Otherlife Dreams: The Selfless Hero Trilogy Read online

  Runner sighed and put his hands on his hips and contemplated the hamlet around him.

  After a moment of thoughtful silence Hannah offered him a solution.

  “You could try asking if there’s a large monster den or an old ruin nearby. Might not be on the way. No, you don’t have beetle breath, but it’d be a blessing if you’d rinse your mouth out after eating one. I swear if I find a leg between your teeth, I will leave you the fuck behind.”

  “Hm. Solid deduction skills there Watson. You there, Villager number twelve,” Runner accosted a man nearby, resting his hand on his shoulder. He was named exactly as he called him, Villager. “Would there perhaps be a monster den or ruin nearby? Teeming with wild life, the possibility of loot, or delicious treasure?”

  “There’d be nothing like that around here, sir. Though if you follow the road east for a day, you’ll find a path leading into the North Woods. Take that for a day north and you’re sure to find an Orc village that’s made itself a home out of a fort. They’re not real friendly to outsiders, but they’ve left us alone and trade with us on occasion,” replied the Villager.

  A Quest has been generated

  “Cleaning House”

  Experience Reward- 230% of level

  Reputation-5

  Do you Accept?

  Yes/No

  WARNING! Experience Reward is adjusted based on current level at turn in

  WARNING! This quest is rated above your current level

  WARNING! This quest is rated as a group quest

  “Oh? Fantastic! That’s just what we needed. East, to the North Woods, where we travel north. Hopefully we’ll get some gear, I’m tired of running around in these newbie leathers. Don’t get me wrong Hanners, it definitely flatters your figure, and works your curves, but it doesn’t do anything for me at all.”

  Accepting the quest as he finished speaking Runner set off down the path to the east.

  Glancing to the side as she fell in beside him, he nearly laughed at a furiously blushing Hannah. It’d be two days till they arrived, but Runner was excited. Progress. He was making progress. Calling up the system console, he confirmed there were no new messages from the mystery user.

  Chapter 4 - Train Incoming -

  07:27am Sovereign Earth time

  09/06/43

  It took two days to reach their destination. They followed the directions and reached the area exactly as described.

  Hannah turned out to be an acceptable traveling companion to share the road with. They conversed occasionally, but over all they were still getting used to being in close proximity to each other. It wouldn’t be described as companionable, but neither was it awkward.

  Runner kept himself occupied by cycling his abilities to build them up. In between cycles he attempted to piece together what he could from the ships systems to determine the status of the ship.

  He was by no means an engineer, but even in his limited experience before he’d been expelled, it was obvious the ship was a wreck. All external sensors were offline, the power grid was a mess of blown out conduits, and the junctions between decks had multiple bulkhead failures. The hull looked as if it’d been peppered with micrometeoroids, the hull had an appearance more akin to swiss cheese on certain decks. Much of the ship was exposed to the vacuum of space from the overwhelming amount of hull penetration.

  Only life support and the general systems were online and functioning. Maintenance nanite droids could keep those systems running indefinitely. They were running emergency conditions which of course meant no work would be done to repair anything that wasn’t essential to life support. Until atmosphere could be returned to the ship, there would be no way to disengage the emergency over ride either.

  During his survey of the ship, he detected an outside network patched in to the ships main computer. He hadn’t been able to access anything on it or to even determine the extent of their integration. Perhaps the only thing he could monitor was the extreme amount of bandwidth flowing from the network into the ships core computer, and straight into the system the game server was running on.

  Mystery user §┌îτ must have been riding this line in to have gained access in the way they did. It also explained why this person had no privileges or authorized access.

  Runner broke from his reverie to look down the road. He could just barely see the top of a tower sticking up from the horizon of tree tops. Around them on all sides was a lightly wooded area that would be ideal for a concealed approach. Which meant the little fort had been abandoned a long time and now valued its secrecy rather than its ability to withstand foes.

  “What exactly did you want to do here? It sounds like any other Orc village I’ve heard of before. I don’t think they’ll be able to direct you to ruins any better either.”

  “My dear Hanners, they’re the target. I’m going to kill every single one of them, loot them, and move on. We’ll start at the fringes and work our way inwards, one corpse at at time. With any luck we can get operate with single target pulls and avoid puling groups of them.”

  “Wait, wait, wait. That's just straight up murder. You realize that right? You sick psycho fucker. They’re just a village of Orcs. They haven’t done anything to anyone.”

  “You’d think that, but they’re not just NPCs, but sheep NPCs. Put there for the explicit purpose of gaining experience from killing them. Not to mention, they’ll attack us if we show up regardless of our intentions. It’s too conveniently set up to be a dungeon, rather than anything else.”

  Nodding to himself, he walked off the path and into the surrounding countryside. Using his minimap he navigated himself to the side of the Orc town’s entrance. Checking his coordinates regularly he gave the entire town a wide berth. Buildings and crumbled walls passed by as he continued his circle of the town. According to the map he was nearly on the opposite side when he reached an open patch of ground, devoid of trees and cleared of debris.

