dappled through the canopy of leaves and branches to warm his skin where it touched. Ding! His admirations were interrupted by a notification bell.

  Welcome Sir BlackDagger!

  Level 1 Human Warrior

  Strength: 10

  Agility: 5

  Fortitude: 10

  Intelligence: 5

  Perception: 5

  Charisma: 5

  Luck: 5

  XP 0 out of 200 to Level 2

  Skill gained: Shield Level 1!

  Shield ability gained: Shield Bash!

  Mana Cost: 5

  Skill gained: Blade level 1!

  Blade ability gained: Flurry of Slashes!

  Mana Cost 10

  HP 100 of 100

  MP 20 of 20

  “Yes! Sir BlackDagger is back, baby!”

  Even being almost retro at this point, Hallowed Errant Realm Online was still impressive in its realism. Good VR games sometimes had a way of feeling almost more real than being unplugged, and Errant Realm was a true gem in that regard. He set off walking along the worn path that wound through the trees and towards the starter town, where most of the players would gather between their adventures in this large world.

  The walk alone was building up within him all of the joys of re-experiencing a fond memory.

  Sweeping his view left and right to enjoy the landscape, Eric was hit by a moment of realization as he glimpsed the straight edge of worked stone. The sight just east of him jogged long dormant images in his mind from his very first time on this floor.

  His mind was filled with memories of his adventures with forgotten friends back when they had been among the first to reach the tower’s peak.

  Now, instead of moving forward, he was reminiscing over times past before bigger guilds had shouldered his own aside.

  There, between the trees and nearly hidden by dense foliage, was the entrance to the smallest and poorest excuse for a castle that had long since been buried underground by some sort of magic gone awry.

  The halls where he had killed his first goblins and other pitiful starter area monsters.

  Smiling wide and picking up his pace, Eric ran off from the road and uphill to the edge of a slanted platform made from blocks of granite that sat in the middle of a small clearing.

  Off center in the rectangle of rock was an opening that looked like it was once a trap door roof access built into the surface, but this was now the solitary entrance to the castle.

  “Time to gain some levels,” he said to himself.

  Eric reached down to the rusted handle. He heaved it up and to the side, exposing both the ladder that led down into a stone room flickering with dim blue light and a waft of very stale air.

  The old ladder groaned from his weight as he climbed, but the rungs held unbroken as he reached the bottom.

  Taking a look around as his eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness. He grinned at the familiar sight of the castle walls lit by mana torches powered by the crystals socketed into their bases.

  I’m gonna have to remind myself to steal some of the torches on my way out later. For now, though, it's time to go find some green-skinned walking XP, he thought.

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  The small room he was currently in was once some sort of storage room, if the smashed crates were any indication of its former use. Aside from the mana torches the walls were otherwise barren save for the doorway on the northernmost wall. Following along the halls beyond the doorway led to three optional paths: continue around the halls that lined the outer wall, take one of the stairways down, or turn in towards the central chambers of the castle.

  “Adventurers delve deep into the dangerous places of the world,” Eric stated aloud like he had an audience to hear his oration.

  Ugh, old streamer habits die hard, he thought as he proceeded down the stairs to the middle floor.

  Even having tried his best to step quietly, his footsteps created soft echoes regardless. He carried on through the granite halls searching the castle room by room until he heard the chittering, nails on chalkboard, scraping, and altogether unpleasant sound of goblin speech.

  Easing towards the wooden door that separated him from his quarry, he prepared himself for battle.

  With his sword drawn he charged in, smashing through the door with his shield. The force of his entrance caused it to slam open so hard that it bounced off of the wall and back in his direction, banging into his shoulder as he barged into the room.

  Half stumbling towards the goblins, he went in to attack. Attempting to rebalance himself mid-strike, he swung at the nearest of three goblins that jumped in startlement before him. His strike went wide, but he clipped the goblin’s right bicep, causing it to stumble to the left.

  This is going to be a battle of attrition if I can’t get my act together, he thought.

  Regaining his balance and swinging back across the goblin from right to left, he carved a slash over its abdomen. Using the ability gained from his shield skill, he spent the 5 MP to perform a Shield Bash, and sent it back towards its ugly bug-eyed friends.

