The Crimson Quest: A LitRPG Adventure Page 4

  With a struggle, the man climbed onto his dragon. His stocky little arms bent to help me up. “I got it,” I replied.

  Johnny climbed up behind me and put his arms around my stomach. "Do you really need to do this?" I asked, going up a little.

  "Yes, he does," replied the man. “You will have to do the same. Put your arms around me.

  I winced a little. But I knew he was right. "How fast is this dragon going?"

  There was no answer. Instead, the re was a sudden jerk. “We're going,” the man yelled.

  My body bounced up and down as I stood more firmly against the man. I had never felt so free in my life as the dragon slipped from side to side at lightning speed. In front, there was a large white wall. "Is it a castle?" I asked enthusiastically.

  "You'll see eno ugh soon ," the man yelled.

  My hair blew in the wind as the dragon increased its speed. Then we suddenly stopped as the dust flew into the air. I did not see anything. Only a cloud of brown dust. "I can't breathe," Johnny said behind me, coughing.

  The dust slowly cleared before I could see what was in front of us. Once that was clarified, I was surprised at how beautiful everything was. A large wall of white marble circled a large kingdom. By the entrance I could see a busy market with all kinds of different groceries . "It will be the happiest day of my life," I yelled.

  I jumped off the dragon and stretched out my arms. “So what do we need to know? Is there something really important we should know? "

  The little man jumped from his dragon. He's laughing. “There is too much to tell you. The best way to learn is to experience it. "

  I brushed the hair from my eyes. "That's right. But can't you tell us? Wouldn't that be faster?

  He shook his head irritably. “I came here to get rich. Don't help n ewbies all day. If you want to learn, find out. This is how I had to do it when I first arrived.

  "Very good," I replied. "We will find someone else who can help us."

  He became calm. Then he spoke quickly. “Build an army. Without one, you can't stand a chance here. No one will help you unless you can help them. You're lucky I was kind enough to lead you. Think of it as a gift. Most people won't do this for you unless you pay. "

  I nodded. "Thanks for that. I appreciate it. What do you mean: start an army? How do I do that?"

  He looked at me then at Johnny. "You are two. It's a good start. You just have to sell yourself. I have to make other players believe that you can provide them with something useful. Everyone wants to live a good life here or in the real world. Some people experience both. Either way, they want to win something here or there. So what can you offer them? "

  I narrowed my eyes. The little man looking for chicken nuggets had a good point. "Fair enough," I replied.

  The ma n turned and began to enter the entrance to the kingdom. “Wait,” I shouted.

  "What?" he replied.

  "How can I add you as a friend?"

  "Who said I wanted to be friends with you?" He asked.

  "Why wouldn't you want to be?"

  “Look in your menu. It's in the upper right corner. Just choose "send friend request" and enter my name. "

  "Alright," I answered eagerly. "What is your name?"

  "Donald The Dragon Slayer."

  I laughed. "Nice name. Okay, I'll add you now."

  Donald didn't respond as he jumped on his dragon and headed for the entrance to the kingdom. "I'm going to miss him," I said, turning to Johnny.

  "Why? Why would you miss this guy? I'm glad he was gone. I didn't really like him that much.

  I rolled my eyes. “I was kidding. I wasn't a big fan either. But, it was rather interesting.

  “Let's go to the kingdom,” Johnny replied.

  "Of course."

  We started to walk towards the entrance. Then two heavily armored guards blocked our way.

  Chapter seven

  The guards carried all the money and appeared hostile. One of the guards grabbed his sword. "What's your business here?"

  Was he an NPC? It didn't really act like one and it had more animation than I had ever seen in the past. I knew the AI was advanced, but I didn't expect it to be this good. "Are you real?"

  "Real enough to kill you," he replied.

  "I mean, are you an NPC or a real player?"

  The guard cleared his throat. “This question offends me. By definition, I am indeed a playing character. I don't know what it's like to be alive, but I feel like I'm alive. But, I am actually run by a computer program. That's what I'm told. But I still don't know if I believe it.

  Wow! This NPC was way smarter than I ever imagined. His level of artificial intelligence was insane. How was it even possible? I frowned. “Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm new to this game. I just learn as I go.

  The guard straightened up and a serious look appeared on his face. “Time will teach you. But you cannot enter the kingdom of Aldern. Low level players are prohibited. "

  "Where do the new players meet?"

  "Not far from here," a random voice yelled from behind me.

  I turned around and saw a tall, slender man with long white hair. Even though his hair was white, he was not old. He appeared to be about eighteen years old and wore extensive white armor. The armor was made of metal and sparkled in each of his movements. "Nice armor," I shouted back at him. "Where did you get this?"

  His footsteps were shaking as he approached. He stopped in front of me and grabbed my shirt. "You just arrived, haven't you?