  Figuring this as likely a starting point as anywhere else, Runner halted and went down to a kneeling position.

  They were just outside of a small clearing that looked like it had been cleared and kept clean. A training area perhaps. It provided a clear line of sight to a cluster of buildings and anything that would be coming their way. Casting a wary eye over the area, he found nothing out or the ordinary.

  Runner glanced over his shoulder to confirm Hannah’s position before addressing her.

  “Hold here a moment, I wanna take a peak. I’m pretty certain I’m right about this place, but I can’t spare the loss reputation for killing them if I’m wrong. Keep an eye on things, there could very well be patrols coming through here. Rather unlikely though.”

  Hannah’s head bobbed in acknowledgment. It seemed she was taking his advice seriously. Her face had the appearance of concern as she moved away from the tree line. Her head swung to the left and right while considering her options as to the best place to hide. Leaving it to her as her figure entered the shadows, Runner turned back to the buildings.

  He set about the process of enchanting his gear up for whatever may lie ahead. The duration and mana costs had been improved through the two days of training. Leveling the Enchant skill up had well and truly paid off.

  Being able to offset his extreme lack of stats originally, it was quickly becoming apparent the bonuses were not scaling with his level. Benefits that once put him above or on par with enemies, were now only barely capable of keeping him on an even playing field most of the time. He would need to find other solutions for his problems. And soon.

  Completing the work Runner, activated Stealth and looked over the map one more time. Most of the town was laid out in a basic fashion that centered around the fort. In truth, beyond the fort, there was nothing out of the ordinary or remarkable about the place.

  “Fucking unnatural bastard,” Hannah said aloud. She probably hadn’t meant for him to hear it, having expected him to immediately step away after going into Stealth.

  Smiling ruefully Run
ner could only shake his head. Striding towards the closest buildings he set off. In light of her unrelenting belief that he wasn’t normal, it was readily apparent that NPCs were well aware of the rules of the game. To them, he probably was as impossible as fish flying.

  Approaching the back of what he could only guess was a stable he checked his surroundings. Nothing was in the immediate area. Feeling his mind starting to wander a little, he advanced.

  I wonder who this place belonged to before. It seems rather developed, maybe it was a frontier fort first? From reading the wiki, Orcs regard everything other than Orc-kind as food. Horses included. And humans.

  An Orc’s eating habits and their general disposition had been the foundation to Runner’s certainty this was a dungeon. Passing the threshold he was prompted with the entry message. He absently closed without a second thought. Whatever it’s called is irrelevant, because it’s about to become a body farm. Plant me some Orcs, bring in the red harvest, and collect my bounty.

  Runner eased himself around the corner and began to walk towards the entryway.His actions were slow and cautious. He wanted to observe and scout first. Reckless aggression had its place, but it was not here.

  Approaching the entry door carefully he checked for guards, yet found none. Peeking in through the doorway he scanned the interior.

  Stalls lined both sides of the stable. Early morning light filtered in from above through rotten boards. Each stall had been converted into a cage and more than three fourths of those were full of people. Starting here, he could begin to depopulate the fort. It was defensible, out of the way, and lightly guarded.

  Must be the pantry. Except instead canned goods we’ve got livestock, waiting for slaughter.

  Two red names floated clearly in the middle of the room. Both were named Orc Guard, their level both set to eighteen. Every other name in the room was Green and ranged from Merchant to Priest.

  Rationally working through what the scene meant, it made since. Villager twelve had said they left them alone and would trade on occasion. Clearly the Orcs were picking up travelers, merchants, adventurers, but nothing local. Better to not anger or panic the local wildlife after all. Especially when there was this much easy game walking the roads nearby.

  They definitely weren’t his goal, but he figured he could earn some easy experience for freeing them. So long as it wasn’t a “Free ten slaves” quest, that would just make that eleventh one weird. Sorry, quota’s all full, can’t free you. Enjoy being a late night snack.

  Waiting for a bit he saw no change in their patrols or habits, they were simple NPCs placed to protect an easy experience grab. They’d walk close enough to the middle to confirm all prisoners accounted for, and return to their original post. This was closer to the entryway but not in it, thankfully. Confident there would be no change after he departed, he made his way back to Hannah.

  Returning to where he left her, he unsuccessfully tried to find her. Realizing how stupid this was, he knew why he couldn’t find her.

  Frustrated, he dropped his Stealth and looked around. Almost immediately, she appeared off to his side, stepping out from behind a tree trunk.

  “Yeah, no, that’s not going to work. If you’re not in my party, I can’t see you. Trouble is, you’re an NPC, so you can’t join my party,” Runner explained, Hannah tilted her head to one side.

  “I’m getting used to you just spouting absolute bullshit, but it doesn’t mean I actually understand you any better. I feel like I’m getting tired of you saying NPC, too. You’ve called me that several times, and it’s starting to sound degrading.”