  The stunned symbol popped up next to its head, and Eric moved in for one of the critical strikes that you could get on a stunned or paralyzed enemy.

  The point of his blade struck true, straight through the green-blood’s heart, but in doing so, he had left himself in range of both of the other goblins. Realizing his mistake, he raised his shield in time to block a spear strike from his left, but a sharp burning pain flared in his right side as a rusty spear sliced a glancing blow off of his ribs.

  Luckily his fortitude lowered the damage he received to 7 off of his total 100 HP, but the bloody wound still burned.

  He pulled his sword from the first goblins chest, ignoring all of his notifications as he slashed to the right at the enemy that had cut his side. He struck the back of the goblin’s knee causing it to buckle as he performed another shield bash against the other remaining goblin.

  Ten MP down and ten remaining. Nothing Like a fight to get the adrenaline pumping.

  Parrying a strike from the wounded goblin on the right, he lunged, piercing its left shoulder. While keeping an eye on the left goblin, he cut a final slash across the other pitiful creature’s throat. Two goblins down and one to go.

  Eric turned to face the last remaining goblin just to watch it bolt towards the door. He slashed at the goblin’s back, too late, as it ran into the hall. Giving chase, he too bolted towards the door, slipping on the goblin blood that had wet the stone at his feet. He took 4 damage as his head smacked off of the granite floor, his vision swam for the briefest moment.

  That was an unintended part of the solo dungeon delve that made him glad he wasn’t livestreaming this little adventure. He hurried to his feet, body covered in goblin blood, as he sprinted from the room to give chase.

  Exiting the room and looking to the sides, he spotted the goblin turning a corner.

  He gave chase, rapidly gaining on it with his much larger gait. They took another hard turn into a stairway down to the bottom tier of the castle. Down the stairs and past what might have once been the castle’s modest front entrance, he rounded another corner just in time to watch the goblin crash into one of its friends.

  “Nice! A bonus goblin” he said, chuckling to himself as he reached them. With an overhand slash he struck at the new and very surprised goblin. With a thunk his blade lodged itself into the skull of the smaller goblin. The adventurer had to kick the goblin in the chest to push it off of his blade.

  The cowardly goblin that had tried to run away had found its courage it would seem, because it made a desperate stab at him. Just as he freed his blade, the point of the spear came at his face from the left. Sliding over the top of his shield, the chipped spear head missed his nose by half an inch.

  Raising his shield and shoving the spear to the side, he followed up with the Flurry of Slashes ability against his opponent. 10 MP was a hefty price, but the results spoke for themselves. The goblin collapsed, his health down to under fifteen percent.

  “Sorry, I don’t much like killing an enemy that’s on its back, but I need some levels to get a decent guild to take me seriously,” Eric said to the goblin at his feet.

  With a final stab through the goblin’s chest, its body went limp.

  “No more abilities until my MP recovers, but at least my health is still looking pretty good. Now I finally have time to look at notifications,” he said, again voicing his thoughts aloud.

  You have defeated an Elite Goblin Spearman!

  Experience gained 55!

  You have defeated 3 Goblin Spearman!

  Experience gained 135!

  XP 190 of 200 to Level 2

  “Oh, come on, I’m so close! I just need one more goblin”, he complained as he mentally swiped the notification box aside.

  Just then Eric heard the clicking of small claws on stone and an accompanying cry of excitement. Turning his eyes towards the sound, he saw a half starved creature with forest green scales. Its teal and blue feathery mohawk bounced with energy as the excited little thing picked mushrooms off of the wall.

  It stood at the height of a small child, under 2 and a half feet at the very most, and its simple orange tunic was half torn. The base of its long tail was blocked from view by a red child-sized blanket being worn as a cloak.

  He scanned it for its race and type as it looked towards him. It just stared in his direction for a few long breaths before it seemed to register his presence. At the same time Eric’s scan had completed.

  “A Kobold Scavenger. You look so pitiful, I might feel guilty about killing you. You probably aren't even worth much XP at all, but I’m close enough to leveling that just about anything should be enough to get me over the line to level two.”

  He made towards the kobold, limbs vibrating with the anticipation of reaching his first level-up.

  He charged in for his last kill at level one…

  And the ground trembled beneath his feet…