  "Yes," I replied. "Johnny and I have just started playing."

  He narrowed his white eyes and looked at Johnny. "Do you both have the same outfits?" It's funny."

  "I don't like this outfit," Johnny replied. “Where can we find some really cool armor?”

  "I don't usually do that," he replied with a slow voice . “But I feel a little bad for you two. You both look so lost. I'll show you the area where the noobs hang out. Follow me."

  He started running towards a field of tall yellow grass. Then the player looked at our feet. "Don't you even have shoes yet?"

  I looked at my feet and realized he was right. “I don't think so,” I replied.

  He threw two pairs of black boots on the floor. "One for each of you."

  I took a pair of boots and must have looked confused. “Just put it in your inventory and equip them,” the player said.

  I did what he suggested. At first it seemed hard. But then it was easy. My inventory came and I fitted the boots. After that, I watched them appear on my feet. “Thanks. It's much better,” I replied.

  “These are the most basic shoes in the game,” replied the player.

  Johnny struggled for a while but eventually managed to fit his boots too. “I look good in these boots,” he says.

  The grass moved to the side as we walked through it. Johnny and I ran as fast as we could and made sure to keep pace. But he was fast, much faster than us. My body started to ache in twenty seconds. Then a message appeared in front of me:

  Warning : low stamina levels

  Endurance: 0/10

  I curled up and watched Johnny do the same. “I'm so tired,” he said with heavy breathing.

  I coughed and tried to draw air into my lungs. "Damn. I can barely catch my breath.

  The white armored figure laughed. "Wow, you are completely noobs, aren't you?"

  I huffed and huffed and couldn't really answer. Slowly my breathing returned to normal. At the bottom of my view, a full stamina bar flashed. I felt better, and Johnny looked like he was feeling better too. "How can we increase our stamina?" I asked.

  "It will happen naturally," replied the character. “Just keep running and eventually you'll level up. However, each level takes longer. The first goes faster. You will probably be upgrading here very soon. You need to set it where your stamina bar is always displayed at the bottom of your view. That way you can slow down a bit each time it gets low. Crashing like that is no fun. This still happens to me during boss battles
, or when I'm playing games a lot. "

  "How can I configure this?"

  “Just open your inventory and go to options. Click “Always Show Health and Stamina” and you should be good to go. "

  I opened up my inventory and did as he said. The two bars appeared at the bottom of my view . “Damn, I almost forgot about my health. This rat brought it down to 8/10. Guess it's not too bad, but it still sucks.

  "A rat almost killed me the first day," replied the character, laughing.

  "It would've sucked if a rat killed you," Johnny replied .

  I looked around. We were on top of a hill with tall yellow grass around us. The grass danced in the wind as a flock of birds flew above us. The sun looked brighter than real life. Everything was crystal clear like a 4k television. At my leisure, I saw a group of different villages. Some of them were tall, while others were small. In the distance, there were many snow-capped mountains nearby. “This world is so beautiful,” I said. “I can't believe how amazing this all is. I have already almost forgotten that this is just a game. "

  The character approached me and put a hand on my shoulder. "This is the real world. Well, at least for me it is. I will not go back. I will never go back.

  "Really?" I asked with surprise.

  "No," he replied. "Why would I have ? I have a lot more here than in the outside world. Friends, adventure and a lot of gold. Well, I used to have a lot of gold.

  "Used to? What happened to him?"

  "It's a long story," he replied, throwing a stone in the air. “I still have a lot of gold, but I lost a ton. You must be careful. You can win a fortune and lose it all. Always hide your gold and never show it. Some people even hide their gold in holes. In fact, I think it's pretty smart.

  I did not answer. But I wanted to know how to get gold. Maybe I was greedy, but I wanted a lot of gold. "How do I get gold? We came here to make money for the real world. "

  The character sighed. "So that's what you're here for?" Just one of the money seekers?

  My head was coming and going. “Not at all. I mean, that was part of the reason. But we both love MMORPGs. It was like killing two birds with one stone. We just saw a great opportunity to earn money. money and having fun while doing it. Does that make sense? "

  “It's okay,” the character replied. “Everyone comes for different reasons. Many come for the money, but end up enjoying it more here. They get lost, and before you know it, they're sucked . They never come back.

  “I could see why. It is all so amazing.

  In the corner of my eye, I saw something interesting. "Is that another mass of land over there?"

  “Yes, it's another continent. The game is really huge. The continent we are on is called Hemingway. This game world is bigger than any other MMORPG I have played in the past. Everything is not the same either. There are snow, deserts, mountains, dungeons, jungles, vast oceans and all kinds of things. You will see. You will get lost in this world before you know it.