  “Right. Ok. To simplify, I couldn’t see you while you were stealthed, and vice versa. That won’t work if we go into that open dungeon back there,” Runner said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the Orcs. “Which means either I have to talk aloud, which will break my Stealth, and you’d have to be in range to hear it. Which leaves it to me to solo them, which I honestly doubt as possible considering I’m still in nub gear. I could hold your hand, but that’d only work up to a point. I can’t even guarantee that’d it’d not break stealth either. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure holding your hand is an enjoyable experience, I just don’t think it’d work here.”

  Frowning, Runner stared up into the sky thinking quietly. “Damnable music, I appreciate the artistry, but not right now. In need of some silence.”

  With a harrumph, Runner mentally silenced the music with the mute option. The last musical notes faded to nothing and silence reigned supreme. No solutions had come to him working within the rule set of a player. Runner tried considering the problem from a strictly systematic point of view instead.

  NPCs aren’t allowed to be a part of the party. They can be followers but that’s different. Is it too different? What if I used the targeting function through the server console, identified the base ID for the NPC, and pushed the Party invite through the server to that specific ID? A GM without rights would still be allowed to access all the games console and basic system commands, like getting the database ID for a spawned NPC. So long as it didn’t require a password that is. That and I’ve been breaking the rules for everything else so far with impunity, why not try? Sooooooo…

  Throwing out a mental request for the game console, the window appeared. Inputing “Select Nearest NPC” into the console, he posted the command.

  Hannah was immediately selected, and her nameplate went from Green to Yellow. It was no different than how a normal player would do it, though it was done utilizing the server itself.

  So far, so good.

  “One step down,” Runner muttered. Runner shrugged and entered the invite command through the game console to push an invite to the selected target. Appearing in front of him was a request to confirm that he’d like to invite Thief0084 to his party. Memorizing the position of the yes button, he approved the request. His eyes flickered to Hannah to gauge her response.

  There was no change in her behavior, her eyes scanning the woods, watching for patrols. It was apparent she did not get the request.

  Face turning into a frown, Runner decided to change his approach. The system had responded to his desires and actions so far. Truth be told, it was creepy in a way that it seemingly responded to his wishes.

  “Come over here please Hanners. Stand directly in front of me, facing away.”

  “Uhh. Stupid question since I’m asking you, but you’re not going to do anything strange, are you?”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary, I promise.”

  “Ordinary for you maybe,” said Hannah, sighing.

  Standing as directed, she looked up over her shoulder at him.

  “And now? What then?”

  “Hold out your right hand. No, not there. Up a little more. No, errr, to the left. A little to the right. For crying out, ok, look, here,” he huffed. His hand snaked out and grabbed hers, guiding it into the position he wanted. At the exact place a window would have appeared if she were a player. “Now concentrate everything you can, every single thought towards the idea that, ‘Yes, join the party’. Once you feel like you’ve concentrated enough to crush a stone with the power of your mind, move your hand forward two inches. No more, no less.”

  “Right, this isn’t out of the ordinary at all. Who was I kidding? More insanity from the lord of idiocy.”

  As she stood in front of him. working on the request he gave her, Runner called up the invite command through the server once more. Keying up the command to invite her, he sent it off. Accepting the confirmation immediately he waited for her.

  Visibly frustrated, Hannah complied. Facing forward she fell silent, ostensibly doing as he’d instructed.

  Waiting as patiently as he could, Runner merely held her hand and looked at the crown of her head. Watching the light play across her black hair his mind began to spin random thoughts off.

  One such thought landed in right smack dab in the middle of his vast curiosity. Do NPCs have a scent?

  Leaning forward o
n that impulse he smelled her hair quietly. Surprisingly enough, she did indeed have a scent. She smelled of the road, woods, sweat, dirt, leather, and under all that there was just a hint of something else.

  Runner was broken from his woolgathering when her hand shot forward, punching the invisible button neither of them could see.

  In that moment, the world spun crazily. Vertigo assailed him as he felt his equilibrium stretched to the limit. Trying to blank his mind Runner attempted to steady himself, his left hand clutching into the fabric of Hannah’s clothes.

  It was as if his mind was pulled open, turned upside, and shaken violently. Conscious thought stretched out until he could barely hold a thought together. He became nothing more than a shrieking fear flying through the void. Then it ended as quickly as it had come.

  “The fuck is wrong with you. Let go of me, damn it,” Hannah declared angrily. Spinning around she broke his grip on her clothes and shoved at him.

  “Please tell me that whatever the fuck you wanted to do, worked. Because I swear if that was some strange need of yours to get close…” Hannah said dangerously.

  Blinking a few times he focused on her face. While the vertigo was gone he was left with a vague feeling of deja vu.

  Looking to the game console he read over the log. Nothing suspicious lurked in the log and everything there was benign. There was no massive update patch, the world hadn’t gone gray, and the only person who felt it was him.

  Focus Runner, focus. Check your medical log later. It’s probably stress.

  Closing his system windows he shook off the vestiges of the strange feeling. Pulling open the party window he was elated to see it’d worked. Looking to Hannah he gave her a bright smile.