  "What's everyone in the game called?" Johnny asked.

  “Creston. The world of Creston is made up of six different continents. But, there are many small islands hidden between these continents. You will never be done exploring this game. ”

  I couldn't help but smile. Then I asked him my next question. “Another player said we should create an army. How to find new members? "

  His eyebrows rose. "You should. If you start an army, you'll be ahead of most players. Everyone here wants silver or gold. Gold is the currency of the game, and silver is good. safe in the outside world. Either way, players want gold. The point is that gold is four times more important here than in the outside world. So if you win a gold coin, that only worth twenty-five cents in the real world. Do you understand what I'm saying? "

  "Wow, I didn't know that," I replied, following the character down a hill.

  "Yeah. They did it on purpose. They want to make the players live here rather than in the real world. That's what I think anyway.

  "What about the creation of an army?" Johnny asked behind me. "Should we go recruit new members?"

  The character laughed as we followed him. “If you want to create an army, we have to go to one of the peasant villages. It is a place where the characters recruit peasants. They will be interested in joining us. But we will have to give them food and gold. But maybe some of them will be ready to work for free. It's rare, but it happens sometimes.

  “Sounds good,” I replied. "Where is one of these villages?"

  I smiled inside. Peasants? I liked the idea of turning a peasant into a war rior . Yes that would be great. And finally, these peasants would learn to worship me. I was sure of it. It seemed like the perfect way to make a name for myself in the video game world. My steps have stopped. "How far is a peasant village?"

  "Not far," replied the character.

  "What's your name? You never told us your name.

  He sighed. “Open your menu and go to options. Make sure that the option to display name automatically is checked. Didn't you read anything about this game before you started playing? "

  I shrug my shoulders. "No. I guess not. I just thought there would be a tutorial.

  I opened my menu and did what the character told me. Suddenly, a name popped up above his head:

  Todd The Wordsmith - Level 27

  Male Male - Warrior

  I clear my throat. "Nice. I see it. Todd the Wordsmith? That's a pretty cool name.

  "Thanks," he replied. "It took me forever to find it."

  Todd looked pretty cool. Much cooler than the weirdo who made us ride his dragon. "We're almost in the village," he said, pointing to our left.

  In the distance, I saw small houses topped with straw roofs. There was no grass around the village and the place looked like a real dump. Was that where we were going to find our soldiers ?

  Chapter eight

  A few characters and NPCs were walking around the village. The NPCs all wore the same outfit. Straw hats, brown overalls and small bags on the back. Some drank water from mud puddles. "They drink mud puddle water here?" Why would they do that? ” I like ked.

  “These peasants are mostly NPCS,” Todd replied. “They don't really know that this is not an acceptable way to drink water in the outside world. They are programmed to fetch water when they need it. Most of them drink water from any source. I guess that makes sense if you think about it.

  I wasn't going to start drinking mud puddle water. It just seemed a little depressing. "Yeah, I guess if they like mud puddle water, then that was fine." I can't hate them for that.

  A farmer stopped drinking in the mud puddle and approached me. "Hello sir," he said with a trembling voice. "Do you have any food for me?" I'll put a nice note with the village chief here if you share food with me.

  The village chief? I was pretty sure I didn't want to meet the guy. What kind of leader allows its inhabitants to drink in mud puddles? “Sorry, I have nothing for you. Tell your boss to buy you a bucket of water or something. You shouldn't drink in a mud puddle.

  The NPC was confused and took a moment to respond. “These are good things,” he says. "The water is very tasty."

  I looked at the water. It was dirty. But the worst part was that there were these little worm-like creatures swimming around. "Oh wow," I replied. “It also comes from free worms. It is zont. Really nice, I say, turning away.

  "Do these guys drink worm water?" Suddenly asked Johnny.

  I itched in my ear and gave him a slight nod. “Do we want these people in our army?” I asked with a whisper. "Are these really the type of soldiers we want?"

  "Probably," Johnny replied. “Anyone who drinks worm water must have a death wish. I bet they'll fight really hard until they're dead. "

  I frowned. “Come on man. We don't want them to die. These people have feelings like us. Well, I think they do.

  “No one knows for sure,” Todd replied. “Some people say it's just ones and zeros. Nothing but code. But others think they have started to live thei
r own lives. I personally believe that they have feelings, hopes and desires just like we do. "

  “But we 're going to war,” Johnny replied. "There's a good chance they'll die no matter what."

  I held my hand in the air. “Not if we train them properly. We will not go to war unless we need to. "

  Then I felt a little confused. "Wait? Why are we still building an army? Just because it's the fun thing to do?

  “No,” Todd replied. "You need it. One of the best ways to get gold is to loot bandit villages. Without an army, you won't stand a chance. Trust me. "